Boners

Boner of the Day for February 13th, 2020

ROUND ONE

BONER CANDIDATE #1: BAD, BUT NOT THE FIRST OR THE WORST

They had just explained what it meant to each of them to be black and an immigrant. Then the five panelists at a Brigham Young University event sat quietly as they waited for the audience questions to come in. Those in the crowd could send one by typing it into their phone on the event page. And each time someone did, an anonymous question would pop up for everyone to see. The screen was quickly filled. “What is the percentage of African Americans on food stamps?” “Why do African Americans hate the police?” “Why don’t we have any white people on stage?” Some in the largely white audience laughed. Those on the panel did not. “The fact that the people made the effort to come to the panel and attack us is disgusting and honestly a waste of time,” said Tendela Tellas, a sophomore at BYU who spoke at the event and whose mom immigrated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “I honestly don’t know how BYU can stop this again, but there needs to be a solution.” The other panelists at Thursday’s event and some black students at the Provo school have since similarly called out the racist questions. One black student said she went home and cried after seeing what was asked. Another said she no longer has the emotional stamina to deal with the “ignorant, racist, privileged folks” on campus.   Read More

BONER CANDIDATE #2: HOW MANY TAMPONS ARE TOO MANY TAMPONS?

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are raising objections to a proposal that would add feminine hygiene products to the list of items that can be purchased during the state’s annual sales-tax holiday, the Associated Press reported. According to the AP, the GOP lawmakers worried that women would abuse the law and purchase too many feminine hygiene products during the pause on state sales tax on some items — including computers and clothing. The pause lasts only one weekend, starting on the last Friday of July, the AP reported. “I would think since it’s a sales tax holiday, there’s really no limit on the number of items anybody can purchase,” Republican state Sen. Joey Hensley said during a debate on the proposal on Tuesday, according to the AP. “I don’t know how you would limit the number of items someone could purchase.”   Read More

BONER CANDIDATE #3: DO I HAVE CORONAVIRUS OR NOT?

Some of the coronavirus testing kits sent to state laboratories around the country have flaws and do not work properly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. The kits were meant to enable states to conduct their own testing and have results faster than they would by shipping samples to the C.D.C. in Atlanta. But the failure of the kits means that states that encountered problems with the test should not use it, and would still have to depend on the C.D.C.’s central lab, which could cause several days’ delay in getting results. “Obviously, a state wouldn’t want to be doing this test and using it to make clinical decisions if it isn’t working as well, as perfectly, at the state as it is at C.D.C.,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at a news conference on Wednesday. The C.D.C. recommends testing for some people who have symptoms like fever, cough or shortness of breath, and who, within the past 14 days, have traveled to China or have been in close contact with a patient known to be infected with the coronavirus. Doctors with patients in that category are supposed to consult their state health department about whether the patients should be tested for the virus.   Read More

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ROUND TWO

BONER CANDIDATE #1: WHO’S IN THE WRONG?

An American Airlines passenger has called out the carrier and its employees for failing to act when a man behind her allegedly kept punching the top of her seat in what she describes as an “assault”. But as video footage of the incident hit Twitter, some social media commenters have argued it was actually the woman in the wrong for inconsiderately reclining back and invading the male passenger’s personal space. Wendi Williams was recently travelling from New Orleans to Charlotte, North Carolina on a two-hour American Eagle flight, which is a subsidiary of American Airlines, Fox News reported. Ms Williams took to Twitter to tell her side of the story along with the video footage of the “assault” in a clip that’s gone viral with more than 28,000 views.   Read More

BONER CANDIDATE #2: SO YOU LIKE THE GYMNASTS, DO YOU?

Last Saturday, the SEC Network broadcast a Southeastern Conference men’s basketball game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Missouri Tigers. It was a game between two middling programs with the Tigers prevailing.Little of the discussion following the game had much to do with basketball, however. Instead the conversation centered on comments made in-game by SEC Network analyst Barry Booker. Booker made multiple sexist comments during a promotion for a Feb. 14 gymnastics meet between Alabama and Arkansas, part of the SEC Network’s “Friday Night Heights” franchise that will see a record number of meets televised this season. After lead announcer Richard Cross promoted the meet as a potential Valentine’s Day event — “a good Valentine’s Day date night idea if you’re in one of those places,” he said — Booker proceeded to say “Go hang out with the ladies … I mean, I wanna go see some scantily clad girls!” Cross, for his part, immediately declared, “No, no!” and then proceeded to tout the family-friendly nature of college gymnastics. He then emphasized that it was Booker who made the inappropriate statement. Booker responded to that by saying, “I’ll stay home and watch — actually, I’ll be on the road. I’ll be somewhere in my hotel room watching ‘Friday Night Heights.’” The social outcry was almost immediate and Booker’s comments were publicly denounced by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and others shortly thereafter.   Read More

BONER CANDIDATE #3: DID THE TEACHER REALLY FEEL THREATENED?

A Pennsylvania elementary school called the police after a kindergartner with Down syndrome made a finger gun at her teacher. Officials concluded there wasn’t a threat, but the girl’s mother said they went too far. Maggie Gaines called on the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District to update its threat assessment policy after her 6-year-old daughter Margot was questioned by administrators for making a gun gesture at her elementary school teacher and pretended to shoot her. Gaines said it was a harmless expression of anger. But Margot’s school in southeast Pennsylvania determined her actions appeared threatening, so they conducted a threat assessment. Administrators concluded that Margot made a “transient threat” and didn’t intend to harm anyone, but they still called Tredyffrin police. The district said calling law enforcement is part of its safety protocol. But Gaines said that in her daughter’s case, the district misinterpreted its own policy. “It was very clear from the beginning that she didn’t understand what she was saying,” Gaines told CNN affiliate KYW. “Her having Down syndrome is one aspect of it, but I’m sure most six year olds don’t understand what that means.” She said police filed a report on the incident that mentioned Margot by name. Tredyffrin police didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment, but the school district told CNN that police didn’t create criminal or juvenile records for Margot.   Read More

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