thedailywhat:

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: Miss Universe Canada announced yesterday that 23-year-old finalist Jenna Talackova of Vancouver was disqualified from the Donald Trump-owned beauty pageant, but didn’t provide a reason.

“She did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form,” competition officials said in a statement. Talackova, however, says she knows exactly why she was disqualified: She was born a man.

The 6’1” bombshell underwent sexual reassignment surgery in 2010 after living most of her life as a woman.

She wouldn’t speak with the press concerning the unceremonious scrubbing of her profile from the Miss Universe Canada website, but did take to Twitter to bemoan being “disqualified for being born.”

Many have noted that Miss Universe Canada’s only expressed requirements are that the contestant be a Canadian citizen and between the ages of 18 and 27. Nary a mention of gender confirmation surgery as being grounds for dismissal.

On Twitter, Talackova implied that she’s down but not through. “I’m disqualified, however I’m not giving up,” she tweeted. “I’m not going to just let them disqualify me over discrimination.”

[theprovince / ctv.]

thedailywhat:

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: The House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), is holding a meeting today entitled “Lines Crossed” to review President Obama’s health care mandate compromise requiring employers and insurers to provide employees with coverage for contraception.

Despite acceptance from both religious organizations and women’s groups, Republicans are opposed to the requirement, and seek to allow employers to decline contraception coverage at will.

Though the hearing concerns women and their reproductive rights, Rep. Issa has refused to allow female witnesses to testify at the hearing, saying it was “not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience.”

Following this statement, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) left the room in protest.

Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY) — who recently called opponents of abortion “heroes” — remained seated as an all-male panel (above) opened the hearing.

Watch committee members criticise Rep. Issa’s decision below: 

[atlantic / think / tpm.]

thedailywhat:

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: Upon arrival in Los Angeles, a pair of British buddies were interrogated for hours, placed in separate holding cells for 12 hours, and ultimately sent back to the UK.

Their offense? Jokingly tweeting that they were coming to “destroy America” and “dig up Marilyn Monroe.”

Leigh Van Bryan, 26, and Emily Bunting, 24, say they were locked up with drug dealers and “treated like terrorists” all over a tweet Van Bryan sent to his friends prior to Hollywood trip with Bunting, in which he informed them that he was on his way to “destroy America.”

Van Bryan and Bunting tried desperately to explain to airport officials that “destroy” was slang for “partying,” but to no avail.

“The Homeland Security agents were treating me like some kind of terrorist,” Van Bryan, a bar manager from Coventry, told The Sun. ” I kept saying they had got the wrong meaning from my tweet but they just told me ‘You’ve really f***ed up with that tweet, boy’.”

He was also asked to explain a tweet about “diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up,” which he said was a reference to a Family Guy episode.

The two were eventually put on a flight back home. “We just wanted to have a good time on holiday,” Bunting said. “That was all Leigh meant in his tweets.”

A request for comment from the Department of Homeland Security was not returned.

[thesun / dailymail.]

thedailywhat:

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: A student at a Prairie Village, KS, high school who tweeted a comment critical of Gov. Sam Brownback was scolded for nearly an hour by her principal after the governor’s office called the school to tattle on her.

Sullivan, a Shawnee Mission East High School senior, visited Topeka and attended a speech by Brownback as part of the Kansas Youth in Government program. It was there that she decided to tweet “Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person.”

In reality, Sullivan did no such thing.

“Some of my friends were joking about what they’d really like to say (to Brownback), so I just took out my phone [and tweeted],” she told the Wichita Eagle. “I guess it was kind of a heat-of-the-moment thing.”

But the joke was enough to get her in trouble with Brownback’s director of communication, Sherriene Jones-Sontag, who said the tweet “wasn’t respectful.” She informed Youth in Government, which, in turn, informed Sullivan’s school.

“It was important for the organization to be aware of the comments their students were making,” Jones-Sontag told The Kansas City Star. “It’s also important for students to recognize the power of social media, how lasting it is. It is on the Internet.”

East principal Karl R. Krawitz told Sullivan her tweet had embarrassed the school, and said she had to write Gov. Brownback, Youth in Government, and others a letter of apology. Reached for comment, Krawitz said the disciplinary action was “a school issue, a private issue, not a public matter.”

Sullivan agreed to write the apology letters, mostly out of concern for her school transcripts, which will soon be sent to the University of Arkansas where she plans to study psychology.

Not surprisingly, her personal opinion of Brownback remains low. “I’m just an 18-year-old girl who knows what I believe, and I know what he believes, and we disagree. That is not going to change.”

[kcs / eagle / @emmakate988.]

Did they ask her to justify her tweet?

thedailywhat:

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: A “Christ-centered” liberal arts university in Rome, Georgia is asking all 200 of its employees to formally reject homosexuality by signing a “Personal Lifestyle Statement.”

Shorter University president Don Dowless said any employee who refuses to sign the statement [pdf] — which also requires the rejection of premarital sex and adultery — will be subject to immediate termination.

“I think that anybody who adheres to a lifestyle that is outside of what the biblical mandate is and of what the board has passed, including the president, would not be allowed to continue here,” he told Channel 2 Action News.

The new policy has many staffers concerned that witch hunts could be launched against them out of spite. “My faith is strong and I recognize that the University has the legal right to do this,” one anonymous gay employee told The GA Voice, “but just because it is legal it isn’t necessarily morally right.”

A petition has been posted online by university alumni asking Shorter to stop requiring faculty members to sign the “lifestyle pledge.”

[ajc / wsbtv / gavoice / signon.]

“Judge not lest ye be judged yourself.”

“Love thy neighbour as thyself.”

“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Did I grow up reading a different Bible to these people?

thedailywhat:

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: A Muslim woman has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Southwest Airlines for allegedly removing her from a San Jose-bound flight after she told a Verizon representative on the phone “I’ve got to go.”

Huh? Read on:

Irum Abbassi, who was “readily identifiable as Muslim by what she wore,” wrote in her complaint that a flight attendant thought she heard her say “it’s a go,” and called security to escort Abbassi off the plane.

Once deplaned, a TSA agent quickly determined that Abbassi did not pose a risk and allowed her to re-board. Except that she couldn’t: The captain reportedly barred her re-entry, claiming crew members were “uncomfortable” with her presence.

Abbassi is suing for punitive damages.

[tpm.]

Dear people,

Stop being a bunch of fucking idiots.

Thanks.

thedailywhat:

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: Kyle Willis, a 24-year-old unemployed father of one from Cincinnati, passed away last week from an easily treatable tooth infection because he didn’t have health insurance and couldn’t afford a simple tooth extraction.

Willis began experiencing a wisdom tooth ache two weeks ago, and was told by dentists he would need to have it pulled. He didn’t have insurance to cover the procedure and couldn’t pay for it out of pocket, so he decided to skip treatment altogether.

After his face began to swell, Willis went to the emergency room, where he was prescribed antibiotics, which, again, he couldn’t afford. He decided to stick with pain medicine. The infection eventually spread to his brain causing it to swell.

He died last Tuesday.

American Academy of Family Physicians president-elect Dr. Glenn Stream says that, even if Willis had access to a free dental clinic, “the wait is often months…and this young man died within two weeks of his problem.”

“[Willis] might as well have been living in 1927,” Dr. Jim Jirjis, director of general internal medicine at Vanderbilt University, told ABC News. “All of the advances we’ve made in medicine today and are proud of, for people who don’t have coverage, you might as well never have developed those.”

[abcnews.]

thedailywhat:

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: A 70-year-old Florida woman and her terminally ill husband are being foreclosed upon by Bank of America because they paid their mortgage a week in advance.

The Bullingtons, who have lived in Pasco County for 15 years, ran into financial trouble when James fell ill and their medical expenses skyrocketed. The couple asked the bank to reduce their monthly mortgage payment through a modification plan, and the bank agreed.

Sharon Bullington sent in her first payment under the revised plan on December 23, and, even though it wasn’t due until January 1, the bank accepted it. In January, Bullington attempted to pay February’s installment over the phone, but got her routing number wrong — a mistake she didn’t find out about until several weeks later.

The couple was summarily ejected from the plan in March.

Confused, Bullington wrote a two-page letter to Bank of America president Brian Moynihan to clarify that the payment made in December was meant to cover January. Moynihan aide Ana Olivera wrote Bullington to reiterate the requirement that all payments under the Home Affordable Modification Program must be made “in the month in which [they are] due.”

Olivera went on to say that the foreclosure process could not be halted, and that Bullington’s only recourse was to sell the home in a short sale or sign it over to the bank. “I understand that you may be disappointed with our final resolution and appreciate the opportunity to clarify this matter,” Olivera’s letter concluded. “While this may not be the response you were hoping for, I trust I have addressed your concerns.”

“It’s like death to me,” Bullington, who is her husband’s sole caregiver, told the St. Petersburg Times. “My husband is bedridden. It’s almost more than I can bear.”

Reached for comment by the paper, Olivera decline to speak on the matter, but a Bank of America rep said in an email that the Bullingtons’ case will be re-reviewed.

[tampabay.]

This is evil.