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17-Year Old Gay Teen Commits Suicide — Father Blames Anti-Gay Bullying

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An openly-gay 17-year old boy committed suicide in Rochester, Minnesota on Sunday, and his father is blaming anti-gay bullying as “a big part” of the cause of his son’s death. Jay ‘Corey’ Jones, also known as Corey Jay Jonestrader on his Facebook page, was a student at Century High School, and was bullied for years his father, JayBocka Strader, says.

“He said all of his life they always picked on him. He’d still try to keep his head up at school, but then he’d come home and be really sad about it,” Strader says, in a report at the Post Bulletin:

Jones, a member of Century’s gay-straight alliance, had an image on his Facebook page that said, “Gay & Proud.” He was open about his sexuality and occasionally wore tight, colorful tank tops and short-shorts to school, Strader said.

“He just got really depressed about it because the guys weren’t accepting him,” Strader said.

Jones jumped from a pedestrian bridge near Century High School on Sunday, according to police.

In response to an inquiry from the Post-Bulletin, schools Superintendent Michael Muñoz issued a statement acknowledging there are issues related to bullying in the district. He did not directly address Jones’ situation.

The district is in the planning stages of providing training and support for students, staff and families, Muñoz said, and will continue anti-bullying collaborations with Gov. Mark Dayton’s recently formed anti-bullying task force, Rochester police and others in the community.

…

“I want everyone to have on pink shirts and remember the Corey that tried to get the rights,” Strader said. Pink was one of Jones’ favorite colors, his dad said.

“When I saw him in pink, I really liked him in pink, and he was really happy,” Strader said. “I just told him that pink looked good on him.”

A report on Minnesota Public Radio yesterday added:

Last year, Jones told his dad, Jay Strader, he was gay. Strader immediately noticed a change.

“I just saw a difference in him I saw a smile, I saw a little more energy than actually being down and out and depressed-looking,” Strader said. “To me he felt a sign of relief, like, ‘Yeah I got over the hard part, right,’ you know.”

But coming out exposed Jones to other pressures, Strader said, primarily from bullies at school. Jones moved to Minnesota from Chicago two years ago. He lived in Minneapolis for a year before moving down to Rochester.

Strader said his son was comfortable with his sexual orientation. But the teasing Jones encountered at school turned into a constant struggle for him and he was diagnosed with depression.

“I wanted him to let me know what was going on with him. I didn’t get a chance to get that,” Strader. “I didn’t get a chance to find out what was going on inside his head.”

Strader said his son’s death Sunday has not sunk in yet. It’s been an emotional week for his family and him, as well as for many high school students in southeastern Minnesota.

Minnesota is currently the stage for a contentious battle for an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The funeral for Jay ‘Corey’ Jones will be held in Chicago on Saturday.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Image: Facebook

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2020 Road to the White House

Fauci to Serve Biden’s White House as Chief Medical Adviser: ‘I Said Yes Right on the Spot’

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December 4, 2020

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Dr. Anthony Fauci  spoke with Today Show host Savannah Guthrie Friday morning to say he’d “absolutely” accept a spot on President-elect Joe Biden’s medical team to continue his work in epidemiology and virology, especially as it pertains to the current coronavirus pandemic.

“Will you accept President-elect Biden’s offer to serve as his chief medical adviser?” Guthrie asked.

“Absolutely, I said yes right on the spot,” Fauci offered.

“I asked him to stay on in the exact same role as he’s had for the past several presidents, and I asked him to be a chief medical adviser for me as well and be part of the COVID team,” said Biden.

Biden made an announcement Thursday that he would announce a 100-day mask mandate that is “uniform” across the nation. Fauci spoke to that request as well.

Watch the video below.

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CORRUPTION HYPOCRISY

Trump Administration Sues Facebook for Engaging in Same Hiring Practices as Trump’s Own Companies

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17 hours ago

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December 3, 2020

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The Trump Dept. of Justice is suing Facebook over its alleged practice of hiring foreign workers into jobs that could be filled by Americans workers – a practice President Donald Trump’s own golf resorts reportedly also engage in, heavily.

The Trump Dept. of Justice is “accusing the social-media company of illegally reserving high-paying jobs for immigrant workers it was sponsoring for permanent residence, rather than searching adequately for available U.S. workers who could fill the positions,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

The “Justice Department’s civil-rights division said Facebook inadequately advertised at least 2,600 positions between 2018 and 2019 that were filled by immigrants on H-1B high-skill visas when the company was applying to sponsor those workers for permanent residency, known as green cards.”

But President Trump’s own resorts are notorious for hiring immigrant workers – even ones who are undocumented – for jobs that U.S. workers could perform.

“3 Trump properties posted 144 openings for seasonal jobs. Only one went to a US worker,” Vox reported in 2018.

“A Vox analysis of hiring records for seasonal workers at three Trump properties in New York and Florida revealed that only one out of 144 jobs went to a US worker from 2016 to the end of 2017. Foreign guest workers with H-2B visas got the rest.”

That’s just one of many examples.

“For nearly two decades, the Trump Organization has relied on a roving crew of Latin American employees to build fountains and waterfalls, sidewalks and rock walls at the company’s winery and its golf courses from New York to Florida,” The Washington Post reported in 2019.

“President Trump ‘doesn’t want undocumented people in the country,’ said one worker, Jorge Castro, a 55-year-old immigrant from Ecuador without legal status who left the company in April after nine years. ‘But at his properties, he still has them.'”

“If you’re a good worker, papers don’t matter,” Castro said, a comment that has been echoed by other workers at Trump properties.

That same year The Palm Beach Post reported, “President Donald Trump aims to hire dozens of foreign workers in Palm Beach County during the 2019-2020 tourist season, continuing his longstanding practice of recruiting laborers from Romania and elsewhere.”

The President, the Post added, “aims to hire 80 at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and 14 at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter.”

 

 

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BYE

Top Trump White House Communications Official Quits

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18 hours ago

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December 3, 2020

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President Donald Trump’s White House Director of Strategic Communications, Alyssa Farah, resigned Thursday. Her resignation is effective Friday.

Farah is a top White House official, and worked for President Trump for three and a half years. She was Trump’s third Director of Strategic Communications. Hope Hicks was his first, followed for a short time by Mercedes Schlapp.

She is not leaving to start a job with another employer, but will start her own communications firm. It’s unclear why Farah is leaving now, rather than wait until the ends of Trump’s term.

The Washington Post reports Farah served as Trump’s Communications Director, technically a different job than Director of Strategic Communications, although there is a lot of overlap in the Trump administration. She would have been his eighth Communications Director. Hope Hicks literally poerformed both jobs at one point.

Farah is the highest level top Trump aide to exit since he lost the election. Staffers have been threatened with firings if they are caught job hunting outside the White House.

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