{"id":20229,"date":"2016-03-05T00:04:18","date_gmt":"2016-03-05T08:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=20229"},"modified":"2016-03-05T00:04:18","modified_gmt":"2016-03-05T08:04:18","slug":"everyday-erinyes-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/05\/everyday-erinyes-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Erinyes"},"content":{"rendered":"

More stuff has come to light which seems to me to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with it. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto<\/strong>, Megaera<\/strong>, and Tisiphone<\/strong>. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."<\/p>\n

This happened at Duke University in North Carolina. <\/a>  I think it is a clear case for both Megaera<\/strong> and Tisiphone<\/strong>, but Alecto<\/strong>, you might as well go along for the ride.  There is some scenic and architectural beauty at Duke; in fact, all over North Carolina. <\/p>\n

Yes, this story is about a year and a half old.  It has risen to the surface because The Chronicle, the independent daily at Duke University (that's right, a school paper, or sort of) made the story Part 1 of an investigative report they are doing on parking.  Well, on the Parking and Trasportation Services Department at Duke.  Including the Department's "culture," which will be Part 2. <\/p>\n

On August 30, 2014, Shelvia Underwood, an employee of a private contractor Duke uses for managing traffic for special occasions (like football games), stopped a silver Porsche at a traffic circle in order to finish assisting a pedestrian.  She turned in order to address him, and found that the Porsche had hit her.  Her hands were on the hood, and then she was on the ground.<\/p>\n

\"\"When she told him the road he wanted to take was closed unless he had a parking pass, he banged on the steering wheel and said, "This road is not closed!"  Then he held up a parking pass – two, actually – so she let him through.  Whereupon he was heard to say "dumb, dumb, stupid n-word."  (By Underwood.  And by a witness.)<\/p>\n

Did I mention this driver, Tallman Trask, Executive Vice President of the University for finances and administration, had a reputation for not keeping his parking pass(es) visible, and that the manager of Special Event Parking had told employees to look out for him for just that reason?<\/p>\n

One may be reminded at this point about the joke regarding the difference between a Porsche and a porcupine.  (Porcupines have their pricks on the outside.  H\/T to Raw Story commenter CripesAlmighty)<\/p>\n

Two days after the incident, Underwood went to the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center because she was having pain in her arm  She was diagnosed with a muscle contusion and a possible fractured elbow.  She intended to file a police report, but her supervisor promised to file it for her (and the following day advised her she would have to file it herself.)  Under pressure from her employer (not just her supervisor, but the owner spoke with her) and fearful of losing her job, she agreed not to proceed further beyond the report she had made, provided she received a sincere apology.  That was the wording of the agreement – "a sincere apology."<\/p>\n

Sixteen days later, Sept. 20, 2014, three weeks after the initial incident, Underwood was working again at her usual post before the Duke-Tulane football game when she received the apology she had requested from Trask.<\/em><\/p>\n

“At the same location, a tall guy comes up behind me and says, ‘Um, I don’t know exactly what happened out here, but whatever, here you go.’ And he hands me a card,” Underwood alleged.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Adkins later identified the man as Vice President for Administration Kyle Cavanaugh.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Are you kidding me?” Underwood said. “I wanted a sincere apology, and this isn’t even close to it.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Cavanaugh did not reply to multiple requests for comment about his alleged role in delivering Trask’s note to Underwood.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since receiving the apology note from Trask, who oversees Cavanaugh and PTS, Underwood has been working to take legal action against Trask.<\/em><\/p>\n

So – What do you think?  Was that a "sincere apology"?  Leaving out the cowardice of the method of delivery? <\/p>\n

Raw Story picked this up from Duke, AlterNet picked it up from Raw Story, and you may also have seen it elsewhere.  But it was Duke that had the details and the pictures.  Have fun in North Carolina, ladies.  If you see Dr. Barber, give him my regards (and treat him well.)<\/p>\n

Two other very short takes, one regarding another black woman who has died in the custody of police <\/a>(and on this one, so much is up in the air that it is not a confirmed case for the Furies.  But you all know how I get when a person of color encounters police and then dies.)  This one probably requires the comments to get a grasp of, since it appears to relate to natural marijuana which is very safe, vis-a-vis a so-called "synthetic marijuana," which is neither marijuana nor safe.<\/p>\n

The second you may already have seen, perhaps even with some glee.  I suspect this legislator's own party won't need the Furies to deal with him – the guy who was arrested and charged with trying to lure a 14-year-old girl for sex while armed<\/strong>,<\/a> and also for dealing drugs.  A Republican of course, in New Hampshire of all places, with a modified Martin Shkreli smile.  The punch line is that before this happened he sat, not just in the state House, but in its Committee on Children and Family Law, which deals with the legal rights and protections of families and children. Seriously.<\/p>\n

The Furies and I will be back. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More stuff has come to light which seems to me to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with it. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":18437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}