Taylor Lifka, a 25-year-old English teacher at Roma High School in Roma, Texas, wanted to create an inclusive environment for her online classes this school year.

So she created a virtual background with posters that read: “Black Lives Matter,” “Amiga, tu lucha es mi lucha,” (Your struggle is my struggle) and “Diverse, Inclusive, Accepting, Welcoming, Safe Space for Everyone” in rainbow colors.

Before the first day of school, she asked her incoming students to put their names and preferred pronouns in the chat box on the digital chalkboard. Then, she posted a screenshot of her classroom on her social media.

Some parents complained about the inclusive posters to the principal.

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“My assistant principal told me, ‘Please take the posters down.’ I guess once that happened, I knew that it might be a rocky road, but considering being put on leave? I never really thought that that was going to be their first step,” Lifka told The Texas Tribune.

via Change.org

However, the district did just that – put her on administrative leave. She was also told that some parents were not ready for her progressive views.

“If you’re not ready today, you’re not ready tomorrow, and if you’re not ready tomorrow you’re not going to be ready five years from now,” Lifka said according to Yahoo. “If I’m not going to say something now, then when am I going to say something? It’s been clear that people have a lot of things to say.”

Supporters fought back by starting a petition that received nearly 35,000 signatures.

“Please sign this petition to let the school district know that inclusivity and acceptance are not taboo ideas that deserve censorship; that high school students can and should be allowed to discuss the realities of the world instead of being sheltered inside a sanitized bubble; and that by reprimanding the teacher for trying to create a safe space for her students, the school is not being neutral, but is actively taking a stance that is antithetical to justice,” the petition read.

The situation then became part of the local culture wars when a photograph of the virtual classroom was shared on a pro-Trump Facebook page and then amplified by Marian Knowlton, a Republican running for the District 31 state House seat.

Knowlton claimed that the education system was “radicalizing” students in “leftist indoctrination.”

All this because Lifka was trying to create an inclusive environment for her students.

“Our nation is in a really divisive state right now, and so when something like this comes out that a teacher is being placed on administrative leave because of parents’ concerns over teaching tolerance in the classroom, that’s a bigger question,” she said.

On Tuesday, Lifka was reinstated by the district, but she refused to return to work until there were clearer inclusivity guidelines for teachers.

“I need support from the administration, knowing I can re-enter the classroom, that we are all on the same page knowing what I can and cannot say to my students,” she said.

Lifka hopes that, in the end, the situation will be a learning opportunity for the district.

“If I just reenter the classroom without any further discussion or action of how is this going to change in our community, then what was all this for?” Lifka said.

The second season of How Far Is Tattoo Far? was officially released on May 23, 2019 on MTV, and as of August 2020, Viacom has not announced whether there will be a third season. However, since the show has gained tremendous traction, according to The Cinemaholic, it would be quite surprising if it isn’t renewed. They predicted, though, a third season would have come out in May 2020, though the ongoing pandemic may have affected the release date and possibly filming.

How Far Is Tattoo Far? is the American version of the U.K. reality series Just Tattoo Us. There have been five seasons of the British version so far, which hopefully bodes well for the U.S. iteration. We’re on the edge of our seats, waiting for a green light.

We’re glad Snooki left How Far Is Tattoo Far? on good terms, and we’re really hoping — if there is a Season 3 — that she will step back in to host. After all, there’s truly no replacement for Snooki.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg blamed an “operational mistake” on Friday after the page for a Wisconsin-based militia was not removed from the platform.

The page, run by a group known as the Kenosha Guard, had created a Facebook event calling on members to show up armed at protests over the police killing of Jacob Blake

The Kenosha Guard’s presence on Facebook has stirred controversy after a 17-year-old was charged with homicide for shooting and killing two protesters on Tuesday evening.

Although the shooter, Kyle Rittenhouse, has thus far not been linked to the Kenosha Guard, many have argued that Facebook is not doing enough to keep potentially violent groups from congregating on their platform.

In an address to users on Friday, Zuckerberg said that an “operational mistake” was to blame for the page remaining online.

“There have been a bunch of media reports asking why this page and event weren’t removed sooner, especially when in this case a bunch of people did report the page,” Zuckerberg said. “The reason for this is, it was largely an operational mistake.”

I spoke to Facebook employees at our weekly company Q&A about what’s happening in Kenosha and wanted to share.

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, August 28, 2020

Zuckerberg noted that although the group’s page had been flagged, the company initially failed to remove it.

“The contractors and the reviewers who the initial complaints were funneled to basically didn’t pick this up,” Zuckerberg said.

The Kenosha Guard wasn’t removed until a second “specialized team” reviewed the page’s content.

“The team that enforces our policy against dangerous organizations is a specialized team that is trained to look for symbolism and innuendo and different things that require a significant amount of training in some of these cases to understand the details or nuances,” Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg’s remarks come just days after the platform cracked down on movements tied to violence. Those affected by the new guidelines included militias, certain anarchist groups, and supporters of the conspiracy theory QAnon.

About

Great Pretender is a crime-comedy anime series developed by Wit Studio. The series focuses on Makoto Edamura, a small-time Japanese swindler, who gets involved with international con artists who work to cheat rich criminals and villains out of large sums of money. The series aired on Fuji TV and Netflix and has garnered very positive reviews.

History

In July of 2019, Wit Studio (the studio behind Attack On Titan and Vinland Saga, among others) announced a 23-episode original anime series titled Great Pretender, directed by Hiro Kaburagi and written by Ryōta Kosawa, to be released in 2020. The first trailer debuted May 8th, 2020 (shown below, left). An English dub trailer released in July (shown below, right).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wbksh0CfWw

The series is divided into four “cases” which span the 23 episodes. The first fourteen episodes comprise the series’ first three cases and were released on July 8th, 2020 in Japan and August 20th on Netflix. The fourth case, spanning nine episodes, is set to release September 15th in Japan.

Reception

The show was very well received upon release thanks to its well-written characters, art design, and entertaining caper plots. Polygon wrote, “there are few shows that, regardless of a person’s predilections, I would suggest without a second thought. Great Pretender is now on that list.” Thrillist compared it to Ocean’s 11 and wrote, “Great Pretender is Wit Studio’s third original series, following their popular manga adaptations of Attack on Titan and Vinland Saga. Both shows set an intimidatingly high bar for new work from the studio, but Great Pretender easily clears it.” Fans reacted positively to the series as well. The show has a rating of 8.3/10 on My Anime List and an 8/10 on IMDb.

Online Presence

The show has a growing presence online. The show’s subreddit has 680 subscribers but was created well before the anime was announced, indicating it used to be a subreddit for another topic. The show has a dedicated Wiki page. Reviews and compilations for the show have appeared on YouTube, where most reviewers have given the show positive marks (shown below).

Search Interest

Know Your Meme Store

External References