Foster missing superintendent license
December 20, 2011 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Duluth school district Superintendent I.V. Foster has been working in Minnesota without a license required for his job, according to records kept by the Minnesota Department of Education.
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$173,765 a year and the board didn’t even ask if he had the proper license? LMAO! Good one ISD #709 Board! Also? It costs $12,000 to move here from ILL.? Wow who found this guy Johnson Controls?
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The solution here is obvious. Declare him a member of the fon du lac band and he will be exempt from all educational and licensing requirements, and he won’t have to pay income tax either!
He would look good with a feather in that hair I think.
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Nice background check…. not!
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Is there anyone left in Duluth that DOESN”T think the screwel board is totally incompetent?
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FIGURES! No shocker here! Fruitcakes is putting it MILDLY!!
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I’d like to say I’m surprised, but nothing surprises me with this group….How hard is it to ask and/or make a photocopy of a license???
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Because it was in the contract that a license was needed they assumed he had one?
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I wonder if the NAACP, or ACLU will come out in support of Foster – stating this is just a witch hunt for anyone in power that is of color
Hot debate. What do you think?
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What happens to a doctor or nurse that practices without a license?
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When doctors or nurses are hired their licensure is checked on through the background check.
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Amen, brother.
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can you share your peyote?
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There is NOTHING to comment !!!
All you can do is just “SHAKE YOUR HEAD”!!!!
YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK !!!!!!
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You mean your tax dollars *not* at work? He is on paid leave afterall.
So unbelievable yet believable. It’s a joke… that’s not funny. What a complete lack of respect for our community this man has.
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It is up to ISD 709 to perform a background check on each and every hire – making sure all licensure requirements, work history, conferred degrees, and legal history are accurate and meet current hiring guidelines. He didn’t screw up – ISD 709 Human Resources screwed up – BIG TIME>
I’m jumping ship after this escapade – I have forever been a fan of the current school board, but simply will not support them after this kind of error. This is a really big deal, and ISD 709 is not worthy of my support any longer. Kids are out of the system now – they just lost one of their most ardent supporters. Unbelievable…simply, unbelievable.
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I think he may have screwed up: He surely knew he needed to be licensed for the position. And what more can be said about the school board???
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Yes. And hell yes. I won’t be satisfied until the school bored no longer exists.
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Great death clock, D.I.
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Dethklok is my FAVORITE band! They are great, will the band be in town once Bentleyville leaves?
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Yeah, maybe. But I’ll be getting wasted in Hong Kong anyway.
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Sorry…my previous comment was said with a ton of sarcasm. What I was referring is that even if our Superintendent was white, this would still be investigated. This is not a witch hunt but Claudie and Mary will more than likely make it out to be one.
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There’s more, go to OCB up by the mall and take a head count.
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As much as we might want to blame Foster – and blame does lie with him as well because even if he didn’t have the needed license when he was hired, it is apparently easy enough to get it between July and now. – The Board that hired him had a responsibility to check and double check his credentials. Seems to me they are passing the blame. If I had a crystal ball, I would predict that they will use this as a way to get rid of the guy (even though the Dept of Ed says it is fairly easy to get the needed license since he has a license in Illinois) – The Board will instead make a big investigation of this and point blame to get in the guy they wanted from day one – Gronseth – who is a mini Dixon. And lets not forget that Dixon “retired” off to another job for a year and would be free again in June. This looks and sounds like a witch hunt to me too jojo, just to get their choice in (gronseth) . The way they are reporting it practically makes it look like the Board holds no responsibility in this manner and they definately do.
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“What we have here is failure to communicate.”
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Definitely a Cool Hand Luke moment KH.
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It is inexcusable that all this has been thrown onto Foster as if he has done smething morally or legally wrong when it was just as much the responsibility of the Board to be sure this was taken care of. They should have asked to see his license, noticed that it was due to expire, and told him to get it renewed before july 1. Put the Board on unpaid leave!
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So if I’m driving around w/ expired tabs it’s the Police Dept.’s fault for not catching me? Even though I, as owner of the vehicle, am responsible for maintaining current registration on the vehicle. What kind of world do you live in? Where’s the accountability? Mr. Foster is guilty, AND the school board is guilty. Mr. Foster should be removed from office and reimburse the taxpayers any salary/expenses already paid to him since he lied about his qualifications to get the job, AND the ISD 709 needs to be reprimanded for not doing a simple background check when hiring the biggest and most important position in their district.
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Apples and oranges, MH.
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MH, he was a licensed Superintendent, in Illinois. He didn’t lie on any application. It is the responsibility of the school district, with Foster as their top choice, to complete an inclusive background check on everything – and I mean EVERYTHING required for him to be offered the position. School Board bestows their final blessing on the process, then it’s up to the candidate to make the choice to accept or turn it down.
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And once he accepts the position, THEN he applies for his Minnesota license. There wouldn’t be any point in an Illinois resident to get a Minnesota license before they have the job. That’s the point people are missing. However, once he accepted the position, it WAS his responsibility to get the license and the school board’s responsibility to ensure that he did so. He didn’t “lie on his application” and whatever other nonsense people are throwing out there. What he did was an error of omission after accepting the job.
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Applying for and obtaining a license is the responsibility of the individual and not the entity, however, the entity has the responsibility to require the individual to obtain the correct license and verify compliance to any and all requirements.
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More local yocal Duluth bureaucrats who don’t have a grasp on the realities and complexities of handling contracts, contractors, budgets, property acquisition, capital projects or even vetting the qualifications of an executive. The same mentality pervades City Hall, too.
His appointment was pure tokenism as his color and being from out of town and not connected with the Red Plan would in itself shelter him or deflect any rancor and aggression from the Red Plan detractors.
Well, looks like it’s not working, School Board because the transparency that we asked for was misplaced by you, and now we can see through the glass, like it or not!
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This state has license mania. What value does this license add to anyone? Do we trust school boards to pick qualified people or not? Does knowing the Super has the ability to fill out a bureaucrat’s form give us any more confidence he can run this large enterprise?
Why do barbers need a license? Why do you need a license to paint fingernails? Who said we’d be better off if we turned our lives over to bureaucrats?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Well, dave, in most cases a license lets you know the individual has completed the course of training to do the job and has been tested by the state board to ensure training was assimilated. Do you really want unlicensed carpenters, electricians and plumbers working on that addition to your mansion? Won’t be able to get insurance that way….
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If the company is bonded, if they have a good references why should I care if they jumped through state hoops to get a license? And their work has to be inspected by people taxpayers hire for that purpose. So no, I don;’t see any value in a state license at all.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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That is an incredibly narrow-minded way to view this subject David. Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s bad. Holding a license means you have met the state mandated criteria to call yourself a professional in a particular field. It is a way to ensure to the public that our professionals are indeed qualified to practice. I certainly wouldn’t want to have 0 licensing as you suggest, thereby making routine visits to doctors, dentists, chiropractors, etc. a game of Russian roulette. I like knowing that the architect and engineer that designed my home/ place of employment are licensed & educated professionals, not some hothead weekend warrior with a computer who finished his own basement once.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Seems you can’t discuss an issue without slinging insults. So noted.
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David Anderson is incredibly sensitive, please refrain from using the following words and phrases: hothead, weekend warrior, his, professionals, narrow-minded, understand, sensitive … OH SNAP!
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Can’t get a bond w/o a license, Davy.
My old man was a Master Electrician.
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Well obviously since State law requires it. Did you miss the part that I’m criticizing the State law?
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Dave,
The state needs to obtain money in some way, if you will make 180K per year you should be able to pay for a license, or maybe ensure your friend applies for your license and fill out the correct form to have the school district pay for the license.
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He should be terminated. Any person accepting a job submits and application and knows what is required when hired. If any of us were hired into a position and it was found that we didn’t have the credentials we either said we had and didn’t or failed to obtain them before actually working on the job would be immediately terminated. At his level, he is like a doctor moving to town, not getting his MN license to practice, but treated patients anyway.
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Maybe the school board member that was suppose to do the proper background check needs to be fired. This school board needs to get their act together. I suppose Foster, and that school member are being paid while this is being investigated. Nice way to waste tax payer money.
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Paul,
I wonder if we could have the students purchase all school materials such as books and the teachers to purchase all of the class handouts, chalk, dry erasers, etc. so we could take the money saved and pay for the good doctor’s license and paycheck
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Extremely maddening. First we have one that comes in and turns the schools upside down, now we are paying one to take a leave because he was working illegally…..WOW!! AND it’s not a matter of color. The only thing regarding black and white about this whole thing is the ink on the paper that should have been looked at in the first place!!!
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More incompetence from this school board. Why is it Paid leave? The contract required a license. Another waste of taxpayer money. Oh that’s right… no big deal it’s just taxpayer money. The list goes on.
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ehem, SCREWEL BOARD.
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Nice contribution, JB. Funny, I just heard Rush Limbaugh using that phrase yesterday. Very original.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Yep, and the “ehem” was el rushbo clearing his throat for the gazillionth time.
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Makes ya wonder what he’s got stuck in there, don’t it? Oxycontin?
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Not like the slobbering sound Barney Frank makes every time he tries to pronounce “the.”
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For $173,000 a year, you would think SOMEBODY would have asked if he had a MN license. Can we look any dumber up here?
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So, that guy that was practicing law as a lawyer and wasn’t certified gets prison but this joker who was being paid large for making bad decisions as an unlicensed superintendent of schools gets off without so much as a by-your-leave? At least be consistent. Throw him in prison for falsifying a job application and making public money from it.
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Yes, it is maddening that he just gets a paid Christmas vacation until things get sorted out, if they ever are. Put him on unpaid leave and I would bet he would work much harder to update his licensure, if it is possible.
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Life’s not fair.
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Technically they could probably fire Foster for signing a document saying he was licensed in MN. I hope they don’t as long as there are no issues with job performance. He needs to get his license updated and get back to work ASAP. Paid leave! Ridiculous; preposterous!
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If they put him on unpaid leave, he could sue the district for negligence in hiring. Paid Administrative leave is the legal ‘Zombieland’ where he must exist until the legaleeze is all sorted out.
Still cannot believe the current school board signed off on this. Current board members should be held accountable for this oversight – unbelievable.
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Does anybody else think it has gotten ridiculous how many degrees, licenses, and certificates people need to get a decent job these days? By the sounds of the article, Foster probably just plum forgot to renew his license. I’m not saying that’s excusable for a person in his position. I just think it’s ridiculous that someone like myself needs to get a Masters degree and a half-dozen other licenses and certificates to legally “qualify” me to do a job that I thought I was getting my Bachelor’s degree for.
In other countries, it’s just the opposite. If you are capable of doing the job well, then you can get hired. Here in America, if you are capable of doing the job well, it doesn’t mean a darned thing unless you have the money to afford the paper to back it up. And I don’t know that anybody can argue that there are licensed professionals out there who are pretty lackluster about their work.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I’m with you completely on this one Merv.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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The main purpose of these state imposed work requirements is to keep the supply of workers low to keep the cost up.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Yea, nice cheap shot Mike. Unfortunately, you are dead wrong. My academic performance is just fine. It’s the going into $60,000 worth of debt part that keeps me from continuing my education.
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He’s licensed in Illinois; not Minnesota. That’s simply an unpardonable “oversight” on the part of the School Board. If he’s the candidate of choice in a national search, then that’s fine but hire him on the contingency that he successfully obtains a Minnesota license.
Where are the rest of the facts? Why has this now come to light? A senior exec on $175k public funded salary ought to be accountable as should the HR and higher ups on the School Board who hired him.
A prof at his level knows that he must be properly licensed in the jurisdiction he works in so neither he or the SB are guiltless in this.
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No license, so I wonder what quality about him that the board so focused on and thus hired him on?
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Soup Town,
He was hired from some comments that he made and evidently he looked good on paper.
Here are some quotes from the DNT dated May 2, 2011
Foster holds a doctorate in Education Administration and Leadership, but started his career teaching music.
The board also said it hopes his outside perspective and experience will help the district find ways to get funding, transition to new schools, close the achievement gap and pass a levy.
“The best way of dealing with that is to be open and honest, share as much information with the community and the stakeholders, so that people know what’s coming before it actually comes,” said Foster.
I think he has how could you say…..not lived up to his word. Is this not a breach of contract?
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College professors don’t need licenses to teach in colleges or universities. There are educational licensure requirements at other levels of education, however.
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This makes me wonder, how many other employees of ISD 709 have an expired license, and/or have not had a background check?
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Lost In Time,
We should also look at other public employees like Social Workers. I bet that would open your eyes.
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Does anyone else find it interesting that Foster applied for his Minnesota license on Monday? If it was that easy, why didn’t he do that in July? Why didn’t the board follow up on it? This whole thing is absolutely infuriating.
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Whether or not he “forgot” to renew his license is one thing… I wonder if he ever had a Minnesota License… being that was a condition of his employment, one would think that he would have immediately applied and that the school board would have hired him conditioned on his receipt of the required license.
That being said, the article indicates that there are other reasons… what? The answer may make the license issue a moot point.
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It may be that a currently licensed Illinois Superintendent meets the criteria for Minnesota Superintendent licensure as well. All that would be needed is to submit the required documentation and pay the application fee to the MN State Board of Education and tah dah, he has his MN Superintendent license. Teaching license credentials in MN meet many other state licensure requirements as well.
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michael61: Playing that worn-out joke of a race card again? People like you are the ones who made the race card a joke. So quick to play it. Didn’t your mammy ever tell you the story about the little boy who cried wolf (racism)? He did it so often that pretty soon nobody listened. Then when there really was a wolf (racism) nobody would listen. That is the point at which we find ourselves nodays. People who play that race card are viewed as jokes themselves. People like you have over-played that card and have diluted the value of the race card to the point of it being totally worthless and laughable. michael61…nobody is listening any more. And we are laughing at you.
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nodays = nowdays. Oops.
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Good Lord the school board hires a person for a job that doesn’t have a license for the job in Minnesota. No one on the board did bother to look or realize you must have a license in Minnesota. Way to embarrass us again Duluth School Board!!
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And here we have another classic failure by the city of Duloot.
Meanwhile, all the usual yakkers are so busy trading barbs here that they just can’t get it through their little noggins that nothing there is going to change for the better until they ge off their collective backsides, quit hammering away at keyboards, and ACUALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
In the last week, at least one of the posters on this site has admitted that Dulluth is a laughingstock, and he/she was right.
Even the North Dakota people are yukking it up!
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michael61: Weak people like you look for others to blame for their problems, it certainly cannot be that individuals fault can it? So you get way too accustomed to playing the race card to cover for your own shortcomings. It is too easy for impotent individuals to look for the easy way out and if their skin color is what they perceive as “different” then that difference is used by you as your crutch to explain away your failures. Well news flash for you michael…I believe most of society has gotten beyond where you are at. I believe most of us couldn’t give a d*mn what color your skin is. What is important is what is in your head and in your heart. If your head or heart is corrupted by generational training that your skin makes a difference, then you are the one that is stuck in the old slave days. You should not be a slave to your skin color. You certainly should not use your skin color as a crutch any longer. Stand like a man, on your own two feet for a change. Get into the 21st century michael.
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It’s the first amendment, you ignorant twit! Ulysses can always claim he has the correct answer. It’s the Rule of LAW not the Rule of Man that really counts. IV Foster trying to skirt the law, among other undisclosed indiscretions, is an example of one man practicing the Rule of Man. Getting his superintendent slammed in the door is an example of the Rule of LAW. If you can prove me wrong do it, if you can’t sit down and let mature people speak.
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Larry, thanks for the support, I think. I am the first to admit it when I make a mistake. I would just prefer to give Mr. Foster the benefit of the doubt about his license mess-up. As I have said I think that can be overcome but I am more concerned about the “investigation” part of the news story. In todays (Friday) paper, again I could be wrong, but I think Mr. Foster didn’t realize the small town politics that rule in Duluth and I would bet he neglected to kiss the a** of some little egomaniac locally who now has it in for Foster.
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I bet Elizabeth is right on. This board will use this over sight on both parties to give him the heave ho and get their boy in that they wanted all along.
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No, Elizabeth and you didn’t read the article. It was brought to the administrations attention by the State Board of Education. So that negates that there is some subversive plot by the local administrators. The article also points out that it’s the administration that could be in trouble for breach of ethics not Foster. The contract stated he needed to secure license but it was responsibility of administrators to ensure he had.
I know forums are great places for wild unsubstantiated conjecture by posters….but would help if read article first.
“Too often we… enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. “….John F. Kennedy
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Back at you fastone. Just saying the board might use this opportunity to oust this guy. No one accused them of a plot. But that would mean not getting to play the poor victim and making smug comments.
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So the administration which is in big trouble already with Board of Education for breach of ethics will then use this to then get rid of Foster? They’re in far bigger trouble then he is, notice he’s on leave WITH pay? So firing him…That would be their best move?….after singing his praises for months and what a great catch he was, because they don’t at moment have just enough egg on their face? My point was that predicting future events based on unsubstaniated pure conjecture is just internet nonsense, repeating it again doesn’t change that.
Maybe they’ll fire him, maybe they won’t, maybe he’ll sue, maybe he won’t, maybe they fire him, he sues and gets paid whole year suit is in courts then wins millions of dollars and I don’t know which of those scenario’s will happen and my point was…neither do you or Elizabeth.
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