Well Reddit, this feels like discrimination, does it sound like it?
I am part of an engineering team of 5, on which I am the only woman. I was hired 2.5 years ago, 6 months before my coworker Paul (both of us to the same role).
On Friday we were set to integrate four new members into the team-- four more men. It was in this meeting in front of these new hires that I learned, through my boss' introductions, that my coworker Paul has been promoted to a level above mine and I am now the lowest-ranking member of my department.
At no point was I notified that a promotion was on the table for engineers at my level, nor did anyone notify me directly that Paul had received this promotion and subsequent raise. I inquired with my boss immediately after the meeting about it, and he responded that it had been announced at a company-wide zoom meeting in April, implying that I should have learned about it then and, had I wished to, brought it up with him.These zoom meetings were not portrayed to me as mandatory, nor could I find anything to that effect in writing in any of my employment materials. I either did not attend that meeting or did not hear that announcement.
Regardless, I believe that as my manager, it was my boss's responsibility to initiate a conversation with me about it in order to help guide my trajectory for success in my role. I believe this is true even if at the time, he found my performance below the standard needed to earn the promotion.
Additionally, Paul confirmed to me that despite his new title and pay level, his job responsibilities have not changed.
Furthermore, I was given a cost of living adjustment around the time Paul must have gotten this promotion. The timing throws into question the intentions of the adjustment and to me it indicates a feeling of guilt on the part of my manager and an attempt at a conciliatory gesture. The fact that he did not announce Paul's success openly across his team is also suspicious to me.
Paul said he "didn't know how to talk to me about it in case it was a sore spot", which I find discriminatory as well, but probably not legally so.
So, please help me, Reddit HR. I understand that the first thing I need to do is talk to my manager, which I'm prepared to do. I documented all my communications about it in a timestamped email to myself.
​
To me it looks like my male boss quietly promoted and raised my junior male coworker behind my back without offering me the same opportunity.
​
How does this sound to you, and what else should I look into?

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They did what to Taggert? After years of speculation, the writers finally cut off Taggert's family ties when Trina's paternity test revealed that Curtis is her biological father. Sure DNA isn't everything, just ask Michael why he's feuding with a guy he calls "Dad" when he could call him "the guy who killed Dad" and choose to have nothing to do with him.
The cherry on top is that Curtis is not displaying many redeemable features these days. Does Trina know she went from legacy to a leg up or over? Curtis was playing Jordan by leading her to believe they might have a second chance while at the same time moving back into the beach house with Portia. Detective Jordan figured it out and said she was getting on with her life. Humbly, I say, I've said that to Jordan since she recovered from her kidney transplant. Can we please find someone new for Jordan? By new, I mean not related to Curtis or Portia.
As for Trina, she dragged her billionaire boyfriend out of the pool and forced him to go to the bank because his rich uncle died and left him all his - I want to say marshmallows, but that's wrong. Thankfully, for Trina's reputation, Victor did not leave Spencer gold, but instead, evidence of Esme drugging both Trina and bartendephone dealewannabe environmental law attorney Oz Haggerty. Victor said it was something to "safeguard his family." He placed the key to the safe deposit box under the turtle dove earrings that Spencer bought for Trina when she was with Rory. Apparently, Esme is now the biggest threat to Spencer's family. But what will they do with this proverbial smoking gun?
Michael gave Carly the smoking gun video of Sonny helping an international illegal arms dealer. The plan is to trade Sonny to the feds to get them off her back. Carly is adamant that Michael destroy the tape. Michael can be slow on the uptake but it's loony for him to think that he has the skills to play Sonny and Carly against one another.
Victor's will be done. Get it? The reading is over and he has set traps for a bunch of them to do what he wants. Anyway, he gave Ava a picture of a gargoyle saying it was her first true love. Ava, of course, is most interested in what people will learn of her last love, Nikolas. As a reminder, Ava has no clue what happened to Nikolas. Last she knew, she killed him by hitting him over the head. She stuffed his body in a closet. When she looked again, his body was gone. I have no idea what is going through this woman's mind. Someone should clue her in that human bodies don't disappear. Yeah, sure, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, but typically that takes more than a few days.
In his video, Victor does not hint that he knows what happened to Nikolas. He acknowledges that he left town, but that's it. He left Nikolas a deed to a house in Chechnya. Laura decided she has to go there because she in incomplete without her son. You know that old saying, when your ears are burning (feeling warm) that means someone is talking about you, Lucky's ears are nice and cool.
Laura tells Valentin she has to go to Chechnya to find out if Nikolas is hiding out there. He insists on going along to help her. Ava thinks it is a bad idea. Austin thinks that it will take Laura and Valentin a long time to plan the trip. Austin dear, in the time since we've last seen you, Laura and Valentin have been to Greenland and back. They've deciphered and stopped Victor's plot to release a deadly pathogen that would have killed untold millions of people around the world. As a bonus, Laura prevented the latest version of the Cassadine weather machine from turning Port Charles into an igloo factory. I think they can manage a trip to Russia.
Victor gave Alexis some antique nesting dolls to represent her and her daughters. She thought that was nice. He also gave her a deck of Tarot cards for Sam, to one day make herself "lucky in love for once." Alexis thought that was mean, but you know what they say, the truth hurts. The only thing we have to worry about is if Lucky does come back to town that he'll hook back up with Sam.
Victor gave Valentin a literal finger. Anna received a more figurative one when Victor released information about her doubleagent activities with the DVX back in the day. The new Director of the WSB who replaced Frisco opts to fire Anna to save the agency from embarrassing questions and answers. With the demise of any formidable Cassadines and Anna losing her agent status, maybe it is time finally to say goodbye to the 80s. Problem is they don't have anything to replace it with. Dex and Spence sizing each other up in saunas and poolside is something, but hardly the stuff of legends.
I know you have only read this far to find out the most important thing happening in Port Charles. Even though this was a short week because of the Memorial Day Holiday on Monday, each day was fraught with tension. Enough with the filler, here is the real information. I won't drag it out and act as if everything hinges on this answer. Every character does not have to be motivated to achieve one unitary outcome. They don't have to be, they want to be. I write this, you read this all because you want to know the answer to the eternal question: How is Willow doing? Tune in next week...
... Willow is now will still be alive.

As the title says, I’m looking for recommendations for shorts/leggings/ with pockets for women. Bonus if they have zipper pockets too.
A lot of women’s clothing don’t have pockets at all and if they do, they are very small and redundant or very expensive.
I have the Nike Go leggings and the Outdoor Voices SuperFoam 3.5 in shorts. I am a US Size S/M.

Hi all,
Long time chime member and never actually had any issues. This morning I got a notification from Chime about a $30 McDonald’s charge on my credit builder. I then also saw an $80 charge at a gas station I didn’t go to.
Immediately moved all the money out of my credit builder account and turned off transactions for credit builder and debit cards.
Filed a dispute and Chime is going to send me a new card. RIP metal card. I’ve never had this happen before on Chime. Any chance I’ll get my $110 back? Should I be changing all my account passwords? Moving that money completely out of Chime? Since I still have my credit builder card I’m guessing someone got a hold of my card info through a skimmer.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I (14f) and my now ex (15m) broke up because we didn't have the same goals he wants kids and a big family where I don't, we didn't have any of the same interests other then enjoying reading and listening to music, and I was his whole support system and that wasn't fair to me. For context my ex and I were together for almost 3 months. We had a pretty healthy relationship and had open conversations with each other about boundaries, what we needed from the other person etc. The school I go to is fairly small and lots of people are in some way related (mainly cousins) I was talking with some of our mutual friends in art class about why we broke up amongst other things. One of my exes cousins (2nd cousin I think) came to our table (which he does quite a bit) and told be he was sorry that my ex broke up with me, in response I told him that it was the opposite and I broke up with him to which he said "Oh good for you, he's a pretty weird guy" my friends and I called him out on it I called him an asshole cause my ex is nowhere even close to being a "weirdo". He then left after that class when I was cleaning up my stuff he approched me and asked why I had broken up with my ex, I then told him "I have my reasons" he tried to push for said reasons and I told him that it wasn't any of his business. He told me that because they are related that it was his business and that he wanted to make fun of my ex for being dumped (as if that would make me magicaly want to tell him). That same day my ex reached out because I was having a pretty shitty day and ended up crying in our last period class, he told me even though we broke up he was still here for me. I told him I appreciated that and I'm still here for him as well. He also asked what happened in my art class because as I said the people I was with were our mutuals and gave him a kind of run down I guess. I told him what happened and he said he'd have a chat with the guy, I told him to be careful and remember that he shouldn't use his fists. He later told me that he had talked with the guy and things were cleared up. I still have feelings for my ex but we just weren't on the same path and that's ok, I know he's dealing with some mental health issues (I am too) and I ended up being his whole support system which wasn't fair to me to feel like his well-being and happiness was all on me, so I decided to end things before it got to a point where nither of us were happy (I was happy in the relationship I just didn't want to end up not being happy) am I the asshole?

I use my feet to point at things at the floor or pick them up with my toes. This time around, I was pointing at something on the floor for my toddler and overextended my ankle and toes and instantly felt a snap burning pain shoot through the side and tip of my big toe. Confused, I repeated the action and the same pain. Ouch. Over the next couple weeks, I kept accidentally sitting on my legs+feet and flaring the pain again. I had a doctor's appointment, and she suggested I stretched the nerve out. I now have to wear an ankle brace for an unspecified amount of time as an external reminder not to over-extend my ankle and toes so it can try and heal. "You gotta be careful with your loose joints. Nerve damage is very easy to do on accident, so try very hard not to keep re-injuring it so it can hopefully heal."
It's a weird and stupid injury, and I'm very annoyed 😒😂

Masters of Arena - 7 by JonSlow is starting from 2023-06-05. The tournament is using an interesting drafting system where a bunch of civs are banned randomly at the start (eg. 27 bans for a bo5). For the most part, if there are several S, A, B-tier civs available after the bans, things might even out for both, the higher seed as well as the lower seed players. It seems that at least 1 scenario (Scenario 4 below) might lead to an imbalanced draft. For these scenarios, I'm assuming that several trash arena civs are getting through along with n number of S-tier arena civs, starting with 1, 2, 3 and so on. After the random bans, the first player (A) bans 1 civ, then the second player (B) bans 1 civ, followed by civ picks in the order: A, B, B, A, A, B, B and so on.
Scenario 1: 1 S-tier civ available- A will not ban the S-tier civ and B will have to ban it as A has first pick. A has slight advantage in that they are getting a ban whereas B is not getting a ban truly speaking.
Scenario 2: 2 S-tier civs available- A may or may not choose to ban one of them. If A bans an S-tier civ, B must also ban the other one and its an even playing field. If A does not ban an S-tier civ, B will also not ban any and both get 1 true ban and 1 true S-tier civ pick.
Scenario 3: 3 S-tier civs available- If A does not ban one of them, B won't ban any of them either in which case A will end up with 1 S-tier civ whereas B will end up with 2. Hence, A must ban 1 of them. B will not ban any of them and both will end up with 1 S-tier civ each. Contrary to Scenario 1, B now has a true ban whereas A has to waste a ban on one of the S-tier civs, although its not as wasteful as it was for B in Scenario 1 as they still get to choose which of the 3 S-tier civs they want to ban.
Scenario 4: 4 S-tier civs available- If A does not ban one of them, B will ban one of them and they end up with 1 and 2 S-tier civs respectively. If A bans one of them, B will not ban any of them and again, they end up with 1 and 2 S-tier civs, respectively. Hence, when 4 S-tier Arena Civs are getting through the Random Bans, Player B (the second picker) has an undeniable advantage!
Table below shows how likely it is for this scenario to happen after the random bans. The number of S-tier civs is subjective. I'll show the probability for different cases (4 to 10) of 'number of S-tier civs' depending upon a player's estimate. The draft considers 42 civs (Romans not included). For a bo5 draft, 27 civs are randomly banned, 2 are banned by players, 6 each are picked by the players and 1 civ is left at the end. The following probabilities are calculated by dividing the number of ways 4 S-tier civs go through the random bans by the total number of ways in which 27 civs get banned. Total ways = nC4 x (42-n)C23.

No. of S-tier (n)	nC4	(42-n)C23	Total ways	Probability
4	1	15471286560	15471286560	15.7%
5	5	6107086800	30535434000	30.1%
6	15	2310789600	34661844000	35.1%
7	35	834451800	29205813000	29.6%
8	70	286097760	20026843200	20.3%
9	126	92561040	11662691040	11.8%
10	210	28048800	5890248000	6.0%

As shown, if the number of S-tier civs are perhaps 4-8, the probability of Scenario 4 to occur is quite significant, with a max of 35% at n = 6. To Be Fair, it may happen so that Player B has the extra S-tier civ but Player A then ends up with 2 A-tier civs when there are only 2 A-tier civs available and the draft turns out to be less imbalanced. However, according to a top player, the number of S tier civs is 4-5 and then there are many A tier civs, so its unlikely that if there's the imbalance in S-tier civs, it'll get mitigated by counter distribution of A tier civs. Unfortunately, its rather difficult to compute all those scenarios as it'll run into a lot of speculation regarding how many A-tier civs are there. But I still feel that the number of S-tier civs is infact up for speculation. Maybe in the early stages or the qualifiers, its okay for the lower seed to have a 15-35% chance to get a major advantage out of the draft (an extra S-tier civ). But as the tournament proceeds, one could argue that the players in semis and finals are close enough and having an extra S tier civ could affect the outcome of the whole tournament.

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• TA47 ACOG, Red Triangle, 2021 DOM $700 Got this on trade on here and don't really need it, just been sitting in my desk drawer. Functions flawless, pair with either mount for $750. Comes with the original box and all original stickers, carry handle mount etc. This would be PERFECT on a carry handle upper.
• BOBRO Lower 1/3rd mii ACOG QD Mount $95 Comes will all original mounting hardware, low/no salt.
• SLR Low (tall for carry hand ACOGs, ~1.93) mini ACOG Mount $95 Comes will all original mounting hardware, low/no salt.
• Strike Industries silver mlok grip $25 Catch and release, I prefer the handbrake.
• TA51 Stock ACOG Mount $20 Bit salty just sitting in my junk drawer, comes with stock screws.
• Surefire Clicky Cap $20 Low/no salt.
• Aimpoint LRP 39mm spacer for micros $18 Comes will all original mounting hardware, low/no salt.
• BCM MLOK Grips $12 each or $20 for both One is painted one is not
• Modbutton Lite Pic $50 Low/no salt.
• 2x Magpul AICS Mags $65 New, don't fit with my tikka chassis so I need metal mags >_>
• OSS 762 30 cal flash hider $85 Comes with an oss MB box, I shot like 20 rounds through this, without a can basically zero salt. I swapped to a brake.
• 5x TRIPP RESEARCH 9mm 1911 10 round cobra mags $100 Used maybe 100 rounds each, low salt. I just prefer the Wilson combat mags and these have been sitting.
• THRYM Variarc helmet rail $18 Got in a package deal and don't need it

Thank you for looking!

So I’m travelling to Cyprus and it’s the first time I’ll be packing my own bags. I plan to take a carry on rucksack as well as my checked in suitcase. These may seem like obvious things but I’m very confused in all honesty. For my carry on I was planning to put my iPad, lip balm and a few clothes for when I land. I also want to take my eyebrow razor, my leg razor, nail clippers and lash glue. I’ve heard that these items have certain rules. Am I allowed to take them? If so can I bring them in a carry on or should i put them in check in bag

so was out getting a coffee this morning and someone taps me on the back, it’s my abusive sibling.
I had in my head for a long time that if that happened, I’d ignore and walk away or say something mean.
Instead I ended up having a 5 minute conversation with them and even giving details of my personal life because I was so caught off guard and awkward.
now i feel fake for talking to them considering I’ve opened up about the abuse to people.

So I'm trying to get everything I'll need for a decent gaming PC lined for when Black Friday/Cyber Monday and catch all the sales. I am new with PC parts so I can't really tell you which is better then others but I do have good experience with some WD external drives which I love them. Have had one for around 15 years. But I would like to know if this setup is even compatible together and if it would be sufficient enough to handle a few newer games? I'm not big into a lot of newer games but I do wish to get GoW Ragnarok, final fantasy, kingdom hearts (if it's even available on PC). Also with this PC I was thinking of just switching from all the consoles and just using PC from now on. I currently have a PS4 and that's the most modern one I have. Other games I'm hoping to get this to handle is Minecraft, Hogwarts legacy, metal gear delta, death stranding. So yeah would this setup work or could some parts be swapped for something better? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Processor Intel core i7-13700k 16 cores 30m cache 3.4 up to 5.4GHz.
Motherboard ASUS prime Z790-P WiFi LGA 1700.
Cooler NZXT Kraken X53 RGB 240mm AIO cpu cooler.
Case NZXT H510 Elite premium mid tower ATX case.
Graphics card ASUS TUF Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti OC edition PCle 4.0, 12gb GDDR6X.
RAM Corsair Vengeance DDR5 32gb(2 x 16gb) dynamic ten zone.
Storage WD Blue 1TB SATA 3 6gb/s m.2-2280 3D NAND ISSD
Case cooler Arctic P12 PWM PST 120mm case fan
Power supply Thermal take smart 430W 80+ ATX 12v V2.3 EPS 12V.
I know I still need a few things like an operating system.

FT-Pens: Almere City 1-1 VVV-Venlo

2nd Leg - Tied on aggregate - ALM advance 2-0 on penalties
Almere City scorers: Lance Duijvestijn (50')
VVV-Venlo scorers: Soulyman Allouch (62')
Venue: Yanmar Stadion
Auto-refreshing reddit comments link
LINE-UPS
Almere City
Nordin Bakker, Damian Van Bruggen, Joey Jacobs, Theo Barbet (Thomas Poll), Hamdi Akujobi, Lance Duijvestijn, Jorrit Smeets (Stije Resink), Álvaro Peña, Jeredy Hilterman (Jochem Van De Kamp), Anthony Limbombe (Rajiv van La Parra), Pascu (Ilias Alhaft).
Subs: Marcelencio Esajas, Agil Etemadi, Jens Guiting, Layee Kromah, Tyrese Noslin, Stijn Keller, Jeffry Puriel.
^{____________________________}
VVV-Venlo
Ennio van der Gouw, Brian Koglin, Rick Ketting, Simon Janssen, Tristan Dekker (Robin Lathouwers), Robert Klaasen (Carl Johansson) (Kristofer Kristinsson), Mitchell Van Rooijen, Daan Huisman (Soulyman Allouch), Kees de Boer, Sven Braken (Özcan Yasar), Nick Venema.
Subs: Sem Dirks, Jens Craenmehr, Melano Thier, Berkan Bartu, Joep Kluskens, Lucas Zima, Stan Hendrikx.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
42' Lance Duijvestijn (Almere City FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
45' Substitution, VVV-Venlo. Soulyman Allouch replaces Daan Huisman.
50' Goal! Almere City FC 1, VVV-Venlo 0. Lance Duijvestijn (Almere City FC) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner.
55' Hamdi Akujobi (Almere City FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
57' Substitution, VVV-Venlo. Carl Johansson replaces Robert Klaasen.
62' Goal! Almere City FC 1, VVV-Venlo 1. Soulyman Allouch (VVV-Venlo) right footed shot from outside the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Kees de Boer.
65' Substitution, Almere City FC. Ilias Alhaft replaces Pascu.
75' Substitution, Almere City FC. Rajiv van La Parra replaces Anthony Limbombe.
75' Substitution, Almere City FC. Stije Resink replaces Jorrit Smeets because of an injury.
82' Carl Johansson (VVV-Venlo) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
88' Substitution, VVV-Venlo. Özcan Yasar replaces Sven Braken.
89' Théo Barbet (Almere City FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
90'+3' Substitution, VVV-Venlo. Robin Lathouwers replaces Tristan Dekker.
92' Substitution, Almere City FC. Thomas Poll replaces Théo Barbet.
105' Substitution, VVV-Venlo. Kristófer Kristinsson replaces Carl Johansson.
109' Damian van Bruggen (Almere City FC) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
113' Rick Ketting (VVV-Venlo) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
120' Substitution, Almere City FC. Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp replaces Jeredy Hilterman because of an injury.

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Hello paranormal Reddit. I 22F have a small Bichon 4M curently vibing in my feet.
He is the love of my life and the goodest boy possible to exist . He never barks or chase cats and dogs he is always quiet and understands when my anxiety hits me and cuddles with me untill I sleep.
Even when I shave him (which he completely hates and whines about ) he gives me his paws and moves around for me to be able to reach him better with the shaving machine. When it's time for bath I just go bath time and he zooms in the bathtub.. he is really the greatest and I fear for the time he will not be around .
A few nights ago i got home a little bit late due to some work and we went for our night walk at 2AM.
I don't mind the time cause we live in a small village and I usually take him around the corner and back . So for context I live in narrow street.
My house is right at the start of the street and further down at the end there is a homeowner with a pitbull that goes vivid even if he hears just wind. All their yard is covered in thick metals just for their dog to not see and bark at others..No residents confront to pass from there and enter my street and if they do trust me you will hear them. That pitbull also goes to extreme lengths for dogs that pass by and barks just if he hears them 2 blocks away.. between the start and end of my street are exactly 6 and 6 houses opposite it's other. And none of them connects to other streets and have dogs (quess why) but me. Even if my dog goes more than 200 meters beside the pitbulls house it goes vivid and barks all night.
So as I am reaching about halfway and looking at my dog. ( I always have my eyes on him cause some neighbors put poisoned food a while ago as bait and I nearly got to him. He hears me but not in regards of food he completely demolish every single bite ) Suddenly I see him frozen looking at something and he steps back and starts growling .
He never growls! Not even barks so I raise my eyes and see the figure of an older mister with a lease and a dog at its end. The lamp of the street is exactly behind him so I can only see black and his figure. I immediately turn to my dog and go 'Bad boy! Don't growl! My dog in now in a normal state and I turn and say" I am sorry he barked at you sir "within no more than 1 second I raised my eyes and there was no one there.. Like the guy I was talking to didn't even exist. I freaked out and rushed me and my dog home. If this mister was just a person walking his dog he could not have come from the end of the street cause the pitbull would bark. And also he couldn't have come from behind me cause I would hear or see him as the figure was like 10 meters in front of me. None of my neighbors there is elderly or with dogs...
So what the hell was 'that'? My dog has never growled since then...

The morning of October 17th 2019 was a cool and bright autumn day, two words rarely used to describe the treacherous Hanoi’s weather, when Lê Hải An arrived at his workplace, the Ministry of Education on 35 Đại Cồ Việt street, Hai Bà Trưng district, Hà Nội. Normally, he would have had a big breakfast at the office canteen then head off to his office at the second floor where he would spend the rest of his day trying to solve the numerous problems plaguing Vietnam’s education.
At 7:10 AM, someone spotted a figure falling from the 8th floor. There was a blood-curling smash; the figure was declared dead on impact. It wasn’t hard for people to identify the man.
In just a few hours, public media across Vietnam would declare that Vice Minister Lê Hải An had died. The reason?
He slipped and fell off the balcony.
The story I am about to tell you is not just a simple fall.
The story I am about to tell you sounds like something out of a conspiracy theory, the one spewed by tinfoil hat wearers on the street, the one peddled by shock websites and fringe extremist forums, the kind that would make you think it was a rejected Hollywood script and not real life. And I must admit, I have to work with secondary foreign sources with many being biased and some outright spewing baseless conspiracy theories. Many original sources had been removed or edited, forever lost into a memory hole resembling that of 1984. In trying to be faithful, I've removed a lot more "fantastical" elements that have no proof to be cross-checked; I will do my best to paint a complete picture of not only who Lê Hải An was, but the treacherous world around him, a nightmarish jungle of political infighting.
To those who don’t believe, I ask you to just give me the benefit of the doubt and remember this one thing:
“This is Vietnam.”
PART 1: The model teacher
In Vietnam, we have this saying: “Tôn sư trọng đạo” meaning “To worship your teachers and to respect your study.” A teacher was not simply a teacher; he/she was the paragon of society, the enlightener, the one who upheld all the virtues of society, who embodied such virtues, and who passed on such virtue to younger generations.
Lê Hải An was one such man.
Born in April 1st 1971 in Hà Nội, An was the son of Lê Hải Châu, a famous educator whose mathematics book was once the golden standard of Vietnamese mathematics education. In fact, if you were in Vietnamese highschool in the 90s to early 2000s, you would have used one of his books. For his contribution, Châu was awarded the title “The People’s Teacher,” a once highly prestigious prize reserved for the most devoted teacher. Given his family’s background, An was said to be set for life.
But An did not take the easy way. He challenged himself continuously, was handpicked as a government-sponsored student to study Mining and Geology at Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography. Even late in his career, he still pursued his passion for the mining industry, successfully defending a thesis on the application of neural networks in the oil industry at the Heriot-Watt University.
Given his background and training, Lê Hải An was made a professor at the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology. At first he was a teacher at the Petroleum department, but rose steadily through the rank. To his students, he was a knowledgeable yet compassionate teacher who never sought to exert his authority; to his colleagues, he was a man of honor, of dignity, representing the paragon of teachers thought to have been lost. Nobody complained when he was made the University’s principal; nobody complained when Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc appointed An to be the Vice Minister of the much troubled Ministry of Education.
Well, maybe not nobody.
PART 2: You have to go to Hà Giang and take the national exam
For every Vietnamese students, nothing struck the fear of God in them worse than the word "National Exam." Not as competitive as the Chinese Gaokao or the Korean Suneung, it is the stuff of nightmare that have made and broken life. Students competed for the sweet sweet spot at the Police Academy and Military Academy (It is in fact more difficult to become a cop or an army officer in Vietnam than to become a doctoteacheengineeIT technician); parents wait anxiously for their children's performance to show off to friends and families; educators wait for the top scores to make their annual achievement look good so they can attract better students to their high school.
Exam season rolled around, and the results were released by July 11th 2018. As soon as the scores came out, all of Vietnam was shocked.
Of all the 64 cities and provinces, Hà Giang scored the highest in the national exam, with the highest number of “Thủ Khoa” or “The top scorer.” This, to many, was a surprise: not only Hà Giang was the poorest province in all of Vietnam, it traditionally had high illiteracy rate, high dropout rate, low graduation rate, low university admission rate, and so on and so forth. The fact that during the same year Hà Giang had the highest rate of failure to graduate from high school also raised eyebrows.
And Hà Giang was not the only province. Sơn La and Hòa Bình, two other terrible performers, also scored suspiciously well, outmatching province such as Thanh Hóa-Nghệ An-Hà Tĩnh who have been known as "Đất Học" or "The land of the studious."
Immediately, people began to cry foul. There was a lot of anger: a lot of students who had worked their whole lives were in danger of losing their spots to some “irregularities.” A common saying began to emerge: “Em phải đến Hà Giang thi đại học” or “You have to go to Hà Giang and take the national exam.” Investigations were launched into the Ministry of Education just one day after the score was released.
Quick investigation revealed that this was not just some "irregularities" but a systematic scheme, raising scores for test-takers: some exam takers received a nine points out of a total of ten points boost for individual exam, and some had their total points raised by thirty points out of a total of forty. Not only that, the exam-takers who benefitted from this were some of the most powerful people in Vietnam. Take the case of Hà Giang: one of the person whose scores were raised was Triệu Ngọc Mai, daughter's of Triệu Tài Vinh, General Secretary of Hà Giang. The Triệu clan ruled Hà Giang as a fiefdom of their own, holding most important positions; they had strong ties with the Minister of Education Phùng Xuân Nhạ, a widely-hated and despised figures for his bare-faced corruption and mismanagement, and the President of Vietnam Trần Đại Quang. People were expecting the investigation would go to nowhere - afterall, who dared to incur the wrath of the President of Vietnam?
Then, out of nowhere, Trần Đại Quang died.
On September 21st 2018, the fit and healthy Trần Đại Quang suddenly passed away from “a rare and unknown virus which he contracted during his trips.”
No more explanation was given. One month later, on November 3rd 2018, Lê Hải An received Decision 1475/QĐ-TTg from Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc himself, making him the Vice Minister of Education and in charge of the National Examination scandal
PART 3: His final moment
For the next year, An worked with diligence, doing his best to hold the perpetrators accountable. By the numerous newspaper articles, it was clear he was the one leading the charge while his superior, Nhạ, kept a low profile and only appeared on the media every now and then to make some empty speech. He worked hard, showing up at his office early and having breakfast in the office’s canteen to save time, then immediately dived into work in his office on the second floor. His work yielded results: 16 bureaucrats were arrested, 222 exam takers were exposed, large sums of bribes were confiscated. To many, perhaps An included, it wasn’t enough. Everyone knew the big fish Nhạ was still out there, and everyone was itching to see him fall.
It was on the morning of October 17th 2019 when Lê Hải An arrived at his workplace, the Ministry of Education on 35 Đại Cồ Việt street, Hai Bà Trưng district, Hà Nội. We had little idea of what had happened on that day, but what we knew painted a very strange picture.
Normally, An would go straight to his office on the second floor, rarely having any reasons to go anywhere else. And, given the early hour, most other offices would be empty.
Yet, on that day, An seemed to have gone to the eighth floor. There was no record of what he was doing there or who he was meeting; the floor also had no camera. Photographs of the crime scene showed a table which supposedly An had sat - this table had an almost empty glass of cold tea, a cigarette pack, and an ashtray with ash in it. Another table was photographed with an old red gym bag and a nylon bag containing non-descript items; next to this table was a chair with another plastic bag containing non-descript items on it. All the tables were seated next to a balcony which was about 80 centimeters tall. An was described to be 180 centimeters tall, and when his body was discovered it was lying parallel to the building from which he fell from next to a tree but seemingly did not hit it.
Given all the evidence, by 8:30 AM it was concluded that An slipped and fell. No more investigation was made
PART 4: The truth won’t set you free
Of course, the conclusion did not satisfy anybody.
On one hand, there is very low trust for the Vietnamese police who have shown their ineptitude and willingness to fake evidence time and time again. With miscarriage of justice cases such as Hồ Duy Hải and Huỳnh Văn Nén fresh in every one’s mind, the police’s conclusion lost even more credits. The fact that the police quickly concluded An slipped and fell only at most two hours after they were notified of the accident and refused to investigate any further reek of a cover-up.
But, even with the benefit of doubt for the police, the idea of An slipping and falling was deemed unthinkable to many. For one thing, people did not understand why An went to the eighth floor when his office was on the second floor. If he was there on business, what business could it be at such an early hour (government offices in Vietnam often begin work at 8:00 AM if not 9:00 AM.) If he was there to meet someone, who was that someone and why was he not investigated? No investigation was made into his phone or email either.
Then there was the balcony.
The balcony was described by some to be eighty centimeter tall, which would make slipping a feasible case for someone 1.8 meter tall like An. However, images from the crime scene show a police man standing next to the balcony and the balcony reaching his chest. Given that the minimum height to be accepted to the police academy is 1.64 meters, we are looking at a 1.2 meter tall balcony at the very least. It will be very hard to slip and fall over, unless someone was leaning over it. But why would anybody do such a thing? Some suggested he was drunk and tired and this could have been the case, but with no toxicology report done on him there was no way to make sure.
Some commentators also pointed out that even if An leaned out and fell, his body would have landed in a perpendicular angle with the building block he was falling out from. Yet, in the crime scene image, he was shown lying parallel to the building, as if he had rolled over on his side. There were no obstacles on the way down so his falling body could not have hit anything. The only thing in his way was a tree, but the branches were very frail and images did not show any conclusive evidence that he hit the tree on his way down.
So, if he did not slip and fall, what else could have happened?
Suicide was also suggested and has remained a strong contender. It must be remembered that An was an important man being surrounded by enemies. He had a very heavy burden to shoulder and had to endure political shenanigans from all sides. Perhaps, the pressure had broken the hitherto earnest teacher who had not had a taste for the wild political arena. So, he decided to go to the eighth floor, climbed over it (which could have required him to drape over the balcony, explaining why his body was found parallel to the building) then let himself fall.
Of course, some don’t agree with the idea. They pointed out he was a very happy, very respected man with a long and promising career, a loving family, and a dedication towards a higher calling. Men like him, they said, rarely killed themselves. While this could be true, this “proof” is very weak as many successful men have committed suicide. Perhaps, he was only showing himself to be happy; perhaps there was something else going on with his life that we would never know.
Finally, and perhaps the most pervasive, is the idea An was killed. Of course, given that this theory was born out of circumstantial evidence not any real evidence, this belongs more to the conspiracy theory bin. The temptation was there: An was leading the crusade against some very powerful individual, many of whom had both the power and desire to get rid of someone like An. If the former President himself could die so mysteriously while in office, who was to say An was safe? The police’s quick conclusion and refusal to investigate any further as well as the image of a supposedly official letter from his wife begging for police protection (now scrubbed off the internet) only added more flame to the fire.
So, assuming An was killed, who had killed him?
The obvious answer to many would be Nhạ: he was An’s boss, he was investigated by An, he could’ve lost his power and friends and influence. He wanted An dead, had the means to do so, and was therefore the prime suspect. The many clans whose children’s road to power An had dashed such as the Triệu clan also had axes to grind with An.
However, there was another suspect.
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, the man who had appointed An to the position himself.
Before this all happened, Phúc was rumored to be in a power struggle with President Trần Đại Quang and the Ministry of Public Security. After Quang’s death in 2018, Phúc was trying to court Quang’s Department of Public Security to his side. The new head of this Department was Tô Lâm (The man who was videoed eating at Salt Bae’s place in London while Vietnam was under lockdown and starving.) Perhaps, as a gesture of peace, Phúc sold out his subordinate as an “apology.”
Ultimately, given that these theories are born out of the lack of evidence and the coincidence, we cannot accept them as “reasonable.”
PART 5: Farewell
On the 21st of October 2019, Lê Hải An’s funeral was held. It was a simple affair and yet it attracted thousands of mourners, ranging from the Vietnamese elites to his students. To many, the loss of An was a great loss to this world. Even without his work to clean up the Ministry of Education, he was an honest, hard-working, humble man who had always tried his best to live up to the image of the model teacher that had become so rare in modern Vietnam. The fact that such a good man had to die so early only rubbed more salt into the open wound.
But time will fly. Life will move on, heals will wound, stories will be forgotten, people will forget. Lê Hải An will one day fade into obscurity, and with him the question:
“What happened to Lê Hải An on October 17th 2019?”
Source
[1] https://canhco.net/lo-hinh-anh-hien-truong-tang-8-va-loi-khai-nhan-chung-khi-ong-le-hai-an-nga-xuong-tu-vong-p329165.html
[2] https://tuoitre.vn/thu-truong-bo-giao-duc-dao-tao-le-hai-an-qua-doi-vi-nga-tu-tang-cao-20191017084152884.htm
[3] https://kienthuc.net.vn/xa-hoi/su-that-ve-thu-truong-bo-gddt-le-hai-an-nga-lau-qua-doi-o-tru-so-bo-1291388.html
[4] https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su/dieu-tra-nguyen-nhan-tu-vong-cua-thu-truong-bo-gd-dt-le-hai-an-20191017102746586.htm
Shameless self-promotion
In the next episode of "The Mysteries of Vietnam," we will return to a re-write and updated version of the first case I wrote about years ago: did Hồ Duy Hải murder two innocent postal workers at Cầu Voi post office, or was it the work of a serial killer on the loose? And why is the Vietnamese government intervening in the case?

Wife and I are staying in Budva and near Lake Skadar later this week and have been told the Olive Oil in Montenegro is highly rated. Instead of buying from an Idea market or Voli, can anyone recommend somewhere to buy Olive Oil from here? Also, any recommendations for places to get Turkish Coffee would be great.

Reduced price to 900 (originally 1684)
Subletting 1 bedroom (a little larger than the other 3 bedrooms) in a 4 bedroom / 2 bathroom unit at the Lux for the months of June and July!
Apartment is fully furnished including all bedroom and living room furniture, such as; Full XL bed, armoire wardrobe, desk and chair, and 2-drawer dresser. Couch(es), coffee table, mounted smart TV with Roku, and eat-in kitchen with bar stools. In addition, each apartment comes with a stackable washer and dryer (no coins or cards needed).
Amenities:
24 hour sauna and steam rooms
Study room with free printing
Rooftop sky lounge with free coffee
Fitness center
Wifi and trash included

I’ve got 1000mb of pyrotheum in my smeltery, but for some reason I can’t get it out into the bucket I put on the casting table. Am I missing something or is it bugged?