U.S. military fails to protect children from sexual abuse on bases, AP reports

pbs

A decade after the Pentagon began confronting rape in the ranks, the U.S. military frequently fails to protect or provide justice to the children of service members when they are sexually assaulted by other children on base, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Reports of assaults and rapes among kids on military bases often die on the desks of prosecutors, even when an attacker confesses. Other cases don’t make it that far because criminal investigators shelve them, despite requirements they be pursued.

The Pentagon does not know the scope of the problem and does little to track it. AP was able to document nearly 600 sex assault cases on base since 2007 through dozens of interviews and by piecing together records and data from the military’s four main branches and school system.

Sexual violence occurs anywhere children and teens gather on base — homes, schools, playgrounds, food courts, even a chapel bathroom. Many cases get lost in a dead zone of justice, with neither victim nor offender receiving help.

“These are the children that we need to be protecting, the children of our heroes,” said Heather Ryan, a former military investigator.

The tens of thousands of kids who live on bases in the U.S. and abroad are not covered by military law. The U.S. Justice Department, which has jurisdiction over many military bases, isn’t equipped or inclined to handle cases involving juveniles, so it rarely takes them on.

Federal prosecutors, for example, pursued roughly one in seven juvenile sex offense cases that military investigators presented, according to AP’s review of about 100 investigative files from Navy and Marine Corps bases.

WATCH: DONALD TRUMP JR. SAYS IT’S ‘SCARY’ HOW SIMILAR DEMOCRATIC AND NAZI PARTIES ARE

Donald Trump Jr. equated the Democratic Party to the Nazi Party in 1930s Germany at a film screening for conservative provocateur Dinesh D’Souza Wednesday night.

Trump Jr., who was co-hosting the event, told a reporter from One America News that he often “hears the left talking about fascism and Nazism on the right.” But, said Trump Jr., “when you look at the actual history of how those things evolved and you look at the actual platform of the modern left, you say, ‘Wait a minute, those two are actually really heavily aligned and frankly, contrary to the right.’”

President Donald Trump’s eldest son stuck to this point, clarifying it later in the interview: “You see the Nazi platform in the early 1930s...and you look at it, compared to the DNC platform of today, you’re saying, ‘Man, those things are awfully similar’ to a point where it’s actually scary, to me. That was one of the striking things I took from the movie because it’s the exact opposite of what you’ve been told.”

Trump-appointed judge upholds special counsel Mueller's authority

cnn

A federal district judge who was appointed by President Donald Trump has upheld Robert Mueller's appointment and constitutional authority in the special counsel's case against Russian social media propagandists.

Judge Dabney Friedrich, who serves at the trial-court level in DC federal court, said Concord Management and Consulting could not have its case tossed on constitutional grounds. The Russian company accused of backing a social media effort to sway voters against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton claimed Mueller didn't have power to bring the case because he was not appointment by the President and confirmed by Congress. Mueller was appointed under the authority of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has broad power as the acting head of the Justice Department for the 2016 election probe.

Friedrich cited opinions by three other federal judges -- Amy Berman Jackson, who oversees Paul Manafort's criminal foreign lobbying case; T.S. Ellis, who oversees Manafort's financial fraud case; and DC District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell -- to back up her decision.

All three judges also denied requests to invalidate Mueller's authority, with Howell writing as recently as late July that a witness subpoenaed to turn over documents and to testify before the grand jury about Roger Stone would have to. That witness, Andrew Miller, has been held in contempt of the court and now may appeal.

Trump, along with his lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, have claimed that Mueller's investigation violated the Constitution. Most notably, Trump said in an early June tweet that Mueller's appointment was "totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL." Monday's ruling specifically rejected some of these arguments that Trump's lawyers have made on television.

EX-HAREDIM BATTLE ULTRA-ORTHODOX IN A DIVIDED ISRAELI CITY

jpost

There is s simmering battle: several dozen haredi dropouts, young men and women who shed their Orthodox identity in their teenage years and are rejected by many in their former communities.

BEIT SHEMESH, Israel  — Built in the 1990s in part to ease crowding in haredi Orthodox neighborhoods elsewhere in Israel, Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet is both an Orthodox boom town and a site of ongoing tensions between different streams of religious Jews.

National-religious Jews have long complained of harassment by members of the haredi community, who style themselves as enforcers of strict codes for dress and conduct.

The Nastiest Feud in Science

the atlantic
 A

1.

Gerta keller was waiting for me at the Mumbai airport so we could catch a flight to Hyderabad and go hunt rocks. “You won’t die,” she told me cheerfully as soon as I’d said hello. “I’ll bring you back.”

Death was not something I’d considered as a possible consequence of traveling with Keller, a 73-year-old paleontology and geology professor at Princeton University. She looked harmless enough: thin, with a blunt bob, wearing gray nylon pants and hiking boots, and carrying an insulated ShopRite supermarket bag by way of a purse. Princeton geologist has endured decades of ridif colossal volcanic eruptions. But she’s reopened that debate. geologist has endured decades of ridicule for arguing that the fifth extinction was caused not by an asteroid but by a series of colossal volcanic eruptions. But she’s reopened that debate.

A Princeton geologist has endured decades of ridicule for arguing that tA Princeton geologist has endured decades of ridicule for arguing that the fifth extinction was caused not by an asteroid but by a series of colossal volcanic eruptions. But she’s reopened that debate.he fifth extinction was caused not by an asteroid but by a series of colossal volcanic eruptions. But she’s reopened that debate.

Rebbetzin Sheila Feinstein, A”h

https://hamodia.com/2018/08/09/levayah-rebbetzin-sheila-feinstein-ah-staten-island-yeshiva/

Hundreds gathered Thursday morning to mourn the petirah of Rebbetzin Sheila (Chava Sarah) Feinstein, a”h, the wife of, ybl”c, Harav Reuven Feinstein, shlita, who was niftar on Wednesday night, 28 Menachem Av. She had been hospitalized for the past two weeks following serious injuries suffered in an automobile accident. The Rebbetzin was in her late 70s.

At the levayah, held at the Yeshivah of Staten Island, Rav Reuven spoke of his late Rebbetzin’s great dedication in her essential role in enabling his own growth and decades of harbotzas haTorah.

“She supported me … she was mechazek me and took care of the whole olam hazeh part of my life,” he said.

With a commanding and regal presence, joined with exceptional intelligence and wit, Rebbetzin Feinstein’s dynamic personality propelled her to be one of the pillars upon which her husband’s yeshivah stood, and to be among the most trusted and loyal assistants to her revered father-in-law, Harav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l. At the same, she was a highly respected educator for many years in New York City’s Public School system and later in several mosdos haTorah.

The Rebbetzin grew up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where her parents, Reb Avrohom, z”l, and Mrs. Ita Devorah Kaplan, a”h, resided. She was a student in the very first class of the neighborhood’s Bais Yaakov, and took great pride in having remained steadfast in her commitment to Yiddishkeit at a time when many of her peers succumb to the rampant assimilationist trends that prevailed at the time.

Even while pursuing higher education, when challenged by classmates or professors, young Sheila, with signature strength and down-to-earth logic, never shied away from standing up for her beliefs.

Towards a Working Theory of American Gadolim in the Post-truth Era

The study of Torah is built on a fundamental bedrock concept that the Torah is knowable. This underlies the whole institution of Gadolim. Moshe Rabeinu received the Torah and he knew the Torah. This is why it was possible to ask him a question about the Torah and he would answer it. This is why, when he couldn't answer a question, as by Pinchas, that the whole nation was in peril.

In every generation there are leaders, who study the Torah and know the Torah. Collectively, they are the Moshe of that generation. If there is only Torah scholar leader, then he, individually, is the Moshe of that generation.

Moral relativism has undermined that concept.

Moral relativism means that there is no absolute right or wrong. Thus, a moral relativist will maintain that the Torah is unknowable.

Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky appears to be the synthesis of Torah with moral relativism. He studies Torah. But ultimately, he holds it's unknowable. He is unwilling to state, for example, who Tamar Epstein is married to. He points to Rabbis who have different answers.

Rabbi Kamenetsky represents a new kind of Gadol. What shall we call him? Perhaps we will coin a new term: Apikoros Gadol, or Api-Gadol.

An Api-Gadol can never be reasoned with nor swayed by Halachic arguments. An Api-Gadol holds that Torah is unknowable. He embodies this unknowability. His pronouncements are thus perfect because they can never be challenged. His statements are "true" by dint of coming from him, not because of any Mesorah.

What crystallized this idea of Api-Gadol for me was a series of stories I received from multiple sources about the power that Rabbis in a certain city hold over many of the Torah observant inhabitants there.

The Rabbis apparently wield this power in an arbitrary fashion to suit themselves. There is no formal mechanism to challenge, question, or in any way change their decisions.

True Gadolim can be challenged. The daughters of Tzlapchod challenged Moshe. Respectfully, with great deference, asking but not demanding -- yet, still with all that, challenging. And that is because G-d Himself can be challenged, as Avrohom challenged G-d regarding the Five Cities. The right to challenge a Gadol stems from the very belief that the true Gadol knows the Torah, the Word of G-d.

And the unchallengeability of an Api-Gadol stems from his not knowing, by definition, the Torah. For if an Api-Gadol claims to know the Torah, he would cease being an Api-Gadol. An Api-Gadol's status rests on his refusal to be challenged.

The stories told to me about this certain city were nigh unbelievable to me. I will share one, and only in vague outline. I was told that this city allowed the Yeshiva where these Rabbis hold sway to obtain some city land. Part of the land was then given over to build a ballpark. Some complained that the Yeshiva had contributed to a ballpark in the midst of the city that might draw in Jewish kids.

So the Yeshiva issued a letter that if a child in any family was caught going to a ballgame in the ballpark, then the child would not be welcome in any school associated with the Yeshiva. Furthermore, none of the siblings of the child would be welcome in any of the schools.

Collective punishment.

This ruling could be challenged in many ways from a Halachic perspective. But apparently, the leaders of this Yeshiva are Api-Gadolim, the pseudo-Moshe of the city.

These are just some of my thoughts. My intention in sharing them is to explain the necessity for pulling back from communities where Api-Gadolim rule. This is not sepsrating from the Tzibur. It is the opposite. This is creating a Klal that has rid itself of Apikorsos and that clings to true Gadolim.

Alex Jones banned

ANTI-JEWISH, 'PRO-ISRAEL' CONSPIRACY THEORIST BANNED BY FACEBOOK

.jpost

Facebook said it removed his pages, including Infowars, "for glorifying violence, which violates our graphic violence policy, and using dehumanizing language to describe people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants, which violates our hate speech policies."

The conspiracy theorist has, in the past, also engaged in several anti-Jewish theories, claiming last year that Jews posed as KKK followers in Charlottesville in order to discredit white supremacist protesters. 

"I mean, quite frankly, I’ve been to these events, a lot of the KKK guys with their hats off look like they’re from the cast of “Seinfeld,” Jones said at the time. 

The Illness Is Bad Enough. The Hospital May Be Even Worse.

ny times

The elderly are particularly vulnerable to “post-hospital syndrome,” some experts believe, and that may be why so many patients return.

Even after her discharge, the stress and disruptions of hospitalization — interrupted sleep, weight loss, mild delirium, deconditioning caused by days in bed — left her disoriented and weakened, a vulnerable state some researchers call “post-hospital syndrome.”

FORMER SENIOR UNITED NATIONS OFFICIAL FACING PEDOPHILIA CHARGES IN NEPAL

newsweek

One of the world’s leading experts on humanitarian work with street children and children affected by war has been arrested on pedophilia charges.

Canadian humanitarian worker Peter Dalglish, who helped found the charity Street Kids International, was taken in by police in Nepal on Sunday (April 8), Xinhua news agency reported.

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police said they wanted to question Dalglish over claims he was involved in pedophile activities in Kavre district, around 50 kilometers north of the capital, Kathmandu.

An initial investigation claims the 60-year-old had offered children foreign trips and better education before sexually abusing them.

My Republica reported that two children, aged 12 and 14, had allegedly been abused by Dalglish and rescued by authorities.

CIB chief and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Pushkar Karki, said that an organization outside the country had tipped off the police about Dalglish.

Kasich says Ohio election was a "vote on the president"

cbs

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Ohio voters who cast so many votes for Democrat Danny O'Connor in a solidly Republican district were "sending a message to the Republicans to knock it off." 

The Republican governor made the comments in an exclusive interview with CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe, following the special election Tuesday night in Ohio's 12th Congressional District that is still too close to call. President Trump and the GOP have declared victory for Republican Troy Balderson, but no major news outlet has yet called the race for either candidate. Kasich suggested he believes a number of Republican women voted for O'Connor over Balderson.

"Well, the voters here sent a message to the Republicans to knock it off," Kasich, who has been critical of Mr. Trump, told O'Keefe. "Stop the chaos, the division, no more of this family separation that we see at the border or taking people's healthcare away. I think that have — basically have had enough and they're sending a message to the Republicans, including the Republican in the White House...And what happened here, in this district, people will not, maybe not understand this. This district is so Republican, there should never even have been an election here. And it was so close and -- in one of the counties that's so solidly Republican -- where a Republican would normally win by 70 percent, it broke basically 50-50."

"So, some Republicans sat at home, but what I think happened, and we don't have all the numbers yet, I think you will find a lot of Republican women who not only didn't sit at home, but a significant percentage, or some percentage of them voted for the Democrat," he added.

New Mexico compound suspects were training children for school shootings, prosecutors say

cnn\\\

The five suspects accused of abusing 11 children at a New Mexico compound were training them to commit school shootings, prosecutors said Wednesday.

If the defendants were to "be released from custody, there is a substantial likelihood defendant may commit new crimes due to his planning and preparation for future school shootings," the court documents said.

The filings did not provide further details about the alleged training. The makeshift compound appeared to have a shooting range on the property and loaded firearms were found on the property, authorities said.

A foster parent of one of the children also said, "The defendant had trained the child in the use of an assault rifle in preparation for future school shootings," according to the court filings.

Allegations against the suspects come in the wake of the discovery that 11 starving children had been living in a filthy compound in Amalia, New Mexico, that lacked electricity or plumbing

The five defendants -- Wahhaj; his sisters, Hujrah Wahhaj and Subhannah Wahhaj, who are thought to be the children's mothers; Lucas Morten and Jany Leveille -- were each arraigned Wednesday in a Taos, New Mexico, courtroom on 11 counts of child abuse related to the neglect and abuse of the children.

The five, who pleaded not guilty, have a pretrial detention hearing set for Monday, according to Aleksandar Kostich, a state public defender.

Family members of the suspects said they didn't know anything of the alleged training for school shootings.

Wahhaj's father, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a controversial New York imam, said he has "no knowledge" of the alleged training, said spokesman Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid.

The imam was the first Muslim to offer an opening prayer before the US House of Representatives, the Muslim Alliance in North America said. He was also a character witness for convicted 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Omar Abdel-Rahman.

Shariyf Muhammad, attorney for Abdul-Ghani's mother, Hakima Ramzi, said she "has no knowledge of any training for school shootings."

Donald Trump’s endgame: He may admit collusion — and claim he was saving America from Hillary

salon

Trump’s supporters literally accept whatever he says, and the GOP will never stand up. This will end very badly

Donald Trump's presidency is like a poorly written spy thriller turned into real life. The newest twist in this painful never-ending story? After many months of denying that his son and other campaign representatives met with a Russian agent to discuss receiving damaging information about Hillary Clinton -- the cover story being that the meeting in Trump Tower was about the adoptions of Russian children -- on Sunday Trump admitted on Twitter that this was all a lie. He proclaimed: “This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!”

I have explained on numerous occasions that Donald Trump colluded with Russia in plain sight to steal the 2016 presidential election from Hillary Clinton and the American people. Trump has also continued to obstruct justice to conceal what was probably a crime and certainly a treasonous act.

In the New Yorker, Adam Davidson provides this context:

Rick Gates Shows Why Trump Is So Worried About Witness Flipping

time.

When Rick Gates took the stand in Paul Manafort’s Virginia trial Monday, he quickly showed the power Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team can wield if they can get witnesses to “flip” against former friends and colleagues, a particular obsession of President Donald Trump’s as the Russia investigation grinds on.

By Monday, the jury in Manafort’s trial had heard from an FBI agent, high-end menswear salesmen, accountants and financial experts, among other witnesses, to testify about the tax and bank fraud that Trump’s former campaign chairman had been charged with. But court watchers had been eagerly awaiting Gates, who both the prosecution and defense seem to be hoping will be at the center of their case.

Gates, who was also a senior Trump campaign official, was Manafort’s righthand man for years. The defense signaled in opening arguments that they’ll try to pin the tax and bank fraud crimes at issue in this case on him. Gates has already pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of making a false statement to investigators in the course of Mueller’s investigation.

Gates’s appearance in court marked a dramatic moment in the probe: the first visible case of a witness flipping, or turning on friends or colleagues in a case. Trump’s former adviser George Papadopoulos has reportedly been cooperating with Mueller, but the public hasn’t learned what he may have divulged. Trump is obsessed with loyalty in his inner circle, famously even demanding it of former FBI Director James Comey.

His preoccupation with the idea that confidantes or associates might turn on him came to the foreground recently when he fed rumors that his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen might flip, tweeting in April that journalists “are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip”” and that “most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if….it means lying or making up stories.”