Month: June 2018

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False college rape allegation ‘destroyed’ my life: suit

An Long Island woman’s unsubstantiated rape allegation after a drunken night in an upstate frat house has “destroyed” a New Jersey man’s life, he says in a $6 million lawsuit.

Catherine Reddington, 22, claims on social mediathat Alex Goldman, also 22, raped her vaginally and anally in a bedroom of Syracuse University’s Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity following a party in April 2017.

She went to the police and the university with her accusations, and has posted her brutal tale of assault on Facebook in a campaign that Goldman says got him fired from his summer job and could get him tossed from his new college.

“I woke up in Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity in Alex Goldman’s bed confused, bloody, bruised, with ripped clothing and splinter[s],” Reddington wrote earlier this month. “Alex Goldman is a rapist.”

But Goldman — and the Onondaga County prosecutor — tell a different story of that night.

A months-long investigation, which included a medical exam, rape kit and bloodwork within 26 hours of the incident, found no evidence Reddington was assaulted, drugged or even had a sexual encounter with Goldman, according to court papers and the District Attorney.

The two engineering majors woke up fully clothed in Goldman’s bed, both claiming no memory of the night before.

Investigators found it “impossible to determine what, if anything, occurred that evening between Ms. Reddington and Mr. Goldman. There is no credible proof of any sexual conduct in this case, consensual or non-consensual,” an assistant district attorney wrote in a November 2017 letter, attached to Goldman’s lawsuit, explaining why Goldman was never charged.

Reddington slammed the DA’s letter on Facebook, calling it “disgusting.”

But Reddington’s accusations were enough to get Goldman booted from Syracuse in the fall, he claims. The school said it followed state and federal law in handling the complaint but declined to say why Goldman was expelled.

Now Reddington’s social-media posts targeting Goldman’s new school and employer show she’s out to “publicly tarnish his reputation and wreak havoc on his personal life and that of his family,” he says in his Brooklyn Federal Court defamation lawsuit.

Reddington posted Goldman’s picture, and links to his Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, in lengthy messages detailing the alleged assault, and accuses him of being a serial rapist. She added a #MeToo hashtag and linked to his current school, the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

“I write this post because this is not the first time Alex Goldman has raped someone and I want to make sure that it is the last,” she claims in a post earlier this month.

She also posted a screenshot of what appeared to be a message exchange with Goldman’s employer, Bohler Engineering, and crowed that he was fired.

“Due to the severity of the allegations and our zero tolerance policy, we have elected to immediately terminate the employment relationship,” the company replied in the screenshot posted on Reddington’s social media.

“Thank you to everyone for reposting and spreading the word on the monster that Alex Goldman is,” Reddington wrote alongside a post with a message from Bohler. “Thank you to Bohler Engineering for taking a stand against this disgusting excuse of a man.”

Bohler didn’t return a call for comment.

Onondaga District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick said his office takes sexual assault cases seriously, but in this case, the evidence wasn’t there.

“What she has alleged about this office and this young man is simply not accurate,” Fitzpatrick told The Post. “I don’t know what her motivation is for that.”

Goldman chose to sue Reddington “because he could not sit idly by,” his lawyer Seth Zuckerman said. “Mr. Goldman will do everything possible to recover his good name.”

Reddington declined comment, calling it “a matter in the courts.”

https://nypost.com/2018/06/30/false-college-rape-allegation-destroyed-my-life-suit/

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Students call for resignation of principal who created a list of black students

TORONTO — Students from a Toronto school are calling for the resignation of a principal who compiled a list of black students to track their performance.

Peggy Aitchison, the principal at the Etobicoke School of the Arts, has said she compiled the list and circulated it among teachers in an attempt to categorize students with opportunity gaps, and acknowledged in an email to the school community that it was an “inappropriate approach.”

She asked for a transfer to a different school in a public letter sent this week — a request the Toronto District School Board said it approved.

 

The board has apologized for Aitchison’s actions, calling what she did a “mistake.” Aitchison did not respond to a request for comment.

Grade 12 student Marlee Sansom said she was “unbelievably angry” when she found out about the list from members of the school community. She said transferring Aitchison to another school isn’t enough, and called for the principal to resign as an employee with the board.

“Transferring someone just means they get a new start, a fresh start, and she can just redo that trauma somewhere else,” said the 18-year-old, who noted that many of her peers felt the same. “It doesn’t help the students that are still in the school.”

Sansom also said it was important for the board to thoroughly tackle issues of racial profiling in schools, and urged it to involve students in the process.

“The TDSB needs to be looking out for the students,” she said, adding she wasn’t always comfortable raising concerns about race-related issues with school administration.

Noah Brown, another Grade 12 student, said he saw his name on a copy of the list being shared among students and felt “pure sadness.”

“Over the course of this year I’ve been able to accomplish so much in terms of my art practice … I was disappointed because it was limiting my academic success to my identifiable race,” said the 18-year-old. “I didn’t know who to turn to.”

Brown said he wanted a direct apology from Aitchison.

“She was sort of letting the issue fade away rather than take it directly and be a responsible leader,” he said, adding that Aitchison’s list is an indication she should no longer be an educator.

“Peggy Aitchison is not a suitable leader for (Etobicoke School of the Arts) as well as any other school,” he said. “If TDSB continues to have this principal within their organization then I believe they tolerate racism.”

Meanwhile, alumni from the school have sent a petition to the board calling for Aitchison to either resign or undergo equity and anti-racism training.

Former student Solana Cain, who co-created the petition, said the school holds students to rigorous standards, which indicates that those on Aitchison’s list are already high performers.

“Even if this were not the case, the assumption she made was that black students and families are inherently less capable than their white counterparts,” she said in a statement.

The TDSB said it received the petition and needed time to review the questions and concerns identified before responding.

 

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/students-call-for-resignation-of-principal-who-created-a-list-of-black-students-1.3993317

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Polish allied health professionals protest for better pay

According to Monika Mazur of the National Radiotherapy Technicians Trade Union, the government failed to increase spending on healthcare, and hospital wait lists have gotten longer instead of shorter.

She said lab technicians, physiotherapists, psychologists, paramedics and nurses were protesting because “we feel cheated that the minister is not holding a dialogue with all medical professionals, just resident doctors”.

Polish Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski denied claims that he had neglected other medical professions.

He has been in talks with resident doctors since taking over the ministry early this year after his predecessor was sacked following a resident doctors’ protest, which included a hunger strike, late last year. The striking doctors had been supported by other medical professionals.

Szumowski, who on Friday attended a medical conference entitled “The medical national interest”, said healthcare spending will increase from about 4.7 percent of GBP in 2018 to six percent by 2024, “which is a big burden on the budget as it is”.

The protesters want healthcare spending hiked to 6.8 percent within three years, as well as better pay and conditions. (vb)

Source: IAR

 

http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/370684,Polish-allied-health-professionals-protest-for-better-pay

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Netflix Blasted for Allowing Foreign Movie Containing ‘Child Porn’ Scene

Netflix is catching heat from subscribers for featuring an Argentinean film on its platform, a movie that contains explicit content some say ought to be deemed child pornography and therefore illegal.

PJ Media reported that outraged Netflix subscribers have been sharing a clip of the opening scene of the film “Desire,” directed by Diego Kaplan.

In this scene, two young girls are shown, both of whom appear to be under the age of 10, playing “horse” on pillow cushions. The younger girl watches the older girl masturbate. The camera focuses on the older girl moving in a sexual manner and having an orgasm.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children told Megan Fox, who wrote the article for PJ Media, that they had launched an investigation into the movie, after the FBI and Department of Justice referred her there, when she made a report as a private citizen.

Federal law defines child pornography as “any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor (someone under 18 years of age),” including “photographs, videos, digital or computer generated images indistinguishable from an actual minor, and images created, adapted, or modified, but appear to depict an identifiable, actual minor,” as noted on the DOJ’s website.

Undeveloped film, undeveloped videotape, and electronically stored data that can be converted into a visual image of child porn are also considered illegal visual depictions under the applicable statute.

This legal definition also does not hold that the explicit images must be children engaging in some kind of sexual act to be considered child porn; a photo of a naked child may also fall into that category if it is sexually suggestive enough.

“Additionally, the age of consent for sexual activity in a given state is irrelevant; any depiction of a minor under 18 years of age engaging in sexually explicit conduct is illegal,” PJ Media noted.

Users of the movie streaming site took to social media to express their disgust that Netflix was effectively promoting pedophilia and normalizing child sex by allowing this film onto its platfrom, and indicated that they would be discontinuing the service.

“Complete confirmation for canceling my subscription. Netflix pushing Child Pornography with latest movie..#Desire. Absolutely sick!” one subscriber wrote, tweeting at the FBI and Netflix.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/netflix-blasted-for-allowing-foreign-movie-containing-child-porn-scene-225509/

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Church of Scotland bans controversial sect whose founder claims to have met people raised from the dead after preacher at Edinburgh event said members would shoot intruders ‘in Jesus’s name’

THE Church of Scotland has banned a controversial sect whose founder claims to have met people raised from the dead.

The Scottish Episcopal Church has also slammed Glasgow-based Destiny Church for “abusing its hospitality” after it staged a rally in one of its buildings which featured a self-proclaimed “miracle healer” who insists he can cure cancer.

 

Gun nut pastor Rick Godwin told the audience at St John’s Episcopal Church in Edinburgh that he employed security guards carrying concealed weapons at his “mega-church” in San Antonio, Texas.

He told worshippers: “We have to have armed security officers in and around the church. The only answer to a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun. In my country an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.”

To cheers, he suggested that female members of his congregation would be prepared to shoot any armed intruder entering his church. “And they will do it in Jesus’s name,” he added.

At nearby St Cuthbert’s, owned by the Kirk, Australian evangelist John Mellor claimed to heal people of serious illnesses by driving demons from their bodies and branded yoga, meditation and other faiths as false and satanic.

He insisted he has performed “miracle after miracle” during his visit to St Cuthbert’s, alleging that he made the blind see and the deaf hear.

 

Both events were part of a £50-a-head weekend conference organised by Destiny Church whose founder Andrew Owen claims that people can be raised from the dead through the power of prayer.
The conference – named Surge 18 –  raised thousands for the sect’s coffers.

Both churches have confirmed that Destiny would no longer be allowed to use the buildings as it gave them a platform to vent their extremist views.

And they apologised after believing it to be a mainstream Christian organisation.

A Church of Scotland spokeswoman told The Times: “Since the event we have heard reports which have concerned us.

 

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/2851801/church-of-scotland-ban-destiny-gun-miracle-healer-exorcism-edinburgh/

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#Pizzagate Investigation Launched After ‘Child Pornography’ Scene Found on Netflix

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has launched an investigation into a movie on Netflix that contains a scene of suspected child pornography, PJ Media‘s Megan Fox reported Wednesday.

Fox said she had seen complaints on social media about apparently illegal content in the 2017 Argentinian movie “Desire,” directed by Diego Kaplan.

The opening scene features two girls who Fox said appear to be about 7 and 9 years old playing “horse” on pillows. The older girl “begins to obviously masturbate” while the younger one watches, Fox said.

“The scene is graphic and includes an orgasm,” she wrote.

Fox said it clearly meets the description of “child pornography” under federal law. “Netflix should be in serious trouble over this,” she said.

She said she reported it to both the FBI and the Department of Justice, and they advised her to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“NCMEC told me they have launched an investigation into the movie,” she wrote.

Netflix places “Desire” in several genres, including “Campy Movies” and “Steamy Romantic Movies.”

This is how the plot is described: “A young woman arrives at her estranged sister’s wedding to mend fences but falls prey to lust when she meets the groom.”

Many of the reviews on Netflix mention the disturbing opening scene.

“This is sick,” one reviewer said. “Child porn. BEWARE. Sadly, there will be many sick, sick pedophiles that enjoy this stuff.”

“You are promoting Pedophilia,” another said, calling it “disgusting.”

Others took to Twitter to voice their concerns about the movie.

Investigation Launched After ‘Child Pornography’ Scene Found on Netflix

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Female Saudi TV presenter is forced to flee the kingdom after probe is launched into her ‘indecent dress’ while reporting on the female driving ban being lifted

A Saudi Arabian TV presenter has fled the country after an investigation was launched into claims she had violated the kingdom’s dress code for women.

Shereen Al-Rifaie is accused of recording a segment on women finally being allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia in an outfit deemed ‘indecent’ by the Saudi General Commission for Audiovisual Media.

The presenter wore a white abaya – a traditional Muslim robe-like dress – which opened to reveal white trousers and a top underneath in the TV segment.

Her hair was somewhat covered by a loose white scarf, but her dark locks could be seen by her hairline and flowing down her back.

She was reporting on the lifting of the longstanding ban on women driving in the conservative Muslim kingdom, which took place this month.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5892547/Female-Saudi-TV-presenter-flee-kingdom-probe-launched-indecent-dress.html

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Sandra Bullock under fire for controversial beauty treatment – involving babies’ foreskin

The Daily Star

May 21, 2018

Sandra Bullock under fire for controversial beauty treatment – involving babies’ foreskin

by Nadia Mendoza

During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last week, Sandra Bullock spoke about ‘penis facials’.

As the interview unfolded, host Ellen, 60, pushed Sandra, 53, on what exactly she meant by this.

The Speed actress went on to explain that beauticians are now using “an extraction from a piece of skin that came from a young person, far, far away, and they somehow figured out how to extract… ”

As she began to stutter, Ellen jumped in: “It’s foreskin from a Korean baby. That’s what it is.”

The episode caught the eye of YouTube star and documentary maker, Riyadh Khalaf, who annihilated the Hollywood star’s laid-back approach to the gravity of the situation.

Tweeting to his 46,000 followers, he wrote: “Rich woman laughs while she admits using the circumcised foreskins of non-consenting baby boys in facials so that she can look good.

“Can you imagine if she said she used the clitoral hood of baby girls? Would it get the same lol-tastic response?”

Riyadh, who has an impressive 365k YouTube subscribers, continued: “Self elected circumcision: Fine. Circumcision for medical reasons: Also fine.

“Circumcision without the baby boy’s consent is never right.

“Several studies show physical and psychological damage including PTSD symptoms, sexual dysfunction and unrepairable mutilation of the penis.

“The trivialisation of infant male circumcision is troubling and the misinformation that it’s a ‘useless flap of skin’ is simply wrong.

“It contains thousands of irreparable nerve endings, protects an incredibly delicate part of the body and is the boy’s CHOICE to keep or not.”

Within moments, the tweets received praise from fans agreeing with Riyadh’s point of view.

One social networker tweeted: “Why does she stress the point that they come from far far away?? Is it okay because they are not American kids?”

While another blasted: “YES. Some people throw a hissy fit if a baby’s ears are pierced but don’t bat an eye at an irreversible cosmetic procedure on an INFANT. We are quite hypocritical, considering how up in arms we do be re: FGM [Female Genital Mutilation].”

And a third said: “Omg YES. I’ve tried bringing this up a lot in discussions and people seem to have really accepted it as normality. Nuts. Pun intended.”

ITV This Morning’s resident doctor Dr Ranj Singh also jumped in, tweeting a link to his blog on the non-medical circumcision of male children.

In the piece for Guys Like U, he wrote: “It’s not as harmless as some people may think. I’ve seen cases where it has gone horribly wrong leading to permanent disfigurement.

“I’ve seen instances where babies have almost bled to death, or even worse, died because of severe infections as a result.

“However, some of my medical colleagues will still justify it.”

He continued: “And for those people who may question what the big fuss is about, ask why being ‘cut’ or ‘uncut’ is even an issue amongst certain groups.

“There’s a reason certain hook-up apps ask about it. It’s not just about appearance or preference. It’s part of a person’s sexual identity. [Good point!]

“It’s not just a redundant bit of skin, but part of a sexual organ. There are whole movements of men internationally who feel like they have been mutilated, and it has affected them psychologically and socially, as well as the obvious physical results.

“They would agree that this practice is totally uncalled for and socially unjust.

“I think it’s about time we had some serious debate around this issue. Why do we refer to FGM as unacceptable, but are willing to tolerate ‘MGM’?”

Back in 2013, Oprah Winfrey came under fire for endorsing SkinMedica face creams as the controversial lotion is made from using foreskin fibroblasts.

The penis facial, popular with Cate Blanchett, is the colloquial name given to a beauty treatment that uses epidermal growth factor (EGF) serum.

The EGF uses stem cells are indeed from Korean babies’ foreskins.

Stem cells are often used in beauty products to brighten and regenerate skin.
The Grapevine

April 26, 2018