Article here. Excerpt:

'Republican megadonor Betsy DeVos has given thousands of dollars to an advocacy group that is seeking to overturn an Obama administration policy that made it easier to discipline college students accused of sexual harassment or assault.

The donations, totaling $10,000, by Donald Trump’s Education secretary pick have prompted criticism from Democrats and women's groups in the run-up to her confirmation hearing next week.

DeVos has not spoken publicly about the Education Department’s aggressive approach to campus sexual assault, but women’s groups and Democrats say her donations to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education send a troubling signal. FIRE has sued the administration to raise the standard of proof for victims of sexual assault in university administrative hearings contending it is unfair to the accused.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Obama appointed the Education Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, Catherine Lhamon, and defense attorney Debo Adegbile to be commissioners on the Civil Rights commission. Most of the media has simply ignored the appointments, the Left has praised them and right-leaning outlets have focused heavily or exclusively on Adegbile. While Adegbile certainly has his share of problems, I can say that at the very least the man likely believes in due process.

Article here. Excerpt:

'If you’re male and 18 and waiting anxiously for your acceptance at a prestigious coastal liberal arts college or university, the authors of The Campus Rape Frenzy would undoubtedly have two words of advice: Don’t go. That is, if you plan on any sexual M.O. other than abstinence.

If you do go and then have sex, your partner (let’s say ze is a she) can, under current rules, accuse you of sexual assault or rape if you kiss her or reach for her hand without her permission, can say that she was afraid of you when she did give permission and so was coerced, can claim that after a single drink she was under the influence of alcohol and therefore unable to give consent (you can be way drunker, but that doesn’t matter), and can make these claims months after the fact without you being aware that she has made them.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Aaron Farrer was expelled from Indiana University in Nov. 2015 for allegedly sexually assaulting a female student. Farrer is now suing the university for violating his rights and suing his accuser for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Farrer said in his lawsuit that he met his accuser when he moved into an off-campus apartment complex. She was his neighbor.

Farrer’s lawsuit alleges that it was the female student who began “aggressive(ly) flirting” with him, even though her roommates claimed she had boyfriends in two different states. Farrer’s lawsuit includes text messages from his accuser that were sent to him while he was patrolling an IU football game as an IU Police Department cadet.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that he is working to convince President-elect Donald Trump’s administration to prioritize the issue of sexual assault on campus.

“I’m no longer going to be Vice President, but I’m going to be associated with several major universities and have a significant staff,” Biden said, hinting at his post-White House plans. “I’m going to be setting up a foundation that is going to devote the rest of my life to dealing with violence against women.”

Biden made the remarks at the White House’s It’s On Us Summit, an event aimed at preventing sexual assault on college campuses.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Shortly after a Republican lawmaker recommended that President-elect Donald Trump roll back federal campus-sexual-assault guidelines, two Democratic senators sent a letter to Trump on Thursday urging him to keep the rules in place, BuzzFeed News reports.

In a letter obtained by BuzzFeed, Democratic senators Patty Murray and Bob Casey asked Trump not to rescind a 2011 Dear Colleague letter that was issued by the Department of Education, which clarified how schools must respond to sexual violence under the Title IX gender-equality law. Yet, in December, Republican representative Mark Meadows included the letter in a report on regulations he wants to see repealed or changed during Trump’s first 100 days. According to USA Today, Meadows believes the campus-sexual-assault guidelines are “one-size fits all” and “deny the often-innocent accused basic due process rights.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'No longer content to deny due process to accused university students in the wake of often unsubstantiated and frequently false charges of sexual harassment and assault, there is now a movement toward destroying any hope for these students to transfer to other colleges and universities. On Dec. 8, Rep. Jackie Speier, California Democrat, introduced a bill requiring transcript notation for those students who try to transfer to other colleges or universities after being found “responsible” for violations of Title IX policies on sexual harassment and assault.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Toxic masculinity is a very real problem. Just ask January Jones.

The former Mad Men actress says she’s a proud single mom whose son doesn’t need a father because she doesn’t want a man around the house to teach him “sh**ty things.”

Speaking to Red magazine, the actress best known for her role as Betty Draper says that she prefers to parent her five-year-old son Xander without any dad figures in his life. She believes having a strong male influence would do the boy more harm than good.

“It’s good to have strong women around a man. To teach him to respect women,” she said. “He doesn’t have a male person in his life saying ‘don’t cry’ or ‘you throw like a girl.’ All those sh**ty things dads accidentally do.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'An arrest warrant has been issued for a Franklin High School teacher after detectives found that she engaged in sex acts with a student, Baltimore County police said.

Police said Ekatherine Pappas, 24, of Nottingham, started teaching Spanish at the school on Nov. 16.

A school resource officer became aware Thursday of a video showing a female teacher engaged in a sex act with a male student, police said.

"He came across a student who actually had a copy of the video on their phone," Baltimore County police Officer Jennifer Peach said.

Detectives confirmed the existence of the video and the teacher’s involvement in sex acts with the 16-year-old student on two occasions, once on Dec. 21 and again on Dec. 22. The incidents were not committed on school property, police said.'

Article here. Cancer death rates have declined since 1991, but are still higher for men. I wonder which gender gets most of the healthcare funding. Excerpt:

'The cancer death rate in the United States has dropped by 25 percent since its 1991 peak, resulting in 2 million fewer cancer deaths than if the rate had stayed the same, the American Cancer Society said Thursday in a new report.

The group attributed the decrease largely to reductions in smoking and improvements in the early detection and treatment of cancer. But a significant gender gap remains: The cancer death rate is 40 percent higher for men than women, and the incidence of cancer is 20 percent higher in men.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The University of Wisconsin-Madison is currently taking applications for its “Men’s Project,” a six-week program that aims to counter the alleged harmful effects of society’s masculinity paradigms and pressures and empower participants to promote “gender equity.”

“Men’s Project creates a space for critical self-reflection and dialogue about what it means to be a man and how masculinity impacts us and those around us,” organizers state in promoting the effort.

“The experience focuses on the examination of societal images, expectations, and messages around masculinity to empower men to better understand themselves, promote the advancement of gender equity, and raise consciousness in their communities,” organizers add.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) is urging President-elect Donald Trump to repeal certain campus sexual assault guidelines because he believes they deny the “often-innocent accused” their rights.

Meadows is targeting specific standards championed by Vice President Joe Biden and advanced by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in 2011.

Under Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities, university investigations into sexual assault must be based on a preponderance of evidence ― unlike in criminal courts, which require proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Meadows, the incoming House Freedom Caucus chairman, wrote in his report about his targeted rules that “[Title IX procedure] virtually dictates one-size-fits-all procedures which provide less protection to the accused, and deny the often-innocent accused basic due process rights.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Chicago Review of Books tweeted today that they would not be reviewing any books published by Simon and Schuster in 2017, calling the publishing of Breitbart Senior Editor MILO’s book, DANGEROUS, a “disgusting validation of hate.”

The Chicago Review of Books tweeted from their official Twitter account today, retweeting Judd Legum, the editor of Thinkprogress who falsely slandered MILO by referring to him as a “white supremacist”. The Review stated, “In response to this disgusting validation of hate, we will not cover a single @simonschuster book in 2017.”

When asked for comment on the Chicago Review of Books’ anti-intellectual boycott of Simon and Schuster books, MILO said “Contrary to rumor, I didn’t give the Chicago Review of Books my $250k in exchange for this, the sort of free publicity about which every controversial author dreams.”'

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Article here. Excerpt:

'Twitter users are outraged on with Steve Martin for the tribute he paid to Carrie Fisher.

News broke of the iconic actress’ tragic death on Tuesday, prompting reactions from fans and colleagues all around the entertainment industry.

“When I was a young man, Carrie Fisher was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. She turned out to be witty and bright as well,” Martin wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
...
“Princess Leia’s status as the catalyst of male sexual awakening has been alluded to countless times in pop culture,” says The Cut. “And on Tuesday, Steve Martin helpfully reminded us of this fact in a now-deleted tweet when he said that for him as a young man, ‘she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.'”

Martin’s tweet objectified the actress and Fisher herself would be offended by the tweet, the feminist author Claire Landsbaum argues.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Intent on establishing progressive utopias, universities and federal bureaucrats are together systematically violating the constitutional rights of students and professors. The stories are legion, the legal standards are unconscionable, and it’s past time for other branches of American government to step in and set things right.
...
Then consider this legal complaint, directed at Indiana University. It is simply astounding. The university expelled a male student for sexual misconduct even though the female student allegedly admitted that she invited the male student into her bedroom, asked him to retrieve a sex toy, and asked him to have sex with her. She told the Bloomington police department, “I was, like, telling him, like, to have sex with me.”