Article here. Excerpt:

'A controversial men’s issues group that has been banned from Pride Toronto’s festival took part in this year’s Capital Pride parade in Ottawa.

The Canadian Association for Equality has a reputation for anti-feminist views, although the organizers insist it promotes gender equality and is not meant to be radical.

CAFE’s event have drawn crowds of fierce protests in the past and the group was banned from Toronto Pride Parade this year, for a second year in a row.

According to Pride Toronto’s news release in June, the group failed to meet that festival’s vision to “create a safe space to engage communities in the celebration of their sexuality.”

The group started a local chapter based in Ottawa this year.

Justin Trottier, CAFE executive director, said the group is a “very moderate social services organization” despite its reputation.

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'The problem with nearly every government program or regulation is that it spawns a private sector industry to leach off the regulation, as well as a new constituency group to support the perpetuation or expansion of the regime.

Today’s example is the egregious Title IX sexual assault protocols for college campuses, which, as noted here previously, isn’t even a formal federal regulation. It proceeded from a “dear colleague” “guidance” letter from the Department of Education—an example of what legal scholars call the growing practice of “informal rule-making.” It may seem informal to you, but when you’re on the receiving end, with the threats and blandishments of the federal government coming at you, it seems about as “informal” as a request from Don Corleone.

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'Belinda Guthrie: Sexual consent laws help prevent bad behavior
...
Critics of affirmative consent argue it places an undue burden on the initiator of the sexual activity to prove that he or she had consent and violates the due process rights of the accused.

They argue that such policies will lead to an increase of false reporting of sexual assault after incidents that are, in truth, regretted sexual encounters but nonetheless consensual.

Critics also argue that affirmative consent policies are impractical and impossible to enforce and do nothing to improve the resolution of cases involving "he said, she said" arguments and cases in which one or both parties were intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.

Fundamental fairness and due process requires schools to conduct a thorough, reliable, fair and prompt investigation carried out by an experienced, trained and impartial investigator.

An inadequate investigation or the poor handling of a case by an institution does not warrant a movement away from states adopting affirmative-consent policies.
...
Samuel R. Staley: Questionable laws turn sex into a police process

Rape is inexcusable and deserves to be discussed seriously, but the current nationwide push for so-called "yes means yes" laws is likely to cause more harm than good.

In brief, a "yes means yes" law puts into state statute a legally binding requirement that all parties involved in a sexual encounter demonstrate an "unambiguous, affirmative and conscious decision" to engage in voluntary sexual relations, to quote California's legislation, which passed last year.

In practice, this means getting verbal consent — an explicit "yes" — at every progressive step in a sexual act.

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'Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson’s Senate Bill 186 (SB 186) passed the senate floor with a unanimous 63-0 bipartisan vote on Monday.

SB 186, introduced by Jackson in February, would allow California community colleges to discipline students for off-campus sexual assault and sexual exploitation violations. The bill successfully passed through the senate and currently awaits approval by Governor Jerry Brown, who can sign it into law. University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) campuses currently have jurisdiction to expel, suspend or enact disciplinary action on students who commit sexual assault, but not the authority to punish students for incidents that happen off campus grounds.

Jackson said the bill’s success was backed by the common understanding that all college students from UCs, CSUs and community colleges should be held accountable for crimes such as sexual assault.

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'A Delaware judge on Friday sentenced former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader Molly Shattuck to two years of probation for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy, calling the case a difficult one and saying the socialite has already suffered great public humiliation.

Shattuck, who pleaded guilty to the rape charge, will serve 48 weekends in jail for the term of the probation. Prosecutors said the mother of three performed oral sex on the teenager, who attended McDonogh School in Owings Mills with her son."I take full responsibility for what I did," Shattuck, 48, said in between sobs as she stood before Judge E. Scott Bradley. "I was the adult."
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The judge sentenced Shattuck to 15 years in prison — the maximum sentence for the charges — with all but two years suspended.

"It's not a walk in the park," defense attorney Eugene Maurer told reporters outside the courthouse. He called the sentence fair.

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'In addition to the inviting photos, cops say Feeney also promised the unidentified student that she could get him admitted to Harvard University, reports local CBS affiliate WPVI-TV.

Feeney’s months-long pursuit of the student was a hard, persistent but ultimately unsuccessful slog, Chester County district attorney Tom Hogan charged.

Her quest began in 2014. There were hundreds of emails, police say. There were texts. These messages included a topless photo and other imagery of Feeney partially disrobed in various ways.
...
“If you’d… just stop fighting and let it happen, you’d be a lot less uptight and much happier,” another missive said, according to investigators.

Feeney used her official Malvern Prep work email account, cops say.

Feeney kissed the teenager at one point as well.

“The defendant was extraordinarily predatory in the way she attacked this 16-year-old boy, going after him again and again and again,” Hogan told WPVI.

Article here. Excerpt:

"A row broke out last night over guidelines which would see men accused of date rape being asked to prove that a woman wanted to have sex.

As part of a major shake-up of investigations into sex offences, the Director of Public Prosecutions said it was vital to remove ‘any grey area’ to recognise situations where a woman may have been unable to give consent.

Campaigners described the move as a ‘huge step forward’ in ensuring fewer rapists escaped justice.

But critics said the guidelines threatened to undermine Britain’s long-standing principle that people were innocent until proven guilty.

Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘It is not clear how anyone is supposed to prove that consent was given. Is the CPS really suggesting that you have to get a signed statement off someone before they have sex?

Link here. There is a blue 'Comment Now' button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. You can upload documents if 5000 characters in insufficient space.

Excerpt (emphasis added):

Article here. Excerpt:

'There are consequences for lying about having been sexually assaulted, but apparently only if the accuser first blames an unnamed stranger.

The University of Arkansas is dealing with its second false report of a student being attacked in a campus parking garage in the past year, The Arkansas Traveler reported:

"Junior Lindsey Sweetin pleaded not guilty to charges of filing a false police report at her arraignment. A court date was scheduled for Aug. 18.

Police said the false report was made March 9 after 20-year-old Sweetin claimed a man she did not know groped her in the Harmon Parking Garage on Feb. 26. Testimony from witnesses and video camera evidence could not support Sweetin’s claims. After further investigation, she admitted her claims were false. …

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'Two more bills currently in the California state legislature would aim to address the issue. One would require all of the state's universities – public and private – to disclose what disciplinary actions were taken against students accused of sexual assault. Another bill would require universities to indicate on transcripts when a student cannot re-enroll due to a suspension or expulsion.

Some proponents of the new policies have described campus adjudication of sexual assault as an educational process, rather than a criminal proceeding. That might be true if the consequences of a finding of responsibility weren't as damaging to one's future as a criminal trial.

A student found responsible for campus sexual assault is often branded a rapist in local (and often national) media, his transcript is forever marked and his reputation is forever tarnished. And let's not forget that a finding of responsibility can be achieved on nothing more than an accusation, with exculpatory evidence and witnesses ignored and a complete lack of due process.

An expulsion with a mark on the transcript could keep him from continuing his education. When accused students have been suspended and allowed to return to campus, outrage has sometimes ensued. Colleges are now being pressured simply to expel. Expelled students — again, expelled based on nothing more than an accusation — find it nearly impossible to transfer to another school. Their education is halted, and if they can't afford an attorney to sue the university for wrongful expulsion, their lives are put on hold.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Due process for college students has been in the news lately, as judge after judge makes favorable rulings for students accused of sexual assault.

Naturally, those outraged over the supposed epidemic of campus sexual assault claim that due process is an impediment to justice. An accusation is as good as guilt, some activists seemingly believe.

But accused students who feel they have been wrongly vilified are fighting back, by suing the universities that expelled them and treated them as guilty from the start. They're claiming a lack of due process protections.

For instance, most colleges and universities don't allow the accused or accuser to have legal representation (some schools allow a lawyer to sit in but not speak), many schools don't even provide students with an explanation of the charges against them, or allow the accused to cross-examine his accuser. No testimony in campus courts is given under oath, yet the transcripts and evidence can be turned over to police afterward.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Having law enforcement involved in adjudicating campus assault claims is a key part of federal legislation that gained momentum this week with noteworthy endorsements.

The National Association of Scholars and the National District Attorneys Association have both come out in favor of the Safe Campus Act of 2015, which aims to protect the due process rights of students accused of assault or rape.

The bill comes after dozens of male students in recent years have sued their universities, alleging they were essentially railroaded by campus officials after unsubstantiated and biased sexual assault claims were lodged against them.'

Article here. Excetpt:

'The foreskin: a highly debated part of the male anatomy that some say is an unnecessary health risk, while others consider it a vital part of the reproductive system. Most Americans choose to have their children circumcised at infancy, forsaking the foreskin to prevent a slew of health problems that some medical professionals warn about. But in recent years, many are finding the benefits of keeping your crusader caped.

Petition here. Excerpt:

'Campus sexual assault has recently become the focus of extensive national attention and debate.  Up until now, efforts by the government to combat this horrific crime have focused on campus disciplinary committees.  Yet most Americans disagree with this approach and instead believe that campus sexual assault is a matter best handled by the criminal justice system—and for good reason.  In cases where the accused student is guilty, the most these committees can do in expel someone who really belongs behind bars.

And in cases where the accused student is innocent, critical due process protections guaranteed by the Constitution are missing, running the risk of wrongful expulsion.  Indeed, numerous lawsuits have been filed against schools over the last few years by students claiming to have been wrongfully expelled for an offense they did not commit.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'But three times was too many, in this town of 13,000, which boasts of being home to the “first concrete street in America.”

Under questioning by police, Brittany Pilkington broke down and confessed to suffocating all three of her sons by putting blankets over their heads, according to the Columbus Dispatch and the AP.

The reason for the alleged murder spree?

She wanted her husband to pay more attention to their daughter, a prosecutor said.

“In her mind, she was protecting her daughter from being not as loved as the boys were by their father,” Logan County prosecutor William Goslee told the Columbus Dispatch.

Brittany Pilkington was charged with three counts of murder and jailed on Tuesday, according to the AP. Her remaining child, Hailey, was taken into custody by a Logan County welfare agency.'