Link here. Excerpt:

'After more than 20 years in the profession, a "huge need to feel love" caused a teacher to turn to a teenage student for sex.

The 51-year-old known only as EP sobbed as she told Sydney's District Court on Thursday why she began having sex with the 15-year-old boy.

Following the breakdown of an unhappy marriage in 2006, the woman said she became depressed and suicidal.

"I felt that the last eight years of my marriage that my husband didn't love who I was and just liked me being around as a housewife," she told her sentence hearing.
...
In a victim impact statement read to court, the now 20-year-old man said the experience with his former teacher continued to affect him.

"When I was 15 she made me feel excited and powerful but as I matured I felt ashamed, angry, guilty and confused."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Randye Hoder has a great piece for Slate on the persistence of gender norms in who pays for dinner that included this amusing factoid: "The study, which surveyed more than 17,000 unmarried heterosexual men and women, found that 84 percent of men and 58 percent of women said men pay for most dating expenses, even after the relationship has been cooking for a while."

Apparently a handful of stingy men are dating a disproportionately large share of American women, thus reconciling the apparent mismatch in those numbers. Either that or someone is misremembering. OK, realistically the misremembering is more likely. But the math does work. You can imagine a handful of attractive, charming men who go out with a lot of women who them dump them swiftly when it becomes apparent that they refuse to pay for dates.'

We are happy to report that Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has stopped using their offensive and gender-biased Hot Shot Bites ad, the video that shows a woman slapping a man across the face.

The commercials are no longer running on TV, and when you try to watch the online version you get a 'restricted access' message. It looks to us like KFC might be a little bit embarrassed about their poor choice of advertising.

We want to thank each and every one of you who made phone calls, sent emails, signed the petition, visited KFC restaurants, and commented on the KFC Facebook page. You rock!

But, our work is not done. We believe that KFC needs to apologize. We think they should acknowledge their mistake, and make a good-will effort on behalf of domestic violence victims.

Story here. Excerpt:

'GERMANTOWN, Md. (WJZ) — A Frostburg University football player died during the 2011 preseason. Now his family is blaming what they call the “utter incompetence” of the coaching staff. They have filed a lawsuit against the coaches, the NCAA and the helmet manufacturer.

Derek Sheely’s family says their son was participating in a dangerous drill when he collapsed on the sidelines and never regained consciousness.
...
It was on the football field where the 22-year-old collapsed. According to a lawsuit, Sheely was bleeding from the head and told his coach he didn’t feel right. Witnesses say the coach told him, “Stop your bitching and moaning and quit acting like a [expletive] and get back out there.” Sheely fell unconscious moments later and never woke up.
...
Derek Sheely’s family has started a foundation in his name to help raise awareness about the danger of concussions.

The Maryland State Department of Education has recommended limiting football hitting drills to two practices per week.'

Article here. Unreal. Like only women get STDs. Want to reduce STD spread? 1. Encourage *everyone* to find out if they have any STDs and 2. Educate people on how to avoid spreading them and most importantly on how not to get them. But no. That's too simple and besides, it would seem only females get STDs! Excerpt:

'SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Sacramento County’s health department will begin distributing a take-home STD test for women that won’t cost users a penny.

The city has one of the highest rates of STDs in the state, and it keeps going up every year. Now a new online program will hopefully get more people to get tested.

“We definitely need all the help we can get,” said Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye.

The division of public health says STDs are spreading like wildfire in Sacramento, with chlamydia and gonorrhea considered an epidemic.
...
Men will still have to visit a doctor to be tested since the tests are only designed for women.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A heartless Pennsylvania woman gave birth in a bar bathroom, and then left the helpless infant to die in a toilet while she watched pro wrestling and smoked a cigarette, authorities said.

Amanda Catherine Hein, 26, was held without bail yesterday after being charged with one count of criminal homicide stemming from the Aug. 18 tragedy.

A late-night cleaning crew found the infant’s body in a toilet tank at Starters Pub in Bethlehem, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia.

“I cannot get inside this lady’s head,” Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said of Hein’s potential motive.'

At Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, more than 200 babies are being circumcised in a study to determine which circumcision clamp, the Gomco or the Mogen, is "better." How are they determining this? By looking at which clamp results in fewer blood-soaked bandages, and by looking at expressions of pain on babies' faces!

This "research" is a heinous violation of medical ethics and human rights. Babies are being cruelly subjected to an unconscionable medical experiment—all in service to the shareholders of a medical instrument company seeking to profit from bad science to sell more circumcision tools.

A positive message for men. Excerpt:

'On his cartoon blog Zen Pencils, Gavin Aung Than turns inspirational quotes into comic strips. For his newest strip, he illustrated a quote from Bill Watterson’s 1990 speech at Kenyon College in the style of Calvin and Hobbes, which Than considers “the greatest comic strip of all time.” The comic strip below “is basically the story of my life,” Than writes, “except I’m a stay-at-home-dad to two dogs.” You can read more at Zen Pencils, where this comic originally appeared. It is reprinted here with his permission.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Tel Aviv judge has ruled that a father from Rehovot does not need to pay child support – setting a precedent that could change child support arrangements for many divorced parents.

Judge Yoram Shaked ruled that the father in question does not need to pay support because he shares custody of his children with his ex-wife, and because she has a higher income and more disposable income than he does. Were the father to pay support, he would need to pay only 300 shekels a month, Shaked found – a finding that led him to decide to waive the obligation to pay altogether.

Attorney Aviv Harel explained the significant of the verdict. “Until today, most judges set minimum child support payments for Jewish fathers that stood at 1,350 shekels per month per child or more,” he said.
...
Judges usually rule that fathers who share equal custody of their children with the children’s mother must pay 75% of the cost of raising the children, Harel said, while fathers who do not have custody at all must pay 100% support.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'To her neighbours in the quiet German town of Zwickau, she was the “friendly, sociable and generous” young woman who liked to drop by for a glass of prosecco. To her comrades on the German far Right, she was a smart, assertive and violent member of their secret terrorist militia.

Revealed in a Munich court, the hidden life of Beate Zschaepe, a mousy, bespectacled 38-year-old with the looks of a librarian, has given Germany a chilling insight into its neo-Nazi movement.

In the biggest home-grown terrorist scandal since the days of the Baader-Meinhof gang in the 1970s, her group is accused of carrying out ten murders, two bombings and 15 bank robberies during a 13-year campaign.

Worse still, Germany’s police and spy agencies thought the killings, dubbed the “kebab murders” because they targeted mainly Turkish immigrants, were part of a feud within the Turkish mafia.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A former Xavier University basketball player sued the school, alleging it damaged his reputation by expelling him for what he says was a false sexual assault accusation.

Dez Wells' federal lawsuit also names the private Jesuit Catholic school's president as a defendant. Father Michael Graham said in a statement Wednesday that the university denies the allegations and will defend its decision to expel Wells.

Xavier kicked Wells out a year ago in the aftermath of a female student's accusation that he sexually assaulted her in July 2012. A Hamilton County grand jury declined to indict Wells after hearing evidence in the case. Prosecutor Joe Deters later publicly questioned the school's expulsion and urged Xavier to "revisit" the situation.

At the time, Xavier said Wells was expelled for a "serious violation" of the code of student conduct, and that a board consisting of faculty, students and administrators made the decision following standard procedures for U.S. universities.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Well, because kids need to know their parents, no matter where they are. Just because a father was not a good citizen doesn't mean that he shouldn't have a relationship with his child, or that his child shouldn't have a relationship with him. His child didn't do anything. One of the things that always troubles me is that, you know, we don't ask these questions about the value of children going to visit their mothers in prison. You know, even though only 7 percent of the people in prison are women, that, in sheer numbers, there's more programs for mothers in prison than there are for fathers. And it's like we value the role of mothers above the role of fathers.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Here’s a bold idea to make venture funding equal for man and woman.

End the carried interest tax loophole for any venture firm that doesn’t fund the same amount in women-owned businesses as men-owned.

If you’re thinking ‘Whoa,’ then you know how many millions of dollars could be at stake for investors forced to pay taxes on venture capital returns at the normal rate (instead of the much lower capital gains rate.)

But the idea is compelling considering the argument of the woman who dreamt it up and pitched it to President Barack Obama in a blog post yesterday.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Japan Airlines is introducing new features and services on its flights to Honolulu, including a women-only area on the plane for applying make-up, or breast-feeding, as well as in-flight meals designed by celebrity chefs and Hawaii’s Kuaaina Sandwich Shop.

Japan Airlines said Monday that it will continue to seek ways to bring passengers unique and refreshing onboard experiences through more delectable meal choices.

The first installment of the in-flight meal changes will be available starting Sept. 1, on flights from Japan to Honolulu. Meals designed by chef Chikara Yamada will be available from the airline’s JAL Bedd Sky Auberge restaurant on business class flights from Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka to Honolulu. In the economy class on flights on the same routes, in-flight meals have been designed by Chef Kazuhide Nose of Ore-no French and Chef Yoshihiro Yamaura of Ore-no Italian.'