Story here. Excerpt:

'The woman who met a soldier on a dating website before he was killed on their date, has been arrested on charges of felony murder, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Lavar Watson's friends told Local 6 he was in the US Army for 3 years and served two tours in Iraq. Watson met Ashley Levelle on plentyoffish.com, a dating website, and was meeting her for a date.
...
Levelle told deputies that Roopnarine shot Watson inside her car and forced her to help him move the body, which was found on the side of a road, the Sheriff's Office said.

Roopnarine told authorities that Levelle planned a scheme to rob Watson and shot him first.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'When the Office of Child Support Enforcement tells us that 63% of those behind on paying their support obligations are the poorest of the poor – those who report earnings of less than $10,000 – it comes as no surprise. Of course it’s the poor who fall behind and who can’t afford a lawyer to go to court to try to modify the order. In fact, that’s so much to be expected that it’s a surprise when the guy fighting for his life was once pretty well off and who has the education to fight the system.

That looks to be the case described in OC Judge Reversed For Cruel Treatment of Ex-Husband in Child Support Case (OC Weekly, 12/30/11).

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the United States, women make up only 16.9% of our national legislature (i.e., Congress). That places us 91st in the world. In a new report, Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox conclude that there are seven big reasons why women continue to lag so far behind men in the political world:

1. Women are substantially more likely than men to perceive the electoral environment as highly competitive and biased against female candidates.
2. Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin’s candidacies aggravated women’s perceptions of gender bias in the electoral arena.
3. Women are much less likely than men to think they are qualified to run for office.
4. Female potential candidates are less competitive, less confident, and more risk averse than their male counterparts.
5. Women react more negatively than men to many aspects of modern campaigns.
6. Women are less likely than men to receive the suggestion to run for office—from anyone.
7. Women are still responsible for the majority of childcare and household tasks.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Although the women got the worst of the confrontation — Ms. Darbeau was hospitalized for several days with a broken skull and arm; Ms. Edwards had many cuts and bruises — a grand jury indicted them and dropped assault charges against the employee, Rayon McIntosh, who argued self-defense.

The lawyer for Ms. Darbeau, 24, and Ms. Edwards, 25, called the charges against his clients a travesty.

“The only person that uses the weapon, the only person that uses criminal force in the case is basically off the hook,” the lawyer, Harold C. Baker III, said. “And the people who got beaten to within an inch of their life are under indictment. In my opinion, that’s not consistent with justice.”

Yet Mr. Baker’s clients have not engendered much sympathy.

The cellphone video shows one of the women striking Mr. McIntosh first, and then jumping over the counter to go after him. Mr. McIntosh grabbed a thin rod used to clean the griddle and delivered a dozen or so blows, some while the women were on the ground.

Article here.

'Carol Pucci of the Seattle Times points out that JWT, a New York firm specializing in travel trends, expects more women-only floors to be opening in hotels around the globe, the result of more women traveling alone and wanting more security.

She reports the Georgian Court in Vancouver, British Columbia, has 18 rooms on the 10th floor set aside for female guests and may add more. Not only do especially women business travelers feel more secure, but the rooms are outfitted with other amenities, such as curling irons, nail polish and yoga mats.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Suspect Catherine Kieu Becker, now unofficially known as the new Lorena Bobbitt, was grand-jury slapped with an indictment for alleged penis cutting so harsh that it could get her life in prison if she's convicted.

While we sometimes wonder if the justice system treats the ladies with kid gloves (especially when it comes to their own domestic violence and claims for alimony), this here case of a pared-down pecker is being messaged with the utmost of due diligence.

Men everywhere can exhale:

Our sister publication OC Weekly notes that Bobbitt Becker was handed an indictment charging the 48-year-old with "one felony count of torture, one felony count of aggravated mayhem, and a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a knife."

Article here. Excerpt:

"'Women,' said Stephen Hawking, when asked on his 70th birthday, what he thought about most. 'They are a complete mystery.'

Quite so: and you know, sometimes I'm really surprised when I sail right into a columnar uproar. But not today: today is Balaclava.

Article here. Excerpt:

'City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other city officials blasted a Hunter College women's group that booted the NYPD’s top sex and hate crimes official from a panel on sexual harassment against women in the subway system.

Deputy Chief Michael Osgood, the commander of the NYPD’s Special Victims Division and its Hate Crimes Task Force, was dumped from the panel just a day before the Dec. 5 event, which also included experts from the Manhattan Borough President’s office, the National Organization for Women, Hollaback! and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Osgood’s ouster was the result of a complaint by the Hunter Women’s Rights Coalition that the NYPD was a violent organization whose members rape women and brutalize New Yorkers, DNAinfo reported last week.
...

Article here.

'ONEIDA - State Police in Oneida arrested Katalyn Fura, 17, of Oneida, Keith Drummond, 22, of Canastota, following an investigation into an alleged rape. Fura had reported to school officials Friday morning that she had been raped over Christmas break.

School officials contacted police and notified them of the allegation. State Police in Oneida interviewed both Fura and Drummond who provided inconsistent accounts of Fura being forcibly raped somewhere in Canastota. Further investigation revealed that the allegation was fabricated to target a male subject that both Fura and Drummond were upset with.

Fura was charged with two misdemeanors for providing a false written statement and falsely reporting an incident and was released on appearance tickets. Drummond was charged with the misdemeanor of providing a false written statement and also released on an appearance ticket. The tickets are returnable in Oneida city court.'

Attorney Catherine MacKinnon once proclaimed, "Penetrative intercourse is, by its nature, violent." Her writings argue that in a patriarchal society, women are incapable of giving consent, so all heterosexual sex is rape. For years, critics dismissed her has a nut case.

But now, MacKinnon's minions are working to assure that she gets the last laugh. The process began 9 months ago at the federal level with a radical overhaul of definitions of rape:

1. In April, the US Department of Education released its "Dear Colleague" letter: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201104.html

2. In December, the Centers for Disease Control issued its National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_Report2010-a.pdf

A group in Connecticut has started it's own Alimony Reform Group (http://www.ctalimonyreform.com/). In our latest meeting we met with counsel to start drafting a new law that will change some of the ambiguities of the current laws. We are looking to establish guidelines for the courts to apply alimony as a transition to independence for the divorcing parties, not as an award or lifetime entitlement. We believe that the current law hurts rather than helps families, by cultivating a battle amongst divorcing parties. We encourage people to join our cause, we could use lots of support to see this law through the legislature. Or check online, many other States have begun similar movements.

Dear Friends & Brothers,

Please accept my mightiest apologies for the late release of this issue. Times and situations got the best of all of us here at the TWF Team.

As you all are aware, since the cost of production and courier charges was beyond our means, we've moved to Online Version Only. If you want you can access older issues at our website.

The WILL Magazine November Issue 4 on Child Rights is finally uploaded to our website.

The link to the issue is http://thewillfoundation.webs.com/documents/Child%20Rights%20Nov%20Issue%204.pdf

We ask everyone to please download and read. If you like it, you can share it with your friends and colleagues.

We humbly look forward to your feedback, comments, and article contributions.

Thanking you with best regards,

Anwar H. Danish

From SAVE:

Last week we mentioned that the National Alliance to End Domestic Abuse (Jewish Women International) is having a webinar on January 12 called Screening for Domestic Violence: The New Healthcare Regulation's Impact on the Medical Profession and Domestic Violence Practitioners.

You have asked JWI to present a balanced, gender-inclusive presentation. And we are hoping that's what you'll get.

Will you be our eyes and ears?

Register for the webinar here: https://www.jwi.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=2627. There is a charge of $25. Then send your notes to tstoddard-at-saveservices.org.

If you enjoy keeping people on the straight-and-narrow, join CAMP, the Countering Abuse Misinformation Project: http://www.saveservices.org/camp

Sincerely,

Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org

Article here. Excerpt:

'In Hollywood, it is generally agreed that blowing stuff up is a guy thing. So is shooting people, driving down city streets like Evel Knievel, and getting into fistfights no actual human being could survive unmaimed. But these aren’t actual human beings. They live in movies carefully aimed at what’s euphemistically called the young male demographic, i.e., guys of all ages who shell out again and again for films with the depth and complexity of Grand Theft Auto, only louder and larger. For us other demographics—women, men with brains—such films are so formulaic that all the explosions in the world can’t stave off boredom. Two new high-profile movies, Drive and Warrior, sound like they fit this mold, and to some extent they do. But they’re smarter and go further, exploring the hypermasculinity expressing itself on the screen and calculating its real-life cost.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Florida woman who reportedly became incensed while watching TV’s Judge Judy was arrested Sunday after she allegedly struck her husband on the head with a hammer.

Janet Knowles, 62, was charged with aggravated battery following the bizarre 10:30 AM incident at a residence in Jupiter. Knowles, seen in the above mug shot, is locked up in the Palm Beach County jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.
...
The report does not specifically indicate why Knowles was so upset about Judge Judy, who is pictured above. The victim, who was seated in a recliner when twice hammered, suffered large cuts to his head and forearm, according to cops.'