Sunday's Synchronicity

Everything more or less matched up today so taking it from the top:

"Her grisly death in the driveway of her home and her ex-husband’s indictment last month on a charge of first-degree murder suggest she may have kept hidden a darker, more complicated part of her life....."

See: Woman killed when husband hits her with car in Quincy

He said it was an accident.

Same story next door.

Turning the paper over I find:

Accident or not, fender-bender penalties on rise

In$urers overcharging? Surely you je$t!

I didn't set foot on a 2-acre patch of mystery land in Vermont, sorry.

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A2

"EU endorses unified strategy to negotiate Brexit" by James Kanter New York Times   April 29, 2017

(Blog editor groans)

BRUSSELS — European leaders who are more optimistic about their joint future than they have been in several years.

That's not what I was told last month no matter how much spinning does the pre$$:

"Determined to show that unity is the only way ahead in a globalized world, EU leaders were able to walk away from a summit without acrimony, which was already sort of a victory. With Britain leaving, the mantle of recalcitrant member seems to have been taken over by Poland. Still, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, unmissable in a bright yellow jacket, was more subdued than at the last EU summit two weeks ago, when she refused to adopt conclusions that need unanimity. Poland also balked at signing the new treaty until the eve of the ceremony. At the end of the session, all 27 leaders signed the Rome Declaration saying that ‘‘European unity is a bold, farsighted endeavor.’’ With Britain poised to start divorce proceedings, the 27 remaining European Union nations marked the 60th anniversary of their founding treaty as a turning point...."

It's $elf-delu$ional globalist slop passing itself off as "news."

European leaders are emboldened by mostly positive economic news in recent months and by the defeats of ferocious opponents of the bloc in elections in Austria and the Netherlands. The Europeans are also broadly optimistic that Emmanuel Macron, the centrist candidate in the French presidential elections.

They should be optimistic since they've gone to outright rigging of elections no matter what now. Brexit, Trump, and Colombia did it.

Related: 

"French presidential front-runner Emmanuel Macron hunted Saturday for votes in rural France where his far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, is making inroads among country folk who feel left behind. Back in Paris, Le Pen announced that if she wins the presidency next Sunday, she would name Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, her new campaign ally, as prime minister, aiming to secure the nearly 1.7 million votes that the anti-European Union conservative got when he was eliminated from the race in the first round of balloting. Since many Dupont-Aignan voters had already been expected to switch to Le Pen for her second-round duel against the centrist Macron, his decision to ally himself with her was unlikely to prove a massive electoral boost for her campaign. Symbolically, however, the new alliance punctured another hole in hopes — expressed by mainstream politicians on both the left and right — that France will unite against Le Pen’s extremism in round two, as it did when her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, made the presidential runoff in 2002, losing overwhelmingly to Jacques Chirac. Venturing into rural France to combat Le Pen’s arguments that he represents the big-city elite, Macron promised to modernize phone and Internet connections and vigorously defended the EU as an essential market for French farmers...."

Maybe the leaders shouldn't be that optimistic.

The leaders also called on Britain to meets its outstanding financial obligations so that other member states can avoid paying higher costs after the British withdrawal. The outstanding bill could amount to as much as 60 billion euros, about $65 billion. But British citizens and politicians are balking at paying such a large sum.

Globe has hit a wall on that issue lately, and it sure looks like EU extortion to me. If I were British I'd say $crew 'em!

The leaders reached agreement on the guidelines unusually swiftly, in mere minutes, at the start of a working lunch. Much is at stake for the countries remaining in the bloc. They must overcome their habitual squabbling and balance their desire to keep trade and military ties with Britain while ensuring that it does not enjoy the same benefits as a member of the bloc.

They are also wary of Britain turning itself into a low-tax haven with weakened regulations that would undercut European neighbors....

Stop it!! You are ruining the optimism!!!

--more--"

"China’s appetite pushes fish stocks to brink" by Andrew Jacobs New York Times  April 29, 2017

(Blog editor groans)

JOAL, Senegal — China, with its enormous population, growing wealth to buy seafood, and the world’s largest fleet of deep-sea fishing vessels, is having an outsize effect.

Having depleted the seas close to home, Chinese fishermen are sailing farther to exploit the waters of other countries, their journeys often subsidized by a government more concerned with domestic unemployment and food security than the health of the world’s oceans and the countries that depend on them.

I wish I had one. 

As for the health of the world's oceans, when was the last time the NYT did a story on Fukushima? The children are returning?

Increasingly, they are heading to the waters of West Africa, where corruption and weak enforcement by local governments have drawn China’s growing armada of distant-water fishing vessels.

West Africa, experts say, now provides the vast majority of the fish caught by China’s distant-water fleet. And by some estimates, as many as two-thirds of those boats engage in fishing that contravenes international or national laws. Most of the Chinese ships are so large that they scoop up as many fish in one week as Senegalese boats catch in a year, costing West African economies $2 billion per year, according to a new study published by the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

I'm ready to wage war against them. You?

Many of the Chinese boat owners rely on government money to build vessels and fuel their journeys to Senegal, a monthlong trip from crowded ports in China.

Government subsidies to the fishing industry reached nearly $22 billion between 2011 and 2015, nearly triple the amount spent during the previous four years, according to Zhang Hongzhou, a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

That figure, he said, does not include the tens of millions in subsidies and tax breaks that coastal Chinese cities and provinces provide to support local fishing companies.

We use them for profitable multinationals over here in Ma$$achu$etts and AmeriKa. That way they don't have to pay taxes and can actually get a "refund" check.

According to one study by Greenpeace, subsidies for some Chinese fishing companies amount to a significant portion of their income. For one large state-owned company, CNFC Overseas Fisheries, the $12 million diesel subsidy it received last year made the difference between profit and loss, according to a corporate filing.

I wonder how many firms are being propped up the government and military-industrial complex here in AmeriKa.

“Chinese fleets are all over the world now, and without these subsidies, the industry just wouldn’t be sustainable,” said Li Shuo, a global policy adviser at Greenpeace East Asia. “For Senegal and other countries of West Africa, the impact has been devastating.”

That's when my printed Globe stopped catching anything.

In Senegal, an impoverished nation of 14 million, fishing stocks are plummeting. Local fishermen working out of hand-hewn canoes compete with megatrawlers whose mile-long nets sweep up virtually every living thing. Most of the fish they catch is sent abroad, with a lot ending up as fishmeal fodder for chicken and pigs in the United States and Europe. 

It ends up as fodder where?

The sea’s diminishing returns mean plummeting incomes for fishermen and higher food prices for Senegalese citizens, most of whom depend on fish as their primary source of protein.

“We are facing an unprecedented crisis,” said Alassane Samba, a former director of Senegal’s oceanic research institute. “If things keep going the way they are, people will have to eat jellyfish to survive.” 

Are they any good? 

I mean, the elite pre$$ is always pushing new types of food on us.

When it comes to global fishing operations, China is the indisputable king of the sea. It is the world’s biggest seafood exporter, and its population accounts for more than one-third of all fish consumption, a figure growing by 6 percent a year. 

I was told they are stealing the fish from West Africa for import.

The nation’s fishing industry employs more than 14 million people, up from 5 million in 1979, with 30 million others relying on fish for their livelihoods.

“The truth is, traditional fishing grounds in Chinese waters exist in name only,” said Zhang of Nanyang University. “For China’s leaders, ensuring a steady supply of aquatic products is not just about good economics but social stability and political legitimacy.” 

HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! 

Like I'm hauling up any semblance of that in the NYT!

But as they press toward other countries, Chinese fishermen have become entangled in a growing number of maritime disputes.

Indonesia has impounded scores of Chinese boats caught poaching in its waters, and in March last year, Argentine authorities sank a Chinese vessel that tried to ram a coast guard boat. Violent clashes between Chinese fishermen and South Korean authorities have left a half-dozen people dead. 

And now “the sea is empty.”

--more--"

Below that, literally anded figuratively:

"Duterte opens Asian summit with oblique swipe at US, EU" by Jim Gomez Associated Press  April 29, 2017

MANILA — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte opened an annual summit of Southeast Asian leaders on Saturday with an oblique swipe at Western governments, asking them not to meddle in the affairs of regional countries.

Duterte has often lashed out at Western criticism of his brutal antidrug crackdown. Although couched in diplomatic tone, the president’s remarks at the opening ceremony of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila reflect his combative character.

He better be careful or he'll become another Aguinaldo.

Ties between the association and the West could become stronger and more productive ‘‘if we learn to respect each other’s independence and treat each other as sovereign equals,’’ Duterte said.

That's a swipe?

Duterte also cited the need for the 10-nation bloc to address security issues, including terrorism and piracy, but made no mention of touchy South China Sea territorial rifts, which China did not want highlighted in the talks.

The long-simmering disputes, along with alarm over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and its intensifying standoff with the United States, have taken attention away from the more benign topics of regional economic integration.

The summit is the first major international event Duterte has hosted since taking office 10 months ago.

Duterte, whose drug war has left thousands dead and drawn rebukes from the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, and rights groups, stressed the need to make ASEAN drug-free.

‘‘The illegal drug trade apparatus is massive. But it is not impregnable,’’ Duterte said. ‘‘With political will and cooperation, it can be dismantled.’’

Duterte, 72, faces a mass murder complaint before the International Criminal Court and an impeachment bid at home as bodies continue to pile up in his drug crackdown.  

See what happens when you really wage a drug war against western distribution and intelligence networks?

Duterte will find solace from criticism in ASEAN, which has a bedrock policy forbidding member states from meddling in each other’s domestic affairs.

--more--"

Sideboard:

EGYPT Francis holds Mass at Cairo stadium

From my world lead to a brief, wow.

RUSSIA Thousands attend grievance rallies
TURKEY Court upholds rule barring Wikipedia
CHINA US woman freed after spying trial

Who is Phan Phan-Gillis?

SYRIA Troops repel ISIS attack in Aleppo

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A4

South Korea joins US Navy drills after North’s missile test fails

Giving Trump a-schoolin'!

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A5

As noted earlier.

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A10

New execution troubles could resonate in upcoming case

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A12

With Trump in power, white-power groups try to build alliances

Wow, a print repeater! That's the second time I've seen that article in print!

Three die in crash of air ambulance

Hospital releases George H.W. Bush

Live, damn you, live! The last thing I want is wall-to-wall coverage of his state funeral with the ma$$ media waxing flowery about that war criminal and his family.

"Governor Eric Greitens has agreed to pay a penalty to the state Ethics Commission for failing to report that his campaign got a donor list from a charity he had founded to help military veterans. The settlement ends an investigation that began shortly before the 2016 election, after a report that Gretiens’s campaign had access to The Mission Continues donor list and had raised about $2 million from people on it (AP)."

That's like getting a date off an AIDS walk list.

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B1

For Muslim women, a home to call their own

Yeah, the Zionist war paper loves Muslims. 

When you open the section you see this at the top of page B2. I mean, “I’m not surprised, but when you see what you think is an injustice going on, it’s important to keep fighting.”

Play outside! Public art on Greenway to engage in some fun

Related:

You’ll soon be able to sip a beer on the Greenway

How about smoking a joint?

Could the state pull the plug on Greenway funding?
A key state lawmaker wants more green for the Greenway. Or else.

Is that a threat?

Greenway abutters, it’s time to help pay more bills

So GE can get more tax loot?

Walsh wants state to continue supporting Greenway

Otherwise it will come out of his budget! 

Are we having fun now?

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B2

Rockefeller leaves more than $25M to Maine institutions

Maybe he could pay for the Greenway.

Ortiz to deliver commencement address at R.I. school

Globe missed those for some reason.

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B5

Incentives offered for bus rapid transit

That's my stop, readers, sorry.

Related: Slow Saturday Special: Out of Synch

Time to quit blogging today.

Sunday Globe Special: The Education of Donald Trump

Globe is his teacher!

"What Donald Trump learned in his first 100 days" by Annie Linskey Globe Staff  April 28, 2017

WASHINGTON — After watching the biggest chunks of his agenda halted there’s a consensus that the president and his top lieutenants are beginning to understand that they must learn to swim in the swamp before they can drain it.

Did he have to fill it up more before, and so much for all that Hitler talk, 'eh? 

And speak of the devil: 

"In 1945, as Soviet troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun."

Trump couldn't hold a candle to the man. 

The fact that Trump even had these 100 days to govern came as a complete surprise, to the nation and to him. Trump hardly thought he would win in November, and his incendiary campaign was followed by a largely unproductive transition period.

I think she is putting words in his mouth there. She didn't think he would win.

Nobody is saying that the 70-year-old billionaire president is changing his ways and becoming a conventional president.

Well, actually, people are given the multitude of reversals the last month!

Consider some highlights from the past week: His administration released a tax plan on a single sheet of paper that would add trillions to the national debt; leaked, then backed off a plan to blow up the NAFTA trade treaty; and clumsily bluffed in a weak bid to get funding out of Congress for his Mexican border wall.

“The Washington class, their heads are going to be exploding every two days, and I don’t think it’s going to change,” said one White House staff member.

Trump acknowledged that being the most powerful man in the world has been harder than he’d expected. “I loved my previous life,” the president said in an interview with Reuters last week. “I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”

Oh, you weren't really ready for the job?

The price for Trump’s education has been, as he might say, huge. The most important teachable moment for the administration came on Jan. 27 when Trump issued the first version of his ban on visas for immigrants and refugees from several majority-Muslim countries....

That is so flipping condescending, like he is a f***ing child.

--more--"

So what does he have to say for himself?

"Trump says he’s brought ‘profound change’ to Washington" by Laurie Kellman Associated Press  April 29, 2017

HARRISBURG, Pa. — President Trump’s rally Saturday night in Harrisburg offered a familiar recapitulation of what he and aides have argued for days are administration successes, including the successful nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, his Cabinet choices, and the approval of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

"Trump's 100-day rally was a bit of counterprogramming from the former reality television star. Back in Washington, media organizations and a few stars were gathering on Saturday for the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner." 

That's my print, and that's a subtle little insult to call the current president of the United States a former reality television star, isn't it?

But the president began the rally on a sour note, pointing out that he was not attending that night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and issuing a scathing attack on the news media. To cheers, he accused the news media of ‘‘fake news’’ and said if their job was to be honest and tell the truth, then they deserved ‘‘a big, fat failing grade.’’

Why is that a sour note? I think it is SWEET!

Related:

"Washington’s once-glitzy ‘‘nerd prom’’ was partly overshadowed this year by the first ‘‘Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,’’ hosted by late-night TV star Samantha Bee. Bee pulled in Celebrities for the first "Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner": Alysia Reiner of "Orange Is the New Black," Retta of "Parks and Recreation" and Matt Walsh of "Veep." The star power of the real correspondents' dinner took a hit this year when Trump declined to attend.  For years the event offered Washington's nerdy press corps an opportunity to wear black tie and stunning gowns while mixing with celebrities. With Trump out, organizers put the focus on the First Amendment and the role of the press in democracy....."

That would be to censor and alter news, right?

"Trump, who has derided journalists as "dishonest" and even enemies of the American people, is the first president since 1981 to stay away from the event. That year, Ronald Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt." 

Maybe that is why Trump stayed away! Was something in the works?

‘‘I could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more than 100 miles way from Washington’s swamp,’’ he said, ‘‘spending my evening with all of you and with a much, much larger crowd and much better people, right?’’

Oh, how sour!

"At the 100-day mark, Trump chose instead to spend the evening with people who helped elect him and, polls show, remain largely in his corner."

So would I.

In his tirade against the “failing” media, Trump made reference to The New York Times, The Boston Globe, MSNBC, and CNN. He briefly mentioned the Times’ purchase and subsequent sale of the Globe as a poor business decision. 

:-)

Meanwhile, North Korea’s missile launch Saturday signaled its continued defiance against the United States, China, and other nations, on which Trump tweeted: ‘‘Bad!’’ Asked during an interview for CBS’s ‘‘Face the Nation’’ if military action would follow a nuclear test by the North, Trump responded: ‘‘I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see.’’

See: South Korea joins US Navy drills after North’s missile test fails

Related:

"In 2012, President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, meeting at the White House, decried aggressive acts from North Korea, including a recent failed rocket launch, and vowed to maintain a unified front against such provocations." 

Timing is every.... wait. Deja vu!

At the 100-day mark, polls show that Trump’s supporters during the campaign remain largely in his corner. The economy, so far, has been Trump’s ally. Polls show that Americans feel slightly better about his job performance on that subject than his job performance overall.

That could be changing, and what was scrubbed from the web entirely:

Coinciding with Trump's 100th day, thousands of people across the country marched Saturday to demand action on climate change.

More rallies linked to the president's first months in office are scheduled later this week, including a May Day rally in support of immigrant rights.

--more--"

Related:

"It was the latest installment of the regular protests that punctuate the Trump era. Temperatures hit 91 degrees in Washington, matching the record for the day. In downtown Tampa, Fla., a demonstration stretched for several blocks. In Los Angeles, protesters gathered near the port. Many of the signs at Saturday’s climate march were ominous, warning of climate catastrophe, dying oceans, crop destruction, and planet degradation, but the mood of the marchers was anything but somber. It was a racially diverse crowd, with marchers of all ages. The marchers also arrived with sunny dispositions. Impromptu concerts broke out as protesters waited for the march to begin...."

Now you see (no problem busing in those protesters) what approved, agenda-pushing, controlled protest looks like.

Also see: Under the Boardwalk.... 

I didn't see any concern regarding that during the marches, or any problem with the world's biggest polluter: the U.S. war machine.

Maybe we need a third voice:

"While President Trump’s attention-grabbing statements and actions have produced very few of the concrete policy changes he promised as a candidate, there is little doubt that Trump has moved to set the nation on a radically different course. Here is a look at his record to date...."

Has he? I have my doubts.

100 days in, what came true?

Just about nothing. It was all fear.

Editorial Keep your eyes on Russia

(Blog editor shaking head; Globe is part of the problem!)

JACOBY The first 100 days of Obama’s third term

At this point, he's pretty much right.

CASS SUNSTEIN Trump is instinctive, but not like Reagan was

Let's be thankful for that, and hope the same holds true for Korea:

"American attacks on Iraq and Libya made clear that governments unfriendly to the United States must maintain a nuclear deterrent or risk being bombed out of power. The North Koreans realize this and, as a result, will never accept any deal that requires them to give up their nuclear weapons program...."

That's a truism, and he is a well-meaning man. His dissent is as far as you are allowed to go in the Globe; however, he opens with the article a premise that is wrong, saying that when the Soviet Union sent troops into Afghanistan in 1979, the United States resolved to create a force that would fight them.  The U.S. had already sent the jihadis there to give the Soviets what Brzezinski called their own Vietnam -- and it worked. 

Btw, that fighting force was turned into AL-CIA-Duh.

Trump administration pushes back and wins at G20 finance meeting

Oh, how quickly they forget.

With Trump in power, white-power groups try to build alliances

Wow, a repeater! That's the second time I've seen that article in print!

Wounds from the LA riots still fester

Is Donald Trump our president too?

Answer:

"Massachusetts voters, who broke nearly 2-to-1 for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in November, have not warmed to the president since he took office, with 53 percent of them giving him a “very unfavorable” rating in a new poll, compared with 38 percent who rated him very or somewhat favorably. The poll comes as a flurry of coverage reflects on Trump’s first 100 days in office. There was a plurality of support for the targeted military strike Trump ordered on a Syrian air base, with 34 percent thinking it necessary, while 16 percent opposed any military involvement. Thirty-eight percent said they held favorable views of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, stacked against 57 percent who saw it negatively....."

I thought his negatives would be higher here, and the part regarding military action in Syria just blew the poll's credibility.

Slow Saturday Special: Globe Advocates Regime Change in Venezuela

"As Venezuela slips into chaos, US should consider sanctions  |  April 28, 2017

President Trump’s instinctive isolationism is meeting its first regional test in Venezuela, as the crisis in the once-wealthy South American country continues to worsen. Civil unrest has entered its fifth week, and shows no signs of abating; protesters have taken to the streets after the economy contracted 15 percent last year, according to figures by the International Monetary Fund. Unemployment is more than 25 percent, and inflation a massive 720 percent this year.

To be sure, the history of heavy-handed American interventions in Latin America (including Venezuela) makes anything that looks like American inteference fraught. Still, this is no time for America to walk away. As a humanitarian matter, the suffering in Venezuela is unacceptable. 

The reason for regime change: humanitarian. Can't argue with that.

And where after that? What about the places where AmeriKa is causing the suffering? Like Yemen.

And the United States has geopolitical reasons to prevent a nation of 31 million from sliding into total chaos. A stable Venezuela would leave it less vulnerable to other international powers, particularly Russia, which already has moved in with a strategic financial deal involving Citgo, the state-run oil company that accounts for much of Venezuela’s diminishing wealth.

Honestly, the Globe seemed to care a hell of a lot more about the sign than the people of Venezuela.

The country’s crisis has its roots in the late President Hugo Chávez’s own brand of socialism: an overreliance on oil exports, excessive social spending, price and currency controls, and state regulations. 

I didn't known Chavez was Saudi Arabian.

President Nicolás Maduro assumed office four years ago after Chávez died, continuing his damaging economic policies while supressing the opposition.The results are staggering. Over the past year, nearly 75 percent of Venezuelans lost an average of 19 pounds each. The infant mortality rate has alarmingly risen in the past few years to 18.6 per 1,000 live births — above Syria’s rate of 15.4. It is estimated that around 85 percent of medical supplies are simply unavailable.

Remember when the CIA made Chile's economy scream (and I am about to based on what is in that obituary)? And now there is a Trump connection (Globe put that out quick but couldn't bury it)?

That has sent Venezuelans to the streets, in protests that have been bloodier and more furious than a previous round of unrest in 2014. In confrontations with government forces armed with tear gas and rubber bullets, nearly 30 people have been killed, more than 400 injured, and 1,300 arrested. In the latest political development, Maduro announced Venezuela would withdraw from the Organization of American States, a regional group that has been calling for a special meeting to assess the crisis and denouncing the socialist government’s actions, like its refusal to schedule delayed elections for state governors or release political prisoners (which include an American citizen.)

 It’s a quintessential tantrum from Maduro, who also blames the United States for the protests. Yet that style of anti-American rhetoric seems to have lost some of its bite. “Most observers, except the true ideologues, would recognize that the US has not wrecked Venezuela, Chavistas have,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, a New York-based think tank. “The US has actually kept it afloat by purchasing Venezuelan oil.”

You know, the Globe really makes you think.

Btw, do you know who the founders and directors are? 

You couldn't get more corporate or globalist. Did you see the list of board members?

Venezuela is also drawing support from Russia, which recently loaned the cash-strapped government $1.5 billion, with nearly 50 percent of Citgo used as a collateral for the loan. The move alarmed US lawmakers, who wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, warning the Russians could suddenly become the second-largest foreign owner of US domestic refinery capacity.

Yeah, there is the BIG RUB and now you know why the Globe is calling for regime change!

Of course, they had no problem with Hillary Clinton transferring 1/5 of the U.S. uranium stock to Russia while Bill Clinton was accepting money for speeches and loot was pouring into the Foundation. Of course, if Hillary had won there would be none of this Russia influenced the election sh**.

To prevent that outcome, and to ease the political and humanitarian crisis, the United States should consider broadening financial sanctions on Venezuelan officials until the regime holds elections and ends its repressive tactics. (The Obama administration sanctioned several Venezuelan military officials accused of human rights abuses in 2015.) For all the government’s socialist rhetoric, many of Maduro’s officials seem to be quite fond of their Miami homes and bank accounts. There may be no more direct way of gaining the attention of the individuals who are prolonging Venezuela’s crisis.

How are sanctions going to help? They never hurt the elites of the target country!

--more--"

Related: Trump Turns on NAFTA

Picking things up from there:

US seeks tough North Korea action, but China shows no inclination

Did they fire off a missile or not?

It's not a good sign if "the Trump administration feels it is running out of time."

"President Trump wraps up his first 100 days" Globe Wire Services  April 29, 2017

On the eve of his 100th day in office, President Trump signed an executive order that aims to expand offshore drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, received news of weak economic growth in the first quarter of the year, and promised members of the National Rifle Association he would ‘‘never infringe on the right of the people to bear arms.’’

New figures out Friday showed that the US economy turned in the weakest performance in three years in the January-March quarter as consumers sharply slowed their spending.

See: Oof, that’s a bad GDP number 

Globe taking glee in it?

In Congress, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Friday to keep federal agencies open for another week, defying Trump’s desire for action on both a border wall and health care legislation by focusing on what lawmakers viewed as the greater priority: avoiding a government shutdown.

Lawmakers planned to work through the weekend to finalize a longer-term deal that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year in September.

Related:

"Trump and defense hawks have procured a $15 billion infusion for the Pentagon and funds for other border security accounts such as detention beds for people entering the country illegally...."

At least the Pentagon got their health taken care of, 'eh?

Amid the flurry of activity in the lead-up to the 100-day mark, the administration has also released a tax plan and made and then rescinded a threat to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

With his appearance before the NRA, Trump marked the coming 100-day milestone in much the same way he has governed in the early stages of his presidency: by appealing to his base.

Who doesn't? Cheap constituents he can throw red meat to before he backtracks out of the hall.

The NRA claims 5 million members, including many white rural voters, a demographic that helped tip the Electoral College in Trump’s favor.

Trump, the first sitting president to address the NRA since Ronald Reagan, delivered a fiery speech in which he recounted his election victory and early actions from his administration that are friendly to the gun rights group, and he promised there would be more to come.

‘‘You came through big for me, and I am going to come through for you,’’ Trump told thousands of members attending the NRA’s annual convention. ‘‘The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end. You have a true friend and champion in the White House.’’

Until the next mass shooting.

The president was received as a hero, in part for successfully installing a conservative Supreme Court justice, Neil Gorsuch, seen as a likely protector of gun rights.

Trump has also previously signed legislation that reversed an Obama-era rule that would have required the Social Security Administration to provide information about mentally ill people for background checks on gun purchases.

Trump treated the gun convention like a political rally, joyfully recalling his election victory and mocking the journalists and Democrats who were confident that he would lose.

“Remember, they said there is no path to 270,” he said, referring to the number of electoral votes a candidate needs to win the presidency. “There is no route — there is no route to 270. We ended up with 306.”

He brashly predicted that he would have no problem dispatching any rival during a 2020 reelection campaign, suggesting at one point that Democrats might nominate Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. He referred to her as he did during the campaign, derisively calling her Pocahontas, a reference to claims she once made about being part Native American.

“It may be Pocahontas, remember that,” he said, prompting laughter in the cavernous room. “She is not big for the NRA, that I can tell you.”

Honestly, I don't see anyone out there capable of unseating him, but who knows what script we will be sold four years from now.

Before the president’s arrival, attendees watched hours of videos assailing Obama, Democrats, and anyone who has advocated gun control measures.

Leaders of the NRA heaped praise on Trump. Chris Cox, executive director of the group’s political and lobbying arm, called Trump the “most proudly pro-gun presidential candidate” in history and accused the news media of lying about the number of people who watched Trump’s inauguration.

“The only number that mattered was the number who watched Hillary Clinton’s inauguration — zero!” Cox said....

She was at Trumps.

The rest of the article gives the gun control groups equal time.

--more--"

Related: The week that was

"NSA halts controversial e-mail collection practice to preserve larger surveillance program" by Ellen Nakashima Washington Post  April 29, 2017

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has ended a controversial surveillance practice of collecting e-mail traffic merely because it contains the e-mail address or phone number of a foreign target, a procedure that greatly increased the chances that purely domestic communications would be gathered.

Yeah, it is something like 6 degrees of connection that ends up sweeping up millions of people.

The agency agreed to end the ‘‘about the target’’ collection to win approval from a federal court to continue a major surveillance program known colloquially as ‘‘Section 702’’ of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

That’s a reference to part of a statute — the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 — that allows the NSA to gather from US telecommunications and Internet providers the e-mails, phone calls, text messages, and other electronic communications that could contain foreign intelligence.

Well, then, they would have all of Clinton's stuff.

The ‘‘about’’ collection came to public light as one of a series of disclosures in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Those revelations sparked months of national and international debate about the proper scope of government surveillance.

Notice how Snowden, the Obama spying on other heads of state (forget about collecting all your data), and the bugging of the Trump campaign has receded down the memory hole abyss of the ma$$ media?

The ‘‘about’’ surveillance was the most problematic part of the ‘‘upstream’’ collection portion of Section 702, in which the agency gathers e-mails and text messages from telecom companies that own the infrastructure making up the backbone of the Internet. Upstream collection is a comparatively small part of overall 702 collection. One estimate by the surveillance court in 2011 put it at about 9 percent. Even so, it could result in ‘‘a large overall number of purely domestic’’ communications, a privacy oversight board concluded in 2014.

9 percent is not that small considering the number of people we are talking about.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2011 found that the way the agency was conducting its upstream program violated the Constitution. The NSA proposed changes, which the court approved, allowing the ‘‘about’’ collection to continue.

Okay, that's Obama and that's a crime!

But the NSA discovered last year that some analysts were querying the upstream data in violation of the rules. It reported the incidents to Congress and the surveillance court. The court issued two extensions as the NSA worked to fix the problems. Then on Wednesday, the court approved the agency’s proposed new rules to address the issue.

Looking for dirt to blackmail?

‘‘After considerable evaluation of the program and available technology, NSA has decided that its Section 702 foreign intelligence surveillance activities will no longer include any upstream Internet communications that are solely ‘‘about’’ a foreign intelligence target,’’ the agency said in a statement Friday. Instead, the NSA said, it will limit its collection to communications that are sent directly to or from a foreign target.

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What an incredibly well-crafted piece of deception by the Washington Post. The telecoms, and thus the government, will still be collecting all your data. The article makes it seem like they won't be.

Slow Saturday Special: Under the Boardwalk....

.... down by the Seabrook:

"Legacy of Seabrook nuclear protest debated" by David Abel Globe Staff  April 28, 2017

The standoff at Seabrook helped spark a national backlash against nuclear power that has reverberated for decades.

What happened on that warm day on April 30, 1977, and the movement it galvanized, may have led to unforeseen consequences. Some environmental advocates now question whether their opposition to nuclear power paved the way for more coal, oil, and natural gas power plants, prime sources of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

First of all, it doesn't have to be an either/or, secondly, all the flogging of that disputed idea at the exclusion of all other environmental problems makes one go pfffft, and thirdly look at the corporate $hills heaping the guilt trip on protesters.

If you step back a minute and put everything into context you can see that energy equals control, wars are waged over it and by the means which it will be delivered. It's also about getting the money into the right hands; otherwise, we would all have solar panels on our homes.

As demonstration projects in the 1950s and 1960s showed the viability of nuclear power to generate vast amounts of electricity, political leaders vowed to build as many as 1,000 nuclear reactors by the end of the century.

That never materialized, in no small measure because of the anti-nuclear movement, crystallized by the occupation of Seabrook, said Tom Wellock, a historian at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which was created in 1975 to oversee the growing number of reactors across the country.

Oh, an occupation says the Zioni$twar pre$$.

“What happened with the Clamshell Alliance at Seabrook is that it really nationalized consciousness about nuclear power and inspired similar groups around the country,” he said. “Their influence on policy-makers certainly mattered.”

The number of reactors peaked in the 1990s at 112, and today, there are just 99. Seven more are slated to shut down in the coming decade, including the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth.

They have had their problems but they are being allowed to stay open.

Economic pressures played a major role in dampening the ambition for more nuclear plants as well.

Yeah, I didn't think it was the protests that really turned authority around on anything anymore. It's always about co$t to them. Maybe in an ancillary way the civil actions contributed, but that's not why power gives in. 

Many plants, like Pilgrim, which began producing power in 1972, have struggled with financial challenges. It takes billions of dollars to build a nuclear plant, and tens of millions of dollars every year to keep them fueled, operating safely, and secure.

I'm not interested in their damn $ob $ong!!!!

Those pressures were particularly acute in the 1970s and 1980s, when energy efficiency efforts during the oil embargo reduced demand for electricity, rising interest rates increased construction costs, and regulations were tightened in response to the 1979 meltdown at Three Mile Island, which stoked public fears about nuclear power.

At least they mentioned it as they stoke fear of AGW.

In recent years, the economics have become harder still. A rush of cheap natural gas from hydraulic fracking has made many nuclear plants uncompetitive, especially in states like Massachusetts where energy prices aren’t subsidized.

Fracking comes with its own problems, like water that burns, methane emissions 25x worse than that carbon on which they want to tax you, and it apparently -- as an idiot could see -- affects the very soil under your feet (hello, Oklahoma, you have an earthquake today?).

Today, like other nuclear plants, Seabrook is contending with costly maintenance challenges. The plant is licensed to operate until 2030, but federal regulators have denied its bid to extend its license for another 20 years until they approve a plan to correct the degradation of the concrete walls and foundation of its containment building.

As part of their effort to sustain public support for the plant, which employs 550 people full-time and provides power to roughly 1.2 million homes and businesses, company officials now argue that Seabrook remains vital to the region’s ability to curb carbon emissions and address global warming.

I'll take my chances with that.... and what about solar and wind? Had all the war based on lies money been put into that.... sigh.

Indeed, carbon emissions in 2015 rose in New England for the first time in five years, a spike that energy officials attributed to the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant’s closing the year before, because the closure forced the power grid to rely on plants run by dirtier fuels such as oil and natural gas. Without power from Seabrook, Massachusetts would struggle to comply with the state’s legal requirement of cutting its carbon emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

I have no regrets, sorry. It's nice to know there is no chance of that place blowing up when you live out here -- and there has not been one effect on energy transmission either. More fear for you before the fact, and I'm tired of it.

The challenges of reducing carbon emissions, especially under a Trump administration, have led some environmental groups to rethink their position on nuclear power. This month, the Environmental Defense Fund issued a paper entitled, “Why We Still Need America’s Nuclear Power Plants – At Least for Now.”

Then *uck them, they are nothing but a corporate front.

But few members of the Clamshell Alliance, which inspired a number of similar protest groups, have come around to supporting nuclear power.

The protesters 40 years ago occupied the property, about 40 miles north of Boston, for nearly a day before state troopers from five New England states intervened, holding more than 1,400 activists in National Guard armories for up to two weeks.

Robin Thompson spent 11 days in the National Guard armory in Manchester, N.H., eating canned peas and singing “We Shall Overcome.” Now 62, she doesn’t “have a moment of regret” about the protests, describing nuclear power as “outrageously dangerous.”

Like many of her fellow activists, she’s also deeply worried about the impact of emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

“It does give me pause that carbon emissions are going up,” said Thompson, a 62-year-old who lives in Amherst, Mass. “But I still believe nuclear power is an absolute disaster waiting to happen.”

No one is known to have died from a radiation leak at a nuclear plant in the United States since an explosion at a test reactor in Idaho Falls killed three people in 1961. But radioactive waste from those plants will remain a threat to public safety for thousands of years, critics say. Much of that waste remains scattered at nuclear plants around the country, with no clear plan on how to dispose of it.

Well, I was going to mention that earlier but I didn't want to spoil the mood surrounding the rethink (sigh).

Maybe they could bury all the waste under the Somali boardwalk (or perhaps they already are).

Building hundreds of additional nuclear plants would have substantially cut the US contribution to climate change, reducing the need for some 1,300 coal plants in the United States. But protesters contend that the country should have devoted the vast sums of money that went to nuclear power to developing renewable energy.

“This is my regret: that our larger society did not hear or heed our concerns fully and deeply enough,” said Thea Paneth, now 58 and from Arlington. She was 18 years old when she spent 12 days confined to an armory in Dover after being arrested at Seabrook.

“I have done all I could, for love of people and planet Earth,” she said. “I am thankful and grateful for the folks who showed me how to engage in struggle.”

That's all anyone can ask or give.

--more--"

Strangely, there was no mention of Chernobyl or Fukushima in that piece.

Slow Saturday Special: Die Like an Eagle....

The mystery has been solved:

"Eagle ‘chop shop’ case offers window into trafficking trade" by James Nordand Steve Karnowski Associated Press  April 28, 2017

PIERRE, S.D. — A two-year undercover operation that led to indictments against 15 people for illegally trafficking eagles and other migratory birds offers a rare window into the black market for eagle carcasses, feathers, parts, and handicrafts, including one alleged dealer who called himself the ‘‘best feather man in the Midwest.’’

The indictments announced this week in Rapid City portray an illicit trade carried out through face-to-face meetings, e-mails, texts, and personal introductions. Eagle heads or wings can fetch hundreds of dollars, though sellers sometimes trade goods such as bear claws, buffalo horn caps, or animal hides. The eagle parts are often used in Native American-style handicrafts.

‘‘This was the illegal black-market trafficking of eagles and eagle parts for profit,’’ South Dakota US Attorney Randy Seiler said. ‘‘It basically was a chop shop for eagles.’’

Eagles are the national symbol of the United States and they’re widely considered sacred by American Indians. Federal law limits possession of eagle feathers and other parts to enrolled members of federally recognized tribes who use them in religious practices. Bald eagles once nearly disappeared from most of the United States but flourished under federal protections and came off the endangered list in 2007. Hunting them generally remains illegal.

Dan Rolince, the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s assistant special agent in charge of law enforcement for the region, said he expects the new cases to be among the largest his agency has handled as more charges are added. The cases involve as many as 250 eagles — most of them shot — but include more than 40 species of protected birds.

Rolince said buyers generally make purchases through online contacts or word of mouth, and that it’s difficult to determine the size of the market.

‘‘It’s prevalent enough that we were able to make a case of this size in a relatively short period of time,’’ he said.

The defendants include people from Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

One case accuses a Rapid City family, Troy Fairbanks and his two adult sons, who are enrolled members of the Standing Rock and Lower Brule Sioux tribes. The father ran a Native American dance troupe called Buffalo Dreamers that performed at venues such as the Crazy Horse Memorial and Custer State Park in the Black Hills. But they also did a large trade in eagle parts and feathers, according to their indictment.

Fairbanks bragged to an unnamed ‘‘cooperating individual’’ that he was the ‘‘best feather man in the Midwest,’’ boasting that 19 people in the Los Angeles area wanted to buy from him, his indictment says. Fairbanks also claimed in May 2015 he could acquire 60 eagles by winter of that year.

By that point, with over a year of deals worth thousands of dollars under their belts, the ‘‘cooperating individual’’ had gained the trust of Fairbanks, who believed that person wasn’t a law enforcement officer ‘‘because you would have popped me by now,’’ his indictment says.

A man who answered a telephone number for Buffalo Dreamers hung up when a reporter identified himself and didn’t respond to a subsequent text message. Federal court records don’t list an attorney for the 54-year-old Fairbanks, who hasn’t returned e-mails sent to an address listed in the indictment requesting comment since Monday.

Another group included Juan Mesteth, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux. An unnamed ‘‘confidential informant’’ made contact with Mesteth in the Pine Ridge area of South Dakota.

After Mesteth and the informant conducted a couple of deals, Mesteth introduced the informant to his connections in Wyoming who could supply whole carcasses and took them eagle hunting, according to the indictment. Authorities haven’t disclosed how much the defendants are thought to have profited.

There are legitimate ways to obtain eagle parts for religious purposes. The US Fish and Wildlife Service operates the National Eagle Repository to provide Native Americans with eagle carcasses, parts, and feathers. Indians can also inherit them within their families or receive them as gifts.

Seiler accused the defendants of a lack of reverence for the birds.

‘‘There was no cultural sensitivity. There was no spirituality,’’ Seiler said. ‘‘There was no tradition in the manner in which these defendants handled these birds.’’

--more--"

Slow Saturday Special: Citizens Cancels Sales

"Former teller at Citizens Bank in Mattapan to plead guilty to theft of $172,000" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff  April 28, 2017

A former teller at a Citizens Bank branch in Mattapan is poised to plead guilty to a federal charge for embezzlement  allegedly stealing more than $172,000 from a customer’s checking account and going on a spending spree with the cash, according to court documents.

The allegations against J’Cynda Sales, a Dorchester resident in her early 20s, were detailed in a legal document filed Friday in US District Court in Boston.

A spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office in Boston declined to comment citing the ongoing investigation.

Citizens had no comment, and a working telephone number for Sales could not be located.

Her lawyer, John R. Salsberg, declined to comment when reached by phone....

--more--"

There was someone else involved?

Slow Saturday Special: Choating This Down

"Two Choate trustees resign amid fallout from sexual abuse report" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff  April 29, 2017

Two former headmasters of Choate Rosemary Hall have resigned as Life Trustees of the elite Connecticut boarding school, amid fallout over a report that named 12 former educators who had allegedly abused or sexually assaulted students in cases dating to the 1960s.

I wrote holy sh** next to the printed paragraph in my paper.

The report, released by attorney Nancy Kestenbaum of the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, graphically recounted the experiences of 24 survivors of sexual misconduct and cited a consistent pattern: In almost all of the cases, school officials failed to report sexual misconduct to the authorities when the accusations first surfaced and quietly fired teachers or allowed them to resign.

The misconduct occurred from 1963 to 2010 and ranged from intimate kissing to groping to sexual intercourse. In perhaps the most egregious allegation, the school failed to report Spanish teacher Jaime Rivera-Murillo’s alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old student in a resort swimming pool in Costa Rica in 1999.

47 years worth of it? Those poor kids, but at least it prepared them for the power relationships they would encounter in the wider world, right? Just trying to find some sort of silver lining to this rampant pedophilia amongst the privileged elite of our country.

Rivera-Murillo was fired for “just cause’’ shortly after the alleged incident, the report said, but went on to work at other schools. He recently resigned as principal of Wamogo Regional High School in Litchfield, Conn. and has denied the allegations.

See: Educators accused of sexual misconduct often find new posts

Dozens of private schools have launched investigations in response to a Globe Spotlight Team series last year that found staff at more than 110 schools in New England had faced allegations of sexual misconduct in the previous 25 years....

 It's a small step forward, but that's how a long journey begins.

--more--"

Related:

Report names 12 at Choate Rosemary Hall who allegedly abused students
The Choate abuse case asks the question: Will we never learn?

Also see:

"Lawmakers want to make it easier to punish educators who sexually abuse students" by Todd Wallack, Jenn Abelson and Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff  December 23, 2016

State lawmakers and advocates in every New England state are pursuing legislation to make it easier to punish educators who sexually abuse students — and harder for them to get new jobs elsewhere working with children.

Massachusetts Senator Joan B. Lovely, Democrat of Salem, said she plans to introduce a comprehensive bill next month that will include a long list of changes, including making it illegal for high school teachers to have sex with their students, strengthening requirements to report abuse, and eliminating the criminal statute of limitations for cases involving sexual violations of children.

“We have to take care of our kids,” said Lovely, who said that she herself was a victim of sexual abuse at a young age.

Her efforts and those of colleagues in other states come after a Globe Spotlight Team report found more than 110 private schools in New England have faced allegations of sexual misconduct over the past 25 years. In more than two dozen cases, the Globe found educators moved to new schools after they were fired for misconduct, sometimes with glowing recommendations from their old employers....

They are mostly elite private schools.

--more--"

So how is the bill coming along? Joan?

Related:

Alumni are boycotting a Phillips Exeter probe
Phillips Exeter still reeling from sexual abuse claims
Minister in bread ‘penance’ case allegedly had role in other cases

 Former N.H. legislator alleges abuse at Phillips Academy Andover in the 1970s

State officials investigate sexual assault of 7-year-old from Boston Renaissance Charter School

You $ee who is behind the charter $chool pu$h, right? 

It's about skimming the diverse cream and training the future ruling class and its staff of bureaucrats.

Burlington football coach on leave for inappropriate behavior Just verbal abuse

Former Chelmsford High student files lawsuit alleging sexual assault, retaliation

Man sentenced to 1 year in rape of child on Nantucket He is Hadi Mohamed Nabulsi, and his victim was a 3-year-old girl. 

Only one year for that?

Saugus mother sentenced for raping two teenagers

You see that a lot these days, older women who regret their lives and want to feel beautiful and wanted again.

"Weston’s school superintendent on Wednesday advised administrators throughout the system to talk to students about social media safety amid concerns that someone used a fake Snapchat account to solicit sexually explicit pictures from high school boys...."

Just wondering who would want to do that.

Also see: College Commencement Collage

Now that you have graduated:

"ITT Educational Services closes its campuses" by Patricia Cohen New York Times  September 07, 2016

NEW YORK — One of the nation’s largest for-profit educational companies closed all its campuses Tuesday, putting an end to an operation that has been accused of widespread fraud and abuse.

The move leaves thousands of students and employees in the lurch as a new school year begins.

The company, ITT Educational Services, has been under pressure ever since the federal Department of Education imposed strict new rules that bar it from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid....

--more--"

That's why I haven't seen any of their commercials for a while.

Also see:

ITT Tech students refuse to repay loans in protest over government policy

Adds up to about $10 million with interest.

Sugar industry secretly paid for favorable Harvard research

No wonder the kids are so jacked up over coal.

Harvard endowment posts 2 percent loss

The manager was ‘lazy, fat, stupid’ so they hired someone new and fired a bunch of people.

Seven college endowments report annual losses in choppy markets

Study finds major earnings gap for men, women after college

Former Springfield College leader reaped $4.1m compensation package

Report faults Wheaton on sexual assaults

Facing hunger on college campuses

Colleges lavishing more financial aid on wealthy students Are you $urpri$ed?

There is still a group of students who need help with student loans a tale of two New Englands

College costs rising faster than financial aid, report says

BU professor meant ‘intimacy’ with students, not harm, lawyer says

They really lampooned him.

Controversy again engulfs Roxbury Community College
Change might be afoot at RCC’s Reggie Lewis Track
AG now involved in probe at RCC
Roxbury Community College case closed, but headaches remain

Time to go in a different direction.

With $50m, Bloomberg thanks Museum of Science

Faculty members at 14 Pa. universities go on strike

Wisconsin Student Charged With Assaulting 4 More Women

Lawsuit says Brown University did not properly investigate alleged rape

Rutgers confronts ties to slavery in report

Poor oversight of a student loan benefit may be hurting military borrowers, GAO says

Now that does it!

Mass. college removes American flag after flag burning, race concerns Hampshire College

Leaders of Seven Sisters colleges criticize Trump appointee Bannon

Don't worry, ladies, he is on the outs.

"ACS Education Services, a company that once managed one of the largest portfolios of student loans [and] owned by Xerox, will pay Massachusetts $2.4 million to settle charges of abusive collection practices and sloppy handling of accounts, the state attorney general’s office said Tuesday. Student loan servicing companies such as ACS have drawn the ire of consumer advocates and liberal lawmakers who say the firms are not doing enough to help people struggling with education debt. Servicers are paid millions of dollars by the federal government and private lenders to collect monthly payments, answer questions, and ultimately keep people from defaulting on their loans. Yet state and federal authorities say some servicers are falling short of those aims...."

"DeVry University and its parent company are paying $100 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging the school misled students through deceptive ads...."

Meanwhile, your school can't afford pencils.

"Baylor, two women settle gang-rape case involving football players" AP  November 24, 2016

WACO, Texas — Two women who reported being gang-raped by Baylor University football players have reached a settlement with the school, which has been hammered by months of criticism that it ignored or mishandled assault claims for years.

The settlement was announced Tuesday night in a joint statement by Baylor’s interim president, David Garland, and the lawyers representing the women. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The settlement was the latest development in a scandal that has rocked the Baptist university. An inquiry this year found that the school mishandled assault cases for years. Football coach Art Briles was fired, school president Ken Starr was demoted and eventually left, and athletic director Ian McCaw resigned.

Baylor regents recently disclosed that 17 women had reported domestic violence or sexual assaults that involved 19 football players since 2011, including four gang rapes.

--more--"

Also see: ‘Why white women shouldn’t date black men’ fliers discovered at Southern Methodist University

"Record number of campus assaults reported as more victims come forward" by Matt Rocheleau Globe Staff  December 23, 2016

Reports of sex assaults at New England colleges rose last year, continuing a dramatic multiyear climb that experts say is the result of increased monitoring of a historically underreported crime. Despite the increase, the numbers are still believed to undercount the true number of sexual assaults occurring on area campuses because so many cases go unreported.

Specialists say, and numerous studies have estimated, the actual number of assaults happening each year is several times higher than the number of cases captured in the reports. Still, S. Daniel Carter, a Washington-based expert on campus security, and others in the field said they are encouraged by the increase in the percentage of reported cases. The trend shows that more students are aware of and feel comfortable reporting a sexual assault, and it means more victims can seek help and justice, experts said....

Or they are a bunch of false charges to gin up PC sh** (like with Rolling Stone)?

--more--"

Maybe they should be focused on the instructors and administration instead.

"Students apparently abused at N.Y. private school, report says" by Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff  April 18, 2017

A law firm hired by an elite private girls’ school in upstate New York has determined that numerous students appeared to have been victims of sexual abuse and exploitation by educators and other staffers since the 1950s.

The 10-month investigation by the firm Cozen O’Connor uncovered behavior ranging from sexual harassment and groping to consensual, if inappropriate, relationships and rape at the Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y.

The report also appeared to confirm much of the allegations of Kat Sullivan, who said she was raped by a teacher, Scott Sargent, in 1998. Sargent was fired after the incident, but the school still wrote him two recommendations, and he later found a job at a private school in Connecticut. Sargent was never charged.

The incident was reported by several media outlets, including the Globe Spotlight Team last year in a series of stories about sexual abuse at private schools.

“This investigation was undertaken so that we understand, plan, and educate about sexual misconduct,’’ the school’s leaders said in a letter to the community posted Tuesday on the Emma Willard website. “We are taking responsibility for the past so that our future is different.”

The report shared by Emma Willard comes five days after Choate Rosemary Hall released a similar report about widespread sexual abuse at the Connecticut school in recent decades.

That would get you back to the top of this post.

--more--"

Btw, the churches no better:

"A 79-year-old man who once supervised altar boys as a layman in a Dorchester parish was arraigned Wednesday on charges that he raped a boy that he met nearly 30 years ago through his local church and youth baseball. Michael Walsh, who was ordained as a priest in Michigan in 2002 but quickly stripped of his ministerial duties because of a separate complaint. Walsh frequently took the boy he’s now accused of attacking and other children to restaurants, movies, and weekend trips, driving them to different places and then dropping them off at home, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Ashley Polin said. The boy was also attacked at a hotel during a youth baseball trip to Cooperstown, N.Y., she said...."

What should have been a great memory for the kid turned into trauma.