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The United Nations’ culture surrounding sexual harassment and assault is stacked against accusers and allowed perpetrators “to act with impunity,” according to a report from The Guardian. Dozens of current and former employees from 10 countries were interviewed and described pervasive silence in the organization, where accusers were ignored or feared for their jobs if they spoke out. Fifteen of those interviewed claimed they had experienced or reported sexual harassment within the past five years, ranging from “verbal harassment to rape.” The Guardian also reports that the investigations were mishandled internally in various ways, and the accused men were often allowed to remain at their posts while accusers were “forced out of their jobs or threatened.” | |
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David and Louise Turpin were charged in court for their crimes holding their 13 children hostage in their own California home. Criminal charges include torture, abuse of a dependent adult, child abuse or neglect, and false imprisonment. David Turpin is charged with one count of “lewd act on a child.” In a Thursday press conference, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin described how the children were restrained on their beds for weeks at a time and were subject to frequent beatings and strangulation. The 17-year-old who successfully escaped and notified police had worked on an escape plan for more than two years. The pattern of abuse reportedly started when the Turpins were living in Fort Worth, TX and got worse over time. Their bail is currently set at $9 million. View this cheat in a browser to see this embedded tweet. | |
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Current Los Angeles Times publisher and media exec veteran Ross Levinsohn was a defendant in two different sexual-harassment lawsuits and has a history of "questionable" actions and behavior towards female colleagues over the past two decades, NPR reported Thursday. The accusations include rating women in the workplace by “hotness,” aggressively kissing a woman in front of his colleagues and clients while he was married, and creating an overall “frat-house environment.” | |
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Former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka now has an active warrant out for his arrest in Hungary for “firearm or ammunition abuse,” and had this active warrant pending while serving in the White House. According to Hungarian outlet 444, the warrant was issued on September 17, 2016—before President Trump was elected and while Gorka was a adviser to him. Notably, Gorka had a meeting with Hungary’s foreign minister in March 2017 with his active warrant. Gorka has a history of packing heat in public: in February 2016, he had a gun confiscated at Washington’s Reagan National Airport. | |
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For aviation nerds, flight geeks, and thrill seekers, mini-drones can be a little, well — boring. Sometimes, smaller drones mean less flying features — but that's definitely not the case with the Fader Stealth Drone. It includes the best elements of a more miniature drone, without sacrificing any of the excitement or technical sophistication of larger drones. It’s ready to fly right out of the box and features a six-axis gyro module and awesome HD camera. As the name suggests, it’s both stealthy and lightweight, with auto-takeoff and land features, altitude hold, and ready-to-fly technology that’s great for beginners. But for expert fliers who long for a little more, there's a 3-level adjustable controller that offers advanced sensitive flight options. There's even a flip capability for a little bit of adrenaline-fueled flair, plus LED lights for night flights. The big takeaway is that the Fader Stealth Drone is easy to use regardless of skill level or ability. You can get the Fader Stealth Drone for $69.99 right now, which is 45% off the original price. Please note that if you buy something featured in one of our posts we may collect a share of sales. | |
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More than a dozen investigators from the New York district attorney’s office showed up Thursday at Newsweek’s offices in the financial district, The Outline first reported. While the reason for the visit was initially unclear, one source noted to the outlet that the visiting officers took photos of the company’s servers in the office. Police last visited in December 2017, when Executive News Director Ken Li was mailed a white substance that turned out to be a “false alarm.” An NYPD spokesperson said that it was not their officers who turned up at Newsweek; and a source at the DA’s office confirmed to The Daily Beast that it was their investigators. | |
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Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney submitted her victim impact statement on Thursday to the court over former USA Gymnastics coach Larry Nassar’s sexual abuses, on the third day of testimony from nearly 100 women who suffered at the 54-year-old’s hands. “I had a dream to go to the Olympics and the things I had to endure to get there were unnecessary and disgusting,” Maroney said in the document, calling the disgraced doctor a “monster of a human being.” The assistant attorney general read the statement on Maroney’s behalf, as she could potentially face a $100,000 fine for doing it herself (due to a previous settlement). USA Gymnastics said in a statement that it “has not sought and will not seek any money” from Maroney on the issue. “He abused my trust. He abused my body and he left scars on my psyche that will never go away,” she said. “It all started when I was 13 or 14 years old. It didn’t end until I left the sport.” | |
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Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (and President Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget), has formally requested zero dollars in operating funds for the CFPB. In a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen, Mulvaney explained that the agency “has $177 million in the bank, enough to cover the $145 million the bureau has budgeted for its second quarter.” While the former director of the CFPB under Obama, Richard Cordray, kept a “reserve fund” in case of emergencies, Mulvaney has said he “didn’t see any reason for it” since the Fed has always provided the bureau’s necessary funds. Mulvaney told Yellen the CFPB could redirect funds to the Treasury in an effort to reduce the national deficit. | |
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The House Intelligence Committee will release the transcript of its interview with Glenn Simpson, the head of controversial research firm Fusion GPS, The Daily Beast has learned. The transcript could be released as soon as today. Adam Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat, has called for the release of the transcript. Fusion GPS’s co-founder has also called for its release. Fusion GPS is at the center of the Trump/Russia probe. The company has drawn unrelenting criticism from Republicans for its role in putting together a dossier that includes salacious allegations about President Donald Trump and the Kremlin. Hillary Clinton’s campaign paid the firm to research Trump, through campaign lawyer Marc Elias. —Betsy Woodruff | |
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A Boston University study published Thursday has found the strongest link to date that ties repeated hits to the head—and not damage from a concussion—to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease that slowly spreads and kills brain cells and has been fingered in a rash of serious ailments among National Football League players. According to the results of the study conducted by the university’s CTE Center and published in the journal Brain, 20 percent of the sampled brains found to have CTE were from people who didn’t report ever having a concussion. The findings raise additional questions about the effectiveness of protective gear used in sports like football, and medical protocols used to clear athletes after head injuries. CTE Center Director Ann McKee explained that there is only one to prevent CTE risk: “There must be a reduction in the number of head impacts.” | |
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