Reported Sexual Assaults in Military Skyrocket As Air Force Chief of Ending Assault Charged With Sexual Battery

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Esmeralda Garcia, a health care assistant at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Edinburg, speaks with a client, Adriana Olvera. Eddie Seal for The New York Times

Great news for the poor women of Texas! The New York Times reports that legislators on both sides of the aisle are quietly working to restore financing for women’s health services in the state.The story reports that Dems aren’t falling on their sword for Planned Parenthood — a statement we find misleading, because the PP issue is already taken care of through the recent funding of a Texas women’s health coalition, of which Planned Parenthood is a key member.

“The major difference is we’re not fighting about it. We’re just doing what’s right for women and the state,” State Representative Sarah Davis, Republican of West University Place, said last month at a Texas Tribune symposium on health care.

While Davis is opposed to abortion, she is even more opposed to politicians interfering with the doctor/patient relationship. The Republican woman has emerged as the chief architect of a plan to restore the devastating cuts to poor women’s health services, including access to contraception.

As poor women in particular have suffered at the hands of the Republican War on Women in Texas, the tide may be turning. Further denying women abortion rights is in a holding pattern, with NONE of the 24 abortion-related bills filed reaching the House or Senate floor.

Military Assault Skyrocket

Responding angrily Tuesday to a new report on the steep rise of sexual assault in the military, New York Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand cold barely contain her anger at Air Force Secretary Michael Conley. The Pentagon says that in 2012 alone, 26,000 members of the military were sexually assaulted, a 35 percent rise since 2011.

Next week Gillibrand will introduce a bill that removes decision-making on sexual assault cases from the chain of command, says Glen Caplin, the senator’s communications director.

“You have an enormous gap between the number of sex assaults that are occurring and the number of sex assaults that are being reported,” Caplin said. According to the Department of Defense, 47 percent of servicemembers said they didn’t report sexual assaults and harassment for fear of retaliation.

Presently, the military operates under a code called “convening authority”, giving military commanders the power to overturn court-martial decisions, including those dealing with rape.

Gillibrand’s bill would apply Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel’s recent suggestion that “convening authority” be eliminated, by amending the Uniform Military Code of Justice’s Article 60 so so that “convening authorities” cannot set aside convictions or change guilty ones. Her bill would also add independent prosecutors who decide whether a case warrants a court-martial, but reserve commanders’ convening authority for the cases that aren’t moved forward in this new process.

Sens. Patty Murray D-Wash and Kelly Ayotte R-NH introduced legislation to amend Pentagon policies while creating new laws to help victims.

“Murray and Ayotte’s bill, the Combating Military Sexual Assault Act, would guarantee victims access to an advocacy lawyer to guide them through the reporting, investigation and criminal law process following an allegation,” writes the Air Force Times.

Air Force Chief Charged

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, charged with sexual battery.The Air Force officer in charge of the the branch’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit was charged with a misdemeanor offence of groping a woman in a parking lot on May 6, 2013. The misdemeanor sexual battery charge alleges that Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was drunk and grabbed a woman’s breast and buttocks. The woman fought back before calling police.

Responding to the news, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said “We’re all outraged and disgusted over these very troubling allegations.”

Hagel said he would hold military commanders accountable “at every level,” improve the treatment of assault victims and conduct regular inspections of military workplaces to guard against “materials that create a degrading and offensive work environment,” writes Bloomberg.

The Air Force is “still reeling” from the convictions of at least five military instructors in sexual assault or unprofessional relationships with trainees or students at San Antonio’s Lackland Air Force Base.

Krusinski, who has served in his post since February, posted a $5,000 bond and was removed from his job pending an investigation.

Angelina Jolie & Madonna Make Big Donations To Girls' Education | Obama Morning After Pill Restrictions Overturned

Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie introduced the audience at last week’s Women in the World Summit to very personal stories about Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who was shot in the head by the Taliban who stopped her school bus and asked which of the girls was the blogger Malala.

Vital Voices, with a donation from the Women in the World Foundation, established the Malala Fund, to be directed by the 15-year-old. In the BBC video below, Malala announces the first grant to educate 40 girls in her home district in the Swat Valley. 

After Jolie, who is the special enjoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, left the stage, conference organizer Tina Brown announced that the actress had recently donated $200,000 to the fund. Jolie has started her own project to fund girls’ schools in particular, with proceeds from her jewelry collection Style by Jolie jewelry collaboration with Robert Procop.

1. 25-year-old US diplomat Anne Smedinghoff died in an attack in Afghanistan on Saturday. The young diplomat had volunteered to deliver books to a school in southern Afghanistan.

US Secretary of State John Kerry met Smedinghoff on his recent trip to Afghanistan and spoke of her today.

“The folks who want to kill people, and that’s all they want to do, are scared of knowledge. And they want to shut the doors and they don’t want people to make their choices about the future. For them, it’s ‘You do things my way and if you don’t, we’ll throw acid in your face. We’ll put a bullet in your face,’ to a young girl trying to learn,” Kerry said. “So this is a huge challenge for us. It is a confrontation with modernity, with possibilities, and everything that our country stands for, everything we stand for, is embodied in what Anne Smedinghoff stood for.”

The young diplomat graduated from John Hopkins University in 2009 with a degree in international relations. She joined the Foreign Service shortly afterward. via CNN

2. In another piece of great news for girls, Madonna is set to sell her painting ‘Trois Femmes à la Table Rouge’, a 1921 painting by Fernand Léger at Sotheby’s in New York on May 7th. Proceeds from the sale estimated to fetch $5-$7 million will be used for girls’ education.

“I have a great passion for art and a great passion for education,’’ she said in a statement announcing the sale. “In conjunction with Sotheby’s I would like to share these two passions,’’ adding that “I cannot accept a world where women or girls are wounded, shot or killed for either going to school or teaching in girls’ schools.’’

Indeed, girls’ education is the topic on everyone’s minds and the subject of the last panel on Thursday evening at the Women in the World Conference. Moderated by Christiane Amanpour, the panelists were Humaira Bachal, founder of theDream Foundation Trust, Khalida Brohi, founder of the Sughar Women Program, and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, CEO of SOC Films. 

3. A US Federal judge ruled on Friday that emergency contraceptives such as Plan B and Next Choice should be available to all, including minors.

In a sharply worded ruling that called government regulators “politically motivated and scientifically unjustified,” U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ruled that levonorgestrel-based contraceptives such as Plan B One-Step and Next Choice One Dose should be available over the counter to all customers within 30 days.

“There is no serious health risk associated with use of Plan B as prescribed and intended, much less one that would make restrictions on distribution necessary for its safe use,” Korman wrote.

“A federal judge has accomplished what two administrations failed to do: make a decision about access to a drug based on medical evidence,” said Michael Halpern, program manager at the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. via LA Times

4. In Kansas, papers filed in court by the US Department of Justice reveal as assertion that domestic terrorist Angel Dillard asked a prison inmate to firebomb the house of Dr Mila Means, an abortion provider who stepped into abortion care in Wichita, Kansas after the assassination of Dr. George Tiller.

The Department of Justice sued Dillard — who claims that God speaks to her, guiding her actions — for sending an allegedly threatening letter to Dr. Means. 

Of note in the RHReality Check article, is the news that anti-choice terrorists are increasingly claiming the “god defense” when arguing their cases. Dr. Tillard’s killer Scott Roeder says his actions were motivated by God. 

Dillard claims that her conversations with both Roeder and inmate Robert Campbell are shielded from disclosure under “priest-penitent” privilege. A judge has ruled the communications are not protected since she is not ordained clergy. The defense has appealed.

5. US Women — especially working mothers — have little social policy backup, compared to women in other developed countries. But those who survive the challenges of career and motherhood appear to achieve significantly greater gender parity as managers, compared to women in other countries .

View chart large.

In separate data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the US has the smallest gap between women and men in senior management positions, as of 2008. 16% of men managers have senior positions versus 14% for women. 

Writing for the New York Times Economix blog, Catherine Rampell has a major magazine feature ‘Lean In, Dad: How Shared Diaper Duty Could Stimulate the Economy.’ 

Madonna is selling ‘Trois Femmes à la Table Rouge’, a 1921 painting by Fernand Léger at Sotheby’s in New York on May 7. Proceeds from the sale estimated to fetch $5-$7 million will be used for girls’ education.

PA's Allyson Schwartz Posed for Democratic Governor's Run in 2014 | Senator Elizabeth Warren Is Hardly Quiet

1.’Girl Rising’ set for release on March 7. This special film advocates for the education of girls around the world, and especially in developing countries. Tina Brown speaks of the film, shown at A Daily Beast screening last week. 

Tom Yellin, a journalist by training and the executive producer of the 10x10 organization and Girl Rising, spoke about the delicate balance journalists must have when engaging in advocacy.

“The facts that support this issue are overwhelming,” he said, adding that 66 million girls around the world are out of school.

This is the same message Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl shot on her school bus by the Taliban, now speaks to us.  Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, Malala has survived and is now asking the world to educate our girls. 

2. Next PA governor US Rep Allyson Schwartz? Reliable buzz is that five-term US Rep Allyson Schwartz (D) is nearly certain to run for governor next year in Pennsylvania.  

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a recent poll for the Democratic Governors Association found that Schwartz would start ahead of current governor Corbett by 8 percentage points - 50 percent to 42 percent - with 9 percent of likely voters undecided. After pollsters read positive statements about each person, Schwartz’s lead increased to 21 percentage points.

Schwartz has a long history of house votes in support of both abortion rights and gun-control measures, making them strong themes of her 2000 statewide Democratic primary run for the US Senate. She ran a women’s clinic before entering politics. Readers can review Schwartz’s record here. Should Schwartz enter the PA Democratic primary, AOC will be working vigorously on her behalf. 

3. Chimpanzee Study on short-term memory. Flash numbers 1 to 9 on a screen in random order and ask humans to remember it. We can’t. In this area of brain skills, apes may be smarter than humans. A Japanese researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa concludes that six out of eight chimpanzees remembered the sequence precisely. 

For chimps this amazing short-term memory — or working memory — helps the animals navigate the branches of huge trees to feed or respond quickly to threats of danger in the wild. via Huff Po

4. Senator Elizabeth Warren is quiet? Many people were impressed by Warren’s artful grilling of negligent bank regulators last week, winning her accolades among progressives about her very first committee hearing. So why did Politico call Warren a “silent senator” who refuses to speak out on controversial issues? Salon takes up the question. 

5. New York governor Andrew Cuomo is putting the finishing touches on new legislation that would guarantee women in New York the right to late-term abortions when the fetus is not viable or their own health is in danger. A present law restrictions abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy only if the mother’s life is at risk. 

The Cuomo proposals also allow licensed health care practitioners, not only physicians, to perform abortions, writes The New York Times. It seeks to remove abortion from the state’s penal law and regulate it through New York’s public health law. The Cuomo legislation also seeks to make abortion legal, no matter that a future supreme court might decide.

Seven states have laws guaranteeing abortion rights as a backup to Roe including California, Connecticut, Maryland and Hawaii.

Governor Cuomo’s proposal is part of his 10-point package called the Women’s Equality Act that also includes equal pay and anti-discrimination provisions. 

6. GlamTribale at Building Character in Lancaster. AOC is thrilled to announce that we’re moving our Lancaster location to the 10-year-old, 10,000 sq ft. Building Character location in Lancaster, PA. 

The flourishing artisan market at 342 N. Queen Street is open daily with easy parking on Queen Street or in the back plaza. We will have two shops in the facility — a small space for our lower-priced Tribale2 collection, as well as GlamTribale. 

As part of our expanding collection of home and gift products, we will introduce a home fragrance potpourri collection in our own ceramic containers, inspired by our great-selling coaster collection. See our Carversville Coaster gift set 4/$25.