Author: Edward Bartlett

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Abuse Shelter Department of Justice DOGE Press Release

DOGE Alert: Corruption and Fraud on Steroids at the Dept. of Justice

PRESS RELEASE

Robert Thompson: 301-801-0608

Email: info@saveservices.org

DOGE Alert: Corruption and Fraud on Steroids at the Dept. of Justice

WASHINGTON / February 19, 2025 – Last September the Department of Justice announced the award of $690 million in grants by its Office on Violence Against Women (1) . Unfortunately, much of this money likely will end up being spent for unapproved purposes, or even lining the pockets of shelter managers.

The Department of Justice Audit Division conducts ongoing reviews of grantees that receive funds under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) (2). A summary of the audits conducted 2013 to 2017 identified $14.7 million spent for unsupported or unallowable expenditures. Out of 47 grantees, 72% were found to be “Generally Non-Compliant,” which means the agency failed to meet minimum standards across a broad range of indicators (3).

These alarming findings apparently were ignored by DOJ officials.

The following year, the Washington Post published, “Mice in the Couches, Mold on the Walls,” which documented long-standing problems at a Maryland abuse shelter. The shelter’s sanitary conditions had deteriorated to the point that one shelter resident declared, “It was a living hell.” (4)

Once again, the lessons of the Washington Post article fell on deaf ears.

in 2023, Tiffany Carr, former head of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, was arrested for defrauding the state of $3.4 million, perversely diverting grant monies that were intended to support domestic violence shelters across the state (5).

In addition, VAWA funds are widely used to lobby state and local governments. This is a violation of the Federal Anti-Lobbying Act, which prohibits the use of federally-appropriated money for lobbying purposes. For example, the Nebraska Domestic Violence Coalition has been one of the most active groups lobbying state lawmakers. The group’s direct and indirect lobbying expenses were far in excess of their non-VAWA revenues.

These are not isolated incidents. Over the years, the corruption that pervades the domestic violence industry has been documented in disturbing detail (6, 7, 8).

Over the past many years, billions of dollars of taxpayer funds have been used for unlawful or unauthorized purposes, or lost to waste, fraud, and abuse. To end the VAWA “Culture of Corruption,” DOGE auditors need to mandate the following procedures:

  1. Require higher levels of managerial and financial expertise among grant applicants.
  2. Mandate that VAWA grant recipients base their programs on scientific research, not “gender ideology.”
  3. Assure that all persons, male and female, receive assistance on a non-discriminatory basis.
  4. In the event of a failed audit, DOJ managers should identify alternative agencies to provide services.

SAVE – Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – is a 501(c)3 organization working to assure due process, fairness, and equal opportunities for men.

Links:

  1. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-more-690-million-violence-against-women-act-funding
  2. https://oig.justice.gov/reports/ovw-ext.htm
  3. https://endtodv.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/VAWA-Audits-2013-2017.xlsx
  4. https://wapo.st/2Hhx4RP
  5. https://www.maryellenklas.com/tiffany-carr-and-the-dv-coalition/
  6. https://endtodv.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Accountability-and-Oversight.pdf
  7. https://endtodv.org/2018/04/24/catastrophic-failure-the-violence-against-women-act-and-following-the-money/
  8. https://www.saveservices.org/2024/03/continued-culture-of-corruption-at-domestic-abuse-shelters/
Categories
Men and Boys

Deceptive Feminist Narrative Has Tragic Consequences for Men’s Health

PRESS RELEASE

Robert Thompson: 301-801-0608

Email: info@saveservices.org

Deceptive Feminist Narrative Has Tragic Consequences for Men’s Health

WASHINGTON / February 10 – Seven offices of women’s health currently exist in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

  1. Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (1)
  2. National Institutes of Health (2)
  3. Food and Drug Administration (3)
  4. Centers for Disease Control (4)
  5. Health Resources and Services Administration (5)
  6. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (6)
  7. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (7)

But inexplicably, DHHS does not have a single office of men’s health.

Feminists claim these offices are necessary to make up for decades of the purported exclusion of women from medical research and the underfunding of women’s health research.

For example, a 1993 editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine asserted, “There is little doubt that women have been systematically excluded as subjects for study. . . most clinical trials have been heavily, if not exclusively, weighted toward men.” (8)

More recently, former First Lady Jill Biden made this claim: “Research on women’s health has been underfunded for decades, and many conditions that mostly or only affect women, or affect women differently, have received little to no attention.” (9)

But a review of the facts reveals the opposite to be true:

  1. As early as the 1970s, women were represented in 96% clinical trials sponsored by the NIH (10).
  2. An analysis of clinical trials conducted 1966-1990 found that women participated in 577 trials, compared to only 456 trials that included men (11).
  3. In 1994, the National Institutes of Health began to track the number of men and women in clinical trials, which revealed that women represented 51.8% of trial enrollees, with men being 44.9% of enrollees. The sex of the remaining persons was not reported (12).

In order to compensate for the presumed exclusion of women from research, budgets for women’s health were increased dramatically. In 2000, DHHS allocated approximately $5 billion to women’s health research and education, while the budget allocation of the DHHS men’s health programs was only $963.6 million, representing a 5:1 sex imbalance (13).

By any measure, the health of men is lagging behind the health of women:

  • Life Expectancy: The lifespan of men is 76.1 years, compared to 81.1 years for women (14).
  • Suicide: Men experience suicide rates that are nearly three times higher than women: Men: 14.7/100,000 persons; Women: 5.3/100,000. (15)
  • Workplace: Men face 15 times the number of occupational deaths, compared to women: Men: 6.2 deaths/100,000 workers, Women: 0.4/100,000 workers. (16)

How is it possible that our society has allowed a false narrative to persist for over 30 years, resulting in millions of dollars being spent on duplicative and unaccountable women’s health programs, while ignoring the suffering and deaths of men?

SAVE – Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – is a 501(c)3 organization working to assure due process, fairness, and equal opportunities for men.

Links:

  1. https://womenshealth.gov/
  2. https://orwh.od.nih.gov/
  3. https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/office-commissioner/office-womens-health
  4. https://www.cdc.gov/womens-health/index.html
  5. https://www.hrsa.gov/office-womens-health
  6. https://www.ahrq.gov/topics/women.html
  7. https://www.samhsa.gov/about/advisory-councils/advisory-committee-womens-services
  8. Angell M. Caring for women’s health—What is the problem? N Engl J Med 1993; 329: 271–272.
  9. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/nov/20/women-health-research-jill-biden-white-house
  10. Dickersin K, Min Y. NIH clinical trials and publication bias. Online J Curr Clin Trials. Doc. 50, vol. 2, April 28, 1993.
  11. https://journals.lww.com/epidem/fulltext/2001/09000/Did_Medical_Research_Routinely_Exclude_Women__An.20.aspx , Table 3.
  12. National Institutes of Health. Implementation of the NIH Guidelines on the Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research, December 1998.
  13. https://www.saveservices.org/2024/11/mens-health-programs-lag-by-a-51-margin-at-dhhs/
  14. https://menshealthnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/healthindicators.pdf
  15. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/326948/WHO-MSD-MER-19.3-eng.pdf
  16. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hf1zRYHNDJjvunWWeoOl33VTVmPADtijzMniAmxBPRE/edit#gid=381346579
Categories
Men and Boys

Statement by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore in Support of Men and Boys

Statement by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore in Support of Men and Boys

Delivered on February 5, 2025

https://governor.maryland.gov/news/press/pages/governor-wes-moore-delivers-2025-state-of-the-state-address.aspx

Lastly, investing in our people means following the data – And the data is telling us that we need to have a greater statewide focus on supporting and elevating our men and boys.

And it’s not just that in Maryland, labor force participation for young men is nearly the lowest it has been in two decades…

It’s also that suicide rates among men under 30 have risen by more than a third since 2010.

Across the country, college attainment levels are the same now for men and boys as they were in 1964.

And Maryland still sends youth under the age of 18 to our state prisons at twice the national rate.

The data is telling us a clear message: We need to better understand and address what’s happening with our men and boys.

I want to be clear: This administration remains steadfast in our support for all Marylanders, regardless of their gender or background.

As the father of a son and a daughter, I want both of my children growing up with all of their God-honoring and God-given opportunities –

But if we want to truly unleash the power of Maryland’s labor force, we need to make sure our men and boys aren’t still falling behind.

I strongly believe our mission to uplift men and boys isn’t in conflict with our values to leave no one behind – it’s in concert with them.

In the words of the great Marylander Frederick Douglass: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

And we have already started doing exactly that – in ways that uplift our men and boys and help support the aspirations of all Marylanders.

In 2023, we launched a first-in-the-nation Service Year Option to help high school graduates find their path and purpose.

In 2024, we made sure that we rewarded our service members through policies to support both veterans and military families.

And in 2025, I will be directing my entire administration to begin implementing targeted solutions to uplift our men and boys.

Categories
Uncategorized

12 Areas of Male Disadvantage in the United States

12 Areas of Male Disadvantage in the United States

By SAVE

January 30, 2025

Debates about “gender equality” typically focus only on issues of concern to women. But what about gender equality as it applies to men?

  1.   Education
  • In 2022, 6.57 million male undergraduate students, compared to 8.82 million female students, were enrolled in degree-granting postsecondary institutions.
  • Now, 47% of U.S. women ages 25 to 34 have a bachelor’s degree, compared with only 37% of men.
  1.   Health

Men face a lifespan gender gap of over five years:

  • Males: 74.8 years
  • Females: 80.2 years

Suicide:

  • The suicide rate among males in 2022 was four times higher than the rate among females. Males make up nearly 80% of suicides:
    • Men: 23 per 100,000 persons
    • Women: 5.9 per 100,000 persons
  1.  Boys

The “Boy Crisis” refers to the worsening academic performance, depression, addiction, and other problems affecting boys.

  1. False Allegations
  • According to a national YouGov survey, 11% of men, compared to 8% of women, have been falsely accused of domestic violence, sexual assault, or child abuse.
  1.   Victims of Violence
  • Men are far more likely to be victims of homicide than women. In 2023, the FBI reported that 13,789 male victims were murdered, compared to 3,849 female victims.
  1.  Equal Shared Parenting
  • The percentage of divorces with shared physical child custody in 2010-2014 was 33.6%. (Source: Meyer et al, Figure 1).
  • This number has improved slowly in recent years.
  1.  Criminal System
  • Men face more severe treatment at every step of the criminal-legal process, especially during the charging, plea-bargaining, and sentencing stages.
  • The bias is so severe that male victims of statutory rape often are required to pay child support to their rapist.
  1. Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse
  • Each year, more men than women experience domestic violence, according to the Centers for Disease Control:
    o Men: 6.5 million victims
    o Women: 5.7 million victims
  • Even though men are frequent victims of domestic violence, only 9% of persons served by VAWA Discretionary Grant Programs are male. (Source: 2022 Biennial Report to Congress, Page 40)
  1.  Homelessness
  1.   Workplace Death and Injuries
  1.   Adoption and Reproductive Rights

Adoption: In many states, unmarried fathers have no say in decisions to put the baby up for adoption.

Reproductive Rights: Men have no legal rights in decisions to abort or save an unborn child.

Paternity Fraud: Paternity fraud is the intentional misidentification of a child’s biological father by the mother. Studies reveal 3.7% of pregnancies involve paternity fraud.

  1.   Media
  • Research conducted in the U.S. and other countries concludes that:
    • 69% of media portrayals of men are unfavorable, often casting them as aggressors, perverts, or incompetents.
    • Positive depictions, such as good fathers or heroes, constitute only 18% of media portrayals.
  • Men are often stereotyped as sexual aggressors, even though in juvenile facilities, female officers commit 95% of all sexual assaults.

Other Resources: 

Editorials and Articles:

Public Opinion Poll: 

Male Disparities Around the World:

 

Categories
AI Chatbot News American Indians Campus Department of Education Due Process False Allegations Feminism Gender Agenda Gender Identity Office for Civil Rights Press Release Title IX

Death Knell Sounds on the Title IX Transgender Movement

PRESS RELEASE

Robert Thompson: 301-801-0608

Email: info@saveservices.org

Death Knell Sounds on the Title IX Transgender Movement

WASHINGTON / January 27, 2025 – Following a 2021 Biden Executive Order (1), the transgender movement took root and spread across the United States. The Department of Education set out to draft a new Title IX regulation that would set into law the controversial notion of “gender identity.”

Public opposition to the plan soon arose (2). Specific areas of concern included gender transitioning of minors, campus due process, pronoun mandates and free speech, parental rights, and women’s sports (3).

In response, the Title IX Network was established, eventually consisting of 240 national, state, and local organizations that were united in their opposition to the proposed regulation (4). Dozens of members of Congress, state governors, and state attorneys general spoke out against to the proposal, as well (5). Some even called for the abolition of the Department of Education (6).

One hundred state lawmakers from 32 states signed a pledge to “protect schools, children, and families from the Biden Title IX rule” (7). Numerous states enacted policies designed to thwart the transgender movement. For example, 25 states passed laws banning the participation of men from women’s sports (8). SAVE also established a Citizen Watchdog Program designed to monitor schools at the local level (9).

Despite fierce opposition, on April 19, 2024 the Department of Education issued its Title IX regulation that changed the definition of sex to include “gender identity” and removed key due process protections for the falsely accused (10). Within weeks, nine lawsuits opposing the regulation had been filed (11).

The following developments signaled the demise of the Title IX transgender movement:

  1. August 16, 2024: All nine Supreme Court justices issued a ruling that expressed their unanimous opposition to the Biden plan to redefine sex to include “gender identity.” (12)
  2. December 20: The U.S. Department of Education formally withdrew the plan to enact its controversial Title IX sports rule (13).
  3. January 9, 2025: Federal judge Danny Reeves issued a decision that struck down, across the nation, the Biden Title IX regulation (14). The Department of Education did not seek to appeal the historic ruling.
  4. January 20: President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order stating, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.  These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” (15)

Marxist Shulamith Firestone once declared, The goal of the feminist revolution must be the elimination of the “sex distinction itself: genital differences between human beings would no longer matter culturally…The tyranny of the biological family would be broken.” (16)

Once again, the illogic of Marxist ideology has been revealed.

Links:

  1. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/
  2. https://www.saveservices.org/2024/02/public-opinion-polls-reveal-growing-public-opposition-to-policies-driven-by-gender-agenda/
  3. https://www.saveservices.org/2022-policy/network/
  4. https://www.saveservices.org/2022-Policy/
  5. https://www.saveservices.org/2022-policy/lawmakers/
  6. https://www.saveservices.org/2022-policy/abolish-doe/
  7. https://www.saveservices.org/2022-policy/lawmakers/pledge/
  8. https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/youth/sports_participation_bans
  9. https://www.saveservices.org/2022-policy/network/
  10. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/04/29/2024-07915/nondiscrimination-on-the-basis-of-sex-in-education-programs-or-activities-receiving-federal
  11. https://www.saveservices.org/2022-policy/abolish-doe/
  12. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/24a78_f2ah.pdf
  13. https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2024-30921.pdf
  14. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.kyed.104801/gov.uscourts.kyed.104801.143.0_1.pdf
  15. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/
  16. https://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/firestone-shulamith/dialectic-sex.htm
Categories
Uncategorized

In Australia, Men and Boys are Lagging on a Broad Range of Indicators

In Australia, Men and Boys are Lagging on a Broad Range of Indicators

By David Maywald

January 24, 2025

Around the world, men and boys are facing important, sometimes life-threatening, disparities in 12 areas: www.menandboys.net  A similar situation is seen in Australia:

Advocates for gender equality should place particular attention on the plight of men and boys.

Categories
AI Chatbot News American Indians Campus Department of Education Due Process False Allegations Press Release Title IX

Biden Withdraws Title IX Plan, Marking Ignominious End to Catherine Lhamon’s Stint at DOE

PRESS RELEASE

Robert Thompson: 301-801-0608

Email: info@saveservices.org

Biden Withdraws Title IX Plan, Marking Ignominious End to Catherine Lhamon’s Stint at DOE

WASHINGTON / December 23, 2024 – This past Friday the U.S. Department of Education withdrew the plan to enact its controversial Title IX sports rule. The DOE announced in dry regulatory language, “The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is withdrawing the notice of proposed rulemaking entitled ‘Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance: Sex-Related Eligibility Criteria for Male and Female Athletic Teams,’ published in the Federal Register on April 13, 2023.” (1)

The Title IX sports rule would have implemented a Marxist vision to remove all social distinctions in society, including differences based on sex (2). In the words of feminist Shulamith Firestone, the goal was the elimination of the “sex distinction itself: genital differences between human beings would no longer matter culturally…The tyranny of the biological family would be broken.” (3)

On his first day in office on January 20, 2021, president Joe Biden issued an Executive Order ordering all Executive Branch agencies to “prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.” (4)

The Biden plan to issue new Title IX regulations, including the Title IX sports rule, sparked an unprecedented wave of national opposition:

  • A coalition of 240 national, state, and local organizations opposed to the rule came together to establish the Title IX Network (5).
  • Public opinion polls revealed a strong majority of Americans opposed the plan (6).
  • Twenty-five states passed laws banning the participation of men from women’s sports (7).
  • In August, all nine Supreme Court justices issued a ruling expressing their opposition to the Biden plan to redefine sex to include “gender identity” (8).

On April 19, 2024 the DOE issued its overall Title IX regulation that changed the definition of sex to include “gender identity.” Commentator Aaron Flanigan warned, “American parents are standing on the precipice of one of the most far-reaching, extremist, and dangerous transformations of the education system in American history.” (9) Within weeks, numerous lawsuits were filed, resulting in federal judges blocking the new policy in 26 states (10).

The development of the ill-fated Title IX rules was overseen by Catherine Lhamon, head of the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights. During her Senate confirmation hearing, Lamon was asked whether she supported the presumption of innocence in campus Title IX proceedings. Under intense questioning, Lhamon would only admit that Title IX adjudicators “should be open to the possibility” that the accused student is not guilty (11).

After Lhamon’s nomination was confirmed, she took an Oath of Office promising that I “do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” But her Title IX regulation violated that oath by seeking to weaken the Fourteenth Amendment by removing key due process protections for falsely accused men (12).

Lhamon’s resignation from her federal employment is believed to be forthcoming.

Links:

  1. https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2024-30921.pdf
  2. https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745341668/transgender-marxism/
  3. https://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/firestone-shulamith/dialectic-sex.htm
  4. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/
  5. https://www.saveservices.org/2022-Policy/
  6. https://www.saveservices.org/2024/02/public-opinion-polls-reveal-growing-public-opposition-to-policies-driven-by-gender-agenda/
  7. https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/youth/sports_participation_bans
  8. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/24a78_f2ah.pdf
  9. https://amac.us/newsline/education/the-new-biden-harris-rule-that-could-upend-the-election/?utm_objective=website_traffic&utm_source=website&utm_campaign=real_clear_politics&utm_medium=shared_content&utm_content=tnb082024
  10. https://www.saveservices.org/2022-policy/abolish-doe/
  11. https://www.saveservices.org/2021/07/presumed-guilty-catherine-lhamon-cannot-be-entrusted-with-the-job-of-enforcing-anti-discrimination-rules-in-colleges/
  12. https://www.saveservices.org/2021/05/im-afraid-to-send-my-son-to-school-how-title-ix-is-hurting-the-next-generation-of-men/
Categories
Uncategorized

Outrage Over Department of Education $1 Billion Support for D.E.I. Programs

PRESS RELEASE
Robert D. Thompson
1-301-801-0608
Email: info@saveservices.org
Outrage Over Department of Education $1 Billion Support for D.E.I. Programs

WASHINGTON / December 18, 2024 – Numerous groups and members of Congress have expressed deep concern over the recent report by Parents Defending Education (1) revealing the Department of Education has spent over $1 billion for grants supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (D.E.I.) programs in schools around the nation. Such programs openly violate laws designed to end racial and sex discrimination in schools — laws that the Department of Education is charged with enforcing.

Examples of these statements of concern include:

  • “DEI is the woke addiction that the Biden-Harris administration simply cannot quit. PDE’s new report is jaw-dropping, and it confirms that this administration was more concerned about contorting the minds of America’s future leaders, rather than educating them.”  — House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (2)
  • “The Department of Education doled out over $1Billion dollars in DEI Grants since 2021.  President Trump will end this woke B.S. on Day One of his term. America’s kids will learn the subjects they’re supposed to be taught, rather than being indoctrinated.” — Senator Ted Cruz (3)

The Parents Defending Education report reveals that since 2021, the Biden administration’s Department of Education has spent over $1 billion for 229 D.E.I. grants. (4)

The PDE report documents grants that were awarded amounting to $489,883,797 on D.E.I hiring efforts, $343,337,286 for D.E.I programming and $169,301,221 for Based Mental Health /Social Emotional Learning (SEL). (5)

K-12 school districts across the country have implemented policies or plans that base the hiring and retention of teachers and staff on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. (D.E.I) (6)

For example, the Illinois Math and Science Academy now requires “that every faculty opening requires interviewing at least two candidates who identify as a Black, Indigenous Person of Color.” The school also states that it will “incorporate best practices on diversity, equity and inclusion” in the hiring process which includes “critical race theory.” (7)

Over the past four years, the Department of Education has allowed itself to become politicized by persons seeking to use the student loan program to gain favor among young voters to win their vote during the November 5 elections; (8) to enshrine into law an unscientific and dangerous definition of “gender identity;” (9) and now to instill un-American D.E.I programs in the nations’ schools. (10)

No wonder so many are now calling for the abolition of the US Department of Education. (11)

SAVE – Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – is a 501(c)3 organization working to assure due process and fairness. The Title IX Network consists of 240 national and state organizational members that are working to stop the Title IX Biden regulation and end the Gender Agenda.

Links:

1.    https://defendinged.org/investigations/granted/
2.    https://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=412095
3.    https://x.com/SenTedCruz/status/1867301761750348281
4.    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/dec/13/doge-zeroes-report-showing-biden-doe-spent-1-billi/
5.    https://defendinged.org/investigations/granted/
6.    https://defendinged.org/investigations/dei-hiring-in-k-12-schools/
7.    https://defendinged.org/investigations/dei-hiring-in-k-12-schools/
8.    https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4086053-student-debt-democrats-seek-to-galvanize-young-voters-over-supreme-court-ruling/
9.    https://www.saveservices.org/2022-policy/abolish-doe/
10.  https://defendinged.org/investigations/granted/
11.  https://www.saveservices.org/2022-policy/abolish-doe/
Categories
Domestic Violence

Curious Patterns With Recent Husband Killers

Curious Patterns With Recent Husband Killers

SAVE

December 9, 2024

These are some recent cases in which women killed their husbands (or attempted to).  Notice a pattern?  These cases all involve people whom you don’t normally associate with violent crime.  They’re generally college- (or higher) educated, affluent and white.

Curiously, they’re also all from conservative parts of the country.  Conservatives have a tendency to place women on pedestals.  Is this what happens when that goes too far?

Florida

  1. Dan Markel (2014) – Law professor at FSU killed in an ambush killing/murder for hire.  His ex-wife was also a law professor there (so far she hasn’t been charged).  Her brother, who was an oral surgeon, got a life sentence for arranging the murder for hire. Her mother, who was the office manager for the oral surgery practice has been charged with his murder and was arrested at Miami International while attempting to flee the country.  Couple was in midst of custody dispute.
  2. Jared Bridegan (2022) – Microsoft sales executive killed in an ambush killing/murder for hire.  Ex-wife has been charged with capital murder.  She’s a college graduate and heiress.  Couple was in midst of custody dispute.
  3. Doug Benefield (2020) – Former Navy pilot who worked as a consultant for technology companies and government contractors.  Wife was convicted of killing him. She was a professional ballet dancer.  Couple had previously had a custody dispute but reconciled.  Wife killed husband prior to leaving him again.

Utah

  1. Matthew Johnson (2024) – Full time National Guardsman who was shot while he slept.  His estranged wife has been charged with his murder.

Georgia

  1. Eric Richins (2023) – Wealth insurance company executive and former Auburn football star.  His estranged wife, a former Auburn cheerleader, has been charged with attempted murder for trying to arrange a murder for hire.  She was reportedly angry with her estranged husband because he wouldn’t allow her to use the family jet after their separation.
Categories
False Allegations

False Allegations Reinvigorate US Defamation Law

False Allegations Reinvigorate US Defamation Law

SAVE

December 8, 2024

The epidemic of false allegations over the last 20 years has reinvigorated American defamation law.  The recent wave of false allegations seems to have begun in March 2006 with the Duke lacrosse case.  That case resulted in an unscrupulous prosecutor being removed from office, disbarred, and jailed for contempt of court.  It also cost Duke University as much as $100 million in legal fees, settlements, and other expenses.  The three principal victims received $20 million each and Duke paid additional amounts to the former coach and other members of the team.

The Duke lacrosse case was considered an outlier for almost a decade until Rolling Stone magazine published an article titled “A Rape on Campus” 10 years ago on November 19, 2014.  In that article, a young female student told a completely fabricated tale of how she had been gang raped in a University of Virginia fraternity.  Rolling Stone was sued by both a university dean who was mentioned in the story and the fraternity, and paid seven-figure settlements in both cases.  The settlements effectively bankrupted the magazine and resulted in its sale.

The already problematic trend of false allegations was turned into an epidemic by the Obama Administration’s “Dear Colleague Letter,” which pressured colleges to reduce due process protections in campus sexual misconduct cases, and (especially) the #MeToo movement.  The growing unfairness of these cases, in turn, created a backlash, which is what we’re seeing in American courtrooms today.

The 2022 defamation case brought by the actor Johnny Depp against his ex-wife Amber Heard was an important milestone.  This case arose out of an op-ed written by Heard that accused her ex-husband of domestic violence and resulted in a jury awarding Depp $15 million in compensatory and punitive damages.  This case was important because Depp was a public figure. Prior to this case, conventional wisdom in American legal circles believed that it was virtually impossible for a public figure to win a defamation case in the US.

In recent years, the number of cases and the damage awards have increased substantially.  Here are three cases from the last two weeks.  These cases are an interesting sample because (i) all three involve public figures, (ii) all three involve allegations that are decades old, and (iii) one involves a corporate defendant that published the allegations in the lyrics of a widely-distributed song.

Nick Carter’s Counterclaim Against Sexual Battery Accuser Will Continue After Nevada Supreme Court Denies Appeal

People, Nov. 27, 2024

https://people.com/nevada-supreme-court-denies-appeal-by-accuser-to-dismiss-nick-carter-counterclaim-8753013

Nick Carter’s counterclaim against accuser Shannon Ruth, who sued him in 2022 claiming that he raped her on a tour bus in Tacoma in 2001, has a judge’s permission to move forward.  …

On Tuesday, Nov. 26, Nevada Supreme Court judge Nancy L. Allf denied Ruth’s anti-SLAPP motion against Carter’s counterclaim because she “failed to satisfy her burden,” according to documents obtained by PEOPLE.

“Our resolution of this appeal has been hindered by Ruth’s failure to identify with specificity any of the statements that form the basis of Ruth’s anti-SLAPP motion. We therefore conclude that any statements on which Carter’s counterclaims is based that are not specifically addressed in this order do not warrant reversal of the district court’s order,” the filing states.

Carter filed a counterclaim in February 2023 against Ruth and Melissa Schuman, who accused him of rape in April 2023, stating that the two women took advantage of the #MeToo movement and used it to launch a five-year conspiracy to “defame and vilify Carter and otherwise ruin his reputation for the purposes of garnering attention and fame and/or extorting money from Carter,” according to the suit obtained by PEOPLE. (He was given the OK to pursue the defamation countersuit against Schuman in August 2023 and is now suing her for $2.5 million.)

Drake takes legal action over song’s ‘sex offender’ claim

BBC, Nov. 27, 2024

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0rgl497k59o

Drake has filed a second legal action against record label Universal Music over Kendrick Lamar’s hit Not Like Us, which was released at the height of the pair’s feud earlier this year.

The star has accused Universal of defamation, and his legal papers claim the company could have halted the release of a song “falsely accusing him of being a sex offender”.

Instead, his lawyers claim, Universal “executed a plan” to make the song “a viral mega-hit”, and used Lamar’s incendiary lyrics “to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues”.

TD Jakes files defamation lawsuit against man who accused him of sexual assault

Christian Post, Nov. 29, 2024

https://www.christianpost.com/news/td-jakes-files-defamation-lawsuit-against-duane-youngblood.html

A day after suffering “a slight health incident” while preaching on Sunday, Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House megachurch in Dallas, Texas, filed a defamation lawsuit against former-pastor-turned-registered sex offender Duane Youngblood, who alleged he was sexually assaulted by Jakes when he was a teenager some 40 years ago

“The underlying story in this case depicts a carefully planned effort by a convicted criminal, and those acting in concert with him, to rewrite history in order to deflect blame and accountability for his own reprehensible and criminal conduct and to publicly smear a renowned and eminently respected religious leader in a blatant and explicit attempt to extort him for millions of dollars,” lawyers for Jakes wrote in the 20-page lawsuit filed in the Western District Court in Pennsylvania in which they detailed Youngblood’s history of abusing minors since at least 2002.

Here’s a sample of other recent cases:

Can Vanderbilt Student Suspended for Alleged False Accusations Sue Vanderbilt Pseudonymously?

No, says a federal Magistrate Judge, though the classmate (who isn’t a party to the suit) is entitled to have his name pseudonymized.

Volokh Conspiracy, Nov. 4, 2024

https://reason.com/volokh/2024/11/04/can-vanderbilt-student-suspended-for-alleged-false-accusations-sue-vanderbilt-pseudonymously/

In the fall of 2020, Plaintiff Parker Poe enrolled as an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University. Plaintiff took a leave of absence from school in April 2022, during which time he and others anonymously made and shared posts on at least two social media websites concerning Roe. Some of those posts alleged that Roe had sexually assaulted women.

Roe disputed the allegations and filed a lawsuit to uncover the identities of the anonymous posters. Poe was revealed as one of the posters. Roe and members of his family provided this information to Vanderbilt officials who opened an investigation of Poe for apparent violations of several provisions of the Vanderbilt Student Handbook. After a nearly two-month investigation, university officials concluded that Poe had committed three violations of the Student Handbook. Plaintiff was accordingly suspended from school, among other sanctions. Poe’s subsequent appeal of his sanctions was unsuccessful, and his suspension began in April 2023.

Libel, College Students, and Garnished Wages: Even Entry-Level Workers Aren’t “Judgment-Proof”

Volokh Conspiracy, Sept. 25, 2024

https://reason.com/volokh/2024/09/25/libel-college-students-and-garnished-wages/

Bachelor Paternity Case in Court! Clayton Echard Wins Big.

Feb 22, 2024
https://pjmedia.com/megan-fox/2024/02/22/bachelor-paternity-case-in-court-clayton-echard-wins-big-n4926673

Former Bachelor Clayton Echard has finally had the first part of his day in court. Laura Owens, a woman he had one night of unwise relations with, which he says did not include intercourse, sued him for paternity of her alleged twins whom she says she became pregnant with eleven days after their encounter.

Echard has maintained over the last nine months that Owens was never pregnant and that the entire lawsuit was based on fraud. Legal filings allege that Owens wore a fake pregnancy belly, provided Echard with faked sonograms, went to the media to ruin Echard’s reputation, refused discovery, and would not allow Echard to speak to her alleged doctors. Further investigation into the case found that Owens had taken at least two other men to court with similar allegations in the past.

[The trial judge in this case subsequently found “Owens had altered documents, changed the results of a pregnancy test, given false testimony and potentially perjured herself in what the judge said appeared to be “a case of serial fabrications.   …  [The judge] found Owens provided false testimony about her pregnancies in three other cases and presented false claims.  In addition, [the judge] referred Owens for felony prosecution for violating Arizona’s laws regarding perjury and evidence tampering.”

Woman accused of fabricating evidence in ‘Bachelor’ paternity suit could face charges

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/scottsdale/2024/11/01/woman-could-be-charged-after-losing-bachelor-paternity-suit/75973969007/ ]

#TheyLied Case Filed by Elected Official Over Allegations of Sexual Assault Can Go Forward

Volokh Conspiracy, Dec. 4, 2023

https://reason.com/volokh/2023/12/04/theylied-case-filed-by-elected-official-over-allegations-of-sexual-assault-can-go-forward/

Former Yale student acquitted of rape in 2018 has been cleared to sue his accuser

NY Post, Sep. 17, 2023

https://nypost.com/2023/09/17/former-yale-student-saifullah-khan-who-was-acquitted-of-rape-can-sue-accuser/

Jury awards $4M to student who said Pacific University mishandled sexual assault complaint against him

Oregon Live, Aug. 22, 2023

https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2023/08/jury-awards-4m-to-student-who-said-pacific-university-mishandled-sexual-assault-complaint-against-him.html

Court Makes It Easier for Plaintiffs to Win Libel Lawsuits Against #MeToo Claimants

A potentially very important 2-1 decision today from the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which held that such a #MeToo post wasn’t on a “matter of public concern,” and was thus less protected by the First Amendment.

Volokh Conspiracy, Jul. 25, 2022

https://reason.com/volokh/2022/07/25/court-makes-it-easier-to-win-libel-lawsuits-against-metoo-claimants/

Righting an Old Wrong

Jury awards former Clemson student falsely accused of sexual misconduct $5.3 million on defamation and civil conspiracy claims. The case has implications for the future of Title IX.

Inside Higher Education, April 7, 2022

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/04/07/jury-awards-falsely-accused-former-clemson-student-53-million#:~:text=A%20South%20Carolina%20jury%20awarded,against%20three%20individuals%E2%80%94not%20Clemson.

Law professor’s $1.2 million defamation award shows false rape claims’ impact in digital age, attorney says

Fox News, May 24, 2020

https://www.foxnews.com/us/minnesota-law-professor-false-rape-claim-1-2-million

Part of the reason for the strong backlash is growing public awareness of the often life-altering consequences of false allegations.  Here are some examples:

The sexual encounter that led to Oxford student Alex being cancelled… and then taking his own life: What DID happen to turn Alex from a popular young man with the world at his feet to one shunned by his friends?

Nov. 10, 2024

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14066353/sexual-encounter-Oxford-student-Alexander-Rogers-cancelled.html

[Here’s a reaction to the Oxford story from the group “Mothers of Sons,” which describes itself as “a group of ordinary women whose sons have faced extraordinary ordeals in our unfair, anti-male legal systems and workplaces.”

Tragic story of a brilliant Oxford University student who killed himself after another student told friends she was uncomfortable about their sexual encounter. No proper investigation – just kids turning against him due to a foolish girl’s “regret sex.”

https://x.com/Mothersofsons1/status/1855872956498416029]

Parents speak out after son’s suicide at elite New Jersey boarding school

ABC7 NY, May 2, 2023

https://abc7ny.com/teen-death-the-lawrenceville-school-student-suicide-nj-boarding/13204599/

LAWRENCE TWP., New Jersey — On the one-year anniversary of a student’s death, an elite boarding school in New Jersey released a statement publicly admitting its failure.

The Lawrenceville School released a statement acknowledging that it failed to protect student Jack Reid, who died by suicide in 2022, from bullying, saying it “fell tragically short” in Jack’s case. Jack was 17 at the time.   …

The statement was required as part of a settlement deal with the family of Jack Reid, who had filed a lawsuit against the school.

In the spring of 2021, an untrue rumor spread across The Lawrenceville School campus that Jack, who was a junior in high school at the time, had committed sexual assault by kissing a girl. Then, in September 2021, a false claim that Jack was a rapist was posted anonymously to a nationwide student app, in a letter from the school obtained by ABC.

Lawsuit Alleges Title IX Complaint Drove Cadet to Suicide

The father of a Cal Maritime student who died by suicide has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging “anti-male bias” in the university’s response to a sexual assault complaint against his son. The lawsuit also alleges pervasive bullying by classmates about the allegations.

Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 28, 2023

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/02/28/lawsuit-alleges-title-ix-complaint-drove-cadet-suicide

Father Sues UT Arlington After Son’s Suicide

NBC DFW, Apr. 13, 2017

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/father-sues-ut-arlington-after-sons-suicide/16192/

When bullied students end their lives, parents are suing.  And schools are paying. 

A Washington Post analysis found nearly 200 incidents when a bullied student took his or her own life.  Some schools are paying out millions and changing policies. 

Washington Post, Nov. 10, 2023

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/11/10/school-bullying-suicide-lawsuit/

Men Taking Action to Protect Themselves

As the risk of false allegations has increased, men are increasingly taking action to protect themselves.  For example, many male professionals have reduced their interactions with female colleagues.  Here are several articles on the topic:

New research:  #MeToo movement hurt female productivity

CV data shows that fewer women academics are collaborating with men

https://unherd.com/thepost/new-research-metoo-movement-hurt-female-productivity/

Men are afraid to mentor women after #MeToo and it hurts us all: study

https://nypost.com/2019/05/17/men-are-afraid-to-mentor-women-after-metoo-and-it-hurts-us-all-study/

60% of male managers now say they’re uncomfortable participating in work activities with women

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/60percent-of-male-managers-now-say-theyre-uncomfortable-mentoring-women.html

The Unintended Consequences of #MeToo: Evidence from Research Collaborations

Marina Gertsberg, The University of Melbourne

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4105976

Posted: 11 May 2022 — Last revised: 9 Aug 2022

How did #MeToo alter the cost of collaboration between women and men? I study research collaborations involving junior female academic economists and show they start fewer new research projects after #MeToo. The decline is driven largely by fewer collaborations with new male co-authors at the same institution. I show that the drop in collaborations is concentrated in universities where the perceived risk of sexual harassment accusations for men is high – that is, when both sexual harassment policies are more ambiguous exposing men to a larger variety of claims and the number of public sexual harassment incidents is high. The results suggest that the social movement is associated with increased cost of collaboration that disadvantaged the career opportunities of women.

Enrollment Crisis in Higher Education

False allegations are also contributing to the enrollment crisis in American higher education.  As the risk of false allegations has increased on American college campuses, a growing number of male students have responded by staying away.

Fewer young men are in college, especially at 4-year schools

Dec. 18, 2023

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/12/18/fewer-young-men-are-in-college-especially-at-4-year-schools/

College enrollment among young Americans has been declining gradually over the past decade. In 2022, the total number of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college was down by approximately 1.2 million from its peak in 2011.

Most of the decline is due to fewer young men pursuing college. About 1 million fewer young men are in college but only 0.2 million fewer young women. As a result, men make up 44% of young college students today, down from 47% in 2011, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data.

This shift is driven entirely by the falling share of men who are students at four-year colleges. Today, men represent only 42% of students ages 18 to 24 at four-year schools, down from 47% in 2011.

Colleges struggle with falling enrollment — especially male students

June 5, 2024

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/05/nx-s1-4993536/colleges-struggle-with-falling-enrollment-especially-male-students

The problem of false allegations is also affecting romantic encounters:

Fearing False Accusations, Men Are Asking Women To Create ‘Consent Videos’ Before Sex. Feminists Are Not Happy.

Amanda Prestigiacomo, Dec 5, 2018,  DailyWire.com

https://www.dailywire.com/news/fearing-false-accusation-men-are-now-asking-women-amanda-prestigiacomo

Thanks to the excesses of the #MeToo movement, sexual encounters have morphed into an episode of South Park. In the midst of an otherwise romantic night, gals, you might be asked to create a so-called “consent video” so your understandably petrified partner can cover his behind against any future false accusation leveled against him.

A consent video is exactly what it sounds like: a woman telling a camera lens that she is fully onboard with having sex with so-and-so once the record button is turned off.

Young males are also learning to identify high risk females and avoiding them.  I recently heard a story that illustrates this dynamic.  There is a private, all-girls high school where I live.  Several years ago, the school hired a new principal who incorporated many feminist themes into the curriculum, including misinformation about the prevalence of sexual assault and false allegations, and encouraged the girls to “take action.”  This resulted in several incidents in which girls at this school made false allegations and engaged in online slander campaigns.

In response, many boys in the area now refuse to have any contact with girls at this school.  In their minds, the risk of interacting with these girls is simply too high.

It has also contributed to an enrollment decline at the school as many girls and their families have become uncomfortable with the militancy that has been introduced into the curriculum.  Some girls are also less interested in the school as they discover their social lives may be limited if they attend.

This trend, if it continues, could pose a serious risk for the girls school.  If the more moderate girls and families continue to leave, the remaining students and families will become more radicalized, which in turn will drive even more girls and families away.  We’ve seen this other times in higher ed. It will be interesting to see if it happens in this case.