Day: June 24, 2014

When Did Rape Become Popular?

One of the consequences of war is rape……there seems little we can do about it….but recently there seems to be an outbreak of rapes for the sake of rape…..there seems to be a growing sickness in this world….I mean there is always a report off and on about this person being raped, usually during some time of turmoil……but today it seems to be just the “thing to do”…….

Recently in India there was a gang rape and the world was shocked and then there was the report of a rape and killing……cousins in the north of India had been raped killed and hung from a tree….sick right?  The crime were committed by men from the higher caste in the region and the girls were from a lower caste……the police chief in the area said that rape is a trivial case and should not be overblown by the media….How sick is that?

Yesterday I read a report about Egypt and the election they just had……..

As crowds in Cairo’s Tahrir Square yesterday celebrated the election victory of Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, things turned ugly: Mobs sexually assaulted at least five women, CNN reports. Graphic video of one attack shows a woman stripped and bloodied, facing continued attacks even as police take her to their vehicle. Seven men have been arrested following the video’s appearance online, al Arabiya reports. A security official tells AFP the victim was a 19-year-old student. Those arrested were also accused of three additional cases of sexual harassment. The news comes days after Egypt’s outgoing president outlawed sexual harassment in the country for the first time, CNN notes.

The attacks have prompted an outcry, not least from the “I Saw Harassment” campaign tracking sexual violence in the country: “It is shameful that the security leaders of the Ministry of Interior did not take into account any security measures or plans to prevent such incidents,” the campaign says in a statement. Local media is also under fire; one reporter describing harassment on the scene apologized after remarking, “They are happy, huh?” Such an amused response isn’t unusual, the New York Times reports, and mob assaults aren’t new in Tahrir Square (CBS reporter Lara Logan was assaulted in 2011). A state-affiliated group, the National Council of Women, blames a conspiracy of “unknown entities” aiming to “taint the image of (Egypt’s) democratic celebration.”

The world seems to have gone rape happy…….we can thank God that the US is being spared from this insanity……….or have we?

There might be a reason that college sexual assaults make the news more often these days. A new Department of Education report has found that reports of “forcible” campus sexual assaults shot up 50% between 2001 and 2011, jumping from 2,200 to 3,300, Time reports. At the same time, every other category of college crime decreased. The numbers mean that 2.2 out of every 10,000 college students in 2011 reported an assault, Business Insider points out.

Still, the spike doesn’t necessarily mean that more assaults are occurring; it might just mean that victims have become more comfortable coming forward. “It’s a good thing that more victims are reporting,” one advocate told NPR in response to a similar finding in April. “For far too long, they’ve been left on their own. And now they’re getting the help they need.”

It seems hat the whole world has gone rape happy…..a truly disgusting trend……..and now it has spread to Pakistan, that lovely country that had a young girl shot in the face for wanting an education….great bunch of people……and now a gang rape and death……..

Police are investigating yet another gang rape and hanging of a young woman, this time in Pakistan instead of India. Authorities in the Punjab province area of Layyah say 20-year-old Muzammil Bibi was assaulted by three men in a field, reports Reuters. Her parents found her body hanging from a tree the next morning, and, based on her injuries, police think she fought back against her rapists. Three men have confessed, say police. “This is the first time in my 22 years of service in the police that I have seen such a case, where a girl was raped in this way and found hanging from a tree,” says a senior officer.

The case bears a resemblance to the gang rape and hanging of two teen cousins in India in May, which was followed by two similar attacks in that country. It also follows attacks in Pakistan in which a pregnant woman was stoned to death and another woman was shot and thrown in a canal. Family members are blamed in the latter two. Violence against women in the region is so prevalent that it barely registers as a crime, one rights activist tells India’s Zee News. “It is a mindset that has to change.”

These are just a few of the cases of rape…..but they point to a disturbing trend……..what the Hell is this world becoming?

I realize that we live in a 24 hour news cycle and organizations need to fill all their airtime and rape is becoming reported than in the past……..but why is rape so popular?  If that is the best word to use……..

 

 

 

A Big Week For SCOTUS

I am going to give my readers a break from being beat around the head and shoulders about the middle east and the sizzling situation…….

SCOTUS has screwed up a lot in this country in the past couple of years……Citizens United for one and this week there should be a final word on several big cases that will resonate through the country……

It’s a big week for the Supreme Court, which wraps up its term next Monday. We’ll be hearing from the justices on a number of key cases that have been argued since January, ranging from ObamaCare to free speech. USA Today outlines the highlights; this week’s decisions will be issued today, Wednesday, and Thursday, notes SCOTUSblog:

  • The court will decide whether for-profit companies can receive religious exemptions from the ObamaCare’s requirement that employers cover contraceptives.
  • Justices will address the constitutionality of a Massachusetts law barring protests within 35 feet of an abortion clinic.
  • Another question concerns a president’s the authority to make executive appointments without congressional confirmation. In this case, President Obama appointed labor officials while noting that the Senate was on recess; at the time, senators were holding pro-forma sessions every few days. USA Today notes the ruling could touch on appointments made by George Washington.
  • On the environment, the court will address the government’s ability to require permits for companies emitting greenhouse gases.
  • Labor unions face a potential funding threat: A case deals with whether workers can be required to pay fees despite not belonging to a union. As it stands, public sector unions have to fight for all workers in their industry, even if they’re not dues-paying members. Those non-members may still have to pay “fair-share” fees; justices are examining whether workers can reject these fees, which CBS News explains could be a “devastating” blow to the unions, which would have to rep workers who don’t contribute anything to them.
  • The court is also weighing in on how we tune into TV. People who use the Aereo antenna TV service can watch shows online; broadcasters say the service is a lot like cable, and Aereo should have to pay retransmission fees as cable providers do.

What will be the outcome?  Will America slipped more deeply into a worsening condition?  Will the country be a better place after their decisions?