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beardedmrbean · 11 months

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted of sexually abusing female gymnasts including Olympic medalists, was stabbed multiple times during an altercation with another inmate at a federal prison in Florida.

Two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press the attack happened Sunday at United States Penitentiary Coleman. The people said he was in stable condition Monday.

One of the people said Nassar had been stabbed in the back and in the chest. The prison was experiencing staffing shortages, and one of the people familiar with the matter said the officers assigned to the unit where Nassar was held were working mandated overtime shifts.

The people were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack or the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

Nassar is serving decades in prison for convictions in state and federal courts. He admitted sexually assaulting athletes when he worked at Michigan State University and at Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. Separately, Nassar pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

The federal Bureau of Prisons has experienced significant staffing shortages in the last few years, an issue thrust into the spotlight when disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein took his own life at a federal jail in New York in 2019. An Associated Press investigation in 2021 revealed nearly one-third of federal correctional officer positions vacant nationwide, forcing prisons to use cooks, teachers, nurses and other workers to guard inmates. The staffing shortages have hampered the response to emergencies at other prisons, including suicides.

On Sunday, both officers working in the unit with Nassar were working overtime shifts. One of the officers was on the third straight shift, working a 16-hour day, one of the people said. And the other officer was on their second straight shift, the person said.

During victim impact statements in 2018, several athletes testified that over the course of Nassar’s more than two decades of sexual abuse they had told adults, including coaches and athletic trainers, what was happening but that it went unreported.

More than 100 women, including Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, collectively sought more than $1 billion from the federal government for the FBI’s failure to stop Nassar when agents became aware of allegations against him in 2015. He was arrested by Michigan State University police in 2016, more than a year later.

The Justice Department’s inspector general said in July 2021 that the FBI made “fundamental” errors in investigating the sexual abuse allegations against Nassar and did not treat the case with the “utmost seriousness.” More athletes said they were molested before the the FBI swung into action.

The inspector general’s investigation was spurred by allegations that the FBI failed to promptly address complaints made in 2015 against Nassar. USA Gymnastics had conducted its own internal investigation, and the organization’s then-president, Stephen Penny, reported the allegations to the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis. But it took months before the bureau opened a formal investigation.

At least 40 girls and women said they were molested over a 14-month period while the FBI was aware of other sexual abuse allegations involving Nassar. Officials at USA Gymnastics also contacted FBI officials in Los Angeles in May 2016 after eight months of inactivity from agents in Indianapolis.

The FBI acknowledged conduct that was “inexcusable and a discredit” to America’s premier law enforcement agency.

Michigan State, which was accused of missing chances over many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls who were assaulted by him. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement.

In June 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court rejected a final appeal from Nassar. Attorneys for Nassar said he was treated unfairly in 2018 and deserved a new hearing, based on vengeful remarks by a judge who called him a “monster” who would “wither” in prison like the wicked witch in “The Wizard of Oz.”

“I just signed your death warrant,” Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said of Nassar’s 40-year sentence.

The state Supreme Court said that Nassar’s appeal was a “close question” and that it had “concerns” over the judge’s conduct. But the court also noted that Aquilina, despite her provocative comments, stuck to the sentencing agreement worked out by lawyers in the case.

“We decline to expend additional judicial resources and further subject the victims in this case to additional trauma where the questions at hand present nothing more than an academic exercise,” the court said in a two-page order.

More than 150 victims spoke or submitted statements during an extraordinary seven-day hearing in Aquilina’s court more than four years ago.

“It’s over. ... Almost six years after I filed the police report, it’s finally over,” said Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Nassar.

#nunyas news #couldn't happen to a nicer guy

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sarnews · 11 months

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Pedophile Gymnastics Doctor Larry Nasser Left in Pool of Blood Following Dose of Prison Justice

Pedophile sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted of sexually abusing underage female gymnasts, has been stabbed multiple times at a federal prison in Florida, according to reports.

Two people familiar with the matter told Associated Press the attack happened Sunday at United States Penitentiary Coleman in Florida.

One of the people said Nasser, who was described as a “monster” by a judge, had been stabbed in the back and in the chest.

Nassar was sentenced to decades in prison for raping many young girls, including Olympic medalists.

Nassar is serving decades in prison for convictions in state and federal courts. He admitted sexually assaulting athletes when he worked at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. Separately, Nassar pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

During victim impact statements in 2018, several athletes testified that over the course of Nassar’s more than two decades of sexual abuse, they had told adults what was happening, including coaches and athletic trainers, but that it went unreported.

“I just signed your death warrant,” Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said of Nassar’s 40-year sentence.

More than 150 victims spoke or submitted statements during an extraordinary seven-day hearing in Aquilina’s court more than four years ago.

“It’s over. … Almost six years after I filed the police report, it’s finally over,” said Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Nassar.

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noneillahtalkshow · 4 years

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Episode 1 The Noneillah Talk Show is in memory of music artist, Noneillah Founder, digital designer, engineer, songwriter, visual artist, a college student, and son of the hottest Naomi Johnson; Sean Cos Mason. Sean Cos Mason aka Deshon was killed by Coach USA bus driver Wilson Romain who was operating an NJ Transit bus. Romain deliberately ran over Deshon twice then dragged him 50 to 100 feet. Deshon's mother talks about New records that included eyewitness testimony. Naomi uses the power of television to tell compelling stories about NJ Transit, Coach USA, Essex County Prosecutor, Police and attorneys corruption on her son's transit demise case by Coach USA bus driver Wilson Romaine who was operating New Jersey Transit. The Noneillah show provides the most comprehensive forum on issues in the history of television. Noneillah has used the show's platform to raise awareness on the ongoing killing epidemic by NJ Transit and Coach USA bus companies. You can listen to the Noneillah Talk Show on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6Qamy19... and Soundcloud. The show wants its views to be accessible to stories dealing NJ Transit and Coach USA bus drivers killing innocent people in vain that no other show or news talks about and give understanding to the general public by addressing important personal and social issues. Using their top-rated show as a teaching tool, Noneillah talk show host takes aim at the critical issues of our time, including the "silent epidemics" of bullying by our justice system, transit attorneys, mental abuse by the prosecutors, fabrication, verbal attack on an innocent mother who is fighting for justice for her son Deshon killed by bus driver Wilson Romain who has a bad driving record, violent attitude, blaming her son for his death, and various forms of severe mental torcher by the so-called New Jersey justice system. My deepest grief as a mother and the deepest pain on the loss of Naomi's son who was a hip-hop artist/rapper. You can click on the link to learn more about this mother story Justice for Deshon Johnson Protest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXFbf... Coach USA Attorney Michael Tuzzion and Prosecutor Cover-Up Deshon's For Bus Driver Wilson Roamin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9rns... Deshon Johnson Wednesday 2018 Memorial Gathering In Bloomfield, NJ (Coach USA/NJ Transit) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZw-D... Coach USA/NJ Transit Attorney Michael Tuzzio Conversation With Prosecutor About The Bus Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZMix... Deshon's Attorneys Conversation On The Prosecutors Poor Investigation On His NJ Transit Demise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXVhM... FIOS NEWS: DEHON JOHNSON FAMILY SEEKS FOR ANSWERS FROM THE PROSECUTOR OFFICE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WS6c... Exxon and 7 Eleven Video of Deshon Not Running After An NJ Transit /Coach USA Bus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfiTc... #viralvideo #subscribe #topvideo #motherstory #blackish #bet #disablemother #fightforjustice The criminal justice system has a set of rights created to protect you. And NJ Transit/ Coach USA mission statement is to make pedestrian safety the priority But, do you think it's protecting us and exercise community safety? Rapper Deshon Johnson is the victim of the miscarriage of justice and his mother, Naomi, too. Due, Naomi's only child/son Deshon's murder cover-up by Coach USA bus driver Wilson Romain who running over her son twice, then dragged him operating an NJ Transit and her torment mistreatment by the justice system. Her experiences are leading him to speak out: it's time to change the system. The Noneillah Talk Show provides a revealing and unforgettable view of NJ Transit, Coach USA, and the prosecutor world of corruption. It's all the true story that's fit to watch. #grievingmother #flimmaker #documentary #talkshow #justicefornjtransitvictim #justiceforcaochusavictims #naomi #justicefordeshon #psa

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mostlysignssomeportents · 3 years

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Chevron bought the US justice system

You know that free-floating sense that multinational corporations are above the law, able to buy their way out of consequences for even the most blatant, heinous crimes?

There's a (nearly) unbelievable, highly concrete example of it underway right at this moment.

It's the story of Steven Donziger, a campaigning lawyer who sued Chevron for its ecocide in Ecuador, a genocide against indigenous people, committed with cooperation from a brutal military dictatorship.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/02/free-steven-donziger/#free-donziger

Donziger managed the impossible. He secured a conviction against Chevron, and a $9.8 billion judgment against the company, owed to the indigenous people they poisoned, whose lands and bodies remain poisoned and sick to this day.

Now, if you're an exec at Chevron and you value money more than life, the rational move that proceeds from this judgment is straightforward: any legal maneuver that costs LESS than $9.8b is your fiduciary duty to your shareholders.

Give it to Chevron: buying your way out of red-handed genocidal environmental racism is an art form, and they are masters.

First, Chevron paid $2m relocating Ecuadoran judge Albert Guerra to the US, where he testified that the the Ecuadoran fine was the result of a bribe.

Chevron paid for Guerra and his family to move to the USA, paid for his immigration process, paid his income tax, and coached him for 53 days before he appeared in the Southern District of New York Court of Judge Lewis A Kaplan.

Kaplan believed Guerra, and continued to believe him even after Guerra recanted his testimony and admitted that he'd lied at Chevron's behest.

Six other courts, including the Supreme Courts of Ecuadoran and Canada, have upheld the fine against Chevron.

Why would Kaplan believe Guerra after Guerra said he was lying? Maybe it has something to do with Kaplan's own legal background: before he was a judge, he was a corporate lawyer working for a firm that represented tobacco companies in cancer liability lawsuits.

Kaplan used Guerra's testimony to convict Donziger on civil racketeering charges. Chevron brought the charges, and cannily, they dropped their demand for monetary compensation, which meant Donziger couldn't get a jury trial.

But the fact that Chevron didn't seek monetary damages doesn't mean what you'd expect: after Kaplan ruled against Donziger, the judge hit him with an order to pay Chevron millions in court fees.

Worse still, he ordered Donziger to turn over his laptop and phone - not to the court, but to Chevron, who would then get access to his privileged attorney-client communications with the victims of Chevron's ecocide, opening those people to violent retaliation.

Donziger appealed the order. Kaplan then charged him with a misdemeanor for having the temerity to appeal. This was so chickenshit that the District Attorney refused to take up the case, so Kaplan appointed a corporate lawfirm that fronts for Big Oil to prosecute Donziger.

This firm, Seward & Kissel, has a blue-chip roster of climate criminals for clients, including Chevron itself. They are prosecuting Donziger in front of Judge Loretta Preska, whom Kaplan hand-picked to hear the case (he had to violate SDNY procedures to make this happen).

Preska is a member of the Federalist Society, a corporate-backed law organization whose major donors include Chevron.

Donziger is fighting this with his hands tied behind his back. Not only did Kaplan get him disbarred (there's a pending appeal), but he had him *arrested*.

Donziger is the only person in the entire USA who is in pre-trial detention for a misdemeanor. The only one. He's been under house arrest for more than 580 days. The maximum sentence for the misdemeanor is 180 days. He still hasn't had a trial.

Donziger spoke to Esquire's Jack Holmes about his case, describing how Kaplan has barred him and his Ecuadoran clients from seeking enforcement of the judgement anywhere in the USA.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a35812573/steven-donziger-chevron-house-arrest/

Preska, the Federalist Society judge whom Kaplan picked to hear the contempt charge, has denied his request for a jury trial.

Donziger calls it "corporate political prosecution" and calls himself "a corporate political prisoner."

This is bigger than the judgment against Chevron. As Donziger says, "if you can't do this kind of legal work to hold these polluters accountable, the destruction of the earth will happen at a faster pace."

The corporate takeover of the justice system isn't an abstract conspiracy theory. It is very specific, and it is playing out before our eyes, in a courtroom in New York City.

#pluralistic

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twoflipstwotwists · 3 years

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USA Gymnastics, despite finding that dozens of allegations of physical, verbal and emotional abuse against three Orange County gymnastics coaches “disturbing” and “credible and substantiated,” will lift the coaches’ interim suspensions once they have completed educational training, according to a USA Gymnastics letters, emails and texts obtained by the Orange County Register.

USA Gymnastics’ decision not to suspend or permanently ban and instead remove the interim suspensions of Azarian U.S. Gymnastics Training Center coaches Vanessa Gonzalez, and Perry Davies upon their completion “educational requirements” was made without as many as 30 alleged victims and their parents being formally interviewed by USA Gymnastics officials or the organization holding formal hearings where victims and family members could testify, according USA Gymnastics documents and interviews six individuals familiar with the proceedings.

Under what a top USA Gymnastics official described as a “negotiated resolution,” Gonzalez, Davies and Amanda Hensley, another Azarian coach, can return to coaching with supervision as soon as they complete a 50-hour positive coaching course, according to USA Gymnastics documents. Their interim suspensions will be completely lifted following the completion of additional virtual training sessions and other measures.

The Azarian ruling, said Reshma Block, a former Azarian parent “shows that everything you’ve heard about USA Gymnastics is true. They truly don’t care about child abuse. Kids don’t matter to these people.”

“I can’t believe the arrogance and gall of USA Gymnastics to think that their positive coaching classes are so wonderful that they’re going to change a sociopath and an abusive coach,” continued Block, who alleges Gonzalez physically, verbally and emotionally abused her grade school aged daughter. “It’s appalling and disgusting and gross and shows these coaches matter more to USA Gymnastics than kids.”

USA Gymnastics suspended Gonzalez, Hensley and Davies on an interim basis on Sept. 4, pending the completion of an investigation of the coaches. The coaches are prohibited from “all contact” with gymnasts under the terms of the suspension. Hensley, who unsuccessfully tried to get her interim suspension lifted in a recent hearing, will have her suspension lifted.

The Register recently completed a three-month investigation based on complaints, interviews, Azarian and previously undisclosed confidential USA Gymnastics documents, medical records and therapists’ reports. The findings showed gymnasts, parents and certain Azarian coaches alleging some Azarian coaches regularly physically, emotionally and verbally abused, bullied and belittled young female gymnasts and pressured them to continue training and/or competing while injured.

“This makes me so sad to see children who were abused speak up for the first time after being silenced for years, abused for years and USA Gymnastics couldn’t care less,” said Rena Shikuma, a former Azarian coach who was a whistleblower in the case. “(USA Gymnastics) is saying what happened to (the gymnasts) doesn’t matter.”

Ashton Woodbury, a former Azarian gymnast now competing at Cal, said Gonzalez, Azarian’s head girls coach, routinely slapped her so hard that she left marks on her legs. Azarian gymnasts even had names for the marks – “five stars” or “turkeys,” the latter a reference to the finger-painted birds children make around Thanksgiving.

“I had five-star marks from being slapped hard enough to leave a mark that would last a couple of hours. She would laugh, ‘Oh, ha, ha, that left a good mark.’ I had marks on me all the time,” Woodbury told the Register.

Davies on a regular basis tickled young female gymnasts after pinning them down and sitting on them or having their teammates help pin them down, according to formal complaints with USA Gymnastics and interviews.

Gonzalez had a parent take a mandatory USA Gymnastics Safe Sport course for her, according to a formal complaint to USA Gymnastics by an Azarian coach and interviews. “She made a parent take the test FOR her because she was ‘too busy with other important things,’” Shikuma wrote in her complaint to USA Gymnastics

Gonzalez not only bullied young gymnasts but often encouraged other girls to ridicule Azarian athletes with whom the coach was unhappy, according to confidential complaints filed with USA Gymnastics and interviews. Gonzalez and other coaches used the punishments not only as a way to correct mistakes but to also break down the girls, gymnasts and parents said in interviews, and formal complaints and emails to USA Gymnastics officials.

Gonzalez told “parents her goal is to ‘break’ kids,” according to a parent complaint filed with USA Gymnastics in August.

USA Gymnastics ruling Monday “is based on our finding that the allegations reported to us are generally credible and substantiated,” Kim Kranz, USA Gymnastics chief of athlete wellness wrote in a text to a parent Monday. “We believe the experiences that the parents of athletes shared with us.”

Kranz also wrote in separate letter to victims and their parents Monday that, “We find many of the reports to be disturbing and most of the reports to be founded. The primary goal of USA Gymnastics Safe Sport is athlete safety. USA Gymnastics strives to eliminate misconduct and abusive situations throughout the sport. These efforts also recognize the need for rehabilitative growth and changes in conduct and culture with reliance on removal only when necessary to ensure the future safety of the USA Gymnastics community.”

The Azarian ruling comes as USA Gymnastics is about to mark the second anniversary the organization filing for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis in the wake of facing potentially hundreds of lawsuits related to sexual abuse by former U.S. Olympic and national team physician Larry Nassar and decertification efforts by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

The ruling also comes against the backdrop of President Trump signing legislation that grants Congress the mechanism to decertify national governing bodies like USA Gymnastics, and the expected release of the Department of Justice inspector general’s report on USA Gymnastics, the USOPC and FBI’s handling of the Nassar case.

The volume of complaints against Gonzalez, Hensley, an Azarian girls team coach, and Davies, the gym’s former girls team head coach, led USA Gymnastics to postpone the Sept. 15 hearing for Gonzalez. The hearing was not rescheduled in large part because USA Gymnastics has now received as many as 30 complaints against Gonzalez, according to USA Gymnastics documents and five people familiar with the case.

Mark Busby, USA Gymnastics general counsel, told at least five people shortly before Gonzalez’s hearings first scheduled date that USA Gymnastics favored educating Gonzalez and the other coaches instead of issuing extensions of their suspensions, according to four people familiar with the conversations.

Busby raised the option of education over suspension without having read all of the 15 formal complaints originally filed against Gonzalez and other Azarian coaches with USA Gymnastics, according to three individuals familiar with the case.

Busby told witnesses USA Gymnastics’ concerns about facing civil suits from coaches who have been suspended for extended periods or permanently banned is a major reason for the organization’s emphasis on SafeSport education in lieu of suspensions or bans for abusive coaches, according to four people involved in the conversations.

He also told an Azarian parent that USA Gymnastics has concerns about suspending coaches at a time when he said there is a shortage of qualified coaches in the sport, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

“Very disappointing and very disturbing,” Terry Hill, a former Azarian parent wrote in an email to Busby and Kranz after the ruling was revealed Monday. ” You are the exact culture that infests in this gymnastic culture of a never ending cycle.”

Busby has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

USA Gymnastics, Gonzalez, and Davies also did not respond to requests for comment. Gonzalez and Davies have previously cited confidentiality agreements with USA Gymnastics in declining to discuss the allegations against them.

“I am unaware of any ruling that has been made today by USAG,” Hensley said in an email. “This has never been brought to my attention. I am still under a confidentiality agreement and can not go into detail about the investigation. I’ve always had the best intentions with my athletes and would never intend to cause them any harm.”

While Kranz wrote in an email to a parent Monday that “no hearing panel was left unfinished,” interviews and USA Gymnastics emails, texts and letters indicate that hearings were not held in the Gonzalez and Davies case in which victims, their parents and others were allowed to testify. Shikuma and Block said Busby told them 30 individuals were willing to testify against the Azarian coaches.

“They didn’t speak to any of us,” Shikuma said Monday, referring to USA Gymnastics officials. “They never called us up on the phone to hear our side of the story.”

Three key witnesses in the Gonzalez case, Shikuma, Woodbury, and Keri Moffitt, a former Azarian parent, said they were initially not invited by USA Gymnastics to testify in the first scheduled hearing even though they repeatedly told the organization they wanted to appear.

Gonzalez’s disciplinary hearing was rescheduled several times and then put off indefinitely prompting criticism and frustration from alleged victims and their families.

While Busby and other USA Gymnastics officials parried questions from victims and their families about when a hearing would be rescheduled, USA Gymnastics proceeded with negotiations with Azarian officials including, Eduard Azarian, the gym owner and former Olympic gold medalist for the Soviet Union, reaching a deal over the weekend.

“As you know, Ms. Gonzalez, Ms. Hensley and Mr. Davies were placed on an interim suspension with the goal of ensuring athlete safety, pending resolution of our investigation,” Kranz wrote in the letter to victims and their parents “Over the past four months we investigated the reported coaches and culture at Azarian Gymnastics and assessed our shared safety concerns regarding the reported conduct. We have decided upon a course of action following a full review of the interviews, documents and letters gathered by USA Gymnastics.

“Over the holiday weekend, USA Gymnastics reached an agreed upon resolution with Azarian Gymnastics, including Eduard Azarian and coaches Vanessa Gonzalez, Amanda Hensley and Perry Davies. Upon our assessment, we determined that it would be possible to ensure athlete safety at Azarian Gymnastics with the implementation of thorough educational and safety measures. We believe this resolution will lead to significant changes in the culture, coaching committed to significant improvements regarding athlete welfare.”

Kranz wrote that the “negotiated resolution was developed in 2 stages” and includes over 17 requirements that “were agreed upon” with Azarian and the coaches.

The first stage will focus “on education of the coaches and defining a safe training environment now,” Kranz wrote. Gonzalez, Davies and Hensley will be required to complete approximately 50 hours of a course called “The Education on The Science of Training Young Athletes, Positive Coaching, and Emotional Abuse vs. Tough Coaching,” Kranz wrote.

“Additionally, Azarian is required to place team parent volunteers on the floor to observe training with a duty to the safety of athletes. Each parent volunteer will obtain Safe Sport training, submit to a background check and be required to have training in either emotional abuse, positive coaching or healthy boundaries (1/3 of parent volunteers will each take one of these courses).

“Upon completion and review by USA Gymnastics of all items in Stage 1, USA Gymnastics will permit the suspended coaches to return to the gym with a restriction of ‘No Unsupervised Contact with Minors.’”

The second phase, Kranz said, “will focus on changing the culture of Azarian to prioritize ongoing athlete safety.”

This stage will “address emotional misconduct and bullying findings,” Kranz wrote.

As part of the agreement Azarian is required to provide “live positive coaching virtual educational sessions” that coaches must attend.

“Upon completion of the club level requirements, coaches Vanessa Gonzalez, Amanda Hensley and Perry Davies will be removed from suspension of ‘No Unsupervised Contact with Minors’ and will be placed on probation for 2 years, providing they have each completed their individual educational requirements,” Kranz wrote.

But Shikuma and former Azarian parents are skeptical.

“Who’s going to enforce this?” Shikuma said. “Who’s going to make sure Vanessa actually takes the courses this time? The same people who made sure she took the SafeSport class?”

Said Block, “So they’re going to spend all this time and money training, re-training these coaches. Where’s the training for my daughter? Where’s the training to teach kids to stand up to abusive coaches? Where’s the training for kids to ID abusive coaches? Where’s the training on how kids are supposed to deal with the abuse they experienced that has required years of therapy? Where’s their training?”

#azarian #usa gymnastics #tw abuse #they aren't as high profile as mg elite so usag is trying to pull some serious shit #like the chief legal counsel literally admitted to trying to protect the org from civil suits??#over prioritizing children's wellbeing??

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chicagoindiecritics · 4 years

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New from Jeff York on The Establishing Shot: “ATHLETE A” EARNS AN “A” AS ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST DOCUMENTARIES

Some documentaries have such a dramatic subject, they don’t need any filmmaking bells or whistles. Such is the case with the new Netflix documentary ATHLETE A, directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, that premiered June 24. The story of systematic child molestation occurring in USA Olympics women’s gymnastics is presented in an exceedingly clear and focused way. The documentary doesn’t need anything more than the facts and the devastating testimony of all involved to make it stand as one of the year’s most powerful and absolutely best films.

The story focuses primarily on the victims of Dr. Larry Nasser, the Olympic women’s gymnastics team doctor from 1992-2015. He was a pedophile who sexually assaulted over 300 girls during his tenure, all under the auspices of providing medical treatment for the young, female athletes. ATHLETE A chronicles his villainy, but it also indicts the numerous enablers that turned a blind eye to his abuse, including the United States of America Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny, the University of Michigan which also employed Nasser, and the esteemed training duo of coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi. The couple not only knew about Nasser, but they themselves abused the girls via name-calling and a Marine-like discipline demanded of these girls, many under ten years of age. (You’ll never look at the Olympic clips of Bela being so avuncular to Mary Lou Retton or Kerri Strug the same again.)

It’s an ugly portrayal of the sport, and yet, despite the horrors of Nasser’s actions, and the outrageous demands placed upon these kids to compete, hearing the clear-eyed testimony from the now-adult competitors manages to make the film feel almost uplifting. Maggie Nichols, Rachael Denhollander, Jamie Dantzscher, and Jessica Hollander are inspiring in their clear-eyed recounting of events and the bravery it takes to talk about all they experienced.

Also, making the film feel positive, despite the material, are the intrepid reporters who give witness to all they discovered through the thick and thin of the story. Marisa Kwiatkowski of the Indiana Star daily newspaper was one of the key people to bring the stories to light, beginning with her investigation of various women’s gymnastic coaches involved in sexual molestation. Some 54 coaches were accused of such assault over 10 years, and yet the USAG barely did anything about it. Fellow Indy reporters Mark Alesia and Steve Berta join in the investigation and also tell what they discovered in the conspiracy by the USAG to sweep it all under the rug.

The documentary goes over a lot of details, some unseemly to hear. It’s also expertly edited and is never at a loss for footage. Cohen and Shenk manage to incorporate superb footage from training sessions, competitions, and various other Olympic-related events, including many revelatory moments never before seen on television. The filmmakers also show a lot of Nasser’s trial too, not to mention the various athlete’s testimony at the court proceedings. Composer Jeff Beal underscores it all with some tense but discreet cues, though he never overdoes it. Beal knows that the story is riveting enough as it is.

“Athlete A” is Maggie Nichols, the young woman who first brought the case against Nasser, and she has the most time on-camera here. Her candid testimony, along with that of parents Gina and John Nichols, is heartbreaking. Still, the filmmakers intercut contemporary footage of her performing gymnastics at college to ensure that the audience understands how well the Nichols family has been able to process what happened and move forward. It’s an incredible testament to their courage and perseverance, and it keeps the film from becoming too depressing.

The big question that Kwiatkowski asks early in the film is why all of this went on for decades without any legitimate legal action. Those in the Olympics that could have done something about it did precious little, and it paints a worrisome portrait of greed and amorality in the sport. Not surprisingly, the powers-that-be turned a blind eye to the care of the girls as their victories and money kept rolling in. It’s no accident that USAG CEO Steve Penny started as the marketing manager for the enterprise, clearly valuing the selling of an image rather than the preservation of girls’ childhoods. And one of the scummiest moments on display in the documentary is when the cowardly Penny pleads the fifth while being asked questions during a Senate hearing.

Thankfully, the film chronicles a fair amount of justice served in the fallout, yet the jury is still out on whether it changes much in regards to how the sporting world learns to champion morality over commerce.

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authornaomijohnson-blog · 5 years

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Inside Story on Naomi Johnson, the Famous Poet and Advocate For Bus Death Victims

Naomi Johnson is a poet and a visual artist who spans the generation gap. She chooses word art and visual art-that are both current, and classic-that are relevant today and celebrate the world of spoken words. This amazing poet performance is warm and vibrant as the words come deep from her soul as the melody of her voice to your ears.

She is a born native of Newark New Jersey but considers herself an East Orange native because that where she was raised. She has innovated poetry in her collection. Naomi recited one of her prolific male poems on Jeff Foxx Blog Talk Podcast in Manhattan, New York. She also performed for Princeton Cable Television in New Jersey.

Naomi has most recently appeared at various underground New York Fashion Week Shows. She is a noble spokesperson, Stand Up to Raising Awareness to Innocent Lives Killed in Vain by NJ Transit and Coach USA deadly bus drivers. She has also appeared in Medium online blog, News 12 New Jersey, FIOS News, underground magazine, online magazines, and a host of podcast interview Her social justice energy is timeless and sophisticated as she advocated voice is inviting.

She has been a member of two social justice organizations, such as NAACP and National Action Network; which she left. We asked her if she still an active member of those organization mentions above. Naomi told us she left the organization because they did not offer support to her caused dealing with the social injustice of her son’s death. Naomi stated that she cannot tolerate watching the mental illness of New Jersey corrupted injustice system. In supporting NJ Transit/Coach USA bus companies deadly bus driver killing. Along with the sober injuring innocent citizens. Like her son, who was victimized by Coach USA bus driver Wilson Romaine with a detrimental driving history.

She is also the Founders and a former member of The Deshon Johnson College Scholarship Foundation; which was named in memory of her late son who was killed by NJ Transit/Coach USA deadly bus driver. Naomi is an active talk show host with of her son’s cable talk show that is produced at Princeton Television. Naomi has worked for the Newark school district, Chad Private School and an Elizabeth Language school as a Teacher for 20 years.

She is a devoted mother and advocates to the voiceless for the victims slain by transit. For more

information visit: Soulality Blog http://soulality.blogspot.com/,

https://www.amazon.com/Soulality-Fruit-your-Soul-Inspirational/dp/0985051604

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tremendouspeachduck · 6 years

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Besides the regular stuff

and could they be talking about education issues or problems?

Maybe she's thinking about . . . something substantial.

Of course, he's so sexy and appealing she’s thinking. Maybe I should turn up the heat.

Could they be interested in . . . EDUCATION? - such a difficult subject, right?

In 1998, a high school junior named Eric Harris from Colorado wanted to put on a performance, something for the world to remember him by. A little more than a year later, Eric and his best friend Dylan Klebold would place bombs all over their school — bombs large enough to collapse large chunks of the building and to kill the majority of the 2,000 students inside — and then wait outside with semi-automatic weapons to gun down any survivors before ending their own lives. “It’ll be like the LA riots, the Oklahoma bombing, WWII, Vietnam, Duke and Doom all mixed together,” Eric wrote in his journal. “Maybe we will even start a little rebellion or revolution to fuck things up as much as we can. I want to leave a lasting impression on the world.” Eric was a psychopath, but he was also smart. Despite what media outlets would later claim, Eric Harris was not the victim of bullying any more than other students, he was not a goth or a member of the “Trench Coat Mafia.” Eric was a straight-A student. He read Nietzsche and Hemingway for fun. He had friends and girlfriends. He was charming and funny and had a disarming smile.

But Eric also understood people. And because he understood people, he changed everything. By 1999, there had already been a series of school shootings across the United States. But Eric wasn’t interested in those. They were small-time jobs, amateur hour. Eric was far more interested in Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, which killed 168 and injured 600. Eric wanted to top that. But he didn’t just want to top the body count, he wanted to top the notoriety, the fame, the horror. He wanted to terrorize people and he understood that his best weapon was not the guns he secretly purchased or the bombs he built in his basement — it was television. He would not kill jocks or preps, he would kill indiscriminately, because that’s what caused the most fear and got the most attention. He wouldn’t just blow up the school, but he’d blow up the parking lot, the police cars and the firefighters and the journalists who rushed to the scene. He would, quite literally, go out with a bang, the shockwaves of which, carried by mass media and the internet, would reverberate through the world for decades. On April 20th, Eric and Dylan arrived at Columbine High School and opened fire on teachers, students, administrators, janitors and police officers. Eric’s largest bombs failed to detonate and bring the building down as he had hoped, but that did not prevent the ensuing carnage that would last for almost an hour, leaving 15 dead and 24 wounded.

As chaos engulfed the school in Colorado, it would quickly fan out across the country, commanding more or less 24-hour television coverage for weeks on end. The drama would be replayed endlessly — bloodied and crippled students climbing out of the library window, the heroic coach who lost his life saving dozens of kids. And then there would be the questions and the speculation. Why? First, it was goth culture and Marilyn Manson. Then it was bullying. Then it was being social loners and outcasts. All of the explanations were later discovered to be untrue. The event truly seemed inexplicable. And because it was inexplicable the media and the viewers couldn’t let it go. Books were written. Memorials were built and ceremonies filled out. Eric Harris got his death wish: “Columbine” was a household name.

Recently, a student named Elliot Rodger from Santa Barbara City College killed six and injured 13, the latest in a long series of school shootings that are all but becoming a normal part of American tradition. As usual, the killer left a cache of material behind to explain his intentions and milk as much publicity for his personal grievances as possible. This time, the focus was on women, and how they wouldn’t have sex with him.

Like they always do, the media have descended to explain away the madness. And like a Rorschach Test, each outlet had its own pet cause primed and ready to be read into the situation. Gun control advocates used the event as an opportunity to campaign for stricter gun control, despite the fact that Rodger bought his guns legally and easily passed the background checks. Mental health advocates used it as an opportunity to urge better mental health care, despite the fact that Rodger had a small army of therapists and social workers working with him for practically his entire life.

First, come and get the USA history and more NOW, before it’s not taught, erased from the net and books or before it’s tweeked, tampered-with or getting the waterdown disturbing version.

What is Melania doing to help our kids?

Time to lighten up - see video -

Feminists used it as an opportunity to promote awareness for violence against women, despite the fact that Rodger killed indiscriminately and the majority of the victims turned out to be men. Social justice advocates used it as an opportunity to rail against white male entitlement, despite the fact that Rodger was mixed race and a significant number of school shooters have also been minorities (Two examples: Seung-Hui Cho and Kimveer Gill). All of these issues are legitimate and deserve a conversation. But they are not the singular cause. They’re not the point.

However, the Fed. Govt. is not in charge - you are. There are many home school options available. Or go to curriculum meetings at your child’s school.

If you want some curriculum changes what do you do besides go to the PTA, get group together and approach the principal? You seek help from: Parent Revolution, Education Reform Now, and Stand for Children.

What kind of parent are you?

Elliot Rodger was a member of a number of sites, email lists, and Facebook groups. And all of these authors and dating coaches — some of them legitimately decent men, others shady marketers — are all frantically trying to cover their tracks as best as possible. But this “witch hunt” we go through every time a school shooting happens is a total ruse. Elliot Rodger didn’t become a killer because he was a misogynist; he became a misogynist because he was a killer. Just like Eric Harris didn’t become a killer because he loved violent video games; he loved violent video games because he was a killer. Just like Adam Lanza didn’t become a killer because he loved guns; he loved guns because he was a killer. Every school shooting incident comes in the same dreary package: an angry, politically-charged rant, shrink-wrapped around a core of mental illness and neglect. These shooters leave behind journals, videos, diagrams, manifestos, and treatises. They broadcast their plans and intentions to their friends and family. They email news outlets minutes before they start firing. They write down their plans and make checklists so that others may follow in their footsteps. They go on angry rants against materialism, hedonism, the government, mass media, women, and sometimes even the people close to them.

Trophy Wife prose, not poetry

And each time, as a culture, we work ourselves into a frenzy debating the angry exterior message, while ignoring the interior life and context of each killer. We miss the point entirely. Reality Check According to the FBI, mass shootings (defined as shooting events that kill at least four people) occur on average every two weeks in the United States. Yes, every two weeks. Yet we rarely, if ever, hear about most of them. The reason is that these shootings are easily explainable. In most mass shootings, the crimes occur at a private location and the victims are people close and well-known to the shooter — family members, neighbors, friends. Many of them are attributable to gang violence or illicit criminal activities. Others are a crime of passion. School shootings only account for 4% of all mass shootings and yet they dominate the news media and get the entire country talking about them for weeks on end. There are a few reasons for this: They occur in everyday public locations which are supposed to be safe. The victims are targeted and killed at random.

You missed the March, 2018 update:

The victims are innocent bystanders and often children. The killers leave behind large amounts of material about themselves for the media to share. The perpetrator and victims are generally upper-middle class, white, and privileged. These shooters know what they are doing. They’re not “crazy.” They don’t just “snap.” Most of them spend months or years planning their massacres. Elliot Rodger had apparently been planning his shooting for over a year. You don’t just show up with a 140-page manifesto and a large stockpile of weapons one day. You work at it for a long time. And you plan not only the violence but the presentation for the audience, the performance — what they will see from you, what they will hear from you, the reasons why, the message. It’s all very conscious and deliberate. And it works. Their killing sprees are specifically targeted to generate the most fear and uncertainty from the public, because the more fear and uncertainty they generate, the more attention they get. They then use all of the attention as a platform to promote themselves or whatever complaints they may have against society. It’s the Columbine formula. It works. And as Eric Harris pointed out in his journal, it’s not about the guns. It’s about the television. The films. The fame. The revolution. If this sounds like a familiar strategy, that’s because it is. Mass Shootings as Non-Political Terrorism

Parents ATTENTION – build this for your daughter

For a country that is so single-mindedly obsessed with terrorism, it’s jaw-dropping that almost nobody recognizes that school shooters use the exact same strategies to disseminate fear and their twisted agendas throughout society. Terrorists use violence and mass media coverage to promote political or religious beliefs; school shooters use violence and mass media coverage to promote their personal grievances and glorification. When viewed in this way, our responses to the school shooters look juvenile in comparison. Can you imagine arguing over whether misogyny made Osama Bin Laden plan September 11th? Or whether video games caused Dhokhar Tsarnaev to plant bombs at the Boston Marathon? Or whether heavy music inspired Timothy McVeigh to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City? You would be laughed at. And in fact, when anyone goes as far as to suggest that Islam causes terrorism, they are immediately and rightfully scolded for it. Yet when it comes to school shootings, these types of discussions are not only tolerated, but engaged in willfully. It’s not that we should respond to school shootings the same way we respond to terrorist attacks. It’s that we already do. We just don’t realize it.

What are the 10 best states for K-12 ed? Are you ready to move?

If you can’t move, then do you prefer charter or voucher choices? Transportation to/from should also be considered, right? What about low income before/after school meals, tutoring or sports activities? Perhaps charter, voucher or public choices should be contingent on anti-gang, low-income after school participation, right? No participation = no school = mandatory work program in Sudan or Uganda. I’d like to see some corporate, ball player and entertainer money come forward to fund before & after school meals/tutoring/sports.

I’d also like to see some funding go fornutrition parenting and school meal classes:

When Elliot’s creepy YouTube videos went public, declaring vengeance upon every college girl that wouldn’t sleep with him, every woman who had ever heard a guy mutter something similar suddenly felt a chill run up her spine. And that chill caused the video to be posted and reposted, sending more chills up more women’s spines until it had spread across the country. My guess is that’s exactly what Elliot would have wanted. And we’ve seen this viral dissemination over and over again. After every school shooting episode, writings and videos of the killers get passed around on the internet. Television specials show and reshow the footage. Books are written. Experts are hired. Rinse and repeat. Last year, I wrote that terrorism works because it takes advantages of psychological inefficiencies in our brains: we pay a disproportionate amount of attention to threatening events and we always overestimate how likely it is for a random event to happen to us. School shootings transfix us by leveraging the exact same inefficiencies in our minds. And once they’ve dominated this mindspace, we can’t seem to shake them out of it.

Common Core is no longer mandatory for Fed money. States can now choose and let’s not forget about STEM career prep.

Next subject is about college loans. Predatory lending is any lending practice that imposes unfair or abusive loan terms on a borrower. It is also any practice that convinces a borrower to accept unfair terms through deceptive, coercive, exploitative or unscrupulous actions for a loan that a borrower doesn’t need, doesn’t want or can’t afford.

If the terms are unfair or abusive then seek another loan, right? How can a college loan officer be deceptive, coercive, exploitative or unscrupulous? Maybe someone has a recording of such, who knows?

Yet, for some reason, while we seem to imagine potential terrorists everywhere — in airport lines, at stadium gates, in subway cars — we never see the school shooters coming. We’re always caught by surprise. Hiding in Plain Sight When we think of terrorists, we think of some alien “other” — the bearded, turbaned man hiding in some cave on the other side of the world. Because he’s so distant and different, we let him eat at our imagination — he could be anywhere, ready to strike at any moment, hiding in behind every bush, planting a bomb on every bus or plane. We clog our airports and blast warnings through our public buildings for some imagined bogeyman who is never actually present. By contrast, we fail to spot shooter after shooter because they are so close to us and so much like us. We miss them because they are our neighbors, our classmates, our friends or even our family members. They are right in front of our noses and we ignore them for a whole host of trivial reasons. Maybe they’re too weird, or awkward, or they’re a loser. We don’t want to talk to them. We put our blinders on and pretend that they’re not miserable, we pretend that they didn’t just have that awkward outburst, we pretend they didn’t just make a joke about killing their own parents.

Pipeline info more pipeline info

In writing, in the loan paperwork do you see any lies or anything to mislead a borrower? The lender must be protected from students trying to pull a fast one, right? No lenders = no future loans for students. Betsy Devos, Sec of Ed, is fighting for our students to have loans to use to finance their college costs. A very good fight, right?

College costs are high, so it’s no game or time filler. The potential student must be serious and have the desire and ability to finish, right? Most people old and young know that any loan has rules and risks, right?

Signing without reading and understanding is at your peril, right? If you are a student what should you look at?

Eric Harris’ friends later said that he would often “joke” about blowing up the school and murdering classmates. Even after they discovered he was building bombs in his basement, they never put two-and-two together. They just couldn’t believe it. Not Eric. Not the guy they had played video games with and toilet papered girls’ houses with. Meanwhile, the wrong sarcastic word at the airport and you can be held in jail for days. An FBI study on school shooters found school shootings are never a result of a crazy person “snapping.” Most shooters do have serious mental health or emotional issues, but they all plan their attacks months or even years in advance. And as they plan, they almost always “leak” information about the attack beforehand, sometimes intentionally, and sometimes in incredibly obvious ways.

Are there any debt elimination scams?

Some qualify whereby most fees can be paid through scholarships, grants or military service benefits, right? If yourgrades suck, can you get a scholarship?

Are students aware of jobs for the future - dealing with the robot issue?

Many students get Fed. loans, grants or military benefits and most colleges/univ get Fed help. Perhaps it’s time to eliminate Fed loans or help, if the campuses are not safe for conservative speakers and still turn the eye at life/death hazing practices. Are parents aware of the current harm education is perpetrating on the youth?

Both Harris and Rodger had the police called on them multiple times due to suspicious behavior. Both of them had a history of strange and violent outbursts towards friends and those close to them. Both put their intentions and their angry rants up on the web for everyone to see. Elliot Rodger wrote and re-wrote his plan out, sometimes including murdering his family members and stealing their car. He wrote that if someone had just searched his room, it would have all come apart, he would have been found out. Eric Harris wrote almost the exact same thing 15 years earlier. Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter who killed 32 people, turned in paper after paper that depicted gruesome killings and gun violence. He had a history of mental health issues and had been reported to the campus police four times for aggressive and antisocial behavior, particularly towards women. One of his professors went so far as to tell the board that she would rather resign than teach another class with him in it.

Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, also had a history of mental illness and inappropriate anti-social behavior. And he too, began sharing his intentions online through forum posts and audio. Lanza had paranoid delusions about mass media and the government, and began to argue that school shootings were justified as a form of protest or revolt. People humored him and ignored him. No one realized he had a small armory of semi-automatic weapons in his house. Then there are those who are simply ignored. Dylan Klebold was suicidally depressed for over two years. He fantasized and wrote about killing himself liberally. Despite getting into trouble with the law, turning in school assignments that glorified murder and suicide and failing most of his classes senior year, his parents and friends claimed that they had no idea something was amiss.

If people insist on living on islands or near beaches, then the hurricane is a constant fear, right? What would a hurricane proof house look like? Perhaps it’s time to have the conversation about Fed help to public schools K-12 to be contnigent on ROTC and a business subject or job readiness program. What is your opinion?

The above katana homeis unique, right?

what about his one? what about a velvet blue sofa?

George Sodini, a middle-aged Pennsylvania man who shot up an aerobics class full of women, wrote in his journal that since he spent the past 20 years of his life alone and miserable, there was no reason to think that the next 20 wouldn’t be lonely and miserable as well. His mother had been emotionally abusive. His father hadn’t had a meaningful conversation with him in over 30 years. Simply put: he had nothing to live for. So why not take some revenge on your way out? Gun control gets the headlines. Mental health care gets the headlines. Violence and video games and misogyny and internet forums and atheism — the list is endless at this point. Here’s what doesn’t get the headlines: Empathy. Listening to those around you. Even if you don’t like them very much. We have come to live in a culture where it’s taboo or unacceptable to simply check in with people emotionally and offer some empathy and understanding. I’m not saying this would magically fix all gun violence. I’m just saying that all of these things — the lack of gun laws, the lack of health care, the inability to have basic conversations with friends and neighbors about what’s going on with them, these are all extensions of a callous and self-absorbed culture that lacks any real empathy.

Despite being relevant and important discussions, the glamorous headlines are ultimately distractions — they just feed into the carnage and the attention and the fame the killer desired. They are distractions from what is right in front of you and me and the victims of tomorrow’s shooting: people who need help. And while we’re all fighting over whose pet cause is more right and more true and more noble, there’s likely another young man out there, maybe suicidally depressed, maybe paranoid and delusional, maybe a psychopath, and he’s researching guns and bombs and mapping out schools and recording videos and thinking every day about the anger and hate he feels for this world. And no one is paying attention to him.

Are parents teaching kids to be responsible?

Betsy Devos is also promoting the rewriting of college harassment proceedings. They call on schools to conduct objective investigations and provide “prompt and equitable” resolutions. And, for the first time, the administration explicitly says that just as an institution’s treatment of a complainant could constitute sex discrimination, so would the treatment of the accused. Under the new rules, schools would be held to a new standard for determining whether they took the proper steps to address the allegations. It sounds as though the proposed rules will go a long way towards restoring meaningful due process protections to the campus justice system, which will benefit both accusers and the accused. What do you think?

What is rape?

THIS IS MY CALL TO ACTION - schools need huge changes ** many do not believe adaptation in teaching environments will be sufficient to teach new skills at the scale that is necessary to help workers keep abreast of the tech changes that will upend millions of jobs.

Vote GOP and help make advancement easy and smooth!

#sexy #alluring #mysterious #fun #appealing #youth #politics #dirty politics #relationship #dating #education

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hisradiantfire · 3 years

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Ravi Zacharias Sex Scandals Update 3

Ravi Zacharias Sex Scandals Update 3, secrecy is the key that keeps victims from getting justice. When we examine the Ravi Zacharias Sex Scandal we see a pattern of secrecy existed. The Blaze news agency reported that, "Ex-USA Gymnastics coach kills himself after being hit with 24 charges including sexual assault". The US Gymnastics team suffered from secrecy. Listen as I share my thoughts.

Read the Blaze article by clicking here.

Podcast intro and outro from Jeremy Marsan and link to https://jeremymarsan.com/. 476070__jjmarsan__hello-user-bright-cheery-intro-music; Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)

117592__soundmary__aplause-short-burst & 472688__silverillusionist__fire-burst

Check out this episode!

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expatimes · 3 years

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Ex-US Olympics gymnastics coach kills himself after abuse charges

A former United States Olympics gymnastics coach with ties to disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar killed himself on Thursday, hours after being charged with turning his Michigan gym into a hub of human trafficking by coercing girls to train and then abusing them.

John Geddert faced 24 charges that could have carried years in prison had he been convicted. He was supposed to appear in an Eaton County court, near Lansing, but his body was found at a rest area along Interstate 96, according to state police.

“This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.

Nessel earlier announced Geddert was charged with several crimes, including sexual assault, human trafficking and running a criminal enterprise. The charges were the latest fallout from the sexual abuse scandal involving Nassar, a former Michigan State University sports doctor now in prison.

Geddert, 63, was not arrested and transported to court. Rather, Nessel’s office allowed him to show up on his own.

“We had no indication that Geddert intended to flee or hurt himself or others. We had been in contact with his attorney and were assured of his cooperation,” Nessel spokeswoman Kelly Rossman-McKinney said.

Calls seeking comment from lawyer Chris Bergstrom were not immediately returned.

Geddert was head coach of the 2012 US women’s Olympic gymnastics team, which won a gold medal. He was long associated with Nassar, who was the Olympic team’s doctor and also treated injured gymnasts at Twistars, Geddert’s Lansing-area gym.

Among the charges, Geddert was accused of lying to investigators in 2016 when he denied ever hearing complaints about Nassar. But the bulk of the case against him involved his gym in Dimondale and how he treated the young athletes whose families paid to have them train under him.

The charges against Geddert had “very little to do” with Nassar, said Assistant Attorney General Danielle Hagaman-Clark.

Geddert was charged with using his strong reputation in gymnastics to commit a form of human trafficking by making money through the forced labour of young athletes.

“The victims suffer from disordered eating,” Nessel said, “including bulimia and anorexia, suicide attempts and attempts at self-harm, excessive physical conditioning, repeatedly being forced to perform even when injured, extreme emotional abuse and physical abuse, including sexual assault.

“Many of these victims still carry these scars from this behaviour to this day,” the attorney general said.

Nessel acknowledged the case might not fit the common understanding of human trafficking.

“We think of it predominantly as affecting people of colour or those without means to protect themselves … but honestly it can happen to anyone, anywhere,” she said. “Young impressionable women may at times be vulnerable and open to trafficking crimes, regardless of their stature in the community or the financial wellbeing of their families.”

Geddert was suspended by Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics during the Nassar scandal. He told families in 2018 that he was retiring.

Victims and others look on as Rachael Denhollander, the first gymnast to publicly accuse Nassar of sexual abuse in 2016, speaks at the sentencing hearing for Larry Nassar

USA Gymnastics said in a statement late on Thursday news about the charges against Geddert would “lead to justice through the legal process”.

“With the news of his death by suicide, we share the feelings of shock, and our thoughts are with the gymnastics community as they grapple with the complex emotions of today’s events,” the organisation said.

On his LinkedIn page, Geddert described himself as the “most decorated women’s gymnastics coach in Michigan gymnastics history”. He said his Twistars teams won 130 club championships.

But Geddert was often portrayed in unflattering ways when Nassar’s victims spoke during court hearings in 2018. Some insisted he was aware of the doctor’s abuse.

Sarah Klein, a gymnast who trained under Geddert for more than 10 years and was assaulted by Nassar, said the coach’s death was an “escape from justice” and “traumatising beyond words”.

“His suicide is an admission of guilt that the entire world can now see,” said Klein, a lawyer.

Rachael Denhollander, the first gymnast to publicly accuse Nassar of sexual abuse in 2016, said she was proud of the women who stepped forward against Geddert.

“So much pain and grief for everyone,” she said on Twitter after his death. “To the survivors, you have been heard and believed, and we stand with you.”

So much pain and grief for everyone.

To the survivors, you have been heard and believed, and we stand with you. Thank you for telling the truth. What you have done matters.

Please stay safe, you are loved and wanted here. https://t.co/7EP9cJ13fa

— Rachael Denhollander (@R_Denhollander) February 25, 2021

Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=18480&feed_id=35159

#Abuse #charges #coach #ExUS #gymnastics #kills #News #Olympics #SexualAssault #Sports #UnitedStates #USCanada

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olympicgames-en · 3 years

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Suicide of John Geddert, ex-Olympics coach accused of abusing gymnasts, won’t end fight for justice, victims’ attorney says

#OlympicGames [MLive]When former USA Women’s Gymnastics Coach John Geddert, 63, died in an apparent suicide Thursday, he “took a cowardly way out,” said Jamie White, an attorney who represents some of the accusers in the ...

#Olympic

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twoflipstwotwists · 6 years

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An apology means nothing if it's not sincere.

It's a simple lesson most of us try to teach our children when they wrong one another: Look her in the eye, and tell her you're sorry for what you did. Then don't betray her trust again.

It's a lesson Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon and the MSU Board Chairman Brian Breslin have yet to learn.

Simon and Breslin didn't look the victims of Larry Nassar's habitual sexual assaults in the eye Tuesday in Ingham County Circuit Court, where they made public statements about the havoc Nassar's abuse caused over two decades in sports medicine at MSU.

Although Simon offered a blanket apology to victims at a December board meeting, saying: "I am truly sorry for the abuse you suffered, the pain it caused and the pain it continues to cause today. I'm sorry a physician who called himself a Spartan so utterly betrayed your trust and everything this university stands for," she couldn't be bothered to attend Tuesday's hearing.

She and Breslin weren't there to hear the dozens of courageous survivors offer gripping testimony about what Nassar did to them. They didn't see them wipe away tears as they described the night terrors, the flashbacks and anxiety that ensued in the years after their assaults.

Nor did they see the photographs of tiny athletes wearing broad smiles and leotards projected on a screen in the courtroom — showing how the victims looked when Nassar first laid his hands on them.

They didn't get to console Donna Markham, who wept as she described how Nassar's molestation changed her daughter, Chelsea, and was the beginning of a downward slide that ultimately led to Chelsea's suicide.

A spokesman for Michigan State University told the Lansing State Journal that Simon and Breslin would not attend the hearing because "Nassar's sentencing is about getting justice for the victims, and the focus should remain on the victims."

He added, however, that the MSU leaders would watch live streaming of the sentencing hearing.

At least they're watching. Perhaps they heard Olivia Cowan call them cowards when she testified about her own abuse under the guise of medical care at the hands of Nassar a decade ago.

"Your decision to watch from the sidelines is perfect representation of your lack of leadership," Cowan said.

"You have apologized for him, and for the horrible things he has done. That is not enough. At what point will you look at yourselves in the mirror and realize that taking ownership of this matter is the only way to truly bring about change?"

And that's a big part of the problem.

There's no excuse for why Simon and Breslin skipped the hearing, but there's also no excuse for the systemic problems at MSU that failed these girls and young women for so long.

Two teenage girls said they separately told former MSU women's gymnastics coach Kathie Klages about Nassar's misconduct in the late 1990s. They allege in a lawsuit that Klages urged them not to report Nassar to authorities. Other court filings suggest additional sexual assault reports were made to MSU coaches and trainers in the early 2000s as well.

But it wasn't until 2014 that MSU first investigated claims against Nassar. Still, the university allowed him to continue working as a sports medicine doctor — with unfettered access to girls and young women — for 16 months while university police conducted its review.

A separate Title IX investigation was launched in 2014 as well, but Nassar was cleared of misconduct based on the opinions of four medical experts with connections to Nassar and MSU.

An Indianapolis Star exposé published in August 2016 uncovered sexual assault allegations at USA Gymnastics, where Nassar also worked in sports medicine. That finally led to Nassar's firing at MSU.

Following the Indianapolis Star report, at least 140 women and girls have come forward — including Olympic gymnasts Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney — to accuse Nassar of sexually abusing them. Many have sued the university, saying MSU knew or should have known about Nassar's sexual abuse, yet failed to protect them from that abuse.

The university hired a former federal prosecutor to conduct an internal investigation to discover who knew about Nassar's sexual assault allegations, and when they knew it. But Simon declined to make the findings of that investigation public.

The attorney the university hired wrote: "We believe the evidence will show no MSU official believed that Nassar committed sexual abuse prior to newspaper reports in late summer 2016."

A detailed summary of the findings, MSU told the state attorney general's office, were never put in writing. Therefore, there were no findings to divulge.

Where is Simon's apology for that?

In the aftermath of such a horrific scandal, how can Simon offer victims such a hollow apology, and then further betray their trust with such an utter lack of transparency?

It's not just Nassar's victims who've been betrayed.

None of us can count on Simon to protect our sons and daughters on the East Lansing campus of our publicly funded university without a commitment to an independent investigation by an outside agency and full disclosure of its findings.

Just as bad is MSU's out-of-touch Board of Trustees, which continues to support Simon's kind of leadership, going so far as to recommend a raise for her last month.

To her credit, Simon declined the raise, instead deferring the $150,000 pay increase to a scholarship fund. At the same time, the board announced a $10-million fund to provide counseling and mental health services for women and girls who say Nassar abused them.

That's a start, but it's not enough.

"Where were you when we needed you?" Cowan said through tears Tuesday in the courtroom. "If you would have only listened to all the women that brought complaints and concerns over all these years, this would have saved so many children and women from being abused and from all the scars this has created."

Undoubtedly.

The victims deserve better. Michigan deserves better.

We deserve leaders who show up and face those who have been hurt by their failings.

We deserve leaders who not only launch independent investigations, but also release those findings publicly and are accountable for their shortfalls.

Right now, Lou Anna Simon and the Michigan State University Board of Trustees aren't doing any of those things.

"All the signs were there," Cowan said. "The complaints should have been enough to open your eyes and ears and ensure there was intentional follow-through involved to protect the women under your care.

"You failed all of us."

It's inherent on the people of Michigan to ensure that doesn't happen again.

#larry nassar

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freenewstoday · 3 years

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New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2020/12/10/french-figure-skating-champ-faces-felony-charge-in-florida-for-allegedly-sending-intimate-photos-to-minor/

French figure skating champ faces felony charge in Florida for allegedly sending intimate photos to minor

Renowned French pairs skater Morgan Ciprès is facing a felony charge following sexual abuse allegations voiced by the family of an underage girl who was training with him at the same rink.

The Florida state attorney’s office has filed a felony charge against Ciprès, who allegedly sent pictures of his penis to a 13-year-old girl in 2017 while preparing for the 2018 Winter Olympics in the US with his skating partner Vanessa James.

READ MORE: ‘I had no idea about her assault’: Bareknuckle star backtracks her ‘absolutely horrible’ comments about combat queen Paige VanZant

According to USA Today, a warrant has been issued for the skater’s arrest, with his crime being reported as a third-degree felony, which carries up to five years in prison.

The controversial incident, which led to a huge scandal at the time, occurred in December 2017, when the 2019 European champion allegedly sent two lewd photos to a 13-year-old female skater who was training at the same rink in Florida.

According to local reports, a coach at the Advent Health Center Ice Rink, Vinny Dispenza, had asked the girl and her teammate – another underage girl – to message Ciprès asking him to send the photos in exchange for a pizza that Dispenza said he would pay for.

Also on rt.com ‘My lungs were severely affected’: Figure skating star Evgenia Medvedeva on Covid-19 complications

The skater sent two revealing photos from his verified Instagram account. This triggered independent investigations by the US authorities and the US Center for SafeSport, which battles all forms of abuse in sport.

Ciprès’s coaches, John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana, were reportedly aware of the incident and tried to keep the girl’s family from reporting the abuse, because it could have negatively affected the skaters’ preparation for the Winter Games, in which they finished fifth.

The attorney for the girl and her family, Andrea Lewis, said the charge was “the first step towards justice for the victim and her family. No child should ever have to go through anything like this. By filing felony charges against Morgan Ciprès, the State of Florida has sent a clear message to him and other men who prey on children.”

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dailynewswebsite · 4 years

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Trump and Biden ignore how the war on drugs fuels violence in Latin America

On this July 2020 picture, a lady is comforted in her dwelling throughout a wake for her son who was killed together with at the least 26 others in an assault by drug cartels on a drug rehabilitation centre the place he was being handled in Irapuato, Mexico. (AP Photograph/Eduardo Verdugo)

Within the last presidential debate earlier than the USA election, Democrat Joe Biden acknowledged the dangerous results of the warfare on medicine on racial minorities within the U.S. as a consequence of incarceration and police violence, and even instructed decriminalizing cocaine consumption.

However the immigration debate centred on acquainted points. Biden centered on the harmless youngsters who acquired separated from their households on the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump centered on the “coyotes” — somebody paid by migrants to illegally information or help them throughout the border — and drug cartels.

However neither made the hyperlink between immigration and the drug warfare, regardless of the substantial impression the U.S.-led warfare on medicine has had on the lives of individuals in Latin America.

More and more, persons are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to flee a cycle of violence to which the USA continues to contribute. Immigration is simply the tip of the iceberg.

Homicide charges in Latin America have skyrocketed because the 1980s and are nonetheless among the many highest on the earth. It is because Latin America turned the battleground for the warfare on medicine.

American crackdown

Over the past 50 years, the U.S. authorities has pushed for more and more restrictive worldwide treaties on medicine, which paradoxically elevated the profitability of cocaine.

Within the 1980s, whereas People have been locking up their fellow residents for drug offences, the U.S. authorities determined to eradicate the manufacturing of coca crops and the sale of cocaine overseas. The U.S. supplied political, army and monetary help for Latin American governments to eradicate coca manufacturing, spraying the lands of peasant coca farmers, supporting police and militia violence towards guerrilla actions and cracking down on drug companies in city centres.

Troopers uproot coca shrubs as a part of a guide eradication operation in San Jose del Guaviare, Colombia, in March 2019. The quantity of Colombian land the place peasants and drug traffickers harvest the plant used to make cocaine has been steadily rising since 2013. (AP Photograph/Fernando Vergara)

The U.S. made overseas loans to Latin American international locations conditional upon implementing robust anti-drug insurance policies. These tough-on-crime measures disproportionately affected marginalized populations: Peruvian peasant farmers, Black Brazilian favela dwellers, Salvadorean youth sporting tattoos.

American help for violence in Latin America isn’t new. Through the Chilly Conflict, the U.S. supported army coups and civil wars within the area. However with the top of the Chilly Conflict and the democratization of Latin American international locations, the warfare on medicine turned a reputable excuse for continued state violence because the illicit drug financial system fuelled criminality.

Unsuccessful insurance policies

These insurance policies didn’t work. Drug prohibition, mixed with continued consumption, has shifted however not dismantled the drug enterprise. The biggest shopper market continues to be the USA.

When Peruvian coca manufacturing was lowered, manufacturing shifted to Colombia. When Colombian drug cartels have been dismantled, Mexican cartels turned stronger. Weakened massive cartels allowed smaller organizations to fill the void. Brazil’s overcrowded, underfunded, violent and corrupt prisons turned headquarters and coaching grounds for drug traffickers.

The warfare on medicine generates felony and police violence in Latin America, and blurs the boundary between the 2. Drug companies create their very own justice programs.

Imprisoned gang members stand behind bars throughout a media tour of the jail in Quezaltepeque, El Salvador, in September 2020. (AP Photograph/Salvador Melendez)

There’s no level calling the police that will help you resolve an unlawful enterprise transaction. Drug sellers would somewhat act because the police than have another person name the police into their neighbourhoods.

Drug income create alternatives for corruption, involving law enforcement officials, authorities bureaucrats and high-level politicians, and all sides create violence when these private-public partnerships go flawed.

Politicians typically enlist drug sellers, militia and law enforcement officials to get rid of their opponents or to generate societal drama for political acquire.

A vicious cycle

Mixed with the warfare on medicine, home tough-on-crime and restrictive immigration insurance policies within the U.S. generate a vicious cycle of displacement and violence on each side of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Staff restore the facade of Metropolis Corridor riddled with bullet holes in Villa Union, Mexico, in December 2019. The small city was the positioning of violence after 22 folks have been killed in a weekend gun battle between a closely armed drug cartel assault group and safety forces. (AP Photograph/Eduardo Verdugo)

Higher border enforcement implies that extra immigrants should rely on human smuggling organizations, and move by means of territories managed by drug traffickers, to make the crossing. However these relationships go deeper.

Because the e book House of Detention by American cultural anthropologist Elana Zilberg explains, the primary wave of Salvadorean refugees to the U.S. have been escaping the American-backed civil warfare and political repression of the 1980s.

A few of these refugees’ grownup youngsters joined youth gangs, and have been imprisoned and deported from the U.S. as a consequence of toughening anti-drug and immigration insurance policies. As they arrived of their mother and father’ nation, one they barely knew, they influenced native youth tradition, symbols and gang affiliations, creating transnational youth gangs often called maras.

Learn extra: Central American gangs like MS-13 have been born out of failed anti-crime insurance policies

Maras have been then violently repressed by Salvadorean insurance policies that have been modelled on U.S. drug/gang measures, together with persecuting younger adults if that they had tattoos.

Police and felony violence has generated extra insecurity, main some Salvadorean youth to hunt refuge in Mexico and the USA.

U.S. conservatives cite felony violence in Latin America to disclaim migrants fleeing that violence the appropriate to asylum, and as an excuse to implement draconian immigration, policing and deportation insurance policies, which in flip exacerbate the identical issues that they’re ostensibly geared toward fixing.

Whether or not these immigrants are members of gangs, are carrying medicine, have discovered learn how to be violent or are harmless victims is irrelevant. The purpose is that the American public ought to now not faux that the USA hasn’t performed a essential function in creating and fuelling this violence. The violence doesn’t solely go in a south-north course.

Luisa Farah Schwartzman doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or organisation that will profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their tutorial appointment.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/trump-and-biden-ignore-how-the-war-on-drugs-fuels-violence-in-latin-america/ via https://growthnews.in

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