Oh, and the Nebulas, Too

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There was another set of award nominees announced this week -- not nearly as exciting as the Diagram Prize, but pretty swell nonetheless. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (whose acronym is still SFWA, because shut up) have passed through their first round, and brought forth the following nominees, which they will then vote on:

Novel:

• Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
• Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
• The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
• Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
• 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Novella:

• On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
• After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
• “The Stars Do Not Lie,” Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
• “All the Flavors,” Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
• “Katabasis,” Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
• “Barry’s Tale,” Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)

Novelette:

• “The Pyre of New Day,” Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
• “Close Encounters,” Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
• “The Waves,” Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
• “The Finite Canvas,” Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
• “Swift, Brutal Retaliation,” Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
• “Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
• “Fade to White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)

Short Story:

• “Robot,” Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
• “Immersion,” Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
• “Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12)
• “Nanny’s Day,” Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
• “Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
• “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12)
• “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” Cat Rambo (Near + Far)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• The Avengers, Joss Whedon (director) and Joss Whedon and Zak Penn (writers), (Marvel/Disney)
• Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director), Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight)
• The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard (director), Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (writers) (Mutant Enemy/Lionsgate)
• The Hunger Games, Gary Ross (director), Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray (writers), (Lionsgate)
• John Carter, Andrew Stanton (director), Michael Chabon, Mark Andrews, and Andrew Stanton (writers), (Disney)
• Looper, Rian Johnson (director), Rian Johnson (writer), (FilmDistrict/TriStar)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book

• Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
• Black Heart, Holly Black (McElderry; Gollancz)
• Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
• The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
• Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
• Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
• Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
• Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf)
• Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
• Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
• Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
• Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

Congratulations and good luck to all of the nominees, though I have to admit that I look at that Norton list and wonder what the hell happened -- was there an 8-way tie for fifth place?

Winners will be announced at the annual Nebula Awards Weekend, starting May 16th in lovely San Jose, California. During the same ceremony, Gene Wolfe will be officially invested with the full power and grandeur of a Grand Master, and may thus ascend bodily into SFnal heaven. You wouldn't want to miss that, would you?


(via most of the Internet, though I saw it first at Tor.com)

Free Matt Hughes!

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Free him from the drudgery of having to do anything else but write his books, by causing immense piles of money to head his way from his massive sales!

How can you do this? It's easy -- first, download the sampler of his new book, Hell To Pay. (You may wish to consult reviews of the first two books in that trilogy, The Damned Busters and Costume Not Included. We'll wait while you do.)

Then, thrilled by the wonder that is Matt Hughes, go out and buy all of his books right away! Buy them for all of your friends and family members! Buy them as gifts for that old codger at the golf club! Buy them to hand out at the next Rotary Club meeting! Buy them until Matt Hughes is rightly regarded as one of our best writers, as he so obviously is!

Yes, you can Free Matt Hughes! All you you need to do to begin is download and read!

Peanut by Ayun Halliday and Paul Hoppe

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Teenagers are trying to invent themselves, more than anything else: to become who they want to be, just as soon as they can figure out what that is. And how better to do that then to just announce who and what you are? Sadie decided that's what she'd do, when she started her sophomore year at a new high school: she'd start off by telling all of her new classmates about her life-threatening peanut allergy.

There was just one catch: Sadie didn't really have a peanut allergy. It was just something to make her more interesting at the new school, a way to attract attention and new friends. But a peanut allergy doesn't go away, so she was stuck with living her lie -- as long as she could.

Peanut is a graphic novel for teens, written by indy cartoonist Ayun Halliday (East Village Inky) and drawn by illustrator/cartoonist Paul Hoppe -- and, although Halliday's previous comics work (and a lot of her other books) were autobiographical, this one is purely fiction, as far as I can tell. (So many comics aimed outside of the long-underwear ghetto are memoirs these days that I won't be the only one wondering about this.)

Hoppe uses a crisp, entirely realistic style to tell this story -- mostly thin blue lines, with a splash of red for Sadie -- and Halliday's first-person narration lets Sadie tell her story in a similarly clear, direct way. Sadie finds attention -- and a new boyfriend -- with her new peanut allergy, but of course she doesn't know if she'd have those friends, and that quirky boyfriend (he sends her notes in origami and refuses to use a cellphone) without the big fake revelation.

Peanut is a closely observed story of modern suburban teens, with nasty queen bees, friends as devoted as only fifteen-year-olds can be, and one very conflicted teen girl at the middle of it all. It's heavily narrated by Sadie, as focused through her point of view as a traditional first-person novel would be, so the reader stays in her head (and, presumably, on her side) the whole time. The stakes aren't particularly high here -- just Sadie's honesty and happiness, though that's not nothing -- unlike so much of the popular current teen fiction. It's a bit conventional -- it doesn't go in any of the interesting directions that a more fantastical book about a lying teen girl like Justine Larbalestier's Liar does -- but it has a good heart, it tells a good story, and it looks good along the way.

Reviewing the Mail: Week of 2/23

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One of the fun things about "Reviewing the Mail" is how the flow of mail is radically different from week to week -- some times I'm buried, and some times (like this week) there are two swell little books to write about.

Either way, the same caveats apply: these just arrived, so I haven't read them yet. Anything I write below could be wrong -- I certainly hope not, but the Vatican hasn't yet approved my application to be Pope Hornswoggler I, so I'm not officially infallible at this point. But here's what I can tell you this week:

Matt Kindt has been recently stretching his talents beyond his original WWII-era spy milieu (see his excellent Super Spy, the nearly as excellent warm-up 2 Sisters, and the sidebar Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers), with the historical but not spy-focused 3 Story, the SFnal multiple worlds puzzle Revolver, and his current ongoing SF saga, Mind MGMT. But he also found time to do another standalone book, Red Handed: The Fine Art of Strange Crimes, coming in May from First Second. Red Handed is a detective story -- also apparently historical, set in what looks like the postwar era -- following Detective Gould (and I can't believe that name, in a comic, could be accidental) as he traces the eccentric and random crimes of the town of Red Wheelbarrow.

Also from First Second in May is Odd Duck, a graphic novel for younger readers from writer Cecil Castellucci (The Plain Janes, Janes in Love, and other comics work, as well as young adult novels) and artist Sara Varon (creator of the deeply sweet graphic novels Bake Sale and Robot Dreams). It's about Theodora, a perfectly normal duck (she's the one with the teacup balanced on her head), and Chad, who is quite bizarre (he's the other fella). I suspect there may be A Lesson here, but Varon's drawings are so charming I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

A Short Political Comment, In Re the US 2nd Amendment

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Directed to whoever needs to hear it:

Look, nimrod, no part of the Constitution gives you the right to rebel against the government. No part of any legitimate country's legal framework could do so, and, in the case of the US, rebellion is specifically outlawed in the Constitution -- Article III, Section 3, under Treason: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."

If you declare that you need guns to battle against the government, you are not protecting your rights under the 2nd Amendment; you are actually declaring your intent to betray your country. Perhaps it's time to empty the prisons of drug criminals so we can fill them up anew with traitors.

Rabbi Meir Lau warns Obama not to let Pollard die

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Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau wrote US President Barack Obama on Friday, urging him to commute the sentence of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard to the more than 27 years he has served.
Lau asked for Pollard’s freedom in a letter full of biblical quotations and references to former US president Abraham Lincoln, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and the Statue of Liberty. The rabbi warned of Pollard’s deteriorating health and pleaded with Obama to release the Israeli agent before he died in prison.
“Despite his admission and his regret, Jonathan continues to serve a sentence unprecedented in American history [for the crime he committed],” Lau wrote. “His health is fleeting and the remainder of his life is diminishing.”
In the letter, Lau quoted a verse in the Book of Samuel that warns that Jonathan could die. He notes that the Jonathan in the book is the son of King Saul but that it also applies to Pollard.
Lau asked Obama to permit Pollard to move to Israel and become a father.
He noted that Pollard would soon mark the unfortunate milestone of 10,000 days in prison.
“Let him live the rest of his life with his wife, Esther, in the State of Israel that granted him citizenship,” Lau wrote. “This action would be seen as a humanitarian gesture by the seekers of freedom in the world.”
Lau will have an opportunity to raise Pollard’s fate directly with Obama, because he will be with him when Obama visits Yad Vashem, of which Lau heads the board of directors, next month.

Confused Satmar Rebbe (Zalman Leib) promises to pay Meretz voters $100

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“I will pay 100 dollars a head to all those who vote for the Meretz party,” thundered Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, the grand rabbi of the Satmar Hassidim, in a rally in Jerusalem’s Shabbat Square organized over a month after the Knesset elections concluded.
Several haredi men, eagerly walking past on the way to the Jerusalem army recruitment center glanced over disinterestedly as Teitelbaum spoke, not paying him much attention.
According to Shloime LoKoreh, the Rebbe’s assistant, he had gotten confused about the date of the election due to his “debilitating myopia that caused me to misread the calendar.”
Teitelbaum, speaking Yiddish, told several pigeons perched nearby that constituted a large segment of his audience that the only way forward for Israel and the Jewish people was to vote for the Meretz party.
Meretz, he claimed, will help restore the balance in Israel where haredim constitute a disproportionate percentage in the top army units and have begun to change the IDF into a more religious organization.
“Meretz, as a party that opposes religion and state, will bring the haredim back to their yeshivas and out of the army, which is still not kosher, despite only serving food certified by the Edah Haredit,” he said.
Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On ascended the podium after the rabbi, and told the crowd of black-hatted new recruits, now on their way home from the induction center, proudly discussing what units they wished to join, that their presence in the army was not good for the State of Israel.
“We have to equalize the burden and allow more secular Jews to join Sayeret Matkal!” she shouted, referring to the General Staff’s special elite recon unit. “There are too many beards there already! Go back to your yeshivot!” As the new recruits hurried away, Gal-On told the pigeons, who were rooting around looking for crumbs on the sidewalk in front of the podium, that the longstanding phenomena of haredim taking away jobs from secular Jews also had to stop immediately.
“I implore you,” she cried, “go and study the holy Torah.
 
 
 
 
Jpost

A Possible Pope Timothy Cardinal Dolan Goes to Shul

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Pass the hat, please.
It was a truly religious experience for barmitzvah boy Jacob Feit Mann when he and Timothy Cardinal Dolan swapped skullcaps — one black and the other red — yesterday at an Upper West Side synagogue.
“I was just, like, ‘Wow! I’d better not lose this one!’ ” said the exuberant youth.
Jacob was sitting with his parents in the front rowof the Lincoln Square Synagogue, where Dolan had been invited to speak on relations between Catholics and Jews.
But before Dolan spoke, Jacob read from the Jewish religious texts, as is tradition at a bar mitzvah.
 
After he stepped down, he went up to the cardinal and asked if they could switch kippahs —the Hebrew word for yarmulke — his black one for his eminence’s traditional red zucchetto.

Dolan replied, mischievously, “I think that might happen.”
As the cardinal addressed the congregation, Jacob said, “He called me over while he was speaking, and we switched skullcaps. That was fun.

“I thought it was really cool. I think I probably had the coolest bar mitzvah in my class.”

After swapping caps, Dolan kept Jacob’s yarmulke on throughout the rest of the service.
Dolan asked Jacob to autograph his, but the boy said he couldn’t because writing is forbidden on the Sabbath.
Dolan quipped it was OK for him because “it’s not my Sabbath until tomorrow.”
Dolan signed the inside of his red cap: “To Jacob, Tim. Cardinal Dolan 23/2/13.”

“When we switched, I asked if he wanted my clips [to secure the yarmulke],” Jacob recalled.

But the receding-haired cardinal “said he didn’t think he would be needing them.”

Jacob’s dad, Jordan Mann, added, “This is about the most exciting thing to happen in a bar mitzvah in 500 years. I was happy Jacob could have this experience.”

His mother, Alison Feit, joked, “He no longer needs a topic for his college essay.”

Rabbi Shaul Robinson quipped that Jacob and Dolan might meet in the future as world religious leaders — Jacob as chief rabbi of Israel and Dolan as the newest pope.

“Jake has a much better chance of becoming chief rabbi than I do of becoming pope,” Dolan said drolly.

At the end of the ceremony, the cardinal wanted to return Jacob’s yarmulke but was asked instead to take it with him to Rome to vote for a new pope next month.

“I guess it makes me feel kind of important. I think it’s awesome,” said the barmitzvah boy.

“He seems like a really great guy. I knowhe’ll make a great decision. I hope maybe he thinks of me when he’s there and remembers that his decision affects everyone, including Jacob Feit Mann.”            





NY POST

Ammar Harris Named As Prime Suspect Sought In Las Vegas Shooting

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Police have identified a suspect in an early morning shooting and pileup that killed three people and injured at least six on Las Vegas' famous Strip Thursday, NBC affiliate KSNV reported.
Police are seeking Ammar Harris, 26, in the shooting and subsequent car crashes that occurred in a section of the Strip that includes Caesars Palace, Bally’s and the Bellagio.
The shooting came after the occupants of a black Range Rover and a Maserati got into an altercation in the valet area of the Aria hotel and casino, according to Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie.

“We have numerous witnesses to this,” Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said. “But what is the genesis of this? We don’t know yet.”

The suspect was in the Range Rover, while 27-year-old aspiring rapper Kenny “Clutch” Cherry of Oakland, Calif., was at the wheel of the Maserati.

According to reports, the Range Rover pulled up and allegedly opened fire into the Maserati near a stoplight in the pre-dawn hours.

A passenger was injured by the gunfire and Cherry was killed, causing the car to spin out of control. The careening silver Maserati smashed into a taxicab, trapping the passenger and driver and causing the cab to burst into flames; both occupants were killed, police said.

Then, the Maserati smashed into three other cars before coming to a stop.

The taxi driver was identified as Michael Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas. His passenger was Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash. She was a two-time breast cancer survivor. Both died of "multiple blunt force injuries," the coroner's office said.

All three deaths were classified as homicide.

Police released a photo that was taken when Harris was arrested last year on pandering, kidnapping, sexual assault and coercion charges, according to The Associated Press.

KSNV reported that police did not find Harris at his residence Saturday, but the black Range Rover was found just a few blocks away from the intersection where the violent incident occurred.

Police also said they found shell casings in Harris's apartment that linked him to Cherry's death.      

Rockland County - Jewish schools get millions in E-Rate funds, lack computers

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Peretz Klein, the longtime owner of Hashomer Alarm Systems in Spring Valley, credits the federal E-Rate program with making it possible for many needy yeshivas and other Orthodox Jewish schools to install computers and modern technology for their students.
“The government created this program to get technology in the schools,” he said. “It’s a very big help for many schools. We service the schools, do all we can to help them.”
Klein’s 33-year-old company has brought in millions in E-Rate grants to install infrastructure — servers, extensive wiring and more — at private schools in Rockland County and Brooklyn. His company is one of many across the country that focus their business on the long-controversial E-Rate program, created under the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 to help schools and libraries in low-income communities keep up in the digital age.
Now a series of articles in The Jewish Week, a Manhattan-based newspaper, and its neighbor, The Jewish Daily Forward, have raised questions about the high percentage of E-Rate dollars in New York state going to Hasidic and other Orthodox schools and libraries, noting many of the schools do not allow student access to the Internet and the libraries were as minimal as a collection of audiotapes in a synagogue office.
The Jewish Week report found that while 4 percent of the state’s kindergarten through 12th-grade students attend private Jewish schools, 22 percent of New York’s E-rate allocations in 2011 — worth more than $30 million — went to Jewish schools and libraries.
Eric Iversen, spokesman for a company that administers E-Rate for the Federal Communications Commission, would not comment on Jewish Week’s findings or whether they would be investigated. He said that it is generally difficult to compare the amount of E-Rate awards to the size of a school or provider — or even a particular community — because allocations are based largely on financial need.
“Dollars are allocated in proportion to need,” Iversen said. “Schools with a higher proportion of high-need students will get a higher rate of resources.”  
 
 



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ריבוי פרשות פדופיליה ואונס ברחוב החרדי

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בשבועות ה�חרוני� עבר הרחוב החרדי טלטלה. פרשת עלילת ה�ונס בילדה בת 5 במודיעין עילית, שבדתה רכזת הגני� בעירייה על מנת לעורר מודעות לתופעת עברייני המין במגזר, הציפה �ת הנוש� �ל פני השטח. לפני שבועיי� עצרה המשטרה פדופיל חרדי שהתעלל בעשרות ילדי�. מעשיו היו ידועי� לרבני� מהעדה החרדית, וה� טיפלו בו בסירוס כימי. בשבוע ה�חרון נעצרו שבעה חשודי� נוספי�, רוב� חרדי�, בחשד לפדופיליה.
�בל למרות ריבוי המקרי� המגיעי� למשטרה ל�חרונה, קשר השתיקה בעדה החרדית סביב פרשיות של התעללות מינית בנשי� וילדי� עדיין רחוק מלהתמוסס. ברשויות ה�כיפה והחוק הבינו שכדי להתמודד ע� התופעה צריך קוד� לעבור �ת משוכת רב הקהילה, של� פע� �וסר על הקורבנות להתלונן. במשטרה החלו לשתף פעולה ע� רבני�, ול�חרונה �ף פורס� כי שופט בית המשפט המחוזי בתל �ביב, צבי גורפינקל, פנה בצעד חריג למנהיגי החברה החרדית ודרש מה� של� לטפל בעצמ� במקרי� של פגיעות מיניות. הדרישה הז�ת הגיעה על רקע הכרעת הדין של צעיר מבני ברק, שהורשע בביצוע מעשה מגונה בנער בן 14 בתוך מקווה בעיר, �ך רבני הקהילה החליטו של� לערב �ת המשטרה בעניין.
יצחק קדמן, ר�ש המועצה לשלו� הילד, �מנ� נתקל במקרי� רבי� של רבני� שהורו לציבור שלה� להתלונן, �בל ג� ברבני� שהשתיקו מקרי �ונס. "פנה �ליי �ד� שהחבר הכי טוב שלו לן �צל� בבית ופגע מינית בילדה שלו. הו� התקשר כדי להתייעץ, ו�מרתי לו '�תה חייב ללכת למשטרה'. הו� �מר לי שהו� ל� יכול לעשות �ת זה בלי לקבל �ישור מהרב שלו, וביקש ש�דבר ע� הרב. הרמתי טלפון לרב, סיפרתי לו �ת הסיפור והו� הורה לו מיד ללכת למשטרה. מצד שני, פנתה �ליי פע� רופ�ת משפחה משכונה חרדית בירושלי� וביקשה �ת עזרתי. הי� �מרה לי ש�ישה חרדית הגיעה �ליה וביקשה שהי� תבדוק �ת הילדה שלה. הי� ל� �מרה לה מה הבעיה, רק רמזה ש'משהו ל� בסדר ע� הילדה'. הבדיקה גילתה שהילדה עברה �ונס, והרופ�ה �מרה ל�ישה ללכת להתלונן במשטרה. ה�ישה הלכה לש�ול �ת הרב, וכשהי� חזרה לרופ�ה הי� �מרה שהי� בשו� �ופן ל� יכולה להתלונן כיוון שהי� ל� קיבלה �ת �ישור הרב. בסופו של דבר פנינו למשטרה בעצמנו, �בל היה כ�ן קושי רציני של שיתוף פעולה ומתן עדות".

הרב מרדכי בלוי, יו"ר משמרת הקודש והחינוך (משמרת הצניעות) בבני ברק, מ×�שר של×� בכל מקרה הרב מפנה ×�ת הקורבן למשטרה. "הרגישות במגזר החרדי ×”×™×� גבוהה ביותר בנוש×� המשפחתי, ויש לזה השלכות ×�מיתיות לגבי הילדי×� – קבלת×� למוסדות חינוך יוקרתיי×� ובעיקר נוש×� השידוכי×�", הו×� מסביר. "הרבני×� ניגשי×� לכל תלונה שמגיעה ×�ליה×� בנחישות וברגישות, ול×� כל מקרה מופנה למשטרה. ×�×� מתברר לרבני×� מעל לכל צל של ספק שמדובר במעידה חד פעמית, ×”×�יש מוזמן לרבני×� ותחת ×�זהרה נשלח לטיפול פסיכולוגי וטיפול מקצועי ×�חר. במידה שמדובר בפושע מועד, הרבני×� פוני×� למשטרה, מוסרי×� ×�ת כל המידע כדי שיהיה בקלות ×�פשרות לשי×� ×�ותו מ×�חורי סורג ובריח".

בעבר התפרסמו מקרי� ש�ד� שסרח הוגלה �ל מחוץ לעיר, זו עדיין שיטה קיימת?

"במקרי� מסוימי� הרבני� ממליצי� ל�ד� לשנות מקו� מגורי�. �� הו� התחיל ע� ילדי� �ו ע� ילדות מקווי� שהנטיות שלו, ל�חר הטיפול שיינתן לו, ישתנו. הו� נמצ� במעקב צמוד של רבני� ו�� המעשה ל� חזר לעצמו וב� לציון גו�ל".

30 פניות בחודש
�בל ל�חרונה נשמעי� במגזר החרדי ג� קולות חדשי�, שמביני� שהדרך היחידה לטפל בסוגיית ההטרדות הי� רק מול הרשויות. �חת החלוצות בתחו� הי� עו"ד ענת בן ז�ב, 40, חרדית תושבת בני ברק, נשו�ה ו�� ל�רבעה.

הכל התחיל בשיחת טלפון תמימה שקיבלה בן ז�ב מחברה שלה. �ותה חברה סיפרה על בחורה חרדית מבני ברק, שהותקפה מינית בילדותה על ידי בעלה של �חותה, והחליטה לספר �ת סיפורה. �ותה בחורה ידעה היטב מה מצפה לה בבית כשתחליט להוצי� �ת הסוד החוצה, וכך ב�מת היה. "כול� כעסו עליה, ממש השתוללו", מספרת בן ז�ב. "�מרו לה שהי� ממצי�ה ושהי� ל� יודעת בכלל מה זה. �בל הי� הייתה נחושה. הי� הרגישה שהעבר שלה מפריע לה בשידוך, הי� הייתה מ�וד עצורה וחששה מכל קשר ע� גבר. הי� הרגישה ש�� הי� ל� תעשה משהו, הי� תגרור �ת ההתעללות הז�ת �יתה כל החיי�".

החברה בסך הכל ביקשה ×�ת עצתה המקצועית, ×�בל בן ×–×�ב, בעלת משרד עורכי דין עצמ×�×™ העוסקת ביו×� יו×� בעיקר בענייני תמ"×� 38 ול×� בעבירות פליליות, הבינה שהי×� עלתה על משהו – ש×�נשי×� מהמגזר החרדי שרוצי×� להתלונן על עבירות מין זקוקי×� לייעוץ מקצועי של מישהי ש"×�וכלת ×�ת ×�ותו חמין בשבת", לדבריה. "תמיד שמעתי טפטופי×� שיש ×�נשי×� שחוששי×� להתלונן וצריכי×� ליווי כדי לעשות ×�ת ×–×”, והבנתי שע×� הכלי×� שיש לי ×�× ×™ יכולה לסייע, ×›×™ כן יש רצון להתלונן. הדברי×� הולכי×� ומחריפי×�, העול×� הולך ומשתגע מיו×� ליו×�".

בן ×–×�ב חברה לעו"ד רבקה שוורץ, עורכת דין פלילית בעלת משרד עצמ×�×™ בירושלי×�, ויחד הן הקימו ×�ת "מן המיצר" – סיוע וליווי משפטי לנפגעי עבירת מין במגזר החרדי. הן מלוות ×�ת המתלונני×� והמתלוננות בכל ההיבטי×� המשפטיי×� של הגשת תלונה, יושבות בדיוני×� של בית המשפט ותומכות בשעות הקשות, הכל לל×� תמורה כספית. "למשפחה מ×�וד קשה לבו×� ×¢×� המתלוננת ולשמוע מה שיש לה להגיד על דוכן העדי×�", ×”×™×� מסבירה. "×”×™×” לנו מקרה של ×�ישה נשו×�×” שעברה ×�ונס. שיפוצניק שעבד ×�צלה בבית ש×� לה ס×� ×�ונס במשקה, וכשהי×� התעוררה משינה ×”×™×� הבינה שמשהו קרה לה, ×�בל ל×� זכרה כלו×�. ×”×™×� הקי×�×” כל הזמן, חשה סחרחורות קשות וכשהגיעה לבית חולי×� התברר שהי×� × ×�נסה. ההורי×� שלה ובעלה ל×� סיפרו ×�ת ×–×” ל×�×£ ×�חד, ×�פילו ×”×�חיות שלה ל×� ידעו מזה. ×”×™×� הלכה להעיד לבד".
ומה ע� בעלה?

"הו� תמך בה, �בל לבית המשפט היה לו קשה לבו�".

בן ז�ב ושוורץ הקימו �ת העמותה רק לפני מספר חודשי�, �בל מ�ז שהשמועה על זוג עורכות הדין שעוזרות לקורבנות תקיפה מינית התפשטה ברחוב החרדי, הטלפון שלהן ל� מפסיק לצלצל. "חשבנו שנצטרך להקדיש לזה רק כמה שעות בחודש, �בל כמות הפניות עולה כל הזמן", �ומרת בן ז�ב. "רק החודש קיבלנו כ-30 שיחות. ל� בכל המקרי� �נחנו יכולות לסייע. למשל הייתה מישהי שסיפרה שחברה של הבת שלה חזרה מבית הספר, ומישהו משך לה �ת תיק ה�וכל ולקח �תה הצידה. הי� ל� ידעה לתת לי פרטי� ול� יכולתי לעשות ע� זה כלו�, �בל �נשי� שומעי� עלינו וה� מרגישי� שיש כתובת, יש מי שיכול לעזור".
מי פונה �ליכן?

"לרוב נשי� בוגרות ונשו�ות, שמחליטות להתלונן על משהו ש�רע בעברן. �לה נשי� שמרגישות שהיו� יש להן על מי להישען ומקבלות �ומץ להתמודד. עדיין ל� הגיעו הורי� לילדי� �ו מישהי שנפגעה מינית בימי� �לה".

סביר להניח ש×�×� בן ×–×�ב ושוורץ היו מקימות ×�רגון ×›×–×” רק לפני שני×� ×�חדות, הטלפון שלהן ל×� ×”×™×” מצלצל בתדירות גבוהה. עבירות מין בחברה החרדית הן בגדר ט×�בו ש×�ין מדברי×� עליו, ×’×� במחיר של התפשטות התופעה. חלק גדול מהמקרי×� מושתקי×� ×›×�מור, ×�ו מטופלי×� בקהילה, בין ×�×� שולחי×� ×�ת העבריין לטיפול נפשי ×�ו מגלי×� ×�ותו לעיר ×�חרת. ×’×� כש×�ד×� שביצע פשע כבר יושב בכל×� ומרצה ×�ת עונשו – מסתירי×� בקהילה ×�ת דבר העבירה ומספרי×� למשפחה ולחברי×� שהו×� נסע לחו"ל.

×�בל החומרי×� הנפיצי×� הללו, שזולגי×� ל×�חרונה החוצה מהקהילה הסגורה דרך רשויות ×”×�כיפה, שירותי הרווחה והתקשורת שמדווחת כמעט מדי שבוע על פרשת פדופיליה ×�ו הטרדה מינית – מ×�לצי×� ×�ת החברה החרדית להיערכות מחודשת. למשטרת ישר×�ל ×�מנ×� ×�ין נתוני×� ממוקדי×� על כמות הפשיעה המינית בחברה החרדית, ×�ול×� גור×� בכיר במשטרה בהחלט מ×�שר שקיימת עלייה מובהקת במספר התלונות שמוגשות מהמגזר. נר×�×” שלציבור החרדי פשוט נמ×�ס מההשתקה. "יש עלייה מספרית בכמות התלונות שמגיעות ×�לינו מהציבור החרדי. ×–×�ת בעקבות שיתוף פעולה שלנו ×¢×� ר×�שי הקהילות. ×�נחנו מדברי×� יותר ×¢×� ר×�שי העדה החרדית ובהחלט יש יותר פתיחות מצד×� מ×�שר בעבר לבו×� ×�יתנו במגע", ×�ומר הבכיר.
"כשנחשפה הפרשה במודיעין עילית, ג� �� הי� התבררה כל� נכונה בסופו של דבר, �י �פשר היה להתחמק מלשמוע על זה", �ומרת בן ז�ב. "דיברו על זה תחת כל עץ רענן, ברחוב, בבית הכנסת, בבית הספר. �נשי� מתענייני� בזה, ה� מחפשי� מענה, �� תעשי סקר קטן �קר�י ברחוב תר�י שזה נוש� מ�וד ח�. �נשי� רוצי� שינוי".

�חד השינויי� המפתיעי� הו� העובדה שג� גברי� חרדי� מוכני� להיפתח ולספר על הטרדות שעברו. שרה זלצברג, דוקטורנטית ב�וניברסיטה העברית שחוקרת �ת נוש� הפגיעות המיניות במגזר, נדהמה מרמת שיתוף הפעולה של הגברי� שהתר�יינו למחקר שלה. "הצלחתי ל�תר 40 גברי� חרדי� שנפגעו מינית ורצו לספר על כך", הי� �ומרת. "ה� שיתפו פעולה בצורה מדהימה ו�מרו ש�ין לה� �פיקי� �חרי� לדבר על זה. �חד מהמרו�ייני�, למשל, סיפר כי כבר פתח בהליך משפטי �בל �ב� שלו עצר �ותו ומנע ממנו לפתוח �ת הסיפור, בעיקר בגלל שה�חיות שלו עדיין ל� נשו�ות והו� עלול לפגוע בהן".

המהפכה השקטה של המגזר

�חת הפרשיות שסימנה �ת נקודת השבר ברחוב החרדי, והבי�ה לרצון לבקוע �ת חומות השתיקה, הי� חשיפת פרשת הפדופיליה הגדולה והקשה בתולדות המדינה בשכונת נחל�ות בירושלי� בשנת 2011, שהסירה �ת הלוט מעל רשת של עשרות פדופילי� שפעלה לל� מפרע בשכונה במשך שני�. הפרשה הניבה �מנ� רק שלושה כתבי �ישו�, �ול� התי�ורי� הקשי� והמספר הגדול של הילדי� שנפגעו, הכניסה הורי� רבי� במגזר להיסטריה. "החברה הייתה תמימה, הי� ל� הבינה מה קורה לה", �ומר �יש חינוך חרדי בכיר. "פת�ו� החלו להבין �ת ממדי התופעה והבינו שמשהו צריך להשתנות. צריך לעבוד ע� גורמי� מקצועיי� ולגשר בין החברה החרדית לרשויות החוק והרווחה".
לפני מספר חודשי� יצ� ספר ילדי� חדש, חריג מ�וד בנוף ספריית הספרי� הביתית שמיועד לחברה החרדית ומדריך ילדי� �יך להישמר מפגיעות מיניות ומפדופילי�. בספר "מוטב להיזהר כדי ל� להצטער", שיצ� בהוצ�ה פרטית ובשיתוף פעולה של רבני� מכל הזרמי� מוב�י� �יורי� של ילדי� וילדות בלבוש חרדי ע� הנחיות ברורות כיצד להיזהר מפדופילי�: "ל�ף �חד �ין זכות לגעת ב�זורי� הפרטיי� בגופכ�", נכתב בספר �ו "�ף פע� ל� ללכת לשו� מקו� ע� �נשי� זרי�". בקרית ספר חילקו לתלמידי� צמיד יד שנוש� �ת הכתובת: "לברוח, לצרוח, לספר להורי�", המ�פשר להעלות לדיון נוש�י� שמעול� ל� נפתחו בעבר במשפחות חרדיות.
"השינוי הו� חלק משינוי רחב יותר שעוברת החברה החרדית", מסבירה זלצברג. "�מנ� התהליך נמצ� לגמרי בר�שיתו, �בל יש מגמה כללית של פתיחות בזר� המתון של החברה החרדית. בתחו� התעסוקתי, הפוליטי, ביחס לצב� ועוד. הזר� המרכזי של הציבור החרדי נמצ� במגמה של פיוס ע� החברה הכללית. הדרך עוד �רוכה, �בל יש מהפכה שקטה, בפירוש. מה שכן, �י �פשר להתעל� מכך שהמגמה החותרת להשתקה עדיין שולטת בכיפה".

"יש היו� הרבה יותר נכונות לשמוע ולקבל דברי� מבחוץ", מ�שרת בן ז�ב. "בחברה החרדית מביני� היו� ש�פשר לחיות על פי ההלכה ועדיין להיות בקשר ע� העול�. וש�י �פשר יותר להסתגר. יש �ינטרנט, רשתות חברתיות, המידע זור�. �י �פשר ב�מת להסתיר".
ה�ינטרנט הו� סממן משמעותי בשינוי. �� בעבר חל ט�בו מוחלט על סיקור ו�זכור של פרשיות מין, הרי שהיו� יש ב�תרי החדשות החרדי� סיקור קבוע של חשיפות של המשטרה. "�תר כיכר השבת לקח �ת הנוש� הזה כ�ג'נדה", �ומר ישר�ל כהן, כתב בכיר ב�תר. "לשי� מר�ה מול �נשי�, להבי� לידיעת� �ת הסיפורי� ה�לה. כמובן שהכל נעשה בצורה נקייה, �נחנו ל� נגיד �ת המילה '�ונס', �בל נגיד 'התעללות'. רק השבוע העלינו ידיעה על מלמד שתקף ילדי� בבית"ר. הסיפור במודיעין עילית, לפני שהתברר שהו� מעשייה, התפרס� רק �צלנו".

יש �ייטמי� של� תעלו?

"בווד�י, ל� נעלה �ת ה�ייט� על גדעון סער, למשל, כי �נחנו ל� מחפשי� �ת הצהוב והרכילותי. �נחנו מחפשי� לטפל בבעיה".
�יך מגיבי� בציבור לכך ש�ת� מתעסקי� בנוש�י� ש�סור לדבר עליה�?

"יש �נשי� שהתנגדו לזה בהתחלה, �בל עכשיו ה� מביני� שזה ב� ממקו� שמנסה לתקן וה� מתחברי� לזה".

עושה רוש×� שהמצב בישר×�ל הרבה יותר טוב יחסית למתרחש בימי×� ×�לו בקהילה היהודית בניו יורק. התקשורת ש×� מדווחת ל×�חרונה על מ×�מצי הקהילה להסתיר ולהטיל ×�יפול על פרשיות מין – עד כדי העלמת הוכחות והשתקת עדי×�. ל×�חרונה הוגשו כתבי ×�ישו×� כנגד ×�רבעה חרדי×� מחסידות ס×�טמר, ב×�שמה שהתקשרו לנערה שהגישה תביעה על מעשה מגונה נגד חסיד בש×� נחמיה ווברמן, והציעו לה ולבן זוגה שוחד של 500 ×�לף דולר בתמורה לביטול התלונה. ×”×� ×�×£ ×�יימו עליה ושיבשו עדויות נגדה. נחמיה ווברמן, דמות ידועה בחסידות ס×�טמר, חשוד בביצוע של 88 מעשי×� מגוני×�. הנערה התלוננה ×›×™ ביצע בה מין ×�ור×�לי בכפיה כשהייתה בת 12.

קשר השתיקה, מתברר, מקבל ש� חיזוק מהממסד המשפטי. ל�חרונה התפרסמה כתבה בניו יורק טיימס, שלפיה התובע המחוזי של ברוקלין, צ'רלס היינס, הגיע להסדר ע� עסקני� חרדיי� ור�שי �רגוני� במגזר, שבמסגרתו יועברו תלונות על הטרדות מיניות והתעללויות בילדי� רק לידיעת� של רבני� מקומיי�, וה� �לה שיכריעו �� לדווח על המקרי� למשטרה.

"למה ליצור כת� על הילדה?"

ג� �� מתחילי� להרגיש �ת תחילתו של שינוי, החברה החרדית בישר�ל עדיין מסוגרת ושמרנית ברובה, ורוב הנפגעי� חוששי� להתלונן. מכתב שהגיע בשנה שעברה למשרדי המועצה הל�ומית לשלו� הילד חושף מצי�ות קשה: "יש בעירנו לצערי הרב המון מורי� וגברי� שמרשי� לעצמ� לפגוע בילדי� קטני� ו�ף �חד ל� פוצה פה", כותבת �ישה חרדית. "�ין ל�נשי� �ומץ ללכת למשטרה, למרות שניסיתי להפציר בכמה נשי� שיעשו כך. הן מצידן חוששות שיסולקו מהקהילה. למשטרה �ין טיפת מושג מה קורה במגזר השמרני הזה, �נשי� חולי� מנצלי� �ת מעגל השתיקה ונותני� ליצר� דרור על חשבון ילדינו הרכי�".

ג� בן ז�ב ל� מצליחה תמיד לשכנע �ת הנפגעות שמגיעות �ליה להתלונן. "הגיעה מישהי שסיפרה שבנערותה תקף �ותה קרוב משפחה שגר בסמוך. הי� ל� סיפרה על זה ל�ף �חד, �בל הרגישה שהי� צריכה לטפל בזה. בינתיי� הי� החליטה ל� להתלונן מפחד מהקושי שכרוך בזה".

מה �ת �ומרת במקרה כזה?
"�ני ל� יכולה להיות צעד �חד לפני המתלוננת, �ני תמיד במקו� שלה. �מרתי לה שתעזוב �ת כל המילי� היפות על כך ש�� הי� ל� תתלונן הו� ימשיך לעשות �ת זה. זה חשוב, �בל ל� רק זה. �מרתי ש�� הי� ל� תתלונן הי� לעול� ל� תהיה מ�ושרת. זה יפריע לה כל החיי�. �בל הי� עדיין חוששת".
מה בעצ� החשש הגדול ביותר?
"הבעיה של הקורבן הי� שג� �� י�מינו לה, הי� תסבול כי הי� מסומנת. ילדה שיודעי� שעברה משהו, מסתכלי� עליה �חרת. והי� ל� מבינה 'למה מדברי� עליי? למה מסתודדי�? למה �ין לי חברות?'. והורה שיודע שהבת שלו הותקפה, מתחיל לחשוב ש�ולי עדיף לו בשקט בשקט לפתור �ת הבעיה. למה לי ליצור כת� על הילדה ועל המשפחה? הבת שלי �ולי נפגעה, והי� תקבל טיפול, �בל למה �ני צריך להפוך �ת זה ל�ישיו ולגרו� לה נזק? הו� �ומר '�ולי בסוף מישהו יתפוס �ותו, �בל למה זה צריך להיות על הגב של הבת שלי?'. ה�ב� הזה צריך להבין ש�ולי הבת של השכני� פחות חשובה לו, �בל יש לו עוד ילדה ועוד ילדה, ומי ערב שזה ל� יקרה להן?"

FBI: Armed Neo-Nazi supporter put metro-Detroit Jewish and civil rights leaders on a hit list

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FBI agents recently warned community leaders in the Detroit area about a possible racist plot by a convicted felon and alleged neo-Nazi sympathizer who was arrested after he was discovered with an arsenal of assault rifles and other weapons, a law enforcement official tells NBC News.
“The FBI averted a catastrophe in this case, there’s no doubt about it,” Steven M. Dettelbach, the U.S. attorney in Cleveland, said in an interview.
New details about the case of Richard Schmidt, the owner of a sporting goods store in Bowling Green, Ohio, dramatically highlight what law enforcement officials say are major loopholes in the nation’s gun laws. Schmidt, 47, is a convicted felon who spent 13 years in Ohio state prison for a homicide after being convicted of killing a man and wounding two others in a shooting during a traffic stop, according to state prison records. Under federal law, Schmidt, who was released on parole in 2003, is barred from possessing any firearms.
Yet when FBI agents last December searched his home and store, they discovered a cache of 18 weapons that included AR-15 assault rifles, 9 mm Ruger and Sig Sauer pistols, shotguns, high-capacity magazines and more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition. Schmidt was originally reported to have been arrested on charges of trafficking in counterfeit goods, but was indicted last month on four federal charges —including possessing illegal weapons, body armor and ammunition. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“As a matter of policy, I don’t comment on pending cases,” his lawyer, Andy Hart, a federal public defender in Toledo, said when reached by telephone.

Dettelbach, who is overseeing the case, said that federal agents have been unable to determine how and where Schmidt obtained his weapons, prompting officials to conclude he likely acquired them at gun shows or through private sales -- where under federal law no background checks are required. .

“It’s scary,” he said about Schmidt’s arsenal of weapons. “It’s not … that I won’t say” where Schmidt got his guns. “It’s that sitting here today as a senior federal law enforcement official in northern Ohio, I can’t say.”

The investigation into Schmidt was conducted by a FBI Joint terrorism Task Force whose agents said they discovered he was tracking African American and Jewish leaders in the Detroit area. When agents conducted their search, they said they found evidence suggesting Schmidt harbored neo-Nazi sympathies, including a video of the 2005 national meeting of the National Socialist Movement — in which speakers wore black swastika arm bands and gave the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute. “This is a war! This is a battle for our survival!” one speaker shouts on a video of the meeting obtained by NBC News. Other seized items, according to federal search warrants, included a list of national Jewish-owned businesses and paraphernalia from the “Waffen SS,” Adolph Hitler’s military force in Germany.

'Very unsettling, very disturbing'

Two community leaders briefed on the case tell NBC News that agents also found a notebook in which Schmidt had listed the names, addresses and other personal information of Detroit area community leaders. Although Schmidt was already in custody, and remains in jail pending trial, the evidence in the notebook prompted agents to warn the leaders about what they had found.
Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit NAACP, said that FBI agents showed him a page of one of Schmidt’s notebooks which included information about members of Anthony’s family as well as distances between his home, office and his church. They also told him they were concerned about “a possible threat against the NAACP and me in particular,” he said.

“It was mind blowing,” Anthony said. “Very unsettling, very disturbing, and it really kind of made me angry.” When he was told about Schmidt’s weapons, Anthony said, “I made the comment that this guy is a one man army and they said, ‘Yes, looks like it.’”

The FBI gave a similar briefing to Scott Kaufman, the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. He said agents also showed him a page of Schmidt’s notebook showing his name and the names of others in leadership positions in his organization, as well as the names of tenants in his building and driving directions to his office.

“When I saw my name on a piece of paper along with information about our organization and our building written by an alleged neo-Nazi, it was certainly unnerving,” he said.

Anthony and Kaufman said the FBI asked them not to share copies of the notebook pages with NBC News because Schmidt’s case is ongoing. They also said agents had no specific evidence of what Schmidt might have been planning – or whether he was working with anybody else. An FBI spokeswoman declined comment.

Federal law does not require such checks for private sales or gun show purchases. Seventeen states have mandated them for handgun purchases at gun shows, though Ohio is not among them. Only six states require background checks for all firearms purchases.
A new study by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research has found that 80 percent of those convicted of gun crimes acquire their weapons through private sales – making it virtually impossible for federal agents to trace where they come from or who is providing them.
“There’s no documentation required for private transactions. So whatever occurs in that zone is invisible to us,” Charles Houser, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms National Tracing Center in Martinsburg, W.Va., said in an interview.
Dettelbach echoed those concerns. “Our current set of laws for how guns get out the community has a lot of holes,” he said. “It’s almost like Swiss cheese.”

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy




NBC News

Report: Pope's resignation linked to probe into 'Vatican gay officials'

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A report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Some of the prelates, the report said, were being blackmailed by outsiders.
The pope's spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report.
According to La Repubblica, the pope had taken the decision that he was going to resign on 17 December– the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals who were tasked with looking into the so-called "Vatileaks" affair.
The newspaper noted that last May Pope Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with having stolen and leaked papal messages that portrayed the Vatican as a hotbed of intrigue and internal strife.
According to La Repubblica, the report, comprising "two volumes of almost 300 pages – bound in red" was transferred to a safe in the papal apartments and would be delivered to the pope's successor as soon as he is elected.
The newspaper said the cardinals described a number of factions, including one whose members were "united by sexual orientation."
La Repubblica said the report claimed some Vatican officials had been subject to "external influence" from laymen with whom they had links of a "worldly nature." The paper said this was a clear reference to blackmail.
The Italian daily quoted a source "very close to those who wrote (the cardinal's report" as saying, "Everything revolves around the non-observance of the sixth and seventh commandments."
La Repubblica said the cardinals' report identified a series of meeting places in and around Rome, including a villa outside the Italian capital, a sauna in a Rome suburb, a beauty parlor in the city's center, and a former university residence that was in use by a provincial Italian archbishop.

FBI crime fighters battle outbreak of internal ‘sexting’ cases

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The crime fighters at the FBI are battling an outbreak of internal misbehavior — sexting.
An FBI assistant director acknowledged a “rash of sexting cases” within the Bureau as confidential internal disciplinary reports with examples of the misbehavior were revealed on Friday.
The reports were obtained by CNN and published on the news network’s website after they were sent to FBI employees to deter bad behavior.
The documents, which don’t include employees’ names, included one case of a staffer being suspended after emailing a nude photograph of herself to her ex-boyfriend’s wife.
In another brazen case, an employee was suspended for using a personal cell phone to send dirty photos “to several other employees.”
The document notes that the mass sexting “adversely affected the daily activities of several squads.”
"We're hoping (that) getting the message out in the quarterlies is going to teach people, as well as their supervisors ... you can't do this stuff," FBI assistant director Candice Will told CNN.
"When you are given an FBI BlackBerry, it's for official use. It's not to text the woman in another office who you found attractive or to send a picture of yourself in a state of undress,” Will said.
Besides sexting, other violations outlined in the documents range from the petty to the shocking.
Minor infractions that resulted in suspensions included fudging work hours or failing to properly log evidence.
One employee was suspended after an FBI-issued shotgun, laptop and camera were left in a car overnight – and then stolen.
Another paid for sexual favors at a massage parlor.

The more bizarre cases included an FBI staffer who was suspended after pointing an unloaded gun at a dog’s head during a domestic fight.

Another was fired for bugging a supervisor’s office and rifling through the superior’s briefcase.

The most serious cases involved one employee who was fired for buying child pornography and others who were ousted for stealing.

One employee shoplifted from a grocery store, another was fired for buying gas with a stranger’s lost or stolen debit card and a third committed check fraud.

From 2010 to 2012, CNN said the FBI disciplined 1,045 of its 36,000 employees and fired 85.

Haredi Sexual Abusers Can't Hide

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The arrest of Haredi rabbis and public figures in northern London on Wednesday was the most dramatic turn yet in a fully sordid case that for months has been creating turmoil within Britain's insular ultra-Orthodox community.
The involvement in the case by the London Metropolitan Police, coupled with a court ruling earlier this month that forced Google to reveal the details of bloggers who have written about it on the Web, is further proof – if any was needed – that Haredi society can no longer solve its problems behind closed doors.
The arrest of Rabbi Chaim Halpern, who was taken into custody in the north London neighborhood of Golders Green on Wednesday morning, came after months of accusations that he had been abusing as many as 30 women, all of whom had come to him for family guidance.
Halpern is the scion of one of England's most influential Haredi families. He is the rabbi of a Golders Green community and a former rabbinical judge of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, which is the main ultra-Orthodox establishment in Britain. He has now been pressured into resigning from his religious positions and a special ad-hoc beit din (rabbinical court) has been convened to hear the allegations against him.
The three other arrested men are believed to be well-known figures in the local community who are suspected of helping Halpern to "pervert justice" by pressuring some of the women not to complain. According to Haredi sources, another well-known figure to be questioned by police is Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, the head of the Union and the man regarded by many as unofficial "Haredi chief rabbi" of Britain.
Accusations against Halpern have been swirling in London's cloistered Haredi world for at least six months now. In December, senior rabbis issued a ruling deeming him unfit to fulfill religious posts. Despite that edict, a small number of followers continued to back Halpern who, while resigning from his official positions, continued to hold services in the small synagogue at his home. And while a special beit din was due to reconvene in two weeks to examine the case, there has been a great deal of criticism within the community that their goal was simply to whitewash the allegations. Many of Halpern's original accusers failed to appear before the court in the first place.
The police action almost certainly came after a tip-off from the Haredi community, which marks a distinct betrayal of the ultra-Orthodox to not be a mosser – one who gives a fellow Jew up to the authorities. But any so-called mossers could in turn say that it was Halpern who went to the authorities first.

A few weeks ago, Halpern persuaded the High Court to issue an order against Google, ordering the search-engine behemoth to release the names of those who had commented publicly against him on a blog.

It is much too early for predictions about how big this case will get. But one thing is clear: The days of solving sexual abuse or other problems within the confines of the community, without the need for police or other professional intervention, are over. British police are not always eager to involve themselves in the matters of tightknit religious communities, and in a number of recent cases they have gotten flak for acting too slow when it comes to sexual abuse among ethnic minorities.

In the case of British Haredim, however, the police investigation, while perhaps rather tardy, was inevitable. There was simply too much online activity surrounding it. Blogs in Britain, Israel and the U.S. had covered it furiously at every turn. The bloggers themselves are Haredi, and well-connected to sources in Golders Green. They have information from eager informants on both sides.
And it's not just the insider blogs that have come calling. The mainstream news organizations are covering it as well. Last month, Britain's Channel 4 screened a television program on "Britain's Hidden Child Abuse" which documented the ways in which the Haredi community tries to prevent allegations of child abuse from getting out. The program included undercover footage of Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, leader of the Haredi community in London's Stamford Hill, counseling the victim of an alleged sexual attack not to go to the police.
The Haredi community in Britain, as well as in Israel and the United States, is becoming more transparent by the day, despite the rabbis' efforts to contain it. Anyone who believed that a special beit din could have cleared up the issue before the police came calling was obviously deluding himself.

Paris - Principal of Beth Hanna school Indicted for Failing to Report School Abuse Cases

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Paris - The 55 year old principal of an Orthodox school in was indicted by a Paris judge on Thursday for failing to report sexual abuse in minors to the authorities, in an effort to protect the image of the Jewish community.
According to reports on French news site RTL.fr, several students at the Beth Hanna school claimed to having been touched inappropriately by a supervisor at the school. When parents brought their concerns to the principal, identified only as “Benjamin M.”, he did not inform authorities of the possible abuse, and is accused that he also tried to convince parents not to make their claims public so as not to dishonor the Jewish community.
The supervisor in question was indicted in November and eventually fired by the school.
One family decided to ignore the warnings of the principal to keep their silence and took the matter to the minors brigade of the Parisian police, which led to his subsequent indictment. Two parents were also taken into custody in relation to the alleged abuse but were released without being charged.
Beth Hanna, located in northeast Paris on Rue Petit, is reportedly the largest Lubavitch school in Europe with an enrollment of approximately 2,000 children.

Manchester Rabbi Todros Gryhaus on Run from Child Sex Abuse Charges

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A Jewish rabbi in Manchester who is facing child sex abuse charges has gone on the run, sparking a police alert.
Rabbi Todros Gryhaus is wanted by police investigating claims of sexual abuse in the Jewish community in Manchester.
He was charged with indecent assault and sexual assault against children in December. More than one child was affected, said police.
They put out alert when it was discovered that Gryhaus, 48, had disappeared from his Salford home, thereby breaching his bail conditions.
IBTimes UK contacted the small business run by the rabbi and was told his whereabouts were unknown.
"I don't know when he will be back," said a spokesman for FastPay, a debt collection agency.
Todros's disappearance comes only weeks after the airing of a TV documentary on hidden child sex abuse rocked the Jewish community in Britain.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman told IBTimes UK: "He has failed to reside at his designated bail address and therefore breached his conditions.
"Inquiries are ongoing to establish his whereabouts."
Delays in reporting
FastPay was allegedly involved in Rangers FC in the period before it went into liquidation. The club reportedly used FastPay to manage season ticket payments from fans.

Senior rabbis in Britain called on sex abuse victims to tell police in the aftermath of the Cutting Edge documentary, Britain's Hidden Child Abuse, was screened on Channel 4 in early January.
The Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue said: "Delays in reporting abuse can cause vital evidence to be lost, allowing the abusers to continue violating our children.
"We must all ensure that the children of our communities will be protected by reporting abuse to the authorities wherever it takes place."
 



Ibtimes

Aussie rabbi denies he knew of sex abuse at school

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SYDNEY  – The head of a suburban Sydney day school denied allegations that he was aware of child sexual abuse taking place at the institution decades ago and failed to report it to authorities.
One of two men accused of sexually abusing boys at the Yeshiva Centre in Bondi told New South Wales police that he confessed to Rabbi PInchus Feldman, the head of the school, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Wednesday.
The police are investigating allegations of sexual abuse at the Orthodox school in the 1970s and ’80s.
The man who confessed told his alleged victim of a meeting 25 years ago with Feldman, according to the Morning Herald.
”He [Feldman] just told me it shouldn’t happen, and I should take steps to avoid it,” the accused man recalled. ”It was a once-off conversation in his office.”
But Chabad of Sydney said in a statement issued Wednesday, “This morning there was a media report that an anonymous individual currently under criminal investigation has alleged to have over a quarter of a century ago privately confessed child sex abuse crimes to Rabbi Feldman. Rabbi Feldman does not have any recollection of such a confession.”
The American-born Feldman, who was sent to Australia by the Lubavitcher rebbe in 1964, added, “To make my position absolutely clear, I endorse the unequivocal rabbinical rulings encouraging victims of abuse to report to the police and I will continue to support the efforts of law enforcement agencies in investigating and taking action against these heinous crimes.”
Manny Waks, an advocate for child sex abuse victims, said he believed Chabad officials have “privately acknowledged that it was indeed aware of the abuse allegations” in the 1980s.
Waks claimed he had been approached with information “alleging that the Yeshiva leadership responded to an alleged incident of child sexual abuse by apparently sending the perpetrator overseas.”
News of the police investigation of the Yeshiva Centre cases, one of which is believed to involve a former employee of Chabad-Lubavitch, became public last week, according to the newspaper.
Neither of the accused has been publicly named by the New South Wales police. The second alleged perpetrator, also Jewish, is understood to have moved overseas.
The allegations in Sydney come in the wake of multiple cases of alleged child sex abuse in Melbourne, most within the Orthodox community.

Israel’s chief justice sides with rabbis in divorce case, drawing fire from women organizations

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Chief Justice Asher Grunis
Supreme Court President Asher Grunis has overruled the High Court of Justice and given the Rabbinical Appeals Court the power to decide the fate of a man jailed for refusing for 10 years to grant his wife a divorce. Grunis’ decision was blasted by womens’ groups as grossly unjust.
The man was ordered jailed for six months by a local rabbinical court last October. Then the Rabbinical Appeals Court ordered the man freed unless his wife dropped her civil suit in the secular courts. Then the High Court of Justice overruled the Rabbinical Appeals Court and ordered the man to remain in jail. Finally on Wednesday, Grunis overruled the High Court, throwing the case back to the Rabbinical Appeals Court. Meanwhile, he ordered the husband kept in jail, ruling that the rabbinical judges, who meet again in a week and a half, is authorized to continue the man’s imprisonment or to release him “at its discretion.”
In late January the wife petitioned the High Court of Justice along with several womens rights groups, claiming the rabbinical court was trying to “deny the civil courts their clear authority to hear and rule in family damage claims ... while undermining the petitioner’s basic rights and preferring a situation in which the recalcitrant husband benefits.”
The petition was served by Mavoi Satum, an Israeli NGO that fights for the rights of women going through divorce in the rabbinical courts. The organizations Na’amat, WIZO, Kol Haisha ‏(The Woman’s Voice‏) and Kolech ‏(Your Voice‏) joined the petition.
“The Rabbinical Court ruling, now backed by the High Court, is a slippery slope,” said attorney Batia Kahana-Dror of Mavoi Satum.
“In deciding to return the jurisdiction about the recalcitrant husband to the Rabbinical Court, the High Court is refusing to grant justice to a woman who now has nowhere to turn. Grunis is ignoring the woman’s exploitation to avoid interfering in the rabbinical courts’ authority, even when it’s clear they trample every basic right our democratic system is based on,” she said.
The husband’s lawyer, Uri Zamberg, said the High Court “realized its ruling was pointless and handed the reins back to the Rabbinical Court. I hope the husband’s expected release in two weeks will lead to a [divorce] settlement. He hopes so too, the problem isn’t only with him. The other side won’t compromise either,” he said.
The Rabbinical Court of Appeals − the top rabbinical court of appeals − is chaired by Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and included Rabbi Tzion Boaron and Rabbi Eliezer Igra, a candidate for the post of chief rabbi.
The proceedings began when the wife filed for divorce in 2002. After four years, the local rabbinical court ruled that the husband was obliged to divorce his wife. The husband then toughened his conditions for granting the divorce.
In 2010, the wife filed a civil damages claim against her husband in family court. In the husband’s appeal, the rabbinical judges argued that the civil suit constituted improper interference with the court’s discretion, as well as with the husband’s discretion to grant his wife a divorce.

Haredi Sexual Abusers Can't Hide

To contact us Click HERE

The arrest of Haredi rabbis and public figures in northern London on Wednesday was the most dramatic turn yet in a fully sordid case that for months has been creating turmoil within Britain's insular ultra-Orthodox community.
The involvement in the case by the London Metropolitan Police, coupled with a court ruling earlier this month that forced Google to reveal the details of bloggers who have written about it on the Web, is further proof – if any was needed – that Haredi society can no longer solve its problems behind closed doors.
The arrest of Rabbi Chaim Halpern, who was taken into custody in the north London neighborhood of Golders Green on Wednesday morning, came after months of accusations that he had been abusing as many as 30 women, all of whom had come to him for family guidance.
Halpern is the scion of one of England's most influential Haredi families. He is the rabbi of a Golders Green community and a former rabbinical judge of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, which is the main ultra-Orthodox establishment in Britain. He has now been pressured into resigning from his religious positions and a special ad-hoc beit din (rabbinical court) has been convened to hear the allegations against him.
The three other arrested men are believed to be well-known figures in the local community who are suspected of helping Halpern to "pervert justice" by pressuring some of the women not to complain. According to Haredi sources, another well-known figure to be questioned by police is Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, the head of the Union and the man regarded by many as unofficial "Haredi chief rabbi" of Britain.
Accusations against Halpern have been swirling in London's cloistered Haredi world for at least six months now. In December, senior rabbis issued a ruling deeming him unfit to fulfill religious posts. Despite that edict, a small number of followers continued to back Halpern who, while resigning from his official positions, continued to hold services in the small synagogue at his home. And while a special beit din was due to reconvene in two weeks to examine the case, there has been a great deal of criticism within the community that their goal was simply to whitewash the allegations. Many of Halpern's original accusers failed to appear before the court in the first place.
The police action almost certainly came after a tip-off from the Haredi community, which marks a distinct betrayal of the ultra-Orthodox to not be a mosser – one who gives a fellow Jew up to the authorities. But any so-called mossers could in turn say that it was Halpern who went to the authorities first.

A few weeks ago, Halpern persuaded the High Court to issue an order against Google, ordering the search-engine behemoth to release the names of those who had commented publicly against him on a blog.

It is much too early for predictions about how big this case will get. But one thing is clear: The days of solving sexual abuse or other problems within the confines of the community, without the need for police or other professional intervention, are over. British police are not always eager to involve themselves in the matters of tightknit religious communities, and in a number of recent cases they have gotten flak for acting too slow when it comes to sexual abuse among ethnic minorities.

In the case of British Haredim, however, the police investigation, while perhaps rather tardy, was inevitable. There was simply too much online activity surrounding it. Blogs in Britain, Israel and the U.S. had covered it furiously at every turn. The bloggers themselves are Haredi, and well-connected to sources in Golders Green. They have information from eager informants on both sides.
And it's not just the insider blogs that have come calling. The mainstream news organizations are covering it as well. Last month, Britain's Channel 4 screened a television program on "Britain's Hidden Child Abuse" which documented the ways in which the Haredi community tries to prevent allegations of child abuse from getting out. The program included undercover footage of Rabbi Ephraim Padwa, leader of the Haredi community in London's Stamford Hill, counseling the victim of an alleged sexual attack not to go to the police.
The Haredi community in Britain, as well as in Israel and the United States, is becoming more transparent by the day, despite the rabbis' efforts to contain it. Anyone who believed that a special beit din could have cleared up the issue before the police came calling was obviously deluding himself.

Reviewing the Mail: Week of 2/16

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This is one of the periodic "Reviewing the Mail" posts that falls on a holiday -- at least where I live, in the country that low-information voters believe their sky-god gave to them personally -- which means I still do everything exactly the same, but I suspect most of you don't see it for a while. (Because my assumption is that Antick Musings generally falls into the "distract me at work" category, rather than "I must read it right away!")

With that in mind, I wish you a Happy Monday, with local variations.

This week I've got six books to babble about -- none of which, of course, I've read yet. Two of them are impressively large, and so I'll use them as bookends for the novels in the middle. As usual, my hope is that at least one of these books will be something that you (yes, you!) will absolutely love, since that's the whole point of entertainment. If you don't, well, there are millions of other books out there, so keep looking.

On the Ropes declares itself on the cover to be "a novel," though savvy readers will see its large squarish size and poke inside to see panels lurking on the pages and realize that this is the kind if novel usually prefaced with the word "graphic." (If such things give you cooties, run away now, and leave us more evolved types to continue.) On the Ropes is indeed a graphic novel, the long-awaited sequel to 1988's Kings in Disguise, one of that initial mid-80s flurry of Anglo-American stories pushing the comics medium in new and exciting directions. Writer James Vance and arts Dan E. Burr are back, twenty-five years later, to tell another story of Freddie Block, an orphan in the Depression. Block is now almost eighteen and working in a traveling WPA circus in the Midwest as the assistant to alcoholic escape artist Gordon Corey -- while also working secretly as a labor organizer and trying to write a novel. On the Ropes will be published March 11th by W.W. Norton -- which also has an edition of Kings in Disguise in print, if anyone wants to start there.

Homeland is Cory Doctorow's second novels for teens, after Little Brother (to which Homeland is a sequel). It continues the near-future story of teenagers battling an oppressive government seeking to control everyone in the name of "freedom" and "safety" after a second devastating terrorist attack in San Francisco. But Homeland appears to have slightly different targets: it has an afterword by Jacob Appelbaum and Aaron Swartz (yes, that Aaron Swartz) and focuses on a WikiLeaks-style unauthorized release of information to Marcus, the young hero of the first book. I expect Homeland is much like the first book -- see my review, linked above -- in pitting a young, ferociously self-righteous and incredibly resourceful young man against all of the oppressive apparatus of the modern state, with a crystal-clear sense of where the author falls on every issue. If you like your agitprop utterly up-to-date, this the book you want to read in early 2013. Homeland is a hardcover from Tor Teen, and went on sale February 5.

John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen, two of my generation's premier gatekeepers for short genre fiction, have a new anthology from Amazon's 47 North imprint: Oz Reimagined. And, of course, it contains stories about Narnia! No, wait, let me check that again -- it actually has 15 original stories set in the (now solidly public-domain) world of L. Frank Baum's Oz, including contributions from Seanan McGuire, David Farland, Rachel Swirsky, Jeffrey Ford, Jane Yolen, Tad Williams and Orson Scott Card. There's also a foreword from Gregory Maguire, the current leader of the Oz-reappropriation industry. It all hits Amazon -- and possibly some other bookstores that don't mind participating in their own demise -- on February 26th.

Gillian Philip's novel Firebrand -- beginning of the Rebel Angels series and a finalist for the adventure-fantasy David Gemmell Legend Award in 2010 for its British publication -- comes to the US from Tor on February 19th. It's set in the world of the Sidhe, immortal faery folk separated from the world of mortal men by the Veil -- which is, as it must in stories like this, starting to tear at the edges and in danger of failing entirely. Philip is Scots, and her character names (and, perhaps, her plots) reflect this, as Seth and Conal MacGregor are outcast into the mortal world in the 16th century due to political machinations and find themselves chased by witch-hunters.

Also from Tor and also hitting stores on February 19th is Evie Manieri's Blood's Pride, a first novel and the first in the Shattered Kingdoms series. It's a big epic fantasy series set in a pseudo-Mediterranean world, twenty years after the not-Vikings invaded a peaceful country, conquered it, and forged an alliance with the not-Arabs to maintain their power. There's no conquered country that doesn't want to kill its conquerors, so the oppressed Shadari have mustered their forces, hired the frightening mercenary called The Mongrel (I believe that's her in the eyepatch on the cover), and spit on their hands in preparation for the slaughter to come. All the quotes on this one talk about the big cast and widescreen action, so this is big-scale epic fantasy -- the kind that so many of us love.

Last for this week is the new book from quirky cartoonist Ben Katchor, best known for his long-running alt-weekly strip Julius Knipl, Real Estate Phototographer. Hand-Drying in America And Other Stories is a large square object, about a foot on a side, with lots of Katchor's loose, sketchy art and elusive stories, in what its publisher calls "a collection of graphic narratives on the subjects of urban planning, product design, and architecture." Well, OK. Katchor's appeal has never quite made sense to me, which has been frustrating -- I know why people like James Patterson and Johnny Ryan and Tom Cruise and Beyonce and Kevin James and Geoff Johns and LeBron James and Rob Liefeld are popular, even if I don't particularly share in that love, but Katchor seems to appeal to people like me for reasons similar to the ones that make me like things, and I don't get it at all. I hope to spend some time with this book to riddle out that mystery; if you want to do something similar -- or you honestly like Katchor's work, which I know many people do -- you can find Hand-Drying in America available from the fine folks at Pantheon Books on March 5th.