Source: NYT

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general and his top aides directed staff members to remove damaging findings from investigative reports on domestic violence and sexual misconduct by officers in the department’s law enforcement agencies, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and two government officials familiar with the inquiries...

The draft report also described a pattern of the agencies using cash payments, with payouts as high as $255,000, to settle sexual harassment complaints without investigating or disciplining the perpetrators. But senior officials in the inspector general’s office objected to that finding, suggesting in written comments that it be removed from the report, which has never been published…

Mr. Cuffari, a Trump appointee who has served as inspector general since July 2019, has previously blocked investigations, against his staff’s recommendations. He blocked inquiries into the Secret Service’s role in the violent dispersal of protests against police brutality outside the White House in 2020, and on the spread of Covid-19 at that agency. He also delayed an inquiry into whether senior agency officials demoted an employee who criticized the Trump administration...

The investigations into sexual misconduct and domestic violence took place as law enforcement agencies within the department — particularly the Border Patrol, which is part of Customs and Border Protection — struggled to recruit women and advance them into leadership positions. They followed high-profile incidents of sexual misconduct over the past decade.


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/us/politics/homeland-security-inspector-general.html

---

It’s far worse than these four paragraphs detail. Worth a read and bookmark, imho.

Books about LGBTQ and Black people were among the most challenged books in 2021

Books that tell the stories of Black and LGBTQ people or by authors in those communities were among the 10 most challenged titles in 2021, the American Library Association said…

The majority of books were called inappropriate because some people considered them to be sexually explicit, have sexually explicit images or include sexual references. Some books dealt with the LGBTQ experience, and one was challenged for allegedly promoting “an anti-police message,” the ALA said…

Parents went from taking issue with books that mostly dealt with racism and racial justice in 2020 to a greater focus on books that discuss gender identity and sexual orientation…

The most-challenged book of 2021 was “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, which discusses the non-binary author’s journey with her own identity. Kobabe’s book has been banned or challenged from school libraries in at least a dozen states.

It wouldn’t have helped his case in any way. After reading his statement, it looks as if he accepts that he - and he alone - was responsible for his actions.

“Change takes time,” he (Smith) concluded, “and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason.” — NYT

Mr. Packer said that Mr. Smith reached out and apologized to him the morning after the Oscars. And he praised Mr. Rock for having kept his cool. “Chris was keeping his head when everyone else was losing theirs,” he said.

“I’ve never felt so immediately devastated,” Mr. Packer said of the incident.

Asked if, after hearing Mr. Smith’s acceptance speech, he wished that the actor had left the ceremony, Mr. Packer said that he did, noting that Mr. Smith had not used his remarks to express real contrition and apologize to Mr. Rock.

“If he wasn’t going to give that speech which made it truly better, then yes, yes,” Mr. Packer said when asked if he wished Mr. Smith had left the ceremony. “Because now you don’t have the optics of somebody who committed this act, didn’t nail it in terms of a conciliatory acceptance speech in that moment, who then continued to be in the room.” —David Packer “ Will Smith Resigns From Academy After Slapping Chris Rock at Oscars’’ (New York Times, accessed 4/1/22)