Eric Schneiderman’s Past Statements

Before his abrupt resignation Monday after four women accused him of physical assault, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York cultivated an image as an advocate for women.

Here are some of his own recent comments about gender equality, abortion rights, and sexual harassment and assault.

‘Basic safety is not a privilege’

On the 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act in 2014, Mr. Schneiderman said that despite legislation, threats to women’s physical safety remained a problem across the country.

He said in a written statement:

“Twenty years ago today, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Violence Against Women Act, a major milestone in our nation’s efforts to prevent violence against women and help the victims of such reprehensible acts. But two decades later, despite the significant protections established under VAWA, recent events have shone necessary light on the fact that violence against women remains a prevalent and dangerous problem across our nation. Basic safety is not a privilege: It is a fundamental right. Protecting all Americans from harm, regardless of their relationship to their abuser or their gender, is and will remain one of the most important aspects of our ongoing pursuit of equal justice under law.”

Domestic violence victims are among ‘the most vulnerable’

Mr. Schneiderman’s office published a brochure to inform victims of domestic violence of their rights under state and federal law.

Travolta family's mob film

A long-awaited biopic of the notorious New York mafia boss John Gotti starring John Travolta is slated to premiere at Cannes, the film festival said Tuesday.

The movie -- which is being shown at a "private presentation" on May 15 -- traces the epic rise and fall of the Gambino crime clan, one of America's most powerful mafia gangs in the 1980s.

The film is very much a family affair, featuring Travolta's wife Kelly Preston as Gotti's wife Victoria, and his daughter Ella Bleu as Gotti's daughter Angel Gotti.

"We're hoping to use Cannes as our launching pad," the film's marketing and distribution chief Dennis Rice told the Hollywood Reporter.

The project first took root in 2011 when John Gotti Jr. signed a deal with a little-known producer to make a film about his father.But soon after Travolta agreed to play the lead role, the movie ran into obstacles, triggering a seemingly endless exodus of directors.

Shooting finally began two years ago under the direction of Kevin Connolly of Entourage fame.

But the highly anticipated planned release in December 2017 was cancelled at the last minute.

However this time producers are confident that it will at last hit the screen, with indie distributor Vertical Entertainment having announced the US release for June 15.

Experts propose inclusion of Papuan

Linguists have suggested that epen, a Papuan word, be included in the Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language of the Language Center (KBBI).

Epen, which is widely used by the people of Papua, is actually an abbreviation of a two word phrase, emang pentingkah? (Is it so important?).

Epen is used to reject an attempt to encourage someone to do or believe in something he or she does not consider as something important from the very beginning.

“For example, when someone doesn’t want to talk with a person he or she doesn’t trust, they will say: ‘Is it epen [so important for me] to talk with him or her?’” said Nunung, a linguist who participated in a language enrichment dissemination program held by the Papua Language Center in Jayapura.

Nunung said epen was widely used not only by native Papuans but also by people outside Papua who had visited the province or become acquainted with Papuan people.

In addition to epen, trada is another Papuan word that has been recommended for inclusion in the Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language. “Trada is used by everyone in Papua. It means ‘no’. It’s getting rarer for people in Papua to use tidak. They often use tra or trada,” said Lita, another dissemination program participant.

“We, from the Papua Language Center, have proposed 1,000 Papuan words to be included in the KBBI, but only 384 words have been approved,” the agency’s head Toha Machsum said.

To enrich the Indonesian language, the Education and Culture Ministry in Jakarta has developed an application at kkbi.kemdikbud.go.id.

“The application makes it easier for people to propose words for inclusion from their respective regions into the KBBI. Our selection team will assess whether their proposals can be approved,”

Erdogan vows to quit when 'enough', sparks Twitter

Istanbul - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed he would step down if his people decided it was "enough", prompting opponents to propel the word in Turkish to the top of worldwide Twitter trends.

Erdogan will on June 24 contest a presidential election, seeking a new mandate to extend his 15 years in power which began when he became premier in 2003 and continued with his move to the presidency in 2014.

His ruling party is confident of victory in the polls but the country remains highly polarised between supporters of Erdogan and those who oppose him with equal passion.

Speaking to his party in Ankara, Erdogan said his foes "have just one care - to destroy Recep Tayyip Erdogan."

"If one day our nation says 'enough', then we will move to the side," he said, referring to himself in the first person plural.

Erdogan said the Turkish people had until now always given the right response to those who sought to destroy him, recalling the failed 2016 coup against his rule.

Predicting victory in the election, he added: "God willing, I believe we will, together with our nation, on June 24 once again give a well deserved lesson to this team of destruction."

Opponents rapidly seized on the word he had used in Turkish for "enough" - "tamam" - and turned it into the top Twitter trend not just in Turkey but around the world with over 450,000 tweets by the afternoon.

'Enough, God Willing'

Some simply tweeted the word in bold letters with spaces - T A M A M - while others added slogans. "Just please go now," wrote one user.

Others just wrote the word TAMAM as many times as they could within Twitter's character limit, or made fancy shapes with its letters.

The word was also rapidly seized upon by Erdogan's rivals who will face him in the June 24 poll and seek to force a run-off.

"Time's Up!" (in Turkish "Vakit TAMAM!") tweeted Muharrem Ince, the candidate of the main secular opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

"T A M A M," tweeted Meral Aksener, the leader of the newly-formed nationalist party the Iyi (Good) Party.

"Enough, God Willing" ("T A M A M Insallah") added Temel Karamollaoglu, leader of the conservative Saadet (Felicity) Party who is also to run against Erdogan.

Denounced by his opponents as an authoritarian leader and throwback to the Ottoman sultans, Erdogan boasts of having brought Turkey to a new level of economic prosperity and foreign policy influence under his rule.

While there is strong hostility to him on the Aegean coast, some Kurdish areas and parts of Istanbul and Ankara, he retains widespread and massively enthusiastic support in the Anatolian core of the country.

Trend Leaves Kids With Second-Degree Burns

The "Deodorant Challenge" dares kids to spray aerosol deodorant onto their bare skin or onto someone else's bare skin for as long as they can stand it, with the aerosol rapidly cooling the skin and causing a frostbite condition similar to a burn. A 15-year-old in South Gloucestershire, England is still recovering after taking part three weeks ago. The burns are so severe on her arm she may need a skin graft, the teen's mom Jamie Prescott Her post included photos of her daughter's severe burns weeks after she participated in the challenge on April 18. She urged parents to talk to their children about the "damaging results of something known as 'The Deodorant Challenge.'"

"For any parents who have children, please, please sit them down and show them these pictures. These are the damaging results of something known as 'The Deodorant Challenge,' which is currently doing the rounds," Prescott's post said.

Her daughter, Ellie, said the second-degree burn is "really painful," Fox News reported.

"It's a hole in my arm and there's all this yellow stuff coming out. My friend did it a year ago and has a scar but said it wasn't as painful as mine. When I show people my injury they lift up their sleeves and show that they've all had it done too," Fox quoted the teen as saying.

Although Ellie has recently moved schools, she said this dangerous trend is prevalent at both her old and new schools.

Prescott told Somerset Live her daughter was with friends when the incident occurred, and "when they asked her to put out her arm she did it but she had no idea of the consequences."

Ellie said that when she put her arm out, a deodorant was sprayed onto it. Now, when others ask her what's wrong with her arm and she tells them, they show Ellie their scars from participating in the challenge, the teen told Somerset Live.

"Even if we can prevent just one more child from going through this, it will be worth it," Prescott told Somerset Live. "I absolutely hate being in the limelight and writing public posts and having attention, but in this particular instance, this challenge really needs to be made as public as possible. It's just horrendous and needs stopping."

Proposed to heal inter-generational divide

The research and policy organisation, the Resolution Foundation, says these radical moves are needed to better fund the NHS and maintain social cohesion.

Its chairman, Lord Willetts, said the contract between young and old had "broken down".

Without action, young people would become "increasingly angry", he said.

The Resolution Foundation says its goal is to improve outcomes for people on low and modest incomes.

Recommendations include:

Give £10,000 to all young adults at the age of 25, funded by a new "lifetime receipts tax" that would replace inheritance tax

Scrap council tax and replace it with a new property tax targeting wealthier homeowners

Use the proceeds from property tax reform to halve stamp duty for first-time buyers and increase public funding for social care

Make earnings of those above state pension age subject to National Insurance contributions

What can you get for £10,000?

Lord Willetts, the former universities minister under David Cameron, argued that young people were being locked out of the housing market and older people were worried about the demands of healthcare.

Lord Willetts was speaking as the Resolution Foundation, which he heads, published a report calling for tax changes to help heal the growing economic tensions between the generations.

Windfall for young

The foundation's Intergenerational Commission report calls for an NHS "levy" of £2.3bn paid for by increased national insurance contributions by those over the age of 65.

It says that all young people should receive a £10,000 windfall at the age of 25 to help pay for a deposit on a home, start a business or improve their education or skills.

The report proposes that this money be raised by abolishing inheritance tax and replacing it with a lifetime limit for recipients of £125,000 before taxes kick in.

The commission estimates this would raise £5bn.

"We've got a very serious problem of ensuring there's a fair deal across the generations," Lord Willetts told me.

"Older people are worried about a properly funded healthcare system, people in middle age still haven't been able to buy their own home, and for younger people their pay is no better than it was 10 or 15 years ago.

"So the different generations in the UK all face different pressures.

"But we can tackle them, we can do something about it."The report calls for the scrapping of the council tax system, replacing it with a new property tax which would raise more money from wealthier homeowners.

The proceeds would be used to halve stamp duty for first-time buyers.

The cross-party commission, which included input from the heads of the CBI business lobby group and the Trades Union Congress, also demands more secure tenancies for renters.

Millennials - people born between 1981 and 2000 - are half as likely as baby boomers - born between 1946 and 1965 - to own their own home by 30.

Lord Willetts said that a lot of the problems had been created by political inertia by a series of governments.

'Broken down'

"I think we still care about it," Lord Willetts said.

"We still feel the obligations that generations have to each other, and families are incredibly important in discharging those obligations.

"But when you look at public policy, sadly when it comes to a properly funded healthcare system, houses available so that people can achieve their goal of owner-occupation and a fair deal in pay for younger people - in all those ways, that contract between the generations has not been maintained.

"That contract has broken down. Families are doing their best, the bank of mum and dad helping out the kids, younger people caring about their grandparents, but when you look at public policy, there are older people worried about their social care, there are people of middle age who still aren't owner-occupiers, and that's what they want to be, and there are younger people whose pay is no higher than it was 10 or 15 years ago, so there's a problem in public policy."

New research produced by the Resolution Foundation revealed that young people are earning less today than the generation before them was earning at the same age.

It showed that home ownership levels are far lower.

And a poll undertaken for the Intergenerational Commission also suggested people were more pessimistic in Britain about the chances of the next generation having "better lives" than the one before it - compared with almost any other country.

I asked Lord Willetts whether any government would have the stomach for increasing taxes on pensioners, for example, given that Theresa May was unable to push through a tax increase for the self-employed last year because of a public and Parliamentary backlash.

"There's no avoiding the pressures for more spending on healthcare and social care, the question is how we meet those pressures," he replied.

"Extra borrowing is unfair on the younger generation.

"Extra taxes on the working population - when especially younger workers have not really seen any increase in their pay - will be very unfair.

"It so happens that the older people who will benefit most from extra spending on health care have got some resources, so at low rates, it's reasonable to expect them to contribute.

"It is better than any of the alternatives."

Read more from Kamal Ahmed here

Private contributions

The foundation also suggests that wealthier people should contribute privately to a social insurance system to help pay for social care in older age.

The system would mirror elements of compulsory health insurance policies in Germany.

"We do think that there needs to be some element of private payment into social care costs when people can afford it," Lord Willetts said.

"But we're absolutely clear there should be a limit on those contributions, so that people don't face a very large bill that could wipe out their wealth.

"There should be an upper limit on it, and everybody should expect some contribution from the state.

"We want everything to be fair and affordable."

How to get a free ice cream cone today

What better way to celebrate the beginning of spring than with free ice cream? Häagen-Dazs Free Cone Day is today, May 8th, and all you have to do is walk into a participating Häagen-Dazs shop to join in on the fun. From the hours of 4 PM to 8 PM local time, you can get a free mini cone of your choice of flavor free of charge.

The best part of the deal is that there are no catches. You don’t have to print out a coupon or say a secret phrase, and you don’t have to buy anything else first to take advantage of the offer. Just visit your closest store, get the free cone, “We dedicated this Free Cone Day to our buzziest workers- the honey bees,” the retailer explains. “In recent years, the honey bee population has been disappearing at an alarming rate, affecting pollination and putting our food system at risk. For the past decade, Häagen-Dazs has been a big defender of honey bees who help us create our most beloved flavors like Strawberry, Rocky Road and Mango. As a part of the “Häagen-Dazs loves Honey Bees Initiative”, we hope to give our flying friends some much needed recognition this Free Cone Day.”

Remember, the deal is only available between 4-8 this afternoon, so get to Häagen-Dazs soon if you want a cone.