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Nov. 5 (UPI) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she has filed a complaint against the man seen in video groping her on a Mexico City street.

“If I don’t report it — besides the fact that it is a crime — then what position are all Mexican women left in?” she asked during a Wednesday press conference.

“If this can happen to the president, what can happen to all the young women in our country?”

Video of the Tuesday incident circulating online shows Sheinbaum speaking to people on a crowded Mexico City street. As she turns to speak with people to her right, a man comes up from behind her left side, puts his arm around her right shoulder and appears to lean in to try to kiss the president on the cheek.

As another man, whom Sheinbaum identified as Juan Jose of her staff, approaches, the suspect’s left hand is seen sliding up the president’s side and appears to grope her before Jose intervenes and moves him away.

Sheinbaum told reporters Wednesday that the man has been arrested.

“I had to go to the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office because it’s a local offense. I filed the complaint, and it turns out this same person later went on to harass other women on the street,” she said.

“First of all, this is something that should never happen in our country. I’m not saying this as the president, but as a woman, and on behalf of all Mexican women: it should not happen.”

She explained they decided to walk from the National Palace to the Ministry of Public Education on Tuesday because the drive would have taken 20 minutes, when by foot it would only take them a quarter of the time.

Many people greeted them en route without problems, until “this totally drunk person approached,” she said.

“That’s when I experienced this incident of harassment. At that moment, I was actually talking with other people, so I didn’t realize right away what was happening,” she said, adding it was only after watching the video that she realized she had been accosted.

“I decided to file a complaint because this is something I experienced as a woman, and it’s something women across our country experience. I’ve lived through this before, back when I wasn’t president, when I was a student, when I was young,” she said.

“Our personal space — no one has the right to violate it,” she continued. “No one. No one should violate our personal space. No man has the right to do so. The only way that’s acceptable is with a woman’s consent.”

The type of harassment the president was the victim of is not a crime in all states, she said, adding that she has called for a review to see where it is a criminal offense.

They are also launching a campaign to encourage women to be respected “in every sense” and to promote that harassment is a crime.

ALL flights bound for a quaint UK seaside town have been axed after a domestic airline filed for administration.

Eastern Airways, that serves different destinations in England and Scotland, has filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator as it stares down crippling debts of over £25million.

The news means that the carrier will no longer be flying to Wick, a popular Scottish coastal town.

Eastern Airways launched flights to the town’s airport with flights to Aberdeen in April 2022, after pausing during Covid.

But Wick John O’Groats Airport will receive its final flight on Sunday.

That means that from next week, the airport will no longer have any commercial flights.

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The local Highland Council is calling for a subsidized flight routes to continue to Wick from Aberdeen.

A spokesperson called the cancellation of Eastern Airways “deeply disappointing,” adding: “This makes the case not only for the continuation of the PSO air services to Wick but for the expansion of provision.”

Local businesses are set to be hit by the airline’s financial woes.

It comes after Wick High Street was given a £2millon boost to upgrade the main high street.

Eastern Airways launched back in 1997 and carries around 1.3million passengers each year.

The airline plays a key role in providing regional air travel across the UK, with current destinations including Wick and Aberdeen in Scotland, and then Humberside, Teeside International, London Gatwick and Newquay.

However, the airline has previously operated many other routes including to Gibraltar from Southampton and Birmingham.

Services to Gibraltar were launched back in 2021 but then axed just a year later.

And in March last year, the operator also cancelled its route between Cardiff to Paris Orly, France.

Only this year, did the airline also announce that it would be launching flights from Newquay in Cornwall, to London Southend Airport in Essex.

Currently, this route cannot be seen on the airline’s website.

Eastern Airways is also the number one provider of charter flights for sports teams in Europe – this includes Premier League and Championship football teams, Rugby Union teams and Super League teams.

For the 12 months to March 2024, Eastern Airways reported a net loss of £19.7million — £4.8million higher than the previous year.

The company’s total debt rose by £4.8million to £25.97million, while profit fell sharply to £454,000 from £1.55million the year before.

It isn’t the only airline that recently went bust this year.

Last month, Play Airlines announced that it would be ceasing operations with all flights being cancelled.

Play Airlines flew to a number of different European destinations likes London Stansted, Amsterdam, Paris and Faro.

And last year, Spirit Airlines – a US low-cost carrier – also filed for bankruptcy.

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Monarch Airlines ceased operations in 2017, which at the time was the UK’s largest ever to collapse.

Thomas Cook then shut down in 2019 – although the airline has since relaunched.

SACRAMENTO — U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III announced today that he will resign at the end of July or in early August.

He told a news conference that an independent prosecutor investigating his personal financial affairs had found no grounds for legal action against him and therefore he could leave the Reagan Administration with a clear name.

“I have stated that I would not resign under a cloud or until I was completely vindicated,” Meese said, adding that the filing of a report by independent counsel James McKay–rather than an indictment–”fully vindicates me.”

Meese’s tenure at the Justice Department has been marked by repeated controversy surrounding his conduct and marred by resignations by senior personnel.

Won’t Be ‘Hounded’

Explaining why he had now decided to resign, Meese, who has always maintained his innocence, declared, “to allow myself to be hounded out of office by false accusations or allegations, unjust political attacks and media clamor would undermine the integrity of our system of justice which I have championed. . . . “

He said: “I have informed the President that I will be leaving the Administration towards the end of July or early in August.”

Earlier today, McKay ended his investigation of Meese without bringing criminal charges, but filed a report that raised questions about Meese’s ethics.

Sources close to the nearly 14-month-old probe said the secret report, totaling more than 800 pages, referred certain matters on Meese’s ethical behavior to the Justice Department for further review.

The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the agency’s internal ethics unit, is expected to review whether Meese violated federal ethics rules that prohibit actions that create the appearance of impropriety.

Allegations Detailed

McKay, who previously said he had insufficient evidence to indict Meese on most key matters under scrutiny, detailed in the report his probe into various conflict-of-interest charges against the attorney general.

It was filed under seal with a special panel of three federal appeals court judges. After Meese’s defense attorneys comment on the report, the judges will decide when to release it.

Meese, the nation’s top law enforcement officer who had President Reagan’s continued support throughout the inquiry, has denied any wrongdoing.

Most of McKay’s investigation centered on action Meese took as a government official that benefited his longtime friend and former lawyer, E. Robert Wallach, and on assistance that Wallach extended to Meese.

Wallach has been indicted on charges of attempting to illegally influence Meese and other government officials in helping win lucrative government contracts for the scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp., a defense contractor.

The most serious charge against Meese involved his role in a failed Iraqi oil pipeline deal that allegedly called for payoffs of as much as $700 million over 10 years to Israel and the Israeli Labor Party.

Meese received a secret 1985 memo from Wallach, who represented one of the project’s promoters, outlining the alleged payoff plan in return for an Israeli commitment not to attack the pipeline.

Meese then helped set up a meeting between a top White House national security adviser and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to discuss the project.

Telephone Contacts Probed

McKay also investigated Meese’s meetings with regional Bell Telephone company executives while holding $14,000 in phone stock.

In the late 1990s and early aughts, the conservative Parents Television Council struck fear in the hearts of network TV executives for its high-profile campaigns against shows it deemed too raunchy.

The watchdog group, founded by conservative commentator L. Brent Bozell III, railed against Fox’s “Melrose Place” and “Family Guy”; NBC’s “Just Shoot Me”; and the CW’s “Gossip Girl.” It also singled out CBS following the infamous Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake “nipplegate” controversy during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show when the singer’s breast was briefly exposed.

But the Parents Television Council Inc. — whose members lodged thousands of indecency complaints with the Federal Communications Commission — has folded. Earlier this month, the Burbank-based nonprofit filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Delaware court, saying it had $284,823 in liabilities, which include staff member salaries, insurance payments and credit card debt. The filing lists $91,874 in assets.

The group’s demise reflects broad cultural changes, including a fractured media environment and consumers’ shift to streaming and social media apps such as TikTok for entertainment. Parents also have tools, including the ability to configure settings on streaming accounts to try to shield children from inappropriate content.

The PTC’s power came, in large part, from its ability to flood the FCC with indecency complaints. But the FCC, which licenses broadcasters, does not regulate streaming services, YouTube or TikTok.

The council had clout with advertisers, which put pressure on network programmers to minimize shows that would raise the group’s ire and threats of boycotts.

“I’m disappointed but I’m still very proud of what we did and what we achieved,” Tim Winter, former president of the group, said Friday. “We were able to raise awareness about so many important issues — issues that are still out there.”

“Like most businesses, it came down to money,” said Winter, who retired three years ago. “It’s just a slog out there to fundraise.”

Decades ago, the group hauled in millions of dollars in donations. The PTC boasted more than 653,000 members and supporters by 2000. However, in 2023, the most recent year of available tax reports, the Parents Television Council raised just $1.6 million, down from $4.7 million in 2007.

The group, which also went by Parents Television and Media Council, was formed in 1995 by Bozell as the Hollywood arm of his Virginia-based Media Research Center.

Bozell, long a booster of President Trump, now serves in his administration as ambassador to South Africa.

One of the PTC’s early efforts was to urge broadcasters to reserve the 8 p.m. hour for family-friendly fare. That was the custom of the networks in the 1970s; but two decades later, there was a rise in sexually suggestive content.

Over the years, the group hired analysts to monitor TV programming, published detailed reports and TV show rankings. Winter testified before a U.S. Senate committee hearing in 2007 on the impact of media violence on children.

Advertisers were sensitive to the PTC’s warnings.

“We were able to redirect tens of millions of dollars away from more explicit programming and into more family-friendly shows,” Winter said.

The PTC also spoke out against media consolidation, which accelerated in the 1990s, “the problem of having too few voices hold the microphone,” Winter said.

While it initially focused on broadcast shows, the group went after others, including Netflix when it offered the show “13 Reasons Why,” based on a book about a 17-year-old girl who died by suicide. The PTC, and other organizations, decried the series, fearing it would encourage more deaths.

Netflix responded by deleting a graphic suicide scene, and the show was later canceled.

“The media culture is no less toxic than it was years ago. And in some ways, it is more toxic,” Winter said, adding that other organizations will have to carry the mantle. “The mission is more important than ever.”

Last month, in a special election, voters in southern Arizona chose Adelita Grijalva to succeed her late father in Congress.

The outcome in the solidly Democratic district was never in doubt. The final tally wasn’t remotely close.

Grijalva, a Tucson native and former Pima County supervisor, crushed her Republican opponent, 69% to 29%.

The people spoke, loudly and emphatically, and normally that would have been that. Grijalva would have assumed office by now, allowing her to serve her orphaned constituents by filling a House seat that’s been vacant since her father died in March, after representing portions of Arizona for more than 20 years.

But these are not normal times. These are times when everything, including the time of day and state of the weather, has become politically charged.

And so Grijalva is residing in limbo. Or, rather, at her campaign headquarters in Tucson, since she’s been locked out of her congressional office on Capitol Hill — the one her father used, which now has her name on a plaque outside. She’s been denied entry by Speaker Mike Johnson.

“It’s pretty horrible,” Grijalva said in an interview, “because regardless of whether I have an official office or not, constituents elected me and people are reaching out to me through every social media outlet.

“‘I have a question,’” they tell Grijalva, or “‘I’m afraid I’m going to get fired’ or ‘We need some sort of assistance.’”

All she can do is refer them to Arizona’s two U.S. senators.

House members are scattered across the country during the partial government shutdown and Johnson said he can’t possibly administer the oath of office to Grijalva during a pro forma session, a time when normal business — legislative debate, roll call votes — is not being conducted. “We have to have everybody here,” Johnson said, “and we’ll swear her in.”

But, lo, dear reader, are you sitting down?

It turns out there were two Republican lawmakers elected this year in special elections, each, as it happens from Florida. Both were sworn in the very next day … during pro forma sessions!

Shocked? Don’t be. In the Trump era, rules and standards are applied in flagrantly different ways, depending on which political party is involved.

But partisanship aside, what possible reason would Johnson have to stall Grijalva’s swearing-in? Here’s a clue: It involves a convicted sex trafficker and former buddy of President Trump, whose foul odor trails him like the reeking carcass of a beached whale.

Yes, it’s the late Jeffrey Epstein!

“On my very first day in Congress, I’ll sign the bipartisan discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files,” Grijalva said on the eve of her landslide election. “This is as much about fulfilling Congress’ duty as a constitutional check on this administration as it is about demanding justice for survivors.”

Jeffrey Epstein. Gone but very much unforgotten.

For years, his perversions have been an obsession among those, mainly on the right, who believe a “deep state” cover-up has protected the rich and powerful who partnered with women procured by Epstein. After Trump’s marionette attorney general, Pam Bondi, suggested a client list was sitting on her desk, awaiting release, the Justice Department abruptly reversed course.

There was no such list, it announced, and Epstein definitely committed suicide and wasn’t, as the conspiracy-minded suggest, murdered by those wishing to silence him.

Trump, who palled around with Epstein, urged everyone to move along. Naturally, Johnson fell into immediate lockstep. (Bondi, for her part, tap-danced through a contentious Senate hearing last week, repeatedly sidestepping questions about the Epstein-Trump relationship, including whether photos exist of the president alongside “half-naked young women.”)

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a GOP lawmaker and persistent Trump irritant, and Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna have led the bipartisan effort to force the Justice Department to cough up the government’s unclassified records related to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend and fellow sex trafficker.

The discharge petition, overriding the objections of Trump and Johnson and forcing the House to vote on release of the files, needs at least 218 signatures, which constitutes a majority of the 435 members. The petition has been stalled for weeks, just one signature shy of ratification.

Enter Grijalva.

Or not.

Johnson, who may be simply delaying an inevitable House vote to curry Trump’s favor, insists the Epstein matter has “nothing to do with” his refusal to seat Grivalja.

Righto.

And planets don’t revolve around the sun, hot air doesn’t rise and gravity doesn’t bring falling leaves to Earth.

More than 200 Democratic House members have affixed their signatures to the petition, along with four Republicans — Massie and Reps. Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The latter three are all MAGA stalwarts who have bravely broken ranks with Trump to stand up for truth and the victims of Epstein’s ravages.

“Aren’t we all against convicted pedophiles and anyone who enables them?” Greene asked in an interview with Axios.

Most are, one would assume. But apparently not everybody.