Vox Sentences: France’s president changes his tune on immigration policy

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Simone Biles is the latest gymnast to accuse former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar of abuse; French President Emmanuel Macron cracks down on migrants.

Simone Biles is the latest Olympian to open up about sexual abuse

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

• Gymnast and four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles is the latest to go public with sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor. [CNN / Emanuella Grinberg]
• Sharing her story on social media recently, Biles said she was inspired by the #MeToo movement and other women sharing their stories of sexual abuse and harassment over the years. Biles called for an investigation into USA Gymnastics. [Houston Chronicle / David Barron]
• Nassar has already pleaded guilty to seven first-degree sexual assault charges in a Michigan court. He’s due to be sentenced this week, and will have to face about 90 of his accusers as they testify about how the abuse impacted them. [NPR / Vanessa Romo]
• That’s not even all of the women who have come forward alleging Nassar abused them. The number is closer to 140, including Biles’s fellow Olympians Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, and McKayla Maroney. [Associated Press]
• The abuse allegations Nassar has pleaded guilty to are horrific, including that he exposed himself to young girls and penetrated them with his fingers as he was working with them. [PBS Newshour / Joshua Barajas]
• There have also been calls to shut down Karolyi Ranch, the training center in Texas where the USA Gymnastic teams practice. Biles and other have written about their fears of returning to the place where the abuse happened. [USA Today / Nancy Armour]
• The USA Gymnastic abuse problem is bigger than Nassar. An IndyStar investigation in 2016 revealed that the organization’s officials compiled complaints about coaches, but often didn’t bring them to authorities or take action. [IndyStar / Marisa Kwiatkowski, Mark Alesia, and Tim Evans]
• Already, there have been consequences for the organization, including two huge corporate sponsors pulling their funding. [Washington Post / Des Bieler]

Is Macron become more Trump-like on immigration?

• It’s not just President Donald Trump who is cracking down on immigrants. In Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron is doing the same thing. [BBC]
• In a recent speech, the young French president vowed that the seaside city of Calais would not become home to a new migrant camp. The city was formerly the spot of a refugee camp nicknamed the “Jungle,” where thousands of migrants were staying as they tried to reach the UK, which does not want to accept them. [Guardian / Kim Willsher]
• This is a noticeable departure from the pro-immigrant stance on which Macron ran his presidential campaign (especially in contrast to far-right, anti-immigrant candidate Marine Le Pen). Those in left-leaning French political parties are lobbing heavy criticism at Macron. [Washington Post / James McAuley]
• France is one of the key places in Europe to which migrants are trying to escape; the country got a record 100,000 asylum claims last year. The debate over immigration in France is not likely to dissipate anytime soon. [Voice of America]

Miscellaneous

• Another week, another terrifying new technological development to be wary of: cars that track our movement more effectively than our smartphones. [Washington Post / Peter Holley]
• It’s New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s final day in office, and he’s blowing through some last-minute bills. This weekend he approved 150 pieces of legislation, including one that criminalizes flying your drone while drunk. [NJ / Susan K. Livio and Brent Johnson]
• Could 2018 mark the return of the dreaded scrunchie? Some fashion houses apparently think so (even though they’re wrong). [Racked / Tanisha Pina]
• Because bars are the exact kind of place where people want to be told to mind their manners: One London pub has decided to ban swearing within its walls. We can only imagine how well that will go over. [New Yorker / Lauren Collins]

Verbatim

“Eating toast and jam is one of the simplest joys in life, like a warm summer wind that breezes through an open car window, or freshly washed bed linen, or showering after a hard workout, or the first cherries of the season.” [Man Repeller / Claire Beermann]

Watch this: How rats take advantage of human failure

Rats are grosser than we thought, but it’s not their fault. [YouTube / Dean Peterson]

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