Issue 125 – November 2015
S.M.A.R.T
(Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today)
P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com
Home page: http://ritualabuse.us/
Issue 125 – November 2015
The purpose of this newsletter is to help stop secretive organizations and groups from abusing others and to help those who allege they have been abused by such organizations and groups. This newsletter is not a substitute for other ways of recovering from ritual abuse. Readers should use caution while reading this newsletter. If necessary, make sure other support systems are available during and after reading this newsletter.
Important:
The resources mentioned in this newsletter are for educational value only. Reading the books cited may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when reading any book or contacting any resource mentioned in this newsletter. Some may have a religious or other agenda that may be separate from your own recovery process. Others may have valuable information on the Masons and other organizations, but have triggers or be somewhat sympathetic to those organizations. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the views expressed in this newsletter constitute expressions of opinion, and readers are cautioned to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions by consulting a variety of sources, including this newsletter. Resources listed, quoted and individual articles, etc. and their writers do not necessarily support all or any of the views mentioned in this newsletter. Also, the views, facts and opinions mentioned in this newsletter are solely the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of this newsletter or its editor.
Copyright 2015 – All rights reserved. No reproduction of any material without written permission from the editor and individual authors.
SMART wants to thank all those that have contributed resource information to the newsletter.
The 2016 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference August 12 – 13, 2016 Windsor Locks, CT https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
Child and Ritual Abuse Conference Presentations 2014 and 2015
Carmen Holiday’s conference transcript from the 2015 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference – The Long Voyage Out: The Epic Challenge of Recovery from Organized Abuse
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2015-conference/the-long-voyage-out-the-epic-challenge-of-recovery-from-organized-abuse/
The Battle to Stop Ritual Abuse by Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2015-conference/the-battle-to-stop-ritual-abuse/
http://neilbrick.com/articles/the-battle-to-stop-ritual-abuse/
Alison Miller’s conference presentation outline from the 2014 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference – Overcoming Mind Control: Keys to Recovery
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2014-conference/overcoming-mind-control-keys-to-recovery
Dr. Randall Noblitt conference powerpoint from the 2014 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference – Cult and Ritual Abuse
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2014-conference/cult-and-ritual-abuse/
Doing the right thing and getting stronger at the same time, a survivor’s path to recovery and helping others by Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2014-conference/doing-the-right-thing-and-getting-stronger-at-the-same-time-a-survivors-path-to-recovery-and-helping-others/
http://neilbrick.com/articles/doing-the-right-thing-and-getting-stronger-at-the-same-time-a-survivors-path-to-recovery-and-helping-others/
Conference CDs are now available from our 2015 Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Conference. Speakers included Dr. Randy Noblitt and Neil Brick. Ordering information is at : https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2015-conference/
This issue includes information on:
Aylesbury child sex abuse, paedophile gang jailed, Marie Black, Michael Rogers, Jason Adams, Bill Cosby, Chloe Goins, Gloria Allred, Defamation Suit Against Bill Cosby, Janice Dickinson, St. Paul’s, Owen Labrie, Senior Salute, Indigenous children, aboriginal children, stolen generation, Patrick Johnston, author of the 1983 report Native Children and the Child Welfare System, Sixties Scoop, Baruch College, 2013 Fraternity Hazing, Chun Hsien Deng, Pi Delta Psi, Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies, bacha bazi or boy play, Rotherham inquiry, Vic Christian Brother, Edward “Ted” Bales, Australia’s child sex abuse, Royal Commission into Child Abuse, Salvation Army homes, Diocese of Duluth, child abuse victim, Attorney Jeff Anderson, Ronald H. Paquin, 72, Pope Francis, Catholic Church, Bishop Juan Barros Madrid, Rev. Fernando Karadima, ‘Spotlight’ film Boston clergy abuse scandal, Cardinal Law, Father Shanley, NAMBLA, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson, ‘Open Secret’ Hollywood Child Abuse Problem, Amy Berg, Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, Japan’s child abuse cases, Jared Fogle’s child abuse victims, former Subway spokesman, Horace Mann alum sexual abuse of students at elite prep school, Polygamist sect limits sex to ‘seed bearers,’ Warren Jeffs, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ritual Abuse, Mind Control, Randy Noblitt, Pamela Perskin, Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century, ACLU sues psychologists over CIA interrogation tactics, al-Qaida prisoners, Alien Tort Statute, human-rights violations, northern Liberia, ritual killings, Satanic hotel slayings in Barrie, Mark Dobson, blood ritual, occult ritual slaying, Jen Yates, witchcraft, Augustus Sol Invictus, witchcraft ritual, nationwide sex trafficking sting, sexually exploited, sex trafficking, Undercover nationwide sting, emotional child abuse, Child Maltreatment, inquiry over violence against women at universities
Resources and Information
Please note: Listing of these resources does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are for educational value only and some may be heavy for survivors to read. Some of the conferences listed may not necessarily be safe for all survivors. S.M.A.R.T. recommends always bringing a support person to all conferences. If you are a survivor of mind control and/or ritual abuse, S.M.A.R.T. recommends that you try to bring a support person that is familiar with mind control techniques.
Bill Cosby
Model Who Alleges Bill Cosby Drugged and Assaulted Her Speaks Out: I’ll Never ‘Get Over’ What Happened By Aurelie Corinthios 09/08/2015
Model Chloe Goins says she’s still suffering after coming forward with her claim that she was sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby.
The 24-year-old, whose allegations may be the first to fall within the statute of limitations and lead to a criminal case against the comedian, spoke recently with Dr. Phil McGraw along with four others among more than 40 women who have come forward over the past year accusing Cosby, 78, of drugging and assaulting them.
Many of their stories echo the experiences of the five women who first spoke to PEOPLE in 2006 for an article that helped to break open the scandal, which began after Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, filed a civil suit claiming that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Philadelphia-area mansion in 2004. Constand’s suit was settled out of court.
On an upcoming episode of Dr. Phil, Goins alleges the comedian drugged and assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008….
Cosby is scheduled to give his testimony Oct. 9. The deposition will mark the first time he will speak about a sexual-assault allegation against him since a separate case in 2005….
http://www.people.com/article/chloe-goins-talks-bill-cosby-allegations-on-dr-phil
Bill Cosby loses latest legal skirmish Jayme Deerwester, USA TODAY September 5, 2015
Bill Cosby’s legal team will be spending the Labor Day weekend licking their wounds after a judge denied their request to see documents that may explain how his 2005 sexual battery case deposition were leaked to the New York Times.
According to filings obtained by TheWrap.com, Cosby’s attorneys filed a discovery motion in July, operating under the theory that accuser Andrea Constand and her attorney Dolores Troiani facilitated the leak, which, if true, violated a June court order.
On Friday, Judge John R. Radova ruled that the contents of the deposition are actually subject to the 2006 settlement agreement between Cosby and Constand rather than that court order.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/09/05/bill-cosby-loses-latest-legal-skirmish/71767786/
Alleged Victim of Bill Cosby Will Cooperate with Prosecutors if Charges Are Brought Against Him
By Nicole Weisensee Egan 09/22/2015
If prosecutors decide to arrest Bill Cosby for allegedly sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in January 2004, she will fully cooperate, her attorney, Dolores M. Troiani, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“I think she’s a very strong lady,” says Troiani, in the lawyer’s first public comments about the possibility of her case being reopened. “She’ll do whatever she needs to do, whatever they ask of her.”
However, both Constand and Troiani are taking no public stance on whether the case should be reopened, Troiani says. (The statute of limitations to charge Cosby does not expire until Jaunary 2016, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.)
Constand, 42, is a massage therapist who lives in Toronto. In January 2005, when she worked for Temple University in Philadelphia, she went to authorities alleging that Cosby, now 78, had sexually assaulted her in his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, mansion the year before. Then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor, Jr. publicly called the case against Cosby “weak,” and decided not to press criminal charges against the veteran entertainer.
Constand later filed a civil suit against Cosby and agreed to a settlement with him, which came with a confidentiality agreement. In July, Constand filed a motion claiming that Cosby violated the confidentiality agreement. (In 2006, PEOPLE reported on the sexual assault allegations against Cosby from interviews with some of the women who backed up Constand’s account by making similar allegations against Cosby in court. Cosby has previously denied all sexual assault allegations.)….
http://www.people.com/article/bill-cosby-alleged-victim-prepared-to-cooperate-pending-case-reopening
Time hasn’t run out on possible charges against Cosby in Pa. By Jeremy Roebuck and Laura McCrystal, Inquirer Staff Writers September 14, 2015 Dozens of women have come forward this year to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual misconduct, their allegations bonded by one undisputed fact: Each claim is too old to prosecute.
But the clock is quietly ticking in Montgomery County on an exception.
A decade ago, Andrea Constand first reported to police that Cosby had drugged and molested her during a January 2004 dinner at his Cheltenham mansion. Under Pennsylvania’s 12-year statute of limitations on felony sex crimes, prosecutors still have until January to bring charges.
And though Constand’s claim was once investigated and closed, hers may be the rare allegation that has actually grown stronger with time, according to interviews with a dozen veteran sex-crimes prosecutors, defense lawyers, and criminal justice experts.
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman would neither confirm nor deny whether her office was reconsidering the case her predecessor closed a decade ago….
But the allegations this year by more than 40 women that the 78-year-old comedian drugged and assaulted them mirror Constand’s claim. And Cosby’s own, potentially damaging sworn statements about his sexual past were released publicly for the first time this summer.
“We now have something pretty close to an admission from Cosby,” said Roger A. Canaff, a former New York deputy attorney general focused on sex-crimes cases. “We now have dozens of women reporting abuse along similar lines. Where there’s that much smoke, there’s usually fire.”….
Cosby’s own descriptions of the January 2004 encounter with Constand might also help investigators fill in previously unclear details from that night.
Because she was unconscious at the time, Constand only recalled Cosby groping her when she made her initial report to police. As a result, Castor’s office was looking primarily at misdemeanor charges, which carry a two-year statute of limitations.
In the newly released deposition excerpts, however, Cosby described more advanced sexual activity with Constand that night. According to the transcript, Cosby recalled a phone conversation some time after the alleged attack in which he said of his contact with her: “It was digital penetration.”
If true, such a statement could form the basis for a more serious felony charge, such as aggravated indecent assault, legal experts said.
Cosby’s lawyers are likely to fight any effort to introduce that deposition transcript at a trial. They have argued in separate legal proceedings that it was improperly released and remains subject to a confidentiality agreement the comedian signed with Constand in settling the civil suit.
But defense lawyers would face a challenge in trying to bar it in a criminal case, said Lisae C. Jordan, director of the Sexual Assault Legal Institute in Maryland….
http://articles.philly.com/2015-09-14/news/66500374_1_bill-cosby-cheltenham-mansion-andrea-constand
Three Universities Rescind Bill Cosby’s Honorary Degrees September 28, 2015 by CNN Wire
Bill Cosby’s stunning fall from grace appears far from over. In the latest setback over his sex assault allegations, three colleges in recent days have rescinded honorary degrees awarded to him years ago. Fordham University in New York and Marquette University in Wisconsin announced last Thursday they had pulled the degrees given to the comedian to honor him. Then, on Monday, Brown University in Rhode Island said that it will do the same…. The fallout from the controversy over the sex assault allegations has been swift. Reruns of “The Cosby Show,” his landmark 1980s sitcom, have been pulled from the airwaves, and other projects and tour dates have been scrapped. http://fox40.com/2015/09/28/three-universities-rescind-bill-cosbys-honorary-degrees/
Three More Women Accuse Bill Cosby of Sexual Assault By Reuters 9/30/15
Three more women came forward on Wednesday to accuse veteran comedian Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting them decades ago, charges that come a week before Cosby is scheduled to give a sworn deposition in a separate sexual assault lawsuit.
Sharon Van Ert, Pamela Abeyta and Lisa Christie appeared at a Los Angeles news conference and alleged that Cosby assaulted them. They were teary-eyed as they gave their accounts.
The news conference with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred came a week ahead of a deposition that Cosby, 78, has been ordered to give in a lawsuit brought by another Allred client, a woman accusing the comedian of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles when she was 15 years old.
Allred said she is opposing Cosby’s motion for a protective order to restrict public release of the deposition he is set to give Oct 9. “There should be transparency,” she said. A court is expected to decide the matter ahead of his deposition.
Allred said that while the statute of limitations prevents the three women at Wednesday’s news conference from taking legal action, they wanted to add their voices to the more than 50 women who already have come forward with similar allegations….
Cosby’s lawyers have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by the 78 year-old entertainer. A representative on Wednesday said Cosby had no comment on the latest allegations….
http://www.newsweek.com/three-more-women-accuse-bill-cosby-sexual-assault-378519
Bill Cosby sued by model over alleged sexual assault 7 October 2015 A 25-year-old model has sued US comedian Bill Cosby, alleging he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2008. Chloe Goins claims Mr Cosby drugged and molested her when she was 17. The civil lawsuit accuses Mr Cosby of “childhood sexual abuse” and demands damages of at least $75,000 (£49,000). Ms Goins is also seeking a jury trial. Mr Cosby, 78, is facing a series of sexual assault accusations dating back decades. He has denied the claims. The star is due to testify on Friday in a separate lawsuit brought by Judy Huth, who accused the comedian of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old. More than 50 women have come forward publicly over the past year with allegations including drugging, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape – all of which Mr Cosby denies. In most cases, the alleged incidents date back decades, meaning they fall outside the time limit for legal action. But Ms Goins’ allegations do fall within California’s statute of limitations, and prosecutors are also now reviewing the evidence for possible criminal charges. The model told reporters: “Today I recognise that I’ve taken legal action that many of the other victims of Bill Cosby will never be able to take. This has gone on long enough, it’s time Bill Cosby was held accountable for his crimes.”…. http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34463079
Judge won’t dismiss woman’s molestation suit against Bill Cosby AP October 7, 2015
A judge on Wednesday refused to throw out a lawsuit filed by a woman who accuses Bill Cosby of molesting her when she was 15, saying the comedian can still receive a fair trial despite procedural errors.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan’s ruling came over the objections of Cosby’s attorneys, who sought to dismiss Judy Huth’s case because her previous attorney violated rules for how older sex-abuse cases should be handled.
Cosby’s attorney Martin Singer argued the lawsuit improperly included Cosby’s name, which caused the comedian harm and required him to defend himself against numerous other allegations from women who claim he abused them decades ago.
“This was the linchpin that triggered everything going forward,” Singer said.
Huth’s former attorney admitted Wednesday he erred by naming Cosby in the lawsuit filed in December 2014. Huth, 57, claims Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion around 1974….
Karlan said in his ruling that he was troubled by the mistake by Huth’s previous lawyer, but despite that he felt Cosby could still get a fair trial. He also noted Cosby’s name would have eventually been disclosed in Huth’s case and received widespread notoriety.
Huth’s former attorney, Marc Strecker, acknowledged he overlooked a portion of the legal code that states claims by adult plaintiffs that they were victims of underage sexual abuse should omit the defendant’s real name. “I made a mistake,” Strecker said….
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-wont-dismiss-womans-molestation-suit-against-bill-cosby/
Bill Cosby deposed under oath in sexual assault civil lawsuit case By Miriam Hernandez Friday, October 09, 2015 LOS ANGELES (KABC) Comedian Bill Cosby was interviewed under oath Friday in a sexual assault civil lawsuit after a woman claimed the entertainer sexually assaulted her when she was 15 years old…. Under the law, an adult who was victimized as a child has a longer period to file a civil lawsuit, but the statute of limitations has passed for a criminal case.
Cosby’s lawyers long denied the claims in court and said they were “absolutely false.”
Huth said she and a colleague met Cosby on a movie set and that later at the mansion, he served alcoholic beverages and proceeded to molest her.
But Cosby said that Huth has engaged in extortion. She threatened to take her story to a tabloid and asked for $100,000 to $250,000. His legal team has fought the current complaint all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing that there had been a procedural error.
But they lost, which led to Friday’s deposition.
“We need to be able to question Mr. Cosby under oath,” Allred said. “This is very serious. This is completely unprecedented in my almost 40 years of law practice. I have never seen so many allegations by so many accusers against one man.”….
http://abc7.com/entertainment/bill-cosby-deposed-under-oath-in-sexual-assault-civil-lawsuit-case/1025700/
Defamation Suit Against Bill Cosby Will Go Forward in Massachusetts
By GRAHAM BOWLEY and SYDNEY EMBER OCT. 9, 2015
A Massachusetts federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a lawsuit by three women who say Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them and then later defamed them by allowing his representatives to brand their accounts as fiction.
Also on Friday, Mr. Cosby was to answer questions under oath in a separate California civil case brought by a woman, Judy Huth, who says the entertainer forced her to perform a sex act on him when she was 15.
In the Massachusetts defamation case, Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Linda Traitz accuse Mr. Cosby of assaulting them in the 1970s. The women were unable to bring legal charges directly related to the assault accusations because of the statute of limitations.
Instead, they filed a defamation complaint, arguing that Mr. Cosby had depicted them as liars when his representatives denied their accusations.
Mr. Cosby’s lawyers argued that, among other things, his representatives were only speaking in his defense. But the judge in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Mark G. Mastroianni, wrote that Mr. Cosby’s motions to dismiss the case “are denied in their entirety.”
Joseph Cammarata, a lawyer for the three women, said the ruling meant he could now pursue the case aggressively and would question Mr. Cosby under oath….
Court orders Bill Cosby deposition in Dickinson case 3 November 2015
Bill Cosby and his former lawyer have been ordered to give a sworn out-of-court testimony in the defamation case brought by Janice Dickinson.
The ex-supermodel alleged that they falsely called her a liar after she claimed the comedian sexually assaulted her three decades ago.
Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled Cosby and his former lawyer Martin Singer must give sworn depositions before 25 November.
Cosby’s lawyers said they would appeal….
More than 50 women have accused the comedian of sexual assault. He has never been charged for any of the alleged crimes. In most cases, the alleged incidents date back decades, meaning they fall outside the time limit for legal action.
Reuters said it is the second time in two months that Cosby will be required to testify under oath in response to a complaint of sexual misconduct against him.
Mr Singer, an LA lawyer, represented Cosby until he was replaced last month with a new legal team.
Last year, Dickinson had claimed Cosby drugged and raped her in a hotel in Lake Tahoe in 1982.
Speaking at the time, Mr Singer labelled Dickinson’s allegations as “false and outlandish”.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34709828
Bill Cosby ‘accused of attacking his own children’s nanny’, as he continues to deny sexual assault allegations 3 Nov 2015 By Rebecca Pocklington
The comedian has been accused of assaulting several women, but has so far denied all the allegations but against him
Bill Cosby was accused of assaulting his children’s former nanny, it has been claimed.
The comedian, 78, has strenuously denied allegations of rape and sexual assault brought against him by a number of women, and now a new report claims his own children’s nanny made shock allegations against him too.
According to Radar Online, Cosby’s daughter Ensa revealed the allegations to a friend, claiming the incident occurred in 1997.
“Ensa said it was an unwanted sexual advance, and [the nanny] was hysterical,” a source – who is claimed to have passed a polygraph test – told the site….
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/bill-cosby-accused-attacking-childrens-6760617
Bill Cosby May Face First Sex Assault Charges From Newly Elected Prosecutor The statute of limitations runs out in January, so the clock is ticking. Reuters By Laila Kearney 11/04/2015
A newly elected suburban Pennsylvania prosecutor could be positioned to bring the first criminal charges of sex assault against comedian Bill Cosby, though the clock is ticking, legal experts said on Wednesday.
Kevin Steele, a Democrat, on Tuesday defeated opponent Bruce Castor, a Republican, in the race for district attorney in Montgomery County, where Cosby’s first named accuser filed a 2005 complaint against the actor.
The statute of limitations runs out in January on that case, in which the woman claimed Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his mansion in 2004….
In the years since the complaint by Andrea Constand, Cosby has been bombarded with accusations of sexual assault by more than 50 women, many of whom contend the actor slipped them sedatives before assaulting them…. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-cosby-andrea-constand-charges_563a943ae4b0b24aee48e821
As Students Return To St. Paul’s, Specter Of Trial And School Culture Questions Linger
By Paige Sutherland September 23, 2015….
Last month 19-year-old Owen Labrie was convicted of statutory rape for having sex with a then 15-year-old freshman girl in May of 2014. During the trial, Labrie’s lawyer told the jury how the sexual encounter was part of a so-called tradition known as the “Senior Salute,” for which seniors try to hook-up with as many underclassmen as they can before they graduate….
According to New Hampshire’s 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Study, nearly six percent of all high school students say they have been physically forced to have sex with someone without their consent and more than 10 percent say they were forced to do sexual things by someone they were dating….
http://wnpr.org/post/students-return-st-pauls-specter-trial-and-school-culture-questions-linger#stream/0
New Hampshire High School Survey
Percentage of students who had ever been physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to – 5.7%
New Hampshire High School Survey
Among students who dated or went out with someone during the past 12 months, the percentage who had been forced by someone they were dating or going out with to do sexual things that they did not want to one or more times during the past 12 months – 10.2%
New Hampshire High School Survey
Percentage of students who had ever been bullied on school property during the past 12 months – 22.8% http://education.nh.gov/instruction/school_health/documents/nhyrbsresultsgraphs.pdf
Indigenous children removed from homes in the 1960s begin to heal For three decades across Canada, thousands of aboriginal children were taken from their homes and adopted. by Lauren Pelley Mon Nov 02 2015 KEMPTVILLE ….one by one, the 40 or so attendees of this Indigenous Adoptee Gathering introduce themselves to the group. Some are from Ontario, others from Manitoba or the Yukon. Some are Cree, others Métis or Ojibway.
Most are members of a stolen generation.
Beginning in the mid-1960s — and for several decades after — thousands of indigenous children across Canada were removed from their homes and typically placed with white middle-class families in Canada and abroad.
Patrick Johnston, author of the 1983 report Native Children and the Child Welfare System, dubbed it the Sixties Scoop.
Those children are now adults, sharing their stories of emotional, physical and sexual abuse, mental illness and a sense of isolation from being torn between Euro-Canadian and indigenous culture….
The Sixties Scoop wasn’t a government policy, but rather a noticeable trend once mandatory residential school education was phased out in the 1950s and 1960s….
Child welfare services were expanded to indigenous communities across Canada through the late 1960s, which “left a profound and negative impact on these communities,” notes the report.
“There was no publicity for years and years about the brutalization of our families and children by the larger Canadian society,” one member of the indigenous community told the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry launched in 1988 by Manitoba’s provincial government.
“Kidnapping was called placement in foster homes. Exporting aboriginal children to the U.S. was called preparing Indian children for the future. Parents who were heartbroken by the destruction of their families were written off as incompetent people.”
Manitoba’s government established a review committee on “Indian and Métis Adoptions and Placements” in the 1980s, headed by Associate Chief Family Court Judge Edwin Kimelman, and imposed a halt on out-of-province placements of indigenous children.
After reviewing the files of every indigenous Manitoban child adopted by an out-of-province family, Kimelman wrote in a 1984 report that “cultural genocide” had been taking place in a “systematic, routine manner.”
While not every placement of an indigenous child in the Canadian adoption system was a result of the Sixties Scoop, the number of children removed and placed into foster care or adoptive families likely numbered in the tens of thousands….
In June, Manitoba became the first province to offer a formal apology to thousands of victims with Premier Greg Selinger promising the topic will be included in the provincial school curriculum. But what should be done throughout the rest of Canada? A few organizations offered their viewpoints of how the federal and provincial governments should be handling the aftermath of the Sixties Scoop….
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/11/02/indigenous-children-removed-from-homes-in-the-1960s-just-now-beginning-to-heal.html
Five From Baruch College Face Murder Charges in 2013 Fraternity Hazing By RICK ROJAS and ASHLEY SOUTHALL SEPT. 14, 2015 Five fraternity members from Baruch College in Manhattan will face murder charges in Pennsylvania for their involvement in the death of a freshman who was hazed during a rural retreat in 2013, officials said on Monday.
A grand jury in Monroe County, Pa., recently recommended that five people face third-degree murder charges and that a total of 37 would face a range of criminal charges, including assault, hindering apprehension and hazing in Chun Hsien Deng’s death.
The authorities said Mr. Deng, 19, known as Michael, died on Dec. 9, 2013, after he was blindfolded and made to wear a backpack weighted with sand while trying to make his way across a frozen yard as members of the fraternity, Pi Delta Psi, tried to tackle him. During at least one tackle, he was lifted up and dropped on the ground in a move known as spearing, according to the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department. He complained his head hurt but continued participating and was eventually knocked out, the police said in a news release.
After Mr. Deng was knocked unconscious, the authorities said the fraternity members delayed in seeking medical help….
After he was seriously injured and unconscious, fraternity members carried him inside the house, where they contacted a national fraternity official, who told them to hide fraternity items, the police said. Some members left the house, while others changed his clothes and conducted searches to diagnose his symptoms.
At some point, it was reported that Mr. Deng was having trouble breathing, the police said. Three fraternity members put him in a car and drove him to a hospital a half-hour away. By the time he arrived, he was unable to be revived. He died the next morning of severe trauma to the head, officials said…. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/15/nyregion/5-from-baruch-college-face-murder-charges-in-2013-fraternity-hazing.html
Defiant Baruch Fraternity Pledge Fought Back in Fatal Hazing, Report Says By RICK ROJAS and BENJAMIN MUELLERSEPT. 15, 2015 POCONO SUMMIT, Pa. — The fraternity brothers decided that Chun Hsien Deng had a bad attitude.
Like three other Pi Delta Psi fraternity pledges who went before him on a cold December morning in 2013, Mr. Deng was forced to run across a frozen yard through a knot of his fraternity brothers, while he wore a blindfold and a backpack weighted down with 20 to 30 pounds of sand.
The gantlet, called the Glass Ceiling, symbolized their burden as Asian-Americans trying to break into the mainstream. The backpack stood for the weight of their fraternity bonds, one member told the police, according to a grand jury report.
Mr. Deng, a freshman at Baruch College whose parents emigrated from China, did not fall into line. He fought back, kicking one of the men lined up to tackle him, a fraternity brother told investigators. A second told the police he did not say the things he was supposed to, adding, “He got the ‘Bros’ mad.” So the brothers hit harder.
One ran at Mr. Deng from 15 feet away and plowed into him with his head lowered, in a move known as the spear, student witnesses said. Others pushed him to the ground, the force of each blow amplified by the weight on Mr. Deng’s back.
After they were done, Mr. Deng was dying from brain and bodily injuries, a prefinals weekend retreat had turned into the scene of a murder investigation, and his fellow pledges, big brothers and fraternity leaders were its primary suspects.
Prosecutors in Pennsylvania said this week that they intended to charge five people with third-degree murder and 32 others with a range of counts, including assault, hindering apprehension and hazing in the death of Mr. Deng, known as Michael, on Dec. 9, 2013….
They reached out to the fraternity’s national president at the time, Andy Meng, who told them by phone to hide everything showing the group’s symbol, according to the grand jury report. One member told the police that “the protocol is to first put away fraternity letters, paddles, banners etc.,” to shield the organization.
The brothers grew nervous, but not nervous enough to call an ambulance.
“Kwan stated no one called for an ambulance because someone looked it up and the bill/cost was too high,” the grand jury report says, citing the account of Kenny Kwan, who prosecutors say will be charged with murder in the tackling on Mr. Deng that started with a 15-foot running head start….
It was an hour before three members took him to the hospital. He was mumbling, shivering and snoring, as if he had phlegm stuck in his throat.
There, doctors found constellations of bruises spread across his head, cheeks, back and thighs. His head injuries were so severe that a doctor determined they would have required “hundreds of pounds of impulsive loads.” He also had traumatic asphyxia, likely from hits or tackles magnified by his backpack’s heavy load….
Then it came time for the authorities to determine responsibility But some of the members “lied to the police, they hid and tried to hide evidence, and a lot of that was based on trying to cover up and hide the fraternity’s involvement in the case,” Michael Rakaczewski, an assistant district attorney in Monroe County, Pa., said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Prosecutors decided to pursue a grand jury investigation, they said, because the grand jury had subpoena power and could require members of the fraternity to testify….
Prosecutors also said they would charge the fraternity with murder, saying that would allow them to hold the organization responsible financially….
www.nytimes.com/2015/09/16/nyregion/baruch-college-fraternity-hazing-death-case.html
Afghanistan Child Abuse
U.S. Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN SEPT. 20, 2015 KABUL, Afghanistan — In his last phone call home, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr. told his father what was troubling him: From his bunk in southern Afghanistan, he could hear Afghan police officers sexually abusing boys they had brought to the base.
“At night we can hear them screaming, but we’re not allowed to do anything about it,” the Marine’s father, Gregory Buckley Sr., recalled his son telling him before he was shot to death at the base in 2012. He urged his son to tell his superiors. “My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it’s their culture.”
Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally “boy play,” and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene — in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records.
The policy has endured as American forces have recruited and organized Afghan militias to help hold territory against the Taliban. But soldiers and Marines have been increasingly troubled that instead of weeding out pedophiles, the American military was arming them in some cases and placing them as the commanders of villages — and doing little when they began abusing children.
“The reason we were here is because we heard the terrible things the Taliban were doing to people, how they were taking away human rights,” said Dan Quinn, a former Special Forces captain who beat up an American-backed militia commander for keeping a boy chained to his bed as a sex slave. “But we were putting people into power who would do things that were worse than the Taliban did — that was something village elders voiced to me.”
The policy of instructing soldiers to ignore child sexual abuse by their Afghan allies is coming under new scrutiny, particularly as it emerges that service members like Captain Quinn have faced discipline, even career ruin, for disobeying it.
After the beating, the Army relieved Captain Quinn of his command and pulled him from Afghanistan. He has since left the military….
Ignoring Sexual Abuse in Afghanistan By THE EDITORIAL BOARD SEPT. 21, 2015
The incidents of sexual assault on children described by American service members who served in Afghanistan are sickening. Boys screaming in the night as Afghan police officers attacked them. Three or four Afghan men found lying on the floor of a room at a military base with children between them, presumably for sex play.
No less offensive is that American soldiers and Marines who wanted to intervene could not. According to an account in The Times by Joseph Goldstein, they were ordered by their superiors to ignore abusive behavior by their Afghan allies and “to look the other way because it’s their culture.”
The Pentagon’s indulgent, even complicit, attitude toward pedophiles among the Afghan militias that it funded and trained is indefensible, at odds with American values and with international laws Washington has taken the lead in promoting.
Pervasive sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan. It is especially pronounced among armed commanders who control rural regions and hold sway over the population there. The practice is known as bacha bazi, or boy play; powerful Afghan men often surround themselves with young teenagers as a mark of social status.
By instructing American soldiers and Marines not to interfere, even if the incidents occurred on American bases, the Pentagon has chosen — reprehensibly — to sacrifice vulnerable children in order to maintain good relations with the Afghan police and militias it needs to fight the Taliban.
Some American service members who opposed the policy have been disciplined or seen their careers ruined because they fought it….. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/opinion/ignoring-sexual-abuse-in-afghanistan.html
Green Beret discharged for shoving accused Afghan rapist speaks out
By Judson Berger September 28, 2015 EXCLUSIVE: A Green Beret ordered discharged after he and his team leader body-slammed an alleged Afghan child rapist is speaking out against the Army’s effort to punish him, as he fights to stay in the service. “Kicking me out of the Army is morally wrong and the entire country knows it,” Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland said, in his first public statement on his case. The detailed written statement, requested by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., was shared by the congressman’s office with FoxNews.com. Hunter, who has advocated on Martland’s behalf, intends to submit the statement to the House Armed Services Committee. Martland’s case has received renewed attention amid recent press reports on the U.S. military’s handling of child abuse allegations involving Afghan allies. In his statement, Martland gives a blunt account of the September 2011 encounter with the “brutal child rapist,” local police commander Abdul Rahman. He acknowledges the confrontation, but suggests the commander exaggerated his injuries — and argues that the boy’s safety, as well as American lives, was at stake that day.
Martland said the Afghan Local Police had been “committing atrocities,” raising concerns that many locals viewed as “worse than the Taliban” — and if locals returned to the Taliban, attacks against U.S. forces would increase….
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/28/green-beret-discharged-for-shoving-accused-afghan-rapist/
Afghan child sex abuse reports leads to IG investigation
By Andrew Tilghman, Staff writer October 27, 2015
The U.S. military’s response to suspected child sexual abuse in Afghanistan is the subject of a new investigation by the Pentagon’s top watchdog.
The Defense Department Inspector General’s Office on Tuesday announced a new probe that will look at how U.S. troops handled repeated allegations that Afghan men, particularly Afghan military and police leaders, were sexually abusing boys.
A number of American troops who deployed to Afghanistan have said they saw signs of widespread sexual abuse and believed there was a policy, even if unofficial, encouraging them to ignore the crime rather than create tension between Americans and Afghans.
The sexual abuse of boys is widespread in Afghanistan, often referred to as “Bacha Bazi” — literally, “boy play.” The IG will confine its probe to the period since 2011. Investigators will examine whether the U.S. military maintained any formal or informal rules or policies discouraging American troops from reporting suspected sexual abuse by Afghans….
Several troops have said they were punished or disciplined for intervening or taking action against Afghans whom they believed were sexually assaulting children, in some cases on joint military installations. Several specific examples were reported Sept. 19 by The New York Times….
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/10/27/sex-abuse-ig/74698872/
UK Child Abuse
Rotherham inquiry police charge seven men with child abuse offences
Four Rotherham men charged with rape, two from Goole with indecent assault and one Sheffield man charged with conspiracy offences Tuesday 27 October 2015
Seven men have been charged with child sexual exploitation offences by police investigating historical crimes in Rotherham.
South Yorkshire police said the offences were alleged to have taken place in the town between January and October 2003 and the charges arose out of Operation Clover, a partnership investigation by the force, Rotherham council and the Crown Prosecution Service.
A spokesman said four of the men had been charged with rape….
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/27/rotherham-inquiry-police-charge-seven-men-child-abuse-offences
Aylesbury child sex abuse: ‘bad parenting made girls vulnerable’
Sep 8, 2015 Judge made the comments while sentencing six men to jail for 82 years for abusing girls in Buckinghamshire
Poor parenting made young girls vulnerable to sexual abuse committed by a gang of men in Buckinghamshire, a senior British judge said during sentencing. Judge John Bevan QC said the attackers, who were all of Asian descent, may have targeted white girls because of the opportunity presented by “inadequate parenting leading to rebellious children”.
He made the comments as he sentenced six members of a paedophile ring in Aylesbury to a total of 82 years in prison for their roles in the child abuse, The Times reports.
The abuse occurred between 2006 and 2012 and included multiple rapes of a child under 13, child prostitution and administering a substance to “stupefy” a girl in order to engage in sexual activity.
The men groomed the vulnerable girls from troubled backgrounds for sex “for the price of a McDonald’s, a milkshake and cinema ticket,” said Judge Bevan. He added that if the men pursued Asian under-age girls, “they would have paid a heavy price in their community.”….
http://www.theweek.co.uk/65123/aylesbury-child-sex-abuse-bad-parenting-made-girls-vulnerable
Seven members of ‘terrifyingly depraved’ paedophile gang jailed
Judge tells men who abused babies and young children while hiding behind veil of respectability that their actions were ‘contrary to all humanity’ Steven Morris Friday 11 September 2015
Seven members of a paedophile gang involved in the rape and abuse of babies and young children have been jailed for a total of 78 years. The British gang – described as having “tentacles that go round the world” – streamed attacks on the internet which were seen on every continent. The men preyed on the families of the children they targeted, in one case grooming a mother and father before their baby was born. Members would frequently travel long distances to carry out the attacks together, or would watch the abuse over the internet – sometimes using the dark web – if only one of them had access to a victim. Records of online conversations revealed that members of the gang, who lived across the UK, would offer advice and guidance to others on drugging their young victims. The seven men, aged between 31 and 51 and including three convicted sex offenders, were brought to justice following an investigation led by the National Crime Agency (NCA). They were convicted of 29 child sex abuse offences, including conspiracy to rape and the multiple rape of a child aged under 13.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/11/seven-members-paedophile-gang-jailed
Marie Black gets life term for child abuse 28 September 2015 Norfolk Marie Black, Michael Rogers and Jason Adams preyed on children aged under 13 A woman at the centre of a “gruesome” child sex abuse ring which passed children round “like toys” has been given a life sentence. Marie Black, 34, of Norwich, was convicted at Norwich Crown Court of 23 charges, including rape and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Victims were abused at parties and may have been offered in raffles….
The charges related to five young children over a 10-year period. Michael Rogers, 46, from Romford, north east London, was found guilty of 14 counts, including cruelty, rape and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Jason Adams, 44, from Norwich, was convicted of 13 similar counts.
Both were sentenced to 24 years. The severity of the sentence means Marie Black has become one of the UK’s most notorious paedophiles. Yet still she cries her innocence. She sobbed quietly and occasionally shook her head as her sentence was read out. Judge Nicholas Coleman said he had “had enough” of legal argument from her barrister and went at it both barrels….
All three had denied the charges against them, with Black accused of 26 counts and found guilty of 23. “The offences included adults conspiring to rape children at so-called sex parties…. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-34377382
Jehovah’s Witnesses child abuse victims ‘may never see justice‘ STV 5 October 2015
Victims of child abuse by the Jehovah’s Witnesses may never see the perpetrators brought to justice unless the government closes a loophole allowing criminals to evade justice, campaigners have warned.
The UK Government has been asked to introduce mandatory reporting to police whenever an allegation of child sex abuse is made within the faith group.
Currently, the organisation’s “two-witness rule” means it deals with allegations of abuse internally and only investigates if the claims are corroborated by a second testimony – something lawyers say is unlikely given that many victims are abused in private.
Concern over the number of “hidden” victims has prompted campaigners to hand a letter to Downing Street calling on the government to take action….
The call comes after a landmark case in which a woman abused as a child by a Jehovah’s Witness minister won £275,000 damages at the high court.
Kathleen Hallisey, senior solicitor with London-based AO Advocates, who represented the woman in court, said the Royal Commission investigation into institutional child sexual abuse in Australia revealed thousands of victims and said she expected there to be hundreds of “silent” victims within the church in the UK due to the two-witness rule….
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/1330094-jehovahs-witnesses-child-abuse-victims-may-never-see-justice
Australia Child Abuse
Vic Christian Brother gets more jail time September 18, 2015
A former Christian Brother labelled “satanic” for his sexual abuse of 20 boys will spend more time behind bars after a Victorian court increased his sentence. Edward “Ted” Bales was handed a six-year jail term in March after he pleaded guilty to 34 child sex abuse offences which occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. Prosecutors appealed, saying one of Bales’ most heinous crimes against an 11-year-old boy warranted more jail time and his three-year non-parole period should be increased. The Court of Appeal on Friday agreed, upping Bales’ jail sentence to eight years and five months. The non-parole period was increased to five years and eight months. The breach of trust involved a betrayal of the responsibilities of (Bales) both as a teacher of the victim and as a member of the Christian Brothers order,” the appeal judgment says. Bales used his authority to prey on other victims, aged between eight and 14, at school….Bales, formerly known as Edward Vernon Dowlan, changed his name to avoid being associated with other convicted pedophiles he taught alongside at the St Alipius school in Ballarat. The 65-year-old was also jailed for historical child sex offences in the 1990s. http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/09/18/09/28/more-jail-time-for-vic-christian-brother
Lifting the lid on Australia’s child sex abuse By Marie McInerney Melbourne, Victoria
27 September 2015 Australia For decades, Peter Blenkiron remained silent about the abuse he had suffered at age 11 at the hands of his Catholic Christian Brother teacher. Earlier this year, Mr Blenkiron relived the horror of his school days, telling an inquiry into child abuse about how he would be pressed against the wall at the back of the classroom while his teacher physically and sexually abused him, with the other students ordered to look away. “If there was no sexual abuse after the belting, then you knew you’d had a good day,” the 53-year-old told a hearing of Australia’s landmark Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse….
Over the past two and a half years, six commissioners have held 32 public and 4,000 private hearings at sites across the country, from an outback orphanage run by the Sisters of Mercy to one of Australia’s most prestigious schools, Geelong Grammar, once attended by Prince Charles.
It has documented abuse by teachers, priests, nuns, foster carers and fellow students, and this year, extended its investigations into sporting bodies and the entertainment industry.
It will make recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in institutions.
Commission’s work so far
Confirmed 12,000 allegations of abuse relating to 3,500 religious and state institutions
Referred 727 matters to police….
It is too early to judge whether or not the Royal Commission will meet survivors’ expectations, Ms Courtin says. Her research shows survivors want to tell their stories and have them publicly acknowledged, to hear the truth from institutions about what happened, to be compensated for the long-term impact on their lives, and for those in senior positions who concealed abuse to be held accountable.
“They want the bishops and others who have covered up crimes to be criminally accountable,” she says. “That’s high up on the list.”…. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34355662
Royal Commission into Child Abuse begins hearings in Adelaide to examine Salvation Army homes
The Advertiser October 06, 2015 CHILD sex abuse victims at Salvation Army homes were physically beaten or further sexually abused if they reported crimes against them, the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse has heard. Opening the 33rd public hearing of the national commission in Adelaide, counsel assisting Sophie David SC, said the hearing would examine abuse at four Salvation Army homes in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia between 1940 and 1980.
Three former residents of Eden Park Boys’ Home in the Adelaide Hills will tell the commission of years of abuse they suffered at the hands of Salvation Army members including Sergeant William John Keith Ellis. Ms David said Eden Park employees were reported as far back as 1940, when a staff member was jailed for indecent conduct against three boys. Despite subsequent allegations in the 1950s and 1960s, Eden Park was allowed to continue to house wards of the state, mainly young boys. “We expect the survivor evidence and documentary evidence to show that child sexual abuse was widespread, unchecked and flourished over a long period of time at the Salvation Army institutions,” Ms David said….
The royal commission into child sexual abuse in Adelaide has heard over 20 perpetrators have been identified at Salvation Army run homes….
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/royal-commission-into-child-abuse-begins-hearings-in-adelaide-to-examine-salvation-army-homes/story-e6frg6n6-1227558598417
Former school principal jailed for sexually abusing 14 children 5 Oct 2015
A former school principal in Tasmania has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing 14 children. The man pleaded guilty earlier this year to 17 counts of indecently assaulting 11 primary school boys during the 1970s and 1980s. He also pleaded guilty to maintaining a sexual relationship with his step daughter, starting when she was aged 10, and with her brother who was 12. He also indecently assaulted their younger sister. Justice Shan Tennent said in every case, the man had been in a position of trust and had abused it. She sentenced the now 72 year old to six years in prison, ordering he not be eligible for parole until he had served half of it. His name has been added to Tasmania’s register of sex offenders. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-05/former-school-principal-who-sexually-abused-14-children-jailed/6829174
Clergy Abuse
Attorney: Diocese of Duluth should pay millions to child abuse victim Madeleine Baran Oct 21, 2015 Attorney Jeff Anderson asked jurors in Ramsey County Wednesday to award $11.7 million to a man who says he was sexually abused by a priest in the Diocese of Duluth when he was a teenager in the late 1970s. The case is the first clergy sex abuse lawsuit to be argued in front of a jury in Minnesota since state lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act in 2013, according to available court records. The law opened a three-year window for people to file lawsuits for older incidents of abuse.
For decades, most clergy sex abuse cases in Minnesota had been settled privately or were tossed out of court. Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis prevented hundreds of cases from going to trial when it filed for bankruptcy….
Anderson told jurors that his 52-year-old client, identified in the lawsuit as Doe 30, had been sexually abused by the Rev. James Vincent Fitzgerald at St. Catherine’s parish in Squaw Lake, Minn., in about 1978. As a result of the abuse, Anderson said, the man has been unable to trust people, struggled in school, and has never been in a serious relationship…. http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/10/21/sex-abuse-trial
Ex-priest jailed in abuse scandal has been set free
By Travis Andersen and John R. Ellement Globe Staff October 02, 2015
A former Catholic priest in Haverhill and Methuen who was a prominent figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal and who psychologists say admitted to molesting at least 14 boys was released Friday from state custody, officials said.
Ronald H. Paquin, 72, was freed after the two medical specialists determined he does not currently meet the legal criteria for sexual dangerousness, despite his history, the officials said….
Paquin pleaded guilty in Essex Superior Court in 2002 to charges that he repeatedly raped a Haverhill altar boy between 1989 and 1992, beginning when the victim was 12. Paquin was defrocked in 2004 and removed from his active ministry years earlier….
Paquin was a key figure in the Boston Globe Spotlight Team investigative series that exposed the clergy sex-abuse scandal. The newspaper reported in 2002 that the Boston Archdiocese moved Paquin from a Methuen parish to a Haverhill church in 1981, apparently after learning about molestation allegations that were made against him.
In 2002, Paquin told the Globe that he “fooled around” with boys, but “never raped anyone and I never felt gratified myself.”
He later admitted to medical evaluators that he abused at least 14 boys and said he was also abused as a child, first by other youths and later by a priest, according to legal filings. He was convicted criminally only in the Haverhill altar boy case….
One Haverhill teenager who was an alleged victim, James M. Francis, was killed in 1981 when he was riding in a car Paquin was driving that rolled over in New Hampshire.
Paquin was accused in a lawsuit of driving impaired during the accident and molesting Francis hours earlier, charges he denied….
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/10/02/ronald-paquin-former-catholic-priest-center-abuse-scandal-boston-archdiocese-freed/TOBVQCjIHLHGeFL60Yj26J/story.html
Watch: Pope Francis says Chilean protests over alleged child abuse cover-up are ‘dumb’
By Adam Taylor October 8, 2015
Few global figures have enjoyed a more positive public image recently than Pope Francis, the remarkably popular leader of the Catholic Church. But a newly released video that appears to show the pope calling critics of the church’s actions in Chile “dumb” has prompted fresh protests in the Latin American country – and could also harm the pontiff’s reputation internationally.
The video, aired by a Chilean TV channel last week, was initially filmed at the Vatican in May. According to Catholic news Web site Crux, the video shows Jaime Coiro, a former spokesman for the Chilean Bishops Conference, greeting Francis in St Peter’s Square.
In the video, Francis talks about criticism that the Catholic church in Chile was facing at the time. The appointment of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid to the Osorno, Chile, diocese had drawn protests throughout the country due to accusations that Barros had helped cover up the sexual abuse of minors by his then-superior, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, and may have witnessed some of the abuse himself.
The Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors in 2011 and sentenced him to a “life of prayer and penitence.” While Barros spent more than 30 years working with Karadima, he has denied any cover-up, and the Vatican released a short statement offering a defense of the bishop’s appointment in March. The newly released video, however, shows Francis going much further – not only angrily defending Barros’s appointment, but seemingly insulting the intelligence of protesters.
In the footage, the pope tells a group of tourists that Osorno’s church has “lost its freedom, allowing politicians to fill people’s heads, judging a bishop without any evidence, a man who’s been a bishop for 20 years.” Francis goes on to say: “Think with your heads. Don’t let them lead you by the nose, all these fools who have stirred this thing up.”
The pope adds that “the only accusation against this bishop was dismissed by the court,” drawing out the syllables for emphasis. “Please, don’t lose your calm. Osorno is suffering, yes, but for being dumb,” he says in the video….
Notably, while the pope appears to say that the investigation into an alleged cover-up of Karadima’s abuses was closed, the New York Times notes that the investigation is, in fact, still ongoing. The pope’s reference to politicians in the video appears to be a reference to Chilean members of parliament who had signed a petition opposing Barros’s nomination.
The video of Francis’s comments was published online Friday and has sparked outrage against the Chilean Catholic Church, with renewed protests in St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Osorno over the weekend calling on the Vatican to remove Barros from his post….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/08/watch-pope-francis-says-chilean-protests-over-alleged-child-abuse-cover-up-are-dumb/
Calling Protesters in Chile ‘Dumb,’ Pope Francis Sets Off Uproar By PASCALE BONNEFOY OCT. 7, 2015 ….In the video, Pope Francis asserted that the accusations against Bishop Barros were unfounded and that a Chilean court had dismissed such claims. However, a judicial investigation into the presumed negligence and cover-up of church officials regarding Father Karadima’s abuses is still in progress.
Three of Father Karadima’s victims filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Church in 2012, demanding nearly $660,000 in compensation after a criminal investigation into abuses committed from 1980 to 1995 was dismissed in 2011 because the statute of limitations had expired.
One of the victims, Juan Carlos Cruz, contends that Bishop Barros was frequently present in Father Karadima’s bedroom when he and others were abused; threatened seminarians who dared denounce them; and destroyed letters reporting the abuses to the archbishop of Santiago at the time, Juan Francisco Fresno, when Bishop Barros was the archbishop’s personal secretary in the 1980s.
Bishop Barros is one of two dozen witnesses who the plaintiffs have requested be interrogated as part of the lawsuit.
“The pope’s statements are not surprising, but it is sad,” Mr. Cruz said. “The vision of a pope closer to abuse victims has been unmasked.”
‘Spotlight’ film illuminates Boston clergy abuse scandal Investigation led to Cardinal Law’s resignation Oct 27, 2015
BOSTON —It was a scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church to its core: Hundreds of priests molested children for decades and got away with it because church leaders covered it up.
More than a decade later, the story of how The Boston Globe exposed the church’s secret is being told in “Spotlight,” a movie starring Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, set for release Nov. 6.
In Boston, where the scandal led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law and settlements with hundreds of victims, key figures featured in the film say it captures the shock of the scandal as it unfolded, the pain suffered by the victims and the work done by journalists to bring it to light.
“We obviously stumbled upon something far more extensive and horrifying than we had any right to expect to find,” recalled Walter Robinson – played by Michael Keaton – who led the Globe’s Spotlight Team, the investigative unit that broke open the scandal with a series of stories in 2002.
The stories detailed how church higher-ups – including Law – knew priests were abusing children but moved them from parish to parish instead of removing them. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003….
For the reporters, the film is a realistic depiction of both the failings and triumphs of journalism. Before the 2002 series, the Globe had written numerous stories about abusive priests but had not delved deeper to report on who within the archdiocese knew what was going on.
Shortly before Marty Baron took the helm as editor in 2001, he saw a reference in a Globe column about sealed court files in the case of John Geoghan, a priest accused of abusing more than 100 children.
His first day on the job, Baron asked Globe staffers if they had tried to get the files unsealed….
The Spotlight Team went to work while the Globe’s lawyers went to court. A judge eventually unsealed church documents, including priest personnel files containing extensive details on when the archdiocese received sexual abuse allegations against priests and who in the church hierarchy knew. The Globe’s explosive series sparked an upheaval in the Boston archdiocese that snowballed as similar revelations came to light about abusive priests around the world….
Father Shanley, right, with Cardinal Law, had served as pastor of a church in Newton in the 1980s. Earlier in his career he had attended the first meetings of NAMBLA, a male … pedophile organization.
http://www.wcvb.com/entertainment/spotlight-film-illuminates-boston-clergy-abuse-scandal/36067318
Spotlight Official Trailer #1 (2015) – Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton Movie HD
The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
I was abused by clergy: Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson tells of abuse as 19-year-old
October 26, 2015 Joanne McCarthy
Anglican bishop Greg Thompson has spoken about being groomed by an Anglican bishop and senior clergyman in the 1970s and later sexually abused, after an historic diocese apology on Sunday for the “shameful” treatment of abuse survivors in the past.
The Newcastle bishop said he was an impressionable 19-year-old when the two men singled him out, made him feel special and used his strong faith and their shared religion as the cover to sexually abuse him.
His allegations against the two men, now dead, were revealed to NSW Police and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year.
Bishop Thompson said he did not reveal the information before the diocese synod at the weekend because he wanted the vote on an historic apology to be a genuine response from clergy and senior diocese parishioners, and not a response to him personally.
“I couldn’t have spoken about the need for an apology if they’d known I was a survivor,” Bishop Thompson said.
“I wouldn’t have known if the response was for me or survivors. I didn’t want it to be just about me or any one particular survivor.”
He felt stronger after the synod supported an apology, without dissent, in which the diocese apologised “for the shameful way we actively worked against and discouraged those who came to us and reported abuse”.
“We are ashamed to acknowledge that we only took notice when the survivors of abuse became a threat to us.”….
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/i-was-abused-by-clergy-anglican-bishop-greg-thompson-tells-of-abuse-as-19yearold-20151026-gkiz2x.html
Controversial ‘Open Secret’ Reveals Hollywood Child Abuse Problem By David A. Patten Thursday, 08 Oct 2015
When actress Ashley Judd recently revealed that an unnamed studio executive tried to “groom” her for sex by using his powerful position, Gabe Hoffman, a film producer and hedge-fund executive, was hardly surprised.
“The casting couch is almost as old as time,” he told Newsmax. But he adds, “I think the casting couch has just about run its course in our society. We don’t tolerate that stuff anymore. We shouldn’t.”
Hoffman is considered an authority on the subject because his documentary film “An Open Secret” reveals an even darker, unrelated predilection that he says plagues the entertainment industry: Sexual exploitation of child actors.
The film’s director, Amy Berg, was nominated for an Oscar for “Deliver Us From Evil,” her 2006 examination of sex abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church.
Berg deftly wields all the narrative tools of the storyteller’s craft – rising action, suspense, plot twists, interludes, surprise endings – to create a documentary that holds together surprisingly well considering the abject subject matter. She offers a gut-wrenching, un-hyped account of the emotional carnage wreaked on children by industry predators.
The documentary introduces five erstwhile child actors identified only by their first names and last initials. Each story follows a predictable arc, how they were discovered, groomed, and ultimately used….
Many of the film’s sordid tales involve Marc Collins-Rector, the co-founder of the now-defunct Digital Entertainment Network, an attempt at online video streaming….
According to the film, Collins-Rector would invite high-profile entertainment mavens to join in sybaritic parties at an Encino, California, mansion. There, aspiring child actors would cavort about the pool and powerful adults – who held the power to realize or destroy their dreams of stardom – enticed them into the hot tub. Some of the children had not yet even reached their teens.
In 2004, Collins-Rector pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child sexual abuse. Among other heinous acts, he admitted to luring five minors across state lines for sex. At sentencing, he was credited with the time he’d spent in a Spanish jail prior to his extradition. He later fled the country after a court awarded a $4.5 million judgment to his accusers….
Sexual abuse involving children is hardly new. In 2011, actor Corey Feldman, who starred in the 1980s films “The Goonies” and “Stand By Me,” wrote a memoir, “Coreyography,” in which he stated he and his late co-star Corey Haim were sexually abused as children….
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/hollywood-open-secret-documentary/2015/10/08/id/695357/
Poverty, isolation push Japan’s child abuse cases to record high Kyodo Oct 8, 2015
Child welfare authorities dealt with nearly 90,000 child abuse cases in the fiscal year ending March, a government survey showed Thursday, with experts blaming the record-high figure on increased poverty and the isolation of some families. Logging the largest-ever increase of 20.5 percent from the previous year’s 73,000, the preliminary survey by the health ministry showed the number of cases handled by 207 child consultation centers across the country in fiscal 2014 reached 88,931, up for the 24th consecutive year since the survey started in 1990.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare attributed the rise to the widened scope of circumstances that can be reported as abuse following an August 2013 notice that instructed the centers to deal with siblings of abused children as they may also be suffering from psychological abuse.
The number of cases reported by police to the centers in which children witnessed abuse of a parent or other family member has also increased, it said….
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/08/national/social-issues/poverty-isolation-push-japans-child-abuse-cases-record-high/
Ten of Jared Fogle’s child abuse victims paid $1m total prior to sentencing
Four other victims expected to receive restitution before former Subway spokesman is sentenced next month – a rare move in child sexual abuse cases
Jared Fogle agreed to plead guilty to receiving child abuse images and having sex with minors.
Associated Press in Indianapolis
Thursday 22 October 2015
Ten victims of former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle have received a total of $1m in restitution since he agreed to plead guilty to receiving child abuse images and sex-crime charges, and his four other victims could receive their checks by the time he is sentenced next month – a move prosecutors said is rare.
The $100,000 checks were hand-delivered to each of the 10 victims or their parents over the last several weeks, with each signing a form saying they had received the money and that it is intended to benefit that particular victim, assistant US attorney Steven DeBrota told the Associated Press on Thursday….
By the time a federal judge sentences Fogle on 19 November to a minimum of five years in prison, DeBrota said prosecutors expect to have either presented checks to Fogle’s four other victims or have plans in place to disburse those funds to them.
That money will pay for mental health counseling, medical care and other needs the 14 victims might have now or in the future to help them recover from the trauma. Three adults and seven minors had received their checks as of Thursday. DeBrota said that money will help them “go on with their lives and put them where they should have been had none of this happened”….
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/22/jared-fogle-child-sexual-abuse-victims-restitution
Horace Mann alum details shocking sexual abuse of students at elite prep school in new book
BY Sherryl Connelly NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, October 24, 2015
Horace Mann, its board populated by international hedge fund managers and real estate titans, settled with abuse victims for between $4 million and $5 million.
Amos Kamil, the Horace Mann alum who first exposed the shocking story of sexually abused students at the elite prep school, knew only about half of what happened.
Three years later, he’s ready to tell the rest of the sordid tale.
Kamil, in “Great is the Truth: Secrecy, Scandal, and the Quest for Justice at the Horace Mann School,” details the long-lingering effects on the victims of predatory staffers.
In the aftermath of the furor ignited by his 2012 article in The New York Times Magazine, many more victims stepped forward.
Only then did the human toll of the abuse become clear — so many lives impaired by the reverberating trauma of drug abuse, aborted careers, suicide.
Kamil, in the book co-written with Sean Elder, charges the Bronx school and its powerful backers adopted a ruthless stance with the sex-abuse survivors.
Protecting Horace Mann’s reputation, and its financial well-being, seemingly took precedence over addressing the victims’ needs, according to Kamil….
The Kamil book says that while the sexual abuse lasted from the 1960s into the 1990s, the school ignored repeated warnings about the sick behavior.
One guidance counselor was said to listen sympathetically before putting his own sexual moves on a student.
Riverdale’s Horace Mann was a small patch of educational paradise in the Bronx, where teachers were expected to fully immerse themselves in their students’ lives.
Boundaries between home and school were intentionally blurred as pupils routinely traveled with their teachers, or spent after-hours and weekends pursuing further enlightenment in their company.
The cult personality was seen as a good thing, demonstrating the powerful influence of a dedicated educator….
The DA’s report noted there were at least 20 instances of abuse brought to the attention of Horace Mann teachers through the years — and law enforcement was never notified.
A recently concluded independent investigation conducted by former Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder — and funded by the alumni association — found that as many as 64 students were abused by 22 faculty and staff members.
The school refused to cooperate in the probe. And when 25 of the survivors repped by media-savvy lawyer Gloria Allred agreed to mediation, Horace Mann’s board played hardball.
New York State’s strict statute of limitations precluded the victims’ getting their day in court, so a financial settlement was the school’s only opportunity to address the wrong.
The settlement arrived at in Brooklyn’s Poly Prep abuse scandal awarded the 12 survivors about $800,000 each. Penn State paid out a total of $59.7 million to the 25 victims in the Jerry Sandusky scandal….
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/horace-mann-alum-reveals-abuse-new-book-article-1.2410248
Ritual Abuse and Mind Control
RITUAL ABUSE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Implications Kindle Edition by Randy Noblitt (Editor), Pamela Perskin (Editor)
Allegations of ritual abuse are universal and mental health professionals, theologians, law enforcers, scholars, victim advocates, and others struggle to comprehend the enormity of the devastation left in the wake of these heinous acts. Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-first Century addresses the concerns that naturally evolve from any discussion of this phenomenon from the perspectives of professionals, advocates, and survivors from around the world. How valid are the survivors’ stories? Is there evidence? What are the consequences of these acts to the individual and society? Why have these allegations been ignored or discredited whenever they have surfaced? The authors of these chapters respond to these and other questions in an effort to illustrate the constellation of psychological, health, legal, criminal, societal, and spiritual ramifications of ritual abuse.
Amazon’s Look Inside allows readers to preview the first three chapters:
Chapter 1: Rituals: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Noblitt
Chapter 2: Redefining the Language of Ritual Abuse and the Politics that Dictate It
Noblitt & Perskin-Noblitt
Chapter 3: Exploring Commonalities Reported by Adult Survivors of Extreme Abuse: Preliminary Empirical Findings
Rutz, Becker, Overkamp, & Karriker
Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Considerations
Allegations of ritual abuse are universal and mental health professionals, theologians, law enforcers, scholars, victim advocates, and others struggle to comprehend the enormity of the devastation left in the wake of these heinous acts.
Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-first Century addresses the concerns that naturally evolve from any discussion of this phenomenon from the perspectives of professionals, advocates, and survivors from around the world….
The authors of these chapters respond to these and other questions in an effort to illustrate the constellation of psychological, health, legal, criminal, societal, and spiritual ramifications of ritual abuse.
Chapters address current issues including ritually based crime, civil suits involving allegations of ritual abuse, that are universal.
The value of understanding ritual trauma for diagnostic and treatment applications is discussed.
Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century
ACLU sues psychologists over CIA interrogation tactics The Associated Press ERIC TUCKER Oct 13th 2015 WASHINGTON (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday sued two former Air Force psychologists who designed a CIA program that used harsh interrogation techniques to elicit intelligence from suspected terrorists, saying the pair endorsed and taught torture tactics under the guise of science.
The lawsuit comes 10 months after the release of a damning Senate report that said the interrogation techniques had inflicted pain on al-Qaida prisoners far beyond the legal limits and did not yield lifesaving intelligence.
The suit accuses the psychologists, James E. Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen, of developing an interrogation program that relied on beatings, sleep deprivation, starvation, waterboarding and other methods that caused physical and psychological suffering on prisoners in CIA custody….
The suit was filed in federal court in Washington state on behalf of three former CIA prisoners. One, Gul Rahman, was interrogated in a dungeon-like Afghanistan prison called the Salt Pit, subjected to isolation, darkness and extreme cold water, and was later found dead of hypothermia. The other two men, Suleiman Abdullah Salim and Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, are now free.
The lawsuit was brought under the Alien Tort Statute, which allows noncitizens to sue in U.S. courts over human-rights violations. A 2010 Associated Press report, citing former U.S. officials, said the CIA promised to cover at least $5 million in legal fees for the psychologists if the program ran into trouble.
The suit repeats many of the allegations that surfaced in an exhaustive Senate investigation issued last year. It found sweeping flaws with the CIA’s approach to interrogations.
The complaint alleges that the psychologists, despite having no practical interrogation experience or specific background in al-Qaida, devised a program for the CIA that drew from 1960s experiments involving dogs and the theory of “learned helplessness.” In making their case to the CIA, the psychologists argued that just as abused dogs will become passive and compliant, humans subject to “uncontrollable pain” would “become helpless and unable to resist an interrogator’s demand for information,” according to the lawsuit.
The pair, who worked as independent contractors for the CIA, formed a company that was ultimately paid $81 million and which as of April 2007 directly employed 11 of the 13 interrogators used by the agency, the complaint states. The men were also themselves involved in some of the interrogations….
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/13/aclu-sues-psychologists-over-cia-interrogation-tactics/21248565/
Curfew imposed in northern Liberia after ritual killings spark protests Reuters – Thu, 1 Oct 2015 MONROVIA, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Authorities imposed a curfew in a town in northern Liberia after violent protests following a wave of suspected ritual killings, authorities said on Wednesday.
Residents of Ganta on the border with Guinea said protests began after the killing of a motorcyclist on Wednesday. That came just a day after the discovery of the body of a 13-year-old girl who had disappeared weeks earlier….
The girl’s death was the most recent in what is believed to be a years-long string of ritualistic killings in the area that have been blamed by local residents on politicians and businessmen seeking political power.
Though relatively rare, cases of ritual murders have been recorded in several African countries, with body parts sometimes used in ceremonies believed to confer supernatural powers. Children are particularly sought out as targets.
Residents said violence erupted after two people who were arrested for the girl’s murder said a local businessman had hired them to perform it…. http://www.trust.org/item/20150930215054-ekn5g/
Man convicted in Satanic hotel slayings in Barrie appeals Barrie Advance By Janis Ramsay Sep 03, 2015 Mark Dobson is hoping a judge will find him not criminally responsible for the Satanic slayings he committed at a Barrie hotel in May, 2012. He has appealed his conviction of two counts of first-degree murder while serving life behind bars and is awaiting a court date for his appeal to be heard. Dobson, 25, was handed the life sentence in jail in January for killing Helen Dorrington, 52, and 32-year-old Mary Hepburn at a Bayfield Street hotel. Dobson, from British Columbia, met the women through a website called Joy of Satan. He ended up living with Hepburn in Barrie and Dorrington travelled from Alberta to take part in a suicide pact with the pair. Court was told Dobson was under orders of the gods of Hell when he killed the women so they could go to another planet and on to paradise. His suicide attempt failed and he was arrested in the blood-soaked motel room….
http://www.simcoe.com/news-story/5824942-man-convicted-in-satanic-hotel-slayings-in-barrie-appeals/
Dobson guilty of first-degree murder in double Satanic slaying in Barrie
Barrie suicide-pact killer tells judge he believed he did “the right thing”
Barrie Advance By Rick Vanderlinde Jan 15, 2015
…. Dobson’s defence lawyer Mitch Eisen claimed he was unable to appreciate the significance of the acts because he suffers from schizophrenia and argued his client was not criminally responsible.
However, Justice J.A Watt rejected that claim this morning and found Dobson guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, which carries an automatic life sentence without chance of parole until 25 years.
“Nothing supports that Mark Dobson did not appreciate that he was cutting the throats of Helen Dorrington and Mary Hepburn. That was his very purpose,” Watt said.
Watt agreed Dobson has likely been suffering from schizophrenia for years, but determined he knew and appreciated the murders were against the law and morally wrong.
“The existence of a mental disorder does not (excuse) anyone from criminal responsibility,’ Watt said in his ruling. “It’s only if it renders the person incapable of knowing the act was wrong.”
Watt said evidence throughout the trial showed Dobson himself understood the significance of his crimes when he made admissions to paramedics, hospital staff and ultimately a Barrie police detective.
“In a police interview he said it didn’t matter what happened to him. He said he thought he’d get the death penalty or life in prison. He was willing to accept that. Mark Dobson said: ‘I’ll be looked at as a monster. I know that.’”
At one point after his arrest, Dobson was asked by a psychiatrist if he would have carried out the murders if there was a police officer standing in the room.
“Mark Dobson said he would have waited because the officer would have seen it as murder,” Watt said.
Watt also noted that Dobson had mentioned on more than one occasion that he would prefer to be found not criminally responsible so he would go to a psychiatric hospital instead of prison….
http://www.simcoe.com/news-story/5259471-dobson-guilty-of-first-degree-murder-in-double-satanic-slaying-in-barrie/
Man charged with attempted murder Accused of throwing a knife at a woman September 2nd, 2015
Staff Report PACOLET — A resident of the Pacolet community was charged with attempted murder by the Union County Sheriff’s Office on Monday. Luis Angel Gonzalez, 18, of 166 Cedar Lane, Pacolet, was charged with attempted murder around 2 a.m. Aug. 31. Union County Deputies responded to the Cedar Lane residence for an assault involving a knife, and while en route, deputies were advised that Gonzalez had run into the woods. When officers arrived, they were met by four people who stated Gonzalez had assaulted a woman by throwing a knife at her….
A man turned over the knife Gonzalez allegedly threw at the woman, a crucifix which a witness stated Gonzalez had taped to the wall upside down, and what the witness said appeared to be a satanic altar which had teeth affixed to it. Deputies took the altar and knife as evidence and photographed the crucifix…. http://uniondailytimes.com/news/1307/man-charged-with-attempted-murder-3
Texas woman used in ‘blood ritual’ while being held captive Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Associated Press DALLAS (AP) — Four people kidnapped a woman and held her captive for three days in a San Antonio-area home, forcing her to ingest drugs and at one point conducting a “blood ritual,” a sheriff’s spokesman said Wednesday.
Authorities believe Mercedes Salazar, 32, was the ringleader who orchestrated the woman’s captivity, according to James Keith, spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Salazar is being held on charges that include aggravated kidnapping, he said.
Keith said Salazar believed the 25-year-old woman played a role in the August killing of her brother. Authorities say there’s no indication the victim played any role in the death.
The woman was abducted last month and spent most of her time in captivity tied to a chair. She told investigators she was forced to take drugs, including what she believed was heroin. Her captors also held a ceremony that Keith described as a blood ritual.
“It was a form of witchcraft where they cut her hair and drew blood from her,” he said….
http://www.theeagle.com/news/texas/texas-woman-used-in-blood-ritual-while-being-held-captive/article_a7abe4db-36c9-51de-abf0-3f231be30dd6.html
describes crimes
High court refuses appeal from killer in slaying of boy, 12
Monday, October 5, 2015 Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused an appeal from a 38-year-old man on Texas death row for the 1998 fatal beating and robbery of a 12-year-old Rio Grande Valley boy in what authorities said may have been an occult ritual slaying.
The high court on Monday rejected the case of Pablo Vasquez, who was convicted and condemned for the slaying of David Cardenas.
Cardenas went missing after attending a party attended by Vasquez and a 15-year-cousin. When his body was found in a field in Donna, authorities said the boy had been scalped and mutilated.
Evidence at Vasquez’s trial showed he acknowledged killing the boy and drinking his blood.
Vasquez’s cousin, Andy Chapa, is serving a 35-year prison term for his involvement.
Vasquez doesn’t yet have an execution date.
http://www.theeagle.com/news/texas/high-court-refuses-appeal-from-killer-in-slaying-of-boy/article_a3d5143e-9cb4-5653-8a9a-5632514af588.html
Community Hero: Jen Yates In every monthly issue of the Star Observer, we take a look at a champion of the LGBTI community. This month, Benedict Brook spoke to a Canberra psychologist whose work with trans* people has bolstered self-esteem, reunited families and even saved lives. Benedict Brook — September 22, 2015
IN Jen Yates’ home office in Canberra, a frame proudly displays the leaving card she received when she departed her role as a psychologist at A Gender Agenda (AGA), a pioneering support group in the ACT for the sex and gender diverse community….
“I’ve worked with Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, survivors of sexual abuse but the trans* community is the most marginalised and isolated community I have ever worked with.”….
After her own children were born, in between nappy changes and school runs, she found time to set up family refuges and work with the Canberra rape crisis centre and victims of childhood and ritual abuse. “When people are suffering, whether it’s because of particular traits or experiences they have, any of us could be in their shoes and I just wanted to do useful things and be supportive,” Yates says…. http://www.starobserver.com.au/features/community/community-hero-jen-yates/141215
Trial set for man accused of killing daughter with blade Tuesday, September 22, 2015 Associated Press GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — A trial date has been set for an Alabama man accused of killing his toddler with a sword or knife in what relatives have called a ritual slaying.
Stephon Lindsay is charged with capital murder in the death of his 1-year-old daughter, Maliyah Lindsay….Family members said the girl was killed as part of a ritual. A judge has imposed a gag order in the case.
http://www.nonpareilonline.com/news/national/wire/trial-set-for-man-accused-of-killing-daughter-with-blade/article_7116a84b-b19a-5583-995a-616838682a0e.html
Rise in child abuse investigations linked to fears of witchcraft Ruth Gledhill Christian Today Contributing Editor 12 October 2015 Police are investigating increasing numbers of cases where children are being assaulted because of suspicions about witchcraft.
This year so far, 27 cases of ritual child abuse have or are still being investigated by the Metropolitan Police, including two allegations of rape. This compares to to 24 in 2013, 19 in 2012 and nine in 2011. There have ben 148 referrals to the Met since 2004….
Allegations included a child being swung around and smacked on the head to “drive out the devil” and youngsters being dunked in water, according to an investigation by the BBC.
Deaths linked to ritual child abuse include Kristy Bamu, 15, tortured and drowned by his sister and her boyfriend in 2010 and Victoria Climbie in 2000, whose aunt and boyfriend had believed she was possessed and who were found guilty of murder.
Det Supt Terry Sharpe said ritualistic abuse was a hidden crime.
“Abuse linked to belief is a horrific crime which is condemned by people of all cultures, communities and faiths. A number of high-profile investigations brought the issue of ritual abuse and witchcraft into the headlines, but it is important that professionals are clear about the signs to look for.” Some families genuinely believed the victim had been taken over by the devil or an evil spirit, he said. “Regardless of the beliefs of the abusers, child abuse is child abuse.”….
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/child.abuse.linked.to.witchcraft.on.the.rise/67340.htm
Florida candidate for U.S. Senate admits to sacrificing goat, drinking its blood Oct 05, 2015 BY BRENDON FARRINGTON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Two years ago, Augustus Sol Invictus walked from central Florida to the Mojave Desert and spent a week fasting and praying, at times thinking he wouldn’t survive. In a pagan ritual to give thanks when he returned home, he killed a goat and drank its blood. Now that he’s a candidate for U.S. Senate, the story is coming back to bite him.
The chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida has resigned to call attention to Invictus’ candidacy in hopes that other party leaders will denounce him. Adrian Wyllie, who was the Libertarian candidate for governor last year, says Invictus wants to lead a civil war, is trying to recruit neo-Nazis to the party and brutally and sadistically dismembered a goat….
Invictus, a 32-year-old lawyer who changed his given name — which he declines to reveal — to a Latin phrase that means “majestic unconquered sun,” says Wyllie is just running a smear campaign and is twisting his words into lies. No, he says, he’s not a white supremacist, pointing out his four children are Hispanic — though he acknowledges that some white supremacists support his campaign. No, he says he isn’t trying to start a civil war, but he says the government already is at war with its citizens and that it’s certain to escalate….
“I did sacrifice a goat. I know that’s probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans,” he said. “I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness … Yes, I drank the goat’s blood.”….
http://www.wowktv.com/story/30189588/florida-candidate-for-us-senate-admits-to-sacrificing-goat-drinking-its-blood
7 life sentences handed to 2 mass murderers in KZN The pair hacked their family members to death in what appears to have been a witchcraft ritual. Mia Lindeque October 30, 2015
JOHANNESBURG – Two people have been handed seven life sentences for killing eight family members in KwaZulu-Natal. Last week, Thulani and Sibonelo Mncwabe killed their family members, including two young children and an elderly man, in a crime believed to involve witchcraft in Mabaleni on the south coast. The two suspects pleaded guilty to all eight charges and were also given an additional 20 years each. Hawks spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi say the accused, aged 26 and 28, hacked their family members to death in what appears to have been a witchcraft ritual. He says the sentences will send out a strong message to other criminals practising witchcraft…. http://ewn.co.za/2015/10/29/Two-men-handed-7-life-sentences-for-hacking-KZN-family-to-death
Polygamist sect limits sex to ‘seed bearers,’ court document says By Thom Patterson, CNN Thu October 1, 2015
(CNN) It’s hard to imagine that a convicted child rapist would be allowed to lead a church from prison, but that’s exactly what’s going on with Warren Jeffs.
Jeffs leads a polygamist sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It gained worldwide attention in 2006 when authorities accused Jeffs of sexual offenses against girls he took as wives. At one point Jeffs disappeared, prompting the FBI to put him on its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list until he was captured.
In 2008, authorities raided the church’s sprawling Texas ranch. Police removed more than 460 children from the property, including mothers under 18 years old. Authorities seized and shut down the ranch last year.
Eventually, Jeffs was convicted in 2011 of “sexual assault” and “aggravated sexual assault” of two girls ages 12 and 15. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years.
The FLDS broke away from the mainstream Mormon church more than a century ago because its members refused to renounce polygamy.
The church allegedly exercises control over the adjacent towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah — an area informally known as Short Creek. Other enclaves exist in Mancos, Colorado; Boise City, Oklahoma; Custer County, South Dakota; and a Canadian community known as Bountiful, British Columbia….
First obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, a child custody petition filed in a St. George, Utah, juvenile court by Lyle Jeffs’ estranged wife Charlene Jeffs describes a group of followers called “seed bearers.” “A seed bearer is an elect man of a worthy bloodline chosen by the Priesthood to impregnate the FLDS woman,” according to Charlene Jeffs’ petition. Under a new doctrine, “FLDS men are no longer permitted to have children with their multiple wives. That privilege belongs to the seed bearer alone,” the petition said. “It is the husband’s responsibility to hold the hands of their wives while the seed bearer ‘spreads his seed.’ In layman terms, the husband is required to sit in the room while the chosen seed bearer, or a couple of them, rape his wife or wives,” according to the document.
Utah juvenile court records are not usually available to the public, so it’s unknown if anyone filed documents disputing any details in Charlene Jeffs’ petition, or the veracity of the petition’s allegations….
Children who were put to work included at least 125 who were younger than 12, at least 50 between ages 12 and 13, and at least 25 between 14 and 15, according to the suit. All performed tasks during school hours such as mowing, pruning and bagging pecans, the suit said….
The number of followers in the secretive church is impossible to know for sure. At its peak many years ago, total FLDS membership may have been as high as 15,000, Brower said, but by his educated guess the number now — in the wake of Jeffs’ imprisonment and the civil lawsuit — is somewhere near 10,000.
Brower said several thousand have left the church or been expelled within the past few years.
FLDS members did not send their children to public schools, which may explain reports of skyrocketing enrollment in public schools. Enrollments have been rising, as more members are expelled or leave the church….
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/us/polygamist-flds-warren-jeffs-update/
Royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse Brisbane Grammar counsellor ritually abused students, royal commission told Kevin Lynch, who committed suicide when he was exposed, operated in a soundproof room which acted as a ‘sick conveyor belt’ for his victims
Joshua Robertson Tuesday 3 November 2015 A counsellor at a prestigious Queensland private school ritually hypnotised students before masturbating them, slapping them in the face and putting acupuncture needles in one child’s genitals, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse has heard.
The scores of alleged victims of Kevin Lynch at Brisbane Grammar school included a boy who was sexually abused in a grief counselling session given after learning his father had committed suicide.
The commission hearing in Brisbane is examining the response to abuse claims against Lynch from the 1970s to the 1990s at Grammar and later St Paul’s Anglican school, and another former St Paul’s teacher, Gregory Robert Knight in the 1980s.
Also to come under scrutiny is former South Australian education minister Don Hopgood, who was a member of the same musical group in Adelaide as Knight when he gave him a glowing personal reference on parliamentary letterhead despite allegedly knowing a departmental inquiry found Knight engaged in “disgraceful” conduct with school students.
The royal commission also heard that Hopgood ordered that the South Australian education department rescind its dismissal of Knight and accept his resignation, which enabled him to get jobs in Queensland schools. Knight lost his job at St Paul’s over abuse allegations but then taught in the Northern Territory, where he was eventually jailed over indecent dealing with a student.
One alleged victim of Lynch, known only as BQK, told the commission that the counsellor’s “treatment [was] built around his convincing me that I could harness the power of my orgasms to gain an edge” in studies and sport.
“He would regularly masturbate me to the point of ejaculation and sometimes would make me ingest my own semen,” he said.
Lynch also slapped the boy in the face to “psyche me up about winning a metaphorical race”.
“Other times he would use acupuncture needles and put them into my testicles or stick his thumb in my anus,” BQK said.
BQK told the commission he “assumed this was a normal treatment method” and did not appreciate he had been seriously abused until “well into my adult life”.
He said he could not understand why Grammar staff had not questioned why Lynch operated out of a room that had two heavy, soundproof doors, red and green light signals controlling student access, and had significant stocks of tissues and towels, which he used to wipe up semen….
“I was badly let down by this culture of turning a blind eye and protecting the brand and it is hard not to see it is a deliberate cover up,” he said.
Counsel assisting the commission, David Lloyd, said that Lynch abused “significant numbers” of students at Grammar from 1973 to 1988 and then at St Paul’s Anglican school from 1989 to 1997.
The commission was in contact with 80 former students of both schools claiming abuse, Lloyd said.
Lynch committed suicide in 1997 a day after he was charged with sex offences against a St Paul’s student who had secretly recorded a confession.
The scale of Lynch’s abuse only came into public view following media revelations that Nigel Parodi, who shot three police then himself in 2000, was among his victims at Grammar….
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/04/brisbane-grammar-counsellor-ritually-abused-students-royal-commission-told
Royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse Former Brisbane Grammar headmaster says ‘unlikely’ he dismissed abuse claim Raymond Cross, former junior school head, tells royal commission it was ‘most unlikely’ he rejected a student’s allegations against counsellor Kevin Lynch Joshua Robertson in Brisbane Wednesday 4 November 2015 A former Brisbane Grammar junior school headmaster accused of dismissing a student’s complaint about suspected serial paedophile Kevin Lynch says he considered seeking the counsellor’s advice about his own son years later.
Raymond Cross, who the royal commission has heard told an alleged victim in 1977 that he should “not make up stories and that Lynch was a well respected man”, told the inquiry he could not rule out the conversation happening but that it was “most unlikely”.
Cross told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Brisbane on Wednesday that when his second son had “settling issues” at Grammar in 1992, he “considered consulting [Lynch] about my son” even though Lynch had since moved to St Paul’s Anglican school.
The commission’s nine-day hearing is probing responses to Lynch’s suspected ritual sexual abuse of more than 60 students under the guise of “relaxation therapy” for more than two decades at both Grammar and St Paul’s.
Cross said while he found the green and red lighting system signalling student access to Lynch’s locked office “quite odd”, he was unaware of any formal record keeping or oversight of Lynch’s contact with students.
He said he felt shocked, disgusted and extreme disappointment in his own blindness to widespread allegations against Lynch which he only learned of through media reports after the counsellor’s suicide following his being charged with indecent dealing with a St Paul’s student in 1997….
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/05/former-brisbane-grammar-headmaster-says-unlikely-he-dismissed-abuse-claim
Child Abuse and Research
149 exploited children recovered in nationwide sex trafficking sting Oct 14th 2015
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Hundreds of children who were being sexually exploited have been rescued from their “nightmare” as part of a week-long, nationwide operation meant to “end the scourage” of sex trafficking in the U.S., according to the FBI. More than 150 pimps were arrested in the sting, the agency said. The children — 149 in all — were plucked from hotels, casinos and truck stops, among other locations, federal officials said. The youngest was 12 years old. Investigators said they tracked down some of the culprits by scouring ads posted on Backpage.com then setting up meetings — recorded by hidden cameras — between the pimps, children and undercover agents….
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/14/149-exploited-children-recovered-in-nationwide-sex-trafficking-s/21249236/
Undercover nationwide sting rescues 149 children from prostitution: FBI October 14, 2015, by Samantha Tata and Rick Boone ….After the children were found, crisis intervention specialists were provided for them as well as “resources for basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention,” the FBI said.
Executed in 135 cities and involving more than 500 law enforcement officials, the sting has been dubbed Operation Cross Country and is part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative. This is the ninth operation of its kind, the agency said. The first one was carried out in 2003. To date it has identified and recovered about 4,800 sexually exploited children and led to the convictions of more than 2,000 pimps and others associated with trafficking crimes, according to the FBI. http://pix11.com/2015/10/14/undercover-nationwide-sting-rescues-149-children-from-prostitution-fbi/
Emotional child abuse may be just as bad as physical harm By Lisa Rapaport Mon Oct 19, 2015
(Reuters Health) – When it comes to psychological and behavioral health, both physical and emotional abuse can be equally damaging to children, a new study suggests.
Even though doctors and parents often believe physical or sexual abuse is more harmful than emotional mistreatment or neglect, the study found children suffered similar problems regardless of the type of maltreatment endured, researchers report in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
“The abused children had all types of problems, from anxiety and depression to rule-breaking and aggression,” lead study author David Vachon, of McGill University in Montreal, said by email.
His team was surprised, he said, that “different types of abuse had similar consequences; physically abused children and emotionally abused children had very similar problems.”….
Overall, children with a history of abuse and neglect had much higher rates of depression, withdrawal, anxiety, and neuroticism than campers who hadn’t been mistreated.
This difference held true for kids who were victims of all types of abuse, including neglect as well as physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment.
The effect was most profound for children who suffered from all four types of abuse, or from the most severe forms of maltreatment.
Results were similar for boys and girls and across racial groups….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/19/us-health-childabuse-emotional-idUSKCN0SD2C720151019
Assessment of the Harmful Psychiatric and Behavioral Effects of Different Forms of Child Maltreatment October 14, 2015 David D. Vachon, PhD; Robert F. Krueger, PhD; Fred A. Rogosch, PhD3; Dante Cicchetti, PhD
JAMA Psychiatry. Published online October 14, 2015. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.1792
…Taken together with high worldwide prevalence and evidence that emotional and physical pain share a common somatosensory representation in the brain it is clear that emotional abuse is widespread, painful, and destructive.
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2461738
Government orders inquiry over violence against women at universities
Heads ordered to draw up code of practice over concerns male undergraduates are subjecting women to unwanted sexual advances Press Association Sunday 6 September 2015
The government has ordered an inquiry into reducing violence against women at universities over concerns “lad culture” is endangering female students.
University heads have been ordered to lead a taskforce to look into the problem and draw up a code of practice “to bring about cultural change”.
The business secretary, Sajid Javid, who ordered the review, said: “Nobody should be put off going to university because of fears about their safety. If my children choose that path, I would expect my daughter to be as safe as my son on any campus in this country.
“This taskforce will ensure that universities have a plan to stamp out violence against women and provide a safe environment for all their students. We do not tolerate this behaviour in any part of society and I’m not prepared to let it take place on university campuses unchecked.”….
Research carried out by the National Union of Students last year revealed that a quarter of students had been groped or subjected to inappropriate touching. Two-thirds of the 2,000 students polled said they had seen that others had to put up with unwanted sexual comments.
The taskforce will also look at how complaints can be better handled, and will work with crime prevention officers to tackle the problem. Universities could be rated on how well they perform using a certification scheme that would give the stamp of approval to institutions which do most to tackle sexism and violence against women…..
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/sep/06/government-inquiry-violence-against-women-at-universities