Issue 176 – May 2024

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: https://ritualabuse.us
Issue 176 – May 2024

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 secretive 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 2024 – All rights reserved.  No reproduction of any material without written permission from the editor and individual authors.

Information in this issue includes:   Survivorship Trafficking and Extreme Abuse Online Conference 2024, Ritual Abuse, Sex Trafficking, Mind Control, Neil Brick, Extreme Abuse Survivors Survey, cults, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, torture, sexual abuse,  Masonic Ritual Abuse,  Dr. Lynn Brunet,  Freemasonry, Art Therapy, Sensory Awareness, EMDR, Patricia Quinn, trauma, traumatic memory, Healing States, Teaching Trauma and Dissociation in Higher Education, Randy Noblitt, Complex Trauma Assessment Problems, Cybernetic Big 5 Theory, Rainer Hermann Kurz, personality assessment theory, Recovery Tips, assault survivors, U.S. Justice Department, Larry Nassar, FBI agents, mishandled abuse allegations, Michigan State University, female athletes,  Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, USA Gymnastics. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Bill to Protect Children from Human Traffickers, U.S. Senate, victims of trafficking, Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2024, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), child sexual abuse and exploitation, consumers of child sex trafficking industry, A.I.-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material, CyberTipline

 

The Survivorship Trafficking and Extreme Abuse Online Conference 2024   Survivor Conference – Saturday and Sunday May 4 – 5, 2024 Clinician’s Conference – Friday May 3, 2024, Speakers and topics include:

Ritual Abuse, Sex Trafficking and Mind Control Neil Brick

This presentation will explain how ritual abuse, mind control, and different suggestive techniques work to control sex trafficking survivors (Karriker, 2008). The presenter will describe different historical examples of how mind control and ritual abuse have been used. Legal cases will also be discussed from various parts of the world (McGonigle, 1999; New York Times, 1988). Research studies, like the Extreme Abuse Survivors Survey, will be presented, as well as examples of different cults and their techniques (Hassan, 2018). Mental health diagnoses, like Dissociative Identity Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and their origins in sex trafficking survivors will be explained. The presenter will discuss his personal experiences of being in a cult as a child experiencing torture, sexual abuse, and mind control techniques. The forced development of these diagnoses and their symptoms will be connected to how they are used to control sex trafficking survivors. Ways to expose and prevent ritual abuse, mind control, and sex trafficking will be discussed. Finally, there will be a discussion of the future of advocacy efforts to stop ritual abuse, sex trafficking, and mind control.

Masonic Ritual Abuse: Its Characteristics, Prevalence and Expression in Western Art and Culture.  Dr. Lynn Brunet

This presentation will examine the subject of Masonic ritual abuse. Based on the presenter’s personal experience and accumulated art historical research over the last two decades it asks a series of questions about its prevalence, how it is similar and different to other forms of ritual abuse, how it is expressed in art and culture and what its implications are for us today. Freemasonry is sometimes described as the ‘cult of the establishment’ and there is a great deal of material available about it and its rituals that can enable research into its practices, which is not necessarily the case for other cults. The research, to date, suggests that the children of Freemasons are particularly vulnerable to abuse, but while they might be struggling internally with something inexplicably profound, disturbing, or terrifying, they may not necessarily appear at a therapist’s office as many of them are encouraged by their abusers to express their trauma in creative ways. Driven to obsessively release the effects of the trauma, this can become a lifelong way of coping, resulting in the creation of cultural artefacts that are imbued with the traces of cruel ritual practices without the creators themselves being consciously aware of their source.

Uses of Art Therapy, Sensory Awareness and EMDR in Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)  Patricia Quinn

This presentation will describe the fluid uses of art therapy, Sensory Awareness and EMDR in treating Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). The didactic portion will entail justification for using each modality, the benefit if the client being able to choose a treatment modality themselves, and examples of their clinical use with two clients with very different levels of access to memories of their past trauma. This effective, responsive healing approach will be useful for all counselors and therapists working in a variety of settings. The general descriptions of client responses may contain triggering content. The presentation contains a calming experiential that combines a body-based relaxation and use of art to counter-act traumatic memory.

Using Creative Choice and Flow to Engage Healing States Patricia Quinn

This presentation will describe the fluid uses of art therapy, Sensory Awareness and SoulCollage© in treating complex traumas including Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). The didactic portion will entail justification for using each modality, and the benefit in being able to choose for oneself. These effective, responsive healing approaches will be useful and interesting for all attendees and caregivers. The presentation contains a calming Sensory Awareness experiential that combines a body-based relaxation. This will be followed by an introduction and invitation to use a SoulCollage prompt to connect with self compassion. SoulCollage© is a process created by Seena Frost MDiv. of honoring a particular topic and selecting images from various media to create collages that reflect inner experiences. Attendees can bring pictures or find them online and are always welcome to use the time together to create in any way and medium they choose. After a 20 minute period of art making, all are invited to share the art piece, and may wish to use Seena Frost’s suggestion to speak for the art, saying “I am one who…”

Teaching Trauma and Dissociation in Higher Education Randy Noblitt PhD

Clinicians can contribute to the well being of extreme abuse survivors directly by providing competent professional services. We can also assist by training graduate students who will become future clinicians. Folz and colleagues (2023) found deficits in trauma-informed training in their sample of 193 APA-accredited clinical psychology programs. Only 5% required a course relevant to trauma-informed care, resulting in only 8% of graduates receiving such formal training. We will discuss opportunities for being a college or university guest speaker, adjunct faculty and core faculty member. Participants will also discuss leading topics and trends in the contemporary trauma and dissociation literature.  https://ritualabuse.us/smart/randy-noblitt/

Tackling Complex Trauma Assessment Problems with Cybernetic Big 5 Theory

Dr. Rainer Hermann Kurz This presentation draws on contemporary personality assessment theory to illustrate opportunities and risks when using psychometric questionnaires in situations where extreme abuse has been alleged. DeYoung (2015) outlined a comprehensive ‘Cybernetic Big 5 Theory’ that revolves around the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality that psychologists converged on (e.g. Digman, 1990). Digman (1997) found that Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Low Neuroticism form a meta-factor ‘Alpha’ whereas Extraversion and Openness form a meta-factor ‘Beta’. DeYoung refers to these as Stability and Plasticity respectively and associates them with serotonergic and dopaminergic systems. Furthermore, DeYoung differentiates two Aspects for each of the Big 5. Johnson (2014) developed public domain versions of the ‘gold standard’ Big 5 personality questionnaire NEO which can be used free-of-charge: https://drj.virtualave.net/IPIP/index.html

The application of NEO IPIP and NEO-PI-3 to challenge poor assessment practice in a case of alleged organized child sexual abuse/exploitation will be illustrated including item level nuances (Stewart et al., 2022). Another case study will illustrate results of a multi-tool assessment of a self-identified survivor of extreme abuse using the Big 5 as an organizing framework in line with Bainbridge et al. (2022). A third case study will illustrate the use of Great 8 Totals (Kurz, 2014) as a proxy for the General Factor of Personality (Musek, 2008), conceptually the opposite of the general factor of psychopathology (Forbes et al., 2021), to challenge misleading results on the Millon MCMI questionnaire. The presentation shows how Cybernetic Big 5 Theory can help to overcome complex psychological assessment practice problems.

Recovery Tips for and by Survivors

Survivors and their helpers have developed a variety of techniques toward healing from traumatic experiences. This presentation will encourage an open discussion of these techniques. Techniques will include those used in individual and group therapy and in survivors’ personal lives. This will be an open discussion for survivors and their helpers. The moderators will be Dr. Randy Noblitt and Neil Brick.

The Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT) will coordinate and be responsible for continuing education activities. The Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT) is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma (IVAT) maintains responsibility for this continuing education program and its content. See website for further information.  https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-trafficking-and-extreme-abuse-online-conference-2024

Lawyers for Nassar assault survivors have reached $100M deal with Justice Department, AP source says – The U.S. Justice Department has agreed to pay approximately $100 million to settle claims with about 100 people who say they were sexually assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar By D WHITE Associated Press April 17, 2024

The U.S. Justice Department has agreed to pay approximately $100 million to settle claims with about 100 people who say they were sexually assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar, a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The deal has not been finalized and no money has been paid, the source said on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak before a formal announcement.

An internal investigation found that FBI agents mishandled abuse allegations by women more than a year before Nassar was arrested in 2016.  The settlement was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

Nassar was a Michigan State University sports doctor as well as a doctor at Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics. He is serving decades in prison for assaulting female athletes, including medal-winning Olympic gymnasts, under the guise of treatment.

Lawyers filed claims against the government, focusing on a 15-month period when FBI agents in Indianapolis and Los Angeles had knowledge of allegations against Nassar but apparently took no action, beginning in 2015. The Justice Department inspector general confirmed fundamental errors. Nassar’s assaults continued until his arrest in fall 2016, authorities said. The assault survivors include decorated Olympians Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney.

“I’m sorry that so many different people let you down, over and over again,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told survivors at a Senate hearing in 2021. “And I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed.” ….

Michigan State University, which was also accused of missing chances over many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls who were assaulted. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement.  https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/lawyers-nassar-assault-survivors-reached-100m-deal-justice-109367479

NEWS: Sens. Ossoff, Grassley Bipartisan Bill to Protect Children from Human Traffickers Passes U.S. Senate April 21, 2024

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff’s bipartisan bill to protect children from human traffickers passed the U.S. Senate.  Earlier this year, Sens. Ossoff and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the bipartisan Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2024 to strengthen coordination between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to prevent child trafficking.

According to a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports, agencies within the Departments collaborate to prevent human trafficking broadly, but there are no mechanisms in place to collaborate specifically on child trafficking prevention. Improving collaboration would “enable the offices to overcome challenges specific to children and meet the distinct needs of child trafficking survivors,” the GAO report said.  “Child trafficking in Georgia and nationwide is a crisis. Senator Grassley and I brought Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen Federal protections for vulnerable children and increase support for victims of trafficking,” Sen. Ossoff said.

“The federal government can and must do more to prevent children from falling prey to the evils of human trafficking. The Senate advanced that objective today by passing our bipartisan bill to help protect vulnerable children and strengthen prosecutions. I’ll continue working to make it law,” Grassley said.

According to news reports, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has warned that Georgia is a hotspot for human trafficking with a large international airport, easy access to highways across major cities, and several large sporting events. The bipartisan Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2024 is endorsed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

“The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is proud to support the Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2024,” said Michelle DeLaune, NCMEC President & CEO. “We thank Senator Ossoff and Senator Grassley for their continued leadership on legislative initiatives to protect children from sexual exploitation and their work to ensure collaborative efforts to combat child sex trafficking are maximized.”  Sen. Ossoff continues working to protect children from abuse and trafficking. In December, Sen. Ossoff’s bipartisan REPORT Act to protect children from online sexual abuse and exploitation passed the U.S. Senate.

In September, Sens. Ossoff and Blackburn launched an inquiry with Attorney General Merrick Garland about the FBI’s capacity to investigate and respond to crimes involving child sexual abuse and exploitation, highlighting a June 2023 report to Congress in which the DOJ cited an international threat assessment demonstrating that “the growth in online child sexual exploitation is outpacing our ability to respond.” …. https://www.ossoff.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sens-ossoff-grassley-bipartisan-bill-to-protect-children-from-human-traffickers-passes-u-s-senate

Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2024.   https://www.ossoff.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Child-Trafficking-Bill_v3_MDM24057.pdf

Gov. Newsom signals support for bill targeting consumers of child sex trafficking industry  KCRA Apr 18, 2024 Ashley Zavala SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signaled his support for a proposal targeting the consumers of child sex trafficking in California, but he suggested he has concerns about changes that were abruptly made to the proposal this week.

“I look forward to getting this bill on my desk in a way that I’ll sign it, but we have some work to do,” Newsom said in a virtual news conference Thursday in response to KCRA 3’s question on the proposal.

Republican State Senator Shannon Grove introduced the proposal, SB 1414 this year after successfully passing legislation that made child sex trafficking a serious felony in the state last year. The governor intervened when a committee in the Assembly tried to block that bill, SB 14, last summer.

Grove said through the work last year, she learned buyers typically face lesser, misdemeanor penalties, which prompted her to propose SB 1414, which would make the purchase or soliciting of a child for sex a felony.

Grove’s original version of SB 1414 also required those convicted to register as sex offenders for a decade and would have removed a requirement in state law which states that those convicted of soliciting a minor knew or should have known that person was a minor.

During negotiations ahead of the bill’s first hearing in the Senate Public Safety committee on Tuesday, Grove agreed to require sex offender registration once someone has committed the crime twice and leave the requirement in state law that those convicted knew or should have known the person they were soliciting was a minor. The one change she refused to agree to was to allow the crime to remain a misdemeanor for the purchase of 16- and 17-year-olds.

On Tuesday, against her will, the Senate Public Safety committee publicly made the change, excluding 16- and 17-year-olds in the bill’s definition of a child. Legislative observers note these are considered “hostile amendments,” a rare move made by a committee to forcibly add amendments to a proposal when the author of the bill does not want them….   https://www.kcra.com/article/california-gavin-newsom-bill-targeting-sex-trafficking/60541483

A.I.-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material May Overwhelm Tip Line

A report by Stanford researchers cautions that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children doesn’t have the resources to help fight the new epidemic. A new report says A.I. is adding to the problem.  By Cecilia Kang reports on internet and A.I. policy from Washington. April 22, 2024

A new flood of child sexual abuse material created by artificial intelligence is threatening to overwhelm the authorities already held back by antiquated technology and laws, according to a new report released Monday by Stanford University’s Internet Observatory.

Over the past year, new A.I. technologies have made it easier for criminals to create explicit images of children. Now, Stanford researchers are cautioning that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit that acts as a central coordinating agency and receives a majority of its funding from the federal government, doesn’t have the resources to fight the rising threat.

The organization’s CyberTipline, created in 1998, is the federal clearinghouse for all reports on child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, online and is used by law enforcement to investigate crimes. But many of the tips received are incomplete or riddled with inaccuracies. Its small staff has also struggled to keep up with the volume.

“Almost certainly in the years to come, the CyberTipline will be flooded with highly realistic-looking A.I. content, which is going to make it even harder for law enforcement to identify real children who need to be rescued,” said Shelby Grossman, one of the report’s authors. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is on the front lines of a new battle against sexually exploitative images created with A.I., an emerging area of crime still being delineated by lawmakers and law enforcement. Already, amid an epidemic of deepfake A.I.-generated nudes circulating in schools, some lawmakers are taking action to ensure such content is deemed illegal.

A.I.-generated images of CSAM are illegal if they contain real children or if images of actual children are used to train data, researchers say. But synthetically made ones that do not contain real images could be protected as free speech, according to one of the report’s authors.

Public outrage over the proliferation of online sexual abuse images of children exploded in a recent hearing with the chief executives of Meta, Snap, TikTok, Discord and X, who were excoriated by the lawmakers for not doing enough to protect young children online. The center for missing and exploited children, which fields tips from individuals and companies like Facebook and Google, has argued for legislation to increase its funding and to give it access to more technology. Stanford researchers said the organization provided access to interviews of employees and its systems for the report to show the vulnerabilities of systems that need updating.

“Over the years, the complexity of reports and the severity of the crimes against children continue to evolve,” the organization said in a statement. “Therefore, leveraging emerging technological solutions into the entire CyberTipline process leads to more children being safeguarded and offenders being held accountable.”….     https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/technology/ai-csam-cybertipline.html

April 22, 2024 · Filed Under Newsletter 2024 - Issue 174 - 179