Issue 130 – September 2016


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 130 – September 2016

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 2016 – All rights reserved.   No reproduction of any material without written permission from the editor and individual authors.

CD Order Form for the 2016 Annual Child and Ritual Abuse Conference  
1) Pamela Noblitt – Documenting Disability: How to Prepare a Social Security Disability Strategy
2) Dr. Alison Miller – Internal Keys to Safety
3) Randy Noblitt, PhD – The Making of the Book Cult and Ritual Abuse: Narratives, Evidence, and Healing Approach
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2016-conference/

This issue includes information on: Bill Cosby, Andrea Constand, sex trafficking, Twelve Tribes, child Abuse & slavery, child labor laws, Paedophile ring, Anglican priest, St Alban’s Home in Newcastle, Royal commission,  Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse,  Catholic priest James Fletcher, Ex-DJ Chris Denning, 30 Million Child Abuse Images Recovered, grooming for sexual purposes, sexual extortion, indecent communication with children, Operation Daylight, Rape Crisis Centre, hazing,  initiation, aggravated hazing, prep school sex assault victim, allegations of abuse and torture at a juvenile detention center, Don Dale center, Goddard child sex abuse inquiry, Former MI5 chief ‘involved in child sex abuse cover-up’, Enoch Powell, police sex abuse probe, Anthony Weiner, sexts, Huma Abedin, Bill Clinton. Hilary Clinton, Lord Greville Janner, Key Vatican aide investigated for child abuse, Cardinal George Pell, Beth Din of America,  Rabbi Barry Freundel, Ritual Abuse, Mind Control, How to Avoid Being Mind Controlled at a Conference – Presentation at the 2016 Annual Ritual Abuse, Neil Brick, child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter, S.M.A.R.T., ritual abuse crimes, The Urban Legends of Those Attacking Ritual Abuse Theories, Grey Faction, Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves, Doug Mesner,  Self-Esteem, Wendy Hoffman, Survivorship Conference 2016, survivorship.org,  Internal Keys to Safety, Alison Miller, Steps for Recognizing On-Going Abuse and How to Break Free, Arauna Morgan, Survivorship conference presentations,  cult, The Family. Melbourne cult, child bride, rape, Malawi ban ritual sex abuse,  Australian Bachelor star Keira Maguire, Alistah Laishkochav, Ex-Jehovah’s witness, Holy Hell, Buddhafield, spiritual sect, Will Allen, cult survivor, old Commonwealth Covenant Church, patriarchal, Child Abuse May Shorten Some Women’s Lives, Religious Liberty, Fox News, Roger Ailes, Andrea Tantaros, Syrian Prisons, torture, Saydnaya Military Prison, 18th annual sexual and ritual abuse conference, sexual abuse trauma

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. If you are a survivor of mind control and/or ritual abuse, S.M.A.R.T. recommends learning about mind control techniques before attending conferences or other survivor events.
This article may be helpful: How to Avoid Being Mind Controlled at a Conference https://survivorship.org/survivorship-articles/how-to-avoid-being-mind-controlled-at-a-conference/

Bill Cosby Could Finally Face the Full Force of His Accusers in Court
Prosecutors push for 14 women to be allowed to testify against the comedian. by Joanna Robinson September 6, 2016
Though Bill Cosby has faced individual women in court accusing him of sexual assault over the years (accusations he’s repeatedly denied), he’s never had to reckon with the sheer volume of those accusations at once. But that could all change next year.
In a pre-trial motion for the criminal trial of Bill Cosby for the alleged rape of former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, the Montgomery County D.A.’s office requested that 13 of the more than 50 women who have come forward to accuse Cosby over the years be allowed to add their testimony to Constand’s in the trial. For the first time and under the public eye, Cosby would have to confront evidence of what the district attorney called “a pattern of serial sexual abuse.” If found guilty, Cosby faces a possible decade behind bars and millions in fines for three counts of second-degree felonies, aggravated indecent assault, against Constand.
No official word yet on whether Judge Steven O’Neill will allow the 13 women to testify against Cosby, but if they do, they’ll have a while to wait. Though the judge asked for a “speedy” and “expeditious” trial, Deadline reports that the case will likely be pushed until June 5, 2017, due, primarily, to scheduling concerns from Cosby’s lawyer Brian McMonagle. But this delay may come as something of a relief to the prosecution who described the task of investigating the accounts of these additional witnesses as “Herculean.”
Despite indicating that there was work still to be done, D.A. Kevin Steele presented a mountain of damning accusations from the 13 women in the pre-trial motion he filed. The document (which you can view in full via Deadline here) goes into unflinching detail about each woman’s accusation in 37 pages of sub-headed lists. The incidents date back to 1964 and allege a ritual abuse of power, age, and gender dynamics and Cosby’s now-infamous alleged preference for immobilizing intoxicants. Though the cases vary somewhat, there is one consistent sentence repeated for each of the 14 accusers, including Constand: “She did not consent to this sexual contact with the defendant….
http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/09/bill-cosby-trial-lawyers-accusers-race-card-location

Commonwealth’s Motion to Introduce Evidence of Prior Bad Acts of Defendant – Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs William H. Cosby, Jr.  https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/commonwealth_s-motion-on-bill-cosby-wm.pdf

Tennessee woman shares harrowing story of surviving sex trafficking
Samantha Fisher, WKRN Published: September 4, 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Sex trafficking is a terrible reality in Middle Tennessee, and one woman is sharing her story of survival with WAVY News sister station WKRN.
As she clutched a teddy bear, the woman said she is afraid to be identified “because he’s still out there, because I didn’t have the courage to press charges when this all happened.”
She chose to speak with News 2 in hopes that it will help even one victim of trafficking and abuse.
“You are worth saving. You’re worth saving. I was worth saving,” she stressed, speaking out to victims.  She met her trafficker when she was just 15-years-old.
“He did some really bad things,” she explained.  He served prison time but came back into her life when she was 27, now divorced with a young daughter.  She thought he had changed.
“It took me a while to put together that he was drugging my drinks,” she told News 2.
But it did not take long for her to put together why….
She was one of the first to come into the court in February and is now the first graduate.
“I’m not a victim today. I’m a survivor today. I’m a graduate today,” she said proudly. “I have a higher power that didn’t put me through those things, but allowed me to go through them because I was strong enough to survive it. Maybe my story can help that one person break free from whatever it is they are going through….
http://wavy.com/2016/09/04/ tennessee-woman-shares-harrowing-story-of-surviving-sex-trafficking/

Twelve Tribes: The Church Preached Child Abuse & Slavery
According to ex-members of Twelve Tribes who spoke to The Daily Beast, children are regularly beaten and leaders preached “slavery is necessary.” Now, an escapee has taken over the Facebook page of the Plymouth bakery run by the commune so he can broadcast its ills. Luke O’Neil 7.17.16
….It’s been almost eight years since Mathias, now 22, left the Twelve Tribes, the controversial commune and religious sect he was born into, but the memories, and the anger at the way he and his family were allegedly treated is still fresh. He says he—and other members of the sect—were regularly beaten by adults in the commune as a form of discipline.
….The half-dozen former members who spoke to The Daily Beast also allege a culture of systematic child abuse, subjugation of women, and psychological torment.
A couple of years ago, a German documentary uncovered video of children in a local branch being beaten so terribly that the government led a raid and took the children away. In the video, Wolfram Kuhnigk, an RTL journalist, filmed 50 instances of beatings on camera, as the Independent reported. One former member who appears in the film recounts being regularly beaten for such trivial offenses as pretending to be an airplane. According to the group’s teachings, children are not permitted to engage in any type of playing or fantasy.
It’s a pattern of controversial behavior that has persisted in stories about the group for decades. “There are so many teachings that keep you from being who you are. They keep you from being human,” a former member named Joellen Griffin told the Boston Herald in 2001. “You get so absorbed in the teachings that you lose your emotions and your ability to respond to situations. They seem like a tight-knit family, but you just don’t know all the misery behind those eyeballs.”
In 1984, authorities in Vermont undertook a similar raid, liberating over 100 children from a Twelve Tribes compound, according to The New York Times. A judge determined that the raid was unconstitutional and the children were returned. Interestingly, as the San Diego Reader reported, the public defender at the time, Jean Swantko, joined the group soon after.
An investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2013 told similar stories of members who had escaped the group, as did an investigation last year by Pacific Standard, which reported that children were allegedly beaten multiple times per day. In 2001 the New York Post launched an investigation that resulted in some of the group’s New York businesses being cited for violating child labor laws….
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/17/twelve-tribes-the-church-preached-child-abuse-slavery.html

describes violence
Paedophile ring headed by a senior Anglican priest forced children at a boys’ home to have group sex in a locked room – and cut them to symbolise ‘the blood of Christ’
A paedophile ring used an Anglican boys home to abuse children
St Alban’s Home in Newcastle was also used to gain access to the boys
Priest Peter Rushton is said to be the head of the paedophile ring
A two week hearing is being conducted by the Royal commission
Paul Gray testified to being raped by Rushton when he was 10
By Australian Associated Press And Cameron Phelps For Daily Mail Australia   2 August 2016
An Anglican home for boys in the Hunter region of NSW was used by a paedophile ring headed by a senior clergyman to access and sexually abuse children.
On Tuesday the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse opened a two-week hearing into what the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle did to stop priest Peter Rushton and a pedophile network of clergy and laypeople who preyed on children for decades.
Victim Paul Gray gave evidence and said he was taken to St Albans School for Boys in the Hunter Valley in the 1960s….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3719197/Paedophile-ring-headed-senior-Anglican-clergyman-abused-children-St-Albans-School-Boys-Hunter-Valley.html

Royal commission to explore child abuse ‘epicentre’ in Newcastle
By Thomas Oriti and staff  August 30, 2016 A royal commission has begun a public investigation into allegations of child abuse by the Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has turned its focus to the Catholic diocese in the Hunter after spending recent days investigating cases of abuse in the region’s Anglican diocese.
Peter Gogarty, who was abused by Catholic priest James Fletcher, said he had waited years for such an inquiry….
Abuse in the region was thrown into the spotlight in 2012, when police whistleblower Peter Fox told the ABC there was a cover-up of child sex offences in the area. “There’s something very wrong when you have so many paedophile priests operating in such a small area for such an extended period of time with immunity,” Mr Fox told Lateline.
“I submitted report after report suggesting that we needed to do a lot more about investigating this.”  Mr Fox’s comments sparked a special commission of inquiry, but that investigation cast doubt over claims of a police cover-up.  However, it did find that Church officials knew about sexual abuse allegations against priests for decades, and failed to act….
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-31/royal-commission-to-explore-child-abuse-‘epicentre’-in-newcastle/7799774

Hunter Catholic diocese had nuns who didn’t think child sexual abuse was a crime JOANNE MCCARTHY 31 Aug 2016
THE Catholic Church has paid more than $25 million to Hunter child sex abuse survivors, the royal commission has heard on a day when a nun said she didn’t think the rape of a boy was a crime, and an abuse survivor told of wanting to grab knives and kill a paedophile priest when he was just 13.
“I didn’t do it. I should have,” Hunter man Gerard McDonald, 52, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about Father Vince Ryan on the first day of the 43rd public hearing, considering church responses to child sexual abuse in Maitland-Newcastle diocese.
The diocese has substantiated 158 claims by survivors involving 31 perpetrators. There have been 78 claims from former students of Marist Brothers schools at Maitland and Hamilton, and St Pius X College, Adamstown. The royal commission heard 56 per cent of claims involved priests.
The diocese has paid more than $25.7 million in compensation, with one victim of Vince Ryan paid $2.9 million, and another 12 Ryan victims paid a combined $2.9 million. The Newcastle Herald is aware of many other survivors of abuse who have not reported abuse or sought compensation.
“There is a long and disturbing history of suffering by children in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle inflicted by diocesan priests and members of religious orders,” said counsel assisting the royal commission, Stephen Free, in his opening address.
The public hearing at Newcastle Courthouse will consider the case of Vince Ryan and Marist Brothers Romuald (Francis Cable), Patrick (Thomas Butler) and Dominic (Darcy O’Sullivan), who sexually abused boys over three decades.
It will hear evidence about how senior clergy, including Monsignor Patrick Cotter, and senior Marist Brothers including former principals Brother Christopher Wade and Brother Alexis Turton, responded after receiving child sex serious allegations….
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4134529/history-of-suffering-revealed-at-the-royal-commission/

Ex-DJ Chris Denning admits child sex offences 22 August 2016
Former BBC DJ Chris Denning has pleaded guilty to 21 child sex offences committed between 1969 and 1986. The 75-year-old, from London, admitted the abuse of 11 boys as young as eight. He denied three other offences.
Former BBC DJ Chris Denning has pleaded guilty to 21 child sex offences committed between 1969 and 1986.
The 75-year-old, from London, admitted the abuse of 11 boys as young as eight. He denied three other offences.
Denning, who was arrested in a police inquiry into the Walton Hop Disco for teenagers in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, will be sentenced on 6 October.
He was part of the original line-up that launched Radio 1 in 1967, but left two years later.
The prosecution said it did not intend to proceed with a trial on the three charges to which Denning had pleaded not guilty.
He is currently serving a 13-year jail term for sexual assaults against 24 victims aged nine to 16 from the 1960s to 1980s….
Denning had a number of previous convictions for abusing young boys.
In 1974, he was convicted of gross indecency and indecent assault but was not imprisoned.
He was then jailed for 18 months in 1985 for gross indecency, and in 1988 he received a three-year sentence, this time for indecent assault and possession of indecent images.
In 1996, he was handed a 10-week sentence for publishing indecent articles.
He was arrested in the Czech Republic in 1997 and eventually jailed in 2000 by a Prague court for four and a half years for having sexual contact with underage teenage boys.
The UK tried and failed to have Denning extradited from the Czech Republic, but in 2005 he was arrested at Heathrow Airport, having arrived from Austria.
In January 2006, a British court jailed him for four years after he admitted five charges of indecent assault on boys under 16 during the 1970s and 80s.
He was then extradited to Slovakia, where he was given a five-year sentence in 2008 for producing indecent images of children.  http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37154763

30 Million Child Abuse Images Recovered, 77 Suspects Charged  by Alexander Smith  Jul 29 2016
LONDON — Around 30 million images of child abuse have been recovered as part of a crackdown by police in Scotland, officials announced Friday.
The six-week operation between June and July identified some 500 victims or “potential victims” aged between 3 and 18, and resulted in 77 people being charged, Police Scotland said in a statement.
“”Online child sexual abuse is not a victimless crime””
The suspects face a total of more than 390 charges between them. These include rape, sharing indecent images of children, grooming for sexual purposes, sexual extortion, indecent communication with children, possession of a firearm, bestiality, and drugs offences.
The investigation — named operation LATTISE — involved cops scouring more than 100,000 chat-room logs.
“Online child sexual abuse is a national threat,” Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said in the statement. “The reality is it is happening now, not only in Scotland but across the world, to children of all ages, from infants to teenagers.”….
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/30-million-child-abuse-images-recovered-77-suspects-charged-n619686
Europol uncover major online child abuse network  Operation results in 207 criminal cases against suspected web distributors of child sexual abuse images in 28 countries.
A major operation against distributors of child sexual abuse images online has resulted in the arrests of 75 suspects across 28 European countries.
Code-named “Operation Daylight”, the investigation has resulted in 207 criminal cases, Europe’s policing agency Europol said on Tuesday.
“We know that individuals are abusing online platforms and networks to distribute child sexual abuse material and we are determined to target them and bring them to justice,” Steven Wilson, head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, said in a statement.
Operation Daylight was launched last year after Swiss police notified Europol after uncovering a vast network of criminals involved in the sexual exploitation of minors online….
“The operation has uncovered a vast paedophile network,” the Italian police statement said, adding that access to the online network where images were shared was “rigidly” regulated and required patient work to be infiltrated by police.
“Those networks continue to be a primary source for persons with a sexual interest in children who are seeking child sexual abuse and exploitation material online,” Europol said in the statement.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/europol-uncover-major-online-child-abuse-network-160823180514888.html

Massive European Online Child Abuse Network Exposed 25 August 2016
The investigation uncovered how well-known online apps such as Skype and chat and live stream sites allowed the selling of child pornography.
A major operation by the European Police Office into an online network sexually exploiting children has led to the arrests of 75 people and 207 criminal cases across Europe, Europol officials said Tuesday.
“Operation Daylight” was first launched in 2015 after Europol received “intelligence packages” from police in Switzerland about network of online child abuse images.
The investigation uncovered how well-known online apps such as Skype and chat and live stream sites allowed the selling of child pornography. Offenders often used sophisticated encryption methods to hide their activities on the so called “darknet,” a notorious online network where illegal activities commonly take place.
Online currencies such as BitCoin were often used as payment for activities related to online child sexual abuse….
Seventy-five arrests were made in 28 European countries with a number of the suspects already being prosecuted in ongoing investigations. Italian police also revealed that the investigation had led them to the arrests of five people and 16 people being reported to the magistrate….
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Massive-European-Online-Child-Abuse-Network-Exposed-20160825-0001.html

Jones man arrested on child abuse charges  By Adam Kemp  August 23, 2016
JONES — A Jones man has been arrested on accusations the Oklahoma County sheriff described as crimes of “horrific proportions.” Donald McCord, 49, was arrested on 31 complaints of sexual abuse of a child and first degree rape of a child. The sheriff’s office began investigating on Aug. 3 after a woman contacted Jones police to tell them she had knowledge of sexual abuse by McCord. During the course of their investigation, deputies learned that for nearly 10 years McCord had sexually abused two girls, Oklahoma County Sherriff John Whetsel said during a Tuesday press conference
The victims told investigators they had been sexually and physically abused by McCord almost daily since at least 2007. They said McCord would choke them to the point of unconsciousness and threatened to kill them if they told anybody.
When confronted with the allegations, McCord denied them at first before admitting to authorities he did “inappropriate things” with the victims, Whetsel said…. http://newsok.com/article/5515071

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre line sees surge in first-time callers
Centre’s annual survey notes a ‘resurgence’ in the reporting of childhood sex abuse Kitty Holland  July 26, 2016  The number of first-time callers to the national helpline for victims of rape and sexual assault was more than 50 per cent higher last year than the number in 2013, figures published this morning show. The 2015 annual report from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre also says there has been a “resurgence” in reporting of childhood sex abuse as well as a “noticeable” increase in levels of hopelessness among callers. Also noted was a growing willingness by people who had been raped or sexually assaulted by someone they knew to report the crime to the Garda. “A total of 11,789 counselling contacts were responded to by helpline staff, comprising 10,468 helpline calls and 1,321 contacts via emails, text and social media,” says the report. Some 5,902 were first-time callers, an increase of 16.25 per cent since 2014 (5,077) and of 50.25 per cent compared to 2013 (3,928)….
Of the calls last year, 51 per cent or 3,736 related to sexual violence experienced in adulthood.  This was a 10 per cent decrease on 2014 when there were 4,163 such calls.
Abuse
Some 3,519 calls last year, or 48.5 per cent, related to childhood sexual abuse and ritual abuse, an 8 per cent rise on 2014 and 10.5 per cent on 2013….
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/dublin-rape-crisis-centre-line-sees-surge-in-first-time-callers-1.2735301

11 freshmen victims in alleged Oregon hazing, coach charged  Published August 30, 2016 Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. –  A volunteer football coach and six players for a small town Oregon high school team face criminal charges for a hazing initiation in which 11 freshmen at a summer training camp had intimate parts of their bodies “aggressively targeted,” a prosecutor said Tuesday.
The Philomath High School volunteer coach, Cooper Kikuta, has been charged with misdemeanor criminal mistreatment, punishable by up to a year in jail, and the players who allegedly hazed the freshmen are accused of juvenile crimes similar to adult charges of misdemeanor harassment and assault, said Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson.
Haroldson said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that sexual abuse charges were not filed because he “didn’t see any evidence in the case to indicate that the touching was done for purposes of sexual arousal, but rather it was done in a hazing context.”
The alleged hazing happened during the football team’s July trip to Camp Rilea on Oregon’s northern coast, Haroldson said. The players were targeted “as a form of initiation” and one of the alleged victims was grabbed and held down twice, said Haroldson, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported….
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/30/11-freshmen-victims-in-alleged-oregon-hazing-coach-charged.html

Coach, six Philomath football players, cited in ‘aggravated hazing’ case at football camp
Gazette-Times August 30, 2016  Six Philomath High School varsity football players and one coach were cited Monday in connection with “aggravated hazing” incidents in July at Camp Rilea in Clatsop County, Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said.
Volunteer assistant coach and former player Cooper Kikuta, 22, has been cited on a charge of second-degree criminal mistreatment, a misdemeanor, and is set to appear in Clatsop County Circuit Court.
The Benton County District Attorney’s Office is set to file juvenile delinquency petitions in Benton County Juvenile Court for all six students cited, with arraignments scheduled for Friday.
The six youths have been cited on charges that, if committed by adults, would constitute the crimes of harassment and assault. All the harassment or attempted harassment charges involve “offensive physical contact with intimate parts.,” Haroldson said, adding that the charges are either Class A or Class B misdemeanors.
He said the incidents involved at least 11 alleged victims, all freshmen….
Haroldson said the assault and harassment charges involve allegations “wherein underclassmen’s intimate areas were aggressively targeted as a form of initiation.”
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/coach-six-philomath-football-players-cited-in-aggravated-hazing-case/article_017bf3bc-fce2-557b-b9c9-be0a25b3e91e.html

Video: New Hampshire prep school sex assault victim speaks out Associated Press  August 30, 2016
A teen who was sexually assaulted during a game of sexual conquest at a prestigious New Hampshire prep school said Tuesday she is no longer ashamed or afraid and hopes to be a voice for others. http://www.gazettetimes.com/video/ndn/video-new-hampshire-prep-school-sex-assault-victim-speaks-out/video_1583b45b-2b61-59c5-8e64-9f5970728cb5.html

Australia: Children stripped, assaulted and tear-gassed at detention center
By James Griffiths, CNN   Tue July 26, 2016
(CNN)Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called for a national investigation into allegations of abuse and torture at a juvenile detention center.
The allegations, which appeared on Australian Broadcasting Corp.’s “Four Corners” investigative program, showed children as young as 10 being stripped naked, assaulted, tear-gassed and kept in solitary confinement.
“Like all Australians, I have been deeply shocked, shocked and appalled, by the images of mistreatment at the Don Dale center” in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, Turnbull said…. http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/26/asia/australia-juvenile-detention-center-abuse/

Evidence of ‘torture’ of children held in Don Dale detention centre uncovered by Four Corners
By Caro Meldrum-Hanna and Elise Worthington July 25, 2016  Vision of the tear-gassing of six boys being held in isolation at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin in August 2014 has been obtained by Four Corners, exposing one of the darkest incidents in the history of juvenile justice in Australia.
The vision is part of an investigation featuring a chilling catalogue of footage revealing a pattern of abuse, deprivation and punishment of vulnerable children inside Northern Territory youth detention centres.
The tear-gassing incident was described as a “riot” at the time, with media reporting multiple boys had escaped their cells in the isolation wing of the prison, known as the Behavioural Management Unit (BMU), and threatened staff with weapons.
But CCTV vision and handy-cam recordings made by staff, obtained exclusively by Four Corners, show only one boy escaped his cell after it was left unlocked by a guard….
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-25/four-corners-evidence-of-kids-tear-gas-in-don-dale-prison/7656128

Goddard child sex abuse inquiry: What to expect as hearings begin
Jul 27, 2016  Multi-million pound investigation will see churches, police and individuals put under the spotlight
Preliminary hearings have begun in the long-awaited inquiry into historic child sexual abuse.
The independent investigation, chaired by New Zealand high court judge Dame Lowell Goddard, is the largest ever undertaken in Britain, with speculation that it could last for up to a decade.
What will the inquiry look at?
“The inquiry is unprecedented in both size and scope,” says Goddard. With a first-year budget of £17.9m and 155 staff members, it will focus on whether public bodies and other non-state institutions have failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales.
The police, health service, the Crown Prosecution Service and religious bodies will all be put under the spotlight during the hearings. At the end of the investigation, Goddard and her colleagues promise to demand accountability, support victims and make recommendations for the future.
“There is no doubt that the inquiry’s task is immense,” Goddard recently wrote in The Guardian. “But the scale and magnitude of the problem of child sexual abuse means there is no easy fix. This is the opportunity to get to the heart of one of the biggest challenges for our generation.”….

Former MI5 chief ‘involved in child sex abuse cover-up’  23 July 2015
The former head of Britain’s intelligence service urged the government to cover up allegations of child sexual abuse against a senior MP, freshly uncovered documents have revealed.
Writing to cabinet secretary Sir Robert Armstrong in 1986, MI5 director general Sir Antony Duff said “the risk of political embarrassment to the government is rather greater than the security danger”.
The correspondence was about an unnamed MP who was alleged to have “a penchant for small boys,” but Duff said he accepted the politician’s denial of the abuse.
The documents, originally thought to have been lost or destroyed, were discovered in a Cabinet Office storeroom of “assorted and unstructured papers,” The Times reports.
The discovery comes months after an official review into whether allegations of child abuse were covered up by the Home Office in the 1980s found no evidence that records were deliberately removed.
However, in a supplementary report “quietly” released yesterday, the authors of the report condemned the government’s record keeping and called for an extensive search of Whitehall archives.
The freshly unearthed files also include documents about senior Westminster figures including Margaret Thatcher’s former parliamentary secretary Sir Peter Morrison, former home secretary Leon Brittan, and former minister Sir William van Straubenzee. The contents of those documents have not been revealed.
There are also papers relating to former MI6 chief Sir Maurice Oldfield and his alleged connection to the abuse scandals at the Kincora boys’ home in Northern Ireland….

Enoch Powell named by bishop in police sex abuse probe  30 March 2015
A Church of England bishop has reported Enoch Powell to police investigating allegations of a Westminster paedophile network. The claims against the late Conservative MP, who made the infamous Rivers of Blood speech, are said to relate to “ritual satanic abuse” and were reported to a clergyman by a young person during a counselling session in the 1980s.
The information was passed on to the Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, who is responsible for “safeguarding” in the Church of England. He reported Powell to the police last year, but is not thought to have had any corroborating material.
Powell’s supporters have described the allegations as “absolute nonsense”….
http://www.theweek.co.uk/goddard-inquiry/59321/goddard-child-sex-abuse-inquiry-what-to-expect-as-hearings-begin

Anthony Weiner’s sext featuring his son could lead to child neglect inquiry
BY  Barbara Ross  Adam Edelman  Stephen Rex Brown NEW YORK DAILY NEWS  Monday, August 29, 2016,
Anthony Weiner’s latest cyber-sexcapades, featuring a photo of his sleeping son beside the pervy ex-pol’s bulging crotch, ended his marriage Monday — and could now lead to an investigation for child neglect, experts say.
“Any time adults draw children into their own sexual activity they have crossed the line. It is always inappropriate for an adult to connect any child to their sexual activities, however peripheral,” said Tim Hathaway, executive director at Prevent Child Abuse New York.
Hours after the sexts were made public, Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, a top adviser to Hillary Clinton, announced she was separating from her…hubby.
This time, the messages Weiner sent from his Twitter account — which was taken down Monday morning — reportedly included him cracking a joke and snapping a photo of his 5-year-old son, Jordan, jumping into bed beside him as his dad sexted with a woman….
It has been previously reported that Clinton’s people have wanted Abedin to leave Weiner because he could be a liability to her presidential campaign.
Sources said Weiner and Abedin had been estranged for some time and that her decision to separate was not due solely to his latest sexts. Their son was a major reason why they stuck together for so long, sources said….
NY1, where Weiner was a frequent guest, put him on indefinite leave on Monday.
The Daily News also said it would no longer publish his opinion columns.
Weiner and Abedin married in a 2010 wedding officiated by Bill Clinton. Weiner was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, while she was practically a member of the Clinton family.
But Weiner’s online indiscretions derailed his once-promising political career in 2011 when he resigned from Congress and again in 2013 while embarking on a campaign for mayor.
Abedin stood by Weiner on both those occasions.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/anthony-weiner-sext-lead-child-neglect-inquiry-article-1.2770431

Anthony Weiner investigated for child abuse  Compiled by Tony Hicks  09/01/2016   Child welfare workers are investigating Anthony Weiner, after news surfaced he sent an inappropriate selfie of himself in bed next to his 4-year-old son, Jordan.
Sources reportedly told the New York Post the Administration for Children’s Services were looking into the matter, after the former congressman sent the photo to a woman.
The married 51-year-old resigned from Congress in 2011 after it was revealed he was sexting a woman who was not his wife. A bid to become mayor of New York was derailed by a similar controversy.
An agency worker visited the home of Weiner and his estranged wife Huma Abedin’s home, a worker there reportedly told the Post, though Weiner denied being contacted by the ACS….
Abedin, who announced Monday she is leaving Weiner, is a longtime trusted aide to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton…. http://www.mercurynews.com/celebrities/ci_30317222/anthony-weiner-investigated-child-abuse

Greville Janner’s family pushes for delay in child abuse inquiry
Labour peer’s son says public inquiry’s investigation of his father should wait until after civil court cases
Lord Janner is alleged to have abused youngsters over a period spanning more than 30 years. His son said he was entirely innocent.  Press Association  Sunday 28 August 2016
The family of Greville Janner wants the public inquiry into child abuse to delay its investigation of the late Labour peer.
Lord Janner, 87, who died in December, is alleged to have abused youngsters over a period spanning more than 30 years dating back to the 1950s, with offending said to have taken place at children’s homes and hotels.
The allegations against him are due to be examined at hearings of the public inquiry next March.
But his son has said that as civil proceedings by some of his alleged victims have been started, the claims should go through the courts – where his father’s accusers can be cross-examined – before they feature in the inquiry.
Daniel Janner QC told the BBC he had prepared a submission for the home affairs select committee, which is due to question the home secretary, Amber Rudd, next month….
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/28/greville-janner-family-pushes-for-delay-child-abuse-inquiry

Report: Key Vatican aide investigated for child abuse
Australian police are investigating Vatican finance chief George Pell over sexual abuse allegations, according to the Australian national broadcaster ABC. The cardinal denied the claims as “totally untrue.”
Complaints against Pell go back to late 1970s, when he served as a priest in his home town of Ballarat, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on Wednesday.
Two men told the company that Pell molested them in a Ballarat swimming pool when they were children. Another person alleged that he had seen Pell exposing himself to young boys in a beach changing room in the 1980s.
ABC claims it had obtained eight police statements from the alleged victims, witnesses and family members. Police and prosecutors have yet to decide whether the documents warrant formal charges against the 75-year old cardinal, according to the reporters.
‘Smear campaign’
Victoria police declined to comment, according to the AFP news agency.
At the same time, Pell accused ABC of running a “scandalous smear campaign” against him.
“The cardinal does not wish to cause any distress to any victim of abuse,” his Rome office said in a statement. “However, claims that he has sexually abused anyone, in any place, at any time in his life are totally untrue and completely wrong.”
Pell already faced allegations of pedophilia in 2002, but was later cleared of any wrongdoing. He also came under fire earlier this year, when the authorities probed numerous child abuse cases in Australia…. http://www.dw.com/en/report-key-vatican-aide-investigated-for-child-abuse/a-19430249

George Pell: police consider whether to charge cardinal over child abuse claims
Victoria police will not confirm whether detectives intend to interview Pell in Rome over historical child sex abuse allegations, which he has denied
Melissa Davey  Wednesday 17 August 2016
Victoria police are considering whether to charge Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, with historical child sexual abuse offences.
Last month the chief commissioner of Victoria police, Graham Ashton, confirmed allegations against Pell had been referred to the Office of Public Prosecutions for a recommendation as to whether police should drop the investigation, investigate further or lay charges.
George Pell exposed himself to young boys at surf club, says Victorian man
In a statement issued on Wednesday the Victoria police media office confirmed it had received the office’s recommendation but would not confirm what had been recommended or whether detectives would be sent to Rome to interview Pell, who is the Vatican’s chief financial advisor.
“We have received advice and will now take the time to consider it,” the statement said. “As with any investigation, it remains a decision for Victoria police as to whether charges will be laid.”
Police have been investigating allegations that Pell exposed himself to three young boys at Torquay life saving club in Victoria in the summer of 1986 or 87.
Another two allegations involve two former St Alipius students, who allege Pell repeatedly touched their genitals while swimming with them at the Eureka pool in Ballarat in 1978-79. At the time, Pell was episcopal vicar for education in the Ballarat diocese.
Pell has vehemently denied the allegations against him, describing them as “nothing more than a scandalous smear campaign”. He accused police of leaking to the media, and called for a Victorian government inquiry into the alleged leaks….
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/17/george-pell-police-consider-whether-to-charge-cardinal-over-child-abuse-claims

Beth Din of America Added to $100M Civil Suit Against ‘Peeping Rabbi’ Barry Freundel
In the civil case, the plaintiffs claim that the mikvah, the synagogue, the religious court and the RCA ignored warning signs against Freundel, convicted of secretly videotaping women in his synagogue’s ritual bath.  JTA Aug 17, 2016
The Beth Din of America has been added to the list of defendants in a $100 million class action suit against Rabbi Barry Freundel, the prominent Washington, D.C., spiritual leader who was convicted of secretly videotaping women in his synagogue’s ritual bath.
On Tuesday, the attorneys representing the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in Superior Court in Washington, D.C., that included the rabbinical court, according to a news release on behalf of the Sanford Heisler and Chaikin Sherman Cammarata Siegel law firms.
The suit, which was filed originally in December 2014, also names as defendants Freundel’s former synagogue, Kesher Israel; the Rabbinical Council of America, the main professional association for modern Orthodox rabbis in the United States, and the National Capital Mikvah, the ritual bath Freundel used to spy on his victims.
In the civil case, the plaintiffs claim that the mikvah, the synagogue, the religious court and the RCA ignored warning signs of Freundel’s behavior.
Freundel is believed to have violated the privacy of at least 150 women he filmed while they undressed and showered at the mikvah, or ritual bath. They included members of Kesher Israel, candidates for conversion to Judaism and students at Towson University in Maryland, where Freundel taught classes on religion and ethics. The rabbi also secretly filmed a domestic violence abuse victim in a safe house he had set up for her.
He pleaded guilty last year to 52 counts of voyeurism and began serving a 6 1/2-year sentence in federal prison….  http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/1.737376

Ritual Abuse and Mind Control

How to Avoid Being Mind Controlled at a Conference – Presentation at the 2016 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference – August 2016
The information in this article was written with the help and research of several survivors and well-known, well-published therapists in the child abuse, ritual abuse and mind control fields over almost a twenty year period.  Participants of several ritual abuse conferences helped research the information in this article.
This presentation has been adapted for the Internet. It was presented at the conference by Neil Brick, a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His work continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritual abuse crimes. His child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. has been published for over 20 years. His articles can be found at http://neilbrick.com
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2016-conference/how-to-avoid-being-mind-controlled-at-a-conference/

The Urban Legends of Those Attacking Ritual Abuse Theories and the False Logic of False Memory Proponents and Their Occultist Supporters – Presentation at the 2016 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference
Second half of the article discusses the Grey Faction, a part of the Satanic Temple and Lucien Greaves/Doug Mesner. https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2016-conference/the-urban-legends-of-those-attacking-ritual-abuse-theories/

Neil Brick – Radio Interview – Scientific Information about Ritual Abuse Crimes
http://www.wljaradio.net/uploads
/5/1/7/1/51715193/neil_brick__online-audio-converter.com_.mp3
(Remove space and cut and paste to play MP3.)

Self-Esteem Loosens Mind Control by Wendy Hoffman – Survivorship Conference 2016
https://survivorship.org/self-esteem-loosens-mind-control-by-wendy-hoffman-survivorship-conference-2016/

Internal Keys to Safety by Alison Miller – Survivorship Conference 2016
https://survivorship.org/internal-keys-to-safety-by-alison-miller-survivorship-conference-2016/

Seeing and Breaking the Chains: Steps for Recognizing On-Going Abuse and How to Break Free by Arauna Morgan – Survivorship Conference 2013  https://survivorship.org/seeing-and-breaking-the-chains-steps-for-recognizing-on-going-abuse-and-how-to-break-free-by-arauna-morgan-survivorship-conference-2013/

Other Survivorship conference presentations are at:
https://survivorship.org/survivorship-ritual-abuse-and-child-abuse-conference-online-presentations/

Victims of sexual abuse find comfort at conference 18th annual sexual and ritual abuse conference was held Sunday  WINDSOR LOCKS, Connecticut (WWLP) – 18th Annual Sexual and Ritual abuse conference was held Sunday. Severe sexual abuse and torture victims from all over the world gathered in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, to learn how to deal with their trauma. Survivor and organizer Neil Brick told 22News, “This is a conference to educate people.”
The conference is a safe haven for victims. “It validates their experience and unifies survivors,” said Brick. He went on to tell 22News, “A lot of people suffer child abuse, that’s unfortunate that people do. So people can talk to others and realize they’re not alone. They can learn about resources on the internet and books that can help them.”
Some victims have endured severe abuse at the hands of cults and family members. Some were even victims of sex trafficking…..The conference also teaches clinicians vital skills on how to deal with sexual abuse trauma. http://wwlp.com/2016/08/14/victims-of-sexual-abuse-find-comfort-at-conference/

Drugs, sexual abuse and every child an identical blonde: Inside the cult known as ‘The Family’ that raised more than a dozen children as a mirror image of its leader
A new look into the Melbourne cult ‘The Family’ reveals its sinister nature
New documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival probes ‘family’
It explores networks Anne Hamilton-Byrne used to ‘steal’ children
By Belinda Cleary For Daily Mail Australia  24 July 2016
The notorious Melbourne cult dubbed ‘The Family’ has been described as ‘sinister and beautiful’ and like a ‘Grimm fairytale’ as it is revealed practicing members still live in Victoria.
A documentary into the LSD-using cult led by yoga teacher Anne Hamilton-Byrne will premiere at the upcoming Melbourne International Film Festival on Saturday with new information on the cult – which flew under the radar for 20 years….
‘How do people get involved in a cult, what draws them in, how do they do things that they would normally find morally reprehensible,’ she said.
‘It opens up a lot of questions that are universal rather than relevant only to this particular group.’
The cult, which was set up in Lake Eildon, was know for having the children dressed identically, their hair bleached blonde and shaped into the same bob.
This was so the children from different parents who were cult members looked like siblings – and their new ‘mother’ Anne Hamilton-Byrne.
Anne Hamilton-Byrne famously claimed she was the natural mother of each of the six children found by police during extensive raids of the cult-owned properties.
These raids occurred in 1987 – after one of the cults ‘daughters’ – now revealed to be Hamilton-Byrne’s favourite child Sarah – went to police with abuse allegations.
Following the raid police found another 14 children had been brought up in the isolated home.
Children who grew up in the strange cult were interviewed for the documentary and spoke of severe punishments for bad behaviour – like being starved or beaten.
They open up about being forced to take drugs including LSD and also of the sexual assault of children.
In 2009 Hamilton-Byrne spoke with the Herald Sun claiming she cared for the children as her own and said anyone who said otherwise were ‘lying bastards’.
She said the only regret she had was ‘losing touch with daughter’ (Sarah) and after an emotional reunion with the young woman who brought the cult down she said she was ‘ready to die’.
Sarah had been thrown out of The Family for disobedience two years before she dobbed her ‘mother’ in to police….
The film also explores how far the reach of The Family stretched – Raynor Johnson who was a key member helped Anne recruit doctors and lawyers to the cult.
‘They only recruited really wealthy people, in fact, or people with status and skills they needed.’
The medical staff and lawyers made it easy for the cult to take babies from single mothers who were pressured into signing their children over.
Other babies were those of cult-followers who didn’t want them….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3705224/Inside-Melbourne-cult-known-Family.html

Tales of a child bride: ‘My father sold me for 12 cows’
When she was 12, Grace was abducted and then raped and beaten every day for 11 months.
Features Human Rights1 2 July 2016   By Marc Ellison
So common are the practices of abduction, rape and forced marriage of girls in northern Tanzania that a single word is used to encapsulate them all: kupura. It is a word used by people from the Sukuma tribe to describe the snatching of girls in broad daylight as they walk to school; a three-syllabled euphemism that downplays their long-term physical and sexual abuse.
And yet here in the region of Shinyanga, the practice of kupura is validated by the oft-recited motto of Sukuma men: alcohol, meat and vagina.
“This slogan is in their blood and a way of life,” says Revocatus Itendelebanya. “These are the three things they feel entitled to as men.”
Itendelebanya, the legal and gender officer for the local NGO, Agape, says this sense of entitlement, in what is a perennially patriarchal society, also explains why passers-by don’t intervene when they witness an abduction.
“When a Sukuma man is attracted to a girl he will start asking people where she lives, and what her routine is,” explains Itendelebanya.
“Once he finds out these details he might wait for her near the borehole – or whatever he thinks is the best place to get that girl – and then grab her.”
Kupura is so prevalent in the region that when a girl disappears, her parents will suspect what has happened. But rather than calling the police, they will seek the man out not to rescue their child, but to negotiate the dowry – or bride price – in cattle.
Cash cows
For daughters are sadly seen as a short-term investment for poor, rural households – cash cows that can boost a family’s financial position at the expense of a girl’s schooling and wellbeing….
When it comes to child marriage, Tanzania was until very recently a country of contradictions.
The 1971 Marriage Act set the minimum age of marriage for girls at 15 with parental consent – but a girl of 14 could wed where judicial approval was given.
And while the 2009 Child Act did not expressly outlaw child marriage, it did define a child as a person under the age of 18, stating that a parent should “protect the child from neglect, discrimination, violence, abuse, exposure to physical and moral hazards and oppression”.
This contradictory legal Venn diagram was further obfuscated by the Local Customary Law of 1963, which allowed Tanzania’s many ethnic groups to adhere to their customs and traditions.
The Tanzanian government had long made noises about a constitutional review process to address these conflicting laws, but last year’s presidential election campaign, in addition to a lack of consensus in community surveys, had served to stall any political momentum on the issue.
Only in July 2016 did the government finally ban child marriage outright – but will it actually make a difference?
Female genital mutilation was outlawed in Tanzania in 1998, and yet a 2010 government survey found that in remote parts of the Mara region, more than 40 percent of girls and women had been cut….
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/07/tales-child-bride-father-sold-12-cows-160711100933281.html

Malawi’ President Mutharika to ban ritual sex abuse 27 July 2016  An HIV-positive Malawian man, who says he is paid to have sex with children as part of initiation rites, has been arrested on the president’s orders. Eric Aniva was the subject of a BBC feature last week. Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika told Anne Soy that he was “shocked” when he first became aware of Mr Aniva. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36909514

Malawian ‘hyena man’ arrested for having sex with children  26 July 2016 Africa  An HIV-positive Malawian man, who says he is paid to have sex with children as part of initiation rites, has been arrested on the president’s orders. Eric Aniva, a sex worker known in Malawi as a “hyena”, was the subject of a BBC feature last week. He told the BBC that he did not mention his HIV status to those who hire him. President Peter Mutharika said the police should investigate and charge him over the cases of defilement he had seemingly confessed to.
The BBC’s Ed Butler, who covered the story about Malawi’s sexual “cleansing practices”, says in some remote southern regions of the country it is traditional for girls to be made to have sex with a man after their first menstruation. Some of the girls are as young as 12 years old, he reported.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36892963

The man employed to have sex with teenage girls 21 July 2016   In some remote regions of Malawi, it’s traditional for parents to employ a man to have sex with their daughter when she reaches puberty.
The act is not seen by village elders as rape, but a form of ritual “cleansing”. It is potentially a way of spreading sexually transmitted diseases, though.
The men are known as hyenas – Eric Aniva is one of them.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36843772
full article
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36843769

Malawi man arrested after describing sex with young girls
Tuesday, July 26, 2016  Associated Press
BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Malawi police on Tuesday arrested a man who said he was hired by families to have sex with more than 100 young women, including children, in what was described as ritual cleansing.
President Peter Mutharika ordered the arrest of Eric Aniva, who told local and international media he had been paid to have sex with young girls. Aniva also told the media he was HIV-positive.
Aniva was charged with multiple cases of defilement, Malawi Police Inspector General Lexten Kachama told The Associated Press.
“Out of the many women he had sex with, most of them were under-aged children,” Kachama said.
In interviews, Aniva claimed to be a paid sex worker, known as a “hyena,” hired by families and village elders in southern Malawi to have sex with young girls once they reach puberty as a form of ritual cleansing.
In a statement, Malawi’s president said it is unacceptable to commit such violations under the guise of culture….
http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/nation_world/malawi-man-arrested-after-describing-sex-with-young-girls/article_f546d047-4c2b-5e27-ae9e-1d1545ebd03e.html

Bachelor star: ‘Kiwi dad was cult leader’ Tuesday, 09 August 2016
Australian Bachelor star Keira Maguire has opened up about her upbringing in a polygamist cult, revealing her biological father, a former police officer from New Zealand, had nine wives and 64 children.August 25, 2016
Self-styled spiritual guru Alistah Laishkochav, who told his followers he was Jesus Christ, was the head of a polygamous cult, dailymail.com reported.  Laishkochav, who was born in Auckland, changed his name from Ian Lowe when he moved to Australia from New Zealand in 1969. At 25, he married his first wife in a Mormon Church, where he was introduced to the concept of polygamy. The polygamist drew his beliefs from sections of the Jewish, Muslim and Mormon religions.
The former policeman exerted his strict control over the group – of which Keira was a member until the age of 5 – from his Bells Beach compound in Victoria, Australia.
In 2000 he was found guilty of sexually penetrating a child under 10 as well as three counts of attempted penetration of a child and 16 counts of indecent assault.
Laishkochav, who was described by his harem of wives as “the controller”, was sentenced to seven years and six months in jail. He reportedly died years later.
His offences involved four girls aged between seven and 11 and occurred between 1987 and 1991, according to reports.
Maguire would have only been 3 years old at the time.
During his trial, one of the victims told the court she was aged between 7 and 9 when Laishkochav molested her “every other day”.
She also revealed how Laishkochav would threaten her with violence to ensure she stayed silent about the sexual abuse….  http://m.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11689782

Ex-Jehovah’s witness reveals secrets of religious group
The treatment of women, child abuse and how to prevent being visited by followers of the religion are among topics confronted by ex-member  29 August 2016      Samuel Osborne
A former Jehovah’s Witness has offered a rare insight into the religious group, describing it as a cult that “tries to control emotions, thought, information and behavior of a person”. The man, who did not want to be formally identified, shared his experience of growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness in Poland in an Ask Me Anything post on Reddit.
Using the username “Ohmyjw”, the former Jehovah’s Witness (JW) elder speaks out against the group’s rules, such as prohibiting blood transfusion “even if that costs them their life” or believing the world “will end in Armageddon ‘very soon'”….
Those who leave the faith are called “apostates” and are “disfellowshipped”, a term for formal expulsion and shunning, where members are “prohibited from talking, and even from asying ‘hello’ to them”, according to Ohmyjw. In one situation where an elder started to lose his faith and challenge the group, he said they allegedly denounced him and spread gossip about him, pressuring him “so much he jumped into a river and killed himself”.
When asked how women were regarded in JW society, the former elder said they were thought of as “a complement for a man”, adding: “She should be submissive to her husband, who is the head of their family and it is he who makes all the important decisions.
“Women cannot teach in the congregation, they cannot deliver public talks or say public prayers. When they conduct a private Bible study or say a prayer with another person, while a man is around, she has to wear a scarf on her head as a sign of being submissive.”….
He also criticised the group for having a “big problem with child abuse,” saying “they believe child abuse is only a sin, not really a crime, the elders in almost all cases don’t report to the authorities, instead they try to handle it inside the congregation”.
The group allegedly requires “two witnesses to the event” and regularly decide to “leave the matter in the hands of Jehovah”.  “They basically value the ‘good name of the organisation’ more than the safety of the children,” he adds….
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jehovahs-witnesses-religion-christianity-religious-group-what-is-it-like-a7214966.html

Holy Hell Premieres Thursday, September 1, 2016 “Holy Hell” reveals an intimate, never-before-seen world inside Buddhafield, a mysterious spiritual sect that filmmaker Will Allen joined and became its unofficial documentarian for 22 years.  http://www.cnn.com/shows/cnn-films-holy-hell

Cult survivor tells of years of abuse, and urges other victims to speak
JOHN WEEKES, JACK BARLOW AND ILLYA MCLELLAN September 2 2016
Two former church members, one of whom was sexually abused as a girl, say the organisation they grew up in was a “cult” in which multiple abuses were carried out.
Sophia and her cousin Anna believe the old Commonwealth Covenant Church was as much a cult as any higher-profile religious group such as the Gloriavale community on the West Coast.
Now 36, Sophia – not her real name – says when she first raised sexual abuse allegations in the 1990s, she and her mother were bullied into leaving the church.
Sophia and Anna spent much of their youth in the CCC, based in urban centres, including Lower Hutt.
Jonathan John Edward Belcher, now living in Masterton, was jailed for the offending against Sophia.
This week, he said he had served his time, and was a changed man after undertaking a programme for sex offenders while in prison.
Though a jury found Belcher guilty, and the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court dismissed his appeals, he still accused Sophia of lying.
She believes he is not remorseful, and wants nothing to do with him.
The detective who investigated the case, Miles Horsnell?, said Sophia’s case was one of the most disturbing he worked on.
“How long it went on for and the types of things he did … It was a really bad one.”
Sophia said the secrecy and patriarchal nature of the CCC was a factor in Belcher’s abuse, which began when she was 4.
“He used a lot of religious stuff when he abused me. He used to pray and make me pray.”
A common theme through the abuse, she said, was his making her feel as if she was to blame.
And when she raised allegations years later, she said the church dealt with those claims internally, rather than going to police.
“My mum went out and got a protection order against him. Then we were really bullied because of that.”
The church in the 1980s and 90s was a cloistered, sexist institution, she said.
“We had really strict rules. Boys and girls weren’t allowed to associate. We weren’t allowed to cut our hair. No makeup.
“Women were taught to be subservient … your place was to have babies.
“We didn’t have radio, we didn’t have TV. It was very much like Gloriavale.”
And she said adherents were told going to police was immoral….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/83820915/cult-survivor-tells-of-years-of-abuse-and-urges-other-victims-to-speak

Child Abuse and Research

Child Abuse May Shorten Some Women’s Lives   Extreme stress may affect the way the body’s cells function  woman’s face  By Amy Norton  HealthDay Reporter  WEDNESDAY, Aug. 17, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Women who suffered physical or emotional abuse as children often die at a younger age than other women, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that among nearly 6,300 middle-aged U.S. adults, female survivors of child abuse were more likely to die over the next 20 years, versus other women.
And the worse the abuse was, the greater the impact appeared to be on a woman’s life span. Those who said they’d suffered severe physical abuse were 58 percent more likely to die during the study period, compared with women with no history of child abuse.
Experts said the findings, published online Aug. 17 in JAMA Psychiatry, highlight the lasting and extensive effects of child abuse.
Previous research had already shown that survivors of abuse are at risk of poorer physical and mental health as adults….
Although the study found a link between abuse in childhood and a shorter female life span, it’s important to note that the study wasn’t designed to definitively prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
Still, Shalev, who does research on the biological effects of stress during early life, had at least one theory as to how abuse may lay the groundwork for an earlier death.
Adversity in early childhood may leave a biological “fingerprint” that affects how body cells function over a lifetime, he suggested….
“We know that both men and women suffer long-term effects,” he said.
That’s not true of all child abuse survivors, of course, Shalev pointed out. And the point is not to “alarm” people with a history of abuse, he added.
Instead, Shalev said, they should be aware of the possible long-term risks, because they can do something about it — by eating well, exercising, and seeing their doctor for routine health screenings.
“A healthy lifestyle can help mitigate the effects,” Shalev said.
An estimated 702,000 U.S. children suffered some form of abuse or neglect in 2014, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention….
https://consumer.healthday.com/women-s-health-information-34/misc-women-s-problem-news-707/child-abuse-may-have-shorten-women-s-lives-713979.html

Association of Reports of Childhood Abuse and All-Cause Mortality Rates in Women  
Edith Chen, PhD1,2; Nicholas A. Turiano, PhD; Daniel K. Mroczek, PhD; Gregory E. Miller, PhD  JAMA Psychiatry. Published online August 17, 2016. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.1786
Original Investigation | August 17, 2016
….Results  Of the 6285 participants included in the study sample, 2987 were men (48%) and 5581were white (91%), with a mean (SD) age of 46.9 (12.95) years. Women who reported childhood emotional abuse (hazard ratio [HR],?1.22; 95% CI, 1.01-1.49; P?=?.04), moderate physical abuse (HR,?1.30; 95% CI, 1.05-1.60; P?=?.02), or severe physical abuse (HR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.20-2.08; P?=?.001) were at increased risk for all-cause mortality during the follow-up period. Reports of more types of childhood abuse were also associated with a greater risk of all-cause mortality in women (all vs none HR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.24-2.30; P?=?.001; some vs none HR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.01-1.52; P?=?.04). These effects could not be accounted for by childhood socioeconomic status, personality traits, or adult depression. No associations were observed in men.
Conclusions and Relevance  These results suggest that in addition to the established psychiatric consequences of abuse, women who report childhood abuse also remain vulnerable to premature mortality into adulthood. Thus, reported childhood abuse may have long-term ramifications for health and longevity in women.  http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2545073

Fox News Run As A ‘Playboy Mansion-Like Cult,’ Ex-Host Claims  Andrea Tantaros has filed a lawsuit against disgraced former chairman Roger Ailes and several top executives.  08/23/2016
Michael Calderone Senior Media Reporter, The Huffington Post  NEW YORK  Former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros claims in an explosive new lawsuit that disgraced ex-network chairman Roger Ailes sexually harassed her and that high-ranking executives fostered a newsroom culture in which abusive behavior flourished.
“Fox News masquerades as defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny,” the suit reads.
Ailes was “the primary culprit,” according to the suit, but “his actions were condoned by his most senior lieutenants who engaged in a concerted effort to silence Tantaros by threats, humiliation, and retaliation.”….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/andrea-tantaros-fox-news-lawsuit_us_57bc6919e4b0b51733a5d614

Fox News Host Andrea Tantaros Says She Was Taken Off the Air After Making Sexual-Harassment Claims Against Roger Ailes By Gabriel Sherman August 8, 2016
Fox News’ senior executives have said they were unaware of sexual-harassment allegations against Roger Ailes before former anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit against him in July. But those claims are now being challenged by Fox host Andrea Tantaros, who says that she complained multiple times to senior Fox executives in 2015 about Ailes’s inappropriate sexual behavior toward her. Tantaros says that, after she came forward, she was first demoted and eventually taken off the air in April 2016. Fox continues to pay her. Through her lawyer, Judd Burstein, Tantaros says that both she and her agent told Fox executive vice-president Bill Shine, senior vice-president Suzanne Scott, and general counsel Dianne Brandi about episodes of Ailes’s alleged harassment. “She made multiple harassment and hostile-workplace complaints,” Burstein says. As far as Tantaros knows, Fox executives never investigated her complaints, Burstein says; instead, they claim, Fox sidelined her. “I believe it’s retaliatory,” says Burstein.
Fox’s attorneys dispute this. The network says Tantaros was suspended with pay because she violated company policy by not allowing Fox to vet her 2016 book, Tied Up in Knots: How Getting What They Wanted Has Made Women Miserable. Fox attorneys told Burstein the network was embarrassed by her book’s cover, which depicts Tantaros bound by ropes….
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/08/andrea-tantaros-made-harassment-claims-against-roger-ailes.html

Exclusive: Inside the Fox News Bunker In the subterranean newsroom, fear is everywhere. “Hacking was bad,” says one person familiar with the internal investigation. “This is arguably worse.” by Sarah Ellison August 8, 2016  Few people in the news business have valued secrecy quite like Roger Ailes, the former C.E.O. of Fox News….
Many assumed that such secrecy was a vestige of Ailes’s formative years advising Richard Nixon. Now, it appears that it may have run deeper. Last month, former anchor Gretchen Carlson filed suit against Ailes for sexual harassment—an event that ushered in a litany of former colleagues with similar stories. Weeks later, Ailes resigned. (Ailes has fervently denied all allegations. His lawyer, Susan Estrich, reiterated those denials. A spokesperson for 21st Century Fox also declined to comment for this piece.)….
Meanwhile, 21st Century Fox has begun discussing a settlement in the Gretchen Carlson lawsuit against Ailes, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. The company is requesting that Ailes, who has denied all Carlson’s allegations, fund at least a portion of the settlement, which is expected to reach eight figures, these people said. At issue in the settlement talks is the existence of audio tapes recorded by multiple women in conversation with Ailes, two people familiar with the tapes said. Ailes’s lawyers have argued that any negotiation with Carlson should take place in private arbitration, but the specter of a public trial looms. “If they litigate the case, all the tapes will become public, directly and through others,” this person said. “Then you will have a parade of women come in. Nobody wants that.” (Ailes, through his lawyer, denied all allegations.)
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/exclusive-inside-the-fox-news-bunker-roger-ailes

17,000 People Have Died in Syrian Prisons Since Start of War: Report By Lucy Westcott 8/17/16
More than 300 people die in Syrian prisons every month, often after being subjected to brutal torture and abuse by security forces, according to a new report from Amnesty International.
The report says at least 17,723 people have died in custody in Syrian prisons since the start of the country’s conflict in 2011, and it documents crimes against humanity committed by government forces. While detainees dying in Syrian prison custody isn’t new—in the decade leading up to 2011, there were around 45 deaths in custody each year, according to Amnesty—it’s “never been to the scale that we’re currently seeing,” Claudia Scheufler, the report’s author, tells Newsweek.
“Anyone who could in any way be seen as opposing the government,” including journalists, human rights activists and medical workers, could end up in prison in Syria, says Scheufler. More recently, humanitarian workers who have been providing support to those displaced by the fighting have increasingly been jailed. One woman told researchers that someone she was giving food to didn’t like the way tomato paste was being distributed. That person complained to the security forces, and the woman ended up in prison.
Amnesty spoke with 65 survivors of prison torture and abuse in security facilities operated by Syrian intelligence agencies and the infamous Saydnaya Military Prison, located outside Damascus. A number of people told Amnesty that in addition to being tortured, they witnessed extrajudicial killings, saw fellow detainees being beaten to death and shared cells with dead bodies.
Those who spoke with Amnesty described a “welcome party” ritual when they arrived at a detention center, which involved beatings with metal bars or electrical cables. Women detainees suffered from sexual assault and rape by male guards. Forms of torture that survivors described to Amnesty, and that were used to extract “confessions” from detainees, include dulab, the process of forcibly contorting a body into a rubber tire, and falaqa, flogging the soles of the feet….
http://www.newsweek.com/syrian-prison-custody-death-amnesty-491226

September 7, 2016 · Filed Under Newsletter 2016 - Issues 126 - 131

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