"Mark Zuckerberg and Meta … have misled the public and failed to make changes to Meta’s platforms that would protect children and teens," Torrez told the Caller. "In addition to seeking civil penalties to deter Meta from continuing to jeopardize children’s safety, the NMAG is petitioning the court to permanently stop Meta’s harmful practices and demand a change."A total of 33 state attorneys general launched a joint lawsuit against Meta related to its platforms’ alleged harmful effects on children, according to a court filing in October. Eight other states and Washington, D.C., launched distinct lawsuits against Meta the same day, according to The Washington Post.
Zuckerberg and other Big Tech CEOs are scheduled to testify about child exploitation in January, according to The Verge. -Daily Caller
SACRAMENTO -- The Sacramento Diocese is facing possible bankruptcy after a staggering number of lawsuits were filed alleging sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The alleged events go back decades.
Dorothy small is a survivor, an advocate, and, through it all, still an ardent practicing Catholic.
"The most important asset in the institution are its people," Small says. "I'm for God and I am for what it stands for. But even God is being abused. Because they represent God himself. And that doesn't work."
Small, who herself is a survivor of abuse at the hands of a clergy member, now volunteers her time as an advocate with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, to help those who are just finding the courage to come forward.
"If they have to liquidate assets, so be it," says Small of the various Dioceses being hit with multiple lawsuits. "But provide immediate protection for the flock. Do due diligence. Do the right thing."
A three-year window has just ended in California. From Dec. 31, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2022, the state would hear suits filed that allege sexual abuse by the Catholic church regardless of if the statute of limitations had run out. It resulted in thousands of new cases across California. In Sacramento alone, the Diocese sent out a letter to their congregation stating they had received over 200 filings alone. Eighty percent of the allegations relate to claims from 1980 or earlier but five of those claims come after 2002 when the Diocese instituted reforms and improved safeguards.
"This financial challenge is unlike anything we have faced before," Sacramento Diocese Bishop Jaime Soto said in a taped statement to his parishioners. "I must consider what options are available to us, should the diocese become insolvent."
CBS13 reached out to the Diocese and was told that there has not been a bankruptcy filing but as the process plays out over the next couple of months that it very well may be on the table. Other regions of the state, such as the Diocese of San Diego, say they may file as well. Melanie Sakoda, a survivor support coordinator with SNAP, says that bankruptcies can serve another goal.
"My personal feeling... [is] part of it is to protect their assets is they don't want the parishioners and the public to know the full extent of the damage that they created," Sakoda says. "Most of the survivors are really looking to find out what happened to them, who all was involved, who knew. How long had they known about their abuser? When the civil process is halted by a bankruptcy proceeding...that stops too."
Bishop Soto made a point within his statement to his congregation to direct the ire towards the perpetrators of the crimes rather than the survivors themselves.
"The situation we face is due to the sins of our church, not to victim-survivors seeking justice and healing," Soto said. "The relentlessness of the pain and suffering of these victims must be matched by the relentlessness of our prayers for their healing and by our efforts to never again allow these kinds of sexual abuse to occur in the church."
Small and Sakoda conclude by saying the focus shouldn't be on the financial challenges that lie ahead. Instead, the energy and effort should be put towards the survivors and the hope for accountability from the clergy.
"I'm sorry that it's gonna cost them," Small says. "They have to dig deep. But that shouldn't be the focus."
"It could have been prevented if the church had reported the crimes that were happening when they were happening when they found out about them and removed these people from a position of authority," Sakoda follows up. "They didn't do that."
Calls and tips to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's human trafficking hotline have jumped more than 400% in recent years as public awareness grows.
TBI's human trafficking team received 1,291 hotline tips last year, up from 245 in 2016. The vast majority were for child sex trafficking, with more than 600 reports in 2022.
Those were some of the findings in a new TBI report released this month in response to directive from state lawmakers.
Legislators have vowed to fight human trafficking and are planning for a package of laws next year to tackle the problem.
In an August special session on public safety, they passed House Bill 7041, which directed the TBI to submit a report on the state of human trafficking by December. The agency's last report was in 2013.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, at the time said he planned to "make Tennessee a leader in ending this evil practice."
The 10-page report provides a snapshot of some numbers over past several years and ways the TBI has worked to address the issue. The figures represent calls, reports and tips, and not confirmed cases or charges related to human trafficking.
Among the findings:
- While reports of other types of trafficking such a labor and adult sex trafficking have grown slightly, reports of child sex trafficking have increased dramatically since 2016.
- Nearly half of all tips involving minors come from the Department of Child Services, which provides weekly information to TBI.
- Minor victims ranged in age from five months to 17 years old, with 45% of reports involving children between the ages of 13 and 17.
- TBI has conducted proactive operations since 2015 targeting the commercial sex industry, with the goal of identifying traffickers and recovering victims. This year TBI conducted 15 operations, of which 17 minors were located.
- TBI needs additional resources to help examine thousands of online sex advertisements to identify potential victims.
The criminal case was initiated in January of last year over charges of causing death by negligence, after the body of a newborn boy was found in an apartment in the VNIISSOK settlement
MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Moscow’s Nikulinsky court sentenced a group of obstetricians and surrogate mothers to various terms from between 4 and 19.5 years in prison on charges of trafficking of newborns.
"Declare Tars Ashitkov, Tatyana Blinova, Yuliana Ivanova, Liliya Panaioti, Liliya Valeyeva guilty under Criminal Code Article 127.1 part 3 (human trafficking carried out within an organized group), and sentence Ashitkov to 17.5 years in a maximum security prison, Blinova - to 4 years in a medium-security prison, Ivanova - to 16.5 years in a medium-security prison, Panaioti - to 16 years in a medium-security facility, Valeyeva - to 10.5 years in prison," Judge Konstantin Dubkov announced.
The obstetricians were also prohibited from working in the medical field for 3 years after their terms are over.
The court also sentenced Vladislav Melnikov, director of the "European center of surrogate motherhood" to 19.5 years in a maximum security facility. He was found guilty of 17 counts of child trafficking.
Ashitkov is a urologist at the NGC private clinic; Ivanova and Panaioti are obstetricians involved in providing in vitro fertilization services in Moscow; Blinova and Valeyeva are surrogate mothers. An international arrest warrant was issued for the main defendant in the case, Konstantin Svitnev, and he was arrested in absentia; surrogate mother Irina Kolgut was also arrested in absentia and put on a wanted list.
The criminal case was initiated in January of last year over charges of causing death by negligence, after the body of a newborn boy was found in an apartment in the VNIISSOK settlement. Last summer, five infants aged between six days and six months were found in an apartment with two women tending to them. The investigators opened a criminal case of human trafficking. Later, the case was classified under a more severe criminal code article, and handed over to the Central Apparatus of the Investigative Committee of Russia. Law enforcement officials detained a female Chinese citizen, who was present in the apartment with the infants.
According to a TASS source in law enforcement, these children were born by surrogate mothers and were intended, inter alia, for Chinese citizens.
Russell Brand says that 170 high-profile Epstein clients will be revealed in court docs. Looks to be legit:
MSN
Edit: maybe a limited hangout?
Russell Brand says that 170 high-profile Epstein clients will be revealed in court docs. Looks to be legit:
Edit: maybe a limited hangout?
A leading Dutch activist against pedophilia has been found dead from "suicide".
Pizzagate Investigator, Who Exposed VIP Pedophile Network To Millions, Found Dead
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