Failing to succumb to [jawboning] has been elevated to a criminal matter. – Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Your “leaders” want this to happen more often:
A potential serial killer has been caught after he [raped] two [sex workers], strangled them to death, and dumped their bodies at the same intersection about a month apart…Carlos Yadiel Baez-Nieves was arrested…for driving with a suspended license…[and while in jail confessed to] killing…Fatia Flowers and…Nichole Daniels…Sheriff John Mina [used the excuse of women’s tragic deaths to swagger and brag about cop magic even though the killer was caught due to other sex workers reporting that] Daniels got into a white pickup truck [at a 7-Eleven] and…video surveillance [from] the [store clearly showed]…his truck…
During the Red Scare, [Americans] believed that Soviet agents were everywhere, having secretly infiltrated all levels of society…The Satanic Panic convinced Americans of the 1980s that absurd claims of ritual abuse and sacrifice were somehow credible…At any given time, America is moving in and out of some moral panic or another. Harm to children is a persistent theme. In recent years, however, our national obsession with these moral panics has consumed our politics…The…current obsession with “child sex trafficking” — the animating force behind such conspiracy theories as QAnon and Pizzagate, as well as coded political insults like “groomer” — has roots in this moral panic hyped by powerful Republicans and Democrats alike. The panic reached its crescendo with the 2018 federal indictments related to a sex ad hub called Backpage.com…
The article is a tie-in to a podcast series called “Hold Fast“, about the persecution of Backpage and its owners, which I’ve heard is very good. But please allow me some small bitterness about the fact that I shouted about this for a decade before the “Fourth Estate” began to pay attention.
It’s good to see someone else recognize this grooming program for what it is:
The youth program that introduced [Sarah] Birchmore to [her molest]ers is among hundreds of such chapters at [cop shops] around the country…law enforcement Explorer posts are d[isguis]ed [as programs] to help teens…learn about policing…[but in reality they are grooming schemes for predatory cops]. At least 194…[cops] have [been caught] groom[ing], sexually abus[ing] or [raping]…Explorers since 1974…The vast majority of th[e victims] were teenage girls — some as young as 13…In many [of these] programs, armed [thugs] were allowed to be alone with teenage Explorers…[and as is usual in cases of criminal cop behavior, cop shops] minimized or dismissed the concerns of those who reported creepy] behavior…[rare] cases led to criminal charges. [A much smaller number] went to prison, while others received probation or weren’t required to register as sex offenders. [Most cop shops] allowed [rapists and molest]ers to keep their jobs after a reprimand or short suspension…
Ballard’s downfall will be even sweeter if he takes a politician with him:
A new filing in the lawsuit brought by five women [whom] Tim Ballard…sexual[ly] assault[ed] has added an allegation of rape, as well as a [report]…that a witness saw Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes using cocaine at a private club in downtown Salt Lake City…Operation Underground Railroad…had given nearly $1 million in grants to Reyes’ office “in order to motivate…Reyes to protect Ballard and OUR.” After a criminal investigation was opened by the Davis County attorney’s office, Ballard was upset, the suit asserts, “especially since Ballard made arrangements for…Reyes to use a penthouse at Mac’s Place with women and cocaine”…
Governments worldwide are emulating China’s evil:
India’s…assassination plots in the United States and Canada are part of an expanding wave of aggression against dissident groups seeking protection in other countries. Their home governments are increasingly willing to disregard the sovereignty of those nations and send agents across borders to subdue political enemies…India has faced few consequences for its use of violence and intimidation against dissident groups, in part because the United States and its allies want closer ties with India in a new era of competition with China. Cross-border repression takes various forms including violence, harassment and surveillance. India, which eclipsed China last year as the world’s most-populous country, is part of an expanding roster of dozens of nations now employing such tactics…
“A darker side of Modi’s India”? Darker than censorship, religious repression, and institutionalized racism?
Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:
Louisiana [politician]s are considering adding mifepristone and misoprostol…to the list of controlled dangerous substances in the state, creating penalties of up to 10 years of prison time for anyone caught with the drugs. It’s the latest move by anti-abortion politicians trying to control access to abortion pills, which people are ordering online…and using to end their pregnancies, despite Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban…
Here’s Liz Brown with a deep dive on the tyrannical persecution of Backpage:
…From the beginning, this prosecution has been premised on a bogus rationale (authorities yammer on about sex trafficking though none of the defendants are charged with sex trafficking), overreaching in its scope (attempting to hold a web platform accountable for user-generated speech, in contradiction to Section 230), offensive to the First Amendment, and relentless in its attempts to handicap the defense…[Judge Diane] Humetewa’s [most recent] order showcases how this case has turned normal content moderation into criminal activity—in what should serve as a warning to tech companies of all sorts. The government’s demands are simply impossible…
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