Harvey Weinstein found guilty on 2 counts, not guilty on more serious charges
Harvey Weinstein was on trial for rape in Manhattan.
By Chris Francescani and Alexandra Svokos February 24, 2020
The jury reached a verdict in the New York rape trial of Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced former Hollywood mega-producer.
Weinstein, 67, was found guilty of criminal sexual assault and of rape in the third degree. He was found not guilty of the more serious charges of predatory sexual assault and of rape in the first degree....
The criminal sexual assault charge came from Miriam "Mimi" Haleyi, who was a production assistant and said that he assaulted her in 2006. That charge came with sentencing guidelines of five to 25 years.
The charge of rape in the third degree came from another, unnamed accuser, and came with sentencing guidelines of probation up to four years....
Weinstein was charged with raping one woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on a different woman, who has since identified herself as Haleyi, in 2006. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and claims any sexual encounters were consensual.
In addition to the two women behind those charges, four others testified in support of prosecutors' efforts to demonstrate a pattern of sexual predation....
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/jury-reaches-verdict-harvey-weinstein-case/story?id=69175544
Monday, February 24, 2020
Thursday, February 20, 2020
SMART Newsletter Celebrates Twenty-Five Years of Publishing - Neil Brick Editor
SMART Newsletter Celebrates Twenty-Five Years of Publishing - Neil Brick Editor
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smart-newsletter-celebrates-twenty-five-years-of-publishing--neil-brick-editor-301009002.html
SMART Newsletter Celebrates Twenty-Five Years of Publishing - Neil Brick Editor
Feb 21, 2020
EASTHAMPTON, Mass., Feb. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In 1995, the SMART (Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today) newsletter started publishing a small newsletter in Northampton, Massachusetts (now in Easthampton, Mass). In 1996, SMART began publishing on the Internet for the first time. SMART developed a website for survivors of ritual abuse and their helpers. SMART was one of the early educational resources for survivors of severe trauma, rape and abuse. In 1998, SMART began having weekend conferences for survivors and their helpers in Connecticut.
SMART has become one of the largest information and scientific resources on ritual abuse, cults, mind control, repressed memory, dissociation and dissociative identity disorder (formerly multiple personality disorder) on the Internet.https://ritualabuse.us/
SMART's newsletter has provided informational resources about many child abuse cases over the years. Their newsletter has covered major events about ritual abuse and mind control. Articles have included information on Claudia Mullen, Valerie Wolf, the Extreme Abuse Surveys, MK-ULTRA, Satanic Ritual Abuse, clergy abuse including the Catholic Church sexual abuse crisis, day care cases, propaganda, sex trafficking, high profile serial child abuse and rape cases, including those of Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Jimmy Savile.
Speakers at SMART's conferences have included Lynne Moss-Sharman, Hal Pepinsky, Neil Brick, Adah Sachs, Alison Miller, Randy Noblitt, Wendy Hoffman, Carol Rutz, Wanda Karriker, Thorsten Becker, deJoly LaBrier, Laurie Matthews and many others. https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
SMART has worked with other organizations including Survivorship to help educate the general public about ritual abuse and mind control crimes.https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
SMART continues to have yearly conferences in Connecticut. The newsletter recently published its 150th edition online at https://ritualabuse.us/newsletter/
Neil Brick continues to publish research and research articles on child abuse, ritual abuse, mind control and dissociation. He continues to speak at conferences about ritual abuse and mind control. http://neilbrick.com
SMART's goal is to continue publishing educational resources to help survivors of child abuse, ritual abuse, their helpers and the general public learn more about the prevalence of ritual abuse and mind control in the United States and around the world. SMART hopes that child and ritual abuse will someday be eliminated in the world and children will be safe.
Monday, February 17, 2020
Word of Faith Fellowship - Church cult controlled sex lives, Former La Luz Del Mundo Member Alleges The Church Ran Child Sex Slavery Ring
Church cult controlled sex lives ... even on wedding nights
By Ben Steelman Feb 15, 2020
By Ben Steelman Feb 15, 2020
New book documents story of Word of Faith Fellowship, a bizarre Pentecostal spinoff in N.C. foothills
.... Word of Faith believers saw this as a demon-haunted world, with even the most faithful prone to demonic possession. To exorcise these demons, believers practiced a ritual known as “blasting,” in which the supposedly possessed were surrounded, shouted at, shaken and sometimes pummeled to drive out the evil spirits. Some exorcees were thrown brutally against walls.
Now, Associated Press reporters Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr tie up their years of research into a straightforward, coherent account of the controversies surrounding Word of Faith. The two interviewed 100 former members of the fellowship, building a harrowing picture of faith gone horribly astray.
....Word of Faith was and is a world unto itself. Members attend three or more services per week on the fellowship’s large campus. Their children almost always attend the fellowship’s private school. Members did not watch television (particularly after a series of “Inside Edition” exposes on the congregation in the 1990s), did not read newspapers or books other than the Bible or Fellowship literature, and did not eat in restaurants that served alcohol.
Believers were encouraged to move to Spindale, where they frequently wound up living communally. Homeowners would be “encouraged” to take in other Word of Faith families or children in trouble. If you wanted to buy a house or car, you needed church permission.
Youngsters were pressured to “help out” at businesses owned by Word of Faith members, often with little or no pay. Adults were expected to report each other for breaking any of the many church rules. To prevent masturbation, for instance, men were forbidden to put their hands in their pockets.
....Word of Faith had been founded by Sam Whaley, a former used car salesman, but the real boss and preacher was his wife, Jane Whaley, a former math teacher. Although women in the fellowship were forbidden to wear makeup, Jane Whaley dressed in expensive outfits (generally obtained on long shopping trips to second-hand stores) and wore a lot of jewelry. She was known to have a temper, especially when people crossed her, and she had to face assault charges in state courts.
These cases went nowhere, though, and neither did multiple accusations of abuse by former members. Both the Rutherford County sheriff and the local district attorney were elected with the help of Word of Faith votes, and neither pursued charges against the fellowship with much energy. Word of Faith members took key jobs in the county courthouse and sheriff’s office to keep tabs with what was going on....
Former La Luz Del Mundo Member Alleges The Church Ran Child Sex Slavery Ring
by Aaron Schrank in News on February 13, 2020
A new civil lawsuit filed Thursday against religious leader and self-proclaimed "Apostle" of La Luz Del Mundo, Naason Joaquin Garcia, contains shocking allegations of abuse.
The filing, made in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, came as the religious group is holding its "Holy Supper" event at the Pomona Fairplex, attended by thousands.
It also comes more than eight months since Garcia, the Mexico-based megachurch's religious leader, was arrested in Los Angeles on dozens of felony child rape and human trafficking charges. He has been held without bail in downtown L.A.'s Men's Central Jail since then, after the court refused to grant bail citing him as a high-flight risk.
The lawsuit filed by Sochil Martin, a former Luz Del Mundo member, marks the first time a former La Luz Del Mundo church member has spoken openly about abuse allegations. Martin's lawyers held a news conference Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles to detail her claims against the religious organization, Garcia and other top leaders of the organization.
The 34-year-old woman says she grew up deep in La Luz Del Mundo, primarily attending the flagship temple in East L.A.
Martin says she was groomed as a child, beaten, forced to work for no pay for the church's communications department, and raped hundreds of times over two decades by Apostle Naason Joaquin Garcia and his father, Samuel Joaquin Flores.
Martin's complaint alleges a ring of child sexual slavery and financial manipulation within the church and points fingers at Naason Joaquin Garcia's family members and La Luz Del Mundo bishops, many of whom are based in Southern California.
"For nearly 22 years, I was made to work for, travel for, lie for and give my body to an organization who saw me as nothing more than a source of profit and sexual pleasure," Martin told reporters gathered at the offices of Greenberg Gross in downtown Los Angeles Thursday. "Hundreds, if not thousands of other children before me and after me suffered the same fate."
Church officials rejected Martin's account Thursday morning.
....The Light of The World reports 1,500 temples in 58 countries and between 1 and 5 million members worldwide.
It has a big presence in California, with more than 50 temples, including churches in East L.A. and Pasadena.
Joaquin Garcia's father, Samuel Joaquin Flores, led the church from 1964 until 2014.He was the subject of sexual abuse allegations in 1997, but never faced criminal charges.
....Sochil Martin is stepping forward and alleging years of abuse and manipulation growing up deep inside the religious group's flagship church in East L.A,, where the jailed church leader and self-proclaimed "Apostle" of the religious movement was once a pastor.
In her civil complaint, Martin says she was trafficked throughout the U.S. and Mexico, beaten and raped dozens of times and even forced to have sex with children — all to satisfy the desires of "the two Apostles," Naason Joaquin Garcia, and his father Samuel Joaquin Flores.
Martin also claims that since age 16, La Luz Del Mundo's senior leaders forced her to do more than 30,000 hours of unpaid work for the church's communications arm, International Berea USA. which is run out of East L.A. and was established by Naason Joaquin Garcia in 2009.
Martin alleges church leaders used their positions of power to benefit from her trafficking and unpaid labor. She named 12 additional people in the lawsuit, including several bishops in La Luz Del Mundo, some of Martin's former bosses at the Church's communications department and Naason Joaquin Garcia's family members.
She alleges a widespread culture of coercion and control inside the organization. Martin says countless members have been forced to work for LDM. The complaint claims most of the employees at Berea International were unpaid.
"For far too many La Luz Del Mundo members, everything they have is taken by LLDM. Every dollar they make goes to La Luz Del Mundo because they truly believe their money will be used to do the work of God on Earth," Martin said. "But all the hard-earned money goes to making Naason and his enablers rich."
....Naason Joaquin Garcia and several co-conspirators were arrested last June and charged with dozens of felonies in a case filed by California Department of Justice. Garcia was first held on record high bail in L.A. county, and now without bail oncharges involve three girls and one young woman in L.A. county in recent years. Garcia had denied the charges.
The case has been dragging in the pre-trial phase since Naason Joaquin Garcia's dramatic arrest at LAX, at least in part because the child victims in the case were guaranteed anonymity when they reported alleged abuse to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office.
But the criminal case filed today is the first where a former member of the church is publicly accusing La Luz Del Mundo and its leadership of manipulation and sex abuse. Sochil's attorneys, from Greenberg Gross and Jeff Anderson & Associates, said they hoped more victims will come forward.
Church officials and active members maintain the innocence and righteousness of their leader and Apostle....
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Abuse summit to take place in Scotland, Mutilating Southeast Asia’s girls - Female Genital Mutilation
Abuse summit to take place in Scotland
Experts from across the globe will head to Dundee to discuss the impact and prevalence of ritual abuse
10th February 2020 by Gareth Jones
A conference later this month will look at the current international situation of ritual abuse (RA) and organised abuse of children.
International experts in the field of RA will come together in Dundee to discuss the impact and prevalence of RA and organised abuse on children and share best practice on support for young survivors. The conference will examine the current situation in the world and in the UK specifically to help workers and supporters to identify and help children who are affected by organised and ritualised abuse.
Dr Laurie Matthew OBE, coordinator of charity Eighteen And Under, will be presenting at the conference. She said: “This conference provides a unique opportunity to raise awareness and learn more about organised and ritual abuse from leading experts, academics and practitioners in the field.”
Other experts who will be presenting include Dr Michael Salter, a Scientia Fellow and associate professor of criminology at the University of New South Wales. His research focuses on organised forms of child sexual abuse. Dark Justice, an organisation who catch potential sex offenders who try to groom and meet up with children following sexual grooming will also be speaking. Neil Brick (RA survivor) and creator of the S.M.A.R.T (Stop Mind control And Ritual Abuse Today) newsletter and Dr Sarah Nelson, Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee, who has presented widely for decades on sexual abuse issues, will also be delivering talks.
This is the second conference to be organised jointly by Eighteen And Under and Izzy’s Promise. Keiran Watson, a manager with Izzy’s Promise is keen to increase awareness of RA. He said: “There’s a desperate need to increase awareness of RA to everyone in the survivor sector. Survivors who have experienced RA can have complex support needs as a result of the abuse and they can find this difficult to access.”
Eighteen and Under provides confidential support and information to any child or young person who has experienced any form of abuse or violence. In addition to offering support services, the charity is dedicated to the prevention of all forms of violence and abuse and offer academically backed Violence Is Preventable (VIP) resources.
Izzy’s Promise has over 10 years of experience delivering ritual abuse support training. It provides confidential, practical and emotional support to RA survivors as well as conducting research into causes and prevention of ritual and organised abuse. Additionally, the charity provides expert training and consultancy services to organisations that need to deliver complex RA support.
Organised Abuse can involve multiple adults who plan and sexually abuse one or more children and it includes trafficking, child abuse, sexual exploitation and paedophilia rings. Ritual abuse can be defined as organised sexual, physical and psychological abuse, which can be systematic and sustained over a long period of time using rituals with or without a belief system.
Tickets: https://rans.org.uk/izzys-promise/
Mutilating Southeast Asia’s girls
Athira Nortajuddin 12 February 2020
On 6 February, the world celebrated International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which aims to raise awareness and to eradicate the practice. Anti-FGM activists and organisations are calling FGM a crime against women and girls. Several countries such as the United Kingdom (UK) have made FGM illegal and it is considered a form of child abuse. Anyone who performs FGM in the UK can face imprisonment for up to 14 years. Despite objections by the United Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations (UN) among others, FGM is still a common practice and prevalent in some parts of the world, including Africa and Southeast Asia. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in 2020 alone, 4.1 million girls around the world are at risk of undergoing FGM.
What is FGM?
According to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), female genital mutilation (FGM) is a procedure where the genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed. FGM is usually performed on young girls before they reach puberty, between infancy and the age of 15....
FGM vs FGC in ASEAN
FGM is a common practice in Southeast Asia and is usually referred to as female genital cutting or circumcision (FGC) as the word ‘mutilation’ in FGM is considered demeaning. In some parts of Southeast Asia FGC has been normalised, and the ritual is seen as a tradition that has been around for generations. Female circumcision in ASEAN is commonly practised by the Muslim community in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Southern Thailand as it is considered a religious obligation.
In 2009, a fatwa – which is a legal pronouncement in Islam, allowed the practice and made female circumcision mandatory except in cases where it is considered harmful to the girl in Malaysia. The Ministry of Health there also released a standardised guideline on the proper procedure of female circumcision, making sure that the operation is safe....
No health benefits
The WHO has stated that FGM carries no health benefits and is harmful to females. Immediate complications can include severe pain, excessive bleeding, genital tissue swelling, urinary problems, infections and even death. FGM also comes with long term effects such as menstrual problems, sexual problems, increased risk of childbirth complications and psychological problems.
According to media reports, the practice of FGM has decreased in recent years as the UN strives for a total elimination of FGM by 2030, following the spirit of Sustainable Development Goal 5.
Friday, February 7, 2020
Man dubbed 'largest facilitator' of child abuse images pleads guilty - Police uncovering 'epidemic of child abuse' in 1970s and 80s
- Man dubbed 'largest facilitator' of child abuse images pleads guilty
- Police uncovering 'epidemic of child abuse' in 1970s and 80s
Man dubbed 'largest facilitator' of child abuse images pleads guilty
Eric Eoin Marques, citizen of US and Ireland, faces up to 30 years in prison over web hosting service
Associated Press Thu 6 Feb 2020
A man once described by an FBI agent as the world’s largest “facilitator” of child abuse websites pleaded guilty on Thursday to operating a web hosting service that allowed users to anonymously access hundreds of thousands of images and videos depicting child abuse.
Eric Eoin Marques, 34, faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years after his guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to advertise child abuse images. A plea agreement will ask the US district judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland to sentence Marques to 15 to 21 years in prison, but the judge is not bound by the recommendation....
Marques, who spent years fighting his extradition from Ireland to the US, operated a web hosting service on the darknet that allowed thousands of users to view and share child abuse images, according to a court filing on Thursday....
Marques created and operated a free, anonymous web hosting service, called Freedom Hosting, on a network allowing users to access websites without revealing their IP addresses. In 2013, FBI agents in Maryland connected to the network and accessed a child abuse bulletin board with more than 7,700 members and more than 22,000 posts. Agents downloaded more than 1 million files from another website on the network, nearly all of which depicted sexually explicit images of children. Images on the service depicted the rape and torture of infants and older children....
Authorities seized nearly $155,000 in US currency from Marques, who said during an August 2013 extradition hearing that his business had been “very successful” and profitable, according to Thursday’s court filing.
Marques was indicted in April 2019 in Greenbelt, Maryland, on four counts: conspiring to advertise child abuse images, conspiring to distribute child abuse images, advertising child abuse images and distribution of child abuse images....
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/06/child-abuse-images-case-us-ireland-eric-eoin-marques
Police uncovering 'epidemic of child abuse' in 1970s and 80s
Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent
Wed 5 Feb 2020
Police believe figures showing 35% of allegations leading to guilty verdicts justify their inquiries.
Police say they are uncovering a hidden “epidemic” of paedophile abuse in the 1970s and 1980s, with thousands of allegations leading to convictions against people who abused their power to attack children.
New figures seen by the Guardian show that 4,024 allegations led to guilty verdicts at court after police investigations since 2014 into decades-old child sex offences.
Officers say hundreds of offenders, including teachers, religious workers, youth and care workers, thought they had got away with their crimes. Many victims have been traumatised, and some have killed themselves or been left with severe mental health problems.
Police believe the figures, which show that 35% of all allegations led to guilty verdicts, demonstrate that inquiries into non-recent sexual abuse are not “spaffing money up the wall”, as Boris Johnson last year claimed. Labour said Johnson should apologise to victims.
Officers believe there are many more allegations to come, and Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the national lead for child protection and abuse investigations, told the Guardian: “We are now having to come to terms, as a society, and we are going to have to recognise and accept, that during the 1970s and 1980s in particular, there was widespread sexual abuse of children taking place....
Since Hydrant’s launch, 7,000 suspects have been identified, with 11,346 allegations of attacks received from 9,343 victims, all concerning sexual abuse of children. Some claims date back to the 1940s.
Of the alleged offences, 47% were not investigated by police, in over a third of these cases because the suspect was dead. In a fifth of discontinued claims, suspects could not be identified. More than one-third of the allegations resulted in convictions at court, with 6% resulting in acquittal.
The conviction rate comes despite cases from long ago being harder to investigate because of fewer, if any, forensic clues.
Since 2015, there has been a final outcome in 11,346 allegations of child abuse reported to Operation Hydrant - 4,024 of which resulted in a conviction....
Monday, February 3, 2020
Survivorship Winter Journal Online, Special Low Ritual Abuse Conference Prices and Speakers
Survivorship Winter Journal Online, Special Low Ritual Abuse Conference Prices and Speakers
The Survivorship Winter Journal is now available for free online at https://survivorship.org/notes-and-journal/
This issue has articles by Dr. Randy Noblitt, Neil Brick http://neilbrick.com , poetry and information on the speakers at the May 2020 conference.
Please note: Reduced prices for the conference until March 1, 2020. Please register now to take advantage of these excellent prices.
Survivorship announces the speakers at their Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2020 Conference:
This conference provides attendees the opportunities to learn about severe abuse research and resources.
Dr. Randy Noblitt and Pamela Perskin Noblitt will speak about Extreme Abuse Survivors, Social Security Benefits, and Ethical Practice. They will discuss how many trauma survivors have debilitating psychological and physical symptoms that prevent them from maintaining gainful employment. This workshop is intended to provide an introduction to SSA requirements for healthcare providers and survivors.
Dr. Karol Darsa will speak about 5 Common Mistakes in Trauma Treatment. She will discuss how trauma treatment is becoming one of the top areas to specialize in and how it is important to have proper training to work with unprocessed trauma to achieve good outcomes for clients.
Neil Brick will speak about Misinformation Campaigns Against Survivors. He will discuss how child and ritual abuse survivors and their advocates have been attacked by misinformation campaigns the last several years.
Cristina Mardirossian, LMFT will discuss Identifying the Personality Systems of Mind Control Survivors and Trauma Treatment. She will talk about how therapists are increasingly starting to see that many of their clients have histories of complex and chronic abuse.
The regular conference will be on Saturday and Sunday May 16 - 17, 2020 and the Clinician's Conference is Friday May 15, 2020.
The conference will be at the Reconnect Integrative Trauma Treatment Center in Pacific Palisades, California.
Please note: None of the material on these pages or at the conference is meant as therapy, or to take the place of therapy. These presentation may remind survivors of their programming, so please use caution while reading.
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