Updates from the Riveting Testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh By The New York Times Sept. 27, 2018
....‘Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life’: Dr. Blasey delivered an emotional opening statement
Dr. Blasey delivered her opening statement, at times through tears, at times resolute — but always with palpable emotion.
Speaking her first words in public, Dr. Blasey told senators in explicit detail, her voice breaking at times, of the night she said the future Judge Kavanaugh pinned her to the bed, tried to rip her clothes off and clapped his hand over her mouth as she screamed.
“It was hard for me to breathe and I believed that Brett was going to accidentally kill me,” she said.
Dr. Blasey also described the lasting impact of the attack, especially how he held his hand over her mouth: “Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life.”....
As other senators sought to clarify Dr. Blasey’s memory, Mr. Durbin took the question head on.
“I am asking you to address this new defense of mistaken identity directly,” he said. “Dr. Ford, with what degree of certainly do you believe Judge Kavanaugh assaulted you?”
Dr. Blasey, who sometimes uses her married name, Ford, responded unequivocally.
“One hundred percent,” Dr. Blasey said....
An unusually clinical witness
During the questioning, Dr. Blasey’s background as a professor of psychology affiliated with Stanford University and Palo Alto University shaped her answers to questions. For example, describing the lingering consequences of having been attacked as a teenager, she invoked an obscure term — sequela — which refers to aftereffects of a disease or traumatic incident.
Asked how she remembers that it was Judge Kavanaugh and not some other person who attacked her, she answered clinically with a description of how memories of traumatic events form in the brain: “Just basic memory functions and also just the level of norepinephrine and the epinephrine in the brain that sort of, as you know, encodes — that neurotransmitter that codes memories into the hippocampus and so the trauma-related experience is locked there whereas other details kind of drift.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee, responded: “So what you are telling us is this could not be a case of mistaken identity.”
“Absolutely not,” Dr. Blasey replied.
And, a bit later, asked what her strongest memory was, something she could not forget, she replied: “Indelible into the hippocampus is the laughter — the uproarious laughter between the two, and their having fun at my expense.”....
Read Christine Blasey Ford’s Prepared Statement
By The New York Times
Sept. 26, 2018
Christine Blasey Ford is scheduled to address the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday about sexual assault allegations she made against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court.
The following are prepared remarks of Dr. Blasey’s opening statement, as released by the Judiciary Committee....
Early in the evening, I went up a narrow set of stairs leading from the living room to a second floor to use the bathroom. When I got to the top of the stairs, I was pushed from behind into a bedroom. I couldn’t see who pushed me. Brett and Mark came into the bedroom and locked the door behind them. There was music already playing in the bedroom. It was turned up louder by either Brett or Mark once we were in the room. I was pushed onto the bed and Brett got on top of me. He began running his hands over my body and grinding his hips into me. I yelled, hoping someone downstairs might hear me, and tried to get away from him, but his weight was heavy. Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes. He had a hard time because he was so drunk, and because I was wearing a one-piece bathing suit under my clothes.
I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming. This was what terrified me the most, and has had the most lasting impact on my life. It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me. Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack. They both seemed to be having a good time. Mark was urging Brett on, although at times he told Brett to stop. A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might try to help me, but he did not.
During this assault, Mark came over and jumped on the bed twice while Brett was on top of me. The last time he did this, we toppled over and Brett was no longer on top of me. I was able to get up and run out of the room. Directly across from the bedroom was a small bathroom. I ran inside the bathroom and locked the door. I heard Brett and Mark leave the bedroom laughing and loudly walk down the narrow stairs, pin-balling off the walls on the way down. I waited and when I did not hear them come back up the stairs, I left the bathroom, ran down the stairs, through the living room, and left the house. I remember being on the street and feeling an enormous sense of relief that I had escaped from the house and that Brett and Mark were not coming after me.
Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life. For a very long time, I was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone the details. I did not want to tell my parents that I, at age 15, was in a house without any parents present, drinking beer with boys. I tried to convince myself that because Brett did not rape me, I should be able to move on and just pretend that it had never happened. Over the years, I told very few friends that I had this traumatic experience. I told my husband before we were married that I had experienced a sexual assault. I had never told the details to anyone until May 2012, during a couples counseling session. The reason this came up in counseling is that my husband and I had completed an extensive remodel of our home, and I insisted on a second front door, an idea that he and others disagreed with and could not understand. In explaining why I wanted to have a second front door, I described the assault in detail. I recall saying that the boy who assaulted me could someday be on the U.S. Supreme Court and spoke a bit about his background. My husband recalls that I named my attacker as Brett Kavanaugh....
Since Sept. 16, the date of The Washington Post story, I have experienced an outpouring of support from people in every state of this country. Thousands of people who have had their lives dramatically altered by sexual violence have reached out to share their own experiences with me and have thanked me for coming forward. We have received tremendous support from friends and our community.
At the same time, my greatest fears have been realized — and the reality has been far worse than what I expected. My family and I have been the target of constant harassment and death threats. I have been called the most vile and hateful names imaginable. These messages, while far fewer than the expressions of support, have been terrifying to receive and have rocked me to my core. People have posted my personal information on the internet. This has resulted in additional emails, calls and threats. My family and I were forced to move out of our home. Since Sept. 16, my family and I have been living in various secure locales, with guards. This past Tuesday evening, my work email account was hacked and messages were sent out supposedly recanting my description of the sexual assault.
Apart from the assault itself, these last couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life. I have had to relive my trauma in front of the entire world, and have seen my life picked apart by people on television, in the media and in this body who have never met me or spoken with me. I have been accused of acting out of partisan political motives. Those who say that do not know me. I am a fiercely independent person and I am no one’s pawn. My motivation in coming forward was to provide the facts about how Mr. Kavanaugh’s actions have damaged my life, so that you can take that into serious consideration as you make your decision about how to proceed. It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr. Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court. My responsibility is to tell the truth.....
Charities to host forum tackling child sex abuse in Dundee
by Lindsey Hamilton September 24, 2018
A conference on how to tackle child sex abuse and help survivors will be held in Dundee later this year.
The Organised Abuse conference will cover a range of topics, including how to empower survivors, current support services and how to deal with convicted sex offenders.
The event, at Tayside Deaf Hub, has been organised by Dundee charities Izzy’s Promise, which conducts research into causes of ritual abuse and ways of preventing it, and Eighteen and Under, which supports young victims of sexual abuse.
The conference will feature talks by a number of experts in the field of abuse issues, including Izzy’s promise founder Laurie Matthew OBE, who is also executive manager for Dundee-based Eighteen And Under.
Sarah Nelson, author of Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Radical Approaches will also make an appearance, as will abuse survivor Matt Carey, alongside counsellor Sarah Paton Briggs.
Completing the speakers will be Joseph Lumbasi, manager of Izzy’s Promise.
Laurie said: “We are hoping that this conference will address the ongoing abuse and sexual exploitation of young people which is happening right here in our city.
“These are often the most vulnerable young people and we all need to work together to raise awareness.”
Joseph said: “The conference is aimed at bringing together survivors of abuse, support organisations, social services, NHS, police, Dundee City Council and other council officials to talk about ways of providing support to survivors to be able to tell and report abuse when it happens and not to wait until we are dealing with it as historical abuse.
“We should not be having to deal with historical sex abuse, but dealing with the abuse when it happens.”
Joseph has backed the Tele’s Our Kids Need Justice campaign, which is calling for a change in the law to ensure those who are convicted of committing sexual offences involving children face mandatory jail terms....
The conference is at Tayside Deaf Hub, The Old Mill, 23 Brown Sreet, between 9am and 5pm on November 7.
Organised Abuse in the UK - Conference
Speakers
Laurie Matthew, OBE, - Founder and Executive Manager for Eighteen And Under, Izzy’s Promise and a host of other organisations all aimed at supporting survivors of abuse and prevention of abuse.
Sarah Nelson, - Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee, has written and presented widely for decades on sexual abuse issues. Her research includes the voices of young survivors, critiques of current child protection systems, backlash theories, community prevention, and physical and mental health issues for survivors. She is author of Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Radical Approaches (2016)
Joseph Lumbasi(PhD Student) – Manager of Izzy’s Promise.
Matt Carey(with Sarah Paton Briggs) survivor and author
Conference Topics
Empowering Survivors
The Myth of the Satanic Panic
How Online Support Spaces are viewed and experienced by Ritual Abuse Survivors
A Small Boy Smiling: A remarkable journey of healing from the trauma of child sexual abuse to spiritual awakening.
Paramilitary sect leader Deborah Green sentenced for child abuse in New Mexico September 27, 2018
GRANTS, N.M. -- A New Mexico judge sentenced a paramilitary religious sect leader Wednesday to more than seven decades in prison after her conviction in a child sex abuse case that authorities say involved a victim who was taken from Uganda as a baby and mistreated throughout her life. KRQE-TV reports that the 72-year sentence for Deborah Green in Grants followed emotional testimony from a victim, who told the judge she had 11 surgeries for broken bones suffered during years of abuse. She also said she has yet to recover emotionally and physically from what she described as torture by Green.
On Tuesday, a jury found Green, 71, guilty of kidnapping, criminal sexual penetration of a minor and child abuse.
"A weaker person would not have survived," Judge James Sanchez told the victim. "That means you can continue on being strong."
Last year, authorities raided the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps' secluded Fence Lake compound in western New Mexico after a two-year investigation into concerns about child abuse. Former sect members said the abuse dated back years, while Cibola County Undersheriff Michael Munk said the former members described leaders treating followers like slaves and physically beating children.
He also said the sect had evaded law enforcement by moving and operating in seclusion....
As CBS News affiliate KRQE in Albuquerque reports, the abuse fist came to light in 2017 when a former member of the sect claimed years of sexual abuse by Green and her son-in-law Peter Green. That information prompted authorities to raid the Fence Lake compound, where they discovered 11 children -- some as young as 4 years old and being held against their will. KRQE reports the 11 children rescued from the compound remain in the custody of New Mexico's Children, Youth and Families department.
Green still faces a second trial in the death of 13-year-old Enoch Miller. Authorities said he died at the compound in 2014.
Green has been charged with child abuse resulting in death and tampering with evidence....
