Amy Coney Barrett faith group tell of trauma and sexual abuse, Ghislaine Maxwell’s Deposition (Jeffrey Epstein), Murdered 1.7 million Jews, QAnon Misinformation To Spread Hate, North Korea detainees ritual torture and sexual assault

 

Amy Coney Barrett faith group tell of trauma and sexual abuse, Ghislaine Maxwell’s Deposition (Jeffrey Epstein), Murdered 1.7 million Jews, QAnon Misinformation To Spread Hate, North Korea detainees ritual torture and sexual assault

 

 

 

- Ex-members of Amy Coney Barrett faith group tell of trauma and sexual abuse
People of Praise hire lawyers to investigate historical sexual abuse allegations as former members speak of ‘emotional torment’, “deep concern regarding the culture of secrecy, abuse of power and male-dominant hierarchy” at People of Praise, Members who admit to having gay sex are expelled from the group, which staunchly opposes same-sex marriage.

- Read Ghislaine Maxwell’s Just-Unsealed Deposition
Accused sex trafficking accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was put under oath for a lawsuit by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims four years ago.

- QAnon Is Using Misinformation To Spread Hate - The Way Cults Do "if you are speaking out against QAnon I’m glad, but PLEASE don’t discredit satanic cult survivors while doing so. We are still fighting to be believed and heard, even after everything we’ve survived."

- In the fall of 1941, Nazi Germany implemented a plan to systematically murder the Jews in the General Governent. This plan was codenamed “Operation Reinhard.” Camp personnel murdered approximately 1.7 million Jews as part of Operation Reinhard. The victims of the Operation Reinhard camps also included an unknown number of Poles, Roma (Gypsies), and Soviet prisoners of war

- Catholic Church Richmond Diocese to Pay $6.3 Million to Sexual Abuse Victims

- North Korea detainees subjected to ritual torture and sexual assault – rights group

 

 

 

Revealed: ex-members of Amy Coney Barrett faith group tell of trauma and sexual abuse
People of Praise hire lawyers to investigate historical sexual abuse allegations as former members speak of ‘emotional torment’

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Wed 21 Oct 2020

Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the supreme court has prompted former members of her secretive faith group, the People of Praise, to come forward and share stories about emotional trauma and – in at least one case – sexual abuse they claim to have suffered at the hands of members of the Christian group.
'It instilled such problems': ex-member of Amy Coney Barrett's faith group speaks out
In the wake of the allegations, the Guardian has learned that the charismatic Christian organization, which is based in Indiana, has hired the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to conduct an “independent investigation” into sexual abuse claims on behalf of People of Praise....

Barrett’s father has served as a leader in the community. Barrett was also listed as a “handmaid” in a 2010 directory, or female leader, served as a trustee at a school associated with the group, and has been featured in People of Praise magazines that were removed from the group’s website following her appointment as an appeals court judge in 2017.

The Guardian has confirmed that Barrett lived in a household led by one of the founders of the People of Praise, Kevin Ranaghan, while she was a law student at Notre Dame, and lived with another People of Praise family – Barbette and William Brophy – in Virginia after she graduated.

Proponents of the faith community have said in other press reports that they are misunderstood, and that it is a close-knit community that seeks to support other members “financially and materially and spiritually”.

 

For Sarah (Mitchell) Kuehl, a 48-year-old former member who grew up in the community, discussions about Barrett’s possible nomination prompted her – after years of trying to figure out how to address it – to send an email on 23 September to Craig Lent, the current head of People of Praise who also works as a professor at Notre Dame. In it, Kuehl claimed she had been sexually abused decades earlier by a “household member”, a male member of “the community” who had lived with the Mitchell family as part of the group’s communal living practices. Single people were expected to be celibate and live in family households which were expected to provide an example of married life, former members say.

 

 

After her alleged abuser – who along with her family was technically a member of a precursor group called Servants of the Light/Lord that merged in 1984 with People of Praise – admitted to her father that he had been molesting Kuehl, he was moved to another household and eventually had a marriage “arranged” for him, she said. She was four years old when the abuse began and it lasted for two years. At the time, her family also lived with other single men and women....

Kuehl told the Guardian she was eager not to be seen as seeking revenge on People of Praise, or questioning Barrett’s character, intelligence, or her legal mind. As a devout Catholic who regularly attends mass and is a mother of five, she is also not anti-religious, but rather feels a “deep concern regarding the culture of secrecy, abuse of power and male-dominant hierarchy” at People of Praise.

 

But former members paint a different picture. Allegations and concerns center on claims of the intense subjugation of women by the community leaders; control of members’ lives and decisions, including marriage, living arrangements, and child rearing; and in one case, the mishandling of allegations of sexual abuse. Members who admit to having gay sex are expelled from the group, which staunchly opposes same-sex marriage.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/21/amy-coney-barrett-people-of-praise-trauma-abuse

 

 

Read Ghislaine Maxwell’s Just-Unsealed Deposition
IN HER OWN WORDS
Tracy Connor Executive Editor Oct. 22, 2020

Accused sex trafficking accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was put under oath for a lawsuit by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims four years ago. Her testimony was placed under seal, but on Thursday, it was made public by court order....

https://www.thedailybeast.com/read-jeffrey-epstein-confidant-ghislaine-maxwells-just-unsealed-deposition

 

 

QAnon Is Using Misinformation To Spread Hate - The Way Cults Do
By Cheryl Rainfield, October 2020
A personal plea: if you are speaking out against QAnon I’m glad, but PLEASE don’t discredit satanic cult survivors while doing so. We are still fighting to be believed and heard, even after everything we’ve survived.

Misinformation is a powerful tool used to discredit people speaking out about oppression and misuse of power, and because it usually draws on people’s insecurities and feelings of powerlessness, it often spreads quickly.

QAnon creates and spreads conspiracy theories, including that Trump is supposedly fighting a secret band of pedophiles, satanic child-sex trafficking rings, and murderers who are high-ranking US Democrat politicians, Hollywood actors, and philanthropists. This is particularly absurd when the people QAnon are targeting are fighting against oppression, and Trump is the one who is openly spreading hatred, racism, homophobia, misogyny, and violence, while encouraging white supremacy. And the people QAnon are attacking are the ones that they think will bring down Trump. QAnon is anti-Semitic, drawing heavily on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion—an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory used by Hitler—and saying that the Rothschild family control all the banks. They are also racist, saying that the Black Lives Movement is responsible for all sorts of ills including wildfires, that Black Lives Matter members are pedophiles, and that Jewish people or Chinese people intentionally created the coronavirus....

 

I am a cult torture survivor; my parents and extended family were part of intergenerational, interconnected cults. A satanic cult was only one of the cults that my abusers were members of. They were also involved in KKK, Nazi, Masonic, and other cults. It took me years of remembering the abuse, which I dissociated to survive, running away from my abusers, being found and re-abused, running away again and remembering more, to finally get safe. I spent years fighting against lies they told me, such as that they would kill me if I remembered and talked about the abuse. And there are many more survivors still struggling to get safe, or who are suffering in silence, afraid of people’s reactions when they do speak out. We know well how people don’t want to believe that such extreme, horrible acts of abuse and torture can still occur or be perpetrated by abusers who look like regular people. We know how hard it is to find the courage and strength to talk about the abuse, only to be not believed.

 

I have been dismayed by the number of normally oppression-aware people who—in their attempts to prevent disinformation and conspiracy theories spread by QAnon—completely dismiss cult torture survivors by saying it is all “satanic panic,” and that cult abuse doesn’t really happen. This discredits cult torture survivors like me, and it’s exactly what cults want to have happen.

http://www.cherylrainfield.com/qanon-is-using-misinformation-the-way-cults-do/

 

Operation Reinhard (Einsatz Reinhard)

In the fall of 1941, Nazi Germany implemented a plan to systematically murder the Jews in the General Governent. This plan was codenamed “Operation Reinhard.” Three killing centers were established as part of this action: Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. Operation Reinhard marked the deadliest phase of Nazi Germany’s intention to commit genocide against the Jewish people.

Key Facts

1 Operation Reinhard was the code name for the German plan to murder the approximately two million Jews living in German-occupied Poland.

2 Under Operation Reinhard, three killing centers, Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka, operated between 1942 and 1943. Nazi officials employed carbon monoxide gas generated by motor engines to kill their victims.

3 In all, camp personnel murdered approximately 1.7 million Jews as part of Operation Reinhard. The victims of the Operation Reinhard camps also included an unknown number of Poles, Roma (Gypsies), and Soviet prisoners of war.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/operation-reinhard-einsatz-reinhard

 

Catholic Church
Richmond Diocese to Pay $6.3 Million to Sexual Abuse Victims
By The Associated Press • Published October 16, 2020

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond announced Thursday that it is paying $6.3 million to 51 people who experienced sexual abuse as minors by clergy.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/richmond-diocese-to-pay-6-3-million-to-sexual-abuse-victims/2445623/

 

North Korea detainees subjected to ritual torture and sexual assault – rights group

Prisoners considered ‘less than an animal’ by regime, according to interviews with 15 former detainees by Human Rights Watch

Justin McCurry in Tokyo Sun 18 Oct 2020
uspects in North Korea are subjected to ritual torture, humiliation and sexual assault by a criminal justice system that considers them “less than an animal”, according to the first-ever report detailing the brutality of the country’s pretrial detention conditions.

The US-based Human Rights Watch [HRW] said people who are arrested and sent to pretrial detention are placed in cramped, unhygienic cells, forced to confess and denied proper food and clothing.

“Prisoners literally waste away from lack of food unless they can bribe guards to have their families send food,” Phil Robertson, HRW’s Asia deputy director, told reporters on Monday.

The report is based on interviews with 15 women and men who were detained in the country, as well as former officials with knowledge of the criminal justice system.....

Former detainees said they were forced to sit still on the floor of their cell, kneeling or with their legs crossed, for up to 16 hours a day, with the slightest movement leading to punishments ranging from hitting – using hands, sticks, or leather belts – to forcing them to run in circles around a yard up to 1,000 times.

“If I or others moved, the guards would order me or all the cellmates to extend our hands through the cell bars and would step on them repeatedly with their boots,” said Park Ji-cheol, a former detainee....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/north-korea-detainees-subjected-to-ritual-torture-and-sexual-assault-rights-group

 

Psychiatric Impact of Organized and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse, Spain police bust 'Black magic' prostitution ring, North Korea: Sexual abuse of women 'common

 

- Psychiatric Impact of Organized and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse: Cross-Sectional Findings from Individuals Who Report Being Victimized
- Spain police bust 'black magic' prostitution ring in Murcia
- North Korea: Sexual abuse of women 'common', report claims

Article

Psychiatric Impact of Organized and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse: Cross-Sectional Findings from Individuals Who Report Being Victimized

Johanna Schröder, Susanne Nick, Hertha Richter-Appelt and Peer Briken
Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(11), 2417; doi: 10.3390/ijerph15112417

 

Abstract: Organized and ritual child sexual abuse (ORA) is often rooted in the child’s own family. Empirical evidence on possible associations between ORA and trauma-related symptoms in those who report this kind of extreme and prolonged violence is rare. The aim of our study was to explore socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the individuals reporting ORA experiences, and to investigate protective as well as promotive factors in the link between ORA and trauma-related symptom severity. Within the framework of a project of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Germany, we recruited 165 adults who identified themselves as ORA victims via abuse- and trauma-specific networks and mailing lists, and they completed an anonymous online survey. We used variance analyses to examine correlations between several variables in the ORA context and PTSD symptoms (PCL-5) as well as somatoform dissociation (SDQ-5). Results revealed a high psychic strain combined with an adverse health care situation in individuals who report experiences with ORA. Ideological strategies used by perpetrators as well as Dissociative Identity Disorders experienced by those affected are associated with more severe symptoms (η2p = 0.11; η2p = 0.15), while an exit out of the ORA structures is associated with milder symptoms (η2p = 0.11). Efforts are needed to improve health care services for individuals who experience severe and complex psychiatric disorders due to ORA in their childhood.

 

1. Introduction
Child sexual abuse (CSA), once thought to be rare, is nowadays accepted as a frequent reality that occurs across a range of cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds worldwide and encompasses many types of sexually abusive acts towards children, including sexual assault, incest, the production and use of child pornography, as well as commercial sexual exploitation [1]. Sexual child abuse involving a network of perpetrators acting repeatedly and jointly on multiple victims is defined as ‘organized abuse’ [2]. Organized abuse that follows a (pseudo-) ideological strategy (e.g., symbols or group activities with religious, magical, or supernatural connotations) in order to frighten and intimidate the children or to force the victims to participate whilst simultaneously accomplishing the perpetrators’ exculpation is referred to as ‘ritual abuse’ [3,4]. Salter further describes ritual abuse as ideological framing in organized CSA contexts, functioning as strategical practices through which abusive groups indoctrinate the victims into a violently misogynistic worldview in order to control them [4]. In other words, ritual abuse occurs when a religious, political, or spiritual authority uses its position of power and the sovereignty to interpret the respective belief system to manipulate and dominate its followers. Since the 1980s, evidence of organized and ritual abuse (ORA) has been consolidated due to studies documenting psychological harm amongst children and adults disclosing such experiences [5]....

 

5. Conclusions
ORA, defined as organized child sexual abuse where a (pseudo-)ideological (i.e., ritual) content serves as legitimization for violence, is a complex and polarizing issue in mental health care contexts as well as in research. At present, the uncovering and reprocessing of ORA is a problem that remains to be solved in Germany, as well as internationally. Given the paucity of research in this field, we believe that this study contributes to closing this evidence gap, as it presents empirical data on reported practices of ORA and its impact on trauma-related symptom severity in self-identified victims, in which reported ideological/ritual strategies by the perpetrators and an exit out of the ORA structures play a major role. A key policy priority should therefore be to intensify efforts on the understanding of ORA-related structures, as well as the complex clinical presentation of those affected. Services like information websites and exit programs should be developed by experts in the field in order to contribute to generating appropriate treatment services for this group of clients. Mental health professionals and centers specialized in the treatment of severely traumatized clients with CPTSD and dissociative disorders would contribute to a better support of clients who report such trauma histories. The therapeutic process of detachment from perpetrator networks is intense, and supporters of individuals who experience ORA face special difficulties, like, for example, dissociative personality states. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that constant professional supervision is provided to them by professionals who understand the spectrum of possibilities and pitfalls in the treatment....

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/11/2417/htm

 

Spain police bust 'black magic' prostitution ring in Murcia
Spanish police say they have rescued 15 transgender Brazilians from forced prostitution in the city of Murcia.

 

The victims were beaten, forced to use and sell drugs, and often kept locked inside a flat, officials say.

 

They are also said to have been threatened with the use of black magic if they did not comply.

 

Objects related to the ritual-filled Santería religion were found in the flat. Thirteen suspects were detained for allegedly running the ring.

 

The authorities say the ring was headed by Brazilian who worked with associates to recruit vulnerable young people in Brazil....

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46049213

 

North Korea: Sexual abuse of women 'common', report claims

North Korean officials commit sexual abuse against women with near total impunity, a report has claimed.

 

Human Rights Watch added that it is so common it has become part of ordinary life.

The report is based on interviews with 62 North Koreans who fled the country. They gave detailed accounts of rape and sexual abuse.

 

HRW said it revealed a culture of open, unaddressed abuse, particularly from men in positions of power.

 

Oh Jung-hee, a former trader in her 40s told Human Rights Watch (HRW): "They consider us [sex] toys. We are at the mercy of men."

"Sometimes, out of nowhere, you cry at night and don't know why."

 

Gathering information from inside the secretive state is extremely difficult and reports like this are rare.

'My life was in his hands'

According to HRW some women expressed that sexual abuse had become so normalised that they did not think it was "unusual" - with some saying it had become accepted as part of everyday life....

 

The perpetrators include high-ranking party officials, prison facility guards, police and soldiers.

 

Interviewees told HRW that when an official "picked" a woman, she would have little choice but to comply....

 

It added that forced abortion, rape and sexual violence had been carried out in prisons or in detention....

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46053342