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Best of the Web: New 'cultural norm': Child sex-trafficking more common in US than people realize, government dedicates few resources to combat it

child abuse
© Tinnakorn jorruang, Shutterstock
Anti-trafficking activist Jaco Booyens said President Donald Trump has done more to fight child sex-trafficking than any other world leader, but the United States has a long way to go in protecting American youth.

Sex-trafficking has been a major issue recently as financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with sex-trafficking and conspiracy, died Saturday in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial. Alleged victims are coming out with their stories and lawsuits against his estate.

Booyens is the founder of SHAREtogether, a non-profit that fights child sex-trafficking around the world. He is also the president and CEO of film company After Eden Pictures, and director of the movie "8 Days," which tells the story of a young girl who fell victim to trafficking. Booyens has been part of the effort to conquer sex-trafficking since 2001, he said.

Comment: It's an outright crime that governmental resources aren't seriously dedicated to fighting against child sex trafficking. It's indicative of the types of people who occupy seats of power. Sexual predation is indeed much, much worse than most people realize. See Anna Salter's work here and here to get an idea of just how bad it is.


Rocket

Best of the Web: 'Let go of your cold war mentality!' Russia and China deride Pentagon's INF-defying missile test

Banned INF missile launch
© US Department of Defense/Scott HoweConventional ground-launched cruise missile test, San Nicolas Island, CA, August 18, 2019
Reaction out of Moscow and Beijing was swift after the US revealed Monday that the Pentagon successfully tested a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of over 500km for the first time in a post-INF treaty world.

Russia warned of a new "costly arms race" which it says it's seeking to avoid. Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told state news agency TASS:
"The US has obviously taken a course towards escalation of military tensions. We won't react to provocations. We will not allow ourselves to get drawn into a costly arms race."
Interestingly, given the Pentagon test of a previously banned land-based intermediate cruise missile - which took place at a range in California on Sunday - came a mere 17 days after the final and formal US pullout of the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, Ryabkov further said this was clear evidence that the United States had already been in breach of the treaty prior to its official end, given the technology development and extensive preparations that went in to such a test.

Comment: See also:


Sherlock

Best of the Web: Galloway: How I exposed Ghislaine Maxwell's arch-Zionist daddy

Ghislaine and Robert Maxwell
© AFP / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Laura Cavanaugh; AFP / MICHEL CLEMENTGhislaine and Robert Maxwell
As Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell appears to have fallen off the face of the Earth, it's little remembered in the media how I fought a long war against her father Robert and the part I played in his downfall.

It would be scarcely worth recalling at this distance if I did not shed light, or rather a cloud of suspicion, over Maxwell's favourite child Ghislaine, now at the centre of a dark and fascinating story as bizarre as any which enveloped her late father.

I first met Robert Maxwell when he was an enormously powerful and fiercely intimidating media mogul in the early 1980s. It was in the green room of the BBC's then flagship program Question Time, hosted by Sir Robin Day - then the doyen of BBC grandees.

"Ah, Mr Galway (sic)," boomed Mr Maxwell, "the PLO man." At which point he punched me so hard in the solar plexus I doubled over, tears in my eyes. As was the wont of the British establishment at the time, my fellow participants and Sir Robin himself averted their eyes and pretended not to see.

Comment: Small correction: Galloway says the daughter's whereabouts are unknown. But she is apparently living openly in Los Angeles!

Epstein's alleged co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell spotted eating lunch at burger joint in Los Angeles


Question

Best of the Web: What, AGAIN?! 'Looping' fireball seen in the sky over Northampton, UK

The 'fireball' seen over Brixworth.
© Lauren TesterThe 'fireball' seen over Brixworth.
Eye-witnesses believe a bizarre object that looks like a ball of fire seen over Northampton and the surrounding area 'was a UFO'.

The strange ball of light seemed to swirl around in the sky for no apparent reason for a few seconds before disappearing.

Luke Pawsey saw it while in Northampton on June 22, while his friend Lauren Tester managed to film it from her home in Brixworth, which you can watch in the video above.

The 20-year-old, who works in the social care team at Northamptonshire County Council, was amazed by what he saw and believes it was 'alien'.

Comment: We understand why people reach for the 'UFO' explanation - these things seem like they're intelligently-controlled. But it's more likely they're doing that spiralling motion because of some locally-generated electromagnetic field distortion. Which, of course, still doesn't really explain quite what they are or where they come from (it's difficult to believe, for example, that they're meteors from outer space!)...

In any event, this is the third time we've come across such a report about a 'looping fireball' at the same general location: in or near the town of Northampton in the English Midlands.

Back in June 2014, this happened:

Mysterious dancing fireball captured on camera in Northampton, UK


Then in 2015 this happened (in Brackley, about 15kms from Northampton):


There must be something about the location that facilitates this phenomenon. Truly astounding...

Elsewhere in England, this happened in Wiltshire at around 8pm on 8 September 2018:




Camera

Best of the Web: Daily Mail: Ghislaine Maxwell staged LA photo with close friend and attorney

ghislaine maxwell
© New York PostAugust 15, 2019: Ghislaine Maxwell in California?
The first picture of Ghislaine Maxwell in more than three years was staged by her close friend and attorney, Leah Saffian, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively.

A photo of Maxwell, 57, was published last week at an In-N-Out Burger joint in Los Angeles, the day after DailyMail.com broke the world exclusive that Epstein's alleged madam had been living under the radar at a Massachusetts mansion with her boyfriend Scott Borgerson for the past three years.

The In-N-Out burger joint picture was published by the New York Post on Thursday after they obtained it from Saffian, 60.

In the picture, Maxwell is seen staring at the camera with a tray of food and two drinks. A dog, which is understood to be Saffian's dog named Dexter, is at her feet.


Comment: The pooch in question:
dexter
Saffian's social media accounts included pictures of her dog Dexter (pictured), who also has his own Facebook page and Instagram account
ghislaine maxwell

Maxwell is reading a book in the picture but the title is not visible. The New York Post named the book as, The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives.


Comment: Obviously Maxwell wouldn't stage a photo reading Ostrovsky's By Way of Deception.


According to the photograph's metadata, reviewed by DailyMail.com, the photograph is tagged with 'Meadowgate'. Metadata provides information about the rights of the photograph to users.

Saffian is president of Meadowgate Media Investments Inc, according to public records.

Brain

Best of the Web: Remember the conspiracy theory that fluoride makes you docile and stupid? Well, it's official now


Comment: We never imagined we'd see this in the WaPo...


pregnant woman drinking water
© iStock
A study of young children in Canada suggests those whose mothers drank fluoridated tap water while pregnant had slightly lower IQ scores than children whose mothers lived in non-fluoridated cities. But don't dash for the nearest bottled water yet. Health experts at the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association cautioned that public policy and drinking water consumption should not change on the basis of this study.

"I still stand by the weight of the best available evidence, from 70 years of study, that community water fluoridation is safe and effective," said Brittany Seymour, a dentist and spokeswoman for the American Dental Association. "If we're able to replicate findings and continue to see outcomes, that would compel us to revisit our recommendation. We're just not there yet."

The American Academy of Pediatrics, likewise, recommends fluoride in toothpastes and tooth varnishes for children because the mineral prevents tooth decay. In drinking water, "fluoridation has been incredibly protective," said Aparna Bole, a pediatrician who chairs the Council on Environmental Health at the American Academy of Pediatrics. Fluoridation reduces the prevalence of cavities by about one-fourth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC considers water fluoridation one of the 10 top health achievements of the past century, on par with vaccines and antismoking campaigns.

Comment: Perhaps none of the scientists dismissing this study out of hand have heard of the precautionary principle. The fact is that if there is a chance that water fluoridation causes harm and that harm is more detrimental than the benefit provided, water fluoridation should be halted. There are fluoride treatments that can be implemented - there's no reason to think of water fluoridation as the only option. And fluoride itself is a questionable response to tooth decay, ignoring the root cause of the problem. Our ancestors, eating a traditional diet, were not bothered by tooth decay to the extent of modern populations. This is, more than likely, where the solution actually lies.

See also:


Pharoah

Best of the Web: All along the watchtower and the follies of history

Bayon Temple
© Bruno Morandi, Robert Harding Heritage/AFPBayon temple, Angkor World Heritage site in Siem Reap, northern Cambodia.
The ultimate American imperial dream is to engineer a Chinese vassal state
There must be some kind of way outta here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief

Business men, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None were level on the mind
Nobody up at his word

- Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower (immortalized by Jimi Hendrix)
Nothing beats the beguiling, stony smiles at the Bayon temple near Angkor Wat in Cambodia's Siem Reap to plunge us back into history's vortex, re-imagining how empires, in their endless pursuit of power, rise and fall, usually because they eventually get the very war they had sought to avoid.

Comment: See also:


Rocket

Best of the Web: Report: Chinese missiles could cripple US Asia-Pacific forces as Washington loses military primacy

destroyer
© Sputnik / Igor Zarembo
The 104-page report also urged the US and its Pacific allies, namely Australia and Japan, to overhaul their military investment plans as well as spending and relationships in the region.

China has enough cutting-edge ballistic missile technology to destroy the United States' Western Pacific Navy fleets and military bases in a matter of "hours", a report from the University of Sydney said on Monday.

The US no longer "enjoys military primacy" in the Indo-Pacific and has an "uncertain" capacity to keep a "favourable balance of power", the report from the University's United States Studies Centre said.

Beijing could quickly topple US forces "particularly around Taiwan, the Japanese archipelago or maritime Southeast Asia" before Washington could respond, authors Ashley Townshend, Matilda Steward and Brendan Thomas-Noone warned.

Comment: And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why 'pro-democracy' riots have been taking place in HK for the last couple of months.

If you can't beat your enemy this way, come at him that way...


MIB

Best of the Web: The Epstein associate nobody's talking about: The IDF-Linked Bond girl infiltrating the UK NHS

nicole junkerman
I have a story to tell you. A story that causes my heart to pound and my blood pressure to rise as I type each and every word. A true story of a woman of great wealth and power, who rode on Jeffrey Epstein's "Lolita Express" private jet on several occasions. She appears to be a German-born Israeli state intelligence operative based in London. An ex-model whose name appeared in the Panama Papers from the Mossack Fonseca leaks and who became embroiled in a FIFA corruption scandal with Sepp Blatter and his family. She is perhaps the closest example that you could possibly find to a real-life "Bond Girl." Yet, she is almost completely unknown to the majority of us.

This lady has recently infiltrated the NHS through the UK Department of Health and Social Care with the help of Matt Hancock MP, and her presence signifies a major threat to the data security of every citizen of the United Kingdom. Every single piece of data about you, your health issues, your blood type, the model of the wireless pacemaker keeping you alive, every detail of every embarrassing medical problem in the hands of the Israeli state apparatus and potentially sold off to the highest bidder. You may think that this doesn't concern you. Why would you need to worry about a foreign far-right government which has been proven to meddle in the affairs of our country? Your data would be useless to them, surely? But that's not the world we live in anymore. Big data is the modern gold rush. The psychologists and marketing agents have mastered how to make you buy things; the next step is for them to successfully master making you do things, and for that kind of control over people, they need everybody's data.

When I was first researching the Jeffrey Epstein case, I trawled through every piece of official documentation that was available. I knew what I was looking for and how very dangerous it was. I had begun attempting to identify state assets through their movements, actions, associations, and by good old fashioned detective work. I was interested in identifying any MI5 or MI6 agents, Israeli Mossad, CIA, or any other part of a nation state's spying apparatus. It's possibly one of the most dangerous hobbies on earth, spy-hunting, and if I'm honest, I'm not even sure why I'm doing it. Regardless, Jeffrey Epstein's sweetheart deal was probably what they would give to a foreign intelligence operative. Epstein was a perfect place to begin fishing for potential spooks.

Cult

Best of the Web: Interview with Whitney Webb: Epstein is one node in a network of sexual blackmail by CIA, Mossad and Mafia

epstein mafia
Journalist Whitney Webb's MintPress series looks at the sordid history tying together mobsters, oligarchs, and government intelligence agencies in a web of blackmail, exploitation, and profit


Comment: Webb's series on Epstein's links to crime syndicates: