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Women and children ordered 'like pizza' — Human trafficking in Orange County

Scott Ringwelski
The Epoch Times
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 13:54 UTC
trafficking
Orange County, Calif., which boasts a median household income of $86,000, is often viewed as a relatively safe, wealthy, and conservative region. Most people do not do not equate the area with human trafficking. However, researchers reveal the county to be a destination spot for traffickers.

The official Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force (OCHTTF), set up to fight real time sex and labor slavery in the county, released their latest victim report in 2019. Approximately 80 percent of both victims and traffickers in Orange County travel to the area from other parts of the region, the state, and the entire nation.

"This is due in part to Orange County's tourist attractions, sports venues, beach cities and affluent population," states the report (pdf). "Traffickers bring their victims expecting to have an abundance of customers and higher profits."

There were 415 human trafficking victims rescued in the county in the past two years, compared to 509 in 2015-2016 and 371 in 2013-2014. According to the OCHTTF report, a full 73 percent were new victims in 2017 or 2018. Of that total, 87 percent were trafficked in the sex trade while 12 percent were in forced labor.
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Star of David

'Hey Boston! Thanks for the guns!' Guerrilla bus station ads oppose U.S. aid to Israel


Mondoweiss
Sat, 09 Nov 2019 19:28 UTC
BDS Palestine protest posters bus stops Boston
© Palestine Advocacy Project
Ad placed in Boston bus kiosk, by group calling itself Center for Accurate Reporting on Palestine.
Yesterday a Palestinian solidarity group in Boston posted photographs of ads opposing US military aid to Israel that were put up in Boston bus kiosks. Richard Colbath-Hess, who has placed Palestinian solidarity ads in Boston in the past, says that the group doing this action is anonymous because such ads are banned, and these ads were placed in kiosks in guerrilla manner, swapped out for existing ads. "The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority took down our ads twice over about a year," he says of his own efforts. "The first time we got the ACLU to get the ad back up then they banned political ads entirely. The governor got involved. Most subways in the country have followed suit."

Colbath-Hess is in touch with the organizers of the latest ad, and he sent along this press release from a group calling itself the "Center for Accurate Reporting on Palestine." -Editor.

This week, members of the Center for Accurate Reporting on Palestine opened many bus station kiosks in and around Boston, Massachusetts, and replaced advertisements for commercial products with posters explaining that the good people of Boston lose out on social programming, education, and clean energy because $11 million of this city's taxes go towards buying guns for Israel every single year.
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Question

Ayodhya dilemma: Historic verdict that could redefine Hindu, Muslim relations in India - UPDATE: Court rules in favor of Rama temple

Ashish Shukla
RT
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Muslims pray in Ayodhya
© REUTERS/Amit Dave
Muslims pray for peace ahead of verdict on a disputed religious site in Ayodhya
India will be on edge for days after the country's Supreme Court announces its verdict on Ayodhya temple, which could lead to a violent backlash between contesting Hindus and Muslims.

India's Supreme Court would make a call if over a billion Hindus could have a temple for Lord Rama over lands in Ayodhya. It's disputed by millions of Muslims. Though the dispute has lasted for over a century, it turned combustible in 1992 when a clutch of Hindus brought down a mosque, Babri Masjid, they believed was built in the 16th century over the site where Lord Rama was born.

India witnessed its worst communal riots in the wake of that incident, which left over 2,000 people killed.

So high ran the emotions on either side that when a lower court equally divided the land among the Hindu and Muslim litigants in 2010, they promptly went to the apex Supreme Court claiming complete, and not partial, control over the land.

Comment: Update 9 Nov 2019

India's Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Hindu temple being built on the site, with Muslims granted a nearby alternative site on which to rebuild their mosque. No surprise there.

Calling for nationwide unity and civility, Modi today noted that this ruling on a centuries-old religious fracture point and the opening of the 'Kartarpur Corridor' come on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.

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Pistol

Mexican police officer who arrested drug lord El Chapo's son is shot 150 TIMES in brutal broad daylight revenge execution

Ariel Zilber
Daily Mail
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 15:27 UTC
el chapo 1

At least two men armed with semiautomatic rifles fired 155 bullets into a white Nissan parked near a shopping center in the Sinaloa city of Culiacan
The Mexican police officer involved in the arrest of the son of reputed drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has been assassinated in a parking lot.

Closed circuit television cameras captured the horrifying moment on Wednesday morning when at least two armed men with semiautomatic rifles climbed out of a red car and opened fire at a white Nissan four-door sedan.

The ambush took less than 30 seconds as the gunmen fired at least 150 bullets into the white vehicle.

The red car had followed the white car into the parking lot of a shopping center in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, Infobae.com reported.

The authorities identified the dead officer as Eduardo 'N,' 32.

Comment: See also: Mexican security forces flee after cartel gunmen launch WAR to release El Chapo's son at drug lord's bastion Culiacan

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Fire

University in Santiago on fire as anti-government rage continues in Chile


RT
Sat, 09 Nov 2019 09:07 UTC
University fire
© Flames rise over a private university in the latest mass protest against Chile's President Pinera AFP/Martin Bernetti
Flames rise over a private university in the latest mass protest against Chile's President Pinera.
A university in central Santiago was damaged by fire on Friday as thousands of protesters gathered nearby for their latest demonstration against the austerity policies of Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.

As the protest at Plaza Italia in the capital of Chile was underway, a blaze broke out at the nearby Pedro de Valdivia University. Nineteen crews of firefighters were dispatched to deal with the conflagration. Three people were reported arrested, with police saying they were responsible for the fire and were caught looting the place.


Comment: See also:

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Handcuffs

17 people were busted in a child pornography sting in Florida. 2 of them were Disney employees

Hollie Silverman
CNN
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 19:41 UTC
Florida sting
© Polk County Sheriff's Office
Two Disney employees, Donald Durr Jr. (left) and Brett Kinney (right) are among 17 people arrested in a child porn sting in Polk County, Florida, according to a press release from the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Two Disney employees were arrested in a child pornography sting orchestrated by the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Florida.

They were among 17 men nabbed in an undercover sting operation, according to a press release from the agency.Brett Kinney, 40, of Lake Alfred, Florida, told investigators he was a guest experience manager at Disney World, according to the release. Kinney was arrested and charged with one count of promotion of child pornography and 24 counts of possession of child pornography-enhanced, the release said.

A Disney spokesperson told CNN by phone that Kinney was no longer employed with the company following his arrest in the sting.

In the release, the sheriff's office alleges that Kinney would search online for images of boys from toddlers to 10 years old. He was caught during a peer- to -peer investigation of alleged child pornography.

When confronted by investigators, Kinney told them that he had an addiction to child pornography and had been viewing it for 22 years, according to the release.

A second Disney employee, Donald Durr Jr., was also arrested by the Polk County Sheriff's Office. Durr, 52, of Davenport, Florida, told investigators he was a custodial worker at Walt Disney Resorts. He was arrested and charged with eight counts of possession of child pornography and one count of promotion of sexual performance by a child.
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Eye 1

Crime pays off? Danish city offers convicted criminals cash aid for moving out of 'ghettos'


RT
Sat, 09 Nov 2019 10:32 UTC
Blocks of houses
© Reuters / Andrew Kelly
Blocks of houses are seen in Mjolnerparken, a housing estate the "Ghetto List", in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In a last-ditch attempt to save several residential areas from being labeled as "severe ghetto," which, under a controversial law, would lead to their demolition, the Danish city of Odense plans to pay local criminals to move out.

"You were convicted in 2019? Then you have the opportunity to get help to move," say the posters that emerged across several neighborhoods of Odense over the weekend.

What looks like a shady 'help' offer from a mafia boss, is actually a legit proposal from the municipality and housing agencies in Denmark's third largest city of Odense. The offer is simple: those living in the neighborhoods who were sentenced earlier this year are eligible for a "relocation grant."

The municipality is ready to pay the convicted criminals 15,500 krones (around $2,200) and to provide them with relocation aid if they agree to move elsewhere. While the bizarre offer is advertised as a chance to get a "fresh start" for such people, in actual fact the program seems to be a last-ditch attempt to save several of the city's neighborhoods from getting labeled as "severe ghettos."
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Green Light

'Kartarpur Corridor': For the first time, Pakistan grants Indian Sikhs visa-free travel to their holiest site


AlJazeera
Sat, 09 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Hundreds of pilgrims launch journey across border to Kartarpur to visit shrine of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak.
Kartarpur checkpoint
© Narinder Nanu/AFP
The Sikh faith began in the 15th century in the city of Lahore, now part of Pakistan
Hundreds of Indian Sikhs have made a historic pilgrimage to Pakistan, crossing the border to one of their holiest sites under a landmark deal between the two rival countries.

At least 700 pilgrims were estimated to have passed through the corridor on Saturday, with more to follow in the coming days.

They headed to the shrine of Sikhism's founder Guru Nanak, which lies in Kartarpur, a small town just 4km (two miles) over the Pakistan side of the border where he is believed to have died.

In a rare example of cooperation between India and Pakistan, a secure visa-free land corridor was created to allow up to 5,000 pilgrims a day to travel straight to the temple from the Indian side.

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the first pilgrims to cross over into Pakistan's Punjab province from the town of Dera Baba Nanak in India.

Comment: It is a historic day in India for another reason that eclipsed the importance of opening of Kartarpur corridor. India's Supreme court released its final verdict on a centuries-old religious dispute between Hindus and Muslims over the Babrid Masjid-Ram Temple controversy in Ayodhya. Pakistan complained of the timing of the Supreme court's verdict on the Ayodhya issue. India rejected this as "warranted and gratuitous," but we can't deny that the coincidence makes it look like a double-win for Modi.

It's not only India that's changing. India's change is affecting change in Pakistan too. For all the spats and border skirmishes, it's dawning on people there that they must find political solutions if they wish to develop into modern countries.

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Ambulance

IDF injures 69 Palestinians in Friday protests near Israel-Gaza border


Sputnik
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 18:58 UTC
Gaza march return protest
© Mohammed Asad
Gazans protesting at the fence
Sixty-nine Palestinian nationals have been injured during the ongoing protests near the Israeli border in the Gaza Strip, Gaza Health Ministry Spokesman Ashraf Qidra has stated.

"Sixty-nine Palestinians have been injured today in clashes with the Israeli troops on the border of the Gaza Strip, 29 of them have received gunshot wounds", Qidra said.

The march's committee has announced that next week demonstrators would chant slogans in support of extending the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East's mandate.

On 1 November, Palestinians held protests near the Gaza border, timed to an anniversary of the release of the British government's Balfour Declaration, published on 2 November 1917. The document expressed support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" within the Ottoman Empire's region of Palestine.

The protest led to clashes with the Israeli forces. Ninety-six Palestinians have been injured in the violence.

The demonstrations, known as the Great March of Return, have been ongoing for 82 weeks and resulted in 314 deaths since 30 March 2018. The protesters demand to be able to return to their ancestral homes, which, according to them, were seized by Israel.

Comment: This happens every week, and yet most Americans will never know. They'll hear the latest on Chinese crackdown on Hong Kong protesters, or even Iraq, but Palestine is off limits. We wouldn't want to insult our "greatest partner" Israel, now would we, no matter how many protesters, medics and journalists they injure or murder.

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No Entry

'Reverse Pol Pot': Berkeley philosophy lecturer slammed after saying rural Americans made 'bad life decisions' & should be shamed


RT
Sat, 09 Nov 2019 08:14 UTC
Farmland
© REUTERS/Kia Johnson
A farm in Ottumwa, Iowa
A Harvard-educated UC Berkeley philosophy lecturer is catching flak for bashing rural Americans as parasites on more "efficient" city-dwellers. He has since apologized for the tone of the original tweets, but not their substance.

Disdain for "flyover country" by the coastal elites is a trope of American politics and culture wars at this point, but Jackson Kernion apparently sought to embody it with a series of tweets this week, declaring that Americans living in the countryside should not be "subsidized by those who choose a more efficient way of life."

"Rural healthcare should be expensive! And that expense should be borne by those who choose rural America!" Kernion argued in now-deleted posts. "Same goes for rural broadband. And gas taxes."

"It should be uncomfortable to live in rural America. It should be uncomfortable to not move."
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