wakingtimes--2020-12-31--Shocking Report Links Girl Scout Cookies To Child Sex Trafficking And Slave Labor

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A shocking investigation by the Associated Press into child labor has revealed unsettling details about an ingredient in Girl Scout cookies and it its ties to child slave labor and sex trafficking .
Palm oil .
The $ 65 billion global palm oil industry is one of the largest food industries in the world and it is rooted in corruption and child abuse .
The AP ’ s report focused on two children , Ima and Olivia .
Olivia is a Girl Scout in Tennessee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the cookies she was selling and its ties to child slave labor .
Ima is a child slave .
Ima is among the estimated tens of thousands of children working alongside their parents in Indonesia and Malaysia , which supply 85 % of the world ’ s most consumed vegetable oil .
An Associated Press investigation found most earn little or no pay and are routinely exposed to toxic chemicals and other dangerous conditions .
Some never go to school or learn to read and write .
Others are smuggled across borders and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Many live in limbo with no citizenship and fear being swept up in police raids and thrown into detention .
The AP used U.S. Customs records and the most recently published data from producers , traders and buyers to trace the fruits of their labor from the processing mills where palm kernels were crushed to the supply chains of many popular kids ’ cereals , candies and ice creams sold by Nestle , Unilever , Kellogg ’ s , PepsiCo and many other leading food companies , including Ferrero – one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ I am dreaming one day I can go back to school , ” Ima told the AP , tears rolling down her cheeks .
According to the report , palm oil is contained in roughly half the products on supermarket shelves and in almost three out of every four cosmetic brands , though that can be hard to discern since it appears on labels under more than 200 different names .
Due to the unscrupulous means of production , companies attempt to conceal the source of their ingredients .
Some say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Scout cookies , but as Olivia found , they also say “ mixed.
” The “ mixed ” designation on Girl Scout cookies means that some of the palm oil is sourced from child slaves .
To be clear , some of these are children helping out in their family businesses attempting to pull themselves out of poverty — though an entire family may earn less in a day than a $ 5 box of Girl Scout Do-si-dos .
However , in other instances , these children are forced into labor camps and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sex slavery , raped and abused .
The AP ’ s investigation into child labor is part of a broader in-depth look at the industry that also exposed rape , forced labor , trafficking and slavery .
According to the report , inside the palm oil industry , more than 33,000 children work there , many under hazardous conditions – with nearly half of them between the ages of 5 and 11 .
Indeed , many of these American based companies like Kellogg ’ s , Nestle , Pepsi and Unilever , have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ willingly — and have faced very little backlash or consequence from the US government .
While the Free Thought Project often reports on the megacorp Nestle and their rampant abuse and exploitation of drinking water supplies across the nation , few are aware that the company has been found using slave labor .
What ’ s more , as governments across the world attempt to crack down the use of slave labor by requiring companies to report on its use , Nestle is fighting it , saying that it will end up costing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Nestle issued a warning against proposed legislation that would require them to report on their efforts to weed out slavery within their company .
The company says the cost of checking to see if they are forcing people to work against their will end up being passed on to the consumer .
The best way to stop Nestle and other companies from using slave labor in their production lines is to stop buying their products .
Below is a list of some of their popular brands and products to help you understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And this is just one of the many companies involved .
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA .
This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state .
Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world .
Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project .
Follow @ MattAgorist on Twitter , Steemit , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Shocking Report Links Girl Scout Cookies To Child Sex Trafficking And Slave Labor ) was originally published at The Free Thought Project and is re-posted here with permission .
**

Shocking Report Links Girl Scout Cookies To Child Sex Trafficking And Slave Labor
Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project
Waking Times
A shocking investigation by the Associated Press into child labor has revealed unsettling details about an ingredient in Girl Scout cookies and it its ties to child slave labor and sex trafficking. Palm oil. The $65 billion global palm oil industry is one of the largest food industries in the world and it is rooted in corruption and child abuse.
The AP’s report focused on two children, Ima and Olivia. Olivia is a Girl Scout in Tennessee who became worried about the ingredient in the cookies she was selling and its ties to child slave labor. Ima is a child slave.
As the AP reports:
Ima is among the estimated tens of thousands of children working alongside their parents in Indonesia and Malaysia, which supply 85% of the world’s most consumed vegetable oil. An Associated Press investigation found most earn little or no pay and are routinely exposed to toxic chemicals and other dangerous conditions. Some never go to school or learn to read and write. Others are smuggled across borders and left vulnerable to trafficking or sexual abuse. Many live in limbo with no citizenship and fear being swept up in police raids and thrown into detention. The AP used U.S. Customs records and the most recently published data from producers, traders and buyers to trace the fruits of their labor from the processing mills where palm kernels were crushed to the supply chains of many popular kids’ cereals, candies and ice creams sold by Nestle, Unilever, Kellogg’s, PepsiCo and many other leading food companies, including Ferrero – one of the two makers of Girl Scout cookies. “I am dreaming one day I can go back to school,” Ima told the AP, tears rolling down her cheeks.
According to the report, palm oil is contained in roughly half the products on supermarket shelves and in almost three out of every four cosmetic brands, though that can be hard to discern since it appears on labels under more than 200 different names.
Due to the unscrupulous means of production, companies attempt to conceal the source of their ingredients. Some say “sustainably produced” like the Girl Scout cookies, but as Olivia found, they also say “mixed.” The “mixed” designation on Girl Scout cookies means that some of the palm oil is sourced from child slaves.
“For 100 years, families have been stuck in a cycle of poverty and they know nothing else than work on a palm oil plantation,” said Kartika Manurung, who has published reports detailing labor issues on Indonesian plantations. “When I … ask the kids what they want to be when they grow up, some of the girls say, ‘I want to be the wife of a palm oil worker.’”
To be clear, some of these are children helping out in their family businesses attempting to pull themselves out of poverty — though an entire family may earn less in a day than a $5 box of Girl Scout Do-si-dos.
However, in other instances, these children are forced into labor camps and literally worked to death, sold into sex slavery, raped and abused.
The AP’s investigation into child labor is part of a broader in-depth look at the industry that also exposed rape, forced labor, trafficking and slavery.
According to the report, inside the palm oil industry, more than 33,000 children work there, many under hazardous conditions – with nearly half of them between the ages of 5 and 11.
“I thought Girl Scouts was supposed to be about making the world a better place,” Olivia said. “But this isn’t at all making the world better.”
Indeed, many of these American based companies like Kellogg’s, Nestle, Pepsi and Unilever, have used slave labor — many of them willingly — and have faced very little backlash or consequence from the US government.
While the Free Thought Project often reports on the megacorp Nestle and their rampant abuse and exploitation of drinking water supplies across the nation, few are aware that the company has been found using slave labor. What’s more, as governments across the world attempt to crack down the use of slave labor by requiring companies to report on its use, Nestle is fighting it, saying that it will end up costing consumers at the register.
In 2018, Nestle issued a warning against proposed legislation that would require them to report on their efforts to weed out slavery within their company. The company says the cost of checking to see if they are forcing people to work against their will end up being passed on to the consumer.
The best way to stop Nestle and other companies from using slave labor in their production lines is to stop buying their products. Below is a list of some of their popular brands and products to help you understand just how far their reach goes. And this is just one of the many companies involved.
About the Author
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.
**This article (Shocking Report Links Girl Scout Cookies To Child Sex Trafficking And Slave Labor) was originally published at The Free Thought Project and is re-posted here with permission.**


wakingtimes--2020-12-31--Trophy Hunters Killed 1.7 Million Animals Over The Past Decade – Including Endangered Species

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Sign up here .
The bloodthirsty “ sport ” of trophy hunting managed to kill one animal every three minutes over the past decades , according to a devastating new exposé of the industry .
Over 1.7 million animals – including elephants , lions , and rhinos – have been slaughtered by trophy hunters , with the wealthiest among them paying top dollar to kill rare and endangered creatures hovering at the brink of extinction .
The grim data underscores the ties between an industry that rakes in over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ global elites thirsty for a chance to kill the rare animals that conservationists have tirelessly worked to rescue .
Instead , the book reveals that trophy hunters have killed some “ 100 endangered animals ” every day in 2018 .
The book , which also relies on analysis by the International Fund for Animal Welfare , shows that the life of an animal is taken for sport every three minutes in a blatantly irresponsible contribution to a loss of biodiversity that has seen the global rate of species extinction accelerate to unprecedented levels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Gonçalves aptly characterizes the trophy hunting trade as an extinction industry that banks on the wholesale slaughter of creatures .
The book also reveals how shills for the game-hunting industry have run high-profile disinformation campaigns on social media to counter the efforts of the U.K. government to outlaw imports linked to trophy hunters .
About £600,000 ( USD $ 800,000 ) was used to prop up sock puppet accounts on Facebook and Twitter that purported to be Africans opposed to Boris Johnson ’ s pledge to ban trophy imports to Britain .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ hunters have won the “ African Big 5 ” prize from the industry , which rewards those who have slain at least one buffalo , elephant , leopard , lion , and black or white rhino .
Hunting lobbyists with the Safari Club International ( SCI ) industry association have also awarded special prizes to hunters who have killed over 80 different African species .
Hunting advocates have also allegedly pledged over $ 2 million to Donald Trump ’ s presidential campaign in hopes of seeing a generous return on investments under his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trophy hunting as a “ horror show , ” his two sons are prominent trophy hunters and the Humane Society of the United States has denounced his administration for catering to wealthy trophy hunters and ignoring the pleas of conservationists to ban the import of slain animal “ trophies.
” “ Future generations will look back aghast at how we allowed the world ’ s most endangered species to be gunned down in their droves by adrenaline junkies in pursuit of grinning selfies and gruesome souvenirs , ” Gonçalves told the Daily Mail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a handful of sick individuals – it is about a huge global industry which wields extraordinary power and manipulates governments .
”

Trophy Hunters Killed 1.7 Million Animals Over The Past Decade – Including Endangered Species
Elias Marat, The Mind Unleashed
Waking Times
The bloodthirsty “sport” of trophy hunting managed to kill one animal every three minutes over the past decades, according to a devastating new exposé of the industry.
Over 1.7 million animals – including elephants, lions, and rhinos – have been slaughtered by trophy hunters, with the wealthiest among them paying top dollar to kill rare and endangered creatures hovering at the brink of extinction.
The grim data underscores the ties between an industry that rakes in over $400 million per year and the global elites thirsty for a chance to kill the rare animals that conservationists have tirelessly worked to rescue.
The new book, entitled Trophy Leaks: Top Hunters and Industry Secrets, was written by Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting (CBTH) founder Eduardo Gonçalves, and exposes the shocking scale of an industry that disingenuously claims that it is pursuing the aim of conservation.
Instead, the book reveals that trophy hunters have killed some “100 endangered animals” every day in 2018. The book, which also relies on analysis by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, shows that the life of an animal is taken for sport every three minutes in a blatantly irresponsible contribution to a loss of biodiversity that has seen the global rate of species extinction accelerate to unprecedented levels in recent decades.
For this reason, Gonçalves aptly characterizes the trophy hunting trade as an extinction industry that banks on the wholesale slaughter of creatures.
“An estimated 1.7 million animals were shot by trophy hunters over the past decade – the equivalent of almost 500 animals a day, or one every 3 minutes,” Gonçalves writes.
The book also reveals how shills for the game-hunting industry have run high-profile disinformation campaigns on social media to counter the efforts of the U.K. government to outlaw imports linked to trophy hunters. About £600,000 (USD $800,000) was used to prop up sock puppet accounts on Facebook and Twitter that purported to be Africans opposed to Boris Johnson’s pledge to ban trophy imports to Britain.
According to the book, nearly 800 hunters have won the “African Big 5” prize from the industry, which rewards those who have slain at least one buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and black or white rhino.
Hunting lobbyists with the Safari Club International (SCI) industry association have also awarded special prizes to hunters who have killed over 80 different African species.
Hunting advocates have also allegedly pledged over $2 million to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in hopes of seeing a generous return on investments under his administration.
While Trump has previously denounced trophy hunting as a “horror show,” his two sons are prominent trophy hunters and the Humane Society of the United States has denounced his administration for catering to wealthy trophy hunters and ignoring the pleas of conservationists to ban the import of slain animal “trophies.”
“Future generations will look back aghast at how we allowed the world’s most endangered species to be gunned down in their droves by adrenaline junkies in pursuit of grinning selfies and gruesome souvenirs,” Gonçalves told the Daily Mail. “Trophy-hunting isn’t about a handful of sick individuals – it is about a huge global industry which wields extraordinary power and manipulates governments.”
By Elias Marat | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com


wakingtimes--2020-01-31--The Coronavirus – Containing Pandemic Fear

In 1952 the United States government released a civil defense film entitled Duck and Cover .
Aimed at teaching school children how to survive an atomic bomb attack , the film ’ s hero , Bert the Turtle , found safety in his turtle shell while the narrator scared the snot out of kids with terrifying descriptions of what ‘ the bomb could do to you .
Mimicking Bert , the kids were taught to duck under their desks and tightly cover their head and neck with their hands , so that if they weren ’ t immediately blown to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the radiation burns and hopefully not go blind .
Thusly , a whole generation of Americans were conditioned to have an instantaneous Pavlovian response whenever their teachers , at any moment , suddenly yelled , ‘ Drop !
’ When the drill was over they could then carry on with the innocence of being children… until the next drill , that is .
Baby Boomers today can still you tell how terrifying and traumatic these experiences were .
The Cold War era marked the beginning of mass media being used a tool for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forward to today and you can see the influence that the ever-present fear of imminent doom has had on our culture , our health , our national priorities , and even our economy .
Stress is the number one proxy killer today , war and security are the top-priorities of the state , the military industrial complex is the chief benefactor of our tax dollars , and the national media profits handsomely from disaster news .
Watching ongoing developments of the Coronavirus outbreak is China is a bit of an emotional body slam @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that pandemic fear is already pushing its way deep into general public , well ahead of the arrival of the actual virus .
For someone like myself who ’ s been paying attention to this sort of thing for a couple of decades now , the Coronavirus story in particular is one of the most fear-inducing narratives you could conjure up because it has all of the hallmarks of terror .
Consider how this single story alone combines… • the fear of an engineered bioweapon being unleashed • the fear of severe restriction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of military enforced quarantines or lockdowns • the fear of a serious economic disruption • the fear of societal breakdown and social chaos • the fear of suffering through starvation or a disruption in supply • the fear of forced or mandatory vaccination • the fear of a global depopulation program being activated • the fear of an invisible , mutating enemy • and the fearful unpredictability of nature vs. man That ’ s a lot to sit with , and realistically , not a single one of these potential fears can yet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ too early to tell how this will unfold and whom it will directly effect .
And so the fear is spreading… unless we can contain it .
Fear is a messed up and dangerous thing .
It shuts down the processes of the mind that make rational and compassionate thinking possible , triggering people to do the craziest , riskiest and most unstable and unreasonable things imaginable .
This is why fear is the cheapest and quickest way to influence and control people , and why tyrants must always maintain a monopoly on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do your bidding , just frighten them into thinking they have no other choice .
It works every time .
But this is also why it is highly illogical to allow fear to control you .
The majority of fear that most people experience during their entire lifetimes happens only inside of their head .
That is , fear is a state of mind generated and perpetuated by the imagination .
Fear itself is not real , it is merely an emotion generated by mental illusions .
False .
Evidence .
Appearing .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ at combining images , narration , stats and facts , sound effects , lighting , motion graphics , etc , to activate a particular vibration within the imagination .
Just like calming music or binaural beats can induce a peaceful , meditative mental state , news media can create the fear agitation , whether a threat is real or only perceived to be real .
If that perception holds within your mind , though , the mission is accomplished , and worry and anxiety ensue , followed by the deterioration of your health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , meaning our actions and experiences are motivated and directed by the stories we tell ourselves or believe in .
But nobody has the truth , the whole truth and nothing but the truth .
Everything you hear , see or read is just someone ’ s incomplete understanding of the picture… not the whole picture .
In today ’ s age , there are a thousand and one news and information outlets all creating narratives vying for the same thing , your attention .
Each of them remain loyal to their own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aim to recruit people into their audience or belief .
Everyone is interpreting , regurgitating , relaying , repeating , manipulating and spinning information .
The truth today is literally whatever anyone wants it to be .
Perception is a choice , therefore , to be fearful is also a choice .
The Coronavirus story is an exceptional opportunity to see how fear is virally transmitted through information and perpetuated inside the imagination of the individual .
Even if in the future the virus shows up on your doorstep , the reality of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the original story about it created in your mind , but your story about it will determine how it actually affects you .
And because fear is stress-inducing , and stress attacks the physical body , weakening the immune system , it is essential to recognize that you have the choice to view this and every crisis in your life with or without fear .
In this case , because we are talking about contracting a viral illness , choosing to confront this event fearlessly could literally save your life .
How to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot out there on this subject already , but at its core , this is a spiritual concern , with the principle question being , do you have inner peace , or do you not ?
There are many paths toward inner peace , including meditation , prayer , transformational experiences , faith in God or a higher power , and so on .
Some think inner peace is in prepping for every possible contingency , or by planning to shuttle themselves off to an isolated , remote location or bunker when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not everyone has the same means , opportunities , or even desires .
Without question , though , allowing the mind to indulge in fear is a forfeiture of inner peace .
And a dangerous one when facing a pandemic virus .
A fascinating way to comprehend the connection between the emotional state of fear and the physical body is to pay attention to your body , mind and feelings while consuming information .
How do different stories make you feel ?
As an example , read the following quotes , and observe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while noting how your body feels .
Pay attention to your breathing , to the tension in your shoulders , to any contractions in your abdomen , and to any feeling of rushing adrenaline or elevated cortisol .
Were you able to get a sense of the connection here and how stress can come from the ether and enter your actual physical body ?
Did your mind begin creating stories about what these words mean to you personally , providing visions of catastrophe and doom ?
The human mind is the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ existence , but we really don ’ t fully understand how it works to create the world we live in .
And most of us have little to no understanding of how to control it .
As I ’ ve grown older I ’ ve noticed that I am very sensitive to the vibration of information as it ’ s coming to me , and also that negative information stays with me , lodging deep within my subconscious mind , subtly coloring my outlook and mood , negatively impacting the quality of my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of fear-based narratives is highly corrosive to inner peace .
I ’ ve also become aware that fear seems to be unable to cohabit with compassion or empathy , and vice versa .
That when I feel the grip of fear enter my mind and I notice my imagination beginning to produce stories of doom and fantasies of possible personal suffering , I can instantly shut all that down by shifting my attention to the well-being of others .
This seems to engage compassion and radically shift my perspective on anything that is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the case of the Coronavirus , when I activate empathy I see how this story is already affecting so many other people , and I feel for them instead of thinking only about myself .
I consider friends of mine who work in the ER and could perhaps be on the front lines someday if something like this ever does get serious in my town , and how much different their choices will be than mine .
I think of my elderly friends and how much more prone they would be to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that must be for them .
In doing so it washes away my fear .
So , yeah , the fear pandemic is real , but the fear doesn ’ t have to be .
And in a situation like a global pandemic where fear can literally make you physically more susceptible to events , the awareness of just how much control we have over fear is a powerful and necessary medicine .
Dylan Charles is the editor of Waking Times and host of The Battered Souls Podcast , both dedicated to ideas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and planetary renewal .
His personal journey is deeply inspired by shamanic plant medicines and the arts of Kung Fu , Qi Gong and Yoga .
After seven years of living in Costa Rica , he now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains , where he practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and enjoys spending time with family .
He has written hundreds of articles , reaching and inspiring millions of people around the world .
This article ( The Coronavirus – Containing Pandemic Fear ) was originally created and published by Waking Times and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ license with attribution to Dylan Charles and WakingTimes.com .
It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution , author bio , and this copyright statement .

The Coronavirus – Containing Pandemic Fear
Dylan Charles, Editor
Waking Times
In 1952 the United States government released a civil defense film entitled Duck and Cover. Aimed at teaching school children how to survive an atomic bomb attack, the film’s hero, Bert the Turtle, found safety in his turtle shell while the narrator scared the snot out of kids with terrifying descriptions of what the bomb could do to you.
Mimicking Bert, the kids were taught to duck under their desks and tightly cover their heads and necks with their hands, so that if they weren’t immediately blown to bits, they might at least minimize the radiation burns and hopefully not go blind.
Thusly, a whole generation of Americans were conditioned to have an instantaneous Pavlovian response whenever their teachers, at any moment, suddenly yelled, ‘Drop!’
“Just remember. The flash of an atomic bomb can come at any time, no matter where you may be!’ –Duck and Cover
When the drill was over they could then carry on with the innocence of being children… until the next drill, that is. Baby Boomers today can still you tell how terrifying and traumatic these experiences were.
The Cold War era marked the beginning of mass media being used a tool for trauma-based conditioning and government-worship indoctrination. Fast forward to today and you can see the influence that the ever-present fear of imminent doom has had on our culture, our health, our national priorities, and even our economy. Stress is the number one proxy killer today, war and security are the top-priorities of the state, the military industrial complex is the chief benefactor of our tax dollars, and the national media profits handsomely from disaster news.
The Coronavirus Fear Pandemic
Watching ongoing developments of the Coronavirus outbreak in China is a bit of an emotional body slam, and I have a strong sense that pandemic fear is already pushing its way deep into the general public, well ahead of the arrival of the actual virus.
For someone like myself who’s been paying attention to this sort of thing for a couple of decades now, the Coronavirus story in particular is one of the most fear-inducing narratives you could conjure up because it has all of the hallmarks of terror news rolled into one.
Consider how this single story alone combines…
the fear of personal and/or mass death
the fear of extreme government authoritarianism
the fear of an engineered bioweapon being unleashed
the fear of severe restriction or loss of liberty
the fear of military enforced quarantines or lockdowns
the fear of serious economic disruption
the fear of societal breakdown and social chaos
the fear of suffering through starvation or a disruption in supply
the fear of extreme information censorship
the fear of forced or mandatory vaccination
the fear of a global depopulation program being activated
the fear of an invisible, mutating enemy
the fear of a long-term crisis
and the fearful unpredictability of nature vs. man
That’s a lot to sit with, and realistically, not a single one of these potential fears can yet be ruled out, as it is too early to tell how this will unfold and whom it will directly affect. And so the fear is spreading… unless we can contain it.
On Fear
Fear is a messed up and dangerous thing. It shuts down the processes of the mind that make rational and compassionate thinking possible, triggering people to do the craziest, riskiest and most unstable and unreasonable things imaginable. This is why fear is the cheapest and quickest way to influence and control people, and why tyrants must always maintain a monopoly on violence. If you want someone to do your bidding, just frighten them into thinking they have no other choice. It works every time.
But this is also why it is highly illogical to allow fear to control you.
The majority of fear that most people experience during their lifetime happens only inside of their head. That is, fear is a state of mind generated and perpetuated by the imagination. Fear itself is not real, it is merely an emotion generated by mental illusions. False. Evidence. Appearing. Real.
Modern media is exceptionally talented at combining images, narration, stats and facts, sound effects, lighting, motion graphics, etc, to activate a particular vibration within the imagination. Just like calming music or binaural beats can induce a peaceful, meditative mental state, news media can create the fear agitation, whether a threat is real or only perceived to be real. If that perception holds within your mind, though, the mission is accomplished, and worry and anxiety ensue, followed by the deterioration of your health.
We humans are creatures of narrative, meaning our actions and experiences are motivated and directed by the stories we tell ourselves or believe in. But nobody has the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Everything you hear, see or read is just someone’s incomplete understanding of the picture… not the whole picture.
In today’s age, there are a thousand and one news and information outlets all creating narratives, vying for the same thing, your attention. Each of them remain loyal to their own agendas, creating versions of events that aim to recruit people into their audience or belief. Everyone is interpreting, regurgitating, relaying, repeating, manipulating and spinning information.
The truth today is literally whatever anyone wants it to be. Perception is a choice, therefore, to be fearful is also a choice.
The Coronavirus story is an exceptional opportunity to see how fear is virally transmitted through information and perpetuated inside the imagination of the individual. Even if in the future the virus shows up on your doorstep, the reality of that experience will be far different from the original story about it created in your mind, but, your story about it will determine how it actually affects you.
And because fear is stress-inducing, and stress attacks the physical body, weakening the immune system, it is essential to recognize that you have the choice to view this and every crisis in your life with or without fear. In this case, because we are talking about contracting a viral illness, choosing to confront this event fearlessly could literally save your life.
How to Be Free from Fear
There really is a lot out there on this subject already, but at its core, this is a spiritual concern, with the principle question being, do you have inner peace, or do you not?
There are many paths toward inner peace, including meditation, prayer, transformational experiences, faith in God or a higher power, and so on. Some think inner peace is found in prepping for every possible contingency, or by planning to shuttle themselves off to an isolated, remote location or bunker when the stuff hits the fan, but not everyone has the same means, opportunities, or even desires.
Without question, though, allowing the mind to indulge in fear is a forfeiture of inner peace. And a dangerous one when facing a pandemic virus.
A fascinating way to comprehend the connection between the emotional state of fear and the physical body is to pay attention to your body, mind and feelings while consuming information. How do different stories make you feel?
As an example, read the following quotes, and observe what your imagination does with the info, while noting how your body feels. Pay attention to your breathing, to the tension in your shoulders, to any contractions in your abdomen or chest, and to any feeling of the rush of adrenaline or elevated cortisol.
“Mathematically speaking, this means that if every person in the greater metropolitan Los Angeles area is exposed, we would expect 1.4 million fatalities in Los Angeles alone…” “HOLY MOTHER OF GOD—the new coronavirus is a 3.8!!!… How bad is that reproductive R0 value? It is thermonuclear pandemic level bad—never seen an actual virality coefficient outside of Twitter in my entire career. I’m not exaggerating.”
(I’ve chosen to not provide links to the sources here, on the grounds that the purpose of this exercise is not to condemn any particular source, but to offer a demonstration of how information affects physiology.)
Were you able to get a sense of the connection here and how stress can come from the ether and enter your actual physical body? Did your mind begin creating stories about what these words mean to you personally, providing visions of catastrophe and doom?
Final Thoughts
The human mind is the most creative and the most destructive force in existence, but we really don’t fully understand how it works to create the world we live in. And most of us have little to no understanding of how to control it.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve noticed that I am very sensitive to the vibration of information as it’s coming to me, and also that negative information stays with me, lodging deep within my subconscious mind, subtly coloring my outlook and mood, negatively impacting the quality of my life and my decision-making. In short, the accumulation of fear-based narratives is highly corrosive to inner peace.
I’ve also become aware that fear seems to be unable to cohabit with compassion or empathy, and vice versa. That when I feel the grip of fear enter my mind and I notice my imagination beginning to produce stories of doom and fantasies of possible personal suffering, I can instantly shut all that down by shifting my attention to the well-being of others. This seems to engage compassion and radically shift my perspective on anything that is stoking fear within my mind.
In the case of the Coronavirus, when I activate empathy I see how this story is already affecting so many other people, and I feel for them instead of thinking only about myself. I consider friends of mine who work in the ER and could perhaps be on the front lines someday, if something like this ever does get serious in my town, and how much different their choices will be than mine. I think of my elderly friends and how much more prone they would be to a pandemic illness and how much more frightening that must be for them. In doing so it washes away my fear.
So, yeah, the fear pandemic is real, but the fear doesn’t have to be. And in a situation like a global pandemic where fear can literally make you physically more susceptible to events, the awareness of just how much control we have over fear is a powerful and necessary medicine.
Read more articles by Dylan Charles .
About the Author
Dylan Charles is the editor of Waking Times and host of The Battered Souls Podcast, both dedicated to ideas of personal transformation, societal awakening, and planetary renewal. His personal journey is deeply inspired by shamanic plant medicines and the arts of Kung Fu, Qi Gong and Yoga. After seven years of living in Costa Rica, he now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and enjoys spending time with family. He has written hundreds of articles, reaching and inspiring millions of people around the world.
This article (The Coronavirus – Containing Pandemic Fear) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Dylan Charles and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.


wakingtimes--2020-02-01--The Establishment Doesn’t Fear Trump, And It Doesn’t Fear Bernie. It Fears You.

During the George W Bush administration it was popular in conspiracy circles to speculate that events might be orchestrated which would allow the Bush family to complete a coup against the US Constitution and hold on to power indefinitely .
Such paranoia and suspicion of government power in the wake of the extraordinary post-9/11 advancements in Orwellian surveillance programs and unprecedented military expansionism were perfectly understandable , but predictions that the younger Bush would not cede power at the end of his second term proved incorrect .
In today ’ s hysterical Trump-centric political environment we now see mainstream voices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conspiratorial speculations about the current administration , and those will prove incorrect as well .
What these paranoid presidential prognostications get wrong is not their extreme suspicion of government , but their assumption that America ’ s real power structures require a certain president to be in place in order to advance depraved totalitarian agendas .
As anyone paying attention knows , intense suspicion of the US government is the only sane position that anyone can possibly have ; the error is in assuming that there is no mechanism in place to ensure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one presidential administration to the next .
In a sense , the conspiracy theories about a Bush coup were actually correct : the Bush administration didn ’ t truly end .
All of its imperialist , power-serving agendas remained in place and were expanded under the apparent oversight of the following administration .
The same thing happened after the Obama administration , and the same thing–whether in 2021 or 2025–will happen after the Trump administration .
The disturbing fact of the matter is that if you ignore election dates and just look at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government behavior over the years , you can ’ t really tell who is president or which political party is in power at any given point in time .
The mechanism which ensures the perpetuation of the same policies from administration to administration used to be referred to by analysts as the “ deep state ” , back before Trump and his supporters hijacked that term and began using it to essentially mean something like “ Democrats and anyone who doesn ’ t like Trump ” .
Originally the term deep state referred @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to some shadowy cabal of Illuminati or Satanists or reptilians , but to the simple and undeniable fact that unelected power structures exist and tend to influence America ’ s official elected government .
It wasn ’ t a conspiracy theory , it was a concept used in political analysis to describe how US government agencies and plutocrats form loose alliances with each other and with official Washington to influence government policy and behavior .
It is inevitable that such a permanent second government would exist in the current iteration of the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s impossible to have a globe-spanning empire of the sort America now has without long-term plans spanning years or decades for securing control of world resources , undermining rivals , securing more compliant allies , and ensuring military and economic hegemony .
If the US were a normal nation which simply minded its own affairs , a permanent government wouldn ’ t be necessary .
But because it isn ’ t , one is .
I very seldom use the term deep state anymore , because its meaning in mainstream @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when I want to point to America ’ s permanent unelected power structures I usually use the word “ oligarchy ” or “ empire ” , or simply “ establishment ” .
This is why I haven ’ t been especially focused on the US presidential race , despite the Democratic primaries hitting fever pitch intensity .
While I believe the race can be a useful tool for forcing establishment propagandists to expose themselves ( virulent “ never Trump ” neocon Bret Stephens just came out in support of Trump if the Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pete Buttigeig , for example ) , the result of the 2020 election isn ’ t going to change a whole hell of a lot .
This might be a bit offensive to both Trump supporters and Sanders supporters , but it ’ s true .
Whenever I point out that the current administration has been advancing many longstanding agendas of the CIA and neoconservative war pigs–agendas like military expansionism , imprisoning Assange , regime change interventionism in Iran and Venezuela , and reigniting the Cold War–his supporters always come in saying “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ establishment how come the establishment is working so hard to get rid of him , huh ?
” Well , for starters , they ’ re not .
Nobody who can count Senate seats believes Trump will be removed from office in the current impeachment sideshow , and everyone who understood Russiagate knew it was going to dead-end at nothing .
If they really wanted Trump gone they wouldn ’ t be pussyfooting around with a bunch of kayfabe combat that they know will never hurt him .
Obviously he wasn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ within the establishment , but there are mechanisms in place to ensure that the empire can tick right along with a less-than-ideal president in the White House .
This will also hold true if Sanders miraculously makes his way through another rigged primary , and then through whatever sabotage gets thrown his way in the general election .
Sure he might be able to sign a few somewhat beneficial executive orders and we probably wouldn ’ t see him flirting with an Iran war , but US imperialism will march on more or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policies would require congress to successfully implement .
At best he ’ d be a mild reformer who uses the bully pulpit to help spread awareness while being narrative managed on all sides by the billionaire media , and any changes he manages to squeak through which inconvenience the establishment at all will be reversed by a subsequent administration .
Obviously the establishment would rather have someone in the White House who doesn ’ t constantly put an ugly face on the empire by accidentally exposing its mechanics all the time as Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have an incompetent oaf like Trump in office than someone who actively points out the evils of oligarchy and imperialism like Sanders .
But the establishment which runs the US-centralized empire is not afraid of Trump , and it is not afraid of Sanders .
It ’ s afraid of you .
The unelected power establishment has ways of ensuring its dominance amid the comings and goings of America ’ s official elected government ; they are perfectly capable of dealing with one man being a less than ideal steward of the empire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with , at all , is the prospect of ordinary people finally rising up and using the power of their numbers to force real change .
That is what they are really fighting against when they try to sabotage populist candidates : not the candidates themselves , but populism itself .
You wouldn ’ t know it from reading the billionaire media , but the Yellow Vests protests in France are still going on and have remained widespread for more than a year now .
This lack of coverage is partially due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responsible for conveying the idea that the only governments whose citizens dislike them are those which haven ’ t been absorbed into the imperial blob like China and Iran .
But it ’ s also because the propagandists don ’ t want us getting any ideas .
The reason the propagandists work so hard to manufacture the consent of the governed is because they absolutely do require that consent .
If enough people decide that the status quo isn ’ t working for them and begin rising up to force it to change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the establishment can do to stop them .
Right now the only thing keeping people from rising up in this way is the fact that they ’ ve been successfully propagandized not to , and the propagandists intend to keep it that way .
But eyes are beginning to open .
If real change is coming , it will come from there .
Not from electing anyone president , but from a large-scale awakening to the reality of our situation .
The only thing standing in the way is a thin layer of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list for her website , which will get you an email notification for everything .
Her articles are entirely reader-supported , so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around , liking her on Facebook , following her antics on Twitter , checking out her podcast , throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal , or buying her book Woke : A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers .

The Establishment Doesn’t Fear Trump, And It Doesn’t Fear Bernie. It Fears You.
Caitlin Johnstone, Guest
Waking Times
During the George W Bush administration it was popular in conspiracy circles to speculate that events might be orchestrated which would allow the Bush family to complete a coup against the US Constitution and hold on to power indefinitely.
Such paranoia and suspicion of government power in the wake of the extraordinary post-9/11 advancements in Orwellian surveillance programs and unprecedented military expansionism were perfectly understandable, but predictions that the younger Bush would not cede power at the end of his second term proved incorrect. In today’s hysterical Trump-centric political environment we now see mainstream voices in mainstream outlets openly advancing the same conspiratorial speculations about the current administration, and those will prove incorrect as well.
What these paranoid presidential prognostications get wrong is not their extreme suspicion of government, but their assumption that America’s real power structures require a certain president to be in place in order to advance depraved totalitarian agendas. As anyone paying attention knows, intense suspicion of the US government is the only sane position that anyone can possibly have; the error is in assuming that there is no mechanism in place to ensure that the same agendas carry forward from one presidential administration to the next.
Schiff dwelling on the fact that Trump departed from the talking points prepared for him by national security officials so he could act "contrary to official US policy," which is to "deter Russian adventurism." Glad to know even the president is not permitted to change US policy — Michael Tracey (@mtracey) January 23, 2020
In a sense, the conspiracy theories about a Bush coup were actually correct: the Bush administration didn’t truly end. All of its imperialist, power-serving agendas remained in place and were expanded under the apparent oversight of the following administration. The same thing happened after the Obama administration, and the same thing–whether in 2021 or 2025–will happen after the Trump administration. The disturbing fact of the matter is that if you ignore election dates and just look at the numbers and raw data of US government behavior over the years, you can’t really tell who is president or which political party is in power at any given point in time.
The mechanism which ensures the perpetuation of the same policies from administration to administration used to be referred to by analysts as the “deep state”, back before Trump and his supporters hijacked that term and began using it to essentially mean something like “Democrats and anyone who doesn’t like Trump”. Originally the term deep state referred not to one political party, nor to some shadowy cabal of Illuminati or Satanists or reptilians, but to the simple and undeniable fact that unelected power structures exist and tend to influence America’s official elected government. It wasn’t a conspiracy theory, it was a concept used in political analysis to describe how US government agencies and plutocrats form loose alliances with each other and with official Washington to influence government policy and behavior.
It is inevitable that such a permanent second government would exist in the current iteration of the United States, if you think about it. It’s impossible to have a globe-spanning empire of the sort America now has without long-term plans spanning years or decades for securing control of world resources, undermining rivals, securing more compliant allies, and ensuring military and economic hegemony. If the US were a normal nation which simply minded its own affairs, a permanent government wouldn’t be necessary. But because it isn’t, one is.
I very seldom use the term deep state anymore, because its meaning in mainstream discourse has been completely corrupted. Now when I want to point to America’s permanent unelected power structures I usually use the word “oligarchy” or “empire”, or simply “establishment”.
This is why I haven’t been especially focused on the US presidential race, despite the Democratic primaries hitting fever pitch intensity. While I believe the race can be a useful tool for forcing establishment propagandists to expose themselves (virulent “never Trump” neocon Bret Stephens just came out in support of Trump if the Democratic nominee is anyone to the left of Pete Buttigeig, for example), the result of the 2020 election isn’t going to change a whole hell of a lot.
This might be a bit offensive to both Trump supporters and Sanders supporters, but it’s true.
Whenever I point out that the current administration has been advancing many longstanding agendas of the CIA and neoconservative war pigs–agendas like military expansionism, imprisoning Assange, regime change interventionism in Iran and Venezuela, and reigniting the Cold War–his supporters always come in saying “If he’s working for the establishment how come the establishment is working so hard to get rid of him, huh?”
Well, for starters, they’re not. Nobody who can count Senate seats believes Trump will be removed from office in the current impeachment sideshow, and everyone who understood Russiagate knew it was going to dead-end at nothing. If they really wanted Trump gone they wouldn’t be pussyfooting around with a bunch of kayfabe combat that they know will never hurt him. Obviously he wasn’t the preferred 2016 choice of certain factions within the establishment, but there are mechanisms in place to ensure that the empire can tick right along with a less-than-ideal president in the White House.
This will also hold true if Sanders miraculously makes his way through another rigged primary, and then through whatever sabotage gets thrown his way in the general election. Sure he might be able to sign a few somewhat beneficial executive orders and we probably wouldn’t see him flirting with an Iran war, but US imperialism will march on more or less unimpeded and his popular progressive domestic policies would require congress to successfully implement. At best he’d be a mild reformer who uses the bully pulpit to help spread awareness while being narrative managed on all sides by the billionaire media, and any changes he manages to squeak through which inconvenience the establishment at all will be reversed by a subsequent administration.
http://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1221088342428856320
Obviously the establishment would rather have someone in the White House who doesn’t constantly put an ugly face on the empire by accidentally exposing its mechanics all the time as Trump does, and obviously it would rather have an incompetent oaf like Trump in office than someone who actively points out the evils of oligarchy and imperialism like Sanders. But the establishment which runs the US-centralized empire is not afraid of Trump, and it is not afraid of Sanders. It’s afraid of you.
The unelected power establishment has ways of ensuring its dominance amid the comings and goings of America’s official elected government; they are perfectly capable of dealing with one man being a less than ideal steward of the empire. What they absolutely cannot deal with, at all, is the prospect of ordinary people finally rising up and using the power of their numbers to force real change. That is what they are really fighting against when they try to sabotage populist candidates: not the candidates themselves, but populism itself.
You wouldn’t know it from reading the billionaire media, but the Yellow Vests protests in France are still going on and have remained widespread for more than a year now. This lack of coverage is partially due to the fact that establishment narrative managers are responsible for conveying the idea that the only governments whose citizens dislike them are those which haven’t been absorbed into the imperial blob like China and Iran. But it’s also because the propagandists don’t want us getting any ideas.
The reason the propagandists work so hard to manufacture the consent of the governed is because they absolutely do require that consent. If enough people decide that the status quo isn’t working for them and begin rising up to force it to change, there’s not really anything the establishment can do to stop them. Right now the only thing keeping people from rising up in this way is the fact that they’ve been successfully propagandized not to, and the propagandists intend to keep it that way.
But eyes are beginning to open. If real change is coming, it will come from there. Not from electing anyone president, but from a large-scale awakening to the reality of our situation. The only thing standing in the way is a thin layer of narrative fluff.
About the Author
Caitlin Johnstone – Rogue journalist. Bogan socialist. Anarcho-psychonaut. Guerrilla poet. Utopia prepper.
The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list for her website, which will get you an email notification for everything. Her articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast, throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.


wakingtimes--2020-02-01--Congress Now Funding ‘Controversial’ Geoengineering ‘Plan B’ to Spray Particles in the Sky to Cool E

It was reported this month that the top climate change scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has received $ 4 million in funding from Congress along with permission to study two highly controversial geoengineering methods in an attempt to cool the Earth .
According to Science Magazine , David Fahey , director of the Chemical Sciences Division of NOAA ’ s Earth System Research Laboratory , told his staff last week that the federal government is ready to examine the science behind “ geoengineering ” —or what he dubbed a “ Plan B ” for climate change .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ we go any further , it is important to point out to new readers that we are not a satire site .
We are not a conspiracy theory site .
The information you are about to read is factually accurate and 100 % real despite the ostensible ‘ skeptics ’ who claim otherwise .
Over the past several years , the “ conspiracy theory ” of spraying particles into the sky to cool the Earth has become more mainstream .
It came to a head last year when CNBC put out a video @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Help End Climate Change .
The video is nothing short of an infomercial for chemtrails .
It is truly bizarre how this subject has moved from the fringes of conspiracy circles and into the mainstream and no one is even batting an eye .
Now that Bill Gates has endorsed and funded it , the world is suddenly open to the idea of attempting to modify the planet ’ s weather by spraying chemicals into the atmosphere to block out the sun .
Now , the government is throwing their hat into the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ B ” approach is two pronged , according to NOAA .
The Free Thought Project has reported on the first method before when Harvard scientists began talking about doing it .
Harvard scientists announced that they will attempt to replicate the climate-cooling effect of volcanic eruptions with a world-first solar geoengineering experiment , last year .
The university announced in July of 2019 that it has created an external advisory panel to examine the potential ethical , environmental and geopolitical impacts of this geoengineering project , which has been developed by the university @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment ( SCoPEx ) , the experiment will spray calcium carbonate particles high above the earth to mimic the effects of volcanic ash blocking out the sun to produce a cooling effect .
This appears to be the same as NOAA ’ s “ Plan B.
” Naturally , there are many critics of geoengineering .
The idea of geoengineering the planet has become so controversial that the government will soon be referring to it by a different name in a likely attempt to distract .
Fahey recommended changing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” which he described as a “ more neutral word.
” This is exactly like renaming the U.S. Department of War to the Department of Defense .
As not to be too controversial , however , Fahey emphasized that this is not an approval to begin geoengineering .
Rather , it is a move by the US to prepare for the possibility that it may do this one day .
This type of talk is concerning to many people , including environmental groups , who say such efforts are a dangerous distraction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ climate change : reducing greenhouse-gas emissions .
The idea of injecting particles into the atmosphere to cool the earth also seems outright futile considering what scientists are trying to mimic—volcanic eruptions .
If we look at the second largest eruption of the 20th century , Mount Pinatubo , which erupted in the Philippines in 1991 , it injected 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide aerosols into the stratosphere .
Scientists from the USGS estimated that this 20 million tons only lowered the temperature of the planet by about 1°F ( 0.5°C ) and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particles eventually fell to back to Earth .
While this talk of geoengineering may sound like something out of a dystopian science fiction movie , the reality is that it has long been on the table of governments and think tanks from around the world .
In fact , just last November , a study published in Environmental Research Letters , talked about doing the exact same thing—geoengineering and planes spraying particulates into the atmosphere to curb global warming .
What ’ s more , that study echoed the sentiments of then-CIA director @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Foreign Relations in 2016 , detailing a similar process of spraying chemical particulates in the atmosphere to cool the planet .
At the meeting , Brennan addressed instability and transnational threats to global security at a meeting with the Council on Foreign Relations .
During his long-winded talk of threats to US interests and how the largely CIA-created ISIL threat is impacting the world , Brennan brought up the topic of geoengineering .
Brennan went on to echo the calls from some scientists who have called for aerial spraying .
Again , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Watch him say all of this in the video below starting at the 12:05 marker .
The extent to which Brennan talked about stratospheric aerosol injection shows that he and the CIA have likely been considering this for some time .
Although we are hearing more and more talk about geoengineering , it has been around for a very long time and not just in the realm of conspiracy theories .
In fact , scientists have already suggested that it could be going on right now , unintentionally .
Researchers with NOAA previously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inadvertently geoengineering the skies .
Chuck Long is a researcher with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences ( CIRES ) at the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory at the University of Colorado in Boulder .
At the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in 2015 , Long and his team released their paper , “ Evidence of Clear-Sky Daylight Whitening : Are we already conducting geoengineering ?
” The analysis found that vapor from airplanes may be altering the climate through accidental geoengineering .
To be clear , no one here is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change or the effects of geoengineering .
But one thing is clear and it ’ s the fact that there is still much to be debated and learned before humans deliberately begin altering Earth ’ s climate .
Aside from doing nothing to curb carbon emissions , if we are so quick to jump on this method , it could set off a chain reaction that could prove to be catastrophic .
Please share this article with your friends and family so that they may see what ’ s being planned for their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA .
This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state .
Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world .
Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project .
Follow @ MattAgorist on Twitter , Steemit , and now on Minds .

Congress Now Funding ‘Controversial’ Geoengineering ‘Plan B’ to Spray Particles in the Sky to Cool Earth
Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project
Waking Times
It was reported this month that the top climate change scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has received $4 million in funding from Congress along with permission to study two highly controversial geoengineering methods in an attempt to cool the Earth. According to Science Magazine, David Fahey, director of the Chemical Sciences Division of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, told his staff last week that the federal government is ready to examine the science behind “geoengineering”—or what he dubbed a “Plan B” for climate change.
What could possibly go wrong?
Before we go any further, it is important to point out to new readers that we are not a satire site. We are not a conspiracy theory site. The information you are about to read is factually accurate and 100% real despite the ostensible ‘skeptics’ who claim otherwise.
Over the past several years, the “conspiracy theory” of spraying particles into the sky to cool the Earth has become more mainstream. It came to a head last year when CNBC put out a video titled How Bill Gates-Funded Solar Geoengineering Could Help End Climate Change.
The video is nothing short of an infomercial for chemtrails. It is truly bizarre how this subject has moved from the fringes of conspiracy circles and into the mainstream and no one is even batting an eye. Now that Bill Gates has endorsed and funded it, the world is suddenly open to the idea of attempting to modify the planet’s weather by spraying chemicals into the atmosphere to block out the sun.
Now, the government is throwing their hat into the mix as well. This “Plan B” approach is two pronged, according to NOAA.
One is to inject sulfur dioxide or a similar aerosol into the stratosphere to help shade the Earth from more intense sunlight. It is patterned after a natural solution: volcanic eruptions, which have been found to cool the Earth by emitting huge clouds of sulfur dioxide. The second approach would use an aerosol of sea salt particles to improve the ability of low-lying clouds over the ocean to act as shade.
The Free Thought Project has reported on the first method before when Harvard scientists began talking about doing it. Harvard scientists announced that they will attempt to replicate the climate-cooling effect of volcanic eruptions with a world-first solar geoengineering experiment, last year. The university announced in July of 2019 that it has created an external advisory panel to examine the potential ethical, environmental and geopolitical impacts of this geoengineering project, which has been developed by the university’s researchers.
Known as the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx), the experiment will spray calcium carbonate particles high above the earth to mimic the effects of volcanic ash blocking out the sun to produce a cooling effect. This appears to be the same as NOAA’s “Plan B.”
Naturally, there are many critics of geoengineering.
The idea of geoengineering the planet has become so controversial that the government will soon be referring to it by a different name in a likely attempt to distract. Fahey recommended changing the nomenclature from geoengineering to “climate intervention,” which he described as a “more neutral word.”
This is exactly like renaming the U.S. Department of War to the Department of Defense.
As not to be too controversial, however, Fahey emphasized that this is not an approval to begin geoengineering. Rather, it is a move by the US to prepare for the possibility that it may do this one day.
“Geoengineering is this tangled ball of issues and science is only one of them,” he said. “One of the things I’m interested in doing is let’s separate the science out,” he added. The idea is to give policymakers a clear view of how a hurry-up bid to save the planet would work.
This type of talk is concerning to many people, including environmental groups, who say such efforts are a dangerous distraction from addressing the only permanent solution to climate change: reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
The idea of injecting particles into the atmosphere to cool the earth also seems outright futile considering what scientists are trying to mimic—volcanic eruptions. If we look at the second largest eruption of the 20th century, Mount Pinatubo, which erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it injected 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide aerosols into the stratosphere. Scientists from the USGS estimated that this 20 million tons only lowered the temperature of the planet by about 1°F (0.5°C) and this only lasted a year because the particles eventually fell to back to Earth.
While this talk of geoengineering may sound like something out of a dystopian science fiction movie, the reality is that it has long been on the table of governments and think tanks from around the world. In fact, just last November, a study published in Environmental Research Letters, talked about doing the exact same thing—geoengineering and planes spraying particulates into the atmosphere to curb global warming.
What’s more, that study echoed the sentiments of then-CIA director John Brennan when he addressed the Council on Foreign Relations in 2016, detailing a similar process of spraying chemical particulates in the atmosphere to cool the planet.
At the meeting, Brennan addressed instability and transnational threats to global security at a meeting with the Council on Foreign Relations. During his long-winded talk of threats to US interests and how the largely CIA-created ISIL threat is impacting the world, Brennan brought up the topic of geoengineering.
Another example is the array of technologies—often referred to collectively as geoengineering—that potentially could help reverse the warming effects of global climate change. One that has gained my personal attention is stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI, a method of seeding the stratosphere with particles that can help reflect the sun’s heat, in much the same way that volcanic eruptions do.
Brennan went on to echo the calls from some scientists who have called for aerial spraying.
An SAI program could limit global temperature increases, reducing some risks associated with higher temperatures and providing the world economy additional time to transition from fossil fuels. The process is also relatively inexpensive—the National Research Council estimates that a fully deployed SAI program would cost about $10 billion yearly.
Again, this is not some conspiracy theory. Watch him say all of this in the video below starting at the 12:05 marker.
The extent to which Brennan talked about stratospheric aerosol injection shows that he and the CIA have likely been considering this for some time.
Although we are hearing more and more talk about geoengineering, it has been around for a very long time and not just in the realm of conspiracy theories. In fact, scientists have already suggested that it could be going on right now, unintentionally.
Researchers with NOAA previously suggested that contrails from airplanes may be inadvertently geoengineering the skies.
Chuck Long is a researcher with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory at the University of Colorado in Boulder. At the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in 2015, Long and his team released their paper, “Evidence of Clear-Sky Daylight Whitening: Are we already conducting geoengineering?” The analysis found that vapor from airplanes may be altering the climate through accidental geoengineering.
To be clear, no one here is claiming to be an expert on climate change or the effects of geoengineering. But one thing is clear and it’s the fact that there is still much to be debated and learned before humans deliberately begin altering Earth’s climate. Aside from doing nothing to curb carbon emissions, if we are so quick to jump on this method, it could set off a chain reaction that could prove to be catastrophic.
Please share this article with your friends and family so that they may see what’s being planned for their future.
About the Author
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.


wakingtimes--2020-02-01--The Super Bowl’s Biggest Losers: The Boys and Girls Being Sold for Sex 20 Times a Day

There can only be one winner emerging from this year ’ s Super Bowl LIV showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs , but the biggest losers will be the hundreds of young girls and boys—some as young as 9 years old—who will be bought and sold for sex during the course of the big game .
It ’ s common to refer to this evil practice , which has become the fastest growing business in organized crime and the second most-lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns as child sex trafficking , but what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rape .
Adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the United States .
It ’ s not just young girls who are vulnerable to these predators , either .
Consider this : every two minutes , a child is exploited in the sex industry .
In Georgia alone , it is estimated that 7,200 men ( half of them in their 30s ) seek to purchase sex with adolescent girls each month , averaging roughly 300 a day .
On average , a child might be raped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It is estimated that at least 100,000 children—girls and boys—are bought and sold for sex in the U.S. every year , with as many as 300,000 children in danger of being trafficked each year .
Some of these children are forcefully abducted , others are runaways , and still others are sold into the system by relatives and acquaintances .
Child rape has become Big Business in America .
This is an industry that revolves around cheap sex on the fly , with young girls and women who are sold to 50 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while their handlers make $ 150,000 to $ 200,000 per child each year .
This is not a problem found only in big cities .
It ’ s happening everywhere , right under our noses , in suburbs , cities and towns across the nation .
Don ’ t fool yourselves into believing that this is merely a concern for lower income communities or immigrants .
It is estimated that there are 100,000 to 150,000 under-aged child sex workers in the U.S .
These girls aren ’ t volunteering to be sex @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into it .
In most cases , they have no choice .
Every transaction is rape .
In order to avoid detection ( in some cases aided and abetted by the police ) and cater to male buyers ’ demand for sex with different women , pimps and the gangs and crime syndicates they work for have turned sex trafficking into a highly mobile enterprise , with trafficked girls , boys and women constantly being moved from city to city , state to state , and country to country .
For instance , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Circuit , with its I-95 corridor dotted with rest stops , bus stations and truck stops , is a hub for the sex trade .
No doubt about it : this is a highly profitable , highly organized and highly sophisticated sex trafficking business that operates in towns large and small , raking in upwards of $ 9.5 billion a year in the U.S. alone by abducting and selling young girls for sex .
Every year , the girls being bought and sold gets younger and younger .
This is America ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or who is driving this evil appetite for young flesh ?
Who buys a child for sex ?
Catholic and Protestant churches have been particularly singled out in recent years for harboring these sexual predators .
Twenty years after the clergy sex abuse scandal rocked the Catholic Church , hundreds of sexual predators—priests , deacons , monks and lay people—continue to be given work assignments in proximity to children .
In many cases , the abuse continues unabated .
And then you have national sporting events such as the Super Bowl , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , some as young as 9 years old .
Yet even if the Super Bowl is not exactly a “ windfall ” for sex traffickers as some claim , it remains a lucrative source of income for the child sex trafficking industry and a draw for those who are willing to pay to rape young children .
According to criminal investigator Marc Chadderdon , these “ buyers ” —the so-called “ ordinary ” men who drive the demand for sex with children—represent a cross-section of American society : every age , every race @ @ @ @ @ @ @ teachers , corrections workers , pastors , etc .
And then there are the extra-ordinary men , such as Jeffrey Epstein , the hedge fund billionaire / convicted serial pedophile who was arrested on charges of molesting , raping and sex trafficking dozens of young girls , only to die under highly unusual circumstances .
It is believed that Epstein operated his own personal sex trafficking ring not only for his personal pleasure but also for the pleasure of his friends and business associates .
According to The Washington Post , “ several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the rich and famous as sex partners at Epstein ’ s parties.
” At various times , Epstein ferried his friends about on his private plane , nicknamed the “ Lolita Express.
” Men like Epstein and his cronies , who belong to a powerful , wealthy , elite segment of society that operates according to their own rules , skate free of accountability by taking advantage of a criminal justice system that panders to the powerful , the wealthy and the elite .
Still , where did this appetite for young @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Young girls have been sexualized for years now in music videos , on billboards , in television ads , and in clothing stores .
Marketers have created a demand for young flesh and a ready supply of over-sexualized children .
In other words , the culture is grooming these young people to be preyed upon by sexual predators .
Rarely do these girls enter into prostitution voluntarily .
Many start out as runaways or throwaways , only to be snatched up by pimps or larger sex rings .
Others , persuaded to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ online through one of the many social networking sites , find themselves quickly initiated into their new lives as sex slaves .
Debbie , a straight-A student who belonged to a close-knit Air Force family living in Phoenix , Ariz. , is an example of this trading of flesh .
Debbie was 15 when she was snatched from her driveway by an acquaintance-friend .
Forced into a car , Debbie was bound and taken to an unknown location , held at gunpoint and raped by multiple men .
She was then crammed into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eat dog biscuits .
Debbie ’ s captors advertised her services on Craigslist .
Those who responded were often married with children , and the money that Debbie “ earned ” for sex was given to her kidnappers .
The gang raping continued .
After searching the apartment where Debbie was held captive , police finally found Debbie stuffed in a drawer under a bed .
Her harrowing ordeal lasted for 40 days .
While Debbie was fortunate enough to be rescued , others are not so lucky .
According to the National @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly 800,000 children go missing every year ( roughly 2,185 children a day ) .
With a growing demand for sexual slavery and an endless supply of girls and women who can be targeted for abduction , this is not a problem that ’ s going away anytime soon .
For those trafficked , it ’ s a nightmare from beginning to end .
Those being sold for sex have an average life expectancy of seven years , and those years are a living nightmare of endless rape , forced drugging , humiliation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pregnancies , abortions , miscarriages , torture , pain , and always the constant fear of being killed or , worse , having those you love hurt or killed .
Peter Landesman paints the full horrors of life for those victims of the sex trade in his New York Times article “ The Girls Next Door ” : Andrea told me that she and the other children she was held with were frequently beaten to keep them off-balance and obedient .
Sometimes they were videotaped while being forced to have sex with adults @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , she was asked to play roles : the therapist patient or the obedient daughter .
Her cell of sex traffickers offered three age ranges of sex partners–toddler to age 4 , 5 to 12 and teens–as well as what she called a “ damage group.
” “ In the damage group , they can hit you or do anything they want to , ” she explained .
“ Though sex always hurts when you are little , so it ’ s always violent , everything was much more painful once you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ What Andrea described next shows just how depraved some portions of American society have become .
“ They ’ d get you hungry then to train you ” to have oral sex .
“ They put honey on a man .
For the littlest kids , you had to learn not to gag .
And they would push things in you so you would open up better .
We learned responses .
Like if they wanted us to be sultry or sexy or scared .
Most of them wanted you scared .
When @ @ @ @ @ @ @ teach the younger kids how to float away so things didn ’ t hurt.
” Immigration and customs enforcement agents at the Cyber Crimes Center in Fairfax , Va. , report that when it comes to sex , the appetites of many Americans have now changed .
What was once considered abnormal is now the norm .
These agents are tracking a clear spike in the demand for harder-core pornography on the Internet .
As one agent noted , “ We ’ ve become desensitized by the soft stuff ; now we need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trend is reflected by the treatment many of the girls receive at the hands of the drug traffickers and the men who purchase them .
Peter Landesman interviewed Rosario , a Mexican woman who had been trafficked to New York and held captive for a number of years .
She said : “ In America , we had ‘ special jobs.
’ Oral sex , anal sex , often with many men .
Sex is now more adventurous , harder.
” A common thread woven through most survivors ’ experiences is being forced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have met their sex quota of at least 40 men .
One woman recounts how her trafficker made her lie face down on the floor when she was pregnant and then literally jumped on her back , forcing her to miscarry .
Holly Austin Smith was abducted when she was 14 years old , raped , and then forced to prostitute herself .
Her pimp , when brought to trial , was only made to serve a year in prison .
One particular sex trafficking ring catered specifically to migrant workers employed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , especially the Carolinas and Georgia , although it ’ s a flourishing business in every state in the country .
Traffickers transport the women from farm to farm , where migrant workers would line up outside shacks , as many as 30 at a time , to have sex with them before they were transported to yet another farm where the process would begin all over again .
This growing evil is , for all intents and purposes , out in the open .
Trafficked children are advertised on the internet , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and sold in swanky hotels .
Unfortunately , as I make clear in my book Battlefield America : The War on the American People , the government ’ s war on sex trafficking—much like the government ’ s war on terrorism , drugs and crime—has become a perfect excuse for inflicting more police state tactics ( police check points , searches , surveillance , and heightened security ) on a vulnerable public , while doing little to protect our children from sex predators .
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where this article ( John Lennon Was Right : The Government Is Run by Maniacs for Maniacal Means ) was originally published .
He is the author of A Government of Wolves : The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto .

The Super Bowl’s Biggest Losers: The Boys and Girls Being Sold for Sex 20 Times a Day
John W. Whitehead, Rutherford
Waking Times
“Children are being targeted and sold for sex in America every day.”—John Ryan, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
There can only be one winner emerging from this year’s Super Bowl LIV showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, but the biggest losers will be the hundreds of young girls and boys—some as young as 9 years old—who will be bought and sold for sex during the course of the big game.
It’s common to refer to this evil practice, which has become the fastest growing business in organized crime and the second most-lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns as child sex trafficking, but what we’re really talking about is rape.
Adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the United States.
It’s not just young girls who are vulnerable to these predators, either.
According to a USA Today investigative report, “boys make up about 36% of children caught up in the U.S. sex industry (about 60% are female and less than 5% are transgender males and females).”
Consider this: every two minutes, a child is exploited in the sex industry.
In Georgia alone, it is estimated that 7,200 men (half of them in their 30s) seek to purchase sex with adolescent girls each month, averaging roughly 300 a day.
On average, a child might be raped by 6,000 men during a five-year period.
It is estimated that at least 100,000 children—girls and boys—are bought and sold for sex in the U.S. every year, with as many as 300,000 children in danger of being trafficked each year. Some of these children are forcefully abducted, others are runaways, and still others are sold into the system by relatives and acquaintances.
Child rape has become Big Business in America.
This is an industry that revolves around cheap sex on the fly, with young girls and women who are sold to 50 men each day for $25 apiece, while their handlers make $150,000 to $200,000 per child each year.
This is not a problem found only in big cities.
It’s happening everywhere, right under our noses, in suburbs, cities and towns across the nation.
As Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children points out, “The only way not to find this in any American city is simply not to look for it.”
Don’t fool yourselves into believing that this is merely a concern for lower income communities or immigrants.
It’s not.
It is estimated that there are 100,000 to 150,000 under-aged child sex workers in the U.S. These girls aren’t volunteering to be sex slaves. They’re being lured—forced—trafficked into it. In most cases, they have no choice. Every transaction is rape.
In order to avoid detection (in some cases aided and abetted by the police) and cater to male buyers’ demand for sex with different women, pimps and the gangs and crime syndicates they work for have turned sex trafficking into a highly mobile enterprise, with trafficked girls, boys and women constantly being moved from city to city, state to state, and country to country.
For instance, the Baltimore-Washington area, referred to as The Circuit, with its I-95 corridor dotted with rest stops, bus stations and truck stops, is a hub for the sex trade.
No doubt about it: this is a highly profitable, highly organized and highly sophisticated sex trafficking business that operates in towns large and small, raking in upwards of $9.5 billion a year in the U.S. alone by abducting and selling young girls for sex.
Every year, the girls being bought and sold gets younger and younger.
The average age of those being trafficked is 13. Yet as the head of a group that combats trafficking pointed out, “Let’s think about what average means. That means there are children younger than 13. That means 8-, 9-, 10-year-olds.” “For every 10 women rescued, there are 50 to 100 more women who are brought in by the traffickers. Unfortunately, they’re not 18- or 20-year-olds anymore,” noted a 25-year-old victim of trafficking. “They’re minors as young as 13 who are being trafficked. They’re little girls.”
This is America’s dirty little secret.
But what or who is driving this evil appetite for young flesh? Who buys a child for sex?
Otherwise ordinary men from all walks of life. “They could be your co-worker, doctor, pastor or spouse,” writes journalist Tim Swarens, who spent more than a year investigating the sex trade in America.
Catholic and Protestant churches have been particularly singled out in recent years for harboring these sexual predators. Twenty years after the clergy sex abuse scandal rocked the Catholic Church, hundreds of sexual predators—priests, deacons, monks and lay people—continue to be given work assignments in proximity to children. In many cases, the abuse continues unabated.
Although much less publicized, the sex crimes within the Protestant Church have been no less egregious. For instance, a recent expose into the Southern Baptist Church leaders by the Houston Chronicle documents over 700 child sex victims “who were molested, sent explicit photos or texts, exposed to pornography, photographed nude, or repeatedly raped by youth pastors. Some victims as young as 3 were molested or raped inside pastors’ studies and Sunday school classrooms.”
And then you have national sporting events such as the Super Bowl, where sex traffickers have been caught selling minors, some as young as 9 years old. Yet even if the Super Bowl is not exactly a “windfall” for sex traffickers as some claim, it remains a lucrative source of income for the child sex trafficking industry and a draw for those who are willing to pay to rape young children.
According to criminal investigator Marc Chadderdon, these “buyers”—the so-called “ordinary” men who drive the demand for sex with children—represent a cross-section of American society: every age, every race, every socio-economic background, cops, teachers, corrections workers, pastors, etc.
And then there are the extra-ordinary men, such as Jeffrey Epstein, the hedge fund billionaire / convicted serial pedophile who was arrested on charges of molesting, raping and sex trafficking dozens of young girls, only to die under highly unusual circumstances.
It is believed that Epstein operated his own personal sex trafficking ring not only for his personal pleasure but also for the pleasure of his friends and business associates. According to The Washington Post, “several of the young women…say they were offered to the rich and famous as sex partners at Epstein’s parties.” At various times, Epstein ferried his friends about on his private plane, nicknamed the “Lolita Express.”
Men like Epstein and his cronies, who belong to a powerful, wealthy, elite segment of society that operates according to their own rules, skate free of accountability by taking advantage of a criminal justice system that panders to the powerful, the wealthy and the elite.
Still, where did this appetite for young girls come from?
Look around you.
Young girls have been sexualized for years now in music videos, on billboards, in television ads, and in clothing stores. Marketers have created a demand for young flesh and a ready supply of over-sexualized children.
“In a market that sells high heels for babies and thongs for tweens, it doesn’t take a genius to see that sex, if not porn, has invaded our lives,” writes Jessica Bennett for Newsweek. “Whether we welcome it or not, television brings it into our living rooms and the Web brings it into our bedrooms. According to a 2007 study from the University of Alberta, as many as 90 percent of boys and 70 percent of girls aged 13 to 14 have accessed sexually explicit content at least once.” This is what Bennett refers to as the “pornification of a generation.”
In other words, the culture is grooming these young people to be preyed upon by sexual predators.
Social media makes it all too easy. As one news center reported, “Finding girls is easy for pimps. They look on … social networks. They and their assistants cruise malls, high schools and middle schools. They pick them up at bus stops. On the trolley. Girl-to-girl recruitment sometimes happens.” Foster homes and youth shelters have also become prime targets for traffickers.
Rarely do these girls enter into prostitution voluntarily. Many start out as runaways or throwaways, only to be snatched up by pimps or larger sex rings. Others, persuaded to meet up with a stranger after interacting online through one of the many social networking sites, find themselves quickly initiated into their new lives as sex slaves.
Debbie, a straight-A student who belonged to a close-knit Air Force family living in Phoenix, Ariz., is an example of this trading of flesh. Debbie was 15 when she was snatched from her driveway by an acquaintance-friend. Forced into a car, Debbie was bound and taken to an unknown location, held at gunpoint and raped by multiple men. She was then crammed into a small dog kennel and forced to eat dog biscuits. Debbie’s captors advertised her services on Craigslist. Those who responded were often married with children, and the money that Debbie “earned” for sex was given to her kidnappers. The gang raping continued. After searching the apartment where Debbie was held captive, police finally found Debbie stuffed in a drawer under a bed. Her harrowing ordeal lasted for 40 days.
While Debbie was fortunate enough to be rescued, others are not so lucky.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, nearly 800,000 children go missing every year (roughly 2,185 children a day).
With a growing demand for sexual slavery and an endless supply of girls and women who can be targeted for abduction, this is not a problem that’s going away anytime soon.
For those trafficked, it’s a nightmare from beginning to end.
Those being sold for sex have an average life expectancy of seven years, and those years are a living nightmare of endless rape, forced drugging, humiliation, degradation, threats, disease, pregnancies, abortions, miscarriages, torture, pain, and always the constant fear of being killed or, worse, having those you love hurt or killed.
Peter Landesman paints the full horrors of life for those victims of the sex trade in his New York Times article “The Girls Next Door”:
Andrea told me that she and the other children she was held with were frequently beaten to keep them off-balance and obedient. Sometimes they were videotaped while being forced to have sex with adults or one another. Often, she said, she was asked to play roles: the therapist patient or the obedient daughter. Her cell of sex traffickers offered three age ranges of sex partners–toddler to age 4, 5 to 12 and teens–as well as what she called a “damage group.” “In the damage group, they can hit you or do anything they want to,” she explained. “Though sex always hurts when you are little, so it’s always violent, everything was much more painful once you were placed in the damage group.” What Andrea described next shows just how depraved some portions of American society have become. “They’d get you hungry then to train you” to have oral sex. “They put honey on a man. For the littlest kids, you had to learn not to gag. And they would push things in you so you would open up better. We learned responses. Like if they wanted us to be sultry or sexy or scared. Most of them wanted you scared. When I got older, I’d teach the younger kids how to float away so things didn’t hurt.”
Immigration and customs enforcement agents at the Cyber Crimes Center in Fairfax, Va., report that when it comes to sex, the appetites of many Americans have now changed. What was once considered abnormal is now the norm. These agents are tracking a clear spike in the demand for harder-core pornography on the Internet. As one agent noted, “We’ve become desensitized by the soft stuff; now we need a harder and harder hit.”
This trend is reflected by the treatment many of the girls receive at the hands of the drug traffickers and the men who purchase them. Peter Landesman interviewed Rosario, a Mexican woman who had been trafficked to New York and held captive for a number of years. She said: “In America, we had ‘special jobs.’ Oral sex, anal sex, often with many men. Sex is now more adventurous, harder.”
A common thread woven through most survivors’ experiences is being forced to go without sleep or food until they have met their sex quota of at least 40 men. One woman recounts how her trafficker made her lie face down on the floor when she was pregnant and then literally jumped on her back, forcing her to miscarry.
Holly Austin Smith was abducted when she was 14 years old, raped, and then forced to prostitute herself. Her pimp, when brought to trial, was only made to serve a year in prison.
Barbara Amaya was repeatedly sold between traffickers, abused, shot, stabbed, raped, kidnapped, trafficked, beaten, and jailed all before she was 18 years old. “I had a quota that I was supposed to fill every night. And if I didn’t have that amount of money, I would get beat, thrown down the stairs. He beat me once with wire coat hangers, the kind you hang up clothes, he straightened it out and my whole back was bleeding.” As David McSwane recounts in a chilling piece for the Herald-Tribune: “In Oakland Park, an industrial Fort Lauderdale suburb, federal agents in 2011 encountered a brothel operated by a married couple. Inside ‘The Boom Boom Room,’ as it was known, customers paid a fee and were given a condom and a timer and left alone with one of the brothel’s eight teenagers, children as young as 13. A 16-year-old foster child testified that he acted as security, while a 17-year-old girl told a federal judge she was forced to have sex with as many as 20 men a night.”
One particular sex trafficking ring catered specifically to migrant workers employed seasonally on farms throughout the southeastern states, especially the Carolinas and Georgia, although it’s a flourishing business in every state in the country. Traffickers transport the women from farm to farm, where migrant workers would line up outside shacks, as many as 30 at a time, to have sex with them before they were transported to yet another farm where the process would begin all over again.
This growing evil is, for all intents and purposes, out in the open.
Trafficked children are advertised on the internet, transported on the interstate, and bought and sold in swanky hotels.
Unfortunately, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the government’s war on sex trafficking—much like the government’s war on terrorism, drugs and crime—has become a perfect excuse for inflicting more police state tactics (police check points, searches, surveillance, and heightened security) on a vulnerable public, while doing little to protect our children from sex predators.
About the Author
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute, where this article (John Lennon Was Right: The Government Is Run by Maniacs for Maniacal Means) was originally published. He is the author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto.