US clothing brand hit with class-action sex-trafficking lawsuit

Dozens of men have claimed clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch was complicit in sex trafficking by its former CEO, Michael Jeffries

Iconic US clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch aided and abetted its former CEO Michael Jeffries’ systematic sexual exploitation of aspiring male models, a class-action lawsuit filed by dozens of Jeffries’ alleged victims in New York federal court on Friday claimed.

The lawsuit names not only Jeffries, his longtime partner Matthew Smith, and the Jeffries Family Office LLC, but also Abercrombie itself. The company was fully aware of its executives’ predation and even allowed Jeffries “unfettered access to corporate funds” to pay off his victims, it alleges.

“Jeffries was so important to the profitability of the brand that he was given complete autonomy to perform his role as CEO however he saw fit, including through the use of blatant international sex-trafficking and abuse of prospective Abercrombie models,” the lawsuit claims, arguing the corporation “knew he was engaging in illegal activity and did not care.”

effries allegedly paid modeling scouts to approach attractive young men with offers to become the brand’s new face, treat them to shopping trips, and send them to his Hamptons estate or various locations outside the US to be sexually abused in the guise of legitimate modeling auditions. “Each of the models were then forced to take drugs and to participate in sex acts with Jeffries and others, including Smith, all at Jeffries’ direction,” according to the suit.

The “normalcy” of this grooming process would allegedly be drilled into the models by everyone they encountered along the way, from the scouts, who sometimes demanded sex themselves, to the brand’s star photographer, Bruce Weber, who has also been accused of sexual assault by more than 20 models. Over 100 men were allegedly victimized in this way.

“Abercrombie financially benefited in that as a by-product of the sex-trafficking venture, [Abercrombie] was able to employ male models to further promote their brand image, while simultaneously keeping Jeffries happy and productive, allowing him to rebrand the company’s image and transform it into a billion-dollar industry leader,” the suit claims.

Jeffries was hired as CEO in 1992 to raise the then-moribund brand from the ashes of bankruptcy by Leslie Wexner, the founder of The Limited and former owner of Victoria’s Secret who had purchased Abercrombie four years earlier. Wexner, the only known financial advisory client of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, acted as Jeffries’ mentor as the CEO transformed the outfitter into a teen-trend powerhouse that “sizzle[d] with sex,” according to the lawsuit.

Abercrombie was “not aware of the allegations of sexual misconduct” by its former CEO, the company told CNN earlier this month in response to a BBC report in which eight men described how Jeffries and Smith had sexually exploited them, stressing that Jeffries and his team had left the company over a decade ago.

https://www.rt.com/news/586070-abercrombie-sex-trafficking-lawsuit-jeffries/

George Soros 'hates humanity' – Elon Musk

The SpaceX CEO reiterated in a podcast with Joe Rogan that the Hungarian billionaire “fundamentally hates humanity”

Prominent US Democratic Party donor George Soros is effectively trying to dismantle society, SpaceX owner Elon Musk claimed during a podcast with Joe Rogan on Tuesday. Musk slammed the liberal Hungarian billionaire for effectively “changing laws” by making sure they are not enforced.

“He’s doing things that erode the fabric of civilization,” Musk said, explaining that the current lawlessness plaguing American cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles is the result of Soros backing progressive District Attorneys who “refuse to prosecute crime.” Musk noted that the billionaire was also “pushing these things in other countries too.”

The cities mentioned by Musk have, in recent years, seen a significant spike in crime rates, which many have attributed to the election of progressive DAs like San Francisco’s Chesa Boudin. Last year, Boudin was voted out of office in a recall election after facing accusations of being too soft on criminals.

"Soros realized that you don’t actually need to change the laws; you just need to change how they’re enforced. If nobody chooses to enforce the law or the laws are differentially enforced, it’s like changing the laws,” Musk surmised.

The X (formerly Twitter) owner went on to claim that despite the 93-year-old Soros being “pretty old” and “basically a bit senile” at this point, he was nevertheless “very smart” and very good at arbitrage, figuring out that the highest “value for money” was in supporting local races rather than national election campaigns like those for the senate or the presidency.

Back in May, Musk also compared Soros to the comic-book supervillain Magneto from the X-Men series and claimed that it was wrong to assume that the Hungarian businessman had good intentions.

Earlier this month, the office of Russia’s prosecutor-general designated the Soros-funded Central European University as “undesirable” for attempting to “discredit” Russia’s political leadership and distort history.

The “so-called educational international non-governmental organization” conducts several programs that “deliberately devalue and distort the history of the Russian state, downplay the merits of prominent Russian scientists, writers, and cultural figures, and promote pseudo-scientific claims that Russia is to blame for all the world cataclysms, which is clearly not true,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.

Other Soros-affiliated NGOs have also been banned as “undesirable” organizations in Russia, which has repeatedly accused the financier of trying to meddle in its domestic affairs.

https://www.rt.com/news/586370-musk-soros-hates-humanity/

US announces ‘Islamophobia strategy’

The White House has vowed to fight hatred targeting Muslims in America

President Joe Biden’s administration will develop a strategy to combat Islamophobia in the US, the White House said on Thursday, after reports of widespread discontent among American Muslims over Washington’s support for Israel.

“President Biden ran for office to restore the soul of our nation. He is unequivocal: There is no place for hate in America against anyone. Period,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “For too long, Muslims in America, and those perceived to be Muslim, such as Arabs and Sikhs, have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks and other discriminatory incidents.”

Developing the “comprehensive and detailed plan” to protect “Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim” for any reason from “discrimination, hate, bigotry, and violence” will be a joint project of the Domestic Policy Council (DPC) and the National Security Council, in partnership with local communities, a White House official told CNN.

The NSC is led by Jake Sullivan, who penned an article for Foreign Affairs Magazine just before the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, describing the Middle East as “quieter than it has been for decades.”

In charge of the DPC is Neera Tanden, a longtime associate of Democratic strategist and advisor John Podesta. Biden originally wanted to appoint the latter head of the Office of Management and Budget, but faced opposition in the Senate.

The announcement came after Biden’s trip to Minnesota, where he met with several Muslim activists – including Attorney General Keith Ellison, a former deputy chairman of the Democratic Party. Ahead of the visit, a coalition of Muslim activists in Minnesota demanded that Biden call for a ceasefire in Gaza or face losing some 50,000 votes in the Midwestern state.

“They’ve taken us for granted,” Jaylani Hussein, a Muslim community organizer in Minnesota, told HuffPost.

“What’s happening is betrayal,” said Hassan Abdel Salam, a human rights professor in Minneapolis.

Muslims boycotting elections or switching sides could cost Biden next year in the key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia, according to HuffPost. Polls have shown a sharp drop in approval for Biden and the Democrats in general among the Muslim constituency in recent weeks. Many Muslim Democrats are now saying they won’t support Biden’s re-election or down-ballot candidates, in disapproval of the White House’s Israel strategy.

Biden has declared full support for Israel’s war on Gaza following the October 7 incursion by Hamas, despite repeated calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and growing complaints about Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians.

https://www.rt.com/news/586459-biden-islamophobia-strategy-gaza/

Israel issues ultimatum to Red Cross

The international aid organization says it ‘cannot force its way through bombs’ to visit the hostages held by Hamas

Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has criticized what he called the “unbalanced focus” of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), amid the IDF’s offensive in Gaza. He also blasted the Geneva-based aid group for failing to rescue Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.

“The Red Cross has no right to exist if it does not succeed in visiting the hostages being held captive by the Hamas,” Cohen said in a telephone conversation on Wednesday with ICRC director Miriana Spolijaric, according to a summary released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Israel has said that about 240 of its citizens were seized by Hamas in its October 7 cross-border raid, most of whom remain unaccounted for in the besieged Palestinian enclave, which has been targeted with massive retaliatory strikes by the IDF for several weeks.

“The Red Cross must act decisively and with a clear voice and utilize all leverage it has to push for a visit to the hostages as soon as possible,” Cohen said, according to the transcript, noting that “children, women and Holocaust survivors” are among the captives.

Cohen accused the aid organization of showing an “unbalanced focus” on Israel throughout the conflict. “The Red Cross’ reputation is at stake if it cannot secure a visit to those being held captive by Hamas,” he said.

The Red Cross defended its work on Thursday, with spokesperson Alyona Synenko telling NPR that “when the bombs continue to fall, it is also impossible for our teams to do their jobs.”

“For us it is a priority to get access and to visit all the hostages. The amount of suffering they endure is also unimaginable. We have been constantly calling on the Hamas authorities to give us access so that we can provide medicine, that we can give news to the families of the hostages.”

“We cannot do that unless we are given the needed humanitarian space and the access to be able to do our job,” Synenko said. “We cannot force our way through bombs. We just need all the parties to show goodwill and also to respect their obligation under the international humanitarian law.”

The Red Cross, which has been involved in supplying humanitarian aid to Gaza, has also cautioned Israel over civilian casualties – however, Cohen claimed that Israel “is bound by international law and acts in accordance with it.”

Palestinian officials say that more than 9,000 people have so far been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza, and that about 70% of those killed are children, women and the elderly.

https://www.rt.com/news/586447-israel-red-cross-hamas-hostages/

Boris Johnson wanted to let Covid kill the elderly – ex-aide

The then prime minister didn’t have the right “skill set” to handle the pandemic, an independent hearing has been told

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was fixated throughout the Covid-19 crisis on elderly people accepting their fate and saw the virus as “nature’s way of dealing with old people,” an inquiry into Downing Street’s handling of the pandemic has heard.

At a Tuesday hearing as part of the government’s inquest into Covid-19, notes from Johnson’s top science adviser, Patrick Vallance, were shared, which detailed what the aide viewed as Johnson’s “obsession” with older people accepting risks as they related to the potentially fatal virus.

The notes, dated from August 2020, detailed Vallance’s opinion that Johnson was keen to let “the young get on with life and [keep] the economy going” – which Vallance described at the time as a “quite bonkers set of exchanges.”

Vallance added in the notes: “[Johnson] says his party ‘thinks the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just nature’s way of dealing with old people, and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them. A lot of moderate people think it is a bit too much.’ [He] wants to rely on polling.”

The notes were shared during evidence given to the UK Covid-19 inquiry by Johnson’s former director of communications, Lee Cain, as part of the independent investigation into London’s response to the pandemic.

Cain told the hearing that Johnson was reluctant to impose a so-called ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown to inhibit the spread of the virus in September 2020, as this was “very much against what’s in his political DNA.” However, Cain added that his own research had indicated that the UK public’s overall desire was for a more cautious approach.

Cain added that Johnson would frequently “oscillate” between different Covid policy decisions, delaying the government’s ability to effectively respond to the pandemic, which he said he found “rather exhausting from time to time.”

“What would probably be clear in Covid,” Cain said when asked at the hearing if Johnson was the right person to lead the UK through the pandemic, “It was wrong for this prime minister’s skill set.”

Johnson’s apparent indecisiveness, as revealed in Vallance’s notes, felt like being “punched in the stomach,” said Brenda Doherty, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, according to the BBC on Tuesday.

“During the first and second waves of the pandemic the UK had one of the highest death tolls per person in the world from Covid-19 and it’s clear just how personally responsible for that he was,” Doherty said.

Johnson, who announced the inquiry during his prime ministership in May 2021, has not commented publicly on the evidence detailed at the hearings this week, but a spokesperson said the former PM is “cooperating fully” with the inquiry. Johnson, as well as current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, are expected to give evidence later this year.

Per the data available online, 230,669 people have died from Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. The majority of deaths involved people aged 75 or over.

https://www.rt.com/news/586365-uk-johnson-elderly-covid-hearing/