Sex Trafficking: A Form of Modern-Day Slavery

All forms of modern-day slavery affect an estimated 40 million or more people worldwide – mostly women and young girls, ongoing in scores of countries, including America and other Western nations.

Human trafficking and forced labor in the US exists mainly in the following forms: prostitution, pornography, and related sex services, domestic indentured servitude, agricultural slavery, industrial sweatshops, exploited restaurant and hotel workers, entertainment exploitation, and involuntary mail-order brides.

The above practices persist for lack of enforcement of laws and regulations, poor or no work conditions monitoring, and a strong demand for cheap labor, enabling unscrupulous employers and criminal networks to exploit powerless workers for profit.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines forced labor as “work or service…exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which said person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.”

Forced child labor is:

“(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labor, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;”

“(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;”

“(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;” and

“(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.”

US laws against sex and other forms of human trafficking include:

The 1910 Mann Act prohibits trafficking individuals across state lines to engage in prostitution or related offenses.

The 1930 Tariff Act includes provisions, prohibiting imports of goods made from forced labor. The 2009 Customs and Facilitations and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act has similar provisions.

The 2000 Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act combats trafficking in persons, especially for sex, slavery, and involuntary servitude.

The 2003 PROTECT Act protects children from human trafficking and sexual exploitation

https://www.globalresearch.ca/sex-trafficking-modern-day-slavery/5670291

MAGA Hat-wearing Voter Sues Texas for Blocking From Voting

A Dallas-area man is suing in federal court to overturn a Texas election law after an election official insisted in November 2018 that he turn the MAGA hat he was wearing inside out at a polling precinct or face a misdemeanor charge.

The lawsuit asserts that the U.S. Constitution’s free speech provisions guarantee the right of voters to wear clothing that expresses their political beliefs on Election Day, including in locations where voting takes place.

But Texas law limits what can be worn inside and around polling places and “suffers from erratic and arbitrary enforcement,” according to the man’s legal complaint. The law prevents “the wearing of any apparel bearing an image that could be construed as relating to any person or issue that has been, currently is, or could be on a Texas ballot.” Election officials in the state have broad discretion to make on-the-spot judgments about the acceptability of items of clothing and have the authority to issue arrest warrants.

Attorney Wen Fa of the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a complaint for injunctive and declaratory relief and nominal damages in U.S. District Court in Houston on Feb. 28, on behalf of Anthony “Tony” Ortiz, who wore a “Make America Great Again” hat when he went to vote. Although President Trump was not on the ballot, the MAGA slogan is associated with him. The complaint alleges that Ortiz’s First Amendment free speech rights and Fourteenth Amendment due process rights were violated and that the Texas law itself violates the U.S. Constitution.

Fa told The Epoch Times in an interview that election officials’ conduct towards Ortiz was “very troubling.” The law “really stifles quite a bit of speech” and “opens up the door for viewpoint discrimination.”

“He wanted to express his political leanings by wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat – and what better time to do that than on Election Day. This rule is similar to a rule that prohibits people from saying ‘Merry Christmas’ on December 25th.”

According to the complaint, an election official approached Ortiz while he was waiting in line and instructed him to turn his hat inside out or his act of “electioneering” would prevent him from voting. Ortiz objected, noting that his hat did not identify a party or candidate on the current ballot. Ortiz eventually left the polling station and returned later without the hat and was allowed to vote.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/maga-hat-wearing-voter-sues-texas-for-blocking-from-voting_2823100.html

How People Can Reset The Financial System On Their Own

We have often heard the predictions that the currency system will be reset at some point when the bankers can no longer keep the current ponzi scheme going. The current scheme involves the ability of the bankers to convince the population that pieces of paper rolling off a machine or digits created on a computer screen are real wealth. The education system has been successful in that regard.

Very few people actually understand what real wealth is or anything about economics. They have been led to believe that these things are too complicated for them to understand and it should be left to the experts. These same experts get richer as everyone else gets poorer. That is the way they have rigged the system.

Resetting the system and taking these con artists out of the loop can be as easy as refusing to accept paper or electronic money and only accepting gold and silver for payments. This sounds crazy on the surface but it is not impossible to do and it must be done before they can transition completely into electronic payment systems. Once they transition into electronic payments they will be able to control everything you do and buy.

If they do not want you to own guns or ammo they can simply ban all of these types of transactions. If they do not want you to buy gold or silver they can ban those transactions. If they do not want you to stockpile food they can limit how much you buy from week to week. With no way to buy outside of the electronic system, you will be totally under their control even more than you are now.

The simple way to bypass the control mechanisms meant to control you is to have a medium of exchange that is universal so it cannot be controlled by any one person or group. Many people see the block chain system as a good way to go because it is secure but there is something you need to keep in mind. This system requires the use of electronic systems to process and transmit these digital units. Those who control the electronic systems control the flow of digits. You may have a wallet full of coins but if you cannot connect to the person you want to trade with, how much are they really worth?

A system that cannot be controlled by anyone has been around for millennia. That system is gold and silver. The free market constantly adjusts the value of these metals when they are used as money. They are time tested and proven methods of exchange and stores of wealth.

A population that wishes to rid itself of the corrupt money makers has only to begin using gold and silver as the primary means of exchange. To be useful these metals must be present in sufficient quantities to act as an exchange mechanism in society. This means that individuals must exchange some of their fiat currency for these metals while they still can. With as little as two ounces of gold and twenty ounces of silver per household, the population of an area would have the quantities necessary to transition to a pure monetary system. At current prices three thousand dollars per household would set the population free of bankers and rigged monetary systems.

While this much gold and silver may not sound like very much you need to remember that since 1913 the dollar has been devalued by over 97%. The value of this much gold and silver one hundred years ago was quite substantial for a household to have. With the elimination of inflated currency the prices of goods can return to their real value in terms of gold and silver.

The only thing standing in the way of a new monetary system based on gold and silver is the population itself. The lack of understanding by the average person will ultimately doom society to the poverty and loss of freedom defined by fiat currencies. Until this changes, society will continue to suffer at the hands of those who control the production and flow of currency.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/how-people-can-reset-the-financial-system-on-their-own/

Hillary Clinton: ‘Racist and White Supremacist Views Are Lifted Up’ in the White House

Sunday after receiving The International Unity Award in Selma, Alabama, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton claimed “racist and white supremacist views are lifted up in the media and the White House.”

Clinton said, “This is a time my friends when fundamental rights, civic virtue, the freedom of the press, the rule of law, truth, facts and reason are under assault. And make no mistake, we are living through a full-fledged crisis in our democracy. Now there may not be —thank God— tanks in the streets but what’s happening goes to the heart of who we are as a nation.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2019/03/03/hillary-clinton-racist-and-white-supremacist-views-are-lifted-up-in-the-white-house/

Mexican Feds Arrest Gulf Cartel Boss Tied to Bloody Turf War

Mexican federal authorities arrested the top leader of a faction of the Gulf Cartel. Authorities allege the cartel boss is partially responsible for the ongoing violence in various border cities as part of a turf war.

The arrest took place in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi where investigators with Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office tracked down and arrested Jose Alfredo “El Contador” Cardenas Martinez, a prepared agency statement revealed. Cardenas is the leader of a top faction of the Gulf Cartel commonly known as Escorpiones. The faction reportedly controls the border city of Matamoros immediately south of Brownsville Texas. Federal authorities revealed that Cardenas is wanted in Tamaulipas on kidnapping, robbery, and other charges related to activities of the Gulf Cartel.

Soon after the arrest, Tamaulipas Governor Francisco Cabeza de Vaca issued a statement thanking the Mexican federal government for their help in capturing Cardenas. The cartel leader is expected to be turned over to Tamaulipas authorities to face trial.

Mexican Marines arrested Cardenas in February 2018 in Matamoros. However, a Mexican federal judge in Altiplano ruled that his arrest was illegal in nature and released him, Breitbart News reported at the time. Cardenas is the nephew of former Gulf Cartel supreme leader and founder of Los Zetas Osiel Cardenas Guillen who is currently in a U.S. federal prison serving a 25-year-prison sentence.

The man known as El Contador has been leading a fierce turf war with a rival faction of the Gulf Cartel known as Los Metros over control of the border city of Reynosa. The area is located immediately south of the Texas cities of McAllen, Hidalgo, Pharr, and Mission. The fighting between the two factions led to hundreds of murders and fierce hours-long firefights involving dozens of SUVs filled with cartel gunmen, Breitbart News reported.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/03/03/mexican-feds-arrest-gulf-cartel-boss-tied-to-bloody-turf-war/

Feeling ‘betrayed’ by UK, ‘Novichok’ victim’s son writes letter to PUTIN

Ewan Hope, the son of Amesbury poisoning victim Dawn Sturgess, has written a letter to Vladimir Putin, saying that the Russian leader is his only hope to bring justice for his mother as the UK government has abandoned his family.

"It is almost a year since my mother Dawn was killed by novichok in Salisbury and the pain never goes away for me or my family," Hope said in his letter to the Russian president, published by The Mirror.

"I am appealing to you as a human being," he wrote, asking Putin to allow the UK investigators to question two Russian nationals, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.

Hope also said that he wrote to Putin because he was "desperate," and believes the Russian leader to be "the only man who can make sure justice prevails."

"I feel betrayed and let down by the [UK] Government," the 20-year-old confessed, adding that his mother was "an innocent victim, but we've never heard anything from [UK Prime Minister] Theresa May or the Government – not a phone call, a letter, or anything. We haven't even heard from our MP. We just find out things on the news the same as everyone else."

London believes Petrov and Boshirov to be the operatives of Russian Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU), which the UK has accused of poisoning the double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last March. It has also claimed the very same substance killed Sturgess months later.

Sturgess passed away in hospital in July 2018 after spraying herself with the contents of a bottle that her friend, Charlie Rowley, found and took for expensive Nina Ricci perfume. London asserts the vial was used by the Russian agents in the Skripal attack and had the so-called Novichok (A-234) nerve agent inside.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incidents, saying that the UK authorities have falsely accused Russia to achieve political goals at home. It also suggested that the poisonings may be connected to leaks from the Porton Down chemical laboratory, located in the area. Petrov and Boshirov for their part have insisted that they were simple tourists, who had nothing to do with the GRU, and that their lives were ruined by London’s claims.

When questioned about Hope’s letter, the Russian embassy in London told media that "We feel deep sympathy towards Mr Hope. Just like him, we would like to see his mother's death to be fully investigated."

The embassy grilled the UK authorities over their unwillingness to support their accusations against Russia with evidence as they instead "prefer to feed the public with multiple leaks, while refusing to confirm or deny them."

"Now it turns out that even the closest relatives of those affected are kept in the dark over what actually happened, and they have to seek truth in Russia," it said.

Also on Saturday, the Russian mission published a long press-release on the Skripal saga, showing in detail how Britain has refused to cooperate with Russia on the case. According to the paper, out of 41 diplomatic requests and questions by Moscow regarding the fate of the Skipals and the investigation, only one was fulfilled by London, while 36 were "ignored,""denied" or met with an "unsatisfactory" response.

The whereabouts of Sergei and Yulia Skripal remains unknown since they left the Salisbury hospital last May after recovering from the poisoning. Moscow said that the UK special services have been holding the Russian citizens by force as diplomats are being denied access to them.

https://www.rt.com/news/452934-uk-russia-skripal-sturgess-putin/

Sperm Smuggling: Cops Foil Plot to Sell Wagyu Beef Semen, Eggs to China

Japanese and Chinese authorities are currently investigating a case in which a farmer in western Japan is suspected of selling sperm and fertilized eggs from prized wagyu beef cattle to a Japanese man who attempted to smuggle the biological materials in to China.

In February, an unidentified livestock farmer in Tokushima Prefecture told police that he sold several million sperm and eggs for the highly-valued Wagyu beef cattle to a stranger, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Soon after, Chinese authorities apprehended a Japanese man carrying the wagyu sperm and eggs in straw-like containers in July last year and prevented him from entering the country. The Japanese man told police that he was asked by an acquaintance to carry the sperm and eggs into the country. However, police believe that the smuggler is a different individual than the one who bought the sperm and eggs from the Tokushima farmer.

Both the farmer and smuggler involved in the incident did not follow correct procedures to sell cattle sperm and eggs and to export them, authorities reported.

In December 2018, a man was caught by Chinese customs officers in Shanghai, China, carrying a container with hundreds of fertilized eggs taken from Wagyu beef cows, according to Japanese wire agency Jiji Press.

According to Japan's agricultural ministry, some plant varieties developed by Japanese farmers, including strawberries and muscatel grapes, have been smuggled to other countries.

Wagyu is one of the four specialized breeds of Japanese beef cattle. Demand for wagyu beef is on the rise, especially in Asian countries like Taiwan, which purchases around one-fifth of Japanese beef exports every year, Vice reported. The meat, rich in omega 3, is often called the "Rolls-Royce of beef" and can cost as much as $283 per kilogram in foreign markets.

https://sputniknews.com/society/201903041072922829-cops-foil-plot-to-sell-wagyu-beef/

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