Child sex abuse in Pakistan’s religious schools is endemic

48 minutes ago

"PAKPATTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Muhimman proudly writes his name slowly, carefully, one letter at a time, grinning broadly as he finishes. He’s just 11 years old and was a good student who had dreams of being a doctor.

School frightens him now. Earlier this year, a cleric at the religious school he faithfully attended in the southern Punjab town of Pakpattan took him into a washroom and tried to rape him. Muhimman’s aunt, Shazia, who wanted only her first name used, said she believes the abuse of young children is endemic in Pakistan’s religious schools. She said she has known the cleric, Moeed Shah, since she was a little girl and describes him as an habitual abuser who used to ask little girls to pull up their shirts.

“He has done wrong with boys and also with two or three girls,” Shazia said, recalling one girl the cleric brutalized so badly he broke her back.

An investigation by The Associated Press found dozens of police reports, known here as First Information Reports, alleging sexual harassment, rape and physical abuse by Islamic clerics teaching in madrassas or religious schools throughout Pakistan, where many of the country’s poorest study. The AP also documented cases of abuse through interviews with law enforcement officials, abuse victims and their parents. The alleged victims who spoke for this story did so with the understanding only their first names would be used.

There are more than 22,000 registered madrassas in Pakistan, teaching more than 2 million children. But there are many more religious schools that are unregistered. They are typically started by a local cleric in a poor neighborhood, attracting students with a promise of a meal and free lodging. There is no central body of clerics that governs madrassas. Nor is there a central authority that can investigate or respond to allegations of abuse by clerics, unlike the Catholic Church, which has a clear hierarchy topped by the Vatican.

The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has promised to modernize the curriculum and make the madrassas more accountable, but there is little oversight.

Police say the problem of sexual abuse of children by clerics is pervasive and the scores of police reports they have received are just the tip of the iceberg. Yet despite the dozens of reports, none have resulted in the conviction of a cleric. Religious clerics are a powerful group in Pakistan and they close ranks when allegations of abuse are brought against one of them. They have been able to hide the widespread abuse by accusing victims of blasphemy or defamation of Islam."

moar:

https://apnews.com/8fe530dc76beb1893b3b52af88cf99dd

and here we go

China Steps Up Border Controls to Stem Virus Cases From

Russia

Bloomberg News

April 13, 2020, 1:43 AM EDT

"China’s northernmost province is stepping up border controls to stave off infections from neighboring Russia, as a growing number of Chinese returning from there with the novel coronavirus threaten to trigger a new hotspot at home.

Heilongjiang province said it has begun around-the-clock patrols of its border with Russia, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday. China and Russia already agreed last week to close the Suifen River port on the border, the main checkpoint for land transit.

China Faces Fresh Virus Threat From Its Border With Russia

After China tamed its coronavirus outbreak using draconian lockdowns, it is now pivoting toward staving off cases from elsewhere, with Russia emerging as one of the biggest sources of such imported infections. China isn’t alone in facing new cases from abroad – others including Singapore and Australia are seeing increased infections as their governments bring citizens home from abroad to protect them from outbreaks in those nations.

While the about 2,000-mile border is now effectively closed, the province is boosting its efforts to secure the region. Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, tightened its rules over the weekend by extending quarantine periods for certain visitors to 28 days."

moar:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-13/china-steps-up-border-controls-to-stem-virus-cases-from-russia

Schiff worries Trump will ‘reward his own businesses

during pandemic response

"Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has expressed concern that, without proper oversight, Donald Trump could use the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic to enrich his own companies.

"In the absence of oversight, you can pretty much guarantee you're going to get corruption and competence and malfeasance," Mr Schiff, House Democrats' lead impeachment investigator last year, said in an interview with MSNBC on Sunday.

"The more that [the president] is neutering the inspector generals … increases the risk that Donald Trump uses this money to reward his own businesses or businesses of allies and punishes companies that are run by people he doesn't like or won't praise him," Mr Schiff said.

The $2.2trn economic stimulus package that became law in March contains a clause prohibiting businesses owned by the president, federal lawmakers, and other US officials to access federal aid programmes.

And Mr Trump cannot unilaterally dissolve the oversight bodies that are intended to act as a check on his White House team's coronavirus response and other aspects of his administration."

moar:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-coronavirus-response-us-schiff-businesses-latest-a9461646.html

Virus may dash Trump's plan for a 'big bang' economic

opening

Updated 2:56 AM ET, Mon April 13, 2020

"(CNN)President Donald Trump almost certainly won't get his "big bang" reopening of the frozen economy.

His hopes for a sharp rebound in the summer of his reelection year are likely to be dashed by the science of a virus that is highly contagious, for which there is no vaccine and no proven therapies.

Furthermore, many state governors and big city mayors — who so far retain more public trust over their management of the crisis than Trump — are nervous about a premature end to stay-at-home orders. Trump can't simply force them to open up.

And the administration itself appears far short of the readiness required to reopen the country safely. Mass testing capabilities needed to underwrite a staged return to normal life before the pandemic is contained are nowhere near needed levels.

There is also no sign of a government plan for how vital functions like air and surface transport can safely resume without triggering a new wave of mass infections.

Trump, however, appears increasingly keen to get everyone back to work, or at least is laying the groundwork to blame others if it can't happen, once again suggesting amid criticism of his leadership that states, and not Washington, should be in the lead."

moar:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/13/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-economy-testing/index.html

Trump retweets #firefauci tweet, raises speculation of a

frayed relationship

Published 13 mins ago

"President Trump sparked speculation about his relationship with the country's top disease expert Sunday night after he retweeted a post that called for the doctor's job.

Trump used statements from Dr. Anthony Fauci in February in an effort to prove that a recent New York Times report that said he was slow to act on the coronavirus outbreak was "fake news."

GET THE LATEST ON THE CORONAVIRUS

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was asked about the report on CNN and admitted that earlier action could have saved more lives. The Times' report said Trump played down the seriousness of the virus throughout January.

FAUCI 'CAN'T GUARANTEE' PHYSICAL VOTING WILL BE SAFE IN NOVEMBER

DeAnna Lorraine, a former Republican congressional candidate, called out Fauci in her own tweet and said he told people in late February that "there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large. Time to #FireFauci."

Trump seized on Lorraine’s tweet as evidence of “fake news,” from the Times. Trump implied that if there were widespread concerns about the virus in the White House in January, surely Fauci would have known in late February.

"Sorry Fake News, it's all on tape. I banned China long before people spoke up," Trump tweeted, before thanking One News Network. Trump's tweet linked to Lorraine's tweet that called for Fauci's ouster."

moar:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-retweets-firefauci-tweet-raising-speculation-of-a-frayed-relationship

Trump thanks Russian President and Saudi Crown Prince

for striking big deal to stabilise oil prices

Apr 13 (PTI)

"US President Donald Trump has thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud for striking a "big" deal with other major crude producers to slash oil production in a bid to stabilise a market that has been jolted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Global oil demand is estimated to have fallen by a third as more than three billion people are locked down in their homes in countries like India due to the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed over 100,000 lives and infected over 1,850,000 across the world.

An oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic had threatened to put producers in the US out of business, jeopardising the jobs of thousands of Americans. This forced President Trump to intervene.

Members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies announced on Sunday that they have agreed to slash production by 9.7 million barrels a day in May and June. The slashing of the global output by about 10 per cent is among the deepest cuts ever agreed to by the world''s oil producers.

Trump spoke with the two leaders over phone, the White House said on Sunday.

In separate readouts of the call, the White House said Trump welcomed the commitment by Russia and Saudi Arabia to return oil production to levels consistent with global energy and financial market stability.

Trump thanked the two leaders for working with each other, and other oil producing states to calm global energy markets, the White House said."

moar:

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/trump-thanks-russian-president-and-saudi-crown-prince-for-striking-big-deal-to-stabilise-oil-prices/1800573

Former Senate staffer accuses Joe Biden of sexual assault

Published: April 13, 2020

WASHINGTON — A former aide to Joe Biden is accusing the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee of sexually assaulting her during the early 1990s when he was a senator. Biden's campaign denies the charges.

In two recent interviews with The Associated Press, Tara Reade alleged the assault occurred in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building in the spring of 1993. She filed a police report in Washington on Thursday saying she was the victim of a sexual assault by an unnamed person in 1993, a copy of which was obtained by the AP.

It's not the first time Reade has made an accusation against the former vice president. Last year, Reade publicly accused Biden of inappropriate touching, but did not allege sexual assault.

In a statement, Biden deputy campaign manager and communications director Kate Bedingfield said the former vice president has "dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women," pointing to his work passing the Violence Against Women Act.

She said "he firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully," but added: "Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press."

"What is clear about this claim: it is untrue. This absolutely did not happen," Bedingfield said.

Reade's charge comes at a pivotal time for Biden. The former vice president is seeking to unify the Democratic Party behind his campaign as the party's presumptive presidential nominee after Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the primary last week. Women are a crucial voting bloc for Democrats and any erosion of support for Biden could sink his candidacy in the fall."

moar:

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/former-senate-staffer-accuses-joe-biden-of-sexual-assault-1.625861

Is Joe Biden's 2020 presidential race in jeopardy after sex

assault complaint?

April 13, 2020

"A former aide's allegations of sexual assault against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, might spell trouble for his upcoming campaign to become the next US President.

Joe Biden accused of sexual assault

Tara Reade, a woman who briefly worked as an aide for former Vice President, filed a complaint stating that Biden sexually assaulted her in the 1990s, as previously reported.

Reade alleged that the incident took place in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building in the spring of 1993. She filed a criminal complaint in Washington last week claiming she was the victim of a sexual assault by an unnamed person, later confirmed to be Biden."

moar:

https://www.ibtimes.sg/joe-bidens-2020-presidential-race-jeopardy-after-sex-assault-complaint-42934

anon plays for keeps

IN SHADOW - A Modern Odyssey - Animated Short Film

Nov 13, 2017 2,678,563 views

< - - - - 13:00 Youtube video that every anon should see

"Embark on a visionary journey through the fragmented unconscious of our modern times, and with courage face the Shadow. Through Shadow into Light."

DOD LEAK: Feds Investigated Birx & CDC Director for

“Scientific Fraud & Misconduct”; Fabricated, Falsified

HIV/AIDS Vaccine Trials

3 HOURS AGO

"Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, and Dr. Deborah Birx — the Coronavirus Coordinator for the White House — were the targets of a damning Department of Defense investigation after colleagues in the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force blew the whistle on scientific fraud during clinical trials of a HIV/AIDS vaccine.

Thomas Paine unveiled unredacted internal documents from the Dept. of Defense on the Moore Paine Show on Patreon and on the Thomas Paine Podcast detailing the probe and the scandal in the government’s medical community. Redfield, as the lead on the Army’s HIV/AIDS vaccine project, who was assisted by Birx, — according to the DOD documents, the project was plagued by manipulation of data, inapropriate statistical analyses, and falsified data presentation and publication to attempt to get a faulty vaccine approved by the FDA to treat HIV patients. Paine unveils the documents which to put it lightly, are damning. The question is: How did Redfield end up running the CDC and why if Birx, an Obama appointee with such a shady medical history, running the White House Coronavirus coordination? Listen below

“These two should have been fired and prosecuted,” Paine said. “These documents are a nightmare. What did the DOD do? They covered the whole thing up to get millions of dollars in research funding from Congress and great publicity from the media and medical community before it all came crashing down.” Listen below"

moar paine:

https://truepundit.com/dod-leak-feds-investigated-birx-fabricated-falsified-hiv-aids-vaccine-trials/

>>8776905

the next bread will be croissants!