539 arrested in massive human trafficking operation in California

Law enforcement authorities released information about a massive operation targeting human traffickers that led to more than 500 arrests.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said in a media briefing Monday that police had arrested 539 people in the criminal operation.

“Human trafficking and child exploitation are devastating crimes that prey on some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” the sheriff said.

Police rescued 54 adults and 11 children from exploitation during the action dubbed Operation Reclaim and Rebuild, he added. 40 of the arrested were suspected “sexual traffickers or exploiters” while another 271 arrested were suspected “sex buyers.” Among those rescued was a 14-year-old girl.

He went on to say that the operation was in its tenth year and ended in January, known as human trafficking awareness month, but that police worked all year to arrest human traffickers.

Joining Luna at the media briefing was controversial Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who won his position with financial help from left-wing billionaire George Soros. Residents of Los Angeles have vehemently criticized Soros over soft prosecutorial policies that they say have led to an increase in crime.

The operation included more than 95 local, state, and federal agencies, including the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force.

Alan Smyth, the CEO of human trafficking advocacy group Saving Innocence, said that his group saw an uptick in human trafficking ahead of the World Series baseball championships in Los Angeles in 2020, and they expected to see the same ahead of the NFL Super Bowl.

Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the purpose of the operation was to “send a message to pimps, exploiters and buyers that it is unacceptable to buy another human being for sexual purposes.”

Read more: theblaze.com

Exclusive: As Communist Nicaragua Tries to Eradicate Christianity, Persecuted U.S. Pastor Leads ‘Massive Move of God’

An American pastor wanted on dubious charges by the communist government of Nicaragua told Breitbart News on Wednesday that he believes his organization, Mountain Gateway, is the latest victim in a growing campaign to eradicate Christianity in the majority-Christian country.

Pastor Jon Britton Hancock explained that the Sandinista government told Mountain Gateway it was facing charges of “money laundering” and “organized crime” but has not published an indictment or clarified the alleged evidence backing the charges. Speaking to Breitbart News this week, Hancock confirmed that the Nicaraguan government is obstructing due process to such a degree that his organization does not even have the charging documents that say what crimes it allegedly committed. There is no public indictment. The imprisoned have been denied reasonable access to a legal defense. And the patterns of repressive behavior that Ortega has adopted against Christians suggest to Hancock that this is yet another case of Christian persecution in Nicaragua.

The arrests, Hancock said, interrupted a rapidly swelling wave of Christian fervor in the nation that Mountain Gateway was intimately involved in stirring.

“We saw a massive move of God involving hundreds of thousands of people. That has been a tremendous influence in the hearts of the people of Nicaragua,” Hancock said.

Police arrested 11 pastors associated with Mountain Gateway in December: Walner Omier Blandón Ochoa, Maricela de Fátima Mejía Ruiz, Marcos Sergio Hernández Jirón, Harry Lening Rios Bravo, Manuel de Jesús Ríos Flores, José Luis Orozco Urrutia, Álvaro Daniel Escobar Caldera, Juan Carlos Chavarría Zapata, Juan Luis Moncada, Orvin Alexis Moncada Castellano, and César Facundo Burgalin Miranda.

They have also sought the arrest of Hancock, his son Jacob Britton Hancock, and daughter-in-law Cassandra Mae Hancock, all American citizens who work in Christian ministry.

In a press release on Wednesday, Mountain Gateway emphasized that it “does not understand the complexity of what is happening” and especially questioned why 9 of the 11 pastors arrested remain behind bars when the Nicaraguan government itself says they “are innocent, but claims they were under the control of the three U.S. citizens and two of the imprisoned Nicaraguan pastors.”

“It’s hard to understand this allegation because the government has viewed and approved our funding as it entered the country,” Hancock told Breitbart News this week. “We have documentation outlining our submission for approval of ministry operations funds and for those funds’ approval.”

The anti-Christian context of the political situation in Nicaragua suggests that the charges are part of a greater ambition to erase the faith from the country. In 2018, massive anti-communist protests erupted in the country, peaceful in nature and often backed by local priests in Catholic communities. Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, responded with outsized violence, killing more than 300 people. The visible presence of the Catholic Church in supporting the protests led Ortega to declare the Vatican a terrorist organization and accuse it of attempting to stage a coup against his regime – even as the Vatican largely remained silent and the opposition voices were local Nicaraguan priests.

Read more at: breitbart.com

Senator John Kennedy Introduces Bill to Stop Government From Using Aborted Babies for Research

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) in introducing the Protecting Life and Integrity in Research Act.

The bill would prohibit federal departments, agencies and offices from conducting, funding or approving research involving human fetal tissue obtained through an induced abortion. It would not prohibit the development of new, high-efficiency cell lines, as long as those lines do not derive from fetal tissue researchers gain access to because of an abortion.

“It’s unconscionable that our government would use American taxpayer dollars to fund research that exploits or depends on the taking of innocent life. If the Biden administration won’t stop this immorality, Congress should,” said Kennedy.

“The harvesting and trafficking of the body parts of unborn babies killed through abortion is heinous and unethical. Taxpayer dollars for medical research should be spent on research that will deliver results for enhancing quality of life, instead of devaluing life for the sake of research. This legislation would stop the Biden administration’s gross abuse of taxpayer funds,” said Hyde-Smith.

Read more at: lifenews.com

16-year-old showed no remorse after stabbing friend to death over dispute about McDonald’s sweet and sour sauce, police say

Prosecutors said that a teenage girl showed no remorse after killing her friend over a dispute about sweet and sour sauce from a McDonald’s fast food restaurant in Washington, D.C.

The 16-year-old was convicted for stabbing Naima Liggon, also 16 years old, in August after a house party they had attended. On Thursday, she was given the maximum sentence allowed and will stay in custody until she turns 21 years old.

Prosecutors said text messages she sent after the stabbing showed she had no remorse for her actions. They also said that surveillance video showed the girl could have simply walked back into the McDonald’s for more sweet and sour sauce.

The defense tried to argue that the girl acted only in self-defense because two people were trying to jump her. They also claimed that was had experienced past trauma and had been triggered in the lethal reaction.

Naima’s mother, Joy Liggon, responded to those claims in an interview with WRC-TV outside the courtroom.

“I don’t know what this young lady went through,” she said. “I don’t know what her life experience was, but I know she committed a crime, and she took someone away from my family.”

“That she called a friend,” added Wallace Liggon, the father of the victim.

The teenager issued a statement to the Liggons in court.

“Sorry to the friends and family. I am sorry to cause you this pain,” she said in part. “I still think about the victim and I want to apologize to Naima’s mother. I am a very genuine person and I’m not a bad person.”

Joy Liggon went on to say that she was relieved the girl got the maximum sentence but added that it wasn’t enough. She had asked for prosecutors to file a first-degree murder charge, but instead, they agreed to a plea deal with the girl for a lower charge.

“You have to realize that your kids have free will and free choice to do what they want, so just keep encouraging them to do the right thing,” she continued. “Walk away from conflict. Some things are just not that serious — definitely sweet and sour sauce.”

Read more at: theblaze.com

Pope Francis advocates for powerful global government not subject to ‘changing political conditions’

Highlighting his desire for a supra-national body to ensure that “climate change” measures are implemented, Pope Francis wrote:

The issue is that they [unspecified global organizations] must be endowed with real authority, in such a way as to “provide for” the attainment of certain essential goals. In this way, there could come about a multilateralism that is not dependent on changing political conditions or the interests of a certain few, and possesses a stable efficacy.

The papal comments came halfway through his newly published Laudate Deum, which comes eight years after Laudato Si’ and forms a second part to that first ecological text. Writing about the “weakness of international politics,” Francis highlighted “multilateralism.”

Quoting from his own 2020 Fratelli Tutti, Francis stated that “it is not helpful to confuse multilateralism with a world authority concentrated in one person or in an elite with excessive power: ‘When we talk about the possibility of some form of world authority regulated by law, we need not necessarily think of a personal authority.’”

Such a “world authority” would be “more effective world organizations, equipped with the power to provide for the global common good, the elimination of hunger and poverty and the sure defence of fundamental human right,” he said, directly drawing from Fratelli Tutti.

Francis expanded in his desire for an international ruling body when he declared that society “ought to exercise a healthy ‘pressure,’ since every family ought to realize that the future of their children is at stake,” in relation to the “high risk” of not taking action on “climate change.”

Consequently, the Pope thus argued in favor of implementing decisions from the upcoming COP28 climate conference in an unprecedented, mandatory manner. He posited hope for humanity as being linked to a successful COP28 event:

If there is sincere interest in making COP28 a historic event that honors and ennobles us as human beings, then one can only hope for binding forms of energy transition that meet three conditions: that they be efficient, obligatory and readily monitored.

This, in order to achieve the beginning of a new process marked by three requirements: that it be drastic, intense and count on the commitment of all. That is not what has happened so far, and only a process of this sort can enable international politics to recover its credibility, since only in this concrete manner will it be possible to reduce significantly carbon dioxide levels and to prevent even greater evils over time.

As on previous occasions, Francis expressed a desire for a re-organizing of the international sphere, arguing that it is continually “regrettable that global crises are being squandered when they could be the occasions to bring about beneficial changes.”

Read more at: lifesitenews.com

Sodom and Gomorrah is being imposed on citizens by allegedly representative governments

The collapse of Western civilization and its replacement with woke Satanism has proceeded so rapidly that not even I, who expected it, can keep up with it.

Stephen Karganovic writing in Global Research brings to our attention five of the many insane woke policies that have been implemented in Canada, California, and Great Britain.  This is not a joke.  This is very real:

    1. In order to maintain the fiction that in their attributes men and women are physiologically indistinguishable, the Canadian government has mandated the installation of tampon dispensers in men’s bathrooms. The empirical fact that men have no use for tampons is trumped by ideology, which dictates categorically that they do because it is dogmatically prescribed that men do menstruate and are furthermore able to give birth to babies. People who believe themselves to be something they are not, and claim that their subjective self-perception overrides reality, are politically empowered to cancel empirical observation and the conclusions reached by scientists who perform accurate, verifiable research.

2. Also on the ideological reality chopping block is terminology that points to pre-woke, common sense notions about natural relations between human beings. “Mother” and “father, “expressions that allude to the manifestly different roles of parents in the process of conception and nurture of offspring, in the woke-controlled universe have been forcibly replaced by designations “parent no. 1” and “parent no. 2,” invented to hide those facts. Now the Methodist Church of Great Britain has gone a step farther, to label terms “husband” and “wife” offensive. Inspired by inclusivity, the technical rationale for this departure from normalcy is “to avoid making assumptions” that are not “the reality for many people.”

3. The avant-garde state of California has passed a law that takes effect this year, AB 1084, requiring large retail stores to include gender neutral toy sections or face fines and other punishments. The new law will place an additional undue burden on retailers and will have the foreseeable economic impact of raising the price of toys generally for normal families and their children. Incidentally, it is anybody’s guess what the definition of gender neutral toys is and whether there is a market for such items. But in a parallel universe governed by ideological delusions these are inconsequential details.

4. In Britain, the country where the novel 1984, which introduced the notion of thought crime, had been written, the first literal thought crime prosecutions have recently been instituted. Isabel Vaughan Spruce, Director of UK March for Life, so far has been cited by the police three times and taken to court for silently praying in front of abortion clinics. Readers should note that her arrests were triggered not by speech or conduct but for an “objectionable” activity that was purely mental. British authorities did not contest her right as a citizen (or royal subject, if you wish) to be in the public space where she was detained. Detention and prosecution were based entirely on their perception of what allegedly was going on in her mind, in the proximity of an abortion clinic, which the authorities considered might be provocative and perturbing to the consumers of the clinic’s services. Readers should be aware that in common law the concept of thought transgression does not exist and that so far the British Parliament has not given statutory expression to such an offence. Nevertheless, an actual person presumably endowed with human rights has been subjected to persecution for objectively unprovable thoughts in order to enforce a legally non-existent norm. But that is the new normal, the rules based order of woke jurisprudence now taking shape in the land that once prided itself on upholding the “rights of Englishmen,” no matter how eccentric. Even the KGB in the old days could not have made this up.

5. Returning to avant-garde California, award-winning Glendale fifth-grade teacher Ray Shelton was suspended for refusing to acquiesce to male students who “identify” as girls stripping naked in front of female students in the girls’ changing room. For opposing the transgender agenda in his school Shelton lost his job. It made no difference that female students and their parents fully supported him and also vehemently objected to these aggressive displays of opposite sex nudity. Glendale happens to be a heavily Armenian suburb of Los Angeles and its overwhelmingly normal residents are unacculturated to progressive Western values. They reacted with consternation to the state-orchestrated sexualisation of their children. Their protests, however, were to no avail. Shelton is now suing the state for damages. Good luck, in the judicial system of the deranged state of California.

If I may, I will tell you what this means. It means that everything previously considered normal, moral, legal, and totally defensible is now suspect, indefensible and criminalized.

The most massive coup in world history has been accomplished. No one in the West has any rights except those our woke conquerors approve, and they are the rights of the abnormal, the immoral, and the sexual perverted. Christians and adherents of Islam are regarded as terrorists against the Satanic order. If you don’t believe that male humans menstruate and can have babies, you are guilty of placing biological fact higher than woke ideology and are an enemy of the people.

The Average American, Englishman, French, German, Canadian, Australian citizen is too insouciant to have any understanding that his culture and moral values have been replaced by those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Very few comprehend that normal beliefs and behavior have been criminalized.

Read more at: naturalnews.com

Prices Are Up 17.6% Since Joe Biden-flation Took Office

A recent estimate puts the price increase since Joe Biden took office at 17.6%. Don’t buy what Joe is selling on inflation — it’s not down, and you are still paying way more for the basics.

One piece of deceptive wordplay going around right now, even on some right-leaning websites, is that inflation has gone down. This statement is deceptive because it is really the rate of inflation that has slowed. Inflation has still been going up, especially on items like food, just allegedly at a slower rate. In the long run, you and I are still paying more money. If only the Biden administration cared as much about American citizens as it does about illegal aliens.

The recent estimates on the staggering increase in prices of various necessities come from Fox Business, which provided much-needed context to Joe Biden’s assertions that the December inflation report was good news for American consumers. In a Jan. 12 article, Fox Business reported that food prices under the Biden administration went up a stunning 33.7% since the beginning of 2021.

Are you feeling that financial pain at the pump? Energy prices are up 32.8%, Fox noted. As for shelter, the costs increased by 18.7%. This Biden economy might be good for the uber-rich, but it is damaging for the majority of Americans.

Fox Business had other numbers to challenge White House propaganda:

The [December] report showed that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price of everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rent, rose 0.3% in December from the previous month. Prices overall climbed 3.4% from the same time last year…

While inflation has fallen considerably from a peak of 9.1% notched during June 2022, it remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal. And when compared with January 2021, shortly before theinflation crisis began, prices are up a stunning 17.6%.

Fox used somewhat deceptive language in arguing inflation has “fallen considerably”; as I noted above, it’s the rate of inflation that has slowed. That aside, Fox did provide helpful estimates to quantify just how much Bidenomics is costing the average American household every month.

According to Fox, the “typical U.S. household” had to shell out $211 more for monthly costs in December 2023 than in 2022. The wallet strain is even worse if you look back at the same time frame in 2021 as the December 2023 increase in monthly costs was on average $1,020 more per household.

Let’s hope Americans keep inflation in mind when they go to vote this November. “Bidenomics” is killing this country.

Read more at: pjmedia.com

‘Europeans Will Succumb to Islam,’ Says Former Intelligence Chief

Islam is on the verge of completely taking over Europe, in all ways—at least according to one who should know, Hans-Georg Maaßen, Germany’s top domestic intelligence chief from 2012 to 2018.  In a recent interview, he stressed several points that spell the imminent downfall of Europe to Islam.

His warnings are buttressed by disturbing demographic changes. According to conservative estimates from Pew Research, over the next 25 years—meaning most of the current generation’s lifetime—Europe’s Muslim population will triple to a staggering 76 million.  In fact, the actual current and future numbers of Muslims appear to be higher, though there are no official tallies.  For example, in an earlier, 2011 study, Pew Research found that “The number of Muslims in Europe has grown from 29.6 million in 1990 to 44.1 million in 2010. Europe’s Muslim population is projected to exceed 58 million by 2030.”  Clearly 58 million in five years’ time is more significant than 76 million in 25 years’ time.

Not only is mass migration responsible for Islam’s exponential growth in Europe, but once there, the average Muslim woman has significantly more children than the average European woman.  “Muhammad” is taking West Europe by storm as the number one name for newborn baby boys.

During his interview, Hans-Georg Maaßen said that these large numbers are intentional, and the work of Europe’s ruling elite.   For this intelligence chief, the “great replacement” theory is no myth. The more ideologically mixed a population is forced into becoming, the less able it is to identify itself, much less protect any beliefs:

[O]ur politicians want a different population. The political left follows the course of the anti-German ideology. The more heterogeneous a population, the less able it is to articulate itself and have a democratic say. The more politics accept immigrants from other countries as they see fit and grants them citizenship, the more politics select the people of the state and influence the election results. These migrants then vote differently than the locals.

He pointed out how easy it would be for European governments, especially Germany and Austria, to prevent Muslim migrants from entering their borders—and how easy it would be to send the many criminal ones who have already gained entry back to their countries of origin—but they refuse to do so.

As proof, Maaßen cited a recent “migration summit” in Germany, where he saw only “showcase politics” or “dummy politics,” primarily focused on how to raise more money for asylum seekers and faster asylum procedures. However, nobody, he said, seemed interested in asking the all-important question: “Why are we letting these people into Germany and Europe in the first place?”

This question is especially urgent considering that every European city and region that has a significant migrant presence has become a hellhole, rife with violent and criminal activity.  For example, as far back as 2017, an article titled, “Austrians living in fear as violent migrant gangs carry out DAILY attacks in Vienna,” reported:

Muggings and beatings are becoming commonplace in the historic capital city, with passersby being attacked on almost a daily basis….The Praterstern area, just outside central Vienna, is now controlled by North Africans and is considered the worst area in the city for crime. Despite police increasing their presence in the area it has become riddled with crime. On the other side of the city, the area surrounding the West Railway Station has been taken over by Afghans who have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons…. Crimes carried out by migrants in Austria have risen rapidly over the past year as more arrive in the country. Last year [2016], there were a total 22,000 criminal complaints against migrants, up from 14,000 in 2015, the Austrian Interior Ministry revealed. Sex attacks carried out by asylum seekers has become a serious problem in Austria, with a 133 per cent increase in migrant sex attacks in the past year since the migrant crisis erupted. Swimming pools and other public venues have become some of the most prevalent areas for attacks to take place.

Indeed, as in other European nations, sex crimes—including against young boys—have skyrocketed in Austria.    According to one report, “Hardly a day goes by without reports of sex attacks” at the hands of migrants.

Read more at: pjmedia.com

ANOTHER major US airport is now overrun by illegal immigrants

The more illegal immigrants who pour across our borders, the more American citizens are pushed out of spaces that are rightfully theirs — including schools. However, another space that is becoming choked by the massive influx of illegal immigrants is airports.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport, for example, is one such place that’s being used to house illegals. And now, it seems Boston Logan International Airport has turned into “a migrant center” as well.

Video footage shows hundreds of illegal immigrants lining the hallways of the airport.

“Who are these people? What are the security measures?” asks Dave Rubin, noting that the two planes that were flown into the Twin Towers on 9/11 departed from Boston Logan.

“In a wise move, the governors of some of these states — Arizona, Texas, even Florida — have just decided to ship these people out” and say ‘“Sorry, we’re not sanctuary states,’” he notes.

Unsurprisingly, these “sanctuary” cities and states are learning quickly that the reality of being a safe haven for lawbreakers isn’t so peachy, as evidenced by the overrun schools and airports.

“It’s absolutely insane,” sighs Dave.

Read more at: theblaze.com

More than 47,000 UK businesses on ‘brink of collapse’, warn insolvency experts

25% jump in firms facing ‘critical’ financial distress, with property and construction sectors featuring heavily, says Begbies Traynor

More than 47,000 UK companies are on the brink of collapse after a 25% jump in the number of businesses facing “critical” financial distress in the final three months of 2023, according to a report.

It marks the second consecutive quarter-on-quarter period when critical financial distress has risen by a 25%, the latest “Red Flag” report by insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor found.

The construction and property sectors accounted for 30% of all businesses facing critical financial distress.

The quarterly rate of increase in the number of companies facing critical financial distress grew by 32.6% in the construction industry, by 41.3% in health and education, a quarter in real estate and property services and 24% in support services.

Eighteen of the 22 sectors covered by the report recorded double-digit percentage growth in the number of firms whose finances have reached critical condition.

Julie Palmer, a partner at Begbies Traynor, said the tough macroeconomic conditions had created a “perfect storm” for UK businesses.

“After a difficult year for British businesses that was characterised by high interest rates, rampant inflation, weak consumer confidence and rising and unpredictable input costs, we are now seeing this perfect storm impact every corner of the economy,” she said.

The Bank of England raised interest rates from 0.1% at the end of 2021 to 5.25% to try to tame inflation. That has significantly increased the cost of borrowing for UK businesses, preventing many from papering over the cracks with cheap debt.

“Hundreds of thousands of businesses in the UK, who loaded up on affordable debt during those halcyon days, are now coming to terms with the added burden this will have on their finances,” Palmer added. “Sadly, for tens of thousands of British businesses who should be looking ahead with some degree of optimism, the new year will bring a fight for survival.”

The report found that 539,900 UK firms were facing “significant” financial stress by the end of last year, up by 12.9% on the third quarter of 2023.

Read more at: theguardian.com