New from me and @timmarchman: a monthslong investigation on the overseas work of the anti-trafficking charity Operation Underground Railroad. We begin with the fact that one of their sources for an operation in Haiti was.... a psychic medium. vice.com/en/article/bvx…
OUR did not dispute to us that they've used a psychic named Janet as a source for this and other investigations. Instead, they defended the practice.
People who worked with OUR also disputed the claim that most of the overseas "jump team" are ex-military; one person told us that is "complete and utter bullshit." We confirmed that real estate agents, donors and other inexperienced people were among the "operators."
We also spoke with someone who was selected to participate in jump team training. He described games and scavenger hunts that seemed more like stuff "for kids," as he put it, plus a lecture saying to let OUR know if you ever feel sexually tempted by trafficking victims.
OUR operators have seemingly boasted about some of these stories before. A real estate broker who went on one of their missions described bargaining with traffickers to pay for the release of children "just like I negotiate on a real estate deal." labusinessjournal.com/news/2016/sep/…
"I’m not saying they don’t need help. But this is not Taken with Liam Neeson," one person said of underage sex workers of 16 or 17. "These are girls in a desperate situation. They need a job and an education. They don't need someone to rescue them, some white guy from Utah.”
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I’m literally a journalist, not that it matters! and I’ll stop “bullying” (publicly and clearly discussing) what you and your tragic friends are doing when it doesn’t have a chance of adding another body to the literally overflowing morgues of the place where I live
I barely know who this person is besides someone who does terrible tweets- what does that tell you about these parties? Also girl you’re strong enough to risk your viral load like this but having someone talk about it is bullying? Spare meeeee
What’s interesting is the weirdo artists/creatives (people who made these cities “cool” in the eyes of the soft-handed media whites) aren’t partying, really. They have a shared sense of community. Only some folks are convinced huddling around red Solo cups is worth risking lives.
Personally if I’d airily spread COVID to half my social circle via boring parties trying to desperately capture some “downtown cool” you were never part of, I wouldn’t be bragging about it
Another “secret” New Years Eve party in LA, referencing Prohibition, promising masks required (sure), rapid tests (notoriously unreliable) and hand sanitizer, which we all know makes it totally safe to be in a crowded space for as long as you want. Hope it’s worth it, partiers!
On our last episode of “can you people not just open a bottle of wine on the couch for one fucking holiday without experiencing a psychic meltdown:
It is apocalyptically bad here. The numbers are insanely grim. I cannot understand what’s in the psyche of this place that’s causing people to behave this way. You are not immortal and you can get sick no matter how lux the velvet rope on the club is. google.com/amp/s/amp.theg…
I’m extremely sorry to hear he feels this piece was racist, inflected by my own whiteness or “gothness” or otherwise discriminatory. readers can look at it for themselves and decide. However, this wasn’t just an experience about a Black family being uncomfortable in an Airbnb.
He directly, specifically, without talking to the host claimed there were objects used for “satanic rituals” in the house and “ritualistic markings on the floor.” I spend a lot of time covering Qanon and Pizzagate crowds. I cover when these accusations go horribly wrong.
New from me: I got very curious about just how Plandemic went viral. It turns out at least part of the answer lies in an ex-Google employee named Zach Vorhies, who laid out his plan to make Judy Mikovits famous in an unlisted YouTube video from last month. vice.com/en_us/article/…
Vorhie's involvement has been partially reported out; the New York Times noted that he had created a GoFundMe intended to help amplify Mikovits. But the YouTube video lays out his plan to engage YT content creators, and his conviction that this is all part of the Great Awakening.
Vorhies has been involved with the QAnon world since around 2018 and frequently tweets critically about vaccines, including the long-debunked idea that they cause autism. In the unlisted video, he includes graphics falsely claiming that vaccines contain the XMRV retrovirus.