Perverted Lives of the Rich and Famous > Comedian, Haddish, sued for Child Sex Abuse; All Star Pitcher, Wetteland, a Mistrial; British-Pakistani Actor Charged with Child Rape

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Tiffany Haddish addresses child molestation lawsuit for 1st time

By Kathryn Mannie  Global News

Posted September 6, 2022 7:23 am

Tiffany Haddish attends the YWCA-GLA 2022 Phenomenal Women Award celebration on June 14, 2022

in Inglewood, California. Paul Archuleta/Getty Images

Comedian Tiffany Haddish spoke out Monday about allegations that she and fellow comedian Aries Spears groomed and molested two children on camera for sexually explicit skits. The accusations came to light after the two siblings filed a lawsuit last week against the actors claiming that they had been “traumatized for life” by the incidents.

Haddish took to Instagram to address the lawsuit for the first time.

“I know people have a bunch of questions. I get it. I’m right there with you. Unfortunately, because there is an ongoing legal case, there’s very little that I can say right now,” Haddish wrote in the post.

Among other things, Haddish is accused in the lawsuit of coercing a then 14-year-old girl to mimic fellatio in a filmed sketch. Haddish acknowledged that she participated in the sexually explicit skit in her Instagram post.

“But, clearly, while the sketch was intended to be comedic, it wasn’t funny at all — and I deeply regret having agreed to act in it,” she wrote. “I really look forward to being able to share a lot more about this situation as soon as I can.”

Haddish and Spears’ alleged victims were identified only as Jane Doe, now 22, and John Doe, now 14, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Jane, as John’s legal guardian, filed the lawsuit against the comedians both individually and on behalf of her younger brother for incidents alleged to have occurred in 2013 and 2014. The claims have yet to be tested in court.

Haddish and Spears “stole the youth of a 7-year-old child and a 14-year-old child,” the lawsuit reads.

According to the lawsuit, Haddish and Spears met the children because their mother was friends with Haddish through the comedy circuit. The siblings claim they used to call Haddish “Auntie Tiff,” and she called them “niece” and “nephew.”

In 2013, Haddish allegedly asked Jane, then 14, to act in a skit with her after the comedian appeared as a guest speaker at the comedy summer camp that Jane was attending. Haddish told Jane she had the “perfect role” for her, the lawsuit reads.

“Only Spears and Haddish knew the storyline for the skit,” the lawsuit alleges. Jane claims that the shoot ended with her mimicking fellatio at Haddish’s instruction.

“Haddish verbally explained what was expected of plaintiff Jane Doe and then showed Plaintiff Jane Doe how to give fellatio, including movements, noises, moaning, and groaning,” it said.

“Physically, emotionally, and mentally uncomfortable, plaintiff Jane Doe mimicked the acts that Haddish and Spears wanted her to do so she could go home,” the lawsuit continues.

The next year, Haddish allegedly offered a role to Jane’s younger brother, telling the siblings’ mother that it would be “a sizzle reel for Nickelodeon,” to help the boy get cast by the TV network, the suit says.

According to the suit, the skit was titled Through A Pedophile’s Eyes and involved a child, John, being left alone with a man, played by Spears, who “leers at the child lustfully.”

John, then seven, was allegedly stripped “down to his underwear” and Spears massaged oil on his body. Later in the shoot, the two supposedly got into a bathtub with Spears forcing the child “closer to him in the tub.”

In the final scene of the skit, John is “portrayed as leering lustfully” at Spears before rubbing oil on his body, the lawsuit claims. The video ends with text on the screen reading: “WATCH WHO YOU LEAVE YOUR KIDS WITH!”

“After filming, Mr. Doe called his mother crying, saying he did not want to film anymore,” the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs’ mother claims she repeatedly asked Haddish and Spears about “what was filmed that made her son cry,” and Spears told her that he would get back to her about showing her footage. Days later, Spears told the plaintiffs’ mother that John had been uncooperative during the shoot and the footage was unusable and “deleted,” the lawsuit reads.

Four years later, in 2018, the plaintiffs’ mother learned that the allegedly deleted skit had been published online, including on the Funny or Die website.

“The mother, upset, stated that she would have never let her son participate in a pedophile, child pornography skit,” the lawsuit claimed.

“Funny Or Die found the video absolutely disgusting and would never produce such content,” a spokesperson for the website stated.

“We were not involved with the conceptualization, development, funding, or production of this video. It was uploaded to the site as user-generated content and removed in 2018 immediately after becoming aware of its existence.”

The lawsuit says that both Jane and John have developed social disorders as a result of the alleged abuse.

The lawsuit claims that Jane “is scared she will be taken advantage of again and led down a path of false trust like the path that Haddish led her down.” As for John, the lawsuit says he “stays in his room at home and places Band-Aids over the cameras on his electronics for fear of being watched or recorded.”

Lawyers for Haddish and Spears have individually dismissed the lawsuit, characterizing it as a shakedown. Andrew Brettler, Haddish’s lawyer, claimed that the plaintiffs’ mother has “been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years.”

The lawyer called the claims “meritless” and said that Haddish had previously shown she “would not be shaken down.”

“Now, (the plaintiffs’ mother) has her adult daughter representing herself in this lawsuit. The two of them will together face the consequences of pursuing this frivolous action,” Brettler said.

In a separate statement, Spears’ lawyer Debra Opri said the comedian “isn’t going to fall for any shakedown.”

Jane and John are suing Haddish and Spears for unspecified damages.

They should be charged as pedophiles for what they did to those kids.

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Mistrial declared in child sex assault case against former

All-Star pitcher John Wetteland

It was unclear if prosecutors will retry the case against the 56-year-old.

Wetteland faced 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.

By The Associated Press

Sun., Sept. 4, 2022

DENTON, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge has declared a mistrial in the child sex assault case against former All-Star and World Series MVP pitcher John Wetteland after the jury deadlocked.

The Denton County jury told Judge Lee Ann Breading three times that it was split before she declared a mistrial Friday. Wetteland, who played for the Texas Rangers from 1997 to 2000 and also played for the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, was being tried on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

It was unclear if prosecutors will retry the case against the 56-year-old. The Rangers’ Hall of Famer faced 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.

Authorities had accused Wetteland of sexually assaulting a child three times between 2004 and 2006, starting when the child was 4 years old. Wetteland, who pleaded not guilty, testified in his own defense and said the accuser’s account of sexual abuse was a lie.

The accuser, who is now 22, said the abuse happened in the master bathroom shower of Wetteland’s home in Bartonville, located just south of Denton.

Wetteland’s attorneys said the accuser was manipulated to levy false accusations against Wetteland.

The accuser testified that he didn’t want to involve law enforcement. Instead, he had written a letter intended only for family members disclosing the abuse. But, according to testimony, an investigation started after the accuser’s high school learned of the allegations in 2019 when district software flagged a letter written in Google Docs that was linked to the accuser’s school-issued email.

Prosecutor Rachel Nichols said the accuser had “nothing to gain” by coming forward with abuse allegations.

“He’s not this evil kid,” Nichols said. “He didn’t want the world to know.”

Hollyoaks actor charged with rape and child cruelty offences

Holly Christodoulou

16:26, 29 Sep 2022

A HOLLYOAKS actor has appeared in court charged with rape and child cruelty.

Rizwan Khan, 37, is accused of a string of sexual offences.

Rizwan Khan has been charged with rape. Credit: Evening Gazette

He appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court yesterday for a brief hearing. The actor, who wore a black jumper and white shirt, spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address.

Khan is charged with five counts of rape, one section two offence of the Sexual Offences Act, and one count of causing unnecessary suffering/injury to a child.

He was bailed to next appear at Teesside Crown Court on October 26.

Khan appeared in a number of Hollyoaks episodes between 2019 and 2020.

He also had a role as a parent in Everybody's Talking About Jamie in 2021 and this year appeared in This England.

Khan was also in two episodes of ITV detective show Vera and an episode of Holby City.

His IMDb page states: "At the age of 34, Riz decided it was time to make his son proud and pursue the dream of becoming an actor.

"He continues to seize opportunities in both acting and modelling; gaining contracts with a number of high street chains.

"He is constantly quoting to his friends 'Life right now is amazing, I am thankful everyday and run with every opportunity'."

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Islam - Current Day > Muslim Man Marries Hindu Teen then Murders her for not being Muslim Enough; 76 Dead in Women's Protests in Iran

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Muslim man (36) slits throat of wife Rupali (20) for refusing to wear burqa, asking for divorce: Mumbai

By HinduPost Desk

September 27, 2022

Rupali Chandanshive (20) aka Zara was murdered by her Muslim taxi-driver husband for refusing to wear burqa and demanding divorce (Image: ZeeNews)

Taxi driver Iqbal Mohammad Sheikh (36) brutally murdered his wife Rupali Chandanshive (20) by slitting her throat for not following Islamic traditions and demanding a divorce. The incident occurred late on Monday night in the Tilak Nagar/Chembur area of Mumbai.

Sheikh and Rupali had been married three years back, and the two have a 2-year-old son. Rupali had apparently converted and changed her name to Zara for the marriage, which raises questions around the legality of the conversion and marriage as she would probably have been a minor aged ~ 17 at the time. The massive age gap between the two indicates that Rupali was groomed by Sheikh from the time she was clearly a minor, possibly from the age of 14-15.

Rupali’s family said in their complaint that Sheikh and his family used to pressurise her to follow Islamic rituals and wear burqa from the first day of their marriage. However, Rupali did not agree to it. This often led to altercations between the two and Rupali had left her marital house and was staying separately for the last few months.

“At around 10 pm on September 26, a man identified as Iqbal Mohammad Sheikh killed his wife by slitting her throat and injuring her hands with a knife. As per the complainant, the accused and his family members used to pressurise her to follow Islamic traditions and wear clothes that Muslim women wear. However, a family dispute started after the woman refused to do so,” said Vilas Rathod, Inspector of Tilak Nagar Police Station.

“They were staying separating for the last few months. However, they used to speak over call and used to quarrel. On Monday, when the couple was speaking over the phone, the woman asked the accused for a divorce but the latter refused. The man then asked for the custody of their son which the woman opposed. This led to an argument between them which led to the murder,” said Rathod.

After quarreling over phone last night, Sheikh went to meet Rupali to persuade her to return home. But Rupali was adamant about her decision to divorce. Sheikh then dragged Rupali to a nearby lane and slit her throat and stabbed her hands with a knife leading to her death. He fled the scene after committing the crime.

Upon hearing Rupali’s screams, locals rushed to help her and informed the police about the matter. Police reached the spot and sent her body for post-mortem. Soon after, they launched a manhunt and nabbed the accused. He is being interrogated in connection with the incident.

Such cases show the urgent need for a nation-wide anti-conversion law like we have in UP and MP, and to mandate that all inter-faith marriages take place under SMA (Special Marriage Act) only which doesn’t require either party to convert and better safeguards women’s rights. It also shows that talk of increasing marriage age to 21 is foolhardy given the growing risk of grooming jihadis preying on Hindu teenage girls, and the legal mess that our courts have created by repeatedly upholding sharia law which allows Muslim girls to be married as soon as they hit puberty or turn 15.

Tragically, Rupali becomes yet another addition to a long list of Hindu women who end up dead or severely traumatized for life, after the initial honeymoon period post marrying or being in a relationship with a Muslim man ends and the true Islamist barbarity rears its head – Apoorva Puranik, Anjali Arya, Pratheeksha, Rachna, Priya Chaudhary, Ekta Deswal, Priya Soni, Mahima Vitole, Khushi Parihar and countless unnamed victims like this one from Bulandshahr, or from Gwalior, or from Narsinghpur.

Of course, many of these girls are trapped by Islamists posing as Hindus and later blackmailed using obscene photos and videos or threats to kill them and their family. Some Muslim men even do faux marriages in Arya Samaj mandirs to fool the victim. Other girls are led astray by notions of romance and ‘rebelling for love that conquers all’ which are drip fed to them by Bollywood/Urduwood and mass media. The majority of Hindus, both male and female, don’t even understand the basic difference in personal laws that places a Muslim woman at mercy of her husband and in-laws for divorce, maintenance and child custody.

Those who resist the love/grooming jihadis also run the risk of ending up dead like Ankita Singh, Nikita Tomar, Ritika Sahni, Shivani Khobiyan, Naina Kaur, Priti Mathur, Riya Gautam, Vaishnavi Ingle and others. Even when male family members of the targeted Hindus girls or other members of public intervene and try to talk sense into the Islamists, these criminals are so emboldened by the apathy of the secular Indian state and judiciary which often releases them on bail or commutes their sentences, that they don’t fear in killing them as well – Dhruv Tyagi, Dharam Sahu, Aditya Tiwari, Raju Rajput being some recent cases.

Except for pleasuring men and having babies, it seems women in Islam and India have little value.

‘Who’s going to defend us?’:

Iran protest movement wins wave of support in West

Issued on: 28/09/2022 - 21:21

A protestor holds a banner reading 'This is the image of my people. Carry the voice of the Iranians' as she stands in front of riot police during a demonstration in support of Iranian protesters in Paris, on September 25, 2022. © Christophe Archambault, AFP

The Iranian protesters who have demonstrated across the country for 12 consecutive nights over the death of Mahsa Amini are keen to amplify their message in the West as the international community focuses on the theocratic regime’s repression of women.

Anger is only mounting among the Iranian protesters who have defied a crackdown to decry Amini’s death on September 16 in the custody of the Islamic Republic’s morality police. “We’re like the Afghan women the West has abandoned to the Taliban. Who’s going to defend us in the end? I saw how your president [France’s Emmanuel Macron] treated [Iranian President] Ebrahim Raisi with kid gloves at the UN,” said Niloufar*, a protester in Tehran contacted by FRANCE 24.

The 39-year-old office worker has a bruise about 10 centimetres wide on her left arm, as shown in a photo she has posted on social media. “I was hit by a baton; the police officer was hitting me with all his strength,” Nilfour said. She has been out protesting after work, night after night. “But what I’ve been through is nothing compared to what others have suffered. Today my arm has gotten better. But my heart is broken.”

Ten days passed before the French foreign ministry, the Quai d’Orsay, condemned the Iranian authorities’ violent response to the protests rocking Iran every night.

Although it decried Amini’s death on September 19, it took until September 26 for the Quai d’Orsay to release a comminiqué expressing its “strongest condemnation” of the repression of demonstrations – adding that Paris was examining, along with its European partners, the “options available” in response to these rights abuses.

Before that French foreign ministry statement, Macron had met Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Macron expressed his “shock” over Amini’s death in “morality police” custody and demanded a “transparent investigation”. The French president also told the press that he had “insisted” that the Islamic Republic respect women’s rights.

But several of France’s Western partners produced stronger responses – notably Germany, which summoned the Iranian ambassador on Monday about the crackdown, and Canada, which prepared sanctions on a dozen Iranian officials and bodies including the morality police.

Meanwhile, the protests and the repressive state response have continued unabated. The exact number of victims remains unknown. According to official figures, at least 41 people have been killed, including both protesters and members of the security forces.  The NGO Iran Human Rights says at least 76 people have been killed in the protests.

Celebrity backing

News has filtered down more slowly than usual because the Iranian authorities have restricted access to the Internet since September 21 to prevent demonstrators from protesting on social media. Younger Iranians in particular have been able to circumvent this by using VPNs and Tor software – but the connection can still be slow and random.

Yet many Iranians have managed to get around the censorship and amplify their message among a Western audience horrified by events in Iran. On Instagram, the most popular social network in Iran, protesters have called on the Iranian diaspora to demand robust responses in the countries where they live. That gives them quite a megaphone – seeing as more than four million Iranians live abroad. From Paris to London to Berlin to Los Angeles to Santiago, many striking images in support of Iranian protesters have done their rounds in the media.

In just a few days, more than 100 million tweets have gone out with the hashtag Mahsa Amini in Farsi, helping make the young woman into an icon of resistance.

One of Iran’s most famous faces, Oscar-winning film director Asghar Farhadi, has called for people across the globe to support the demonstators.

“You must have heard recent news from Iran and seen images of progressive and courageous women leading protests for their human rights alongside men. They are looking for simple yet fundamental rights that the state has denied them for years. This society, especially these women, has travelled a harsh and painful path to this point, and now they have clearly reached a landmark,” the filmmaker wrote in an Instagram post.

“Through this video, I invite all artists, filmmakers, intellectuals, civil rights activists from all over the world and all countries, and everyone who believes in human dignity and freedom to stand in solidarity with the powerful and brave women and men of Iran by making videos, in writing or any other way.”

At the same time, Iranian activists have demanded that stars like Beyoncé express their support for the protesters. And demands for Western celebrities to express their support have borne fruit – as stars with millions of followers have expressed their indignation over Amini’s death and support for the protesters – including singer Justin Bieber, actress Jessica Chastain, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, model Bella Hadid and actress Eva Mendes, whose post on the matter attracted more than 44,000 comments. Fans have shared their messages, swelling a wave of support around the world for the Iranian protesters.

Wolves Among the Sheep > Pseudo-Christian Churches Couldn't Care less about Children

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Pseudo-Christian churches defend clergy loophole

in child sex abuse reporting

By JASON DEAREN and MICHAEL REZENDES

today

The angel Moroni statue atop the Salt Lake Temple is silhouetted against a cloud-covered sky, at Temple Square in Salt Lake City on Feb. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

It was a frigid Sunday evening at the Catholic Newman Center in Salt Lake City when the priest warned parishioners who had gathered after Mass that their right to private confessions was in jeopardy.

A new law would break that sacred bond, the priest said, and directed the parishioners to sign a one-page form letter on their way out. “I/We Oppose HB90,” began the letter, stacked next to pre-addressed envelopes. “HB90 is an improper interference of the government into the practice of religion in Utah.”

In the following days of February 2020, Utah’s Catholic diocese, which oversees dozens of churches, says it collected some 9,000 signed letters from parishioners and sent them to state Rep. Angela Romero, a Democrat who had been working on the bill as part of her campaign against child sexual abuse. HB90 targeted Utah’s “clergy-penitent privilege,” a law similar to those in many states that exempts clergy of all denominations from the requirement to report child abuse if they learn about the crime in a confessional setting.

Utah’s Catholic leaders had mobilized against HB90 arguing that it threatened the sacred privacy of confessions. More importantly, it met with disapproval from some members in the powerful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Mormon church, whose followers comprise the vast majority of the state Legislature. HB90 was dead on arrival.

In 33 states, clergy are exempt from any laws requiring professionals such as teachers, physicians and psychotherapists to report information about alleged child sexual abuse to police or child welfare officials if the church deems the information privileged.

This loophole has resulted in an unknown number of predators being allowed to continue abusing children for years despite having confessed the behavior to religious officials. In many of these cases, the privilege has been invoked to shield religious groups from civil and criminal liability after the abuse became known to civil authorities.

Over the past two decades state lawmakers like Romero have proposed more than 130 bills seeking to create or amend child sex abuse reporting laws, an Associated Press review found. All either targeted the loophole and failed to close it, or amended the mandatory reporting statute without touching the clergy privilege amid intense opposition from religious groups. The AP found that the Roman Catholic Church has used its well-funded lobbying infrastructure and deep influence among lawmakers in some states to protect the privilege, and that influential members of the Mormon church and Jehovah’s Witnesses have also worked in statehouses and courts to preserve in areas where their membership is high.

I wonder what a Mormon or JW Bishop would do if a man came to them and confessed that he had been raping their daughter?  Would he put a stop to it one way or another, or would he protect the church's reputation at the continued expense of his daughter? The point is, he should treat his neighbour's daughter as he would treat his own, otherwise, it is outright hypocrisy.

In Maryland a successful campaign to defeat a proposal that would have closed the clergy-penitent loophole was led by a Catholic cardinal who would later be defrocked for sexually abusing children and adult seminarians.

In other states, such as California, Missouri and New Mexico, vociferous public and backroom opposition to bills aimed at closing the loophole from the Catholic and Mormon churches successfully derailed legislative reform efforts.

“They believe they’re on a divine mission that justifies keeping the name and the reputation of their institution pristine,” said David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, speaking of several religious groups. “So the leadership has a strong disincentive to involve the authorities, police or child protection people.”

LOOPHOLE PROTECTS CHURCHES FROM SURVIVORS AND PROSECUTORS

Last month, an AP investigation found that a Mormon bishop in Arizona, at the direction of church leaders, failed to report a church member who had confessed that he sexually abused his 5-year-old daughter. The AP found that Rep. Merrill Nelson, a church lawyer and Utah Republican lawmaker, had advised the bishop not to report the abuse to civil authorities because of Arizona’s clergy privilege law, according to documents revealed in a lawsuit. That failure to report allowed the church member, the late Paul Adams, to repeatedly rape his two daughters and allegedly abuse one of his four sons for many years.

There is much more on this story at AP

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This Week's Global Pervs and Paedos List > Uttar Pradesh - India's Shockingly Violent State for Girls; Tik Tok facing big fine for not protecting children

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How safe are women in India’s biggest state?

The latest incident of sexual violence in Uttar Pradesh has come as a shock in India

Published:  September 22, 2022 09:05

Jyotsna Mohan, Special to Gulf News

  

OPN WOMEN SAFETY

Image Credit: Shutterstock

‘You may trod me in the very dirt but still, like dust, I’ll rise.’ Over the years Mary (Maya?) Angelou’s words have inspired far beyond her intended audience, but for the woman and girl child of India — trodden, violated and hung dead from trees even this uplifting poem will fall short.

The image is hard to describe. Heartbreaking, brutal, frustrating, resignation — the emotions are intense and many. And yet it is a cycle that doesn’t pause, leave alone break. This time it reminds of another chilling crime eight years ago.

Two sisters belonging to a lower caste family were discovered dead hanging from a tree, they were positioned by their perpetrators in a way that they were facing each other. The sisters aged 17 and 15 were raped this month before being strangulated in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri, a heinous crime for which six men have been arrested. In 2014 two minor girls were found hanging after being raped by four men. It is the same state, only the tree has changed.

What's Behind the Hangings of Women in India?

48 hours news cycle later, the two teenaged Dalit sisters vanished from the public glare, the staying power of ground reality when it comes to crimes against women and children is dismal. When it is the marginalised, the interest is even more slippery.

More Rapes and Murders of Women in India's Uttar Pradesh State

Just hours after the Lakhimpur news broke another girl in Uttar Pradesh died after battling for her life for days. She had been set on fire after an alleged gang-rape. A body of another minor Dalit girl was found in a jungle in the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh. Her family alleges she too was raped before being murdered.

There are allegations that the local police misbehaved with parents of the murdered girls when they went to file a complaint. It is a sequel, the Dalit family of the Hathras rape victim was also treated as though they were the ones who had committed a crime.

For Dalit families closure comes with a price — their silence. It is not unknown for attackers to be shielded and in the Hathras gang-rape upper caste thakurs even took out a public rally in support of the accused. Low rate of convictions embolden, those who commit the senseless crimes are aware that justice and crime are not two sides of the same coin.

A dismal picture

In 2020, a staggering 96.5% cases were pending under the SC/ST Act with 177,379 cases awaiting trial under the legislation that was enacted to safeguard the lower castes and tribes.

The overall picture is equally dismal, data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) last month for the year 2021 shows an upward graph of almost 20% increase in rape cases with 4.28 lakh (428,000) crimes against women cases registered.

The statistics do not take into account sociocultural factors like fear, shame and stigma which compel families to not report, a trend more prominent in the Dalit and marginalised milieu. There are more Lakhimpur and Hathras, we just haven’t heard about them.

The state of Uttar Pradesh last year had more than 50,000 cases of crime against women, the highest in a country where 87 rape cases are reported daily on an average.

Remember, these are only the reported cases; probably a small portion of the whole number.

Where does the buck stop? Women need to realise that they mistakenly thought they mattered, but slogans came and went. A solution arises only when there is acceptance, we are faced with obduracy of silence.

Extreme gender-based violence like rape has its genesis in poverty, power, privilege and patriarchy. ‘Sexual terrorism continues to be the most extreme and effective way to enforce traditional gender roles, relations and dynamics. It constraints and subjugates women and keeps our sexuality, agency and transgressions in check,’ writes Tara Kaushal in her book Why Men Rape.

It is this power that was reinforced a few days earlier on a tree in a remote sugar cane field. The tree for its part has its own burden, in this tragedy of survival without a redressal it will be a witness to rural families clamping down on girls and their dreams. Two sisters died and countless other Indian girls lost.

How is it that India is shocked by such news? It happens so frequently as to be almost normal behaviour. Yet, so many Indians on social media proclaim that they are proud Indians. The only possible way that people can be proud of being Indian is if they are either completely unaware of the spectacular sufferings of women and girls, or they think that such suffering is well-deserved. 

India, indeed, the entire sub-continent is unquestionably the worst place in the world to be a woman or a girl.

TikTok could face $29M British fine for

'failing to protect children's privacy'

By Adam Schrader

A TikTok app is seen on the tablet in Shanghai, China, in August 2020.

File Photo by Alex Plavevski/EPA-EFE

Sept. 26 (UPI) -- TikTok could face a $29 million fine for "failing to protect children's privacy" in violation of Britain's data protection laws, British regulators said Monday.

The Information Commissioner's Office, an independent authority aimed at upholding data rights, said in a news release that it had slapped the Chinese-owned company with a "notice of intent" that precedes a potential fine.

The regulators said that an investigation conducted by the office found TikTok, a wildly popular video-sharing platform, processed the data of children under age 13 without parental consent between May 2018 and July 2020.

TikTok also may have "failed to provide proper information its users in a concise, transparent and easily understood way," according to the commissioner's office.

Additionally, TikTok may have processed "special category data" including ethnic and racial origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and even genetic and biometric data without the legal grounds to do so.

"We all want children to be able to learn and experience the digital world, but with proper data privacy protections. Companies providing digital services have a legal duty to put those protections in place," Information Commissioner John Edwards said in a statement.

"I've been clear that our work to better protect children online involves working with organizations but will also involve enforcement action where necessary."

Edwards said the commissioner's office also is looking into how more than 50 different online services "are conforming with the children's code."

He added that regulators have six ongoing investigations into companies "who haven't, in our initial view, taken their responsibilities around child safety seriously enough."

In the statement, office added that its findings are "provisional" and that "no conclusion should be drawn at this stage" that data protection laws had in fact been breached.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC that the company disagrees with the preliminary views from the report and intends to file a response, which must be made within 30 days.

"While we respect the ICO's role in safeguarding privacy in the UK, we disagree with the preliminary views expressed and intend to formally respond to the ICO in due course," the TikTok statement reads.

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Venezuela has found a cheap way to deal with Rapists and Murderers - send them to America!

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Venezuela Empties Prisons and Sends Criminals to US Border:

House Republicans

By Frank Fang 

September 23, 2022

The Epoch Times

Venezuela is deliberately releasing prisoners, among them violent criminals, and has them travel to the U.S. southern border, a development that prompted 14 House Republicans to write to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), who is leading the Republican effort to have Mayorkas answer questions, said in the Sept. 22 letter that the decision by the Nicolas Maduro regime has put the United States “in grave danger.”

“We write you with serious concern about a recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intelligence report received by Border Patrol that instructs agents to look for violent criminals from Venezuela among the migrant caravans heading towards the U.S.-Mexico border,” the letter says, citing a recent report from Breitbart.

The outlet reported on Sept. 18 that it had reviewed the DHS intelligence report from an unnamed source within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The report warned that released prisoners—including those convicted of murder, rape, and extortion—had been seen within migrant caravans traveling from Tapachula, Mexico, to the southern border, as recently as July.

The report also said the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, Venezuela’s intelligence agency, may have played a role in deliberately releasing prisoners.

Hours after Breitbart published the report, Nehls took to Twitter to announce that he had obtained confirmation from the DHS.

“DHS confirms that Venezuela empties prisons and sends violent criminals to our southern border,” Nehls wrote. “President Trump warned us about this years ago.”

Former President Donald Trump issued such a warning several times in 2021. He did it again last week while speaking to radio show host Hugh Hewitt, when he said America had become a “dumping ground” as other nations were “emptying their prisons into the United States.”

Illegal immigrants from Venezuela, who boarded a bus in Texas, wait to be transported to a local church by volunteers after being dropped off outside the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 15, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Nehls later commented on the Breitbart report during an interview with Fox News contributor Sara Carter on Sunday.

“This bombshell report confirms what we’ve known for years,” Nehls said. “Our adversaries despise what America stands for and take pride in emptying their prisons filled with the most violent and sick individuals to walk the earth and send them to our southern border, where they know they’ll have no trouble getting in.”

What America stands for in the eyes of Venezuelans is likely very different from what America stands for to Americans. The 19th and 20th-century rape of natural resources in Central and South America, and the 21st-century treatment of Venezuela, left many Latin Americans with a view of the USA that is a dramatically different color than Americans' view. The poverty we left those countries in, and the politics we interfered with so disgustingly and so often, has left them in poverty and chaos. The consequences are returning to our borders in great numbers.

Until America starts investing in those countries for the benefit of the people of those countries, the USA should not expect any improvement in the migrant crisis.

Nehls added, “Our overworked border patrol agents can only do so much when President [Joe] Biden gives everyone a no-strings-attached invitation into this country.”

Migrants

The letter comes as the United States is seeing an influx of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. According to CBP data, the number of migrants arriving at the southern border in fiscal year 2022 surpassed 2 million in August, with unprecedented numbers coming from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

The letter points out that there have been more than 130,000 encounters with Venezuelan nationals between October 2021 and July 2022.

“As a result of the Biden Administration’s disastrous border policies, it is unknown how many of the violent Venezuelan prisoners have been released into the interior of the U.S., as identifying Venezuelans with criminal records is nearly impossible unless the individual admits their records to U.S. authorities,” the letter says. “This will undoubtedly put our country in grave danger.”

The 14 Republicans want Mayorkas to answer more than 10 questions, including the precautions DHS is taking to prevent these Venezuelan criminals from entering the United States.

“Have any of the Venezuelan nationals encountered at the southern border this year been suspected to be released prisoners?” says one of the questions. “Does DHS have a projected headcount of how many released Venezuelan prisoners are expected to enter the U.S.?”

Another question asks, “Do you have reason to believe that the release of the convicts could be a purposeful geopolitical move specifically intended to impact U.S. national security?”

Initially, the crisis is among migrants who have now been infiltrated by convicted murderers and rapists. But, not being a matter of U.S. national security, the rape and murder of women and children among the migrants is of little interest to America until they cross the border.

“We need transparency and accountability from this administration,” Nehls wrote on Twitter.

This Week's Catholic Pervs and Paedos List > Diocese reinstating Priests accused of CSA; Judge halts payments to predator priests; Mount Cashel Predators Flew West

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With little explanation, Buffalo diocese has reinstated 17 priests

accused of sexual abuse

Jay Tokasz 

Buffalo News

Sep 6, 2022

Buffalo Diocese Bishop Michael Fisher at Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo on Feb. 6, 2022.

Seventeen of the 29 Buffalo Diocese priests put on administrative leave since 2018 due to a sex abuse allegation involving a minor were later allowed to resume their priestly activities.

The diocese publicized the priests’ returns to ministry by stating that a review board had examined the claims and found them to be “not substantiated.”

Diocese officials maintain that the review process is rigorous, independent and designed to protect children from potential abuse.

Accusers and their attorneys aren’t convinced, and they worry that some priests are being publicly exonerated and put back into contact with children without a thorough and impartial investigation into abuse claims.

They point out that in some cases a priest was returned to ministry, even though his accuser wasn't interviewed as part of an investigation.

The most recent reinstatement of a priest was in July, when Bishop Michael W. Fisher restored the faculties of the Rev. Raymond A. Donohue, who was accused in a Child Victims Act lawsuit and a confidential bankruptcy claim. Donohue denied the allegation.

The diocese said the plaintiff's attorney refused to allow an investigator to interview his client.

Steve Boyd, the plaintiff's attorney, described the board as a “public relations wing of the diocese” that was created to “try and find ways to put priests back into ministry.”

“With regard to the transparency of this group, there just needs to be more,” Boyd said in an August court hearing. “Right now, it is a secret committee that does secret work, and we find out their findings later, without knowing anything about what their process is.”

A diocese spokesman declined to comment for this story about the review board's investigations and the bishop's decisions.

Dioceses across the country have put in place review boards to help bishops handle child sex abuse allegations.

But a national expert on child abuse prevention said the boards are not fully independent and often don’t get all the information they need to analyze cases of alleged abuse.

“The review boards are just another bureaucratic layer in my book,” said Marci Hamilton, founder and chief executive officer of Child USA, a nonprofit think tank organization based in Philadelphia. “Whereas what we really need is an in-depth investigation with all of the facts gathered. That’s really all the survivors are asking for. They really want the truth to come out.”

If law enforcement won’t investigate because criminal statutes of limitation have expired, dioceses might consider turning to an external review by independent experts who have no connection to the church, Hamilton said.

The Rev. Norbert F. Orsolits.

Buffalo Diocese's 1995 Priests' Pictorial Directory

Scandal erupted in 2018

The diocese has faced intense scrutiny over its handling of abuse allegations since a retired priest, the Rev. Norbert Orsolits, admitted to The News in 2018 that he had molested probably dozens of boys earlier in his priesthood.

The admissions prompted a snowball of complaints against priests, a program to compensate victims, state and federal investigations into the diocese, and hundreds of civil lawsuits.

The diocese responded in 2018 by hiring a former FBI agent to examine abuse complaints. A group of lay people pushing for reforms also recommended in 2019 that the diocese make its review board a more independent body and hire additional sex abuse investigators.

In a dozen cases since 2018 where an allegation against a priest was substantiated, the diocese took steps to permanently remove the priest from ministry.

The diocese in most instances has given no explanations about how or why the review board arrives at its conclusions, nor has it made public details of investigations into allegations.

The News did obtain a copy of an investigator's report into accusations of abuse against the Rev. Roy Herberger that deemed the allegations "completely false" and cited a litany of inconsistencies in the accuser's version of events. Attorney Scott F. Riordan, a former prosecutor, spent six months investigating the case. Herberger ultimately was restored to full ministry and sued the accuser for defamation.

The Rev. Roy Herberger on Jan. 22, 2020, sued a man who had accused him of sexually abusing him as a child in a Child Victims Act case. Herberger says he did not abuse the man and sued him for defamation. Derek Gee/News file photo

Several other priests who were permanently removed from ministry due to allegations the diocese says were substantiated through an investigation maintain their innocence and claim they were falsely accused.

The diocese has publicly identified 85 priests since 1950 who had substantiated abuse claims, and another 23 priests who were part of religious orders and served in the diocese at some point since 1950. A 2021 News analysis of CVA lawsuits found that 230 priests who served in the Buffalo diocese were accused of abuse.

The diocese has a contract with multiple lawyers to do the investigative work, the results of which are forwarded to the review board, a group that currently includes a retired state Appellate Court judge, a retired M&T Bank vice president, a licensed clinical social worker and a pediatrician, among others, all of whom are Catholic. The review board makes a written recommendation to Fisher, who ultimately decides whether to reinstate a priest.

The diocese has pledged to investigate all abuse allegations as part of efforts to comply with the New York State Attorney General’s Office, which sued the diocese in 2020 over its handling of accused priests. Investigators attempt to interview any accuser who makes a credible claim against a priest, diocese officials have said.

Accusers in some cases have spoken with the diocese’s investigator, but several have refused, often out of mistrust of the diocese and fear lawyers will try to use the statements against them later.

The Rev. John J. Sardina.

Buffalo Diocese's 1995 Priests' Pictorial Directory

Diocese wanted to ID accuser

At least four priests were cleared of an abuse allegation by the review board and bishop only to face a second allegation after their suspensions were lifted.

One of those priests, the Rev. John Sardina, 90, was suspended from ministry in 2018 and returned in 2019 upon an investigation determining the claims were not substantiated.

The diocese is now investigating a second allegation involving Sardina, and its lawyers asked for a court order to help their inquiry, which Chief Judge Carl L. Bucki recently denied.

Lawyers for the diocese wanted Bucki to allow the release of the name of a woman who accused Sardina of abusing her as a child 50 years ago.

The woman, 61, filed a Child Victims Act lawsuit in State Supreme Court in 2019 and made a claim in the diocese’s federal bankruptcy case. In both instances, she used a pseudonym, LG36. State Supreme Court and federal bankruptcy court typically require public disclosure of interested parties, but both courts have allowed for modifications given the sensitivity of information about abuse victims.

The woman alleged in the lawsuit that Sardina sexually assaulted her after she participated in the sacrament of confession with the priest. The abuses are alleged to have happened from 1969 to 1971 when Sardina was assigned to Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Buffalo.

Sardina denied sexually abusing a minor in court papers answering the plaintiff’s complaint. He denied abusing any children in a 2019 interview with WIVB-TV, as well, although he said he had consensual sex with women and church officials sent him to counseling for that years ago.

The diocese’s lawyers said they reached out to the woman’s attorney for permission to tell Sardina her name so that they could properly investigate the claims. Receiving no response, the diocese filed a motion with Bucki to force the issue.

A lawyer for the diocese told Bucki that the diocese was stuck between a rock and a hard place as it tries to adhere to a sound process for investigating a claim.

“This is solely about the protection of children and determining whether priests are fit for ministry in any form,” said Sara C. Temes, the diocese attorney. “Their hands are completely tied when they can’t even tell the clergy member the name of the accused.”

Archdiocese ordered to halt payments to priests accused of child sex abuse

A U.S. bankruptcy judge rejected the Catholic church's argument that it should

be allowed to keep paying monthly stipends to staff accused of sexual abuse.

Gosh! Shouldn't paedophile priests be allowed to retire in comfort while their victims struggle through their lives?

Author: By David Hammer / Eyewitness Investigator / 4WWL

Published: 4:29 PM CDT September 8, 2022

NEW ORLEANS — A federal bankruptcy judge has ordered the Archdiocese of New Orleans to stop paying retirement benefits to five priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors or vulnerable adults but are not included on a list of more than 70 clergy the local church considers “credibly accused.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill issued the order Aug. 31, rejecting the local Catholic church’s argument that it should be allowed to keep paying monthly stipends to priests, deacons and lay staff who face claims of sexual abuse in sealed documents that were turned over to the court by the Archdiocese earlier this year.

From the very beginning of its bankruptcy case in May 2020, the Archdiocese tried to argue that it needed protection from dozens of pending sexual abuse lawsuits, but it should be allowed to keep paying retirement benefits to all living clergy – including those on the “credibly accused list” released by Archbishop Gregory Aymond in November 2018 and updated with additional names over the years since.

Grabill quickly ruled in 2020 that living clergy on the Archdiocese’s official list should not continue to get stipends known as “maintenance” payments, although medical coverage could continue. But she has now taken what she called an “extraordinary” step to amend that ruling based on evidence provided by the Archdiocese this year.

In February 2022, Grabill ordered the church to produce additional internal records from the past 10 years, “including, but not limited to, personnel files, Archdiocesan Review Board … findings, and law enforcement referrals, maintained by any and all departments and offices within the Archdiocese — related to all Archdiocesan priests or lay persons serving in ministerial roles that have been accused of sexual abuse, whether placed by the Archbishop on the Credibly Accused List or not and whether named in a proof of claim filed in this case or not.”

Those records were filed with the court under seal. But when attorneys representing sexual abuse victims saw those records, they argued they “substantiate credible accusations of sexual abuse committed by five priests” who were never included by Aymond on the credibly accused list and, therefore, continued to receive full retirement benefits.

Grabill says those payments must now stop, essentially finding that those priests must wait in line for their claims to be paid just like the abuse victims and other church creditors.

“We continue to evaluate the court’s decision in this matter but currently have no other comment,” the Archdiocese said in a statement.

The five priests whose retirement stipends must end are not named. WWL-TV and The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate teamed up on investigations in 2020 and 2021 that exposed claims against living priests and clergy who were not on the credibly accused list. Aymond added a few names to that list, but others featured in the news reports were never added.

Those include Metairie deacon VM Wheeler, who was criminally charged in December with molesting a preteen boy in the early 2000s, and the Rev. Luis Fernandez, who is retired in South Florida and declined to answer WWL-TV’s questions about one of his former high school students accusing him of molesting him in the 1970s.

The church tried to argue that its responsibility to take care of retired priests and deacons is not governed by U.S. federal law but by the Catholic Church’s own laws, known as canon law. It argued that clergy would only lose their retirement benefits if they were laicized -- or stripped of their ordination as priests or deacons. Aymond told WWL-TV that he could remove priests and deacons from ministry, but he couldn’t forcibly laicize those who don’t voluntarily agree to leave the priesthood or deaconate.  That could only be done by the Vatican.

Grabill rejected the Archdiocese’s argument that she was overstepping her authority.

Burnaby RCMP open sexual assault investigation into

notorious Christian Brother

Edward English moved from N.L. to B.C. after abusing boys at St. John's orphanage

Ryan Cooke · 

CBC News · 

Posted: Sep 22, 2022 6:00 AM NT 

Edward English confessed to police in St. John's in 1975 about abusing boys at Mount Cashel Orphanage. It was covered up by justice officials, and English was allowed to leave the province. He's now accused of the same acts in British Columbia in 1981. (CBC)

Edward English — a Christian Brothers teacher who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for beating and sexually assaulting boys at the Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John's — is the subject of a new police investigation in British Columbia.

Burnaby RCMP have confirmed a complaint was lodged on Aug. 25, and relates to allegations of abuse at a Catholic private school between 1978 and 1982.

While the force would not identify the subject of the investigation, a source with knowledge of the complaint confirmed English, now 74, is the teacher in question.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," English said when contacted by a CBC reporter on Wednesday. "I'm not going to comment on something if I don't know anything about it."

The reporter offered to walk him through the allegations, but he declined, saying "no comment," before hanging up.

A source identified the complainant as a man who is part of a proposed class-action lawsuit in British Columbia. The lawsuit alleges a pair of Catholic private schools and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver allowed six known child abusers to move from St. John's to the Vancouver area, where they continued preying on children.

In a sworn affidavit in the proposed class-action lawsuit, the man — known only as John A. Doe — said English repeatedly molested him during his time as a student at St. Thomas More Collegiate, a Grade 8-12 school in Burnaby, just outside Vancouver.

"The abuse I suffered as a boy has had a profound effect on my faith, my health, and my personal relationships," the man wrote. "I have told my immediate family about it but I have not shared it with others who are close to me, my employer or my work colleagues. I have not reached and may never reach the point where I am prepared to share my identity with the general public."

The allegations set forth in his affidavit have yet to be tested in court.

English moved as part of infamous coverup

Edward English became a household name in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1989, when news broke about what had really been happening at the Mount Cashel Orphanage for decades.

A judicial inquiry revealed that two boys accused English of abusing them in 1975, and that English had even confessed to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

The biggest bombshell of the inquiry, however, was that a deal had been struck between the Christian Brothers organization, the police and the Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Department. English and five other brothers accused of abusing children were quietly moved out of the province around 1975, and no charges were laid.

In 2021, the Archdiocese of St. John's was found liable for decades of abuse at Mount Cashel, pictured here in 1996, and had to declare bankruptcy and sell churches as a result. (CBC)

The Christian Brothers also owned a K-12 school, Vancouver College and St. Thomas More Collegiate. All six brothers landed at those two schools.

By the time the revelations came to light, English and the others had been teaching in British Columbia for more than a decade.

John A. Doe now wants to know how that was allowed to happen.

"I seek accountability for the harm that was done to me by Brother English," he wrote. "Specifically, I want to know how it is that he was allowed to teach at St. Thomas More after having admitted to sexually abusing boys at Mount Cashel."

English investigated in B.C. before

Criminal charges were laid in Newfoundland and Labrador after the Hughes Inquiry. All six of the brothers moved to B.C. were eventually convicted on varying charges of abuse.

But none were ever charged with crimes stemming from their time in B.C., despite allegations now coming to light that their abusive behaviours continued after the coverup was finalized.

A spokesperson for the RCMP in Burnaby confirmed this isn't their first investigation into English. Cpl. Alexa Hodgins said the force conducted an investigation in 2000, related to allegations of a teacher abusing children at St. Thomas More between 1978 and 1982. Hodgins said the file "concluded in early 2001, without charges at the request of the victim."

The complainant was not John A. Doe, but Hodgins said the subject of both investigations was the same person, meaning it had to be Edward English.

For his part, Doe's affidavit states he went to the Burnaby RCMP a few years after leaving St. Thomas More Collegiate, but wasn't aware of any action taken by police after he gave his statement. According to Hodgins, there was no record of a complaint prior to 2000.

English remained in N.B. after prison term

Of all the convictions stemming from Mount Cashel, English received the stiffest punishment.

He was found guilty on 15 counts of physical and sexual abuse and initially sentenced to 13 years in prison. That was later reduced on appeal to 10 years. He was released after serving 5½ years behind bars and granted full parole.

He was released to a halfway house in New Brunswick, and public records show he's remained in the Moncton area ever since, most recently living in a small home on a country road south of Moncton.

According to documents obtained by CBC News, English filed for bankruptcy in 2020. The proceedings were finalized in January 2021, one month before he was named in the proposed class-action lawsuit in Vancouver.

The bankruptcy records show he operated a company called T. English Enterprises. There's little information on the company in Canadian records searches, but according to U.S. customs records, a company called Ted English Enterprises with a Moncton address was responsible for importing religious ornaments from China.

English has been attending proceedings in the proposed class action by video conference from his home in New Brunswick.

Certification hearings were stalled in August as all parties grappled with admissibility of new evidence. Hearings are expected to wrap up in November, and the judge will rule on whether the case proceeds as a class action or as a series of individual lawsuits.

Islam - Current Day > Afghanistan's Children under the Taliban

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AP PHOTOS: Backbreaking work for kids in Afghan brick kilns

By EBRAHIM NOROOZI

today

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Nabila works 10 hours or more a day, doing the heavy, dirty labor of packing mud into molds and hauling wheelbarrows full of bricks. At 12 years old, she’s been working in brick factories half her life now, and she’s probably the oldest of all her co-workers.

Already high, the number of children put to work in Afghanistan is growing, fueled by the collapse of the economy after the Taliban took over the country and the world cut off financial aid just over a year ago.

A recent survey by Save the Children estimated that half the country’s families have put children to work to keep food on the table as livelihoods crumbled.

Nowhere is it clearer than in the many brick factories on the highway north out of the capital, Kabul. Conditions in the furnaces are tough even for adults. But in almost all of them, children as young as four or five are found laboring alongside their families from early in the morning until dark in the heat of summer.

Afghan children work in a brick factory on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 23, 2022. Aid agencies say the number of children working in Afghanistan is growing ever since the economy collapsed following the Taliban takeover more than a year ago. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Children are doing every step of the brickmaking process. They haul cannisters of water, carry the wooden brick molds full of mud to set them out in the sun to dry. They load and push wheelbarrows full of dried bricks to the kiln for firing, then push back wheelbarrows full of fired bricks. They pick through the smoldering charcoal that’s been burned in the kiln for pieces that can still be used, inhaling the soot and singeing their fingers.

The kids work with a determination born out of knowing little else but their families’ need. When asked about toys or play, they smile and shrug. Only a few have been to school.

Nabila, the 12-year-old, has been working in brick factories since she was five or six. Like many other brick workers, her family works part of the year at a kiln near Kabul, the other part at a one outside Jalalabad, near the Pakistani border.

A few years ago, she got to go to school a little in Jalalabad. She’d like to go back to school but can’t — her family needs her work to survive, she said with a soft smile.

“We can’t think about anything else but work,” she said.

Afghan children work in a brick factory on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. Aid agencies say the number of children working in Afghanistan is growing ever since the economy collapsed following the Taliban takeover more than a year ago. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Mohabbat, a 9-year-old boy, stopped for a moment with a pained expression as he carried a load of charcoal. “My back hurts,” he said.

Asked what he wished for, he first asked, “What is a wish?” Then once it was explained, he was quiet a moment, thinking. “I wish to go to school and eat good food,” he said, then added: “I wish to work well so that we can have a house.”

The landscape around the factories is bleak and barren, with the kilns’ smokestacks pumping out black, sooty smoke. Families live in dilapidated mud houses next to furnaces, each with a corner where they make their bricks. For most, a day’s meal is bread soaked in tea.

Rahim has three children working with him at a brick kiln, ranging in age from 5 to 12. The kids had been in school, and Rahim, who goes by one name, said he had long resisted putting them to work. But even before the Taliban came to power, as the war went on and the economy worsened, he said he had no choice.

“There’s no other way,” he said. “How can they study when we don’t have bread to eat? Survival is more important.”

A 9-year-old Afghan girl works in a brick factory on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. Aid agencies say the number of children working in Afghanistan is growing ever since the economy collapsed following the Taliban takeover more than a year ago. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

In the stifling August sun covered in layers of black clothing works a 9 y/o girl, who, under all that dirt and sweat is a beautiful young girl whose eyes belie the sadness and hopelessness of her situation. Don't you just want to gather her in your arms and rescue her from that place?

Afghan children work in a brick factory on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Aid agencies say the number of children working in Afghanistan is growing ever since the economy collapsed following the Taliban takeover more than a year ago. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Workers get the equivalent of $4 for every 1,000 bricks they make. One adult working alone can’t do that amount in a day, but if the children help, they can make 1,500 bricks a day, workers said.

According to surveys done by Save the Children, the percentage of families saying they had a child working outside the home grew from 18% to 22% from December to June. That would suggest more than 1 million children nationwide were working. The surveys covered more than 1,400 children and more than 1,400 caregivers in seven provinces. Another 22% of the children said they were asked to work on the family business or farm.

The survey also pointed to the collapse in livelihoods that Afghans have endured the past year. In June, 77% of the surveyed families reported they had lost half their income or more, compared to a year ago, up from 61% in December.

A 9-year-old Afghan child works in a brick factory on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. Aid agencies say the number of children working in Afghanistan is growing ever since the economy collapsed following the Taliban takeover more than a year ago. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

On one recent day at one of the kilns, a light rain started, and at first the kids were cheerful, thinking it would be a refreshing drizzle in the heat. Then the wind kicked up. A blast of dust hit them, coating their faces. The air turned yellow with dust. Some of the children couldn’t open their eyes, but they kept working. The rain opened up into a downpour.

The kids were soaked. One boy had water and mud pouring off of him, but like the others he said he couldn’t take shelter without finishing his work. Streams from the driving rain carved out trenches in the dirt around them.

“We’re used to it,” he said. Then he told another boy, “Hurry up, let’s finish it.”