Perverted Lives of the Rich and Famous > Tim Ballard - Another fallen hero; Ashton Kutcher steps down from Chairman of Thorne

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Lawsuit alleges famous child-trafficking opponent

sexually abused women who posed as his wife

BY MEAD GRUVER, AP

Updated 11:19 AM PDT, October 10, 2023

Five women on Monday sued the founder of an anti-child-trafficking group that inspired a popular movie this year, alleging he sexually manipulated, abused and harassed them on overseas trips designed to lure and catch child sex traffickers.

Tim Ballard’s life story and work with Operation Underground Railroad inspired “Sound of Freedom,” a 2023 film popular with conservative moviegoers. He recently resigned from the group amid sexual abuse and harassment allegations he has denied.

Ballard’s prominence as an opponent of child sex trafficking got him invited to the White House under President Donald Trump. Previously a special adviser to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, Ballard was appointed to a White House anti-human-trafficking board in 2019.

The complaints against Ballard center on a “couple’s ruse” he allegedly engaged in with Operation Underground Railroad women who posed as his wife to fool child sex traffickers into thinking he was a legitimate client, according to the lawsuit filed in Utah state court.

Phone and email messages left with Operation Underground Railroad and Ballard’s representatives were not immediately returned Monday.

The ruse began with Ballard and women in the organization taking cross-country trips to “practice” their “sexual chemistry” with tantric yoga, couple’s massages with escorts and performing lap dances on Ballard, the lawsuit claims.

While promotional materials portrayed the group’s overseas missions as “paramilitary drop-ins to arrest traffickers and rescue children,” they mostly involved “going to strip clubs and massage parlors across the world, after flying first class to get there, and staying at five-star hotels, on boats, and at VRBOs (vacation rentals by owner) across the globe,” the lawsuit alleges.

Several women, meanwhile, were eventually subjected to “coerced sexual contact,” including “several sexual acts with the exception of actual penetration, in various states of undress,” the lawsuit alleges.

Even in private, the lawsuit alleges: “Ballard would claim that he and his female partner had to maintain the appearance of a romantic relationship at all times in case suspicious traffickers might be surveilling them at any moment.”

The women, who filed the lawsuit under pseudonyms, allege Ballard meanwhile used his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and connection to church leaders to persuade them what he was doing was just for the good of children in need of help.

Ballard said a high-ranking church leader, M. Russell Ballard, no relation, gave him special permission to use the couples ruse “as long as there was no sexual intercourse or kissing.” The church in a September statement condemned Tim Ballard for “unauthorized use” of the church leader’s name for personal advantage and “activity regarded as morally unacceptable.”

Tim Ballard claimed a passage in the Book of Mormon justified performing “unconventional” tasks, the lawsuit alleges.

“Ballard would get ketamine treatments and have a scribe come in with him while he would talk to the dead prophet Nephi and issue forth prophecies about Ballard’s greatness and future as a United States senator, president of the United States and ultimately the Mormon prophet to usher in the second coming of Christ,” the lawsuit states.

Days before the church condemned Ballard, Mitt Romney announced he would not seek a second term representing Utah in the U.S. Senate. Ballard, who has said he was considering running for Senate, has blamed political opponents for the recent sexual allegations against him.

This story has been corrected to show that M. Russell Ballard is a high-ranking leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but that he is not president of the entire faith.

Another hero bites the dust, not for doing anything wrong except to make an unfortunate statement in favour of an old friend who had done something wrong. Social media does not allow for errors in judgment anymore.
 
Thanks for the great work you started, all that you have accomplished, and the young lives you have had a hand in rescuing, Ashton. God bless you.

Ashton Kutcher resigns from anti-child-sex-abuse board

following backlash

By Michelle Butterfield  Global News

Posted September 15, 2023 1:45 pm

Ashton Kutcher is stepping down as chairman of the board of an anti-child-sex-abuse organization he co-founded, called Thorn, as he continues to face fallout and outrage for supporting rapist Danny Masterson.

TIME magazine reports that his wife, Mila Kunis, is also stepping down in her role as an observer on Thorn’s board.

“Victims of sexual abuse have been historically silenced and the character statement I submitted is yet another painful instance of questioning victims who are brave enough to share their experiences,” Kutcher wrote in a letter dated Thursday to Thorn’s board, which was shared on Thorn’s website as well as with TIME.

“After my wife and I spent several days of listening, personal reflection, learning, and conversations with survivors and the employees and leadership at Thorn, I have determined the responsible thing for me to do is resign as Chairman of the Board, effectively immediately,” Kutcher wrote. “I cannot allow my error in judgment to distract from our efforts and the children we serve.”

Kutcher and Kunis made headlines late last week when it was revealed they wrote letters of support for Masterson, asking the presiding judge for leniency while determining sentencing for Masterson, who was found guilty of two counts of rape.

The co-stars, who are now married, were once main characters on That ’70s Show alongside Masterson. Their letters vouched for Masterson’s “exceptional character.”

“I do not believe he is an ongoing harm to society,” Kutcher wrote, while Kunis described Masterson as an “outstanding role model and friend.”

Outrage over the letters ensued, prompting the couple to share a video to Instagram Sunday where Kutcher explained that Masterson’s family had asked them to write character letters detailing “the person that we knew for 25 years so that the judge could take that into full consideration relative to the sentencing.”

“The letters were not written to question the legitimacy of the judicial system or the validity of the jury’s ruling,” Kunis said.

The couple were just two of a reported 50 people who wrote letters of support to Judge Charlaine Olmeda.

However, the letters didn’t appear to do much to sway the judge’s mind, and Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life behind bars.

And while Kunis and Kutcher have both been subject to much scorn and vitriol – including very public draggings from several fellow celebrities – Kutcher’s come under additional scrutiny for his advocacy in the anti-child-sex-trafficking space.

“The mission must always be the priority and I want to offer my heartfelt apology to all victims of sexual violence and everyone at Thorn who I hurt by what I did,” Kutcher wrote to Thorn’s board. “And to the broader advocacy community, I am deeply sorry. I remain proud of what we have accomplished in the past decade and will continue to support Thorn’s work. Thank you for your tireless advocacy and dedication to this cause.”

Thorn was founded in 2009 by Kutcher and his then-wife, Demi Moore, under the name DNA Foundation. Thorn develops tools and technology to help tech companies remove child sex abuse material from online spaces, as well as assist law enforcement in identifying victims.

“Ashton founded Thorn over a decade ago with one goal in mind: to protect children from sexual abuse and give them the childhood they deserve,” Suzanne Bell, a board member at Thorn, said in a statement.

“His unwavering dedication and commitment to Thorn throughout its journey have enabled the organization to become the leader that it is in the child safety ecosystem. It has been my privilege to join him on this mission.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.

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Positive Stories in the War on Child Sexual Abuse - Episode XXXIV

Thorn’s ‘Safer’ uses perceptual hashing and machine learning algorithms to identify child sexual abuse material (CSAM)

By Arya Goswami - Marktechpost

The vast majority of us profoundly put resources into securing our homes and working environments, children, and networks. So, for what reason would we accept anything less than a safe online condition in which to exist? 

The recent tech-product by the non-profit organization, Thorn – Safer brings new hope for children’s online safety against child abuse with 99% precision. 

Thorn was founded by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore in 2009.

 

Safer uses machine learning classification model to flag the files suspected to CSAM ( Child Sexual Abuse Material). 

The recognition services of the product include: 

Image and Video Hash Matching: The product generates cryptographic hashes for pictures and compares them with known CSAM( Child Sexual Abuse Matching) hashes in the database. 

CSAM Image Classifier: Machine Learning classification model trained on various datasets containing thousands of images, including adult pornography, is used to classify suspected images as CSAM. 

The child abuse content found by Safer can be reviewed as well as reported using a single interface. It will lead to a faster response in helping the children and bringing them to a safe environment. 

Safer is presently accessible for any organization working in the US. Thistle intends to extend to different nations one year from now in the wake of modifying for every nation’s public announcing necessities.

Sources: https://www.thorn.org/blog/announcing-safer-built-by-thorn-eliminate-csam/

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Rapists will be surgically castrated and child sex fiends face death penalty under new law in Nigerian state

Niamh Cavanagh, The Sun

CONVICTED rapists will be surgically castrated under strict new laws in a Nigerian state.

Sex fiends who rape a child under 14 will face the death penalty.

Sex attackers who rape a child under 14 will face the death penalty

It comes after public anger over a rise in rapes in the state of Kaduna during months of Covid restrictions.

Governor Nasir Ahman El-Rufai, of Kaduna State, said the “drastic penalties are required to help further protect children from a serious crime".

Male rapists will now be subject to surgical castration while women who are convicted of child sex offences will have their fallopian tubes removed.

Those convicted will also be handed the death penalty for raping a child under the age of 14 and a life sentence for raping an adult.

Mr El-Rufai signed the legislation into law on Wednesday after it had gained parliament approval.

A group of men protest against rape in Nigeria in LagosCredit: Getty Images - Getty

SURGICAL CASTRATION

Previous laws stated that a person convicted of raping an adult would get a maximum 21-year prison sentence while a life sentence was handed out for the rape of a child.

The new law has been introduced as a way to curb the spike in sexual violence seen across the Kaduna state. Nigeria has seen a huge increase in reports of rape during the last several months of the coronavirus lockdown.

Nearly 800 cases of sexual violence were reported between January and May in this year.

The major surge prompted women’s rights groups to call for harsher punishments on convicted rapists.

Activist and rape survivor Dorothy Njemanze has said she would like to see the law adopted in other Nigerian states.

"In retrospect, if everyone that raped me was put through that [surgical castration] other people that they might have also raped would have been spared the calamity," she said Sky News.

Tim Tebow Joins AG Barr, Ivanka Trump To Announce

$100M in Grants To Combat Human Trafficking

Elizabeth Johnston

Tim Tebow has teamed up with Attorney General William Barr and White House adviser Ivanka Trump to provide much-needed funding to organizations fighting the ongoing battle against the modern-day slavery of women, girls, and boys across the world.

According to NBC8, Barr and Trump hosted a roundtable in Atlanta on Monday to discuss the issue and announce the creation of $100 million in grants to fight human trafficking. At the discussion, Tebow, whose tireless work to fight human trafficking eclipses his successful career in professional sports, shared his vision for “making a dent” in the fight against modern slavery.

“I’m grateful for all of you that are here and all of the work that you have done,” Tebow said, addressing the room alongside his wife, Demi-Leigh. “I truly am so grateful, because, for me and my wife, this isn’t an 8 to 5, a 9 to 5, this is a calling.”

“It’s a calling because we believe it’s the greatest form of evil in the world today. Because there are 40 million people around the world that need us,” Tebow declared. “They need us to say, ‘no longer is it about the credit, it’s about the mission.'”

“Eventually we have to say, ‘not on our watch. Not anymore,'” he went on.

Tebow proceeded to outline a three-fold approach in addressing human trafficking. It starts, he explained, with a proactive approach to support families “before they get in a desperate situation where they do something that eventually they’re gonna regret.”

The second prong, Tebow went on, was to be “a part of the rescue.”

“That’s one of our non-negotiables, is we’re on a rescue mission. When you say ‘rescue mission,’ it puts a timeline on it… We have to live with a sense of urgency to rescue as many lives as possible.”

The third aspect of the plan is to build longterm relationships, Tebow said, because “it does take holistic healing. It takes holistic love, and it also takes sharing with someone that they might have been a slave physically but they’ve also so many times become a slave inside. Slavery’s not just on the outside, it’s on the inside as well.”

“So many times, these survivors have forgotten their worth,” Tebow lamented.

“You know, the reason why we got into this was because eight years ago, my dad was preaching in a remote country, and there were four girls that he was next to that were being sold,” Tebow recalled. “And he took out all the money out of his wallet, which was $1,250 and he bought those four girls. And then he called me and said, ‘I just bought four girls and not really sure what to do now.’ and I said, ‘that’s OK, dad. we’ve got your back.”

Tebow and his father proceeded to build their first safe home, supporting those four girls and going out to rescue more from the clutches of slavery.

“I’m so grateful for that day because it opened my eyes to what is happening around the world.”

“Another one of our non-negotiables is that there’s power when we come together,” Tebow concluded. “We need more people to be able to come together on this, because when we do, we believe there’s power, and we believe we can make a dent.”

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One small step back from the brink of #PCMadness:

UK scraps plans to allow trans-identified people to change sex ID

without medical examination

By Brandon Showalter, CP Reporter

The Union flag flies in front of the Clock face on the Queen Elizabeth Tower, commonly referred to as Big Ben on April 2, 2019, in London, England. | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The U.K. government has scrapped proposed revisions to the Gender Recognition Act that would have allowed transgender-identifying individuals to change their sex listed on documents without a first having a medical examination to diagnose gender dysphoria.

The announcement comes approximately two years after the government signaled its plans to allow trans-identified people to identify their chosen sex on legal documents. The reversal comes after significant pushback from women's rights campaigners who have argued that self-ID undermines women's sex-based rights.

Government ministers decided that “proper checks and balances in the system and also support for people who want to change their legal sex” already existed within the legal regime, The Independent reported Tuesday.

As it stands, anyone wanting to change their birth sex on legal documents must file an application along with two reports from a doctor or psychologist stating they have suffered from gender dysphoria to obtain a gender recognition certificate.

According to the BBC, U.K. Equalities Minister Liz Truss said in a statement that GRA reform was “not the top priority for transgender people. Perhaps their most important concern is the state of trans healthcare,” she said, in a statement supplied to members of parliament.

“Trans people tell us that waiting lists at NHS gender clinics are too long. I agree, and I am deeply concerned at the distress it can cause.”

This is because there are far too many transitions being approved; exponentially more than there were just a few years ago.

Are more steps back from the brink possible?

Truss' statement comes amid ongoing scrutiny of transgender medical practices in the U.K. Earlier this year, a formal clinical review was set in motion to investigate both the safety and efficacy of puberty-blocking drugs and the rules pertaining to parental consent before a child undergoes body-altering medical procedures. 

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UK Government doubles funding for child sexual abuse charities to £2.4 million

The joint Home Office and Ministry of Justice fund will support national charities that work with children and adults who have experienced child sexual abuse.

Ministers have boosted support for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

The government has doubled the financial support it provides to national organisations that support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to £2.4 million.

The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice are awarding a two-year grant for the first time, in order to provide much needed stability for voluntary sector organisations, several of which are facing increased demand for their services as a result of Covid-19.

Does this include transgender detransitioning which needs a phenomenal rise in support immediately? 

The Support for Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Fund aims to assist national organisations in supporting both adult and child victims and survivors of child sexual abuse across England and Wales, with several organisations also providing support to parents, carers and family members.

Services the money will go towards include support lines, specialist telephone and digital counselling, support groups for survivors, training for professionals, support for victims with learning difficulties and their families, and development of online resources for victims and survivors.

The funding builds on an unprecedented £76 million package of support to ensure the most vulnerable in society get the support they need during the coronavirus pandemic – which included £10 million to help victims of sexual violence access advice and support.

Victims Minister Alex Chalk said: The horrific effects of child sexual abuse are often endured by survivors long into adult life.

This new investment will ensure victims can access the specialist emotional and practical support they need – helping them to cope with and where possible recover from these appalling crimes.

The eight charities receiving the funding in 2020-22 are: Safeline Warwick, National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), Mosac, Mankind, Rape Crisis England and Wales, The Survivors Trust, Victim Support and Barnardo’s.

The Safeguarding Minister will today visit Mosac, one of the recipients of the fund and a charity which provides support to sexually abused children and their non-abusing family members. The Minister will see how the charity’s helpline, therapy, counselling and advocacy services operate, as well as watching a video recorded by a child abuse survivor who became a support worker.

Becky Booth, CEO of Mosac, said: Mosac welcomes this timely increase in support from the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. The increased demand for our services during the pandemic has highlighted the widespread impact of the virus throughout society.

This funding will enable Mosac to expand our advocacy and advice services to non-abusing family members, a key element of our holistic support for families.

Calls to the charity’s child sexual abuse helpline have more than doubled during lockdown, from around 40 on a normal July/August to 105 in July and 93 in August this year.

Improving support for victims and survivors will be a key element of the forthcoming cross-government strategy on child sexual abuse, which will drive collaboration between government, law enforcement, safeguarding partners and industry to take a more joined up approach to tackling all forms of child abuse.

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