Judicial Tyranny

A US Federal judge decides that HE is the ONLY judge of who is an ‘authorized journalist' and who is not.  

U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernández  ruled that “investigative blogger” Crystal L. Cox “was not a journalist and cannot claim the protections afforded to mainstream reporters and news outlets.” 

In his ruling Judge Marco A. Hernández  arbitrarily decided  “investigative blogger” Crystal L. Cox Montana blogger was not acting as a journalist when she lambasted an Oregon attorney in online statements.

The ruling by Judge Marco A. Hernández began as a lawsuit filed against Internet blogger Crystal Cox that accused her of defaming Oregon attorney Kevin Padrick with writings on her website that called him corrupt.

Kevin Padrick was working as a trustee in the bankruptcy case of an Oregon-based real estate firm, Summit Accommodators Inc.

After Summit unraveled, executives with the firm were charged with wire fraud and money laundering over an alleged scheme that saw customers lose millions, according to the FBI.

Cox representing herself (ALWAYS a BAD Move)presented arguments seeking legal protections given to the media on the grounds that, in her view,KEVIN  PADRICK and his company, Obsidian Finance Group, were public figures.

US Media organizations are protected by ”actual malice” legal standard established in a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which holds that under the First Amendment, journalists to be liable for defamation must know or have warning signs their inflammatory statements against a public figure are false.

David Ardia, co-director of the University of North Carolina center for media law and policy, said the judge exhibited a “cramped and myopic” view of journalism in his ruling against Cox.

“There is no accepted definition of journalism or who is a journalist,” he said. “Judges have wisely shied away from wading into that debate unless they absolutely have to.”

John Barrows, executive director of the Montana Newspaper Association, told Reuters he found the ruling “troubling” but that his group would review it further.

WHO or WHAT qualifies as a Journalist in the United States?

The Central Intelligence Agency( C.I.A.) and the National Security Agency (N.S.A.) have BOTH said Internet Bloggers are modern day 21st century Journalists.   The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have altered policies to indicate they’re taking blogs seriously, and a growing number of public offices are actively reaching out to the blogosphere. The CIA recently updated its policies on Freedom of Information Act requests to allow bloggers to qualify for special treatment once reserved for old-school reporters. Last August, the NSA issued a directive to its employees to report leaks of classified information to the media — "including Internet BLOGGERS!"

At the  the criminal trial of former White House aide "Scooter" Libby was the first time a federal court had issued press credentials to bloggers. 

Adding more to the issue...

The press, once again, has been expanded" 

 said New York University journalism professor (and blogger) Jay Rosen. 

"It’s not fundamentally different than other moments in earlier eras," Rosen explained. "Radio reporters had to be added to newspaper reporters, which were originally ‘the press.’ Public institutions had to make accommodations for television cameras when they became part of ‘the press.’" While some agencies are changing their policies — in the CIA’s case, they are granting bloggers a waiver on fees for copying the documents it releases to requesters once available only to traditional media.

 

Modern Day Slave Trade

Human trafficking is perpetrated in every country, rich or poor, and is the second largest, fastest growing organized crime in the world. Free the Slaves estimates that there are currently 27 million people toiling as modern day slaves around the globe.

Modern-day slavery looks different in North America than it does in Africa or Asia, the industry is nevertheless alive and thriving in all its forms.
Modern-day slaves are often hard to identify – anyone from a dishwasher in a restaurant, to a domestic or agricultural worker, to an adolescent runaway.  These people are all illegally bought and sold to sinister underworld figures who have total control over the falsely indebted slave.

Many low income workers are brought in from extremely poor foreign countries with promises of work.  When they get the United States their passports and cell phones,  when they have them, are seized, severing them from all outside contact.  Then, with threats of violence, rape, and death the newly indentured slaves are forced into all types of prostitution and sex work.

Yearly revenues of SLAVE trafficking are currently estimated at $5 billion to $9 billion US dollars.    The United States Department of State estimates 1,600,000 to 1,820,000 men, women, and children are sold into SLAVERY each year, approximately 70 percent are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors.   The data also illustrates that the majority of transnational SLAVES are sold into the international sex trade.

Currently, enslavement of young men from middle eastern and African countries are being sold into SLAVERY for the sole purposes of free manual labor.   Back breaking labor exploitation is often hidden behind the facade of guest foreign labor, such as has been the case in Abu Dhabi.  At least 12.3 million people around the world are trapped in forced . Forced labor is often known as debt bondage. The victims are very poor migrants trapped in debt bondage-SLAVERY- such as, sweatshops, farm workers, day laborers, kitchen help, dishwashers, household servants, etc.  They are kept there by violent and illegal tactics and are generally paid nothing.

I am just one person, what can I do to stop modern day Slavery? 

The Somaly Mam Foundation ( www.somaly.org/)  is a nonprofit charity committed to ending modern day slavery in North America and around the world.

Human trafficking, a multi-billion dollar industry, is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. With over two million women and children sold into sexual slavery each year, it is a global crisis that must be stopped. More resources are critically needed to support the rescue and rehabilitation of these young victims.

Co-founded by sexual slavery survivor,  Somaly Mam, the Foundation works to eradicate human trafficking, liberate its victims, and empower survivors so they can create and sustain lives of dignity. The Foundation supports survivor rescue, shelter, and rehabilitation programs globally with a special focus on Southeast Asia, where the trafficking of women and girls, some as young as five, is a widespread practice. The Somaly Mam Foundation also runs awareness and advocacy campaigns in the United States and around the world that shed light on the crime of human trafficking and focus on getting the public and governments involved in the fight to abolish modern day slavery.

If you KNOW a victim  of human trafficking call the toll-free National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline is available to answer calls in over 170 languages from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year.

1-888-3737-888