You might think your personal data is locked away safely behind passwords and firewalls but in most cases, it’s been packaged, labelled, and sold many times over.

The global data-broker economy represents one of the least accountable sectors in the digital information ecosystem. Every human interaction with a connected system leaves a trace. From property deeds to online purchases, fragments of identity: names, coordinates, behavioral signatures, are continuously captured, cross-referenced, and monetized. The cumulative effect of these fragments is an emergent structure: a digital identity graph that knows more about an individual than any government registry and can be used for anything from targeted ads to deeper surveillance.

For people working in journalism, intelligence, public policy, or simply wanting to protect their family, the risk is a matter of privacy and operational vulnerability. When I remove data broker information for clients I implement practical protocols for systematic removals and sustaining long-term privacy hygiene, positioning personal data suppression as a form of digital sovereignty and resilience against both commercial exploitation and adversarial intelligence collection.

Here I teach you a technique for baseline data removal as privacy defense by applying suppression protocols to reduce the exploitable surface area of your identity.

Why This Matters Now

In the digital-age marketplace of identity, your profile becomes a vector for attack long before any breach is involved.

A seemingly benign listing on a people-search site can lead to:

• sophisticated phishing campaigns using accurate personal details;
• targeted reconnaissance by hostile actors mapping your network of friends and family;
• even corporate or state-level actors correlating your lifestyle with predictable behaviors.

The major conduits in dark web forums also live on the public facing internet, these are the legal, commercial data brokers operating on the surface. For professionals and private citizens alike, removing yourself from their ecosystem is essential.

The Architecture of Exposure: How You Get Mapped

To counter the threat, you must first understand its structure. Think of your identity as a building. Data brokers are the architects building its shadow.

1. Harvest Layer: Public records, property deeds, social-media footprints, this is the raw material.
2. Aggregation Layer: 
Brokers like ‎PeopleConnect, ‎Whitepages and ‎Spokeo merge data into “identity graphs” linking you to addresses, phones, associates.
3. Distribution Layer: Smaller directories, reverse-phone sites and niche aggregators feed off that data again and again which multiplies your exposure.

When you remove yourself piecemeal, just one site here, an old listing there, you’ll find personal data tends to pop up in other places. The structure regenerates. The key is to strike at the aggregation hubs first, then sweep the branches.

If you start with just the Tier 1 branches you'll find this will wipe most of your personal data out these directories because the big data houses are owned by the same parent company and smaller data brokers pull their information from them. For example, suppressing Intelius data will automatically apply to Truthfinder, PeopleConnect, InstantCheckmate, and USSearch, and when you opt-out you'll notice its the same form.

A Three-Tier Removal Model: A Practical Framework

Here’s the roadmap for returning control over your personal data:

Note: These lists aren’t exhaustive. The full inventory appears in a supplementary spreadsheet attached at the end of this article, covering hundreds of sites but you'll get very far if you at least start with the sites listed here.

How You Apply This: A Step-by-Step Workflow

Step 1: Reconnaissance

Search your name + known addresses + phone numbers. Record which domains show your data. If you don't want to be this thorough, just jump to step 3.

Step 2: Tier Mapping

Assign each domain to Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 based on its function. I've done this for you in the spreadsheet attached to this article.

Step 3: Suppression

Use a disposable email and a VOIP number that is generic and does not contain information relative to you. Submit opt-out requests tier by tier: first Tier 1, then 2, then 3. If you're in a hurry, just do Tier 1 core aggregators (the data brokers listed in the above chart); you'll get rid of a great deal of personal data that is exposed online.

Never use your actual email or phone number. You can create a disposable email using Proton Mail, and a secondary number using Google Voice or a burner number application.

If you are asked for a photo ID, just upload something from https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/, you don't owe data brokers your personal information, and when you think about it, this applies to almost everyone.

Step 4: Verification

After 14-30 days, re-search your name. Track removed listings and persistent ones.

Step 5: Maintenance

Quarterly audit. New sites appear. Repeat the process. Privacy isn’t one-off, it’s ongoing because as you use more services and applications, your data is thrown back into these orbits.

These are the Tier 1 data houses, at least start here.

What Policy Should Do, and What You Can Do

Policy lags behind this architecture. U.S. state laws offer opt-outs but lack enforcement. Brokers operate in a grey zone.

For now, the individual must act. Treat your data like an asset, and your exposure like a threat surface.


Removing yourself from these networks reclaims control over your own personal data.

Conclusion

In a world where your life is commodified before you even click “accept” on a Terms of Service, digital privacy becomes a mode of autonomy.


By understanding how you are mapped, and using the three-tier model to remove yourself, you rebuild that autonomy.


The future of privacy doesn’t rest on legislation alone, it rests on a decision to be unmapped.

Here is an excel spreadsheet. If there's enough interest, I'll put together a script that does most of this automatically.

Updated October 9, 2025

An investigation into the funding networks, bail funds, and financial pipelines that create an economy of unrest.

On September 25, 2025, the White House issued a directive titled, “Enforcing the Death Penalty Laws in the District of Columbia to Deter and Punish the Most Heinous Crimes,” underscoring the administration’s willingness to wield maximal legal force in defense of order. Against that backdrop, protests and political violence are not peripheral, they are now part of a national security conversation.

Introduction: The Myth of Spontaneity

Antifa is often described as a loose collection of militants, anarchists, and street activists. Its defenders frame it as a movement without leaders or structure. What looks like spontaneous protest is frequently underpinned by coordinated logistics, legal defense funds, and financial pipelines that sustain the movement.

Behind the black bloc lies an economy of unrest: travel funds move activists between cities. Crowdfunding campaigns cover bail, medical bills, and equipment. Affiliated organizations provide logistical support under the banner of “mutual aid.” The effect is to transform sporadic street violence into repeatable operations.

This investigation tracks those shadow funds. It follows the flow of money that turns a fragmented ideology into coordinated action. By mapping the economics of Antifa, we move past slogans and imagery to the machinery that keeps the movement alive.

1. The Infrastructure of “Leaderless” Movements

While Antifa insists it has no hierarchy, movements cannot survive without structure. Coordinated networks exist to provide food, lodging, and legal representation. Activists are shuttled across state lines, plugged into host networks that greet them with pre-arranged resources. “leaderless resistance” is not the absence of organization, it is its camouflage.

Most fundraising organizations typically contribute to broader networks, meaning inter-fund transfers are not limited to one jurisdiction. This forms the basis of Antifa operating as an international organization and movement.

Name: Antifa International
Role: Transnational network that connects Antifa across borders.
Description: Antifa International provides a structural backbone to connect local cells, share logistical practices, pool resources, and facilitate cross-border action. In 2015 the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund was launched (see below) to provide material support to Antifa worldwide.

Name: International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund
Role: Acts as a funding arm for far-left militants and delivers material support into the U.S.
Description:According to its own disclosures and fundraising pages, it has donated over $250,000USD to more than 800 anti-fascists across 26 different countries. Over the last twelve months, the organization has intervened nine times to assist 52 anti-fascists in Finland, France, Germany, the UK, and the US.

In 2023, the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund provided bail support to the militant Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club, the same group linked to the ambush on an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, that left an officer wounded and triggered an FBI manhunt for Antifa-affiliated suspect Benjamin Song.

Name: Portland, Oregon
Role: Hub of Antifa activity and taxpayer-funded settlements to militants
Description: Portland, Oregon, has effectively funneled over $3 million in taxpayer dollars to Antifa-linked individuals through lawsuit settlements related to police interactions during the 2020 riots. These payouts stem from claims of excessive force against protesters and rioters, including known Antifa extremists who participated in violent unrest against law enforcement and federal property.

For instance, the city approved a $400,000 settlement to Dustin Brandon Ferreira (alias "Wheels"), an Antifa associate arrested during a 2020 riot, and $375,000 to Meghan Lea Opbroek, a far-left agitator injured at an Antifa-led attempt to burn down a police precinct. Overall, Portland has disbursed just over $3 million since 2020 for such claims, often to avoid trial risks, as reported by the city's attorney's office and local outlets. This pattern is criticized as rewarding violence, with settlements going to those involved in assaults, arson attempts, and clashes with police (Washington Examiner, 2025).

2. Crowdfunding as a War Chest

Platforms like GoFundMe, Patreon, and lesser-known anarchist-hosted sites have become lifelines. Campaigns raise money for:

• Bail and legal fees for arrested protesters.
• Medical expenses for injuries sustained during riots.
• Protective gear like helmets, goggles, and shields.
• Travel stipends to send “comrades” where confrontations are planned.

In effect, crowdfunding transforms local skirmishes into a mobile insurgency. Money raised in Portland can bankroll a protest in Washington, D.C. A riot in Atlanta can be funded by donors in Germany.

Name: Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF)
Role: Per charter, they are a state-based bail fund that disburses bail and immigration bonds on behalf of protest-related arrestees, criminal defendants, and immigration detainees held in removal proceedings.
Description: Antifa rioter Thomas Moseley, 29, of Blaine, Minnesota was arrested multiple times during 2020 protests and riots, including for vandalism, weapons possession, and property damage. The Minnesota Freedom Fund posted bail for him on multiple occasions: once a $5,000 bail related to a riot on October 15, 2020, and another time a $60,000 bail connected to a December 31, 2020 BLM/Antifa riot. Moseley later pled guilty to federal weapons charges.

Although MFF is legally chartered to posts cash bail and immigration bonds within Minnesota, they received a large influx of funds and redistributed donations to other bail funds nationwide through inter-fund transfers.

The MMF fund was promoted by Kamala Harris during the riots.

Name: Arabella Advisors
Role: For-profit consulting and philanthropic-management firm that operates administrative, payroll, and advisory services for major fiscal sponsors, most notably the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a dark money super-PAC and the New Venture Fund. Arabella connects these groups, and is named in these funds’ IRS Form-990 Schedule O filings as the provider of administrative services and the recipient of management fees.
Description: Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund list payments to Arabella for management, payroll, consulting, and reimbursable expenses in their Schedule O filings. The funds’ Schedule I tables list hundreds of downstream grantees, including national intermediaries and fiscal hosts that promoted or fiscally hosted local bail, legal-defense, and mutual-aid funds supporting protest infrastructure. Some of those local initiatives were active in demonstrations that later escalated to clashes or violent incidents in Atlanta and Portland.

3. Mutual Aid or Movement Logistics?

Groups that present themselves as “mutual aid collectives” often function as logistical arms. Kitchens provide meals, volunteer medics treat injuries, and carpools shuttle protesters in and out of hot zones. On the surface these services appear humanitarian, but in practice they form the infrastructure that sustains conflict.

Funding flows primarily through decentralized peer-to-peer channels such as Venmo and Cash App. These mechanisms are common across Antifa-aligned mutual aid networks and complicate external auditing. The function is operational: to reduce time-to-release for arrested individuals and return them to the field, sustaining repeat protest activity.

Name: Mutual Aid Houston (MAH)
Role: Describes itself as a BIPOC-led abolitionist collective. Organizes direct assistance, jail-support for arrestees, resource consolidation, and protest support services that facilitate activist persistence.
Description: Mutual Aid Houston is listed in a Google document curated by MOVE Texas, another group with abolitionist leanings, under the category "Autonomous Mutual Aid Groups". The same directory was amplified by It's Going Down, a media platform closely aligned with Antifa organizing.

In joint listings, MAH operates within overlapping networks like the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in nearby Denton. MAH’s involvement in jail and protest support contributes to the logistical infrastructure that enables repeated mobilization.

According to Senior Analyst for DHS & Counterterrorism, Kyle Shideler, among the groups MAH says it works with is, "Food Not Bombs", in 2006 it was reported that Food Not Bombs was on the FBI terrorism watch list (Center for Security Policy, 2021).

Name: Tides Network (Tides Foundation and Tides Center)
Role: Fiscal sponsorship and grant-making hub for left-wing causes, providing pass-through funding to radical groups that enable Antifa-style protests and mutual aid.
Description: The Tides Foundation and Tides Center have distributed millions to politicized NGOs engaged in anti-racist and anti-Israel activism, many of which intersect with Antifa tactics during campus occupations and street actions. Notably, Tides received over $27 million in USAID grants, which were rerouted to support extremist networks, including those funding pro-Palestinian protests with Antifa participation. The organization has also faced scrutiny for its role in a surge of fundraising that bolstered abolitionist and protest bail funds used by Antifa militants in events like the 2020 riots, as detailed in White House funding revelations (The Daily Signal, 2025).

4. Legal Defense Networks

Perhaps the most resilient funding streams are those dedicated to legal defense. Organizations style themselves as civil liberties defenders, but their function is to normalize repeat arrests. Bail funds and legal aid ensure activists can cycle back onto the streets quickly, keeping pressure on opponents and exhausting law enforcement resources.

Name: National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
Role: A progressive legal organization that coordinates legal defense for protest movements, provides “mass defense” support, deploys legal observers, operates hotlines during demonstrations, offers “know your rights” training, and connects rioters to legal resources.
Description: The Mass Defense Program is a central component of the NLG’s activist legal arm. It mobilizes lawyers, law students, legal workers, and organizers to provide legal support for protesters, before, during, and after actions.

The NLG also publishes “Know Your Rights / Protester Guides” in multiple languages and distributes them during mobilizations. The Guild frequently works in coalition with civil liberties, labor, anti-racist/Antifa, abolitionist, and international legal advocacy organizations.

Name: Torch Network
Role: Decentralized network of antifa affinity groups across the U.S. that coordinate protest action, information sharing, mutual support, and resource pooling.
Description: The Torch Network is often understood as the successor to the anti-racist network Anti-Racist Action (ARA), which formally dissolved in 2013. Some ARA chapters realigned under the Torch name.

The Torch site lists multiple autonomous local chapters (e.g. Rose City Antifa, Atlanta Antifascists, Central Texas ARA, Front Range Antifa, etc.). Membership into the network involves being vouched for by existing chapters.

Torch Network functions as a coordinating body of the Antifascist Defence Fund.

5. International Pipelines

Funding is not purely domestic. International solidarity networks send money into the U.S., just as U.S.-based activists channel funds abroad. From anarchist collectives in Europe to diaspora groups aligned with far-left causes, the flow of resources blurs borders. Antifa is not merely an American problem—it is plugged into a transnational economy of unrest.

Name: Neville Roy Singham
Role: Funder of radical leftist networks and pro-CCP propaganda.
Description: Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based U.S. millionaire, indirectly supports Antifa through funding U.S. nonprofits like the Justice and Education Fund and People’s Forum, which channel money to radical groups such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and ANSWER Coalition. These organizations share Antifa’s anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist ideology and collaborate in protests, including pro-Hamas rallies and the 2024 Columbia University takeover, where Antifa militants were active. Singham’s financial network, tied to the Chinese Communist Party, include sharing office space with the pro-Beijing Maku Group and co-producing content for Shanghai’s propaganda department. The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary has documented an investigation into these ties.

The PSL attended an international Antifa festival in Caracas in 2024 (Washington Examiner, 2025).

Name: Open Society Foundations
Role: Global philanthropy network funding progressive and human rights initiatives, with allegations of indirect support for Antifa-linked protest activities.
Description: Founded by George Soros, the Open Society Foundations have reportedly funneled over $80 million since 2016 into left-wing extremist groups, including those with direct ties to Antifa cells and networks involved in violent protests. This funding has supported organizations like the Stop Cop City and Defend the Atlanta Forest coalition, which has been explicitly linked to Antifa-associated extremism and sabotage actions against law enforcement. The network's contributions are part of a broader "Riot Inc." ecosystem accused of enabling coordinated unrest across U.S. cities (Capital Research Center, 2025).

Name: Hansjörg Wyss Foundation
Role: Philanthropic entity led by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, channeling foreign funds into U.S. progressive networks that sustain Antifa-aligned protest ecosystems.
Description: Wyss has contributed significantly to the "Riot Inc." framework, with donations exceeding tens of millions funneled through Arabella Advisors to organizations supporting Antifa-linked protest networks and violence. As a non-U.S. citizen, his funding has been highlighted in White House disclosures for enabling domestic unrest, including grants to groups involved in anti-fascist actions and radical mobilization. This includes backing for environmental justice initiatives that overlap with Antifa's anti-capitalist disruptions, such as pipeline protests and urban riots.

6. The Machinery of Repeatability

Every movement requires energy, and for Antifa, that energy is cash. Without money, arrests would stick, travel would stall, and activists would remain isolated. With money, the cycle repeats: planning, mobilization, confrontation, and replenishment.

Following the Money

Antifa thrives not because it is popular, but because it is funded. Its shadow economy of crowdfunding, mutual aid networks, and legal pipelines converts ideology into action. To understand Antifa is to follow the money: beyond the slogans, beyond the black masks, lies an infrastructure that keeps the movement alive.

References:

Center for Security Policy. (2021, March). Risks abound as Antifa-aligned “mutual aid” groups respond [PDF]. Center for Security Policy. https://centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Antifa_Aligned_Mutual_Aid_Groups_Respond_PDFV2.pdf

Network Contagion Research Institute. (n.d.). CCP influence and radical ideologies. https://networkcontagion.us/reports/ccp-influence-and-radical-ideologies/

Mauro, R. (2025). Exclusive: Soros’ Open Society gave terrorist and pro-terror groups over $80 million (Report). Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Report.pdf


While the FBI fixated on January 6 grandmothers, Guy Edward Bartkus was radicalizing online in plain sight.

While the FBI has spent the past four years pouring vast resources into surveilling grandmothers who wandered through the Capitol on January 6, a far more lethal ideological movement grew undisturbed across online forums, YouTube channels, and pseudophilosophical blogs.

On May 17, Guy Edward Bartkus detonated a bomb outside a Palm Springs reproductive clinic in a brutal act of ideological suicide meant to destroy others. His target was not random, and his reasoning, however grotesque, was systematic. He left a manifesto, created a website and even posted about his plans online. He belonged to a movement.

He was a promortalist.

Bartkus was not radicalized in the dark. He planned his attack in plain sight, through his writings, forums, and a disturbing digital trail that leads to one conclusion: America is missing the real threat.

Bartkus operated under the name IndictEvolution, a handle that appeared across multiple platforms, including a disturbing YouTube channel where he shared videos of explosive experiments, chemical handling, and materials related to pyrotechnics. Some of these experiments, including cast ETN detonations and flash powder reactions, appear to serve no recreational or educational purpose, they were merely rehearsals for what was to come.

On the forum SanctionedSuicide.net, Bartkus, again using the name IndictEvolution announced the date of his suicide under a thread titled “CO CTB tomorrow morning.” In that thread, he casually mentions carbon monoxide (CO) and formic acid—methods associated with both suicide and covert chemical weapon use—but also hints at “extra drama that I probably shouldn’t say.” He said it without fear of censorship, moderation, or intervention. No one called the authorities, instead, forum users wished him Godspeed.

This wasn’t just a suicide, it was ideological violence, a deliberate, symbolic act meant to punish what he viewed as the moral crime of procreation. The creation of life through fertility treatments to Bartkus and others like him, is the highest offense of all, life as the deliberate production of suffering in full awareness.

Bartkus’s personal website, Promortalism, makes no effort to disguise his beliefs. The core philosophy: life is a “rape,” existence is suffering, and reproduction is the original sin. Reproductive clinics, which help couples conceive, are painted as morally abhorrent institutions by promortalists. In his manifesto, Bartkus calls birth an act equivalent to sexual assault, insists on the right to a "graceful exit," and justifies murder-suicide as protest.

You cannot understand what Bartkus did without understanding Efilism, a radical, fringe extension of antinatalism that believes not just that life is painful, but that existence itself is a fundamental harm. Efilism inverts the word "life" to "efil" to signal a total philosophical opposition to the very phenomenon of living. It proposes that all sentient life, regardless of species or setting, is condemned to suffer, and therefore the moral act is not to preserve or protect life, but to extinguish it. As articulated in writings by proponents like Inmendham (Gary Mosher), whom Bartkus followed, Efilism holds that procreation is an act of violence and that the continuation of DNA is a tyranny, not a triumph. Bartkus wasn't just angry at the world, he believed the world should not exist.

This is a death cult, but is not fringe in the way people assume, it has lively communities supporting a dark undercurrent of advocating for mass extinction and violence as moral goods. Promortalism is a metastasizing online ideology that combines antinatalism, eco-nihilism, radical veganism, and apocalyptic resentment into a single, deeply toxic worldview. It has found homes on Reddit, YouTube, Discord servers, and suicide forums that thrive in the shadows of digital platforms that validate beliefs that echo far beyond the fringes.

The Hollow Certainty of Guy Edward Bartkus
In his recorded manifesto, Bartkus speaks in a measured, casual tone, almost sedated, occasionally punctuated by slight scoffs that suggest not emotional pain but contempt. What emerges is not a man overwhelmed by despair, but someone underwhelmed by existence itself. "I just see existence as a kind of slavery to a DNA molecule," he says, as though the entirety of life could be reduced to genetic compulsion. This isn't the insight of a philosopher, it’s the voice of someone desperate to make the sacred seem stupid, to trivialize life so completely that his own rejection of it appears rational.

And yet, for someone who believes he understands the world, Bartkus demonstrates astonishing blindness toward himself. He accuses others of being insensitive while describing suicide methods with grotesque detachment. He brands procreation as the moral equivalent of rape, dismissing parents as "the real killers" for birthing children into a world of pain. There is no room for gratitude, joy, or love, only suffering, which he internalizes and inflates to cosmological scale. He claims to speak for all sentient beings, adopting their pain as justification for annihilation. He is arrogant without being sharp, emotionally stunted but intellectually grandiose. What he truly lacks is humility, both before God and before man.

Even Bartkus’ solution reveals how poorly he understands evil. He suggests mass shootings could be prevented if potential shooters were given the "graceful exit" of suicide. In other words, let the broken kill themselves before they kill others. This is not moral clarity, this is moral collapse. He believes that if no one is left alive to mourn, mass death is morally neutral. It’s the old nihilist’s game: reduce life to suffering, then argue that death is mercy.

But if Bartkus believed life was meaningless, he wouldn’t have blown himself up in front of a reproductive clinic. He wanted to make a point, and he wanted to harm. Like all ideological killers, he needed an audience. This wasn’t philosophy, it was vengeance disguised as ethics. And what makes him dangerous is that he found a community that affirmed every delusion. Online spaces like Sanctioned Suicide or YouTube channels filled with antinatalist logic aren't just strange—they are accelerants.

These men say there is no victory in being alive, that to be born is to lose. But the truth is simpler: they have lost the will to fight for anything worth living for—and they want the rest of the world to lose it with them.

We are living in a time of civilizational exhaustion, when hope is replaced by cynicism, family by atomization, and moral clarity by therapeutic relativism. In such a world, ideologies like promortalism can flourish. They promise meaning in annihilation, and offer a cause in place of a purpose. The promortalist does not have a philosophy, they have a pathology.

How did no one stop him?
The answer is as obvious as it is damning: because his ideology didn’t fit the bureau’s narrative of threat. Bartkus was not a white supremacist, he wasn’t religious, he wasn’t right-wing or left-wing. He was part of a growing wave of self-described rationalists who intellectualize murder and cloak death in pseudophilosophy. In the modern FBI lexicon, this made him invisible.
The modern FBI has spent the better part of a decade redirecting counterterrorism away from real threats like violent extremism, foreign-backed ideological networks, and decentralized radicalization, and redirected its resources toward wrongthink. The Bureau knows how to catch a protester wearing face paint. It has a harder time spotting a suicidal ideologue uploading bomb test videos under a philosophical veneer.

We need a government that understands evil exists and has the courage to name it. The question is not whether there will be another Guy Edward Bartkus. The question is how many more are already planning, and posting, right now. If federal agencies don’t stop obsessing over political theater and start confronting the real threats to life, order, and civilization, the next Bartkus is already online, and already building something worse.

Bishop James Su Zhimin was a prominent figure in China’s underground Catholic Church. As the Bishop of Baoding in Hebei Province, he remained loyal to the Vatican and resisted the Chinese government's attempts to control religious practice, efforts now enforced through the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA).

Bishop Su was first detained in 1956 and endured repeated imprisonments and forced labor over the decades. After his final arrest in 1997, he vanished from public view. In 2003, he was briefly spotted by family members in a Baoding hospital, still under police custody. He has not been seen or heard from in over 17 years. His fate remains unknown. His grave is likely unmarked. His Church remains underground, hunted by the Chinese Communist Party, yet it endures, sustained by the quiet devotion of its most faithful adherents.

Bishop Su’s disappearance is not an isolated tragedy. Across China, Catholic bishops and priests who refuse to sever ties with Rome have met similar fates, silenced, imprisoned, or vanished into the opaque machinery of the Chinese state. At least nine bishops are currently held in indefinite detention or have been forcibly disappeared, their flocks reassigned to state-appointed clergy and absorbed into the bureaucratic coldness of the Patriotic Church.

Among the clergy China deems noncompliant is an entire body of Catholic leadership systematically targeted across the country. Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu of Xinxiang was arrested while recovering from cancer surgery. Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou has been repeatedly detained for refusing state oversight. Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong, an elderly man, was arrested under the National Security Law for his role in a humanitarian fund. Others including Bishops Fan Zhongliang, Thaddeus Ma Daqin, Cosmas Shi Enxiang, Joseph Sun Jigen, Julius Jia Zhiguo, Stephen Yang Xiangtai, Augustine Cui Tai, Vincent Guo Xijin, Melchior Shi Hongzhen, Joseph Xing Wenzhi, John Baptist Wang Jin, Thomas Zeng Jingmu, and Andrew Han Jingtao have faced the same fate. Detained, erased, or isolated, they are replaced by Party-approved priests loyal to the state, not the successor of Peter.

The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), a bureaucratic tool of the Chinese Communist Party created in 1957 to eliminate Vatican influence, is overseen by the United Front Work Department. It works to register clergy loyal to state ideology, enforces sinicization by adapting Catholicism to socialist principles, and promotes bishops approved by the CCP rather than the Pope. While the CCPA reports non-compliant clergy and attempts to integrate them into the state system, it is the CCP’s police and judicial apparatus that carries out punishments, detentions, and disappearances.

The CCP’s crackdown has not stopped with bishops. In May 2021, seven priests and ten seminarians were arrested in Xinxiang during a broader crackdown. In April 2024, Father Chi Huitian and Professor Chen Hekun disappeared in Baoding without explanation.

These are not isolated events, but symptoms of a system working to erase a Church that extends beyond the reach of the party. This is not a policy of restraint, but one of eradication. These men are not dissidents in the political sense. They are successors to the apostles, punished for their fidelity to a Church that transcends national borders and temporal regimes. Their disappearances echo the ancient persecution of Christians, not by emperors in coliseums, but by modern tyrants in party offices.

Appendix A: Chinese Catholic Clergy Arrested, Detained, or Disappeared (1997-2024)

For decades, the Catholic Church in China has existed behind a veil, split between the state-approved CCPA and the underground Church loyal to Rome. Under Xi Jinping, however, Beijing’s tolerance for even this precarious balance has vanished. The Vatican’s 2018 agreement with the CCP on bishop appointments, hailed at the time as a diplomatic breakthrough, now lies in shambles. What was meant to unite the Church in China has only emboldened the regime to undermine the agreement’s intent and ignore its obligations.

The CCP's tools are blunt and chilling: house arrests, forced reeducation, rewriting of sacred texts, and an Orwellian system of surveillance that bans children from attending Mass while surveillance cameras peer from sanctuary walls. In one especially macabre twist, state-sanctioned texts now depict Christ stoning an adulteress to death, a revision more Mao than Messiah.

The Chinese Communist Party’s campaign against the Catholic Church is not merely about politics. It is about metaphysics. The totalitarian state, by its nature, cannot tolerate a truth that transcends it. It cannot abide a Lord who reigns above the Party. And so, it must replace the Cross with the portrait of Xi Jinping. It must rewrite Scripture to make Christ obedient to Marxist-Leninism. It must arrest bishops, raid seminaries, and surveil the sacraments.

And yet, the West whispers. Politicians, bishops, and prominent NGOs have yet to cut through the noise of louder priorities and diplomatic euphemisms. Fear of economic reprisal from China, of losing access to trade deals and diplomatic niceties, keeps their tongues in check. The Vatican, bound to its Faustian pact, remains diplomatically cordial even as its flock is persecuted into silence.

The irony is thick: nations that once prided themselves on shielding religious liberty now shirk responsibility when it is most needed. The moral backbone of Western civilization, forged in the fires of religious conscience, bends with the promise of Chinese markets. But not all hope is lost.

Opportunities for Western Response
A handful of strategic and humane responses remain on the table, if only the political will can be summoned. The United States and its allies could impose Magnitsky-style sanctions on the architects of repression, targeting specific Chinese officials involved in religious suppression, arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings. The Treasury’s OFAC already has the blueprint, thanks to prior sanctions over Uyghur abuses in Xinjiang. These sanctions could be applied to officials in the United Work Front, which oversees religious affairs, leaders of the National Religious Affairs Administration, and party officials who authorized the detention of the underground bishops or the rewriting of religious texts.

Vatican and Ecclesiastical Strategy
In parallel, a Vatican reevaluation of its 2018 provisional agreement between the Holy See and CCP is overdue. Future cooperation with Beijing must hinge on transparency and autonomy, not blind compromise. Bishops in Shanghai and Xinxiang were recently appointed by the regime without Vatican approval, in violation of the very agreement that was meant to prevent such unilateralism. If the agreement was meant to secure communion, it has instead enabled capitulation. A special papal envoy for Chinese Catholics, akin to Cold War-era emissaries, could provide not only spiritual oversight but moral visibility.

There is precedent here. Throughout the 20th century, faithful Catholic witness often came not from Vatican diplomacy but from men and women who bled. The Church of Silence, behind the Iron Curtain, was not silent in its faith, it was silenced by force. But in time, truth overcame ideology, martyrs inspired the appointments of bishops, and underground catechists nurtured the formation of saints. In past conflict, Rome learned that compromise with Caesar must never come at the expense of Christ. We face that same lesson in confronting the Chinese Communist Party’s repression of Chinese Catholics.

Three Roads to Rescue
Refugee pathways, too, must open. In the face of China’s systematic persecution of the Catholic Church, Western democracies must offer more than sympathy and statements. They must offer a way out. History, after all, will not judge us by the eloquence of our condemnations, but by the lifelines we extend.

The West has the means and the precedent, from Operation Allies Welcome to the Welcome Corps, to offer humanitarian parole for China’s persecuted clergy. These priests are not security risks. They are shepherds in exile. Catholic parishes in America, Canada, and Europe could sponsor and shelter these exiles just as they did Cuban and Vietnamese refugees fleeing Communism.

First, the United States should establish a China-specific humanitarian parole program for Catholic clergy, seminarians, and their families under threat. Modeled on the resettlement efforts for Afghan and Ukrainian evacuees, the program would fast-track those with clear evidence of persecution: arrest, surveillance, and forced registration with the state-run church. It would be administered not by new bureaucracies, but by existing ones: USCIS, the State Department, and DHS. The infrastructure is already there.

Second, Washington and its allies must partner with NGOs to fund escape networks for underground clergy. This is not novel, the West once helped smuggle priests out of Soviet bloc countries under similar conditions, and the same can be done now. Organizations like ChinaAid, the Jesuit Refugee Service, and Voice of the Martyrs already operate near the front lines: documenting abuse, providing safe transit, and offering medical and spiritual triage. Support for these groups could flow through existing channels such as USAID, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

Third, the West must awaken its own spiritual backbone. Catholic dioceses in the United States, Canada, and Europe should be allowed and encouraged to sponsor Chinese clergy through a faith-based refugee track. The Canadian model, where churches directly sponsor refugees, has long proven that civil society can succeed where state systems lag. Programs like the U.S. Welcome Corps already provide that framework.

These proposals are not radical; they are rooted in precedent, guided by prudence. This is not simply a Chinese story. It is a Catholic one, a Christian one, and ultimately a civilizational one. The CCP’s campaign against the Church is more than a crackdown on religious worship, it is an assertion that no authority, not even spiritual, may rival the supremacy of the Party. The destruction of the Catholic Church in China would not just mark the death of faith behind the Great Firewall. It would signal the impotence of the free world to defend its own ideals.

To leave the faithful to face the cold machinery of the surveillance state alone is not neutrality, it is complicity in the slow martyrdom of a Church. If the West fails to speak, to sanction, to shelter, it is not the underground Church in China that loses its voice. It is the free world that goes mute.

A detailed report accompanies this piece. If you are a journalist, researcher, or reader, please reach out for a copy of the report that further outlines strategic pathways.

In a startling new development, our research team uncovered a book penned by an individual accused of plotting to assassinate former President Donald J. Trump, shedding light on the author’s extreme disillusionment with global leadership. The book, titled Ukraine's Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the End of Humanity, is authored by Ryan Routh, a 58-year-old American now linked to a failed assassination attempt on Trump.

The self-published book, which reads like a manifesto, offers a sprawling critique of international leadership, particularly targeting democratic governments for what Routh perceives as their failure to uphold human rights and counter authoritarianism. The author draws direct lines from the conflict in Ukraine to broader geopolitical failures, lambasting world leaders for their perceived apathy and incompetence.

A Radical Discontent Unveiled

Routh’s writings are marked by a deep frustration with global leadership, which he blames for allowing conflicts like the war in Ukraine to spiral out of control. He reserves particular ire for Trump, criticizing the former president’s foreign policy decisions, including the dismantling of the Iran nuclear deal and the administration’s general disengagement from international cooperative efforts.

Journalist Andy Ngo pointed out intelligence officials recent acknowledgement of intel that Iran plotted to kill Trump. Routh apologized to Iran and says they were justified in wanting to assassinate Trump.

In a particularly incendiary passage, Routh writes, "I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake and Iran I apologize. You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal." This shocking statement reveals the depth of Routh’s disillusionment, suggesting a willingness to endorse extreme actions against those he views as having betrayed global stability and peace. This passage provides some insight into the author's rationale, driven by a perceived moral obligation to challenge what he views as destructive leadership, and suggests a belief that drastic measures are justified when leaders fail to act in the global interest.

A Call for Radical Action

Throughout the book, Routh articulates a belief that global inaction in the face of tyranny, as exemplified by the war in Ukraine, reflects a fatal flaw in democratic governance. He argues that Ukraine’s struggle is not just a localized conflict but a barometer of humanity’s broader failures, drawing connections to other global hotspots like Taiwan, Afghanistan, and North Korea. Routh portrays these situations as symptoms of a larger systemic collapse in which democracies fail to stand up to authoritarian forces, leaving vulnerable nations abandoned and exposed.

In Chapter 18 of the book, Routh questions why global leaders have not taken steps to assassinate Vladimir Putin to end the war, urging that drastic measures, including assassinations and military invasions, should be considered as viable options to stop what he views as global threats.

In Chapter 19, titled, Why Not Nuclear War? - Routh advocates for aggressive military action, including the use of nuclear weapons, to decisively end conflicts involving Russia. This chapter argues for a quick and powerful strike, criticizing global inaction and suggesting that nuclear weapons should be used to put an end to Russian aggression once and for all.

Routh’s narrative is full with a sense of urgency and moral outrage, framing the global political landscape as one marred by negligence and shortsightedness. He calls for a radical reassessment of international priorities.

From Criticism to Alleged Violence

While the details of the plot remain under investigation, the discovery of Routh’s book offers a troubling glimpse into the mindset of an individual willing to cross the line from radical critique to violent action, in a misguided bid to rectify what he perceives as global leadership failures.

The rhetoric found in , Ukraine's Unwinnable War, extolls a broader trend of disillusionment with traditional forms of governance, particularly among individuals who feel that democratic institutions have failed to deliver on their promises of peace and stability. Routh’s extreme views, and the actions he allegedly took in their name, highlight the dangerous potential for such discontent to manifest in destructive ways.

As authorities continue to investigate the assassination plot, the emergence of this book will undoubtedly fuel ongoing debates about the disillusionment and desperation that can drive individuals to unfathomable lengths of violence.

These incidents underscore the ongoing security risks faced by high-profile political figures like President Trump, even after their term in office, and have sparked discussions on security measures for former presidents, and the role of the FBI and Secret Service in identifying would-be Presidential assassins.

PDF of book Ukraine's Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the End of Humanity, available to journalists, researchers, and interested parties upon request. Email: erin@publicdispatch.org

Update: DOJ Prosecutions Detention Memo, Entered September 23, 2024

In a recent hearing by the United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, a critical examination of Chinese money laundering organizations (CMLOs) revealed their significant role in facilitating global drug trafficking, particularly concerning the U.S. fentanyl crisis.

Senate Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Senate Co-chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) led the hearing with caucus members and key figures from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Each witness offered insights into the networks of financial transactions that support the global drug trade. Their testimonies emphasized the necessity of coordinated approaches to dismantle the financial infrastructure that drug cartels rely on.

The hearing underscored the role of regulatory reforms such as the Corporate Transparency Act, which aims to peel back the layers of secrecy afforded by shell corporations, a favored tool of foreign entities involved in money laundering. The discussion also touched on the urgent need for enhanced international cooperation, particularly with China and Mexico, to address these challenges effectively.

Chairman Whitehouse explained, “Fentanyl usually begins in Chinese chemical factories before passing through Mexico on the way to the U.S. It can be made with only a few ingredients, making enforcement efforts difficult.” A kilogram of synthetic opiates like fentanyl, Whitehouse continued, can produce 1 million counterfeit pill dosages.

Homeland Security Investigations Strategic Response

Ricardo Mayoral, Assistant Director for Countering Transnational Organized Crime at Homeland Security Investigations detailed the efficiency of how CMLOs enable drug cartels to exchange dirty money across borders. The financial gymnastics in money laundering involves mirror transfers. In a mirror transfer, the user pays the amount required to be remitted overseas to a local bank controlled by CMLOs, which then arrange for a reciprocal payment, or mirror transfer, to be made to the bank account of a remitter's choice. These mirrored swaps enable a rapid back-and-forth transfer of funds across international accounts, bypassing the need for physical cash movement and evading traditional financial oversight.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) enforces transfer restrictions of $50,000, compelling Chinese citizens and entities to circumvent these rules by tapping into underground networks, which in turn fuels a booming shadow economy. This mechanism not only challenges the global financial regulatory frameworks but also deepens the synthetic opioid crisis in the U.S, where drugs like fentanyl continue to claim lives at an unprecedented scale.

HSI's aggressive strategy includes forming the Cross Border Financial Crime Center to enhance collaboration among U.S. and international law enforcement, banks, and private sector partners, aiming to seal the leaks in the financial system that CMLOs exploit.

According to Mayoral, HSI’s efforts in 2023 resulted in 2,474 arrests 1,579 criminal indictments, 842 convictions, and the seizure of 457 million in illicit currency and other assets. Over the last decade HSI’s El Dorado Financial Crimes Task Force led over 2,100 arrests, and seizure of 2.6 billion in illicit proceeds. 

DEA’s Renewed Focus

William Kimbell, Chief of Operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration gave testimony about the daunting toll of drug-related fatalities. "In 2022, drug overdoses claimed the lives of 107,941 Americans, and an estimated 110,000 in 2023,” said Kimbell. According to his estimate, approximately 300 Americans a day die from drug-related causes, with illicit fentanyl involved in nearly 70% of these fatalities, Kimbell continued, “this figure does not include the ones who overdose and are later revived.”

The DEA is ramping up its actions against the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, key players in trafficking synthetic opioids into the U.S. These cartels not only supply drugs but also engage in complex money laundering operations involving global trade networks, banks, virtual currencies, and real estate.

Kimbell explained, "The fentanyl supply chain begins with Chinese chemical companies responsible for supplying precursor chemicals to the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, money launderers represent the end of the supply chain and allow the entirety of the logistical network to remain profitable and operational." 

He also highlighted how these cartels leverage sophisticated networks that integrate into global trade, utilizing both traditional and digital finance methods to launder money. These networks, deeply embedded in metropolitan areas across the U.S., are adept at exploiting regulatory loopholes and adapting to new operational tactics. These networks are incorporated with established worldwide trade entities, including Chinese importers and exports. Chinese money laundering organizations,” said Kimbell, “possess a unique capacity to compartmentalize networks and recruit from within Chinese communities that have expatriated worldwide.

In response, the DEA has formed specialized counter-threat teams focused on the Sinaloa cartel, the Jalisco cartel, and associated financial operations. These teams centralize intelligence from the DEA's 334 global offices to map and disrupt the cartels' networks comprehensively. This strategy has led to significant enforcement successes, including $5.6 billion in asset seizures and 14,000 arrests since 2000, facilitated by partnerships with other agencies and programs like the Attorney General's Exempted Operations Program, which  according to a foreign review report, plays a role in the DEA’s ability to conduct undercover investigations in the United States.

The Overdose Crisis and Administration’s Efforts

Kemp L. Chester, from the Office of National Drug Control Policy highlighted the devastating toll of synthetic opioids like fentanyl. “Nearly 49 million Americans, or 17% of our population, currently suffer from a substance use disorder” said Chester.

While traditional structures of street dealing still exist today, Chester highlighted the development of global enterprises with access to vast capital resources that fuel the synthetic opioid production and supply chain, networks that are becoming ingrained in the 21st century global economy and provide funds transfers across borders with speed and efficiency. The synthetic drug market, said Chester, “conducts routine collaboration among raw material suppliers across international borders, uses advanced technology to fund and conduct business, and possesses the capacity for product innovation and strategies to expand markets.” Money laundering organizations based in the PRC have emerged as the utility of choice for Mexican drug trafficking organizations seeking to move these funds through bulk cash smuggling, trade-based money laundering, and the exploitation of financial systems. 

The administration's plan in combating the synthetic opioid crisis is commercial disruption, and in making the flow of fentanyl more costly, more time consuming, and less profitable. In the hearing, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program, which brings multi-jurisdictional task forces together on a state, local, and tribal level, was identified as one of the governments most impactful investments.

In 2023, the Biden-Harris administration launched a strategy for commercial disruption aimed at intensifying the operational and financial challenges for narcotics traffickers, making their activities more costly and less profitable. In seeking cooperation from Beijing, the administration lifted sanctions on the Chinese Ministry of Public Security's Institute of Forensic Science, a move Republican lawmakers decried as weak diplomacy.

Treasury’s Multifaceted Approach 

Brian Nelson, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Department of Treasury, outlined the departments actions to combat CMLO activities. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) analyzes Bank Secrecy Act data and sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to share its analysis of trafficking typologies in granular detail with law enforcement, which provides useful lead information to attacking the supply chains for synthetic opioid drug chemical precursors. Treasury also relies on domestic regulatory reforms such as the Corporate Transparency Act, which took effect in January 2024, and requires a broad range of entities to report information to FinCEN about the individuals who ultimately own or control them.

Treasury also facilitates international engagement with the PRC through a counternarcotics working group. In April, Secretary Yellen established a joint treasury People’s Bank of China cooperation and exchange on anti-money laundering to enable the sharing of information and address illicit financial activity within the two financial systems. In the hearing, Senator Grassley drew scrutiny to the information being shared with China, indicating concerns on China’s ability to understand how U.S. systems work without the U.S. fully understanding how China’s systems work. 

The Select Committee On The CCP: The CCP’s Role In The Fentanyl Crisis

During the hearing, Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) cited an investigation from the House China Select Committee, which reports how the Chinese government inadvertently grants tax rebates to producers of fentanyl analogues and precursors, effectively bolstering the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. The report shows the PRC owns interests in firms linked to drug trafficking and does not effectively prosecute manufacturers of fentanyl and its precursors. Instead, it allows the sale of these substances on heavily monitored Chinese internet platforms without fear of prosecution, selectively censoring domestic drug content while ignoring export-focused narcotics operations. This governmental support of the narcotics trade not only undermines international law but also strategically benefits China economically, empowering its position in global money laundering and chemical industries while exacerbating the fentanyl crisis abroad.

Senator Hassan questioned whether this could be considered as material support for the international fentanyl trade and explored what sanctions the U.S. Treasury might impose to curb the Chinese government's role in subsidizing synthetic opioid production.

The Way Forward: Strategic Measures and Global Cooperation

As the U.S. confronts the relentless threat of synthetic opioids, the Senate hearing provides a critical forum to discuss proposed strategic responses which include, enhancing U.S. enforcement frameworks that foster strong international collaborations, particularly with China. Central to these efforts is the initiation of a cross-border financial crime center within Homeland Security, aimed at bolstering federal efforts and facilitating international information sharing as well as the establishment of the Corporate Transparency Act and the ongoing U.S/PRC Counter Narcotics Working Group to dismantle the financial underpinnings of the Jalisco and Sinaloa drug cartels. This comprehensive approach, combines law enforcement, regulatory reforms, and international diplomacy, and seeks to undermine the economic engines driving the fentanyl epidemic, offering a beacon of hope in a complex battle.

A wave of mobilization is surging through Spain, demonstrations orchestrated by the People’s Party (PP), VOX, and allied coalitions have been gathering in the bustling heart of Madrid, drawing close to two million Spaniards, one of the largest demonstrations in the history of Spain. The catalyst for their fervent calls lies in the resignation of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez over a proposed amnesty deal with separatists, sparking a grassroots movement demanding political accountability. A survey reported by Noticias showed 70 percent of Spaniards are against an amnesty law, and protests are expected to continue until a new election is called.

On July 23, The People's Party (PP), led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, obtained 136 seats in Spain's parliamentary election, surpassing the ruling Socialists (PSOE) led by Pedro Sánchez, who secured 122 seats. Prior to the general election, the PSOE faced substantial setbacks in regional and local elections, ceding control in crucial regions while Feijóo's PP captured support from most of the nation's largest cities, including the traditionally socialist stronghold of Seville.

To govern with full powers and an absolute majority, Feijóo needed to obtain at least 176 seats, or secure a pact with an allied party until the PP reach a majority. While obtaining support from Santiago Abascal’s VOX Party, Feijóo did not meet the required seats for investiture.

Sánchez's investiture hinged on forming alliances with Communists, Basque and Galician independents, and the individuals convicted in relation to the Catalonia secessionist coup in 2017. This political move seeks amnesty as a tactical strategy to outmaneuver the PP, and it worked, but Spain has fallen before.

Sánchez successfully obtained his investiture by brokering a deal of amnesty with the fugitive former President Carles Puigdemont, who faced charges related to the Catalonia coup and subsequently sought refuge in Brussels. Puigdemont, who is also the leader of the Junts party, assumes an unlikely role as a powerbroker in exile for Spain's socialists.

In return, separatists threw their support behind Sánchez's socialist party, facilitating his re-election to a third term. This solidifies another four years of authority, positioning Sánchez as one of the longest-serving prime ministers in the country at the helm of the European Union's fourth-largest economy.

Support from Spain’s separatist factions comes with its own set of concessions, with each group vying for power, their demands encompass Puigdemont’s return from exile. Spain faces the delicate task of preserving territorial unity in the midst of a complex array of conflicting regional identities, with Basque Country in the north and Catalonia in the east standing out as focal points of separatist fervor.

In the aftermath of the Republican defeat during General Francisco Franco's rule in 1959, the Basque separatist movement emerged. Led by the militant group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), the organization initially championed a Marxist–Leninist vision of independence and later shifted towards revolutionary socialism. The ETA shifted from advocacy to violence with activities marked by bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings. A decline in support and the arrest of its leaders, ultimately led to the ETAs formal disbandment in 2018, bringing an end to decades of bloodshed.

In the period preceding the dismantling of Basque Country's more militant faction, the spirit of solidarity in the secessionist conflict extended to Catalonia. The year 2017 witnessed escalating tensions culminating in a controversial independence referendum orchestrated by separatist leaders, including Catalonia's figurehead, Carles Puigdemont, who declared independence from Spain. The Spanish court deemed it a violation of the constitution, prompting the central government of Spain to assume administrative control of the region. After thwarting the unlawful referendum, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia issued orders to arrest of politicians responsible for its organization. 9 of the 12 accused faced prosecution on charges of sedition, rebellion, and the misuse of public funds related to the independence referendum, in 2021 Sánchez pardoned them, but a ban on holding public office was upheld by Spain’s supreme court.

The idea of secession lacks popularity among a significant majority of citizens, particularly Spanish nationalists. According to an opinion poll, almost 63 percent of Basques expressed disinterest in applying the Catalan model to achieve independence, with only 22 percent in favor.

Sánchez is on the brink of establishing a government in Spain alongside a coalition of Spain's adversaries, those who seek policy shifts that align with their respective agendas in the formation of far-left republics. The inclusion of those associated with the secessionist movement in Catalonia, as well as the successors of the disbanded ETA terrorist group, adds an element of controversy and unease to the political equation. The implications of such a coalition extend beyond the domestic sphere. Internationally, the alliances Sánchez is forging, especially with leaders from Latin American Bolivarian-style regimes, introduce a new dimension to Spain's foreign policy.

Before the elections Sánchez assured constituents he would not negotiate a self-determination referendum or amnesty with separatists. In November 2022 he said such a move was “something this government will not accept and, without a doubt, doesn’t fit within Spanish law or the Constitution” Sánchez continued, “the amnesty is illegal, it is unconstitutional, it has no place in our legal system”. Conservative opposition would agree, but they consider Sánchez the parliamentarian who said this at the time as the same Sánchez grabbing for power as Prime Minister, and in doing so destroys the authority delegated by the sovereign people, a man who leads a coup against his own words and the nation.

The granting of amnesty to Catalan separatists has ignited a wave of indignation among Spanish nationals, who are alarmed by what they perceive as their government's departure from the nation's values and well-being. Spain, which has enjoyed decades of relative prosperity and progress in fostering a sense of national reconciliation, now witnesses its new leader substituting the votes of a fugitive for those of the Spanish people.

For many observers, the prominence of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is eclipsed by the commanding figures of Carles Puigdemont from Junts, Oriol Junqueras from ERC, and Arnaldo Otegi from EH Bildu. These individuals are not merely political figures; they embody complex and charged histories, representatives of ETA's communists, independence fighters, and political heirs to what seems like a new revolution.

On November 9, the aftermath of the controversial amnesty agreements took a violent turn when Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the former Vice President of the European Parliament and co-founder of VOX, was shot in the face in central Madrid. On the day of the attack, Vidal-Quadra’s was speaking at a demonstration against the agreements. The assailant managed to escape on a motorcycle, leaving Quadras with a fractured jaw bone that required surgery. According to El País, Police arrested three people in connection with the assassination attempt, including a Spanish citizen who professes his loyalties to the Iranian Shiite branch of Islam.

In a full parliamentary reply to Sánchez's coup d'état, the President of VOX Santiago Abascal implicated Mr. Pedro Sánchez of committing one of the gravest political corruptions—aiding other politicians in evading justice in exchange for votes to retain power. Abascal vehemently argued against the amnesty law, stating it has no place in the legal system and that parliament cannot undermine the unity of the nation.

VOX has taken the matter to the Supreme Court, filing a bribery complaint against Mr. Sánchez, alleging that political favors were exchanged for power, resulting in the erosion of the rule of law and the subversion of the constitutional order in preparation for a coup with separatist minorities. Abascal urged parliament not to allow Sánchez to camouflage a coup under the guise of legality, drawing parallels with infamous figures like Hugo Chavez and Mauro, who ascended to power under the veneer of legality.

The socialist majority, by decree, expunged Abascal’s reply from the session log, erasing allegations against Sánchez from the pages of history—a stark reminder that history, as it stands, is written by the victors.

The potential consequences of an amnesty coalition is not limited to ideological clashes. The situation reveals that Sánchez, in his bid to secure support from Catalan separatists and Basque sympathizers, may have to resort to lawfare pacts that jeopardize judicial independence, and measures that violate the Spanish constitution. The prospect of granting amnesty to coup plotters, the corrupt, and those prosecuted for terrorism gives the perception of Sánchez as an unscrupulous leader willing to make deals with any group for political gain.

The choice between amnesty and constitutional integrity becomes a defining moment with far reaching implications that threaten to revive the secessionist movements and ideological divisions that ultimately seek to break up Spain.

The left has achieved significant success in cultural, educational, and media arenas, establishing a dominance that has effectively inoculated relativism and sectarianism. The promotion of progressive ideologies in the classroom, the reframing of historical narratives, and the use of media as a form of influence and soft power has advanced ideology so profoundly, that leaders can engage in egregious actions and still garner millions of votes. Global ideals like open borders are held above common sense national security policy, while citizens are declared enemies of their own country against those who seek to liquidate the rule of law and subvert the constitutional order.

In his final words formally addressing Parliament Abascal stipulated that Constitutional Spain must continue to resist. In channeling the late Spanish politician and philosopher Antonio Maura he said “In this democratic aberration, no great sword or charging on horseback was needed for Sánchez and his deputies to change the regime. To break apart Spain, you only need characters capable of anything, who will cling to armchairs of power that do not belong to them and to which they are unworthy.”

According to the USDA, the food and agriculture industry supports more than 21 million jobs and contributes roughly $1.2 trillion to the American economy.

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported over 40 million acres of American farm and forest land are held by foreign investors, representing just over 3% of all privately held agricultural land. While this is a small fraction of overall agricultural land, Senate Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) stipulated, “Foreign ownership has increased 66% since 2010, nearly 2 million acres per year”.

AFIDA’s Blind Spots: Piecing Together Foreign Land Ownership

During the Senate hearing that took place September 28, committee officials shed light on critical deficiencies in oversight, exposing unsettling inadequacies in the way foreign-held investments are tracked on a national level. The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) requires foreign investors who acquire, transfer, or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land to self-report their holdings.

Deputy Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation, Gloria Montaño Greene, testified before the Senate, offering insights into the convoluted process of tracking foreign-owned agricultural land.

"The USDA gathers information from more than 3,000 counties and county equivalents across the United States, each operating within its own jurisdiction, feeding information into over 50 disparate state systems. Additionally, there are 500 sovereign tribal nations, each boasting distinct laws, rules, and processes governing land ownership and transfer," said Montaño Greene.

To further exacerbate the issue, Greene highlighted the understaffed and under-resourced nature of the USDA unit tasked with collecting foreign ownership data. The AFIDA filing system is primarily paper-based, suffers from low data quality as well as a concerning number of missing records, rendering it challenging to ascertain the true nature and magnitude of foreign-owned agricultural land investments. Section 773 of the Consolidated Appropriation Act designated an update to the AFIDA reporting system, but no funding was given to implement any changes, so the department relies on cost efficient methods which are little more than excel spreadsheets in a queryable database.

In 2021, the USDA reported Canada as the largest foreign investor with 12.8 million acres, or 31% of foreign held land, followed by Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom, and Germany collectively holding approximately 12.4 million acres. The remaining 15.6 million acres reported, or 38% are held by various other countries. China reported holding 383,935 acres, or slightly less than 1% of foreign land investments.

Harvesting Influence: Uncovering Foreign Plots In American Fields

According to the USDA, Chinese ownership in U.S. farmland increased from $81 million in 2010 to $1.8 billion in 2020, with the purchase of farmland in close proximity to critical U.S. infrastructure. A Chinese billionaire bought over 140,000 acres of land next to the Laughlin Air Force Base along the Mexican border in southern Texas. The base is home to the 47th Flying Training Wing, one of the world’s premier pilot training wings that specializes in deploying mission-ready airmen. In North Dakota, a Chinese conglomerate initiated a corn milling plant less than 12 miles from an air base in Grand Forks, where sensitive hypersonic development takes place. In August 2023, Grand Forks Air Base was selected for the Space Development Agency’s first ground operations and integration center, where they oversee the operations of numerous satellites and the development of wartime capabilities.

By acquiring land near vital U.S. infrastructure, foreign entities can potentially gain access to sensitive areas, compromising national security and defense readiness. There is a fear that foreign ownership may enable espionage, surveillance, or even sabotage activities, undermining the nation's strategic interests.

A report by Policy Analyst with the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission, Lauren Greenwood Menon shows that “While Chinese entities held slightly less than 1 percent of all foreign-held acres in the United States in 2020, the volume of their holdings increased dramatically over the preceding decade”, this jump is owed chiefly to Shuanghui’s 2013 purchase of Smithfield Foods, says Menon, who recently supported a hearing on China’s global influence and interference activities.

The Oklahoma Green Rush and Cartel Intrusion

Senator James Lankford (R-OK) detailed a disturbing undercurrent in the state of Oklahoma- the infiltration of drug cartels into the state’s burgeoning cannabis farms. Oklahoma's cannabis industry is driven by its relatively loose regulations and licensing process, providing an appealing opportunity for drug cartels to infiltrate the legitimate market.

“The year after we passed a medical marijuana law in our state, Oklahoma had more land sales to foreign entities than any other state in the nation” said Sen. Lankford, “We have 7000 licensed marijuana growers in our state, thousands of those are actually illegal operations that haven't gone through the full licensing capability.”

Politico reported close to 3,000 of the state’s 7,000 licensed marijuana farms have been flagged for suspicious activity by law enforcement over the past year. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) has shut down 800 of these farms in the last two years for operating illegally, and according to the OBN roughly 75% have been linked to China.

In December 2022, NBC covered a story in Kingfisher Country, Oklahoma where 4 Chinese nationals were executed at an illegal marijuana farm by another Chinese national, Wu Chen, who later identified himself as an investor. Chen opened fire on employees after demanding $300,000 as a return for his investment.

On a local level, Oklahoma law enforcement is having a difficult time, said Sen. Lankford, “because if they pull someone over, they don't speak English, they speak Mandarin, and it's become its own unique challenge.”

Sovereign Soil: Legislating Foreign Investments In U.S. Agriculture

During the Senate Committee hearing several bills were introduced that would give lawmakers the jurisdiction needed to access foreign-held land investments and prohibit adversarial nations from purchasing U.S. land. Twenty-four states have laws that restrict foreign ownership and investments in private farmland, however, no federal law exists that restricts them, the federal government only monitors foreign acquisitions in landholdings.

A bill sponsored by Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) and cosponsored by Senators Jon Tester (D-MT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) called, Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act of 2023 prohibits the purchase or lease of agricultural land from entities associated with the governments of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. This bill builds on another cross-party collaboration between Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD)and Jon Tester (D-MT), the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act of 2023. In July 2023, the senate voted to include the PASS Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requiring the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review transactions between foreign investments in private U.S. agriculture.

A bill sponsored by Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and cosponsored by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) called, Security and Oversight of International Landholdings (SOIL) Act will require CFIUS to review real estate purchase from non-market economies and countries that pose a national security risk to the United States. The legislation also prohibits federal assistance for certain foreign-held real estate holdings, broadens disclosure requirements for land purchases made by foreign entities, and increases USDA reporting on land acquisitions by foreign entities.

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee advocated for her bill, the Foreign Agricultural Restrictions to Maintain Local Agriculture and National Defense (FARMLAND) Act. This legislation, cosponsored by Sen. Stabenow (D-MI), seeks to modernize the existing Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) of 1978, initially established to create a nationwide system for monitoring foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land.

“We have a voluntary filing system, and it’s still paper based,” said Senator Ernst, “we have a lot of work to do within the USDA to track this information, because if our U.S. tax dollars are going into foreign individuals, we need to know that.”

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) entered into the record his bill, Farmland for Farmers Act of 2023, legislation that would prohibit investment corporations from acquiring any additional U.S. farmland, ensuring farmland stays in the hands of rural America. According to Sen. Booker, “The bill would also make the hedge funds and pension funds, who currently own farmland ineligible for USDA safety net programs moving forward.” The bill is led by the National Family Farm Coalition and signed by over 70 farm groups.

Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced bipartisan legislation called, the Farmland Security Act of 2023, which would require shell companies who buy American agriculture land report their holdings, as well as stiffer penalties for failure to file, and training of USDA staff to identify reporting failures.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Jon Tester (D-MT), reintroduced legislation Food Security is National Security Act of 2023, to include the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services as members of the Committee on Foreign Investment. It would also include new agriculture and food-related criteria for CFIUS to consider when reviewing transactions that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign company.

Background information on the Committee on Foreign Investment and the Office of Foreign Investment in the United States can be found in an article published in Foreign Affairs by Lars Erik Schönander, Tracking Benign and Malign Foreign Investment in the United States.

Food Security: The Essential Link to National Resilience

As the U.S. grapples with this complex regulatory landscape, it is imperative that lawmakers and stakeholders collaborate to shore up oversight mechanisms, fortify reporting structures, and bridge the gaps that threaten to undermine the integrity of U.S. agricultural assets. The stakes are high, and the path to resolution demands a strategic and concerted effort to protect the nation's agricultural sovereignty. Without reliable data, the long-term impact on American farmers, rural communities, and national interests remains uncertain. As the committee works to write the next farm bill bipartisan unity aligns on a critical conclusion, food security is national security.

Amid the Pacific Northwest's sprawling emerald embrace lies Portland, Oregon, a city that possesses a captivating blend of harmony and rebellion. Portland is an intriguing paradox, a place where the artisanal scent of coffee intertwines with the persistent aroma of unconventional horticulture. Here you can visit one of the worlds largest bookstores, eat lunch at one of Portland’s legendary food carts, or land yourself in one of the tallest buildings overlooking the Hawthorne Bridge; a place where those who peer above the city look like they are gazing upon her for the first time. Looking outside the Multnomah County Courthouse window with me that Monday morning were members of Rose City Antifa, who made an appearance as a show of support in a civil trial against fellow members standing accused of attacks against Independent Journalist, Andy Ngo.

The events leading up to the trial consist of many irrefutable occurrences which are meticulously documented in the media, like June 29, 2019, when Ngo set out to cover protests in downtown Portland’s Pioneer Square. Antifa members refer to this day as the milkshake incident, the day they beat him, stole his equipment, and blinded him with an unknown substance. These demonstrations made Antifa syndicates in violent direct action and Ngo's reporting diminished their claims of being victims of right-wing extremism.

The status of violence is about means and ends in a revolution that cannot be purchased, but lives within the spirit of each of its members who in turn reinforce these attitudes through social means and appeal. This revolutionary force has several targets, the moral, the material, and anyone who subverts their message of fighting power and privilege, like Andy Ngo. Portland is a hub for various social and political movements, ranging from environmental advocacy to civil rights protests. The residents of Portland have laid witness to years of domestic unrest and radical politics that have deepened over the years and turned peaceful protests into fiery upheaval.

Portland has all the makings of a big city and the heart of a small town with a progressive ethos. A forward-thinking people standing on the shoulders of ancestors who were the hardiest of settlers, homesteaders who dared to venture the furthest away from civilization as states were still being formed. These autonomous people possessed a deep distrust of the government- a Portland tradition that has been well preserved to this day.

The shattered windows of Portland’s downtown police precinct illustrate some of the city’s most contentious moments, with its boarded windows and stone facade of scrubbed graffiti that once read, “abolish, defund, dismantle”. After protests in 2020, the Portland City Council implemented millions in budget reductions, but years later citizens began attributing a surge in shootings and homicides to the absence of specialized law enforcement units. A report by the Oregonian found 82% of Portland area residents had a preference for a larger police force, a sentiment that echoed in Mayor Ted Wheeler’s proposed budget of $261.7 million for the 2024 fiscal year, up 6% from previous years.

The rules of symmetry assert there can be no greatness without some strangeness in proportion. Portland has a great deal of strangeness, along with its many dumpster fires. Portland knows how to keep it weird and offbeat but it also has a way of unfurling itself. Tent cities are everywhere, from city sidewalks to outer highway bluffs that shelter encampments from dispersal by police who prefer not to venture down these steep overhangs. Pitch a tent on the grass across the Multnomah County Courthouse and no one even looks at you funny.

The sidewalk corners of Portland are brimming with addicts preparing their next hit, or caught in the stupor of one; whatever their ambitions for the day, the junk wins by default. Structured help is visibly available, their desperation is not one of thirst or hunger, it is about succumbing to whatever part of the brain offers the greatest euphoric bliss of an opium-induced stupor; this is their passport out.

At night the hustle and bustle of professionals disappear and shadowy figures occupy the corridors of building archways. Two people empty a city trash receptacle on the sidewalk to burn for light, every few feet bodies lay slumped, a man tries to die on the sidewalk in front of us, and paramedics administer Narcan in an attempt to save his life. The relentless pace of drug overdoses in Portland overburdens its emergency medical system, with half of these calls made to outside public spaces like parks and sidewalks. On this night, as with most nights, the addicted go searching for something, these inhabitants who find themselves in the darkness only end up losing themselves once again.

The citizens of Portland want what most of us want: affordable housing, healthcare that protects the most vulnerable, and job security. Dostoevsky wrote that taking a new step is what people fear most and through all the pointless chatter of progress remains the inevitability of doing nothing; this is where passive disinterest and peaceful resistance become the enemy of change. There is no room for apathy in a revolution, no clinging to old values in a prevailing system that, to them, feels futureless. Eroding the system is done with the justification that the system is already broken, which not only vindicates the act of destruction but offers no alternatives to working, “inside” the system. It becomes easier to abolish, defund, and dismantle than it does to build.

For years, Andy Ngo covered the activities of Rose City Antifa and its members, and for years they targeted him and carried out some of the most brutal attacks many of us have ever seen on a journalist. In 2020, Ngo filed a civil lawsuit against Rose City Antifa and six of its members for assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Rose City Antifa was dismissed after the judge ruled an unassociated entity cannot be held liable, however, several affiliated Antifa members were ruled to be in default or settled and will be held liable.

Left standing before a jury was John Colin Hacker and Elizabeth Renee Richter, Antifa’s deep-sixes, whose primary role is in finding and identifying infiltrators for the black bloc to swarm against. These perceived infiltrators are what Hacker calls, “right-wingers undercover” and on May 20, 2021, while reporting undercover, defendants Hacker and Richter were the first to approach Ngo while he was covering a protest in Portland. Surveillance video shows Ngo receiving a series of brutal beatings by Antifa members roaming the streets with Hacker before seeking refuge inside The Nines hotel. Moving past security, Richter approached and threatened Ngo as he hid behind the hotel counter, with security holding off the mob, both Hacker and Richter posted Ngo’s location on Twitter that night. Hacker was also accused of assault and robbery in a separate incident when he poured water on Ngo and forcibly took his phone at a local gym. Despite admitting to allegations, and substantial video evidence, the jury found John Hacker and Elizabeth Richter were not liable for these actions.

Revolutions constitute a vast network of people who have been thrust into disillusionment. They resort to what amounts to cruelty, pain, and injustice in a radical political agenda that institutes confrontation with no compromise. When persuasion alone does not change the attitudes of the masses, organizers agitate, rub resentments, fan hostility, and search out controversy. When deliberations take too long, a revolutionary force becomes essential to purposeful action. The objective becomes to disrupt the present system. Anarchist systems thrive on disruption, no one comes when you dial 911, or in this case, courts allow the intimidation of their juries. Lack of patience for jurisprudence resulted in escalating threats sent to the court during this trial, and eventually, jurors started to express fears and concerns over retaliation. This disruption led to the separation of all attending parties for the remainder of the trial midweek. Only press from publications deemed sufficiently popular were given unfettered access by the judge, a move which surprised everyone considering the plaintiff himself is an independent journalist. Ngo's trial lawyer, Dorothy Yamamoto, questioned the fairness of having the Ngo v. Rose City Antifa, et al. trial marred by security incidents.

Revolutionary forces target those who most shine a light on its realities, and for Rose City Antifa, Andy Ngo was first on the scene. If there wasn't an Andy Ngo we would have to invent one, because we need journalists on the ground telling the stories no one else wants to tell. Journalism also has a history of supporting revolutionary forces. Walter Duranty from the New York Times was Stalin’s journalist, he and other journalists in the West aided in hiding the existence of the Soviet famine that killed millions of Ukrainians during the Holodomor, which freelance journalist Gareth Jones later exposed under his own name. Jones was murdered a few years later under mysterious circumstances.

In truth, many of our present-day leaders also have a history of supporting revolutionary forces. In his book Unmasked, Andy Ngo says "If the riots of 2020 prove anything, it’s that a sizable portion of Democratic politicians, intellectuals, academics, and journalists find riots and looting justifiable if committed in the name of “racial justice.”

When participatory democracy itself is not enough the rebels turn to nihilistic channels and became the very antithesis of their original design. Like most rebels, they become disillusioned from what the majority view as a good life, they fight the system against a bankrupt bourgeois to expose society’s innate hypocrisy just to live long enough to see themselves become the villain. The result is a logical fallacy of snap judgments and bias towards the rebel's perceived threats: in this case, the judge, jury, and Andy Ngo. The task of agitation becomes the rebel's objective and means by which it recruits. This is anarchy without charisma.

Widespread rioting, looting, arson, the destruction of pro-life family centers, the burning of churches, and the tearing down of statues is all part of the rebel's Marxist syndicalism. In "Human Action, A Treatise of Economics", Ludwig von Mises describes syndicalism as the rebel’s justification to do whatever they want at the expense of others. In the end, revolution becomes the only solution, through any mitigating circumstances, and by any means necessary. Immutability is the standard constant in this human condition.

Portland is where bridges span rivers and ideologies converge. A shared objective in the dream of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness is to create the circumstances in which we have the chance to live by values that give meaning to life. History has shown if you successfully bring about anarchy, people will sign up for anything to get rid of it; desperation for order becomes more potent, and this is how you lose your freedom. Far from being a forward march, the Marxist anarchist revolution is more of a recurring loop.

Take a look at the work of others who were also in Portland, Oregon for the Andy Ngo trial. Special thanks to those who shall not be named, you know who you are:

Andy Ngo, Antifa And The Breakdown Of American Justice
By Melissa Chen

A Journalist Is Attacked And Smeared, And The Media Cheers
By Douglas Murray

A Reporter Is Suing Portland Antifa, And We're Covering The Trial
By Ezra Levant, Rebel News

Lawyer Says 'I AM ANTIFA' And Vows To Remember Jurors' Faces During Andy Ngo Trial: Transcript
By Katie Daviscourt

Portland Jury Sides With Antifa In Andy Ngo v. Rose City Antifa, et al. Trial
Laura Ingraham, The Ingraham Angle, Fox News

Andy Ngo's Lawyer Weighs In On Jury Verdict In Antifa Lawsuit
Eric Bolling & Katie Daviscourt, Newsmax

Jurors Were Terrified During Seven-Day Ngo v. Rose City Antifa, et al. Trial In Portland
Carl Higbie, Frontline, Newsmax

Unmasked: Youtube
@AndyNgo

I met a lot of people reporting on the ground in Portland, people who risk their safety so you can see what is happening here, please take a look at their work:

Rebecca Brannon; Photojournalist
@RebsBrannon

Chelly Bouferrache; Photojournalist
@HoneyBadgerMom

Julie Turcol; Photojournalist
@Italiangirl104

In 2018 Dutch psychologist Madeleine van der Bruggen proposed the concept of pedophilia as a sexual orientation on a TEDx stage. Lecturing on the social dynamics of sex offenders she positioned a sympathetic nuance around the susceptibility of loneliness among those with pedophilic interests.

Van der Bruggen advises the Dutch National Police, who a year earlier, uncovered a network of over 90,000 offenders sharing child sexual abuse materials on the dark net.

“People from all over the world were logging into this network anonymously,” said van Der Bruggen, “Some of these people only had the aim of collecting child sexual abuse materials online, others also had the aim of abusing children themselves. Regardless they all found a deep satisfaction in discussing their deepest fantasies and experiences.”

Pedophilia networks thrive in marketplaces that enable access, affordability, and anonymity. A strategic assessment by the European Cybercrime Center showed the majority of child sexual abuse materials are distributed from peer-to-peer networks. A glimpse into the world of pedophilia support groups in cyberspace documents how these groups use the broader World Wide Web to advance agendas and recruit new members. There is no policing between minds on pedophile networks, whose subcultures primarily serve as social mechanisms which validate their interests and offenses. There is no known physical agency to restrict them of the unlimited and often free access to child sexual abuse materials. If anything, sympathetic peer networks advance their belief that they have achieved societal approval and moral support.

“In criminology, the advancement of social learning theory by Akers and colleagues, covers the broader concept of reinforcement and imitation. The nature of having others share in fantasy enactment is coercive, the playfulness of conversation is intended to groom members who are children (Burgess & Akers 1966).” -A Glimpse Into The World of Pedophilia Support Groups In Cyberspace

“Most of these people know they have feelings that they should repress...most of these people don’t offend,” says van der Bruggen, she follows with a more truthful aftereffect, “but sometimes something goes wrong and they do offend.” It is unclear what the acceptable number of casualties are for academics who call for experimentation at societal expense. A glimpse in realism would reach back in history when child abuse was avant-garde, like the time orphaned boys were placed under the guardianship of pedophiles in 1970s west Germany under the guidance of Helmet Kentler. Or when the, “father of sexual liberation”, Alfred Kinsey researched child sexuality by placing children in rooms with known pedophiles. Over 300 children formed the basis of Kinsey’s molestation experiments in child sexuality, the youngest subject was only 2 months old. Experiments like these have the potential to be manipulated under the guidance of authority figures seduced by their own intellectual ideals.

The media tends to portray the worst cases, maintains van der Bruggen, although, when offenders are caught they will often have thousands of child sexual abuse images curated from pedophilia networks in their possession, and what is reported in the media is a mere fraction of the number of offenses that occur. Van der Bruggen doesn’t like the stigma associated with pedophilia, and creates scenarios where she invites her audience to consider things like, what if your brother was a pedophile? Or a neighbor, you wouldn’t want your neighbor punished would you?

Ask Marcel Jeninga this question and you might get a more sane and rational response. In 2009, Jeninga discovered his neighbor had been sexually abusing his 3-year-old daughter. DNA evidence linked the neighbor, Geert B. to the sexual abuse of other children, and found him responsible for the cold case murder of 8-year-old Semiha Metin. Geert had been using a pedophile manual published by the banned pedophile association, Martijn, for tips on how to sexually abuse children. This past year, Martijn’s former chairman went under suspicion for the sexual abuse of children and was arrested in Ecuador.

For 14 years, Marcel Jeninga advocated for the criminalization of instruction manuals that guide pedophiles in the sexual abuse of children. This past summer, Jeninga finally succeeded.

“The criminal justice system has always been meant to be a last resort, and we should keep it that way” says van der Bruggen against the enormously popular punitive laws meant to punish offenders who sexually abuse children. Laws should not protect pedophiles and offenders, even if they are discovered in the planning stages the preparatory act in itself is criminal.

“From an emotional point of view,” says van der Bruggen, “I can understand why you would want to eliminate these people from society, however it doesn’t make sense, and that’s because we are talking about biology, we are talking about a sexual orientation, something that we simply cannot change. Everyday, new people are born with the same difficulty, so it’s not practical to eliminate these people from society, they haven’t done anything wrong.” Even though the strong and reflective urge of a pedophile by default is wrong, like Kinsey and Kentler, van der Bruggen would like to observe what happens if we trust them.

Van der Bruggen describes pedophilia as a natural preference people are born with and should be able to live out freely. She says most pedophiles won’t act on their impulses because they know it is illegal, which sounds experimental, rather than a scientific observation from her time working in this field.

Van der Bruggen’s call to action for open attitudes regarding pedophilia falls in line with the concept of the virtuous pedophile, a group of users who profess a sexual interest in children and deny they will ever or have ever acted on their sexual attraction to children. The painting of pedophiles into patron saints of innocence is years in the making. Similar theories have arisen from the work of German sexologist, Klaus Michael Beier, who described pedophilia as a sexual orientation years before while on a visit to speak with NGOs and hospitals in Pune, India.

“Pedophilia is something that a person is born with — a sexual orientation like heterosexuality or homosexuality — and has no cure,” said Klaus Beier.

The virtuous pedophile and offending pedophile both describe themselves as fighting against forces beyond control, redemption is met through the mercy of others living along this same boundary, who in turn, evangelize the practice of self-restraint. These groups describe themselves as the victim, and society as the enemy. To advance this manipulation, they seek societal consent and approval.

“In my career I’ve seen sex offenders with a lot of life potential, social charismatic men, with no psychological disorders whatsoever” van der Bruggen says, omitting that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) includes pedophilia and characterizes it as a disorder. So what is causing the split in differing dichotomies among clinicians? The short answer to a complex problem is activism and the politicization of science.

In 2013, American-Canadian sexologist Ray Blanchard, who writes the criteria for pedophilic disorders in the DSM made a textual divergence in describing pedophilia as a sexual orientation. The APA released a statement claiming it was a typo, noting it would make a correction in the manual’s electronic version and in the next print edition. A colleague of Blanchard, James Cantor blamed lobbyists and editors above Blanchard’s committee, claiming the committees took fetishists too seriously.

The fetishist community had been making demands to the DSM committee to change terminology, and according to Cantor, Blanchard’s solution was to separate sexual interests from the diagnosis of a sexual disorder. This way, said Cantor, “One could be a fetishist, but not medically deemed worthy of a disorder”. “The fetishists model for societal acceptance,” said Cantor, “was doing what the gay movement did- going after the language.”

An NIH paper written by Cantor and Blanchard, alleges pedophiles are born, not made. Cantor also calls for pedophilia to become part of the LGBT acronym.

“Speaking as a gay man,” says Cantor, “I believe we should include the P [pedophile]. To do otherwise is to betray the principles that give us our rights.”

Sexual minorities fall under civil rights categories, which means the legalization of pedophilia as a sexual minority would grant pedophiles various legal protections.

Cantor and Blanchard rose as senior scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital. These institutions breed a class of intellectuals who see pedophilia as a multidimensional scale of sexual interest, and in turn they train others, and bring these ideas abroad, from Germany, to Canada, to the United States.

Forensic psychologist, Michael Seto, a former colleague of Cantor’s at CAMH, claims that pedophilia in males can be parsed down to an identity label , in the same way homosexuality has been parsed down to identity labels like “queer” and “gay”. Seto argues that viewing pedophilia as a sexual orientation will prevent child abuse and that removing the stigma of pedophilia will encourage those who want to offend to seek treatment for self-regulation. Except self-regulation methods for pro-pedophilia advocates relies heavily on peer-to-peer support groups, and they are typically not interested in traditional treatment methodologies; why should they be, if they or society views pedophilia as a sexual orientation then there is no mental illness to overcome.

Michael Seto’s impact on this space influences governance and law, even after his paper on pedophilia as a sexual orientation was published Seto also wrote a chapter on internet-facilitated sexual offending for the SMART program in the Department of Justice.

Academia has a long history of defending pedophilia, despite the overwhelming evidence that sexual fantasy plays an integral role in the development of behaviors that lead to child sexual abuse. Pro-pedophilia academics and institutions work towards an ideological circle of power, hidden behind superficial scientific ideologies and certainties.

Pedophiles want us to believe that contact with a child seems beyond reason even to them, and that in turn, they possess a moral compass, understand their attraction is a predation and work hard against it. The belief that pedophiles understand boundaries and will adhere to them is part of the manipulation. This becomes a key component in their activism and advocacy to convince others they are harmless and not worth the scrutiny society levies on them.

The basic human need of being desired, cared for, and understood is perverted in service to the twisted needs of those who abuse, exploit, and murder children. Those who investigate sex crimes and missing persons, know what they are up against.

Deception is a cooperative act because it needs and seeks public consent. Society can protect itself and its children by refusing to collaborate in the manipulations put before them, and actively working against the falsehoods that further pedophilia and child sexual abuse.

The virtuous pedophile is itself a creation myth, resting on fantasy, and marred by varying degrees of logical fallacies. In the words of Thales of Miletus, “Someone asked him if it would be possible to hide evil from the gods. He said, “Not even in your thoughts.”

References:

Holt T. J., Blevins K. R., Burkert N. (2010). Considering the pedophile subculture online, online. Sexual Abuse: a Journal of Research and Treatment, 22(1), 3–24. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1079063209344979?journalCode=saxb [PubMed] [Google Scholar] [Ref list]

Europol European Cybercrime Center. (2014). Commercial sexual exploitation of children online a strategic assessment. https://www.europol.europa.eu/cms/sites/default/files/documents/efc_strategic_assessment_2014.pdf

Notes:

If you suspect a child in your life may be experiencing sexual abuse, you can talk to someone who is trained to help. Call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or chat online at online.rainn.org.

Fight Against Abuse, a foundation started by the Jeninga's

An older version of this article was originally published in The Post Millennial

Project Raven is a collaborative exercise in archiving and analyzing the online activities of pro-pedophilia organizations and their members. Project Raven includes a research team comprised of academics, technologists, psychologists with law enforcement backgrounds, information science, child abuse prevention, and computer forensics experts.

Network Graph

Data assembled into a network graph by Dr. Alaric Naudé shows connections between individuals and organizations that promote pedophilia or child abuse narratives in academia. The graph is in a state of gradual evolution and will continue to change as more data is added to the algorithm (nodes and connections may be added or removed to reflect the most up to date data).

Tracking the Possible Spread of Paedophilic and Queer Ideology in Academia | Graph Commons

Names on the graph are of individuals/universities/ organisations who: Have openly advocated paedophilia normalisation. Are funded by organisations that have a vested interest in protecting paedophiles. Are funded by MAP ideology organisations. Individuals who adhere to MAP ideology Individuals who condone or downplay paedophilia. Individuals and/or organisations that place paedophilia as a sexual orientation (paedosexuality) Organisations or individuals that fight against the paedophile stigma. Organisations or individuals that support, condone, or encourage “animated”,“virtual” or real CSAM or child-like sex dolls. Organisations or individuals that in any way paint paedophiles as misunderstood victims of society. Organisations or individuals that argue paedophilia is innate. These are criteria that are based on information provided to me by child protection organisations and law enforcement agencies such as INTERPOL.

@graphcommons

Methodology

Data is collected from primary sources such as statements by individuals, the "academic" work of individuals, news releases, governmental criminal databases, correctional facility databases, organizational websites etc.

Disclaimer

The following information is meant as a guide only and is not conclusive. It is designed as a visualization of a specific trend in academia and is a tool not a remedy. Nodes and connections are not chronologically sensitive and certain individuals may be deceased at the time of publication or no longer work with certain groups, universities etc.

Originally published in Graph Commons

Research

In the summer of 2022 our research team archived thousands of files and documents on pro-pedophilia organizations and individuals. We organized the files into an archive and dispatched them to various organizations, including the media industry, and law enforcement.

How Pedophiles Are Being Normalized · By Erin Holmes · The Post Millennial

Prostasia Foundation Archives · By Erin Holmes · The Public Dispatch

Case Study: Sociolinguistic Analysis Of Covert Pro-Paedophilia Organization Registered As A Child Protection Charity · By Alaric Naudé · The Public Insight Journal

Prostasia General Manager Used Pedophile Forum, Joked Of "Trapping" Kids · By Anna Slatz · Reduxx

Child Abuse Charity A Front For Pedophiles · By Josh Ferme · Lotus Eaters

How The Free Speech Coalition And Prostasia Are Linked To Balenciaga · By E.M. Carrington · The Public Insight

In February we filed a complaint with the the Office of the Attorney General of California regarding Prostasia Foundation.

A set of campaigns by the fashion house Balenciaga ignited public controversy over the sexualization of children. The campaign images show children barely out of toddlerhood holding stuffed animals in BDSM-inspired outfits, the scene is set against a bedroom backdrop; empty drink glasses and accessories lay scattered around like a hotel afterparty. Among the props in another photoshoot are court documents referencing Ashcroft vs. Free Speech Coalition, the Supreme Court opinion responsible for striking down portions of a federal act banning what is referenced in legal documents as "virtual child pornography", but, what is more accurately referred to as child exploitation material.

The court documents are probably the most striking clue in the subtle art of significance and suggestive tone. As with most creative, tone depends on the audience, and the author's intentions on what it hopes to convey, in this case, the creative draws attention to the erotic variety. Toddlers engaging in playful acts undercut the campaign's menacing tone, shielding it from the stigma of resembling something forbidden.

Prior to the technical developments of the digital age, soft power was traditionally exported through culture and arts which served as the perfect vector for shaping thoughts and ideas. The defining feature of soft power is that it is non-coercive, and captivates with appeal but this can only go so far. The next phase of soft power is in the deconstruction of norms and laws. The Balenciaga campaigns remind us that the battle is now in legislative frameworks, and in the deregulatory drive that leads to the breakdown of normative structures like consent.

Predictions over the years have theorized that the peak logical end of sexual liberalism is pedophilia normalization. It is forbidden to forbid, a phrase associated with the 1968 civil uprising in Paris, France, where Balenciaga is headquartered, became an expression of anti-establishment sentiment. The movement pushed boundaries on anything that opposed limits on individual liberty, as long as social norms existed freedom was only ephemeral to the movement.

From this era emerged a decade of queer radicalism and Derridean deconstructionism:

"This hedonic and individualistic explosion contrasts with the politicization of the movement, its Leninist-inspired speeches, and its parades to the sound of the International" a soviet anthem that became the song of socialist and communist parties.

Pierre Viansson-Ponté, the editor-in-chief of Le Monde, concluded that France was bored.

Figure 1: May 1968

In 1977, French academics, Derrida, Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Foucault, petitioned for the reversal of articles that established age of consent laws, the argument drawing heavily on discrimination against gay men, which deconstructionists argued, was coded in age of consent laws. The petition cited the "Affaire de Versailles", a criminal case where three adult men in their forties were accused of having sex with 13 and 14-year olds of both genders while out at a naturalist camp. The case was reported by members from the, The Revolutionary Communist League, who characterized charges against the men as an assault on nature. French newspapers Libération and Le Monde defended the idea of sex with minors. Despite the petition, the Court of Assizes handed down a guilty verdict with a 5-year prison sentence, after taking into account the testimony of a teenager, which showed that the concept of consent was not obvious to the child.

Figure 2: Derrida, Sarte & de Beauvoir, Foucault

The Free Speech Coalition was founded as a California trade association for the adult entertainment industry. In 2001, FSC filed a lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft charging that the Child Pornography Protection Act, which sought to criminalize the depiction of minors in sexually explicit content, abridged first amendment rights. In 2002, the Supreme Court struck down CPPA in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition for being too broad, concluding that it would prohibit speech with literary or artistic value. Their opinions weighed heavily on whether the average person in the community would find the predominant theme of works like Romeo and Juliet lewd and indecent.

The deregulatory drive for laws like age of consent and child exploitation material is sought in part for fear legislation endangers the activities of sex workers, pornographers, and pedophiles. In 2018, Free Speech Coalition’s Executive Director, Ian O’Brien helped launch the Prostasia Foundation, which is registered in the state of California as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit charity. Prostasia consists of a team of kink enthusiasts, sex workers, and in its earlier years, multiple convicted sex offenders. Charities in the State of California are regulated through the Attorney General who requires annual filings to ensure charitable assets are going towards intended use, but gaps in oversight and unlawful practices within these organizations reveals the way these laws can be exploited to tap into federal resources.

Prostasia Foundation was founded in response to FOSTA/SESTA, legislation aimed at protecting children from online sex trafficking, except they viewed the legislation as a threat to pornographic interests, and lobbied against it on the grounds that it violated free speech. They advocate for illicit practices, like how to avoid law enforcement sting operations in the solicitation of minors in chat rooms like Roblox, a popular children's gaming platform. They claim child abuse prevention should involve teaching children about fetishes and kink, and that viewing pornography can have a positive impact on children.

These ideas derive from the influence of intellectuals who see pedophilia as a multidimensional scale of sexual interest. Before becoming an advisor for Prostasia, James Cantor worked as a senior scientist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital. Cantor advocates that pedophilia is a sexual orientation that belongs within the LGBT movement. An NIH paper written by Cantor and clinical psychologist, Ray Blanchard, alleges that pedophiles are born, not made. Blanchard wrote the criteria for paraphilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and tried to change its classification. The change resulted in this statement by the APA maintaining its position that "pedophilia is a mental disorder; that sex between adults and children is always wrong; and that acting on pedophilic impulses is and should be a criminal act."

Forensic psychologist, Michael Seto, a former colleague of Cantor’s at CAMH, claims that pedophilia in males can be parsed down to an identity label, in the same way homosexuality has been parsed down to identity labels like "queer" and "gay". Seto argues that viewing pedophilia as a sexual orientation will prevent child abuse and that removing the stigma of pedophilia will encourage those who want to offend to seek treatment for self regulation. Except self-regulation methods for pro-pedophilia advocates relies heavily on peer-to-peer support groups, as they are typically not interested in traditional treatment methodologies; why should they be, if they or society views pedophilia as a sexual orientation then there is no mental illness to overcome. Seto's impact on this space cannot be minimized, even after his paper on pedophilia as a sexual orientation was published he wrote a chapter on internet-facilitated sexual offending for the SMART program in the Department of Justice.

Sexual fantasies relating to children typically occur in the context of secrecy, but social media has changed this, enabling pro-pedophilia social clubs that sell themselves as global intervention initiatives; safe spaces for pedophiles to "self-regulate" in times of trouble. Prostasia advocates for a group called, MAP Support Club, a peer-to-peer social club for "minor attracted persons," or pedophiles, who self-police in their commitment to never harm a child. Within these communities pedophiles and offenders build camaraderie in chat rooms that include children as young as 13 years-of-age. Between these virtual walls, there is no policing between the minds of pedophiles. According to Glen Pounder, VP of Child Rescue Coalition and intelligence veteran with the National Crime Agency, "The use of the term "MAP" risks a path to normalization of sexual attraction to children as a sexual orientation. This is dangerous as it puts an even greater sense of righteousness into the minds of those who already believe sexually abusing (and raping) children is normal. Some offenders even seek to convince themselves that children enjoy the abuse." A few years ago, it turned out one of those in the pedophile support club was busy actively raping kids.

In 2019, Prostasia founder Jeremy Malcolm was a member of the multi-stakeholder advisory group of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum. A critical policy event took place that year, the drafting of guidelines regarding the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Prostasia petitioned a substitution argument against U.N. guidelines that would effectively call to criminalize obscene images depicting children.

An objective in the movement to destigmatize pedophilia, attempts to refine obscene practices until they become so mundane that we all just begin to accept them. The trope of living in a world where it is forbidden to forbid is coupled with the fever dream of a digital age which does not forbid, and even equalizes access to digital offending. “Backed by evidence from studies on dark web offenders, is the vast majority of these criminals have no intention on rehabilitation or of not harming children,” says Glen Pounder, “they revel in abusing children and the support networks that they’ve established since the rise of the Internet only help with their beliefs, “ Pounder continues, “the 29 million cyber tips that have been sent in, isn’t anywhere near the true scale of the problem.”

The pro-pedophilia advocates of 1968 saw sexual liberation as something rooted in an oppressive system that affects marginalized groups, these ideas have not left the public sphere, they have only been passed down in modern sexual liberation movements and are returning in full force. For pedophilia as a sexual orientation to come to fruition, they must garner public consent, which is critical in the quest to battle legislative frameworks.

Prostasia foundation describes itself as “a new kind of child protection organization” which on the surface sounds like something people can get behind. However, they actively lobby against laws established to protect children from sexual abuse, for fear legislation endangers the activity of sex workers, pornographers, and pedophiles.

Year Registered: 2018

State Registered: California

Type: 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation

EIN: 82-4969920

Prostasia Foundation was founded in response to FOSTA/SESTA, legislation aimed at protecting children from online sex trafficking, except they viewed the legislation as a threat to pornographic interests, and lobbied against it on the grounds that it violated free speech. They advocate for illicit practices , like how to avoid law enforcement sting operations in the solicitation of minors in chat rooms like Roblox, a popular children’s gaming platform. They claim child abuse prevention should involve teaching children about fetishes and kink , and that viewing pornography can have a positive impact on children.

Prostasia consists of a team of kink enthusiasts, sex workers, and in its earlier years, multiple convicted sex offenders. Charities in the State of California are regulated through the Attorney General who requires annual filings to ensure charitable assets are going towards intended use, but gaps in oversight and unlawful practices within these organizations reveals the way these laws can be exploited to tap into federal resources.

The Prostasia Foundation Archive is part of the Project Raven initiative. Project Raven tracks and compiles data on individuals and organizations that promote pedophilia and child abuse narratives in academia.

This data drop reflects early operations for Prostasia Foundation, new and updated information, and links to corresponding documents can be found in the spreadsheet.

Board Members

Advisors & Staff

For a full list of team members, please view spreadsheet.

Advocacy & Activism

Acknowledgements

Project Raven is a collaborative exercise in archiving and analyzing the online activities of pro-pedophilia organizations and their members. Project Raven includes a research team comprised of academics, technologists, psychologists with law enforcement backgrounds, information science, child abuse prevention, and computer forensics experts.

Groups of mainly anonymous researchers with a variety of professional backgrounds came together to share resources in their investigations on the pro-pedophilia movement.

The Internet is the ultimate dark alley where pedophiles form supportive online communities with others who display similar deviant and criminal interests (Holt 2007, Holt et al. 2010, Holt & Bossler 2020). Pedophiles in these communities indulge in sexual abuse fantasies and offenders distribute child sexual abuse materials. The normalization of pedophilia gives agency to in-groups that no longer hide within dark web chat rooms.

The digital world provides a way to cross boundaries. Social forums on websites like Mastodon and Pawoo enable offenders to host and distribute child sexual abuse materials among members.

Child sexual abuse materials often depict violent and graphic child sexual abuse, but they also range from the seemingly benign images of children with subtle sexual exposure and innuendo, to the truly profane. Those who try to mimic normal behavior move within these ranges, the most noticeable are those who share publicly in the child sexual abuse they commit and, or fantasize of committing.

Pedophilia Support Communities

The following takes place in Mastodon rooms called NNIA Space (Non Normative Identities Alliance) and Pedo School. Despite the rooms focus on atypical activities and sexual fantasies involving children, they sell themselves as support groups for marginalized and stigmatized demographics, a mischaracterization that enables them to appear less ominous to outsiders.

This is from a conversation taking place between members. When asked what it is like being a MAP (Minor rape attracted person) the response describes sexual feelings for children in the same emphasis you would hear someone describe an intimate partner.

anonymous: What is it like being a map what are the upsides?

@chifutan: The upsides I can see is that maps take significantly better care of children than non-maps. They love children more deeply than the average adult attracted person would ever love another adult, they have a way with children that is unmatched by others.

Pedophiles do not believe they are predators in search of prey. Among their delusions pedophiles desire a love affair. To them, attraction is a courtship where they not only want sex, but seek validation for their compulsions.

The French author Gabriel Matzneff wrote about raping children for decades before it was discovered he was a serial sex offender, and it took a memoir by one of his victims for authorities to finally bring charges against Matzneff (Springora, 2021). Springora's book details how Matzneff manipulated his victims into believing they were a willing party in the sexual abuse, an example of the paradox of abuse as a form of love.

In the Mastodon rooms, NNIA Space users discuss their desire for lenient laws, concluding that if the child is not kidnapped or physically assaulted, the sexual assault should not be prosecutable.

@foobar: I propose that age of consent laws be used only in cases where other crimes have been committed. In other words, AoC violations would only be pressed if the child was kidnapped, drugged, or harmed in some objectively provable way. So we can have legal child love, but with the understanding that if the child is harmed by the adult in any way, he will face punishment.

The absence of escalating criminality, such as kidnapping a child, is used to justify the act of child sexual abuse. The pedophile argues in favor of child sexual abuse as long as the child isn’t kidnapped or drugged. To the pedophile, child rape itself is not objectionable.

On Twitter, a preschool teacher affirms on others that the urge to sexually abuse a child is not the same as having an urge to harm a child.

@miamiautumn8: Minor attraction feels just like attraction to adults except the attraction is to minors. MAPs don’t have “urges” to harm kids; we’re just attracted to them. Most MAPs know sexual activity is harmful to kids, so we never engage in it. We don’t want to harm kids.

Most people consider both physical and sexual abuse harmful, however, the pedophile in question denies these normative standards. The pedophile refuses to admit child sexual abuse is harmful and will resort to deniability.

This conversation continues on Twitter, escalating from denial, to a detached and uncaring self-absorption in rationale.

@miamiautumn7: I’m into toddler con, and it has absolutely nothing to do with power for me. I like content where the characters are respectful of each other and engage in loving activities. It has nothing to do with “innocence” with me. The concept of innocence is a big turnoff for me actually.

The pedophile rejects the harm involved in child sexual abuse and maintains a belief that intimacy is an act of love and kindness. To free themselves of guilt, they leave no room for innocence. The pedophile demonstrates a conceited view of the concept of innocence, they are not only indifferent to innocence, but also see it as a nuisance.

In this example, the fantasy of child sexual abuse is largely detached from reality. They are motivated by desire, and advance their ambitions by laying an intricate groundwork of deception and manipulation directed at others.

The pedophile will do or say whatever enables them to reinforce limitless want, their performance displaying a disregard for the welfare of others, ranging from the hidden to the truly profane.

@folk devil: I haven’t seen it but I think a lot of pro CS do focus on the lovey lovey maps, whereas I just wanna see irreversible damage done to a child and then kill them.

Pedophiles imitate what they think is the behavior of the truly disturbed and modify this behavior into a sex positive fantasy of their own making. Alienated from conventional sexual norms, chat room members mitigate self-worth by building social connections that validate their deviant interests (Durkin 1997; Durkin & Bryant 1999; Jenkins 2001; Quayle & Taylor 2002). Fantasy advances their belief that they have achieved societal approval and moral support, especially when they ambiguously hide their fantasies and misdeeds in anecdotes which are passed off as passive social discourse.

In NNIA Space, members share fantasy as hypotheticals to avoid unwanted attention. The following post is introduced as conjecture, where the member invites others to conceive their own imagined fantasy.

@kayfaraday: Non-offending MAP that wants nothing more than to kidnap, viciously rape, ballgag, choke to death, then behead hot littler girls.

In criminology, the advancement of social learning theory by Akers and colleagues, covers the broader concept of reinforcement and imitation. The nature of having others share in fantasy enactment is coercive, the playfulness of conversation is intended to groom members who are children.

Pedophiles look for victims that fit their particular fantasy type, and possession of any child sexual abuse materials will often reflect this pattern. Child sexual abuse materials give vision to fantasy and fuels the compulsion to act. Criminal behavior is learning, in what Burgess and Akers describe as, a form of operant conditioning (Burgess & Akers 1966).

The fantasy to be desired, loved, cared for, and admired, is perverted in service to the twisted needs of those who abuse, exploit, and murder children. Those who investigate sex crimes and missing persons, know what they are up against.

Learn More: The Palgrave Handbook of International Cybercrime and Cyberdeviance (Holt & Bossier 2020)

Deviant and criminal activity is justified because interaction and communication between minds occurs without the intervention of any known physical agency. The person with pedophilic tendencies attaches themselves to the metaphysical, act of child sexual abuse, putting a precarious distance between themselves and the act itself. There is no policing between the minds of pedophiles, so they are free to impart their fantasies by whatever means available.

These means often include images, videos, stories of graphic and lewd depictions of child sexual abuse. Hundreds of thousands of users share child sexual exploitation materials on social media; it is rampant, readily accessible, and mostly offered for free. The majority of CSAM online is distributed through peer-to-peer networks (Europol European Cybercrime Center 2014).

Predation varies from the subtle, which is easier to hide because it comes off as caring, and extends all the way to the more sadistic child sex offenders who engage in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of children. Most are the former, and are often someone the child knows, such as, a trusted friend, family member, or mentor. Pedophiles who groom admonish attention to form relationships, build repertoire and public trust. In the public trust lure, the pedophile appeals to public empathy in an effort to build societal consent.

With Internet access pedophiles make the choice to live their lives in public, making them easier to spot. Deception to a pedophile is a cooperative act which needs and seeks public consent. Deception experts suggest that society can exempt themselves from predation by being explicit about their moral code (Meyer, 2012).

Pedophiles appeal to their victims good nature, and they are effective at persuasion because they manipulate others capacity for good. “Pedophiles are good at hiding, good at hunting, and good at convincing others they are good people, however, place pedophiles somewhere they can be bad and their cunning nature comes out” (Peterson, 2017).

Pedophiles want us to believe that contact with a child seems beyond reason even to them, and that in turn, they possess a moral compass, understand their attraction is a predation and work hard against it. The belief that pedophiles understand boundaries and will adhere to them is part of the manipulation. This becomes a key component in their activism and advocacy to convince others they are harmless and not worth the scrutiny society levies on them. Pedophiles often describe themselves as harmless, but their acts pledge a voluntary and very destructive form of malevolence.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to Crete Greece, Kearee, and GPS. My research relies on volunteers who are willing to respond to questions and inquires, many of them with the critical knowledge needed for deeper understanding. The information they uncover and the resistance they maintain against pedophilia and child sexual abuse often comes at a great personal risk to them. They are a crucial and unsung part of the research effort.

References

Braithwaite, J. (2000). Shame and criminal justice. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 42(3), 281–298. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjcrim.42.3.281

Burgess, R., & Akers, R. (1966). A differential association-reinforcement theory of criminal behavior. Social Problems, 14(2), 128–147. https://doi.org/10.2307/798612

Durkin, K. F. (1997). Misuse of the Internet by pedophiles: Implications for law enforcement and probation practice. Federal Probation, 14, 14–18. U.S. Department of Justice

Durkin, K. F., & Bryant, C. D. (1999). Propagandizing pederasty: A thematic analysis of the on-line exculpatory accounts of unrepentant pedophiles. Deviant Behavior, 20(2), 103–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/016396299266524

Europol European Cybercrime Center. (2014). Commercial sexual exploitation of children online a strategic assessment. https://www.europol.europa.eu/cms/sites/default/files/documents/efc_strategic_assessment_2014.pdf

Holt, T.J., & Bossler, Adam (2020). The Palgrave Handbook of International Cybercrime and Cyberdeviance. Palgrave Macmillan Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90307-1

Holt, T. J. (2007). Deviant Behavior subcultural evolution? examining the influence of on-and offline experiences on deviant subcultures. Deviant Behavior, 28, 171–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639620601131065

Holt, T. J., Blevins, K. R., & Burkert, N. (2010). Considering the pedophile subculture online. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 22(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1079063209344979

Jenkins, P. (2001). Beyond tolerance: Child pornography on the Internet. New York: New York University Press. U.S. Department of Justice

Meyer, P. M. (2010). Liespotting: Proven techniques to detect deception. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Peterson, Jordan (2017). Maps of Meaning 03: Marionettes and Individuals. Lecture.

Springora, Vanessa (2021). Consent. Grasset & Fasquelle.

Quayle, E., & Taylor, M. (2002). Child pornography and the Internet: Perpetuating a cycle of abuse. Deviant Behavior, 23, 331–361. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639620290086413

In the United States, explicit, graphic, and gratuitous sex has become commonplace in popular culture and personal communication. It has led to the portrayal of children and adolescents in highly sexualized ways. The absence of clear policies and lack of criminalization in the production, distribution, and use of child sexual abuse materials has led to the creation and distribution of products that facilitate sexual encounters with children as proxy victims.

Child sex dolls are life-sized, anatomically correct dolls that are made to look like infants, toddlers, and children. They are designed with primary and secondary sex characteristics that can be tailored to fit personal preferences in victim-type and are made to resemble real children. Child sex dolls market non-consensual sex as a commercial product and facilitate encounters where children are viewed as a commodity.

This paper explores manufacturing and purchasing of child sex dolls, implications in child sexual abuse, theories in cognitive distortion, pro-pedophilia sentiment, and prospects for a general ban.

Manufactures & Consumers Of Child Sex Dolls

According to the American Psychological Association, infantophilia, a type of pedophilia also referred to as nepiophilia, is the sexual interest in and arousal by infants. The person with nepiophilia generally does not find adults, or sometimes even older children sexually arousing and their predilection is strictly focused on very young children.

The purchasing of child sex dolls signals a market demand that caters to consumers who can customize dolls down to the smallest detail, and import them from abroad.

Child sex dolls are manufactured by a transnational industry found in overseas markets such as, Japan, China, and Hong Kong, where dolls are shipped to customers around the globe. Manufacturers tailor physical criteria, such as: skin, hair color, eye color, weight, and body shape to make them look and feel as realistic as possible.

Potential Harms & The Link To Child Sexual Abuse

When child sexual offenders are arrested, law enforcement often finds and seizes collections of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) (Palermo & Farkas 2013). CSAM may include images, videos, and stories of graphic and lewd depictions of child sexual abuse. Child pornography cannot be produced without a child being sexually abused. Roos (2014) noted that such material actively encourages the sexualization of children by creating a market that validates sexual gratification through its use, eroticizing the child’s defensiveness and encouraging the use of children for sexual satisfaction. Roos research suggests that child pornography markets promote the objectification of children as a sexual commodity, and harm is derived from the repeated viewing of child sexual abuse materials. Whether it is a real child, or a virtual child, society should establish a protective attitude towards its children, future generations, and their well-being.

For a pedophile, child sexual abuse materials bridge a gap between fantasy and reality. It not only gives vision to the fantasy, it also fuels it, and similar to operant conditioning, imparts a compulsion to act. When child sexual abuse materials fail to provide the emotional and cognitive needs of the pedophile, distorted behavior escalates.

Escalation in relation to pornographic materials is well documented (Maras & Shapiro 2017; Schell et al. 2006). In a paper written for the Australian Institute of Criminology, Brown and Shelling note:

“From reviewing the cases of 136 online child sexual offenders in Australia, Davis, Lennings and Green (2018) concluded that the preference for more extreme material increases as the medium moves from photographic to video.” Offenders who viewed only photographic CEM images were less likely to have a preference for more graphic and explicit images (as graded by the Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe, or COPINE, Scale) than those who viewed video content. Houtepen, Sijtsema and Bogaerts (2014) noted that heightened online engagement can lead to a need for more extreme material to reach satisfaction.”

Brown and Shelling say, “This can fuel a gradual escalation in use and increase further demand for similar materials, leading to greater abuse in children in the production of material to meet this demand” (Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia 2004:6).

Michael Bourke, Ph.D. for the United States Marshals Service, who has worked with sex offenders for a decade in the federal prison system, says this about using dolls as substitutes for real child victims:

“These dolls make the sexual fantasies of pedophiles more real. And making their fantasies more real is precisely what we want to avoid.”

Bourke’s findings include that non-contact child pornography offenders frequently had committed child sexual abuse (Bourke & Hernandez 2009).

Those who investigate sex crimes and missing persons, know what they are up against.

Cognitive Distortion Theory

Cognitive distortion as it pertains to child exploitation materials is a crucial concept of sex offending. This idea was first established in the work of Abel, Becker, and Cunningham-Rathner (1984) who argued that child sexual abuse is regarded socially as something so heinous that offenders cognitively adapt in order to justify and excuse their offending.

Distorted cognitions may derive from child sex doll use, where sexual abuse by proxy desensitizes the abuser. Howitt and Sheldon (2007) found that child sexual abuse material offenders were more likely than contact child sexual offenders to view children as sexual beings. This feeds into a fantasy perception, a reinforcement, that departs from the reality of child sexual abuse. The fantasy of sexual abuse is supported by the lack of negative feedback received from a doll. In return, a reinforcing effect on pedophilic ideation is acted upon with greater urgency (Kingston et al. 2008).

Maras and Shapiro (2017) note that dolls, “fail to provide pedophiles with accurate emotional feedback from aggressive actions, particularly ones that would result in emotional and physical damage if performed on a real child.” Dolls offer no emotional feedback or, in the case of robotic models, only positive responses (Maras & Shapiro 2017).

The fostering of negative attitudes towards children makes it easier to offend. As O’Donnell and Milner (2007) observe, “child pornography cannot be produced without a child being sexually abused”. CSAM encourages the “sexualization of children by creating a market that validates sexual gratification through its use, eroticizing the child’s defensiveness and encouraging the use of children for sexual satisfaction.”

Child sex dolls desensitize the act of child sexual abuse, reinforcing rather than reducing urges, associated thoughts, and behaviors. This is the danger in fantasy enactment, as it pertains to cognitive distortion. The pedophile rehearses the act of child sexual abuse and is subsequently rewarded through sexual gratification.

Pro-Pedophilia Sentiments

Pro-pedophilia organizations and child sex doll manufacturers claim that child sex dolls have a therapeutic effect which may even deter offending by pedophiles.

Michael Seto, a psychiatrist from the University of Toronto speculated on an analogy to methadone treatment for opioid addicts. Seto hypothesized that “for some pedophiles, access to artificial child pornography or to child sex dolls could be a safer outlet for their sexual urges, reducing the likelihood that they would seek out child pornography or sex with real children. For others, having these substitutes might only aggravate their sense of frustration” (Morin 2016).

James Cantor, a Canadian psychologist and neuroscientist, believes that prohibiting the use of child sex dolls amounts to “blocking the harmless ways of masturbating,” which may leave sex offenders more desperate and likely to offend. Cantor, like Seto, offers pro-pedophilia sentiment in support of pedophilia as a sexual orientation that may be outside the control of the individual. Cantor posits, that “child molestation is a horrible crime”, but says, “experiencing sexual attraction that one cannot help is ethically neutral”.

While empirical data on the outcomes of child-sex-doll use does not exist, it is difficult to imagine how research of this nature could ever be conducted in an ethical way. Academic arguments in support of child sex dolls are unconvincing and are open to being hijacked by pro-pedophilia interest groups (Roper 2019).

One such group is an agency called Prostasia, which works with pedophiles but is registered as a child protection charity. A newsletter from the Prostasia Foundation says:

“Michael Seto is written with you in mind. It summarizes the state of research in a number of scientific disciplines that relate to this stigmatized topic, and doesn’t assume any advanced scientific knowledge.” The newsletter points pedophiles to a peer-to-peer support group, MAP Support Club, a chatroom for pedophiles and children as young as 13 years-of-age (Malcolm 2021).

In Prostasia’s view, the lack of advanced research is welcome in their space, and in a way, they hide behind this advantage.

In pedophilia studies, samples available are usually of those who have offended. These studies show a reinforcing effect when it comes to paraphilia. Behaviors trigger other behaviors, and it incentivizes offenders to act. Studies that show favorable outcomes for recidivism with offenders who consume child sexual abuse materials are working on assumptions and assertions from pedophiles who claim they have never acted on impulses. Many pedophiles do not seek help until they commit a crime and fall into the law enforcement system.

Finally, there is a risk that child-like dolls could be used to groom children for sex, in the same way that adult sex dolls have already been used. There is no evidence that child sex dolls have a therapeutic benefit in preventing child sexual abuse, and instead, promotes a continuum of behavior that may likely result in physical contact with a child.

Policy: Prospects For General Bans On Child Sex Dolls

The relationship between sex and the law is long and complex, and arguments within the same laws can sometimes make a case for or against child sex dolls. The interaction of sex and law exists at two levels – the formal level at which laws are enacted, and the more practical level at which laws are implemented and enforced (Posner, 1992 ).

Child sex dolls are only illegal in a handful of States: Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii, and Florida, where offenders are prosecuted for possessing and/or importing child sex dolls.

A bill introduced as H.R.73 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots Act 2.0 establishes new criminal offenses for conduct involving child sex dolls, was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1973 in Miller v. California (1973 , pp. 23–26) that states could restrict “obscene materials” if they, “taken as a whole, appeal to the prurient interest in sex, portray sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and do not have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”

Simmons ( 2016 ) advocates preemptive moral legislation to ban sex robots outright, the same way some states ban certain types of sex toys, such as, Alabama’s Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1998. This law was upheld by the Eleventh circuit Circuit under the U.S. Constitution in 2004 and is still upheld as a morality law. However, not all courts uphold the constitutionality of bans on sex toys and doing so may be limited to conservative states.

Protect Act Of 2003

“The possession, as well as the receipt, distribution and production, of obscene virtual representations of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct,” is prohibited under the PROTECT Act of 2003.

Can child Sex Dolls and robots similarly fall under this Act? Maras and Shapiro (2017) write:

“The Congressional response to the decision in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition was the drafting and passage of the PROTECT Act of 2003. This Act amended the definition of “child pornography” in 18 U.S.C. § 2256(8) to include “a digital image, computer image, or computer-generated image that is, or is indistinguishable from, that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct (section 501, Protect Act, 2003)”. The requirement that the prosecution show that an actual child was used in the production of virtual child pornography was relaxed by the court after the passage of the PROTECT Act of 2003.141.”

Child Pornography Prevention Act Of 1996

In Journal of Internet Law, Maras and Shapiro describe how laws against child sex dolls can be strengthened. One suggestion is classifying them as virtual child pornography defined by the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) of 1996 as:

“any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer, or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct, where … such visual depiction is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct … or … such visual depiction is advertised, promoted, presented, described, or distributed in such a manner that conveys the impression that the material is or contains a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.”

In the Journal of Internet Law, Maras and Shapiro explain, “The phrases “appears to be” and “conveys the impression” enables the criminalization of content and objects that do not involve real children.”

The Supreme Court struck down CPPA in 2002 in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition as a violation of the First Amendment for being too broad, however, its context is useful for future laws.

We can also look to laws abroad, countries such as the UK, New Zealand, and Australia who determined that child sex dolls are obscene The United States should follow suit in prohibiting child sex dolls outright by law.

References

Abel, G. G., Becker, J. V., & Cunningham-Rathner, J. (1984). Complications, consent, and cognitions in sex between children and adults. International journal of law and psychiatry, 7(1), 89–103.

Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002)

Brown R & Shelling J 2019. Exploring the implications of child sex dolls. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 570. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.

Davis N, Lennings C & Green T 2018. Improving practice in child sexual abuse image investigations through identification of offender characteristics. Sexual Abuse in Australia and New Zealand Jan: 1–12

Houtepen JABM, Sijtsema JJ & Bogaerts S 2014. From child pornography offending to child sexual abuse: A review of child pornography offender characteristics and risks for cross-over. Aggression and Violent Behaviour 19(5): 466–473

Howitt D & Sheldon K 2007. The role of cognitive distortions in paedophilic offending: Internet and contact offenders compared. Psychology, Crime & Law 13(5): 469–486

H.R.73 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots Act 2.0. (2021, March 1).

Kingston, D. A., Fedoroff, P., Firestone, P., Curry, S., & Bradford, J. M. (2008). Pornography use and sexual aggression: the impact of frequency and type of pornography use on recidivism among sexual offenders. Aggressive behavior, 34(4), 341–351.

Malcolm, Jeremy. (2021). From The Newsletter: Michael Seto’s Pedophilia and Sexual Offending Against Children.

Maras, M.-H. and Shapiro, L. R. (2017). Child Sex Dolls and Robots: More Than Just an Uncanny Valley. Journal of Internet Law,21(6), 3-21.

Michael L. Bourke & Andres E. Hernandez (2009). The “Butner Study” Redux: A Report of the Incidence of Hands-on Child Victimization by Child Pornography Offenders, 24 J. FAM. VIOLENCE 183, 187-88.

Miller v. California (1973). 413 U.S. 15-48. U.S. Supreme Court.

Morin, Roc (2016). Can Child Dolls Keep Pedophiles from Offending? The Atlantic.

O’Donnell I, Milner C. Child Pornography : Crime, Computers and Society. Willan Publishing; 2007.

Palermo, Farkas, M. A., & Ebooks Corporation. (2013). The dilemma of the sexual offender (2nd ed.). Charles C Thomas.

Posner, R.A. (1992). Sex and Reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Section 502 of the Protect Act of 2003.

Roos, H. (2014). Trading the sexual child: Child pornography and the commodification of children in society. Texas Journal of Women and the Law, 23, 131.

Roper, Caitlin (2019). Better A Robot Than A Real Child: The Spurious Logic Used To Justify Child Sex Dolls. Arena Magazine. No. 163.

Simmons, T.E. (2016). Sexbots; an obloquy. Wisconsin Law Review, 2016(1), 45–53.