Identifying Challenges to Improve the Investigation and Prosecution of State and Local Human Trafficking Cases
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Into Reading, Into Writing Engaging Students with Travel Writing
The Rhetoric of Travel Christine Helfers Mesa Community College For so many of our college students, their exposure to rhetoric and composition is limited to a few required courses and the „standard‟ assignments embedded in the textbooks chosen for such courses. However, writing instructors might consider alternative assignments to promote student success in writing and reading. One rapidly-growing and exciting genre worth studying from a rhetorical perspective is travel writing. Travel writing is a broad term, and may refer to many forms, including newspaper and magazine articles, blogs, webzines, advertising and promotional materials, travel program scripts, and thoughtful travel narratives that explore human nature as well as places. Travel writing topics run the gamut: humorous road trip narratives, exciting outdoor tales, encounters with unfamiliar cultures, and reflections on interesting neighborhood places or unusual destinations far away. Because of this variety, students are sure to find something appealing. Travel writing presents rich possibilities for analysis, interpretation and discussion. Rhetorical concepts such as purpose, occasion, and audience may be vividly demonstrated. Aesthetic, expressive and entertainment purposes of writing are also exemplified in many works of travel literature. Studying travel writing improves composition skills and multimedia communication abilities as well. Students observe, discuss, and employ qualities of effective writing such as well-paced narrative structure and vivid detail. Students are more engaged with writing, as their interest is sparked by lively readings and the opportunity to write about their own experiences. Since travel writing assignments often focus on local sights, students develop a greater “sense of place” about their own communities. What is travel writing? The definitions are hotly debated. -
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO May 22, 2017 Sheryl Sandberg, COO Facebook 1 Hacker Way Menlo Park, CA 94025
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO May 22, 2017 Sheryl Sandberg, COO Facebook 1 Hacker Way Menlo Park, CA 94025 Dear Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg: I am writing on behalf of Consumer Watchdog to ask that Facebook take immediate steps to halt child sex-trafficking via the Internet and immediately support necessary amendments to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that would allow such cynical businesses as Backpage.com to be held accountable for actively aiding and abetting child sex trafficking. By one count 73% of child trafficking reports in the United States involve Backpage.com. Backpage hides behind the cloak of Sec. 230 while too many in the tech industry blindly and reflexively claim that needed amendments would undermine Internet freedom. Do not fall victim to this spurious claim. Action on your part now would be particularly timely; Congress has designated this week as “Combatting Trafficking and Child Protection Week” and expects to focus on the issue. Rep. Anne Wagner, R-Mo., has introduced H.R. 1865, the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017.” It could well be the vehicle that would finally allow Backpage to be held accountable. Just last week Consumer Watchdog, DeliverFund, Faith and Freedom Coalition, The Rebecca Project for Justice, Trafficking in America Taskforce and Nacole S., a sex-trafficking victim’s mother, released a comprehensive report detailing Backpage’s wrongful activities and how Google has spent millions to fund efforts to thwart any changes in Section 230. (http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/backpagereport.pdf) As detailed in the report, primary recipients of Google’s largess are two nonprofit organizations, The Center for Digital Democracy (CDT) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). -
Road Trip: San Diego. Sofia Hotel Tempts Like a Green Fairy
Search Site Search Road Trip: San Diego. Sofia Hotel Tempts RECENT IN TRAVEL San Diego Road Trip: Sè San Diego. Like a Green Fairy. Where Posh Meets Mud! BY ALEX STORCH FOR LA2DAY.COM APR 4, 2009 Just within reach of Los Angeles, a few short hours down the I-5, you'll find a road trip destination within a >> Las Vegas Hotels - The Bellagio Many of us head to Vegas with the intentions of partying day and night, but for some a place to unwind and >> Road Trip: San Diego. Crash at The Keating. Rock at the Casbah Every now and then, as your troubles collect at "You know, I've never been to Los Angeles." These are the words the door and your from an employee at the Sofia Hotel that spun around my head mailbox brims with bills, you need to fire on the way up to my suite. Did this really classify me as some >> sort of world traveler in their eyes? Had I picked somewhere in the city for my weekend stay that was so remote that LA was a Los Angeles Hotels - The Sofitel distant dream? More research was certainly required. If vacationing in style After 18 months of renovation, the Sofia Hotel now sparkles with and shopping are your a sophisticated, renewed charm. San Diego hotels each have number one priorities their own particular style, especially the boutiques that lie this season, the Sofitel outside the chains. Sofia is a modern hostess, but with a classic Hotel is perfect >> mindset. She drinks Manhattans and wears vintage, but not things you'd find on Melrose. -
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 15-1724 JANE DOE NO. 1 ET AL., Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. BACKPAGE.COM, LLC ET AL., Defendants, Appellees. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Richard G. Stearns, U.S. District Judge] Before Barron, Circuit Judge, Souter, Associate Justice, and Selya, Circuit Judge. John T. Montgomery, with whom Ching-Lee Fukuda, Aaron M. Katz, Christine Ezzell Singer, Jessica L. Soto, Rebecca C. Ellis, and Ropes & Gray LLP were on brief, for appellants. Maura Healey, Attorney General of Massachusetts, and Genevieve C. Nadeau, Deputy Chief, Civil Rights Division, on brief for Commonwealth of Massachusetts, amicus curiae. Dennis J. Herrera, City Attorney, Victoria Wong, Mollie Lee, Elizabeth Pederson, and Mark D. Lipton, Deputy City Attorneys, on brief for City and County of San Francisco, amici curiae. Cathy Hampton, City Attorney, on brief for City of Atlanta, amicus curiae. Michael N. Feuer, City Attorney, James P. Clark, Mary Clare Hon. David H. Souter, Associate Justice (Ret.) of the Supreme Court of the United States, sitting by designation. Molidor, Anh Truong, Sahar Nayeri, and Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney, on brief for City of Los Angeles, California, amicus curiae. Tracy Reeve, City Attorney, and Harry Auerbach, Chief Deputy City Attorney, on brief for City of Portland (Oregon), amicus curiae. Donna L. Edmundson, City Attorney, on brief for City of Houston, amicus curiae. Shelley R. Smith, City Solicitor, on brief for Michael A. Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia, amicus curiae. Jeffrey Dana, City Solicitor, on brief for City of Providence and Mayor Jorge O. -
Amicus Brief Respondents Backpage
No. 44920-02-11 COURT OF APPEALS DIVISION II OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON VILLAGE VOICE MEDIA HOLDINGS, L.L.C., d/b/a Backpage.com; BACKPAGE.COM, L.L.C.; and NEW TIMES MEDIA, L.L.C., d/b/a Backpage.com, Appellants, v. J.S., S.L., and L.C., Respondents. BRIEF OF RESPONDENTS J.S., S.L, and L.C. PFAU COCHRAN VERTETIS THE LAW OFFICE OF ERIK L. AMALA PLLC BAUER Darrell L. Cochran, WSBA #22851 Erik L. Bauer, WSBA #14937 Michael T. Pfau, WSBA#24649 Attorney for Respondents Jason P. Amala, WSBA #37054 215 Tacoma Ave. South Vincent T. Nappo, WSBA #44191 Tacoma, WA 98402 Attorneys for Respondents (253) 383-2000 phone 911 Pacific Ave. Ste. 200 Tacoma, WA 98402 (206)462-4334 phone (206) 623-3624 facsimile TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. RESTATEMENT OF ISSUES ON APPEAL 3 III. COUNTER-STATEMENT OF THE CASE 4 A. Factual Background 4 1. The Child Victims Allege the Backpage Defendants Were Responsible for Creating and/or Developing Unlawful Content on Backpage.com 4 2. The Backpage Defendants Trafficked Each of the Child Victims on Backpage.com 9 B. Procedural History 11 IV. ARGUMENT 13 A. Standard of Review 13 B. Congress Did Not Enact CDA § 230 to Immunize Websites That Create or Develop Unlawful Content Online 14 C. CDA § 230 Does Not Immunize Websites That Are Responsible, In Whole or In Part, for the "Development" of Illegal Content 16 D. Websites Like Backpage.com That "Materially Contribute" to Unlawful Content Are "Co-Developers" of That Content and Are Not Entitled to CDA § 230 Immunity 17 E. -
HOW the MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY HOARDS MONEY, PERPETUATES ABUSE of SURVIVORS, and GAGS THEIR ADVOCATES Table of Contents
HOW THE MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY HOARDS MONEY, PERPETUATES ABUSE of SURVIVORS, and GAGS THEIR ADVOCATES Table of Contents INTRODUCTION S&P NY PERSPECTIVES ON PROSECUTING OFFICES • Prosecutors Are Our Opponents, Not Our Allies • We Will Not Prosecute Our Way Out of Violence PROSECUTING OFFICES HOARD PUBLIC FUNDS AND SABOTAGE SURVIVOR SAFETY • How Prosecutors Accumulate Funds • Where Does This Money Go? • DA Funding Undermines Survivors’ Collective Safety: The Role of Mainstream Gender-based Violence Organizations • Prosecutor Allies: How Did the Anti-violence Movement Lose Its Way? • Relying on Criminalization and Prosection: Protecting White Women, Leaving other Survivors Behind • An Abuse of Discretion: How Prosecutors Criminalize Survivors Acknowledgements WHAT WE COULD EXPECT FROM THE CANDIDATES • Where Do the Candidates Stand on Funding? Deep appreciation for all of our comrades inside NY prisons and jails that • Criminalized Survivor Case Study: shape what we know about criminalization and prosecutors’ everyday Snapshot of the Tracy McCarter’s Story violence. We will continue to fight for your freedom and healing. Love and • Fool’s Gold: gratitude to Tracy McCarter and the #StandWithTracy defense team for District Attorney Candidates and Sex Crime Unit Reform allowing us to share her story. Thanks to Jett George for their beautiful (and swiftly produced!) illustrations and design. Forever gratitude to the abolitionist, Black feminist queer disabled organizers, and survivors before ACTION STEPS TO GET INVOLVED us that promised us that there is another way to bring healing and safety to our communities, without state violence. Introduction The Anti-Prosecution Working Group of Survived & Punished NY exists to Beyond the election, we hope this zine inspires New Yorkers to start or build power and energy toward a future free of all prosecutorial join campaigns to #DefundDAs and imagine safety, healing, and justice for mechanisms in New York. -
Sen. Jeff Sessions's Record on Criminal Justice
Analysis: Sen. Jeff Sessions’s Record on Criminal Justice By Ames C. Grawert This analysis provides a brief summary of Sen. Jeff Sessions’s past statements, votes, and practices relating to criminal justice. Specifically, this analysis finds that: • Sen. Sessions opposes efforts to reduce unnecessarily long federal prison sentences for nonviolent crimes, despite a consensus for reform even within his own party. In 2016, he personally blocked the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, a bipartisan effort spearheaded by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and John Cornyn (R- Texas), and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and supported by law enforcement leadership. As Attorney General, Sen. Sessions could stall current congressional efforts to pass this legislation to recalibrate federal sentencing laws. • Drug convictions made up 40 percent of Sen. Sessions’s convictions when he served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama — double the rate of other Alabama federal prosecutors. Today, state and federal law enforcement officers have begun to focus resources on violent crime, and away from archaic drug war policies. But Sen. Sessions continues to oppose any attempts to legalize marijuana and any reduction in drug sentences. As Attorney General, Sen. Sessions could direct federal prosecutors to pursue the harshest penalties possible for even low-level drug offenses, a step backward from Republican- supported efforts to modernize criminal justice policy. • Unlike many Republican legislators, Sen. Sessions supports the use of “civil asset forfeiture,” which allows police to confiscate property from people who may not even be accused of a crime. -
Crime and Forfeiture
Crime and Forfeiture Charles Doyle Senior Specialist in American Public Law January 22, 2015 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov 97-139 Crime and Forfeiture Summary Forfeiture has long been an effective law enforcement tool. Congress and state legislatures have authorized its use for over 200 years. Every year, it redirects property worth billions of dollars from criminal to lawful uses. Forfeiture law has always been somewhat unique. By the close of the 20th century, however, legislative bodies, commentators, and the courts had begun to examine its eccentricities in greater detail because under some circumstances it could be not only harsh but unfair. The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA), P.L. 106-185, 114 Stat. 202 (2000), was a product of that reexamination. Modern forfeiture follows one of two procedural routes. Although crime triggers all forfeitures, they are classified as civil forfeitures or criminal forfeitures according to the nature of the procedure which ends in confiscation. Civil forfeiture is an in rem proceeding. The property is the defendant in the case. Unless the statute provides otherwise, the innocence of the owner is irrelevant—it is enough that the property was involved in a violation to which forfeiture attaches. As a matter of expedience and judicial economy, Congress often allows administrative forfeiture in uncontested civil confiscation cases. Criminal forfeiture is an in personam proceeding, and confiscation is possible only upon the conviction of the owner of the property. The Supreme Court has held that authorities may seize moveable property without prior notice or an opportunity for a hearing but that real property owners are entitled as a matter of due process to preseizure notice and a hearing. -
American Road Trips: an Appreciation of 7 Good Books Richard Carstensen 2016
Preface, July 2020: This review of 7 natural history fertilized if not unleashed by the nightmare we awak- travel books appended my daily journal, kept on a ened to in the Ozarks on November 9th, 2016. crosscountry drive from New York to Alaska with Generally, one awakens from a nightmare, not Cathy Pohl, October to December, 2016. While the into it. The last 4 years—and especially the last 4 journal itself falls outside the geography of Juneau- months—still don't feel entirely real to me. Maybe, to Nature, it strikes me, 4 years later, that this essay resuscitate the America these travellers honored, we on good nature writing lands well within Discovery's must all declare ourselves. Stand in our doorways bailiwick. I'm uploading it to JuneauNature>Media and howl. I stand here for love, and country. types>Book reviews in the time of covid, a disaster RC American road trips: An appreciation of 7 good books Richard Carstensen 2016 80 • 2016 Fall drive • Part 4 [email protected] On the road Any American naturalist embarking today on a continental road trip drives in the shadow of 3 great naturalists & one inventive novelist of my parents' and grandparents' generation who are no longer with us—who crisscrossed the country and wrote about it: Peattie (1898-1964), Teale (1899- 1980), Peterson (1908-1996) and Steinbeck (1902-1968). 1 On our own drive, Cathy and I also replicated 3 replicators: 2 top-tier naturalists and a Brit sailor of our baby-boomer generation who published books partially about retracing those earlier travels: Weidensaul, Kaufman and Raban. -
August 16, 2017 the Honorable Roger Wicker Chairman Senate
August 16, 2017 The Honorable Roger Wicker Chairman Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation The Honorable Brian Schatz Ranking Member Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation The Honorable Marsha Blackburn Chairman House of Representatives Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Committee on Energy and Commerce The Honorable Michael Doyle Ranking Member House of Representative Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Committee on Energy and Commerce RE: Amendment of Communications Decency Act Dear Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Schatz, Chairman Blackburn, and Ranking Member Doyle: In 2013, Attorneys General from 49 states and territories wrote to Congress, informing it that some courts have interpreted the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (“CDA”) to render state and local authorities unable to take action against companies that actively profit from the promotion and facilitation of sex trafficking and crimes against children. Unfortunately, nearly four years later, this problem persists and these criminal profiteers often continue to operate with impunity. The recent news highlighting the potential complicity of online classified-ad company Backpage.com in soliciting sex traffickers’ ads for its website once again underscores the need 1850 M Street, NW to expand, not limit, the ability of all law-enforcement agencies to fight sex Twelfth Floor Washington, DC 20036 Phone: (202) 326-6000 http://www.naag.org/ trafficking.1 The undersigned Attorneys General once again respectfully request that the United States Congress amend the CDA to affirm that state, territorial, and local authorities retain their traditional jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those who facilitate illicit acts and endanger our most vulnerable citizens. -
Reparations and Asset Forfeiture at the Extraordinary African Chambers
Journal of African Law, 63, 2 (2019), 151–161 © SOAS, University of London, 2019. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. doi:10.1017/S0021855319000159 First published online 24 June 2019 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Victims’ Justice? Reparations and Asset Forfeiture at the Extraordinary African Chambers Daley J Birkett* Walther Schücking Institute for International Law, University of Kiel Amsterdam Center for International Law, University of Amsterdam [email protected] Abstract This article critically analyses the reparations and asset forfeiture framework at the Extraordinary African Chambers and its application in the case against Hissène Habré. It identifies obstacles to implementing the reparations awarded and calls for states and international organizations to support their realization for the sake of Habré’s victims, without whose efforts the tribunal might not exist. It argues that international(ized) criminal tribunals should more readily utilize fines and forfeit- ure as penalties to alleviate the pressure on trust funds to implement reparations awards, particularly in cases where convicted persons possess substantial assets. Lastly, in light of the requirement that assets susceptible to forfeiture orders be derived directly or indirectly from the crime(s) of which a person is found guilty, the article questions the failure of the prosecutor to charge Habré with the war crime of pillage, despite its availability in the tribunal’s statute and the finding that the suffering of many of Habré’s victims entitled to individual compensation resulted from pillage. -
Filed Suit in Harris County Texas
1/23/2018 11:10 AM Chris Daniel - District Clerk Harris County Envelope No. 21995060 By: Nelson Cuero Filed: 1/23/2018 11:10 AM CAUSE NO.__________________ JANE DOE #1 § IN THE DISTRICT COURT § Plaintiff, § § vs. § § BACKPAGE.COM, LLC D/B/A BACKPAGE, § CARL FERRER, MICHAEL LACEY, JAMES § LARKIN, JOHN BRUNST, SCOTT SPEAR, § MEDALIST HOLDINGS, LLC, LEEWARD § HOLDINGS, LLC, CAMARILLO § HOLDINGS, LLC, DARTMOOR HOLDINGS § LLC, IC HOLDINGS, LLC, ATLANTISCHE § BEDRIJVEN C.V., UGC TECH GROUP C.V., § AMSTEL RIVER HOLDINGS, LLC, LUPINE § HOLDINGS, LLC, KICKAPOO RIVER § INVESTMENTS, LLC, CF HOLDINGS GP, § _____JUDICIAL DISTRICT LLC, CF ACQUISITIONS LLC, NEW TIMES § MEDIA, LLC, CHOICE HOTELS § INTERNATIONAL, INC. D/B/A QUALITY § INN, RUTIK, LLC D/B/A PALACE INN, § HYATT HOTELS CORPORATION D/B/A § HYATT PLACE AND HYATT REGENCY, § BALAJI HOTELS, INC. D/B/A SYMPHONY § INN, PILOT TRAVEL CENTERS, LLC D/B/A § FLYING J, FLYING J TRANSPORTATION, § LLC, FINEFAIR, INC. D/B/A PORT AUTO § TRUCK STOP, TRAVELCENTERS OF § AMERICA, LLC D/B/A TA TRUCK STOP § #017, TRAVEL CENTERS OF AMERICA § HOLDING COMPANY, LLC, LOVES § TRAVEL STOPS & COUNTRY STORES, § INC. D/B/A LOVE’S TRUCK STOP #401 § AND LOVES TRAVEL STOP 3940 N § McCARTY. § UnofficialCopyOfficeofChrisDanielDistrictClerk§ Defendants. § HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS PLAINTIFF’S ORIGINAL PETITION TO THE HONORABLE JUDGE OF SAID COURT: Comes Now, JANE DOE #1 Plaintiff in the above-styled and numbered cause, complaining of BACKPAGE.COM, LLC D/B/A BACKPAGE, CARL FERRER, MICHAEL LACEY, JAMES LARKIN, JOHN BRUNST, SCOTT SPEAR, MEDALIST HOLDINGS, LLC, LEEWARD HOLDINGS, LLC, CAMARILLO HOLDINGS, LLC, DARTMOOR HOLDINGS LLC, IC HOLDINGS, LLC, ATLANTISCHE BEDRIJVEN C.V., UGC TECH GROUP C.V., AMSTEL RIVER HOLDINGS, LLC, LUPINE HOLDINGS, LLC, KICKAPOO RIVER INVESTMENTS, LLC, CF HOLDINGS GP, LLC, CF ACQUISITIONS LLC, NEW TIMES MEDIA, LLC, CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL, INC.