She thinks she's living in the twilight zone

 https://youtu.be/TQIL7bJ51mk?si=vV-uF1Eupab4qi4d

Young woman lists the craziness going on in our times.

Trafficking in Persons Report 2022

Before we talk reparations with California governor Newsom trying to earn points so he can get to the White House with all the crazies, lets do something about the 28,000,000 slaves, mostly in Africa and Asia, that haven't been set free. Instead of giving money to African leaders as reparations to combat climate change, Biden should be asking them for reparations for black Americans, if this were actually a moral issue.  Africans are the ones who sold their enemies or victims of raids to the Europeans who couldn't go into the interior. We outlawed slavery in the Civil War. Many African countries have done it only with lip service.

"Let us stand together and press for accountability from those leaders who condone and support human trafficking, create conditions ripe for mass exploitation, and perpetuate this fundamental insult to human dignity. Those that perpetrate, condone, or support this crime must be held accountable." Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State, Biden administration.

Reading through the report [search by country name] you may wonder as I did, how much of the money and effort are going for ending slavery--I see climate change, many groups skimming funds for "counseling" for victims, services for marginalized people (aka diversity and inclusion) LGBTQ rights, etc., the usual woke agenda now being imported to countries with more than enough of their own problems without taking advice from the Bidenistas.
President Clinton signed this Act in 2000 and President Bush put it into action. It has been tweaked and fiddled and diddled. Time for action. I don't know how fraud is avoided because reporting a reduction of the crime of slavery or passing more laws would seem to reduce the funding, although I'm not sure how that works. 

Typical report, after the dull, dry information of inadequate facilities, staffers and laws, what makes the 2022 report different is the toll the pandemic took: "As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Kenya, and traffickers exploit victims from Kenya abroad. Traffickers exploit children in forced labor in domestic service, agriculture, fishing, cattle herding, street vending, and forced begging. Traffickers exploit women and children in sex trafficking, often facilitated by family members in informal settings, throughout Kenya, including in sex tourism in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. In 2020, an international NGO reported there are between 35,000 and 40,000 victims of sex trafficking, including child sex tourism, in Kenya, of which approximately 19,000 are children; most perpetrators are Kenyan and, to a lesser extent, foreign tourists. Government officials and NGOs report traffickers increasingly exploit children in sex trafficking in private villas and vacation homes to avoid law enforcement detection in hotels. Workers in Khat cultivation areas and near gold mines in western Kenya, truck drivers along major highways, and fishermen on Lake Victoria also exploit children in sex trafficking.

During the pandemic, traffickers increasingly exploited children in sex trafficking, including using online recruitment tactics, and in forced labor in domestic work and forced begging. Employment agencies, both legal and fraudulent, recruit Kenyans to work in the Middle East (particularly Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, and Oman), Central and Southeast Asia, Europe, Northern Africa, and North America, where traffickers exploit them in massage parlors, brothels, domestic servitude, or manual labor; Kenyans who voluntarily migrate in search of employment opportunities are also vulnerable to exploitative conditions."

I wonder if Kenyan children get counseling about top and bottom surgery or if that is just for American sexually abused children.

https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-trafficking-in-persons-report/kenya/

President Trump vs. his enemies

Mostly I ignore ad hominem attacks on me and other conservatives. They are intended to deflect the really destructive forces the Democrats have put in play as they prepare for their own downfall from the extreme leftists in their party. But I do have some questions for them.

1) When has President Trump ever led an enthusiastic crowd of Republicans at a rally or convention in a chant to boo God? Why is "Build that wall," or "lock her up," so much more offensive to you Democrats than rejecting and insulting your own Creator?

When has President Trump ever led a blood thirsty segment of his party in an effort to dismember thousands of late term unborn babies, the smallest and weakest among us, all for a peculiar lie that this empowers women?

When has President Trump ever presided over the destruction of a personal product like health insurance to replace it by one designed by bureaucrats and academics?

When has he mandated a fine or prison for not buying a government created product that benefits hand picked companies with millions of new customers?

When has he asked the American people to pay higher taxes for politicians and bureaucrats to reward their favorite donors and supporters in the arts, education, corporations, and the abortion industry?

When has this president told minorities that because of past wrongs they are victims and need to be dependent on the government as payback for sins of the past?

When has he told certain diverse and inclusive groups they can't accomplish anything without his help or without state and federal aid .

When has he insulted half of all Americans with name calling like racist, homophobe, terrorist or deplorable?

When has the President asked that you trust him for FORTY YEARS with the power to influence and control your lives through taxes, wars, red tape and regulations, international agreements and secret negotiations with foreign powers like China?

When has he pretended he could control the climate if you just gave him enough power and money?

When has President Trump given foreign workers priority and safety net benefits and free education over American workers?

When has the President ever told you America was never great, and it's such a racist, uncultured disaster that you should never teach its authentic history in school and instead need to submit to reeducation camps and classes in your universities and places of employment?

When has President Trump encouraged destroying works of art and monuments like ISIS did in Iraq beginning with obscure local soldiers, and moving on to missionaries in California and the nation's founders in DC?

You may recall other major differences between President Trump and his opponents, including some RINOs in Congress, and spoilers in the misnamed Lincoln Project who believe they know better than the 70 million people who elected him. But instead of name calling, let's look at the facts. https://lincolnproject.us/team/ Of course, Lincoln probably would have had them imprisoned, but it's a different kind of war today to destroy and tear apart the nation.

Reparations in the 21st century

How would reparations work?

First, it's imperative that it has to be about more than slavery, which is the mistake most white and black middle class Christians make when supporting that idea. If it were just slavery, that would leave out Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Megan Markle, the adoptive children of movie stars and the millions like Ilhan Omar who have immigrated from Africa and the Caribbean in the past 3-4 decades. And I do mean millions. Only 350,000 blacks came during slavery days--you can see more need to be added to the roster of the downtrodden and abused.

Second, it will start with something recent that most people will remember. Maybe it will even be "affirmative action" since it failed to set things right and caused blacks undo hardship with debts they couldn't pay off. Maybe it will be "fair housing" initiatives since the concept caused so much "white flight" and pulled middle class blacks out of neighborhoods that needed them.

Third, it will include obviously bad and racist people, and we'll be asked to provide compensation for those hurt by those who consciously worked against blacks, like maybe a (Democrat) senator, former member of the KKK.

Fourth, it will include legal (at the time) business practices, either defined or redefined. Like red-lining of banks to stall mortgages. And if you've invested in that bank, or its parent company, or even if you use its savings and checking account services, you'll be part of the system, and therefore, guilty. You'll need to pay up.

Fifth, it will include local government services, like schools, parks, transportation. Did the schools in your community fail black children at higher rates than whites? Law suits coming right up. Maybe even the families of the board members and teachers will be held responsible. There goes that nice pension teachers get.

Sixth, it will include nutrition and health. We will be asked to overlook lifestyle causes of health problems, at least as far as reparations are concerned. If McDonald's is deemed to have too many stores in black neighborhoods (black because of redlining by banks) and black children have more obesity related health problems, then Mickey D will have to pay up, and if you've invested, sorry. That McDonald's has provided more top level management jobs for blacks since the early 1980s and been more environmentally responsible than most corporations will not balance the ledger.

And there will be more. There are currently national, state and local task forces for each of these. Keep your eyes and ears open. Non-profits are extremely lucrative for those at the top getting donations from foundations and gullible church mission boards. It's sort of a reparation payment all by itself.

The weakest plank in the platform—Reparations

The family of Kamala Harris' father owned slaves. The family of President Obama's mother owned slaves. Less than 5% of Americans have any ties to people who owned slaves. Freed blacks in the U.S. owned slaves at a higher rate than whites, according to Dr. Gates of PBS, most of whom were too poor. American Indians owned black slaves and there are still some court cases over land. There is more slavery globally today than in the 18th century. Yet Democrats want to make reparations for slavery a plank in their 2020 platform to defeat Trump. Larry Elder sees Trump's election as divine intervention.

https://youtu.be/PxD_g-0JRXo

https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/

https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2018/282576.htm

More on Reparations by Booker

Booker on Reparations: “Since slavery in this country, we have had overt policies fueled by white supremacy and racism that have oppressed African-Americans economically for generations,” Booker said in a statement on Monday, according to Fox News. “Many of our bedrock domestic policies that have ushered millions of Americans into the middle class have systematically excluded blacks through practices like GI Bill discrimination and redlining.”

Someone needs to remind Booker that these policies were put in place by his party, Democrats, who for decades attempted to block Republicans' civil rights legislation. Democrats were behind Jim Crow, the KKK, terrorism by lynching, separate but equal (which some blacks are now bringing back), overt discrimination based on color, quota system in college enrollment, open borders to allow competition for jobs, voter fraud with illegals crossing out their voting rights, and now systematic killing of generations of black babies beginning in the 1970s. Even the minimum wage was put in place to keep blacks from under cutting whites in a tight labor market. Clever guys, those Dems. They don't teach these things during Black History Month. Or that free blacks owned slaves at a higher rate than whites in the south.

Cory Booker and reparations

I wonder if Cory Booker's reparations bill carries heavier tax penalties for Hispanic Americans since it is their ancestors who introduced slavery to the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. He appears to be about 95% European, so I suppose he'll get less as he tries to vote himself a raise? And since there are millions of African Americans whose families immigrated during the 20th century, will Booker propose a test--or will they have to pay more since their ancestors sold other Africans to the Europeans? Barack Obama has no ties at all to pre-Civil Rights era America.

Free blacks in the U.S. southern states owned slaves at a higher rate than whites, most of whom were too poor to own any property. Free blacks in the U.S. voted in the 1700s--they voted for the Constitution! But Democrats have traditionally put in place laws and regulations to hold blacks down or decrease their numbers, especially the Jim Crow laws and abortion clinics. About 40% of black pregnancies end with abortion. How about reparations from the DNC for that, Senator Booker?

Today, there is more world wide slavery than during the 18th century transatlantic slave trade--much of it still African. Children are forced to work in mines in Africa so Mr. Booker can have a cell phone. Perhaps the Senator should come up with a plan to free them instead of trying to undo the results of the Civil War which freed the slaves.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/09/cory-booker-introduce-slavery-reparations-bill-senate/3409097002/

The Democrat platform for 2020

The 2020 campaign and platform for the Democrats, based on recent behavior of those in Congress and those who have declared:

1. Open borders.
2. Pack the polls with ex-felons, 16 year olds, and illegals.
3. Destroy the electoral college so Democrats can legally win all future presidential elections with 4 states they packed with #1 and #2.
4. Implement the Green New Deal so the public sector control and influence is greater than the private sector--aka socialism.
5. Infanticide and late term abortion for any reason.
6. Abortion's progressive outcome, euthanasia for the inconvenient, ill, disabled and elderly.
7. Ratchet up the hate, fear and distrust with more identity politics and intersectionalism.
8. Reparations for slavery.
9. Destruction of first and second amendments, with more regulations, more laws, especially on religion, speech, and assembly on college campuses which then infects the whole society as academe has been doing for 50 years.
10. Find more charges to bring against the President and his family.

During the campaign, because it pleases the gullible and fattens the purse, the emphasis will be #1 (worded in compassionate and Biblical terms), #7 and #10. The others are really distasteful for most Americans and will need to be more incremental with more changes in the language with talk of core values, ethics, etc., the best double speak they can find.

The Reparations movement

I'm guessing very few Americans can trace their ancestry to slave owners, either black owners or white (higher percentage of free blacks owned slaves than poor whites), but Democrats will do it by color, after all, that's how they see everything. If they didn't, Barack Obama wouldn't be eligible, Kamala Harris wouldn't be eligible, Ilhan Omar wouldn't be eligible nor Tashida Tlaib (although she might be a descendant of a slaver); and all those Africans who immigrated legally in the 20th and 21st centuries, millions, wouldn't be eligible. More Africans come here in 10 years than the 330,000 who arrived as slaves in the 17th century. Plus all those descendants of Africans and Arabs who assisted in the capture and enslavement several hundred years ago would have to be found and punished.

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/whats-problem-reparations?

Ingraham interview with Shelby Steele

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5PhTb0ADVQ

Shelby Steele says reparations is a bad deal for black Americans. It feeds on white guilt, and it a step backward.   I tried to find this in text from the Hoover site, but it required access to my data to get into Yahoo, so I had to go for the video.

Reparations redux

When the topic of reparations comes up, as it seems to when Democrats get frisky, I wonder how that will work.

Approximately, 300,000 Africans were imported to what became the United States by Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and English slavers, who purchased them from Arab slavers who got them from African tribal leaders whose cultures had used slaves as currency for centuries. Sort of messy to know who owes what.

But on top of that, about 1,000,000 Africans come to the USA as eager, hopeful immigrants in a decade, far more than ever came unwillingly in the 18th century. To add to the complexity, a considerable number of slaves either earned or were given freedom and they themselves used and owned slaves. Dr. Gates of PBS and Obama fame estimated the rate of slave ownership was higher among freed blacks than whites in the south, since so few whites were wealthy enough to own even one slave.

Where is the tribunal that is going to sort all that out? It would mean former President Obama would not be eligible since his only American family were white, and his African father and his family were Moslems, perhaps descendants of slavers. But his daughters would be eligible. Kamala Harris the daughter of two immigrants, a Jamaican and an Asian Indian would not be eligible. What about the descendants of the black slave owners. Would they be eligible? 

And how far back do you want to go? The Vikings were cruel slave masters, stealing women and workers both, leaving their culture and seed on every culture they took over. It was a slave economy, just as many areas of Africa and the Middle East. Just look how they got around (based on a cruise map).

Western Kentucky University students propose reparations

These students at Western Kentucky University are misinformed. 

1.  Slavery has been a condition of the human race since recorded history. Everyone now living probably has slavery in her background if you go back far enough. 
2.  There is more slavery today than during the 18th c. cross Atlantic slave trade. 
3.  Freed American blacks also owned slaves as recorded in the 1830 U.S. census; Louis Gates reports 3,776 free Negroes owned 12,907 slaves, out of a total of 2,009,043 slaves owned in the entire United States. In some states a higher percentage of free blacks owned slaves than the white population. 
4.  More African immigrants have arrived voluntarily as free persons since 1990 than the number who once came as slaves. These immigrants have far higher employment and education levels than native-born blacks. 
5.  For over a decade the rate of college enrollment for black high school graduates has been higher than whites. 

How will the WKU victim collectors for the Democrat party sort all that out? Special quotas? Political party? Skin color? Wealth? That blacks are succeeding despite certain elected officials and political shenanigans is very upsetting to the left.  Need to try something new.

 "They acknowledged the move was largely symbolic."

Remember the huge dust-up when Ben Carson referred to black slaves as immigrants?  Well, it sort of disappeared when someone found out President Obama had made the same reference over 10 times in his speeches.

The Pigford President: Obama Signs Black Farmers Settlement

In Pigford I settlement the USDA said we had some 18,000 black farmers, and made payments to 14,500 for some loan discrimination. (The original investigation turned up a possible 205 problem loans.) Then in Pigford II they somehow found 97,000 black farmers who claimed discrimination, but not a single government employee has been investigated or fired? Remember that under Bush people went to jail for misspeaking about Valerie Plame's job assignment, but billions during a recession and no one loses his job?

And the Commander in Thief said, these billions (reparations under any other name . . . ) are "the principles of fairness and equality and opportunity."

This was all brought up by then-Senator Obama in 2007, who in a hanging chad moment, decided surely 80,000 black farmers must have missed the deadline for filing, and in probably the only significant act of his senate years, decided to reopen the case.

» The Pigford President: Obama Signs Black Farmers Settlement - Big Government

Pigford: Racism Against Black Farmers or Government Fraud? | The Stir

Weigel : A Black Farmer Against Pigford

CRS: The Pigford Case

Me & Mrs. Sherrod — And The $1.25 Billion Pigford II Black Farmers’ Settlement - Big Journalism

What is environmental justice?

It’s “reparations” all dressed up in high heel sneakers and combat boots, ready to kick butt, and for starters it‘s just a million dollars for a tiny down payment to blacks for slavery--the real goal is global.

“The goals of the [EPA] Environmental Justice Grant Funding Program are to help communities understand and address environmental challenges and create self-sustaining, community-based partnerships focused on improving human health and the environment. Past projects have focused on issues including exposure to toxins, farm worker pesticide protection, mercury in fish, indoor air quality, drinking water contamination, and pollution from shipping ports.

In addition to the traditional criteria, EPA is encouraging applications that address the disproportionate impacts of climate change in communities by emphasizing climate equity, energy efficiency, renewable energy, local green economy, and green jobs capacity building.” Link to Obama‘s new and improved and much more radical EPA”

We’re from the government. We’re here to make you understand.

Gone, but not forgotten, Van Jones [moved over to John Podesta's building] explains the concept of environmental justice. “If all you have is a clean energy revolution, you haven’t done nothin . . . We want a new system. We‘re gonna change the whole thing. . . That‘s why you were born.”