#CHILD MOLESTATION ALLEGATIONS

[nextcinemastudios]

MICHAEL JACKSON MOLESTATION ALLEGATIONS BY WADE ROBSON WILL GO TO TRIAL

Michael Jackson will effectively be tried for allegedly molesting choreographer Wade Robson when he was a child. The California Court of Appeal just cleared the way for Robson to make his case — alleging MJ molested him at the Neverland Ranch when Robson was between the ages of 7 and 14. The issue — Robson is suing Michael Jackson’s corporation — MJJ Productions, Inc. Jackson’s company lawyers…

[barnbridges]

i feel real sad when i have to validate people who listen to bow wow and love&hiphop as like. more aware of stuff than people who claim they listen to rap and can't say why nicki minaj is problematic.

[virovizion]

Watch "Brother polight speaks out about fake news of him pleading guilty" on YouTube

[charmac]

I wrote about Charlie and Dennis' paralleled childhood sexual abuse, and how their opposing trauma responses keep them from seeing themselves while they stay stuck in their own cycles of abuse.

// The content under the read more is an in-depth script analysis highlighting and discussing childhood sexual abuse and trauma response. Please read with caution or scroll past this post if these topics are known to affect and/or trigger you. //

Because Sunny walks an extremely fine line between sensitive, if not traumatic, character work and dark comedy, I've found that, in reading the scripts, the trauma being written is always much more blatant. You have to work a little harder to pick up on the underlying intent when watching the episodes (though the more and more we learn about the characters, the more the intent becomes clear), but the scripted versions of these scenes are solid evidence that the clear intent of these storylines is to reveal that these characters have extremely repressed childhood trauma, in-turn explaining to the audience why they have such fucked-up ideas of (and relationships with) love and sex. To put it more blatantly: the purpose of giving and revealing the childhood trauma these characters have is purposeful (if not needed), explaining why they are the predators that they are, and allows us to at least understand where their often psychopathic actions and rationales come from.

The fact that Charlie and Dennis were both sexually abused as children is all but obvious to the audience (and every other member of the Gang), but the extent to which these plots are intended to act as character work as opposed cheap-shot rape jokes is often lost on the casual viewer. In my opinion, the disconnect is not for lack of clear intention in the writing, but by the nature of the show being what it is.

It’s very clearly still there, easy enough to catch if you’re standing more than ankle-deep in the waters, but because Sunny is a dark comedy, it’s unfortunately easy to uncomfortably laugh past a rape joke if you don’t care to look deeper than the surface. Taking a look at the scripts helps paint a clearer picture, making it easier to point out, walk through and explore the CSA lore developed for both Charlie and Dennis, how they parallel and oppose each other, and how this trauma relates to their own predatory behaviours. 

An obvious starting point is Charlie Got Molested, which is, on the surface, an episode in which we learn that Charlie wasn't molested. What is changed from the script to the episode is this first line from Charlie, right at the very end of the episode, on his family’s response to his alleged molestation:

(Charlie's aired line is instead "Now everybody thinks that I've been molested. So, in a way, my life is ruined.")

Whether written with a specific intent at the time or not, this episode sets the stage (literally, lol) for a later building 'reveal' that (1) Charlie was molested as a child, and (2) his Uncle Jack is very much a pedophile, not just a perv (which is hinted at in the actual episode, both in dialogue and visuals), because the next time the show features a plot with Charlie and molestation (Sweet Dee's Dating notwithstanding, though important to mention, as it’s further evidence of the idea that there was clearly a thread being woven early on), it’s via the form of a play.

Charlie wrote The Nightman Cometh as a play about love, which was turned into a 'legible' play by Artemis, in which the Gang all "misinterpreted" his original intent and believed it to be about a child being raped. Charlie gets mad, because he doesn't see it, doesn't believe it, and instead believes everyone is destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let this idea go.

The script for The Nightman Cometh (which, I’d like to point out, RCG chose to make publicly available to everyone) has an alternate ending to the rehearsal of the bed scene between The Boy and The Nightman:

(The aired version shows Charlie more-comedically angry at Mac and Dennis by raising his level of frustration, physically with his hands. The mention of the Nightman taking The Boy face-to-face is never addressed in the aired episode, yet it does take place that way in the actual play scene following the rehearsal featuring doggy-style humping.)

What's heavily implied in the episode (and basically explicitly stated in the script), is that the Gang are not misinterpreting Charlie's art; the play is quite literally built around the idea that a child is attempting to communicate his rape, and Dennis is telling him that’s what it is. Charlie can't accept that, because this is a play about his life, he believes he’s created a play about love, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

(And, following this, the audience can put the two and two together: Charlie’s clearly repressed CSA and the fact that his Uncle is a pedophile. In every.single.physical.interaction Charlie and Uncle Jack have, in every appearance he makes following Season 4, the fact that Uncle Jack is the Nightman is clear.)

Rolling back a little, it’s interesting that Dennis is the one to be audibly confused by (and frustrated with) the fact that Charlie can't understand his play is a rape play, because it's so very obvious to Dennis. Yet, 7 years later, he's in Charlie's exact shoes.

Because in Dee Makes a Smut Film, Dennis' plot almost directly parallels Charlie’s from The Nightman Cometh:

Dennis wrote his Erotic Memoirs as a tale of his sexual conquests, the first of his encounters turned into a 'film' by Dee, in which Dee "misinterpreted" what happened between Dennis and the Librarian as him being raped as a teen. Dennis gets mad, because he doesn't see how it could possibly be rape, doesn't believe a guy can be raped, and instead believes Dee and Grieco are destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let the idea go.

(In the aired episode, Dennis does not avoid using the word rape, and instead insists you cannot rape a guy, and that he was willing.)

Just like Charlie, Dennis refuses to accept that the people who are acting out his writing at face-value are telling him straight up that it looks like, and most-likey is, rape. Dennis can't accept that, because this is a film about his life, it's about his first sexual conquest, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

This goes one-step further when Dee airs the 'film' for the rest of the Gang:

(The aired version of the video does not show anything from filming, and only shows a slideshow of photos from when Dennis was a teen, overlay text claiming he was raped, and a photo of Klinsky repeating 'hoser' over and over.)

Dennis goes on a spiel and reiterates that he was not raped. The rest of the Gang are not convinced.

And at this point, Charlie and Dennis probably should relate to each other, or at the very least intentionally give each other a pass/miss whenever the topic of childhood sexual abuse emerges, but instead they continue to have no issue believing and pointing out that the other was raped while continuing to deny their own trauma. 

In PTSDee, this paralleled-refusal is made clear. Very clear. In the script, it's even clearer:

(In the aired scene, Dennis' line is clearly cut after he mentions Charlie's mom, and it picks up with Charlie's line at "the father thing")

They see it so clearly in each other, but don't see themselves mirrored—and there's no doubt that's intentional. Because while they were both sexually abused as children, their current relationships with love and sex (as portrayed from basically episode one) are opposing, and the circumstances of their individual rape and immediate repression are extremely illustrative as to why they behave the way they do:

Charlie's trauma response is typical of pre-pubescent, forced rape. Not mature enough to even recognise what happened to him (as Uncle Jack's abuse was likely his first exposure to sexual acts), he regresses and represses, subsequently developing a repulsion toward sex into his adult life (in Season 5, Mac and Charlie Write a Movie, there's a deleted scene that makes it evident that he's disgusted by and avoidant of sex decades later), and, clearly by the depictions in The Nightman Cometh play and the lyrics of Nightman in Sweet Dee’s Dating, believing that the harassment he faced was love. 

For the run of the show, Charlie’s interest in love and sex is almost exclusively highlighted by his relentless pursuit of the Waitress. In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Charlie is depicted as a sexual harasser, unable to recognize that disinterest, avoidance, the word "no," and stalking that leads to legal action to restrain him from the person he's pursuing is inappropriate and predatory.

While his CSA results in a repulsion toward sex (in most instances), Charlie clearly associates the concept of love with the early harassment he faced, brought on him in his own home by a "loved one," he truly believes that his own relentless pursuit will end up buying him love. Charlie is stuck in an abstinent cycle (at least, until Dennis’ Double Life) of his own abuse.

Dennis' trauma response is typical of coercive rape and grooming. He was old enough to believe that sex is something that should be seen as cool, and therefore obsesses and brags about his experience(s), resulting in his hypersexuality. In Season 5, The D.E.N.N.I.S. System, it's firmly established that Dennis' pursuit of women is something outside of genuine attraction; in fact, it's almost devoid of it. Clearly by the plot of PTSDee, he sees a woman’s sexuality as a weapon he needs to fight against. 

For the run of the show, Dennis' interest in sex is deeply entwined with the fact that he gets off on having power over his "sexual conquests". In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Dennis is depicted as a date rapist, having an aversion to recognising (if not an inability to understand) consent, he pursues sex exclusively for his own physical pleasure, with little care for the other party, getting off on the knowledge that he’s orchestrated the situation he’s in.

While his CSA results in an obsession with sex, Dennis clearly does not associate the concept of love with the act, truly believing that sex is used to overpower someone, most enjoyable when obtained via coercion, exactly as his virginity was taken from him. Dennis is stuck in a loveless cycle of his own abuse.

Charlie and Dennis meet after their own traumas; their clearly disordered relationships with love and sex is how they've always known the other to be. When there are hints of the other's abuse, they're able to easy recognise what it is, for they sense the paralleled familiarity of their own CSA—yet their polar opposite trauma responses result in an inability to reflect:

To Dennis, Charlie was clearly raped, and Charlie fears sex and Dennis loves sex, so he can't have been raped; To Charlie, Dennis was clearly raped, and Dennis doesn't pursue love and Charlie loves the Waitress, so he can't have been raped.

Their reflections being mirrored causes them to harp on the other's trauma and keeps them from being able to truly recognise their own abuse. Call the other out and deny what’s shot back, stuff it down and continue spiralling in their own cycle of abuse.

[creature-wizard]

So, I just read It's Not Impossible: Healing from Ritual Abuse and Mind Control by Svali.

For those who don't know, Svali is a conspiracy theorist who popped up in the early 2000s claiming to be a former Illuminati/New World Order programmer. Her claims are based on the stuff put out by the likes of Mark Phillips/Cathy O'Brien and Fritz Springmeier/Cisco Wheeler, which in turn derives from stuff like The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, blood libel, witch panic, Michelle Remembers, and Alexander Hislop's anti-Catholic conspiracy theories. It's full of your typical Project Monarch psychological pseudoscience that can effectively be used to blame literally any symptom or behavior on programmed DID, whether or not someone actually has DID at all. It's got all the usual stuff about an alleged global cult that practices the most absurdly complicated, messy, and risky forms of mind control instead of just using the regular ol' indoctrination and manipulation tactics that work just fine for your more typical authoritarian assholes.

She is regarded as a ritual abuse/alter programming expert by people such as Ellen Lacter and Alison Miller, and if you search through the citations on many ritual abuse/RAMCOA websites, you'll often find her name. If you didn't have any familiarity with Svali's outlandish claims before, I think after reading this you'll agree that no sensible person should ever be citing her as an authority on anything. Here are some of the weird and ridiculous claims she makes in this book:

Fetuses are tortured and programmed in the womb. They are capable of making choices presented to them in-utero. (Yes, according to Svali, fetuses can fully understand language and process questions.)

Children can be forced to forget things by threatening them with death if they don't. (Literally not how memory works. If anything, death threats would make it harder to forget.)

Toddlers are trained as assassins and sent to kill wealthy targets, because wealthy people tend to have, shall we say, a predilection for children. (Yes, some wealthy people are child molesters. But claiming they're all into this as a group is absurd. It's also two antisemitic conspiracy theory tropes with the serial numbers filed off.)

Alice In Wonderland programming includes games of croquet where the balls are the decapitated heads of children. (Always with the absurdly over-the-top programming methods.)

The conspiracy programs people from birth to have a visceral fear and hatred of Christianity. (The function of this claim is to deny the traumatic impact of Christian religious abuse.)

"Many occultic groups" hate Israel and aim to destroy its national security through infiltration. (Of course we're going to get Christian Zionism in this conspiracy theory.)

"Higher occultic groups" round up Christians "from prisons and camps in third world countries under oppressive regimes" to torture and crucify them. (Typical oppression fantasy of white American Christian conservatives.)

Genetically enhanced individuals were first produced in the 1940s. (Quite unlikely, given that DNA's role in inheritance wasn't even determined until 1943.)

Claims that "The Light of The World" is an occultic painting that depicts the Antichrist. (Actually, it just depicts Christ.)

Theta systems are trained to psychically kill from the time they're in the womb. Theta assassins have sex with the target, then use the resulting soul tie to demonically kill them. (You know you're into some deep far right shit when they're talking about "soul ties" like this.)

Chi is a demonic power. (Always with the racism.)

Kabbalah is used to open portals to install demons. (And of course, the antisemitism.)

Druids can shapeshift into animals and trees. (This is how druids work in modern RPGs.)

Mages can shapeshift into various animals. (So many occultists WISH this was true!)

Cult children are genetically enhanced for intelligence. (Meanwhile in the real world, not a single alleged survivor has ever demonstrated said intelligence.)

Saturn, Prometheus, and Vulcan are demonic deities. (Pure religious bigotry here.)

Mothers of genetically enhanced fetuses are brutally tortured and gradually dismembered throughout the entire pregnancy. Supposedly, miscarriage is prevented with the cult's "state-of-the-art technology" that's "at least 50-75 years ahead of what's publicly known."

Supposedly, "all videos, CDs, computer games and other digital media now have subliminals embedded, that are fed at 0.03 microseconds." She claims that you can't pause the video to see the message because the images will be blurry, as they're only visible when the media moves. How very convenient, Svali. (By the way, conspiracy theorists have been claiming media is full of dangerous subliminal messages for years, programming children to turn into mass murderers and whatnot. So far there is zero evidence that rock music turns you into a killer.)

Direct quote, "It is amazing how desensitized our population has become to sex, violence and the occult due to this mind control technology that sits in everyone's living room." (Literally your old-time Satanic Panic rhetoric.)

Direct quote, "I personally believe that we are very close to the “end times” of Revelations, and that the Occultic messiah (or antichrist) is alive." (Always with the End Times mythology with these people.)

Yeah, so this is one of the people that therapists pushing this idea that alter programming is a real thing regard as an authority. They're citing a far right conspiracy theorist who claims toddler assassins are sent to kill wealthy targets and that druids can actually turn themselves into trees.

I'd like to reiterate here that the type of alter programming people like Svali claim exist is not something there was ever any real evidence for, and the whole idea originated among conspiracy theorists. This was not a case of something that actually existed just being co-opted by bad faith actors. It is very literally a witch hunt, and one way we know this is that the early modern mythology of satanic witches and today's mythology of alter programming use many of the exact same tropes. And we also know that people can be coached into confabulating memories of events that never took place (you can see very obvious examples of this yourself here and here).

None of this is to say that human trafficking, sex abuse, religious abuse, institutional abuse, and so on aren't real; they very much are. But the kind of stuff that people like Svali push is not, and it's so full of pseudoscience and far right bigotry that it will harm survivors of extreme abuse even more. The function of this mythology, and the quack psychiatry that goes along with it, is to push people into hyperconservative Christianity and scapegoat the religious trauma it causes.

[lokisprettygirl]

Rain to his Fire (Modern! Daemon Targaryen x Female Reader) (Non Canon 80s Au) (18+)

Read Chapter 13 here// Series Masterlist

Chapter 14

Summary: Daemon moves on in his life with Caroline. Or he tries.

Warning: 18+, kidnapping, assault, smut, crude language, kidn description of Statutory rape, discussion of mental health (it's a fic based in a mental health facility), mention of child molestation, mention of physical assault, the fic would contain several mentions of several disorders like mpd, did etc, if something triggers you don't read, smoking

It's been more than six months since you had a conversation with Daemon. A proper, private conversation between just you two and you missed him, you missed how he spoke to you when it was just you and him. You missed how he used to make you feel so lively and awake.

When he finally took you to the city, Daemon had made you swear that you would never vanish from his life. He had also vowed to always be present in yours, that you two would remain in each other's life but that wasn't easy for you. Disappearing on him wasn't an option because you were seeing him in court for Viserys's trial but that was a long process and as much as you despised going through this ordeal it was a necessary evil.

Caroline accompanied him during every session in the court, looking at them together you couldn't really tell what their relationship was like, was it the same as you and Daemon? Or perhaps Even better? You had your bets on better, you were just some woman in his life that he met by chance while she was born for him, a half of his own, it had to be better

Then why didn't he look happier?

Despite his best efforts to reach out to you after every court session, you struggled to face him. The tension was so intense that you had the urge to fall to your knees in front of him and pour out your heart but your inability to move on from him held you back. And so, you resorted to making excuses and avoiding him altogether, allowing a rift to form between you two.

As Daemon sat there in formal attire, he resembled an angel, casting an otherworldly aura around him which made sense knowing who he was. To protect his identity, he was forced to publicly accept that he was delusional and had been so basically all his life. As a result, Viserys found himself in a difficult situation, unable to contradict Daemon's claims, as it would warrant him a one-way ticket to the psych ward. Dracosapiens didn't really exist for the world and that's how it had to be.

Caroline had also testified against Viserys that he was exploiting her in the name of treatment at the center. And then you remembered that they had sex which made you wonder if Daemon was bothered by the knowledge of his brother using his soulmate like that.

King's landing wasn't shut down because there were no allegations towards the other doctors, you got the opportunity to go back and get your belongings, most of all you wanted to take that apology feather Daemon had presented to you and the locket as well, the one that belonged to his ancestors. Upon your arrival, you couldn't help but visit Room 393, the room that had forever changed your life. You didn't want to cry but as soon as you entered the room you broke down and cried until tears refused to come out.

You missed him. And you needed him more than you needed to breathe, the passing of time wasn't making it any easier as you had hoped.

.......

“Hey” Caroline whispered as she embraced him from behind, he was staring outside the window as usual, he didn't enjoy the city life, a part of him always wanted to disappear in the wilderness. With you.

“You're back early today” he said as he stepped away from her to approach his reading table. He had severe trouble landing a job due to his stint at the mental health facility and the ongoing court drama but he had finally found a teaching job at the local school.

“Yeah slow day at the hotel” Caroline let out an exasperated sigh as she removed her coat, seemingly exhausted.

“Mmm” he hummed in response as he sat down to prepare the test paper for tomorrow. He really was trying with Caroline, he was trying really hard. Because that's what you wanted him to do, you wanted him to try and find his happiness with the person he was destined to spend his life with.

That day even though you had promised him that you'd not disappear out of his life he knew he was going to lose you completely. You didn't even want to look him in the eye, let alone have a conversation with him.

That unfateful day, after making sure you had a place to live in the city he went back to the cabin and stayed cooped up in solitude there until cops arrived to gather his statement against Viserys. And afterwards even though he didn't really wish to, he went to see Caroline and explained to her about the book, her lack of astonishment at the revelation surprised him in response.

She then told him that the reason she had been so restless all her life was because she felt so incomplete without him, that's why she moved from partners to partners, fucked anyone in the hope to scratch that itch with in her and gain some relief but nothing worked, nothing brought her peace until she cosmically ran into him at King's landing wellness center.

“Daemon??” He revered out of his thoughts as she called his name.

“Yeah sorry ..what?” He asked her so she walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Did you even listen to anything I said?” She asked as she began to pepper kisses on his neck.

“Yes?” he answered nonchalantly.

“Mmmm i have missed you all day” she whispered seductively, she was a sexual person in nature, so was he, but for some reason with Caroline it just didn't fit even though she was everything a man could ever want in a woman.

“Carol ..I have to work okay” he told her, hoping that she'd leave him alone.

“Fineee” she grumbled a little before she pulled away from him and stepped into the shower, he couldn't help but sigh deeply as soon as she was out of his sight.

He liked Caroline, alot, and in the past months he had grown to care deeply about her, they were very compatible together, she read the same type of books and watched the same type of movies as he did, she enjoyed spending time with him and she listened to him whenever he needed her.

She was also completely submissive in bed, exactly how he enjoyed it, everything else was good between them, barring the occasional tiff whenever he was being too much of himself, they had a good bond with each other and that was evident.

Then why wasn't he happier? The peace and happiness that the book promised to bestow upon him as soon as their relationship would consummate and flourish, where was it?

Why wasn't he feeling it with Caroline when he was able to do so easily with you.

Your relationship with him was anything but perfect, you annoyed him greatly at times, you argued with him like a wildcat which he hated and adored at the same time, you never allowed him to dominate you completely, that sweet little mouth always kept him on his toes even amidst the most intimate moments.

Despite every imperfection that you offered to each other, he knew you'd do anything for him, you believed in him and you were willing to be by his side even when his reality seemed like a fantasy, you were eager to accept him even if he was delusional, you risked your life just so he'd find some answers, and you sacrificed your happiness so he'd find his own in somebody else.

Caroline loved him, he knew that, she had grown to love him but she didn't love him like you did. He didn't think anybody could love him exactly the way you did.

As Caroline stepped out of the shower, Daemon walked towards her and grabbed her arm to turn her towards him.

“I'm sorry.. I'm just trying to keep the job” he apologized to her as he didn't want to make her sad or upset.

“It's not about the job though is it? You said you needed time and I am trying to be understanding but it's been months and -”

“I'm just tired..that's it” Daemon interrupted her before she could speak any further. Since the very first day he knew he didn't want to build this relationship on lies so when he had informed her about the book he had made sure to let her know that he had feelings for you, a bit of an understatement really, but he did clarify that to her that his heart wasn't in the right place at the moment and she was very understanding about it. Her only response was “We are made for each other, that is all that matters”

As they laid into the bed that night, Caroline slowly got on top of him and began to kiss him so he flipped her around and got her beneath him. She smiled as she looked at him and he returned it too but it seemed disingenuous, at times he felt as if he was betraying not just her but also himself, chasing a feeling that would never fulfill him, she curled her fingers around his neck and pulled him closer to kiss him briefly and as he pulled away he saw your face in her own for a moment.

“What's wrong?” She asked as she took his shirt off slowly.

“Nothing -”

“I want to see you like that again..how you were born to be, show me” She mumbled seductively as she sat up and kissed down from his neck to his chest.

He hasn't been able to shift, the last time he did so was when he flew you away from the cabin after you had decided for both of you that he needed Caroline in his life and not you.

“I can't right now-” he told her as he caressed her cheek and before she could insist he proceeded to kiss her.

......

The following day, while Daemon was at the school, Caroline made her way to a nearby restaurant. Upon entering the smaller establishment, she removed her glasses and gestured for you to come speak with her as she saw you attending the tables.

This wasn't really your dream job but you were trying to get by at the moment.

“What are you doing here?” You asked her so she sighed as she sat down.

“Does he still see you?” She got straight to the point and as much as you couldn't really stand her presence, you appreciated the candor.

“No, if I wanted to keep doing that I wouldn't let him go in the first place” you answered her so she gave you a condescending smile.

“You didn't really do anything though did you, it's not a ‘sacrifice’ on your part. On the contrary if it wasn't for you he'd not be so conflicted right now because we belong together, we were born for each other, you were just a little detour” She said to you and you couldn't help but roll your eyes. You could tell she was trying to hurt you.

“Why is he so conflicted then?” You crossed your arms as you questioned her.

“Perhaps he pities you..he thinks he's responsible for your condition”

There was a smug look on her face but you had to get back to work so you didn't really want to indulge her.

“Why are you here Caroline, i know you don't like me and the feeling is mutual trust me, but I'm not the type of person to lure a man into cheating on his girlfriend” you told her honestly and for a moment the smugness was wiped off her face, you saw a flicker of relief replacing it.

“Well, that's good i guess-”

She got up as she said that so you stepped out of her way. As you watched her walk out you couldn't help but feel worried. Was he not happy with her? She seemed utterly desperate to you, afraid even. Daemon was the type of man to make his woman feel like a princess, he wasn't very vocal about his feelings but his actions spoke on his behalf, he treated you so tenderly and lovingly, just a passing fling, so why wouldn't he do the same for his soulmate?

“Wait” you called out to her and excused yourself for a minute as you went inside the staff area and returned with a small jewelry box.

“This belongs to you i think-”

Caroline seemed confused for a moment as she grabbed the box from your hand and when she opened it she saw the necklace with the dragon mark engraved on the pendant, the Targaryen family heirloom, her eyes widened in surprise, she had heard alot about the necklace and had seen the pictures as it was being used in Viserys's trial against Tanya’s murder but Daemon never told her that he had given it to you.

When Daemon came back home that night he found Caroline in the kitchen, humming a tune and cooking, a smile escaped his lips so he approached her.

“Since when do you cook?” He asked her so she gave him a smile before she jumped into his arms and kissed him.

“Since I realized that I need to keep my man fed” he chuckled as she said that but then his eyes drew towards the necklace on her neck and his mood soured immediately.

“Where did you get that?” He asked her as calmly as he could even though the anger was building up gradually.

“What's wrong?’” she asked as she sensed the shift in his tone

“I'm just asking a question, where did you get that Caroline?” he asked again, his voice a bit more stern this time.

“I don't know, it was outside our door when I came home -” she tried to lie but he put a stop to it immediately.

“Don't lie..don't think for a second that you can get away with lies” he chuckled sarcastically and she was hurt by the sudden change in his demeanor.

“Fine..but this should have been mine, why didn't you give it to me?” she asked him, her own voice laced with anger now.

“That's not the answer to my fucking question” he said as he ran his fingers through his hair to calm down.

“I saw her today..she gave it to me" she said “Why didn't you give it to me, this belongs to me?”

“Does it huh? Just how I belong to you because it says so in the book?”

Her eyes welled up as he admitted that the only reason he was even trying with her was because of predestination and not because he truly felt that connection with her as she did.

“Keep it” she took out the locket and walked towards him to thrust it into his palm before she stormed into their room. Daemon was too angry at the moment to go console her, he was furious with you and he wanted to go see you to give you a piece of his mind.

That evening as you were finally done with your shift you changed out of your work dress and stepped out of the restaurant, this wasn't exactly what you wanted to do with your life, at times you missed working at King's landing even though you were definitely oblivious to the nefarious activities of Viserys in those two years, life before Daemon was quiet and less chaotic. Funnily enough you seemed to revel the chaos Daemon had brought into your life.

As you made your way out of the door you look ahead in front of you only to find Daemon glaring back at you.

“Hey” you mumbled an awkward greeting as you didn't really know what to say. You had a feeling why he was there.

“This was a gift” he told you as he raised his fist up and opened it slowly to reveal the necklace.

“Yes and i returned it to its rightful owner”

“You don't get to decide who's going to wear my mother's jewelry” he said to you so you shook your head in the blatant way he was choosing to ignore the history of the necklace.

“It's not just your mother's though is it? It's older than that, it belongs to your soulmate, Caroline deserves to have it the same way your mother and grandmother did”

His eyes were burning with tears and anger at the response, you sounded so cold that even your own voice gave you chills.

“What did I do wrong to you y/n? All I ever wanted was to ..take care of you and have you by my side” he spoke softly, voice riddled with pain.

“I'm not supposed to be by your side Daemon” you responded weakly so he chuckled in response.

“You didn't want to be..this was an easy way out for you was it not? Life with me seemed complicated in the real world so you gave up on us at the first chance you got”

That hurt, it really did but maybe you deserved it for breaking his heart like that.

“You know why I did it -”

“No don't give me that y/n..Fuck that..you didn't even care to ask what I wanted, who did I want..none of you did, you just decided it for me” he stepped closer to you with every word he spoke and you wanted to step away but your feet were glued to the ground. His scent paralyzed you and his words pricked your broken heart. “You promised me that we'd stay in touch but you don't even look at me whenever we are faced with each other as if I never meant anything to you” you shook your head as he said that “You were just looking out for yourself weren't yo-?”

“Stop..Don't say that please” you spoke as tears welled your eyes “I just wanted you to be happy.. i can't want you to be happy with your soulmate and be in your life at the same time. I can't be your friend and watch you love someone else Daemon. Is that so hard for you to understand? You think I'm selfish? While you found your soulmate I'm the one who's all alone here, I am the one who has no one to hold or love or care for”

As you broke down in tears Daemon wrapped his arms around your shoulders to pull you into a hug, his own tears refusing to stay at bay.

He held you like that until you got yourself out of his embrace and stared at him, pleading with him with your eyes to not make this more difficult than it already was.

“Maybe you two just need more time” you mumbled stoically, the emotions you had poured slowly fading from your voice.

“You're right..we do need more time” he agreed with you but he wasn't really talking about him and Caroline.

“Let me walk you home, it's late” you sighed as he said that before you began to walk side to side with him.

“I can manage ..I have a pepper spray and a knife in bag”

He chuckled as you said that so seriously as if you weren't just crying your eyes out a few moments ago.

“What if the assailant grabs your bag first?” he asked you so you sighed.

“Then I'd have no choice but resort to physical violence” He shook his head again as you said that. God He missed you.

Just to be able to talk to you this way was making him feel better than he had felt in the past 6 months.

As your apartment arrived you looked at him for a moment as if you had plenty to say but couldn't really find your words.

“Daemon?”

“Hmm”?

“What's it like having a soulmate?” you asked him softly so he thought about it for a moment.

“It's like having a friend that you can count on for life” he responded sincerely, Caroline was his friend and always will be but he couldn't bring himself to feel more for her.

“I'm glad you have that..you deserve it” you said before you turned around to go inside and he sighed deeply.

“You're so stupid y/n”

He muttered under his breath so you looked back at him.

“Mmm..you said something?”

He walked towards you and cupped your cheeks to kiss your forehead, his lips lingered for a few moments before he forced himself to pull away, he then wrapped the necklace around your neck and clasped the latch.

“Daemon I can't keep it -”

“Shhhh.. it's yours because I said so”

The look in his eyes compelled you to not argue with him any further. What you saw in them for you wasn't pity, but love. It's been months, how did he still have those feelings for you? You were just some woman he had known for a few months, he had been with Caroline longer than he was with you now so how come he wasn't madly in love with his own soulmate?

As he went home that night he found Caroline on the bed crying, he didn't want to hurt her but he had to be honest with her because he couldn't go like this forever.

He sat down next to her and held her hand to comfort him but she pulled away.

“She is a thirty old Virgin isn't she?” His ears perked up as she said that. It came out of nowhere.

“What? Why would you say that?”

“Come on Daemon.. everyone gossiped in King's Landing, it was as if men were untouchable for her until you arrived” he was offended for sure, her words were meant to mock you and he didn't take lightly to it but then she said something that had his curiosity piqued “Even her mother worried about her”

“How do you even know that?” He asked her strictly as he stared at her and he could tell she was nervous all of a sudden as if she had spilled something she shouldn't have.

“Just something Viserys said when we had sex-”

His jaw clenched as she said that, she often reminded him that his brother fucked her, perhaps to make him jealous but he didn't really feel jealous, not really.

“Why were you two discussing a simple custodian minding her own business?”

“We were not..he was rambling about you..I think he knew who I was because of the book and he knew I liked you, so he was trying to rile me up against y/n..at that time i didn't know he was your brother so I thought that he was just frustrated about his job”

Daemon sighed as she said that, it brought back the suspicion he had regarding him and your mother. Why would he know so much about your personal life unless your mother talked about you and why would she talk about you with him unless she had some sort of personal relationship with him?

“I'm giving you a free night”

Caroline spoke again, making him snap out his thoughts while he was in the middle of connecting the dots. 

“What?” his brows furrowed as he questioned her. 

“Go fuck her, get it out of your system, that's what holding you back isn't it?” she said nonchalantly.

“Are you fucking insane?” 

“That is insane to you hah? You pining over a woman you knew for like what four months? That's not insane to you?” 

“If you know about my feelings for her then you know I'd never use her like that, best part is she'd not even let me do it, she'd slap me and throw me out of her life forever” her eyes teared up as he said that, just the way he talked about you so sincerely broke her heart but she wouldn't let him go. She wasn't a fool like you. 

“I don't care, I'm giving you a free pass, take it or leave it” she said to him as she approached him “Just know this, she would never be able to give you what I can.. you're stuck with me because we are destined for each other, there's nothing you can do change that” 

She jabbed at him as she walked past him, he didn't blame her for feeling so possessive about him, they were soulmates after all but it was in that moment he knew why he fell so quickly for you but wasn't able to do the same for Caroline. You let him go so he'd find happiness while Caroline wanted to keep him even if he was unhappy with her.

.......

The next morning during your shift at the restaurant you saw Shyla and sighed, why was she there now? She smiled as she approached you so you returned it.

“Y/n ..how are you doing?” you looked around as she asked you.

“Great. How are you?” 

“Just dealing with the trial like all of us” 

You nodded as he said that, once Viserys was taken in custody, Shyla came out to police and told them he had been sexually exploiting her since she had begun working there. She also told them that he had physically assaulted her and blackmailed her to frame it on the patient residing in room 393.

“I need to get back to work. Would you like to eat something?” You asked her politely so she shook her head and sighed before she went through her bag.

“Do you know what this is?” She asked as she gave you a vial of drugs.

“It's given to patients before surgery, to relax and paralyze their muscles” You looked at her confused as she said that “It clears out of the body in like 2-3 hours so there is no trace of it anywhere in the blood” she told you but it made you even more confused.

“Succinylcholine” you read the name so she nodded but you had no clue about the usage of the drug. “What is it used for?” you questioned her, making her gulp nervously.

“Okay umm what ..why are you telling me this?” 

“An overdose of Succinylcholine can be fatal, it causes rapid increase in heart rate-” she paused for a moment as if to collect her thoughts “which leads to an unwarranted heart attack even when a person is as healthy as they could be”

As soon as she said that your fist clenched around the bottle.

Viserys used women in any which way that he possibly could. Perhaps he had something to do with your mother's - 

And then you remembered what Daemon had said to you-

“..with this attitude you're going to suffer the same fate as your mother..dying of a broken heart with no-one to protect you” 

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Note : This Viserys I tell you 🙂‍↔️

Taglist

@anukulee @ammo23 @littledark11 @stupidthoughtsinwriting @daenny-t @avalyaaa @shuichiakainx

[notaplaceofhonour]

One of the experiences that really highlighted to me how willing the left can be to turn a blind eye to and gaslight Jews about antisemitism was trying to talk about Michael Jackson’s antisemitism, such as in the song “They Don’t Care About Us”, which was released with the lyrics:

“Jew me, sue me, everybody do me / Kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me.”

I feel like that is shockingly straightforward with how antisemitic it is, both in its specific language (the K-slur & Jew-as-a-verb) and its conspiratorial bent in the context of the whole song. But when it came out and Jews were obviously appalled and spoke out about it, MJ made the standard “but have you considered that accusing me of bigotry offends me?” and “I was taken out of context!” statements that bigots make when they get called out on their bigotry.

As for MJ’s claim that he was taken out of context, here is some context: In 1993, MJ’s relationship with the press deteriorated when they began covering allegations of his child sex abuse. In the midst of this, tabloids ran a lot of scummy, sensationalized headlines—ruthlessly mocking his appearance and eccentricities and even running entirely false stories. This marked a drastic shift in MJ’s lyrics, which began to focus heavily on his victimhood (both real and perceived, often conflating both and tying them to broader social issues), with many of the songs on the next album HIStory (1995) being about this. “They Don’t Care About Us” is on this album. In 2003, there were revelations that Michael Jackson had grown close with members of Nation of Islam (a fringe and antisemitic hate group), and in 2005, Good Morning America aired a phone recording of Michael Jackson calling Jews “leeches”, claiming Jews had targeted him for his wealth, and saying “It’s a conspiracy. Jews do it on purpose”.

This is the context of Michael Jackson singing about being a stand-in for the victims of all kinds of real world oppression like racism and police brutality, and then saying he was being “Jewed” and “kiked”. It came out that he was molesting little kids, and rather than face the music, he tried to dodge responsibility by conflating those allegations with racism and the gross, sensationalist bullshit that tabloids were running on him; he wove all these things together in a narrative that he could use to wrap himself up in victimhood & conspiracy to position himself as not just a martyr, but the very archetype of martyrdom so that the world could, as he sang on the same album in his cover of John Lennon’s song, “Come together, over me.”

The lyrics were later changed to replace “Jew” & “kike” with abstract noise that drowned out the words or repetitions of “sue” & “strike”. But even so, this is still a song, not truly about inequality and injustice, but using inequality and injustice to shield a child molester from responsibility. And the fact that “Jew” can so easily be replaced with “sue”, not simply in sound but in meaning, without disrupting the narrative and tone of the song, belies the fact that Michael Jackson believed himself to be a victim of some sort of conspiracy between “(((The Media)))” and greedy Jewish lawyers.

And yet, trying to talk about this to this day, even with the benefit of hindsight, when it’s pretty well-accepted that MJ was in fact a child molester and knowing what he said about Jews after this song came out, it is next to impossible to get people to see the antisemitism in him tying together all oppression in the world as him being “Jewed” and “kiked” by (((The System)))—even when he literally says “Jew”, even when he says the K-slur, even when he refers to Jews as blood-suckers, even when he literally says Jews are conspiring against him. When people started using the song as part of the George Floyd protests, and I was like “hey, maybe that’s not a great idea” and gently tried to explain this context, I was ignored, told it didn’t matter because the song was about inequality, told Black people have every right to distrust Jews “because Jews are White” and stabbed Black people in the back by embracing Whiteness, etc. etc.

I think that is one of the times that really started to make it clear to me, “oh, yeah no, leftists can be staring straight at a K-slur in the mouth of a known sex offender and still say it’s fine”—something leftists generally would not do for any other vulnerable minority. It still astounds me.

[britts-galaxy-brain]

I don't know if you were aware, but one of Lily's favorited artists on Sankaku (dongatuno) beat the shit out of his wife. He was also charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, but ultimately it was ruled it wasn't possible to prove he had done what his wife and son alleged (masturbating and ejaculating onto his son's face at night). I wouldn't normally bring it up, because what happened is so heinous just casually discussing it feels wrong. But the thing is, I checked the dates on your screenshots. Lily was favoriting his work after he got out of prison. Not his early work circa 2011, his modern, post-prison stuff, after we all already knew he was at a minimum a wifebeater and quite probably a child molester. And again, I try not to bring up something as gross as child molestation. It's not a topic I can stomach much of.

Then I remembered what Courtney had said. I remembered the Violate Arc. And I realized dongatuno is eerily similar to Lily in some ways that feel like more than coincidence. I don't think she just liked his art for the photorealism or the 3D child sex.

I think she favorited his art because Sankaku hosts the facial pics he made that other sites took down due to his past legal charges. The pics he had uploaded during the end of 2021/the start of 2022.

Lily's accounts weren't discovered until late 2022. She was on there when that was uploaded. He was in her favorites.

She found someone who could give her the closest thing to the real thing there is.

....I'm not even shocked anymore.

So that's three of the artists in Lily's favorites that have been confirmed to have done horrific things to children IRL and used it as inspiration for their "art".

[coochiequeens]

This is why I hate it when MRAs whine about the courts “favoring” the mothers

How the 'junk science' of parental alienation infiltrated American family courts and allowed accused child abusers to win custody of their kids.

This story was reported in partnership with the nonprofit newsroom Type Investigations.

In the summer of 2020, when he was 12, the boy told his therapist something he'd never told anyone else.

For years, Robert claimed, his stepdad had sexually abused him.

The therapist alerted the San Diego County child welfare agency, which launched an investigation. The county sheriff opened an inquiry, too. Thomas Winenger, the only father figure Robert had ever known, began assaulting him when he was only 7, Robert told a forensic social worker in October 2020. Winenger would pin him down, cover his mouth, and force him into acts he found "disgusting," he said. Sometimes, he said, Winenger recited Bible verses during the attacks, claiming the devil was in Robert's heart.

Robert, whom Insider is identifying by only his middle name, said that as he struggled to breathe, he fought back by hitting, punching, and kneeing his stepfather. But he said Winenger overpowered him.

By the time Robert came forward, Winenger had been named his legal father and was divorced from Robert's mother, Jill Montes, with whom he also shared two young daughters. Robert confronted Winenger with the allegations that November, and within weeks Winenger denied the claims in family court. "This NEVER HAPPENED," he asserted in a filing.

He offered an alternative explanation for Robert's disturbing claims, one that shifted the blame to Robert's mother.

Montes, Winenger contended, had engaged in a pattern of manipulation known as "parental alienation." Robert's accusations weren't evidence that he'd abused the boy, Winenger claimed. They were evidence that Montes had poisoned the children against him. The delayed timing of Robert's allegations, Winenger argued, only made them more suspicious. Montes was causing the children such grave psychological harm, he claimed in the filing, that the children should be transferred to his custody right away.

That December, Child Welfare Services substantiated Robert's allegations, calling them "credible, clear, and concise." But the family-court judge, Commissioner Patti Ratekin, withheld judgment until the following October, when the psychologist she'd appointed as a custody evaluator submitted his own report.

That report, which has been sealed by the court, appears to have convinced Ratekin that Winenger was correct.

“Ma'am, you didn't show very well in the report. You are toxic. You're poisonous. You're an alienator," Ratekin told Montes at a hearing on October 28, 2021. "I don't believe for a second" that Robert's father molested him. "Not for a second," she repeated. "I think you've put it in his head."

Ratekin acted swiftly, granting Winenger's bid for custody and ordering him to enroll Robert and his sisters in Family Bridges, a program that claims to help "alienated" children reconnect with a parent they've rejected. She barred Montes, a stay-at-home mom and home schooler, from all contact with her children for at least 90 days, a standard prerequisite for admission to the program.

"I just wanted to crumble," Montes said.

Rejected as a psychiatric disorder

Parental alienation is a fairly recent idea, conceived in the 1980s by a psychiatrist, Dr. Richard Gardner, who argued that divorcing mothers, desperate to win custody suits, were brainwashing children against their fathers. In "severe" cases, Gardner wrote, children with "parental alienation syndrome" must be removed from their mothers, transferred to the care of their fathers, and reeducated through what he called "threat therapy."

Alienation has never been accepted as a psychiatric disorder by the medical establishment. Yet today, mental-health practitioners across the United States assess and treat it, particularly those who specialize in custody cases. Many of them collaborate closely, attending the same conferences, following the same protocols, and citing the same papers. Some run reunification programs like Family Bridges; others offer family therapy or produce custody evaluations for family courts.

Influenced by these experts, many judges have given the unproven concept the force of law.

Though most custody cases settle out of court, in a small fraction parents don't come to terms. In some of these contested cases, one parent accuses the other of alienating the children. The most intense disputes arise in cases where one parent alleges spousal or child abuse and the other responds with a claim of alienation.

But alienation claims are highly gendered. Men level the accusation against women nearly six times as often as women level it against men, one study suggests. That landmark study, published in 2020, found that in cases when mothers alleged abuse and fathers responded by claiming alienation, the mothers stood a startlingly high chance of losing custody.

Occasionally, parents accused of alienation are cut off from their children altogether. Since 2000, judges have sent at least 600 children to reunification programs that recommend the temporary exile of the trusted parent, a collaborative investigation by Insider and Type Investigations revealed. While the programs suggest a "no-contact period" of 90 days, this term is routinely extended and may last years, according to an analysis of tens of thousands of pages of court papers and program records.

The treatment typically starts with a four-day workshop for children and the parent they've rejected; aftercare can add months or years. Children may be seized for the workshop by force, with no opportunity for goodbyes.

Former participants at Family Bridges and a similar program, Turning Points for Families, said they were taught that their memories were unreliable, the parent they preferred was harmful, and the parent they'd rejected was loving and safe. In some cases, participants who resisted these lessons said they were verbally threatened; at Family Bridges, a few were threatened with institutionalization. Some participants said they ended up depressed and suicidal.

Program officials say they are helping children. Lynn Steinberg, a therapist who runs a program called One Family at a Time, said in an interview that virtually all the kids she's enrolled have falsely accused a parent of abuse and that she does not accept children into her program whose abuse claims have been substantiated. Without treatment, she said, alienated children would risk being plagued by guilt, and the relationship they wrongly spurned might never heal.

In Steinberg's view, the only child abusers in the families she sees are the "alienators," who have "annihilated" a devoted parent from their children's lives.

Recently, alienation theory has faced rising criticism. Efforts to legitimize the diagnosis have been rebuffed by the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization, and the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. And the reunification programs burst into public view last fall, when a video documented two terrified children in Santa Cruz, California, being seized for One Family at a Time. In the clip, which went viral on TikTok, a 15-year-old girl named Maya pleads and shrieks as she's picked up by the arms and legs and forced into a black SUV.

Since then, bills that would restrict reunification programs have been introduced in Sacramento and four other state capitols.

An idea takes off

When a law professor named Joan Meier founded a nonprofit to help victims of domestic violence two decades ago, she didn't expect to focus on custody disputes. But day after day, she heard from mothers with similar, troubling stories. They'd finally escaped their abusive marriages, but their exes had fought them for custody — and won. The mothers had been accused of something Meier knew little about: parental alienation.

Meier, who taught at George Washington University, ordered a stack of books by the child psychiatrist who coined the term.

Richard Gardner began writing about children of divorce in the 1970s, when a dramatic transformation was underway in family court. Under the "tender years presumption," judges had long favored women in divorce cases, typically assigning children to their mother's sole custody. But as more women entered the workforce, more men participated in child-rearing, and more couples divorced, a nascent "fathers' rights" movement emerged, demanding gender neutrality in custody proceedings. The idea appealed to many feminists, too. By the 1980s, most states had recognized joint custody in their statutes.

This left judges in a quandary when couples failed to settle. Now, aside from a vague mandate to advance the "best interest" of children, courts lacked a clear paradigm for resolving disputes. Overwhelmed, judges turned to mental-health professionals, asking them to assess each parent's fitness and recommend an optimal arrangement. Gardner, then an associate clinical professor of child psychiatry at Columbia University, was an early custody evaluator, and in 1982 he published a how-to manual.

By 1985, Gardner was arguing that some mothers, seeking to regain their advantage in court, were inducing a mental illness in their children, a condition he dubbed parental alienation syndrome. Children afflicted with the syndrome, he said, could be identified by the "campaign of denigration" they waged against their fathers, which was accompanied by "weak, frivolous, or absurd" rationalizations and a disquieting "lack of ambivalence."

Some "fanatic" mothers even manipulated children into claiming their fathers had sexually abused them, Gardner contended. When other maneuvers against a father fail, he wrote, "the sex-abuse accusation emerges as a final attempt to remove him entirely from the children's lives." Child sexual-abuse claims made during custody disputes, he claimed, "have a high likelihood of being false." To prove children are suggestible, he often invoked the wave of 1980s cases in which preschool teachers were charged with sexual abuse but later exonerated.

Gardner's theory sidestepped what Joan Meier saw as a glaring truth: Many children accused their fathers of abuse because their fathers were actually abusive. In fact, by the early 2000s a large-scale study had found that contrary to Gardner's writings, neither children nor mothers were likely to fabricate claims during custody disputes.

The remedies Gardner proposed for parental alienation syndrome were harsh. "Insight, tenderness, sympathy, empathy have no place in the treatment of PAS," he said in a 1998 address. "Here you need a therapist who is hard-nosed, who is comfortable with authoritarian, dictatorial procedures."

In a 2001 documentary, Gardner told a journalist how a mother might respond to a child reporting sexual abuse: "I don't believe you. I'm going to beat you for saying it. Don't you ever talk that way again about your father."

Juvenile detention could cure children who refused to visit their fathers, Gardner said. But the main remedy he advanced in severe cases was "the removal of the children from the mother's home and placement in the home of the father, the allegedly-hated parent." This would break what he called a "sick psychological bond."

After introducing his theory, Gardner began using it in expert testimony and promoting it to other evaluators and fathers'-rights activists. By the early 2000s, family-court judges were regularly citing parental alienation.

To address this, Meier said, she undertook a series of academic articles examining the scholarship on parental alienation. She found that the theory was based on circular reasoning and anchored almost entirely in anecdotal data.

"I still believed in that day that if you did careful, thoughtful analytic scholarship, people would read it and be persuaded by it," she said.

The scarlet 'A'

Jill Montes had always wanted a big family. In 2008, she already had a 5-year-old daughter, Paige, with a man she'd divorced, and she was finding regular work as an actor in Los Angeles. She decided to adopt an infant son, Robert.

The next year, she met Thomas Winenger, who had master's degrees in engineering and business, on eHarmony. "He wanted to talk a lot about faith and God, and that wooed me," she said. She also welcomed his interest in Robert, whom she was insecure about raising alone.

In 2011, the couple married and settled near San Diego, and Montes quit acting. Soon, she later said in a court filing, Winenger was shoving, insulting, and threatening her, often in front of the kids. He promised to change, and she hoped he could. In 2012, their first child, Claire, was born, and Eden followed in 2015. Insider is identifying Montes' children by only their middle names.

Later that year, Montes accused Winenger of dragging Paige across a room. Montes sought a restraining order, which was ultimately denied, and kicked him out. He rented a room in a house nearby, where he regularly hosted the three younger kids. Sometimes, Robert went there by himself.

Montes filed for divorce in February 2018. Under an informal agreement, the kids continued spending time at Winenger's place. But at a hearing that fall, a 10-year-old Robert testified that during an argument over his math homework, Winenger had repeatedly grabbed, shoved, and spanked him.

Montes filed a petition for a domestic-violence restraining order, which Winenger fought, saying he hadn't mistreated Robert. In the end, Ratekin, the judge presiding over the divorce, signed a "stay away" order prohibiting Winenger from contact with Robert. But it didn't address the allegation of violence. Weeks later, Winenger asked Ratekin to name him Robert's legal father, arguing that he'd helped raise the boy from toddlerhood. Ratekin ruled in his favor and ordered the custody evaluation.

In court papers he filed on July 19, 2019, the day after the evaluator was appointed, Winenger accused Montes of parental alienation.

Often, according to Meier, the dynamic of a custody case shifts radically once alienation is raised. "It's like the table turns 180 degrees and now the only bad parent in the room is the alleged alienator," she said. An abuse allegation "fades out of view," she said, and any attempts by the mother to limit the father's access are seen as suspicious. It's almost as if, like Hester Prynne in "The Scarlet Letter," she's been branded with a flaming red "A," Meier said.

Indeed, Montes soon lost ground in court.

In January 2020, Ratekin ordered Robert into the care of a therapist, Mitra Sarkhosh, who has since provided aftercare for at least one reunification program. Sarkhosh saw Robert and his father together about 20 times, charging $200 an hour. But by summer, she had halted the sessions, saying Robert's anger was "not improving."

In a report filed in court, Sarkhosh appeared to blame Montes. Living with her, Robert was "saturated with negativity about his father," she wrote. There may be a need for "new interventions." (Citing patient-confidentiality laws, Sarkhosh declined an interview request.)

Robert was relieved to be finished with Sarkhosh, Montes said. He started seeing a new therapist, and, during the first session, he told the therapist he'd been sexually abused.

On November 18, 2020, at the direction of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, Robert called Winenger to try to elicit a confession. When that failed, the department paused its investigation, but the child welfare inquiry proceeded. On December 1, the California Health and Welfare Agency issued a report substantiating Robert's claims.

"The Agency is worried that if given the opportunity, Tom Winenger will sexually abuse [Robert] again," the report says.

Neither Winenger nor his divorce attorney, Tamatha Clemens, responded to requests for interviews or to a list of detailed questions. In a motion for custody he filed on December 8, 2020, Winenger argued that Robert's allegations had been "orchestrated" by Montes and that her alienation "will not stop until she is restrained by the court."

The welfare agency sent Ratekin its report on January 4, 2021, according to a cover sheet reviewed by Insider. But Ratekin was still awaiting the custody evaluation, which she'd assigned to a psychologist, Miguel Alvarez. In 2009, Alvarez coauthored a handbook for parents in custody disputes. While the manual spells out in detail how to prove an alienation claim, it offers no specific guidance on how to prove a claim of abuse.

According to the report, part of which Insider reviewed at a San Diego County courthouse, a personality test Alvarez administered suggested that Montes suffered from "extreme hyper-vigilance" and "persecutory fears." People with these traits, Alvarez wrote, "are often quick to anger and overreact to perceived or imagined threats."

Winenger's scores on the same test were "normal," Alvarez wrote, and his performance on psychosexual and polygraph tests was "inconsistent" with Robert's allegations of sexual abuse.

The 136-page evaluation cost Robert's parents more than $90,000, according to bills reviewed by Insider. Alvarez didn't respond to requests for comment.

Ratekin reviewed the evaluation just before the October 28, 2021 hearing. Alvarez's findings were "exactly" what she'd expected, she said. In her view, the situation called for immediate action.

She put Claire, 8, and Eden, 6, in their father's custody that day, and she sent Robert, 13, to stay with his football coach. That was for Winenger's protection, she said. Until Robert was "detoxified," she said, he'd be prone to false claims of abuse.

Ratekin suggested Family Bridges as a solution. She'd had "really good success" with the program in another case, she said, and she thought it would ease Robert's transition. Without it, the boy wouldn't "get better," she said, and his sisters stood to benefit, too.

Winenger agreed. Under an order Ratekin signed on January 3, 2022, the children would attend a Family Bridges workshop with their father from January 11 to 14 and then return to his home. Montes was barred from contact with the children for at least 90 more days. Ratekin also prohibited the children from communicating with their older sister, their maternal grandmother, and anyone else who might "interfere" with their healing.

Contact would resume at Ratekin's discretion, depending upon how well everyone was cooperating.

Insider and Type reviewed 35 cases from the past two decades in which judges removed children from their preferred parent and sent them to a reunification program. In most of these cases, the children had resisted court-ordered visits with their fathers, and judges had held mothers responsible. Many of the judges framed the no-contact period as salutary: Children would be freed from the overbearing influence of their mothers, and their mothers would be motivated to change.

A case from New Castle County, Delaware is typical.

In 2016, Judge Janell Ostroski transferred two brothers to their father's custody and ordered them into treatment at Turning Points for Families, a program in upstate New York run by a social worker, Linda Gottlieb. Both boys had told Ostroski that their father, Michael D., yelled at them frequently, court records show, though neither had alleged physical abuse. The 9-year-old, O., told Ostroski he felt unsafe at his dad's house. Ashton, 14, was refusing to go there. Insider is not using the family's full last name in order to protect O.'s identity.

Michael had pleaded guilty several years earlier to public intoxication and indecent exposure for an incident in a public park with Ashton. A court-ordered psychological evaluation found that he had alcohol dependence and narcissistic personality disorder "with antisocial features." In 2013, the state's child welfare agency found that he'd emotionally abused Ashton, then 10 years old. The report, including any denials Michael presented, is sealed. This history was all cited in court three years later, in a custody dispute between Michael and his ex-wife, Kelly D.

During that dispute, Michael accused Kelly of alienation, and a custody evaluator backed him up. The evaluator, a psychologist, determined that Michael had become "a more positively functional person" and that Kelly, a preschool teacher, was the problematic parent. Kelly "distorts the reality of events" and "conveys to others an inaccurate and menacing perception of Mr. [D.]," the psychologist wrote in a May 2016 report. (Michael did not respond to detailed requests for comment. Neither did the psychologist.)

In written rulings that barred Kelly from contact with both children, Ostroski said the boys were "well cared for" in Kelly's home but blamed her for Ashton's refusal to see Michael. "Mother has done nothing in the past year to promote the Father/son relationship," Ostroski wrote, adding, "the court is hopeful that, with the appropriate interventions, Mother can recognize her role in helping the children have a healthy relationship with their Father."

Insider and Type sent questions about parental alienation and its remedies to Ostroski, Ratekin, and 19 other judges who've ordered the programs. Only Ratekin responded, and she declined to speak about the Winenger case because it is still pending. Nor would she answer general questions. "I am definitely not an expert in this area," she wrote, "nor do I feel qualified to answer questions about the issue or programs." 

'A moratorium on the past'

In her January 2022 ruling, Ratekin authorized Winenger to hire a transport company to drive Robert and his sisters to the Family Bridges workshop, which would take place at a hotel a few hours outside San Diego. There, the children and Winenger met Randy Rand, who founded Family Bridges in the early 2000s, and a woman the children knew only as "Chris."

In 2009, Rand deactivated his psychology license after the California Board of Psychology found he'd committed professional violations including "dishonesty," "repeated negligent acts," and "gross negligence." Since then, he's accompanied at workshops by at least one other clinician. Rand isn't the only alienation expert to face sanctions from a state licensing board. Two other psychologists who've led Family Bridges workshops, Jane Shatz of California and Joann Murphey of Texas, have been sanctioned — Shatz after an allegation of negligence and Murphey after a finding that she failed to respond promptly to a subpoena. Both Alvarez, the custody evaluator in Robert's case, and Steinberg, who runs the program where a judge sent the girl in the viral TikTok, have been cited by California regulators for improper recordkeeping. Steinberg said her citation was the result of a series of meritless complaints by an "alienating parent."

Family Bridges workshops are held at hotels around the country and tend to cost parents more than $25,000, receipts show. In 2016, for example, one family from Seattle paid more than $27,000 to Family Bridges and another $3,500 to spend three nights at a Sheraton in Southern California. Since the children had opposed the intervention, a company was hired to transport them for an additional $8,300.

Once they arrive at Family Bridges, children quickly learn the rules, program documents show, including a policy called "a moratorium on the past." As Murphey, the Texas psychologist, testified in 2018, "There's no talking about 'You did this back when.'" Instead, she explained, "this is a new family, this is a new paradigm, we are starting off in a healthy way."

Ally Toyos was a 16-year-old in Kansas when she was taken from her mother five years ago. In an interview, she said she and her then 14-year-old sister tried defying the Family Bridges moratorium, telling Rand and his colleagues that their dad had abused them. (Toyos' mother said a court order prevented her from speaking with the press; Toyos' father didn't reply to interview requests.) Threats ensued, Toyos said. The girls were told that if they didn't comply, they could be separated, sent to wilderness camps, committed to psychiatric facilities, and cut off from their mom for the rest of their childhoods, according to Toyos.

Much of the Family Bridges workshop involves watching and discussing videos, program documents show. One of them, "Welcome Back, Pluto," tells the fictional story of a petulant teen who scorns her father. "If you're alienated, like Emily, you might get mad when others don't take your complaints seriously," a female narrator says. In time, however, Emily "learned to see things more clearly." She realized her complaints were "exaggerated," the narrator explains, and "sounded just like her mother's."

According to the video, which was scripted by Richard Warshak, a psychologist who helped develop Family Bridges, some children who steadfastly reject a parent "suffer for the rest of their lives."

Other materials warn children against trusting their memories. Toyos, whose workshop took place at the C'mon Inn in Bozeman, Montana, said she was shown a 2013 TED Talk by Elizabeth Loftus, a psychologist who developed the idea that memory is malleable and who has served as a defense witness in high-profile trials, including Harvey Weinstein's. Memories are often contaminated by outside influences, Loftus warns in the talk, which leads to false accusations that can ruin lives.

Insider and Type spoke with or reviewed statements by 17 youths ordered into Family Bridges, Turning Points, or other reunification programs. Their accounts of the workshops were broadly similar. Hannah Rodriguez, then a 16-year-old living in Tampa, Florida, said her workshop, in 2016, was held at Linda Gottlieb's home in New York's Hudson Valley. Gottlieb, the author of a book on parental alienation syndrome, had founded Turning Points about two years earlier. Rodriguez said Gottlieb's office was right off the living room, where her husband spent his time in a recliner. Every day, Rodriguez could see him and hear his TV shows, she said.

Rodriguez, Toyos, and several other former participants said the workshops plunged them into depression.

In spring 2022, one 13-year-old girl got so distressed during a session with Gottlieb at a hotel that she banged on a wall and screamed for help, court papers show. Someone called the police, who brought her to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. "I just want my mom," the girl said, according to hospital records, but under the court order she couldn't call her. She was held at the hospital for three days.

In a written statement that Montes said he later dictated to her, Robert said he became suicidal. "The only thing that stopped me from throwing myself off the balcony was the 24/7 surveillance," the statement reads. "I never thought so many people would be that horrible, controlling, and manipulative towards little kids."

At the end of the workshop, Robert went home with Winenger and had "horrible, weird depressive anxiety episodes," according to the statement. In early February, he was admitted to the psychiatric ward of a children's hospital, according to court records.

Repeated emails to Rand were met with an auto-response saying he was "on sabbatical." The psychologist managing Family Bridges in his absence, Yvonne Parnell, declined interview requests, as did Gottlieb. Gottlieb forwarded Insider's queries to a lawyer, Brian Ludmer, but Ludmer said he couldn't speak for her. Neither Parnell nor Gottlieb replied to detailed written questions.

Lynn Steinberg said her program One Family at a Time, based in Los Angeles, has treated some 50 families over the past eight years. A family therapist, she's the author of "You're Not Crazy: Overcoming Parent/Child Alienation." She was the only program director who agreed to talk.

She said she begins each workshop by listening to the children and taking down every accusation they make; she then works to achieve "an agreement between parent and child." After those conversations, she said, the children are dramatically transformed. They apologize and cry, she said; they kiss and embrace the parent they'd rejected, even sitting in the parent's lap. They're eager to make up for lost time, she said, and can't wait to see long-lost kin.

Daniel Barrozo, of Chino, California, said Steinberg's workshop was a "tremendous help" to him and his daughter in 2021. Steinberg successfully challenged his daughter's misperceptions about him, he said. When Steinberg asked her what he'd done wrong and what she hated about him, his daughter simply looked down and cried, he said. "The whole time, she had nothing to say, because Mom was the one speaking for her," he said. Now, he said, his relationship with his daughter is stronger than ever.

Steinberg said her own mother alienated her from her father, a realization she reached only after his death. She called her ex-husband an alienator, too, saying her adult daughters reject her to this day. She regrets that they didn't get help from a program like hers.

Left untreated, alienated children "fail at relationships" and risk developing eating disorders, drug addiction, depression, gender dysphoria, and other ills, Steinberg said, citing her clinical experience.

But an increasing number of scholars are criticizing the programs. Jean Mercer, an emeritus professor of psychology at Stockton University, is the author of recent papers on parental alienation. One examined six reunification programs, including Family Bridges and Turning Points, and found that the research evidence supporting the effectiveness of the programs "has few strengths and many weaknesses." For another paper, Mercer reviewed the scholarship on the programs and statements from five youths who'd attended them. She found that the programs "may contain elements of psychological abuse."

Another study, by Michael Saini of the University of Toronto, examined 58 empirical papers on alienation and its treatments and found the body of research "methodologically weak." While some divorcing parents exhibited "alienating behaviors" and some children rejected a parent, the nexus between those phenomena hadn't been proved, Saini found. Moreover, he found the studies hadn't shown that interventions worked.

Following the workshop, the programs commonly assign children to a specially trained aftercare therapist. Meanwhile, the exiled parent undergoes reeducation.

Insider obtained audio of a call last year between Gottlieb and the mother of a 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy in Turning Points. "I think what you did is criminal," says Gottlieb, who, like Steinberg, has publicly stated that her own mother alienated her from her father. There was "no reason" the children shouldn't have a relationship with their father, Gottlieb says in the recording, and "you have failed miserably to require it."

"That's alienation," she says. "That is what you are guilty of, and it's child abuse." For the children's sake, the woman must "make amends," Gottlieb says. Otherwise, "I will recommend extending the no-contact period until they're 18."

Insider and Type interviewed 12 mothers whose children were sent to Turning Points, many of whom said Gottlieb rebuked them over the phone and in emails. Most said they were required to write letters to the kids praising their fathers and submit them to Gottlieb for approval.

In early November 2016, Gottlieb told Kelly D. — Ashton and O.'s mother — that her letters contained superfluous details and secret messages and needed to be redone. In the end, Kelly submitted several drafts for each of her sons, all of which Gottlieb rejected.

"She sets a bar," Kelly said. "You try to reach the bar. She sets the bar higher."

Judge Ostroski had ordered Kelly to find a therapist "acceptable to Ms. Gottlieb" who would help her support Michael's relationship with the children. From a list provided by the Delaware Family Court, Kelly chose a psychologist, William Northey. But Gottlieb warned in an email, "I cannot approve him before I speak with him about his specialized knowledge of alienation."

The conversation went poorly. Gottlieb considered Northey unacceptable, she later testified, and Northey found fault with Gottlieb, too. He sent her a letter, reviewed by Insider, criticizing her for calling Kelly a "sociopath" and for using the phrase "parental alienation syndrome," which, he wrote, "is not a recognized diagnostic term."

Meanwhile, Gottlieb was making demands of Ashton and O. Shortly after they returned from New York, according to an email to both parents obtained by Insider, Gottlieb determined that they needed to transfer schools immediately, as their current schools had "actively undermined" their relationship with their dad.

She sought custody of O., too. But in September 2020, Ostroski found that Kelly still hadn't been properly treated for her alienating tendencies and denied her petition.

For now, even visits were too risky, Ostroski concluded.

"Ashton's behavior of running away from Father and refusing to now see Father supports Gottlieb's prediction that, if the children are returned to Mother before she addresses her alienating behavior, they will revert to their prior behaviors when they were refusing to see Father and all of the work that has been done over the past 4 years will be wasted," Ostroski wrote in the ruling.

'Junk science'

In June 2010, more than a thousand mental-health practitioners, lawyers, and judges gathered at the Sheraton in downtown Denver for the annual conference of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, which unites players in the child-custody field from around the world. The theme that year was "Traversing the Trail of Alienation," and over four days the condition was discussed in more than 30 sessions. Participants could learn how to spot an alienating parent, when it was best to defy a child's wishes, and what might help an alienated child heal.

The event signified a remarkable embrace of an idea whose author had been consumed by scandal and tragedy just a short time earlier.

In the late 1990s, critics of Gardner's dealt a powerful blow to his credibility by unearthing writings in which he'd defended pedophilia.

"Sexual activities between an adult and a child are an ancient tradition," he wrote in a 1992 book.

As a product of Western culture, he viewed pedophilia as reprehensible, he wrote, but it may not be "psychologically detrimental" in other cultures. The following year, in a journal article, Gardner argued that from an evolutionary standpoint, children benefited from being "drawn into sexual encounters," since these experiences steered them toward early reproduction. "The Draconian punishments meted out to pedophilics go far beyond what I consider to be the gravity of the crime," he wrote in 1991 in "Sex Abuse Hysteria: Salem Witch Trials Revisited."

In May 2003, at age 72, Gardner dosed himself with painkillers and stabbed himself to death. His son told reporters he was driven to suicide by chronic pain that had recently worsened.

In the assessments of his life that followed, Gardner's work was lambasted by prominent psychiatrists, including Dr. Paul Fink, a past president of the American Psychiatric Association. "This is junk science," Fink told Newsday in July 2003. "He invented a concept and talked about it as if it were proven science. It's not."

The theory could have died with Gardner. Instead, it gained ground.

In 2001, Richard Warshak, a clinical professor of psychology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, published "Divorce Poison: Protecting the Parent/Child Bond From a Vindictive Ex." The book, released by HarperCollins, brought parental alienation theory to a wider audience — and made it more palatable. Unlike Gardner, Warshak spoke of alienation in gender-neutral terms, saying many fathers were programmers, too, and he likened the no-contact period between children and their preferred parent to study abroad.

Warshak started leading workshops for Family Bridges around 2005 and eventually became its unofficial spokesman, a role in which he excelled. In 2010, he appeared in "Welcome Back, Pluto" and published an influential article about Family Bridges in the AFCC journal.

In that study, Warshak reported on outcomes for the 23 children he'd worked with in the program so far. During the four-day workshop, 22 of them recovered a "positive relationship" with their rejected parent, he observed, including recalcitrant teens.

After the workshop, however, four children regressed, Warshak wrote, following what he called "premature" contact with their preferred parent. The program worked best, he said, when this contact was blocked "for an extended period of time." Warshak didn't respond to interview requests.

Meanwhile, another Gardner successor, Dr. William Bernet, a professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University, was working to push alienation theory forward. He submitted a proposal to the American Psychiatric Association to include "parental alienation disorder" in the next version of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, and authored a scholarly article making the case for inclusion. He submitted a similar application to the World Health Organization, which was revising its International Classification of Diseases.

Bernet declined a request for an interview. But in a 2010 book, he wrote that since alienation scholarship had advanced in the wake of Gardner's death, "there is no need now to dwell on the details of what Richard Gardner did or said or wrote."

At the AFCC's conference in Denver in June 2010, Warshak was given a platform to discuss his Family Bridges paper, as was Bernet, to describe his DSM bid. Other presenters staked out a more moderate stance, arguing that while alienation was a pervasive problem, there was insufficient research to support construing it as a mental illness or ordering extreme interventions.

A few alienation opponents presented, including Joan Meier. But she said she flew home to Washington in tears.

"Everywhere I turned, alienation was the coin of the realm," she said.

She set out to design a study that would document how women who alleged abuse were treated in family courts nationwide — especially when alienation was raised. The Justice Department supported the project with a grant of $500,000.

In 2013, the new edition of the DSM was released with no mention of parental alienation. And in 2020, the World Health Organization ruled that parental alienation was "not a health care term" and lacked "evidence-based" treatments.

Bernet and his colleagues simply regrouped. In court, they started calling alienation a "dynamic" or a "phenomenon" rather than an illness, which appeared to satisfy some judges. And Bernet incorporated the nonprofit Parental Alienation Study Group, a coalition of parents, lawyers, and therapists who collaborated on cases and research. Rand, Gottlieb, and Steinberg joined, along with hundreds of other mental-health practitioners involved in custody work. Many, like Steinberg and Gottlieb, claimed to have experienced alienation themselves.

Meier assembled her own research team, comprising a statistician, three social scientists, and two assistants, to conduct her large-scale study. In January 2020, just weeks before the WHO decision, the results were published in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law.

The stark findings shocked even her.

Most trial-court rulings in custody cases are unpublished, but Meier's team identified 15,000 rulings involving abuse or alienation that were published electronically from 2005 to 2014. After winnowing that dataset to cases in which the only parties were two warring parents — not, for example, a child welfare agency — the team was left with 4,300 rulings. There were nearly 2,200 cases in which a mother had accused her ex of spousal or child abuse, and in 10% of these, the father had fought back with an alienation claim.

In general, judges were hesitant to credit mothers' abuse claims. When alienation wasn't raised, judges credited these claims 41% of the time, Meier found, and 26% of the time, mothers lost primary custody.

For the 222 mothers whose spouses accused them of alienation, the picture was even grimmer. Women who alleged abuse and whose husbands accused them of alienation lost custody half the time — twice as often as women who weren't accused of alienation.

To Meier, one of the study's most staggering findings was how rarely mothers branded with the scarlet "A" were believed. In cases where mothers alleged child physical abuse and fathers cross-claimed alienation, judges credited mothers a mere 18% of the time, she found. And in the 51 cases where mothers alleged child sexual abuse and fathers claimed alienation, all but one mother was disbelieved.

For a father accused of child molestation, Meier concluded, "alienation is a complete trump card."

'The whole world is watching'

In January 2022, three months after losing her children, Montes chanced upon a sickening discovery.

In a cloud storage account she'd once shared with Winenger, she said, she found thousands of his photos and videos, including explicit images of their three shared children. She loaded them onto a thumb drive for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, whose investigation into Winenger had never closed.

Within days, Winenger was arrested. He was soon charged with 19 felonies, including possession of child pornography and 14 counts of committing forcible lewd acts against a child, Robert.

He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail, his access to the children suspended. Because of the no-contact order he'd previously obtained against Montes, the children landed in a county shelter. Winenger's defense attorney, Patrick Clancy, declined to comment on Winenger's behalf, saying he doesn't try his cases in the press.

Suddenly, the custody dispute was transferred to juvenile dependency court, which meant Ratekin was no longer presiding. The new judge ordered the kids into their mother's care while the case was pending. On February 18, they came home.

At first, Montes said, the two youngest children were so scared of being taken again that they couldn't sleep in their rooms. She set up a big mattress on her bedroom floor.

Meanwhile, Joan Meier was using her research to make inroads with policymakers.

She'd worked with colleagues to draft a federal law that would incentivize states to protect children from abusers during custody disputes. They named the bill Kayden's Law, after a girl in Pennsylvania whose father murdered her during a court-ordered visit. During negotiations over reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the child's congressional representative, Brian Fitzpatrick, got Kayden's Law in.

The legislation, signed into law on March 15, 2022, sets aside up to $5 million a year for grants to states if, among other measures, they mandate training for custody judges on abuse and trauma and prohibit them from ordering treatments that cut children off from a parent to whom they are attached. If enough states comply, the law could spell the end of the reunification programs.

Last summer, California was the first state to consider such a bill. It was introduced by state Sen. Susan Rubio of Los Angeles County, a survivor of domestic violence herself, after she heard from mothers who'd been accused of alienation and children who'd been sent to reunification programs.

Rubio's bill set off a battle that has since spread to statehouses around the country. Steinberg, the alienation therapist from Los Angeles, was a vocal opponent, arguing that men would be rendered powerless against false accusations. She was joined by fathers' rights groups and by the Parental Alienation Study Group, which was simultaneously pushing hard to discredit Meier's study. (Two prominent members of the group authored a studyconcluding that her findings could not be replicated, which Meier then rebutted.) After Rubio's bill passed the assembly unanimously last August, she was forced to withdraw it in the face of intense opposition from state judges over the training mandate.

Then, last October, the momentum shifted. That's when Maya, the 15-year-old from Santa Cruz, told a custody judge that her mother had abused her and her brother. The judge, Rebecca Connolly, didn't believe her and ordered the children into Steinberg's program, cutting off contact with their father. The graphic video of the children being seized on October 20 was quickly viewed millions of times.

In response to an interview request, an officer of the Santa Cruz County Superior Court said Connolly could not speak about pending cases. Maya's mother has denied the abuse claims in court. Her lawyer, Heidi Simonson, declined an interview, citing court orders pertaining to "privacy and confidentiality."

On the heels of the viral video, a coalition of activists — many of them mothers accused of alienation — organized protests around the country. The first took place October 28 outside the courthouse where Maya had just testified. Standing on concrete risers and facing the building, a pack of Maya's friends demanded her return. "The whole world is watching!" they shouted. Protests also erupted in Michigan, Kansas, and Utah.

Rubio introduced a new bill, with modified judicial training requirements, in February. A similar bill passed both chambers of the Colorado legislature in April. One in Montana died in committee; its sponsor, Sen. Theresa Manzella, said she was up against a "deliberate distribution of misinformation" by opponents, including attorneys who use parental alienation as a legal tactic.

Montes said she's "cautiously optimistic" about Winenger's criminal trial, set to begin in June, and she hopes for an imminent victory in her custody case. Five years of legal bills have left her in debt and on food stamps, she said, but she considers herself lucky all the same. Almost every day, she talks to mothers who remain severed from their children.

Mothers like Kelly D., whose children were sent to Linda Gottlieb's reunification program in New York.

Kelly last saw her younger son, O., early on a Monday morning. It was a warm, sunny day, and she dropped him off at his best friend's house so they could shoot baskets before school. She hugged him, told him she loved him, and said she'd pick him up in the afternoon. Then she drove to court for a hearing.

That was six years, six months, and 24 days ago.

The reporting for this story is part of a forthcoming documentary from Insider, Retro Report, and Type Investigations.

If you are experiencing domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

Read the original article on Insider

[sophieinwonderland]

So far, this conversation about RAMCOA, the ISSTD and the False Memory Syndrome Foundation has been weirdly lacking in takes from the ISSTD and the victims of the FMSF

I think a lot of people in syscourse are only being told one side of the story, and don't currently know about the memory wars from the perspective of the other side. So why not hear from the current doctor running the RAMCOA special interest group?

Here is the response of Dr. Jennifer Freyd, whose parents founded the FMSF after Dr. Jennifer Freyd accused her father of sexual assault, to that thread.

Here's another thread from Michael Salter discussing how the FMSF pushed the Satanic Panic narrative hard to discredit all survivors of CSA.

And I want to stop to mention here that undermining allegations of sexual abuse by labeling them as SRA to discredit them is exactly what the anti-RAMCOA people have been doing on here recently. Conflating SRA with RAMCOA in general to discredit RAMCOA as a whole.

I also want to mention that the first victim of the FMSF, Dr. Jennifer Freyd, did not accuse her parents of being involved in any sort of cult. But jumping hard on the SRA narrative to boost their False Memory Syndrome claims made it easier for them to discredit their daughter.

There are two sides to the RAMCOA debate. On the one side, you have victims of extreme trauma and a group of doctors who have dedicated their lives to helping those victims.

On the other side...

You have the False Memory Syndrome Foundation that was founded by accused child molesters to defend accused child molesters and discredit victims.

You have the Satanic Temple's Grey Faction which was founded to fuel the narrative of Satanists being victimized, using False Memory Syndrome rhetoric and reviving Satanic Panic claims to fuel their own victim complexes.

Then you have this latest bunch from r/systemscringe, a hate group whose motives don't seem to go any further than mocking systems because they enjoy hurting people.

This is a narrative that for the past 30 years, and has been consistently backed by the worst excuses for human beings on the planet.

And I am incredibly disappointed with anyone who has let themselves be manipulated into buying into the anti-RAMCOA talking points.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Adam Kinzinger at Substack:

As the GOP’s vice presidential contender J.D. Vance diverts attention with ridiculous statements about childless women, a far more serious problem is lurking beneath the surface of the current election campaign: Tens of millions of people still follow the dangerous conspiracy theories of the online “Q-Anon” movement and the GOP’s presidential nominee Donald Trump has signaled his support for their beliefs.

Originating as an anonymous online message board created by a fictitious former “Q-Clearance” intelligence officer, Q-Anon’s main premise is that the country, and much of the world, is run by an elite, child-molesting and cannibalistic (I’m not kidding) cabal that is determined to deny Trump power. Countless lesser conspiracies are alleged under the “Q” banner and while few followers subscribe to them all, they generally regard the world with deep suspicion and believe Trump will redeem the world. With Trumpism a key element of the movement, Q-Anon is a powerful part of his base, which explains why he recently reposted a social media meme showing himself and his wife Melania in the White House with the letter “Q” superimposed over them. He also reposted a message that said the co-chair of the Congressional committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol “is guilty of TREASON” and should be tried, along with others, in “televised military tribunals” 

Trump was talking directly about former member of Congress Liz Cheney and indirectly about everyone who served on the January 6 committee, including me. If you watched the TV coverage of the pro-Trump mob’s violent takeover of the Capitol you no doubt saw that some of the marauders wore Q-Anon T-shirts, carried placards bearing the letter “Q” and displayed the letters WWG1WGA, which stands for the Q-Anon motto, “Where We Go One We Go All.” I would say that a substantial number of the Capitol rioters followed “Q” and were inspired by its claims. With his call-out to QAnon, Trump helped re-energized a movement that has brought millions into what amounts to a political cult that has inspired violence and divided families across America. This problem is gaining media attention lately, as The New York Times and others have published articles about a new book called The Quiet Damage: Q-Anon and the Destruction of the American Family by Jesselyn Cook.

Adam Kinzinger wrote in Substack on QAnon and how it never really left the MAGA world.

[hello-nichya-here]

My love for MJ aside, speaking purely as someone who is looking into all the accusations against him and trying to be as unbiased as possible, it's CRAZY how the fans are labeled as being "in denial about the truth" when they are clearly correct in saying there's more than enough proof of his innocence.

Literally EVERYTHING is on Michael's side: eye-witnesses, videos, recorded phone calls, documents, and well-over a decade of FBI investigations, all of which contradict every single part of the stories about the supposed child abuse.

The proof of his innocence goes from "The pictures police took of Michael's genitals did not match the description the kid provided" to "This family that claims Michael kidnapped them and forced them to sell all their stuff, including their house, so they'd be dependent on him was confirmed to be lying since they still owned all the things they said they were forced to sell", all the way to "Michael wasn't even in the same country as the supposed victim at the time, and in fact, the very ROOM in which the the abuse allegedly happened did not even exist yet"

Not to mention proof that first "victim" (Jordan Chandler) was coerced by his abusive father into accusing Michael, that the family of the second "victim" (Gavin Arvizo) already having a history of scams that included lying about sexual abuse, and the Leaving Neverland documentary (that talks about the alledged abuse of James Safechuck and Wade Robson) was discovered to be copying an erotic book written by a confessed pedophile that wanted to share his fantasies about Michael abusing children.

Meanwhile all the people who say he was guilty have as proof is "Well, I saw an interview with the pedo that wrote that pornographic book and assumed it was true" or "I heard on a TV show 30 years ago that he was guilty and paid hush money to the victims and never checked that the investigation was still going and that the boy was even allowed to testify in court if he wanted to" or "This maid that was fired for stealing stuff from Michael's home claims she saw him molesting Jordan Chandler in Neverland - even though Jordan says he was abused during the tour, not in Neverland, so even if you were to believe his story you'd still have to assume this woman is lying."

It really is no wonder the 1993 and 2013 allegations did not even managed to get a proper trial with how little there was to work with, and the 2005 one led to Michael being found innocent of all charges in record time - I strongly suspect that if it wasn't for the former case, it wouldn't even have made it to court in the first place either with how nonsensical it was.

[opinated-user]

this is a lie. KP actually withstood for months people saying that kind of things to her because well, that was her friend and she thought that friend was a good person so who cares about what complete strangers with zero influence power has to say? since the very start of their friendship KP has been tolerating people treating her as a apologist for all the horrible things LO has done, just in principle, not even directly dismissing the allegations that she has. LO, you literally took that info from me and completely twisted what it meant for this. to not admit that KP left you because she believed Courtney. she still does to this day. she saw the allegations, saw the evidence, listened to it's testimony and realized that you were a dangerous, disgusting and awful person that she couldn't stand being around anymore. it was so easy, that's the part you sadly don't understand. it was so easy because from the start KP never liked you as much as you liked her. she trusted MO and MO trusted you, that was all there was to it. for the record too, whenever LO uses the phrase "fair weather friend" you can add that as a red flag. not only is that what she keeps calling Brittany, when she isn't lying about having sex with her like the creep that she is, it's also the phrase that Twilight uses in Stockholm to describe the kind of people who won't support her through the raping of her own wife or Rainbow Dash after molesting a child. since the start, LO has always use it, whether intentionally or not, specifically for people who refuse to tolerate abusive behavior. because a good friend, according to her, would have left her lie about Tara/Alison all she wanted. a good friend would have ignored her sibling speaking out. a good friend would have closed off their ears and pretend everything was okay despite everything. a good friend would never call her out on her obviously predatory actions. that was the ultimate lesson of Stockholm that LO is still applying even to this day. just in case anyone needed the reminder that Stockholm exist, LO wrote it and is so much worse than just being pro pedophilia.

[blvckentropy]

WARNING LONG RANT!

Okay so I've been sitting on Drake so called "diss track" and I still declare it as the biggest CONTRADICTING ASS track ever. Like I get die hard Drake fans gone be like he won regardless but he hasn't because he made several deep holes in his argument. Granted you probably don't give a damn and that's fine. Overall, neither do I but some of you got so blinded and hyped by his one-liners and his flow that you ain't peep what he really said did you? Ngl, had me sitting here like a was crazy for a minute. Now correct me if I'm wrong cause I also had to fact check myself, but these are the lines that got me like now wait wait....

You said, "The ones that you're gettin' your stories from, they all clowns" just to say "We plotted for a week and then we fed you the information".... which one is it? Are you calling yourself a clown or the ppl you sent the info. to? I'm perplexed.

"What about the bones we dug up in that excavation? And why isn't Whitney denyin' all of the allegations? Why is she following Dave Free and not Mr. Morale? You haven't seen the kids in six months, the distance is wild Dave leaving heart emojis underneath pics of the child"

First and for most, what is your obsession with this woman? Also are we in high school? Why we worried about someone follow count and/or who following who? She a grown ass woman like she can't have male friends. Plus, if irl she with Kendrick every day, why does she need to? And if Kendrick aint worried about, why are you? You caught up in finding out if that's her real bd but where are your evidence? If Kendrick has to, you do too. Childish.

BUT THIS IS WHERE IT GOT DISRESPECTFUL!

"This Epstein angle was the shit I expected TikTok videos you collected and dissected Instead of being on some diss-direct shit You rather fucking grab your pen and misdirect shit My mom came over today and I was like, "Mother, I—, mother, I—, mother—" Ah, wait a second, that's that one record where you say you got molested"

"This about to get so depressin' This is trauma from your own confessions This when your father leave you home alone with no protection, so neglected That's why these pedophile raps and shit you so obsessed with, it's so excessive"

"Touch My Body" by Mariah Carey play, you probably start reflectin"

This whole verse was a misinterpretation of Kendrick's song "Mother I Sober" which I had to educate myself with. Long story short, the song is about his mom SA and how she thought he was by his cousin even when he told her "no" and it forms a bigger picture to his overall family trauma as a whole and so on. So not only did you Mr. " You gotta learn to fact check things and be less impatient" if that ain't the biggest pot calling the kettle black idk what is. You got it wrong (Kendrick pretty much explained it) then double down on borderline prob over the line atp disrespecting his mother and all and every victim of SA? We victim shaming now?

I never been with no one underage, but now I understand why this the angle that you really mess with Just for clarity, I feel disgusted, I'm too respected If I was fucking young girls, I promise I'd have been arrested I'm way too famous for this shit you just suggested

*Slow claps* Congratulations you played yourself. What in the fuckery? CURRENTLY....DIDDY DOODLE BOB HAS ALLEGATIONS RIGHT NOW AND HE'S MORE FAMOUS THAN U. And don't get me started on the list....umm...you literally just named one (If you still bumping R. Kelly, you could thank the Savior)

"Only fuckin' with Whitneys, not Millie Bobby Browns, I'd never look twice at no teenager" but you'll look once? Also, someone que up the video with him on stage w/ a 17-year-old. He and I quote "Why you look like that?" "You thick. look at all this" Then kiss her all over her face🤔 Sir a kiss on the cheek or forehead would suffice but I digress.

And correct me if I'm wrong, I believe the only reason Kendrick hasn't even the touch the "beating allegations" is because he covers all that in both Mr. Morale and Mother I sober? If I'm correct, then you basically didn't tell us nothing that hasn't been said on him. Plus you also not fact checking. Where's of your proof? I would think someone with the upper hand would have laid down evidence that you mastermind...oh wait...was Kendrick right along? Now you look like the goofy on defense. Like do Kendrick even have to say anything?

Bruh, but the funniest part on it all. You acting like YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS. YOU DROP A DISS first wanting him to response and now you trying to make it seem like you didn't? My guy, if your actions alone here isn't a manipulation master class. Chileeeeee

[dukeofdelirium]

I don’t think people realize the reality of the allegations leveled against Michael Jackson. Intelligence agencies state that most serial pedophiles abuse upwards of 400 children in their lifetimes.

Big name convicted pedophiles like Weinstein have over 100 proven victims. Epstein had well over 100 as well.

Michael Jackson was friends with hundreds of kids all over the world. All but 5 defend him to this day. All 5 of those accusers have sought civil attorneys looking for money rather than criminal conviction, and no, the 2005 trial wasn’t because the accuser or his mother sought criminal justice. They had already sought a civil attorney which triggered the criminal investigation, the very same civil attorney from 1994 that got $15 million out of Jackson during the first child abuse allegation.

There is documented evidence of extortion from each of Michael Jackson’s accusers, including his 2 posthumous accusers. All of his accusers are also documented perjurers under oath and they also all have repeatedly changed their stories. None of Michael Jackson’s accusers ever contacted the police, either.

There is also no corroborating evidence that exists that can prove that Michael Jackson 1) was attracted to children or that 2) he ever sexually abused a child.

There are judicial findings of fraud against the accuser and his mother from 2005’s criminal trial. They had successfully extorted numerous celebrities before targeting Jackson.

The narrative the media and the accuser’s have spun is that Michael Jackson was a serial pedophile, and each one depicts him as having very different abuse tactics that do not align with one another. If these allegations were truthful, Jackson wouldn’t have had 5 accusers. He would have had hundreds, because he would have abused all of the kids around him.

This man was one of the most heavily investigated people on the planet. He was intermittently investigated by the FBI for 13 years. He withstood FIVE separate raids on his properties with 70+ sheriffs tearing through his home, he was investigated by CPS, as well as by multiple police departments for over a decade.

This is no light thing to shrug off and just say whatever to. That’s an insane amount of manpower spent targeting a single man. And guess what they found? NOTHING! They never found a single SHRED of evidence to support the idea that Michael Jackson committed any crime, and certainly not child molestation.

I urge those of you who haven’t researched the cases to do your research before you speak on it.

You can find all of the court transcripts online for free. You can find the FBI files online for free. You can even watch documentaries MJ supporters have made that have ACTUAL PROOF in them for free online! The proof of MJ’s innocence has been out there for decades.

[beardedmrbean]

A 43-year-old schoolteacher in Los Angeles has been arrested and charged with the alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old student in her class and investigators believe there may be additional victims, authorities announced Thursday.

Colleen Jo Matarico, a resident of Valley Village, was arrested Nov. 7 in connection with the allegations, according to a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department.

“Matarico, a teacher, groomed and sexually assaulted a 13-year-old victim in her classroom, and later convinced the victim to have sexual intercourse in her vehicle,” investigators said.

Officials did not provide any information on where Matarico teaches, but said after filing the case the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office, she was charged with five counts of lewd acts with a minor, two counts of lewd acts with a minor 14 or 15 years old and one count of furnishing marijuana to a minor.

“Detectives believe there are additional, unidentified victims of Matarico who have yet to come forward,” the release noted. “A photograph of Matarico is being released to identify and speak with any additional victims.”

Feds bust Southern California man, 43, with machine guns, child pornography

The 43-year-old teacher is currently in custody on $1.3 million bail.

Anyone with additional information is urged to contact LAPD’s Juvenile Division Abused Child Section at 424-259-7097 and speak with detectives.

Those wishing to remain anonymous can call the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-222-8477 or submit tips online at www.lacrimestoppers.org.