Some thoughts on sex trafficking

We are spiritual beings having a human experience. When someone ignores this, thinking you are just a body, detachable from spirit like a shadow, you demean the core sacred center of the life of this person, a multifaceted human being. Making them into a thing. Disposable, like kleenex. To take lovemaking and turn it into a crass use of someone’s body, often not even to give pleasure, and certainly not intending that this person receive tenderness, compassion, or love, but simply to exercise power over them, ensnared like a trapped animal, is extremely destructive. Often it is exacerbated by even more violence and cruelty. For many of us, it would instinctively be better to be murdered than raped. Rape incurs deep shame, feeling abased. It never goes away. The scars last for decades, even in healthy relationships; sexual abuse suddenly may rear its ugly roots of torment and emotional scarring. The body remembers, and shrivels down into fear and wanting to find safety, even after successful therapy. As a gynecologist, I have known this, I have seen it in women even into their 70s and 80s.

To sell a person into slavery is a terrible thing. To sell them to do manual labor, dangerous and unrecompensed work, is hard enough; but to make their body feel so abused and their personhood so corrupted, is soul-destroying.

The Epstein sex-trafficking ring lasted for 30 years. There were at least a thousand identified victims. Many have told their stories in court, and won their cases. The majority of women who were used by this ring came from Eastern European countries. That is probably how the tracks got covered for so long. The monetary value of that ring was 1.5 BILLION dollars. In early reports, it was said that 1.1 billion came from Trump. I don’t have the attribution to that, but maybe this week, when Congressman Ro Khanna allows the victims to tell their stories to Congress and the public, we will get more details about the way the money was hidden. But this is not just about money. It is about a long-standing practice of abuse of children and women, and we need to have good men and women rise up and share OUTRAGE, and promise to tighten the laws, to not let it happen again. And to bring the perpetrators to justice. Certainly not to allow access to children; girls and young women, but also young men. Jesus had heavy words to say about those who hurt children (Matthew 18:6). For those who want our country’s ethics to be based in Christian thinking, it is worth pondering that.

Martina Nicholson, MD

retired gynecologist

Techtonic plates in Government

Substack has been very helpful in offering us people who have been kicked off the WaPO and the NYT. People who have expertise and informed opinions are what I feel the deepest need for. There is a mountain of toxic waste building up in cyberspace.

This morning there is a substantive conversation between Paul Krugman and Kim Schappelle, called “From Orban to Trump, part II.” They are discussing the way we are being manipulated and turned from democracy to autocracy. One of the scary parts is how each inroad makes return to full democratic function less possible. We have to keep staying aware and pushing back. In my opinion the right-wing under DT is attempting to destroy the government. I think a lot of people think he is just trying to maneuver and build a kleptocracy, but I think he truly wants to be a dictator, and has henchmen who want to help him do it. The Project 2025 agenda is being executed very clearly. There is a lot of distraction, and smaller but significant issues, losses. and moral injury to important people who are being fired without cause, to take away responsibility and accountability from each agency!

What I think is happening is that DT is orchestrating the chaos, talking wildly, not substantively, to distract people from the main issue we face. If the Congress fails to refund the government on 3/14, we have been erased as a democracy, and the Constitution lies fallow. Trump the dictator takes over. The corporate taxes are due 3/15. The personal taxes are due 4/15. Trump and his henchmen are simply going to empty the coffers and put our tax money to their own uses. Including transferring wealth and power to Russia, which is already probably almost done, through the computers they have forced the State Department to open to Russia, and close to Ukraine. None of our allies can trust us, as long as this is the situation. DOGE has locks and surveillance keys on the computers of the IRS, and the Treasury. They have taken away as much oversight as possible for each of the agencies, and reduced the power of the supposedly “in charge” heads.

How can we put appropriate pressure on DT and these treasonous people? Not pay the taxes. If we all do not pay the taxes, and Congress then says that we can impeach him, we can get the government back. This is a huge long-shot.

The solidarity economy

I am a member of FCNL, the Friends Committee on National Legislation. They have been trying for 100 years to help us get to a more just and more peaceful society and government. This month’s newsletter has an interesting article on what is a Solidarity Economy. This is sharing, not forced, ways to build sustainable economic practices. Examples are cooperatives, land trusts, credit unions, peer lending, mutual aid, community-led economic development, barter, commmunity-supported agriculture, and fair trade products. They give several examples, including in Atlanta a community land trust which aims to build affordable housing. They say that sometimes because this is not a power-grab, even in an authoritarian state, these practices can work to buffer the community needs.

In our town, we have Second Harvest food bank, which does a tremendous job of getting fresh produce to the less fortunate. We have the Grey Bears, who do a fantastic job of repurposing and recycling, and helping others, especially the elderly, find less expensive options.

The idea is to prioritize people and the planet over endless profit and growth. Some of you saw my posts about Prop 1, and how much hope I have had, that it would pass. It passed by 1%, and it is going to provide mental health clinics and acute care mental health beds for psychotic patients, in California. It will not solve all the homeless’ needs, but it is a good start, for the hardest things to help, which are the mental health needs, which have been underserved and in crisis for over 50 years. My next big hope came when I read about a big project which is happening in central Los Angeles, which is a huge building project, part of which is to help increase housing for the homeless. But also, it is going to be aesthetically pleasing, and make what is currently a maniacal eyesore and nightmare to drive through, into what looks like the center of a city which cares about building community. I want to again recommend that people read the book by Victoria Sweet MD, “God’s Hotel”. It is about the planning and building of the last big charity hospital, in San Francisco. What Dr. Sweet shows is that people who have had no place to be, and who “don’t fit in” can learn to fit in if the community makes it possible for them to find a niche. This is about widening the circle.

Some mentally ill people will never be able to hold a job; it is too difficult for some people to sustain the daily energy and task-oriented focus. Some cannot easily communicate and cooperate in a team of workers. But they can do SOME thing, and we can help find out what it is. Some people can work sometimes, and take time off when they are not able to focus or do a job. People are not machines, and we have to make it possible for many different skills to be offered for the good of the whole community. If we are thinking in terms of a Solidarity Economy, this becomes more clear. We can try to find ways to build healthy and stable communities, if we are not focusing only on the governmental support and budget. As you know, I believe we need universal healthcare, and that will mean using taxpayers’ money, but I want it to be spent efficiently, with the 3% overhead of Medicare, not the insurance industry’s 15%. There are ways we can expand our reach, if we widen the lens with which we “see” the problems we need to solve.