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Leaders from the Society of Professional Journalists spent yesterday and today on Capitol Hill advising our nation's law makers why they should support a federal version of the reporter shield law.
From this SPJ press release:
"There are currently two federal shield law bills pending in the Senate, S. 448 and H.R. 985, both known as the Free Flow of Information Act. H.R. 985 passed the House earlier this year, and both have been placed on the Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for markup once Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings are complete... A federal shield law would protect reporters and the sources who come forward with sensitive information. Without the guarantees a federal shield law would provide, people may be less likely to share information vital to a well-informed citizenry."
S. 448 provides "a bill to maintain the free flow of information to the public by providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure of information by certain persons connected with the news media."
Another important bill making its way through congressional committees is HR 2737: The Child Protection Compact Act of 2009.
This "provides United States assistance for the purpose of eradicating trafficking in children in eligible countries through the implementation of Child Protection Compacts, and for other purposes. The Child Protection Compact Act of 2009 authorizes the Secretary of State, through the Ambassador, to provide assistance (grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts) for an eligible country with a significant prevalence of trafficking in children that enters into a Child Protection Compact with the United States to support policies and programs to eradicate the trafficking of children."
Congressional findings call for the immediate elimination of the worst forms of child labor including "the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances."
The findings continue:
"The sexual exploitation of minors is a global phenomenon. The International Labour Organization estimates that 1,800,000 children worldwide are exploited each year through prostitution and pornography."
Passage of these two bills would protect sources who provide information to journalists investigating crimes like child sex tourism.
Case in point.
On June 26, 2009, former fishing tour operator Richard Schair sued Newsvine in an attempt to intimidate other media from reporting that he was recently denied habeas corpus by a Brazilian judge.
You can read the complaint here.
Now he'll probably be arrested upon entering Brazil after the federal police charged him on August 8, 2007 with rape, corruption of minors and operating a prostitution network.
For those of you who have followed along the past year, you already know that the FBI is investigating the Shriners' secret sub-group, the Royal Order of Jesters, for prostitution, sex trafficking and child sex tourism.
For those of you not familiar, here's the short version.
In March, 2003, I began investigating the nonprofit claims of a group made up of retired spies. After three years of what seemed like hand to hand combat, they finally posted their compliance documents online.
A month later, in April 2006, a Shriner whistleblower asked me to investigate his own for misusing charitable donations and tax fraud.
On February 19, 2009, two years into exposing Shriner corruption, I wrote and published the first ever article about the Royal Order of Jesters.
Three weeks later, I reported that 19 Jesters were named on a witness list for the defense in a defamation lawsuit between two Peacock Bass Fishing Tour operators. These Jesters, Schair's clients, were expected to testify about their first hand knowledge of prostitution, minor prostitution and illegal drugs while fishing in Brazil.
The plaintiff, Richard Schair, of Wet-a-line-tours, sued Philip Marsteller of Amazon Tours on May 11, 2007 for defamation and libel per se after alleging that Schair provided drugs and prostitutes for his clients as they fished the Amazon.
Three days later, Dan Herbeck of the Buffalo News broke the news that a New York state Supreme Court judge resigned because he and two other Jesters were caught in a FBI human trafficking sting for taking illegal alien prostitutes across state lines to weekend stag parties in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Florida and Canada.
Memberships go like this.
One must first be a Master Mason before becoming a Shriner. The Shriners are known for providing free medical care to burned and crippled children in their 22 North American hospitals.
One must be an invited Shriner to become a member of the Royal Order of Jesters, somehow classified by the IRS as a nonprofit or tax exempt group with the exempt purpose of just having fun by spreading mirth and merriment.
No kidding.
Court documents in these cases point to investigations by both U.S. and Brazilian authorities into child sex tourism involving members of the Royal Order of Jesters as well as those who allegedly facilitated it.
Back to Richard Schair.
He settled with Marsteller out of court on December 9, 2008 after mounting evidence seemed to render his case unwinnable.
But that didn't stop him because Schair again sued for defamation and libel per se, this time using my articles to threaten Newsvine.
Again.
This second lawsuit continues to draw unnecessary attention to and media scrutiny of Schair's denials as he claims he's been damaged by articles that describe evidence produced in his own defamation lawsuit and provide links to federal court records that show on August 8, 2007, the Brazilian federal police charged Richard Wayne Schair with rape, corruption of minors and operating a prostitution network.
The complaint whines:
"Rather than generate an unbiased article Frost instead unscrupulously quotes from alleged witness affidavits and witness lists."
My online bio clearly states that I am biased against corruption and those who exploit children, sexually or otherwise.
Schair's attorney, Aaron C. Clark continues:
"The material quoted was created in respect to a pending lawsuit and Frost was fully aware that such information was in no way objective or accurate."
Schair and his attorney imply that Marsteller somehow fabricated depositions provided by five "Jane Does" to the Brazilian Federal Police as well as depositions provided by two fishing tour operators. The girls' depositions share the same case number cited in Schair's charges, first made available to the public on June 23, 2009.
These charges became available to the public after Schair's application for habeas corpus was denied by the judge overseeing his case. This means that Schair can now be arrested upon entering Brazil for the previously described charges.
The complaining continues:
"Frost sifts through the deposition material consciously cherry picking material that fits her version of reality."
Here's my version of reality.
I'm an award winning investigative journalist and author who gives voice to the voiceless and by doing so, has singlehandedly exposed the biggest nonprofit fraud of our time.
As a Native American mother and grandmother, my instinct is to try and help these Brazilian Indian girls from being further victimized by those sworn to uphold the highest standards of brotherly love and virtues common to honest, hardworking family men.
I've written before that as far as the Jesters go, who gives a rip if anyone wants to mess around, get snot slinging drunk or gamble your ass off. But to do so as a nonprofit group now under investigation for child sex tourism is not acceptable by anyone's standards.
And, yeah, I hit the wall after reading what those five Indian girls told the Brazilian federal police; that from age 13 to age 16, they were illegally lured off their reservations by a north American named "Richard" who tricked them into being prostitutes on his fishing boats for other North American tourists.
One testified that she was left pregnant after one such trip at age 13.
You can read their depositions here.
Depositions from two fishing guides were taken by the defense after they had similarly testified to the Brazilian federal police and officials at the American embassy in Brasilia about witnessing some of these 19 Jesters, who asked to be called "Masons," having sex with minor prostitutes since they claimed that these guys asked for girls over 13.
Back to the Buffalo FBI investigation into the Royal Order of Jesters.
In contrast to Schair, who continues to draw unnecessary attention to himself with his legal bullying and braying repeated denials in the face of official court charges, one man is cooperating with federal investigators as he, through the Western New York Human Trafficking Task Force, is providing cooperation into the investigation of the Royal Order of Jesters for sex trafficking and child sex tourism.
That guy is former New York state Supreme Court judge, Ronald Tills. The other two Jesters who were also caught with him have, like Tills, sucked it up and pleaded guilty to violating or conspiring to violate the Mann Act and have already been sentenced.
Court documents in Tills' case paint the picture of a once powerful mover and shaker who joined a group that relied on its members to protect each other and after he was caught running prostitutes across state lines, was directed to get treatment for alcohol abuse. He probably did these types of things while drunk with power and whatever else.
God knows this is certainly no excuse but I'll be sober 27 years this upcoming August so I understand that we do things we're not proud of while intoxicated.
So, I have compassion for the guy.
One of the most shocking things I've learned about Shriner leaders is the ruthless retaliation with which they come after those who question them or try to expose their corruption.
This is probably the reason that Ralph Semb was ousted as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Shriners Hospitals for Children at the last Shriner convention, held over the Fourth of July in San Antonio, Texas.
It looks like Tills was thrown under the bus and left to twist in the wind by his "brothers."
I'm surprised he's still alive.
Kinda like testifying against the mob.
Part of Masonic vows pledge to protect their brothers to the point of perjury except in cases of murder and treason.
Many thought that retired police captain John Trowbridge got off light after being put on probation and put on the New York state sex offender list.
Prison time for him would have been a death sentence.
Same for Tills.
Tills' pleading guilty has provided public records in the federal court's document system AKA PACER that paint a picture of a nonprofit organization gone way wrong.
Don't get me wrong here.
Tills admitted to doing bad stuff but from where I sit, he's risking his life to expose a group of men who are hiding behind burned and crippled children just so they can party with prostitutes at tax payer expense.
Tills' case also provides unprecedented access to the secret inner workings of the Royal Order of Jesters to include how he coordinated prostitutes with national officers for a national meeting in Canada. He's probably provided enough evidence for the IRS to, at the very least, jerk their nonprofit status.
The Senate Finance Committee, by the way, needs to open hearings into nonprofit corruption with a focus on the Shriners and the Jesters as they've known about this stuff for over a year.
The big picture here is that Richard Schair is attempting to intimidate other media from covering the breaking news out of Brazil that his request for habeas corpus was denied. Now he could and probably would be arrested by the federal police upon entering Brazil for the charges of rape, corruption of minors and operating a prostitution network.
Since suing in federal court didn't work out so well, Schair filed against Newsvine where he lives, in Hall county, Georgia, hoping for blind justice.
This is why both the Free Flow of Information Act and the Child Protection Compact of 2009 must become law else the press be intimidated from working with whistle blowers who want to rid the world of such ugly crimes against children.
All copies of material reprinted or duplicated from "by Sandy Frost" must include the following credit line: From http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com. Copyright (c) 2009 by Sandy Frost. Used by permission.
