Law Enforcement makes very expensive decisions under the lie of protecting the public.  A 99% conviction rate is a product of corrupt cops ignoring the constitution, public pretenders offering indigent defendants terrible legal help, and prosecutors force defendants to languish in jail forever.  No one wants to offer anyone the presumption of innocence. The concept of innocent until proven guilty is only for the rich and well connected.

  Public employees get paid the same for good, mediocre, or bad performance.  Everyone is trying to survive until they get a great retirement package.  The best employees are the people that only look out for their interest. Everyone looks the other way since they have skeletons in their closet also.  It is a silent conspiracy of public employee criminals just like the prisoners they supervise.

 Rape By Cop (zorrow.org) 

 Why The US Has So Many Prisoners - YouTube 

   For victims of sexual assault, recovery is often long and torturous. But some women face even more trauma when they find out they are pregnant to their attacker. Every year in the United States about 10,000 babies are born as a result of rape. In these situations, the natural assumption is that all compassion, as well as all legal rights, rest with the victim and her child. But as Liam Bartlett discovers, that’s not the case in several states where outdated laws mean an increasing number of American rapists are legally applying for, and being granted, custody rights over these children. Thankfully though, there are courageous women fighting to change these crazy laws 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXy1oQsJAoo

Nov 7, 2018 

 by David Nussman  •  ChurchMilitant.com  •  October 18, 2019    28 Comments

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WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - The current archbishop of the nation's capital is praising Cdl. Joseph Bernardin.

Archbishop Wilton Gregory became head of the Washington D.C. archdiocese this May. Previously, he served as archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia.

In an interview published online on Wednesday, the archbishop named Cdl. Bernardin as his main mentor.

"My mentor for being a bishop was Cardinal Joseph Bernardin," Gregory told Washingtonian. "I was his auxiliary. Anything I do well as a bishop I place at his feet. Anything I goof up I learned on my own."

My mentor for being a bishop was Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.GabTweet

He went on to say, "He was a mentor and a friend and a father and a brother. Just watching him being a bishop taught me a lot — how he handled people, how he approached difficulties, how he sought to resolve issues and respond to needs."

As Church Militant has noted before, Gregory was an auxiliary bishop in the Chicago archdiocese under Bernardin.

Gregory's interviewer, Washingtonian's assistant editor William Elliot, said as a follow-up, "I've read that Cardinal Bernardin was criticized at times because he wasn't afraid to make decisions — giving laypeople positions of authority, for example — that might upset more conservative Catholics."

In response, Abp. Gregory trumpeted Cdl. Bernardin as a pioneering innovator:

One of his trademark ventures was the Common Ground effort: inviting people who had often diametrically opposed opinions on Church issues to talk with each other. Before Pope Francis said that you've got to encounter people, [Cardinal Bernardin] was saying, "People have to talk to each other." That got some serious pushback.

But Cdl. Bernardin has been accused of far worse things than "giving laypeople positions of authority" and getting people who disagree "to talk with each other."

This past June, Church Militant shed light on an allegation of child sexual abuse against Bernardin. The allegation accuses Bernardin of raping a minor as part of a satanic ritual in 1957 when he was a parish priest in South Carolina.

Bernardin was known as a leading liberal in the U.S. bishops conference — known at the time as the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) — even serving as president of the conference in 1974-1977.

During Bernardin's time as president, he and his associates pushed to normalize the lay reception of Holy Communion on the hand during a May 1977 NCCB meeting. The measure passed with a vote, but several key requirements enumerated by the Pope for allowing Communion in the hands were completely ignored.

Archbishop Gregory, meanwhile, facilitated the spread of pro-gay messaging in the Atlanta archdiocese during his years there.

Pro-LGBT Jesuit Fr. James Martin spoke at two Atlanta-area parishes last October, after Abp. Gregory invited him to speak in the archdiocese.

Gregory allowed the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta to participate in a gay pride parade year after year.

In 2013, Gregory welcomed dissident pro-gay group Fortunate Families into the archdiocese of Atlanta.

In 2015, he offered Mass for a theologically dissident pro-LGBT retreat that took place at the chancery.

This year, when Gregory was installed as new head of the Washington, D.C. archdiocese, Fortunate Families in Atlanta paid for a rainbow-colored advertisement thanking their former archbishop and wishing him well in his new post.

Pro-LGBT Jesuit Fr. James Martin spoke at two Atlanta-area parishes last October, after Abp. Gregory invited him to speak in the archdiocese.GabTweet

Archbishop Gregory has also been accused of covering up clerical sexual misconduct.

Back in 2004, when Gregory was bishop of Belleville, Illinois, he was held in contempt of court for refusing to release mental health records related to a sex abuse case involving a retired priest.

In 2018, the archbishop pushed back against the Hidden Predator Act, a Georgia bill that would have extended the statute of limitations from age 23 to 38 for victims of child sexual abuse. The bill also would have allowed child sex abuse victims to sue both their alleged abusers and the organizations that enabled the abuse.

That was just a few months before 2018's "summer of shame" for U.S. Catholics, when homosexual abuse claims came to light against now-laicized ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and a grand jury report in Pennsylvania listed sexual abuse allegations against hundreds of Catholic clergy.

In addition to his ties to Bernardin, Abp. Gregory also had ties to McCarrick. After news broke last year of abuse allegations against McCarrick, Abp. Gregory said in a statement, "I am hurt, because my respect and fraternal esteem for Theodore McCarrick were clearly misplaced."

In 2013, Gregory restored a priest to active ministry who had been removed for homosexual activity. That priest, Fr. Juan Fernando Areiza, was removed from ministry in 2010 after evidence came to light that he violated priestly celibacy in a consensual gay relationship.

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/gregory-calls-bernardin-his-mentor

 AJC Digging Deeper: Abuse Investigation  April 30, 2019                  By                

•                             Shelia M. Poole
• Christian Boone, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia has become the latest state to launch an investigation into past sexual abuse claims within the Catholic Church, Attorney General Chris Carr said Tuesday.

The repercussions could be widespread. In Pennsylvania, a grand jury report identified hundreds of priests accused of molesting at least 1,000 minors over the past seven decades in that state.

“I think people should be prepared for some bad news, revelations that some people don’t want to come out,” said attorney Darren Penn, who represents an unidentified man in a lawsuit alleging abuse at the hands of former Dalton priest Douglas Edwards.

Carr said the state’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council will lead the probe. If any prosecutions come out of the investigation, they’ll be handled on a local level, he said.

“I heard from those that I go to church with every Sunday,” he said during an exclusive interview Tuesday with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News. “And I saw the level of anger and frustration and distrust. Both on a personal and professional level, this was important to me. I think it’s important that we hold accountable those that have done wrong but also lift the cloud of suspicion from those that may not have.”

It’s a move that has been brewing for a while. Carr said his office and others have been working on it since the summer, though the actual investigation is just starting. The investigation will last as long as necessary, Carr said.

Carr, who is Roman Catholic, said there has been an open dialogue with the church and that Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory encouraged them to do the investigation.

But Penn said, in his experience, the church still clings to secrecy and obfuscation.

“Hopefully, it’ll be different with the state involved,” he said.

Gregory issued a statement through the local archdiocese supporting the investigation. There are roughly 1.2 million Catholics in the Atlanta Archdiocese.

“In the spirit of continued transparency and concern over the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the United States, Bishop Gregory Hartmayer of the Diocese of Savannah and I offered our full support and cooperation to Attorney General Chris Carr for a third-party file review of both Georgia dioceses,” said Gregory, who will soon be installed as the seventh archbishop of Washington, D.C.

There is a memorandum of understanding of the process. Gregory said a report will be issued after the review is completed. 

RELATED: Atlanta archbishop leaves legacy of growth 

”I reiterate my genuine concern for all who have been hurt directly or indirectly by abuse of any kind by anyone and I renew my commitment to healing, transparency and trust,” Gregory said. “This remains even as I prepare to take leave of this wonderful archdiocese. I believe this review is an important step in the long journey forward.”

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah could not be reached for comment.

Gregory was president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 when it implemented procedures for addressing sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

And last November, the Archdiocese of Atlanta released the names of 15 priests, seminarians and those under direct authority of a religious order who were “credibly” accused of sexual abuse of a minor. The list only included priests who were deceased, had already been convicted or had been removed from the priesthood.

“There has to be current members of the clergy they have issues with,” Penn said. “If you’re not naming any current members of the church, you’re not being forthright.”

Carr said investigators will find out one way or another.

“I’m hopeful and optimistic both dioceses will want to open up the books to again hold accountable those who may have done wrong,” Carr said. “It will be very disappointing if there isn’t full openness and transparency. Based on everything they’ve told me, that won’t be the case.”

He said he expects other survivors to come forward. Those doing so are encouraged to contact the AG’s office or their local district attorney.

“At the end of the day, the goal has to be justice being done,” Carr said.

The independent review was hailed by survivors and victim’s advocates as a huge step forward.

“Third-party intervention is the only way to address these problems,” said Paul McLennan of Decatur, a 65-year-old retired bus mechanic who was abused by a priest while he was in high school outside of Chicago. “I think they’re incapable of policing themselves.”

McLennan was at a playground with his 5-year-old grandson, who is not Catholic. He said as he looked at him he thought of other youngsters who could be spared what he went through.

“There’s a word — accountability,” said McLennan, who didn’t tell anyone about the abuse until years later. “The main concern I have right now is that we stop this from happening in the present and the future. It’s too late for many of us to see justice done, but it’s reassuring if there will be more protection out there.”

Monica LaBelle, a mother of three who attends St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Decatur, said the review is a long time coming.

“I hope it is the case that the archdiocese welcomes this and is cooperating,” she said. “I hope that’s true. I think a lot of Catholics are furious and heartbroken over this crisis in our church.”

If nothing is done, she fears there will be empty spaces in the pews.

“Those who haven’t left already are one more crisis away from leaving. One more Pennsylvania and another wave leaves and won’t come back.”

In the United States, said Zach Hiner, executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, the average age of a survivor coming forward is 52. Only 1 in 4 will come forward at all.

“It’s an incredibly hidden crime,” he said. “There’s shame and guilt and fear of not being believed.”

The investigation, Hiner said, signals survivors that they are being “listened to and believed in a way that, maybe, they were not before. Survivors may feel that the abuse they experienced could have a positive outcome.”

Currently, the investigation will only look at the Catholic Church in Georgia.

Over time, though, it may be expanded.

For instance, the Southern Baptist Convention is also dealing with its own sex abuse scandals, which are expected to be front and center this summer during the denomination’s annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. 

RELATED: Pastor asks forgiveness for letting alleged sex abuser stay on staff 

Susan B. Reynolds, an assistant professor of Catholic Studies at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, said there is a lot of frustration and anger among Catholics in Georgia and across the United States.

An independent review that is transparent could start the healing process.

“It will be interesting to see where the investigation goes from here,” she said. “The bottom line is more transparency is a good thing. What Catholics want and need right now is accountability. There’s no justice and healing without truth. This is a moment of reckoning for the church both locally and globally, and it’s not an exaggeration to say the church is in a period of crisis.

 Georgia's Survivors Get A Cruel Joke For A Lawyer
Zorrow | Facebook  

• DETROIT — Hundreds of boxes. Millions of records. From Michigan to New Mexico, attorneys general are sifting through files on clergy sex abuse this month, seized through search warrants and subpoenas at dozens of archdioceses.
• They're looking to prosecute, and not just priests. If the boxes lining the hallways of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's offices contain enough evidence, she said, she is considering using state racketeering laws usually reserved for organized crime. Prosecutors in Michigan are even volunteering on weekends to get through all the material.
• For decades, leaders of the Roman Catholic Church were largely left to police their own. But this week, as American bishops gather for a conference in Baltimore to confront the reignited sex-abuse crisis, they're facing the most scrutiny ever from secular law enforcement.
• An Associated Press query of more than 20 state and federal prosecutors last week found they are looking for legal means to hold higher ups in the church accountable. They have raided diocesan offices, subpoenaed files, set up victim tip lines and launched sweeping investigations into new and old allegations. Thousands of people have called hotlines nationwide, and five priests have recently been arrested.
• "Some of the things I've seen in the files makes your blood boil, to be honest with you," Nessel said. "When you're investigating gangs or the Mafia, we would call some of this conduct a criminal enterprise."
• If a prosecutor applies racketeering laws, also known as RICO, against church leaders, bishops and other church officials could face criminal consequences for enabling predator priests, experts say. Such a move by Michigan or one of the other law enforcement agencies would mark the first known time that actions by a diocese or church leader were branded a criminal enterprise akin to organized crime.
• "That would be an important step because it would set the standard for pursuing justice in these cases," said Marci Hamilton, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and CEO of CHILD USA, a Philadelphia-based think tank that tracks statute of limitations reforms.
• Monsignor G. Michael Bugarin, who handles sex abuse accusations for the Detroit Archdiocese, said they too are committed to ending abuse and cover-ups. Bugarin said they cooperate with law enforcement, and that won't change if the attorney general is considering organized crime charges.
• "The law is the law, so I think we just have to respect what the current law is," he said.
• Some defenders of the church bristle at the notion of increased legal action, saying the Catholic institution is being singled out by overzealous prosecutors. A spokesperson for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops did not respond to requests for an interview Monday. The church has said it is already taking steps to address clergy abuse.
• Seventeen years after U.S. bishops passed a "zero tolerance" policy against sexually abusive priests, they will consider new measures for accountability over abuse at their gathering this week in Baltimore. The meeting follows a global order issued by Pope Francis last month requiring all Catholic priests and nuns around the world to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.
• The meeting also follows a grand jury report that documented decades of clergy abuse and cover-ups in Pennsylvania, which thrust the Catholic Church's sex assault scandal back into the mainstream last fall and spurred prosecutors across the U.S. to launch investigations of their hometown dioceses.
• Since then, many states have launched telephone hotlines or online questionnaires for confidential complaints including Virginia, Nebraska and California.
• Pennsylvania has been flooded with calls, some 1,800 from victims and families over the last three years. In Iowa, 11 people who identified themselves as victims and their relatives came forward in the hotline and questionnaire's first three days. New Jersey and Michigan's tip lines have received about 500 calls each, while Illinois has received nearly 400 calls and emails, including 160 from survivors.
• In contrast, Delaware's attorney general tip line has had four calls since November, 2018, a spokesperson said. Officials in Vermont say they cannot comment because the investigation is ongoing, but that they are aware of dozens of victims of alleged criminal misconduct.
• While priests have been prosecuted in the past, top law enforcement scrutiny of church authorities has been relatively rare. In 2012, Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese in Missouri was the first and only American prelate convicted for his role in aiding a priest, when he was found guilty of failing to report child pornography on a cleric's laptop to authorities.
• AP reached out to attorneys general in 18 states, federal prosecutors in three jurisdictions and the U.S. Justice Department to learn more about the new round of investigations. Some of the accused priests in Pennsylvania had ties to other states, prompting those attorneys general, such as New Mexico, for example, to take a fresh look.
• Before Pennsylvania's attorney general got involved, cases against predator priests were largely the purview of local police and prosecutors, or private attorneys bringing lawsuits and civil claims. Although Pennsylvania's attorney general office says prosecutors have spoken with their counterparts from almost every state, most attorneys general in the U.S. have not taken public action.
• In Kentucky, Attorney General Andy Beshear wanted to investigate but lacked jurisdiction. He worked to change state law, but the bill failed to make it through the legislature.
• Attorneys general who are investigating are using a range of tools. Michigan executed search warrants, which means police show up and raid the offices. Delaware, West Virginia and Nebraska have issued subpoenas, which is a less assertive approach, making a legal request for the records. New Jersey officials have started to make arrests, while Washington D.C.'s attorney general is weighing civil charges.
• Asked whether the office would consider charges under Iowa's far-reaching RICO statute, Attorney General spokesman Lynn Hicks said that nothing is off the table but that it's premature to say. And in Virginia, spokesman Michael K. Kelly said they are using "every tool, authority, and resource" to investigate not only priests, but also "whether leadership in the dioceses may have covered up or abetted any such crimes."
• Iowa's Attorney General Tom Miller said that he took action late last month after his office met with abuse survivors, including some whose stories have never become public.
• Tim Lennon, who grew up in Sioux City, Iowa, said he was among the survivors who corresponded with Miller's office and in recent months sent over new material about priests accused of abuse.
• "The priest who had raped and abused me when I was 12 had gotten caught at three parishes before they moved him to my parish. The bishop knew and kept moving him along," said Lennon, the president of the board of directors for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who now lives in Arizona.
• Statute of limitation rules differ, and are being tested, in different states. In Michigan, for example, the clock stops if a priest moved out of state for a period.
• New York, California and Florida refused to comment, citing ongoing investigations.
• In recent years, civil lawsuits have used racketeering laws leading to large settlements. Delaware-based attorney Stephen Neuberger, who has successfully sued the church on behalf of clergy abuse victims, said questions inevitably arise about church authorities covering up and facilitating for accused priests. He said organized crime statutes seem appropriate.
• "It's not piling on," he said. "In fact I think it's long overdue."
• ---
• Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington; Reese Dunklin in Dallas; Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; Lisa Rathke in Burlington, Vermont; Grant Schulte in Lincoln, Nebraska; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; Anthony Izaguirre in Charleston, West Virginia; Matt Sedensky in New York; Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia; Jim Salter in St. Louis; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report.