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Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I am one of many girls who have been exploited and sold for sex online. And I was sold for sex on a website called Backpage.com, which makes $22 million a year from ads for prostitution. You should know that my name is not Alissa. I’m afraid that if I use my real name, the pimps who used to sell me for sex will hunt me down and kill me. I am also afraid that Village Voice Media (which owns Backpage) will ruin my life and come after me as they have others who have stood up for girls who have been sold on Backpage. But I’m even more afraid that if I don’t tell my story, no one will rise up to stop the people who buy and sell girls like me. I was 16 when I met my first pimp — he told me I was pretty, that he wanted me to be his girlfriend. I was just a kid, and I believed him. But soon he was selling me for sex every day: I was raped 365 days a year. I was sold to other pimps, back and forth between them like an animal. One pimp gouged my cheek with a potato peeler as a warning not to run away, but after two years I worked up the courage and ran anyway. He tracked me down and beat me and stomped on me, breaking my ribs and jaw. That’s when I went to the police. It’s still hard for me to believe that this web page exists, that it’s so easy for pimps to sell terrified, unwilling girls like me. Can you go buy a child at Wal-Mart? Of course not, but you can buy me on Backpage. There is some hope, though: Craigslist used to host ads for girls like me, but after people started speaking out, Craigslist shut down their adult section. A new study says that prostitution ads as a whole have gone down by 50% since Craigslist got out of the business. 50%! If men can’t use sites like Backpage.com to buy and sell girls, maybe fewer girls will be bought and sold. Now, I’m in college, and work at a nonprofit, FAIR Girls, where I help other girls like me — I even got to tell my story to Nick Kristof at The New York Times. I got out, which makes me one of the lucky ones. But Backpage is still making millions a year off the ones who aren’t so lucky. I see these teenage girls, some as young as 15, every day now in my work, and it breaks my heart. Click here to tell Village Voice Media to shut down all prostitution ads on Backpage.com. Thanks, Alissa |
Tag Archives: United States
Obama’s Powerful Words About Trayvon, The GOP’s Worst Offenders For Women, And One Very Revealing Chart
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Patient Protection – Affordable Care Act Case – March 26 – 28, 2012 and the Supreme Court
March 26-28, 2012
The Court has granted review of cases challenging provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The orders, briefs, and other information are available at this link. The Chief Justice’s 2011 Year-End Report
The Clerk’s Office and was told that they will post audio files and transcripts on their website >>> http://www.supremecourt.gov with morning session information being posted by 2pm that day and the Wednesday Session will be held from 1pmET – 2pm ET with audio & transcripts being available by 4pm ET
The C-SPAN cable network said it would play back the arguments on a broadcast channel and on radio as soon as they are available.
Listed below are live links to the orders, case filings, and other information pertaining to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act cases. Click on each item to access further information.
The Court has granted review of cases challenging provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The orders, briefs, and other information are available at this link. The Chief Justice’s 2011 Year-End Report
I spoke to the Clerk’s Office and was told that they will post audio files and transcripts on http://www.supremecourt.gov with morning session info being posted by 2pm that day and the Wednesday Session held from 1pmET – 2pm ET with audio&transcripts being available by 4pm ET
The C-SPAN cable network said it would play back the arguments on a broadcast channel and on radio as soon as they are available.
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White House vids … Jim Yong Kim, President Lee and more
Real solutions to high gas prices … Union of Concerned Scientists
If you’ve filled up your gas tank recently, you don’t need the newspapers to tell you gas prices are on the rise. But oil and gas prices are in the news, and politicians are grabbing headlines with plans that they claim will bring immediate relief at the pump. But these plans always fall short while real, long-term solutions are often missing from the conversation.
There is no “silver bullet” solution to high gas prices, but there are practical steps we can take to begin the transition from our oil-based transportation system. As a driver, you can take simple steps to cut down on your fill-ups, if you haven’t already. As a citizen, you can push for a plan to cut projected U.S. oil use in half in 20 years. These steps will help insulate us all from even higher prices as we scrape increasingly expensive and dirty oil from the bottom of the barrel.
Oil companies are working hard to maintain the status quo because they are profiting more than ever at the expense of the American public. We must push back and demand a transportation system that works for us—one that is powered by less oil and more American innovation through the development of electric cars, advanced biofuels, and better transportation options.
The Obama administration has taken action to cut U.S. oil use by moving forward with strong new fuel efficiency and global warming emissions standards. This is an important piece of the puzzle, but we can and must do more. We need a combination of smart federal policies and private sector innovation to expand consumer transportation choices and cut U.S. oil use in half in 20 years—and the Union of Concerned Scientists has a plan to do just that.
You can help get the story of real solutions out—submit a letter to the editor of your local paper today showing how we can cut our oil use through a national oil savings plan and how that will help your bottom line.
Sincerely,
Rachel Cohen
National Field Organizer
UCS Clean Vehicles Program
Be a Seed for Change 
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