Anyone saying that Gabby Petito, a 22 year old former cafe barista turned blogger, had anything to do with the clintons is a smooth brain.
Hello everyone, if you haven’t noticed by now that every other weekend I don’t post much and it’s because that’s when I work my overnight shifts 0000-0800. So I end up sleeping most of the day on the weekends because I’m tired af. It’s Monday now so I have a few posts that I’m working on.
Just accidentally blasted Taliban propaganda music in a cafe when I was looking over a video because my headphones weren’t connected 🤦🏻♂️🥴
What obscure and niche conflicts/ terror groups/ criminal organizations you want to see more of
In recent years, the Middle East has become a hot spot for transplant tourism, which is where people cross borders to receive organ transplants in different countries. The industry is extensive, lucrative, and often dangerous to those who take the chance to receive organs or to give them in exchange for money. The root of the transplant tourism industry can be mainly seen due to one long running issue: The shortage of vital organs used for medical transplants, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The organization notes that while tens of thousands of organ transplants are done professionally across the world each year, the accessibility of such operations vary globally between countries due to “their national situations, and is partly determined by the cost of health care, the level of technical capacity and, most importantly, the availability of organs,” in addition to hampered organ donation programs due to “sociocultural, legal and other factors.” WHO has identified a number of “organ exporting countries” which include Pakistan, China, Bolivia, Brazil, Iraq, Israel, the Republic of Moldova, Peru and Turkey. Similarly, WHO has identified the main “organ importing countries” as Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Organs for trafficking are obtained by two ways: voluntarily or involuntarily. In countries such as Iraq, Syria, India, and Pakistan, those who give up their organs do it out of financial necessity due to poor economic factors. Due to years of war and conflict, the Middle East has become an increasing hotbed for trafficking due to economic destitution. Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, over 5.6 million people have fled the country to primarily neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Many of these refugees have “no legal right to work, and families are forced to find other ways to pay for food, shelter and healthcare,” according to Reuters. Abu Jaafar, an organ trafficker, told BBC journalist Alex Forsyth that refugees with no legal or financial means to support themselves are “desperate and they have no other means to survive but to sell their organs.”
For Iraq, the World Bank put its poverty rate at just over 22 percent in 2014, but it is believed to be much higher in recent years. Ahmad Hadi of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Trafficking Victims reported that “Lawlessness and lack of awareness are main causes but in more than 80% of the [organ trafficking] cases it is caused by poverty and unemployment.” For example, a man named Mohammad told Arab Weekly that he “had lost hope of finding any job and [he] wanted capital to start a business to help [his] family,” so he sold his kidney. Mohammed, unfortunately, was promised a payment of $6,000, but he said “I only got $1,250, part of which I spent on postoperative treatment and the rest to pay back my family’s debts. I’ve got nothing left.”
The European Union (EU) Parliament noted that people are trafficked into the human organ trade across the world “by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” In addition, the EU stated there is often the assumption that organs obtained for transplant tourism are consensual and by financial means, but “on the basis of the knowledge gained from numerous cases of transplant tourism, it appears there is considerable overlap between transplant tourism and Trafficking in Human Beings for Organ Removal (THBOR),” adding that “consent for organ removal cannot be seen as based on autonomy and a voluntary decision; deception and fraud in the payment are frequent, and brokers and recruiters target specific vulnerable populations.
Organs for trafficking are obtained by two ways: voluntarily or involuntarily. In countries such as Iraq, Syria, India, and Pakistan, those who give up their organs do it out of financial necessity due to poor economic factors. Due to years of war and conflict, the Middle East has become an increasing hotbed for trafficking due to economic destitution. Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, over 5.6 million people have fled the country to primarily neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Many of these refugees have “no legal right to work, and families are forced to find other ways to pay for food, shelter and healthcare,” according to Reuters. Abu Jaafar, an organ trafficker, told BBC journalist Alex Forsyth that refugees with no legal or financial means to support themselves are “desperate and they have no other means to survive but to sell their organs.”
For Iraq, the World Bank put its poverty rate at just over 22 percent in 2014, but it is believed to be much higher in recent years. Ahmad Hadi of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Trafficking Victims reported that “Lawlessness and lack of awareness are main causes but in more than 80% of the [organ trafficking] cases it is caused by poverty and unemployment.” For example, a man named Mohammad told Arab Weekly that he “had lost hope of finding any job and [he] wanted capital to start a business to help [his] family,” so he sold his kidney. Mohammed, unfortunately, was promised a payment of $6,000, but he said “I only got $1,250, part of which I spent on postoperative treatment and the rest to pay back my family’s debts. I’ve got nothing left.”
The European Union (EU) Parliament noted that people are trafficked into the human organ trade across the world “by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” In addition, the EU stated there is often the assumption that organs obtained for transplant tourism are consensual and by financial means, but “on the basis of the knowledge gained from numerous cases of transplant tourism, it appears there is considerable overlap between transplant tourism and Trafficking in Human Beings for Organ Removal (THBOR),” adding that “consent for organ removal cannot be seen as based on autonomy and a voluntary decision; deception and fraud in the payment are frequent, and brokers and recruiters target specific vulnerable populations.
” In China, there is increasing evidence of state sponsored execution of prisoners, some of which are political or religious, being killed to fuel the supply of organs.
Transplant tourism provides a number of risks to those who both give and receive organs. As noted earlier in the case of Mohammed, he was the victim of fraudulent payment. Similarly, a man named Dawitt, who was trying to sell his kidney in an effort to make money to head to Europe, was abandoned after his operation and was given no money. On the other end, a man named Ihsan Salam was over-charged $15,000 for a kidney in Iraqi Kurdistan. Brokers and traders of organs in transplant tourism consistently under pay or over charge victims, leading to financial strain.
The most dangerous consequence of the trade is the complications that occur after organs are removed or transplanted. For organ suppliers, they are often made to take care of themselves after the operations and do not go to the hospital for fear of punishment, as the practice of selling organs is illegal. Reports also show that those that sell their organs, specifically kidneys, often face “energy loss, pain and health complications lead to deterioration of health, loss of a job and relapse into debt and poverty,” according to the EU. For recipients of organs, the EU reported disastrous consequences such as “surgical complications, postoperative hernia, wound infections, donor-derived infections (HIV, Hepatitis B, CMV, fungal infections), acute myocardial infarction, steroid diabetes, and also a higher risk of acute rejection, inferior graft and patient survival.” Some studies obtained by WHO found “patient survival and graft survival rates are considerably lower than the internationally accepted standard” and “a heightened frequency of medical complications, including the transmission of HIV and the hepatitis B and C viruses.” One of the earliest known instances of Europeans traveling to get transplants was described in an article in the British Medical Journal in 1996, “in which it was described that two German patients had died of post-transplant complications, after having been transplanted in India.”. The Hamad Medical Corporation noted in 2014 that patients from Qatar that sought commercial transplants for end-stage renal disease faced“high rates of post-operative complications (68%) and early post-operative mortality (12%).”
The UN has called for a more global response against organ trafficking and transplant tourism, saying that “Internal trafficking is often overlooked, and in some countries completely ignored ... it just isn't on their radar.”. While there may not be much enforcement, the buying and selling of organs is consistently outlawed across the world. In countries that export organs, WHO said there is a “lack or insufficiency of a legal framework or enforcing mechanism.” The EU mentioned that the most effective and successful means of curbing and deterring the trade is following the flow of money and seizing profits, goods, and real estate from brokers in addition to arrest. To fill in the gaps in legal framework across the work, the Council of Europe Convention lays down a broad scope for the “'illegal acts in respect to human organs” that allows law enforcement to prosecute and investigate the illegal removal of organs in all respects, including victims who are trafficked and who are not trafficked. In Iraq, the Interior Ministry has created a special police force to crack down on transplant tourism, with a member saying “We could apprehend many traffickers and refer them to court but our unit’s main mission is to raise awareness among vulnerable communities who might fall prey of the criminal networks, notably the poor who are wooed through different ways like paying their debts and then blackmailing them to sell their organs.”
Transplant tourism provides a number of risks to those who both give and receive organs. As noted earlier in the case of Mohammed, he was the victim of fraudulent payment. Similarly, a man named Dawitt, who was trying to sell his kidney in an effort to make money to head to Europe, was abandoned after his operation and was given no money. On the other end, a man named Ihsan Salam was over-charged $15,000 for a kidney in Iraqi Kurdistan. Brokers and traders of organs in transplant tourism consistently under pay or over charge victims, leading to financial strain.
The most dangerous consequence of the trade is the complications that occur after organs are removed or transplanted. For organ suppliers, they are often made to take care of themselves after the operations and do not go to the hospital for fear of punishment, as the practice of selling organs is illegal. Reports also show that those that sell their organs, specifically kidneys, often face “energy loss, pain and health complications lead to deterioration of health, loss of a job and relapse into debt and poverty,” according to the EU. For recipients of organs, the EU reported disastrous consequences such as “surgical complications, postoperative hernia, wound infections, donor-derived infections (HIV, Hepatitis B, CMV, fungal infections), acute myocardial infarction, steroid diabetes, and also a higher risk of acute rejection, inferior graft and patient survival.” Some studies obtained by WHO found “patient survival and graft survival rates are considerably lower than the internationally accepted standard” and “a heightened frequency of medical complications, including the transmission of HIV and the hepatitis B and C viruses.” One of the earliest known instances of Europeans traveling to get transplants was described in an article in the British Medical Journal in 1996, “in which it was described that two German patients had died of post-transplant complications, after having been transplanted in India.”. The Hamad Medical Corporation noted in 2014 that patients from Qatar that sought commercial transplants for end-stage renal disease faced“high rates of post-operative complications (68%) and early post-operative mortality (12%).”
The UN has called for a more global response against organ trafficking and transplant tourism, saying that “Internal trafficking is often overlooked, and in some countries completely ignored ... it just isn't on their radar.”. While there may not be much enforcement, the buying and selling of organs is consistently outlawed across the world. In countries that export organs, WHO said there is a “lack or insufficiency of a legal framework or enforcing mechanism.” The EU mentioned that the most effective and successful means of curbing and deterring the trade is following the flow of money and seizing profits, goods, and real estate from brokers in addition to arrest. To fill in the gaps in legal framework across the work, the Council of Europe Convention lays down a broad scope for the “'illegal acts in respect to human organs” that allows law enforcement to prosecute and investigate the illegal removal of organs in all respects, including victims who are trafficked and who are not trafficked. In Iraq, the Interior Ministry has created a special police force to crack down on transplant tourism, with a member saying “We could apprehend many traffickers and refer them to court but our unit’s main mission is to raise awareness among vulnerable communities who might fall prey of the criminal networks, notably the poor who are wooed through different ways like paying their debts and then blackmailing them to sell their organs.”
Footage and more photos from the Houthi executions in Sanaa (check IG for full article).
Reports of multiple gunshot wound victims (statuses unconfirmed) following an active shooter incident at a Kroger super market in Collierville, Tennessee. Large police presence on scene. Status and motive of gunman is unknown at this time.
Update from police: 1 person killed, 12 wounded by gunman. Gunman killed himself, believed to be past or current employee.
Decided to flip the photo of the unknown stealth aircraft body concept that was leaked on tik tok since it was being transported upside down and it looks much more like the side profile of an aircraft this way. Spent a few hours digging through released aircraft concept art by Lockheed and couldn’t match it to anything. Likewise this is what is called a “pole cap” which is used to test and calibrate aerodynamics/ radar/ etc on aircraft body concepts. I included photos of that the pole caps go on during testing.