California Assemblyman Speaks Out Amid Outrage Over Child Sex Trafficker Law: What in the World

Published

2 years ago

July 20, 2023

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Share Tweet By Billy Hallowell Editor
July 19, 2023

A California assemblyman is speaking out after a bill seeking to strengthen human trafficking laws was briefly stalled by his peers, expressing dismay over the entire ordeal.

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Assemblyman Tom Lackey told CBN’s Faithwire how the Assembly Public Safety Committee initially refused to pass Senate Bill 14 a measure classifying child sex trafficking as a serious felony before holding an emergency meeting and advancing the measure.

“This is a Senate bill, so it first was voted on on the Senate side, which is not a bastion for conservatism by the way just the opposite,” he said. “It’s very hard left thinking.”

Initially, Lackey said the bill addressed trafficking more generally, but it was then narrowed down to specifically combat sex trafficking. Labeling this form of trafficking as a “serious felony,” he said, is important, as the state has a “three strikes” statute.

“When you have three strikes or three serious felonies, you have life imprisonment,” Lackey said. “And so that’s why there’s such strong consideration to the term ‘serious felony,’ because it makes you eligible for this type of punishment a lifetime of punishment.”

When the bill came up in the committee, though, all six Democrats refused to support the measure. This shocked some onlookers and became a national story, as the bill passed the Senate unanimously earlier this year.

But amid public dismay, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, joined Republicans in supporting the measure and it was revived. In a new vote held last Thursday, the measure passed 6-0, though two Democrats didn’t vote in that second effort.

Lackey, who voted “yes” during the initial discussion, said the bill “targets people who are non-compliant and committing a very serious offense against society.” And he expressed dismay over any opposition to its contents.

“Can you get more egregious than sex trafficking?” he said. “Not just having sex, but sex trafficking a child? What in the world justified standing in the way of such reasonable consideration?”

Some might join in his questioning what drove the hesitance to pass the bill to the next phase. Some Democrats on the committee worried the effort would inadvertently criminalize trafficking victims. There were also concerns over increasing prison sentences over the contention doing so isn’t an effective crime deterrent.

“Their argument is that stronger penalties doesn’t do anything in the way of reformation and get people to change,” Lackey said. “But what it does do and what they don’t address is it holds people accountable for serious offenses … it’s part of the accountability process; victims get completely forgotten in their minds. Victims become irrelevant and the focus becomes entirely on the offender and that’s not justice.”

The politician said he has been on the Assembly Public Safety Committee for nine years and this “kind of absurdity” is “not unusual.” As for the reversal and passage, he believes it’s rooted in public pressure and negative news attention.

“The only reason why they reversed this [is] because it got so much attention and had the governor’s attention,” Lackey said.

Watch the interview for more on the story, including where the bill heads next.

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World

Buddhist monk sex scandal grips Thailand as woman arrested

Published

34 mins ago

July 17, 2025

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Buddhist monk sex scandal grips Thailand as woman arrested

A sex scandal has rocked Thailand’s Buddhist clergy after a woman allegedly enticed a string of monks into having sex with her and then blackmailed them.

At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said.

Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, is accused of enticing senior monks into having sex with her and then pressuring them into making large payments to cover it up.

Thai monks are largely members of the Theravada sect, which requires them to be celibate and refrain from even touching a woman.

Several monks transferred large amounts of money after Wilawan initiated romantic relationships with them, police said -her bank accounts received around 385 million baht (£8.8m) in the past three years, with most of that spent on gambling websites.

Wilawan was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province, north of the capital Bangkok, on charges including extortion, money laundering and receiving stolen goods.

Thai media reported a search of her mobile phones revealed tens of thousands of photos and videos, as well as numerous chat logs indicating intimacy with several monks, many of which could be used for blackmail.

An investigation was launched last month after an abbot of a famous temple in Bangkok abruptly left the monkhood.

He had allegedly been blackmailed by Wilawan over their romantic relationship, investigators found.

She told the monk she was pregnant and asked him to pay her 7.2 million baht (£165,000), Jaroonkiat Pankaew, a Central Investigation Bureau deputy commissioner, said at a news conference in Bangkok on Tuesday.

Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai ordered authorities to review and consider tightening existing laws related to monks and temples, especially the transparency of temple finances, to restore faith in Buddhism, government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said on Tuesday.

The Central Investigation Bureau has set up a Facebook page for people to report monks who misbehave, Mr Jaroonkiat said.

“We will investigate monks across the country,” he said. “I believe that the ripple effects of this investigation will lead to a lot of changes.”

Technology

Crypto accumulator DeFi Development to expand globally by franchising its Solana treasury model

Published

51 mins ago

July 17, 2025

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Crypto accumulator DeFi Development to expand globally by franchising its Solana treasury model

Omar Marques | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

DeFi Development, a company vying to be the MicroStrategy of Solana, is expanding internationally through a franchise model.

The company plans to partner with others looking to operate their own Solana treasuries with DeFi’s support. In return, DeFi Development will retain an equity stake in each regional vehicle. The initiative will be branded DFDV Treasury Accelerator.

“Most crypto treasury vehicles today are following the MicroStrategy model. What excites us about DFDV is that they’re not just copying the playbook. They’re evolving it,” said Cosmo Jiang, general partner at investor Pantera Capital. “By combining validator infrastructure, capital markets innovation, and now international expansion via a global franchising model, DFDV is building something structurally different and ahead of the curve.”

Pantera was also an anchor investor in Bitmine Immersion Technologies, an ether treasury firm backed by Peter Thiel and chaired by Fundstrat’s Tom Lee. Kraken, Arrington, RK Capital and Borderless Capital may also support the franchise initiative through a potential investment and treasury and fundraising guidance, as well as infrastructure – which could include validator and custody solutions.

The move comes amid an explosion in companies pursuing crypto treasury strategies or merging with public entities to be able to emulate MicroStrategy’s success investing in bitcoin. In addition to Bitmine, the publicly listed betting platform SharpLink Gaming in May initiated an ether treasury strategy and appointed Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin as chairman of its board. Bit Digital recently exited bitcoin mining to focus on its ETH treasury and staking plans.

Solana is a five-year-old public blockchain platform that promises to provide fast transaction speeds as well as low fees for developers and users. Solana’s value is up 7% over the past year, with a nearly 10% gain within the past month, according to Coin Metrics.

In addition to accumulating Solana tokens, the company will acquire validators (the computers that help run the Solana network by verifying transactions) that can be used to “stake” the tokens. Through staking, users earn rewards for locking up SOL tokens on the network.

DeFi Development this week introduced its first SOL per share guidance, saying it plans to reach 1 SOL per share by 2028. With 857,749 SOL held currently and 18.8 million shares outstanding, its SOL per share stands at 0.0457, it said.

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC Pro:

Environment

They’re real, and they’re spectacular: Ford launches Bronco EV and EREV

Published

1 hour ago

July 17, 2025

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They're real, and they're spectacular: Ford launches Bronco EV and EREV

The Bronco Is Now Available as an EV and a Plug-In Hybrid

Last night, Ford released a pair of electrified Ford Bronco models – a pure battery-electric version packing a massive 105.4 kWh battery pack and an EREV version with its own whopping 43.7 kWh battery and 800 miles of combined range. That’s the good news.

The bad news? You’ll probably never see either them.

Ford Authority reports that these Bronco New Energy models (“new energy” is name often given to electrified vehicles in China) will be produced in China by Jiangling Ford exclusively for the Chinese market. But, while the New Energy versions may look like their ICE-powered cousins, that’s where the similarities seem to end.

It’s its own thing

Bronco New Energy is smaller, narrower; via MIIT, Ford.

Developed specifically for the Chinese-market and apparently designed for more on-road driving, the Bronco New Energy is visually similar to “our” Bronco Sport, but reportedly much, much larger. “At roughly 198 inches long,” reports The Drive, “this Bronco is about nine inches longer than a gas four-door and has more than two feet on a Sport. It also carves a wider footprint than all Stateside models except the widened Wildtrak, and weighs around 5,800 pounds.”

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The EREV version of the Bronco New Energy reportedly weighs in a bit under that, at “just” 5,500 lbs.

Powering the big battery-electric Ford Bronco features a pair of electric drive motors, a 130 kW (~175 hp) unit up front and a 202 kW (~270 hp) unit at the rear for AWD performance. They’re powered by a 105.4 kWh LFP “blade” battery from BYD’s FinDreams subsidiary, which also provides similar batteries to Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai.

That battery/motor configuration is reportedly efficient enough to give Ford Bronco EV buyers up to 650 km of driving range, or just over 400 miles on the Chinese WLTP cycle.

The EREV version makes do with “just” 43.7 kWh of battery – but that’s an EV battery all on its own in some markets, and with more than 200 km of electric-only range (over 130 miles), the 1.5L turbocharged ICE genset probably won’t get much use. That said, once it does kick on the combined gas-electric hybrid system will reportedly travel more than 1,220 km (~750 miles) before it needing to get topped off.

Those specs come from Chinese auto industry analyst Tycho de Feijter, and I’ve included his original tweet about the reveal, below.

Ford Bronco goes EV and EREV in China – with lidar – MIIT July

The Ford Bronco is made in China by Jiangling (JMC) -Ford. Until now, it was an ICE-only car. But no more.

Soon, Ford will add two new versions to the Bronco line-up: an EV and an EREV.

The EV gets an AWD power… pic.twitter.com/CssOE3hMVd

— Tycho de Feijter (@TychodeFeijter) July 16, 2025

The photos, from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) also hints at a new ADAS cluster above the windscreen that seems to incorporate LiDAR and sensors at the front fenders. There’s no word on whether this is the rumored “Level 3” autonomous tech stack Ford has been teasing since last June, but a high-profile launch like the company’s first-ever electric Bronco in a critical market like China makes a ton of sense to me.

The Ford Bronco New Energy EV and EREV models are expected to launch in China later this year. Pricing and options have yet to be announced.

Electrek’s Take

New Energy Bronco options; by Ford, via FordAuthority.

An all-electric or even EREV Ford Bronco like this one – a bit more mainstream and less off-road focused than the 60s-inspired we have now – would do great numbers in the US as a rival to the Kia EV9, Rivian R1S, or six-passenger Model Y (I know the X is a better comparison, but no one’s buying those). Under the current Trump Administration and franchise dealer body, though, an EREV might receive a warmer welcome. But while Ford has said that it plans to offer extended-range EVs in the US under a variety of nameplates, those are at least two years away.

IMAGES: MIIT, Ford.

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