We will now come to order. Im sorry that we are a few minutes late, but we have this thing that we have to do around here called votes. We had a vote on the floor and in the middle of it a colloquy. I recognize myself for five minutes for an Opening Statement. We are here on what has turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous dc. In washington we are here to talk about a very , sordid subject, and that is online sex trafficking. Or its the name of, as the organization describes it more bluntly, slavery. As the stings continue to proliferate, those that thought slavery was something that could never happen in 2017 america have had to confront the terrifying reality that not only is it happening, its on the rise and in large part because the internet, the technological masterpiece of our time, has made it much easier to do. In both the house and the senate this year we are facing up to the challenge with a long overdue conversation driving towards effective action. With this hearing, its my
Floor and in the middle of it a colloquy concerning our schedule. At this time i recognize myself for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Good afternoon and a warm welcome to all of our witnesses. We are here and white house turned out to be an absolute gorgeous day in washington, d. C. , but we are here to talk about a very ugly subject, and that is online sex trafficking, or as the name of ms. Smiths organization describes it more bluntly, slavery. As the stings and the headlines continue to proliferate, those who thought that slavery was something that could never happen in 2017 america, have had to confront the terrifying reality that not only is it happening, it is on the rise. And it is on the rise in large part because the internet, the technological masterpiece of our time, has made it much, much easier to do. In both the house and the senate this year, we are facing up to the challenge with a long overdue conversation driving toward effective action. With this hearing, it i
Test test test test test test test after a very long investigation into back page pimping and other related charges were filed by the state attorney general office. The Court Dismissed all of the pimping charges based on the broad interpretation of the cda. Just before that at the end of 2016 she had her office refiled with additional facts developed to try to answer to the courts last order. The new judge in the second case dismissed the pimping charges. We have at this point and what we heard from the courts in california is really that Congress Needs to clarify the state attorney generals can join this battle. They can join federal prosecutors. I know you Department Ask about civil attorneys but it is the same in that realm as well. Currently state attorney generals simply do not have the ability to get around the cda. Thank you. I have a bill that passed the house and i was going to ask a question about that. Ill say that im rupinning outf time. We are blessed to have people willin
In the california mudslide. At least 20 others are missing and dozens of homes have been destroyed. This is the town of montecito. Rivers of mud flowed down the street. Now, this area was also hit by wildfires last month its thought the scorched earth those fires created prevented the rain from being absorbed into the ground. As you can see in this photo, it wasntjust mud and trees that was washed away so were huge rocks. And all of this has blocked roads and railways. This is Santa Barbaras county sheriff. The only words i can really think of to describe it, was it looked like a world war i battlefield. It was literally a carpet of mud and debris. As always with natural disasters, there have been stories of terrible loss and of survival. Trees are just coming down. We trees arejust coming down. We ran into the house, and right then the boulders blustered through our house. We got upstairs and we got to about eight feet, nine feet up the stairs and we crawled out a window to the roof.
Shop. If there are any questions, you can ask me for the doj staff here, we have folks standing in the back with badges and name credentials and theyre here to help you, please feel free to make use of us. We will wait for a few minutes until the stage is reset, and then well begin with our panel. Thank you all very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ladies and gentlemen, if you will please take your seats we really begin our first panel of the morning. Session one this morning as a panel on effective Law Enforcement. Weve assem