Is PizzaGate Real?
I recently heard a story about a 16-year-old boy that found out to his horror that sexually graphic images of himself had been posted to Twitter – the social platform that has over 330 million users!!What’s more is that the images are from when he was 13 years old so it means they were on the internet for 3 years! He was lured into taking these photos by an online predator. His mother reported it to the school, the police and Twitter. Twitter is meant to have a system that catches and stops this illegal content from being posted! When it was flagged by the mother that her son was underage and that the content needed to be removed immediately, you’d think they would respond with some kind of urgency. But nope, they respond with not only leaving the videos up but also a statement that there was nothing wrong with the videos in question, that none of the policies were violated!
The price that the 16-year-old boy had to pay for their reluctance to take it down? 167,000 views of child sexual abuse material. Not until the law enforcement stepped in, did it get removed – and that the police officer had to CONVINCE Twitter to remove it blows my mind. I remember all too well hearing from victims who have been sexually exploited, trafficked, abused and they are groomed to be silent. The fact is this child being brave enough to have a mother that fought for him isn’t usually the case. So, I ask myself how many more images, videos are on twitter, Instagram, tik tok and more that we don’t know about. How do we live in a world where we continue to use and support Twitter when clearly, they are not prioritises taking down sexually explicit images?
If we can shadow ban accounts for politics or flag covid posts, why cant we stop the spread of sexually explicit photos or videos?
It is cyber safety awareness month. I believe it is important to know who you support. A social platform that any of our teens could be on, has sadly played a part in the sexual exploitation of countless victims of abuse, intimidation, and objectification. I am on the board with NCOSE and we work tirelessly to bring these kinds of issues to light. We are suing Twitter for it. Believe me when I say this is not even the tip of the iceberg with Twitter and their exploitative issues.
To tackle the worry of this happening to your own kid you need to get over any embarrassment you may feel when talking about these things with kids. You need to just squash that feeling and move on as it is critical that you not only start the dialog with the child but also help in educating them. Personally, I will be starting to educate my child at as young as 5. If you think that is too young, then let me just drop this statistic here:
60% of students surveyed said they watch porn to learn about sex and fill in gaps in their sexual education.
We are living in an age where children have access to the world wide web with phones, tablets, gaming consoles – there are countless gadgets with a wifi function! THEN there are countless APPS to think about on these devices! We have gone way past the time of finding your dad or older brothers stash of magazines. The children of today are susceptible to ads, pop-ups, and even online predators.
So, with the first step of opening the dialog on porn you can move on to educating them with books, my top recommendation for kids as young as 3 is Good Pictures, Bad Pictures. It provides tools for both parents and children in beginning this empowering conversation about the dangers of porn and providing your kids with a simple plan of how to react when exposed to porn! Childrens brains are like sponges, this is as important as teaching them their ABC’s!
Here is also a step-by-step guide on how to safeguard your child's devices and tips of how to have conversations with older kids about oversharing online. A book that I recommend for kids from 8-12 is Hamish and the Shadow Secret.
By opening these dialogs and providing these books, you are educating them. You are not leaving any holes to be filled by X-rated material online or stalking online predators.
By opening these dialogs and providing these books, you are educating them. You are not leaving any holes to be filled by X-rated material online or stalking online predators. You are drawing the line of what is right and wrong, you are providing your kid with what is natural and what is unnatural. You are giving them the tools that are as critical as learning how ride a bike and knowing when to “cycle” far away from a life of sexual exploitation and trauma.
I know I titled this blog Is PizzaGate real? The funny thing is so many people ask me about the conspiracies that have recently been brought to light. What I say to everyone is... what does it matter? The truth is, fighting over PizzaGate is a distraction. We know that children are being exploited and trafficked all over the world, we know that social media platforms, Netflix and Pornhub to name a few are profiting billions of dollars off from it. So, I say, get informed, join the movement and talk to your kids. For more information head to my section Purpose and it will keep you informed and up to date on how to be a part of end sex trafficking.
I love to always drop a recipe at the end of my blogs... so today seems fitting to drop my favorite pizza recipe. Enjoy!
Kindsey XO
Cauliflower Crust Ingredients
1 Head of Cauliflower
1 ½ DIY Flax eggs or 2 eggs
¼ teaspoon of salt
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp dried basil
3 cloves of garlic
1 heaping Tbsp arrowroot
1 Tbsp almond flour
Toppings
1 jar of Artichoke
Organic Chicken 1 lb (cut and cooked) / protein of your liking
Pine Nuts
Goat Cheese / Vegan cheese
Veggies of your choice
Sauce
Option 1: Red Sauce
Option 2: Black Bean + Pesto (see Simply Balanced for Dairy Free recipe)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C).
2. Use a food processor to make the cauliflower rice. Set aside.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Then add riced cauliflower. Cook for 5 minutes to soften. Then drain in a fine mesh strainer (make sure it’s fine or the cauliflower will seep through the holes). Let cool 5 minutes.
4. While this is happening, this is a good time to prepare pizza sauce or sauté any sturdier vegetables (such as onion and bell pepper) you intend to use as toppings. Otherwise, they require too much time in the oven to brown once the crust is baked. Set aside. I use this time to cut and cook my chicken.
5. Transfer cauliflower rice to a clean dish towel and ring out as much of the excess liquid as possible. This is a very important step, so be sure to ring it out until no more water will come out. Set aside.
6. In a large mixing bowl mix eggs, cauliflower rice, sea salt, nutritional yeast, oregano, basil, garlic, and arrowroot.
7. Stir with a mixing spoon or your hands to thoroughly combine. A loose “dough” should form. Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more nutritional yeast for cheesy flavor, salt for saltiness, or herbs/garlic for more intense flavor.
8. Line a baking sheet or pizza stone/pan with parchment paper. Sprinkle with a little almond flour to help prevent the pizza from sticking when slicing.
9. Then use your hands to carefully spread the dough into a circle or square (depending on shape of pan) and keep the crust slightly less than a 1/2-inch thick with a slightly thicker outer perimeter.
10. Bake crust for 45 minutes. Then remove from oven and carefully flip the crust. Do so by first loosening the crust from the bottom layer of parchment with a spatula and then laying another sheet of parchment paper on top of the crust. Then grab both sheets of parchment and gently flip. Arrange the crust back on the baking pan.
11. I like to use this time to finish cooking chicken, and blend ½ cup of pesto with a ½ cup of black beans (cooked and drained or drained from a can) for the base of my pizza.
12. After 45 minutes put the cauliflower crust back in oven and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes more or until the edges appear golden brown and the center feels mostly firm to the touch.
13. Remove from oven and top with desired toppings (cooked or fresh). I recommend going light on the sauce as it can make the crust soggy if too much is applied. Bake for another 10 or so minutes or until toppings are tender. Here is where I add my pesto/black bean sauce, I then add artichokes generously, chicken and goat cheese. Watch the edges of the crust, which can get brown before the toppings.
14. While this is cooking I place 1/8 cup of pine nuts on the stove in a pan with a little EVOO. Toast for about 2-4 minutes and set aside to later add to pizza as a garnish.
15. Enjoy hot with any additional garnishes, such as fresh basil, red pepper flake, or vegan parmesan cheese.
16. Best when fresh. This pizza is best eaten with a fork – I find that it doesn’t quite support itself when eaten with hands. Note: You could bake your crust ahead of time and then freeze for later use if desired.