It's raining taxpayer money in California.

More than 1,100 abuse lawsuits since just 2020 … $700 million in abuse settlements with projections reaching as high as $3 billion … Decades-old accusations dating back to the 1970s.

Sound familiar? Of course. But in this case, a recent investigation (archive link) by the Los Angeles Times is not referring to the Catholic Church but about abuse accusations in California public schools.

A familiar story with a new name

The Times' investigation details how the majority of abuse accusations arose as a result of California legislation called AB 218, which was passed in 2019 and lifted the state's statute of limitations for three years, allowing individuals to sue organizations for abuse no matter how long ago it allegedly occurred. And as we have reported before, California had passed similar legislation in the past that allowed individuals to sue the Catholic Church and the like but not public institutions no matter how long ago the alleged abuse occurred. That cost the Catholic Church some $2 billion. But AB 218 changed this, making public school districts now vulnerable to lawsuits claiming abuse by educators from many decades ago.

Well, as the Times chronicles, the results of the lawsuits against school districts have been predictable: Districts were forced to sell properties, trim staffing, and cut programs. Again, this should sound familiar to anyone who has followed the Catholic Church sex abuse story for the past two decades. The Times quoted the superintendent of one small California school district:

"The district will be living with this for years … It's unreasonable to expect a district that is small like ours — with $42 million in our operating budget, of which we spend 86% on staffing … that we should be totally responsible for something that happened in 1970."

Of course, without an ounce of public or media sympathy, exasperated Catholic laity and leadership have expressed similar sentiment for the past two-plus decades, as the Church in the United States has been forced to dole out billions in settlements to accusers over claims from forever ago often with respect to long-dead priests and over claims which were were frequently questionable and many times downright absurd.

The missing element: False accusations

So while we salute the Times for its excellent investigative work – a rarity in today's media landscape – we found it still failed to address an important question: Are the decades-old claims against educators actually true? While it is undeniable that some of the accusations are tragically valid, common sense alone would suggest that many fraudsters, flimflammers, and unscrupulous tort lawyers would seize on the statute of limitations to make phony old claims and score some big money.

But don't take our word for it. A different investigation (archive link) by the Times back in October accused a large Los Angeles law firm of the blatantly illegal practice of doling out cash to people for them to file lawsuits against Los Angeles County shelters and juvenile facilities accusing them of abuse decades ago. According to the Times:

Some plaintiffs say they were explicitly told to make up claims.

"They tell you what to say," said Carlshawn Stovall, 43, who said he was given about $20 by a vendor outside the benefits office to sue. "You're supposed to make it up." …

The vendor handed him a postcard-sized "script" of how to respond, he said. He didn't need to worry about getting fact-checked, the vendor told him, as the county had no records of who was in its facilities decades ago. It seemed "a good way to get some quick money," he said …

[Days later, the vendor's law firm] filed a lawsuit on his behalf alleging he was "sexually harassed and abused" by staff in Central Juvenile Hall. Stovall said he was never in juvenile hall — much less abused there.

What percentage of all of these old abuse accusations are bogus? Well, if decades-old accusations against Catholic priests are any indication, the vast majority are. According to the most recent independent annual audit report, only 7% of all historical accusations against Catholic priests in 2024 were even deemed "credible" by the lenient standards of diocesan review boards, with the majority of accusations deemed either "unsubstantiated" (indeed false), "unable to be proven," or still under review.

Kudos to the Los Angeles Times for its excellent reporting, but a larger story still needs to be told: Fraud and false accusations of abuse are rampant.

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Want to learn about the rampancy of false accusations against priests?:
- "The Great Shakedown Keeps A-Rollin': Phony Claims Continue at Epic Pace, Here Are The Facts" (January 2024)
- The Greatest Fraud Never Told: False Accusations, Phony Grand Jury Reports, and the Assault on the Catholic Church (Amazon.com)

Public schools: The most dangerous place for kids today?

As we've reported so many times before, when a report is released alleging abuse many decades ago by long-dead Catholic priests – priests who are no longer around to defend themselves – you can be sure the media will become apoplectic and jump all over the story.

But predictably there was no such media frenzy when the Office of the Inspector General in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) recently released a stunning report detailing that the district's Sexual Allegations Unit (yes, the district actually has a full-time team dedicated to this) received a whopping 470 allegations of sexual misconduct by CPS employees just in the 2022 school year alone!

Yes. 470. And this is in one school year, which typically entails only 180 days. So we're talking about nearly three sex crime allegations every school day in only one school district. Among the allegations:

• a CPS teacher who sexually assaulted a 17-year-old student on three occasions;
• a CPS high school gym teacher who repeatedly exposed himself to a sophomore girl and also sent her photos of himself engaged in sexual acts;
• a CPS elementary teacher who inappropriately touched a CPS student in a sexual manner repeatedly over several years, when he was 11 to 14 years old;
• a CPS substitute teacher who asked a student to recruit another student for a "threesome" and made other wildly inappropriate sexual comments; and
• a CPS charter school administrator who took a high school junior to a Broadway musical in downtown Chicago and then groped his genitals.

[*Click to read Chicago's Inspector General Report on sex crimes in CPS (pdf]*]

The report from Chicago follows an avalanche of reports in 2022 across the United States of sexual assaults committed by school teachers. According to one year-long analysis, nearly 350 K-through-12 educators were arrested across the country on child sex crimes in only the 2022 calendar year. That's close to one arrest per day!

Hello, Bob …

Robert Herguth,
Chicago Sun-Times

Unfortunately, there are still so-called "journalists" out there who only seem to get worked up about sex abuse when it involves dead priests accused many decades ago. And we're talking to you, Bob Herguth, at the Chicago Sun-Times. Bob has penned a bunch of breathless articles in recent times involving accusations against priests dating back to when Richard Nixon occupied the White House. Not exactly fresh stuff.

Yet when it comes to sex abuse being committed today in Chicago Public Schools, Herguth does not seem too concerned. Children's lives are only at risk.

That the media will predictably neglect dramatic stories of widespread abuse happening in Chicago's public schools today only reveals once again that the media has never really been concerned about child abuse at all, except when it occurs in institutions it hates for ideological reasons, like the Catholic Church.

According to the Boston Globe, one of these is allowed to talk with children about sex.
Can you guess which one?

Angry Church haters posing as journalists (l to r):
Boston Globe CEO Linda Pizzuti Henry, Editor Brian McGrory,
Writer Amanda Milkovits, and 'Audience Engagement Editor' Teresa Hanafin

Of course for The Boston Globe, it's never really been about the actual abuse of children but about using the issue of sex abuse to attack the Church for opposing its left-wing views on sexuality. Witness yet again:

In recent years, the Globe has proudly promoted drag queen story hours for toddlers and even endorsed sexually oriented books aimed at young children. Indeed, the Boston Globe has a very long and well-established history of vociferously promoting the sexualization of children. (Many more links below.)

If intimate discussions with kindergartners about sex is your thing, then the Boston Globe has your back.

Misstating the Nature of the Sacrament of Confession

However, when a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Providence was alleged to have asked "inappropriate questions" to teenagers within the Sacrament of Confession, the Globe goes nuts alerting its readers that Armageddon is upon us. (Note to the Boston Globe: The topic of sex in the Confessional is not at all unusual. Sexual sins, even among teenagers, are common, and the priest's remarks were very likely either misconstrued or misunderstood by the teens.)

So, according to the Boston Globe, drag queens and sex manuals for toddlers are great, but talk of sex in the Confessional is a no-go. Got it?

The Globe's mouthpieces to create the story

Of course, there is no real story or news here of interest to its readers, so the Globe had to make one up by looking for quotes from bigots and wackos. Writer Amanda Milkovits predictably turned to the lawyer-funded hate group SNAP, who itself has an ugly record of corruption, scandals, false accusations against priests, and has exploited abuse victims all along the way. Without citing any support for its claim, the SNAP mouthpiece alleged that any questions about sex by a priest during Confession was "grooming behavior."

But it gets worse. In another article about the beleaguered priest, Milkovits exploited an agitated man who stood out on a sidewalk with a sign protesting the Church. This unfortunate soul claims that he was sexually abused as an infant, even though he admits he "didn't remember anything," according to the article, and his abuse had nothing to do with any Catholic priest. But the guy claims to have been "triggered" by the story that a priest might have spoken "inappropriately" with teens in the Confessional. Milkovits should be ashamed of herself for exploiting such a person just to fill up a weak story.

And in the paper's Comments section, the Globe really let the Church have it by allowing scores of hate-filled comments from their subscribers, comments which the paper would never allow if they were directed at any other faith. Here is a small sampling:

● "The Catholic clergy are not even real Christians. They are wretched sinners and pedophiles or pedophile sympathizers."

● "Disgusting. Boycott this cult."

● "The RCC has to be the largest, most far-flung criminal organization in the world."

● "The Catholic Church has always been evil, filled with pedophiles, deceitful and protective of its own."

● "Defending pedophile factories that have abused kids for centuries is reprehensible. Anyone still involved with the cathoHOLIC church should be ashamed."

● "Never let your children attend a Catholic Church !!!"

● "The poison is deep in the Church's teachings about human sexuality, and in its formation of priests. Sexual abuse, and sexual illness (for lack of a better term) is a feature, not a bug. Avoid."

Would the Globe allow such vitriol directed at Judaism? Islam? Buddhism? Of course not.

But if you are a faithful Catholic, be assured that the Globe hates you. There is sadly no other way to state it.

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Further reading:

- FLASHBACK: In 1978, the Boston Globe Promoted Decriminalizing Teenage Prostitution (Feb. 2018)

- Bigotry Alert: After Publishing the Names of Priests Merely Accused of Abuse For Years, Boston Globe Refuses to Name Sex Abusers in Its Own Offices (Dec. 2017)

- 'Nothing to See Here!': Investigation Finds 15 Mass. Educators Each Year Suspended For Sex Abuse, Boston Globe In Hiding (Nov. 2015)

- 'Spotlight' Neglects to Mention the Boston Globe’s Own Long History of Rank Hypocrisy on the Issue of the Sexual Abuse of Minors (Nov. 2015)

- 'Spotlight' EXPOSED: The Definitive Movie Review (Nov. 2015)

- Sins of the Press: The Untold Story of The Boston Globe's Reporting on Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church by David F. Pierre, Jr. (Amazon.com)

Nothing to see here: Rampant child sex abuse in our nation's public schools

Just imagine: A pair of Catholic dioceses announce that they have paid out nearly one third of a billion – with a "b" – dollars for abuse claims not for allegations going back decades, but for incidents just in the last few years!

Is there any doubt that this would be a major national story for months, with media outlets exploring every facet of the story in lurid detail?

Yet how many are aware that Southern California school districts have done this exact thing, paying out $313 million in taxpayer-funded settlements just since 2014 for abuse only committed in recent years? See for yourself.

Don't be fooled: Lawsuits against the Catholic Church over abuse many decades ago have nothing to do with the "protection of children" or "justice for victims." It has to do with media hatred of the Catholic Church and what the Church stands for.

Never forget this.

Out of control: Child sex abuse is rampant in Chicago Public Schools

If it involved Catholic priests, the international news media would be in a state of acute apoplexy for months or even years penning one breathless story after another about the imminent end of the Catholic Church.

But these are not Catholic priests.

The next time you see someone in the media – including those in the cowardly Catholic media – yet again get worked up telling the same stale story of alleged abuse commited 40 or 50 years ago by a Catholic priest, simply show them this simple article from the Chicago Tribune:

"Complaints of sexual misconduct against people who work in Chicago Public Schools have arrived at the district's inspector general's office at a rate of nearly three each school day over the past nine months."

Three accusations of abuse. Each school day.

And this is in just one school district. In only one city.

And these are not allegations from 50, 60, 70 years ago. This is in July 2019. This is happening today.

450 complaints over a mere nine months.

Meanwhile, when we look at the Catholic Church and a body of over 70 million people in the United States alone, there were a mere three priests in all of 2018 whose accusations involving a current minor were even deemed "substantiated" by the very lenient standards of diocesan review boards.

The story of Catholic sex abuse committed decades ago no longer belongs in the news anywhere at all. It belongs on The History Channel. This story in Chicago is news, as in "new," happening today.

That the media will predictably neglect dramatic stories like this of widespread abuse happening in Chicago today only reveals that the media has never really been concerned about child abuse at all, except when it occurs in institutions it hates for ideological reasons, like the Catholic Church.

Rhode Island

Where's the outrage? It seems simple enough: Rhode Island House Bill 5817 states that it should be an actual crime if a teacher has sex with a student under the age of 18. As it stands now in the Ocean State, that is not the case.

But apparently the teachers' union in Rhode Island does not like being "singled out," and the ACLU, who is supporting the teachers, is saying, "While one may disagree whether this type of 'Romeo and Juliet' conduct is appropriate … it should not be a felony." Uh-huh.

When the Catholic Church has rightfully objected to states singling out the Church and creating "window legislation" to allow individuals to sue over alleged abuse many decades ago by dead priests, the national media has repeatedly blasted the Church for doing so. Yet this latest eye-opener out of Rhode Island has barely raised a peep.

Double standard? Absolutely.

And one last thing: If Rhode Island legislators were smart, they would have simply added the word "priest" to the bill. Then it would have passed with flying colors.

[HT: Catholic League.]

The media channels Sergeant Schultz: 'I see nothing! … except accusations against Catholic priests decades ago.'

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has "investigated 430 reports that school employees had sexually abused, assaulted or harassed students since 2011."

And in less than three months since Chicago schools created an office to specifically investigate sex abuse in its schools, it received over 600 allegations of abuse, with around five dozen of those involving accusations of sexual misconduct against teachers by students.

The stories are both numerous and stomach-turning: rape, groping, assault, sexting, you name it.

But it's not the Catholic Church

CPS' actions to finally address its longstanding epidemic of child sex abuse was spurred by a series of investigative reports earlier this year by the Chicago Tribune. Kudos to the Tribune for its gutsy, counter-narrative reporting. Its investigation is a must-see.

But outside of the Windy City, the story has garnered almost zero media attention.

However, when a Pennsylvania Attorney General stood in front of cameras this past summer claiming abuse by Catholic priests many decades ago – over half the priests were long since dead – it was an enormous international story with breathless headlines and hysteria everywhere.

Yet when rampant criminal sex abuse is happening today, not in a religious institution but all funded with everyone's tax dollars in a major American city, well, the media suddenly feels it has more important stories to cover.

Same as it ever was …

The Boston Globe hypocrisy meter

Just last week, Boston television network WCVB unleashed a startling revelation on its evening news:

"[WCVB] found in recent years, on average, the licenses of 15 Massachusetts educators are suspended or revoked each year for sexual misconduct. But there aren't always charges."

15 teachers. Each and every year in Massachusetts schools. Suspended for sexual misconduct. And almost all of these cases never see the inside of a courtroom.

Compare this with the Archdiocese of Boston, where the last time a priest was publicly accused of contemporaneous abuse of a minor was in January 2002, thirteen years ago. So according to the findings of WCVB's investigation, there has been nearly 200 public school educators found to have abused students in Massachusetts since the last time a priest was publicly accused.

Missing in Action

The book that the Boston Globe does not want you to read
(Click to Amazon.com)

Instead, the Globe simply continues to promote itself ad nauseum with article after article about the new Spotlight movie, in which Hollywood predictably does violence to the truth in its attempt to bash the Church.

However, it is not as if we should be surprised at the Globe for turning a blind eye to the issue of child sex abuse. We have previously noted that this has been the paper's practice. And his new book Sins of the Press, TheMediaReport.com's Dave Pierre details how the Globe has for decades ignored child sex abuse and indeed has nearly promoted it in institutions other than the Catholic Church.

The Boston Globe's deliberate ignoring of abuse is glaring – glaring to the point of comical. In fact, the Globe's flagrant disregard for the abominable crimes happening around it reminds us of a hilarious scene from the comedy movie The Naked Gun (1988), starring Leslie Nielsen:

Erica Ann Ginnetti: Not a Catholic priest, but a public school teacher

A judge recently sentenced a public high school teacher in Philadelphia to merely 30 days in prison even though she openly admitted to having sex with one of her underage students and sending him "sexually charged" pictures from her phone.

Double. Standard.

Is there anything else to say?

[UPDATE, 5/2/14: And in case you thought the above case was just an anomaly, here is another one, also in Pennsylvania!]

Ex-Los Angeles teacher and child sex offender Elkis Hermida

Regular readers of TheMediaReport.com may get the feeling that Hell has frozen over upon learning that we have actually found agreement with the anti-Catholic group SNAP.

We wholeheartedly agree with a recent press statement by SNAP Western Regional Director Joelle Casteix that it is indeed "disgusting" that a lawyer for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) actually blamed a 14-year-old girl for the sex crimes committed against her by her teacher.

While LAUSD did eventually fire the lawyer who worked for the outside firm that was defending it, it was only after he saved LAUSD from a potentially very costly jury verdict.

However, imagine for a moment the media firestorm which would erupt if the Catholic Church were ever to score a court victory by blaming a child victim for his or her abuse. Laurie Goodstein's computer would explode.

But since a public school did it, naturally the media barely takes notice.

The ultimate double standard.