When Q Anon talked about a dangerous network of pedophiles among our nation's elite, a lot of people balked. I had no problem believing our elite would do terrible things, but a network? For me, that seemed to be too much. Wouldn't people like that try to hide everything?
While it remains to be seen if there's such a network of elites, there definitely is a network.
Back in May, I wrote about the FBI's efforts against a "satanic" network of child predators called "764." They'd made a big bust, and that was good news.
But that was far from the end of this evil group, as FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino noted recently.
The FBI has intensified its effort across the U.S. to take down the online child-exploitation group, "764" network, with two recent examples highlighted by FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
In a post shared on X on Wednesday, Bongino revealed how the dangerous network has infiltrated online spaces popular with minors and said how aggressively federal authorities are moving to shut it down.
"For those who may not know, the 764 Network is a heinous child-exploitation ring that often targets children online and coerces them into acts of violence, self-harm, animal abuse, suicide, and sexual abuse," Bongino warned.
"At the beginning of the year, our teams redoubled efforts to go after these networks and eliminate them. We have more than 300 investigations connected to this network nationwide, and that number is growing. It is a top priority for us," he added.
Among the latest cases, Bongino said agents from FBI Baltimore arrested an individual on charges of targeting five minors, including a 13-year-old.
He said the suspect is now in federal custody, and additional details are expected as the investigation develops.
Among the tools these predators use are Telegram, Discord, and the game Roblox.
Roblox, in particular, knew about the problems and for months refused to do anything to try and protect children out of fear it would hurt their bottom line. That apparently changed a couple of days ago, with the company now claiming it will block conversations between children and adult strangers.
Regardless, the fact that this network exists is troubling enough on its own, and the fact that it's virtual makes it a lot harder for people to sniff out, in part because of the layers of anonymity available on the internet. Maybe not like it used to be, but it's still very possible, and it's being exploited by these monsters.
Knowing the FBI is directing a lot of its energy toward rounding up these pieces of human-shaped garbage helps me sleep a bit better at night. If the punishment for such behavior involved a wood chipper, I'd sleep even better. Unfortunately, some people think that violates the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Personally, I argue that it only applies to humans, and people who hurt children have given up any claim of being people anymore.
Unfortunately, I suspect I'm not likely to see enough agreement to change such things at any point in my lifetime. Such a pity, really.