There is nothing holy nor sacred to those who have abandoned God and reason in order to follow their perverse desires. – François Rabelais, Gargantua (chapter 31)
Fair warning: what you’re about to read may make you feel ill. Writing it made me feel both queasy and dirty; I put it off for as long as I could, but I wanted to get done with it completely – including the posting and indexing – early enough so that I could be sure of regaining my appetite by dinnertime. I probably don’t need to tell regular readers that I’m made of pretty stern stuff; my husband is only one of the many who have described me as “hard as nails”. But the minds of some people are so wholly vile and disgusting that reading about their loathsome behavior, their indefensible motivations and their twisted rationalizations makes me feel as though I have been hurled into a tank full of raw sewage and leaves my heart pounding and my hands shaking. The people to whom I refer are sexual predators, those subhuman monsters who are so completely devoid of even the most basic human decency and moral scruples that they think nothing of using other human beings to satisfy their perverted sexual needs, inflicting grievous physical and emotional harm on their victims and sometimes scarring them for life. Worse still, these revolting vermin form associations with other like-minded scum, pooling their resources and cunning so as to more effectively snare unsuspecting victims. It would be bad enough to merely know that these freaks existed, but to see them defended, excused and even glorified in a major newspaper is almost more than I can bear:
…“This is Lushous,” she said in a soft, seductive voice. “You want to come see me today?” The client had found her on backpage.com, where she promoted herself as a busty woman…eager for company…“For half an hour, it’s just $40, baby. Tell me what you want to do.” Lushous wanted to use handcuffs. She was actually an undercover…cop. If the man on the phone actually came…he’d be walking right into the department’s latest sting operation…Sharing Room 241 with her was another undercover officer with a nickname, a square-jawed, blue-eyed cop known as Pretty Boy. He pored through a stack of printed Web ads…[and] called each one. “Are you doing out-calls today, sweetie?” They had arranged the room so it would seem like they were just lonely travelers. Pretty Boy hung a crushed black suit on the rod and placed a used bar of Old Spice deodorant near the sink. He ditched his uniform for a T-shirt and blue jeans but kept on his wedding ring. Lushous ruffled the sheets on the queen-size bed. She had lozenges to keep her voice smooth. She placed a package of condoms on the side table…In 242, about six officers were on hand to help with arrests and the paperwork. In 247, there were two female officers to attract men looking for a woman not of Lushous’s type. Lushous is curvy and black; the two other female officers are white and thin…In 248, a detective posted $10 ads in the adult-services section of backpage.com…“Hello, my name is…” he began typing, trying to dream up a seductive name for the colleague next door. He then tapped out, “B-R-A-N-D-I”…Ten minutes later, Brandi’s phone started to ring. “…Am I busy? No…Yes, those are my pictures.” After she hung up, the man texted her, “Are you affiliated with law enforcement?” She rolled her eyes. Every caller asked this question, under the common delusion…that a cop was legally obligated to say yes. “No,’’ she texted back. “Are you?”…
I think that’s enough to give you the idea; the cops’ sociopathy is made even more revolting by the reporter’s glowing, fetishized praise, almost as loving and lurid as a Nick Kristof description of the tortures inflicted upon imaginary teenage girls. But in spite of themselves, the yellow hack and the blue swine managed to produce one paragraph that was true, though not in the way they meant it: “For police officials, prostitution is not victimless crime…Sex workers are prone to being raped and robbed. Some are victims of sex trafficking. The men who visit them are sometimes assaulted…” That’s all true, but the victimizers – those doing most of that raping, robbing, assaulting and abduction into coercion and captivity – are the police, and they do it with the support of the government and many of the more ignorant and deluded members of the public.
And now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go take a shower.
Shower is right, Maggie. This is truly revolting — both what the police do, and the mindless, unquestioning “reporting” of it.
Great intro, and fantastic choice of illustrations, too.
How sick are we as a society? Yeah, this sick.
They are this sick. I don’t hold with the notion that the masses are responsible for what we can do nothing about — and the police themselves choose to “otherize” the rest of us far too often to deserve to be thought of as “us,” even in places where they have not gone so far that they are at war with the people.
Hi Maggie,
Didn’t have any breakfast yet so I checked out the full article and went through a couple hundred of the over seven hundred comments that followed. So on a positive note there were only a few that approved of this operation, or of the idea of prostitution being illegal. A large number were asking why the LEO’s were to chickenshit to go after real criminals and wasted a whole day at this.
So once your stomach settles and you brush your teeth try and go about the rest of the day with a smile on your pretty face because the majority of the regular people support you and believe as you do that it is ridiculous for our state to try to control ordinary human interactions.
Now to just get rid of enough of the power mad politicians and get in some that will actuaally follow the majority opinion.
Have a great day.
Offgridman
It wasn’t a waste of time. Didn’t you read the article? Hell, they BUSTED a kid who was an investment banker and just passing through town … they also busted a highly dangerous pregnant woman who had kids and no job! These people are MORE DANGEROUS than murderers, or rapists, or theives!
#sarcasm
Great write-up Maggie. I was wondering just where you were going with this. And to think I was contemplating living in the Maryland/VA area. And to those police, I say congratulations. You arrested, among others, a 76 year old man (who was capable of doing what, exactly?) and a pregnant mother. And how many people got shot or robbed or otherwise harmed in that neighborhood while you were doing all that, I wonder?
Where did you get that picture of me? I’m pretty pissed right now that someone photoshopped a BADGE on it! 😀
Hey come on – give the cops a break. They’re risking their lives here. There’s a constant danger here that one of these “Johns” knocking at the door might conk one of them over the head with a bottle of wine – or smack them in the face with a bouquet of roses! I think we should give these brave guys and gals a raise in pay … oh wait, we prolly already did! Well earned I say!!
And – the scam is so damn crafty. File a backpage ad … get a hotel (which we the taxpayers are paying for) … wait for a “John” to show up and … BAM! HAHAHA ASSHOLE I’M A COP AND YOU’RE BUSTED!!
Brilliance … Sherlock Holmes would be envious of these sleuthing skills!!
I’ve often thought about what I’d do if I got busted. My life as I know it would be definitely over. But then, I can move on to another life you know? I think were I to get busted I’d just put it back in their faces … find a reporter and give them a full access interview – “Let me tell you my life story” … over 50, never been busted for anything more than a speeding ticket … veteran of several wars … father of three …
I think most “johns” prolly fit the same profile I do mostly. I know oil field workers who bust their asses every day for weeks on end and then dial up their favorite girl for an hour of fun – and then back to the fields.
FUCK THE COPS!!
What’s incredible is that the sting lead to 37 arrests. 29 clients, 6 escorts, 1 for hindering, and only 1 charge for human-trafficking. Too bad they didn’t elaborate on the circumstances of the human-trafficking charge.
The word for this is called “entrapment”, which is supposed to be illegal. But, hey, it’s not like they’ve got to follow their own rules, right?
It’s also about making money for the Organization.. the police/city.
The fines (as opposed to jail time) in punishment and to eventually get it expunged from your record bring in a lot of money.
The State needs to eat.
They would make more money legalizing prostitution, setting up hooker’s “garages” like they have in Zurich and charging a fee for use of the facility. Or “parking meters” like they have in Cologne. That way, one meter maid could handle everything, and the cops and courts would not have to spend a fortune arresting and prosecuting working girls.
It isn’t just the government. It’s the industrial complex around it. Many prisons in the US are operated by private industry. Lawyers, bail bondsman and so on.
I know that Jonelle. See my article http://www.opednews.com/articles/Making-Sex-a-Crime-by-Richard-Girard-120324-103.html
I just don’t need to type out the song and dance evvery time I answer the question.
(Sorry if I’m a little snappish, I’m going to a friend of 30 years memorial in 20 minutes so I am a bit peevish.)
No worries.
I’m sorry you lost your friend. My best wishes to you and other friends, and family.
Thanks Sailor.
As far as I’m concerned, they’re part of the government, just an un-elected part and therefore even LESS accountable.
For bullies, being a nerd isn’t a victimless crime. Nerds are prone to being beaten and pushed into lockers and have their lunch money stolen.
That article made me sick, especially when they were talking about the men and women they arrested breaking down. I was remembering your story about being the only working girl in New Orleans (some of your best writing, BTW) when the authorities decided it took 15 cops to maintain control of one slender hooker, mainly because they wanted to frighten you. I think it IS a sadistic sex game with them. They do get off on the fear and terror and tears and anxiety of their victims.
Disgraceful.
I saw a pathetic video of a man being arrested in a sting operation. The female cop who posed as the whore was laughing. She thought his shock and suffering were funny.
The important thing about policing and prosecution is that our society says what its priorities are by who gets policed and who gets prosecuted. It’s about more than simply what laws are on the books, it’s about which laws our police and prosecutors seem to care about and which they seem to find the enforcement of an undue burden.
For example, I used to live with some waitresses who had a large pile of money stolen from them by some movers. What did the police do? Why nothing, nothing at all. This is simply anecdotal evidence, but if you get your car stolen, do you expect the police to hunt down the thieves with the same zeal they show in persecuting sex workers? I certainly don’t.
On the other hand this is in a state where the policing of call girls and strip clubs has always been a very high priority to the police. Huge amounts of manpower and money are thrown at policing these two things, with high profile media extravaganzas where the cops can expect to get lots of positive and salacious coverage from the compliant media.
Of course, the first level of prosecution is the police themselves. They can make the process of an arrest into an ordeal if they choose, even if the law vindicates you after you get your expensive lawyer into a courthouse.
It also strikes me that law enforcement the set this up in such a way to target the least advantaged.
Just like alcohol prohibition or laws against fraud and theft, authorities deliberately target the average citizen. Only very rarely (almost accidentally) do they persecute the rich or powerful.
I guess that serves me well. But it’s noxious.
Leo Strauss was a political philosopher who taught at The University Of Chicago I’m not sure said this but his name was mentioned, so I’ll give him credit for it, and I paraphrased this. ” If people have nothing to fear, then you must create something for them to fear, because if left to their own devices they will destroy themselves.”
I think equating cops with bullies is entirely too nice to cops. At least the bully faces the possibility of being punched in the face for his asiinine behavior. Cops really don’t, no matter how much the squall about “officer safety! officer safety!”
And have you noticed that now it takes 2 or 3 cop cars for a highway traffic ticket. It’s all flat out intimidation. What I’d love to see is the tables turned on these assholes. I hve to say that there was a huge emotional payoff at the end of Shawshank Redemption where the resident badass is face with being on the receiving end of his sort of sadism and “sobs like a little girl.” Too bad more of these badged sadists don’t get the full return on their action.
Maggie, thanks for posting the link I sent although I’m sorry it upset you so much. In an ironic coincidence, today is my 45th birthday.
No need to apologize; I’m a big girl and have seen much worse. 😉
This is an appalling waste of resources. Its a profession. People are trying to get by on a living. Guys just want a bit of service that many will otherwise not get to have. Why the hell hasn’t the police force there been brought up on entrapment charges? By their very definition, they are accomplice to a commission of a crime and an incitement of it. Well, at least from my view. Where I live we operate on the the common law system inherited from the British and prostitution is decriminalised and legal in certain cases.
Ah, but that’s the beauty part! You see, if these brave policemen hadn’t arrested that 76 year-old man or that sniveling investment banker, they surely would have gone out and found a real hooker and beaten, robbed and raped her. So you see, it’s not ‘entrapment’ if in their minds they’re preventing crimes. /sarcasm
Which brings up another question. As part of the whole gun control debate currently ongoing, I’ve seen people claim that it’s been established that police aren’t obligated to protect citizenry or prevent crimes, but merely to pick up the pieces once a crime has been committed. So way do this, because either way you look at it, it’s still a waste of resources.
I noted this little article in the London Daily Mail: “A National Sex Strike. Spain’s ‘High Class Escorts Refuse to Sleep with Bankers Until They Open Up Credit Lines to Cash Strapped Families.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2120984/Spains-high-class-hookers-ban-sex-bankers-provide-credit-cash-strapped-economy.html
I think America’s Professional Sex Providers should borrow a page from their Spanish sisters and refuse service to politicians and government officials until they decriminalize prostitution. How’s that for an idea Maggie?
Now there’s an idea. With C-SPAN and C-SPAN2, hookers could know who was voting for and against things on the national scale, and many cities have “government access” channels as part of the cable line-up. They could know who was voting for what at the local, county, and state levels.
Thanks Sailor. Its nice to know at least someone read this comment.
I’m sorry, did you say something?
😉