I don’t believe I have to give it away for free no matter how many district attorneys and politicians say I do. – Norma Jean Almodovar
[Utah] police…found the man in charge of a state-run polygamous trust in a motel room with a suspected prostitute…and prosecutors say he has since failed to appear as a subpoenaed witness at the woman’s trial. Bruce Wisan…has not been charged with any crimes…and…the 26-year-old woman…did not appear [in court] either…[so the] judge…issued a $2,000 warrant for her arrest…[prosecutor Scott] Cowdell said the woman could have been tried in absentia if Wisan had appeared…[and] he is prepared to force Wisan to…explain his absences…
A “sadistic” construction worker murdered a 55-year-old woman with a Stanley knife before mutilating her body…Nicolae Patraucean, 20, strangled Rivka Holden and slit her throat before dismembering her body…Ms Holden, who worked as a prostitute, was found dead on March 16…
…25-year-old Charles…Oppenneer’s decapitated body…[was] found in a park last [week]…his…[pregnant] girlfriend, [Brooke] Slocum…could not be located…on Slocum’s computer, police found e-mail exchanges with a local man named Brady Oestrike…[who planned] to meet the couple at…the park where Oppenneer’s body was subsequently found…and pay them for sex…investigators saw him leave his home in a car, setting off a police chase…[which] ended when Oestrike’s car crashed into a [concrete] barrier. Police found him…dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head…they found Slocum’s body in the trunk. An autopsy determined that she had been strangled…Oestrike often traveled to different states…for his…church…as a missionary…
I’ve often pointed out the similarities between “art” performers and sex workers, but this is an interesting parallel I hadn’t heard of:
…[The legendary ballerina] Emma Livry…was…[critically] burnt when her costume was set alight by the open flames of stage lighting…the French government had introduced legislation years before…which required costumes to be treated with flame retardant chemicals…[but] a number of dancers had refused to wear the treated tutus because the chemicals made their skirts dingy and stiff, spoiling the ethereal effects they went through years of punishing physical training to achieve…After [her accident but before her death by infection]…someone asked Livry if her opinions…had changed. She…maintained that she still would not wear them if she were ever able to return to work.
Dancing in a stage production [is much] like performing in an adult film…Risks are taken and sacrifices are made for a chance at success. That success [is] a slim possibility, and even if it is achieved it lasts for a very short window of time…Like Emma Livry’s distaste for stiff skirts spoiling her illusion of weightlessness, I dislike the idea of being forced to use barrier protection when the accompanying friction impedes my ability to deliver the best performance possible. If members of the French government had listened to the dancers they were trying to protect, they could have explored options like moving the lights two feet forward or enclosing them in cages…
The petty absurdity of social engineering:
…A new [“end demand”] campaign is distributing beer mats to bars and hotels with the [lurid tale] of a 15-year-old survivor of human trafficking. She [claims to have been] forced to have sex with 15 men a day before she escaped. The Immigrant Council of Ireland, supported by a European Commission [grant] project, is trying to [frighten]…young men [out of hiring sex workers]…
First They Came for the Hookers…
If prohibitionists really want to “rescue” sex workers, why do they keep trying to stop us from getting other jobs?
A German single mum who has worked as a nurse caring for disabled people for 17 years has been fired after her bosses discovered that she had taken a job as an erotic model to make extra money. Lisa Burger, 38, had worked for the evangelical church owned care home…since she was 21, and after struggling to make ends meet had also taken on jobs as an erotic model wearing sexy underwear for catalogues. But…when she also agreed to do a porn movie…her employers were told about it…
Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs (TW3 #31)
Still think prostitution laws don’t affect you?
A Zambia Reports reader sends in a complaint about the Zambia Police and their patrols in search of prostitutes in the mining town of Solwezi… “I was shocked to be awaken on 24th July 2014 by…police officers in my room…at a named lodge to be told they were looking for prostitutes…Does it mean every woman they find in a lodge or guest house is a prostitute? If they found a man in bed with his wife, because they are at a guest house or lodge they will take away his wife as a prostitute?”…
The original title read “Man stabbed in back”:
A transgender 15-year-old girl was stabbed in the back aboard a [Washington, DC] train…Reginald Anthony Klaiber, came up to the group…and insulted the victim’s appearance, asking why she was wearing a wig and commenting on [her clothes]…Klaiber was apprehended after witnesses pointed him out to police…
Other than the fact that one of three editors felt the compelling need to interject such outrageous inanities as the word “consensual” in scare quotes (referring to sex work) and phrases like “[sex workers] seek independence from pimps, traffickers and intimidating customers“, this article isn’t really too bad:
…Maxine Doogan…dreams of a future when she won’t be treated like a criminal and could earn a little respect in the city that launched the fight for sex worker rights 41 years ago. Calls by Bay Area sex workers for decriminalizing…prostitution have been spurred anew following the FBI seizure of [MyRedbook]…the battle…has lost ground in recent years in the face of the increasing influence of religious conservatives, continued opposition by [neo]feminists and the [pretended] link made by law enforcement between prostitution and sex trafficking of children and immigrants…
The San Diego DA says it’s better for women to be raped and innocent people jailed than for the public’s rapidly-diminishing opinion of cops to be further damaged:
[San Diego] District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis keeps a list of law enforcement officers that her prosecutors do not trust as witnesses…and…will not say how many people are on the list or which agencies employ them. The so-called Brady Index is a closely guarded secret that includes officers and deputies with a track record of lying or other misconduct that could undermine credibility…[reporters] sought the information in advance of a civil trial requested by a woman…who was [sexually assaulted]…by…Anthony Arevalos…her lawyers allege San Diego police command staff knew about…Arevalos and did nothing to stop him from preying on young women…
How egregious a liar does a cop have to be before prosecutors won’t believe him?
Dominating the News (TW3 #342)
A woman was arrested [for “abusive behavior” on Wednesday] after posting a photograph on Twitter of chancellor George Osborne at her flat when she worked as a madame…Natalie’s home was also searched last year…after she tried to publish her memoirs…Of course this could all be coincidence. Or perhaps more proof…that our police are being used to protect politicians’ reputations rather than catching criminals?
Tanzania’s envoy in Beijing…refuted claims that sex workers from Dar es Salaam are tricked by human traffickers into travelling to China…He refuted claims that some are hoodwinked into believing that there are hotel jobs or hair saloon work that pays handsomely in China…He said some women fall into trouble for overstaying their welcome…or for engaging in illegal activities. He said that the women…rush to the embassy [and claim to have been “trafficked”] when trouble knocks on their doors…
Burlesque performers: you can deny your connection to sex workers all you like, but society is going to treat you like us anyway so you may as well fight alongside us:
A troupe of circus performers has been refused a business account after bank managers described their skimpy burlesque costumes as a “moral problem”…Joshua Morris set up “Circus Uncertainty” earlier this year and applied for a business bank account with Santander so he could get grants to fund work with terminally-ill children…The performers are baffled by the decision as there is no nudity in the family-friendly act…
This is only on procedural grounds and the law will probably be rammed through again, but a victory is a victory: “The constitutional court [of Uganda] has declared the passing of the anti homosexuality bill into an act as null and void…on grounds that [it] was passed without the required quorum…Court also awarded the petitioners 50% of the costs of the suit…”
A Greek court’s decision to acquit local farmers who admitted shooting 28 Bangladeshi strawberry pickers when they dared to ask for [six] months of back pay has sparked outrage…Four of the strawberry pickers were badly injured in the attack…Media investigations showed the migrants to be working in subhuman conditions without access to proper hygiene or basic sanitation…
Behold the results of the mental illness I call lawheadedness:
The barriers police set up months ago in [Cincinnati] to curb prostitution were removed…one day after residents asked for damages and a restraining order against the city…police [pretended the roadblocks] would stop johns from picking up prostitutes along West McMicken Avenue…resident Vanessa Sparks…said once the barriers started blocking her neighborhood, public transportation was no longer close by, and her friends and family were afraid to drive through the area to her home…Attorney Peter Stackpole represents the city…[and pretends that]…the lawsuit…”lacks merit”…
…Jennifer Goodall of Coral Gables [Florida] was informed [by]…letter…that because she decided to attempt vaginal delivery before agreeing to cesarean surgery in her fourth pregnancy, her prenatal care providers intended to report her to the Department of Children and Family Services [and] seek a court order to…perform cesarean surgery on her “with or without [her] consent” if she came to the hospital…
Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs (TW3 #426)
Lawheads are mystified their proclamation didn’t “abolish prostitution”:
Indonesian police…fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters at the… “Dolly” red-light district, where workers are refusing…government orders to close shop. Around 300 protesters…tore out and set alight a sign erected by the Surabaya city that read: “This area is free from brothels and prostitution”…”We reject the instalment of this sign here. And after Ramadan, we will operate as normal. We refuse to shut down,” said head of Dolly’s workers’ forum Ari Saputro…Hardline Muslim groups have threatened violence if brothels continue to operate beyond the end of Ramadan.
Whatever They Need To Say (TW3 #429)
I’m sure his sending miscreants to threaten to burn them alive had NOTHING to do with it:
Tangail…mayor Shahidur Rahman Khan Mukti has come up with a most intriguing theory explaining why more than 600 sex workers left the Kandapara brothel in a single night. If he is to be believed, these women…[all suddenly] decided to quit the work they have been doing for years. What motivated them all of a sudden into deciding, and collectively too, to go for a change of profession is not explained…
The Widening Gyre (Traffic Updates)
Perhaps the “sex traffickers” got sick of her melodramatics?
A missing…teenager who disappeared more than two weeks ago has been found alive and safe…Anji Dean, 17, [has] been returned to her family…[despite claims she had been “sex trafficked”, cops found] Dean [alone] at a mall…Earlier [that]…day, a woman known only as Jennifer…told [reporters] she had spent several days with Dean and was trying to help her…[the girl’s mother denied her agency and competence, claiming earlier] “She can’t be doing this on her own, so we’re really, really afraid for her”…
Here’s the video SWOP Chicago did while I was there:
While this in no way diminishes your point about the media’s refusal to use the word “trafficking” when it doesn’t involve sex work, I can’t help but note that the article of this Guardian headline was extremely misleading. Only two of the four accused were acquitted, while the other two were convicted and sentenced to years in prison (although they’re currently free while an appeal is pending). It would have been just as accurate for the headline to have said “Greek court convicts farmers who shot strawberry pickers”.
Also, this paragraph DID find its way in, but maybe the editor missed it…:
‘”It leaves room for new victims by closing eyes to the brutal, inhuman and racist character of the exploitation suffered by workers on the land,” she said, pointing out that the ruling had been made on World Day against Trafficking in Persons.’
If my experiences in Australian courts are anything to go by, mostly they don’t believe them anyway.
NSW cops routinely tell outrageous porkies that not even a child would believe but the sham goes on regardless. At one trial I saw both judge and prosecutor suppressing giggles at a cop’s utterly inept verballing of a defendant but nonetheless the judge’s summing up basically denied the jury the right to disbelieve him. Even defence lawyers often persuade innocent defendants to plead guilty if the only other option is to insist that cops are lying – otherwise the judge is very likely to go especially hard during sentencing.
I suspect that Dumanis’ list is not of cops that lie, but of those that do so in a way that threatens convictions or makes successful appeals more likely (e.g. by not properly coordinating their lies with other lying cops).
The lying can be quite embedded into the system. I remember being told while in high school (a long time ago, in Canada) by traffic cops on a visit to our school that an officer of sufficient experience (I can’t remember if it was 5 years or 10) can basically overrule radar-gun evidence by saying to the effect, “Based on my experience, the suspect vehicle appeared to be exceeding the posted speed limit.” And it would be sufficient to carry the conviction.
It is well-established that human beings are _not_ equipped biologically to judge higher speeds (there is no evolutionary advantage to being able to and it is quite difficult to do). The experience of the officer does not matter, in reality he is likely to be wrong. That the system disregards reality and instead uses some fantasy values just shows that “the law” has become an elaborate scam again (it used to be one throughout most of human history) and that the thugs enforcing is see less and less need to keep up the pretense that they are doing something “right”.
This was 25+ years ago, so it’s possible things have changed. I doubt it, but it’s possible.
Are there studies on speed judgement you can link me to?
A common Australian variation on that is for a cop to look at grainy CCTV footage of someone wearing a mask at a holdup and say “Having had frequent contact with the defendant over the past ten years I can confirm that is he in the video”.
That has the additional advantage of effectively circumventing the ban on the Crown introducing prejudicial evidence of the past criminal record of the defendant.
That’s an impressive skill, being able to identify someone through a mask in low-fi imagery. It’s a wonder any criminals are at large….
Re: Peeping Toms
So they file charges against a woman without any evidence. They get a confession out of her but we all know how cops can pressure innocent people into confessing to crimes they didn’t actually do. This story also shows that you shouldn’t answer questions that cops are asking you, all it can do is end up working against you. Hopefully they didn’t get her real name and she just disappears.
Now wait a minute there Maggie, I think you only have one vice which is of course driving too fast. The other “vice” is of course just a service to the community.
Driving fast is also a service to the community; I don’t contribute to traffic jams!
That is unless you verify “kinetic energy” = “deformation energy”. But with the tame speeds allowed in the US, for a competent driver this is rather unlikely.
There’s also the issue of reaction times and braking distances, particularly with regard to blinded entry points and pedestrians and animals crossing the road. Not every country is covered in autobahns you know. Also cultural variations in vehicle safety and usage of effective restraints. We don’t all buckle ourselves carefully into our well maintained, late model Mercedes and BMWs.
It was an American who wrote Unsafe at any speed after a series of accidents caused by the failure of Chevrolet engine mountings that caused the block to drop onto control systems for the accelerator and brakes. A more recent piece of American auto design caused light trucks to explode when fuel tanks were ruptured during relatively low speed lateral collisions. Was that Fords or Dodges?
Ralph Nader is a personal injury lawyer who got rich by suing car companies. But you’ll never hear this mentioned in the US press; neither corruption nor hypocrisy is a sin in their eyes if committed by someone on the Left.
That’s irrelevant.
The fact is that Nader was right about Camaros and Corvairs and his book resulted in stricter safety testing regulations that probably saved many American lives.
Your objection reminds me of your guru, Ms Rand, and her insistence that the link between smoking and cancer was anti-corporate propaganda promoted by dishonest litigation lawyers. It must have been convincing propaganda. It eventually killed her.
I’ve only been at fault in one auto accident; it was over 30 years ago and speed had nothing to do with it (I missed a traffic signal hidden by trees at an unfamiliar intersection when I was 16 years old).
But if those trees had caused you to T-bone a truck, the higher the speed you were traveling the less likely either you or the truck’s occupants would have been around to complain about them.
It was a small street; I would’ve had to be travelling at a foolishly-high rate of speed for that to happen rather than merely exceeding the posted limit by about ten miles per hour (as is my usual practice).
I’m probably being somewhat hypocritical actually.
I routinely exceed the speed limit by 5-10 km/h while on a bike to avoid inadvertently staying in the blind spots of car and truck drivers. I’ve learned the hard way how dangerous that can be.
Speed limits in the US are nearly always much too low, and as a result most people routinely exceed them because they’re usually about 15 mph below what the highway was designed to handle. The minority who insist on going the posted limit (and there are always some) thus create moving obstacles that might not exist if the limit were posted properly. In other words, the laws make the traffic conditions MORE dangerous, and that danger increases dramatically when a cop parks his car within sight of the drivers, thus causing people to brake suddenly when they see him for fear of getting robbed via exorbitant “traffic tickets”.
The cartoonist Matt, in the Telegraph, sums it all up:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/
NB this is a generic link, you need to check for 3 August.
Maggie, I thought this one would interest you.
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/27015.html
freegirard