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Posts Tagged ‘End Demand (updates)’

[Men sentenced to “john schools” are] casualt[ies] in a moral panic that is destroying lives in order to save souls.  –  Elle Hardy

If Men Were Angels

It’s striking how much the sexual behavior of “pastors” resembles that of cops:

William C. Robinson, a pastor working for Chi Alpha Campus Ministries in Corpus Christi [Texas], was…charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child…He pleaded not guilty…[but] also…stated he wanted to confess to [molesting a child for five years, starting]…when she was nine…

Monsters (#668)

Though most of the items appearing under this heading describe violence against trans women, trans men are also targets of violence and discrimination:

An O[hio man]…was attacked and beaten while camping because he is transgender.  Noah Ruiz…was using the women’s restroom in a Preble County campground [because the owner of the campground foolishly directed him]…to do [so]…when a…[wo]man [who correctly perceived him as male demanded he leave.  He tried to explain, but]…as he was walking out, three large men…grabbed [him]…choked [him, and threatened to]…kill [him.  The pigs soon arrived and, as usual, made the situation worse by]…arrest[ing] Ruiz for disorderly conduct and obstructing official business.  [A spokespig tried to defend arresting an assault victim by lying]…that Ruiz was highly intoxicated and…becoming belligerent…

End Demand (#788)

Although the reporter makes her opinion of “john schools” quite clear from the beginning (see today’s epigram), I don’t even want to quote any of the nauseating details of either the scam to give sadistic wanker pigs their jollies, or the vile garbage vomited out in the “schools”.  So I’ll just quote this part:

…evangelical…anti-trafficking groups[‘ idea of]…“female empowerment”…is more about affirming the savior than understanding the real needs and lives of those to be “saved”.  It’s also hard to get away from the signs that…the movement interests itself only in a certain type of victim…they’re only ever waiting in carparks outside of strip joints—not helping th[ose]…who have been trafficked into other kinds of work….“anti-trafficking” and “modern slavery” mean more to the people who call it such than to those they’ve selectively identified as its victims.  These are just buzzwords for a certain kind of sexual ethics that has become the stock in trade of today’s Pentecostal movement…

Like Houses (#1090)

Useful idiots never see where “hate speech” laws inevitably lead:

…a [new] Japanese law…strengthens the country’s punishment for “online insults”…to as much as a year in prison and a fine of up to ¥300,000 (about $2,200 USD).  It also extended the statute of limitations from one year to three…the…new law…doesn’t define what is or is not “demeaning,” and since there’s no requirement that the statements be statements of fact, it could mean anything…Seiho Cho, a lawyer in Japan…says…”If someone calls the leader of Japan an idiot…that could be classed as an insult”…

Torture Chamber (#1202)

Funny how often people die mysteriously while cops just happen to be nearby:

Four [human beings condemned to filthy cages in Alabama] died between [July 7th] and [10th]…in addition to two others who have died in just over a week.  The [victims were]…Don Robert Barclay…Joe C. Davis…Lionel Ferado O’Neal…and Jakari Marquez Norris…[the] coroner…said there are no obvious signs of foul play or trauma [but O’Neal was only 45 and Norris only 30]…So far this year, 21 [people]…have died [in the filthy cages, compared to]…26 [over the entirety of 2021]…

Property of the State (#1252)

I was revolted but unsurprised at the number of “pro-life” sleazebags (including the AG of Ohio) who accused the doctor of lying:

A Columbus [Ohio] man has been charged with impregnating a 10-year-old Ohio girl, whose travel to Indiana to seek an abortion led to international attention…Gershon Fuentes…was arrested…after…he confessed to raping the child on at least two occasions…Columbus police were made aware of the girl’s pregnancy through…her mother on June 22…On June 30, the girl underwent a medical abortion in Indianapolis…DNA from the clinic in Indianapolis is being tested against samples from Fuentes, as well as the child’s siblings, to confirm his paternity…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1253)

Apparently, fentanyl hysteria is contagious:

A [cop’s wife named]…Renee Parsons said she picked up a dollar bill off the ground at [a Tennessee] McDonald’s…and [had a panic attack]…She [experienced a number of symptoms of panic attacks and none of fentanyl overdose] before she [fainted], while he[r cop husband Justin] drove to the closest hospital…Soon after her husband [imagined] side effects as well. “My lips started going numb and my arm broke out in a rash,” Justin said…they [convinced themselves] fentanyl or a similar drug was on the money…[tests found nothing] on the dollar bill [but hysterical cops]…destroyed [it anyway]…Dr. David Edwards at Vanderbilt…[said] simply touching a drug will not cause an overdose…but the [local news media credulously reported the fantasy as if it were true anyhow]…“Your skin is a really good barrier and will likely protect you and you won’t just randomly overdose from just any medicine you are touching for a short period of time,” Dr. Edwards explained…

Note the resemblance to the “things on cars” trope of “sex trafficking” mythology.

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Media coverage [of prostitution “stings” is]…yet another reminder of just how divorced from reality…U.S…”trafficking” operations have become.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

So Close and Yet So Far

If you can’t support sex workers without condemning consensual sex, you don’t actually support sex workers:

Marsha Scott, the chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid…has made it clear that the charity will not back…proposals [to impose Swedish criminalization on Scotland]…she wrote: “Criminalisation of sex work is a major issue and can cause increased risk for the women involved in it…it’s impossible to criminalise the buyer without…taking away any small bit of choice she has in th[e] awful…dynamic [of women having the power to demand payment for sex]…we want to stop…demand [for consensual sex], but we think we are not in that place yet”…

Little Tin Gods

He literally made himself into a little tin god:

…Escambia County [Florida] Sheriff David Morgan spent thousands of p[illaged] dollars to order a life-size bronze statue of himself last year before the end of his final term in office.  Current Sheriff Chip Simmons called the 6-foot-4-inch statue, which arrived last week at the Sheriff’s Office, a “brash narcissistic waste”…[naturally] Morgan [believes]…it was not that big of a deal…The statue of Morgan was one of two…paid for out of the…general fund at a cost of $75,000 for both…”I have zero intention of placing this thing in front of our building,” Simmons said…Morgan [lied that] he ordered the statues two years ago, but they were delayed because of COVID-19…however…Morgan’s handwritten signature appears on a document specifying the terms of the deal with Randolph Rose Collection Design Studio…Directly next to his signature, Morgan handwrote the date “4/20/2020” and the words, “Good to go!”…

Bronze, in case you didn’t know, is an alloy of copper and tin.

End Demand (#893)

Guys, please do your homework and only call reputable providers:

Puritanism is still alive in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, only now it poses as saving people from human trafficking…this month, five men were charged with “trafficking a person for sexual servitude” after [a huge herd of fantasy role-playing pigs]…posted ads online pretending to be an adult sex worker.  Five men…were [entrapp]ed and face charges for sex trafficking.  If convicted, they’ll be sentenced to a mandatory minimum of five years in prison without the possibility of parole, plus [condemnation to]…the…Sex Offender Registry.  The [maximum sentence]…includes up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine…

Meanwhile, Massachusetts cops who forcibly rape actual children get less than one year per victim, or no penalty at all plus being rewarded with a powerful cop gang position for repeatedly raping children of both sexes for decades.

Social Distancing (#1046)

I’m sure this guy is motivated entirely by concerns for public health:

Canberra’s largest brothel owner…has w[hi]ned that illegal sex workers [are making money while he’s closed]…Aaron Jones, who operates the Langtrees brothel…said that [independent] sex workers…would not be [collaborating with the pigs to spy on their]…customers.  He has [belched out various dysphemisms at them, including “superspreaders”, “il]legitimate[“, and “]non-essential[“, in addition to leaning heavily on the “dirty whore” myth]…”These independents are…taking four, five, six bookings per night….[with] zero co[ming to me]”…

A Broker in Pillage (#1091)

Nobody is safe until this odious, contemptible practice is recognized as unconstitutional:

A New Orleans grandfather [was robbed by] the…DEA…[of] his life savings based on [spurious] accusations of drug trafficking and without ever charging him with a crime.  Now he’s fighting to get it back.  Kermit Warren…and his son had gotten laid off from their jobs last year during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and he was trying to turn a side-business as a scrapper into a full-time venture.  To that end, he and his son traveled to Ohio with roughly $28,000 to purchase a tow truck…[but] the…truck was too large for his needs, so he and his son bought a one-way ticket back home.  In the airport, three DEA agents stopped the two men and [harassed] them about the bag of cash…the[n stole] his money [after branding him “suspicious” and claiming]…that a…dog [gave them permission to rob him]…Warren is represented by the Institute for Justice, [which]…has filed several lawsuits on behalf of people who had significant amounts of cash s[tolen] from them at airports [by pigs oinking out the magic word “]trafficking[“]…

To Molest and Rape (#1157)

Notice how often predatory cops’ victims are underage?

A [typical and representative cop named Matthew Darren Atkins] who worked for several metro Atlanta police departments during a [checkered] career that [included being sacked for drug abuse in 2014] has been indicted [for]…molesting a 7-year-old girl in Cobb County…Atkins was [first] arrested in March…[then] was arrested a second time in Carroll County…[after] a woman who saw reports of [his] arrest…came forward to report that she had been molested by him as well…several years ago…

The Next Target (#1163)

This was inevitable once “sex trafficking” fetishists extended their pet fantasy to OnlyFans:

OnlyFans…will prohibit users from posting any sexually explicit conduct, starting in October.  Creators will still be allowed to post nude photos and videos, provided they’re consistent with [whatever] policy…banking partners and payment providers [demand]…the company [bloviated about]…“the long-term sustainability of our platform”…[apparently unaware of what happened to Tumblr]…

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[Tit censorship laws] sexually objectify women rather than treating them as people in their own right.  –  Judge Roger Gregory

To Molest and Rape

Cops constantly demonstrate exactly what they are:

A [typical and representative Pennsylavania cop]…was [riding around] in his p[igmobile] on Aug. 1, 2019, when he signaled to a woman he knew and when she walked over, he exposed himself to her and then grabbed her arm and put her hand on his penis…after the 22-year-old woman pulled away from [him] in [disgust and shock]…he told her, “You better not fucking tell anyone”…[but unfortunately for molester cop William Lance] there was a witness in the victim’s car…[the complaint was buried until June, when a social media post entitled “Officer Lance is a PERV” asked other victims to come forward]…Lance…[w]as [then rewarded with a paid vacation and]…charge[d with]…official misconduct…

Little Boxes (#748)

Puritans claim a law that only applies to women is “non-discriminatory”:

A federal appeals court…refused to strike down an ordinance banning women but not men from going topless on public beaches in Ocean City, Maryland, [prete]nding that the law does not violate the Equal Protections Clause of the Constitution [by belching out the magic words]…“protection of public sensibilities” [and claiming that a gland specifically activated during motherhood is somehow anti-family]…

Not for Any Reason Whatsoever

Do I really have to add, “Not because you saw a man house-shopping”?

[Out-of-control cops assaulted] a Black man, his teen son and his real estate agent as they were touring a home for sale in a Michigan neighborhood after a white resident falsely accused them of breaking into the house.  Roy Thorne…and his 15-year-old son, Samuel…[were] with Eric Brown, a Realtor who is also Black…Samuel was the first to notice…[cops playing soldier a]round…the ho[use with guns drawn]…Thorne, an Army veteran, told his son and Brown to get down and stay away from the windows…the [cops threatened the]…three…with [loaded weapons and demanded they perform acts of obeisance.  Fortunately]…the [cops weren’t as paranoid as many are]…and…subsequently released [their victims after] about 10 minutes…The [Cop Excuse-making] Department [claimed it was perfectly reasonable for armed thugs to go around threatening to murder ordinary people doing mundane things] and [absurdly claimed] race “played no role” in their [deranged] response…

Panopticon (#1078)

Tell me again how my work is degrading?

…As many workers have shifted to performing their duties at home, some companies are pushing for increasing levels of…staff [surveillance] in an effort to [magnify] the oversight of the office at home…[law professor] Veena Dubal [said]…“the reality is that it’s much more intrusive than surveillance conducted by a boss.”  [Customer service company] Teleperformance spokesman Mark Pfeiffer said…“We are committed to [excusing our dehumanizing practices with a lot of buzzwords]”…However…in March, members of Teleperformance’s global workforce…were sent an eight-page addendum to their existing employment contracts that asked them to agree to new home surveillance rules…[which include] having video cameras installed in their home…pointing at their workspace, to record and monitor [them] in real time…They must also agree to sharing data and images related to any children they have…and to sharing biometric data including fingerprints and photos…Pfeiffer…said that cameras were used for spot checks of the company’s clean desk policy and [belched out the word “]security[” multiple times]…

“Clean desk policy” sounds like the kind of rule nuns imposed on us in grammar school.

End Demand (#1122)

Another good argument against criminalization from my friend Savannah Sly:

…criminalization efforts are like when you’re going after sharks:  You’re going to catch a lot of dolphins in your net…we are the dolphins, and we don’t want to suffer from the laws that should punish only the sharks…We want to stop all traffickers, but we want people who freely choose this work to be treated with respect and not criminalized.  Likewise, we don’t think our clients should be criminalized, because we as sex workers are adults who consent to seeing them.  Criminalizing our clients puts us under economic stress…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1141)

Cops want everyone to share their hysteria:

San Diego [cop]…David Faiivae [had a panic attack]…seconds after [another cop] finished testing a white powder he’d [found while rooting in someone else’s property] was…fentanyl.  The [hysterical cop’s panic attack]…was the subject of a 4-minute video…th[at]…became part of the latest [copaganda campaign against] fentanyl, a [life-saving] drug [that is not an aerosol and is so difficult to absorb through the skin that fentanyl patches for pain treatment rely on patented technology that took years to develop, but]…which [cops keep pretending can] kill [by casual exposure]…the body camera video [of Faiivae’s hysterical reaction] prompted internal discussions about…how [the video] could be used in a p[ropaganda] campaign to [spread] d[isinformation about] fentanyl…

The Next Target (#1142)

Pro-censorship sleazebags are embracing nuisance lawsuits as their latest weapon:

Leading [pro-censorship] crusader Laila Mickelwait — until last year a mouthpiece for the religious ministry Exodus Cry — has completed her rebranding with the full launch of a website called “Justice Defense Fund,” promoting “civil litigation and legislation” against adult content websites…late last year she incorporated herself as “Justice Defense Fund” through a PO Box in a Colorado strip mall…Mickelwait [is] us[ing] her personal Twitter account to direct people who have had issues with online billing to the new website for information on a class action suit…

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This guy lay in shit and…died in [a] cell that looks like a friggin’ horse stall.  –  unnamed investigator

Imagination Pinned Down

Like seeing pictures in clouds or inkblots:

When the unrecognizable body of Jeannette DePalma…was found atop a…wooded hill…called the Devil’s Teeth in 1972, rumors spread quickly that the [16-year-old] was killed in some sort of satanic rite…Police…[claim]ed…they had found signs they thought might be related to the occult, including crosses made of sticks and branches arranged in a coffin-like outline around her body…But crime scene photographs released for the first time [last month]…debunk those claims, showing that DePalma’s body was simply lying in a dense, brushy area…facedown with an arm draped over a downed tree branch…Jason Coy, a history professor…who researches witchcraft…said he can’t find any sign of the occult or any other symbolism in the jumble of brush and branches.  It suggests that investigators, looking for something sinister, saw patterns that weren’t there…“Everything in th[e police] sketch that was marked out as a cross, in these crime scene photos just looks like a pile of underbrush…it’s a perfect example of how…i[f] someone…[has] the idea that something could be occult, they remember things that way”…

The Naked Anthropologist

Here’s Dr. Laura Agustín with GAATW on the rescue industry:

Torture Chamber 

For a change, this journalist doesn’t refer to torture as “correction”:

…Reginald Wilson spent more than 1,300 days in and out of jail since 1997 for charges often related to his fragile mental health…in December 2018 [Georgia cops abducted and caged him] for a probation violation…[dur]ing a mental health crisis…he was [lock]ed in a padded [cell and given no professional help, even after]…he smeared his own feces on the wall.  “He never slept. He was constantly just up, doing almost like gymnastics when you watched the video,” one [screw admitted to]…investigators…Wilson stopped eating, drinking and refused to take medication…[yet] the jail’s psychiatrist never saw [him].  In[stead,] staff [just repeatedly yelled “stop faking” at]…him…[and cop]s tased him at least tw[ice].  After… eight days…a [screw] found Wilson not breathing…[and] covered in…feces…[he had] died from…dehydration…

Not for Any Reason Whatsoever

Do I really have to add, “Not because a little boy picked a flower”?

[A] 6-year-old…was accused of picking a tulip from a yard at his bus stop, his attorney Julie Boyer said, and…was on trial…for injury to real property.  The boy’s attention span was too short to follow the proceedings…[so] Boyer…handed him crayons and a coloring book…she…and others [explain that] children that age don’t have the mental capacity to understand the juvenile justice process and…can’t make informed decisions…[yet at present North Carolina]…expect[s them to]…”Should a child that believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy be making life-altering decisions?” asked…Judge Jay Corpening…[local] advocates…recommend…the age be raised to 12…The National Juvenile Justice Network recommends 14…

End Demand (#893)

It’s good to see a story like this quote at least one knowledgeable person:

Columbus [Ohio politicians] are weighing changes to local solicitation laws that would emphasize pu…shing [propaganda about] those who pay for sex [in addition to propaganda about] those who sell it…[politician] Mitchell Brown [vomited out popular nonsense about]…sex trafficking…chief [copagandist and rape apologist] Jennifer Knight…[salivated about forcing people into “re-education”] sessions…[but actual] researchers like Jennifer Suchland argue “end demand” policies often backfire…“Because there’s now substantial evidence to show that they are, one, not actually reducing the amount of exploitation, and two, they are increasing the precarity of those people who are in the sex trade”…Suchland says…the “end demand” model is based on a faulty assumption…

Knight is the sow charged with making excuses for the Columbus rape gang, and claims the way to “build trust” with women is to hunt, rape and cage them.

Safe Position (#1058)

Don’t be deceived by Katz, a duplicitous proponent of Swedish criminalization:

Queens, New York, District Attorney Melinda Katz moved…to dismiss nearly 700 cases against people charged with loitering for the purpose of prostitution…[on] the same day…Mayor Bill de Blasio pushed [Swedish-style]…criminaliz[ation]…The…law was repealed last month out of concern it too often targeted…people…based solely on their appearance…Katz [followed up by bloviating about]…sex trafficking…

Katz is dismissing these cases because she has to, since the law they were charged under was repealed.  This isn’t some kind of personal move on her part toward sex worker rights, despite claims to the contrary.

Predictable Consequences

Lots of sex workers are quoted in this rebuke of prohibitionist yellow journalism:

The New York Times re[acted to]…the recent slayings of eight persons at three “Asian” spas…by a deranged religious nut…with a self-[indulgent article]…adopting the rhetoric…of…sex work…pro[hibitionists], painting the spas as havens for sex trafficking…without one quote from sex workers or sex worker rights advocates, the Times piece [claim]s that “experts say there are more than 9,000 such businesses” in the U.S. which are “fronts for prostitution,” and that “many of the women working there are being exploited.”  That dubious statistic hails from a particularly odious non-profit, the Polaris Project, which has long conflated consensual adult sex work with sex trafficking and has a history of dealing in fake statistics and urban legends…Massage workers…have no agency, nor any voice, in this scheme or this article…

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Expungement…is an intentionally fairly hard process.  –  Sasha Naiman

What the Hell Were You Thinking?

Ally Deviant Ollam on internet security for sex workers:

End Demand (#586)

A thorough analysis of the awfulness of “end demand” policies from the superlative Savannah Sly:

Combined with fear and ignorance, simple stories can be powerful propaganda vehicles used to justify state oppression…End Demand suggests that cutting off cash flow to the sex trade economy will discourage profiteering exploiters, and force sex workers to find “real” jobs.  However…sex workers…don’t respond to a reduction of business by simply deciding to “quit the industry” and go get full time corporate jobs with a company car and a full benefits package.  The notion that tough times will motivate people who sell sex to simply move on to greener pastures is absurd, privileged, and fails completely to comprehend the reasons why people become sex trade involved in the first place.  In reality, End Demand is a form of economic siege that’s had catastrophic consequences on sex worker welfare.  Ham fisted and reckless, End Demand tactics have increased instability and scarcity in the sex trade, fostering circumstances ripe for exploitation…

It Looks Good On Paper (#746)

This time they actually admit this shit law is designed to put people through hell:

Bipartisan bills about to be introduced in both the Ohio House and Senate would allow [people branded] sex trafficking victims [by the state] to [beg] courts to expunge past crimes even if they had not been convicted of prostitution or related offenses…[bill sponsor] Teresa Fedor [bloviated nonsense about being]…“forced to steal or sell drugs for their trafficking”…and [seems to imagine that]…use of the internet, cell phones, and massage parlors [have only become part of sex work since the last Ohio bloviation about the topic in 2018.  Another bureaucrat]…noted applicants must [somehow] prove they had been trafficked and that the crimes they are seeking to have expunged resulted from that…“Frankly, it’s a fairly heavy burden on the survivor, but [we want them to prove that they are inert dolls without agency rather than bad girls who had bills to pay]”…

Negative Secondary Effects (#974)

This pro-censorship screed is so larded with dysphemisms barely any escaped my editing:

Bristol is set to become the biggest city in the [UK] to ban lap-dancing clubs in a move [prohibitionists] claim will [magically rewrite the neural pathways in human brains.  Politicians bloviated a lot of tabula rasa nonsense about sex rays causing]…violence against women…Not Buying It, which [publishes revenge porn of sex workers], said councils had a duty to pr[event consensual] sex…

Torture Chamber (#1039)

Your regular reminder that rapist screws are not confined to the US:

Canadian prisons…do…not keep track of employees [who rape prisoners]…The problem is also fueled by the [refusal] to believe prisoners when they [report rapes]…In recent years [only] three guards have been charged with sex crimes a[lthough the actual number of rapes is dramatically higher]…

The Next Target

Prohibitionists’ next target isn’t just Pornhub; it’s all online sex work:

Germany’s most vocal proponent of state censorship, an obscure local bureaucrat named Tobias Schmid who serves as the head of the State Media Authority (LMA) of North Rhine-Westphalia, has announced…his [animosity toward]…OnlyFans…“We are registering that OnlyFans…are [sic] increasingly attracting erotic providers…and we will take care of it,” Schmid ominously warned…Schmid…like…fellow War on Porn crusaders worldwide, claim[s] his campaigns have a purpose to “protect the children,” although with the German twist that he is proudly an obsessive of “Ordnung” (order)…

You Were Warned (#1108)

Prohibitionists, censors and profiteers will continue to harass businesses thus until FOSTA is overturned:

…a California judge ruled that, although the contracts signed by a former [porn] performer were valid, the arbitration agreements that were part of them should be disregarded…Judge Michael Anello denied a motion by porn studios to implement the arbitration clauses in the contracts signed by a Jane Doe for scenes they had distributed…Doe…briefly worked in the adult industry around 2009-2010.  At the time, she alleges, she was represented by someone named Cissy Steele…[whom she apparently was also involved in an abusive] relationship with…[the pro-censorship group Morality in Media is behind the suit, which]…names a number of adult studios and sites active a decade ago…as co-defendants on the basis that they distributed scenes…Doe [contracted with them to distribute]…

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Fuck the patriarchy — but not for free!  –  protest sign in Berlin

If It Were Legal

Do prosecutors think scoring points trumps five women’s harassment lawsuit?

LA Direct agency owner Derek Hay has made arrangements to travel to Los Angeles to face criminal pandering charges in California, stemming from accusations made during [a] recent…case involv[ing] five of his former models petitioning against him and his agency before the California Labor Commission…Charlotte Cross, Shay Evans, Sofi Ryan, Andi Rye and Hadley Viscara…[are suing] Hay and two other individuals [for sexual assault, but apparently]…California [prosecutors think the fact that he paid]…Viscara…and…Ryan [for sex in]…2017 [is somehow more important]…

Follow the Leader

Costumed hooligans regularly abduct and torture people in ways that would be charged as crimes for anyone else:

PJ Starr’s chilling documentary “No Human Involved” recounts the 2009 [murder] of Marcia Powell by…Arizona [screws]…and condemns the criminalization of prostitution…the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office…[did] not…prosecute [the screws who intentionally and maliciously locked] Powell outside in a human cage for several hours without water as temperatures soared to 107 degrees…[a lying pig] who had already arrested Powell twice before for [prostitution]…entrapp[ed] a…schizophrenic woman…[and terrible laws were used to] turn…what would normally be a…misdemeanor…into a…felony…In the film, retired [Arizona] Deputy Warden Carl Toersbijns reviews Powell’s…file…and observes its tone of “retaliation” and “pettiness” toward the woman.  Powell was written up for things like drinking coffee out of the wrong cup and…shackled…every time she got out of her cell…[the torture escalated until screws respnded to suicidal ideation by locking her in the cage where she was found four hours later, covered in her own shit with a body temperature of 108o]…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#724) 

Given that dancers win every one of these suits, the old strip club business model is a dead duck:

…a judge at an employment tribunal ruled that dancers in a London strip clubs Browns and Horns have worker status.  Until now, dancers were misclassified as “independent contractors” [despite being treated as employees], which means they had no access to even the most basic rights at work.  The new ruling now opens the door for dancers to claim workers’ rights such as paid annual leave, a guaranteed pay for all hours worked, the right to take maternity or sick leave without the risk of termination, protection against workplace harassment and the right to organise through a trade union…

Full of Themselves (#787)

‘Happy endings’ have apparently become a matter of national security“:

The FBI has launched an investigation into how applicants with phony or questionable credentials were able to get Massachusetts massage therapist licenses…[the FBI is claiming jurisdiction over a minor state regulatory issue using the excuse of] sex trafficking…the state Board…approved the applications of candidates who reported getting their training at Axiom Healthcare Academy in New Jersey, after the school closed in 2014…Axiom’s founder pleaded guilty in 2018 to charges he sold fake transcripts and phony graduation certificates to [sex workers to get around government busybodies]…

The War on Whores

Here’s a nice review of The War on Whores on an Australian radio program; it starts at the 9:00 mark and is about eleven minutes long, and you can also download it as an MP3.  The reviewer called it a “must-watch”, and said some very complimentary things about this blog as well.

Out of Control (#946)

What is wrong with doctors who do this?

An Ohio plastic surgeon used sedatives…to drug and rape multiple women…[since] at least 2013…Manish Raj Gupta…faces [a raft of] federal charges…[including] sex trafficking…The FBI began investigating Gupta…[last year] after a woman who worked as a “high-end escort” reported that Gupta had [raped]…her in September 2016…In the morning, KB drove to the home of a client who is an anesthesiologist, and asked him to administer a drug test…[which] showed she had a tranquilizer in her system…[she wisely] did not report the incident to police…[but] did…[add him to] two [bad date] websites…[several other sex workers had] report[ed him starting in] March 2013…Gupta’s employees at his practice, Artisan Cosmetic Surgery, began to get suspicious of him when [one of his victims]…called the office “stating that Gupta had drugged her, raped her and video-recorded her,” describing him, his phone and his car in accurate detail…

I notice that NBC News felt no compelling need to put “plastic surgeon” or other non-sexwork job titles in scare quotes.

Uncommon Sense (#948)

Because whores are morons whose lives and businesses must be micromanaged by governments:

…the Prostituiertenschutzgesetz…which came into force 1 July 2017…require[s sex workers] to register with a local authority and undergo mandatory [indocrination sessions] and [violations pretended to be for] health…the law does [nothing] to improve working conditions and it fails to integrate sex work into existing labour law…The ProstSchG is…a bureaucratic nightmare for sex workers…if they comply [so most simply do]…not register…the realities of sex workers in [Germany] could s[till] get worse under…Swedish [criminalization], called for by [prohibitionist politicians]

End Demand (#972)

Mar Brettmann is a sleazy opportunist who will say anything to sell her anti-whore snake oil:

The Port of Seattle is implementing new [indoctrination]…for its 2,000 employees to [encourage] them [to] sp[y on citizens passing through]…the region’s air and sea…ports…The [propaganda was purchased from]…the [highly]…profit[able] group Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking…The [propaganda]…is specifically designed [to encourage racists and naifs to summon] law enforcement…[to inflict] violence, threats…and other manipulation…[on brown] people…generating [huge] financial sums [for both propagandists and cops themselves, the latter via the procedure called “asset forfeiture”.  The propaganda includes thoroughly-debunked fantasies such as the widely-touted by completely fabricated tale of how]…in 2017, an Alaska Airlines flight attendant…[supposedly] rescue[d] an underage teenager traveling from Seattle to San Francisco who’d become a trafficking victim…

The story was touted in 2017, but supposedly happened in 2011.  And “while the news that year is full of stories about a man arrested at the San Francisco International Airport for wearing baggy pants…none mention a human trafficker apprehended at a Bay Area airport that year…SFPD…web archives turn up similarly scant results…

A Tale That Grew in the Telling (#1014)

Americans disapprove of teaching kids about sex, but they’re all for filling their heads with stupid anti-sex propaganda:

Twenty-four states plus Washington D.C. mandate statewide comprehensive sex ed, but Washington state is not one of them.  In fact…40% of school districts in Washington don’t teach sex ed at all…[but] a…bill [mandating it may]…pass…this year.  Republicans…don’t like the legislation because they don’t want their children to learn about sex and consent…so they tried to kill it by adding an obscene 232 amendments…this display ultimately failed, and…[politicians] ultimately withdrew the most salacious amendments…[including one] which would force teachers to reference the “risk” of pornography in any discussion of [the topic]…[another] would…”exclude…any curricula that directs students to resources that discuss BDSM, bloodplay, inserting vegetables into the anus, or similar sexual behavior”…[another] tr[ies]…to prohibit…[one specific] book…and [still another]…”prohibits a teacher or other instructor from…demonstrating how to apply a condom…using…items such as sex toys, fruits, or vegetables”…

I sometimes wonder why politicians in general are so obsessed with plants, especially fruits and vegetables.  And in this case I’m specifically wondering how many of these proposed amendments are from the preaching pig.

Pyrrhic Victory (#1020)

Still think this djinni can be stuffed back into its bottle?

Wolfcom, a company that makes technology for police, is pitching body cameras with live facial recognition to [cop shops] across the United States…Axon, the largest manufacturer of body cameras in the United States, declared last year that it would not put the invasive technology in its hardware, citing “serious ethical concerns.”  NEC, which sells live facial recognition elsewhere in the world, has also not sold it to U.S. [cops.  But] Wolfcom claims to have sold body cameras to at least 1,500 [cop shops], universities, and [spook] organizations across the country.  It has been developing live facial recognition for the Halo, Wolfcom’s newest body camera model…

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[We’re] stuck with one narrative that hasn’t changed since Jack the Ripper’s victims were found.  –  Phoenix Calida

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Funny how many cops who are willing to pay prefer underage girls:

…a [typical and representative] New Market [Tennessee cop]…is back in jail…Joseph Ray Miller…tried to solicit an underage girl for sex on more than one occasion….[he] was…initially arrested…on May 3…[for talking to a disguised cop he apparently thought could arrange for him] to engage in sexual activity with a female under the age of 13…

Watershed

CosmopolitanGlamourTeen Vogue and now Allure…it’s so heartening to see so many women’s fashion & beauty magazines recognizing that they owe their very existence to whores, and speaking up:

…The physical demands of being a [sex] worker also mean taking care of yourself in new ways that may not be intuitive.  From icing bruised knees to carrying pepper spray, sex workers’ meticulous methods of self-care [are] further evidence that sex work is, in fact, work…For many researchers, it’s difficult to ethically study criminalized groups, a phenomenon that only serves to further marginalize sex workers…According to Phoenix Calida…patronizing assumptions…are harmful to folks in the industry who want their health concerns taken seriously.  Oftentimes, that means lying about their occupation during doctor’s visits.  “I did make the mistake of telling one of my doctors about [sex work],” she tells Allure. “I almost had child services called on me.”  The challenge of finding quality healthcare can also take a mental toll on sex workers…“It might be difficult to find a therapist, a counselor, or a medical professional who’s going to treat you seriously and respectfully”…

Policing for Profit

Cops will never stop doing this as long as the state keeps giving them pretexts:

…people traveling to California who[m cops pretend] smell like weed and are carrying large sums of cash…[are] regularly [being robbed by cops] at Fort Lauderdale International Airport…the Sheriff’s Office has [robbed]…19 individuals since 2016, all under [similar] circumstances…only three [of their victims]…were arrested for drug possession the same day they were stopped.  None have been charged with a drug-trafficking crime…the Broward County Sheriff’s Office has [stolen] $189,678 in this fashion…

Business As Usual

That this dude is being prosecuted now for the officially-sanctioned rape of a sex worker six years ago means he pissed off somebody well above his pay grade:

A…Fort Myers [Florida cop]…was arrested…on charges of soliciting prostitution, official misconduct and perjury related to a massage parlor sting that happened more than six years ago…Jay Rodriguez…[raped] a sex…[worker after deceiving her with official permission to do so] on March 14, 2013…[As he had been trained to do,] Rodriguez [then] “authored a falsified account of his actions during the operation…to affect [sic] the arrests of two women at the massage parlor”…Additionally, Rodriguez is accused of committing perjury when he was interviewed during an internal affairs investigation in January and said he had never [raped any women] while on duty…

Given that Florida is one of three states (along with Pennsylvania and Indiana) which routinely and aggressively defend cops’ “right” to rape women in order to destroy their lives, Rodriguez must’ve somehow crossed someone very important.

A Moral Cancer (#618) 

Authoritarian idiots respond to deaths from a black market product by dramatically expanding the black market:

The Trump administration said…it plans to ban the sale of non-tobacco-flavored electronic cigarettes [in response to several deaths from] vaping [black-market THC cartridges]…“The Trump Administration is making it clear that we intend to clear the market of flavored e-cigarettes [due to deaths from existing federal prohibition tof cannabis,” bloviated bureaucrat]…Alex Azar…The American Vaping Association said it was disappointed in the president’s decision to take direction from “anti-vaping activists,” such as [totalitarian fascist]…Michael Bloomberg…

Where Are the Protests? (#693) 

Another church running a fake “shelter” scam to exploit marginalized people:

A dozen leaders of a California-based [church] have been indicted by a federal grand jury, accused of forced labor of mostly homeless people…Imperial Valley Ministries leaders recruited [victims] by promising food and shelter, and instead forced them to beg for money for nine hours a day, six days a week and to give up their welfare benefits “for the financial benefit of the church leaders”…The ministry operates nondenominational churches and group homes in the United States and Mexico…church leaders kept victims inside [buildings] with deadbolt locks only they had keys to and confiscated IDs such as driver’s licenses, immigration papers and passports to prevent victims from escaping…Victims said they were isolated and closely watched…They were threatened with punishment for violating…rules, and…were told their children would be taken away from them if they left…Victims were refused basic and necessary medical attention…[such as] a diabetic who was refused insulin and even the food needed to control blood sugar levels…

End Demand (#962)

Mar Brettmann is a sleazy opportunist who will say anything to sell her anti-whore snake oil:

The King County Council is considering requiring [indoctrination] for Uber and Lyft drivers on [anti-sex worker propaganda]…“Because [sex workers] often [prefer not to deal with Seattle’s horrendous downtown parking situation]…they…[prefer to use] rideshare and taxi services in order to get around,” said Mar Brettmann, executive director of BEST – Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking.  Brettmann has [profited handsomely from mandated indoctrination]…for…hotel [employees]…and…saw a dramatic jump in the number of people who were [ratting sex workers out to the pigs rather than minding their own business like decent citizens]…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#968)

Clownish cops pratfall over fentanyl hysteria, despite debunking by doctors:

On August 9, 2017, [a gang of Pittsburgh cops raided Anthony]…Lozito’s residence…[Because they rushed in like a pack of mindless animals, they overturned] a table…[hurling what cops called] large amounts of [fentanyl into the]…air…[18 pigs panicked like little girls so they] were sent to Mercy [Hospital] for [doctors to tell them that fentanyl is not an aerosol so their “symptoms” were those of a panic attack, not opioid exposure]…

Checklist (#971) 

Airlines:  are you sure you want to keep accepting liability for your employees racially profiling passengers due to the government propaganda you keep feeding them?

A white North Carolina man says Frontier Airlines staff falsely accused him of sex trafficking his 12-year-old adopted son, who is black…Peter DelVecchia is suing the airline and several workers…DelVecchia and his son were flying to Las Vegas in March when he was hit [on the head] by a crew member who accused him of trafficking the boy, who was [forcibly] moved to another seat…workers denied the boy’s requests to return to his seat, refusing to believe they were family…one worker also [molested the boy]…DelVecchia’s suing for discrimination and false imprisonment…

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Police are a substantial cause of death…for lots of people. – Frank Edwards

The Cop Myth

1/3 of all Americans killed by strangers are murdered by cops:

…[an average of 3.25] Americans are killed by police every day…of all the homicide victims in the United States, police kill an estimated six percent…But the actual numbers are likely higher…government data is woefully inadequate, so the best available datasets have been created by journalist-driven public programs…In a [new] study…in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of sociologists and criminal justice researchers…determined that police violence is one of the leading causes of death of young men in the United States.  Overall, it’s estimated that the mortality rate is about 1.8 per 100,000 for men between the ages of 25 and 29.  This ranks police…as the sixth leading cause of death for young men, placing it behind…suicide and “accidents” — a category that includes drug overdoses and car accident deaths…

Stalkers in Blue

With modern surveillance and data processing, no woman is safe from sexually-aggressive cops:

…Scott Martin of the Ringgold [Georgia] Police Department [was fired]…for…a pattern of stalking, sexual advances, and abuse of authority…Martin…found [one victim] on Facebook…and repeatedly [messaged her to] suggest…that she sleep with his wife….Martin [stalked] the second victim, a college instructor, through her Linkedin page.  He…[even] sat in her class about gender and sexuality…she tried to avoid him.  The third victim [was a]…bank [teller whom]…he [messaged] on Snapchat…request[ing nudes and sending her a dick pic]…He eventually married one of her former coworkers and added her as a friend on their joint Facebook account…[then] continued to ask for sexual favors…The fourth victim…said Martin continuously followed her at [her city job] and…repeatedly…questioned her intentions when he saw her at the grocery store or gas station…Martin was supposed to be one of her points of official contact if she [was] ever [sexually harassed] at work…[before] Martin…[became a cop he tried teaching but]…was fired…[for sexting] a female student.  At another job…he rep[ea]tedly made…sexual remark[s] toward a…female co[worker]…

Banishment (#882)

Threatening landlords to get them to evict sex workers is a popular pig trick:

Billings…[Montana pigs], prosecutors and [prohibitionists promoted “pimp” propaganda to politicians to push]…the passage of two new laws [persecuting]…property owners who are collecting rent from…businesses [the pigs want punished]…In California, the Sacramento City Council has proposed some form of [persecution of] massage parlor landlords…In New York City, [pigs]…have [done the same] to [get around the necessity of] prov[ing anything]…Polaris Project, a national [prohibitionist profiteer gang]…has also called for greater [persecution] of…property owners…

On Tape

Where did Trump get these exaggerated ideas about how “sex trafficking victims” are treated?  IT’S A MYSTERY!  “Sandy Middleton…[of] the Center for Violence Prevention [in Mississippi]..said…’These girls are starved, beaten, raped, chained to trees and locked in trunks’“…

End Demand (#939)

Mar Brettmann is a sleazy opportunist who will say anything to sell her anti-whore snake oil:

Mar Brettmann…of the Seattle-based Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking, which [among other obscenities spreads lurid propaganda about sex workers]…to hotels—share[s her disgusting sexual fantasies about sex workers as though they were facts, because she knows most people are too gullible to as for evidence of any kind, such as names, links to police reports or even the places these lurid tales are supposed to have occurred]…BEST is one of the [profiteers making a killing from the] American Hotel & Lodging Association’s No Room for Trafficking campaign…[others] include ECPAT-USA…and Polaris…In addition, some [ambulance-chasers]…have filed lawsuits against hotel owners and operators

Top Cop (#944)

One can never have too many attacks on this power-hungry sociopath:

…support for the Nordic Model fits with Harris’s self-branding as a “progressive prosecutor” who offers a “smart on crime” third way between the excessively carceral conservatives and social justice-minded but squishy liberals.  It’s a schtick she’s carried over into her bid for Democrats’ 2020 presidential nod, after perfecting it during years as attorney general of California and district attorney of San Francisco…During [the] last…Democratic presidential debate, fellow candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard grilled Harris about her sordid record as top cop in California.  Harris “kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor”…and “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations”, Gabbard said…All Harris offered in response was an insistence that she is “proud” of her record and, later, an ad hominem attack on Gabbard.  Meanwhile, Harris’s press secretary tweeted that Gabbard was supported by Russia…

Dangerous Speech (#950)

This excerpt from Reason‘s video “The War on Backpage is a War on Sex Workers” (click on subtitle link for complete video) discusses a subject long-time readers may remember:

Pyrrhic Victory (#955)

As I keep saying, it’s already far too late to stop this tyranny:

…if [you]’ve ever gotten a Michigan driver’s license or a state ID card…the State Police has [your] mug shot.  The…database may even contain [your] Facebook profile photo or another social media image…There are only about 8 million adults in Michigan, but there are nearly 50 million facial images in the MSP’s Statewide Network of Agency Photos (SNAP), with 2.7 million photos added to the database last year alone.  Though the MSP didn’t start using facial recognition technology until 2001, the Secretary of State’s Office has been giving State Police all its digital photos — without notice to motorists — since 1998…[and the] 2020 budget…gives [cops] more than half a million dollars to enhance the facial recognition search functions of the growing database…

Between the Lines (#960)

This is what the FBI meant by “re-evaluating” Operation Cross Country: changing its name and quadrupling its length and cost:

A monthlong FBI-led [pogrom] to…arrest sex [workers] and [infantilize them]…has resulted in [hundreds] of arrests [of adult sex workers] and…[103 underage sex workers]…The [rebranded] Operation Independence Day…[involved] more than 400 [gangs of violent thugs]…67 [other people were arrested and charged with vague “sex trafficking” crimes.  Beside the rebranding]…FBI field offices had a longer time window to plan and execute [pogroms] as part of the national initiative, with the goal being to [circumvent sex workers’ increased security measures by dragging the raids out long enough that marginalized workers become desperate]…

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Kraft’s…case punctured some of the overheated rhetoric surrounding coerced sex work.  –  Matt Ford

Rough Trade 

A rare case where a rapist of sex workers is actually convicted:

A San Francisco jury…found a man guilty of several felonies in connection with the sexual assault of two female sex workers more than five years ago in the city’s Mission District…Edwin Rodriguez [was found]…guilty of multiple counts of forcible rape as well as aggravated kidnapping, assault and criminal threats.  Rodriguez now faces multiple life sentences…

Unclean Situation (#330)

These are also some of the nuns behind Ruhama:

A religious order which ran some of the Magdalene laundries, but has refused to pay into the redress scheme for survivors, is to sell its retreat centre in north Dublin.  The Religious Sisters of Charity announced it will sell the €3m Stella Maris Retreat Centre in Howth…A spokesman for the Department of Justice said no contributions have been made by any of the four religious congregations involved in respect of the implementation of the Magdalen Restorative Justice Ex-Gratia Scheme…[which has paid] a total of €27.8m…so far to 732 applicants…

Catastrophic Consequences (#576)

This sleazy tactic started in Canada, then spread to the UK:

[In the UK] “anti-trafficking”…raids [are] known officially as “welfare visits”…[cops pretend] that “the welfare and safety of the women…is…the number one priority”…[but in truth] “prostitute cautions“…are…handed out at high rates, and the…Proceeds of Crime Act not only allows them to [steal] sex workers’ earnings, it actively making it easier for them by reversing the burden of proof…the [stolen] cash is given to the Home Office, which then [gives it right back] to the police force without regulating how it’s spent.  The official line is that [cops] have no incentive to raid, but the truth is that the police force does stand to profit…

BDSM (#583)

A “cult”.  Because mentioning their sex practices wasn’t quite lurid enough:

Torsten Weiss…[the owner of a] medieval fetish shop in Hachenburg, Germany…was found dead with crossbow bolts protruding from his neck and skull…[in] a…B&B in Passau…By his side was 33-year-old Kerstin Enders who had succumbed to similar fatal injuries.  On the floor in front of them in a pool of blood was 30-year-old Farina Caspari, suspected of honoring Weiss’s…command to first kill him and Enders, and then take her own life…Weiss and Enders left wills at their sides…”Investigators suspect they were all members of a kind of sex circle with a focus on the Middle Ages,” according to RTL news…[at] Caspari[‘s]…house [cops]…found two more female victims.  One, identified only as Gertrud C., was her lover…friends of the four female victims interviewed by police say the women had all been under Weiss’s hypnotic control.  They reportedly engaged in extreme sexual acts, often involving BDSM, under his direction.  But what police don’t yet know is what led the fivesome to their deaths rather than just continuing their fantastical life…The two women found dead in [Caspari’s] apartment have no obvious wounds or signs of violence. Toxicology reports will show if they were poisoned…

Other than what I’ve quoted above, most of the rest is lurid speculation by cops and the neighbors, friends, and family members of the victims, mostly of the same level of popular ignorance as the myth that a person can be “hypnotized” to do things against their will.

To Molest and Rape 

Just 1500 isolated incidents:

Nearly 1,500 accusations of sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment, [rape, sexual assault] and child [molestation], have been made against [cops] in England and Wales over six years…Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that 1,491 complaints were filed against [various kinds of cops]…across 33 forces in England and Wales between 2012 and 2017, or 2018 in the case of the Metropolitan Police in London, which took a year to respond…Of these cases, 371 were upheld, resulting in the sacking or resignation of 197 [rapists]…Ten police forces [refused to] provide data…

Girls, Girls, Girls! (#679)

Clubs need to learn that the bad old days of exploiting dancers are over:

A federal jury has awarded five black dancers more than $3 million in their discrimination lawsuit against Danny’s strip club…Danny’s Downtown Cabaret…limit[ed] the number of shifts black dancers could work, and subject[ed] them to racially offensive epithets…”Danny’s also forced the dancers to work at a related club, Black Diamonds, even though they were subject to arrest there because they were not licensed to work at that club,” according to the EEOC.  “The pay and working conditions at Black Diamonds were inferior to those at Danny’s, and there was less security there.  The dancers who refused to work at Black Diamonds were fined and sent home, and not allowed to work at Danny’s”…

Profound Ignorance (#800) 

Scott Cunningham has finally set the record straight on the history of decriminalization in Rhode Island:

…In 1980, the Rhode Island General Assembly legalized indoor sex work.  The surviving members of that assembly have [pretended] that legalizing indoor sex work happened accidentally while trying to strengthen laws prohibiting street prostitution…the police and local prosecutors [eventually forgot]…as indoor sex workers were arrested and prosecuted regularly…throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Then in 2003, a Rhode Island District Court judge reminded everyone what the law said…For six years the state was running a “natural experiment” that would teach us more about decriminalized indoor sex work than we’d ever known in history…what we found surprised us and everyone else…Rhode Island rapes and sexually transmitted infections both substantially declined…several other articles in economics have found similar effects but in other countries and cities…in light of these studies, organizations such as the World Health Organization and the ACLU have begun calling for reconsideration of our commercial sex laws…

Unfortunately, he’s still making silly claims like “everyone was surprised” (no, prohibitionists feigned surprise; it has been known since at least the 1920s that criminalization of a market always increases violence and health issues).  But at least he’s admitting that Rhode Island was neither a “mistake” nor a merely six-year phenomenon, and I’ve noticed his studies have been getting much better.  We may make a good ally out of him yet.

Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs (#830)

Even Reuters is starting to listen to what sex workers have to say about “rescue”:

Sex workers in Thailand are rejecting the “raid and rescue” model used by authorities to crack down on…sex workers…[by labeling them] victims of trafficking.  Many of the women arrested are then [forced] to learn [menial] skills like sewing and baking.  “People say we should stop doing what we do, and sew or bake cookies instead – but why are only those jobs considered appropriate?” said Mai Chanta, who has been a sex worker for about eight years.  “This is what we choose to do, and we feel a sense of pride and satisfaction that we are just like other workers”…

That Old Black Magic (#884)

Click on the subtitle for the truth about Nigerian juju (not “voodoo”) rituals:

Spanish Police have busted a network of Nigerian voodoo sex traffickers who use illegal migration routes to smuggle young girls into Europe…the sex slaves are being groomed in Benin City, Edo state by mafia-style gangs promising them a better life in Spain…They were submitted to voodoo rituals threatening terrible consequences to them and their families if they disobeyed the organisation, police [fantasized, groaning and making furtive movements in their pants while describing how]…parts of their bodies were smothered in animal blood before they were threatened with death or infertility if they failed to obey the traffickers…

Pyrrhic Victory (#899)

Welcome to the future:

A UK pedestrian was arrested and fined £90 ($115 US) after attempting to cover his face while passing a controversial facial recognition camera van on an East London street.  The notorious London police vans scan the faces of passers-by and compare them to a database of wanted criminals.  One man wasn’t having any of it, and was seen covering his face with his hat and jacket before London police stopped him and [forcibly] took his picture anyway…The ticketing comes in the wake of another similar incident in February, in which another man refused to be scanned by one of the facial recognition vans and was also fined £90…the technology is terribly inaccurate – wrongly matching over 2,000 people to criminal…[at] the Champions League Final in Cardiff in 2017

First They Came for the Hookers… (#903) 

Most “prostitution” cases come apart like wet toilet paper if actually taken to trial:

A former Foxy Lady dancer…was found not guilty…of offering sex for money.  Lindsay Hoffmann…one of three dancers arrested at the club on Dec. 11, was cleared after a trial…lasting less than an hour…[a cop claimed] Hoffmann told him…he could get “anything” he wanted for $300 in the downstairs VIP room…But Judge Melissa DuBose said “anything” could have been anything…

End Demand (#910)

Mar Brettmann is a sleazy opportunist who will use any story about petty crime to sell her anti-whore snake oil:

…According to Mar Brettmann…“We know that 300-to-500 kids are prostituted at any given time in King County.”  Brettmann is executive director of B.E.S.T. – Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking – in Seattle…[which profits by indoctrinating] businesses and employees in King County to [harass] sex [workers], especially in hotels and motels…

In other words, she claims that there are about twice as many “teen sex slaves” in Seattle as adult escorts, a number so absurd prominent Seattle sex workers have actually been asked by cops where all those supposed “sex slaves” are hiding, because they sure can’t find them.

Loose Cannons (#938)

Another good anti-prohibition article at New Republic:

…The…charges against Kraft came as part of a sweeping, dramatic raid on Asian massage parlors across Florida…prosecutors [pretended]…they had smashed a international sex-trafficking ring…the narrative changed just as the public’s attention turned elsewhere…law enforcement agencies…often use [the claim] to describe and justify crackdowns on consensual sex work…prosecutors regularly use the threat of additional charges and a prolonged trial to induce defendants to accept a guilty plea…This warps the criminal justice system, such that…between 90 and 95 percent of federal and state cases are now resolved through plea deals instead of a trial with one’s peers…

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The state should not be putting people in cages for consensual sex.  –  Kaytlin Bailey

It Looks Good On Paper

Yet another story touting bullshit “safe harbor” laws:

…according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 1 in 7 runaways are likely child sex trafficking victims…According to Linda Smith, the president of Shared Hope International, children who are forced to in essence become sex slaves in New Jersey may still initially be arrested for the very crime that is committed against them…She said creating a diversion system to deal with minors who have been victimized may not be easy, but it must be done…Shared Hope International is working on specific legal measures that New Jersey could enact…

If prohibitionists really wanted to protect girls, they’ push for decriminalization rather than laws which define young women as legal incompetents who can be jailed indefinitely “for their own protection” and subjected to brainwashing.  Also: given that only 0.014% of all “missing children” are abducted by strangers, NCMEC’s claim that “1 in 7 runaways are likely child sex trafficking victims” is not just an exaggeration; it’s a blatant lie.

End Demand (#638)

Prohibitionist uses a story about an exploited hotel worker to promote anti-sex fantasies:

…“A hotel worker was being forced into work by her uncle to clean hotels here in King County,” said Mar Brettmann, executive director of Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking.  “One of her colleagues noticed she had signs of abuse and trauma…her paycheck was being taken and she was being abused by her uncle at home.  She was able to get out and get help”…Hotel workers can also be the ones who see signs of sex trafficking of young people, Brettmann [fantasizes.  Propaganda about]…such issues is what Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking…does…[blah blah, “end demand” nonsense]…

Vendetta (#730) 

Another group of technically competent but woefully naive kids is exploited by the police state to attack sex workers:

There will soon be a new app to help [persecute sex workers in Eugene, Oregon]…The app was created in a team effort at the…Hack for a Cause event in April 2017.  It’s called Emerald Citizen.  The goal is to [indoctrinate] people [in] how to recognize signs of sex [work] and…report [them to]…the Eugene [vice squad]…Tamara LeRoy…said because [“authorities” use the word “trafficking” to mean]…so many [things], it [is easy to convince the gullible to spy on virtually anyone]…LeRoy said it could be beneficial to [pigs to] have more community members [spying on and reporting each other]…

The “Emerald Squealer” app contains the helpful categories “buyer” and “victim” so the user need not worry about difficult things like using their own judgment.

Scrupleless in Seattle (#806)

Cops are on the same intellectual level as monkeys; that’s why they ape each other’s “sting” tactics:

…[state-employed thugs raided] Angel Massage [in Fresno]…arrested the workers…then took over the business…posing as massage therapists [to entrap adults seeking consensual sex]…Three women…were…booked…for operating a house of prostitution…[cops] are treating them as victims…

They are indeed victims: victims of rapist thugs carrying out a pogrom.

A Woman’s Point of View (#806) 

We’re definitely not giving up on New Hampshire:

A national group that advocates for the decriminalization of prostitution has hired New Hampshire lobbyists…and is pushing for a review of the state’s prostitution laws.  Representatives of Decriminalize Sex Work appeared before the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee earlier this month to oppose a bill that would have toughened penalties against customers…A lobbyist opposing the bill, former Republican Senate majority leader Bob Clegg, said he believes he has convinced the committee to hold the bill for further study, including review of New Hampshire laws addressing prostitution.  Stricter penalties against prostitutes and their customers drive the women underground, he said.  “It makes it that much more dangerous for the women involved,” Clegg said…Two years ago, the New Hampshire House passed legislation to study a change in the laws.  It died in the state Senate…Decriminalize Sex Work is a national organization that is launching its website later this month, said Kaytlin Bailey, the organization’s communications director…She said the national organization kicked into gear after President Trump signed [FOSTA-SESTA]…a California philanthropist provided seed money for a full-time staff and lobbying forms.  The staff includes three people active in the marijuana-legalization effort and lobbyists in New Hampshire and Rhode Island…

Something Rotten in Sweden (#812)

California now has its own annual anti-whore pogrom:

Fourteen minors were among the nearly 50 [sex workers arrested]…during a sting across California that netted 339 [other] arrests…Some of the victims [of] law enforcement were as young as 13 [and] [cops also abducted sex workers’] children as young as 6…Among those arrested during “Operation Reclaim and Rebuild” were [associates of sex workers whom spokespigs fantasized as] pimps who had put victims up for sale…”Dramatic [masturbatory fantas]ies” of rescues and arrests have been shared between law enforcement agencies…

Cops and Robbers (#844) 

The rescue industry provides many opportunities for wealthy white folks to play cowboy:

For four-time Olympian Chris Lori, saving children in Southeast Asia from human traffickers feels more gratifying than winning any medal…he…spent the past seven years volunteering with a [prohibitionist] organization dedicated to [arresting young women]…in the sex trade.  Initially, Lori helped to fund the group’s operations, but after a few years behind the scenes, he became an undercover [snitch]…“Every time you see these little girls, your heart just breaks,” said Lori…“They are precious little things, totally innocent, and have no idea what’s going on in the world”…Lori participates in surveillance and raid operations in the Philippines for Destiny Rescue…

If you’re interested in what the women Lori infantilizes as “precious little things” in his racist rescue fantasies actually have to say for themselves, try this link for Thailand and this one for the Philippines.

The Real World (#857)

Though this article exaggerates the prevalence of serious mental health issues in sex workers, it makes some very important points:

…elevated rates of mental illness are presumed [by amateurs] to signify an inherent problem with the sex industry…because only “broken dolls” would even consider pursuing sex as a career.  Furthermore, the industry itself is [fantasized] to be so exploitative and abusive that anyone involved is just setting themselves up for trauma and PTSD…[but] the fact [is] that the high pay and flexible hours of…sex work make these jobs appealing to people whose mental health issues make committing to a 9-to-5 office job difficult…[also] the stigma of being a sex worker isolates people and prevents them from finding competent mental health care…many sex workers who seek out mental health care find that disclosing their line of work often provokes unwanted and unsolicited opinions…the majority of therapists either aren’t aware of the particular issues faced by sex workers or come to these sessions with inaccurate, stereotypical ideas…“Amidst a nationwide campaign about human trafficking, many therapists grow concerned that a patient involved in sex work has been subjected to human trafficking,” therapist Dr. David Ley writes in an essay on therapy and sex work, noting that this assumption can alienate sex-working clients and damage their relationship with their therapist…

Signs (#887)

Motel 6 gets some comeuppance for its eager copsucking:

A federal judge overseeing the settlement between Motel 6 and a Latino civil rights group said he needs more information on the number of guests who may have been affected by the…practice of giving guest lists to immigration authorities…an attorney for Motel 6 acknowledged that tens of thousands of guests’ information was turned over to [feds]…However, data on Motel 6 guests who were questioned by ICE or deported is in the hands of the federal government, the attorney said – if such data even exists…

Top Cop 

The “progressives” have anointed this sleazebag as their new messiah:

…Kamala Harris…is the latest political celebrity to get a mini-me version of herself from the company FCTRY…the…manufacturer announced the release of its…Robert Mueller action figure…[and has] fashioned figurines…[of] Elizabeth Warren…Ruth Bader Ginsburg…Bernie Sanders…and…Obama. The[re’s also]…an “Evil Trump” figure…FCTRY CEO Jason Feinberg [made a number of cringeworthily obsequious comments praising the vile, racist, pro-slavery, police-state goon Harris]…

Stupor Bowl (#909)

The War on Whores is also a war on migration:

Myths about sex trafficking at the Super Bowl are rearing their heads once again…Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez…tweeted her desire to “scrap” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after comedian Mohanad Elshieky, who is in the U.S. legally, was detained by border patrol agents while traveling between gigs.  Washington Examiner  contributor and former…DHS…supervisor Jason Piccolo…responded to Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet by declaring that the congresswoman wanted to abolish “the agency fighting the illegal sex trade at the Super Bowl…Yes, the same ICE synonymous with immigration enforcement will deploy teams of special agents to combat the sex trade in Georgia“…fact-checks have found little support for the assertion that the game doubles as a major sex trafficking event…Still, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies continue to ignore the facts in favor of their own narratives…[about] the mythical problem…

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