If you want the State to control what you can see, read, say in public, or do with your body, I'm not going to kink-shame you. But please stop trying to violently impose your weird perversion on those who don't share it.
Why do some people insist on dropping some deranged statement in the middle of an otherwise-sensible tweet? It's like setting the table and then dropping a turd right next to the salt & pepper shakers.
There are some things I simply cannot wrap my brain around, no matter how I try; one of them is defining oneself in relation to some celebrity who doesn't even know one exists.
Maggie McNeill points out that you'll still be able to read whatever you like for free by simply copying the link (or finding it on Google using the headline) and putting it into https://t.co/zvZZCQagIBhttps://t.co/4pERzxQC0D
I believe in free will and self-ownership; nobody should "follow" me, because I have no interest in being a "leader". But if people want to read what I write, they're welcome to do so and might occasionally learn something. https://t.co/1VX6Mu5NhL
The good news is, there are already 8 decades of human-written television from many countries, so even if computers are used to "write" (ie copy, process & assemble) shows in the future, there's a lifetime of content already available, 95% of which I guarantee you haven't seen. https://t.co/5tmfcgU7pG
…finishing law school so as to help sex workers with legal issues, so we're trying to raise $2,000/month for the next 6 months to help her cover basic needs and additional costs. Please help if you are able! https://t.co/smqGSxmoxW
Just a reminder that the least "regulated" product in the US is government.
It's a product you're FORCED to buy & the price keeps increasing all the time. Those providing it are the ones who make up the regulations, & change them on a whim when they bother obeying them at all.
Your regular reminder that most cities have businesses that rebuild and sell used appliances; they last LONGER than modern appliances and do a better job for a fraction of the cost.
Support local businesses and get a good appliance vs a "smart" status symbol. Your choice. https://t.co/IRtL9OG1QM
I'm not fully convinced that ALL national-level politicians are not either devils or malevolent aliens (depending on whether we live in a fantasy universe or a sci-fi one). pic.twitter.com/WYPWsiUbRm
As a child, the thing that infuriated me more than anything was when ignorant adults used their power and authority to demand I submit to their incorrect notions.
You DO know that this emotional state has gone by many different names before "depression" was settled on, right? Many famous people throughout history suffered from "melancholy" or "dark moods". Try rereading the first book of Samuel and tell me what you'd call Saul's condition. https://t.co/ipgtAq84gx
Michigan has agreed to [steal] $80 million [from taxpayers] to settle a lawsuit on behalf of currently and formerly [caged] teens who [were raped or] sexual[ly] assault[ed by screws or prisoners]…while [caged] in adult jails and prisons…The lawsuit, representing more than 500 currently and formerly incarcerated youth…was filed in 2013…
An art exhibition aimed at destigmatizing sex work open[ed] in Manhattan [last] Tuesday. The Sex Workers’ Pop-Up features artwork across 10 different countries and aims to elevate sex workers’ voices and drive the narrative around how their work is viewed. More than half of the 22 artists have a history with sex work themselves…The pop-up gives viewers the ability to “actually listen to the voices of sex workers and hear what they have to say”…curat[ors were]…led by an advisory committee from groups based in the U.S., Australia, France, Scotland, and South Africa, and supported by the Open Society Foundation…
Sex addiction treatment forces people into a kind of re-education program, which tries to convince them that perfectly normal consensual sexual behavior is the sign of a serious problem…These programs tell supposed sex addicts that they can reprogram themselves through behavioral modifications to become ideal sexual citizens: monogamous, non-porn-using people who rarely masturbate or fantasize about anyone other than their main partners…some of the same centers that treat sex addiction also offer gay conversion therapy…illuminat[ing] the ugly truth behind the sex addiction industry: it’s based on a moralistic judgment on what sexual behaviors are socially acceptable, yet it’s cloaked in a scientific sheen that gives it legitimacy…
…Jana Kuner, customer services manager for [Huntsville, Alabama] airport [is the only person actually named or quoted in what appears to be a “sex trafficking rescue” fantasy borrowed from TV cop glorification shows]….Kuner [claims she]…struck up a conversation [with a nameless] woman [who] shared how excited she was for her daughter who had answered an ad for a modeling job in Phoenix…Kuner has been [indoctrinated in all the usual fantasies, and claims she talked]…the [nameless] young woman…[into letting a complete stranger talk on the phone to] the [nameless] modeling agency…to [threaten to] have [cops come with]…the young woman [to snoop into their business, after which]…the young woman [supposedly] received texts from the agency saying they’d canceled her flights…[Nameless and unquoted] authorities are now [supposedly] certain [via magic that] she was walking into a human trafficking trap and…had already been sold [to some nameless buyer even though that doesn’t actually happen outside of movies]…
Given that this is pure hearsay with neither names of people or the supposed agency, nor quotes from the supposed victim, one can only conclude that these local news reporters are either gullible idiots or else have a very poor understanding of the meaning of the word “confirmed”.
[After] Geraldine Rodriguez Olivares…a [professional] twerk dancer [from Chile] on an international tour…landed in the Dominican Republic on a flight from Puerto Rico…U.S. Customs agents…[took] her to a private room where they forced her to twerk, while…five [pigs] threw dollar bills at her and slapped her butt. She was then stripped naked and [raped]…Rodriguez’s public cries for help sparked an international investigation involving U.S. and Chilean diplomats, prosecutors and immigration officials…
…The 9/11 commission and language in the Muslim ban directs Customs and Border Protection…to complete “a biometric entry and exit data system as expeditiously as possible” for non-citizens, and they’ve already worked with…SeaTac to buy face-scanning stuff for the gates at the new International Arrivals Facility that’s opening in July…SeaTac is already using biometrics in some capacities…[and] surveillance watchdogs…agree that airports across the country…will eventually expand this face-scanning infrastructure to snap photos of passengers arriving and departing on domestic flights, too…
A cabal of unsavory U.S. senators have introduced a…measure that would pressure tech companies to weaken protections for communications privacy in the guise of a measure aimed at child porn. While the…bill…never mentions the word “encryption,” it makes online companies liable for information exchanged by their users unless they adopt practices approved by the government…[which] means leaving people’s messages open to snoopy officials…In particular, they’ve scrutinized the bill’s reservation of Section 230 protections…to…compan[ies] that [dance to whatever tune]…the [current] Attorney General [feels like playing at the moment]…Riana Pfefferkorn, associate director of surveillance and cybersecurity at Stanford Law School [warns] “The AG could single-handedly rewrite the ‘best practices’ to state that any provider that offers end-to-end encryption is categorically excluded”…[like FOSTA, the] EARN IT Act…[would allow ambulance-chasers to file] civil [suits against] companies [that]…offer…end-to-end encryption. They’ll have to weaken or abandon such offerings to escape liability for users’ communications, but without ever explicitly being told to do so…
Michele Leuthauser was traveling from Las Vegas…Airport last June wearing yoga pants that should have made it quite easy to determine that she was concealing nothing on the lower half of her body. But…TSA…flagged [her] for…a pat-down of her “groin area”…in a private room…the [operative] told Michele to spread her legs far wider than the mat — an order that seems common for TSA screeners about to inflict abuse. She then proceeded to rub her hand on Michele’s vulva, pressing firmly enough to penetrate her labia with her finger through her leggings, and then continuing to rub her vulva until Michele, in shock, finally recoiled and told the screener to stop…Michele [filed suit] after TSA supervisors, local police, and TSA’s Office of the Chief Counsel refused to do anything about this incident…
A [retired] New Orleans [cop]…who led the NOPD’s pedophile investigations unit for years before he was unmasked as a child molester himself admitted in federal court…that he abused a boy who had turned to him for protection after the boy was preyed upon by his Boy Scout leader. Stanley Burkhardt’s admission in a Feb. 24 hearing in North Carolina came after years of denying the sex abuse claims leveled against him by Richard Windmann…
Bellevue police have arrested two men in connection with the rape and robbery of a Chinese woman — believed to be a victim of human trafficking…on July 19…Police say the suspects know these types of incidents aren’t usually reported due to the victim’s fear of being arrested or deported. These suspects are believed to have committed several similar robberies in the greater Seattle area and Bellevue…
The cops claim they won’t arrest victims who report, but it would be foolish for a sex worker to take the risk. And even if they don’t arrest her, they’ll deny her agency and use her to advance their anti-whore narrative by calling her a “sex trafficking victim”.
A friend of mine lived alone in downtown Cairo…One day in 2012, her neighbors saw her heading to the apartment with her boyfriend and two friends, a man and a woman. Once they were inside, the neighbors started banging on the door, calling her a prostitute and threatening to call the police to arrest them for prostitution…My friend told them that she and her partner were married, through an urfi or unregistered marriage, and the guests were just friends. Things settled down only after she promised that she would move out of the apartment within days. Many women have been raised in familial contexts where their mobility and sexuality are restricted…These restrictions have driven many of us to move out of our family homes out of a desire to experience life for ourselves, and enter the expanding ranks of the mustaqellat, or independent women, those who live neither in the home of their families nor husbands. If we thought that by leaving our family homes we could escape respectability politics, we learn very quickly that this is not the case. When women live alone, they are perceived as…abnormal subjects, because we are not living with our families, the source of a woman’s identification and social value…a woman trying to live beyond the traditional frameworks of social relationships…is constantly surveilled, and the primary authority over her body moves from the family and its neighborhood to the larger community…
A…Pennsylvania district attorney who tipped off female drug dealers and gave them lenient treatment in exchange for sex was sentenced to eight years of probation…Bill Higgins…pleaded guilty in May in a deal with prosecutors that guaranteed him no jail time and no additional felony counts. He was officially disbarred earlier this month…Judge Thomas Ling ordered him to perform over 1,100 hours of community service and pay fines of nearly $10,000…Attorney General Josh Shapiro charged Higgins in April, calling his behavior a betrayal of the community…
Yeah, “The Community” was the victim and not the women he coerced sex from because they were engaged in peaceful, consensual transactions. It’s enough to make one vomit.
A British Airways flight attendant has been suspended after putting a video of herself sniffing her tights and unbuttoning her shirt online…While it is unknown whether the flight attendant sold the tights or shoes, there is a growing trend for cabin crew selling their used garments online…
On the night of August 16-17, we received several messages and calls…reporting the murder of Vanessa Campos…[by] 7 to 8 men…This…would probably be a gang of men who regularly assault sex workers and their clients to rob them. This band phenomenon targeting sex workers is currently developing throughout the Ile de France region. Those who try to organize for self-defense…are then attacked separately…The murders of trans women sex workers are not rare…we regularly try to alert public opinion and the authorities to this violence. Unfortunately as always, we find ourselves alone…
…about 100 people…poured into an Ocala meeting hall…to…Talk about brutal abuse, corruption and inhumane treatment behind the walls of one of Florida’s most notorious prisons, Lowell Correctional Institution for women. For the first time, former inmates and their families were given a voice, and many of them had a lot to say to investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice about how rape [and] assault…by [screws] has become routine…The community meeting was set up by DOJ investigators who wanted to [see if there’s a way to cover up]…civil rights abuses and other unlawful conduct at the prison [which]…the…Florida Department of Corrections has ignored, covered up or dismissed…Laura Cowall, an attorney with the Justice Department, emphasized that the inquiry is not a criminal investigation but rather one that may result in a [useless] report…That prompted one family member to question whether the investigation will produce any substantive changes since it will not hold officers and staff responsible for inmates who have been beaten, raped or died…“They are scared to talk. How can you guarantee their safety?”…shouted one family member. Cowall [vomited up bullshit] that retaliation would not be tolerated by the Department of Justice [because obviously they’ll be there 24 hours a day and can read the minds of screws with their magic federal powers]…
The shock of last year’s category five hurricane was just a precursor to the radical overhaul of Puerto Rico’s overburdened prison system…Nestled away in [a] 200-page [austerity plan] was a policy to offshore around a third of Puerto Rico’s prison population – 3,200 inmates – to private facilities thousands of miles away within the US…The government insists it will be voluntary…“This is government sponsored human trafficking”…said William Ramirez, executive director of the Puerto Rico American Civil Liberties Union. “Even if you say it’s consensual, the reality is that you can’t provide consent freely if you’re…not free”…
Citing more than two years of secret bathroom recordings of juvenile victims, federal prosecutors argue that a former Medford [Oregon] youth pastor should be sentenced as a “repeat and dangerous sex offender”. Prosecutors are seeking…more than 15 years…for Donald Courtney Biggs…who’s been held in the Jackson County Jail since early 2015…Biggs…groomed victims by giving them gifts…and singled out victims for activities outside of church…Investigators have recovered 166 illicit videos recorded without victims’ knowledge, about 80 more than previously reported. They had been recorded in secret during overnight youth trips that included summer camps and spring break outings, as well as taken at Biggs’ home and at the church…
[Andrew Mitchell, an Ohio cop with 30 years of complaints and reprimands for excessive force, murdered] 23-year-old [sex worker] Donna Castleberry [by shooting her 8] times [at point-blank range after she]…stabbed [him in the hand. The plainclothes cop, who had parked his unmarked car so close to the wall that the passenger door could not be opened, had apparently forced the un-handcuffed Castleberry into the front seat of his car]…[Though Mitchell claims he] was investigating complaints related to prostitution in the neighborhood [he was probably specifically looking for Castleberry since a warrant had been issued on her the day before for failing to appear in court on a soliciting charge]…
Thanks to Donna’s mother and best friend for the details pointing to the cop’s motives, which of course the cops did not release to the bootlicking local media. What actually happened is clear: Mitchell, a cop with a long history of brutality, sought Donna out on purpose to rape her, knowing she had a warrant. He forced her into the front seat of his car without handcuffing her, and when she tried to stop him from raping her, he emptied nearly the whole clip into her 100-pound body at point-blank range.
A…Houston doctor convicted of sexually assaulting a patient while she was tethered to machines…won’t serve any prison time and will instead serve 10 years’ probation…Dr. Shafeeq Sheikh…acknowledged at trial that he had sexual contact with the woman during the night shift at Ben Taub hospital in 2013 but [like most rapists pretended] it was consensual…[even though] the woman was weak, sore and medicated following several acute asthma episodes. The victim…tried to summon a nurse with the call button, but witnesses testified it had been unplugged…Sheikh has lost his medical license and must register as a sex offender…
Voodoo Doughnut found itself mired in an online conspiracy theory alleging the famous Portland doughnut franchise is involved in child sex trafficking. It started when a man identified as Michael Whalen appeared on a YouTube show on Aug. 4, claiming he saw signs of child trafficking [like those “authorities” are always telling people to watch for] during a party he attended at Voodoo owner Tres Shannon’s…house…[like those “authorities”] Whalen offered no…evidence to support his claims, but told the show’s host, Nathan Stolpman, that he had spoken to authorities…Portland police…say no such reports exist…While the original interview appears to have been removed from YouTube, Stolpman has since posted several other videos…that appear to add actor Macaulay Culkin and nearby rock club Dante’s to the list of alleged conspirators…
Should the government be able to track your every move when you walk down the street, join a protest, or enter your psychiatrist’s building? Facial recognition technology may make that a reality for Australians. Parliament should refuse to expand its use until the government can demonstrate it won’t be used to violate human rights or turn us all into criminal suspects. [A new] bill would create a nationwide database of people’s physical characteristics and identities, linking facial images and data from states and territories and integrating them with a facial recognition system….[which] would initially enable centralised access to passport, visa, citizenship, and driver license images…government agencies and some private companies would then be allowed to submit images to verify someone’s identity….[or] identify an unknown person…the proposal is too broad, enables using facial recognition for purposes far beyond fighting serious crime, and leaves significant details to departmental discretion or future interpretation. The lack of safeguards combined with the centralisation of a massive amount of information raises the potential for abuse and ever-expanding mission creep…
In a self-congratulatory video posted on July 20 by the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, Wagner, the key sponsor of FOSTA, made a claim that caught our attention: “We have shut down nearly 90 percent of the online sex trafficking business and ads”…When asked for evidence, Wagner’s office sent a chart that tracked all sex-related advertising, saying that it showed weekly global ad volume dropped 87 percent from January to April. The chart was generated through a [government surveillance] system called Memex…The biggest drop in ads came after the shutdown of Backpage…a[nother] drop…took place after the laws achieved final passage in Congress on March 21, prompting sex-oriented websites such as CityVibe and the Erotic Review to begin to shut down in the United States…Okay, but what happened after April? Wagner’s staff refused to share the data, so we asked…[Memex’s managers] Uncharted Software…it turns out that after that initial drop, advertising for the sex trade appears to have rebounded, such as on new websites that mimic Backpage with names like “Bedpage”. Worldwide ads had a daily average of about 105,000 when FOSTA-SESTA passed on March 21 and had dropped 28 percent by the time Backpage was closed on April 5. It then plunged another 75 percent and reached a low of 19,456 on April 17, for a total decline of about 82 percent. But on the day the Judiciary Committee posted the video, sex-trade ads were back at about 50 percent of the daily volume before the law had passed; as of Aug. 11, they were at almost 75 percent…Wagner…celebrated a decline of “sex-trafficking business and ads” but as we noted, the metric she is using is advertising for all sex work. The actual impact on “sex trafficking” is unknown…
…[Milwaukee] prosecutors charged [Kevin] Long…with child trafficking because he admitted that he paid a 16-year-old Milwaukee boy to lick or kiss his feet, and offered to pay that boy’s 17-year-old friend to do the same. That boy said he wasn’t interested…[so] Long apologized…took the 17-year-old to the mall and bought him shoes…In his home, police found materials referencing foot fetish websites and a journal of Long’s prior encounters…Long’s attorney, Ray Dall’Osto…[argued] there was no [vanilla] sexual touching, no exposure or even discussion of genitals…Dall’Osto mounted a full-on constitutional attack on the child trafficking law, calling it vague and overbroad…Long wound up pleading guilty to reduced charges…pandering and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child, all misdemeanors …Judge Jeffrey Wagner…stayed Long’s registration as a sex offender until after [a forthcoming] review…
If you’re inclined to view this as a positive development, read more carefully; it’s justified by, and would reinforce, the dogma that sex workers are pathetic victims who need to be treated as wards of the state. It’s also another weapon prosecutors can use to coerce sex workers into “cooperating” with police to betray their clients and other sex workers, and note the “escort registration” provision:
It’s illegal to publish official post-arrest photographs of people accused of prostitution, under an Alabama law that went into effect Aug. 1…press advocates say it’s probably unconstitutional…[sponsor] Jack Williams…has been pushing for years for changes to the state’s prostitution laws, arguing that prostitutes themselves are in most cases victims of human trafficking…Williams’ bill, the Alabama Human Trafficking Safe Harbor Act, allows people arrested for prostitution to be held for 72 hours, with a hearing to assess their financial situation, mental health and other issues within 48 hours — with an eye toward [forcing] the alleged prostitute…through a…diversion program…The law also requires “escort services of companionship” to register with the Alabama secretary of state’s office…[which threatened] to report [unregistered escorts to the pigs]…
Percida Ramos was losing her son to heroin…[A lying pig told her about] Kensington, where ministers run resort-like, anti-addiction estates where the…demons are chased from young people’s brains as they ride horses, swim in blue pools, and play day and night on basketball courts…Her son would even have a job within five months, she was promised…All Ramos…had to do was get [her son] to Philadelphia and wire $150 to an address on North Front Street…What [Kelvin Aldarondo] found was far different from what he and his mother were promised…a grim, three-story building under the El with around 20 other men sleeping on bunk beds in four bedrooms and sharing three bathrooms…Since the late 1990s, pastors, police, and mayors in Puerto Rico have been sending hundreds of heroin addicts, many of them HIV-positive, to Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and other cities. The officials work with mainland ministers, some of whom travel from Philadelphia to the island to recruit addicts, offering drug treatment based on abstinence and prayer. [The practice is known as Air Bridge]…and…[it] has increased the numbers of homeless and HIV-positive people in the city, torn apart families, and confounded advocates…
Many people think of whores as being as far from God as possible. We are seen as “fallen women,” people whose moral deficiency has put them at odds with God. When God, morality, and religion are discussed in tandem with sex work, these conversations often promote religious dogma which serves to justify the marginalization of sex workers. Sex workers are rarely heard from on their own relationships with religion or spirituality, even though we have roots in religious and spiritual life as far back as Biblical times…
SWOP’s annual fundraiser is going on right now! Many of you have asked me how you can support sex worker rights; well, this is an excellent way, and your donations are tax-deductible! So please don’t hesitate; donate today!
In Florida, a wheelchair-bound man with end-stage Alzheimer’s must move out of the hospice where he’s dying, because he is a registered sex offender and the hospice is too close to a preschool…Jack Ehrhart…was convicted of a sex offense about 30 years ago, when he was a doctor. Several patients accused him of touching them sexually during their gynecological exams—with a nurse present. He now faces arrest unless he gets…out of the Heartland Hospice…Ehrhart’s wife is arguing that the residency restrictions apply only to people who have deliberately chosen to live where they live…her husband’s condition means he not only had no say in where he’s living, he has no idea where he is now. Still, Heartland is trying to ship him out, but having a hard time, because it can’t find other hospices that will take him. Meanwhile, Ehrhart’s attorney is trying to get him off the sex offender registry, arguing that Florida allows some former offenders to be removed from the list after being on it 25 years…
The 69-pound woman has battled anorexia for the majority of her life…after spending nearly two years in a New Jersey psychiatric hospital, the 29-year-old woman with a bone density of a 92-year-old told a court that she refused to eat any food, and wished to enter palliative care instead…A Superior Court judge ruled…that she cannot be fed against her will…and…has the mental capacity to choose not to accept nutrition. The state…argued the woman is mentally ill due to depression, and that by approving the withdrawal of force-feeding the court would essentially be allowing her passive suicide…Palliative care would simply provide drugs to numb her pain and ease her…death…Her treating psychiatrist, Joshua Braun, said force feeding A.G. would be “cruel and torturous at this point,” because restraining her could cause her delicate bones to break…
Namibian authorities stand accused of failing to meet multiple obligations under the Convention Against Torture…in relation to addressing severe abuse suffered by Namibian sex workers at the hands of authorities and the community…a group of local and international NGOs working with sex workers detailed an extensive list of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of sex workers in Namibia…One of the recommendations contained in the report is to decriminalise sex work in Namibia in order to effectively deal with the abuse and to establish legal procedures to investigate allegations of torture and provide victims with redress…criminalisation…has given free rein to police officers, health workers and clients and the community at large to abuse sex workers in a multitude of ways, without fear of consequences…
Straight Street Revolution Ministries…plan to build housing for women who are fleeing sex trafficking on 50 acres of land…in southeast Hall County [Georgia]…But opponents have made it clear they don’t want it in their rural community…residents [pretend]…crime and safety concerns, fearing the place could draw a bad element…
Yes folks, sex rays are also magnetic and can draw “bad elements”.
It’s been nearly a year since James Deen…was first accused of assault. In the days after the first allegation…porn studios began to cut ties with Deen…But, a year later, it’s clear that while Deen’s career might have taken a slight hit, it isn’t going anywhere. “Very little has changed in James’ life over the last year,” said Howard Bragman, Deen’s spokesperson. “He is not subject to any cases either criminal or civil and he is continuing the same work he did before”…analysis of adult film releases, as well as industry interviews, show this isn’t just the boasting of a publicist trying to make his client look good…
…the firm WankzVR premiered FemalePOV, its new virtual reality porn series filmed from a woman’s viewpoint — meaning, headset wearers occupy the perspective of a female porn performer or, in gamer speak, avatar…WankzVR…found was that women…who either used their product or frequented Reddit VR threads…did not want to see the gentle, less explicit content that they are so often said to desire. These ladies wanted something in-between the hardcore gonzo cliché of porn for men and the gauzy soft-focus cliché of porn for women…in VR porn for men, male performers are often instructed to keep their hands out of the frame and let their female co-stars do all the work…because male viewers typically report that seeing their avatar’s hands interacting in the scene takes them out of the illusion of being in the film…however, WankzVR found that female viewers expressed that they were disturbed to see their avatar just lying there, relatively motionless…it…looks a bit too much like sexual assault…
…[Rapist cop Marcellus White] was rebooked…Nov. 21…on 16 new counts…five new rape charges as well as two counts of sexual battery, two counts of oral sexual battery, two counts of molestation of a juvenile, two counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile and one count each of simple kidnapping, false imprisonment and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number…
The city police department…is publicizing 14 arrests made in a recent prostitution sting to discourage the sex trade within Lebanon [New Hampshire]…“We hope this…sends a message,” Chief Richard Mello [oinked]…“When we post an ad, we are inundated with messages, to the point of it being ridiculous”…Deputy Chief Phil Roberts…[said] in June 2014 that prostitution hasn’t been a “significant” problem in the city…[but] Mello…[pretends] residents are negatively impacted by other behavior associated with prostitution…“It is not just about ‘Leave these adults alone’…there is a direct impact to our community. Some people don’t understand that.” Prostitution also is frequently linked to drug activity, he [grunted]…
I agree, Chief Porky; your cartoon police-state tactics are indeed ridiculous.
A man who was robbed at gunpoint in Greendale [Indiana] is being charged with Patronizing a Prostitute. David Wayne Allen…told [cops] that he had met with Kyle W. Bernett…with the intent of paying Bernett for sex. Allen called police after Bernett robbed him of $60…
Concerned about the atrocities of human trafficking, a small group of Nevada County [California] women founded…“Good Women International” in 2013…Due to its proximity to Canada and Mexico, California is among the top five trafficking states in the country…Good Women International is launching a human trafficking prevention poster campaign…In 2012, the state of California passed a civil code requiring certain businesses to display a [propaganda] poster…When enforced, this law has proven to raise awareness and help law enforcement save enslaved individuals, [claimed] Joanna Britt [without any evidence whatsoever]…All posters will be displayed during a public reception…on Sept. 19, when prizes will be awarded for the top three posters chosen…“We do plan to follow up, to see if businesses are posting the information,” said Britt. “And we will report businesses not in compliance”…
“Due to its proximity to Canada and Mexico” has got to be the best “King of the Hill” excuse yet. See also the next item below.
Authorities need to work together to crack down on a human sex trafficking problem in Marin that goes mostly unrecognized and underreported, according to [a bunch of self-important ignoramuses]…In a new report — “Marin’s Hidden Sex Trafficking Challenge: It’s Happening In Our Backyard” — the panel [claimed] that sex trafficking…is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world…at least 100,000 child victims…A pimp can earn $150,000 to $200,000 per child annually, exploiting an average of four to six girls per year…the sex-trafficking circuit has come to include Marin because of its proximity to San Francisco, which is one of the nation’s known hubs for the crime…Some Marin gangs have also incorporated sex trafficking into their repertoire because it is lucrative and there is a high demand…
…Carrying out orders…to combat human trafficking…the first raiding team…roped in 20 Myanmar construction workers…the migrants were all charged with entering and staying in [Thailand] illegally. A second team…raided a Korean barbeque buffet (moo kata) restaurant…where they arrested five more Mynamar nationals accused of working in the kitchen…[and] a Chinese shop nearby [where they] arrested a Chinese [shopkeeper and her] “assistant”, in addition to a Vietnamese woman found tending to a fruit stall in front of the shop. All eight aliens were charged with doing forbidden work without permit. The Vietnamese national was also charged with entering and staying in the kingdom illegally…
Underage human trafficking victims are sometimes housed in juvenile detention centers because…Contra Costa County [California lacks]…victim housing, a county civil grand jury found…”Such bookings allow authorities to keep (sex trafficking victims) under protective custody, away from their exploiters,” the report says. “It also provides probation and [a religious NGO]…time to assess the situation and to [force] these youth [into] therapy and social services…Once in juvenile hall, most victims…are uncooperative and ultimately released back to their next of kin, where they will likely walk back to their exploiters”…
No, once they’re released they’re walking away from their exploiters.
Texas law enforcement officers have heroically “saved” dozens of “sex trafficking victims” by putting them in jail and plastering their mugshots on Facebook…the McLennan police department carried out a sting operation…netting 56 arrests (and 61 arrest warrants overall). They pitched the sting as a way to bust sex traffickers and help their victims. But as Reason points out…the majority of arrests were of adult women and a handful of men alleged to be their pimps, not underage victims or women pressed into sex work against their will…it’s not clear how throwing [women] in jail will help [them] “escape” sex work if they want to. US jails are not exactly an efficient route to professional advancement….Sheriff Parnell McNamara [bragged]…“Putting criminals in jail is our favorite pastime.” Police also availed themselves of [$4500 in] cash and [some quantity of] drugs during this selfless endeavor…
On January 16, 2016, a trucker noticed something odd…while at a…truck stop outside of Richmond, Virginia…Kevin Kimmel…called the police…Aldair Hodza…and Laura Sorensen…have been charged with human trafficking. The victim was found starved, disheveled and had evidence of extreme physical abuse, sexual abuse — and torture……Truckers Against Trafficking…trains truck drivers to recognize signs…of…sex trafficking…right in front of us at truck stops, massage parlors, hotels, salons…There are an estimated 20.9 million victims of human slavery…An estimated $150 billion is made by human traffickers…[fetishist] Tony Talbott…[repeated the common shibboleth] “You can sell a kilo of Heroin once; You can sell a 13-year-old girl 20 times a night, 365 days a year”…
Sex workers are fighting to do away with parts of a California bill that…would give…[cops power] over whether sex workers are either arrested or referred to social services, and could put sex workers at risk of [even more] police exploitation. Rachel West with US PROStitutes Collective said, “The Oakland police scandal…has exposed just how problematic this is.” The bill…would establish Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, pilot programs in California…[sponsors pretend] the bill would allow [cops] to direct people with low-level offenses to treatment programs in lieu of arrest. But sex workers and their allies, who aim to one day have prostitution decriminalized altogether, are rejecting the bill’s language and say they want legislators to remove any mention of sex workers from the bill. “It treats sex work not as a job but as a disease and sex workers not as workers but as offenders in need of treatment and rehabilitation,” West said. The Sex Workers Outreach Project-USA…argues that the bill invites [cops] to take on the role of social worker…and…could harm sex workers if transparent police misconduct mechanisms are not in place…
Dozens of New Orleans strip-club dancers descended on City Hall…June 28…to reclaim their voices. City planners…had set about crafting rules that could put hundreds of people out of work without seeking out the opinions from those who stand to lose their livelihoods…Contrary to what some would have the commission believe, “we can think and make decisions for ourselves,” said Stephanie Montgomery, a 10-year veteran of the industry…The City Planning Commission…recently…[opined] that the city should reduce the number of clubs…and limit them to the commercial stretch of Bourbon Street between Iberville and St. Ann streets…The city could further limit the numbers by allowing only one club per block in the district. That would cap the number of possible clubs at seven, less than a third the number in operation today. Dozens of dancers spoke for more than two hours in defense of their industry. When they were finished, at least one commissioner was ready to reject the staff report out of hand. Commissioner Nolan Marshal III, who is set to take over the chairman’s seat, said the staff had not done enough to consult with the women who work in the industry. “The study was clearly shaped by people who don’t understand the industry”, he said…
…Manuel Avila, a Paterson, New Jersey, cop…[orally raped a prisoner] in 2007…A few days [after]…a city psychiatrist had ruled [him]…unfit [for duty] and recommended that he retire. Instead, police officials decided to reassign him for six months to a duty that didn’t involve carrying a weapon, at which point he would reach 20 years of service…Avila was acquitted of criminal charges…in 2010. The city settled a civil lawsuit with his [victim] in 2011, agreeing to pay her $710,000. But somehow, the police department’s internal investigation persisted through early 2016…Avila had collected about $900,000 in income for doing nothing. With Avila’s pay, the settlement with his accuser, and legal fees, the city has spent about $1.9 million on this case…Avila will retire, receive around $85,000 in “accrued money owed” for things like vacation and sick days, and may be eligible for lifetime medical benefits and pension payments.
The young woman at the center of a scandal shaking multiple California police departments has revealed new and damning facts about the situation. Celeste Guap…claims to have had sex with more than 30 Bay Area police officers in exchange for cash, tips about upcoming prostitution stings, and protection from prosecution. Things allegedly started when she was still a minor and met Oakland [cop] Brendan O’Brien in the course of fleeing an abusive pimp…she celebrated her 18th birthday by traveling to Puerto Rico, where she found herself alone in a “rough area” and called O’Brien for help. He didn’t pick up. She threatened to expose him for sleeping with her when she was still 17 and, when he still didn’t respond, she did it, sending a text to a commanding officer at OPD detailing her relationship with O’Brien and several other OPD officers. She then sent a screenshot of the text to O’Brien. A few hours later, [he] committed suicide…if my colleague had killed himself after being threatened with exposure by a teen sex worker, my impulse would be, at least, to avoid her. OPD officers, however, thought otherwise. Not only did those alerted to O’Brien and Guap’s relationship not report it, they began allegedly contacting Guap—the daughter of an OPD dispatcher—for sex themselves. Guap…turned over an array of cell phone records to various departments to corroborate her claims…While all of this was happening…the Oakland and Alameda County police departments were very public crusaders against prostitution…
What more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more … a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. – Thomas Jefferson
All my usual news sources were constipated by the election this week; interesting events were still there, but were blocked from emerging into daylight by the huge, malodorous mass that is the American political process. As soon as that filthy mess was done with, the rest started to flow normally again; unfortunately, that meant I had to scramble a bit to compose today’s column and yesterday’s TW3, and that I’ll probably have too many items for next week. Had I wanted to fill this column with boring election stories I could easily have done so, but I deemed only three worthy of inclusion.
Oh, I know they exist. Ok well I’m pretty sure they exist. I’ve never seen or met one that I know of. I’ve seen videos on YouTube and JohnTV. I’ve read newspaper accounts of them and heard the horror stories from women who have been controlled by pimps. So I’m pretty sure they are out there. Kinda like the Chupacabra. – Brandy Devereaux
For international readers who maybe unfamiliar with the American legend, the chupacabra (from the Spanish for “goat sucker”) is a cryptid (a legendary animal like the yeti or Loch Ness monster) said to live in Puerto Rico, Mexico and the American Southwest. The legend is of relatively recent vintage (March 1995) but spread quickly through Hispanic communities; reports describe the animal as being canine, rat-like and hairless, and its name derives from its habit of drinking the blood of livestock (especially goats). Though the critter has attained a considerable reputation, its reality is both smaller and far more pragmatic: every carcass brought in to scientists as that of a chupacabra has been identified as that of a coyote, mutant coyote or hybrid coyote with an advanced case of sarcoptic mange. Yet the legend persists, because it’s more exciting to believe in a fantastic monster than a rather mundane reality.
The exciting myth
This is, as Brandy so astutely observed, exactly the mechanism involved in the legend of the pimp. Like the mythical chupacabra, the storied pimp is a common and powerful bloodsucking monster who can be found nearly everywhere, leaves a trail of exsanguinated victims and evades every attempt to stop him. But in reality, he is either a fairly rare (morally) diseased individual or else a rather normal and mundane creature misidentified as a monster by those who love a good tall tale. I’ve written before about this syndrome; the short version is, “When an outsider looks at a whore’s life, he tends to interpret every non-customer male who has any kind of relationship with her as a ‘pimp’, because of course everybody knows that all whores have pimps.” I’ve estimated the prevalence of all prostitutes encumbered with the stereotypical abusive, controlling pimp (of which prohibitionists are so fond) at 1.5%. That’s roughly the same as the percentage of women who report that their husbands or boyfriends are “extremely violent” (1.2%) and not-dissimilar to the percentage who say he is “extremely controlling” (2.3%); in other words, pros have roughly the same rate of abuse by their pimps as amateurs have with the men in their lives, yet I don’t see politicians hurrying to outlaw marriage and heterosexual relationships because of it. And lest you think my figures are too low, I advise you to consider the recent study discussed in my column of April 29th which found that only 8% of underage prostitutes in New York City had been forced into prostitution by a “pimp,” only 10% currently worked with one and only 16% had ever even met one. Considering that I think we can all agree that underage girls are probably more vulnerable to abuse and manipulation than adult women are, and that these figures represent ALL pimps of underage prostitutes rather than just abusive, controlling ones, it may be that my 1.5% figure (derived as it was from a base estimate of 10% of all streetwalkers controlled by pimps) was actually too high!
But those are statistics for advanced, Western countries; surely it’s higher in the so-called “third world”, right? Well, no. Brandy discussed this in her column of May 19th:
…I’m not talking about a manager who helps hookers out with security (like a bodyguard) or with helping her find clients and ensuring that they aren’t cops. When I say pimp I’m talking about the typical stereotype – violent, knocks women over the head cuz honey didn’t make him any money, supplies drugs, forces them on the street – you know, like in the movies and those 70′s tv shows. The Farleys want you to believe that every hooker MUST have a pimp that they allow to find men to rape them. No woman in her right mind would choose sex work. No man that works with or for a hooker has any other motive except to beat the snot out of the woman and steal all her money. They push this ‘research’ they have done into most news stories and papers and arguments against prostitution. It’s ALL trafficking, we are all VICTIMS, and someone must be controlling us by force/coercion…Why then are women around the world, yes even third world countries where we all KNOW it’s all about minors and forced prostitution, standing up for their rights as prostitutes (sans any “pimp”)?
The mundane reality
She follows this up with numerous links backing up her point, which is the same as mine: actual pimps (as opposed to husbands, boyfriends, managers, escort service owners, bodyguards, drivers and male friends who are accused by “authorities” of being pimps) are actually pretty rare all over the world. There are indeed chupacabras, and they do pose a danger to livestock. But they’re not 70-kg monsters who occur in vast numbers and mercilessly decimate herds while evading all attempts at capture; a few are underfed, mangy coyotes which prey on the weak, and the rest are simply normal coyotes, wolves, dogs, foxes and other creatures which are mistaken for chupacabras by hysterical monster-hunters.
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