The Honest Courtesan

Where are all the good people to put a stop to this?  –  Joann Meyer

To Molest and Rape

If only there were a concise term for “forcing a woman into a sexual relationship”:

A judge has approved a 10-year [toothless “]protection order[“] against…Glen Trejo…[a cop in Granger, Washington] who [was rewarded with a]…paid…[vac]ation…[for] repeatedly [rap]ing a…woman…often while [wearing his magical clown costume]…Trejo admits…the [rapes], but says [she wanted it]…The woman [fell victim to Trejo after] she went to the police department last year to report a vehicle that had been following her, and Trejo took her report…he…[sometimes ga]ve her money…because…he [knew it would damage her credibility if ]…it [came to light]…

Dangerous Speech

This raid was not “unprecedented”; the precedent was set by the federal campaign of persecution against Michael Lacey & Jim Larkin, which mainstream journalists have pointedly ignored for 6 years:

In an unprecedented raid [on August 11th], local [cops stole] computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper’s reporters, and the publisher’s home. Eric Meyer, owner and publisher of the newspaper, said…the message was clear: “Mind your own business or we’re going to step on you.”  The city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have,” Meyer said…

The parallels with the Backpage case didn’t stop there:

Joann Meyer, who spent nearly 60 years as a reporter, columnist, editor and associate publisher at The Marion County Record in Kansas, died…a day after the police [illegally raid]ed [her home and] the newspaper’s offices.  She was 98…the coroner…concluded that the stress of the [raid caused her death]…

Mainstream media are claiming the raid was instigated by a well-connected restaurateur, but freelance journalist Marisa Kabas has a better explanation:

What has remained unreported until now is that, prior to the raids, the newspaper had been actively investigating Gideon Cody, Chief of Police for the city of Marion.  They’d received multiple tips alleging he’d retired from his previous job to avoid demotion and punishment over alleged sexual misconduct charges…

A Tale That Grew in the Telling (#975) 

Given that the term “human trafficking” means whatever busybodies (with or without government powers) want it to mean, it can always be claimed to be “growing”.  In this credulous regurgitation of prohibitionist propaganda, it seems to mostly mean “coerced prostitution”, though the article also pretty clearly states that the so-called “victims” did sex work because they were refugees the Northern Irish government does not allow to work in their chosen professions, and have children to support.  However, this contradiction and confusion is unsurprising given that the rescue industry group in the article also infantilizes adult women with Phds, asserts that 6 = 230, repeats an urban legend as fact, and ignores the fact that sex work advocates and human rights experts told them exploitation would increase under the Swedish Model, but they ignored us and are now apparently trying to use the dying moral panic to get a big cash infusion from the government.

Decentralization (#1212) 

Once bitcoin exchanges got in bed with the government, this was inevitable:

…[Roughly]…two-thirds of sex workers have lost access to either a bank account or financial service, while 40 percent have had an account closed within the past year.  Faced with this [discrimination], sex workers have gone in search of an alternative means of both storing wealth and accepting payment.  In cryptocurrency, for a time, it appeared they had found…[a way for] clients to pay discreetly…[and] sex workers a way to bypass the banking system…But…though sending and receiving crypto payments is relatively simple, converting it into dollars is sometimes not.  The typical method is to transfer crypto to an exchange, where earnings are converted into regular money, which is then withdrawn to a bank account…But sex workers are sometimes banned from crypto exchanges too…leaving them st[uck] with [valueless data] they cannot use to pay rent or buy goods…

I smelled this coming when I read Coinbase’s TOS, which is one reason I’ve never used cryptocurrency; it was clear there would never be a dependable, government-proof way to turn it into actual money.

Surplus Women (#1355)

What kind of garbage “journalist” uses women’s murders as an opportunity to moralize via scare quotes?

Baja California’s State Attorney’s Office says…[serial killer] Bryan Rivera is responsible for a fourth murder that occurred in Tijuana while he was in the city last year.  Rivera…is now the subject of extradition proceedings in federal court in Los Angeles.  The Mexican government wants Rivera returned to Tijuana to face murder charges [for]…the deaths of three other…sex workers….[and] they have evidence showing Rivera was in Tijuana when the murder of the fourth woman occurred, and that she was killed in the same way as the other three…

Vulture Watching (#1364)

Texas wants to have its blood and drink it as well:

Salia Issa had just begun her shift as a…[pregnant Texas screw] when she felt the intense pain of what she believed was a contraction…but…prison policy wouldn’t allow her to leave her post until someone could replace her.  No one came for hours.  Issa kept calling for relief, but her supervisor [unsurprisingly claimed]…she was lying…two and a half hours [later]…she was allowed to leave…[and] drove to a nearby hospital, where doctors rushed her into emergency surgery…The baby was delivered stillborn.  If Issa had gotten to the hospital sooner, medical personnel told her, the baby would have survived…the prison agency and the Texas attorney general’s office, which has staked its reputation on “defending the unborn” all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, are arguing the agency shouldn’t be held responsible for the stillbirth because…it’s not clear that Issa’s fetus had rights as a person…

Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?

To Molest and Rape (#1364)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

[Tennessee cop] Tommie Lee House [was arrested for molesting a teenager while wearing his magical clown costume; other cops rooted in his phone and found a nude photo of the same teen taken]…earlier this year…

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