The government needs to get the fuck out of our bedrooms. – Cris Sardina
It’s almost like these people have never actually been to central Kentucky:
Human Trafficking is considered modern-day slavery and is widespread in Central Kentucky, where adults and children are being bought, sold and smuggled. It…is the second-largest criminal enterprise in the world…“Any adult or child can fall prey to the manipulative recruitment and grooming tactics of traffickers,” said Attorney General Andy Beshear…This is worsened by Kentucky’s proximity to the I-75 corridor, where victims can be transported quickly to other states under the radar. “When we talk about the crime of human trafficking, people often think of…people following people around Walmart or Target attempting a kidnapping,” said Robyn Diez d’Aux, a human trafficking advocate with Catholic Charities…
Remember the Froot Loop who claimed pop stars cause “sex trafficking”? Nicki Minaj says “hold my beer”:
“Maybe I was naïve, but I didn’t realize how many girls were modern-day prostitutes,” Nicki Minaj recently said in an interview with Elle Magazine. “Whether you’re a stripper, or whether you’re an Instagram girl—these girls are so beautiful and they have so much to offer. But I started finding out that you give them a couple thousand dollars, and you can have sex with them….It’s just sad that they don’t know their worth…And it makes me sad that maybe I’ve contributed to that in some way.” Nicki, Nicki, Nicki. Girl. Why do you look down on sex workers? You’re literally imitating one…For all intents and purposes, Nicki Minaj is at least sex worker adjacent. She uses her body as a sexual prop, undergoing intensive cosmetic surgery to create a hyper-sexualized body…in order to sell hyper-sexualized music. She’s…selling a sexual performance that relies on her sexuality just as much as it does the music. Kinda like a stripper…It’s as if she’s just awoken from a deep coma in which her body and career were the handiwork of Norman Bates’ mother…
See, ladies, giving sex away for free is “knowing your worth”, but charging for it isn’t. Thanks for clearing that up, Nicki!
Property of the State (#451)
One of the sleaziest legal dodges this year:
A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals…vacated a lower court decision striking Wisconsin’s “cocaine mom” law, also known as a “personhood” law, [using the excuse that] the case was now moot because the woman challenging the law had moved out of state…Under the law, social workers can begin [Star Chamber] legal proceedings in which a court can appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the fetus in the legal proceedings against the pregnant person. If that person is found to be a substantial threat to the fetus, the state can involuntarily detain them and subject them to involuntary medical treatment…In 2014, Tamara Loertscher voluntarily sought medical help for depression and a severe thyroid condition that resulted in Loertscher experiencing debilitating lethargy. Loertcher had begun to self-medicate with marijuana and methamphetamine as this condition took hold. When she suspected she was pregnant, Loertscher disclosed this information to health-care workers who first confirmed Loertscher’s pregnancy then immediately reported her to…authorities, who initiated legal proceedings against her…the court appointed a guardian for Loertscher’s fetus but denied Loertscher counsel…
A Tale That Grew in the Telling (#506)
Remember 110 clients in one day? How about 182 a day for 15 years?
Kat Lee, 32, from Manchester, has spent 15 years working as a legal “out-call” escort but says the work was lonely, often dangerous and led to drink problems that resulted in her having her stomach pumped. Now Kat – who was lured into the job by a photographer when she was still a teen – says people turn to prostitution for the wrong reasons and she would welcome a ban. She said: “I worked (as an escort) from when I was 18 until I was in my 30s, I must have seen over a million clients…
To Molest and Rape
Seattle doesn’t want anyone to know what this rapist looks like:
A jury found a former Seattle Police Department sergeant guilty…of four counts related to the rape and molestation of his two older daughters. Daniel Amador…routinely raped his older daughter, A.B., about five times a week and also molested his younger daughter, C.A…The rapes began when [A.B.] was about 9 years old and continued until she was in college…
If anyone can find me a face shot of this disgusting pile of feces wrapped in human skin, please send it along.
Broken Record (#750)
Omaha has only one event it can pretend to be a “sex trafficking” magnet, and uses it every year:
The College World Series brings excitement to baseball fans…”We know 900 individuals are bought and sold in a month – multiple times,” [fantasized the drooling] Meghan Malik…[of] Women’s Fund of Omaha…Some possible warning signs from victims include [shyness and adults with their kids]…
Original Sin (#803)
There’s something very appropriate about an article full of lies & propaganda opening with a misattribution:
One of my favorite quotes is by Albert Einstein – “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” That’s why I was drawn to working for Voices for Florida…Florida ranks 3rd in the country for the prevalence of human trafficking. In 2016, 356 child victims of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) were verified in Florida…
That quote isn’t from Einstein; it’s from Rita Mae Brown. And as I’ve explained before, there is no comparative ranking of states for “human trafficking”.
Standard Operating Procedure (#814)
Charity barred from bringing money into poor country because white ladies are offended:
Oxfam GB has been banned from operating in Haiti permanently in the wake of revelations about..the charity’s employees….[hired] sex workers while in the country after the January 2010 earthquake that left more than 220,000 people dead…Oxfam will continue to operate in Haiti through its Italian, Spanish and Quebecois affiliate members [who are obviously all celibate and never, ever hire local people to provide any service whatsoever]. Oxfam’s projects in the Caribbean country help 750,000 people through work on reconstruction and development projects…
To Molest and Rape (#843)
It’s rare that politicians’ tendency toward “monkey see, monkey do” actually works for good:
Louisiana just became the 19th state to make it illegal for cops to [rape] individuals arrested or in custody…It’s the latest in a wave of states acting on the issue since a high-profile case in New York brought it to national attention last fall [after sex workers have talked about it for years, but have been ignored]. Prior to the New York case, about 15 states had similar laws on the books…
Pyrrhic Victory (#844)
Are the hoi-polloi finally waking up to how “cool” technology is used to expand the police state?
Amazon received an unexpected delivery [on June 18th] when community leaders dropped off four big boxes of signatures urging the company to stop selling image recognition technology to law enforcement agencies. Activists representing faith groups, immigrants, and labor held a press conference at Amazon’s iconic Spheres in Seattle. The event is part of an ongoing effort to get Amazon to stop providing police with its Rekognition software. On [June 15th], nearly 20 groups of Amazon shareholders sent a letter asking the company to stop the practice…For weeks, the American Civil Liberties Union has been urging Amazon not to sell Rekognition to police…ACLU organized the event at Amazon’s headquarters…Amazon is not commenting on the petition but one of the company’s AI executives, Matt Wood, [falsely claimed that]…“There has been no reported law enforcement abuse of Amazon Rekognition”, [completely ignoring cops’ use of the technology to persecute sex workers]…
Safe Position
…close to 200 sex workers and their allies attended a town hall in Brooklyn, New York, to hear Democratic Congressional candidate Suraj Patel and a panel of sex workers and activists discuss the sex workers’ rights movement. It’s the first known town hall to include sex workers in U.S. political history. Patel’s campaign and Survivors Against SESTA organized the event…Patel is one of very few Democrat politicians to speak out against [FOSTA/SESTA] and openly support sex workers’ advocacy. Prominent [authoritarian] Democrats and presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Warren…Bernie Sanders…and Kamala Harris…as well as Patel’s opponent in the New York primary, Carolyn Maloney…supported the anti-sex [worker] legislation [knowing full well] it would…[harm] sex workers…
Lack of Evidence (#848)
Another small but important victory for sex workers:
Allegheny County [cops] will no longer criminalize condoms in prostitution-related cases, the department superintendent said…Coleman McDonough…[admitted] that [cops] can still file possession charges based on cellphones, which are often categorized as instruments of crime…Activist groups — including the burgeoning Pittsburgh chapter of the Sex Worker Outreach Project — mobilized and began calling for the police and Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. to end the practice…PJ Sage [of SWOP Pittsburgh] said the group will remain dedicated to changing the practice of possession of instrument of crime charges relating to cellphones…
Disaster (#850)
Another casualty of the War on Whores:
The Desiree Conference…is regarded as the most important gathering of its kind for sex workers and allies. [But] “Due to FOSTA/SESTA enactments, our leadership made the decision that we cannot put our organization and our attendees at risk,” Desiree Alliance announced on its website…Cris Sardina, director at the Desiree Alliance…said…“Even something as simple as hotel hospitality potentially alerting local police to suspicious people or behavior could put a group of 500 activists and sex works at major risk”…Even a workshop on how to advertise online could be [misrepresented by cops] as an intention to traffic a sex worker, so even the most tame of the conference activities could be up for legal scrutiny…