Tag: sex workers

MSM Defames MAGA Michigan State Rep. – Media Caught Lying about 3AM Stripper Shootout

Rep. Neil Friske is one of the most conservative pro-Trump members of the Michigan House of Representatives, and last night was arrested for alleged assault in the state capital, Lansing.

Immediately the accusation was salacious: the mainstream media claimed that Rep. Friske fired gunshots at a stripper shortly before 3 A.M. after a dispute. The implication was that Rep. Friske met the woman at a south Lansing strip club, Deja Vu, and brought her home for sex, and then during a dispute started shooting at her and chased her down the road. This was what the media pushed through its disinformation networks.

But of course none of that is true.

Friske has told several sources that he was awoken at his home to a 3 A.M. robbery, saw an intruder, and started shooting. The robber was trying to take a briefcase as they fled, and the briefcase was left by the police on the lawn of his residence. Friske said it was likely the briefcase was simply left by police on the lawn. He was arrested and has been unable to make any public statement so far.

The media ran with a bogus, obviously-untrue story, because it hurt a conservative and they knew Friske was silenced by virtue of being in jail.

Friske is widely known in Lansing to never drink alcohol, and is known as a soft spoken, pleasant, and upstanding legislator. The idea that he would be drunkenly paying a hooker at 3 A.M. and then shooting her in the street is completely out of character.

Here are left-wing fake news disinformation outlets that are quietly changing their story: Detroit Free Press, MLive, Bridge Magazine, Detroit News.

But the damage was done. The smear has been made. The narrative has been set. Friske, unable to offer any other side to the story because he was being held without bail, has been unable to say anything while the media spun these lies against him.

The lies started with unreliable and dishonest MIRS News, which is a Capitol-focused blog whose audience is almost exclusively legislators, quoted anonymous sources as saying the Friske incident involved a stripper.

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Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect studied ‘Mindhunter’ book like ‘homework’, typed planning notes on Microsoft Word, and murdered woman as far back as 1993: Docs

Prosecutors in the Suffolk County, New York, confirmed Thursday that the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer has been formally accused of two more murders, but the bail application to make extra certain that Rex Heuermann remains behind bars also provided details that are chilling in their implications.

Heuermann, now 60, was infamously arrested last summer on the strength of discarded pizza crust and DNA evidence that allegedly linked him to male hairs found on the victims, of whom there are now six.

The Manhattan architect, already accused of murdering Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, in the late 2000s and 2010 on Long Island, has since been indicted in the 2003 slaying of Jessica Taylor, 20, and the 1993 murder of Sandra Costilla, 28.

Simply put, the link between Heuermann and a murder from the early 1990s, when he would have been around 30 years old, raises the distinct possibility that, if he really is who prosecutors say he is, there’s no telling how far back the serial killings largely targeting sex workers may go or how many victims there might be.

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Belgian Government Will Intervene In Cases Where Prostitutes Refuse Sexual Acts Too Often

A new law in Belgium celebrated by activists for providing a “labour contract” to prostitutes will also enable their pimps to punish them with a government mediator if they refuse sex more than 10 times in a six-month period. The Belgian Parliament voted for the law on May 3, with 93 in favor, zero opposed, and 33 abstentions.  

The legislation is being touted as a win by UTSOPI, the Belgium Union of Sex Workers, which had lobbied extensively for the legislation. The law outlines that prostitutes will receive health insurance, a pension, maternity and holiday leave, and unemployment benefits. Their pimps will be forced to provide them with a “safety button” to use for emergencies.

Their website claims that the law “is a historic step in the battle for sex workers’ rights” and will create a “respectful, fair relationship” between prostitutes and their pimps, with UTSOPI spokesperson Daan Bauwens telling media that he believes “Belgium is really demonstrating that it aims to protect sex workers, regardless of any moral judgements about the profession people may have.”

Prostitutes are to be granted “rights” to refuse sexual acts, stop sexual acts, perform sexual acts in the manner they prefer, and refuse to sit behind Amsterdam-style windows (public facing windows where prostitutes are on display). However, should a prostitute use these “rights” 10 times within six months, their pimp can then call on a government mediator to intervene.

All pimps must have a registered office and apply to the Belgian government for approval to offer contracts to prostitutes. The contracts will be disguised as hotel-restaurant-café (HoReCa) contracts so that prostitutes can remain anonymous.

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Backpage: A Blueprint for Squelching Speech

U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa acquitted three former Backpage executives of myriad counts against them last week—more evidence of how empty so much of the federal case against them is. Humetewa ruled that there was insufficient evidence to uphold 50 of the counts* against journalist and Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey, 10 of the counts against former Executive Vice President Scott Spear, and 18 of the counts against former Chief Financial Officer Jed Brunst.

From the beginning, this prosecution has been premised on a bogus rationale (authorities yammer on about sex trafficking though none of the defendants are charged with sex trafficking), overreaching in its scope (attempting to hold a web platform accountable for user-generated speech, in contradiction to Section 230), offensive to the First Amendment, and relentless in its attempts to handicap the defense. So it’s a treat to see a judge slap prosecutors down a notch, even if it comes very late in the game (after two trials and after one defendant taking his own life) and even though it may not make much of a practical difference for Lacey, Brunst, and Spear (who face imprisonment for the rest of their lives even with the acquittals).

But to read Humetewa’s recent order is to get infuriated about the underlying case all over again. Presenting the evidence in the light most favorable to the government’s position, Humetewa manages (inadvertently?) to highlight how insane and unfair this position is.

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OnlyFans star Farha Khalidi claims she was paid by Biden administration to spread ‘political propaganda’ to her thousands of social media followers

OnlyFans star Farha Khalidi said President Joe Biden‘s team paid her to spread ‘political propaganda’ on her platforms.

Specifically, the social media personality said that by the time she graduated college she was doing paid posts for everyone from Planned Parenthood to the Biden administration to dating apps.

‘I was doing full-on political propaganda,’ Khalidi told commentator Richard Hanania of working with a team commissioning an ad with her for Biden. 

Khalidi said that Biden’s team didn’t want her to disclose to her hundreds of thousands of followers that they were paying her for the content.

The White House wanted Khalidi to say she felt represented by then-Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson after Biden nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The content creator said she did not agree to that wording because she didn’t feel “reflected” as a ‘person of color.’

‘The funny thing is they’re like, “Do not disclose this is an ad”. Because, you know, they’re like, “technically it’s not a product so you don’t have to disclose it’s an ad”.

‘Because I think they just wanted some edgy girl of color to just tell people – when they nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson, they’re like, “Can you say as a person of color, you know, you feel reflected?”‘ Khalidi detailed in the podcast.

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Judge Acquits Backpage Co-Founder Michael Lacey on Most Counts

A federal judge has acquitted Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey of dozens of counts, including a majority of those on which federal prosecutors planned to retry Lacey later this year. U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa also acquitted former Backpage executives Jed Brunst and Scott Spear on multiple counts of which they were convicted by a jury last fall.

“After viewing the record in the light most favorable to the Government, the Court finds there is insufficient of evidence to support convictions under Counts 19–51 as to Mr. Lacey and Counts 66–99 as to Messrs. Lacey, Brunst, and Spear,” concluded Humetewa.

In November, a jury found Lacey guilty of just one the 86 counts against him and not guilty of one count as well. The jury was hung on the other 84 counts, including all charges that Lacey actively facilitated prostitution or participated in a conspiracy to facilitate prostitution via the online classifieds site he founded with his longtime newspaper partner James Larkin. (Larkin took his own life last summer a few days before the trial was scheduled to begin.)

The feds then decided to retry Lacey on those 84 counts, despite the fact that there had already been two trials on the same charges. (The first, in 2021, was declared a mistrial after prosecutors and their witnesses couldn’t stop talking about sex trafficking despite none of the defendants facing sex trafficking charges.)

Now, Humetewa has acquitted Lacey on 53 of the remaining 84 counts against him. Additionally, Humetewa acquitted Spear, former executive vice president of Backpage, of 10 of the counts on which he was found guilty by the jury and acquitted former Chief Financial Officer Brunst of 18 of the counts on which he was convicted.

Two of the other defendants were acquitted on all charges by the jury.

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California legislators water down bill making buying child prostitutes a felony

Over the author’s objections, California legislators watered down of a bill that would make soliciting sex from underage prostitutes a felony. Under the amended bill now solicitation of 16 and 17 year-olds will remain a misdemeanor.

State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, introduced SB 1414, which would make solicitation, attempting to engage or engaging in sex with a minor for money a felony with a prison sentence ranging from 2 to 4 years, a fine not exceeding $25,000, and registration as a sex offender. The bill would punish all those who solicit from a child, regardless of whether or not the person knew or reasonably should have known that the person solicited was a minor.

Under existing law, such crimes are misdemeanors, with felony charges only available for cases involving minors 14 or under, or use of force, but Grove says these loopholes encourage offenders to use older children to avoid consequences.

“In order to sell a child for sex there must be someone willing to purchase a child for sex,” said Grove to the State Senate Public Safety Committee. “That’s why we’re here today.”

Grove authored SB 14 last year, a bill that became law, which made child sex trafficking a serious felony. SB 14 passed unanimously in the state Senate before failing its first vote in the Assembly Public Safety Committee after Assembly Majority Leader Issac Bryan (D—Los Angeles) blocked the bill over concerns that any increase in sentencing would “increase our investment in systems of harm and subjugation.”

Natasha Minsker, a policy advisor for Smart Justice California and the lead speaker in opposition to the bill, focused on the potential harm to other minors making bad decisions.

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Bizarre Reuters Article Warns Climate Change Is Hurting “Indonesian Trans Sex Workers”

Reuters has published perhaps the most bizarre article ever, warning that climate change is having a detrimental impact on the income of Indonesian transgender sex workers.

Yes, really.

The entire thing reads like an April fool’s joke, but it isn’t.

The author, Leo Galuh, complains that “Nearly 93% of respondents saw decreased income during the rainy season,” explaining “Trans women…are among the most affected by extreme weather linked to climate change, as well as suffering disproportionately when disasters strike.”

Oh no, won’t someone think of the poor Indonesian trans sex workers?

It continues, “Indonesia is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and trans women, who tend to face more stigma and marginalisation than trans men or other LGBTQ+ Indonesians, are also among those hardest hit by extreme weather.”

Why? Well, because they are “are shut out of the formal economy” and have no other choice but to become prostitutes. Duh.

But hang on, what’s this?

“Despite gender-fluid communities being historically accepted in Indonesia, a rising tide of conservative Islam in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country has fuelled anti-LGBTQ+ persecution.”

Ah, a kernel of truth among the batshit.

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Florida Lawmakers Vote To Raise Stripping Age to 21

Florida celebrated International Women’s Day last week by treating the state’s young women like children. On Friday, state lawmakers approved a bill banning 18- to 20-year-olds from being strippers or from working in any other capacity at an adult entertainment venue.

Like a similar bill passed in Texas in 2021, the Florida bill claims to be a blow against human trafficking. As with so many attempts to “protect” people from sex work, this one has major potential to backfire and make abuse and exploitation worse.

It’s also part of a growing movement across the U.S. to push up the boundaries of childhood, making all sorts of things once legal for 18- to 20-year-olds now off limits

Under the new measure, Florida adults under age 21 will be barred from working at strip clubs, burlesque establishments, adult bookstores, or any other businesses that fit under Florida’s definition of adult entertainment. Currently, people can do so legally upon turning 18.

On March 5, the Florida Senate voted nearly unanimously to raise this minimum age to 21. Only three senators voted no. A few days later, only three members of the Florida House voted against it.

The measure is now with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. If he signs it, the law will take effect July 1.

Young adult strippers and adult venue staff would not themselves be subject to penalty. Rather, the bill would make it a crime to knowingly employ, contract with, or otherwise permit someone under age 21 to work in these businesses.

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PROTECT Act Could Require Removal of All Existing Porn Online

Is Congress really trying to outlaw all sex work? That’s what some people fear the Preventing Rampant Online Technological Exploitation and Criminal Trafficking (PROTECT) Act would mean.

The bill defines “coerced consent” to include consent obtained by leveraging “economic circumstances”—which sure sounds like a good starting point for declaring all sex work “coercive” and all consent to it invalid. (Under that definition, in fact, most jobs could be considered nonconsensual.)

Looking at the bill as a whole, I don’t think this is its intent, nor is it likely be enforced that way. It’s mainly about targeting tech platforms and people who post porn online that they don’t have a right to post.

But should the PROTECT Act become law, its definition of consent could be used in other measures that do seek to target sex work broadly. And even without banning sex work, it could still wreak major havoc on sex workers, tech companies, and free speech and internet freedom more widely.

There are myriad ways it would do this. Let’s start by looking at how it could make all existing online porn against the law.

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