
18 years to file charges?
It sort of makes you wonder if maybe someone high up who's no longer there blocked this or maybe that the investigators had to keep investigating <nudge nudge wink wink> for that long.
The New York City offices of Rentboy.com were raided by US federal agents on Tuesday – and several staff arrested including the chief exec. The website claims to be the world's largest online directory of male escorts. In an affidavit [NSFW PDF] filed in a Brooklyn court ahead of the swoop, US Department of Homeland Security …
"Wait! How can a politician or church leader possibly allow consenting adults to indulge in perfectly legal activities for money?"
Wait! How can a politician or church leader possibly allow consenting adults to indulge in perfectly legal activities for money?
FTFY
Re: a simple solution to illegal prostitution
"Wait! How can a politician or church leader possibly allow consenting adults to indulge in perfectly legal activities for money?"
Wait! How can a politician or church leader possibly allow consenting adults to indulge in perfectly legal activities for money?
No, the money aspect is important. You can tax that, which is in turn an extra incentive to legalise it, and bringing it above board, so to speak, is also a good way to make it all a bit healthier and safer.
"No, the money aspect is important."
It seems that many politicians are in a dichotomy over many things people like to do. They want to get more taxes - but they also promote religious objections to people enjoying themselves in some ways that are relatively harmless to society in general.
The second tends to override the first - to the extent that large sums of public money are effectively wasted on banning, enforcing, and prosecutions. Some of this goes as funding to groups with a vested interest in there being such bans. The politicians get an electioneering kick-back on this by making out they are only interested in protecting the childrenpublic.
I think it's more an indication of the frankly bizarre attitude a lot of people (American mainly, but some here as well) have to life. They are happy to see (or use) guns and things that end life, but show (or offer them) something that has to do with creating life, and they object..
Think about it. Hollywood turns out endless TV shows and films where they show people being killed in all sorts of ways, and they are happy to show the weapons that kill the people, but on the few occasions someone has dared show a female nipple, the country has gone into uproar. I remember when Janet Jackson showed a (mostly covered) nipple during the Superbowl. The country was in uproar and the republicans (rather ironically bearing in mind they broadly support guns and my above statement) asked questions in Congress about it.
Don't get me wrong. I like action movies and TV shows, and I like to watch s**t get blown up, but I generally don't understand the attitude that it's OK to almost worship acts that end life, but express shock and horror at an act that (let's face it) has a primary purpose of creating life.
"Why is Homeland Security investigating male prostitution? Isn't counter-terrorism enough for them?"
Probably they found there are virtually no terrorists to arrest, but plenty of folk whoring themselves shamelessly to America's serious disadvantage.
But they were told they could not arrest congress, so had to make do with stitching up a rent-boy site instead.
This seems to chime with the recent statement about the Mayor of New York suggesting tearing up the pedestrian areas of Times Square. That is his suggested last resort if prosecutions are not possible to stop topless women posing for pictures with tourists.
NSFW?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/nyregion/topless-in-times-square-a-legal-view.html
"US Department of Homeland Security special agent Susan Ruiz "
Erm, isn't their job "protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to terrorist attacks, man-made accidents, and natural disasters." wiki
They'll have Marvel: Agents of Shield handing out parking tickets next.
... there are two options:
1) They've won the War Against Terror
or:
2) Someone is desperately trying to draw attention away from the Ashley Madison hack.
Meanwhile, of course, all those sites with adults offering other services, such as actors, musicians, accountants, plumbers or even lawyers go on about their business because it's only SEX which causes the Yanks a problem.
"I'm just a musical prostitute, darling!" - Freddie Mercury.
it's an app, that connects people with a "ride" with people who want to pay to "ride". At least that's the excuse Uber uses, along with radio slots telling you that "you can make big money on your own schedule" by working for them. Their defense that they're "not a taxi company" should be applied by any decent lawyer to protect any sort of "app" that connects any sort of "legal when given freely" service with anyone willing to pay for it.