Posts Tagged ‘prostitution’

Jeffrey Scott Shapiro

Are Underage Women Being Exploited at Occupy Protests?

by Jeffrey Scott Shapiro

Occupy protestors have denied that criminal acts being committed on their turf are the handiwork of their movement, but at the very least, evidence suggests that the presence of common criminals is being ignored. Although the Occupy protestors could be sending a valid message about illegal banking practices and white-collar crime, the movement has become a collective of anarchists crying out that they do not need government.

Not coincidentally, a criminal element has arisen within the ranks of Occupy movements everywhere, and more and more people are getting hurt – even children.

This journalist already reported some of the worst crimes being committed at Occupy movements around the country two weeks ago, which included sexual assault, threats and acts of physical violence against both police and civilians.

NYPD officers have already made over a thousand arrests, and Breitbart.com has reported 403 incidents from news stories collected across the United States.

One of those stories involved a 23-year old Manchester woman who reportedly solicited a 16-year old girl on an online Internet site for prostitution. According to Manchester news reports, the accused, Justina Jensen, found the 16-year old at the Occupy Manchester protest and then solicited the girl online for sex.

This week, Breitbart.com obtained police reports and court records for that incident, and according to sworn police affidavits, the Manchester Police Street Crimes Unit received a call from a 40-year old parent that her daughter was missing on October 27 at 1:30 p.m.

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Publius

#OccupyNH: Activist Charged With Pimping Out Teen Girl

by Publius

From The Union-Leader:


MANCHESTER – A city woman is accused of pimping out a 16-year-old girl she met in Victory Park during the Occupy NH demonstrations.

Police said the teen’s mother called them Thursday about noon to say her daughter was missing and that her photograph had been posted on a website advertising adult party entertainment.

Investigators looked at the website, found the girl’s photo was posted there, along with pictures of three other women, in an advertisement offering men to “come and have fun with four beautiful ladies” in Manchester.

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Jeannie DeAngelis

‘Doobie’ Brothers Ron and Barney

by Jeannie DeAngelis

Kellogg’s Corn Pops® may be going out of business, but Captain Zig-Zag is about to get an up-tick in popularity if political odd couple Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA) have their way.  In a bipartisan effort to end the federal ban on marijuana, a newfangled congressional edition of the “doobie” brothers are banding together to put forward legislation that limits the federal government’s role in policing pot.

Ron Paul and Barney Frank are proposing the first bill ever that, if enacted into law, would end centralized marijuana prohibition.  The legislation seeks to limit federal involvement in cannabis monitoring to “cross-border or inter-state smuggling.”  If the proposal succeeds, marijuana farmers across America stand to save on electricity and light bulbs as recreational horticulturists venture outside to legally grow weed and even sell the fruit of their harvest in states where pot is legal.

Ron Paul, individual liberty and freedom Republican/Libertarian and one half of the bill’s sponsor, said the following: “Drugs are very dangerous but there are a lot of things that are very dangerous. The question is, should we regulate danger? Should we take responsibility for ourselves or should the government take care of us? I don’t believe in the nanny state.”

Paul consistently maintains that the government has no business butting into private lives, so it stands to reason that the same philosophy would apply to bong usage, whether it’s Ron Paul’s, if he has one, or someone else’s.  One would expect Congressman Paul to step forward on behalf of legalizing marijuana if the end result limits government and grants individual autonomy to be either as reckless or responsible as one desires.

On the other hand, Barney Frank may have other, more personal reasons for proposing the legislation.  Seems Congressman Frank found himself embroiled in marijuana-related controversy when visiting longtime partner and Fire Island ferry companion James Ready at his home in Maine a few years back.

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Reason TV

Nanny of the Month (Feb 2011): Would-Be Brothel Banner Sen. Harry Reid!

by Reason TV

Last month’s Nanny tackled the “scourge” of distracted walking, and this month’s runners-up have their sights set on banning big-leaguers from dipping and toddlers from talking.

But top dishonors go to the nanny from Nevada who’s picking a fight with prostitutes.

Presenting Reason.tv’s Nanny of the Month for February 2011: Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)!

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Dr. Paul Moreno

How Prostitution Killed the Constitution

by Dr. Paul Moreno

This year marks the centennial of the Mann “White Slave Act,” when Congress made it a federal offence to transport a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.” Though the act is still on the books (as former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer can tell you), and has been made gender-neutral, it is usually seen as a relic of nineteenth-century moralism. In fact, no act did more to overturn the nineteenth-century constitutional order. The Mann Act was boldly challenged the idea that the Constitution limited Congress’ power the ends enumerated in Article One, section eight. It established an all-purpose federal “police power” that now permits Congress to regulate just about everything.

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By 1910, Congress had already taken some steps toward the establishment of a police power—outlawing, for example, the interstate shipment of lottery tickets and of impure food and drugs. The U.S. had recently ratified a multinational treaty to stamp out the international trafficking in prostitutes. The act’s proponents emphasized that it was an attack on the big business of “commercialized vice.” The press and U.S. officials, particularly U.S. Attorney Edwin Sims in Chicago, claimed that a vast “white slave trust” was operating in the country, when in fact there was little coerced prostitution at all.

The bill raised constitutional objections in the House, often from states-rights advocates. But prostitution was so universally reviled that most overcame their constitutional scruples. Rep. William Cox of Indiana had doubts as to the bill’s constitutionality, but said that he “would unhesitatingly resolve that doubt in favor of its constitutionality on account of the enormity of the crime sought to be stopped and the evil intended to be remedied…. Who can be hurt by its provisions? None but the guilty.” The bill’s sponsor, Illinois Republican James R. Mann, claimed that the white-slave traffic, “while not so extensive, is much more horrible than any black-slave traffic ever was.” New York Representative William Sulzer denounced the “quibbling in regard to the constitutionality of the provisions of this bill. In this frightful matter I shall not allow technicalities to cloud my sense of immediate duty.” In an ominous sign of Congress’ progressive abdication of its constitutional duty, he said, “The courts must take the responsibility for its constitutionality.”

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Nick Gillespie

Oh No for Cuomo!: NY Gov. Candidate Kristin Davis Wants to Legalize Pot, Prostitution, & Poker

by Nick Gillespie

The Empire State has a long list of sad-sack governors, ranging from the current one, the previous one, the one before that (who served three too many terms, and Nelson Rockefeller, who jacked up spending and passed draconian drug laws before eventually expiring in the arms of a woman not his wife (who was unironically named Happy).

Kristin Davis, who ran the escort service that provided former Gov. Eliot Spitzer with call girls and served time (while Spitzer remained free to purchase all the black socks he wanted), is running for governor on what some have called a “pot and pussy platform.” She wants to legalize marijuana and prostitution and collect tax revenue from them; she wants to open casinos in the state’s great vacation areas; she wants to legalize gay marriage and address a legal system that nets the poor and unconnected and leaves the big fish to swim free.

Besides running prostitutes, what qualifications does she possess for the top job in Albany (as if that isn’t enough)? She was valedictorian of her high school and worked at a hedge fund, which pretty much makes her more qualified than Andrew Cuomo and whoever the Republican candidate is. But judge for yourself in this, the best campaign video so far this year (in a non-Basil Marceaux category).

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Nick Gillespie

Reason.tv: Madam Turned NY Gov. Candidate Kristin Davis’s Platform is No joke

by Nick Gillespie

Kristin Davis rose to notoriety as the madam who provided New York Attorney General and Gov. Eliot Spitzer with the escorts that led to his demise. Davis ended up going to jail for providing a business populated by and for consenting adults. Spitzer’s penalty? Possibly getting a show on CNN.

Now Davis herself is running the Empire State’s top slot in Albany, on a platform this is simple and straightforward in libertarian sanity: She wants to legalize (and tax) marijuana and prostitution. For a state as deep in the red as New York, that’s no joke. She has also proposed liberalizing gaming laws and called for gambling casinos in the Catskills.

I built a multi-million dollar escort service from scratch before pleading guilty to promoting prostitution.  Prostitution in New York is estimated to be a $5 Billion a year business. Legalization and a reasonable tax rate could bring $ 1Billion in new revenues to New York State each year. Legalizing Marijuana would reap another $2 Billion a year. Then New York could balance the budget and still cut property and income taxes.

Additionally, she wants to legalize gay marriage because the state shouldn’t discriminate and highlight the inequities of a criminal justice system that treats the politically powerless far worse than the politically powerful. Read more here.

Davis’ official campaign site is here.

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Publius

ACORN Scandal Immortalized on ‘South Park’

by Publius

***VIDEO FIXED!!!***
Watch the full episode here.  ACORN segment begins after the last commercial.

The ACORN scandal was immortalized tonight on “South Park.” The plot of the season 13 episode “Butters’ Bottom Bitch” is that Butters, the adorably naïve fourth grader starts a “kissing company” that grows to the point where he is a pimping out 10+ prostitutes, many of whom are underage. Always the sharp social commentators, the “South Park” crew sent Butters and Co. to ACORN to try to get a housing grant for these prostitutes:

…Butters get TWO housing loans, and tax-exempt status.

This isn’t your typical ACORN office. The employees are sharply dressed and working off of widescreen computer monitors in a lavish building (actually, it looks like the woman is sitting in an Aeron chair… we’re not sure even ACORN gets enough government handouts for those). But that’s beside the point. The joy in this scene is that at long last, ACORN is officially a punch line. Anyone who has followed ACORN throughout the years knows this is long, long, long overdue, but today, ACORN’s calling card is that they are the company that, as Butters puts it, “helps pimps and their bitches.” Not sure it gets more damning than that. (more…)

Publius

‘ACORN Funded Prostitution Zone’

by Publius

Anti-ACORN Guerilla Art goes viral in Los Angeles. Obama “Hope” poster artist Shepard Fairey’s studio targeted (below).

acorn funded prostitution zone 1

acorn funded prostitution zone

“ACORN Funded Prostitution Zone” tagged on the wall of the Shepard Fairey-owned Studio Number One.  Fairey became a household name after designing the Obama “Hope” Poster..

James O'Keefe

ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in San Diego, CA

by James O'Keefe

With 70 miles of stunning beaches and picture-perfect weather all year round, having fun during the summer in San Diego doesn’t require a lot of money.

The city combines old-fashioned Mexican charm with a modern edge. In a city where the sun is always shining, it’s the perfect place to get away for a bit of relaxation or stimulation.

If you’re looking for trendy boutique hotels, an exploding culinary scene, or visiting the local ACORN to get your underage prostitutes smuggled across the Mexican border, you’re in the right place.


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Publius

BREAKING: ACORN Suspends Operations

by Publius

ACORN suspends, plans audit, in wake of videos

ACORN, calling the actions of some of its employees “indefensible,” has suspended advising new clients as part of its service programs and is setting up an independent review to see what happened.

ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis said in a written statement that she was “ordering a halt to any new intakes into ACORN’s service programs until completion of an independent review.”

Ken Blackwell and  Ken Klukowski

ACORN = RICO

by Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski

Now that a third ACORN video has surfaced, a pattern emerges of ACORN workers willing to help people engage in prostitution, tax fraud, housing fraud, and even human trafficking. Under federal law, a RICO investigation is now warranted. Three strikes and you’re out, ACORN.

Videos show ACORN employees offering to help two undercover reporters/filmmakers posing as a prostitute and pimp in falsifying tax returns and getting a federal loan to buy a house that they could use as a brothel for underage prostitutes smuggled in from El Salvador.

acorn hannah

When the first video emerged from such a meeting in ACORN’s Baltimore office on Thursday, ACORN fired the two workers involved. When another video surfaced on Friday, this one from ACORN’s D.C. office, the two workers involved there were fired as well, and ACORN said that these two reporters had tried and failed to carry out this sting in other offices.

One such office where ACORN said these reporters tried and failed was New York City. Yet Monday, a third video surfaced from Brooklyn in New York City. Once again, the ACORN employees on the video advise the undercover duo on how to violate federal law by filing a false income tax return to qualify for a federal housing loan.

As one worker says on the video, “honesty is not going to get you the house.” Well, not if you’re engaged in a host of felonies. (more…)

Laurie Essig

Counterpoint: Borat of the Right Releases Fantasy of ACORN Prostitution Ring

by Laurie Essig

In the “gee, I made this not very smart person look really stupid” genre of film making- the sort of “ask stupid questions and play ridiculous characters and edit to make funny” made most famous by Sacha Baron Cohen- comes “Baltimore Acorn Workers support prostitution.”

Acorn is a community organizing network that works on a variety of issues, from voter registration to fighting predatory lending practices. In other words, it is just the sort of organization for poor people that the Right loves to hate.

borat okeefe

According to the news stories, the video may show two (Black and seemingly not terribly educated) Acorn employees trying to help two (white and seemingly educated) young people figure out how to start a brothel with girls from El Salvador (who, not coincidentally, are here illegally).

ACORN workers caught on tape allegedly advising on prostitution – CNN.com.

Within this fantasy is every fear and desire of the far right: evil Black women activists, poor people, illegal immigrants, and sex. (more…)

Publius

ACORN Scandal Hits London Media

by Publius

RELATED: American Media Ignores ACORN Scandal

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The U.K. Telegraph reports on the ACORN scandal in today’s edition:

obama telegraph

The US Census Bureau has broken links with the controversial community group Acorn, once a close ally of President Barack Obama, after it supported a purported brothel owner with a stable of underage prostitutes Photo: GETTY

Group once linked to Barack Obama taped giving advice to ‘brothel owners’
The US Census Bureau has broken links with the controversial community group Acorn, once a close ally of President Barack Obama, after it supported a purported brothel owner with a stable of underage prostitutes.

Acorn employees were taped giving advice on tax avoidance and employment of 13-year-old illegal immigrants to Right-wing activists posing as brothel owners.

“It is clear that Acorn’s affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts,” said Robert Groves, the census director.

Acorn – the Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now – is a poverty action group with over 400,00 members that pushes for better housing, government grants and voters registration.

The group became a controversial 2008 election issue after investigations showed that employees submitted dozens of false voter registration forms, including some with names such as Mickey Mouse. (more…)

Publius

ACORN Fires More Officials

by Publius

From FoxNews.com:

acorn fired

ACORN Fires More Officials for Helping ‘Pimp,’ ‘Prostitute’ in Washington Office

Two more ACORN officials were fired Friday after a second video surfaced showing staffers in the community organizers’ Washington office offering to help a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute acquire illegal home loans that would help them set up a brothel.

The firings came less than 24 hours after another pair of ACORN officials from the group’s Baltimore office were canned for instructing the “pimp” and “prostitute” how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for 13 “very young” girls from El Salvador that pair said they wanted to import to work as child prostitutes.

Both of the encounters were videotaped on a hidden camera wielded by 25-year-old independent filmmaker James O’Keefe, posing as the pimp — tapes that have ignited calls for investigations of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

The group’s leaders said Friday they were “appalled and angry” at what their staffers had done, but insisted the videos were part of a political “smear” campaign and not representative of the institution as a whole.

“But that does not excuse the behavior of the employees,” wrote ACORN’s president Alton Bennet and executive director Mike Shea. “We have fired them and are initiating an internal review of practices and reminding all staff of their obligation to uphold the highest legal and ethical standards.” (more…)

Publius

Mark Steyn on ACORN: Community Organizing in Action

by Publius

Last night, Mark Steyn discussed Obama’s connection to ACORN and ACORN’s role in the 2010 Census on the “The Hugh Hewitt Show”:

steyn

Hugh Hewitt: I think you’re right. It will come down to whether or not there are enough Democrats who will lemming-like go over the cliff for the benefit of President Obama’s vision for America. And that remains to be seen. Let me ask you about the ACORN story. Have you been following the story at www.biggovernment.com that Andrew Breitbart has loosed about…

Mark Steyn: Yeah.

HH: What do you make of this?

MS: Well, this is a story in which he’s got some amazing footage of ACORN officials telling a pimp and a prostitute how to lie to the IRS, and how to claim mythical, underage dependents in exotic lands as dependents for taxation purposes and various other things. It’s fascinating stuff, because it’s a glimpse of what community organization is in action. Community organization means bigging up your base. And if necessary, that means conscripting all kinds of peculiar figures, including pimps, prostitutes and their various fictional or real dependents in foreign lands, and claiming benefits for them. And it’s absolutely outrageous that actually more of this wasn’t exposed in the campaign, because Obama’s connection to ACORN, and his willingness to give ACORN a role in the United States Census, puts a huge question mark over the reliability of government data, and over U.S. elections, not so much in blue and red states, but in purple states, it puts a big question mark over the integrity of those elections.

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Publius

Rep. Boustany (R-LA) Calls for ACORN Investigation

by Publius

Boustany Calls for Hearing to Investigate ACORN Tax Filing Assistance following Disturbing Undercover Video

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr., (R-Southwest Louisiana), today called for a hearing to investigate the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and their tax filing assistance programs following evidence of suggested tax fraud.

“In light of the apparent flagrant and willful attempts to suborn tax fraud, I ask you to schedule a hearing of the Oversight Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee as soon as practicable to investigate ACORN’s activities in providing tax advice and tax preparation services, as well as whether ACORN has conducted activities inconsistent with the requirements for retaining tax-exempt status under Code section 501(c)(3),” Boustany said. “These serious allegations involve the administration and enforcement of our Federal tax laws, which fall directly under the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee on Oversight.”

Boustany, Ranking Member of the Oversight Subcommittee for the House Ways and Means Committee, has jurisdiction over tax policy and the Internal Revenue Service.

The full letter follows: (more…)

Hannah Giles

In the Bowels of Baltimore’s ACORN

by Hannah Giles

The Baltimore adventure with ACORN started off as a silly idea, both absurd and incredible by all accounts. But it stuck, and quickly escalated into a full blown operation with scripts, method acting, undercover gear, scandalous outfits, fast minds, good hearts, plenty of humor and healthy homemade blueberry muffins.

When I pitched the “prostitute goes into ACORN seeking housing” idea to James O’Keefe at the beginning of the summer, I had absolutely no idea how he would respond. He came back with, “Would you be willing to portray the prostitute?  And if so, when can you do this?”

Needless to say, the project had officially begun.

An idea conceived on an afternoon jog would soon birth material evidence.

Most people come up with ridiculous ideas, things that graze against societal norms. However, not all are capable of action because not all are comfortable with action. Many lack the desire for truth and justice, most don’t even know to want it.  But on occasion, the previous join forces. The right people with the appropriate calling unite against a common enemy, then the sky is the limit and hell is the target. There will be no compromises, only adaptation and infiltration. (more…)

Publius

John Fund: Time to Cut Off ACORN

by Publius

From The Wall Street Journal online:

I thought I’d heard every possible charge about corruption at ACORN, a feisty, union-backed activist group that became infamous last year when it was investigated for voter registration fraud in 15 states. Just yesterday, 11 ACORN workers were accused by Florida prosecutors of falsifying information on some 900 voter registration forms.

But this morning brings a Fox News report that ACORN officials in Baltimore offered to help get a housing loan and falsify tax documents for a proposed house of prostitution that would employ underage girls from El Salvador. The episode was captured on tape by an undercover filmmaker, James O’Keefe, who wanted to see just how far ACORN would go. Watching the tape — which can be seen at Biggovernment.com — is a creepy experience. ACORN itself has told Fox News the episode represents “gotcha journalism” but wouldn’t comment further until it sees the full tape.

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Ken Blackwell and  Ken Klukowski

Shocking Audio Could Incriminate ACORN Affiliates

by Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski

Allegations are breaking against one of the most controversial organizations in the country. If true, then people could be going to prison, and Congress should immediately stop funneling taxpayer money to this organization until law enforcement has investigated the matter.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is regularly in the news, usually in stories where persons working for them are charged or even convicted of voter fraud or other election-related crimes. ACORN’s corporate leadership always disavows any knowledge of such criminal wrongdoing.

Lolita1

ACORN is also quick to point out the public service work that the organizations engages in, mostly related to housing for low-income people. And over the years ACORN has received vast sums of federal money in connection with this housing work.

But now a video recording and transcript have surfaced that—if genuine—could show persons allegedly affiliated with ACORN involved in a host of state and federal crimes, even aiding and abetting underage prostitution and exploitation.

According to the tape and transcript, two individuals posing as young people involved in prostitution, under the false names of Kenya and James, go to an ACORN-identified office in Baltimore, Maryland. They tell the worker, identified as Shira, that they are trying to get a house, and slowly leak details until the worker understands that the girl is saying she’s involved in prostitution. At that point, since Kenya’s “job” is a cash-only business for which Kenya doesn’t file a tax return, Shira says, “let me get someone here from taxes,” and brings in another woman calling herself Tonja. (more…)