Tag Archives: redistribution

Prostitution Ads Still a Problem on Craigslist Despite Recent Crackdowns

Craigslist.com has finally nixed its controversial Adult Services section , but it looks like the popular website may still be giving the green light to hundreds of prostitution ads – with dozens more popping up on the site each day. The go-to portal for online classified ads and local discussion boards, Craigslist has been criticized for years for selling ad space to sex-peddlers and prostitution rings. Law enforcement officials and watchdog groups say that the site is frequently used by human sex traffickers and pimps to find clients for women and children who have been coerced into the sex industry. On Sept. 4, Craigslist removed its Adult Services section in response to a letter from attorneys general in 17 states urging the website to crack down on prostitution ads. But it doesn’t look like the sex traffickers had to move far. Other sections of the Craigslist site are still overrun with ads for “sensual massage parlors” – many of which have been identified as brothels by law enforcement officials or sex industry websites. In the Therapeutic Services section of the Washington, D.C. site, hundreds of ads boasting titles like “Sweet Beautiful Asian masseuses” and featuring photos of attractive, scantily-attired women have been posted since Sept. 4. Some of these businesses are being monitored by law enforcement officials for engaging in prostitution, such as the Rt. 1 Therapy massage parlor in Woodbridge, Va. The massage business was raided by police on Aug. 13 in regards to an ongoing prostitution investigation and the owners were charged with “keeping a bawdy place.” Less than a month later, and just two days after Craigslist removed the Adult Services section, Rt. 1 Therapy was still posting ads in the site’s Therapeutic Services section, touting its “Talented and Delightful Asian Staff.” Jade Tree Therapy, another Woodbridge, Va.-based massage parlor that has been investigated for prostitution , posted a Craigslist ad on Sept. 7 offering a military discount for service members. And Jasmine Therapy, located in Washington, D.C., has also been pinpointed by police as a brothel and continues to post ads in the Therapeutic Services section. Dozens of other massage parlors advertising on Craigslist, like Papaya Therapy in Falls Church, Va., Pine Tree Spa in Fairfax, Va., and Peach Therapy in Annandale, Va., have placed other ads on or been reviewed on sex escort websites like “LocalEscortPages.com” and “USASexGuide.com.” According to the Polaris Project , an organization that aids victims of forced prostitution, U.S. massage parlors are common fronts for the foreign sex trafficking industry. “Sex trafficking cases of foreign national women and children brought into the U.S. are known to occur in a wide variety of locations in the commercial sex industry, such as massage parlors,” the Polaris Project reported. And the organization noted that Craigslist ads have long been linked to sex trafficking. “Polaris Project has directly witnessed a rampant misuse of [C]raigslist by pimps and traffickers,” said the group. “Many of the victims that we have served can point to the [C]raigslist posting that a trafficker once used to market their bodies against their will.” In an open letter to Craigslist owner Craig Newmark that was printed as an advertisement in the Washington Post in August, two anonymous women who said they were coerced into the prostitution industry at a young age, pleaded with the website to crack down on the sex ads. “All day, me and other girls sat with our laptops, pasting pictures and answering ads on Craigslist, he made $1,500 a night selling my body, dragging me to Los Angeles, Houston, Little Rock – and on one trip to Las Vegas in the trunk of a car,” wrote a woman named MC, who said she was forced into prostitution at 11 years old. The second woman, identified as AK, wrote that her pimp “put my picture on Craigslist, and I was sold for sex by the hour at truck stops and cheap motels, 10 hours with 10 different men every night. This became my life…Men answered the Craigslist advertisements and paid to rape me. The $30,000 he pocketed each month was facilitated by Craigslist 300 times.” Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster has shrugged off criticism of the sex industry ads on his site for years, saying they were protected under “freedom of speech.” The Adult Services section was reportedly a major money-maker for the website, bringing in tens of millions of dollars a year. However, the pressure on Craigslist to remove the prostitution ads reached a fever-pitch in mid-August, after a medical student accused of murdering a woman he met on the erotic services section of Craigslist committed suicide in prison . The open letter from the former forced-prostitutes in the Washington Post also prompted a public outcry against the website. Craigslist finally responded by taking down the Adult Services section and putting a “Censored” bar in its place. Some have said the word “Censored” was used by Craigslist to make a political statement about the alleged infringement on its free speech rights. And while politicians have praised Craigslist for removing the problematic section, some acknowledge that there is still more work to be done before the site is prostitution-free. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said on Aug. 7 that the termination of the Adult Services section is an “important step” in combating online sex trafficking, but it is “not the end game.” Craigslist isn’t the only mainstream website that has been used to advertise prostitution. YouTube has also been criticized for allowing video ads for escort services on its site, according to ” BlueTube ,” a 2009 Special Report by the Culture and Media Institute.

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Prostitution Ads Still a Problem on Craigslist Despite Recent Crackdowns

CNBC’s Kernen Declares Obama’s Populist Tactics Proof He Advocates ‘Redistribution of Wealth’

To many, it’s hardly a revelation to most, but when someone keeps taking the same action over and over again, even to his detriment, it can reveal a lot about that individual’s belief system. This was an observation CNBC “Squawk Box” host Joe Kernen made about the Obama administration’s willingness to embrace a populist “soak the rich” tactic against the wealthy in the United States, even though it isn’t winning him favor with the American people, according to opinion polling. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows more people now think President Barack Obama’s policies have hurt the economy than have helped. And Kernen called the unwillingness to change course evidence of the president’s ideology – proof he does believe in the redistribution of wealth. “When push comes to shove, the left wins out with this guy,” Kernen said on the Sept. 8 broadcast of “Squawk Box.” “Axelrod calls the shots when push comes to shove. And this will make the case for a populist argument that these rich people – soak the rich – they do not need this and we’re going to cut for the middle class and we’re going to pay for it by soaking the rich. And it’s right down – but it also – he said it all along, but to his critics, those critics, it’s more evidence of a redistribution that when it all comes down to it, the overriding mandate of this administration – it’s a redistribution of wealth. ”  And even Kernen’s “Squawk Box” co-host Carl Quintanilla said it was obvious this wasn’t working. “If that strategy had worked since he came into office – talking down Wall Street, scolding businesses, fat cats – his poll numbers would be higher,” Quintanilla added. “So the question is, why isn’t he adjusting?” But Kernen says it’s deeper than just a soak-the-rich philosophy for the sake of short-term political expediency, but that this is a belief Obama has held for decades. “Because I think he really believes that wealth needs to be redistributed after the income disparity over the past 30 years ,” Kernen said. “I really think he believes and he’ll forego some near-term job gains and every thing else.” In his first column for The New York Times on Sept. 7 , Peter Orszag, Obama’s former director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, suggested that Obama should reconsider his administration’s stance on allowing the Bush tax cuts expire. Moody’s economist Mark Zandi, an expert the Obama administration had relied on heavily in 2009 to get the stimulus passed, also has questioned the administration’s wisdom . And even a Times Sept. 8 story , which are traditionally sympathetic to Obama’s causes, was also doubtful he could prevail, as Kernen pointed out. “It’s so obvious – even Orszag can figure that out,” Kernen continued. “Even Zandi – just about everyone can figure out that you don’t try to stimulate at the same time you’re sucking money out of the economy. It makes no sense. But even The New York Times – ‘It’s not clear that Mr. Obama can prevail given his,’ and this is The New York Times, ‘given his own diminishing popularity the tepid economic recovery and the divisions within his own party.’ It says a lot of nervous Democrats wish that he would give them some cover and say, all right, maybe we’ll …”

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CNBC’s Kernen Declares Obama’s Populist Tactics Proof He Advocates ‘Redistribution of Wealth’

Senate’s healthcare plan includes tax on Botox

If you're considering Botox to erase frown lines or liposuction to get rid of love handles, you might want to move fast. The “botax” may be on the way.

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Senate’s healthcare plan includes tax on Botox

Russian scientists prepare for Mars mission

In a car park not so far away …

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Russian scientists prepare for Mars mission