DOJ announces arrests in ‘high-end brothel network’ used by elected officials, military officers and others

Wow, imagine willingly providing that information to what you know is a criminal organization. The people who signed up are obviously a major security hazard to whoever they work for.

The ease of prosecuting is directly proportional to how wealthy and influential the accused is.

Remember, it's a legal system ... not a justice system ... you can easily distinguish the difference by how wealthy you are (or are not)

Could be a honey pot. Either the guys running it wanted to use the info to blackmail the clientele or sell the info to foreign intelligence

I'm guessing it was that one P411 website or whatever. That site has been in the news in the past. It baffles me that people would willingly comply with such invasive identification requirements for something that's illegal. I get the idea behind it is to try and prove that you're not a cop/murdery type of criminal in order to protect the sex workers, but... yeah, lol.

Not really, because the people who made the survey are probably smart enough to not include anything about exchanging money for sex. Basically, there's nothing illegal about filling out a survey about who you are and what are your likes or dislikes. There's also nothing illegal for someone to pay another person for their time.

So no mention of exchanging money for sex and it's incredibly hard to prosecute.

Criminals and criminals masquerading as religions love to get blackmail on their clientele/members, it's probably the more lucrative part of their enterprise, and it keeps those members/clientele loyal, because who wants their nasty ass secrets leaked out or sold to their enemies?

None of that's illegal, aside from the card info it's actually a lot of the things a trustworthy sex worker will be asking you for as a background check before agreeing to meet you.

Selling is legal, fucking is legal, why isn't selling fucking legal?

-- George Carlin

The underlying assumption is the same as in abortion: that women can't be entrusted with agency over their own bodies.

Because one of the biggest issues with sex work, human trafficking, gets worse with legalization. Studies across Europe have shown that countries that outlaw prostitution see a decrease in human trafficking victims while countries that legalized or decriminalized it see an increase.

Unlike with drugs, you don't just create a way to increase the supply. A very small minority of women actually want to engage in sex work. And the few who do, usually envision the high class escort lifestyle. But working in a brothel charging $100 per client isn't something many want to do.

But legalizing prostitution increases demand. Which makes it more profitable for criminals to utilize human trafficking to fill that demand.

https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/lids/2014/06/12/does-legalized-prostitution-increase-human-trafficking/

One source of it.

It also doesn't help at all with protecting victims of human trafficking. Victims of human trafficking are already protected. But they don't step forward because of threats against their own well being and that of their families. Something that doesn't change just because their work technically is legal now.

Which leaves a small percentage of people who fall into financial hardship and consider prostitution as a method of overcoming said hardship. For them that might slightly improve their situation. But that still means exploiting vulnerable people and isn't people engaging in sex work because they want to. And it's even questionable if people in these scenarios would follow the legal way.

So while initially it might seem like legalizing it solves a lot of issues, it is more difficult than that.

Puritan values.

My bet is on America's conservative puritan history where anything good is bad.

Also sex trafficking. At least that's the argument for keeping it illegal. :(

Old white men elected themselves under the guise of voting (gerrymandering who?) and are too embarrassed and confused to allow women the rights they have as humans. Isn't democracy silly.

I'd say the diagram of "Why is sex work illegal" and "Why is abortion illegal" is almost a perfect circle.

It's about contolling other peoples' bodies and weakening the separation of church and state.

AFAIK, it's not federally illegal, but mostly every state bans it. As how Nevada can have prostitution.

Sex work differs from most other type of work in one very significant way - it's an industry in which capitalists cannot really control the means of production unless slavery (ie, a person can become the private property of another) is legalized and institutionalized. In other words, a sex worker - for the most part - is not as easily coerced into selling their labor to capitalists like most workers can be, and capitalists hate when people have a way to opt out of being hosts for their parasitism.

Sex work also has a way of subverting patriarchal norms upon which the status quo rests.

This is not to say that sex work is automatically a revolutionary, anti-capitalist or even "empowering" thing by itself - there are plenty of ways in which our socio-economic systems allows and enables de facto slavery without calling it slavery - but it certainly doesn't fit into the neat class hierarchy that capitalists wants society to be trapped within.

woke af

Hopefully neither, and they’ll arrest the organizers/pimps/etc.

sex workers and clients should be the lowest priority.

3 individuals sounds like just the pimps.

They'd probably have to confirm identities to arrest those folks, and also prove they aren't just getting name-dropped.

Just grabbing the pimps and workers is a lot easier and less case intense

I only remember the rug as I’m supposed to.

Accountable for what? Something that should be legal in the first place?

Do you also think marijuana users should be named and shamed?

Or, you know, they don't have any evidence that a crime actually was committed. These people aren't morons and know that unless they are caught exchanging money for sex they are off the hook. The fact that they have their name in this group is not even remotely enough to even charge someone with a crime, let alone get a conviction.

The bribery potential of those officials violating the laws they're publicly supporting is the problem.

"It sure would be unfortunate if someone was to send pictures to the family, bosses and the media."

The potential for being compromised and coerced into overlooking a few budget items is one path to this graft.

It does make one wonder who the real assets are.

They’re all assets now.

In the age of Trump, are those really assets anymore?

Seems like they're moreso assets of a bygone era.

Why would they revoke their security clearance?

Prostitution isn't legal in Vegas. Parts of Nevada yes, but in Clark county where Las Vegas is located prostitution is illegal.

It started a few centuries ago when this annoying group of people known as Puritans were expelled from their home country and sailed to north America.

The natives saved them from starvation and today still impose their beliefs and values on everybody. These hypocritical laws is but one example

There are porn producers who do such a crappy job that I’d swear they only film so they have legal access to prostitution.

What's weird is that loophole exists and people don't abuse it.

Like, I get the streetwalkers selling $10 BJs dont, but for "high end" organizations like this, just stick an old school camcorder in the room and let the John keep whatever grainy unidentifiable footage they make during the encounter.

If you're ever investigated, you're in the clear. If not, then no one even has to know.

It's called the "First Amendment," and you'll find it can be used to justify/unjustify all sorts of things depending on the current government in power.

Not las Vegas, rural parts of Nevada

In this day and age, why aren't brothels and sex work legal?

Where else are they going to get sex? From the woman they live with that is laughably called their wife?

Look at Ted Cruz and tell me that there is a woman on the planet earth who will allow him inside her without money being exchanged.

Power makes people hungry for more

Because elected officials are above the law until someone decides to blackmail them.

Since it’s illegal and probably secret from their wives, it opens the client to blackmail, which isn’t good for the public if they’re in government or military.

Regardless of whether someone was trafficked, folks in positions of power chosing to disregard the law is itself an issue.

Nothing in the article suggests it wasn't consensual, but you never know

Oh sure, blame the capitalist.

It's because when people in highly-sensitive positions of power do things that they want to keep secret, they become a security risk by opening themselves up to the threat of blackmail.

Whether or not they should want to keep their whoring secret is a different matter between them and their families and their voters. I don't have a censorious take on that, I'm just telling you why it's a security risk and is newsworthy.

He'll be leaking black goo for sure

I can guarantee no partisan will be named or charged.