"Male Escorts A Homeland Security Threat?" NYT Editorial

[Smarmie Doofus]

I decided to use the hard copy header. A little more hard hitting than the website version.

Homeland Security busts 20 year-old gay escort service. Execs face serious jail time.

One can debate the merits of legalized prostitution. Seems to me though Homeland Security is getting a little creepy. In every sense of the word.

I thought they were supposed to be concerned w. 9-11 type stuff. No?

Today's NYT Editorial

>>>The criminal complaint is so saturated with sexually explicit details, it’s hard not to interpret it as an indictment of gay men as being sexually promiscuous.

“Based on my investigation,” Susan Ruiz, a Homeland Security special agent, wrote in the complaint, “I have learned that a sling, also known as a ‘sex sling,’ is a device that allows two people to have sex while one is suspended.” Later, she helpfully explained that “the term ‘twink’ is a slang term for a young, gay man with an effeminate manner, thin build, and no body or facial hair.”

Prosecutors can credibly argue that the site’s operators were breaking the law. But they have provided no reasonable justification for devoting significant resources, particularly from an agency charged with protecting America from terrorists, to shut down a company that provided sex workers with a safer alternative to street walking or relying on pimps. The defendants have not been accused of exploiting sex workers, featuring minors on the website, financial crimes or other serious offenses that would warrant a federal prosecution.

Amnesty International announced this month that it would be pushing for the decriminalization of consensual sex work worldwide. After a lengthy and at times fraught debate, the organization’s experts concluded that sex workers were less likely to be harmed and exp>>>>

the rest at link : http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/29/opinion/homeland-securitys-peculiar-prosecution-of-rentboy.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

[madaboutharry]

1. There is no link.

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. Fixed it. Thanks. n/t

[djean111]

3. I think this was a preemptive strike, before the identities on the site could be hacked and

published.

[Voice for Peace]

5. Pre-emptive strike by Homeland Security,

and pre-emptive amelioration/exoneration by NYT?

[djean111]

6. Yup. I bet the membership list was a lot more interesting than Ashley Madison's.

Not shocking, but interesting, given the hypocrisy of some people.

[dieter]

8. I was thinking the same thing.

They took them down before all the gay-bashing elected officials, religious officials, law enforcement (DHS included) could have their identities exposed like Ashley Madison's members.

[PoliticAverse]

4. Justice Department press release on the raid and the complaint...

Press release: http://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/largest-online-male-escort-service-raided

Complaint (22 pages, .pdf): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3RupifCwCB3QnNrcG1Cd09uWFdrNnNPVDFxUGdYdnZYY0Q4/view?pli=1

Note that one of the reasons for Homeland Security's involvement is the alleged use of an H-1B work visa by the defendants.

[LiberalArkie]

7. I really think that after Ashley Madisons hack that the Washington and NYC was scared that maybe

Rentboys was next and no one could afford to have the customer list made public.

Everyone is thinking the same thing

On Edit: I wonder where the backups are stored?