What is happening on Aurora Avenue?

[zerp]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

You don't seem to understand the border issues at all. And don't forget, it was Reagan who encouraged illegal entry, by declaring the first "amnesty" to those already in the US. The Repubs are the Party of Business, and cheap labor is advantageous to businesses.

Bro, it isn’t 1983.

[jabogitlu]

You think politics isn't a long game? Try telling that to Iran. Or Russia. Or China.

[t. raleigh fingers]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

The Libertarians (right and left) want legal regulated brothels in redlight districts, but not necessarily open streetwalking, which makes it easier to stop sex trafficking and child prostitution, than if it is driven underground.

The Conservatives, in that they oppose sex out of wedlock, want to run whores/pimps out of town, but leave the johns alone, because so many are otherwise law-abiding church-goers (like Jimmy "Forgive My Sins" Swaggart).

The Progressives want to decriminalize prostitution, while prosecuting only pimps and johns, because they believe prostitutes are victims, but oppose legal regulated brothels - as long as pimps stay out of sight and the johns can tell the cops from the whores, the whores can run free.

That is well-weaved theory, but in practice not borne out. Seattle is owned lock/stock/barrel by the left and progressives for at least 30 years, but has engaged in an endless war against the sex trade. They could have moved towards the decriminalization of prostitution--they were in full control--but they never did. If they 'want to,' why didn't they do it?

It is little remembered that Mayor Jenny Durkan, as US Atty, played a significant role in the stings and raids against Rick's strip club back in 2008. She presumably qualifies as 'progressive.' She did not appear to 'want to' decriminalize. Just the opposite.

In the early 2000s, when the internet was coming along, Seattle police launched a full bore effort to quash on-line sex services). In one memorable Craigslist sting, they arrested about 100 men who responded to an escort ad. This belies the claim that there is some distinction between streetwalking and other forms.

The truth is that both segments of the left and right are gung-ho sex police. The left are far worse, IMO.

[87112]

W h o r e is such a nasty word to generalize a woman who offers services you don’t agree should be done. The person calling them that is the nastier one. I don’t give a crap what a consenting adults do with each other. It’s their body.Shame on you Crazy Donkey.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by t. raleigh fingers

That is well-weaved theory, but in practice not borne out. Seattle is owned lock/stock/barrel by the left and progressives for at least 30 years, but has engaged in an endless war against the sex trade. They could have moved towards the decriminalization of prostitution--they were in full control--but they never did. If they 'want to,' why didn't they do it?

It is little remembered that Mayor Jenny Durkan, as US Atty, played a significant role in the stings and raids against Rick's strip club back in 2008. She presumably qualifies as 'progressive.' She did not appear to 'want to' decriminalize. Just the opposite.

In the early 2000s, when the internet was coming along, Seattle police launched a full bore effort to quash on-line sex services). In one memorable Craigslist sting, they arrested about 100 men who responded to an escort ad. This belies the claim that there is some distinction between streetwalking and other forms.

The truth is that both segments of the left and right are gung-ho sex police. The left are far worse, IMO.

You're over generalizing. Politics is not a black and white, either-or game, despite current polarization and gridlock.

My point was that positions on prostitution tend to cut across political lines, with both progressives and conservatives being opposed to legalizing it. The difference is conservatives want to punish prostitutes (mostly women) as wrongdoers, while letting pimps and johns (mostly men) go free, and progressives want to punish pimps and johns for trafficking, while seeing prostitutes as victims. Conservatives see it as primarily as a "supply" problem, while progressives see it primarily as a "demand" issue - they're both wrong.

The Colacurcios et al were prosecuted on federal charges of "conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to use interstate facilities to aid in racketeering, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering and mail fraud". Note that there is not a prostitution charge in the bunch, for the simple reason that prostitution is not a federal crime. (So much for your "Durkan theory".)

[t. raleigh fingers]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

You're over generalizing. Politics is not a black and white, either-or game, despite current polarization and gridlock.

My point was that positions on prostitution tend to cut across political lines, with both progressives and conservatives being opposed to legalizing it. The difference is conservatives want to punish prostitutes (mostly women) as wrongdoers, while letting pimps and johns (mostly men) go free, and progressives want to punish pimps and johns for trafficking, while seeing prostitutes as victims. Conservatives see it as primarily as a "supply" problem, while progressives see it primarily as a "demand" issue - they're both wrong.

The Colacurcios et al were prosecuted on federal charges of "conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to use interstate facilities to aid in racketeering, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering and mail fraud". Note that there is not a prostitution charge in the bunch, for the simple reason that prostitution is not a federal crime. (So much for your "Durkan theory".)

Demonstrably false.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...n-strip-clubs/

U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, Laura Laughlin, of the FBI, and Assistant Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel discuss the case.

The men who ran Frank Colacurcio Sr.'s strip-club empire for decades pleaded guilty to prostitution-related crimes in federal court Wednesday and agreed to shutter the three remaining clubs next week, bringing to a sudden end what prosecutors described as a 50-year "scourge on the community."

Seattle generally pursued a 'tolerance policy in the 1960s and 70s. Prostitution was largely tolerated, and police and politicians got a cut of the action. When so called 'progressives' took control in the 1990s, they launched a full scale war against the sex trade.

There were never any conservatives in the picture. Whatever their pecadillos, they were in no position to enforce them.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by t. raleigh fingers

Demonstrably false.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...n-strip-clubs/

Seattle generally pursued a 'tolerance policy in the 1960s and 70s. Prostitution was largely tolerated, and police and politicians got a cut of the action. When so called 'progressives' took control in the 1990s, they launched a full scale war against the sex trade.

There were never any conservatives in the picture. Whatever their pecadillos, they were in no position to enforce them.

They were charged under the RICO statutes - conspiracy, racketeering, etc. Anything related to prostitution was simply part of the conspiracy.

Were any of the dancers specifically charged with prostitution? If they were, it was by local prosecutors, not by the U.S. Attorney.

Note: The initial raids on Colacurcio's strip clubs and other businesses were conducted by U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan in June 2008:

https://genderberg.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3364

Colacurcio et al were indicted in June 2009. Durkan was sworn in as U.S. Attorney in Oct. 2009. So, not her investigation, not her case. She did make the plea deal:

“We are shutting down a corrupt criminal organization that made millions of dollars exploiting women,” Seattle U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said after the hearing. “These clubs cast shadows far beyond the neighborhoods where they were located.”

https://www.theolympian.com/news/loc...e25252966.html

[t. raleigh fingers]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

They were charged under the RICO statutes - conspiracy, racketeering, etc. Anything related to prostitution was simply part of the conspiracy.

Were any of the dancers specifically charged with prostitution? If they were, it was by local prosecutors, not by the U.S. Attorney.

Note: The initial raids on Colacurcio's strip clubs and other businesses were conducted by U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan in June 2008:

https://genderberg.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3364

Colacurcio et al were indicted in June 2009. Durkan was sworn in as U.S. Attorney in Oct. 2009. So, not her investigation, not her case. She did make the plea deal:



https://www.theolympian.com/news/loc...e25252966.html

OK, so you make my point for me. It was Durkan and other Seattle progressives that led the charge against the Colacurcios and the sex trade, as you delineate. Many a dancer were charged with prostitution, yes by local prosecutors, which at the time would have been more likely to be progressive than the feds. But it was a joint effort (pun intended). The big raid on Ricks in 2008 was by SPD, the IRS, and the FBI, probably among others.

The underlying issue, however much you wish to deny it, was prostitution:
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/arti...ase-889810.php

At issue are allegations that the strip clubs -- Rick's, the already closed Sugar's in Shoreline, Honey's in Everett and Fox's in Tacoma -- were used as fronts for prostitution

It was sex that got progressives' panties in a bunch. Plain and simple.

[TheManFromGlad]

Originally Posted by t. raleigh fingers

That is well-weaved theory, but in practice not borne out. Seattle is owned lock/stock/barrel by the left and progressives for at least 30 years, but has engaged in an endless war against the sex trade.

It has only been “endless” because they’re collectively too stupid to win it.


Geez, all you have to do is juxtapose Tacoma over the same 30+ years to see that ‘winning’ such a battle can’t be that difficult.

Hosmer and Pac Ave used to be teeming with hookers and now they’re all gone.


Meanwhile Seattle’s street scene for hookers in 2021 makes Seattle in 1991 seem like Salt Lake City.