Another Flip-Flop? Harris Mum on Past Support for Decriminalizing Prostitution

Vice President Kamala Harris is staying silent on whether she is still committed to decriminalizing sex work, a stance she embraced during her 2020 presidential campaign, Axios reported Tuesday.

The post Another Flip-Flop? Harris Mum on Past Support for Decriminalizing Prostitution appeared first on .

'Worst of the worst': Cops bust 24-hour immigrant-run brothel in NYC's notorious 'Market of Sweethearts'



NYPD cops conducted a late-night raid on the immigrant-run brothel in New York City on Wednesday, according to officials.

The New York Post reported that the raid took place at an immigrant-run brothel located in the infamous “Market of Sweethearts” — a main strip along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens that is notorious for its rampant prostitution.

‘But there’s prostitution all over. It’s ridiculous. It’s shameful.’

The raid was launched by police officers from the vice squad and the 110th Precinct. Law enforcement officials said prostitutes and johns were arrested in the raid.

“This brothel was the worst of the worst. It operates 24 hours,” Queens Democratic district leader Hiram Monserrate told the Post.

Monserrate noted that the sex workers are illegal immigrants who are forced into prostitution to pay off debts of up to $50,000 to human traffickers.

“The migrant crisis has contributed to the crime — the sheer number who came here in a short period of time. Some of them are part of organized crime rings,” Monserrate added.

The news outlet highlighted that immigrant sex workers solicit business on the busy streets while drugs and stolen merchandise are peddled on the sidewalk in broad daylight.

Mirella Gutierrez, co-owner of a pharmacy near Roosevelt Avenue, said, “But there’s prostitution all over. It’s ridiculous. It’s shameful.”

Guiterrez said her business is hurting because the customers "feel threatened" by the prostitutes and vendors hawking stolen goods.

In New York City, prostitution is a class B misdemeanor — punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

In January, the NYPD announced that it had shut down a dozen brothels posing as massage parlors in Queens' "Market of Sweethearts" that were rife with “inhumane conditions” during a weeklong operation.

However, the Post reported that there were sex workers propositioning potential clients a day after the raids.

In a Blaze News exclusive, it was revealed that the violent Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua has infiltrated the United States in unknown numbers and has been targeting desperate immigrants. Tren de Aragua is actively expanding its transnational criminal empire to include kidnapping, extortion, and human trafficking.

Tren de Aragua purportedly forces women into prostitution to pay off smuggler debt. If they refuse, the gang members reportedly threaten to murder their family members in Venezuela.

In October 2021, Mayor Eric Adams declared that New York City would remain a sanctuary city under his leadership and would welcome undocumented immigrants.

However, the Democratic mayor has changed his tune regarding illegal immigration after New York City has been ravaged by a immigrant crisis.

In August 2023, Adams warned that the influx of illegal aliens would cost New York City an estimated $12 billion over the next three years.

Adams also proclaimed that the Big Apple is "past our breaking point" because of a "broken immigration system."

As Blaze News reported in November 2023, Adams admitted that the influx of Venezuelan immigrants had contributed to the increased numbers of prostitutes in New York City. However, Adams claimed that the women turn to prostitution because they can't find work that is legal.

Last month, Adams called for changes to New York's sanctuary city laws due to several high-profile crimes committed by immigrants.

"What we need to alter are those who are repeat, violent offenders," Adams said. "After they served their time they should be turned over to ICE and be removed from our city."

Blaze News previously reported that more than 60% of suspects arrested in Queens are illegal immigrants.

As of August, over 210,000 illegal aliens had arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022.

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Sean 'Diddy' Combs charged with racketeering; sex trafficking; controlled drug-fueled, days-long 'freak off' sex acts: Feds



Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested Monday in New York City. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday morning, and it outlined three federal charges against the rap star.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York presented charges against Combs for racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and interstate transportation for prostitution.

'The freak offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics — such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB [gamma hydroxybutyrate] — which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.'

According to the indictment, “Members and associates of the Combs Enterprise engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other activities, sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, coercion and enticement to engage in prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams told reporters during a Tuesday press conference, "A year ago, Sean Combs stood in Times Square and was handed a key to New York City. Today, he's been indicted and will face justice in the Southern District of New York."

Federal prosecutors are seeking to detain Combs ahead of trial.

"So we will be seeking detention," Williams said. "There is a presumption of detention in a case like this, and we think that's warranted."

Williams was asked if Combs could be in danger while behind bars — a reference to the death of Jeffrey Epstein in jail.

"We are concerned with anyone's safety whenever they are detained prior to trial, it's part of our obligation," Williams responded. "But I do not draw any sort of connection between Jeffrey Epstein's suicide and what may or may not happen to any other defendant while they are detained pretrial. Our position is that pretrial detention is warranted [for Combs] under the law and based on the facts of this case."

Williams declared that the investigation was not done and refused to take future charges off the table.

"This investigation is ongoing, and I encourage anyone with information about this case to come forward and to do it quickly," he stated.

Williams added, “Between at least 2008 and the present, Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”

He continued, “Sean Combs led and participated in a racketeering conspiracy that used the business empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity, including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and the obstruction of justice.”

According to prosecutors, Combs “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern” of physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse “toward women and other individuals.”

The complaint also alleges that on numerous occasions, Combs “assaulted women by, among other things, striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them.”

The indictment claims Combs used his businesses and employees “to carry out, facilitate, and cover up his abuse and commercial sex.” According to the complaint, the businesses included Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs Enterprises, and Combs Global.

He 'subjected victims [to] physical, emotional, and verbal abuse so that they would participate in the freak offs.'

Prosecutors alleged Combs was able to garner “absolute loyalty” from business members through “acts of violence and threats.” The Combs Enterprise reportedly avoided detection for illegal activities through “acts of intimidation, manipulation, bribery, and threats of retaliation against individuals who witnessed the crimes committed by members and associates of the enterprise.”

The alleged physical abuse victims purportedly were inflicted with injuries that would take “days or weeks to heal."

The indictment describes sex acts known as “freak offs,” for which Combs allegedly organized the transportation of sex workers across state lines and internationally — and often recorded them.

Williams told reporters, "The freak offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics — such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB [gamma hydroxybutyrate] — which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.”

The sex acts also involved IV fluids and lighting, according to the three-count indictment.

During these sex performances, Combs is alleged to have “subjected victims to physical, emotional, and verbal abuse.” The victims were reportedly threatened with a loss of income or livelihood if they declined to participate in the sex parties.

Williams claimed Diddy would become “violent” when he “didn’t get his way," adding that he "subjected victims [to] physical, emotional, and verbal abuse so that they would participate in the freak offs."

Williams also noted evidence of the freak offs — "electronic devices that contain images and videos of the freak offs with multiple victims" — seized from raids on Combs’ properties in Miami and Los Angeles in March.

Federal prosecutors said more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and other lubricants were seized from Combs' homes that were used in these sex performances.

Law enforcement also seized three AR-15 rifles, ammunition, and a large-capacity drum magazine. The serial numbers on the AR-15s had been defaced, according to prosecutors.

Following Combs' arrest Monday, his attorney — Marc Agnifilo — described the entertainment mogul as “an innocent man with nothing to hide.”

“To his credit, Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation, and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges,” Agnifilo said.

However, Williams disagreed and stated: “Generally, and with increasing frequency, the word cooperative or cooperating has taken on tremendous elasticity, and it no longer really bears any relation to what the word means when we use it in a very specific context. Responding to lawful process and the like does not qualify as cooperation when we use that term here.”

If convicted on all charges, Combs faces up to life in prison.

In May, disturbing footage surfaced of Diddy brutally assaulting his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura at a California hotel in 2016. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said the rapper would not be prosecuted.

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Biden DOJ sues Tennessee over law penalizing prostitutes who knowingly expose others to HIV — claims it's discriminatory



HIV is an incurable auto-immune disease that afflicts roughly 1.2 million Americans, predominantly non-straight men. The Biden Department of Justice wants to eliminate a law in Tennessee that might spare countless more Americans from contracting it.

A year after suing Tennessee over its ban on child sex-changes, the Biden DOJ has sued the state again, this time in hopes of killing a state law that makes prostitution a Class C felony if a person knowingly infected with HIV engages "in sexual activity as a business or is an inmate in a house of prostitution."

The law was reportedly reclassified as a "violent sexual offense" in 2010 due to the grievous, lasting physical harm it can result in. As a result, those so convicted are required to register as sex offenders.

According to the complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Tennessee and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation "unlawfully discriminate against individuals with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a disability, in their maintenance and enforcement of Tennessee's aggravated prostitution statute."

The lawsuit downplays the risks associated with HIV — a lifelong disease for which antiretroviral therapeutics cost potential sufferers anywhere from $1,800 to $4,500 every month — and takes issue with the requirement that persons convicted of aggravated prostitution must register as sex offenders. After all, this can impact convicts' employment potential and precludes convicts from hanging out alone with children in secluded areas.

The lawsuit cites a nameless black transvestite as a complainant "aggrieved" by the law. He was arrested in 2010 for prostitution "near a church or school" and pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated prostitution, having engaged in sex for money despite knowing he had HIV since 2008.

The transvestite alleges that as a result of the law — contra his conscious decision to sell sex while infected with a debilitating disease — he now has trouble finding employment because of his sex offender listing in the TBI's registry; is precluded from spending time alone with his nephew; and cannot change his name to "match [his] gender identity."

The DOJ claims that the TBI and the State of Tennessee are violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by continuing to enforce the statute.

The aim of the lawsuit is to nullify the law; to remove all relevant convicts from the TBI's sex offender registry; and to shake the state up for damages for "Complainant A and other aggrieved individuals with aggravated prostitution convictions."

"The enforcement of state criminal laws that treat people differently based on HIV status alone and that are not based on actual risks of harm, discriminate against people living with HIV," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ's so-called Civil Rights Division. "People living with HIV should not be subjected to a different system of justice based on outdated science and misguided assumptions. This lawsuit reflects the Justice Department’s commitment to ensuring that people living with HIV are not targeted because of their disability."

Brandon James Smith, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti's chief of staff, said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press, "We are aware of the DOJ's findings, will give them appropriate consideration, and look forward to finding out more about DOJ's apparent cooperation with local activist organizations and private litigants related to this matter."

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) suggested the DOJ's lawsuit was evidence that "the fight is not in Washington. The fight is with Washington."

The ACLU and the Transgender Law Center beat the Biden DOJ to the punch on attempting to decriminalize prostitutes' intentional exposure of unsuspecting strangers to HIV. The Hill reported that the radical groups filed the challenge in the U.S. District in Memphis on behalf of four plaintiffs and OUTMemphis in October 2023.

The complaint indicated that there were just over 80 potential super spreaders registered for aggravated prostitution in the state.

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Florida woman arrested on Christmas Eve for smashing man's car for refusing to pay for 'sexual favors': Deputies



A bizarre scene unfolded on Christmas Eve when a Florida woman was arrested for smashing a man's car for refusing to pay for "sexual favors," according to local police.

Haniffa Hosein was arrested and charged with criminal mischief on Sunday afternoon in Minneola, Florida.

The curious situation reportedly unfolded on the 100 block of E. Washington Street – where police were dispatched for a criminal mischief complaint.

Police said Hosein engaged in an argument with a man – who told responding deputies with the Lake County Sheriff's Office that Hosein was "involved in an argument with him for no reason."

However, Hosein maintained that the dispute was over a disagreement regarding payment for sexual acts. The argument escalated to the point that the 23-year-old woman reportedly smashed the man's car with a bottle.

The man claimed that Hosein became infuriated and exited the vehicle. However, she allegedly forgot her cell phone in his car. The Florida man is accused of throwing Hosein's cell phone out of the car window, which sent the woman into a rage.

According to WOFL: "When deputies spoke with Hosein, she said she hit the taillight with a bottle because 'she was angry that (the man) did not want to pay her the money that he owes her in return for a sexual favor since (he) was not satisfied with the way she had performed,' the arrest affidavit said."

The arrest affidavit said that the attack left the man's taillight smashed.

The man is demanding that Hosein pay for the damages to his vehicle, which would allegedly cost approximately $400.

Hosein said that she and the man had a relationship in the past but have not been together in more than a year, according to deputies.

Police officers placed Hosein under arrest, and the young woman was taken to the Lake County Jail. Hosein has reportedly since been released after posting $1,000 bond.

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The Iowa Demon Decapitation Is More About Righteous Anger Than Religious Liberty

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Screenshot-2023-12-15-at-1.40.41 PM-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Screenshot-2023-12-15-at-1.40.41%5Cu202fPM-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]Michael Cassidy made waves by actually doing what thousands and thousands of Americans have felt like doing for a very long time.

Feds bust 'high-end brothel' network frequented by politicians, military officers, gov't employees with security clearances



The Justice Department announced Wednesday that federal investigators busted a "high-end brothel" network the clientele of which included politicians, military officers, and other influential figures.

At a press conference, federal prosecutors said they have arrested three people for allegedly running the sophisticated network: Han Lee, Junmyung Lee, and James Lee.

Each man is charged with conspiracy to coerce and entice to travel to engage in illegal sexual activity. They allegedly operated the network since July 2020.

Prosecutors allege the men operated four brothel locations — two in Boston suburbs and two in Washington, D.C., suburbs — by renting out "high-end apartment complexes." The men allegedly advertised their prostitution ring using websites in which they included pictures of the women and information about them, including their height, weight, and bust size.

The operators charged sex buyers between $350 to $600 per hour and forced clients to fork over personal information to purchase sex, including their full name, phone number, email address, employer, credit card information, driver's license photos, and even references.

Joshua Levy, acting U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said investigators believe hundreds of people — at the very least — purchased sex in the high-end ring.

"They are doctors, they are lawyers, they are accountants, they are elected officials, they are executives of high tech companies and pharmaceutical companies, they are military officers, government contractors [with security clearances], professors, scientists," he said.

Prosecutors did not identity any of the brothel clientele because investigation is "active and ongoing."

It is not clear whether the clientele will face criminal charges, but the Homeland Security agent who wrote the affidavit believes there are "potentially hundreds of yet to be identified customers."

3 charged with running commercial sex ring in Massachusetts www.youtube.com

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San Francisco's Transgender Welfare Program Gives Priority to 'BIPOC,' Sex Workers, Illegal Immigrants, Ex-Cons

San Francisco is prioritizing "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color" (BIPOC) recipients—as well as sex workers, illegal immigrants, and ex-convicts—in its transgender guaranteed income program.

The post San Francisco's Transgender Welfare Program Gives Priority to 'BIPOC,' Sex Workers, Illegal Immigrants, Ex-Cons appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.