Hello journalists: Let?s be clear: Language in indictments about alleged activities that are not charged in the indictment are nothing more than meaningless speculation.

In any case, closing. sites. that. safely. facilitate. sex. work. will. not. be. the. death. of. sex. work. just possibly the death of safer sex work.

It is almost like the shut down of bp has been a sign to me to keep going on my journey.

Oh God, I just had a client coming to my house asking for my number because Backpage is gone and he couldn't find me online anymore!   

Lol that?s so funny yet adorable

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wow! i just read all the indicment against the 5 people arrested in relation to Backpage (owners included). Actual charges: 50 counts of violating the Travel Act, 34 counts related to money laundering, & 1 count conspiracy, meaning: The indictment against #Backpage does *not* rely on #FOSTA & does *not* accuse Backpage of knowingly facilitating sex trafficking.

So this is all about money laundering.

So why do they say "sex trafficking" when what they really meant was "money"?

Yes, they have also been charged with "facilitating prostitution". I suspect the money laundering charges have been brought to make it easier to hit them with a massive fine. They will have to pay back a lot of money in exchange for a reduced jail term. They're also relatively easy charges to make stick i.e. follow paper trails + apply existing laws. Even Al Capone got jailed for tax evasion, because it was easier to prove than murder and racketeering.

Some Senator (female, Republican - ah, the evangelical ladies after saving us, thank you Ma'am for sending us back to our street corners) has referred to advertising sites as 'cesspools of crime'. Backpage was not the end of the matter, in all likelyhood, and other sites will run into trouble. Trump has now signed the anti-trafficking bill.

Apparently, girls as young as 14 have been advertised on backpage by pimps against their will. I don't doubt that for a second, and it is completely unacceptable, of course. This well-publicised trouble has been brewing for some time. I wonder why backpage decided against introducing a verification system like AW and eros to take some responsibility to keep minors safe.

Is that John McCain? The previous presidential candidate from... 2008 I guess? Shot himself in the foot taking on Sarah Palin as running mate I may have been slightly over-invested in that election given I don't live in the US and have never visited

Yep.

Interesting. When he was running his wife didn't strike me as having any actual political thoughts in her head, she just fancied living in the White House and being referred to as First Lady. Or perhaps he's dumped her? She was wife number 4 I recollect.

I doubt he dumped her as she comes from a VERY wealthy family. Her father, Jim Hensley, was a convicted mafia guy who mixed with organized-crime figures before founding his company in 1955 (oh the irony!). On 2000 there was a cover story on the New York times ( "Haunted by Spirits")  which detailed McCains relationship to the beer industry and the politician?s reliance on his wife?s fortune.But the 1994 bombshell, "Opiate for the Mrs", written by Amy Silverman, was the piece de r?sistance. The story exposed the McCain machine?s Arizona apparatus as it endeavored to silence a former employee of Cindy McCain?s nonprofit American Voluntary Medical Team, which flew medical supplies and doctors to Third World countries and war-torn areas.

The whistleblower had tipped off the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that Cindy McCain was addicted to Vicodin and Percocet, and that she had been using AVMT as her personal pharmacy, pilfering the pills to feed her addiction. Silverman?s story destroyed the McCains attempt to spin the tale as that of a senator?s spouse heroically going public with her drug habit in order to help others in a similar situation.

When all those articles trashing the Mc cains got published in the New York times GUESS WHO owned the newspaper at the time? Michael Lacey and James Larkin., the actual owners of backpage who got arrested.

Reach your own conclusions in this space.