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Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts

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Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They care about people being forced to engage in sex. Many people are trafficked into doing something they do not want to do by a partner or someone they think cares about them (look at the Andrew Tate situation).

After this comment I finally looked up Andrew Tate on wikipedia and was surprised to discover he has not actually been convicted of sex trafficking yet. Had the impression he had been... commenting in case it surprises anyone else.

Well, you can’t convict him if he’s not in the US. He’s been hiding in Romania the past few years.

Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts

#162
post #3

"And on June 17, Lacey is scheduled to be sentenced on the one count—international concealment of money laundering—on which the jury found him guilty. It comes with a possible sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison. Lacey plans to appeal his conviction on this count, and there seems like a good chance it will be successful, since the money he allegedly "concealed" was reported to the federal government with all…

[dead]

Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts

#164
post #43
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> All of this stems from religion, yet our system is supposed to have a separation of church and state. Restrictions on prostitution are pretty far downstream of core church-state separation territory. The original constitutional prohibition is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" ("establishment clause") "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" ("free exercise clause"). The core ter…

Prostitution is illegal in many different countries that subscribe to many different religious, including countries that lack what we would recognize as organized religion (China). That strongly suggests that it’s not really religious in origin.

Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts

#165
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money laundering laws doesn't require that the money be proceeds of crime. It only requires that you do things in an attempt to obscure the source of the money. For example structuring cash deposits. If you have a pile of legitimate cash, say through a cash business (you pay all taxes), but you intentionally make multiple $9,000 deposits to avoid generating a CTR (currency transaction report for cash deposits over $1…

So out of curiosity, what if you run a business that just happens to generate $9K of cash regularly, for any reason? Are you supposed to risk keeping it on premises until enough adds up, or you should tell the bank to file a CTR, or something else?

It’s not the $9k deposit that’s illegal, it’s structuring your deposits to avoid the $10k limit. The same actions can be legal or illegal depending on your in intent.

In your example, the $9k deposits are perfectly fine. Although if you really always deposit $9k you’ll probably get some questions.

Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts

#166
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> evangelical Christian white supremacists Ah yes, the ol' reliable 'everyone who disagrees with me is a Nazi' approach

I think they described the situation fairly? The folks who legislate against sex work tend to tick most of those boxes.

From a European perspective, it is a bit interesting to see it being described like that. Anti-prostitution has become a rather large far-left political priority, with the right and far-right taking opposition. In the far-left perspective, prostitution represent a form of slavery. For similar reasons, anti-pornography laws are generally proposed from the left side of the political spectrum, and then naturally opposed by the right.

It should be added that while typical evangelical Christian voters are sought by right-leaning political parties, voters of the second largest faith is generally sought by left-leaning political parties. This is currently very noticeable given the a specific conflict in the world. Religious voters and political parties that want to cater to those voters are no longer limited to left or right.

Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts

#167
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The Left no longer means pushing for worker unionization or trying to expand welfare programs, at least not in the rich countries. [...] The Left is now a mostly academic movement dealing in obscure words. This is as factual as rain is dry. >This traditional left has become fringe almost everywhere in the top 20 economies. What is traditional left? Marxism-Leninism? Socialism is and has been a wide spectrum since be…

The traditional left advocates for the rights of those who work for a living via collective action and organizing of working people, and attempts to break up concentrations of corporate power.

That’s hardly the only things traditional left advocated for, they also wanted things unions could help provide like safer working conditions, vacation days, etc.

Initially it was an offshoot of the abolitionist movement which took a hard look at property rights in a broader context but very much still wanted to abolish slavery and even serfdom. They also wanted social security style safety nets with pensions and compensation for injured workers and their families etc. Western democracies essentially adopted most of those standards to the point where they became invisible in modern politics.

FDR for example really gutted the socialist movement in the US with the “New Deal” to the point where it largely stopped being a talking point. More recently having gutted unions, with the gig economy sidestepping many worker protections, and 401k replacing pensions, etc has started to reawaken some of the west’s latent socialist tendencies.

Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts

#168
post #2

Typical FBI. Make up dozens and dozens of bogus charges and commit to constant harassment until enough of the people targeted kill themselves. Then when a real judge finally gets involved slink away. Just like with Aaron Swartz and Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio. Dear people flagging this, please stop perceiving my statements through your domestic political lenses. I am not talking politics here. Just because your team is…

The police-prison-industrial complex is motivated to convict and keep millions of people incarcerated. Apropos book: Three Felonies a Day by Silerglate

And prison unions as well.

Re: Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts

#170
post #167
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The traditional left advocates for the rights of those who work for a living via collective action and organizing of working people, and attempts to break up concentrations of corporate power.

That’s hardly the only things traditional left advocated for, they also wanted things unions could help provide like safer working conditions, vacation days, etc. Initially it was an offshoot of the abolitionist movement which took a hard look at property rights in a broader context but very much still wanted to abolish slavery and even serfdom. They also wanted social security style safety nets with pensions and com…

Yes those are the rights I am talking about.
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