A top Iranian military leader — Qassim Soleimani,
commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force — has been killed in an airstrike on Baghdad ordered by Donald Trump. Soleimani was an incredibly popular and powerful political figure; this is a political assassination that will inspire violent retaliation and could very well lead us into a full-scale war with Iran.
Why would Trump do this? It’s not too hard to guess — during Obama’s term Trump repeatedly charged that Obama would launch an attack on Iran for political gain, and history suggests that Trump’s accusations are almost always projections.
Trump’s only explanation for the assassination so far? He tweeted a blurry clipart US flag.
I think it’s safe to say we’re all in deep shit now.
Open thread. No trolls.
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@Dalillama:
Thanks! I had thought about not including that restriction as I knew that there were some places prostitution was legal, but I felt too uncertain about whether or not those were special cases. I’m glad to have your info.
@Surplus:
Yep.
The only real reason for criminalizing prostitution is to make sure it’s only do by low caste individuals and force the prostitute to hide. It’s actively counterproductive to fight prostitution rings, because it make prostitute harder to find and harder to make cooperate. If there is a law that nakedly appeal to class segregation, it’s thoses one.
I also have seen call to criminalize clients. While that’s probably ever so slightly less idiotic, I don’t really see how this help anything, since just like criminalizing prostitute it force the prostitute to hide. I guess if someone proposed that, I would at least hear his entire argument, but I suspect that’s very stupid in practice.
@ Ohlmann:
I also have seen call to criminalize clients. While that’s probably ever so slightly less idiotic, I don’t really see how this help anything, since just like criminalizing prostitute it force the prostitute to hide.
IIRC that’s “the nordic model,” and it also criminalizes pimping, with a definition of pimp that’s broad enough to potentially net anyone or any company remotely involved in the transaction.
I’ve seen arguments from actual sex workers, i.e. the people this is ostensibly supposed to save, that the real result is they can’t work out of their homes because their landlords or roommates might be on the hook, they can’t place ads, they can’t form networks with other sex workers in case one of them is accused of trafficking the rest, they can’t take payment by credit card— basically the only way they can operate legally is to restrict themselves to picking up clients on the street and taking cash only, which makes them convenient targets for murder and/or robbery.
@Dalillama
It also remained legal in Rhode Island until 2009 and is still legal in Nevada under limited circumstances (it’s only legal in licensed brothels, condoms are required, pimping is somewhat restricted, and a few other restrictions).
@Ohlmann
I’m pretty sure that’s what the people making the laws want. There might be some people who have other motivations, but I think for the most part it is to make prostitutes hide. It’s a feature, not a bug.
@Moon Custafer
The Nordic model is one SWERFs love to claim is feminist, but few actual sex workers seem to like it because it still forces them into hiding and limits their rights extensively.
Is my comment coming through?
@Lumipuna : this one have come through. I didn’t find another one from you on this thread.
How about now?
I have a comment on Nordic model saved on a separate doc (after second typing), but posting it seems illegal under Mammoth model.
The laws in the UK are pretty complex; and the practical side of enforcement even more so. It can all get a bit arbitrary. But this might be of interest. It’s a scheme for sex workers to report on abusive and dangerous clients. Although an independently run charity, it’s actually funded by the Government.
https://uglymugs.org/um/
There’s a claim that CBP have started detaining Iranian-Americans at the US-Canada border. Very cool and normal to detain returning citizens and interrogate them about their politics.
@Moggie
It’s confirmed. Border Patrol is detaining them for upwards of 11 hours based on race.
https://twitter.com/hodakatebi/status/1213883793435586560
Link thanks to Cyborgette
@Naglfar, thanks, but that’s literally the same link that I posted. Sorry, didn’t see Cyborgette’s comment in the other thread.
@Moggie
Oops. I didn’t click through yours. Sorry.
So, I have a friend who immigrated from Iran and just got his US citizenship a few years back.
His family are all out of Iran, but only his sisters (not yet citizens) have made it over to the us.
I’m worried for him, and his sisters, and his parents. And there’s nothing he can do, and there’s nothing I can do, and it sucks.
Everything about this really sucks.
I hate it.
US-Iran tensions have been angrily stewing for 40 years, but then someone had to throw a damned block of dry-ice in the damned deep fat fryer and I can’t see any way for this to end well.
Dammit.