Free Republic

From corporate boardrooms to the headquarters of the city’s Democratic political campaigns, phone lines lighted up and strategy sessions were organized on Monday with a single mission in mind: stopping Eliot Spitzer. The surprise decision by former Governor Spitzer to run for citywide office startled and galvanized the city’s political establishment, which worried aloud about handing the TV-savvy and self-financed candidate a new megaphone. In candid conversations, some of the leaders expressed acute regret over their failure to swiftly undercut the mayoral campaign of former Representative Anthony D. Weiner, another scandal-scarred candidate for citywide office, and said they would not...

Tampa, Florida (CNN) -- Go-Go and Ezili are dancing cheek to cheek on a Friday night. That is to say they're spinning, glute to glute, on a polished chrome pole at a strip club. A thunderstorm leaves puddles in the parking lot under a sign that boasts "OMG! These girls are hot!" The strippers try to "make it rain" inside, too: When patrons approve of their gyrations by slipping credit cards into machines that look like ATMs, the sound of recorded thunder rolls across the stage. Sure enough, $1 bills flutter from the ceiling onto the twirling twosome. The joint...

If this analysis is anything like Hugh's constitutional knowledge, follow this analysis closely. That means Hugh is on to something. On the other hand, if this analysis is anything like Hugh's sports picks, stop reading this post immediately. Hugh realizes that some of the polls out there are basically meaningless, as they are using only registered voters with a big overwhelming sample of Democrats. That just doesn't meet the reality of the political landscape today. So, those polls following that model cannot be anywhere close to accurate. Hugh knows that Governor Romney has his own internal polls that clearly give...

With the rumor that Condoleezza Rice is a frontrunner to be Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential pick, she’s the talk of the town. She’s so intelligent, so sophisticated, so statesmanlike and so scholarly that she could make you wonder if Hillary Clinton really ever was “the most intelligent woman in America.” That’s the pitch, anyway. But when you check this Rice’s ingredients, you have to ask, where’s the beef? When assessing this, I’m reminded of how the late Christopher Hitchens put Bill Clinton’s so-called intellectual prowess in perspective. The 42nd president has a long history of making statements, Hitchens pointed out, yet...

One time I read an internet posting made by a woman who had stopped renting to some Christians who had been tenants at her property. Her reason? They made her feel bad about herself. People who have no intention of dispensing with vice don't like moral standards they pale in comparison to -- which is why moral relativism is all the rage today, and why there is rage at Christianity -- and they don't like moral standard-bearers they pale in comparison to, either. Why do you think the Bible states, "What fellowship hath light with darkness? The darkness hates the...

Saudi religious police HQ targeted by sex maniacs Tried to create a sex video right in front of the police headquarter signboard By  Staff Published Sunday, November 27, 2011 Three Saudi men parked their car close to the headquarters of the Gulf Kingdom’s feared religious police late night, got out and started having sex with a woman accompanying them just in front of the massive police signboard. They were filming themselves with the aim publicising the shot to defame the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most influential law enforcement authority in the Muslim nation....

Tuesday morning on AM Tampa Bay on 970 WFLA, Vice President Joe Biden was asked by Jack Harris about the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The VP said "I really don't know about the Van Jones group, except what I read in the press." The group is currently protesting in New York City against the social and economic inequality, corporate greed and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government. Later in his response in talking about the frustration seen in the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street Group, Biden said "you have on the one end Van Jones'...

Yesterday we had the Bundesbank making a very strong case for why a pan-European bailout (funded by Germany), would need a "fundamental change of regime occurs involving an extensive surrender of national fiscal sovereignty" (beneficial for Germany), today we see the next and final stage of the proposed annexation of Europe by Germany - that which focuses on procuring that which is really important. Hint: not spam. From Spiegel: "Minister Ursula von der Leyen pushes the hard line: any financial aid for euro countries should only come against collateral - as gold reserves or industrial holdings." More google-translated conditionality: "The...

County prosecutors from across the metro said Friday they are overhauling their policies to ensure that juvenile prostitutes are treated as crime victims instead of criminals, even as some regions of the state see an uptick in teen prostitution cases. "We need to do the right thing as it relates to children who are victims of prostitution," said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, who was joined at a news conference by prosecutors, police chiefs and victim advocates from across the Twin Cities. "I believe we should be doing everything we can to get them out of the system, and never...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – As couples around the world ready for Valentine's Day, Islamic officials in Malaysia have warned Muslims against celebrating something "synonymous with vice activities." The warning follows plans announced last week by several Malaysian states who are planning a crackdown on "immoral acts" during Valentine's Day as part of a campaign to encourage a sin-free lifestyle. "In reality, as well as historically, the celebration of Valentine's Day is synonymous with vice activities," Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz, head of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM), which oversees the country's Islamic policies, told state media. "Islam would reject...

Isn't it fun to watch fat cats get fatter? On top of his $739,695 base salary, UCLA administrator David Feinberg -- who serves as both associate vice chancellor and CEO of the university's hospital system -- received a $218,728 "award" from the UC Regents this month for a job well done. That brings his yearly earnings to about $1 million. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the regents approved Feinberg's bonus, along with roughly $3 million more in "incentive pay and raises" for top UC medical officials, on January 21.

Scotland Yard's famous Vice Squad, which deals with prostitution and other aspects of London's underworld, has changed its title to the rather less dynamic "Serious Crime Directorate 9: Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command", or SCD9 for short. The explanation is one that would draw a robust response from DCI Hunt, the old-school detective from BBC One's Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. Metropolitan Police sources said the switch had been ordered in part because the word "vice" was thought to have negative "connotations". It reflects a growing trend by law enforcement agencies to treat prostitutes as victims rather...

Hedge fund mogul and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who went free this week, lived in a depraved world of thrice-daily massages, pornographic artwork, and hush money—that’s only now being revealed. Conchita Sarnoff follows up on her investigation of the legal wrangling that saved him from a long prison term and reports on the sordid details in part two of her exclusive exposé. Also: • Palm Beach’s police chief objected to Epstein’s “special treatment” and gave The Daily Beast an exclusive look at his nine-hour deposition about the investigation. • Earlier versions of the U.S attorney’s charges, including a sealed 53-page...

I hate to come across as a "square" but it is nearly impossible to go anywhere in the United States of America today and not sense the oppressive sexual culture in which we live. It is a subliminal, hypnotic barrage of immoral images, lewd language and erotic enticements that consciously and subconsciously affects our entire nation. It has gone so far that we have become a base and morally callous people. Where can anyone go today without being continuously bombarded by the “24/ 7” decadent drumbeat of this licentious orchestra? We have indeed become a “Red Light District” nation! This...

...The U.S. (federal and states) will spend about $47 billion this year on drug enforcement, clogging our court systems and overcrowding our prisons, in many cases dooming young men to a life in the underclass...And I don’t think we’re getting a good value for our $47 billion. In fact, I think our efforts may be counterproductive, and that we should explore a more sensible route, the same one we use for alcohol and tobacco. In short, legalize it, regulate it and tax it. Legalization would quickly shrink that $47 billion annual cost of law enforcement to a small fraction of...

Columbus, Ohio, Jul 13, 2009 / 10:47 pm (CNA).- R. Eric McFadden, a former leader of several Democrat-leaning Catholic groups, has pled guilty to two counts of compelling prostitution for prostituting a 17-year-old girl on the internet. Five other counts of pandering obscenity and promoting prostitution were dismissed. McFadden, 46, was former director of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. He worked for Catholics for Kerry in 2004 and served as the president of Catholics for Faithful Citizenship in 2005. In 2006 he served as a spokesman for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and was an...

VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say the dean of Villanova University's law school was involved in a prostitution investigation before resigning last week. State police say Mark Sargent was seen leaving a suspected house of prostitution in suburban Philadelphia just before a raid Nov. 25. He was not charged. Instead, police say Sargent was one of two customers who provided information to authorities prosecuting the case. The owner of the Kennett Township home recently pleaded no contest to promoting prostitution; two co-defendants pleaded guilty to the charge.

Charalambos Christodoulides's body was found in a warehouse complex A property developer told a US prostitute he had strangled a man in London because he was "in the way", a court has heard. Rebecca DeFalco told the Old Bailey of her relationship with her client Thanos Papalexis, of Palm Beach, Florida. The body of caretaker Charalambos Christodoulides, 55, was found in 2000 in the warehouse complex where he lived in Kensal Rise, north-west London. Mr Papalexis, 36, and two of his employees have denied murder. Failed Kosovan asylum seekers Ylli Xhelo, 36, unemployed, and Robert Baxhija, 29, a painter of...

PHOENIX — A prostitute doing time behind bars, Marcia Powell was temporarily moved one day last month to an outdoor holding pen with nothing but a chain-link-fence roof to shield her from the searing desert sun. She lasted less than four hours. Powell, 48, collapsed in the 108-degree heat and died at a hospital the next day, touching off a criminal investigation and bringing an abrupt end to a little-known practice in Arizona's prison system that inmate-rights activists found repellent.

"Although Craigslist is widely known for other services, the erotic services portion of the site had more visitors in the Washington area last month than all "for-sale" ads, according to an analysis that Compete.Com performed for The Washington Post." "Last month, more than 217,000 visitors, or 12 percent of Craigslist's total Washington area traffic, visited the erotic services section, spending an average of 64 minutes."