Homeland Security out of control, again

[coriolis888]

As if the bizarre arrests and seizure of Rentboy were not enough, Homeland "Security" is now concerned over the habits of hotel guests. Maids and other hotel employees are instructed to report seemly normal behavior.

 

What became of the "land of the free and the home of the brave?"

 

See this article:

 

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2016/01/12/homeland-security-trains-hotel-workers-to-see-something-say-something-about-your-in-room-habits/

[+ WmClarke]

www.viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2016/01/12/homeland-security-trains-hotel-workers-to-see-something-say-something-about-your-in-room-habits/

[Nvr2Thick]

Neither link worked for me. Trying again:

 

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2016/01/12/homeland-security-trains-hotel-workers-to-see-something-say-something-about-your-in-room-habits/

[+ WmClarke]

Has the post been removed? I can't find it.

[+ WmClarke]

Neither link worked for me. Trying again:

 

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2016/01/12/homeland-security-trains-hotel-workers-to-see-something-say-something-about-your-in-room-habits/

Thanks!

[Nvr2Thick]

The guidelines do seem to be focused on gay men. While minors are mentioned in general a few times, some of the items call out men and their boyfriends.

[coriolis888]

Has the post been removed? I can't find it.

 

 

The link now works. Please try it again. Thanks

 

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea...hing-say-something-about-your-in-room-habits/

[+ Keith30309]

This is both scary and stupid.

I recall a common sense see-something-say-something approach in the UK during the troubles in Northern Ireland and it was geared toward things like backpacks left unattended at an airport. This is a massive, malignant version of that evolved by DHS to justify its budget and "collect data", trying to scare the shit out of everyone and make everyone their neighbor's spy.

It's laughably ineffective because most hotel housekeeping people I've had any contact with are virtually numb to anything they see that isn't insanely outrageous - most people would have to be in order to do that job. "Suspicious" things are so arbitrary that a database full of such reports is useless, except to give the appearance of doing something useful. There will be zealots who take moral issue with some adult lifestyles who will undoubtably find a reason to phone-in an alert for every condom wrapper they find...and then you end up with a database of safe sex practitioners.

The Patiot Act - the gift that keeps on giving.

 

http://www.secretsofthefed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/spy_on_your_neighbor2copy.jpg

[coriolis888]

This is both scary and stupid.

I recall a common sense see-something-say-something approach in the UK during the troubles in Northern Ireland and it was geared toward things like backpacks left unattended at an airport. This is a massive, malignant version of that evolved by DHS to justify its budget and "collect data", trying to scare the shit out of everyone and make everyone their neighbor's spy.

It's laughably ineffective because most hotel housekeeping people I've had any contact with are virtually numb to anything they see that isn't insanely outrageous - most people would have to be in order to do that job. "Suspicious" things are so arbitrary that a database full of such reports is useless, except to give the appearance of doing something useful. There will be zealots who take moral issue with some adult lifestyles who will undoubtably find a reason to phone-in an alert for every condom wrapper they find...and then you end up with a database of safe sex practitioners.

The Patiot Act - the gift that keeps on giving.

 

http://www.secretsofthefed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/spy_on_your_neighbor2copy.jpg

 

The frightening reality of the abuse by Homeland Security is that they have the power to do the outlandish and hurtful things they do and there is nothing we ordinary citizens can do about it (at the present time).

 

In the guise of Homeland "Security" our tax dollars pay for U.S. Government employees to snoop into the sex practices and behavior of ordinary citizens, then, selectively make ordinary behavior a punishable crime.

 

If you check history books you will find an analogous governmental abuse during the Senator Joseph McCarthy era. During that time, Americans were accused of being communists whereby countless citizens were forced to testify against friends and/or neighbors in connection with possible and unfounded communist leanings. Countless careers were destroyed over unproved gossip, all in the name of government intervention and security.

 

It wasn't until Joseph Welch, chief counsel for the U.S. Army, challenged that lunatic Senator Joseph McCarthy that the public began to see how out of control our government had become. One famous excerpt where McCarthy was called on his abuse is here:

"Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true he is still with Hale and Dorr. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think I am a gentleman, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.

 

When McCarthy tried to renew his attack, Welch interrupted him:

 

Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

________________________________________

Please excuse the above history lesson. I presented it because it is so similar to the abuse now being exercised by The Department of Homeland Security, a U.S. funded agency that is supposed to be involved in SECURITY, not in the sex lives of ordinary citizens.

 

We need another person like Joseph Welch to put Homeland Security on track to do the functions it was established to do - security.

[+ stevenkesslar]

In the course of reading anything I could get a hold of after the Rentboy bust, I read a number of stories about sex trafficking rings that were busted either in hotel rooms of suburbany apartments where "no one would suspect" because sex trafficking is linked more to sleazy inner-city hotels or "pay by the hour" sex hotels. So I'm sympathetic with the idea that 16 year old girls or boys should not be trafficked, and DHS is in a position to call on concerned hotel employees or suburban neighbors to speak up.

 

What's sad about this to me is that, like most things in life and particularly politics and law enforcement, the correct response is "partnership." DHS is on weak ground arguing that 20-something bodybuilders should not be using mutually consenual escorting with millionaire lawyers or stock brokers to get their nursing or accounting degrees in college. What they did to rentboy plays to the "get Big Brother out of my life" narrative. So there won't be anything like a partenership, and Gays and anybody concerned about civil liberties will react to any and all efforts by DHS to stop sex trafficking, even among kids who clearly victims, with the response, "Stay the fuck out."

 

So be it.

[mattr]

If they were training hotel staff to look for potential terrorists, I would say OK, that kinda makes sense. But true sex-trafficking (minors, those forced into prostitution, etc.) should be handled by local law enforcement and the FBI. As horrible as it is, I just don't see sex-trafficking as a homeland security issue. Seems like a power grab to me.

[+ stevenkesslar]

If they were training hotel staff to look for potential terrorists, I would say OK, that kinda makes sense. But true sex-trafficking (minors, those forced into prostitution, etc.) should be handled by local law enforcement and the FBI. As horrible as it is, I just don't see sex-trafficking as a homeland security issue. Seems like a power grab to me.

 

The interesting thing is that even if the goal is stopping Islamic terrorists (coming from places like Syria or Saudi Arabia) the verdict is in that DHS and the FBI is going to have to work closely with local law enforcement. The idea that there is some magic top-down way to ferret out their plans is slim. The best chance of catching them is that somebody local (a relative, a mosque leader, a neighbor) steps forward and reports something that seems odd.

 

So whether it's sex trafficking or terrorism, the solution points to local law enforcement and civic-minded cooperation. Don't keep your fingers crossed.

[+ quoththeraven]

The guidelines do seem to be focused on gay men. While minors are mentioned in general a few times, some of the items call out men and their boyfriends.

 

I read this as gender-neutral. Irrespective of the sex worker's gender, the client is more likely to be male. The focus seems to be on disconnect between the putative escort, who may or may not be the one renting the room, and presumed client(s).

[rvwnsd]

The guidelines do seem to be focused on gay men. While minors are mentioned in general a few times, some of the items call out men and their boyfriends.

While I agree the guidelines seem to be targeted towards men, I don't see any that target gay men in particular. Of the list, I can se where the following could be construed as targeting gay men, but they can target heterosexual men as well:

 

7. Patron requesting information or access to adult services or to local sex industry

11. Averts eyes or does not make eye contact, especially with a "boyfriend"

15. Appears to be with a significantly older "boyfriend" or in the company of older males

 

When I read these items, I think of strip clubs and massage parlors that feature women, a young woman/girl who is accompanied by her pimp and calls him her "boyfriend," and a young woman/girl who is with her sugar daddy, pimp, or group of clients. There were two other items that referenced odors in the room, such as from "musk" and the presence of drug paraphernalia. Heterosexual men and women excrete musky scents and also use drugs.

[+ SundayZip]

Part of the stated mission of DHS is to combat human smuggling and sex trafficking and the introduction paragraph on the "General Hotel Warnings Signs" document explicitly states that the warning indicators are for the sexual exploitation of children and child sex trafficking. So I think the intent behind publishing the warning signs is good. How hotel staff interpret and react to some of the signs could be problematic.

 

I suspect that few of these warning signs occur for independent, professional male escorts who host clients in their hotel room when they travel. And if they do, the signs visible to hotel staff are much more subtle than what is listed on the DHS child trafficking document. That's my hunch anyway.

[Nvr2Thick]

I read this as gender-neutral. Irrespective of the sex worker's gender, the client is more likely to be male. The focus seems to be on disconnect between the putative escort, who may or may not be the one renting the room, and presumed client(s).

 

While I agree the guidelines seem to be targeted towards men, I don't see any that target gay men in particular. Of the list, I can se where the following could be construed as targeting gay men, but they can target heterosexual men as well:

 

7. Patron requesting information or access to adult services or to local sex industry

11. Averts eyes or does not make eye contact, especially with a "boyfriend"

15. Appears to be with a significantly older "boyfriend" or in the company of older males

 

When I read these items, I think of strip clubs and massage parlors that feature women, a young woman/girl who is accompanied by her pimp and calls him her "boyfriend," and a young woman/girl who is with her sugar daddy, pimp, or group of clients. There were two other items that referenced odors in the room, such as from "musk" and the presence of drug paraphernalia. Heterosexual men and women excrete musky scents and also use drugs.

 

You're right. I inserted my own point of view when I read the guidelines.

[+ augustus]

If they were training hotel staff to look for potential terrorists, I would say OK, that kinda makes sense. But true sex-trafficking (minors, those forced into prostitution, etc.) should be handled by local law enforcement and the FBI. As horrible as it is, I just don't see sex-trafficking as a homeland security issue. Seems like a power grab to me.

 

 

Incorrect. Child trafficking and sex abuse of minors are Federal matters as well and DHS can get involved. DHS does not exist solely to stop terrorists. DHS consists of multiple Federal agencies and their jurisdictions cover many crimes.

[+ saminseattle]

DHS does not exist solely to stop terrorists. DHS consists of multiple Federal agencies and their jurisdictions cover many crimes.

 

Indeed, their tentacles seem quite far-reaching. This is a link to their organizational chart: http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Department Org Chart.pdf

 

It's quite a behemoth of bureaucracy, which includes the “National Protection and Programs Directorate,” whatever that is, the “Directorate for Management,” which is responsible for “identification and tracking of performance measures relating to the responsibilities of the Department,” and the “Office of Intelligence and Analysis,” which supposedly “equips the Homeland Security Enterprise with the intelligence and information it needs to keep the homeland safe, secure, and resilient,” or so they say. Apparently, there is also a group charged with civil rights and civil liberties. Personally, I think they need to beef that one up.

[rvwnsd]

Incorrect. Child trafficking and sex abuse of minors are Federal matters as well and DHS can get involved. DHS does not exist solely to stop terrorists. DHS consists of multiple Federal agencies and their jurisdictions cover many crimes.

That's right. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Federal Emergency Management Agency, among others, also report up to DHS.

 

Would we call DHS a bureaucracy if it was part of a corporation, such as General Electric or Walmart, or would we call it a division? Take a look at the org chart of a major corporation (which many fancy as the model for running the government) and you will see that the security division is organized such that emergency response (FEMA), physical security (TSA, Border Protection, Coast Guard), visitor monitoring and new hire background checking (ICE), and other related departments report up to it. I'm not a huge fan of Homeland Security, but I have to say its organization makes sense.

[+ bigjoey]

Something about that "Royal Suite" room at the Burj al Arab just screams "hooker" to me. However, instead of picturing such a room in the UAE (or Korea), since this is addressed at US hotel workers, I would think they could have found some similar room in Las Vegas to illustrate the notice.