The Robert Kraft Scandal is Remarkable for Its Sadness

[MineralMan]

So, Kraft is a wealthy, wealthy man, right? But, he ends up going to an Asian "massage" place to have someone do something to him that gets him off? WTF? Is his arm broken? Are there not people around him who would gladly perform that service in hopes he would be grateful enough to give them some sort of reward?

I guess not. He goes to a strip mall and has a stranger do something or another to him to give him some brief pleasurable moment. He doesn't know the person. He would never publicly associate with the person. He pays his $35 or $50 and gets serviced in whatever way they do that at that strip mall.

Pitiful, Robert. Just pitiful. You own a big NFL team. You have money. You're surrounded by people who hope to somehow give you some service in exchange for a favor or some money, but you are so pitiful that you are reduced to going to an anonymous strip mall business that pretends to be a massage parlor for your relief or whatever it is to you. It sucks really bad to be you.

Odds are that the person who got you off is not there on a completely voluntary basis. She's probably here illegally, and is more or less forced to do those acts on demand or be handed over to ICE. It's called sex trafficking, Robert. It sucks to be those people. The woman, of whatever age, who relieved your sexual tension hates your guts. You are a symbol of her shame and servitude. The whole seamy, ugly mess is disgusting, and you are the most disgusting part of it.

Go away, please, Robert Kraft. Resign your position. Go into hiding.

Shame on you, you lascivious old lecher!

[LoveMyCali]

1. Remember when Donald Sterling was forced to sell the Clippers

basically for being a racist old douche bag? Your move NFL.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes, I do.

As much as I dislike seeing such stories on the news, I dislike the people in those stories much worse. I don't dislike the poor women who work in those places, really. Theirs is a life nobody should have to live.

Places like that offer a variety of services. I do not know what Kraft chose off the menu, and don't care. I can't imagine, though, that the results were of more than a sensation that was gone in seconds. And for that, he caused some poor person to do something she never wanted to do to him, in a place she didn't want to be, and only out of fear of some kind.

Where could the pleasure possibly be in such a thing? How could it seem to be a good idea at any time?

Ugh! Just Ugh!

[radius777]

124. Your worldview seems sexually conservative.

Different people get off on different things, what you may find perplexing others may find hot.

Sex work should be fully legalized and regulated - world's oldest profession - better to cut the pimps and criminal element out of the game and make it safer for everyone.

[Progressive Law]

134. Notice how the narrative starts as sex shaming/bashing. Then subtly turns to human trafficking.

It's insincere because even if there was no human trafficking in this incident, the sex shaming remains.

[Recursion]

56. OMG PLEASE let Dan Snyder be one of the guys they caught

Pretty please, Lord?

[Traildogbob]

72. Him and......

Jerry Jones. Get him the fuck out of Dallas, and take Happy Clppy Jason as well. Did the parlor offer young boys??? Videos of Lindsay Graham maybe?🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[walkingman]

76. I stopped watching the Cowboys when Redneck Jerry Jones bought them.

[Traildogbob]

80. Ha!

You made the right call. I was a fan for 20 years pre Jerry, and have tried to hold on and stay loyal, not be a bandwagon fan, but that ass has pretty much made me get the hell off the wagon, that, and Texas being Texas, i.e., Ted Cruz.

[Yavin4]

130. Keep dreaming. Snyder is so dreadful that those places won't take his business. n/t

[dubyadiprecession]

2. If prostitution was legalized...

..the only person who would have a problem with this, would be his wife, and rightly so.

[snowybirdie]

4. Except

These women were held against their will and were lied to. The ugly and illegal side of prostitution. Kraft could have afforded the consensual kind. He's a pig!

[MLAA]

34. +1000

[mahina]

52. The movie Year of the Fish looked at this kind of system.

[MineralMan]

5. It's not just prostitution. I actually have no problem with sex work, as such.

As long as it's a choice the sex worker can make. If there is no choice, then it is the most disgusting kind of involuntary servitude. For most of the women who work in such places, there is no choice. Or, at least, they believe that there is no choice, which is the same thing, really.

However, it is always a choice for a man to go to such a place and pay for such an act. Always. It is also always a very bad, very pitiful sort of choice. I now have zero respect for Robert Kraft. He is a terrible person, and has proven that to me.

[BannonsLiver]

49. I doubt he's losing much sleep over your opinion of him.

[MineralMan]

57. I never had any illusions that he would.

Nevertheless, I commented on the situation. I do hope that's OK with you. Truly I do.

ETA: Oh, and by the way, thanks for your thoughtful reply.

[BannonsLiver]

62. You're welcome.

[RhodeIslandOne]

93. Neither is Donald Trump or Steve Bannon

Your point?

Scumbags sleep well?

[BannonsLiver]

100. My point is the point I made.

Do I need to draw you a picture?

[RhodeIslandOne]

102. That Bob Kraft has all the moral credibility of Donnie Trump?

Nope, I got that.

Glad we agree.

[GetRidOfThem]

86. The only quality sex

is the sex that both parties enjoy at the same time and the same amount.

Anything else is abuse.

I can't imagine this happening in transactional sex.

[Progressive Law]

135. But you originally said it is "sad" that Kraft finds pleasure in sex acts with a stranger.

So you do have a problem with sex work regardless of whether human trafficking is involved, or not.

[MineralMan]

136. No. I was talking about the whole situation,

Phony massage places, trafficking, and all. That's sad.

[Progressive Law]

137. Ok then, but reading from your first three paragraphs, it was all about shaming the sex act...

...and nothing about human trafficking.

"So, Kraft is a wealthy, wealthy man, right? But, he ends up going to an Asian "massage" place to have someone do something to him that gets him off? WTF? Is his arm broken? Are there not people around him who would gladly perform that service in hopes he would be grateful enough to give them some sort of reward?

I guess not. He goes to a strip mall and has a stranger do something or another to him to give him some brief pleasurable moment. He doesn't know the person. He would never publicly associate with the person. He pays his $35 or $50 and gets serviced in whatever way they do that at that strip mall.

Pitiful, Robert. Just pitiful. You own a big NFL team. You have money. You're surrounded by people who hope to somehow give you some service in exchange for a favor or some money, but you are so pitiful that you are reduced to going to an anonymous strip mall business that pretends to be a massage parlor for your relief or whatever it is to you. It sucks really bad to be you. "

[BamaRefugee]

32. Don't think she cares, she's been dead since around 2011...of course she MAY be looking down on him.

[Blue_true]

46. The type of activity that he was engaged in is grotesque.

Women in the type of place that he went to are not always there by choice.

If you are taking about people that offer the services and are drug free and doing it of their free will, then you have a stronger case. But not in this situation.

[Submariner]

67. Kraft's wife died in 2011 after almost 50 years of marriage

He took the loss of his soul mate quite hard. At that time Trump started calling him weekly for about a year to check up on him to cheer him up. Kraft's a life-long Democrat and in New England we believe that is when Trump got into the Brady, Belichick circle jerk with Kraft. Not a good look.

After Kraft's wife died, he got into the wrong (Trump) circle of friends and this is how it ends up. Sad story.

[RhodeIslandOne]

96. Kraft was dating an actress half is age in under a year

I’m sure she’s charmed by his “character” too.

[gldstwmn]

119. She's charmed by his bank account I'm sure.

Last edited Fri Feb 22, 2019, 09:18 PM - Edit history (1)

About 10 years ago there was a prostitute in MA who got into trouble with the law because she was said to have extorted a john that was a wealthy businessman and philanthropist. She was approached by a tabloid to sell the story. She went to him and asked for a million bucks. He gave her $280,000. When she came back for more he went to the police. She never named the john. It was widely speculated to be Kraft.
http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/21/judge_accepts_plea_deal_in_sex_case/

[theboss]

69. I don't think legalizing prostitution changes hows women end up in prostitution

They are still going to often be in the control of someone else - except now with possibly more legal coverage.

[Loki Liesmith]

79. Sure it would

Legalize and regulate with a robust inspection regime.

[theboss]

82. I'm not sure the Yakuza or whatever is going to fill out business licenses

[Squinch]

92. You mean like in Amsterdam? You know trafficking is a big problem in Amsterdam, don't you?

[LisaM]

74. His wife is dead.

I think her death was hard on him, not excusing the exploitation at these places, which is a way larger issue, but I think that there is a sadness here, too.

[Squinch]

90. Wherever prostitution is legalized, trafficking increases. So lots more people would have a problem.

Or were you one of those who thinks its all girls working their way through college?

[Johnny2X2X]

6. Well said!

These places are sick and perverted. I absolutely hate when people snicker and call them rub and tugs are some other sophomoric name. And I will hate it and be disgusted when comedians and talk show hosts make jokes about it.

These places are where young sex slaves are sold to sick perverts a half hour or an hour at a time. These men are responsible for this business thriving. They are sex criminals and should have to pay a much stiffer price including being placed on the sex offender registry.

And what irks me even more is that when one of these places gets busted, the ages of the victims is seldom reported, there is no doubt there were underage victims and some of these men are effectively pedophiles.

This isn't a joke, if you pay money to these places you are financing slavery.

[MineralMan]

10. Thanks. There are such places in every city, unfortunately.

And everywhere there are, men pay to have their urges satisfied, never thinking about the person who is doing is done. Only infrequently are such places shut down or is there a prosecution, and they open right back up again in a new location.

Why? Because there are those men. Men for whom momentary pleasure is worth more than the dignity and freedom of another human being. Such men are beyond loathsome.

[Mosby]

25. is there some evidence that kraft knew these women

Were sex slaves?

[MineralMan]

28. I doubt that mattered to him in any way.

So, he may not have known, but if he had, it wouldn't matter to him, either.

[mitch96]

111. " I doubt that mattered to him in any way."

The sad thing is he probably is going to buy him self out of any problem. Just some bad press that will go away in the next news cycle... Poor go to jail, rich get inconvenienced...
m

[MineralMan]

112. Sad, but true.

[Johnny2X2X]

41. Is this a serious question

Didn't know they were sex slaves? Of course he knew exactly what they were, pretty girls forced to gratify him for money. If you don't know that massage parlor girls like this are not of their of their own free will you're an idiot. Kraft isn't an idiot and probably gets off on the fact the girls don't have a choice and can't say no.

[Mosby]

83. I have never been in a massage parlor

And I don't appreciate being called an idiot.

[mitch96]

113. Not cool calling a fellow DU'er an idiot...

Probably against the TOS also...
m

[Blue_true]

54. The type of place that he went to has that type of history.

Been documented over and over.

[Mosby]

131. He's being charged with soliciting prostitution.

Nothing about trafficking.


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-robert-kraft/patriots-owner-kraft-formally-charged-in-florida-prostitution-sting-idUSKCN1QE2BA

[Blue_true]

138. The type of place that he went to have reputations for having women working

at them who are likely there against their will.

I believe that prostitution should be legalized and regulated, but the type of place that Kraft went to and many others and pimps have to be shut down. Regulated brothels would be ok, but states and localities would have to approve them and the state and Feds would have to routinely inspect and regulate them.

[okaawhatever]

109. Quite often the rich and/or famous prefer that type of situation since they are less likely to

blackmail you, and if they try you can have them deported. In most instances I'll bet 5k sent to the parents of these girls would make everything go away.

[Mosby]

110. that is certainly a possibility. nt

[gldstwmn]

120. What did he think was going on there? n/t

[Johnny2X2X]

39. Yes

And it's up to decent men to shame them too. While I don't think anyone I know goes to these places I have heard people make light of them. It's my duty to let anyone know this is not a joke, there are real victims at these places, many of them children.

[MineralMan]

44. I, too, don't know anyone who visits such place.

There was a guy I knew who invited me to go to a "titty bar" in Las Vegas during a convention there. He said he was going to get a "lap dance." I declined the invitation, and pointedly asked him what his wife, who I also knew, would think about someone grinding her ass on his lap. He decided not to go, either, or at least told me he wasn't.

I don't know, but such things have never interested me. When I lived in Turkey, courtesy of the USAF, there was a brothel not far from the little remote base I was stationed at. It was run by the Turkish government, and the women in it were paying off court judgments or fines. Some of the other men at that base went there regularly. I couldn't even imagine doing that. It would have violated my common sense, as well as my sense of outrage at women being forced to work as prostitutes by the government to pay their debts.

After a while, I finally started shutting guys who told me about their trips to the "compound" by pointing out those things. They stopped telling me about it. I don't think they stopped visiting the brothel, though.

[Johnny2X2X]

51. Strip clubs are creepy

I've been to them for bachelor parties and because I once knew a girl who was a waitress at one, never once got a dance, and I've always looked at the men who get dances at strip clubs as pathetic.

[MineralMan]

59. I've not been in one at all.

I've been to a couple of Vegas shows that had some nudity in them, but that's not quite the same thing. There was no mingling of the audience with the performers.

[Blue_true]

60. I worked with an executive that got busted at one once.

He fined out, did no time and life for him went on as usual. That was the sad part, the women that serviced him likely lived in dumps and did not have a choice but to service him.

[Mosby]

99. the police ran this "sting" for 8 months

So who exactly was doing the trafficking?

[gldstwmn]

7. Here's a little insight into this guy.

I once saw him get pissed off because there was sausage on his pizza. Four pizzas to be exact. All of the pizzas had to be removed from his presence they were so offensive. I of course did not dare point out to him that he ordered four sausage pizzas. Another time it was filet mignon. Not just a piece of steak but the whole loin. He and his family had a habit of just throwing things away unused. I'm not sure what kind of game it was for them but they definitely got a kick out of doing that. He was also a notorious non tipper. Not one penny. So it doesn't surprise me in the least that he went discount for this. He treats everyone like he help because that's how he sees everyone. This is no different.

[uponit7771]

11. "He was also a notorious non tipper." ... what an asshole

[gldstwmn]

13. One of the biggest I've ever met... n/t

[smirkymonkey]

14. He sounds like the type of person who gets off on the humiliation of others.

Hmmm. Kind of reminds me of somebody else.

[uponit7771]

16. +1

[gldstwmn]

20. Definitely part of his mo. Probably why they

are such good friends. The thing is I've met other billionaires who weren't assholes and I've met others who were. He's the one who always stood out to me the most. He's the stereotypical ugly rich person. It's amusing to me but not surprising he got caught doing this.

[BannonsLiver]

53. No offense but...

This sounds made up.

[gldstwmn]

81. Haha... unfortunately it's not. Believe what you wish.

The guys that ran the scoreboard were grateful for the pizza and filet. Myra was reading a book during the game and threw it in the trash when she left.
I've met most of the NFL team owners through an old job. Jeff Lurie, Jerry Jones, the Spanos boys father and the DeBartolos were some of my favorites.

[malaise]

8. Great post

I'm curious about who got them the visas for some other job and put them in these parlors.
Word is that they had to sleep on the massage beds and had no proper cooking facilities. What's more the poor women had language issues so they were virtual slaves.

And yes these men are more than sad - they are complicit in human trafficking.

[MineralMan]

12. Thanks. I read a couple of accounts written about that particular place.

Probably many of those who are forced to work in such places are here on tourist visas, but who were brought here for that specific purpose. Sadly, when ICE finds them, they are treated as criminals, rather than the victims they are. They are summarily deported with no resources and typically end up dead or returned under another name to the same kind of situation.

I don't blame the women in any way. I blame those who traffic in them, but most of all I blame the men who pay for such services and keep such places in business. For them, I have only utter contempt.

[malaise]

23. Funny how they are the ones who support

the cruelty to illegal immigrants - entitled self-indulgent scumbags.

[MineralMan]

26. If they don't think twice - It's alright.

That's how I always heard Dylan's lyrics. Don't think twice; it's alright. The "If you" at the beginning of the line is assumed, in my mind, always.

Perhaps the goal for Kraft was complete and utter emotional and, perhaps, even physical detachment from the act. I can't say I understand that, but it could be. There's something wrong in his head, is what I think.

[malaise]

29. THIS

Perhaps the goal for Kraft was complete and utter emotional and, perhaps, even physical detachment from the act.

With all that wealth, he's terrified of the thought of having to share it.

[MineralMan]

31. That could well be the case.

Someone else brought that up, and I commented on it, near the bottom of the thread.

I suggested that he might not be able to "perform" when he feels he's dealing with a real person who might mock him in some way. I hadn't thought of that, but it makes perfect sense.

[malaise]

33. Might not just mock him

but may go public about it - the emotional side of it does make sense.

[Blue_true]

63. Do you think the TRIADE have their fingers in that situation at some level?

Would not surprise me.

[MineralMan]

66. I have no idea. I have next to zero knowledge of those organizations.

[malaise]

85. Yep they always project

This and Epstein could be their pizzagates.

[gldstwmn]

121. They interviewed a guy who owned a neighboring pizza parlor.

He said the girls went for a walk once a day and looked so malnourished that he tried to offer them some pizza. He said they wouldn't even look at him let alone talk. That was all they did, go for a walk once a day and not look at or speak to anyone.

[customerserviceguy]

64. I don't know if it's still the case any more

but I recall stories from the Seattle-Tacoma area from three or four decades ago involving sham marriages. They would pay a US GI stationed in Korea to "marry" a woman there, then bring her back to the US when his hitch was up. She would be separated from him, he might file for divorce based on desertion, and she would be given a fake ID and have to pay back the Korean mob from her earnings.

She might have been able to keep some of the tips, and some made their way to a successful life in the US by that path.

[madaboutharry]

9. I don't feel sadness for him.

He’s a degenerate pig. He needs to be shunned, not pitied.

BTW, I have great respect for you MineralMan, but please don’t find this story sad....except for the unfortunate women who find themselves in that place.

[MineralMan]

18. I'm not sad for them. I find them pitiful and disgusting.

I hold men who patronize such places in complete contempt. I am sad, though, because the odds are that Robert Kraft and people like him will go on with their lives, unpunished and unrepentant.

I don't know how to adequately punish men like Robert Kraft. I can think of one thing that might wake them up. Convince their daughter to punish him by being the person in the room he sees as walks into in one of those places. Now, there would be poetic justice. Let him see it as it truly is. He is paying to have someone's daughter get him off.

Now, that would be one way to possibly teach that lesson.

[rockfordfile]

115. To a point I agree

[NightWatcher]

15. As a private investigator for 10+ years, I've followed dozens of men into Asian massage parlors

It is a place where men of means (most times) go to get a young Asian girl (late teens- 20's). It's a sick, power play that involves abusing females who don't have the ability to say no.

All of these places are obscene and I'd wager involved in sexual trade trafficking of young females.

There is a network of communications that exist where sickos can find locations and code words (and procedures) to use to get prostitutes to service them.

It's a real sick scene and I'm way too familiar with it for my liking. I hope this case shines a light that helps to end this practice.

[MineralMan]

19. I know about such places only third hand, from news stories about them.

I have seen their storefronts, though, in low-end strip malls. There are many here in the Twin Cities. Perhaps some are legitimate. I don't know. Very few, though, I think.

[DanTex]

17. It's not really a sexual urge or need that people like that are satisfying.

Remember the Hugh Grant prostitution thing from way back? He was dating Elizabeth Hurley, one of the most attractive women on the planet, and even if that wasn't enough, as a handsome wealthy movie star, he could very easily have found any number of women with whom to have a non-paid affairs. Instead he went to a prostitute who was working the streets.

Robert Kraft likewise, could have found a willing person who he didn't have to pay for sex. He could have found the exact same kind of sex. But it wasn't the sex. The creepiness of the whole thing is what he was looking for.

[MineralMan]

21. Perhaps so. I can't put myself into such a mindset.

Perhaps, too, in some cases, there is self-loathing that is involved. I don't understand that, either, but I know such people exist - people who do things to actually enhance that self-loathing.

[erpowers]

122. Power

I think this is about power. I think the Hugh Grant thing was also about power. I think a lot of prostitution is about power. Your wife/girlfriend can say no to certain things, whether it is no to the time, or no to the act. Prostitutes pretty much so cannot say no because they is being paid to provide a service.

Other than that it could be that Robert Kraft does not want to get married again and does not want to have a real connection with another woman. Prostitution allows him to get sex without having a connection to a woman.

[Hawaii Hiker]

22. I don't understand someone of his means

didn't use some expensive escort service with exotic dancers, porn stars, etc..

[MineralMan]

24. Too much hassle, I guess.

Too much interaction. I'm assuming he was looking for an anonymous, quick thing he didn't have to work at all for.

I can't see the attraction in that, or even in the expensive escort thing. I just can't. It seems like a worthless thing, altogether, really.

[getagrip_already]

38. Those have largely been shut down.....

Any internet based escort ad is almost instantly busted or is a sting operation. I remember years ago they actually had ads in the yellow pages. Not anymore.

Fact is, finding escorts is a riskier and riskier endeavor - by design. Street walkers are probably the last refuge, and police are targeting them and their john's as well.

Craigslist is gone. Backpage is gone. Personals are gone. I guess it must all be on apps these days, but if they get any type of success, the authorities will shut them down quickly.

Sure, it still goes on. But I'm told it is not easy to find. Unless you are very rich that is. They always seem to be able to find what they want.

[Hawaii Hiker]

68. The SESTA Act signed last April forced many of the online (ad) places to shut down

Eros is still there, but the erotic review, where agencies and girls were reviewed was also taken down in United States...

[markpkessinger]

77. I got hit up by a street walker just a few nights ago here in NYC . . .

I was crossing the street, when I heard a voice crossing the intersecting street towards me call out, "Hey, baby, you wanna date?" (It was 3 a.m., and nobody else was about, in case you are wondering how I knew she was talking to me.) My response: "Sorry, sweetheart, but I play for the other team." "Oh," she said, a small note of annoyance in her voice.

[radius777]

126. That's probably what makes it hot

to him, doing something taboo/illegal that a "proper man" of his stature should not do.

[hunter]

27. Um, it's the power imbalance that gets these fuckers off.

I'll bet his nether regions shrivel up and go into hiding whenever he's around women who are not intimidated by him.

[MineralMan]

30. Ah, you may be close to the answer.

It's entirely possible that he is unable to perform unless it's in a situation where he has nothing whatever to do with the other person. You could be exactly right.

[Blue_true]

71. Where he has absolute power over the woman. A consensual encounter does not allow for that dynamic.

[snowybirdie]

35. Sad is not the word

tawdry is!

[MineralMan]

37. Well, I'm very, very sad about the situation those sex workers are in.

That part is sad. It is sad that such a sex trafficking business can exist. What is sad is that we human beings are capable of taking advantage of people in such ways.

That's the sadness of which I speak. There's another word for what I think of the people who run such places and the people who patronize them, and it's a lot more negative than just tawdry. For example, I find extensive cleavage in work environments to be tawdry. This story is so far beyond tawdry that I find it difficult to find just the right adjective. Indefensible comes to mind. Disgusting, filthy, obscene and heartless also come to mind, but are inadequate.

[Pepsidog]

36. At least it wasn't in the men's room under a stall like most Republicans

[MineralMan]

40. I only know of one Republican who was involved with that.

Is Robert Kraft not a Republican? He certainly acts like one.

[maryellen99]

42. I wonder what his GF thinks about this?

She’s been with him since 2012.

[MineralMan]

45. Maybe it means he leaves her alone and she's fine with that.

Rich people's arrangements are sometimes strange.

[Blue_true]

73. Yep. nt

[Blue_true]

43. He should resign as head of his team and packaging business.

I don't understand why such men do these things, maybe it gets them off to do something to a woman that their wives or girlfriends won't allow. His partner is a drop dead gorgeous, model and businesswoman, but he goes to get off with a woman who, like you said, likely is being forced to provide sexual services to him. It all is sickening, absolutely sickening and distressful, my heart aches for the women that are forced to do what he went to the place for.

[MineralMan]

48. I predict he will not. The news will not last long.

He will simply shrug it off, pay any fine he has to pay, and keep right on doing the same things. I know nothing about his relationship with his "partner." It may be on a different basis than sexual.

[Blue_true]

58. You could be right, most likely you are.

That is the sad part, he should pay a stiffer penalty.

[rockfordfile]

116. He should be thrown out of the NFL. It's sick to have a person like that in the NFL.

[Blue_true]

129. I agree with that also. I just can't see him sitting in the owner's box watching games anymore.

Not an image the NFL should allow.

[bluedigger]

47. This message was High Sparrow approved.

A misdemeanor like this definitely calls for a Walk of Atonement.

[MineralMan]

55. I had to look that up. I'm not a GoT watcher, nor

a reader of those books. Thanks for the reference. I understand it now.

[BannonsLiver]

70. +1

Terrific analogy.

[Vinca]

61. The reporting about the women is the sad part. Who gives a shit about Kraft?

Imagine being lured to the United States on the promise of a better life and being enslaved as a prostitute instead. Kraft needs to pony up a large pile of loot to help the women . . . and not refill his Viagra prescription. Of course, coming from the world of Trump, he'll proclaim his innocence as the video plays showing him handing over the cash for a blow job.

[MineralMan]

65. Yes, that is truly sad.

Perhaps the law against patronizing establishments that engage in sex trafficking should include a fine that is the forfeiture of some percentage of your net worth. Maybe 10-15%. In the case of Kraft, that would be a sizable sum. The fine would be distributed to the victims to help them establish themselves in some other pursuit.

[kwassa]

75. Kraft has a beautiful girlfriend half his age.

and several inches taller.

[getagrip_already]

78. not for long.....

She's gonna get a bunch of his money and a new boyfriend.....

[Mosby]

87. why would she get "a bunch of his money"?

They aren't married.

Do you think she dates him because he is a super nice, smart, attractive guy?

[getagrip_already]

89. lots of things come to mind...

Breach of promise, exposing her to diseases without warning, emotional distress, lying to her...

Unlesss they had an ironclad non-nuptual agreement, a good lawyer can extract money in a civil suit. He won't be a very sympathetic defendent in court.

[Squinch]

98. "Non-nuptual agreement." Kay. You really sound like you know what you're talking about.

[radius777]

125. People are clueless.

As if the women involved in these relationships don't know what's up.

The trophy girlfriend is there to show her off, and the rich old dude is a trophy boyfriend to fund her lavish lifestyle. Usually neither cares who the other fucks, as long as each gets what they want out the basic 'deal'.

[Squinch]

95. Your belittling of the victim is really disgusting. An astonishingly ignorant comment.

[getagrip_already]

101. not at all....

Just pointing out that the workers involved were not kids. Nor were they particularly attractive. At least from the mug shots posted.

I don't know why he was there, but it wasn't to find a super model.

It always amazes me how very successful and rich men will risk everything for sex with any woman they can pay. It happens over and over. This isn't about the woman to them. Whatever it is about.

[Squinch]

103. Your ignorant explanation of your ignorant statement doesn't change the fact that your

belittling of the victim is disgusting.

[janx]

106. Women as objects? Really? n/t

[getagrip_already]

107. how can you have a discussion of prostitution without..

a discussion of woman as objects?

[janx]

108. If you are incapable of doing so,

I'm afraid I can't help you. Your post just illustrated the problem.

[japple]

114. "It always amazes me how very successful and rich men will risk everything for sex with any woman

they can pay." When I saw the picture, my first response was "that's a man." Not agreeing with anything you are saying, but do the same rules apply if this this was a boy or man?

[getagrip_already]

118. yes...

Fwiw, the pic I posted wasn't a sex worker - it was one of the operators charged with running the operation.

But yes, the same applies to men. People looking to pay for sex don't always use "looks" as the primary criteria, for whatever reason it isn't a primary driver in every case.

Maybe they are attracted to their providers though. Minds work in funny ways.

Just as rape isn't about sex, prostitution isn't about looks in a lot of cases. There are other motivators. I'm not an expert. I don't hire other people for sex. So maybe I just lack the experience.

Apologies to anyone set back on their heels.

[Squinch]

88. Robert Kraft is not the one to be pitied in this story.

[Ilsa]

91. I remember when there were stories about W getting an illegal abortion

for his girlfriend decades ago, and the rumors about socialite women and Dick Cheney on his hunting trip in south Texas. These men messed around with women who had something to lose, their social standing, if they ever made their dirty laundry public. Whereas Bill Clinton, when he was much younger and not wealthy, would approach someone like Paula Jones, who "smelt money" once she had a nasty story to tell about a powerful man.

Kraft is an idiot. He could have hired a proper sex worker and paid for her discretion.

[mainer]

94. The quest for anonymity, maybe?

Those strip malls seem like the place you'd go to if you wanted no one to know who you are.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

104. I would think the opposite. A great way to be identified by another patron.

[gldstwmn]

123. Since they were virtual prisoners of the spa

and spoke little to no English they would have no idea who he was. That might be part of the attraction for him.

[RhodeIslandOne]

128. Anyone stopping by Staples or Olympia would probably know who he was

Most high priced escorts both from a service or independent are far more discreet.

[Mr.Bill]

97. One doesn't pay a prostitute to perform the act only.

One pays them to leave when the act is finished and not tell anyone.

[rockfordfile]

117. It seems to me he doesn't think much of women. Just like trump.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

127. I don't have a problem for him paying for sex, if the sex worker is working under conditions as

ethical as any that are possible under the current brand of USian capitalism. I do have a problem with him paying money to assault trafficked victims.

[Mosby]

132. Patriots owner Kraft formally charged in Florida prostitution sting

Reuters) - Florida prosecutors on Monday filed formal charges against Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots football team, and about two dozen other men for soliciting prostitution at massage parlors, authorities said on Monday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-robert-kraft/patriots-owner-kraft-formally-charged-in-florida-prostitution-sting-idUSKCN1QE2BA

[MineralMan]

133. Good.