I'm going to go out on a limb here and sound like mitciv, but first, the feds shut down the Seattle clubs. Now, they've shut down the Portland clubs. Other clubs are suddenly being hit and shut down.
How's that hopey changey thing working out for ya?
As noted on this board, it was the feds that went after the Seattle clubs, and now the Portland clubs. Other clubs are coming under the local spotlight, but what move is next for the feds ? And, as a libertarian, whose fucking business is it if two consenting adults agree to a sexual act for a fee ? Local hypocrite politicians "are shocked, shocked", to find that sex is going on in a sexually oriented business.
I'm taking a deep breath, lest I launch into a tirade about S...... uh, never mind.
Probably just coincidence, likely the start of the feds investigations predated the current administration...or it could be the first steps in imposing Sharia Law on America.
Just in case, somebody pass me one of mitciv's tinfoil hats.
Local politicians want to keep their jobs or move on to bigger jobs, just like national level politicians. Workaday feds want to get bonuses and promotions just like worker bees in the private sector. Owners of strip clubs want to make as much money as possible, just like owners of other types of businesses. These goals don't always line up.
But when programs are getting cut left and right, it would be a little ambitious to expect any kind of massive sweep by the feds on something fringe (and quietly popular) like strip clubs even in an election year. The politicians couldn't execute it anyway, since their work doesn't actually involve doing anything other than being politicians and hoping someone can back up their noise.
Like I said, I was in the middle of an LE shakedown once. More than once, okay several, but who's counting? I still go to clubs and don't expect the feds or swat or whoever to kick in the door when I'm there. That's just overthinking it. Politics are like statistics so far as I'm concerned, but they're always fun to watch.
Leftist ideology can only be imposed against the will of a free people.
Can that fit in a fortune cookie?
The Seattle situation had been brewing for quite sometime. The owners were known mob figures.
The Portland clubs? For a state with no sales tax, and instead relies upon a high income tax, when the economy goes south, their revenues are really hit. TUSCL has 54 clubs listed, all of them air-dance specials. The recent Fed raid closed 6. In a bad economy (and the owners of the 6 were probably dipping into the kitty to maintain their lifestyles, hence the reduced tax receipts the Feds likely noticed), that translates into a likely revenue bump of 2% for the other 48 clubs still open.
For any discerning TUSCL member, Portland is the last (or one of the last) places they should go to for a quality lap dance.
It's a good thing it's such a cinch to find girls to do OTC, otherwise I would have to change states.
It it not now, never has been, and never will be, about public safety, health or maintaining good morals. Those are all just excuses for the ones with power to impose their will on those without.
I do NOT blame LE for all these busts. They are just carrying out the directions of our elected officals who are just kissing up to the moral majority.
It's due to the economy. People need their scapegoats and villains and "morality" now more than ever.
Now the busts are coming to Ohio with Cincinnati Deja Vu busted. Not to mention Deja Vu is one of the biggest strip club chains in the business. If LE can make more busts at Deja Vus, it would slow their growth. I wonder if a Rick's Cabaret club or VCGH club ever got busted how it would affect their stock prices. Having one club busted would not be a major financial hit to Rick's but it would make Rick's lose credibility with Wall Street because the fear of more busts would be a great downside to owning the stock. I used to wonder if the Rick's that got busted in Seattle was part of the Rick's Cabaret chain but it turns out it was independent from the corporate Rick's chain.
Sam that Vegas Rick's locale is a death spiral of a story all on it's own...
Ummmmmm, have all of the Seattle & Portland strip clubs been "shut down by the feds"? I didn't think so...
"it was the feds that went after the Seattle clubs, and now the Portland clubs."
For what though?? I certainly doubt it was for just flashing some T&A.
"And, as a libertarian, whose fucking business is it if two consenting adults agree to a sexual act for a fee ?"
As a liberal, I agree, but the current laws in our land don't agree with either of us.
"Leftist ideology can only be imposed against the will of a free people"
...in your own, highly-warped mind that is...ugh...
Not sure any good will come out of encouraging mitciv to post more off topic political rants.
Is it really the Feds? It always seems to me there's something that puts a club or ownership on their radar above and beyond T&A. But there is something to areas which are getting slammed are areas where joe and bob public make the most noise to the authorities. There's also the matter of clubs drawing attention to themselves by enabling stupid customers to be, well, a little too stupid. Newsworthy stupid is even worse. And there is the ever-favorite club that was fine until new management messed up a good thing.
The one that comes to mind is a mid-range club that was a real gem before the new owner put in for permits he didn't need (it wasn't really on the county's radar) and...I was in the place when the undercovers showed up dressed like bikers, saw what was really going on, and another club bites the dust. The idiot club outed itself, with Strip Club List gutter brains driving the final nails in with their naming names and such.
I'd say you're still more likely to see the local level crack down than the federal side.