Buyer interest is taking off for CL-listed Florida airport:
In addition to 7 hangers and a 2,700-foot grass landing strip, purchaser will gain a mobile home, barn and a zoning permit for the construction of an additional 13 hangers.
Noteable as this news cycle winds down ( “Craigslist Pwns McMaster,” “Pandering Has Its Price,” “Craigslist 1, McMaster 0,” “McMaster’s Final Humiliation” ) has been the absolute disinterest shown by politicians and journalists in hardcore sex-for-money ads featured in journalistic media, no matter how numerous or graphic they may be.
Here are a few out of tens of thousands of “escort ads” featured on backpage.com adult classifieds owned by Village Voice Media, publisher of a chain of weekly newspapers. (WARNING - EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT):
UPDATE - Now deleted ads included photos of sex acts, and price quotes for: “GFE, BBBJ, CIM, greek, swallow, DATY, 69, facials, golden showers, anal”
UPDATE - Screenshot of ad cited above (CAUTION, EXPLICIT SEXUALITY)
These examples were “featured” ads for which Village Voice charged extra, such that this content presumably fell well within their guidelines.
It’s worth noting that these ads’ TITLES ALONE contain more explicit content than you will find in all craigslist adult service ads combined.
Could the blessing of politicos on voluminous pornographic sex-for-money ads in journalistic media have anything to do with the need for positive coverage and campaign endorsements from said media?
As for journalists, is it possible that criticizing craigslist is more career-friendly than taking their own employers (or publishing peers) to task?
The office of Defendant McMaster proclaimed victory today:
More importantly, overnight they have removed the erotic services section from their website, as we asked them to do. And they are now taking responsibility for the content of their future advertisements. If they keep their word, this is a victory for law enforcement and for the people of South Carolina.
Nicely spun, perhaps by trash-talking McMaster PR operative Trey Walker (@treywalker), who reportedly was investigated by the SC State Law Enforcement Division for election fraud in connection with Defendant McMaster’s 2002 campaign:
“I’m embarrassed about it,” Walker said. “I’ve embarassed my family, my friends, my employer, my clients. It was stupid and silly.”
Speaking of elections, here is Defendant McMaster celebrating another important victory in The Post and Courier, the publishers of which he recently condemned as criminals.
Techdirt has a different take on Defendant McMaster’s victory:
That’s just blatant outright lying now. Craigslist made those changes last week, and at the time McMaster’s response was: “That response doesn’t work” and claimed it was proceeding with plans to punish Craigslist management with jail time. Since then, Craigslist has made no other change, other than to sue McMaster. To suddenly claim that it’s made a new change and is taking the matter seriously, when the only change is suing McMaster, is quite the delusional response. I have no idea how likely it is that McMaster will win his current race for the Governor’s spot in South Carolina — but so far the man has been an embarrassment to the state.
As did PolicyBeta (www.cdt.org) :
Now we hear that McMaster is calling the Craigslist suit “good news,” which is befuddling because the S.C. taxpayers are likely going to have to pony big bucks to pay for the Craigslist legal bills (unless McMaster backs down right away), which can easily run $250,000 or more.
“The bottom line here hasn’t changed since McMaster decided to start his grandstanding: Craigslist is constitutionally protected from having liability for content placed on its site by users”
The COMPLAINT FOR IMMEDIATE INJUNCTIVE AND OTHER RELIEF filed last night in South Carolina federal court is available for review, here is an excerpt:
Given Defendant McMaster‘s persistent and continuing public threats, craigslist is presently faced with the untenable choice of either completely shutting down all portions of its website that are directed at South Carolina or else putting itself and its management at risk of imminent criminal prosecution by Defendant McMaster.
The MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION is available for perusal as well.
Roundup of local South Carolina coverage of the apology we’ve requested from SC AG Henry McMaster.
Kneejerk Henry Gets McMastered (Fitsnews.com of Charleston, SC)
“We reviewed the Greenville “back page ” as well, and it’s not even close. Craigslist is like reading a children’s book by comparison.”
“McMaster is targeting Craigslist for one reason - they’ve been in the news and he can generate easy headlines by going after them. Oh, and since it’s part of his “official duties,” that means taxpayers have to pay for his media barrage / frivilous prosecution.”
Exclusive: ‘Singled out,’ Craigslist chief hits back (The State, Columbia, SC)
“I’m anticipating an apology for these wrongful accusations and an affirmative statement that no such proceedings will be brought against me or other CEOs,” Buckmaster told The State.
Asked if he believed McMaster was targeting his company for political gain, Buckmaster replied, “You’ll have to ask him that.”
“I can imagine my mother is not pleased to have me wrongly accused of being a criminal,” he said.
Bad Publicity Might Backfire (Independent Mail, Anderson, SC)
McMaster set a deadline for all the ads to be removed and when the deadline went unmet, he issued a statement that he “had no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution.”
But wait — he does have one alternative: Knock off the publicity ploys and put his efforts toward other concerns, things like scams on the elderly, fake warranty robo-calls and people who prey on others in financial difficulties with “get-out-of-debt” schemes.
Craigslist CEO wants apology from attorney general McMaster (Charleston Regional Business Journal)
“Many prominent companies, including AT&T, Microsoft and Village Voice Media — not to mention major newspapers and other upstanding South Carolina businesses — feature more ‘adult services’ ads than does Craigslist, some of a very graphic nature,” Buckmaster wrote in his blog.
McMaster spokesman Mark Plowden did not return calls this morning for comment.
Craigslist Is Kicking South Carolina’s Ass (Fitsnews.com, Charleston, SC)
S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster’s ongoing campaign to make the Palmetto State look as backward as possible has taken a major step forward this week as a popular technology website (Techcrunch) openly mocked South Carolina for its ongoing “battle” with Craigslist.
Remember - the firms that read sites like Tech Crunch are precisely the sort of companies we want to come to South Carolina, especially now that House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s whole “hydrogen economy” has come crashing down on top of his head.
Now, thanks to McMaster, they’re all laughing at us.
Dear South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster,
Two days ago you accused craigslist, and me personally, of engaging in criminal acts, reiterating your previous threat to file unwarranted and unconstitutional charges against us that are clearly barred by federal law. As you put it, “We have no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution.”
These very serious allegations followed the dramatic changes we implemented last week, widely applauded by other Attorneys General, that go far beyond the policies and procedures you yourself personally endorsed just 6 months ago, as indicated by your signature on the Joint Statement.
So effective in fact, that our “adult services” and soon-to-be-retired “erotic services” sections combined, for all cities in South Carolina, currently feature a total of 40 ads, all of which comply with our terms of use. That’s 40 ads out of a total of 334,180 currently listed on our SC sites. The rest comprise a thriving marketplace for South Carolinians, offering jobs, housing, for sale items, local services, and just about everything else.
Many prominent companies, including AT&T, Microsoft, and Village Voice Media, not to mention major newspapers and other upstanding South Carolina businesses feature more “adult services” ads than does craigslist, some of a very graphic nature. For a small sampling, look (careful NSFW) here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here.
Have you fully considered the implications of your accusations against craigslist? What’s a crime for craigslist is clearly a crime for any company. Are you really prepared to condemn the executives of each of the mainstream companies linked above, and all the others that feature such ads, as criminals? craigslist may not matter in your world view, despite our popularity among your constituents, but mightn’t you want an endorsement from any of the SC newspapers for your gubenatorial campaign, whose publishers you’ve just labeled as criminals? Do you really intend to launch a criminal investigation against the phone company? What about potential new jobs connected to big data center buildouts in SC by Internet companies? Are you *sure* you want to prosecute all of their CEOs as criminals???
If you are threatening our founder Craig Newmark, a board member with no operational role at craigslist other than as a customer service representative, then you are expanding your list of “criminal suspects” to include thousands of employees at the above-named companies, or the companies’ boards of directors, or both.
Mr McMaster, I strongly recommend you reconsider and retract your remarks, and positively affirm that you have no intention of launching criminal investigations aimed at any of these upstanding companies, because in truth none of them are deserving of such treatment. Certainly when it comes to craigslist, by any objective standard your threats and accusations are unreasonable and unfair:
We’re willing to accept our share of criticism, but wrongfully accusing craigslist of criminal misconduct is simply beyond the pale. We would very much appreciate an apology at your very earliest convenience. As I’m sure would all of the other fine companies whose executives you’ve called out as criminals.
Sincerely Yours,
Jim Buckmaster
CEO, craigslist
We again extend our heartfelt condolences to the Olson family, and are thankful that justice has been served in the courtroom, so that the focus for all those who cared for Katherine can now rightfully return to the celebration of her life, and the inspirational example that she (and her entire family) have set for us all.
A memorial concert in Katherine’s honor entitled A Tribute to Katherine: Letting Her Light Shine, which is happening on May 3rd in Minneapolis, will raise money for a scholarship fund in her name at St. Olaf College. More details are available here:
gang aft agley, as this Denver CLer notes in his “Free Vermin” ad
