General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow Cindy Yang raised the $50K for that autographed photo with Trump
?
Verified account
@PekingMike
Cindy Yang really wanted the autographed picture with President Trump. But she needed to raise $50,000. She tapped high-dollar donations from a very unusual group: massage parlor workers. With @FrancesRobles @jotted https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/16/us/cindy-yang-trump-donations.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share via @nytimes
Link to tweet
A contribution of $2,700 toward the presidents re-election would get you in the door. Two seats for dinner were on offer for $25,000. And there was a third option: for $50,000, dinner for two and a photo with Mr. Trump.
Cindy Yang was determined to get the photo.
But there was a hurdle. The invitation limited campaign contributions to $5,400 per person, so Ms. Yang, a Chinese immigrant who had set up a string of day spas in Florida and was active in groups backed by the Chinese government and Communist Party, needed others to chip in.
Over the weeks leading up to the event, at least nine people in Ms. Yangs orbit, some of them with modest incomes, made donations at exactly $5,400. She ended up at the dinner.
gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)Not. I'm sure she gave the $5400 to everyone who donated. Is this illegal?
getagrip_already
(14,768 posts)that ISN'T legal if they weren't.
gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)People think the day spa thing with Kraft was no biggie but look what it's tied to. I wish someone would do a deep dive on this. Maybe the reporter from the Miami Herald who did that great work on Epstein.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)Yeah, that's what she ran. Day Spas.
Perfect. Good job.
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)And the smiley goes wherever I have "liberal" in quotes.
There have been a few Fox-level op ed pieces and tweets that I have seen lately.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)getagrip_already
(14,768 posts)It's an industry term. Even up and up outfits like "Massage Envy" use it. Note, ME has been accused of sexual assaults by staff on customers, but to my knowledge they have never been accused of harboring sex for sale operations. It's also ironic that while they weren't "selling" sex, the reason there were so many assault allegations is that the masseuses would regularly provide relief to woman as part of the massage. Sometimes, they got the cues wrong I guess and the woman objected and filed complaints. Other times, they just got a better tip. But the church ladies who went there would never call for a sting operation. Hypocrites are everywhere.
Now I have nothing against massage, and hold no ill will towards sex workers (m or f), but the illicit spas occupy an obscure niche in an otherwise legitimate industry. It's not like they are going to call themselves a brothel.......
Short version - the news outlets aren't being cute using a made up term. It has been used for years.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)really not deserving of such an innocuous term, from an outfit like the NYT that's presumably been paying some attention to 'what's going on'... is what I'm saying.
Could we at least get SOME recognition that her 'day spas' are suspected to be ... not on the up and up?
Then again, I'm just really down on the media p-footing around with everything GOP-related when you get down to it
getagrip_already
(14,768 posts)Or would that be "alleged" day brothels?
I'm fine with the editorial spin. It's just that is what even the ones that traffic people are called.
I guess if we can freely use a term like chop shop for an illegal auto theft and parts operation, we can find some handy nickname for a sex stop.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)Shows what ambition, and determination can achieve...
gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)PeeJ52
(1,588 posts)open some rub and tug houses and press flesh with the pResident of the United States...
gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)can meet the rare orange "billionaire" in person. He might even come to you.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)MurrayDelph
(5,299 posts)She put the touch on her employees?