Nick Kristof continued his crusade against child sex trafficking this week–a noble cause, except that he and the newspaper that pays him may be making money, indirectly, from the same crime. As Breitbart News revealed on April 12, the New York Times Company “profits from the sort of advertising for escort services, strip clubs, and other forms of adult entertainment that Kristof has linked to the underworld of child sex trafficking.”
In the week that has passed since then, President Barack Obama’s own advance team has been linked directly to the sex trade in Columbia, where several Secret Service agents and members of the military were caught bringing prostitutes to their hotel. (No one in the mainstream media has apparently thought to ask whether any White House staffers were involved, but then again this is the most transparent administration ever.)
Not only was Kristof completely silent about the White House advance team scandal, but he was almost willfully obtuse about it. Here is the opening sentence of his column this week: “If you think sex trafficking only happens in faraway places like Nepal or Thailand, then you should listen to an expert on American sex trafficking I interviewed the other day.” He proceeded to introduce his expert, a 16-year-old named “Brianna.”
No questions about the sex trafficking going on–apparently routinely–right under the President’s nose. We don’t know much about the women involved; some of them may be younger than Brianna.
You’d think Kristof would have booked the first flight to Cartagena to find out what happened, and to identify the Obama administration official responsible for letting this go on, the man (or woman?) letting lowly agents take the fall.
But no–he’s busy preening, wagging his finger at former investors in Backpage.com:
When I wrote recently about this, these firms erupted in excuses and self-pity, and in some cases raced to liquidate their stakes. I was struck by the self-absorption and narcissism of Wall Street bankers viewing themselves as victims, so maybe it’s useful to hear from girls who were victimized through the company they invested in.
Enough already. If Kristof really cared about child sex trafficking, he’d forego his tainted New York Times salary until the newspaper divested from About.com and similar media outlets. If he really cared about the evils of prostitution, he’d be taking the Obama administration to task.
He’s not, which suggests Kristof is exploiting the Briannas of the world for his own political gratification. And that’s more than a little creepy.