Posted on 08/15/2015 11:29:42 AM PDT by bornred
Early in the evening of July 4, Micaela Giles’s mobile phone started sounding alerts, and a series of messages straight out of a horror movie began scrolling down her screen.
Her 19-year-old son told her that his Airbnb host in Madrid had locked him in the fourth-floor apartment where he was supposed to be staying and removed the key. The host was still there, he said, rattling knives around in the kitchen drawer and pressing him to submit to a sexual act. He begged his mother for help.
When she called Airbnb, its employees would not give her the address and would not call the police. Instead, they gave her a number for the Madrid police and told her to ask the police to call the company for the address. But the number led to a recording in Spanish that kept disconnecting her, she said, and when she repeatedly called back her Airbnb contact, the calls went straight to voice mail.
According to her son, Jacob Lopez, he was sexually assaulted that night. Eventually, he persuaded his host to free him. He returned home to Massachusetts and is in trauma therapy.
His host, who was born male but is living as a woman, denied Mr. Lopez’s accusations. She denied threatening him and said that the sex act was consensual and that he is transphobic. If she is right, filing a false police report and telling the story publicly would be an unlikely way to bury a regrettable experience.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Should have said “hostess.” The NYT is transphobic.
I’m fascinated by the MSM assault on these new-ish services (of course Uber gets a mention in the article as well). After a brief honeymoon, the unions, and the ‘Rat party are lining up against this disruptive technology with a constant drip of negatives.
Stepping back, what are Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, Sidecar, etc really doing? The companies themselves make their income as brokers: they connect a supply with a demand and take a cut. One of the ways they do this is by emulating Ebay’s trust model: they’re the third party that can arrange for the transaction, allow transparency between and among the various parties trust reputations, and allow a means of recourse if one of the parties is unhappy with the transaction. (ie, the identities of both the alleged victim and the suspect are known in the subject instance.)
Other things happen when these marketplaces are successful: consumer goods (apartments and cars, for instance) suddenly get added to an economy’s stock of capital goods, thus creating armies of micro-capitalists where only workers and consumers existed before. Uber drivers, for example, don’t report to a Taxi company, work on the company’s schedule or on the company’s route. They choose their own hours, area of operations and perform their own cost-benefit analyses of their efforts. Needless to say, this is not beneficial to existing crony capitalist companies, unions, or their captive politicians.
What these new “sharing economy” companies don’t do, contrary to the New York Time’s assertion, is provide rides, or apartments, or phone service, or any such thing. That’s the union’s , and this the MSM’s line of attack though. If these new marketplaces aren’t killed in the cradle by the established order, they won’t overturn hotels, or taxi companies, but they will create millions of people who suddenly start thinking like independent entrepreneurs and capitalists, who can solve problems on their own, thankyouverymuch, and don’t need the state, or a union in order to better their lives.
That, I think, is what the MSM fears most.
Bruce Jenner does. Trannies are pushing for the rest of us to deny our senses, & refer to them by their illusions. They’re trying to force state & federal government to do the same. In California, a tranny can change their birth certificate sex without genital rearranging surgery, just because they “feel” like the opposite sex.
Turdi?
How does one cut off internet service?
The airbnb moniker is nothing more than a smokescreen for short term rentals. Many jurisdictions require licenses for short term rentals and some prohibit any subletting. These are not “bed and breakfast” places but short term rentals in desirable week or weekend vacation locations or locations where any sort of short term housing is scarce. Often the place is empty, the host does not live there. Here in rural VA the city people buy places specifically to list them for short term rental.
Maybe the reporter was revealing what he really thinks about transgenders.
At my house we turn off the wii fii
Just an average customer service dispute. Probably be a 2-star Yelp! review.
The guy must’ve turned off the router or just blocked service through his service provider. (That’s what I do.) Maybe the 19yo didn’t have a cell phone plan that worked in Europe?
LOL. I don't know... Maybe "hostess" is no longer PC. Just like "actress."
Hmmm... Host might be "transphobic," whereas hostess might be "sexist"... Such a dilemma for a NYT reporter!
Never said that’s what I would do. I wouldn’t be using Airbnb in the first place.
He/she goes by Erica now, and is living in fear of her life.
Tip: Telephones in AU and NZ dial backwards: 000 in AU, 111 in NZ.
If all else fails, 112 should work in 81 countries. (In countries where it is NOT the native emergency number, it only works on cel phones, and rings only the police.)
Everything.. someone renting out their house here and the 'renters' took everything. When the owners came back, nothing was left...they took plumbing and electrical wire, too...
Our AZ town has a “hotel tax” which covers short term rentals under 30 days.
I bet most of the AirBnB spot are not paying any taxes...:^)
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