A handful of leather straps, sex toys and other bondage equipment were scattered throughout the mostly empty studios of Kink.com on a recent Thursday. Peter Acworth, founder and CEO of the BDSM porn empire, walked through the dark basement corridors of the San Francisco Armory, recounting how his company used to make as many as 100 films a month. But in February, Kink actors will do their final shoot at the historic castle-like building that has become a world-famous destination for tourists and porn connoisseurs. As Acworth described Kink’s early days, staff upstairs prepared for a lavish party for Airbnb – the kind of corporate tech event that some fear could take over the Armory once porn is out the door.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Lorelei Lee, a longtime Kink performer. “To lose this in a city that is losing resources for artists and queers and sex workers in such a huge way is sad.”

The Kink.com studio is the latest uniquely San Francisco institution to shutter in the rapidly gentrifying city, which in recent years has become exceedingly unaffordable and culturally homogeneous amid a huge technology boom. Combined with the financial turmoil in the porn industry, Kink’s business model has become unsustainable, leading Acworth to cease all production in the Armory.

Although Kink.com will maintain Armory offices and continue to provide content, some San Francisco performers are lamenting the closure of a porn studio that elevated the profile of fetish entertainment and BDSM and provided stable jobs and a safe workplace for LGBT people and sex workers.

Acworth, who is from the UK, launched the company in 1997 out of a grad school dorm room. In 2006, he purchased the 200,000 sq ft Armory, which is a 1914 reproduction of a medieval castle.

The national landmark became the headquarters for his growing network of BDSM and fetish subscriptions sites, including an interactive live page and a news site, and has housed public tours, shows, workshops and other porn events.
“There are so many of us that have come out of Kink and started out there,” said Arabelle Raphael, who began performing for the site in 2010. “A lot of models went through their own BDSM journeys through the company.”

Kink built its reputation as the rare porn company with a mission statement – to “demystify and celebrate alternative sexualities by providing the most ethical and authentic kinky adult entertainment”. Although it operated much like a mainstream porn business, Kink was rooted in a San Francisco scene that was distinct from the Los Angeles and Las Vegas industries – with more radical content and a more diverse workforce.

A lot of the Castro was built on the back of porn companies. But one by one, they upped and left
Peter Acworth, founder and CEO of Kink
Notably, Kink performers do interviews after the shoots to candidly discuss the experience, which has helped break down stigmas associated with BDSM and fetishes and has allowed the company to emphasize the importance of consent in kinky sex.

“Kink, with its shear reach, has done so much to educate people,” said Eric Paul Leue, Kink’s former director of sexual health and advocacy. “That’s a beautiful legacy.”

Still, the company has weathered controversies over the years. Some workers have complained of mistreatment, and Kink last year severed ties with porn star James Deen after multiple women accused him of sexual assault. The website has also repeatedly clashed with state regulators about its scenes without condoms, though Kink and its performers have long maintained that the shoots are safe and that they are facing political attacks from anti-porn groups.

But it was the proliferation of free online content that ultimately made it impossible for Kink to stay afloat in San Francisco, which once had a thriving porn industry centered in the historically gay Castro district.

“A lot of the Castro was built on the back of porn companies. But one by one, they upped and left,” said Acworth. “There’s so much content out there. The human body only has so many orifices and so many limbs you can tie in so many ways.”

In recent years, San Francisco has also lost numerous beloved LGBT bars and a famous strip club that was unionized and run as a worker-run cooperative. Some of the city’s queer events are now dominated by the tech industry, which has a reputation for being prudish, and government crackdowns on sex work have also eliminated jobs.

Lee said she recently left San Francisco because of these dramatic changes. “A lot of these models have lived in San Francisco specifically because they were seeking out the community that was in San Francisco, which is very queer and diverse in terms of body type.”

To some, Kink seemed like one of the few remaining gathering spaces for this crowd.

“It’s been slowly feeling like the death of San Francisco,” said Raphael. “This just feels like the end of an era.”
href=”https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jan/25/porn-bdsm-kink-armory-closing-san-francisco”>’End of an era’: porn actors lament the loss of legendary San Francisco Armory | Culture | The Guardian

President Trump will be ordering the construction of his signature Mexican border wall on Wednesday, according to a report.White House officials told the New York Times that Trump is expected to sign the executive order — directing federal funds to be focused on creating the structure — during an appearance at the Department of Homeland Security.Building a wall on the border of Mexico was one of Trump’s biggest promises during his campaign. He ultimately believes that doing so would put a stop to the influx of illegal immigrants coming into the United States today.“Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday night.While the wall won’t be completed for quite some time, officials told the Times that the President is also considering a policy that would temporarily stop refugees from coming from Syria, as well as other majority-Muslim nations that are deemed “terror prone.

Source: Trump set to order construction of Mexican border wall | New York Post

Hillary Clinton is seriously considering a run for New York mayor, according to a major city political insider, who claims she’s “50-50.”Supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis said he talked to the failed Democratic presidential nominee, and came away convinced she may try to resurrect her political career by challenging Mayor Bill de Blasio this year.“I spoke to her about it, but she didn’t indicate or signal to me [whether she would run]. She didn’t say never, she didn’t say no. In my personal opinion, it’s 50-50,” the billionaire owner of Gristedes Foods told The Real Deal real estate blog Monday.Catsimatidis, who supported Clinton as a donor, said he will delay his own decision to run for mayor until the former secretary of state makes up her mind.“If Hillary runs, I won’t,” said Catsimatidis, who ran in the 2013 New York mayoral primary as a Republican, but lost to Joe Lhota.Catsimatidis’ claim comes as reports say Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are talking to top advisers about how they can get back into the political fray.Hillary is receiving briefings from her former campaign manager Robby Mook explaining what went wrong in the presidential race, while Bill has been blasting FBI Director James Comey for interfering in the election, according to Politico.Despite what Catsimitidis thinks, the article said neither Clinton is expected to seek public office again, but former Democratic National Committee chairman Ed Rendell told the website, “I’m certain [President Donald] Trump will screw up enough that by the fall of ’18, Hillary’s numbers will be way up again.”For now, Hillary is enjoying nights out and is considering spending more time writing.Bill, meanwhile, has re-devoted himself to the Clinton Foundation, which took a beating during the presidential campaign.Then-candidate Donald Trump referred to the foundation as a “criminal enterprise,” although last week at an inaugural luncheon, he praised the Clintons.Echoing what the report said, a leading Democrat claimed that a comeback by the Clintons likely would not include another campaign for either one.“On a personal level, I lost a race in 2014, and it was on a much, much smaller scale than what she lost,” said former two-term Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, adding, “I don’t think a team of mules could drag them [into running].”

Source: Hillary is ’50-50′ on running for NYC mayor, insider says | New York Post

Singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus was clearly very upset about President-elect Donald Trump’s Nov. 8 victory, sharing a teary-eyed video on Twitter following the Election Day results, but actor Tom Hanks is offering a more tempered tone, possibly to the dismay of many of his Tinseltown colleagues.Hanks was honored Wednesday by New York’s Museum of Modern Art and, after several of his fellow Hollywood stars offered their accolades to the Academy Award-winning actor, he shared somewhat of a pep talk in the wake of Trump’s victory, according to The Hollywood Reporter:We are going to be all right because we constantly get to tell the world who we are. We constantly get to define ourselves as American. We do have the greatest country in the world. We move at a slow pace. We have the greatest country in the world because we are always moving towards a more perfect union. That journey never ceases, it never stops. Sometimes, to quote a Springsteen song, it’s “one step forward, two steps back,” but we still aggregately move forward. We, who are a week into wondering what the hell just happened, will continue to move forward. We have to choose to do so, but we will move forward because if we do not move forward, what is to be said of us?But then Hanks made a comment that is most assuredly at odds with the thoughts many of his celebrity neighbors have expressed in the nine days since Trump’s stunning defeat of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.“This is the United States of America. We’ll go on. There’s great like-minded people out there who are Americans first and Republicans or Democrats second,” Hanks told The Hollywood Reporter. “I hope the president-elect does such a great job that I vote for his re-election in four years.”The “Inferno” star also weighed in on liberal filmmaker Michael Moore’s suggestion that he should run for president in 2020. Spoiler alert: Hanks doesn’t feel qualified for the position, despite the fact that a one-time reality TV star will take to the White House in January.“Not to be completely, over and over coming back to the same thing that I would like to strangle Michael Moore on him offering my name in order to be something other than a CPA, which I’m not qualified to be either,” Hanks said. “We will take everything that has been handed to us as Americans, and we will turn our nation and we will turn the future and we turn all the work that we have before us into some brand of a thing of beauty.”

Source: Tom Hanks: I hope Trump does so well that ‘I vote for his re-election’ – TheBlaze

WASHINGTON – Madonna’s rally speech to the Women’s March this weekend about “blowing up the White House” has gotten the attention of federal law enforcement — as the Material Girl insisted Sunday she meant no harm.The US Secret Service, charged with protecting President Trump and his family, is aware of the comments and is investigating, according to the Gateway Pundit.The “Like a Virgin” singer told hundreds and thousands of marchers gathered in Washington Saturday: “Yes, I’m angry. Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House,” Madonna said, wearing a black “pussycat” cap.“But I know that this won’t change anything. We cannot fall into despair.”She concluded her F-bomb-laden speech with a positive message: “I choose love.”The longtime pop queen said Sunday she wasn’t trying to incite violence and her remarks were taken “wildly out of context.”“I want to clarify some very important things. I am not a violent person, I do not promote violence and it’s important people hear and understand my speech in it’s entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context,” Madonna said in an Instagram post.President Trump’s team Sunday bashed the pop icon’s comments Sunday, while declining to mention Madonna by name.“One of the singers said she wanted to blow up the White House. I mean, can you imagine saying that about President Obama,” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told “Fox News Sunday.”Kellyanne Conway, a senior White House aide, said Madonna should have spent her day giving some of her “hundreds of millions” to a women’s shelter instead of making “profanity-laced insults.”“This is destructive,” Conway told ABC’s “This Week.” I read in an article or two that the Secret Service may be investigating that.”A Secret Service spokeswoman declined comment Sunday. But public threats of any kind are routinely taken seriously.One US official told The Post that Madonna’s statement will have be evaluated for its seriousness.“It’s all about intent. Is she intending to do harm to the White House or President Trump? Otherwise it will be characterized as inappropriate,” the official said. “If it’s characterized as inappropriate, then there won’t be any discussions with the U.S. Attorney. If it’s determined that there’s intent on her part, then there will be discussions with the U.S. Attorney and they’ll take it from there.”

Source: Secret Service isn’t pleased with Madonna’s ‘blowing up the White House’ remark | Page Six

The Secret Service has reportedly said it will open an investigation into Madonna after the singer told the Women’s March on Washington that she had thought about ‘blowing up the White House’.Donning a black p***yhat, the music icon caused controversy by dropping the F-bomb four times, sparking a slew of apologies from broadcasters airing the protest live.She went on to speak of her rage at the election result, telling the crowd she had thought a lot about ‘blowing up the White House’ but knew that it ‘wouldn’t change anything’. 

Source: Secret Service to investigate Madonna | Daily Mail Online

As hundreds of thousands of Americans filled the streets of the nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington, actress Ashley Judd read a poem that compared Donald Trump to Hitler.Judd was reciting a poem written by a 19-year-old from Tennessee when she read the line: ‘I feel Hitler in these streets, a mustache traded for a toupee.’The poem was a celebration of ‘nasty women’, as Trump so famously called Hillary Clinton during a debate before the presidential election.’I am a nasty women,’ Judd began as she read the poem. ‘I’m not as nasty as a man who looks like he bathes in Cheeto dust.’ ‘I’m not as nasty as your own daughter being your favorite sex symbol, your wet dreams infused with your own genes,’ she read later, clearly referencing Ivanka.  

Source: Women’s March on Washington brings thousands of protesters | Daily Mail Online

WASHINGTON — Throngs of women determined to push back against the new American president descended on the nation’s capital and other cities around the globe Saturday for marches aimed at showing Donald Trump they won’t be silent over the next four years. They came wearing bright pink “pussyhats” and wielding signs with messages such as “Women won’t back down” and “Less fear more love.”City officials tweeted that organizers of the Women’s March on Washington had increased the expected turnout there to 500,000, up from 200,000, as crowds began swelling well ahead of the event’s start and subways into the city became clogged with participants.It wasn’t just a Washington phenomenon and it wasn’t just women: More than 600 “sister marches” were planned across the country and around the world, and plenty of men were part of the tableau.In Washington, Rena Wilson, of Charlotte, North Carolina, said she hopes the women can send Trump a message that they’re “not going anywhere.”Women with bright pink hats and signs begin to gather early and are set to make their voices heard on the first full day of Donald Trump’s presidency.APJoy Rodriguez, of Miami, arrived with her husband, William, and their two daughters, ages 12 and 10. “I want to make sure their rights are not infringed on in these years coming up,” Joy Rodriguez said.March organizers said women are “hurting and scared” as the new president takes office and want a greater voice for women in political life.“In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore,” their mission statement says.Retired teacher Linda Lastella, 69, who came from Metuchen, New Jersey, said she had never marched before but felt the need to speak out when “many nations are experiencing this same kind of pullback and hateful, hateful attitudes.”“It just seemed like we needed to make a very firm stand of where we were,” she said.Rose Wurm, 64, a retired medical secretary from Bedford, Pennsylvania, boarded a Washington-bound bus in Hagerstown, Maryland, at 7 a.m. carrying two signs: one asking Trump to stop tweeting, and one asking him to fix, not trash, the Obamacare health law.“There are parts of it that do need change. It’s something new, something unique that’s not going to be perfect right out of the gate,” she said.Many arrived wearing hand-knit pointy-eared “pussyhats” — a message of female empowerment aimed squarely at Trump’s demeaning comments about women.The march attracted significant support from celebrities. America Ferrara led the artists’ contingent, and those scheduled to speak in Washington included Scarlett Johansson, Ashley Judd, Melissa Harris-Perry and Michael Moore. The promised performance lineup included Janelle Monae, Maxwell, Samantha Ronson, the Indigo Girls and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Cher, Katy Perry and Julianne Moore all were expected to attend.Women and other groups were demonstrating across the nation and as far abroad as Myanmar and Australia. In Prague, hundreds gathered in Wenceslas Square in freezing weather, waving portraits of Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin and holding banners that read “This is just the beginning,” ”Kindness” and “Love.”

Source: Women in ‘pussyhats’ descend on DC to protest Trump | New York Post

North Korea is “readying two intercontinental ballistic missiles” to “nuke” Donald’s Trump inauguration, it’s been reported.Military officials say the rogue state wants to send a “strategic message” to the incoming US President by timing launches to ruin his big day on Saturday (AEDT).In a statement, South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff said the reports could not be confirmed but said the military was monitoring the situation closely.However, according to news reports in South Korea two missiles have already been placed on mobile launchers.The devices “are estimated to not exceed 15m in length, making them shorter than the North’s existing ICBMs.”An ICBM test in the coming days is “highly plausible,” Andrei Lankov, a professor at Seoul’s Kookmin University, told CNN.“Judging by earlier behavior they usually like to greet a newly elected American president with some kind of nice surprise like a nuclear (test) or missile launch,” he said.“Because President-elect Trump tweeted that ‘it won’t happen,’ such a launch could be seen as a serious humiliation for (the US).”The news comes as satellite imagery shows increased activity at a major North Korean nuclear site, according to a new report.Any potential ICBM test, while a propaganda win for Pyongyang, would also reveal a great deal about the progress of North Korea’s weapons program.Military experts predicted that any test would only involve a missile with a range of under 2500km, less than half the usual ICBM range of 5500km.US-based monitoring project 38North said evidence suggested Pyongyang may also be preparing to resume operations at a plutonium production reactor at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center 90km north of the capital.“Stepped-up activities throughout the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center indicate that it is operating at a level somewhat above what has been observed during the past five years,” the report said.“The exact implications of that activity remain unclear except to reaffirm that the Yongbyon facility remains the center of North Korea’s nuclear program.”Plutonium from the Yongbyon reactor is believed to have been used in North Korea’s nuclear weapons tests, according to a US government report.Traditional nuclear weapons use plutonium (or uranium) as their main fuel. The “Fat Man” bomb the US dropped on Nagasaki used 14 pounds of plutonium, producing a blast equivalent to about 21,000 tonnes of TNT.The threat comes after it was revealed Kim Jong Un’s military will have nuclear warheads capable of striking US territory within a year.Since taking power the North Korean dictator has dramatically increased his country’s nuclear weapons program.According to 38North, his Musudan missiles — with a range of 5600km — will be ready within a year.The US has announced it will deploy its state-of-the-art THAAD advanced missile defense system in South Korea in eight to 10 months to combat the threat from the North.Trump has vowed to tackle the North Korean “problem” once in power.“North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US It won’t happen!” Trump tweeted last month.It was not clear what Trump meant: whether he believed North Korea was incapable of developing a reliable ICBM, or that the US would prevent it doing so.The rogue state caused international uproar after it conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and fifth in September in defiance of furious international reaction and stiff sanctions.The North’s hard line message comes as a new US administration to be led by Trump will take office on Friday.

Source: North Korea threatens to ‘nuke’ Trump’s inauguration | New York Post

When Donald Trump raises his right hand and puts his other on the the Lincoln Bible, his real estate friends from New York City will be standing nearby. A cadre of real estate bigwigs are descending on the nation’s capital to watch one of their own be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. The guest list isn’t surprising: Outspoken supporters like Richard LeFrak , Howard Lorber and Steve Witkoff have all confirmed that they will attend Friday’s ceremony. Vornado Realty Trust’s Steve Roth will

Source: Donald Trump | 2017 Presidential Inauguration