Stay Focused

There's a new game in town for Miami crime fighters. The US attorney is reallocating resources toward a grave threat. One so important, he's willing to take attorneys off child endangerment cases to fight. For in this post-9/11 age, we can spare no effort in fighting...

Porn.

No, not porn featuring children. Just plain old-fashioned adult consensual pornography.

When FBI supervisors in Miami met with new interim U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta last month, they wondered what the top enforcement priority for Acosta and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would be.

Would it be terrorism? Organized crime? Narcotics trafficking? Immigration? Or maybe public corruption?

The agents were stunned to learn that a top prosecutorial priority of Acosta and the Department of Justice was none of the above. Instead, Acosta told them, it's obscenity. Not pornography involving children, but pornographic material featuring consenting adults.

Acosta's stated goal of prosecuting distributors of adult porn has angered federal and local law enforcement officials, as well as prosecutors in his own office. They say there are far more important issues in a high-crime area like South Florida, which is an international hub at risk for terrorism, money laundering and other dangerous activities.

His own prosecutors have warned Acosta that prioritizing adult porn would reduce resources for prosecuting other crimes, including porn involving children. According to high-level sources who did not want to be identified, Acosta has assigned prosecutors porn cases over their objections.

I suppose it makes perfect sense. I mean, after all, Miami doesn't have even traces of a drug problem. Or trafficking. Or terrorism. Or illegal immigration. Or gang violence. So why not pander to the rabid Christian Right (yes, they're giving full-throat support to Mr. Acosta)--it's not like we have anything BETTER TO BE DOING!

Balloon Juice with the tip (and mutual indignation).