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Posts Tagged ‘The Last Shall Be First’

In the News (#1431)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

To prohibit vice is not ordinarily considered within the police power of the state.  –  Justice Jackson Temple, 1887

The Camel’s Nose (#584)

There is nothing as hard to kill as a bad law:

Twelve years ago, internet users spoke up with one voice to reject a law that would build censorship into the internet at a fundamental level.  This week, the Motion Picture Association…announced that it hoped we’d all forgotten how dangerous this idea was…What the MPA wants is the power to block entire websites…using the same tools as repressive regimes like China and Russia.  To it, instances of possible copyright infringement should be played like a trump card to shut off our access to entire websites…It is not simply calling for the ability to take down instances of infringement—a power they already have, without even having to ask a judge—but for the keys to the internet…The bills known as SOPA/PIPA would have created a new, rapid path for…major studios to use court orders against sites they accuse of infringing copyright.  Internet service providers…receiving one of those orders would have to block all of their customers from accessing the identified websites.  The orders would also apply to domain name registries…registrars…and…other companies and organizations that make up the internet’s basic infrastructure…all of those would have to build new infrastructure dedicated to site-blocking, inviting over-blocking and all kinds of abuse…In other words, the right to choose what websites you visit would be taken away from you and given to giant media companies and ISPs.  And the very shape of the internet would have to be changed to allow it…

The Peril

As I have said many times, all prohibition is the same, yet people often fail to understand just how much the same it is.  In this article, Reason‘s Jacob Sullum traces the origin of the US drug war back to exactly the same root as the US War on Whores: the deeply racist anti-Chinese moral panic of the 1870s.  Unless you’re already intimately familiar with the topic, you will definitely want to read this one in its entirety.

Creepy Coppers

Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:

[A Phoenix, Arizona cop named] Alaa Robert Bartley…[regularly engaged in ageplay with] a Michigan woman [named] Sarah Elizabeth Chadwick…via…WhatsApp…[Chadwick] transmitted child pornography to Bartley on several occasions, and…[when she] was arrested in November 2023…and…federally charged with…child pornography…[the] FBI [rooted in her]…phone[, thus leading them to] Bartley…On April 4, co[ps tossed]…Bartley’s person, residence, personal vehicles, and…phone…[and found] over 49,000 images and 700 videos…of [child porn]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1332) 

Missouri seems completely uninterested in controlling its psychopathic politicians:

…a St. Louis judge has allowed Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s investigation into…gender-affirming care services to proceed.  Last year, Planned Parenthood…sued Bailey over his [illegal] demand that they turn over patient documents disclosing private information on minors to whom the clinic provided gender-affirming care…Judge Michael Stelzer denied Bailey’s [illegal] Demand for these [HIPAA-protected] patient documents, but has allowed his investigation into the clinic’s care to continue…Bailey treated the decision as a political win [despite its stopping his attempt to criminalize and harass the parents of trans youth]…

Texas’ attorney general is conducting a similar theatrical “investigation”.

You Were Warned (#1377)

“Monkey see, monkey do” politicians never bother to observe the consequences of laws they ape:

Google has temporarily blocked links from local news outlets in California from appearing in search results in response to the advancement of [yet another arse-backward “link tax”] bill that would require [internet] companies to pay publications for [sending them free traffic]…Google will also…cut…California publications from its…News Showcase…[Facebook has] said it would be forced to [take similar measures if politicians foolishly pass the law]…The California bill is the latest [mind-bogglingly stupid attempt] to [break the internet]…Facebook…and…Google…have [been forced to take] similar [action due to similar idiotic] legislation in Australia and Canada…Similar legislation is being considered in Illinois [despite the obvious fact that the outcome will be exactly the same]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #8)

Give sexually-aggressive thugs power over teens; what could possibly go wrong?

A…Wisconsin [cop assigned to spy on, harass, and intimidate students] has been arrested on a felony sexual assault charge for [molesting] a female student…after [her] parents reported…his…behavior…Kewaskum Police Chief Thomas Bishop immediately [started bloviating hot air about isolated incidents and “high moral standards”, yet is hiding the identity of the porcine molester]…

To Molest and Rape (#1429)

This will continue for as long as cops are allowed to “police” themselves:

David Gregson was around 12 years old…when…[New York cop] Roger L. Coon Jr…[began to subject him to] four years of sexual abuse…Coon — who died in 2003 at age 73 — molested him at his house, at a camp he furnished behind his property, and “dozens” of times in his [pigmobile] during a period stretching from around 1977 to 1981…Gregson is [now] suing the state of New York…under the 2019 Child Victims Act, which temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for…child sexual abuse.  Although Coon…sexually abus[ed] numerous boys over a period of decades, and [was] convicted twice…[for it], the state is fighting Gregson’s lawsuit…[cops covered for Coon until] September 1982, after a [different] teenager [reported] Coon…[who was allowed] to retire two weeks later…without facing any discipline or criminal consequences…Two years after his retirement, Coon pleaded guilty…to molesting three boys between the ages of 10 and 12 years old…he…was sentenced to three years’ probation…but [insisted] he [ha]dn’t…done anything wrong [because] there was “never any force” used in his sexual abuse…In 2001, Coon was sentenced to six months in jail and five years probation for sexually abusing a 9-year-old boy…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1421)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Simply claiming that the “age verification preserves online anonymity” does not make it so.  –  Judge Patrick Higginbotham

Policing for Profit

Cops usually make up some pretext, however flimsy, for their armed robbery schemes:

Indiana State Police…located 26 shipping containers [full of military surplus and other equipment, plus] a…forklift…and a[n entire] locomotive [stolen] from the former Jeffersonville Powder Plant…[by] former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel…[by interrogating] Sheriff’s Office…employees [ordered to] move…the property…Defense Department…criminal investigators said the Clark County Sheriff’s Office had received $7 million in surplus property between 2015 and 2022 when Noel was sheriff.  Auction records…show…two air compressors and a generator [were] sold [in 2023]…Noel has been charged with 25 felonies…

Chauvinism (#335)

“Major events such as…the Olympics always provide an excuse for governments to ‘clean things up’ in the host cities before the guests arrive”:

French police [a]re cracking down on Paris sex workers ahead of the Olympics…Charities working in…the Boulogne and Vincennes woods…ha[ve] noted “increased police patrols ahead of the Games with heavy-handed identity controls on women working in the sex industry.”  They urged authorities [not] to…”rob, rape and assault [sex workers].”  French authorities[‘ pretext is a mythical] increase in prostitution during the Olympic and Paralympic Games which will begin on July 26 – something…[repeatedly disproven by years of reports and stud]ies…”Contrary to [government claim]s, sex workers are not in the process of arriving in large numbers in Paris where the cost of accommodation is constantly increasing ahead of the Olympics”…Other charities have denounced efforts by the French authorities to move migrants and the homeless out of the capital ahead of the Games…

The tagline quote is from an essay I wrote for Reason ten years ago; note what’s missing from their rhetoric despite its omnipresence in stories about the London Olympics?

Lack of Evidence (#1312) 

California pigs are still using “sex trafficking” myths to argue they should be allowed to assault, rape, and abduct women for merely existing in public:

…little more than a year after SB 357 became law, some [politician]s want…to once again criminalize loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution.  Supporters of the bills…[vomited a lot of ugly, moronic nonsense about how cops are brave heroes whose often-violent harassment of women on the street constitute] efforts to combat human trafficking [and women are much too stupid and pathetic to make their own decisions, so cops must be empowered to force them, for their own good of course]…

The whiplash-inducing speed with which California pivots on civil rights issues is one of the reasons I tend to be such an Eeyore on these baby-step reforms, which are mostly intended to distract activists and hush timid human rights campaigners.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1405)

The 5th Circuit is, as usual, somewhat confused:

…the 5th Circuit [has] handed down a mixed opinion in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton.  The Court unanimously upheld the preliminary injunction barring [Texas] from mandating pseudoscientific “health warnings” on adult websites.  By a 2-1 decision, however, it lifted the injunction against the state’s age verification mandate…this decision does not change the fact that platforms that do not implement age verification measures will be at risk of prosecution by the Attorney General, as has been the case since the Fifth Circuit stayed the preliminary injunction last September…As the dissenting opinion by Judge Higginbotham makes clear, [lifting the injunction] violates decades of precedent from the Supreme Court [requiring]…strict scrutiny to content-based regulations that limit adults’ access to protected speech…

Shame, Shame (#1405)

These ghouls have absolutely no shame:

Marilyn Monroe, who died 62 years ago, has been [imit]ated [by] a “hyper-real” [computer]-generated digital [zombie] that lets fans engage in a conversation with [a computer imitating] the late act[ress] — wh[ich] can answer questions “in Marilyn’s signature voice and style,” according t[o]…Soul Machines…which [claims]…the…chatbot…is able to read users’ emotions and respond accordingly via…proprietary camera and microphone technology…other recent…i[mitation]s [of] dead celebrities…include an animated biopic of French singer Edith Piaf that will use [a computer] to create a facsimile of her voice and image and the Calm app’s [computer]-generated [imitation] of Jimmy Stewart reading a bedtime story…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1415)

Next time you find yourself wondering why Florida is such a perpetual cavalcade of crazy, visit this link and read the whole thing, then ask yourself what kind of defective intellect could possibly fall for even 3% of this egregious bootlickery.  The single fact contained therein is that Florida politicians have economized by creating one unconstitutional float to enter into two fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parades, the “age verification” parade and the “social media is a tool of Satan intentionally designed to destroy Our Precious Children” parade.  WWSB couldn’t find even a single employee with low enough self-esteem to sign off on this turd, so it’s simply credited to “staff”.  I suppose an intern assigned to copy-paste a press release does qualify as “staff”, so at least that much is true.

The Last Shall Be First (#1418) 

Both sides in the culture war have completely taken leave of their senses:

A newly proposed law in Missouri could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they’re found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning…[bill sponsor] Jamie Gragg…said the goal of the bill is to [define legal minors as the property of] the family that they come from [without legal rights as individuals]…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1418)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[Cops] don’t care who they hurt, they have no integrity.  –  former cop Jason Napoli

Surplus Women

What kind of garbage responds to women’s deaths by trying to endanger others of the same profession?

…Three women in a legal brothel in Vienna…[were] stabbed to death and a man carrying a knife was arrested in the vicinity…[but  politician] Maria Noichl…[used the tragedy to vomit out filthy propaganda, arguing that sex workers should be denied all legal protections and exposed to even more] violence [because sex gives her sadfeelz]…

I Spy (#1195)

I’ll believe Facebook is going to use encryption when it actually does it:

There have been plenty of silly lawsuits against tech companies over the last few years, but a new one from Nevada…may be the…most dangerous…we’ve seen so far…[it features] vague claims of harms to children from social media, with lots of…handwaving and conclusory statements with no basis in…evidence..Nevada has asked [for] a temporary restraining order, blocking [Facebook] from using end-to-end encryption on messages, claiming that such encryption is harmful to children…It’s no secret that lazy cops like the FBI’s Chris Wray (and before him, James Comey) have always hated encryption and wanted it banned for making it just slightly more difficult to read everyone’s messages, but at least they spoke mostly about just requiring magic backdoors that would allow encryption to work for normal people, but have it break when the cops came asking…Here, the state of Nevada is literally just saying “fuck it, ban all encryption, because it might make it harder for us to spy on people”…

Creepy Coppers

Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:

[A Pennsylvania cop named] James Christopher Buckley [has been] arrested on charges of…distribution of child pornography…via [his] icloud account…

Copsucking reporters waste considerable space quoting boss pigs oinking about how typical and representative cops aren’t really typical or representative.

Stalkers in Blue (#1317)

Another cop demonstrating exactly what he is:

A [typical and representative South Carolina cop named]…Justin Brian McKenzie…concealed his identity and sent text messages to “maliciously threaten” publishing private sexual photos of [a woman] on social media…[unless she sent him] more sexually explicit pictures and videos…[it is not clear how he got the photos he used for the extortion scheme]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1414) 

Both sides in the culture war have completely taken leave of their senses:

Kentucky Republicans have introduced a bill that…could charge the parents of transgender children [or adolescents] with neglect, and even deny them custody, if their child [or adolescent] uses…a school bathroom that does not match their sex assigned at birth…

The Cop Myth (#1416)

Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?

[Florida career cop] Charity Arthur…filed a lawsuit in June 2022 [because her cop shop]…discriminated against her…for reporting that her ex-husband [David Arthur is an abuser whose]…behavior put her in fear for her life…his behavior escalated…[in] 2017 [when he decided without evidence] that she was having an affair…he…put a tracking device on [her car]…and told her “he would ruin her career” if she left him…the abusive behavior became “more and more volatile” until [she] filed for divorce in August 2017…eight months later…he…[made “anonymous” accusations that she supposedly molested students when she was a student harassment thug]…and…told her the [ensuing] internal affairs investigation could “go away” if she stopped the divorce process…the sheriff’s office did not investigate David Arthur’s [widely-known] behavior toward her, promoted him multiple times, and instead investigated her for speaking out…the…office has twice moved to dismiss Charity Arthur’s lawsuit [under specious pretexts]…

To Molest and Rape (#1416)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative] Georgia [cop named]…Corey Brand [has finally been arrested for crimes first reported]…back in August 2020…Brand is charged with rape, child molestation…[and child] pornography…[his cronies could no longer protect him after he] was arrested in…Ala[bama] in December…on child pornography charges…

A prosecutor tried to blame this typical specimen’s crimes on cell phones:

A [typical and representative Indiana screw] was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison [for coercing] two [different young girls into sending him explicit pictures]…Cory Terry [used threats, coercion and enticement to manipulate]…an 11-year-old girl [and a 15-year-old girl]…on Discord and Snapchat…FBI agents found several cellphones with…more than 600 images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children as young as 3 years old…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1414)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

This is treating people like inventory in a way I’ve not seen.
–  Jutta Williams

Torture Chamber

This will continue until journalists stop obediently referring to senseless violence as “correction”:

A [typical and representative New Hampshire screw has been] charged…with [the] murder…of a patient at [the] prison psychiatric unit [last year]…Matthew Millar [committed the murder by] kneeling on Jason Rothe’s torso and neck for several minutes on April 29 while Rothe was face-down and handcuffed…Rothe…[never] committed [any] crimes but…was committed…in 2019…and transferred to the prison unit in 2022 [under the claim that] he posed a risk to himself or others…

A Broker in Pillage (#1074)

This will continue until there are federal criminal charges for “officials”, both political and corporate, who conspire to rob people this way:

In Arizona, citizens can still lose their houses over minuscule tax bills, despite a unanimous 2023 Supreme Court ruling that was supposed to paralyze the practice nationwide…Christine Searle, a 70-year-old retiree, faces the loss of her home—valued at [$376,800]—over a mere $1,607.68 in back taxes…Maricopa County…[inflicted] a tax lien…on her home…then allowed [a] company [to] purchase…the lien [and] foreclose on her home, meaning Searle lost her home and all its equity…Arizona is not the only state that has permitted local governments to transfer tax liens…to [cron]ies.  In Nebraska, for example, private investors have been known to buy out tax debt without formal correspondence with the homeowner.  Once notified, those unable to satisfy their debt in full—plus interest and fees—have watched as the county treasurer gave the deed to their property away to the [legalized]…robb[er]…

Welcome to the Future (#1265)

Everything I read about modern corporate work makes me happier I became a whore:

Depending on where you work, there’s a significant chance that [computer algorithms are] analyzing your messages on…popular apps.  Huge U.S. employers such as Walmart, Delta Air Lines, T-Mobile, Chevron, and Starbucks, as well as European brands including Nestle and AstraZeneca, have turned to a seven-year-old startup, Aware, to [eavesdrop on] chatter among their [peons.  Their masters]…can see how employees of a certain age group or in a particular geography are responding to a new corporate policy or marketing campaign…[the software] can also identify bullying, harassment, discrimination, noncompliance, pornography, nudity and other behaviors…[yet supposedly] doesn’t have the ability to flag individual employee names…[except] in the event of [whatever the corporate client chooses to define as “]extreme threats or other risk behaviors[“]…

The Red Umbrella (#1327)

As long as sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence:

A St. Louis man [has been] charged…with shooting a sex worker at his residence…Norman B. Nelson…[shot the woman] around 3:18 a.m. on Jan. 22…[she] was taken to a hospital and listed in stable condition…

The Next Target (#1332)

Prohibitionist politicians’ real goal is total government control of the internet:

Belgium’s Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) is [using censorious German politician Tobias Schmid’s KIVI tool to]…“automatically search…the Internet, looking for freely accessible pornography, among other things.”  Adult content is…automatically flagged by the system as “suspicious,” triggering human review…In addition to pornography, KIVI is also trained to detect categories like “extremism, hate speech, swastikas or the glorification of drugs”…in…images, texts and videos on all websites, as well as apps like “Telegram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok…VKontakte and…Bitchute”…With the Belgium partnership, Germany’s provincial regulatory authority from North Rhine-Westphalia is now on the road to becoming…“largely responsible for the introduction of a European porn detector”…Belgian authorities…[are also planning] “to expand the use of KIVI to cover hate speech”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1350) 

Both sides in the culture war have completely taken leave of their senses:

A new bill in Wyoming…would declare that gender-affirming care is “not in the best interest” of transgender youth within the state.  The bill would apply this presumption to custody battles, guardianships, and even the rules around Child Protective Services…A non-affirming parent who divorces an affirming parent could use the provisions to take a transgender child in a custody battle…A grandparent or relative who does not approve of a transgender youth’s gender transition could…[demand to] be appointed emergency guardian…Even worse, Child [“]Protective[“] Services could be weaponized against transgender youth in the state…

Creepy Coppers (#1397)

Some cops don’t limit themselves to one type of creepiness:

A Racine [Wisconsin cop] was arrested after [exposing himself to another man in a gas station bathroom, and when his fellow cops searched his phone they found]…videos of child pornography…Preston Kite…[contacted the other man on] the [gay hookup] app Sniffies…[but] he…was not expecting…to…see a [wanking pig] in full [magic clown regalia, and was therefore understandably]…scared [that this was a porcine scheme to ruin his life.  The man beat a hasty retreat] and…took a picture of the [pigmobile] parked [outside, which]…was [the one] assigned to Kite…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1413)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 17, 2024| 1 Comment »

People might [not] be sick of book bannings, but are they sick of having their money wasted?  –  anonymous Texas teacher

The Red Umbrella 

As long as sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence:

Non-[Irish] sex workers were targeted by a recent scam where a person or people pretended to work for a major advertising website and asked them to provide personal information…[when] the workers did not realise it was a scam and replied to the messages…a number of them were…threatened with physical or sexual violence.  Linda Kavanagh…[of] SWAI…said non-national sex workers were deliberately targeted…She said m[ost] workers don’t report threats, or actual assaults, to gardaí because they…[reasonably] fear they’re going to be blamed for the work that they do…

Panopticon (#1277)

Cops use their panopticon exactly as EFF predicted they would:

In 2022, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that would allow the city’s police…to access footage from private security cameras [as long as they could invent a credible-sounding excuse]…the SFPD [is required to] compile quarterly reports detailing how many times it [abused the privilege]…The report released in January shows that in the third quarter of 2023…[64 pigs] spent a collective 193 hours and 19 minutes [rooting through] live surveillance footage…Police made 49 arrests as a result of surveillance, of which 42 were for narcotics…[only] four were for “theft/larceny,” and one was for [contempt of cop]…all of the r[oot-f]ests [centered on] just five [neighborhoods, one of them the Tenderloin]…the longest [root]ing session was during the Outside Lands Music Festival in August in Golden Gate Park, when [pigs rooted through] 42 total hours of live footage…in [defense of this creepy spying, the]…District Attorney…b[elch]ed [out] the [word]…”fentanyl”…San Francisco is [also]…rolling out new traffic cameras, which are more effective at filling government coffers than preventing traffic fatalities…

The Last Shall Be First (#1351) 

The time, money, and energy Americans are flushing down the “culture war” toilet is incalculable:

[Murfreesboro] Tennessee…must pay $500,000 as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over an ordinance designed to ban drag performances…Last year, the Tennessee Equality Project…filed a federal lawsuit after leaders announced they would no longer be approving any event permit requests submitted by the organization…[due to what politicians absurdly labeled] “illegal sexualization of kids”…the city not only vowed to deny TEP permits but also decided later to update its “community decency standards”…to [include merely being gay as]…“obscene or harmful to minors”…Under the [settl]ement, the city…[mus]t also…repeal the ordinance and process any upcoming event permit applications submitted by TEP…

Thought Control (#1376)

Texas’ ice-pick self-lobotomization is becoming increasingly spasmodic:

In November…Conroe…Texas public school [board members]…decided…to g[ive themselves]…final say of what [books are] in libraries and classrooms….[since then] books are being removed to meet the preferences of individual board members, parents or other individuals through “internal review”…one teacher says…thousands of books from…classroom collections [were seized by] the district.  At the teacher’s school alone, over 550 books, equivalent to more than $7,300 were packed and moved out of…[class]rooms…over 30 library titles have been banned…[and] another ten books [are likely to follow]…later this month.  Within the past two school years, at least 125 of all the titles banned from the district libraries came from internal reviews…112 books have been prohibited from being on classroom shelves…last week, [one self-appointed censor demanded the removal of]…Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, Geography Club by Brent Hartinger, Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok, American Girls by Alison Umminger and Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson…When [a] teacher asked what administrators…planned to do with the [seized] titles, [she]…was told…the books would await “disposal”…

Thought Control (#1389)

Too bad all authoritarian organizations aren’t so short-lived:

…Moms for Liberty experienced a meteoric rise at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as local chapters sprang up to push back against coronavirus restrictions in schools.  The organization soon expanded to pushing book bans and o[ther censorship]…But…the local chapter in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, [has] shut down due to lack of interest…[and] participation also appears to be flagging for…the…organization’s first chapter…in…Brevard County [Florida; at a]…school board…meeting…to discuss a[n attempt to censor]…The Kite Runner and Slaughterhouse-Five…only one Moms for Liberty member showed up…and eventually snuck out of the room [when speakers compared the pro-censorship cult to the Taliban]…The national…organization…has started to see its [15 minutes ending]…as the group was rocked by a sexual assault scandal…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1409)

Censorious politicians are vying to see who can make their new laws the most unconstitutional:

The U.S. Congress’ top anti-porn crusader, Utah Senator Mike Lee, [has] introduced a bill last week that would effectively outlaw all sex work…by classifying any consent influenced by a person’s economic circumstances as coercive…“This is, of course, the dream of the faith based ‘anti-trafficking’ folks — and SWERFs — who believe that no true consent can exist for sex work when money is involved,” [the Free Speech Coalition’s Mike] Stabile added. “It would essentially codify their white slavery panic into law”…

This warped attempt to infantilize women has been part of evangelical feminist dogma for some time, despite its self-evident absurdity.

The Last Shall Be First (#1410)

How defective does an adult need to be to think doing this to a teenager is OK?

A Utah school board member caused a social media firestorm when she publicly singled out and suggested a high school athlete was transgender with no evidence.  She later [uselessly] apologized…[long after her flying monkeys had] personally attacked the player, the student’s school district had to provide extra security for her, and the [politician] who wrote the state’s anti-transgender athlete bill [vomited out her own stupid opinion]…in violation of her own [law].  The post from Natalie Cline…set…off 16 hours of hateful speculation that continued even after she deleted it…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1412)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 10, 2024| 1 Comment »

The U.S. government should not be funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans’ privacy are not just unethical, but illegal.  –  Ron Wyden

A Broker in Pillage

There are many ways for governments to steal things that don’t belong to them:

Louisiana…judges, like most in the country, issue fines and fees.  In other states, the resulting revenue is allocated in ways that prevent judges from personally benefiting from the money they extract.  But…thanks to a court-funding system with its roots in…Jim Crow…a portion of the fines and fees issued by Louisiana judges go into a fund that the judges themselves control…in recent years judges…have used these…funds…to pay for expenses ranging from the staff salaries and law library subscriptions to luxury cars and rooms at the Ritz Carlton.  In 2019, a federal court ruled that [such] use…created a conflict of interest…[but] the two rulings…applied to…New Orleans…the unconstitutional practice…persists in nearly every other district court in the state.  The Louisiana Legislature knows it is unconstitutional…The judiciary knows it is unconstitutional, too…And yet years later, state law remains unchanged…

Dirty Amateurs (#980) 

Amateurs are a menace to public health; they should be licensed and heavily regulated:

The number of syphilis cases in the U.S…increased by nearly 80% to more than 207,000 between 2018 and 2022.  Rates increased among all age groups, including newborns, and in all regions of the country.  In 2022, 3,755 cases of babies born with syphilis in the U.S. were  reported, which reflects an alarming 937% increase in the past decade…reasons for the increase…includ[e “abstinence only” sex education,] increases in…risky sexual behavior, decrease in condom use, ongoing social and economic conditions and reduction in…STI…services at the state and local level…

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1186)

“Porn addiction” is still being used as an excuse for violent crimes:

A…man [in Solapur, India murder]ed his [14-year-old] son by forcing him to consume cold drinks laced with sodium nitrate…on January 13…Vijay Battu…was angry as his son was…poor at studies [and Battu blamed this on an imaginary “porn addiction”.  He confessed to poisoning him and dumping his body]…on the roadside…

The Last Shall Be First (#1350) 

The time, money, and energy our society is flushing down the “culture war” toilet is incalculable:

Transgender people in Florida could have their driver’s licenses revoked or face prosecution if they try to change their gender markers…Robert Kynoch, the [head DMV bureaucrat], issued a memo dated January 26 that said…”misrepresenting one’s gender, understood as sex, on a driver license constitutes fraud…and subjects an offender to criminal and civil penalties”…Kynoch [burbled at length about his beliefs regarding]…”innate and immutable biological and genetic characteristics”…and…”frustrat[ing] the state’s ability to enforce its laws”…Alejandra Caraballo, a civil rights attorney…who shared the memo on [Twitter], wrote…”if the language used in this directive is taken at face value, any trans person driving with a changed gender marker on their drivers license could be criminally charged with fraud…including tourists…This is a ‘show me your papers’ policy for trans people in the state of Florida”…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1355)

There’s a reason I’ve repeatedly called this cult “dangerous”:

…many researchers and sex therapists worry that [anti-porn] online communities…often endorse inaccurate medical information, exacerbate mental health problems and, in some cases, overlap with extremist and hate groups…One of the central concepts in these communities is known as “nofap,” a…term [which] has come to encompass a set of unproven claims that not masturbating confers social and health benefits…While some figures in this space are [openly] religious, most frame their advice as science-based forms of self-improvement or as a cure for [the nonscientific concept of] pornography addiction…For those who believe [in it], the official NoFap LLC website suggests no masturbation for 90 days, during which the brain supposedly reboots like a computer.  Other claimed benefits of avoiding masturbation may include “superpowers”…

I Spy (#1381)

This has been going on for years, but the Times waited until they admitted it to say something:

The National Security Agency buys [“various types” of information about] Americans’ domestic internet activities from commercial data brokers, according to a…letter [issued] by the agency [under pressure from Senator Ron Wyden]…the revelation is the latest disclosure to bring to the fore [cop shops’ and spook houses’ abuse of a] legal [loophole by wholesale, warrantless]…purchase [of American citizens’]…data from brokers that would require a court order to acquire directly.  It comes as the Federal Trade Commission has started cracking down on companies that trade in personal location data…gathered from smartphone apps and sold without people’s knowledge and consent…

Stupor Bowl (#1392)

This type of article on the “super bowl sex trafficking” myth is no longer unusual:

This year’s Super Bowl takes place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas…Nevada sex workers and their allies will be gathering at the stadium to protest Super Bowl sex stings and the myths that encourage them…This “Stop the Raids” coalition also held two days of workshops and community-building activities for sex workers over the past weekend…A decade ago, almost all reporting on “Super Bowl sex trafficking” seemed to be wholly credulous of law enforcement’s narrative.  From 2010 to 2016, 76 percent of U.S. print media stories on the subject “propagated the ‘Super Bowl sex trafficking’ narrative,” according to a 2019 paper published in the Anti-Trafficking Review.  Back in 2014—when Maggie McNeill challenged this narrative in Reason—questioning it was a pretty lonely perch.  In recent years, more outlets have been willing to push back against the official narrative, and pieces challenging it have appeared in such publications as Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, Slate, Vice, and The Atlantic…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1411)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Cops face little recourse, even when…cases…were based on little more than writing some sort of Asian sex-slave fanfic.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

The Course of a Disease (#909)

Prohibitionist scum know decriminalization is the only moral framework for sex work; that’s why they keep trying to trick people into thinking the Swedish model is decrim:

[Massachusetts politicians, one of them ironically from] Salem, are p[ushing]…a bill t[o infantilize sex workers and attempt to starve them into submission by persecuting clients]…The bill was created with support from…a Boston-based [prohibitionist] organization that [exploits marginalized]…sex [workers.  Meanwhile, a crony of those same politicians]…has…filed a bill…that would require…hotel workers in the state [to be indoctrinated in the asinine “]signs of sex trafficking[” which encourage businesses to harass unescorted women and engage in racial profiling]…

Blunt Instrument (#1064)

Everyone harmed by these evil “stings” and raids needs to keep suing the agencies which conduct them:

A Utah man is suing after being [falsely] implicated in a[n imaginary] human trafficking ring for driving his wife to and from her job at Asian massage businesses…Police raided the places in early 2021 and arrested Joseph Ferreri, his wife Juying Wang, and several other women associated with the businesses where Wang worked.  A police document justifying Ferreri’s arrest relies heavily on generalizations about Asian massage businesses and race-based stereotypes.  It’s also peppered with misrepresentations—like describing Wang as a “girl” even though she’s in her 50s and two years older than Ferreri…[cop] Shawn Lott…”embellished, omitted, and made up facts to paint Joe Ferreri as an international sex trafficker…the sole basis for targeting Joe was the race/ethnicity of his wife and her occupation”…all charges…were eventually dropped. But by then…his name and picture were published in news outlets that described him as part of a human trafficking ring.  He and his wife were temporarily barred from seeing each other.  He lost his job, and with it any chance of a pension he was more than halfway to qualifying for.   The only work Ferreri could find following the arrest was a temp gig in a coal mine…

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1097) 

It’s never called “trafficking” when the government and crony corporations do it:

…Intricate, invisible webs…link some of the world’s largest food companies and most popular brands to jobs performed by U.S. prisoners nationwide…If they refuse to work, some can jeopardize their chances of parole or face punishment like being sent to solitary confinement.  They also are often excluded from protections guaranteed to almost all other full-time workers, even when they are seriously injured or killed on the job.  The goods these prisoners produce wind up in the supply chains of a dizzying array of products…from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour, Coca-Cola and Riceland rice.  They are on the shelves of virtually every supermarket in the country, including Kroger, Target, Aldi and Whole Foods.  And some goods are exported, including to countries that have had products blocked from entering the U.S. for using forced or prison labor.  Many of the companies buying directly from prisons are violating their own policies against the use of such labor.  But it’s…enshrined in the Constitution by the 13th Amendment, [which states that] slavery and involuntary servitude are banned – except as punishment for a crime.  That clause is currently being challenged on the federal level, and efforts to remove similar language from state constitutions are expected to reach the ballot in about a dozen states this year…

Eternal Vigilance (#1264)

Why is it so difficult for amateurs to grasp the difference between a renter offering sex as payment and a landlord demanding it?

Randy Hames, owner of…an…[Alabama] RV Park…was arrested in 2018…[and] charged with…human trafficking, soliciting prostitution, and attempted sexual extortion…Hames had been [previously] arrested twice on similar charges…after at least 10 female tenants reported Hames making unwanted advances in exchange for lowered rent…A federal trial [is now underway as] prosecutors…allege…Hames violated the Fair Housing Act by creating a hostile home environment for his tenants…he…also…evicted a few…after they refused his advances…

The Last Shall Be First (#1403) 

It’s never really about “protecting children”:

Several [politicians] from Michigan and Ohio were recorded in an online forum planning to try to ban trans health care for everyone, regardless of age…“In terms of endgame, why are we allowing these practices for anyone?” said [Michigan politician Josh] Schriver…“I think…we have to take sometimes small bites,” said [Ohio politician Gary] Click, who then lauded restrictions [recently] placed on…adult clinics by Ohio’s [governor]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1408)

This tells you everything you need to know about politicians’ motivations:

Rather than defend a clearly unconstitutional measure passed to “protect” kids from social media, the government of Utah [claims it] intends to repeal the law…[which] kicked off a [“monkey see, monkey do” parade] of similar measures…Now that it faces a pair of challenges in federal court, the state has a new stance: “Psych! We didn’t actually mean it!”…“They know it’s unconstitutional.  They know it’s pure grandstanding and culture warrioring,” writes Techdirt editor Mike Masnick. “And they don’t want to face the music for abusing the rights of the citizens who elected them to support the Constitution, not undermine it”…

Creepy Coppers (#1410)

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

[NYPD cop] Angad Beharry…[has been] arrested…[for paying a Venezuelan woman living in Indiana] to take sexually explicit photographs and videos of [her nine-year-old girl], and to transmit them over the Internet to [him]…Beharry…possessed [numerous other] sexually explicit video[s] and images of…prepubescent minors…[he was caught because he also paid a woman in] Colombia…[to take similar pictures of her] one-year-old [daughter, and when she was caught she snitched on him to the cops]…and…also [snitched on her “]friend[” from] Venezuela…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1410)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Being calm and reasonable doesn’t get headlines.  –  Mike Masnick

The Face of Trafficking

Note that cases of actual coercion don’t look much like the myths:

A [Utah politician] is facing a felony charge of human trafficking…[due to] disturbing mistreatment of one of his [ranch] workers, a Mexican national.  Dusty “Hootie” Roche…treated A.S. abusively, housed him in a dirty, dilapidated…trailer without running water and didn’t provide him with timely deliveries of food…Prosecutors also describe the Roche Ranches operators as dismissive of A.S.’s complaints after he was bucked from a horse and stepped on several times while working, suffering a fractured orbital socket…The trailer…sat on a remote part of the ranch and had “rat excrement on the floors,” a bathtub containing “animal parts and animal excrement,” a leaking roof and no working refrigerator or water system…A.S…was not paid regularly and…was treated poorly once he reported the issue to the staffing agency he had obtained his job through…he lived in “constant fear” after he was hit, kicked, yelled at and called names…

The Last Shall Be First (#1349)

This will keep happening, because too many people want it to keep happening:

The father of a junior varsity girl’s basketball player confronted the principals of both his daughter’s school and the opposing school…demanding one of the girls not be allowed to play because he [imagin]ed she was transgender…Both principals assured the parent…that the girl, like her teammates, had uploaded the required birth certificate documenting her age and gender and that “every player on both teams was 100% eligible to be on the court”…The angry parent wasn’t satisfied…he [demanded his fantasies be given veto power over reality, saying]…“I wasn’t born yesterday, I know that’s a boy and you better be able to prove yourself because I am going to the top.”  He became belligerent enough that they asked him to leave the building…[and he will] not [be] allow[ed]…to return to any other games…

Creepy Coppers (#1397)

They only start with relatively minor offenses:

Columbus [cop] Adam Nguyen [was rewarded with a paid vacation]…for…taking upskirt video of a young woman at an anime convention near Chicago last year…[he] was sentenced to two years of probation, ordered to complete 100 hours of community service…pay more than $870 in court costs and fees…[and] undergo evaluation and treatment for…sex…offen[ders]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1401) 

Texas seems completely uninterested in controlling its psychopathic politicians:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [has demanded] medical records of Texas youth who have received gender-affirming care from a Georgia telehealth clinic, marking at least the second time he’s sought such records from providers in another state…QueerMed said it stopped servicing youth in Texas after the state banned transition-related care last year…[but the demand want]ed information about patients dating back to Jan. 1, 2022…and…nearly mirrors one…sent to Seattle Children’s Hospital…in response to [which]…Seattle Children’s [has] sued…Karen Loewy, a lawyer with Lambda Legal representing organizations…trying to block [Texas’ anti-trans law]…said there is “zero authorization” in the law for Paxton’s [demand]s to clinics outside of Texas…Loewy said that “a handful” of other organizations have received [similar demands]…from Paxton…A QueerMed official could not immediately comment on how the clinic will respond…

The Cop Myth (#1401)

Cop deals with disagreement in typical cop fashion, and the press is shocked:

Police have arrested a [screw] in Connecti[cut for]…fatal[ly] shooting…a [stranger] in what is believed to be a road rage incident…William Lucky, Jr…murder[ed]…Scott Kracke…[after Lucky] cut [Kracke] off and Kracke [responded by] pass[ing Lucky] and brak[ing] suddenly.  The[y both] got out of their vehicles after stopping at the side of the road…then [Lucky] shot Kracke…several [times before fleeing]…in his car…A short time later, Lucky…turn[ed] himself in [at the instigation of his child’s mother]…

Shame, Shame (#1405)

In which natural stupidity masquerades as artificial stupidity:

The estate of…George Carlin sued the makers of a podcast…[who] claimed to use [a computer program] to impersonate Carlin for a comedy s[how]…Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, hosts of the podcast Dudesy…infringed on the estate’s copyrights…for “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” which [has apparently been made “private”] on the podcast’s YouTube channel…The lawsuit calls for a judge to prevent Dudesy…from using Carlin’s copyrighted works in the future and to require the podcast to destroy the episode…Danielle Del, a spokeswoman for Sasso, [admitted that] Dudesy is not actually a…[computer, but rather] “a fictional podcast character created by…Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen…the…video…was completely written by Chad Kultgen”…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1408)

Progressives have given all authoritarians a powerful censorship tool:  declare anything a “public health crisis” and it can be harassed at will:

NYC Mayor Eric Adams is facing a pretty big list of crises, some of his own making…But…[he’s] zeroed in on…the real problem in New York City…the evidence free declaration that social media is “toxic”…This is ridiculous on multiple levels.  First off, last year we had a big post detailing why any comparison between social media and “toxins” like lead paint or tobacco is inherently stupid.  Those are things that are known to cause real harm.  With social media, that’s just not true…the actual science simply does not support the claim that social media is inherently harmful to kids…recent research suggests that the real cause of the teen mental health crisis is the lack of spaces for teens to be teens without parents hovering over them…

Other cities are attempting to bleed social media companies using this asinine propaganda; I won’t be surprised if New York soon attempts to cash in as well.

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1408)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[Jail medical services] provid[e] levels of medical care that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.  –  Ty Clarke

Pyrrhic Victory (#1251)

Clearview is so proud of its ability to identify the homeless, they even patented it:

Miami police used facial recognition technology to identify a homeless man who refused to give his name to a…[nosy pig].  That man was arrested, but prosecutors quickly dropped the case after determining the [cop] lacked probable cause…Lisa Femia…[of] EFF…[said] “facial recognition…[is] advertised as a way for law enforcement to solve…the worst crimes…instead we have [them]…using it to harass the homeless”…

Stalkers in Blue (#1252)

Anyone “shocked” by typical cop behavior has no business calling himself a journalist:

CNN anchor Jim Acosta was stunned when Uvalde parent Miguel Cerrillo revealed local cops are…harassing…families of children who were affected by the massacre…[the interview was conducted now because] the Justice Department [has just] released its report on the [criminally pathetic] police response to the May 2022 massacre…Cerrillo [said]…”these officers…[are] harassing us every day…They just pull us over for no reason telling us to leave Uvalde…because they know that the truth was going to come out, and they didn’t want us here”…

Panopticon (#1342)

Building a dystopian panopticon, one useful idiot at a time:

More than a hundred [cop shops]…have set up [computer-enhanced] camera system[s], with nearly 200,000 connected cameras belonging to residents and businesses around the country able to provide “direct access” to [rooting pigs]…the data provides the clearest picture yet of the growing popularity of Fusus, a company…that…turns [private] cameras into [police state] ones, with object recognition capabilities for items, people, and specific vehicles…404 Media is now publishing an interactive map based on the newly obtained data, letting readers see if their own local [cop shop]…has a Fusus system…Beryl Lipton, investigative researcher at…EFF…[said] “This dataset…makes clear that these systems are using hundreds of thousands of public and private cameras to blanket huge swaths of our cities, particularly those in the Southeast, with the capacity for constant surveillance”…

How long before these systems learn to invent imaginary weapons out of bulgy clothes and “furtive movements”, just like real cops?

The Last Shall Be First (#1342) 

Utah has the latest “monkey see, monkey do” bathroom bill:

Utah [politicians are]…targeting transgender people with a statewide, criminal law severely restricting the use of gender identity-appropriate restrooms and changing rooms in many public spaces…the ban…contains a disgustingly invasive “show me your papers and proof of surgery” scenario as the only exception for when a trans person would be allowed to use the appropriate restroom…and…admits that even cisgender people are inevitably going to be targeted for prosecution…Additionally, the bill would authorize the state’s attorney general to take action against any local government not enforcing the ban…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1371)

Politicians don’t even try to make their new laws Constitutional any more:

Florida [politicians want to]…kick [US citizens] under 16 off social media no matter what their parents think.  The bill…[demands that] any [US citizens] under 16 who have an account…delete them…[and] require social media companies…use a third-party age verification system to…[exclude young] people [who are not] using [a VPN]…one of the bill’s sponsors…[pretends] “soaring rates of depression [and] mental disorders…[that are caused by pervasive infantilization and surveillance of young adults, including laws like this one, are instead somehow magically caused by] social media usage”…the…dangerous and unconstitutional…[bill is similar to one] Arkansas passed…last year [which] a federal judge [has blocked with] a temporary injunction. Meanwhile, [California politicians want a similar bill with a mob rule enforcement mechanism, and] Utah’s [is being challenged by a lawsuit from FIRE]…

Blunt Instrument (#1394)

“Sex trafficking” is no longer a magic brain-pause spell, but Florida politicians haven’t noticed yet:

Florida aims to crack down on massage parlors as a way to stop sex work and [harass Asian migrants, using the racist] human trafficking [paradigm]…and nail salons might be next…A [new] bill…would [further micromanage] massage parlor[s], including [the masseuses’ wardrobe and] how dark they are allowed to tint their windows…bill sponsor Vicki Lopez…[vomited out a lot of decade-old wanking fantasies, while shouting “King of the Hill!” and spouting violent propaganda about how she wants cops to] “beat” [Asian women and destroy their livelihoods, bragging that ahe is “coming after” them]…The bill would [also] allow state health officials to suspend the licenses of [any Asian-owned] establishment [on a mere bureaucratic say-so]…Furthermore, if a massage therapist isn’t able to produce valid government identification, they will be [handed over to ICE for deportation]…

Torture Chamber (#1403)

I’m sure they occasionally yelled “Stop faking!” at him as he wasted away:

A…[legally innocent] HIV-positive [man locked in a cage by the state of California for missing a court date] devolved into AIDS [and] died because…[screws] denied him lifesaving medication even though they had his prescription and were told he needed it to survive…Nicholas Overfield…could..[no longer] stand or speak and was [confined to] a wheelchair when his mother visited him…on April 22, 2022.  He died months later after being transferred out of the jail and then to two hospitals and a hospice.  The lawsuit…names El Dorado County and Wellpath Community Care, LLC, the jail’s health care contractor…“In California alone there are several other documented incidents of Wellpath failing to provide HIV positive individuals with their prescribed medication while in jail,” [Attorney Ty] Clarke said…the immediate cause of death [w]as encephalitis…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1403)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[The Swedish model holds that] sex workers are all victims and their consent to sexual activity is—like a minor’s—irrelevant. – Elizabeth Brown

Held Together With Lies (#993)

With the number of people interested in “human trafficking” mythology steadily shrinking, the rescue industry thinks the way to keep milking the mathematically-illiterate is to continually ratchet their fantasy numbers higher.  Four years ago, IJM was claiming 40 million people; now they’re up to 50 million, or as they melodramatically claim, “The number of victims suffering could populate Australia twice.”  Expressed differently, they’re claiming 1.25% of the entire world population consists of “slaves”.

Secret Squirrel (#1332)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpty-eleven:

Domestic violence experts say that [“smart” automobile] features are being weaponized in abusive relationships, and that car makers have not been willing to assist victims.  This is particularly complicated when the victim is a co-owner of the car, or not named on the title…Controlling partners have tracked their victims’ cars in the past using GPS devices and Apple AirTags…but connected car apps offer new opportunities for harassment…[such as by] remote[ly] access[ing]…the…vehicle…to…[activate] lights…horns…heat…[or] air-conditioner…from afar…

The Last Shall Be First (#1351) 

Federal judges have already struck down similar bans, so this is pure political theater:

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed an executive order [last] Friday that will immediately ban gender-affirming surgeries for minors within the state…a week after…he…vetoed a bill that would have banned all gender-affirming care for minors, from surgeries to hormone blockers….the…[new] restricti[ons appear designed to insert bureaucrats into the doctor-patient relationship]…

The Course of a Disease (#1352)

Liz Brown on the insidious spread of the Swedish rot:

Maine’s [new prostitution] law…represents a paternalistic philosophical premise: that sex workers are all victims and their consent to sexual activity is—like a minor’s—irrelevant…In an Orwellian twist, U.S. activists have been trying to rebrand it the “Equality Model“—an egregious misnomer, considering that the whole point of this model is that those selling sex (largely women) and those paying for it (largely men) should be treated differently under the law…Maggie McNeill wrote the ultimate essay on this more than 10 years ago.  “The ‘Swedish model’ posits that paying for sex is a form of male violence against women,” McNeill noted.  “This is why only the act of payment is de jure prohibited: the woman is legally defined as being unable to give valid consent, just as an adolescent girl is in the crime of statutory rape.  The man is thus defined as morally superior to the woman; he is criminally culpable for his decisions, but she is not.  In one case, a 17-year-old boy (a legal minor in Sweden) was convicted under the law, thus establishing that in the area of sex, adult women are less competent than male children”…

An Avalanche of Bullshit (#1390)

I’ll believe this when and if it’s ever proven:

[Spooks] are [now claiming] that six high end brothels in the suburbs of Boston and Washington, D.C. were set up by a foreign nation as an espionage “honeytrap”…[which] targeted politicians, high ranking government officials and defense contractors…Russia, China, Korea itself, or even Israel are al[l claimed] as possibly being behind the scheme..[one spook belched out “]false flag[” while making furtive movements in his pants.  A puritanical]…U.S. Attorney [vomited out drivel about] “accountability for the buyers“…[and another clown burbled about “]involvement in prostitution[” in order to make a very ordinary business sound scary so as to justify the huge expenditure of “investigating” people for having consensual sex]…

Torture Chamber (#1394)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

A California County is facing legal action after a 21-year-old woman committed suicide while [locked] in [the county’s cages]…Alicia Upton was arrested on April 19, 2022 [during a]…mental health [crisis]…yet despite her clear mental health distress…[she was locked] in…a…cell without safety features….and…on April 28…[she] hanged herself…using the sheets from her bed…18 people died while [locked in cages by] Riverside County…in 2022…and [a similar number in] 2023…[the] county…[also lies when] reporting deaths [by] labeling [legally innocent people] who die…[in its cages] as…”‘sentenced’ post-conviction prisoners” in reports to the Justice Department…

The Cop Myth (#1400)

Another cop murders his family; another “news” outfit buries the lede:

[A New York cop named]…Watson Morgan…[murdered his wife] Ornela…[and his] two sons ages 10 and 12…before turning the gun on himself…neighbors are having difficulty [understanding the concept of]…”a very loving father”…[cops] say the public is not in danger [from the deranged cop coming back from the dead to murder others, and absurdly barfed out the typical lie that a cop committing fatal domestic violence is]…an isolated incident…

 

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