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In a few short years, the entire Western world might finally end the age of the open internet.  –  Kelsey Piper

Torture Chamber (#1445)

For a warden to be charged, there must be much more to this:

State p[igs] and [screwlords] are conducting a “potential criminal misconduct” investigation into…a Western Maryland prison after the latest in a rash of [murder]s of prisoners…on…May 20 [screws found] the body of Colin Wolf…[decomposing] inside his cell in the Roxbury [Dungeon]…Roxbury’s warden and chief of security are out…[and] 19 [screws have been given demerits, while]…eight medical staffers [have been banned] from facilities statewide…officials [are trying] to [figure out how to cover up the] homicides…[but] Wolf was the ninth [victim] this year…and the 33rd…since 2023.  [Politician] Carolyn Scruggs…wrote that…the [screws]…had violated “basic human decency”…to…[a greater] extent [than the ordinary violations of basic human decency inherent in locking human beings up in cages]…Just two weeks before Wolf’s death…Kelvin Hite…was also killed at Roxbury…

To Molest and Rape (#1577)

When will the mainstream media admit that pigs in schools are a menace?

A [typical and representative cop paid to lurk in]…New Jersey [schools in order to spy on, harass, and intimidate students has been arrested for] sexually assaulting an underage girl.  [Louis J.] Baselice…[groomed and enticed the girl by buying her] an electric scooter…a…cell phone…and…food.  [He was reported by her friends]…

Sexcrime (#1590)

Because this worked so well when it was tried next door in the UK:

[Irish politicians] seek…to [invent crim]es relating to the possession, production or distribution of extreme or violent pornography, and acts of necrophilia…Minister Jim O’Callaghan [promied the scheme by absurdly barfing]…”contributes to perpetuating misogynistic attitudes” [in a government know for misogynistic laws against abortion, sex work, etc]…

Feudalism Redux (#1605)

Most federal courts below the SCOTUS level are still doing their jobs:

…Mayday Health runs a website with information about where people can obtain abortion pills…[but] doesn’t provide abortion pill prescriptions itself…Nonetheless, South Dakota has been engaged in a monthslong First Amendment battle with the group, [absurdly claim]ing…the [First Amendment doesn’t apply to speech about]…abortion…Mayday sued…[over the] unconstitutional [censorship attempt and] U.S. District Judge Camela Theeler seems poised to agree…[as she has] issued a preliminary injunction against South Dakota enforcing the law against Mayday or against…[politician] Nancy Turbak Berry….[for] wearing a Mayday sweatshirt…with…the…[same] message…[as] on Mayday’s gas station placards…South Dakota’s abortion advertising law is a[n illegal] content-based restriction on speech…Commercial speech is generally held to receive less First Amendment protection than non-commercial speech.  But Mayday’s website is not commercial speech, as…”there is no evidence that Mayday holds an economic motivation for its advertisements…Rather, [it]…is a nonprofit organization expressing a moral belief and providing information for free”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1622)

These things are designed to appeal to the dregs of humanity:

[Perve]rt glasses might seem like a great way of cheating on exams, [if you]…are [a moral imbecile], but…[it may result in legal] consequences …A…South Korea[n] man is facing criminal charges…after using [perve]rt glasses to cheat on a state-run fire engineer test in May.  [When] he was…[caught by the test] administrator…he…pretty much copped to the entire thing…This isn’t the first instance where [perve]rt glasses have been at the center of an academic cheating scandal, but it’s a particularly [serious] one given the context of the exam…it’s fair to say that someone’s competency could be a contributing factor in whether people live or die…

Walled Garden (#1651)

The open internet will soon be a thing of the past:

Senator Ed Markey…rolled out what he [advertises as] an “AI Accountability Agenda”…[but in reality] he wants to [put] unchecked power [to spy on and censor the internet]…into the hands of the American [government]…Two bills in the s[cheme]…move the internet toward a place where you prove your age before you read a page or say anything on it…[one is] brand[ed] COPPA 2.0…[and] lifts the age of a [restri]cted user from under 13 to under 17, then rewrites the rule that decides when a company is liable…[so] an ordinary website…has to judge whether some hypothetical reasonable person would have figured out that a visitor was under 17.  If you guess wrong, the Federal [Government] can [destroy your business].  The cheapest way to stop guessing is to card everyone at the door…Age gates…stand between a reader and everyone else’s expression, and they turn speaking up into a chore rather than a reflex…

Walled Garden (#1652)

Politicians love aping each other’s schemes while also ignoring their failure:

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signaled that a European Union–wide identity verification scheme for social media users may be coming soon…[saying] “It is up to [the government] to decide when children…can join social media”…[and] touting the European Commission’s [failed] age-verification app…In truly Orwellian fashion, von der Leyen claimed that “this is about putting power back into the hands of parents”…despite report after report suggesting that Australia’s ban is a flop…politicians in the U.S. and in the U.K. are rushing to emulate Australia.  Now, it looks like the whole of the European Union could be next…

 

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!

I recently decided to reread my entire comic book collection, and this splash page from Action Comics #52 (September, 1942) caught my attention for reasons that should be obvious.  In the story, the soi-disant emperor is a mad scientist who has invented a machine that broadcasts rays which nullifies resistance, so people will agree with anything anyone tells them to do, regardless of how ridiculous.  Naturally Superman is immune, and early in the story utters the soliloquy, “What’s happened to everyone? Have they gone insane?” before flying to Washington to defeat the villain in his usual style.  But in the course of the story, the madman takes actions which may seem familiar 84 years later: pillaging the treasury, replacing the cabinet and Supreme Court with his hoodlum henchmen, etc.

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.






Every year on her feast day, I honor St. Mary Magdalene; even though the Church does not officially recognize her as the patron of whores, she certainly is in the public imagination.  And if beliefs have power, that recognition of sacred whoredom in the minds of millions has far more metaphysical and philosophical weight than any official Church designation.

Diary #838

I’m not sure why Amazon decided people who send gifts from others’ wishlists don’t need to be thanked, but that’s exactly what it has done.  It used to be possible to send a sender a “Thank You” email, which may be superfluous if the sender and recipient know each other in real life, but is very important to those of us who receive gifts from those who admire our work online.  For several years now, though, I had noticed that though it was still possible to send such a message, the gift sender rarely received it.  Then some months ago I realized it was no longer possible to even send one; when I got three anniversary gifts recently, I decided to dig through the “wishlist help” to see if they’d merely hidden the function in some submenu somewhere.  But no; I soon found a clear statement that it was not possible to send it at all.  So I really hope the readers who sent me a DVD of Sinners, a collection of four Kurt Vonnegut novels, and The Lensman Anthology, all see this and accept my thanks for your generosity; I never want anyone to think I take such gifts for granted, even if Amazon believes such respect for one’s audience is somehow outmoded.

Bluebird

I used to try to explain when a young or pre-menopausal woman makes some sort of confident statement about what she will be like post-menopause. Now I just shrug and say, "You'll find out soon enough."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-17T17:21:31.990Z

It's always amusing to me when a paywall demanding I provide my personal information is followed almost immediately by a popup admitting they will sell that information to anybody who wants it.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-18T18:46:19.972Z

"Mmmm, a meat-free savoury loaf!" said no hungry person ever.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-19T18:57:53.004Z

The best part of this algae bloom is, it only needs to stay in place for two more weeks from today to achieve maximum humiliation value for Trump and the whole MAGA movement. After the 4th, it can vanish overnight; what will be remembered is the perfect metaphor for the semiquincentennial.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-20T17:51:22.612Z

5 million djinn and imps working 24/7 can build Baghdad in ≈ 6 months. Now just imagine what the world looks like when we have 10 billion of them by 800. Now imagine the year 1000. Amazing abundance for all!

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-21T17:27:00.933Z

I don't generally call attention to toxic filth from Twitter, but if you're still on Twitter at all you may want to look up this sewer outlet which calls human beings "farm equipment" just for the pleasure of blocking it.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-23T17:52:42.652Z

"It’s Donald Trump’s violent, pawing need, not to win, but to be *seen* to have won. To see *himself* as a winner or, when observable reality disagrees, to declare war on reality. It’s the president’s shrieking demand that everyone else join him in waging war upon a mirror."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T16:58:10.225Z

Why are the US media and Democratic politicians so averse to recognizing that SCOTUS judges can be impeached?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-25T18:01:45.727Z

A new dimension of "throwing like a girl".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-28T03:27:07.509Z

This is actually a good way to deal with drive-by commenters on social media."This is stupid!""OK."They don't know how to continue when you refuse to give them the theatrical conflict they crave.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-28T18:12:37.049Z

Maybe they're all ninjas, disguising themselves by becoming blades of grass.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-28T18:06:43.769Z

Musk is a Bond supervillain. Zuckerberg is a Batman supervillain.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-30T07:37:56.774Z

Well come ON! If you looked like that, you'd be depressed, too.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-01T17:52:32.638Z

THANK YOU.It's rare to see *anyone* who grasps this nowadays, even though it's right there in the name of the movement.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-02T17:43:57.214Z

The Trump regime keeps people from entering the US "because of who they are" all the time.Monkey see, monkey do.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-04T17:43:32.766Z

Without a doubt, it would have to be the guy who said that any female character in a fantasy story with extraordinary powers was a "Mary Sue".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-06T19:08:47.786Z

Another American institution destroyed by private equity: http://www.salon.com/2026/07/03/h…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T17:02:26.485Z

As a former reference librarian, I can tell you what people did before Google. (HINT: it wasn't sitting around helplessly wishing for the information.)

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-08T07:57:06.570Z

I spoke with Mitch McConnell for twenty minutes this morning. He told me he had meddled in things that man must leave alone.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-09T08:13:53.616Z

Reminds me of this argument which anyone who knew teen boys in the late '70s & early '80s will remember:Boy 1: Rob Halford is not gay!Boy 2: Dude, he's gay. Look at his costumes.Boy 1: Leather is tough, not gay!Boy 2: What about gay leather dudes?Boy 1: They stole that from bikers!Boy 2: …..

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-11T18:16:55.618Z

Every so often the very first tweet I see from someone is so absolutely, moronically authoritarian, I block them instantly to spare myself from ever seeing another violently-stupid utterance from them.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T17:12:55.939Z

"Verify your age"Fuck you! In my day, computers didn't talk back or make demands. And we watched TV by attaching the set to an antenna.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-13T17:03:24.239Z

So very many words to say, "I don't understand the concept of hubris and anyone who tries to explain it to me is Satan."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-14T17:41:15.926Z

"The alternative would be to admit that we as a nation have done what we have in fact done, which is install a demented narcissistic madman as president."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-15T17:58:14.068Z

Partisanism is a form of brain rot. Today's example: claiming the increasingly-totalitarian Trump regime is "anti-government".If Trump's metastasizing police state is "anti-government", I shudder to think what a "pro-government" regime would look like.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-16T17:03:55.420Z

People used to think I was kooky for refusing to eat green, leafy vegetables and uncooked or undercooked food.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-18T03:39:10.780Z

My favorite Sanders tell is how his refrain used to be blaming "millionaires and billionaires" for everything until someone correctly pointed out that SANDERS is a millionaire, at which point he switched to just blaming "billionaires".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-19T16:53:53.906Z

 

Links #837

Generative AI doesn’t generate information; it generates words.  –  Hannah Cyrus

This very impressive cover was called to my attention by Radley Balko, who also supplied “pope”.  The other links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel; Tracy Quan; Ryan Marino and Stephen Lemons; Nun Ya; IncarcerNation; and Mike Masnick, in that order.

From the Archives

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!

This technology is a free, easily accessible weapon put into the hands of the worst people in the world.  –  “Jane Doe 4”

Shame, Shame (#1504)

It’s only a year since Zuckerberg was forced by public outcry to cancel this:

[Facebook has] launched its inaugural [CGI] model…in…[an] effort to compete with the likes of…GPT Images…and Google’s [moronically-named] Nano Banana 2 in the [slop] race [to the bottom].  The new model, called Muse Image, [has been embedded like a tick] into the Instagram app…public Instagram profiles are now automatically opted into being [slop] fodder for [strangers.  In a typical display of cluelessness, Zuckerberg is trying to sell this as a good thing]…If you want to avoid [your personal pictures being turned into creepy cartoon porn], you’ll have to dig into the app’s settings…

Facebook has already backed down (again) after being threatened with lawsuits from celebrities’ agents.

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1550)

Blaming bad behavior on an imaginary “addiction” is the opposite of admitting responsibility:

A Philadelphia man who planted hidden cameras inside public bathrooms on the Ocean City Boardwalk was sentenced to five years of probation…Harold Perkins…will be required to…undergo…mental counseling, hav[e] no [unsupervised] contact with children…and receiv[e] treatment for sexual addiction [even though there is no such thing]…

Enshittification (#1620)

It won’t be long until Google becomes completely useless:

For decades, publishers have done everything in their power…to rank as highly in Google Search as possible…[because] traffic from the search engine was their single greatest source of audience and, as a result, revenue.  Now though, a handful of influential players in the digital media ecosystem have begun…laying the groundwork for what was once unthinkable:  removing themselves from Google Search…Beginning Sept. 15, all new websites signing up for Cloudflare…will have the default settings…set to block “multi-purpose crawlers”…mean[ing] that any crawler that scrapes for both search indexing and [chatbot] training will be turned away at the door, unless the site owner decides otherwise…the primary, unnamed target of this action is Google, which infamously uses one crawler to both index sites and train its [chatbots]…forc[ing] publishers to make an impossible choice: They either allow…Google to scrape their content to…regurgitat[e] their data [in “AI summaries”] without compensation; or they shut off both functions and disappear from Google Search…

Stalkers in Blue (#1635)

Warrantless surveillance is abusive by its very nature:

A…Milwaukee [cop who was supposedly] investigating a [crony]’s misuse of…Flock license plate reader[s actually]…misus[ed] it himself…Tehrangi Chapman…[ab]used the technology to stalk a victim and [her] family…and a[lso hid] a GPS device on [her] vehicle…[but the] audit…which…[exposed] Josue Ayala…[also] revealed…Chapman[‘s abuse despite his attempts to cover up by entering]…“test” and “training” [in the] justification [field]…

To Molest and Rape (#1650)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A…[typical and representative] NYPD [cop named]…Joshua Acosta…was a[rrested and]…charged…with…rap[ing a minor relative repeatedly over a five year period, starting when she was under 13, but NYPD thought the most important piece of]…information was [that he wasn’t wearing his magical clown suit at the moment of penetration]…

Shame, Shame (#1652)

There is only one way to stop this: aggressive prosecution of Elon Musk:

…a proposed class action lawsuit [against MechaHitler has now been] expanded…[because Elon Musk is] shielding child predators by obstructing police investigations into [MechaHitler]-generated child [porn].  In March, a girl’s stepfather [killed himself] after cops discovered that he had used [MechaHitler] to create 7,000 sexually explicit images using one photo taken when his stepdaughter was 11 years old…[including] extreme images depicting incest and rape…the c[hatbot]’s child safety system only intervened after the man input a prompt for “gang rape”…which alerted [NCMEC].  Yet [even]…then…[Musk] repeatedly refused to help cops or NCMEC identify the user, [instead]…“obstruct[ing] this investigation at every turn”.  Eventually, the stepfather was arrested…and…two days after…release…on bail, he shot himself…A[pparent]ly, [Musk] avoids sharing this information to prioritize profits over child safety…and [pretends the] child sex images [do not exist]…In addition to adding more victims…lawyers also added Stability AI as a defendant…[because its] model…“serve[s] as the basis for…‘nudify’ apps” [including MechaHitler]…

The Cop Myth (#1654)

Cops and “journalists” conspire to hide a murderer’s identity and culpability:

A [New Hampshire cop murdered his neighbor]…Jack Hutchings…[in the street in front of]…his young children…[cops are hiding the identity of] the [murderer and are trying to work out a way to pretend it was]…self-defense…

 

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!

Tattletales

As a weird kid of the ’70s, I advise the weird kids of today not to trust any of your secrets to any adult who is an “authority” of any kind: not teachers, not clergy, not doctors or therapists.  If you want adult guidance, you need to find a cool, wise adult who cannot be compelled by law to tattle.  When I was a teen this was an easier decision to make, in a way; most adult authority-figures just spouted the party line, and very few pretended to be trustworthy people a troubled teen could confide in.  Plus, even if one guessed wrong about an adult’s discretion, there were no “compelled snitch” laws, so unless the wrongly-trusted adult was a complete asshole it was usually OK.  But teens of today live in a metastasizing surveillance state, and any adult in an position of authority can be threatened with violence and the destruction of their entire professional future if they refuse to aid governmental snooping into your private affairs.  I’m sorry my generational cohort failed y’all like this.  But if you have shitty parents, you’re going to have to assume that EVERYONE in loco parentis will be equally shitty.  You will need to find that rare specimen, an adult who respects your self-ownership.  And they can almost never be found in institutions.