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Links #841

Jail erodes every aspect of a person’s agency.  –  Lindsey Krinks

I recently watched all the Charlie Chan movies Chekhov had in his collection.  The low-budget Monogram Chan pictures of the 1940s weren’t as good as the 20th Century Fox ones of the 1930s, but though Mantan Moreland, who played Chan’s chauffeur in the ’40s pictures, was typically paired with Benson Fong as “Number Three son” for comic relief, a couple of the films included guest appearances by Moreland’s former vaudeville partner Ben Carter, allowing the two to show off the very funny ‘indefinite talk” routine which made them famous.  The links above the video were provided by Jesse Walker, Anarres Ansible, Mistress Matisse, IncarcerNation, Nun Ya, T. Greg Doucette, and IncarcerNation again, in that order.

From the Archives

In the News (#1663)

Body-worn cameras are…used…to present the police to the public in the most favorable way possible.  –  Christopher Schneider

Shame, Shame (#1455)

I’ve been skeptical of the notion of body cameras as a police “reform” for well over a decade:

…ICE [goons] will be equipped with much-delayed body cameras by the end of next month…but…the [boss goon will] restrict the public release of footage unless “it is in the best interests of the agency”…[It should be obvious that] none of the [footage] in…[cases where goons murder a citizen will be released]…taxpayers who put up more than $30m for the cameras [will] still be kept in the dark about [murders and other atrocities while]…releas[ing] recordings that reflect well on the agency’s image…

The Cop Myth (#1615)

A woman who sleeps with a cop endangers her entire family:

A Texas [cop named Chad Eberle was] arrested in Mexico [for murder]ing three people and critically injuring the mother of his child…[when the victims tried to stop him from abducting] his three-year-old son.  Two women and one man were killed…and…the child’s…mother was…shot in the head and remain[s] in critical condition…Eberle was [caught] while attempting to cross from Mexico into Texas…The three-year-old was unharmed…

Welcome To the Future (#1620)

Privacy as we once knew it is a thing of the past:

USA Today Co. has made a de[vil’s bargain] with [fascist surveillance] company Palantir to analyze and monetize user behavior...CEO Mike Reed [barfed buzzwords like “]activate audience data[“]…and… “actionable intelligence” [at investors to dazzle them with bullshit]…USA Today Co. owns more than 200 local newspapers…along with its national daily USA Today.  The [surveillance collusion] with Palantir comes as search traffic continues to fall [due to corporations like Palantir selling chatbots to the very stupid]…Axel Springer — which owns Business Insider, Politico, Bild, and The Telegraph — and Fox News [are] also [collaborating] with Palantir…to…[spy on their readers, and] Thomson Reuters…supplies [them] data…

Shame, Shame (#1635)

Facebook is the most antisocial corporation other than those who run prisons:

Over the last nine months, Mark Zuckerberg…has run dozens of paid ads that include explicit [computer]-generated child [porn] and images of minors alongside sexually suggestive statements…some [of the] ads linked out to so-called nudify or undressing apps…the ads [have] run…across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and…Threads…[and represent] the second time in recent weeks that paid [child porn] ads…have been found on [Zuckerberg]’s platforms…this isn’t content posted by third parties…[but rather] ads that were reviewed, approved, and allowed to run…[until they were caught, but] have now been removed [according to standard Facebook] policies on [getting caught red-handed by journalists]…

Lest you think Zuckerberg is merely looking the other way rather than intentionally spreading poison:

A[n Australian] white nationalist…neo-Nazi…is being paid by Facebook…to produce content…Hugo Lennon…has been receiving revenue through Facebook’s “Content Monetization” program since September 2025…[by making propaganda] videos…referencing white supremacist concepts like replacement theory and remigration.  The Noticer, a[n]…Australian…website that regularly promotes white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideologies, has been making money through the same Facebook revenue program since November 2025…[even though it] is currently suspended from [Twitter]…because it [is so violently]…hateful…Monica Smit, the founder of the anti-vaccine…group Reignite Democracy Australia, joined Facebook’s content monetisation program in September 2025…[but has] been earning advertising revenue through Facebook from as far back as 2017…[by selling] “radiation protection” bracelets…

Creepy Coppers (#1637)

The inevitable result of sexual predators being given power over women:

An…Oregon woman has filed a $300,000 lawsuit [because] two [cops] used a body-worn camera to surreptitiously record her as she urinated…[after they demanded] she…provide a urine sample in response to fabricated [DUI and drug possession] charges…six weeks later, the…District Attorney’s Office dropped the charges without explanation, [making the victim, Tami] Nuxall[, suspicious]…the city of Enterprise and its entire three-member police force…Shannon Stillman…Jacob Curtis and…Kevin McQuead…have…a [long history of harassing]…Nuxall, [who]…lives less than half a mile from the police station…[it started in] 2023, when she was ticketed for failing to carry proof of insurance…and…Curtis…pulled a gun on her and her children…[boss hog McQuead’s idiotic defense was that] Curtis was…[only threatening her life “]for a short time[“.  Naturally]…she told city council members that police were “out of control” and…in the [next] 15 months…she was stopped and ticketed…more than any other time in her life…six times in [all, and] half of those cases were dismissed…

Torture Chamber (#1645)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

Inside LA County’s only jail for women, brown or foul-smelling liquid flows from the taps where the women [are supposed to] get their drinking water.  They shower under rusty pipes and on floors covered in mold.  Gnats, worms, and maggots regularly crawl out of sink drains and…[broken] toilets…run day and night…The Sybil Brand Commission of Institutional Inspections…called the situation “an ongoing and unresolved public health crisis”…[more than] half of the [victims of this atrocity]…are [legally innocent]…

The Vultures Descend (#1651)

This was always the endgame, regardless of claims to the contrary:

A teenage girl has been arrested in North Carolina for “assault with a deadly weapon” after allegedly taking abortion pills 31 weeks into her pregnancy, which prompted her to go into labor.  The teen’s boyfriend has also been arrested, and charged with negligent child abuse…the “deadly weapon” appears to refer to…abortion pills…[which cops claim] signaled her “intent to kill”…Instead of being allowed to rest and receive medical care just days after going into labor, the 18-year old was arrested and jailed…then forced to show up for a court hearing…There is no crime here.  Yet, by attacking [a frightened girl] with this mishmash of charges, cops are trying to make self-managed abortion a crime…

 

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!

Going Viral

Ignorant people are panicking over a BBC article from August 6th:

Artificial Intelligence has been used to design brand new viruses that are fully functional and can replicate in the laboratory…The resulting 16 novel viruses were created to infect bacteria and pose no threat to people…The technology works similarly to large language models…which predict sequences of text…[but] Evo1 and Evo2…were trained on genetic codes from viruses, bacteria, plants and people…then refined to produce a type of virus, known as a bacteriophage, which infect only specific species of bacteria…Stanford researchers picked the most promising 302 [computer] designs and synthesised them in the lab.  Of these, 16 proved effective at killing E. coli bacteria…Developing new phage could lead to new ways of treating infections that have become resistant to antibiotics…

If technologists and reporters don’t want the ignorant majority to freak out when machine learning systems are used to do something they are actually good for, they need to stop using the same marketing term to describe them as con men use to describe chatbots.  It’s true that the system described in this article is far closer to being “AI” than deluxe autocomplete is, but that ship sailed several years ago; if you insist on still using the word “gay” to mean “happy”, you have only yourself to blame if people think you mean “homosexual”.





In the News (#1662)

The freedom to read is fundamental to a free society.  –  John Adams*

To Molest and Rape

When will amateur women learn cops are dangerous sex predators?

An Illinois [cop named]…Douglas Lee…was stripped of his [magic] powers and [arrested for]…drugging a woman while she was out with friends, taking her to a hotel…[rap]ing her…[then dump]ing her in her car [and leaving her in a parking lot] overnight…Lee…frequently visited the bar where [his victim] worked as a bartender [so she foolishly believed she knew him and drank]…a shot [he gave her]…the [next] thing she remembered…was [waking]…up in her car around 10:45 AM the next day [with]…her pants…inside out, her bra…on the passenger seat and her shirt…tucked into the pocket of her jacket…One [of her] friend[s told her] she had seen [her]…dancing [with Lee]…video footage…showed Lee [taking] the woman [out of] the bar [and when confronted he said she wanted it]…

Micromanagement (#965)

I’d really like to be wrong once in a while:

For more than a decade, New York City has been amassing…DNA samples…without…consent or any court involvement as a routine matter, specifically for inclusion in its “Suspect Index,” a rogue database not authorized by law…includ[ing] samples from people who…have been expressly excluded as suspects in a crime, [people] who have never been charged with a crime…and exonerated or acquitted individuals.  The Suspect Index currently contains 34,872 profiles…routinely collect[ed]…in an orchestrated, surreptitious manner through ruses involving straws, bottles, or even cigarettes, without…a court order…….from those who are merely brought in for questioning and even from children it tricks…

If Men Were Angels (#1406)

Psychopath Grady Judd never misses an opportunity for self-aggrandizement:

A [Florida] preacher…had sex with at least one underage boy and an adult man without telling them he was HIV-positive…Timothy Chaneyfield…[met] the…14-year-old boy…on a dating app before…[taking] their chats to Instagram, which [reported him] to [NCMEC]…Sheriff Grady Judd[, in his typical fashion, made the incident all about himself, using the opportunity to call someone far less dangerous than he is]…“a menace to society”…[and pretending] he [did not understand why]…authorities in Baltimore[, where Chaneyfield was when the arrest warrant was issued, did not want to play stupid cop games instead of simply letting Judd arrest him when he got back to Florida]…

Thought Control (#1501)

A Trumpist stooge declares that the First Amendment does not apply to Arkansas:

Arkansas Act 372 amends state laws by including librarians and booksellers among those who can be criminally charged [if any authoritarian Froot Loop anywhere in the world points at any book in their stock while barfing the magic words]…“harmful to minors”…Librarians and booksellers could face up to a year in prison if they’re [declared] to have “distributed” [magically abjured] material to those under the age of 18…[which] includes simply having the book sitting on a shelf…The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas…[permanently enjoined the law] in January 2025, [but wannabe censors appealed to the]…Eighth Circuit [and Trumpist henchman] L. Steven Grasz…[singlehandedly] overturn[ed] that court’s decision…[thus forcing] librarians and booksellers [to censor their entire collections or risk state violence]…

*Not the Founding Father, but an Arkansas attorney.

Welcome to the Future (#1572)

Giant fascist corporation makes it even easier for cops to lie:

Axon…has cornered the body cam market and is now…pitching products…that use [chatbots] to automate [cop] report writing…Draft One has been pitched as a time-saver…[that can] “potentially free up 25% of an officer’s time.”  Considering a lot of [cops] spend most of their time engaged in pretextual stops, this…just means [cops] will be able to violate rights more frequently with no perceivable benefit to public safety.  Then there’s the problem…[of chatbot] hallucinations…[such as the chatbot-generated] report…[that] claimed a Heber City [Utah cop] had shape-shifted into a frog…The other problem..is that [chatbot-generated reports also] generat[e] a new layer of plausible deniability.  If errors are found, cops can blame it on the algorithm…[and] if cops aren’t writing their own reports, they can’t [honest]ly claim these statements are their own under oath…

Panopticon (#1658)

There are good reasons warrantless surveillance is unconstitutional:

…in Wapello County, Iowa, the…usage policy…tells police…“DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY”…It is not just local police in small communities who are creating policies designed to obfuscate Flock usage…police in multiple states [are] told to “be as vague as permissible” about…Flock because their searches c[an] be obtained using public records requests…The [illegal] guidance…is reminiscent…[of] tha[t] on some other secretive police technologies.  For years, police tried to hide the existence of cell site simulators (popularly known as Stingrays), going as far as to drop criminal cases where it was likely that a judge would expose information about them…

The cop euphemism for lying in reports and courts about use of illegal surveillance is “parallel construction“.

Enshittification (#1660)  

Scenes from the early days of a dark age:

In January, [the mad emperor] posted two clips from a popular YouTube account [falsely claim]ing…[that] Walmart was closing hundreds of California stores…Gavin Newsom’s communications team [debunked] the posts on [Twitter, but]…the YouTube channel…[Trump parroted i]s mostly populated by sensational [computer]-generated videos that purport…to show various companies leaving California, grocery stores running out of food, and school teachers quitting en masse.  The…videos…look decent enough t[o fool chatbot-addled idiots, who don’t]…realize or care that they [are slop]…Newsom’s office…worked with YouTube to identify more than 700 accounts since January that were subsequently removed for violating the company’s terms of service through its…new support system for public figures, creators, and journalists that flags when someone’s face is used without their permission in deepfakes

 

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!

Diary #841

Chekhov and Yellowbird gave me this cool egg rack last Christmas.  Typically, I use it to hold regular “large” size eggs (and put the extra-large and jumbo ones in the basket at the bottom).  But right from the start I realized that it would be an excellent way to hold undersized pullet eggs once the young hens started laying.  And as you can see, they have!  When I first started keeping chickens 20 years ago, I realized that when a recipe calls for x number of eggs, that meant large-grade eggs, so if I wanted to use pullet eggs in a recipe more would be required.  So while I still had my last carton of store-bought eggs around, I measured the volume of a typical egg and discovered it to be 1/4 cup.  So if a recipe calls for 3 eggs, that really means 3/4 cup of eggs, and if I want to use pullet eggs I just crack them into a measuring cup until I get to the right amount.  If I’m cooking something less finicky (for example, just regular scrambled eggs) I just use 2 for 1 at this stage, then later when they are just small rather than tiny I move to roughly 3 for 2.  And if I want to use normal-sized eggs for whatever reason (or give them to friends), the eggs from the mature chickens are still stored in the cupboard like usual.

A classicist recently pointed out on social media that the ancient Greek notion of heroism is so different from the modern idea that mythological heroes like Odysseus must either be adapted for modern audiences, or else they end up looking at least somewhat villainous.  It’s especially apparent when moderns try to adapt Hercules into what we would call a hero, and end up with a character who only barely resembles the one in the myths, because the ancient Greek word which is generally translated as “hero” has nothing to do with morality, self-sacrifice, etc.  As a kid who loved both mythology and comic books, it was always a little jarring to see how differently mythic characters like Hercules were portrayed in the one vs the other.  The most accurate depiction of Hercules on the big screen that I can recall was in Jason and the Argonauts, where he is clearly shown to be a bully, braggart, and delinquent who gets his friends killed and nearly wrecks the entire mission.  Of course, the same movie elides Jason’s awfulness, and ends abruptly to avoid having to deal with the whole ugly business of Jason and Medea, which only goes to demonstrate our initial premise once again.

Links #840

I’ve always believed that music, like space, is about exploration.  –  William Shatner

Though this Irving Berlin song (provided by Rick Horowitz) is about Hitler, it has taken on a new meaning in our day.  The links above it were provided by Anarres Ansible, Jesse Walker, Ryan Marino, Kevin Wilson, Mike Stabile, Nun Ya, and Savannah Sly, 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 not safe to be deployed in communities.  –  Max Isaacs

Policing for Profit

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

The Massachusetts police oversight board suspended a state trooper’s…certification after he…[stole] a Bobcat bucket-loader…from a contractor he hired to remove fallen trees from his property…Joseph W. Franklin…[claimed] he was in the process of suing the contractor…for failing to complete the work and his attorney advised him to hold on to the Bobcat as “collateral”…[despite] not hav[ing] a lien or court order allowing him to keep [it, and]…court records do not list any civil actions involving Franklin or the contractor…[who] told police that…Franklin [had lied to]…him[, claiming another] contractor had [stolen] it…demand[ing] $5,000 [ransom]…

The Prudish Giant (#946)

It usually starts with sex workers, but it never stops with us:

YouTube [has] banned a[nother] wave of ASMR artists…for [supposedly] violating the platforms’ rules against “sexually gratifying” content…creators affected by the…bans who’ve spoken publicly about [the censorship] include ItsBunniiASMR, Slight Sounds, Nananightray, Roseasmr, Simoneasmr, and Janina Wilhelmsen, all of whom had significant followings on the platform.  There are still many ASMR creators on YouTube, making the bans even more confusing [to people who don’t understand that all censorship is a game of arbitrary whack-a-mole]…

The Red Umbrella (#1441)

When amateurs and violently-entitled idiots try to reinvent the wheel:

[Florida man] David Allen O’Brien…was arrested…[for a violent assault on] four [people]…on July 12 [he messaged a woman on Tinder and told her] he was looking for a “sugar baby.”  Over the next week, the two [negotiated] an arrangement [wherein] O’Brien [would] give her “$1,000 each visit,” treat her to dinner, and take her shopping…on [July 21 she] had three friends drive her to the date, wh[ich proceeded as arranged until]…they…went back to O’Brien’s residence…[where] she began to feel uncomfortable and texted her friends to come pick her up.  When O’Brien realized she was leaving, he demanded his money back…the woman refused…and jumped into her friends’ waiting car to flee…O’Brien [pursu]ed in…his…pickup truck and…when…he…[caught up he] violently rammed the back of their vehicle, sending it crashing into a pole…he…[then] rammed the car a second time, completely disabling [it]…Three of them managed to run away, but O’Brien cornered one of the male friends…pointed [a pistol] at…him…[and threatened to murder] him…[but]…the…victim…[escaped while] O’Brien [was distracted and]…the [cops caught him]…

Panopticon (#1449)

Flock and its cop customers need to be buried under a deluge of lawsuits:

…when combined with a network of…ALPRs…[license plates] become tracking devices that can provide a comprehensive history of a driver’s movements, potentially revealing sensitive information about his habits, health, relationships, political affiliations, and religious beliefs.  Police departments across the country nevertheless…routinely search the information they collect without reasonable suspicion, probable cause, a warrant, or any sort of judicial supervision…[and] it is nearly impossible for the average driver to avoid surveillance as he goes about his daily life.  That…violates the Kansas Constitution’s privacy protections, according to a lawsuit [from] the Kansas Justice Institute…Sam MacRoberts, KJI’s litigation director…[said] “If Wichita wants to track its citizens, it needs to go to a judge and get a warrant”…

To Molest and Rape (#1649)

It’s unusual for the official cop grooming program to be mentioned so prominently:

A [typical and representative] Southern California [cop] has been charged with [repeated molestation of] a 16-year-old [victim of the “]police Explorer[” grooming] program…Roberto Machuca…faces up to five years in state prison and [condemnation to the “]sex offender[” registry] for 10 years…

To Molest and Rape (#1656)

Cops just keep behaving like cops:

A [typical and representative Arkansas cop named]…Jeremy Boyd Grammer…[raped a girl under] 14…around…Aug. 30…[of last year], onl[y four years after getting paroled out of a 13-year prison sentence for child porn which began]…on July 31, 2008…

Panopticon (Nosey Parkers)

Surprising no one who has ever worked with optical character readers:

Flock [lie]s that in optimal conditions, its cameras accurately read more than 96% of license plate characters.  Hundreds of pages of records from the Roseville [California cop shop] show a different picture. In 2023 and 2024, Flock sent 1,427 alerts to Roseville police, flagging vehicles as stolen or used in a felony…in 71% of those alerts, Flock’s machine-learning software incorrectly read the license plates…The cameras regularly missed vehicles, captured blurry images, misread license plate characters and states, and sent delayed alerts…Flock [blame]ed…[Roseville’s “]atypical setup[“]…

 

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!

Bye Bye Birdie

Early last week I reached 8200 followers on Bluesky.  I set that number as a goal because it’s half of what my follower number on Twitter has eroded down to after years of shadowbanning, follower capping, and other sleazy tactics intended to surreptitiously reduce the reach of dissidents.  And even at half, Bluesky is so much less throttled by algorithms and outright blocks that making exactly the same post on both sites will routinely garner triple-digit engagement on Bluesky and single-digit engagement on Twitter.  So as of today, I’m no longer going to make new posts on Twitter.  I’ll still check it twice every day to reply to any messages, and I’ll occasionally retweet old posts; I’m going to mute everyone I follow there who is also on Bluesky, so I’ll also be retweeting items of interest from the few people I consider worth following on Twitter who obstinately refuse to make the switch to Bluesky.  One day, I hope to drop it altogether, but it’s not that time just yet.  So if you’re one of the single-digit number of people who will read this after arriving from Twitter, please consider moving; it’s only a matter of time before there’s no reason for me to be there at all.