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Links #836

July 12, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

She is not only vastly stupid, but also vastly lazy.  –  W.A. Mozart

There was no way I was going to feature anything by the Village People over one of my favorite songs (which I’ve somehow never featured), sung by Bonnie Tyler but written by the legendary Jim Steinman.  The links above it were provided by T. Greg Doucette; Kevin Wilson; Mike Siegel; Jesse Walker; Dan Savage ; Radley Balko; 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!

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

In the News (#1654)

July 11, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

This is worse than a game of whack-a-mole.  –  Judge Katherine Failla

Ashley Madison (#571)

Is this an Ashley Madison for gay men?

…Goose [is] a [new] dating and friendship app for gay men with the slogan “for the boys,” which allows users to “meet guys through the life you already have”…[but] the…[Instagram] accounts [promoting it] were [all] created in May [or June]…have fewer than 10 posts…a high following-to-follower ratio…and…[CGI] avatars…Created by…influencer Derek Chadwick…Goose positions itself as a Grindr alternative for gay men who want to build lasting relationships…[but it appears to be infested with bot] accounts…[which] frequently comment on each other’s photos, [us]ing the same [words] and…emojis…

Legislators Gone Wild (#1271) 

In which the fanatical, unhinged Guinasso, his pet fantasist, and Morality in Media, all demonstrate their total lack of ethics:

…Morality in Media…and [fanatical anti-sex lawyer Jason Guinasso]…apparently can’t make it through a filing without fabricating citations — and then doubling down when caught…[Morality in Media’s] lawyers…were supposed to review [Guinasso’s work] and then didn’t…when the[ir intended victims, Nevada’s Chicken Ranch brothel, point]ed out th[at their filings had been written by a chatbot and therefore contained the usual] hallucinated citations, [the] lawyers tried to attack the defendant and play down the hallucinations…in a filing with more hallucinated citations…Guinasso [tried to use his fucked-up personal life as an excuse for committing an offense for which he should be disbarred, but Morality in Media had]…six…attorneys o[f it own who]…were supposed to double-check his citations…So…the judge order[ed] the plaintiffs lawyers…and…Guinasso…to pay the defendant’s legal fees…

The Last Shall Be First (#1568)

Judges need to start presenting a united front against dictatorial abuses:

…a federal judge [has] granted patients’ request to block the [In]justice Department from seeking or obtaining invasive patient information about transgender minors…in New York City.  It was the first such ruling to block DOJ’s escalated effort to obtain the information through grand jury subpoenas as part of the Trump [regime]’s broader effort to “reduce or eliminate” such care altogether …Judge Katherine Failla [granted] the classwide temporary restraining order…because…the…DOJ’s request “shocks the conscience” by seeking the “most personal and sensitive information a medical provider could hold” without providing “any legitimate government interest“…the only reason the patients even knew the government was [surreptitiously] seeking this information…was due to NYU Langone’s view that New York law required it to inform patients…

Counterfeit Comfort (#1577)

If you’re a fan of “sex offender” registration, meet one of your bedfellows:

A [Texas] woman [was arrested and] charged…[for using] the internet to harass a [man condemned by the state to the “]sex offender[” registry] and his family…Darien Lombrana is…out on bond after being charged with harassment [by] post[ing] about the family “over and over” on social media sites and community pages…she posted their address online with the [specific] intent to…harm…[his] children…Lombrana’s actions have caused one family member to lose a job, another to get rejected from a college program, and another to get assaulted…

If Men Were Angels (#1592)

Religious communities very often punish the victims instead of the rapists:

The…[Old Apostolic Lutheran C]hurch…sets itself apart from the world and teaches that even the most [heinous crimes] can be…not just forgiven, but [memory-holed] and never spoken of again.  So…[when] a rural Wyoming…man…sexually abus[ed] young girls hundreds of times in the pews during Sunday services…the preacher…never reported it to police…[but] instead…told the man to seek therapy.  In Minnesota, a man…[regularly molested] his daughter and son at night [starting] around [age]…12.  He and his siblings…were sexually abused themselves, and then he repeated the abuse with his own children.  And in Washington state, preachers [let] a member of their congregation…sexually abuse…young boys [for years]…the OALC…teaches its followers that heaven is reserved just for them…[and shifts] the burden of sin…from the person who committed the act to the person who refuses to let the matter rest…one of the biggest obstacles to breaking the cycle is the way church members move among congregations spread across the U.S. and Canada, often hundreds of miles apart but tightly bound by large, multigenerational family networks…elders from…the…mother congregation in Sweden…[vomit the cop excuse “]isolated incidents[” at victims]…

Mad Libs (#1644)

Schadenfreude is even sweeter when the bad outcome was 100% predictable:

Companies across tech, entertainment, banking, and many other industries are throttling their employees’ [chatbot] use…and pleading with workers to [think for themselves very slightly more] to stop [chatbot] costs from spiraling out of control…The news shows the looming fallout from companies [forcing employees to train chatbots in hope of eventually eliminating their positions], and [chatbot push]ers’ moves to [use-based] charge[s]…rather than a flat fee…Citi, for example, has shut off access to Claude’s and ChatGPT’s latest models entirely…[and] is…monitoring daily Copilot usage…“Crazy, we go from no more leaderboard to actual usage limits in two weeks,” one Amazon employee said…

The Cop Myth (#1644)

When it’s unauthorized by boss hogs, ramming another vehicle is described honestly instead of euphemized as “a PIT maneuver”:

A Hermitage [Pennsylvania cop] is [actually] facing…charges [because] he intentionally rammed a[nother] vehicle, injuring multiple people inside…Derek Jeziorkowski…[started] chasing a vehicle…[because he claimed one of the passengers was mean to] his son at…Walmart…the victims turned around to try to escape [so] Jeziorkowski [made an illegal U-turn] and continued to [chase] them…Jeziorkowski [then]…pulled in front of the victim[s’] vehicle…[and] rammed…[it], causing it to run off the road…[hit] a…[guy] wire [and] a tree[, then] flip…over onto its roof…[as the] four victims [(one adult and three teens) lay injured, the deranged]…Jeziorkowski went up to the[m] and [started screaming], “This is what happens when you fuck around with my kid,” [bizarrely adding] “You would do the same thing if it was your kid” [despite having just assaulted three kids in a shockingly-violent manner]…Jeziorkowski has been [rewarded with a paid vacation, and the cop shop is hiding his picture]…

 

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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Sixteenth Anniversary

July 10, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

I’ll keep going, just as I always do and always have done, until the day finally arrives when I no longer have to. –  “Fifteenth Anniversary”

Sixteen years is a long time by internet reckoning; some of y’all reading this may not have yet learned to read when I started it in 2010, and even I barely remember some of the topics I covered in the first few years because they have since faded from the public consciousness.  I daresay very few people were reading this blog on phones in 2010; now I suspect most read it that way.  That is, most of those who still read it at all; before the enshittification of Google I averaged some 3000 visits per day, and now 500 is a good day.  Of course, that’s not only due to Google; as I wrote three years ago, “the world and the culture have changed quite a bit since I started this project, and in a world of YouTube and TikTok, blogs are beginning to look as quaint as radio shows did in 1959.”  But being considered “quaint” doesn’t actually bother me; after all, 25 years ago I was driving around in this car (though the dress and boots were already about ten years old then; if you’ve ever wondered how long I’ve been doing the snakeskin prints, now you know).  This blog is on WordPress rather than Substack or whatever has replaced it in popularity, and my email address is on Earthlink.  My books are still intended to be read on paper; the Kindle versions are an afterthought I only create to please those readers who prefer electronic texts.  And in philistine circles, even writing essays oneself rather than attaching one’s name to something shat out by a computer program is considered hopelessly passé.  You know what I think of all that?  My 40-years-younger self would’ve rolled her eyes and dismissively said, “Whatever”.  Because I plan to keep doing things the way I prefer doing them until I either croak or the increasing walled-gardening of the internet makes it impossible.

Posted in Biography, History, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Slaughter of Throwback Thursday

July 9, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

Scientists who create weapons of oppression…are moral imbeciles.  –  “Welcome to the Future (#1252)”

The best thing schools could do to help the US political situation would be to actually start teaching basic math again.  –  “Readin’, ‘Ritin’, and…um…”

I’m only just beginning to internalize that yes, it really is okay to keep slowing down, rather than just saying it aloud but not really believing it.  –  “Fourteenth Anniversary”

Chatbots in computers can appear to the ignorant like djinn in bottles, and instead of correcting this irrational belief with scientific fact, tech company marketers are telling people, “YES, this really is a djinni who can grant wishes!”  –  “Aladdin’s Satellite”

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In the News (#1653)

July 8, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

My supervisor…[saw a chatbot] as a digital priest whose primary purpose was to confirm that he was right and everyone else was mistaken.

The Last Shall Be First (#1523)

SCOTUS legalizes sexual assault of minor-age female athletes:

The Supreme Court…uph[e]ld…West Virginia’s and Idaho’s laws that [demand female] athletes [submit to unwanted physical examinations without parental consent]…[to] compet[e] in girls’ sports…[if someone accuses them of being transgender].  This decision has implications for 25 other states with similar laws…

As is typical in our sick society, most coverage of the story focuses on the supposed intent of the laws rather than the actual consequences to female athletes.

I Spy (#1533)

The mad emperor wants to use copaganda to wreck the medical system, establish universal surveillance, and excuse even more state violence:

The Trump [regime]’s new [mass surveillance] strategy [uses]…the [psychotic “]war[“] on [the important clinical medicine] fentanyl…[to justify] a national surveillance system [unconstitutionally] built from…[routinely-abused] prescription…[monitoring databases], toxicology results, wastewater, electronic health records, license plate scans, and [whatever other private information can be illegally gathered by cops, spooks, and goons]…the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy [threatens]…to “fully resource and empower” [Father]land Security Task Forces, “le[t chatbots kill people],” and “[violate the Privacy Act of 1974]” [in order]…to…[de facto abolish] HIPAA…[and make] patient privacy [a dead letter].  No[thing]…would prevent [the] system…from being used to monitor abortion, pregnancy, gender transition, methadone treatment, protest activity, or any other behavior a future [regime] decides to target…

Walled Garden (#1579)

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

Texas users of…Bluesky were [prevented from signing in without using an algorithm]…to verify their ages…[by] putting in the last four digits of their Social Security Number, inputting a credit card number or having their driver’s license scanned…the “App Store Accountability Act,” [which] requires companies that run app marketplaces like Google and Apple to verify all users’ ages…was [recently un]blocked by…[the deeply-authoritarian 5th circuit, but it does not require social media age surveillance].  Bluesky told some users who asked [tha]t the age verification [demand] was a “known bug”…

I Spy (#1604)

Thanks to fascism, this decision was stillborn:

The U.S. Supreme Court has…ruled…that “geofence warrants” count as a “search” under the Constitution and therefore trigger the Fourth Amendment’s safeguards against unreasonable searches and seizures.  The geofence warrant at issue in…Chatrie v. United States…was issued to Google…[and] led to the arrest of Okello Chatrie…[whose] lawyers argued that this police tactic amounted to…the very sort of sweeping assault on civil liberties that the Fourth Amendment was originally enshrined to protect…

Unfortunately, surveillance software from a company called Penlink, which is already owned by hundreds of cop shops and goon squads, allows pigs and goons to do this at will without having to go to court for a warrant or deal with Google.  So this is only a “win” on paper.

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1608)

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

…numerous employees…spoke to Futurism about their experience with [chatbot]-obsessed bosses, relaying feelings of frustration and anger as managers and executives use the tech to barrage staff with nonsensical directives, unnecessary work, and perpetual pivoting…it’s a distinct new type of toxic work environment for the slop era.  Slate found more evidence for the phenomenon earlier this year; one worker told the publication that managers “are getting cavities in their brains” due to the tech.  In some cases, employees…felt as though their employers had started living in a completely different reality.  The workplace had become a constant battle between [actual] reality versus [chatbot-driven delusion]s — and their boss…always chose the latter…

Enshittification (#1642)

These companies need to be sued until they’re completely annihilated:

[A] coalition of [almost 400] local newspaper publishers [has] filed a federal lawsuit…against OpenAI and Microsoft…[because] the…companies systematically [plagiariz]ed copyrighted reporting…to train and develop [chatbots], including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, without permission or compensation…violating the Copyright Act and threatening the future of local journalism…OpenAI knowingly stripped copyright management information from publishers’ work — including author bylines, copyright notices, and terms of use information — in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act…OpenAI founder Sam Altman…a[dmitt]ed during testimony before the British House of Lords that it would be “impossible to train [chatbots] without using copyrighted materials”…Although major national news organizations and prominent authors have previously sued OpenAI and Microsoft over similar [violation]s, the new case marks the largest coordinated legal effort by local and regional newspapers [to shut down these plagiarism machines]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1648)

Government thugs don’t care how many lives are destroyed by their evil:

…Florida [cops] arrested a man and held him in jail for nearly three months based on a bad facial recognition result…In April 2025, a man in Jacksonville…purchased a car from someone he met in a grocery store parking lot.  When he learned the car was stolen, he reported the crime…[lazy pigs] ran [surveillance footage] through facial recognition software, which flagged Jalil Richardson…[despite the fact that he] lived in Charlotte, North Carolina—400 miles away…[and] time cards showed Richardson was at work when the suspect was selling a stolen car in Jacksonville.  But [cops didn’t care, so] Richardson was arrested in North Carolina and held for 33 days…[then] extradited to Jacksonville and held for another 53 days.  Prosecutors finally dropped the charges and released him[, but not before] he had…[l]ost…his job, his house, and custody of two of his children…

Jacksonville cops are just as psychopathically-unconcerned with the innocence of people they target as those in Detroit are.

 

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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Diary #836

July 7, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

My friend Sophie is very ill, so a little over a week ago she asked if I’d sit her dog Hallie.  Though Hallie is a great big bitch and has a few odd personality quirks, she is a frequent visitor to Sunset and mostly knows how to behave herself out here.  Also, Axel is her buddy and she generally follows his lead, so sometime after sunrise I let them out, then go back to bed and let them in again when I get up around 9.  They’re both older dogs (Axel is 10 and Hallie 11 or 12), so about three hours of running around in the dewy, dewy grass is generally sufficient exercise, and they mostly just lounge and nap the rest of the day.  Alas, it was different on the night of the 4th; though Trip prefers to spend 95% of his time outside, he is terribly afraid of fireworks, so as soon as they start he wants to be inside.  But even inside, he gets spooked when the noise peaks, so on Saturday night the only way to keep him from running around, knocking breakables over, was to invite him onto the couch where I could pet him while assuring him that Danger Man would protect us from the scary noises (in all seriousness, I think the TV sound helped drown out the pops, cracks, and booms).  Axel jumped up right beside him, which meant Hallie spent the next several hours in an elaborate dance: stand around looking forlorn until I tell her to lie down, then look at me as though she doesn’t understand until I point to the easy chair.  Then get in the chair; lie contentedly for about 15 minutes; get up to wander around aimlessly until I tell her to lie down; lie on the floor for about 10 minutes; get up again and wander around aimlessly a bit more; then go back to looking forlorn and start the cycle again.  Oh, well, it was only one night; the rest of the time, dogsitting is an easy way to help a friend, and barely even impacts my schedule.

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Links #835

July 6, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

You owe me lunch.  –  “Officer” Caleb Pomazon

Today’s video was called to my attention by Jessica Crabbit on Whores’ Day, but this is the first time I’ve had space for it.  The links above it were provided by Dan Savage, The Onion, Jesse Walker, Kevin Wilson, Phoenix Calida, Nun Ya, and IncarcerNation, 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!

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

In the News (#1652)

July 5, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

Meta spent tens of billions of dollars on building the future of the internet, and all it has to show for it is a handful of bored children in the parking lot of an offbrand drive-thru restaurant.  –  James Ball

Without Let or Hindrance (#1459)

When the victim isn’t a nationally-known politician, this usually takes closer to 24 months to resolve than 24 hours:

[Democratic politician] Pete Buttigieg…and his [4-year-old] children were the [targets] of an [“]investigation[“] by Child Protective Services [because of a malicious] anonymous report…both children [were subjected to terrifying] forensic interviews where no family could be present.  Because he…[is a celebrity the ordeal was over in] twenty-four hours…”It’s not lost on me that this happened soon after we shared photos of our family on social media for Father’s Day,” Buttigieg said in his statement…

Shame, Shame (#1607)

An excellent essay on the failure of Zuckerberg’s “metaverse” fantasy:

Mark Zuckerberg was so convinced the metaverse was the next big thing that he renamed his company after it…investing more than $80bn…enough to…cover the UN’s humanitarian fundraising target for 2026—designed to support 87m desperate people worldwide—twice over…History…is littered with…major companies that bet on virtual reality…only to suffer extensive public humiliation and financial loss.  In 1995, at the peak of its powers, Nintendo launched the Virtual Boy, a [hyperbolically-marketed] 3D system…[which] was discontinued…within six months of its launch…CEOs and venture capitalists told us the future was the metaverse, which would definitely involve NFTs, the blockchain, virtual land and more…Almost overnight, all of them are now pronouncing with equal confidence that the future is, in fact, in artificial intelligence—and the story sounds familiar…But we weren’t consulted on the metaverse, either, and as it turned out that mattered a great deal more to the companies than to us.  There are limits to how far big tech moguls can impose their vision of the future…

Shame, Shame (#1609)

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

[Elon Musk] has long promoted [MechaHitler] as a [more vulgar] kind of chatbot…the [reason he] has leaned so hard into that strategy despite [lawsuits, criminal charges and] PR disasters…[is] that NSFW activities account for “well over half” of [MechaHitler]’s traffic …That includes using [MechaHitler] to generate actual porn, as well as “adult role-play chats” and “huge volumes of requests for erotica.”  [MechaHitler] users have even apparently discovered that it’s cheaper to channel such requests through the company’s models intended for writing code…Some employees [are] less than thrilled with being assigned to work on “Ani,” [which is basically MechaHitler in drag].  Others [are]…”embarrassed and disturbed” by [MechaHitler creating]…sexualized images of…children…[unfortunately, the Trump regime doesn’t care and keeps shoveling billions into Musk’s money bin]…

Walled Garden (#1632)

The harder Australia tries to “crack down”, the more foolish it will look:

Australia’s prime minister vowed…to [magically] bullet-proof laws [enforc]ing a social ​media ban for under-16s as the government prepares legal action against platforms [for being unable to do the impossible]…The country’s [asinine] six-month-old experiment is being closely watched by many [wannabe censors] seeking to emulate it [as an excuse for mass surveillance of the internet].  Britain this month said it planned [to pratfall even hard]er [by futilely applying the attempt to] gaming and live-streaming platforms…also…85% of Australians aged 12 to 15 were still using social media three months after the ban took effect, according to a study of 408 adolescents…[but nitwits claim this is] a teething period…and teenagers [will surely start obeying] the [authoritarian] rules [any day now]…

Mad Libs (#1636)

Ford was shocked to discover that autocomplete can’t autocomplete cars:

Ford ha[d]…to rehir[e] hundreds of human workers after it…fired…[them under the idiotic delusion that chatbots could do their jobs.  It re]hired over 350 veteran engineers…over the past three years in order to [correct] mistakes made by automated systems…[which] cost the company billions of dollars…Ford had been increasingly relying on [computerized] inspection systems…[only to discover] that [computer programs can’t think]…After rehiring [actual] engineers, Ford experienced a marked improvement in its quality standards…[surprising no one who isn’t a complete fool.  Yet]…it [still refuses to] abandon its [attempts to replace humans]…

Mad Libs (#1649)

Medical privacy is going the way of the dodo:

…[Hospitals are attempting to] use…[chatbots] to detect or predict the risk of [domestic violence] in clinical notes, imaging reports, and other types of…data…The rationale is [supposed]ly well-intentioned…[because] only about 7% of [victims are willing to talk about it with strangers]…in clinical settings…However, [adults have the right]…to disclose [or not disclose private details of their lives] on their own terms…at a time and place that is right for them…[an algorithm] that detects [the “]risk[” of domestic violence violates that right.  Furthermore]…patients are not told that they are being screened, and there is no option…that allows [them] to opt out.  Only patients who are [informed of the snooping]…will know…[that their complex lives have been reduced and flattened into a “]score[” which becomes a permanent part of]…their medical record…[algorithm pushers pretend] the score is…only…available to the care team[, but that ship sailed long ago]…

Censorship Ascendant (#1651)

Goons are now being dispatched to intimidate people for wrongthink:

After two [of Trump’s goons] tracked down a Syracuse woman…to [threaten] her [because she was mean to their gang on] social media…they went to Rochester to [threaten] David Streever…[who] was with his seven-year-old daughter at Moominworld in Finland…[because he wasn’t there, the goons threatened] Streever’s wife [instead, because he had dared to criticize their former boss]…Todd Lyons [in January.  But after]…Streever and daughter Helen flew back to New York…[on June 25th, the goons tracked him] to [his] hotel, where they [would have barged in on him at 10 PM had]…the hotel staff…not [had the good sense to refuse to answer any questions about them]…Streever [later read] about [the same goons]…similar[ly threate]ning…Paigelynne Gonyea…[recognizing them from images captured by his doorbell camera.  He has contacted] his credit card company to start an investigation of how the [goons discovered which hotel he would be in and when]…

 

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!

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Independence Day 2026

July 4, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

The saddest thing about the collapse of the US empire is that instead of a dignified decline or a catastrophic collapse, we had to endure the spectacle of the White House being turned into the White Trash House.

Posted in Current Events, Holidays, Tyranny | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

Socratic Stupidity?

July 3, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

I would never have guessed that so many people online not only don’t know what a Socratic question is, but are so insecure about their ignorance they call such questions “stupid”.  But last week a parade of clowns on Bluesky declared that such a question I posed was not only “stupid”, but also not a Socratic question at all because…they believe all Socratic questions follow some kind of rigid and predictable form, I guess.  Given that they could simply have consulted the Wikipedia entry I linked above, this cannot be a mere failure of education; it appears to be a manifestation of Asimov’s observation that Americans seem to think that “democracy” means an ignorant opinion is equal to an educated one.  Another factor is that very few (two people as of this writing) of those who responded with more than a “like” or retweet seem to have actually understood the question that was being asked.  Unfortunately, there’s a great deal of that online; most people seem to glance at a sentence or tweet, recognize a few words, quickly form their own question from those few words, and respond to that mistaken notion of the question rather than the one which was actually asked.  I’m not sure if that has to do with the “guess the meaning” school of reading which was popular in US public schools for several decades, or if it’s a manifestation of the inability to focus that seems to plague many younger Americans, or both.  Most social media users would rather guess at the meaning of a tweet and vomit out a quick reaction than actually read the question asked and consider it before replying, or else simply ignore it and move on to something else.  They seem to consider it some kind of moral failing to simply bypass things without spewing out some kind of reaction, yet at the same time they don’t want to invest the cerebral effort to answer like a rational adult rather than like an ill-bred and rather stupid child who would rather be playing in the mud than actually [ugh] thinking.

Posted in Philosophy, Words | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

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