The apparent path of the sun reaches its southernmost point at 22:23 UTC today, making this the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest day of the year in the Southern. This is a time for remembrance, renewal and rebirth; I wish for all my readers the blessings of the season, and pray that all of you get all you hope for in the new year. Blessed Be!
Archive for December, 2018
Yule 2018
Posted in Holidays, tagged holidays, paganism on December 21, 2018| 1 Comment »
Back Issue #66
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged blogging on December 20, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Can you imagine a real “pimp” putting as much thought into it as [prohibitionists] put into their BDSM fantasies? – “In the News (#594)”
Starting next month, the format of this feature is going to change; instead of a (steadily-shrinking) narrative, it will more closely resemble the weekly Links columns; eventually, it will shift to a retrospective of ten years past rather than three. The reason is because so many features now need little description; for this month, once the holidays (St. Nicholas Day, December Seventeenth, Yule, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Eve), guest columnist (David Wraith), fictional interlude (“Christmas Cookie“), Q&A columns (“Sauce for the Goose” and “Immune to the Stuff“), and two columns about the James Deen rape accusations (“Fallen Idol” and “Shattered Idol“) are covered, there would be nothing left to mention if I weren’t including very old columns about my dislike of cocaine (“Do You Party?“); stage names (“What’s In a Name?“); “Couples“; and how “Modern Marriage” is more like a romantic fling than a marriage of the past. 
In the News (#897)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Broker in Pillage, agency denial, asset seizure, brothels, Canada, censorship, dirty, ethics, Facebook, fantasy, Florida, Having and Eating Cake, hysteria, If Men Were Angels, illegal aliens, Imaginary Evils, Lack of Evidence, language, law, lawyers, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Panopticon, Pennsylvania, propaganda, Pyrrhic Victory, rape, Still a Child, streetwalkers, stripping, surveillance, Swedish model, The Mote and the Beam, The Proper Study, The Prudish Giant, The Widening Gyre, TSA, United Kingdom, violence vs. sex workers, Whither Canada? on December 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »
They couldn’t have designed a law better to make it less safe.
– Canadian sex worker
Academics keep “discovering” what we’ve been saying for decades:
[Street] workers are more likely to suffer poor health, violence and abuse in countries where their trade is criminalised, a major review…from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine…found…sex workers suffering repressive policing – including arrest, imprisonment and extortion by officers – were three times more likely to experience sexual or physical violence from a client and were twice as likely to have HIV or another sexually transmitted infection as those who lived in countries where sex work was tolerated. Sex workers who fear that they, or their clients, may be picked up by the police are more likely to engage in risky encounters, unable to take the time to talk to a client before getting into a car or negotiate terms in advance…Their health and safety were at risk not only in countries where sex work was [fully] criminalised, but also…[those with] the “Nordic model”…
A worrying number of vulnerable Chinese women, many of whom are trafficking victims, are being detained under threat of deportation…the women have been picked up in immigration raids on restaurants, brothels and massage parlours…[and] held in detention…with no legal representation or access to interpreters…“These women are…still in fear of their traffickers,” said Natasha Walter, director of Women for Refugee Women…Many of the women do not [claim to be]…victims of trafficking until [they realize it might protect them from deportation]…Shalini Patel…said that late disclosure was…recognised [in “sex trafficking” dogma as a] symptom of trafficking…
“Youth pastors” are as bad as cops:
…The youth director, Dave Hyles, was the son of the charismatic pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, considered at the time the flagship for thousands of loosely affiliated independent fundamental Baptist churches and universities. At least [four] teen girls would accuse Hyles of [rape or] sexual [assault], but he never faced charges or even sat for a police interview related to the accusations. When he got in trouble, Hyles was able to simply move on, from one church assignment to the next…For decades, women and children have faced rampant sexual abuse while worshiping at independent fundamental Baptist churches around the country. The network of churches and schools has often covered up the crimes and helped relocate the offenders…The Star-Telegram discovered at least 412 allegations of sexual misconduct in 187 independent fundamental Baptist churches and their affiliated institutions, spanning 40 states and Canada…the number of abused is [probably] far greater because few victims ever come forward…
Instead of chasing ambulances, these shysters are chasing the “sex trafficking” bandwagon:
…Among the worst forms of modern day slavery is sex trafficking, a heinous crime that disproportionately affects women and children. It may even be happening in your city. Hotels, casinos, resorts, nightclubs, and other [deep-pocketed] establishments [are fantasized by prohibitionists to] play an important role in sex trafficking, because sexual exploitation of trafficking victims often takes place under their roofs…hotels and motels have a financial incentive to look the other way and may not be in a rush to offer the necessary training. At Morgan & Morgan, we find this unacceptable. No one should look the other way when it comes to sex trafficking and we want to hold those who enable it accountable for their inaction. If you are a victim of sex trafficking, we may be able to help. Contact us today…for a confidential, free discussion. You may be entitled to compensation…
“Hold accountable” is a euphemism used by authoritarians to mean “persecute under guise of some kind of moralistic rhetoric”. It’s commonly seen in phrases such as “hold sex buyers accountable”, which means “persecute men for wanting consensual sex”.
On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#577)
…Bella Vendetta…founded the Western Mass –based advocacy group, Team Clearheels 413, to address issues faced by local dancers…many dancers…are dependent upon club managers’ integrity, which leaves them vulnerable to predators in many of the same ways as are those in the broader sex worker community…exotic dance may be legal, but the social stigma attached to the profession discourages performers from seeking assistance for a number of issues…Vendetta was able to start putting together a loose organization of dancers and advocates to address some of the most immediate needs…
Louisiana somehow got a federal court to reverse its own decision striking down a bad law:
Stormy Daniels joined strippers and club workers in a call to repeal a Louisiana law that prevents women between 18 and 20 years old from dancing in clubs, a measure they argue endangers and discriminates against women while failing to combat “trafficking” that its proponents have propped up as a defense for the law…Speakers argued that the creation of another barrier — following club raids that led to forced closures and significant restrictions on dancers — merely limits legal work opportunities for many women and potentially could force others into more dangerous sex work. New Orleans club workers estimate the rule will impact dozens of dancers in their clubs…the [law was passed] in 2016…After several legal challenges, a three-judge panel at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last month reversed its own decision and decided the state can enforce the law…
They were “safeguarded”, no doubt at a “safe house”. How stupid do these pigs think we are?
Police have busted six suspected brothels and…discovered 16 women who were believed to be working as sex workers and safeguarded them…Police also found 14 women hanging around streets and [demanded they go]…to Changing Lives project, which…[harasses] sex work[ers] as well as [subjecting them to anti-sex propaganda]…women could face court if they ignore the [brainwashing] and are found [walking on public] streets [as though they were real people. Then a pig oinked a lot of nonsense about]…”the illegal sex trade”…[and fantasized that] “Brothels can be linked to other wider organised crime”…
They “discovered” them, like inanimate objects hidden in a box. The cop lies in this one are especially egregious, give that the “sex trade” isn’t illegal in the UK, and that massive police operations in the UK have never found more than a single-digit number of “sex trafficking” cases.
Crystal Blanton, [chief propaganda officer] of the Marion County Human Trafficking Task Force, said…”Thousands of people are being human trafficked. Right here in Marion County and across the state of Florida…it’s the internet…Social media has grown the field of human trafficking. It’s easier for these traffickers to make contact with victims…There are recruiters, juvenile recruiters in the schools, working with a pimp of some kind, and they are sent out in the schools and given a job to bring other minors on board,” Blanton [panted as she fingered herself frantically]…
Here’s more detail on Philadelphia’s scam to steal citizens’ property:
…A forfeiture petition for one property lists one gram of marijuana, a half gram of cocaine and some over-the-counter pills as justification…In one case recently settled in a $3 million class-action lawsuit, Norys Hernandez nearly lost the rowhouse she and her sister owned after police arrested her nephew on drug dealing charges…Another family named in the suit fought to save their house from [cops]…after their son was arrested for selling $40 worth of drugs outside of it…None of the homeowners were themselves accused of committing a crime…The money made off of the seized homes went to buy wish list items ranging from new submachine guns to custom uniform embroidery…at least 11 properties…were sold [directly] to [cops]…looking for a side hustle…the Philadelphia Police Department refuse[s] to disclose any information…and…the DA [claims to have] not kept records of…how many properties were sold…These seizures were notably focused in black and Latino neighborhoods with high rates of poverty…
This is a type of surveillance the Stasi would recognize:
…the US…DEA…awarded a contract to an American defense company to build a vacuum cleaner for surveillance purposes….Special Services Group, LLC received a $42,595 contract on November 28 to manufacture a “custom Shop Vac concealment with Canon M50B”…the DEA expects delivery of the spy vacuum on January 01…the DEA [also] purchased an undisclosed number of secret surveillance cameras that are being disguised as streetlights…
TSA’s specific plan is to help DHS build a giant biometric database:
The Transportation Security Administration has set out an alarming vision of pervasive biometric surveillance at airports, which cuts against the right to privacy, the “right to travel” and the right to anonymous association with others. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018…included language that…provide[s] implied Congressional endorsement to biometric screening of domestic travelers…TSA…plans to work with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to roll out increased biometric collection and screening for all passengers, including Americans traveling domestically…it provides no strategy for dealing with passengers who are…misidentified…
News reports frequently claim that Canada’s criminal prostitution laws are failing to achieve their goals. These articles often suggest that the laws were implemented to make sex work safer, healthier and less risky for those who engage in it. Despite these…assertions, these outcomes are not what the laws aim to achieve…On Nov. 29, 2018, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice…upheld the constitutionality of these laws…[however,] the Court specifically rejected the applicants’ argument that an objective of PCEPA is to enhance the safety, security and dignity of people involved in sex work…
I’m glad people are beginning to realize how dangerous Facebook is to freedom:
FOSTA became law almost entirely because Facebook did an about-face on its position on the law — which only recently was revealed to have happened because COO Sheryl Sandberg decided it was important to appease Congress on something, even against the arguments of Facebook’s own policy team. As we pointed out at the time, this was Facebook basically selling out the internet…not only will it not help clean up the mess it caused, it’s leaning in on this new puritanical internet that it wants to create…it has…put up a bunch of new guidelines in its “community standards” document, under the head of “sexual solicitation” that ban a wide variety of things from naughty words to expressing a sexual preference…
Diary #442
Posted in Diary, tagged advertising, blogging, holidays on December 18, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Lorelei and I don’t get to do our Who nights as a regular thing any more, which means y’all don’t get to see lovely pics of us together as often as you used to. But when a lucky gentleman decides to see us together, that’s different (and if you’d like to enjoy the Rivers & McNeill experience yourself, please visit my escort website and let me know)! The last couple of weeks have been quite hectic, what with holiday preparations (including the annual toy drive I concluded last week) and end-of-year stuff, but I’m hoping to finish everything up before Saturday so I can relax a bit through the rest of the holidays. I’m not in a position to enjoy a twelve-day holiday as our ancestors did, but I’m going to try to get as close as possible.
Malice Aforethought
Posted in Current Events, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged censorship, hysteria, law, propaganda, The Red Umbrella, violence vs. sex workers on December 17, 2018| 3 Comments »
Every December 17th, sex workers…renew our pledge to keep fighting for a day in which our own society no longer brands us fair game.
– “Against Violence”
In the year since the last December Seventeenth, the violence against sex workers that the observance protests has grown dramatically worse in the United States, largely due to the intentional and premeditated actions of our own government. The War on Whores, pretended for almost two decades now to be a war on the imaginary scourge of “sex trafficking”, grew to a fever pitch with the passage of FOSTA, a massive internet censorship bill intended to drive sex workers off of the internet and into the streets, where we are easier prey for cops and other predatory men. Naturally, no one law can accomplish what a century of such laws has failed to do, namely wipe sex work out entirely; however, in the time it has taken new overseas advertising sites to appear and people to find ones that work for them, many of the most marginalized of our number were indeed driven to the streets or otherwise forced into more precarious circumstances. But even though the unprecedented scale and viciousness of this assault on our persons and livelihood has galvanized sex worker activism and attracted the attention and sympathy of many who were previously uninterested, far too many reporters, commentators and even would-be allies continue to cede ground to prohibitionists, giving their motives the benefit of the doubt. The great majority of articles on the subject claim that attempts to destroy our lives and incomes and silence our voices are “well-intentioned”, or that men who use oppressive laws as an excuse to literally rape and rob us “want to help”, or that the harm to whores, our clients, or families and our associates are somehow merely “collateral damage” even though every gun in this war is aimed squarely at us. The reason for this minimization of state violence is simple: even though the number of people who support the human right to consensual sex is growing by the month, most of them are too horrified by what is going on to admit that prohibitionists, both in and out of government, are using high-sounding narratives as a cover for a systematic campaign to brutalize, impoverish and exterminate everyone involved in every aspect of the sex trade. This jihad is no more “well-meaning” than the Drug War, alcohol Prohibition, Jim Crow or any other campaign of government violence against individuals and civil rights; it is a well-planned and well-funded program of terrorism designed to punish sexual behavior authoritarians have deemed deviant, and to break the spine of the greatest tool for the facilitation of free thought ever developed by the human race. And until the media and our allies are willing to admit what the Whore Nation already knows, the best we can hope for is to minimize the damage and try to keep things from getting even worse.
Links #441
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Tyranny, tagged cops, disease, drugs, genitalia, holidays, New York, North Dakota, politicians, racism, rape, South Carolina, surveillance, Tennessee, video, Washington (state) on December 16, 2018| 2 Comments »
Babies have shit taste in music. – Clickhole
What better way to celebrate the Yuletide season than with William Shatner’s legendarily-bad singing? The links above the video were provided by Franklin Harris (“does”), Scott Greenfield (“karma”), Sola Love (“nightmare”), Emma Evans (“justice”), and Tim Cushing (“evidence”).
- As one does.
- Instant karma.
- Nightmare of the week.
- Once in a while, real justice is done.
- Funniest thing I’ve seen in quite a while.
- Cops invent evidence to excuse attempted murder of bystander.
From the Archives
- Next they’ll wonder why women working “illegally” increases dramatically.
- Cops, Sweden, the Pope, dinosaurs, Louisiana, Doctor Who & much more.
- Even prohibitionists are growing disturbed by this megalomaniac’s antics.
- This is finally getting attention outside of libertarian & sex worker circles.
- If a cop rapes you, say he paid you instead. THAT he’ll get in trouble for.
- “Feminist” reporter says women are too stupid to manage our own lives.
- Think prosecution would’ve done this if the accused weren’t a politician?
- This popular cop masturbatory fantasy has made it across the Channel.
- I honestly couldn’t think of what other category I could put this under.
- “Expert sex therapists” have never labelled “sex addiction” a disorder.
- Yet the government still won’t admit that the TSA attracts pedophiles.
- Eva Keene on the larger implications of the persecution of Backpage.
- “Pizzagate” was a predictable outgrowth of “sex trafficking” hysteria.
- No other “crime” gets this treatment merely on a busybody’s say-so.
- The many times I’ve been stalked and sexually harassed by cops.
- Indian feminists’ enlightenment puts American ones to shame.
- Despite the glaring absence of any escorts, this is good to see.
- The truth about “sex trafficking” dawns in the mind of a judge.
- Cops, chants, train stunts, sauce, weaponry and much more.
- Liz Brown is as suspicious of the Sherri Papini case as I am.
- Prohibitionists don’t really give a shit about Cyntoia Brown.
- While US politicians are marching along with a witch hunt.
- Reflecting on three years of dramatic changes in my life.
- Deportation is euphemized as “sending migrants home”.
- A disproportionate number of actual pimps are cops.
- No matter what prohibitionists claim, sex is a need.
- I’m sorry, but I find this both funny and satisfying.
- The “police explorer” rape trap for underage girls.
- An American sex worker on working in Europe.
- A judge agrees that the law says what it says.
- My annual Toys for Tots drive wraps up.
- When will journalists grow up?
- My January 2017 tour dates.
- Rapist cops of the week.
- R.I.P. Christine Keeler.
In the News (#896)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Broker in Pillage, activism, agency denial, Arizona, asset seizure, Banishment, censorship, Check Your Premises, cops, dehumanization, dirty, Disaster, drivers, drugs, end demand, Facebook, Feminine Pragmatism, hysteria, Imaginary Victims, language, Michigan, New York, Oregon, politicians, pragmatism, propaganda, racism, rape, serial killers, sex offender registry, Shame Shame, Spain, Surplus Women, Swedish model, Tennessee, Texas, The Course of a Disease, The Prudish Giant, Too Close To Home, Traffic in Nonsense, Traffic Jam, Venezuela, Washington (state), yellow journalism on December 15, 2018| Leave a Comment »
In the minds of the regulate-and-incarcerate crowd, it is much better to treat unsolicited butt or genital sightings with the same intensity as we do matters of national security. – Elizabeth Nolan Brown
The Swedish rot has reached Spain:
The Spanish government is proposing a spate of new legal measures to [persecute] prostitut[es]. These include penalizing clients who solicit for sex and punishing landlords who make properties available to sex workers. Further measures would also look to prosecute [people cops decide to label] traffickers…and…decriminalizing [sex workers, even though they are not currently criminalized]…Sex work is…neither illegal nor regulated [in Spain] but Prime Minister Sanchez came to power in June with a strongly [misogynist] agenda and promising to fight the e[mployment and sexual autonomy] of women…
24 years of state-inflicted torture finally end for the San Antonio 4:
…Judge Catherine Torres-Stahl handed out orders…expunging the records of Elizabeth Ramirez…Cassandra Rivera…Kristie Mayhugh …and Anna Vasquez…all government agencies that house information on criminal charges, indictments, arrests or convictions related to the cases in which the women were found innocent must seal or destroy the records. The women consistently maintained their innocence from that day 24 years ago when Ramirez’s nieces, then ages 7 and 9, accused the women of brutalizing them while on a weekend visit…After the women served nearly 15 years in prison, one of the nieces publicly recanted. She said family members upset that her aunt had come out as a lesbian told her to lie. So did her father, who…was upset that Ramirez had spurned his advances…it was also shown that [bogus] science helped support the charge…each of them…[has] receive[d] state compensation of about $80,000 for each year they were imprisoned — a little more than $1 million apiece…
Another exercise in cop-fellation and myth-regurgitation masquerading as journalism:
…Charles Peters…[of] the self-titled “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”…was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine after a jury convicted him in October of nine counts of second-degree promoting prostitution. Peters…is appealing his conviction…[and free on] $75,000 bond while his appeal is pending…
Though she didn’t write that moronic headline (“Ringleader”? Who the fuck uses that word with a straight face any more? Has the editor been watching ’30s gangster movies?), Sara Jean Green still needs to be ashamed of herself for this garbage, especially considering that I know for a fact she has the phone numbers of several prominent Seattle sex workers (including mine). Prohibitionists claim what I do for money is “demeaning”, but I don’t have to infantilize peaceful women, demonize peaceful men, or lionize violent thugs.
Despite some conciliatory language and ground-ceding, this is a good article:
…the Tucson Weekly accessed a spreadsheet of all [Southern Arizona “sex trafficking”] investigations in the three years since the beginning of the grant and found 10 people who were convicted of trafficking and related crimes. Out of 516 investigations…[only] 23 people were categorized as arrested for trafficking…of those 23…[only] 14 were [actually] charged with trafficking [or] other sex crimes…Of the 14…10 people were convicted or took plea deals, three have ongoing court cases and one committed suicide after being released on bail…[only] two cases resemble the mainstream narrative of a…[woman] forced to commit commercial sex acts against her will…In one case, a drunk, 71-year-old registered sex-offender in a wheelchair persistently and crudely offered a 14-year-old girl money for sexual favors at a bus stop…In another case, a man offered to pay three 15-year-old boys and one girl to [perform] sex acts in front of him. Some of the cases involve runaways…In other cases, the…[so-called] trafficker [was the sex worker’s] friend or boyfriend…The spreadsheet indicates 52 misdemeanor arrests related to prostitution or not having an escort license…
Anti-whore indoctrination has wholly infested the US trucking industry:
…Kendis Paris…of Truckers Against Trafficking…is one member of the 15-person Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking, which was developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation in October. The group’s goal is to develop strategies for [encouraging truck drivers to snitch on sex workers]…The committee includes leaders of [rescue industry] organizations…[anti-whore propagandists] and representatives of the trucking, bus, rail, aviation, maritime and port industries…Truckers Against Trafficking leads [indoctrination] programs and distributes [propaganda] materials to various sectors of the industry…About 40 states have adopted aspects of Truckers Against Trafficking’s [indoctrination] model. The group has worked with [pigs] who give [propaganda] wallet cards to truck drivers…
Even by despicable modern US standards, this is an incredibly evil ruling:
A woman who was 16 when she killed a Nashville man who [assaulted] her…must serve at least 51 years in prison before she’s eligible for release, according to the Tennessee Supreme Court…The court’s five justices were unanimous in their decision against Brown, who was convicted of killing a…[client] in 2004 when he [roughed her up and]…she feared he would kill her…Brown argues her sentence is unconstitutional, citing a 2012 opinion by the US Supreme Court that said mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders violate the US Constitution…
Brown’s only chance now is the outgoing Tennessee governor, who can pardon her and commute her sentence.
New York just won’t stop trying to subject nude-pic-posters to police violence:
Under [New York politician Joseph] Borrelli’s measure, it would be a misdemeanor offense “to send an unsolicited sexually explicit video or image to another person with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm such other person,” punishable by up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine. Sexually explicit means anything showing “genitals, pubic area or anus of any person”…It’s already illegal for adults to send sexually explicit images to minors…[and] already illegal…to harass someone, stalk them, or threaten them. So sending sexually explicit images “with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm” could already be prosecuted under another statute, provided there actually is evidence of harassing or threatening intent. What that leaves us with is basically a way for anyone to press charges against anyone who sends them a sexualized image…The measure would provide plenty of opportunity for jilted lovers to get even with criminal charges…The opportunity is also ripe for abuse against sex workers who advertise online, whether by those who enjoy harassing them for sport (as with last week’s so-called ThotAudit), by customers who feel slighted, or by law enforcement…
With any luck, SCOTUS will shut down this extortion scheme and others like it:
A Detroit woman [named Crystal Sisson] is suing Wayne County, Michigan, after police [stole] her car [because she bought] $10 worth of [legal] marijuana…[from] a [licensed] Detroit medical marijuana dispensary…the sheriff’s deputies cited her for “illegally occupying a place where controlled substances are sold” and seized her 2015 Kia Soul…To get her car back, Sisson had to pay the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office $1,200 to settle the forfeiture case, a typical practice in the county…the Supreme Court is currently considering a similar asset forfeiture case, Timbs v. Indiana, that revolves around the case of Tyson Timbs, whose Land Rover, worth $41,000, was seized after he sold two grams of heroin to a [narc]…Court watchers strongly suspect the Supreme Court will incorporate the Eighth Amendment, making the Excessive Fines clause apply to states. Sisson is only one of hundreds of Wayne County residents who’ve been surveilled, pulled over, had their car [stolen], and been forced to pay out more than $1,000 to get it back, all for visiting legal, state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries…
Caging people permanently, without trial or sentence:
…William Welsh has a number of convictions for child molestation and sexual abuse dating back to 1979. In 2011 he was no longer in custody, having served his required prison and probationary sentences. He was, however, required to register on Oregon’s Sex Offender Registry because of his prior convictions. When he traveled to Belize in 2011 and failed to update the address listed on his registration, he was charged, and pled guilty, to violating…registration requirements – a felony – and he was sentenced to 673 days in prison. A few weeks prior to his release, the Attorney General designated him a “sexually dangerous person”; the reviewing court agreed, and he was [indefinitely] committed…In 2016, however, his conviction (for having failed to update his registration) was vacated, after the Supreme Court, in US v. Nichols, 136 S.Ct. 113, held that SORNA did not require a person to update his registration when he was traveling to a foreign country. So he petitioned for a release from custody, arguing that because he had not lawfully been “in custody” of the Bureau of Prisons…he could not, lawfully, have been subject to the commitment proceeding for “sexually dangerous persons” in the first place. But his request for release was denied, first by the federal district court and then by the 4th Circuit…
Let’s play a game: Is this a rationalization of cop behavior or serial killer behavior?
A U.S. Border Patrol agent has been charged with capital murder after telling investigators he killed four female sex workers because he considered them worthless and that he thought he was doing something good for his Texas border city…[the] prosecutor said…he will seek the death penalty if Juan David Ortiz is found guilty…
“Dreams“. How old is the imbecile who writes this shit? Eight?
…Escalona was one of at least 41 Venezuelan women murdered abroad from February 2017 to this November. They had fled Venezuela’s economic turmoil. They left their homeland with dreams. Some were forced into prostitution. All met death…
No. These women weren’t “following dreams” like refugees from a fucking Hallmark card; they were trying to survive by fleeing a collapsing socialist dictatorship. They were not naive children like so many American women; they were adults who had to take risks thanks to authoritarians criminalizing their pragmatic choice to cross borders to work. And since criminalization attracts criminals, sometimes they lost those gambles. The villains here aren’t imaginary “trafficking rings”; they’re the fucking politicians who force desperate people to deal with criminals to have a chance to escape hell.
I’m not sure how much this will help, but it certainly can’t hurt:
…the new platform Tribunus has allowed web users to weigh in on critical issues when petitions and digital comments are no longer viable steps. On Tribunus’ simple site, US residents can contact legislators directly by placing a phone call, sending them a fax, or — if their fax machine is turned off — quickly sending them a paper letter instead. Tribunus’ creator, a Bay Area programmer who asked to be identified as Michael, said he first launched the platform to help defeat a legal measure threatening California sex workers (successfully, after protests and hundreds of letters). Later on, he added pages addressing immigrant family separation and net neutrality…
Facebook turns the dial on its anti-sex “standards” up to 11:
Facebook just…adopted…new “sexual solicitation” rules…[that] ban “implicit sexual solicitation”, including the use of sexual slang, the solicitation of nude images, discussion of “sexual partner preference,” and even expressing interest in sex…the new policy [even] bars “vague suggestive statements, such as ‘looking for a good time tonight’”…discussion of sexual exploitation is allowed, but discussion of consensual, adult sex is taboo. That’s a classic censorship model: speech about sexuality being permitted only when sex is presented as dangerous and shameful…such…rules can incentivize abuse from…bad actors…[including] state actors…This process gives the user no meaningful opportunity to appeal a bad decision. Given the rules’ focus on sexual interests and activities, it’s easy to imagine who would be the easiest targets: sex workers…[and] members of the LGBTQ community…
From the way these rules are worded, they seem to even ban bland statements like “I’m lesbian” (which is “expressing sexual partner preference”).
Signal Boost
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, Perception, Tyranny, tagged activism, advertising, cell phones, censorship, Disaster, Florida on December 14, 2018| Leave a Comment »
I’ve been asked to signal boost two messages for sex workers from organizations in our community, both of which provide opportunities to help yourself and other sex workers at the same time. The first is about an essay contest from the ad website Slixa:
The passage of SESTA/FOSTA earlier this year…threatens the safety and livelihood of providers all across the world. In an effort to gauge the impact of this law and how targeted communities might be helped, Slixa is announcing a call for essay submissions about the impact of SESTA/FOSTA, and a $10,000 USD total prize to be shared with the winning entrants and advocacy organizations of their choosing…in an effort to call extra attention to the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (December 17th), submissions will be open [today], December 14th, 2018, and we are looking for voices like yours to help us raise awareness, both of the International Day and of the profoundly negative impact of SESTA/FOSTA on our community. You can find details about the call for entries here, and information about Slixa here…
The other is from the ever-awesome SWOP Behind Bars, who has made a deal to supply inexpensive cell phone service that also helps SWOP in its important mission to support incarcerated sex workers!
Our Solidarity Network lets you choose the premium network that is best for your area! It’s the exact same networks as the “big” providers but for a lot less!
- Bring your current phone or get a great deal on a new phone!
- No contract and you can leave any time.
- Unlimited talk, text, and data.on America’s fastest unlimited network.
- Taxes & fees included.
- No surprise fees on your monthly plan bill.
- Texting & data abroad.
- Unlimited in Mexico & Canada.
The Solidarity Network lets YOU be in charge of your mobile service! BRING YOUR OWN PHONE or choose from a wide variety of phones on sale at Great prices!
I’m not planning to make a habit of promoting projects in this manner, but a chance for a sex worker to win a cash prize and an easy way for us to help less fortunate sisters are both very good reasons to make an exception!
The Limits of Patience
Posted in Miscellaneous, Q & A, tagged cell phones, internet, video on December 13, 2018| 9 Comments »
Every so often, I’m forced to narrow my contact parameters a little bit more. First I started turning down requests for me to do unpaid guest posts, then requests for written interviews. More recently, I asked readers with questions to put them in a more concise form so it doesn’t take quite so much effort to read and answer them. And now I’m afraid I need to add another one, about interviews this time: if you want one, you’re going to need to conduct it in a way that doesn’t stress me out and require me to decode the bizarre “logic” of software engineers. If you want to talk to me on the phone, that’s completely fine. If you want to get together in person for an old-fashioned pad-and-pencil interview, or to record me for a podcast (either audio-only or with video) on your own equipment, we can do that. And there are even a couple of online interview tools (Zoom and Google Hangouts) that generally work OK, though I’ve had problems with both of those (especially Hangouts) when the person who wants to interview me tries some kind of fancy thing. If you want to use one of those, you need to assume all responsibility for technical details because I’m a whore, not a programmer; don’t think if something goes wrong I’m going to be able to figure it out on my end, because it’s very unlikely that I will, and the attempt will frustrate me and possibly even make me cry. Skype? Won’t work on my Chromebook. I’m reasonably sure Facetime won’t either, because Apple, and I’m not going to try so don’t ask. Nor will I respond well to requests that I “just download the whateveritis software” or “watch this YouTube video, it explains how to do it”. Nope. If you want to interview me, you need to handle the technical details of anything more complicated than “click here”, “please look into the camera” or “answer the phone”. In short, the only part I want to have to deal with is “show up and be fabulous”, because that I’m good at. And crying makes my makeup run.
In the News (#895)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged adolescence, agency denial, Business As Usual, California, cell phones, censorship, cops, dehumanization, dirty, Disaster, Egypt, Florida, India, internet, Islam, law, Little Boxes, masturbation, porn, prisons, Property of the State, racism, rape, robots, Secret Squirrel, serial killers, sex work is work, South Africa, streetwalkers, Surplus Women, surveillance, Texas, The Last Shall Be First, The Prudish Giant, The Pygmalion Fallacy, The Rape Question, transgender, United Kingdom, video, violence vs. sex workers, Virginia, virginity, Worse Than I Thought on December 12, 2018| 3 Comments »
I am more frightened of the police than I am of [a rapist]. – Sipho
Convicted killer Samuel Little, 78, could turn out to be among the country’s most prolific serial killers in history, and one that, until now, law enforcement didn’t even realize existed…after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2014 for three murders in Southern California between 1986 and 1989, Little recently began confessing to dozens more [as part of a bargain in which he will be moved to a prison in Texas]. In total, Little has confessed to killing 90 women across more than a dozen states between 1970 and 2005…and…the FBI…has been able to link 34 unsolved murders to Little’s confessed crimes…While Little is fuzzy about dates, he has a chillingly detailed memory of…what his victims looked like and how they were killed…Little targeted marginalized women, many of them women of color, and the FBI has admitted that many of the murder cases they’ve linked to Little were not just unsolved, but barely investigated; some of his victims haven’t even been identified. And although Little, a former competitive boxer, usually beat his victims and then strangled them while masturbating, according to the FBI, “many of these deaths were not classified as homicides [because NHI] but attributed to drug overdoses, accidents, or natural causes”…
How to totally destroy your relationship with your teen offspring:
…“We offer a variety of options for parents whether they are simply looking out for their teens overall safety or concerned for the teen that may be sneaking out of the house at night or at risk of running away,” a sales video for Florida’s Tampa Bay Monitoring informs prospective customers…Frank Kopczynski, the owner of Tampa Bay Monitoring…also runs Action Plus Bail Bonds…“We provide a bracelet that is near-impossible to cut off,” Kopczynski [said]…[a microphone allows] staff [to] monitor the teen covertly…A competing teen GPS monitoring service says of their systems, “This device is also great if your juvenile goes on spring break!”…Tampa Bay Monitoring also offers an “optional, hardened steel encased security cuff for high-risk teens”…
People with children are uniquely vulnerable to state coercion:
Child Protective Services workers…pressured a Harris County investigator to file charges against the mother whose case prompted a $127,000 sanction against the agency…Dillon and Melissa Bright [sued the state]…after CPS [abducted]…their children…[using invented claims] of child abuse…Following an October court hearing in which a CPS caseworker repeatedly pleaded the Fifth Amendment on the stand [to avoid admitting prior perjury], the family ultimately won back their kids and last month Juvenile Judge Mike Schneider slapped the state with what may be the largest-ever sanction against the agency. [The pressure to file further spurious charges started soon after]…
An Egyptian actress [was]…charged with public obscenity after she showed up at the closing ceremony of a film festival in Cairo wearing a see-through dress that revealed the entirety of her legs. Rania Youssef’s trial, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 12, follows a complaint to the chief prosecutor by a group of [busybody] lawyers…Youssef faces up to five years in prison if convicted…
Amateurs could learn so much about business from whores:
…Why [do] sex workers show so many more leadership attributes than a business leader? The answer is straightforward—out of necessity. A business leader has as many leadership attributes as he needs to have, and…just one or two might suffice…Rarely does he have to be an all-rounder…because he has enough people to cover for him. The female sex worker does not have this luxury. Her world is far more complex, much more challenging. She must deal with emotional, health, and financial crises all the time. There is the constant threat of violence, and her first mission is really to survive. She has no power, but still must stay in control. She has no support system, but she must cope. She simply cannot win with just one or two shots in her game; she needs a whole repertoire…
The Last Shall Be First (#624)
The only “mistake” here was that the victim wasn’t actually trans:
A woman is suing employees of a Florida jail after they…forced her to spend…[many] hours in a cell surrounded by dozens of men, because they suspected she was transgender…Fior Pichardo de Veloz had come to Miami from the Dominican Republic to witness the birth of her grandchild in 2013, when she was arrested at the airport on an outstanding drug charge…Due to her history of high blood pressure, Pichardo de Veloz was examined by a nurse as a precaution. The nurse saw she had been taking hormone pills and questioned her about her gender. Despite Pichardo de Veloz’s denial of being a man, the nurse added a note to her file that read: “Transgender, male parts, female tendencies.” The nurse notified a doctor, who reclassified Pichardo de Veloz as male without an examination…[she] was transferred to…an all-male jail, and shared a cell with about 40 men, who jeered at her…for 10 hours and said she was terrified to go to the bathroom and “urinated on herself instead”…[when] family members [complained]…she was…given a new examination [while]…several male [cops watched]…laughed at her and…took a photo…
Understand what happened here: the nurse fully intended to put a transwoman into a situation where she was likely to be raped. She could easily have determined the woman’s genitalia by examining her, but then she couldn’t have claimed it was a “mistake” to put her with men.
Can you imagine any non-cop getting only three months for aggravated rape?
A Colorado [pig] who [raped] a handcuffed woman…was sentenced to 90 days in jail followed by four years on probation…His victim was left with PTSD…Curtis Lee Arganbright…[was supposed] to take the woman home [after a minor incident at a hospital, for which the hospital declined to press charges]…on the way to her house…he…stopped his…car…and [vaginally raped] her…on the [hood] while she was still cuffed. He then…oral[ly raped her]…before [threatening her if she told anyone]…She returned the hospital the following day [to report the]…rape…Addressing the incident when it first came to light in August 2017, Westminster Police Chief Tim Carlson [tried to divert attention from the crime by talking about his sadfeelz]…
Toasters have no “virginity” and cannot “consent” to anything:
Sex robots [do not exist] at the moment…but [that doesn’t stop reporters from calling sex doll rental arcades]…“robot brothels”…feel out the market in the US and Canada. But if a [doll] hasn’t “had sex” yet, does that make it a virgin? A crowdfunding campaign to open the world’s first consent-focused [sex doll rental arcade]…launched by Abyss Creations employee Unicole Unicron last month would argue that it does indeed…a $155,000 funding target [failed miserably by reaching only $2659 even though]…backers [could] pledge $10,000 to be the first person to [masturbate with] a [doll] at Eve’s Robot Dreams…in California…is putting a price on a robot’s virginity really the best marketing strategy for a [fake] brothel that’s focusing on the idea of [fake] consent?…
I’m sorry, that’s all can quote; it’s just all too stupid even with my extensive editorialization.
Why do men not get that an informal contract without a lawyer witness would offer no protection?
…women [are] being asked to record “consent videos” before having [amateur] sex with men who fear they will be accused of assault afterwards…this then allows the person who recorded the video to use it as “evidence” that their partner gave consent before having sex…barrister Kate Fortescue [said]…”In this digital age, a jury is nearly always asked to look at material from phones and computers to help them decide the issue of consent. Evidence of pre-recorded consent is clearly relevant and something a jury could consider. However, even if consent was freely given, such recordings could never provide a blanket defence”…
Seriously, guys, if you’re really this worried just stick to pros and leave the amateurs alone.
Facebook can’t even follow its own “standards”:
Curator and art historian Ruben Cordova [foolishly] thought that Facebook was the perfect platform to archive the photographic materials equivalent to almost a decade’s worth of his research. He created a network of albums, links, commentaries, and comparanda online, sometimes using those resources for his lectures at universities and galleries. This abundance of scholarship even included materials necessary for Cordova’s forthcoming publication. But…in the early morning of November 16…Facebook…permanently disabled his account due to an alleged violation of community standards banning sexually explicit content…[because an] algorithm in[correc]tly identified the nude woman in John De Andrea’s hyperrealistic Self-Portrait with Sculpture (1980) as a living human being…the image…was just one of about 240…he uploaded from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s popular Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body exhibition…[and even] included a link to the museum website, which would presumably allow a human moderator to fact-check Cordova’s appeal against his ban…when the art historian did try to appeal Facebook’s decision, he found that none of his messages reached the social media giant through his computer, receiving multiple error messages instead…
We did warn you this wouldn’t stop with sex workers:
Tumblr will permanently ban adult content from its platform on December 17th in [celebration of the infliction of violence on sex workers]…The new policy’s announcement comes just days after Tumblr was removed from Apple’s iOS App Store over a child pornography incident, but it extends far beyond that matter alone…Banned content includes photos, videos, and GIFs of human genitalia, female-presenting nipples, and any media involving sex acts, including illustrations…The new guidelines exclude text, so erotica remains permitted. Illustrations and art that feature nudity are still okay — so long as sex acts aren’t depicted — and so are breastfeeding and after-birth photos…[existing] posts with [censored] content will be set to private, which will prevent them from being reblogged or shared elsewhere…Users who run adult blogs can also export their content before the change takes place in order to save what they have…Since Tumblr was founded in 2007, it has largely turned a blind eye to adult content…[which made it] a safe place [for gender and sexual minorities] to enjoy, share, and discuss…adult content…
It’s the same everywhere our work is even partially criminalized:
One in three of the 57 sex workers surveyed [in South Africa] reported they had been raped by policemen, and more than half said police officers had demanded bribes from them in exchange for escaping arrest or abuse…From interviews with a further 61 sex workers, the Sonke and Sweat researchers documented horrific examples of police forcing the women to have sex with animals, compelling them to eat used condoms and refusing to assist them after they had reported abuse at the hands of clients…in November 2015, [when] a sex worker…was found dead at “The Bush” [a scrub-covered field where sex workers take clients]…police…refused to take…statements [from her friends]…Instead…the police raided “The Bush” two weeks later, setting fire to their shacks and destroying their personal possessions…
Members of the Virginia State Crime Commission endorsed a package of anti-sex-[worker] legislation…that would…create “John schools” for people caught [in cop stings] and make it illegal to charge for “masturbatory services”…“Happy endings”…are currently not included in the state’s prostitution statutes, but local governments can individually act to define the transactions as illegal sex acts…[prohibitionists quoted some racist propaganda]…from…Polaris Project [that infantilizes Asian migrant women so as to deny them agency]…Another piece of legislation approved by the commission would create a [new anti-whore bureaucracy]…and…proposed “John schools” [to indoctrinate ordinary men in anti-whore propaganda]…Another…would define [any associate of an underage sex worker] as caretakers…and allow social service agencies to take emergency custody of [those declared] victims, [imprisoning them indefinitely under the guise of “protection”]…
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