[Kamala] Harris is basically a QAnon cheerleader for people who fancy themselves too sophisticated for that crap. – Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Crypto-moralists always pretend their lust to ban things is about “health” or “safety”:
Critics are lining up to blast a report, issued by [the federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory] Committee earlier this summer, that urges the government to make steep cuts to the definition of moderate alcohol consumption…DGAC…policies include everything from recommending how many servings of vegetables people should consume in a day to determining what foods to serve to troops, schoolchildren, and prisoners…The report seeks to halve the DGAC’s longstanding definition of moderate drinking for men—no more than two drinks per day—to no more than one drink per day. (The recommendation for women, set for years at no more than one drink per day, remains unchanged)…five Harvard Medical School faculty doctors—including three who served on one or more prior iterations of the DGAC…argue the…slash…is a “limited, arbitrary, and unsystematic treatment of alcohol consumption” that is based on “limited, arbitrary, and unsystematic evidence”…the DGAC appears to have “ignored” three decades of research…in…[order] to support claims made by members of the DGAC prior to appointment…In other words…anti-alcohol DGAC members focused only on research that supports arguments those members wanted to make all along…
A spike in migrants moving north through Panama has [cops fantsizing] the country will become an international center for human trafficking. Last year, nearly 22,000 migrants from Haiti, Cuba and a number of African and Asian countries were [arrested] after crossing the perilous Darién jungle along the Panama-Colombia border…The journey of a migrant…isn’t cheap or easy. Migrants usually learn of the method from friends or family members who made the trip before them, or find instructions posted online…Often, migrants pay for smuggling through what analysts call “sponsors,” usually family members or friends already in the United States…
Swedish model regimes would’ve instead targeted the victim for surveillance:
Michael Donald Grout attempted to blackmail…a…sex [worker], then followed through on his threat and [out]ed her [to her parents]…he…was sentenced in…Palmerston North [New Zealand]…to four months’ home detention…The victim was 18 at the time, more than 40 years Grout’s junior…Grout [claimed in court that he] became fearful for his own health after reading…an…advertisement that said the woman provided unprotected sex. This was confirmed through an interaction with another of her clients…[but rather than distancing himself from her to protect his supposedly-compromised immune system] he obtained nude photographs of the woman and…[demanded she submit to rape or] he would send the photos to her parents…she…then…blocked the [anonymous] account [from which he was sending the threats, and he retaliated by sending]…a courier package [which] arrived at the home of [her] parents [on December 19]…her mother opened it and found several naked photos of her daughter. Attached was a note wishing the couple a Merry Christmas and happy New Year. “You must be proud of her,” Grout wrote…
The FOSTA challenge is proceeding again:
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation is suing (again) to get FOSTA ruled unconstitutional…[on the grounds that it] violates the First and Fifth Amendments…Woodhull’s motion for summary judgment…also takes aim at the law’s retroactive scope—FOSTA says you can be punished for violating it even before the law went into effect [even though such laws are prohibited in Article I of the Constitution]…
The Course of a Disease (#1020)
Maltese prohibitionists are strikingly loony, even for prohibitionists:
Malta’s Prostitution Reform Technical Committee excludes [prohibitionists] who [persecute and infantilize] sex workers, [prohibitionists] w[hi]ned….“Nordic model” [fanatics are upset that]…the state [is instead considering]…decriminalisation…[the prohibitionists vomited idiocy about “]sex hub tourism[” (whatever that is supposed to mean)] and “European Thailand”…[and also] called for [persecution of] strip clubs, a…police [rape gang, and forcible “conversion therapy”]…for…victims of [the police]…
I only hope this turns out to be true:
Ongoing tests of facial recognition technology continue to show that the technology is baffled when people wear masks of the sort that have become widespread (and even mandatory) in some places during the current pandemic. Forty-one newly tested algorithms—some of which were designed to compensate for face coverings—show the same dramatically elevated error rates as those examined earlier. The tests have important implications for privacy at a time…of political instability and growing concern over law enforcement excesses, when people may have a strong interest in making identification of opponents and protesters difficult for the powers-that-be…
A good argument for refusing to roll over and let yourself be robbed:
What happens when innocent people stand up to government bullies who use civil forfeiture laws to steal their property? In many cases, the bullies, unaccustomed to such resistance, fold like a cheap suit…the government returned Kevin McBride’s Jeep, which…the Pima County Attorney’s Office was demanding a $1,900 ransom for the safe return of…But the day after the Goldwater Institute threatened to sue on McBride’s behalf…prosecutors changed their tune…
Regarding
These crypto-moralists are apparently unaware that for most of the 18th and 19th centuries, hard apple cider (made from more or less inedible apples like crab apples) was an everyday beverage for ordinary people. Per capita consumption has been estimated at about a gallon or more per week, including children.
People drank cider because available water often carried diseases, and cider did not. This is also true for wine and beer. A bit of alcohol kills bacteria in water.
Alcohol content of hard cider ranged, and still ranges, from about 3.5% to about 13% by volume.
Even many 19th century alcohol prohibitionists didn’t campaign against cider, wine and beer. They campaigned against distilled liquor.
Ask a crypto-moralist how the USA survived those centuries.
Regarding <blockquoteDisaster (#1009) The FOSTA challenge is proceeding again:
It is good to see that the Woodhull Foundation is re-filing their FOSTA challenge. They have excellent legal counsel. I hope they prevail, and I’m confident that they will prevail at least on the ex post facto issue against FOSTA. That issue is almost a no-brainer, for anyone who isn’t a copsucker. Ex post facto criminal laws are expressly banned by the Constitution. It lurks in quasi-criminal civil statutes like FOSTA.
And black-robed copsuckers despise the Constitution and the First Amendment.
These people are not about facts. They are about imposing their will (no matter how disconnected from reality and how deranged) on others. Hence facts have no impact on them. Sad but true.
Re: Cuties. I’ve only watched the trailer for “Cuties”, and it’s simply not my type of show. But how is this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-CJ8i9UzTY) video from 2010 any different than what is being shown on “Cuties”?
Pyrrhic Victory:
From what I understand of the technology (I am an IT security expert but not an expert on biometrics), this is unfortunately just a temporary set-back. If this situation continues long enough (as it may), they can compensate for the loss of some features and use others. Tuning this may take a few years though, this is not a fast process. The “new” algorithms referred to are cheap stunts to make a quick buck.