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Archive for October, 2021

Halloween 2021

Happy Halloween, dear readers, and Blessed Be!

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I could be wrong, but I could also be right.  –  Alida Bailleul

One of things I’ve always liked about Blue Oyster Cult is their willingness to do songs about topics other than the typical ones, including a number about sci-fi, fantasy, and horror movies, such as this seasonal offering.  The first and last links above it were provided by Cop Crisis, and the others by Jonathan, Miranda Kane, Franklin Harris, and Jesse Walker, in that order.

From the Archives

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This case is important…because of…Texas’s cavalier and contemptuous mechanism for shielding from review potential violations of constitutional rights.  –  The Firearms Policy Coalition

Above the Law  

A rare case of a government functionary actually being punished for his crimes:

A [typical and representative porcine creature] will now spend life in prison himself after [raping women he was paid by the State to haul from one cage to another like livestock]…A federal judge in Little Rock, Arkansas sentenced Eric Scott Kindlay…to life in prison plus five years.  Kindlay…[ran] his own private prison transport company, signing contracts with local jails and [other government cage stacks to haul]…people who had been arrested on out-of-state warrants.  The…woman in the 2017 case testified that Kindlay [raped]…her…on a deserted stretch of road [en route from Alabama to Arizona]…in 2014…Kindlay [orally raped another woman]…after telling her that he had gotten lost.  Kindlay [attacked both]…while [they were] handcuffed.  While only two charges of sexual assault were listed on the indictment, a total of six women testified…that…for hundreds of miles…he [repeatedly] “threatened to kill them and made sexually explicit comments that escalated in intensity and depravity”…[he raped one] woman…in a park bathroom…a[nd another]…on [a] desolate hiking trail…in the middle of a snowstorm.  The individual [victims] did not apparently know that the others existed until the trial…[the] FBI…uncovered a total of 16 women who Kindlay had either harassed or assaulted from 2012 to 2017.  Eleven of these women submitted…statements…

Dysphemisms Galore (#345)

Many “sex trafficking” fetishists are also fixated on hentai:

…the web of human trafficking is a sordid saga…of dream merchants…with the connivance of traffickers, whose…illegal immigrants, once caught in these tentacles, most often succumb to…[being] deeply absorbed in the flesh trade…

Torture Chamber (#1143)

Stop faking!

Marc Crawford was booked into a Kentucky jail in May 2017.  Just shy of a month later, he left state custody in a body bag…[after] succumb[ing] to a previously diagnosed case of lung cancer, one for which state officials and health care contracting companies re[fused] to provide him basic treatment…Correct Care Solutions LLC, one of those contracting companies, refused to ensure Crawford received his scheduled chemotherapy treatments, and s[crews refused]…to give Crawford his prescriptions, took off his pain-medication patch, and put him on psychoactive medications that did not[hing to] treat his illness.  [Screws yelled “Stop faking!]…as Crawford vomited blood, and senior s[crews]…rebuffed several requests from a lower-level employee to [actually] give him [his prescribed medication]…

A Broker in Pillage (#1161)

Philadelphia has many different ways to rob its citizens:

Philadelphia’s notorious civil forfeiture program…ended in 2018 as a result of a 2014 class action lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice…The organization…recently surveyed 407 of the 30,000 people whose property was seized under Philadelphia’s program…the median value of seized items…was just $600.  More than two-thirds…were valued at $1,800 or less.  The median value of all property seized in a single case was $1,370.  Cash seizures…involved amounts as low as $25.  The cops even [stole] “a cologne gift set worth $20″ and a pair of crutches…In three-quarters of the cases…owners were either never arrested, never charged, or never convicted.  Yet…only 43 percent of [victims]…succeeded…[in getting] their property back…at a median cost of $3,500…and…[taking] nine months on average.  Some had to wait years…”just four ZIP codes in the city’s center” accounted for 57 percent of Philadelphia forfeitures.  The median income in those neighborhoods ranged from $16,000 to $30,000…[and] residents were mainly black or Hispanic…owners of seized property also were more likely to be unemployed and to earn less than $50,000 a year.  They were less likely to have college degrees and less likely to own a home…

The Mob Rules

I wish more people understood the power of legal precedent this well:

The Firearms Policy Coalition, a national gun rights outfit, filed a friend of the court brief at the U.S. Supreme Court…in support of Whole Woman’s Health, the abortion rights group that is leading the legal fight against…the sweeping Texas anti-abortion law that recently went into effect.  “The approach used by Texas to avoid pre-enforcement review of its restriction on abortion and its delegation of enforcement to private litigants…could just as easily be used by other States to restrict First and Second Amendment rights or, indeed, virtually any settled or debated constitutional right.”  The Firearms Policy Coalition “takes no position on whether abortion should be protected by the Constitution,” the brief stated, “but believes that the judicial review of restrictions on established constitutional rights, especially those protected under this Court’s cases, cannot be circumvented in the manner used by Texas”…

I Spy (#1171)

Oh, what a surprise:

Governments were already discussing how to misuse…[cell phone] scanning technology even before Apple announced its plans…[to] scan iPhones for child sexual abuse materials…[it was obvious] that…governments [would] insist…the company scan for other types of images, and there now seems good evidence for this [despite]…Apple[‘s pretense] that it had a [magical politician-proof] safeguard in place to…prevent [governmental] misuse…such promises are impossible to keep…[because] any government could pass a law requiring tech companies to use their available capabilities (e.g., the CSAM scanning system) to look for images they say are associated with terrorism, or any type of political opposition…A group of security researchers says that the European Union [already] planned to use this technology to scan for other types of images even before Apple revealed that it had developed its own system…

Dangerous Speech (#1172)

Remember how I pointed out that the government couldn’t win this fairly?

Defense attorneys in the Lacey/Larkin case…argue in a new motion that the government willfully ignored federal Judge Susan Brnovich’s instructions during the pair’s recent trial in Phoenix.  Instead, prosecutors doubled down on false accusations of sex trafficking and child sex trafficking, goading the defense into calling for a mistrial…the motion calls on Brnovich to dismiss the case with prejudice [because] in provoking the mistrial, the prosecution violated the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment…the feds’ mistrial shenanigans were part of “a pattern of repeated and brazen government misconduct,” [intentionally] committed by “seasoned prosecutors”…And because the government has “seized virtually all of the defendants’ assets” — including money set aside for defense costs — the mistrial leaves the defendants in an “untenable” financial position…A new trial would favor the government…allowing it “a retooling of its faltering case”…

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Back Issue #100

Each person has to decide whether he will go forth into the world as an active adult or just sit in the nursery with folded hands.
–  “With Folded Hands

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Diary #591

I’ve been very frustrated with the slowness of our progress this year; during the two dry months we got very little done, and by the time we really started moving forward the rainy season had returned.  Last year, once Grace explained what needed to be done I could do a little, get her to inspect my work to be sure I was doing it correctly, and then go full speed ahead until I had finished and was ready to move on to the next step.  But the roof work required skills I don’t have, which couldn’t be easily explained, and it took us a long time to figure out what I could do without years of experience.  Grace still needs to fabricate the main beams, but once they’re done I now have the ability to weld them in place if we can get the welder close enough; MIG welding relies on wire mechanically fed up the line by a motor inside the machine, so the stinger line is relatively short compared to the heavy cables used in stick welding.  In this picture, I’m using nearly all the length there is, so to get to the very top of the central support we had to position the cart directly underneath (not always easy with tub and ladders in the way) and then put the welder up on top of a crate on the cart. It’ll be a little easier when we get away from the area directly above the tub, but I really wish we’d been able to get at least part of the roof in place before the monsoons.

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I’m not entirely sure why society collectively agreed that sex traffickers operate in a similar fashion to Wile E. Coyote trying to catch the Roadrunner.  –  Jessica Dean

Droit du Seigneur

It’s good to see this lurid narrative turned against cops for a change:

A woman who…filed a lawsuit in…Virginia…alleges that in 2010…[when] she travel[led] to the U.S. to work as an…escort…she was…[somehow unaware that the job involved] sex…and…[that] her new boss, Hazel Marie Sanchez Cerdas…[used threats to force her into unsafe and exploitative situations, and stole] all of [her income]…local [cops]…protect[ed] the [abusive pimps] in exchange for sexual services [for which the escorts were not compensated]…In April 2015, the plaintiff [got fed up with the exploitative arrangment]…and went to [the cops].  In 2019, Sanchez was charged with—and eventually pleaded guilty to—felony charges related to sex trafficking and was sentenced to 30 months in prison…

Unfortunately, the reporter is a “sex trafficking” fetishist who credulously parrots lots of copaganda in the article, but I’ve extracted what appears to be the important information from amongst the dysphemized descriptions, agency denial, and outright fantasies.

Big Dick Energy

“Even reasonably intelligent, sophisticated men seem to believe deep down that their phalluses…have the ability to damage women’s bodies and destroy our souls.”  Just in case some of you thought that was an exaggeration, please allow me to present this recent screenshot from Twitter, which also illustrates the concept of “science worship” as diagrammed here.  Compare to the bizarre claims of “sex trafficking” fetishists and other prohibitionists, and I think you’ll admit my point that both feminists and denizens of the “manosphere” are part of the same continuum of wackadoo.

The Prudish Giant (#895) 

Anything that demonstrates the absurdity of internet censorship is good:

Vienna’s tourism board has started an account on OnlyFans – the only social network that permits depictions of nudity – in protest against [other] platforms’ ongoing censorship of its art museums and galleries.  In July, the Albertina Museum’s new TikTok account was suspended and then blocked for showing works by the Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki…This followed a similar incident in 2019, when Instagram [censored] a painting by Peter Paul Rubens…In 2018, the Natural History Museum’s photograph of the 25,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf figurine was deemed pornographic by Facebook and [censored]…The Leopold Museum has likewise struggled to promote its collection of nudes by the expressionist Egon Schiele, with [its ads censored by bureaucrats] in Germany, the UK and US…A short video featuring the painting Liebespaar by Koloman Moser, made to mark the Leopold Museum’s 20th anniversary this year, was rejected by Facebook and Instagram as “potentially pornographic”…the Albertina’s current exhibition, by the Italian portrait artist Amedeo Modigliani, [is also terrifying to puritans]…

See the city’s YouTube ad below.

Checklist (#927)

A whore-snitching app that skips the middlerat:

Police Scotland [has] adopt[ed] a simple [way to criminalize more sex workers]…by using the Unseen App.  The app, which is hosted by the [government]…has been downloaded to [cop]s’ mobile devices to …[give them various excuses they can claim are] signs of…exploitation [so as to arrest sex workers while calling it “rescue”]…the app will provide [cops] with [legally-admissible excuses for the harassment]…Assistant Chief Constable Judi Heaton [shared some of her favorite BDSM masturbatory fantasies about passive, doll-like sex workers]…

Eavesdropping (#1069)

Remember, Amazon eagerly hands data from internet-connected devices to cops:

A woman…requested all the information Amazon has on her through her two Amazon Dot devices and one Amazon Echo device as well as smart phones.  Several Zip files came through and when she clicked on the audio file she says she discovered…3,534 audio files in a single Zip file alone…Amazon [also] has a copy of all her phone contacts…

The Widening Gyre (#1116)

The “things on cars” branch of “sex trafficking” scarelore has expanded to include things near cars:

“So have you ever seen this type of car seat just out of nowhere?” the woman in the TikTok video asks…pointing to a photo of an abandoned baby car seat in a parking lot…“that’s not an ordinary car seat…[it’s a] sex trafficking car seat”…placed as bait by sex traffickers to kidnap and enslave unsuspecting victims…The woman who posted the video is…a TikTok creator with 122,000 followers who bills herself as a “spiritual gardener” who offers Tarot intuitive readings on social media.  [She has the typical] lack of credentials [of those billing themselves] sex trafficking expert[s, so as usual] her video has gone massively viral…the Wilkesboro [North Carolina] Police Department…[has so much spare time it actually] investigated this incident and…deemed…[it non-]criminal…but…Parker appears to be doubling down…[saying] “I still feel that there is something going on in our society”…

Uncommon Sense (#1143) 

Politicians the world over promise the same evil, impossible things, and stupid people just keep believing them:

[Spanish] Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez…pledged [once again] to “abolish” prostitution in the country, [even though no such prohibitionist campaign has ever done anything but increase]…violence a[gainst]…women…Sanchez took office [again] in January 2020 as head of a minority coalition government after his Socialist Party won two inconclusive national elections in 2019…

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I’ve always been dedicated to the idea of this as the time of year for spooky fun.  So every year I collect all the spooky, creepy or scary content from the previous year into one place just before Halloween.  If you’ve come to my blog in the past year, or don’t remember previous editions, they are “Trick or Treat”, “More Trick or Treat“, “Tricks and Treats“, “This Trick’s a Treat”, “Tricky Treats“, “A Trickle of Treats”, “Tricking and Treating“, and “Tricks for the Treat“.  Horror, death or Halloween-themed columns of the past year include “Dead on Arrival“, “The Mysteries“, “Could It Be…Satan?“, “The Sparkle of a Star“, and “The October Country“; there are creepy or spooky-fun videos in Links #541#553#566, and #590, and here’s a collection of spooky or Halloweeny links:

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The lady in front of you sucks.  –  “Officer” Brandon Roy

I’m combining two of my favorite types of videos this week: novelty songs and spooky stuff, in this oldie from The Dr. Demento Show.  The links above it were provided by Nun Ya, Missy Mariposa, Jacob Sullum, Mistress Matisse, and Dave Krueger (x2), in that order.

From the Archives

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Clearview’s mass scraping of…web data…may be legal, but it certainly isn’t morally acceptable.  –  Tim Cushing

Property of the State (#989)

Pregnant women are uniquely vulnerable to state coercion:

Brittney Poolaw has been sitting in an Oklahoma jail for more than a year and a half…[and was] recently convicted of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 4 years in prison for miscarrying her child…In May 2020, Poolaw, then a teen, arrived at a local hospital after losing the fetus at 17 weeks.  She was soon transferred to a cell…[after the hospital called the pigs because]…the [still]born [fetus]…tested positive for methamphetamine…the state’s current abortion laws…allow women to terminate a pregnancy prior to 20 weeks’ gestation…[but] Poolaw wasn’t even seeking an abortion: She had a miscarriage…and she will now suffer a barrage of legal consequences not experienced by Oklahoma women who ask doctors to terminate their pregnancies…

All-Purpose Excuse (#1077)

Facebook didn’t think the face-eating leopards it wanted would eat its face:

…Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich…[has claimed] that he’s investigating “sex trafficking” connected to Facebook ads…[in a] letter to [U.S. Attorney General Merrick] Garland…[Brnovich] complain[ed]…that folks are using Facebook to strategize sneaking into the country.  As a result, AG Brnovich requests that the DOJ “investigate Facebook’s facilitation of human smuggling at Arizona’s southern border and stop its active encouragement and facilitation of illegal entry”…considering that the U.S. government is attempting to railroad veteran journalists Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin…[by] hold[ing] them vicariously accountable for illegal acts allegedly connected to adult ads posted by users of [Backpage]…it’s not out of the realm of speculation that the feds would attempt something similar in regards to Facebook or any other site that hosts third-party content…

Rooted in Racism (#1091)

The racism of European “anti-trafficking” schemes is getting harder to disguise:

Italian police have arrested more than 2,500 migrants for smuggling or aiding illegal immigration since 2013, often using anti-mafia laws to bring charges…Italy has spent decades pursuing a policy of criminalising asylum seekers…filling its prisons with innocent men used as scapegoats…smugglers often choose a migrant as a driver.  This can be someone who does not have enough money to pay for the trip or with experience of navigation.  When the boat enters Italian waters, the authorities ask passengers to identify the driver, who is then arrested…[and] accused of crimes…[including “human] trafficking[“]…They can face sentences from 15 years to life in prison…

Torture Chamber (#1093)

The government needs to be buried in lawsuits before this will stop:

In October 2019, a [screw]…in Central Texas was charged with sexual assault…[for orally raping] a [caged teen] boy…the day after the [rape]…the boy tried to kill himself.  Two months before that…another [screw] was fired after a teenage girl [he raped got] pregnant…the day-to-day conditions [in Texas cage stacks] are relentlessly violent and oppressive, with guards often [brutalizing prisoners for fun]…In 2019…almost 7,000 [cases of violence were reported] — equivalent to six times per [young person locked in state cages] that year…nearly a dozen staff members have been arrested on charges of sexual abuse against juveniles, and complaints about mayhem inside the f[ilthy cages]…are common.  These [facts, reported]…by advocacy groups and families, lawsuits filed against the state, news media reports, and investigations at the state level — present a portrait of a terrifying environment inside juvenile prisons in Texas…The Justice Department’s investigation comes almost a year after two Texas advocacy groups — Disability Rights Texas and Texas Appleseed — filed a complaint urging the federal government to intervene…

Think of the Children! (#1117) 

I’m sure Jesus would approve of punishing children for the sins of their parents:

Sara and Matt Cheek…moved to Lithia, a tiny suburb of Tampa, Florida…after…COVID hit [they suffered a series of financial difficulties, so]…Sara [startedan] OnlyFans [account] and now…makes about $30,000 a month…[their] three children—two boys, ages 4 and 6, and a 7-year-old daughter—enrolled in the Pinecrest Pilots’ Youth Football and Cheerleading program, where Matt served as one of the football coaches…[until] the…cheerleading coach, Bree Coggins, [discovered her OnlyFans account via] Instagram…and [began mistreating her]…daughter…and [encouraging]…all the other girls to [do the same. The mistreatment soon spread to the boys] and Matt [as well]…they’ve been refused service at their local restaurant and Sara no longer visits the grocery store, preferring to order her food online and avoid the judgmental looks.  They transferred their kids over to a charter school, and the family is planning on moving out of Lithia next year…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1128)

Still think this djinni can be crammed back into its bottle?

Clearview’s not going to let several months of bad press derail its plans to generate even more negative press…Maybe it thinks it can still win hearts and minds by not only continuing to exist but also by getting progressively worse in terms of integrity and corporate responsibility…Clearview has now collected more than 10 billion images from across the web—more than three times as many as has been previously reported…it is [also] developing new ways for police to find a person, including “deblur” and “mask removal” tools…If you feel selling government agencies a more efficient way to generate false positives and false negatives is the way to future profitability, this would be the route to take…

To Molest and Rape (#1178)

Notice how often predatory cops’ victims are underage?

A[n]…Alaska [cop named]…Benjamin Strachan…was charged with…sexual abuse of…two minor victims, one…repeatedly…[other cops thought it was very important to say] he [was] not [wearing his magic clown costume while molesting]…

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Annex 49

Last week, the rain hit just as we were finishing up the framework for the western section of the roof, so we had to wait until early this week to get the last few welds in place.  I was a bit nervous about my ability, unsure that I could do a good enough job for it to be sufficiently strong, but then Grace showed me how to do a series of tacks rather than attempting a continuous bead.  That did the trick; I was having trouble making a neat, continuous bead, and worried that I’d burn through the comparatively-thin (10 guage) metal of the cee purlins while welding them to the thicker (3/16“) walls of the rectangular tubing.  But to tack with the MIG, I just need to put the stinger in position, pull the trigger, count to two and release, remembering to use the tip dip frequently and cutting off the excess wire whenever I get it stuck (which is now less often than when I first started learning).  Oh, and remembering to put my welding hood down so I don’t get flashed, and pulling my overshirt closed so I don’t get sparks in my cleavage (which is a lot of no fun).  Next step: roof panels!

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