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Archive for November, 2021

In the News (#1190)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I was found guilty the minute that mugshot went up.  –  Julie Levitch

Micromanagement

Any data in government hands will inevitably be misused by cops:

…a new data collection and analysis program…called “molecular HIV surveillance”…is used to identify groups of people…where HIV is spreading quickly.  When someone tests positive for HIV, a doctor usually orders a partial sequence of the virus’s genome to check for signs of drug resistance, and the result gives them information on which medicines will work best.  But in recent years, public health [bureaucrats] have been analyzing the virus’s sequence data to monitor how the pathogen spreads…[because of] HIV’s swift evolution…it [rapidly] mutate[s into]…genetically distinct strains.  When two people share similar strains, it suggests they are linked, directly or indirectly, by recent transmission…[but cops] might access and misuse the data in states where…HIV [is]…criminal[ized]…HIV-positive people…[want] assurances that data will be kept away from police and prosecutors…[but] public health [bureaucrats instead prefer to mouth platitudes about]…balanc[ing] the risks [instead of demanding laws to protect the data]…

This is just “contact tracing” by another name.

Monsters (#616)

It’s unusual for reporters not to excuse this as a “mistake”:

A transgender woman…[named] Kristina Frost [was arrested in] San Diego…on November 25, 2020…she was [at first] placed alone in a holding cell…But [was] later [intentionally]…moved…to a “minimally monitored” cell with three men…”against her wishes”…Frost[‘s]…DMV records and driver’s license both said she was a woman…[but she was] repeatedly misgendered [by screws]…both in person and on official reports…Frost was [then] “viciously” attacked by one of the men in the cell after she had fallen asleep…[including] “closed-fist punches” to the face, which resulted in her jaw being fractured in two places…Frost required two surgeries for her broken jaw and is now required to wear dentures…[screws] witnessed the attack and…none of them “immediately intervened.”  The [attacker] was “eventually” removed from the cell…[but] Frost…[was made] to wait…12 hours for medical attention, despite being unable to eat or drink water because of her injuries…Frost has sued San Diego County and its sheriff’s department for punitive and compensatory damages, and…attorney fees…[due to their] deliberate indifference to safety risks…

Across the Pond (#723)

Every four years, Ipswich claims it will “eradicate” street work:

[Politicians] have [bloviated that they will]…end the “scourge” of street prostitution in Ipswich – [just as they did in 2017 and 2013]…following news that a “small number” of sex workers are on the streets of Ipswich, 15 years after the Steve Wright murders…[a spokespig oinked that] “Police are [swagger]ing [around]…the area aimed at [intimidating] those who [reject the interference of official busybodies]…and the males who [pay their rent and other needs]…Funding of £124,000 will be used to i[ncrease surveillance] coverage…and [maximize the danger of rape and other violence against all women by increasing police presence]…

Gorged With Meaning (#902)

Prohibitionists want inexperienced sex workers harmed or even killed, to “send a message” of course:

A [politician] has condemned Durham University for promoting [safety] training for students working in the adult sex industry.  Michelle Donelan…[bloviated a lot of poisonous nonsense about how censorship constitutes] “protect[ion]”…The university [explain]ed the training was important to “ensure students can be safe and make informed choices” after noting an “emerging trend” of students selling sexual services…Donelan…[replied by barfing out infantilizing dysphemisms such as] “normalise”…”target”…[and] “trap”…[student union spokesman] Jonah Graham…said:  “You’ve got to be maliciously disingenuous to pretend to misunderstand this as anything other than an attempt to support students in a difficulty arising from the reality of rising costs in higher education.  Trying to create a scandal from an attempt to support people whose work can make them vulnerable is contemptible”…

Shame, Shame (#937)

They should never have been made public in the first place:

Many news outlets have stopped publishing mugshots — or at least so many of them — but some states and cities are beginning to grapple with a more fundamental issue: Why do police release th[em]…and should they be allowed to?…The Justice Department has repeatedly refused to release mugshots, arguing…that there’s no public safety interest in releasing pictures that are a “lasting image of what can be one of the most difficult episodes in an individual’s life.”  Last year, the San Francisco Police Department stopped releasing them as well…At least three states have gone a step further, barring the release of some mugshots.  In 2019, New York changed its open records law to ban the release of mugshots unless [the cops want to]…This year, California prohibited police from putting the images on social media, and Utah banned publishing mugshots until after conviction…

Choke Point (#1065) 

Decriminalization is just the beginning:

Australian financial institutions, particularly the Big Four banks, have far more control over the sex work industry than many of us realise.  Sex workers’ battles with the tech and finance industries have dominated headlines in recent months, from MasterCard and Visa’s decision to ban the use of their services on PornHub, to OnlyFans’ [aborted] plan to ban sex work from the platform altogether…On top of the already devastating blow of the pandemic practically obliterating the ability to safely conduct in-person sex work, the industry has been ravaged by a series of changes…designed to…make sex work significantly less safe…We saw this in the case of Mastercard’s policy changes, which were designed to [shield the company from attacks by “]sex trafficking[” fetishists, and] resulted in thousands of…sex workers having to go to more extreme measures to make money…a similar piece of legislation…implemented [using the popular fascist excuses of]…money laundering and terrorism funding, is allowing Australian banks to get away with financial discrimination right in our own backyard…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1176)

It’s good when they feed on each other:

…[Mississippi cop] Harold “Tad” Rogers was arrested…[for having] sexually explicit conversations with…an[other cop fantasy role-playing as a 13-year-old girl]…Rogers tried to solicit explicit pictures from the [oth]er [wank]er…[and w]as…charged with one count of enticement of a child to produce sexually explicit pictures…

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Home Office

Posted in Diary, tagged on November 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Jae has been talking about starting work on decorating my office for a few months now, and a couple of weeks ago she sprung into action; within a few days she had painted the walls, arranged the furniture, refinished a dresser (out of frame), and even started on the wall decor (as you can see from The Count there).  She says she’s ordered some curtains, but in the meantime used some old fabric I had for sheers.  I’ve learned to trust Jae’s decorating instincts; those of you who have seen my incall know what a great job she did on it, and (with the help of my bookcase-building to Grace’s designs) she turned the living room from an embarassment into a comfortable, homey space.  Her work on the kitchen was similarly transformative, so I’ve been really looking forward to what she’d do with the upstairs area I decided to use as an office.  It’s not yet finished, but I expect it will be by Christmas, and I’m already using it; I’ll post more pictures (showing all the details) when she’s done!

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Censorship Roundup

Posted in Current Events, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2021| 4 Comments »

Censorship, once condemned by all ethical people, has now become almost universally popular.  –  “The Convergence of Censors”

The speed at which censorship, up to and including calls for literal book-burning, has increased in the past few years is horrifying to any thinking person (by which I mean any person who thinks for themselvs rather than simply parroting what their “thought leaders” tell them to think).  This year’s column for “Banned Books Week” linked no fewer than 14 articles collected over a six-month period, but conditions are degenerating so quickly I’ve collected four more just since the beginning of this month.  Only one of them is about corporate media censorship:

Streaming media giant Roku pushed back on “clickbait” headlines…saying its decision to remove “‘non-certified channels” goes beyond banning Pornhub and other private pornographic channels.  Responding to multiple headlines this week [derived from claims by Morality in Media and other pro-censorship groups]…Roku…[released] a statement saying that the decision to eliminate “non-certified” channels aligns the company’s screening of content with what Apple, Amazon, Samsung and Xbox already do with apps…the fact that Pornhub and other adult entertainment platforms had found their way onto Roku televisions through private or non-certified channels was incidental to the decision, which intends to standardize the tools that app developers use to create channels…

But the others are all about government censorship of books; the first in Kansas:

The Goddard school district has removed more than two dozen books from circulation in the district’s school libraries, citing [a bandwagon they want to jump on]…The list…includes…The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas…The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky…Fences…by August Wilson and They Called Themselves the K.K.K…[bureaucrats claimed the ban isn’t really a ban because they’re belching out the words] “unsuitable for children” [while banning them]…

Not to be outdone by Midwesterners, Virginia’s authoritarians are calling for literal book-burning:

The Spotsylvania County School Board has directed staff to begin removing books that contain [what they have chosen to label] “sexually explicit” material from library shelves and report on the number of books that have been removed…The board also…indicated that it will consider a division-wide library audit…[and] plans to [add other categories to its definition of]…“objectionable” for a further review of library holdings…Two board members…Rabih Abuismail and…Kirk Twigg, said they would like to see the removed books burned.  “I think we should throw those books in a fire,” Abuismail said, and Twigg said he wants to “see the books before we burn them so we can [demonstrate to ignorant bigots] that we are eradicating this bad stuff”…Abuismail [then convulsively vomited out filth about how]…public schools “would rather have our kids reading gay pornography than about Christ”…

And Texas authoritarians are unsatisfied with merely torturing librarians by forcing them to assist violently-fanatical censors:

Texas Governor Greg Abbott…sent a…letter to state education authorities claiming minors “have been exposed to pornographic books and content in Texas public schools” and [belching out the words]…“obscene”…“protect Texas students”…”no educational purpose”…[and] “clear violation of the law.”  Abbott also [defined books censors dislike as]…“pornography being provided to minors”…[and threatened school librarians with life-destroying] “prosecution to the fullest extent of the law”…

I’m really hoping that this is a short-lived phenomenon. But given what I’ve seen over the past decade, I suspect that hope will be a forlorn one.

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In the News (#1189)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 17, 2021| 2 Comments »

A system that allows this level of sustained incompetence and cruelty…is morally bankrupt.  –  Tod Wilcox

Where Are the Victims?

They’re talking about ordinary-sounding escort agencies or phone services:

…a BBC [news show claims it]…has evidence that…pimps are using Vivastreet to advertise multiple women under their control…one mobile phone number was being used for 78 ads on the site – which suggests the women might be controlled by a single person [because obviously, women are much too stupid to hire answering services like other businesses do]…some of the adverts for sex contained [what prohibitionists, cops, and others who wank to fantasies of passive, doll-like women enjoy calling] the warning signs of sexual exploitation.  One such sign is when multiple women [use the same phone answering service]…Diana Johnson, chair of the [politicians’] Group [trying once again to impose Swedish criminalization on the UK, barfed up childish nonsense about]…”a pimp’s paradise”…Stuart Peall…a…Lancashire [vice cop, made furtive movements in his pants while burbling about how]…”it’s like a takeaway menu”…

It’s really sad that the BBC has sunk to the “IT’S LIKE PIZZA!” level of journalism.

Surplus Women

Your government wants this to happen more often:

Police have arrested a man believed to be the serial killer responsible for six murders and several shootings that happened in St. Louis…and Kansas City…during a span of several weeks in September and late October…Perez Reed…used the same gun to shoot all of the victims…He is also suspected of multiple other homicides in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas…[but his] motive remains unknown.  Most of the victims were women…some were involved in sex work.  And other[s appear to have been transwomen]…Some…were shot in the back of their heads…some victims didn’t fit into any type of pattern and some survived.  One man was waiting for a bus when he was shot but survived…most of the…[victims]…did not know their killer — who does not have much of a criminal history…

Missouri cops of course had to demonstrate what they are by misgendering some of the dead.

Rooted in Racism (#966)

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

EU [politicians want to]…e[conomically] sa[botage] Minsk…[for allowing] large numbers of [brown people into]…Belarus…in hopes of [stopping them] crossing into Polish territory…European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called…[the migration of brown people a] “hybrid attack”…[and said] that the EU “will explore how to…blacklist…third-country airlines” that a[llow brown people to buy tickets, referring to the sales as]…”human trafficking”…[another politician bloviated that] “All airlines of the world should understand that they cooperate with the criminal regime by flying to Belarus”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#996)

A tactic pioneered by China:

The Israeli military has been conducting a broad surveillance effort in the occupied West Bank to monitor Palestinians by integrating facial recognition with a growing network of cameras and smartphones…a…technology called Blue Wolf…captures photos of Palestinians’ faces and matches them to a database of images so extensive that one former soldier described it as the army’s secret “Facebook for Palestinians.”  The phone app flashes in different colors to alert soldiers if a person is to be [harassed], arrested or left alone.  To build the database…soldiers competed last year in photographing Palestinians, including children and the elderly, with prizes for the most pictures collected by each unit…The surveillance program was described…by…soldiers…to…Breaking the Silence…an advocacy group composed of Israeli army veterans that opposes the occupation…

The Implosion Begins (#1172)

Everyone who spread “sex trafficking” hysteria contributed to this atrocity:

John Eisenman [of Spokane fantasized] that his underage daughter’s boyfriend had…sold her into a [“]sex trafficking organization[“] in Seattle.  [After the daughter returned home, an event described by]  Eisenman…as…rescue…[he stalked] the boyfriend, 19-year-old Aaron Sorensen…[and murdered] him…by beating and stabbing…[then put his] body in the trunk [of a car, which he] then abandoned in North Spokane County where it sat for nearly a full year.  In October 2021…[someone found the car and] drove [it] back into Spokane…On Oct. 22, [police] received calls from [someone]…who discovered the body when rummaging through the abandoned vehicle…

Here’s the wholly predictable chaser:

The family of Andrew Sorensen…[pointed out that this supposed “trafficker”] “was born with cerebral palsy, autism, and [was] developmentally delayed…Both the FBI and Washington State Patrol said there is no sex trafficking investigation”…John Eisenman…is facing the charge of first-degree murder and is being held in jail on a $1 million bond…

Torture Chamber (#1184)

Arizona screws are notably devoted to yelling “Stop faking!” at the sick and dying:

A paraplegic man was left to physically deteriorate until his penis had to be amputated.  A man with undiagnosed, untreated lung cancer lost 90 pounds and died “slowly and agonizingly” without pain medication.  A woman’s multiple sclerosis was ignored and misdiagnosed until she was left, at age 36, nearly completely paralyzed.  Arizona’s prison system is on trial once again in a long-running civil lawsuit over [systemic] medical neglect…and a doctor’s testimony in the case paints a stomach-churning picture of unnecessary suffering, malpractice, and death…medical neglect is widespread in American prisons and jails, despite the Eighth Amendment’s supposed guarantee of basic medical care, hygiene, and living conditions.  The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and several law firms have been litigating the case since 2012…

To Molest and Rape (Long Hidden)

UK reporters have discussed this more in weeks than US ones have in years:

More than 30 a[ccus]ations of sexual misconduct were made against Suffolk [cops] in the past five years…the figures come amid fresh focus on police conduct after the kidnap, rape and killing of Sarah Everard by [typical and representative cop] Wayne Couzens in March…The case has raised questions about how police forces [refuse to] deal with sexual misconduct amongst their own rank and file after it emerged that Couzens was referred to by his own colleagues as “the rapist”.  Three days before he [raped and murdered a young woman], Couzens also…exposed himself in a McDonald’s restaurant…

Yet reporters still feel the need to include denials and excuses from spokespigs who want to expose even more women to the danger of rape and other violence from cops:

A scheme that will see [disguised cops secretly spying on] clubs and bars [using the excuse of] safeguard[ing] women will instead put them at risk of police violence…the government…first announced plans to roll the scheme out nationwide in the spring…after the kidnapping, murder and rape of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer…Deniz Ugur…of the End Violence Against Women Coalition said trying to safeguard women from predatory men using [other predatory men] would not tackle the root of the problem…“Given that one woman a week reports domestic abuse by a police officer and that police abuse of power for a sexual purpose is…the most common form of police corruption…these plans will be ineffective and…leave women…at risk of police violence”…

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Diary #594

Posted in Diary, tagged , on November 16, 2021| 2 Comments »

Though I prefer country life, it isn’t without its peculiar issues and problems, and we had several last week.  Normally, we only need to change the water filter about once per season, but since we changed out our pump at the beginning of August, that kicked up considerable sediment, rust, and the like which has required two filter changes in only 3 months.  That woud’ve been no big deal, except for that fact that modern filter housings are made as cheaply and shabbily as possible, with “heavy duty mounting brackets” so flimsy I can bend the metal in my dainty little hands.  What this means is that if the housing gets stuck (which I find happens at least every few years), there’s essentially no way to remove it without breaking the PVC pipes.  So this time I bought some heavy angle iron so Grace could build a truly heavy bracket, though I still had to buy another overpriced, underbuilt housing.  While that process was going on, the washing machine gave up the ghost, and when I went to buy a new one I was told nobody bothers to stock them any more (we tried a number of stores in two counties), so if I wanted one, I’d need to order it now and it might be delivered by Christmas (if the supply chain cooperates).  So last Monday I had to waste the one day that week it didn’t rain to figure this out and buy a new-to-me used washer-dryer set.  Then that evening at dinner, the lights went out and the generator came on; that was fine, but two hours later my intuition started pinging so I called the power company and found out there wasn’t an outage.  The transfer switch had developed a fault (according to customer service, a common problem with new installations) that caused the main service cutoff to trip every time we hit it with a heavy load (like if the pump comes on while the water heater is running, something that happens about 15 minutes after I start taking what I think will be a nice, hot shower).  I made an appointment with the service company to fix it, but he wasn’t able to get here until yesterday, which meant a week of carefully planning appliance use so big-ticket items didn’t come on at the same time and trip the cutoff again, forcing me to stand in the rain, in the dark, to throw it on again (after letting it cool for five minutes or more with the power off, at night).  And when he looked at it yesterday, he determined he’d need to replace the whole switch…which means waiting another week for the part to arrive.  So as you can imagine, it has all been very stressful and costly, and if you want to help me cover the expenses (or just some edibles so I can relax) I’d appreciate it.  If you’re wondering what Cicero has to do with any of this, the answer is “nothing at all”; it’s just a much cuter picture than one of an old washing machine.

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Simple Process

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, tagged , , , , on November 15, 2021| 3 Comments »

Despite being semi-retired, I still sometimes get requests for nude pictures, or even pictures of my genitalia (which, if you’ve seen my escort site, you’ve probably realized I don’t do, ever).  Now, some of you may recall that the main reason I semi-retired in the first place was so that I wouldn’t have to deal with time-wasters and all the other annoying stuff that comes with new clients.  However, since I’m not totally retired, there actually is a way you can get pictures of me for your spank bank; all you need do is follow this simple six-step process:

1) Learn to sketch (take art lessons or practice your natural abilities).
2) Get an appointment with a colleague I know personally and see her.
3) Ask her to give you a reference.
4) Book an appointment with me (minimum is now a dinner date).
5) Spend some of your paid time with me looking at whatever body part you want.
6) Go home and sketch it.

And there you are!

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Links #593

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »

They attempted to cut the lawn for him. – cop description of fatal SWAT raid

“Impromptu concert captured on video” is, I think, one of the more interesting YouTube genres; this one was sent to me by Grace.  The links above it were provided by Mike Siegel, Lucy Steigerwald, Clarissa, Franklin Harris, Cop Crisis (x2), and J.D. Tuccille, in that order.

From the Archives

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In the News (#1188)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »

For far too long Internet users have suffered personal data abuses at the whims of Facebook and other platforms.  –  Alan Butler

Surplus Women

Deranged men may respond violently when sex workers refuse to cater to their fantasies:

…Stanley Szeliga…has been charged with [the] murder…of [a dancer named Abigail] Saldaña…in…Fort Worth [Texas]…Rick’s Cabaret [manager told cops]…Saldaña had recently been harassed by a customer he knew as “Stan.”  The manager showed the detective an Oct. 14 Instagram post in which Saldaña said she found a tracker under her car…“Stan” was irritated [that] Saldaña [would not indulge his fantasy of being her boyfriend] and had threatened to tell police she was engaged in prostitution…

Schadenfreude

Yet another rescue industry fraud has been unmasked:

[A rescue industry scam named] Saved in America has in the last four years collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from g[ullible] San Diegans and other donors at big-ticket galas…its [ringleader], private [dick] Joseph Travers, describes [the] group…[as composed of] former [pigs, spooks and jarheads] that help…families locate missing and exploited children.  Since its formation in 2017, SIA has re[leas]ed extensive publicity extolling its [own supposed] work.  Now, though, former supporters and local [politicians] are distancing themselves from the organization’s [bullshit] claims.  Multiple groups [and politicians] listed as supporters on the organization’s website…[have] ask[ed] Saved in America to remove their names.  A [politician] scheduled to receive the group’s major award at the Thursday gala said he is not attending…

Pretext

The “cops bearing gifts” PR scam is not limited to the US:

Since August 11 this year, [cops have harassed]…sex work[ers and clients] in Ganga Jamuna [the red light district of Nagpur, India, thus endangering] the livelihood of the 2,000- 3,000 sex workers there…[yet those same cops] organized a “Diwali milan” programme to distribute sarees, ration and other gifts to the women and their children…sex workers [replied by] demanding [that the] cops…[stop harassing them instead.  One] sex worker said the cops cannot justify…keeping us away from livelihood for the last three months and then offering us festive gifts…the cops…[of course] denied any strong opposition [to their scam, claiming…the majority [or sex workers were] in our favour [of starving to death while cops play generous for reporters]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1082) 

I wonder if the Illinois lawsuit had anything to do with this?

Facebook…announced…it is shutting down its facial recognition system, which automatically identifies users in photos and videos…[civil rights advocates point out that] facial recognition technology – which is popular among retailers, hospitals and other businesses for s[urveillance] purposes…compromise[s] privacy, target[s] marginalized groups and normalize[s] intrusive surveillance.  IBM has permanently ended facial recognition product sales, and Microsoft…and Amazon…have suspended sales to police [temporari]ly…

Checklist (#1158)

Airlines:  do you really want to keep accepting liability for employees racially profiling passengers due to the government propaganda you feed them?

A mother and her 10-year-old daughter were [harassed] by [cops and a bureaucrat] at Denver International Airport in October, after an air…[hostess included them in her]…human-trafficking [fantasies without their consent]…Mary MacCarthy said the suspicion was based on a “racist assumption” as she is white and her daughter is biracial…The pair were travelling to attend [a] funeral…[but] upon arriving in Denver, [they] were surrounded by two armed [thugs] and a…Southwest [agent] on the jet bridge, and were [interrogated after the crying child was]…separate[d from her mother]…the [air hostess fantasized that] it was suspicious that Ms MacCarthy and her daughter Moira were [in] the last…[airline-assigned] board[ing group] and [that a mother wanted]…to…sit together [with her 10-year-old]…daughter…[even after they were finally allowed to leave, the cops]…called [MacCarthy] 10 days later to [harass her some more]…Southwest Airlines responded [by vomiting out a lot of platitudes and the magic buzzwords]…Human Trafficking…

I Spy (#1173)

Why end-to-end encryption is an absolute necessity:

Signal has released the details of a search warrant it received from police in Santa Clara, California, unveiling the [lengths to which cops]…will [go] to force online platforms into disclosing the personal information of their users…[the cops] sought to get the name, street address, telephone number, and email address of a specific Signal user.  It also wanted billing records, the dates of when the account was opened and registered, inbound and outbound call detail records, voicemails, video calls, emails, text messages, IP addresses along with dates and times for each login, and even all dates and times the user connected to Signal…[the only information] Signal [could] provide…[was] timestamps show[ing] the dates that the account last connected to Signal…[because] “It’s impossible to turn over data that we never had access to in the first place. Signal doesn’t have access to your messages; your chat list; your groups; your contacts…or [anything else]”…[the cops] then issued a non-disclosure order that required Signal to not publicly disclose that it received the search warrant.  Th[at] was then extended four times, which resulted in Signal’s request to unseal the search warrant being repeatedly pushed back.  In total, it took Signal almost a full year before the company was able to legally publicly disclose [what had happened]…

Winding Down (#1179)

Is it too much to ask politicians to actually ban these arrests instead of merely “urging” cops not to violate people’s rights?

Detroit voters…overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative aimed at protecting people who consume “entheogenic plants” from arrest and prosecution.  Proposal E, which was supported by 61 percent of voters, makes “personal possession and therapeutic use” of natural psychedelics by adults “the city’s lowest law-enforcement priority”…Just a month ago, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved a [similar] resolution…Although the Detroit ballot initiative claims to “decriminalize” natural psychedelics “to the fullest extent permitted under Michigan law,” it does not affect state penalties for possessing such drugs, which…[can include] up to four years in prison and a $25,000 fine…[though a pending bill] would [truly] decriminalize the [substances if passed]…

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Annex 51

Posted in Diary, tagged on November 12, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Since getting the rest of the panels up on the west section of the roof, we’ve been stalled for over a week, and this picture shows why:  it has rained nearly every day, and hailed for at least a few minutes on most of those days.  The one dry day we had this week was Monday, which I would’ve used to do some work had my old washing machine not suddenly decided to give up the ghost the day before.  That meant I had to go into town to get a new one, or rather a newer used one;  apparently, it is now a thing not to bother stocking appliances, and people are having to wait weeks for delivery when they buy one.  Since I can’t go for more than a week without doing laundry (I prefer to do it twice a week), a refurbished used one was my only real option.  Well, at least it wasn’t as expensive as it could have been, and with any luck I’ll be able to spend the next dry day working on the next section of roof.

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The War Machine

Posted in History, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , on November 11, 2021| 2 Comments »

While the antics of the new god-king are likely to be less openly clownish than those of the deposed one, all of the other problems…will remain.  –  “War Party”

Twice every year, I remind my readers that the best way to actually honor deceased veterans is to stop making so damned many of them.  But in the US, that is a forlorn hope, and as I predicted a year ago today the newest US Emperor is just as dedicated to murdering children as his predecessors.  When I first started this blog, for the first few years I used this day to tell the stories of whores in wartime, including Mata Hari, the women of Nazi-occupied Paris, and the whores who cared for wounded soldiers during the seige of Dien Bien Phu.  But after that I began to turn toward commentary on warfare in general, or rather the modern business of warfare that has put US “defense contractors” among the wealthiest corporations in history and has helped to create the modern fascist system embraced by the majority of advanced 21st century nation-states.  And so, as I have this year for the other occasions I usually recognize with essays, I wish to share selections from previous essays.

The world’s one remaining empire is engaged in…many endless, pointless wars whose costs would have staggered the Rothschilds, whose lack of clear imperial goals would have confused a Caesar or a Napoleon, and whose sheer, mindless carnage would have nauseated the Spartans.  –  “War Without End”

The ideas that humans could ever become sated with bloodshed, or that all violence springs from some evil “other” which need only be defeated to bring lasting peace to the world, are still popular among soft-headed naifs to this very day; they are close kin to the childish belief that the “right” people can be trusted with power over others.  –  “To End All Wars”

Obviously murdered kids are happier when taking the last ferry ride if they were shipped down to the Styx by order of a woman; this is what extremely stupid people call “feminism”.  –  “The Resistance”

The American use of the day to honor veterans both living and dead, whether they participated in a war or not, actually subverts the original intent of a day to honor those whose lives were senselessly lost in the greatest sustained campaign of carnage the world had to that point ever seen.  –  “Armistice Day”

Up until a century ago, nobody pretended to be surprised by [soldiers’ need for sex] or subscribed to the ridiculous delusion that it could or should be prevented somehow.  –  “Camp Followers”

While [wars are] going on, politics takes a back seat to reality and the necessity of dealing with the sexual energy of fighting men can no longer be subordinated to the bluenosed sensibilities of repressed civilians.  –  “Remembrance”

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