I’m in Miami Beach right now for Hereticon, a new conference that was originally scheduled for May 2020 in New Orleans until it was torpedoed by the COVID shutdowns. It was eventually rescheduled for October 2021…then that date, too, was sunk, by Hurricane Ida. And while I’m glad the conference is finally taking place, I wish they’d been able to keep it in New Orleans. Miami Beach, as the old song says, ain’t my kinda town, but New Orleans is where I was born, and no matter how far from it I live, there will always be a part of me there. So I decided to fix what was broken by catastrophes, and when the conference ends on Thursday I’ll be hopping over to the Crescent City (only a two-hour flight from Miami) to visit old friends for a few days. It meant having to pack for three different temperature ranges while yet keeping it to one suitcase (I don’t like having my luggage out of my control, so one roller bag, a large purse, and whatever I can wear is the limit), but I somehow managed. And I’ll try to get some interesting pictures to share with you. 
Archive for January, 2022
Diary #602
Posted in Diary, Music, Philosophy, tagged Florida, New Orleans, psychology, video on January 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Taking the Bait
Posted in Current Events, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged agency denial, cops, Droit du Seigneur, escort services, language, pimps, propaganda, Virginia on January 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »
A few months ago I shared this story about a federal lawsuit involving cops protecting what appears to be an exploitative escort service in Virginia in exchange for services (for which the escorts appear to have not been compensated). The original was drawn almost entirely from a government press release, so I did my best to “extract…what appears to be the important information from amongst the dysphemized descriptions, agency denial, and outright fantasies“. Unfortunately, most sex workers and supporters of our rights who have linked the story made far less effort to separate fact from fantasy, preferring instead to simply parrot the government’s calling the operation a “trafficking ring”. If you’ve done this yourself and have actual information on the supposed “ring” that does not come from government sources, please share; otherwise you’re just repeating a prohibitionist narrative. If you don’t understand what I’m saying, remember that cops and prosecutors use the slur “sex trafficking ring” to mean anything from a broken-down pimp to an ordinary escort service to a sex worker ad site. Until we know what this organization (if it even was an organization; cops and prosecutors often create imaginary “gangs” and “rings” from people who don’t even know each other) was about, it’s a bad idea to parrot government’s claims. I understand you want to talk about bad cops, but you don’t know these cops weren’t just accepting ordinary bribes from an ordinary escort service. So please chill on the “sex trafficking ring” cant and stop denying the agency of women you don’t know just to “pwn the cops”.
Links #601
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged artificial stupidity, cops, Florida, hysteria, language, New Mexico, robots, video on January 9, 2022| 1 Comment »
I think that certain foods produce better-smelling farts. – Stephanie Matto
This week’s video isn’t a new one, but I was recently reminded of ts existence by Lenore Skenazy. The first and last links above it were provided by David Ley, and the others by Desiree Alliance; Mistress Matisse & Jesse Walker; Emma Evans; and Phoenix Calida, in that order.
- Moral panic bingo.
- Amateurs are so ridiculous.
- R.I.P. Betty White and April Ashley.
- This is what some want operating cars.
- Another cop murders another kid via “PIT maneuver”.
- How is a New Mexico homeowner like a rogue planet?
From the Archives
- In case you thought screws restricted their petty sadism to the prisoners.
- Prosecutor begs judge to let him keep illegal porn video for personal use.
- All the excitement about sex robots is pointless because they don’t exist.
- Sounds like somebody who followed my repeated advice to older virgins.
- Cops will never stop doing this as long as the state gives them pretexts.
- Florida prosecutors desperately trying to wipe the egg off of their faces.
- Yet another trans woman murdered, this time by a self-proclaimed ally.
- Oh look, Western nations are starting to notice a genocide in progress.
- Nobody questions the stigma that let this scum destroy women’s lives.
- Yet TERFs want you to believe trans women are the dangerous ones.
- Texas won’t be satisfied until every functionary is spying on women.
- Innocent people accused of “sex trafficking” are starting to hit back.
- Yellow journalists try to avoid responsibility for their irresponsibility.
- Courts are losing patience with arbitrary authoritarian “lockdowns”.
- The hotel industry is going to regret collaborating with fanatics.
- My two previous columns for Epiphany (AKA Little Christmas).
- At last, the world is starting to pay attention to sex workers.
- The unhinged Guinasso and his pet fantasist are at it again.
- The word “healthy” is no longer a semantically neutral one.
- Cops, lycanthropy, Luna, Barbara Shelley, and much more.
- The only thing “growing” about “sex trafficking” is the lies.
- Cops, Cthulhu, New Jersey, Florida, feet and much more.
- Abolishing these evil, tyrannical laws is an uphill climb.
- In which the Wall Street Journal licks Xi Jinping’s arse.
- Morality is independent of results or even recognition.
- Half of Australia will be contaminated by sex rays!
- “Targeted harassment” of a government building.
- There are four separate meanings of “libertarian”.
- Congress won’t stop until it controls the internet.
- Another example of barking up the wrong tree.
- Your government refers to this as “correction”.
- The US is following in the footsteps of China.
- The Dutch Disnification scheme continues.
- As the young people say, “So much nope”.
- Christmas is over and carnival has begun!
- Your “leaders” refer to this as “correction”.
- Is this going to school or going to prison?
- Meanwhile, next door to New Hampshire…
- Cops, dumplings, Rush, and much more.
- The Sunset bookcase project continues.
- Surprising absolutely no trans people.
- The Swedish model protects women!
- Smartass replies to dumbass texts.
- Prohibitionism is a mental illness.
- Rapist cops of the week.
- Twelfth Night at Sunset.
In the News (#1202)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged adolescence, agency denial, China, cops, I can't breathe, Illinois, Kansas, Neither Addiction nor Epidemic, New York, porn, prisons, propaganda, psychology, rape, Rotting Fruit, Secret Squirrel, sex offender registry, surveillance, To Molest and Rape, Torture Chamber, Virginia, Virtual Imperialism, Washington DC on January 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I have to stop cowering. – Jennifer Chen
How to totally destroy your relationship with your teen offspring:
…Intrusive surveillance has become a parental rite of passage in America. But the parental panopticon is not a mark of maturity and responsibility but rather of paranoia, distrust, and devolvement. From smartphones to schools to entertainment, parents can track the near totality of their children’s lives with ease…The simple, slick, and seductive interfaces are designed to make parents feel warm, fuzzy, and responsible…[but] constant vigilance, research suggests, does the opposite of increasing teen safety. A University of Central Florida study of 200 teen/parent pairs found that parents who used monitoring apps were more likely to be authoritarian, and that teens who were monitored were…more likely to be exposed to unwanted explicit content and to bullying. Another study, from the Netherlands, found that monitored teens were more secretive and less likely to ask for help. It’s no surprise that most teens…feel that monitoring poisons a relationship. And there are very real situations, especially for queer and trans teens, where their safety may depend on being able to explore without exposing all the details to their family…
Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1062)
Blaming bad behavior on an imaginary “addiction” is the opposite of accepting responsibility:
A self-[describ]ed porn addict and his mother wept with relief…after a[n Illinois] judge decided not to send [him] to prison for…child pornography…Joshua R. Skinner…was sentenced to 36 months probation…in…a…plea…deal…[which] also sentenced Skinner to 180 days [time served]…and [life on the “sex offender” registry]. Skinner [also blamed] his behavior…[on] heroin…alcohol…[and] cannabis…[and babbled about] God…
It’s at least a slight improvement to see the headline writer put “addict” in scare quotes.
Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?
A [female] New York City [cop has reveal]ed [that] her former commanding officer…serially rap[ed] her for more than a year while they worked together…In [her] lawsuit…Gillian Roberts…said she hoped to stay on the Yankee Stadium detail until her retirement, but decided to leave the department early last month when she could no longer handle the stress of becoming an “unwilling sex slave” to her “perverted” captain, Jeffrey Brienza…an NYPD spokesman said the “incident is under internal review”…
“Under internal review” in this case means “deciding whether to pay her off, claim she’s crazy and/or wanted it, or cut Brienza loose.”
“Police explorer” programs are nothing but grooming schemes for predatory cops:
A [typical and representative] Fairfax County [Virginia cop] has been convicted of [molesting] a 16-year-old [girl who parents foolishly allowed her to join a “police explorer” program]. John Grimes…[started grooming] the teen [by taking her] on ride-alongs. The FBI tipped off Fairfax County police after Grimes applied to become a special agent and underwent background checks…
Worst of all, Western governments are looking at this as a model:
The Chinese government, which has built an extensive digital infrastructure and security apparatus to [suppress] dissent on its own platforms, is going to even greater lengths to extend its internet dragnet to unmask and silence those who [tell the truth about] the country on Twitter, Facebook and other international social media. These new investigations…use advanced…s[pyware to root through] public records and databases to find all the…personal information and international social media presence of people who critize Chinese tyranny, including]…those living beyond China’s borders…The digital [crusade] represents the [logical development] of the government’s vast campaign to counter [inconvenient facts about] China. In recent years, the Communist Party has raised bot armies, deployed [useful idiots] and marshaled [shills] to push its [propaganda] and drown out [facts]. The police have taken it a step further, hounding and silencing those who dare to talk back…and…threatening relatives [of those outside China], in an effort to get them to delete content deemed [embarassing to the rulers]…
Funny how often people “die suddenly” while cops are brutalizing them:
The [murder] of a Black Kansas teenager [by] multiple [screws who sat on him] at a juvenile jail…was [actually] ruled a homicide…Cedric Lofton, 17…[died by asphyxiation on]…Sept. 26, two days after he was [abducted by cops who claimed he touched them]…in Wichita…five [grown screws sat on]…the unarmed, 135-pound…[boy until he died]…Sedgwick County [“authorities” are hiding the identities of the murderers and have rewarded them with]…paid [vacations]…
Does anyone really believe this wasn’t a foregone conclusion?
More than two years after Jeffrey Epstein’s su[spicious death] behind bars, and following a [predictably-quick] trial, his longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of multiple sex trafficking charges. A New York City jury [decided] Maxwell was Epstein’s chief enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for him to abuse…
Annex 54
Posted in Diary, tagged Sunset on January 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I took this picture on Boxing Day; it was quite a bit deeper by the time it finally stopped on the 30th. But it may give you some idea why we haven’t done anything on the bathhouse in weeks. Even when it hasn’t been raining or snowing, it has been far too cold to weld outdoors (Grace says welding in temperatures below 5 Celsius results in weaker welds). So it’ll probably be a few weeks before I have anything new to show you, but at least I had proof that my work is plenty strong enough; even with about 5 cm of snow on this section, it didn’t even bend. And a few hours after the sun finally came out, the southwest leaf shed its entire snow pack in one mighty plop while I was eating breakfast, though the snow on the western leaf (occupying most of this picture) had more staying power due to the house roof arresting the slide. Once we’re done with the structure, the wood-burning stove will keep the metal roof warm enough to shed any snow more quickly, so I hope we’ve reached that point by next Christmas; the ice on the currently-exposed deck makes getting to the cottages (or even just going out the back door) far too treacherous.
Little Christmas 2022
Posted in Holidays, tagged carnival, holidays, Italy, witchcraft on January 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »
If you don’t understand why this witch is carrying a sackful of toys, I suggest you consult my column from seven years ago today, which also (not by coincidence) contains links to the columns for the previous four years. That should give you all the information you need to understand why I’m wishing some of my readers a Merry Christmas, some a Good Epiphany and others a Happy King Day, and welcoming all of you to the Carnival season!
In the News (#1201)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Woman's Point of View, abortion, bogus studies, censorship, cops, Disaster, domestic violence, Google, I Spy, internet, My Body My Choice, Oklahoma, porn, Pretext, propaganda, rape, scams, See No Evil, surveillance, Texas, The Cop Myth, The Puritan Recrudescence, To Molest and Rape, Vermont, Washington DC, You Were Warned on January 5, 2022| 2 Comments »
[Morality in Media’s] entire existence doesn’t make much sense if they can’t convince more prudes that nekkid people are destroying society. – Mike Masnick
An argument I’ve often made myself:
…feminists should embrace a definition of sexual freedom that goes beyond the right to prevent reproduction and which focuses on women’s sexual autonomy…Anti-abortion advocates have embraced paternalistic arguments that assert they know better than women about their best interests and the harms of abortion…in much the same way mainstream feminists have claimed to know better than sex workers about how they should use their bodies. However, decriminalized sex work and access to abortion allow women in economic precarity escape destitution…the decriminalization of sex work has been treated as niche or counterproductive to the goal of sexual freedom…this…has contributed to the political embrace of access to abortion as the priority issue for feminist organizing, while women’s groups have openly contested women’s right to be free from criminalization while engaging in commercialized sex…
Tulsa [cops] were out [stalking people as usual], but instead of giving out tickets, the [cops used them without their consent in a PR stunt funded by]…an anonymous donor [who] gave them nine, $100 gift cards to give out to people. [Cops said]…the [terrified or disgusted] look on their [victims’] faces made it [fun for them]…
Are the Japanese the only people left on Earth who can tell fantasy from reality?
…it isn’t just [actual child porn] that Silicon Valley’s biggest companies are trying to find and erase from their servers. They’re also looking for cartoons depicting graphic acts involving [drawings of fictional characters that resemble] children, as revealed by a recent search warrant [demand]ing Google…provide information on a[n artist] who[m the Thought Police decided to accuse of] own[ing] such animations. That kind of content is p[rosecutable]… under U.S. law and can be detected by Google’s anti-child…systems, a fact not…discussed [with Google’s customers]…in late 2020 in Kansas…Google detected “digital art or cartoons depicting [fictional characters which appeared to mindless algorithms to resemble] children engaged in sexually explicit conduct”…within a Drive account…Google [eagerly] handed information on what it found…to the [Feds]…This [should] concern…artists [and anyone else who understands the difference between fantasy and reality]…but [useful idiots in the media pretend] the [criteria]…prosecutor[s use when] trying to [destroy people’s lives for cartoons are not only objective, but judged by people with functional moral compasses]…
A Woman’s Point of View (#1003)
Prohibitionists can always find bogus “studies” to support their fantasies:
Burlington [Vermont] city councilors…unanimous[ly] pass[ed]…a…measure [which] will…go before the voters…in March. The measure would remove [anti-sex worker] language…from the city charter, e[stablishing de facto decriminalization] in the city…Councilor Perri Freeman…introduced the action…to [protect]…sex workers…Freeman…[correctly pointed out th]at [Morality in Media,] a [religious pro-censorship] group [which sent a number of shills]…to speak against [human rights, is led by]…Patrick Trueman…former director of…government affairs for the American Families Association…a Southern Poverty Law Center hate group”…
Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do:
A [typical and representative] Houston [cop named]…Ray Irvin…was arrested on Dec. 17 a[fter he]…broke into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment on Nov. 21[, then pistol-whipped] and beat [her because]…she had changed the locks because [she was afraid he’d do exactly what he did when] they broke up…
Are you beginning to see the whole picture now?
…the State Department released its United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking Annual Report 2021…Anti-human trafficking policy…seems to attract some very, very bizarre people…[which] perhaps…explains the report’s incredibly bizarre, incorrect, and just weird thoughts on the internet and Section 230…[one] section…looks like it was directly written by…Morality in Media…One of the group’s big lobbying campaigns is to convince states to pass laws declaring pornography to be a “public health issue“…The claim that porn is “the marketing department for sex trafficking”…seems wholly irresponsible to put it into a State Dept. document…the report…ignores all th[e evidence of what a disaster FOSTA was] and says we just need to take an even bigger sledge hammer to Section 230…why is the State Department allowing its name and credibility to be used to launder this nonsense as if it’s legit?
Another example of why cops are not reformable:
…two sex workers in Washington, D.C…called 911 reporting that a [drunk and] belligerent [cop] had [tried to rape]…one of them…a[t] gun[point], and then accused them of stealing his phone…the…plates…[of the assailant’s car]…show[ed]…it belonged to Ronald Faunteroy…who…after a…two-hour interview [with internal affairs]…confess[ed]…Yet a powerful tribunal of three high-ranking [cops], known as the Adverse Action Panel, overruled the department’s decision to fire Faunteroy…MPD’s Disciplinary Review Division sought to terminate at least 24 [cops] currently on the force for criminal misconduct from 2009 to 2019. In all but three of those cases…the Adverse Action Panel blocked the termination and instead issued much lighter punishment…These [cops had been caught committing] domestic violence, DUIs, indecent exposure, sexual solicitation, stalking, and more. In several instances, they fled the scenes of their crimes…
Diary #601
Posted in Diary, tagged holidays, Presents, Sunset on January 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
With the weather making it impossible to do any work on our bathhouse project, I’m putting more energy into inside projects. And since I got two new cookbooks for Christmas (and my existing cookbook space is both overfull and not all that great), I decided to build a new shelving unit. We already had all the wood, so last week Grace helped me design it and I installed the backboards and footing, then made a shelf pattern. On New Year’s Eve I got Chekhov to cut out the shelves and braces, then on New Year’s Day I put it all together during those periods where things were cooking, so I needed to stay nearby but didn’t actually have to do anything with the food at that time. Jae is supposed to sand and stain it for me, so perhaps I’ll be able to get it loaded before I leave for my conference on Sunday; it’s more space than I actually need for cookbooks, so I think I’ll use the bottom shelf for potatoes & onions, and maybe some of the higher shelves for other small things that don’t presently have a good home.
Links #600
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged California, cops, hysteria, Japan, Kenya, restaurants, Tennessee, United Kingdom, video, witchcraft on January 3, 2022| 2 Comments »
My freezer is full of roadkill. – Sarah Day
In honor of the death of one of its stars, here’s one of the more spectacular musical numbers from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The links above it were provided by Mike Siegel, Dan Savage, Scott Greenfield, a reader who prefers to remain anonymous, Jesse Walker, and Cop Crisis (x2), in that order.
- Wonka-san.
- R.I.P. Sally Ann Howes.
- It’s good to have a hobby.
- I hate it when this happens.
- The Golden Apples of the Sun.
- Why some restaurants turn away cops.
- They value their points above your life.
From the Archives
- Prohibition turns bodies into “crime scenes” which cops can violate at will.
- In case you thought screws restricted their petty sadism to the prisoners.
- More cops raping sex workers (excuse me, “rescuing trafficking victims”).
- Cops wait a year to arrest a dangerous, violent serial rapist. Guess why?
- A study trashes the justifications for ruinous authoritarian “lockdowns”.
- I recently gave an interview for the 30th anniversary of Pretty Woman.
- Imprisonment doesn’t magically become “care” for prisoners under 18.
- Nobody will be safe until this odious practice is ruled unconstitutional.
- When will the US abandon “re-education” for sex workers and clients?
- A Nigerian vice gang allowed to do anything to terrorize sex workers.
- Just another lying politician who wants to police others’ private lives.
- The State finally “finds” what thousands have told them for decades.
- Even the yellow press can no longer ignore this megalomaniac’s lies.
- Even I am impressed with the speed this is happening in New York.
- “Give me your huddled masses, so I can torture and deport them”.
- Americans will believe basically any scaremongering about teens.
- “Efforts to abolish sex work have one thing in common—failure!“
- Cops, games, Bach, Pierre Cardin, Dawn Wells, and much more.
- Opportunists produce “studies” to “find” what is already known.
- A new level of public support for sex workers from a politician.
- Facebook doesn’t try to stop cops from making fake accounts.
- In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down.
- A long-overdue move by Mexico to throw off US domination.
- A “national leader in the field of sex offender management”.
- Previous columns for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
- It usually starts with us, but it never, ever stops with us.
- The 20th anniversary of my becoming a full-time escort.
- The rising costs of promoting “sex trafficking” hysteria.
- Cops, government, racism, rock & roll and much more.
- Horrifyingly-abusive nuns are not restricted to Ireland.
- Fascist corporations are eager to assist in a genocide.
- Congress won’t stop until it controls the internet.
- Cops, fantasy, love in Iran, and much more.
- Beginning the remodeling project at Sunset.
- A video about China’s genocide of Uighurs.
- How my 2012 predictions looked in 2019.
- Enjoying some seasonal relaxation.
- The “security” system that isn’t.
- What a lovely Christmas I had!
- “Pastors” are as bad as cops.
- So progress! Much Seattle!
- My official semi-retirement.
Rooted in the Past
Posted in Biography, Philosophy, tagged New Orleans, psychology on January 2, 2022| 1 Comment »
It’s hard to believe it has already been a year since I semi-retired, which means it’s been 22 years since I started escorting full time, 27 years since my first husband left me, and just a few days shy of 37 years since the first time I accepted money for sex. But despite my life being different in a number of ways from what it looked like in 2015, and quite different from what it looked like in 2005, and extremely different from what it looked like in 1995 and 1985, I’m still the same person in many ways. Obviously I’m much older and much wiser and far more satisfied with my life, even if it doesn’t look anything like 1985 Maggie would have imagined it would look. And yet, there’s a clear line of continuity across all those decades, and even the changes which might seem major to outsiders (such as moving from librarian to whore, from Louisiana to Washington, and from nigh-total abstinence to daily drug use) are in reality rooted in what went before, in the same way plot developments late in a novel might be foreshadowed in the early chapters. This was driven home for me just two weeks ago, when one of my cousins suddenly decided to re-establish communication after almost 30 years of none. We were very close friends for several years in our mid-teens, but when I went to UNO and she went to LSU we lost touch as so often happens, and though we would chat amiably every time she came into the library, we both had poorly-chosen husbands to deal with and she lived on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain. Apparently, her mother brought me up in conversation at Thanksgiving and it made her realize how much she missed me, so she contacted my sister on Facebook and we were soon playing catch-up. Once I told her about my activism, she decided to watch the many videos available on YouTube and was struck by how little my vocal inflections, mannerisms, and the like had changed since those long-ago and far-off days when I’d ride my bicycle over to her house and we’d hang out all afternoon doing the sorts of things that seem very important when you’re 15. Her timing was very good, because next week I’m headed to Miami for a conference, and after that I plan to stop by the New Orleans area for a visit; it’ll be good to see her again after so long, and I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t the first of a series of such returns, unexpected and yet foreshadowed, old loose threads being gathered together to serve a new function in the story of my life.
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