Without economic freedom you cannot have political freedom.
– John H. Cochrane
This article on how Lawrence v Texas and other cases relate to sex work isn’t flawless by any stretch; while the author makes some good points (especially regarding the common claim that Lawrence specifically excluded sex work), he also makes some shaky assertions and endorses some rather odious academic interpretations, which is perhaps unsurprising given his academic background. Worth reading, but only cum grano salis.
It’s rare to see these schemes called what they are: extortion:
Two years ago, prosecutors offered a [Kentucky] man a deal: give up $380,000 in cash through asset forfeiture, and criminal charges just filed against his family would be dropped. The case has now been resolved, with no criminal convictions for anyone involved — but police and prosecutors still kept the bulk of the cash. Patrick Card was arrested in 2019 [on]…marijuana…charge[s]…As prosecutors began negotiating [a plea bargain]…they [decided to also] indict…his mother, father and wife…[then] offered Card a plea deal that would reduce his charges and dismiss those against his family if he forfeited the cash…He turned down the deal…[and eventually] the commonwealth’s attorney agreed to dismiss the charges and return a portion of the s[tolen] money. “This supposed ‘offer’ was nothing more than an attempt by the Commonwealth and its agents to leverage the threat of indictment and prosecution for financial gain,” said attorney Daniel K. Robertson…the prosecutor agreed to…return Card’s [elderly]…parents’…bank account…but [kept]…$305,050 and three dozen guns [stolen from Card]…
They try to make these cases sound like the rapist was doing his victim a favor:
A Le[cherous]…deputy sheriff…[is the target of] a federal lawsuit…filed [by]…Sabrina Adkins…Ben Fields [coerced] her [into submitting to rape]…six times late at night last year in a district judge’s chambers where he [raped] her [both] oral[ly] and [vaginally]…Adkins…was coerced and compelled to comply with Fields’ [demand]s given his “position and power and because she could not afford to pay for the ankle monitor and did not want to return to…jail.” Fields…has not been charged criminally…
By invoking emergency powers and freezing the assets of…protesters, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes clear that civil liberties protections mean little when the government can deny you access to your money. That financial weapon has been used…in democracies against controversial (to some) businesses and organizations…”It’s a Western version of China’s social credit system that does not altogether prohibit political dissent but makes it so costly that it becomes impractical to the ordinary citizen,” David Sacks, former PayPal COO, writes…Sacks warned that we should expect a wave of firms denying services to those who don’t share their ideology…this isn’t the first example of governments conscripting private companies against targets that otherwise enjoy legal protection. Credit card companies have been pressured into denying services to suspected sex workers, and the U.S. federal government’s Operation Choke Point cut off gun dealers, payday lenders, and sex-oriented businesses from banking without the muss or fuss of proving any illegality…
The Last Shall Be First (#1132)
Texas has officially lost its collective mind:
Texas…Attorney General Ken Paxton has declared all medical treatment of transgender minors to be child abuse and says that his office could prosecute parents of transgender children, as well as “mandatory reporters” who fail to report medical treatment of transgender children to the state. In tandem…Gov[ernor and former AG] Greg Abbott has [ordered] state [“child protection” bureaucrats] to begin investigating any families that may be giving their trans kids puberty-blocking drugs or hormones, or allowing them to undergo surgical treatments…Paxton’s policy…is a rejection of transgender medical care entirely, as further evidenced by [his] concession that some types of genital surgery are “medically necessary” when they correct genetic disorders or cancer…Abbott…[also] threatens criminal penalties for anybody [with a functional moral compass] who [refuses] to [snitch on trans kids, their parents, and their doctors]…
Picture what you’d think of as “sex trafficking”, then compare it to this:
A school spirit club mom has been accused of having sex with nine pupils from a Tennessee school. Melissa Blair allegedly had sexual encounters between spring 2020 and late 2021 with teenagers as young as 14…Blair is charged with solicitation of a minor, 18 counts of statutory rape…[and] four counts of human trafficking by patronizing prostitution…District attorney Steve Crump said cops want to “make the fullest amount of [political coin] possible…[out of] this, it truly is about…a headline, it’s…about trying to [posture] as much as possible, [so] our [subjects think we’re actually ‘fighting crime’]”…
Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?
[Police] chief [Thomas J. Herbst], of…Manville [New Jersey was rewarded with a paid vacation]…after a [female] employee [reported] in a civil lawsuit that he repeatedly sexually assaulted her at work and raped her at her home in a “prolonged pattern and practice of abhorrent sexual harassment” that continued for 13 years…Herbst…masturbat[ed] in front of the woman at the [cop shop]…and [molested] her…on a regular basis while he was a lieutenant…He later raped [her] approximately 10 times in the police archive room and began to regularly rape her at her home and in a hotel parking lot during her lunch hour…she was a single mother when the…assaults began and she feared losing her job…if she reported the [attacks]…She came forward now partly because she is retirement age…
What Texas is doing is less than half as crazy as what California is doing. California is forcing divorced parents to pay for trangendering their own children. There is an article by Abigal Shirer in the City Journal with the article called “Child’s Custody Gender Gauntlet at https.www.city-journal.org/child-custody-gender-gauntlet which describes this. If a child is old enough to say and legally get transgendered through drugs and surgery etc. then no parent should be required to pay child support etc, for it.
Abigail Shrier is not a trustworthy source for anything Transgender-related.
I do not appreciate hominum attacks especially when you do not say why, Many people have made ad hominum attacks about the host of this blog and even this blog itself, Maggie McNeill, The Honest Courtesan, even though she has been overwhelmingly correct or right in her opinions and arguements on most issues. I will respond to Maggie McNeill below if you care to read it later.
I don’t want to go to all the trouble of listing problems with Abigail Shrier. A psychologist named Cass Eris has a series of YouTube videos detailing the mistakes and distortions in Shrier’s writing, which she backs up with A LOT of data and original sources.
Thankyou for trying to give me something to look at and listen to whether I find it or get around to viewing and listening. I truly appreciate your efforts for giving me the opportunity to do so.
“Transgender” is an adjective, not a noun or verb. A person can be transgender, not “a transgender”. And there is no such thing as “transgendering”. Furthermore, forcing a parent to pay for something he disapproves of isn’t even on the order of magnitude as the police state violently forcing itself into people’s private affairs because people who aren’t even involved might be offended.
Although this California decision has not metasized like the Texas laws. it very well could. Are you saying that decisions made by unelected judges are better than those made by elected executives and legislators which is in turn better than a plebiscite by the voters. Even if the judge is elected there is such a thing as Stare Decisis, Let the Decision stand which means bad decisions and laws can not be rescinded, and are you for it? If his other child decided to becomer trans-abilist and have his or her eyes and hands cur off, should he be forced to pay for it? Should his transgender child be allowed to join the military?
Dude, you see to be confused about where you are; it’s been a while since you’ve posted a comment, so maybe you think you’re in a partisan playground where people believe in the magical “wings” that all humanity can be neatly divided into. Well, barfing up tinned talking points for either of the schoolyard teams is not welcome here. I hope that’s clear.
And to get back to your original point, isn’t it standard law to force divorced parents to pay for their children’s medical care?
All I am saying is that a person should wait until he or she is an 18 years old adult or become an emancipated minor before taking medication and sugery to do the transgender medical proceedures. No parent should be forced to participate in an elective process of their progeny if he does not want to do so. If you are mature enough to make that decision to go through with transgender proceedures than no parent should have the responsibility, duty or obligation to assist you in any way, If a woman has a right to an abortion and to kill her fetus or unborn baby than a man should have a right to abandon it and not pay for it. If a parent or the government has right to maim and mutilate the minor through transgender proceedures than the other parent or parents should have the right to abandon the minor. If a minor has the right to do transgender proceedures for allegedly being born into the wrong type of body than a minor has the right to cut out his or her eyes and hands so that he or she does not visually lust for someone or view porn or masturbate because he or she believes this to be more pleasing to GOD to please Him by doing Trans Ableist procedures. IT only makes logical rational sense. Anythinhg else you say would be a LAWHEAD excuse or nonsense law in my opinion.
For that matter a minor should be able to say he or she identifies as being one of the Asexual gender and then be able to take medication to suppress sexual desire as well as have corrective surgery according to your logic; yet, a person who has any religious beliefs such as a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu Pagan, Agnostic, Atheist etc. minor would have the same right to do so because he or she does not want to offend his or her own God or gods or lack of gods and his or her religious beliefs or lack there off to your logic. LGBQT(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Bisexual, Questioning and Transgender) should be expanded to LAGBQT (Lesbian, Asexual, Gay, Bisexual, Questioning and Transgender). I am slowly becoming more Asexual, that is lacking sexual desire, as I get older if I do say so myself and this means I am transitioning slowly and naturally into an Asexual gender identity. However, I recognize an adult or emancipated minor but not an un- emancipated minor would have the right to identify as the Asexual gender just like he or she has the right to identify as the Transgender gender and to quickly and synthetically change himself or herself through medication, surgery etc. Do you think as I do in regards to the previous sentence and why or why not? I think that rights, privileges and authority require one to be equally bound to duties, obligations and responsibilities and this means that the person with the most duty, obligation, and responsibility should have the most authority, privileges and rights and not the other person and this means if you have a sole absolute right, privilege and authority to ingest transgender medication and have transgender surgery etc.or even asexual medication and surgery upon yourself then that means you should be solely and absolutely bound to your duty, obligation and responsibility to figure out how to get that done without required assistance from anyone including one, two or more of your parents. Do you agree or disagree with my previous sentence and why or why not? I agree that both California and Texas are too authoritarian and the court decisions and legislation should be rescinded in both states. However Texas is the less evil or the two because at least a plebiscite or legislators with executives such as governors can rescind these laws and court order are generally speaking more difficult to get rid of especially after they reach the State or Federal courts. I usually have the most faith in plebiscites first then legislators with executive offices such as governor or president second and the least in judges and courts. At least Texas let you know what you can and can not do beforehand so you can either move to California or wait until you are considered mature enough and does not arbitrarily and without warning violate one’s rights like California did. Even if this California man moved to Texas, he would still be required to pay for transgender medication and surgery even though he does not want to do so and that means Texas is better than California on this issue. I have served in the American Army and am both an Iraq war veteran and an Afghanistan war veteran and I can tell you that even only serving in the military in peacetime is a life changing experience and going to war is by far more of a life changing experience. I also believe that getting transgender medication and surgery is more life changing than serving in the military during a war so I think only adults and emancipated minors should be able to do either. If a transgender minor who was not emancipated committed a crime up to and including 1st degree under of his parents, lawyers, doctors, nurses, counselors, psychologists, judges and others who helped him transition from one sex to another one partially, fully and physically and chemically either as a minor or as an adult then it becomes easier for a juror to practice jury nullification and say not guilty and for this un-emancipated minor as well as civilly for damages as either an adult or an in- emancipated minor so Texas tries to prevent these things and California encourages these things.
Goodbye.
It pains me to ban you because you’ve been commenting here for a while. However, you’re not going to turn my blog into a partisan playground. Take your moronic culture war bullshit elsewhere; all future comments from you will be marked as spam and discarded.