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Archive for March, 2022

Links #611

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , on March 21, 2022| 4 Comments »

Where is the baby pit bull?  –  cop, during no-knock raid

I’m really annoyed that The Steven Banks Show, an extremely funny comedy produced by my home-town PBS station, WYES, has never been released on DVD.  To give you a taste, here’s the show’s soundtrack album (which I own on CD, naturally).  The links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel, Franklin Harris, Cop Crisis, Jesse Walker, Cop Crisis again, and Amy Alkon, in that order.

From the Archives

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Vernal Equinox 2022

Posted in Holidays, tagged , on March 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The apparent path of the sun will cross the equator moving northward at 15:33 UTC today, signaling the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern.  Enjoy the milder weather to come, and Blessed Be!

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In the News (#1221)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2022| 1 Comment »

We have been arrested simply for the fact we practice massage.  –  Charlotte

A Whore in Church

Matthew 21:31 seems pretty straightforward to me:

I am a sex worker and a nude model.  I post nude pictures of myself and sell masturbation videos for a subscription fee on my OnlyFans website…I married young and had my first child at 19.  My priority was being a mom, and it’s still my priority today.  When I was 31, my husband became sick with an illness that eventually took his life…A widowed mom becoming a sex worker is somewhat of a unique story, but my story is even more unusual because I am an active member of the Mormon Church…I believe that God wants us to be proud of our bodies and comfortable with sexuality.  I believe that church leaders have decided this is wrong ― not God ― and I do not believe I need to choose between doing something I love and continuing as a member of the Mormon Church…Still, while I don’t worry or care about people looking down on me for my work, I do fear excommunication…

Actually, divorced or widowed moms doing sex work isn’t remotely unique; in fact, it’s probably closer to typical.

Science!

I’ll bet you knew this was coming:

…in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…women and children [are] seen as “fair game” for exploitative pimps and traffickers looking to capitalise on the destruction and deprivation that so often results from war…Ukraine’s geography — namely the country’s proximity to the regime of legalised prostitution in Germany — exacerbates the threat of pimps and traffickers looking to exploit a vulnerable population…

Tom Farr, whom I’m sure imagines himself a “feminist”, is disgusting not only in his denial of women’s agency and his bizarre claim that legal businessmen need to resort to kidnapping to get employees, but also by the almost-audible sound of fapping accompanying his one-hand-typed misogynist fantasy.

Pimps Ahoy

Exploitation is, sadly, more common than not in the “rescue” industry:

Employees of a Texas-contracted [profiting from housing] female [minors consigned to the] foster c[are system using the profitable excuse of “]sex trafficking[” have been caught exploit]ing the [girls]…Seven [girls], ages 11 to 17, were victimized by nine [people who claimed to be “sex trafficking experts”]…they…were sexually and physically abused and suffered from neglectful supervision and medical neglect while at The Refuge…in Bastrop…a current…employee reported…that…a[nother]…staff member sold nude photos of two [of the girls and]…us[ed] the proceeds to purchase…drugs and alcohol [for]…the [girls]…

Blunt Instrument (#1064)

An attempt to take one weapon of racist persecution away from cops:

New York…specifically directs local authorities to enforce licensing requirements for massage therapy — the only profession singled out.  As a result, police across the state and particularly in New York City routinely raid massage parlors…sexually assaulting those they arrest in these raids, or taking cash and other valuables and never returning them…Asian immigrant women have disproportionately been subjected to these raids…Newly introduced New York State Assembly Bill A8281 aims to change that.  The bill does not change licensing requirements for massage therapy or get rid of penalties for violations, but it does decriminalize unlicensed massage work and remove local police and district attorney enforcement…Red Canary Song…worked with lawyers at the New York Civil Liberties Union, immigration rights organizations and other legal aid groups to draft A8281.  State Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, whose district includes several Queens neighborhoods close to Flushing, sponsored the bill…

Winding Down (#1195)

Your “leaders” know what’s best, so shut up and obey:

The Harris Rider, a provision barring the legalization of recreational marijuana sales in the nation’s capital…sailed through the Senate…a day after passing the House, as part of a larger $1.5 trillion spending omnibus package…Congressional Democrats had pushed to do away with the…rider…But [lacked the spine to stand up to]…Republicans  “[Whine whine, simper simper” mewled one Democratic politician.  “It’s not our fault” pouted another one]…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1199)

It’s good when they feed on each other:

A [typical and representative] Loudoun County [Virginia cop] pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor over the internet.  Ryan Amos…used an internet application called “Whisper” to “engage in sexually charged conversations with an[other pervert cop fantasy role-play]ing as a 15-year-old girl”…Prosecutors [were most concerned about his desecrating his sacred clown costume by sending a picture of it to the role-playing wanker]…He will be required to register as a sex offender after being released from prison…

The Cop Myth (#1217)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do:

A California [screw] was arrested…after he [murder]ed his girlfriend…Luis Antonio Pulido-Esparza…called…911…[and claimed] his girlfriend had shot herself…[cops] found three children in the home…and arrested Pulido-Esparza…

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Annex 60

Posted in Diary, tagged on March 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

What you’re looking at is the framework for the wall of what will be a full bath.  The house currently has only one and a quarter baths (a full one downstairs and a toilet in a closet adjoining my office upstairs), which is simply not enough (especially in the morning).  If you look carefully to the left you can see (lying flat on the deck) the door which will fit in that doorway; the wall to the left of the doorway will be the wall of the shower, which will be divided from the walkway by an internal wall (leaving a passageway to the door).  The house wall at left is the wall of the existing bathroom, so it will be a relatively simple matter to run the new shower off of the plumbing leading to the existing one (the new toilet will be similarly piggybacked on the existing one).  I didn’t really want to start working on the walls yet, but Grace designed it this way so as to provide support for the roof section which will cover the bathroom.  Actually, that is already done; you’ll see pictures of how it went up over the next two weeks.  I’m not trying to tease, honestly; it’s just that the weather has been so cooperative we’ve made unusually good progress for the past two months, and since we can’t be sure that will continue, I’d rather space the reports out evenly just in case there are a few weeks where I can’t get much work done.

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Off the Green

Posted in Biography, tagged , , , on March 17, 2022| 6 Comments »

Long-time readers may have noticed that although I do a lot of holiday columns, and used to do even more, I’ve never done one for St. Patrick’s Day.  The reason is simple: I dislike it almost as much as I dislike Valentine’s Day.  But while my reasons for disliking the latter are mostly rational, my reasons for disliking the former are almost entirely irrational, and go back to childhood.  I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone reading this that I was a willful, rebellious child who hated being told “you must” with the same intensity I hated being told “you can’t”.  Now, that doesn’t mean I was purely contrarian; however, even then I reserved the right to decide for myself whether I would comply with some adult diktat, starting with demanding to know why I was supposed to do something or refrain from doing something.  Being told, “because x authority says so,” or handed some tautological non-justification, would generally provoke either immediate non-compliance or a pretense of compliance as long as the parent/teacher/cop was looking, followed by refusal as soon as they left the room.  To this day, the surest way to lose my cooperation is to accompany the demand with a phrase like “you must”, “you are required to”, “it’s the law”, etc, though obviously I am a lot better at avoiding negative consequences for my hardheadedness than I was as a schoolgirl.  So, as some of you may have guessed, my aversion to St. Patrick’s Day started with the annual declaration that I must wear green on the occasion; I was told to do it, not asked or encouraged.  The reasons I was provided, when they existed at all, were pure blarney (I was skeptical about that snake story even before I stopped believing in Santa Claus), and given that my school uniform contained no green, the obligatory color display generally took the form of a stupid little felt shamrock pinned to my blouse.  On top of all that, I had an odd aversion to green clothing in the first place; Maman thought it was because my other grandmother had made several rompers for me out of an old green sofa cover, so after a while I was thoroughly sick of the color.  Or perhaps it was due to association with the vegetables whose mere smell nauseated me.  In any case, I eventually outgrew my aversion to the color, but not to the holiday; as I grew into young adulthood I even rationalized my dislike by tying it to my disdain for binge-drinking and my reflexive rejection of any attempt to include me in some group membership against my will (back when people were declaring “We’re all New Yorkers now”, my response was usually “I’m not.”)  So anyhow, now you know.  I no longer have issues with wearing green, but I still find beer (of any color) revolting and am wont to roll my eyes at fake brogues and dopey leprechaun cartoons.  And while I was perfectly willing to kiss the Blarney stone, I can’t say the same for drunken Irishmen. 

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In the News (#1220)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Scapegoating Gen Z…belies the enduring hold of sex-negativity on our culture.  –  Asa Seresin

To Molest and Rape

It’s gradually becoming slightly less rare for reporters to describe the actions of rapist cops as rape:

A [typical and representative Kansas cop] is facing over two dozen charges…[for] raping a woman while [wearing his magical clown costume]…Jonathan Gardner…[is mostly being] charged with…official misconduct…[because he stalked potential victims using] Kansas [cop shop computer]…systems…

Disaster (#996)

A timid but possibly important challenge to FOSTA from inside Congress, take 2:

…a few members of Congress are…at least willing to consider the possibility that they messed up in passing FOSTA.  To this end, they’re backing legislation that would further study [its] effects…and of the Justice Department’s shutdown of websites—like Backpage and Rentboy—popular for sex worker advertising.  First introduced in 2019, these measures promptly flopped.  Now, their sponsors—Ro Khanna…Barbara Lee…Elizabeth Warren…and Ron Wyden…are trying again…In the findings section of the bill, the [politicians] explain (with a shocking lack of moral panic) how the government’s war on sex work advertising has caused a number of reported harms, and how FOSTA…increased it…Khanna—one of just 25 House members and two senators who voted against FOSTA—[said that]…he hoped getting more data on FOSTA’s effects would be unobjectionable—and useful for eventual repeal…Techdirt editor Mike Masnick…is skeptical. When it comes to sex trafficking, Congress just “wants to pretend to care about these issues so it can get headlines and go on TV to look serious about how it’s ‘solving’ these problems”…

I’m at least as skeptical as Masnick is, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Ron Wyden actually tweet that “Sex workers deserve equal and full labor protection and dignity under the law.”

Disaster (#1151)

They’ve chased this ambulance from Austin to Washington and back:

The [US] Supreme Court declined…to settle a question presented by a[n opportunist and her lawyers] looking to [cash in on a novel theory of] Facebook’s [legal] liability in a case where she [claim]s that she was “sex trafficked as a minor” because the social media platform “[allowed her to communicate with someone she now says was] a sex trafficker.”  The case had already gone all the way up to the Texas Supreme Court, although that tribunal’s decision pointed out the issues with trying to determine Section 230 protections, particularly in a case that also invoked FOSTA-SESTA.  [Though] the Supreme Court denied the request to take up the question…Justice Clarence Thomas added a statement opining that “although the case was not appropriate for court review, Congress should revisit the scope of Section 230”…

I Spy (#1166)

It looks as though at least one court is attempting to grow a spine:

[So-called “geofence”] warrants reverse the expectations of probable cause by turning everyone in a[n]…area into a suspect before investigators work backwards from the location data to generate a list of most likely suspects…[cops] have used these for years…[but] courts are paying more attention now…cops were investigating shootings at a motel in Fairfax County [Virginia, and]…had no suspects so they asked Google to generate them a list of people who had been in the area at the time of the shooting…[including] identifying data…the court…reject[ed] this warrant…Probable cause is the baseline and geofence warrants don’t even try to approach that constitutional guideline…Law enforcement either needs to do a whole lot better crafting these so-called warrants or, better yet, go back to the basics and start looking for suspects first, rather than trying to blunder their way into them by sifting through tons of unrelated data.

Why I Wait (#1177)

Somebody whose name isn’t Maggie McNeill is actually applying critical thought to this claim:

…a widely-held belief [holds] that…Gen Z, like the porn-sceptic feminists of the 70s and 80s, is a sex-negative generation.  Evidence routinely cited to support this belief includes the so-called “sex recession”…and the annual intergenerational battles over kink at Pride.  The idea that young people are abstaining from sex has even crystalised into a neologism: the Puriteen…young people who profess to avoid sex [do so] for a number of reasons: because they find it “objectifying”, “dangerous”, “uncomfortable”, “fucked up and scary”; because they are “exceptionally concerned with trauma and consent”; because casual sex makes them feel “used”…such statements have a political history…that risks falling from view when sex-negativity is treated as if Gen Z invented it.  By invoking objectification, instrumentalization, trauma, and consent, these young people – consciously or not – are using terms handed down to them by feminism…While it might seem like a paradox that [even] some young queers are expressing sex-negative views, the historical legacy of lesbian feminism proves that it isn’t paradoxical at all…

The Cop Myth (#1178)

Another cost of America’s sick worship of state-sanctioned violence:

…more than 7,600 [cops’ violent incompetence]…has more than once led to payouts to resolve lawsuits…[the] Washington Post…collected data on nearly 40,000 payments at 25 of the nation’s largest [cop shops] within the past decade, documenting more than $3.2 billion spent to settle claims…The total amounts further confirm the broad costs associated with police misconduct, as reported last year by FiveThirtyEight and the Marshall Project…more than 1,200 off[enders]…had been the subject of at least five payments.  More than 200 had 10 or more.  The repetition is the hidden cost of [police] misconduct: [cops] whose conduct was at issue in more than one payment accounted for more than $1.5 billion, or nearly half of the money spent by the departments to [sweep reports under the rug]…

To Molest and Rape (#1209)

Another specimen of the garbage the state pays to violate kids:

A [cop paid by the state to stalk, harass, and spy on students] at Auburn High School [in New York molested]…a student…William T. Morrissey, III has been charged with first-degree sexual abuse, official misconduct and endangering the welfare of a child…Auburn [politicians found out about the molestation via]…an anonymous written complaint in the mail…

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Diary #611

Posted in Diary, tagged , on March 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I usually buy my chicks as soon as they become available at my local Tractor Supply store, around the last week of February or the first of March.  But for some reason, they arrived late this year, and then the store management kept giving me problems: they wouldn’t tell me when chicks were coming, then wouldn’t hold the ones I wanted for the half-hour it took me to get there, etc.  So I went to the feed store over in the county seat, only to find that their policy was the opposite, chicks by preorder only.  However, the manager had a few of the type I wanted (red layers) from a cancelled order, so she sold them to me. They were slightly older than I usually buy them, with visible wing-feathers instead of being just fluffballs.  But because I was unwilling to trust Tractor Supply after the runaround treatment, I went ahead and got them.  So now we’ve finally reached the time of year when there is a box of tiny dinosaurs in my bathroom; alas, they don’t stay cute long, and soon they’ll just be ugly chickens who don’t lay eggs yet, out in the henhouse with the adult hens.  But for three weeks (only two more by the time you read this), I can’t help smiling whenever I go in there.

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Feudalism Redux

Posted in Current Events, History, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2022| 2 Comments »

Under feudalism most people are serfs, legally bound to a certain piece of land and barred from leaving it without the permission of their lords.  Serfdom as such was abolished centuries ago in the West, but in recent years governments have increasingly attempted to bring back the idea that citizens are (at least in some ways) owned by the governments under which they live, and therefore subject to the diktats of their owners even if they travel to places with different laws.  And I don’t mean only totalitarian states; the governments I speak of are modern Western ones.  Swedish politicians have made several attempts to criminalize their subjects who pay for sex in countries where it’s legal, despite objections from saner politicians that it would set a dangerous precedent for people who have homosexual relations or abortions in Sweden when those things are criminalized in their own countries.  Some countries criminalize parents who seek surrogacy arrangements overseas, and of course many tax jurisdictions (including the US) try to rob citizens blind if they have the temerity to move elsewhere.  And now American states which more aggressively claim ownership over their residents are also attempting to prevent their circumventing that control:

…a prominent antiabortion [politician] in Missouri, from where thousands of residents have traveled to next-door Illinois to receive abortions since Missouri passed one of the country’s strictest abortion laws in 2019, [now wants to]…allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident obtain an abortion out of state, using the novel legal strategy [pioneered by]…Texas…the measure is [clearly] unconstitutional because it would effectively allow states to enact laws beyond their jurisdictions, but…Coleman…also w[ants to criminalize the]…possess[ion of]…abortion pills in Missouri…If enacted, the measure almost certainly would face a swift legal challenge…

And Missouri isn’t the only state to imitate Texan tyranny:

The Idaho House of Representatives…passed legislation to make it a crime punishable by life in prison for a parent to seek out gender-affirming health care for their transgender child…and…A parent or guardian would also be guilty of a felony if they travel with their child to another state for the purpose of obtaining gender-affirming health care…the Idaho proposal…is not unlike laws from a prior generation, including the criminalization of interracial couples traveling to another state to get married…which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.  People already take trips to other states to do things that are legal that they can’t do where they live — from consuming cannabis, gambling or buying fireworks to obtaining an abortion — and there’s little states can do to stop that because of constitutional limits on restricting interstate travel…

It’s not coincidental that laws which attempt to reduce people to a kind of serfdom all revolve around things they might do with their genitalia; Americans have long been obsessed with what other people have between their legs, and what they do with that equipment, so naturally attempts to abrogate human rights often start thus because too many of their countrymen have similar views, and most of those who don’t are too ashamed to defend these rights (which is why so many who do defend them couch them in neutered euphemisms like “love”).  But make no mistake: if these abominations are allowed to stand, the precedent will quickly be extended to other rights that control freaks hate, just as Texas’ abortion law has already inspired gun-grabbers to attempt similar tactics.  And if you think the current police state is bad, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.

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Links #610

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 13, 2022| 1 Comment »

It’s called silly string. It’s silly.  –  Suzanne Johnson

As one who appreciates both Doctor Who and Jacques Brel, I found this extremely funny; I hope you do as well.  The links above it were provided by David Ley, Franklin Harris, Scott Greenfield, Walter Olson, Jesse Walker, and Cop Crisis (x2), in that order.

From the Archives

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In the News (#1219)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 12, 2022| 1 Comment »

I will never be the same person that I was before.  –  Jared Corson’s victim

Rough Trade

Did the cops not realize she was a sex worker, or did somebody in charge actually develop a particle of moral judgment?

On November 30, 2021…Antonio D. Lightner, picked…up…a [sex worker in Spokane, WA]…and drove to a deserted parking lot….[where he] zip-tied [her hands] behind her back, and [threatened her with]…a stun gun…when another vehicle pulled into the parking lot [he] stopped [raping her]…and drove…[elsewhere before resuming the] assault…After[ward]…Lightner [threw] the victim, still bound and naked, from the car and onto the ground before fleeing…

The Next Target (#1151)

It’s about time these companies started using their money to fight censorship:

Hours after the German government ordered the country’s major internet service providers to block xHamster, one of the ISPs, PŸUR, told a digital rights group that it reserves the right “to have the decision legally reviewed by an independent court”…Germany’s Commission for Youth Media Protection decided unanimously…to impose a network ban on xHamster, [claim]ing the adult tube site was…“illegal”…[such] ban[s are]…unpopular and [widely recognized by Germans]…as…censorship…

Creepy Coppers

Just another cop demonstrating what he is:

A Pennsylvania [cop named]…Sean McKenzie…had child pornography on his phone and a USB drive…[he was caught after] the file hosting service Dropbox [snitched on him]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1206)

Another article trying to elicit sympathy for a cop’s criminal behavior:

A [typical and representative] Everett [Washington cop got off with a mere] 10 days in jail, followed by community service and six years…on probation, for stalking his ex-girlfriend, [though a non-cop might’ve been hit with up to three years in a cage]…Jared Corson…us[ed] a tracking device on a car belonging to his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, then l[ied] about it [under oath, which is a felony]…Defense attorney Karen Halverson [whined about how]…Corson [like many men whose lives are destroyed by the US “justice” system] is the lone financial provider for his wife and their two young children…he [also]…lost the [power trip] he dreamed of…His defense attorney [blamed his actions on an encounter with a random mentally-ill stranger over a year before]…Corson cried as [belched out platitudes and copaganda at] the court…

Boo hoo hoo, poor widdle piggy wasn’t at fault for terrorizing a woman because a bad man once scared him.  Boo hoo hoo.

Thought Control (#1210)

My native state can always be counted on to find ways to make a bad idea even worse:

Louisiana [politician] Beth Mizell…has proposed a new state law requiring the censorship of “pornography or sexually explicit content” on the personal phones or computers of students, professors and staff while connected to a public university’s Wi-Fi network or internet service…Many…so-called…“filters” have been shown to block non-explicit content as well, with a particular bias against any sex education or LGBTQ+ material…[Mizell] wants any student or employee “who needs ‘unfiltered or unrestricted access to the internet’ for any scientific, educational or [pig-rooting] reason…[to] obtain written authorization from the institution granting access for a specified time period.  Such authorization must be kept on file and reviewed periodically”…

You’ve got to hand it to Mizell; it’s difficult to think of a clearer way for a politician to demonstrate that she not only lacks even the most basic understanding of what “higher education” means, but also a complete hostility to the concept.

Torture Chamber (#1211)

The people who actually need “correction” are the ones who enable this horror:

The Justice Department [pretends] it is gravely concerned…that a high-ranking [member of that department assigned] to…cover-up…[sexual abuse] at a women’s prison known as the “rape club” may have taken steps to [cover up] a recent complaint…T. Ray Hinkle…attempt[ed] to silence a female employee who said…[her] manager at the prison…in Dublin, California…[met] with her personally in violation of established protocols…[while women condemned to the hellhole are still being raped and] sexually abus[ed]…

Just in case you missed it: systematic rape and abuse of prisoners is covered up, but an “improper meeting” with a minor bureaucrat is “abhorrent”.

To Molest and Rape (#1217)

Rapist cops make sure they’re exempted from “sex offender” registration if possible, because they know it’s really an unending punishment:

After striking a [sweetheart] plea deal with prosecutors, a [typical and representative] Tennessee [cop] who…repeatedly rap[ed] a 14-year-old girl over a period of 20 months will serve no time in prison and does not have to register as a sex offender.  Brian O. Beck…[was allowed to] plead…guilty to a single count of aggravated assault…and [received only]…a…four-year [suspended] sentence and…three years probation…

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