I’ve always been a homebody, but now that I have a home that actually feels like home deep in my bones (for the first time in decades), it’s even more pronounced. It’s not just the anxiety about flying (or the more general anxiety about the many things that can go wrong while traveling), nor even just practical concerns (like the difficulty of getting a decent cup of tea virtually anyplace in the US that isn’t my house, or the many factors that can make even an expensive hotel room unpleasant); above all else, it’s just that I’m comfortable in my routines and as I age, increasingly uncomfortable outside of them. So though I’m not going to stop traveling (because there are lots of important reasons for doing so), I’m not one of those people who enjoys travel for its own sake. And when I’m done with any given trip, whether to Seattle or another part of the US or another part of the world, I’m always glad to be back home safe and sound, sleeping in my own bed and cooking in my own kitchen and setting my own schedule without having to concern myself with traffic, checkout times, or having to figure out the logistics of getting breakfast when I’m not even fully awake.
Archive for July, 2022
There’s No Place Like Home
Posted in Diary, tagged hotels, psychology, restaurants, Sunset on July 21, 2022| 2 Comments »
In the News (#1255)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged abortion, Alabama, censorship, cops, diversion programs, drugs, End Demand (updates), fantasy, If Men Were Angels, internet, Japan, Like Houses, Monsters, Ohio, Original Sin, prisons, propaganda, Property of the State, rape, scams, Stop faking!, Tennessee, Texas, The Widening Gyre, Torture Chamber, transgender, Unsafe for Human Consumption on July 20, 2022| 1 Comment »
[Men sentenced to “john schools” are] casualt[ies] in a moral panic that is destroying lives in order to save souls. – Elle Hardy
It’s striking how much the sexual behavior of “pastors” resembles that of cops:
William C. Robinson, a pastor working for Chi Alpha Campus Ministries in Corpus Christi [Texas], was…charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child…He pleaded not guilty…[but] also…stated he wanted to confess to [molesting a child for five years, starting]…when she was nine…
An O[hio man]…was attacked and beaten while camping because he is transgender. Noah Ruiz…was using the women’s restroom in a Preble County campground [because the owner of the campground foolishly directed him]…to do [so]…when a…[wo]man [who correctly perceived him as male demanded he leave. He tried to explain, but]…as he was walking out, three large men…grabbed [him]…choked [him, and threatened to]…kill [him. The pigs soon arrived and, as usual, made the situation worse by]…arrest[ing] Ruiz for disorderly conduct and obstructing official business. [A spokespig tried to defend arresting an assault victim by lying]…that Ruiz was highly intoxicated and…becoming belligerent…
Although the reporter makes her opinion of “john schools” quite clear from the beginning (see today’s epigram), I don’t even want to quote any of the nauseating details of either the scam to give sadistic wanker pigs their jollies, or the vile garbage vomited out in the “schools”. So I’ll just quote this part:
…evangelical…anti-trafficking groups[‘ idea of]…“female empowerment”…is more about affirming the savior than understanding the real needs and lives of those to be “saved”. It’s also hard to get away from the signs that…the movement interests itself only in a certain type of victim…they’re only ever waiting in carparks outside of strip joints—not helping th[ose]…who have been trafficked into other kinds of work….“anti-trafficking” and “modern slavery” mean more to the people who call it such than to those they’ve selectively identified as its victims. These are just buzzwords for a certain kind of sexual ethics that has become the stock in trade of today’s Pentecostal movement…
Useful idiots never see where “hate speech” laws inevitably lead:
…a [new] Japanese law…strengthens the country’s punishment for “online insults”…to as much as a year in prison and a fine of up to ¥300,000 (about $2,200 USD). It also extended the statute of limitations from one year to three…the…new law…doesn’t define what is or is not “demeaning,” and since there’s no requirement that the statements be statements of fact, it could mean anything…Seiho Cho, a lawyer in Japan…says…”If someone calls the leader of Japan an idiot…that could be classed as an insult”…
Funny how often people die mysteriously while cops just happen to be nearby:
Four [human beings condemned to filthy cages in Alabama] died between [July 7th] and [10th]…in addition to two others who have died in just over a week. The [victims were]…Don Robert Barclay…Joe C. Davis…Lionel Ferado O’Neal…and Jakari Marquez Norris…[the] coroner…said there are no obvious signs of foul play or trauma [but O’Neal was only 45 and Norris only 30]…So far this year, 21 [people]…have died [in the filthy cages, compared to]…26 [over the entirety of 2021]…
A Columbus [Ohio] man has been charged with impregnating a 10-year-old Ohio girl, whose travel to Indiana to seek an abortion led to international attention…Gershon Fuentes…was arrested…after…he confessed to raping the child on at least two occasions…Columbus police were made aware of the girl’s pregnancy through…her mother on June 22…On June 30, the girl underwent a medical abortion in Indianapolis…DNA from the clinic in Indianapolis is being tested against samples from Fuentes, as well as the child’s siblings, to confirm his paternity…
Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1253)
Apparently, fentanyl hysteria is contagious:
A [cop’s wife named]…Renee Parsons said she picked up a dollar bill off the ground at [a Tennessee] McDonald’s…and [had a panic attack]…She [experienced a number of symptoms of panic attacks and none of fentanyl overdose] before she [fainted], while he[r cop husband Justin] drove to the closest hospital…Soon after her husband [imagined] side effects as well. “My lips started going numb and my arm broke out in a rash,” Justin said…they [convinced themselves] fentanyl or a similar drug was on the money…[tests found nothing] on the dollar bill [but hysterical cops]…destroyed [it anyway]…Dr. David Edwards at Vanderbilt…[said] simply touching a drug will not cause an overdose…but the [local news media credulously reported the fantasy as if it were true anyhow]…“Your skin is a really good barrier and will likely protect you and you won’t just randomly overdose from just any medicine you are touching for a short period of time,” Dr. Edwards explained…
Note the resemblance to the “things on cars” trope of “sex trafficking” mythology.
Diary #629
Posted in Current Events, Diary, tagged activism, California, Nevada, Oregon on July 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Later this evening I’ll be home from my two-week trip to Freedom Fest via Eugene, Sacramento, and Los Angeles. Though I don’t really mind long drives, it was nice that most of the legs averaged only 5 hours each: 5 hours from Sunset to Eugene, 6 from Eugene to just north of Sacramento, 5 from Sacramento to Los Angeles, 4 from LA to Las Vegas, and 5 from Baker City, Oregon to Seattle. The only long day was Sunday, 10 hours from Vegas to Baker City; this evening after dinner I’ll head home, but that’s only 2 hours. I managed to combine a number of stops into this one journey: Eugene was to attend the last day of Nicole Gililland’s case (at her request); Sacramento was for an overnight with one of my generous gentlemen; Los Angeles was for a lovely four-night visit with my friend Angela, during which I did my best to be sober for as few hours as I could manage; and Las Vegas was for Freedom Fest as mentioned before. It felt a little strange not to have any speaking engagements at a conference, but I did a lot of one-on-one education and some strategizing, and it’s always good to see the friends I typically get to see only at conferences and other activist events. And those of y’all who donated to help me out will be glad to know that even with sky-high California gas prices and sky-high Las Vegas food prices, I managed to do the whole thing well within my budget!
Nobody’s Property
Posted in Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged ethics, left-right myth on July 18, 2022| 3 Comments »
I’ve noticed some people seem to be laboring under the delusion that if one of the schoolyard culture war “teams” temporarily espouses some position which happens to look something like one of mine, that means I “belong” to that schoolyard team.
No.
I am an individual, and my positions are derived from decades of ethical consideration based in one simple a priori principle: Every individual owns themselves and the fruits of their own effort, and nobody else (individually or collectively) has the right to control either, regardless of excuse. So if your preferred law, policy, regulation, politician, gang, or whatever claims the right to control any individual without their consent in any way, even if you claim it’s for “the greater good” or “their own good”, I am against it. That’s it. It’s really quite simple. And yes, harming others is a form of controlling them, so please let’s have no whataboutery involving violent crime, or sophistry attempting to equate some consensual, nonviolent behavior to actual violence in order to excuse the State violating an individual’s rights.
Links #628
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged acting, cops, drugs, Florida, Illinois, imaginative fiction, Netherlands, Ohio, racism, scams, video on July 17, 2022| 2 Comments »
The blood goes to your brain, whatever brain you have. – Larry Storch
The obits of Larry Storch aren’t mentioning that he also had a long career as a voice actor, starting as a stage impressionist, then moving on to voice Koko the Clown & other characters in the early ’60s revival of Out of the Inkwell before moving on to Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales. He later did work for Depatie/Freleng and Filmation, notably Drac in Groovie Goolies. The links above the video were provided by Walter Olson, Franklin Harris, Cop Crisis, Jesse Walker (x2), Cop Crisis again, and J.D. Tuccille, in that order.
- As one does.
- R.I.P. Larry Storch.
- Cops are a menace to society.
- I checked, and this is actually real.
- The Doctor Who movie that wasn’t.
- Cop attacks brown boy for having white friends.
- The Netherlands wants to be the next Sri Lanka.
From the Archives
- It’s sad that we’re still debunking claims that pictures have magic powers.
- Prohibition turns bodies into “crime scenes” which cops can violate at will.
- The answer to “Why don’t you do x?” is usually “Because I don’t want to”.
- Will Oregon be the first US state to recognize sex workers’ human rights?
- “Enlightened” Europe has treated sex workers shamefully during COVID.
- Will taking payment in gift cards protect a sex worker from prosecution?
- Sex workers gave their views before this tyranny was inflicted on them.
- A prison doesn’t become a “shelter” if those confined there are minors.
- Israel’s plan to force sex workers into low-paid menial “women’s work”.
- I’m glad Gloria “Body Invasion” Steinem lived long enough to see this.
- Cops, Rome, Atlantis, Antarctica, Simpsoni, Denise Nickerson & more.
- Canada pretends to care about privacy, but can snoop in other ways.
- Cato & ACLU try to stop deranged prohibitionists from killing people.
- “The government can take your stuff, then claim it was never yours.“
- Are we about to witness the beginning of the end of these evil laws?
- Cops don’t test rape kits because it doesn’t advance their purpose.
- Twitter joins the fascists who claim surveillance isn’t surveillance.
- The Indian rescue industry is being undone by its own pretenses.
- Observation: overpriced furniture. Conclusion: “sex trafficking”!
- Looks like we’re going to have to rethink the safety of the mail.
- A perfect example of the principle of garbage in, garbage out.
- Indian sex workers battle a terrible new “anti-trafficking” bill.
- Cops, feminism, Polynesia, singing clowns, and much more.
- The feds will try to stop this just as they did in Philadelphia.
- “Sex trafficking” fetishists are absolutely losing their shit.
- And how do you think such a “ban” would be enforced?
- The 5th Circuit just keeps on sucking politicians’ dicks.
- Sunset was built with the help of generous gentlemen.
- “It’s a surveillance-first, ask-permission-later system.“
- Cops, lawheads, Doug Mataconis, and much more.
- Wrangling an 8-meter steel beam onto the roof.
- A productive week despite seasonal anxiety.
- How China tries to keep the genocide quiet.
- Why am I slowly losing Twitter followers?
- Much more of this worldwide, please.
- The second cottage kit is delivered.
- Yet another sociopath with a title.
- Rapist/murderer cop of the week.
- Mr. Wizard Goes to the Country.
- Building a ramp up to the deck.
- An update on my fundraiser.
- Rapist cop of the week.
- A classic case of NHI.
In the News (#1254)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged agency denial, Arizona, brothels, Business As Usual, censorship, cops, Counterfeit Comfort, domestic violence, Imaginary Victims, Japan, law, Oregon, Panopticon, Permanent Record, porn, propaganda, racism, sex offender registry, Still a Child, surveillance, teachers, The Cop Myth, underage, Virginia, Wisconsin on July 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »
None of us should be here. – Nicole Gililland
US sex laws are nothing but PR campaigns for cops:
Since 2006, the federal government has funneled millions into sometimes-massive operations to verify the addresses of those [condemned to] sex-offender registries…studies show they…do nothing to improve public safety…[and] programs with proven track records in preventing sexual violence…get little federal help…These mobilizations…funnel federal dollars to local police…but the…flood of money doesn’t appear to produce much…most [of the arrests during such sweeps are] for failure to report a change of address or vehicle…Sweep announcements often convey danger…[which] might explain why so many [are staged] on or around Halloween…Cops also use the raids to promote the m[yth] that police are all that stands between families and mayhem…And federal officials use the operations to denounce criticism of cops…
…the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled…that a teenager who killed her sexual abuser may have the chance to be acquitted of all charges…Chrystul Kizer, now 22…has spent years fighting for the opportunity to show evidence…that her crimes were the “direct result” of the [exploitation]…she experienced at the hands of the man she killed: Randall Volar Jr. She hoped to employ a never-before-used Wisconsin law that [claims]…to offer legal protection to [people classified as “]victims of trafficking[“, but prosecutors…[ha]ve argued…[that] her charge should only be lessened from first-degree homicide to second-degree — meaning she would still face up to 60 years in prison. The court…[finally allowed] Kizer’s case, which has been stalled for years, [to] continue. If [yet another] judge agrees there is “some evidence” her crimes were a “direct result” of trafficking, she will be able to present the same argument to a jury. If the jury sides with her, she could be acquitted of some or all the charges against her…
Passive voice and obfuscation are used to divert blame for sexual assaults:
Two Flagstaff [cops lied] to [women in] massage parlors, took their pants off, and allowed themselves to be fondled eight different times….[which is] illegal according to state law [despite being approved] by [a gang composed of spooks, pigs, and]…prosecutors…Police a[bducted] 13 people…after…the [sexual assaults]…state law clearly outlines that what the [rapist pigs] detailed in their reports is illegal…[they also] repeatedly [claimed] they were looking into “sex trafficking” and then proceeded to pay for sex acts from [women they infantilized as “]victims[“]…
[On June 30th], residents of Nogales, Arizona—a border-hugging town of about 20,000 people—awoke to find a large white blimp stationed in the sky. Even [local politicians] had no idea the blimp was coming….[to] conduct…round-the-clock surveillance [for] U.S. Customs and Border Patrol…With the ability to provide surveillance both night and day, and a maximum [altitude] of 3,000 feet…the blimp is certainly capable of snooping on many people…There are now 17 blimps stationed over the U.S.-Mexico border. The Nogales blimp is the first in eastern Arizona, though the CBP tentatively plans to launch another in that sector later this year…
It’d be a shame if locals started using this for target practice.
An important victory in the fight for sex worker rights:
An Oregon jury has awarded more than $1.7 million to Nicole Gililland, a former nursing student who sued her school for discriminating against her because of her adult performer past. Although the jury declined to hold Southwestern Oregon Community College liable for Title IX violations, it did find SWOCC in breach of contract for derailing Gililland’s career and life after the school administration and instructors found out in 2017-2018 about her brief stint as an adult performer…for around 20 months between 2007 and 2009. The jury…award[ed] Gililland $735,417 in compensation for the economic damage…plus $1 million in punitive damages…
41% of cops admit to beating their wives; some don’t stop with mere beating:
…a [typical and representative cop] in Virginia…[nam]ed…Richard Colon Crowder…[murdered] both his wife Diane…and stepdaughter Carrie Szaksz…[and also] fired…at [his fellow cops] in an approximately nine-hour standoff before surrendering…Diane was moving out of the home…to get [away from her husband’s] abus[e]…The movers were just taking care of the final two pieces when [Crowder started shooting, so they fled]…and called [the other cops]…
Japanese politicians decided to infantilize all adults rather than just young women:
Japanese p[orn]…performer…Sakura Tsukishima has revealed…that she was forced to give up her apartment due to unreasonable changes [politicians] forc[ed] on the local adult industry…the sudden precipitous decline in her projected income…[was] caused by the virtual shutdown of production while companies try to figure out how they can continue shooting now that the Japanese government has rendered adult industry contracts unenforceable…the new law empowers any performer of any age or gender to withdraw…their consent for companies to distribute adult material in which they appear [and were already paid for]…at any time before the film’s public release without conditions, as well as up to a year afterward…video vendors [would be] obliged to [somehow] recover the products and delete the footage, and cannot claim [to be repaid for the] compensation [paid to the cold-footed] performers…
Annex 74
Posted in Diary, tagged animals, Sunset on July 15, 2022| 1 Comment »
Since the paddock door is at atrium level (unlike the shop passage I showed y’all last week), I couldn’t run the roof panels as a continuation of the shop’s roof; as you can see, the top of the door is actually above the edge of the shop roof. So what I did instead was to make the awning for this ramp (made with the very last leftover roof panels except for small scraps) end at the same level as the edge of the shop roof, so that when I install the gutters (starting after I get home next week) I can simply make a 90o turn onto the edge of the awning, then install a short run with its own downspout for the section under the awning. I apologize for Rocky’s rather rude posture on the handrail; when I started to snap the picture he was in a much more dignified position, and I didn’t realize he had turned before the snap until much later, after I had installed the screen in the big window area to the right of the door. You’ll be seeing that and the screen on the northeast wall in two weeks, and soon after that I hope to have some gutter pictures.
Welcome to the Underworld
Posted in Current Events, History, Perception, Tyranny, tagged abortion, consensual crime, lawheads on July 14, 2022| 2 Comments »
Greeting to all the “criminals” the Council of Wizards created recently with a single magical proclamation. Neither you nor the morality of your decisions changed one iota; politicians simply decided to send violent thugs to disrupt your life because sadfeelz. Please remember that in the future when you’re tempted to demonize other people for having been made “criminals” by similar magic “laws”. Of course, there are such things as actual crimes, though they’re neither as common as authoritarians want you to believe, nor as common as they used to be. One of the stronger theories about why the crime rate dropped so dramatically after the early ’90s is that due to Roe v Wade, fewer babies were born into the dire poverty that engenders a lot of actual (as opposed to consensual) crime. So when the crime rates in abortion-banning states starts to rise again in about 16 years, don’t pretend it’s because there aren’t enough cops or the prison-cages aren’t packed full enough. Of course, the politicians will make that claim, and useful idiots will believe them. But when that happens, do spare a footnote in your academic paper on the topic (or a citation in your “thinkpiece”) for that crazy whore who told you so way back in the ’20s.
In the News (#1253)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged abortion, Bait and Switch, Brazil, censorship, consensual crime, cops, Cops and Robbers, domestic violence, drugs, hysteria, Japan, Japanese Prostitution, libraries, New Jersey, North Carolina, politicians, porn, prisons, scams, Texas, The Vultures Descend, Thought Control, To Molest and Rape, Torture Chamber, Unsafe for Human Consumption, Vermont, Virginia on July 13, 2022| 2 Comments »
I don’t know why [magic fentanyl] stories won’t go away. – Ryan Marino
Cops really believe they’re above the law:
Addison County [Vermont] Sheriff Peter Newton…[refused] to…resign…[despite] fac[ing multiple] counts of sexual assault…and domestic assault. [Newton downplayed his crimes as merely going]…“too far” during sexual encounters…[after he] left [his victim] with pain and bruises, threatened her, and said no one would believe her if she stepped forward…he [also]…“told her ‘she was crazy’ and she ‘dreamt it’,” she said…“He’s a predator…It’s not just him, it’s the entire sheriff’s department because they knew he used his position to get women”…
Kyoto Prefectural Police arrested Masayuki Nakamoto…[for] selling copies of adult videos…that he had altered to appear uncensored. Japanese adult videos are required by law to obscure the performers’ genitals, with placing a mosaic over them the most common form of compliance…since the mosaic is hard-coded into the image of the commercially released video, it can’t really be removed. Instead, Nakamoto used an A.I. program, which via machine learning gained an understanding of what uncensored genitals look like, then used that knowledge to create a photorealistic simulated visual representation…[which he] placed…over the mosaic, making the on-screen performers appear completely uncensored…judge Shinsuke Danjo sentenced him to two years in prison, with the sentence suspended for three years…and…also fined [him] two million yen (roughly US$15,000)…
Clueless wonders attempt to ape the antics they see on copaganda shows:
Three members of [a] social media [clique named “Dads Against Predators”]…lured…a [younger] man to a North Carolina [Target] store [on June 28th] before attacking him…The man reportedly fired a gun…to try to stop the beating…but…the g[ang] continued to beat the man, [stole] his gun and left…[cops claim] they have identified three men responsible for [the attack]…which…[left] the…25-year-old [victim]…with minor injuries…
The victim’s age leads me to believe that this gang’s tactics were copied from similar scams by cops.
Your “leaders” want you to call this “correction”:
…in prison, many people are served meals that are altogether inedible…women at Virginia’s Fluvanna C[age Stack are often]…provided food that is moldy, rotten…spoiled…[and] roach[-infested. When edible, t]he portions are “toddler size”…people in prison are routinely forced to pick through bugs and mold at meal time. A 2017 survey of more than 100 incarcerated people in almost two dozen states found that over 65 percent of respondents had been served food not intended for humans, or that was moldy, spoiled, or had [maggots or other] bugs in it. Most states spend less than $3 a day on food per incarcerated person…To survive these conditions, incarcerated people might try to smuggle some of the more edible food from the mess hall into their cell—maybe a banana or an orange. But these items are [deem]ed contraband, which [provides a convenient excuse for further torture by screws] if they’re found…Incarcerated people are over six times more likely than those in the community to contract a foodborne illness…
Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1204)
The State claims these clowns are qualified to interfere in the doctor-patient relationship:
…Cops are having panic attacks upon encountering fentanyl because they believe they are overdosing. The symptoms seem to never match up with those of an actual opiate overdose. For one thing, these reports of overdoses never include the officer reporting a wave of euphoria before collapsing (there’s a reason people use opiates). Reports often do not include the blue lips and fingernails, the limp body, and the reduced heart rate consistent with opiate overdoses. It’s pretty clear that police…are simply suffering panic attacks—quite possibly because they…heard all those previous stories about these kinds of impossible overdoses…
As highly visible and politicized book bans have exploded across the country, librarians — accustomed to being seen as dedicated public servants in their communities — have found themselves on the front lines of an acrimonious culture war, with their careers and their personal reputations at risk. They have been labeled pedophiles on social media…[and persecuted] by local politicians…[mob] members have tried to seek criminal charges against librarians…Many librarians have quit — or lost their jobs — after clashes over books. Suzette Baker was fired from her job at the head of Kingsland Library branch in Llano County, Tex., after she repeatedly refused to [censor] books as [politicians] had demanded, according to a lawsuit. The suit was filed this spring by residents against [politicians who are]…violat[ing] the First Amendment by censoring books…
All prohibitionism is the same, part umpteen:
The trajectory of access to abortion pills in Brazil may offer insight into how medication abortion can become out of reach and what can happen when it does. While surgical abortion was the original target of Brazil’s abortion ban, the proscription expanded after medication abortion became more common, leading to the situation today where drug [deal]ers control most access to the pills. Women who procure them have no guarantee of the safety or authenticity of what they are taking, and if they have complications, they fear seeking help…black market misoprostol, brought in from India, Mexico and Argentina, is sold for anywhere from about $200 to $400 for the eight tablets recommended for an abortion, compared with less than $15 for a 60-pill bottle in the United States…
Diary #628
Posted in Diary, tagged California, Nevada, Oregon on July 12, 2022| 1 Comment »
So far, my road trip has been going pretty smoothly. You may have heard the good news about Nicole Gilliland’s case; the jury was still deliberating when I had to leave Eugene on Thursday, but by the time I stopped for gas in Medford there was a text on my phone telling me about the win. Speaking of gas, apparently my decision to get my car tuned up and checked over before the trip was a wise one, because I’m getting somewhat better mileage than usual; so far I’ve only had to fill up three times (I left home with about 3/4 of a tank), and managed to find lower-than-area-average prices each time (below $5.00/gallon in Eugene, which is better than I’ve seen in months). I’ll need to fuel up again before leaving Los Angeles, but that’s still not bad, considering; it’s looking like the whole trip will end up being about 8 tanks altogether, and several of them were refilled when I still had a quarter of a tank or more. Anyhow, I’m off to Freedom Fest tomorrow, and if all goes as planned I should be back in Seattle when you read the next diary a week from today.
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