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Archive for April, 2023

May Eve 2023

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The gang list is absolutely asinine.  –  Tracey Mason

In observance of May Eve, here’s another Lovecraft video from the creators I featured last week; the humor in this one is both drier and darker, and does not entirely override the horror concept at the core of the story.  The links above it were provided by Walter Olson, Mike Siegel, Lucy Steigerwald, Greg Lukianoff, Cop Crisis (x2), and Radley Balko, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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It would be bizarre for the state to create another category of illegal product that could lead to more conflict between law enforcement and the community.  –  Kent Sopris

Devil’s Advocate (#832) 

Dr.David Ley, with your periodic reminder that a child-shaped toaster is still a toaster:

In August of 2022…Harper and Lievesley published [a study]…of persons sexually attracted to children who owned child sex dolls…The researchers recruited online and found 85 individuals who owned such dolls, whose results they then compared to 120 individuals who did not.  All of these individuals self-reported sexual interest in children…But…the owners of such dolls were found to be less antisocial and reported less arousal at the idea of actually sexually abusing a child, compared to those who did not own such dolls.  Given that antisocial traits are a high predictor of contact sex offending against children, and that the owners of such dolls appear to have a high level of emotional and relational connection to the dolls, it suggests that owning such dolls may not significantly predict a higher risk of offending against children…When researchers examined the intentions, and past offending behaviors of the child doll owners, they found no results suggesting such individuals were at higher risk of future sexual offending against children…

To Molest and Rape

“Sexual misconduct” sounds so much nicer than “forcible rape”:

South Carolina [cop]…Gerard James Hildebrandt…was [arrested and] charged…[for forcibly raping a woman while wearing his magical clown costume]…

You Were Warned (#1224)

You just can’t keep a bad law down:

Some politicians never learn.  Congress has been trying to shove through the EARN IT Act for the past two sessions, and thankfully it’s failed both times.  But, now it’s back…and…it’s got all the same problems as the bill from last session…includ[ing]…nearly identical misleading language…regarding encryption…under EARN IT, encrypting content and messages is a liability…it’s kinda funny that they still even include the language pretending this doesn’t touch encryption, considering that sponsor Senator Richard Blumenthal admitted in an interview last year that the point of the bill was totally to target services that use encryption

A Moral Cancer (#1227)

Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:

[New York governor Kathy] Hochul…is quietly trying to fire up support for a complete ban on the sale of tobacco products in New York…despite [her] failure to secure support from state legislators to include a ban on menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products in the yet-to-be-approved state budget…Kent Sopris, president of the New York Association of Convenience Store Owners, p[ointed out that] a ban would put many stores out of business but wouldn’t stop tobacco use because smokers would just buy cigarettes out of state, online, or…on the black market…

Unfortunately, I must disagree with Mr. Sopris’ quote at the top of today’s column; providing new excuses for police violence is exactly the point of new prohibitions.

Stalkers in Blue (#1301)

Cops are sexual predators who often specifically target traumatized women:

First, the detective sent unusual emails — asking the mother of a Philadelphia homicide victim to send him photos of herself…or suggesting that they go out together.  [W]hen…the woman…me[t] the detective, Donald Suchinsky, for an interview about her son’s case…he groped her, put his hand down her pants, and digitally penetrated her…Suchinsky…has since been fired over the [2020] assault…and…prosecutors…believe…[he] may have victimized other women…

No Difference (#1325)

Don’t think this was an unintended consequence:

…[LGBT] people from…Uganda…began leaving after Uganda’s Parliament passed a sweeping anti-gay bill in late March that threatens punishment as severe as death for some perceived offenses, and calls for life in prison for anyone engaging in same-sex relations….Mbajjwe Nimiro Wilson…fled with a single backpack…after a hostile crowd…cornered him a[t a]…grocer[y]…“They kept saying, ‘We will hunt you. You gays should be killed. We will slaughter you,’” he said…The latest move to target L.G.B.T.Q. people in Uganda has drawn support from local Christian and Muslim groups, and for years the financial and logistical backing of some conservative evangelical groups in the United States.  One of the key organizers of the parliamentary conference in Uganda last month was Family Watch International, an Arizona-based organization that spreads anti-L.G.B.T.Q. and anti-abortion [propaganda]…

To Molest and Rape (#1333)

They’re trying to pretend this one isn’t typical and representative by calling him a “rookie”:

A rookie Los Angeles [cop]…was arrested…[for] rape of a child under 14…[swineherds are distancing] Diego Jose Miranda Lopez…[from other cops not only by stressing his]…probationary [status, but also by implying that the rape occurring] before Lopez joined the department [signifies anything at all about the kind of people who become cops]…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Back Issue #118

I will never cease to be amazed at the inability of statists to recognize that the expansion of government will never stop until it is somehow forced to.   –  “The Auctioneer Effect

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Diary #669

One thing about living on a small farm is, whenever anybody has some animal they no longer want (for whatever reason), they immediately think of giving it to me.  Now, that’s not really a problem when they take the time to ask; I like having animals around, and it gives the place character.  But sometimes they don’t bother to ask; they just find the nearest farm, ranch, or whatever and dump the animal there (which was how we ended up with Orville here and several dogs in Oklahoma).  This time, it was a goose and I was asked; last week Yellowbird texted to ask whether we could take it because the owners couldn’t protect it from coyotes which had started coming around.  So I said “sure”, and here she is.  So far she’s mostly just waddling around; she can duck under the gates (no pun intended) and spends most of her time either in the paddock or the west side of the house, hunting bugs in the grass (at least, I think that’s what she’s doing).  She seems cautious of the other animals right now, so she’s mostly keeping to herself, but yesterday I saw her pretty close to Jonathan so I guess she’s getting used to them.  Now if I can only figure out how to get her to consistently take a little poultry feed every evening, it’ll be nice to occasionally have a goose egg rather than chicken eggs with my bacon; I had one Friday and it was the size of three large hen eggs by itself, with a slightly richer flavor.

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Most…people don’t really want to…identify in any way with women in prison.  –  Serena Liguori

If Men Were Angels

It’s getting harder to tell the preachers from the cops:

A [Tennessee] pastor was indicted…fo[r using]…his church’s internet connection to upload images of child sex abuse online…Daryl Hayes…was immediately fired from the church…[cops] do not believe the…child victims [were members of]…the church…

Business As Usual (#1231)

A psychopathic rapist-murderer cop is still unconvicted:

…a [copsucker-filled] jury…[found] a [typical and representative] Columbus [Ohio] vice [cop]…not guilty of murder…[for] fatal[ly] shooting…a [100-pound] woman [he was attempting to rape] in August 2018…the family of 23-year-old Donna Dalton Castleberry said…the verdict in the case against…[psychopathic rapist] Andrew Mitchell was a “miscarriage of justice”…but…Mitchell will remain in police custody….[to] face…multiple federal charges [due to his being a serial rapist of sex workers]…and lying to federal investigators.  Trial in that case is scheduled to begin in July…

Above the Law (#1294)

They try to make these cases sound like the scumbag was doing his victim a favor:

[Typical and representative] Seward [Pennsylvania] police Chief Robert I. Baldwin Jr. pleaded guilty…to charges he [coerced] two women…in[to submitting to rape by threatening them with criminal charges]…in early 2020…

No Escape (#1312)

This will never stop while violent thugs have total power over the lives of women:

Kim Brown…is among nearly 1,000 women filing claims so far this year as part of New York’s Adult Survivors Act (ASA), which briefly waives New York’s statute of limitations requirements to file sexual abuse lawsuits.  But…Brown is one of only a small number of women likely to be doing so from prison…[because] filing a claim…carries…[the] risk…[of more violent rape than before and other] serious…retaliation from prison staff…In 2003, Congress unanimously passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act…[which] stipulates that prisoners [“]must[“] be able to report abuse by guards to third parties…but…[provides] no way to bypass staff members…[and is toothless because, as is typical for laws pretended to limit the power of government actors, contains neither criminal charges nor]…give[s victims] the right to sue…[their] abuser or [his bosses]…

The Cop Myth (#1319)

The reporter appears to have misspelled “care”:

Detroit police commissioners [are pretending] they didn’t know that a detective they unanimously promoted had…a[ssault]ed…three different women [in acts of] domestic abuse…[despite] Lemuel Sims…[being] criminal[ly] charge[d twice]…in 2011…Sims “forced entry” through his then-girlfriend’s kitchen window, ransacked her home and choked her…the case was later dismissed when his [victim] declined to testify…Three years later, Sims was [seen choking] a different girlfriend…[by] three witnesses…and, again, the…victim declined to testify.  Sims was suspended for one week.  Then in 2015, Sims…hit…another woman…and bruis[ed] her…police commissioners received a summary of…Sims’ history of [domestic] assault…33 citizen complaints and…17 separate…suspen[sions; they just didn’t bother to read it]…

To Molest and Rape (#1331)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative Alabama cop named]…Tomas Arias was arrested [in October] by the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation…[for] sexual abuse of a child under 12…and…production of [child porn]…

The Vultures Descend (#1332)

Just a reminder that regardless of what tyrants declare, many overseas pharmacies will sell to US customers without playing “Mother-May-I” games:

The Supreme Court on Friday granted the government’s request for a stay in a case concerning access to mifepristone.  The ruling means the status quo will hold—for now—with regard to prescribing the…drug, as the…5th Circuit considers the merits of the case.  Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the majority…

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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You have to physically take their phones…because [otherwise]…they’re just too tempted to play chess.  –  Justine Wewers

One of the great things about the internet is that it’s a lot easier to share fan-made films than it used to be; here (just in time for May Eve) is a funny little Lovecraft video from creators we’ve seen here before; next week I’ll share another one.  The links above the video were provided by Clarissa, Mike Siegel (x2), Radley Balko, and Cop Crisis (x2).

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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You’re faking it! Stop screaming!  –  Texas screw to woman in labor

Secret Squirrel (#715)

Prohibitionists are SHOCKED that software used by “legitimate authorities” is also used by “illegitimate” abusers:

…an app called Life360…which claims over 50 million active users across 195 countries, is among the most popular [surveillance] apps in America.  It lets parents [track their] kids…at all times, displaying their live coordinates on a map.  But, according to nine federal cases dating back to at least 2018, it has also been used by sexual predators to monitor and control their victims.  And privacy and trafficking experts say such misuse is hardly an anomaly; it’s becoming an issue with other apps like it including Apple’s “Find My Friends” and Google’s “Find My Phone” tools…

The Next Target (#1242)

Prohibitionists’ real goal is to completely ban online sex work:

German police have been targeting and intimidating specific Twitter users who post or retweet explicit material, in an attempt to move forward local bureaucrat Tobias Schmid’s campaign to purge all open platforms of adult content…Der Spiegel…devoted an entire feature to the authorities’ campaign to deter users from sharing sexual content…NetzPolitik’s Sebastian Meineck has been covering Schmid’s meticulous, obsessive attempts to ban all sexual content from open platforms in Germany and Europe.  In an in-depth report…Meineck wrote that authorities had already [censored] some 150 Twitter accounts for “distribution of pornography”…using the police to confront and threaten adult performers, creators and other sex workers over explicit videos and images they tweeted or promoted…Paulita Pappel, German porn producer and spokeswoman for the Free Speech Coalition Europe, [said]…“We are treated like criminals”…

The Vultures Descend (#1249)

Given that this is not only unpopular in Florida, but also violates the state constitution, these politicians are cutting off their noses to spite their faces:

Florida’s…Legislature…passed a ban on most abortions after six weeks…Ron DeSantis…has said he would sign the measure into law…House Speaker Paul Renner [chose] to close the public viewing galleries [using the absurd excuse that] a…protester…threw…a…[piece of] paper on the…floor…the…[only] exceptions [are] for rape and incest up until 15 weeks.  The measure does not change the exceptions for the life and health of the mother up until 15 weeks that are in current law…the six-week ban will be on hold pending a ruling from the Florida Supreme Court on the constitutionality of a 15-week abortion ban DeSantis [recently] signed into law…[politician] Yvonne Hinson…[said] “I wonder how much Florida money is being spent on legal fees attempting to defend that bill”…the six-week…ban is not popular among Florida residents of either [duopoly faction]…A…poll in March showed 75%…opposed the six-week ban.  That included 61% of Republicans…

Torture Chamber (#1303)

Your “leaders” refer to these atrocities as “correction”:

Texas Jail Project…[h]as [collected hundreds of]…stories of medical neglect and abuse during pregnancy in county jails…We started bringing these stories and impacted community members to the quarterly meetings of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards…[where] we were mocked and brushed off by the commissioners and sheriffs as indulging in “mama drama”.  This kind of dismissive response continued at the county commissioner’s court as well…a sheriff once alleged that we were making up these horror stories of pregnant women being neglected, miscarrying, and giving birth alone on dirty cell floors because “we don’t really have that many pregnant women in our jails”…[in reality] pregnant [women]…were rendered invisible in an already opaque system designed primarily by men, for men…The first successful bill we advocated for in 2009…mandated that jails [keep] count…[which showed that]…300 to 500 pregnant…[women] are booked monthly into Texas county jails…

Not mentioned in this article: the chief architect of the laws that resulted in this huge explosion in the number of female prisoners now resides in the White House.

To Molest and Rape (#1317)

Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?

A NYPD captain allegedly sent [dick pics] to a female detective and offered her favors if she would send him her panties, during a “relentless” 18 months of sexual harassment…Brian Flynn…sent more than 45…inappropriate photos and messages to…Michelle Almanzar…and retaliated against her when she spurned his advances…by making her stay late and redo reports and denied her personal time off…”he would often take his frustration out on her work partner as well as her team,” [her] lawsuit [explain]s…

Sleeping with cops is a bad idea even for other cops:

Ammy Ventura…a…civilian [NYPD] employee…[foolishly submitted to the advances of] her supervisor, Widler Lucas…[who claimed] he was…going through a divorce at the same time she was…The pair then started dating in April 2021, with Ventura believing Lucas was divorced…They broke up around September 2021, after…Lucas [started behaving abusively]…Nine months after the pair’s break up, during a shift in August 2022, Lucas…grabbed Ventura by her hair, pulled her behind his desk and forced her to give him oral sex while his office door was wide open…Lucas [later] told Ventura never to speak about the affair, saying, “I’ll fucking kill you” and threatening to “push [her] in front of a train”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1319) 

Both sides in the culture war have completely taken leave of their senses:

The Missouri attorney general, citing a consumer protection law normally used to prosecute fraudulent business practices, issued a new state directive…that would severely restrict gender-transitioning treatment for both adults and minors…[based on the false claim that] they were considered “experimental”…[and claim]ing that the attorney general “is charged with protecting consumers, including minors, from harm”…While there is some debate among medical professionals about how to put in place gender-transitioning treatment for [legal minors], leading medical groups in the United States…oppose legislative bans…

It is doubtful that this outrageous overreach will withstand a legal challenge; the action is therefore pure virtue-signaling intended to win votes, as is this equally extreme overreach by the Other Team:

The Washington state House approved a bill that would authorize state agencies to hide [legal minors] seeking transgender medical intervention from parents…under the bill, a disagreement between a[n adolescent] and parents over the [adolescent]’s desire for a medical transition constitutes “abuse and neglect,” only because the parent hasn’t “properly affirmed what the child [sic] wants”…

The Vultures Descend (#1330)

Just a reminder that regardless of what tyrants declare, many overseas pharmacies will sell to US customers without playing “Mother-May-I” games:

The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked heavy restrictions on the use of mifepristone…and will allow…physicians to continue using mifepristone for abortions past seven weeks and distributing the pill by mail and without an in-person visit…Kacsmaryk[‘s decision] in Texas…was robustly criticized by legal scholars and medical experts…[and] was in conflict with another decision issued by a district judge in Washington state…Judge Thomas Rice said that the FDA could not change how it regulates the drug in the locales that had filed suit…the…5th Circuit…partially blocked Kacsmaryk’s ruling, but said that instead, the FDA had to revert its approval of mifepristone to what was permitted in 2016: only allowing the drug to be used for people up to seven weeks of pregnancy, prohibiting its provision through telemedicine and requiring three in-person physician visits for anyone getting a prescription.  Currently, the FDA permits mifepristone to be used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, and the World Health Organization recommends its use up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.  Both endorse telemedicine for medication abortions…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Annex 105

Jae has mostly been working with the bar top lately; as you can see, she’s trying out some designs for a sort of shrine to Aphrodite there, and decided to redo the bar from the way she had me do it before, in order to finish it and drop the bar surface to what she feels is a more usable height.  She’s finished the primary staining, but is also clear-coating the top to create a waterproof bar surface (with that same stuff they use when they want to decorate a restaurant bar or table surface with something like maps, pictures, or postcards).  It’s going pretty slowly right now because it’s been cold and rainy all week; next year I think I’ll leave the shutters up until May Eve because it’s not unusual for us to have this kind of weather in late April, and even though the roof keeps out the rain it’s too chilly to work comfortably.  We had one mild day this week, but the rest was just yucchy; I’m honestly trying to remember how the hell I motivated myself to build the roof in this kind of weather last year, and the only answer I can come up with is that it was just pure stubbornness. 

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