This is one of the images of my childhood. The can looks as it has for well over half a century; the only thing different is the red circle with “NO PRESERVATIVES” written inside (and probably the metric equivalent of the volume). The product has been made in Abbeville, Louisiana since 1910, and growing up it was a staple in my house; we used to make peanut butter and syrup sandwiches as some people make peanut butter & honey, and it was also used on pancakes & lost bread (AKA French toast). When I was very young, my dad would cut off the ends of his bread to make po-boys to bring to work for lunch, then he would make a hole in the end and pour some Steen’s into it as a breakfast treat for me. He also taught me that a sandwich using ordinary sliced bread with Steen’s and cheddar cheese was a delicious snack; don’t knock it ’til you try it, because I’ve had more than one friend go “eeeeeeeew!” until they take a bite and then become converts (don’t use so much syrup it makes the bread soggy; a light coating will do). But when I started stripping I made a number of sacrifices to keep my weight down and my tummy flat, and cheese & syrup sandwiches were one of them; then when I moved to Oklahoma it wasn’t even available. But a couple of years ago it somehow came up in conversation with Chekhov, and he found a can in some grocery store around here; it has been in my cupboard for a while, repeatedly calling to me until I finally succumbed to its siren song and made myself a cheese & syrup sandwich for my evening tea one night last week. The flavor was just as I remember, and I may even enjoy it on my waffles next time I make them (which should be Friday). And you can bet that even if I have to have it shipped from Louisiana, it’s going to return to its long-ago status as a staple in my larder.
Archive for July, 2023
Diary #683
Posted in Biography, Diary, Favorites, tagged Louisiana, recipes on July 31, 2023| 1 Comment »
In the News (#1359)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged Censor Chic, censorship, cops, drugs, fascism, FBI, Florida, Ghana, internet, Kenya, law, LGBT rights, Mexico, Monsters, No Difference, politicians, prisons, psychology, rescue industry, Schadenfreude, serial killers, Served Cold, Stop faking!, Sudan, Surplus Women, surveillance, Tanzania, Texas, Torture Chamber, Uganda, Utah, violence vs. sex workers, When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals, You Were Warned on July 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »
[An FBI] suggestion…is not a suggestion. It is in fact effectively an order. – Darrell Issa
Cops love awkward, overcomplicated language:
Three women [have been] found dead near the Trinity River in [Dallas, and]…Oscar Sanchez Garcia…is being charged with th[e]…murder[s]. The body of 60-year-old Limberly Robinson was found in late April. 25-year-old Cherish Gibson was found dead in the same area two months later. The third woman was found [July 15th and] has not yet been identified. Police believe at least two of the victims have possible ties to prostitution…
Would it have been too difficult to say, “at least two of the victims may have been sex workers”?
Will this be another victory for US evangelical prohibitionists?
Kenya is…introducing legislation that would criminalise openly identifying with, or supporting, the LGBTQ+ community…including openly identifying as LGBTQ+ or wearing Pride emblems. Those found in breach of the law would face a minimum of 10 years in jail while those found guilty of performing same-sex acts would face a minimum of 14 years…anyone found guilty under a clause for “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as engaging in “homosexual acts with a minor or disabled person and transmitting a terminal disease through sexual means”, could be executed. The bill heavily mirrors Uganda’s…which was signed into law earlier this year. Similar bills are also being proposed in Tanzania…South Sudan…[and] Ghana…
“This bill is not about kids’ safety, because it will put their safety at risk”:
With…KOSA…be[ing] debated in…Congress…Joe Biden [has] come out [to] give a full throated endorsement of the horrible, dangerous, bill that will damage privacy and harm children…the Republicans have been quite vocal about how they support KOSA because they know they can use it to suppress LGBTQ voices. They flat out said that they believe that “keeping trans content away from children is protecting kids”…KOSA….[is] not about “protecting” kids privacy at all. It’s about giving the government more control over kids. The nature of the bill will require more data collection…[and] create serious 1st Amendment concerns by holding companies potentially liable if kids face harm that…an [ambulance-chaser can pretend was somehow related]…to anything they found online…
Now would be the time to call your congresscritter to scare it away from being associated with this police-state garbage.
I’m sure they occasionally yelled “Stop faking!” at him as he wasted away:
By the time he died alone in his Miami-Dade jail cell in the summer of 2021, (5’10”) Randy Heath weighed just 113 pounds…[because] guards…allowed [him]…to languish [for 9 months] in the jail’s mental health unit…[and] did not properly feed, monitor, or administer…medication…the…Medical Examiner’s Office…[claims] Heath…died from “food asphyxia” after a large piece of orange blocked his airway, with the contributory cause being pica, an eating disorder in which people compulsively eat things that aren’t food…Heath…had been in and out of…jail since 2002 on various charges…[but the most recent arrest] in April 2020 [was on the pretext that he touched] his ankle monitor [in a manner disallowed by The State]…He would remain on the floor of his cell unattended for hours…in his own urine and feces…Although he was regularly prescribed medication for his mental illnesses, his toxicology report detected no medicine in his system at the time of death…
Partisans deny this when it’s their side making “suggestions”:
…based on current evidence, the FBI has not explicitly demanded that social media companies censor any specific posts or news stories. But…[as] the Supreme Court [said] nearly 60 years ago: Americans “do not lightly disregard public officers’ thinly veiled threats to institute criminal proceedings against them if they do not come around.” Much is said in our current discourse about…power imbalances…When your boss asks if you can stay late or come in on the weekend, you can say no. But in the back of your mind, you know there may be consequences…It’s…a similar dynamic when the government sends “suggestions” to private individuals or companies over which it exercises…authority…When the FBI floods social media platforms with “alerts” about content it obviously wants taken down, it doesn’t deserve a pass just because it didn’t say out loud: “or else”…The FBI uses the weight and authority of its office to lean on platforms in an attempt to do what the First Amendment forbids it from doing directly: suppress protected speech. This tactic is called “jawboning,” and is not something we should blithely accept in a society committed to free expression as a fundamental value…
Ballard’s increasingly-bizarre antics have apparently upset his partners in profiteering:
Tim Ballard, the celebrity [“sex] trafficking[” profiteer] whose heavily fictionalized exploits served as the inspiration for the [fak]e box-office hit Sound of Freedom, is no longer CEO of the Nazarene Fund, the Glenn Beck-backed [rescue industry] organization…a letter is circulating in Utah’s philanthropic community, which claims that Ballard left OUR following an internal investigation…[after] an employee filed an HR complaint after returning from a mission with Ballard…
Elsewhere, Kaytlin Bailey uses Ballard’s fanciful story as a springboard for discussion of why “rescue” narratives are not only nonsense, but distracting from measures that really help sex workers.
It does not help young victims of governmental brutality to infantilize them as “children”:
…inside…the…largest juvenile [prison]…in…New Mexico…[young people] between the ages of 12 and 17 are routinely subjected to strip searches, held for weeks in cells without toilets, and left with only a thin plastic sheet to block out the glare of hallway lights that never turn off. Girls face particularly harsh conditions, often placed in…solitary confinement…chronic understaffing…[is used to excuse holding prisoners] for weeks, in temporary booking cells with no toilets or sinks…[yet somehow there are enough staff for weekly sexual assaults euphemized as “]strip searches[“. Girls who]…refuse…to [submit are]…locked in…cell[s] until [they “]consent[“]…
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!
Back Issue #121
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged blogging on July 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The dominant cultural narrative is that whatever any given individual woman does with her body is a legitimate public concern, especially when sex is involved. – “Public Property”
- A 17-year-old journalism intern’s impressions of the Desiree Conference.
- It’s difficult to judge claims’ legitimacy when no victims are interviewed.
- The ridiculous & harmful consequences of laws against consensual acts.
- Another “victim” caged to force cooperation in the state’s morality play.
- Drag queens turn ordinary women into streetwalker stereotypes on TV.
- Protests vs the criminalization that killed Dora Oezer & Petite Jasmine.
- Indonesian lawheads think closing red-light districts will end sex work.
- Lies & myths don’t become true merely because they appear in a film.
- Soi-disant “ally” belches up the “average debut at 13” myth to media.
- Yet another religious “diversion program” packed with prohibitionism.
- Reinforcing whorearchy is not the way to win right to employ whores.
- A man has offered to “keep” me in real style; how do I make it work?
- Observation: girl runs away from home. Conclusion: “sex trafficking”!
- Pearl-clutching, bigoted prudery is especially revolting in young men.
- Ruhama shills admit their goal is to drive whores into homelessness.
- Irish nuns abducted children from mothers, sold them to Americans.
- SANGRAM and VAMP fight for sex workers vs American “soft power”.
- Politicians are usually forgiven; those whose lives they destroy, not.
- A new video game featuring a cartoonish, stereotyped streetwalker.
- The barbaric belief that women’s bodies are the property of society.
- She thinks a random amateur is better than a skilled professional.
- Cops, thieves, Popeye, sociopaths, Florida, prisoners and slinkies.
- There is now no barrier to cops stealing your DNA for any reason.
- Anthony Weiner found himself caught in another sexting scandal.
- Pets, cops, sexting, false memories, marijuana, and much more.
- You won’t often see a judge side with a sex worker against cops.
- Why clients need to be as scrupulous about condom use as pros.
- “End demand” policies turn innocent whores into unwilling traps.
- No, a camera doesn’t magically protect sex workers from arrest.
- Somewhat uneven piece on the victims of the Long Island Killer.
- A Greek example of the “first they came for the…” phenomenon.
- White saviors “rescue” brown urchins by making them servants.
- Chinese court declares that “happy endings” aren’t prostitution.
- Save the children and the poor, innocent men from evil harlots!
- Prostitution in a world where the Protestant Reformation failed.
- More sophomoric “humor” from sadistic New York “authorities”.
- Slavery, cops, surveillance, censorship, math and much more.
- Cops sabotage sex workers’ means of keeping ourselves safe.
- Swedish feminist wants ban on drinking alcohol near children.
- The FBI thinks a dude paying for sex is somehow noteworthy.
- Hilariously hysterical pearl-clutching about coed sex workers.
- Kristin Davis reaffirms her membership in the Hall of Shame.
- Naked Truth: Strip Clubs, Democracy, And A Christian Right.
- I’m rather stout; how can I get women to give me a chance?
- Magdalene laundry nuns refuse to apologize to their victims.
- Lawyer sues Apple for not censoring his internet connection.
- Why do some downscale hookers insult and demean clients?
- Cops, Nazis, gay mice, vegetarians, drugs, and much more.
- See how easy it is when you actually bother to TALK to us?
- The Sexual History of London and Rise of the Warrior Cop.
- Scottish cops set out to destroy Edinburgh sauna system.
- More journalists are speaking out against criminalization.
- Shamans punish teen girl for possession of taboo object.
- I despise toilet-cleaning, but I don’t want it criminalized.
- Mainstream media begins to discover Dr. Laura Agustín.
- In which I discover that I’ve become a minor celebrity.
- The true story of a Nigerian sex worker in Amsterdam.
- Skinhead murders a “sex offender” chosen at random.
- Another small country stands up to American bullying.
- When governments ban things, they magically vanish!
- In which I head off to the Desiree Alliance convention.
- An anti-criminalization article in The National Review.
- The government is now regulating magician’s rabbits.
- More ridiculous anti-whore propaganda from Nevada.
- Unlearning Liberty, Absolutely Mad and Blak and Blu.
- More proof that “sex addiction” is not a real disorder.
- He who sups with the Devil should use a long spoon.
- Governments’ quest to extend childhood indefinitely.
- On would-be allies who use “selling bodies” rhetoric.
- Chinese “authorities” evict activist from her home.
- Florida Christians want power to banish heathens.
- Ohio wants to criminalize obtaining clear consent.
- South African sex workers gain pro-decrim allies.
- Chinese activist jailed for scaring away prowlers.
- Arch-prohibitionist cops coerce women into sex.
- Sex workers are finally starting to be heard.
- Another mainstream pro-polygamy article.
- Using the passive voice to shift the blame.
- “The Loophole” by Garfunkel and Oates.
- Rapist jailed for fake sugar baby scam.
- Is there a best way to start your blog?
- Somalia sets age of majority to 40.
- Rapist cop of the week.
- R.I.P. Petite Jasmine.
- An old whorehouse.
- R.I.P. Dora Oezer.
Still Another Throwback Thursday
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged blogging, Throwback Thursday on July 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The actual biographical facts of the lives of the human beings upon whom…mythic figures are based is of no more importance than whether Buddha could actually perform miracles, King Arthur pulled a sword from a stone, or Mohammed flew into heaven on a winged horse. – “Magdalene’s Day”
It’s incredibly painful for me to lose someone I love…even if that someone lacks the gift of speech. – “Diary #264”
The argument that…an inanimate object which the human mind interprets as being shaped like a woman (or a child) has some kind of mystical connection to the thing it resembles…is the cognition of a savage; it deserves no more consideration in a rational society than the contention that the Earth is flat or that priests should make sacrifices to Zeus and Poseidon in order to turn away hurricanes. – “Vile Insinuation“
I’m often fascinated by amateurs’ attempts to explain the demimonde when they know nothing about it. – “Turning Tricks”
You know who doesn’t screen? Cops. – “Pre-screening”
In the News (#1358)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged abortion, Alabama, Canada, China, consensual crime, cops, drugs, fantasy, Italy, Little Tin Gods, Louisiana, Madonna/whore, Mississippi, No Escape, politicians, porn, prisons, rape, robots, scams, Surplus Women, surveillance, The Pygmalion Fallacy, The Vultures Descend, The Widening Gyre, To Molest and Rape, Torture Chamber, violence vs. sex workers, Virtual Imperialism on July 26, 2023| 3 Comments »
The judges…justif[ied] their leniency…in florid language strikingly similar to that found in subreddits for incels. – Gustavo Turner
The return of a ridiculous fantasy we haven’t seen much in the past few years:
Former Google executive Mo Gawdat has made a st[upid, hackneyed] prediction: hyper-realistic AI sex robots are coming that could make intimate human relationships obsolete…Gawdat— [like many other clueless techheads before him]—claimed…virtual reality and augmented reality will soon allow people to have simulated sexual experiences that are indistinguishable from real life…If you can use tech to feel what your partner makes you feel, Gawdat [inanely bloviated], “Why would you need another being in the first place?”…
Beijing’s campaign to silence Chinese people outside China is becoming more aggressive:
…a couple of weeks before the [election, incumbent Canadian MP] Kenny Chiu…[realized] something had flipped among the ethnic Chinese voters in his British Columbia district…Longtime supporters…were not returning his calls. Volunteers reported icy greetings at formerly friendly homes. Chinese-language news outlets stopped covering him. And he was facing an onslaught of attacks — from untraceable sources — on the local community’s most popular social networking app, the Chinese-owned WeChat…Chiu and several other elected officials critical of Beijing were targets of a Chinese state that has increasingly exerted its influence over Chinese diaspora communities worldwide as part of an aggressive campaign to expand its global reach…a Chinese diplomat…[tried] to intimidate…Michael Chong…after he successfully led efforts in Parliament to label China’s [genocide] of…Uyghur[s]…a genocide…
Another troubled woman fakes an “abduction” to get attention:
Police in Alabama cast doubt…on the story of a woman who set off a frantic search when she disappeared for two days after calling 911 to report a[n imaginary] toddler wandering on the highway. Carlee Russell [pretended] she was abducted and forced into a car…but…detectives were…unable to verify…[her claim that] she was taken by a man who came out of the trees when she stopped to check on the child, put [her] in [both] a car and an 18-wheel truck, [then] blindfolded [her] and held [her] at a home where a woman fed her cheese crackers…she [claimed she later]…managed to escape and run through the woods to her neighborhood. In the days before her disappearance, she searched for information on her cellphone about Amber Alerts, [the “sex trafficking” propaganda] movie [Taken,] and [buying] a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham, Alabama, to Nashville, Tennessee, departing the day she disappeared. Her phone also showed she traveled about 600 yards while telling a 911 operator she was following a 3- or 4-year-old child in a diaper on the side of the highway…
If only there were a concise term for “coerced women into sex”:
In 2012, three months after Eddie Scott became sheriff of Clay County, Miss…a woman he had [repeatedly rap]ed…after she was arrested…[filed suit against him, and even] showed suggestive letters [he had written her]…Judge Jim Kitchens ruled against the woman. Sheriff Scott’s predecessor, Laddie Huffman…did not report [him] to state or federal [cop shops]. There [wa]s no…internal investigation…The…only public record of the allegations [was intentionally hidden] at the Clay County Courthouse…among hundreds of cases, until reporters [finally] pressed for it…while [finally] investigating other [rapes committed by] Scott…[who claims she wanted it, just like all the other] women..[he has harassed,] coerce[d, raped,] and retaliate[d] against…wh[en they reported the attacks]…In rural communities like Clay County…sheriffs rule like kings. They can arrest anyone they choose, smear reputations and hand out reprieves and other favors. They…hold people in jail as long as they please and they answer to no one…Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree rose in the ranks of his Mississippi department and kept his elected office for years despite [repeated rapes and beatings of caged people]. He was voted out in 2019 and now faces federal charges of bribery…But in Clay County, Sheriff Scott remains in power…
Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:
…A new procedure adopted in mid-June by one of the largest abortion pill suppliers, Europe-based Aid Access, now allows U.S. medical professionals in…states that have passed abortion “shield” laws to prescribe and mail pills directly to patients in antiabortion states. Previously, Aid Access allowed only Europe-based doctors to prescribe abortion pills to women in states where abortion is restricted and then shipped those pills internationally, leaving patients to wait weeks. The telemedicine shield laws, enacted over the past year in New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Vermont and Colorado, explicitly protect abortion providers who mail pills to restricted states from inside their borders. The result is a new pipeline of legally prescribed abortion pills flowing into states with abortion bans…
Gee, I wonder why violent men often target sex workers?
In a controversial statement justifying their sentence of 30 years rather than life in prison for the man convicted of murdering [adult] performer and OnlyFans creator Charlotte Angie, the Italian judges in the case referred to the victim as an “uninhibited” woman who made her killer feel “used”…
It does not help young victims of governmental brutality to infantilize them as “children”:
[Young people] incarcerated on the former death row unit of Louisiana’s Angola prison were locked in their cells without air conditioning for several days this month amid scorching summer temperatures…the[y]…were only let out of their cells for an eight-minute shower, which they had to take while handcuffed with their ankles shackled…With heat indexes in the surrounding area reaching as high as 133 degrees this month, a medical expert…warned the court that the conditions could be fatal…[describing the practice as] “foolhardy and perilous”…the…young people [were moved to Angola in retaliation for] escap[ing] from a…juvenile…facility…
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!
Diary #682
Posted in Diary, tagged activism, psychology, Sunset on July 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »
It seems July is nearly always a busy month for me, and this one was no exception. In the past couple of weeks I’ve hosted two friends (at different times), one of my favorite gentlemen, and an actress/playwright working on a dramatic presentation about the late Grace Bellavue. And that’s all on top of the usual work and the early stages of closing down my incall. As I’ve said many times before, I really am quite sentimental, so even though I don’t need it any more (and can’t really afford it, given that I no longer live in it), it’s hard to say goodbye to a place which holds so many powerful memories and served as my refuge from the noise and clamor of Seattle for five years. I’ve already brought many small items back to Sunset (such as these pillows Lilith is making use of, which those of you who have visited The Den may recognize), and in the next couple of weeks we’ll be retrieving the furniture, rugs, etc. As when I sold my ranch in Oklahoma to buy Sunset, it’s a bittersweet time for me. But as in the former case, I know it’s the right thing to do, and the furnishings will soon have a new life in the atrium and other parts of my home at Sunset.
Links #681
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged animals, California, censorship, China, cops, domestic violence, Florida, internet, psychology, teachers, United Kingdom, video on July 24, 2023| 2 Comments »
We’re going to take [your] baby one way or another. – LA sheriff’s deputy
In memory of the passing of Tony Bennett, I chose this video of him performing his signature song on MTV Unplugged in 1994 to illustrate his undying appeal across decades and generations. The links above the video were provided by Dan Savage, Jesse Walker (x2), Scott Greenfield, Mike Masnick, Franklin Harris, and Scott Hechinger, in that order.
- RIP Tony Bennett.
- Young Florida man.
- Headline of the week.
- Ooooh, so scary, kids!
- “He loved Big Brother.“
- The Tautology Bar & Grill.
- Just protecting and serving.
From the Archives
- My 1st profession becomes as much a target for authoritarians as my 2nd.
- Those claiming the right to control nonconsenting individuals are my foes.
- Unsurprised at the number of sleazebags who accused the doctor of lying.
- Nothing will stop those more concerned with burglars than a police state.
- This psychopathic wacko even makes some “rescue” fans uncomfortable.
- In case anyone still doubts that politicians are deranged megalomaniacs.
- Corporations are becoming the favored tool of censors around the world.
- I’m sure “anti-trafficking” crusaders will be going after this any day now.
- It’s striking how the sexual behavior of “pastors” resembles that of cops.
- 41% of cops admit to beating their wives. Some don’t stop with beating.
- San Francisco pigs are unsatisfied with waiting for useful idiots’ consent.
- Is “this tool of oppression is only sold to oppressors” meant to reassure?
- Politicians’ war on the internet moves us another step toward idiocracy.
- Government wants blacks to think of rational thought as a white thing.
- The abuses committed by the “therapeutic state” are rarely so blatant.
- Crypto-moralists pretend their lust to ban is about “health” or “safety”.
- The European Court of Human Rights just keeps kissing racists’ arses.
- Nobody will be safe until this odious practice is ruled unconstitutional.
- Hawley’s long history of spouting self-aggrandizing lies about whores.
- People so often die mysteriously while cops just happen to be nearby.
- I’m skeptical this will accomplish anything, but it probably can’t hurt.
- Swedish model pushers are starting to be recognized as copsuckers.
- Will Western media ever stop tiptoeing around calling this what it is?
- The biggest problem with working through someone else’s platform.
- Prohibitionist attempt to destroy Leeds red light district is defeated.
- I’ve always been a homebody, but now it’s even more pronounced.
- Useful idiots never see where “hate speech” laws inevitably lead.
- Cops, sharks, Henry Mancini, William F. Nolan, and much more.
- Twitter accidentally admitted what everyone already knew.
- On the ethical abomination that is cop glorification drama.
- Internet-connected devices surreptitiously eavesdropping.
- Trans men are also targets of violence and discrimination.
- Just another of those nonexistent false rape accusations.
- US newsmedia panic over hysteria of their own making.
- Anything that helps demystify sex work is a good thing.
- Cops, curses, puritanism, “Jolene”, and much more.
- It’s that whole “could vs should” thing again.
- For me, travel never fails to provoke anxiety.
- This is quickly moving into the mainstream.
- Apparently, fentanyl hysteria is contagious.
- Moving into phase 2 of the annex project.
- What other country does this sound like?
- My little rose bush moves out to Sunset.
- To St. Mary Magdalene on her feast day.
- “Destroying lives in order to save souls.”
- In which I learn the basics of welding.
- This “youth pastor” had an assistant.
- Cops, Mungo Jerry, and much more.
- My two-week trip to Freedom Fest.
- Rapist cops of the week.
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!
In the News (#1357)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged Arizona, California, cops, dehumanization, drugs, evidence, Facts in the Case of Monica Jones, hysteria, If Men Were Angels, Indiana, Lack of Evidence, language, Monsters, Moving Pictures, New York, Oregon, prohibitionist myths, propaganda, rescue industry, scams, serial killers, Served Cold, Shifting the Blame, South Carolina, surveillance, The Clueless Leading the Hysterical, transgender, Unsafe for Human Consumption, violence vs. sex workers on July 23, 2023| 1 Comment »
Arresting people for sex work is not going to get them out of sex work. – Arlene Mahoney
This “youth pastor” appears to have an oddly specific fetish:
A [typical and representative South Carolina] youth pastor is facing nearly 60 charges…Daniel Kellan Mayfield [set up hidden cameras] in June of 2021…[to record] a bride and her bridal party…[in] changing rooms at Gowensville First Baptist Church…[he did the same thing] in September of 2021…in a bedroom at [a different] wedding venue and…[committed] a similar [viol]ation…in April of 2019 at [still another] wedding venue…
While other cities back away from these medieval laws, Phoenix doubles down:
…“manifesting an intent to commit or solicit an act of prostitution”…in Phoenix [is]…a crime with a mandatory sentence of at least 15 days in jail…more than 450 people…have been charged with manifestation of prostitution over the past eight years. The…unconstitutional [ordinance]…allows…wearing provocative clothing to be used as grounds to [arrest] someone. In 2014, the city’s prosecution of Monica Jones under the ordinance drew national outcry…But Phoenix has not stopped using [it, and]…the majority of those charged were Black…An attorney who has represented people charged with manifesting prostitution offered a blunt assessment of the city prosecutions in an interview: “You’re being prosecuted because of what you’re wearing”…
Suffolk County cops ignored a key tip in the grisly Gilgo Beach murders case for over a decade — and had a general description of the suspect and a make and model of car he drove which they failed to act upon for 13 years. It was only when a new task force went back over evidence in the case and reinterviewed a pimp that the clues pointed to Rex Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect who is now charged with three counts of murder. The crucial tip came from the pimp for Amber Lynn Costello, one of three women…killed by Heuermann in 2010. He was interviewed by cops soon after the murders and identified the killer as a bulky “ogre” [Heuermann is 6’6″ and weighs about 270#] who drove a distinctive Chevrolet Avalanche when last seen with the victim. It was only when ex-NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison took over as Suffolk County police commissioner last year and reopened the case that the dots started to get connected…
Violence against a marginalized group never stays limited to that group:
Michelle Dionne Peacock…was a 59-year-old Black cis woman who was…murdered by 67-year-old Tommy Wayne Earl in Richmond, Indiana in June…Earl [slit her throat] with a straight razor and…[told cops] Peacock [w]as “a male acting like a woman” several times…In a separate incident, 32-year-old Colin Smith was stabbed to death in Portland, Oregon on July 2. He had been out with coworkers at…[a] bar when 24-year-old Rahnique Jackson started harassing one of [them for being]…trans. When Smith tried to intervene, Jackson…stabbed him to death…
The Clueless Leading the Hysterical (#1316)
Over the past few years, marijuana use has been [reported by] more young people in…hospital…according to a new study by the…CDC…cannabis-related emergency department visits increased overall among kids, teens, and young adults…The rise in cannabis-related emergency department visits, however, does not…mean that kids are consuming more marijuana. According to the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future Survey, marijuana use among 8th to 12th graders from 2019-2022 either decreased or remained approximately level…this [most likely] mean[s] that young people are…more…[likely to] report…cannabis use during ED visits [due to decreasing stigma against cannabis, one of the safest drugs known]…
Since there is no known LD50 for THC, prohibitionists are desperate to invent new evidence-free reasons for banning it.
Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1331)
Since doctors keep mocking cops’ fentanyl hysteria, they’re looking for new bogeydrugs:
Five Los Angeles [cops] were rushed to the hospital [in a ludicrous display of cop theater]…after [they saw] methamphetamine while [invading someone’s home]…They were all reportedly [having panic attacks despite the fact that there is no such thing as “methamphetamine exposure”]…
Ballard’s increasingly-bizarre antics have apparently upset his partners in profiteering:
Tim Ballard, founder of Operation Underground Railroad, has quietly parted ways with the [highly-unethical rescue industry] group. The news comes as Sound of Freedom, a heavily fictionalized depiction of Ballard’s work for a division of ICE and his early career as a [“sex trafficking”] pr[ofiteer]…continues to [flounder] at the box office. The movie has brought in just under $50 million, largely on the strength of a [scammy] marketing campaign…buying [up] tickets [to make the movie look far more successful than it actually is]…In recent days, sources with knowledge of OUR…[say] Ballard had…gone to donors in a state of upset, saying that he’d been forced out and asking for their help with a new organization…
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Magdalene’s Day 2023
Posted in Holidays, tagged Catholicism, holidays on July 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Every year on her feast day, I honor St. Mary Magdalene; even though the Church does not officially recognize her as the patron of whores, she certainly is in the public imagination. And if beliefs have power, that recognition of sacred whoredom in the minds of millions has far more metaphysical and philosophical weight than any official Church designation.
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