Just in case you ever wondered what a $500 piece of pipe would look like, wonder no more. Washington law requires double-insulated pipe for the section going through the roof, a requirement which quintuples the cost (both of the lower sections together, plus the associated hardware, cost less than this one four-foot section). But despite being a lifelong scofflaw, my judgment is that I’d rather spend the extra now than possibly be hit with a fine later if some county inspector shows up unannounced the way the assessor’s henchman did last summer to gleefully tell me they were going to raise my property taxes due to the addition. Besides, I suppose the pipe will cut down on heat loss outside the atrium, even though the regulation was clearly intended to reduce fire risk when the chimney is used in conventional wood-frame construction with a conventional attic, which mine obviously isn’t. I’ve saved a lot of money doing most of the job myself and using salvaged materials, so it isn’t really going to hurt me much to have to pay full price for one of the last few steps of the project. But it still irritates me to know the only reason the manufacturer can get away with this kind of larceny is the existence of a law which for my specific circumstance is completely arbitrary.
Archive for July, 2023
Annex 116
Posted in Diary, tagged law, Sunset, Washington (state) on July 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Another Throwback Thursday
Posted in History, Miscellaneous, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged blogging, cops, dehumanization, ethics, hysteria, imaginative fiction, Ireland, left-right myth, rape, Throwback Thursday, violence vs. sex workers on July 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »
How many more skeletons need to be found in closets or cesspools before the public wakes up to the evil of prohibitionism? – “How Many Will It Take?”
Two extra pairs of arms shot forth from her gown with the speed of striking cobras; six sets of razor-sharp fingernails glinted like gems for only an instant before they were coated in blood; thirty powerful digits ripped out the princely entrails with the ease and energy of a child scattering shredded paper from the interior of an eagerly-awaited package. And Marilith was not sure if she would ever stop screaming, much less sleep again. – “Willpower”
Sex work isn’t going anywhere, no matter what cops, prosecutors and morally-retarded billionaires want you to believe. – “Scrupleless in Seattle”
While nobody has yet managed to sell the idea of a humorous ride centering around terrorists, a kids’ movie series about carjackers or a “Talk Like a Rapist Day”, somehow pirates (bizarrely conceived as forever locked in the late 17th century) have been stripped of basically all of their realities (except maybe the ships) and re-imagined as lovable seafaring clowns led by strangely gender-and-sexual-orientation-ambiguous performance artists with highly idiosyncratic fashion senses. – “Humorous, Adventurous Rapists“
There is no legitimate “debate” over whether people own their own bodies, nor whether they have the right to consensual sex with other adult partners; pretending that there is such a “debate” is nothing more than catering to evil control freaks and sucking the dick of power. – “Not Even Close”
The only actual power government has is to inflict violence.
– “The Gun in the Room”
Democrats have always joined Republicans in enthusiastic support for anti-sex worker laws since such laws first started popping up in the late 19th century, and half of the blame for “sex trafficking” hysteria and the horrible laws it has enabled is scattered all over the Dems’ front lawn like overturned garbage cans.
– “Fair-Weather Friends”
Rape cases don’t go uninvestigated because cops and prosecutors don’t believe victims; they languish because cops and prosecutors don’t care about victims, especially not the marginalized women who make up the majority of serial rapists’ targets. – “Low Priority“
In the News (#1356)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Moral Cancer, abortion, asset seizure, Canada, censorship, consensual crime, cops, crypto-moralism, drugs, Facebook, fantasy, Florida, homosexuality, If Men Were Angels, Kansas, LGBT rights, libraries, Nebraska, New York, politicians, prisons, propaganda, Property of the State, rape, surveillance, teachers, Tennessee, The Prudish Giant, The Widening Gyre, Thought Control, Torture Chamber on July 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Parents…are…capable of deciding for themselves what bibs are welcome…as a gift at their baby showers. – Walter Olson
Tennessee has a disturbingly high number of such incidents:
Videos of the rapes of 10 unconscious boys were found on the cellphone of a Tennessee soccer coach after he left it behind at a restaurant…Camilo Hurtado Campos…was booked on allegations of child rape and sexual exploitation of a minor…”During off-hours, Campos frequented nearby school playgrounds…where he approached kids and recruited them as players on his team…After gaining their trust, Campos invited many of the kids to his home where he drugged and then raped them”…
Top leaders at…[the] Apostolic Christian Academy…of Maryville [Tennessee]…knew of at least two separate times…teacher Joseph “Kade” Abbott se[xted]…a 14-year-old girl [student]…but he was allowed to maintain contact with students…Abbott was suspended both times, but Apostolic leaders did not notify the parents of the girl about the messages, nor is there any evidence…they [called the cops]…Abbott al[so] sexually assaulted her multiple times, including in a stairwell of a Gatlinburg hotel while he was chaperoning students on an overnight trip. He is now facing criminal charges…
The “Facebook pimps” myth has gone from merely silly to completely pathetic:
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is demanding Mark Zuckerberg e[nable his weird sexual fantasies about] human trafficking across Meta platforms after a…[creepy internet fantasy about] pedophiles [magically sucking children into the computer via Facebook’s so-called “]metaverse[“]. Moody sent a letter to Zuckerberg Monday, [attemp]ting [to recruit] the CEO [into bolstering his political ambitions by pret]end[ing] human trafficking on sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp…is [an actual] public safety threat [rather than the pro-censorship copaganda it is]…
Politicians are no longer satisfied with merely censoring libraries and the internet:
Republican attorneys general from seven states signed a letter…to Target…[absurdly claim]ing clothes and merchandise sold as part of…Pride month campaigns could violate their state’s child protection laws...[politicians] from Indiana, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina signed the letter, [blovia]ting [that] they were “concerned by recent events involving the company’s ‘Pride’ campaign”…[and belching nonsense about] “protecting children” from “content that [magically] sexualizes them,” including obscenity laws. The letter also [bizarrely claim]s Target may be breaching the law by making decisions that are allegedly…not in the best interests of its shareholders, citing it as a violation of the company’s fiduciary duty…
Why does anyone still trust Facebook?
A Nebraska mother pleaded guilty…to giving her 17-year-old daughter pills for an…abortion [politicians wanted to deny her] last year and helping to burn and bury the [remains of the] fetus. Under a plea agreement, Jessica Burgess…admitted to providing an abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, false reporting and tampering with human skeletal remains…Celeste Burgess, now 18, was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty in May to removing, concealing or abandoning a dead body…She faces up to two years in prison [for daring to exert control over her own body in defiance of the State]…the two [foolishly] discussed terminating the pregnancy [over Facebook, which eagerly handed]…the messages [over to the pigs]…
Your “leaders” refer to this as “correction”:
The RCMP are launching a confidential hotline to assist with their investigation into…[rapes and other] sexual abuse at the Nova Scotia [Teenage Cagestack] between 1988 and 2017. Police…have already taken statements from more than 70 people who…were [raped and sexually] abused at the…jail in Waterville, N.S., but believe there could be up to 200 in total. They ask…anyone with relevant information about the case…to come forward…to date, all 70…[victims] have been male, but police…are not ruling out that girls could also have been abused…
Just keep plunging that ice pick in; the bad thoughts will go away eventually:
Gerard Kleinsmith [pretend]s he hates the idea of censorship…[yet] wants to pull the lease for the city’s public library because he doesn’t like books about transgender people…He is supported in this stance by the other members of St. Marys’ five-person city commission, a heavily religious group that attends the Society of St. Pius X…a…[heretical sect]…that broke away from the Catholic church…The public library…narrowly surviv[ed] an attempt to pull the lease at the end of last year…“We’re not part of the city structure and the lease agreement is the only leverage that they have seemed to be able to find,” [library director Judith] Cremer said…the library…would be forced to shift locations if the lease isn’t renewed, giving up a community spot it has held for decades…
Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:
New York Mayor Eric Adams has gone to federal court to stop the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, [spouting the puritanical drivel that they are intended specifically to] appeal to kids…The mayor a[lso made the bizarre and specious claim] that some of the vape products are equal to between 175 and 350 single cigarettes. The suit was filed against four distributors…and…[pigs have] already [stolen] many thousands of dollars worth of those products [from the companies. Adams’ cronies vomited out other lies and propaganda, and]…the suit [absurdly] accuses the distributors of violating a host of city, state and federal laws, including the federal RICO statutes…
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 #681
Posted in Diary, Philosophy, tagged animals, Sunset on July 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Some of y’all probably get a bit tired of pictures of eggs,either in or out of the shell. But when one has chickens, one gets to see the full gamut of eggs: large, small, white, tan, brown, green, hard-shelled, weak-shelled, and kinda funky. Grace likes egg sandwiches, but she recently asked me to start using the small eggs for them because the large ones are really more than she wants. Well, since some of the pullet eggs are starting to get bigger, I used one the other day and was surprised to see a double yolk, as you can see here; the reason it was surprising is that all the double-yolked eggs I’ve seen before are unusually large, and in fact can generally be identified by the fact that they are unusually large. So all I can figure here is that tiny eggs are still the norm for the young leghorns, so the seemingly normal-sized egg I used here was not actually a normal-sized egg at all, but rather an extra-large pullet egg with a double yolk. Maybe that’s a distinction without a difference, but I thought it was fascinating. Of course, some of y’all may conclude from this that I’m easily amused, but in my moral philosophy I fully support your right to think that. And also your right to be a bit tired of pictures of eggs.
Lazy Tweets
Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged artificial stupidity, blogging, cops, dating, ethics, Facebook, Hollywood, imaginative fiction, language, left-right myth, politicians, restaurants, Swedish model, The Mob Rules, Twitter on July 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »
THIS RIGHT HERE. https://t.co/QjN2nP540L
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) June 21, 2023
Apparently, it isn't enough time to learn addition & subtraction. pic.twitter.com/8zAOz2WnZK
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) June 23, 2023
Governments use euphemisms to disguise their crimes.
Robbery is called "taxation" or "asset forfeiture". Kidnapping is called "arrest". Home invasion is called "executing a warrant". Sexual assault is a "search", murder "execution", and mass murder a "policy decision". https://t.co/St3lsNdAMQ
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) June 24, 2023
Boba Fett. But that book on the right is only the first of 18 volumes. https://t.co/R6gf4Seq1X
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) June 26, 2023
It's so cute to watch lamebrains bloviating about "billionaires" while exempting the astonishingly-wealthy who create their favored entertainment or parrot their preferred political propaganda.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) June 27, 2023
Koyaanisqatsi. https://t.co/NfuyMR3JKC
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) June 29, 2023
Actually, eating alone in a public restaurant is the same old level of business travel. https://t.co/r2Avf4xfMy
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) June 30, 2023
Same energy: pic.twitter.com/l6QsS2jozq
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) June 30, 2023
It's shocking how much pro-mob rule idiocy is emitted by people burbling about the rights of minorities…which essentially don't exist under the mob rule systems these dolts favor.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 1, 2023
A politician's "pledge" is worth a little less than what my dog barfed up on the rug this morning. https://t.co/hrNgrxivbj
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 2, 2023
Politicians & bureaucrats: There's a WORLD of difference between asking or suggesting, vs. ordering or demanding. Maybe if you learned it you might actually get something accomplished other than mindless violence and the waste of trillions.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 4, 2023
"America" is here used to mean "the US federal government". They are not the same thing, and conflating them has long been a contributing factor to this issue. https://t.co/vbHHyLLjsS
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 5, 2023
Every time I see "Threads" mentioned I at first think it's about the devouring menace from the Pern books. Which, to be fair, isn't THAT far off if one considers Meta's propensity for consuming everything it can infest. https://t.co/CL8aVV80z2
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 7, 2023
The belief and insistence that every organization, corporation, or institution must prioritize the same goals and principles demanded by some authority is an intrinsically totalitarian one, and therefore inimical to individual rights and human progress.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 8, 2023
And *off* the internet, too; this is called "politics". https://t.co/A3KUfNMNew
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 10, 2023
Oh no, people are being practical about a biological function!
THIS MUST BE STOPPED AT ANY COST!!!! https://t.co/sII02Hmgcu
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 12, 2023
Wisdom. https://t.co/CfbpBIoixJ
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 12, 2023
Anyone careless enough to make that "mistake" is far too careless to be entrusted with a gun, and even too careless to entrust with driving privileges (lest they "mistake" a red light for green). They could probably handle bussing tables, maybe. https://t.co/OPsOMNnexy
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 14, 2023
But sex work is SO EXPLOITATIVE. https://t.co/XH3z5X93va
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 15, 2023
No, they're still doing it by that much older form of artificial stupidity, the committee.
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) July 16, 2023
Links #680
Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged cops, crypto-moralism, drugs, Florida, illegal aliens, language, Maryland, Mexico, Nevada, politicians, Vermont, video on July 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Seniors are living longer and are more active…thi[s]…can pose greater risk. – “Analysts”
I really enjoy good song parodies, and I think Remy’s are some of the best ones out there these days. The links above the video were provided by Stephen Lemons, Mike Siegel (x2), Scott Greenfield, SWOP-USA, Jesse Walker, and Nun Ya, in that order.
- As one does.
- Dare I say, “No shit”?
- Crypto-moralism is a mental illness.
- Justice, like lightning, ever should appear.
- The Balkanization of the US continues apace.
- Why do I seem to hear someone rolling dice?
- Maybe, just maybe, mental illness was involved here?
From the Archives
- It’s sad that we’re still debunking claims that pictures have magic powers.
- The state’s sympathy for “trafficking victims” includes only “perfect” ones.
- Prohibition turns bodies into “crime scenes” which cops can violate at will.
- These clowns claim to be qualified to interfere in doctor-patient relations.
- A weird exception to the rule that the Japanese are sane about sex work.
- Will Oregon be the first US state to recognize sex workers’ human rights?
- Passive voice & obfuscation are used to divert blame for sexual assaults.
- “Enlightened” Europe has treated sex workers shamefully during COVID.
- 41% of cops admit to beating their wives; some don’t stop with beating.
- My 1st profession is now as much a target for authoritarians as my 2nd.
- Will taking payment in gift cards protect a sex worker from prosecution?
- Sex workers gave their views before this tyranny was inflicted on them.
- Japanese politicians infantilize all adults rather than just young women.
- A prison doesn’t become a “shelter” if those confined there are minors.
- Clueless wonders attempt to ape antics they see on copaganda shows.
- 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.
- Canada pretends to care about privacy, but can snoop in other ways.
- Cato & ACLU try to stop deranged prohibitionists from killing people.
- Are we about to witness the beginning of the end of these evil laws?
- Politicians send violent thugs to disrupt your life because sadfeelz.
- This kind of surveillance has already been found unconstitutional.
- 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, Sri Lanka, Doctor Who, Larry Storch, and much more.
- 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.
- An important victory in the fight for sex worker rights.
- US sex laws are nothing but PR campaigns for cops.
- Cops, lawheads, Doug Mataconis, and much more.
- Your “leaders” want you to call this “correction”.
- Wrangling an 8-meter steel beam onto the roof.
- Last summer’s road trip went pretty smoothly.
- All prohibitionism is the same, part umpteen.
- 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.
- An awning for the paddock ramp.
- Mr. Wizard Goes to the Country.
- Building a ramp up to the deck.
- Rapist cops of the week.
- A classic case of NHI.
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 (#1355)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged abortion, Ashley Madison, California, Canada, censorship, cops, Disaster, Full of Themselves, internet, law, libraries, massage, masturbation, Mexico, Mississippi, Neither Addiction nor Epidemic, Panopticon, porn, robots, scams, serial killers, Surplus Women, surveillance, The Puritan Recrudescence, Thought Control, To Molest and Rape, violence vs. sex workers on July 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »
We don’t even think about [masturbation] as relapsing, because…it’s not an addiction. – Nicole Prause
Was this unfortunate person the one who sent me the proof of Ashley Madison’s con game?
Will Harrison was terminated as an Ashley Madison employee in November 2011, and by early 2012 he’d turned his considerable harassment skills squarely against the company. Ashley Madison’s long-suspected army of fake female accounts came to the fore in August 2012 after the former sex worker turned activist and blogger Maggie McNeill published screenshots apparently taken from Ashley Madison’s internal systems suggesting that a large percentage of the female accounts on the service were computer-operated bots. Ashley Madison’s executives understood that only a handful of employees at the time would have had access to the systems needed to produce the screenshots McNeill published online…on Mar. 5, 2014, Harrison committed suicide by shooting himself in the head…This fact was apparently unknown to Biderman and other Ashley Madison executives more than a year later when their July 2015 hack was first revealed…
A cop posing as a masseur is still a cop:
A [typical and representative Ontario cop] who admitted to sexually abusing 11 women at his side massage business [has escaped with a slap on the wrist, namely] an 18-month sentence at home. David Kukoly…was not a registered massage therapist but still operated his “Massage by Dave” business from his…home using a different last name. Under the pre[text] of providing massages, he [molest]ed 11 women…between 2016 and 2018…[but] Justice Richard Blouin…decided against the Crown’s request for a four-year prison sentence…[and gave the budding rapist a mere] year and a half of house arrest [because cop]…
The reporter inserts “was not a registered massage therapist” as though a piece of paper could magically control sexual predators despite considerable evidence to the contrary.
The Puritan Recrudescence (#1124)
There’s a reason I’ve repeatedly called this cult “dangerous”:
…NoFap ideology tends to breed much bigger problems…suicidal feelings [are associated with] more engagement in the NoFap subreddit and related communities, and the more involved a participant [i]s with NoFap and other groups like PornFree, the more suicidal they report…feeling in response to their last relapse. One problem with this—beyond the obvious— is that their “relapses” aren’t…real to begin with…because…people who masturbate to porn…aren’t actually “addicted” to it at all…there’s no objective basis for pornography addiction, an opinion supported by numerous peer-reviewed studies and experts in the field. That isn’t to say that people can’t use pornography compulsively…but that it doesn’t fit in with the very clearly defined scientific idea of addiction, which involves a physiological withdrawal and a loss of pleasure in other activities…
Unfortunately, this is all we could expect right now:
The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals…upheld the district court’s judgment against the Woodhull Freedom Foundation in its four-year legal battle to have FOSTA-SESTA declared unconstitutional, and rejected the strict scrutiny challenge proposed by free speech advocates. Woodhull…was joined in the appeal by Human Rights Watch, the Internet Archive, Alex Andrews and Eric Koszyk…in January…legal observers…deemed the judges’ line of questioning as leaning toward the possibility of at least part of FOSTA-SESTA being struck down [but]…their new ruling…[declare]s that “neither Section 2421A of FOSTA nor FOSTA’s amendments to the Trafficking Act are overbroad or unconstitutionally vague,” [and] that “FOSTA’s c[ensorship]…comports with the First Amendment [because “sex trafficking”]…
Mexican cops are more concerned about sex workers’ lives than their US counterparts are:
A…suspected serial killer who targeted sex workers in Mexico has been arrested in Southern California…Mexican authorities are working to extradite…Bryan Rivera…of Downey, California who is believed to be responsible for the deaths of three sex workers in Tijuana…in 2022…
Politicians are avid devotees of cutting off their noses to spite their faces:
Mississippi has a new law on the books [which effectively bans]…use of digital resources…for those under the age of 18…Even if granted parental permission, minors may not have materials available to them, if vendors do not ensure every item within their offerings meets the new, wide-reaching [political] definition of “obscenity”…[which states] any vendor is out of compliance by simply having materials available in their system which depict sexual reproduction or queerness in any capacity. Images of nude female breasts…[even in] biology and anatomy books…would be out of compliance with the law. Platforms like Hoopla and Overdrive are not set up to create systems which change access based on [politicians’ whims]. Library staff are also unable to preview and rate every item available within such platforms, leading to a position [where libraries must completely] shut down access [in order to protect librarians from legal persecution]…
Cops will continue to do this until there are criminal penalties for it:
…The Electronic Frontier Foundation…has sent [Sacramento County Sheriff] Cooper a letter requesting that [his] Office cease sharing ALPR data with out-of-state agencies that could use it to prosecute someone for seeking an abortion…the…office…has shared license plate reader data with [cop shops] in states that have passed laws banning abortion, including Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas. Adam Schwartz, EFF senior staff attorney, called automated license plate readers “a growing threat to everyone’s privacy”…and…a sheriff in Texas, Idaho or any other state with an abortion ban on the books could use that data to track people’s movements around California, knowing where they live, where they work and where they seek…medical care…71 [cop shops] in 22 California counties…[a]re sharing such data…in [direct] violation of a 2015 law [banning the practice]…
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!
Annex 115
Posted in Diary, tagged Sunset on July 14, 2023| 1 Comment »
Since my friend Angela is visiting this week, I used that as an excuse to motivate myself to get the chimney done. I long ago learned that while many corners can be safely cut to save money, anything involving fire is not in that category; I had quite a sticker shock when I went to buy three lengths of stovepipe and the associated hardware, largely because of requirements imposed by Washington law. But I went ahead and got it, and Chekhov and Grace helped me install it on Sunday. First we had to move the stove and hearth just a bit to get it exactly under the best spot for supporting and bracing the pipe; it was actually only a turn and a move of a few inches, but the stove and hearth are both so heavy the process was complicated and took over an hour. Then I had to weld some steel brackets to the rafter and purlin in order to keep the top of the stovepipe from moving around, which meant hauling the welding cart back up into the atrium; after that was done I had to go up on the damned roof again to cut the hole for the chimney, and Chekhov had to help me get it up there and properly install it into the joining hardware (a process much easier said than done). Finally, we had to install the silicone roof jack which seals the hole around the pipe against rain. We started about 11:30 AM and didn’t get done until just before six, but it’s finished and I managed to escape with only one burn and a cut on my thigh from the angle grinder. And when it gets cold again, we’ll have a lovely, effective, and inexpensive heat source in the atrium.
A Throwback Thursday
Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged blogging, consensual crime, imaginative fiction, language, Throwback Thursday on July 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »
As of July 10th, I will have been making a new post every single day for 13 years; that’s 4748 posts altogether, most of which the majority of y’all have never read. – “Throwback Thursdays”
Unless you read the essay quoted above, you may not understand what this new feature is about, so you may want to go back and read it. Of course, you might prefer to just pick it up as you go, in which case don’t read it; it’s all the same to me.
If at birth you were given a magic hat which produced a randomly-generated bird once per minute, you’d probably be past puberty before the first kiwi popped out. – “Not All [Your Group Here]”
The idea that vast social resources should be devoted to warring upon the country’s own citizenry in order to stop them from consensual activities that the rulers disapprove of is a distinctly American form of collective madness. – “Successor”
A “racketeering” charge usually means “we think you committed crimes but can’t prove them, so we’re just going to assume you’re a criminal and prosecute you for owning a regular business.” Any money you’ve deposited is then called “money laundering” on the grounds that you deposited “criminal proceeds” from your imaginary crimes into your legitimate account; “tax evasion” is based on the pretense that you have failed to pay taxes on imaginary income they can’t prove you actually made; “conspiracy” means merely talking about committing the imaginary crimes, and so on. – “Bread and Circuses“
I see history as a continuously-unfolding process stretching into the far future rather than as a collection of moldering facts about the dead past. – “Divided We Stand”
“Follow your dreams” [is] possibly the most inane, naive, and – dare I say it? – privileged bit of non-advice ever to adorn a bumper sticker, right alongside such wisdom of the ages as “Baby on Board” and “Virginia is for lovers”. – “Children’s Hour”
If I were dictatrix, I’d set copyright at life plus 21 years, so any minor children of a creator who died young could enjoy those rights until majority. But anything longer stifles future generations from doing new things with those creations (as Disney himself did with public-domain characters created by others). I’d also bar corporations from owning copyright; only human creators (including teams of specifically-named individuals) could have that. Of course, the creator could license his creation to a company, as Charles Moulton licensed Wonder Woman to DC. But 21 years after the creator croaks? It’s all over, including the licenses. – “Copywrong“
In the News (#1354)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged California, Canada, Censor Chic, censorship, Choke Point, consensual crime, cops, Creating Criminals, drugs, Facebook, fascism, Florida, Google, Harm Magnification, hysteria, illegal aliens, internet, law, Opting Out, Permanent Record, politicians, porn, sex rays, Sexcrime, surveillance, teachers, The Widening Gyre, Twitter, United Kingdom on July 12, 2023| 1 Comment »
Nobody is abducting 1- and 4-year-old kids into sex trafficking.
– David Finkelhor
Creating Criminals (July Updates) 
It’s not like 2011 is ancient history, or Florida far away from Georgia:
Florida’s agricultural and construction industries…are experiencing a labor shortage because a new immigration [theater] law that took effect July 1 is leading migrant workers to leave the state. The law…seeks to further criminalize undocumented immigration in the state…Businesses that knowingly employ un[document]ed workers could have their licenses suspended, and those with 25 or more employees that re[fuse] to use the [totalitarian] E-Verify system to check their immigration status can face daily fines…the ranks of laborers in Florida…gr[ew] noticeably thinner…as soon as DeSantis signed the legislation this spring. Workers at several construction sites in South Florida say a quarter to half of their teams are gone, exacerbating an already challenging labor shortage…
Naturally, because it’s cops’ job to cause harm, not reduce it:
new research…published in the American Journal of Public Health…links drug busts to a spike in overdoses in nearby areas. The…researchers…found a significant association between “opioid-related law enforcement drug seizures” and an increase in drug overdoses in surrounding areas…[for] three weeks from the drug bust…Stimulant-related drug seizures were also associated with an increase in drug overdoses, albeit to a lesser extent than with opioid-related drug seizures…
It’s only been four years since the UK government lost in court the last time it tried this:
Web pornography could be subject[ed] to [more censorship] in the UK, putting it on a par with films on DVD under government plans to re[-attempt censorship] of the online adult content industry…The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is the main regulator of [offline] pornography in the UK but [also wants] online powers and has [whined to politicians] that pornographic content it would refuse to classify is “freely accessible” online…the re[-attempt] would be separate from the [misnamed “]online safety bill[“], which…requires age-checking measures for…social media platforms and not just dedicated adult content providers…
The federal government’s vast and disconcerting campaign to curb politically disfavored speech on social media has finally encountered a setback…District Court Judge Terry Doughty ruled against the Biden administration in a pivotal free speech case…hundreds of messages sent by employees of the FBI…CDC…DHS…and the White House to moderators at Twitter…Facebook and…Google make clear that the federal government pushed the platforms to suppress dissident viewpoints on a whole host of topics…For instance, the FBI frequently flagged joke tweets about the 2020 election and asked moderators at Twitter to take them down. The White House itself did the very same thing…Unfortunately, there is reason to doubt that the decision will meaningfully constrain the feds…
Banks are to be told by the [UK] Treasury that they must protect free speech amid an escalating row over the blacklisting of customers who hold controversial views. Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor…[claims] to be “deeply concerned” that overzealous lenders are closing down accounts because they disagree with customers’ opinions and has asked City minister Andrew Griffith to investigate the issue. Whitehall sources said that results of a consultation on the subject will be published within weeks, after it was launched earlier this year in the wake of PayPal blocking the accounts of free speech groups…
A [Canadian] education assistant…struggling to make ends meet has been fired over her second job: posting…content…on OnlyFans. Kristin MacDonald…has [worked]…for about a year under the name Ava James [until pearl-clutchers discovered her in April]. The district ordered her to shut down her adult content on social media…or risk being fired…[bloviating nonsense phrases such as] “Your misconduct…is egregious”…[and] “sexualization of the school environment”…
Another sign that the moral panic is largely over:
Katie Sorensen—the Petaluma, California, [“sex trafficking” hysteric] who claimed her kids were the victims of an attempted abduction in a Michael’s parking lot—has been sentenced to 90 days of jail time…30 of those days must be served in the jail itself; the rest can be done in a work-release program…She was…also sentenced to 12 months of informal probation. During this time, she was ordered to have no social media presence, to submit to warrantless search and seizure of her electronic devices and to complete a four-hour implicit bias training program, in addition to paying various fines and fees…
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