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Archive for August, 2024

My livelihood will never be as important as someone’s life or right to read what they want.  –  Summer Boismier

To Molest and Rape (#1324)

Rapist cops don’t only target women:

A [typical and representative Ohio cop named] James Stokes Sr. was…convicted of two [status] felonies…[for sexually assaulting] a man who…worked for Stokes…[at his] side [business] of removing junk…Stokes [tried to obtain compliance by] threatening [bogus charges of “unauthorized use” of his personal truck.  His body camera caught him making the threats and sexual comments, including]…”If I don’t get alone time tonight, I swear to God, I will file a charge on you, and I’ll have your butt arrested”…Stokes…[later molested him] at the [cop shop]…The [victim] told investigators he was trying to push Stokes off of him, and their relationship wasn’t sexual.  “He’s obsessed with me”…

The Missing Word (#1383)

If sex were involved, that word wouldn’t be 15 paragraphs in and blunted by qualifiers:

The number of foreign social care workers reporting that they are trapped in exploitative contracts has risen sixfold in the last three years, in the latest evidence of widespread abuse of migrants in the British care system…the Royal College of Nursing…was contacted 134 times in 2023-24 by care workers reporting that their employers were demanding large sums of money…to cover “hiring costs”, including visa processing, if they left their jobs…in one case [these costs] ran to £10,000…and [many include] threat[s of] deportation…

Above the Law (ROTW #5)

Had he not been caught at this stage, he’d have soon moved on to rape:

A U.S. Border Patrol [pig] has been charged [with mere misdemeanors for]…ordering women to show him their breasts…Shane Millan…[pretended the violations were “]searches[“, just as cops often do]…

Thought Control (#1443)

Politicians really do believe they can control people’s thoughts via threats:

Oklahoma’s education board has revoked the license of a former teacher who drew national attention during surging book-ban efforts across the U.S. in 2022 when she covered part of her classroom bookshelf in red tape with the words “Books the state didn’t want you to read”…a judge…advised the…Board…not to revoke the license of Summer Boismier, [but they did it anyway]…An attorney for Boismier, who now works at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York City, told reporters after the board meeting that they would seek to overturn the decision…

Vulture Watching (#1464)

Oh look, the totally-predictable results of bad laws are happening just as sane people said they would:

[There have been] six instances of child abandonment in Harris County [Texas] since the beginning of June.  In two cases, children died…States like Texas with near-total abortion bans are dealing with more [women] abandoning their children for several reasons like [they can’t afford a baby but Texas prevented them from having an abortion, and]…Texas’ safe haven law, or the Baby Moses law, allows a parent to leave a baby less than 60 days old safe and unharmed at a hospital, fire station, or EMS station…

Enshittification

How long before Google becomes completely useless?

Scams just keep popping up [on] Google…impostors of customer service for Delta and Coinbase…[have appeared] in the “People also ask” section high up in Google.  A group of people experienced in Google’s intricacies…said…that it took about 22 minutes to fool Google into highlighting a bogus business phone number in a prominent spot in search results…This fits a persistent pattern of…Google [being tricked] into showing scammers’ numbers for airlineshotels, local repair companiesbanks or other businesses…Fortune recently reported on a man who called what a Google listing said was Coinbase customer support, and instead it was an impostor who…tricked the man and stole $100,000…

The Cop Myth (#1466)

The cop establishment is trying hard to hide this one’s crimes:

A Massachusetts State [cop named]…Dylan Knox…[has been arrested for brutalizing his girlfriend]…on Aug. 15…Records are vague on the nature of…Knox[‘s crimes because]…prosecutors [are hiding the truth, but based on the charges Knox beat, pistol-whipped, and attempted to strangle her, then threatened a witness]…Knox is the second state trooper charged with domestic assault and battery in the last two weeks….

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 #134

To hear the cops tell it, they’re the “thin blue line” that stands between civilization and a species of chaos resembling Mad Max meets Lord of the Flies in the midst of an immense drunken free-for-all in Somalia.
–  “Bait and Switch

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[Modern] adults…insist on mouthing…ridiculous platitudes about “childhood” and “innocence” when talking about a time period when they were fooling around in the backseats of cars, trying to get liquor with fake IDs, and smoking cigarettes because they thought it made them look “cool”.  –  “Saving Them from Themselves

This dense tangle of undefined terminology…has something like the effect of a lawnmower hitting a dog turd.  –  “Obfuscation Via Dysphemisms

When narcissism is limited to foolish demands for attention, it’s merely amusing or annoying as the tantrum of a spoiled child might be. But when the narcissists use the machinery of government to impose their personal prejudices on others, it’s like giving that same spoiled child a loaded gun.  –  “Spoiled Children

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Jurisdictions have devised creative ways to comply with the law on its face but not really in practice.  –  Billy Binion

Imaginary Victims (#1254) 

The state’s pretended sympathy for “sex trafficking victims” applies only to imaginary “perfect” ones:

A judge…sentenced a [young] Milwaukee woman charged with killing the man who sex trafficked her as a teenager to 11 years in prison plus five years of extended supervision…Chrystul Kizer will ultimately serve fewer than 10 [more] years in prison…[due to] more than a year and a half of time served…Kizer’s…“affirmative defense”…[as] a trafficking victim..[proved worthless against the prosecutor’s TV crime-show fantasy that a 17-year-old girl] carried out a premeditated killing in order to steal Volar’s BMW, [so]…Kizer [had to settle for a plea bargain that at least allowed her to escape a life sentence]…

Thought Control (#1405)

Just keep plunging that ice pick in; the bad thoughts will go away eventually:

…just a week before students were due to return to campus, the administration of New College of Florida emptied the library of the college’s Gender and Diversity Center by [throw]ing those books in a dumpster.  They were joined shortly afterward by books from the main library, most on topics related to religion and LGBT…issues…New College [pretend]ed that by law it couldn’t donate or sell the books, but that’s false…in the past, if…books [were weed]ed, students were notified and [allowed to take]…books…But [this time]…the vast majority were carted off to the landfill…Christopher Rufo, a [crony of]…Ron DeSantis…spearheaded the removal of the program…and…books[, tweeting], “We abolished the gender studies program. Now we’re throwing out the trash”…

A Broker in Pillage (#1414)

This will continue until there are federal criminal charges for “officials”, both political and corporate, who conspire to rob people this way:

A few years back, the [Edmondson Community O]rganization accrued a $2,543 property tax debt on its community center.  So in 2018, [Baltimore] sold that lien for $5,115 to a California-based investor, who then foreclosed on and sold the ECO’s building for $139,500.  In return, the ECO got a check for the difference between its debt and the lien purchase price: $2,572…a new federal lawsuit a[ttacks thi]is…practice…that illegally deprives people of their equity in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Taking Clause…debtors [who] have fallen just hundreds of dollars behind on their taxes…may lose their property and the vast majority of equity tied up in it…That Baltimore’s process robs property owners of huge chunks of equity is not just a regrettable side effect…it’s baked into the nature of the city’s approach…[which] actively seek[s] to keep bids low…the city [even] charges a high-bid premium that punishes investors making offers above a certain threshold…

Schadenfreude (#1425)

Con artists use moral panics to fleece the gullible:

…a Utah-based [con artist who] claimed [she] was dedicated to fighting human trafficking pleaded no contest to multiple felonies…including fraud…and forgery.  Candace Lierd, the founder of Exitus…[actually used] the money for personal expenses, as well as homes, cars and trips…[She] faces…5-15 years in prison for each [of 35] count[s]…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1428)

Politicians can always mine tragedy to justify more evil:

The mailroom supervisor at a federal prison in [California] died [suddenly, and prison bureaucrats are blaming “]mail saturated in an unknown substance[” assumed to be]…fentanyl…[despite the fact] that…touching fentanyl cannot cause an overdose, and the risk of death from accidental exposure is…[nonexistent.  But Marc] Fischer’s death comes at a [handy] time [for] the Bureau of Prisons [to exploit it to divert attention from rampant]…criminal misconduct by staff…[including rape, violence], and [epidemic levels of filth and medical neglect leading to] death…[and to justify its scheme of] photocopying mail coming into prisons instead of delivering the original parcels…[thus further isolating them while pretending the mistreatment is actually] an attempt to combat the smuggling of synthetic narcotics [even though it is well-known that drugs in prisons are smuggled in by screws and overdoses actually increase when mail and books from outside are banned]…

Dangerous Speech (#1441)

Government lawyers will do or say anything to ensure Lacey dies in a filthy cage:

Not content with the suicide last year of his longtime business partner and co-defendant Jim Larkin, prosecutors seek to consign famed journalist and editor Michael Lacey and his two co-defendants to a staggering 20 years in prison each, a likely…death [sentence] given that all three…are in their 70s.  In an Aug. 19 sentencing memo…prosecutors smeared Lacey with crimes that he and the others are not charged with and could never be charged with: sex trafficking, child sex trafficking and an array of murders…Government attorneys are also asking that Lacey…be [locked in a cage before his appeals are exhausted, fearing he might die before that happens]…Backpage…’s right to publish adult-themed ads was upheld on numerous occasions by a series of federal and state court rulings…but…the government…[want]s harsh sentences…to “deter” websites from publishing [legal and Constitutionally-protected] content the government [dislikes]…

To Molest and Rape (#1466)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative West Virginia cop] has been sentenced…to…a m[ere] 10 years behind bars…[Chester] Adkins [agreed to a plea bargain rather than face proportionate sentencing for repeatedly molest]ing a…10 year…old [girl]…

 

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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Diary #739

Even though the weather this year has not been good for my fruit or my sinuses, it apparently has been good for slugs.  Usually, I see one of perhaps two of these fat fellows (typically longer than any of my fingers) a day while in the paddock or dealing with my tomatoes, but this year they’re all over the place, to the tune of half a dozen or more every time I go outside, and they’re bigger than usual (like, some about as big as a typical hot dog).  In the morning I’ll often find one eating the dregs out of Cicero’s bowl; this year it’s sometimes two, and one morning last week I found four (and one was the aforementioned jumbo size).  One day I walked to the mailbox and saw several crossing the lane, then later I looked out the kitchen window and saw two crossing my driveway (big enough to see from the kitchen window).  I would imagine the ravens eat them, but I haven’t seen many of those around lately.  Anyway, I thought those of y’all who aren’t squeamish about creepy-crawlies might like this picture, which I took on the macro setting to show detail; the artificial “shutter” sound must’ve startled it, because right after I took this it retracted its “horns” for a bit.  I also had a good one of a slug in the barn, but as it was crawling on pony poop and the underside wasn’t as visible as in this shot, I decided to use this one.  You’re welcome.

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For quite some time, Canadian actress and director Sook-Yin Lee worked to get a film made of Paying For It, Chester Brown’s graphic-novel memoir of seeing sex workers on a regular basis after the breakup of his real-life romantic relationship with Lee.  A couple of years ago she managed to make a deal with a production company, and the film is now finished; it will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6th.  Chester is played by Dan Beirne and Sook-Yin’s alter ego “Sonny” by Emily Lê; real-life sex worker Andrea Werhun plays Chester’s long-time favorite Denise.  Chester doesn’t know when or how (theaters? Netflix?) the film will be shown in the US, and there’s no poster yet because apparently the producers have not been clear about whether they want Chester to do the poster or if they’re doing it some other way.  However, there’s a new movie edition of the book, whose cover is pictured here; the girl is based on the actress who plays the first pro Chester sees.  I’m looking forward to seeing the film when it becomes available on DVD, and I really hope it’s successful, not only because it will mean more money for Chester, but also because I’m happy for anything that helps normalize pragmatic sexual relationships.

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Are you going to shoot me?  –  Ta’Kiya Young, last words

Weird Al’s polkas have never been my favorites among his oeuvre, and I don’t know any of the songs parodied in this video. But since he’s semi-retired now and it has some funny animation, here it is.  The links above it were provided by Radley Balko; Jesse WalkerDan Savage; Brooke Magnanti; Phoenix Calida (x2); and IncarcerNation (x2), 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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We’re doing it from the back door.  –  Russell Vought

A Broker in Pillage

There are many ways for governments to steal things that don’t belong to them:

The Fourth Amendment’s protection…extends to the length of a seizure…ruled…the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia…the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, and 11th circuits…have [instead] held that…[cops who steal property] can retain [it] indefinitely…effectively stripping people of their property rights merely because they were arrested…Given that the D.C. court finds itself in the minority…the case may be primed for the Supreme Court if the [swineherds] choose…to appeal…The plaintiffs each had their property s[tolen] by D.C…[cops] during a Black Lives Matter protest…on August 13, 2020…Though the protesters did not face any charges and were…quickly released…the plaintiffs had to wait over 14 months to get their property back…[and] were [thus] forced to replace their phones and lost access to the important information on the originals…police have been [steal]ing phones [solely] to [extrajudicially] punish protestors…

See No Evil (#731)

Anyone who thinks this is “justice” is part of the problem:

A few years ago, Roseberline Turenne, an 18-year-old aide at a Maryland day care center, used her cellphone to take photographs showing “the naked genitals and pubic areas” of eight little girls.  Seven…were lying on changing tables, while the eighth was standing in a bathroom.  Turenne later claimed she was documenting preexisting diaper rashes, lest she be blamed for allowing them to develop while the girls were in her care.  Turenne was fired after the pictures were discovered because…the day care center’s policies…prohibited staff members from photographing children.  She also was charged with eight counts each of child sexual abuse, production of child pornography, and possession of child pornography…a jury convicted her on all 24 counts, resulting in a 126-year prison sentence…[and] the Maryland Supreme Court upheld Turenne’s convictions…this…vividly illustrates how laws related to child pornography can generate penalties that make little sense…she was not accused of assaulting the girls.  Yet…[she] will have to serve at least…32 years—before she is eligible for parole…someone convicted of first-degree rape…could end up serving less time than Turenne faces for…taking pictures…

Where Are the Protests? (#928)

Compare with the “nail parlor trafficking” and “car wash trafficking” myths:

[Oregon bureaucrats are attempting to drum up panic over] a new enterprise they say is operating outside of city, county and state regulations: hot dog carts and stands [competing with the overpriced hot dogs sold inside]…event venues and bars…the [bureaucrats absurdly claim]…the…stands harbor something more sinister than just unregulated frankfurters: human trafficking.  “The vendors are unlicensed and selling food and alcohol, and appear to have ties to trafficking and gangs,” [bloviated bureaucrat] Stacy Borke…the city and county are planning a coordinated crackdown on the pushcarts this weekend, with [cops on hand to brutalize the migrants trying to make a living]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1247)

The front of a wedge must by its nature be thinner than the rest:

…in a hidden-camera video…recorded by…British…[activists in July, wannabe chief censor Russell] Vought…talks about why [his gang] have been pushing age verification laws…”We’d have a national ban on pornography if we could…we would have…the porn companies being investigated for all manner of human rights abuses…[so] we came up with an idea…to make it so that the porn companies bear [newly-invented “]liability[“] for…underage use…We’ve got a number of states that are passing this and then…the porn company says ‘We’re not going to do business in your state‘—which, of course, is entirely what we were after”…Vought was previously an official in the Trump administration…is probably best known as one of the architects of Project 2025…and…is “likely to be appointed to a high-ranking post in a second Trump administration“…”Eighty percent of my time is working on the plans of what’s necessary to take control of [federal] bureaucracies,” Vought said…Project 2025…say[s] that porn is “manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology”…[so their] porn ban wouldn’t simply target videos and imagery depicting nudity or sex but a wide swath of content related to gender and sexuality…

The Cop Myth (#1461)

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

A San Jose [California cop named Timothy Hackney was rewarded with a paid vacation after being arrested] on…felony domestic violence charges [for a year-long pattern of beating, abusing, and terroriz]ing his now-pregnant girlfriend…Hackney [has repeat]edly slapped the victim’s phone out of her hand when she [tried to] call…police [during his attacks]…picked…her [up] to prevent her from leaving…[and] covered her mouth and nose to stop her from screaming…

The Cop Myth (#1463)

Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

A…[Florida screw nam]ed Cory Faircloth [was arrested for attacking]…his neighbor…with a deadly weapon a[fter breaking into the man’s house]…Sheriff Chad Chronister [vomited out a lot of lies and asinine platitudes while refusing to provide any more than vague details about the assault]…

To Molest and Rape (#1464)

Can you imagine any non-cop getting such a light little love tap for forcible rape?

A [typical and representative New York cop named Shawn Jordan has been]…sentenced…to [a mere] 10 weekends in jail and 10 years of probation [for forcible rape of] a 13-year-old girl…in 2022…[while still at large in] a separate case for…exposing himself to a 16-year-old girl…The judge [claimed]…the sentencing conditions were necessary to spare the [victim] from having to testify in court…

 

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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Most of my readers are probably familiar with the neologism “enshittification”, coined by writer Cory Doctorow in 2022; Wikipedia describes it thus:

Enshittification is a re-prioritization pattern where online product and service providers experience a decline in quality over time. It is observed as platforms transition through several stages: initially offering high-quality services to attract users, then shifting to favor business customers to increase profitability, and finally focusing on maximizing profits for shareholders at the expense of both users and business customers. This…results in a significant deterioration of the user experience

Doctorow has also referred to the phenomenon by the less-colorful term “platform decay”, similar to the term “link rot” (which refers to a different, but not unrelated, form of internet decline).  There’s little point in my discussing enshittification in a broad sense, because there’s already plenty on it online (especially by Doctorow himself); this is just a gripe stemming from one specific example, described by Wikipedia thus:

…Google Search…became dominant through relevant search results and minimal ads, then later degraded through increased advertising, search engine optimization, and outright fraud, benefiting its advertising customers…Doctorow…cites Google’s firing of 12,000 employees in January 2023, which coincided with a stock buyback scheme which “would have paid all their salaries for the next 27 years”, as well as Google’s rush to research an [ML] search chatbot, “a tool that won’t show you what you ask for, but rather, what it thinks you should see”...

When my blog was young (2010-14) it grew by leaps and bounds via Google, largely because I was writing about things virtually nobody else was, and my blog therefore stood out in search results.  But once Google became the dominant search engine, it began to “downrank” results that led to my blog because I talk about bad, dirty, nasty sex, and Google had to protect its puritanical advertisers from having icky adult discussions of such topics show up near their precious ads.  As a result, traffic reaching this site via Google dropped off to a shadow of its former volume.  My personal use of Google, though, didn’t change all that much because I tend to use very specific searches and scroll down past the ads without even looking at them.  In the past few years, however, it’s become harder to find any decent results from the engine, especially since the aforementioned machine learning systems were rudely inserted between my keyboard and the actual information I’m trying to find.  If there’s a way to turn this irritant off, I certainly don’t know about it; the concept of “consent” seems foreign to the company whose slogan was once “Don’t be evil”.

But Google doesn’t limit itself to nonconsensual search interference, oh no; now it’s also fucking with my actual writing process.  As I write, Google repeatedly “corrects” words that aren’t incorrect in the first place, thus changing the meanings of phrases and sentences (often from sense into nonsense).  In one recent and especially-annoying example, I was typing the verb “trumps” (in the sense of one factor overriding a less important one, a metaphorical reference to the card game mechanism), only to have Google change it automatically and without my permission to “Trump’s” (it did it just now, but I left it this time).  It’s not the first time I’ve seen this; my phone similarly capitalizes common nouns which happen to also be the names of tech corporations, as though normal people used those names more often than the common noun.  But in the past, it only annoyed me while using voice to text on my phone, rather than slowing me down and requiring an extra proofreading stage in my post or tweet writing.  I’ve searched online and there are no real solutions to the problem that I can find; every post claiming to have the solution is either ineffective or tells me to go to menus which don’t actually exist in the version of Chrome that appears on my computer.  So this is, as I said above, mostly a gripe; it is, however, also a warning that should you see some idiotic phrase that makes absolutely no semantic sense in one of my essays, it isn’t that I’m growing senile; it’s just that I failed to catch one of Google’s “improvements” before the essay posted.

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In furtherance of your narcissistic concerns you either lobbied for the rights of certain women to be restricted or remained silent while others did so, and now you’re crying because the crop which has sprung up is the very one you planted.  Unfortunately, it isn’t just you who will be forced to eat it. –  “Selective Blindness

It’s inevitable that politicians will say stupid, ignorant, bigoted, offensive things because only a brutal savage wants control over other people; therefore only brutal savages seek power, and we are governed by the most foolish, greedy, irresponsible, power-mad and least evolved among us.  –  “Legitimate Outrage

Nothing that rightfully belongs to everyone alike can reasonably be called a “privilege”.  –  “The Privilege Paradigm

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