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Archive for August, 2024

In the News (#1465)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Just because [a surveillance experiment] happens at the border doesn’t mean that that’s where it’s going to stay.  –  Petra Molnar

If Men Were Angels

Apparently this preacher wasn’t the molester, but is covering for him:

A [North Carolina] pastor [named Kenny Parker] is facing charges [because] he failed to report…a string of sexual assault[s of legal] minors that spanned…several years…Parker is also the chief administrator of the church’s school…

Creepy Coppers

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A[n Illinois cop named]…William Griswold…[has been arrested] for [possession and distribution of] child pornography…and…was immediately placed on unpaid leave…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1235)

Undermining of civil liberties only starts with “undesirables”; it never stops there:

…DHS…plans to collect and analyze photos of the faces of migrant children at the border in a bid to improve facial recognition technology…This includes children “down to the infant”…Facial recognition…has traditionally not been applied to children, largely because training data sets of real children’s faces…consist of either low-quality images drawn from the internet or small sample sizes with little diversity…[due to] the significant [ethical issues] regarding privacy and consent when it comes to minors…[but] DHS [doesn’t give a damn about the consent of migrants and]…339,234 children arrived at the US-Mexico border in 2022…if the face prints of even 1% of those children had been [scanned], the resulting data set would dwarf nearly all existing data sets of real children’s faces…and [all obtained]…from a population that has little recourse…Petra Molnar, author of The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of AI [said]…“if…you are faced with the impossible choice of either: get into a country if you give us your biometrics, or you don’t…That completely vitiates informed consent”…This question becomes even more challenging when it comes to children…

A Broker in Pillage (#1289)

Burying government in lawsuits is the only way to slow its depredations:

A new class action lawsuit [was filed because] Indiana [cop shops steal]…millions of dollars a year in cash from FedEx packages without eve[n] in[vent]ing…a…crime [to accuse the owners of].  Henry and Minh Cheng, who run a small California jewelry wholesaler business, [explain] in [the]…suit…that [cops stole] over $42,000 in cash from a FedEx package en route to them from a client in Virginia…[but] they’re not the only victims…Indiana [cops] “exploit Indianapolis’s location at the Crossroads of America to [steal] millions of dollars in currency being shipped from one side of the nation to the other.”  The Chengs’ countersuit against the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office and the State of Indiana was filed on their behalf by the Institute for Justice…Marion County [alone] has s[tolen] $2.5 million…from at least 130 FedEx parcels in transit from one non-Indiana state to another over the past two years…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1301)

Sometimes I just can’t force myself to take cops’ sophomoric pomposity seriously:

[Michigan] Sheriff Chris Swanson [dressed up in a sheet with two holes cut in it and jumped out, yelling “BOO!” at a typical and representative Florida cop named]…Jeffrey Morningstar…Swanson [bragged about how spooky he and his cronies were, pretending to be a (presumably deceased)]…trafficker selling a 15-year-old…Morningstar…want[ed] to…have sex with [for a thrift-store price]…“W[oooooooo, aren’t you scared?”]…Swanson [demanded, claiming] that [he plans to keep running around, startling]…anyone…he [can]…find…

Thou Shalt Not (#1353)

Only a prohibitionist could imagine that examining 10 people constitutes a “study”:

Consuming a drink with erythritol — an artificial sweetener used to add bulk to stevia and monk fruit [sweeteners] and to sweeten low-carb keto products — more than doubled the risk of blood clotting in 10 healthy people…Previous research has linked erythritol to a higher risk of stroke, heart attack and death…Consuming a drink with an equal amount of glucose, or sugar, did not affect blood platelet activity in another group of 10 people…

Dangerous Speech (#1368)

Much more of this, please:

A [typical and representative] Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a weekly newspaper has been charged with felony obstruction of justice…Gideon Cody…[led] the raid [in retaliation for] the Marion County Record [investigating the fact that he was hired despite resigning in disgrace from his previous job due to incompetence and shitty behavior]…Publisher Eric Meyer’s mother, who co-owned the newspaper and lived with him, died the next day of a heart attack…[due] the stress of [armed pigs invading her home].  Meyer said…authorities appear to be making Cody the “fall guy” for the raid when numerous officials were involved…The Record…and [some of its] staffers have filed four federal lawsuits against Cody and [his gang]…includ[ing] a wrongful death claim [for] total damages exceed[ing] $10 million.  The city’s current annual budget is about $9.5 million…

 

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 #738

Posted in Diary, tagged , , on August 20, 2024| 1 Comment »

Remember how many plums I had last year?  Well, this is what the biggest tree looks like this year.  And given that the weather is already turning wetter and chillier weeks earlier than is typical, I don’t expect a crop will soon burst forth.  I’ve seen a fair number of blackberries on the vines and plan to pick this week, but I don’t think I’ll have enough to do much with them, so it’s up to the apple trees to salvage my fruit season (apple butter and mincemeat would be nice).  Well, at least the turn of the weather seems to have cured my unusual allergy attack; I had one short relapse last week, but it faded pretty quickly and I’m back to breathing normally.  The premature gloom seems to have also triggered my post-Dog Days recovery to start early; usually I start sleeping a lot better in the last week of August or the first week of September, but a few days ago I just crashed about a half-hour early one night and then overslept by an hour the next morning, and that pattern repeated twice more in the next few days.  Obviously that’s due to it being rather dark well after dawn, but I’ll take it; still, given the allergies and the poor fruit yield, I’m hoping we don’t have another summer like this next year.

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Silent, Indeed

Posted in Biography, History, Miscellaneous, Music, tagged , , on August 19, 2024| 2 Comments »

Though I’ve read the explanation of why the cohort born from 1928 to 1945 was first named “The Silent Generation“, I cannot fathom how so many nitwits still think it’s a good label for the generation which gave us Elvis, The Beatles, and every other pioneer of Rock and Roll; most of the leaders of the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr; actors including Robert De Niro and Elizabeth Taylor; directors including Stanley Kubrick; artists including Andy Warhol and Jim Henson; writers including Harlan Ellison and Charles Beaumont; comedians including Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder; scientists including Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan; sports stars including Muhammad Ali and Willie Mays; and many, many other important (and not at all silent) public figures.  And since the generation gave us the majority of the Beatniks and the older hippies as well, I have started a one-woman campaign to start calling it “The Beat Generation”.

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Links #737

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I don’t find it funny anymore.  –  Randol White

I guess YouTube threw this at me because I’ve looked at quite a few Doctor Who-related videos there over the years, including one by Jon Pertwee; this, however, is quite a different animal.  The links above it were provided by Jesse Walker, Nun Ya (x2), Rick Horowitz, IncarcerNation (x2), and The Onion, 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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In the News (#1464)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

It is increasingly less safe to be pregnant.  –  Dara Kass

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Funny how many cops who are willing to pay prefer underage girls:

A [typical and representative] Las Vegas [cop] is accused of…paying [underage girls for]…sex…Harvey Velazquez…faces 21 charges…and…[w]as…fired [after somebody snitched on him]…Velazquez admitted to [the charges]…and…[his fellow gang members searched] Velazquez’s phone, finding text messages [that supported the charges]…

Stalkers in Blue

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

A Bridgeport[, West Virginia cop named] William Townsend [was arrest]ed [for] stalking and harassing his ex-wife and her new boyfriend…from July 2023 through April 2024, Townsend has “repeatedly engaged in a course of conduct” that has caused his ex’s new boyfriend to fear for his safety…Townsend…parked [his pigmobile outside her apartment] behind her boyfriend’s vehicle while…sending…“vulgar sexually-related messages” referencing her and her new boyfriend…Townsend also called [the man] a “child molester,” harassed the couple in person at…school [events]…threatened a criminal investigation of the [man] and his friend and made numerous [slanderous] comments to their children about [him] as well…

Feudalism Redux (#1390)

If you need a law like this to control your teen offspring, you’ve already lost them:

…If a [legal minor] is raped by their parent, Idaho medical providers now require th[e rapist]’s permission to administer the rape kit that would prove their own guilt.  Preventing young people from receiving medical care of their own accord has long been a priority for [Idaho] Republicans…[who] brought that…to fruition this July…after a national [authoritarian] push to keep young people from receiving gender-affirming medical care…

The Cop Myth (#1403)

41% of cops admit to beating their wives; some don’t stop with mere beating:

[A] Maricopa County A[rizona cop named]…John C. Byrd…[was arrested for the] murder…[of his] wife, Elizabeth Byrd, [on July 31st after]…A woman told police that Elizabeth failed to show up for a gym class that they always attended together and…had contacted Elizabeth’s 11-year-old son via text and learned that…he…and his two [younger] siblings…had not seen their mother all day and that her bedroom door was locked…[cops] found the wife dead [of strangulation] on her bedroom floor…Byrd [confessed to the crime when arrested.  Ironically,] Byrd…worked in the Family Violence Bureau…

Panopticon (#1448)

Note that little word “yet”:

[Washington] D.C. …[cops] will start using drones in [many more] situations to try to [subj]ect residents [to even more surveillance using the typical cop excuse of “]crime[” while the city also] adds hundreds of closed-circuit TV cameras and license plate readers…Chief of Police Pamela Smith said…“We will not be…using facial recognition with the drones yet”…The ACLU’s executive director [said]…”The growing use of surveillance technology by law enforcement agencies without limits, transparency, and accountability is deeply concerning…and…does not have sufficient guardrails to ensure our privacy”…

Vulture Watching (#1462)

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

Even as the Biden administration publicly warned hospitals to treat pregnant patients in emergencies, facilities continue to violate the federal law…[since] the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion more than two years ago.  More than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or negligently treated since 2022…Two women – one in Florida and one in Texas – were left to miscarry in public restrooms.  In Arkansas, a woman went into septic shock and her fetus died after an emergency room sent her home.  At least four other women with ectopic pregnancies had trouble getting any treatment, including one California woman who needed a blood transfusion after she sat for nine hours in an emergency waiting room.  [EMTALA] says hospitals must offer abortions when needed to save a woman’s health, despite state bans.  Texas [says women should be left to die if their doctors guess wrong]…and…the Supreme Court declined to resolve the issue…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #13)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

…a M[ississippi cop named]…Kevin Michael Boyd was [rewarded with a paid vacation after his]…arrest…[for] statutory rape [of] a 12-year-old girl…[after her parents reported him on] May 16…

 

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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Tweet Dreams

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 16, 2024| 3 Comments »

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Throwback Thursday’s Army

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

While it’s not entirely accurate to say “all women are whores”, it is accurate to say that there is no clear line delineating prostitution from other female sexuality.  –  “In Denial”

If everyone had just agreed to ignore [anti-sex feminists’] deranged fantasies when their disconnection with reality became hideously apparent…they’d be nothing more than a fringe group today (occupying a position on the credibility ladder somewhere between young-Earth creationists and those who insist that the moon landings were faked). –  “Hurdling Over Reality”

If one can believe that the magical hypnotic powers of “therapists” can “recover” memories, it certainly isn’t that much of a stretch to believe in the magical hypnotic power of “pimps” to erase them.  –  “Mumbo Jumbo“

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In the News (#1463)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I would rather be dead than ever go back.  –  victim of ALA

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1136)

Laws are for the peasantry, not the rulers:

A [typical and representative] North Dakota [politician] who was one of the most powerful members of the Legislature [will] plead guilty…in federal court to traveling to Europe with the intent to pay for sex with a minor.  Ray Holmberg…was indicted in October 2023…and…will…have to register as a sex offender…

A Broker in Pillage (#1276)

South Carolina is one of the most flagrant abusers of this unconstitutional practice:

In Spartanburg County, South Carolina, on Interstate 85, [cop]s stop vehicles for…any infraction, no matter how minor…lead[ing] to a roadside interrogation and warrantless search…the [sophomorically-entitled “Operation Rolling Thunder” has been committed] every year since 2006, yet no one has ever done a systematic audit…It took a lawsuit to finally pry the records loose…Over 72 percent of vehicle searches during [the scheme] in 2022 produced nothing illegal.  Officers routinely treated innocent drivers like criminals…[and] currency as contraband.  The records describe no single case in which officers found a large amount of cash and did not seize it…[they] pressured property owners to sign roadside abandonment forms, giving up claims to their cash on the spot…Officers focused on vehicles with out-of-state plates, rental cars, and commercial buses.  Over 83 percent of the [victims]…lived out of state…and 75 percent…were black…[the armed-robber cops] do not create incident reports for every search.  They only document their “wins”…[so there are] no records for 102 of the 144 searches that occurred during [the scheme] in 2022…This leaves government watchdogs in the dark—by design.  They cannot inspect public records that do not exist.  Victims cannot cite them in litigation…

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1387)

The entire “troubled teen” industry needs to be sued out of existence:

There is a highly lucrative, multibillion-dollar market of residential “behaviour modification programmes”…in the US, where an estimated 50,000 children [and teenagers] are [sent] by their parents…against their will every year.  All operate in closely guarded secrecy.  There are more than a hundred in Utah alone, but some are based offshore in remote, low-regulation, low-cost foreign locations such as Samoa, Costa Rica, Mexico and Caribbean islands…[they are condemned to these camps] for bunking off school, wearing inappropriate clothes, swearing, [or using] cigarettes or alcohol…a sizeable number [are]…adopted by parents who had then changed their minds…many [we]re had been diagnosed [by quacks] with oppositional defiant disorder, whose symptoms…[are] indistinguishable from typical adolescent behaviour…boys aged 14-18 confined in [Atlantis Leadership Academy, or ALA, raided by Jamaican officials in February]…had been starved, waterboarded and brutally beaten with broom handles, rakes, belts and metal water bottles…sleep-deprived and relentlessly insulted…bleach and salt [were] rubbed in their wounds; others…were [brutally assaulted,] threatened with knives and kept in solitary confinement for months on end…

Panopticon (#1429)

“Prostitution” is such a handy excuse for surveillance:

Moral panic about sex work leads to law enforcement practices that reach far beyond anyone engaged in or with erotic labor.  The latest example comes from San Diego…where cops are putting up a creepy surveillance tower under the auspice of stopping…prostitution…[by] record[ing] video of anyone who happens to be in the area…even if you think that punishing prostitution customers (or sex workers themselves) is a swell idea, it’s hard to see how the surveillance tower makes any sense…the tower is very visible and local media have been publicizing it.  Smart sex workers and their customers will simply move to another, less visible area…It seems clear that th[is]…is…just a way for authorities to look like they’re doing something about sex trafficking while further normalizing the idea of conducting broad, warrantless surveillance of everyone…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1432)

Phrenology for tech worshipers:

Michal Kosinski…has made…plausible[-sounding] claims that machine-learning algorithms…can discern deeply private things about us — our intelligence, our sexual preferences, our political beliefs — using little more than…photographs of our faces…Science has been trying to divine truths about personality and behavior from various tests and images for centuries…Phrenologists used calipers to measure bumps on people’s heads, hoping to diagnose mental incapacities or moral deficiencies…none of these “sciences” worked…[and] every time someone claimed they’d found a way to measure people’s inner traits based on their exterior features, it quickly turned into a tool to discriminate…Yet today…facial recognition continue[s] to be…abused…in everything from marketing and job hiring to college admissions and law enforcement…

Opting Out (#1438)

Politicians refuse to recognize that prohibition of speech, ie censorship, is as doomed to failure as other kinds of prohibition:

As riots rock…Britain, some [politicians] are trying to blame social media…[rather than the] government policy…[causing] the country’s civil unrest…they…want social media companies to ban [any] user accounts [politicians point at, calling this indirect censorship]…”their responsibilities”…Ofcom, the British…[censorship bureau], has already [harass]ed social media companies…about online speech, in…the name of “safety”…Making businesses liable for speech that is not their own is fraught with [wholly]…intended consequences…[by] strongly incentiviz[ing] those businesses to remove any content that could invite legal scrutiny…allowing [government] control over online discourse without the messy optics of jailing citizens for wrongthink…

The Cop Myth (#1446)

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

An…Atlanta [cop was]…arrested [for murdering] a man…outside of a…bar during a birthday party…Melvin Potter…[shot] Devon Anderson…to [death after he] tried to de-escalate [an] argument…[between the drunk] Potter…[and another partygoer.  Potter]…was [previously] arrested on DUI charges in 2021…but [as is typical for drunk-driving cops escaped without consequences]…

 

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 #737

Posted in Diary, tagged , on August 13, 2024| 1 Comment »

Practically as soon as last week’s diary column posted, all the tomato plants started fruiting.  This picture is of the one that was already bearing last week; I think it won’t be long before I can gather a few to make fried green tomatoes.  I’m still not sure about the rest of the fruit; it’s already turning chilly and overcast here, and the two-week forecast calls for more of the same, making this the shortest, coolest summer since I’ve been in Washington.  And honestly, that doesn’t really bother me; my seasonal anxiety has been much less severe this year than usual, and perhaps once the rain starts again this damned allergy will finally go away.  It had faded out after mid-July, so I thought I was done with it, but then it came roaring back last Friday night (though it passed much more quickly this time and was already much less severe by yesterday).  Here’s hoping that whatever caused it doesn’t recur next year, because it’s nearly as bad as the anxiety; besides, it seems to be tied to the weird fruit weather, and we can’t have that become the new norm!

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Rapists of the Week #13

Posted in Current Events, Rapists of the Week, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Buried Truth

Another fine example of McNeill’s Law:

Aberdeen Councilman Riley Carter…was arrested [on July 30th for]…rape of a child…The victim…stat[Ed] that Carter had touched them sexually “a lot of times”…over the last two years, as often as several times per week…Carter would unplug a camera…in the…bedroom before…[molesting], as well as cameras in areas leading to the room…after his arrest…Carter…[confessed to] the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office…

Out of Control (#1374)

What is wrong with doctors who do this?

…A…Missoula [Montana] emergency room doctor [named Tyler James Hurst], who is charged with a slew of sex crimes, [appeared] in court via Zoom from a [“]sex addiction[” blame-avoiding] facility in Mississippi…[because] seven victims [so far] have [reported]…that…Hurst…[molested] them…and in some cases g[ave them] opiates and [raped] them…the state asked that he be [extradited] from Mississippi and [jailed] in…[Montana] on a $750,000 bond…victims are still coming forward and more charges are still in the process of being filed…Hurst is planning to return to Montana, to be [confined to] another [“]sex addiction[” blame-avoiding] ranch in Corvallis….[with] a GPS monitor…if he is removed from the program, he is to [be] immediately [jailed]…

Torture Chamber (#1390)

“Failed to protect them from sexual abuse” is such a sterile way to say “repeatedly raped them”:

The U.S. Department of Justice found unconstitutional conditions at all five of Texas’ juvenile detention facilities, where [young adults] were exposed to excessive force, sexual abuse and in the case of disabled [minors, maltreatment] that [was used as an excuse by screws to keep] them [locked] in c[ages] longer or [to send] them to adult prisons…[screws] excessively used pepper spray on [young people], employed dangerous restraint techniques…kept [them] isolated for days or weeks on end…[and facilitated] a “pervasive atmosphere of sexual abuse, grooming and [rape by] staff”…

Reporters: get it through your thick skulls that infantilizing young victims of governmental brutality as “children” does not help them, and in fact further cultivates a climate in which they are treated as less than adult citizens.

To Molest and Rape (#1459)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A[n Ohio cop is at large, though] on a GPS monitor after being arrested on 32 counts of rape…Charles R. Davis…rape[d] and…sexual[ly abused…[at least two victims] between March 2020 and October 2022, and many [were rapes of] a victim under 13…

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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