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Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category

An unintentional body movement can lead to death.  –  Scott Harlan

Since I often share my earworms with you, I’m unsure how this one – presenting a view of death not at all unlike mine  –  has managed to avoid being featured before.  The links above the video were provided by Jesse Walker, Winnie Pond, The Onion, Mike Siegel, C.J. Ciaramella, Popehat, and Marc Randazza, 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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They destroyed my life…and now they want to keep quiet.  –  Daegun Chun

Traffic Jam (#694)  

The first exoneration of a victim of “sex trafficking” hysteria has come, 14 years earlier than I expected.  Of course, it happened in Canada, where the hysteria was never as virulent as in the US, and like the Heather Wyker “Somali sex trafficking gang” case, it was based entirely in cop wanking fantasies without a shred of actual evidence or a single credible witness, and collapsed because the primary victim refused to be intimidated into signing a fake confession and “admitting guilt” to the mob at gunpoint.  But the victims of the Satanic Panic were convicted on even more fantastical (and often physically-impossible) charges, with even more absurd “evidence”, and it was more than ten years after the end of the hysteria before any of them were exonerated.  I don’t know if this bodes well for most victims of “trafficking” hysteria, given that the US government is still actively engaged in promoting the lies and fantasies that were used to cage them.  This is a long and intense article, but I think it’s worth every free-thinking person’s time and effort to thoroughly grasp the lengths to which modern “democratic” governments will go to destroy innocent people’s lives in order to advance a propaganda narrative those in power find convenient to their agenda.

I Spy (#787)

Surveillance beyond the wildest dreams of the Stasi:

…the [newly-enacted]…RISAA…’s primary purpose is to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act…But the bill also… “vastly expands the U.S. government’s warrantless surveillance capabilities”…that provision means  that nearly any…entity with access to telecom or internet equipment could be forced to participate in the federal government’s digital spying regime.  The big target…is likely to be the owners and operators of data centers…but…”any company, vendor, or any of their employees who touch the physical infrastructure of the internet could now be…compelled to assist with FISA surveillance“…even someone like a custodian could be legally compelled to assist in the federal government’s spying efforts…gathering places like hotels and coffee shops have been specifically excluded from the law.  But…because…places where journalists work are not specifically exempted…”American newsrooms [could be]e bugged by the government.  And journalists won’t [honestly] be able to reassure [sources] that they’re not, because, for all they know, the building maintenance worker is an involuntary government spy”…

I Spy (#1376)

This is not Grady Judd’s domain in Florida, but it has the same love of using sleazy means to violate people’s civil rights using the typical excuses:

A…[surveilla]nce system that can identify aliases and collect years of personal data from hundreds of online sources is now being used by the Polk County [Iowa] Sheriff’s Department…ShadowDragon surveillance software is [one of many justified to the public by barfing out the words “]human trafficking[“, but in reality has mostly been used so far to spy on protests, pregnant women, gamers, black people and kinky people]…The…software can…map out online identities and associations or correlations among people using…social media, chat rooms and dating platforms…Operation Underground Railroad — a [disgraced Utah]-based [“rescue industry” corpor]ation — donated $4,000 to pay for Polk’s first-year of software expenses…

Cops and Robbers (#1379)

“Journalists” lionize a sexual predator who gets his jollies destroying lives:

…Olive Hugh…use[s fake] Facebook accounts…to [fantasy role-play as] girls between the ages of 12 to 16…[so he can entrap young men with trickery in order to get them charged as “]child predators[” by p]rosecutor[s who don’t care that they’re getting people convicted entirely on the evidence of online conversations]…Hugh finds a sense of [sexual satisfaction] with each successful [entrapment, especially since he has an audience in cops who]…monitor…the chats between [Hugh] and [his victims, not to mention his]…social media accounts have over 50 thousand followers…

You Were Warned (#1420)

Politicians no longer care about whether their new diktats are Constitutional:

…the House of Representatives [has] passed a measure that would require a change in [TikTok]’s ownership or ban it if that doesn’t happen…it’s essentially the same divestiture-or-ban bill…now tucked into…the insanely named 21st Century Peace through Strength Act…that deals with everything from fentanyl trafficking to Russian sanctions, Iranian petroleum, Hamas, and boatloads of foreign aid.  The…Act would ban TikTok unless it completely breaks ties with its Chinese parent-company, ByteDance, within 270 days…and could be used to justify a ban on all sorts of popular apps tied to China, Russia, Iran, or any other country that gets deemed a foreign adversary…The most obvious constitutional problem is the First Amendment…It may also amount to a[n unconstitutional] bill of attainder.—a law punishing a specific person or entity, without a trial…and…the forced sale violates the Fifth Amendment…[because on paper] the government cannot take your property without accusing and convicting you of a crime

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1424)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

…the California Assembly’s Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee voted last week to move forward a version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by [pro-censorship] activists…AB 3080 is backed by Exodus Cry…and [a host of other busybodies, bluenoses, pearl-clutchers, and other useful idiots]…

Torture Chamber (#1427)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

[Prisoners] in…Oklahoma…were locked in filthy shower stalls…for days on end.  In a lawsuit filed last week, the [prisoners seek reparations for such]…an obvious violation of their Eighth Amendment rights…[screws] at the Great Plains C[age Stack] locked [their victims]…in [the] stalls for extended periods, without access to basic amenities like adequate food and water.  Most were placed in 3-foot by 3-foot shower cells, though at least one was confined in an even smaller space.  Confinement periods listed in the suit ranged from 24 hours to four days…[some of] the…stalls [were] filled with human feces and [they were given no] bathroom…the only water they had access to was scalding hot shower water.  One prisoner…was repeatedly pepper sprayed during his [confinement] in the ad hoc [oubliette].  Another…was left without clothing, and had to borrow a shirt…[which] he later used to attempt suicide [in order to escape unending torture inflicted solely]…because guards knew that he was a sex offender…a…state…investigation…found that several different Oklahoma facilities regularly locked [prisoners] in shower stalls…

 

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 #130

This is the heart of “Progressive” thought:  force people (via social engineering, prohibition and criminalization) to only eat, wear, watch, read, hear, say, do and think what “experts” have decided is “good” for them, and the Millennium will arrive on the very next high-speed train. – “Zero Intelligence

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Self-appointed guardians of the public morals are always looking for new ways to ensure that absolutely no one can escape their snooping or whatever scarlet letters they’ve been branded with.  –  “The Puritan Recrudescence

Apparent humans with the attention span of a goldfish and the research skills of a ficus tree blam[ed] FOSTA…on a man who couldn’t find his own moral center with both hands, Google maps and a burning dumpster full of advisors.
–  “One Side

A species is nothing more than a temporary configuration of genes; it is as permanent as a sand dune, albeit on a much longer time scale, and we can no more “save” a species than we could freeze the column of smoke from a burning cathedral into some interesting or beautiful shape.  –  “Frozen Smoke

Wealth and power do not create evil; they merely enable the evil that is already inherent in the human brain.   –  “Blessed are the Poor

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The privacy threats posed by facial recognition technology are, in many ways, unprecedented.  –  Michal Kosinski

To Molest and Rape

Cops are a menace to women of all ages:

A…Utah [cop named] Bronson Willas Wood [forcibly groped a young] woman “against her consent”…on March 18, 2023, b[ut] she [was afraid to report him before now.  She is a friend of]…Wood’s…daughter, both 19 years old, [and on that night she was visiting their house, when Wood allowed them to]…”drink alcohol and encouraged them to take shots.”  She [eventually went] to sleep on the couch in Wood’s basement, where he later went down and a[ccosted her, claiming]…that “he…had been in love with her” since she was 17 years old…[she called] a friend [to] pick…her up after [convincing] Wood [to] go…back upstairs.  W[hen] confronted the next morning b[y unnamed parties, Wood] initially denied everything…[but] later…conf[ess]ed [his actions that] night…to two [other unnamed] people.  Wood was arrested and [charged with]…forcible sexual abuse and…contributing to the delinquency of a minor…

Only an authoritarian could simultaneously classify someone as a “woman” and a “minor”.  And why is “against her consent” in scare quotes?

The Scarlet Letter (#798)

Professional promiscuity is already criminalized; this clown wants to criminalize amateur promiscuity as well:

Oklahoma [politician]s are seeking to criminalize the spread of several more sexually transmitted diseases, a move…[which] could turn nearly every resident into a felon.  House Bill 3098 adds chlamydia, Hepatitis B, genital herpes, trichomoniasis, and…HPV…infections to the list of…STDs…that are illegal to knowingly or recklessly spread…Previously only smallpox, syphilis and gonorrhea were on the list…Toni Hasenbeck…the bill’s…author, [foamed at the mouth while spouting paranoid nonsense about] domestic abuse…The [law would] deter people from getting the necessary testing and treatment…because of [valid] fears that positive tests could open someone up to prosecution…and…no test exists to diagnose [HPV] in men…

Opting Out (#803)

Never forget that “filter” is merely a euphemism for “censor”:

A middle school student in Missouri had trouble collecting images of people’s eyes for an art project.  An elementary schooler…couldn’t access a picture of…Florence Griffith Joyner to add to a writing assignment.  A high school junior couldn’t read analyses of…The Odyssey for her language arts class.  An eighth grader was blocked repeatedly while researching trans rights…All of these students saw the same message in their web browsers as they tried to complete their work: “The site you have requested has been blocked because it does not comply with the filtering requirements as described by the Children’s Internet Protection Act”…CIPA, a federal law passed in 2000, requires schools seeking subsidized internet access to keep students from seeing…images [politicians, bureaucrats, or their fascist “partner” corporations declare “]obscene or harmful[“.  Many] school districts…go much further, limiting not only what images students can see but what words they can read…forcing students to jump through hoops to complete assignments and keeping them from resources that could support their health and safety…including suicide prevention…

Pyrrhic Victory (#977)

Phrenology for tech worshipers:

Scientists have demonstrated that facial recognition technology can predict a person’s political orientation with a surprising level of accuracy.  Their research, published in the journal American Psychologist, shows that even neutral facial expressions can hold clues to someone’s political beliefs.  This finding poses significant privacy concerns, especially since facial recognition can operate without an individual’s consent…

A Broker in Pillage (#1381)

This will never stop until there are criminal charges for cops who perpetrate the robberies:

The Kansas Legislature unanimously passed a bill overhauling the rules for when police can [legally steal citizens’] property under a practice known as civil asset forfeiture…the legislation would make offenses related to possession or personal use of drugs ineligible for civil asset forfeiture, require [cop shops] to notify county prosecutors of a request for forfeiture within 14 days, and limit when local police can [dodge the restrictions by letting] fed[pigs] “adopt” their forfeiture cases.  It would also require judges to consider whether a seizure is unconstitutionally excessive, put the burden of proof on prosecutors to show that the seizure was proportional to the offense, and allow some property owners to recoup legal costs when they successfully challenge a seizure…More than 30 states have reformed their asset forfeiture laws over the past decade…but Kansas was not among them.

The Cop Myth (#1423)

Cop violence is never limited to members of the public:

An Akron [cop] who is under scrutiny for shooting a teen earlier this month was [previously arrest]ed in two violent, drunken incidents with his girlfriend.  In December 2020, [pig] Ryan…Westlake threw h[is girlfriend] into a coffee table…[while they were together in] Florida…Westlake then pinned her arms to the ground under his legs and struck her [repeatedly, but] she declined to press charges.  A few weeks later at Westlake’s…apartment…[he] pushed her to the ground and [gave her a black] eye…[then] pointed a gun at her head and threatened to kill her and her father…the girlfriend again declined to…[press charges, but then-]Mayor Dan Horrigan…[fired him, saying he] wasn’t “fit” to be an Akron officer.  One day later…the Akron police union [got him] reinstated [by issuing unspecified threats] and [he was merely] suspended for 71 days…Westlake [had] numerous [other] disciplinary actions against him [as well, leaving naifs]…in the community questioning why Westlake was still on the job April 1 when he shot Tavion Koonce-Williams…

No Escape (ROTW #8)

Government uses a shell game to avoid making actual reforms:

The Federal Bureau of Prisons [has] announced…that it will close a…women’s prison in California…known as the “rape club”…after several years of [unserious] efforts to root out systemic misconduct and abuse…Eight Dublin employees, including a former warden, have since been convicted or pleaded guilty to [rape and] sexual…assault…[yet] the culture of abuse and whistleblower retaliation [predictably] continued…this is not the first time the BOP has [made the cosmetic change of] shuttering a scandal-ridden prison [rather than enacting meaningful reform.  In this case]…the women currently [locked in rape cages] at Dublin will be transferred to other [rape cages], and…no [rapist or enabler screws will] lose their jobs [but will instead merely be transferred to other cage stacks, to continue raping and enabling as before]…

 

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

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It’s the victim’s fault cops murdered him.  –  Dan Thompson (paraphrase)

Of all the Allman Brothers songs on which he played, this is probably the best showcase of the late Dickey Betts’ talents.  The links above the video were all provided by IncarcerNation, except for “RIP” (Dan Savage and Asawin Suebsaeng) and “abduct” (Billy Binion).

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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To prohibit vice is not ordinarily considered within the police power of the state.  –  Justice Jackson Temple, 1887

The Camel’s Nose (#584)

There is nothing as hard to kill as a bad law:

Twelve years ago, internet users spoke up with one voice to reject a law that would build censorship into the internet at a fundamental level.  This week, the Motion Picture Association…announced that it hoped we’d all forgotten how dangerous this idea was…What the MPA wants is the power to block entire websites…using the same tools as repressive regimes like China and Russia.  To it, instances of possible copyright infringement should be played like a trump card to shut off our access to entire websites…It is not simply calling for the ability to take down instances of infringement—a power they already have, without even having to ask a judge—but for the keys to the internet…The bills known as SOPA/PIPA would have created a new, rapid path for…major studios to use court orders against sites they accuse of infringing copyright.  Internet service providers…receiving one of those orders would have to block all of their customers from accessing the identified websites.  The orders would also apply to domain name registries…registrars…and…other companies and organizations that make up the internet’s basic infrastructure…all of those would have to build new infrastructure dedicated to site-blocking, inviting over-blocking and all kinds of abuse…In other words, the right to choose what websites you visit would be taken away from you and given to giant media companies and ISPs.  And the very shape of the internet would have to be changed to allow it…

The Peril

As I have said many times, all prohibition is the same, yet people often fail to understand just how much the same it is.  In this article, Reason‘s Jacob Sullum traces the origin of the US drug war back to exactly the same root as the US War on Whores: the deeply racist anti-Chinese moral panic of the 1870s.  Unless you’re already intimately familiar with the topic, you will definitely want to read this one in its entirety.

Creepy Coppers

Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:

[A Phoenix, Arizona cop named] Alaa Robert Bartley…[regularly engaged in ageplay with] a Michigan woman [named] Sarah Elizabeth Chadwick…via…WhatsApp…[Chadwick] transmitted child pornography to Bartley on several occasions, and…[when she] was arrested in November 2023…and…federally charged with…child pornography…[the] FBI [rooted in her]…phone[, thus leading them to] Bartley…On April 4, co[ps tossed]…Bartley’s person, residence, personal vehicles, and…phone…[and found] over 49,000 images and 700 videos…of [child porn]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1332) 

Missouri seems completely uninterested in controlling its psychopathic politicians:

…a St. Louis judge has allowed Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s investigation into…gender-affirming care services to proceed.  Last year, Planned Parenthood…sued Bailey over his [illegal] demand that they turn over patient documents disclosing private information on minors to whom the clinic provided gender-affirming care…Judge Michael Stelzer denied Bailey’s [illegal] Demand for these [HIPAA-protected] patient documents, but has allowed his investigation into the clinic’s care to continue…Bailey treated the decision as a political win [despite its stopping his attempt to criminalize and harass the parents of trans youth]…

Texas’ attorney general is conducting a similar theatrical “investigation”.

You Were Warned (#1377)

“Monkey see, monkey do” politicians never bother to observe the consequences of laws they ape:

Google has temporarily blocked links from local news outlets in California from appearing in search results in response to the advancement of [yet another arse-backward “link tax”] bill that would require [internet] companies to pay publications for [sending them free traffic]…Google will also…cut…California publications from its…News Showcase…[Facebook has] said it would be forced to [take similar measures if politicians foolishly pass the law]…The California bill is the latest [mind-bogglingly stupid attempt] to [break the internet]…Facebook…and…Google…have [been forced to take] similar [action due to similar idiotic] legislation in Australia and Canada…Similar legislation is being considered in Illinois [despite the obvious fact that the outcome will be exactly the same]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #8)

Give sexually-aggressive thugs power over teens; what could possibly go wrong?

A…Wisconsin [cop assigned to spy on, harass, and intimidate students] has been arrested on a felony sexual assault charge for [molesting] a female student…after [her] parents reported…his…behavior…Kewaskum Police Chief Thomas Bishop immediately [started bloviating hot air about isolated incidents and “high moral standards”, yet is hiding the identity of the porcine molester]…

UPDATE: Molester cop Steven Rosales’ name and picture were revealed after he was also caught fucking his dog.

To Molest and Rape (#1429)

This will continue for as long as cops are allowed to “police” themselves:

David Gregson was around 12 years old…when…[New York cop] Roger L. Coon Jr…[began to subject him to] four years of sexual abuse…Coon — who died in 2003 at age 73 — molested him at his house, at a camp he furnished behind his property, and “dozens” of times in his [pigmobile] during a period stretching from around 1977 to 1981…Gregson is [now] suing the state of New York…under the 2019 Child Victims Act, which temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for…child sexual abuse.  Although Coon…sexually abus[ed] numerous boys over a period of decades, and [was] convicted twice…[for it], the state is fighting Gregson’s lawsuit…[cops covered for Coon until] September 1982, after a [different] teenager [reported] Coon…[who was allowed] to retire two weeks later…without facing any discipline or criminal consequences…Two years after his retirement, Coon pleaded guilty…to molesting three boys between the ages of 10 and 12 years old…he…was sentenced to three years’ probation…but [insisted] he [ha]dn’t…done anything wrong [because] there was “never any force” used in his sexual abuse…In 2001, Coon was sentenced to six months in jail and five years probation for sexually abusing a 9-year-old boy…

 

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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One of the most terrifying [tools of state control works] by redefining behaviors once considered “vices”, “crimes” or “moral turpitude” into “public health issues”, allowing religious fanatics to don the white coats of doctors and disguise their Puritanism as something akin to epidemiology.  –  “Morality Lessons

Th[is badge-licking reporter tried] to make an act of barbaric violence sound like a visit to a thrift store.  –  “Bullies With Badges (#730)

Thinking for yourself and trusting your own experiences rather than what “authorities” tell you leads to a much fuller, more rewarding life.  –  “Guilt-free

In general, the more an escort charges, the less sex she has and the more talking she does.  –  “Talkers

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The procurement of health insurance is not a mandatory religious ritual.  –  Judge Leanna K. Weissmann

The Punitive Mindset (#838) 

We need a class-action suit for booksellers affected by these evil policies:

A Georgia jail is refusing all books shipped to inmates, except those that come from major retailers.  One local bookshop is suing…[over the] unconstitutional…policy[, which is excused by having cops barf out the magic word]…”contraband”…prison officials [all over the US pretend] that inmates receive shipments of paper that has been soaked in drugs…[when in reality, it is well-known that drugs in prisons are smuggled in by screws]…Jeffrey Singer, a practicing physician and senior fellow at the Cato Institute [politely expressed the absurdity of the “paper soaked in drugs” fantasy by saying]…”I don’t know if any of these things have ever occurred, or whether law enforcement is simply imagining such scenarios”…

False Witness (#1105)

Good riddance to toxic rubbish:

Bennett Braun, a Chicago psychiatrist whose diagnoses of repressed memories involving horrific abuse by devil worshipers helped to fuel what became known as the “Satanic panic” of the 1980s and ’90s, died on March 20 in Lauderhill, Fla…He was 83…Braun…claimed that he could help patients uncover memories of childhood trauma…which…were responsible for the splintering of a person’s self into many distinct personalities.  He…became…frequently quoted…in the news media…and…publicized his [bizarre fantasies]…of…patients discover[ing] memories of being tortured by satanic cults…key[ing] into a growing national panic…[that] began in 1980 with the book Michelle Remembers…and spiked following allegations of abuse at day care centers in California and North Carolina…[tabloid] TV…[heavily] promoted such claims…[but] the psychiatric profession bore [most of the] responsibility…[because fabulist]s like…Braun [gave] it a gloss of authority…[rather than urging proper investigations of literally-impossible claims]…

Cops and Robbers (#1181) 

Only a few years ago, media outlets were lionizing wackos like these:

Members of a[n Arizona-based] militia group called Veterans On Patrol have spent recent weeks conducting “operations” in Spokane — searching the streets near homeless shelters looking for people they think are victims or perpetrators of human trafficking.  The group has been distributing fliers to homeless people with a phone number and instructions to call Veterans On Patrol instead of the police if they suspect trafficking is occurring…Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer, the leader of the group, arrived in Washington earlier this year and has been attempting to establish a base of operations in the Inland Northwest…Arthur…is not a veteran.  The group started [in 2015] with the stated goal of veteran suicide prevention, but later evolved to focus on immigration and…[fantasies of “]preventing child trafficking[“]…In 2018, Arthur discovered an abandoned homeless camp in Tucson, Arizona, that he [imagin]ed was part of a massive sex trafficking network…Arthur says he isn’t a QAnon adherent, but he does espouse related conspiracies involving chemtrails and Satanic pedophiles who supposedly harvest adrenochrome from children’s blood…In Arizona, Veterans On Patrol members have harassed aid workers, chased people through the desert and physically detained migrants…Arthur has a warrant out in Arizona after skipping out on his sentencing for destroying humanitarian water stations set up for migrants

Vulture Watching

Psychopathy is typical in politicians, but this is complete derangement:

Arizona’s…Supreme Court [has] revived a near-total ban of abortion, invoking a 1864 law that forbids the procedure except to save a mother’s life and punishes providers with prison time…It superseded the previous law, which mandated the right to end a pregnancy by the 15-week mark, resetting policy to the pre-Roe v. Wade era and adding Arizona to the roster of 16 other states where abortion is virtually outlawed…the…ban could force Arizona’s licensed abortion clinics to ramp down dramatically or shutter…The legal upheaval landed as reproductive rights advocates push for a November ballot measure that would protect access to abortion in the Arizona state constitution.  Campaigners have already gathered more than enough signatures to qualify…

The Vultures Descend (#1308)

Now this is an interesting development:

The U.S. Supreme Court 2014 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby allowed religious, anti-abortion employers to refuse to cover contraception in their employee health insurance.  But an extraordinary April 4 appellate court decision in Indiana turned the…decision into a winning argument for abortion rights…The…case was brought in 2022 by five anonymous plaintiffs of…the group Jewish Hoosiers for Choice….[who] argued that their religious doctrine teaches that a fetus is part of a woman’s body, not an independent being with its own rights.  The abortion ban, then, violates their religious freedom to decide whether to have an abortion.  This argument, which undergirds similar religious freedom lawsuits across the country, including in Kentucky, Missouri and Florida, is a profound pushback against the Christian right’s attempts to assert their position, that life begins at conception and that a fetus is a person, as the only genuine religious belief…Judge Leanna K. Weissmann [wrote that]…If the owners of Hobby Lobby could engage in religious exercise by refusing to provide coverage for contraceptives they considered abortifacients…then “it stands to reason that a pregnant person can engage in a religious exercise by pursuing an abortion”…

Stalkers in Blue (#1408)

This cannot be reformed:

Dana Rachlin, a prominent police reform advocate, once collaborated so closely with local precincts in North Brooklyn that she often worked out of the office of NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey…Rachlin…[foolishly] grew [to trust him] so much…that when…she was raped in October 2017, one of the first people she called was Maddrey, who urged her to file a police report, despite her reservations…Now Rachlin…[has filed] a federal lawsuit [because] police officials weaponized [supposedly-]confidential details of that sexual assault to retaliate against her for her vocal criticism of violent policing…in mid-2020 NYPD officials cut off her access…and told precinct leaders not to work with her.  Soon afterward…[details of] her…sexual assault was circulated to community advocates, mixed in with misinformation… and the [lie] that she fabricated the attack and falsely accused a Black man of rape. Those same claims later surfaced in two anonymous letters sent to…politicians and others… Rachlin [said] “This isn’t just about me. It’s about…a department that reacts to even the slightest criticism with ruthless tactics designed to instill fear and cause compliance”…

Thought Control (#1415)

I was destined to be threatened with state violence regardless of career path:

[Two Alabama bills] comprise a package…aimed at [redefin]ing…obscenity [in a manner that violates the First Amendment] while also removing free speech protections for school and public libraries…[thus] allowing [librarians] to be criminally prosecuted…[if a politician points at books or other library] materials [while barfing out the magic formula] “harmful to minors”…librarians…would have to guess…which…materials…[any of hundreds of censorious politicians might target, which is impossible, so] librarians will likely favor caution and simply not place [any book which has ever been “challenged” by any wannabe censor anywhere in the country] into circulation instead of dealing with the potential liability that comes from making those materials accessible…

 

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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