Longtime readers may remember that Memorial Day is generally bad for me emotionally due to some very bad memories associated with the day. But since I moved to Sunset full-time, it hasn’t been nearly as sharp. Part of it is probably just time working its magic; it’s been almost thirty years now, and though the feelings stayed intense until beyond the 20-year mark, the trauma seems to have receded far enough into the past now for the feelings associated with its anniversary to be more manageable. Another part is that living here keeps me a lot busier than living in Seattle did, and having a more rigid schedule than was possible when I was still working full-time provides me with a sort of fence that helps to keep memory monsters out of the yard of my conscious attention. And then there are aggravating factors; I think in the past, other stressors tended to hitch rides with the bad memories, creating one big bandwagon of unpleasantness every last weekend of May. But in the past few years I’ve managed to cultivate a better emotional state in general, so those other bugaboos are neither as noisy nor as active as they once were. I’m not going to tell you that this past weekend was perfectly peachy and funk-free, because it wasn’t (as evidenced by the fact that I thought about it enough to write this column); however, neither was it as bad as such weekends have mostly been in the past. And that is definitely something to be thankful for.
Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category
Diary #726
Posted in Diary, Miscellaneous, tagged cops, holidays, psychology, rape, Sunset on May 28, 2024| 1 Comment »
Patterns
Posted in Biography, Miscellaneous, Music, tagged animals, holidays, psychology, recipes, video on May 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »
One of the main manifestations of my OCD is that I have a system for nearly everything I do. My readers can see it in my blog: a new post every day, always at the same time, with certain kinds of columns appearing on certain days of the week and/or month in a strictly-managed format. There’s even a lot of deep structure in the blog that few of y’all probably even notice, but which in my mind is an integral part of the blog’s structure. And beneath that is another layer of organization completely invisible to y’all: I write certain kinds of columns on certain days, and to a lesser extent certain times of day. For example, I’m typing this on the evening of Tuesday, May 21st, because (unless life forces me to do it another time) I write Monday columns on the preceding Tuesday (after two of the news items for the next Saturday’s news column). I pore over Twitter with my breakfast, collecting news items, commenting on what I find, and promoting things I’ve already written; I’m generally done about noonish and then move on to my morning ablutions, followed by my chores. Afternoons vary by the day; I usually wash clothes on Monday and Friday, and also do my groceries on Monday. Other days are for appointments or weekly chores like vacuuming the floor or burning the garbage, and some days I actually manage to sneak in some other task I want to accomplish like baking cookies or tackling some kind of odious paperwork. I cook dinner nearly every day, and there are patterns there too: red beans & rice on Mondays, soup & sandwich on Tuesdays, pasta on Thursdays, meatless Fridays, Tex-Mex Saturdays. My cooking patterns aren’t merely daily and weekly, either; I usually make waffles on the first Friday of every month because we only eat a few, and the rest go into the fridge so Grace can rewarm them in the toaster oven for breakfast. And similar patterns apply to other day/month combinations, which are of course subject to interruption by seasonal events; on top of that the times I cook, turn the lights on, feed the animals, and other such tasks follow a set schedule which varies by season. Overwhelmed? I’m not, because that’s how my brain works. And directing my OCD toward scheduling chores and planning meals keeps me from obsessing too much about far more distracting minutiae, even though I also have the counting to 16 thing.
Links #725
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged Algeria, cops, dehumanization, I can't breathe, lawheads, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, politicians, prisons, Texas, Things We Choose To Do Together, video, weaponry on May 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I can’t breathe. – Anthony Johnson Jr.
I remember this song from The Doctor Demento Show in the late ’70s, and recently thought about it again; if it sticks in your brain for almost half a century as it did to me, my work here is done. The links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel, Jesse Walker, Scott Hechinger, Billy Binion, IncarcerNation, Walter Olson, and Brooke Magnanti, in that order.
- Headline of the week.
- R.I.P. Dabney Coleman.
- Don’t live next to one, either.
- Because laws are more important than people.
- Cops cover up their murder of man who asked for help.
- Government is just a word for the things we choose to do together.
- Cops do to homeless folks’ possessions what they want to do to them.
From the Archives
- Why pay for surveillance when useful idiots can be talked into providing it?
- I’m not sure who Bindel thinks she’s convincing with this tedious claptrap.
- A little bit of good news about mob-rule attempts to castrate Section 230.
- Crypto-moralists believe that people enjoying any food makes it “unsafe”.
- Nobody will be safe until this odious practice is declared unconstitutional.
- Cops have been doing this for years, and platforms do nothing to stop it.
- The BBC feeds stigma as much as the Russian media this story criticizes.
- Cops, The Riddler, violins hepa, vagina-scented flames, and much more.
- These attempts to destroy the internet are going to keep getting worse.
- Even in a crisis, politicians have to advertise their hate for sex workers.
- Using “public health” as an excuse for tyranny is increasingly popular.
- Now that the pandemic is fading, cops are back to their usual panics.
- Civil rights violations often start with whores, but never stop with us.
- Wayne County, MI has extorted money for years with similar tactics.
- Potty-obsessed politicians attempt to circumvent a federal ruling.
- Another sexual predator specifically targets traumatized women.
- Looks like we’re going to have to rethink the safety of the mail.
- In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down.
- All too often, evil arrives cloaked in the mantle of expediency.
- How much longer will the Western Establishment ignore this?
- Remember, Twitter claims this surveillance isn’t surveillance.
- Are there really sane adults gullible enough to swallow this?
- It’s so nice to see them feeding on their own for a change.
- One wonders if any actual crime ever occurs in Redbridge.
- Washington state politicians demonstrate their hypocrisy.
- Another baby step toward recognizing sex work as work.
- On the departure of my lifelong musical friend, Vangelis.
- No matter how little their victims have, cops will steal it.
- Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors.
- Cops, “discovery”, rolling ball thingies, and much more.
- My go-to argument for skepticism about flying saucers.
- Of course Florida had to have its own “bathroom bill”.
- The next level beyond spooge-based sexual assault.
- This batshittery is virulent, and will only get worse.
- One small victory against a rising tide of bigotry.
- Your curated selection of tweets for May 2023.
- This cop just keeps demonstrating what he is.
- Cops, antimatter, Fred Ward, and much more.
- There is nothing as contagious as a bad idea.
- This guy is lucky his evil wife wasn’t smarter.
- Getting ready to remove that shitty awning.
- The pullets come forth from the nursery.
- Our cat Aeryn was born in March, 2002.
- Thoughts on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Bewitched as an allegory for sex work.
- Finally getting my fountain into place.
- I love it when they feed on their own.
- Lifeforce and The Fantastic Journey.
- Another curated selection of tweets.
- So many rapist cops of the week.
- Clearly, this is all Trump’s doing.
- It’s two! Two! Two fads in one!
- Another section of atrium roof.
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
In the News (#1440)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged artificial stupidity, Belgium, brothels, Business As Usual, California, cops, domestic violence, Florida, Germany, internet, language, law, Leaving the 20th Century, Little Boxes, Michigan, Philippines, politicians, propaganda, rape, robots, scams, sex work is work, streetwalkers, The Cop Myth, The Face of Trafficking, Venezuela, violence vs. sex workers, Washington DC, Welcome to the Future on May 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The new [Belgian] scheme seems…to grant government too much say in the employer-employee relationship. – Elizabeth N. Brown
German…politician…Martin Neumaier…was [featured] in…several videos and photos…performing…fetishistic acts [which] began to circulate this week…the media was verified as authentic…[and Neumaier] said he had filmed them “voluntarily and with pleasure,” adding that all viewers…“had the right to…publish it wherever they see fit.” In one of the videos, Neumaier could be seen naked while reciting the first verse of Nazi-era German national anthem and using an anal dildo…in another, Neumaier inserted a feces-covered dildo into his rectum before smearing it on a Quran. In other videos, Neumaier was heard expressing his desire to “rape to death” one of the 12 wives of the Prophet Mohammed, smearing feces on his face and body, and licking public toilet seats…[now another] politician…[named Rene Dierkes claims] he ha[s] evidence [of] Neumaier…procuring young boys for sexual abuse…Neumaier [has in response] filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons alleging blackmail…
As long as sex work is criminalized, rapist cops will target sex workers:
A [typical and representative Florida cop named]…Stephen Corbin [h]as…be[en]…arrested…[for attem]ting [to] sexual[ly] assault…at…[least two sex workers in Daytona Beach]. Sheriff Mike Chitwood [used the occasion to bloviate a lot of pompous nonsense one could barely believe was spewed by a grown adult]…Corbin…threaten[ed] the women [with arrest]…and [has apparently] picked…up [sex workers] in [the past] and [properly] paid for sex…
Oh look, she managed to call for help without “hotlines” and magic bathroom stickers:
A 17-year-old girl was able to save herself from [an abductor] by texting 911…with “pleas for help” around 3 a.m. on May 9…[in] Ventura County [California. She]…began texting landmarks and other “identifiable information” she was seeing, which helped the agency quickly dispatch deputies to the correct area…Investigators…believe…[she] was [brought] to Ventura County roughly two months ago from Mexico. She has been placed with the county’s Children & Family Services until authorities can locate her family…[cops] arrested Gerardo Cruz…his bail is set at half a million dollars…
The story repeatedly uses the words “trafficking” and “trafficked”, but in the absence of information about the purpose and manner of the abduction, more neutral words are called for to avoid making the girl the unwilling subject of prohibitionist wanking fantasies.
The shittiest-paying sex work ever:
…many of OnlyFans’ top earners…hire…a management agency to help keep up with…customers’ demands for personal attention…they…provide…a team of contractors whose sole job is to masquerade as the creator while swapping DMs with her subscribers…agencies tend to favor contractors who reside in lower-wage countries…like the Philippines and Venezuela…these workers are relatively well-educated, with university-level English and ace typing skills that some developed in high-pressure call centers…Even for positions with a starting hourly wage of just $2, agencies often demand…evidence that applicants ha[ve] not only chatted on OnlyFans before but had also cajoled subscribers into purchasing thousands of dollars’ worth of so-called exclusive content…
Cop excuses produced by human bootlickers are bad enough:
…giant [fascist corporation] Axon [has] announced Draft One, a new product that uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo to automatically generate police reports from…bodycam audio. The product promises to make police…reports…[more] helpful in…prosecution [rather than more factually accurate]…the user [has] to select what…[level of] severity [they want] the [report spin to justify], be that no charge, an infraction, a misdemeanor, or a felony…[cops are supposed] to proofread the draft, make any corrections, and sign off on its accuracy….Matthew Guariglia…at…the Electronic Frontier Foundation [said]…“Policing, with its legal power to kill, detain, or ultimately deny people’s freedom, is too powerful an institution to outsource its official narratives to technologies in a way that makes officers immune to critique, transparency, or accountability because they have…plausible deniability that they…were not aware of mistakes the [algorithm] made”…
Cop violence is never limited to members of the public:
A Prince George’s County [cop] has been suspended and placed on house arrest fo[r attacking his wife on May 14th]…Robert Harvin III smash[ed] his wife’s iPhone and assault[ed] her after she…caught him on the phone with his mistress…Harvin…pushed her, dragged her to the floor and…choke[d her]…once she was able to break free, she grabbed Harvin’s…police radio and called for help. Harvin [absurdly]
claims the [violence] was “mutual, like Matrix”…[but his own] Google Nest kitchen camera revealed…Harvin’s wife “yelling and screaming for him to get away from her.” Their doorbell camera footage also shows him “actively assaulting [his wife] by dragging and punching her”…
Nor is it limited to male cops:
Two [married] Detroit [cops have been]
suspended [and] charged with child abuse….Jared…and Liana Shaw…are…[typical] and…representative…and…both…[aggressively choked] Liana’s two children…a 12-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl….[because the] son…tried to intervene when the pair had been fighting…[the boy’s] grandmother…called the cops when she saw what was happening. The two children are staying with her while this case works its way through the courts. Three of Jared’s children have also been placed with relatives. The Shaws…bond[ed out and are currently at large]…
Leaving the 20th Century (#1438)
Looks like I was wrong about Belgian decrim:
…Belgium…is trying to bring sex workers into “social protection” programs and employee benefits…The decriminalization law was a first step to making sex workers eligible for such things. The second step was the law…that The Publica makes sound like a horrifying, dystopian mess…Under the decriminalized system, sex workers could be self-employed, and they could hire third parties to help them in various ways. They could also be freelance workers in an establishment run by someone else. But sex workers could not themselves be employees. Under the new law, “sex workers will also be able to work under an employment contract, thus gaining access to social security: pension, unemployment, health insurance, family benefits, annual vacation, maternity leave,” according to UTSOPI…the law imposes obligations on both businesses that employ sex workers and on sex workers who work for those businesses…we’re not talking individual “pimps” (a one-person sex work business cannot legally hire employees) but registered businesses that have contracted as a sex work employer and taken on all the responsibilities that entails…
In my defense, I must point out that the scheme grants government so much say in business relationships I confused it for legalization until Liz Brown broke it down for me.
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!
Yes, They’re Still Tweets
Posted in Biography, Fiction, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged abortion, Alabama, animals, artificial stupidity, asset seizure, blogging, Bluesky, censorship, consensual crime, cops, drugs, fascism, Idaho, imaginative fiction, internet, language, law, lawheads, left-right myth, marriage, politicians, pragmatism, prisons, propaganda, psychology, recipes, restaurants, robots, social purity, STEM, Twitter, violence vs. sex workers, yellow journalism, yin and yang on May 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Throwbilly Thursday
Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, tagged blogging, crypto-moralism, fantasy, politicians, pragmatism, prohibitionist myths, psychology, rape on May 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Sexual likes, dislikes, kinks and fetishes emerge by mysterious paths from the murky swamp we carry deep in our brains, and there’s no known way to reroute those pathways once they’re established.
– “Out of the Dark”
Westerners have some kind of sick religious attachment to the supposed magical health-giving properties of leaves and they take it as sacrilege when a heretic like me refuses to participate. – “Picky”
While prohibitionists want you to believe that sex work is a symptom or product of mental illness, the actual truth is that it can in some cases be a tool for managing it. – “More Therapy Than Etiology”
I tend to deal with obstacles in my path by figuring them out, charming them, intimidating them, or crying, and none of those work on a computer which is doing something I neither desire nor comprehend. – “Professor Syndrome”
In the News (#1439)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged abortion, activism, Censor Chic, censorship, consensual crime, cops, drugs, fascism, homosexuality, I can't breathe, If Men Were Angels, internet, law, Mexico, Panopticon, politicians, South of the Border, surveillance, teachers, The Vultures Descend, Washington (state), You Were Warned on May 22, 2024| 1 Comment »
Sex work…[is] a personal choice from which we don’t need to be rescued. – Natalia Lane
It’s barely even possible to talk about this under criminalization:
…on May 7, a group of sex workers [in Mexico City] launched ‘CLaP!’, a first-of-its-kind coalition that wants the decriminalization of sex work, its formal recognition as a job, and access to social security for those working online and in person…the group is appealing to potential members online and on the streets of the capital, aiming to create enough momentum for sex workers to win long-sought labor rights. To date, about 42 workers have joined CLaP!…
Privacy as we once knew it is a thing of the past:
American police are testing a new technology that can scan moving vehicles for anything that emits a signal, including phones, smartwatches, cat and dog tracking chips and even library books, according to its creator, Rome, Italy-based surveillance…company Leonardo…Elsag EOC Plus…is typically incorporated into one of Leonardo’s Elsag license plate readers…and is designed to help police [states] monitor [citizens by]…warrantlessly track[ing] people across large tranches of the country…by identifying their belongings without their knowledge…the tool can identify specific models of devices…[such as] pet chips, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, wearable tech like fitness trackers, in-car infotainment systems and tire pressure sensors, and…all that data can be linked to a car’s license plate number, becoming a unique “fingerprint.” As a person travels through other license plate scanners, their fingerprint can be followed around a given area, even when the driver or passenger switches vehicles…malls across the U.S. are already equipped…with…car surveillance technologies from Leonardo rival Flock Safety…[whose] cameras similarly create “fingerprints”…[by] look[ing] at identifying features on a car beyond the license plate number, such as color, make, model, bumper stickers or wheel rims…
This will continue until fools stop teaching children unquestioning obedience to “authority”:
A [Spokane, Washington high] school paraeducator and…coach admitted to recording himself [molest]ing…underage boys and sending the videos to other [boys]…Dallas M. Shuler…told [cop]s he solicited explicit content from 25 [boys] in the last year because he is “sexually excited by” 11- to 15-year-olds…He al[so] admitted he kept a collection of explicit photos and videos of minors and “traded” them with [other minors]…
Politicians keep openly trying to destroy the internet:
…weakening Section 230 has become a weird political hobby horse for…politicians [because they] loathe communications…outside of their control. Generally, such designs take the form of content-specific carve-outs…but a new proposal…would simply “sunset” Section 230 after next year…[politicians] Cathy McMorris Rodgers…and…Frank Pallone…”seem to fundamentally misunderstand how the law works and what the consequences of repealing it would be,” writes Mike Masnick at Techdirt, pointing to the pair’s [recent] Wall Street Journal op-ed…[which] manages to get just about everything about Section 230 wrong, including its origins. Section 230 was part of a panicky “protect the children” law known as the Communications Decency Act, not a measure meant to “help people and businesses connect, innovate and share information,” as the pair so absurdly claims…”These days, one can ask, ‘How do you know when Section 230 is being misunderstood?’ and answer, ‘A politician is talking about it'”…lawyer Robert Corn-Revere aptly wrote in Reason last year…
Articles about misconduct are more effective when journalists don’t make excuses for cops:
In hundreds of deaths where police used force meant to stop someone without killing them, [cops intentionally] violated well-known guidelines for safely restraining and subduing people — not simply once or twice, but multiple times. Most violations involved [maliciously] pinning people facedown in ways that could restrict their breathing or [sadistically] stunning them repeatedly with Tasers…[some cops are very good at inventing excuses for] break[ing]…safety guidelines…[while] many other[s find it] harder to [make up bullshit. Some cops plead incompetence, stupidity, or belligerence to] explain…a string of mistakes. In other cases, they [moronically] kept applying force even after they had people handcuffed and controlled [as though they were rabid animals with no sense at all]…AP catalogued 1,036 [murders committed by cops]…not involving their guns. In [only] about half, medical officials [admitt]ed that [cops] caused or contributed to the deaths…
Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:
According to new research, about 8,000 women per month obtained abortion pills in late 2023, despite living in states that have bans or severe restrictions on telemedicine abortion or abortion access. The survey also found that the abortion rate in 2023 was slightly higher than in 2022, despite total abortion bans in more than a dozen states…a…press release [says,] “This elevated volume of abortion may be due in part to the expansion of telehealth abortion care, which made up 19% of all abortion care nationwide by December 2023″…
The US government is almost completely out of Constitutional control:
…a bunch of members of Congress both signed an amicus brief in the Murthy case saying…governments should never, ever, interfere with speech and also voted to ban TikTok….th[e] same members of Congress who are so worried about “jawboning” by government officials…[are themselves using] the power of Congress to silence voices trying to defend TikTok…NetChoice has been the main trade group…defending against all the terrible laws being thrust upon the internet over the last few years…[it] has been structured to be independent of its members…which sometimes means their members dislike the causes and cases NetChoice takes on…members of Congress threatened to investigate NetChoice if it didn’t drop TikTok from its [membership] roster…PR agencies and lobbying organizations that work with TikTok…are [also] facing similar threats…
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!
Links #724
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged artificial stupidity, California, cops, crypto-moralism, disease, Hollywood, Never Call the Cops, Texas, video on May 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
There’s a reason I called the Department of Mental Health, not the police. – Myung Moon Yang
I chose this piece as David Sanborn’s sendoff purely on vibes. The links above it were provided by Carol Fenton, IncarcerNation, Franklin Harris, Mike Siegel, Nun Ya, and The Onion, in that order.
- This week in artificial stupidity.
- No, your reason isn’t an exception.
- R.I.P. Roger Corman and David Sanborn.
- Puritanism is a debilitating mental illness.
- Calling any government office = calling the cops.
- “I am not that daemon swineherd in the twilit grotto!“
From the Archives
- Allowing Clearview to continue arming the State is nothing like a “big win”.
- How long will airlines accept liability for government-brand racial profiling?
- People often die of “undetermined causes” while being brutalized by cops.
- Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do.
- Kinsey has always been a target for bluenoses, fanatics and other creeps.
- NY Times calls hysteria they promoted for 20 years a “conspiracy theory”.
- IRS doesn’t bother to accuse people of crimes before robbing them blind.
- All federal cop shops and spook houses are part of the police-state blob.
- Another firsthand account of the ongoing genocide of the Uighur people.
- Nothing infuriates violent, self-important busybodies more than privacy.
- Letting criminals save face was a cheap way to get their property back.
- A psychopathic wacko who even discomfits some“trafficking” fetishists.
- It took almost 7 years, but the press finally caught up with me on this.
- Politicians increasingly believe they can redefine legal concepts at will.
- There can never be too many articles on sex workers for the disabled.
- This would be a much better article without the ignorant partisanism.
- The government needs to be buried in lawsuits before this will stop.
- I hope they’re so “disheartened” they go out and find honest work.
- “Mind your own damned business” is a solution to many problems.
- US “authorities” keep pretending sex is an excuse for any tyranny.
- Corporations have become the favored tool of censors worldwide.
- Americans pretend “politician hires whores” is more than a yawn.
- Cops, politicians, administrators, Tim Bachman, and much more.
- A little story about what happens when one speaks out publicly.
- The people the government empowers to police your sexuality.
- Resources for medication abortions, even in totalitarian states.
- There are still some Westerners who insist this isn’t genocide.
- Government at every level crusades against Christian charity.
- Most Americans still believe France is a sex-positive society.
- Admitting to anorgasmia is a way to reclaim one’s sexuality.
- It’s good to see so many challenges to these medieval laws.
- When predators aren’t culled, they just keep on predating.
- Cops, cruelty, California, Charles Grodin, and much more.
- Rewiring the mess of a breaker box my house came with.
- Just another kind of federal cop, with behavior to match.
- It’s nice to see someone who isn’t me writing about this.
- Pigs in schools are a menace which should be abolished.
- “Sex trafficking” is a convenient excuse for any tyranny.
- Politicians finally deign to make rape illegal for cops.
- It’s about time somebody sane spoke up about this.
- Prohibitionists want Ontario to be more like the US.
- A murderer is also a rapist. Gee, what a surprise.
- Cops, bird navigation, Vangelis, and much more.
- Not even a rapist cop’s own daughters are safe.
- Another cop demonstrating exactly what he is.
- When ambulance-chasers run the hospitals.
- Where all of my marble statues came from.
- Your “leaders” refer to this as “correction”.
- Another cop demonstrates what he is.
- It’s just going to keep getting worse.
- Most of the roof purlins are in place.
- Creating a vestibule in my annex.
- A week where I just did not stop.
- Rapist cops of the week.
- More tweets!
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
In the News (#1438)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged A Broker in Pillage, Australia, Belgium, brothels, Censor Chic, censorship, cops, fascism, FBI, I Spy, internet, language, law, Leaving the 20th Century, nanny state, Opting Out, Panopticon, pimps, surveillance, Tennessee, The Cop Myth, The Puritan Recrudescence, Twitter, United Kingdom, You Were Warned on May 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Forcing random, innocent individuals to shoulder th[e] cost [of police actions] would be as fair as conducting a lottery to determine who has to pay the police chief’s salary each year. – Slaybaugh v. Rutherford County
Leaving the 20th Century (#1223)
A new law in Belgium…is being touted as a win by UTSOPI, the Belgium Union of Sex Workers…the legislation…outlines that prostitutes will receive health insurance, a pension, maternity and holiday leave, and unemployment benefits. Their pimps will be forced to provide them with a “safety button” to use for emergencies…Prostitutes are to be granted “rights” to refuse sexual acts, stop sexual acts, perform sexual acts in the manner they prefer, and refuse to sit behind Amsterdam-style windows…However, should a prostitute use these “rights” 10 times within six months, their pimp can then call on a government mediator to intervene…
“Pimp” appears to be used here to mean “brothel owner”; the article is silent on what the law says about escorts and other non-brothel sex workers.
Rural residents are less affected by state surveillance than urbanites, but they aren’t safe:
In December 2022, Reason reported that both state and federal wildlife agents routinely trespass onto private land and plant cameras. Two Tennessee homeowners successfully sued the state over the practice…the state appealed…and…the court of appeals [has now] ruled in the homeowners’ favor…In the case of Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth, [agents] not only entered their…properties but also installed trail cameras…without a warrant and ignoring “No Trespassing” signs…
Government censors are growing ever bolder:
…federal agencies such as the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) [have] restarted [their jawboning attempts] with [social media] platforms…[under the tissue-thin guise of] “removing disinformation on their sites as the November presidential election nears”…these [attempt]s resumed in March, around the same time oral arguments in Murthy v. Missouri — which centers on the feds’ censorship efforts — were heard before the U.S. Supreme Court…Neither agency provided an answer when questioned on how they determine what constitutes “disinformation” or what other federal agencies they are collaborating with in these efforts to have “disinformation” removed from social media…
A new censorship regime has been imposed on British subjects:
[The UK censorship agency] Ofcom [wants more censorship power over] Instagram, YouTube and 150,000 other web services [using the popular excuse of “]child safety[“ to push]… tech firms to [deny users anonymity], [censor] and downrank content [the government dislikes], and apply around 40 other steps to [give the government more control over what its]…subjects [can see, hear, and read]…That suggests Brits may need to get accustomed to [us]ing [a VPN if] they [want to] access a range of online content…
There are many ways for governments to steal things that don’t belong to them:
A federal court…heard arguments in an appeal concerning…the…”police powers”…exception to the [Constitution]…Mollie and Michael Slaybaugh…are…on the hook for over $70,000 after a SWAT team destroyed much of their home in Smyrna, Tennessee…in…[pursuit of Mollie’s] adult son, James Jackson Conn—who did not live with her but had recently arrived to visit…she offered to speak to Conn and bring him out of her house, [but the cops prevented]…her [from] re-enter[ing and instead]…broke down the door and launched dozens of tear gas grenades into the Slaybaughs’ home, laying waste to nearly everything…Their insurance [refused] to assist them, as their policy—like many policies—does not cover damage caused by the government…The notion that “police powers” immunize the government from liability is what doomed Leo Lech’s lawsuit, which he filed after a SWAT team did so much damage to his home…that it had to be demolished…Los Angeles refused to compensate Carlos Pena after a SWAT team destroyed his…print shop in pursuit of a suspect who barricaded himself inside, and…Vicki Baker[‘s]…judgment from a federal jury…was ultimately overturned by the…5th Circuit, which ruled there was a “[fuck you]” exception to the Takings Clause…
Civil rights advocates often joke that the Third Amendment is the only one that hasn’t been undermined, but I fail to see any important difference between the government forcibly taking people’s homes to quarter troops and forcibly taking them to enable cops and robbers games.
Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?
A…Memphis [cop in full magic clown regalia] kidnapped a man, shot him in the head and unsuccessfully tried getting rid of his body…Patric J. Ferguson [murdered Robert Howard]…on Jan. 5, 2021, [because Howard was dating Ferguson’s ex-girlfriend. Ferguson then] dumped his body in the Wolf River in Memphis with the help of another man, Joshua M. Rogers…who [has been]…charged with accessory after the fact…
Sleeping with a cop is not only dangerous to the woman who does so, but to everyone else in her life, especially after she stops sleeping with the cop.
At least there are a few judges willing to restrain other judges’ megalomania:
[Twitter] had a win over the Australian government after the Federal Court overturned a legal block on videos of the Sydney church stabbing. The [Australian censorship] Commission won a temporary court injunction last month after [Twitter] refused to comply with a…global [censorship order]…Justice Geoffrey Kennett…rejected a bid to extend the injunction until a full trial…The decision does not represent a final legal win…but senior legal sources…said the interim decision…proved the legitimacy of [Twitter’s] case…
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Can You Picture That?
Posted in Diary, Miscellaneous, Music, tagged STEM, Sunset, video, Washington (state) on May 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Aurora borealis shinin’ down on Dallas
Can you picture that? – Paul Williams
Most of y’all probably know that the world enjoyed some intense auroral activity last Friday night due to unusually powerful solar storms; what made this manifestation especially unusual is that it could be seen well outside of its typical range, even well down into the US South (as far as Florida!) So I thought I’d share a few more of the pictures I took from my office window.
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