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Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category

Armistice Day 2026

Armistice Day has become Veterans’ Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans’ Day is not.  –  Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

 

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Feeding our neighbors should not be a crime.  –  Randy Hiroshige

Censorship Ascendant (#1529)

Useful idiots lust for the violent suppression of wrongthink:

The war against anonymity is raging in Europe…and…[pro-censorship] activist[s want to bring it]…to the United States, [with the help of]…”a massive network of NGOs” connected to the U.K. government…The technique…is to smuggle in speech codes and effectively end online anonymity under the guise of “child safety”…”I’d say, conservatively, there are probably 50,000 arrests per year in the U.K. for speech and conduct…that would be unambiguously and very clearly protected in the United States,” says Preston Byrne, an American free speech attorney…f[ighting] Britain’s online speech [censor], Ofcom…Congress is paying attention. Versions of Byrne’s model legislation, Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International Tyranny and Extortion Act…have been introduced in both House and Senate committees…Byrne…[says the cens]ors’ “fever dream is that the internet is extremely tightly controlled…Everybody is identified…There’s no anonymous speech.  There is no ability for ideas which are not acceptable to the political mainstream to get traction and propagate.”  Former U.K. Prime Minister Starmer [tried to destroy online anonymity with] a nationwide digital ID scheme…[but] political backlash caused [him] to back off…

Unchristian Nation (#1599)

Government at every level crusades against charity:

A federal judge [has] ruled…that the city of Houston violated the First Amendment when it tried to stop activists from giving away free food outside a downtown library and issued more than 100 tickets to them…The ruling is the latest in a series of legal battles between Food Not Bombs chapters across the country…and [evil [politicians barfing idiocies like “]safety[“]…FNBH activists had operated at a downtown public park for more than a decade without incident—until 2023, when Houston officials [suddenly declared it dangerous]…attempts to enforce the ordinance did not go well….[most] cases were dismissed and delayed because prosecutors couldn’t find jurors who were willing to fine people $500 for the [heinous] crime of feeding the needy…The…11th Circuit ruled in 2018 that distributing food was “expressive conduct” protected under the First Amendment…[but] similar cases keep popping up around the country.  In May, police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, arrested four Food Not Bombs activists [for feeding the hungry, and] the Food Not Bombs chapter of Roswell, New Mexico, sued the city earlier this year…[and] eventually settled…Reason has also covered government suppression of food charities in Tampa, Florida; Orlando, Florida; Atlanta; Newark, New Jersey; Las Vegas; San Antonio, Texas; Philadelphia; and Kansas City, Missouri, [where “]health[” bureaucrat]s poured bleach on food meant for the homeless in 2018…

Creepy Coppers (#1605)

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

A [New York] state [cop named]…Steven P. Calderon…[has been] arrested on [child porn]…charges…[after Calderon violently attacked his ex-girlfriend, cops rooted around his] residence…and…electronic…devices…and f[ound]…“thousands of sexually explicit images and videos of…prepubescent children, as well as numerous videos…taken surreptitiously by Calderon in [his] bathroom…on or about July 25, 2026, Calderon surreptitiously recorded a 10-year-old child…undressing in [the] bathroom…and then edited the recording to create a short [CGI] porn clip”…In February, [he did the same to a different] 9-year-old…

Shame, Shame (#1635)

Allowing people to trademark their faces may help curtail this:

[Billionaire Mark] Cuban described Facebook ads using [computer]-generated versions of his face and voice to promote a diabetes treatment [scam]…”Every single week I get emails from little old men and ladies saying…’I just ordered your cure for diabetes for $294′”…Some [of the scams] reportedly include…fine-print disclaimers stating the person shown was [computer]-generated and the clip was for entertainment…[Facebook rakes in] roughly $16 billion, approximately 10% of [its] revenue, from ads involving scams and prohibited goods…[amounting to] approximately 15 billion…scam ads per day in December 2024.  [Facebook’s own] internal safety staff…estimate…that [their company] played a role in roughly one-third of scams that successfully affected U.S. victims…

Enshittification (#1656)

Google is now essentially pushing addictive drugs to children:

Google [has] announced…that…it would [start forcing]…K-12…school administrators…to [foster chatbot dependence in students by denying]…access to Google search…if a school has banned [chatbots]…Google’s suite of education apps — including Gmail, Docs and an assignment platform called Classroom — is ubiquitous [and] Google Chromebooks…are the most widely issued student devices in U.S. schools.  And Google is synonymous with internet search, a crucial tool for students across the globe…Morgan Polikoff, an education professor at the University of Southern California, said Google’s [scheme] could further energize the anti-tech movement percolating among parents and educators[, saying] “This is a particularly clear example of the tech industry going out of its way to force A.I. on us all — even if we have said we don’t want it”…Research shows chatbots…hinder critical thinking and ensnare adolescents in emotional dependency[, delusions, and psychosis]…

Panopticon (#1671)

The Fourth Amendment has been so eroded measures like this will probably make little difference:

…York, Maine, residents have decided to join other Maine communities and ditch [Flock] surveillance technology…effective immediately…ALPRs [are banned] in the town…[its] four [existing] Flock cameras have been covered in plastic since September…in League City, Texas…voters rejected an advisory measure approving…ALPRs…[but] the…measure was nonbinding, [meaning cops will still do whatever they want.  Returning]…Mayor Nick Long vowed to abide by the vote’s outcome, [but he’s a politician so that means little]…Pflugerville, Texas…voters approved…[an] amendment to the city charter [which] requires the city council…to a[bide by its own previous decision…on…overseeing surveillance technologies…Americans are demanding greater transparency and involvement in whether and how they are monitored, [though it is doubtful cops and politicians will respect those demands]…

The Cop Myth (#1681)

A goon is just a kind of cop, with all that entails:

[A] Border Patrol [goon named]…Abel Garza [was arrested for murdering his wife] in [Laredo, Texas.  He tried to flee but was caught by cops after neighbors complained about yelling and screaming]…Garza was previously arrested by…Laredo [cops] in January [for threatening his wife with a gun, then]…again in February [for physically attacking her and stealing her cell phone when she tried to call 911, despite her having filed a “]protective order[” against him]…

Belief in the magic power of “protective orders” gets women killed.

 

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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When I planted the magnolia tree in July, I decided I’d bury most of Grace’s ashes beneath it on the Day of the Dead.  Well, that was just a week ago, and when the day arrived I found it harder to actually do than I had anticipated.  First I put it off for an hour or so despite the weather being clear; then I moved the container to the table and procrastinated a little more, until I realized the trouble was that even though it was Grace’s soul that I loved rather than her mortal form, deep down I had trouble letting go of that tangible reminder of her existence.  So I decided to compromise by putting aside a small amount of the ash in a container I could seal up and keep close by, and burying the rest.  It took me a while to find a container of the right size that I felt would not be disrespectful to her memory, and that I thought she would have liked or found amusing.  And while her sense of humor wasn’t quite as macabre as mine can be, I know she would’ve approved of my choice, which also has the advantage of telegraphing the contents to anyone who might find it on my nightstand after I, too, pass into the Unknown.

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All that seems to matter is the idea that the government should have unchecked access to our financial lives.  –  Nicholas Anthony

A Whore in Church

Matthew 21:31 seems pretty straightforward to me:

…Christianity’s relationship with sex is complicated by Christians themselves.  While some traditions celebrate sex and desire during marriage, others long wielded shame, morality, and religious authority to regulate sex and people’s bodily autonomy.  And while some Christians preach moral “purity,” others find the lines around religion and sexuality blurry.  Today, those tensions are playing out in an increasingly politicized porn landscape, where Christian nationalist efforts to restrict sexuality collide with the complications of faith, lust, and pleasure.  No one is putting those ideas to the test more than Christian porn stars…

Torture Chamber (#1483)

This cannot be “reformed”:

…[After the] Tarrant County…jail…sent…Mack Greer…to the hospital…the [family was barred from]…see[ing him by barfing the word “]custody[” in their faces. By the time someone decided to pretend to have a particle of human decency]…Greer…was already brain dead…due to massive hemorrhaging…[caused by pigs repeatedly] banging his head [against] the wall…[when they] re[alized] Greer [was about to die they]…pulled out an ink pad, grabbed Greer’s limp hand, pressed his thumb on the ink and then onto the signature line of the release form…[so as to avoid the mandatory] investigat[ion of a] death…in jail custody…The Texas Commission on Jail Standards…ruled…the do[dge…in]valid…and appointed [more pigs] to investigate…Greer w[as] the third person in as many days sent from the jail to the hospital and then quickly pronounced deceased…[due to violence inflicted by the stooges of] T[rumpist] Sheriff Bill Waybourn…

Shame, Shame (#1589)

Facebook is the most antisocial corporation other than those who run prisons:

Facebook is hosting a large number of accounts dedicated to [computer]-generated content depicting coaches inappropriately touching young female athletes…and [refusing to take] them down, even when they’re directly reported by users…the coaches are [always] older men…some [of the girls] look as young as teenagers…with braces on their teeth…The coaches run their hands over their lower backs and inner thighs as they stretch or practice poses…sometimes patting them on the buttocks or…genitals over their outfits…[the cartoon] girls in the clips react as though the touching is normal, often smiling and giggling…Some of the clips…are thinly veiled as educational…[while] other[s]…make little effort to hide their prurient intent…it wasn’t until it was contacted by a journalist that [Facebook] backtracked on its initial assessment that the pages didn’t violate its policies…After we reported the abusive pages, Facebook’s recommendation algorithm started serving up many more similar…videos…[so it] has the tech it needs to identify the disturbing clips, but instead of using it to crack down on the content, it’s using it to recommend more…[Facebook] has also declined to remove [computer]-generated content depicting extreme…child abuse…

The Incredible Shrinking Dollar

In comparison with your grandparents, you have no financial privacy:

The Trump [regime keeps] expand[ing] financial surveillance at the southern border to target more than…3.5 million people.  The heightened surveillance began in March 2025 with a…temporary order lower[ing] the threshold for currency transaction reports…from $10,000 to just $200 for money service businesses like Western Union that operate in 30 zip codes along the border.  The surveillance order was quickly met with challenges in court by the Institute for Justice, and other organizations.  And…the courts agreed that…the $200 surveillance order…“defies common sense,” and “likely violates the Fourth Amendment.”  The court issued an injunction to put the surveillance on ice…[but] instead of respecting the ongoing litigation, [the regime] issued a new order with a $1,000 threshold covering four times as many zip codes…small businesses have become trapped under hefty compliance burdens…[while] people [turn]…to illegal markets…In September 2026, the order was expanded again…to 304 zip codes…It didn’t matter to the government that there was a court case challenging the surveillance.  It didn’t matter to the government that people were losing their businesses.  Instead, all that seems to matter is the idea that the government should have unchecked access to our financial lives…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1653)

Everything I read about modern work makes me happier I became a whore:

Andy Yen, the CEO of Proton, [spewed deranged nonsense at] an employee…who urged the company to at least take a few days to pentest newly written code before pushing it live.  “That’s bullshit and loser thinking…focus more on how to be faster”…His ultimate message for the team was to “stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and [enshittify]…more”…In the last few months, Yen set up an email address for employees to [rat out]…any[one counseling caution against letting chatbots ruin] Proton, so leadership can “ruthlessly smash every[one] that stands in the way”…Proton [also] installed software on workers’ computers [to] track how much [slop] the company is generating…and Yen said…Proton will [soon replace all software] engineers…with [chatbot fanatics]…Proton said it would re-interview staff about their [delegating their thinking to chatbots], with the clear implication that…employees’ willingness to [submit to virtual lobotomization] could decide whether a worker is fired or not…Workers describe an environment where employees have genuine concerns about security…but feel unable to voice them, lest Yen…threaten…their [livelihood].  “The CEO is in full AI psychosis and has been for a while now,” one of the sources told 404 Media…

Shame, Shame (#1663)

The software can’t be stopped, but Facebook’s advertising it can:

At first glance, the self-proclaimed “pet portrait” app Viefur appears to be just another…slop generator…pet photos can be turned into an “anthropomorphic portrait,” with the critter dressed in “human clothing” and inserted into bizarre scenes…[but that’s] cover for…the app’s true purpose: creating sexually abusive deepfake images…the app is part of a network of more than 400 connected domains and apps that…claim to be everyday services—such as language tuition..[but] when accessed under certain conditions…load a web interface allowing the generation of explicit…sexual images and videos using photos users upload…includ[ing such] scenes…as “bedroom rape” and “threatening knife”…The network was discovered hiding in plain sight, by multiple researchers, after they investigated links from thousands of video ads containing explicit deepfake content…published on…Facebook and Instagram…

Creepy Coppers (#1677)

Some cops don’t limit themselves to one type of creepiness:

A [typical and representative] Pensacola [Florida cop named]…Matthew Baxter [was arrested after fellow cops rooting in his phone discovered]…child [porn, bestiality porn]…and [images taken in various bathrooms] of [non-consenting subjects]…The [rooting]…began in October when Baxter was arrested for possession of controlled substances without a prescription…

 

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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Since I’ve already said plenty on this subject, this time I’m just going to leave you with a link to a collection of earlier essays; remind you that all government is at best a necessary evil rooted in the idea that might makes right; and point out that there is absolutely nothing “conservative” about the current regime, and nothing “liberal” about the so-called opposition party.

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I do not weep because my best friend died; I weep because I have to go on living without her. –  “Day of the Dead 2025”

Every year on this day I remind my readers about the inevitability and goodness of Death, and the passing of my beloved friend Grace has not changed that.  Unlike the powerful and privileged men who embrace childish fantasies about life extension or even immortality to assuage their fear of the dark, sane, mature minds do not whine and stomp their feet in protest of the fact that all who are born must die; rather, they grieve those loved ones they have lost and prepare as best they can (spiritually, emotionally, and practically) for the day when they, too, must depart this plane to make room for the uncountable numbers who have yet to arrive.

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Diary #851

Early Sunday morning, Chekhov’s lady friend Yellowbird passed away in a Seattle hospital; she was 84 and had been suffering from a variety of health problems for the past several years.  Then last year, the problems began to multiply, and by the beginning of this summer they grew beyond the typical problems of age; early last week she was diagnosed with a terminal neurological disorder, and by Saturday morning decided to let nature take its course.  So the hospital increased her pain medication enough to let her sleep more deeply than she’d been able to do in months, and she passed away quietly in her sleep about 3:30 AM Sunday.  Chekhov is taking it as well as can be expected; he had been her primary caregiver for the last few years, so nobody knew better how much pain she had been in, and how much it galled her to be unable to live the active lifestyle, including gardening and creating art, which she had maintained up until quite recently.  So like me with Grace, he is deeply sad at the loss of someone he dearly loved, but also relieved that her suffering is at an end.  He’s already told me plans to move back into his cottage soon; he’s never officially changed his residence, but for several years now has stayed with her.  And I’m glad he’s coming back, because I don’t think he should be alone, and it will be good for both of us to have someone who understands nearby to talk to.

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Just a reminder that on the 25th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, the war it caused was already 21 years in the past, Japan and Germany had largely been rebuilt and become allies, and the economic costs of the war were largely behind the US (though not Europe or Asia).

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-11T17:44:58.998Z

I think scientists should lock RFK into a Skinner box to test this. Of course, several other Trump henchmen will need to be similarly-confined as a control group. A year or two of testing should prove or disprove the assertion.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-14T17:20:16.067Z

How much of a dangerous clown does a man have to be to get fired by ICE, which is practically the dangerous clown brigade?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-15T17:15:38.468Z

Looks like I made the right choice by stopping my book at the end of New Who. amazon.com/dp/B0FBLDZ2B…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-17T18:05:39.808Z

For those of you with very tenuous attachment to reality: Don't worry, the Panama Canal has not moved; it's in the same place it has always been since its completion in 1914.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-18T18:09:51.204Z

I really wish people understood verisimilitude, and that consistency of mundane elements is MORE important in a fantasy movie under the "change only one thing" principle.But alas, that ship sailed long ago; critics were already pointing it out in the '60s.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-19T17:12:25.407Z


This is possibly one of the stupidest diktats which have ever erupted from that festering pustule he uses to make sounds.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-22T16:44:49.712Z

I have said for decades that I'd much rather talk to someone who disagrees with me *and can articulate the reasons why* than someone who agrees with me and cannot.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-25T02:38:41.198Z

The group "Very Stupid People Who Are Nonetheless Convinced They Are Geniuses" have *always* been taken in by claims that one could live forever if one merely eats the "right" foods and performs the "correct" magical rites. The scam was already old when the Comte de Saint Germain was selling it.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-25T17:42:44.300Z

There's a word for a woman who trusts a man to take care of birth control: "pregnant".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T01:58:03.448Z

Apparently, YouTube's search algorithm has been programmed so that when it can't find what you asked for, it just brings up a lot of commercials instead. It's like going to a restaurant, ordering something not on the menu, and being served ten dirty dishes and a bill.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T17:31:51.369Z

What a strange thing to say. Trump's belief that he is immune from any kind of legal limit is actually a rational one, because that's exactly how everyone in Washington behaves, including SCOTUS and Democratic members of Congress. If they want him to believe something else, they need to show him.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-28T07:28:06.777Z

All of these people are so physically warped it's almost like the director is signaling that they have warped minds and personalities. It's kind of like a Dutch angle.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-29T07:58:23.998Z

He's not far enough "underwater" until his regime implodes like a submersible full of billionaires.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-30T17:17:07.213Z

When science won't give a powerful person the answer he wants, he invariably turns to mysticism. This syndrome goes back to the dawn of science 2500 years ago, and is largely responsible for the technological and social stagnation of the European middle ages. reason.com/2026/10/02/a…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-02T19:30:06.431Z

I love that the owl's facial expression says, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-03T17:26:51.356Z

Basically, all the village idiots have been networked into a giant idiotnet (like a botnet, but with idiots) which functions like a computer to spew out more and bigger idiocy than could be produced by any one idiot or group of idiots. It's a massive breakthrough in the technology of idiocy.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-04T18:16:09.793Z

The main problem with those stupid enough to believe even a single word of this Bronze-Age nonsense is that they're allowed to vote.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-06T17:50:29.076Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-07T07:42:20.746Z

Remember what "code" is: a set of instructions. If an LLM has feelings, so does every one of those printed sheets that come with Ikea furniture. So does the phrase "close cover before striking" on a matchbook.Yes, this is absurd. People need to start saying so. A picture of a human is not a human.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-10T07:43:11.040Z

The term everyone is dancing around is "secret police", a hallmark of totalitarian regimes.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-10T18:00:31.330Z

Oh please, God, please, I don't ask for much…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-12T17:42:16.917Z

Yeah, we've noticed.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-13T17:48:41.989Z

Actual LOL.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-15T17:35:05.310Z

Quoted post: the fantasy.This post: the reality

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-16T17:56:17.598Z

That's the story of government from ancient times to the present. In all but very rare cases (so rare they are historically notable), the rulers of any political grouping are the most despicable creatures in the land.What makes Trump different is that he can't even PRETEND to be a civilized man.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-17T07:41:54.468Z

 

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