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Archive for the ‘Words’ Category

Change one single vowel in this headline, and it would be a VERY different story.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-20T01:59:52.797Z

Probably the same way that holding a knife to a child's throat can open a guarded door.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-20T18:03:29.896Z

Beware of Davros.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-25T03:17:35.675Z

#3 is a very, very bad idea.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-25T17:50:01.254Z

Spring this on family members in New Orleans, and they may not stop at disowning* you.*And disowning people is mighty difficult under Napoleonic Code.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-26T17:26:22.068Z

It's fascinating to watch men with severe, easily-recognized mental illnesses publicly blaming others' mental illness on behaviors that the speakers are incapable of due to their own undiagnosed, untreated psychopathologies.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-27T17:09:35.827Z

My teen self would be confused by this.1981 Maggie: So there are new "Star Trek" shows all the time, but you haven't watched one in 20 years?2026 Maggie: CorrectM81: Ditto "Star Wars"?M26: YepM81: Plus all kinds of D&D fantasy stuff?M26: Right again.M81: I DON'T KNOW YOU

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-28T17:19:00.870Z

Reporters: doing something willfully is not a "failure", regardless of what politicians call it. If a party refuses to comply with some illegal diktat, that party has not *failed* to comply with said diktat; he has REFUSED to comply. The former is an omission; the latter an active rejection.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-29T16:55:44.729Z

This monster's face appears to have been designed by Jack Pierce. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm06823…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-30T17:38:45.538Z

"Dabbled in cross-dressing" makes it sound like alchemy or some other occult practice.(Yes, I know about the shamans and mystery religions; this isn't that, so let's not)

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-31T17:37:38.961Z

Oh please, PLEASE let them use a chatbot as architect, so we can have a "Galloping Gertie" moment on live TV soon after it's done.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-01T17:35:58.519Z

This is how partisanism warps minds.Distrust of politicians *in general* for wholly rational reasons is subjected to the duopoly's Procrustean bed, then for 21st century readers must be trivialized & infantilized. So anarchists & true libertarians are described by the asinine tag "double haters".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-03T17:28:10.591Z

WAAAAAAAAAH! I'VE POOPED MYSELF AND I DEMAND SOMEONE CHANGE IT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-04T17:16:42.139Z

Please, people, I beg you not to rely on spellcheckers at the cost of your own vocabulary skills.Trade languages have nothing to do with birds.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-07T17:10:46.810Z

Meanwhile, books on my shelves which were published as far back as the 1920s, and which I purchased as far back as the 1970s, are still 100% readable. And all I have to do to access them is walk over to my bookshelves.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-08T17:13:17.853Z

Due to the high volume of "You were right all along" emails, I will not be responding to them individually. Thank you for your understanding.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-08T17:29:33.587Z

A friend who grew up on Country/Western was unfamiliar with Zeppelin, and when "Ramble On" came on she asked me what it was about. I replied, "A dude who gets his girlfriend stolen by Gollum."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-10T07:34:41.637Z

Trump is someone who consistently cheats at Solitaire and still repeatedly loses, and when he's done the deck only has about 49 cards. And some of those are from kids' game decks, like one with a picture of an old maid.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-12T17:44:13.156Z

 

We need Captain Kirk.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-13T03:26:13.653Z

If you want to reveal a crypto-authoritarian, just start him talking about virtually anything to do with cars.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-13T17:21:33.262Z

THIS.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-16T17:53:47.686Z

Your regular reminder that it is 100% legal to fictionally depict murder, rape, and mayhem in movies.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-17T17:19:44.529Z

I especially love that the stupid thing flew apart on impact.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-17T19:17:10.473Z

First Palantir came for the sex workers, but nobody cared because "sex trafficking".Then Palantir came for young minority men, and nobody cared because "gangs".Then Palantir came for migrants, and nobody cared because "illegals".Now it's coming for you, and I think you know the rest.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-19T17:28:11.213Z

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There really isn’t an excuse for repeated attempts at social engineering that aren’t even tied to some kind of grift, pork, or fascist collaboration.
–  “In the Dark

Being able to look out a window and see grass and trees and animals…is so much better for my mental and spiritual health then being subjected to a “view” which consists of nothing but concrete, glass, and automobiles.
–  “Diary #664

“Innocence” is merely a fanciful euphemism for “ignorance”.  –  “Tweetenstein

For me, no sorrow is ever experienced in isolation; new tears falling into the pool immediately cause it to overflow, and then it’s impossible to tell how much of my anguish is due to the proximate source of the grief, and how much is old pain which has never been fully resolved.  –  “Pool of Tears

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So many people still feel the need to wait for some business entity to temporarily carry a show they want to see, typically polluted with commercials, when home video has existed in one form or another for over 40 years and most shows can be permanently purchased for the price of a decent meal.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-15T18:02:27.299Z

Trump really does believe what he sees in movies.Here we see him attempting the Jedi mind trick.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T03:04:37.228Z

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" – Upton Sinclair

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T19:00:27.452Z

People who do not eat chips could be ‘left behind’, says Frito-Lay’s CEO

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-18T19:55:52.543Z

Funniest thing I've seen this week.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-20T08:52:14.194Z

It's garbage. It's shit. It's noise. It's paint hurled at a canvas. It's an overflowing toilet. It's hated by anyone who knows anything about art. It enriches fascists. It ignores consent and good taste. It's stupid. It's bad. It's a disease. It's random. It reeks. It's unwelcome. It's everywhere.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-21T18:50:08.193Z

Over a decade ago, I was warning young women not to let random people who aren't doctors inject filth into their butts.Now I'm warning young men not to hit themselves in the face with hammers.Really, y'all, plastic surgery is not something you can learn by watching YouTube videos.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-24T18:24:12.301Z

In traditional scholarship, caring about what other educated people thought about one's ideas was called "peer review", and it was considered intrinsic to the process.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-24T18:39:40.974Z

Concentration camps. Go on, you can type the words if you try. I believe in you. Just keep repeating the mantra, "I have a backbone, I have a backbone, I have a backbone", and you should be able to either type the words or just copy paste from here: "concentration camps".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-25T17:54:59.340Z

Stolen. The word you're looking for is "stolen", not "taken away"; that is a term reserved for parents disciplining their own children, ie "she took away his bb gun until he stopped shooting cats". The term for strangers permanently taking others' possessions is "stealing". They STOLE the crayons.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-26T17:56:06.044Z

Do history classes in New York teach students about William the Acquirer and the Acquisitions of Genghis Khan?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-27T18:20:18.610Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nGK…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-28T17:52:47.390Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-28T19:35:46.602Z

Those of you who weren't adults at the time of the Gulf War may not remember that it, more than any other event, created the 24-hour news cycle which has bedeviled the US ever since. It turned CNN from a low-rating sideline into a high-rating main event, and gave us the nauseating term "scud stud".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-02T17:39:49.401Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-03T18:01:27.024Z

Honestly, I don't know how you young gals put up with this. In my day (points with cane) all we had to worry about beside cops and bad clients was the puritanical old woman whom the publisher of the Yellow Pages (Barry Co IIRC) allowed to ban certain words in escort service ads.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-04T08:21:33.548Z

Trump replaces Barbie with Mr. Potato Head.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-05T20:02:33.887Z

Challenge for those who aren't religious fanatics: explain to those who *are* that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and that the burden of proof is NOT on those demanding such evidence.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-07T17:31:04.244Z

This is called a "win-win" scenario.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-08T17:44:05.190Z

If they simply phrased the headline truthfully as "women are falling in love with a fantasy of romance", people would recognize that this is nothing new.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-09T17:41:07.413Z

How quaint. Those of us who still play real old-fashioned D&D are going to start looking like people who bake all of their own bread instead of buying Wonder Bread.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-10T17:00:58.084Z

There's illiteracy, and then there's *functional* illiteracy, and then there's…whatever this is.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-11T03:40:34.394Z

People who are terminally online habitually type out bizarre, unpronounceable sequences of letters and symbols which attest to how little of their lives are spent actually speaking to normal people in real life.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-11T19:07:51.122Z

Future history students will refuse to believe it when their professors tell them that one of the factors that precipitated the 21st-century dark age was gambling fanatics intentionally falsifying records for profit. Having taught history, I can hear the adolescent voices already: "That's stupid!"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-13T17:28:41.148Z

On Bluesky this morning, I'm seeing the usual mixture of political & aesthetic posts.On Twitter, I'm being attacked by incensed Millennials apparently unable to comprehend why a 60-year-old woman who neither has kids nor watches TV doesn't know about a gimmick kid food first sold in the late '90s.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-14T18:22:27.167Z

"Police shoot black man in the back."There, FIFY.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-15T17:24:47.878Z

Boo hoo hoo, his diaper is wet and nobody wants to play with him.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-16T02:40:56.057Z

I think @ryanlcooper.com called it correctly: Trump will go down as one of the Great Idiots of History.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-17T17:24:50.126Z

Deep respect for Tony Moore.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-18T17:14:20.090Z

So THIS is where Big Balls went.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-19T17:41:07.379Z

Après moi, le déluge.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-20T18:08:32.460Z

People idolize flawed human beings, creating statues of them as though they were pharaohs & literally putting them up on pedestals, only to tear them down again as soon as the flawed human is found to have been flawed.We could save so much time and energy by simply not setting up humans as gods.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-21T07:47:25.342Z

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There is no reason for the pervert glasses to exist.  –  Jesse L. Taylor

To Molest and Rape

It’s not safe for anyone to be anywhere near a cop:

A Hennepin County [Minnesota cop was rewarded with a paid vacation for]…sexual[ly assaulting a woman while drunk]…Jared Sprunk…[was out drinking] on March 1…when the…[victim foolishly] invited him [along with a group] to a friend’s house…he [started acting up]…but [was too drunk] to drive…[so] she and her friends helped Sprunk into a bedroom downstairs so he could “sleep it off”…[he repaid her kindness by] clos[ing] the bedroom door while [she] was still inside…and…tried to [rape her.  The friends responded to her]…screaming for help while pounding the door….they…escorted Sprunk upstairs and pushed him [outside]…after Sprunk a[ttacked one of them]…Sprunk…denied…[every]thing [to cops], despite [also] saying he [was too drunk to remember]…

For a different unhinged Hennepin County cop, see “The Cop Myth” below.

Torture Chamber (#1313) 

This mindless evil will continue as long as useful idiots allow it to:

…Walker County, Alabama…Sheriff Nick Smith…[presides over a chamber of horrors].  About 100 feet from [his office, screws]…jeered as [Anthony] Mitchell shivered in his own waste…A short walk from that cell…a g[ang] of [screw]s beat a man until one of their uniforms was soaked with his blood…In the infirmary down the hall, [screw]s pummeled a man so hard they broke bones…none of it has come back on Smith…despite…20 of his employees — nearly half the jail staff at the time of Mitchell’s death — [being] indicted in a sweeping federal investigation…13 [have already] pleaded guilty…One of the [thug]s who a[bduc]ted Mitchell [after his cousin Steve Mitchell foolishly called 911 on him] stomped on his groin as he lay handcuffed on the ground, telling him, “This is how we treat seizures in Walker County.”  A [screw] tased Mitchell as he shivered in his cell…they [intentional]ly [denied] him [water and refused to allow him]…medical care…for two weeks.  When they finally took him to the hospital, he was unconscious in]…the final stage of hypothermia…On Facebook…[Smith crowed that his thugs torturing a severely mentally ill man w]as a brave win….wh[ile] the…office [staff]…lied…to…his mother and sister [that] Mitchell was safely detoxing…

Enshittification (#1468)

How long before Google becomes completely useless?

Google’s gluttonous [“]AI Overviews[” have wrought havoc on]…online media publications…[whose] web traffic…has dropped off significantly …At their peak, the media companies brought in 112 million site visits per month from Google users in the US.  By January of this year, that number was down to a little under 50 million…Mashable fared the best, losing a grim 30 percent of its web traffic…Wired…lost 62 percent…[and] HowToGeekThe Verge, and ZDNet…each lost over 85 percent…[worst hit] is…Digital Trends, which went from 8.5 million clicks a month in March 2024 to a heartbreaking 264,861 in January 2026…a drop-off of 97 percent of US web traffic from Google…

You may remember that this started with “adult” and “mature” websites (such as this blog) being “downranked”, but as I repeatedly say, such attacks only start with those the Establishment demonizes.

Walled Garden (#1594)

Politicians love infantilizing people and then using that as a excuse for oppression:

Indonesia is [attempting] to block teenagers from social media apps, [try]ing [to] prevent anyone under 16 from having accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox…Dozens of other countries around the world — including…Canada, Germany and Brazil — have either banned or are considering bans on social media for [young adults using spurious]…reasoning [supported by buzzwords such as “]pornography[“]…and…[“]addictive algorithms[“]…Spain said it would ban anyone under 16 from using messaging apps…France also wants to ban [people] under 15 from social media, with President Emmanuel Macron blaming it for youth violence, and the United Kingdom is also mulling a…ban…in the US…Florida has a partial ban for [people] under 14, and California and New York are trying to regulate “addictive feeds.” Utah, Texas, and Arkansas have tried to require parental consent for minors to have social media accounts.

The Cop Myth (#1618)

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

A Hennepin County [Minnesota cop ran amok]…in…a hospital [maternity ward]…in February.  Dillon Field…was [estranged from]…his wife [due to prior abuse, but she foolishly allowed him to visit while she] was preparing to give birth…He started yelling at [her, so she]…asked that he leave, and his mother-in-law went to get a nurse…Field shoved her and tried to lock himself in the bathroom with his wife.  [When] nurses responded…Field [fled]…and…the hospital…[was put] into lockdown.  He…[was] charged with…domestic assault [but also rewarded with a paid vacation]…

Torture Chamber (#1618)

Regular readers know this kind of evil is endemic to US jails and prisons:

A diabetic Norwegian woman [married to a US citizen] who was a[bducted from her green card interview on November 17 by ICE thugs nearly died in a filthy cage because]…her requests for insulin were repeatedly ignored.  Hanne Daguman…was advised by multiple immigration attorneys that [her visa expiring] “would not be an issue” due to [her marriage, but thugs ambushed her at her] green card interview…[dragged her away in chains and stole] her Continuous Glucose Monitor…she…could not safely eat without insulin…yet [was denied both insulin and contact with] a doctor until November 20…[at which point a] glucose test…[showed her blood sugar] was 508[but was still given] insulin in [incorrect] dosages [and in]consistently…[despite becoming] severely ill…the available food was carbohydrate-heavy (such as rice, pasta and oats), which requires careful insulin dosing before and after.  As that was not provided, Hanne lost 10 pounds in just nine days…she was [finally]…released on November 25 and was required to wear an ankle monitor until her court hearing on January 26.  The case was [then immediately] terminated [because there were no grounds to arrest her in the first place]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1619)

I’ve been calling these “spy” or “surveillance” glasses, but this is much better:

…Many have quickly embraced a term for [Facebook surveillance] devices that’s presumably sending…Mark Zuckerberg into paroxysms of fury: “pervert glasses”.  “I’m taking a brave stance that may get me canceled: there is no reason for the pervert glasses to exist,” one user wrote.  “Glad people are settling on the term ‘pervert glasses,’” another agreed. “Bonus points if you also say it while posting a picture of Mark Zuckerberg or call them Mark Zuckerberg’s pervert glasses”…Yet another [wrote]…“I would prefer technology to make it more difficult to skeez, creep or perv on the world.  I would like tech to protect me from creeps, not smooth the runway for them”…

 

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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These guys really need to watch more film noir.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-15T18:12:23.909Z

You have to sleep sometime, guys.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-17T19:01:24.980Z

Four of these look WORSE in the "after" pictures. Middle right is DRAMATICALLY worse.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-19T02:53:53.205Z

They really do believe Heaven is clouds where people walk around in a semblance of life forever. It's remarkably stupid, childish, Bronze-Age thinking.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-20T08:26:34.100Z

The International Board of Kakistocracy

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-23T18:25:56.755Z

American flag lapel pins are virtue signaling. The FBI saying how much they loved MLK is virtue signaling. Laws named after dead kids are virtue signaling. State-sponsored "prayer breakfasts" are virtue signaling. Etc, etc. Any sincerely moral person can see the difference without effort.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-25T09:01:06.051Z

If I were Canadian, right now I would feel like one of the guys in this scene:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T03:22:24.145Z

"Dismantled" in the same sense as the Hindenburg was "dismantled".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T18:37:28.791Z

Treasury Secretary Meisterburger has some advice for parents.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-28T16:56:31.831Z

Modern journalists:Talking about a guy who has been out of political office for decades: "President So-and-So", "Senator So-and-So"Talking about a cop sent to prison for using his position to murder or rape somebody last year: "Former officer So-and-So"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-29T19:23:12.888Z

I hereby declare the word "pivot" officially hackneyed. Find a different verb to beat to death by overuse.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T08:52:51.698Z

The "We need new Democrats" whine triggers off the Mom region of my brain: "You haven't done anything with the Democrats I already gave you."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-31T18:05:24.186Z

Raise your hand if you're old enough to remember when it was the DEMOCRATS pretending "unified government" was a good thing.Extra points if you remember that the Clintonian slur for "checks and balances" was "gridlock".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T18:02:15.967Z

Oh look, it's another of those things us cranks have been warning all y'all Very Smart Futurist People about for years.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T17:20:55.791Z

What is this thing supposed to be? An Easter Island statue?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T03:38:50.271Z

If only there were some simple way to kill the bacteria so the milk would be safe to drink. If some genius were to invent such a process, we could even name it after him.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T03:20:03.432Z

Actual economists disagree.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T19:49:45.952Z

How can anyone who has ever read Asimov's nonfiction not know this? He used to BRAG about it. I knew Asimov was a sex pest before entering HIGH SCHOOL because when I was in 8th grade I got on a kick of reading all of his essay collections, and he talks about it more than a little.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-06T03:08:49.403Z

I was used to sex workers being the most *ethical* people on the internet, but in the past 15 years they've proven themselves to be among the most intelligent and literate as well.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T18:29:51.990Z

"Facts undermine his testimony" is such a weird, nerf-bat way of saying "He lied".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T17:46:14.535Z

I was taught in catechism that God is all-forgiving, so from a Christian perspective the answer to this would be "yes".That having been said, I am neither a god nor a Christian, so I am under no obligation to forgive those who enabled the current police state over the past ≈ 150 years.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-09T19:09:35.536Z

They make ME think of the campfire scene in "Stand By Me" where the boys seriously discuss, "Who is stronger, Superman or Mighty Mouse?"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T18:20:24.645Z

They really do think "But he gave them candy after molesting them" is a defense.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T08:51:42.315Z

It has dawned on me that most young people don't understand that political parties are about as fixed as sand dunes, and drift all over with the political and social winds over time. Which is just a more extreme example of the common inability to recognize that the same is true for species.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-12T18:25:49.074Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-13T19:18:32.880Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-15T08:58:03.773Z

Your regular reminder that Eisenhower warned us about all this in January 1961, but everyone just basically ignored him until it was much too late.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-16T18:10:17.125Z

You've gotta admire a man who trusts his friends' understanding of physics enough to attempt this.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T19:04:26.838Z

Given that the statement "This power will be abused" is always 100% accurate over the long term, you'd think the Pollyannas would've learned by now. But I reckon that's against their dopey natures.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-18T18:21:26.639Z

I just noticed this:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-19T19:01:26.364Z

 

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The Establishment…includes politicians, cops, bureaucrats, banks, well-connected corporations, institutions, academia, NGOs, the mainstream press…all the interconnected parts of the fascist regimes which act collectively to corral people into easily-managed herds.
–  “The Establishment

Trust is not something that can merely be given; it must be earned.
–  “The Real Red Flag

The entire reason people care so much about how the rulers get chosen is that they are far too powerful.
–  “Minarchy, Monarchy

A democracy in which there are functionally only two parties is not sustainable.  –  “Chicken Soup with Tweets

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The happy ending here is that despite all their ridiculous mumbo-jumbo and frantic posturing, Death will win as it always does.Ave Mortis, Imperator Mundi.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-13T18:51:08.690Z

Lost Generation: 1890-1910 (roughly)"Greatest" Generation: 1911-1928Beat generation: 1929-1945Baby Boom: 1946-1963Generation X: 1964-1981Millennials: 1982-2000Generation Z: 2001-2018Generation Alpha: 2019-2036 (end subject to change, depending)

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-13T21:00:54.989Z

Given the corrupting effect of power, the most powerful person on the planet will INEVITABLY become the worst person on the planet, even if he wasn't to start with.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-15T18:12:36.252Z

"What if flapping your arms very hard will enable you to fly?"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T18:08:56.505Z

A *big* step up from letting politicians decide.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-18T18:06:59.349Z

A one predisposed to disobedience since childhood, who has suffered social censure for that inclination since the early 1970s, I've always viewed the American self-image as "rebellious" as a crock of self-aggrandizing bullshit.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-19T19:42:19.764Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-20T02:48:07.776Z

My paternal line did not emigrate to America; America bought our home from Napoleon. IOW America chose *us* rather than vice-versa.My late friend Grace's ancestors were here long before the 1st Europeans.And both of us would tell you that people sworn in this morning are just as American as us.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-20T18:19:01.037Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-22T03:55:50.740Z

My X's anniversary is also MY anniversary, though I would nor more expect a computer to grasp that than I would trust it to compose a post on the topic, presuming I was such a narcissist that I would request such a childish thing.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-23T18:10:08.836Z

On the First Day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-25T17:28:38.681Z

The process of obtaining a literature degree taught me that "literary" fiction is rarely better than genre fiction, and frequently worse.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-26T18:03:49.571Z

I have often said that modern US "conservatives" long for an imaginary past, while modern US "progressives" long for an imaginary future.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-27T18:28:49.015Z

The very fact that there is no murderer registry tells you everything you need to know about the "sex offender" registry.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-29T18:15:33.474Z

So basically, the entire movie is a Rickroll.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-30T08:08:05.987Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-31T17:50:42.716Z

What book is sacred enough to you to get sworn in on?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T18:45:41.673Z

Slopmaker who makes money from slop wants you to move beyond wanting quality and embrace his slop.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-03T08:33:17.438Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-04T02:41:43.416Z

Axolotls always make me smile. I mean, look at this cute little booger! See its happy little face? How could you not smile?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-04T08:10:14.387Z

How many branches of the Vichy government did General de Gaulle control?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-05T18:17:30.100Z

Psychosis is a reason, just not a sane one.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T07:57:18.251Z

Collectivism is a mental illness.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-08T18:07:26.157Z

Mammon. The Biblical name for this deity is Mammon. As in, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-09T17:59:08.165Z

Mrs. Boudreaux, please get off the line; we really need to make a call. I promise we'll be off in five minutes.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-10T18:01:58.758Z

My turn! It just dawned on me that if the ICE agent were a circus clown, and the woman the ghost of Anne Boleyn, and the roles were reversed, but the ghost threw her head at the clown instead of shooting him, he could juggle it and The Coulrophobia Lobby would be fully on the side of the ghost.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-11T03:59:55.538Z

That is such a cute little piggy though, definitely MUCH cuter than any cop deserves.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-12T19:58:14.596Z

Good grief, my Barbie was a scientist despite having come in an ordinary Barbie box rather than a "scientist" box with a lab coat.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T18:48:52.787Z

"Sorry, neither."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-14T08:56:39.781Z

Perhaps if you'd stop calling politicians "leaders", they'd stop treating y'all like followers.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-15T08:27:31.066Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-16T19:00:03.300Z

A national treasure.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-17T18:58:44.504Z

Mu.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-18T18:25:47.300Z

 

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Who first used the German word "blitz" ("lightning") to describe sudden, intense bursts of violence? I forget.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-14T19:43:33.619Z

I just can't get beyond the resemblance.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-16T19:29:02.571Z

When cops use profanity at us, think of what they're telling us. Would you ever curse at your boss? No, but he can curse at you because he has power over you. What would happen if you cursed out a cop? But they curse at us routinely. That tells you how they perceive their relationship with us.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-17T08:31:30.244Z

The universe does things on a subatomic level that would get you arrested for bank fraud if you tried the financial equivalent.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-19T04:59:00.841Z

People suffering from advanced dementia often fall back on old "scripts". It's why your senile great-grandmother calls you by your mother's (or even grandmother's) name, and it's why Trump seems to think he's still on a TV show he did two decades ago.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-19T18:14:28.117Z

Magnificent. Words that deserve to be included in future editions of Bartlett's.If you're not following Ken, why are you even on here?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T18:37:49.142Z

Reporters need to ditch the word "taken" when writing about actions of government thugs.The property wasn't "taken" by goons; it was STOLEN.The person wasn't "taken to the ground"; he was TACKLED.The person wasn't "taken into custody" as if on a date; he was ABDUCTED.Stop soft-peddling evil.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T18:12:37.117Z

Reading what people say about Twitter makes me realize that the vast majority online expend absolutely no effort on account hygiene. If they treated their bodies like they treat their social media accounts, they'd never bathe, brush their teeth, or change their clothes, and would eat only junk.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T18:27:53.081Z

I will never cease to be amused by the notoriety Fate chose to bestow upon a minor Sumerian merchant of the 18th century BCE.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-24T18:42:59.559Z

Crypto-moralists believe anything unpleasant must be “good for you”.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T08:41:09.810Z

In the late 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was called "the sick man of Europe". Now the American empire has become the sick man of the entire planet.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-26T19:46:57.721Z

I found my own solution to Thanksgiving guest tensions many years ago: I host. Nobody dares start shit in MY house.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-27T17:53:29.116Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T03:35:45.932Z

I have lived my life in such a way that I can't picture either of these women accurately enough to compare them in my mind. And I'm very pleased about that.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T18:42:27.556Z

I block every single MAGA account and every associated lunatic on Twitter the first time I see it. As a result, I now see far more Trumpery on Bluesky than on Twitter, because people keep screenshotting and calling attention to accounts I blocked long ago.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-03T18:04:51.442Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-04T09:14:45.895Z

What's the Greek word for rule by mathematical imbeciles?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-05T18:10:12.603Z

I'm so exhausted by journalists, who should know the meaning of the words they use, referring to people who are not cautious of change but rather mindlessly destroy every Chesterton's fence they can find, as "conservative".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-05T20:21:41.880Z

"We are not the party of participation trophies…"I hate to break this to you, but…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-07T03:39:24.651Z

Maybe this misuse of the word "democracy" is a problem of Millennials and Zoomers, who are too young to remember that about half the communist dictatorships of the late 20th century had the word "Democratic" in their names, eg "Deutsche Demokratische Republik" (German Democratic Republic).

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-07T18:47:29.470Z

Mad emperor babbles like a baby: "A pwus pwus pwus pwus pwus!!" {claps tiny pudgy hands and gurgles}

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-09T20:02:40.319Z

Ahem.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-10T09:23:43.373Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-12T19:50:01.065Z

OK, y'all, we all get it: politicians and partisans are all huge hypocrites who theatrically perform anger when the "other team" does the same thing they do when in power.Find another goddamned tweet boilerplate. Holy shit.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-13T18:34:07.084Z

The problem is that the tech industry is intentionally conflating two different things under the fantasy label "AI". Machine learning is a real, useful tool; chatbots are a toy and a technological blind alley. Conflating the two is like pretending color TV is the same technology as a hula-hoop.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-14T18:46:37.811Z

I'm sick of the idiocy of the term "kinetic strike".As opposed to what, a static strike?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T17:48:03.150Z

My home town, ladies & gents.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-18T08:51:51.030Z

 

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Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one’s government is not necessarily to secure freedom. – Friedrich Hayek

Once again, for those who insist on being willfully obtuse: “authoritarianism” is not the opposite of “democracy”.  The former refers to a governing philosophy; the latter to a method of choosing those who will implement the governing philosophy.  Democratic elections can, and regularly do, produce authoritarian governments; if a “democratic majority” uses violence to impose its will on a peaceful minority, then the government produced by such a “democracy” is an authoritarian one.  The US has been an authoritarian republic (with largely, though not wholly, democratic mechanics) since the founding; though many white Americans refuse to recognize this, Black Americans and American Indians usually understand.  Furthermore, the US has become more authoritarian over time, such as when the elected majoritarian government decided it had the right to inflict violence on people for merely possessing certain substances, or for thinking certain thoughts while agreeing to have sex, or for crossing imaginary lines on a map.  A boot is a boot, regardless of who chose the style.  Or as I wrote once before:

When faced with a mob who wants to trample me, I don’t much care whether the leader of that mob was chosen by popularity contest or drawing lots, advanced bureaucratically, inherited the position from his dad or mom, or claims to have been appointed by the gods.  I don’t care whether the members of that mob stomp first with their left boots or their right, or whether they employ ushers to ensure I’m trampled “equally”.  I don’t care whether the majority of mob members are male, female, androgynous or sexless, nor do I give a damn about the relative darkness of their skins, what language they speak, or whose body parts they prefer to fondle or have jammed into their faces.  Neither do I care about their supposed “reasons” for trampling me, nor whether they claim my trampling was “proper” or “fair” or “according to procedure”, nor whether some person they define as being like me in some way (important to them but not to me) was part of the mob.  I just want the fucking mob to leave me the fuck alone.

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What Americans have done to the venerable word “liberal” is a crime in and of itself.
–  “Meet the Tweets

Why is it so many pictures on the internet are taken by people who apparently don’t comprehend why a photo framed as a vertical rectangle is called “portrait” style?  –  “Tweets for Long Nights

I don’t actually mean to collect stray animals, but it does seem to happen more frequently than random chance would account for.
–  “Diary #699

People who interact with [chatbots] think they’re interacting with an ancestor of Commander Data or C3PO, when in actuality they’re merely accessing a program that’s roughly as aware of their existence as the software that runs modern slot machines is, often with similar psychological results.  –  “Mad Libs

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