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Annex 74

Since the paddock door is at atrium level (unlike the shop passage I showed y’all last week),  I couldn’t run the roof panels as a continuation of the shop’s roof; as you can see, the top of the door is actually above the edge of the shop roof.  So what I did instead was to make the awning for this ramp (made with the very last leftover roof panels except for small scraps) end at the same level as the edge of the shop roof, so that when I install the gutters (starting after I get home next week) I can simply make a 90o turn onto the edge of the awning, then install a short run with its own downspout for the section under the awning.  I apologize for Rocky’s rather rude posture on the handrail; when I started to snap the picture he was in a much more dignified position, and I didn’t realize he had turned before the snap until much later, after I had installed the screen in the big window area to the right of the door.  You’ll be seeing that and the screen on the northeast wall in two weeks, and soon after that I hope to have some gutter pictures.

Greeting to all the “criminals” the Council of Wizards created recently with a single magical proclamation.  Neither you nor the morality of your decisions changed one iota; politicians simply decided to send violent thugs to disrupt your life because sadfeelz.  Please remember that in the future when you’re tempted to demonize other people for having been made “criminals” by similar magic “laws”.  Of course, there are such things as actual crimes, though they’re neither as common as authoritarians want you to believe, nor as common as they used to be.  One of the stronger theories about why the crime rate dropped so dramatically after the early ’90s is that due to Roe v Wade, fewer babies were born into the dire poverty that engenders a lot of actual (as opposed to consensual) crime.  So when the crime rates in abortion-banning states starts to rise again in about 16 years, don’t pretend it’s because there aren’t enough cops or the prison-cages aren’t packed full enough.  Of course, the politicians will make that claim, and useful idiots will believe them.  But when that happens, do spare a footnote in your academic paper on the topic (or a citation in your “thinkpiece”) for that crazy whore who told you so way back in the ’20s.

I don’t know why [magic fentanyl] stories won’t go away.  –  Ryan Marino

To Molest and Rape

Cops really believe they’re above the law:

Addison County [Vermont] Sheriff Peter Newton…[refused] to…resign…[despite] fac[ing multiple] counts of sexual assault…and domestic assault.  [Newton downplayed his crimes as merely going]…“too far” during sexual encounters…[after he] left [his victim] with pain and bruises, threatened her, and said no one would believe her if she stepped forward…he [also]…“told her ‘she was crazy’ and she ‘dreamt it’,” she said…“He’s a predator…It’s not just him, it’s the entire sheriff’s department because they knew he used his position to get women”…

Japanese Prostitution (#652)

There are some very weird exceptions to the general rule that the Japanese are less prudish than Americans about sex work:

Kyoto Prefectural Police arrested Masayuki Nakamoto…[for] selling copies of adult videos…that he had altered to appear uncensored.  Japanese adult videos are required by law to obscure the performers’ genitals, with placing a mosaic over them the most common form of compliance…since the mosaic is hard-coded into the image of the commercially released video, it can’t really be removed.  Instead, Nakamoto used an A.I. program, which via machine learning gained an understanding of what uncensored genitals look like, then used that knowledge to create a photorealistic simulated visual representation…[which he] placed…over the mosaic, making the on-screen performers appear completely uncensored…judge Shinsuke Danjo sentenced him to two years in prison, with the sentence suspended for three years…and…also fined [him] two million yen (roughly US$15,000)…

Cops and Robbers (#715)

Clueless wonders attempt to ape the antics they see on copaganda shows:

Three members of [a] social media [clique named “Dads Against Predators”]…lured…a [younger] man to a North Carolina [Target] store [on June 28th] before attacking him…The man reportedly fired a gun…to try to stop the beating…but…the g[ang] continued to beat the man, [stole] his gun and left…[cops claim] they have identified three men responsible for [the attack]…which…[left] the…25-year-old [victim]…with minor injuries…

The victim’s age leads me to believe that this gang’s tactics were copied from similar scams by cops.

Torture Chamber (#1040)

Your “leaders” want you to call this “correction”:

…in prison, many people are served meals that are altogether inedible…women at Virginia’s Fluvanna C[age Stack are often]…provided food that is moldy, rotten…spoiled…[and] roach[-infested.  When edible, t]he portions are “toddler size”…people in prison are routinely forced to pick through bugs and mold at meal time.  A 2017 survey of more than 100 incarcerated people in almost two dozen states found that over 65 percent of respondents had been served food not intended for humans, or that was moldy, spoiled, or had [maggots or other] bugs in it.  Most states spend less than $3 a day on food per incarcerated person…To survive these conditions, incarcerated people might try to smuggle some of the more edible food from the mess hall into their cell—maybe a banana or an orange.  But these items are [deem]ed contraband, which [provides a convenient excuse for further torture by screws] if they’re found…Incarcerated people are over six times more likely than those in the community to contract a foodborne illness

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1204)

The State claims these clowns are qualified to interfere in the doctor-patient relationship:

…Cops are having panic attacks upon encountering fentanyl because they believe they are overdosing.  The symptoms seem to never match up with those of an actual opiate overdose.  For one thing, these reports of overdoses never include the officer reporting a wave of euphoria before collapsing (there’s a reason people use opiates).  Reports often do not include the blue lips and fingernails, the limp body, and the reduced heart rate consistent with opiate overdoses.  It’s pretty clear that police…are simply suffering panic attacks—quite possibly because they…heard all those previous stories about these kinds of impossible overdoses…

Thought Control (#1224)

I never would’ve thought my first profession would become as much a target for authoritarians as my second:

As highly visible and politicized book bans have exploded across the country, librarians — accustomed to being seen as dedicated public servants in their communities — have found themselves on the front lines of an acrimonious culture war, with their careers and their personal reputations at risk.  They have been labeled pedophiles on social media…[and persecuted] by local politicians…[mob] members have tried to seek criminal charges against librarians…Many librarians have quit — or lost their jobs — after clashes over books.  Suzette Baker was fired from her job at the head of Kingsland Library branch in Llano County, Tex., after she repeatedly refused to [censor] books as [politicians] had demanded, according to a lawsuit.  The suit was filed this spring by residents against [politicians who are]…violat[ing] the First Amendment by censoring books…

The Vultures Descend (#1251)

All prohibitionism is the same, part umpteen:

The trajectory of access to abortion pills in Brazil may offer insight into how medication abortion can become out of reach and what can happen when it does.  While surgical abortion was the original target of Brazil’s abortion ban, the proscription expanded after medication abortion became more common, leading to the situation today where drug [deal]ers control most access to the pills.  Women who procure them have no guarantee of the safety or authenticity of what they are taking, and if they have complications, they fear seeking help…black market misoprostol, brought in from India, Mexico and Argentina, is sold for anywhere from about $200 to $400 for the eight tablets recommended for an abortion, compared with less than $15 for a 60-pill bottle in the United States…

Diary #628

So far, my road trip has been going pretty smoothly.  You may have heard the good news about Nicole Gilliland’s case; the jury was still deliberating when I had to leave Eugene on Thursday, but by the time I stopped for gas in Medford there was a text on my phone telling me about the win.  Speaking of gas, apparently my decision to get my car tuned up and checked over before the trip was a wise one, because I’m getting somewhat better mileage than usual; so far I’ve only had to fill up three times (I left home with about 3/4 of a tank), and managed to find lower-than-area-average prices each time (below $5.00/gallon in Eugene, which is better than I’ve seen in months).  I’ll need to fuel up again before leaving Los Angeles, but that’s still not bad, considering; it’s looking like the whole trip will end up being about 8 tanks altogether, and several of them were refilled when I still had a quarter of a tank or more.  Anyhow, I’m off to Freedom Fest tomorrow, and if all goes as planned I should be back in Seattle when you read the next diary a week from today.

Links #627

You’re not even trying!  –  cop, to paralyzed man

Here’s another song from my youth that just popped into my head recently.  The band, Sweet, was very popular in the ’70s but for some reason seems to have largely faded from popular memory.  The links above the video were provided by Emma Camp, Jesse Walker (x2), Franklin Harris, Scott Hechinger, Justin Amash, and Clarissa, in that order.

From the Archives

Since I was one of the loudmouthed harlots who helped create the social climate which made all this possible, I think I’ve earned at least a little rest.  –  “Eleventh Anniversary

I think I can safely say without fear of contradiction that this is the largest single-creator blog on the internet; it now consists of 4384 daily posts, 106 static pages, and far too many words to count, published over a period long enough for a typical sex worker to have been reading it since she was a schoolgirl.  Indeed, I’ve been told many times that my blog helped a lot of girls get their bearings when they were contemplating a sex work career, or helped them solve problems when they were still green.  A lot of today’s activists were inspired by my work, and quite a few journalists, academics, thoughtful people in general, and even politicians credit me with opening their eyes to the truth about sex work and the lies spewed by authoritarians about it.  When I started this blog, the “sex trafficking” hysteria had not yet reached its peak; now (as I predicted over ten years ago) it’s imploding in real time, and many of those who were only too happy to profit from the moral panic are now being forced to distance themselves from it.  This does not, unfortunately, mean that things are becoming better for sex workers; as I also wrote way back when,

…the “trafficking” myth [is] “an increasingly-erratic cultural meme spinning wildly out of control, whose far-flung debris is going to cause a lot more damage before it finally disintegrates“, and…[in] this last and most dangerous phase we should expect to see a lot more people hurt…

Those of y’all who have been paying attention probably already recognize that we’re in that last and most dangerous phase.  Decades of allowing puritans, crypto-moralists, copsuckers, badge-lickers, petty tyrants, deranged busybodies, violent sociopaths, and other opportunistic, power-hungry trash to undermine civil liberties in the name of “safety” has created the dystopia into which the United States is collapsing, pulling much of the Western world with it, and a lot of the rest of the developed world is competing to be even more awful.  Free thought and free expression are in greater danger than they have been at any time since the Enlightenment, and the Marching Morons who make up three-quarters of the human race are divided into two main camps: those who eagerly embrace 21st-century technotyranny, and those whose chief criticism is that their preferred “leaders” are not the ones operating the machinery of oppression.  And all of it – every last bit – is the result of moral defectives happily supporting any and every form of repression against those they see as different from them.  The State tested its weaponry on “criminals”, drug users, sex workers, and members of various minority groups (racial, ethnic, religious, sexual, etc); it has increasingly criminalized both consensual behaviors and those which, while offensive to others, aren’t treated as actual crimes in healthy societies; and it has increasingly inserted itself into the lives of individuals to an extent and depth that would have been inconceivable to people of the 19th century or earlier.

So where is this all going? Honestly, I don’t know. But I’m planning to keep sounding the alarm and commenting upon news items on topics pertaining to self ownership that come across my path, whether for good or ill, until either death or the Establishment stops me.

It’s hard to imagine that in just a few short weeks we will have no ability to provide…care [to kids impregnated by rape].  –  Caitlin Bernard

Property of the State

Such pro-life, very protecting children:

…three days after the Supreme Court issued its…decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, took a call from a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio…[where sociopathic politicians] had outlawed any abortion after six weeks. Now this doctor had a 10-year-old patient in the office who was six weeks and three days pregnant…abortion providers [in Indiana] have…experienc[ed] a dramatic increase in the number of patients coming to their clinics from neighboring states with more restrictive policies…

If Men Were Angels

It’s striking how much the sexual behavior of “pastors” resembles that of cops:

A Florida pastor has been arrested for exposing himself and masturbating outside a Starbucks…Enginio Dali Muniz-Colon…is a pastor in Kissimmee and…[w]as…previously…charged over a similar incident at the same Starbucks…

Stalkers in Blue (#814)

If this shocks you, you haven’t been paying attention:

Angeli Rose Gomez, the mother who ran into Robb Elementary School to save her two young kids during the [Uvalde, Texas school] shooting, says she’s since faced a barrage of frightening harassment from [cops] in retaliation for her rightfully harsh criticisms of them in the media.  Gomez’s lawyer, Mark Di Carlo, announced plans this week to take legal action…and also offered specific, chilling details about what their harassment of Gomez has entailed…Gomez was recently pulled over…and…falsely accused of having “illegal immigrants” in her car…police parked outside Gomez’s house for 45 minutes and flashed their lights at her and her mother as they took a walk…police approached an unnamed family member of Gomez’s, and told the[m]…to tell Gomez to stop speaking to the media…

Welcome to the Future (#1052)

No, it can’t.  And scientists who create weapons of oppression like this are moral imbeciles:

An artificial intelligence can now predict the location and rate of crime across a city a week in advance with up to 90 per cent accuracy.  Similar systems have been shown to perpetuate racist bias in policing, and the same [is] true in this case, but the researchers who created this AI [deny it]…Ishanu Chattopadhyay at the University of Chicago [is the chief badge-licker on this project]…

The Convergence of Censors

I’m sure the “freeze peach” morons will vomit out something about fires and theaters:

A [spook] and two p[igs] showed up to a North Texas woman’s house on Thursday morning…to…threaten…he[r]…after she posted in anger over the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.  The feds’ letter to Madeline Walker [ignored the fact that hyperbolically]…tweet[ing] about burning government buildings [does not constitute a credible threat or any other category of speech that is considered unprotected by the First Amendment]…and…threaten[ed her]…with…criminal charges…Joshua Henry, a [thug] for DHS, confirmed the letter’s authenticity…Walker [pointed out that]…“Pastor Dillon Awes of Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth is allowed to preach that gay people should be ‘lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head.’ when people reported him to the police they said, ‘free speech’” …Henry [responded by threatening her again for] sharing the letter on Twitter…[and demanded a US citizen be] “remorseful” [for exercising her civil rights rather than kowtowing to the precious fee-fees of petty bureaucrats]…

The Vultures Descend

Some tyrannies are too loathsome even for some cops:

Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano commented…on her office’s role in the recently passed law that essentially bans abortion after six weeks.  The state legislature [demands] abortion providers to send sheriff’s offices reports of women who were impregnated by rape or incest and are trying to terminate the pregnancy.  “I want the public to know that while these providers are now mandated by law to send us these reports regardless of the will of their patients, we will not contact the patient if she doesn’t want us to…sexual assault…is traumatizing, and my agency will do everything we can to offer…respect to these women who are seeking health care”…

Thought Control (#1240)

If you support restrictions on “offensive” speech, you helped create this lunacy:

Virginia Beach [shyster] and [politician] Tim Anderson is suing publisher Oni Press and author Maia Kobabe on behalf his client Tommy Altmann, a[nother politician]…claim[ing] that Kobabe’s work is damaging under the state’s obscenity lawsGender Queer and A Court of Mist and Fury–the other book being challenged in this suit–do not fall under obscene materials in any definition of the law[, but Anderson fully admits his intention is to be a nuisance]…

Annex 73

It’s amazing how much faster work goes at floor level.  I framed this passageway in a single afternoon, then finished it in just another day and a half.  The steel building is the shop, which forms the south wall of the atrium; you may recognize the blue tarp (which will soon be obsolete) as the cover for the electrical panel on the east wall of the house.  Grace wanted this passage so she could go into her shop even in cold, rainy weather without getting drenched.  I used some of the leftover roof panels to extend the roof of the shop building forward to cover the passage, then sealed the joins with silicone window & door sealant so rainwater can’t get between the shop roof and the new panels.  Right now the skin is just plain OSB, but next month I’ll put siding on the outside to make it look nice.  We were able to get two strip curtains from an internet company for a very reasonable price; they’ll keep out the wind and rain while allowing someone with arms full of packages or tools to get through without opening a door, though we’ll probably later need to hang a door from that big post to the right, so we can close it more securely during severe storms or worse-than-usual cold.  In this picture, taken just after I installed the curtains on June 22nd, there’s an open space (center top of picture) where rain can still get in, but last weekend I installed a partial roof panel in the gap, and later I’ll build a little wall above the inner curtain.  There are a few other minor details to complete, but I’ll get to them while doing all the finish work next month, before we move on to the inside features.  And I have plenty more to show you over the next few weeks!

The Long Road

I was originally planning to leave tomorrow for my road trip, but a few weeks ago Nicole Gililland asked me to be with her when the verdict of her lawsuit against the nursing school that kicked her out for having done porn in the past.  Since I was going through Oregon anyhow, I simply had to leave three days early (and it was kinda nice to have the long first leg broken up).  Today I’m on my way down to the Bay Area to see one of my gentlemen tomorrow evening, then on Saturday I’m heading down to Los Angeles to visit a friend I haven’t seen in three years.  On Tuesday I’ll head up to Las Vegas for Freedom Fest, after which I’ll leave for Seattle on Sunday the 17th; I have some appointments in Seattle on the 19th, then after the traffic dies down I’ll head for home (because by that point I’ll have been gone for two weeks and will be ready to see Grace, sleep in my own bed, and return to my normal routine).  Compared to my massive 2014 book tour, about 2500 miles and 14 days is no big deal; however, I’m almost a decade older now (time sure does fly!) and I haven’t done a road trip nearly this long since the beginning of 2017.  Well, at least I don’t foresee any snow on this trip!

If you’re wondering about the picture: I decided to bring tea along on this trip, because hotels never have anything good in the room. But I forgot to bring a mug, so I went to Wal-mart to get one and when I saw this one I couldn’t resist.

Consider this, then, a canary’s song.  –  Olivia Snow

If Men Were Angels

Another “youth pastor”, another string of underage victims:

A [typical and representative] youth pastor was convicted…of sexual assault against four boys.  William Stefan Wahl, of Port Huron [Michigan] was found guilty…of [molesting two boys] younger than 13, two [boys]…between 13 and 16, [and showing the boys porn]…

Guinea Pigs (#881) 

First it was supposedly about “terrorists”, then “sex trafficking”, and now:

…For sex workers, Section 230 had provided a foothold, however fragile, to exist on the internet.  FOSTA…was the first crack in a foundation that supported not only sex workers but also other marginalized, criminalized, and otherwise disenfranchised demographics.  The effects of FOSTA have…rippl[ed] beyond social media and payment processors to the most quotidian of technologies.  “Facilitating” sex work—language in later bills revised to “aiding and abetting”—could also implicate landlords renting to sex workers, ISPs that we use to advertise…By casting such a broad net…the bill essentially outlaws sex workers’ presence on the internet by criminalizing proximity to sex work.  Under this level of scrutiny, talking about sex work at all is a risk…A FOSTA-like ban would have violated Roe, but…[the] removal of federal protections gives [politicians] a path to criminalizing any online discussion about abortion, restrictions that can easily extend to include reproductive health entirely…Big Tech will use the artificial intelligence currently shadowbanning and suspending sex workers’ accounts to target users it suspects are seeking abortions…

Winding Down

The war against drugs other than nicotine continues to wind down:

The Supreme Court…unanimously sided with two physicians who were convicted of drug trafficking based on opioid prescriptions that federal prosecutors p[retended were] medically inappropriate…The decision in Ruan v. United States sends both cases back to the lower courts so they can assess the defendants’ arguments that the instructions received by the juries that convicted them misstated the law seriously enough that they are entitled to new trials.  But whether or not they prevail on those claims, the ruling represents an important limit on prosecutions that have long had a chilling effect on pain treatment…

The Prudish Giant (#1104) 

It usually starts with sex workers, but it never stops with us:

Facebook is removing the posts of users who…say abortion pills can be mailed and in some cases temporarily banning those users…a Motherboard reporter attempted to post the phrase “abortion pills can be mailed” on Facebook using a burner account.  The post was flagged within seconds as violating the site’s community standards, specifically the rules against buying, selling, or exchanging medical or non-medical drugs.  The reporter was given the option to “disagree” with the decision or “agree” with it.  After they chose “disagree,” the post was removed.  Motherboard was able to post the phrases “painkiller pills can be mailed,” “pills,” and “abortion” without issue.  Motherboard posted “abortion pills can be mailed” a second time, and it was flagged for removal, and this time the reporter “agreed” with the decision…and…the reporter’s Facebook account was suspended for 24 hours…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1114)

Remember, Clearview specifically markets itself to entities which claim a monopoly on violence:

Clearview AI is best‐​known as a…faci[litator of police violence]…the company has secured a patent for recognition systems that would allow users to scan someone’s face in order to determine whether that person does drugs, is homeless, or suffers from mental illness.  The same technology could also be used to determine someone’s education history or contact details.  Such technology could put members of the transgender community who wish to conceal their gender transition at risk of social sanction, public humiliation, and violence…Given ongoing policy fights over who should get to access gender‐​segregated spaces such as bathrooms and changing rooms, it is possible that private businesses, universities, and schools might choose to use AGR technology under the guise of security enhancement and privacy protection.  It is not hard to imagine AGR technology at train stations, bathrooms, and changing rooms prompting encounters where a member of the transgender community would feel embarrassed, unsafe, humiliated, and exposed…

Feudalism Redux

The crusade to reduce Americans to serfdom continues:

Several national antiabortion groups and [pet politicians]…are advancing plans to [try to] stop people in states where abortion is banned from seeking the procedure elsewhere…The Thomas More Society, a conservative legal organization, is drafting model legislation…that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a resident of a state that has banned abortion from terminating a pregnancy outside of that state.  The draft language will borrow from the…Texas abortion ban enacted last year in which private citizens were empowered to enforce the law through [nuisance] litigation

The Vultures Descend

This vulture feeding frenzy is going to get a lot uglier:

…antiabortion activists are eager to capitalize on their momentum by enshrining constitutional abortion bans, pushing Congress to pass a national prohibition, blocking abortion pills, and limiting people’s ability to get abortions across state lines…By the end of the year, abortion could be outlawed across roughly half the country…Democrat-[run] states are scrambling to enshrine protections for abortion, and President Biden has [bloviated about doing] everything in his power “to protect a woman’s right”…but Biden has also ruled out the more extreme remedies, such as [pack]ing the Supreme Court, and key Democrats remain opposed to [burning down the house to roast the pig as some very silly people are demanding]…