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Back Issue #138

Hypersuggestible people…can be induced to “remember” all sorts of fantastic things which are not even physically possible, much less grounded in actual events.  –  “False Witness

Boxing Day 2024

Just a reminder of what this day is for: relaxing and sharing with the less fortunate. And they needn’t be strangers. Happy Holidays, and Blessed Be.

Christmas Day 2024

A Very Merry Christmas to all my readers, and Blessed Be!

Christmas Eve 2024

Merry Christmas, dear readers, and may you all find everything you hope for under your tree!

Diary #756

I expected the first couple of weeks of Grace’s chemotherapy to be difficult, but last week was positively grueling.  On Monday I had to get up two hours before dawn to get Grace to surgery to install a “power port” below her collarbone so the chemo won’t require as much needle-sticking; of course they didn’t actually take her in until 11, despite telling us she had to be there at 8:30 (we had already done all the admission paperwork the week before).  And then there were minor complications, so she wasn’t back in the room until 2, forcing us to postpone that day’s scheduled radiation treatment.  Then on Tuesday it was raining cats and dogs all day, and after I left Grace at the clinic so I could get groceries, somebody decided he didn’t need to yield the right-of-way to me despite the fact that he had a stop sign and I did not (he was wrong).  Luckily, I was only doing 25; unluckily, the pavement was much too slick to slam on brakes, and there was someone coming the other way.  The damage is limited to what you see here, and his insurance company has already accepted liability, but now I have to go through all the crap of finding someone to fix it during the holidays.  And though the car is still completely roadworthy, accidents always upset me out of proportion to the damage.  Still, I’m not going to let this mar my Christmas.  And since I had to go to Seattle two days after the accident, at least my driving until mid-January will be strictly local.

Links #755

Iran launched a mothership…It’s off the east coast of America.
–  Jeff Van Drew

On St. Nicholas Day, I decided to use “Santa Baby” for my Twitter “Video of the Day” and discovered this animated video I found very cute, so I’m sharing it with you today.  The links above it were provided by Mistress Matisse, Jesse Walker, Stephen Lemons (x2), Jesse Walker again, and The Onion, in that order.

From the Archives

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

Yule 2024

The apparent path of the sun reached its southernmost point at 9:20 UTC today, the exact moment this posted; that makes this the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest day of the year in the Southern. This is a time for remembrance, renewal and rebirth; I wish for all my readers the blessings of the season, and pray that all of you get all you hope for in the new year. Blessed Be!

In the News (#1499)

The hospitals are at fault. The clinicians are at fault. Our policies are at fault.  –  Dr. Davida Schiff

The Truth About “The Truth About…”

At first, I believed her, until it became clear that Nifong was showboating:

Crystal Mangum, the former exotic dancer who accused three Duke men’s lacrosse players of rape in 2006…now [admit]s she lied…“I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t…And I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me,” Mangum said on the web show “Let’s Talk with Kat“…The interview took place at the North Carolina [prison]…where Mangum is serving time for [the] 2013 [knife] murder…[of] her boyfriend…she said she hopes the three men will forgive her…[Mike Nifong,] the district attorney [who turned] the case [into a circus,] was convicted of criminal contempt and disbarred…

If Men Were Angels

Preacher can’t or won’t behave like a moral person; what a shock:

A [typical and representative Oklahoma] pastor…[named] James McMillan was arrested in late November…[becaus]e he unzipped his pants and began touching himself in front of a…[teen girl] while [driv]ing down a Cleveland County highway.  McMillan was arrested again [on December 9] for [show]ing [porn]…to a minor…he…has been [repor]ted [for] sexual abuse…in multiple [social] services and [criminal] cases dating back to 2003 [but nothing has ever been done]…

Cops and Robbers (#1328)

Cops don’t like it when non-cops ape their entrapment schemes:

Police are …[hu]nting teenage gangs [which are] terrorizing gay men in “pedo hunts” in the Sydney area…Nearly a dozen organized attacks have been connected to the…gangs, likely a fraction of the actual number…the victims were gay men who arranged to meet in public parks with someone they met on a dating app like Grindr.  Instead of a consensual hook-up, they were confronted by multiple teenagers, who then taunted, beat, and robbed the victims, sometimes using [guns Australian politicians like to pretend don’t exist in Australia]…Several of the victims were forced [by threats] to c[laim they were] pedophiles while being filmed, [so the attackers could post the]…videos…online, in…[places such as] an Instagram account called “pedohunting_syd”…At least five boys, ages 14 to 17, have been charged in connection with the assaults and robberies, as well as…possessing unauthorized firearms.  Police are describing the gang as a terror group…

Thought Control (#1460)

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

After years of culture war battles in school and public libraries, the campaign by [pro-censorship] “parent rights” groups has succeeded in casting a nationwide chill over the market for children’s books…During the 2023-24 school year, there were more than 10,000 book bans in public schools — a 200% rise over the previous year.  The books overwhelmingly included LGBTQ+ themes and characters of color, according to PEN America.  Many of the same books are banned over and over across the country, through coordinated efforts by [pro-censorship] groups…Teachers and librarians, facing threats and fearful of losing their jobs or even going to jail…are hesitating to put [any] books that include LGBTQ+ characters or discussions of racism on their shelves…sales of such books are down significantly…and authors have seen school visits canceled, leaving them without a crucial income stream…[wannabe thought controllers vomit out the word “]pornography[” at sane, moral people, and opine that “authors and publishers]…should be imprisoned.  Educators and public librarians who [stock any book we point at] should be classed as registered sex offenders”…

Thought Control (#1468)

Politicians really do believe they can control people’s thoughts via threats:

Karen Cahall…who teaches third grade [in Ohio], was recently suspended for three days without pay and threatened with termination…for [hav]ing four books in her classroom library [of about 100 books] that contained LGBTQ characters…Ana On The EdgeThe Fabulous Zed Watson!Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea, and Too Bright to See…[were on a list used by busybodies to harass teachers] and…on October 30, 2024, a [wannabe thought-controller took it up on herself to compare every title in Cahall’s library against that list, then]…sent an email complaining to…every [school board] member…Superintendent Tracey Miller, who [has neither spine nor principles, claimed]…Cahall’s inclusion of these books in her classroom library violated school district policy…[against books about] “topic[s] on which opposing points of view [exist]”…Cahall has filed a…lawsuit against Miller and…School District…[because] their actions were [blatantly] unconstitutional…

Property of the State (#1474) 

How long will society accept its medical system being used as a tool of state violence?

Across the country, hospitals are dispensing medications to patients in labor, only to report them to child welfare authorities when they or their newborns test positive for those very same substances on subsequent drug tests…The[se]…are…medications routinely prescribed to millions…every year…includ[ing] morphine or fentanyl for epidurals or other pain relief, anxiety medications, and two different blood pressure meds prescribed for C-sections.  In a time of increasing surveillance and criminalization of pregnant women since the end of Roe v. Wade, the hospital reports have prompted calls to the police, child welfare investigations and even the [abduction] of children from their parents…

You Were Warned (#1483)

Politicians will use any trick to gain control of the internet:

[Pro-censorship politician] Mike Lee has introduced a bill to…forc[e unconstitutional] age verification on app stores and mobile devices, with [the] goal of chilling sex-related speech.  Lee [misuses the word] “accountability” [to weirdly represent]…”big corporations”…[as public] “moral[ity agencies” despite the fact that]…big corporations like Google and Apple already ban apps featuring sexual content…[for] everybody…[so] this legislation is about…age-gating…social media…and making tech companies even more afraid of allowing anyone to access adult content…[by inventing] a private right of action for parents and guardians [to file nuisance lawsuits] against app stores…If minors download a web browser and visit porn websites, their parents can sue.  If minors download X or Bluesky or Reddit and happen upon some sort of sexualized image, their parents can sue.  If minors download a chat app and peers direct message them GIFs featuring cartoons committing violence, or inappropriate selfies, or any message at all, their parents can sue.  All a parent has to [do is belch out the word “]harm[“]…or “lewd”…

 

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!

Prostitution is to my knowledge the only “crime” which is entirely defined by its motive.  –  “Lack of Evidence

Adult women are ADULTS.  It isn’t the job of strangers, nor that of “rescue” organizations or the government, to police their private lives.  –  “Thought Experiment

To anyone who knows anything at all about the origin and development of Christmas, the insistence by American Christians that the holiday belongs to them and them alone is bizarre indeed; it’s rather like someone buying a used car, giving it a new paint job, and then declaring that he was the inventor of the internal combustion engine.  –  “Christmas Eve 2012

In a very real sense, Christmas is literally as old as civilization, and we owe the majority of what makes us more than just high-falutin’ monkeys to [an] ancient event that we now only remember in myths of a time when life was easy.
–  “Yule 2013

There are still far too many…who want sex workers silent, invisible, and preferably caged, enslaved, or dead.  –  “Before It Gets Better

Diary #755

Once again, I was a bit nervous about my toy drive this year, and once again my readers came through!  Even better, I discovered that the Toys for Tots organizers had put a donation box in the gift shop at the chemotherapy clinic, so I didn’t even need to drive across town to the Tractor Supply; I just brought the toys with me to the clinic and dropped them off while Grace was getting her therapy.  And that was really good, because these first two weeks were full of extra steps (like having to get up two hours before dawn on Monday to get Grace to surgery to install a “power port” in her chest wall so the chemo won’t require as much needle-sticking).  Anyhow, the drive is now over for this year; thanks to all who donated, and if you missed it this year make sure you set a calendar reminder for November 28, 2025!