I don’t generally give actors a video sendoff, but in this case I couldn’t resist. The links above it were provided by Jesse Walker (x2), Franklin Harris, and IncarcerNation (x3), in that order.
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!
A Western Pennsylvania man…[named] DaShawn Watkins…is facing…charges [for the murder and dismemberment] of 14-year-old Pauly Likens…[a trans girl] missing since June 22…Police…found dismembered human remains…in and around…Shenango River Lake…the cause of death was ruled to be a sharp force trauma to the head, and…surveillance footage, social media records and cellular phone records found that Likens appeared “to be on the phone and waiting to meet someone near the canoe launch area”…footage also captured Watkins making several trips out of his apartment carrying multiple bags, and driving to his apartment in the vehicle seen near the crime scene. Multiple locations in Watkins’ apartment tested positive in a preliminary blood test…
[A typical and representative] St. Tammany Parish [cop named] Christopher Cassidy pleaded guilty to [189 charges related to child & animal] pornography…[and] was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each count without…parole [plus condemnation to the] sex offender [registry] for…25 years [if he somehow manages to survive 2835 years in prison]…
There is no part of this reeking pile of shit that fails to be stupid, so I’ll just comment instead of quoting it. 1) Things that are not alive cannot commit suicide. 2) “Cyborg” is not a synonym for “robot”; a cyborg has living parts. 3) A robot cannot be an “officer”. 4) A malfunctioning machine tumbling down a flight of stairs does not constitute a “jump”. 5) If a machine is observed malfunctioning and nothing is done, it’s no surprise if the situation worsens. 6) For a malfunctioning machine to break is not a “tragedy”. 7) A machine has neither mind nor personality and therefore cannot be “depressed”. 8) I think it highly unlikely that this robot was actually “unique” in any way. 9) Anyone who issued a “civil service officer card” to a piece of office equipment should be sacked for incompetence. 10) Robots cannot be “diligent” (see #7). 11) Too many technology reporters know nothing about technology. 12) What is possible in fantasy movies is in no way reflective of reality.
Two sex workers were violently assaulted in Edmonton [Alberta by]…a man [who] contacted both women through a website and arranged to meet them [early on July 6th]…At around 7 a.m…he attacked [the first victim, leaving her]…significantly injured and…unconscious…he [then] arranged to meet [the second victim]…around 7:50 a.m…the[n]…violently attacked…her…[leaving her] unconscious…[and stealing her] wallets, identification, cash and cell phones…detectives believe there may be more victims…
S[crews] at Brooklyn’s [abominable federal jail] ignored a…[prisoner]’s cancer diagnosis for months, letting a mass in his lungs grow to double its size while he coughed up enough blood to fill a milk carton…Terrence Wise…is [only] the latest [human being] subjected to what defense attorneys and judges describe as grievous medical mistreatment…[including a prisoner] who couldn’t use a CPAP machine for 85 days because the jail didn’t provide an extension cord, another…whose broken cheek had to be re-broken because the jail defied a judge’s order for treatment [until] it…improperly healed, and yet another who waited more than three months for emergency surgery for a twisted bowel…staff [also] lied about giving a…[prisoner] his antibiotics after his appendix burst…and…defied [another judge’s] order to send a…[prisoner] with a severe contagious MRSA infection to a hospital. Instead, the[y just forced their victim into] a yellow jumpsuit to single him out as sick…
The puritanical notion that lifelong deprivation of pleasure in the vague hope of adding a few extra minutes of senility and decrepitude to the far end of one’s old age – a time one has only a 50% chance of reaching in the first place, statistically – is so alien to my way of thinking, I’ve never been able to wrap my head around it, even as a concept for consideration.
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!
I hadn’t made crumpets in a while, and was craving them recently so I made a batch. Several people on Twitter & BlueSky expressed interest, so I decided to share my recipe. You can’t make them without crumpet rings; when I got mine they were fairly difficult to find, but I imagine finding them on the internet would be no big deal. Since crumpets are eaten toasted anyhow, it’s best to make these earlier in the day or even the day before you actually want them. I’m assuming most of my UK readers who cook already have a recipe, so I’ll just use standard US cooking measurements here.
2 1/4 cups flour
1 packet yeast (I like the quick-rise kind) 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar 3/4 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp warm water
1) Mix milk, 1 1/2 cups warm water, salt & sugar in a small saucepan and heat until warm (not hot). Mix flour and yeast; add liquid and beat with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then high for 3 minutes. Cover with a towel and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour.
2) Mix baking soda into the 2 tbsp warm water; add to the batter and mix well. I usually just let my stand mixer set up during the wait time so I don’t have to dirty another beater. Let stand covered in a warm place for 10 minutes; meanwhile, grease crumpets rings, place them on a griddle or large skillet, and preheat over medium heat.
3) Ladle the batter into each ring, filling about 3/4 of the way up. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until the tops are mostly dry (the middles will usually be still wet). Remove rings with kitchen tongs and set aside; flip each crumpet with a spatula and cook for another minute. Remove to a cooling rack.
TIPS: Keep your eye on the griddle temperature; I use a cast-iron skillet so I usually need to nudge the heat down after the first batch to avoid burning the bottoms. Also, since you want to regrease the rings for each batch, I find cooking spray is the fastest & easiest way to go.
SERVING: Toast the crumpets when you’re ready to eat them; I find it’s best to do them just a notch lower than you would sliced bread (unless you’re one of those barbarians who like your toast burnt, in which case do them several notches lower). They’re great with butter, clotted cream, jam or marmalade, lemon curd, anything like that. One of my readers said he likes them with Marmite, which I have not tried but sounds interesting. This recipe will make roughly a dozen or just under, so put any you’re not going to eat that day in a sealed Tupperware-type container. Anyway, that’s all there is to it; the thing I love best about them is their texture, much more like a proper waffle or pancake than an English muffin. Enjoy!
Sex work is work…sex workers are human beings deserving of human rights, and…prohibitionists are nothing but bigots trying to hide a moralistic agenda under a cloak of lies and spurious concern.
– “Sixth Anniversary”
Like most people, I also do things for others I care about or whom I think it’s right to do things for, without asking for direct monetary compensation; however, I don’t deceive myself that those things aren’t labor. – “Value for Value”
Human beings have the right to control our own bodies & lives regardless of motive, whether anybody “loves” or “dreams” or “deserves” whatever, or whether or not our actions are “fun” for us or anyone else. – “Children’s Hour”
The concept of “human rights” becomes incomprehensible to Americans in proximity to the word “sex”. – “Safe Position (#952)”
Ordering cops receive more “training” is a popular way for judges to pretend they’re doing something while preserving the status quo.
– “Stalkers in Blue (#1055)“
I’m sure y’all will understand if I let myself coast more often rather than frantically pedaling all the time. – “Thirteenth Anniversary”
Every year for my anniversary column, I tend to have a lot of thinky thoughts about this massive edifice of words I’ve built (5115 daily columns including this one, plus 107 pages and innumerable tweets); I ruminate on what I’ve accomplished directly and on the other writers and speakers I’ve inspired, who have spread out from this massive boulder I’ve pushed into the interpond like ever-widening ripples. I’ve written about the rise and fall of “sex trafficking” hysteria and the other excuses used to persecute uppity strumpets like myself, and in recent years have turned to explaining why I don’t write quite as many new essays as I once did:
…even if thirteen years isn’t that much in the big scheme of things, every year counts double when you’re burning your candle at both ends. And even though older folks like me tend to think of 13 years as not an especially long stretch, consider the difference between 1910 and 1923 (or between 1933 and 1946, or 1953 to 1966, or 1990 to 2003); the world and the culture have changed quite a bit since I started this project, and in a world of YouTube and TikTok blogs are beginning to look as quaint as radio shows did in 1959.
But even though I’ve used these essays to explain my reasons to you and justify them to myself, I’m only just beginning to internalize that yes, it really is okay to keep slowing down, rather than just saying it aloud but not really believing it. So this year I’m going to do something bold (for me, that is): I daresay most people do not celebrate anniversaries by giving themselves extra work, but of course that’s what I’ve always done. So this year I’m just popping in to remind y’all of the occasion, to thank y’all for fourteen years of unflagging support, and to let y’all know that I’m planning to mostly take the rest of the day off. Or at least as much of it as my hyperactive brain will let me.
A [typical and representative Texas] youth pastor…[named] Luke Cunningham…was indicted on [charges of child molestation and various related crimes. Several]…Lubbock [churches kept employing him despite numerous local accusations dating]…back [to] January of 2016…and [others]…dating back to 2013…
…Sweeping calls to collect data on marginalized populations and automate decisions about what constitutes a human trafficking pattern are dangerous. Women…migrants, [people of color,] and queer people face profiling and persecution under surveillance regimes that [intentionally conflate] consensual adult sex work and human trafficking…language models [will] be built on discriminatory stereotypes which have [been used to] plague…[sex workers] for decades…Such tropes cause disproportionate surveillance of poor, racialized, and transgender sex workers, and in[tentional]ly categorize standard safety tactics as trafficking indicators. Studies show that digital tools and policies which take a…similarly broad approach to collecting evidence of alleged exploitation online are dangerous and counterproductive…A 2022 study into technology which scraped and analyzed advertisements for sexual services found “misalignment between developers, users of the platform, and sex industry workers they are [pretend]ing to assist,” concluding that these approaches are “ineffective” and “exacerbate harm”…
…hacktivists [have] published the customer support database for Brainstack, a Ukrainian company that runs a phone tracking service called mSpy. (It was the third mSpy security breach in a decade.) The database includes messages from…ICE…agents…a U.S. circuit court judge…Employees at the U.S. State Department…and…many more…officials…in the…[US, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, Thailand, and Vietnam. The hacktivist said]…”From all the past stalkerware leaks, usually what leaks is victim data”…But this leak was about mSpy’s clients—essentially turning the surveillance back against the surveilers…Unlike other intelligence-for-hire services, mSpy requires users to have intimate access to the target already. The software must be installed directly on the target’s phone, iCloud account, or WiFi network. Afterwards, it provides the user with the target’s call logs, messages, and location data. Brainstack [sani]tises mSpy as a parental guidance tool, but others [more accurate]ely [describe] the service [as] “stalkerware“. Indeed, a few of the [hacked] messages came from [cop shops] and [spook houses] looking for a way to send mSpy a subpoena or warrant because [it allows spying by people who aren’t them]…
Spain’s [increasingly-unpopular] anti-sex-work…Socialist Party (PSOE) government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has unveiled a new age verification app that will become mandatory for [clueless] adult[s]…in the country starting in September. The Cartera Digital app and its age verification protocols…were announced…by…Minister of Digital Transformation and Civil Service José Luis Escrivá Belmonte …[who] described the existence of [speech socialists dislike] as “a problem,” and [conflated]…“the great majority of young people between 18 and 26 years old” [with legal minors]…
Strip clubs and other adult entertainment establishments in Florida are challenging the state’s [new] law that prevents them from employing adults…under 21…lawyers filed suit against the state…in the name of 19-year-old Serenity Michelle Bushey, a nude dancer at…a [Florida] strip club…[because] the law’s arbitrary raising of the age requirement “not only made her lose her job but also violated her constitutional rights”…The plaintiffs also include Café Risque, strip club chain Sinsations and Jacksonville pleasure products store Exotic Fantasies…Bushey and at least eight [other] Café Risque dancers have lost their jobs, and [the suit] argues that the law also violates their First Amendment right[s]…
An Oklahoma City [cop named]…Ryan Stark…brought [his girlfriend] to his house and tried to take her phone…she tried to escape…[his pigmobile], but…he…accelerated the car, breaking her foot on the garage door…he [then]…held [her] against her will…put a gun to her head…[and] threat[ened] to kill her…[then raped her]. Stark was arrested [on June 29th and]…charged with domestic assault and battery…rape…and [associated crimes]…
Two laws requiring age verification online have been paused by federal courts…as legal challenges to them play out. [Laws like] the [ones from] Indiana [and]…Mississippi…have been [parad]ing [through] U.S. states this year and last, and represent a growing threat to privacy, anonymity, and free speech online. Federal courts have largely ruled against them when they are challenged, but this has not been universal. So, it’s probably good that the Supreme Court has agreed to take up…Free Speech Coalition et al. v. Ken Paxton…involving…[the] Texas [version of the] law…
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!
Even at the latitude of Sunset (and its proximity to the Pacific Ocean), it gets pretty damned hot here during heat waves. Once it hit 32o C on Friday I went out to connect the sprinkler for the pigs; they have no sweat glands, which is why they like to wallow in ponds or mud puddles in hot weather. But we don’t have a pond, so a few years ago I started running the sprinkler for them in afternoons when the temperature gets above 30o and the sun is too high for long shadows from the trees and buildings. I also move the large basin I normally have positioned below a downspout to collect rainwater for the animals; since there isn’t any rain to speak of here in July and August, I want it where it will fill from the sprinkler (or from the hose when I’m not running the sprinkler). It isn’t supposed to be much cooler until Wednesday, so here (as I promised readers on Twitter) is a picture of both Cicero and Louie enjoying their feed-corn lunch near their water trough while a cool mist falls upon them; you can also see several hens benefiting from the end of the sprinkler’s sweep into their coop, and Jonathan enjoying the shade on the other side.
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!
A man [named Jason Kendall turned himself in to Las Vegas police after]…he murder[ed] an escort…[by] strang[ulation while raping her at]…the Palms Casino Resort…The [attack was on June 12th, but the] woman…died [of her injuries several days later] at the hospital…
…new research by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab…found that Microsoft censors its Bing translation results more than top Chinese services, including Baidu Translate and Tencent Machine Translation. Bing became the only major foreign translation and search engine service available in China after Google withdrew from the Chinese market in 2010. “If you try to translate five paragraphs of text, and two sentences contain a mention of Xi, Bing’s competitors in China would delete those two sentences and translate the rest. In [contrast], Bing always censors the entire output. You get a blank”…[said] Jeffrey Knockel…[of] Citizen Lab…Bing’s…China-based search engine also censors more extensively than Chinese firms’ services do. The studies challenge the [ludicrous] popular belief that U.S. tech giants might resist Chinese censorship demands more strongly than their Chinese counterparts…
A [Florida screw] resigned after being arrested for watching and sharing child porn videos [at] work…Trevor Scott Willis…was [caught watching]…videos…of children between…five and fifteen…[including one] showing a child engaging in sexual activities with a dog…Willis used his personal cellphone…and was logged into the [cop shop] Wi-Fi while watching the videos…
Cellebrite is a dream come true for police surveillance. Plug in any cellphone, even a locked one, and get a full report of every file on its hard drive. Cellebrite, along with its main competitor, Grayshift, is one of the few companies offering this service. No wonder…6,900 [cop shops and spook houses] bought a subscription…In September 2022…[a court] in Maryland ruled that police must stop using “general and overbroad warrants” to scrape the entire content of people’s cellphones…Baltimore police announced that they would suspend their use of Cellebrite and work with lawyers “to ensure the current search warrant template is in line with all requirements”…[of course they were lying, and have] re-upped their Cellebrite subscription…[through] September…Cellebrite…market[s]…its…s[no]oping [tools by repeatedly belching out “The] children[!!!”, but it]…provide[s]…services to police states like China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Belarus, Bahrain, and Myanmar…
The Supreme Court [has] ruled…in two cases that could have a major impact on how social media platforms operate…NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice…opposed social media moderation laws in Florida and Texas. The Court unanimously agreed to vacate decisions by the 11th Circuit and the 5th Circuit—which upheld a preliminary injunction on the Florida law (finding it likely did violate the First Amendment) and reversed a preliminary injunction on the Texas law (finding it did not likely violate the First Amendment), respectively—and to remand both cases for further review…It’s not quite the total blow to these laws that many free speech advocates…were hoping for. But the court did admonish the 5th Circuit for its flawed interpretation of the First Amendment. And the Supreme Court’s own analysis here backs the tech groups’ position that social media platforms are engaged in protected expression when they decide what content to allow and how to present it…
An…NYPD cop was arrested [on June 30th] after she and her husband…broke down the door of her sister-in-law’s…home [in the middle of the night] and [beat and] choked [her]…Maria and Robert Villalta…[broke in] around 2:15 a.m…and [started attacking both] her…and [her boyfriend]…Both victims [were throttled so viciously they had] trouble breathing a[afterward]…The cop’s sister-in-law also had marks on her face, neck and arm, as well as a bloody nose…
A [cop named Simon Short] who [molested] a “vulnerable” 16-year-old…has been dismissed without notice…[from] West Yorkshire Police…Short…was granted anonymity while the proceedings took place…[officials] lifted this at the conclusion of the hearing, [but only because] the…restriction was challenged by [journalists]…
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!
The safeguards installed by the Founders [have been] undermined, abrogated, annulled, ignored and repealed to make way for laws and practices based upon the real beliefs of the majority of Americans: fear, hate, superstition, intolerance, greed, violence, control-freakishness, lust for power, and, above all, prudishness. – “Successor”
I see history as a continuously-unfolding process stretching into the far future rather than as a collection of moldering facts about the dead past.
– “Divided We Stand”
Queer bigots are the most revolting bigots because theoretically they should know better.
– “These Kids Today”
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