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Posts Tagged ‘A Moral Cancer’

In the News (#1609)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 31, 2026| Leave a Comment »

New Zealand…pinpricks the campaign of fear-mongering and moral outrage…propagated by the quit-or-die crowd.  –  Nancy Loucas

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A [typical and representative British politician named]…Philip Young…[has] pleaded guilty…to [repeatedly drugging and raping]…his [ex-wife] Joanne…between 2010 and 2024. [He also pled guilty to possession of child porn and to allowing at least] five other men [to rape her while she was unconscious; the men are]…Connor Sanderson-Doyle…Norman Macksoni…Richard Wilkins…Mohammed Hassan…[and] Dean Hamilton…

Policing for Profit

There are many ways for cops to enrich themselves at others’ expense:

For three decades, Albuquerque defense attorney Thomas Clear bribed [corrupt cops] to make drunk driving cases against his clients disappear…by deliberately failing to show up at…hearings…or [other] judicial proceedings, allowing Clear to move for dismissal…Sometimes Clear’s paralegal, Rick Mendez, or his associates would “orchestrate” DWI arrests by getting people drunk and arranging for a corrupt cop to nab them after they hit the road…[Albuquerque pig] Justin Hunt…is one of two dozen people—including [fellow] Albuquerque [pigs], Bernalillo County [pigs], and a New Mexico State P[ig who]…was featured in a state ad campaign against drunk driving—who have been implicated in the bribery scheme so far.  Half of them have pleaded guilty, including Clear and Mendez…

The Face of Trafficking

Cases of actual coercion never look much like the myths:

…a mother and daughter from…Oregon…Marie Gertrude Jean Valmont …and Yolandita Marie Andre…coerced…three victims, including a minor…to work for little or no pay in an adult foster care home…[by steal]ing the[ir] documents…the[ir company]…Velida’s Home Care…recruited the three victims…from Haiti…with promises of a nice place to live, and steady and reliable work…[but] all three were compelled to work long, difficult hours for little to no pay…Valmont…controlled practically every aspect of their daily living…until the minor [got fed up and] disclosed their situation to a medical professional in the summer of 2024…[the exploiters also]…received payments from the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) and Medicaid by falsely claiming they needed to pay…for more hours…[but] kept th[at] money [themselves]…

A Moral Cancer (#1449)

Prohibition never works, but prohibitionists don’t care:

…youth vaping has again and again been used to attack…vape access.  [Its] extent…has often been exaggerated, and it [is absurd] to argue it’s a problem comparable to millions of smoking-related deaths.  Such arguments are nonetheless po[pular with prohibitionists].  That’s why it’s so significant that youth vaping in New Zealand…has…halved in recent years…refut[ing] any narrative that broad vape access [for] adults…inevitably means mass youth use…And the proportion of teens who have never smoked continues to rise, hitting a record 89.4 percent…

Walled Garden (#1567)

There is nothing as worthless as a politician’s promise:

…UK…[politicians barfed out the phrase “]safety for children[” to justify]…potential restrictions on VPNs.  [They]…will also consider banning social media for under-16s [and otherwise micromanaging their internet usage]…the House of Lords…backed an amendment that would ban VPNs for [people] under 18 and force providers to implement [the same kind of “]age check[” surveillance which is driving an increase in VPN usage in the first place]…

Mad Libs (#1586)

The Constitution gave only Congress the power to make laws; the modern administrative state extended the power to agency employees.  And now:

The Trump [regime] is planning to [let a chatbot] write federal transportation regulations…agency attorney Daniel Cohen[, who is extremely stupid, characterized this extremely stupid idea as]…“exciting[” and “doing] our job better and faster”…[the mad emperor] is “very excited about this [extremely stupid idea]”…[Agency lawyer Gregory] Zerzan appeared interested mainly in the quantity of regulations [chatbots] could [vomit out], not their quality. “We don’t need…very good rule[s, just] good enough [for very stupid people, thus]…flooding the zone [with extremely stupid rules].”  These developments have alarmed [sane people] at DOT.  The agency’s rules touch virtually every facet of transportation safety, including regulations that keep airplanes in the sky, prevent gas pipelines from exploding and stop freight trains carrying toxic chemicals from skidding off the rails.  Why…would the federal government outsource the writing of such critical standards to a…technology notorious for making mistakes?…

Shame, Shame (#1605)

Financial companies are usually better at hiding their hypocrisy:

For many years, credit card companies and other payment [processors] were aggressive about policing…sexual [content].  Then, Elon Musk’s [MechaHitler] started undressing [legal minors] on [Twitter]…Though Musk has claimed that new guardrails prevent [MechaHitler] from undressing people, our testing showed that is…[a lie.  Twitter]…does seem to have…partially restricted [MechaHitler]’s image editing features to paid subscribers…[who] can [pay via]…Stripe or through the Apple and Google app stores using [a] credit card…at times financial institutions have [even] threatened [or cut off sex workers] and platforms [for non-sexual content or even medical fundraisers]…But Musk’s boutique revenge porn and CSAM generator is, apparently, just fine…

 

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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In the News (#1607)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The willful use of such an error-prone technology suggests that the appearance of a process is more important than accuracy.  –  Chris Gilliard

If Men Were Angels

The problem isn’t Catholicism, Christianity, or even religion; it’s teaching kids to blindly submit to authority:

…a Roman Catholic priest…[named] Korey LaVergne was jailed…on [January 16th for child molestation]…the…arrest comes at a relatively fragile time for the Lafayette diocese, which…[has] disclosed its “total range of potential loss on [pending child molestation] claims…is $88,187,500 to $162,450,000”…A Lafayette diocese priest named Gilbert Gauthe effectively brought the decades-old, worldwide Catholic clergy abuse crisis to the US by pleading guilty in 1985 to molesting several boys…

A Moral Cancer (#1030)

Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:

…Arizona [politicians want to make]…amyl nitrates — commonly known as “poppers” — illegal in the state, [criminalizing mere possession of] a substance long sold in a legal gray area and closely associated with LGBT…nightlife and sexual culture.  House Bill 2191…would also ban the sale of nitrous oxide, often called “laughing gas”…The proposal [appears to be a spinoff of increased] federal scrutiny of poppers…[including raids on] several manufacturers…[by] the FDA…[because the psychopathic] Robert F. Kennedy Jr…has repeatedly promoted the scientifically disproven claim that poppers — rather than HIV — caused AIDS…

If Men Were Angels (#1477)

Cop and preacher is like the molester equivalent of a full house:

A [typical and representative cop paid to lurk in schools in order to spy on, persecute, and intimidate students in] Colorado was [also a preacher]…Rubel “Tim” Martinez…was arrested [for repeatedly molesting a student]…from 2014 to 2016…and [has now been convicted]…Martinez [also]…ran an after-school clown club…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1571)

Government thugs don’t care how many false positives these systems shit out:

When…ICE…[goons subjected one of their victims to their] facial recognition app [without her consent], it returned two different and incorrect names, [demonstrating that]…the[ir] app…called Mobile Fortify, [is just as error-prone as all facial recognition software]…de[spite utterly ridiculous claims that it]…should be trusted over a birth certificate…“ICE has treated Mobile Fortify like it’s a 100% accurate record retrieval system of everybody’s immigration status for the entire population of the U.S. when this is obviously not true, and could never be true from a technical perspective,” [said] Cooper Quintin…[of] the Electronic Frontier Foundation…The [victim,] a 45-year-old woman who court records call MJMA…is now suing ICE and being represented by attorneys from the Innovation Law Lab…

Shame, Shame (#1597)

Zuckerberg flushed $77 billion down a “virtual” toilet:

After years of failing to produce a profitable [virtual] reality platform, [Facebook] is pounding one of the final nails into the coffin of its metaverse efforts — the ones that were once so central to its vision that it renamed the entire company after them…[it is] laying off some 1,500 employees from its Reality Labs division…[and] three VR game studios were shuttered, though [its]…online VR game platform…is still running…in a diminished capacity…

Torture Chamber (#1601)

A convenient way to cover up wanton murder:

Under the law, ICE is required to provide necessary medical care for [its victims]…While [it] employs some of its own medical staff, it often uses third-party providers…ICE, however, has not paid any third-party providers for medical care for detainees since October 3, 2025…[and has] announc[ed] it will not begin processing such claims until at least April 30, 2026…[this] has [understandably] caused…medical providers to deny services to ICE [victims]…ICE [told inquiring reporters to fuck off]…

Torture Chamber (#1606)

Government violence claims another victim:

A Nicaraguan immigrant [captur]ed by ICE [goons] in Minneapolis has become the third [victim] to die at [Concentration] Camp East Montana in El Paso…Victor Manuel Diaz…was…[supposedly found] dead on Wednesday, Jan. 14…ICE…[is calling it a] suicide…[but the same thing was claimed about] Geraldo Lunas Campos…[when goons murdered him] on Jan. 3…At least six migrants have died…in [US concentration camps]…since Jan. 1…

 

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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In the News (#1581)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[“]AI[“]…is beginning to resemble one of the great speculative manias of market history.  –  Karim Moussalem

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A North Carolina…[politician nam]ed Cecil Brockman…was arrested on [October 8th for child molestation and]…statutory rape…[before his court appearance the next day,] Brockman suffered [a panic attack and]…was taken to a local hospital…his…party is calling for Brockman to resign…[so] the[y can]…pick a replacement..[but] if Brockman doesn’t resign, the[y will probably]…impeach…[him]…

Buried Truth

Yet another example of McNeill’s Law:

A [politician] leading a campaign to ban pornography in Michigan appears to have had an account on a pornographic hook-up website that promised users they could “find sex” and “get laid tonight”…Josh Schriver…has called porn a “scourge” and compared it to heroin…but…an account linked to his personal AOL email address appeared in a data breach from Fling.com…[where his] profile indicat[es] sexual interests including “fetish” and “groupsex”…

A Moral Cancer (#1515)

Prohibitionists never tire of treating adults like children:

In 2015, Oregon [politicians impos]ed a law that prohibited the sale of vaping products “packaged in a manner that is attractive to minors”…The resulting regulations offer a “non-exclusive list” of packaging features that the OHA deemed “likely to appeal to minors,” including images of “food or beverages…such as candy, desserts, soda, [and] food or beverages with sweet flavors including fruit or alcohol.” Also forbidden: “terms or descriptive words for flavors that are likely to appeal to minors such as tart, tangy, sweet, cool, fire, ice, lit, spiked, poppin’, juicy, candy, desserts, soda, [and] sweet flavors including fruit, or alcohol flavors.”  The premise of these rules is that such flavors [never] appeal to…adult smokers looking for a less hazardous form of nicotine consumption…[but] adults who switch from smoking to vaping overwhelmingly prefer the flavors that the OHA views as juvenile…The…regulations require vape shops to actively conceal information that their customers want…[by censoring] labels…[which] means customers must ask employees for information that ordinarily would be on the label…a state appeals court [has] rul[ed] that the law…is “unconstitutional on its face”…

Shame, Shame (#1525)

Zuckerberg’s sleaziness has no bottom:

Strike 3 Holdings, a company that…makes [adult videos it describes as] “high quality,” “feminist,” and “ethical”…is suing [Facebook]…for…infringing its copyright-protected content [by] using it to train [machine learning systems]…since 2018…[Facebook’s] motive was partly to obtain otherwise difficult-to-scrape visual angles, parts of the human body, and extended, uninterrupted scenes—rare in mainstream movies and TV—to help it create what Mark Zuckerberg [absurdly] calls [artificial] “superintelligence”…[Facebook] used the BitTorrent protocol to download and distribute [2,396 of Strike 3’s copyright-protected porn videos], which is illegal…[and] made [the] videos accessible to minors…since BitTorrent does not have age verification…

Thought Control (#1546)

The only way to stop these maniacs is to hit them where it hurts most:

A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an [attempt to censor] books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes…will be paid $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.  Terri Lesley was fired…[by] Campbell County in 2023, two years into the [censorship crusade]…P[oliticians collud]ed with the [wannabe censors] and violated Lesley’s First Amendment rights…[but the] board…[l]ied…claim[ing she was fired for incompetence]…Lesley’s attorney, Iris Halpern…and her firm, Rathod Mohamedbhai in Denver, have supported fired library employees elsewhere in recent years.  Under the settlement agreement, Lesley is dropping her lawsuit, though a separate lawsuit she has filed against [the] three [wannabe censors]…will continue…

The Cop Myth (#1570)

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

A [typical and representative Tennessee cop] has been indicted…on federal charges [for violently attack]ing his estranged girlfriend…Alan James Greenman…was initially arrested Aug. 21…[the day after he barged into] her apartment complex at 6:25 a.m. [while wearing his magical clown costume]…he…accused her of cheating on him and demanded to see her cellphone.  She told [him] to leave and [he responded by destroying her]…television…and…cellphone…he…[then threw] her…onto the bed…[and] punched her in the head multiple times…she tried to leave [but] Greenman [threatened] her…[with his] gun…[saying] “I’m going to fucking kill you”…he [then went on a rampage, destroying] her belongings…[until she managed to escape with] her [toddler] son…[the Clarksville cop shop] has sensors on their duty holsters that activate their p[igmobile’s] in-car camera when the weapon is drawn…the camera…captured…her [escape] and [his subsequent confession]…to…an unknown male…when [cops later] searched the [victim’s] apartment, they found Greenman hiding under clothing in [her] bedroom closet with his personally owned pistol[, apparently planning to ambush and murder her when she returned]…

Mad Libs (#1571)

These algorithms are not only unintelligent; they are making those who believe in them stupid as well:

The Bank of England [is]…warning of an intensifying risk of a “sudden correction” in global financial markets driven by the spending frenzy on [machine learning]…it’s the…clearest warning yet that we could be on the precipice of an [economic] disaster…the…[“]AI[“] bubble…[is] 17 times the size of the dotcom-era bubble and four times bigger than the 2008 financial crisis…only a measly five percent of [machine learning] pilot programs…succeed…with the vast majority falling flat.  Yet [the mania]…now accounts for roughly 40 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product…[so when] the…spending boom falls apart, it could take down the entire economy with it…

 

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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In the News (#1575)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

So-called “quality of life” policing is…literally costing lives. – Meghna Philip

Perquisites

Are amateurs really so sheltered that this sort of thing shocks them?

Top executives of [RCI Hospitality Holdings, the] company that owns [Rick’s Cabaret and other] strip clubs across the [US,] sent a New York state auditor on at least 13 free trips to Florida, lavishing him with lap dances in Miami…In exchange for the favors, RCI settled audits for less than it owed, in total avoiding $8 million in taxes…[now an] indictment…[has] charged six men — five executives and the auditor — and three RCI-owned strip clubs in Manhattan with 79 crimes between 2010 and 2024…the executives falsified business records to conceal the bribes, recording cash payments to the auditor as promotional expenses for the clubs…

Droit du Seigneur (#350)

Prosecutors dragged their feet so much, it took 13 years for this to get from accusation to plea bargain:

[Typical and representative Washington DC cop] Linwood Barnhill…[has] pleaded guilty…to sex trafficking a minor…Barnhill…[pimp]ed minor girls…[making] over $10,000…from one of…his victims…Barnhill…is already a registered sex offender…[he was first accused in the current case in September 2012 and rewarded with a paid vacation, but nothing else was done until he was actually caught on December 3, 2013, with a teen girl who had been reported missing]…

I Can’t Breathe (#1439)

Due to the complicity of medical examiners, it’s impossible to know how many of these were murders:

Deaths in NYPD custody have surged to levels not seen in at least a decade, with 40 people dying in 2023 and 2024 combined — roughly double the toll of any two-year period since at least 2016…One of those deaths was…Christopher Nieves, who collapsed repeatedly inside a Brooklyn courthouse holding cell last month after being arrested for allegedly shoplifting food.  His Legal Aid attorney frantically pleaded with [cops] to take him to a hospital as his skin yellowed and his body gave out[, but the cops just yelled “Stop faking!’ at him repeatedly until] he collapsed and died a few hours later…two [of the deaths, those of Saniyah Cheatham in July and Musa Cetin in August, were claimed to be] suicides [bu]t…families and advocates [have questioned] that…one…case…where the police claimed no force was used was the [death] of…Samuel Williams…but [in reality cops intentionally]…veered [their pigmobile] into his lane [on a narrow bridge so]…Williams’ [motorcycle would] collide with [it]…and go soaring through the air…Williams died from those injuries the following day…

A Moral Cancer (#1497)

Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:

In 2023, New York [state] raised its cigarette excise tax…to $5.35 per pack.  New York City imposes its own tax of $1.50 per pack, and that’s before you include federal and sales taxes, making for the most expensive smokes in the country…at…about $12 [a pack.  Prohibitionists]…hailed the increase, [pretend]ing it [would] lead to fewer smokers…[but in reality] “New York has created a cigarette-smuggling empire, and the worst is yet to come,” [said economist] Todd Nesbit…even before the…hike, more than half of cigarettes sold in the state of New York lacked local tax stamps and were smuggled from elsewhere…[but a new] study found that in 2024, the percentage of littered packs bearing the proper NYC tax stamp declined to 16.6%.  Georgia [taxed at 37¢/pack] surpassed Virginia [taxed at 60¢/pack] as the primary source of littered cigarettes…only about one cigarette pack of every six gathered by the research team in New York City passed through legal channels…[and many] bypassed the legal and taxed supply chain [entirely, bearing no tax stamp at all]…

A Broker in Pillage (#1559)

What would you call a gang who conspired to rob an old woman with dementia?

…a 91-year-old Pennsylvania woman has lost her home—and all of its worth—over a small tax debt…In 2020, Gloria Gaynor (not the disco queen) forewent her yearly trip to the tax office during COVID-19…Gaynor’s faculties noticeably declined around then…[she] returned in 2021 to pay her property taxes…under the impression that…the government would apply her money toward the previous year. Instead, it went to 2021, and her…$3,500 bill ultimately reached $14,419 with penalties, interest, and fees.  The government sold that debt to a real estate firm, the CJD Group, which then [legally stole] the deed to the home…a…2023 Supreme Court case…ruled home equity theft illegal…But…governments are getting around it…by selling properties for the value of the debt—instead of putting it on the market or selling it at auction—so…the…excess equity [goes] to…a private company…CJD Group…has acquired 62 deeds from [just that one] county…since 2011 and…the issue…isn’t limited to Pennsylvania…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1570)

These people are so drunk on their own Kool-aid they can’t see the problem with letting a defective algorithm act as its own gatekeeper:

OpenAI has announced it is introducing new safety measures for ChatGPT after [it caused] a wave of…teen suicide[s]…ChatGPT will now attempt to guess a user’s age, and in some cases might require users to share an ID…OpenAI [has been] sued by the parents of Adam Raine, who died by suicide in April…ChatGPT helped him write…his suicide note, suggested improvements on his methods, ignored early attempts and self-harm, and urged him not to talk to adults…In August…a 56-year-old man…committed a murder-suicide…after ChatGPT indulged his paranoia…[and] another lawsuit…[was filed by the parents of] a 13-year-old girl…[who was encouraged by a fictional-character chatbot to hide her] suicid[al ideation from friends and family]…ChatGPT will now also apply different rules to…[people it guesses] are…under…18 [by calling the cops on them if they seem] suicidal…

Walled Garden (#1573)

This “monkey see, monkey do” parade is now parading around the world:

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva…signed into law new rules [demanding surveillance of all Brazilians who] use…social media, online video games and other digital services…[without a VPN, under the typical cl]aim of [“]protecting children[“]…“Freedom of expression is…an excuse for committing crimes in the digital world,” he said…

 

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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In the News (#1535)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I’m going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind. – Donald Trump

Girls, Girls, Girls! (#517)

Every experienced sex worker knows the signs:

Indicators like a decline in business at brothels, lower tips for strippers and other nontraditional measures…can tell us a lot about the economy’s health…business at [one European] brothel…is down…“We’re seeing clients come in less often, try to negotiate lower prices or stop visiting altogether…more clients are going for the cheapest possible service”…said [the manager]…Legal brothels in the U.S. are seeing…revenue…down roughly 20% since last quarter…Strip club revenue in Vegas is down about 12%…

Secret Squirrel (#916)

Modern monogamy is becoming increasingly sick:

…the RAW Ring…[i]s a “dystopian loyalty tracker” that [is marketed to] help [jealous spouses] catch a cheating partner in the act.  It’s not a product that actually exists yet, but the idea was developed by the folks behind RAW, a dating app that aims to cut down on catfishing and ghosting by making its users upload unfiltered, real-time, dual-camera selfies…RAW…CEO Marina Anderson [made the warped assertion that]…“The ring…[can] give couples more ways to explore each other’s feelings on a deeper level and build more trust”…The [gadget] will have an optical sensor to measure heart rate and heart rate variability, a skin temperature sensor, plus an accelerometer and gyroscope for detecting movement.  It will also have a noise-cancelling MEMs microphone to analyze voice tone….[and] will utilize a [magical truth computer that lives in]…the cloud to do “deeper trend analysis”…

I cannot imagine even living like this, much less believing the looking-glass concept that it will “build trust”.

A Moral Cancer (#1169)

The claim that certain foods can take “time off one’s life” isn’t new, but this absurd specificity is increasingly popular with crypto-moralists:

As you add more ultraprocessed foods to your diet, your risk of a premature death from any cause rises, according to…Carlos Augusto Monteiro…[the person] who coined the term “ultraprocessed” in 2009…and [claims food can be]…“habit-forming”…[similar studies have blamed “]ultraprocessed food[” for]…cardiovascular disease…mental disorders…anxiety…obesity…sleep disorders…diabetes…depression…cancer…cognitive decline and stroke…

Shame, Shame (#1407)

The latest attempt to wreck the internet by barfing the magic words “revenge porn” at websites:

…the TAKE IT DOWN Act…[w]ould…give politicians another tool with which to pressure technology companies into doing their bidding….[by] mak[ing] it a federal crime to publish “any [real or computer-generated fake] intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual” online…[unless the violator is a cop, spook]…or other government actor [trying to destroy people’s lives via deception]…The bill would require online platforms to establish a notice and removal regime similar to those [commonly ab]used for [supposed] copyright infringement…the measure [is]…easily wielded as a jawboning tool…[and] easily susceptible to corrupt uses, such as removing images embarrassing to politicians…”The bill is so bad that even the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative…has come out with a statement saying that…it cannot support this bill due to its many, many inherent problems,” notes Mike Masnick at Techdirt…

I Spy (#1450) 

It’s long past time to rethink the safety of the US mail:

The law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service has quietly begun co[llabor]ating with federal immigration officials to locate people [Trump’s stooges accuse] of being in the country illegally…Immigration officials are seeking photographs of the outside of envelopes and packages…and access to the postal investigation agency’s broad surveillance systems…The agency [appears to be conspiring with] the administration [due to threats] that it could seize control of the Postal Service…

Shame, Shame (#1502)

Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

Facebook…Platforms [including Instagram and WhatsApp are] racing to popularize a new class of…c[hatbot]s that Mark Zuckerberg believes will be the future of social media…[despite] concerns [within] the company …[that] these bots may have crossed ethical lines…by quietly endowing [imaginary] personas with the capacity for fantasy sex…[even with] underage users…To boost the popularity of these souped-up chatbots, Meta has cut deals for up to seven-figures with celebrities like actresses Kristen Bell and Judi Dench and wrestler-turned-actor John Cena for the rights to use their voices…[pretending] that it would prevent their voices from being used in sexually explicit discussions…[even though] test conversations with s[uch] bots…found that…to [be a lie]…The bots demonstrated [having been programmed with the information]* that the [simulated] behavior was both…illegal…[and considered by the majority to be morally wrong, but do it any]way…[because] Zuckerberg [and his henchmen] made multiple internal decisions to loosen the guardrails around the bots to make them as engaging as possible…

*I had to edit The Wall Street Journal‘s line, “The bots demonstrated awareness that…” because the statement is nonsense; computer programs are not self-aware, despite advertising claims to the contrary.

I Spy (#1520)

Alas, car manufacturers’ lawsuit settlements only apply to their selling data to those who don’t want to violently destroy people’s lives:

Automakers are increasingly pushing consumers to accept monthly and annual fees to unlock pre-installed [“]safety[“] and performance features…increas[ing] drivers’ exposure to government surveillance and the likelihood of being [targeted for] police [harassment.  Cop shops]…regularly train…on how to take advantage of “connected cars,” with subscription-based features drastically increasing the amount of data…[in response to big lawsuits] GM…now requires a court order before handing over location data…[but] other car manufacturers [vary] in the[ir willingness to snitch on customers, with]…Ford [being especially eager to rat people out for trivial bullshit]…when [try]ing [to pin] a crime…[on any convenient victim, cops] commonly rely on a procedure known as a “tower dump” [to]…identify virtually any devices that have connected to a specific cell tower during a certain window of time…The…technique is becoming increasingly unpopular in US courts…[and] a Fifth Circuit ruling last year…recognized] that a warrant to “geofence” an area and [spy on] a wide variety of in[nocent citizens] is inherently unconstitutional.  On the back of that…a federal magistrate in Mississippi ruled two months ago that tower dumps are likewise unconstitutional…[and] Google…announced technical changes to its software last year, making it effectively impossible to respond to these types of warrants…

 

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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In the News (#1520)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

With a data set of any size, you can always find a pattern…all you have to do is ignore other information.  –  Jennifer Granick

A Moral Cancer (#1356)

Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:

New York politician…Brad Hoylman-Sigal…[wants] to outlaw…nicotine pouches…[which] contain a derived version of the…compound that tobacco users crave without the carcinogenic sluff that comes with cigarettes and smokeless tobacco…Nicotine pouches contain no tobacco leaf and no known carcinogens.  They just deliver nicotine—potentially addictive, yes, but not known to be inherently harmful…According to the FDA, these products met the public health standard legally required by the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act…[but] Hoylman-Sigal [wants cops to have more excuses for destroying lives, so he barfs “THE CHILDREN!” at anyone who opposes his scheme]…

I Spy (#1452) 

Cop excuses produced by human bootlickers are bad enough:

Cellebrite, the company which makes near ubiquitous phone hacking and forensics technology [ab]used by [cop shops] around the world, has introduced [machine learning] capabilities into its products, including summarizing chat logs or audio messages from s[tolen] mobile phones…“[Computer] results…are not transparent…you cannot trace back where a conclusion came from, or what information it is based on”…[said] Jennifer Granick…[of] the…ACLU…“The Fourth Amendment does not permit [cops] to rummage through data, but only to review information for which there is probable cause….you are not allowed to fish through [all available] data on a hunch, in the hopes of finding something”…Cellebrite’s newly announced capabilities sound somewhat similar to Draft One, a tool from contracting giant Axon…[which] uses [algorithms] to automatically generate police reports from bodycam audio….

Follow Your Bliss (#1456)

Beware of men who “volunteer” to be in positions of authority over your kids:

A Bentonville [Arkansas]…church…volunteer…[named] Andrew Apple…[has been] arrested…[for] child [molestation after a boy Apple molested in autumn of 2023 reported him on]…Feb. 1…[to the church’s credit] the report was relayed to [cops] that same day.  A second person later [reported Apple]…to another church staff member…

The Last Shall Be First (#1470) 

The only sure way to keep personal data from being abused by psychopaths with government titles is not to collect it in the first place:

Florida’s insurance regulator has demanded an unusually intrusive trove of data on millions of prescription drugs filled in the state last year, including the names of patients taking the medications, their dates of birth and doctors they’ve seen.  The [politicized] office…sought this information from pharmacy benefit managers…companies that oversee prescription drugs for employers and government programs….[and is pretending] the state required the data to review whether the benefit managers…were compliant with a 2023 state law aimed at lowering drug prices…But…“You don’t need such granular patient information for purposes of oversight,” said Sharona Hoffman, a health law and privacy expert…[so it seems likely] the government [is] actually trying to get information about reproductive care…transgender care…[and] mental health care…Federal privacy law allows benefit managers to hand over limited data about individual patients in certain circumstances…But…Florida’s [demand] could violate the law because it is so broad and…go[es well] beyond what the regulator needs to conduct [any legal and legitimate] review…

Creepy Coppers (#1472)

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

A Detroit [cop named Earl Anderson was fired and arrested] for [attempting to groom] his 12-year-old stepdaughter [via]…text messages…[after he threatened] “to take [her on] a family trip”…[and] offered to get [her] a second phone…[with] a new number…[so her real] father, [Brandyn] Harris, [couldn’t see their texts]…the [girl]…reported the messages to her aunt…[who told] Harris…[who in turn] told…the [cops]…

Torture Chamber (#1501)

The government calls this “correction”; for journalists to parrot that ugly euphemism is a choice:

[New York] State Police are investigating the [murder] of a prisoner…in a…central New York prison [adjacent to another prison] where another [human being] was…[recently] beaten [to death] by guards in [an attack that even their own union called “incomprehensible”]…Officials did not identify the [new victim, whom]…nine [witnesses saw]…brutally beaten [to death] by [screws]…amid a mounting crisis in the New York State prison system, where…thousands of [screws are]…on strike since Feb. 17 — without the backing of their union and in defiance of a judge’s order — to protest…the…state…[not letting them torture people as they want to, and]…to try to distract attention from [December’s] beating death of [Robert] Brooks…

I Spy (#1507)

Maybe a few more big lawsuits will teach these corporate busybodies a lesson:

General Motors is facing yet another legal battle over…illegally [selling] driver data to third parties, who then provided it to insurers…to use [as an excuse] to raise premiums or deny coverage…GM has been [thus illegally] selling driver data since 2015…Unlike [other corporations’] telematics programs that [at least nominally] require users to opt in by installing a device, GM allegedly collected this data without explicit consent…consumers were misled into believing OnStar primarily enhanced vehicle safety and performance, while in reality, it was used to generate revenue through data sales…In January, the automaker settled [a similar suit] with the Federal Trade Commission …[serial lawsuit abuser] Ken Paxton filed a [similar]…suit…in August 2024…[and] 27 class-action lawsuits…have been consolidated into a multi-district litigation case…

 

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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In the News (#1515)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

To automate the surveillance of lots of innocent people…is really corrosive.  –  Nathan Freed Wessler

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1346) 

Remember, this isn’t “human trafficking”, but consensual sex is:

The U.S. is deporting [non-white] migrants from nations in Africa and Asia to [a concentration camp in] Panama, a major diplomatic [atrocity] for the Trump administration…The…[victims] included adults and families with children…Another U.S. military flight to Panama…deport[ed] more Asian migrants, in addition to some African deportees…from Cameroon…Panama’s foreign ministry confirmed it received…the [prisoners] under a…[shady deal] with the Trump [regime] that allows the U.S. to deport non-Panamanians to the Central American country.  The [victims]…included 119 deportees from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.  The costs of the deportations under the agreement will be covered by the U.S…

Stalkers in Blue (#1442)

Cops are nothing more than state-sponsored terrorists:

…cameras hidden in unmarked boxes have appeared on utility poles outside the Atlanta homes of some people connected to the movement against the police training center known as “Cop City”…after several years of ongoing state surveillance [and harassment] of [activists]…including [cops] following people…and blasting sirens outside bedroom windows at 3am…Three of the cameras are pointed at homes that Atlanta police, the FBI and the…ATF, jointly raided in February of last year, [using the excuse of] arsons of police motorcycles.  One camera is pointed at a cultural and social center.  Georgia Power, the utility company that owns the poles, [said] the boxes are not their property.  The FBI and the ATF denied any knowledge of them…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1471)

Cop “magic fentanyl” hysteria has escaped the US:

Two Ottawa [cops] were hospitalized after [having panic attacks over] fentanyl and crystal meth…In the early hours of February 5, 2025, a…[hysterical cop] was taken to the hospital after [having a panic attacks due to seeing] fentanyl during a traffic stop…Fortunately…[for the big crybaby, fentanyl has no effect from casual exposure]…Only three days later, an[other hysterical cop stole]…crystal meth from a [man] he a[ttack]ed and started feeling nauseous and lightheaded [even though methamphetamine also has no effect from casual exposure]…These incidents highlight the li[berty]-threatening risk [copaganda about] fentanyl and other drugs pose to [the citizens of Western nations]…

A Moral Cancer (#1497)

A dangerous new front in the Drug War has claimed another victim:

…the owner of a Ma[ssachusetts] vape shop has pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted tax evasion arising from the sale of e-cigarettes brought in from across state borders.  He was sentenced to [be locked in a filthy cage like an animal for] six months…and [spend] five years [on] probation.  In 2020, Massachusetts became the first state to implement a comprehensive ban on all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes.  Violation…is only a misdemeanor, but since flavored tobacco products are sold on the illicit market, sellers simultaneously violate state tax law…a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.  Criminal justice reformers have warned for years that flavor bans would encourage illicit markets, creating felony crimes in the process…

You Were Warned (#1497)

A blatantly-unconstitutional law is sort of suspended by an unconstitutional order:

Apple and Google [have] restored TikTok to their app stores in the United States…[mere] weeks after they removed the short-form video platform in compliance with a new law that banned it in the country.  [Emperor] Trump tried to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban with a…[royal edict], but the companies were reluctant to bring TikTok back [because Trump doesn’t actually have the power to suspend duly-enacted]…law…

I Spy (#1500)

Cops everywhere are moral imbeciles, and those who facilitate their evil are enemies of humanity:

Italian spyware maker SIO, known to sell its products to government customers, is behind a series of malicious Android apps that masquerade as WhatsApp and other popular apps but steal private data from a target’s device…Italy has been embroiled in an ongoing scandal involving the…use of a sophisticated spying tool made by Israeli spyware maker Paragon…[to spy on] a journalist and two founders of an NGO that helps and rescues immigrants in the Mediterranean…the [SIO] spyware…used a more pedestrian hacking technique: developing and distributing malicious Android apps that pretend to be popular apps like WhatsApp, and customer support tools provided by cellphone providers…the…spyware…is called Spyrtacus…[and] can steal text messages, as well as chats from Facebook Messenger, Signal, and WhatsApp; exfiltrate contacts information; record phone calls and ambient audio via the device’s microphone, and imagery via the device’s cameras; among other functions that serve surveillance purposes…

Thought Control (#1512)

Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only threatening librarians and teachers:

…the priggish, puritanical prudes who insist that a cabal of librarians and teachers are trying to turn our children gay with books…would have us believe that they’re just out to protect kids…[but] the legislation they’ve proposed isn’t just about kids, and it’s not just about public libraries and schools…Senate Bill 2307…would amend…North Dakota’s criminal code to [criminalize]…”displays at newsstands or any other business establishment…any…book…or [other media politicians decide to point at while barfing]…’sex, lust, or perversion'”…your local bookstore…would…[either have to ban] minors…[or else any book that could be considered remotely “adult” would] have to be sealed or hidden lest a [17-year-old university freshman] take [one] off the shelf and [be instantly “sexualized”]…the…bill sponsors….[previously] introduced a bill with the [same] language…during the 2023 legislative session…and [it] was only prevented from becoming law by a veto from former Gov. Doug Burgum…

 

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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In the News (#1510)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Women are not children [who]…need people making decisions for us.  –  Julie Burkhart

I Spy (#990)

The only way to keep data from being misused by state enforcers is not to collect it in the first place:

California [cops] improperly accessed a state database of private information more than 7,000 times in 2023…the EFF discovered…that…[cop shops] reported 7,275 misuses of the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, or CLETS, to the state Department of Justice in 2023.  The vast majority of those offenses were committed by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department…which was responsible for 6,789 of the violations…Because of the amount of sensitive information on CLETS, there are rules about when and why [cops] can use it, as well as requiring mandatory reporting of abuses…[which] include cops using it to look up information on romantic interests or retaliate against rivals…[an unknown but presumably much larger number of abuses were never caught and therefore went unreported]…

A Moral Cancer (#1388)

Trump is the proverbial stopped clock:

…Trump’s…[FDA has] withdraw[n] the…proposal to ban menthol tobacco and nicotine products nationwide…[introduced] in 2022 [by] the Biden…FDA…the administration quickly backed off its public endorsement of the prohibition after realizing how unpopular the proposed bans were with voters.  It never took the steps needed to withdraw the proposed rules, however…The…administration said it was targeting…black adults [in particular for this new campaign of violence]…

A Moral Cancer (#1395)

Will progressives ever stop cheering police violence in the name of “public health”?

Newton [Massachusetts politicians] voted to approve an ordinance…that [criminalize]s the sale of tobacco or e-cigarette products to anyone born on, or after, March 1, 2004…joining the busybody politicians of] Brookline, Needham and 10 other Massachusetts communities with similar so-called “generational bans” on tobacco…the state’s high court backed the town’s right to [inflict police violence on people who break the arbitrary] rule last March…David Micley voted against the measure[, saying]…“there’s a cost to taking…away people’s individual choices”…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1409)

The censorious lunatic who tried to criminalize “sexting” last year is at it again:

An Oklahoma [politician is once again trying to]…ban pornography in the entire state…Dusty Deevers [attempted to justify his totalitarian violence by spinning his head wildly around while vomiting idiocies and buzzwords including]…“moral sanity”…“degenerate”…”highly addictive drug”…“innocence”…”plague”…[and] “locked away for decades” [at reporters]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1459)

In a just court system, facial recognition “evidence” would be as inadmissible as polygraph results:

An Ohio judge threw out key evidence in a murder case…because the prosecution improperly relied on facial recognition technology…Blake Story was shot in Cleveland last February, and police used surveillance footage taken six days later to [hang] the killing [on] Qeyeon Tolbert…[by running] the video…[through] a regional fusion center[‘s subscription to] Clearview…[no human identified] Tolbert without…Clearview…[and the cops hid the fact that they used it] in the search warrant affidavit which ultimately allowed them to enter Tolbert’s apartment…[without] probable cause…Clearview includes a disclaimer in its reports warning [cops] that its findings are not “intended or permitted” to be used as admissible evidence…The Cleveland case is [good] news for [victims of] prosecutors around the country [because] police are increasingly using facial recognition…to arrest [people]…without any a[ctu]al evidence…

Torture Chamber (ROTW #13)

The government calls this “justice”; for journalists to parrot that is a choice:

…a…350 pound…[mutant screw named Tyler Grant Lynn was given free reign to terrorize legally-innocent]…teen-aged boys…[by] twist[ing their]…arms over their heads [until they broke].  The snap of one boy’s fracturing left humerus…could be heard by the…microphone on a security camera mounted 40 feet away.  An administrator at the [Kentucky jail] who saw the boy’s arm hanging awkwardly later [yelled “stop faking!” at him]…despite [a politician’s] promises…and…a federal civil rights investigation, [subhuman thugs] continue…to [brutalize young people]…The boys were given ibuprofen…after [reporting] their broken arms…[to] a nurse…[who refused] to examine the[m and instead just yelled “stop faking!” at them]…The boys were [finally] taken to a Paducah hospital three days later…The second boy needed surgery to put metal plates in his arm to repair the damage…

The Vultures Descend (#1493)

Because abortion is protected by the Wyoming constitution, forced-birth fanatics keep framing their attempts as “keeping women safe”:

Two bills that would [make abortion more difficult and odious have] passed [a Wyoming committee]…One would…use the [“admitting privileges” scam to] clos[e] Wyoming’s only [abortion] clinic…the other [uses bogus “environmental” concerns to humiliate women using abortion drugs by forcing them]…to [bleed into a bag marked “BIOHAZARD”]…and return the tissue to their physician for disposal…Wellspring [Health Access] founder Julie Burkhart said…it was “within the realm of possibility” that attorneys representing Wellspring would file a lawsuit against HB 42 if it passes the Senate and is signed by the governor…and…the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not find any evidence that mifepristone was significantly contaminating waterways more than any other pharmaceutical drug…

 

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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In the News (#1507)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 25, 2025| 1 Comment »

There is no legal mechanism…that allows [the government] to intervene while a fetus remains in somebody’s body.  –  Harrison Stark

Property of the State (#431) 

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

The Vermont Department for Children and Families went to extraordinary and illegal lengths to [abduct a newborn] from its mother…aided by a…[secret surveillance] program that monitors the pregnancies of multiple Vermonters, [provoking] a new lawsuit…[from] the…ACLU…[centering] the case of one mother, identified only as A.V., in which [bureaucratic busybodies]…used confidential medical information to [get a judge to grant permission to abduct] her daughter before she had even given birth…[including] a court order for the hospital to [violate her body by] perform[ing] a caesarean section [against her will]…DCF [abducted] the infant…immediately after she was born…only to have the child returned by court order months later…the [ordeal began when] A.V. temporarily moved from her…apartment to…a homeless shelter…[whose] executive director…[took it up on herself to report “]concerns about her mental health[” to]…DCF…[which] conducted an “assessment” of A.V…[including snooping into her] confidential [medical] records…without A.V.’s knowledge or participation…“Tragically, A.V.’s experience is not unique,” the suit reads. “She is only one of many expectant Vermonters who have been ensnared in DCF’s speculative surveillance and brazen intervention into their pregnancy and birthing plans”…

O, Canada! (#934)

Canadian cops still use long-debunked “sex trafficking” tropes to sell their grotesque sex worker intimidation tactics:

“The goal today is to save and rescue people from human trafficking,” [oinked a herd of silly pigs and sows at credulous “reporters”, before moving on to a whole lot of propaganda long past its sell-by date, including words and phrases like]…trafficking victims can…be…put on a circuit…human trafficking is…growing…“in Calgary…everywhere you look someone’s being trafficked”…“It’s the second biggest crime”…“I use a…program called Traffic Jam”…“The crown means most likely they’re being trafficked“…ALERT calls [lying to women trying to earn a living] “interventions”…They are on the lookout for a trafficker who might be waiting and watching…

These wanking fantasies are so 2012, I checked the date on the story several times.  Perhaps it fell down behind a file cabinet and when it was recently found, somebody decided to just print it anyway?

A Moral Cancer (#1249)

The government is intentionally trying to create a black market so as to start a horrific new front in the drug war:

…the Biden administration [recently] proposed a rule that would effectively ban cigarettes by requiring a drastic reduction in nicotine content…to 0.7 milligrams of nicotine per gram of tobacco.  That cap technically complies with a federal law that bars the FDA from banning tobacco products or “requiring the reduction of nicotine yields…to zero.”  But the negligible amount of nicotine allowed under the rule would amount to both in practice…current smokers would be apt to inhale more deeply, take more or bigger puffs, or consume more cigarettes to get the nicotine dose to which they are accustomed, which would increase their exposure to the toxins and carcinogens in tobacco smoke…If “NNC cigarettes” are added to the list of proscribed drugs, we can expect many more examples of people entangled in the criminal justice system…it is unclear wh[at] Trump’s pick to run the FDA, Marty Makary…thinks about the nicotine cap…

The Mob Rules (#1436)

Forced-birth fanatics are now actively attempting to empower abusive men:

As [forced-birth fanatic]s launch legal efforts to stop abortion pills from reaching women in states with bans, they are increasingly turning to one group with uniquely intimate and specific information to help them find cases: [abusive] male sex partners of women who decided to end their pregnancies.  The strategy [has] propelled a…lawsuit filed last month by [serial legal system abuser] Ken Paxton that cited first-hand information from an [abusive partner] to accuse a New York doctor of illegally providing abortion pills to a woman in the Dallas area…Paxton’s office…[i]s…searching for potential plaintiffs [for similar opportunistic lawsuits, and]…next month…Texas’s largest [forced-birth] organization [will] launch…an advertising campaign on Facebook and [Twitter] to reach the [abusive] husbands, boyfriends and sex partners of women who [want revenge on]…those who assisted the women in ending their pregnancies…The effort is the latest indication that, nearly three years after the fall of Roe v. Wade…[sociopath]s have remained largely stymied in their quest to [force women to give birth whether they like it or not so as to create more tax cattle for the State]…

Opting Out (#1438)

It was inevitable that British politicians would join the currently-fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parade:

Websites that host porn…or other…content [bureaucrats choose to point at while belching out the word “harmful”] must have “robust” age verification in place for UK users by July at the latest, Ofcom has [proclaimed]…services which host their own pornographic content “must begin taking steps immediately” to bring in age checks.  Other “user-to-user” services, such as social media, which allow porn…and…other…content [politicians dislike], will have to enforce the age checks by July…the new [demands are] “the next step” in implementing the Online Safety Act, [but will not remotely be the last]…

Checklist (#1489)

Airlines:  do you really want to keep accepting liability for employees harassing passengers due to the government propaganda you force-feed them?

A Black [cop is suing American airlines because] he was falsely accused of trafficking his wife, who is White…while on their way to…their honeymoon…Anthony Williams…and his wife…Katsiaryna Shasholka…were on a flight from Phoenix to Miami in September 2022 when…a [busybody] passenger accused Williams of human trafficking and reported him to airline employees…wh[o]…upon landing…falsely imprisoned…the [couple]…[who are also suing] the [busybody] passenger…and two airline employees [who enacted their creepy sexual fantasies against the plaintiffs]…

I Spy (#1504)

The point of this delay is to let public outrage die down before they quietly restart the same offenses:

General Motors…and its subsidiary OnStar agreed not to disclose sensitive vehicle geolocation and driver behavior data to consumer reporting agencies for five years…[after it got out that GM] collected, used, and sold…[the] information from millions of vehicles…without notifying consumers and obtaining consent…agencies used the data to compile reports that insurance companies then…used to deny insurance and…raise rates…[as part of the settlement,] the company must [henceforth] obtain driver consent to collect data, and allow [car owners] to delete or limit data…

 

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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In the News (#1497)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

We can’t eradicate the human sex drive.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Worse Than I Thought (#335)

Just because the moral panic is moribund, doesn’t mean politicians aren’t going to keep using sex as an excuse to destroy lives:

North Carolina has made it a felony crime to patronize a sex worker…a crime that comes with a presumptive minimum sentence of four months in prison, up to two years…in recent years, we’ve seen a disturbing trend of states starting to classify attempts to pay for sexual activity as a felony…mirror[ing] the misguided and detrimental path [of]…the war on drugs.  Three states now make it a felony crime to pay for sex or attempt to pay for sex…In 2021, Texas became the first…then…last May, Oklahoma [followed]…Morality in Media…is a major driver of these laws and, more generally, the idea that we can “end demand” for prostitution…sold…by [conflating female agency with]…sex trafficking…

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor” + teacher = “youth pastor”:

A [Texas] pastor and teacher in Grapevine is under arrest for possession of child pornography…Arturo Alarcon…[plant]ed hidden cameras in a church-owned mobile home used to host visiting families. [After these were discovered by visiting missionaries staying there], detectives found an image of child pornography on Alarcon’s cell phone…one of the cameras was designed to look like a clock.  Another…was like a bug zapper…Alarcon [has, unsurprisingly, long been buddy-buddy with] Grapevine Police…

Welcome to the Future (#1159)

Of course they had to be forced to end this ugly, evil scam:

The Pasco County [Florida] Sheriff’s Office is permanently scuttling a [“]predictive policing[” sc]am that was the subject of…a pending civil rights lawsuit…[due to its unceasing,] unconstitutional harassment of families.  In a settlement agreement ending that…lawsuit, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office [was forced to admit] that it…[had intentionally violated] the plaintiffs’ First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights…In addition to ending the…[scheme] and agreeing not to create a similar one, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office will pay [a mere] $105,000 to the four plaintiffs…

A Moral Cancer (#1322)

Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:

If you want to create a black market in a perfectly legal product, just make regulations and taxes so onerous that many people prefer to buy from illegal vendors…that’s certainly the case with cigarettes… “New York has the highest inbound smuggling activity, with an estimated 54.3 percent of cigarettes consumed in the state deriving from smuggled sources in 2022,” note [Adam] Hoffer and [Jacob] Macumber-Rosin [in the latest edition of the Mackinac Center’s regularly compiled research on the topic]. “New York is followed by California (46.7 percent), New Mexico (41.2 percent), Massachusetts (39.7 percent), and Washington (36.8 percent)”…because their tax rates drive people to purchase their smokes from illicit dealers, high-tax states suffered a revenue hit in 2022 of more than $5 billion.  Since 2007, they’ve lost out on more than $79 billion….[and] with flavored tobacco banned in places like California and Massachusetts, those products are available in those states only on the black market…New Hampshire taxes cigarettes at the rate of $1.78 per pack, which is relatively low. As a result, find the Mackinac Center and the Tax Foundation, 31.43 percent of cigarette sales are for smuggling elsewhere.  That puts it in third place after Wyoming, where 49.2 percent of cigarette sales are smuggled out of state, and Delaware, where 34.4 percent of sales are resold in higher-tax jurisdictions…

Feudalism Redux (#1390)

If you need a law like this to control your teen offspring, you’ve already lost them:

[The Ninth Circuit] has ruled that Idaho can [attempt to] enforce its abortion travel ban, which [criminalizes adults who assist] minors [who] travel…out of state for abortions without parental consent.  The decision…reversed a 2023 decision that had blocked the law on First Amendment grounds.  The law [is intended to allow a parent or guardian to force a minor to carry an unwanted or even dangerous pregnancy to term by terrorizing anyone who might help a girl to exercise her right to bodily autonomy.  Its]…sweeping language…could [even] apply to a grandmother driving a pregnant minor to the post office to pick up a package containing abortion medication, for example…

You Were Warned (#1437)

Increasingly-unhinged federal courts uphold a blatantly-unconstitutional law:

A panel of three federal…judges ruled unanimously…to uphold a law that could [unconstitution]ally ban TikTok in the United States…[unless its] Chinese owner, ByteDance…sell[s] it to a…[politically-connected] American owner by Jan. 19, 2025…the…decision sets the table for TikTok to take its case to the Supreme Court…During his campaign, [dancing orange-utang] Donald Trump…[claimed] he would “save TikTok”…though opinions among his [gang of unhinged cronies]…are mixed on whether…to [include this particular]…unconstitutional [action among]…the…flawed and dangerous precedent[s they already support to]…give…the government far too much power [over] Americans’ speech online…

Mad Libs

The reason so-called “AI” spouts out gibberish is that it is incapable of telling truth from falsehood:

Following Hunter Biden’s pardon by his father…Ana Navarro-Cardenas, a commentator who appears on The View and CNN…cited a pardon granted by President Woodrow Wilson of his brother-in-law Hunter deButts…and…an Esquire article called “A President Shouldn’t Pardon His Son? Hello, Anybody Remember Neil Bush?” was based on the premise that George H.W. Bush pardoned his son Neil; it has since been retracted “due to an error.”  The day before its publication, Occupy Democrats’ executive editor Grant Stern tweeted a similar claim that Jimmy Carter pardoned his brother Billy…As far as I can tell, n[one of these] actually occurred.  Where was all this coming from? Well, I don’t know what Stern or Esquire’s source was. But I know Navarro-Cardenas’, because she had a follow-up message for critics: “Take it up with Chat GPT”…

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