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Posts Tagged ‘abortion’

We’re having to evacuate from our own country.  –  Sergei Troshin

Secret Squirrel (#1202)

These wannabe Stasi will be lucky if a guilty conscience is the worst consequence of this ugly violation of their daughter’s trust:

A few years ago, we gave our daughter, now 18, a stuffed bear for her birthday.  At the time, we had recently discovered she had a boyfriend whom she was hiding from us…[so] we [decided] to [spy on her while pretending we weren’t]…breaking her trust…[by] install[ing] a hidden camera inside the eye of the stuffed bear.  Our daughter is now in college, and we overheard her telling her roommate how grateful she was for our trust in her…We have been racked with guilt ever since.  How can we tell our daughter about the camera without destroying our relationship with her?  Should we tell her at all?

Thou Shalt Not (#1299)

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

New Zealand’s new…coalition government is abandoning a [new]…plan to [expand the drug war by criminalizing] smoking for future generations, in a move [criticized by] health experts [who think they have the right to enforce their diktats with police violence]…the [scheme]…would [have] gradually raise[d] the legal age so that anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, would…[forever] be [criminalized for] buy[ing] tobacco [regardless of age].  The New Zealand [drug war expansion inspired a monkey see-monkey do parade, with]…England…Ireland…Wales…[and] Hong Kong [already in line behind the prohibitionist bandwagon]…

The Cop Myth (#1350)

Why are people surprised when cops treat family members like they treat others?

 An Oklahoma City [cop with a long history of domestic violence] has been arrested again, but this time [for]…child abuse….Kristopher Gellenbeck…and…his…ex-wife…were exchanging their three children, ages 8-15, when he…began yelling at her and…pushed their oldest son out of the way to get to her.  The…[boy] grabbed Gellenbeck by the shirt in an effort to pull him away from his mother…[he then responded by attempting to] strangle…the…[boy.  But when] he…[saw she] was dialing 911…he…stopped strangling their son and ran towards her, grabbing her phone and “smashing” both of her hands against the window…“I never felt safe being around Kristopher, but I tried to do the correct thing and allow him to still see his children…[but they] have told me numerous times they do not want to go over to his house because they are afraid of him…I truly believe that if he gets close to use again, he can kill us,” Gellenbeck’s ex-wife wrote to a judge…In 2021, [Gellenbeck] was…charge[d with]…kidnapping…[and] domestic assault a[fter he broke into her house, tried to steal] her [entire] security camera system…grabbed her phone and [then held her prisoner for a while in her own home]…

Vulture Watching (#1364)

The psychopaths who rule Texas blame doctors for being afraid of prison or wanton destruction of their livelihoods:

Lawyers [for] Texas…[bizarrely argue] that women should sue their doctors, not the state, [because politicians inserted themselves and the police into the doctor-patient relationship]…Beth Klusmann of the Texas Attorney General’s Office [claimed] that [every possible life-threatening condition in pregnancy is invariably recognizable due to]…“a woman is bleeding…[and] has amniotic fluid running down her legs”…Zurawski v. Texas was brought by 22 women who[m]…state law…forced…to carry nonviable and dangerous pregnancies to term…many…were denied care because, despite the severity of the damage that the nonviable pregnancy was doing their body…they weren’t quite sick enough for it to be clearly life threatening.  Forty businesses have also signed a brief in support of the suit — arguing that ambiguities in the law have…cost…nearly $15 billion in lost revenues, and businesses and employees leaving the state…the 2021 law flew in the face of a long history of doctors being allowed to determine when abortion was necessary to preserve the health of the mother under state law — even when the procedure, in general, was not legal…

Monsters (#1392)

Never forget that this started with censorship of internet porn:

Russia’s Supreme Court has declared what it calls “the international LGBT public movement” an extremist organisation and banned its activities across the country…even though no such organisation exists as a legal entity.  The hearing was held behind closed doors, [and]…nobody from “the defendant’s side” had been present…Sergei Troshin, a municipal deputy in St Petersburg who came out as gay last year, [said]…”I think this will mean that anyone whom the state considers an LGBT activist could receive a long prison sentence for ‘participating in an extremist organisation’…There is panic in Russia’s LGBT community.  People are emigrating urgently…We’re having to evacuate from our own country”…

Cops lost no time in proving the panic justified:

Russian security forces raided gay clubs and bars across Moscow Friday night, less than 48 hours after the country’s top court banned what it called the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organization…

Served Cold (#1393)

This just keeps getting better:

…Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes…us[ed] “unconstitutional suppression” of [Suzanne Whitehead’s] rights to free speech after she tried to tell the truth about Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad…[her new] lawsuit alleges Reyes “apparently believes” Ballard is the “chosen one” and…[therefore] treats Ballard as if he’s above the law…Reyes [even] wrote a [“very self-aggrandizing”] scene [for a proposed] sequel to the [propaganda] film…Sound of Freedom…[which] reinforces how Reyes covers for Ballard and fails to disclose financial conflicts…Whitehead says Reyes’ “political credibility” allowed the Attorney General to act as a “blocker, quashing complaints against Ballard and OUR with the cover of the top law enforcement officer in the state of Utah”…

To Molest and Rape (Still Another Rapist Roundup)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

[Florida cop] Aurelio Gerald Rodriguez…was arrested in [early] November…for…physical and sexual abuse [of]…3 girls who were related to him [in some unexplained fashion].  The girls are 9, 16 and 18 now and report that the abuse began [for the eldest] when [she] was…10 [and the second when she was 7]….[beside] the…grooming…and [molestation] he…[would talk about] their “sexual needs”…[and] his [own] needs.  The girls described being always afraid of him because he was “angry and mean” to them while the [molestation]…occurred more times than they can estimate…The oldest girl said they were silent because they were afraid he would not let them see their mother, something…he…apparently controlled.  The…molestation persisted…until he was [arrested]…in November…

Given the situation and relative ages, I’m guessing he’s their grandfather.  This one is also related to his victim:

Justin Sigmon…[is a typical and representative] Virginia [cop]…On May 25, 2023, he departed from…Miami on a Carnival cruise ship…and…[was] filmed in the ship’s dining room with a 9-year-old girl…described as his “relative” sitting on his lap while he persistently moved his hands to her inner thighs and genital area.  The girl was seen pushing his hand away numerous times and he persisted…[even when] she crossed her legs…the molestation lasted about 10 minutes…and when the girl got up, he is seen touching and covering his own crotch for some time.  This was recorded by a bystander and…confirmed by the ship’s surveillance cameras.  He was charged in Florida with a federal crime when the ship docked on June 3, 2023…[and] convicted by a jury [on November 17th]…Sentencing was set for Jan. 12…

This one doesn’t appear to be related to his victim, but given the obfuscation it’s hard to tell:

A[n nonymous London cop] has been [sacked] for [molesting]…an underage runaway [of unspecified age or gender]…who was reported missing…he…”exploited and abused” the [victim] after making contact with them on social media…on 16 August 2019…he…[even] allowed them to stay [at his place] on 26 August without informing police or social services…

 

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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She looked like she was mummified.  –  Melinda Bettencourt

Business Opportunity

It’s not like it’s their money, after all:

…in…Wilmington, North Carolina, where the New Hanover County government…is trying to seize the neighboring Cheetah Premier Gentlemen’s Club to build what it [pretend]s is much-needed parking…The county commission voted to authorize eminent domain of the Cheetah Club…on November 6.  The resolution authorized the county to spend $2.36 million acquiring the club…the seizure…wasn’t on the commission’s agenda, and was only introduced in the final minutes of the meeting by [the “county manager”, who] referred to the property only by its tax ID number…The sudden, seemingly surreptitious effort to seize the club has [Michael] Barber[, a lawyer for the owners,] speculating that the eminent domain effort has more to do with public appearances than public facilities…[the property owner] has offered to let the county use the 74 parking spaces on his property…[because] the Cheetah Club doesn’t even open till 6 p.m…

The Scarlet Letter (#520)

“Presumption of innocence” doesn’t apply to whores:

Unlike “simple” police cautions, prostitute cautions don’t require evidence…sex workers don’t have to admit guilt, and there is no right to appeal them.  Without any say, someone can be branded as a criminal, their life forever impacted by her decision of how they provides for themselves and their families…prostitute cautions, and wider criminalisation of sex work, are deliberately used to keep women in poverty by penalising them for using sex work to escape it…In 2009, under the Police and Crime Act, the right of appeal against prostitutes cautions was abolished…and…the caution will stay on a sex worker’s record for life, or until the age of 100…

Blunt Instrument (#728)

Have you noticed that “sex trafficking” is no longer the magic brain-pause spell it was for over a decade?

One Richmond [BC politician] would like to see massage parlours…be denied business licences and…shut down…Kash Heed [tried to justify his puritanical bigotry by barfing the phrases “]human trafficking[“…and “]scantily clad[” at other city politicians, but]…Mayor Malcolm Brodie…[timidly broached the subject of harm reduction, and] Mark Corrado, director of bylaws and licencing…said Richmond is [already] known for having the most “restrictive” licence requirements in the province.  This includes [micromanag]ing clothing, age, locks, insurance bonds, lighting and criminal record checks…

Where Are the Protests? (#945)

Americans are only concerned about how others have sex; they don’t really want to know where their overpriced coffee comes from:

Starbucks…is unable to guarantee that the coffee sold at its stores is not associated with serious labour and human rights crimes such as low wages, harvest workers eating cold meals, inadequate accommodation and even child and slave labour…The cases are portrayed in the report “Behind Starbucks coffee,” published by Repórter Brasil (available in Portuguese and English)…coffee farms…where…inspectors found violations hold…the C.A.F.E. Practices seal, which…is the certification programme that…[supposedly] evaluates suppliers according to more than 200 indicators…It is yet another situation that exposes the limits of the certification market…Labour irregularities in the industry are not limited to Starbucks’ supply chain.  Repórter Brasil has already exposed similar problems among suppliers of Nestlé, McDonald’s and other…major…buyers

Vulture Watching (#1268)

Idaho apparently wants to chase away as many physicians as possible:

Idaho asked the Supreme Court…to allow its [near-total] abortion ban that imposes [criminal] penalties on doctors who perform abortions to take full effect despite [the fact that it conflicts with]…the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)…a…federal law [which] requires hospitals to provide stabilizing care to emergency room patients regardless of their ability to pay…

Torture Chamber (#1386)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

Melinda Bettencourt…knew her youngest daughter, Amanda Bews, had been struggling [with severe alcoholism and heroin addiction] for years…But…no one could explain what had happened to the rotting body Bettencourt saw at the funeral home.  “She looked like she was mummified,” Bettencourt [said]…describing the “horrible” shock of watching bugs hover around her dead daughter’s face as a foul stench emanated across the room…Bews got arrested…[on] Sept. 7, 2022…for allegedly shoplifting at a BevMo…Before booking, the deputies took her to a nearby hospital, where…she was prescribed medications for anxiety, blood pressure and alcohol withdrawal…But [screws]…decided…not [to give her the] require[d] medications…[and] a little over four hours later, Bews…”died of untreated…effects of withdrawal from alcohol and drugs”…

Dangerous Speech (#1391)

I’ve linked to many of Mark Draughn’s well-researched, well-considered essays over the years; this one is on the aftermath of the Backpage persecution & show trial, and here’s a taste:

The Iron Law of Prohibition says that making something illegal will make it stronger and more dangerous.  Nobody drank bathtub gin in America until the Prohibition laws of 1920 criminalized alcoholic beverages.  Almost nobody smoked crack until law enforcement started a war on cocaine, and we didn’t have much of a fentanyl problem until the government started cracking down on opioids.  Legal alcohol and tobacco distributors didn’t shoot each other in the streets the way drug-smuggling gangsters do.  Criminalizing a good or service necessarily drives it underground.  The need to hide makes it harder to build a good reputation, which makes it less rewarding to have good business practices.  Customer service and attention to product quality fall by the wayside…Thus bad actors enter and thrive in the market, engaging in fraud, theft, and violence, which can often only be countered with more violence…With the success of the Backpage prosecutions, it seems likely that more such prosecutions will follow…

 

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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Abortion trafficking is not a thing.  –  Judge Debora Grasham

An Avalanche of Bullshit (#976)

Another high-profile pogrom of an Asian-owned business has been announced in the media by parroting cops’ and prosecutors’ masturbatory fantasies, racist propaganda, and ludicrously-Victorian language.  The use of the word “service” as a verb in the headline is as telltale as the presence of the word “sophisticated”, used by cops for the last decade as an excuse to rape sex workers.  The primary trope of the coverage is the popular pretense that it’s somehow shocking that modern men of means and position are as likely to buy sex as such men have always been since the beginning of human civilization.  Fairly-ordinary fees and costs of doing business are represented as extravagant; extremely mundane practices like screening clients and making bank deposits are described with weird, convoluted language so as to make them seem somehow esoteric and criminal; and adult women are infantilized as passive victims by invoking the “submissive Asian woman” fantasy.  One day, our culture may grow up enough to recognize that pragmatic sexual arrangements are nobody else’s business, but that day is not today, so we can look forward to months of lurid fixation on the prurient details and none on the government’s crime of wasting massive amounts of money and manpower in order to destroy the lives of people who harmed nobody.

Creepy Coppers

Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:

A [cop from] Tennessee was arrested…[for] requesting [nude photos]…from a mother in Virginia who sent him [nude] photos and videos of her juvenile daughter.  Dan Roark…was…charged with…production of child pornography…an anonymous [snitch first reported the daughter]…

I had to aggressively edit this one because it was so larded with obfuscatory language:

A [typical and representative Missouri cop] has been indicted by a federal grand jury…August Price Gildehaus…was charged…with one count of enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity…producing child pornography…and…attempting to distribute child pornography…

Feudalism Redux (#1327)

Politicians don’t even try to make their new laws constitutional any more:

…a federal judge [has] granted a temporary restraining order against…[Idaho’s unconstitutional law inventing a new crime called] “abortion trafficking”…[which] criminaliz[es] any adult who assists a minor in obtaining abortion medication or a lawful abortion out of state without parental consent. [The law essentially allows a] parent…or guardian…to f[orce a]…minor…[to carry an unwanted or even dangerous pregnancy under the rhetoric of]…“parental rights”…the law is [both] unconstitutionally vague [and infringes] on the…right…to interstate and intrastate travel…

Cops and Robbers (#1328)

Of course they’ll never charge the cops who use similar tactics with no more concern for ethics:

Jason Nassr, the man behind…Creeper Hunter TV, [was] sentenced…to…18 months of house arrest…from 2015 to 2020, Nassr posted videos he claimed showed men contacting him for sex when…he was [ageplaying]…he would communicate with men on dating sites and social media platforms, typically portraying himself as an 18-year-old female.  Once the correspondence turned sexual…Nassr would [start ageplaying while yet including hints that] he was [actually ov]er 18 — as young as age 10…Those who continued to communicate with him would end up featured on Creeper Hunter TV.  Nassr recorded in-person confrontations, showed screen captures of text conversations, and included full names and phone numbers…Around 100 episodes were posted…at least two of [Nassr’s victims] have died by suicide…[but] Justice Alissa Mitchell…[let him off with] house arrest, six months of a 10 p.m. curfew and two years of probation…

I Spy (#1376)

Nothing infuriates violent busybodies more than privacy:

On October 26, the UK Parliament passed the Online Safety Act…the government has…admitted there…is no…way to scan E2EE messages or services without breaking their encryption…[so] Ofcom…now…propos[es] to use hash matching…a mass surveillance [technique] that could easily be abused by law enforcement.  Hash matching…compares…videos, pictures or text…to a database of illegal content…by turning the content into “hashes”, a sample of the content a bit like a fingerprint…similar systems already in place have returned numerous false positives that can ruin people’s lives…and bog the system down, forcing companies…to investigate perfectly innocent media…every app you download to share files or access social media could contain spyware to [root through] the media on your device and [snitch to the cops]…the database of illegal material will [certainly expand and]…could very easily become a tool of censorship, similar to how the Chinese government scans for images of the Tiananmen Square protests…

The Cop Myth (#1378)

41% of cops admit to beating their wives; some don’t stop with mere beating:

A [typical and representative Alabama screw named]…David Tolbert was arrested after…he [murdered]…his wife on Nov. 15, 2022…[by shooting her] in [public] outside of a business…

Torture Chamber (#1387)

It does not help young victims of governmental brutality to infantilize them as “children”:

…[young people locked up]…in more than a dozen [prisons] in Illinois…[are routinely] “tased, pepper sprayed…roughed up by [screws]…forced into isolation for days at a time…[and] denied access to…medications…mental health treatment…and…schooling, [in defiance of] state and federal laws”…[at one cage stack] in Benton…Solitary confinement is the rule…[prisoners] spend between 20 and 23 hours per day confined in their cells…[where] fluorescent lights [are left on]…24 hours a day…the cells themselves are f[ilthy] and infested with [toxic] black mold

 

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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Man is a social animal, and even if someone is absolutely certain of his anonymity…few are willing to risk the disapproval of a lab-coated authority figure even if he isn’t sitting directly in front of them.  –  “Skewed by Taboo

The taboo/magical/ possessive paradigm of sexuality is deeply sick and twisted, and has probably caused more evil, sorrow and destruction than any other single cultural construct on earth.  –  “The Gift of Sight

Activists who demand ideological purity tests aren’t really interested in winning the War on Whores; they want a secret handshake club.
–  “Skin in the Game

For a lot of people…flashing lights [in the mirror] don’t signal a temporary annoyance or slight financial hit; they represent at best the beginning of an ordeal which will inflict serious or even catastrophic financial hardship on them, and could possibly end in prison, the loss of their vehicles and/or jobs and potentially years of legal difficulties.  –  “Pretext

Puritanical US “authorities” want sex to be as dangerous and consequence-laden as they can make it, which is why prostitution is criminalized, abortions & birth control are the subjects of so many ban attempts, and “family court” is a nightmare for everyone but the lawyers and bean-counters.  –  “Hers Alone

The world’s one remaining empire is engaged in not one but many endless, pointless wars whose costs would have staggered the Rothschilds, whose lack of clear imperial goals would have confused a Caesar or a Napoleon, and whose sheer, mindless carnage would have nauseated the Spartans. – “War Without End

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These kids have been helicoptered, snowplowed and bubble-wrapped.  –  Michele Borba

Not An Addiction (#342)

Sorry, crypto-moralists, but “addictive” is not a synonym for “yummy”:

[meta-analysis] from the University of Michigan [intentionally misuses the medical term “addiction” in order to make the clickbait declaration that] people can show signs of addiction to ultra-processed foods, which include ice cream, potato chips, and other products high in sugar and carbohydrates…Those addictions were on the same levels as the ones for alcohol and tobacco, the study [claime]d…co-author Alexandra DiFeliceantonio…pointed out that while you can give up smoking, drinking or gambling, you can’t stop eating[, which is exactly why applying the “addiction” model to foods is asinine and absurd]…dietician Erin Palinski-Wade [explained,] “Although foods rich in added sugar may stimulate the feel-good chemicals in the brain..sugar itself is not addictive in the way cocaine or another drug may be…eliminating it from the diet will not result in withdrawal symptoms or side effects as would happen from a true addiction”…

To paraphrase Jacob Sullum, “the study’s findings could just as truthfully be summarized as, ‘Research Shows That Alcohol and Tobacco Are No More Addictive Than Potato Chips’.”

I Spy (#1180)

Curiosity offends the state, comrade:

…the Colorado Supreme Court…conceded that [a] warrant [demanding Google report everyone who searched a particular address where a crime took place] was “constitutionally defective” because it lacked individualized probably cause…[but] ruled that [pigs could use the illegally-obtained information against their chosen target anyhow, because they pinky-swore they didn’t know it was wrong]…Justice Monica M. Márquez objected in [her] dissent….[that cops knew] they were engaged in a “fishing expedition”…”reverse-keyword warrants…are…a high-tech version of the reviled ‘general warrants’ that first gave rise to the protections in the Fourth Amendment”…

Creepy Coppers

Such convoluted language to distance other cops from a typical specimen:

A [typical and representative]…Cleveland [cop named]…Brandon N. Crites [has been] indicted on [charges] of receipt and distribution of child pornography…between 2022 and 2023…at least one image found in his possession involved a…prepubescent [child]…

Shame, Shame (#1321)

Bird-brains still believe realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology:

Scroll through the livestreaming videos at 4 a.m. on Taobao, China’s most popular e-commerce platform, and you’ll find it weirdly busy.  While most people are fast asleep, there are still many diligent streamers presenting products to the cameras and offering discounts…But…many of these livestream influencers seem slightly robotic…they are AI-generated [“]clones[“] of the real streamers.  As technologies that create realistic avatars, voices, and movements get more sophisticated and affordable, the popularity of these deepfakes has exploded across China’s e-commerce streaming platforms…With just a few minutes of sample video and $1,000 in costs, brands can [“]clone[“] a human streamer to work 24/7…

Secret Squirrel (#1332)

As JD Tuccille wrote, “Kids will grow up to value freedom only if they’re raised in an environment where privacy and liberty are treated as normal and good“:

Teenagers have long balked at telling parents where they are.  Now, they’re asking their parents to track them…[helicopter parenting] and real-time news—with vivid images about the pandemic, war and other disasters—have heightened…anxieties among young people…Members of Gen Z, ages [5 to 22], say they use family location-sharing apps to bolster a sense of security.  Downloads of [a surveillance app named] Life360 doubled in the U.S. since 2021.  The app now has more than 33 million monthly active users in the U.S. and another 20 million internationally.  Even more teens share their location using Apple’s Find My, Google’s Family Link, Snapchat’s Snap Map and GPS-equipped smartwatches…

Feudalism Redux (#1371)

This unhinged mob-rule lunacy will spread like rot until struck down by a court:

[Fad laws that attempt to criminalize] pregnant Texas women from traveling through the [domains of showboating politicians] for an abortion in another state…[failed] in Amarillo…after…several members of the…City Council…questioned the legality of [these ordinances]…enforced through private lawsuits…these so-called abortion travel bans have questionable enforcement mechanisms, making them more like a ceremonial declaration than a legally binding statute.  In an opinion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote “May a state bar a resident of that state from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion?  In my view, the answer is no based on the constitutional right to interstate travel”…

The Public Eye (#1374)

How are they verifying the recipients’ ages before they open it?

The Republican Party of Virginia says it mailed out several thousand explicit political fliers to voters.  The envelopes read, “Do not open if you are under the age of 18,″ and “Warning: Explicit material enclosed.”  Inside the mailer…[were] two pieces of paper with censored quotes and screenshots from [Democratic candidate Susanna] Gibson’s public porn livestream…[both campaigns and both parties then flung competing barrages of monkey-poop at each other]…

 

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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We lie together on the floor until someone buys us.  –  Margarita

Counterfeit Comfort 

Facts have absolutely nothing to do with US sex laws:

When Henry was 18, he had sex with a 16-year-old he met on a dating app who said they were 18 too.  The 16-year-old’s parents found out, summoned the cops, and Henry was charged with a sex offense.  He took a plea: no jail time, and seven years on the sex offense registry…this…made it nearly impossible to find work…After three years with little income—and several hundred dollars a year in payments for court-mandated polygraph tests—Henry moved back in with his parents.  The neighbors got up in arms, so all three of them moved to Henry’s grandmother’s house…At last, Henry found a good job.  But when he gave his probation officer his office address, he was told it was too close to a school…Henry begged his probation officer to let him keep this hard-won job.  The officer said he could continue working until a judge ruled on his request.  But when Henry got to court…the judge issued the harshest ruling possible, sentencing Henry to six years in state prison…

To Molest and Rape

They usually make these cases sound like the rapist was doing his victims a favor:

[A typical and representative Idaho cop named] Ryan A. Bendawald…[has been charged with rap]ing…at least seven women[, often by threatening them with criminal charges if they refused to submit]…

The Missing Word (#838)

If only there were a specific word for this sort of thing:

Women seeking jobs as domestic workers in the UAE…are being detained and abused in squalid accommodation, while recruiters sell them over apps and social media platforms to household employers…women…[a]re denied food, held captive and treated violently…[while] being marketed in an “exploitative” way reminiscent of slavery…with employers charged less for the services of black domestic workers and being told they do not even need to provide them with proper bedrooms…migrants wait, in limbo, for an employer to take them on…a process that can take months, with women often being returned to the agencies at the whim of an employer…

So this is only “reminiscent” of slavery, whereas highly-paid, flexible, self-employment is slavery if it involves sex.  That makes so much sense.

You Were Warned (#1177)

Child porn will only be the first of many excuses to bleed internet companies:

Australia’s [internet control agency has]…fined…Twitter — 610,500 Australian dollars ($385,000) for failing to…explain [to bureaucrats’ satisfaction] how it [deals with] child [porn]…because…[it did not fully fill out] a…question[aire]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1344)

Pseudoscience is much more useful as a tool of social control than science could ever be:

Texas recently passed a law that would require some websites to display a lengthy claim concerning the supposed scientifically-based harms of pornography…I study the effects of pornography on humans.  I was unable to find any truthful scientific statement in this state-forced speech…Texas has created a completely false statement by misrepresenting the science of myself and other scholars.  If they want to continue to make such outlandish, false claims, I and other scientists will continue to accurately describe the actual state of the science…

You Were Warned (#1370)

These tyrannies often start with sex workers, but never stop with us:

KOSA…would [invent] a “duty of care” requiring social media apps and websites to “prevent and mitigate” [anything any politician chooses to declare a “]harm[“] to children…the bill would allow state Attorneys General to sue apps and sites if they [pretend] certain content is harmful to minors—meaning AGs could weaponize the law to attack content they simply disagree with.  In response, platforms likely would preemptively block content they think could get them sued.  Much has been made of the bill’s potential to lead to online censorship of LGBT…content and sex ed info for everyone, not just kids, and [much to the surprise of silly people who believe in “wing” mythology] …22 Democratic Senators co-sponsor it—including…[pro-censorship politician] Elizabeth Warren…KOSA could also censor content about abortion on sites ranging from social platforms…to abortion resource websites…

Property of the State (#1376)

Etowah County is one of those jurisdictions which needs to be sued into oblivion:

In March 2021, [pigs] in Etowah county, Alabama, arrested Ashley Caswell [using the pretext] that she’d tested positive for methamphetamine while pregnant and was “endangering” her fetus.  Caswell, who was two months pregnant at the time, became one of a growing number of women imprisoned in the county in the name of protecting their “unborn children”.  But over the next seven months [locked in a cage] for “chemical endangerment”…Caswell was denied regular access to prenatal visits, even as officials were aware her pregnancy was high-risk…She was also denied her prescribed psychiatric medication and slept on a thin mat on the concrete floor…for her entire pregnancy.  In October, when her water broke and she pleaded to be taken to a hospital…[screws] told her to “sleep [labor] off” and “wait until Monday” to deliver – two days away.  During nearly 12 hours of labor, staff…[shouted at] her to “stop screaming”, to “deal with the pain” and that she was “not in full labor”.  Caswell…was alone and standing up in a jail shower when she ultimately delivered her child…and…nearly bled to death…The baby survived, but…was immediately [abducted by “authorities”]…he[r] lawsuit, filed by…Pregnancy Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center, is the first case to challenge the conditions for jailed pregnant women in Etowah county…the national leader in arresting women under the guise of protecting their fetuses…

 

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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How do you know they’re not pedophiles?  –  Debbie Lobaito

It took me a while to find a video I felt would be a proper memorial for New Orleans percussionist Russell Batiste (from another of the city’s noted musical families), then I stumbled across this video of him performing his composition “Muthafunk Y’all” at the San Jose Jazz Festival in ’05.  The links above it were provided by Franklin Harris, Asawin Suebsaeng, Nun Ya, Jesse Walker, Scott Greenfield, Isley, and Phoenix Calida, in that order.


From the Archives

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

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If war is the health of the state…then scaring the hell out of people is the health of the security state.  –  J.D. Tuccille

Micromanagement

Since practical limits on surveillance are vanishing, legal limits are more important than ever:

It sounds like science fiction, but researchers are getting better and better at retrieving tiny traces of human genetic material called environmental DNA…that we leave floating in the air or water, and mining it for genetic info.  The technique has…[already] been used for…detecting the…COVID-19  [virus] in wastewater, [and] tracking endangered or invasive species.  But now, a team of scientists has attempted to see how much information it could glean from human eDNA specifically…analyzing samples for genetic markers related to genealogy and even ethnicity.  As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, a team led by University of Florida wildlife geneticist David Duffy found that they could trace back medical and ancestry information from these minute traces of human DNA.  And that has privacy experts deeply worried…[because cops] already…[ab]use…flawed and controversial DNA tools to [persecute people]…

Creepy Coppers

The people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

TikTok-famous small-town police chief traded incest videos via a secret Twitter account…Joel Justice Womochil…[was] police chief in Burns, Kansas…[from] February 2022…until his sudden resignation in early August…A little over a week later, Womochil was arrested [for child porn]…[after] Synchronoss Technologies, which provides cloud storage for Verizon Wireless customers, [reported] that [Womochil] had backed up a dozen video and image files of hardcore child abuse…

Incidentally, the ass-backward fantasy that Pedobear, a character created to mock people behaving creepily about young girls online, is actually some sort of symbol for pedophiles is a product of cops’ sick, warped minds, and was the topic of the very first “The Clueless Leading the Hysterical” in December 2011.

Welcome to the Future (#1261)

Conditioning kids to accept constant, intrusive surveillance:

…”Research demonstrates the damaging effect of surveillance on children’s ability to develop in healthy ways,” [wrote law professor Barbara] Fedders…”[they] cannot develop the ability to evaluate and manage risk…in order to function effectively.”  Notably, school surveillance normalizes the idea that constant monitoring is good and necessary for preserving safety…”3 in 10…Americans under 30 favor ‘the government installing surveillance cameras in every household’ in order to ‘reduce domestic violence, abuse, and other illegal activity,'” the Cato Institute…[reported] in June…and…A survey of college students by the Foundation for Individuals Rights and Expression (FIRE) found “forty-five percent said blocking other students from attending a speech may be acceptable in some situations”…If young Americans ultimately reject liberty, it may result from trapping them in miniature surveillance states that defy every premise of a free society.  Kids will grow up to value freedom only if they’re raised in an environment where privacy and liberty are treated as normal and good…

Thou Shalt Not (#1299)

Because this kind of prohibition will surely be different!

People in England born on or after January 1, 2009, will be [criminalized if they] ever buy…cigarettes under [a “monkey see, monkey do” law] announced…by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak [which would ape New Zealand’s scheme right down to the date of prohibition]…The prime minister [lied that] smokers put “huge pressures” on the country’s National Health Service despite the fact smokers in the U.K. pay far more in taxes than they cost in terms of health care…”Not only is this prohibitionist wheeze hideously illiberal and unconservative, it is full of holes,” says Christopher Snowdon…of…the Institute of Economic Affairs…”adults [will] buy cigarettes informally from slightly older adults and will inflate the black market in general”…But cigarettes aren’t alone in Sunak’s war on nicotine—disposable e-cigarettes, which have been blamed for an uptick in youth vaping, could also be banned

A Broker in Pillage (#1341)

Nobody will be safe until this odious, contemptible practice is recognized as unconstitutional:

A North Carolina teenager was hoping to get her life back on track after a state judge ordered a man who sexually abused her to pay her $69,000.  Instead, she got a nasty surprise.  The local [cops] had already s[tolen] the cash through civil asset forfeiture, and it was already [spent].  Despite a judge’s order, she will get nothing…Mario Alberto Gomez-Saldana II…pleaded guilty…and is currently serving a prison sentence…[but the cops claimed to have found plant leaves when they ransacked his house, and used that as a pretext to steal money] Saldana [had] won [in] the lottery in 2018…[an after-tax total of] $70,507…North Carolina…is one of four states that only allows forfeiture after a criminal conviction…But under the Justice Department’s equitable sharing [scheme], federal authorities may “adopt” state and local civil asset forfeiture cases and…local [cop shops who collaborate in the racket get a kickback of]…up to 80 percent of the [loot]…the sheer injustice of th[is] case ha[s] led to calls from Congress to pass federal legislation to stop cases like this from happening in the future…

I Spy (#1353)

When it comes to surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

…ICE…CBP…and the Secret Service all broke the law while using location data harvested from ordinary apps installed on smartphones.  In one instance, a CBP official also inappropriately used the technology to…[stalk] coworkers…For years U.S. government agencies have been buying access to location data through commercial vendors, a practice which…skirts the Fourth Amendment requirement of a warrant.  During that time, the agencies have typically refused to publicly explain the legal basis on which they based their purchase and use of the data.  Now, [a DHS] report shows that three of the main customers of commercial location data broke the law while doing so…ICE [has refused to] stop…use of such data [despite lack of warrant or supervisory] approval…

The Vultures Descend (#1358)

Regardless of what pompous politicians eventually do, many overseas pharmacies will sell to US customers without playing “Mother-May-I” games:

A handful of independent pharmacies across the [US] have quietly begun dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone under new rules created by the Biden administration earlier this year…Thousands of branches of major pharmacy chains are poised to join them — making the drugs more accessible to millions of people nationwide and kicking off a new phase of the legal and political battle over the most popular method of ending a pregnancy…

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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They are holding my puppy for ransom.  –  Caleb Gibson

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor and sex offender” is a large and ever-expanding group:

…a [Florida] pastor [was arrested] after two underage girls described the sexual abuse they endured at his hands…Derrell Redding…abuse[d one young teen and one girl under 12, but]…in August…the two girls decided to tell their aunt and uncle…

Many of them are “youth pastors”:

A [California preacher named]…Nicholas Garrett Corl…was [arrested for molesting]…a child under 14…an employee from [his]…church [called the cops on him]…Corl…[is] Youth Pastor…teaches…classes, [and] is the athletics director and basketball coach…

Others don’t have a church of their own:

A [California] priest…[named] Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara…[h]as [been] arrested…[for] possessing “over 600 images of child sexual abuse material, including…prepubescent…boys”…Martinez-Guevara…is affiliated with the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit Religious Order…[but] has been removed from ministry by the archdiocese and his order…

The Mote and the Beam (#786)

The government’s latest sleazy trick: attacking with civil suits rather than criminal charges, because the burden of proof is reversed:

A lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office targets a motel…with a [harassment campaign] that…[is intended to make political coin out of the moribund “]sex trafficking[” hysteria for the politically-ambitious but unimaginative] Hydee Feldstein Soto[, who bloviated mathematically-imbecilic talking points from over a decade ago but lacks the spine to admit she hates whores]…

Between the Ears (#1104)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen:

A company that makes a [male] chastity device…that can be controlled by a partner over the internet exposed users’ email addresses, plaintext passwords, home addresses and IP addresses, and — in some cases — GPS coordinates, due to several flaws in its servers, according to a security researcher…who…gained access to a database containing records of more than 10,000 users, thanks to two vulnerabilities…He…reached out to the company on June 17 alerting them of the issues in an attempt to get them to fix the vulnerabilities and protect their users’ data…[but] the company…[neither] fix[ed] the vulnerabilities…no[r] respond[ed]…Given that he wasn’t getting any answers, on August 23 the researcher defaced the company’s homepage in an attempt to warn the company again, as well as its users…Less than 24 hours later, the company removed the researcher’s warning and restored the website…but…did not fix the flaws, which remain present and exploitable…

Property of the State (#1245)

The government thinks it even has the right to leer at the inside of your body:

Scientists in Poland have…developed lab tests that can detect whether people have taken abortion pills—and those tests are already being used to investigate pregnancy outcomes under the country’s abortion ban…Advocates in the U.S. have told people for years that, if they had to go to the hospital after taking the pills by mouth, medical workers wouldn’t be able to tell…these drug tests could mean even more people criminalized by the healthcare system…Hospitals in the U.S. routinely test pregnant women for drugs without their consent, sometimes [abducting] their newborns and other children as a result…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1304)

“Fentanyl” is becoming another porcine pretext for harassing and robbing people:

Days after Irvine [California cops pretend] they saved a pit bull puppy from a fentanyl overdose…a preliminary drug test on the pup came back negative.  [Now]…the city [is demanding] more than $2,000…ransom…[from] Caleb Gibson, the dog’s owner, [who said]…“I’m a college student on financial aid, so I don’t have that kind of money to throw around”…[cops] maintain…that the animal had overdosed [despite the negative test]…the…[fact] that dogs are far less sensitive to the drug than humans…and…[the fact that] it is not possible for [humans or] animals to overdose simply from being exposed to the substance by touching or inhaling it, despite police [fantasies]…to the contrary…

Served Cold (#1359)

Surprising absolutely no one who understands McNeill’s Law:

Tim Ballard’s exit from Operation Underground Railroad…followed an investigation into…sexual misconduct involving seven women…the [rescue industry con art]ist, who appears to be preparing for a Senate run, invited women to act as his “wife” on…overseas missions [suposed]ly aimed at rescuing victims of sex trafficking.  He would then…coerce those women into sharing a bed or showering together, claiming that it was necessary to fool traffickers…The total number of women involved is believed to be higher than seven, as that would only account for employees, not contractors or volunteers…Ballard…[already has a] new [rescue industry] organization, the SPEAR Fund; and…the [Mormon] Church…[has] accused Ballard of inappropriately using the name of a church elder…“for Tim Ballard’s personal advantage and activity regarded as morally unacceptable.”

Spotlight (#1373)

While I’m pleased to see Asstoon fall, the surveillance company he founded will still be outing sex workers to the pigs without him:

Ashton Kutcher has resigned as chairman of the board of Thorn, the anti…sex [worker] organization he co-founded in 2009 with his then-wife Demi Moore.  His wife Mila Kunis, who served as an observer on the organization’s board, is also stepping down.  The move comes in the wake of outrage over their letters of support for Danny Masterson, who has been convicted of raping two women…

 

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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