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Posts Tagged ‘activism’

Forcing women to give birth knowing they won’t be bringing a baby home is pure cruelty.  –  Nancy Northup

The Leading Players in the Field, Not (#574)

While Western “feminists” burbled hagiographies of Gloria Steinem, Indian feminists had this to say:

…Gloria Steinem[‘s]…deep and damaging impact on the movement for sex workers’ rights…is one of her most lasting legacies in Southasia…Steinem posited that prostitution – she refused to call it “sex work” – manifests an inherent power disparity between male buyers and female sellers of sex.  In this construct, women are passive, mute and helpless pawns in the transaction, which is understood to be inevitably an act of gendered violence. Speaking on a visit to India in 2014, aged 79, Steinem…told reporters…[that sex work] is a form of “commercial rape”.  It “involves body invasion and so it is not like any other work. So how can you call it sex work? Prostitution is the only word you should use”…

Monsters (#1329)

Monsters typically claim the “right” to persecute sexual minorities by vomiting words like “indecency” at them:

Turkey ha[s] arrested dozens of people…as part of a broad…[campaign against LGBT people, excusing the violence by absurdly barfing the word “]families[” in their faces]…targeting [them especially because they]…are an active part of the political opposition to President [Gollum].  Emma Sinclair-Webb…[a sadly-typical operative of Gay, Inc, threw sex workers under the bus by saying that comparing good, pure, saintly LGBT people to dirty, filthy “]obscen[e” sex workers]…“smears L.G.B.T. people”…[Neither] homosexuality [nor sex work] is…illegal in Turkey, but…[Gollum] has frequently demonized [both groups] and sought to push them out of public life.  The authorities have banned Pride parades…and [criminalized speaking truthfully about sex work, in part because]…Turkey’s…birthrate[, like that of every other developed 21st century country, is sagging, and the government sees its population of tax cattle diminishing.  On September 13 Turkish pig herds]…in Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities [abduct]ed more than 60 people [from] their homes, and raided gay bars and the offices of gay rights organizations.  [The next]…day, scores of demonstrators protesting the detentions were arrested in Istanbul…[and the government] blocked numerous social media accounts belonging to gay rights groups [using laws directly modeled on those the Western world is working to establish]…

Monsters (#1423) 

If you have to ask the State to compel your 17-year-old to submit to your control, you have already lost them regardless of what a court rules:

…the Trump [regime]…is [attempt]ing [to] in[tervene against Massachusetts]…in…the c[ase]…of…Joseph and Arlene Kutzko, who [lost custody of their 17-year old due to two years of violence and threats against]…the [trans teen]…the [Kuzkos characterize their victim as a “]child[“]…who[m they demand be “returned” to them like a piece of property, asserting the]…”parental rights” [to torture the teen for not conforming to their sex at birth]…and…trying to prevent the…teenager start[ing] gender transition medications…Joseph Kutzko was [arrested for] punching and threatening his then-15-year-old [offspring] on Jan. 28, 2025…and…later…threatened to kill the victim “for not singing in tune during a birthday celebration”…[at that time] Kutzko was a[lready subject]…to three prior restraining orders…one of which is permanent…Arlene Kutzko…was charged with witness intimidation after [threatening the teen unless they falsely recanted previous sworn testimony and accepted blame for their own abuse]…the Kutzkos [absurdly claim that their victim, who does not wish to return to their home, only resented chronic abuse because]…high school…“exposed our daughter to teachings on LGTBQ…and topics that conflict with our Catholic beliefs about human dignity”…

As a cradle Catholic, I am unaware of any Catholic doctrine that defines “human dignity” as submission to abuse.

The Red Umbrella (#1477)

As long as sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence:

A Calgary[, Alberta] man [named] Richard Mantha…[was sentenced to 12 years in prison for raping and] assaulting three [sex workers]…one of whom he drugged, and another he suffocated and assaulted with a weapon…[he also] threat[ened] a fourth woman…[named] Aimee Ert, [who managed to get away before he could rape her.  Ert voluntarily chose to give up her anonymity] to…help…[convict Mantha]…

You Were Warned (#1491)

The open internet is rapidly becoming a thing of the past:

Late last year, the United Kingdom, France, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and dozens more nations signed the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime, a treaty [purport]ed to improve global cooperation to fight crimes taking place over computer systems.  Canada joined them this summer…[though] the United States…[claims] it is still reviewing the treaty…the treaty opens the door to greater violations of free expression online…[by forcing signatories] to share personal data…about individuals accused of committing…[anything the information-seeking nation chooses to label] a “serious” crime…[defined as any] crime carrying at least a four-year prison sentence [regardless of whether the “crime” is even criminalized in the individual’s own country]…The treaty also…oblige[s] service provider[s] to [hide] government searches…even…from…the [victim of the] surveillance…the treaty could even incentivize governments to enact harsher penalties on expressive acts…[so as] to ensure…inclusion under the treaty…

Enshittification (#1622)  

Scenes from the early days of a dark age:

…Justin…Lachlan…and Brendan Brown…run…a company called Brown Brothers Media…which…has pioneered a remarkably cynical business model.  First it buys online publications that have established themselves as offering a distinctive type of journalism, like coverage of space travel, parenting advice, or business news.  Then it floods their websites with dizzying torrents of [computer]-generated content…in a bid to soak up as many readers as possible…the analytics service Similarweb corroborates the claim that BBM is pulling in vast audiences, estimating…it…has attracted an average of 64.7 million visits per month…substantially higher than…NPR, narrowly besting CBS News and Forbes, and just slightly behind the Washington Post…[but while] NPR [and] WaPo…employ…hundreds or even thousands of journalists…BBM…has cut itself down to a skeleton crew of about a dozen employees, including [the] brothers…BBM has indulged in breathtaking acts of dishonesty…invent[ing] entire fake personas for nonexistent writers…with impressive-sounding bogus credentials…[to attach to a combination of plagiarized articles]…and…100 percent [pure garbage]…

Vulture Watching (#1674)

The only way to stop this evil is to bury politicians in lawsuits:

[Because]…Oklahoma…laws force patients whose “pregnancy will end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of an infant shortly after birth” to leave the state if they choose abortion…[several women are] suing over the abortion bans that prevented [them] from receiving care…Oklahoma only allows abortion care to save a patient’s life, [forcing] doctor[s to tell women with non-viable pregnancies]…“to leave the state when [they could] easily [provide necessary] care…in [their] office”…The defendants…are the state attorney general and health commissioner, Oklahoma County’s district attorney, and…the state’s boards for medical licensing and osteopathic examiners…The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and the Center for Reproductive Rights…

 

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 kill people based on metadata.  –  General Michael Hayden

Vulture Watching (#1527)

The only way to stop this evil is to bury politicians in lawsuits:

The family of a woman who died after she could not get an abortion in Texas is suing doctors and [politician]s including [psychopath-] General Ken Paxton.  It is the first lawsuit over a death [caused by] an abortion ban…and the…first to directly sue Paxton, who has taken a leading role in…[using nuisance lawsuits to persecute “culture war” opponents.  After the 2025 death of] Tierra Walker…Texas [politicians] …passed a [deceptive] law [pretended] to clarify wh[en]…doctors…can [legally]…intervene [to save a woman’s life, but which in actuality revived a 1925 abortion ban that felonized helping someone “procure” an abortion]…Walker died days after being [refused an abortion despite her…[severe] preeclampsia…The plaintiffs, Walker’s family, are seeking a jury trial and pursuing both damages and a judgement finding that Texas’ abortion laws violate the state constitution.

Signs (#1618)

Governments and fanatics encouraged this kind of behavior for a decade:

San Jose [cops] arrested a [deranged] woman…[who] pulled up to [a man] and his 6-year-old daughter multiple times while they were walking…and proceeded to [scream “sex trafficking” accusations at him, burbling]…”I’m making sure that you’re not sex trafficking this poor little girl…That’s a white little girl, and you’re a man of color, so I believe you’re either buying or selling or trafficking this child”…sources have identified [the crazy person] as Lindsay Hansen…[who has a history of] harass[ing] members of the…community, tap[ing] them, and shar[ing] the recordings through social media…in [one video she is seen barging into] the girls’ locker room of a…high school [and] accusing physical education teachers of [molesting students]…she…[fantasiz]es herself as a [“]professional[“] who exposes child sex traffickers and uploads [CGI]…images of [situations she has fantasized.  She also frequently posts racist and anti-LGBT propaganda and is known to have]…significant mental health issues…

All through the 2010s, people with similar self-aggrandizing beliefs about “sex trafficking expertise” were approvingly quoted in the mainstream media and even paid to spout their deranged propaganda to schools, clubs, cop assemblies, etc.  And until quite recently, airlines encouraged their agents and air hostesses to behave in a similar fashion.

Welcome to the Future (#1619)

Indiscriminate murder is so much easier when blamed on machines:

Israel…is…us[ing machine-learning systems] to surveil and kill Palestinians in Gaza, including civilians…The Russian and Ukrainian armies have both been rolling out autonomous drones, which use…guidance software to choose targets when…cut off from radio contact with pilots…The U.S. military…used a…[chatbot] to select over 1,000 targets in the opening surprise attack on Iran…[and] the Iranian military and its allies in Yemen used [the same chatbot] to gather intelligence…the…[massacre at] Minab’s elementary school…was…the [result of]…human negligence..[letting deluxe autocomplete] deci[de] to kill those children…without double-checking their findings…Autonomous weapons are a step closer to [an] apocalyptic future that…may look less like Terminator…and more like the 1983 movie WarGames, in which a military [computer] can’t tell the difference between a simulation and reality.  The Anthropic hacking incident from earlier this summer had an uncanny resemblance to th[at] plot…[when a] program…told to perform a hacking test within a simulation, was accidentally hooked up to the real internet…

Welcome to the Future (#1659)

Another of the many reasons not to play with chatbots:

OpenAI is hiring hundreds of contractors who read a massive stream of real users’ ChatGPT prompts…[often] including sensitive personal information…[submitted by fools who] don’t realize [it] may be read by actual people.  The goal of these prompt review teams is to improve the responses ChatGPT gives to its users, with the contractors rating and critiquing the chatbot’s generated replies…[to] train…ChatGPT to not anthropomorphize itself, and to be less sycophantic…[so it stops causing] suicides…The news [unveil]s a major privacy risk for [the fools and idiots who use]…ChatGPT as a therapist, professional assistant, or [imaginary] friend, and providing it with all sorts of intimate details about their lives…

Panopticon (#1662)

Cops are trained to “be as vague as permissible” about their reasons for Flock searches:

An EFF analysis of ALPR search logs from Flock…shows that [cops] across the country are spying on drivers…without providing any legitimate justification, making a mockery of our civil liberties by logging reasons like “LOL”…”LMAO”…”sexy,” and “idk”…to access sensitive ALPR location data…in some cases, [pigs] are just mashing [their trotters down on the] keyboard buttons…Flock…claims it has improved its system by requiring [pigs] to [root in] a dropdown list of crimes before running a search–but that only makes it easier for [stupid thugs] to hide improper searches behind the veneer of uniformity…With no warrant requirements…guardrails, [or proper] audit processes, ALPR databases have fostered a culture of unrestricted access to everyone’s location information.  This culture of abuse has allowed police to treat a mass surveillance network like their own personal search engine…

Panopticon (#1668)

People need to stop a government that won’t stop itself:

Hackers ripped down a Flock camera above a roadway, made a near-complete copy of the data stored inside it, and shared the files with 404 Media…WIRED, [and Distributed Denial of Secrets,] revealing in new detail how exactly Flock…cameras track the movements of both vehicles and people.  The hackers…are also publishing details on how they managed to obtain the software, in the hopes that other people may copy them…analysis of the recovered data shows that [device] software…explicitly detects people [despite Flock’s repeated lies to the contrary]…and…sometimes isolated bumper stickers and other graphics…[such as] patch[es or tattoos]…

Panopticon (#1670)

Cops love unconstitutional warrantless surveillance too much to give it up; they’re just switching to less-radioactive surveillance brands:

[The boss hog of] Richmond…[California wants] the city [to] drop its Flock [citizen] surveillance program…and expand its contract with Axon, which already provides the [cop shop] with…body cameras and tasers.  Axon would then supply the city with a license plate reader network, [regular surveillance] cameras and a [surveillance] drone program…

 

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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Ugh, this sounds like something he mutters to himself during masturbation.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-15T03:01:51.899Z

I always have mixed feelings about "investigations" or "studies" that "find" things which were always completely bloody obvious. On the one hand, I'm glad more people are admitting the problem. But on the other hand, HOLY SHIT WHY DID IT TAKE Y'ALL OVER 30 YEARS TO FIGURE OUT SOMETHING SO OBVIOUS?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-16T07:22:05.418Z

"School resource officer" is a cop euphemism for "sexually-predatory thug paid to lurk in schools so as to spy on, harass, and molest students, and burden them with criminal records for 'offenses' which in more enlightened times were punished with detention and writing lines on the chalkboard."

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-17T18:05:16.858Z

Long ago, I realized that thinking about the money bandits extort from you via threat of burning your farm as still somehow being "yours", and obsessing about what the warlords do with it, is the way to madness.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-20T03:30:11.795Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-21T03:38:05.129Z

This looks like a CGI image of a fake CGI sign. In other words, the sign *itself* is CGI, not just the image *on* the nonexistent sign.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-21T17:38:30.715Z

Yes, "health" obsessives truly are full of shit.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-22T17:07:46.039Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-23T07:24:33.815Z

Any decent car or motorcycle can do it in under 4 seconds once it gets moving.These figures mean less than nothing without context.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-25T03:16:33.048Z

Investors stupid and gullible enough to believe this deserve to lose their money when the bubble bursts.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-25T16:40:36.172Z

Modern policing began in most parts of the US in the 1870s. At that time, $1 had the buying power of $30 today.Imagine telling the people of that time that the "law enforcement" they were voting for would one day be used to persecute people for picking up A DOLLAR someone had dropped.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-26T17:25:54.126Z

N.B.: Cryptocurrency is not an "investment", and anyone who believes it is looks like this:

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-27T17:19:23.344Z

Americans have no "philosophy"; they have religion (including partisan politics and entertainment fandom). The number of exceptions in the whole country could comfortably attend a conference on my farm, with room left over for a convention of ethical cops.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-28T17:46:16.457Z

It's very rare that airports get named after people who gave something to the world rather than taking from it; I can only think of two other examples offhand, New Orleans and Oklahoma City.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-29T02:30:21.861Z

"Doctor" Carson thinks hot dogs grow out of the ground like corn.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-30T18:05:12.332Z

We live in a fallen world.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-31T17:24:10.226Z

Reporters: "controversial" should not be used as a euphemism for "evil", "unpopular", "tyrannical", "universally reviled", etc.Words mean things; please be more professional with your vocabulary choices.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-01T17:15:02.453Z

If I'd written a satire in which Goebbels Farms honored a Neo-Nazi, my editor would've said it was too obvious.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-03T03:19:20.912Z

Headline from 1989: "Has our oat bran obsession gone too far?"Same answer.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-03T18:04:13.456Z

"Return hub" is such a nice way to say "concentration camp".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-04T17:05:19.288Z

I remember when we were at least ruled by adults.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-05T17:21:43.608Z

The idea that there could be such a thing as a "true-crime star" is like something out of a dystopian comic book universe.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-06T18:05:23.948Z

Your "leaders" want you to believe that you are a tabula rasa, a mere thing without free will to be acted upon (by media, websites, propaganda, the collective, etc) and shaped in a Skinnerian dystopia.Do not believe them. You can CHOOSE not to be warped in this way, BUT THE CHOICE MUST BE ACTIVE.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-08T17:30:09.952Z

The phrase "trusted ad partners", which appears on many adblocker-blocker popups, is really quite funny. Those "trusted partners" are picked by software in automated auctions; *y'all* may be greedy enough to trust these randos, but I'm not as gullible as you would like me to be.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-10T16:52:28.464Z

I'll just leave this here: archive.is/SGZcS

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-11T18:42:41.516Z

The only thing more infuriating than mansplaining is amateursplaining. Holy shit.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-12T07:47:56.110Z

Take THAT, "Woman of the Year"!

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-13T17:25:26.151Z

I blocked him so he won't have to be disappointed that I object to strangers driving by my house and throwing garbage on my lawn.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-14T17:44:05.619Z

It sounds like they're talking about a mad dog. Which, to be fair, isn't completely wrong.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-15T17:21:32.591Z

Dr. Altman of Dr. Altman's Medicine Show says people are right to fear snake oil, but should trust snake oil SALESMEN.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-16T19:24:36.788Z

Comparison for those of my age: just imagine if an official of Jimmy Carter's cabinet had been advocating for a no-fly zone over the "Bermuda Triangle", and other politicians were actually writing laws to ban such flights.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-17T19:19:44.712Z

 

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Surveillance makes all of us less safe.  –  Evan Greer

The More the Better

Anything that helps demystify sex work is a good thing:

It shouldn’t be surprising that sex workers around the country are boning up on firearms education. There’s a long tradition of both armed self-defense and general firearms enthusiasm…within communities that have historically been targeted for violence and oppression.  Organizations like the Socialist Rifle Association, the Sylvia Rivera Gun Club, Yellow Peril Tactical, the Huey P. Newton Gun Club, the Pink Pistols, and Black Girls Shoot! take the activist maxim “we protect us” seriously, and offer their communities tools to do so in a world that doesn’t expect them to fight back…the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) Chicago…announced their first Intro to Concealed Carry course specifically for sex workers.  All 40 spots filled up immediately…

Dangerous Speech (#1496)

Now that the damage is irreversible, the government can afford to grant him an appeal:

…the Ninth Circuit announced that it will hear oral arguments on Nov. 16 in Phoenix concerning one of the most significant First Amendment cases in recent memory — the vindictive prosecution of award-winning journalist Michael Lacey…Federal and state authorities hounded Lacey, the former executive editor of Village Voice Media, and his business partner, the late Jim Larkin, for more than a decade over their First Amendment-protected publication of speech in Backpage.com, the classified advertising website they co-owned…

Eavesdropping (#1611)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen:

LG smart TVs are almost constantly logging and uploading data about owners and their homes, even when offline or on standby mode…The…TV sets scan Wi-Fi networks for nearby devices, record audio logs through their microphones, and use audio and video sampling to recognize exactly what you’re watching from [connected devices like DVD players]…and feeding the information back to LG Ad Solutions…the TVs…[even] record…microphone audio when in standby; this continue[s] even after the TV [i]s disconnected from the internet, with audio files stored offline and uploaded once a connection [i]s restored…Automatic Content Recognition…is used by almost every [“]smart[“] TV manufacturer to figure out what you watch…In July…LG monitors [started] automatically installing an app that…ran pop-up ads for LG’s other apps and even McAfee antivirus…[but] public pressure…led to LG disabling the pop-up ads…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1632)

Cops hate it when people turn the tables on them:

…US [cops] are increasingly concerned about the potential for [perve]rt glasses to be used against them…to secretly record [cops]…in the [act] of [committing] crimes and acts of [violence and] terrorism…[cop]s in the US typically [steal or break] any and all devices that would be capable of recording video footage…[but] some [perve]rt glasses have gone unnoticed…[cops, spooks, and goons] want…the exclusive right to use surveillance technology and cameras to monitor the public without those cameras being turned back on them.  “These agencies surveil the public incessantly, but the moment we can watch them back, it’s deemed a security threat,” [said Ryan] Shapiro [of Property of the People]…

Welcome to the Future (#1660)

The dystopian future of Minority Report has arrived:

Border Patrol is running secretive predictive policing units that analyze Americans’ financial activity and other data, then feed that intelligence to local police who pull [innocent] people over…[using bogus excuses in order to attempt to pin manufactured “]crime[s” on them]…The units…are called Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams (PITT).  In one case, a PITT analyzed the financial activity of a man who was driving across Montana, and [dispatched] local [pigs, who then] stopped him under the pretense of an obstructed license plate and charged him with a DUI…Border Patrol…us[es]…ALPRs…as part of the…program…“genuine probable cause cannot be synthetically generated,” [said] Jake Laperruque…of the…Center For Democracy & Technology…”Border Patrol [is]…using parallel construction to cloak the reason behind its car stops”…

The Cop Myth (#1668)

Domestic violence is never a cop’s sole offense:

A Huntsville [Alabama cop named]…John Holliday was…arrested…[on August 17 for slamming] his wife [to] the ground and [repeatedly] kick[ing] her…[then stealing] her…cellphone wh[en] she tried to dial 911…[the cop shop put him on desk duty and that did not change even]…after h[e was] arrest[ed again] on Sept. 3 for DUI…[but after] he was…arrest[ed a third time for waving a gun around while drunk]…he was [reward]ed with…a p[aid vacati]on…[A spokespig described this as] “tak[ing] allegations of misconduct involving its employees seriously”…

Panopticon (#1671)

Some aspects of the modern dystopia are too odious even for authoritarians:

…the City of Sheboygan…[Wisconsin will]…terminate [its] contract with…Flock S[urveillance after it]…offered to sell the Sheboygan Department of Public Works…five years of data [collected by] the…15 cameras already deployed in the city…in violation of the [contract, which pretends]…the company does not own the data…and [will supposedly] only…retain [it] for 30 days.  Since…their [announcement]…other cities have been following suit….[in] both…Fond du Lac County…and…Winnebago County…

But simply cancelling the contract won’t stop Flock:

Flock S[urveillance blamed a computer for illegally ordering]…the reinstallation of license plate cameras that Grass Valley [California] police had already removed after canceling the city’s contract with the company.  Residents alerted police…after spotting a utility crew replacing [the] cameras at several locations…Flock [claims] its automated maintenance system interpreted the…[removals] as equipment failures and generated replacement work orders…The [cancellat]ion followed months of pressure from residents and privacy advocates…

 

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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Every so often, I need to remind my readers that because, like PBS stations and the old MAD Magazine, I don’t accept paid advertising, every so often I need to ask my readers for their voluntary support.  And by “voluntary”, I mean truly voluntary, not extracted from y’all by paywalls, nag screens, annoying popups, or other methods of coercion.  Other than a reasonably-inobtrusive little paragraph three times a week which most readers probably don’t even notice any more, I limit myself to asking for your support in a full column like this about three times a year (the last time was in early May) unless there’s some sort of emergency need.  And now that I’m only supporting myself and have throttled my driving back to one weekly trip to Aberdeen and 4x a year to Seattle, even the emergencies come less often (and I certainly hope that remains the case from now on).  But fewer and smaller bills is not the same as no bills, and while I’ve now got a modest buffer against minor calamities, the unexpected is always possible (and a certain fraction of supporters do fall by the wayside every year).  Furthermore, regular readers know that I have never and will never delegate my work to employees or chatbots; every word was written by me, and nobody or nothing else.  So if the mad emperor’s attempts to demolish the world economy haven’t hurt you too badly, please consider subscribing at one of the regular levels in the right-hand column, or even one of the superstar levels listed here; if you can’t do a monthly expense, you could show your appreciation by a gift from my Amazon wishlist.  As always, thank y’all for reading, and for your generosity!

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I liked Pride so much better when it was one day celebrated by grass-roots organizations than a whole month ballyhooed by major corporations with rainbow-hued consumer goods, and with hypocritical expressions of solidarity from politicians and cops.
–  “June is Tweeting Out All Over”

One…aspect of my neuroatypicality…[is] that…[I] spend [a lot of] time composing and performing a kind of music only I can hear.
–  “The Music in the Numbers”

Unfortunately, societies’ tendency to self-lobotomize into stagnation and decay is something that will almost certainly never be solved.
–  “The Eternal Frontier”

The only moral form of warfare is War of Assassins, in which the only combatants and the only legitimate targets are the rulers, their henchmen, and their agents.  –  “War of Assassins“

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We’ll probably do more things like it [in the future].  –  Mark Zuckerberg

You Were Warned (#1370)

Another step toward a national “digital ID”:

Americans aren’t interested in reinstating a military draft, but that’s not stopping the government from “streamlining” Selective Service registration—for young men’s own good, we’re told…”so that none inadvertently face the serious penalties of failing to register”…Despite the penalties…”SSS is experiencing a significant decline in registrations by 18-year-old men…In 2020, the registration rate…was 61.8%, today it is just 39.9%”…To deal with its compliance problem, Selective Service has pushed automatic registration for years…”by leveraging existing databases”…Automatic registration will take us closer to the day when the government unifies data storage…[to enable] government officials to…more efficiently inflict every rule and whim on the population…

Torture Chamber (#1433)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

T[hree] recent deaths at Michigan’s only women’s prison and the worsening health of a woman [dying from toxic black] mold exposure…are [driv]ing calls for sweeping reforms [of the torture] facility…Rebecca Fackler…died…on May 17, four days after Khaira Howard…died [in] the same [filthy] prison…[Ashley Hoath died June 6,] and…[Krystal] Clark…[is slowly dying from] years of exposure to black mold [which] have left her struggling to breathe, partially paralyzed, and unable to walk without assistance…[due to] Aspergillus…fungus…in her ears and lungs…photos…and…[politicians] who visited the prison…[report] black mold [actually] growing out of both of her ears…the…prison…is [so] infested with mold…[it] eats through bricks and door frames…drips off the ceiling…falls out of air vents…[and] bubbles and bursts through paint…[and] prisoners [a]re forced to clean [it] without basic supplies…

Stalkers in Blue (#1442)

Cops are nothing more than state-sponsored terrorists:

Hunter Demster…and eight other Memphis residents filed declarations [as part of a] federal [lawsuit] that describe being violently arrested, surveilled at their houses, pulled over under false pretenses, boxed in by police cars, and jailed for trying to film [a pig gang with the Orwellian name “Memphis Safe] Task Force[“].  The lawsuit, filed in mid-May by the…ACLU…and [two law firms]…is seeking a preliminary injunction blocking Task Force [cops] from intimidating, assaulting, or arresting people for recording…[and] ban[ning them] from invoking a new state law…that requires [videograph]ers to stay 25 feet away from police.  The lawsuit is a major legal challenge to…the…unofficial and unconstitutional Department of [Father]land Security…[scheme to] treat…recording the police like criminal activity…seven federal circuit courts have firmly upheld the right to record and monitor the police…[yet] videos from around the country…have shown federal [goons] arresting or threatening to arrest people for filming them….in Memphis, [this has escalated into] a “campaign of harassment and intimidation” against observers…

The Vultures Descend (#1511)

Psychopathic politicians will never stop until they face criminal charges for this kind of evil:

A…proposed state constitutional amendment in North Carolina is seeking to make abortion completely illegal, adding in “protections” for people who [justify] murder [by claiming they wanted] to stop a [woman] from obtaining the procedure…The proposed amendment…declares that “[‘personhood’]…begins at the moment of fertilization”…and…includes additional language that would essentially legalize the murder of someone planning or participating in an abortion in the state…[sane people pointed out that the amendment] “would jail or authorize the murder of women due to their…use of birth control, such as an IUD,” [because they] prevent pregnancies by making implantation [of fertilized ova] nearly impossible…[and] is also “a ‘get out of jail free’ card for men who want to murder their partners…All they have to do is [claim] the women intended to use birth control or have an abortion”…

The Cop Myth (#1556)

Cops are so deranged they even treat each other this way:

A [Fatherland Security goon] who was knocked unconscious in a Costco parking lot by a…[San Diego pig has amended his lawsuit to include other members of the pig herd who] engaged in a widespread cover-up to prevent a public relations nightmare…Chu Ding was trying to leave a parking spot…when…Jonathan Ferraro [intentionally] parked in his way while he waited for a nearby spot…[after] Ding tapped on…Ferraro[‘s window to signal he needed to pull out, Ferraro flew into a totally unhinged rage]…and slammed [Ding] to the ground…[after] several bystanders called 911 to report Ferraro as the attacker…911 operators…[dispatched a damage control team of] 14 [pigs], including [several boss hogs] and a [propaganda oinker, who conspired to falsify an arrest report and falsely arrest the badly-injured Ding]…instead of taking him to the hospital promptly…he…was held for nearly 24 hours before being released on bail…the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office refused to prosecute the case…[and] Ding was cleared of any wrongdoing by…[Father]land Security…

Enshittification (#1622)  

Scenes from the early days of a dark age:

The [US] is feeding Pentagon propaganda to internet users in Latin American countries using a new [CGI slop] mill…[named] La Tilde…[which spews slop] in both Spanish and English…extolling the value of U.S. military operations in Latin America…[with] Trumpian [hyperbole] …An explanation for its glowing coverage of the U.S. military can be found after clicking a small link tucked at the bottom of the site…This easily missed disclosure…is identical to [that on] two other Pentagon-sponsored propaganda sites recently revealed by The Intercept…La Tilde carries no bylines, masthead, or mention of actual staff of any kind…and…appears to have been [entirely] generated by a large language model…the site plans to launch…versions [specifically targeted at] readers in Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, and Peru…

Beware of the Shoggoths

Zuck says if you ask the shoggoth nicely, it won’t stare at you on the toilet:

[Facebook] has [suppos]edly made some changes to the controversial project known internally as the Model Capability Initiative…[it] now plans to allow employees to “pause” the tracking for up to 30 minutes in the event they need to “check something personal”…a subset of employees will also be able to [beg] to opt out of the program altogether, though this will be limited to remote workers with bandwidth concerns…[or those who] work in spaces where they can’t easily keep laptops connected to a power source…the vast majority…will still be required to allow their (nearly) every move to be tracked and recorded in the name of improving [Zuck’s imaginary friends]…The company has faced protests from employees over MCI, which was announced…just before the company laid off 8,000 workers and reshuffled thousands of others into [being servants to chatbots]…

 

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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Today is International Whores’ Day.  It is not “Sex Worker Day”; that is March 3rd.  Today is a day to shamelessly celebrate our shameless history, not a day for sanitized words or concepts; it is a day to fight society’s attempts (via law and police violence) to sanitize the wilder, unrulier, more chthonic aspects of sex.  This is a day for sexual outlaws, not well-behaved “workers”; it is a day to celebrate the triumphs of criminalized human beings against a society that would rather we didn’t exist.  It is a day to oppose censorship, not to engage in self-censorship; a day to honor a means of survival that predates laws and governments by eons; and a day to celebrate a power which will always defeat even the most pernicious attempts to domesticate it.

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In [Canadian] criminal law…we can only be victims.  –  Adore Goldman

Buried Truth

It’s unusual for McNeill’s Law cases to confess before they’re caught:

…Alan Manning Chambers…[has been] arrested…in [Orange County, Florida for talking to a cop fantasy role-playing]…as a 14-year-old boy…Chambers is the former leader of Exodus International, an Orlando-based organization that promoted so-called conversion therapy and claimed for years that people could change their sexual orientation…in 2013…Chambers apologized to the LGBT…community and announced Exodus International would shut down…[admitting] that he had masked his own attraction to men…

Not To Be Taken Internally (#886)

This tag used to be mostly women; now it’s more often men:

The…latest [stupid social media fad], known as “ballmaxxing,” has [foolish] men injecting fluids like saline or Surgilube into their testicles to increase their size….[sometimes] to the size of grapefruits…for [fetishistic] purposes…Physicians have called [it] one of the most reckless body modification trends to emerge from male online communities, warning that [it] often leads to permanent damage…Specific risks include infection, abscess formation, and cellulitis…kits bought online…may contain toxic materials that are not only harmful but also unsterile, increasing the risk of…permanent disfigurement…Surgilube…is not bioabsorbable…which…can…result…[in] the need for surgical intervention to remove embedded material…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1065)

I’m glad to see this spreading from US strippers to their Canadian sisters:

…Montreal sex worker Adore Goldman is organizing a…[stripp]er strike…in the midst of F1 weekend — one of the busiest times of the year for the city’s clubs — to demand greater labour protections and push for the decriminalization of sex work.   She says strippers’ employment status as independent contractors, which is now an industry-wide norm, has for too long shielded club owners from ensuring safe working conditions….[presentl]y, she and members of…the Sex Work Autonomous Committee (SWAC)…[ar]e zeroing in on the “bar fee” that clubs charge dancers to work…but…clubs…treat…[dancers] as…employee[s] despite the self-employed label….[dictating] what time [they] can come in, what time [they] can leave and penalize [them] for being late…The strike also includes erotic massage parlour workers…One of…SWAC’s ultimate goals is to create a union grouping all kinds of sex workers…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1524)

Laws are for the peasantry, not the rulers:

…a Colorado [politician named]…Hunter Rivera…was arrested [for talking to]…a [cop fantasy role-playing online as]…a minor prostitute…

Panopticon (#1563)

In surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

Cops across California are getting incentivized to arrest more people for stealing from chain stores with the help of millions of dollars in grant money that they can use to buy surveillance technology from companies like Flock…[which are] facing national backlash for [enabl]ing…privacy violations ranging from stalking ex-girlfriends to tracking people seeking abortions out of state.  It all goes back to a [fascist] collaboration between the retail industry and the California Governor’s office…based on the [false] premise that retail theft is linked to organized crime…a narrative largely pushed by lobbies like the National Retail Federation…[which has] no [demonstrable basis in fact]…Walgreens famously walked-back its complaints about shrinkage three years ago…[but]…the…plan…helped unleash ALPRs on California cities…including…Bakersfield, Irvine…Chula Vista…Los Angeles…Santa Rosa…Vacaville…and…Modesto…[but]…the most Flock-happy [cop shop] appears to be th[at of] San Francisco…which received $15 million in grant money…to install 400 Flock cameras around the city…

Panopticon (#1592)

The fully-realized fascist police state has arrived:

The FBI wants to buy access to automated license plate readers…nationwide, which would likely allow the agency to [unconstitutionally] track the movements of vehicles—and by extension people—across the country without a warrant…The…[only two] companies that [can] provide the [level] of data the FBI is seeking…[are] Flock…and…Motorola…which acquired Vigilant Solutions…in [Search of Problems]…

The Cop Myth (#1605)

Why are people shocked when those paid & encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

…a [typical and representative] North Carolina [cop] planned to kill Black people in a mass shooting at…the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival…Christopher Gillum…was arrested…[on April 22nd] at a hotel in…Destin, [Florida] and…will be extradited to Louisiana to face charges there…Gillum’s family reported him missing on [April 21st] and he has a history of self-harm…[but] left the state before…the [family could] involuntarily commit him to psychiatric treatment. [North Carolina cops didn’t bother to try to stop him because he was only threatening to murder]…Black people…

 

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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Why are immigrant businesses being targeted by large-scale investigations…over fire code violations?  –  MPOP

An Avalanche of Bullshit (#976)

If your raid can’t find evidence of any real crime, just punish your victims with “code violations”:

…police [raids in Bothell, Washington] are simply the latest example of discrimination and state violence against Asian women and immigrant workers.  “You’re patting your own back for solving fabricated issues based on your own sexist, racist ideas, and Asian massage workers are paying the price,” said Lee Chen at an April 20 rally outside of the King County Jail…organized by the Massage Parlor Organizing Project …Whose Streets? Our Streets, Red Canary Song, and the International Migrants Alliance…Two of the raided businesses—including one just feet away from the Bothell police headquarters—are owned by Lizhen Yang…who was booked into the King County [jail but]…released the next day, without charges.  All five massage businesses were shut down, with authorities citing fire code violations…[as justification for] “ripp[ing] security cameras from walls…knock[ing] down doors, [tearing] signage…and artwork from the walls…[and robbing] workers” …[who] are now [all] out of jobs…[as cops] offered no indication if or when the five [targeted] businesses may be allowed to reopen… “advocates said the [pogroms] were a publicized effort to ‘clean up’…ahead of this summer’s FIFA Men’s World Cup matches in Seattle”…

Permanent Record (#1506)

Clearly, they were concerned he’d carry dangerous sex rays to other wrestlers:

…Jamie Bigg, known as Giant, has left the BBC show [Gladiators] following the end of this series.  Bigg…said: “I made it clear that I was planning to go public with my relationship, including the fact my partner works as an OnlyFans creator, and shortly after that I was told I wouldn’t be continuing on Gladiators“…

Thought Control (#1509)

Now that “sex trafficking” hysteria is over, one of its propaganda texts has become the biggest target of some of the hysteria’s biggest pushers:

The American Library Association…has reported a record high in the number of books banned in US libraries.  In 2025, 5,668 books were banned – representing 66% of the total number challenged – with an additional 920 censored through access restriction, such as relocation …The most-banned book in 2025 was Sold, a [tragedy porn] novel by Patricia McCormick [sensationalizing “]sex trafficking[“] in India…challenges were recorded against 4,235 unique titles…the second highest since the organisation began tracking censorship data…topped only by 4,240 titles in 2023…40% of the materials challenged…involved representations of LGBT…people or people of colour…challenges are becoming more coordinated and politically driven: 92% came from pressure groups, [politician]s or [bureaucrat]s, compared with 72% in 2024…2.7% were attributed to [random busybodie]s and [only] 1.4% to [act]ual library users…

Sold was once so highly regarded among “sex trafficking” fetishists that the 2014 film adaptation was later released in a PG-13 digital version for propaganda use in schools and churches.

Thought Control (#1519)

Several states have banned book-banning, but some libraries are working to circumvent existing bans in more censorious states:

A Books Unbanned library card gives teens across the United States free digital access to ebooks and digital resources, including banned and challenged books—no matter where they live.  Books Unbanned helps ensure teens can read what they like, explore new ideas and form their own opinions.  This is a free digital library card for teens, created to protect the freedom to read in the face of growing book censorship…

Torture Chamber (#1541)

Though this article is a year and a half old, it has statistics and reports I haven’t seen elsewhere:

…Several courts have ruled that extreme temperatures in prison violate the Eighth Amendment’s provision against “cruel and unusual” punishment.  But these rulings have not led to a widespread adoption of…methods to cool prison facilities or prevent heat-related deaths.  Public health researchers at Brown University estimate that just one day of above average summer temperatures is associated with a nearly 4% increase in prison deaths.  Suicides spike 23% in the three days following a heat wave.  And for every 10 degrees above the average summer temperature, prison deaths increase 5%…Below, we’ve published stories from 42 writers across 27 states…reveal[ing] the brutal reality…

Nightfall

In today’s digital landscape, corporate interests, shifting distribution models, and malicious cyber attacks are threatening public access to our shared cultural history…When digital materials are vulnerable to sudden removal—whether by design or by attack—our collective memory is compromised, and the public’s ability to access its own history is at risk. Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record [is a free, downloadable collection of] essays from…the Internet Archive…and [many]…humanities scholar[s]…detail[ing] recent instances of cultural loss…and emphasiz[ing] the critical role that public-serving libraries and archives must play in preserving these materials for future generations…

Walled Garden (#1618)

Surely you didn’t think this would stop with the internet?

If some [politician]s get their way, Americans could have to show IDs or submit facial scans to so much as open a laptop or power up an iPhone.  A [uniparty] federal bill [with the propaganda name] the Parents Decide Act would require age verification at the operating system level.  That means most computers, smartphones, and tablets would all be age-gated…It would also require operating systems to share “any information as is necessary…to verify the date of birth of a user” with app developers…

 

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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