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Posts Tagged ‘activism’

Throwback Thursday Girl

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Sex work is work…sex workers are human beings deserving of human rights, and…prohibitionists are nothing but bigots trying to hide a moralistic agenda under a cloak of lies and spurious concern.
–  “Sixth Anniversary”

Like most people, I also do things for others I care about or whom I think it’s right to do things for, without asking for direct monetary compensation; however, I don’t deceive myself that those things aren’t labor.  –  “Value for Value”

Human beings have the right to control our own bodies & lives regardless of motive, whether anybody “loves” or “dreams” or “deserves” whatever, or whether or not our actions are “fun” for us or anyone else.  –  “Children’s Hour”

The concept of “human rights” becomes incomprehensible to Americans in proximity to the word “sex”.  –  “Safe Position (#952)”

Ordering cops receive more “training” is a popular way for judges to pretend they’re doing something while preserving the status quo.
–  “Stalkers in Blue (#1055)“

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Fourteenth Anniversary

Posted in Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , on July 10, 2024| 1 Comment »

I’m sure y’all will understand if I let myself coast more often rather than frantically pedaling all the time.  –  “Thirteenth Anniversary”

Every year for my anniversary column, I tend to have a lot of thinky thoughts about this massive edifice of words I’ve built (5115 daily columns including this one, plus 107 pages and innumerable tweets); I ruminate on what I’ve accomplished directly and on the other writers and speakers I’ve inspired, who have spread out from this massive boulder I’ve pushed into the interpond like ever-widening ripples.  I’ve written about the rise and fall of “sex trafficking” hysteria and the other excuses used to persecute uppity strumpets like myself, and in recent years have turned to explaining why I don’t write quite as many new essays as I once did:

…even if thirteen years isn’t that much in the big scheme of things, every year counts double when you’re burning your candle at both ends.  And even though older folks like me tend to think of 13 years as not an especially long stretch, consider the difference between 1910 and 1923 (or between 1933 and 1946, or 1953 to 1966, or 1990 to 2003); the world and the culture have changed quite a bit since I started this project, and in a world of YouTube and TikTok blogs are beginning to look as quaint as radio shows did in 1959.

But even though I’ve used these essays to explain my reasons to you and justify them to myself, I’m only just beginning to internalize that yes, it really is okay to keep slowing down, rather than just saying it aloud but not really believing it.  So this year I’m going to do something bold (for me, that is):  I daresay most people do not celebrate anniversaries by giving themselves extra work, but of course that’s what I’ve always done.  So this year I’m just popping in to remind y’all of the occasion, to thank y’all for fourteen years of unflagging support, and to let y’all know that I’m planning to mostly take the rest of the day off.  Or at least as much of it as my hyperactive brain will let me.

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In the News (#1444)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »

It would be nice to see more companies [fight censorial, authoritarian governments].  –  Mike Masnick

Grace Bellavue

Grace Bellavue was a…sex worker…activist and modern-day maverick, until suddenly, she died…Award winning artist, and fellow South Australian, Michaela Burger (A Migrant’s Son, Exposing Edith) explores her legacy in this new one-woman show.  Through Grace’s writing – unpublished hip hop lyrics, monologues, and musings – Burger explores her multifaceted life.  Her outrageously funny wit and charm, fearlessness and “fuck it” outlook on life will seduce you into marching with this social justice warrior who was determined to decriminalise the sex industry.  Presenting Grace’s moving story through a mix of spoken word, song and movement, Michaela Burger explores the mind of the woman in the headlines and brings her audience on the fascinating journey…[at] Edinburgh’s [Festival] Fringe audiences this August…

Michaela’s been working on this show for over a year, so I’m happy to see it coming to fruition!

Choke Point (#839) 

A rare good decision from the current SCOTUS:

…all nine Supreme Court justices found in favor of the NRA…because the behavior of New York State, to try to silence the NRA by threatening third parties, was so constitutionally alarming.  If New York could get away with doing what it had done, and threaten a speaker’s business relationships as a means of punishing the speaker, then so could any other state against any other speaker, including those who might be trying to speak out against the NRA…[or] those at odds with…the preferred policies of states like Texas and Florida…This decision is not the first time that courts have said no to this sort of siege warfare state officials have tried to wage against speakers they don’t like, to cut them off from relationships the speakers depend on when they can’t attack the speakers directly…

Choke Point (#1190) 

Can you even imagine this happening in the US?

A Melbourne-based gay sex worker has resolved a discrimination case against two Australian financial service providers, in a “great victory” that he wants to protect others from falling victim to “debanking”…Matthew Roberts…was debanked and denied a…[credit card processing] machine…[after] finance company Mint Payments…switched the institution it used for transactions…and the company asked him to reapply for [the] machine [he had been using for years]…he dealt with company honestly, disclosing his occupation.  But his application was denied…[because] his business was within “a restricted category”…But that…was…after Victoria decriminalised sex work…[making it] illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of their profession, trade or occupation…Matthew took the companies to court in June last year…and…the case was settled out of court confidentially late last year.  Matthew went public [last] week and said he received no money from the legal action…[but] the two [offending] companies agreed to not restrict services offered to people engaged in lawful sex work…

Opting Out (#1268)

Twitter shifts to an opt-in model:

[Twitter] now officially allows pornographic content…but says it will block adult and violent posts from being seen by users who are under 18 or who do not opt-in to see it.  The…new policies…come as [cens]or pressure grows for platforms around the world to…[censor content by shouting “The] children[!!!!!!” at]…social media [companies].  Historically…Twitter…has not prevented people posting adult content…[but] users who [do so]…have now been asked…to adjust media settings so that their images and videos are put behind a content warning…Users under 18 or those who do not put a birthdate in their profile will be unable to view this content…Similar rules have been put in place for violent content…

This appears to be an attempt to head off the nitwit parade led by authoritarians in various US states, Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, and Russia.

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1382)

The claims in these nuisance lawsuits are increasingly absurd:

The state of Utah has filed another lawsuit against…TikTok…[fantasiz]ing the video app “created a virtual strip club” that allowed young people to be sexually exploited in exchange for money that TikTok takes a cut of.  The lawsuit [was] filed…by the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, a[n increasingly-popular angle that allows authoritarian governments to circumvent due process]…the…lawsuit also [imagines]…that TikTok LIVE’s virtual currency could allow criminals to host illegal gambling, sell drugs and fund terrorist activities…The state…is also suing…Facebook…[over imaginary “]harm to the mental health of Utah youth[” and]…has passed bills [attack]ing…social platforms…prompt[ing] a coalition of…companies…[and a group of] content creators [to sue over]…the state’s [egregious 1st Amendment violations]…

Creepy Coppers (#1437)

It’s too bad cops don’t spend all their time policing their own gang:

A [typical and representative Missouri cop named]…David K. Blankenship…and his wife Karlie Blankenship…[have been] charged with…attempt[ing to find] a child [they could use to make child porn after] David Blankenship…uploaded a [similar] video [to] TikTok [and the upload was reported by TikTok]…David and…Karlie…were having “sexually themed conversations” via TikTok direct message, shared videos of young girls they found attractive and discussed their sexual desires involving children under 14 and “how to locate children that are local”…Another search warrant [executed] at Blankenship’s…home found additional evidence…

Free advice: if your sexual fantasies involve anything that would be illegal in real life, don’t share them in writing, especially not electronically.

You Were Warned (#1438)

Wins against censors are increasingly rare these days:

The real fight for free speech…means being willing to stand up to extremist authoritarian bullies, even when the odds are stacked against you.  Challenging regimes where a single satirical post, a meme, or a critical blog can put someone behind bars requires bravery.  But sometimes people have to fight, because it’s the right thing to do…The notoriously thin-skinned authoritarian Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sued thousands of people for the crime of “insulting” him (or comparing him to Gollum).  He has jailed journalists for criticizing his government and claims that social media…is a “threat to democracy” for allowing his critics to speak…the makers of WordPress, Automattic…fought back…[un]like…Twitter…after a [2015] demand to remove a critical blog…basically a decade later it has prevailed…this is a rare and surprising outcome.  Turkish courts have rejected similar attempts by the company, but the company hasn’t stopped fighting these fights…It’s especially notable that the main law Turkey relies on for this broad censorship was directly modeled on similar “internet regulations” in Europe (especially Germany’s NetzDG law, which partially inspired the DSA across the EU)…

 

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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Rock ‘n’ Roll Throwback Thursday

Posted in Biography, History, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I don’t think I could conceal my lesbian side any less if I went around wearing a T-shirt with “DYKE” on the back and a picture of Melissa Ethridge on the front.  –  “East is East and West is West”

The reality of human sexuality is a whole world; describing it requires at least four dimensions plus time.  –  “Two-dimensional”

Revolutions are caused by governments.  –  “Cornered Animals”

Cassandra is done being polite, and isn’t ever going to let y’all forget that she warned y’all about that fucking horse.  –  “I Told You So”

It’s bad enough that these immense leeches skulk around behind us online and off, hungrily licking up the data traces we all inadvertently leave behind us as horses leave shit everywhere; do y’all really have to give them information voluntarily as well?  –  “Fuck You, Pay Me“

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Whores’ Day 2024

Posted in Holidays, Perception, Philosophy, Words, tagged , , , , , on June 2, 2024| 3 Comments »

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 the News (#1439)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2024| 1 Comment »

Sex work…[is] a personal choice from which we don’t need to be rescued.  –  Natalia Lane

South of the Border (#992)

It’s barely even possible to talk about this under criminalization:

…on May 7, a group of sex workers [in Mexico City] launched ‘CLaP!’, a first-of-its-kind coalition that wants the decriminalization of sex work, its formal recognition as a job, and access to social security for those working online and in person…the group is appealing to potential members online and on the streets of the capital, aiming to create enough momentum for sex workers to win long-sought labor rights.  To date, about 42 workers have joined CLaP!…

Panopticon (#1316)

Privacy as we once knew it is a thing of the past:

American police are testing a new technology that can scan moving vehicles for anything that emits a signal, including phones, smartwatches, cat and dog tracking chips and even library books, according to its creator, Rome, Italy-based surveillance…company Leonardo…Elsag EOC Plus…is typically incorporated into one of Leonardo’s Elsag license plate readers…and is designed to help police [states] monitor [citizens by]…warrantlessly track[ing] people across large tranches of the country…by identifying their belongings without their knowledge…the tool can identify specific models of devices…[such as] pet chips, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, wearable tech like fitness trackers, in-car infotainment systems and tire pressure sensors, and…all that data can be linked to a car’s license plate number, becoming a unique “fingerprint.” As a person travels through other license plate scanners, their fingerprint can be followed around a given area, even when the driver or passenger switches vehicles…malls across the U.S. are already equipped…with…car surveillance technologies from Leonardo rival Flock Safety…[whose] cameras similarly create “fingerprints”…[by] look[ing] at identifying features on a car beyond the license plate number, such as color, make, model, bumper stickers or wheel rims…

If Men Were Angels (ROTW #6)

This will continue until fools stop teaching children unquestioning obedience to “authority”:

A [Spokane, Washington high] school paraeducator and…coach admitted to recording himself [molest]ing…underage boys and sending the videos to other [boys]…Dallas M. Shuler…told [cop]s he solicited explicit content from 25 [boys] in the last year because he is “sexually excited by” 11- to 15-year-olds…He al[so] admitted he kept a collection of explicit photos and videos of minors and “traded” them with [other minors]…

You Were Warned (#1428)

Politicians keep openly trying to destroy the internet:

…weakening Section 230 has become a weird political hobby horse for…politicians [because they] loathe communications…outside of their control.  Generally, such designs take the form of content-specific carve-outs…but a new proposal…would simply “sunset” Section 230 after next year…[politicians] Cathy McMorris Rodgers…and…Frank Pallone…”seem to fundamentally misunderstand how the law works and what the consequences of repealing it would be,” writes Mike Masnick at Techdirt, pointing to the pair’s [recent] Wall Street Journal op-ed…[which] manages to get just about everything about Section 230 wrong, including its origins.  Section 230 was part of a panicky “protect the children” law known as the Communications Decency Act, not a measure meant to “help people and businesses connect, innovate and share information,” as the pair so absurdly claims…”These days, one can ask, ‘How do you know when Section 230 is being misunderstood?’ and answer, ‘A politician is talking about it'”…lawyer Robert Corn-Revere aptly wrote in Reason last year…

I Can’t Breathe (#1434)

Articles about misconduct are more effective when journalists don’t make excuses for cops:

In hundreds of deaths where police used force meant to stop someone without killing them, [cops intentionally] violated well-known guidelines for safely restraining and subduing people — not simply once or twice, but multiple times.  Most violations involved [maliciously] pinning people facedown in ways that could restrict their breathing or [sadistically] stunning them repeatedly with Tasers…[some cops are very good at inventing excuses for] break[ing]…safety guidelines…[while] many other[s find it] harder to [make up bullshit.  Some cops plead incompetence, stupidity, or belligerence to] explain…a string of mistakes.  In other cases, they [moronically] kept applying force even after they had people handcuffed and controlled [as though they were rabid animals with no sense at all]…AP catalogued 1,036 [murders committed by cops]…not involving their guns.  In [only] about half, medical officials [admitt]ed that [cops] caused or contributed to the deaths…

The Vultures Descend (#1435)

Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:

According to new research, about 8,000 women per month obtained abortion pills in late 2023, despite living in states that have bans or severe restrictions on telemedicine abortion or abortion access.  The survey also found that the abortion rate in 2023 was slightly higher than in 2022, despite total abortion bans in more than a dozen states…a…press release [says,] “This elevated volume of abortion may be due in part to the expansion of telehealth abortion care, which made up 19% of all abortion care nationwide by December 2023″…

You Were Warned (#1437)

The US government is almost completely out of Constitutional control:

…a bunch of members of Congress both signed an amicus brief in the Murthy case saying…governments should never, ever, interfere with speech and also voted to ban TikTok….th[e] same members of Congress who are so worried about “jawboning” by government officials…[are themselves using] the power of Congress to silence voices trying to defend TikTok…NetChoice has been the main trade group…defending against all the terrible laws being thrust upon the internet over the last few years…[it] has been structured to be independent of its members…which sometimes means their members dislike the causes and cases NetChoice takes on…members of Congress threatened to investigate NetChoice if it didn’t drop TikTok from its [membership] roster…PR agencies and lobbying organizations that work with TikTok…are [also] facing similar threats…

 

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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Mary Shelley’s Throwback Thursday

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

To put it in D&D terms, a high charisma is no guarantee of a high wisdom.  –  “Favor”

“Evil” is not something a person is; it’s something a person does.
–  “The Essence of Evil”

We all leave this world in the same way we enter it: in blood and pain, wholly ignorant of what comes next.  –  “Approaching Infinity”

When you tell [prohibitionists], “Please stop because you’re killing us,” you are not dissuading them from their course of action; you are encouraging it.  –  “Stop Encouraging Them”

No society which pretends to be “free” has any business sorting human beings into categories as though they were produce.  –  “Nonessential“

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More Often Nowadays

Posted in Diary, tagged , , on May 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

When I first started this blog 14 years ago, I generally wrote each column after breakfast and just posted them when I was done.  Even after I started scheduling them in the summer of ’11 I rarely had trouble coming up with a topic to write about; in fact, I had so many I would sometimes write them as I thought of them and simply queue them up.  But back then, I had a couple of decades of frustrated self-expression bottled up in my head, and I was one of the few writing on the topic of sex work; blogs had not yet been largely superseded by podcasts and videos, and Google had not yet begun to suppress sites it deemed too dirty for the tender sensibilities of the internet-dwelling public.  This site had such heavy traffic I could usually get at least a column or two a week just out of reader questions or comments, and as “sex trafficking” hysteria ramped up in the early Teens it was all I could do to keep up with reporting the hysteria and debunking the myriad lies.  But a great deal has changed in the intervening years: outspoken sex workers are no longer rare, the “sex trafficking” hysteria has given way to newer and shinier moral panics, and my lifelong practice of burning my candle at both ends has resulted in my brain aging far more than those of people who haven’t been running theirs on “high” since the Nixon era.  And even had I not done that, 14 years is plenty of time for change; earlier today I was speaking to a young man who wasn’t even alive yet in 2010, and consider the cultural shifts from 1910 to 1924, or from 1950 to 1964, or from 1990 to 2004.  Hell, I don’t recognize even half of the names of politicians and celebrities I see bandied about on the internet any more, and my emotional reaction to the majority of news items is, “here we go again.”  So I reckon it’s not at all surprising that even with five regular features a week, I sometimes have trouble thinking of what to do with the other two days; I think I can trust my loyal readers to forgive me for that.  And I’m even learning to forgive myself for it.

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All at Once

Posted in Diary, Miscellaneous, tagged , , on April 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Now that I’m (basically) done with getting my house the way I want it, living within my means has become easier most of the year, except in April, which many rulers apparently think is the best time for extracting tribute via collectivist rhetoric backed by threats of organized violence.  April 15th is of course the deadline for paying US income taxes, and because the US tax code was deliberately designed to be opaque and confusing, I’m never sure what the damage is going to be until my accountant sends the dreaded envelope.  In about 40% of years it’s dramatically higher than I expect, which is understandably upsetting; this was one of those years.  But that’s not the end of it, oh no; though the deadline for paying the first half of annual property taxes could be anytime between January and June (Oklahoma’s was June), Washington seems to think the very best time is a mere two weeks after the feds demand theirs.  And so every year both my business and household accounts are heavily bled in rapid succession, and it usually takes until the beginning of summer to get my depleted coffers back to a level that wouldn’t be entirely wiped out by one garden-variety disaster.

Unfortunately, this year I had one extra large bill; while having a 500-gallon propane tank is really convenient, it means filling it up is definitely not cheap.  Since our usage rates are pretty consistent (5% of total tank volume per month in warm months and 10% in cold months), I’ve known since the last fill that we’d be due around the beginning of April; what I didn’t expect was quite such a large shakedown from Uncle Sam.  So I was hoping to maybe stretch out our next delivery until later this month, but no such luck; when I checked the gauge on Monday it was at 25%, and the recommended reading for calling in an order is 30%.  It’s not merely academic, either, because on Sunday I noticed the pressure at the water heater (the farthest appliance from the tank) was already slightly lower than it should be, so I really couldn’t wait.

What all of this means is, money is a bit tight right now; I will need to do a bit of juggling from now until late June to keep everything running smoothly.  Unless we’re visited by catastrophe sometime this spring, I’m not actually in trouble; it’s just irritating and a bit stressful.  So, since it’s been about 3 months since I last reminded y’all that my writing depends upon reader support to keep it going, I figured I’d just post a gentle reminder.  If you appreciate my writing and would like to help me maintain the spiritual peace I’ve finally found after so many years of sturm und drang, please consider subscribing; if you can manage one of the higher levels, that would be especially nice.  But if you can’t, the regular subscription levels in the right-hand column will do nicely.  And if that’s still more than you can commit to, I do have an Amazon wishlist filled with things I really and truly want!  As always, thank you for reading and caring, and if you’re already a subscriber I cannot possibly thank you enough to match the gratitude I feel for your kindness and generosity.

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In the News (#1424)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Artificial intelligence is not that intelligent.  –  Ella Dawson

Dirty Amateurs

Why are amateurs so damned averse to using condoms?

…Calmara claims to use AI to screen photos uploaded by users for STIs.  They want you to open their website, take a picture of your partner’s genitals before having sex, and upload it to their database so that a…[computer] can review it and scan for 10+ “conditions” including herpes, syphilis, and HPV.  Buried in the Q&A section…Calmara makes it clear-ish that they cannot actually diagnose anyone with any STI, the AI only “works” for penises, and you should really just go to a doctor for an accurate STI test.  But you wouldn’t glean any of that from their cocky Instagram or glossy imagery.  “No cap, just facts,” the copy reads beneath an illustration of a dancing robot.  “Up to 90% accuracy, our AI is grounded in real science.”  Uh… sure…the service is so misguided that it’s easy to dismiss it as satire.  But…Calmara is…not satire, and available to download right now…their…own fine print says, “These offerings should not be used as substitutes for professional medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or management of any disease or condition.”  So what is this service for?  Literally why does it exist when it cannot provide the service it advertises?…

Moral Climate

Never make the mistake of thinking the current zeal for library censorship is limited to either the US or the so-called “right wing”:

Cathy Simpson, the CEO of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library, [h]as [been] fired…[because the board dislikes a group she quoted in] an op-ed column published by The Lake Report.  The Feb. 22 opinion piece, “Censorship and what we are allowed to read”…drew strong criticism from a few…over its promotion of some of the principles espoused by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR)…[regarding] “hidden library censorship,” which she said takes two forms — “the vigorous defence of books promoting diversity of identity, but little to no defence of books promoting diversity of viewpoint, and the purchase of books promoting ‘progressive’ ideas over ‘traditional’ ideas”…[library board chair Daryl Novak tacitly admitted that Simpson was fired purely due to the] content related to FAIR, [because] “the balance of (Simpson’s) article, you can’t really criticize”…

Censorship Ascendant

Censors are now pretending ideas they don’t like constitute a “crime”:

Police Scotland…will in[timid]ate actors and comedians if a…[wannabe censor points at them and croaks the magic words] “threatening and abusive” [because] under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) [Law, the taboo magic] can be communicated “through public performance of a play”…the Assistant Chief Constable responsible for overseeing the implementation of the controversial legislation has [washed his hands of it] after just a year in the post…Police Scotland has [threaten]ed that it will investigate every [incident, no matter how trivial, reported as a “]hate crime[“]…despite the force adopting a “proportionate response” approach to [actual] crimes…there [h]as [been] an outcry from artists…[pointing out] that in the past shows ha[ve] been picketed by organisations trying to get them shut down and warn[ing] that “putting theatre in its own category makes it a target”…

I Can’t Breathe (#1329)

It’s about time cops stopped being allowed to cover up their murders so easily:

The Colorado Senate [has] pass[ed] legislation that would bar the term “excited delirium” from use by [cops and medical examiners.  If signed by]…Governor Jared Polis…it would bar the term [or any of its synonyms] from being used in [cop] training or incident reports, or from being listed as a cause of death on a death certificate…Prominent medical organizations have urged [cops and medical] professionals to not use the [pseudoscientific] term…[whose sole purpose is] to justify injury or death to individuals [attacked and restrained by] police…

Thought Control (#1345)

Some censors are so mentally ill they feel threatened by the sexuality of trees:

The Floyd County (Va.) Public Schools have suspended a…community reading of Katherine Applegate’s Wishtree following complaints that the middle-grade novel depicts a monoecious red oak, a tree with reproductive parts that can pollinate and flower simultaneously.  In the book, originally published in 2017, the tree claims an identity that is “both” female and male and responds to diverse pronouns:  “Call me she.  Call me he.  Anything will work”…[wannabe censor] Jodi Farmer…took to Facebook to [warn] Floyd County residents about the [terrifying] reference to…[vegetable biology], calling the book “indoctrination at its finest”…

Apparently, Farmer imagines these scary, scary words will bewitch her children into transkingdomism.

The Next Target (#1371)

Rather than actually filing a lawsuit against Mastercard for its discriminatory policies against sex workers (which would cost them actual money), ACLU prefers to Tweet, to dilly-dally with complaints to the FTC (a bureau of a government which actively persecutes sex workers and encourages corporations to do the same), and now to file a petition which I can’t imagine will prove to be any more effective than its other slacktivist efforts.  Given the wording of the petition and the website page it’s included in, this seems more like an exercise in virtue-signaling than an actual effort to right an injustice, but I reckon it can’t actually hurt you to sign it.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1417)

Tennessee’s float in the current “monkey see, monkey do” parade will cost it millions every year:

A Tennessee bill would make it a felony for an adult content website to allow access to a minor without age verification…[bill sponsor] Becky Massey…[burbled a lot of nonsense about magic sex-ray emitting pictures, but didn’t publicize that her exercise in morality theater] will cost the state more than $4 million in the first year and then $2 million each year after that…

 

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