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Posts Tagged ‘Aphrodite’

[Public libraries]…exist so that no one—not a church, not a politician, not a board—gets to decide who deserves access to the truth.  –  Keri Lambert

R.I.P. Tracy Elise

Tracy Elise Johnson…died on Nov. 17, 2025…[of] glioblastoma…In the 1990s…she developed a framework she called “female-led sacred healing through the body-temple,” eventually founding spiritual communities in Seattle and later Arizona devoted to…tantra-informed teachings…and ancient feminine-centered traditions.  She envisioned her ministry as a modern revival of global goddess temples, grounded in the belief that women’s bodies are inherently sacred and healing.  [From 2012 to] 2016, her spiritual work [was used as an excuse for years of persecution by the State].  She chose integrity over convenience, enduring years of hardship, incarceration, and supervision without renouncing her beliefs.  Her story, later covered internationally, became…evidence of how our culture still struggles to honor the sacred feminine without fear…

If Men Were Angels (#1455)

“Ministered to” is a hell of a euphemism for “molested”:

Joe Campbell, a Pentecostal preacher who for half a century ministered to thousands of children across four states, has been arrested on child sex abuse charges…in Elkland, Missouri…where he [now awaits extradition] to Oklahoma…[and possible] life in prison…[for multiple cases of rape and other] sexual…abuse…in the 1970s and ’80s when he was an Assemblies of God minister…one of th[e first to accuse him was] Kerri…Jackson, now 53, [whom] he molested…for years in Tulsa in the early 1980s, beginning when she was around 9…some of the [victims have] pursued [justice] for most of their lives…Past attempts…in Oklahoma and Missouri failed [due to stonewalling by] police and prosecutors…But the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office…[is now] applying a frontier-era statute that pauses the statute of limitations for suspects who flee…elsewhere.  Prosecutors recently used the same legal theory [against typical and representative] megachurch pastor Robert Morris…Oklahoma…authorities[‘ change of heart was motivated by an]…NBC News [investigation] published…in May…children [were taught by] their parents…to [see]…Campbell as an almost mythical figure…with [magical] power to…cast out demons and heal the sick.  He gr[oomed]…girls from broken homes…and…was…[at first protected by] Assemblies of God officials…[until] 1988…Around 1990, he founded a nondenominational church [which]…became a refuge for…convicted sex offenders…

Thought Control (#1491)

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

…[Luanne James, the] newly hired library director [of Rutherford County, Tennessee]…asked [the library board] for whistleblower protection….[after] board chair [Cody York] direct[ed] her to [censor books at his sole say-so] and to…produce a spreadsheet listing [the] names, home addresses…and [other information about any patron who had checked out one of the forbidden] books[, presumably for targeting by official or unofficial violence]…he [also]…showed her books he had [stolen from the library to unofficially censor them]…the Rutherford County Library Board [has endured] repeated battles over [demands for censorship by anti-intellectual authoritarians who have no place on a library board]…A motion to remove York followed James’s [report of his] misconduct…[but] the [censor-dominated] board declined to do so…the…developments mark…a new and dangerous phase in…[the] Rutherford County [culture war that] now threatens to become a national test case for how far government power can [undermine] public libraries…Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett…re[cently demanded a purge of thousands of books from]…Tennessee…libraries…in [a show of obeisance to the mad emperor]…

The Cop Myth (#1566)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do, even if she’s a cop herself:

A…[former] Chicago [cop is suing her former cop shop because they intentionally and repeatedly] ignored complaints that [her ex-boyfriend cop] had “repeatedly physically, mentally, and sexually abused” [her].  The [victim is] identif[ied]…as Jane Doe…[and psychotic cop] Marco Torres viciously abused her and threatened her life…[while] high-ranking officials, including then-chief of the Bureau of Internal Affairs…Yolanda Talley, not only failed to protect Doe, but also retaliated against her for reporting the abuse…Torres relentlessly tried to find Doe’s new home address despite an order of protection against him…he [told another cop]…that he needed her address because he has a “guy from gangs” who “can get rid of her” for “a grand”…[the boss hog]s were aware of the…message, which the recipient sent to in[ternal affairs], but they never warned Doe…or [did anything else]…Doe [later] found a GPS tracking device on her car which…Torres used to stalk her…he was [finally] convicted of assault in December 2024 over his previous threats to kill Doe…[but] she had [been] report[ing] Torres’ abuse…[since] November 2022…and…at least two other [cops had] rep[ea]tedly submitted written reports…describ[ing] violence and stalking against a different female [cop] years earlier…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1578)

States now routinely use nuisance lawsuits as a way to circumvent the Constitution:

Indiana[‘s Trumpist] Attorney General Todd Rokita…[has] announced…that his office sued Aylo…for [suppos]edly violating the state’s age verification laws due to [not attempting] to block users using…VPNs…all IP addresses in Indiana are still blocked, as the company chose to withdraw from the state’s digital space to comply with [Indiana law]…But…Rokita is proposing…that…Aylo…is…to…blam[e for]…the existence of VPNs…Corey Silverstein, an attorney who represents adult industry clients…[said] this [is]…”a dangerous concept…because what’s next? Power companies? Landlords that lease data center space?”…[David Greene of the EFF said,] “What the state’s lawsuit seems to be doing is saying that Aylo deceived Indiana consumers when it said it was geoblocking Indiana users…[because] it knew that…VPNs [exist]…It essentially bases liability on the failure to accomplish impossibilities”…

The Vultures Descend (#1580)

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

[Due to] abortion…[being] criminalized…an increasing number of women [worldwide] are accessing abortion pills outside of the formal medical system…Women Help Women [is] a global telehealth…service that supports self-managed abortion by providing abortion pills and information about how to use them…After a decade of relying on pharmaceutical companies to supply them…Women Help Women…recently announced they have begun working directly with drugmakers in India to produce their own innovative combipack of mifepristone and misoprostol for distribution around the world…the…pack…includes one mifepristone tablet and eight misoprostol tablets…[because] some women want extra misoprostol to ensure a complete abortion…Its smaller packaging also requires less postage [so it] is easier to mail discreetly…

The Last Shall Be First (#1587)

“Protecting children” is an all-purpose excuse:

…the Trump [regime has] announced…a…[de facto] ban…[on] gender-affirming care for transgender young people, even in states where it is still legal…[against the advice of] the American Academy of Pediatrics…[one] new…rule…prohibits doctors and hospitals from receiving federal Medicaid reimbursement for gender-affirming care provided to transgender patients younger than…18…The second…blocks all Medicaid and Medicare funding for any services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care.  Virtually every hospital in the country takes Medicare…The American Civil Liberties Union has announced plans to sue to stop the rules; other legal action is also expected…[Secretary of Pestilence Robert] Kennedy…insisted that [all doctors]…are wrong [and presented a trained parrot which absurdly squawked about]…God…[then Trump stooge] Dr. Marty Makary, who [mismanage]s the Food and Drug Administration, announced that the FDA would be sending warning letters to businesses that manufacture chest binders…

 

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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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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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Timely Blessings

Last Friday I grumbled a bit about so many large bills arriving at once, and asked if any of y’all could help; by the time I woke up one generous gent had already sent a sizable donation, and before the day was out another asked how much my propane bill was, and immediately sent it.  So even though I went to bed Thursday night hopeful I’d get some help (because so many of y’all are so good to me so often!), I could not have anticipated that 24 hours later my difficulties would be largely smoothed out.  As things stand now, my finances should be basically back to normal by mid-May instead of late June, and if nothing big comes up I should be able to pay the second half of my property taxes around the beginning of September, leaving plenty of time for funds to accumulate by early spring.  So if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get my entire 2025 property tax taken care of next April instead of having to handle it piecemeal.  When blessings come right when they’re needed like this, it really shows me that Aphrodite is still watching out for me.  And I thank my kind and generous readers for being available to act here in the material world on her behalf.

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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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Diary #672

After I bought my property in Oklahoma, Matt and I returned to New Orleans from 2004-2006 to work.  During that time we lived in Mid-City just a block off Bayou St. John, so we often passed by the massive necropolis at the corner of Canal Street and City Park Avenue which locals simply refer to as “The Cemeteries”.  Early in 2006, I noticed that a statuary adjacent to the cemeteries had a “Going Out of Business” sign, and stopped in to inquire; it turned out that the city had used the recent Hurricane Katrina as a pretext to steal the business’ building and land under eminent domain (with only a few weeks’ notice) to build a new 911 call center which could have been located in any of a number of other places, so the owners were trying to sell off as many statues as they could because their storage facility couldn’t hold them all while the owners figured out what they were going to do.  At the time I had just spent several months as the only escort in town, so I had the cash to buy six marble statues at fire-sale prices.  Some of y’all have probably spotted them in various pictures over the years, but for the first time I’m reaching the point where all of them will be displayed properly.  I’ve decided to place this one in honor of Venus Cloacina, the purifier of waters, in the vicinity of the septic tank; that’s north of the house, in the new paddock extension (if you look closely, you can probably just make out one of the new T-posts for the fence extension at upper right).  As you can see I need to clean her up, and I’ve asked Jae to make a rock garden around her, both for decorative purposes and to dissuade the animals from trying to scratch themselves against her and knocking her over.  And soon, you’ll see another of those statues in the atrium.

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Annex 105

Jae has mostly been working with the bar top lately; as you can see, she’s trying out some designs for a sort of shrine to Aphrodite there, and decided to redo the bar from the way she had me do it before, in order to finish it and drop the bar surface to what she feels is a more usable height.  She’s finished the primary staining, but is also clear-coating the top to create a waterproof bar surface (with that same stuff they use when they want to decorate a restaurant bar or table surface with something like maps, pictures, or postcards).  It’s going pretty slowly right now because it’s been cold and rainy all week; next year I think I’ll leave the shutters up until May Eve because it’s not unusual for us to have this kind of weather in late April, and even though the roof keeps out the rain it’s too chilly to work comfortably.  We had one mild day this week, but the rest was just yucchy; I’m honestly trying to remember how the hell I motivated myself to build the roof in this kind of weather last year, and the only answer I can come up with is that it was just pure stubbornness. 

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Annex 103

Since phase 6 of the annex project is mostly Jae’s responsibility, I’m allowing her to decide what to concentrate on next; right now, it’s the bar atop the utility room.  She’s put in some shelves in the back (facing Chekhov’s cottage) and asked me to build a counter running along the west side; you can see it here a little while after I finished sanding it.  The center is going to be a display centered around a statue of Aphrodite, but since the roof isn’t really strong enough for a marble statue Jae asked me to find a resin one I liked.  I really liked this modern take by Carlo Bronti, and a generous gentleman sent her to me just a few days after I added her to my wishlist; even though the area isn’t ready for her yet, letting her stay boxed up didn’t really feel right, so here she is overseeing the construction.  I really can’t quite picture what Jae has in mind for the area, but I trust her skill and I’ll find out soon enough.  And once it gets a bit warmer again, I’ll get out there to finish the paneling in the vestibule; you’ll probably see a picture of that later this month.

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I can’t breathe.  –  Darren Boykin

I’ve always been fond of this song, and even though I’m not all that fond of Bananarama, I do like this video (in a sort of over-the-top cheesy ’80s kind of way).  The links above it were provided by Mike Siegel, Conner Habib, Nun Ya, and Cop Crisis (x3).

From the Archives

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I thought y’all might enjoy this Twitter conversation I recently had, primarily with Matisse and Carol Leigh; it touches on a number of themes that recur frequently in my work.  Twitter conversations tend to branch, but I think I’ve managed to gather the main elements I want to share.

 

 

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