What is it effective at, violating protesters’ First Amendment rights? – Dave Maass
The government calls this “correction”; for journalists to parrot that ugly euphemism is a choice:
The family of a man who [was brutally murdered by a gang of screws]…expressed anger and frustration over the Jacksonville [Florida] Sheriff’s Office’s decision to publish a “heavily redacted” report [written by the murderers themselves]…Charles Faggart…died [several days after] the [screws beat him]…so aggressively he had…a seizure[, probably due to massive brain injury]…Faggart’s family did not receive a call from JSO until the next day…when a [pig] simply [oinked at] them to “watch the news”…[The murderers were] W.H. Cox…T.C. Pennamon…G.L. Mckinnis…D.D. Thomas…M.E. Sullivan…P.L. Collins…A.K. Maygoo…E. Kurtovic…[and] J.J. Bullard…
Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs (#728)
When it comes to sex work, authoritarians want to have their cake and eat it, too:
Yaroslav Zhelezniak, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s finance committee, is leading a push to ditch…outdated Soviet-era legislation that bans the possession, production and distribution of pornography. Doing so…would remedy…an unfair contradiction. Violations of Ukraine’s laws on pornography…are punishable by three to five years in prison. But Ukraine’s financial authorities have been collecting taxes from creators on websites…like OnlyFans…“It’s absurd,” Mr. Zhelezniak said, especially “in the midst of a full-scale war.” He also sees another benefit for Ukraine…it would increase tax revenue…since more pornography creators would be willing to declare their earnings — a boost for an economy struggling under the demands of a war that has ground on for over three years…
Just another kind of cop, with typical cop behavior:
A…Border Patrol [thug from Arizona named]…Jason Michael Drown…was…arrest[ed when]…he [was caught] sharing child porn…[without government permission, by other cops who were sharing it with permission]…
Texas censors have descended completely into self-parody:
Students in Lamar Consolidated…school district…west of Houston, can no longer learn about the state of Virginia on their online research database, Pebble Go Next…due to…”frontal nudity”…[on the state seal and flag. Texas censorship law] does not require schools to ban materials containing “nudity”…[because it] is not inherently sexual or sexually explicit…Kids think butts are hilarious. Not sexual…Tomorrow will it be books that contain historical photos…of Holocaust survivors? Breast-feeding mothers?…Art history books that portray the statue of David or the Birth of Venus?…where will this end?…
The Puritan Recrudescence (#1455)
France has introduced a law that will require adult websites to run comprehensive age checks [in the name of] prevent[ing] minors from accessing pornographic content…France’s [censorship agency] ARCOM has been tasked with implementing a standard known as double anonymity. This is [purport]ed to allow a site to verify a user’s age without knowing their identity…ARCOM [lied that] the system “strikes a careful balance between safeguarding children and respecting the privacy of adults”. PornHub owner Aylo, which also owns YouPorn and RedTube, is already challenging the French law in court…[as] in other parts of the world, web users will be able to bypass any age checks by [us]ing…a…VPN…
Still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology?
American police departments…are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for…technology that uses [computer]-generated online personas designed to interact with and [spy] on “college protesters,” “radicalized” political activists, and s[ex workers or their clients]…Massive Blue, [a] New York-based company…calls its product Overwatch, which it markets [with a typical collection of buzzwords including]…“AI-powered”…”public safety”…“infiltrate…criminal networks”…“border security,” “school safety,” and stopping “human trafficking”…some of these AI characters…include a “radicalized AI” “protest persona”…a “‘Honeypot’ AI Persona”…a 14 year-old boy “child trafficking AI persona,” an “AI pimp persona,” “college protestor” [sic], “external recruiter for protests,” “escorts,” and “juveniles”…cops are…deploy[ing…chat]bots across social media…with the hopes of [destroying people’s lives]…
When a cop tries to pass murder off as suicide, the victim is usually his wife or girlfriend:
A [typical and representative Mississippi cop named James Durwood Winstead] has been arrested and charged with capital murder [for shooting]…a man…[named] Timothy Byrd [and trying to make it look like suicide. But his story included]…several discrepancies…[with the] evidence…[so he] was arrested and charged…
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!
