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Posts Tagged ‘Arkansas’

In the News (#1526)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Libraries have never been political.  –  Nancy Pack

Bad Girls (#1271)

It’s an extremely bad idea to try to do the work of any professional without any training in the field:

…Michael Dale wanted his eyes sealed shut with ultra-strong Gorilla Glue and then for [California] OnlyFans model Michaela Rylaarsdam to glue a sex toy in his mouth…Rylaarsdam t[hen] encase[d] him in Saran Wrap “like a mummy”…including…over his head [so he] asphyxiated…while…Rylaarsdam “masturbated with a vibrator next to him, apparently creating content” for her web page where she calls herself Asshley SinCal…The videos…have been sealed from public view…Rylaarsdam called 911 when she [finally got around to checking on] Dale [and unsurprisingly found him] unresponsive.  He was determined brain dead and [was taken off life support four days later on April 21…2023…

Thought Control (#1328)

A few sane judges are the only thing protecting US libraries from morally-defective politicians:

A federal judge…ordered Elbert County…[Colorado] to restore library books [a school] district banned…Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney…also prohibit[ed] the school board from removing books “because the district disagrees with the views expressed therein or merely to further their preferred political or religious orthodoxy.”  The injunction comes [because] the [ACLU] sued the school district in December…The…19…removed books primarily featured Black, brown and LGBTQ people…[and] includ[e] The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Beloved and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and #Pride: Championing LGBTQ Rights by Rebecca Felix.  [The censorious politicians are so megalomaniacal they even tried to] prohibit…students from sharing books with each other…

Micromanagement (#1368)

Since no laws protect this data, its new owners may allow cops to root through it at will:

…23andMe…has publicly reported that it is in financial distress and…there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern…Californians [may]…direct the deletion of their genetic data [and destruction of samples] under the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) and California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA)…

Thought Control (#1430)

Just keep plunging that ice pick in; the bad thoughts will go away eventually:

…The Alabama public library…board of trustees recently voted to withhold state funding from the Fairhope public library after complaints from [pro-censorship agitators that librarians were actually doing their jobs rather than mindlessly obeying any censor who barfed out a moronic opinion]…the board [also] voted to immediately dismiss the executive director of the state library agency…The Fairhope library’s defunding is the first measure taken under a new [censorship] law…“We are unapologetic about standing up for…[thought] control, even if that means…defunding local libraries [to force mindless obedience]”, [board chair John] Wahl said…Read Freely Alabama has started a fundraiser for the Fairhope library to try to replace the $42,000 in state funding…[and has already] raised $8,000…

Torture Chamber (#1459)

The State tortures thousands of people for crossing an imaginary line:

Family members of [human being locked in cages] at Krome D[ungeon for migrants in Florida] are speaking out about the [horrific] conditions of the facility…A video that has since gone viral shows people sleeping on the floor, and a man pleads for help…[because] there is little to no food…Marlene Amador Costafreda…[whose] fiance was [thrown into] the [hellhole]…said…”They are being treated like dogs.  There’s no AC, everybody is sick…[but] there’s no medical attention, [not even]…a bathroom”…In February…a Ukrainian man…died…after…falling ill at Krome and [then ignored.  ICE]…said in a statement…“[they’re ‘illegals’ and we yell ‘stop faking!’ at them, what more do you want?] Humane treatment[?]”…

Krome is supposed to only be a dungeon for male victims, but ICE doesn’t care:

Immigrant women…were…chained for hours on a prison bus without access to food, water or a toilet…[and forced] to urinate on the floor…as many as 27 women [were crammed into] a small holding cell…[without any kind of bedding, and given only] one three-minute shower [every] three or four days…”We smelled worse than animals,” one [victim] said. “More girls were coming every day”…[some] were held…at the Krome [Dungeon] in Miami – a [cage stack] reserved for men…none [of the victims] has a criminal background…

You Were Warned (#1480)

Vote Blue no matter who!

At the exact moment when Donald Trump and his MAGA allies are actively dismantling democratic institutions and working to silence critics, a group of Democratic Senators have decided to collaborate with Trump’s supporters to make it easier to censor speech online…[by] repeal[ing] Section 230…To understand just how dangerous this move is, consider…that…Amy Klobuchar — one of the [push]ers of this new bill…introduced legislation to amend Section 230 in a way that would allow the Health & Human Services Secretary to designate certain online content as “health misinformation”, requiring websites to remove it…Today…Robert F. Kennedy Jr…would literally have the power to declare pro-vaccine information as “misinformation” and force it off the internet…And that was just one narrow carve-out…Now these [authoritarian stooges] want to remove all protections entirely…[by] put[ting] a sunset date on Section 230 to magically “force big tech to come to the table” to negotiate “something better”…

The Punitive Mindset (#1481) 

This is vile even by the abysmally-low moral standards of politicians:

Sheriff John Montgomery of Baxter County, Arkansas…[petulantly reacted to the FCC ending his ability to bleed the families of human beings locked in his filthy cages by] ending all [prisoner] phone calls on March 30, 2025…[as of] April 1, 2025…[the FCC] lower[ed] the obscene rates of [such] phone calls…[to a maximum of] $1.35…[sheriffs justify their robbing mostly-poor families by barfing the magic word “]security[” at the gullible], but [in reality] the system had…become a way for local agencies to [r]ake…in…kickbacks…the FCC finally took a hatchet to this entire system…[by] slash[ing] the fees…bann[ing] all sorts of nickel-and-dime fees…and…prohibit[ing kickbacks, and moral imbeciles like Montgomery]…are…taking it out on the [human beings] in…[their clutches]…

 

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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In the News (#1525)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[If a state]’s commitment to religious freedom…is to mean anything…[it must protect] unpopular or unfamiliar religious groups [as well as] popular or familiar ones.  –  Judge Jill Parrish

Size Matters

An interesting development in these repressive times:

When Bridger Lee Jensen opened a spiritual center in Provo, Utah, he contacted city officials to…[explain that] the religious group he had founded, Singularism, would be conducting ceremonies involving a tea made from psilocybin mushrooms…Jensen…said he would be happy to answer their questions and invited them to visit the center…The city did not respond…until more than a year later, when Provo police [raided] the Singularism center and [stole] its sacrament: about 450 grams of “mushrooms and mushroom-like material” that the group kept inside a locked safe…That raid happened on November 11, 2024, less than eight months after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox had signed the state’s version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act…[which] protects Singularism’s psychedelic rituals, a federal judge ruled last month…

Creepy Coppers

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

Federal authorities arrested a San Diego State University [cop] for possession of child pornography [but are hiding his]…identi[ty.  Boss hog]…Gregory Murphy…and [another cop made lugubrious displays of distress about the crime, yet are still making excuses to hide the name and picture of the offending cop]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1232)

There won’t be any shortcut to stopping Clearview:

Clearview AI attempted to purchase hundreds of millions of arrest records including social security numbers, mugshots, and even email addresses to incorporate into its product…Clearview AI spent nearly a million dollars in a bid to purchase “690 million arrest records and 390 million arrest photos” from all 50 states from…Investigative Consultant, Inc. (ICI) which billed itself as an intelligence company with access to tens of thousands of databases…The contract was signed in mid-2019, at a time when Clearview AI was…relatively unknown…Ultimately, the entire deal fell apart after Clearview and ICI clashed about the utility of the data with each company filing breach of contract claims…

The Last Shall Be First (#1351) 

Just how defective are these political vermin?

Arkansas [politician] Mary Bentley…introduced H.B. 1668…Arkansas law banning gender-affirming care for minors was already struck down by a federal judge in 2023…[but] H.B. 1668 “weaponizes civil enforcement by permitting lawsuits against any person who…help[s]…young people in [gender] transition…[authoritarian] parents can sue for minimum damages of $10,000 and up to $10 million in punitive damages for certain forms of medical care…”including without limitation changes in clothing, pronouns, hairstyle, and name”…if enacted, H.B. 1668 could lead to frivolous lawsuits against “hairdressers who cut a trans teen’s hair, teachers who use a student’s chosen name, and nonprofits that offer support.”  Such lawsuits…would be unlikely to hold up in court, as the First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech and free expression.  However, the law is clearly meant to chill support for trans and gender-nonconforming young people with the threat of costly lawsuits…

Shame, Shame (#1493)

The sleaziness has no bottom:

A network of Instagram accounts is using [computers] to steal content from human creators and deepfake their faces to make them look like they have Down syndrome…the accounts…reuse Instagram bios, videos, and in some cases link to the same OnlyFans competitors pages where they monetize these videos…What started as just a few accounts quickly evolved into an entire industry with specialized tools, advertising strategies, and influencers who sell courses on how to create these fake[s]…to get rich quick through what they call “AI pimping.”  Newer accounts in recent months have started catering to increasingly specific niches and fetishes, including accounts of [CGI] women with amputated limbs.  The…Down syndrome accounts are the latest and newest low for [Facebook-owned] Instagram, which allows the rampant content theft that enables this practice and is now fueling a non-consensual fetishization and monetization of (fake) people with disabilities…

Feudalism Redux (#1511)

Since politicians have no spines, it’s good to see some physicians still do:

Organizations like the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (MAP) are responding to the demand for remote care…During 2024, the MAP says they were mailing abortion medications to nearly 500 patients a month.  In the new year, the monthly average has grown to 3,000 prescriptions a month…80%…[to patients] in Texas or states in the Southeast…the recent indictment from Louisiana will not change the MAP’s plans…state shield laws can’t protect doctors when they leave the state.  If they move or even travel elsewhere, they lose the first state’s protection and risk arrest in the destination state, and maybe extradition to a third state…Physicians doing this type of work accept there are parts of the U.S. that they should no longer go…Any visits, even for a relative’s illness or death, would be too risky…Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill [absurdly barfed the word “fentanyl” at reporters]…but…the U.S. Constitution requires extradition only for those who commit crimes in one state and then flee to another stat…Telemedicine abortion providers aren’t located in states with abortion bans and have not fled from those states — therefore they aren’t required to be extradited back to those states…

Vulture Watching (#1517)

Texas is finally beginning to realize how bad it looks to keep killing pregnant women:

Texas [politici]ans…have filed a bill that aims to make it more clear when a doctor can intervene to save a pregnant patient’s life, despite the state’s near-total abortion ban…the vague language and strict penalties leave [doctors and their lawyers] uncertain of when they are actually free to intervene…Until recently, [politicians pretend]ed that the laws are clear…but at least three women have died, and dozens have reported medical care delayed or denied due to their doctors’ [understandable] hesitation to act…

 

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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In the News (#1520)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

With a data set of any size, you can always find a pattern…all you have to do is ignore other information.  –  Jennifer Granick

A Moral Cancer (#1356)

Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:

New York politician…Brad Hoylman-Sigal…[wants] to outlaw…nicotine pouches…[which] contain a derived version of the…compound that tobacco users crave without the carcinogenic sluff that comes with cigarettes and smokeless tobacco…Nicotine pouches contain no tobacco leaf and no known carcinogens.  They just deliver nicotine—potentially addictive, yes, but not known to be inherently harmful…According to the FDA, these products met the public health standard legally required by the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act…[but] Hoylman-Sigal [wants cops to have more excuses for destroying lives, so he barfs “THE CHILDREN!” at anyone who opposes his scheme]…

I Spy (#1452) 

Cop excuses produced by human bootlickers are bad enough:

Cellebrite, the company which makes near ubiquitous phone hacking and forensics technology [ab]used by [cop shops] around the world, has introduced [machine learning] capabilities into its products, including summarizing chat logs or audio messages from s[tolen] mobile phones…“[Computer] results…are not transparent…you cannot trace back where a conclusion came from, or what information it is based on”…[said] Jennifer Granick…[of] the…ACLU…“The Fourth Amendment does not permit [cops] to rummage through data, but only to review information for which there is probable cause….you are not allowed to fish through [all available] data on a hunch, in the hopes of finding something”…Cellebrite’s newly announced capabilities sound somewhat similar to Draft One, a tool from contracting giant Axon…[which] uses [algorithms] to automatically generate police reports from bodycam audio….

Follow Your Bliss (#1456)

Beware of men who “volunteer” to be in positions of authority over your kids:

A Bentonville [Arkansas]…church…volunteer…[named] Andrew Apple…[has been] arrested…[for] child [molestation after a boy Apple molested in autumn of 2023 reported him on]…Feb. 1…[to the church’s credit] the report was relayed to [cops] that same day.  A second person later [reported Apple]…to another church staff member…

The Last Shall Be First (#1470) 

The only sure way to keep personal data from being abused by psychopaths with government titles is not to collect it in the first place:

Florida’s insurance regulator has demanded an unusually intrusive trove of data on millions of prescription drugs filled in the state last year, including the names of patients taking the medications, their dates of birth and doctors they’ve seen.  The [politicized] office…sought this information from pharmacy benefit managers…companies that oversee prescription drugs for employers and government programs….[and is pretending] the state required the data to review whether the benefit managers…were compliant with a 2023 state law aimed at lowering drug prices…But…“You don’t need such granular patient information for purposes of oversight,” said Sharona Hoffman, a health law and privacy expert…[so it seems likely] the government [is] actually trying to get information about reproductive care…transgender care…[and] mental health care…Federal privacy law allows benefit managers to hand over limited data about individual patients in certain circumstances…But…Florida’s [demand] could violate the law because it is so broad and…go[es well] beyond what the regulator needs to conduct [any legal and legitimate] review…

Creepy Coppers (#1472)

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A Detroit [cop named Earl Anderson was fired and arrested] for [attempting to groom] his 12-year-old stepdaughter [via]…text messages…[after he threatened] “to take [her on] a family trip”…[and] offered to get [her] a second phone…[with] a new number…[so her real] father, [Brandyn] Harris, [couldn’t see their texts]…the [girl]…reported the messages to her aunt…[who told] Harris…[who in turn] told…the [cops]…

Torture Chamber (#1501)

The government calls this “correction”; for journalists to parrot that ugly euphemism is a choice:

[New York] State Police are investigating the [murder] of a prisoner…in a…central New York prison [adjacent to another prison] where another [human being] was…[recently] beaten [to death] by guards in [an attack that even their own union called “incomprehensible”]…Officials did not identify the [new victim, whom]…nine [witnesses saw]…brutally beaten [to death] by [screws]…amid a mounting crisis in the New York State prison system, where…thousands of [screws are]…on strike since Feb. 17 — without the backing of their union and in defiance of a judge’s order — to protest…the…state…[not letting them torture people as they want to, and]…to try to distract attention from [December’s] beating death of [Robert] Brooks…

I Spy (#1507)

Maybe a few more big lawsuits will teach these corporate busybodies a lesson:

General Motors is facing yet another legal battle over…illegally [selling] driver data to third parties, who then provided it to insurers…to use [as an excuse] to raise premiums or deny coverage…GM has been [thus illegally] selling driver data since 2015…Unlike [other corporations’] telematics programs that [at least nominally] require users to opt in by installing a device, GM allegedly collected this data without explicit consent…consumers were misled into believing OnStar primarily enhanced vehicle safety and performance, while in reality, it was used to generate revenue through data sales…In January, the automaker settled [a similar suit] with the Federal Trade Commission …[serial lawsuit abuser] Ken Paxton filed a [similar]…suit…in August 2024…[and] 27 class-action lawsuits…have been consolidated into a multi-district litigation case…

 

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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In the News (#1514)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

True crime…[is] entertainment masquerading as news.  –  “Paul”

Bad Fantasy, Good Reality

Now that the moral panic is over, expect articles like this to become more common:

…In my interviews with over two hundred sex workers in four Latin American countries, [cases that]…substantiated the trafficking myth…are the exception.  Instead, stories of economic need, single motherhood, and disgust with the sex but gratitude for the lifeline sex work has provided are so common that they’ve become routine…Writing about the sex industry often takes the form of sensationalized stories that, when examined closely, fall apart…and…when travel is involved, our ideas about prostitution become even more fantastical…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1428)

Politicians are happy to wreck lives by inventing new crimes from copaganda:

…the HALT…Fentanyl Act…aims to make permanent a…DEA…temporary emergency rule from 2018, which has been extended twice by Congress.  This rule classifies derivatives of the synthetic opioid fentanyl not yet approved by the [FDA]…as Schedule I controlled substances…Celebrating the passage of [it]…as a new effort to combat fentanyl trafficking and overdose deaths is merely an example of performance art…But [it’s] also delusional. For decades, Schedule I classification has done nothing to halt the flow and use of cannabis, heroin, or psychedelics…Classifying fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I will hinder progress in therapeutic research…fill…prisons, ruin…the futures of drug users, disrupt…families, and provide…aggressive prosecutors with coercive plea-bargaining strategies…

Eavesdropping (#1476)

Some politicians are starting to admit Shotspotter is a boondoggle:

The city government of Little Rock, Arkansas, recently dumped ShotSpotter, a…controversial [surveillance tool with]…a history of unreliability, generating large numbers of bogus reports.  Also, being based on the use of microphones, ShotSpotter can capture sounds other than gunshots, including private conversations…[not only is] the contract with…ShotSpotter…[itself] expens[ive]…the original deal cost $290,000 for two years…[valuable] resources [are] tied up in responding to false ShotSpotter reports.  Other cities have run into the same problem, finding that relatively few incidents reported by the technology result in the discovery of criminal activity…

The Mob Rules (#1491)

Ambulance-chasers have given themselves the power to rob internet companies:

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach is suing the owner of 13 pornographic websites, [exploit]ing…a law passed last year [demand]ing age verification systems be placed on adult content.  Kobach [claims] SARJ LLC, a Washington-based company…owns, licenses and distributes content for the 13 [targeted] websites…and…made [furtive movements in his pants]…at…the [fantasy of robbing the company]…for over $50 million…

Shame, Shame (#1494)

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

…a YouTube channel called True Crime Case Files…[contain]ed more than 150 [computer-generated] videos o[f fictional crimes which were not labeled as such]…The plots were…often hypersexual.  They described parents selling teenagers into sex slavery with a sheriff, and transgender teachers committing murders to hide affairs with students.  The video thumbnails were perverse, with clickbaity phrasing in big blocky text…Each one was made with [image-generation software] and the crimes described did not happen.  There was no language on the channel’s homepage or in video descriptions to tell a viewer otherwise…[because] the man who ran the page…believed people wouldn’t want to watch his videos if they knew they were fake…the [channel is now down due to bad publicity, but the creator is wholly unrepentant, saying]…“I really felt like I needed to stake my claim before anybody else thought of it”…

The Widening Gyre (#1500)

Cops don’t like it when non-cops falsely accuse innocent people of “crimes” that didn’t happen:

A…[Virginia drunk] was arrested after breaking into a Bible study session, [drun]kenly [imagin]ing it to be a human trafficking operation…David Campbell…called the…[cops because] his neighbors had doubled-parked their vehicles.  Campbell then [attacked and threaten]ed his neighbors…and w[hen] deputies…[arrived] they found Campbell [ranting] in the middle of the road…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1510)

Everyone abused by cops using this error-prone surveillance system needs to sue:

Chris Gatlin spent 17 months in jail for a crime that [cops claimed] he committed, only to be freed after the prosecutor learned there was no real evidence.  A grainy surveillance photo of an assault suspect…[was fed to] a computer facial recognition program to [mis-]identify Gatlin…and the…[cops] ran with it…without doing any other investigation…even [though] the…victim didn’t…think Gatlin was the right guy…and…picked two different suspects…[until] the [cops pushed him to pick]…Gatlin…“I felt I was being pointed into something,” the victim said…Gatlin [is suing]…St. Louis County…

 

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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In the News (#1501)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

You don’t [leave] any human being on earth…lying on a cement floor in their own shit.  –  Mrs. White

Torture Chamber

The government calls this “correction”; for journalists to parrot that ugly euphemism is a choice:

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York has ordered that 13 [screws] and a…nurse [collaborator] be fired after the [brutal murder] of a…[human being locked] in [one of the state’s filthy cages by] a…[gang] attack that [even] their [own] union called “incomprehensible”…[The murder of] Robert L. Brooks…[was] at least partly captured on video.  [Prison bureaucrats at first tried to downplay the savage, animalistic beating by calling it]…a “use of force” [and talking about the crime the victim had been convicted of]…The[y also first rewarded the thugs with paid vacations]…Hochul [made the logically-absurd claim that]…“The vast majority of [screws] do extraordinary work“[, in apparent ignorance of the meaning of the word “extraordinary”]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#995)

Judges have ruled that if cops forcibly hold your head to unlock your phone, it counts as “consent” to root through your property:

Apple is working on a new s[stupid] doorbell camera that uses Face ID to unlock your door…The camera could be released by the end of 2025 “at the soonest”…The lock would work just like your iPhone, automatically unlocking your door when you or another resident looks at it…this device will “likely” work with existing third-party HomeKit s[stupid] locks and that the company may also partner with a s[tupid] lock company “to offer a complete system on day one”…

Torture Chamber (#1110)

Just in case you thought screws restricted their petty sadism to the prisoners:

For people entering prisons, jails, or courts, consent is coerced at every visit.  Throughout the time that I traveled to these institutions, I felt caught in an inescapable loop, always forced to let someone [grope] my [breasts] under the guise of “security”.  After spending time and money traveling to [prisons]…far from urban centers, visitors are not likely to challenge demeaning [molestation disguised as a “]search[“]…The fear of canceled visits, retaliation against imprisoned loved ones, or being late to court appearances makes people comply…Questioning the search process can end the visit…Carceral institutions are sites where sexual violence is routine and protected by law…In 2019, New York settled a class action lawsuit for conducting unlawful, invasive [sexual assault]s on jail visitors.  This year, California paid a $5 million settlement to Christina Cardenas, a woman [who was groped by screws] before a doctor sexually violated her…[after belching out the magic rights-negating word “]contraband[“]…But these settlements are the exception, not the rule…

Thought Control (#1362)

Laws criminalizing women for pragmatic thoughts are equally unconstitutional, but don’t expect any judge to recognize that anytime soon:

A federal judge…struck down key parts of an Arkansas law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers [if a wannabe censor pointed at any book in their collection and belched out the word] “harmful”…Judge Timothy Brooks [wrote]…“The law deputizes librarians and booksellers as the agents of censorship; when motivated by the fear of jail time, it is likely they will shelve only books fit for young children and segregate or discard the rest”…

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1411)

It’s never called “trafficking” when the government and crony corporations do it:

No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners [as slave labor] to private companies than Alabama.  With a sprawling labor system that dates back more than 150 years — including the brutal convict leasing era that replaced slavery — it has constructed a template for the commercialization of mass incarceration.  Best Western, Bama Budweiser and Burger King are among the more than 500 businesses to lease [slave]s from one of the most violent, overcrowded…prison systems in the U.S. in the past five years alone…The cheap, reliable labor force has generated more than $250 million for the state since 2000…Most jobs are inside [prisons]…but more than 10,000 [enslaved prisoners] have logged a combined 17 million work hours outside Alabama’s prison walls since 2018, for entities like city and county governments and businesses that range from major car-part manufacturers and meat-processing plants to distribution centers for major retailers like Walmart…

Eavesdropping (#1482)

If a system lets “authorized” busybodies spy on you, “unauthorized” ones can do the same:

…the Salt Typhoon…hackers [have still not been expelled] from most of the compromised systems and [officials] were unable to give a timeline for when that would be achieved…the effects of the hack threaten to be…widespread, with CISA and its counterpart agencies in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada warning this month that Salt Typhoon’s campaign extends beyond just U.S. networks…[and] NBC News report[ed] that the hackers also accessed…metadata…of more than a million Americans…[cybersecurity expert] Tom Kellermann [said]…“This is something we’re going to be dealing with for years, to identify all the back doors that [copsucking politicians forced companies to install] in the systems”…

Torture Chamber (#1493)

Be fair; how much medical skill does it take to repeatedly yell “Stop faking!” at people?

One doctor accidentally chopped off part of a newborn’s…finger…[and cho]ked two nurses…in a rage.  Another…drained the wrong side of a patient’s chest…and altered a medical record to [cover]…the [mistake]…A third…botch[ed] 10 surgeries in four years…and [subjected victims to] extensive, medically inappropriate procedures.  Common to all…is…their most recent place…of employment: the New York state prison system.  They are among [the incompetent] physicians…who…ma[ke] up [more than 10%] of the system’s full-time core of doctors, despite being sanctioned for horrific mistakes and other professional abuses…Some were hired…after serving lengthy probationary sentences meted out by the state’s Board for Professional Medical Conduct…

 

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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In the News (#1488)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Pregnant women have become essentially untouchables. -Sara Rosenbaum

Property of the State 

Pregnant women are uniquely vulnerable to State violence:

How a person handles a pregnancy loss — and where it occurs — can mean the difference between a private medical issue and a criminal charge for abuse of a corpse, child neglect or even murder…[Psychopathic politician]s across the country have been using a series of laws and court rulings in the past decade to criminalize how women react to pregnancy loss….[and] the fear and suspicion following the Supreme Court’s [Dobbs] decision…may be making things worse…about 20% of pregnancies end in a loss, which includes miscarriage or spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth or fetal death…[in the past] only a small number [we]re investigated as crimes.  But…the growing number of [invasive] laws…[give cops more excuses to persecute them]…Women in South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and several other states have faced criminal charges after a miscarriage or stillbirth for failing to seek immediate medical treatment, not pursuing prenatal care or disposing of the fetal remains in a way that [pigs] or prosecutors [retroactively declared] improper…

If Men Were Angels

“Youth leader”, “youth pastor”…just another preachy pervert:

A [church] youth leader [in Abilene, Texas] has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography…[after] a member of the church [reported creepy behavior to the cops]…Charles Goff…[claimed to cops that he “]struggled[“] with videos of teen girls 14-15 years old…and…nude pictures [he cajoled] teenage girls [into sending him via] various social media platforms…

No Escape (#1312)

Why does it take the US press so long to recognize rampant governmental abuses?

Though female prisoners long have been victims of sexual violence, the number of reports against [rapist screws] has exploded nationwide in recent years.  Many complaints follow a similar pattern: [victim]s are retaliated against, while [rapists] face little or no punishment.  In all 50 states, the AP found cases where [rapists] used [prisoner] work assignments to lure women to isolated spots, out of view of security cameras.  The prisoners said they were attacked while doing jobs like kitchen or laundry duty inside [filthy dungeons] or in work-release programs that placed them at private businesses like national fast-food restaurants and hotel chains…Those cases prompted a [mostly theatrical] Senate investigation two years ago that found prisoners were sexually abused by wardens, guards, chaplains or other staff in at least two-thirds of all women’s federal prisons over the past decade.  But a[bsolutely nothing was done about it]…

The Clueless Leading the Hysterical (#1380)

Actual facts cannot stop copaganda:

For nearly two decades, alarmist government officials, abetted by credulous reporters, have been [trying to frighten] parents prior to Halloween [by claiming] that malevolent strangers might try to get their kids high by passing off THC-infused treats as ordinary candy…a version of the old urban legends about razor blades, needles, and glass shards hidden inside Halloween candy, and…equally grounded in reality…The dearth of [actual] cases…has led to a noticeable change in warnings from [cop shops], [crypto-moralist]s, and [the yellow press].  They now [wild]ly e[xaggerat]e the potential for accidental confusion [by the extremely stupid]…

Creepy Coppers (#1472)

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

Akron [cop] Geoffrey Parker…was arraigned…[for] creating and sharing child pornography…Parker is facing five felony charges for sharing “sexually explicit videos with minors engaging in sex acts” and two felonies for photographing [his own] 5-year-old child “in a state of nudity” and then sharing those photographs online in order to “receive other explicit images of children”…using the Kik application…an[d was caught by an algorithm on the site]…Parker “made admissions” about some of the allegations [to the cops who arrested him.  His]…bond [was set] at $1 million…

Paying the Bills

Six weeks ago, I told y’all that I’m facing a projected $3000 shortfall for my annual operating budget, and asked for help making up that difference.  Well, several of my loyal readers have already stepped up, generously helping me to the tune of $2400.  But I’m still facing a $600 shortfall; it isn’t much, but an unpaid bill is still unpaid even if it’s close. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, won’t you please consider becoming one?  A $1/day subscription would take $90 off of that total, and other levels would help in proportion.  Or if you’re already a subscriber but can spare some extra right now, I’d really appreciate it; I really hope to get this done by Thanksgiving, so it doesn’t interfere with my annual toy drive!

Vulture Watching (#1487)

Texas doesn’t care how many women die because of its terrible laws:

Nevaeh Crain was crying in pain, too weak to walk…feverish and vomiting…The first [emergency room she tried]…diagnosed her with strep throat without investigating her sharp abdominal cramps.  At the second, she screened positive for sepsis…But doctors said her six-month fetus had a heartbeat [so she was sent away]…on Crain’s third hospital visit, an obstetrician insisted on two ultrasounds to “confirm fetal demise”…before moving her to intensive care.  By then, more than two hours after her arrival, Crain’s blood pressure had plummeted and…her organs began failing.  Hours later, she was dead…Texas’s abortion ban threatens prison time for interventions that end a fetal heartbeat…It includes exceptions for life-threatening conditions, but…that…[means] medical teams are wasting precious time debating legalities and creating documentation, preparing for the possibility that they’ll need to explain their actions to a jury and judge…

 

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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Links #741

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Obituary, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Workers reported smelling a foul odor but thought it was an issue with the plumbing.

James Earl Jones gave so many amazing, iconic performances I decided to mark his passing in the same way I did that of Paul Reubens: by featuring an obscure performance you may be unfamiliar with. This was the very first celebrity guest spot on Sesame Street back in 1969, and proves that Jones could make any recitation entertaining.  The death was called to my attention by Franklin Harris, and all the other links are from IncarcerNation.

From the Archives

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

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In the News (#1471)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

A state cannot pick and choose which categories of protected speech it wishes to block teenagers from discussing online.  –  Judge Robert Pitman

Creepy Coppers

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

A [California cop named]…Allen Charles was arrested…[for] distribut[ing] child pornography multiple times between 2019 and 2023…[fellow cops toss]ed his residence and found [lots of child porn, so]…Butte College[, which paid him to spy on and harass students, rewarded him with a paid vacation]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1237)

Another toothless “judgment” against Clearview which will compensate nobody but lawyers:

The Dutch [government has] issued…Clearview AI with a fine of 30.5 million euros ($33.7 million) over its creation of…an “illegal database” of billion of photos of faces….[and] warned Dutch companies that using Clearview’s services is…banned…But…Clearview’s chief legal officer, Jack Mulcaire, said that the decision is “unlawful, devoid of due process and…unenforceable”…[because] Clearview doesn’t fall under EU data protection regulations.  “Clearview AI does not have a place of business in the Netherlands or the EU, it does not have any customers in the Netherlands or the EU, and does not undertake any activities that would otherwise mean it is subject to the GDPR”…

Panopticon (#1327)

I tried to edit out as much of the nauseating bootlicking as I could:

The Department of Homeland Security is shutting down a program that used surveillance blimps at the [US-Mexico] border [despite] objections from [politicians] and [other xenophobic sociopaths because]…funding has dried up.  More than two dozen p[arasites] are out of a job thanks to the program’s end…[pigs oinked dehumanizing rhetoric about people seeking a better life, including obligatory references to] fentanyl…[“]trafficking[“] and…terrorists…

Censor Chic (#1452)

When will this censorship fad end?

A federal judge issued a last-minute partial block on a Texas law that would require some large web services to [spy on users to] identify minors and [censor] what they see online…the…SCOPE…Act…was set to take effect…on September 1st…and…requires…social networks, to [infantilize] users whose registered age is under 18….[by censoring anything and everything any politician points at while belching out words such as] “harmful”…“glorifies”…“grooming”…and…[“]obscene[“, with some services] (as defined by [dubious politically-defined formulae]) [being forced to] implement a “commercially reasonable age verification method.”  Tech industry groups NetChoice and the CCIA sued…[as did] the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression…the injunction…makes HB 18 the latest state-level internet regulation to be at least partially blocked by courts, alongside California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act and other statutes in Arkansas, Ohio and Mississippi…the federal…censorship [law called KOSA has also still not been completely buried yet]…

The Implosion Begins (#1456)

This just keeps getting more entertaining:

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents [raided] the Millersville Police Department as [part of a] criminal investigation into the [nest of deranged psychopaths led by]…the department’s [dangerously-unhing]ed assistant police chief Shawn Taylor…

Reporter Phil Williams has gone all-out in this investigation; it’s already grown to 13 parts, linked in the article I linked & quoted above.

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1459)

Cops won’t drop this fantasy until “news” media stop obediently parroting it:

Two [Arkansas cops] were taken to the hospital and later released after [having panic attacks due to copaganda over] fentanyl [while harassing citizens over] an expired license plate…[the panicky pig, Hunter] Mealer[, lied, claiming]…he got permission from the driver…to [root through] the vehicle…[even though there were drug] pipes [within containing] white residue…[when whiny-baby] Mealer [saw this he] became disoriented and lightheaded and began sweating profusely[, which are not symptoms of opiates]. He [then fainted]…and…[when a fellow pig wasted] Narcan…[on him] another [cop], Danny Kenward, [became jealous of the attention]…and [faked the same panic-attack symptoms]…

Panopticon (#1464)

A high-powered rifle should still be able to take this out from a safe distance:

A [surveillance robot]…known as a Knightscope K5…patrols [an Atlanta] apartment com[plex]…and [can] report anything [it is programmed to alert on] to the [cops]…the devices…feature 360-degree, high-definition cameras, microphones and thermal sensors…and…[have] both license plate…[readers] and…facial recognition, [plus the ability] to identify mobile devices…Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the ACLU, said…“I don’t know that Americans want to live in a world where there’s one of these on every block, but if there were, they could trace everywhere you are all the time”…

 

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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Links #730

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

They want to put someone away, so they can say the case is solved.  –  Sandra Hemme

This week’s video was suggested by one of my generous gentlemen, who correctly surmised that I would enjoy it.  The links above it were provided by Stephen Lemons; Mike Siegel; Dan Savage and Genya; Popehat, IncarcerNation (x2), and J.D. Tuccille, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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Links #700

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2023| 1 Comment »

I’m on a mission I have to complete by year’s end.  –  Scott Allen Schultz

The Kroffts dominated Saturday morning TV for most of the ’70s; it seems appropriate to commemorate the passing of Marty Krofft with their first hit show.  For those of y’all too young to remember this: yes, psychedelic counterculture leaked into mainstream culture in many ways back then.  The links above it were provided by Desiree Alliance, Stephen Lemons, Franklin Harris, Phoenix Calida, Lucy Steigerwald, Radley Balko, and Popehat, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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