It’s the fear that’s the point. – Neesha Davé
If Men Were Angels 
“Pastor and sex offender” is a large and ever-expanding group:
A [typical and represntative] Green Bay [Wisconsin] pastor will spend at least 15 years in prison after…[buying porn from and sending dick pics to] a minor [of unspecified gender] in Venezuela. Cory J. Herthel…[was turned in by an informant at his own] church…Herthel said he met the [minor] begging on the streets during a mission trip to Ecuador. After…the [minor and their] mother returned to their native Venezuela, Herthel kept in touch…
A Tale That Grew in the Telling (#1021)
Americans disapprove of teaching kids about sex, but they’re all for filling their heads with stupid anti-sex propaganda:
The [San Diego] county Board of Supervisors [has] approved a policy to increase [“]human trafficking[” propaganda indoctrin]ation in public schools…[politicians led by fanatical prohibitionist] District Attorney Summer Stephan…[want all students from] kindergarten through 12 [brainwashed to fear sex and view women as moral imbeciles. The politicians vomited out ancient, rancid nonsense about how “]San Diego is one of the nation’s 13 hot spots for human trafficking[“]…and [“]there are 8,000 victims per year in the county, with average age being 16[“]…
Hey, San Diego! 2013 just called and it wants its “sex trafficking” fantasies back.
The Next Target (#1191)
It’s about goddamned time:
The American Civil Liberties Union [has] filed a formal complaint asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Mastercard for discriminatory practices against sex workers and adult content websites. The ACLU filed the complaint along with sex worker collective Hacking//Hustling and a coalition of sex worker…and LGBTQ+ organizations…express[ing] its opposition to Mastercard’s 2021 policies for adult content websites using its credit card or payment options, and urged the FTC “to…put an end to these discriminatory and dangerous practices”…[includ]ing requirements such as pre-approval of all content before publication, forbidding certain search terms, and keeping records of age and identity verification for all performers…
Feudalism Redux (#1251)
Two forced-birth states are moving to legally reduce women to serfdom:
Alabama’s attorney general is insisting that he has the right to prosecute people who help pregnant women obtain out-of-state abortions…[absurdly claiming] such actions amount to criminal conspiracy. [Steve] Marshall’s filing comes as part of a case involving the Yellowhammer Fund…an “abortion advocacy and reproductive justice organization”…[which] sued Marshall in July over [previous iterations of the same claim]…Marshall “specifically referenced the accessory liability and conspiracy provisions of Alabama law as the basis for prosecuting abortion funds”…
Texas prefers a more piecemeal version of its fashionable mob-rule approach:
More than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned, many [authoritarian]s have grown frustrated by the number of people able to circumvent [totalitarian] laws — with some [wannabe tyrants] grasping for even [more draconian and unconstitutional] measures they hope will fully eradicate abortion nationwide. That frustration is driving a new strategy in…cities and counties across Texas. Designed by the architects of the state’s “heartbeat” ban that took effect months before Roe fell, [these] ordinances…[criminalize] transport[ing] anyone to get an abortion on roads within the city or county limits. The laws [encourage and enable] any private citizen to sue a person or organization they [decide to accuse] of violating the ordinance. [Prohibitionist fanatics] behind the measure are targeting regions along interstates and in areas with airports, with the [impossible and deranged] goal of blocking off the main arteries out of Texas and keeping pregnant women [trapp]ed within the confines of their…state. These provisions have already passed in two counties and two cities, creating legal risk for those traveling on major highways including Interstate 20 and Route 84, which head toward New Mexico, where abortion remains legal and new clinics have opened to accommodate Texas women. Several more jurisdictions are expected to vote on the measure in the coming weeks…
The Punitive Mindset (#1288)
I’ve linked a number of articles about D&D in prison under this tag, but I’ve never before read one that actually brought tears to my eyes. Journalist Keri Blakinger worked on this story about men playing the game on Texas’ death row for The Marshall Project for several years, so it seems to me only fair that anyone who cares about humanity should at least spend a few minutes reading it in its entirety.
The Puritan Recrudescence (#1344)
Politicians don’t even try to make their new laws Constitutional any more:
Free Speech Coalition and…a coalition of major adult platforms and creators…have been granted a preliminary injunction against the Texas antiporn law…The Court agreed…[that] the law violates First Amendment rights of creators and consumers…[and] has a chilling effect on legally-protected speech…[that] parental filters are a less restrictive and more effective method of protecting minors…[and that] the state does not have the right to compel speech in the form of…pseudoscientific “health” warnings…
Meanwhile, in Arkansas:
…the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas has halted enforcement of an Arkansas age verification law that…bans minors from using social media platforms…unless they prove they have parental consent…all social media users—including adults…would be forced to turn over official IDs in order to speak or access information online…the state [absurdly] suggested that all of social media should be treated like “a bar” for purposes of excluding minors…[Judge Timothy] Brooks [wrote]…”minors have no constitutional right to consume alcohol…By contrast, the primary purpose of a social media platform is to engage in speech, and…social media platforms contain vast amounts of constitutionally protected speech for both adults and minors…it is likely that many adults who otherwise would be interested in [using]…social media platforms will be deterred—and their speech chilled—as a result of the age verification requirements, which…will likely require them to upload official government documents and submit to biometric scans”…
Torture Chamber (#1346)
Americans’ sick lust for torture is turning ordinary prison sentences into death sentences:
As brutal heat waves continue to engulf large sections of the country, hundreds of thousands of prisoners are being forced to endure deadly temperatures inside heat-retaining steel or concrete facilities that offer little, if any, access to air conditioning or circulation…Despite its notoriously hot summers, Texas is one of at least 44 states that does not offer universal air conditioning in its prisons…70 percent of units in its prisons are entirely or partially uncooled…this year…dozens of incarcerated people have died due to cardiac-related or unknown causes in sweltering Texas prisons…[but] state officials [simply lie]…Texas…has not officially classified a prison death as heat-related since 2012, even as research has shown that intense heat is associated with an increased risk of mortality behind bars, including due to heart disease and suicide…[instead,] Texas…prison commissaries…raised the price of bottled water by 50 percent as temperatures spiked in June…
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