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Posts Tagged ‘Backpage’

In the News (#1672)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Surveillance makes all of us less safe.  –  Evan Greer

The More the Better

Anything that helps demystify sex work is a good thing:

It shouldn’t be surprising that sex workers around the country are boning up on firearms education. There’s a long tradition of both armed self-defense and general firearms enthusiasm…within communities that have historically been targeted for violence and oppression.  Organizations like the Socialist Rifle Association, the Sylvia Rivera Gun Club, Yellow Peril Tactical, the Huey P. Newton Gun Club, the Pink Pistols, and Black Girls Shoot! take the activist maxim “we protect us” seriously, and offer their communities tools to do so in a world that doesn’t expect them to fight back…the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) Chicago…announced their first Intro to Concealed Carry course specifically for sex workers.  All 40 spots filled up immediately…

Dangerous Speech (#1496)

Now that the damage is irreversible, the government can afford to grant him an appeal:

…the Ninth Circuit announced that it will hear oral arguments on Nov. 16 in Phoenix concerning one of the most significant First Amendment cases in recent memory — the vindictive prosecution of award-winning journalist Michael Lacey…Federal and state authorities hounded Lacey, the former executive editor of Village Voice Media, and his business partner, the late Jim Larkin, for more than a decade over their First Amendment-protected publication of speech in Backpage.com, the classified advertising website they co-owned…

Eavesdropping (#1611)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen:

LG smart TVs are almost constantly logging and uploading data about owners and their homes, even when offline or on standby mode…The…TV sets scan Wi-Fi networks for nearby devices, record audio logs through their microphones, and use audio and video sampling to recognize exactly what you’re watching from [connected devices like DVD players]…and feeding the information back to LG Ad Solutions…the TVs…[even] record…microphone audio when in standby; this continue[s] even after the TV [i]s disconnected from the internet, with audio files stored offline and uploaded once a connection [i]s restored…Automatic Content Recognition…is used by almost every [“]smart[“] TV manufacturer to figure out what you watch…In July…LG monitors [started] automatically installing an app that…ran pop-up ads for LG’s other apps and even McAfee antivirus…[but] public pressure…led to LG disabling the pop-up ads…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1632)

Cops hate it when people turn the tables on them:

…US [cops] are increasingly concerned about the potential for [perve]rt glasses to be used against them…to secretly record [cops]…in the [act] of [committing] crimes and acts of [violence and] terrorism…[cop]s in the US typically [steal or break] any and all devices that would be capable of recording video footage…[but] some [perve]rt glasses have gone unnoticed…[cops, spooks, and goons] want…the exclusive right to use surveillance technology and cameras to monitor the public without those cameras being turned back on them.  “These agencies surveil the public incessantly, but the moment we can watch them back, it’s deemed a security threat,” [said Ryan] Shapiro [of Property of the People]…

Welcome to the Future (#1660)

The dystopian future of Minority Report has arrived:

Border Patrol is running secretive predictive policing units that analyze Americans’ financial activity and other data, then feed that intelligence to local police who pull [innocent] people over…[using bogus excuses in order to attempt to pin manufactured “]crime[s” on them]…The units…are called Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams (PITT).  In one case, a PITT analyzed the financial activity of a man who was driving across Montana, and [dispatched] local [pigs, who then] stopped him under the pretense of an obstructed license plate and charged him with a DUI…Border Patrol…us[es]…ALPRs…as part of the…program…“genuine probable cause cannot be synthetically generated,” [said] Jake Laperruque…of the…Center For Democracy & Technology…”Border Patrol [is]…using parallel construction to cloak the reason behind its car stops”…

The Cop Myth (#1668)

Domestic violence is never a cop’s sole offense:

A Huntsville [Alabama cop named]…John Holliday was…arrested…[on August 17 for slamming] his wife [to] the ground and [repeatedly] kick[ing] her…[then stealing] her…cellphone wh[en] she tried to dial 911…[the cop shop put him on desk duty and that did not change even]…after h[e was] arrest[ed again] on Sept. 3 for DUI…[but after] he was…arrest[ed a third time for waving a gun around while drunk]…he was [reward]ed with…a p[aid vacati]on…[A spokespig described this as] “tak[ing] allegations of misconduct involving its employees seriously”…

Panopticon (#1671)

Some aspects of the modern dystopia are too odious even for authoritarians:

…the City of Sheboygan…[Wisconsin will]…terminate [its] contract with…Flock S[urveillance after it]…offered to sell the Sheboygan Department of Public Works…five years of data [collected by] the…15 cameras already deployed in the city…in violation of the [contract, which pretends]…the company does not own the data…and [will supposedly] only…retain [it] for 30 days.  Since…their [announcement]…other cities have been following suit….[in] both…Fond du Lac County…and…Winnebago County…

But simply cancelling the contract won’t stop Flock:

Flock S[urveillance blamed a computer for illegally ordering]…the reinstallation of license plate cameras that Grass Valley [California] police had already removed after canceling the city’s contract with the company.  Residents alerted police…after spotting a utility crew replacing [the] cameras at several locations…Flock [claims] its automated maintenance system interpreted the…[removals] as equipment failures and generated replacement work orders…The [cancellat]ion followed months of pressure from residents and privacy advocates…

 

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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Throwback Thursday’s Dog

Posted in Miscellaneous, Obituary, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Cops believe molestation and rape are OK as long as they pretend that they were thinking about ruining lives rather than getting off.  –  “First They Came for the Hookers…(#1160)”

After the government does something especially awful, there is usually an avalanche of horror stories illustrating exactly what reasonable people warned would happen.
–  “Vulture Watching”

Jim Larkin…[was murdered by] the government…as surely as if he had been executed.  –  “R.I.P. Jim Larkin”

Authoritarians of all stripes are absolutely obsessed with controlling other people’s words, actions, and even thoughts.  –  “Calling Spades“

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In the News (#1494)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Our police have lost control of our streets, and now their bosses have lost control of their minds.  –  Lee Anderson

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

It’s too bad they don’t spend all of their time preying on each other:

A [typical and representative] Portland [Oregon cop named]…Christopher Kenagy…was arrested November 15 for [attempting to fairly negotiate sex with a woman instead of raping her as police procedure demands]…In 2002, Kenagy [murdered] a 29-year-old man who…[had] an air gun…[and] was later awarded a police medal [for the crime]…

I Spy (#923)

Local politicians’ virtue-signaling is powerless against the fascist panopticon:

…a new report from…the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project…details the ways that…“fusion centers” al[low ICE to circumvent]…sanctuary-city law enforcement.  Run by the US Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part, fusion centers [were justified to useful idiots] in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks [by vomiting the word “]terrorism[” into their wide-open mouths]…Fusion centers spent $400 million in 2021…and, as STOP researchers point out…have never [been any good against]…terrorism in the US….[but] ICE agents have [exploited them] for years to get everything from photos of [target]s to license plate location data and more…[including] from [cop shops] in [so-called] sanctuary cities…In addition to undermining the entire purpose and premise of sanctuary city laws, STOP researchers point out, such erosion of guardrails around data sharing broadly could easily become a national security issue…And domestically, the free-wheeling environment within fusion centers means that [they are ripe for abuse by cops]…

Choke Point (#1096)

“Operation Choke Point” was indirect; this goes straight for the throat:

…the U.S. House of Representatives [has] passed a bill that…lets [politicians point at] nonprofit groups [they dislike while barfing the magic words “]supporters of terrorism[“]…and [thereby] strip them of their tax-exempt status…The language provides for a 90-day window during which time supposed “terrorist supporting organizations” can appeal the designation, but the burden is on them to [somehow] prove that they’re not guilty…loss of [tax-exempt] status is essentially a death penalty for most non-profit organizations…

A Broker in Pillage (#1384)

It’s rare that government departments stop their own depredations:

The Justice Department has ordered the…DEA…to suspend most searches of passengers at airports and other mass transit hubs after an independent investigation found DEA [goon]s were…[violating the] constitution…[so egregiously, they were drawing too many] lawsuits.  The deputy attorney general directed the DEA on November 12 to halt what are [absurdly called] “consensual encounter” searches at airports…after seeing the draft of a…memorandum that outlined a decade’s worth of “significant concerns” about how the DEA uses paid airline informants and [bogus] criteria to [target] passengers…for [robbery]…

Dangerous Speech (#1479)

Apparently, the government isn’t yet done torturing Spear into madness:

…the Ninth…Circuit…[has] granted journalist Michael Lacey’s release from prison pending the outcome of his appeal in the Backpage case, while denying a similar request from Lacey’s co-defendants Scott Spear and John Brunst.  The court sent the case back to U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa…who quickly ordered Lacey set free on the same $1 million bond that secured his release after his 2018 arrest…The key issue in determining release was whether an appeal raised a substantial issue that could lead to all convictions against a defendant being overturned.  In the case of Lacey…the court agreed that there was…

Censorship Ascendant (#1491)

Cops are now being dispatched to intimidate people for “bad” thoughts:

Police forces have been blasted for investigating “hate crimes” that include calling someone a Rottweiler or being called a “Leonard” over a row about a hedge.  NCHIs are meant to be recorded for incidents “clearly motivated by intentional hostility” and where there is a genuine risk of significant escalation, government guidance says.  But the police have been…wasting “valuable time” on investigating so-called hate crimes such as an “aggressively-administered haircut”…police were…[even sent to intimidate] two schoolgirls who said another student smelled “like fish”…Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philip said: “This nonsense undermines confidence in policing”…


Shame, Shame (#1493)

At least they weren’t trying to make porn:

James and Rose, the bizarre [video-image] bots who were recently installed as news broadcasters at local Hawaii paper The Garden Island, have been terminated…after a two-month run…The pair were designed by Caledo, an Israeli firm that turns articles into videos where a [computer announces] the news [via two video images it generates, but programmers]…were never able to figure out how to present the news…in a manner that wasn’t deeply off-putting for viewers.  The [computer announced all news]…in the same distant, matter-of-fact tone of [a] being…incapable of comprehending human emotions.  In one particularly stilted exchange…[the computer] asked [via the “Rose” character], “And how have these free pumpkins impacted the community?” to which [it responded to itself via the] James [character], “The free pumpkins have brought joy to many.”  [It] consistently butchered difficult Hawaiian names and even had [un]surprising struggles with much simpler words…the [imaginary] pair managed to inspire visceral, bipartisan contempt.  Comments under the videos were nearly universally negative…

 

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 (#1492)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 23, 2024| 1 Comment »

This is clearly a bill unburdened by thoughts of constitutionality.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

I Saw My Brain (#1316)

Another reminder that Grady Judd is an utterly loathsome excuse for a human:

…between 2018 and 2022, Polk County’s [pogroms against sex workers which the psychopathic Grady Judd labels “]human trafficking stings[“] led to the arrest of 751 individuals.  Of these, 346 were clients, 23 were officially identified and “rescued” as trafficking victims, and the remaining 382 were adult consensual sex workers who ended up in jail…and [saddled with] criminal records…Grady Judd doesn’t abide any notions of adult consensual sex work in his mind numbingly foolish and uninformed public narratives but he is quick to be “The Decider” of who is – or is not – a victim of trafficking, with the very simplistic logic that “prostitution is Illegal” and therefore the harbinger to crime outbreaks…

Torture Chamber (Chamber of Horrors)

Your “leaders” want you to pay for more such hell-holes to torture even more people in:

Two years after a mentally ill man died malnourished and covered in insects in Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail, a Justice Department investigation has found that man’s death was only one of a string of fatalities due to pervasive unconstitutional conditions at the jail…which [is used to warehouse legally-innocent people cops decided to accuse of something]…investigators reported widespread infestations of mice, roaches, bedbugs, lice, and scabies…the jail’s [filthy] kitchen also fails to adequately feed [its legally-innocent victims]…90 percent of the…mental[ly ill people are held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods and]…”significantly malnourished with obvious muscle wasting”…[deranged state-employed thugs] use Tasers and pepper spray against [the] mentally ill…and minors [because they think it’s fun, and they intentionally]…create [conditions leading to frequent]…rape…[of] minor[s]…

Censor Chic (#1438)

Unless people begin to have respect for free speech again, this will only get worse:

Jawboning…is when the government pressures a third party to…[censor] the speech of another…which is why there should be concern about Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and how it operates to force intermediaries to act against users and their speech, whether they would want to or not, and whether the targeted speech is wrongful or not.  Because when resisting a takedown notice can…potentially expose them to crippling liability, then the choice to acquiesce to the…demand is really no choice at all.  Instead it’s jawboning: using law to force the third party to act against speech in order to avoid the constitutional protections the speech should have enjoyed…

Dangerous Speech (#1467)

The first of a series of columns Michael Lacey will write from the cage where the government has thrown him for daring to publish speech it dislikes:

…My decades-long friend and business partner, Jim Larkin, the most upright of men, also guilty of naught, did not want to go in…He instead drove a chair to the botanical gardens created by a mining baron outside of Superior, Arizona…He removed the chair from his vehicle and sat himself. He was . . . resolved.  He took out his pistol. He pulled the trigger…He left six grown children and a spouse. God help all of them…A lesser man than Larkin, prosecutor Austin Berry, implored the judge: Please, your honor, sentence the remaining 3 defendants to prison, so there is no more “flight by suicide.”  Flight by suicide?  In my 40 years of covering courts, I have not heard a lower comment…

Paying the Bills

Eight 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 $2700.  So that now leaves only a $300 shortfall!  If you can spare some or all of that remainder right now, I’d really appreciate it; that would get this done in the next few days, so it doesn’t interfere with my annual toy drive!

The Vultures Descend (#1483)

This insanity will keep getting worse until these maniacs are forcibly stopped:

A bonkers new Texas bill would ban a bunch of activities related to abortion, including taking abortion pills in other states and facilitating or hosting online speech about procuring abortions.  It would also hold all abortion pill manufacturers liable for violations when a specific manufacturer could not be ascertained…the legislation…[bears the Orwellian moniker “]Women and Child Safety Act[” and]…create[s] new offenses of “paying for or reimbursing abortion costs” and “destroying evidence of an abortion,” both felonies…Other parts of the bill would be enforced by [encouraging and rewarding nuisance lawsuits]…

That’s just a taste; this bill is such a giant clusterfuck of unconstitutional stupidity and over-the-top evil that I don’t have room here to list all its atrocities, so go read Liz Brown’s article for all of the details, in which she has to state not once but several times, “This is not how U.S. law works.”

The Cop Myth (#1489)

All promoters of state violence, from cops to judges to politicians, work together to ensure cops get away with their crimes:

…The Supreme Court [has] declined…to take up a petition for writ of certiorari filed in August by Desiree Martinez…[who] filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2015 against several [cop]s in Clovis, California, who [intentionally] ignor[ed] multiple attempts to report her abusive [cop]….boyfriend, Kyle Pennington…the 9th Circuit ruled that [since it is well-known that cops are moral imbeciles, they could not be expected to grasp that]…tipp[ing] off her boyfriend [so he would take revenge for her reporting him was wrong, and therefore they] are immune from Martinez’s lawsuit under qualified immunity…[after] Martinez…filed a…report against Pennington..[he] called [his crony]…Channon High…on speakerphone and…High [told him about the]…report…Pennington [then] hung up the phone and [beat and raped her, yet]…was [merely] convicted of violating a restraining order…

 

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 (#1487)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The government has demonstrated that it cannot and will not be constrained by Section 230, the First Amendment, or even the venerable principle of presumption of innocence.  –  Maggie McNeill

Surplus Women

Decriminalization is only the first step:

Sex worker advocates have expressed their “rage and sadness” after a man who was due to face a double-murder trial for killing two women struck a manslaughter plea deal with Victorian prosecutors. Xiaozheng Lin, who killed sex workers Yuqi Luo…and Hyun Sook Jeon…in late 2022…now faces significantly less jail time [despite intentionally murdering the sex workers in order to rob them, so as to pay off his gambling debts]…Fiona Patten, former Victorian upper house MP, said she believed the decision reflected the stigma faced by sex workers in society…

Mumbo Jumbo 

It’s not surprising that this woman promotes the Nordic Model; it’s about as rooted in reality as her other beliefs about sex work:

…the Scottish government has instructed local authorities to partner with [an anti-sex group named] Azalea, led by a religious anti-porn activist who has stated that sex workers are “possessed by demons”…Ruth Robb…has in the past recommended “carrying out exorcisms on sex workers”…believes yoga is an “occult practice” and [claims] sex work leads to a “lesbian lifestyle”…[she claims] “Most prostitutes have had some exposure to the occult,” and her [Nordic model-based “outreach”] guides [for fellow religious busybodies] offer a checklist to determine if a sex worker is undergoing “demonic possession”.  Supposed symptoms include “flailing limbs” or a “sudden change of voice”…

The Face of Trafficking

The first actual association between “trafficking” and pizza:

The owner of Stash’s Pizza…in Massachusetts, was sentenced on Oct. 25, 2024 for forced labor charges. [Stavros Papantoniadis] forced or attempted to force six victims to work for him and comply with excessive workplace demands through violent physical abuse; threats of violence and serious harm; and repeated threats to report the victims to immigration authorities for deportation…[he] was sentenced…to 102 months in prison, one year of supervised release and…a $35,000 fine…

The Last Shall Be First (#1408) 

“Bathroom bills” are a political fad that neither court rulings nor public protest have deterred:

The [Odessa, Texas] City Council [has] banned transgender people from using restrooms outside of the sex assigned to them at birth, [despite protests by]…residents…Mayor Javier Joven, who is up for reelection…has said his mission has been to help the city “repent”.  Under the amended ordinance, the city can seek fines of up to $500 and [criminal] trespassing charges…[and] also [encourages nuisance lawsuits for] $10,000 in damages plus the cost of the lawsuit and attorney fees…It [specifically] excludes [male cops who enter bathrooms to harass, rape, or otherwise attack women]…

Dangerous Speech (#1435)

Liz Brown’s articles on sex work are so thorough, it’s just too hard to come up with a pull quote.  So I’ll just point you to her latest on the Backpage persecution, and embed the accompanying video.  Watch it, and go read the article!

Vulture Watching (#1477)

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

Josseli Barnica…[miscarried at] 17 weeks…doctors…should have offered to speed up the delivery or empty her uterus to stave off a deadly infection…but…[instead] the[y]…told her…they had to wait until there was no heartbeat…[and] it would be a [“]crime[“] to give her an abortion…For 40 hours…her uterus remained exposed to bacteria.  Three days after she delivered, Barnica died of an infection…[because psychopathic politicians threaten] doctors…[with] prosecution, prison time and professional ruin [for doing their jobs]…Barnica’s…death was “preventable,” according to more than a dozen medical experts who…called her case “horrific,” “astounding” and “egregious”…

The Cop Myth (#1481)

Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

[An] El Paso [cop named]…Joseph Andrew Shreve, [who is paid to lurk in schools in order to spy on, harass, and intimidate students], was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for…firing at a truck that he [pretend]ed had rear-ended his vehicle on Sept. 18…Shreve…[attempted to escape consequences by belching out the magic formula] “in fear for [my] life”, [but witnesses told] police [otherwise]…

 

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 (#1475)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The whole story of the pursuit of Backpage is one of political opportunism.  –  Robert Corn-Revere

If Men Were Angels

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

A Southern California pastor [named]…Jose Alcides Vasquez…was arrested…on Sept. 5…[for repeatedly molesting and orally raping]…a [girl under] 14…[and orally and anally raping a girl under] 10…Vasquez has served as a pastor or volunteer at several churches in the region known as the Inland Empire…[Vasquez was reported by one of his victims] in 2021 [but cops dragged their feet because they were reluctant to arrest a preacher]…

Welcome to the Future (#805)

Welcome to the “safe” future you keep voting for:

[Billionaire psychopath] Larry Ellison shared his [nightmare] vision for a…[computerized] surveillance future…where [the government] would constantly monitor citizens through an extensive network of cameras and drones…[including] police body cams, doorbell cameras, and vehicle dash cams…”We’re going to have supervision,” he [gloated, absurdly]…attempt[ing] to paint his [1984 scenario]…in a positive light, [while completely ignoring the obvious erosion of]…privacy [and] civil liberties…”Big Brother is watching you” would take on new meaning in Ellison’s [fantasy dystopia, which is]…already becoming a reality…in…China…[where it is called the] “sharp eyes” campaign…leading to what The Economic Times called a “road to digital totalitarianism”…

Law of the Instrument (#1429)

The “sex trafficking” charges appear to involve ordinary “Fly Me To You” deals:

Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges.  [Though the] indictment…accuse[s Combs]…of having “abused, threatened, and coerced women”…the racketeering conspiracy charge opens up the government to seizing way more assets than they would otherwise be allowed to seize…and…the Mann Act…charges…all…[involve male] sex workers…The indictment contains no allegation that he forced or coerced these sex workers into anything.  But if he arranged for their travel, across state lines and internationally, the feds have him on a Mann Act violation…

No Escape (#1442)

The 100% predictable result of giving sexually-aggressive men power over young women:

[Screws] at the Oregon Youth Authority sexually abusing teens and young adults [locked] in [their cages have result]ed in a series of federal civil rights lawsuits…[so far there are] six…[cases from] between 2019 and 2023…[involving] four [rapists and]…11 [rape enablers, but]…one of the attorneys representing the six [said]…“I do not think these are isolated incidents. This looks…[like] the tip of the iceberg”…So far, two of the [rapist screws]…have also been charged criminally…Travis Craft…was…indicted…in July [and arrested in early September]…and…Emily Echtenkamp…was…arrested…[last] December …Two other [rapists], Amira Andrade and Cherie MacDougall, were…accused in the lawsuits [but not criminally charged]…

Top Cop (#1458)

The author of this article in Politico seems to want to straddle the fence on Backpage while simultaneously scoring points against Cackling Copmala.  He quotes criticisms of her behavior from Kaytlin Bailey and Alex Andrews, but also creepy cheerleading from another cackling sleazebag prosector, Maggy Krell; he calls attention to her hypocrisy, but also approvingly and uncritically repeats her vile insinuations against Michael Lacey & Jim Larkin; and while his quoting of civil liberties concerns has a sneering undertone, his quoting of “sex trafficking” propaganda is not so colored.  Read it if you wish, but pay attention to the slant.

The Cop Myth (#1469)

How long will America ignore the costs of its sick worship of state-sanctioned violence?

For decades, California police chiefs and sheriffs have lamented how difficult it is to fire [brutal, dangerous cops due to]…powerful [cop gangs] and [bad laws]…what has remained a secret until now, is how they have repeatedly turned to an under-the-radar method of getting rid of problem [pigs] — one that not only allows the off[end]ers to avoid accountability but…[also] to quietly move on to other jobs where they are [again given power] to [abuse] the public….“clean-record agreements”…[are shady] legal settlements that promise to hide the [dangerous pig’s] wrongdoing…in exchange for the off[end]er’s guarantee to leave…without a fight…[even more galling,] these deals…sometimes include a cash payment…In the past decade, at least 163 California [cop shops] have…[made these devil’s bargains with at lea]st 297 [dangerous thugs]…52 were subsequently hired by another [cop shop and] 56 were hired as security guards or [screws]…16 [went on to] teach…[rookie cops, and] three [became politicians]…Payments…[were] as high as $3.1 million…

The Cop Myth (#1474)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do:

A [Florida cop named]…Brian Housend was arrested…[for] kidnapping [his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint]…He had [stalked her for months, and recently aimed]…a green laser, which she believed to be the type equipped to a firearm…into a window in her home…[after] a series of…threatening emails and text messages…[back in February] Housend [threatened her with] a rifle…in [response to her]…calling internal affairs…[over his] abuse…

 

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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Tweet and Low

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

If you're a woman, you better thank a whore for being able to vote. You better thank a whore for the right to own property. You better thank a whore for sexual rights. You better thank a whore if you like cosmetics or attractive clothes. You better thank a whore…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-09-02T19:05:33.910Z

"Likes" serve no practical function for the "liked" creator whatsoever. If everyone who "liked" my content retweeted it instead, I'd have 10x as many followers and probably two or three times the monthly subscription income.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-09-03T16:56:31.984Z

The precedent for this was set by local politicians in the US who think they can reschedule Halloween to a more "convenient" weekend time. reason.com/2024/09/04/c…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-09-05T17:26:44.617Z

About damned time. Lest you forget, Mel Brooks released "The Producers" only 22 years after the end of the Holocaust. Humor serves an important social & psychological function, a fact too many Americans denied for virtually the entire 2010s.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-09-09T17:11:23.844Z

Maybe this will help the morally-deficient grasp why consent can be revoked at any point.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-09-13T16:26:54.102Z

 

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In the News (#1467)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Jurisdictions have devised creative ways to comply with the law on its face but not really in practice.  –  Billy Binion

Imaginary Victims (#1254) 

The state’s pretended sympathy for “sex trafficking victims” applies only to imaginary “perfect” ones:

A judge…sentenced a [young] Milwaukee woman charged with killing the man who sex trafficked her as a teenager to 11 years in prison plus five years of extended supervision…Chrystul Kizer will ultimately serve fewer than 10 [more] years in prison…[due to] more than a year and a half of time served…Kizer’s…“affirmative defense”…[as] a trafficking victim..[proved worthless against the prosecutor’s TV crime-show fantasy that a 17-year-old girl] carried out a premeditated killing in order to steal Volar’s BMW, [so]…Kizer [had to settle for a plea bargain that at least allowed her to escape a life sentence]…

Thought Control (#1405)

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

…just a week before students were due to return to campus, the administration of New College of Florida emptied the library of the college’s Gender and Diversity Center by [throw]ing those books in a dumpster.  They were joined shortly afterward by books from the main library, most on topics related to religion and LGBT…issues…New College [pretend]ed that by law it couldn’t donate or sell the books, but that’s false…in the past, if…books [were weed]ed, students were notified and [allowed to take]…books…But [this time]…the vast majority were carted off to the landfill…Christopher Rufo, a [crony of]…Ron DeSantis…spearheaded the removal of the program…and…books[, tweeting], “We abolished the gender studies program. Now we’re throwing out the trash”…

A Broker in Pillage (#1414)

This will continue until there are federal criminal charges for “officials”, both political and corporate, who conspire to rob people this way:

A few years back, the [Edmondson Community O]rganization accrued a $2,543 property tax debt on its community center.  So in 2018, [Baltimore] sold that lien for $5,115 to a California-based investor, who then foreclosed on and sold the ECO’s building for $139,500.  In return, the ECO got a check for the difference between its debt and the lien purchase price: $2,572…a new federal lawsuit a[ttacks thi]is…practice…that illegally deprives people of their equity in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Taking Clause…debtors [who] have fallen just hundreds of dollars behind on their taxes…may lose their property and the vast majority of equity tied up in it…That Baltimore’s process robs property owners of huge chunks of equity is not just a regrettable side effect…it’s baked into the nature of the city’s approach…[which] actively seek[s] to keep bids low…the city [even] charges a high-bid premium that punishes investors making offers above a certain threshold…

Schadenfreude (#1425)

Con artists use moral panics to fleece the gullible:

…a Utah-based [con artist who] claimed [she] was dedicated to fighting human trafficking pleaded no contest to multiple felonies…including fraud…and forgery.  Candace Lierd, the founder of Exitus…[actually used] the money for personal expenses, as well as homes, cars and trips…[She] faces…5-15 years in prison for each [of 35] count[s]…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1428)

Politicians can always mine tragedy to justify more evil:

The mailroom supervisor at a federal prison in [California] died [suddenly, and prison bureaucrats are blaming “]mail saturated in an unknown substance[” assumed to be]…fentanyl…[despite the fact] that…touching fentanyl cannot cause an overdose, and the risk of death from accidental exposure is…[nonexistent.  But Marc] Fischer’s death comes at a [handy] time [for] the Bureau of Prisons [to exploit it to divert attention from rampant]…criminal misconduct by staff…[including rape, violence], and [epidemic levels of filth and medical neglect leading to] death…[and to justify its scheme of] photocopying mail coming into prisons instead of delivering the original parcels…[thus further isolating them while pretending the mistreatment is actually] an attempt to combat the smuggling of synthetic narcotics [even though it is well-known that drugs in prisons are smuggled in by screws and overdoses actually increase when mail and books from outside are banned]…

Dangerous Speech (#1441)

Government lawyers will do or say anything to ensure Lacey dies in a filthy cage:

Not content with the suicide last year of his longtime business partner and co-defendant Jim Larkin, prosecutors seek to consign famed journalist and editor Michael Lacey and his two co-defendants to a staggering 20 years in prison each, a likely…death [sentence] given that all three…are in their 70s.  In an Aug. 19 sentencing memo…prosecutors smeared Lacey with crimes that he and the others are not charged with and could never be charged with: sex trafficking, child sex trafficking and an array of murders…Government attorneys are also asking that Lacey…be [locked in a cage before his appeals are exhausted, fearing he might die before that happens]…Backpage…’s right to publish adult-themed ads was upheld on numerous occasions by a series of federal and state court rulings…but…the government…[want]s harsh sentences…to “deter” websites from publishing [legal and Constitutionally-protected] content the government [dislikes]…

To Molest and Rape (#1466)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative West Virginia cop] has been sentenced…to…a m[ere] 10 years behind bars…[Chester] Adkins [agreed to a plea bargain rather than face proportionate sentencing for repeatedly molest]ing a…10 year…old [girl]…

 

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 (#1441)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 29, 2024| 1 Comment »

What is presented as an effort to stop…violence…ends up being the main source of violence.  –  Erika Lust

The Red Umbrella 

If he truly had trouble before, why did he call the same agency again?

Varinder Singh Deo…was celebrating with a friend…in Deo’s detached garage, drinking alcohol and consuming cocaine, while Deo’s wife and child slept…Deo arranged for a sex worker to come over…[but] didn’t think she looked like her online photograph. Deo [and]…the woman, referred to as B.K…argued over a cancellation fee…Deo [brandished]…a handgun…later [claiming to] police…he’d had a traumatic experience with the same escort service a few years earlier when he was supposed to meet up with a sex worker but was instead robbed by multiple men at knife point…B.K. and [her duo partner] M.C. started retreating back to their vehicle…[and] Deo fired two shots at them.  One…struck the back of M.C.’s left shoulder…[she] spent three days in hospital and suffered nerve damage…and…scarring…and…also had to pay a more than $7,000 bill for blood stain removal from the rental car…[the British Columbia judge] chose to sentence Deo to four years in prison…[and] ordered [him] to reimburse B.K. for the blood stain removal bill…

Link Rot

It’s good to see someone actually studying this problem:

A new Pew Research Center analysis shows just how fleeting online content actually is:  A quarter of all webpages that existed at one point between 2013 and 2023 are no longer accessible…For older content, this trend is even starker.  Some 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 are not available today, compared with 8% of pages that existed in 2023…23% of news webpages contain at least one broken link, as do 21% of webpages from government sites…54% of Wikipedia pages contain at least one link in their “References” section that points to a page that no longer exists…Nearly one-in-five tweets are no longer publicly visible on the site just months after being posted…

The Course of a Disease (#1244)

The Spanish case of the Swedish rot has been especially virulent, so this is encouraging:

Spain’s Socialist Party…[has] suffered a sound defeat…in its attempt to recriminalize sex work…[after] the party’s ruling coalition allies…withdrew their backing from the widely reviled “Abolition of Prostitution” law…PSOE’s…Laura Berja, unequivocally stated last year, “We must abolish [women’s sexual freedom] because it is incompatible with human rights.”  El Mundo [said the]…defeat holds “symbolic weight” and sends the abolition law “right to the trash bin.”  It is the first time, the newspaper noted, that the PSOE has failed to rally its coalition allies in support of an important piece of legislation, which may indicate a “crack” in the coalition that could further endanger its chances to remain in power…

Thought Control (#1379)

The censors got what they wanted in this case:

A public library in Boise is transitioning to an “adult only” library.  The Donnelly Public Library s[tated]…that the change is due to the passage of HB710…that en[courages] anyone to sue the library if [they claim] children are exposed to…adult material…due to its small size and the…ambiguous…language of the bill, the change is the only way the…[library] can assure compliance with the law, which goes into effect on July 1…The bill…was signed into law by Governor Brad Little earlier this year, [despite his veto of an earlier version]…

Torture Chamber (#1415)

The inevitable result of locking mentally ill people in filthy cages and entrusting sociopathic thugs to mind them:

…in April 2021, Georgia Baldwin…was clearly in the throes of a severe mental health episode…[but] she was arrested…[on a trumped-up] felony charge [anyway] and sent to jail in Tarrant County, Texas.  Six weeks later, in June, a psychiatrist determined Baldwin was “incompetent and thus unable to stand trial”…[but instead of sending her to] a state hospital…”Tarrant County chose to [keep] Ms. Baldwin [locked] in a small cell, where she could not see through a window or view other human beings,” remaining there from July 27 until her death on September 14…from…”severe hypernatremia” —high levels of sodium in the blood typically resulting from dehydration… [two other prisoners] with severe mental illness [also died] of dehydration in Tarrant County’s c[ages] over a two-year period…Abdullahi Mohamed [was arrested] in June 2020 for…[a violent] manic…bipolar [episode]…Nine days later, jailers…found him unresponsive in his cell, and he died soon after.  And in December 2021, Edgar Villatoro Alvarez was [caged]…after having been hospitalized for a bipolar episode the previous month…he died [the following] February…

Dangerous Speech (#1435)

The government doesn’t care about all those charges, as long as Lacey dies in a filthy cage:

Government attorneys in the Backpage case…want…Lacey and two co-defendants to be sentenced on their respective guilty verdicts so the three men can appeal to the Ninth Circuit…[before] the government will decide if it will retry Lacey…Judge…Humetewa vacated Lacey’s previously scheduled Aug. 6 retrial date and set sentencing for July 9 for Lacey…Scott Spear and Jed Brunst…Humetewa [refused to consider]…the possibility that Lacey be allowed to remain out on bond pending the outcome of any appeal…The one thing the judge and the parties agreed on was that there are weighty matters to be decided by the Ninth, including [multiple kinds of] prosecutorial misconduct…It could take anywhere from eight months to two or three years before the Ninth issues a decision.  Which means there is no immediate end in sight for this vindictive prosecution, now in its seventh year…

The Cop Myth (#1438)

Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

A [typical and representative Kentucky cop] has been found guilty of murder[ing the husband of his girlfriend, Lena North]…Jeremy Lewis…murder[ed]…Tyler North…[in 2018, but it took the Kounty Kops] two…year[s to find the remains]…

 

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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Throwback Thursday Unbound

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Under criminalization…the foxes are set to guard the henhouse, and nobody notices or cares how many chickens they satisfy their appetites upon.  –  “In Charge of the Henhouse”

 

The love and friendship between two people is an organic thing which has to be taken for what it is; any attempt to rebuild it into something else is as doomed to failure as a scheme to turn one animal into another by cutting it apart and putting it back together in a different shape.
–  “A Living Thing”

This is the level of critical thinking I’d expect from someone who still believes in the Easter Bunny.
–  “The War Goes On (#736)”

There is no such thing as changelessness; there are only differing rates of change.  –  “Eternity”

Women who are mature enough to accept “open” relationships do not go around calling their husbands “pathetic”, “unattractive” and “needy” for having a sex drive in their forties.  And asking a selfish, judgy, sexually-immature woman for an open relationship is going to be about as productive as throwing a stick of dynamite into a cesspool.  –  “Bad Advice“

I guarantee you a divorce will set you back more than a few hundred bucks once or twice a month.  –  “Cheapskate“

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