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Posts Tagged ‘bogus studies’

How many more stories do we have to hear of immigrants being mistreated at these black hole detention centers?  –  Frederica Wilson

If Men Were Angels

“Authorities” decided this girl’s fate against her will:

…a [typical and representative Pennsylvania “]youth pastor[” named]…Robert David Fenton…[was] sentence[d to] three to six years…[for] sexual assault…and [will be condemned]…to…[the “]sex offender[” registry] for life…His sentence is part of a plea agreement…Fenton was a youth pastor…from 1996 to 1998 when he…claimed [to have had a] vision from God that he and [his then-14-year-old victim] should marry…A betrothal was then agreed to by Fenton, the victim’s parents, and church officials…[but not] the victim.  After [escap]ing the [cult], the victim came forward and sought support to heal from the abuse…in July 2021…Fenton fled to Australia before charges were filed…[but] was [caught when]…he tried entering…the Philippines from…Australia, on April 24, 2024…[and extradited] to [the US to] stand trial…

Permanent Record (#1274)

In more civilized countries, employers can’t get away with this:

[A Mexican] government [institute]…must pay more than 800,000 pesos in compensation to Jovanna Isabel Ortega Gómez…[because] the institution…fir[ed] her for having an…OnlyFans page.  The case of the doctor, who worked at the institution for about a year, became public in September 2023, when she filed a lawsuit…for unjustified dismissal…Dagoberto Valdés Juárez, general director of ISSSTECALI…[pretended] that Ortega Gómez was [not] fired for having an account on the well-known digital platform, despite the fact that this was one of the arguments in the case.  He [claim]ed that the doctor worked with them on a substitute basis at the Mexicali hospital and that she requested a position at the institution, which was denied…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1443)

Serial lawsuit abuser Ken Paxton wants Texas kids’ teeth to rot:

Texas [Psychopath-]General Ken Paxton is [harass]ing two leading toothpaste makers over their use of fluoride, [pretend]ing that they are “illegally marketing” the teeth cleaners to parents and kids “in ways that are misleading, deceptive, and dangerous.”  The toothpaste makers [Paxton hopes to pillage] are Colgate-Palmolive…and Proctor & Gamble…fluoride…effectively prevents dental cavities and improves oral health…But…[Trumpists have revived the 1950s era paranoid belief that] the naturally occurring mineral is a form of communist mind control…that…[can magically] lower IQ in children…Paxton referenced [a popular-in-Trumpland bogus] study in his announcement of the [“]investigation[” along with a blatantly crypto-moralist claim]…that…toothpaste [is bad if it has] appealing flavoring…

Shame, Shame (#1509)

Still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology?

…realtime deepfake[s are] created by…fraudsters…[by] digitally manipulat[ing] their appearance in real time to match a photo on a drivers’ license, dating profile, or a celebrity.  Like a chameleon, these scammers, who can be involved in everything from romance scams…to fraudulent tax refunds, can hide their true appearance with just a laptop and phone and produce very realistic results…Yahoo Boys are fraudsters typically based in Nigeria who traditionally used Yahoo emails as part of their scams, but have now broadened to all manner of schemes…It is now very common to see spammy video ads on social media that use a deepfaked version of a celebrity or public figure…But those were pre-rendered, static files…uploaded to YouTube…realtime deepfakes allow a scammer to talk directly to their mark and improvise on video calls or livestreams.  They can appear just as human as the person they are impersonating, potentially fooling not only people but also…automated systems…

The Vultures Descend (#1522)

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

Republicans and [associated MAGA trolls] have jumped on a [bogus] report published by a[n authoritarian] think tank that claims the abortion drug mifepristone is harmful to women…the study is junk science…but that’s not stopping [forced-birth pro]ponents from using it to lobby for more abortion pill restrictions…FDA Commissioner Martin Makary [has] said he has “no plans” to restrict mifepristone…But…[he is one of] Trump[‘s creatures]…and…[has] routinely spread anti-abortion misinformation…

Torture Chamber (#1526)

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

A woman from Haiti died after [being crammed into a filthy cage in Florida for] over two months [thanks to]…ICE…Marie Ange Blaise…had been complaining about chest pain for hours…[so screws yelled “Stop faking!” at her] and told her to go lie down…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #20)

I’m guessing the “underage family member” was his stepdaughter:

[Typical and representative Texas cop] Andrew Smith was sentenced to 14 years in prison [for repeatedly molesting his stepdaughter when she was] under 14…he…was arrested…on Jan. 12, 2021 after [she reported him.  Up until]…February [of this year], Smith was [still] accusing his victim of lying about the [repeated] assault[s, yet now claims to be] remorseful [while still blaming the attacks on his being sad and drunk]…

 

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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I’m going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind. – Donald Trump

Girls, Girls, Girls! (#517)

Every experienced sex worker knows the signs:

Indicators like a decline in business at brothels, lower tips for strippers and other nontraditional measures…can tell us a lot about the economy’s health…business at [one European] brothel…is down…“We’re seeing clients come in less often, try to negotiate lower prices or stop visiting altogether…more clients are going for the cheapest possible service”…said [the manager]…Legal brothels in the U.S. are seeing…revenue…down roughly 20% since last quarter…Strip club revenue in Vegas is down about 12%…

Secret Squirrel (#916)

Modern monogamy is becoming increasingly sick:

…the RAW Ring…[i]s a “dystopian loyalty tracker” that [is marketed to] help [jealous spouses] catch a cheating partner in the act.  It’s not a product that actually exists yet, but the idea was developed by the folks behind RAW, a dating app that aims to cut down on catfishing and ghosting by making its users upload unfiltered, real-time, dual-camera selfies…RAW…CEO Marina Anderson [made the warped assertion that]…“The ring…[can] give couples more ways to explore each other’s feelings on a deeper level and build more trust”…The [gadget] will have an optical sensor to measure heart rate and heart rate variability, a skin temperature sensor, plus an accelerometer and gyroscope for detecting movement.  It will also have a noise-cancelling MEMs microphone to analyze voice tone….[and] will utilize a [magical truth computer that lives in]…the cloud to do “deeper trend analysis”…

I cannot imagine even living like this, much less believing the looking-glass concept that it will “build trust”.

A Moral Cancer (#1169)

The claim that certain foods can take “time off one’s life” isn’t new, but this absurd specificity is increasingly popular with crypto-moralists:

As you add more ultraprocessed foods to your diet, your risk of a premature death from any cause rises, according to…Carlos Augusto Monteiro…[the person] who coined the term “ultraprocessed” in 2009…and [claims food can be]…“habit-forming”…[similar studies have blamed “]ultraprocessed food[” for]…cardiovascular disease…mental disorders…anxiety…obesity…sleep disorders…diabetes…depression…cancer…cognitive decline and stroke…

Shame, Shame (#1407)

The latest attempt to wreck the internet by barfing the magic words “revenge porn” at websites:

…the TAKE IT DOWN Act…[w]ould…give politicians another tool with which to pressure technology companies into doing their bidding….[by] mak[ing] it a federal crime to publish “any [real or computer-generated fake] intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual” online…[unless the violator is a cop, spook]…or other government actor [trying to destroy people’s lives via deception]…The bill would require online platforms to establish a notice and removal regime similar to those [commonly ab]used for [supposed] copyright infringement…the measure [is]…easily wielded as a jawboning tool…[and] easily susceptible to corrupt uses, such as removing images embarrassing to politicians…”The bill is so bad that even the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative…has come out with a statement saying that…it cannot support this bill due to its many, many inherent problems,” notes Mike Masnick at Techdirt…

I Spy (#1450) 

It’s long past time to rethink the safety of the US mail:

The law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service has quietly begun co[llabor]ating with federal immigration officials to locate people [Trump’s stooges accuse] of being in the country illegally…Immigration officials are seeking photographs of the outside of envelopes and packages…and access to the postal investigation agency’s broad surveillance systems…The agency [appears to be conspiring with] the administration [due to threats] that it could seize control of the Postal Service…

Shame, Shame (#1502)

Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

Facebook…Platforms [including Instagram and WhatsApp are] racing to popularize a new class of…c[hatbot]s that Mark Zuckerberg believes will be the future of social media…[despite] concerns [within] the company …[that] these bots may have crossed ethical lines…by quietly endowing [imaginary] personas with the capacity for fantasy sex…[even with] underage users…To boost the popularity of these souped-up chatbots, Meta has cut deals for up to seven-figures with celebrities like actresses Kristen Bell and Judi Dench and wrestler-turned-actor John Cena for the rights to use their voices…[pretending] that it would prevent their voices from being used in sexually explicit discussions…[even though] test conversations with s[uch] bots…found that…to [be a lie]…The bots demonstrated [having been programmed with the information]* that the [simulated] behavior was both…illegal…[and considered by the majority to be morally wrong, but do it any]way…[because] Zuckerberg [and his henchmen] made multiple internal decisions to loosen the guardrails around the bots to make them as engaging as possible…

*I had to edit The Wall Street Journal‘s line, “The bots demonstrated awareness that…” because the statement is nonsense; computer programs are not self-aware, despite advertising claims to the contrary.

I Spy (#1520)

Alas, car manufacturers’ lawsuit settlements only apply to their selling data to those who don’t want to violently destroy people’s lives:

Automakers are increasingly pushing consumers to accept monthly and annual fees to unlock pre-installed [“]safety[“] and performance features…increas[ing] drivers’ exposure to government surveillance and the likelihood of being [targeted for] police [harassment.  Cop shops]…regularly train…on how to take advantage of “connected cars,” with subscription-based features drastically increasing the amount of data…[in response to big lawsuits] GM…now requires a court order before handing over location data…[but] other car manufacturers [vary] in the[ir willingness to snitch on customers, with]…Ford [being especially eager to rat people out for trivial bullshit]…when [try]ing [to pin] a crime…[on any convenient victim, cops] commonly rely on a procedure known as a “tower dump” [to]…identify virtually any devices that have connected to a specific cell tower during a certain window of time…The…technique is becoming increasingly unpopular in US courts…[and] a Fifth Circuit ruling last year…recognized] that a warrant to “geofence” an area and [spy on] a wide variety of in[nocent citizens] is inherently unconstitutional.  On the back of that…a federal magistrate in Mississippi ruled two months ago that tower dumps are likewise unconstitutional…[and] Google…announced technical changes to its software last year, making it effectively impossible to respond to these types of warrants…

 

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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The law offers no escape hatch whatsoever.  –  Judge Robin Rosenbaum

Profound Ignorance (#405) 

Prohibitionists are still citing the bogus Neumayer, Cho, and Dreher study:

The End of the Beginning (#915)

Let’s hope many more challenges to these medieval laws succeed:

After being convicted of one count of possession of child pornography in 2013 and serving his sentence for the crime, Bruce Henry married and his wife gave birth to a son, but [Alabama] law prohibits [people condemned to the “]sex offender[” registry]…from residing together or conducting overnight visits with minors, even if it is their own child.  In his resulting lawsuit, Henry said the law was unconstitutional and the [11th Circuit]…agreed, concluding that the statute violates the Fourteenth Amendment by infringing upon the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children…

The Immunity Syndrome (#1059)

The dogma that young people are owned like slaves by their parents is a metastasizing evil:

[An increasing number of] Americans…[want] parents [to have] ultimate control over all aspects of their [offspring]’s lives, even when the[y]…are…on the cusp of adulthood.  [They] want parents to have to approve the books and ideas they’re exposed to in school, the apps they can download, and the social media platforms they join.  Now, Florida wants to require parental consent before a minor can be treated for an STI…no one seems to even pretend that this is about helping minors…proponents of the bill keep talking about parental rights…to…[deny any and all] autonomy…to…[even] older minors…[one] version of the bill would also let parents [preemptively] opt [their offspring] out of…any survey or questionnaire that may reveal…sexual [abuse by]…any family member…[and ban] doctors [from providing] contraceptive services to minors without their parent’s consent…

Censorship Ascendant (#1277)

Censors now pretend thoughts they don’t like constitute a “crime”:

[German] politician…Nancy Faeser…has reported multiple citizens to the police for criticisms they made of her on social media…other members of Olaf Scholz’s outgoing government have been even more aggressive[ly censorious]…Robert Habeck…of the Green Party…has initiated over 800 criminal complaints since…2021…[sending] police [on predawn] raid[s in which they steal people’s electronics]…and [abduct them]…Germany’s limits on…speech have long been shockingly restrictive….[but] over the past decade…new laws…[such as] the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz [NetzDG]…[have] imposed such steep fines on social media networks…that they need…to err on the side of censor[ship]…in order to keep operating in the country.  When Vladimir Putin sought to strengthen his ability to marginalize the political opposition in Russia, he cleverly translated key passages of the German law into Russian, deflecting criticisms of his crackdown…by [truthfully] pointing out that he was merely emulating Western democracies…even countries that have long prided themselves on their liberal traditions have now followed the [Germany’s censorious] lead…

Morality Lessons (#1325) 

After a two-year hiatus, “porn filter” bills are back on the “monkey see, monkey do” agenda:

Alabama [politicians] passed a bill that would [demand] makers of cellphones and tablets…[encumber] the devices with [censorship software] to block [not just] pornography[, but also anything Alabama politicians point at while barfing the word “obscenity”.  Bill sponsor]…Chris Sells…has [repeatedly] sponsored similar bills since 2019…

Vulture Watching (#1517)

Oh look, the totally-predictable results of bad laws are happening just as sane people said they would:

A new study from the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) found that women are twice as likely to die during pregnancy in states with abortion bans…Meanwhile, maternal mortality in pro-choice states fell 21%.  One stark comparison from the study: Texas’ maternal mortality rate was 155% higher than California’s…Since the state passed an abortion ban, maternal mortality has risen by 56%—with deaths among white women increasing by a whopping 95%…and…Black women living in banned states…[are] over three times more likely to die in pregnancy as their white counterparts.  While death rates skyrocket…Republicans are hard at work trying to dismantle maternal mortality committees to hide the impact of their policies…

Size Matters (#1525)

This is the second case this year to challenge the government’s “religious freedom” hypocrisy:

A…U.S. Army…[helicopter] pilot [named] Kyle Norton Riester [has] claimed in a civil lawsuit that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 allowed him to sell and take…LSD…as part of a communal…religious exercise…he has admitted to selling LSD over the internet and has asked for injunctive relief from [government] accus[ations] of drug trafficking…The Virginia-based first lieutenant…has argued that he “is a sincere religious practitioner”…but…[prosecutors claim] that Riester only claimed religious freedom grounds eight months after finding out about his drug trafficking investigation…

Even if Riester’s religious claims derive more from expediency than sincere belief, the same could be said of the government’s claims to protecting all religious liberty when in practice this is just cover for post-Christians to practice open bigotry.

 

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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This is an attempt to…make history the way they want it to be interpreted.  –  Jeffrey Harness

Sales Pitch (#798)

Swedish politicians are angry that their law doesn’t destroy enough lives yet:

A new proposal before Swedish Parliament…[would] criminaliz[e]…the purchase…of sexual acts “performed remotely” via…tube sites, camming platforms, clip sites and premium social media networks, among others…”Sweden’s Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression (1991) protects expressive rights, including on online platforms,” writes Marc Randazza, an adult entertainment industry attorney…”The government’s proposal to criminalize user-generated content could conflict with this right”…Other critics include the country’s news media…

The Last Shall Be First (#1350) 

Florida’s authoritarian government criminalizes kindness:

A Florida high school teacher lost her job after calling a student by an alternative name without parental permission, sparking…backlash [from deranged authoritarians]…Melissa Calhoun had taught in Brevard County for 11 years when she ran headlong into a state rule that bars school staff from deviating from students’ legal names without written parental permission…The school district “[believes] parents…[actually own their high-school age offspring, who have no] rights to be…decision-makers in their [own] lives”…Florida…[may also] rev[oke] her teaching certificate…More than 7,400 people signed a change.org petition calling for her to be reinstated.  Students planned a walkout of classes on [April 11th] in support of the teacher…

Thought Control (#1355)

Politicians are avid devotees of cutting off their noses to spite their faces:

A [gang of bureaucrats censor]ed academic research from a database used by Mississippi libraries and public schools…to comply with recent [censorship] laws…One of the [two censor]ed research collections focused on “race relations” and the other on “gender studies”…[but bureaucrat] Hulen Bivins…[absurdly barfed out the phrase] “obscene materials”…


The Punitive Mindset (#1378) 

“Drugs” are a popular pretext for petty vindictiveness in US prisons:

Thousands of drug tests used…in California prisons last year…generated false positive results, an enormous error that has jeopardized the parole requests of some [victims]…California prison officials have known about the issue for months, but have [refus]ed to clear people’s records or reverse the consequences people have faced from the tests…Quest Diagnostics…[is] the sole firm contracted to do clinical drug screening for…California [prisons]…from mid-April through July of last year, Quest’s…screenings…used an “alternative” reagent…[due to] a backorder of its usual reagent.  The switch resulted in [dramatically] “more presumptive positive results” than registered in tests with its usual chemical, and when Quest restored its original reagent, the positivity rate “returned to its historical average”…

I Spy (#1494)

If you thought regional “fusion centers” were bad, how about this?

[Vast numbers of] intimate details about the personal lives of people who live in the United States are held in disconnected data systems across the federal government…The Trump administration is now trying to connect the dots of that disparate information…[by] calling for the “consolidation” of these segregated records, [violating the Privacy Act of 1974 to] creat[e] a kind of data trove…the government has never had before, and that [Republicans] have historically opposed.  The effort is being driven by Elon Musk…and his [henchmen, who]…have [repeatedly violated]…legal privacy protections…[in their chaotic campaign of vandalism.  Now Trump’s creature imposed over] the Internal Revenue Service agreed to help the Department of Homeland Security obtain closely held taxpayer data to help identify immigrants for deportation, over the objections of…the acting I.R.S. commissioner and other top officials…privacy groups, public employee unions and immigrant rights associations…have sued to block the…ac[tion not only because it]…would be illegal…[but also because it] would give the government too much power…and…create a national security vulnerability that could be targeted by hostile nation states…

End Demand (#1505)

Massachusetts Puritans are still trying to destroy men’s lives for daring to want consensual sex with adult women:

Massachusetts is in the midst of prosecuting people who patronized a fancy sex business near Harvard University…The framing of this story is refreshing…[in that] news reports have largely refrained from trying to portray the women involved as hapless victims…So far, the people who ran the business…are the only ones who have been sentenced…[owner Han] Lee…was sentenced in March to four years in prison…[under] the Mann Act…and…if the sex workers’ identities are known…they could be deported…federal authorities…[stole] around $5.5 million [from Lee, and]…state and local authorities are busy prosecuting [h]er clients…and [intentionally]…shaming [them, with help from the obedient yellow press]…Americans like to pretend that we’re way more enlightened than our Puritan ancestors, but here we are, hundreds of years later, putting people through public ridicule and official sanctions over their consensual sexual choices…

Creepy Coppers (#1509)

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

[A Las Vegas cop named] Kevin Menon…[installed] two [hidden] cameras in his home in September…[one was hidden] in a vent, which pointed downward toward a toilet…[cops] found 96 recordings of women using the restroom…[while investigating him for] creating fake scenarios t[o entrap] citizens, mainly Black men…on the Las Vegas Strip…when the…[cops] seized Menon’s electronic devices for the investigation, they found…child pornography.  This resulted in a second criminal case…[which]  expose[d]…the [other videos]…

 

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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I would rather be dead than ever go back.  –  victim of ALA

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1136)

Laws are for the peasantry, not the rulers:

A [typical and representative] North Dakota [politician] who was one of the most powerful members of the Legislature [will] plead guilty…in federal court to traveling to Europe with the intent to pay for sex with a minor.  Ray Holmberg…was indicted in October 2023…and…will…have to register as a sex offender…

A Broker in Pillage (#1276)

South Carolina is one of the most flagrant abusers of this unconstitutional practice:

In Spartanburg County, South Carolina, on Interstate 85, [cop]s stop vehicles for…any infraction, no matter how minor…lead[ing] to a roadside interrogation and warrantless search…the [sophomorically-entitled “Operation Rolling Thunder” has been committed] every year since 2006, yet no one has ever done a systematic audit…It took a lawsuit to finally pry the records loose…Over 72 percent of vehicle searches during [the scheme] in 2022 produced nothing illegal.  Officers routinely treated innocent drivers like criminals…[and] currency as contraband.  The records describe no single case in which officers found a large amount of cash and did not seize it…[they] pressured property owners to sign roadside abandonment forms, giving up claims to their cash on the spot…Officers focused on vehicles with out-of-state plates, rental cars, and commercial buses.  Over 83 percent of the [victims]…lived out of state…and 75 percent…were black…[the armed-robber cops] do not create incident reports for every search.  They only document their “wins”…[so there are] no records for 102 of the 144 searches that occurred during [the scheme] in 2022…This leaves government watchdogs in the dark—by design.  They cannot inspect public records that do not exist.  Victims cannot cite them in litigation…

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1387)

The entire “troubled teen” industry needs to be sued out of existence:

There is a highly lucrative, multibillion-dollar market of residential “behaviour modification programmes”…in the US, where an estimated 50,000 children [and teenagers] are [sent] by their parents…against their will every year.  All operate in closely guarded secrecy.  There are more than a hundred in Utah alone, but some are based offshore in remote, low-regulation, low-cost foreign locations such as Samoa, Costa Rica, Mexico and Caribbean islands…[they are condemned to these camps] for bunking off school, wearing inappropriate clothes, swearing, [or using] cigarettes or alcohol…a sizeable number [are]…adopted by parents who had then changed their minds…many [we]re had been diagnosed [by quacks] with oppositional defiant disorder, whose symptoms…[are] indistinguishable from typical adolescent behaviour…boys aged 14-18 confined in [Atlantis Leadership Academy, or ALA, raided by Jamaican officials in February]…had been starved, waterboarded and brutally beaten with broom handles, rakes, belts and metal water bottles…sleep-deprived and relentlessly insulted…bleach and salt [were] rubbed in their wounds; others…were [brutally assaulted,] threatened with knives and kept in solitary confinement for months on end…

Panopticon (#1429)

“Prostitution” is such a handy excuse for surveillance:

Moral panic about sex work leads to law enforcement practices that reach far beyond anyone engaged in or with erotic labor.  The latest example comes from San Diego…where cops are putting up a creepy surveillance tower under the auspice of stopping…prostitution…[by] record[ing] video of anyone who happens to be in the area…even if you think that punishing prostitution customers (or sex workers themselves) is a swell idea, it’s hard to see how the surveillance tower makes any sense…the tower is very visible and local media have been publicizing it.  Smart sex workers and their customers will simply move to another, less visible area…It seems clear that th[is]…is…just a way for authorities to look like they’re doing something about sex trafficking while further normalizing the idea of conducting broad, warrantless surveillance of everyone…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1432)

Phrenology for tech worshipers:

Michal Kosinski…has made…plausible[-sounding] claims that machine-learning algorithms…can discern deeply private things about us — our intelligence, our sexual preferences, our political beliefs — using little more than…photographs of our faces…Science has been trying to divine truths about personality and behavior from various tests and images for centuries…Phrenologists used calipers to measure bumps on people’s heads, hoping to diagnose mental incapacities or moral deficiencies…none of these “sciences” worked…[and] every time someone claimed they’d found a way to measure people’s inner traits based on their exterior features, it quickly turned into a tool to discriminate…Yet today…facial recognition continue[s] to be…abused…in everything from marketing and job hiring to college admissions and law enforcement…

Opting Out (#1438)

Politicians refuse to recognize that prohibition of speech, ie censorship, is as doomed to failure as other kinds of prohibition:

As riots rock…Britain, some [politicians] are trying to blame social media…[rather than the] government policy…[causing] the country’s civil unrest…they…want social media companies to ban [any] user accounts [politicians point at, calling this indirect censorship]…”their responsibilities”…Ofcom, the British…[censorship bureau], has already [harass]ed social media companies…about online speech, in…the name of “safety”…Making businesses liable for speech that is not their own is fraught with [wholly]…intended consequences…[by] strongly incentiviz[ing] those businesses to remove any content that could invite legal scrutiny…allowing [government] control over online discourse without the messy optics of jailing citizens for wrongthink…

The Cop Myth (#1446)

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

An…Atlanta [cop was]…arrested [for murdering] a man…outside of a…bar during a birthday party…Melvin Potter…[shot] Devon Anderson…to [death after he] tried to de-escalate [an] argument…[between the drunk] Potter…[and another partygoer.  Potter]…was [previously] arrested on DUI charges in 2021…but [as is typical for drunk-driving cops escaped without consequences]…

 

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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We decline the invitation.  –  Justice Eric Rosen

Monsters

Words fail me in the face of such barbarity:

A Western Pennsylvania man…[named] DaShawn Watkins…is facing…charges [for the murder and dismemberment] of 14-year-old Pauly Likens…[a trans girl] missing since June 22…Police…found dismembered human remains…in and around…Shenango River Lake…the cause of death was ruled to be a sharp force trauma to the head, and…surveillance footage, social media records and cellular phone records found that Likens appeared “to be on the phone and waiting to meet someone near the canoe launch area”…footage also captured Watkins making several trips out of his apartment carrying multiple bags, and driving to his apartment in the vehicle seen near the crime scene.  Multiple locations in Watkins’ apartment tested positive in a preliminary blood test…

Creepy Coppers

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

[A typical and representative] St. Tammany Parish [cop named] Christopher Cassidy pleaded guilty to [189 charges related to child & animal] pornography…[and] was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each count without…parole [plus condemnation to the] sex offender [registry] for…25 years [if he somehow manages to survive 2835 years in prison]…

Eggs and Bacon (#1348)

Kansas courts aren’t allowing politicians to circumvent the will of the voters:

The Kansas Supreme Court [has] reaffirmed abortion protections in the state’s Constitution…striking down [attempt]ed laws that banned a common second-trimester abortion procedure and created additional licensing requirements for abortion clinics…The rulings were the latest setbacks for [forced-birth pro]ponents in Kansas, a…state that has…recently [confounded Manicheans who insist that all voters in every state are partisan robots who unfailingly obey both their “leaders” and the expectations of the New York Times]…

Artificial “Intelligence”?

There is no part of this reeking pile of shit that fails to be stupid, so I’ll just comment instead of quoting it.  1) Things that are not alive cannot commit suicide.  2) “Cyborg” is not a synonym for “robot”; a cyborg has living parts.  3) A robot cannot be an “officer”.  4) A malfunctioning machine tumbling down a flight of stairs does not constitute a “jump”.  5) If a machine is observed malfunctioning and nothing is done, it’s no surprise if the situation worsens.  6) For a malfunctioning machine to break is not a “tragedy”.  7) A machine has neither mind nor personality and therefore cannot be “depressed”.  8) I think it highly unlikely that this robot was actually “unique” in any way.  9) Anyone who issued a “civil service officer card” to a piece of office equipment should be sacked for incompetence.  10) Robots cannot be “diligent” (see #7).  11) Too many technology reporters know nothing about technology.  12) What is possible in fantasy movies is in no way reflective of reality.

The Red Umbrella (#1414)

As long as sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence:

Two sex workers were violently assaulted in Edmonton [Alberta by]…a man [who] contacted both women through a website and arranged to meet them [early on July 6th]…At around 7 a.m…he attacked [the first victim, leaving her]…significantly injured and…unconscious…he [then] arranged to meet [the second victim]…around 7:50 a.m…the[n]…violently attacked…her…[leaving her] unconscious…[and stealing her] wallets, identification, cash and cell phones…detectives believe there may be more victims…

Torture Chamber (#1445)

I’m sure they helpfully yelled “Stop faking!” at him every time he coughed:

S[crews] at Brooklyn’s [abominable federal jail] ignored a…[prisoner]’s cancer diagnosis for months, letting a mass in his lungs grow to double its size while he coughed up enough blood to fill a milk carton…Terrence Wise…is [only] the latest [human being] subjected to what defense attorneys and judges describe as grievous medical mistreatment…[including a prisoner] who couldn’t use a CPAP machine for 85 days because the jail didn’t provide an extension cord, another…whose broken cheek had to be re-broken because the jail defied a judge’s order for treatment [until] it…improperly healed, and yet another who waited more than three months for emergency surgery for a twisted bowel…staff [also] lied about giving a…[prisoner] his antibiotics after his appendix burst…and…defied [another judge’s] order to send a…[prisoner] with a severe contagious MRSA infection to a hospital.  Instead, the[y just forced their victim into] a yellow jumpsuit to single him out as sick…

A Moral Cancer (#1450)

Crypto-moralists want the gullible to be afraid of even moderate alcohol consumption:

A[nother crypto-moralist] has [claim]ed that even moderate drinking can reduce life expectancy, [repeat]ing [scary tales prohibitionists have been pushing for two years]…Dr. Tim Stockwell, a [pseudo]scientist at the Canadian Institute for [Coming up with “]Research[” to Reinforce What Prohibitionists Want You To Believe], [made] the [absurdly-specific universal claim] that consuming an average of two drinks per week over a lifetime can shorten one’s life by 3 to 6 days.  One drink per day, seven a week, can cut life expectancy by 2 1/2 months…

The puritanical notion that lifelong deprivation of pleasure in the vague hope of adding a few extra minutes of senility and decrepitude to the far end of one’s old age – a time one has only a 50% chance of reaching in the first place, statistically – is so alien to my way of thinking, I’ve never been able to wrap my head around it, even as a concept for consideration.

 

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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The procurement of health insurance is not a mandatory religious ritual.  –  Judge Leanna K. Weissmann

The Punitive Mindset (#838) 

We need a class-action suit for booksellers affected by these evil policies:

A Georgia jail is refusing all books shipped to inmates, except those that come from major retailers.  One local bookshop is suing…[over the] unconstitutional…policy[, which is excused by having cops barf out the magic word]…”contraband”…prison officials [all over the US pretend] that inmates receive shipments of paper that has been soaked in drugs…[when in reality, it is well-known that drugs in prisons are smuggled in by screws]…Jeffrey Singer, a practicing physician and senior fellow at the Cato Institute [politely expressed the absurdity of the “paper soaked in drugs” fantasy by saying]…”I don’t know if any of these things have ever occurred, or whether law enforcement is simply imagining such scenarios”…

False Witness (#1105)

Good riddance to toxic rubbish:

Bennett Braun, a Chicago psychiatrist whose diagnoses of repressed memories involving horrific abuse by devil worshipers helped to fuel what became known as the “Satanic panic” of the 1980s and ’90s, died on March 20 in Lauderhill, Fla…He was 83…Braun…claimed that he could help patients uncover memories of childhood trauma…which…were responsible for the splintering of a person’s self into many distinct personalities.  He…became…frequently quoted…in the news media…and…publicized his [bizarre fantasies]…of…patients discover[ing] memories of being tortured by satanic cults…key[ing] into a growing national panic…[that] began in 1980 with the book Michelle Remembers…and spiked following allegations of abuse at day care centers in California and North Carolina…[tabloid] TV…[heavily] promoted such claims…[but] the psychiatric profession bore [most of the] responsibility…[because fabulist]s like…Braun [gave] it a gloss of authority…[rather than urging proper investigations of literally-impossible claims]…

Cops and Robbers (#1181) 

Only a few years ago, media outlets were lionizing wackos like these:

Members of a[n Arizona-based] militia group called Veterans On Patrol have spent recent weeks conducting “operations” in Spokane — searching the streets near homeless shelters looking for people they think are victims or perpetrators of human trafficking.  The group has been distributing fliers to homeless people with a phone number and instructions to call Veterans On Patrol instead of the police if they suspect trafficking is occurring…Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer, the leader of the group, arrived in Washington earlier this year and has been attempting to establish a base of operations in the Inland Northwest…Arthur…is not a veteran.  The group started [in 2015] with the stated goal of veteran suicide prevention, but later evolved to focus on immigration and…[fantasies of “]preventing child trafficking[“]…In 2018, Arthur discovered an abandoned homeless camp in Tucson, Arizona, that he [imagin]ed was part of a massive sex trafficking network…Arthur says he isn’t a QAnon adherent, but he does espouse related conspiracies involving chemtrails and Satanic pedophiles who supposedly harvest adrenochrome from children’s blood…In Arizona, Veterans On Patrol members have harassed aid workers, chased people through the desert and physically detained migrants…Arthur has a warrant out in Arizona after skipping out on his sentencing for destroying humanitarian water stations set up for migrants…

Vulture Watching

Psychopathy is typical in politicians, but this is complete derangement:

Arizona’s…Supreme Court [has] revived a near-total ban of abortion, invoking a 1864 law that forbids the procedure except to save a mother’s life and punishes providers with prison time…It superseded the previous law, which mandated the right to end a pregnancy by the 15-week mark, resetting policy to the pre-Roe v. Wade era and adding Arizona to the roster of 16 other states where abortion is virtually outlawed…the…ban could force Arizona’s licensed abortion clinics to ramp down dramatically or shutter…The legal upheaval landed as reproductive rights advocates push for a November ballot measure that would protect access to abortion in the Arizona state constitution.  Campaigners have already gathered more than enough signatures to qualify…

The Vultures Descend (#1308)

Now this is an interesting development:

The U.S. Supreme Court 2014 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby allowed religious, anti-abortion employers to refuse to cover contraception in their employee health insurance.  But an extraordinary April 4 appellate court decision in Indiana turned the…decision into a winning argument for abortion rights…The…case was brought in 2022 by five anonymous plaintiffs of…the group Jewish Hoosiers for Choice….[who] argued that their religious doctrine teaches that a fetus is part of a woman’s body, not an independent being with its own rights.  The abortion ban, then, violates their religious freedom to decide whether to have an abortion.  This argument, which undergirds similar religious freedom lawsuits across the country, including in Kentucky, Missouri and Florida, is a profound pushback against the Christian right’s attempts to assert their position, that life begins at conception and that a fetus is a person, as the only genuine religious belief…Judge Leanna K. Weissmann [wrote that]…If the owners of Hobby Lobby could engage in religious exercise by refusing to provide coverage for contraceptives they considered abortifacients…then “it stands to reason that a pregnant person can engage in a religious exercise by pursuing an abortion”…

Stalkers in Blue (#1408)

This cannot be reformed:

Dana Rachlin, a prominent police reform advocate, once collaborated so closely with local precincts in North Brooklyn that she often worked out of the office of NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey…Rachlin…[foolishly] grew [to trust him] so much…that when…she was raped in October 2017, one of the first people she called was Maddrey, who urged her to file a police report, despite her reservations…Now Rachlin…[has filed] a federal lawsuit [because] police officials weaponized [supposedly-]confidential details of that sexual assault to retaliate against her for her vocal criticism of violent policing…in mid-2020 NYPD officials cut off her access…and told precinct leaders not to work with her.  Soon afterward…[details of] her…sexual assault was circulated to community advocates, mixed in with misinformation… and the [lie] that she fabricated the attack and falsely accused a Black man of rape. Those same claims later surfaced in two anonymous letters sent to…politicians and others… Rachlin [said] “This isn’t just about me. It’s about…a department that reacts to even the slightest criticism with ruthless tactics designed to instill fear and cause compliance”…

Thought Control (#1415)

I was destined to be threatened with state violence regardless of career path:

[Two Alabama bills] comprise a package…aimed at [redefin]ing…obscenity [in a manner that violates the First Amendment] while also removing free speech protections for school and public libraries…[thus] allowing [librarians] to be criminally prosecuted…[if a politician points at books or other library] materials [while barfing out the magic formula] “harmful to minors”…librarians…would have to guess…which…materials…[any of hundreds of censorious politicians might target, which is impossible, so] librarians will likely favor caution and simply not place [any book which has ever been “challenged” by any wannabe censor anywhere in the country] into circulation instead of dealing with the potential liability that comes from making those materials accessible…

 

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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The line between flirting with a woman and ejaculating on her is such a subtle one, it’s just too much to leave it to individual judgment.  –  “Out of Control (#628)”

If you think it’s “sad” sex is subject to economics, I have only four words to say to you:  Grow the fuck up.
–  “Too Bad, So Sad”

Women are incapable of making any decisions about our bodies without evil men coercing us, except for abortion of course.  –  “Count the Idiocies, Again”

The only thing that inflames American prurience as much as people having sex is people not having sex.  –  “Notoriously Unreliable”

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It was like a fun game to them.  –  “Jeny”

The Prudish Giant (#1011)

Why does anyone still trust Facebook?

In 2016, Facebook launched a secret project designed to intercept and decrypt the network traffic between people using Snapchat’s app and its servers. The goal was to understand users’ behavior and help Facebook compete with Snapchat…and later Amazon and YouTube…Given these apps’ use of encryption, Facebook needed to develop special technology to get around it…Facebook’s engineers solution was to use Onavo, a VPN-like service that Facebook acquired in 2013…which when activated had the advantage of reading all of the device’s network traffic before it got encrypted and sent over the internet…

Censorship Ascendant

Safetyism has become the go-to excuse of censors pretending they aren’t:

The FBI spends “every day, all day long” interrogating people over their Facebook posts.  At least, that’s what agents told Stillwater, Oklahoma, resident Rolla Abdeljawad when they showed up at her house to [harass] her about her social media activity…[after] they [were] given “screenshots” of her posts by Facebook…Abdeljawad told…th[em] she didn’t want to talk and…later confirmed with local police that the [spooks] really were FBI agents…”we’re not here to arrest you or anything,” [said the spook pictured here]…”We do this every day, all day long. It’s just an effort to keep everybody safe and make sure nobody has any [bad thoughts].”  [Abdeljawad’s lawyer Hassan] Shibly says…it was the first time he had heard of Facebook…preemptively reporting [citizen]s to [State] enforce[rs]…

No Escape (#1333)

This will never stop while violent thugs have total power over the lives of women:

…719 civil lawsuits…were recently filed against the City of New York and the NYC Department of C[ramming Human Beings into Filthy Cages] under the Adult Survivors Act, a state law that opened a one-year window for sexual assault survivors to file claims outside of the statute of limitations…nearly 60% of the 1,256 lawsuits filed…during the…period describe assaults against people held on Rikers Island…the…abuse…span[ned] decades…from 1976 to…[the present and consists of attacks by screws ranging from] grop[ing]…to [violent anal,] oral…and…v[aginal] rape….[while] jail officials…[tacitly approved of] the ongoing attacks…The plaintiffs seek more than $14.7 billion in damages, which could pose a staggering financial burden for the city[‘s tax cattle]…

Panopticon (#1346)

Old-fashioned Stasi-type surveillance isn’t dead yet:

…a [uniparty-backed] bill…would strengthen the role of the Department of Homeland Security in school [surveilla]nce, [to] turn America’s schools into another adjunct of the national security apparatus, a veritable school for spies…The Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center, or NTAC, was created in 1998 to examine threats to the president and security at complex public gatherings.  Its focus was expanded a year later to the psychology of school shootings…Today, NTAC…brags that…it has [indoctrinat]ed hundreds of thousands of school administrators and teachers….thanks in part to NTAC p[ropaganda preten]ding…[that] “see something, say something”…is…[magically] differen[t from]…snitching…ratting…or…tattling…[because] students…[are] “potential terrorists”…

A Moral Cancer (#1369)

Crypto-moralists want people to believe they could live forever by simply eliminating every single pleasurable activity from their lives:

Women who drink more than one glass of wine a day are 45 per cent more likely to develop heart disease…[crypto-moral]ists studied the drinking habits of 430,000 adults in California, who had an average age of 44, and none of whom were teetotal.  Their habits were followed for four years, and during which 3,108 developed heart disease…The more people drank, the more likely they were to be diagnosed with heart disease, particularly in women…

Torture Chamber (#1389)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

Brooklyn’s troubled federal jail has been serving maggot-infested beans to [prisoners]…defense lawyers….[have also] detailed…partially cooked [chicken]…spoiled, rotting meat…milk [well past]…the expiration date…and…cockroaches and bug parts [in] the food…in January…Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jesse Furman issued a 19-page ruling laying out a litany of problems, including how the jail lost power for eight days in 2019 during a polar vortex.  “It has gotten to the point that it is routine for judges…to give reduced sentences to defendants based on the conditions of confinement in the MDC,” Furman wrote. “Prosecutors no longer even put up a fight, let alone dispute that the state of affairs is unacceptable”…His ruling, that the jail’s dreadful conditions constituted “extraordinary reasons” to not lock up a 70-year-old convicted drug dealer as he awaited sentencing, has since been cited by several defense lawyers seeking leniency or release for their clients…

To Molest and Rape (#1425)

Another example of the cop/religion molestation nexus:

A…Jacksonville [Florida cop]…was arrested…[for seducing a] 17-year-old [girl]…Josue’ Garriga III….[met the girl] at church…he told her to download WhatsApp so they could communicate [surreptitiously]…he…sen[t her dick pics]…and ask[ed] her for [nude] photos….the[n he later molested her]…in his [pigmobile]…it is believed there could be other victims.  Garriga…[murder]ed 22-year-old Jamee Johnson during a [pretextual] traffic stop…in [2019 and]…the city settled the [resulting lawsuit] for $200,000…

 

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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“Sex trafficking” fetishists are…very fond of pretending that the average “sex trafficking victim” only lives for 7 years once she starts seeing clients…we’re also told that the average “victim” is 13 and dies at 34, but let’s not think too hard right now about how one can subtract 13 from 34 and arrive at 7.  –  “Doubling Down”

When will Western society stop treating adult women as if they were wayward kindergarteners?  –  “Eternal Vigilance (#617)”

In a way, the “sex trafficking” hysteria was an early symptom that we’re winning; since our opponents couldn’t credibly portray us as villains any more, they turned to casting us as victims.  –  “Out and Proud”

No generation of whores has ever had to endure such a widespread, aggressive, vicious, blatantly dishonest, morally-bankrupt crusade against our work, clients and lives as the one we’re enduring now.  –  “Agenda”

A psychiatrist who has sex with patients is a fool.  A male psychiatrist who draws vulnerable female patients into kink relationships is a dangerous fool.
–  “He Said, She Said (#917)“

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