[Modern] ideas about coercion and consent…[a]re…so…arcane…[they] stop…just short of taking astrological signs into account. – E. N. Brown
For the complicated backstory of this ongoing travesty, click on the subtitle link above:
A prosecutor who [brazen]ly weaponized the criminal code to retaliate against a man for filing a class-action lawsuit that challenged the notorious [legalized robbery racket] in Wayne County, Michigan, is not entitled to prosecutorial immunity, a state appeals court has ruled…sending the man’s lawsuit against that prosecutor back to the trial court…Suits like Reeves’ are usually doomed before they begin, as prosecutors are protected by absolute immunity for judicial or quasi-judicial functions…[even if they] falsify evidence, introduce perjured testimony, coerce witnesses, or hide exculpatory information from the defense. But the State of Michigan Court of Appeals…ruled yesterday that Dennis Doherty, the [blatantly-corrupt] prosecutor…was not entitled to that protection, because [he took so many shortcuts his] misconduct did not qualify as quasi-judicial…[unfortunately, he is still] entitled to qualified immunity…[which may still sink] Reeves[‘ case]…
If there’s a camera, cops will conscript it for use as a surveillance tool:
[LAPD] obtained video footage from a Waymo driverless car as part of its investigation into a hit-and-run in which a separate, human-driven car hit a pedestrian…[and] published the footage…on its YouTube page to ask the public for help identifying the driver of the vehicle…[demonstrating] that [cops] are now looking at…robotaxis as…[handy] surveillance [tools]…[just like] Teslas, extremely pervasive Ring cameras, and [delivery robots]…Waymo is rapidly expanding…and…the proliferation of Waymo cars also means the proliferation of roving surveillance cameras…
Why does anyone still trust Facebook?
Tracking code that [Facebook] and Russia-based Yandex embed into millions of websites is de-anonymizing visitors by abusing legitimate Internet protocols, causing Chrome and other browsers to surreptitiously send unique identifiers to…apps installed on a device…Google says it’s investigating the abuse, which allows [Facebook] and Yandex to…bypass core security and privacy protections provided by both the Android operating system and browsers that run on it. Android sandboxing, for instance, isolates processes to prevent them from interacting with the OS and any other app installed on the device, cutting off access to sensitive data or privileged system resources. The bypass…allows the companies to pass cookies or other identifiers from Firefox and Chromium-based browsers to…tie that vast browsing history to the [Facebook or Yandex] account holder…Google said the behavior violates the terms of service for its Play marketplace and the privacy expectations of Android users…
The Puritan Recrudescence (#1532)
Most Americans still believe France is a sex-positive society:
French authorities are seriously considering restricting public access to some of the world’s most popular social media sites [using the excuse of] prevent[ing legal minors] from accessing pornography…President Emmanuel Macron [is also harping on]…the country’s push to ban social media for under-15s…[using the excuse of] the murder of a teaching assistant in a high school…[ARCOM] is considering designating websites such as Bluesky, Mastodon and Reddit — all of which allow the distribution of adult content — as porn platforms, obliging them to implement stringent age verification requirements…
Backpage was only the test case for this ethically-bankrupt strategy:
…[in] the OneTaste case…a jury has returned a guilty verdict against Rachel Cherwitz and Nicole Daedone…the larger implications of this case…[a]re not pretty…[institutionalized] ideas about coercion and consent…went from…acknowledging that sexual assault needn’t necessarily involve force or violence…to women getting support for claims of sexual coercion…even when they seemed to willingly go along with sexual activity at the time but later said that they weren’t enthusiastic enough about it and a partner should have known that and stopped…Are sexual partners supposed to be mind readers? Do women have any responsibility for explicitly making their wishes known?…It was a new paradigm…sold, perversely, as empowering to women…We’re uncomfortable as a culture with “assigning women complete sexual responsibility, even though we want them to have complete sexual liberty,” said Kat Rosenfield on a recent…podcast…And once you’re in that mode, you end up with some real mental shenanigans around consent…[which] have now crossed over from…cultural vibes to legal standards adopted by federal prosecutors with the power to…put people in prison…We’re looking at campus kangaroo courts come to a federal courthouse, with U.S. attorneys fully embracing…one more step in the total infantilization of women, negating the gains in sexual and social autonomy that we’ve won...
This pernicious abuse of power has become more common of late:
For 20 years, Amy Stanford and her sister Carolyn Wilson have run Time for Dinner, a…meal prep business that has served generations of local families in Brentwood, Missouri. Now she’s one of several local small business owners suing the city over its decision to label their properties “blighted”…[so it can steal them to make way for a] $436 million redevelopment plan…with new office buildings and apartment complexes…[which would] generate [more] tax revenue…a [sloppy and incomplete] 2023 study…commissioned [by the city declared]…the entire corridor blighted…and…no evidence of blight [was] presented [for the majority of buildings]…During the trial, which began in May…the city used…retroactive…justifications…using [a] 2018 survey…and [ignoring]…Missouri’s standards…[requiring “]a predominance of unsafe conditions…or other issues that…endanger public health, safety, or welfare”…Dave Phillips, a Minnesota architect and property inspector…testified that using the city’s blight criteria, virtually any property could be deemed blighted, including 70 percent of Brentwood’s housing stock…
Elon Musk’s “DOGE” didn’t “fail”; it accomplished exactly what he intended:
Elon Musk’s [“DOGE”] goons…transmitted a large amount of data—all of it undetected—using a Starlink Wi-Fi terminal they installed on top of the White House…in mid-March with the sign-off of Donald Trump’s [regime], but against concerns raised by security officials…[Musk pretended] installing Starlink was intended to address connection “dead zones” on the White House compound…[but in reality] the move was intended to bypass White House systems that track the transmission of data—with names and time stamps—and secure it from spies…
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