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Posts Tagged ‘Censorship Ascendant’

In the News (#1491)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Making the police the central focus of delivering sex work policy is utterly pointless and doomed to fail.  –  Raven Bowen

I Spy (#826)

Toward the end of privacy, everywhere:

The United States will support the United Nations cybercrime convention…follow[ing] months of internal deliberations at the White House and other agencies…[due to] serious concerns over…its potential misuse by countries like Russia and China…The decision is likely to face pushback from human rights groups…be[cause it could be] used…to justify surveillance…and infring[e] on digital rights…One key concern…[i]s a clause that would allow [signatory] nations…to request data on [anything they choose to label a “]serious crime[” regardless of the act’s legal statu]s in other nations…

I Spy (#1067)

When it comes to surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

Officials inside the Secret Service [actually claimed]…they [didn’t] need…a warrant to use location data harvested from ordinary apps installed on smartphones…[because] citizens have agreed to be tracked…by accepting app terms of service, despite those apps…not saying their data may end up with [cops, spooks, and other violent authoritarians who might wish them harm]…hundreds of pages of internal Secret Service emails obtained by 404 Media…provide deeper insight into the agency’s use of Locate X, a powerful surveillance capability that allows [pigs and spooks] to follow a phone, and person’s, precise movements over time at the click of a mouse.  In 2023, a government oversight body found that the Secret Service, [CBP], and [ICE] all used their access to such location data illegally.  The Secret Service [now claims] it is no longer using the tool…

The Mob Rules (#1351)

Ambulance-chasers can’t wait to capitalize on mob rule laws:

A [gang of shysters] is actively courting potential plaintiffs in Kansas, using the state’s age-verification law to dangle the prospect of large financial judgments from adult companies…[in front of the moral imbeciles who infest evangelical] church networks…In Kansas, simple access of an adult website by a minor may be enough to bring a civil case with statutory damages — no proof of actual harm is required…[and] statutory damages begin at $50,000.  The state’s attorney general is separately empowered to bring [nuisance] litigation…

Censorship Ascendant (#1427)

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

[On] Remembrance Sunday…two [cops turned up at my door]…to inform me that I had been accused of a non-crime hate incident (NCHI)…[due] to…something I had posted on…Twitter…a year ago…The co[p claimed]…he wasn’t allowed to tell me [what I had supposedly said or]…who…my accuser…was…[I was] shocked…[and] astonished…to have [cops invade my privacy] on the saddest, most solemn date in the calendar with this kind of malevolent nonsense…

Torture Chamber (#1446)

A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners:

For years, San Francisco’s public defenders and prisoners have filed formal complaints about the city’s lengthy pretrial detention and jail conditions.  Late last year, a federal judge ruled that San Francisco was “recklessly indifferent” in denying prisoners sunlight…the average [detention period i]s 324 days…[so] many people spend months or even years without time outside…at least four [legally innocent] people [have been] held…for nine years or longer…hundreds of [the city’s victims are accused of] non-violent property crimes…[and] lock[ed] up…without sunlight, exercise, adequate healthcare, hygiene, or drinkable water…[and with] frequent use of [solitary confinement]…retaliation [by screws, and]…sexual…assault…

Thought Control (#1462)

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

Since February, the Rutherford County [Tennessee] Board of Education has banned 35 books, including well-known young adult novels such as Wicked, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Beloved…The…bans were initiated by board member Caleb Tidwell, who [pointed at] the titles a[nd belched “]sexually explicit[“]…and… “pornographic material”…Butch Vaughn, a retired principal was just recently elected to the board…call[ed the censorship]…“political grandstanding”…Stan Vaught, another new board member…[said] “It…reminds me of 1930s Germany”…Ken Paulson, Director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University…said…“the [notion that the] books…are somehow written to capture the same audience as…Hustler magazine is nonsense.”  Both Vaughn and Vaught worry that the district is headed down the road to a federal lawsuit which could cost the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars…[and] the…ACLU…is [already] considering legal action…But instead of waiting for [legal] guidance, Tidwell…[ran out and belched “pornographic” at] ten additional titles, and…[his collaborator] Frances Rosales [vomited “obscenity” all over] another 150 titles…including…Catch-22 and A Clockwork Orange…

But no other state’s self-lobotomization can hope to keep up with Florida’s:

Florida school districts…axed about 700 additional books from school libraries…in the 2023-2024 school year.  PEN America…estimates that 4,561 books [in all] have been removed from Florida school libraries since July 2021…[including] works of classic literature…[such as] A Clockwork Orange…Slaughterhouse-Five…and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings…The [mass censorship was enabled by] a law that allows [any Froot Loop] to [demand] removal of any book [by pointing at it and belching the words]…“sexual content” or…“pornographic”…

Mumbo Jumbo (#1487) 

When the “sex trafficking” hysteria was at its height, this wouldn’t have been considered a problem:

The Scottish government’s strategy to [impose the Swedish model on]…sex [workers] has been cast into disarray after it was forced to ditch a proposed partnership with [“rescue” profiteers] whose founder…[wrote] a handbook for “Christians involved in outreach to prostitutes”…[which] says: “Most prostitutes have had some exposure to the occult in childhood…others may have learnt about tarot cards and Ouija boards in prison,” and…offers a checklist of…“occult activity” that includes yoga and playing Dungeons & Dragons…Groups who [actually] support sex workers…have serious concerns about the government’s shift in focus back to policing, less than nine months after the conviction of Iain Packer…exposed chronic police failings [to do anything about] the horrific levels of violence still faced by women selling sex[, especially at the hands of the police themselves]…

 

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 (#1490)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Government officials are eager to turn public fears into blank checks for expanding their own intrusive power.  –  J.D. Tuccille

I Spy (#1149)

Grayshift is constantly in a cat-and-mouse game with Apple:

Apple quietly introduced code into iOS 18.1 which reboots the device if it has not been unlocked for a period of time, reverting it to a state which…[makes] it harder for police to break in…an inactivity timer….will cause devices in an AFU state to reboot…AFU refers to After First Unlock, which is when somebody, presumably the phone’s owner, has unlocked the device at least once since being powered on, and which generally can make it easier for [pigs to root in].  BFU, or Before First Unlock, is when a user has not unlocked the phone since it was turned on, and is typically a harder state for forensic tools to crack…Magnet Forensics recently acquired Grayshift, the company that makes the phone unlocking tool GrayKey…

Censorship Ascendant

The government says only government-owned libraries are legal:

In September, a federal appeals court dealt a major blow to the Internet Archive…[by upholding] a lower court ruling that [claimed] the Internet Archive’s huge, digitized lending library of copyrighted books was
not covered by the “fair use” doctrine and infringed on the rights of publishers…The Internet Archive [has]…an online collection of 44 million books and texts [and]…operates a digital lending library called the Open Library.  The Archive owns a physical copy of every book in the Open Library, and it scans and uploads them.  Except for a period during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Archive has allowed only one digital copy of a book to be checked out at a time—a one-to-one owned-to-loaned ratio, just like a brick-and-mortar library.  In 2020, four publishers—Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House—sued the Archive, alleging copyright infringements…”It’s absurd that the Internet Archive is allowed to mail me a physical book it owns.  The physical publishers can’t stop that.  But [the Archive] can’t give me the same content in digital form,” [said] Cara Gagliano, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the Archive in court…

Stalkers in Blue (#1300)

Cops believe all women’s bodies are for their sexual use:

A [typical and representative] Missouri [cop] is [being sued for]…pull[ing women over and using]…traffic stops a[s a pretext to steal] nude photos [from their] cell phone[s]…at least [eight times in all]…Julian Alcala…[used the pretext of] a broken taillight on two separate occasions…for [the woman who filed the suit.  Her] proof of insurance….was on her cell phone, [so] he took her phone back to his car, where he searched her phone for nude photos…took photos of them with his own cell phone and later distributed these photos to others…this isn’t [even close to] the first time…a [cop] has stolen intimate photos off women’s phones.  In 2014, a group of California [cops made]…a “game” of stealing nude photos from arrested women’s phones…

I Spy (#1369)

Civil liberties violations only start with people the government has demonized:

…early in the first Trump administration…the incoming president…call[ed] for “extreme vetting”…of…migrants…and visitors…the U.S. government wanted access to people’s online lives, especially their social media accounts, to continuously monitor their statements and opinions…[via] media, blogs, public hearings, conferences, academic websites, social media websites…radio, television, press, geospatial sources, internet sites, and specialized publications…The monitoring soon applied to millions of people entering legally…Biden…kept the program in place…The Knight First Amendment Institute assisted two documentary filmmakers’ associations who [have] sued to end the program.  The plaintiffs feared government officials peering through their correspondence with colleagues visiting from overseas and scrutinizing the opinions expressed in their communications and their work (arguments are scheduled for December)—and, maybe, sharing the results with partner agencies in other countries…

You Were Warned (#1438)

Australia’s rulers seem even more eager to destroy the internet than US rulers:

Australia’s government says it will introduce…legislation to ban [people] under 16 from social media.  Prime Minister Anthony Albanese [belched out magic words like]…”harm”…and…”safety”…to [justify a plan that could only be enforced by forcing everyone to produce ID in order to use the internet]…the government said the ban will not apply to young people already on social media…[politicians and puritans claim] that social media platforms can harm the mental health of adolescents, [but in actuality these problems are caused by government-encouraged intrusive surveillance and infantilization of young adults]…

Paying the Bills

Seven 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 $2500.  So that now leaves only a $500 shortfall!  If you can spare some or all of that remainder right now, I’d really appreciate it; that would get this done before Thanksgiving, so it doesn’t interfere with my annual toy drive!

The Cop Myth (#1489)

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

…in August…a [typical and representative Wyoming cop named]…Michael Hughes [got drunk and] wa…ved his [gun around]…at his…apartment [complex.  Responding cops]…evacuat[ed]…some o[f his neighbors after]…he put two bullets…into the apartment above him and “threatened to shoot anyone who comes through the door”…hi[lariously,]…when the S[WAT] Team flew a drone through a broken window [to spy on him] Hughes snatched it out of the air, bent the propellers and threw it back out the window…[yet they continued to play footsie with him for 17 hours instead of attacking with overwhelming force as they would’ve done had there been children, minorities, or old people in the apartment]…

 

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 (#1485)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 29, 2024| 2 Comments »

Bailey, Kobach, and Labrador’s argument treats teenagers as breeding stock.  –  Madiba K. Dennie

Policing for Profit

There are many ways for cops to enrich themselves at others’ expense:

A [Tennessee cop named]…Arica Hutchison was…assigned to sort through Crime Stoppers tips and then give that information to…investigators…[who] document[ed] the usefulness of that tip in a database, which Hutchison had access to…August 2023 through February 2024, [she would]…“enter fraudulent data” into the…database, then had a person named “KB” to receive…reward money…Hutchison and KB fraudulently obtained $18,500 in rewards…On June 3, she…pleaded guilty…[and] was sentenced to [a mere] six months in prison plus two years supervised release.  She also has to pay $22,000 in restitution and must follow a list of additional terms…[but has] not [been]…decertifi[ed so there’s nothing to stop her from being a cop again once she’s out]…

Censorship Ascendant

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

…a British man was convicted of criminal charges for praying silently near an abortion clinic…Adam Smith-Connor did not attempt to harass, intimidate, or interact in any way with those entering the clinic….[and] wasn’t even on clinic property—he was outside the sightline of the clinic itself…Smith-Connor was…charged with violating a Public Spaces Protection Order…a broad censorship order enabled by the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act.  Under this law, [politicians and bureaucrats] can…ban a huge range of conduct…[such as swearing or] homeless [people] sleeping outside…

Law of the Instrument (#1380)

In a moral panic, ordinary business arrangements get spun into “exploitation” and “crime”:

The former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch…Mike Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith and the couple’s alleged middleman [have been] arrested…[because hiring male escorts is now dysphemized as “]sexually exploited and abused men[” and escort services…are now called “]sophisticated operation[s] involving a middleman[” in order to make them sound scary, and “]a sex-trafficking operation[” to make the claims politically profitable for prosecutors and financially profitable for complainants]…

To Molest and Rape (#1435)

Another cop stalks victims through the official cop grooming program:

An NYPD [cop] working with the department’s [grooming] program [was caught attempting to groom]…an[other cop fantasy role-playing as]…a 14-year-old girl.  Travis DeSouza…had [squicked out enough people with his creepy behavior that his bosses]…sent a young-looking [sow]…to approach him in person…and [claim] interest in [being groomed]…She gave him her contact info, and…he [predictably s]exted her…[and] sent her a [dick pic]…

The Implosion Begins (#1471)

Now that MAGA has won control of “sex trafficking” hysteria, Trumpist politicians are desperate to keep it from being debunked:

Two [Tennessee politicians have threatened]…the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation…[saying] it could face “unnecessary political fallout” if it does not end its criminal probe into the [out-of-control] Millersville Police Department…TBI Director David Rausch [responded to politicians] Bud Hulsey…[and] Monty Fritts…with his own letter…in which he appeared to stop just short of accusing the two [politicians]  of attempting to interfere in the investigation…not[ing] that their [talking point]s “seemed to be based on statements made to you by [QAnon cultist] Shawn Taylor himself“…Bizarrely, Taylor has…claimed…that TBI officials are either involved in child sex trafficking themselves or protecting others who are…

Vulture Watching (#1477)

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

In the year and a half following the Supreme Court Dobbs decision that revoked the federal right to an abortion, hundreds more infants died than expected in the United States…The vast majority of those infants had congenital anomalies, or birth defects…“This is evidence of a national ripple effect, regardless of state-level status,” said Dr. Parvati Singh, an assistant professor of epidemiology with The Ohio State University College of Public Health and lead author of the new study…infant mortality was…about 7% higher than typical…About 80% of those additional infant deaths could be attributed to congenital anomalies…[because of] a disproportionate rise in the number of women who are carrying fetuses with lethal congenital anomalies to term…

The Vultures Descend (#1483)

The state really does believe it owns every human being within its borders:

Three state Republican Attorneys General filed a complaint in federal court on October 11 arguing that their states have a right to pregnant teenagers [which] is being violated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration…[because it] allowed mifepristone to be sent by mail, dispensed online, or at pharmacies.  Missouri [AG] Andrew Bailey, Kansas [AG] Kris Kobach, and Idaho [AG] Raúl Labrador…claim that decreased births constitute “a sovereign injury to the state in itself,” and causes downstream injuries like “losing a seat in Congress or qualifying for less federal funding if their populations are reduced.” In other words, uteri are state slush funds, and girls owe the state reproduction once they are capable of it…this is deeply gross and weird…The complaint also says that each of the states is “the legal parent or guardian of many minor girls of reproductive age”…Under the state’s theory, it can separate children from their actual parents, declare itself their father now, and deem a daughter’s pregnancy her daddy’s prerogative…

 

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 Oncoming Night

Posted in Current Events, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

All ethical people need to resist the book-burners and website-wreckers, loudly and defiantly, in the hopes that at least some of our fellow-humans will come back to their senses before it’s too late.  –  “Banned Books Week 2023”

Censorship, correctly viewed in the more enlightened times of the 20th century as the province of tyrants, bluenoses, humorless scolds, and other closed-minded nitwits, has in the 21st achieved a level of  worldwide popularity unseen since the Index Librorum Prohibitorum went out of fashion.  Governments around the globe threaten individuals and groups with violence for daring to speak or write words, or share images, that the rulers of those countries have declared off-limits, often for the most childish, disgusting, or even absurd reasons.  And while in the past the educated could be counted upon to oppose such repression, nowadays they are more often at the forefront of censorship efforts, demanding harsh penalties for wrongthink and groveling in the most grotesque manner before idiots who, unsatisfied with merely being subjected to such thought control by their masters, demand the power to lobotomize themselves and everyone else within their reach.

In the year since the last Banned Books Week, we’ve seen innumerable efforts to sterilize libraries of anything offensive to the State or the most rigid and tiny-minded fundamentalist, complete with siccing the cops on librarians; the imprisonment of a respected journalist for disagreeing with the government; a “monkey see, monkey do” parade of attempts to either directly censor the internet, or to intimidate websites into censoring themselves; and many people harassed or even arrested by cops and spooks merely for expressing opinions the government dislikes, and that’s just in the so-called “liberal democracies” of the West.  Where will it stop?  There’s no way of knowing, unfortunately; censorship is extremely popular in dark ages, which of course is a large part of what makes them dark ages in the first place.  When belief trumps facts, feelings trump reason, and violent psychopaths declare themselves the only legitimate arbiters of Truth, darkness can be the only result.  The only variables are how widespread the Night will be, and how long it will be before Enlightenment comes again.

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In the News (#1446)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

A country cannot develop based on fear.  –  Truong Huy San

Censorship Ascendant

Hordes of useful idiots want this kind of repression in the US:

The authorities in Vietnam have arrested one of the country’s most prominent journalists and accused him of “abusing democratic freedoms” by posting articles on Facebook that “infringed on the interests of the state”…Truong Huy San — known to many by his pen name, Huy Duc — was taken into custody last week…but there…were no details on the content of the posts…Journalists have long been a target for the country’s ruling Communist Party, which frequently crushes dissent.  But Mr. San had for years managed to navigate the very small space for independent thought, often publishing articles that criticized the government.  His connections with high-level officials were thought to have been a buffer — until now.  Mr. San’s case is part of a sweeping repression of civil society that…has expanded in scale and scope in recent years.  The law [used against him]…is an “overly broad” one that the authorities frequently use against critics of the government…After Mr. San…disappeared on June 1…Facebook [obediently deactivated his] account, w[hich had] more than 350,000 followers…

Social Distancing (#1244)

Oh look, it’s what I was saying FOUR FUCKING YEARS AGO:

…Under questioning by a congressional subcommittee, top officials from the National Institutes of Health, along with Dr. Anthony Fauci, acknowledged that some key parts of the public health guidance their agencies promoted during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic were not backed up by solid science…[and] inconvenient information was…suppressed, denied or disparaged as crackpot nonsense…the rule that we should all stay at least six feet apart…“sort of just appeared,” Fauci said…As for the repeated assertion that Covid originated in a “wet market” in Wuhan, China, not in an infectious diseases laboratory there, N.I.H. officials were privately expressing alarm over that lab’s lax biosafety practices and risky research…Instead of circling the wagons, these officials should have been responsibly and transparently informing the public…Failure to acknowledge the basic facts of Covid transmission led the authorities to pointlessly close beaches and parks…delayed the opening of schools and caused untold millions of dollars to be wasted on plexiglass barriers (that likely made things worse) rather than effective air filters…the most severe ramifications of these failures may last for decades, because they gave people cause to doubt the word of scientific and public health authorities…

No Escape (#1312)

Government reform policies, like other political promises, are almost totally worthless:

The Justice Department announced in 2022, amid several damning investigations into sexual assault by staff in federal prisons, that it was working to expand a program for early release to include women who’d been abused behind bars, but…federal prosecutors are now routinely fighting to disqualify [victim]s because of an unreasonably narrow definition…the…new policy passed in April 2023…included a major caveat that…a prisoner’s claim of sexual abuse “must be established by a conviction in a criminal case, a finding or admission of liability in a civil case, or a finding in an administrative proceeding”…but…victims of abuse have no say over when a case against their abuser will be brought, if it will be brought, and who will be [included] as the victims…And…from 2016 to 2018, perpetrators of staff sexual misconduct were only convicted, sentenced, fined, or pleaded guilty in 6 percent of substantiated incidents in federal and state prisons…

Thought Control (#1328)

Llano politicians are so mindlessly censorious they actually imagined they could win this appeal:

Schools and libraries in [Llano] Texas…can no longer ban books just because they’re about “butts and farts,” a court has ruled…[humorless politicians beshat themselves over public library] books…including I Broke My Butt! and Larry the Farting Leprechaun…then ordered them to be pulled from library shelves, along with others they labeled “pornographic filth,” including a memoir about a transgender teen and two books about the history of racism in the US.  However, seven peeved patrons sued to reinstate the books…with a district court siding with them, ruling that books could not be banned or censored by government entities just because they did not like them…the [clueless] complainants appealed, [and] the Fifth Circuit…upheld an injunction that required the library to reinstate the removed titles within 24 hours…

A Moral Cancer (#1427)

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

…one of the few…things that make modern commercial flying tolerable is a strong onboard libation.  For those lucky enough to travel internationally, the booze is sometimes even free.  But…newly released [bogus] research argues that it should be…[banned because] in-flight alcohol can [supposedly] increase the risk of heart attack…”Even in young and healthy individuals, the combination of alcohol intake with sleeping under hypobaric conditions poses a considerable strain on the cardiac system and might lead to exacerbation of symptoms in patients with cardiac or pulmonary diseases”…as students of the temperance movement know well, prohibitionary brush fires can start with the smallest of sparks.  In fact, the in-flight booze ban movement has already begun to catch on in America…[using the excuse of] unruly and intoxicated…passengers [during the COVID panemic]…numerous federal [politicians have] inevitably joined the booze ban chorus…

Torture Chamber (#1437)

A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners:

Eight jailers at a…downtown Los Angeles jail were watching porn when they overlooked a noose hanging in the jail cell of a suicidal inmate…The jail…was extremely hot and humid with no natural light, had trash in the hallways and a whole host of other problems…[inspector Haley] Broder [said]…“There was just continuous neglect and bad conditions…we saw people with giant open wounds.  The trash was just everywhere…it smells.  There are fires.  And…there is just a genuine lack of interest in changing that situation”…When the commissioners reported the noose to [screws] — eight of whom were sitting in an office watching a video on a large-screen TV — they said they’d check on the cell later and continued watching the video…The ACLU, which has served as a court-appointed monitor of LA County jails since 1985, called Men’s Central “a windowless dungeon” long plagued by “savage deputy on-inmate violence”…

The Cop Myth (#1441)

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

…a [typical and representative Georgia cop named]…Michael Durieux…shot [a man named] Christian Chestnut several times [on June 7th because he discovered]…his [cop] wife [was having an affair with] Chestnut…Durieux [then fled the scene of the murder]…in his car and…crashed into multiple [innocent bystanders’] vehicles…When [his fellow cops caught up with him]…he…[shot himself as well]….

 

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 (#1445)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

It feels like our home is not ours anymore.  –  Norell Martínez

Dirty Amateurs

Amateurs could learn so much about safer sex from professionals:

Health experts are warning of new and highly contagious fungal strains after an NYC man in his 30s developed a sexually transmitted form of ringworm — the first reported case in the US…[cases of] Trichophyton mentagrophytes type VII…have been on the rise in Europe, especially in men who have sex with men.  The man in the new case study had visited England, Greece and California.  He reported having sex with men during his travels, none of whom disclosed similar skin issues….infections caused by TMVII seem to respond to standard antifungal therapies…but…can take months to clear up.  They also may be confused with…eczema, which may delay treatment…

Signs (#813)

Americans disapprove of teaching kids about sex, but they’re all for filling their heads with stupid anti-sex propaganda from a decade ago:

…A new [Utah] law requires the board to find a company that can [indoctrinate kids in the moribund]…human trafficking [hysteria in hopes of reviving it.  “Rescue industry” groups who]…exploit…[the hysteria are still vomiting out the usual agency-denying nonsense about how “]the majority of victims don’t realize they’re being trafficked[” and claiming that…ordinary adolescent problems constitute “]signs teachers could look for[“]…

Elephant in the Parlor (#825)

A HuffPost reporter asked several well-known sex workers what they thought about the outcome of the Trump trial:

Last week, Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush money trial after a jury unanimously agreed he had falsified business records to cover up allegations of an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.  Daniels’ credibility on the witness stand became a linchpin in the prosecution’s case…[but] despite Trump’s lawyers’ best efforts to slut-shame Daniels and portray her as someone trying to shake down a powerful man by selling a fabricated, salacious story, in the end, the jury found Daniels’ testimony convincing.  That felt especially gratifying ― even vindicating ― to fellow porn actors and sex workers…“I wish I could believe that we’ve seen the last of Donald Trump, but I’m not that optimistic.  But one thing I am pleased about is that despite the attempts at character assassination, the jury still clearly considered Daniels, a credible witness,” said Maggie McNeill, a retired sex worker and the author of the blog The Honest Courtesan …“Back in the ’90s ― before ‘sex trafficking’ hysteria was heavily promoted by politicians and other propagandists…the U.S. public was largely turning against sex work criminalization,” she said. “Perhaps this is a small sign that we’re going back that way again”…

Panopticon (#1096)

Life now for the subjects of a surveillance state:

As [cop shops] expand their use of [drones], no agency has embraced the technology quite like the…Chula Vista [California] Police Department…In October 2018, the city became the first in the nation to start a Drone as First Responder (DFR) program…now those devices criss-cross the skies of Chula Vista daily…with poorer residents [predictably] experiencing far more exposure to the drones’ cameras and rotors than their wealthier counterparts…drones…are…routinely deployed for minor issues such as…loud music.  Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the city even used drones to [harass]…homeless encampments…residents…are afraid to spend time in their backyards; they fear that the machines are following them down the street, spying on them while they use the public pool or change their clothes…drones, equipped with cameras and zoom lenses powerful enough to capture faces clearly and constantly recording while in flight, have amassed hundreds of hours of video footage of the city’s residents…Department secrecy around the recordings remains the subject of ongoing litigation…

Censorship Ascendant (#1277)

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

In a new report…The Future of Free Speech…points out that online regulation changed in 2017 with Germany’s adoption of the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), “which…inspired [politician]s around the world…But…[Europe’s version of NetzDG,] the DSA “gives way too much power to government agencies to…remove…content and to…out anonymous speakers,” cautioned the Electronic Frontier Foundation… “The Digital Services Act will essentially oblige Big Tech to act as a privatized censor on behalf of governments”…[warned] Jacob Mchangama, now executive director of The Future of Free Speech… “Legal online speech made up most of the removed content from posts on Facebook and YouTube in France, Germany, and Sweden…The highest proportion…was…in Germany, where 99.7% and 98.9% of deleted comments were found to be legal on Facebook and YouTube, respectively”…most of the content being removed from social media is permissible even under local laws…

Shifting the Blame (#1406)

There’s psychopathy and there’s pure evil, and then there’s this:

…Rex Heuermann…[has] be[en] arraigned in the deaths of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla…He had previously been charged with murdering four other women…Taylor disappeared in 2003.  Costilla was killed 30 years ago, in 1993, and her inclusion…indicates that prosecutors now believe Heuermann was killing women for much longer than previously thought…Additionally, prosecutors say they recovered a file on a hard drive in his basement used to “methodically blueprint” his killings.  The all-caps document features a series of checklists with tasks to complete before, during and after the killings, as well as practical lessons for “next time.”  Among the dozens of entries written are reminders to clean the bodies and destroy evidence, to “get sleep before hunt” and to “have story set”.  One section, titled “things to remember,” appears to highlight lessons from previous killings, prosecutors said, such as using heavier rope and limiting noise in order to maximize “play time”.  A “body prep” checklist includes, among other items, a note to “remove head and hands”…that entry may connect Heuermann to yet another victim, Valerie Mack, whose partial skeletal remains were discovered near the body of Taylor after her disappearance in 2000…

Torture Chamber (#1441)

For a warden to be charged, there must be much more to this:

The warden of a maximum-security Wisconsin prison and eight [screws have been] charged…following investigations into the deaths of four [of their prisoners]…over the past year…warden…Randall Hepp…is charged with misconduct…The other eight face charges of inmate abuse…The first of the[ir] four [victims], Dean Hoffman, killed himself in solitary confinement last June…Tyshun Lemons and Cameron Williams were both found dead…in October…and…Donald Maier was found dead…in February…

 

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 (#1434)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I can’t breathe.  –  Demetrio Jackson

I Can’t Breathe

Paramedics should not be injecting people with powerful drugs for the convenience of cops:

…The practice of [forcibly inject]ing sedatives [in]to people detained by police [without the victim’s consent] has spread quietly across the nation over the last 15 years, built on [pseudo]science…backed by police-aligned experts…At least 94 people died [in this way between]…2012 [and] 2021…That’s nearly 10% of the more than 1,000 deaths identified during [an] investigation of people subdued by police in ways that are not supposed to be fatal.  About half of the 94…were Black…Behind the racial disparity is a [make-believe] medical condition called excited delirium, which fueled the rise of sedation outside hospitals…the [investigation] found…[that most of the victims were] agitated people…held by police facedown…handcuffed and with [pigs sitt]ing on their backs…[while they] struggled to breathe and tried to get free.  [Barfing out the magic cop word “]combativeness[” justified cops demanding] paramedics administer…sedatives, [predictably] slowing their breathing.  Cardiac and respiratory arrest often occurred within minutes…

Censorship Ascendant

Cops claim reporting their crimes is “an inherent danger to the community”:

Calling her “an inherent danger to the community,” prosecutors [have] asked a Miami judge to throw a 51-year-old [woman] back into jail for posting news articles on Facebook recounting her arrest on charges of stalking a Miami [cop] who had [murder]ed her mentally ill son.  Prosecutors say Gamaly Hollis violated a judge’s order against using social media by sharing several stories this week about the June 2022 [murder] of her son…Richard Hollis…by [cop] Jaime Pino…a year earlier, [Pino] had [threate]ned [to murder] her son if he ever [saw him holding] a gun…Hollis…took to the streets and the internet, [truthfully] calling [murderous pig] Pino a killer and once confronting him [in public.  Cops] arrested her on charges of aggravated stalking, resisting arrest and trespassing.  After a year in jail, she was [recently] released on bond…[but cops are scheming to] jail [her] again — this time simply for sharing news stories, without comment, on Facebook…

You Were Warned (#1383)

Australia’s rulers seem even more eager to destroy the internet than US rulers:

…An Australian judge…[petulantly demanded] that [Twitter] must block every user in the world from accessing video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church…Despite disagreeing with the…takedown order, [Twitter]’s Global Government Affairs team…”complied with the directive pending a legal challenge“…[but now Australian politicians and bureaucrats want to] control…what can be seen by people…every place on the globe outside Australia’s borders.  If Canberra can impose its rules across the world on any online platform that happens to do business in Australia, why can’t China, or Russia, or Saudi Arabia do the same?…If [Australia is] successful [in its megalomanical demands], the same reach would be available to every government everywhere, including those even more authoritarian than the notoriously illiberal democracy…Australia’s censorious officials…may be exploiting the conflict…to promote legislation restricting “misinformation”…

Vulture Watching (#1404)

Politicians really believe everyone lies as blithely as they do:

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador c[laimed that] doctors…[are lying about] transferring an increasing number of patients out of state for care to comply with the state’s strict abortion laws…[at] a U.S. Supreme Court hearing…[to] de[cid]e whether Idaho abortion law conflicts with…EMTALA…St. Luke’s chief physician executive Dr. Jim Souza…[said] the hospital system has transported six patients out of state for obstetric emergencies since January, when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Idaho’s law to fully take effect.  In 2023, St. Luke’s transferred a single patient out of state for an emergency abortion…Labrador…implied that those transfers either didn’t happen or were unnecessary…“It’s really hard for me [as a medical ignoramus and moral imbecile] to conceive of a single instance where a woman has to be airlifted out of Idaho to perform an abortion,” Labrador said…

Dangerous Speech (#1409)

Couldn’t she have done this before driving Jim Larkin to suicide?

A federal judge has acquitted Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey of dozens of counts, including a majority of those on which federal prosecutors planned to retry [him] later this year.  U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa also acquitted former Backpage executives Jed Brunst and Scott Spear on multiple counts of which they were convicted by a jury last fall…In November, a jury found Lacey guilty of just one the 86 counts against him and not guilty of one count…[but] hung on the other 84 counts…The feds then decided to retry Lacey on those 84 counts, despite the fact that there had already been two [mis]trials on the same charges…Lacey is still looking at a retrial later this year on the [31] remaining counts…and on June 17, Lacey is scheduled to be sentenced on the one count…on which the jury found him guilty…[which] Lacey plans to appeal…Brunst is scheduled to be sentenced along with Lacey in June and…still faces sentencing on 14 counts.  And Spear, who is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9, still faces sentencing on 29 counts.

I Spy (#1422)

Is having a shiny new status symbol really worth being spied on and price-gouged?

…I’m the reporter who broke the story [about GM’s spying on its customers, and] I recently discovered that I’m among the drivers who was spied on…This month, my husband received his “consumer disclosure files” from LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk, two data brokers that work with the insurance industry and that G.M. had been providing with data…I had requested my own LexisNexis file while reporting, but…though both of our names are on the car’s title, the data from our Bolt accrued to my husband alone because the G.M. dealership listed him as the primary owner.  G.M.’s spokeswoman had told me that this data collection happened only to people who turned on OnStar…and enrolled in Smart Driver, a[n ironically-misnamed] program that offers feedback and digital badges for [“]good[“] driving…I had connected our car to the MyChevrolet app to see if we were enrolled in Smart Driver.  The app said we weren’t…But in April, when we found out our driving had been tracked, my husband signed into a browser-based version of his account page, on GM.com, which said our car was enrolled in “OnStar Smart Driver+.”  G.M. says this discrepancy between the app and the website was the result of “a bug”…We couldn’t get insights into our driving, but insurance companies could…

To Molest and Rape (#1431)

Even by the standards of rapist cops, this is horrifying:

A…Pennsylvania [cop named]…Steven Kyle Cugini was arrested [for raping]…a 13-month-old child [sometime] between April 11 and April 15…the infant had a broken tibia and fibula in her left leg and other injuries that showed evidence of sexual abuse…Cugini blamed the injuries on diaper rash, a fall and the family dog…police were notified by a day care center after the [victim] was dropped off with “severe bruising” on her face and head and wounds on her left foot…

 

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 (#1429)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 13, 2024| 1 Comment »

Where a government deploys its soldiers will always be politics by other means.  –  Brandon del Pozo

Fallen Idol (#1305)

A strange, anticlimactic ending to this saga:

The judge overseeing the Ron Jeremy criminal case has granted the defense’s motion to dismiss the case after expert findings that the former performer is “not presently dangerous”…At a Nov. 31 mental health hearing…Judge Robert Harrison granted a petition by Jeremy’s conservator to release him from the county jail system and place him in a private residence to receive around-the-clock medical care…[while] “barred from leaving the premises…The judge said he could not keep Jeremy in jail any longer as he is incapable of being restored to competency and has not been convicted of a crime”…Jeremy’s sister, Susan Billotte, [previously had] attorney Ellen Finkelberg [appointed] as conservator…[with] authority to make decisions regarding [Jeremy’s] finances and health care…

Panopticon (#1344)

Safetyism is the police state’s most powerful fuel:

Gavin Newsom…announced the installation of hundreds of surveillance cameras in Oakland to [take advantage of] public [hysteria] about crime…and…you can bet those cameras will remain in place long after everybody has forgotten the reason for their existence…Flock Safety [will] install a network of approximately 480 high-tech cameras in…Oakland and on state freeways in the East Bay to “combat criminal activity and freeway violence [committed by people who aren’t cops]”…Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao…[applauded] the announcement [like a trained seal, barking out moralistic pap about] “hold[ing] more suspects accountable“…

Spotlight (#1375)

While I’m always glad to see “sex trafficking” profiteers fall, it’s a particular pleasure to watch it happen to Asstoon:

The intensifying sex-trafficking probe into Sean “Diddy” Combs has thrown a fresh spotlight on the rapper’s longtime friendship with Ashton Kutcher…the feds raided two of the rap mogul’s homes last week…but a source…claim[s]…that Kutcher and his wife, Mila Kunis, would stay quiet on Combs’ legal troubles following the blowup over the letters they wrote in support of Danny Masterson…

Though cops and media have repeatedly referred to the charges against Combs as “sex trafficking”, they appear to actually involve rape, assault, and related crimes rather than anything most people would conceive of as “sex trafficking”.  But given Kutcher’s misuse of the term to attack sex workers for the past 15 years, I find the irony very satisfying.

Thought Control (#1415)

No matter how awful the legislative fad, Louisiana politicians can think of a way to make it worse:

Louisiana…politicians…[have] introduced…a…bill [that] would criminalize library workers and libraries for joining the American Library Association…the largest and oldest professional organization for library workers in the nation…the ALA has been at the receiving end of criticism from [pro-censorship] politicians and organizations…[who hope] to undermine…librarianship as a profession…and…dismantle public and school libraries [as bastions of intellectual freedom]…The bill would also potentially kill one of the largest graduate school programs in the state of Louisiana, Louisiana State University’s Masters of Library and Information Science program…[which] is accredited by the ALA…

As an alumna of the LSU MLIS program, I am fully qualified to say that the politicians who are backing this are absolutely bat-shit insane.

Censorship Ascendant (#1424)

Goodness, who could have ever predicted this?

Neo-Nazi and [white nationalist] agitators are [us]ing Scotland’s new hate crime law to make vexatious complaints en masse in an attempt to “overwhelm” police systems…The leader of…one of several fringe organisations being assessed by the UK government under its new extremism definition…promoted…a “call to action” urging members to “mass report”…cases of…“anti-white” hate…“At the very least, we want to overwhelm them with reports to waste their time [so that] they eventually give up the whole system,” they wrote, adding that people could report without using their name and even if they didn’t live in Scotland…

Panopticon (#1427)

The program which first recruited kids as spies and snitches was enabled by useful idiots who swallowed drug-war propaganda:

Starting in 1983, [D.A.R.E.] sent [cops] into classrooms to [indoctrinate] fifth- and sixth-graders [in propaganda] about the dangers of drugs…it…embraced an abstinence-only model in which any use of alcohol or drugs qualified as abuse and the only acceptable tactic was to abstain…At its height, over 75 percent of American schools participated in the program, costing taxpayers as much as $750 million per year.  Historian Max Felker-Kantor revisits DARE and its legacy in DARE to Say No: Policing and the War on Drugs in Schools, a new history of the program…By 1994…studies clearly indicated that [it] had little to no effect on rates of youth drug use…But while DARE didn’t “work” in the sense of keeping many kids from using drugs, Felker-Kantor argues the program was wildly successful at normalizing the presence of police, and the war on drugs, in people’s everyday lives…

To Molest and Rape (#1427)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

[A] Maryland [cop named]…Jason Dyott [has been charged with molesting two]…high school…girl[s after grooming them via the internet and intimidating them with his being a cop, then molesting them]…inside his p[igmobile]…


This one apparently took advantage of a runaway:

A [typical and representative]…Kansas [cop named]…Michael Tennyson…was [arrested on March 29th [for raping]…a 15-year-old female runaway who had been missing since March 22…Tennyson…[had apparently been allowing her to hide out at his] residence…

 

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 (#1427)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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!

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1424)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Artificial intelligence is not that intelligent.  –  Ella Dawson

Dirty Amateurs

Why are amateurs so damned averse to using condoms?

…Calmara claims to use AI to screen photos uploaded by users for STIs.  They want you to open their website, take a picture of your partner’s genitals before having sex, and upload it to their database so that a…[computer] can review it and scan for 10+ “conditions” including herpes, syphilis, and HPV.  Buried in the Q&A section…Calmara makes it clear-ish that they cannot actually diagnose anyone with any STI, the AI only “works” for penises, and you should really just go to a doctor for an accurate STI test.  But you wouldn’t glean any of that from their cocky Instagram or glossy imagery.  “No cap, just facts,” the copy reads beneath an illustration of a dancing robot.  “Up to 90% accuracy, our AI is grounded in real science.”  Uh… sure…the service is so misguided that it’s easy to dismiss it as satire.  But…Calmara is…not satire, and available to download right now…their…own fine print says, “These offerings should not be used as substitutes for professional medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or management of any disease or condition.”  So what is this service for?  Literally why does it exist when it cannot provide the service it advertises?…

Moral Climate

Never make the mistake of thinking the current zeal for library censorship is limited to either the US or the so-called “right wing”:

Cathy Simpson, the CEO of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library, [h]as [been] fired…[because the board dislikes a group she quoted in] an op-ed column published by The Lake Report.  The Feb. 22 opinion piece, “Censorship and what we are allowed to read”…drew strong criticism from a few…over its promotion of some of the principles espoused by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR)…[regarding] “hidden library censorship,” which she said takes two forms — “the vigorous defence of books promoting diversity of identity, but little to no defence of books promoting diversity of viewpoint, and the purchase of books promoting ‘progressive’ ideas over ‘traditional’ ideas”…[library board chair Daryl Novak tacitly admitted that Simpson was fired purely due to the] content related to FAIR, [because] “the balance of (Simpson’s) article, you can’t really criticize”…

Censorship Ascendant

Censors are now pretending ideas they don’t like constitute a “crime”:

Police Scotland…will in[timid]ate actors and comedians if a…[wannabe censor points at them and croaks the magic words] “threatening and abusive” [because] under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) [Law, the taboo magic] can be communicated “through public performance of a play”…the Assistant Chief Constable responsible for overseeing the implementation of the controversial legislation has [washed his hands of it] after just a year in the post…Police Scotland has [threaten]ed that it will investigate every [incident, no matter how trivial, reported as a “]hate crime[“]…despite the force adopting a “proportionate response” approach to [actual] crimes…there [h]as [been] an outcry from artists…[pointing out] that in the past shows ha[ve] been picketed by organisations trying to get them shut down and warn[ing] that “putting theatre in its own category makes it a target”…

I Can’t Breathe (#1329)

It’s about time cops stopped being allowed to cover up their murders so easily:

The Colorado Senate [has] pass[ed] legislation that would bar the term “excited delirium” from use by [cops and medical examiners.  If signed by]…Governor Jared Polis…it would bar the term [or any of its synonyms] from being used in [cop] training or incident reports, or from being listed as a cause of death on a death certificate…Prominent medical organizations have urged [cops and medical] professionals to not use the [pseudoscientific] term…[whose sole purpose is] to justify injury or death to individuals [attacked and restrained by] police…

Thought Control (#1345)

Some censors are so mentally ill they feel threatened by the sexuality of trees:

The Floyd County (Va.) Public Schools have suspended a…community reading of Katherine Applegate’s Wishtree following complaints that the middle-grade novel depicts a monoecious red oak, a tree with reproductive parts that can pollinate and flower simultaneously.  In the book, originally published in 2017, the tree claims an identity that is “both” female and male and responds to diverse pronouns:  “Call me she.  Call me he.  Anything will work”…[wannabe censor] Jodi Farmer…took to Facebook to [warn] Floyd County residents about the [terrifying] reference to…[vegetable biology], calling the book “indoctrination at its finest”…

Apparently, Farmer imagines these scary, scary words will bewitch her children into transkingdomism.

The Next Target (#1371)

Rather than actually filing a lawsuit against Mastercard for its discriminatory policies against sex workers (which would cost them actual money), ACLU prefers to Tweet, to dilly-dally with complaints to the FTC (a bureau of a government which actively persecutes sex workers and encourages corporations to do the same), and now to file a petition which I can’t imagine will prove to be any more effective than its other slacktivist efforts.  Given the wording of the petition and the website page it’s included in, this seems more like an exercise in virtue-signaling than an actual effort to right an injustice, but I reckon it can’t actually hurt you to sign it.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1417)

Tennessee’s float in the current “monkey see, monkey do” parade will cost it millions every year:

A Tennessee bill would make it a felony for an adult content website to allow access to a minor without age verification…[bill sponsor] Becky Massey…[burbled a lot of nonsense about magic sex-ray emitting pictures, but didn’t publicize that her exercise in morality theater] will cost the state more than $4 million in the first year and then $2 million each year after that…

 

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