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Posts Tagged ‘Choke Point’

I’ve been told to respond, “I respectfully decline to answer”.
–  April Rogers

Welcome To Our World (January Updates)

Sows just love fantasy role-playing as sex workers in order to harm people:

[In the summer of 2020, a] young woman with long pink hair [who] claimed to be from Washington state…walked into the Chinook Center, a community space for left-wing activists in Colorado Springs…and offered to volunteer.  She…said her name was Chelsie…[and] implied…that she was a sex worker…But Chelsie’s identity was as fake as her long pink hair.  The young woman, whose real name is April Rogers, is a [cop whom]…the FBI enlisted…to infiltrate and spy on racial justice groups…The work of Rogers…is a direct offshoot of the FBI’s summer of 2020 [scheme] in Denver, where Mickey Windecker, a paid FBI informant…rose to a leadership role in the racial justice movement, and encouraged activists to become violent…Once Rogers gained trust among the activists, she tried to set up at least two young men in gun-running conspiracies.  Her tactics mirrored those of Windecker, who tried to entrap two Denver racial justice activists in crimes, including an FBI-engineered plot to assassinate Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser that went nowhere…

The Truth About “The Truth About…”

This is the first time I’ve seen a woman falsely accused of rape:

A deputy U.S. marshal was found guilty of plotting to frame his former fiancée for attempted rape of his wife.  Ian Diaz…faces as long as 20 years in prison…[because he] and his then-wife created phony email and social media accounts in the name of Jane Doe, his former fiancée, and used these to send each other messages with graphic threats to rape and kill his then-wife.  They also posted ads on Craigslist to lure men to enact “rape fantasies” with his then-wife, and when the men showed up at their condo, they called the police and claimed that Jane Doe was responsible…As a result, Jane Doe was arrested and spent almost three months in prison…Diaz…was [angry at]…Doe…[for refusing to keep quiet about the fact] that he had raped and abused her during their relationship…

Torture Chamber

This will continue until journalists stop obediently referring to senseless violence as “correction”:

A [man who] was [violently] assaulted without provocation by [Suffolk County NY screws] last year…[has filed] a $69 million lawsuit…Wilson Cantarero Lopez…had to undergo emergency surgery to save his life…on March 25, 2022, a day after the beating [was inflict]ed…[because his] large intestine was [ruptured in] the assault…while serving [a short] sentence [for violating a court order]…15…[screws crowded in]to his cell…[and] six of the[m]…beat and kicked [him for no reason other than petty sadism, then]…strapped [him] into a [torture] chair…for…90 minutes…[while he was] gagging on his blood and struggling to breathe…Cantarero Lopez was hospitalized for 10 days before he was [locked in a cage until]…May 24.  Cantarero Lopez is unable to work due to the injuries…

Crying for Nanny (#1037)

Ambulance-chasers don’t care who gets hurt as long as they make a bundle:

A federal court says that sex-trafficking lawsuits against JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank can go forward.  In three separate but similar suits, the two banks are being accused of knowingly benefiting from sex trafficking by allowing Jeffrey Epstein…to bank with them…these suits…suggest that mere allegations against someone should warrant financial institutions canceling their accounts—something…likely to hamper a person’s ability to defend themselves in court.  A society where private businesses must reject anyone accused of crimes or face criminal liability themselves is perverse, frightening, and antithetical to civil liberties…This…risks giving regulators, politicians, and private busybodies a way to shut entire industries out of legal banking systems…without having to…prove any criminal action…[profiteers] are trying to move beyond holding actual perpetrators—who tend not to have very deep pockets—accountable and instead penalize deep-pocketed third parties…[which could] prompt hotels, social media platforms, software companies, and others to reject (or call the cops on) all sorts of people…merely because they look “suspicious” or seem like they’re engaging in any sexual activity at all…

A Broker in Pillage (#1196)

Airports are among cops’ favorite places to lurk in order to rob people:

The trucker who had $39,500 [stol]en by police in August 2020 at Sky Harbor Airport has finally gotten his money back.  Jerry Johnson had traveled to [Phoenix] with a large amount of cash to [bu]y…a truck he needed for his business.  But Phoenix police s[tole] his money before he could get to the auction, [belch]ing…[out the magic words] “drug courier” [in order to sanctify their crime]…Johnson has spent the last couple of years fighting the [robbery] in court and his lawyers said he’s recently gotten back his money….The Institute for Justice represented…him…

The Punitive Mindset (#1294) 

This evil fascist scheme needs to be eradicated, root and branch:

A new lawsuit is challenging a California county jail’s policy of digitizing and then destroying all physical mail received by incarcerated people—part of a national trend of prisons and jails restricting inmates’ ability to receive physical mail.  The lawsuit…by Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the Social Justice Legal Foundation, argues that [any]…ban on physical mail “violates the expressive, associational, privacy, and religious rights of the individuals in its jails, including those presumed innocent, and of the many individuals who send mail to those incarcerated people”…[these policies are pretended to] reduc[e] contraband…[but] the overwhelming majority is smuggled in by staff…[and] depriving inmates of a vital source of comfort and connection to the outside world [actually increases drug problems]…”Following statewide adoption of MailGuard in Pennsylvania, the drug test positivity rate actually increased,” the lawsuit says…”[in] Missouri…the [average] number of…overdoses…increased from thirty-one to thirty-seven per month.  And in New Mexico…the drug test positivity rate nearly doubled”…

To Molest and Rape (#1312)

Always the fixation on the magical clown costume:

[A] Wichita [Kansas cop named]…Brock England [was arrested in Oklahoma for]…sexual[ly] abus[ing]…a child younger than 12…England has been [rewarded with a paid vacation]…

 

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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From a legal perspective, [fetal personhood] is, quite frankly, bonkers.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Rescued To Death

The “Swedish model” helps women!

Police raided 11 [shared incall]s…in studio apartments in…Tel Aviv…[evict]ing some 20 women…Tel Aviv’s Welfare Department…only got an hour’s forewarning…[and] organizations aiding prostitutes were not informed at all…one [sex worker]…told Haaretz…“They wouldn’t let me change. They came in with cameras and large forces and told me to get lost in 10 minutes…We have no way to make ends meet this month”…Romi Levy of the Argaman organization [said]…“Women who have committed no crime were depicted…as wanted criminals…Women aged 30-60 were thrown out on the street with their belongings, crying and shouting for help, which I’m sad to say won’t be forthcoming”…

If Men Were Angels

This will never stop as long as people teach kids unquestioning obedience to “authority”:  “The minister of a church in [Ohio]…has been arrested…[on] multiple criminal charges…of the sexual abuse of minors.  Dennis Laferty…is pastor at Thompson United Methodist Church…

The Mob Rules (#1198)

Unless this batshittery is declared unconstitutional, things will keep getting worse:

A Texas man is suing three women under the wrongful death statute, alleging that they assisted his ex-wife in terminating her pregnancy…Marcus Silva is represented by [two politicians:] Jonathan Mitchell…architect of the state’s prohibition on abortions…and state Rep. Briscoe Cain…[the] ex-wife learned she was pregnant in July 2022, t[wo] month[s] after [s]he [had filed for divorce]…and [wisely decided]…to…terminate the pregnancy [lest the husband weaponize it in the divorce]…The friends…sen[t] her information about Aid Access, an international group that provides abortion-inducing medication through the mail…they [later] found a way to acquire the medication in Houston…A third woman delivered the medication…and…the wife self-managed an abortion at home…The lawsuit relies heavily on screenshots from a [private] group chat the ex-wife had with [her] two friends…

Choke Point (#1275) 

The word “pause” means a temporary stop:

Just weeks ago, gun control advocates were doing happy dances as credit card companies prepared to implement a new merchant category code…that would ease the way…for tracking gun purchases.  Now, under public pressure, financial institutions are backing away from those codes…It’s an illustration of how…politicized business has become, and how difficult it is for private companies to navigate between the country’s political tribes…

Panopticon (#1295)

Forcing the government back from establishing a very dangerous precedent:

…the Department of Commerce and the…NOAA…[demanded] in 2020…[that] charter-boat captains…install—at their own expense—onboard monitoring systems that regularly relayed their boats’ GPS locations to the government.  A group of…captains…sued, saying the rule violated rights to due process, privacy, and freedom of movement…Now a federal court has sided with the captainsinstallation of a [monitoring] device would cost $3,000, with an additional $40 to $75 per month in service fees…charter-boat owners…primarily operate small businesses, with roughly $26,000 per year in net income…in addition…the regulation imposes a massive privacy cost; demanding that charter-boat owners transmit their exact location to the Government, every hour of every day forever…

The Vultures Descend (#1319)

The predictable result of “fetal personhood” snake oil:

South Carolina [politician]s are proposing…to…defin[e] personhood to begin at fertilization…[even though] the majority of fertilized eggs do not go on to become viable pregnancies…Legally defining personhood as beginning at conception creates all sorts of thorny issues, from the serious (should the state start investigating all miscarriages as potential homicides?) to the odd (can a pregnant woman legally drive in a carpool lane?)…fetal personhood laws have been considered in a number of states and passed in five (Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas and Missouri).  And implicit in this concept is the idea that all laws…would equally apply to all “unborn persons”…South Carolina’s proposed Prenatal Equal Protection Act would…amend the sections of the state code related to murder and assault to say that…women who get abortions could be charged with homicide, and women who injure a fetus in some way could be charged with assault…It’s the type of laws that could lead to increased surveillance, restrictions on, and criminalization of pregnant women across the board…

To Molest and Rape (#1322)

Cops view alcoholism as a way to coerce sex from those suffering from it:

A [Florida cop] has been fired for [coerc]ing an…a[lcoholic] woman…in[to sex]…Patrick Monteith…manipulated [his victim, who]…was scared to report [the rapes] to the police or [even tell him no]…”because of his position as an officer”…Monteith [characteriz]ed [the abusive] relationship [as]…a friendship…

 

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 SAFE TECH Act] takes nearly every single idea that people who want there to be less speech online have had, and dumped it all into one bill.  –  Mike Masnick

If Men Were Angels

One would think by now that the title “youth pastor” would be a big red flag:

Gary Buckaloo…[has been] charged with…[repeated] sex[ual] abuse of a child…under 14…Buckaloo is listed as [something called] a Life Skills teacher [in] Buffalo [Texas]…and…is…also…the Youth Pastor and Worship Leader for First Baptist Church Normangee…

Choke Point (#629) 

“Abortion…will be vulnerable…if a different administration adopts this same thuggish approach toward the businesses that it dislikes”:

…Texas [politician]…Drew Spring [has] proposed a bill…that would make it a felony for credit card companies to “process a transaction” for abortion pills sales…[and] allow any citizen to sue a credit card company for allowing that sale to happen…[meanwhile, politician] Steve Toth introduced a bill that [demands] internet service providers [illegally censor]…”information…intended to assist or facilitate efforts to obtain an elective abortion or an abortion-inducing drug”…

You Were Warned (#1131)

You can’t keep a bad bill down:

…This year’s SAFE TECH Act is a redux of a bill first introduced in 2021.  That version—which Techdirt Editor in Chief Mike Masnick called “a dumpster fire of cluelessness” — failed to go anywhere (thank goodness).  But now the SAFE TECH Act is back…[for] yet another stab at undermining Section 230…The first change [it]…would make is to…open up a huge range of tech companies to more liability.  Blogging platforms like WordPress and newsletter and podcast distributors like Substack would be vulnerable, as would any social media platform that provides a paid tier level…[and] all sorts of web hosting services—creating huge incentives for providers to cut off…access to any person or group even slightly controversial…the bill [also encourages lawsuits against] content likely to cause “irreparable harm”…a vague phrase that could open a floodgate of lawsuits over anything…objectionable on social media…particularly speech that is unflattering to the rich and powerful…this…is a dangerous bill that would have far-reaching consequences for content creators, activists, people exposing police violence, whistleblowers, citizen journalists, and basically anyone who uses the internet…

The Clueless Leading the Hysterical (#1285)

It was only a matter of time before cops tried to combine their fentanyl hysteria with panicmongering over edibles:

Three days after the Montgomery County District Attorney stood behind a podium and held up packages of THC gummies that he [claimed] contained heroin and fentanyl, his office [had to admit that] lab tests [proved that to be a flagrant lie]…DA Kevin Steele announced an investigation into THC gummies after two people purportedly overdosed after eating them…Steele [was forced to admit]…that his [publicity stunt]…was based on testing done with a [notoriously unreliable] portable device [of the sort typically used by cops to generate false “probable cause” in order to arrest people]…The gummies in question contain legal byproducts of hemp that are increasingly popular for recreational use…[despite] low…potency…[cops and other prohibitionists keep babbling about overdoses and “children” despite there being no known LD50 for THC]…Around Halloween, officials [tried to drum up panic] about so-called rainbow fentanyl, colorful fentanyl pills purportedly marketed to children, that [were of course proven completely bogus]…

To Molest and Rape (#1303)

In the UK, “disciplinary action” can mean telling rapists to “think about what they did wrong”:

Nearly 80 [cops] in 22 [cop shops] in England and Wales have faced disciplinary action for [raping, sexually assaulting, molesting] or s[talking]…victims, witnesses and suspects since 2018…the majority of those facing disciplinary action…resigned before they were [sack]ed.  However, 10…remained in their jobs, facing lesser sanctions such as [stern words from superiors.  Only]…two faced criminal proceedings.  Nearly all of the offending officers were men, and all but two of the victims female…

To Molest and Rape (#1312)

The lengths to which spokespigs and their media lackeys will go to imply that rapist cops aren’t typical and representative specimens of their predatory breed are increasingly absurd.  This story from Puyallup, WA (not far south of Seattle) contains almost no actual information, such as the name or picture of the rapist; it does, however, include at least four distancing maneuvers.  The rapist “was still in training and had never worked alone as a police officer”; he was “off duty”; the rape was only “third degree”, implying less serious; and roughly half of the sketchy story is taken up with pompous oinking by the boss pig about how the rapists’ actions are “not representative” of cops, when it should be clear by now (to anyone whose mind isn’t completely rotted by copaganda) that such actions are most certainly representative.

The Widening Gyre (#1313)

It’s nice to see a journalist getting it for once:

[Disguised San Francisco cop] have recently been [fantasy role-play]ing as sex workers and [claim] they’ve busted 30 “johns” in a pointless exercise on Capp Street, in an ongoing effort to crack down on solicitation on that Mission District alley.  One sex worker already told a local TV station what would likely happen if SF police continued cracking down on the sex trade on Capp Street, which dates back decades: The sex workers will just shift over to another nearby street…

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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Thanks for the boob grab.  –  “Officer” Samuel Sanson

The Widening Gyre (#1145) 

What do you get when you cross the “Facebook pimps” myth with the “traffickers looking for victims at stores” myth?

…Mallie Taylor [of Canberra] was offloading some free autumn and winter decor using [Facebook Marketplace] when one [woman with poor English was unable to comprehend the meaning of]…“pick up only”…[and repeated]ly asked to be met somewhere more convenient …[instead of realizing the irritating person as a scammer or someone with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement] Taylor shared her experience with other Marketplace users and was…[mis]informed [that] the woman’s behavior was consistent with [what fetishists like to imagine as]…”a know [sic] method of human traffickers”…

To Molest and Rape (#1216)

Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?

A [typical and representative] Edmonton [cop]…has been found guilty of sexually assaulting another [cop]…Samuel Sanson…had been [enjoying a paid vacation] for 2½ years after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.  He had been given permission to work out at the gym at police headquarters downtown…[where on  on January 20, 2021 he told the woman]…”The best part of right now is I can say or do whatever I want because I’m fucking crazy”…then…[grabb]ed her from behind…and [groped her]…while [theatrically] moaning in her ear…Sanson [claimed she wanted it]…

Choke Point (#1280)

PayPal is becoming a major threat to civil liberties:

On October 8th, [PayPal] updated its terms of service agreement to include a clause [grant]ing it[self the right”] to [steal] $2,500 from users’…accounts…for posting anything the company deems as misinformation or offensive.  Unsurprisingly, the backlash was instant and massive…Google searches for “delete PayPal” spiked to 1,392% after the announcement…and as the situation continued to unfold, the company’s stock price continued to plummet.  By the following day, PayPal’s PR team was…trying to spin the story as a “simple mistake” that was never meant to be included in the terms of service.  But…shortly after the criticism on social media died down, it was added back into the terms of service with equally ambiguous language.  Apparently, they believed that everyone would just accept their claim and immediately forget about the incident…

Winding Down (#1281)

Destigmatization of psychedelics is happening much more quickly than I would’ve expected:

Three years ago, Denver voters passed a…ballot initiative that made adult possession of psilocybin the city’s lowest law enforcement priority and prohibited the use of public money to pursue such cases.  N[ow]…voters statewide will consider a…measure that goes much further…than the initiative that Oregonians approved in 2020Proposition 122 would decriminalize noncommercial activities related to the use of “natural medicine” by adults 21 or older.  It defines “natural medicine” to include psilocybin, psilocyn (another psychoactive component of “magic mushrooms”), dimethyltryptamine (DMT, the active ingredient in ayahuasca), ibogaine (a psychedelic derived from the root bark of the iboga tree), and mescaline (the active ingredient in peyote).  The covered activities, which would not be subject to criminal or civil penalties, include “growing, cultivating, or processing plants or fungi capable of producing natural medicine for personal use.”  Also protected: possessing, storing, using, transporting, or obtaining the listed psychedelics or distributing them to adults 21 or older “without remuneration”…

The Cop Myth (#1281)

He wasn’t incorrect in this assumption:

…[Alice Springs cop] Zachary Rolfe [knew] he could go on a “paid holiday” if he shot someone [he] “didn’t care about, or like Indigenous people”, the coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker has heard…[from Rolfe’s] ex-fiancée[, who is also a cop]…Rolfe [got away with Walker’s murder as he] was unanimously acquitted of all charges …after a Supreme Court trial earlier this year…Rolfe [also told her that he] wanted to join the special forces in the army and “wanted to be paid to go out and shoot people”…his [many] “unjustified” use of force incidents were “swept away” by [boss cops]…

Surplus Women (#1283)

Having to investigate sex workers’ disappearance is such a burden for cops:

…Iowa [cops] are investigating a woman’s claim that her late father was a prolific serial killer who murdered dozens of people over decades…[she said] Donald Dean Studey buried the bodies around his property in Thurman, in southwest Iowa near…Omaha…Studey’s daughter claimed her father killed “five or six” women a year for several decades…[before he] died in 2013 at age 75…two cadaver dogs {have been raken to] the 5-acre site…and found the possible existence of decomposing remains in an area around a well…Lucy Studey…[said] her father would demand that she and her siblings help move the…[bodies] using a wheelbarrow or a toboggan.  “He would just tell us we had to go to the well, and I knew what that meant”…her father lured sex workers and transients from Omaha to his property before he killed them.  She reported the claims to [cops] for the second time last year [but was put off until now]…

To Molest and Rape (#1284)

I could fill an entire tag with just cops who molest or rape kids:

Lawrence [Massachusetts cop] Carlos Vieira was found guilty on a series of child rape charges after [manipulating] a…13[-year old boy] he met…on the social media app Grindr…[in]to…[sex in a public] park…

 

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 scale of this is beyond what anyone imagines.  –  Anna Arons

Without Let or Hindrance

Some people still believe these sociopaths are motivated by a desire to “protect children”:

Across the nation, child protective services agencies [violate] the home lives of roughly 3.5 million children [and teenagers] every year…only about 5% of them are ultimately [declared] to have been physically or sexually abused.  With rare exceptions, all of these investigations include at least one [raid], and often multiple…Yet in a ProPublica and NBC News survey that drew detailed responses from 40 state child welfare agencies, all said they would only obtain a warrant or court order to search a home — or call the police for [backup] — in rare cases when they are denied entry…It’s a staggering reality — likely millions of warrantless searches a year — and one that has not been reported [adequately] before…

To Molest and Rape

Typical and representative, by their own admission:

Kansas’ 2021 Officer of the Year has been indicted on charges of rape and aggravated sexual battery…Guillermo Gutierrez…[committed the crime] on May 19, 2022, in Dodge City…

Comfort Zone (#873)

The UK finally admits the “human trafficking” narrative is about migration control:

The Home Office has taken the modern slavery brief away from the minister responsible for safeguarding and classed it as an “illegal immigration and asylum” issue…The move is seen as a clear sign that the department is doubling down on Suella Braverman’s suggestion that people are “gaming” the modern slavery system and…“derailing the UK’s policy on illegal migration”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1265) 

Moral imbeciles are almost completely out of control:

A bill introduced in the Michigan Legislature…could mean life in prison for any parent or doctor who “consents to, obtains, or assists with a gender transition procedure for a child”…[where “child” is used to mean “legal minor”]…Gender transition procedures are defined to include not just surgical interventions but also the prescription of puberty blockers and hormones…under the proposed change, prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to a teenager would be equivalent to severely beating a child.  And it would be defined as a more severe form of abuse than starving or abandoning a kid…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1279)

The stupider the belief, the harder it is to debunk:

Florida’s [Propagandist] General continues to…[drum up hysteria about migration, claim]ing that its effects are spilling over into all aspects of life…Ashley Moody [went on] Fox & Friends [to spread tall tales] about how transnational drug gangs are bringing in lethal narcotic cocktails, [imagin]ing that some of these concoctions may take the form of popular candies.  “We’re seeing them put it in candy packaging, like Nerds packaging. And Halloween’s coming up and those of us with young children have to…start learning about the fentanyl crisis and warning our children”…Host Ainsley Earhardt [confused] the topic…[by say]ing…“so many people are sending their children off to college right now. It’s fall…and we worry that they’re going to take one little pill just because it looks like candy”…

Yes, these people are actually conflating young men and women of university age with children so young they’ll put anything that looks like candy in their mouths.  I couldn’t have invented anything so imbecilic, infantilizing, and disconnected from reality even if I had money riding on it.

Choke Point (#1280)

PayPal is becoming a major threat to civil liberties:

PayPay HK has halted services for the League of Social Democrats (LSD) – one of the remaining active pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong – due to unspecified “excessive risks”…[without] explain[ing] what the “excessive risks” are…Chow Ka-fat…of the LSD [sai]d…the group had not been able to accept any new donations via its PayPal account since the day it received the email, but they can still withdraw money from it…

Stalkers in Blue (#1281)

No, this is a different Louisville cop stealing women’s nude pictures:

A [typical and representative] Louisville [cop]…used [cop surveillance] technology as part of a scheme that involved hacking the Snapchat accounts of young women and using sexually explicit photos and videos they had taken to extort them…Bryan Wilson used his…access to Accurint, a powerful data-combing software used by police departments to [snoop in people’s private business without a warrant]…to obtain information about potential victims.  He would then share that information with a hacker, who would hack into private Snapchat accounts to obtain sexually explicit photos and videos….Wilson would then contact the women, threatening to post the photos and videos online and share them with their friends, family, employer and co-workers unless more sexually explicit material was provided to him…Wilson…[has already] pleaded guilty to a cyberstalking charge as well as to a charge related to…[a scheme] in which Wilson and other [pigs] assaulted pedestrians by throwing beverages out of unmarked p[igmobile]s, sometimes filming their exploits…

 

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 very much!

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PayPal…shouldn’t be surprised if people don’t trust it.  –  Robby Soave

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Funny how many cops who are willing to pay prefer underage girls:

Thomas Peoples…was [fired from his position as] the police chief in Oak Ridge, Texas…[after] he was arrested in Arlington…and charged with solicitation of prostitution from a person under 18…

Not for Everybody

Another ex-sex worker thinks it’s her job to cheat her sisters out of money:

Former porn star Lana Rhoades is hitting out against the industry that made her a worldwide star, saying it should be made “illegal”.  Rhoades…worked in the field for eight months between 2016 and 2017, appearing in more than 250…films…[but she now claims] she was still scarred from the experience…Rhoades…was…19 when she appeared in her first X-rated scene…“For some reason I never comprehended that to do porn you actually have to have sex with people,” she said…

Rhoades is such a naive idiot, it seems unfair to put her in the Hall of Shame for just demonstrating what she is.  But if she goes beyond words to actually work with prohibitionists, I won’t be so lenient.

Part of the Picture (#614)

Why was anyone surprised that something openly advertised as spyware is actually spyware?

Two religious surveillance apps marketed as “porn filters” to churchgoers across America…[have been] ban[ned] by the Google app store…following a recent…report by Wired magazine…[which explained that] Covenant Eyes and Accountable2You spied on churchgoers’ searches and then sent the information to religious leaders [just as they are intended to do.  Yet]…after Wired [told]…Google…[that the apps functioned as advertised], the search giant determined that [the apps] violated its privacy policies…

Fair-Weather Friends (#1028)

About a twelfth of the time his long string of crimes deserves:

A [typical and representative] Columbus [Ohio] vice [pig] was sentenced to [a mere 18 months in] prison for violating the civil rights of a person he [had decided to ruin]…Steven Rosser…[repeatedly harassed] one of the owners of a gentlemen’s club…and…[also] scheme[d] to frame…[h]im for cocaine possession…

You Were Warned (#1218)

Prohibitionists, censors and profiteers will continue to harass businesses thus until FOSTA is overturned:

Roblox and Discord are among the platforms sued for allegedly harming children and teens in a new lawsuit…which also targets…Facebook…and…Snapchat…Filed in California state court, the suit is one of many [attempting to rob] large social media companies.  But comparatively few of these have covered Discord and Roblox, both of which are popular with young users. (Over half of US children were on Roblox as of 2020.)  It comes shortly after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law requiring sites to [violate all users’ privacy in the name of “child safety”.  The ambulance-chasers’ poster child is]…a 13-year-old girl…who began using Roblox around age 9…and…[supposedly developed] a “harmful and problematic dependence” on electronic devices that damaged her mental health, [even though it is not possible to become “addicted” to electronic devices]…Like most cases against social networks, the suit seeks to hold the services responsible for defective product design — and in the process, circumvent Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act…

Choke Point (#1278)

PayPal is becoming a major threat to civil liberties:

Last week, PayPal rolled out an updated user agreement…that…prohibits “the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials” that “present a risk to user safety or wellbeing” or contain “misinformation”…what counts as misinformation is at PayPal’s “sole discretion”…and PayPal [granted itself the “right” to steal] $2,500 from the [targeted] user’s account…[after considerable outcry] PayPal…backtracked…[claiming the threat was]…”an…error that included incorrect information”…

Since PayPal disseminated misinformation, it seems to me it now owes every one of its users $2500.

To Molest and Rape (#1279)

Chicago is hiding the identity of another of its costumed rapists:

A federal grand jury has indicted a [typical and representative] Chicago [cop for]…the…kidnapping and [rape] of an [unidentified] individual [o]n March [5th] 2019.  James Sajdak…also faced a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Tyshee Featherstone…[whom he also raped] the same day.  Featherstone’s [sui]t was settled in April 2020…Sajdak was [also] accused of harassment in a separate lawsuit filed by Geneva Perry, who[m]…he…[terrorized during a pretextual stop] on Sept. 8, 2016…then masturbated in front of her between their two parked cars…That lawsuit was settled in December 2019…

 

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 very much!

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It’s clear in a lot of places that there is just total denial of reality.  –  Alison Macrina

Torture Chamber 

Your “leaders” refer to this as “correction”:

[Bureaucrats who mismanage New York] city jails [were] recently [forced to] share…photos and videos from Rikers Island with assistant district attorneys in Manhattan, giving…prosecutors…a…look at the squalid and deadly conditions [to] which [they routinely condemn poor people who have not been convicted of any crime]…The…presentation…[included] a man defecating in his shorts due to a lack of toilets in the intake area and then being left in his soiled clothes for 11 hours until another [prisoner]…brought him new clothes; a [prisoner] locked in a cage shower for nearly 24 hours before he injured himself; and [prisoners] dragging sick people to medical care, and even administering chest compressions themselves, because [screws were off fucking around somewhere instead of doing their jobs.  People condemned to this hell-hole by]…prosecutors…face months, and sometimes years, waiting for court hearings…most…have not been convicted of crimes…

You Were Warned (#1119)

Indian politicians use the same high-sounding airy-fairy excuses to censor the internet as those in the West:

The…Indian government has ordered the country’s internet service providers to block 67 adult sites for violating a new IT law passed in 2021…using the…[rather vague excuse] of “tarnishing the image of modesty of women”…Although most mainstream Indian newspapers avoided mentioning which sites were the latest to be subjected to government censorship, India Express has published a spreadsheet that lists the sites, which brings the total number…banned by the Indian government to 857…

Choke Point (#1159)

PayPal is becoming an active threat to civil liberties:

Access to online payment systems is crucial for the innumerable individuals and organizations that rely on financial support for their expressive activity.  It’s essential to content creators’ ability to earn a living, to websites’ and other businesses’ ability to raise revenue, to fundraising by political candidates and nonprofit organizations, and to everyday Americans’ ability to consume content and support causes they believe in.  When payment processing services act as political hall monitors or moral arbiters…they present a grave threat to free expression.  A small number of companies dominate the space, allowing them to wield significant control over the speech environment by denying service to users who express disfavored views or wade into controversial subject matter…When consumer choice borders on illusory, any argument that those dissatisfied…should simply seek other payment methods is not particularly convincing — or realistic…

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1164) 

It’s always a pleasure to watch experts trash harmful sex myths:

Treatment for “sex addiction” is booming, even though it frequently destroys marriages and the individuals it “treats”.  It’s expensive, moralistic, and is obsessed with sex while understanding very little about it…most professionals offering sex addiction treatment (including the movement’s 1985 founder, Patrick Carnes) have no training in human sexuality.  Very few sex therapists—the country’s clinical experts in human sexuality—offer such treatment, because they don’t believe in the so-called disease.  But…the “sex addiction” concept provides the dignity of something that sounds like a medical diagnosis, which gratifies both betrayer and betrayed.  Sex addiction treatment simultaneously trivializes sex, and sees everything involving a penis as sexual.  The treatment typically ignores a couple’s power dynamics; how painful it can be to lose not just sex but touching and affection; the huge range of normal sexual desire and expression; and the simple fact that for most people, sex is about more than sex…

Thought Control (#1253)

I never would’ve thought my first profession would become as much a target for violent authoritarians as my second:

In the last [few] weeks, at least a dozen public libraries across the U.S. received threats that resulted in canceled events and systemwide closures…bomb and active shooter threats [were sent] to public library systems in Nashville, Fort Worth, Denver, Salt Lake City, Boston, and other cities…some…[were] directed at LGBTQ events…[while] other[s]…seemed to have no obvious motive but come at a time when libraries and library workers have increasingly become targets of [political] harassment.  Public libraries were also closed statewide in Hawaii over [a recent] weekend due to an “unspecified threat”…[many of] the threats were received via digital reference points that allow patrons to communicate with library workers…through direct chat, email, or SMS functions…

The Next Target (#1272)

Most Americans still believe France is a sex-positive society:

A French Senate committee has issued a virulently anti-porn report comparing the adult industry with “hell” and recommending state regulation and censorship…The report is the result of six months of hearings about the adult industry…[dominated by] a group of feminist associations aiming to abolish all sex work…Le Mouvement du nid, Osez le féminisme and les Effronté·es…The…report recommends the [inven]tion of a new crime, “Encouraging a Criminal Act in Case of Sexual Violence in the Context of Pornography”…making it a criminal offense to even write or speak, without explicit condemnation, about porn that someone else or the state considers “sexual violence”…

To Molest and Rape (#1273)

Most rapist cops have multiple underage victims:

A [typical and representative] Philadelphia [cop]…sexually abus[ed] young girls and threaten[ed] witnesses…Patrick Heron…faces more than one dozen counts related to [rape, molestation and child porn]…”This is not only about terrible conduct, it’s about a…terrible effort at cover-up, intimidation and abuse of pretty much every process you can imagine,” [reformist DA Larry] Krasner said…

 

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 very much!

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You don’t address issues in a broken criminal legal system by layering technology on them.  –  Jumana Musa

Permanent Record

Surely you didn’t think this would only be used to punish sex workers?

Erick Adame says that he has been fired from his position as the morning meteorologist on Spectrum News NY1 for a leaked appearance on an adult cam site.  Adame [said he was]…aiming to “share [his] truth rather than let others control the narrative of [his] life”…[and] not[ed] that his psychiatrist has called his actions “compulsive behavior” and that he is “not in a position to disagree”…Adame made a point to highlight that while he regrets his appearance on the website, he rejects any criticism that may come about his sexuality…He also filed a lawsuit against Unit 4 Media Ltd. to seek the identity of the anonymous user who leaked the content of him on the adult site…

The Pro-Rape Coalition (#754) 

Just another study showing the same results as every other one:

A recent study published in the academic journal Crime & Delinquency suggests that sexual offenders rarely replicate what they see in pornography as a driver of sexual aggression…the research suggests that “sexual scripts learned through pornography use are not present in patterns of sexual offending behavior,” reports Craig Harper in his recurring column “Articles of Heterodoxy” for the Psychology Today directory website…Other research has arrived at similar conclusions.  The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and Stetson University in Florida, in a paper published in the summer of 2020 for the academic journal Trauma, Violence, & Abuse found that pornography does not cause violent sex crimes.  Harper referenced this study in his Psychology Today column, as well.  The researchers, Chris Ferguson…and Richard Hartley…found that there are scores of poorly designed studies that “tended to be more likely to support a link between pornography and sexually assaultive behavior…Our evidence suggests that policymakers should examine other causes of sexual aggression and that beliefs about pornography may be driven more by methodological mistakes than sound science”…

Welcome to the Future (#944)

Fascists are trying to destroy young people’s lives before they even get started:

For a few thousand dollars a year, Social Sentinel offer[s] schools across the country sophisticated technology to s[py on] social media posts from students…[thus] allowing campus police to surveil student protests…as more students have embraced social media as a digital town square to express opinions and organize demonstrations, many college police departments have been using taxpayer dollars to pay for Social Sentinel’s services to monitor what they say.  At least 37 colleges…collectively educating hundreds of thousands of students, have used Social Sentinel since 2015.  The true number…could be far higher…and…the company has been moving in a new and [even] more [dangerously] invasive direction — allowing schools to monitor student emails on university accounts…a…private Ohio-based company…acquired Social Sentinel in 2020…and…changed the name…to Navigate360 Detect earlier this year…

Choke Point (#993) 

In a fascist system, politicians’ inability to pass a law doesn’t stop them from getting what they want:

Government officials continue deputizing private businesses to implement restrictive policies that can’t win traction through the political process or are forbidden by the Constitution.  The latest…development comes in the form of a specific merchant category code for retailers of firearms and ammunition, breaking them out from the broader category of specialty retailers in which they were previously included.  The code makes credit card purchases from such businesses much easier to track and potentially exposes buyers and sellers to harassment…That has industry insiders worried that politicians are again weaponizing the financial system to target activities they don’t like but haven’t been able to ban through law…such as abortion…

To Molest and Rape (#1103)

It took 35 years of evil for the government to notice a serial rapist:

A [typical and representative] Kansas [cop] who had long…rap[ed] and terroriz[ed] Black women as he p[row]led the streets of Kansas City has been indicted on federal charges that he repeatedly sexually assaulted two women over several years while on duty…Roger Golubski, 69…face[s] a maximum possible sentence of life in prison…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1229)

Clearview is once again trying to rehabilitate its reputation among useful idiots:

…Andrew Grantt Conlyn…[was] the passenger…[when] his [drunk] friend drove [wrecked the car at] approximately 100 miles per hour…When he came to, his friend was gone, the car was on fire and his seatbelt buckle was jammed.  Luckily, a good Samaritan intervened, prying open the driver’s side door and pulling Mr. Conlyn out of the burning vehicle…that Wednesday night in March 2017…[after] the police…found the body of his friend, Colton Hassut, in the bushes near the crash…[they decided to try to railroad] Conlyn…[because they believe no tragedy should go unexploited as an excuse to destroy someone]’s life.  If Clearview AI…hadn’t granted his lawyer special access to [its] facial recognition database…Conlyn might have spent up to 15 years in prison because the police [didn’t care whom they crucified]…Clearview…now plans to offer access to public defenders.  Hoan Ton-That, the chief executive, said this would help “balance the scales of justice,” but…“I think it’s a rare situation in which most defense attorneys would want to use it,” said Jerome Greco, who oversees a forensics technology lab at the Legal Aid Society, in New York City.  “This is mostly being done as a P.R. stunt to try to push back against the negative publicity that Clearview has about its tool and how it’s being used by law enforcement”…

Thought Control (#1268)

I never would’ve thought my first profession would become as much a target for authoritarians as my second:

The Greenville County [South Carolina] Republican Party wants [politicians] to investigate who ordered and displayed a number of LGBTQ children’s books at public libraries earlier this year.  It also wants the county to ban books that mention LGBTQ topics from the children and juvenile sections of the county’s libraries…The resolution names a handful of children’s book titles…[including] Twas the Night Before Pride, My Shadow is PurpleThe Rainbow Parade, I’m Not a Girl, and My Own Way: Celebrating Gender…Jeff Davis, GCGOP chairman, said party members have checked the books out of the library and plan to [steal them so as]…to prevent them from being displayed for children to see…“They’re downstairs here at the (GCGOP) headquarters,” Davis said…

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen would-be censors advocating the actual theft of books from libraries, and I suspect it won’t be the last.

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It doesn’t sound as though the case was going very well for the government so far.  –  Judge William Fletcher

If Men Were Angels 

It’s getting harder to tell the preachers from the cops:

A former [pastor and] teacher at a [Pennsylvania] evangelical school was convicted [on August 31st] of sexually assaulting a first grader there in 2007.  Randy Lee Boston…denied the allegations, [claim]ing…that he had barely any interaction with the alleged victim while he was enrolled at the school.  But in an interview with police, a recording of which was played in court, Boston admitted to having sexual desires “connected to young boys” and being attracted to their bodies…

Choke Point (#593) 

Wells Fargo has repeatedly shown itself to be among the worst perpetrators of this abuse:

Sex workers…are reporting that the bank Wells Fargo has sent them notices terminating their accounts effective immediately, in what they see as an extension of the crackdown measures banks and other large institutions have been implementing over the past few years.  In the letters, which are dated August 25…Wells Fargo offers zero explanation for the decision…Alana Evans, the president of the Adult Performance Artists’ Guild (APAG), says that she has been a client with Wells Fargo in good standing for nearly 30 years…Spike Irons and Sofie Marie, who run…a porn production company…primarily use[d] the[ir now-closed] account to pay out independent contractors…They have since applied to two other banks and been rejected…Former adult performer Raylene has been out of the industry for a decade, and says she’s had her Wells Fargo account for 22 years.  She, too, received the same notice…despite the only adult industry-related payment on her account being residuals from a lifetime contract with Streammate…In 2014, JP Morgan Chase closed down many adult performers’ accounts without providing any explanation…

See No Evil (#1167)

Legalese for “get out of my courtroom, you opportunist”:

A federal judge…dismissed a lawsuit filed by a man who, as a baby, had graced the cover of Nirvana’s seminal album, Nevermind, and argued 30 years later that the iconic photo of him drifting naked in a pool had been a form of sexual exploitation…Spencer Elden…[even] accused Nirvana…of engaging in child pornography…The judge, Fernando M. Olguin, wrote in his eight-page ruling that because Mr. Elden had learned about the album cover more than 10 years ago, he had waited too long to file his lawsuit, making his claims untimely…

Dangerous Speech (#1186)

The government’s evil clown show continues in a new ring:

Oral arguments in the Lacey/Larkin appeal took place Sept. 2 before a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit, where the defense presented a forceful case that the government didn’t deserve a retrial…[one] issue was the testimony of California cop Brian Fichtner during last year’s…mistrial due to prosecutorial misconduct…the government…repeatedly mentioned or elicited testimony related to sex trafficking or child sex trafficking, though Lacey, Larkin, et al. are not charged with such…[prosecution witness] Fichtner, who investigated Backpage previously for then-Cali AG Kamala Harris’ failed 2016 prosecution of Lacey and Larkin, was…eviscerated on cross-examination by the defense and forced to admit that the content of the ads on Backpage was legal and on its own did not give law enforcement probable cause to arrest anyone for prostitution…this point…is important because the appellate court must find that the government had a reason to sabotage its own case for the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on double jeopardy to kick in…the prosecution faced certain defeat, and so chose to throw the case, and retool its strategy for a retrial…

A Woman’s Point of View (#1201) 

Another Vermont city achieves de facto decriminalization:

Montpelier has become the second city in Vermont to repeal its antiquated prostitution ordinance in the past year…most municipalities in Vermont do not have ordinances banning prostitution [so]…repealing the language…bring[s] Montpelier in line with the rest of the state.  Though bills proposing to decriminalize prostitution were introduced during the past two legislative sessions, they did not advance and prostitution remains criminalized at the state level…

The Cop Myth (#1232)

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

California…[cops murder]ed nearly 1,000 people in six years…[despite] recent legislative attempts to curtail police violence by toughening the rules of engagement for officers, requiring deescalation training and bringing in outside investigators when unarmed civilians are killed [but not actually holding the murderers responsible as ifthey were non-cops]…For the sixth straight year, Los Angeles County was the setting for the largest number (172) and highest rate (27.4 incidents per 100,000 residents) of [police violence too serious to ignore] in the state last year…

I Spy (#1233)

Modern fascism has spun a terrifyingly-extensive surveillance net:

[Cop shop]s from suburban Southern California to rural North Carolina have been using an obscure cellphone tracking tool, [usually] without search warrants, that gives them the power to follow people’s movements months back in time…[cops] have used “Fog Reveal” to search hundreds of billions of records from 250 million mobile devices, and harnessed the data to create location analyses known among [pigs] as “patterns of life”…The tool is rarely, if ever, mentioned in court records, something that defense attorneys say makes it harder for them to properly defend their clients in cases in which the technology was used.  The company was developed by two former high-ranking Department of Homeland Security officials under former President George W. Bush.  It relies on advertising identification numbers…culled from popular cellphone apps such as Waze, Starbucks and hundreds of others that target ads based on a person’s movements and interests…that information is then sold to companies like Fog…

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Surveillance always comes with inherent forms of abuse.  –  Evan Greer

If Men Were Angels

“Youth group director” is clearly just as bad as “youth pastor”:

A [typical and representative New Jersey]…church youth group director is facing child pornography charges.  Arnold DiBlasi was arrested…after [cops] found thousands of child porn images on his home computer and cellphone…the FBI…[claims] DiBlasi distributed more than 11,000 photos to 30 different people in an online chat room…

You Were Warned (Subtle Difference)

What the government can’t destroy with criminal law, it wrecks by encouraging nuisance lawsuits against:

[A predatory lawsuit by a professional “survivor”] alleges that Visa, by processing revenue from ads, conspired with Pornhub’s parent firm MindGeek to make money from videos of [what is alleged to be underage sexual] abuse.  Visa had sought to be removed from the case…[correctly] argu[ing] that the “[fact] that Visa recognized MindGeek as an authorized merchant and processed payment to its websites does not suggest that Visa agreed to participate in sex trafficking of any kind”…a commercial relationship alone does not establish a conspiracy.  But [the] Judge…[prefers to fantasize that a major corporation with a long history of nervousness around “reputational damage”] “intended to help MindGeek monetize child porn from the very fact that Visa continued to provide MindGeek the means to [operate]”…

In plain English, the judge is assuming that the plaintiff’s bizarre and censorious conspiracy narrative, intended to further an agenda of criminalizing all adult content on the internet, is not only true, but that Visa somehow knew it to be true and willingly participated despite decades of aversion to dealing with stigmatized businesses.

Stalkers in Blue (#1180)

Another sexual predator specifically targets traumatized women:

A [Sussex cop] sent a naked selfie to a woman after [taking a report from her after] she [was]…sexually assaulted in a pub…he [also] told [her] he wanted to take her home and use his police handcuffs on her and [said] he was so aroused by her he would have sexually assaulted her himself…The [not-remotely] shocking revelations were made at a disciplinary hearing…where the [creepy cop was]…granted anonymity to keep his identity a secret [so he can assault more women in future]…

Thought Control (#1209)

A fine example of ice-pick self-lobotomization:

Voters in Jamestown Township, [Michigan]…rejected renewal…of a millage that would support the Patmos Library.  That vote guts the library’s operating budget in 2023 — 84 percent of the library’s $245,000 budget comes from property taxes…There have been protests at other Michigan public libraries and at school board meetings about books with LGBTQ themes.  But…[this] may be the first time a community voted, in effect, to close its library [because neither the board nor the director would submit to censorship by fanatics challenging books they haven’t read from a widely-circulated hit list]…Library Director Amber McLain resigned this spring…[after] she [was]…harassed online and accused of indoctrinating children.  Interim director Matthew Lawrence resigned later…

Opting Out (#1229) 

The UK’s decade-long campaign to censor the internet continues to be a comedy of errors:

The government’s flagship Online Safety Bill [wa]s…dropped from Commons business…with a view for it to return to the Commons “in the autumn”…[wannabe censors are] oncern[ed]…that it could be [entire]ly scrapped as its return later this year will be dependent on the focus of the new Prime Minister.  The Bill aimed to allow Ofcom to [control] online platforms, mainly [by censor]ing…content that [politicians have arbitrarily declared “harmful”]…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1231)

It’s always lovely to see them feeding on each other:

A [California cop so representative he]…was named “Detective of the Year”…in 2019 has been charged with sending graphic messages to someone [cops recruited to fantasy role-play online as] a 14-year-old girl…Gregory Beaumarchais…was [rewarded with a paid vacation after the incident, which vaguely occurred] between December 2021 and January 2022…

Welcome to the Future (#1249)

Conditioning kids to accept constant, intrusive surveillance:

When students in the US were forced [by the State] to continue their schooling virtually, many brought home school-issued devices…[packed with malware that can allow teachers to view and control students’ screens, [secretly read their] emails and cloud-based documents, and…[automatically rat them out to the pigs for thoughtcrime].  Now that the majority of American students are finally going back to school in-person, the surveillance [mal]ware that proliferated during the pandemic [is here to] stay…89 percent of teachers [report] that their schools will continue using student-monitoring software…[even though] the overturning of Roe v. Wade has led to new concerns about digital surveillance in states that have [criminalized] abortion care…[and] gender-affirming care

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