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Posts Tagged ‘Colorado’

You’re gonna get lit up.  –  “Officer” Henry Trujillo

This week’s video was sent by Rikki de la Vega because she remembered that I like these sorts of things; this one especially reminded me of Jim Henson’s “Number Three Ball” and the Wintergatan.  The links above it were provided by Nun Ya, Cop Crisis (x4), Mike Siegel, and Winnie Pond, in that order.

From the Archives

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[Screws] violate our human rights like crazy.  –  Clothera Peak

A Moral Cancer

This badly-disguised puritanism was the topic of the original column of this heading, twelve years ago:

Oral sex may be the biggest factor in the rise of throat cancer in…the U.S. and U.K.  “For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor [after refusing to take the HPV vaccine] is the number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex,” Mehanna wrote for The Conversation. “Those with six or more lifetime oral-sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not practice oral sex”…

Everything I said back in the original column is still true.

Surplus Women

Prohibitionists want this to happen more often:

A man [named David Montes was]…arrested for murder in Moxee [Washington] after…he suffocated a woman from an escort service, wrapped her body in plastic wrap in the backseat of his truck, then called 911 to confess…the woman was identified as 63-year-old Santos Gloria Reyes from Yakima…Montes [told cops] he was having homicidal thoughts and went on an escort service website to find someone he could “take out”…[after the murder] he ran errands with the [body] still in the back, then contacted his uncle on the night of April 14 where he confessed to his actions.  He then called 911 because his uncle told him to…

The Next Target (#1272)

It’s not like they’ve ever been secretive about their goals:

Morality in Media…has launched a new campaign to eradicate all adult content on Reddit…call[ing] for the platform to take action against “hardcore pornography and sexually explicit content”…the [pro-censorship] organization frames the call for censoring Reddit — one of the main platforms that allows open sexual expression from users — as addressing “abuse and exploitation”…[but it]s rhetoric about nonconsensual material ultimately serves as a Trojan horse for a call to censor all sexually explicit content and eliminate accounts that share it, regardless of consent or legality…

Opting Out (#1306) 

If other big websites followed suit, the damage done by this totalitarian nonsense would be dramatically curtailed:

Wikipedia will not comply with any age checks required under the [UK] Online Safety Bill…Rebecca MacKinnon, of the Wikimedia Foundation…says it would “violate our commitment to collect minimal data about readers and contributors”…the government says only services [politicians claim] pos[e what is nebulously labeled “]the highest risk to children[” at any given moment] will need age verification…Wikimedia UK fears the site could be blocked because of its stance…

Follow Your Bliss (Anther Rapist Roundup)

A clever non-cop molester took advantage of another grooming scheme for predatory cops:

Eric Uller was…a volunteer in the Police Activities League, where, beginning in the late 1980s, he…was a sexual predator…[who] destroyed the lives of children…wh[ile]…authorities [ignored warnings about his abuse over many years]…Now, more than 200 people have come forward to say they were abused by Uller, most of whom were underprivileged children…whose parents were in this country without proper immigration papers…Santa Monica [has] settled…lawsuits…total[ling]…$229.285 million [so far] — the most costly single-perpetrator sexual abuse disbursement for any municipality in the state…He…most[ly]…target[ed] Latino boys between the ages of 12 and 15…but some were as young as 8, said attorney Brian Claypool, who has represented more than 80 victims…Uller used his police connections to lure them…He…[had] a badge…handcuffs and…a gun…“Everyone thought he was a police officer,” [one victim] said…

Of course, we’ve often seen non-cop rapists posing as cops to facilitate rape.

No Escape (#1312)

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

Sex­u­al abuse is ram­pant…at FCI Tal­la­has­see…[where] documented re­ports of guards terrorizing, threatening, and stalking, as well as mentally, physically, and sexually abusing prisoners…go back at least as far as 2002, so[on]…after the facility officially became a women’s prison.  Since 2012, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has received more than 130 complaints [of] staff…[raping] prisoner[s]…but the abusive and retaliatory environment…has only spi­raled further out of con­trol…recent scrutiny has almost completely overlooked a culture of impunity and widespread abuse at FCI Tallahassee and centered instead on other prisons...[such as] the…so-called rape club [in California]…FCI Tallahassee’s recent ability to remain out of the spotlight is…a reflection of…a brutally efficient system of retaliation and cover-up, which employs a dizzying variety of tactics to protect perpetrators of sexual assault and keep their victims silent…

The Cop Myth (#1333)

I’m sure it would’ve been different had he put on his magical Clown Costume of Legal Invulnerability first:

A…Pueblo County [Colorado screw was sacked for] assaulting [his girlfriend at least twice] in five months…Donald Teschner…was arrested on April 21, 2023..for [the assault, which left a]…”large lump on the back of…the victim’s…head with [bloody] scratches”…the…argument [began because] Teschner [imagined] that the victim was cheating on him, which [he used as an excuse]…to break her phone…hit her in the back of the head…throw…[her against] the wall…[hard enough that] she…was knocked out…This is Teschner’s fourth arrest since 2019….[when] he was convicted of possession of a gun while drunk…[and] sentenced to 18 months of probation…

 

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 authorities…seek to punish a preschool for being a place where there are preschoolers.  –  Lenore Skenazy

Droit du Seigneur

Note that the dysphemism “sex trafficking” is conspicuously absent here:

A [typical and representative] San Diego [cop] who used his badge and his knowledge to run a string of massage…parlors in California and Arizona pleaded guilty…to federal charges.  Peter Griffin and three other defendants entered pleas…to racketeering-related conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and other crimes…The wire fraud charge carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a $1-million fine…

Moloch 

Is this idiotic enough yet?  Can we stop now?

Two Colorado child care workers will go on trial this June for presiding over a day care center where a 5-year-old pulled down a 3-year-old’s pants.  Amy Lovato and Roberta Rodriguez…face criminal charges for not reporting this incident to the authorities quickly enough…Jason Flores-Williams, Lovato’s attorney…ask[ed the judge] to dismiss…charges….[which] “criminalize preschool behavior by turning a 5-year-old into a deviant and a 3-year-old into a victim for acts that are neither sexual, abusive, criminal, negligent, or against any reasonable person or community standard.”  Judge [Brian] Green denied the…motion…on January 16…one of the kids wet their pants, [so] Lovato left the classroom for between 3 and 5 minutes to clean the kid and deposit the wet clothes in the laundry.  When she returned, she saw the 5-year-old “crouched over” a 3-year-old who later told Lovato that the boy had tried to pull her pants down and touch her butt…The school did not ignore this misbehavior.  It called the parents involved…[and] reported the touching incidents to the child welfare department …[but the prosecutor claims they did] not report…the incidents immediately enough…three days later…[though] the question of how quickly a school must report an incident of abuse is vague.  So, it seems, is the definition of abuse.  And so is whether leaving the room to clean off a pee-soaked kid constitutes neglect…

I Can’t Breathe

It’s about time professionals stopped allowing themselves to be used to hide police violence:

A leading group of medical experts says the term “excited delirium” should not be listed as a cause of death…[because it is only] used to justify excessive force by police.  The National Association of Medical Examiners had been one of the last to take a stand against the commonly used but [unscientific] term…The statement has no legal weight, but will be influential among medical examiners…the term…[i]s unscientific, rooted in racism — and a way to hide police officers’ culpability in deaths.  The American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association do not recognize excited delirium as a diagnosis.  Yet…police training materials [think they have a right to invent convenient medical diagnoses that fly in the face of medical science]…Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., who chairs the pathology department at Howard University…[says] “It’s not a real explanation for the death”…

Quiet Genocide (#1075)

There was a time when the West might’ve taken a stand against this, but no more:

…the Kutadgu Bilik bookshop [in Istanbul] is a trove of Uyghur culture…[which has been repeatedly] raided by the Turkish police…[stealing] hundreds of books…[each] time…Uyghur literature has…been a prime target [of the Chinese genocide], with dozens of renowned writers, poets, publishers and academics disappeared into the labyrinthine system of [concentration] camps.  This has all but destroyed the small trickle of books coming out of the region, severing a critical link between those who escaped and those still trapped inside…Abdulla Turkistanli, the bookshop owner…said…there are usually only two to four copies of any given title in [his] shop.  The Turkish police, when they raid the shop, [use the pretext] that Turkistanli does not have the copyrights necessary to reprint [them, but]…acquiring the copyrights…is impossible without the cooperation of Chinese authorities.  Even contacting the authors…is impossible…[because] around 90% of the books in his shop were written by people who have been swallowed up by the prisons and re-education camps.  He believes that the Turkish police are acting under pressure from the Chinese state when they raid Uyghur bookshops…

Dangerous Speech (#1276)

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less’.

…Lacey and Larkin’s attorneys…argue…that the DOJ’s indictment and prosecution…of [their clients] and four others…is fatally flawed and should be dismissed…The motion points to the government’s stance…in…the Woodhull Freedom Foundation’s constitutional challenge to…FOSTA…which…[claims] the verbs “promote” and “facilitate”…are legal “terms of art” and do not have the same meanings as in everyday speech…[they] assert that the phrase “promote or facilitate” is the same as “aid and abet,” which requires proof that the defendant intended to facilitate the commission of a specific underlying criminal act — in this case, prostitution.  Meanwhile…in Arizona…prosecutors have consistently fought such an interpretation, arguing that “promote” and “facilitate” are much broader and open to various meanings…The defense…argues that the government should not be allowed to railroad Lacey and Larkin, using a broader legal standard…since the DOJ is simultaneously attempting to thwart a constitutional challenge on the other side of the country by insisting that the Travel Act should adhere to a far more stringent standard…

Monsters (#1288) 

All around the world, monsters claim the “right” to persecute and torture sexual minorities:

Human Rights Watch…accused Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Grindr of not doing enough to prevent violence against LGBTQ+ users by [cops] in…Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia…[the cops] sometimes publish…[their victims’] personal information on social media, leaving them subject to familial violence or homelessness.  Other [times they trick them]…in [order to]…unlawfully search…their personal devices, often under threat of violence…[in order to] collect…private information that’ll enable them to prosecute the [victim] and their [friends]…“When police…could not find [incriminating] information…they [simply]…fabricated chats to justify…detention”…detainees are jailed under vague, trumped-up “morality,” “debauchery,” “prostitution,” and “cybercrime” charges…they’re interrogated; denied access to lawyers, visitors, or medical care; verbally abused; subjected to forced anal examinations…sexually assaulted; tortured; and forced to sign confessions…

To Molest and Rape (#1326)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:  “A Chicago [cop named David Deleon]…sexually abused a minor…[he was] report[ed to other cops by his victim]…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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I’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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You’re going to kill me.  –  Lisa Edwards

Since every one of this week’s links, all provided by Cop Crisis, was just horrible, I’m sure y’all will understand if I inject some levity by way of the video.

From the Archives

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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They’re trying to George Floyd me!  –  Keenan Anderson

This week’s video, provided by Stephen Lemons, was made by a hip-hop musician called Afroman to mock the cops who raided his home on bogus pretexts; like the taqueria I featured back in January of ’16, he used surveillance footage in the video to have the last laugh on the thugs who violated his property.  The links above the video were contributed by Mirriam Zary; Franklin Harris and Dan Savage; N. Colby; and Cop Crisis (x4), in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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This isn’t a few “bad apples”; it’s a culture of rampant misogyny.  –  Rachel Cunliffe

Law of the Instrument

I guess they figure describing rape as “sex trafficking” will net a larger payout:

A federal sex trafficking and forced labor lawsuit filed by a former employee against…shipping giant Crowley Maritime will move forward…[after the] Judge…denied a motion…to dismiss…the plaintiff claims she was 21 years old when she was hired by Crowley as a credit and collections coordinator in Crowley’s San Salvador office and that she was paid less than $10,000 per year.  She says that in 2017 she was sexually assaulted inside an elevator at the Crowley offices by a supervisor…[and that] Crowley moved the supervisor to a new department instead of firing him…

The “sex trafficking” angle seems to derive from the fact that she was forced by her job to travel with the supervisor who raped her.

Follow Your Bliss

How nice of this guy to “volunteer” for a position that gave him access to children:

A [typical and representative] volunteer youth pastor at the Abba’s House church in Hixson [Tennessee, who was also the] PTA president at Wolftever Creek Elementary School…now faces [charges of] child molestation…and aggravated sexual battery…Dustin Spillers…is [originally from Louisiana and the charges appear to originate in Georgia]…

This one too:

A [volunteer] Colorado Springs Bible study teacher, Carlton Ranquist, pleaded guilty to [molest]ing a [girl under 15]…Ranquist accepted a plea deal that saw him plead guilty to just one of the nine charges he initially faced…the remaining eight charges will all be dismissed as part of the plea deal…Ranquist was arrested in Maine…to [which he had moved] in 2020…Five [of the] charges Ranquist faced prior to accepting the plea deal…[were for molesting other kids] between 2006 and 2012…

If Men Were Angels

Even the use of the distancing “former” is the same as for rapist cops:

A [typical and representative] youth pastor…[named] Sean Patrick Masopust…pleaded guilty to [molesting a teenage girl]…and was sentenced…to 10 years of supervised probation, 28 days in the Steele County [Minnesota] Jail, and a $1,000 fine…

To Molest and Rape (#1286)

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

A [London cop]…who[se identity is being covered up by the government]…is…being investigated…[for] sexually assault[ing] a female colleague…the woman had previously complained about his…behaviour [to supervisors before he actually attacked her].  The man, who was [wearing his magical clown costume] at the time of the…attack, works [covering up other cops’ attacks on other women]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1289)

Another cop demonstrating exactly what he is:

A [cop] pulled down a teenage woman’s top and took a photograph of her breasts after pretending to ejaculate on her chest [by flicking beer foam onto her]…Paul Hinchcliffe…also…[loudly announced] he would use it [and other pictures he took without her consent] to masturbate …the [disgusting] incident took place when he was drinking with three other [pigs]…in a pub in Rotherham on October 3, 2020…[after] the woman l[eft due to his behavior]…she received a message from Hinchliffe saying: “God I’d do you, is that bad?”…accompanied by a number of emojis that the woman took to represent masturbation…

To Molest and Rape (#1298)

This guy needs to be put away before he murders her:

William Ray Pruitt…was arrested…for [stalking and harassing] a…girl [he raped at gunpoint]…in [December] 2020[, when she was 14]…the…stalking began in October 2021, when the victim was 15…and continued into December 2022…[after the rape], the victim’s mother left her job and moved [with her daughter] to an undisclosed location.  But soon after, a private investigator…was hired by Pruitt [to find them so he could]…start…driving by the…new residence…Pruitt [then] began leaving cryptic messages around the neighborhood referencing…an…[imaginary] unborn child…he [named “Libby” and pretended to have sired on his victim by the rape.  Then]…On 8/22/22 [the girl] was driving [home] alone from…school when…Pruitt pulled up next to her and yelled at her to pull over…the[n]…attempted to…force…her…off the road…[she escaped by dr]iving [to] her cousin’s apartment…[and running] inside…[before] Pruitt…[could catch her]…

To Molest and Rape (#1307)

It’s rare to see someone whose name isn’t Maggie McNeill expressing these thoughts this strongly:

[David] Carrick showed…his employers…who he was before he even became a [cop]…he had been under criminal investigation for…burglary.  They let him in anyway.  He was accused of assault against a former partner.  Nothing was done.  He continued to rape and assault women, and was promoted…14 [complaints]…of…violence…were ignored…Carrick did not commit these crimes in spite of being a [cop]…he was part of a force that enabled him to commit these crimes…power-hungry individuals are drawn to positions that give them power and enable them to abuse it.  A man predisposed to raping and harming women will seek a job in an organisation that provides him the opportunity to do so.  If that organisation ignores the blinking red lights and lets such men continue with virtual impunity, it will become a magnet for abusers…This isn’t a few “bad apples”; it’s a culture of rampant misogyny, and such cultures naturally attract and embolden rampant misogynists…The [police have] shown us what [they are].  Now we need to believe it.

 

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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When I edit a news story for inclusion in one of my news columns, the first thing I do it to decide which tag it belongs in, then check to see whether there’s an earlier item it follows from (either directly, as a development of an earlier story, or indirectly, by bearing a resemblance to an earlier one).  But every so often a tag becomes too “busy” for me to easily use it in this way; if I have to go through a dozen pages of tagged items before I even reach the beginning of the year, it eats up too much time and may even make it more difficult to find appropriate items (because skimming dozens of similar articles quickly becomes mentally fatiguing).  That’s why I break up such cluttered tags every once in a while so as to make it easier to categorize them in the future.  The “Torture Chamber” tag reached that point sometime last year; I already have two tags devoted to the ongoing human rights debacle which is the US prison & jail system (the other being “The Punitive Mindset“), but I think it’s time for a third.  In the future, items about prison rape will appear in this tag; they were previously linked in several long chains, culminating most recently with Torture Chamber (#1302), (#1301), and (#1299), but there are also quite a few similar items which simply appear in the main “Torture Chamber” tag.  I’ll start the new tag with three items, the first a typical collection of euphemisms from Colorado:

…Jason Hillyer…pleaded guilty to [lesser charges after orally raping a woman confined to a cage by the State]…he…[will be] required to register as a sex offender…Hillyer [committed the rape] in May 2021…[but his victim was afraid to report him before] June 29, 2021…Hillyer [tried to escape surveillance cameras by raping] the victim…in…the bathroom…

The other is from a major hotbed of prison rape, California:

An Orange County…deputy has been charged [with misdemeanors] after…sexually assaulting two [women locked in cages]…he w[as posted to supposedly guard]…Arcadio Rodriguez [moles]ted them on multiple occasions dating back to May 2022 by [groping] them…and [forc]ing them [to watch] videos of himself [masturbating]…

As so often happens, Rodriguez’ picture is being suppressed by “authorities” so he can continue to predate on unsuspecting women.  If that surprises you, you may not have realized how endemic rape by screws and other staff is to prisons:

The state of New Mexico spent at least $860,000 last year to settle…[cases in which screws] rape[d or]…sexual abuse[d]…women…[condemned to its] prisons.  The settlements resolved…seven [cas]es…each [filed by a woman who had been raped by prison staff in the name of “]correction[“]…In addition to the cost of the settlements, New Mexico spent about $2.5 million in recent years defending itself against [suits alleging systemic liability for] the [rape]s…[due] to…a culture in New Mexico prisons that expose[s] women to…sexual abuse…“They have focused their efforts, including remarkably high expenditures on legal fees, on hiding such abuse from the public rather than on investigating and eradicating it,” [said Elizabeth Harrison, an attorney for some of the victims]…

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We need to…finally pursue drug policies that help people instead of incarcerating them.  –  Scott Wiener

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

It’s deeply satisfying to see cops preying upon each other:

…Charlotte [North Carolina cops arrested]…a state trooper [named]…Jeffrey Scott Salyer f[or]…misdemeanor…charges [of hiring a sex worker] and one felony count of [getting a blow job]…on Dec. 23…Salyer resigned that same day…

Follow the Leader

Note that as a cop and screw, Conklin was legally allowed to treat strangers and their kids in exactly this same way:

…a [typical and representative] Arizona [screw and his wife violently]…abus[ed] their 10 children…Kelly [and Melissa] Conklin [were found out] after two of their boys ran away by jumping out of their bedroom window…[and spoke] with…other [cops]…In one instance…the…father…grabbed [a] child…[in a chokehold, then] slammed him to the ground…[and locked] him in handcuffs…he …had [previously] slammed [the same boy’s] face into the gravel, punched him, banged his head, then choked him to the point that he blacked out…The boy also said that he had been beaten…by his father using handcuffs…the [boys’] room locks from the outside, [so] they must use a doorbell to ask to leave the room…they sleep on the floor, because there is no bed for them.  In another instance, [Conklin pulled a knife on] one of the girls…and held her to the wall…after one child [was left with] a black eye [from the abuse]…Conklin…pulled a gun and threatened the other kids…telling them they needed to lie to DCS about [it]…

A Moral Cancer (#1157)

As I’ve been telling you since 2012:

[Shoddy] studies have been linking red meat consumption to health problems like heart disease, stroke, and cancer for years.  But…nearly all the research is observational, unable to tease out causation convincingly.  Most are plagued by confounding variables…[and] are based on self-reported consumption…lastly, the reported effect sizes in these scientific papers are often [too] small…[to be] really worth worrying about…In a new, unprecedented effort, scientists at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) scrutinized decades of research on red meat…formulating a new rating system to communicate health risks in the process…“We found weak evidence of association between unprocessed red meat consumption and colorectal cancer, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and ischemic heart disease.  Moreover, we found no evidence of an association between unprocessed red meat and ischemic stroke or hemorrhagic stroke,” they summarized

To Molest and Rape (#1181)

An earlier report identified only 245, until somebody dug deeper:

More than 400 Scottish [cops] have been reported to their bosses [due to] serious misconduct…sexual assault[, or rape]…Police Scotland commissioned an internal review following the rape, kidnap and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard in March 2021, by [London cop] Wayne Couzens.  The report showed that Police Scotland had recorded 410 [complaints] over four years…around 118 of the 410 were “assessed [by bureaucrats] as criminal” with the remaining 292 classed as “non-criminal”, which saw 44 [cops] resign or retire “during proceedings” [to escape the consequences of their actions]…

If Men Were Angels (#1251)

“Youth pastors” of a feather flock together:

…David Shagena was a youth leader at The River Church [in Port Huron, Michigan] when [he molested at least four] minors…Shagena’s name was brought up while [cops] were investigating another [typical and representative] youth pastor, William Stefan Wahl…

Torture Chamber (Rapist Roundup)

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

A guard at a California…prison [for women] is under investigation after the state [finally decided to listen to] more than 22 [women who reported that]…Gregory Rodriguez [had raped them]…

Winding Down (#1289)

When will the federal government finally read the writing on the wall?

Colorado voters last month approved a groundbreaking ballot initiative that decriminalized five psychedelics derived from fungi or plants: 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).  This month a California legislator introduced a bill, S.B. 58, that emulates Colorado’s new policy, aiming to legalize the possession, preparation, noncommercial transfer, and transportation of those five drugs by adults 21 or older…polling indicates that California voters are receptive to the idea, which builds on a series of reforms in other jurisdictions that suggest psychedelic prohibition could collapse faster than marijuana prohibition did, thanks largely to recent research on the potential benefits of these drugs…

 

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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Y’all have three cop cars because I’m feeding cats?  –  Mary Alston

You’re probably familiar with the song, but did you know there was an official music video starring the young singer herself, from 1953?  The links above the video were provided by Clarissa, Jesse Walker, Cop Crisis (x3), Radley Balko, and Phoenix Calida, in that order.

From the Archives

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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