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Posts Tagged ‘cops’

Mother Riley Meets Throwback Thursday

Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , on April 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I actually like winter, as one of four well-defined seasons; what I do not like is when winter is a bad guest which arrives earlier than it is supposed to or overstays its welcome.
–  “Rain, Rain, Go Away”

Would that all of us could leave this earth so gently.  –  “Diary #668”

911…systems treat cops like Spam in the famous Monty Python sketch: a form of pork that you get with every order whether you like it or not.  –  “Dangerous Spam”

Smuggling is, was, and always will be a social good, providing to individuals what collectives and/or tyrants wish to deny to them or bleed them for wanting.  –  “The Tweets Go On“

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In the News (#1631)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »

We cannot agree to the step-by-step creation of a Chinese-style internet in Europe.  –  Piotr Müller

First They Came for the Hookers… (#1160) 

Just in case you think being a “legal” sex worker protects you:

In March 2024…a lawsuit filed by patrons of three [Arizona] strip clubs — Dream Palace in Tempe and Skin Cabaret and Bones Cabaret in Scottsdale…claimed that dancers were drugging scores of customers and racking up six-figure charges on their credit cards…the [claims appear to have been lifted from] the 2019 film Hustlers…and…neither man could prove he’d been drugged, but…Phoenix attorney Rod Galarza…[has] now [recruited] more than 40 plaintiffs, with the total amount of allegedly bogus charges exceeding $2.3 million…And yet no charges were ever filed in the case…Scottsdale police presented the case to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office…only to have both decline [it for]…“lack…[of] sufficient evidence”…police didn’t…speak to any dancers…at the clubs, didn’t search the club for drugs and didn’t send in undercover cops.  Former club employees who did talk to police reported no direct knowledge of any drugging scheme…and…Todd Borowsky, who owns the Skin and Bones clubs…[has] filed…[a] federal…[law]suit [against] the city of Scottsdale, the [cop shop] and several individual cops…[for] perpetrating a vindictive sham investigation against the clubs…[which] went to great lengths to document their clients’ pricey forays into VIP rooms, requiring signed contracts, a fingerprint and even a photo of the customer holding up the paperwork for each transaction…

Scottsdale cops have a long and sordid history of trying to pin crimes on strippers.

Lack of Evidence (#1318)

Throwing other sex workers under the bus is a shortcut to losing my sympathy:

A gay Canadian adult film star…was detained for over eight hours by U.S. Customs before receiving a 10-year ban from the country.  Milo Miles…was traveling to Las Vegas…in January…to attend the GayVN Awards…where he was set to present and was nominated for six awards…[when goons] accused him of “escorting with no evidence” and were fixated on the “gay clothes”, fiber pills, and PrEP he had packed…When…they found evidence of his career in…porn [it got worse]…then…two hours [later they] found evidence of escorting…Miles [then threw other sex workers under the bus by trying to invoke a bullshit distinction between]…prostitution…[and] escorting…U.S. Customs has the [power] to deny entry to people they believe are sex workers…and will use coercive tactics to try and elicit a confession…

The Prudish Giant (#1547)

In many ways, Microsoft and Google are as evil as Facebook:

An independent privacy audit of Microsoft, [Facebook], and Google web traffic in California found that the companies [routinely] violat[e] state regulations…[by shoving] ad cookies in[to] a user’s browser even if they opt…out of tracking…The webXray California Privacy Audit…found that most tech companies [simply] ignore when a user asks to opt-out of cookie tracking.  [Facebook’s] code [does not even] contain…[a] check for globally standard opt-out signals—it loads unconditionally, fires a tracking event, and sets a cookie regardless of the consumerʼs privacy preferences…[The three companies] have collectively paid billions in fees for previous privacy violations …[but simply view] these fines [as a cost of doing business]…One of the things…revealed in the audit is [that those]…annoying pop-ups that ask users how they want to handle cookies…do…not work…Google, [Facebook], and Microsoft all [lied, saying “nuh-uh” while theatrically crossing their fingers behind their backs]…

From the first time I saw one of those cookie banners I knew they were bullshit; I never respond to them, instead simply archiving the page as soon as such a popup appears, because I suspect that the act of clicking itself triggers some kind of fine-print consent, as in a phishing email.

A Moral Cancer (#1575)

Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:

…the Tax Foundation…[has] reported that “cigarette smokers in the European Union pay far more in excise taxes than they do for the cigarettes themselves…at least 60 percent of the national weighted average retail price…The highest…is levied in Ireland at €10.71 ($12.58) per pack…followed by France at €8.09 ($9.51) and the Netherlands at €7.77 ($9.13)”…[outside] the E.U…taxes make up almost 60 percent of the…Swiss…price…[and almost 50] per cent of the…British price…[unsurprisingly,] Europe’s black market for cigarettes…[is therefore] grow[ing]…especially in France and the Netherlands…France continues to remain the largest [European] market for…black market…cigarette[s]…at 38.5 percent, just slightly exceeding the 37 percent share in Ireland…

Mad Libs (#1618)

Any doctor who trusts chatbots should be sued for malpractice:

…chatbots [are especially dangerous] when used to make medical diagnoses, particularly when faced with incomplete information…frequently narrowing too quickly to a single answer...researchers evaluated 21 LLMs, including leading models by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI and DeepSeek.  It found that failure rates exceeded 80 per cent for all models when they needed to do so-called differential diagnosis — when full patient information was lacking…

Walled Garden (#1624)

The only way to ensure data is not abused is not to collect it:

The European Union’s unveiling of a mobile app to check people’s age online has quickly turned sour, as cybersecurity experts found glaring privacy and security problems with the code…turning into a PR disaster for Brussels…security consultant Paul Moore…hacked the app in under 2 minutes…[while] Baptiste Robert, a prominent French white hat hacker, confirmed…it was possible to bypass the app’s biometric authentication features…The European Commission [quickly backpedaled, absurdly declaring]…”When we say it’s a final version, it’s…still a demo version”…and…the vulnerability “was fixed”…

Mad Libs (#1626)

Every study shows that chatbot usage harms brain function:

In a new study, researchers [demonstrate once again]…that [using chatbots for]…cognitive labor [such as] writing…studying [and] coding…can rapidly impair users’ intellectual ability and willingness to persist…After [using the electronic crutch for as little as] 10 minutes…people…performed worse and gave up more frequently than those who never used it…a growing body of research [shows] that [chatbot reliance] can distort and dampen users’ thinking and independence, and…outsourcing cognitive tasks to [chatbots] could put [lazy fool]s in a “boiling frog”…erosion of [their] cognitive “muscles”…“these effects will accumulate over years, and by the time they are visible, they will be difficult to reverse,” the study [says]… “Once the [chatbot] is taken away…people [don’t simply give] wrong answers…They’re…not [even] willing to try without [the chatbot]”…over-reliance [therefore] function[s much] like an addiction…

 

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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Links #824

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Hold the bus!  –  The Banana Splits

Since I’ve already featured the H.R. Pufnstuf theme and Land of the Lost theme before, I decided to feature the opening & closing to The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, the first Saturday morning show to feature the Krofft puppets.  As a wee lass my mother enrolled me in the Banana Splits fan club, and I had the various club materials for years after the show went off the air.  And it was not unusual for Grace to use one of their catchphrases, “Hold the bus!”  The links above the video were provided by Franklin Harris, Ryan Marino, Jesse Walker, Ryan Cooper, Walter Olson, Radley Balko, and Jessica Pishko, 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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The Huge Hand

Posted in Fiction, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged , , , , on April 17, 2026| 1 Comment »

Two months ago I published “Smoke Screen“, in which I reviewed a specific first-season episode of The Fugitive and had this to say about the series in general:

For those unfamiliar with the premise, Dr. Richard Kimble is wrongly convicted for the murder of his wife, but on his way to death row by train, “Fate moves its huge hand” and a derailment allows him to escape.  For four years, Dr. Kimble, engagingly portrayed by David Janssen, moved around the country, trying to hide from the relentless Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse), the Inspector Javert-like cop obsessed with his recapture, while himself hunting the real murderer, a one-armed man he saw fleeing his house just before discovering his wife’s body…

As I watched the rest of the series over the course of those two months, I was struck by the degree to which that “huge hand” influenced Dr. Kimble’s life over the seven years from his wife’s murder (September 17th, 1960) to his eventual acquittal after the discovery of both the one-armed man and a reluctant witness (August 29th, 1967).  It’s easy to joke about how the writers of a television show are gods who control the lives of the characters, and how certain characters become “butt-monkeys“, the ones typically made the victims of what the TV Tropes website calls “put them through hell” plotlines.  But within the fictive universe inhabited by the characters, this is typically regarded as the result of blind chance or bad luck rather than the result of divine intervention, and we in the audience willingly suspend our disbelief of the improbability of anyone having so many adventures and misfortunes.  In the case of The Fugitive, however, the writers appear to be subverting this trope, deliberately signaling to the audience that Fate or God is indeed manipulating Kimble’s life to fulfill some destiny or divine plan.  From the opening narration of the first episode (see video below), we are clearly shown or even told in dialogue that there is something more than mere chance at work.  In several dozen episodes there are sequences in which he escapes capture by mere moments, or misses a chance to escape misfortune by an equally narrow margin.  And in the majority of episodes, Kimble’s apparently-random wanderings bring him into the lives of people who need him, either as a physician or just as a caring human being.

In the first-season episode “Angels Travel on Lonely Roads” the person is Sister Veronica, a Catholic nun, who is absolutely convinced that God arranged their meeting for their mutual benefit; in the fourth-season episode “The Breaking of the Habit” they meet again, and a priest at Sister Veronica’s school is equally convinced.  In the earlier episode, the rational Dr. Kimble is inclined to dismiss being characterized as the tool of Providence and says as much, but after years of miraculous escapes and even being forced to save the life of his nemesis, Lt. Gerard, no less than four times, he is less skeptical about destiny.  In another fourth-season episode, “Joshua’s Kingdom“, Kimble meets Joshua Simmons, an “only prayer can heal” religious fanatic whose underage daughter’s baby is close to death from a dangerous illness.  After Kimble saves the child, Simmons says, “It can’t be God’s will.  Not with doctors and medicine.”  And Kimble replies, “How do you know I wasn’t sent here?  Why did I come to this house, why did I come to this town?  Do you know?”  At the time of his first meeting with Sister Veronica, those words would have been mere rhetoric, but by the time he utters them they are heartfelt, and their obvious sincerity convinces Simmons.

It is, of course, not necessary to accept this framing to enjoy the show, though it certainly provides an in-universe explanation for how Dr. Kimble manages to avoid recapture for so long.  But considering how traumatized he would be after two years of wrongful imprisonment and another five years as a fugitive, perhaps it provides some spiritual solace and hope of emotional recovery for a good, decent, highly-principled character the viewer has come to respect and care about.

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Throwback Thursday X

Posted in Biography, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Sexless escorting is mostly a fantasy of white bourgeois American women which is not found in nature.  –  “More Delightful Conversation”

Sex is really a very poor reason for two people to live together.  –  “Silver”

The chief danger of a “tolerated” system is that cops or politicians can suddenly and without warning decide to be intolerant.  –  “Legal Is as Legal Does (#1428)”

Americans as a group wanted extremely stupid people in charge because they themselves are extremely stupid, and their idea of “democracy” is rule by people like them, ie extremely stupid.  –  “Their Heart’s Desire”

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In the News (#1629)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The Fifth Amendment…was designed to bar Government from forcing some people alone to bear…burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole.  –  Armstrong v. US, 1960

Gullible’s Travels

The quality of social science studies has not improved in the last 15 years:

A massive seven-year project exploring 3,900 social-science papers has ended with a [predictable] finding: researchers could replicate the results of only half of the studies…John Ioannidis, a metascientist at Stanford…says…the results are “not surprising”, because they are in line with those from smaller, earlier studies…Researchers have been investigating a ‘crisis’ in the reliability of scientific results for more than a decade…not just in the social sciences, but also in the biomedical field.  The…findings…don’t necessarily mean that science is being done poorly…[or dis]honest[ly; the reports may simply be written poorly, without]…enough data or details for experiments to be repeated accurately…

Shifting the Blame (#1502)

Apparently, his cop buddies will escape scot-free:

[The] Long Island…serial killer [has] pleaded guilty…to murdering seven women and admitted he killed an eighth…[architect] Rex Heuermann…strangled the women, m[ost] of them sex workers, over a 17-year span and buried their remains…along an isolated beach highway across the bay from where he lived…He faces life in prison and will be sentenced at a later date…The investigation began in…2010 after [the]…remains w[ere discovered, but was stalled and obstructed for years by police who were chummy with Heuermann, including disgraced former Police Chief James Burke]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #22)

Another cop who stalked victims through the official cop grooming program:

A [typical and representative Colorado cop has been] indicted…[for molesting] two [underage] m[arks] in the [cop shop’s official grooming] program…Troy Brienzo[‘s cronies tried to protect him by only releasing a] heavily redacted [copy of the] indictment…[but] police accountability nonprofit Blue Surveillance [got ahold of a less-redacted copy]…show[ing] both victims were enrolled in the…[groom]ing program…

I Spy (#1599)

The erosion of US air travelers’ rights which started with TSA is now complete:

…ICE…[has] arrested more than 800 people [in the past year using] tips shared by…TSA…which supplied ICE with records on more than 31,000 travelers…the [scheme]…was created in 2007 to allow [universal surveillance of]…passenger[s by checking them against unconstitutional]…government watchlists…[and justified by barfing the word “]terrorism[” in the faces of useful idiots]…but the…Trump [regime]…is [using it to] pursu[e and persecute ordinary migrants]…and [nonwhite US citizens]…

A Broker in Pillage (#1602)

Lower courts have repeatedly pretended that there’s a “fuck you, we’re cops” exception to the Takings Clause:

In 2022, police caused extensive damage to Amy Hadley’s home in South Bend, Indiana, because they [willful]ly [chose to pretend] a fugitive was inside the house [despite being told otherwise by Hadley and her son].  That same year, a Los Angeles SWAT team wrecked Carlos Pena’s print shop while [staging theatrics] to arrest a [man] who [was not there]…Hadley and Pena were stuck with the tab for the havoc wrought by police operations—a plainly unfair but increasingly common situation that could be rectified by the “just compensation” that the Fifth Amendment requires when property is “taken for public use”…Hadley and Pena are asking the Supreme Court to recognize that remedy…The Institute for Justice, which represents both Hadley and Pena, argues that [the “fuck you”] exception…[is] not supported by the text or history of the Takings Clause…

Civil rights advocates often joke that the Third Amendment is the only one that hasn’t been undermined, but I fail to see any important difference between the government forcibly taking people’s homes to quarter troops and forcibly taking them to serve as props for cops and robbers games.

Panopticon (#1614)

Safetyism is destroying society:

A row has broken out in one of Canada’s wealthiest neighbourhoods [between sane people and]…surveillance [profiteers who want to create] the country’s first “virtual gated community” to [exploit useful idiots’ unrealistic fears of “]crime[“]…Craig Campbell, the Rosedale resident who proposed the plan…runs a security company.  He [told unattributed scary tales about unnamed “friends” who suffered a home invasion in order to sell] a plan in which an initial group of 100 residents would pay a C$200…monthly subscription [to impose]…licence plate [surveillance on everyone in the area, whether they like it or not]…Campbell holds the Canadian licensing rights for Flock, and [said] he “absolutely has a [scheme to exploit his neighbors’ fears, belching]…“my family’s safety” [at reporters]…

Walled Garden (#1620)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

…Massachusetts [politicians have] passed…one of the country’s most restrictive policies on youth social media use…It would…prohibit kids under 14 from having accounts [at all regardless of the parents’ wishes, and require]…parent[al]…consent for 14- and 15-year-olds…[politicians burbled about] studies [which] have shown…ex[actly the opposite of what politicians pretend they show]…and…[vomited “]protecting our children[” in the faces of civil rights advocates, while also moronically claiming that passing surveillance measures promoted by Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg somehow constitutes]…“standing up to Big Tech”…[when] asked…if [politician]s thought about data privacy as they prepared the legislation, [Grand Poobah] Ron Mariano [barfed]…“protect kids[“], and…compare[d] their proposal to a[n unconstitutional] social media law in Florida…

 

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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Links #823

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons.  –  J.D. Vance

I’m not sure why I’ve never posted this song, since it’s been periodically going through my head for years now and I think you’ll agree that though it has never completely stopped being timely, it’s especially timely right now.  The links above it were provided by Franklin Harris, Ed Krayewski, Radley Balko, C.J. Ciaramella, Rick Horowitz, and IncarcerNation, 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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In the News (#1627)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Librarians should not be used as a filter for political agendas.
–  Luanne James

The Vultures Descend (#1430)

Two years later, this decision is still standing:

…Indiana’s…Religious Freedom Restoration Act…[of] 2015….was one of many such state laws passed [by]…evangelical Christians to [privilege]…their beliefs [above those of other religions]…Hoosier Jews for Choice saw an opening for Jews to…[use] the same law…to [protect Jews’] access to abortion…[and] Judge Christina Klineman [recently] upheld a 2024 decision…permanently blocking enforcement of the state’s abortion ban for plaintiffs with sincere religious objections…the case is [now] headed to the Indiana Supreme Court…[Naturally, forced-birth fanatics are angry.] “Indiana’s religious freedom laws were passed for the purpose of [enshrining Christian] religious practice [in law], not to protect the [beliefs] of [others from laws justified by Christian dogma],” [said] Alexander Mingus…of the Indiana Catholic Conference, [absurdly declaring Judaism a] “Religion…that preach[es] violence [which is] not protected by religious freedom claims”…Jews [view] the fetus as “potential life,” gaining the legal status of nefesh, or personhood, at birth…

Dirty Amateurs (#1445)

This is the second article I’ve seen on this fungus in two years:

Infectious disease experts…are working to educate doctors about a new…STI…which recently caused an outbreak of at least 30 cases in Minnesota…the fungus Trichophyton mentagrophytes type VII (TMvii)…spreads through intimate contact and has predominately been seen among…gay men.  It causes painful, coin-sized rashes on the arms, buttocks, trunk, legs and genitals.  While infections can be treated with oral antifungal medications, treatment can take several weeks [and]…TMvii can resemble other skin conditions…so proper evaluation is important…TMvii [was first] identified in 2023 in Europe among men who had recently traveled in Southeast Asia.  The first U.S. case was reported in New York in 2024…[and] the Minnesota outbreak…began [last] July…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1463)

It’s heartwarming to see goons snitching on each other:

The national chief of the Border Patrol, Michael Banks, was known among colleagues for taking regular trips abroad to [hire] sex w[orkers in places where it is legal, such as]…Colombia and Thailand[, instead of simply raping them in the US as CBP policy demands]…Kristi Noem [covered for him, but once she got the sack the snitches got loose.  One said,] “If you have the character where you’re going to go [hire consenting] third-world country women [instead of deceiving, raping, and robbing migrant women right here in the US and then deporting them], it’s just not cool in my book”…

A Moral Cancer (#1520)

Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:

By pushing a 75 percent wholesale tax on nicotine pouches, New York…Gov. Kathy Hochul [claims she’s] address[ing] “a public health concern.”  That rationale is absurd on its face, since this tax would sharply raise the cost of a nicotine product that is far less hazardous than cigarettes, perversely discouraging smokers from making a switch that could save their lives…tobacco smoke…contains myriad toxins and carcinogens, and…the Biden [FDA]…authorized the marketing of Zyn nicotine pouches [because]…”nicotine pouch products…benefit…adults who use cigarettes and/or smokeless tobacco products and completely switch to these products”…the Royal College of Physicians estimates that “the hazard to health” from e-cigarettes, which likewise do not contain tobacco or burn anything…”is unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco”…

Due to its absurdly-high taxes, 55% of cigarettes smoked in New York are black market.  But I guess Hochul wants that to also be true of smoking-replacement products, and to give the NYPD another excuse for violence against citizens.

Divination (#1530)

These tests “have an error rate so high that they’re akin to ‘witchcraft, phrenology or simply picking a number out of a hat’.”

Colorado recently enacted a law protecting [citizens from wrongful] arrest…due to [cops’ misuse of unreliable] roadside tests for drugs…police can no longer make arrests solely for misdemeanor drug possession based on the results of colorimetric field drug tests and instead must issue suspects a summons to appear in court.  The act also requires courts, before a defendant enters a plea in a case where a field test was used, to inform defendants of the known error rates for the tests and their right to request testing from a forensics laboratory…[cop]s’ use of unverified drug field tests…result[s] in [an estimated 30,000] innocent people being arrested, jailed, and prosecuted…[every year.  Cop]s around the country have jailed innocent people…[for] “presumptive positive” results on bird poop, donut glaze, cotton candy, and sand from inside a stress ball…

Field tests are exclusionary tests; in other words, they are designed to tell whether something is not X substance.  A positive result does not mean “This substance is X”; it means “this substance might or might not be X”.  But cops are too stupid to understand the difference, and wouldn’t care if they could.

Mad Libs (#1595)

We are now in the early days of a dark age:

[Lazy, dishonest] researchers are increasingly using…LLMs…to…conduct literature searches, write manuscripts and format bibliographies…[resulting in a flood of] non-existent academic references…One analysis of nearly 18,000 papers…found a sharp increase in [fake] references…tens of thousands of 2025 publications, including journal papers and books, as well as conference proceedings, probably contain [incorrect or fake] references generated by [chatbots]…researchers are concerned that the problem will soon get out of hand…[and academic publishers are trying to] decid[e]what to do about hallucinated citations that make it into the published literature…

Thought Control (#1625)

They’re going to have trouble finding a competent professional willing to play their “What books will we censor today?” game:

A Tennessee library board has fired the county’s top librarian for refusing to comply with its [demand] to [hid]e more than 100 LGBT…books f[or juveniles in]…the adult section…Luanne James…said that [hid]ing the books would violate…residents’ First Amendment rights and compromise her professional obligation against government-mandated [censorship]…Last fall, a…Wyoming library director w[as awarded] $700,000 to settle a lawsuit after her firing [but wannabe censors]…Cody York…and…Caleb Tidwell [don’t care because it isn’t their money James will get when she wins a similar lawsuit]…

 

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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Links #822

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Tidying up the house…with hatred in her heart.  –  Bryan Polanco

I recently discovered this funny recording, which was Chubby Checker’s first hit (a year before “The Twist”); in fact, he got his nickname “Chubby” due to his spot-on imitation of Fats Domino.  The links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel, Kevin Wilson, Ryan Marino, IncarcerNation, Mistress Matisse, and The Onion, 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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In the News (#1626)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »

A book that unexpectedly explodes upon opening it would be good grounds for a product liability claim; a book whose content inspires someone to act recklessly should not.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Choke Point (#1388) 

The government is now demanding banks not do what it has repeatedly demanded they do:

Federal Trade Commission…sent letters…to the CEOs of PayPal, Stripe, Visa and Mastercard, warning them against debanking practices — including denying access to services due to a customer’s…“political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities”…last year…the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a report on debanking…in which it named adult entertainment as one of several sectors facing discrimination for engaging in activities contrary to banks’ “values”…[and threatening] an FTC investigation…but those rules will not stop banks from making decisions regarding their customers in a way deemed “consistent with safety and soundness.”  This leaves broad leeway for banks to continue discriminatory or exclusionary practices toward adult industry creators and businesses…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1450)

Politicians increasingly use nuisance lawsuits to circumvent the Constitution:

[Facebook] has been ordered to pay New Mexico [politicians] $375 million, in a verdict that paves the way for more states to [rob] social media companies under the guise of child protection—and demand changes that will compromise everyone’s online speech and privacy…the lawsuit [misused]…the state’s Unfair Practices Act…States [ab]using…consumer protection laws [to achieve unconstitutional tyranny they could not otherwise accomplish] have been a big trend lately.  This ruling all but ensures it will intensify…Section 230…is supposed to protect against this sort of thing.  If someone uses Facebook to engage in illegal activity, it’s that person…who may be criminally liable…[but] state attorneys general have been fighting against this…for nearly two decades…[because] they’re stuck prosecuting individual criminals…not [deep-pocketed corporations they can pillage]…The verdict in this case…”will be terrible for the open internet,” said Techdirt[‘s]…Mike Masnick…

The Cop Myth (#1566)

It’s too bad they don’t inflict all of their violence on each other:

…two [North Carolina pigs who lived together got in a fight which ended with a sow shooting her pig boyfriend]…Adam Bean [dead.  Because the murderer is also a cop, the pig herd is attempting to hide as much]…information [as possible]…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1586)

The only way to rein in chatbot pushers is to threaten their cash flow:

OpenAI won’t be rolling out an erotic version of ChatGPT any time soon…the controversial plan has been shelved “indefinitely”…as even its own advisors warned that ChatGPT users could form unhealthy attachments, which might harm their mental health.  One advisor chillingly suggested that the tweak risked turning ChatGPT into a “sexy suicide coach”…[and lawyers warned] it [would be] hard to keep illegal behavior out of outputs, like bestiality and incest…investors questioned why OpenAI would risk its reputation on a product with “relatively small upside” for…[a company regularly] linked to mental health harms in both kids and adults [which have led to] lawsuits…

Mad Libs (#1595)

“LLMs…train the brain to disengage…[leading] to passivity…and low integration of concepts“:

…chatbots have become a common part of many [fools’] daily lives, even though they…[give] wrong answers…45 percent of the time.  But [stupid people] don’t understand that reality…and…tend…to take…chat[bot vomit] at face value, even when it [gives] them the incorrect answer…experiment…participants were asked to answer a variety of reasoning and knowledge-based questions.  Despite making the use of ChatGPT optional, over 50 percent…chose to use the chatbot to answer the questions…researchers…[found almost 80% of chatbot] users w[ere] willing to believe what[ever nonsense it barfed up] regardless of accuracy, in what [researchers] termed a “cognitive surrender” that effectively overrode their intuition and deliberation process…“to outsource thinking itself”…[and] give up their own agency…further cementing [their dependency] on [machines]…

“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free.  But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”  –  Frank Herbert, Dune

Shame, Shame (#1612)

To Musk, this is pocket change:

Elon Musk’s [pet] chatbot [MechaHitler has] been banned from [gener]ating non-consensual…[sexual] images…by a Dutch court…the…order [applies to all of]…Europe…and…[includes] a [token] penalty of 100,000 euros ($115,000) for every day it [refuses] to comply…with a maximum fine of 10 million euros…Numerous lawsuits have [also] been filed…[including one from] Baltimore [abusing] the city’s consumer protection laws and…[an]other…[from] three teenagers in Tennessee [who were actually victimized by MechaHitler]…

Compared to Musk’s net worth, this is like me being fined 6¢ a day, maximum $6.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1621)

Another broadside against the dangerous “semen retention” cult:

Regular ejaculation — for example, by masturbation — produces higher quality sperm…according to a comprehensive new…meta-analysis of more than 115 studies…that cumulatively involved nearly 55,000 men, as well as 56 studies of 30 non-human species…The results revealed that stored sperm deteriorates over time, resulting in DNA damage, reduced motility, and other defects that can affect fertilization and embryo outcomes…The study…sheds light on the possible evolutionary origins of masturbation, which has been observed in…dozens of [nonhuman] species including dolphins, elephants, lions, and many primates.  Masturbation may have emerged as a way to avoid leaving sperm in the tank for too long.  Indeed, even species that don’t masturbate in the traditional sense of self-stimulation have still been observed offloading sperm in a practice called “sperm dumping”…

 

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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