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In the News (#1375)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

They are holding my puppy for ransom.  –  Caleb Gibson

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor and sex offender” is a large and ever-expanding group:

…a [Florida] pastor [was arrested] after two underage girls described the sexual abuse they endured at his hands…Derrell Redding…abuse[d one young teen and one girl under 12, but]…in August…the two girls decided to tell their aunt and uncle…

Many of them are “youth pastors”:

A [California preacher named]…Nicholas Garrett Corl…was [arrested for molesting]…a child under 14…an employee from [his]…church [called the cops on him]…Corl…[is] Youth Pastor…teaches…classes, [and] is the athletics director and basketball coach…

Others don’t have a church of their own:

A [California] priest…[named] Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara…[h]as [been] arrested…[for] possessing “over 600 images of child sexual abuse material, including…prepubescent…boys”…Martinez-Guevara…is affiliated with the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit Religious Order…[but] has been removed from ministry by the archdiocese and his order…

The Mote and the Beam (#786)

The government’s latest sleazy trick: attacking with civil suits rather than criminal charges, because the burden of proof is reversed:

A lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office targets a motel…with a [harassment campaign] that…[is intended to make political coin out of the moribund “]sex trafficking[” hysteria for the politically-ambitious but unimaginative] Hydee Feldstein Soto[, who bloviated mathematically-imbecilic talking points from over a decade ago but lacks the spine to admit she hates whores]…

Between the Ears (#1104)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen:

A company that makes a [male] chastity device…that can be controlled by a partner over the internet exposed users’ email addresses, plaintext passwords, home addresses and IP addresses, and — in some cases — GPS coordinates, due to several flaws in its servers, according to a security researcher…who…gained access to a database containing records of more than 10,000 users, thanks to two vulnerabilities…He…reached out to the company on June 17 alerting them of the issues in an attempt to get them to fix the vulnerabilities and protect their users’ data…[but] the company…[neither] fix[ed] the vulnerabilities…no[r] respond[ed]…Given that he wasn’t getting any answers, on August 23 the researcher defaced the company’s homepage in an attempt to warn the company again, as well as its users…Less than 24 hours later, the company removed the researcher’s warning and restored the website…but…did not fix the flaws, which remain present and exploitable…

Property of the State (#1245)

The government thinks it even has the right to leer at the inside of your body:

Scientists in Poland have…developed lab tests that can detect whether people have taken abortion pills—and those tests are already being used to investigate pregnancy outcomes under the country’s abortion ban…Advocates in the U.S. have told people for years that, if they had to go to the hospital after taking the pills by mouth, medical workers wouldn’t be able to tell…these drug tests could mean even more people criminalized by the healthcare system…Hospitals in the U.S. routinely test pregnant women for drugs without their consent, sometimes [abducting] their newborns and other children as a result…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1304)

“Fentanyl” is becoming another porcine pretext for harassing and robbing people:

Days after Irvine [California cops pretend] they saved a pit bull puppy from a fentanyl overdose…a preliminary drug test on the pup came back negative.  [Now]…the city [is demanding] more than $2,000…ransom…[from] Caleb Gibson, the dog’s owner, [who said]…“I’m a college student on financial aid, so I don’t have that kind of money to throw around”…[cops] maintain…that the animal had overdosed [despite the negative test]…the…[fact] that dogs are far less sensitive to the drug than humans…and…[the fact that] it is not possible for [humans or] animals to overdose simply from being exposed to the substance by touching or inhaling it, despite police [fantasies]…to the contrary…

Served Cold (#1359)

Surprising absolutely no one who understands McNeill’s Law:

Tim Ballard’s exit from Operation Underground Railroad…followed an investigation into…sexual misconduct involving seven women…the [rescue industry con art]ist, who appears to be preparing for a Senate run, invited women to act as his “wife” on…overseas missions [suposed]ly aimed at rescuing victims of sex trafficking.  He would then…coerce those women into sharing a bed or showering together, claiming that it was necessary to fool traffickers…The total number of women involved is believed to be higher than seven, as that would only account for employees, not contractors or volunteers…Ballard…[already has a] new [rescue industry] organization, the SPEAR Fund; and…the [Mormon] Church…[has] accused Ballard of inappropriately using the name of a church elder…“for Tim Ballard’s personal advantage and activity regarded as morally unacceptable.”

Spotlight (#1373)

While I’m pleased to see Asstoon fall, the surveillance company he founded will still be outing sex workers to the pigs without him:

Ashton Kutcher has resigned as chairman of the board of Thorn, the anti…sex [worker] organization he co-founded in 2009 with his then-wife Demi Moore.  His wife Mila Kunis, who served as an observer on the organization’s board, is also stepping down.  The move comes in the wake of outrage over their letters of support for Danny Masterson, who has been convicted of raping two women…

 

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 (#1372)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It happened as frequently as they wanted it to.  –  Miranda Williams

The Slave-Whore Fantasy

It’s been 7 years since we’ve had an example of what real sex slavery looks like:

…a woman who was chained and being held in a locked room [in a travel trailer in Arizona] was able to break free and run for help…to a neighbor’s house…Aaron Cortez had the unidentified woman chained in his travel trailer.  He whipped her with a charging cord and chains, then left her alone locked inside…once she felt he was gone long enough that day, she escaped…Cortez…[fancied himself a pimp and] went by “King Ace”…he…had [placed] about 70 ads for prostitution online with pictures of him[self], some with the victim, and some depicting violent sex acts…Cortez…is currently facing charges including aggravated assault…[and] kidnapping…

The fact that this violent freak forced his victim to sign a “sex slave contract” and was planning to force her to get a tattoo tells me he’s been reading waaaaay too much “sex trafficking” propaganda.  That, and te fact that his ads mostly had pictures of him, tells me he isn’t very bright.

The Course of a Disease (#421)

Not even Australia is safe from Swedish rot-fanatics attempting to spread their loathsome tyranny:

A [dangerous and discredited] sex-work model would attack the men who buy sex [and infantilize] the women who sell it in a move to [define women as men’s moral inferiors]…The Bill, introduced by South Australian Upper House Liberal leader Nicola Centofanti, would [impose the Swedish model, which defines women as permanent adolescents unable to consent to] sex [except in ways politicians allow]…Centofanti…[vomited the usual disgusting propaganda about evil men and infantile women] in parliament…attacking the de[criminalization model supported by all evidence, human rights organizations, and sex workers themselves]…Sex Industry Network general manager Kat Morrison said…the “Nordic”…criminalisation model had failed in Europe…Greens member Tammy Franks backs full decriminalisation and said the Bill was a “political strategy” to end sex work.  “This Bill says basically a sex worker can do their work but not be paid for it,” she said.  “In what other jurisdiction or area or work would a worker be expected to do their work but not get paid for it?”

Decriminalization has become the norm in Australia, but South Australian prohibitionists have managed to keep it out of their state despite repeated attempts.

If Men Were Angels

“Youth pastor”, “youth leader”, “youth minister”, “youth director”…can’t y’all settle on one term for preachy molesters?

The [typical and representative] youth minister of a [Georgia] church faces up to 40 years in prison after entering a guilty plea to child molestation charges…Austin Wray Perkins was arrested on March 9, 2022…[for] victimizing a minor who…had no family or support…[Perkins took the youth] into his home and molested him…[then] coached [him] about how to act in pornographic videos with himself…

I Spy (#1103)

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

Modern cars are a privacy nightmare…All 25 car brands we researched earned our *Privacy Not Included warning label — making cars the official worst category of products for privacy that we have ever reviewed…every car brand we looked at collects more personal data than necessary and uses that information for a reason other than to operate your vehicle and manage their relationship with you…56%…say they…share your information with…[cops and spooks] in response to a “request.”  Not a high bar court order, but something as easy as an “informal request”…car companies’ willingness to share your data is beyond creepy.  It has the potential to cause real harm and inspired our worst cars-and-privacy nightmares…

Welcome to the Future (#1164)

The government thinks it even has the right to leer at the inside of your body:

What if your [body] could be monitored from a distance…to track your use of medications, such as opioids, to make sure you’re not using them in frequencies and dosages frowned upon by…politicians…who want to…stop [you] from getting high[?]…the Cato Institute…[warns that such surveillance is] “another example of ‘cops practicing medicine’…[which] will intimidate health care practitioners into further curtailing opioid prescribing to their patients in pain…exacerbat[ing] the misery that state and federal opioid prescribing policies have already inflicted on them that is driving many to suicide and some to homicide”…

No Escape (#1298)

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

…at least a dozen women…were [repeatedly raped] by [typical and representative screws] at [Federal Cage Collection] Coleman…in Florida…th[e rapists]…admitted [their crimes] in sworn interviews with internal affairs investigators…Yet thanks to a little known Supreme Court precedent and a culture of corrupt self-protection inside the prison system, none of those guards were ever prosecuted—precisely because of the manner in which they confessed.  Most…retired before they could be fired, meaning they walked with their retirement benefits intact…Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2003.  It was [pretend]ed to create zero-tolerance policies for sexual abuse in U.S. prisons and jails.  PREA is mostly toothless, though—and in the federal prison system, festering corruption made it a bad joke…

I Spy (#1362)

This was merely a way for politicians to save face rather than be the direct cause of every encrypted app leaving the UK market:

The UK government will concede it [can]not…scan messaging apps for…content [politicians dislike without destroying end-to-end encryption] until it is “technically feasible” to do [the impossible], postponing measures that…threaten users’ privacy…mark[ing] an eleventh-hour effort by ministers to end [the looming threat of politicians being made total fools of by] tech companies…pull[ing] their services from the UK over [politicians’ demands that] they [submit to] an intolerable threat to millions of users’ security…The online safety bill, which has been in development for several years and is now in its final stages in parliament, is one of the [most outlandishly-pigheaded] attempts by any government to make [communications] companies responsible for [messages sent] on their networks…Officials have now privately a[dmitt]ed to tech companies that [they understand] there is no…technology able to scan end-to-end encrypted messages that would not also undermine users’ privacy…However, the statute will still give Ofcom powers to [demand] platforms…[conjure up] a technology [that] does not exist [and cannot exist]…

 

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 (#1370)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 6, 2023| 1 Comment »

There’s seemingly no policy turd that lawmakers are unwilling to polish in the name of “the children”.  –  J.D. Tuccille

Saint Death 

Apparently, popular and social media have played a large part in the global expansion of her worship:

…one Latin American New Religious Movement has reached Kyiv that perhaps few would expect: The cult of Santa Muerte – Holy Death…Dr. Andrew Chesnut of Virginia Commonwealth University, probably the foremost expert on Santa Muerte, says that the Mexican folk saint depicted as a female skeleton, from whom her devotees seek protection and favors, is the fastest-growing new religious movement in the world.  The skeleton saint went off the historical grid until the 1940s when American anthropologists “re-discovered her,” in Mexico. [The religion] became known to the larger American audience due to the television series Breaking Bad, as an object of devotion for Mexican drug cartels…the professor…[says] Santa Muerte “made her way to Europe via social media, especially Facebook and Instagram”…

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor and sex offender” is a large and ever-expanding group:

…Allan Kyle Jones…pastor at Lifeway Community Church in Loxley, [Alabama,] was [arrested and charged with possession of child pornography]…

Choke Point (#993) 

It always starts with a politically-unpopular group like sex workers or gun owners, but never stops there:

The House Judiciary Committee is investigating banks for sharing Americans’ financial information with the FBI without regard for privacy concerns…there’s no doubt about the threat to civil liberties posed by the government’s leverage over the financial industry; that’s long established.  At question in this investigation is whether…that cozy relationship is being wielded in political warfare between the country’s political factions…financial institutions have long operated as surveillance arms of the state, tracking transactions and movements, making assumptions about what they might mean, then turning that information over to government officials under regulatory pressure…based on idiosyncratic interpretations of vague laws and regulations…such power creates incentives to over-interpret activity as “suspicious” and to snitch on customers to stay on the good side of federal agencies…

Robocops

It’s rare that a court rules that some violent hooliganism is so stupid even a cop should’ve known better:

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Waylon Bailey…of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, made a joke on Facebook that alluded to the 2013 Brad Pitt zombie movie World War Z.  “RAPIDES PARISH SHERIFFS OFFICE HAVE ISSUED THE ORDER,” he wrote, that “IF DEPUTIES COME INTO CONTACT WITH ‘THE INFECTED,'” they should “SHOOT ON SIGHT.”  He added: “Lord have mercy on us all. #Covid9teen #weneedyoubradpitt.”  That post went up on March 20, 2020…that same day, about a dozen deputies wearing bulletproof vests descended upon Bailey’s home with their guns drawn…[screaming obscenities] and arrested him for violating a state law against “terrorizing,” a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison…the Rapides Parish District Attorney’s Office [wisely] declined to prosecute Bailey.  But when [he] sued…[a] judge…dismissed his claims with prejudice, concluding that his joke was not covered by the First Amendment, that the arrest was based on probable cause, and that [the pigs were] protected by qualified immunity…the 5th Circuit [has now] ruled that…was wrong on all three counts…

The Mob Rules (#1303)

Stupid people want you to believe that anti-sex authoritarians “do not agree on much”, because red and blue pap:

[Maine politician] Lois Reckitt…intends to submit a proposal for consideration in the 2024 legislative session modeled after a porn age-verification law in Louisiana …[joining six other] states — Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, Virginia and Utah — [in the monkey see, monkey do parade]…with unanimous or near-unanimous support from…[censorious imbeciles with the social sense of lemmings.  Unsurprisingly, the puritanical] Reckitt…[was also behind the scheme which recently imposed the dangerous, misogynistic Swedish model on] Maine…

You Were Warned (#1359)

Some politicians apparently believe that KOSA doesn’t destroy the internet thoroughly enough:

…the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act…borrows bad proposals from another federal bill and combines them with legislative idiocy enacted at the state level.  The resulting concoction could destroy internet privacy, subjecting all our online activity to government scrutiny in the name of shielding wee ones from harm…the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act generates the sort of cross-aisle consensus that generally only accompanies terrible ideas.  The bill “contains elements of the dangerous Kids Online Safety Act“…and…doubles down on bureaucratic control and surveillance of internet activity…its authors find substituting restrictive laws for parental responsibility…a convenient excuse for imposing controls that people would be unlikely to tolerate under any other circumstance…the digital ID pilot program is the real warhead in this particular legislative weapon, since…[politicians hate] online anonymity.  The bill provides a clear path towards linking internet activity to identities so that, for example, politicians could identify their critics…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1366)

The way local media parrots copaganda in the face of clear evidence of its foolishness is utterly pathetic:

…Milwaukee co[p]…Adriean Williams had an unexpected [panic attack after touching a scary]…blue sweater…”It’s terrifying” [he whimpered, remembering the scary, scary fuzziness.  Then another cop wasted]…Narcan, a nasal spray that counteracts the effects of opiates [and can act as a placebo for hysterical cops who imagine they’ve touched magic insta-fentanyl.  Actual doctors have explained time and again that]…incidental fentanyl exposure [has no such] immediate and profound reactions, but [cops are superstitious children who imagine they know better.  This mass hysteria affected another of]…Williams[‘ cronies]…the very next day…[when he] believe[d] cocaine….[was] fentanyl [and had a panic attack]…

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 #687

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »

All I know is that my granddaughter was killed by the police.  I thought she was grocery shopping.

I’ll always remember Arleen Sorkin not merely for bringing the character of Harley Quinn to life, but for introducing me to this wonderfully-sinister little ditty from the Warner Brothers catalog.  The links above it were provided by Franklin Harris, Tracy Quan, Mistress Matisse, Conner Habib, and Phoenix Calida (x2).

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 (#1369)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The potential for abuse is immense.  –  Patrick Toomey

License to Rape (#1249)

Apparently, pigs are only allowed to excuse sexual assault as a “search” if the victim is female:

…”squeezing a detainee’s penis hard is not a ‘proper part of a search,'” a federal appeals court has held.  The case, before the…8th Circuit, was brought by Wilbert Glover against Minnesota [screw] Richard Paul….[who sexually assaulted] Glover [in]…jail…in 2015…Paul responded by claiming that he “never touched [Glover’s] genitals”…and that even if he had, he was protected by qualified immunity.  The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota rejected Paul’s argument, concluding “that Paul’s alleged actions violated [a male’s] clearly established constitutional right to be free from…sexual assault or abuse”…the appeals court…affirmed the district court’s ruling…

A Moral Cancer (#1306)

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

George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism…[sez] the…USDA…might soon revise its dietary guidelines to recommend that adults consume no more than two alcoholic drinks per week.  Canada’s health [nann]ies recently shifted to that guideline …Currently, the federal dietary guidelines advise no more than two drinks per day for adult men and one drink per day for adult women…Thankfully, most Americans don’t give a shit what the federal guidelines…say.  Following [them]…would mean a joyless existence devoid of many fine drinks (particularly if you’re a woman), anything less than well-done steak, or eggs benedict.  Oh, and don’t forget to microwave your prosciutto!…

The Punitive Mindset (#1307)

If there’s anything more petty and warped than the mind of a prison official, I’m not sure what it might be:

A Florida prison refused to deliver copies of a local newspaper to an incarcerated subscriber…[under the bizarre pretext] that a puzzle game in the publication “may be used to create coded messages indecipherable by staff”…the “Celebrity Cipher”…[is] a syndicated word puzzle that appears next to the crossword.  Staff [preten]ed that the game violates a…rule prohibiting “publication[s] … written in code”…The Florida Press Association has asked the Literature Review Committee to reverse the [moronic] decision and allow incarcerated people to receive [newspapers because the ban is]…“arbitrary and irrational” and violates the First Amendment rights of the publisher and its incarcerated subscribers…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1341)

Tyrannies often start with sex workers, but never stop with us:

…it…seems to be that online [sex work] advertising is a surefire way to get flagged at the border…Some sites are seemingly safer than others.  Sex workers who advertised on Tryst, for example, never heard of the advertising platform mentioned by Border Control… it’s almost exclusively full-service sex workers being flagged, but there are examples of online creators being targeted, too…The ads reportedly don’t even need to be live in order to be flagged…It is unclear how the US government is identifying sex workers. It could be facial recognition, it could be advertising sites working with the government.  The fight right now is for transparency…some websites disclose that they co[llaborate with pigs and spooks], but…these statements are often buried in opaque terms and conditions, and no site is forthcoming in terms of speaking to the media…

I Spy (#1342)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

Customs and Border Protection…has bought millions of dollars worth of software from a company that uses [error-prone algorithms] to detect “sentiment and emotion” in online posts…related to inbound and outbound travelers who the agency [imagin]es may threaten public safety, national security, or lawful trade and travel…the…company called Fivecast also offers “AI-enabled” object recognition in images and video, and detection of “risk terms and phrases” across multiple languages…the software…[surveils] big social platforms like Facebook and Reddit, but also…smaller communities like 4chan, 8kun, and Gab…Fivecast…[also says] the tool could be used against [sex workers]…which can include U.S. citizens…CBP has deployed multiple [algorithmic] systems…[of dubious] accuracy and utility…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1366)

Now that politicians are vomiting out the “magic fentanyl” myth, will the media finally back away from it?

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass falsely claimed that “touching fentanyl could kill you”…according to all reputable toxicology experts, fentanyl powder cannot penetrate the skin under casual circumstances.  And overdosing from inhaling fentanyl particles in the air is nearly impossible, despite news reports published by…[bootlicking local media from both “culture war”camps pretend]ing otherwise…

The Mob Rules (#1368)

Much more of this, please:

As more and more states pass [unconstitutional] laws targeting “pornographic material” in books and online, they are repeatedly running up against a problem:  The Bible has not just a few passages that could be considered indecent…Reddit users…in…Virginia…[are] encourag[ing] people to use the new law to file consumer complaints to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares…[about] websites…[which a]re “failing in requiring age verification before accessing pornographic material” from the Bible…

 

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 (#1367)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 26, 2023| 1 Comment »

A facility didn’t kill my uncle; three deputies tased him while he was having a heart attack.  –  Sherilyn Sabo

St. James Infirmary

A program that did one thing well tried to be all things to all people:

St. James Infirmary…[i]s shutting down….[after] years…[of] mismanagement…Money was squandered, benefits went unpaid, and at one point the health clinic’s license allegedly lapsed, leaving medical providers in limbo…in the middle of the pandemic, staff on the ground saw problems spiral out of control.  Directors of the site quit or were pushed out…Shifts went severely understaffed…Brianna Singleton, a former nurse practitioner with St. James, [sai]d…the decision to take on housing programs dealt the organization a fatal blow.  “We were out of our depth…It felt like a magician pulling red flags out of their hat — they just kept coming”…

Torture Chamber 

Blaming torture and neglect on a building is brazen even by cop standards:

Between 2012 and 2016, the [East Baton Rouge Parish Prison] had a death rate more than twice the national average…Since 2012, there have been 59 fatalities in custody.  Jail staff have long…neglect[ed sick prisoners, leading to]…deadly lapses in medical treatment, and in 2016, the brutal treatment of people arrested and jailed for protesting the Baton Rouge police [murder] of Alton Sterling sparked a movement for jail reform.  The man who has overseen the jail for 15-plus years…Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, has often blamed the deaths on the building…[because he wants] a new, even larger facility, but voters have shot down requests for funding to build a new one.  The sheriff, [like most of his diseased ilk]…has…profit[ed from] his office, raking in significant campaign contributions from contractors during elections where he has…lacked a significant challenger.  This includes thousands of dollars in donations from a law firm that has represented Gautreaux and his co-defendants against plaintiffs whose loved ones have died in his jail…

Sex Rays (#1003)

I’m sure the people of Maui didn’t want her dirty whore money anyhow:

The OnlyFans model using her nude photos to raise money for Maui wildfire relief efforts can no longer crowdfund on GoFundMe…because the platform shut down her efforts.  Mariah Casillas, who goes by Lavagrll on social media, was sending nudes to folks who donated $10 to victims of the deadly Maui wildfires…The model raised over $7,400 in just a few days, but…GoFundMe [clutched its pearls, clucked about]…”prohibited conduct”…[and] refunded [all the money so the would-be donors got] her nudes for free [which I’m sure made the bluenoses at GoFundMe feel better].  She’s now taking her nude fundraiser over to OnlyFans…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1269)

If you didn’t see this one coming, you haven’t been paying attention:

[Louisiana politician] Liz Murrill…mixed two classic Republican strawmen — the drug war and abortion — into a single, unexpected and wholly unsubstantiated talking point: Nefarious drug pushers are lacing online abortion pills with fentanyl…In a…[radio interview] Murrill…[started by bloviating standard prohibitionist talking points, including the bogus] claim that cannabis is a gateway drug, [then declared that] the smell of marijuana is ruining American communities…“everywhere we go, we see these communities that are just being destroyed by the smell and…people are sleeping on the streets.  One thing leads to the other”…she [then]…claimed cannabis legalization has somehow been a boon for illegal fentanyl sales…and…then…pivoted to…abortion pills…Of course, there is no evidence that abortion pills are being mixed with fentanyl and they remain perfectly safe — and legal in most states…Ironically, Republicans have created a de facto gray market for abortion pills…if Murrill’s random musings about fentanyl and abortion pills were true, it would mean th[ey]…are responsible…since they made the pills illegal in the first place…

You Were Warned (#1341)

This is an extremely dangerous precedent:

TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance has spent years negotiating a national security agreement with the Biden Administration that would avoid a ban on the short video app in the United States…that agreement…would give [the US] government…the authority to: examine TikTok’s U.S. facilities, records, equipment and servers with minimal or no notice; block changes to the app’s U.S. terms of service, moderation policies and privacy policy; veto the hiring of any executive involved in leading TikTok’s U.S. Data Security org; order TikTok and ByteDance to pay for and subject themselves to various audits, assessments and other reports on the security of TikTok’s U.S. functions; and, in some circumstances, require ByteDance to temporarily stop TikTok from functioning in the United States.  The draft agreement would make TikTok’s U.S. operations subject to extensive supervision by an array of independent investigative bodies…and…force TikTok U.S. to exclude ByteDance leaders from certain security-related decision making, and instead rely on an executive security committee that would operate in secrecy from ByteDance…

Dangerous Speech (#1348)

It’s almost like the judge is intentionally setting up another mistrial:

…federal Judge Diane Humetewa…shot down a defense suggestion that the prosecution not use the terms “sex trafficking” and “child sex trafficking” during the Aug. 29 trial of award-winning journalist Michael Lacey and four others, calling the position a “non-starter”.  Humetewa also overruled a defense objection to her proposed jury instruction on the First Amendment, despite the defense’s claim that the instruction’s wording does not comport with precedents set by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Most of the two-hour hearing dealt with establishing a jury pool of 110 persons, out of which 16 will be plucked to serve as 12 jurors and four alternates.  Humetewa said she added questions to the jury questionnaire aimed at finding out if potential jurors knew of the recent, tragic death of veteran newspaperman Jim Larkin and if it would affect their ability to be impartial…

The Widening Gyre (#1360) 

This time, the “sex trafficking” lie was told to divert blame for bad behavior:

The junior Marine charged with sexually assaulting a [14-year-old girl]…met [her] on a dating app where she told him she was 22…Pfc. Avery Rosario…is currently…charged with…sexual assault of a child over age 12…Rosario’s defense team argued that the Marine and two friends who witnessed his interactions with the girl all believed she was 22…[her] Tinder profile…said she was 21…In screenshots of direct message exchanges on Tinder and Instagram shown in court…she told him she was actually 22…The girl’s aunt posted a series of videos on TikTok saying the girl had been the victim of sex trafficking and was sold to the Marine [presumably by “traffickers”] for sex…But [after] she [was] seen in the hallway of the barracks…She made several contradicting statements to investigators…first giving them a false birthday.  She later told them she’d lied to the Marine about her age…she [later claimed she] had been sex trafficked and had come to the base to be rescued…

 

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 (#1366)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

They never actually say, “Go do this or else you’re going to have this consequence.”  But everybody just knows.  –  Judge Jennifer Elrod

To Molest and Rape

If only there were a concise term for “commission of a nonconsensual sexual act”:

…a [typical and representative] Savanna [Oklahoma cop named]…Jeffery Scott Smith Jr…[us]ed a traffic stop [as a pretext]…to [violently rape a passenger in the car]…and…deactivat[ed] his…body…camera and…dashboard camera…with the intent to [get away with violent aggravated rape]…

Life Imitates Artifice (#849)

Every so often the failed “forced sex trafficking abortions” trope bobs up, like a turd that just won’t flush:

[Without presenting any evidence,] Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen…accused [Planned Parenthood]…of falsifying records…about sexual assault against minors and statutory rape, suggesting th[is]… “could be happening with human trafficking victims.”  The…comments in a July 31 radio interview echo a decade-old…[evangelical trope from the popular “sex trafficking” mythology claim]ing that the national Planned Parenthood organization abets human trafficking…

I suspect that the reason the “forced sex trafficking abortions” myth didn’t become more popular is that, despite the considerable overlap between anti-whore and anti-abortion activism, abortion rights constitute a sacred cow among the “progressives” who did much of the heavy lifting promoting the moral panic.  This same discomfort with logical developments of their pet hysteria resulted in organs like The New York Times distancing themselves from their own propaganda once it developed into QAnon.

Thought Control (#1285)

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

Florida’s…”Don’t Say Gay” law…was expanded on 31 March, to prohibit instruction on gender and sexuality up until the eighth grade, and on reproductive health until the 12th grade.  The legislation also…[censors] material that [politicians or bureaucrats choose to arbitrarily label] “pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct”…[in order to protect teachers from persecution by the State,] the Hillsborough County schools district announced it will now only teach excerpts from some of Shakespeare’s most-famous works…On 3 August…Florida’s Department of Education…ruled that AP psychology classes were a violation of the law due to LGBTQ+ content…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1309)

The way local media parrots copaganda in the face of clear evidence of its foolishness is utterly pathetic:

A deputy’s first-person perspective during a [panic attack] was captured on his body camera, along with a[dministration of a placebo]…by a fellow deputy that [helped him calm down despite having no actual medical effect]…Nick Huzior, who is now [enjoying a vacation at taxpayer expense, claimed]…he felt extremely lightheaded, shaky and [numb, none of which are symptoms of]…fentanyl…Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly [used the panic attack as an excuse to claim a cop panicking like a little girl over wholly imaginary terrors is somehow heroic]…

Checklist (#1150)

Uber already encourages its drivers to spy on riders and rat sex workers out to the pigs:

Texas law will now require all drivers of Transportation Network Companies…to receive [even more of the same absurd and overbroad “signs of human trafficking“ indoctrination they’ve been forced to endure for almost a decade now]…The bill comes after [rescue industry corporations recognized they are losing an]…easy…[way to milk] their victims [for donations]…and [enlisted politicians in fear of losing a powerful excuse for police-statery]…

I know that’s a huge edit, but there really is nothing new to see in this asinine regurgitation of tired old tropes, including “King of the Hill“.

Torture Chamber (#1359)

I’m sure they occasionally yelled “Stop faking!” at him as he wasted away:

…Florida prison officials and medical staff allowed an incarcerated man’s prostate cancer to spread untreated until he was left paralyzed, terminally ill, and afflicted with infected bed sores that rotted to the bone.  When he wrote desperate pleas for help, one official concluded, “This is not an emergency.”  In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last year…Elmer Williams [explain]s that [screws] and nursing staff denied and delayed medical treatment for months after he filed a grievance against them.  The…delays were not just bureaucratic incompetence but retaliation…medical records…reveal [that] staff were aware of his extremely high indicators for prostate cancer, aware of a long-overdue “urgent” referral to a urologist, and aware of his rapidly deteriorating condition…

Censor Chic (#1359)

It’s good to see at least some judges still respect their oath to uphold the Constitution against the government:

Federal judges hammered fresh nails into the coffin of the Biden censorship regime…[in] the Justice Department’s appeal of a July 4 decision in Missouri v. Biden…[where] Federal Judge Terry Doughty…delivered 155 pages of damning details of federal browbeating, jawboning and coercion of social-media companies…The Biden administration…then sought to redefine all its closed-door shenanigans as public service…[claiming that] since federal SWAT teams did not assail the headquarters of social-media firms, the feds are blameless…[and pretending] it’s irrelevant that…Biden publicly accused social-media companies of murder for not censoring far more material and that Biden appointees publicly threatened to destroy the companies via legislation or prosecution…

 

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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Summertweets, and the Livin’ is Easy

Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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In the News (#1359)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[An FBI] suggestion…is not a suggestion. It is in fact effectively an order.  –  Darrell Issa

Surplus Women

Cops love awkward, overcomplicated language:

Three women [have been] found dead near the Trinity River in [Dallas, and]…Oscar Sanchez Garcia…is being charged with th[e]…murder[s].  The body of 60-year-old Limberly Robinson was found in late April.  25-year-old Cherish Gibson was found dead in the same area two months later.  The third woman was found [July 15th and] has not yet been identified.  Police believe at least two of the victims have possible ties to prostitution…

Would it have been too difficult to say, “at least two of the victims may have been sex workers”?

No Difference (#1334)

Will this be another victory for US evangelical prohibitionists?

Kenya is…introducing legislation that would criminalise openly identifying with, or supporting, the LGBTQ+ community…including openly identifying as LGBTQ+ or wearing Pride emblems.  Those found in breach of the law would face a minimum of 10 years in jail while those found guilty of performing same-sex acts would face a minimum of 14 years…anyone found guilty under a clause for “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as engaging in “homosexual acts with a minor or disabled person and transmitting a terminal disease through sexual means”, could be executed.  The bill heavily mirrors Uganda’s…which was signed into law earlier this year.  Similar bills are also being proposed in Tanzania…South Sudan…[and] Ghana…

You Were Warned (#1344)

“This bill is not about kids’ safety, because it will put their safety at risk”:

With…KOSA…be[ing] debated in…Congress…Joe Biden [has] come out [to] give a full throated endorsement of the horrible, dangerous, bill that will damage privacy and harm children…the Republicans have been quite vocal about how they support KOSA because they know they can use it to suppress LGBTQ voices.  They flat out said that they believe that “keeping trans content away from children is protecting kids”…KOSA….[is] not about “protecting” kids privacy at all.  It’s about giving the government more control over kids.  The nature of the bill will require more data collection…[and] create serious 1st Amendment concerns by holding companies potentially liable if kids face harm that…an [ambulance-chaser can pretend was somehow related]…to anything they found online…

Now would be the time to call your congresscritter to scare it away from being associated with this police-state garbage.

Torture Chamber (#1344)

I’m sure they occasionally yelled “Stop faking!” at him as he wasted away:

By the time he died alone in his Miami-Dade jail cell in the summer of 2021, (5’10”) Randy Heath weighed just 113 pounds…[because] guards…allowed [him]…to languish [for 9 months] in the jail’s mental health unit…[and] did not properly feed, monitor, or administer…medication…the…Medical Examiner’s Office…[claims] Heath…died from “food asphyxia” after a large piece of orange blocked his airway, with the contributory cause being pica, an eating disorder in which people compulsively eat things that aren’t food…Heath…had been in and out of…jail since 2002 on various charges…[but the most recent arrest] in April 2020 [was on the pretext that he touched] his ankle monitor [in a manner disallowed by The State]…He would remain on the floor of his cell unattended for hours…in his own urine and feces…Although he was regularly prescribed medication for his mental illnesses, his toxicology report detected no medicine in his system at the time of death…

Censor Chic (#1354)

Partisans deny this when it’s their side making “suggestions”:

…based on current evidence, the FBI has not explicitly demanded that social media companies censor any specific posts or news stories.  But…[as] the Supreme Court [said] nearly 60 years ago: Americans “do not lightly disregard public officers’ thinly veiled threats to institute criminal proceedings against them if they do not come around.”  Much is said in our current discourse about…power imbalances…When your boss asks if you can stay late or come in on the weekend, you can say no. But in the back of your mind, you know there may be consequences…It’s…a similar dynamic when the government sends “suggestions” to private individuals or companies over which it exercises…authority…When the FBI floods social media platforms with “alerts” about content it obviously wants taken down, it doesn’t deserve a pass just because it didn’t say out loud: “or else”…The FBI uses the weight and authority of its office to lean on platforms in an attempt to do what the First Amendment forbids it from doing directly: suppress protected speech.  This tactic is called “jawboning,” and is not something we should blithely accept in a society committed to free expression as a fundamental value…

Served Cold (#1357)

Ballard’s increasingly-bizarre antics have apparently upset his partners in profiteering:

Tim Ballard, the celebrity [“sex] trafficking[” profiteer] whose heavily fictionalized exploits served as the inspiration for the [fak]e box-office hit Sound of Freedom, is no longer CEO of the Nazarene Fund, the Glenn Beck-backed [rescue industry] organization…a letter is circulating in Utah’s philanthropic community, which claims that Ballard left OUR following an internal investigation…[after] an employee filed an HR complaint after returning from a mission with Ballard…

Elsewhere, Kaytlin Bailey uses Ballard’s fanciful story as a springboard for discussion of why “rescue” narratives are not only nonsense, but distracting from measures that really help sex workers.

Torture Chamber (#1358)

It does not help young victims of governmental brutality to infantilize them as “children”:

…inside…the…largest juvenile [prison]…in…New Mexico…[young people] between the ages of 12 and 17 are routinely subjected to strip searches, held for weeks in cells without toilets, and left with only a thin plastic sheet to block out the glare of hallway lights that never turn off.  Girls face particularly harsh conditions, often placed in…solitary confinement…chronic understaffing…[is used to excuse holding prisoners] for weeks, in temporary booking cells with no toilets or sinks…[yet somehow there are enough staff for weekly sexual assaults euphemized as “]strip searches[“.  Girls who]…refuse…to [submit are]…locked in…cell[s] until [they “]consent[“]…

 

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 (#1358)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 26, 2023| 3 Comments »

The judges…justif[ied] their leniency…in florid language strikingly similar to that found in subreddits for incels.  –  Gustavo Turner

The Pygmalion Fallacy (#787)

The return of a ridiculous fantasy we haven’t seen much in the past few years:

Former Google executive Mo Gawdat has made a st[upid, hackneyed] prediction: hyper-realistic AI sex robots are coming that could make intimate human relationships obsolete…Gawdat— [like many other clueless techheads before him]—claimed…virtual reality and augmented reality will soon allow people to have simulated sexual experiences that are indistinguishable from real life…If you can use tech to feel what your partner makes you feel, Gawdat [inanely bloviated], “Why would you need another being in the first place?”…

Virtual Imperialism (#1175)

Beijing’s campaign to silence Chinese people outside China is becoming more aggressive:

…a couple of weeks before the [election, incumbent Canadian MP] Kenny Chiu…[realized] something had flipped among the ethnic Chinese voters in his British Columbia district…Longtime supporters…were not returning his calls.  Volunteers reported icy greetings at formerly friendly homes.  Chinese-language news outlets stopped covering him.  And he was facing an onslaught of attacks — from untraceable sources — on the local community’s most popular social networking app, the Chinese-owned WeChat…Chiu and several other elected officials critical of Beijing were targets of a Chinese state that has increasingly exerted its influence over Chinese diaspora communities worldwide as part of an aggressive campaign to expand its global reach…a Chinese diplomat…[tried] to intimidate…Michael Chong…after he successfully led efforts in Parliament to label China’s [genocide] of…Uyghur[s]…a genocide…

The Widening Gyre (#1218) 

Another troubled woman fakes an “abduction” to get attention:

Police in Alabama cast doubt…on the story of a woman who set off a frantic search when she disappeared for two days after calling 911 to report a[n imaginary] toddler wandering on the highway.  Carlee Russell [pretended] she was abducted and forced into a car…but…detectives were…unable to verify…[her claim that] she was taken by a man who came out of the trees when she stopped to check on the child, put [her] in [both] a car and an 18-wheel truck, [then] blindfolded [her] and held [her] at a home where a woman fed her cheese crackers…she [claimed she later]…managed to escape and run through the woods to her neighborhood.  In the days before her disappearance, she searched for information on her cellphone about Amber Alerts, [the “sex trafficking” propaganda] movie [Taken,] and [buying] a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham, Alabama, to Nashville, Tennessee, departing the day she disappeared.  Her phone also showed she traveled about 600 yards while telling a 911 operator she was following a 3- or 4-year-old child in a diaper on the side of the highway…

To Molest and Rape (#1325)

If only there were a concise term for “coerced women into sex”:

In 2012, three months after Eddie Scott became sheriff of Clay County, Miss…a woman he had [repeatedly rap]ed…after she was arrested…[filed suit against him, and even] showed suggestive letters [he had written her]…Judge Jim Kitchens ruled against the woman.  Sheriff Scott’s predecessor, Laddie Huffman…did not report [him] to state or federal [cop shops].  There [wa]s no…internal investigation…The…only public record of the allegations [was intentionally hidden] at the Clay County Courthouse…among hundreds of cases, until reporters [finally] pressed for it…while [finally] investigating other [rapes committed by] Scott…[who claims she wanted it, just like all the other] women..[he has harassed,] coerce[d, raped,] and retaliate[d] against…wh[en they reported the attacks]…In rural communities like Clay County…sheriffs rule like kings.  They can arrest anyone they choose, smear reputations and hand out reprieves and other favors.  They…hold people in jail as long as they please and they answer to no one…Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree rose in the ranks of his Mississippi department and kept his elected office for years despite [repeated rapes and beatings of caged people].  He was voted out in 2019 and now faces federal charges of bribery…But in Clay County, Sheriff Scott remains in power…

The Vultures Descend (#1333)

Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:

…A new procedure adopted in mid-June by one of the largest abortion pill suppliers, Europe-based Aid Access, now allows U.S. medical professionals in…states that have passed abortion “shield” laws to prescribe and mail pills directly to patients in antiabortion states.  Previously, Aid Access allowed only Europe-based doctors to prescribe abortion pills to women in states where abortion is restricted and then shipped those pills internationally, leaving patients to wait weeks.  The telemedicine shield laws, enacted over the past year in New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Vermont and Colorado, explicitly protect abortion providers who mail pills to restricted states from inside their borders.  The result is a new pipeline of legally prescribed abortion pills flowing into states with abortion bans…

Surplus Women (#1349)

Gee, I wonder why violent men often target sex workers?

In a controversial statement justifying their sentence of 30 years rather than life in prison for the man convicted of murdering [adult] performer and OnlyFans creator Charlotte Angie, the Italian judges in the case referred to the victim as an “uninhibited” woman who made her killer feel “used”…

Torture Chamber (#1356)

It does not help young victims of governmental brutality to infantilize them as “children”:

[Young people] incarcerated on the former death row unit of Louisiana’s Angola prison were locked in their cells without air conditioning for several days this month amid scorching summer temperatures…the[y]…were only let out of their cells for an eight-minute shower, which they had to take while handcuffed with their ankles shackled…With heat indexes in the surrounding area reaching as high as 133 degrees this month, a medical expert…warned the court that the conditions could be fatal…[describing the practice as] “foolhardy and perilous”…the…young people [were moved to Angola in retaliation for] escap[ing] from a…juvenile…facility…

 

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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