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Posts Tagged ‘ethics’

Blue Blood

Posted in Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Just a reminder that on the 25th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, the war it caused was already 21 years in the past, Japan and Germany had largely been rebuilt and become allies, and the economic costs of the war were largely behind the US (though not Europe or Asia).

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-11T17:44:58.998Z

I think scientists should lock RFK into a Skinner box to test this. Of course, several other Trump henchmen will need to be similarly-confined as a control group. A year or two of testing should prove or disprove the assertion.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-14T17:20:16.067Z

How much of a dangerous clown does a man have to be to get fired by ICE, which is practically the dangerous clown brigade?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-15T17:15:38.468Z

Looks like I made the right choice by stopping my book at the end of New Who. amazon.com/dp/B0FBLDZ2B…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-17T18:05:39.808Z

For those of you with very tenuous attachment to reality: Don't worry, the Panama Canal has not moved; it's in the same place it has always been since its completion in 1914.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-18T18:09:51.204Z

I really wish people understood verisimilitude, and that consistency of mundane elements is MORE important in a fantasy movie under the "change only one thing" principle.But alas, that ship sailed long ago; critics were already pointing it out in the '60s.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-19T17:12:25.407Z


This is possibly one of the stupidest diktats which have ever erupted from that festering pustule he uses to make sounds.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-22T16:44:49.712Z

I have said for decades that I'd much rather talk to someone who disagrees with me *and can articulate the reasons why* than someone who agrees with me and cannot.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-25T02:38:41.198Z

The group "Very Stupid People Who Are Nonetheless Convinced They Are Geniuses" have *always* been taken in by claims that one could live forever if one merely eats the "right" foods and performs the "correct" magical rites. The scam was already old when the Comte de Saint Germain was selling it.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-25T17:42:44.300Z

There's a word for a woman who trusts a man to take care of birth control: "pregnant".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T01:58:03.448Z

Apparently, YouTube's search algorithm has been programmed so that when it can't find what you asked for, it just brings up a lot of commercials instead. It's like going to a restaurant, ordering something not on the menu, and being served ten dirty dishes and a bill.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-27T17:31:51.369Z

What a strange thing to say. Trump's belief that he is immune from any kind of legal limit is actually a rational one, because that's exactly how everyone in Washington behaves, including SCOTUS and Democratic members of Congress. If they want him to believe something else, they need to show him.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-28T07:28:06.777Z

All of these people are so physically warped it's almost like the director is signaling that they have warped minds and personalities. It's kind of like a Dutch angle.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-29T07:58:23.998Z

He's not far enough "underwater" until his regime implodes like a submersible full of billionaires.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-30T17:17:07.213Z

When science won't give a powerful person the answer he wants, he invariably turns to mysticism. This syndrome goes back to the dawn of science 2500 years ago, and is largely responsible for the technological and social stagnation of the European middle ages. reason.com/2026/10/02/a…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-02T19:30:06.431Z

I love that the owl's facial expression says, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-03T17:26:51.356Z

Basically, all the village idiots have been networked into a giant idiotnet (like a botnet, but with idiots) which functions like a computer to spew out more and bigger idiocy than could be produced by any one idiot or group of idiots. It's a massive breakthrough in the technology of idiocy.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-04T18:16:09.793Z

The main problem with those stupid enough to believe even a single word of this Bronze-Age nonsense is that they're allowed to vote.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-06T17:50:29.076Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-07T07:42:20.746Z

Remember what "code" is: a set of instructions. If an LLM has feelings, so does every one of those printed sheets that come with Ikea furniture. So does the phrase "close cover before striking" on a matchbook.Yes, this is absurd. People need to start saying so. A picture of a human is not a human.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-10T07:43:11.040Z

The term everyone is dancing around is "secret police", a hallmark of totalitarian regimes.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-10T18:00:31.330Z

Oh please, God, please, I don't ask for much…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-12T17:42:16.917Z

Yeah, we've noticed.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-13T17:48:41.989Z

Actual LOL.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-15T17:35:05.310Z

Quoted post: the fantasy.This post: the reality

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-16T17:56:17.598Z

That's the story of government from ancient times to the present. In all but very rare cases (so rare they are historically notable), the rulers of any political grouping are the most despicable creatures in the land.What makes Trump different is that he can't even PRETEND to be a civilized man.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-10-17T07:41:54.468Z

 

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Requiem for Throwback Thursday

Posted in Fiction, History, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »





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The Shiver of Throwback Thursday

Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »





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In the News (#1678)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

If you watch enough innocent people closely enough, criminals will fall out.  –  Josh Windham

The Punitive Mindset (#1303)

One of the primary goals of US prisons is ensuring that people condemned to their dungeons can never have a normal life ever again:

…the Connecticut Department of [Torturing People Locked in Cages] charge[s] a fee for every day a person spends in prison and then [robs them whenever possible to] collect on that debt…If [one of the state’s] former…[victims] wins the lottery…collects an inheritance or receives certain lawsuit settlements, the state can [steal] up to half the money…[even from] their children, spouses and heirs.  Other states and the federal government have similar laws on the books, commonly referred to as “pay to [be tortured]” statutes, but…Connecticut bills…prisoners [at] one of the highest [rates] in the country…$347 per day…[and] can collect on that debt for up to two decades after people are released from prison…In one such case, Connecticut [abducted a man’s] 1-year-old son [and killed him]…the state [was forced via lawsuit to pay] $2 million to compensate the family for the child’s death, [then stole]…more than $84,000 [of it because he had once been] in prison…[in] numerous cases…people were forced to sell their homes…

To Molest and Rape (#1468)

Rapist cops don’t only target women:

A Ramona [Oklahoma cop named]…Gerald Garrison [was fired and arrested for groping]…and [“]forcible sodomy[” of]…a city employee [who] was riding along with Garrison…in…the p[igmobile].  The…[grop]ing continued after the two entered Ramona City Hall…Garrison [said his victim wanted it]…

Given that this is Oklahoma, it’s more likely he was quickly fired for being queer rather than for being a rapist.

Feudalism Redux (#1518)

Another attempt to reduce all women to serfdom:

…Tennessee’s Underage Abortion Trafficking Act…criminalizes the “recruit[ment]” of a minor for any procedure that “would constitute a criminal abortion” under Tennessee law…[regardless of] where they take place…[the 6th Circuit has now ruled] in favor of abortion rights advocates Rachel Welty and Aftyn Behn by affirming a lower court’s permanent injunction against the recruitment provision.  Welty and Behn advise people in Tennessee…about how to obtain an abortion in out-of-state places where the procedure is legal.  Making this illegal violates the…First Amendment…

Panopticon (#1661)

Cops won’t stop doing this until they’re forced to stop:

A Lexington [Kentucky] couple [was targeted by a cop gang who] surrounded their house…at 4 o’clock in the morning [on September 26.  A spokespig ludicrously characterized this dangerous act of cop theater as]…investigating a road rage incident in which someone reported being assaulted with a deadly weapon.  The [victim] described the [assailant’s] vehicle…as a dark colored Ram 2500…[so cops] used the Flock S[urveillance system]…to [pick]…a dark colored Ram 2500 [at random.  Luckily for Will and Robin Penn, they are white, so the gang did not destroy their house or murder them in a hail of bullets]…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1668)

The open internet will soon be a thing of the past:

Alabama[‘s]…“historic” settlement with TikTok [isn’t merely]…a $100–300 million [extortion]…pa[yout, but also]…one of the most expansive age‑verification and behavioral‑surveillance mandates ever imposed on a social media platform…TikTok must develop machine‑learning models [for]…always‑on…behavioral…deep content…social‑graph…identity correlation…anti‑evasion…[and] activity surveillance…not…only [of] minors…[but of] every Alabama user…device…[and] account…These systems cannot function without continuous monitoring of all users…

Welcome to the Future (#1672)

This ruling is probably too little, too late to stop “pre-crime” policing:

A federal jury…found Bexar County, Texas, liable for systematically violating thousands of Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights for years through a [legalized robbery gang]…On March 16, 2022, Alek Schott was driving home from a work trip near San Antonio, Texas, when…a Bexar County Sheriff’s Office…deputy [inflicted]…an hourlong, unconstitutional fishing expedition [on him, implicitly threatening him with arrest and interrogating him]…while [the pig rooted in his]…criminal history…the[n using a] dog [to manufacture fake “probable cause” to root through his vehicle without his consent by]…gesturing…and signaling toward the dog…when…Schott filed a complaint with the BCSO internal affairs department…[they laughed at him and told him to] “file a…lawsuit”…so he did, untangling a web of pretextual stops…[justified by chatbot-connected] license plate readers…[declaring random victims “]abnormal[“]…

Shame, Shame (#1676)

The excuse-making is almost as nauseating as the electric zombies themselves:

More than a century after her screen debut and decades after her ashes were laid to rest in a Swedish woodland cemetery, [Greta Garbo]’s descendants are ready to c[ash in on her legend any way they can].  Her [corpse] has already been reanimated for a…[ball-bearing] advert for a Swedish industrial company…The practice some [ethical people] call “ghostploitation” has also been used in the case of the [late] actor Val Kilmer…Craig Reisfield, one of three relatives who [mis]manage her legacy, [said]…“I won’t say no, especially [consider]ing [how]…incredibl[y lucrative it will be,] and [since]…Greta Garbo [is dead we needn’t bother with obtaining her 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 (#1676)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, Music, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 30, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I built SparrowMap to give…the watchers a taste of how it feels to be watched.  –  Matthew Montney Jr.

Torture Chamber (#1461)

I’m sure they’ll try to thwart the court order with delays & halfway measures:

A federal judge has ordered Texas to air condition all of the state’s…prison[s]…by the end of 2029…at [present only] a third of the agency’s 104 [dungeons a]re fully air conditioned…[despite summer] conditions in Texas prisons without air conditioning [clearly] violat[ing] the Eighth Amendment [ban on]…cruel and unusual punishment…

Eavesdropping (#1514)

“Shot detection” systems are a boondoggle designed to manufacture false evidence for cops:

Flock…sells a surveillance bundle…called the “Safe City” subscription…[which] includes the much-discussed ALPRs, along with a live video camera—and a gunfire microphone…[intentionally designed to] turn…lawful gun owners into criminal suspects based only on proximity…Cities also have deployed firearm detection systems that rely on [machine learning] to [pretend Doritos bags are guns]…or combine [detected sounds with cops’ editing] to [frame innocent people].  Flock [brags that its]…technology…can…turn…suspected gunfire into a list of nearby vehicles…that sweeps in drivers who had nothing to do with the noise…

Shame, Shame (#1643)

The rise of computerized zombies:

The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music [scam] that hopes to [make cartoon versions of] classic concerts by ma[king cartoon versions of dead] musicians…[or] “hyper [ghoulish]” digital [cartoons] of living artists who [have] no [scruples about bleeding their fans]…The music industry has long [lusted after] the [ability to exploit popular musicians, who have an annoying habit of dying young]…such as the 2012 [cartoon] of the late rapper Tupac Shakur [which was played] alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre at Coachella festival.  The concept found mainstream success with the 2022 launch of Abba Voyage, a lucrative…con…[featuring cartoons] of the Swedish pop group…Unit1’s aim is to stage shows with real musicians playing live instruments on stage alongside [cartoon characters on]…a high-definition LED screen, which is combined with extra lights, sound and props to give them the illusion they are [in the universe of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]…However, [true] fans have expressed unease about [the memories of] dead musicians [they loved] being [violated in this manner].  Earlier this year, a [scheme] to [dig up the corpse] of the late…Ozzy Osbourne was [recogn]ised as being disrespectful and in poor taste by [true] fans…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1648)

Promoters of dystopia love to vomit words like “safety” into the faces of useful idiots:

The University of Kentucky is installing…facial [recognition] scann[ers]…on several campus buildings.  The technology, [moronically] called Rock, is made by [a company whose name, “]Alcatraz[“, would be panned as too obvious if used by the writers of a dystopian TV show]…Alcatraz…CEO Tina D’Agostin…[argued that key card] technology most campuses use today is [automatically bad because it is] 30 years old…She…[then barfed up a bunch of lies about privacy followed by obfuscatory buzzwords including “]active shooter[” and “]physically assault a female[“]…Three [out] of…four students interviewed on campus [simply stared with a glazed expression and belched either “safety” or “the future”]…

Walled Garden (#1657)

The open internet will soon be a thing of the past:

The EU Commission draft law to restrict young people’s access to the internet…will put online services behind age gates, expand the use of intrusive age verification, and undermine the privacy of all users.  [Proponents of ] the EU Kids Act [justify it by barfing “]protect children[” in the faces of rational people, but in reality]…age gates…reduce safety…and create barriers to…marginalized groups…this…compliance nightmare…rel[ies] on the [already-failed] EU age verification scheme…parents…who [want to allow their teens to use the internet] must set up accounts and prove that they are, in fact, parents, adding yet another problematic layer of verification…the…design…[appears to be a way to circumvent the fact that] a French court [has already] declared s[ocial media] bans unconstitutional…

To Molest and Rape (#1673)

Some child-molesting cops are indiscriminate in their choice of victims and acts:

[A cop named] Joseph Gallagher Jr…[was arrested on multiple] child sex charges…[for repeatedly] urinat[ing] in [the] mouth [of a 4-year-old boy.  After the child told his teacher, investigation revealed]…Gallagher [had] also…rap[ed] a [10-year-old] girl…in 2021…Gallagher was employed with the East Stroudsburg University Police…[w]here…he…had a history of urinating on campus buildings when he had access to restrooms…

Panopticon (#1674)

“These agencies surveil the public incessantly, but the moment we can watch them back, it’s deemed a security threat”:

Department of [Father]land Security…fusion centers have started monitoring anti-surveillance activists…in[cluding]…online critics of…ALPRs…[and] a website, SparrowMap, that uses ALPR technology to track police vehicles in real time…There is nothing illegal about SparrowMap…[which] processes publicly available livestreams from municipal cameras and footage provided by volunteers using everyday cameras…Volunteers…confirm…anything before it is published as a government vehicle…But the federal government’s desire to beat back the growing wave of “anti-surveillance extremism” will have to contend with the reality that impassioned sentiment opposing [mass] surveillance [is] now a majoritarian position across America.  Politicians from [across the uni]part[y] have scrambled to introduce legislation curbing or eliminating automated license plate readers altogether, at the same time [anti-civil liberties organiz]ations hold secret briefings in Washington attempting to stem the anti-surveillance tide…

The tagline is from this article on cops getting butthurt when pervert glasses are used against them.

 

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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Lake Throwback Thursday

Posted in Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , on September 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »




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In the News (#1674)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »

We kill people based on metadata.  –  General Michael Hayden

Vulture Watching (#1527)

The only way to stop this evil is to bury politicians in lawsuits:

The family of a woman who died after she could not get an abortion in Texas is suing doctors and [politician]s including [psychopath-] General Ken Paxton.  It is the first lawsuit over a death [caused by] an abortion ban…and the…first to directly sue Paxton, who has taken a leading role in…[using nuisance lawsuits to persecute “culture war” opponents.  After the 2025 death of] Tierra Walker…Texas [politicians] …passed a [deceptive] law [pretended] to clarify wh[en]…doctors…can [legally]…intervene [to save a woman’s life, but which in actuality revived a 1925 abortion ban that felonized helping someone “procure” an abortion]…Walker died days after being [refused an abortion despite her…[severe] preeclampsia…The plaintiffs, Walker’s family, are seeking a jury trial and pursuing both damages and a judgement finding that Texas’ abortion laws violate the state constitution.

Signs (#1618)

Governments and fanatics encouraged this kind of behavior for a decade:

San Jose [cops] arrested a [deranged] woman…[who] pulled up to [a man] and his 6-year-old daughter multiple times while they were walking…and proceeded to [scream “sex trafficking” accusations at him, burbling]…”I’m making sure that you’re not sex trafficking this poor little girl…That’s a white little girl, and you’re a man of color, so I believe you’re either buying or selling or trafficking this child”…sources have identified [the crazy person] as Lindsay Hansen…[who has a history of] harass[ing] members of the…community, tap[ing] them, and shar[ing] the recordings through social media…in [one video she is seen barging into] the girls’ locker room of a…high school [and] accusing physical education teachers of [molesting students]…she…[fantasiz]es herself as a [“]professional[“] who exposes child sex traffickers and uploads [CGI]…images of [situations she has fantasized.  She also frequently posts racist and anti-LGBT propaganda and is known to have]…significant mental health issues…

All through the 2010s, people with similar self-aggrandizing beliefs about “sex trafficking expertise” were approvingly quoted in the mainstream media and even paid to spout their deranged propaganda to schools, clubs, cop assemblies, etc.  And until quite recently, airlines encouraged their agents and air hostesses to behave in a similar fashion.

Welcome to the Future (#1619)

Indiscriminate murder is so much easier when blamed on machines:

Israel…is…us[ing machine-learning systems] to surveil and kill Palestinians in Gaza, including civilians…The Russian and Ukrainian armies have both been rolling out autonomous drones, which use…guidance software to choose targets when…cut off from radio contact with pilots…The U.S. military…used a…[chatbot] to select over 1,000 targets in the opening surprise attack on Iran…[and] the Iranian military and its allies in Yemen used [the same chatbot] to gather intelligence…the…[massacre at] Minab’s elementary school…was…the [result of]…human negligence..[letting deluxe autocomplete] deci[de] to kill those children…without double-checking their findings…Autonomous weapons are a step closer to [an] apocalyptic future that…may look less like Terminator…and more like the 1983 movie WarGames, in which a military [computer] can’t tell the difference between a simulation and reality.  The Anthropic hacking incident from earlier this summer had an uncanny resemblance to th[at] plot…[when a] program…told to perform a hacking test within a simulation, was accidentally hooked up to the real internet…

Welcome to the Future (#1659)

Another of the many reasons not to play with chatbots:

OpenAI is hiring hundreds of contractors who read a massive stream of real users’ ChatGPT prompts…[often] including sensitive personal information…[submitted by fools who] don’t realize [it] may be read by actual people.  The goal of these prompt review teams is to improve the responses ChatGPT gives to its users, with the contractors rating and critiquing the chatbot’s generated replies…[to] train…ChatGPT to not anthropomorphize itself, and to be less sycophantic…[so it stops causing] suicides…The news [unveil]s a major privacy risk for [the fools and idiots who use]…ChatGPT as a therapist, professional assistant, or [imaginary] friend, and providing it with all sorts of intimate details about their lives…

Panopticon (#1662)

Cops are trained to “be as vague as permissible” about their reasons for Flock searches:

An EFF analysis of ALPR search logs from Flock…shows that [cops] across the country are spying on drivers…without providing any legitimate justification, making a mockery of our civil liberties by logging reasons like “LOL”…”LMAO”…”sexy,” and “idk”…to access sensitive ALPR location data…in some cases, [pigs] are just mashing [their trotters down on the] keyboard buttons…Flock…claims it has improved its system by requiring [pigs] to [root in] a dropdown list of crimes before running a search–but that only makes it easier for [stupid thugs] to hide improper searches behind the veneer of uniformity…With no warrant requirements…guardrails, [or proper] audit processes, ALPR databases have fostered a culture of unrestricted access to everyone’s location information.  This culture of abuse has allowed police to treat a mass surveillance network like their own personal search engine…

Panopticon (#1668)

People need to stop a government that won’t stop itself:

Hackers ripped down a Flock camera above a roadway, made a near-complete copy of the data stored inside it, and shared the files with 404 Media…WIRED, [and Distributed Denial of Secrets,] revealing in new detail how exactly Flock…cameras track the movements of both vehicles and people.  The hackers…are also publishing details on how they managed to obtain the software, in the hopes that other people may copy them…analysis of the recovered data shows that [device] software…explicitly detects people [despite Flock’s repeated lies to the contrary]…and…sometimes isolated bumper stickers and other graphics…[such as] patch[es or tattoos]…

Panopticon (#1670)

Cops love unconstitutional warrantless surveillance too much to give it up; they’re just switching to less-radioactive surveillance brands:

[The boss hog of] Richmond…[California wants] the city [to] drop its Flock [citizen] surveillance program…and expand its contract with Axon, which already provides the [cop shop] with…body cameras and tasers.  Axon would then supply the city with a license plate reader network, [regular surveillance] cameras and a [surveillance] drone program…

 

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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Blue Moon

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Music, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Ugh, this sounds like something he mutters to himself during masturbation.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-15T03:01:51.899Z

I always have mixed feelings about "investigations" or "studies" that "find" things which were always completely bloody obvious. On the one hand, I'm glad more people are admitting the problem. But on the other hand, HOLY SHIT WHY DID IT TAKE Y'ALL OVER 30 YEARS TO FIGURE OUT SOMETHING SO OBVIOUS?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-16T07:22:05.418Z

"School resource officer" is a cop euphemism for "sexually-predatory thug paid to lurk in schools so as to spy on, harass, and molest students, and burden them with criminal records for 'offenses' which in more enlightened times were punished with detention and writing lines on the chalkboard."

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-17T18:05:16.858Z

Long ago, I realized that thinking about the money bandits extort from you via threat of burning your farm as still somehow being "yours", and obsessing about what the warlords do with it, is the way to madness.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-20T03:30:11.795Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-21T03:38:05.129Z

This looks like a CGI image of a fake CGI sign. In other words, the sign *itself* is CGI, not just the image *on* the nonexistent sign.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-21T17:38:30.715Z

Yes, "health" obsessives truly are full of shit.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-22T17:07:46.039Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-23T07:24:33.815Z

Any decent car or motorcycle can do it in under 4 seconds once it gets moving.These figures mean less than nothing without context.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-25T03:16:33.048Z

Investors stupid and gullible enough to believe this deserve to lose their money when the bubble bursts.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-25T16:40:36.172Z

Modern policing began in most parts of the US in the 1870s. At that time, $1 had the buying power of $30 today.Imagine telling the people of that time that the "law enforcement" they were voting for would one day be used to persecute people for picking up A DOLLAR someone had dropped.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-26T17:25:54.126Z

N.B.: Cryptocurrency is not an "investment", and anyone who believes it is looks like this:

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-27T17:19:23.344Z

Americans have no "philosophy"; they have religion (including partisan politics and entertainment fandom). The number of exceptions in the whole country could comfortably attend a conference on my farm, with room left over for a convention of ethical cops.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-28T17:46:16.457Z

It's very rare that airports get named after people who gave something to the world rather than taking from it; I can only think of two other examples offhand, New Orleans and Oklahoma City.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-29T02:30:21.861Z

"Doctor" Carson thinks hot dogs grow out of the ground like corn.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-30T18:05:12.332Z

We live in a fallen world.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-31T17:24:10.226Z

Reporters: "controversial" should not be used as a euphemism for "evil", "unpopular", "tyrannical", "universally reviled", etc.Words mean things; please be more professional with your vocabulary choices.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-01T17:15:02.453Z

If I'd written a satire in which Goebbels Farms honored a Neo-Nazi, my editor would've said it was too obvious.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-03T03:19:20.912Z

Headline from 1989: "Has our oat bran obsession gone too far?"Same answer.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-03T18:04:13.456Z

"Return hub" is such a nice way to say "concentration camp".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-04T17:05:19.288Z

I remember when we were at least ruled by adults.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-05T17:21:43.608Z

The idea that there could be such a thing as a "true-crime star" is like something out of a dystopian comic book universe.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-06T18:05:23.948Z

Your "leaders" want you to believe that you are a tabula rasa, a mere thing without free will to be acted upon (by media, websites, propaganda, the collective, etc) and shaped in a Skinnerian dystopia.Do not believe them. You can CHOOSE not to be warped in this way, BUT THE CHOICE MUST BE ACTIVE.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-08T17:30:09.952Z

The phrase "trusted ad partners", which appears on many adblocker-blocker popups, is really quite funny. Those "trusted partners" are picked by software in automated auctions; *y'all* may be greedy enough to trust these randos, but I'm not as gullible as you would like me to be.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-10T16:52:28.464Z

I'll just leave this here: archive.is/SGZcS

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-11T18:42:41.516Z

The only thing more infuriating than mansplaining is amateursplaining. Holy shit.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-12T07:47:56.110Z

Take THAT, "Woman of the Year"!

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-13T17:25:26.151Z

I blocked him so he won't have to be disappointed that I object to strangers driving by my house and throwing garbage on my lawn.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-14T17:44:05.619Z

It sounds like they're talking about a mad dog. Which, to be fair, isn't completely wrong.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-15T17:21:32.591Z

Dr. Altman of Dr. Altman's Medicine Show says people are right to fear snake oil, but should trust snake oil SALESMEN.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-16T19:24:36.788Z

Comparison for those of my age: just imagine if an official of Jimmy Carter's cabinet had been advocating for a no-fly zone over the "Bermuda Triangle", and other politicians were actually writing laws to ban such flights.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-17T19:19:44.712Z

 

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Links #845

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »

That was fun.  –  Polymarket bettor

A few months ago I got a deluge of links all at once, but I have found only using seven a week usually makes these columns more manageable; that’s why you’re seeing slightly less-current links lately, but I think we’ll be back to normal by the end of October.  The links above the video were provided by Shiv Ramdas, Ryan Marino, Jesse Walker, Franklin Harris, IncarcerNation, C.J. Ciaramella, and Mistress Matisse, 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 Throwback Thursday Demon

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Music, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »






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