Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Europe’

My question…is how did they get to label me as a human trafficker?  –  Francisco De Jesus

To Molest and Rape (#1131)

A murderer is also a rapist.  Gee, what a surprise:

A jailed [typical and representative cop h]as [been] indicted…for child rape and murder more than a year after [he shot his cop] wife…to death at their Tennessee home…Tommy Duncan…was…[already] in…jail fo[r raping a woman]…multiple times…April Duncan’s death was reportedly investigated as a suicide, but…the investigation…eventually expanded to include investigation of [Duncan’s]…sexually abus[ing a minor]…Now a grand jury…has indicted Tommy Duncan for second-degree murder, five counts of rape, and “continuous sexual abuse of a child”…

Typical and representative, in spades.

Served Cold (#1156) 

This article hides the fact that the subject of the movie is a psychopathic wacko who even makes many “trafficking” fetishists uncomfortable:

The new film Sound of Freedom is seeking to br[eathe life back into the moribund sex] trafficking [hysteria] and is set to be released in theaters on July 4.  Sound of Freedom details the true story of how a federal agent quits his job…in an effort to [profit from a moral panic over fantasized]…sex slavery…Jim Caviezel, perhaps best known for his role…in [promoting QAnon]plays…[target of a Utah fraud investigation] Tim Ballard.   In the trailer…Caviezel’s character said, “God’s children are not for sale [so we’re going to rape them after labeling them ‘victims’]”.  The film also features [histrionic has-been] Mira Sorvino…the film’s distributor…announced [that due to its subject’s reputation crashing and burning] Sound of Freedom’s theatrical release comes more than five years after the film’s completion…

Checklist (#1188)

Airlines:  do you really want to keep accepting liability for employees racially profiling passengers due to the government propaganda you feed them?

…on a flight from Seattle…to Charlotte, North Carolina…Francisco De Jesus was traveling with his 13-year-old daughter…to…celebrate [his] oldest daughter’s graduation…But…after…he…got [back from] the bathroom…[his] daughter had some [of the toy] wings [airline employees give young children]…she told him that a flight attendant came over and asked…a…[number of nosy questions, but neither father nor daughter thought] much of it until the plane touched down.  “As we’re deplaning, we’re greeted by several individuals.  One of them who introduced himself as the head of security for the Charlotte International Airport,” said De Jesus…[he] and his daughter were led through the terminal before they were finally told..[the] flight attendant…[had had a sexual fantasy about his daughter and “]signs of human trafficking[”.  He and his] scared daughter…were [interrogated but finally let go]…

Moloch (#1234) 

Pigs in schools are a menace which should be abolished:

Each year, police are called thousands of times to New York City schools over incidents where children become emotionally distressed or disruptive.  In 2022…560 [of those] times [were for cops to brutalize] children under 10…in five incidents, school employees called the police on four-year-olds.  While black students only make up 25 percent of New York City schools’ population, they comprise 46 percent of…[these] calls and 59 percent of the students who are handcuffed at school…officials use…these calls to punish unruly students who [do] not pos[e] a legitimate safety threat…[and these] calls frequently end…with…children…being taken to…hospitals despite no medical emergencies occurring, leading to expensive medical bills…

I Spy (#1237)

It’s about time somebody sane spoke up about this:

An EU plan under which all [messaging] accounts could be screened for child abuse content has hit a significant obstacle after internal legal advice said it would probably be annulled by the courts for breaching users’ rights.  Under the proposed “chat controls” regulation, any encrypted service provider could be forced to survey billions of messages, videos and photos for “identifiers” of certain types of content wh[ich could dramatically expand as politicians constantly declare ever more material “]harmful[“]…Privacy campaigners and…service providers have already warned that the proposed EU regulation and a similar online safety bill in the UK risk end-to-end encryption services such as [Signal] disappearing from Europe…

No Escape (#1297)

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

A [typical and representative screw] at a federal women’s prison in California where inmates…were subjected to ra[pe and other] sexual abuse [by everyone from the warden to the guards to the chaplain to the kitchen manager] has been arrested [for raping] three [women the government gave him power over]…Darrell Wayne Smith, who worked at the [“Rape Club”] in Dublin, was arrested [for, surprise surprise, rape].  Smith is at least the sixth employee at the Dublin prison charged with [raping and otherwise sexually] abusing [women locked in cages despite empty promises by politicians in] Congress and [bureaucrats at] the federal Bureau of Prisons…

To Molest and Rape (#1334)

More detail on a story which originally offered only a paucity of facts:

…a [South Carolina cop lured] a drunken woman…to a secluded area [by pretending he wanted to help her] to avoid a DUI charge and then sexually assaulted her while [armed and] wearing his [magical clown costume]…Gerard James Hildebrand…has [a history of violence, and was previously fired from a different cop shop] in August 2021…for [choking out] a handcuffed man…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

I’ll fucking kill you.  –  “Officer” Kevin Hake

Every so often a song (usually from the 1970s) pops into my head, for which the only explanation I can give to puzzled young people is, “You had to be there.”  The links above this example of that genre were provided by Mike Siegel (x2), Anarres Ansible, Amy Alkon, and Cop Crisis (x3), 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!

Read Full Post »

Those people aren’t hurting anyone.  –  Aaron Wojack

Torture Chamber 

It’s amazing how often people die mysteriously when cops are around:

…[An] internal surveillance recording…shows…Anthony “Tony” Mitchell, being carried into the loading area of the Walker County [Alabama] Jail.  Mitchell is limp, his head and feet dangling as uniformed personnel — “Sheriff” emblazoned on one of their vests…work to put him into [a] police vehicle.  The video contradicts an earlier statement from the Walker County Sheriff’s Office claiming Mitchell was “alert and conscious” when he left the jail for transport to a local hospital…the…[cops are “]investigating[” themselves]…

Update, four days later:

The mother of Anthony…Mitchell…has filed a federal lawsuit against multiple jail officials, including Sheriff Nick Smith, a[fter cops murdered him]…by leaving him in the jail’s walk-in freezer “or similar frigid environment” for hours…while…[strapped naked] in a restraint chair…[Mitchell’s ordeal began] when family members [stupidly thought their reason for calling the cops was an exception]…

The Widening Gyre (#420)

Lawheads still believe that barricades can magically eliminate the need for money:

[San Francisco bureaucrats] plan to install barriers…along a strip of Capp between 18th and 22nd streets where [street workers] appear most concentrated…the barriers are meant to put an end to the “cruising zone”.  [But San Francisco being what is is,] residents and [politicians claim to be]…worried about the [sex workers they want persecuted by police and denied an income, while at the same time vomiting a steady stream of copaganda and dysphemisms out of the other side of their faces]…

To Molest and Rape

No female motorist is safe while the state continues to pay sexual predators to harass us:

A [typical and representative] Arizona…[cop named Tremaine Jackson w]as…sentenced to [a mere] five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to [a few minor] sex-related charges…[to escape the full consequences of the] actions…[that led to] 61 [felony charges including]…sex[ual assault], kidnapping and fraud…Jackson was also placed on lifetime probation…Jackson was [first] arrested…on Sept. 10, 2019…in…[response to] complaints from…eight [of his] victims…[Typically,] Jackson would…pull over women between midnight and 4:30 a.m. and detain them for around two hours…[while pressing] the woman [for various kinds of sexual contact and asking what she] was “willing to do” to avoid arrest.  The [harassment and molestation] misconduct ranged from forced touching to asking for cellphone numbers and nude pictures…He [once]…pressur[ed] a woman to [give him a blow job] and follow[ed] her to a friend’s house…[but she outwitted him by running] inside and lock[ing] the door…

Rooted in Racism (#935)

The racism of European “anti-trafficking” schemes is getting harder to disguise:

Police claim they have dismantled an international sex trafficking ring that allegedly lured hundreds of women from China to Europe and forced them into sex work…Europol [claime]d the action represents the largest Chinese human trafficking bust in European history.  The gang’s accused ringleaders are [claim]ed to have forced hundreds of women in debt bondage into sex work in slave-like conditions in hotels across Europe…

Now that the public has largely lost interest in “sex trafficking” fantasies, expect the claims of cops and politicians to grow more grandiose until they hit on a new anti-migration paradigm.

Opting Out (#1268)

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

France will become the first country to introduce a “digital certificate” for anyone seeking to view online pornography to prove they are not under age.  People wanting to visit pornography websites [who are too ignorant to install a VPN, and gullible enough to]…install a government application on their mobile phones [will open themselves up to totalitarian spying in order to] prov[e]…they are at least 18 years old…Websites that do not comply with the order risk being banned from France…[politicians paved the way for the mass surveillance scheme with propaganda melodramatically] entitled Hell Behind the Scenes, which [was heavily influenced by a cabal of prohibitionist associations aiming to abolish all sex work]

Stalkers in Blue (#1300)

Even seemingly-consensual sex with a cop may be something else:

As part of a plea deal [to drop separate domestic violence charges], a Pinole [California cop]…has pleaded no contest to a felony charge for secretly recording sex with a woman…The deal allows…Anthony Luciano Vasquez to…serve 120 days of house arrest and two years probation…Vasquez was charged in 2021 after his own cousin [snitched]…that Vasquez “sent out secretly recorded sex videos and pictures” to a text message group called “The Mafia” that included 17 people.  He was charged with secretly filming two women, one of whom has filed a lawsuit against him and the city of Pinole…[yet] his attorney [claimed] in a September 2021 interview that [the victim wanted it]…

Law of the Instrument (Another Rapist Roundup)

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

Three former members of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team are suing their former coach, a national federation and its CEO and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee for sex trafficking, harassment and enabling and covering up multiple acts of sexual assault and misconduct…Olympians Rosey Fletcher and Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, along with Erin O’Malley, alleged in their lawsuit that Peter Foley…used his position of trust to “coerce sexual acts through force, manipulation, emotional abuse, intimidation and retaliation”…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

Is anybody out there?  –  “Metaverse gala” attendee

Not an especially seasonal selection, but it seemed the appropriate one for the death of its composer.  The links above the video were provided by Ed Krayewski; Amy Alkon; Radley Balko; Cop Crisis (x2); Jesse Walker, Mike Siegel, and Ally Fogg; and Clarissa, 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!

Read Full Post »

I’ve always been dedicated to the idea of this as the time of year for spooky fun.  So every year I collect all the spooky, creepy or scary content from the previous year into one place just before Halloween.  If you’ve come to my blog in the past year, or don’t remember previous editions, they are “Trick or Treat”, “More Trick or Treat“, “Tricks and Treats“, “This Trick’s a Treat”, “Tricky Treats“, “A Trickle of Treats”, “Tricking and Treating“, and “Tricks for the Treat“.  Oddly, though there were enough spooky or Halloweeny links to justify collecting them, the only horror, death or Halloween-themed column of the past year was “Books of the Dead“, and the only creepy or spooky-fun video appeared in Links #591.  Here’s hoping for a better collection next year!

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!

Read Full Post »

I’m gonna blow y’all up.  –  Roxanna Copeland

Most people are mentioning Grease, but I liked her early stuff much better, and always thought it was a career mistake for her to go from “I Honestly Love You” to “Let’s Get Physical”.  The links above the video were provided by Elizabeth N. Brown, Mike Siegel, Tim Cushing, Radley BalkoPopehat, Walter Olson, and Cop Crisis, in that order.

From the Archives

Read Full Post »

In its attempts to target an ever-growing number of people for detention and deportation, ICE has reached into the private homes and lives of almost every person in America.  –  Nina Wang

Pyrrhic Victory (#1045)

Allowing Clearview to continue arming those who claim the “right” to spy on you, violently assault you, and destroy your life, is nothing like a “big win”:

Under a legal settlement filed in court today, Clearview AI…has agreed to a new set of restrictions that ensure the company is in alignment with the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act…Clearview will be permanently banned from granting paid or free access to its gargantuan face recognition database to private entities [but not to governmental entities, including ICE, CBP, the FBI and local cop shops]…except…in Illinois [and even that restriction is only]…for a [mere] five years…Clearview will maintain an opt-out request form on its website, allowing Illinois residents to [give this unscrupulous business yet another] photo [in exchange for a politician’s promise that]…their faceprints will be blocked from appearing in Clearview’s search results…

Quiet Genocide (#1105)

Here’s another firsthand account of the ongoing genocide of the Uighur people by the Chinese communist regime, told in comic strip form.  Since finally escaping after years of brutalization, Zumrat Dawut has bravely told her story despite attempts by the Chinese government to terrorize her even though she now resides in the US.  Please read her story, edited by Anthony Del Col and illustrated by Fahmida Azim; it is imperative Westerners stop looking away and pretending these atrocities are not happening.

I Spy (#1155)

Nothing infuriates violent, self-important busybodies more than private affairs that are none of their business:

…the European Commission [is] seeking to end encrypted communications…[using the popular excuse] of child sexual abuse imagery…messaging services and web hosts would be required to search for, and report, child abuse material – even in the case of encrypted messaging services…that cannot be scanned in such a way…[politician] Ylva Johansson…[bloviated a lot of self-contradictory nonsense about] “strong safeguards guaranteeing privacy of all”…[while constantly harping on the word] “children”…But the plans [are in reality]…an attack on privacy…Joe Mullin of Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)…[pointed out that because what the politicians demand is literally impossible in encrypted messaging…“This would be a massive new surveillance system…[which] would require the infrastructure for detailed analysis of user messages”…It is a similar approach to that proposed…by Apple…Patrick​ ​Breyer, German MEP for the​ ​Pirate​ ​party, called the proposals “fundamental​ ​rights​ ​terrorism​ ​against​ ​trust,​ ​self-determination​ ​and​ ​security​ ​on​ ​the​ internet”…

To Molest and Rape (#1178)

Not even a rapist cop’s own daughters are safe:

A 10-year-old girl called police in March [to report that] her father, a Chicago [cop, had]…sexually abus[ed] her…but when he was [arrested and] charged…it was only for domestic battery, a misdemeanor…

I Spy (#1200)

All federal cop shops and spook houses are part of the police-state blob:

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement…has built a vast digital surveillance system that gives it access to the personal details of almost every person in America, a two-year investigation by Georgetown University law center…conclud[ed] that the…organisation has strayed well beyond its [official] duties as an immigration body to become…a domestic surveillance agency…[with] capabilities that allows its agents to “pull detailed dossiers on nearly anyone, seemingly at any time”…includ[ing]…driver’s license data…utility records…[license plate reader data and] facial recognition [data on roughly 75% of US adults]…and…weaponised through the use of powerful algorithmic tools for searching and analysing data…all…[secretly and] in the absence of warrants…

The Implosion Begins (#1211)

The New York Times uses terms like “far-right conspiracy theory” to describe the moral panic they’ve aggressively promoted for 18 years:

Jason Frank…and his [QAnon] group…have been camping out near Sasabe, Ariz., as a self-appointed border force [in an elaborate fantasy roleplay]…of protecting the thousands of migrant children who have been arriving from the evils of sex trafficking — a favorite QAnon theme…wh[ich developed] over the years [from fantasies about]…pedophilia rings [heavily promoted by cops, fanatics, politicians, and journalists – especially the New York Times – since the early Oughts despite mountains of evidence that organized]…sex-trafficking schemes [of the sort featured in these fantasies are highly] unusual…migrant children [and adults are]…overwhelmingly people who paid to be smuggled…

Policing for Profit (#1230)

I reckon Empyreal felt letting this crime boss save face was a cheap way to get their property back:

Empyreal Logistics…has reached a settlement with the San Bernardino County, California, Sheriff’s Department, which had [robbed] more than $1 million from Empyreal’s armored cars.  The Justice Department, which was holding the money pending federal forfeiture, agreed to return all of it last month…Empyreal a[lso agreed to endorse a statement] the sheriff’s department issued on Friday, [absurdly claiming that the sheriff and his henchmen were]…”acting in good faith when the[y conducted pretextual traffic] stops w[ith the specific intent of robbing a corporation conducting business that was 100% legal under California law]”…

Read Full Post »

Schools are using [cops]…to…do their dirty work.  –  Jackie Ross

License to Rape (#932)

Cops raping whores is so ubiquitous, others pose as cops to facilitate rape:

…hundreds of…men claiming to be [Irish cops have been raping,] abusing and harassing sex workers…The [attacks] range from demanding [sex]…worker[s submit to rape], to violent abuse, including [forcible] rape, choking, and assault…at least two [incidents involved] men…produc[ing] handcuffs and attempt[ing] to [abduct] the women…one such [rapist]…targets foreign sex workers due to their particular vulnerability and demands [they submit to rape or else face]…deportation…

Moloch (#1048) 

Pigs in schools are a menace which should be abolished:

…Across Illinois, police are ticketing thousands of students a year for…adolescent behavior once handled only by the principal’s office…Ticketing students violates…an Illinois law that prohibits schools from fining students as a form of discipline.  Instead of issuing fines directly, school officials [snitch]…to police, who then ticket them for municipal ordinance violations…Another state law prohibits schools from notifying police when students are truant…but…dozens of school districts routinely [violate]…this law…At the assembly-line hearings where…these cases are handled, students have no right to legal representation and little chance to defend themselves against charges that can have long-term consequences…fines can be hundreds of dollars, presenting an impossible burden for some families, and administrative or court fees of up to $150 are often tacked on.  Unpaid fines are sometimes sent to collections or deducted from parents’ tax refunds.  And, unlike records from juvenile court, these cases can’t be expunged under state law…

Disaster (#1072)

The FOSTA challenge is proceeding yet again:

Two human rights organizations, a digital library, a sex worker activist, and a certified massage therapist [have] appealed a ruling that denied  their constitutional challenge to FOSTA…an overbroad and censorious internet law that harms sex workers.  The plaintiffs, Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Human Rights Watch, The Internet Archive, Alex Andrews, and Eric Koszyk, have been challenging the law since it was enacted in 2018.  The district court…dismissed the case last month, [pretend]ing that FOSTA did not violate the First Amendment…

To Molest and Rape (#1130)

Calling himself a monster is the first honest thing he’s said since he was caught:

A [typical and representative] Boston [cop who was president of the pig union] is now pleading guilty to…child rape…Patrick Rose Sr…pleaded guilty to 33 charges in connection with the rape and abuse of at least six children…as far back as the 1990s and as recently as four years ago…Rose [was first caught] in 1995, but he was allowed to keep his badge for another 20 years…

Guinea Pigs (#1191)

This has been going on for years, and platforms do nothing to stop it:

[Pigs] of the Minneapolis [cop shop]…engaged in [unauthorized] surveillance of local Black leaders and organizations…as just one [of] a litany of other abuses that included “[murder]ing community members of color and Indigenous community members” at a highly disproportionate rate, according to a [new] report…[showing] a pattern…of racial discrimination…extending over a period of at least 10 years…includ[ing] the “covert use” of fake social media accounts to spy on local Black residents who were not suspects in any criminal probes…The groups included the local chapters of the NAACP and Urban League.  [Lying pigs] used fake accounts to gain access to posts they could not otherwise read…commented on posts, sent private messages, and contributed to discussions…[while pretending to be] like-minded individuals and claim[ing], for example, that they met the targeted person at a prior demonstration or protest…

Opting Out (#1199) 

The worse the idea, the more eager politicians are to ape it:

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe…issued a resolution…urging European nations to mandate online [censorship software] for “pornographic materials” on all devices, to be “systematically activated in public spaces, such as schools, libraries and youth clubs”…The PACE p[olitic]ians [also bloviated about… “addiction to pornography and…unhealthy sex.”  There is no scientific evidence for a clinical “addiction to pornography” and n[one of] the p[olitic]ians offered any definitions of what they consider “unhealthy sex” or…explained how these mandatory [censorship algorithms] would be coded and by whom…The…resolution includes a number of…suspiciously-sourced statements that seem to echo anti-porn propaganda by both religious activists and sex-worker-exclusionary feminists…

To Molest and Rape (#1220)

Another specimen of the garbage the state pays to violate kids:

A [cop paid by the state to stalk, harass, and spy on students] was arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for child molestation in Carrollton…Jerric Gilbert…[molested] an 11-year-old girl…

The TV station which produced this story felt compelled to defend a child molester by digging up someone to say what a great guy he is and how he never molested her son.

Read Full Post »

One of the titles by which the 20th Century will no doubt be known to future historians is “the Prohibition Era”.  The concept of Prohibition first started to take root in the diseased brains of control freaks in the late 19th century; it was an outgrowth of the broader “Progressive” philosophy which held that ordinary people cannot be trusted with our own lives, and must therefore be ruled by “experts” who decide for everyone how the human race should be “improved”, and enforce their diktats with violent thug armies whose actions cannot easily be reconciled with the concept of civil rights.  The first prohibitionist laws date to the late 19th century, but it was in the 20th that the concept not only reached full flower, but also successfully penetrated the minds of the general public so thoroughly that most took it for granted that for governments to tell people what they could consume, what they could own, and even what thoughts they could have while agreeing to consensual sex, was not only normal, but desirableFull alcohol prohibition lasted barely over a decade, but it left in its wake a patchwork of local prohibitions which have only very gradually eroded (and in some ways worsened again toward the end of the century).  And the failure of this one form of prohibition to thrive probably has a great deal to do with the fact that virtually no other country was willing to follow the American example; in most other cases, prohibitions which started in the US (such as drugs and prostitution) spread like a plague over the rest of the world.

But as the 20th century recedes into the past and the number of adults who can’t even remember it grows with every passing year, what Josephine Butler called “the fatuous belief that you can oblige human beings to be moral by force” has gradually become less popular.  The once-global “War on Drugs” is beginning to wind down, and the full or partial criminalization of sex work is increasingly recognized as an abomination by those with healthy minds and respect for human rights.  New South Wales decriminalized “prostitution” in 1995, followed by New Zealand in 2003; many other countries at least loosened their laws on the subject around that same time.  Unfortunately, the prohibitionists recognized the trend before it could snowball, and began a propaganda campaign to convince the world that adult women are universally too weak-minded and spineless to be allowed to run our own sexual affairs, and that phenomena which had previously always been recognized as the pragmatic sexual decisions of individual women were in reality the result of the machinations of a vast cabal of “sex traffickers” abducting hundreds of thousands of “children” into literal slavery.  But moral panics have a very limited lifespan, and this one is already long past its heyday of the early ’10s.  It is now in the process of imploding in a rather spectacular fashion, and opposition to the continued criminalization of sex work has become a safe position even for US politicians.  The temporarily-delayed process of decriminalization got rolling again over the past few years; Australia’s Northern Territory decriminalized near the end of 2019, and Victoria state followed suit just a few weeks ago.  And now the first country outside of Oceania is set to join them:

The official green light has been given to Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne’s proposal to reform Belgium’s sexual criminal law…[by] remov[ing] sex work from the penal code…The Federal Parliament still has to approve the proposal but that is not expected to be more than a formality.  “This is a crucial leap forward. We are finally giving sex workers what they are entitled to: recognition and protection. Something they have been asking for decades,” Van Quickenborne said…Under current regulation, sex work is allowed, but third parties involved with sex workers are committing a crime.  The law [cl]aims to target pimps but in practice impacts other people…from book-keepers and web designers to drivers, landlords and even banks…

The importance of this move is difficult to overstate; the “sex trafficking” myth has provided a convenient cloak for Europen racism, and European chauvinism made decriminalization easy to ignore as long as it was strictly a “Down Under” practice (the same chauvinism has given the toxic “Swedish model” undeserved credibility).  But if Belgium follows through, Europe can no longer dismiss recognition of the sexual rights of adult women as a provincial abberation, and it’s entirely possible others may follow its example.

Read Full Post »

People should not be in jail for imaginary crimes.  –  Ryan Marino

Power Play (#701)

I guess 5 years is longer than most Americans’ attention spans:

the New York Daily News [has] published a glowing, error-filled preview of former California prosecutor and failed Sacramento County DA candidate Maggie Krell’s book Taking Down Backpage: Fighting the World’s Largest Sex Trafficker, which…depicts Krell as a crusading attorney for the California AG’s office who “defeated”…Backpage.com by bringing pimping charges in 2016 against its former owners, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin…But Krell’s charges…were thrown out of court, not once, but twice.  Nor did Backpage go out of business in 2016.  Rather, Backpage went out of business in 2018, when the federal government seized…the site…on multiple counts of conspiracy, money laundering and facilitating misdemeanor state prostitution offenses in violation of the U.S. Travel Act…none of the defendants are charged with…sex trafficking…nor could they be…

I Spy (#990)

Everything cops and other “justice” officials tell you is a lie:

The EU’s police agency, Europol, will be forced to delete much of a vast store of personal data that it has…[illegally] amassed…the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) [has ordered the deletion of]…what privacy experts are calling a “big data ark” containing…data…drawn from crime reports, hacked from encrypted phone services and [stolen] from asylum seekers never involved in any crime…Europol’s cache contains at least 4 petabytes – equivalent to…a fifth of the entire contents of the US Library of Congress…the…mass surveillance…is a step…to becoming a European counterpart to the…NSA…The watchdog ordered Europol to erase data held for more than six months and gave it a year to sort out what could be lawfully kept…

Quiet Genocide (#1111)

A very brave woman working to expose a colossal abomination:

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1162)

Cops want their hysteria to trump reality:

Every year, [cops] claim to have suffered near-fatal overdoses after accidentally touching fentanyl, a[nd reporters obediently parrot the hysterical fantasies]…But…It is…impossible to overdose simply by touching or getting too close to fentanyl. Doctors and toxicologists warn that the hype around this perceived threat is harming overdose victims…[and] taxpayers…Accidental overdose by skin exposure “is chemically and physically implausible,” said Dr. Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist and addiction medicine specialist…at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Andrew Stolbach, an emergency physician and medical toxicologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said, “It’s not possible to overdose on fentanyl by touching it. If it was absorbed well through the skin, people wouldn’t inject it and snort it in order to get high.” Despite this, people who use the drug are facing serious legal repercussions — such as charges of assault or endangerment of officers — for supposedly causing these impossible overdoses…

I Spy (#1188)

It’s best not to upset useful idiots at a time like this:

Signal [i]s considering adding cryptocurrency payments…start[ing] with MobileCoin…“a system [designed to] hide…everything from everyone”…There’s nothing sinister about putting payments into a messaging app, and Signal is not alone in adding crypto payments to messaging…What sets Signal’s effort apart is the combination of end-to-end encryption in messaging and a cryptocurrency with privacy features designed to make any transactions anonymous…Signal employees…[a]re worried…that…anonymous transactions would likely attract…regulatory scrutiny.  Given that end-to-end encryption already faces [political persecution] around the globe…Signal’s addition of anonymous payments…could give more ammunition to [politicians] who want to end encryption…

I’m not sure how trustworthy this writer is, given that he believes the government should be able to spy on anyone as long as some spook belches out the magic words “money laundering” first.

The Next Target (#1192)

It won’t be long now before this spreads out of the porn ecosystem and into the greater internet:

My webcam account was recently suspended for violating the code of conduct.  I was told I had engaged in a fetish category that is cause for immediate account closure…in the past, I cammed from an actual brick and mortar studio for a small website with just a few dozen models.  I had direct contact with management.  If there was a problem, Mastercard contacted the boss to explain the issue.  He would knock on my studio door, tell me what was up, and I could immediately comply…[now] I’m working for a giant site with thousands of performers.  I have no relationship with management.  Most of my emails go unanswered or receive generic responses.  When I was suspended, I got no explanation, no opportunity for correction, no word about what would happen to my outstanding pay…Platforms are moderating their workers with an increasingly heavy hand, so the scope of sexual topics we have to avoid is getting broader.  Platforms have also passed the task of moderation down to us, asking that we flag and report clients who request shows that might violate the rules, or risk being punished for complicity.  Not only does this mean I stand to make less money—I’m also being asked to police my clientele and their desires…

The Cop Myth (#1199)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do:

A Huntsville [Alabama cop named]…David McCoy…murder[ed his]…girlfriend [by shooting her] in the head inside a parked vehicle, then called in the death claiming the woman shot herself.  The [motive appears to be that the] woman…recently informed McCoy she was pregnant…McCoy has [been rewarded for his violent behavior with a paid vacation]…per [cop shop] policy…

Note that the exonerative-mood headline makes it sound like the victim committed the murder.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »