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Posts Tagged ‘fascism’

Feeding our neighbors should not be a crime.  –  Randy Hiroshige

Censorship Ascendant (#1529)

Useful idiots lust for the violent suppression of wrongthink:

The war against anonymity is raging in Europe…and…[pro-censorship] activist[s want to bring it]…to the United States, [with the help of]…”a massive network of NGOs” connected to the U.K. government…The technique…is to smuggle in speech codes and effectively end online anonymity under the guise of “child safety”…”I’d say, conservatively, there are probably 50,000 arrests per year in the U.K. for speech and conduct…that would be unambiguously and very clearly protected in the United States,” says Preston Byrne, an American free speech attorney…f[ighting] Britain’s online speech [censor], Ofcom…Congress is paying attention. Versions of Byrne’s model legislation, Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International Tyranny and Extortion Act…have been introduced in both House and Senate committees…Byrne…[says the cens]ors’ “fever dream is that the internet is extremely tightly controlled…Everybody is identified…There’s no anonymous speech.  There is no ability for ideas which are not acceptable to the political mainstream to get traction and propagate.”  Former U.K. Prime Minister Starmer [tried to destroy online anonymity with] a nationwide digital ID scheme…[but] political backlash caused [him] to back off…

Unchristian Nation (#1599)

Government at every level crusades against charity:

A federal judge [has] ruled…that the city of Houston violated the First Amendment when it tried to stop activists from giving away free food outside a downtown library and issued more than 100 tickets to them…The ruling is the latest in a series of legal battles between Food Not Bombs chapters across the country…and [evil [politicians barfing idiocies like “]safety[“]…FNBH activists had operated at a downtown public park for more than a decade without incident—until 2023, when Houston officials [suddenly declared it dangerous]…attempts to enforce the ordinance did not go well….[most] cases were dismissed and delayed because prosecutors couldn’t find jurors who were willing to fine people $500 for the [heinous] crime of feeding the needy…The…11th Circuit ruled in 2018 that distributing food was “expressive conduct” protected under the First Amendment…[but] similar cases keep popping up around the country.  In May, police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, arrested four Food Not Bombs activists [for feeding the hungry, and] the Food Not Bombs chapter of Roswell, New Mexico, sued the city earlier this year…[and] eventually settled…Reason has also covered government suppression of food charities in Tampa, Florida; Orlando, Florida; Atlanta; Newark, New Jersey; Las Vegas; San Antonio, Texas; Philadelphia; and Kansas City, Missouri, [where “]health[” bureaucrat]s poured bleach on food meant for the homeless in 2018…

Creepy Coppers (#1605)

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A [New York] state [cop named]…Steven P. Calderon…[has been] arrested on [child porn]…charges…[after Calderon violently attacked his ex-girlfriend, cops rooted around his] residence…and…electronic…devices…and f[ound]…“thousands of sexually explicit images and videos of…prepubescent children, as well as numerous videos…taken surreptitiously by Calderon in [his] bathroom…on or about July 25, 2026, Calderon surreptitiously recorded a 10-year-old child…undressing in [the] bathroom…and then edited the recording to create a short [CGI] porn clip”…In February, [he did the same to a different] 9-year-old…

Shame, Shame (#1635)

Allowing people to trademark their faces may help curtail this:

[Billionaire Mark] Cuban described Facebook ads using [computer]-generated versions of his face and voice to promote a diabetes treatment [scam]…”Every single week I get emails from little old men and ladies saying…’I just ordered your cure for diabetes for $294′”…Some [of the scams] reportedly include…fine-print disclaimers stating the person shown was [computer]-generated and the clip was for entertainment…[Facebook rakes in] roughly $16 billion, approximately 10% of [its] revenue, from ads involving scams and prohibited goods…[amounting to] approximately 15 billion…scam ads per day in December 2024.  [Facebook’s own] internal safety staff…estimate…that [their company] played a role in roughly one-third of scams that successfully affected U.S. victims…

Enshittification (#1656)

Google is now essentially pushing addictive drugs to children:

Google [has] announced…that…it would [start forcing]…K-12…school administrators…to [foster chatbot dependence in students by denying]…access to Google search…if a school has banned [chatbots]…Google’s suite of education apps — including Gmail, Docs and an assignment platform called Classroom — is ubiquitous [and] Google Chromebooks…are the most widely issued student devices in U.S. schools.  And Google is synonymous with internet search, a crucial tool for students across the globe…Morgan Polikoff, an education professor at the University of Southern California, said Google’s [scheme] could further energize the anti-tech movement percolating among parents and educators[, saying] “This is a particularly clear example of the tech industry going out of its way to force A.I. on us all — even if we have said we don’t want it”…Research shows chatbots…hinder critical thinking and ensnare adolescents in emotional dependency[, delusions, and psychosis]…

Panopticon (#1671)

The Fourth Amendment has been so eroded measures like this will probably make little difference:

…York, Maine, residents have decided to join other Maine communities and ditch [Flock] surveillance technology…effective immediately…ALPRs [are banned] in the town…[its] four [existing] Flock cameras have been covered in plastic since September…in League City, Texas…voters rejected an advisory measure approving…ALPRs…[but] the…measure was nonbinding, [meaning cops will still do whatever they want.  Returning]…Mayor Nick Long vowed to abide by the vote’s outcome, [but he’s a politician so that means little]…Pflugerville, Texas…voters approved…[an] amendment to the city charter [which] requires the city council…to a[bide by its own previous decision…on…overseeing surveillance technologies…Americans are demanding greater transparency and involvement in whether and how they are monitored, [though it is doubtful cops and politicians will respect those demands]…

The Cop Myth (#1681)

A goon is just a kind of cop, with all that entails:

[A] Border Patrol [goon named]…Abel Garza [was arrested for murdering his wife] in [Laredo, Texas.  He tried to flee but was caught by cops after neighbors complained about yelling and screaming]…Garza was previously arrested by…Laredo [cops] in January [for threatening his wife with a gun, then]…again in February [for physically attacking her and stealing her cell phone when she tried to call 911, despite her having filed a “]protective order[” against him]…

Belief in the magic power of “protective orders” gets women killed.

 

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

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You have a right to know who’s recording you when you leave home.  –  Proton

Walled Garden (#1652)

Australian politicians really believe the laws of Australia apply worldwide and can change reality:

Australia’s government [apparently believes it can] sue Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube [into magically circumvent]ing t[he ability of] under-16s [to get around politicians’ attempts to control them]…The lawsuit is yet to be filed, but [a politician bloviated] that the [Lord High Censo]r, Julie Inman Grant, has new [magical] powers to build a [magical wall] against the five companies [which will keep people under 16, but not adults, from using VPNs to access them]…“She’s now using those [magical] powers to prepare her [spell],” the minister [moronically bloviated, adding] …“The law is not failing – platforms are failing to c[ensor the entire world to enforce] the law”…[the Australians believe their bureaucrats] can demand information and documents from any person she believes has them, and [magically] summon people to appear before her [in a pentagram]…At no point have the authorities stopped to consider that the law itself may be the problem.  The platforms have already built age-checking systems, scanned profiles with [computer algorithms], and closed millions of accounts – and yet [young adults] continue to find ways to use social media.  To better enforce the law, the platforms would have to start checking every Australian user [without a VPN] more closely – including adults.

Enshittification (#1653)

These companies need to be sued until they’re completely annihilated:

The owners of Elvis Presley’s music sued the a[utomated plagiarism] company Anthropic…[because] it trained its models on more than 200 of Presley’s songs without their permission…[thereby commit]ing…copyright infringement.  The suit…seeks a jury trial and more than $41 million, or $150,000 per song, in damages…Anthropic, the company behind the popular chatbot Claude…circumvent[ed] measures used to protect the music and remov[ed]…copyright management information from the songs…“The…defendant…has built its entire business model…on copyright infringement at a scale never seen before,” the lawsuit [correctly pointed out]…Anthropic…[denied] the [self-evidently true] claims [even though fellow chatbot-pusher Sam Altman admitted during sworn testimony that it would be “impossible to train [chatbots] without using copyrighted materials”]…Anthropic [has also been sued by Reservoir music] and…Universal Music Group [for the same reason]…

Welcome to the Future (#1655)

If this sounds good to you, you might be a useful idiot:

GM says it will roll out a new in-car [chatbo]t, called OnStar AI, starting with 2027 Cadillac Lyriqs…Paired with a new app, the system will start by letting drivers, for example, turn on their air conditioning with a voice command without [the incredible effort of turning a knob]…The automaker plans to expand its “eyes-off” highway driving technology to its most popular cars, inching closer to its years-old promise of making a personal self-driving car…[it plans] to slowly expand “eyes-off” capabilities to more sorts of roads, letting drivers text or eat or watch YouTube first on some highways, and then on more highways, and then on local roads, and then maybe everywhere…The cabin…can become a space to “relax, work, and unwind”…The personal [robot] car will pick up groceries, drop off children, and then maybe even find a parking spot at the end.  Urban planners and infrastructure experts have worried about this vision…of…roads…crowded with pods full of [oblivious nitwits] sleeping, emailing, and YouTubing while their vehicles slowly pilot them onward…

Panopticon (#1677)

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

Proton…is…hosting a free map of Flock surveillance devices on its servers [after]…Flock tried to [intimidate] the researcher behind the original project to take it down[, describing him as a “malicious actor“]…you can enter your ZIP code to see devices in your area, or zoom and pan around the country.  Note that the data is a snapshot from December 2025, though. Cameras installed or removed since then won’t be reflected…This isn’t the [only] effort to put surveillance cameras on the map…DeFlock Maps lets people look up license plate readers in their neighborhoods, including devices from Flock, Motorola…and other manufacturers.  Volunteers report cameras they spot and add their locations to OpenStreetMap…MapQuest also added a “Surveillance Layer” to its app this month, letting users see known license plate reader locations…

The Cop Myth (#1682)

If they even convict this guy, it’s going to be a love tap:

[A typical and representative] NYPD [cop named Victor Romero murdered a motorist]…on the George Washington Bridge [last] week [but is only being charged with]…manslaughter [despite the fact that he deliberately shot] Koran Irvine…in…an [infantile display of anger because Irvine did not let him go first at the] entrance ramp to the bridge…Romero started to tailgate Irvine’s car, following him…aggressively….[then] pulled up right next to Irvine’s car and [deliberately shot him]…Romero [then] sped [away, hoping to escape, while]…Irvine…crashed and was found dead in his car…

Mad Libs (#1684)

Politicians want to “regulate” consensual sex, but not this dangerous toy:

Bowen Wan…began messaging ChatGPT during a lonely time in her life.  The medication that had kept her [severe] epilepsy at bay for more than a decade had…stopped working…[she sometimes suffered] seizures…more than once a day…[and] she could no longer handle the demands of her software engineering job at Amazon.  So, in 2021, Bowen went on disability leave…she rarely left the safety of her apartment…Then, in 2023, she…[started asking] ChatGPT…for…advice…sometimes chatting for hours…late into the night…her doctor…was unaware [she was using] ChatGPT to…write messages to him…the chatbot [advised her to]…“cut the pills…without telling the doctor”…she used…[a] cutter to slice [each] pill into four pieces…the chatbot] praised her for hiding her plans to wean off the drug…calling it a “solid avoidance strategy”…[and saying] “You have absolutely no need to worry” [while she cut her dose]…from 400 milligrams down to 0 milligrams in a matter of weeks [until she suffered a fatal seizure].  Bowen’s parents..[have] file[d] a lawsuit against OpenAI…

Panopticon (#1684)

The only way to stop the panopticon is to tear it up by its roots:

When Andrae Wright [was sacked five years ago from a Georgia cop shop]…he kept…his log-in credentials for Flock…[and] searched the system more than 60 times…[in an attempt to find dirt on his estranged] wife…[which he could use to win] permanent custody of their teenage daughter.  In July, after [someone reported him, he was finally]…arrested…[for] stalking…unauthorized users [routinely] access…Flock…[mostly] to track [sexual prey.  The routine abuse]…expose[s]…alarming vulnerabilities within Flock’s nationwide [surveillance] network…[which persist in defiance of] calls from their own staff to implement stricter guardrails…[because cops don’t] want t[hem]…accounts [of fired, suspended, or even convicted cops are] not shut off…[and cops routinely] share…log-ins or passwords with [each other or even outsiders]…Flock has [even refused] to adopt basic safeguards that are standard practice among commercial and government software vendors…and…does not [even] monitor for log-ins occurring from unusual locations and devices…

 

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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[Prisons] cannot…legitimately deny people critical healthcare. – Aditi Shah

The Mob Rules (#1559)

Forced-birth fanatics are now actively empowering abusive men:

An Arizona judge awarded $67,000 in damages to a man who sued for wrongful death of an embryo after his ex-wife had a wanted abortion…[pretending] the clinic and its doctors…didn’t [say all the magic words and perform all the sacred dances required by] the state’s [anti-autonomy] law…[even though she] signed four consent documents…[if] the [decision stands], “it would establish a dangerous precedent in Arizona concerning embryonic personhood”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1633)

Judges need to start presenting a united front against monarchical diktats:

The Supreme Court [has] rejected…[the] Trump…[regime’s attempt] to [torture]…transgender people in federal prisons [by forcibly detransitioning them]…in part because the administration lack[s] evidence that…[being trans is innate]ly [a] security concern…Thomas…and…Alito…[predictably] dissented…Trump[‘s henchlawyers pretend]…that the…2026 policy was not an extension of changes made to comply with Trump’s 2025 [anti-trans diktat], but reflected [prison bureaucrats’] independent judgment [that they know more about medicine than doctors do.  However]…the…court re[cognized the obvious fact] that…the 2026 policy was reverse-engineered to implement the [diktat]…

Moloch (#1643)

Pigs in schools are a menace which should be abolished:

An analysis by The New York Times and the San Antonio Express-News reported that, as the number of [pigs lurking] in Texas [schools] grew, children…ages 10 to 13 were [arrested] more than 47,000 times since 2014…[with corresponding] educational, emotional, and financial [damage to] students and their families…The findings mirror other recent studies.  A report…by the…ACLU…of Iowa found that…[pigs lurking] in Iowa schools…[spent] most [of their time persecuting students for] vaping…A…2020 [study] found that…[as the number of pigs lurking in schools rose] the number of Florida school arrests—which had been declining for years—suddenly started to rise.  There was also a sharp increase in [cop violence] against students…Another study…in California…found that increasing the number of [pigs lurking in schools] led to both immediate and persistent increases in [cop violence]…and the number of suspensions and expulsions of students…

Mad Libs (#1652)

When a headline claims “AI can…”, the truth is, “No, it can’t”:

[Quack]s have developed a…[computer algorithm] that [they claim] can predict a cancer patient’s chances of survival from a single photograph of their face.  [What] the…system…[actually does is] estimate biological age and directly [correlate that with] survival outcomes…[under the theory that] people’s biological age estimates are closely linked to their physical health, which could reflect their ability to survive certain treatments…

Served Cold (#1664)

Nobody bothered to investigate this scam until it became explicitly linked with Trumpism:

…so-called “anti-trafficking” groups…are antithetical to…human rights…citing “tough on crime”…mantras characteristic of…[authoritarian] and [Trumpist] groups…Missouri and Utah are…two leading hubs [promoting]…a blend of modern white slavery myths and…Christian nationalis[m]…all tied, directly or indirectly, to…Tim Ballard and the [profiteering organization] he formed, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), which [has] rebranded to [“]Our Rescue[“]…Ballard is still the subject of a lawsuit [due to rampant sexual] abuse [of employees] and trafficking [of the foreign minors he pretended he was “rescuing”], which…is [why]…“Our Rescue”…publicly distanced itself from…Ballard…[but the new head is Trump henchman] Derek Benner, the former…[head of] ICE…[and the organization collaborates with…the…Human Trafficking Training Center (HTTC)…[founded by] Dan Nash…[an infamously-corrupt] Missouri State [pig whose career]…shows a blatant disregard for civil rights…HTTC was awarded a total of $264,037 in recent years to [instruct cops on “rescue” copaganda.  Another conspirator is Alison]…Phillips[, a corrupt Missouri politician who] led…[pogroms against Asian-owned businesses] and…has longstanding ties to [pro-censorship and]…anti-[civil rights cults including]…Exodus Cry…

Panopticon (#1679)

The only way to stop the panopticon is to tear it up by its roots:

A [typical and representative] Savannah [Georgia sow] gave her [ICE goon] husband…access to the [cop shop]’s Flock license plate reader system, which he used to [targe]t hundreds of [human beings for having brown skin.  Collusion with ICE is against]…Savannah [cop shop policy, so it fired Amber] Harpe…who was [caught]…after an internal audit flagged an unusually high volume of searches through [her] account between January and July 2026…[the government tried to hide the goon] husband’s name…[but it is] Tyler Harpe…

Some readers may remember when cops were colluding to circumvent legal restrictions on facial recognition.

Stalkers in Blue (#1679)

Cops will abuse warrantless surveillance for as long as it exists:

A[n] Indiana [cop named]…James Heneghan…was arrested [on October 15 for stalking]…intimidation…and fraud.  He…[was reported by] a family member…[whose] kids [he had threatened, who told cops]…he…had been using [Flock] to…stalk…people and confront them in public…[the victims] includ[ed] ex-girlfriends, his wife…a man his wife knew…the husband of one of his ex-girlfriends…[and] his ex-girlfriend’s [teen offspring]…

 

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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No one is safe. No one.  –  Michael Wriston

Cops and Robbers (#1527)

If you’re a fan of “sex offender” registration, meet one of your bedfellows:

Jeff Bast, who goes by Millstone the Klown on social media, [fantasizes] he is protecting children [by destroying the lives of]…people [he claims are insufficiently sociopathic toward those condemned to] the sex offender registry…[one of his victims,] Lucy Reid…had grown weary of seeing her hometown [plastered with hundreds of handmade signs accusing someone of child sex abuse, so she started taking them down when she saw them]…she did not expect strangers to call her a “pedophile protector” or…deluge…[her employer, a bookstore,] with calls threatening demonstrations outside the shop unless it cut ties with her…[After she was sacked] Millstone the Klown’s followers [started posting videos] showing the entrance to the building where…she [lived, urging lynch mobs visit her with] pepper spray and a knife…One morning, a wood chipper was parked nearby…[after] Millstone…suggested she should be thrown into one…[another victim,] Llaina Groves…[was targeted with a spurious accusation] linking her husband and business to an alleged sex offender…Bast later posted an apology…but [only after his disciples had]…spray-painted [“DPDR”] on the parking lot in front of [her business], an abbreviation for…“Dead Pedophiles Don’t Reoffend”…[a] slogan [which appears on merchandise Bast sells]…

I Spy (#1590)

If you think this will go away when Trump does, you are a fool:

[ICE] is fast-tracking a $100 million domestic surveillance program to [post] 142 [spooks] in more than two dozen cities…in [order to more effectively destroy]…private lives.  The new program is called the Enforcement and Removal Operations Overwatch and National Security Enforcement, or ERO ONE…and…the timeline suggests ICE will award the contract around February…Jay Stanley…[of the ACLU called it] “a nightmare in the making”…[because] the government [is] us[ing the excuse of] undocumented immigrants…[to subject] everyone…[especially] political enemies…[to] raid[s] like the one recently inflicted on] Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s D.C. home…ERO ONE…will…target…every [single] person to whom [a chosen victim is] connected, including household members, family members, friends, acquaintances, or the person with whom they carpool to work…

Sexcrime (#1590)

It’s been less than eight years since the UK lost in court the last time it tried this:

Pornography that depicts strangulation…or…sex between people who are…pretending to be related, or when somebody is pretending to be…under 16, will be illegal [in England and Wales because politicians love]…criminalising harmless sexual preferences…[if control freaks barf the words “]healthy relationship[“]…or [“]glorifies…violence against women…” [at it]…

Mad Libs (#1652)

Greedy idiots are discovering that there’s no autocomplete for human thought:

[Greedy nitwit]s around the globe are grappling with the fallout from rushing to [give human jobs to mindless chatbots.  Facebook] has scaled back plans to axe staff and [replace them with chatbots] after the company found employees were spending more and more time cleaning up t[heir stupid] errors…Microsoft…vice-president Ryan Roslansky…publicly lamented the prevalence of…slop in his day-to-day work…and…Walmart…employees are being plagued by unreasonable expectations, errors and false alerts from [chatbot]s that assign tasks, [make] schedules and monitor performance…Employers are navigating a flood of errors and low-quality work that [is] sapping employee time, raising privacy and security risks and pushing up costs.  Now, some businesses [whose management were wanking to Scroogesque fantasies of cheap electric slaves] are…implementing restrictions where experimentation was once encouraged, bringing back experienced workers and [eat]ing [crow]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1676)

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

Rutgers University quietly paid at least $1.5 million for a powerful surveillance analytics system that can recognize faces, read license plates and [mis]identify objects…and…can track people and cars across a network of cameras and [call the pigs on] them.  Avigilon…is part of Motorola S[urveillance], whose surveillance cameras and license-plate readers…increasingly blanket streets across the country.  Rutgers [hid] the purchase [from students, faculty and even the] Board of Governors, the university’s highest governing body…[by taking it from] the…general budget…[while] cut[ting] library funding by roughly a quarter…Britt Paris, a [Rutgers] professor…who has followed these trends for years…[said] “If people knew about this, they would be incredibly upset”…the capabilities aren’t limited to the new cameras…[but] can be applied to the thousands of existing cameras across campus…Rutgers [barfs] the [buzzwords]…“crime[” and “]safety[” at critics]…but crime across all Rutgers campuses has…declined…[especially] serious violent crime…Surveillance has expanded…since 2023, [after] a wave of protests…

Panopticon (#1676)

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

When [cops swagger]ed up to Anthony Sistilli’s front door in September, it wasn’t to accuse him of a crime or take a witness statement, but to ask how he could have the nerve to turn…surveillance cameras on the cops themselves…Though Canada lacks a centralized corporate surveillance regime like Flock in the US, the country’s police have been rapidly scaling a more decentralized ALPR network…Sistilli decided to homebrew his own ALPR…[specifically] designed to track police cars…which the software engineer mounted on his car’s dashboard to test in the real world…Unfortunately, local police soon caught onto Sistilli’s handiwork, and paid him a visit in order to [intimidate him]…“one of them…mention[ed] ‘how scary’ it would be for them, because people would be able to find out where they lived…and what they were doing throughout the day.”  Sistilli’s response? “I think that’s the exact same concern that civilians have too”…

Panopticon (#1678)

Cops won’t stop doing this until the settlements come out of their own pockets:

Lindsey Isaacs was asleep at home in Palm Coast, Fla., on Oct. 5, 2025, when she was awakened at 4:45 a.m. by…[cops who] accused the retail clerk…of causing a multi-vehicle crash…that had killed three people…and then fleeing the scene…They [moronically barfed that her truck] had damage consistent with that collision…[even though it was] sitting in front of them in perfect condition…[the source of the disinformation was of course] a Flock camera…Isaacs was…[locked in a cage] for 13 days, including three days in solitary confinement……[until] her lawyer presented the court with photos of [the same] undamaged [truck cops had ignored to arrest her]…Isaacs sued t[he lying pigs] for false arrest, wrongful imprisonment and malicious prosecution and won a settlement in 2026…

 

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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Mass surveillance violates fundamental rights, even when it is laundered through fragmented systems, private companies, and regional task forces.  –  Cris van Pelt

To Molest and Rape

They usually try to make this sound like the rapist was doing his victims a favor:

A [typical and representative] Raleigh [North Carolina cop named]…Tremale Cogdell…[was] charged [last October]…with [several status offenses due to his repeatedly stopping] fe[male motorists and threatening them with criminal charges unless they submitted to rape]…Later [that month], Cogdell was [also] charged with five counts of soliciting prostitution for [raping five sex workers]…from Aug. 1, 2025, to Sep. 15, 2025.  [Due to a series of shenanigans his arraignment was put off for almost a year, and when it was finally held on September 30 he said all his victims wanted it]…

Charging cops with “soliciting prostitution” instead of rape is a very typical way for prosecutors to let rapist cops off easy when their victims are sex workers.

I Spy (#1434)

Is having a shiny new status symbol really worth being spied on like this?

Northeastern University researchers collaborated with Consumer Reports to take a look at the data [modern] vehicles are collecting and…who it’s shared with.  The study…cover[ed] 19 brands sold in the U.S., along with companion applications…such as HondaLink, MyNissan, and myCadillac….[for] model years…2022 to 2025…the researchers found…that privacy is…nonexistent when drivers own and drive a connected vehicle…the cars and their apps [send] data…to…Google…Amazon, Spotify, Microsoft, and…Facebook…[then] to…Yahoo…Comcast, [Twitter], Disney, Nielsen…Nextdoor…Pinterest, Reddit, Docusign, Dun & Bradstreet, and a…survey…[company named] Press Ganey…VINs…[are shared and linked with] your location, e-mail address, and phone number…The [worst] offenders were Honda, Nissan, [Ford], and…GM…

Feudalism Redux (#1561)

“Fanaticism consists of redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.”  –  George Santayana

[Psychopaths-]general from Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas have filed two sweeping lawsuits targeting dozens of providers who ship abortion pills…One suit, filed against New York, Massachusetts, and California, asks the U.S. Supreme Court to end shield laws—which would allow the [anti-autonomy] states to extradite abortion providers.  The second suit, which names 30 providers, organizations, and pharmacies, seeks injunctions, damages—and [moronically] threatens RICO claims…Louisiana’s Liz Murrill has long been…[spouting the bizarre] claims made in the suits…including lies about abortion ‘coercion’, bogus studies on mifepristone’s safety, free speech attacks, and fetal personhood.  There’s also a new, troubling push for…“complete identification of the individuals…to whom [providers] prescribed and dispensed abortion drugs” [so the patients can be prosecuted]…

Should SCOTUS foolishly allow this, precipitating the biggest crisis in federalism since the 1960s, discreetly-packaged pills sent from overseas by telehealth services like Women Help Women will still be available unless the regime decides to stop all mail from outside the US.

Torture Chamber (#1586)

This will never stop until each and every jail death results in criminal charges:

The Clayton County [Georgia] Medical Examiner’s Office has classified a…[prisoner]’s death as a homicide, finding that medical neglect and uninhabitable conditions at the jail contributed to a fatal bacterial infection.  Scott Clyde Worthy…died…on Sept. 6, 2025, after he was [finally] taken…to…hospital…[after being un]able to get up [for days]…[due to] “complications of Streptococcus pyogenes sepsis”…Worthy had been [locked up for six months for saying words cops didn’t like]…

I’m sure they helpfully yelled “Stop faking! at her as she died:

Representatives of Atiyana Willis’ estate [have] filed a federal civil rights lawsuit…a[gainst screws who] ignored her requests for medical assistance and [left her to die in a cage]…Greene County [Arkansas] Sheriff Brad Snyder [tried to escape culpability by firing] nine jail employees following…[the] 18[-year-old’s wholly preventable death]…Willis…repeat[ly] request[ed] help…[but screws simply ignored her until she died].   The lawsuit cites two earlier Greene County jail deaths — Garrett Lee Evers in 2019 and Marshall Price in 2022 — as evidence that county officials had [long known their incompetence was killing people]…

Panopticon (#1667)

Local politicians’ virtue-signaling is powerless against the fascist panopticon:

The Trump [regime] is using an anti-drug trafficking grant program from the 1980s to force cities around the country to funnel their ongoing [unconstitutional] collection of automated license plate reader data into large federal surveillance centers that fall under [imperial] jurisdiction…[all goons need to do is point at any camera while barfing the magical phrase] “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area”…to [force] local cop…[shops to hand over feeds from their] Flock, Axon, and other ALPR cameras…[it is] aggregate[d] on federal government servers, where it is then accessible to [cops shops, spook houses, goon squads and other violent gangs]…including those who may not have contracts themselves with the ALPR companies…without any…oversight [at all].  HIDTA falls under the jurisdiction of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy…

Eavesdropping (#1677)

All the intrusive surveillance of Facebook, now packed in a baby rattle:

[Facebook’s] new [chatbo]t, Muse, has become a viral hit…with millions [of marching morons]…connecting it to [their] bank accounts…[and] health data…multiple researchers have extracted Muse’s internal files…providing a glimpse of how the system was built and behaves…it…create[s] “a page for every person in the user’s life [without the target’s consent]”…compiling data on family, partners, friends, colleagues…and…[even strangers on the internet.  Security researcher Karan] Joshi [says]….“They’re trying to know you like a friend, which is honestly pretty creepy”…

Stalkers in Blue (#1677)

It’s almost like the Founders knew what they were doing when they enacted obstacles to government spying:

Pinellas County [Florida has] arrested two of its own deputies on felony charges…[for] abus[ing] official databases — in[cluding]…automatic license plate reader data — to…[stalker sexual prey.  Pig] Travis Stanton used…databases to [stalk] a 17-year-old girl met at the restaurant where she worked…[and] Carl Gwynn…[used the ALPR] database some 300 times to track the car of a woman he [lusted after]…The investigation into Stanton began when the teen girl complained to the sheriff’s office…[about his lurk]ing in…the fast-food restaurant where she worked and making her feel uncomfortable [with creepy behavior and comments, then haunting]…the parking lot [of her] high school…Gwynn [was caught when reporters noticed his]…large number of searches…for…a…woman he’d arrested in 2010…he [then quit the cop shop before they could fire him]…

 

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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[It] basically looks like a baby [rattle].  –  Katie Seaborn

Creepy Coppers (#1568)

It’s likely that flashing is the least of his crimes:  A[n Oregon cop named]…Luis Rivera…e[xposed himself to a woman at a gym and was rewarded with a paid vacation]…

Walled Garden (#1625)

OfCom is trying to rob corporations for being unable to do the impossible:

[The UK censorship bureau] Ofcom [is trying to bleed] Pornhub owner…Aylo [of £18 million, using the excuse that]…the site’s new age checks are [not 100%] effective…[at stopping tech-savvy legal minors] from accessing…content [the UK wants censored]…in May…Pornhub started using a new age verification process [owned by]…Apple [which]…Ofcom…praised…as “a real win for children and families” [until Apple refused to create a backdoor into its cloud storage service which would allow the UK government to access any UK user’s data at will]…Aylo [correctly points out that the “age verification” surveillance regime has effectively driven UK web traffic]…to riskier sites that aren’t following Ofcom’s rules…

A Broker in Pillage (#1629)

Courts regularly pretend there’s a “fuck you, we’re cops” exception to the Takings Clause:

Abigail Trujillo was in the middle of a shift at her job…when Houston [cops decided to use] her car [for target practice, shooting it] dozens of times.  Neither Trujillo nor her Nissan sedan had [done] anything [illegal].  But weeks [later]…attorneys for the city told…Trujillo, a 20-year-old University of Houston student who [is] working a retail job to help pay for college…[to fuck off, adding insult to injury by calling a totaled car she still owes thousands on an] “inconvenience”…

Panopticon (#1671)

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

…a new map published [on September 23] by a cybersecurity researcher reveals Flock’s nationwide reach is [much] bigger…[than it claims,] show[ing] more than 170,000 cameras, plus more than 130,000 accompanying gadgets…Joshua Michael’s Flock Surveillance Map highlights the locations of…[all] Flock surveillance devices…across the country…Unlike crowd-sourced projects such as DeFlock, which are built on locations submitted by users, the Flock Surveillance Map relies on location data culled from a snapshot, archived by Michael in December 2025, of Flock’s own records…color-cod[ing] each Flock device according to its model…[and including it in a] searchable dataset table…

Eavesdropping (#1673)

If you hated the adult pacifier fad of the ’90s, what about a surveillance rattle?

[Because of] the [ongoing] backlash against…pervert…glasses…Mark Zuckerberg launched a[n]…alternative [designed to trick infantile minds]: the Muse [gewgaw].  With a screen that shows a cutesy little avatar, it has drawn comparisons with Tamagotchis…[and] could fit, like a Labubu, on to a keychain or bag.  But unlike a Labubu, the [built-in chatbot] will have significant capabilities, including the ability to [dri]ve [the owner into psychosis, incorrectly]…answer [questions]…or [give dangerous and possibly deadly medical “advice”]…Joshua Paul Dale…[of] Chuo University in Tokyo [said]…“Everyone hates…[perve]rt glasses.  But if the camera is contained in a charm [nitwits] wear around [their] neck, it shifts the agency [in the minds of those with poor thinking skills].  Suddenly, you’re not recording people.  It’s just a cute little animated avatar looking out on the world”…this [“]companion[“]…tracks with Zuckerberg’s [obsession with] the idea of [a world completely without privacy]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1673)

It’s almost like the Founders knew what they were doing when they enacted obstacles to government spying:

Prosecutors in Marion County, Indiana, [surprising]ly charged five Indianapolis [cops for]…misusing their [unconstitutional warrantless] access to Flock license-plate-reader cameras.  The action comes [only because] The Washington Post highlighted thousands of questionable Flock searches, [embarass]ing the city…The five [pigs] — Michael Rogers, Jonathan Schultz, Cassandra Crawley, Matthew Binford and Abigail Cramer — were all charged…with fraud and…recommended for termination…Flock [is scrambling to design a] tool that automatically scans for…misuse [in an attempt to head off the wave of bad publicity]…

Typical, representative, etc:

A Naperville [Illinois cop] used Flock [ALPRs] to track a girlfriend and her ex-fiance…Oscar Maldonado…[performed the unconstitutional warrantless searches] hundreds of times between June 18, 2025, and Sept. 15, 2025…When the department received a citizen complaint…Maldonado was [rewarded with a paid vacation, but]…ultimately [saw the writing on the wall and] resigned in May [before he could be fired]…When asked why he used Flock [for the unconstitutional warrantless surveillance], Maldonado [moronically barfed]…the [word “]safety[” in the investigators’ faces, apparently assuming they were as naive as the public]…

Panopticon (#1674)

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

Durango [Colorado] residents took to the streets…to [protest]…the growing mass surveillance system [based on] automated license plate readers…the…Durango [cop shop thinks people are so stupid they will believe]…its switch [from Flock] to Axon…is [other than a mere cosmetic change]…

It’s not only small cities, either:

The [LAPD’s much-ballyhooed ending of its contract with Flock is in reality merely a misdirection for its new and even worse contract with]…Axon…for [even more invasive surveillance], including new p[igmobile-mounted ALPRs]…and [truth-hiding chatbot report writers.  Spokespig]…Dean Gialamas…[absurdly tried to defend the surveillance expansion by oinking “]public safety[” at reporters]…

 

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

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I 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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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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They’re letting police do just about anything.  –  Randall Kallinen

When Dolly Parton died a few weeks ago, I seemed to be the only one who remembered this 1976 guest appearance on Captain Kangaroo; the video was clearly taken from the edited reruns of old shows aired on PBS in the late ’80s.  Of particular note: Dolly reading a children’s book aloud, almost 20 years before starting her Imagination Library charity.  The links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel; Radley Balko; Lucy Steigerwald; Mistress Matisse & Dan Savage; C.J. Ciaramella; IncarcerNation; and Radley Balko again, 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 suggestion to “be mindful”…[is] going to prevent absolutely no one from recording others.  –  Chris Hoffman

Policing for Profit

Cops usually make up some pretext, however flimsy, for their robbery schemes:

A [Las Vegas cop named]…Antonio Chavez…and his wife, Claudia Guzman-Marquez…intentionally used their credit cards to purchase expensive items and gift cards in the tens of thousands of dollars…and…the[n]…dispute[d] the charges with the credit card companies, claiming that their wallets…had been stolen.  Chavez even filed a [false] police report…to [back up his scam against]…Capital One…American Express…Citibank and JPMorgan Chase…Chavez admitted…that he conspired with his wife and “a third party in California” in [the] fraud scheme…

Follow Your Bliss (#1169)

People like this are the norm in policing sexual offenses, and always will be:

A [Father]land Security [goon] whose work included child-exploitation cases is now facing nine sex-crime charges [for repeatedly rap]ing a juvenile victim in [Alabama]…Kent Ian Blacklidge is…a [fine example of McNeill’s Law]…“It’s why [his behavior was] so profoundly [predictable]”…said [Maggie McNeill]…

Eavesdropping (#1606)

Another privacy-invading gadget from the usual sociopathic assholes:

Siri Recap is a new Apple Watch feature designed to continuously log everyday conversations and generate c[hatbot] summaries…turning one of the world’s most popular [gewgaws] into a…[surreptitious eavesdropping device, thus]…rais[ing] major privacy and social concerns…Siri Recap is technically optional…for the person wearing the watch.  If someone decides to record you, there’s little you can do to prevent them, short of running away as fast as possible or smashing their watch…many US states require two-party consent, meaning…this feature [is illegal] in states with such laws…Apple [lie]s that Siri Recap won’t upload audio to the cloud…but…the…watch will send captured audio to your iPhone, where it is transcribed…[and uploaded to] Apple’s…servers, where [a chatbot] will generate the final summary…

The Cop Myth (#1626)

Cop shops are so obsessed with hiding the truth about cop violence, initial reports can sometimes be completely misleading:

A [North Carolina cop named]…Nekime Oxendine…[has finally been] charged with [the] murder…of…[another cop named] Adam Bean…[at the] home…of Tara Whitman…[who apparently] had [such a thing for cops she was fucking] both men…Bean [unexpectedly arrived] and was upset to find Oxendine’s truck parked outside…[so] Oxendine walked out[side] and [murdered]…Bean…Oxendine…remains…behind bars with no bond…

The initial reports were so vague I incorrectly concluded that the murderer-cop was the woman, rather than being another boyfriend.  Mea culpa.

To Molest and Rape (#1661)

This one makes extra effort to pretend the child molester was not typical and representative:

A [typical and representative North Carolina cop named]…Leigh Ann Brooks [repeatedly molested]…an…[unidentified child or stepchild of indeterminate] sex…the [typical and representative cop was only atypical in that she is female]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1669)

Warrantless surveillance makes all women prey for cops, including female cops:

A [New York sow named]…Laurie Moore…conduct[ed] more than 4,000 un[constitutional warrantless Flock] searches…[on] her…[ex-]girlfriend…and…four [other people]…hundreds of times each [over the past two years.  Both the sheriff and the DA absurdly bloviated that the epidemic of cops conducting unconstitutional warrantless surveillance cannot be blamed on a surveillance network specifically designed to facilitate unconstitutional warrantless surveillance]…

Welcome to the Future (#1672)

Anthropic goes from pretending to care about safety to persecuting those who really do:

Job postings and interviews with senior security officials at Anthropic show that the f[ascist “]AI[” pusher] is building…an extensive monitoring system to [spy] on activists who oppose [its schemes]…and…implementing a “pre-crime” approach, attempting to…[harass activists by siccing the pigs on them when they haven’t committed any] crime…the…surveil[lance scheme demonstrates that]…the firm’s efforts to cast itself as the responsible alternative to OpenAI [were and are complete bullshit]…Anthropic has begun…routine [copsucking, siccing cops on innocent people by barfing buzzwords such as “]threats[“]…“concerning behavior”…[and] “escalation patterns”…[at them].  Last month…Anthropic was fast to call the cops on a frustrated Claude user…[but] refused to show police [any] actual…evidence of actual wrongdoing…Anthropic’s effort to build a pre[-crime machine appears to be a step toward worming its way back into the military-industrial complex not only for profits, but also so its]…data centers and power supply…[can be] designat[ed as “critical infrastructure” like]…water, electricity, and broadband…Enshrining [“AI” scam promoters] in the hardened cloak of national security would…embolden these companies to shape how federal agencies view threats to their bottom line…[magically] transform[ing their]…oppo[nents into]…[“]extremists[“] or…even…[“]terrorists[“]…

 

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