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Posts Tagged ‘fascism’

In the News (#1323)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 22, 2023| 1 Comment »

From a legal perspective, [fetal personhood] is, quite frankly, bonkers.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Rescued To Death

The “Swedish model” helps women!

Police raided 11 [shared incall]s…in studio apartments in…Tel Aviv…[evict]ing some 20 women…Tel Aviv’s Welfare Department…only got an hour’s forewarning…[and] organizations aiding prostitutes were not informed at all…one [sex worker]…told Haaretz…“They wouldn’t let me change. They came in with cameras and large forces and told me to get lost in 10 minutes…We have no way to make ends meet this month”…Romi Levy of the Argaman organization [said]…“Women who have committed no crime were depicted…as wanted criminals…Women aged 30-60 were thrown out on the street with their belongings, crying and shouting for help, which I’m sad to say won’t be forthcoming”…

If Men Were Angels

This will never stop as long as people teach kids unquestioning obedience to “authority”:  “The minister of a church in [Ohio]…has been arrested…[on] multiple criminal charges…of the sexual abuse of minors.  Dennis Laferty…is pastor at Thompson United Methodist Church…”

The Mob Rules (#1198)

Unless this batshittery is declared unconstitutional, things will keep getting worse:

A Texas man is suing three women under the wrongful death statute, alleging that they assisted his ex-wife in terminating her pregnancy…Marcus Silva is represented by [two politicians:] Jonathan Mitchell…architect of the state’s prohibition on abortions…and state Rep. Briscoe Cain…[the] ex-wife learned she was pregnant in July 2022, t[wo] month[s] after [s]he [had filed for divorce]…and [wisely decided]…to…terminate the pregnancy [lest the husband weaponize it in the divorce]…The friends…sen[t] her information about Aid Access, an international group that provides abortion-inducing medication through the mail…they [later] found a way to acquire the medication in Houston…A third woman delivered the medication…and…the wife self-managed an abortion at home…The lawsuit relies heavily on screenshots from a [private] group chat the ex-wife had with [her] two friends…

Choke Point (#1275) 

The word “pause” means a temporary stop:

Just weeks ago, gun control advocates were doing happy dances as credit card companies prepared to implement a new merchant category code…that would ease the way…for tracking gun purchases.  Now, under public pressure, financial institutions are backing away from those codes…It’s an illustration of how…politicized business has become, and how difficult it is for private companies to navigate between the country’s political tribes…

Panopticon (#1295)

Forcing the government back from establishing a very dangerous precedent:

…the Department of Commerce and the…NOAA…[demanded] in 2020…[that] charter-boat captains…install—at their own expense—onboard monitoring systems that regularly relayed their boats’ GPS locations to the government.  A group of…captains…sued, saying the rule violated rights to due process, privacy, and freedom of movement…Now a federal court has sided with the captains:  installation of a [monitoring] device would cost $3,000, with an additional $40 to $75 per month in service fees…charter-boat owners…primarily operate small businesses, with roughly $26,000 per year in net income…in addition…the regulation imposes a massive privacy cost; demanding that charter-boat owners transmit their exact location to the Government, every hour of every day forever…

The Vultures Descend (#1319)

The predictable result of “fetal personhood” snake oil:

South Carolina [politician]s are proposing…to…defin[e] personhood to begin at fertilization…[even though] the majority of fertilized eggs do not go on to become viable pregnancies…Legally defining personhood as beginning at conception creates all sorts of thorny issues, from the serious (should the state start investigating all miscarriages as potential homicides?) to the odd (can a pregnant woman legally drive in a carpool lane?)…fetal personhood laws have been considered in a number of states and passed in five (Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas and Missouri).  And implicit in this concept is the idea that all laws…would equally apply to all “unborn persons”…South Carolina’s proposed Prenatal Equal Protection Act would…amend the sections of the state code related to murder and assault to say that…women who get abortions could be charged with homicide, and women who injure a fetus in some way could be charged with assault…It’s the type of laws that could lead to increased surveillance, restrictions on, and criminalization of pregnant women across the board…

To Molest and Rape (#1322)

Cops view alcoholism as a way to coerce sex from those suffering from it:

A [Florida cop] has been fired for [coerc]ing an…a[lcoholic] woman…in[to sex]…Patrick Monteith…manipulated [his victim, who]…was scared to report [the rapes] to the police or [even tell him no]…”because of his position as an officer”…Monteith [characteriz]ed [the abusive] relationship [as]…a friendship…

 

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

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In the News (#1321)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 15, 2023| 2 Comments »

Lifetime registries are wrong.  –  James H. Maynard

The End of the Beginning

A precedent here could be used against all such evil “registries”:

In New Jersey, individuals found [guilty of]…any act of child abuse or neglect are [condemned to] the state’s child abuse registry for life…one New Jersey man is challenging [that]…in court [because]…those on the registry are barred from working in a wide range of fields, including some that do not involve work with children, like substance abuse programs, county mental health boards, or jail diversion programs.  While the registry is not publicly accessible, a person’s registry status will show up in some background checks…K.C…was placed on the registry after he admitted to committing a sexual offense against a sibling when both were minors.  Even though K.C. has not re-offended in the 25 years since…and has since been removed from the state’s sex offender registry—he is stuck on the state’s child abuse registry…

If Men Were Angels

Clearly “lay pastors” are no better than “youth pastors”:

A [typical and representative] lay pastor at a Big Rock [Illinois] church was sentenced…to 15 years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting and abusing a 9-year-old…Mark Rivera…will have to serve at least 11.7 years before being eligible for parole but will receive credit for the approximately three years he has spent in jail or on electronic home monitoring…

To Molest and Rape

A cop from the original of this title is trying to weasel out of the consequences of his actions:

A [typical and representative] Syracuse [New York] cop [who tried] to silence one of his victims in…2019 is hoping to use his veteran status to avoid yet another criminal conviction.  Chester Thompson…is seeking to resolve…witness tampering and criminal contempt charges by undergoing a program designed for military veterans beset by [PTSD]…It’s unclear whether prosecutors will accept Thompson’s application for the program, which could also include probation and other supervision…Thompson lost his job in 2015 [but suffered only] two misdemeanor official misconduct convictions after admitting to [rap]ing…two…women…[by] using his authority to coerce them…His [rape]s have cost city taxpayers $900,000 in a civil settlement.  But…in July 2019…he…tr[ied] to talk one of his victims out of continuing her lawsuit…[despite] a court order prohibiting…contact with his victim…

Shame, Shame (#1087)

And yet bird-brains still believe realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology:

U.S. Special Operations Command, responsible for some of the country’s most secretive military endeavors, is gearing up to conduct internet propaganda and deception campaigns online using deepfake videos…The plans, which also describe hacking internet-connected devices to eavesdrop in order to assess foreign populations’ susceptibility to propaganda, come at a time of intense global debate over technologically sophisticated “disinformation” campaigns, their effectiveness, and the ethics of their use.  While the U.S. government routinely warns against the risk of deepfakes and is openly working to build tools to counter them, the document from…SOCOM, represents a nearly unprecedented instance of…a…government — openly signaling its desire to use the highly controversial technology offensively…

Panopticon (#1256)

Amazon’s fascist collaboration with cops just keeps getting worse:

The week of last Thanksgiving, Michael Larkin…[of] Hamilton, Ohio…[let cops have] footage from [hi]s…Ring video doorbell, one of…21 Ring cameras in and around his home and business…The [cops] were [spy]ing…on a neighbor, and…wanted videos of “suspicious activity” between 5 and 7 p.m. one night in October.  Larkin [foolishly]…thought that was all the[y]…would [deman]d.  Instead, it was just the beginning.  They asked for more footage…the[n]…a week later, Larkin received a notice from Ring itself: The company had received a warrant, signed by a local judge….[demanding] footage from [all of his] cameras…[including those inside his home and business]…whether or not Larkin was willing to share it…

The Prudish Giant (#1263) 

Why does anyone still trust Facebook?

In the immediate aftermath of the reversal of Roe v. Wade, women worried data from their period-tracking apps could be used to prosecute them…Now, women…need to consider what they write in chat logs, direct messages, and search bars online….ProPublica…found that at least nine online pharmacies that sell abortion medication — Abortion Ease, BestAbortionPill.com, PrivacyPillRX, PillsOnlineRX, Secure Abortion Pills, AbortionRx, Generic Abortion Pills, Abortion Privacy, and Online Abortion Pill Rx — were sharing information like users’ web addresses, relative location, and search data with third-party sites like Google.  That kind of exchange opens that data up to discovery as part of [cop rooting, as in]…the case of Jessica Burgess…who is accused of helping her daughter…[obtain medica]tion in their home state of Nebraska….key…evidence…[included] chat logs…[eagerly handed to rooting pigs] by…Facebook…

A Broker in Pillage (#1266)

Absolutely nothing is “safe” if government actors know where it is:

The [FBI]…regularly s[teal]s cash, cars and other valuables that belong to people who aren’t accused of any crimes.  Months later, many of those people receive a dense, boilerplate notice stating that the FBI plans to keep their property forever, without any explanation of why—a blatantly unconstitutional practice.  That’s what happened to Linda Martin.  When the FBI [stole] her life savings from a safe-deposit box during a 2021 raid of US Private Vaults in Beverly Hills, Calif., she [naively]assumed her money would be returned [by the robbers]…but several months later, she—and hundreds of other innocent people who had their safe-deposit boxes taken—received a notice stating that the government wanted to [keep] her money…the Institute for Justice [has] calculated that from 2017 to 2021 Justice Department agencies gained more than $8 billion through forfeiture, with the FBI taking in more than $1.19 billion of that bounty…In an earlier lawsuit…regarding the US Private Vaults raid, a federal judge declared the FBI’s notices “anemic” and immediately halted forfeiture proceedings…Unfortunately, that ruling applied only to the named plaintiffs in that suit…So [Ms. Martin has]…filed a new class-action lawsuit…seeking to help anyone nationwide who received one of the FBI’s [robbery-justification] notices…

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

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In the News (#1316)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I would have been his next target.  –  Elesha Bates

Feminine Pragmatism (#514)

Most reporters are historical ignoramuses who don’t know that up until a century ago, the professions of actress and whore were indistinguishable:

Jane Fonda confessed she agreed to a date with 90-year-old Richard Lugner…[because] he…pa[id] her to accompany him to the Vienna Opera Ball…Fonda said…she needed the money to pay her bills and to support her grandchildren…The 85-year-old joins the list of female celebrities that have [accepted professional dates with]…Lugner…including Pamela Anderson, Kim Kardashian and Elle MacPherson…

Every sex worker needs money to pay her bills and many need it to support children, but the cops who hunt them and the press who demonize them don’t care, because they aren’t worth $200 million.

The Clueless Leading the Hysterical (#1185)

Unsupervised kid eats too much candy, gets sick; mom demands politicians DO SOMETHING!

An 11-year-old Staten Island boy was [taken to the emergency room] after [rudely] gobbling up THC gummies [at a family friend’s house]…and now his mom is urging the mayor to do something to pr[otect people from having to teach their kids basic manners]…Veronica Gill noticed her son, Ryan, “acting really strange” after returning home…Gill became concerned when the youngster…[got extremely high]…and [then sick]…After Ryan underwent a series of tests…a urine test revealed he had ingested a considerable amount of THC in the last few hours…Gill was…disturbed to find out that her son had taken the weed-infused gummies [without permission] from a candy drawer at the “straight-laced” party-throwers home…the …friend…[claimed to] “have no idea how the hell this got into my house”…

I’m sure it magically appeared on a grocer’s shelf, where she absent-mindedly purchased it without noting that it cost over $2 per individually-wrapped gummy, and threw it in a drawer for friends’ brats to find while rudely digging in drawers at houses where they don’t live.  Therefore a politician should issue an EDICT proclaiming “No edibles for you, New Yorkers!”

See No Evil (#1201)

Are the Japanese the only people left on Earth who can tell fantasy from reality?

A young man [in Ireland] who downloaded…[hentai] onto his phone has escaped going to jail…after Gardai [rooted through]…his phone after [stealing] it…Davies [is sane and grounded in reality, and] was [therefore]…genuinely shocked when he was told that the images were classed [in Ireland] as child pornography….[despite the fact that they] did not feature real children but were animated images involving [characters resembling] children [to Western eyes]…the…judge…sentenced Davies to 80 hours [slave labor] in lieu of four months in prison…

Panopticon (#1203)

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

From Pasadena, California to Lexington, Kentucky to Menasha, Wisconsin, to Newark, New Jersey, the surveillance company Flock Safety is blanketing American cities with dangerously powerful and unregulated automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras.  While license plate readers have been around for some time, Flock is the first to create a nationwide mass-surveillance system out of its customers’ cameras.  Working with [cop shop]s, [busybody club]s, and other private customers, Flock…runs all plates against state police watchlists and the FBI’s primary criminal database…[it]s goal is to expand to “every city in the United States,” and its cameras are already in use in over 2,000 cities in at least 42 states…Flock is building a giant camera network that records people’s comings and goings across the nation, and then makes that data available for search by any of its law enforcement customers…

I Saw My Brain (#1272)

Another pogrom from the dangerous clown who rules Polk County, Florida:

Over 200 people were arrested [in the latest pogrom against consensual sex from the deranged]…Grady Judd[, who always gives the entrapment schemes sophomoric titles, in this case] “Operation Traffic Stop”…[and then stands in front of reporters playing with himself while vomiting out lurid sexual fantasies about the people he and his costumed hooligans victimized]…

This will continue until the majority of those arrested fight back with lawsuits, or the voters of Polk County get tired of paying the many lawsuits that are already filed against this cretin every year.

To Molest and Rape (#1279)

Copaganda erodes the judgment of the naive:

A [typical and representative Oklahoma cop named Cody Even Cheyenne Kackley] faces charges after…he drove home a drunk woman from a casino and [rap]ed her in a bedroom before her brother walked in…the victim…was [heavily drinking] at [a]…Casino…and had called her brother for a ride home…[when cops decided to arrest her] and let her go…she then asked Kackley for a ride home, [foolishly] thinking it was safe “since he was a police officer”…

To Molest and Rape (#1315)

As usual, this monster’s handlers made a conscious choice to let him run wild, despite red flags:

Elesha Bates…submitted Ring camera video to the Gwinnett County Police Department and the Doraville Police Department in December as evidence after…[typical and representative cop] Miles Bryant was stalking her…Bryant…is now [suspected of raping and murdering]…16-year-old Susana Morales [during the time he was stalking Bates, who]…has known…Bryant since fifth grade…in March…shortly after she [met him again]…he showed up at her…apartment unannounced and uninvited…[she came home from work to find her] door…kicked in…her neighbor…“[told] me that there was like a guy coming and putting his ear to my door and…stuff like that…she said she saw him trying to break in”…Bryant showed up at her door again in October and two more times in December…the Ring video [she gave to cops] showed Bryant stopping by in December while she was hiding inside her apartment with her boyfriend…

 

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

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In the News (#1315)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[Chris] Stewart proposes eliminating anonymous speech and effectively creating a database of dissenters.  –  Ari Cohn

Without Let or Hindrance

Some people still believe these sociopaths are motivated by a desire to “protect children”:

…after their son Cooper…[was sexually] assault[ed by a cop named Brandon Cook, Tim & Heather]…Hill…[were subjected to] an ever more complicated web of [retaliatory] legal proceedings [by Missouri “child welfare” goons under the direction of a bureaucrat named Spring] Cook…[seven months after a] Review Board…reversed Cook’s finding of neglect…FBI agents knocked on their door…[to interrogate] Cooper’s [sister about his] sex life, much like DSS had.  They left and never came back…but [to head off more retaliatory]…investigations, the…[Hills] filed a federal civil rights lawsuit…claiming Cook’s investigation was conducted in retaliation for the family standing up against Scott County after Deputy Cook “groomed Plaintiffs’ minor son through the Scott County Sheriff’s Explorer program”…In June 2021, a federal judge dismissed most of the Hills’ claims. But in a surprising and rare move, she ruled [Spring] Cook wasn’t shielded from a…suit under [qualified] immunity…a…jury [later] found [Brandon] Cook guilty of [molesting Cooper and he]…was sentenced to two years in prison…

Divided We Fall (#902)

People who said nothing while the Times spread propaganda against sex workers are shocked when it expands to other sexual minorities:

…a group of almost 200 journalists and writers released an open letter addressed to the New York Times, sharing their “serious concerns about editorial bias in the newspaper’s reporting on transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people”…In recent years and months, the Times has decided to play an outsized role in laundering anti-trans narratives and seeding the discourse with those narratives, publishing tens of thousands of handwringing words on trans youth—reporting that is now approvingly cited and lauded…by those who seek to ban and criminalize gender-affirming care…

I Spy (#1136)

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

…personal data [from] using the internet…are collected by website cookies, social media platforms, mobile applications, and myriad other digital information hoovers.  This information is collected, processed, and sold by data brokers….to the government.  The…CDC…for instance, purchased location data to [spy on people using] COVID restrictions [as a pretext]…In 2017–18, the…IRS…paid to access location data to [enable surprise raids]…The Wall Street Journal reported, “In many cases, the data is precise enough to clearly identify the home address of the phone’s user, which can then be cross-checked against public databases showing property ownership records or rental address history.”  Under modern case law, the Fourth Amendment does not constrain the government’s purchasing of [this data], as such transactions require neither search nor seizure…

Torture Chamber (#1148)

Texas has a long history of “correcting” people to death:

The FBI has opened an investigation into…following the deaths of two [prisoners] at the Harris County Jail in Texas…Jaquaree Simmons…died in February 2021 and Jacoby Pillow…died in January 2023…Houston…attorneys Ben Crump and Paul Grinke…request[ed] the…investigation.  “It’s appalling that you would have 32 detainees (die) in the Harris County Jail in a 14-month period,” Crump said…21 [human being]s died [while locked] in [filthy cages in Houston] in 2021, and…at least 28 [last year]…the total number of deaths [so far] in 2023 is “at least four”…”We have credible reason to believe that Jacoby Pillow died from compression asphyxia from being restrained…that [is also] evidence that he was beaten multiple times by [screws]”…

To Molest and Rape (Long Hidden)

The stupidest cop defense after “she wanted to be raped by a random cop”:

A [London cop who sexually assaulted] a woman…claims DNA could have been transferred to her chest after she shook his hand…[in actuality,] Fabian Aguilar-Delgado…followed her upstairs and sexually assaulted her after he was called to a domestic incident at her home in Croydon…most of the DNA found on a swab taken from the woman’s right nipple [belong]ed to Aguilar-Delgado…

Believe it or not, we’ve heard the “magical DNA transfer” rape defense before.

To Molest and Rape (#1215)

He wasn’t an “ex-officer” when he raped and murdered a teenage girl:

A [typical and representative] Atlanta[-area cop] has been arrested in connection with the death of a 16-year-old girl who vanished from Gwinnett County more than six months ago.  Susana Morales…vanished…on July 26, 2022…[she] texted her mother at 9:40 p.m…and was not heard from again…[until her] remains were found [on February 6th], more than 20 miles away…Miles Bryant…has been arrested…[but so far only] charged with concealing the death of another and false report of a crime [even though cops suspect him of raping and murdering her]…

Opting Out (#1269) 

Surely you didn’t think this was just about porn, did you?

Rep. Chris Stewart…introduced a bill that would require social media platforms to verify the age of every registered user and prohibit registering [users] younger than 16…the bill would…require…platforms to verify age using government identification, such as a birth certificate or a driver’s license…[and] would apply to any platform that allows users to make accounts for posting, sharing, or viewing user-generated content…This spacious definition of “social media” could be interpreted by regulators to include messaging, video, and email services, none of which are explicitly excluded from the statute’s provisions.  And unlike many recent proposals to regulate online life, the bill does not…spare smaller platforms from having to collect sensitive information from users—which would be costly to protect and would threaten users’ privacy…

 

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

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Links #653

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I wanted him to have a positive view of police…we ended up going to [the] emergency room.  –  Shelia Jackson

I hadn’t realized that classical Greece had an early form of pipe organ, the hydraulis; thanks to Genya for drawing my attention to this recording of a reconstructed example of the instrument.  The links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel, Amy Alkon, Cop Crisis (x3), Dan Savage, and Lenore Skenazy, 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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Links #651

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 27, 2022| 2 Comments »

Y’all have three cop cars because I’m feeding cats?  –  Mary Alston

You’re probably familiar with the song, but did you know there was an official music video starring the young singer herself, from 1953?  The links above the video were provided by Clarissa, Jesse Walker, Cop Crisis (x3), Radley Balko, and Phoenix Calida, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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In the News (#1294)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2022| 1 Comment »

It’s difficult to measure how much you’re harming someone’s relationships and connections with the free world.  –  Keri Blakinger

Surplus Women

Apparently Mexican cops are more concerned about sex workers’ lives than their US counterparts are:

A suspect behind serial killings of sex workers in Tijuana is thought to be somewhere in San Diego, and the Attorney General of Baja California says he is working with U.S. authorities to find the killer…a U.S citizen…[who] finds his victim’s [sic] in strip clubs and bars in Zona Norte…the suspect [rapes]…his victims, [then] beats them and kills them…Each woman was found dead in a motel room…Authorities say they are keeping some details of the murders confidential so as not to alert the suspect…[but] they…know who he is and that he crossed the…border into San Diego…

Follow Your Bliss

The naive believe the government propaganda that “sex predators” are creepy dudes who hang out at playgrounds; in reality, they are largely people in positions of authority over their preferred targets:

A campus [cop named David Laudon] at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth resigned…[after groping a female student and then constantly harassing her with frequent unwanted texts and calls] in 2010…Laudon, was then…hired…in the nearby town of Blackstone, Massachusetts [to lurk in schools and harass students.  While there]…Laudon was [given his dream job of]…investigating reported sexual assaults and [leering at] students…who have been sexually victimized…Blackstone [sacked]…Laudon…after…[finding out about his previous] misconduct…but [w]as [kept] on the town police force…as an investigator who handles sexual assault reports…

Above the Law (#1142)

They usually make these cases sound like the scumbag was doing his victim a favor:

…police chief…Kenny Payne of Plaquemine, Louisiana, was indicted by a grand jury with…malfeasance in office…[after demanding] a…woman…breasts and perform oral sex on him [in exchange for dropping a case against her boyfriend]…The next day, Payne ordered a lieutenant to delete text messages from the woman to the [cop she] report[ed] the [demand to]…Payne also requested Iberville Parish Sheriff Brett Stasi to…cease…investigati[ng]…him after the woman filed a…complaint…

The Punitive Mindset (#1159) 

“Safety” is just a pretext; the real reasons for this are petty torture of prisoners and more profits for the carceral state’s fascist partners:

…On Nov. 14, New York City Department of [Torturing Caged Humans] commissioner Louis Molina outlined plans to digitize mail in city-run facilities…cit[ing cop fantasies of] “dozens” of letters “soaked in fentanyl” [to justify a scheme] to have mail scanned by a third-party vendor and delivered to incarcerated people via tablet.  If the plan goes into effect, it will make New York the latest in a string of carceral systems to end the delivery of paper mail…By damaging…people’s ties to the outside community, the policy could make it more difficult for them to re-enter society, potentially increasing their chances of recidivism…Wanda Bertram…[of] the Prison Policy initiative [says] mail bans are nothing but the flavor of the week in prison and jail policy…11 state prison systems…about 140 jails nationwide…and the Federal Bureau of Prisons [inflict this petty mistreatment on those condemned to their clutches despite]…a host of technical issues: delayed deliveries, blurred photographs, unreadable letters, and missing pages.  In…Pennsylvania…scanning…has resulted in Christmas cards being delayed until March…

Creepy Coppers

Reporter tries to bury the lede; headline writer won’t participate:

A [Georgia cop named]…Robert Vaughn [was arrested] and [charged with possession of child porn] in both Clay and Early County…after receiving [too many reports on his online activity to ignore]…from…NCMEC…[but his cronies are still hiding his identity by refusing to release a mugshot]…

Panopticon (#1256)

Amazon’s fascist collaboration with cops just keeps getting worse:

The New York Police Department…has joined Neighbors, [the] public neighborhood watch platform owned by Amazon’s Ring where video doorbell owners can post clips, and where [cops] can enlist the help of [snitches and useful idiots to fink on their neighbors]…over 2,000 of the nation’s [cop shops] have [already] signed on, including in Los Angeles and Chicago…[NYPD] do[es] not…[yet] have the ability to view or tap into Ring cameras…in real-time [as San Francisco cops already do]…

To Molest and Rape (#1293)

Your “leaders” refer to raping kids as “correction”:

Two [California screws] have been arrested [for]…sex crimes against children…The [screws lurked in] different prisons.  It’s unclear if the two [rapi]sts [a]re connected.  Matthew James Leavens…is being charged with six counts…including rape…[and] Matthew Robert Solem…was [charged with]…14…

 

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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Soft Fascism

Posted in History, Tyranny, tagged , , on December 1, 2022| 2 Comments »

I’ve often said the popular belief that WW2 ended in the victory of “democracy” over fascism is wrong; it was actually a triumph of “soft” maternal fascism over “hard” paternal fascism.  But since the fall of Soviet communism, the prevailing Western post WW2 fascism has hardened.  Fascism is a system built on three legs: the political, the corporate, and the military/paramilitary.  Corporations support politicians and political machines, and the politicians make laws advantageous to their sponsors.  They also use the corporations to achieve social controls they are forbidden by their constitutions or practical considerations (such as censorship and surveillance).  The cops and/or soldiers enforce the diktats of the politicians and protect corporate interests (which is why tax money is used to fund pursuit an punishment of petty shoplifters), and in turn their forces are increasingly funded and given privileges no other group has (like getting away with rape, robbery, mayhem and even murder).  Natty uniforms and ugly racist rhetoric are window-dressing for fascism, not its defining characteristics; the reason these often show up is that they appeal to the kind of undeveloped, morally-primitive mind that make up large enough fractions of the human population to vote the fascists in and support their schemes.

 

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

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In the News (#1289)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 16, 2022| 2 Comments »

No one wins in this.  –  Connor Cook

If Men Were Angels

It’s getting harder to tell the preachers from the cops:  “A pastor [named Fredy Gonzalez]…in Wildomar [California] has been arrested for [molesting] a child…”

A Broker in Pillage (#1118)

Burying government in lawsuits is the only way to slow its depredations:

Vera and Apollonia Ward…were just getting a dog-breeding business off the ground…when…[cops attempted to rob]…them…the…sisters…had…tried to send $17,500 in cash through FedEx to a…California…dog broker…to scout and purchase two new animals for them…[like most people, they did not know] FedEx [has a] fa[scist pact with cops which allows them to root through parcels at FedEx sorting centers if they claim a dog gave them permission.  The cops first vomited out the phrase]…drug proceeds…[and claimed their Sooper Cop noses] smelled marijuana on the money…[but] the sisters…had receipts to [show they had withdrawn the cash from their bank]…When the sisters refused to cave and say the money was drug proceeds, the…[cops] threatened to go after them for money laundering…[but] after the Wards connected with the Goldwater Institute, prosecutors relented and returned the…money…six months [later]…

The Cop Myth (#1191)

Well, this is certainly novel:

A Miami [cop was]…shot in the head by his estranged…girlfriend…Yessenia Sanchez…a[nother cop paid to lurk in]…school[s in order to spy on and harass students]…Sanchez went to [Damian] Colon’s [home]…around 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 4…to argue [with him], a[fter] which [she]…shot [him]…then fled…in a red pick up truck, [which she almost immediately wrecked into]…an oncoming car.  She [then]…los[t] control, hit two parked cars…and continued for another block until her [truck died, after which she]…fled on foot…[and] was later arrested at her home…

Stalkers in Blue (#1240)

This kind of behavior is just another sexual power trip:

A [typical and representative Mountie] convicted of multiple sex offences has been sentenced to 18 months in jail…Andrew Seangio…will [also] be placed on a sex offender registry for 10 years…[because] between 2018 and February 2019…he exposed himself to four girls, one of whom was just 14 years old, as well as [disguised cops]…Seangio would drive…past York House School and Little Flower Academy, both all-girls K-12 private schools, until he spotted an isolated victim.  He would then roll down his window, expose himself and drive away…

Thought Control (#1261)

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

[When] the Patmos Library millage failed in…August…it lost 84% of its operating budget because its staff refused to remove its LGBTQ books.  The board put it on the ballot again [last week]…hoping that with more residents aware of the measure, it would pass.  It failed, again.  Without taxpayer funds, the library will close.  Exactly when that will happen is not yet known.  A GoFundMe for the library raised about $265,000, with the help of author Nora Roberts, but it won’t be enough to sustain it long-term…

Imaginary Victims (#1274) 

The state is far too concerned with “punishing” this girl to actually help her:

…On November 4, [Pieper] Lewis cut off her GPS tracker and [escaped] from [a gingerbread house named] Fresh Start…[cops] issued a warrant for her arrest…and [she was captured 5 days later]…Judge David Porter sentenced Lewis in September to probation for five years to be served at the [gingerbread house].  He also gave her a deferred judgment, which meant her conviction would be expunged from her record if she [successfully jumped through all the] probation [hoops].  Porter warned Lewis at her sentencing hearing that by affording her an opportunity to avoid prison he was giving her a second chance.  “You don’t get a third,” he said…[because of her escape, pigs want] the court to…revoke her probation and deferred judgment and send her to prison…

Winding Down (#1286)

When will the federal government finally read the writing on the wall?

Voters…approved the legalization of recreational marijuana in Maryland and Missouri while rejecting similar measures in Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Meanwhile, voters in five Texas cities passed ballot measures that bar local police from issuing citations or making arrests for low-level marijuana possession.  But the most striking election result for drug policy reformers looking beyond the ongoing collapse of marijuana prohibition happened in Colorado, where a broad psychedelic decriminalization measure [squeaked by despite clucking from puritans that not sending cops to destroy people’s lives over possession of plants]…is bad, because people might use psychedelics for fun…

 

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

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In the News (#1282)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The scale of this is beyond what anyone imagines.  –  Anna Arons

Without Let or Hindrance

Some people still believe these sociopaths are motivated by a desire to “protect children”:

Across the nation, child protective services agencies [violate] the home lives of roughly 3.5 million children [and teenagers] every year…only about 5% of them are ultimately [declared] to have been physically or sexually abused.  With rare exceptions, all of these investigations include at least one [raid], and often multiple…Yet in a ProPublica and NBC News survey that drew detailed responses from 40 state child welfare agencies, all said they would only obtain a warrant or court order to search a home — or call the police for [backup] — in rare cases when they are denied entry…It’s a staggering reality — likely millions of warrantless searches a year — and one that has not been reported [adequately] before…

To Molest and Rape

Typical and representative, by their own admission:

Kansas’ 2021 Officer of the Year has been indicted on charges of rape and aggravated sexual battery…Guillermo Gutierrez…[committed the crime] on May 19, 2022, in Dodge City…

Comfort Zone (#873)

The UK finally admits the “human trafficking” narrative is about migration control:

The Home Office has taken the modern slavery brief away from the minister responsible for safeguarding and classed it as an “illegal immigration and asylum” issue…The move is seen as a clear sign that the department is doubling down on Suella Braverman’s suggestion that people are “gaming” the modern slavery system and…“derailing the UK’s policy on illegal migration”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1265) 

Moral imbeciles are almost completely out of control:

A bill introduced in the Michigan Legislature…could mean life in prison for any parent or doctor who “consents to, obtains, or assists with a gender transition procedure for a child”…[where “child” is used to mean “legal minor”]…Gender transition procedures are defined to include not just surgical interventions but also the prescription of puberty blockers and hormones…under the proposed change, prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to a teenager would be equivalent to severely beating a child.  And it would be defined as a more severe form of abuse than starving or abandoning a kid…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1279)

The stupider the belief, the harder it is to debunk:

Florida’s [Propagandist] General continues to…[drum up hysteria about migration, claim]ing that its effects are spilling over into all aspects of life…Ashley Moody [went on] Fox & Friends [to spread tall tales] about how transnational drug gangs are bringing in lethal narcotic cocktails, [imagin]ing that some of these concoctions may take the form of popular candies.  “We’re seeing them put it in candy packaging, like Nerds packaging. And Halloween’s coming up and those of us with young children have to…start learning about the fentanyl crisis and warning our children”…Host Ainsley Earhardt [confused] the topic…[by say]ing…“so many people are sending their children off to college right now. It’s fall…and we worry that they’re going to take one little pill just because it looks like candy”…

Yes, these people are actually conflating young men and women of university age with children so young they’ll put anything that looks like candy in their mouths.  I couldn’t have invented anything so imbecilic, infantilizing, and disconnected from reality even if I had money riding on it.

Choke Point (#1280)

PayPal is becoming a major threat to civil liberties:

PayPay HK has halted services for the League of Social Democrats (LSD) – one of the remaining active pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong – due to unspecified “excessive risks”…[without] explain[ing] what the “excessive risks” are…Chow Ka-fat…of the LSD [sai]d…the group had not been able to accept any new donations via its PayPal account since the day it received the email, but they can still withdraw money from it…

Stalkers in Blue (#1281)

No, this is a different Louisville cop stealing women’s nude pictures:

A [typical and representative] Louisville [cop]…used [cop surveillance] technology as part of a scheme that involved hacking the Snapchat accounts of young women and using sexually explicit photos and videos they had taken to extort them…Bryan Wilson used his…access to Accurint, a powerful data-combing software used by police departments to [snoop in people’s private business without a warrant]…to obtain information about potential victims.  He would then share that information with a hacker, who would hack into private Snapchat accounts to obtain sexually explicit photos and videos….Wilson would then contact the women, threatening to post the photos and videos online and share them with their friends, family, employer and co-workers unless more sexually explicit material was provided to him…Wilson…[has already] pleaded guilty to a cyberstalking charge as well as to a charge related to…[a scheme] in which Wilson and other [pigs] assaulted pedestrians by throwing beverages out of unmarked p[igmobile]s, sometimes filming their exploits…

 

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 very much!

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