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Posts Tagged ‘Feudalism Redux’

In the News (#1500)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2024| 1 Comment »

I’m not guilty, and they’re not gonna make me believe I’m guilty.  –  Brandy Moore

Property of the State (#1149)

Some light enters the defective brain of a moral imbecile:

Leake County, Mississippi…District Attorney Steven Kilgore…[has] for years deployed patently frivolous criminal charges in an attempt to [force] drug-using mothers [into] the help he thought they needed, whether they wanted it or not…[the] legal ordeal…[of one of his victims wa]s detailed in a Mississippi Today story…and…remarkabl[y], Kilgore, who seems to have previously overlooked the human consequences of treating mothers as criminals based on hospital drug tests, had an awakening of his own as a result…”I’ve reevaluated our stance on the topic and have decided not to handle these cases anymore,” Kilgore [said]…after learning how his decisions had harmed…women, several of whom received stiff prison sentences because they failed to [jump through all the hoops set up by] the…drug court program…including paying hundreds of dollars in fines and fees each month…submitting to home searches and drug tests, and waiving medical privacy…for up to five years…

The Vultures Descend (#1323)

Moral imbeciles can always be trusted to abuse any power they’re given:

[Psychopathic South Carolina politicians] are renewing their push for a piece of legislation that would allow [psychopathic] prosecutors to charge a woman who got an abortion with homicide…[she] could then be…[condemned to] death…

Thought Control (#1345)

It’s always nice to see authoritarian fanatics hoist with their own petard:

The head of a Texas school district says the Bible had to be removed from school libraries because of a new state law prohibiting…books…[containing] sexually explicit or vulgar content…even though [cherry-picked] portions of the Bible remain available in the district’s libraries…The [announcement] sparked outrage from local parents [who have never actually read the Bible and cannot comprehend the plain text of a law], with many expressing disbelief at the [100% predictable consequences of a law they want to use only to censor books they dislike]…

The Widening Gyre (#1401)

Cops keep pissing into the wind, so it’s inevitable some will spray back on them:

In a December 16 Instagram post that received more than 190,000 likes, user Ernest Carter shared a video of a Coca-Cola delivery truck that he claimed was found “full of kids”…and that the video showed police getting the children off the truck.  “The same video and false claim have circulated elsewhere on Instagram, [Twitter], Facebook, Threads, TikTok, Bluesky, YouTube, Rumble and Gettr — including in Spanish and French,” AFP reports…In a follow-up video, he said that his initial post about trafficked children was wrong but there were two abandoned kids found on the truck.  This was also wrong.  The truck and the police depicted were actually outside a mall in Davenport, Iowa, where the local police association was running a toy…drive…

I Spy (#1452) 

Cops everywhere are moral imbeciles, and those who facilitate their evil are enemies of humanity:

Serbia[n cops] have repeatedly used Cellebrite tools to unlock mobile phones so they could then infect them with potent malware, including the phones of activists and a journalist, according to a new report from…Amnesty International…Amnesty…says it, along with researchers at Google, discovered a vulnerability in a wide spread of Android phones which Cellebrite was exploiting.  Qualcomm, the impacted chip manufacturer, has since fixed that vulnerability.  And Amnesty says Google has remotely wiped the spyware from other infected devices….Cellebrite is a…[fascist] Israeli company that sells its mobile forensics technology to [anyone who can pay] all over the world…[and] in multiple cases…these arrests or detentions appear to have been orchestrated specifically to infect a device…

Welcome to the Future (#1461)

Don’t let computers call them, either:

Schools are employing dubious…software to accuse teenagers of wanting to harm themselves and sending the cops to their homes [using that excuse] — with [typically] chaotic and traumatic results…the…software…tracks every word [students] type [on school-issued devices and]…unsurprisingly…[often] woefully misinterpret[s] what the students are actually trying to say.  A 17-year-old in Neosho, Missouri, for instance, was woken up by the police in the middle of the night…[because] a poem she had written years ago triggered the alarms of a software called GoGuardian Beacon, which its maker [markets to control-freak educational bureaucrats] as a way to “safeguard students from physical harm”…

Feudalism Redux (#1472)

Paxton is a dangerous psychopath Texans have empowered to destroy as many human lives as possible:

The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has sued a New York doctor…[named] Megan Carpenter [for] sen[ding] abortion pills to a 20-year-old Texas woman through telemedicine…After the woman sought medical attention for severe bleeding in July, the [abusive sire of the 9-week fetus rooted through her belongings]…and found the abortion pills…Because Carpenter is based in New York, Paxton’s lawsuit will come up against New York’s shield law, which dictates that officials in the state not cooperate with attempts by other states to sue or prosecute providers who send abortion pills to people in states that ban abortion.  Seven other states have passed similar shield laws…[which have] helped providers send pills to more than 9,700 people [per month] who live in [wannabe totalitarian] states…

 

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 (#1497)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

We can’t eradicate the human sex drive.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Worse Than I Thought (#335)

Just because the moral panic is moribund, doesn’t mean politicians aren’t going to keep using sex as an excuse to destroy lives:

North Carolina has made it a felony crime to patronize a sex worker…a crime that comes with a presumptive minimum sentence of four months in prison, up to two years…in recent years, we’ve seen a disturbing trend of states starting to classify attempts to pay for sexual activity as a felony…mirror[ing] the misguided and detrimental path [of]…the war on drugs.  Three states now make it a felony crime to pay for sex or attempt to pay for sex…In 2021, Texas became the first…then…last May, Oklahoma [followed]…Morality in Media…is a major driver of these laws and, more generally, the idea that we can “end demand” for prostitution…sold…by [conflating female agency with]…sex trafficking…

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor” + teacher = “youth pastor”:

A [Texas] pastor and teacher in Grapevine is under arrest for possession of child pornography…Arturo Alarcon…[plant]ed hidden cameras in a church-owned mobile home used to host visiting families. [After these were discovered by visiting missionaries staying there], detectives found an image of child pornography on Alarcon’s cell phone…one of the cameras was designed to look like a clock.  Another…was like a bug zapper…Alarcon [has, unsurprisingly, long been buddy-buddy with] Grapevine Police…

Welcome to the Future (#1159)

Of course they had to be forced to end this ugly, evil scam:

The Pasco County [Florida] Sheriff’s Office is permanently scuttling a [“]predictive policing[” sc]am that was the subject of…a pending civil rights lawsuit…[due to its unceasing,] unconstitutional harassment of families.  In a settlement agreement ending that…lawsuit, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office [was forced to admit] that it…[had intentionally violated] the plaintiffs’ First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights…In addition to ending the…[scheme] and agreeing not to create a similar one, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office will pay [a mere] $105,000 to the four plaintiffs…

A Moral Cancer (#1322)

Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:

If you want to create a black market in a perfectly legal product, just make regulations and taxes so onerous that many people prefer to buy from illegal vendors…that’s certainly the case with cigarettes… “New York has the highest inbound smuggling activity, with an estimated 54.3 percent of cigarettes consumed in the state deriving from smuggled sources in 2022,” note [Adam] Hoffer and [Jacob] Macumber-Rosin [in the latest edition of the Mackinac Center’s regularly compiled research on the topic]. “New York is followed by California (46.7 percent), New Mexico (41.2 percent), Massachusetts (39.7 percent), and Washington (36.8 percent)”…because their tax rates drive people to purchase their smokes from illicit dealers, high-tax states suffered a revenue hit in 2022 of more than $5 billion.  Since 2007, they’ve lost out on more than $79 billion….[and] with flavored tobacco banned in places like California and Massachusetts, those products are available in those states only on the black market…New Hampshire taxes cigarettes at the rate of $1.78 per pack, which is relatively low. As a result, find the Mackinac Center and the Tax Foundation, 31.43 percent of cigarette sales are for smuggling elsewhere.  That puts it in third place after Wyoming, where 49.2 percent of cigarette sales are smuggled out of state, and Delaware, where 34.4 percent of sales are resold in higher-tax jurisdictions…

Feudalism Redux (#1390)

If you need a law like this to control your teen offspring, you’ve already lost them:

[The Ninth Circuit] has ruled that Idaho can [attempt to] enforce its abortion travel ban, which [criminalizes adults who assist] minors [who] travel…out of state for abortions without parental consent.  The decision…reversed a 2023 decision that had blocked the law on First Amendment grounds.  The law [is intended to allow a parent or guardian to force a minor to carry an unwanted or even dangerous pregnancy to term by terrorizing anyone who might help a girl to exercise her right to bodily autonomy.  Its]…sweeping language…could [even] apply to a grandmother driving a pregnant minor to the post office to pick up a package containing abortion medication, for example…

You Were Warned (#1437)

Increasingly-unhinged federal courts uphold a blatantly-unconstitutional law:

A panel of three federal…judges ruled unanimously…to uphold a law that could [unconstitution]ally ban TikTok in the United States…[unless its] Chinese owner, ByteDance…sell[s] it to a…[politically-connected] American owner by Jan. 19, 2025…the…decision sets the table for TikTok to take its case to the Supreme Court…During his campaign, [dancing orange-utang] Donald Trump…[claimed] he would “save TikTok”…though opinions among his [gang of unhinged cronies]…are mixed on whether…to [include this particular]…unconstitutional [action among]…the…flawed and dangerous precedent[s they already support to]…give…the government far too much power [over] Americans’ speech online…

Mad Libs

The reason so-called “AI” spouts out gibberish is that it is incapable of telling truth from falsehood:

Following Hunter Biden’s pardon by his father…Ana Navarro-Cardenas, a commentator who appears on The View and CNN…cited a pardon granted by President Woodrow Wilson of his brother-in-law Hunter deButts…and…an Esquire article called “A President Shouldn’t Pardon His Son? Hello, Anybody Remember Neil Bush?” was based on the premise that George H.W. Bush pardoned his son Neil; it has since been retracted “due to an error.”  The day before its publication, Occupy Democrats’ executive editor Grant Stern tweeted a similar claim that Jimmy Carter pardoned his brother Billy…As far as I can tell, n[one of these] actually occurred.  Where was all this coming from? Well, I don’t know what Stern or Esquire’s source was. But I know Navarro-Cardenas’, because she had a follow-up message for critics: “Take it up with Chat GPT”…

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 (#1472)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Fuck Xi Jinping.  –  Zhang Kaiyu

To Molest and Rape

Getting away with raping caged women emboldened this screw to attack women outside of the state’s filthy dungeons:

A [New York screw with a history] of sexually assaulting…women [locked up in the Rikers Island hellhole]…posed as a TV producer casting a show to lure a[nother] woman into his…home and rape her…Anthony Martin Jr…contacted the woman on social media and she went to his house expecting to meet other producers and prospective cast members.  But when [she] got there…he…was alone…and raped her while she told him to stop multiple times…Martin…is one of at least 20 current or former [screws] whose name appears in more than one lawsuit filed in the last two years under the Adult Survivors Act…

I Spy (#990)

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

New York City [pigs]…are illegally accessing sealed juvenile arrest records…and have even gone so far as giving those records to prosecutors…several provisions of [New York] state law…require that when a minor’s arrest results in a “favorable” result—meaning that there was a decision not to prosecute the case, or it was dismissed or otherwise withdrawn—the youth’s arrest records be sealed…preventing…any “public or private agency” from obtaining the[m without]…a court order…”Yet, the NYPD has engaged (and continues to engage) in a longstanding practice of illegally accessing, using, and disclosing Sealed Youth Records”…

Because laws pretended to control cops never include criminal penalties for violators, cops simply ignore them as they please without any consequences.

Eggs and Bacon

Bloodthirsty politicians are furious about having their crusades thwarted:

[Forced-birth politicians] are making their distrust of the voters pellucidly clear by fighting like hell to ensure that they can’t cast ballots protecting the right to abortion…Americans broadly support the right to an abortion through viability, or about 24 weeks gestation…every time we put it to a vote, from Kansas to Kentucky, Americans…say, Yes! Get rid of those draconian abortion bans you lunatics rammed through the legislature! Stop that immediately!  So Republicans are doing their damnedest to make sure that voters never get to answer the question.  Everywhere that abortion is on the ballot, they throw a bunch of crazy obstacles in the way to yank it off.  That fight is coming to a head in several different courts, as Republican officials and private litigants wage a pitched battle to keep abortion off the ballot this November…

Virtual Imperialism (#1358)

Beijing’s campaign to silence Chinese people outside China has become far more aggressive:

Chinese [agents]…organized demonstrations in San Francisco that harassed and silenced protesters opposed to Beijing’s [tyranny], including through violence, during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the city in November…illustrat[ing] how the Chinese Communist Party…extend[s] its intolerance of any dissent into the United States and target[s] people exercising their First Amendment rights in an American city…[especially those talking about] ongoing rights abuses in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and mainland China…[the agents were assisted by] the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Communist Party which uses [ostensibly] non-state actors to further China’s political goals overseas…Some of the most violent [agitators wore disguises to]…attack…[protesters] with extended flagpoles…chemical spray, punche[s], kick[s] and…fistfuls of sand thrown in their faces.  The Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles paid for…[bootlick]ers’ hotels and meals as an incentive to [assist and help hide the professional thugs among their number]…including groups from New York, Pennsylvania and Washington state…

Feudalism Redux (#1371)

Texas seems completely uninterested in controlling its psychopathic politicians:

Texas has sued the Biden administration to try to block a federal rule that shields the medical records of women from [rooting cops] if they cross state lines to seek abortion where it is legal…Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the federal government of attempting to “undermine” the state’s [ownership of women.  Though]…Texas’ abortion ban…[supposedly] exempts women who seek abortions from criminal charges…the ban [allows their family, friends and doctors to be harassed into bankruptcy]…or [locked in a cage for the rest of their lives.  Paxton has previously tried to leer into]…records related to gender-affirming care…from at least two out-of-state health centers last year…

Thought Control (#1413)

Too bad all authoritarian organizations aren’t so short-lived:

Scandal, school board election failures, and a disastrous 60 Minutes interview appear to have diminished Moms for Liberty’s [briefly-] powerful influence, and [its recent] summit provided plenty of additional evidence that the group is…flailing…this year’s gathering was comparatively small, with far fewer panels and a weak…speaker lineup…Much of the conference was spent attempting to terrify parents into believing that schools are secretly grooming, manipulating, and transitioning students…Almost every speaker…incorporated transgender panic into their speech…

Creepy Coppers (#1444)

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

A [Tennessee cop named]…Charles Crothers a[ttempted to groom] a minor…from June 26, 2024 through June 28, 2024…[into some kind of sexual performance for him to record, leading to a federal charge of “]attempted production of child pornography[“]…

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 (#1464)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

It is increasingly less safe to be pregnant.  –  Dara Kass

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Funny how many cops who are willing to pay prefer underage girls:

A [typical and representative] Las Vegas [cop] is accused of…paying [underage girls for]…sex…Harvey Velazquez…faces 21 charges…and…[w]as…fired [after somebody snitched on him]…Velazquez admitted to [the charges]…and…[his fellow gang members searched] Velazquez’s phone, finding text messages [that supported the charges]…

Stalkers in Blue

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

A Bridgeport[, West Virginia cop named] William Townsend [was arrest]ed [for] stalking and harassing his ex-wife and her new boyfriend…from July 2023 through April 2024, Townsend has “repeatedly engaged in a course of conduct” that has caused his ex’s new boyfriend to fear for his safety…Townsend…parked [his pigmobile outside her apartment] behind her boyfriend’s vehicle while…sending…“vulgar sexually-related messages” referencing her and her new boyfriend…Townsend also called [the man] a “child molester,” harassed the couple in person at…school [events]…threatened a criminal investigation of the [man] and his friend and made numerous [slanderous] comments to their children about [him] as well…

Feudalism Redux (#1390)

If you need a law like this to control your teen offspring, you’ve already lost them:

…If a [legal minor] is raped by their parent, Idaho medical providers now require th[e rapist]’s permission to administer the rape kit that would prove their own guilt.  Preventing young people from receiving medical care of their own accord has long been a priority for [Idaho] Republicans…[who] brought that…to fruition this July…after a national [authoritarian] push to keep young people from receiving gender-affirming medical care…

The Cop Myth (#1403)

41% of cops admit to beating their wives; some don’t stop with mere beating:

[A] Maricopa County A[rizona cop named]…John C. Byrd…[was arrested for the] murder…[of his] wife, Elizabeth Byrd, [on July 31st after]…A woman told police that Elizabeth failed to show up for a gym class that they always attended together and…had contacted Elizabeth’s 11-year-old son via text and learned that…he…and his two [younger] siblings…had not seen their mother all day and that her bedroom door was locked…[cops] found the wife dead [of strangulation] on her bedroom floor…Byrd [confessed to the crime when arrested.  Ironically,] Byrd…worked in the Family Violence Bureau…

Panopticon (#1448)

Note that little word “yet”:

[Washington] D.C. …[cops] will start using drones in [many more] situations to try to [subj]ect residents [to even more surveillance using the typical cop excuse of “]crime[” while the city also] adds hundreds of closed-circuit TV cameras and license plate readers…Chief of Police Pamela Smith said…“We will not be…using facial recognition with the drones yet”…The ACLU’s executive director [said]…”The growing use of surveillance technology by law enforcement agencies without limits, transparency, and accountability is deeply concerning…and…does not have sufficient guardrails to ensure our privacy”…

Vulture Watching (#1462)

Oh look, the totally-predictable results of bad laws are happening just as sane people said they would:

Even as the Biden administration publicly warned hospitals to treat pregnant patients in emergencies, facilities continue to violate the federal law…[since] the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion more than two years ago.  More than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or negligently treated since 2022…Two women – one in Florida and one in Texas – were left to miscarry in public restrooms.  In Arkansas, a woman went into septic shock and her fetus died after an emergency room sent her home.  At least four other women with ectopic pregnancies had trouble getting any treatment, including one California woman who needed a blood transfusion after she sat for nine hours in an emergency waiting room.  [EMTALA] says hospitals must offer abortions when needed to save a woman’s health, despite state bans.  Texas [says women should be left to die if their doctors guess wrong]…and…the Supreme Court declined to resolve the issue…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #13)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

…a M[ississippi cop named]…Kevin Michael Boyd was [rewarded with a paid vacation after his]…arrest…[for] statutory rape [of] a 12-year-old girl…[after her parents reported him on] May 16…

 

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 (#1437)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The Fourth Amendment is not about the police, it’s about the government.  –  Robert Frommer

New Excuse

One “war” on consensual behavior is very like another:

A new law in Alabama showcases how the war on sex trafficking is mirroring the war on drugs…”The Sound of Freedom Act“…stipulates a mandatory life sentence for anyone found guilty of first-degree human trafficking of a minor…in fact it will likely to lead to extreme overpunishment for people whose offenses…look…nothing like…the sort of…situations imagined by Hollywood or by groups like Operation Underground Railroad…At a certain point in the drug war, everything was plenty criminalized but…politicians still wanted ways to look like they were doing something about it…So instead of dealing in reality, they proposed harsher and harsher penalties for drug offenses…Over the past two decades, we’ve been seeing this same pattern play out with prostitution-related offenses…harsher and harsher penalties, mandatory minimums, and…at the same time…authorities keep expanding the categories of activities that count as sex trafficking…

If Men Were Angels (#1360)

It’s not uncommon for cops who murder their wives to pass it off as “suicide”, and preachers are like cops in many ways:

Loved ones of a pastor’s wife who was found dead in a North Carolina state park with a bullet wound to her head are not convinced she died by suicide, as her husband claims…they’re pressing authorities to probe Mica Miller’s death as something potentially more sinister…her husband, John-Paul Miller…delivered an entire sermon as usual before revealing…his wife’s passing…to…his congregation [on April 28th]… “She had struggled with suicide before…but God took care of her and got her through it.”  Court filings show…Mica Miller had filed for divorce from her husband just weeks before her death…And on March 22, [she had] posted a [Facebook] video in which she discussed “leaving a dangerous situation”…

Feudalism Redux (#1371)

Politicians who make unconstitutional threats should be impeached for violating their oaths of office:

A federal judge [has] rebuked Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s threatened prosecution of those who help people in Alabama obtain abortions out of state…Judge Myron H. Thompson rejected Marshall’s request that the court toss out a pair of lawsuits brought by an abortion fund and health care providers challenging his threatened prosecutions…in the 98-page opinion [the judge wrote,] “The Attorney General’s characterization of the right to travel as merely a right to move physically between the States contravenes history, precedent, and common sense”…

Panopticon (#1384)

Court rules that illegal searches are legal if the government circumvents due process:

…the Michigan Supreme Court ruled unanimously that evidence collected illegally c[an] still be used to enforce civil penalties.  Todd and Heather Maxon…filed to suppress…evidence [illegally collected by a warrantless drone search] as a Fourth Amendment violation…[but] the court…[claimed] the exclusionary rule [only] applies to…”wrongful law enforcement conduct”…In other words, the state’s highest court decided that it was irrelevant whether the search violated the Fourth Amendment because…the search was conducted to investigate civil and not criminal violations…

Governments are increasingly attacking citizens with civil suits rather than criminal charges because the burden of proof is lower; this gives them another reason to do so.

Creepy Coppers (#1420)

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

A [typical and representative Maine cop named] Larry Fickett…has been [arrested and] charged with possession of child pornography and endangering the welfare of a child…Fickett…[apparently induced a prepubescent child of indeterminate gender to masturbate while he filmed it, on multiple occasions]…between Jan. 1, 2021 and March 1 of this year…

You Were Warned (#1433)

The inevitable result of a blatantly-unconstitutional law:

TikTok and its parent company [have] filed a legal challenge against the United States over a law…outlawing the app nationwide unless it finds a buyer within a year…”Banning TikTok is so obviously unconstitutional…that even the Act’s sponsors recognized that reality, and therefore have tried mightily to depict the law not as a ban at all, but merely a regulation of TikTok’s ownership,” according to the filing…lawyers for TikTok say the law offers the company a false choice, since fully divesting from its parent company, ByteDance, is “simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally…and certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act”…if TikTok loses this legal fight, it will likely [geoblock users in] the U.S. [who don’t use a VPN]…

Torture Chamber (#1433)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

When New York banned the use of long-term solitary confinement in its prisons and barred the practice entirely for certain people, including mentally ill prisoners…it was hailed [by naifs] as a groundbreaking measure that would fundamentally change life behind bars.  But since the law took effect two years ago, prison officials have [predictably] refused to implement it…[Politicians] and oversight agencies have sounded the alarm in reports and letters to the New York Department of [Locking Human Beings in Filthy Cages] and the state’s Office of Mental Health, warning that the agencies were [predictably] violating the law [because there are no criminal penalties for doing so]…

 

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 (#1390)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Abortion trafficking is not a thing.  –  Judge Debora Grasham

An Avalanche of Bullshit (#976)

Another high-profile pogrom of an Asian-owned business has been announced in the media by parroting cops’ and prosecutors’ masturbatory fantasies, racist propaganda, and ludicrously-Victorian language.  The use of the word “service” as a verb in the headline is as telltale as the presence of the word “sophisticated”, used by cops for the last decade as an excuse to rape sex workers.  The primary trope of the coverage is the popular pretense that it’s somehow shocking that modern men of means and position are as likely to buy sex as such men have always been since the beginning of human civilization.  Fairly-ordinary fees and costs of doing business are represented as extravagant; extremely mundane practices like screening clients and making bank deposits are described with weird, convoluted language so as to make them seem somehow esoteric and criminal; and adult women are infantilized as passive victims by invoking the “submissive Asian woman” fantasy.  One day, our culture may grow up enough to recognize that pragmatic sexual arrangements are nobody else’s business, but that day is not today, so we can look forward to months of lurid fixation on the prurient details and none on the government’s crime of wasting massive amounts of money and manpower in order to destroy the lives of people who harmed nobody.

Creepy Coppers

Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:

A [cop from] Tennessee was arrested…[for] requesting [nude photos]…from a mother in Virginia who sent him [nude] photos and videos of her juvenile daughter.  Dan Roark…was…charged with…production of child pornography…an anonymous [snitch first reported the daughter]…

I had to aggressively edit this one because it was so larded with obfuscatory language:

A [typical and representative Missouri cop] has been indicted by a federal grand jury…August Price Gildehaus…was charged…with one count of enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity…producing child pornography…and…attempting to distribute child pornography…

Feudalism Redux (#1327)

Politicians don’t even try to make their new laws constitutional any more:

…a federal judge [has] granted a temporary restraining order against…[Idaho’s unconstitutional law inventing a new crime called] “abortion trafficking”…[which] criminaliz[es] any adult who assists a minor in obtaining abortion medication or a lawful abortion out of state without parental consent. [The law essentially allows a] parent…or guardian…to f[orce a]…minor…[to carry an unwanted or even dangerous pregnancy under the rhetoric of]…“parental rights”…the law is [both] unconstitutionally vague [and infringes] on the…right…to interstate and intrastate travel…

Cops and Robbers (#1328)

Of course they’ll never charge the cops who use similar tactics with no more concern for ethics:

Jason Nassr, the man behind…Creeper Hunter TV, [was] sentenced…to…18 months of house arrest…from 2015 to 2020, Nassr posted videos he claimed showed men contacting him for sex when…he was [ageplaying]…he would communicate with men on dating sites and social media platforms, typically portraying himself as an 18-year-old female.  Once the correspondence turned sexual…Nassr would [start ageplaying while yet including hints that] he was [actually ov]er 18 — as young as age 10…Those who continued to communicate with him would end up featured on Creeper Hunter TV.  Nassr recorded in-person confrontations, showed screen captures of text conversations, and included full names and phone numbers…Around 100 episodes were posted…at least two of [Nassr’s victims] have died by suicide…[but] Justice Alissa Mitchell…[let him off with] house arrest, six months of a 10 p.m. curfew and two years of probation…

I Spy (#1376)

Nothing infuriates violent busybodies more than privacy:

On October 26, the UK Parliament passed the Online Safety Act…the government has…admitted there…is no…way to scan E2EE messages or services without breaking their encryption…[so] Ofcom…now…propos[es] to use hash matching…a mass surveillance [technique] that could easily be abused by law enforcement.  Hash matching…compares…videos, pictures or text…to a database of illegal content…by turning the content into “hashes”, a sample of the content a bit like a fingerprint…similar systems already in place have returned numerous false positives that can ruin people’s lives…and bog the system down, forcing companies…to investigate perfectly innocent media…every app you download to share files or access social media could contain spyware to [root through] the media on your device and [snitch to the cops]…the database of illegal material will [certainly expand and]…could very easily become a tool of censorship, similar to how the Chinese government scans for images of the Tiananmen Square protests…

The Cop Myth (#1378)

41% of cops admit to beating their wives; some don’t stop with mere beating:

A [typical and representative Alabama screw named]…David Tolbert was arrested after…he [murdered]…his wife on Nov. 15, 2022…[by shooting her] in [public] outside of a business…

Torture Chamber (#1387)

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

…[young people locked up]…in more than a dozen [prisons] in Illinois…[are routinely] “tased, pepper sprayed…roughed up by [screws]…forced into isolation for days at a time…[and] denied access to…medications…mental health treatment…and…schooling, [in defiance of] state and federal laws”…[at one cage stack] in Benton…Solitary confinement is the rule…[prisoners] spend between 20 and 23 hours per day confined in their cells…[where] fluorescent lights [are left on]…24 hours a day…the cells themselves are f[ilthy] and infested with [toxic] black mold…

 

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 (#1385)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

These kids have been helicoptered, snowplowed and bubble-wrapped.  –  Michele Borba

Not An Addiction (#342)

Sorry, crypto-moralists, but “addictive” is not a synonym for “yummy”:

A [meta-analysis] from the University of Michigan [intentionally misuses the medical term “addiction” in order to make the clickbait declaration that] people can show signs of addiction to ultra-processed foods, which include ice cream, potato chips, and other products high in sugar and carbohydrates…Those addictions were on the same levels as the ones for alcohol and tobacco, the study [claime]d…co-author Alexandra DiFeliceantonio…pointed out that while you can give up smoking, drinking or gambling, you can’t stop eating[, which is exactly why applying the “addiction” model to foods is asinine and absurd]…dietician Erin Palinski-Wade [explained,] “Although foods rich in added sugar may stimulate the feel-good chemicals in the brain..sugar itself is not addictive in the way cocaine or another drug may be…eliminating it from the diet will not result in withdrawal symptoms or side effects as would happen from a true addiction”…

To paraphrase Jacob Sullum, “the study’s findings could just as truthfully be summarized as, ‘Research Shows That Alcohol and Tobacco Are No More Addictive Than Potato Chips’.”

I Spy (#1180)

Curiosity offends the state, comrade:

…the Colorado Supreme Court…conceded that [a] warrant [demanding Google report everyone who searched a particular address where a crime took place] was “constitutionally defective” because it lacked individualized probably cause…[but] ruled that [pigs could use the illegally-obtained information against their chosen target anyhow, because they pinky-swore they didn’t know it was wrong]…Justice Monica M. Márquez objected in [her] dissent….[that cops knew] they were engaged in a “fishing expedition”…”reverse-keyword warrants…are…a high-tech version of the reviled ‘general warrants’ that first gave rise to the protections in the Fourth Amendment”…

Creepy Coppers

Such convoluted language to distance other cops from a typical specimen:

A [typical and representative]…Cleveland [cop named]…Brandon N. Crites [has been] indicted on [charges] of receipt and distribution of child pornography…between 2022 and 2023…at least one image found in his possession involved a…prepubescent [child]…

Shame, Shame (#1321)

Bird-brains still believe realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology:

Scroll through the livestreaming videos at 4 a.m. on Taobao, China’s most popular e-commerce platform, and you’ll find it weirdly busy.  While most people are fast asleep, there are still many diligent streamers presenting products to the cameras and offering discounts…But…many of these livestream influencers seem slightly robotic…they are AI-generated [“]clones[“] of the real streamers.  As technologies that create realistic avatars, voices, and movements get more sophisticated and affordable, the popularity of these deepfakes has exploded across China’s e-commerce streaming platforms…With just a few minutes of sample video and $1,000 in costs, brands can [“]clone[“] a human streamer to work 24/7…

Secret Squirrel (#1332)

As JD Tuccille wrote, “Kids will grow up to value freedom only if they’re raised in an environment where privacy and liberty are treated as normal and good“:

Teenagers have long balked at telling parents where they are.  Now, they’re asking their parents to track them…[helicopter parenting] and real-time news—with vivid images about the pandemic, war and other disasters—have heightened…anxieties among young people…Members of Gen Z, ages [5 to 22], say they use family location-sharing apps to bolster a sense of security.  Downloads of [a surveillance app named] Life360 doubled in the U.S. since 2021.  The app now has more than 33 million monthly active users in the U.S. and another 20 million internationally.  Even more teens share their location using Apple’s Find My, Google’s Family Link, Snapchat’s Snap Map and GPS-equipped smartwatches…

Feudalism Redux (#1371)

This unhinged mob-rule lunacy will spread like rot until struck down by a court:

[Fad laws that attempt to criminalize] pregnant Texas women from traveling through the [domains of showboating politicians] for an abortion in another state…[failed] in Amarillo…after…several members of the…City Council…questioned the legality of [these ordinances]…enforced through private lawsuits…these so-called abortion travel bans have questionable enforcement mechanisms, making them more like a ceremonial declaration than a legally binding statute.  In an opinion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote “May a state bar a resident of that state from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion?  In my view, the answer is no based on the constitutional right to interstate travel”…

The Public Eye (#1374)

How are they verifying the recipients’ ages before they open it?

The Republican Party of Virginia says it mailed out several thousand explicit political fliers to voters.  The envelopes read, “Do not open if you are under the age of 18,″ and “Warning: Explicit material enclosed.”  Inside the mailer…[were] two pieces of paper with censored quotes and screenshots from [Democratic candidate Susanna] Gibson’s public porn livestream…[both campaigns and both parties then flung competing barrages of monkey-poop at each other]…

 

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 (#1371)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It’s the fear that’s the point.  –  Neesha Davé

If Men Were Angels

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

A [typical and represntative] Green Bay [Wisconsin] pastor will spend at least 15 years in prison after…[buying porn from and sending dick pics to] a minor [of unspecified gender] in Venezuela.  Cory J. Herthel…[was turned in by an informant at his own] church…Herthel said he met the [minor] begging on the streets during a mission trip to Ecuador.  After…the [minor and their] mother returned to their native Venezuela, Herthel kept in touch…

A Tale That Grew in the Telling (#1021)

Americans disapprove of teaching kids about sex, but they’re all for filling their heads with stupid anti-sex propaganda:

The [San Diego] county Board of Supervisors [has] approved a policy to increase [“]human trafficking[” propaganda indoctrin]ation in public schools…[politicians led by fanatical prohibitionist] District Attorney Summer Stephan…[want all students from] kindergarten through 12 [brainwashed to fear sex and view women as moral imbeciles.  The politicians vomited out ancient, rancid nonsense about how “]San Diego is one of the nation’s 13 hot spots for human trafficking[“]…and [“]there are 8,000 victims per year in the county, with average age being 16[“]…

Hey, San Diego! 2013 just called and it wants its “sex trafficking” fantasies back.

The Next Target (#1191)

It’s about goddamned time:

The American Civil Liberties Union [has] filed a formal complaint asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Mastercard for discriminatory practices against sex workers and adult content websites.  The ACLU filed the complaint along with sex worker collective Hacking//Hustling and a coalition of sex worker…and LGBTQ+ organizations…express[ing] its opposition to Mastercard’s 2021 policies for adult content websites using its credit card or payment options, and urged the FTC “to…put an end to these discriminatory and dangerous practices”…[includ]ing requirements such as pre-approval of all content before publication, forbidding certain search terms, and keeping records of age and identity verification for all performers…

Feudalism Redux (#1251)

Two forced-birth states are moving to legally reduce women to serfdom:

Alabama’s attorney general is insisting that he has the right to prosecute people who help pregnant women obtain out-of-state abortions…[absurdly claiming] such actions amount to criminal conspiracy.  [Steve] Marshall’s filing comes as part of a case involving the Yellowhammer Fund…an “abortion advocacy and reproductive justice organization”…[which] sued Marshall in July over [previous iterations of the same claim]…Marshall “specifically referenced the accessory liability and conspiracy provisions of Alabama law as the basis for prosecuting abortion funds”…

Texas prefers a more piecemeal version of its fashionable mob-rule approach:

More than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned, many [authoritarian]s have grown frustrated by the number of people able to circumvent [totalitarian] laws — with some [wannabe tyrants] grasping for even [more draconian and unconstitutional] measures they hope will fully eradicate abortion nationwide.  That frustration is driving a new strategy in…cities and counties across Texas.  Designed by the architects of the state’s “heartbeat” ban that took effect months before Roe fell, [these] ordinances…[criminalize] transport[ing] anyone to get an abortion on roads within the city or county limits.  The laws [encourage and enable] any private citizen to sue a person or organization they [decide to accuse] of violating the ordinance.  [Prohibitionist fanatics] behind the measure are targeting regions along interstates and in areas with airports, with the [impossible and deranged] goal of blocking off the main arteries out of Texas and keeping pregnant women [trapp]ed within the confines of their…state.  These provisions have already passed in two counties and two cities, creating legal risk for those traveling on major highways including Interstate 20 and Route 84, which head toward New Mexico, where abortion remains legal and new clinics have opened to accommodate Texas women.  Several more jurisdictions are expected to vote on the measure in the coming weeks…

The Punitive Mindset (#1288) 

I’ve linked a number of articles about D&D in prison under this tag, but I’ve never before read one that actually brought tears to my eyes.  Journalist Keri Blakinger worked on this story about men playing the game on Texas’ death row for The Marshall Project for several years, so it seems to me only fair that anyone who cares about humanity should at least spend a few minutes reading it in its entirety.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1344)

Politicians don’t even try to make their new laws Constitutional any more:

Free Speech Coalition and…a coalition of major adult platforms and creators…have been granted a preliminary injunction against the Texas antiporn law…The Court agreed…[that] the law violates First Amendment rights of creators and consumers…[and] has a chilling effect on legally-protected speech…[that] parental filters are a less restrictive and more effective method of protecting minors…[and that] the state does not have the right to compel speech in the form of…pseudoscientific “health” warnings…

Meanwhile, in Arkansas:

…the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas has halted enforcement of an Arkansas age verification law that…bans minors from using social media platforms…unless they prove they have parental consent…all social media users—including adults…would be forced to turn over official IDs in order to speak or access information online…the state [absurdly] suggested that all of social media should be treated like “a bar” for purposes of excluding minors…[Judge Timothy] Brooks [wrote]…”minors have no constitutional right to consume alcohol…By contrast, the primary purpose of a social media platform is to engage in speech, and…social media platforms contain vast amounts of constitutionally protected speech for both adults and minors…it is likely that many adults who otherwise would be interested in [using]…social media platforms will be deterred—and their speech chilled—as a result of the age verification requirements, which…will likely require them to upload official government documents and submit to biometric scans”…

Torture Chamber (#1346)

Americans’ sick lust for torture is turning ordinary prison sentences into death sentences:

As brutal heat waves continue to engulf large sections of the country, hundreds of thousands of prisoners are being forced to endure deadly temperatures inside heat-retaining steel or concrete facilities that offer little, if any, access to air conditioning or circulation…Despite its notoriously hot summers, Texas is one of at least 44 states that does not offer universal air conditioning in its prisons…70 percent of units in its prisons are entirely or partially uncooled…this year…dozens of incarcerated people have died due to cardiac-related or unknown causes in sweltering Texas prisons…[but] state officials [simply lie]…Texas…has not officially classified a prison death as heat-related since 2012, even as research has shown that intense heat is associated with an increased risk of mortality behind bars, including due to heart disease and suicide…[instead,] Texas…prison commissaries…raised the price of bottled water by 50 percent as temperatures spiked in June…

 

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 (#1327)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The political discourse around the border tends to be built around a fantasy.  –  Dave Maass

If Men Were Angels

At least this one wasn’t a “youth pastor”:

A [typical and representative] Orange County [California] pastor has been convicted of sexually abusing two young girls he is related to…Jose Andres Lopez…[committed the assaults from] 1991 through 2020…[he was caught] on Aug. 21, 2020, [when] the [second] victim…was…13…but the abuse started when she was 3…The victim’s brother…was…in the house and…[over]heard…“noise he describes as a rhythm that sounded like having sex”…the victim [later told] her brother…what was happening…[and] the next day, the brother told his mother and the tearful victim confirmed it…During the investigation, deputies “stumbled on a police report” out of Massachusetts from a 12-year-old who said [Lopez] had molested her for years…

Nor was this one:

Indianapolis pastor…Tyree Coleman…offered to pay…a…17-year-old…[for sex and] the teen told police…they got a search warrant for Coleman’s cell phone and…discovered that Coleman…the founder of…[a charity] which feeds homeless people in Indianapolis…was using donations to his non-profit to pay [male sex workers]…During that investigation, police received a new complaint from a…man who accused Coleman of raping him…[after] he missed his bus…and was left stranded…Coleman offered him a room at his home…Coleman would pay him [for]…oral sex and later [for intercourse, but]…the victim [later changed his mind and] told Coleman to stop several times but Coleman refused…Coleman [also] threatened to kill him if he had a sexually transmitted disease…

The Red Umbrella (#1033)

As long as sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence:

A man [named Matthew Sean Donaldson who is] obsessed with video games…brutally bludgeoned [a sex worker] with a hammer in a luxury hotel…with intent to murder [her]…on February 23, 2021…Donaldson bought a hammer and read numerous news articles about women being murdered before he brought the [victim]…to his hotel room…He used a knife to cut off the woman’s underpants in what was to be his first ever sexual experience…the[n started]…a heated argument about the ethics of sex work [to give himself an excuse to attack her]…He left her lying in a pool of her own blood with severe cranial and body injuries as he fled the scene.  Later that night…Donaldson sent the victim a cruel taunting text that said: “Should have picked a different career, honey”…and…also posted a photo of the luxury hotel room to social media with the caption: “game over”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1083)

All too often, evil arrives cloaked in the mantle of expediency:

Panera Bread is rolling out palm scanners that will link customers’ handprints to their loyalty accounts — a move the company paints as convenient but that privacy advocates have decried.  The biometric…technology, developed by Amazon, will hit stores in the next few months…The gadgets will [also] suggest menu items based on customers’ order histories…Amazon One technology is [already] in use at some 200 locations across the country, including Amazon’s Whole Foods Market subsidiary and Amazon Go stores.  Panera says the technology will securely store its customers’ biometric data.  However, digital rights activists [correctly point out] that [any] information [which exists] could be [demand]ed by federal agencies or accessed by hackers…

Feudalism Redux (#1251)

The crusade to reduce Americans to serfdom continues:

…Idaho Republicans…seek…to limit minors’ ability to travel for abortion care without parental consent.  The legislation would create a whole new crime — dubbed “abortion trafficking” — which is defined in the bill as an “adult who…either procures an abortion … or obtains an abortion-inducing drug” for the minor…The legislation also includes a statute allowing the Idaho attorney general to supersede any local prosecutor’s decision, preemptively thwarting any prosecutor who vows not to enforce such an extreme law…The legislation doesn’t actually say anything about crossing state lines, but…since nearly all abortions are illegal in Idaho…[the people politicians want to terrorize are] traveling to the border with the intent of crossing state lines, likely into Washington, Oregon or Montana, to get an abortion there…

Panopticon (#1254)

This is only going to get worse for the foreseeable future:

There is perhaps no stretch of American land as politicized as the U.S.-Mexico border…There are towering fences and walls.  Border agents…patrol…the boundary in trucks.  But border security is becoming increasingly stealthy…as the government erects a “virtual wall”—a fortification not made of steel and concrete, but drones, surveillance towers, and artificial intelligence…border [hawks pretend] this…is a more humane and efficient way of keeping undocumented immigrants out…but in reality, the virtual wall has…been expensive, broadly expanded the surveillance abilities of unaccountable government agencies, and forced migrants into taking more dangerous journeys rather than keeping them out.  More dollars are being spent, more migrants are dying, and more civil liberties violations are occurring…

License to Rape (#1263)

“Search” is the most common government euphemism for “molest”:

Police are [molest]ing children in their p[igmobile]s…Almost 3,000 children were [molested under the pretext of a “]search[“]…by police in England and Wales between 2018 and mid-2022, [650 between 2018 and 2020 and 2197 in the next two years]…Nearly a quarter of [molestation]s involved a child aged between 10 and 15, while the youngest [victim was]…an eight-year-old…1 per cent were [molest]ed within public view, and 6 per cent…with at least one [cop] of a different gender than the [victim lurking to watch]…

The Cop Myth (#1297)

UK officials are just as dedicated to hiding the truth about cops as US ones:

[Cop shops] in England and Wales have been…[caught] trying to “evade public scrutiny” after an Observer investigation found that the outcomes of dozens of officer misconduct cases have been deleted from their websites.  They include some of the most serious cases of criminality, including that of the serial rapist David Carrick…the vast majority were either failing to publicise cases, despite a legal obligation to do so, or deleting misconduct cases from their websites after 28 days…including cases related to sexual offences or domestic violence…The law specifically calls on forces to publicise the results of misconduct hearings “as soon as practicable after the officer has been notified of the outcome”…but…the records at 72% of forces were incomplete.  Many were missing more than half or all of the misconduct outcomes…

 

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

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1251)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 6, 2022| 1 Comment »

Consider this, then, a canary’s song.  –  Olivia Snow

If Men Were Angels

Another “youth pastor”, another string of underage victims:

A [typical and representative] youth pastor was convicted…of sexual assault against four boys.  William Stefan Wahl, of Port Huron [Michigan] was found guilty…of [molesting two boys] younger than 13, two [boys]…between 13 and 16, [and showing the boys porn]…

Guinea Pigs (#881) 

First it was supposedly about “terrorists”, then “sex trafficking”, and now:

…For sex workers, Section 230 had provided a foothold, however fragile, to exist on the internet.  FOSTA…was the first crack in a foundation that supported not only sex workers but also other marginalized, criminalized, and otherwise disenfranchised demographics.  The effects of FOSTA have…rippl[ed] beyond social media and payment processors to the most quotidian of technologies.  “Facilitating” sex work—language in later bills revised to “aiding and abetting”—could also implicate landlords renting to sex workers, ISPs that we use to advertise…By casting such a broad net…the bill essentially outlaws sex workers’ presence on the internet by criminalizing proximity to sex work.  Under this level of scrutiny, talking about sex work at all is a risk…A FOSTA-like ban would have violated Roe, but…[the] removal of federal protections gives [politicians] a path to criminalizing any online discussion about abortion, restrictions that can easily extend to include reproductive health entirely…Big Tech will use the artificial intelligence currently shadowbanning and suspending sex workers’ accounts to target users it suspects are seeking abortions…

Winding Down

The war against drugs other than nicotine continues to wind down:

The Supreme Court…unanimously sided with two physicians who were convicted of drug trafficking based on opioid prescriptions that federal prosecutors p[retended were] medically inappropriate…The decision in Ruan v. United States sends both cases back to the lower courts so they can assess the defendants’ arguments that the instructions received by the juries that convicted them misstated the law seriously enough that they are entitled to new trials.  But whether or not they prevail on those claims, the ruling represents an important limit on prosecutions that have long had a chilling effect on pain treatment…

The Prudish Giant (#1104) 

It usually starts with sex workers, but it never stops with us:

Facebook is removing the posts of users who…say abortion pills can be mailed and in some cases temporarily banning those users…a Motherboard reporter attempted to post the phrase “abortion pills can be mailed” on Facebook using a burner account.  The post was flagged within seconds as violating the site’s community standards, specifically the rules against buying, selling, or exchanging medical or non-medical drugs.  The reporter was given the option to “disagree” with the decision or “agree” with it.  After they chose “disagree,” the post was removed.  Motherboard was able to post the phrases “painkiller pills can be mailed,” “pills,” and “abortion” without issue.  Motherboard posted “abortion pills can be mailed” a second time, and it was flagged for removal, and this time the reporter “agreed” with the decision…and…the reporter’s Facebook account was suspended for 24 hours…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1114)

Remember, Clearview specifically markets itself to entities which claim a monopoly on violence:

Clearview AI is best‐​known as a…faci[litator of police violence]…the company has secured a patent for recognition systems that would allow users to scan someone’s face in order to determine whether that person does drugs, is homeless, or suffers from mental illness.  The same technology could also be used to determine someone’s education history or contact details.  Such technology could put members of the transgender community who wish to conceal their gender transition at risk of social sanction, public humiliation, and violence…Given ongoing policy fights over who should get to access gender‐​segregated spaces such as bathrooms and changing rooms, it is possible that private businesses, universities, and schools might choose to use AGR technology under the guise of security enhancement and privacy protection.  It is not hard to imagine AGR technology at train stations, bathrooms, and changing rooms prompting encounters where a member of the transgender community would feel embarrassed, unsafe, humiliated, and exposed…

Feudalism Redux

The crusade to reduce Americans to serfdom continues:

Several national antiabortion groups and [pet politicians]…are advancing plans to [try to] stop people in states where abortion is banned from seeking the procedure elsewhere…The Thomas More Society, a conservative legal organization, is drafting model legislation…that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a resident of a state that has banned abortion from terminating a pregnancy outside of that state.  The draft language will borrow from the…Texas abortion ban enacted last year in which private citizens were empowered to enforce the law through [nuisance] litigation…

The Vultures Descend

This vulture feeding frenzy is going to get a lot uglier:

…antiabortion activists are eager to capitalize on their momentum by enshrining constitutional abortion bans, pushing Congress to pass a national prohibition, blocking abortion pills, and limiting people’s ability to get abortions across state lines…By the end of the year, abortion could be outlawed across roughly half the country…Democrat-[run] states are scrambling to enshrine protections for abortion, and President Biden has [bloviated about doing] everything in his power “to protect a woman’s right”…but Biden has also ruled out the more extreme remedies, such as [pack]ing the Supreme Court, and key Democrats remain opposed to [burning down the house to roast the pig as some very silly people are demanding]…

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