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Posts Tagged ‘Florida’

In the News (#1662)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The freedom to read is fundamental to a free society.  –  John Adams*

To Molest and Rape

When will amateur women learn cops are dangerous sex predators?

An Illinois [cop named]…Douglas Lee…was stripped of his [magic] powers and [arrested for]…drugging a woman while she was out with friends, taking her to a hotel…[rap]ing her…[then dump]ing her in her car [and leaving her in a parking lot] overnight…Lee…frequently visited the bar where [his victim] worked as a bartender [so she foolishly believed she knew him and drank]…a shot [he gave her]…the [next] thing she remembered…was [waking]…up in her car around 10:45 AM the next day [with]…her pants…inside out, her bra…on the passenger seat and her shirt…tucked into the pocket of her jacket…One [of her] friend[s told her] she had seen [her]…dancing [with Lee]…video footage…showed Lee [taking] the woman [out of] the bar [and when confronted he said she wanted it]…

Micromanagement (#965)

I’d really like to be wrong once in a while:

For more than a decade, New York City has been amassing…DNA samples…without…consent or any court involvement as a routine matter, specifically for inclusion in its “Suspect Index,” a rogue database not authorized by law…includ[ing] samples from people who…have been expressly excluded as suspects in a crime, [people] who have never been charged with a crime…and exonerated or acquitted individuals.  The Suspect Index currently contains 34,872 profiles…routinely collect[ed]…in an orchestrated, surreptitious manner through ruses involving straws, bottles, or even cigarettes, without…a court order…….from those who are merely brought in for questioning and even from children it tricks…

If Men Were Angels (#1406)

Psychopath Grady Judd never misses an opportunity for self-aggrandizement:

A [Florida] preacher…had sex with at least one underage boy and an adult man without telling them he was HIV-positive…Timothy Chaneyfield…[met] the…14-year-old boy…on a dating app before…[taking] their chats to Instagram, which [reported him] to [NCMEC]…Sheriff Grady Judd[, in his typical fashion, made the incident all about himself, using the opportunity to call someone far less dangerous than he is]…“a menace to society”…[and pretending] he [did not understand why]…authorities in Baltimore[, where Chaneyfield was when the arrest warrant was issued, did not want to play stupid cop games instead of simply letting Judd arrest him when he got back to Florida]…

Thought Control (#1501)

A Trumpist stooge declares that the First Amendment does not apply to Arkansas:

Arkansas Act 372 amends state laws by including librarians and booksellers among those who can be criminally charged [if any authoritarian Froot Loop anywhere in the world points at any book in their stock while barfing the magic words]…“harmful to minors”…Librarians and booksellers could face up to a year in prison if they’re [declared] to have “distributed” [magically abjured] material to those under the age of 18…[which] includes simply having the book sitting on a shelf…The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas…[permanently enjoined the law] in January 2025, [but wannabe censors appealed to the]…Eighth Circuit [and Trumpist henchman] L. Steven Grasz…[singlehandedly] overturn[ed] that court’s decision…[thus forcing] librarians and booksellers [to censor their entire collections or risk state violence]…

*Not the Founding Father, but an Arkansas attorney.

Welcome to the Future (#1572)

Giant fascist corporation makes it even easier for cops to lie:

Axon…has cornered the body cam market and is now…pitching products…that use [chatbots] to automate [cop] report writing…Draft One has been pitched as a time-saver…[that can] “potentially free up 25% of an officer’s time.”  Considering a lot of [cops] spend most of their time engaged in pretextual stops, this…just means [cops] will be able to violate rights more frequently with no perceivable benefit to public safety.  Then there’s the problem…[of chatbot] hallucinations…[such as the chatbot-generated] report…[that] claimed a Heber City [Utah cop] had shape-shifted into a frog…The other problem..is that [chatbot-generated reports also] generat[e] a new layer of plausible deniability.  If errors are found, cops can blame it on the algorithm…[and] if cops aren’t writing their own reports, they can’t [honest]ly claim these statements are their own under oath…

Panopticon (#1658)

There are good reasons warrantless surveillance is unconstitutional:

…in Wapello County, Iowa, the…usage policy…tells police…“DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY”…It is not just local police in small communities who are creating policies designed to obfuscate Flock usage…police in multiple states [are] told to “be as vague as permissible” about…Flock because their searches c[an] be obtained using public records requests…The [illegal] guidance…is reminiscent…[of] tha[t] on some other secretive police technologies.  For years, police tried to hide the existence of cell site simulators (popularly known as Stingrays), going as far as to drop criminal cases where it was likely that a judge would expose information about them…

The cop euphemism for lying in reports and courts about use of illegal surveillance is “parallel construction“.

Enshittification (#1660)  

Scenes from the early days of a dark age:

In January, [the mad emperor] posted two clips from a popular YouTube account [falsely claim]ing…[that] Walmart was closing hundreds of California stores…Gavin Newsom’s communications team [debunked] the posts on [Twitter, but]…the YouTube channel…[Trump parroted i]s mostly populated by sensational [computer]-generated videos that purport…to show various companies leaving California, grocery stores running out of food, and school teachers quitting en masse.  The…videos…look decent enough t[o fool chatbot-addled idiots, who don’t]…realize or care that they [are slop]…Newsom’s office…worked with YouTube to identify more than 700 accounts since January that were subsequently removed for violating the company’s terms of service through its…new support system for public figures, creators, and journalists that flags when someone’s face is used without their permission in deepfakes…

 

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 (#1661)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

This technology is not safe to be deployed in communities.  –  Max Isaacs

Policing for Profit

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

The Massachusetts police oversight board suspended a state trooper’s…certification after he…[stole] a Bobcat bucket-loader…from a contractor he hired to remove fallen trees from his property…Joseph W. Franklin…[claimed] he was in the process of suing the contractor…for failing to complete the work and his attorney advised him to hold on to the Bobcat as “collateral”…[despite] not hav[ing] a lien or court order allowing him to keep [it, and]…court records do not list any civil actions involving Franklin or the contractor…[who] told police that…Franklin [had lied to]…him[, claiming another] contractor had [stolen] it…demand[ing] $5,000 [ransom]…

The Prudish Giant (#946)

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

YouTube [has] banned a[nother] wave of ASMR artists…for [supposedly] violating the platforms’ rules against “sexually gratifying” content…creators affected by the…bans who’ve spoken publicly about [the censorship] include ItsBunniiASMR, Slight Sounds, Nananightray, Roseasmr, Simoneasmr, and Janina Wilhelmsen, all of whom had significant followings on the platform.  There are still many ASMR creators on YouTube, making the bans even more confusing [to people who don’t understand that all censorship is a game of arbitrary whack-a-mole]…

The Red Umbrella (#1441)

When amateurs and violently-entitled idiots try to reinvent the wheel:

[Florida man] David Allen O’Brien…was arrested…[for a violent assault on] four [people]…on July 12 [he messaged a woman on Tinder and told her] he was looking for a “sugar baby.”  Over the next week, the two [negotiated] an arrangement [wherein] O’Brien [would] give her “$1,000 each visit,” treat her to dinner, and take her shopping…on [July 21 she] had three friends drive her to the date, wh[ich proceeded as arranged until]…they…went back to O’Brien’s residence…[where] she began to feel uncomfortable and texted her friends to come pick her up.  When O’Brien realized she was leaving, he demanded his money back…the woman refused…and jumped into her friends’ waiting car to flee…O’Brien [pursu]ed in…his…pickup truck and…when…he…[caught up he] violently rammed the back of their vehicle, sending it crashing into a pole…he…[then] rammed the car a second time, completely disabling [it]…Three of them managed to run away, but O’Brien cornered one of the male friends…pointed [a pistol] at…him…[and threatened to murder] him…[but]…the…victim…[escaped while] O’Brien [was distracted and]…the [cops caught him]…

Panopticon (#1449)

Flock and its cop customers need to be buried under a deluge of lawsuits:

…when combined with a network of…ALPRs…[license plates] become tracking devices that can provide a comprehensive history of a driver’s movements, potentially revealing sensitive information about his habits, health, relationships, political affiliations, and religious beliefs.  Police departments across the country nevertheless…routinely search the information they collect without reasonable suspicion, probable cause, a warrant, or any sort of judicial supervision…[and] it is nearly impossible for the average driver to avoid surveillance as he goes about his daily life.  That…violates the Kansas Constitution’s privacy protections, according to a lawsuit [from] the Kansas Justice Institute…Sam MacRoberts, KJI’s litigation director…[said] “If Wichita wants to track its citizens, it needs to go to a judge and get a warrant”…

To Molest and Rape (#1649)

It’s unusual for the official cop grooming program to be mentioned so prominently:

A [typical and representative] Southern California [cop] has been charged with [repeated molestation of] a 16-year-old [victim of the “]police Explorer[” grooming] program…Roberto Machuca…faces up to five years in state prison and [condemnation to the “]sex offender[” registry] for 10 years…

To Molest and Rape (#1656)

Cops just keep behaving like cops:

A [typical and representative Arkansas cop named]…Jeremy Boyd Grammer…[raped a girl under] 14…around…Aug. 30…[of last year], onl[y four years after getting paroled out of a 13-year prison sentence for child porn which began]…on July 31, 2008…

Panopticon (Nosey Parkers)

Surprising no one who has ever worked with optical character readers:

Flock [lie]s that in optimal conditions, its cameras accurately read more than 96% of license plate characters.  Hundreds of pages of records from the Roseville [California cop shop] show a different picture. In 2023 and 2024, Flock sent 1,427 alerts to Roseville police, flagging vehicles as stolen or used in a felony…in 71% of those alerts, Flock’s machine-learning software incorrectly read the license plates…The cameras regularly missed vehicles, captured blurry images, misread license plate characters and states, and sent delayed alerts…Flock [blame]ed…[Roseville’s “]atypical setup[“]…

 

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 (#1659)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[Zuckerberg]’s vision of the future may be antisocial and bleak, but we have the power to reject that reality.  –  Amanda Silberling

Welcome to the Future (#1500)

Surveillance, propaganda-spouting, and thought-crippling in a repurposed sex doll:

A [repurposed sex doll] is being [synchronized with a chatbot and fobbed off on American Indian students]…at Salamanca high school in…New York…The robot, [call]ed Sally, was…[built by] Realbotix, formerly Tokens.com, [which]…purchased [sex-doll manufacturer] Simulacra…in April 2024…Realbotix [l]ied [that it did not buy] the sex doll company [despite the acquisition being public record], and denied…that the dolls – [which are obviously repurposed sex dolls to anyone with eyes] – are re[purposed sex dolls]…Melinda Pearson…of the New York State United Teachers…said…“The answer to the challenges in education is not more screens, it’s not more algorithms, not more robots. What we need in our schools right now are more caring adults and more human connection”…

Note they aren’t trying this in a school for white kids.  See also “Mad Libs” below.

Welcome to the Future (#1551)

Another of the many reasons not to play with chatbots:

A trove of chat logs and projects created with Anthropic’s Claude [chatbot]…have been left exposed to Google, making them searchable to anyone on the web…when Claude users opt…to distribute a given chat or project to colleagues or associates using the chatbot’s “share” feature…[the program] notes that sharing will create a “public” link, and “anyone with the link can view.”  The warning, though, doesn’t alert users that shared content could wind up being indexed by a search engine…Such artifacts…include…a detailed medical report of a real patient, clinical trial results that include…patient names, documents sharing the names and phone numbers of primary school-aged children…and employee reviews that include…personal information…This isn’t the first time this has happened at Anthropic…and…[both] ChatGPT and [Mechahitler] chat logs…have [been] discover[ed] in Google…

Thought Control (#1565)

The logical endpoint to Florida’s censorship jihad:

Florida has been ground zero for book bans in the United States…under…[censorship] laws…[which demand banning] any book [even] a single [Froot Loop points at, even if they aren’t a] resident…of [the] district…[now the lunatics who run Clay County are] considering…eliminating school libraries altogether…[because although it] has removed more books than…any [other] district in the state…[that still isn’t enough to satisfy their crazed lust for thought control.  These people are so stupid they actually can’t grasp that the reason]…the circulation rates [of their libraries] are less than in most schools—less than one checkout a day…[is because there aren’t enough books left to check out.  And yet local politicians]…are frustrated by the inefficiency of [the censorship process]…their discussion centered not on whether to ban books but on how to do it faster…when asked what might replace the library space…[politicians absurdly suggested “]school stores[“]…and [“]computer labs[“]…

Not To Be Taken Internally (#1641)

Apparently this nitwit never heard of heavy metal poisoning:

[Online idiot] Connor Murphy [poisoned himself by] injecting gold into his body [because he imagined he would] gain “superhuman” powers…he…also [believed he was]…increas[ing] his attractiveness [by deforming his head into a distorted parallelepiped] as…[part of “]looksmaxxing[“.  One of his disciples described the cognitive damage done by toxic metal injection as]…“tapp[ing] into a level of consciousness that most people never will”…Police in Thailand were…called to [his] rental…after complaints of a man screaming inside, where they…found him in an “agitated” state.  He…fle[d] the [cops and then jumped in]…a…[nearby] lake [and drowned himself]…

Is there some reason this dude wanted to look like Sinestro?  And what are those neck lumps?  Was he carrying acorns in there?

Mad Libs (#1650)

Training kids not to think from an early age:

[Facebook] is working on a…storytelling [chatbot] called StoryKit, which creates [autocomplete]-generated children’s stories with custom characters, settings, lessons, and music.  As the App Store listing assures parents, “You don’t need to write a single word.”  At last, a tech company has found a way to outsource humanity’s oldest pastime: using our imaginations…To generate a story in the app, [nitwits] first select a character…by “[snapping] a photo of their favorite toy or person”…then…choose a lesson…it could be a lot worse.  [Facebook] regularly ships boneheaded ideas like Instagram deepfake generators…“pervert glasses”…[and] virtual reality work meetings…but it has always been possible to survive bedtime without using an inherently uncreative technology that calculates the most predictable response to a prompt…Perhaps the moral of the story here is that we can choose not to live in a world where children are raised on bedtime stories written by large language models…

Pyrrhic Victory (Nosey Parkers)

These things need to be banned entirely:

The promoter behind some of the biggest comic and entertainment conventions in the UK has banned [pervert] glasses from its events to stop…secret filming…of guests and attendees.  Monopoly Events said a number of guests had told the company they would be reluctant to appear at Comic-Con shows again after cases of recordings taking place without their knowledge.  The ban is [also] applicable to…any other “wearable recording devices”.  Attendees caught using the devices will be asked to leave the convention…Earlier this week the ferry operator CalMac paused bridge visits on its vessels after a passenger used [perve]rt glasses…without permission…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1658)

Every weapon eventually begets a defense:

A growing number of eyewear brands are developing glasses designed to interfere with facial recognition systems and surveillance cameras,…Solir Optics…sells “anti-facial recognition” sunglasses priced between $70 and $100…[which] are designed to block a broader range of light, including infrared and blue light…[so as to] interfere with retinal scans…Zenni Optical is also offering a lens coating called “ID Guard,” which…adds a pink tint to the surface of the lenses that reflects infrared light used by some facial recognition cameras…[and designer] Kerin Rose Gold…created Handle With Care, a[n overpriced] line…[which] use[s] black-and-white patterns intended to disrupt the sensors used by some facial recognition systems…

 

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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Nosey Parkers

Posted in Current Events, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Welcome to the future.  –  Joel Feder

Pyrrhic Victory (#1620)

The backlash isn’t nearly severe enough yet:

[Pervert] Glasses…are so [morally repugnant] that [even] some [who were sociopathic enough to buy them] are now leaving their expensive [gewgaw]s at home…men…have been using the glasses to…non-consensually…capture footage of…women [they] attempt…to hit on…then post[ing them] online…Some…have even attempted to extort victims of covert recordings for cash.  That’s on top of serious…privacy breaches by [Facebook]…and…the simple fact that [normal] people just really don’t like the idea of the world’s largest [psychopath collective]…facilitating abuse and surveillance in this way…[fortunately] the intensity of the [online] response [has] made [even moral imbeciles] think twice…[about being publicly recognized as] a predator or a creep…

Panopticon (#1643)

Here’s hoping Flock backlash will snowball:

The Los Angeles Police Department is ending its agreement with Flock…surveillance…”This contract is not being renewed because of serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues, particularly around privacy and the data that is being collected from these cameras,” [oinked a spokespig, but in reality cops]…are continuing discussions with Flock…[in order to] revis[e the contact to give]…LAPD…[more control of the] data…

Panopticon (#1646)

If this guy had brown skin, he’d probably be dead now:

…On an otherwise normal Sunday afternoon in late June, I’d decided to take the…Range Rover I was testing that week out to run some errands…and [ended up] surrounded by police…in a Kohl’s parking lot in suburban Minnesota…after a tense hour…the [cops finally admitted they] had been tracking me for days using Flock…cameras…because they thought I’d stolen the Range Rover…[due to] a simple data error made 2,000 miles away in California…that Flock’s [cop-siccing chatbot] was unable to handle…

Panopticon (#1648)

In surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

Cops across [California] accessed the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s…Flock S[urveillance]…ALPR…system at least 145 times to track protesters within the span of a year and seven months…Eleven [cop shops]…as far as…400 miles away, searched for protesters…on or around dates when protests against ICE were held…Cops are required by state law to list the reason for [warrantless] searching…but the[y]…have been [trained to “be as vague as permissible” so most “reasons” are]…vague one-word responses…A Flock [mouthpiece absurdly barfed]…“leverage”…[and] “crimes” [at reporters]…and…OCSD…[idiotically denied the word “protest” means] Flock is…used to track protesters…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1651) 

This is only the beginning:

An internal Madison Square Garden database…a[ssigns]…“risk [scores” to]…roughly 400 celebrities…[out of] 39,539 entries in the so-called “talent” database…which…is part of a much larger trove of documents published last month by ShinyHunters, a[n anti-fascist] hacker collective…a celebrity…marked with a risk score…means “you’ve done something [on]…social media…that has caught the attention of the wrong people”…People…are ranked on a scale…“Flag” is the lowest…next is “low risk” [including] Falco, [Tracy] Morgan, and Ben Stiller…After that is “medium risk” [including] Lily Allen, her ex David Harbour, and…country singer Morgan Wallen) and “high risk” (the hip-hop stars Freddie Gibbs, Lil Jon, DaBaby, and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie).  The rapper Lil Tjay…is “BANNED FROM MSG”…The…database also tracks some celebrities’ race, gender identity, and sexual orientation; 93 entries are marked as “LGBTQIA”…

Mad Libs (#1654)

Which is greater, Zuckerberg’s greed or his psychopathy?

[Facebook] quietly announced that [its pervert] glasses’ Conversation Focus feature will soon be limited to three hours of use per month, unless [owner is willing to] pay for a $19.99 M[onthly] subscription…The Conversation Focus feature, which amplifies the voice of [nearby people so as to facilitate eavesdropping]…runs on-device, using the chips inside the glasses…[which don’t] require an internet connection …[the feature] isn’t as [morally repugnant]…as…facial recognition [but Zuckerberg is apparently banking on the moral imbeciles who buy these surveillance tools wanting to hear while they leer]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1656)

With warrantless surveillance, no woman is safe from cops:

A [Florida cop named Lamar Roman sped] 70 MPH down a two-lane highway…over a bridge in the Florida Keys…passe[d two] dump truck[s] in a no-passing zone…[and] nearly caus[ed] a head-on collision…[while stal]king and chasing a woman that he met and harassed on the set of the…TV…show Bad Monkey, [for] which he had worked a security detail shift…After…catcalling her and harassing her for her full name and Instagram details, the [dangerous sleazebag] illegally looked up her vehicle information on DAVID, a Florida Department of Motor Vehicles database for [cops]…He then put her license plate details on a surveillance “hotlist,” meaning he would get a notification in real time anytime she drove by an A[LPR]…Roman…was caught and arrested in March…[his victim] told investigators that she tried to be “standoffish” to deter him…[but] Roman would not leave [her] alone….[and threatened] to pull [her] over…in the [future]…

 

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 (#1653)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

My supervisor…[saw a chatbot] as a digital priest whose primary purpose was to confirm that he was right and everyone else was mistaken.

The Last Shall Be First (#1523)

SCOTUS legalizes sexual assault of minor-age female athletes:

The Supreme Court…uph[e]ld…West Virginia’s and Idaho’s laws that [demand female] athletes [submit to unwanted physical examinations without parental consent]…[to] compet[e] in girls’ sports…[if someone accuses them of being transgender].  This decision has implications for 25 other states with similar laws…

As is typical in our sick society, most coverage of the story focuses on the supposed intent of the laws rather than the actual consequences to female athletes.

I Spy (#1533)

The mad emperor wants to use copaganda to wreck the medical system, establish universal surveillance, and excuse even more state violence:

The Trump [regime]’s new [mass surveillance] strategy [uses]…the [psychotic “]war[“] on [the important clinical medicine] fentanyl…[to justify] a national surveillance system [unconstitutionally] built from…[routinely-abused] prescription…[monitoring databases], toxicology results, wastewater, electronic health records, license plate scans, and [whatever other private information can be illegally gathered by cops, spooks, and goons]…the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy [threatens]…to “fully resource and empower” [Father]land Security Task Forces, “le[t chatbots kill people],” and “[violate the Privacy Act of 1974]” [in order]…to…[de facto abolish] HIPAA…[and make] patient privacy [a dead letter].  No[thing]…would prevent [the] system…from being used to monitor abortion, pregnancy, gender transition, methadone treatment, protest activity, or any other behavior a future [regime] decides to target…

Walled Garden (#1579)

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

Texas users of…Bluesky were [prevented from signing in without using an algorithm]…to verify their ages…[by] putting in the last four digits of their Social Security Number, inputting a credit card number or having their driver’s license scanned…the “App Store Accountability Act,” [which] requires companies that run app marketplaces like Google and Apple to verify all users’ ages…was [recently un]blocked by…[the deeply-authoritarian 5th circuit, but it does not require social media age surveillance].  Bluesky told some users who asked [tha]t the age verification [demand] was a “known bug”…

I Spy (#1604)

Thanks to fascism, this decision was stillborn:

The U.S. Supreme Court has…ruled…that “geofence warrants” count as a “search” under the Constitution and therefore trigger the Fourth Amendment’s safeguards against unreasonable searches and seizures.  The geofence warrant at issue in…Chatrie v. United States…was issued to Google…[and] led to the arrest of Okello Chatrie…[whose] lawyers argued that this police tactic amounted to…the very sort of sweeping assault on civil liberties that the Fourth Amendment was originally enshrined to protect…

Unfortunately, surveillance software from a company called Penlink, which is already owned by hundreds of cop shops and goon squads, allows pigs and goons to do this at will without having to go to court for a warrant or deal with Google.  So this is only a “win” on paper.

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1608)

Everything I read about modern work makes me happier I became a whore:

…numerous employees…spoke to Futurism about their experience with [chatbot]-obsessed bosses, relaying feelings of frustration and anger as managers and executives use the tech to barrage staff with nonsensical directives, unnecessary work, and perpetual pivoting…it’s a distinct new type of toxic work environment for the slop era.  Slate found more evidence for the phenomenon earlier this year; one worker told the publication that managers “are getting cavities in their brains” due to the tech.  In some cases, employees…felt as though their employers had started living in a completely different reality.  The workplace had become a constant battle between [actual] reality versus [chatbot-driven delusion]s — and their boss…always chose the latter…

Enshittification (#1642)

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

[A] coalition of [almost 400] local newspaper publishers [has] filed a federal lawsuit…against OpenAI and Microsoft…[because] the…companies systematically [plagiariz]ed copyrighted reporting…to train and develop [chatbots], including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, without permission or compensation…violating the Copyright Act and threatening the future of local journalism…OpenAI knowingly stripped copyright management information from publishers’ work — including author bylines, copyright notices, and terms of use information — in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act…OpenAI founder Sam Altman…a[dmitt]ed during testimony before the British House of Lords that it would be “impossible to train [chatbots] without using copyrighted materials”…Although major national news organizations and prominent authors have previously sued OpenAI and Microsoft over similar [violation]s, the new case marks the largest coordinated legal effort by local and regional newspapers [to shut down these plagiarism machines]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1648)

Government thugs don’t care how many lives are destroyed by their evil:

…Florida [cops] arrested a man and held him in jail for nearly three months based on a bad facial recognition result…In April 2025, a man in Jacksonville…purchased a car from someone he met in a grocery store parking lot.  When he learned the car was stolen, he reported the crime…[lazy pigs] ran [surveillance footage] through facial recognition software, which flagged Jalil Richardson…[despite the fact that he] lived in Charlotte, North Carolina—400 miles away…[and] time cards showed Richardson was at work when the suspect was selling a stolen car in Jacksonville.  But [cops didn’t care, so] Richardson was arrested in North Carolina and held for 33 days…[then] extradited to Jacksonville and held for another 53 days.  Prosecutors finally dropped the charges and released him[, but not before] he had…[l]ost…his job, his house, and custody of two of his children…

Jacksonville cops are just as psychopathically-unconcerned with the innocence of people they target as those in Detroit are.

 

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 #835

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »

You owe me lunch.  –  “Officer” Caleb Pomazon

Today’s video was called to my attention by Jessica Crabbit on Whores’ Day, but this is the first time I’ve had space for it.  The links above it were provided by Dan Savage, The Onion, Jesse Walker, Kevin Wilson, Phoenix Calida, Nun Ya, and IncarcerNation, 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 (#1649)

Posted in Current Events, Fiction, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Hello, I am…a…toaster.  –  Google’s “AI summary” algorithm

Pyrrhic Victory (#1465)

The UK wants a flawed computer algorithm to officially override migrants’ self-reported ages:

Age verification is consuming the internet…[and] is about to seep into the offline world…Starting next year, the British government is planning to introduce facial age [guessing software]…to [overrule] the [self-reported] age of asylum seekers…[using the excuse that] many asylum seekers…[do] not have documents proving their age, [so the government can officially]…class…[many legal minors] as adults…strip…[them of] legal protections and [hurl them into] adult-only [concentration camps]…an internal UK government report…shows how the systems regularly mistake [adolescents] for adults…[especially when] deployed against…Sub-Sarahan Africans…[which are typically] off by an average of 4.6 years, meaning that a 13.5-year-old girl could be assessed as an 18-year-old adult…

Enshittification (#1468)

How long before Google becomes completely useless?

If you Google “SCP-565” — an iconic entry in the collaborative fan fiction universe known as the “SCP Foundation” — the [so-called “]AI Overviews[“] describes the nonexistent entity as though it were entirely real, without a single acknowledgement that it’s a piece of online horror fiction…Ed’s Head is a made-up “anomaly” among the many fictional “objects, entities, and phenomena” dreamed up by members of the SCP Foundation fandom.  As the lore goes, the SCP Foundation is a non-government organization that collects and contains supernatural discoveries.  Writers catalogue these fictional phenomena — which range from the terrifying to the downright bizarre — in the form of fake records, studies, research documents, and logs, all of which are indexed in a sprawling archive…[but] Google’s [Chatbot] Overviews…[predictably] present…entities from the expansive SCP universe as real items, events, or beings…We first caught wind of th[is when]…social media discovered that a Google search for “SCP-426” — a fictional toaster that causes anyone talking about the toaster to refer to it in the first person — returns an…Overview in which the [chatbot] discusses the mysterious entity in the first person, as if [it had] itself…been impacted by the toaster’s supernatural effect…

Once again: chatbots are incapable of telling fantasy from reality because they are incapable of understanding that the word fragments (“tokens” in industry jargon) they process correspond to anything outside of the chatbot itself.

Torture Chamber (#1586)

A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners:

It has always been difficult to get help inside federal prison.  But in recent years, it has become nearly impossible…The rate at which the bureau granted [relief] has fallen from just under 7% in 2000 to less than 2% in 2023…[the vast majority] are rejected without consideration for the content of their complaint, for arcane reasons such as including too many pages or not filing enough copies…[and] a 1996 federal law requires prisoners to complete the internal grievance process before filing a lawsuit…healthcare-related requests…[a]re the third most common reason for…complaint, behind [dehumanizing living conditions] and [sexual or physical abuse by] staff…Of all medical grievances [clos]ed in 2023, fewer than 1% were granted…state [dungeons typically give slightly more relief, with most]…grant[ing it in] roughly 15% of [cases, though some like]…Texas…[h]over [around] 4%…reasons for rejections [are often ludicrously cruel], like writing with a pencil instead of a pen, or a woman reporting sexual abuse who was rejected for misspelling her abuser’s last name.  One…Spanish-speaking prisoner filed a grievance asking for translation services, but was rejected for writing it in Spanish…

No Difference (#1625)

African anti-LGBT campaigns are a lot like US anti-sex work campaigns:

Niger’s military junta announced a new penal code that criminalizes…anyone who “commits or attempts to commit an immodest or unnatural act or practices lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, Queer, intersex, Asexual…acts”…What does it mean to punish “acts” that are “asexual”?  Does having a platonic relationship constitute an “asexual act” that violates this prohibition?  Ghana’s parliament recently criminalized [merely] “identifying” as [LGBT and invented]…a “duty”…to [rat out one’s friends, family, and confidantes to] police…On the other hand, the high court in Namibia…recently struck down laws against gay sex…[as did] Angola in 2021, Gabon in 2020, and…Botswana…[in 2019]…

To Molest and Rape (#1629)

His involvement with a grooming program isn’t mentioned until 5 lines from the end:

Bethel [Ohio boss hog] Chad Essert [has been arrested] in Florida after a…grand jury indicted him on 70…sex crime…[charges for repeatedly molesting at least one] minor…from…2005 [to] 2010…Essert…served as an instructor with the Young Marines [at] the time…Essert [fled to Florida]…in May [after being rewarded with a paid vacation for some other unnamed crime]…

Mad Libs (#1633)

It’s OK; soon all “healthcare” will just be chatbots anyway:

For more than two years, a D[anish chatbot]…has been listening to Seattle residents’ 911 medical calls without their knowledge…to [algorithmically determine] which callers don’t deserve a[ctual help, but are instead]…route[d]…to a nurse-staffed Texas call center [with a wait time of several hours.  And as is typical for so-called “AI” systems, this is done]…without any disclosure to callers [or] public review…Seattle [bureaucrats describe this as]…a conservative approach [despite]…the…wrongful death of one 911 caller…

I Spy (#1642)

How clueless would a woman have to be to give busybodies this kind of data?

Stanford graduates Jenny Duan and Abhinav Agarwal want to solve two hard problems: create a [gewgaw fools will buy] and measure hormones to help [the government track women’s pregnancies].  The pair is building a startup called Clair Health to track inflammation and bloating markers, energy levels, and cycle phase classification to give [government bureaucrats] insights into cycle irregularities and perimenopause, as well as hormonal fluctuations, and how to [target women for violence using] those changes [as justification].  The company has raised $11.6 million in [fascist] funding…and…uses [buzzwords like “]onboarding[“]…[“]AI[“]…[“]biomarkers[“] and…[“]voice stack[” to dazzle marks with bullshit]…Clair Health’s device has 10 biosensors, including a novel biomagnetic sensor for hormonal [surveillance]…of…women [who can get pregnant]…

 

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 #833

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »

There were two clients who basically were paying for ChatGPT…to argue against itself.  –  Rob Freund

My friend Chester Brown, the well-known comic book artist, plays Merlin in this video from Sook-Yin Lee‘s new album.  The links above the video were provided by Jesse Walker and Dan Savage; IncarcerNation; The Onion; Mike Masnick; Ryan Marino; and IncarcerNation again (x2).

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 (#1648)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Academics who have studied human trafficking at big sporting events…say that it is all hokum.  – Dave Mastio

Time Warp

Nebraska politicians recently held a bizarrely-anachronistic press conference during which they spouted the kind of “sex trafficking” fantasies which were popular at the height of the hysteria 14 years ago; the panic is so moribund that even a journalist in a largely-rural state feels comfortable calling these politicians liars and debunking a boss hog’s nonsense “statistics”.  It took far too long, but it’s still good to see; contrast with “Broken Record” below.

Pyrrhic Victory (#1578)

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

…At least three gay bars in [San Francisco] have started using Patronscan…a [facial recognition system sold as] intended to flag fake IDs…[and] the experience of having a camera turned on every person entering the venues, often without warning, has left many [justifiably] outraged…Management at Mix, Badlands, and Toad Hall [refus]ed to speak to the Gazetteer about the issue, though…the Patronscan website…admits…the [scan] goes beyond simple document checks to…include…third-party checks…[to betray] people [to cops, spooks, and goons]…a…bouncer [also admitted]…facial scans would be stored [indefinitely on a bouncer’s say-so]…The company [justified jumping off a bridge by saying]…more than 700 [other kids have already done it]…But it has already become the subject of…a class-action lawsuit in Illinois…

Imaginary Evils (#1597)

This is a very unusual development:

A European religious freedom group is slamming the prosecution of OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone and former executive Rachel Cherwitz…Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience…has United Nations consultative status, which means it’s accredited by the U.N. to submit written statements and make oral arguments before the U.N. Human Rights Council…prosecutors seemed intent on putting the group’s beliefs and practices on trial…”The legal theory used…marks a major departure from established constitutional principles…The defendants were  convicted…based solely on psychological influence, without evidence of threats, violence, or physical coercion.”  You can see how this theory might apply to a wide range of religious groups, philosophical movements, political movements, self-improvement programs, health regimens, lifestyle groups, and so on.  If the federal statute against human trafficking [can be used thus]…we risk turning all sorts of influence and ordinary business into a crime.  All authorities have to do is label something a cult, and voila—any of the group’s instructions, practices, and marketing tactics become sinister…

Panopticon (#1611)

The only way to keep data from being abused or leaked is not to collect it:

…ALPR…company Flock exposed the reasons cops conducted searches, and sometimes the specific searched license plates, in common search engines like DuckDuckGo and Bing, according to tests by…the NoCo Privacy Coalition…“Flock appears to be leaking tons of law enforcement vehicle queries and possible user data. Data publicly visible in search result URLs includes: license plate state and numbers, make, model, color, identifiers such as ‘window stickers’ and ‘top rack,’ case number, and more,” the organization said…Flock’s [response was to absurdly belch that] “Protecting customer data is a top priority for Flock” [when their entire business model is to enable cops to conduct unconstitutional warrantless searches]…

Welcome to the Future (#1619)

When an internet service is “free”, you are the product:

Hundreds of millions of Pokémon Go players spent years filming the streets, parks, and buildings around them to earn [make-believe] rewards.  Those roughly 30 billion environmental scans are now owned by Niantic Spatial, and [were sold to] train a camera-based navigation model that a [fascist] contractor is preparing to put into drones and other military robots…[so they can] locate…by sight when satellite signals fail…Niantic Spatial CTO Brian McClendon, who previously led the team behind Google Maps, Google Earth, and Street View, has said the approach suits robots operating where GPS regularly drops out, such as dense cities, and where signals are deliberately blocked, such as war zones…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1622)

Government thugs don’t care how many lives are destroyed by their evil:

Police arrested a man in Florida for attempted child abduction in a town he had never visited, [ignoring all evidence other than a]…facial recognition [false positive].  Represented by the…ACLU…he is now suing the [pig]s and [cop shop]s who put him through it.  In November 2023, police in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, responded to a call about an attempted child abduction at a McDonald’s…In August 2024, deputies arrested Dillon at his home in Fort Myers, Florida—hundreds of miles away…More than two months later, prosecutors dropped the charges after his attorney provided evidence that he was at work on the day in question.  But [cops ignored]…mobile ordering records, payment data…online account information from McDonald’s…the [fact that the] manager recognized the assailant as a “regular customer”…and…his cell phone’s GPS data, showing…he was…300 miles away…on the night in question…

Broken Record (#1638)

Given that this misogynistic masturbatory myth started with the World Cup, it’s fitting that its dying days are spent there as well:

[Even] sex worker platform[s sometimes buy into ridiculous myths, as demonstrated by the platform] Erobella, [which moronically claims] that…9,000 [European sex workers are “]planning[” travel to North American for the World Cup], while 22,000 others are [“]considering[“] it…[given that] Erobella [claims it] is…committed to combating stigma around sex work, [it seems especially bizarre that it is promoting the nonsensical propaganda]…that major sporting events like the World Cup have historically been really lucrative periods for the sex industry, [given that any sex worker who has ever actually worked during one of these events knows better]…

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 (#1646)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »

No-one in a democracy should need to show their passport just to get online.  –  Silkie Carlo

Policing for Profit

There are many ways for cops to enrich themselves at others’ expense:

A [New Jersey cop named Darryl Brown] stole more than $10,000 in camera equipment from a photographer who had to abandon her bag after she was injured during [a pogrom] outside a…[concentration camp] in Newark [named] Delaney Hall…which has been the focus of ongoing protests since Memorial Day weekend…after [political prisoner]s inside announced a hunger and labor strike…Angelina Katsanis was [hit so hard] by a [cop she] could barely walk…as state troopers [attack]ed…the…protesters [with pepper spray and blunt weapons] late [on the] night [of May 30th]…She…tucked her bag aside so she could seek medical help…[it] was clearly labeled with her name, and her keys were airtagged.  After a friend unsuccessfully tried to retrieve the bag later that night, they were able to monitor the airtag [be]ing [carried by] Darryl Brown [to his house, where operatives of the attorney general’s office of public integrity]…found some of [it on June 3rd after gaining entry via a search warrant]…

Banishment (#1163)

One more baby step toward ridding our society of this evil:

South Carolina is one of 20 states that authorize indefinite [warehousing] of [people] after they have completed their prison sentences…[if] a jury [declares them]…a “sexually violent predator”…Although the South Carolina Office of Mental Health…concluded that Andy Hyman was not an SVP, a jury d[eclared otherwise because a prosecutor tricked them with an “expert”]…opinion based largely on penile plethysmography (PPG), a scientifically dubious technique that [cl]aims to measure sexual response to images, audio narratives, or textual descriptions by gauging tiny changes in the circumference of the subject’s penis.  That test, the South Carolina Supreme Court [has now] unanimously ruled…in response to Hyman’s appeal, is “generally inadmissible in judicial proceedings”…join[ing] a long list of state and federal courts that have deemed PPG results unreliable and inadmissible…

The Last Shall Be First (#1523)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

Student athletes in Washington state schools who want to compete in girls’ sports would likely have to obtain genital exams to participate, if a[n authoritarian] ballot initiative passes in November…students would have several options to confirm their sex: a visual genital exam, a lab test to determine their genetic makeup, or an analysis of testosterone levels in the blood…[high-profile bigot] Brian Heywood and his political action committee Let’s Go Washington are backing the measure…[which they defend by barfing the word “]safety[“] in girls’ [faces]…the measure would be a major shift in the way the state has…handled school sports participation for transgender kids…since 2007…[there are only about] 10 trans athletes out of more than 200,000 kids [in academic sports] across the state…

In the authoritarian mind,  for students to voluntarily allow other people to examine their genitalia for the purpose of pleasure is a “crime”, but for the same students to be forced by law to allow strangers to examine their genitalia for the purpose of bigotry is “protection”.

Panopticon (#1611)

Cops will invariably use warrantless surveillance to frame people:

…[Ariel Beltran and] Hugo Parra [were falsely] arrested last year on felony [assault] charges…[because] San Diego police…de[cided]…the Alfa Romeo car [they were] riding in…[could teleport] five miles away from…the crime [instantly]…a…[Flock] license plate reader…captured…an…[image of] a different Alfa Romeo [whose license plate cops could not read, so they simply]…arrested Beltran and Parra [for riding in a similar car in a different part of town, also captured by the reader 23 seconds later]…Parra spent nearly one month behind bars…before the…charges were dropped…Now Parra and Beltran are preparing to sue the city for civil rights violations and negligence…several other Flock cameras…[and] the location data on their cell phones [showed they were nowhere near the crime scene, but the cops]…ignored [inconvenient] evidence [to frame the men, who now]…seek $1.5 million apiece in damages…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1630)

Zuckerberg sneakily added this dystopian software, hoping civil liberties groups wouldn’t notice:

[Facebook] has quietly embedded face-recognition technology for its [perve]rt glasses into an app downloaded to millions of phones…over multiple updates this year…while publicly…[lying that it w]as something the company was still “thinking through”…Though not yet enabled, NameTag sits inside a…companion app that’s…necessary for use of key features of its [perve]rt glasses…[when] activated, it will transform faces captured by [the pervert] glasses into unique biometric signatures…and check each one against faceprints stored on the user’s phone—a database that…[could easily be re]configured to…revive…technology [Facebook lied about retiring] in 2021, when the company…paid $650 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by Illinois users and, in 2024, agreed to a separate $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over…[illega]lly collect[ing] biometric data…

Torture Chamber (#1638)

Nuremberg-style trials are the moderate solution to these atrocities:

[Victims of] Florida’s notorious [Dade-Collier concentration camp reported that screws are]…denying them food and fresh water…[in an attempt to coerce them into] sign[ing] documents presented to them in English that they [can]not understand…the water given to them…[is] “rotten” and contain[s] mosquito larvae…They…[are also denying] medicine to…diabetic[s], [people] with high blood pressure…and others [who need daily medication.  The concentration camp is so expensive to]…operate…[it is scheduled to] wind down operations in [the next few weeks in preparation for] its eventual closure…[after only] one year of operation, the t[orture] facility…has developed a reputation for the brutal treatment of [human beings crammed into]…metal cages, and…su[bjected to nigh-constant] human and civil rights abuses…[including] denial of access to immigration lawyers, frequent and sudden movement of [victims] to other [concentra]tion [camp]s, and pressure to consent…to deportation…[the new tortures] appear…to be a ramping up of that pressure…

Walled Garden (#1642)

Fascists will never be satisfied until they control all people see, say, and do:

The UK government [is demanding tech companies install Utah-style software] to block access to…images [badly-flawed algorithms identify as “nude”, a la Facebook,] on smartphones and other devices for [all residents of the UK unless they submit to having those devices permanently linked to their identities in government databases].  Sir Keir Starmer has [issued incoherent threats] to…firms [while barfing “]children[” and “]sexually explicit[” at sensible people]…and…[bloviating about what he] “believe[s]”.  The government [issued a]…three month…[ultimatum and threatened corporations not resident in the UK with] criminal [charges, even demanding that corporations force the censorship & surveillance software into]…existing…phones [without the owners’ consent]…The [new threats are a tacit admission that the much-ballyhooed]…Online Safety Act – [which took over 12 years to enact] – i[s as utter a failure as sensible people predicted eight years ago]…However, [authoritarian lunatics] have [demand]ed the government…[completely control everything young adults] see…online[, moronically belching “]sextortion[” as though it were a sensible term used by reasonable adults].  The [scheme includes a proposed ban]…on…social media [for all Britons who refuse to submit to a surveillance regime]…

 

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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