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Posts Tagged ‘Georgia’

It’s an obvious attempt not to go to jail.  –  genius cop, about paralyzed man

Since I recently featured the video for what may be my favorite Blondie song, I figured I’d also share this one, which was my favorite Blondie song in high school; I especially liked blaring it on the car stereo while driving.  The links above it were provided by Marc Randazza; Justin Amash; Warren Bell; Andrew Fleischman; Popehat; Jesse Walker and Franklin Harris; and Kevin Wilson, 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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It really doesn’t even take burning books to change a culture, it just takes stopping good people from reading them.  –  Arlene Kasselman

The Face of Trafficking

Note that cases of actual coercion don’t look much like the myths:

A woman has filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta church…[because] she and others were trafficked and forced to work in inhumane conditions after being recruited as young ministry students.  The [offenders include] the Atlanta Dream Center Church and its affiliated Pentecostal Christian denomination Assemblies of God, among others…“K.D.”…joined the church’s Atlanta School of Ministry in 2014 to train as a missionary…[bu]t she and other young students were instead forced to work unpaid catering events, live in dangerous environments, and were given moldy, expired food to eat…“Young, vulnerable individuals…were recruited nationwide with promises of missionary training, only to be systematically isolated, manipulated, and coerced into providing unpaid labor at sporting events, conventions, and corporate gatherings across the country.”  The woman…was twice sexually assaulted during her time with the church, once by a pastor and another time by a guest…the pastor…threatened her life, saying “she ‘would not make it to her 21st birthday’ if she ever left his control”…

Banishment (#1113)

How a country treats its prisoners reveals a great deal about it:

Nationally, more than 6,000 people are held in [so-called] sex offense civil commitment…the states that run such programs [pretend] they’re focused on rehabilitation, [but in reality they are simply]…a thinly veiled way to warehouse people instead of treating them.  Such programs…[are] stacked with draconian release conditions….[and] do…not prevent sexual violence…the system is a way for politicians and elites to respond to [moral panic over]…sexual violence…while still refusing to acknowledge…that strangers do not perpetrate most sexual violence…Minnesota holds the highest number of people in the system per capita, while California has the most overall.  The systems’ populations also balloon due to their low release rates…

You Were Warned (#1490)

The open internet is rapidly becoming a thing of the past:

Discord has added a new age verification system…as “an experiment” …currently active in the UK and Australia in response to recent [censorship laws]…users may be asked to verify their age when encountering content flagged by its [autocensor], or when they try to change their settings to [circumvent the autocensor]…The user will be given two verification options.  The first asks them to scan their face…and…the o[ther]…to submit…a photo of an ID document (such as their passport or driving licence)…Discord says age verification is a one-time process, but that if…the…[algorithmically-determined] age group is incorrect…they can try to verify their age again, either by using the same [flawed and error-prone] process or [by] opting for a manual review…Australia’s…ban…[on] social media for [people] under 16…is still to come into effect…In the UK, [censorship agency] Ofcom has [demand]ed that all websites wh[ich a bureaucrat has pointed at while belching “]pornographic material[“], including social media platforms, need to add “robust” age-checking…by July…if other countries follow suit with similar restrictions [non-VPN] users in those countries can expect to face similar [spying]…

Thought Control (#1512)

Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only threatening librarians and teachers:

A [new “mob rule” censorship] bill [in]…Texas…could have serious implications for small businesses…HB1375 [encourages] individuals to sue [under the absurd premise that people can be “]harmed[“] by [books if a politician points at them and barfs out the word “]obscene[“]…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1517)

The claims in these nuisance lawsuits are increasingly absurd:

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier [has launched] an[other nuisance]…lawsuit[, this time] against Snapchat, based on [utterly ridiculous claims about magical] predators…“Snap is deceiving Florida parents about the dangers children face…from [magical teleportation] features…allowing sexual predators and drug dealers access [to kids’ bedrooms”, barfed]…the AG[, moronically adding]…“We’re gonna hold these people accountable” [even though it is Uthmeir, not any corporation, who is accountable to Florida citizens]…The attorney general [also waved his dick around while drooling pap about “]addictive design features[” despite this being psychological nonsense.  He also bragged]…“We’re going to be putting these bad guys away” [even though a lawsuit is a civil procedure, not a criminal one]…

I Spy (#1530)

Medical privacy will soon be a thing of the past:

The National Institutes of Health is [sic] amassing private medical records from a number of federal and commercial databases to give [Trump henchman] Robert F. Kennedy Jr….[ammunition in his] effort to [ban vaccines using a bogus] study [of] autism…[this] will allow…researchers [specifically] picked [to produce the “findings”] Kennedy…[wants] to obtain…medication records from pharmacy chains, lab testing and genomics data from patients treated by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service, claims from private insurers and data from smartwatches and fitness trackers will all be linked together [in violation of HIPAA, to create]…a new…registry…to track Americans with autism…Kennedy’s [flying monkeys lied that there]…would be…”state of the art protections” [for] confidentiality…

The Cop Myth (#1531)

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

A Miami [cop] was arrested…[for attacking] his wife [while drunk]…Christian Vladimir Sanchez [drank an entire bottle of rum and then fell down]…in the shower…[before trying] to make sexual advances on h[is wife in front of their young daughter.  After]…she refused…he…demanded that…she leave their home and…give him her cellphone…Sanchez then got on top of her…and [beat] her…[while] demanding [the]…phone…she…eventually freed herself…and fled…Sanchez has since been released from jail on…bond, but [was also rewarded with a paid vacation]…

 

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

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I now believe they were trying to get me to disappear.  –  Jonah Bevin

Unchristian Nation

Government propaganda inspires the weak-minded to violence:

Amid a surge in vandalism of Humane Borders’ life-saving water barrels in Arizona’s borderlands, volunteers…encountered…an apparent vigilante disguised as a wounded migrant from the Middle East…Kirk Astroth…accompanied by a group of 15 high school students visiting from Colorado, noticed a man crouched in the bushes, dressed in camouflage, with a hoodie covering his head and a black mask on…he…was also wearing “carpet shoes,” which migrants…often use to avoid leaving footprints.  The man waved at the group and [pretend]ed he…[spoke] “Kazak,” the language of Kazakhstan…The volunteers offered him food and water, which he drank as if he were extremely thirsty, and he…seemed to want the group to transport him, which…could have been an attempt to [frame] volunteers [for a] crime.  As the group attempted to leave, the man blocked the mini-school bus transporting the students, and began filming on his phone.  He then returned to the water barrel and opened the spigot to drain it.  Astroth, in a separate vehicle, told the school bus to return to Tucson, and returned to…snap…photos of …a…[nearby] camper van, and its Massachusetts license plate, when the man, no longer in disguise, emerged from the bushes…and ran at Astroth, who…quickly drove away…[and] reported the incident to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department…The dispatcher searched the plates and told Astroth the vehicle owner had a criminal record…

Opting Out (#1306) 

Laws like this always favor big corporations which can afford full-time “compliance” departments:

Dozens of small internet forums have blocked British users or shut down [completely] as new online [censorship] laws come into effect…They range from a hamster owners’ forum [to] a local group for residents of the Oxfordshire town of Charlbury, and a large cycling forum.  The hosts of the lemmy.zip forum, hosted in Finland, blocked users from the UK…saying the measures “pave the way for a UK-controlled version of the ‘great firewall’”…Under the [so-called “]illegal harms duties[” invented by politicians], sites must complete [complex and confusing] risk assessments detailing how they deal with illegal material and…[if they get it wrong,] Ofcom [can] fine [them a staggering] £18 [million] or 10[%] of their…[gross income, but despite this immense liability politicians want website operators to trust bureaucrats’ “]pledge…to prioritise larger sites[“]…

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1463)

The “troubled teen” industry and its political enablers need to be sued out of existence:

A judge has entered an emergency protective order against former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin sought by his adopted son, Jonah Bevin, now 18…The order does not include Glenna Bevin, Jonah’s adoptive mother…[even though] Matt and Glenna Bevin…abandoned him in a brutally abusive facility in Jamaica last year and sought to [deport] him to Ethiopia…after he went public [about their abuse]…Jonah…endured several months of severe beatings, death threats, waterboarding and being buried in sand before Jamaican child welfare authorities shut down the Atlantis Leadership Academy in early 2024…[because] the Bevins declined to act on his behalf or return him to the United States…he…ended up in the custody of the Jamaican child welfare system.  It is a [100% predictable] turn of events [for a politician] who campaigned on improving the state’s adoption and foster care system and…adopt[ed] four children from Ethiopia, including Jonah, to…[use as props at] public events along with the couple’s five biological children…

The Cop Myth (#1490)

Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

Michael McLeod…a [cop] at the University of Mississippi Medical Center[in Jackson], and [his brother] Marquavius McLeod [have been arrested for murder and aggravated assault after]…shooting [eight people at a St. Patrick’s Day parade] on [March 22nd.  Cops thought it was very important to say he wasn’t wearing his magical clown costume when he murdered]…Cortez George…[and wounded] s[even other] victims…

Censorship Ascendant (#1494)

Many useful idiots want this in the US as well:

[UK] police are making more than 30 arrests a day…for sending messages that cause “annoyance”, “inconvenience” or “anxiety” to others via the internet, telephone or mail…[thugs] from 37 [cop shops] made 12,183 arrests in 2023, the equivalent of about 33 per day.  This marks an almost 58 per cent rise…since before the pandemic…Jake Hurfurt…of…Big Brother Watch…said…“Police look to be wasting countless hours on arresting people for posting things online that…are not illegal”…

See No Evil (#1505)

The amount of time, energy, and money flushed down the “culture war” toilet is incalculable:

A new bill introduced in the Texas legislature could fine museums $500,000 per day if they display…art [politicians later decide to tar with the epithet]…”obscene material”…which [can include]…any [work, regardless of] artistic…value[, which includ]es the nudity of individuals under 18…The [political theatrics] over “obscene art” began with [cops barging] into the “Diaries of Home” exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth…[at a Trumpist judge’s instigation] and steal]ing [four] works by acclaimed artist Sally Mann…from the 1980s and 1990s…[which] centered on her three pre-adolescent children…A jury later [sensibly] declined to take action against the museum [so of course sick-minded politicians are outraged]…

Property of the State (#1506) 

How long will Americans accept cops and prosecutors terrorizing traumatized women?

In late March, police in southern Georgia arrested a 24-year-old woman who had a miscarriage after a [complete stranger saw] her place the fetal remains in a dumpster [and called the cops].  The coroner…determined it was a 19-week fetus from a natural…miscarriage, but…legal experts consider the arrest a bellwether for the criminal suspicion that surrounds pregnancy loss in many states in post-Roe America…In the first year after the Dobbs decision — from June 2022 to June 2023 — there were at least 210 pregnancy-related prosecutions…in [states including] Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma, [and] South Carolina

 

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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An inherent risk with any type of app that allows users to track or spy on [people] is that…data…can be leaked.  –  Jason Koebler & Emanuel Maiberg

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

[Typical and representative New York politician] Dan Halloran — who spent years in federal prison for a $200,000 bribery scheme to rig a mayoral election — has been arrested and charged for having hundreds of sickening child sex abuse videos on his phone…Halloran[‘s phone was searched]…at Miami International Airport…as he arrived…from Cuba…[and] was found with 1,362 child sex videos hidden on his iPhone — including about 35 videos of…prepubescent…girls…

I Spy (#1272)

Any loophole in any right will inevitably be expanded by authoritarians:

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — or HIPAA — established in 1996 to protect the privacy and security of patient health information, includes [an] exception…[for pigs rooting in people’s private business.  So of course]…after [SCOTUS overturned Roe v Wade] in 2022 [sociopathic cops and prosecutors immediately started trying to pry into women’s private medical]…records…to [ruin their lives] and those [of their doctors and friends].  Health officials [therefore]…enacted a HIPAA rule to keep health information private when the patient was in a state with legal [abortion] access and the care was obtained legally…Two lawsuits [now] seek to rescind that…rule, while another brought by [predatory psychopath] Ken Paxton goes a step further, asking the court to [give pigs carte blanche to dig in women’s private]…health information [without any restrictions whatsoever.  Giving this violent lunatic what he wants]…“could erode patients’ trust…in their providers and dissuade them from wanting to seek out health care”…said Ashley Emery…[of] Partnership for Women and Families. “[Cops] could [even] pressure a psychiatrist to share patient notes from therapy sessions without a…warrant”…Missouri…Tennessee…Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia…all [want cops given such control over]…doctors and pharmacists in [any] state…as [if that weren’t bad enough, Trumpist stooge]…Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk…[is try]ing…to permanently block…HIPAA [entirely]…

Secret Squirrel (#1385)

I can’t feel sorry for people with problems of their own making:

T-Mobile sells a small GPS tracker…called SyncUP, which [parents] can use to track the locations of young children who don’t  have cell phones yet.  [On April 1st, some] parent[s] who use…SyncUP…[were] shown the exact, real-time locations of…random children around the country, but not the locations of [their] own kids…It is clear the tracked people are children because their profile pictures show images of young kids wearing backpacks, and many of the locations shown are schools…T-Mobile [blamed]…”a temporary system issue…that resulted from a planned technology update”…T-Mobile also offers a device called SyncUp DRIVE, which is a dedicated car tracking device.  In a Reddit thread called “SyncUp sharing locations of other users,” several posters said that they were being shown other people’s locations…

I Spy (#1420)

Everything I read about these apps makes me happier I have never even looked at one:

Apple’s iOS apps catering to the sugar dating, BDSM, and LGBTQ+ communities – where privacy is…paramount – have leaked highly sensitive content…BDSM People, CHICA, TRANSLOVE, PINK, and BRISH apps had publicly accessible secrets published together with the apps’ code…[the exposed] information [included] API keys, passwords, [and] encryption keys…credentials placed in client applications are accessible to [cops, spooks, and other malef]actors [who] can easily abuse them to gain access to…profile photos, public posts, profile verification images, photos removed for rule violations, and private photos sent through direct messages…All of the affected apps [we]re developed by M.A.D Mobile Apps Developers Limited.  Their identical architecture explains why the same type of sensitive data was exposed…the apps are exclusive to iOS and do not have Android or web alternatives…

Thought Control (#1422)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

New Hampshire [politician] Glenn Cordelli…w[ants to make it easier to]…ban…books…by [taking]…oversight of book complaints…[away from] school administrators [and] local school [boards and handing it]…to the [much more politicized] State Board of Education…Cordelli [absurdly declared] “This is not banning of books,” [before adding that making sausage does not involve the slaughter of animals, and that having] children [does not involve] sex…

No Escape (ROTW #10)

And this is just LA County; every single jurisdiction in the US has similar rates:

Los Angeles County plans to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 [lawsuits over] sexual abuse…in…its juvenile facilities and foster homes, dwarfing the largest sex abuse settlements in U.S. history…The Boy Scouts of America, by comparison, agreed to pay $2.46 billion.  The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has paid out about $1.5 billion…Victims of USC gynecologist George Tyndall got $1.1 billion.  Michigan State University paid $500 million to victims of team doctor Larry Nassar.  The unprecedented settlement stems from…a 2020 state law that gave victims of childhood [and adolescent] sexual abuse a new window to sue…the thousands of lawsuits, most of which involve [horrifying] abuse from the 1980s through the 2000s, [demonstrate how] government…facilities turn…into hunting grounds for predators…[due to the] immense power [officials are given] over [human beings of all ages locked] in their c[ages]…the $4-billion settlement [doesn’t even] cover…all…of the…lawsuits.  Some attorneys were not willing to participate in the “global mediation process,” and plaintiffs in those cases will be part of a separate settlement…

I Spy (#1490)

Civil liberties violations only start with people the government has demonized:

U.S. immigration officials [want]…to collect social media handles from people applying for…green cards or citizenship, to comply with an [imperial edict] from [mad emperor Trump, thus]…expand[ing] the government’s reach in social media surveillance to people already vetted and in the U.S. legally, such as asylum seekers, green card, and citizenship applicants—and not just those applying to enter the country…social media monitoring by immigration [busybodies] has been a practice…since…the second Obama administration and [was] ramp[ed] up under Trump’s first [reign]…

 

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

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They tested “self-trafficking” charges on sex workers first.
–  Mistress Matisse

Thought Control (#1343)

I was destined to be threatened with state violence regardless of career path:

Georgia…[politicians are ap]ing…bill[s from other states] aimed at [criminaliz]ing…librari[an]s, but [sane people] say it would chill free speech and open the state up to lawsuits.  Senate Bill 74…would [criminalize] an[y]…librarians…including at school libraries, who [help any]…minor…[find any book that any politician has pointed at while belching the word “]harmful[” even if the targeted]…book…[has been] in the library for…years…Christoper Bruce…[of] the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia…[pointed out] that the bill is similar to [one recently] struck down in Arkansas

Pyrrhic Victory (#1465)

Undermining of civil liberties only starts with “undesirables”; it never stops there:

[Mad emperor Trump is demanding that] undocumented immigrants age 14 or older…register and provide fingerprints…DHS will [then] issue “evidence of registration,” which immigrants over 18 must carry and [produce every time a racist cop or spook demands it.  The scheme is a Trumpist attempt to]…criminal[ize]…undocumented…migra[tion, which is currently]…a civil violation and not a criminal one.  [Any such new] requirements…would require [actual] new laws, not [mere] executive orders or policy changes…

Feudalism Redux (#1497)

Montana politicians are trying to reduce all women to serfdom:

A new Montana bill “establishing the criminal offense of abortion trafficking” could criminalize pregnant women who cross state lines to get an abortion…Aiding or assisting someone else in such…would also make one guilty of abortion trafficking.  Criminalizing driving someone else out of Montana to do something that’s legal in another state is itself ridiculous. But the language of this bill would very clearly criminalize some pregnant women who transport themselves out of state too…Per a constitutional amendment voters passed in 2024, Montana allows abortion up until fetal viability and provides an exception to this limit if the mother’s life or health is at risk…But…there are…justifiable reasons for getting an abortion after about 24 weeks…and…It’s also possible that Montana…will someday topple the recent constitutional amendment and…ban abortion much earlier in pregnancy…this is unlikely to stop with Montana.  In fact, it’s possible that Montana is seen by some as the perfect test ground for this sort of thing precisely because it currently allows abortions until viability…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #17)

When will the mainstream media admit that pigs in schools are a menace?

A [typical and representative Pennsylvania cop paid to lurk in schools and spy on, harass, and intimidate students] is facing [misdemeanor] charges for [raping] a 14-year-old girl nearly 100 times…Anthony DePanicis Jr….[raped the girl] almost weekly [from 1991 to 1994, when she]…turned 17…

Thought Control (#1509)

As an alumna of the LSU MLIS program, I am fully qualified to declare this absolutely bat-shit insane:

…at Livingston Parish libraries…the…shelves reserved for young adult books are temporarily empty…[because] the local library board…[demand]ed pulling 30,000 young adult print and audiobook materials from children’s sections and moving those [lunatics might conceivably] deem…sexually explicit to the adult side in each of the five library branches.  Young adult is a category of books geared toward youths 13 and older[, whom]…Louisiana law [now] defines…[as “children”, equivalent to kindergarteners]…Since 2022, [pro-censorship fanatics] and [politicians] have [demanded massive censorship as] the [book-banning fad has spread among Trumpists]…Jennifer Holden, an [especially-vile pro-censorship fanatic], said further actions need to be taken, like [officially eliminating the entire YA category to restrict teens to young children’s books]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1514)

Cops don’t care how many false positives these systems shit out, and Detroit cops don’t even pretend to care:

Last year, Detroit police wrongly arrested LaDonna Crutchfield after facial recognition software incorrectly identified her as the culprit of a shooting…[they had no] warrant…[but] handcuffed, detained, and jailed her anyway…[sole]ly on [the] facial recognition [output, and]…released [her] only when it became obvious [even to halfwit cops] that they had arrested the wrong person…six hours after [they brutalized her and]…dis[rupted her life]…Detroit police [have a history of similar incompetence, having terrorized]…Porcha WoodruffRobert Williams…[and Michael Oliver in the same way]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1516) 

Another moronic culture war “monkey see, monkey do” parade is underway:

Pennsylvania [politician] Robert Leadbeter…has announced that he soon plans to introduce a [bill aping one from Iowa] that would make it a felony…[to] allow…a minor to attend a drag show…Leadbeter [vomited buzzwords and culture-war shibboleths at reporters, including]…”corrupt the morals”…”decency”…”sexually charged”…[“]premature sexualization…family values and parental rights[“]…

 

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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To automate the surveillance of lots of innocent people…is really corrosive.  –  Nathan Freed Wessler

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1346) 

Remember, this isn’t “human trafficking”, but consensual sex is:

The U.S. is deporting [non-white] migrants from nations in Africa and Asia to [a concentration camp in] Panama, a major diplomatic [atrocity] for the Trump administration…The…[victims] included adults and families with children…Another U.S. military flight to Panama…deport[ed] more Asian migrants, in addition to some African deportees…from Cameroon…Panama’s foreign ministry confirmed it received…the [prisoners] under a…[shady deal] with the Trump [regime] that allows the U.S. to deport non-Panamanians to the Central American country.  The [victims]…included 119 deportees from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.  The costs of the deportations under the agreement will be covered by the U.S…

Stalkers in Blue (#1442)

Cops are nothing more than state-sponsored terrorists:

…cameras hidden in unmarked boxes have appeared on utility poles outside the Atlanta homes of some people connected to the movement against the police training center known as “Cop City”…after several years of ongoing state surveillance [and harassment] of [activists]…including [cops] following people…and blasting sirens outside bedroom windows at 3am…Three of the cameras are pointed at homes that Atlanta police, the FBI and the…ATF, jointly raided in February of last year, [using the excuse of] arsons of police motorcycles.  One camera is pointed at a cultural and social center.  Georgia Power, the utility company that owns the poles, [said] the boxes are not their property.  The FBI and the ATF denied any knowledge of them…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1471)

Cop “magic fentanyl” hysteria has escaped the US:

Two Ottawa [cops] were hospitalized after [having panic attacks over] fentanyl and crystal meth…In the early hours of February 5, 2025, a…[hysterical cop] was taken to the hospital after [having a panic attacks due to seeing] fentanyl during a traffic stop…Fortunately…[for the big crybaby, fentanyl has no effect from casual exposure]…Only three days later, an[other hysterical cop stole]…crystal meth from a [man] he a[ttack]ed and started feeling nauseous and lightheaded [even though methamphetamine also has no effect from casual exposure]…These incidents highlight the li[berty]-threatening risk [copaganda about] fentanyl and other drugs pose to [the citizens of Western nations]…

A Moral Cancer (#1497)

A dangerous new front in the Drug War has claimed another victim:

…the owner of a Ma[ssachusetts] vape shop has pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted tax evasion arising from the sale of e-cigarettes brought in from across state borders.  He was sentenced to [be locked in a filthy cage like an animal for] six months…and [spend] five years [on] probation.  In 2020, Massachusetts became the first state to implement a comprehensive ban on all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes.  Violation…is only a misdemeanor, but since flavored tobacco products are sold on the illicit market, sellers simultaneously violate state tax law…a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.  Criminal justice reformers have warned for years that flavor bans would encourage illicit markets, creating felony crimes in the process

You Were Warned (#1497)

A blatantly-unconstitutional law is sort of suspended by an unconstitutional order:

Apple and Google [have] restored TikTok to their app stores in the United States…[mere] weeks after they removed the short-form video platform in compliance with a new law that banned it in the country.  [Emperor] Trump tried to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban with a…[royal edict], but the companies were reluctant to bring TikTok back [because Trump doesn’t actually have the power to suspend duly-enacted]…law…

I Spy (#1500)

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

Italian spyware maker SIO, known to sell its products to government customers, is behind a series of malicious Android apps that masquerade as WhatsApp and other popular apps but steal private data from a target’s device…Italy has been embroiled in an ongoing scandal involving the…use of a sophisticated spying tool made by Israeli spyware maker Paragon…[to spy on] a journalist and two founders of an NGO that helps and rescues immigrants in the Mediterranean…the [SIO] spyware…used a more pedestrian hacking technique: developing and distributing malicious Android apps that pretend to be popular apps like WhatsApp, and customer support tools provided by cellphone providers…the…spyware…is called Spyrtacus…[and] can steal text messages, as well as chats from Facebook Messenger, Signal, and WhatsApp; exfiltrate contacts information; record phone calls and ambient audio via the device’s microphone, and imagery via the device’s cameras; among other functions that serve surveillance purposes…

Thought Control (#1512)

Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only threatening librarians and teachers:

…the priggish, puritanical prudes who insist that a cabal of librarians and teachers are trying to turn our children gay with books…would have us believe that they’re just out to protect kids…[but] the legislation they’ve proposed isn’t just about kids, and it’s not just about public libraries and schools…Senate Bill 2307…would amend…North Dakota’s criminal code to [criminalize]…”displays at newsstands or any other business establishment…any…book…or [other media politicians decide to point at while barfing]…’sex, lust, or perversion'”…your local bookstore…would…[either have to ban] minors…[or else any book that could be considered remotely “adult” would] have to be sealed or hidden lest a [17-year-old university freshman] take [one] off the shelf and [be instantly “sexualized”]…the…bill sponsors….[previously] introduced a bill with the [same] language…during the 2023 legislative session…and [it] was only prevented from becoming law by a veto from former Gov. Doug Burgum…

 

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

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They want to restore the "integrity" of an agency built by J. Edgar Hoover.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-14T18:58:24.002Z

Brussels sprouts are disgusting; they even SMELL disgusting. As do all their siblings.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-15T18:18:53.218Z

Not to mention that being restricted to idiotic, simplistic 18th-century notions of "right" and "left" reduces all political thought and commentary to a second-grade level.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-17T16:31:24.699Z

He also seems ignorant of the fact that Canada is geographically larger than the United States.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-18T18:22:25.152Z

A truly Ozymandian monument to futility and the hubris of politicians.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T17:00:46.680Z

And yet some think I'm a weirdo for refusing to eat uncooked or undercooked food.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-21T03:41:07.764Z

We *really* need mandatory retirement ages for politicians.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-22T04:53:57.294Z

Another timeline cleanse.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-22T18:34:52.255Z

206-year-old Christmas carol annoys rando, and the Atlantic is ON IT

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-25T18:08:12.311Z

Finding "trending topics" in my margin this morning was like finding a big cat turd on the kitchen floor. Luckily, a "sweep this shit away" button was included.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-26T18:07:13.546Z

Because a healthy brain can't help learning?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-27T18:59:40.901Z

Why don't techies who name their software after mythical people, places, and things bother to think about the implications of the name they choose?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-30T22:33:12.105Z

"As Attorney General, I will not permit steroidal Oklahoma thugs to face criminal prosecution for conduct adhering the state principle of violence toward all minorities who fail to abase themselves and unquestioningly obey state actors."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-12-31T16:34:59.336Z

When a headline asks a question, the answer is nearly always “no”.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-03T04:05:11.236Z

THIS RIGHT HERE.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-03T18:22:20.545Z

I sometimes wonder what kind of abuse it takes to reduce a human mind to a collectivist one. In darker moods, I assume it's a disease of the soul itself.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-04T18:02:54.971Z

In real life, I was 25 from the time I was about 15 until the time I was about 35. Professionally, I was 28 from 33 to 40, then aged about 1 year for every 2 until 2015, when I turned 49.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T05:30:30.070Z

The real reason for this is not "AI", but that most teachers are lazy thinkers who predictably reward certain statements and conclusions which can be tracked and tabulated by machine learning algorithms, rather than rewarding actual thinking ML systems cannot parrot.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T18:51:13.912Z

Very close: the full picture is that a democracy in which there are functionally only two parties is not sustainable.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-07T05:45:48.471Z

Some of us warned y'all about allowing chief executives to govern by monarchical diktat by declaring "emergencies".Y'all were all for it when the executives were on "your" schoolyard team.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-08T18:24:52.542Z

"No civilization—no matter how resilient—is actually permanent."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-09T18:12:38.106Z

Reporters: please stop saying a law is "meant to" do such-and-such when it's obvious it was never ACTUALLY intended to do any such thing, but rather to convince the gullible that it was.The phrase you're looking for is, "the law was PRETENDED to do such-and-such".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-10T18:09:50.321Z

"Looks like your adblocker's on!"Yes, I turned it on a decade ago and left it that way. What next, Captain Obvious? "You're breathing"?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-14T16:41:16.344Z

He "looked like" a hypocrite for the simple reason that he *is* a hypocrite; it kinda goes with the territory. Republics are like cesspools: the biggest chunks float to the top.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-15T18:44:02.688Z

 

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You have zero rights.  –  Andrea Amico

Winding Down (#1221)

Politicians are terrified of losing ways to destroy peaceful citizens’ lives:

Last November…Nebraska voters overwhelmingly approved a pair of medical marijuana initiatives…a [cour]t ruling [has now] rejected [a legal] challenge [from a prohibitionist politician], allowing authorized patients to possess up to five ounces of marijuana…[and] clear[ing] the way for state licensing of medical marijuana dispensaries…Initiative 437…passed by a whopping 42-point margin…[but typical and representative politician] John Kuehn…tried to block the initiatives by [similar legalistic chicanery to that used in South Dakota]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1457)

Pornhub has repeatedly taken the principled stand of refusing to facilitate state spying:

Almost two years ago, Louisiana passed a law that started a [“monkey see, monkey do” parade]…across the entire U.S. South, and has changed the way people there can access adult content.  As of today, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina join the list of 17 states that can’t access some of the most popular porn sites on the internet [without a VPN]…To remain compliant with the law while protecting users’ privacy…Pornhub is currently blocked in Virginia, Montana, North Carolina, Arkansas, Utah, Mississippi, Texas, Nebraska, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida, Tennessee, [and] South CarolinaGeorgia’s age verification bill…is set to go into effect in July…visitors [in the affected states typically] go to sites with worse moderation practices and no requirements on identity verification for uploaders…[but] if someone wanted to visit Pornhub [specifically], they could easily get around any age verification barriers with a VPN, which we consistently see searches for spike when these laws go into effect…

A Broker in Pillage (#1467)

This will continue until there are federal criminal charges for “officials”, both political and corporate, who conspire to rob people this way:

A Nebraska man whose house title was s[tolen by the county] over a modest property tax debt has finally gotten it back, ending a yearslong legal battle…In 2014, Kevin Fair was unable to pay his $588 property tax bill after quitting his job to care for his dying wife, Terry…the Scotts Bluff County government quietly sold that debt to a private investor, Continental Resources, which continued to satisfy the Fairs’ property taxes—until 2018, when the company sent the couple a bill for $5,268…[payable] within 90 days, or lose their house…[and] all of their equity…That was business as usual in Nebraska…one of many states engaging in legalized home equity theft…The U.S. Supreme Court considered the issue in 2023…and…With that ruling in mind, Nebraska’s top court reconsidered its previous decision and ruled that Fair would not have to sacrifice..his title…Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision…some states are still trying to find creative ways to get around…the law…[with] Illinois and DC a[s] the most blatant continuing offenders…

Eavesdropping (#1473)

Apple “unintentionally” pisses on its customers’ legs and tells them it’s raining:

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit [over the fact] that its voice assistant Siri routinely recorded private conversations that were then sold to third parties for targeted ads.  In the proposed class-action settlement…Apple…[gets to pretend the recording was] “unintentional”…the settlement…lets Apple off the hook pretty cheaply.  If…Apple users had won, Apple could’ve been fined more than $1.5 billion under the Wiretap Act alone…the [eavesdropping was]…initially exposed by The Guardian in 2019Google faces a similar lawsuit [which]…likely won’t be settled until this fall…

The Cop Myth (#1486)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”, but you don’t have to:

An Oregon…[screw named Nicholas T. Alexander murder]ed his 16-year-old daughter…Larissa [and then shot himself because he was about to be criminally charged with something his boss hogs are now covering up]…

Cops and Robbers (#1499)

The legacy of To Catch a Predator just keeps on hurting people:

11 teens [in Illinois were] arrested for beating two men they had lured using a gay dating app…in two different incidents on the evening of July 8, 2024…and [also] vandaliz[ing] their cars.  Both victims were able to escape and report the attacks to police.  The attacks are…part of a[n ugly internet fa]d where teens use gay dating apps to target adult gay men they [pretend] are attempting to hook up with underage males…

I Spy (#1502)

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

Video footage and other data collected by Tesla helped [cops] quickly piece together how a Cybertruck came to explode outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day…the investigation …highlights how car companies vacuum up reams of data that can…be…[handed] to third parties without drivers’ knowledge [or consent] …“These are panopticons on wheels,” said Albert Fox Cahn…[of] the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project…abusive spouses track…partners’ locations…insurers raise…rates based on [secretly-recorded] driving behavior data…[and cop shops seeking surveillance] video from Tesla cars…have…obtained warrants to [steal] vehicles to secure such footage…

 

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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Are you happy now?  –  Reid Hawley

There was really only one choice for a sendoff for Lou Donaldson, so here it is.  The links above it were provided by Jesse Walker (x2), C.J. Ciaramella, The Onion, IncarcerNation, T. Greg Doucette, and Lenore Skenazy, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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This is clearly a bill unburdened by thoughts of constitutionality.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

I Saw My Brain (#1316)

Another reminder that Grady Judd is an utterly loathsome excuse for a human:

…between 2018 and 2022, Polk County’s [pogroms against sex workers which the psychopathic Grady Judd labels “]human trafficking stings[“] led to the arrest of 751 individuals.  Of these, 346 were clients, 23 were officially identified and “rescued” as trafficking victims, and the remaining 382 were adult consensual sex workers who ended up in jail…and [saddled with] criminal records…Grady Judd doesn’t abide any notions of adult consensual sex work in his mind numbingly foolish and uninformed public narratives but he is quick to be “The Decider” of who is – or is not – a victim of trafficking, with the very simplistic logic that “prostitution is Illegal” and therefore the harbinger to crime outbreaks…

Torture Chamber (Chamber of Horrors)

Your “leaders” want you to pay for more such hell-holes to torture even more people in:

Two years after a mentally ill man died malnourished and covered in insects in Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail, a Justice Department investigation has found that man’s death was only one of a string of fatalities due to pervasive unconstitutional conditions at the jail…which [is used to warehouse legally-innocent people cops decided to accuse of something]…investigators reported widespread infestations of mice, roaches, bedbugs, lice, and scabies…the jail’s [filthy] kitchen also fails to adequately feed [its legally-innocent victims]…90 percent of the…mental[ly ill people are held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods and]…”significantly malnourished with obvious muscle wasting”…[deranged state-employed thugs] use Tasers and pepper spray against [the] mentally ill…and minors [because they think it’s fun, and they intentionally]…create [conditions leading to frequent]…rape…[of] minor[s]…

Censor Chic (#1438)

Unless people begin to have respect for free speech again, this will only get worse:

Jawboning…is when the government pressures a third party to…[censor] the speech of another…which is why there should be concern about Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and how it operates to force intermediaries to act against users and their speech, whether they would want to or not, and whether the targeted speech is wrongful or not.  Because when resisting a takedown notice can…potentially expose them to crippling liability, then the choice to acquiesce to the…demand is really no choice at all.  Instead it’s jawboning: using law to force the third party to act against speech in order to avoid the constitutional protections the speech should have enjoyed…

Dangerous Speech (#1467)

The first of a series of columns Michael Lacey will write from the cage where the government has thrown him for daring to publish speech it dislikes:

…My decades-long friend and business partner, Jim Larkin, the most upright of men, also guilty of naught, did not want to go in…He instead drove a chair to the botanical gardens created by a mining baron outside of Superior, Arizona…He removed the chair from his vehicle and sat himself. He was . . . resolved.  He took out his pistol. He pulled the trigger…He left six grown children and a spouse. God help all of them…A lesser man than Larkin, prosecutor Austin Berry, implored the judge: Please, your honor, sentence the remaining 3 defendants to prison, so there is no more “flight by suicide.”  Flight by suicide?  In my 40 years of covering courts, I have not heard a lower comment…

Paying the Bills

Eight weeks ago, I told y’all that I’m facing a projected $3000 shortfall for my annual operating budget, and asked for help making up that difference.  Well, several of my loyal readers have already stepped up, generously helping me to the tune of $2700.  So that now leaves only a $300 shortfall!  If you can spare some or all of that remainder right now, I’d really appreciate it; that would get this done in the next few days, so it doesn’t interfere with my annual toy drive!

The Vultures Descend (#1483)

This insanity will keep getting worse until these maniacs are forcibly stopped:

A bonkers new Texas bill would ban a bunch of activities related to abortion, including taking abortion pills in other states and facilitating or hosting online speech about procuring abortions.  It would also hold all abortion pill manufacturers liable for violations when a specific manufacturer could not be ascertained…the legislation…[bears the Orwellian moniker “]Women and Child Safety Act[” and]…create[s] new offenses of “paying for or reimbursing abortion costs” and “destroying evidence of an abortion,” both felonies…Other parts of the bill would be enforced by [encouraging and rewarding nuisance lawsuits]

That’s just a taste; this bill is such a giant clusterfuck of unconstitutional stupidity and over-the-top evil that I don’t have room here to list all its atrocities, so go read Liz Brown’s article for all of the details, in which she has to state not once but several times, “This is not how U.S. law works.”

The Cop Myth (#1489)

All promoters of state violence, from cops to judges to politicians, work together to ensure cops get away with their crimes:

…The Supreme Court [has] declined…to take up a petition for writ of certiorari filed in August by Desiree Martinez…[who] filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2015 against several [cop]s in Clovis, California, who [intentionally] ignor[ed] multiple attempts to report her abusive [cop]….boyfriend, Kyle Pennington…the 9th Circuit ruled that [since it is well-known that cops are moral imbeciles, they could not be expected to grasp that]…tipp[ing] off her boyfriend [so he would take revenge for her reporting him was wrong, and therefore they] are immune from Martinez’s lawsuit under qualified immunity…[after] Martinez…filed a…report against Pennington..[he] called [his crony]…Channon High…on speakerphone and…High [told him about the]…report…Pennington [then] hung up the phone and [beat and raped her, yet]…was [merely] convicted of violating a restraining order…

 

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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