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Posts Tagged ‘Germany’

In the News (#1332)

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

You’re faking it! Stop screaming!  –  Texas screw to woman in labor

Secret Squirrel (#715)

Prohibitionists are SHOCKED that software used by “legitimate authorities” is also used by “illegitimate” abusers:

…an app called Life360…which claims over 50 million active users across 195 countries, is among the most popular [surveillance] apps in America.  It lets parents [track their] kids…at all times, displaying their live coordinates on a map.  But, according to nine federal cases dating back to at least 2018, it has also been used by sexual predators to monitor and control their victims.  And privacy and trafficking experts say such misuse is hardly an anomaly; it’s becoming an issue with other apps like it including Apple’s “Find My Friends” and Google’s “Find My Phone” tools…

The Next Target (#1242)

Prohibitionists’ real goal is to completely ban online sex work:

German police have been targeting and intimidating specific Twitter users who post or retweet explicit material, in an attempt to move forward local bureaucrat Tobias Schmid’s campaign to purge all open platforms of adult content…Der Spiegel…devoted an entire feature to the authorities’ campaign to deter users from sharing sexual content…NetzPolitik’s Sebastian Meineck has been covering Schmid’s meticulous, obsessive attempts to ban all sexual content from open platforms in Germany and Europe.  In an in-depth report…Meineck wrote that authorities had already [censored] some 150 Twitter accounts for “distribution of pornography”…using the police to confront and threaten adult performers, creators and other sex workers over explicit videos and images they tweeted or promoted…Paulita Pappel, German porn producer and spokeswoman for the Free Speech Coalition Europe, [said]…“We are treated like criminals”…

The Vultures Descend (#1249)

Given that this is not only unpopular in Florida, but also violates the state constitution, these politicians are cutting off their noses to spite their faces:

Florida’s…Legislature…passed a ban on most abortions after six weeks…Ron DeSantis…has said he would sign the measure into law…House Speaker Paul Renner [chose] to close the public viewing galleries [using the absurd excuse that] a…protester…threw…a…[piece of] paper on the…floor…the…[only] exceptions [are] for rape and incest up until 15 weeks.  The measure does not change the exceptions for the life and health of the mother up until 15 weeks that are in current law…the six-week ban will be on hold pending a ruling from the Florida Supreme Court on the constitutionality of a 15-week abortion ban DeSantis [recently] signed into law…[politician] Yvonne Hinson…[said] “I wonder how much Florida money is being spent on legal fees attempting to defend that bill”…the six-week…ban is not popular among Florida residents of either [duopoly faction]…A…poll in March showed 75%…opposed the six-week ban.  That included 61% of Republicans…

Torture Chamber (#1303)

Your “leaders” refer to these atrocities as “correction”:

Texas Jail Project…[h]as [collected hundreds of]…stories of medical neglect and abuse during pregnancy in county jails…We started bringing these stories and impacted community members to the quarterly meetings of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards…[where] we were mocked and brushed off by the commissioners and sheriffs as indulging in “mama drama”.  This kind of dismissive response continued at the county commissioner’s court as well…a sheriff once alleged that we were making up these horror stories of pregnant women being neglected, miscarrying, and giving birth alone on dirty cell floors because “we don’t really have that many pregnant women in our jails”…[in reality] pregnant [women]…were rendered invisible in an already opaque system designed primarily by men, for men…The first successful bill we advocated for in 2009…mandated that jails [keep] count…[which showed that]…300 to 500 pregnant…[women] are booked monthly into Texas county jails…

Not mentioned in this article: the chief architect of the laws that resulted in this huge explosion in the number of female prisoners now resides in the White House.

To Molest and Rape (#1317)

Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?

A NYPD captain allegedly sent [dick pics] to a female detective and offered her favors if she would send him her panties, during a “relentless” 18 months of sexual harassment…Brian Flynn…sent more than 45…inappropriate photos and messages to…Michelle Almanzar…and retaliated against her when she spurned his advances…by making her stay late and redo reports and denied her personal time off…”he would often take his frustration out on her work partner as well as her team,” [her] lawsuit [explain]s…

Sleeping with cops is a bad idea even for other cops:

Ammy Ventura…a…civilian [NYPD] employee…[foolishly submitted to the advances of] her supervisor, Widler Lucas…[who claimed] he was…going through a divorce at the same time she was…The pair then started dating in April 2021, with Ventura believing Lucas was divorced…They broke up around September 2021, after…Lucas [started behaving abusively]…Nine months after the pair’s break up, during a shift in August 2022, Lucas…grabbed Ventura by her hair, pulled her behind his desk and forced her to give him oral sex while his office door was wide open…Lucas [later] told Ventura never to speak about the affair, saying, “I’ll fucking kill you” and threatening to “push [her] in front of a train”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1319) 

Both sides in the culture war have completely taken leave of their senses:

The Missouri attorney general, citing a consumer protection law normally used to prosecute fraudulent business practices, issued a new state directive…that would severely restrict gender-transitioning treatment for both adults and minors…[based on the false claim that] they were considered “experimental”…[and claim]ing that the attorney general “is charged with protecting consumers, including minors, from harm”…While there is some debate among medical professionals about how to put in place gender-transitioning treatment for [legal minors], leading medical groups in the United States…oppose legislative bans…

It is doubtful that this outrageous overreach will withstand a legal challenge; the action is therefore pure virtue-signaling intended to win votes, as is this equally extreme overreach by the Other Team:

The Washington state House approved a bill that would authorize state agencies to hide [legal minors] seeking transgender medical intervention from parents…under the bill, a disagreement between a[n adolescent] and parents over the [adolescent]’s desire for a medical transition constitutes “abuse and neglect,” only because the parent hasn’t “properly affirmed what the child [sic] wants”…

The Vultures Descend (#1330)

Just a reminder that regardless of what tyrants declare, many overseas pharmacies will sell to US customers without playing “Mother-May-I” games:

The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked heavy restrictions on the use of mifepristone…and will allow…physicians to continue using mifepristone for abortions past seven weeks and distributing the pill by mail and without an in-person visit…Kacsmaryk[‘s decision] in Texas…was robustly criticized by legal scholars and medical experts…[and] was in conflict with another decision issued by a district judge in Washington state…Judge Thomas Rice said that the FDA could not change how it regulates the drug in the locales that had filed suit…the…5th Circuit…partially blocked Kacsmaryk’s ruling, but said that instead, the FDA had to revert its approval of mifepristone to what was permitted in 2016: only allowing the drug to be used for people up to seven weeks of pregnancy, prohibiting its provision through telemedicine and requiring three in-person physician visits for anyone getting a prescription.  Currently, the FDA permits mifepristone to be used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, and the World Health Organization recommends its use up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.  Both endorse telemedicine for medication abortions…

 

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 #646

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »

This appears…to be another incident of senseless police violence.
–  Joel Sansone

This week’s video is something extremely unusual: a brand-new official video for a song released in 1966.  It was provided by Matt Welch, and the links above it by Dan Savage and Franklin Harris; Cop Crisis (x3); Popehat; and Lucy Steigerwald, in that order.  I stumbled onto the last one myself while reading another item.

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 (#1277)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Americans are increasingly aware that their privacy is evaporating before their eyes.  –  Ed Markey

Torture Chamber

Your “leaders” refer to this as “correction”:

A W[est Virginia] man died 19 days [after the state locked him in a cage]…Alvis Shrewsbury…called his family members daily.  But as the days went on, his appearance on video calls began to worry his family members more and more…”After we were talking to him on the 10th (of September), he’d already been beaten.  His face was black,” his daughter Miranda Smith said…”He was telling us about his ribs being broken.  It was hard to breathe. He hadn’t had a bowel movement in over a week and nothing was being done about it”…Shrewsbury was the fifth person who died in the [same dungeon in the] last year…Kyle Robinson…[was the first] in September 2021.  Then a month later, John Lewis Jarrell died after [only] a week…In March, Quantez Burks died less than two days after [being condemned there and]…that [same] month, Richard Wriston…Shrewsbury’s body is in the custody of the West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner…[but] the family plans to conduct an independent autopsy of his body…

Thought Control (Censorship Ascendant)

Censors are now pretending thoughts they don’t like constitute a “crime”:

…over the past several years, Germany has [chosen to terrorize and]…criminally prosecut[e] people for [saying things politicians dislike] online…German authorities have br[anded]…insults, threats and harassment…[as “hate speech” and sent] police [on predawn] raid[s of people’s] homes…[where they rob their victims of] electronics and [abduct them using the pretext of “]questioning[” in a campaign reminiscent of the country’s dark 20th-century past].  Judges have enforced fines worth thousands of dollars each and, in some cases, [locked victims in cages for wrongthink].  The threat of prosecution, they believe, will [terrorize people into] not e[xpressing disfavored ideas.  They pretend]…that they are encouraging and defending free speech by providing a space where people can share [favored pro-state and majoritarian] opinions without fear of being [challenged by contrary ideas]..:

Stupor Bowl (#1211)

This pathetic public promotion of misogynistic masturbatory material appears to be all that’s left of the once-popular “gypsy whores” myth:

An estimated 5% of men have or will be buyers of sex workers, [said cops making furtive movements in their pants]…“The traffickers will, of course, follow the money to Arizona”…That’s why Glendale police are working with other law enforcement agencies across the Valley to catch traffickers coming to the state…

I’ve written before about the ever-shrinking fraction of men who will admit to having paid for sex, the unreliable methodology that produces these impossibly-low numbers, the ugly and misogynistic fantasy that paying for sex is “buying a woman”, and the weird and self-contradictory inclusion of the term “sex worker” in this kind of agency-negating propaganda.  And that’s before we even get to this myth that even prohibitionists outside of Arizona now admit is deeply stupid.

Panopticon (#1256)

San Francisco pigs are no longer satisfied with waiting for useful idiots’ consent:

San Francisco [politicians rubber-stamped] a new s[urveillance] policy allowing police to access thousands of private cameras in a live feed without a search warrant…the…proposal…will take effect in 30 days and sunset in 15 months…police can monitor the cameras…for any [event that they decide to call] “significant”…or [basically any other time they can think of an excuse]…The Electronic Frontier Foundation …called the new policy a “troubling ordinance” that could have a chilling effect on First Amendment and other rights…“Misdemeanors like vandalism or jaywalking happen on nearly every street of San Francisco on any given day — meaning that this ordinance essentially gives the SFPD the ability to put the entire city under live surveillance indefinitely,” the organization wrote in a press release…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1260)

Cops won’t drop this fantasy until local media stop obediently parroting it:

…two [West Virginia cops] were hit in the face with an unknown substance [thrown by a man they were trying to brutalize and abduct.  Being hysterical whiny-babies, the immediately assumed the substance was the magical black magic version of fentanyl which haunts cop fantasies, and]…one…suddenly [had a panic attack.  Since this kind of hysteria is contagious among those with weak minds]…the second [pig also had a panic attack]…An off-duty nurse helped administer NARCAN, which [acted as a placebo to placate the two cowards]…

Thought Control (#1265)

Surely you didn’t think this would stop with LGBT books?

…at the start of Banned Books Week…Reshma Saujani was awakened by an alert on her phone letting her know that the Girls Who Code book series [she founded] had been banned from classrooms in the Central York School District in Pennsylvania.  On Twitter, she attributed the ban to the [pro-censorship] Moms for Liberty group…Other books banned by the…district include such controversial-sounding titles as A Is for Audra: Broadway’s Leading Ladies from A to Z; Condoleeza Rice: Being The Best; Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and his Orchestra; Elizabeth Blackwell: The First Woman Doctor; Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code; I Love My Hair!; Muffin Wars; The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage; I Am Rosa Parks; Who Was Lucille Ball? and about a hundred others…the…common thread [seems to be books] that…acknowledge that Black people or women of any color exist and do things…There is good news: this ban has already been defeated.  Yay!  The bad news is that it was all very stupid from beginning to end…

I Spy (#1270)

The number of politicians who support such reform is very small:

Civil rights lawyers and [a small minority of politicians] are pushing for legislation that would limit U.S. [cop shop]s’ ability to buy cellphone tracking tools to follow people’s whereabouts, including back years in time…[usually] without a search warrant.  Concerns about police use of the tool known as “Fog Reveal…also surfaced in a Federal Trade Commission hearing three weeks ago.  [Cop]s have been using the platform to search hundreds of billions of records gathered from 250 million mobile devices, and hoover up people’s geolocation data to assemble so-called “patterns of life”…

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

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In the News (#1272)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

They knew exactly what these consequences were going to be because we told them.  –  Tani Malhotra

Change a Few Words

All prohibitionism is the same:

They were warned…[politicians]…were warned time and again that their…ban was cruel and…they didn’t care…What is one to make of people who can hear such testimony…and ignore it?  The stridency of ignorance?  The unearned confidence of religious zealotry?  The casual disregard of humanity and human empathy in favor of extremist ideology removed from reality?  The ignoble placating and pleasing of political special interests over compassionate human interests?  All of that?  Yes.  All of that…the world is complex, and human situations are nuanced and complicated.  This sledgehammer of extremist law inflicts grave injustice unbefitting of such sensitive issues…They were warned, and they did it anyway.  If this cruelty and suffering is what they wanted, they’ve certainly created a lot of it.

The only good prohibition ever creates is pushing more people into the proper skepticism about government they should’ve had in the first place.

I Saw My Brain (#999)

Judd loves giving his entrapment schemes sophomoric titles that reference adjacent events:

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office…arrested 160 people in a seven-day [pogrom] focused on [adult consensual sex]…the [only] arrests from “Fall Haul 2” [which are newsworthy]…were…[those of] a deputy police chief from Georgia, Jason DiPrima…[a screw named] Keith Nieves…[spokepigs also oinked out misogynistic fantasies about “sex trafficking”]…

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

You Were Warned (#1122)

A lawsuit like this would never have reached first base had it been filed against mainstream film studios:

All claims made by a Jane Doe plaintiff against several adult studios, in a lawsuit sponsored by…Morality in Media…were dismissed…on Aug. 19…[after] the…plaintiff and defendants Diabolic Video Productions Inc., Black Ice LTD, Zero Tolerance Entertainment Inc. and Third Degree Films filed a joint motion to dismiss all of the claims “with prejudice,” meaning they cannot be refiled.  Typically, these types of joint motions are the result of a deal or settlement having been reached out of court…in March 2021, in an unusual decision, [judge Michael] Anello ruled that, although the contracts signed by a former performer were valid, the arbitration agreements that were part of them should be disregarded and the lawsuit could move forward…

The Next Target (#1219)

These are the countries authoritarians want the US to ape:

…courts in France and Germany moved forward…with proposed mandates to block adult sites over compliance with controversial age verification mandates.  A Paris court will rule next month on whether French media regulator Arcom “has the right to block access to…sites [including Twitter] in France unless…they can prevent minors…from accessing them”…in…Germany, the Higher Administrative Court has dismissed complaints from Cyprus-based platforms, including xHamster, seeking the reversal of a recent ban by the Düsseldorf Administrative Court.  Both developments — along with a recent reversal of policy by the Conservative government in the U.K., which has now vowed to “crack down” on adult sites like Pornhub and xHamster — are being celebrated by [pro-censorship]…crusaders as stepping stones in a strategy that would culminate in the total banning of adult content by open platforms like Twitter and Reddit…

The Vultures Descend (#1249)

Prohibitionists will use any sleazy trick to inflict bans on the people they supposedly represent:

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled…that a petition over whether to add a constitutional amendment expanding abortion rights must be on the ballot this fall…the…court directed an election board to certify a proposed amendment from the group Reproductive Freedom for All, which had submitted more than 750,000 signatures to get the question on the ballot…the…board deadlocked [along schoolyard-team lines] on whether to certify the ballot, throwing the issue into limbo…a coalition of anti-abortion groups…[claimed] to the board of canvassers that the ballot measure had spacing and formatting problems that rendered some of the proposed language unreadable…

This is the second attempt by prohibitionists in as many weeks to use technicalities to block civil rights advocates from enabling people to vote whether to stop politicians’ schemes to control their personal lives.

I Spy (#1268)

Funny how politicians were never interested in protecting people’s privacy until they could make political coin from it:

…the California legislature [has] passed a bill designed to prevent companies in the state from disclosing communications content and metadata in response to out-of-state legal demands for information in abortion-related investigations…Section 9 of the bill would bar companies that provide electronic communications services and are either (i) California corporations, or (ii) corporations whose principal executive offices are located in California, from providing “records, information, facilities or assistance” in California in response to legal process issued in another state that “relates to” an investigation into a violation of a law that prohibits “… providing, facilitating, or obtaining an abortion that is lawful under California law.”  Disclosures in investigations into attempts to provide, facilitate, or obtain such abortions are also blocked.  The legislation also empowers the California Attorney General to [sue]…to compel these companies to comply with this prohibition…The bill also blocks judges and law enforcement from aiding abortion investigations…

To Molest and Rape (#1269)

Since he’s not being charged, there’s nothing to stop this predator from just going to another cop shop:

…New Port Richey [Florida cop]…Bobby Lubrido…is not facing any criminal charges…from [molesting a teenager, even though he was fired]…The girl…[was labeled] a runaway…[and] Lubrido [was assigned to take her to a cage and lock her in]…Lubrido…placed her cellphone on his charger in the front seat at her request…[then] asked for the password…he started looking at her photo gallery and watching videos of her “twerking”…while driving…making sexually explicit comments as he drove…he…was so distracted…that he hit a deer…then…[later] let her eat half of his sandwich…and…when she was done…told her, “That sandwich wasn’t free,” and groped her bottom…and…breasts…[after which he] pulled up her mother’s photo on his [pigmobile] computer and asked if she would be interested in having a “threesome,” to which the girl said no…he [then threatened to] come to her house later to “check up on her”…

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In the News (#1242)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Prostitution is a profession and sex workers are entitled to dignity and equal protection under the law.  –  The Supreme Court of India

Follow Your Bliss

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

A [Missouri] man [named Scott F. Burow]…who spent more than 30 years working as a deputy juvenile officer in Missouri state court has been indicted in United States District Court on a felony charge of sex trafficking of a minor…[for paying a] 15 year…old…ward of the state of Illinois…[for sex] and…secretly videotaping her…

Policing for Profit

Cops will never stop doing this as long as the state keeps giving them pretexts:

A [gang] of [cops] conducted illegal searches and arrests in New Jersey as a pretext to rob residents out of cash…On May 26, a federal jury convicted Michael Cheff on…conspiracy…and…falsification of a police report…Cheff supervised a [gang] of [thugs who] worked together…between 2016 and 2018, [the gang regularly]…conducted illegal stops and searches of individuals in their vehicles, on the streets or in their homes and [robbed] them…Cheff…[got] a cut [in exchange for]…approving false reports…that…lied about…the…[armed robber]ies…

If Men Were Angels

The problem isn’t Catholicism, Christianity or even religion; it’s blind submission to authority:

A community rabbi from Jerusalem w[as]…indicted…for repeated sexual crimes against newly religious women.  Rabbi Moshe Yazdi…rap[ed], sexually assault[ed] and sodomiz[ed]…women while fraudulently obtaining their “consent” by telling them these were religious acts and therefore they had to submit to his demands.  He is also suspected of exploiting them financially.  So far, 10 women…have filed complaints against him…[revealing that] he presented himself to them as one of the 36 righteous people who, according to Jewish tradition, ensure the world’s continued existence at any given moment…Some of the crimes were committed against brides on their wedding day…

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#568)

Looks like the judge didn’t buy his “porn addiction” excuse:

Josh Duggar, former director of the lobbying arm of the…anti-porn Family Research Council, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for downloading child sexual abuse material…Duggar was known as a reality TV figure for his role on TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, a show highlighting his extended family…[which] TLC canceled…in 2015 after it was revealed that Duggar had molested members of his family and a babysitter…The Arkansas trial also exposed the failure of…”porn filter” Covenant Eyes, a business highly ballyhooed by anti-porn crusaders…federal investigators found that Covenant Eyes had been installed on Duggar’s computer so that it could monitor and report his internet use to his wife, Anna…however, an investigator reported that “Covenant Eyes was unable to detect Duggar’s internet usage after a password-protected network was installed on his computer”…

For Those Who Think Legalization is a Good Idea (#737)

Indian sex workers have awaited this ruling for years:

The Supreme Court…told police that they should refrain from interfering and taking criminal action against…sex workers…[who] should not be arrested, penalised, harassed, or victimised through raids on brothels because…sex work is not illegal and only running the brothel is unlawful.  A sex worker’s child should not be deprived of her mother’s care “on the ground that she is in the sex trade”…The court also instructed cops not to discriminate against sex workers who lodge a complaint, if the offence against them is of sexual nature…The bench observed that use of condoms “should not be construed by the police as evidence of offence by sex workers”…[but unfortunately will still allow cops to abduct] sex workers [under the pretext of “]rescue[“] and [lock them in cages] “for not less than two-three years”…The apex court also ad[monished media to take] “utmost care not to reveal the identities of sex workers, during arrest, raid and rescue operations, whether as victims or accused and not to publish or telecast any photos that would result in disclosure of such identities”…[pointing out that] voyeurism is a criminal offence…

The Last Shall Be First (#1151) 

Laws like this have already been declared unconstitutional by the 4th Circuit:

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt…signed into law a bill that requires students at public schools…[including] charter schools to use restrooms and locker rooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificates…Transgender students who decline to use the restroom required under the measure would have to use “a single-occupancy restroom or changing room” provided by the school.  The measure, which cleared the state Legislature last week, will take effect immediately because it was passed with an emergency clause.  School districts that [refuse] to comply…could be sued by school parents…

The Next Target (#1151)

Prohibitionists’ real goal is to completely ban online sex work:

[Tobias Schmid, ] the local official behind the crusade for Germany to require age verification for viewing sexual content…is now seeking to expand to all of Europe the use of his new [surveillance] tool, KIVI, which automatically scans all online content to determine which images are not compliant with the law…KIVI was developed by Berlin-based Condat under…Schmid’s supervision and is now reportedly being used by all 14 state media authorities in Germany…to detect [images in] categories like “extremism, hate speech, swastikas or the glorification of drugs,” Schmid also included “pornography” as a target for the new surveillance engine…

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Links #614

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 10, 2022| 1 Comment »

This is going to be fun.  –  Ronni Carrocia

Sharing an earworm doesn’t actually cure it, but on some level it makes it more bearable.  The links above this particular earworm were provided by Cop Crisis, David Ley, Clarissa, Cop Crisis again, C.J. Ciaramella, and Elizabeth N. Brown, in that order.

From the Archives

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In the News (#1225)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Technology is not magic.  –  Andrea O’Sullivan

To Molest and Rape

So many words to downplay a rape:

A Columbia [South Carolina cop]…was arrested…[for raping] an “incapacitated” person…[and] was fired from the department shortly after[ward]…Keith Ryan Williamson [committed the rape]…in October…

“Accomplished sexual battery with the victim and had reason to know that the victim was incapacitated at the time of the assault” is a ridiculously cumbersome way to say “raped a drunk woman”.

To Molest and Rape (#1158)

Rapist cops don’t only target women:

An Indianapolis [cop] is [merely] facing misconduct and battery charges…[despite sexually assaulting] a handcuffed man…multiple times before throwing him to the ground…Travis Lewis…[decided to arrest the] man who called police [in the first place, and when he resisted being forced into a pigmobile]…Lewis…grab[bed] the man’s [testicles]…and…twist[ed them violently.  In video the man can be heard screaming]…”My balls are bleeding”…Lewis [then] threw the man to the ground…

Stalkers in Blue (#1167)

Once in a while, there’s evidence of the way cops act toward women:

A…Charleston[, South Carolina cop]…was fired…after a…[woman he tried] to coerce [into sex at] a department store [secretly recorded his harassment with her phone]…Darryl Felkel…made repeated attempts to coerce the woman…at [her work in] a Dillard’s department store…the woman refuse[d]…him…but…he…[just kept on haranguing her for seven] minutes…

Decentralization (#1181)

Bitcoin is a kind of folk devil for economically-illiterate politicians:

Politicians who don’t like bitcoin rarely have one reason.  They have all of the reasons, and will seize on whichever one is most convenient or newsworthy at the time.  Right now, it’s war.  Hillary Clinton was trotted out to wag her finger at crypto exchanges that did not extralegally ban all Russians from their services. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is on the case, “monitoring” cryptocurrency for its capacity to give aid and comfort to the Ruskies…But [Elizabeth] Warren stole the show with fearmongering about…”criminals and cheats” before…direct[ing confused] questions at a representative from…a blockchain forensics company…which…is…routinely able to unmask transactions…Warren, surprised but undeterred, continued with her confused line of questioning, so proud of herself that she put a transcript of the objectively embarrassing exchange on her government webpage…

Scapegoats (#1210)

No rumor is so stupid that some politician won’t believe and repeat it:

Nebraska [politician] Bruce Bostelman…is the latest [fool] to repeat th[e] urban legend [that] “Schoolchildren dress up as animals—cats or dogs—during the school day…And now schools are wanting to put litter boxes in the schools for these children to use.  How is this sanitary?” he said…during a televised debate, before backtracking hours later amid school district denials…similar myths have made the rounds in Iowa, Michigan, and Texas, prompting the same denials from school administrators…these stories…line up perfectly with conservative fears about transgender and non-binary students and…reminiscent of how [politicians] for years insisted that same-sex marriage legalization would lead to people marrying animals…

Thought Control (#1222)

Every so often the difference between upper and lower house becomes visible:

An Idaho bill that would have cr[iminalized]…librarians who provide minors with content [politicians] deemed inappropriate is now dead in the water; it…[will] not get a hearing in the state Senate…the Idaho Senate has also declined to take up the state House’s anti-trans bill…

Science! (#1223)

“Sex trafficking” fetishists keep publicizing their creepy fantasies about Ukranian women:

Social media posts from a German sex work support network [were dishonestly]…use[d as propaganda by prohibitionists] falsely claiming the group is “recruiting” Ukrainian refugees to work in brothels.  The group was in fact highlighting support for existing sex workers…Trans*Sexworks is a Berlin-based peer support and mutual aid group primarily for transgender, intersex and non-binary people who do sex work…Wren Oscyth, one of the group’s members…explained…“We have absolutely no connection to brothels or places of employment in Germany.  There currently is not a single member of our group who is employed at a brothel or club since it is very uncommon for those places to hire trans and non-binary workers”…

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In the News (#1221)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2022| 1 Comment »

We have been arrested simply for the fact we practice massage.  –  Charlotte

A Whore in Church

Matthew 21:31 seems pretty straightforward to me:

I am a sex worker and a nude model.  I post nude pictures of myself and sell masturbation videos for a subscription fee on my OnlyFans website…I married young and had my first child at 19.  My priority was being a mom, and it’s still my priority today.  When I was 31, my husband became sick with an illness that eventually took his life…A widowed mom becoming a sex worker is somewhat of a unique story, but my story is even more unusual because I am an active member of the Mormon Church…I believe that God wants us to be proud of our bodies and comfortable with sexuality.  I believe that church leaders have decided this is wrong ― not God ― and I do not believe I need to choose between doing something I love and continuing as a member of the Mormon Church…Still, while I don’t worry or care about people looking down on me for my work, I do fear excommunication…

Actually, divorced or widowed moms doing sex work isn’t remotely unique; in fact, it’s probably closer to typical.

Science!

I’ll bet you knew this was coming:

…in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…women and children [are] seen as “fair game” for exploitative pimps and traffickers looking to capitalise on the destruction and deprivation that so often results from war…Ukraine’s geography — namely the country’s proximity to the regime of legalised prostitution in Germany — exacerbates the threat of pimps and traffickers looking to exploit a vulnerable population…

Tom Farr, whom I’m sure imagines himself a “feminist”, is disgusting not only in his denial of women’s agency and his bizarre claim that legal businessmen need to resort to kidnapping to get employees, but also by the almost-audible sound of fapping accompanying his one-hand-typed misogynist fantasy.

Pimps Ahoy

Exploitation is, sadly, more common than not in the “rescue” industry:

Employees of a Texas-contracted [profiting from housing] female [minors consigned to the] foster c[are system using the profitable excuse of “]sex trafficking[” have been caught exploit]ing the [girls]…Seven [girls], ages 11 to 17, were victimized by nine [people who claimed to be “sex trafficking experts”]…they…were sexually and physically abused and suffered from neglectful supervision and medical neglect while at The Refuge…in Bastrop…a current…employee reported…that…a[nother]…staff member sold nude photos of two [of the girls and]…us[ed] the proceeds to purchase…drugs and alcohol [for]…the [girls]…

Blunt Instrument (#1064)

An attempt to take one weapon of racist persecution away from cops:

New York…specifically directs local authorities to enforce licensing requirements for massage therapy — the only profession singled out.  As a result, police across the state and particularly in New York City routinely raid massage parlors…sexually assaulting those they arrest in these raids, or taking cash and other valuables and never returning them…Asian immigrant women have disproportionately been subjected to these raids…Newly introduced New York State Assembly Bill A8281 aims to change that.  The bill does not change licensing requirements for massage therapy or get rid of penalties for violations, but it does decriminalize unlicensed massage work and remove local police and district attorney enforcement…Red Canary Song…worked with lawyers at the New York Civil Liberties Union, immigration rights organizations and other legal aid groups to draft A8281.  State Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, whose district includes several Queens neighborhoods close to Flushing, sponsored the bill…

Winding Down (#1195)

Your “leaders” know what’s best, so shut up and obey:

The Harris Rider, a provision barring the legalization of recreational marijuana sales in the nation’s capital…sailed through the Senate…a day after passing the House, as part of a larger $1.5 trillion spending omnibus package…Congressional Democrats had pushed to do away with the…rider…But [lacked the spine to stand up to]…Republicans  “[Whine whine, simper simper” mewled one Democratic politician.  “It’s not our fault” pouted another one]…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1199)

It’s good when they feed on each other:

A [typical and representative] Loudoun County [Virginia cop] pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor over the internet.  Ryan Amos…used an internet application called “Whisper” to “engage in sexually charged conversations with an[other pervert cop fantasy role-play]ing as a 15-year-old girl”…Prosecutors [were most concerned about his desecrating his sacred clown costume by sending a picture of it to the role-playing wanker]…He will be required to register as a sex offender after being released from prison…

The Cop Myth (#1217)

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

A California [screw] was arrested…after he [murder]ed his girlfriend…Luis Antonio Pulido-Esparza…called…911…[and claimed] his girlfriend had shot herself…[cops] found three children in the home…and arrested Pulido-Esparza…

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In the News (#1219)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 12, 2022| 1 Comment »

I will never be the same person that I was before.  –  Jared Corson’s victim

Rough Trade

Did the cops not realize she was a sex worker, or did somebody in charge actually develop a particle of moral judgment?

On November 30, 2021…Antonio D. Lightner, picked…up…a [sex worker in Spokane, WA]…and drove to a deserted parking lot….[where he] zip-tied [her hands] behind her back, and [threatened her with]…a stun gun…when another vehicle pulled into the parking lot [he] stopped [raping her]…and drove…[elsewhere before resuming the] assault…After[ward]…Lightner [threw] the victim, still bound and naked, from the car and onto the ground before fleeing…

The Next Target (#1151)

It’s about time these companies started using their money to fight censorship:

Hours after the German government ordered the country’s major internet service providers to block xHamster, one of the ISPs, PŸUR, told a digital rights group that it reserves the right “to have the decision legally reviewed by an independent court”…Germany’s Commission for Youth Media Protection decided unanimously…to impose a network ban on xHamster, [claim]ing the adult tube site was…“illegal”…[such] ban[s are]…unpopular and [widely recognized by Germans]…as…censorship…

Creepy Coppers

Just another cop demonstrating what he is:

A Pennsylvania [cop named]…Sean McKenzie…had child pornography on his phone and a USB drive…[he was caught after] the file hosting service Dropbox [snitched on him]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1206)

Another article trying to elicit sympathy for a cop’s criminal behavior:

A [typical and representative] Everett [Washington cop got off with a mere] 10 days in jail, followed by community service and six years…on probation, for stalking his ex-girlfriend, [though a non-cop might’ve been hit with up to three years in a cage]…Jared Corson…us[ed] a tracking device on a car belonging to his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, then l[ied] about it [under oath, which is a felony]…Defense attorney Karen Halverson [whined about how]…Corson [like many men whose lives are destroyed by the US “justice” system] is the lone financial provider for his wife and their two young children…he [also]…lost the [power trip] he dreamed of…His defense attorney [blamed his actions on an encounter with a random mentally-ill stranger over a year before]…Corson cried as [belched out platitudes and copaganda at] the court…

Boo hoo hoo, poor widdle piggy wasn’t at fault for terrorizing a woman because a bad man once scared him.  Boo hoo hoo.

Thought Control (#1210)

My native state can always be counted on to find ways to make a bad idea even worse:

Louisiana [politician] Beth Mizell…has proposed a new state law requiring the censorship of “pornography or sexually explicit content” on the personal phones or computers of students, professors and staff while connected to a public university’s Wi-Fi network or internet service…Many…so-called…“filters” have been shown to block non-explicit content as well, with a particular bias against any sex education or LGBTQ+ material…[Mizell] wants any student or employee “who needs ‘unfiltered or unrestricted access to the internet’ for any scientific, educational or [pig-rooting] reason…[to] obtain written authorization from the institution granting access for a specified time period.  Such authorization must be kept on file and reviewed periodically”…

You’ve got to hand it to Mizell; it’s difficult to think of a clearer way for a politician to demonstrate that she not only lacks even the most basic understanding of what “higher education” means, but also a complete hostility to the concept.

Torture Chamber (#1211)

The people who actually need “correction” are the ones who enable this horror:

The Justice Department [pretends] it is gravely concerned…that a high-ranking [member of that department assigned] to…cover-up…[sexual abuse] at a women’s prison known as the “rape club” may have taken steps to [cover up] a recent complaint…T. Ray Hinkle…attempt[ed] to silence a female employee who said…[her] manager at the prison…in Dublin, California…[met] with her personally in violation of established protocols…[while women condemned to the hellhole are still being raped and] sexually abus[ed]…

Just in case you missed it: systematic rape and abuse of prisoners is covered up, but an “improper meeting” with a minor bureaucrat is “abhorrent”.

To Molest and Rape (#1217)

Rapist cops make sure they’re exempted from “sex offender” registration if possible, because they know it’s really an unending punishment:

After striking a [sweetheart] plea deal with prosecutors, a [typical and representative] Tennessee [cop] who…repeatedly rap[ed] a 14-year-old girl over a period of 20 months will serve no time in prison and does not have to register as a sex offender.  Brian O. Beck…[was allowed to] plead…guilty to a single count of aggravated assault…and [received only]…a…four-year [suspended] sentence and…three years probation…

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Links #606

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 13, 2022| 2 Comments »

Please don’t embarrass yourself any further.  –  UnionWatch, to cops

It’s always interesting to me to hear a composer’s own interpretation of his works.  Here’s a recording of Debussy playing “La Soiree dans Grenade” in 1913, contributed by Gustavo Turner (who also supplied “safer”).  The other links above the video were provided by Popehat, Nun Ya, David Ley, Franklin Harris, Cop Crisis, and Dave Krueger, in that order.

From the Archives

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