My trusty old Chromebook, which a reader got for me almost exactly six years ago, has been showing its age for a while now. The letters had worn off the keys so badly I kept making typos (because I’m a one-finger typist), the processor apparently couldn’t keep up with some websites, and since Google stopped updating it a couple of years ago, some snobby websites refused to let me in (meaning I needed to access them with my phone, which I really hate). Then about two weeks ago, the “1” key stopped registering, making it very difficult to type either the numeral or the exclamation point; the next day the “Q” went, so I saw the writing on the wall and used an Amazon gift card given me by a generous gentleman to buy a new one. I like Chromebooks for several reasons: they’re small; they do everything I need them to do for a pretty low price (this one cost me less than $130), without my having to pay for a lot of bells & whistles I don’t need; they arrive free of bloatware; and all I need to do is sign in and all my bookmarks pop right up (I keep all of my data on a thumb drive, easily switched from old computer to new). Of course, all new computers have a frustration factor because computer companies are run by sadists, but with Chromebooks it’s usually over in a few hours (as opposed to days or weeks on the Windows machines I used to use). Alas, this one has been annoying me for a week now with two specific issues: the more aggravating one is that when I right-click with the mouse (the same one I was using without issues before), sometimes the menu comes up normally and I can do what I like. But at other times, it seems to want to “guess” what I want from that menu and implement it automatically, seemingly at random; it may suddenly delete whatever I highlighted, open up an emoji menu, or search the highlighted text on Google (the latter two being functions I have never and would never attempt to access via right-click). I have no idea what this is about, but as this is a ’24 model I’m guessing it’s some artificial stupidity feature, but I have no idea how to turn it off so I need to use the keyboard for copy-paste or cut-paste, which slows me down. The other problem is apparently Google-wide, judging by what I found online: there appears to be no way to turn off the auto”correct” function, resulting in the computer frequently replacing words I want with words I don’t want (I like it to call attention to typos or misspellings, but I don’t want it getting notions that it should “correct” me without permission). So if anyone knows how to fix either of these problems; please let me know in the comments. 
Posts Tagged ‘Google’
Diary #731
Posted in Diary, tagged artificial stupidity, Google, Presents on July 2, 2024| 4 Comments »
In the News (#1445)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged agency denial, California, Censor Chic, censorship, Censorship Ascendant, cops, Dirty Amateurs, disease, Elephant in the Parlor, Europe, Facebook, Germany, Google, hysteria, internet, law, Maggie in the Media, New York, Panopticon, politicians, prisons, propaganda, rescue industry, serial killers, Shifting the Blame, Signs, surveillance, teachers, Thought Control, Torture Chamber, Utah, violence vs. sex workers, Wisconsin on June 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »
It feels like our home is not ours anymore. – Norell Martínez
Amateurs could learn so much about safer sex from professionals:
Health experts are warning of new and highly contagious fungal strains after an NYC man in his 30s developed a sexually transmitted form of ringworm — the first reported case in the US…[cases of] Trichophyton mentagrophytes type VII…have been on the rise in Europe, especially in men who have sex with men. The man in the new case study had visited England, Greece and California. He reported having sex with men during his travels, none of whom disclosed similar skin issues….infections caused by TMVII seem to respond to standard antifungal therapies…but…can take months to clear up. They also may be confused with…eczema, which may delay treatment…
…A new [Utah] law requires the board to find a company that can [indoctrinate kids in the moribund]…human trafficking [hysteria in hopes of reviving it. “Rescue industry” groups who]…exploit…[the hysteria are still vomiting out the usual agency-denying nonsense about how “]the majority of victims don’t realize they’re being trafficked[” and claiming that…ordinary adolescent problems constitute “]signs teachers could look for[“]…
Last week, Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush money trial after a jury unanimously agreed he had falsified business records to cover up allegations of an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels. Daniels’ credibility on the witness stand became a linchpin in the prosecution’s case…[but] despite Trump’s lawyers’ best efforts to slut-shame Daniels and portray her as someone trying to shake down a powerful man by selling a fabricated, salacious story, in the end, the jury found Daniels’ testimony convincing. That felt especially gratifying ― even vindicating ― to fellow porn actors and sex workers…“I wish I could believe that we’ve seen the last of Donald Trump, but I’m not that optimistic. But one thing I am pleased about is that despite the attempts at character assassination, the jury still clearly considered Daniels, a credible witness,” said Maggie McNeill, a retired sex worker and the author of the blog The Honest Courtesan …“Back in the ’90s ― before ‘sex trafficking’ hysteria was heavily promoted by politicians and other propagandists…the U.S. public was largely turning against sex work criminalization,” she said. “Perhaps this is a small sign that we’re going back that way again”…
Life now for the subjects of a surveillance state:
As [cop shops] expand their use of [drones], no agency has embraced the technology quite like the…Chula Vista [California] Police Department…In October 2018, the city became the first in the nation to start a Drone as First Responder (DFR) program…now those devices criss-cross the skies of Chula Vista daily…with poorer residents [predictably] experiencing far more exposure to the drones’ cameras and rotors than their wealthier counterparts…drones…are…routinely deployed for minor issues such as…loud music. Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the city even used drones to [harass]…homeless encampments…residents…are afraid to spend time in their backyards; they fear that the machines are following them down the street, spying on them while they use the public pool or change their clothes…drones, equipped with cameras and zoom lenses powerful enough to capture faces clearly and constantly recording while in flight, have amassed hundreds of hours of video footage of the city’s residents…Department secrecy around the recordings remains the subject of ongoing litigation…
Censors now pretend thoughts they don’t like constitute a “crime”:
In a new report…The Future of Free Speech…points out that online regulation changed in 2017 with Germany’s adoption of the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), “which…inspired [politician]s around the world…But…[Europe’s version of NetzDG,] the DSA “gives way too much power to government agencies to…remove…content and to…out anonymous speakers,” cautioned the Electronic Frontier Foundation… “The Digital Services Act will essentially oblige Big Tech to act as a privatized censor on behalf of governments”…[warned] Jacob Mchangama, now executive director of The Future of Free Speech… “Legal online speech made up most of the removed content from posts on Facebook and YouTube in France, Germany, and Sweden…The highest proportion…was…in Germany, where 99.7% and 98.9% of deleted comments were found to be legal on Facebook and YouTube, respectively”…most of the content being removed from social media is permissible even under local laws…
There’s psychopathy and there’s pure evil, and then there’s this:
…Rex Heuermann…[has] be[en] arraigned in the deaths of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla…He had previously been charged with murdering four other women…Taylor disappeared in 2003. Costilla was killed 30 years ago, in 1993, and her inclusion…indicates that prosecutors now believe Heuermann was killing women for much longer than previously thought…Additionally, prosecutors say they recovered a file on a hard drive in his basement used to “methodically blueprint” his killings. The all-caps document features a series of checklists with tasks to complete before, during and after the killings, as well as practical lessons for “next time.” Among the dozens of entries written are reminders to clean the bodies and destroy evidence, to “get sleep before hunt” and to “have story set”. One section, titled “things to remember,” appears to highlight lessons from previous killings, prosecutors said, such as using heavier rope and limiting noise in order to maximize “play time”. A “body prep” checklist includes, among other items, a note to “remove head and hands”…that entry may connect Heuermann to yet another victim, Valerie Mack, whose partial skeletal remains were discovered near the body of Taylor after her disappearance in 2000…
For a warden to be charged, there must be much more to this:
The warden of a maximum-security Wisconsin prison and eight [screws have been] charged…following investigations into the deaths of four [of their prisoners]…over the past year…warden…Randall Hepp…is charged with misconduct…The other eight face charges of inmate abuse…The first of the[ir] four [victims], Dean Hoffman, killed himself in solitary confinement last June…Tyshun Lemons and Cameron Williams were both found dead…in October…and…Donald Maier was found dead…in February…
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!
Links #727
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged acting, Arizona, artificial stupidity, California, cops, drugs, Google, hysteria, imaginative fiction, Never Call the Cops, New York, propaganda, racism, Texas, video, Washington (state) on June 9, 2024| 1 Comment »
[As] a Black man…in America…I can’t just do regular things like take a plane home. – Xavier Veal
After the castration of boys for musical purposes fell out of favor in the mid-19th century, only one of them, Alessandro Moreschi, lived long enough to make a solo recording. Though castrati sang in the adult female register, their male timbre produced a distinctly different, and sometimes eerie, effect, which you can hear in this video. All of the links above it were provided by IncarcerNation except “RIP” from Franklin Harris, “artificial stupidity” from Asawin Suebsaeng, and “smug” from one of my gents.
- R.I.P. William Russell.
- The return of reefer madness.
- This week in artificial stupidity.
- Is it wrong of me to feel a bit smug about this?
- “Crime”: late rent. Penalty: summary execution.
- What part of “never” is so difficult to understand?
- If this were on a TV law drama, critics would call it “over the top”.
From the Archives
- British Columbia is better on prohibition issues than its southern neighbor.
- Politicians blatantly lying about a facility to train cops to brutalize citizens.
- Michigan is among the greediest, most unscrupulous states in this regard.
- There have been too few nuisance lawsuits for Louisiana politicians’ taste.
- Politicians don’t care how much money they waste on culture war theater.
- Another move to hide migration control behind the “trafficking” narrative.
- Is there anything narrower and meaner than the mind of a prison official?
- Damage done by prohibition is never limited to the obvious target group.
- If prohibitionists want to “rescue” whores, why keep us from other jobs?
- It’s always nice to see authoritarian fanatics hoist with their own petard.
- Journalists are beginning to recognize what a huge backfire FOSTA was.
- Similar cases have already been ruled unconstitutional in other circuits.
- Another dog’s-breakfast record review billed as a “sex trafficking sting”.
- It’s a relief to see courts sending so many ambulance-chasers packing.
- Conditioning kids to accept constant, intrusive surveillance is working.
- A celebrity accomplished what do-nothing “safe harbor” laws couldn’t.
- Amazon eagerly hands data from internet-connected devices to cops.
- Sometimes it’s good to have an excuse for behaving like an imbecile.
- Spanish court says govt has no power to suppress sex worker union.
- Another excellent article by stalwart friend of whores Mark Draughn.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a rare gem, and Angel a worthy spinoff.
- I’m glad I grew up when kids avoided grownups whenever possible.
- Infantilizing young adults does not help the, regardless of motive.
- Chinese takes its misinformation campaign into the 21st century.
- When a “study” makes silly claims like this, look for the reasons.
- On the nerdy pleasure of seeing Star Trek actors in other shows.
- I don’t think petitions like this do any good, but they don’t hurt.
- Remember, this isn’t “human trafficking”, but consensual sex is.
- I had one of the rare side-effects from the COVID vaccination.
- Racist persecution of massage parlors is popular in California.
- Why do customer service reps not provide customer service?
- US politicians’ sick infatuation with “punishment” continues.
- Oh look, it’s what I was saying TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO.
- The Spanish case of the Swedish rot is especially virulent.
- They’re going way beyond fake Facebook profiles now.
- Will South Africa decriminalize province by province?
- But picket-fence gays say cops aren’t our enemies.
- Cops, flying dildoes, B.J. Thomas, and much more.
- Cops, Poe’s Law, Astrud Gilberto, and much more.
- The Unsinkable Liz Brown on internet censorship.
- In the US, the victim would’ve been arrested.
- There is nothing as contagious as a bad idea.
- “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said…”
- Your “leaders” refer to this as “correction”.
- Cops, fish, loony music, and much more.
- Another perverse genital inspection law.
- I guess cops are never too old to rape.
- Rapist cops don’t only target women.
- Curiosity offends the state, comrade.
- Getting my fountain in place at last.
- “Youth pastors” are as bad as cops.
- Cleaning our tankless water heater.
- Finally starting on the atrium roof.
- The “security” system that isn’t.
- My atrium roof is finished.
- Like father, like son.
- Stop faking!
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!
Links #726
Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged animals, artificial stupidity, California, cops, drugs, Google, hysteria, I’m Sure You Feel Safer Now, illegal aliens, internet, Italy, Japan, Never Call the Cops, pizza!, propaganda, psychology, recipes, Things We Choose To Do Together, United Kingdom, video on June 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »
In…40 years…I have never seen that level of deliberate cruelty by the police. – Jerry Steering
I have never understood why many of the same critics who love the Sherman Brothers’ work for Disney dislike their comparable work in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which is why I feature a video from the latter every chance I get. The links above it were provided by Dan Savage, Jesse Walker, Popehat (x2), Mike Masnick, Kevin Wilson, and Mistress Matisse, in that order.
- R.I.P. Richard Sherman.
- Much obituary. Very sadness.
- Artificial stupidity in the kitchen.
- I’m sure you feel much safer now.
- The funniest thing I’ve read this year.
- The US only thinks it has immigration issues.
- Government is just a word for the things we choose to do together.
From the Archives
- Prohibition turns bodies into “crime scenes” which cops can violate at will.
- Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do.
- Laws like this have already been ruled unconstitutional by the 4th Circuit.
- Cops will never stop doing this until the state stops giving them pretexts.
- Politicians don’t even try to make their new laws Constitutional anymore.
- The hotel industry is really going to regret its collaboration with fanatics.
- It’s good to see a government hoist with its own “sex trafficking” petard.
- I was fated to be threatened with state violence regardless of my career.
- Psychopathy is typical in politicians, but these laws are wholly deranged.
- I’m sure they helpfully yelled “Stop faking!” at this little girl as she died.
- Denying meds to caged people is silently yelling “Stop faking!” at them.
- They make this sound like the bureaucrat was doing his victims a favor.
- The Dutch scheme to Disnify De Wallen is no longer merely a scheme.
- Laws enabling nuisance lawsuits will grow until ruled unconstitutional.
- When will the federal government finally read the writing on the wall?
- One would think that the title “youth pastor” would be a big red flag.
- The best way to accomplish prohibitionist goals is to buy politicians.
- Cops will continue to do this until there are criminal penalties for it.
- The 5th Circuit sucked Louisiana politicians’ dicks on this in 2018.
- June 2nd is a day for sexual outlaws, not well-behaved “workers”.
- “Sex predators” are mostly men with authority over their targets.
- Cops, antimatter, Tina Turner, George Maharis, and much more.
- The censors are growing bold enough to admit their real goals.
- Occasionally, cops’ lies are too outrageous even for politicians.
- Prohibitionists’ real goal is to completely ban online sex work.
- If this doesn’t horrify you, you haven’t been paying attention.
- Over half of Americans now live in states with legal cannabis.
- Letting government dictate what constitutes “disinformation”.
- The 2nd installment of a multi-part review of the Buffyverse.
- The problem isn’t religion; it’s blind submission to authority.
- Looks like the judge didn’t buy his “porn addiction” excuse.
- Just another of those nonexistent false rape accusations.
- Retrospectives of my blogging from May 2012 and 2013.
- French law provides some defense vs religious activism.
- Indian sex workers have awaited this ruling for years.
- A collection of essays for International Whores’ Day.
- Whores’ Day is not an occasion for sanitized words.
- Cops, dentists, mutant hamsters, and much more.
- Cops, kinks, robots, Eric Carle, and much more.
- Fake client texts from an unscrupulous ad site.
- Opening up my new paddock extension.
- I wonder when Hollywood will catch up?
- Instagram and TikTok users, take note.
- Fixing the wiring problems at Sunset.
- Nearly finished with the atrium roof.
- Sows hoist with their own petard.
- Rapist/murderer cop of the week.
- And it can find you just as easily.
- Rapist cop of the week.
- Building a new stable.
- Stop faking!
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!
In the News (#1431)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged Arizona, Australia, California, Canada, censorship, Change a Few Words, consensual crime, cops, Creepy Coppers, drugs, Enablers, Facebook, fascism, Google, homosexuality, internet, law, Missouri, New York, politicians, porn, propaganda, racism, teachers, The Camel's Nose, The Last Shall Be First, The Peril, To Molest and Rape, transgender, Wisconsin, You Were Warned on April 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
To prohibit vice is not ordinarily considered within the police power of the state. – Justice Jackson Temple, 1887
There is nothing as hard to kill as a bad law:
Twelve years ago, internet users spoke up with one voice to reject a law that would build censorship into the internet at a fundamental level. This week, the Motion Picture Association…announced that it hoped we’d all forgotten how dangerous this idea was…What the MPA wants is the power to block entire websites…using the same tools as repressive regimes like China and Russia. To it, instances of possible copyright infringement should be played like a trump card to shut off our access to entire websites…It is not simply calling for the ability to take down instances of infringement—a power they already have, without even having to ask a judge—but for the keys to the internet…The bills known as SOPA/PIPA would have created a new, rapid path for…major studios to use court orders against sites they accuse of infringing copyright. Internet service providers…receiving one of those orders would have to block all of their customers from accessing the identified websites. The orders would also apply to domain name registries…registrars…and…other companies and organizations that make up the internet’s basic infrastructure…all of those would have to build new infrastructure dedicated to site-blocking, inviting over-blocking and all kinds of abuse…In other words, the right to choose what websites you visit would be taken away from you and given to giant media companies and ISPs. And the very shape of the internet would have to be changed to allow it…
As I have said many times, all prohibition is the same, yet people often fail to understand just how much the same it is. In this article, Reason‘s Jacob Sullum traces the origin of the US drug war back to exactly the same root as the US War on Whores: the deeply racist anti-Chinese moral panic of the 1870s. Unless you’re already intimately familiar with the topic, you will definitely want to read this one in its entirety.
Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:
[A Phoenix, Arizona cop named] Alaa Robert Bartley…[regularly engaged in ageplay with] a Michigan woman [named] Sarah Elizabeth Chadwick…via…WhatsApp…[Chadwick] transmitted child pornography to Bartley on several occasions, and…[when she] was arrested in November 2023…and…federally charged with…child pornography…[the] FBI [rooted in her]…phone[, thus leading them to] Bartley…On April 4, co[ps tossed]…Bartley’s person, residence, personal vehicles, and…phone…[and found] over 49,000 images and 700 videos…of [child porn]…
The Last Shall Be First (#1332)
Missouri seems completely uninterested in controlling its psychopathic politicians:
…a St. Louis judge has allowed Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s investigation into…gender-affirming care services to proceed. Last year, Planned Parenthood…sued Bailey over his [illegal] demand that they turn over patient documents disclosing private information on minors to whom the clinic provided gender-affirming care…Judge Michael Stelzer denied Bailey’s [illegal] Demand for these [HIPAA-protected] patient documents, but has allowed his investigation into the clinic’s care to continue…Bailey treated the decision as a political win [despite its stopping his attempt to criminalize and harass the parents of trans youth]…
Texas’ attorney general is conducting a similar theatrical “investigation”.
“Monkey see, monkey do” politicians never bother to observe the consequences of laws they ape:
Google has temporarily blocked links from local news outlets in California from appearing in search results in response to the advancement of [yet another arse-backward “link tax”] bill that would require [internet] companies to pay publications for [sending them free traffic]…Google will also…cut…California publications from its…News Showcase…[Facebook has] said it would be forced to [take similar measures if politicians foolishly pass the law]…The California bill is the latest [mind-bogglingly stupid attempt] to [break the internet]…Facebook…and…Google…have [been forced to take] similar [action due to similar idiotic] legislation in Australia and Canada…Similar legislation is being considered in Illinois [despite the obvious fact that the outcome will be exactly the same]…
Give sexually-aggressive thugs power over teens; what could possibly go wrong?
A…Wisconsin [cop assigned to spy on, harass, and intimidate students] has been arrested on a felony sexual assault charge for [molesting] a female student…after [her] parents reported…his…behavior…Kewaskum Police Chief Thomas Bishop immediately [started bloviating hot air about isolated incidents and “high moral standards”, yet is hiding the identity of the porcine molester]…
UPDATE: Molester cop Steven Rosales’ name and picture were revealed after he was also caught fucking his dog.
This will continue for as long as cops are allowed to “police” themselves:
David Gregson was around 12 years old…when…[New York cop] Roger L. Coon Jr…[began to subject him to] four years of sexual abuse…Coon — who died in 2003 at age 73 — molested him at his house, at a camp he furnished behind his property, and “dozens” of times in his [pigmobile] during a period stretching from around 1977 to 1981…Gregson is [now] suing the state of New York…under the 2019 Child Victims Act, which temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for…child sexual abuse. Although Coon…sexually abus[ed] numerous boys over a period of decades, and [was] convicted twice…[for it], the state is fighting Gregson’s lawsuit…[cops covered for Coon until] September 1982, after a [different] teenager [reported] Coon…[who was allowed] to retire two weeks later…without facing any discipline or criminal consequences…Two years after his retirement, Coon pleaded guilty…to molesting three boys between the ages of 10 and 12 years old…he…was sentenced to three years’ probation…but [insisted] he [ha]dn’t…done anything wrong [because] there was “never any force” used in his sexual abuse…In 2001, Coon was sentenced to six months in jail and five years probation for sexually abusing a 9-year-old boy…
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!
In the News (#1425)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged cell phones, Colorado, cops, dating, FBI, Google, homosexuality, I Spy, internet, Michigan, Micromanagement, Not So Different, Oklahoma, Permanent Record, Pyrrhic Victory, rescue industry, scams, Schadenfreude, Stalkers in Blue, surveillance, teachers, To Molest and Rape, Utah on March 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »
No one should fear a knock at the door from police simply because of what the YouTube algorithm serves up. – Albert Fox-Cahn
Politicians can’t resist using popular web services to expand surveillance:
A bill recently introduced in Colorado aims to make dating apps such as Hinge and Bumble [worse] for users [under the pretext of “safety”]. The first section…would force all dating services with any users in Colorado to submit an annual report to Colorado’s attorney general about misconduct reports from users in the state or about users in the state…[or] the entire United States. These reports would all become public…Scorned lovers, racists, incels, and others with hostile motives could file false reports and harm people’s job and dating prospects in the future. And a report on a government website looks a lot more legitimate than someone mad on social media. These reports might even lead to [cops harass]ing innocent users…
Teachers are supposed to be robots who have no lives outside of school:
Domonique Brown was a history teacher…in the Detroit area, but in her off hours…worked as an aspiring rapper named Drippin Honey…she was [fired] from her job…[because one single] parent complained that she was a “bad influence” on her students because she’s a rapper, despite being voted teacher of the month in December…the parent [was allowed to] remain…anonymous [after the drive-by character assassination,] and didn’t [even bother to] go into detail about what they found objectionable about her rapping…Brown said she plans to take legal action against the school…
Even seemingly-consensual sex with a cop may actually be something else:
A [typical and representative FBI] agent…has been arrested for…secretly filming women [he had] sex [with] at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with [cops] estimating there could be more than 80 victims. Mark Allen Wells…stored the pornographic images and videos on his computer in neatly organized files. Morgan Ballou, who dated Wells off and on between 2016 and 2022 said that he had shown her the library of nudes, at which point she contacted one of the women whose name showed up, his now ex-fiancé Savanna Smith…The pair went to the police [last] May…and…over the following months, more victims were identified. His ex-wife came forward [to report] that he had secretly recorded her via a hidden camera on the bookshelf in one of their bedrooms. It was also revealed that Wells…sent sexually explicit images of them to at least eight people…
“Nonprofit” merely refers to the organization; those who run it often make plenty of profit:
…Candace Lierd is the founder and former CEO of a [Utah-based “rescue industry organization named]…Exitus…[who embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars] donated to the organization…she made false claims that she was a nurse or physician, [that she] had a position with the United Nations[,] and [that she had] founded several multimillion-dollar companies…Lierd has a stack of 42 charges filed against her…[most of which are] fraud[-related]…felonies…Exitus…did not renew its business license after it expired in 2022, but continued to seek donations on Facebook and Instagram….[with fantasies about fictional] orphan rescues in Europe…Exitus raised over $1,697,000 through [lies and fabric]ations…the[n used the] money…to buy a…new home[, a car for her son, and other things, but]…much of the money is still unaccounted for.
In keeping with law enforcement’s grand tradition of taking antiquated, invasive, and oppressive technologies, making them digital, and then calling it innovation, police in the U.S. recently combined two existing dystopian technologies in a brand new way to violate civil liberties. A police force in California recently employed the new practice of taking a DNA sample from a crime scene, running this through a service provided by US company Parabon NanoLabs that guesses what the perpetrators face looked like, and plugging this rendered image into face recognition software to build a suspect list…scientists have affirmed that predicting face shapes—particularly from DNA samples—is not possible. But this has not stopped…police [from] using DNA to create a hypothetical and not at all accurate face, then using that face as a clue on which to base investigations…Not only is this full dice-roll policing, it also threatens the rights, freedom, or even the life of whoever is unlucky enough to look a little bit like that artificial face…
Curiosity offends the state, comrade:
Federal [spooks] have ordered Google to provide information on all viewers of select YouTube videos…the orders are unconstitutional because they threaten to turn innocent YouTube viewers into criminal suspects…Kentucky…cops sought to identify the individual behind the online moniker “elonmuskwhm”, who they suspect of selling bitcoin for cash, potentially [ope]ning [him up to persecution under] money laundering laws…In conversations with the user in early January [2023, spooks] sent links of YouTube tutorials for mapping via drones and augmented reality software, then [demand]ed Google [dox everyone] who…viewed the videos [that week by exposing]…the names, addresses, telephone numbers and user activity for all Google account users who accessed the…videos…and…the IP addresses of non-Google account owners who viewed the[m]…court records do not show whether or not Google [licked the boot that time]…
[A retired] Utah [cop]…Sheriff’s Office administrator…[and] mental health counselor…[named] Mitchell McKee [has been] arrested…[for molesting] a teen[age boy]. The teen…told police he was abused by an adult man in exchange for vape pens…he is [considered dangerous because he is] a retired [cop who]…knows where…[his] victim lives…
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!
In the News (#1400)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Broker in Pillage, California, censorship, cops, Creepy Coppers, domestic violence, Google, I Spy, If Men Were Angels, Indiana, internet, Missouri, New Mexico, porn, rape, Spain, surveillance, teachers, Tennessee, The Cop Myth, The Puritan Recrudescence, To Molest and Rape on December 28, 2023| 1 Comment »
These warrants…turn innocent people into suspects. – Jennifer Lynch
This will continue until fools stop teaching children unquestioning obedience to “authority”:
An Independence [Missouri] pastor…[named] Virgil L. Marsh [has confessed to repeatedly] …molest…ing two girls under the age of 14 who attended his church between 2011 and 2018…Virgil [burbled to] police [about]…“forgiveness from God”…the second…victim…[was only] eight and nine years old…[when] Marsh [was molesting her]…
This is the kind of garbage the state pays to spy on and harass your kids:
A [typical and representative Missouri cop named Darrin Skinner] who [was paid to surveil, intimidate, and harass high] school [students has been] charged with 14 felony counts [for collecting and sharing] child [porn on a social media network called]…MeWe…
If more companies did this, the fascist surveillance state would be severely hobbled:
Google [has] announced it would soon change the way it would store and access users’ opt-in “Location History” in Google Maps, making the data retention period shorter, and making it impossible for the company to access it. That means it will no longer respond to “geofence warrants,” a [civil-right violating] co[p]…tool used…to force Google to hand over information about all users within a given location during a specific timeframe…Google’s decision…is a major win for privacy advocates and criminal defense attorneys who have long decried these [unconstitutional] warrants…
There are many ways for governments to steal things that don’t belong to them:
In June of 2022, [cops]…threw dozens of tear gas grenades into [a woman’s South Bend, Indiana] house…smashed windows, destroyed the security cameras, punched holes in the walls, ripped a panel and fan from the bathroom wall and ceiling, ransacked and tossed furniture, snatched curtains down, and broke a mirror and various storage containers…a litany of personal belongings…were ruined. [Cops were after] a man named John Parnell Thomas…who…did not own the home, did not have any relationship with its owners, and had never been there. The actual owner, Amy Hadley…told [cops] that Thomas was not inside and that her security cameras…would have alerted her if a stranger had forced his way in [but of course they didn’t care and proceeded to destroy her house like a mob of deranged hooligans, and have refused to pay for the damages]…Her home insurance helped her in part but declined to pay the full amount, which totaled at least $16,000…
Civil rights advocates often joke that the Third Amendment is the only one that hasn’t been undermined, but I fail to see any important difference between the government forcibly taking people’s homes to quarter troops and forcibly taking them to serve as props for cops and robbers games.
The Puritan Recrudescence (#1391)
The currently-fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parade has escaped the US:
The [authoritarian] government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez intends to implement age verification to access adult content on the internet…Spain’s data regulator Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) is developing a process to require web users to utilize a digital ID…[similar to the one in Louisiana that suffered] a data breach [months after the state started the “age verification” parade]…
This one really was an ex-cop, but still just as dangerous:
A former…Tennessee [cop named]…Lawrence Goodine…[has been] charged with murder, kidnapping and tampering with evidence…[after murdering his girlfriend] Kara Akins…[by] strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head…Goodine [absurdly claimed] he had woken up at 3 a.m. and found the victim dead…[of an] overdose…Goodine…was fired [from the pig herd] in 2007…
Sometimes molester cops helpfully provide photographic evidence of their crimes:
Hidden cameras captured hundreds of hours of…footage inside a bathroom and bedroom at the home of a [typical and representative] California [cop who]…sexually abus[ed] an underage boy…One camera [was] placed in a light fixture above a toilet…another [was] concealed in a bedroom smoke detector…
The [typical and representative cop], James Plas Grider, is seen in one video masturbating while wearing his [magical clown costume]…
New Mexico State Police arrested Joe Lucero Gonzales last month…for sending nude photos to four teen…[girl]s through social media and [raping] one of them in his [pigmobile] while [wearing his magical clown costume]…The teens range in age from 15 to 17…
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!
Last of the Red-Hot Tweets
Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Music, tagged animals, apes & monkeys, artificial stupidity, blogging, Bluesky, Catholicism, censorship, comics, consensual crime, contraception, cops, ethics, games, Google, holidays, imaginative fiction, language, marriage, politicians, pregnancy, prisons, propaganda, psychology, restaurants, surveillance, Texas, Thought Control, Twitter, video on December 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »
In the News (#1385)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged abortion, bogus studies, cell phones, China, Colorado, cops, Creepy Coppers, crypto-moralism, drugs, Feudalism Redux, Google, I Spy, internet, law, Not An Addiction, Ohio, politicians, porn, propaganda, psychology, robots, Secret Squirrel, Shame Shame, surveillance, Texas, The Mob Rules, The Public Eye, Virginia, Welcome to the Future on October 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »
These kids have been helicoptered, snowplowed and bubble-wrapped. – Michele Borba
Sorry, crypto-moralists, but “addictive” is not a synonym for “yummy”:
A [meta-analysis] from the University of Michigan [intentionally misuses the medical term “addiction” in order to make the clickbait declaration that] people can show signs of addiction to ultra-processed foods, which include ice cream, potato chips, and other products high in sugar and carbohydrates…Those addictions were on the same levels as the ones for alcohol and tobacco, the study [claime]d…co-author Alexandra DiFeliceantonio…pointed out that while you can give up smoking, drinking or gambling, you can’t stop eating[, which is exactly why applying the “addiction” model to foods is asinine and absurd]…dietician Erin Palinski-Wade [explained,] “Although foods rich in added sugar may stimulate the feel-good chemicals in the brain..sugar itself is not addictive in the way cocaine or another drug may be…eliminating it from the diet will not result in withdrawal symptoms or side effects as would happen from a true addiction”…
To paraphrase Jacob Sullum, “the study’s findings could just as truthfully be summarized as, ‘Research Shows That Alcohol and Tobacco Are No More Addictive Than Potato Chips’.”
Curiosity offends the state, comrade:
…the Colorado Supreme Court…conceded that [a] warrant [demanding Google report everyone who searched a particular address where a crime took place] was “constitutionally defective” because it lacked individualized probably cause…[but] ruled that [pigs could use the illegally-obtained information against their chosen target anyhow, because they pinky-swore they didn’t know it was wrong]…Justice Monica M. Márquez objected in [her] dissent….[that cops knew] they were engaged in a “fishing expedition”…”reverse-keyword warrants…are…a high-tech version of the reviled ‘general warrants’ that first gave rise to the protections in the Fourth Amendment”…
Such convoluted language to distance other cops from a typical specimen:
A [typical and representative]…Cleveland [cop named]…Brandon N. Crites [has been] indicted on [charges] of receipt and distribution of child pornography…between 2022 and 2023…at least one image found in his possession involved a…prepubescent [child]…
Bird-brains still believe realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology:
Scroll through the livestreaming videos at 4 a.m. on Taobao, China’s most popular e-commerce platform, and you’ll find it weirdly busy. While most people are fast asleep, there are still many diligent streamers presenting products to the cameras and offering discounts…But…many of these livestream influencers seem slightly robotic…they are AI-generated [“]clones[“] of the real streamers. As technologies that create realistic avatars, voices, and movements get more sophisticated and affordable, the popularity of these deepfakes has exploded across China’s e-commerce streaming platforms…With just a few minutes of sample video and $1,000 in costs, brands can [“]clone[“] a human streamer to work 24/7…
As JD Tuccille wrote, “Kids will grow up to value freedom only if they’re raised in an environment where privacy and liberty are treated as normal and good“:
Teenagers have long balked at telling parents where they are. Now, they’re asking their parents to track them…[helicopter parenting] and real-time news—with vivid images about the pandemic, war and other disasters—have heightened…anxieties among young people…Members of Gen Z, ages [5 to 22], say they use family location-sharing apps to bolster a sense of security. Downloads of [a surveillance app named] Life360 doubled in the U.S. since 2021. The app now has more than 33 million monthly active users in the U.S. and another 20 million internationally. Even more teens share their location using Apple’s Find My, Google’s Family Link, Snapchat’s Snap Map and GPS-equipped smartwatches…
This unhinged mob-rule lunacy will spread like rot until struck down by a court:
[Fad laws that attempt to criminalize] pregnant Texas women from traveling through the [domains of showboating politicians] for an abortion in another state…[failed] in Amarillo…after…several members of the…City Council…questioned the legality of [these ordinances]…enforced through private lawsuits…these so-called abortion travel bans have questionable enforcement mechanisms, making them more like a ceremonial declaration than a legally binding statute. In an opinion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote “May a state bar a resident of that state from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion? In my view, the answer is no based on the constitutional right to interstate travel”…
How are they verifying the recipients’ ages before they open it?
The Republican Party of Virginia says it mailed out several thousand explicit political fliers to voters. The envelopes read, “Do not open if you are under the age of 18,″ and “Warning: Explicit material enclosed.” Inside the mailer…[were] two pieces of paper with censored quotes and screenshots from [Democratic candidate Susanna] Gibson’s public porn livestream…[both campaigns and both parties then flung competing barrages of monkey-poop at each other]…
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
In the News (#1377)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged California, Canada, censorship, cops, Facebook, fascism, Florida, Google, internet, law, Louisiana, North Carolina, Opting Out, politicians, porn, prisons, rape, surveillance, Swedish model, The Mob Rules, The Punitive Mindset, To Molest and Rape, United Kingdom, Welcome to Our Updates, Whither Canada?, You Were Warned on September 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I am more afraid of the police than being raped again. – survey comment
“Sexual misconduct targeting vulnerable women” sounds so much nicer than “rape”:
Two [typical and representative] West Midlands [cops] who [manipulated women into submitting to rape by threatening men in their lives]…have been jailed. Anthony Ritchie…and Steven Walters…even targeted the same woman…Walters previously served a four-year sentence for [raping] two different women in 2015 whilst [wearing his magical clown costume]…Ritchie began [manipulating one]
…woman in 2014 after he [arrested her partner on] a…domestic violence [charge]…Walters [had already raped]…the same woman [a year earlier]…Ritchie [got another woman to submit to rape] in 2014…[by threatening] to arrest her son…
The naive can’t understand why so many women are reluctant to report rapes:
Three-quarters of respondents to the largest ever survey of rape and sexual assault survivors in England and Wales said their mental health was damaged “as a direct result of what police did, or failed to do, in their case”…The survey…exposes multiple failures in the policing of serious sexual crimes, and reveals that “countless respondents said their rapist went on to sexually offend again against them and/or others because police did not take their report seriously”. Women described feeling more traumatised by their experience with the police than they had been by the original rape…Only 14% of respondents said they felt safer as a result of what the police did, while 39% said they felt less safe…56%…said they would be unlikely to report any future rapes…
The Florida Department of [Torturing Humans Locked in Cages] paid $2.5 million to California-based Leo Technologies to begin using its surveillance program called Verus beginning in August. The program scans incoming and outgoing calls, including to inmates’ friends and family…for keywords selected by prison officials and…uses speech-to-text technology…to transcribe the content of conversations that include those keywords…The only calls that the company [claim]s are excluded from monitoring are communications with lawyers, doctors and spiritual advisers. The company [belched out the keyword]… “criminal”…[to justify exposing people’ private speech to pigs and] prosecutors. C[age stacks] have for decades [spied on] incoming and outgoing phone calls…[but] using a[lgorithms allows the spying to be constant]…A 2021 Reuters news story examining the use of the technology in eight other states found that Verus was programmed to record conversations that included words like “abogado”…Spanish…for lawyer. In Alabama, the technology listened for keywords that could potentially help a sheriff fight off lawsuits from [his victims] and civil rights activists regarding prison safety and sanitation…
Given the cases routinely filed against prison collaborators like Securus for recording attorney-client calls, Leo’s claim that it doesn’t do this is hardly credible.
In the 21st century, censorship & surveillance are tightly bound together:
A federal judge [has] issued an injunction blocking the California attorney general from enforcing the controversial California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), which was passed last year after lobbying from a British baroness. U.S. District Judge Beth Freeman stated that “the law’s commercial speech restrictions likely violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment”…trade group NetChoice sued last December to block CAADCA, claiming the law “would pressure private companies into becoming ‘roving censors’ of content that California deems harmful, or else face ‘draconian penalties’ as high as $7,500 per child per violation”…
I guess we can’t expect anything but hypocrisy from any part of any government:
The movement to reform sex work laws in Canada took a blow…[when] Ontario’s Superior Court [asserted that an unconstitutional law is actually constitutional]…The verdict…was in response to a constitutional challenge launched in 2021 by the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform (CASWLR), which is made up of 25 groups from across the country that support and provide services for sex workers. The constitutional challenge [pointed out] that Canada’s laws around sex work infringe on sex workers’ Charter rights to bodily autonomy, equality, safety and security, as they increase stigma, prevent sex workers from discussing consent with a client and invite targeted arrest and violence…
…the Online News Act…has been an utter disaster, leading to millions in lost revenues with cancelled deals, reduced traffic for Canadian media sites, declining investment in media in Canada, and few options to salvage this mess…While the Australian experience lasted a few days, the blocking in Canada has now gone on for weeks and there is little reason to believe that [Facebook] will reverse its position [and start paying a]…4% [link tax]…for a minimum of $234 million…The effect of the news link blocking in Canada has led to smaller and innovative services laying off staff or stopping all new hiring. Some report losing as much as 50% of their website traffic…there is little hope that [Facebook] will return to news in Canada. If Google follows suit, no Internet company will be subject to [this deeply stupid law]…investment in the sector has ground to a halt, Canadians have lost access to news on social media, and small and independent media are particularly hard hit…
Hypocritical trash behaving like hypocritical trash:
The North Carolina Senate voted unanimously…to mandate age verification on adult websites, after a [sleazy politician] snuck a copycat amendment mirroring other states’ requirements into an unrelated bill…[to] add a computer science class to the state’s high school graduation requirements…[Amy] Galey…[claimed] that overall traffic to adult websites in Louisiana dropped 80% after that state’s age verification law passed…
Correction: 80% of Louisianians who visit porn sites started using VPNs rather than let the government snoop into their private affairs.
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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