Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Having and Eating Cake’

[The US] constitution…cannot be overwritten by a state legislature.  –  Jeffrey Sandman

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1051)

It’s not surprising this started at the most oppressive of the Nevada brothels:

Sex workers at one of Nevada’s legal brothels are unionizing with the Communications Workers of America …If successful, it would be [a] first [for]…the U.S.  The effort came after [Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump attemp]ted t[o impose] a new contract that would give the business perpetual control over workers’ intellectual property rights…A majority of the brothel’s 74…workers…have agreed to join the union.  Managers …have [retaliated by] fir[ing] at least three of the workers…and…threaten[ing] other[s]…To unionize, the workers must first prove to federal labor authorities that they are employees rather than independent contractors…Sheri’s Ranch…is owned by [typical and representative] Chicago [pig] Chuck Lee, [and is so notorious for its infantilizing repression of its] workers [it is widely derided in the industry as “Pussy Prison”.  The abuses include confiscating their laptops and medications, spying on email and negotiation with clients, and random room searches, and]…beginning in late December…it [started] demanding [workers] grant Sheri’s Ranch “irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual” rights to any content they produce while staying at the brothel…[including] the ability to sell videos or photos…without their permission…[to] create [computer]-generated c[artoons] featuring their images[even] after [their] death…and…to…[grant] the brothel…power of attorney [over all such content]…

It’s about time US sex workers started unionizing like their European sisters.

I Spy (#1425)

Remember when Google’s motto was, “Don’t be evil”?

Google [obey]ed an [ICE] subpoena that demanded a wide array of personal data on a student activist and journalist, including his credit card and bank account numbers…Amandla Thomas-Johnson had attended a protest targeting companies that supplied weapons to Israel at a Cornell University job fair in 2024 for all of five minutes, but the action got him banned from campus.  When [the] Trump [regime]…issued a series of [diktats] targeting student…proteste[rs], Thomas-Johnson and his friend Momodou Taal went into hiding…Thomas-Johnson, who is British, believes that ICE [intended to use] that information to track and eventually [abduct] him — but he had already fled to Geneva, Switzerland…The Electronic Frontier Foundation…and the ACLU of Northern California sent a letter to Google, Amazon, Apple, Discord, [Facebook], Microsoft, and Reddit…calling on tech companies to resist similar subpoenas in the future…without [actual warrants]…to give [intended victims] the opportunity to fight [such extrajudicial demands], and to resist gag orders…

The Mob Rules (#1539)

Don’t let the “private” language fool you; these nuisance lawsuits were instigated and bankrolled by Morality in Media:

A federal judge in Kansas has dismissed two of the four private age verification lawsuits filed…by an unnamed plaintiff [using] her teenage son [as a prop]…the judge granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss…ruling that…simply operating a website accessible in Kansas – even one that Kansas residents could view – is not enough to establish liability.  Under the U.S. Constitution, courts may only exercise power over defendants that have deliberately targeted or conducted activities in the state.  Allowing lawsuits based solely on website accessibility…would mean any website could be sued anywhere, a result long rejected by federal courts…

Mad Libs (#1571)

These algorithms are not only unintelligent; they are making those who believe in them stupid as well:

[The ignoramuses running] many companies are [foolishly trying] to get more employees to use [chatbots so they don’t have to pay]…workers [their full]…value…But…they…may not see what [imaginary] gains are costing them until it’s too late…[because chatbot]s d[o]n’t reduce work, they consistently intensif[y] it.  In an eight-month study…we found that employees [regularly] worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day…because [the hype] made “doing more” feel possible…[but] once the excitement of experimenting fades, workers can find that their workload has quietly grown and feel stretched from juggling everything that’s suddenly on their plate…lead[ing] to cognitive fatigue, burnout, and weakened decision-making…[in addition] to lower quality work…and other problems

Panopticon (#1591)

Safetyism is destroying society:

[Cop shop]s across the US are quietly [abus]ing school district security cameras to assist Donald Trump’s mass [pogroms]…The a[buse] originate[s] from Texas school districts that contract with Flock S[urveillance to target teachers]…parents and students as young as five…[demonstrating how] campus surveillance technology [justified by barfing out the formula “]student safety[“] is being repurposed to support [the police state]…Flock devices have been installed by more than 100 public school systems nationally…and audit logs from six Texas school districts show campus camera feeds are captured in a national database that [cop shops, spook houses, and goon squad]s across the country can access…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1597)

These things are designed to appeal to the dregs of humanity:

…Social media is awash with videos of men…approaching women in public spaces and attempting to flirt with them or ask for their numbers..the videos are filmed and uploaded to platforms like TikTok and Instagram without the permission or knowledge of the [woman] being filmed…[and] rack up thousands…[or] millions of views…While the concept of the pick-up artist is nothing new…so-called “manfluencers”…are covertly filming women to create misogynistic content…

Censor Chic (#1610)

Civil suits are society’s best weapon against jawboning:

…[FIRE] is suing…[Trumpist henchwomen] Pam Bondi and…Kristi Noem on behalf of Kae Rosado and Mark Hodges, who respectively created a Facebook group and an app that hosted video footage of ICE operations to inform the public and hold our government accountable…Mark runs Kreisau Group, which aims to preserve evidence of governmental abuses of power.  On his Eyes Up app, users can upload videos, record new videos, or access uploaded videos, which Eyes Up arranges on a map of the United States after Mark and his moderators review and approve each video.  Kae…started a Facebook group in January 2025…about the impact of ICE raids on daily life in Chicago…The group remained small until Sept[ember]…when ICE commenced…a…[massive pogrom sophomorically] dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz”…[after which the] group grew to…nearly 100,000 members…it is unconstitutional for the government to coerce private companies like Apple and Facebook into censoring content on their behalf.  However…Bondi and Noem [not only did this, but openly]…boasted [about it]…

 

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

Read Full Post »

[Computer-generated music] will have a corrosive effect on the whole industry.  –  Jason Palamara

Welcome to the Future (#1351)

The only way to keep data from being abused by government actors is not to collect it in the first place:

A California judge ordered the end of a[n illegal and unconstitutional] law enforcement program that surveilled the electrical smart meter data of thousands of Sacramento residents…without suspicion to find [“]evidence[“] of cannabis growing…turn[ing] all 650,000 SMUD customers into suspects…Granular electrical usage data can reveal intimate details inside the home—including when you go to sleep, when you take a shower, when you are away, and other personal habits and demographics…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1506) 

Given that dancers win every one of these suits, the old strip club business model is a dead duck:

A Denver District Court [has] ruled…that strip club entertainers are employees and have protections under the City’s wage and employment laws…Denver Labor, a division of the Auditor’s Office, investigated PT’s Showclub Centerfold, PT’s Showclub, and Diamond Cabaret in 2023 and Rick’s Cabaret in 2024 for minimum wage and other labor law-related violations…

Thought Control (#1518)

To say this was “Trump-inspired” is like saying diarrhea is “cramp-inspired”:

One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett…ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes or characters.  Hargett [incorrectly claimed] libraries that made such books available to children were violating federal and state law.  Some libraries have closed for days so staff could focus on weeding out [bann]ed volumes…the Tennessee Regional Library System…covers most of the state except larger cities like Nashville and Memphis…Hargett…[bloviated about one of the mad emperor’s diktats, but so-called “]executive orders[“] are not federal law and…do not apply to state or local governments…

Walled Garden (#1563)

Much more of this, please, worldwide:

Australia’s [totalitarian] social media ban for [legal minors] is being challenged in the nation’s highest court, with two teenagers [correctly pointing out that] the law is unconstitutional as it robs them of their right to free communication…The law…was justified by [wannabe censors vomiting the word “]children[” in the faces of rational people]…15-year-olds Noah Jones and Macy Neyland – backed by a rights group – will argue the ban completely disregards the rights of [legal minors]…After news of the case broke, Communications Minister Anika Wells told parliament…”[Fuck them kids]”…

Shame, Shame (#1580)

A program cannot create art, nor can a cartoon character be an artist:

…[hip-hop artist Christopher “Topher” Townsend has created a cartoon character he named] Solomon Ray [to promote] gospel music [generated by a computer program]…spark[ing controversy] in the gospel community and beyond…[with many correctly observing that the sound compositions have] “no spirit”…[and some going so far as to imply that the program is a Satanic scheme to] “draw…people away from real Christian singers…in these last days”…

Panopticon (#1587)

Cops will invariably use warrantless surveillance to harass people:

A police chief in suburban Atlanta has been arrested…[for using] the city’s automated license plate…cameras to stalk and harass multiple people.  Michael Steffman…had been the police chief…[of] Braselton [since April, but was a typical and representative pig there]…since 2005.  He announced his resignation…just before his arrest…became public.  The GBI…[refused to] say…how many people were harassed…

Walled Garden (#1592)

Fairer industry conditions are possible when the people in charge actually come from the world they are profiting on“:

Hidden is the TikTok version of OnlyFans…[which creator Stella] Barey built…around discoverability…“It creates an ecosystem where we’re all bringing fans that are circulating to everybody,” which helps girls who don’t have large followings…Hidden is all about giving creators more control, and many of its features reflect that mission by creating avenues for “passive income and promotion”…Hidden takes an 18 percent cut (compared to 20 percent on OnlyFans)…[and] has charge-back protections up to $2,500…Every creator also has a liaison who is familiar with their account and will respond within 24 hours to any questions.  All of these features exist in one form or another on other adult sites.  Hidden just happens to bring them together for the first time…

 

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

Read Full Post »

The threat of arrest and prosecution keeps sex workers unsafe and in the shadows.  –  Brian Johnson

A Woman’s Point of View

It would be amusing to see this crammed down Tom Dart’s throat:

[Two politicians] plan to introduce legislation…that would make Illinois the first state to fully decriminalize sex work.  Equality Illinois and the Sex Worker Advisory Group…have spent more than three years advocating for this bill, which…is…sponsored by [politicians] Will Guzzardi…and…Celina Villanueva…[the law] would remove criminal penalties for adults engaging in consensual sex work, remove arrest and conviction records for sex workers and establish a sex workers’ bill of rights…When discussing possible opposition to the bill, Guzzardi said those who believe people should be punished and criminalized for engaging in sex work have a “downright nasty point of view…that we should [not] be endorsing as the General Assembly”…

Permanent Record

I wonder how the judge would’ve ruled had the wife lost her job?

A Texas man has been granted the ability to pursue a retaliatory discharge claim against his former employer, Sewell Lexus of Dallas…[in] a federal wrongful termination suit…the former sales manager was reportedly terminated after pornographic images of his wife were posted to Twitter, Instagram, PornHub, and Only Fans.  These images were circulated among dealership employees and…he…was [supposedly] terminated because…”people don’t want to work with him”…

The End of the Beginning (#915)

Maybe we’re about to witness the beginning of the end of these evil laws:

A[n] appeals court [has] ruled that a [Florida punishment] for [people] convicted [of some] sexual [crimes] to have the words “SEXUAL PREDATOR” on their driver’s licenses violates First Amendment rights…[because it] is compelled speech that is not narrowly tailored to meet the state’s goals of [enlist]ing the public [in persecution] of [these individuals]…Judge Scott Makar, in a 16-page majority opinion joined by Judge F. Rand Wallis, cited rulings that rejected Louisiana and Alabama laws similar to…Florida’s…

Morality Lessons (#953)

Before these hacks, government computers were already among the top hosts of child porn:

…a…wide range of U.S. [federal and state] government websites inadvertently direct…visitors to hardcore porn content…In some cases, the content…[makes fools] of the governments whose sites they have taken over.  Pages…on the State of Louisiana’s official government site that now redirect to porn, for instance, don’t require visitors to provide proof-of-age…Spammers have in the past exploited the redirection functionalities of government websites to steer traffic to pornographic content — [unlike] government sites…[which actually] host…[such] content.  But this recent wave of porn spam appears to be using a more complex technique: uploading to government pages rogue content that transports website visitors to malicious sites…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1066) 

It’s probably unwise to state in your employment contract that you’re planning to rip your employees off:

The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a federal lawsuit against [a Kansas strip club named] Pleasures…after an investigation…uncovered illegal wage practices…including unpaid wages, unauthorized deductions from tips, and an unusual clause forcing workers to reimburse the employer if litigation or investigations led to the recovery of lost wages…The lawsuit seeks back wages and an equal amount of liquidated damages for the 80 dancers…

If Men Were Angels (#1448)

Religious communities very often punish the victims of rapist authority figures:

A Utah…teacher [named Ricardo Prins] has fled the country after being charged with the rape of two teen students…[one of his victims] reported…[him and the principal responded by]…suspend[ing] her…[and restricting her to] online schooling…for three months[, dismissing the accusation as a “rumor”.  But the cops felt differently]…and on December 15, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation [and] the teacher…fled to Brazil…

Property of the State (#1488) 

How long will society accept its medical system being used as a tool of state violence?

…an Ohio woman [who was] wrongfully arrested and prosecuted for her pregnancy loss is [su]ing her nurses [for] conspiring with police to fabricate evidence against her…Brittany Watts…was…charged with “abuse of a corpse” [due to] miscarrying at home…[and] was put through absolute hell by prosecutors, police, local media and the hospital…while…in the midst of a life-threatening medical crisis…She was interrogated…while “tethered to her hospital bed with IVs”…[after] two nurses [named Connie Moschell and Jordan Carrino, who already knew Watts’ 21-week pregnancy was non-viable,] and a…[cop named Nicholas Carney invented a wild story, claiming]…that Watts had given birth to a viable baby and left it “in a bucket”…Using only police reports and prosecutor’s version of what happened, [local news sources then] claimed that a woman had killed a newborn by shoving it down a toilet…

 

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

Read Full Post »

They don’t want incarcerated journalists. It doesn’t serve the interest of [the prison bureaucracy or] predatory companies like Securus.  –  Christopher Blackwell

Surplus Women

Why doesn’t the headline read “Brutal murder linked to basketball”?

Marayna Rodgers…left Washington State on December 1 to work as a prostitute in Las Vegas…But on December 6…[an NBA basketball player named] Chance Comanche…and [his ex-girlfriend, a thief and sometimes-whore named] Sakari Harnden…kidnapped and [murdered her after]…Comanche posed as a [client]…the…[two both] strangled…her…and [dumped]…her [body in a ditch]…in Henderson…Nevada…Harnden [supposedly] wanted revenge…[on] Rodgers [because she] had told others that Harnden’s boyfriend, Iosua Sataua…was…arrested for a double murder in Stockton, Calif…

The story is so badly written, it’s hard to be sure of what it means, but I think this is probably close.

The Widening Gyre (#1257)

Technically, several decades is indeed “over a year”:

Police are issuing a warning to…be wary of…social media [tales], after a story…raised alarm but turned out not to be true.  You may have seen the post making the rounds on Instagram and Facebook, telling people of how a young girl went into a bathroom at [a shopping] mall, and when her mom went in to find her, she discovered the child in a stall unconscious, with her head shaved, dressed like a boy…[supposedly] in the process of being abducted for human trafficking…The Alberta RCMP…[says] this particular hoax has been circulating for over a year and is “entirely false”…

I first read this one in one of Jan Brunvand‘s urban legend collections when I was a librarian, but its roots go back centuries; it’s a descendant of “gypsy child abduction” stories or even tales about changelings.

The Last Shall Be First (#1299) 

Texas seems completely uninterested in controlling its psychopathic politicians:

…Seattle Children’s Hospital [has] filed a lawsuit…against the Texas…Attorney General…after [it demanded private medical information of any]…gender transition [care]…provided to [legal minors from] Texas…the hospital…[noted that the Texas attorney general has no jurisdiction over it], and that Washington’s “Shield Law” protects it from [legal demands, warrants, court orders, etc] made by states that “restrict or criminalize reproductive and gender-affirming care”…the OAG[‘s]…demands…[accused] the hospital [of]…“misrepresentation[“] …and [included a demand]…that…the hospital [provide Texas instructions on how to forcibly “detransition” people against their will]…The…demands [includes threats of]…fine[s] and jail confinement of [hospital personnel who do not live in Texas]…

The Punitive Mindset (#1326) 

This fascist evil needs to be eradicated, root and branch:

Securus, a [fascist] company that [profits from people in] prison…persists in struggling with [substandard] tech…greatly affecting incarcerated writers…The company…generat[es huge] profits rooted in hidden charges, kickbacks, and fees imposed upon family members to talk to their loved ones…In Washington, incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell and his peers recently faced a data erasure for the third time this year, causing devastating losses for many writers on the inside who depend on devices to save the progress of their work…“I probably lost 150 hours of content, and I have to go back and recreate that,” said Blackwell. “It’s not only exhausting, but it really pushes you to not want to continue to write.”  Derek Trumbo, an incarcerated writer in Kentucky, lost more than a year of writing in a single [forced] system update on his tablet…

The Cop Myth (#1368)

Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?  This story is, unsurprisingly, almost entirely void of details; it takes 175 words to say, “A Mississippi screw argued with another screw and shot him dead in the prison parking lot.”  The rest is puffery and trivia, but it’ll be interesting to see whether the swineherds’ desire to absolve cops of blame for murder trumps their desire to get revenge for a dead cop.

Thought Control (#1379)

Cops will keep taking more and more power as long as people allow them to:

[A Massachusetts cop named Joseph O’Brien who barged into]…an eighth grade classroom [in an attempt to steal] a book wore a body camera and recorded the incident…The American Civil Liberties Union…say[s] they cannot recall [the last] instance…of police going to a school [in an attempt to steal] a book [because late September is too long ago]…Ruth A. Bourquin, senior and managing attorney for the ACLU of Massachusetts…[said] “Police going into schools and searching for books is the sort of thing you hear about in communist China and Russia. What are we doing?”…school [officials] apologized for [kowtowing to the cops’ illegal demands without even requiring a warrant, bloviating a lot of excuses and buzzwords]…an anonymous complaint [was the pretext cops used]…to [justify the attempted theft]…of the book Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, [belching out the words “]obscene material or pornographic[“]…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1393) 

Perhaps we’re nearing the end of this nasty, twisted saga:

The company that owns and operates adult entertainment websites including Pornhub…will pay [a] $1.8 million [bribe] to the U.S. government to resolve [extortion demands deriving from] its ties to…GirlsDoPorn.com…and GirlsDoToys.com…whose creators and operators were charged in California in 2019 with deceiving and coercing young women to appear in sex videos…In addition to the $1.8 million pay[off], Aylo will pay victims whose images were posted on its platform and have not already been compensated…

 

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

Read Full Post »

At the time [I molested a boy], I was the victim.  –  Phillip Fisher Jr

Buried Truth

A textbook example of McNeill’s Law:

A [Philadelphia] pastor who coordinates the faith-based outreach for the [pro-censorship cult] Moms for Liberty was convicted a decade ago of sexually abusing a teenage boy.  Phillip Fisher Jr…helps connect the [cult] with local faith leaders to boost membership…Fisher blames his conviction on…Lyndon LaRouche…

Policing for Profit

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

Miami [cop] Frenel Cenat…was arrested on November 17, 2023 on charges including…extortion, [robbery] and attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  When a [snitch] told the FBI that…Cenat had…stolen money and drugs from them…[the FBI set him up] to [try to] extort $50,000 from a man whom he “caught” in a drug transaction.  The conversation was recorded…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1271) 

Perhaps we’re nearing the end of this nasty, twisted saga:

The company that owns Pornhub reached an agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office, resolving a 30-month federal investigation into its role in the Girls Do Porn…case.  Aylo, formerly Mindgeek, has been accused in multiple civil lawsuits — some of them ongoing — of knowingly hosting videos…the victims [were promised] would never be seen in the United States…Aylo…didn’t plead guilty to any crime, and the FBI will dismiss the charges in three years, subject to court approval and Aylo’s compliance with the agreement…“While the production company provided the platforms with written documentation that purported to be consent forms signed by women who were featured in the GDP/GDT productions, and Aylo was unaware of GDP/GDT’s criminal conduct, Aylo now understands that those forms were obtained by GDP/GDT through fraud and coercion”…Aylo voluntarily agreed to pay individuals who were defrauded by Girls Do Porn and its affiliates, whose images were posted on Aylo’s platforms…

I Spy (#1360) 

The government thinks you shouldn’t be allowed any privacy whatsoever:

A little-known surveillance program tracks more than a trillion domestic phone records within the United States each year, according to a letter…sent by US senator Ron Wyden to the Department of Justice…challenging the program’s legality…Data Analytical Services…has for more than a decade allowed [cops and spooks] to mine the details of Americans’ calls, analyzing the phone records of countless people who are not suspected of any crime…the program targets not only those in direct phone contact with a criminal suspect but anyone with whom those individuals have been in contact as well.  The DAS program…is run [with the full and voluntary] coo[per]ation [of] the telecom giant AT&T, which captures and conducts analysis of US call records for [cop shops and spook houses] across the country…[raking in] more than $6 million [for] the program, which allows [snooping into] the records of any calls…includ[ing]…the caller and recipient’s names, phone numbers, and the dates and times they placed calls…

To Molest and Rape (#1382)

Give aggressive thugs power over teens; what could possibly go wrong?

[Typical and representative Indiana cop] Tim Armstrong was arrested and accused of [attempting to molest a teen boy]…between April and August of 2022.  Th[e boy] told a school counselor that Armstrong asked him to send sexually explicit videos and images and asked him inappropriate questions on several different occasions.  Indiana State Police…also found…that Armstrong had [watched porn]…on his school-issued cellphone while [assigned to spy on, harass, and intimidate students.  In addition to that job]…Armstrong has [also been a politician and] high school baseball coach…

The Cop Myth (#1390)

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

[Illinois cop] Michael Huff [murdered] his wife…Jackie…on [November 20th, then shot himself]…the [bodies were] discover[ed]…after…[a neighbor complained about] shots fired…at the Huff residence…

Served Cold (#1392)

The schadenfreude of watching Tim Ballard’s reputation go down in flames is so very sweet:

Documents filed in a lawsuit against Tim Ballard accuse him of grossly exaggerating his job with the…CIA…to [con people out of] millions of dollars…Frank Montoya Jr., a retired [FBI] agent…confirmed the CIA hires interns…in the…Watch Office…he [said]…employees who work in the CIA Watch Office are…“basically making coffee and answering telephones”…

 

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

Read Full Post »

Americans’ privacy shouldn’t depend on whether the government uses a court order or credit card.  –  Ron Wyden

I Spy (#1067)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

Customs and Border Protection…is using an invasive…[surveillance] tool to screen travelers, including U.S. citizens, refugees, and people seeking asylum, which can…link their social media posts to their Social Security number and location data…Called Babel X, the system lets a user input a piece of information about a target—their name, email address, or telephone number—and receive a bevy of data…includ[ing the victim’s] social media posts, linked IP address, employment history, and unique advertising identifiers associated with their mobile phone…Babel Street…the tool[‘s maker, claims it]…is also able to perform “sentiment analysis”…

Winding Down (#1133)

Washington state politicians demonstrate their hypocrisy:

The Washington Supreme Court effectively decriminalized drug use two years ago…[politicians] predictably viewed…that…as intolerable, and…promptly approved a [temporary] law that made possession a misdemeanor…That law is scheduled to expire on July 1, which prompted a bipartisan panic…[resulting in] a new bill criminalizing drug possession, which Gov. Jay Inslee immediately signed into law…[because] he…[claims] drug users cannot be trusted to decide for themselves what they need…[so the state must] ignores their preferences…[by]forcing them, under the threat of jail, to accept the “help” that the state is offering, whether they want it or not.  Although that might look like kidnapping and extortion, Inslee insists it is an act of love.  Notably, that policy does not apply to drinkers…Nor does it apply to cannabis consumers…It applies only to people who use psychoactive substances that the state has deemed beyond the pale…

Policing for Profit (#1166)

No matter how little their victims have, cops will steal it and fuck up their lives in the process:

A [typical and representative] California [cop has] been charged…for…stealing money that a homeless man had saved for dental work…John Sanzone…arrested [the] man [in] August 2022 and found that…he…had $3,500…Sanzone stole it…Sanzone was previously…[accused of stealing] $1,300 during an arrest in 2021…

Panopticon (#1232)

Why pay for surveillance when useful idiots can be talked into providing it?

For the past year [cops in Rialto, California have] been trying to [intimidate] owners of private surveillance cameras [in]to enroll[ing] in…Fusus, a [surveillance] tech company that aims to boost public [surveillance] by making it easier for police to access privately owned surveillance cameras [without warrant or oversight]…In Rialto, the police have access to over 150 livestreams across restaurants, gas stations, and private residential developments – a number they are hoping to increase through [intimidating useful idiots]…Fusus technology is being operated in over 60 different cities and counties across more than a dozen states…[despite the objections of people who care about privacy]…Fusus…tramples the privacy of residents, and…hand[s] police tools that are easily abused…

Judging by Houston and San Francisco, this won’t stay voluntary for long.

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1266)

Another baby step toward recognizing sex work as work:

After months of late-night picketing in North Hollywood, the dancers of the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar have become the only unionized strippers in the US.  Their victory was finalized with a unanimous vote by 17 dancers in favor of unionization…and marks the first time that the Actors Equity association, a century-old union for stage actors, singers and dancers, will represent strip club workers…The campaign, which started in March 2022, was galvanized by…unsafe working conditions and…retaliatory firings of dancers who tried to address customers’ dangerous behavior themselves…“While some elements of their job are unique, [strippers] are essentially performance artists, and have a lot in common with other Equity members who dance for a living,” Kate Shindle, the union president, said in a statement…

The Last Shall Be First (#1319) 

It’s two!  Two!  Two fads in one!

In late April, an abortion ban failed to pass in Nebraska—but Republicans weren’t ready to give up on it.  So they tacked an abortion ban onto a bill banning gender-affirming care for…minors…and passed the whole Frankenstein bill on [May 19th]…The final bill bans abortion after 12 weeks…and bans gender-affirming surgeries for everyone under the age of 19…the state chief medical officer [will be required] to design new rules for…trans…care that is not surgical, such as puberty blockers.  People already receiving treatment are exempt from those restrictions…The bill also includes a [mob rule]…section, [encouraging] citizens to seek…damages…from [any] health care professional who performed gender-affirming care within two years…

The Last Shall Be First (#1337) 

Of course Florida had to have its own “bathroom bill”:

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida [has] signed…a bill that would criminalize trans people [who use] public restrooms…[appropriate to their] legal…gender [if that is different from their chromosomes and genitalia present at birth]…People…who are accused [by busybodies] of being trans also w[ould] be obligated to undergo genitalia exams, DNA testing, and other invasive procedures…

 

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

Read Full Post »

I feel like a huge weight is off my mind now that I have told them what to do with their job.  –  Kirsty Buchan

If Men Were Angels

It’s getting harder to tell the preachers from the cops:

A [typical and representative] youth pastor at a Southern Baptist church in southwest Missouri pleaded guilty…to six child sex abuse-related charges…Jeff Taylor…was sentenced to nine years in state prison…after a 19-year-old told a sheriff’s deputy that the youth pastor at her church had been sexually abusing her since she was 11…Taylor…did not deny the…allegations [but] claimed what he did “was based in love”…He was fired in 2020 [when he]…sex[ually] abuse[d a different girl]…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#903) 

The old strip club business model is a dead duck:

A federal judge has signed off on a $6.5 million settlement in a wage-and-hour dispute between exotic dancers and strip clubs in San Francisco and San Diego.  A class of 8,402 exotic dancers sued SFBSC Management in San Francisco and Déjà Vu Services in San Diego in 2014 for allegedly misclassifying them as independent contractors and engaging in unlawful tip sharing…Judge Laurel Beeler found the $6.5 million settlement to be fair and reasonable, as it recovers about 14% of the “claimed best-case damages scenario of $45.8 million” and…since nightclubs were [denied relief under the] CARES Act…and forced to close during the pandemic — one defendant recently declared bankruptcy while five other clubs even closed permanently — the nightclubs’ ability to absorb a larger judgment was questionable…

Banishment (#990)

It usually starts with “vice criminals”, but it never stops with us:

The neighborhood order of protection…is [a form of banishment allowing its victims to]…be arrested if [they] so much as set foot inside a 1.2-square-mile area — more than 100 city blocks — that is home to many of the organizations that provide shelter, meals and care to St. Louis’ homeless people…Other American cities order people to stay away from specific individuals or places, and some have set up defined areas that are off-limits to people convicted of drug or prostitution charges.  But few have taken the practice to St. Louis’ extreme, particularly as a response to petty incidents…Seattle and some of its suburbs, including Everett, have blocked off certain areas…as “exclusion zones” where people who have been convicted of drug or prostitution offenses can be arrested.  The practice has long been criticized by civil rights advocates, but…[politicians do it anyway and vomit the magic word “]crime[” at critics].  Cincinnati once barred people convicted of drug offenses from its own “exclusion zones.”  But a court struck down the practice as…[un]constitutional…in 2003…

Blunt Instrument (#1206)

I wish news outlets had the good taste to stop publishing cops’ and politicians’ lurid, racist wanking fantasies:

Louisiana [politicians want]…new laws [with which to destroy migrants’ businesses using the ever-popular pretext of]…“human trafficking”…[the politicians equated Asian workers to raw sewage, claiming that “]massage parlors often are cesspools for human trafficking…I can tell you right now in the state of Louisiana, there’s three or four thousand, as far as immigrants, that are trafficked from China that are brought here from flights to New York, brought on busses, all the way down to Louisiana.  And there’s a minimum of two to three girls in every one of those massage parlors that are being trafficked,” [oinke]d Benjamin White…[of] the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association…[while panting and making furtive movements in his pants.  The politicians]…say…they’ll be exploring new ways to have more incentives [other than permission to terrorize, rape, and rob women] for [cop shops] to have more sting operations.  The[y]…also [want] ways to [profit from] landlords who lease to massage parlors…

Permanent Record (#1276)

If prohibitionists really want to “rescue” sex workers, why do they keep trying to shut us out of other jobs?

A Scottish teacher [w]as…forced to resign after pupils spotted her OnlyFans account.  Kirsty Buchan left her position at Bannerman High School in Glasgow after parents fumed at the images – but says she had no choice but to launch the sideline…as the school refused to pay her wages while she cared for her sick son.  Parents complained about the physics teacher…but she resigned before disciplinary procedures began at the school…”I feel like a huge weight is off my mind now that I have told them what to do with their job”…

R.I.P. Carol Leigh

Tracy Quan remembers Carol Leigh:

To Molest and Rape (#1294)

Another version of referring to a rapist cop as a “former” cop:

…an Arkansas [cop named Justin Davis was] charged with…sexual[ly] assault[ing]…a 15-year-old…only six days [after joining the Forrest City Police Department]…Davis had previously been a [cop] in [nearby] Marianna, Arkansas…Forrest City Police Chief Ronald Broussard…[thought the most important thing was to distance himself from the crime by saying] “At the time of the incident he WAS NOT an officer of Forrest City”…

 

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

Read Full Post »

It’s very frustrating to be a gynecologist in Texas.  –  Dr. Lauren Swords

Bad Girls

It’s an extremely bad idea to try to do the work of a professional, whether dominatrix or lawyer, without any training in the field:

After three days of often graphic evidence, sex worker Madeleine Joan Lewin offered no explanation about what happened…the night Brisbane businessman Anthony Brady died…the 34-year-old, representing herself at her manslaughter trial…sat…silently throughout the proceedings…she did not cross examine any witnesses and did not give evidence or make a closing statement to the jury.  It took the 12 jurors less than an hour to return a unanimous guilty verdict…Brady…[died] during a consensual bondage activity on the evening of August 12, 2020…[apparently from positional asphyxia as he] was found face down on the bed with a hood over his head, and handcuffs and bindings around his wrists and legs…Some of the bindings were difficult for police to remove…[and] Lewin had [fled the scene]…in a hurry…

Property of the State (#1149)

Women of childbearing age should avoid Alabama entirely if at all possible:

…Several pregnant women and new moms accused of exposing their fetuses to drugs have been [caged] for weeks or months in…Etowah County [Alabama]…under special bond conditions that require rehab and $10,000 cash…As a result…Etowah County…often [cages] several pregnant and postpartum women [at a time], against the advice of experts on maternal and fetal health…“The stress and conditions in jail and prisons, including lack of consistent access to standard prenatal care and mental health care, poor diets, poor sanitation, infestations with bugs and vermin, poor ventilation, tension, noise, lack of privacy, lack of family and community contact, can be detrimental to physical and mental health which can result in poor pregnancy outcomes for both the mother and the baby,” [said prominent OB-GYN Dr. Carolyn] Sufrin…It’s difficult to know how many…women…Etowah County [victimizes in this way.  Reporters]…found seven pregnant or postpartum women in a recent investigation of the jail log…National Advocates for Pregnant Women…have tracked more than 150 chemical endangerment cases involving women in Etowah County since 2010…

Legislators Gone Wild (#1198) 

The fanatical, unhinged Guinasso and his pet fantasist are at it again, now with the financial backing of Morality in Media:

…one of Las Vegas’ premier strip clubs, Sapphire Las Vegas…[and] the Chicken Ranch, an unrelated…[Nevada brothel, have been targeted by a nuisance law]suit [filed by]…Morality in Media…and [fanatical anti-sex lawyer] Jason Guinasso…[with the help of two professional “survivors” who hope to profit from the dying “sex trafficking” hysteria by pretending they were] “sex trafficked in Nevada through legal strip clubs, including the Sapphire Gentleman’s Club”…Conflating all legal sex work with “sex trafficking” has been one of the key strategies used by [Morality in Media] in its ambitious quest to outlaw all consensual sex work, one of the group’s core goals…the organization…also planned to sue Steve Sisolak, the governor of Nevada; Aaron Ford, the state’s attorney general; the city of Las Vegas; and Nevada’s Clark County and Nye County.  However, the court ruled that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue those parties…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1199) 

The latest chapter in this nasty, twisted saga:

The FBI announced…that it had placed GirlsDoPorn owner Michael Pratt on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, and doubled the reward for information leading to his arrest from $50,000 to $100,000…On July 26, Matthew Wolfe, Pratt’s second in command for the shuttered GirlsDoPorn website, pleaded guilty…to a single count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking…Pratt, a New Zealand national, escaped the U.S. before federal charges against the company and its employees were unsealed in 2019…

The Cop Myth (#1236)

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

A…[typical and representative] California [cop] has been charged [for] murder[ing]…a married couple…Devin Williams…was allegedly dating the female victim…Maria Tran and [murdered] her [and her] husband…Benison Tran [when he discovered she was married]…the pair’s 14-year-old-son…walked in on the crime in progress…Williams fled…but…turned himself in nearly 11 hours later…

Property of the State (#1259)

“Hard cases” are more common than forced-birth proponents want you to believe:

Kristina Cruickshank…lost her unborn baby…in her 15th week of pregnancy…[she] was frail, vomiting and in pain when she and her husband, John, arrived at Houston Methodist Sugar Land on…June 3.  She needed an abortion…but…it…was not clear whether Kristina was exempt from Texas abortion laws, which threaten providers with felonies and lawsuits for performing abortions except to treat a miscarriage or a loosely defined “medical emergency.”  Her fetus still had a heartbeat, and she did not yet need life-saving care…So over the next three days, a sick and distraught Kristina was stuck in limbo, waiting…while an ethics committee reviewed the case…

Winding Down (#1265)

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

Arkansas is one of a handful of states, and the only Southern state, that allows voters to directly pass laws and amend the state constitution by ballot referendum.  Placing an initiative on the ballot requires collecting signatures from registered voters equal to 8 percent of the total votes for governor in the most recent election.  Currently, that number is 89,151.  In July, Responsible Growth Arkansas…submitted a [legalization] measure with over 190,000 signatures, more than twice the necessary number…[but] the State Board of Election Commissioners…denied the measure’s title and, therefore, its ballot eligibility…Responsible Growth Arkansas sued Secretary of State John Thurston…The Arkansas Supreme Court preliminarily ordered Thurston to certify the measure for November’s general election ballot but noted that it would not ultimately be able to hear arguments on the case until September…

Read Full Post »

Sex workers are collateral damage in th[e “progressive”] quest to build the perfect internet.  –  Evan Greer

The Missing Word (#570)

Notice what nobody calls this?

For almost seven years, two Pennsylvania judges sent hundreds of [teens and] children—some of them as young as 8 years old—to privately run juvenile detention centers in exchange for financial kickbacks…[now] former Judges Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan [have been ordered] to pay over $200 million in compensatory and punitive damages to their victims.  Starting in 2000, the pair sent children into juvenile detention for offenses as innocuous as jaywalking, petty theft, or truancy.  In what became known as the “kids for cash” scandal, the [victims] were sent to two privately run detention centers whose builder and co-owner paid the men $2.8 million…over the course of the scheme…following the plot’s discovery, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court…thr[ew] out 4,000 juvenile convictions…[but] many of the plaintiffs still suffer from mental health problems.  Several…died by suicide or drug overdose in the years after their detention…Unfortunately, it is unlikely that any of the plaintiffs will [actually] receive [any] financial compensation…[because] Ciavarella and Conahan are now serving lengthy prison sentences.  Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years…and Conahan…17…though he was released to home confinement in 2020…[due to] COVID-19…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1009)

Another baby step toward recognizing sex work as work:

…a group of former Star Garden [exotic] dancers…filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, through the established actors union Actors’ Equity Assn…If the[y]…succeed, it would be the first time the century-old union that represents actors and stage managers on Broadway and venues such as the Hollywood Pantages Theatre would include strippers in its ranks.  Star Garden would become the first unionized strip club in the U.S. since…the Lusty Lady…closed in 2013…But…most of the strippers seeking representation said they have not worked at Star Garden since mid-March, when they raised safety concerns and were subsequently [fired]…Union lawyers will need to convince the National Labor Relations Board the strippers are Star Garden employees who were unduly terminated in order to be eligible to participate in a union vote and secure a shot at winning…

The Widening Gyre (#1116)

The latest iteration of “sex traffickers are EVERYWHERE!!!” has it all: the roses from the item linked in the subtitle, themselves only one example of the “valuable bait” trope, are loaded with the magic instant-overdose fentanyl of cop fantasies instead of the unidentified magic contact poison of earlier iterations of this myth.  Given that cops have recently started claiming that the magic fentanyl is being intentionally sprinkled onto $1 bills, the convergence is pretty clear; presumably the fentanyl-using “traffickers”, no doubt driving around in white vans, are also dropping the bait bills where cops can find them so as to stop their heroic anti-trafficking pogroms, or something.

A Broker in Pillage (#1147)

Absolutely nothing is “safe” if government actors know where it is:

The FBI [lied] to…a federal magistrate judge…[claiming] that it intended to open hundreds of safe deposit boxes s[tolen] during a March 2021 raid in order to inventory the items inside—but new evidence shows that federal agents were plotting all along to use the operation as an opportunity to [steal] cash and other valuables…the FBI also seems to have ignored limitations imposed by the warrant, including an explicit prohibition against using the…boxes as the basis for further criminal investigations…agents…were instructed to be on the lookout for cash…and to note…anything which [might give the government a pretext to steal it]…Agents [even] arranged to have drug-sniffing dogs present…which doesn’t do anything to help inventory items, of course, but makes more sense if the actual goal is to initiate forfeiture proceedings…

You Were Warned (#1218)

Looks like Reddit is covering its butt as a hedge against more FOSTA-enabled predatory lawsuits:

…adult content creator[s have]…recently found themselves abruptly removed or had their Reddit account limited without warning.  Sex workers have long been subject to deplatforming on most social media platforms…yet even though Reddit has a reputation for being relatively sex-positive compared to other Big Tech sites, sex workers are increasingly finding themselves restricted or even outright permanently banned on the platform, often without notice or…explanation…“The fact that sex workers are reporting an uptick on Reddit is particularly concerning because it has been one of the last places where this type of content is allowed,” says Evan Greer, director of the digital rights organization Fight for the Future, citing Twitter as the only other example of a platform that still continues to allow NSFW content…

The Vultures Descend

You can always count on my native state to out-Herod Herod:

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry…successfully urged the Louisiana Bond Commission…to delay a $39 million future line of credit for the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board–which the city needs for [a dedicated power station for] its flood response–until city officials agree to enforce the state’s abortion ban.  The move comes right at the start of hurricane season, on the same day New Orleans…issued a flood advisory…Even Republican state senator Bret Allain warned that because the sewerage and water board is a state-created agency, he finds it “problematic” to target New Orleans over their abortion stance…

The Last Shall Be First (#1244)

If you didn’t see this coming, you haven’t been paying attention:

After one competitor “outclassed” the rest of the field in a girls’ state-level competition last year, the parents of the competitors who placed second and third lodged a complaint with the Utah High School Activities Association calling into question the winner’s gender.  David Spatafore, the UHSAA’s legislative representative…said the association…asked the student’s school to…examine…the students’ enrollment records [going]…“back to kindergarten and she’d always been a female”…Spatafore said the association has received other complaints, some that said “that female athlete doesn’t look feminine enough”…

Read Full Post »

Law enforcement has been extremely secretive about their acquisition and use of [surveillance] technology.  –  Kade Crockford

I Spy (#646)

The civil rights violations cops commit reinforce each other:

…in 2019 the Boston Police Department bought the device…known as a “stingray”…[which] acts like a commercial cell phone tower, tricking nearby phones into connecting to it…[at which point] the equipment secretly obtains location and other potentially identifying information.  It can pinpoint someone’s location down to a particular room of a hotel or house…[and] scoop up information from other phones in the vicinity, including yours…The Boston police bought it…using money [stolen from the public]…through what’s called civil asset forfeiture…[cops] have few limitations on how they spend it…and the public has virtually no way of knowing how the funds are used.  The Boston City Council reviews the BPD annual budget, scrutinizing proposed spending.  But the surveillance equipment wasn’t part of the budget.  Because it was purchased with civil forfeiture funds, BPD was able to circumvent the city council…

But don’t worry, Boston’s “ban” on facial recognition will totally protect you!

Working From Home (#1066)

Indian sex workers, like their US sisters, are going online to survive:

Sex workers in India were particularly affected by the pandemic.  Loss of jobs, income and mounting bills led to an increase in domestic violence cases, some even fatal.  Just like most of the world, sex workers expanded their digital lives…In…India, which has been experiencing a smartphone boom, phone sex services became popular.  In the recently released book Intimate City, author Manjima Bhattacharjya…discover[ed what prohibitionists deny but every sex worker already knows]: the huge efforts that went into personalising escort services online…websites…mak[e sex workers] more real to men who [want to]…engag[e] with [a real person]…From finer details about the sex worker’s dietary preferences, her favourite colour to the films she enjoys, the websites promise more human contact beyond just sex…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1092)

As long as cops suffer no consequences for disobedience, laws like this are mere political grandstanding:

The Worcester City Council…voted unanimously to pass an ordinance that bans municipal government agencies from acquiring or using face recognition technology.  Worcester is the eighth municipality in Massachusetts to ban government use of face surveillance, joining Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Easthampton, Northampton, Springfield, and Somerville—as well as other major cities around the country, including San Francisco, New Orleans, and Portland, Oregon…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1147) 

This seems like a wise decision:

In an unusual decision, U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino granted an order of restitution…transferring the copyright of hundreds of GirlsDoPorn videos to the models who appear in them.  Judge Sammartino issued the order as part of the judgement against the site’s disgraced scout and male talent, Ruben Andre “Dre” Garcia…[who] was sentenced to 20 years in June after pleading guilty in December 2020 to…sex trafficking [charges]…the…402 models…can now seek takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act against websites that continue to allow pirated versions of the flicks…on their websites…Sammartino’s order…also granted $907,000 in restitution to 23 of Garcia’s victims to cover medical and mental health care and other costs.  GirlsDoPorn’s gross income — estimated to be nearly $17 million — was also ordered as restitution…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1190)

It’s good when they feed on each other:

A [typical and representative] Maui [cop] who was scheduled to report to federal prison next month for [attemp]ting [to coerce] sex from a woman he pulled over has been arrested for [talking on the internet to another pervert cop fantasy role-playing as] a 13-year-old girl.  Last month…Brandon Saffeels [was sentenced] to 2 1/2 years in prison…but is now detained on a new federal charge of attempted enticement of a minor…

Opting Out (#1194) 

The worse the idea, the more eager politicians are to ape it:

Anonymous sources have leaked the…[scheme] of France’s Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel…to compel adult sites “before the end of the year” to immediately implement a form of age verification under penalty of being deplatformed by [French] internet service providers…the CSA is planning to effect age verification not by requiring government-issued IDs but by forcing users intending to watch adult content — however it is defined by the French government or its  officers — to provide credit card information…

The Cop Myth (#1197)

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

A Chicago [cop]…murder[ed]…the…mother of his child following an argument…Pierre Tyler…was charged on Saturday, Dec. 11, with first-degree murder in the death of…Andris B. Wofford, who[m he killed by]…a gunshot…to [her] head…Wofford discovered that Tyler had a “pending child support case” with the mother of [his] other child and…mistakenly believed that Tyler had married the woman, which led to an argument…Tyler…[tried] to [use] meet[ing an unnamed snitch as an alibi, but]…his partners s[hot that down]…

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »