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Posts Tagged ‘Hollywood’

Hawley is…trying to substitute…politicians for…scientists and health professionals.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Available Weapon

When mere accusation is sufficient, anyone can wield the state’s weapons:

[Actress] Rebel Wilson‘s…public relations team discussed plans to create anonymous websites that [libel]ed the producer of The Deb [by accusing her] of [“]sex trafficking[“]…In a recording obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, digital fixer Jed Wallace instructed…publicist Melissa Nathan to assert without evidence that the producer, Amanda Ghost, is a “madame” whose work involves procuring young women for wealthy and powerful men…Nathan’s The Agency Group…deployed websites featuring character-assassinating claims about Ghost…on [order of]…Wilson’s production company…The now-deleted site…[says] “she turned full pimp”…[and] refers to Ghost as the “Indian Ghislaine Maxwell”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1470) 

Governments are asserting ever-greater control over people’s medical care:

The…4th Circuit…upheld West Virginia’s ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgeries in a unanimous ruling on…10 March…arguing with little evidence that gender-affirming care for trans adults was [a] “dangerous…experimental procedure”…[and bizarrely] claim[ing] that trans people had become “disdainful of their sex” and [should therefore be forced to]…“appreciate their sex” [by government diktat]…The…ruling is the first time a federal court…[has upheld] a restriction on healthcare for trans adults…human genomics academic Dr Jey McCreight branded the ruling “complete nonsense scientifically,” saying it was based on “fascist eugenics, not biology”…

Enshittification (#1557)  

May the same happen to every company which does this:

In January 2023, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced…that the company was making a hard pivot to…[computer-generated] slop…neither insiders nor the public were particularly compelled by the move…[but] Peretti doubled down…shuttting down its Pulitzer Prize-winning BuzzFeed News division…[in favor of computer-generated] quizzes…and…sloppy…repetitive [chatbot-generated articles]…the company’s stock [predictably] took a massive beating…[and it] reported a net loss of $57.3 million in 2025an official statement [said]…“there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern”…Peretti [is so delusional he is]…now…hoping to bring “new AI apps to the market”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1586)

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

A claimant giving evidence in the High Court [of the UK] was fed answers through [perve]rt glasses he was wearing that were connected to his mobile phone…Laimonas Jakstys…[then lied about] the…glasses [when confronted]…Jakstys gave his evidence through an interpreter…After several questions, [Sarah Walker, counsel for the defendants, told the judge]…she could hear an interference coming from around Mr Jakstys and [him to remove] his glasses…After a few further questions…Jakstys’ mobile phone started broadcasting [his coach’s voice] out loud…The following day, the judge directed that the [glasses and phone be held by his solicitor]…

The Vultures Descend (#1600)

Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:

A new bill introduced by [prohibitionist lunatic] Josh Hawley…would [criminalize] medication abortion across the country.  To support this [scheme], Hawley is relying on a…highly deceptive report that purportedly shows abortion-inducing drugs are unsafe…[to force the] FDA…[to rescind] approval of the drug mifepristone…and [also encourage prohibitionist grifters and opportunists]…to sue abortion pill manufacturers…women can still (fairly easily, it seems) have abortion-inducing medications shipped to them, [render]ing [Hawley’s scheme unfit for its stated purpose from square one]…

The Vultures Descend (#1604)

Under a totalitarian regime, medical personnel cannot be trusted with personal information:

…in December…Alexia Moore took 200mg of Misoprostol…[in] Southeast Georgia…[then went to a] hospital…and…[delivered a] premature [girl which doctors kept alive for about an hour]…Moore was arrested [in early March] and charged with murder…Georgia [law]…essentially deems a [fetus] alive once [fetal cardiac myocyte activity can be measured]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1607)

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

…Angela Lipps…spent nearly six months in jail after Fargo [North Dakota cops carelessly accused her of]…bank fraud [based on nothing more than error-prone] facial recognition software…Lipps told [cops] she had never been to North Dakota [nor]…ever been on an airplane until [the pigs abducted] her to North Dakota…She r[otted away] in a Tennessee jail for nearly four months…awaiting extradition….Her attorney, Jay Greenwood…obtained her bank records and pr[oved]…Lipps was more than 1,200 miles away in Tennessee at the time [cops lied that she was]…in Fargo…[the pigs refused to] pay for her trip home, leaving her stranded [in North Dakota].  Local defense attorneys helped cover a hotel room and food on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and a local non-profit, the F5 Project, was able to help her return to Tennessee…While jailed and unable to pay bills, Lipps lost her home, her car and her dog…

 

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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These guys really need to watch more film noir.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-15T18:12:23.909Z

You have to sleep sometime, guys.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-17T19:01:24.980Z

Four of these look WORSE in the "after" pictures. Middle right is DRAMATICALLY worse.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-19T02:53:53.205Z

They really do believe Heaven is clouds where people walk around in a semblance of life forever. It's remarkably stupid, childish, Bronze-Age thinking.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-20T08:26:34.100Z

The International Board of Kakistocracy

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-23T18:25:56.755Z

American flag lapel pins are virtue signaling. The FBI saying how much they loved MLK is virtue signaling. Laws named after dead kids are virtue signaling. State-sponsored "prayer breakfasts" are virtue signaling. Etc, etc. Any sincerely moral person can see the difference without effort.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-25T09:01:06.051Z

If I were Canadian, right now I would feel like one of the guys in this scene:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T03:22:24.145Z

"Dismantled" in the same sense as the Hindenburg was "dismantled".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T18:37:28.791Z

Treasury Secretary Meisterburger has some advice for parents.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-28T16:56:31.831Z

Modern journalists:Talking about a guy who has been out of political office for decades: "President So-and-So", "Senator So-and-So"Talking about a cop sent to prison for using his position to murder or rape somebody last year: "Former officer So-and-So"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-29T19:23:12.888Z

I hereby declare the word "pivot" officially hackneyed. Find a different verb to beat to death by overuse.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T08:52:51.698Z

The "We need new Democrats" whine triggers off the Mom region of my brain: "You haven't done anything with the Democrats I already gave you."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-31T18:05:24.186Z

Raise your hand if you're old enough to remember when it was the DEMOCRATS pretending "unified government" was a good thing.Extra points if you remember that the Clintonian slur for "checks and balances" was "gridlock".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T18:02:15.967Z

Oh look, it's another of those things us cranks have been warning all y'all Very Smart Futurist People about for years.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T17:20:55.791Z

What is this thing supposed to be? An Easter Island statue?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T03:38:50.271Z

If only there were some simple way to kill the bacteria so the milk would be safe to drink. If some genius were to invent such a process, we could even name it after him.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T03:20:03.432Z

Actual economists disagree.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T19:49:45.952Z

How can anyone who has ever read Asimov's nonfiction not know this? He used to BRAG about it. I knew Asimov was a sex pest before entering HIGH SCHOOL because when I was in 8th grade I got on a kick of reading all of his essay collections, and he talks about it more than a little.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-06T03:08:49.403Z

I was used to sex workers being the most *ethical* people on the internet, but in the past 15 years they've proven themselves to be among the most intelligent and literate as well.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T18:29:51.990Z

"Facts undermine his testimony" is such a weird, nerf-bat way of saying "He lied".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T17:46:14.535Z

I was taught in catechism that God is all-forgiving, so from a Christian perspective the answer to this would be "yes".That having been said, I am neither a god nor a Christian, so I am under no obligation to forgive those who enabled the current police state over the past ≈ 150 years.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-09T19:09:35.536Z

They make ME think of the campfire scene in "Stand By Me" where the boys seriously discuss, "Who is stronger, Superman or Mighty Mouse?"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T18:20:24.645Z

They really do think "But he gave them candy after molesting them" is a defense.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T08:51:42.315Z

It has dawned on me that most young people don't understand that political parties are about as fixed as sand dunes, and drift all over with the political and social winds over time. Which is just a more extreme example of the common inability to recognize that the same is true for species.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-12T18:25:49.074Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-13T19:18:32.880Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-15T08:58:03.773Z

Your regular reminder that Eisenhower warned us about all this in January 1961, but everyone just basically ignored him until it was much too late.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-16T18:10:17.125Z

You've gotta admire a man who trusts his friends' understanding of physics enough to attempt this.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T19:04:26.838Z

Given that the statement "This power will be abused" is always 100% accurate over the long term, you'd think the Pollyannas would've learned by now. But I reckon that's against their dopey natures.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-18T18:21:26.639Z

I just noticed this:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-19T19:01:26.364Z

 

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I’m currently re-watching The Fugitive, one of the high points of 20th-century television drama.  Like many of the shows I enjoy, I was too young to remember the show in its initial run (1963-67), but when our local PBS station, WYES, picked it up in syndication in the mid-’80s, I watched it every Sunday night and enjoyed it thoroughly; though most of the shows I watched then, as now, were science fiction or fantasy, “the characters who interested me most were always outsiders, weirdos, and outlaws such as vigilantes, monster-hunters, and fugitives“.  For those unfamiliar with the premise, Dr. Richard Kimble is wrongly convicted for the murder of his wife, but on his way to death row by train, “Fate moves its huge hand” and a derailment allows him to escape.  For four years, Dr. Kimble, engagingly portrayed by David Janssen, moved around the country, trying to hide from the relentless Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse), the Inspector Javert-like cop obsessed with his recapture, while himself hunting the real murderer, a one-armed man he saw fleeing his house just before discovering his wife’s body.  The show was the first one on US television to pay close attention to continuity, and the first to feature a concluding episode:  that episode, in which Kimble finally catches the one-armed man and proves his innocence, was the highest-rated television episode of all time for decades.

One of the things I enjoy about watching classic TV shows is playing “Spot the Actor“; in this show I’m also recognizing musical cues in every episode, because the show drew on the CBS music library and featured many of the pieces Bernard Herrmann and others wrote for The Twilight Zone.  But one of the most striking things for me is seeing just how much attitudes have changed in the past 60 years.  Overall, there’s the fact that for four years, one of the highest-rated series in a country now in love with cop glorification shows was one in which the cops were the bad guys in every single episode, and the hero regularly assaulted them and escaped from their clutches, often with the help of people he’d met who saw his innate goodness and nobility (especially because that nobility often got him into trouble when he felt compelled to stick his neck out to help people instead of just not getting involved).

An episode I saw last week, however, was even more striking.  In “Smoke Screen“, Kimble is working as a field hand in California (because obviously he can’t do any job requiring papers or references) and his work crew is asked to volunteer to help fight a wildfire.  One of the laborers he has befriended is undocumented, and he and his pregnant wife are terrified of being caught and deported before the birth of their baby, whom they want born as a US citizen.  The woman goes into labor, and though there is a problem requiring an emergency C-section, they can’t get her to a hospital because of the fires.  So Kimble, ever the humanitarian, is forced to reveal to the camp nurse that he is a doctor and can save mother and child; when the cops come snooping, the nurse, the father and another laborer who was a veterinarian in Mexico make up a story to cover for him.  And all of this is portrayed as positive.  Compare this with the current toxic zeitgeist:  a fugitive from the law helps undocumented migrants to deliver what nativist authoritarians now disgustingly dehumanize as an “anchor baby”, and everyone goes away satisfied.  Look, I fully recognize that there were just as many racists, xenophobes, and badge-lickers in the Sixties as there are now.  But it’s nice to recognize that in extremely popular entertainment of that time, those were typically being portrayed as the villains they are instead of lionized and given positive attention, money, and political power.

 

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The happy ending here is that despite all their ridiculous mumbo-jumbo and frantic posturing, Death will win as it always does.Ave Mortis, Imperator Mundi.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-13T18:51:08.690Z

Lost Generation: 1890-1910 (roughly)"Greatest" Generation: 1911-1928Beat generation: 1929-1945Baby Boom: 1946-1963Generation X: 1964-1981Millennials: 1982-2000Generation Z: 2001-2018Generation Alpha: 2019-2036 (end subject to change, depending)

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-13T21:00:54.989Z

Given the corrupting effect of power, the most powerful person on the planet will INEVITABLY become the worst person on the planet, even if he wasn't to start with.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-15T18:12:36.252Z

"What if flapping your arms very hard will enable you to fly?"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T18:08:56.505Z

A *big* step up from letting politicians decide.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-18T18:06:59.349Z

A one predisposed to disobedience since childhood, who has suffered social censure for that inclination since the early 1970s, I've always viewed the American self-image as "rebellious" as a crock of self-aggrandizing bullshit.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-19T19:42:19.764Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-20T02:48:07.776Z

My paternal line did not emigrate to America; America bought our home from Napoleon. IOW America chose *us* rather than vice-versa.My late friend Grace's ancestors were here long before the 1st Europeans.And both of us would tell you that people sworn in this morning are just as American as us.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-20T18:19:01.037Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-22T03:55:50.740Z

My X's anniversary is also MY anniversary, though I would nor more expect a computer to grasp that than I would trust it to compose a post on the topic, presuming I was such a narcissist that I would request such a childish thing.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-23T18:10:08.836Z

On the First Day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-25T17:28:38.681Z

The process of obtaining a literature degree taught me that "literary" fiction is rarely better than genre fiction, and frequently worse.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-26T18:03:49.571Z

I have often said that modern US "conservatives" long for an imaginary past, while modern US "progressives" long for an imaginary future.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-27T18:28:49.015Z

The very fact that there is no murderer registry tells you everything you need to know about the "sex offender" registry.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-29T18:15:33.474Z

So basically, the entire movie is a Rickroll.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-30T08:08:05.987Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-31T17:50:42.716Z

What book is sacred enough to you to get sworn in on?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T18:45:41.673Z

Slopmaker who makes money from slop wants you to move beyond wanting quality and embrace his slop.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-03T08:33:17.438Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-04T02:41:43.416Z

Axolotls always make me smile. I mean, look at this cute little booger! See its happy little face? How could you not smile?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-04T08:10:14.387Z

How many branches of the Vichy government did General de Gaulle control?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-05T18:17:30.100Z

Psychosis is a reason, just not a sane one.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T07:57:18.251Z

Collectivism is a mental illness.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-08T18:07:26.157Z

Mammon. The Biblical name for this deity is Mammon. As in, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-09T17:59:08.165Z

Mrs. Boudreaux, please get off the line; we really need to make a call. I promise we'll be off in five minutes.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-10T18:01:58.758Z

My turn! It just dawned on me that if the ICE agent were a circus clown, and the woman the ghost of Anne Boleyn, and the roles were reversed, but the ghost threw her head at the clown instead of shooting him, he could juggle it and The Coulrophobia Lobby would be fully on the side of the ghost.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-11T03:59:55.538Z

That is such a cute little piggy though, definitely MUCH cuter than any cop deserves.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-12T19:58:14.596Z

Good grief, my Barbie was a scientist despite having come in an ordinary Barbie box rather than a "scientist" box with a lab coat.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T18:48:52.787Z

"Sorry, neither."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-14T08:56:39.781Z

Perhaps if you'd stop calling politicians "leaders", they'd stop treating y'all like followers.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-15T08:27:31.066Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-16T19:00:03.300Z

A national treasure.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-17T18:58:44.504Z

Mu.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-18T18:25:47.300Z

 

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We simply lock up too many people in this country.  –  Leslie Soble

Drawing Lines (#516) 

Authoritarians don’t give a damn if your kind of sex work is (temporarily) “legal”:

Within the past month, legal Nevada sex workers have experienced a massive and unprecedented wave of account suspensions on…Twitter…These are not accounts soliciting illegal activity of any kind.  These are licensed workers…Prostitution is legal in Nevada when the practice takes place in a licensed brothel, as outlined in Nevada Revised Statutes 201.354…

When someone starts arguing that freedom of speech applies only to licensed legal whatevers, he can be safely ignored.

Spotlight (#1429)

While I’m always glad to see “sex trafficking” profiteers fall, it’s a particular pleasure to watch it happen to Asstoon:

…Ashton Kutcher has now all but disappeared [from]…Hollywood[, not because]…of…his lucrative investments in [fascist surveillance] companies and [his vendetta against sex workers, but rather for having the wrong friends, a typical moral inversion for]…Hollywood…Now he’s pinning all his hopes on [a] new [and self-aggrandizing TV] series to put him back in…the spotlight[.  That] will be no easy feat…because former fans have taken to scouring the internet for evidence of past…misdeeds [while ignoring the obvious but politically-unpopular ones]…

A Broker in Pillage (#1438)

There are many ways for governments to steal things that don’t belong to them:

…the 9th Circuit…[has] ruled…that an innocent man whose business was [maliciously and unnecessarily] destroyed by…LAPD…[to stage cop theater] is not entitled to compensation for damages under the Takings Clause…In August of 2022…LAPD launched more than 30 rounds of tear gas canisters through the walls, door, roof, and windows…[of Carlos] Pena[‘s print shop in pursuit of a man who was not there, leaving]…the inside ravaged and equipment ruined, [and] saddling him with over $60,000 in damages…Pena…repeatedly reached out to the government to recoup his losses…[but] the city ignored him.  Pena, meanwhile, was hemorrhaging income, resigned to working out of his garage at a much-reduced capacity with a single printer he purchased after the raid…[but] the 9th Circuit…[ruled] that there is [a “fuck you, we’re cops” exception to the Takings Clause]…that doomed Pena’s claim…

The Vultures Descend (#1511)

Under a totalitarian regime, medical personnel cannot be trusted with personal information:

A Kentucky woman has been charged with [“]fetal homicide[“] after police…were contacted by a [snitch working for a] clinic…[whom Melinda] Spencer…[foolishly trusted with the information] that she [had used]…medication…to [have] an abortion…She then buried the [fetal remains] on the back of her property…

The Cop Myth (#1564)

Cop deals with problems exactly as he was trained & encouraged to, and everyone is shocked:

[An] Atlanta [cop named]…Kevin Stroner…[murdered his girlfriend] Mariah Cardona, [then turned the gun on himself.  The bodies were found on December 28th after a friend coming to visit saw the corpses through the window.  His boss hogs decided to insult the victim by bragging about what a big hero Stroner was for killing women]…

It’s rare that coverage of cop violence is so bad only the names survive my edit, but there you are.

Shame, Shame (#1570)

A computer program cannot make a statement; it can only spew algorithmic output. This is like writing, “COVID says it is sorry for killing so many people”:

[An ignoramus “journalist” working for Reuters] said on Friday [that chatbots have minds and can be responsible for producing]…”images depicting minors in minimal clothing” on [Twitter]…Screenshots shared by [Twitter] users…showed [the MechaHitler-branded] media tab filled with images…[produced from] uploaded photos [by] the bot…Reuters [admits that it employs people so stupid they think interviewing a chatbot means something]…

Nor is Reuters the only news outlets infested with technologically-illiterate nitwits:

[When idiotically prompted for comment by supposed adults who apparently believe Teddy Ruxpin really was their special friend, MechaHitler produced algorithmic outputs including phrases like] “lapses in safeguards”…“urgently fixing”…and…“illegal and prohibited”…[the same clowns then asked a different algorithm for comment and received the programmed response] “Legacy Media Lies”…

Torture Chamber (#1596)

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

At best you get “mystery meat”.  Or “sour-smelling heaps” of macaroni.  In the worst cases, it’s undercooked chicken, spoiled milk and maggot-infested produce.  In prisons and jails across the US, people are routinely fed unhealthy, tasteless or inedible meals…[leaving them] hungry and malnourished, with devastating long-term health consequences.  The…crisis…is the subject of Eating Behind Bars, a new book…d[emonstrat]ing…how [the US tortures people it has branded “criminals”]…The book…describes roaches and rats in prison kitchens, rotten meat and guard dogs who are fed better meals than [the system’s victims]… It’s a public health crisis, with estimates suggesting each year behind bars reduces life expectancy by two years…and the…[practic]es create an estimated 300,000 tons of food waste annually as [victim]s reject unpalatable [swill]…

 

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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How much are the kids being experimented on?  –  R.J. Cross

It seems only fitting to bid goodbye to Rob Reiner with a Christmas song from his most famous creation.  The links above the video were provided by Jesse Walker (x2); Ryan Marino; Angela Keaton and Franklin Harris;  The Onion; and IncarcerNation, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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I’ve always been dedicated to the idea of this as the time of year for spooky fun.  So every year I collect all the spooky, creepy or scary content from the previous year into one place just before Halloween.  If you’ve come to my blog in the past year, or don’t remember previous editions, they are “Trick or Treat”, “More Trick or Treat“, “Tricks and Treats“, “This Trick’s a Treat”, “Tricky Treats“, “A Trickle of Treats”, “Tricking and Treating“, “Tricks for the Treat“, “Tricked Out Treats“, “Tricks and Treats and Such Small Deer“, “Trick Treatment“, and “Treats and Tricks“.  Horror, death or Halloween-themed columns of the past year included Diary #763, “The X-Files“, “The X-Files, Continued“, Diary #781, and “Gere Curam Mei Finis“, and there are creepy or spooky-fun videos in Links #747, #750, #787, and #798.  A collection of seasonal links and creepy tweets appears below.

Doctor offers to help lonely guy get a girlfriend.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2024-11-02T19:05:03.939Z

It's especially designed to hide pervasive rot under a beautiful, polished surface that will last without change for decades.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-08T07:34:22.931Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-17T17:22:30.905Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-20T03:52:04.139Z

So long, Mommy.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-13T02:17:15.023Z

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This is exactly how our system is supposed to work.  –  Mini Timmaraju

To Molest and Rape

“Serious domestic incident” seems to mean he raped his ex:

A Monroe [Louisiana cop named]…Chad Austin Prather…was [arrested and charged]…for…rape [but also rewarded with a paid vacation]…

The Face of Trafficking (#1533)

It says a great deal that when something resembling the myths really happens, a church is behind it:

An FBI raid revealed 57 victims of forced labor living in cramped quarters at a lavish Florida mansion [owned by] the leaders of a church…David Taylor…and Michelle Brannon…[ran] a forced labor and money laundering scheme through…Kingdom of God Global Church…Taylor, who calls himself “Apostle,” and Brannon, his “executive director,” established call centers across the country, staffed by followers working long hours with no pay, tasked with collecting donations…and [also] to work…as…Taylor’s personal servants who fulfilled [his] demands around the clock…The call centers earned $50 million…over the last 10 years…If victims disobeyed…or failed to reach his monetary goals, Taylor and Brannon punished the victims with public humiliation…psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults, and threats of divine judgment in the form of sickness, accidents, and eternal damnation…At the mansion…[were] seven Mercedes Benz sedans and two Bentley sedans…as well as $500,000 in gold bars in Brannon’s bedroom…Taylor claimed to have had “multiple face-to-face encounters with God” and said he was “Jesus’ best friend”…He often demanded sexually explicit videos and photos from women within the organization, and investigators…found thousands of such videos…

You Were Warned (#1533)

Oh look, sensible people were correct as usual:

Discord has confirmed one of its third-party [age gate] providers [was hacked and]…the…government-issued IDs…[used to submit to] age verification laws [stolen]…Experts have warned collecting sensitive personal information, [including] government-issued IDs, is a “disaster waiting to happen” and sites adopting age verification would be a prime target for hackers…

The Vultures Descend (#1536)

Much of the culture war is driven by ignoramuses refusing to understand how things work:

The [FDA] has approved a[nother] generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, expanding its supply at a time when [minions of] the Trump [regime want]…to sharply restrict [legal] access to [it]…The approval…means…three American companies can now produce [the drug]…The FDA. approved the original pill 25 years ago and in 2019 approved the first generic version…nearly two-thirds of abortions in the country are carried out with medication…[which] is a major reason…the number of abortions in [states that want the procedure banned] has not decreased…By law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must approve an application if it demonstrates that the generic drug is identical to the brand-name drug…

Even after a century of “Drug War” failure, prohibitionists refuse to get it into their thick skulls that banning a thing does not make it magically vanish; people simply get what they need on the black market.  Even if the US wholly “banned” mifepristone, it is still made in other countries and could easily be smuggled in.

Welcome to the Future (#1540)

Anybody still using Facebook products deserves everything they get:

[Facebook] will soon use what people [foolishly] tell its…chatbot to…target them with even more personalized ads…[Facebook] already targets users with ads based on what they post and click on, as well as who they’re connected to…but in conversations with [the] chatbot, users could directly tell the company…what [ads] they…[might] have [less resistance to, leading]…to…potentially harmful content recommendations…[Facebook calls this] “improv[ing] people’s experience”…

Shame, Shame (#1554)

A program is not a “she”, and running a program is not “acting”:

[A corporation hopes] Hollywood [will accept a program called “]Tilly Norwood[” as an actress even though it is just a computer program].  The [program runs an animated] brunette [image which]…has so far made only brief public appearances…on social media…”Tilly Norwood is not an actual human performer. It’s a…[computer-driven] construct,” said…SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin in…a formal statement condemning the [tech companies’ attempt to convince]…people [that the program is “intelligent”]…and…[c]an…replace a human being…under the terms of SAG-AFTRA’s contract with Hollywood producers, studios may not use synthetic performers without…bargaining over terms…[but that doesn’t stop]…Particle6, the London-based production studio behind the [cartoon, from ridiculous claims about]…talent agencies [“]signing[” the character and] calling [it] “the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman”…

If Men Were Angels (#1578)

“Worship leader”.  How many variations on these titles are there?

A [Texas] worship leader is facing charges of promoting child pornography…Jon Paul Sheptock [was apparently turned in by one of his victims]…and…was [convenient]ly [arres]ted at…a…prison…where he was providing ministry services to [people locked in the state’s filthy cages]…

 

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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Who thought of this?  –  Brent Chapman

Everybody knows Popeye, but did you know he was introduced to the screen (he first appeared in the “Thimble Theater” comic strip in 1929) in a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon?  By the end of the following year he had already replaced Betty as the Fleischer Studio’s biggest star.  The links above the video were provided by Carol Fenton, Mike Siegel, Phoenix Calida, Ryan Marino, IncarcerNation, The Onion, and T. Greg Doucette, in that order.

From the Archives

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

Read Full Post »

Here at Sunset, we burn our garbage. In Washington, they pile it up behind a desk, put a hat on it, and then interpret the noises it makes as it decays as pronouncements from a god.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-12T16:51:59.685Z

Stop using cutesy names for atrocities.This is the Dade-Collier Concentration Camp. Calling it that (or something similar) should be style for every US news outlet. "Cute" names are soft collaboration.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-17T17:17:26.728Z

Remember when I said the TRULY dangerous animals at the Dade-Collier Concentration Camp were not alligators and pythons, but rather mosquitoes?Thread.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-18T03:58:27.048Z

Trump's ratings are not far enough "underwater" until he and all his henchmen are drowned.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-18T18:36:15.452Z

Politicians are not your friends. They are not "leaders". And they will throw their constituents under the bus to save their own rotten hides any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-19T07:37:33.762Z

Our culture pretends that computer programs can think, but human beings can be programmed like computers.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-21T19:37:40.849Z

These people believe that their imaginary weather control conspiracy is run by The Riddler.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-22T17:54:11.274Z

In the 19th century, it was believed that for the whites of the eyes to show all around the irises was a sign of severe congenital mental illness.We don't believe that anymore, but sometimes we get a clear example of why they believed it.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-23T08:07:10.204Z

Notice how childishly idiotic Trump sounds when babbling about "The Left" as though it were one big corporation?Guess how it sounds when somebody babbles about "The Right" in that same way?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-24T17:02:37.657Z

Maybe they should just make Garanimals for adult men?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T17:59:57.802Z

Plus, women don't allow themselves the kind of laziness that many men do. Using LLMs to write bullshit because they're too lazy to do it themselves is something men are FAR more likely to rationalize is OK; women tend to know it isn't and would feel healthy shame if they did it anyway.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-27T07:48:44.022Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-28T17:24:17.763Z

Actually, this is a severe understatement. It's more like a toddler threatening to beat up the combined armed populace of the entire world, including all military and police.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-29T17:44:41.893Z

Metaphor alert.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-30T17:27:17.729Z

TV adventure show continuity girl. "No, Kirk McGoody *cannot* blast through Unobtanium,because in season 2, episode 6 it was an important plot point that his blaster could not do that. Now on page 32; it's well-established Tricia Buxom is an only child, so she can't have an evil sister."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-31T07:59:07.911Z

Collectivism is a mental illness and one of the greatest evils in the world. archive.is/bWikm

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T16:41:08.164Z

It "promised ways to cheat Death"? If you believe that, for only $1000 I'll promise you a way to turn yourself into a god.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-03T02:57:50.213Z

Just imagine how low your self-esteem has to be to willingly take a job which is the functional equivalent of letting all your viscera be ripped out through your anus so a politician can shove his hand up there and use you as a hand puppet.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-03T17:15:12.324Z

The way architects feel looking at this is the way I feel when some nitwit says robots will soon take sex workers' jobs.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-04T07:41:48.689Z

Post two characters who always bring you joy.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-06T03:09:55.088Z

When there was noise late in the evening in my neighborhood in Seattle, it was because two carloads full of young men were driving down the avenue shooting at each other.When there was noise late in the evening here at Sunset, it was because a neighbor's cows got out.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-06T07:52:37.252Z

When a single person anywhere in the world can generate a turd, what do fertilizer companies still represent?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-08T04:48:42.525Z

Gee, I wonder whose idea it was to put the letter "X" above the door.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-08T17:56:12.166Z

As one does.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-09T17:26:18.604Z

I cannot envision a world where an email or pop-up saying, "We reimagined _________!" gets any response from me other than, "How nice for you."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-10T17:54:30.687Z

For decades, I've warned "progressives" that pretending government officials with fancy titles are "experts" was a very dangerous idea. And now people have learned what they were taught.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-11T17:44:07.884Z

Universally evergreen tweet: It is always a bad idea to live in the capital city, close to the rulers.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-12T16:40:31.515Z

I am not a violent person, but that face is asking to be hit repeatedly with a baseball bat.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-14T04:23:24.475Z

That's not what this shows. It does not show "Republicans are abstaining from alcohol"; it shows that Republicans are self-reporting to polls that they don't drink. They're not at all the same thing, as any competent psychologist or social scientist could tell you.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-14T07:34:01.210Z

He looks like the victim of a botched head transplant.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-16T07:35:13.255Z

What's the penalty for "resisting" or trying to escape if these evil goons attack? Is it worse than being crammed into a filthy dungeon in a swamp for months, and then being deported to El Salvador or the Sudan with no due process? Because if not, resistance is ALWAYS the sensible course of action.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-17T17:27:42.971Z

 

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