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Posts Tagged ‘Illinois’

[Public libraries]…exist so that no one—not a church, not a politician, not a board—gets to decide who deserves access to the truth.  –  Keri Lambert

R.I.P. Tracy Elise

Tracy Elise Johnson…died on Nov. 17, 2025…[of] glioblastoma…In the 1990s…she developed a framework she called “female-led sacred healing through the body-temple,” eventually founding spiritual communities in Seattle and later Arizona devoted to…tantra-informed teachings…and ancient feminine-centered traditions.  She envisioned her ministry as a modern revival of global goddess temples, grounded in the belief that women’s bodies are inherently sacred and healing.  [From 2012 to] 2016, her spiritual work [was used as an excuse for years of persecution by the State].  She chose integrity over convenience, enduring years of hardship, incarceration, and supervision without renouncing her beliefs.  Her story, later covered internationally, became…evidence of how our culture still struggles to honor the sacred feminine without fear…

If Men Were Angels (#1455)

“Ministered to” is a hell of a euphemism for “molested”:

Joe Campbell, a Pentecostal preacher who for half a century ministered to thousands of children across four states, has been arrested on child sex abuse charges…in Elkland, Missouri…where he [now awaits extradition] to Oklahoma…[and possible] life in prison…[for multiple cases of rape and other] sexual…abuse…in the 1970s and ’80s when he was an Assemblies of God minister…one of th[e first to accuse him was] Kerri…Jackson, now 53, [whom] he molested…for years in Tulsa in the early 1980s, beginning when she was around 9…some of the [victims have] pursued [justice] for most of their lives…Past attempts…in Oklahoma and Missouri failed [due to stonewalling by] police and prosecutors…But the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office…[is now] applying a frontier-era statute that pauses the statute of limitations for suspects who flee…elsewhere.  Prosecutors recently used the same legal theory [against typical and representative] megachurch pastor Robert Morris…Oklahoma…authorities[‘ change of heart was motivated by an]…NBC News [investigation] published…in May…children [were taught by] their parents…to [see]…Campbell as an almost mythical figure…with [magical] power to…cast out demons and heal the sick.  He gr[oomed]…girls from broken homes…and…was…[at first protected by] Assemblies of God officials…[until] 1988…Around 1990, he founded a nondenominational church [which]…became a refuge for…convicted sex offenders…

Thought Control (#1491)

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

…[Luanne James, the] newly hired library director [of Rutherford County, Tennessee]…asked [the library board] for whistleblower protection….[after] board chair [Cody York] direct[ed] her to [censor books at his sole say-so] and to…produce a spreadsheet listing [the] names, home addresses…and [other information about any patron who had checked out one of the forbidden] books[, presumably for targeting by official or unofficial violence]…he [also]…showed her books he had [stolen from the library to unofficially censor them]…the Rutherford County Library Board [has endured] repeated battles over [demands for censorship by anti-intellectual authoritarians who have no place on a library board]…A motion to remove York followed James’s [report of his] misconduct…[but] the [censor-dominated] board declined to do so…the…developments mark…a new and dangerous phase in…[the] Rutherford County [culture war that] now threatens to become a national test case for how far government power can [undermine] public libraries…Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett…re[cently demanded a purge of thousands of books from]…Tennessee…libraries…in [a show of obeisance to the mad emperor]…

The Cop Myth (#1566)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do, even if she’s a cop herself:

A…[former] Chicago [cop is suing her former cop shop because they intentionally and repeatedly] ignored complaints that [her ex-boyfriend cop] had “repeatedly physically, mentally, and sexually abused” [her].  The [victim is] identif[ied]…as Jane Doe…[and psychotic cop] Marco Torres viciously abused her and threatened her life…[while] high-ranking officials, including then-chief of the Bureau of Internal Affairs…Yolanda Talley, not only failed to protect Doe, but also retaliated against her for reporting the abuse…Torres relentlessly tried to find Doe’s new home address despite an order of protection against him…he [told another cop]…that he needed her address because he has a “guy from gangs” who “can get rid of her” for “a grand”…[the boss hog]s were aware of the…message, which the recipient sent to in[ternal affairs], but they never warned Doe…or [did anything else]…Doe [later] found a GPS tracking device on her car which…Torres used to stalk her…he was [finally] convicted of assault in December 2024 over his previous threats to kill Doe…[but] she had [been] report[ing] Torres’ abuse…[since] November 2022…and…at least two other [cops had] rep[ea]tedly submitted written reports…describ[ing] violence and stalking against a different female [cop] years earlier…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1578)

States now routinely use nuisance lawsuits as a way to circumvent the Constitution:

Indiana[‘s Trumpist] Attorney General Todd Rokita…[has] announced…that his office sued Aylo…for [suppos]edly violating the state’s age verification laws due to [not attempting] to block users using…VPNs…all IP addresses in Indiana are still blocked, as the company chose to withdraw from the state’s digital space to comply with [Indiana law]…But…Rokita is proposing…that…Aylo…is…to…blam[e for]…the existence of VPNs…Corey Silverstein, an attorney who represents adult industry clients…[said] this [is]…”a dangerous concept…because what’s next? Power companies? Landlords that lease data center space?”…[David Greene of the EFF said,] “What the state’s lawsuit seems to be doing is saying that Aylo deceived Indiana consumers when it said it was geoblocking Indiana users…[because] it knew that…VPNs [exist]…It essentially bases liability on the failure to accomplish impossibilities”…

The Vultures Descend (#1580)

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

[Due to] abortion…[being] criminalized…an increasing number of women [worldwide] are accessing abortion pills outside of the formal medical system…Women Help Women [is] a global telehealth…service that supports self-managed abortion by providing abortion pills and information about how to use them…After a decade of relying on pharmaceutical companies to supply them…Women Help Women…recently announced they have begun working directly with drugmakers in India to produce their own innovative combipack of mifepristone and misoprostol for distribution around the world…the…pack…includes one mifepristone tablet and eight misoprostol tablets…[because] some women want extra misoprostol to ensure a complete abortion…Its smaller packaging also requires less postage [so it] is easier to mail discreetly…

The Last Shall Be First (#1587)

“Protecting children” is an all-purpose excuse:

…the Trump [regime has] announced…a…[de facto] ban…[on] gender-affirming care for transgender young people, even in states where it is still legal…[against the advice of] the American Academy of Pediatrics…[one] new…rule…prohibits doctors and hospitals from receiving federal Medicaid reimbursement for gender-affirming care provided to transgender patients younger than…18…The second…blocks all Medicaid and Medicare funding for any services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care.  Virtually every hospital in the country takes Medicare…The American Civil Liberties Union has announced plans to sue to stop the rules; other legal action is also expected…[Secretary of Pestilence Robert] Kennedy…insisted that [all doctors]…are wrong [and presented a trained parrot which absurdly squawked about]…God…[then Trump stooge] Dr. Marty Makary, who [mismanage]s the Food and Drug Administration, announced that the FDA would be sending warning letters to businesses that manufacture chest binders…

 

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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Brothels yes very well, but it must be an option, not an obligation.  –  Edouard Hesse

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (#522)

This is vile even by the abysmal standards of cops:

A…[lying British pig] deceived two women at the same time over many years in a sustained betrayal of both of them…Mark Jenner had a relationship [built on lies] with a[n anti-corruption] activist, known as Alison, for five years without disclosing to her that he was in reality a…[cop] who was spying on p[eacefu]l campaigners.  During those years, he was married, with his wife knowing nothing about his relationship with Alison…She became the first wife of [one of the lying pigs in Jenner’s gang] to testify at the inquiry…The woman, known only as S, who has now divorced Jenner, said she was “sickened” by the [ringleader]ers of the [gang] who permitted the deception to happen and treated her badly.  She told the inquiry she had willingly taken on the extra burden of childcare and housework to support her then husband while he was [deceiving and raping other women], as his [ringleader]ers [lied to] her he was doing important…work for the country…

Confined and Controlled (#919)

Politicians who push brothels don’t want to help sex workers, but to control us:

France’s…[authoritarian] National Rally [party] is preparing to introduce legislation to bring back legal brothels…as sex-worker-run cooperatives…[politician Jean-Philippe] Tanguy…said he’s come to believe that the current legal framework, [the Swedish model], does not actually make life better or safer for sex workers, since it drives the industry underground…He called the system “the height of bourgeois hypocrisy”…France…officially ended its legal brothel system back in 1946 [as part of an overreaction to its humiliation at the hands of the Nazis]…A move to decriminalize clients and allow sex workers to work together would be a step in the right direction for sex worker rights and safety.  But any plan that allows this exclusively in brothels would still perpetuate many of the harms of criminalization…

Unchristian Nation (#1498)

Government at every level crusades against Christian charity:

Phoenix [politicians want to] ban…people from providing medical treatment…to the homeless at city parks…unless they [buy an expensive permit from] the city…The…[proposed law is intended to increase disease among the homeless by banning] distribut[ion of] sterile [needles and] syringes and…to [steal] $2,500 [from any group that engages in such charity, but will also criminalize]…heat-relief care during the summers.  That includes electrolyte sodium, blankets to prevent thermal burns, sunscreen, hats and umbrellas…

The Prudish Giant (#1509) 

Why does anyone still trust Facebook?

[Facebook] has removed or restricted dozens of accounts belonging to abortion access providers, queer groups and reproductive health organisations in the past weeks in…one of the “biggest waves of censorship”…in years…Facebook [properties] Instagram and WhatsApp…[were also censored, silenc]ing tens of thousands of people…in what appears to be a growing [Trumpist alignment]…Many of these were from Europe and the UK…[but] groups serving women in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East [were also attacked.  Facebook absurdly]…denied [that its censorship is]…censorship…[even though] it blocked abortion hotlines in countries where abortion is legal…[as usual, the company is] condescending and unresponsive [to complaints]…

I Spy (#1538)

The erosion of US air travelers’ rights which started with TSA is now complete:

…[Several times a week, TSA creates] a list…of travelers who will be coming through airports.  ICE can then match the list against its own database of people [it has declared] subject to deportation and send [goons] to the airport to [abduct] those people…the collaboration…led to the [abduction] of Any Lucía López Belloza…[from] Boston Logan Airport on Nov. 20 and [her subsequent] deport[ation] to Honduras…[the scheme] is the latest way the Trump [regime] is [building a giant]…federal [database] in service of the [mad emperor]’s goal of [establishing] the [most oppressive regime] in U.S. history…[ICE] activities at airports [are also intended to terrorize the population in general] and [will cause still] longer passenger wait times…

Above the Law (ROTW #22)

Federal thugs behave just like state & local thugs:

…a…Border P[atrol goon named]…Luis Uribe…[went on a] rampa[ge against Chinese]…sex workers [in Chicago in 2022, raping]…and robb[ing at least]…four…women [at gunpoint.  All Border Patrol goons are] a danger to the community…[but] Uribe [is]…the “worst of the worst”…and [stalked his victims to violently rape them on multiple occasions.  He has been indicted by a grand jury and faces potential life in prison]…

Shame, Shame (#1591)

Any true Christian would recognize this as blasphemy:

[Several] large [Post-Christian] churches…[promoted] a wave of [computer]-generated [slop] that flooded social media in the wake of [Trumpist bigot Charlie] Kirk’s killing…Many [of the slop videos] featured [pseudo-]religious themes, a byproduct of Kirk’s own [decision to increasingly exploit Post-]Christianity near the end of his life.  Imagining Kirk in [a childish, Bronze-Age notion of] heaven was a common theme…as [was depicting a cartoon of] Kirk [alongside cartoons of] historical Christian martyrs and saints…and…assassinated [US political figures including]…the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr[, whom]…Kirk [had repeatedly attacked]…in [real life.  But the slop went from merely vile to fully blasphemous with cartoons of]…Kirk with Jesus Christ…[wearing a MAGA] hat…

 

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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We’ve known for years that Tim Ballard is a shameless, lying, actual predator.  –  Aracely Yates

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A[n Ohio politician]…facing serious sex charges dating back nearly 30 years was released on his own recognizance…less than 24 hours after his initial arrest…Gerald Dixon [has a history of molesting boys, including some that are cognitively impaired.  The cops have known about]…Dixon…[since 2020, before he first ran for office, and] there are at least eight…victims, [including] some from…Michigan and New York…[going] back [to] 1996…

Bait and Switch (#1070)

Here’s reporter Kevin Light-Roth writing for The Appeal with a long, thorough deep dive on the “Operation Net Nanny” scams which were specifically designed to entrap normal young men seeking consensual sex with adult age-peer women on adults-only dating sites, so as to destroy their lives via prison and permanent “sex offender” registration by claiming that the adult women they arranged to meet were actually pigs pretending in their minds to be minors.  I know that sounds completely Kafkaesque, but if you explore this tag you’ll realize it’s not only an accurate description, but a common entrapment scheme for the past decade.  The article also explores the scam’s deep connections to disgraced “sex trafficking” profiteer Tim Ballard, and the attempts by the families of the victims to use Ballard’s downfall as a crowbar to pry open the refusal of the Washington state carceral establishment to do anything about these blatantly-illegal pogroms.

Virtual Imperialism (#1292)

Greedy, amoral corporations enable Beijing’s campaign to silence Chinese people:

The Chinese telecoms giant Tencent is trying to muzzle a service that offers an uncensored view of what users of [its] social media platform WeChat…are posting…FreeWeChat…is operated by…anti-censorship organisation GreatFire.org…and…works by identifying WeChat posts that contain certain “sensitive” keywords and archives and monitors them all to see whether they are subsequently deleted from the social platform.  Typical [censored] words…include the so-called three Ts: Tiananmen, Taiwan and Tibet.  If a monitored post subsequently disappears, FreeWeChat marks it as “censored”…FreeWeChat has…allowed more than 700,000 censored WeChat posts to remain available for both Chinese users and others…[but] Tencent…[has made a legal claim] to Vultr, the USA-based…host…of…FreeWeChat…claim[ing] that FreeWeChat was infringing intellectual property rights…[so] Vultr suspended the [site]…

Thought Control (#1499)

Politicians really do believe they can control people’s thoughts via censorship:

The Randolph County [North Carolina] Library Board [was fired en masse] by the county commissioners…[for refusing] to [ban] a children’s book titled Call Me Max…[which one wannabe censor demanded banned]…Of the 40 speakers [at the meeting], 21 w[ere violently-censorious nitwits who “arguments” were made up of threats and unsupported opinions]…while 19 [wanted to allow] librarians [to do the jobs they were hired to do]…

No Escape (#1584)

The inevitable result of giving sexually-aggressive thugs total power over women:

Eleven women [locked up in] a federal prison in Texas…have filed fresh lawsuits [over the endemic rapes and]…sexual…assault[s]…by prison staff…including a doctor, chaplain and three [screws]…sexual assault is [especially] common at FMC Carswell…the most of any federal women’s prison…[because it is used to warehouse] women with severe mental health and physical ailments…

If Men Were Angels (#1585)

The main difference between cops and “pastors” appears to be that the latter aren’t typically armed:

…[Illinois] pastor…Douglas R. Overmyer…[was arrested and] charg[ed for sharing]…a video of an…adult male [rap]ing [an underage girl]…“on or about May 20, 2025”…Overmyer [was immediately fired from] Zion Hill [Methodist] Church…he…was…was formerly the Executive Director of CHI RHO Outdoors, a group which “provides boys and young men with engaging outdoor experiences…while instilling valuable life lessons”…

Censor Chic (#1591)

Civil rights mean nothing if fascist corporations eagerly dance to the government’s tune:

The developer of ICEBlock, an app used to track local sightings of [goons, spooks, and pigs, has] sued the U.S. government…for [unconstitutional]ly infringing his free speech rights…Apple removed the app from its store in October [after] the Trump [regime threatened the company]…Apple [absurdly justified its bootlicking by claiming heavily-armed thugs with broad immunity to law constitute a vulnerable group]…In 2019, the company [similarly] removed an app that Hong Kong protesters used to track police movements…[and] Apple [justified the collaboration by barfing the word “]criminals[” at the protesters]…Google…also agreed to [collaborate with fascist tyranny]…

 

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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The left-right nonsense, once confined to politics, has in the past 30-someodd years penetrated all of US culture like cat spray.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-13T18:19:23.319Z

Any slang term is moribund when it is used to describe a number of different, sometimes unrelated or even contradictory, things. "Cringe" has now reached that point; proceed accordingly.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-19T17:52:18.693Z

I'm ready to listen to him; he can't be THAT much worse than what we have now.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-20T17:58:53.721Z

Until I got on social media, I would never have suspected that there were so many people in the US who never, ever, EVER need to transport cargo or disabled people, or travel more than 100 km from their homes.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-21T17:14:00.903Z

One of the more interesting aspects of this time period for me is that I get to see other people saying or agreeing with the kind of statements I've incessantly made for over 40 years, mostly to eye-rolling and dismissal.You bet I'm gonna say "I told you so".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-22T07:37:13.312Z

Actually, if one considers the political conditions which allowed Trump to ascend to the throne and carry out his reign of madness, it is far more accurate to say Trump is working to finish the job Bin Laden started.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-23T17:49:38.750Z

I'm trying to get this to fit the meter of "My Little Buckaroo" and not succeeding.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-24T18:11:09.142Z

Oh please, please, PLEASE let it be so. It'll be much easier for the Invertebrate Party to agree to tear it down if it's structurally unsound.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-25T17:42:06.630Z

This weird 21st-century shit of Trick-or-Treating at random times on random days in October determined by mobs or politicians, instead of on Halloween night, was a sign of cultural decline. Too bad so few recognized that.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-27T17:19:11.215Z

I've decided to start blocking anyone who admits to using a chatbot to write, or obviously does so in the absence of omission. I have no interest in reading computer vomit.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-28T17:40:53.747Z

The Mechanical Turk redux.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-29T07:39:43.119Z

Ever since the "Department of Homeland Security" was created by Bush II, I have referred to it as the "Department of Fatherland Security". People used to claim I was exaggerating. I don't hear that accusation much any more.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-29T19:39:13.880Z

Once again, mainstream voices are starting to agree with what I've been saying since high school > 40 years ago. But knowing what it took to shake people out of their ovine complacency and childish "leader" fantasies, I take no real pleasure in having been right. Cassandra was not a happy person.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-31T18:23:18.074Z

Louisiana, will you please get Landry off his knees? Nobody wants to see their private activities.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-02T02:59:52.276Z

Anybody who's ever had young children knows what it looks like when they're actively engaged in pooping their diapers.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-02T18:03:11.334Z

The more often you call politicians "leaders", the more they will behave like Führers.Go back to calling them "public servants" and treat them like servants rather than nobles.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-03T18:19:14.325Z

Humans are the ONLY entities we know who can make ANY art, "great" or otherwise.Computer output is not art. Period. End of discussion.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-04T18:04:19.468Z

Democratic politicians are so brave about criticizing Republican politicians when the subject is dead.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-05T17:36:53.488Z

I'm afraid I'm committed to the ancient-forest-haunting gig for at least the next millennium, or until the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter exorcises me.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-06T08:25:21.562Z

Carl Sagan did not believe in an afterlife. But if he was wrong, I hope he haunts these people into madness.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-07T18:18:30.556Z

"Abducted". They ABDUCTED her from a daycare. "Took" is for inanimate objects, not people, and even then only if they have the owner's permission; otherwise the correct verb is "stole".RIGHT: "A goon took his lunch to work".WRONG: "A goon took a teacher's phone."WRONG: "Goons took a teacher."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-08T19:06:43.666Z

Oh, well that makes it all better, then.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-09T08:26:07.790Z

You know, Democrats, y'all don't have to keep proving me right, really. I mean, I appreciate the thought, but I'm a big girl and can handle being proven wrong once in a while. Truthfully, it'd be kinda nice.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-10T18:22:33.566Z

Stop referring the characters in computer-generated videos as they were people. These videos are animations, even if they look real; those who appear in them are therefore cartoon characters, and should be described as such.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-11T17:44:21.958Z

Reporters: please stop using the word "shocking" to describe the actions of the Trump regime. Anybody who is still shocked by Trumpist behavior after 10 months of this is either hopelessly stupid or deeply in need of professional help.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-12T22:23:07.794Z

"Drug boat!" is the new "It's coming right for us!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTrM…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-14T20:12:22.312Z

This buffoon is so fixated on winning vs losing, he actually thinks a medical test is like a school test. It's obvious in the way he refers to things like getting an "outstanding" result from an MRI.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-15T08:20:55.352Z

For the same reason she's advertising her IQ on her hat.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-16T17:41:53.127Z

 

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Recovered memory stuff…[is] a revenant that keeps popping out of the grave.  –  Richard McNally

If Men Were Angels

It’s telling how often “authorities” willing to pay for sex prefer underage girls:

A Missouri [preacher named]…Daniel Smathers…[was found] guilty of [“sex]…trafficking[” for paying an underage sex worker, and]…sentenced to 35 years in prison…He was arrested in 2022 after…the…girl[‘s]…mother…found social media posts about her daughter seeking a…sugar daddy[ and reported it to the cops, triggering an investigation]…

Time Warp

Here’s another bizarrely-anachronistic article that reads like something from the height of “sex trafficking” hysteria 13 years ago.  This time it’s from The New York Times, the rag which first launched “sex trafficking” hysteria in January of 2004 and was among its most aggressive promoters until Trumpists gained control of the narrative in 2020 and the Times pivoted to describing their own pet fantasy as a “right-wing conspiracy theory“.  But apparently, copsucker Emily Nunn was busy joyriding with cops when that memo came down, because she’s still not only still characterizing sex workers as pathetic, doll-like vegetables passively controlled by evil “pimps”, but also babbling about “hubs” and claiming that a single street can be a “notorious sex-trafficking corridor”.  Don’t waste your time reading this trash, because it’s the same recycled cop wanking fantasies regular readers have already seen a thousand times.

False Witness (#1105)

The dangerous and discredited doctrine of “repressed memories” is back under a new alias:

…Internal Family Systems…[is] a [pseudoscientific “]therapy[“] centered on…the [belief] that each individual has multiple selves…known as parts…[each] a literal personality with its own identity, age, feelings, even body…[it was invented during the Satanic Panic] in the 1980s…[but] has exploded in social media…Gwyneth Paltrow has praised IFS on her Goop[y Vaginas] podcast…[but actual] psychiatrists and psychologists…are…warning…[that] IFS [is]…a dangerous pseudoscience…that…[can] destabilize already fragile mental states…Former [victims of the practice report seeing]…women crawling around like babies or lying in fetal positions…run[ning] in circles screaming…[or pretending to] switch ages, genders, even species…in group sessions t[hey invent gruesome] stories of parents pimping out their daughters to entire neighborhoods, a grandmother molesting a child in a bathtub, a child forced into a meat locker with dead animals…[or] sexual abuse as an infant…former [victims have]…sue[d practitioners who]…took advantage of [their]…emotionally distressed state to make [them] believe th[ey]’d been repeatedly raped [in]…satanic cult[s] and…[forced to eat] babies…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1463)

Phrenology for tech worshipers:

…Personality assessments are an accepted part of [job] recruitment processes.  They normally involve candidates taking surveys and guessing what…answer[s the potential employer wants to see.  But popular pseudoscience claims]…personality types can be encoded in facial features, and that [machine learning algorithms] can spot them…and…predict…[a potential employee’s ability to serve the corporate machine acceptably]…one of [a] new paper’s authors…[thinks it would be a great idea to force potential borrowers to submit to] facial analysis [to] give lenders useful clues about a person’s propensity to repay loans…

Micromanagement (#1543)

It only starts with people the state wants you to hate and distrust:

proposed change to a Department of [Father]land Security…rule could impose “biological sex” DNA testing on millions of immigrants and Americans as part of the Department’s mass biometric surveillance program—which also includes retinal scans, voice capture, and more.  In addition to the obvious human rights violations posed by the changes—which, among other things, would amend policy to allow children to be targeted by biometric surveillance—it would put a target on the back of…women and [gender-nonconforming] people…citizens and non-citizens alike…The policy as proposed doesn’t have…any safeguards for privacy or constitutionality—the government can retain someone’s DNA profile indefinitely…to…track individuals in perpetuity through “continuous vetting”…

Shame, Shame (#1577)

Do nitwits still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology?

Social media accounts on TikTok and [Twitter] are posting [computer]-generated videos of women and girls being strangled…One [Twitter] account…has been posting dozens of [such] videos [since] mid-October.  The[y]…are usually 10 seconds long and mostly feature a [cartoon of a] “teenage girl” being strangled, crying, and struggling to resist until her eyes close and she falls to the ground…

Torture Chamber (#1585)

This will continue until the evil US immigration policy is reformed:

A federal judge [has] issued a temporary restraining order…in response to an emergency class action lawsuit filed on behalf of individuals who have been [locked up in] the Broadview…ICE…[dungeon] near Chicago.  The order requires that the [hellhole] provide [victims] with clean bedding and space to sleep, basic hygiene supplies, showers, free water, and three full meals a day.  [Victims] must also be given their prescribed medications and be allowed to communicate with attorneys…ICE [victims]…in…Broadview…[are locked up] in…cell[s] with roughly 150 other people, [forced to attempt to] sleep…on the floor…near overflowing toilets, inoperable showers, and a lack of hygiene products like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap…the…[food is] cold…[and prepared under unsanitary conditions that give many prisoners] diarrhea….[which they must endure on] a toilet…inside the…crowded…cell…[without] privacy…[they are] denied access to an attorney while being [tortured as described so as to induce them] to sign legal documents…relinquish[ing] their rights…[torturers] argue that [they should be allowed to torture people by labeling] Broadview…a [“]temporary holding facility” even though…it has really become a prison…

 

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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Amazon [is] serving as a midwife for…law enforcement technologies.  –  Jay Stanley

The Punitive Mindset (Chamber of Horrors) 

“Drug” fantasies are just a pretext; the real reasons for this are petty torture of prisoners and more profits for the carceral state’s fascist partners:

The Illinois Department of [Torturing Caged Humans] will now permanently scan most physical mail sent to [its victims] and…upload…[it] to [the overpriced, substandard] tablet [prisoners are forced to buy if they want to read anything or have any contact with the outside world]…the [only exception is]…legal mail…the [screws’] union…has encouraged the move [to help obscure the well-known fact that drugs in prisons are smuggled in by screws]…the department [even absurdly vomited the word “]emergency[” to justify the move]…But a bipartisan legislative committee [refused] to [buy] the [claim]…at least 14 other states [deny their victims] physical mail…[even though] the rate of random positive drug tests [dramatically increase after such schemes are implemented, as do overdose rates]. In Ohio, lawyers [have reported that screws] are opening confidential mail

I Spy (#1469)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

ICE…has bought access to a surveillance tool that is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones…this…gives ICE…an “all-in-one” tool for searching both masses of location data and information taken from social media…without a warrant or court order…ICE spent more than $5 million on…Tangles…and [its tracking add-on] Webloc [which were developed] by an Israeli company called Cobwebs…[which merged with another fascist conglomerate called] Penlink in July 2023

Welcome to the Future (#1475)

Welcome to the “safe” future you keep voting for:

…Amazon’s [Orwellian-named “]law enforcement and school safety team[“], led by a…Washington [cop], is aggressively courting new customers…[for] its own surveillance offerings and an expanding array of [surveillance] tools that run on its [servers], among them…car tracking from…Flock…[ML systems]…with billions of records on U.S. citizens from Lucidus…now owned by Flock…app…[connected fascist fusion] centersGun detection software from ZeroEyes…[LLMs] that can…write police reports…[algorithms] from Veritone [which] can identify and track individuals in surveillance footage or video posted to social media…[and] Verus…which constantly monitors and transcribes [im]prison[ed human beings’ phone] calls

I Spy (#1513)

Politicians will never stop until privacy is completely abolished:

The UK government…is…[once again trying] to [force] Apple to create a backdoor into its cloud storage service, this time targeting only British users’ data…In February, Apple withdrew its most secure cloud storage service, iCloud Advanced Data Protection, from the UK [in response to the previous spying attempt]…Caroline Wilson Palow…of…Privacy International…[points out that] the new [attempt is]…“just as big a threat to worldwide security and privacy” as the old one…“If Apple breaks end-to-end encryption for the UK, it breaks it for everyone.  The resulting vulnerability can be exploited by [governments], [cop]s and other bad actors the world over”…

Thought Control (#1537)

It took seven years for people to start fighting wannabe censors:

Educated We Stand, a national nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending public education…has quickly become a counterweight to Moms for Liberty and other groups pushing [pro-censorship] “parental rights” agendas in education.  The group reported a 78% win rate in endorsed school board races nationwide last year, including major victories in Florida, Wisconsin, and Michigan…The organization…raised more than $375,000 in grassroots donations in its first six months and says its mission is to fight book bans, elevate the voices of teachers and parents, and champion equity-focused, evidence-based policies…

Welcome to the Future (#1540)

Privacy as we once knew it will soon be a thing of the past:

The U.K. may be about to…require every adult…to have a digital ID in order to work in the country, with these IDs becoming mandatory by 2029…when somebody presents a plastic driver’s license, that interaction is between the two parties, and the government is none the wiser…But digital…IDs…are…built so…the system notifies the government every time [they are] used…giving the government the ability to track [physical movements and internet] history…a digital ID system, once created, would prove catnip to politicians…[who would demand its] use…for taxes, travel, health records…government benefits…social media accounts…[and] age-gated websites…[and would] link…[it] to facial recognition…database[s]…a lot of bad ideas regarding technology…in Europe, and especially the U.K., seem to wind their way over to the U.S. eventually…And as of June, 13 states had launched digital driver’s license systems and an additional 21 have passed legislation that would enable or study such a system…

Walled Garden (#1573)

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

Bluesky will begin [forcing adult Ohio] users…[who don’t have VPNs] to [submit to intrusive surveillance via]…Kids Web Services’ (KWS)…This is the same [concess]ion [to censors] that Bluesky is already using in South Dakota and Wyoming to comply with similar laws…

 

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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All radio stations and most of their DJ’s are a part of the intelligence community.  –  Jacob Chansley

When Jesse Walker recently tweeted an article about the bicentennial of the Erie Canal, I went to YouTube to find a video of this folk song, and was delighted to find this excellent version by Bruce Springsteen.  Jesse also shared all the links other than “toxic” (IncarcerNation), “Jane Goodall” (Mike Siegel), and “television” (Yasmin Nair).

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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You’re not the minority anymore.  –  Old Karen’s friend

When Mike Siegel tweeted a TikTok video of Creepy Stare Piano Guy performing “My Heart Will Go On” on rubber chickens, I went to YouTube to find a copy I could embed, but it was not there.  However, this cover of the same song by a different deadpan rubber chicken musician was, so here you go.  The links above it were provided by Nun Ya (x2), Ryan Marino (x2), Mike Siegel again, and Radley Balko, 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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There is no historical context for this.  –  Scott Robinson

Counterfeit Comfort (#1254) 

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

The Queensland government will…table legislation creating Australia’s first public [“]child[“] sex offender register.  The Queensland legislation, [like so much bad legislation], was named [for a dead kid]…The government [lied]…that safeguards will be put in place to prevent…vigilantism…a lot of evidence about…[such] schemes…shows all forms of registries are highly unlikely to fulfil the outcomes [politicians pretend]…registration scheme[s] make…no difference to rates of sexual offending…[because] most sex offences are committed by those who have not previously been convicted of a sex offence…Most sex offenders are known to their victims…Perpetrators are unlikely to ever fit back into public life if they have been the targets of harassment, victimisation, exclusion and eviction…shaming specific people can extend to their family members as well…and…ineffective solutions to serious problems distracts poli[tician]s from searching for more effective ways to reduce victimisation

Choke Point (#1286)

PayPal is becoming a major threat to civil liberties:

…PayPal has frozen all of [a game programmer’s] funds…to…the…[tune] of…£80,000 GBP [using the excuse that]…the programmer…[is] involve[d]…in the development of adult games [even though]…the game…does not contain any elements that could potentially violate UK laws…[and] the actual sales of the game are not being processed through PayPal, which means none of the programmer’s assets come directly from customers buying the adult content…

People, please do not keep any appreciable amount of money in PayPal!  I transfer any funds on the site to my bank account every morning, even if it’s under $10, and I advise everyone else to do the same.

See No Evil (#1386)

The Japanese are the only people left on Earth who can tell fantasy from reality:

A young [English]man travelling to a comic book convention in the United States was stopped by [Irish spooks] at Dublin Airport and [subjected to a warrantless search of his phone which found Japanese cartoons]…Finley Bowd…was arrested…[and] charged with [having copies of cartoons featuring wholly fictional characters which resemble children to Western eyes despite all Japanese animation characters looking like that.  The spooks also stole]…his phone…[and vomited the magic formula “]category-three child pornography[” in his face]…

Panopticon (#1449)

Much more of this, please:

The City of Evanston [Illinois] has shut down its network of automated license plate readers…and will end its contract with vendor Flock Safety early after a state audit found the company was illegally sharing Illinois data with federal agencies…all 19 cameras operated by the city are “deactivated,” and…the…notice to terminate its contract [will be] effective Sept. 26.  The decision [wa]s attributed to…a system audit…which…[was] ordered…in late June after…404 Media reported that out-of-state police had searched cameras in Illinois cities for use in…[persecution of] migra[nts, including those in]…Evanston…

Unchristian Nation (#1502)

Government thugs continue their crusade against Christian charity:

The Department of [Father]land Security is now barring states and volunteer groups that receive government funds from helping undocumented immigrants…[and demands such] groups…co[llabo]rate with [goons to help them inflict violence on people]…FEMA employees and emergency management experts said the new requirements…would make it harder for nonprofits to help the most vulnerable Americans in the aftermath of a disaster…the new requirements are [un]constitutional and…violate some local and state laws that prevent asking about a person’s immigration status…The bulk of disaster-volunteer groups…are…faith-based organizations…so…[the order is a violation of their] First Amendment rights…

I Spy (#1547)

Elon Musk’s “DOGE” didn’t “fail”; it accomplished exactly what he intended:

[Elon Musk’s “DOGE” goons] uploaded a copy of a crucial Social Security database in June to a vulnerable cloud server, putting the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans at risk of being leaked or hacked…The database contains records of all Social Security numbers issued by the federal government…includ[ing] individuals’ full names, addresses and birth dates, among other details that could be used to steal their identities…Charles Borges, [the Social Security official who reported the security breach]…said DOGE [goons illegally] copied the data to an internal agency server that only DOGE could access, forgoing the…“independent security monitoring” [leg]ally required under agency policy…his complaint cites an official…assessment that…warned of “catastrophic impact” to Social Security beneficiaries and programs if the database were to be compromised…and the government may be responsible for reissuing every American a new Social Security number at great cost…the…[apparent motive for the crime] was to [enable mad emperor Trump’s desire for an illegal fusion of all] government [data into a single, searchable database to make every American easier to target with government violence]…


The Cop Myth (#1560)

Good riddance to bad rubbish:

A…Border Patrol [goon] who was recently charged with assaulting a Long Beach [California cop] and resisting arrest has died…Isaiah Anthony Hodgson…[also drunkenly barged] in[to] a women’s restroom at a restaurant…and th[reatened a woman there with a gun]…

Nothing was said about the cause of death, but given that this dangerous pile of shit was only 29, it seems likely it was suicide.

 

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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If [every single]…book…[in] public school libraries constitutes government speech, the State is babbling prodigiously and incoherently.  –  Frederick Sperling

If Men Were Angels

Another “youth pastor”, another distancing “former”:

A Jersey City pastor [named]…Robert Anthony…Langston…[repeatedly molested at least] two [boys under 15 while he was “youth pastor”] of Landmark Tabernacle in Denver…in [the late ’90s.  One of the]…victims…had an abusive situation at home…[and] was groomed…to…accompan[y] Langston and his wife as they evangelized across the U.S. and eventually settled in Jersey City…[where] he…continued to be “groped and assaulted” by the pastor after [2003]…he…was “very scared” to report the abuse because “the church is very anti-homosexuality.”  The second victim…[said] Langston…“appeared to prefer boys in the church who had absent fathers or were raised by their grandparents”…

To Molest and Rape

Some rapist cops are indiscriminate in their habits:

A [California cop named]…Juan Pensina…[has been] arrest[ed on numerous charges of forcible vaginal, anal, and oral rape, but also rewarded with a paid vacation]…Pensina [raped some of] the…victims while [wearing his magical clown costume] and…[some not, both in his pigmobile and] in…[other places]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1537)

What kind of warped mind thinks this is OK?

A Minnesota teen [has] filed a charge of discrimination against a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant…after…a server followed her into the women’s restroom and demanded she “prove” she was a girl.  Gerika Mudra…[was harassed by the] server[, who]…banged on the stall door while saying, “This is a women’s restroom. The man needs to get out of here”…Mudra, a biracial lesbian who is not transgender, said she’s been in similar situations before…but…[this] woman [would not] leave her alone…[until] she unzipped her hoodie to show she has breasts.  The server didn’t say anything in response but left the restroom…

Thought Control (#1548)

Florida censors lose every challenge, but it doesn’t stop them:

A federal judge…struck down [most] of a Florida law that’s been used to remove [thousan]ds of books from public school libraries since it was enacted in 2023…Judge Carlos Mendoza…struck down…[provisions] that made it easier to challenge books if they included any sexual content…[so] the…[standard] reverts back to…the Miller Test…The 2023 law…[had exposed] educators…to…criminal penalties and los[s of] their teaching certificates if [any censorious Froot Loop chose to point at any book while barfing the word “]inappropriate[“]…As a result, Florida led the country in school book bans last year with 4,561 instances…State officials [horrifyingly] argued…that Florida was entitled to regulate books in public school libraries [because] such actions amounted to…“government speech”…

Mad Libs (#1550)

These algorithms are not only unintelligent; they are making those who use them less intelligent as well:

…doctors [who rely on chatbots can lose] skills after just a few months…a new study..[showed machine learning programs could] help…health professionals…detect pre-cancerous growths in the colon, but when the assistance was removed, their ability to find tumors dropped by about 20% compared with rates before the tool was ever introduced…[bureaucrats] around the world are…[trying to cram so-called “]AI[” in]to [healthcare systems] with a view to boosting…pro[fitabil]ity…[but] doctors [quickly] become over-reliant on its recommendations, “leading to clinicians becoming less motivated, less focused, and less responsible when making cognitive decisions without [computer interfere]nce,” the…paper [said]…Yuichi Mori…one of the scientists involved, predicted that the effects of de-skilling will “probably be higher” as [machine learning systems are crammed into more areas of expertise]…

Walled Garden

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

…age verification laws went into effect in Wyoming and South Dakota, requiring sites [any politician points at while barfing the formula] “material that is harmful to minors” to verify visitors are over 18 years old.  Th[is is not] just…two more states joining the nearly 30 that have [embraced]…invasive, ineffective methods of keeping kids away from porn online…[because] unlike the laws passed in other states, they don’t state that this applies only to sites with “33.3 percent” or one-third “harmful” material…which…opens a huge swath of sites to the [surveillance] burden…The same [pro-censorship gangs] that have lobbied for age verification laws…have also spent years targeting social media platforms…and…streaming services like Netflix, for hosting adult content…age-gating the entire internet only pushes adult consumers and [adolescents] alike into less-regulated…spaces and situations, while everyone just uses VPNs to get around gates

The Cop Myth (#1562)

It’s too bad they don’t inflict all of their violence on each other:

Carlos Baker, the Chicago [cop] who [murdered] his partner Krystal Rivera…[has now] attacked a[nother] female [cop]…The [victim reported]…that Baker and another woman beat her [on August 10th] at [a] bar…[because she wouldn’t] delete [certain] videos taken on her cellphone…[she] escaped, with the help of others, and had a friend take her to [the] hospital…It’s not clear what’s on the videos…Officials…have referred to the shooting [of Rivera] as an accident, but [her] family has called for an outside investigation …[because] Rivera had been a key witness to the theft of a…gun…and [Baker may have wanted to silence her.  His]…career as a cop has been [characteriz]ed by disciplinary problems from the start, including a complaint…[due to his stalking] another…woman at a bar…[and threatening] her…[with] a gun…and…more than a dozen [other reports] of misconduct since joining the [pig herd] in December 2021…

 

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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