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Posts Tagged ‘Illinois’

Law enforcement feels they can treat mental health issues like criminal issues.  –  Ben Crump

Torture Chamber

This will continue until journalists stop obediently referring to senseless violence as “correction”:

A [ga]ng of [screws] at a Memphis jail used handcuffs as makeshift brass knuckles to beat a Black inmate and kneeled on his back and neck until he went limp in a pool of blood, according to surveillance video…The county medical examiner ruled Gershun Freeman’s death on Oct. 5, 2022, a homicide…Freeman seemed to be experiencing a mental health crisis and was [confin]ed naked and alone to minimize the risk of [escaping further torture by killing himself]…surveillance video shows two [screws decided to]…mace…him [for no particular reason]…Freeman is seen shielding himself from the mace with an orange piece of fabric, which he was given [in lieu of an actual blanket]…and…attempting to…bat away the mace can…at least seven [screws used that as an excuse to attack Freeman]…kicking…and beating him with fists, handcuffs…mace cans…heavy rings of jailer’s keys…and “sets of brass handcuff keys”…[until he succumbed, then] kneeling on [his] back, neck and head for over five minutes…[until he] stopped breathing…jail staff did not perform CPR or attempt any resuscitation…[instead walking] over…[his] body, until medical staff arrived…

Torture Chamber (#1116)

Remember, these people were locked in this cage facility because of US policies:

Guards…in [a prison for migrants]…walked out of the burning building as screams could be heard on the street in downtown Ciudad Juárez.  Thirty-nine migrants died locked in that cell as the [cage stack] burned on the night of March 27, and another died later at the hospital…Survivors say those who died did so for one reason: they could not or did not pay a $200 bribe to s[crews] to be released…the…jail…was a de facto “extortion center,” where only migrants with the means to pay were released.  Others would have to stay in jail and be sent to Mexico City or deported back to their origin country…

Torture Chamber (#1292)

Yelling “Stop faking!” at the sick and dying is one of screws’ favorite games:

Ta’Neasha Chappell was arrested for theft in Brownstown, Indiana, in May 2021…Her bail was set at $4,000—an amount too high for her family to pay…On July 15, [she] became mysteriously and violently ill…she called for help repeatedly throughout the night…[as] she was throwing up blood.  During the night she became increasingly incoherent, stripping off her clothes and soiling herself…no one provided medical care or called an ambulance…At 3:12, a jail employee told Chappell—who was lying on the floor moaning, “This just makes us think you’re faking it”…she was pronounced dead at 5:45 that evening…Chappell’s death was “probable toxicity from an unknown substance,” based upon “a green liquid in Chappell’s abdomen and her altered mental state, among others”…several inmates…said that Chappell had been poisoned by other prisoners, who “had allegedly been slipping a cleaning product…into her food and drink”…Chappell’s…family has filed a lawsuit against the jail employees who ignored her cries for help…Chappell is not the first person to die under mysterious circumstances in the Jackson County Jail.  In August 2021, Joshua McLemore, a man with untreated schizophrenia died of multiple organ failure after he was left in a solitary cell for three weeks—during which time he refused to eat and became increasingly delirious.  McLemore’s family has also filed a lawsuit against the jail…

Here’s more detail on the McLemore case:

…Joshua McLemore…was l[ocked] in a small, windowless cell for 20 days straight in Jackson county jail in July and August of 2021.  The cell had no bed or bathroom and had fluorescent lights on at all hours.  In [recently-released surveillance] footage, McLemore, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, appears detached from reality, speaking gibberish, rolling in filth and his own waste and becoming clearly emaciated.  He received daily meals through a small slot in his jail door, but appears to have rarely eaten them.  H[is only] human interactions [were] on…four occasions…when guards [decided to mindlessly brutalize] him…McLemore [had originally been hospitalized for]…psychosis…[but] when…he pulled [a nurse’s] hair…a guard…called…police, which sent [a whole gang of thugs]…to…carry…him out of the hospital in his underwear [and throw him into the dungeon where he eventually died]…

Of course, Georgia has an unusually-high number of these as well:

A 32-year-old man [locked in a cage] at Georgia’s Clayton County Jail begged for medical help for nearly two months before succumbing to testicular cancer in January…Alan Willison had been locked up at the scandal-plagued jail since October on a third-degree forgery charge.  In November, he began complaining of severe pain and swelling in one of his testicles, but [screws]…gave him only over-the-counter medication to manage his pain.  “NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL,” Willison wrote in a Nov. 23 request for medical care…In early December, Willison received testing indicating that he likely had cancer, but it was not until Jan. 19 that he saw a urologist, who officially diagnosed him.  He died a week later, on Jan. 26…the Clayton County Medical Examiner…determined that Willison had died of testicular cancer complicated by medical neglect….unhygienic living conditions at the jail…malnourishment and physical abuse…

Another case from Georgia:

LaShawn Thompson was at the Fulton County Jail for three months before he was found dead in a jail cell…”[that] was not fit for a diseased animal”…Thompson…had mental issues…but [screws] did nothing to administer aid to him or help him…until he died…[covered with bites from bed]bugs and [other] insects…

The Punitive Mindset (#1294) 

“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:

P[ropaganda about] drug overdoses in the jail…[is being used by well-known prohibition fantasist] Tom Dart…[as an excuse to] ban…visitors from bringing in paper, including documents routinely carried by attorneys fulfilling their constitutional duty to provide legal counsel to [Dart’s victims].  The facility…is among jails and prisons across the country [pre]tending…th[at]…paper soaked with illegal narcotics…[is the the cause of overdoses, despite the fact that it is well-known that drugs in jails are smuggled in by screws, as demonstrated by the fact that overdoses actually increase when mail and books from outside are banned]…Dart’s office…[c]ould not provide any…[actual facts to support the cop fantasy of] overdoses tied to deadly paper…Cook County Public Defender Sharone R. Mitchell Jr.’s office…seemed surprised and distressed by the restrictions…[which appear to be aimed at forcing] public defenders to share information with their clients…[via] computers [so cops can secretly spy on conversations they are not legally allowed to access]…

No Escape

Your “leaders” refer to state-employed thugs raping women as “correction”:

[After] raping a…[prisoner]…a [Tennessee screw named]…James Thomas…[not only] still works as a [screw] for the Maury County Sheriff’s department…but…was given a raise…

In the rest of this confused mess of a news item, a so-called “victims’ advocate” burbles nonsense about “sending messages“, while the reporter thinks a 60-word digression about the rapist’s sister is more important than the crime the story is supposed to be about.

No Escape (#1312)

Prosecutors are rarely interested in going after rapists with badges:

Terry Grassaree [got away with rape] for years b[ecause he was first a cop and later sheriff]…in Macon, Miss…There were [regular]…rape[s] inside the jail [by] Grassaree…and [others, both cops and prisoners, and Grassaree always]…covered up the episodes.  At least five people, including one of his fellow deputies, [witness]ed him…beating [prison]ers or choking them with a police baton…Now, more than three years after losing an election and retiring, and 16 years after a woman first [report]ed that…Grassaree pressured her to lie about being raped, the [typical and representative] sheriff faces criminal charges…of…bribery [rather than rape and assault]…

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 authorities…seek to punish a preschool for being a place where there are preschoolers.  –  Lenore Skenazy

Droit du Seigneur

Note that the dysphemism “sex trafficking” is conspicuously absent here:

A [typical and representative] San Diego [cop] who used his badge and his knowledge to run a string of massage…parlors in California and Arizona pleaded guilty…to federal charges.  Peter Griffin and three other defendants entered pleas…to racketeering-related conspiracy, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and other crimes…The wire fraud charge carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a $1-million fine…

Moloch 

Is this idiotic enough yet?  Can we stop now?

Two Colorado child care workers will go on trial this June for presiding over a day care center where a 5-year-old pulled down a 3-year-old’s pants.  Amy Lovato and Roberta Rodriguez…face criminal charges for not reporting this incident to the authorities quickly enough…Jason Flores-Williams, Lovato’s attorney…ask[ed the judge] to dismiss…charges….[which] “criminalize preschool behavior by turning a 5-year-old into a deviant and a 3-year-old into a victim for acts that are neither sexual, abusive, criminal, negligent, or against any reasonable person or community standard.”  Judge [Brian] Green denied the…motion…on January 16…one of the kids wet their pants, [so] Lovato left the classroom for between 3 and 5 minutes to clean the kid and deposit the wet clothes in the laundry.  When she returned, she saw the 5-year-old “crouched over” a 3-year-old who later told Lovato that the boy had tried to pull her pants down and touch her butt…The school did not ignore this misbehavior.  It called the parents involved…[and] reported the touching incidents to the child welfare department …[but the prosecutor claims they did] not report…the incidents immediately enough…three days later…[though] the question of how quickly a school must report an incident of abuse is vague.  So, it seems, is the definition of abuse.  And so is whether leaving the room to clean off a pee-soaked kid constitutes neglect…

I Can’t Breathe

It’s about time professionals stopped allowing themselves to be used to hide police violence:

A leading group of medical experts says the term “excited delirium” should not be listed as a cause of death…[because it is only] used to justify excessive force by police.  The National Association of Medical Examiners had been one of the last to take a stand against the commonly used but [unscientific] term…The statement has no legal weight, but will be influential among medical examiners…the term…[i]s unscientific, rooted in racism — and a way to hide police officers’ culpability in deaths.  The American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association do not recognize excited delirium as a diagnosis.  Yet…police training materials [think they have a right to invent convenient medical diagnoses that fly in the face of medical science]…Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., who chairs the pathology department at Howard University…[says] “It’s not a real explanation for the death”…

Quiet Genocide (#1075)

There was a time when the West might’ve taken a stand against this, but no more:

…the Kutadgu Bilik bookshop [in Istanbul] is a trove of Uyghur culture…[which has been repeatedly] raided by the Turkish police…[stealing] hundreds of books…[each] time…Uyghur literature has…been a prime target [of the Chinese genocide], with dozens of renowned writers, poets, publishers and academics disappeared into the labyrinthine system of [concentration] camps.  This has all but destroyed the small trickle of books coming out of the region, severing a critical link between those who escaped and those still trapped inside…Abdulla Turkistanli, the bookshop owner…said…there are usually only two to four copies of any given title in [his] shop.  The Turkish police, when they raid the shop, [use the pretext] that Turkistanli does not have the copyrights necessary to reprint [them, but]…acquiring the copyrights…is impossible without the cooperation of Chinese authorities.  Even contacting the authors…is impossible…[because] around 90% of the books in his shop were written by people who have been swallowed up by the prisons and re-education camps.  He believes that the Turkish police are acting under pressure from the Chinese state when they raid Uyghur bookshops…

Dangerous Speech (#1276)

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less’.

…Lacey and Larkin’s attorneys…argue…that the DOJ’s indictment and prosecution…of [their clients] and four others…is fatally flawed and should be dismissed…The motion points to the government’s stance…in…the Woodhull Freedom Foundation’s constitutional challenge to…FOSTA…which…[claims] the verbs “promote” and “facilitate”…are legal “terms of art” and do not have the same meanings as in everyday speech…[they] assert that the phrase “promote or facilitate” is the same as “aid and abet,” which requires proof that the defendant intended to facilitate the commission of a specific underlying criminal act — in this case, prostitution.  Meanwhile…in Arizona…prosecutors have consistently fought such an interpretation, arguing that “promote” and “facilitate” are much broader and open to various meanings…The defense…argues that the government should not be allowed to railroad Lacey and Larkin, using a broader legal standard…since the DOJ is simultaneously attempting to thwart a constitutional challenge on the other side of the country by insisting that the Travel Act should adhere to a far more stringent standard…

Monsters (#1288) 

All around the world, monsters claim the “right” to persecute and torture sexual minorities:

Human Rights Watch…accused Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Grindr of not doing enough to prevent violence against LGBTQ+ users by [cops] in…Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia…[the cops] sometimes publish…[their victims’] personal information on social media, leaving them subject to familial violence or homelessness.  Other [times they trick them]…in [order to]…unlawfully search…their personal devices, often under threat of violence…[in order to] collect…private information that’ll enable them to prosecute the [victim] and their [friends]…“When police…could not find [incriminating] information…they [simply]…fabricated chats to justify…detention”…detainees are jailed under vague, trumped-up “morality,” “debauchery,” “prostitution,” and “cybercrime” charges…they’re interrogated; denied access to lawyers, visitors, or medical care; verbally abused; subjected to forced anal examinations…sexually assaulted; tortured; and forced to sign confessions…

To Molest and Rape (#1326)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:  “A Chicago [cop named David Deleon]…sexually abused a minor…[he was] report[ed to other cops by his victim]…

 

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 Nordic model has a stronger effect on increasing rape than criminalization does.  –  Huasheng Gao and Vanya Petrova

Full of Themselves (#755)

How pompously puritanical need one be to believe that consensual sex constitutes “a dangerous criminal record”?

…in Illinois, a dangerous criminal record may not stop people from becoming licensed massage therapists…A conviction of sexual misconduct, prostitution, rape, or any other offense requiring registration as a sex offender automatically bars an applicant from obtaining a massage therapist license.  But this is not the case for first-degree murder, armed robbery, aggravated battery…assault, stalking…and kidnapping…so [politicians want even more]…regulations for massage therapy license applicants…

Capricious Lusts (#788)

Another study shows what’s already been shown over & over again:

Liberalizing prostitution laws “leads to a significant decrease in rape rates,” according to a study published in The Journal of Law and Economics, “while prohibiting it leads to a significant increase”…researchers Huasheng Gao and Vanya Petrova of China’s Fudan University looked at data from 31 European countries, spanning a period between 1990 and 2017.  During this time period, eight countries (Spain, Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlands, Germany, Slovenia, Latvia, and Romania) liberalized their prostitution laws while six countries (Sweden, Croatia, Norway, Iceland, France, and Ireland) cracked down on prostitution…liberalizing…was linked to a significant decrease in rape rates, while prohibition was linked to a significant increase—but…”the magnitude of prohibiting commercial sex is about four times as large as that of liberalizing it”…The average rape rate in the sample countries was nine rapes per 100,000 people.  Countries that liberalized prostitution laws saw a decrease of approximately three rapes per 100,000…[while] countries that…further criminalized…saw an increase of around 11 rapes per 100,000…

A Moral Cancer (#991)

Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:

[Since] Massachusetts became the first state…to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco and nicotine products…four additional states have…imposed…similar policies…but the latest data from Massachusetts highlight the ban’s [predict]ed consequences [coming to pass]…As opponents of the flavor ban predicted, the law has incentivized black market sales of menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes…Revenue officials are s[teal]ing so many [smuggled] products, in fact, that they are running out of room to store them…tobacco tax revenue has fallen by approximately 22.6 percent over three years…[and] the decline in cigarette sales in Massachusetts coincided with substantial increases in sales in counties bordering the state…

To Molest and Rape (#1225)

This is a cop’s idea of “friendship”:

New Mexico [cop] Kevin Keiner [was rewarded with a paid vacation for]…raping a…woman [who foolishly believed he was her friend]…the woman…called…Keiner…to pick her up…after she’d gotten into a…[drunken] argument with her brother and another woman…Keiner [was wearing his magical clown costume when]…he picked the woman up [in his pigmobile] and took her to his home…The woman…blacked out….[and] the next thing she remembers is that Keiner was on top of her….Keiner [is of course claiming she wanted it and came onto him]…

Torture Chamber (#1287)

The government needs to be buried in lawsuits before this will stop:

[Young people] detained [without having been convicted of any crime] at the Baltimore County Detention Center are locked up for 23 hours a day in rat-infested cells that sometimes flood with sewage water…The jail is [refusing to] comply…with federal laws governing juvenile detention, said Deborah St. Jean, director of the public defender’s Juvenile Protection Division.  She asked for the “immediate transfer” of detained youth to the Department of Juvenile Services…

The Mob Rules (#1311)

The primary principle governing politicians’ behavior is “monkey see, monkey do”:

a bill that would require Arkansans to provide identification to use social media sites…is [being] sponsored by [a politician named] Tyler Dees…who [also] has another bill that…would require pornography websites to provide age verification…Th[e first] bill, seemingly modeled on one that recently passed in Utah, would open up the social media companies to civil and criminal penalties…

The Last Shall Be First (#1317) 

“Bathroom bills” are back after blessedly vanishing for over three years:

A bill that would criminalize transgender people using restrooms that match their gender identity won initial approval in the Arkansas Legislature…The bill…would allow someone to be charged with misdemeanor sexual indecency with a child if they use a public restroom or changing room “of the opposite sex while knowing a minor of the opposite sex is present”…The legislation goes even further than a North Carolina bathroom law that was enacted in 2016 and later repealed following widespread boycotts and protests.  That law did not include any criminal penalties…

 

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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Lifetime registries are wrong.  –  James H. Maynard

The End of the Beginning

A precedent here could be used against all such evil “registries”:

In New Jersey, individuals found [guilty of]…any act of child abuse or neglect are [condemned to] the state’s child abuse registry for life…one New Jersey man is challenging [that]…in court [because]…those on the registry are barred from working in a wide range of fields, including some that do not involve work with children, like substance abuse programs, county mental health boards, or jail diversion programs.  While the registry is not publicly accessible, a person’s registry status will show up in some background checks…K.C…was placed on the registry after he admitted to committing a sexual offense against a sibling when both were minors.  Even though K.C. has not re-offended in the 25 years since…and has since been removed from the state’s sex offender registry—he is stuck on the state’s child abuse registry…

If Men Were Angels

Clearly “lay pastors” are no better than “youth pastors”:

A [typical and representative] lay pastor at a Big Rock [Illinois] church was sentenced…to 15 years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting and abusing a 9-year-old…Mark Rivera…will have to serve at least 11.7 years before being eligible for parole but will receive credit for the approximately three years he has spent in jail or on electronic home monitoring…

To Molest and Rape

A cop from the original of this title is trying to weasel out of the consequences of his actions:

A [typical and representative] Syracuse [New York] cop [who tried] to silence one of his victims in…2019 is hoping to use his veteran status to avoid yet another criminal conviction.  Chester Thompson…is seeking to resolve…witness tampering and criminal contempt charges by undergoing a program designed for military veterans beset by [PTSD]…It’s unclear whether prosecutors will accept Thompson’s application for the program, which could also include probation and other supervision…Thompson lost his job in 2015 [but suffered only] two misdemeanor official misconduct convictions after admitting to [rap]ing…two…women…[by] using his authority to coerce them…His [rape]s have cost city taxpayers $900,000 in a civil settlement.  But…in July 2019…he…tr[ied] to talk one of his victims out of continuing her lawsuit…[despite] a court order prohibiting…contact with his victim…

Shame, Shame (#1087)

And yet bird-brains still believe realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology:

U.S. Special Operations Command, responsible for some of the country’s most secretive military endeavors, is gearing up to conduct internet propaganda and deception campaigns online using deepfake videos…The plans, which also describe hacking internet-connected devices to eavesdrop in order to assess foreign populations’ susceptibility to propaganda, come at a time of intense global debate over technologically sophisticated “disinformation” campaigns, their effectiveness, and the ethics of their use.  While the U.S. government routinely warns against the risk of deepfakes and is openly working to build tools to counter them, the document from…SOCOM, represents a nearly unprecedented instance of…a…government — openly signaling its desire to use the highly controversial technology offensively…

Panopticon (#1256)

Amazon’s fascist collaboration with cops just keeps getting worse:

The week of last Thanksgiving, Michael Larkin…[of] Hamilton, Ohio…[let cops have] footage from [hi]s…Ring video doorbell, one of…21 Ring cameras in and around his home and business…The [cops] were [spy]ing…on a neighbor, and…wanted videos of “suspicious activity” between 5 and 7 p.m. one night in October.  Larkin [foolishly]…thought that was all the[y]…would [deman]d.  Instead, it was just the beginning.  They asked for more footage…the[n]…a week later, Larkin received a notice from Ring itself: The company had received a warrant, signed by a local judge….[demanding] footage from [all of his] cameras…[including those inside his home and business]…whether or not Larkin was willing to share it…

The Prudish Giant (#1263) 

Why does anyone still trust Facebook?

In the immediate aftermath of the reversal of Roe v. Wade, women worried data from their period-tracking apps could be used to prosecute them…Now, women…need to consider what they write in chat logs, direct messages, and search bars online….ProPublica…found that at least nine online pharmacies that sell abortion medication — Abortion Ease, BestAbortionPill.com, PrivacyPillRX, PillsOnlineRX, Secure Abortion Pills, AbortionRx, Generic Abortion Pills, Abortion Privacy, and Online Abortion Pill Rx — were sharing information like users’ web addresses, relative location, and search data with third-party sites like Google.  That kind of exchange opens that data up to discovery as part of [cop rooting, as in]…the case of Jessica Burgess…who is accused of helping her daughter…[obtain medica]tion in their home state of Nebraska….key…evidence…[included] chat logs…[eagerly handed to rooting pigs] by…Facebook…

A Broker in Pillage (#1266)

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

The [FBI]…regularly s[teal]s cash, cars and other valuables that belong to people who aren’t accused of any crimes.  Months later, many of those people receive a dense, boilerplate notice stating that the FBI plans to keep their property forever, without any explanation of why—a blatantly unconstitutional practice.  That’s what happened to Linda Martin.  When the FBI [stole] her life savings from a safe-deposit box during a 2021 raid of US Private Vaults in Beverly Hills, Calif., she [naively]assumed her money would be returned [by the robbers]…but several months later, she—and hundreds of other innocent people who had their safe-deposit boxes taken—received a notice stating that the government wanted to [keep] her money…the Institute for Justice [has] calculated that from 2017 to 2021 Justice Department agencies gained more than $8 billion through forfeiture, with the FBI taking in more than $1.19 billion of that bounty…In an earlier lawsuit…regarding the US Private Vaults raid, a federal judge declared the FBI’s notices “anemic” and immediately halted forfeiture proceedings…Unfortunately, that ruling applied only to the named plaintiffs in that suit…So [Ms. Martin has]…filed a new class-action lawsuit…seeking to help anyone nationwide who received one of the FBI’s [robbery-justification] notices…

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 can’t switch off a feeling that I was stupid in the first place … I trusted [a cop].  –  “Sonia”

The work of a prolific TV composer may be much better known than its composer; that’s certainly the case with Gerald Fried, who compositions included the theme to Gilligan’s Island, most of the score for Roots, and a number of scores for Star Trek, including this one you’ll probably recognize.  The links above the video were provided by Franklin Harris, Mike Siegel, Cop Crisis (x4), and Lenore Skenazy, 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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First let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.  –  Pope Francis

The Immunity Syndrome (#833)

The tone of this article is remarkably restrained; it doesn’t even use the phrase “super gonorrhea”:

Public health [bureaucrat]s says they have found two cases of gonorrhea that appear to have reduced susceptibility to every kind of antibiotic available…It’s the first time strains of gonorrhea this resistant to antibiotics have been identified in the United States…Dr. Jeffrey Klausner…[of USC said] “It’s a reminder that gonorrhea is becoming…increasingly hard to treat…We haven’t had new antibiotics to treat gonorrhea for years and we really need a different treatment strategy”…

Providing a proper sex education to teenagers, the primary vectors for STI transmission in the US, might be a good start.

Peeping Toms (#871)

There is nothing contradictory about this:

Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.  “Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis said…and he himself referred to the issue in terms of “sin”.  But…these…comments …are the first uttered by a pope about such laws…are…consistent with his…belief that the Catholic Church should welcome everyone…Francis’ remarks come ahead of a trip to Africa, where such laws are common, as they are in the Middle East.  Many date from British colonial times or are inspired by Islamic law…

Droit du Seigneur (#1183)

Better cops escape consequences than this ugly narrative be reinforced yet again:

A Virginia jury rejected claims by a Costa Rican woman who accused a police chief and three o[ther pig]s of conspiring to protect a sex-trafficking ring…[the] jury in[stead]…found that the woman was not a victim of trafficking but a [mundane] sex worker….Police Chief Edwin Roessler…[and his underlings] James Baumstark…Michael Barbazette and Jason Mardocco….protected the [escort service, but the claims of] human trafficking…were [bogus and largely followed the typical script, including]…claim[s]…of…17 [clients] a day and that Sanchez kept…her passport…Defense lawyers pointed out that the woman [repeatedly] traveled [home] to Costa Rica between 2010 and 2015 and returned to Sanchez each time….”She’s willing to say whatever it takes to get what she wants in that moment,” [said defense lawyer] Kim Baucom…

The jury reached the same conclusion I did the first time I heard the story, and I wrote about people credulously accepting this woman’s claims in “Taking the Bait“.  While I certainly sympathize with wanting to see cops suffer consequences for their behavior, the “sex trafficking” paradigm will never die as long as opportunists are rewarded every time they invoke it.

To Molest and Rape (#1257)

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

[A London cop named] Hussain Chehab…pleaded guilty to [repeatedly molesting teenage girls the government had paid him to harass at school, and also]…making [sexual] photographs of [his victims]…Chehab’s offending came to light in July 2021 when the family of a 16-year-old girl raised concerns…that…he…was [molesting their daughter]…The…offences [we]re…all the more [predictable because]…Chehab was [paid by the government to lurk] in…schools [to spy on, harass, and terrorize the students]…

It’s sad that the UK has adopted the school-to-prison pipeline from the US.

The Last Shall Be First (#1299) 

It looks like Florida is aping Texas again:

…Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking state universities for the number and ages of their students who sought or received gender dysphoria treatment, including sex reassignment surgery and hormone prescriptions…Why he’s conducting the survey wasn’t completely clear[, but Texas did something similar last summer]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1304) 

Trans people have become another canary in the civil rights coal mine:

…Legislation in Oklahoma and South Carolina would make it a felony to provide hormonal or surgical transition treatment to transgender people younger than 26…Other bills in both states, and in Kansas  and Mississippi, would ban such care up to age 21.  And bills in more than a dozen states would ban it for minors, which Arkansas was the first to do in 2021…A bill in Mississippi…would define sex as immutably set at birth, denying transgender identities under state law.  A measure in West Virginia would define “any transvestite and/or transgender exposure, performances or display” as obscene, potentially outlawing transgender people’s presence around children…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1306)

The way local media parrots copaganda in the face of clear evidence of its foolishness is utterly pathetic:

The Illinois State Police…has tested…substance[s that triggered panic attacks in a gang of screws, and]…the test came back negative for narcotics or hazardous materials…[despite] the [clowns wasting] Narcan…[and whining all the way to the] hospital…Everyone [who had a panic attack]…has been discharged [and the substance they thought was magical insta-fentanyl]…was [in fact] baby powder…the…department [of locking humans in cages] has [tried to save face by bloviating nonsense about]…further investigation [being] needed to explain the…symptoms [of panic attack]…

 

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 might as well flip a coin.  –  Maria Hartwig, on “deception detection”

Saving Them From Themselves (#681)

This story asks us to feel sorry for a man who was hoist with his own petard:

…[A high] school [principal in]…Colorado…[has been] accused of possessing child pornography…Bradley Bass…is facing up to 12 years in prison and the possibility of being branded a sex offender [just as the teenagers he was trying to catch would have been]…Bass violated a Colorado law that says even unintentionally possessing explicit images of [legal minor]s is…having child pornography…The case began when Bass and…[his boss] Scott Hodgson…[seiz]ed [students’ phones based on a rumor and]…found photos on a few students’ phones, saved in the disappearing photo application Snapchat.  Worried the boys [might escape having their lives destroyed by “child porn” charges via the expedient of]…delet[ing] the photos by logging into their Snapchat accounts remotely, Bass used his work cellphone to take photos of the students’ phones…After police learned the administrators had taken photos of the boys’ phones, they arrested them [just as they wanted the students to be arrested]…

Absolute Corruption (#867)

The prosecutor in this case rode it to become attorney general of Massachusetts:

…Gov. Charlie Baker [of] Massachusetts…[has] recommended pardons for Gerald “Tooky” Amirault and Cheryl Amirault Lefave, who were convicted of sexually abusing young children at their Malden day care…in the [Satanic Panic]…of the…1980s…[despite] the…scientific [and practical absurdity of the claims]…Baker’s office included in its announcement of the pardons a statement of approval from former Attorney General Tom Reilly, who fought as Middlesex district attorney in the 1990s to keep the Amiraults and their mother in prison…

Welcome to the Future (#1191)

Calling 911 = calling the cops. Never call the cops for any reason whatsoever:

[A cop named] Eric Matthews decided Jessica Logan probably killed her baby before he talked to a single eyewitness or collected…any evidence…the coroner hadn’t [even] announced a cause of death.  What Matthews did have was a recording of Logan’s 911 call…[from which he magically divined that]…the 25-year-old…had likely staged the scene to cover up a murder…Matthews…reach[ed this bizarre, megalomaniacal conclusion because]…he had taken a two-day law enforcement training course called “911 homicide: Is the caller the killer?”…the [pseudoscience has]…spread across the country and burrowed deep into the justice system, largely without notice…defense lawyers and judges…often learn…[of] the technique for the first time in the courtroom…[but] hundreds of [cops and other sociopaths and psychopaths]…who have taken the course…now present themselves as experts, able to divine truth and deception — and guilt and innocence — from the word choice, cadence and even grammar of people reporting emergencies…

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1233)

Blaming bad behavior on an imaginary “addiction” is the opposite of admitting responsibility:

A…pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock, Texas who was caught with…child pornography…[tried to excuse his behavior by blaming it on] an addiction…David Lloyd Walther now faces federal charges for distribution, receipt, transportation and possession of child pornography…[includ]ing an image of a nude boy with a collar on his neck and being sexually abused, a similar image of a female toddler…images of nude young boys and girls being restrained by ropes and tools…[and] a bestiality video involving a dog and a female toddler “likely less than three years old”…

Property of the State (#1271)

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

Another Alabama woman has been jailed for using drugs while pregnant.  But this time there’s a twist: she wasn’t actually pregnant.  Her young child merely told a social worker that she was, according to the woman’s lawsuit against…Etowah County…[which locked her in a cage instead of just giving her a] pregnancy test…Etowah County… “has prosecuted more than 150 women on pregnancy-related charges in recent years,” Pregnancy Justice said.  “Of the more than 1,700 pregnancy-related criminalization cases Pregnancy Justice has documented from 1973 through 2020, Alabama leads the nation with more than 600 cases, and Etowah County leads the state.”  Freeman is now suing [pregnancy-persecuting cop Brandi] Fuller and Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1279)

Oh, what a surprise:

[A fantasy that] Halloween candy collected in [Calgary, Alberta was] tainted with fentanyl…is [of course bogus, but the]…RCMP are continuing to [search for some person whose life they can ruin on a bogus charge of]…illicit tampering…a[nother] woman [claimed that] that she found a sewing needle in the wrapping of a chocolate bar her child received while trick-or-treating on the same Halloween night [in the same small city even though it has ever actually happened anywhere since at least the Second World War]…

To Molest and Rape (#1286)

Think a non-cop would’ve been given a mere six years for this?

 A [typical and representative] Charleston [Illinois cop] who fled the country after being charged with three sex crimes was sentenced…to [a mere] six years in prison on lesser charges…David Iwaniw…pleaded guilty…to a charge of official misconduct…[for raping a 17-year-old girl and filming it]…Judge James Glenn sentenced Iwaniw to three years in prison on the official misconduct charge and another three years for fleeing the country, with credit for 313 days already served…[after the rape he told his victim that he would] “hunt her down if she told anyone what happened and that if she told, no one would believe her because he was a police officer”…

 

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 can’t win an unwinnable war.  –  José Irizarry

R.I.P. Carol Leigh

Carol Leigh, one of the leading figures of the US sex worker movement (she was the person who actually coined the term “sex work”) has died at 71 after a 7-year battle with uterine cancer.  Carol became involved in activism just a year after she became a sex worker in 1977, and was involved in nearly every aspect  of the movement throughout the ’80s, ’90s, and Oughts; even later she was always happy to give advice and guidance to younger activists like me.  She was so well-known that even the mainstream media (including the AP, the NewYork Times and the San Francisco Chronicle) published obituaries, but the title links to one by a sex-work-friendly reporter (albeit in a publication which can’t seem to make up its mind); I’ll also be linking memorial essays from those who knew her as they appear.

Perquisites

Are statists really so delusional they can’t grasp that this is inevitable when men are given this kind of power and privilege?

José Irizarry accepts that he’s known as the most corrupt agent in U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration history…[for] conspiring with Colombian cartels to build a lavish lifestyle of expensive sportscars, Tiffany jewels and [women] around the world.  But…Irizarry says he won’t go down for this alone, accusing some long-trusted DEA colleagues of joining him in skimming millions of dollars from drug money laundering stings to fund a decade’s worth of luxury overseas travel, fine dining, top seats at sporting events and frat house-style debauchery…federal agents, prosecutors, informants and in some cases cartel smugglers themselves were all in on the three-continent joyride known as “Team America” that chose cities for money laundering pick-ups mostly for party purposes or to coincide with Real Madrid soccer or Rafael Nadal tennis matches.  That included stops along the way in VIP rooms of Caribbean strip joints, Amsterdam’s red-light district and aboard a Colombian yacht that launched with plenty of booze and more than a dozen prostitutes…All this revelry was rooted, Irizarry said, in a…reali[stic assessment] among DEA agents…that there’s nothing they can do to make a dent in the drug war anyway…“We know we’re not making a difference…The drug war is…a very fun game that we were playing”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1104)

Useful idiots destroying any possibility that the facial recognition djinni can ever be rebottled:

…public anxiety about crime seems to be peaking. Determined to [capitalize on hysteria in order to win]…votes), major cities including San Francisco, Chicago, and New Orleans are turning to…surveillance as a [pretend] solution.  This marks a big shift, especially for a city like San Francisco, which in 2019 became the first U.S. city to ban the use of facial recognition technology by…police.  Boston, Portland, Oakland, and Jackson, Mississippi, have since followed…But…the [public is fickle and fearful]…“We went from a long-term view to an extremely short-term view,” explained Tracy Rosenberg…[of] Oakland Privacy…“[concerns about] the end of public anonymity…ha[ve] largely been replaced by a narrative that [says]…the short-term implications on your life right now are more important than any sort of future surveillance state”…San Francisco’s…passed a policy that will allow [cops]…to [root through]…footage of private security cameras [without a warrant]…Cities…expanding the use of surveillance technology…risk entrenching a permanent surveillance infrastructure that may be difficult to dismantle down the road.  “The history of surveillance suggests that it’s not easy to put the genie back in the bottle,” argues Rosenberg.  One of the most high-profile examples of this dynamic comes out of New Orleans, where [politicians] are poised to expand police surveillance less than two years after passing a sweeping facial recognition ban

Torture Chamber (#1186)

It’d be great if US cities could flush their toxic waste before somebody dies:

…Forks, Washington, will pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit…filed by the family of a young…woman who committed suicide in jail after being harassed by a guard with a long history of misconduct…John Gray…would later be convicted of sexually assaulting four other [helpless caged] women.  But when Kimberly Bender—a 23-year-old Quileute tribal member struggling with drug addiction and depression—tried to report Gray’s misconduct, the Forks jail [blew her off while Gray]…sexually torment[ed] her…[until] she…hanged herself in her cell…

Torture Chamber (#1189)

I’m sure they helpfully yelled “Stop faking!” at him as he died:

…Thousands die while locked [in cages by the State] each year…a third of [them]…are younger than 55, many suffering from untreated or poorly treated illnesses, with the prison healthcare system frequently deciding that treatments for common and debilitating ailments are not “medically necessary”…“If it’s not life-threatening in that moment…they put it off and tell you to…take ibuprofen,” said Tonya Wilson…an advocate with Freedom Project…[Clifford] Farrar, [a type I diabetic] who required four insulin shots a day, was initially given access to needles, test strips and a glucometer…But…prison…[bureaucrats in Washington state soon started refusing to pay] for…insulin supplies…and…on 27 December [of last year], Farrar…was found lying on the ground…with blood coming from his mouth…he…was declared dead 20 minutes later…the prison had repeatedly neglected his health, including by denying him supplies that could have prevented his seizures, failing to check on him when he did not arrive to get his insulin shot, and responding too slowly to his final emergency…

Creepy Coppers

Just another typical and representative cop:

A Chesapeake [Virginia cop named]…Timothy M. Newton…was charged with more than 20 felony child pornography offenses [after an unknown party snitched on him]…

To Molest and Rape (#1275)

This just keeps getting worse:

[Typical and representative] Kansas City [cop]…Roger Golubski…[faces charges of conspiring with] Cecil Brooks, LeMark Roberson and Richard Robinson…[to run a violent pimping scheme] from 1996 to 1998…Brooks, Roberson and Robinson all…used physical beatings, sexual assault and threats to compel the young women to provide sexual services to men…Golubski…accepted [bribes] from Brooks, provided protection from law enforcement, and forcibly raped a[t least one] young woman…

 

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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Why?  –  Erik Cantu

I’ve always been fond of this song, and given that the story it references was originally a werewolf tale, it seems seasonally appropriate.  The links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel, Cop Crisis, Scott Greenfield, Mike Siegel again, Cop Crisis again, Thaddeus Russell, and Elizabeth N. Brown, 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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PayPal…shouldn’t be surprised if people don’t trust it.  –  Robby Soave

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Funny how many cops who are willing to pay prefer underage girls:

Thomas Peoples…was [fired from his position as] the police chief in Oak Ridge, Texas…[after] he was arrested in Arlington…and charged with solicitation of prostitution from a person under 18…

Not for Everybody

Another ex-sex worker thinks it’s her job to cheat her sisters out of money:

Former porn star Lana Rhoades is hitting out against the industry that made her a worldwide star, saying it should be made “illegal”.  Rhoades…worked in the field for eight months between 2016 and 2017, appearing in more than 250…films…[but she now claims] she was still scarred from the experience…Rhoades…was…19 when she appeared in her first X-rated scene…“For some reason I never comprehended that to do porn you actually have to have sex with people,” she said…

Rhoades is such a naive idiot, it seems unfair to put her in the Hall of Shame for just demonstrating what she is.  But if she goes beyond words to actually work with prohibitionists, I won’t be so lenient.

Part of the Picture (#614)

Why was anyone surprised that something openly advertised as spyware is actually spyware?

Two religious surveillance apps marketed as “porn filters” to churchgoers across America…[have been] ban[ned] by the Google app store…following a recent…report by Wired magazine…[which explained that] Covenant Eyes and Accountable2You spied on churchgoers’ searches and then sent the information to religious leaders [just as they are intended to do.  Yet]…after Wired [told]…Google…[that the apps functioned as advertised], the search giant determined that [the apps] violated its privacy policies…

Fair-Weather Friends (#1028)

About a twelfth of the time his long string of crimes deserves:

A [typical and representative] Columbus [Ohio] vice [pig] was sentenced to [a mere 18 months in] prison for violating the civil rights of a person he [had decided to ruin]…Steven Rosser…[repeatedly harassed] one of the owners of a gentlemen’s club…and…[also] scheme[d] to frame…[h]im for cocaine possession…

You Were Warned (#1218)

Prohibitionists, censors and profiteers will continue to harass businesses thus until FOSTA is overturned:

Roblox and Discord are among the platforms sued for allegedly harming children and teens in a new lawsuit…which also targets…Facebook…and…Snapchat…Filed in California state court, the suit is one of many [attempting to rob] large social media companies.  But comparatively few of these have covered Discord and Roblox, both of which are popular with young users. (Over half of US children were on Roblox as of 2020.)  It comes shortly after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law requiring sites to [violate all users’ privacy in the name of “child safety”.  The ambulance-chasers’ poster child is]…a 13-year-old girl…who began using Roblox around age 9…and…[supposedly developed] a “harmful and problematic dependence” on electronic devices that damaged her mental health, [even though it is not possible to become “addicted” to electronic devices]…Like most cases against social networks, the suit seeks to hold the services responsible for defective product design — and in the process, circumvent Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act…

Choke Point (#1278)

PayPal is becoming a major threat to civil liberties:

Last week, PayPal rolled out an updated user agreement…that…prohibits “the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials” that “present a risk to user safety or wellbeing” or contain “misinformation”…what counts as misinformation is at PayPal’s “sole discretion”…and PayPal [granted itself the “right” to steal] $2,500 from the [targeted] user’s account…[after considerable outcry] PayPal…backtracked…[claiming the threat was]…”an…error that included incorrect information”…

Since PayPal disseminated misinformation, it seems to me it now owes every one of its users $2500.

To Molest and Rape (#1279)

Chicago is hiding the identity of another of its costumed rapists:

A federal grand jury has indicted a [typical and representative] Chicago [cop for]…the…kidnapping and [rape] of an [unidentified] individual [o]n March [5th] 2019.  James Sajdak…also faced a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Tyshee Featherstone…[whom he also raped] the same day.  Featherstone’s [sui]t was settled in April 2020…Sajdak was [also] accused of harassment in a separate lawsuit filed by Geneva Perry, who[m]…he…[terrorized during a pretextual stop] on Sept. 8, 2016…then masturbated in front of her between their two parked cars…That lawsuit was settled in December 2019…

 

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 very much!

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