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Posts Tagged ‘Indiana’

In the News (#1287)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

On [TV], it’s not the family…priests or rabbis or other authority figures who pose a threat to children, it’s this devious stranger.  –  Paul Renfro

Above the Law

Approximately 60% of prostitution charges in the US result from a crime being committed against the sex worker:

A woman being transported from a county jail to a court-ordered addiction treatment center…was raped by…Arthur Oister [while he] drove her…Upon arriving at the…center, the woman told employees Oister had…pulled his van over on a dirt path near the river and raped her…But [when Pennsylvania state pigs discovered] that…[she] had…consen…Oister [perform cunnilingus] in [exchange for] $20…[prior] to [the rape], the [victim]…was…charged with prostitution….[and] sent to…prison…

Don’t Call It Trafficking

It’s unusual to see the word “trafficking” used for government actions:

…thousands of people [have been] trafficked into labor by private contractors on U.S. military bases…workers have been paid less than promised, charged recruiting fees that leave them deep in debt, and pressured to sign improper contracts and work long hours…In some cases, they even faced physical abuse…From fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2021, the military itself took action in 176 incidents of labor violations by military contractors and subcontractors…and substantiated violations involving more than 900 workers in fiscal 2020 alone…though such information is supposed to be public, the Pentagon would not disclose the names of the contractors with violations, despite multiple inquiries, including Freedom of Information Act requests.  Federal regulations say that the company names and information about violations must be entered in a contracting database…[but] investigators for the Army and the Pentagon’s inspector general were not reporting the results of all their own trafficking investigations, and…for at least six years, military officials haven’t flagged a single firm in the database…at least 10 companies with substantiated trafficking violations since 2007 have received billions in new government contracts…

If Men Were Angels

Not a youth pastor! How unprecedented!

A [typical and representative] youth pastor and parochial school principal…[nam]ed Jonathan Mark Myers…[was arrested for] continued sexual abuse against a [boy] from…[age] 15 until…18…between March 30, 2009, and March 29, 2012…the…victim…[was nominally willing until] Myers threatened [him with a gun] for having a romantic relationship with someone else…On Sept. 12, 2022, Indiana State Police investigators [found]…the…gun the [victim] claimed to have thrown out of Myers’ vehicle in 2012…the serial number…showed that Myers purchased the…gun in 2005…

To Molest and Rape

To cops, the most important factor is whether a rapist crony was wearing his magical clown suit at the time:

A…Maryland [cop named Steven Victor Abreu] was arrested [for]…sexually assault[ing] a woman in a department store parking lot…then [stalking] her…fo[r] days [after the attack]…Abreu…[used the pretext of a “]search[“]…to gr[ope]…the…[victim before]…penetrat[ing] her vagina with his fingers…the victim…lied [in order to escape] Abreu…who [then stalked her for days before inventing another pretext to]…stop…her…She [lied to escape him again, but before he let her go]…“he reached in to the vehicle and grabbed her face”…then [threatened] her…and [implied he would continue stalking her]…

Of course Abreu has a history of rape, and of course his boss is blaming the rapes on people protesting rape and other police brutality two years ago.  Cops just love blaming women for being raped, especially by cops.

Torture Chamber (#1238)

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

…For a few days in February 2019…back-to-back suicides flashed across the news cycle around northwest Louisiana.  But inside the walls at Ware, one of the state’s largest [dungeons for legal minors, young people] have been trying to kill themselves with stunning regularity.  There were at least 64 suicide attempts…in 2019 and 2020…[prisoners] have tied socks, towels and sheets around their necks.  They have swallowed baby powder, screws, fluid from an ice pack.  Two tried to drown themselves…At least 91 [prisoners] have tried to flee since the beginning of 2019, a little more than 5 percent…In June 2020, a girl told staff members that she was going to run away in hopes that the police would take her to “the big jail” rather than back to Ware…a second [said]…she would rather be sent to a psychiatric hospital…soon after, she tried to kill herself by leaping from a roof….[the causative] factors…[include] repeated acts of physical violence, sexual assault and psychological torment…state regulators have [n]ever fined or punished Ware…[despite] document[ation of] the same [atrocities] year after year…[a new] investigation…reveals how a place meant to [torture young people accomplished its goals by plunging them into a nightmare] of…chaos and cruelty.  Guards [rape,] beat and choke…their [victims, and]…frequently…brib[e young prisoners] with food to assault other [prisoners]…

Once again: infantilizing young people by repeatedly calling them “children” doe not help them; if anything, it exacerbates the problem.

Cops and Robbers (#1253)

I first wrote about this ugly hobby in November 2013, and a mere 9 years later The New Yorker is ON it:

…Predator-hunter videos take an enduring social-media trend—performing stunts for clout—and add a dash of vigilante justice and participatory true crime.  In the past few years, they have become a minor YouTube phenomenon…They typically follow the formula made famous by the [NBC] TV segment To Catch a Predator” in the early two-thousands, but with a more chaotic, D.I.Y. energy…The most popular examples have hundreds of thousands of views, and have inspired people to bring the trend to their own town.  In 2019, NBC[, the network largely responsible for the ugly phenomenon,] identified about thirty predator-catcher online groups scattered across the country; recently, the Washington Post found more than a hundred and sixty, which have been responsible for nearly a thousand [entrapment scams] this year…

To Molest and Rape (#1284)

D.A.R.E is another grooming scheme for predatory cops:

A [typical and representative Pennsylvania cop who ran the]…Bucks County…D.A.R.E. [program and another to groom] troubled youth [for molestation] pleaded no contest to sexually abusing five teenage boys.  James Carey…sexually assaulted [at least] four boys between 1989 and 2009…and…a month after [his] arrest, a fifth victim came forward, [report]ing [that] Carey…sexually assault[ed] him when he was 13…The victims said most of the assaults occurred while Carey was [wearing his magical clown costume]…

 

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In the News (#1276)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 1, 2022| 1 Comment »

What is it with government agencies & the media teaming up to Streisand some dumb thing…almost no one has ever…heard about…into a thing…everyone knows about?  –  Mike Masnick

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

It’s too bad most arrests aren’t of other cops:

Deputies in South Dakota have arrested a Louisiana state [cop], accusing him of hiring a prostitute while in town for a…conference…Kirk Thibodeaux…has been [rewarded with a paid vacation]…pending the criminal and administrative investigations…

So What Else Is New? (#504)

I’ve never understood why some men are so attached to this notion:

…a[t] orgasm…a “milky fluid” is excreted from the urethra…[but] about 5 percent of women release a clear liquid…studies have determined the milky fluid comes from the Skene glands…[and] scientists in Japan have just published research that [demonstrates] the [clear] fluid comes from the bladder, stating only the “milky fluid”…can be classed as the female ejaculation…Miyabi Inoue…and her colleagues injected blue dye mixed with water into the bladders of five female volunteers w[ith a history of “squirting”]…after a subject was stimulated to the point of climax, a researcher collected the ejected liquid in a sterile cup, and in all five women it was blue…[true] female ejaculation…contains prostate-specific antigen…[and the squirted] liquid from four of the women…was found to contain PSA, suggesting they produced female ejaculate around the same time as they squirted urine, and the two fluids mixed together in the urethra.  Despite the fact previous studies have [produced similar findings]…the[y were] met with skepticism from hordes of men online…Women were quick to mock some of the shocked men and their responses, explaining it was something “women knew all along…Men need scientific study to admit they are being peed on and not actually gods in bed,” one scoffed…

Gullible’s Travels (#977)

Americans will believe basically any scaremongering about teenagers:

…the number of videos…of teens calling people idiots for even daring to think of putting a Tide pod in their mouth far, far outnumbered the extraordinarily few videos of people actually putting a Tide pod in their mouth.  As some people have noted, it’s way more dangerous to talk about teenagers as if they’re all too stupid to know not to put a Tide pod in their mouth.  But the media absolutely can’t resist.  Last…week…the FDA (for whatever reason) released a consumer alert saying that people shouldn’t cook their chicken in NyQuil, calling it “a recent social media challenge”…of course, like all the earlier examples, this…turned out to be a whole lot of…adults freaking out over things that kids weren’t actually doing…the whole thing started as a shitpost on 4chan where someone made a joke about cooking chicken in NyQuil…and some people [making videos] reacting to the joke.  And, then, of course, the FDA Streisanded the whole idea into becoming a thing.  According to…TikTok…there were only five searches for NyQuil chicken…on Sept. 14, one day before the FDA posted its statement.  By Sept. 21, searches on the topic had increased by more than 1,400 times…

A Broker in Pillage (#985)

The South Carolina Supreme Court declares itself illegitimate:

In a major blow against government accountability, the South Carolina Supreme Court…upheld the state’s civil forfeiture laws, which let police [openly steal] cash, cars, and even ho[us]es, without ever filing criminal charges.  By overturning a lower court ruling that declared civil forfeiture unconstitutional, the decision jeopardizes property rights for [every citizen]…in…nearly 40% of all forfeiture cases…the owner was never convicted of a crime.  And under state law, if an owner doesn’t formally file a claim for their seized property, [cops] win a “default judgment” and keep [the stolen property]…Worse, state law provides a powerfully perverse incentive to police for profit.  [When any] property [is stolen by cops], the [robbers’ gang] keeps the first $1,000 and then 75% of the remainder.  Prosecutors receive 20%, while a mere 5% is sent to the general fund. Since 2009, [cops have robbed citizens of]…nearly $97 million…

Disaster (#1234)

An amicus curiae brief was recently filed in the FOSTA challenge by a group of organizations including Decriminalize Sex Work, The Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center, Freedom Network, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Erotic Laborers Alliance of New England, Old Pros, the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, New York Transgender Advocacy Group, Free Speech Coalition,  SWOP Brooklyn, GLITS, and the St. James Infirmary.  Elizabeth Nolan Brown has an in-depth look at the arguments in the suit and brief, and you can see a PDF of the brief here.  In related news, the Woodhull Foundation (one of the parties to the FOSTA challenge) has recently launched a petition seeking to block the so-called EARN IT Act; I’m not sure if petitions have any effect in such cases, but I suppose they can’t hurt.

Dangerous Speech (#1270)

The government’s evil clown show has been renewed for another season:

The prosecution of Backpage founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin…can continue to drag on, per a new ruling from the…9th Circuit.  The court [is pretending] that trying them again after a mistrial…would not count as double jeopardy.  “No one is the least surprised”…Lacey tells Reason…”We have always believed we must rely upon jurors, not judges, for a fair shake. And so to trial.”  Lacey, Larkin, and the other defendants are likely to face trial again in 2023, though no date has been set.  That would mean a sixth calendar year in which their lives are upended by this…seemingly eternal attempt to put people in prison for running a website where sex workers advertised.

Permanent Record (#1274)

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

A [teacher] who set up an OnlyFans account to supplement her income was fired from her…job…after her employer found out about the account…[thanks to a self-appointed morality cop who also] posted photos from the OnlyFans account without her consent…Sarah Juree worked full-time as a teacher in South Bend, Indiana…but…was unable to support her family on the modest salary of $55,000 per year…her rent alone cost nearly half of her income and her employer didn’t offer health insurance…Around the time Juree set up her OnlyFans account, she…had a casual conversation with a colleague and their boss about side gigs that fall under the sex work umbrella, including OnlyFans pages.  “My boss got really excited and said, ‘Yeah, you can start a page.  You can make a lot of money’…I was like, ‘Great, I’m not going to have any issues with work because my boss literally told me to sell my panties on OnlyFans”…

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Links #633

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I know you’re here to shoot me.  –  Dante Kittrell

Lamont Dozier penned so many Motown hits it would be too difficult to pick one as a memorial, so I instead chose to feature this novelty song he recorded himself using the stage name “Lamont Anthony”; the song was later re-released with different lyrics, presumably due to copyright issues.  The links above the video were provided by Jesse Walker, Cop Crisis (x3), Jesse again (x2), and Scott Greenfield, in that order.

From the Archives

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Bragging Rights

Posted in Current Events, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , on August 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

People who aren’t total moral imbeciles often make the mistake of believing that politicians create, support, or vote for laws because they believe those laws will accomplish something positive.  Time and again we’re told that statutes which grant cops new powers to harass, spy upon, invade the privacy and homes of, defame, brutalize, rob, rape, abduct, maim, and even murder peaceful citizens for doing normal, consensual things politicians have decided to “send a message” about are “well-intended“, regardless of how many facts, studies, and witnesses they are presented with to demonstrate that empowering sociopathic thugs in the aforementioned manner accomplishes nothing except more violence and societal harm.  The politicians who mastermind such prohibitions are evil megalomaniacs who openly want to harm those they’re bigoted against, but there aren’t enough of them to ram these abominations down the throats of their subjects; to accomplish that, they need the support of others whose moral compasses are so dysfunctional they can’t even manage to be consistently or effectively evil.  These people operate way down in moral stage one or two; they say whatever they think will get them elected, and aren’t even capable of a more complex moral calculus than “things that make me rich, powerful, or well-liked are good”.  One easy way to tell a politician operating from this moral ooze is that they often assume everyone else’s brains are as primitive and undeveloped as theirs are, and will therefore respond to promises of material gain or the collectivist warm-fuzzies that come from being part of a “winning team”.  Remember the bizarre competition among politicians to claim their state or city was “one of the top sources/destinations for sex trafficking”?  A reasonable person would think twice before bragging about such a dubious distinction (if it were true), but as I pointed out above, we aren’t discussing reasonable people.  To those operating in this moral basement, being “top” at something – anything – is a pure good, even if it’s “most carceral”, “most authoritarian”, “most violent”, “most inhospitable”, “cruelest”, “most hateful”, “most ignorant”, etc.

All this may help y’all to understand why politicians compete to produce the strictest, most draconian, most brutal laws on any given topic, as in this recent example:

Indiana lawmakers approved a near-total ban on abortion…some GOP members…opposed the bill because of…exceptions…in cases of rape, incest, lethal fetal abnormality or when the procedure is necessary to prevent severe health risks or death…

The article provides examples of both of the types of moral atavisms described above.  The ones who opposed making exceptions for the life of the mother are typified by people like John Jacob, who probably regularly forgets how to walk upright; in arguing that the law should condemn women with dangerous pregnancies to slow death, Jacob vomited out the moronic slogan, “Not her body, not her choice.”  But it’s unlikely that the majority who voted for the bill are so unambiguously fanatical; most are probably like Wendy McNamara, who told reporters she supported the ban because it “makes Indiana one of the most pro-life states in the nation.”  And to a mind so unaccustomed to independent thought, being part of a group that can be said to be the “most” at anything is something to be proud of.

 

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In the News (#1259)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 3, 2022| 1 Comment »

There will be many more [scandals] because, for years & years, we have paid no attention, apart from giving them money.  –  Maneka Gandhi

Droit du Seigneur

What did this guy think he was, a cop?

A…US Naval petty officer has been sentenced to…two consecutive 20-year prison terms for sex trafficking Native Hawaiian girls…Petty Officer Marquis Green, had no criminal history other than a minor traffic matter a decade ago.  Then in December 2013, he was arrested for sex trafficking two girls under the age of 18…He was also charged and convicted for his involvement with a 15-year-old girl whom he sexually assaulted and whipped with a belt in 2013…he is the first person in Hawaii to be charged for first degree sex trafficking since 2015…

Despite the claims of perennial fabulist Khara Jabola-Carolus, quoted in the story, the case proves how rare actual “sex trafficking” (as opposed to the ordinary paid sex Carolus labels “trafficking”) is.

Above the Law (#899)  

Even being related to a cop may be enough:

The son of a[n Indiana cop] running for Kosciusko County Sheriff [molested] a fourteen-year-old girl…Zachary Smith, 18 at the time, also gave [his victim and several other] girls…margaritas, moonshine and marijuana.  Smith [got away with] charge[s of] battery and maintaining a public nuisance [instead of his actual crime, statutory rape]…The girls say…they [were] pressured to smoke weed and drink alcohol…And [were intimidated by the fact that] Zach’s dad [Jim Smith i]s a [cop]…running for sheriff…

Creepy Coppers

This attempt to blame others is odious even by abysmally-low cop standards:

A [typical and representative California cop was] sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for distributing child pornography [after trying to blame the] public [for giving him sadfeelz by protesting rampant cop violence]…Anthony Mark Brown[‘s crimes were]…initially c[overed up by]…a colleague…but…he…was…[later indicted by] a federal grand jury…

Of course, they still managed to cover up for him somewhat by hiding his picture. Imagine that.

Torture Chamber (#1219)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

[Women locked in cages by the state] at an Indiana jail were subjected to a “night of terror” when male detainees [were sold the keys] to their cells…[by a screw named] David Lowe…in exchange for $1,000.  That night, the two male [prisoners led a gang]…into restricted areas of the jail…[where] women [were caged]…and…raped, assaulted, harassed, threatened and intimidated the…women…for…hours…[while screws watched the whole thing] on surveillance video [and did nothing to help them]…

For Those Who Think Legalization is a Good Idea (#1242)

Prajwala’s idea of “rescue” results in “at least two” suicide attempts by its prisoners every day:

On 19 May…India’s Supreme Court ruled that [cops and rescue industry opportunists may not attack, abduct and cage] voluntary sex work[ers under the pretense of “rescue” and “rehabilitation”]…under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA), [but the]…”protective homes” [have not released their prisoners in a timly manner.  So]…weeks after the…ruling, 80 sex workers locked up near the city of Hyderabad rioted against their forced detention…the[y overpowered]…three…guards, broke down the facility’s gates, and walked for two kilometres before being [beaten] by police….[and] taken back to the [labor camp], which is run by the NGO Prajwala…

Follow the link for more on the deeply-evil Prajwala and its deranged leader, arch-fantasist Sunitha Krishnan.

To Molest and Rape (#1250)

Of course they’re prosecuting his wife for trying to stop him:

A [typical and representative] Baltimore [cop] who was shot by his wife [after she caught him] molesting [at least 3] kids at her daycare has been arrested on child abuse charges…James S. Weems Jr…was admitted [to hospital] with life-threatening injuries after his wife…Shanteari Weems…shot him…in Washington D.C…Shanteari was arrested after she admitted to shooting her [rapist] husband…[and] charge[d with] assault with intent to kill…Days after Shanyteari’s arrest, the police [finally got around to]…arrest[ing]…James…

Given that they’ve only been married five years, one must wonder whether part of the reason he married her was because she owned a daycare.

Property of the State (#1255)

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

The…10-year-old Columbus girl who was impregnated du[e to] rape and [had to] travel…out of state to get an abortion…is hardly alone…a similar case happened in Cleveland last year, before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and a federal judge unlocked Ohio’s [draconian] ban on abortions…Two sisters, ages 10 and 13, were impregnated du[e to] rapes by the same perpetrator…under Ohio’s old law, the younger girl was able to get an in-state abortion, but her sister, who was too far along…traveled to Pennsylvania for the procedure…Ohio law provides no exemptions for rape and incest…but [the old law]…allowed more time for women to discover they were pregnant, which…is especially crucial for younger victims of rape…

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In the News (#1252)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2022| 1 Comment »

It’s hard to imagine that in just a few short weeks we will have no ability to provide…care [to kids impregnated by rape].  –  Caitlin Bernard

Property of the State

Such pro-life, very protecting children:

…three days after the Supreme Court issued its…decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, took a call from a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio…[where sociopathicc politicians] had outlawed any abortion after six weeks. Now this doctor had a 10-year-old patient in the office who was six weeks and three days pregnant…abortion providers [in Indiana] have…experienc[ed] a dramatic increase in the number of patients coming to their clinics from neighboring states with more restrictive policies…

If Men Were Angels

It’s striking how much the sexual behavior of “pastors” resembles that of cops:

A Florida pastor has been arrested for exposing himself and masturbating outside a Starbucks…Enginio Dali Muniz-Colon…is a pastor in Kissimmee and…[w]as…previously…charged over a similar incident at the same Starbucks…

Stalkers in Blue (#814)

If this shocks you, you haven’t been paying attention:

Angeli Rose Gomez, the mother who ran into Robb Elementary School to save her two young kids during the [Uvalde, Texas school] shooting, says she’s since faced a barrage of frightening harassment from [cops] in retaliation for her rightfully harsh criticisms of them in the media.  Gomez’s lawyer, Mark Di Carlo, announced plans this week to take legal action…and also offered specific, chilling details about what their harassment of Gomez has entailed…Gomez was recently pulled over…and…falsely accused of having “illegal immigrants” in her car…police parked outside Gomez’s house for 45 minutes and flashed their lights at her and her mother as they took a walk…police approached an unnamed family member of Gomez’s, and told the[m]…to tell Gomez to stop speaking to the media…

Welcome to the Future (#1052)

No, it can’t.  And scientists who create weapons of oppression like this are moral imbeciles:

An artificial intelligence can now predict the location and rate of crime across a city a week in advance with up to 90 per cent accuracy.  Similar systems have been shown to perpetuate racist bias in policing, and the same [is] true in this case, but the researchers who created this AI [deny it]…Ishanu Chattopadhyay at the University of Chicago [is the chief badge-licker on this project]…

The Convergence of Censors

I’m sure the “freeze peach” morons will vomit out something about fires and theaters:

A [spook] and two p[igs] showed up to a North Texas woman’s house on Thursday morning…to…threaten…he[r]…after she posted in anger over the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.  The feds’ letter to Madeline Walker [ignored the fact that hyperbolically]…tweet[ing] about burning government buildings [does not constitute a credible threat or any other category of speech that is considered unprotected by the First Amendment]…and…threaten[ed her]…with…criminal charges…Joshua Henry, a [thug] for DHS, confirmed the letter’s authenticity…Walker [pointed out that]…“Pastor Dillon Awes of Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth is allowed to preach that gay people should be ‘lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head.’ when people reported him to the police they said, ‘free speech’”…Henry [responded by threatening her again for] sharing the letter on Twitter…[and demanded a US citizen be] “remorseful” [for exercising her civil rights rather than kowtowing to the precious fee-fees of petty bureaucrats]…

The Vultures Descend

Some tyrannies are too loathsome even for some cops:

Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano commented…on her office’s role in the recently passed law that essentially bans abortion after six weeks.  The state legislature [demands] abortion providers to send sheriff’s offices reports of women who were impregnated by rape or incest and are trying to terminate the pregnancy.  “I want the public to know that while these providers are now mandated by law to send us these reports regardless of the will of their patients, we will not contact the patient if she doesn’t want us to…sexual assault…is traumatizing, and my agency will do everything we can to offer…respect to these women who are seeking health care”…

Thought Control (#1240)

If you support restrictions on “offensive” speech, you helped create this lunacy:

Virginia Beach [shyster] and [politician] Tim Anderson is suing publisher Oni Press and author Maia Kobabe on behalf his client Tommy Altmann, a[nother politician]…claim[ing] that Kobabe’s work is damaging under the state’s obscenity laws…Gender Queer and A Court of Mist and Fury–the other book being challenged in this suit–do not fall under obscene materials in any definition of the law[, but Anderson fully admits his intention is to be a nuisance]…

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Links #618

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

We’re going to fuck you up.  –  NYPD cop to random bystander

Everyone knows “The Pink Panther Theme”, but fewer remember Mancini’s theme for the second Inspector Clouseau movie, A Shot in the Dark; here’s the title sequence from the film, introducing the animated Inspector character who went on to star in his own cartoon series, which used this piece of music as its theme.  The links above it were provided by Franklin Harris, Popehat, Cop Crisis (x3), Mike Siegel, and Phoenix Calida, in that order.

From the Archives

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In the News (#1227)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

They’re basically training us for a fake world.  –  Lucas, high school student

Zeitgeist

It’s slowly dawning on “feminists” that getting in bed with cops was a bad idea:

Many tend to think of police as the first line of defense for women in need of help. But…sexual misconduct is…pervasive throughout the profession, despite receiving relatively little attention.  After excessive force, sexual misconduct is the second most commonly reported form of police misconduct…and that only includes what’s reported.  “We have no way of knowing how much of this behavior goes on,” [said] Timothy Maher, a criminology professor at University of Missouri… “Many people are [afraid] to report on the police”…[rapist cops usually] target [women]…on the margins of society, such as [sex workers or other] women with criminal records…who[m they know will be dis]believed [by cops and prosecutors] if they do come forward.  While the spectrum of police sexual misconduct is wide, it can include things like unnecessary strip searches or a sexual shakedown, which is when a…[cop demands submission to rape] in exchange for not…arresting the [victim]…[even] female [cops]…can…be victims…

A Broker in Pillage (#1145)

Indiana continues to pursue the “right” to rob anyone within its borders blind:

In April 2015…Indiana [cops stole] almost $10,000 from Terry Abbott after [a snitch claimed] he was…selling drugs…Abbott attempted to challenge that action…but he lost his attorney—as the money he would use to pay for that counsel had been [stolen] by the state…The Indiana Supreme Court…rul[ed] that [victims of robbery by cops] have no right to use their s[tolen money] to finance legal [challenges to the robbery]…This means that…the government is able to put defendants in a chokehold by seizing the very assets that they would use to defend themselves…Fighting to get your cash back is a bit difficult when the government has [stolen] all of your cash…

Property of the State (#1149)

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

It’s astounding how many novel ways politicians can propose to invade privacy.  The latest comes from Alabama, where a new bill would require women from ages 25 to 50 to produce a negative pregnancy test from a doctor or medical lab before purchasing medical marijuana.  The test would have to be conducted within 48 hours of the purchase…Pregnant women on the marijuana patient registry would also be required to report pregnancies to the physician who approved their patient status.  Having to go to a doctor or medical lab and pay for a pregnancy test before every medical cannabis purchase would be not only invasive but inconvenient.  In effect, it’s an added tax on…female patients…

Creepy Coppers

Just another cop demonstrating exactly what he is:

A [typical and representative] Perryton [Texas cop] was sentenced…to 17 years in federal prison for child pornography offenses…Aaron Bennett Daugherty…was [caught uploading]…a video file depicting an adult male [raping]…a blindfolded prepubescent child.  “I’m here to look at CP, everybody”…he…posted…

Thou Shalt Not (#1206)

Prohibitionists refuse to understand why their schemes never work:

Karlyn Gorski…[of] the University of Chicago…[studied the] robust black market for snack foods that persists at Hamilton High (not the school’s real name) despite the best efforts by school administrators, security guards, and teachers to stamp it out…Gorski spent 112 days observing students and adults at Hamilton during the 2019–2020 school year…[and] observed a widespread black market for snack sales…beyond the amusing anecdotes about deception and the heroic struggles of would-be entrepreneurs against the school snack cops, the paper contains some serious implications about what the school is teaching its students…Students in a Spanish club selling cookies to raise money for a field trip to Peru were allowed to “carry their wares openly and advertise on posters throughout the school…when…the school retained control over the proceeds…the [sales were deemed] ‘worthy'”…[but]…when students were caught “selling” [on their own]…their motives were “subject to moral scrutiny”…One student, code-named Lucas, told Gorski that “they’re basically training us for a fake world” in which good behavior is rewarded while trying to make a buck is regarded as valuable only if the seller’s intentions are worthy…

Welcome to the Future (#1214)

Conditioning kids to accept constant, intrusive surveillance:

Even before the pandemic,…exaggerated security fears intersected with the declining cost of technology to turn many schools into panopticons.  ID tags tracked students, cameras watched their behavior, and software monitored their online activity.  Then COVID-19 appeared and safety [theater]…overwhelmed civil libertarian concerns about privacy with public health arguments…contact tracing and social-distancing enforcement…became a new way to sell facial recognition systems…and…all of that surveillance technology remains in place even as pandemic concerns wane across the country.  Badges and cameras purchased at considerable expense aren’t going to be put into storage just because COVID-19 fades into the background…And, of course, the federal government is right there to subsidize schools’ purchase of surveillance tools with gobs of cash.  That makes the transformation of supposed learning environments into entry-level police states surprisingly affordable…

A Moral Cancer (#1223)

Prohibition is too useful an excuse for violence for the state to stop voluntarily:

…Tobacco is still legal for adults to purchase and consume in the United States.  But [state] policy regarding nicotine delivery systems is shifting from taxation and regulation to explicit prohibition of many products.  Some jurisdictions already have banned menthol cigarettes, and the…FDA…is likely to announce a similar ban at the federal level this spring.  Local restrictions on e-cigarettes likewise provide a preview of what will happen nationwide if the FDA continues to regulate vaping products in a way that threatens to wipe out nearly the entire industry…As tobacco, e-cigarettes, and e-liquids transition from legal to illicit, [cop shops] will more aggressively interfere with production, distribution, retail sales, and in some cases even individual use.  Every such interaction carries with it the possibility of freedom lost, perhaps violently.  There is a real risk that American tobacco policy will open a regressive new front in the war on drugs, just as the previous crackdown on psychoactive substances begins to wind down…

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In the News (#1225)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Technology is not magic.  –  Andrea O’Sullivan

To Molest and Rape

So many words to downplay a rape:

A Columbia [South Carolina cop]…was arrested…[for raping] an “incapacitated” person…[and] was fired from the department shortly after[ward]…Keith Ryan Williamson [committed the rape]…in October…

“Accomplished sexual battery with the victim and had reason to know that the victim was incapacitated at the time of the assault” is a ridiculously cumbersome way to say “raped a drunk woman”.

To Molest and Rape (#1158)

Rapist cops don’t only target women:

An Indianapolis [cop] is [merely] facing misconduct and battery charges…[despite sexually assaulting] a handcuffed man…multiple times before throwing him to the ground…Travis Lewis…[decided to arrest the] man who called police [in the first place, and when he resisted being forced into a pigmobile]…Lewis…grab[bed] the man’s [testicles]…and…twist[ed them violently.  In video the man can be heard screaming]…”My balls are bleeding”…Lewis [then] threw the man to the ground…

Stalkers in Blue (#1167)

Once in a while, there’s evidence of the way cops act toward women:

A…Charleston[, South Carolina cop]…was fired…after a…[woman he tried] to coerce [into sex at] a department store [secretly recorded his harassment with her phone]…Darryl Felkel…made repeated attempts to coerce the woman…at [her work in] a Dillard’s department store…the woman refuse[d]…him…but…he…[just kept on haranguing her for seven] minutes…

Decentralization (#1181)

Bitcoin is a kind of folk devil for economically-illiterate politicians:

Politicians who don’t like bitcoin rarely have one reason.  They have all of the reasons, and will seize on whichever one is most convenient or newsworthy at the time.  Right now, it’s war.  Hillary Clinton was trotted out to wag her finger at crypto exchanges that did not extralegally ban all Russians from their services. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is on the case, “monitoring” cryptocurrency for its capacity to give aid and comfort to the Ruskies…But [Elizabeth] Warren stole the show with fearmongering about…”criminals and cheats” before…direct[ing confused] questions at a representative from…a blockchain forensics company…which…is…routinely able to unmask transactions…Warren, surprised but undeterred, continued with her confused line of questioning, so proud of herself that she put a transcript of the objectively embarrassing exchange on her government webpage…

Scapegoats (#1210)

No rumor is so stupid that some politician won’t believe and repeat it:

Nebraska [politician] Bruce Bostelman…is the latest [fool] to repeat th[e] urban legend [that] “Schoolchildren dress up as animals—cats or dogs—during the school day…And now schools are wanting to put litter boxes in the schools for these children to use.  How is this sanitary?” he said…during a televised debate, before backtracking hours later amid school district denials…similar myths have made the rounds in Iowa, Michigan, and Texas, prompting the same denials from school administrators…these stories…line up perfectly with conservative fears about transgender and non-binary students and…reminiscent of how [politicians] for years insisted that same-sex marriage legalization would lead to people marrying animals…

Thought Control (#1222)

Every so often the difference between upper and lower house becomes visible:

An Idaho bill that would have cr[iminalized]…librarians who provide minors with content [politicians] deemed inappropriate is now dead in the water; it…[will] not get a hearing in the state Senate…the Idaho Senate has also declined to take up the state House’s anti-trans bill…

Science! (#1223)

“Sex trafficking” fetishists keep publicizing their creepy fantasies about Ukranian women:

Social media posts from a German sex work support network [were dishonestly]…use[d as propaganda by prohibitionists] falsely claiming the group is “recruiting” Ukrainian refugees to work in brothels.  The group was in fact highlighting support for existing sex workers…Trans*Sexworks is a Berlin-based peer support and mutual aid group primarily for transgender, intersex and non-binary people who do sex work…Wren Oscyth, one of the group’s members…explained…“We have absolutely no connection to brothels or places of employment in Germany.  There currently is not a single member of our group who is employed at a brothel or club since it is very uncommon for those places to hire trans and non-binary workers”…

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In the News (#1224)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2022| 1 Comment »

Let’s not abandon th[e term “cancel culture”]…in a vain attempt to please the people most responsible for perpetuating the problem.
–  Komi T. German & Greg Lukianoff

Bad Girls

Cops really don’t care if they ruin people’s lives with wild accusations:

The NYPD wrongly used a [picture] of a Queens woman on a “wanted” poster for a thie[f posing as an escort]…and now the innocent woman is suing for $30 million.  Eva Lopez…first found out she was a wanted woman…[from] a friend…[and] shrugged it off until her boss convinced her it might be real…the wanted poster had already been taken down from the department’s Facebook page…but the damage was done…The poster…[referred to] an Aug. 3 theft from an East Village apartment, where a [careless] man had booked an escort online, only to [discover she was actually a thief who stole his]…$13,000 Rolex and [his roommate’s]…credit card…“On Facebook, the [wanted poster] got shared over…20,000 times.  Then on Instagram…” Lopez insisted she’s never been in trouble with the law, never worked as an escort, and doesn’t know the victims…“The NYPD should commit to more thorough investigations before haphazardly accusing…innocent people of…brazen crimes,” said her lawyer Mark Shirian…

Moral Climate

It’s always good to hear from people whose minds aren’t warped by adherence to the moronic “wing” fantasy:

“Cancel culture”…is a…real thing…no matter how many ways its meaning has been wrongly distorted…Ridiculous non-examples of cancel culture…provide all the ammunition needed for media and academic elites to blithely wave away the phrase as nothing more than a misleading term for a fake problem.  But just because the term has been grossly overused doesn’t mean we should give up on its popularly understood definition…the measurable uptick, since around 2014, of campaigns to get people fired, disinvited, deplatformed, or otherwise punished for speech that is—or would be—protected by First Amendment standards…We say “would be” because the First Amendment does not apply to private companies.  So, while the NFL was free to punish Colin Kaepernick, and The View was free to suspend Whoopi Goldberg, these are still examples of cancel culture under our definition, because the subjects of each controversy engaged in expression that “would be” protected, were the First Amendment standard to apply…despite the denialism surrounding its very existence, we will demonstrate through empirical data and polling that cancel culture is not only a real problem, it is one that continues to expand in scope and size…

Stalkers in Blue (#1088)

If they really want schools to be “safe”, they need to stop paying sexually-aggressive thugs to lurk in them:

Broward County Public Schools violated [Florida] law when [bureaucrats] failed to properly…notify the Florida Department of Education Office of Safe Schools of a [lurking pig]’s dismissal for [perving on a 15-year-old within]…72 hours after [his] firing…Steven J. Daniello…[was] a [typical and representative cop paid by the state to stalk, harass, and spy on students] at Westchester Elementary School in Coral Springs…Broward County…did not notify the state…until March 28, 2021, 56 days after the legally required notification period…Daniello…was sentenced to 14-and-a-half months in state prison…four years of probation…[and eternal condemnation to the “]sex offender[” registry]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1115)

A politician with even a vestigial sense of morality is a rare thing indeed:

Two Republican governors have vetoed bills in Utah and Indiana that seek to ban trans teens from competing in school sports on girls’ teams…Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed…HEA 1041, which not only would have banned trans females from competing on girls teams, but also required schools…and athletic organizations to [invite malcontents]…to complain, and e[nable them]…to sue in civil court for alleged violations. The law included no similar ban on trans males…In Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto of H.B. 11…was…[due to] a…[last-minute] amendment that changed the bill…[from a compromise in]to a full ban on trans girls competing with other girls….[and] struck down p[rovisions]…that provided indemnity to schools and athletic organizations from costs of lawsuits…Both vetoes seem likely to be overridden…

You Were Warned (#1210)

Savannah Sly and Tarah Wheeler, writing for the Brookings Institute:

In its current form, the…EARN IT Act…would strip technology companies of protection from liability for child sexual abuse material…uploaded onto their platforms by users.  The…[false] premise…[is] that technology companies aren’t doing enough to combat the presence of such material and need to face the prospect of greater legal penalties to do so…One of EARN IT’s key provisions…exposes technology companies to liability if [a prosecutor claims] their encryption features…enable the spread of CSAM—a move that may lead many companies to conclude that offering encryption to users simply isn’t worth it and doing away with secure messaging tools entirely…EARN IT…does nothing to prevent child abuse from happening in the first place…and…may [even] prevent young people from accessing online information about sex…that could help keep them safe…EARN IT will [also] never be able to eradicate…young people taking and sharing intimate photos and videos of themselves, and preventing such material from circulating online would be better done through education…

Thought Control (#1210)

There’s at least one principled librarian in Texas:

On March 9, Suzette Baker was fired as head librarian at the Kingsland Branch Library in Llano County [Texas]…“for creating a disturbance, insubordination, violation of policies and failure to follow instructions.”  Baker [explained] she…did not comply…[with a mob who demanded] censorship…[of] books that they [falsely labeled] “inappropriate” or “pornographic”…

Disaster (#1220)

Of course, the mainstream media will never acknowledge their part in creating this disaster:

Three years ago this month, Congress passed a law that got people killed…In the immediate wake of SESTA/FOSTA’s passage, sex workers…were cut off from online platforms and tools they used to make a living and keep themselves safe…Sex workers and advocates reported an increase in attacks, arrests, self-harm, and suicide…Now…[politicians] are once again obsessed with the idea of [undermining or eliminat]ing Section 230…It’s [typical] for [politicians] to legislate with the goal of scoring political points while ignoring the collateral damage to marginalized people’s safety and rights…[but] if Congress actually wants to…avoid repeating [intentional legal atrocities] that have gotten people killed…it’s essential that they learn from SESTA/FOSTA’s catastrophic failure…the SAFE SEX Workers Study Act…would task the Department of Health and Human Services with conducting a study on the public health impact that SESTA/FOSTA had on sex worker safety.  And it would require the Justice Department to study whether the legislation actually accomplished its [pretended] goal of cracking down on human trafficking…

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