Every so often, I need to remind my readers that because, like the old MAD Magazine and PBS stations, I don’t accept paid advertising, every so often I need to ask my readers for their voluntary support. And when I say “voluntary”, I mean truly voluntary, not extracted from y’all by paywalls, nag screens, annoying popups, or other methods of coercion. Other than a reasonably-inobtrusive little paragraph three times a week which most of y’all probably don’t even notice any more, I limit myself to asking for your support in a full column like this one about three times a year (last year it was only twice) unless there’s some sort of emergency need. And now that I’m only supporting one and have throttled my driving back to one weekly trip to Aberdeen and 4x a year to Seattle, even the emergencies come less often (and I certainly hope that remains the case from now on). But fewer and smaller bills is not the same as no bills, and while I’m not currently having trouble making ends meet, the unexpected is always possible and a certain fraction of supporters do fall by the wayside every year. Furthermore, regular readers know that I have never and will never delegate my work to employees or chatbots; every word was written by me, and nobody or nothing else. So if the mad emperor’s attempts to demolish the world economy haven’t hurt you too badly, please consider subscribing at one of the regular levels in the right-hand column, or even one of the superstar levels listed here; if you can’t do a monthly expense, you could show your appreciation by a gift from my Amazon wishlist. As always, thank y’all for reading, and for your generosity!
Posts Tagged ‘internet’
Voluntary Support
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged advertising, blogging, ethics, internet on May 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
In the News (#1634)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged activism, agency denial, An Avalanche of Bullshit, Banned Books Week, brothels, cell phones, censorship, cops, dehumanization, dirty, Enshittification, fascism, hysteria, internet, libraries, Link Rot, Morality Lessons, Nightfall, Permanent Record, prisons, propaganda, racism, sex rays, Something Rotten In Sweden, sporting events, statistics, surveillance, Thought Control, Torture Chamber, United Kingdom, Walled Garden, Washington (state) on May 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Why are immigrant businesses being targeted by large-scale investigations…over fire code violations? – MPOP
An Avalanche of Bullshit (#976)
If your raid can’t find evidence of any real crime, just punish your victims with “code violations”:
…police [raids in Bothell, Washington] are simply the latest example of discrimination and state violence against Asian women and immigrant workers. “You’re patting your own back for solving fabricated issues based on your own sexist, racist ideas, and Asian massage workers are paying the price,” said Lee Chen at an April 20 rally outside of the King County Jail…organized by the Massage Parlor Organizing Project …Whose Streets? Our Streets, Red Canary Song, and the International Migrants Alliance…Two of the raided businesses—including one just feet away from the Bothell police headquarters—are owned by Lizhen Yang…who was booked into the King County [jail but]…released the next day, without charges. All five massage businesses were shut down, with authorities citing fire code violations…[as justification for] “ripp[ing] security cameras from walls…knock[ing] down doors, [tearing] signage…and artwork from the walls…[and robbing] workers” …[who] are now [all] out of jobs…[as cops] offered no indication if or when the five [targeted] businesses may be allowed to reopen… “advocates said the [pogroms] were a publicized effort to ‘clean up’…ahead of this summer’s FIFA Men’s World Cup matches in Seattle”…
Clearly, they were concerned he’d carry dangerous sex rays to other wrestlers:
…Jamie Bigg, known as Giant, has left the BBC show [Gladiators] following the end of this series. Bigg…said: “I made it clear that I was planning to go public with my relationship, including the fact my partner works as an OnlyFans creator, and shortly after that I was told I wouldn’t be continuing on Gladiators“…
The American Library Association…has reported a record high in the number of books banned in US libraries. In 2025, 5,668 books were banned – representing 66% of the total number challenged – with an additional 920 censored through access restriction, such as relocation …The most-banned book in 2025 was Sold, a [tragedy porn] novel by Patricia McCormick [sensationalizing “]sex trafficking[“] in India…challenges were recorded against 4,235 unique titles…the second highest since the organisation began tracking censorship data…topped only by 4,240 titles in 2023…40% of the materials challenged…involved representations of LGBT…people or people of colour…challenges are becoming more coordinated and politically driven: 92% came from pressure groups, [politician]s or [bureaucrat]s, compared with 72% in 2024…2.7% were attributed to [random busybodie]s and [only] 1.4% to [act]ual library users…
Sold was once so highly regarded among “sex trafficking” fetishists that the 2014 film adaptation was later released in a PG-13 digital version for propaganda use in schools and churches.
A Books Unbanned library card gives teens across the United States free digital access to ebooks and digital resources, including banned and challenged books—no matter where they live. Books Unbanned helps ensure teens can read what they like, explore new ideas and form their own opinions. This is a free digital library card for teens, created to protect the freedom to read in the face of growing book censorship…
Though this article is a year and a half old, it has statistics and reports I haven’t seen elsewhere:
…Several courts have ruled that extreme temperatures in prison violate the Eighth Amendment’s provision against “cruel and unusual” punishment. But these rulings have not led to a widespread adoption of…methods to cool prison facilities or prevent heat-related deaths. Public health researchers at Brown University estimate that just one day of above average summer temperatures is associated with a nearly 4% increase in prison deaths. Suicides spike 23% in the three days following a heat wave. And for every 10 degrees above the average summer temperature, prison deaths increase 5%…Below, we’ve published stories from 42 writers across 27 states…reveal[ing] the brutal reality…
In today’s digital landscape, corporate interests, shifting distribution models, and malicious cyber attacks are threatening public access to our shared cultural history…When digital materials are vulnerable to sudden removal—whether by design or by attack—our collective memory is compromised, and the public’s ability to access its own history is at risk. Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record [is a free, downloadable collection of] essays from…the Internet Archive…and [many]…humanities scholar[s]…detail[ing] recent instances of cultural loss…and emphasiz[ing] the critical role that public-serving libraries and archives must play in preserving these materials for future generations…
Surely you didn’t think this would stop with the internet?
If some [politician]s get their way, Americans could have to show IDs or submit facial scans to so much as open a laptop or power up an iPhone. A [uniparty] federal bill [with the propaganda name] the Parents Decide Act would require age verification at the operating system level. That means most computers, smartphones, and tablets would all be age-gated…It would also require operating systems to share “any information as is necessary…to verify the date of birth of a user” with app developers…
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!
In the News (#1633)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged advertising, agency denial, artificial stupidity, China, cops, drugs, fantasy, fascism, Georgia, internet, Ireland, Islam, law, LGBT rights, License To Rape, Mad Libs, Panopticon, politicians, prisons, Quiet Genocide, racism, Spain, statistics, surveillance, teachers, The Last Shall Be First, Thou Shalt Not, transgender, Under Review, United Kingdom on April 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Unserious leaders are unsafe. – Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai
The internet’s global scope is the main reason politicians hate it and want to destroy it:
An escort website [based in Spain]…“makes a mockery” of Ireland’s law criminalising the purchase of sex, [babbled politician]…Sharon Keogan[, adding nonsense about “]direct defiance[” even though Spanish businesses are not subject to] Ireland’s [puritanic]al law…[she also barfed out the word “]trafficking[” in order to infantilize] migrant women…[and demanded] the law [be made into]…a “ma[gic]al operation[” so as to “]take action against such sites[” despite their being based in other sovereign nations]…She [further slandered]…independent escorts [by claiming they are] often controlled by organised crime groups that dominate the sex trade [in the sick fantasies of prohibitionists, and vomited out the word “]pimping[” before admitting that]…the business…[is] a Spanish-registered company[. She appeared surprised to learn that] multimillion euro [businesses are]…organised…
“Search” is the most common government euphemism for “molest”:
Black [minors] across England and Wales are almost eight times more likely to be [molested under guise of a “]search[“]…by police than their white counterparts…The findings…come more than five years after the case of…a Black 15-year-old schoolgirl who was [molested by cops] while menstruating b[ecause a teacher claimed she had touched a plant. Surprisingly]…a disciplinary panel [later sacked the] two [molesters for] gross misconduct…[Such sexual assaults are] usually [justified by belching “]drugs[” in the victim’s face]…from July 2023 to June 2024…there were a total of 362 [“]search[” branded molestations] of under-18s…Half were white, 31% were Black, 11% Asian, 1.7% of mixed ethnicity and 12% other…[at least] 30% [of the victims had been assaulted by cops]…at least once before…[in the case of] Black [victims the assaults] were almost five times as likely to [be violent]…than [if the victims were] white…
Because this kind of prohibition will surely be different!
[British subjects] aged 17 or younger will face…lifelong [criminalization of] buying cigarettes…Parliament….[has] settled on a final draft of the “[monkey see, monkey do]” legislation that aims to [magically] stop anyone born after 1 January 2009 from [getting cigarettes from the black market] to [magically] create a smoke-free generation [with a wave of politicians’ wands. The government is also giving itself]…new powers to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including their flavours and packaging. It is part of a series of measures aimed at [creating a dangerous new front in the drug war]…one of the [world]’s leading causes of preventable death, [state violence,] and [human misery. Cops will also be given new powers to spy on]…cars…playgrounds…schools and…hospitals…
Apparently white people can only care about one group of Muslims at a time:
…hundreds of thousands…since 2016 have suffered the Chinese government’s grave human rights violations in…Xinjiang…[where] authorities have subjected Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims to mass arbitrary detention, unjust imprisonments, intrusive surveillance and forced labor. The UN Office of…Human Rights concluded in a landmark 2022 report that the Chinese government may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang….Yet…efforts by…countries who tried to place Xinjiang on the formal agenda of the UN Human Rights Council were narrowly defeated after heavy pressure from Beijing…Yet China’s success in shifting the narrative is not solely the result of repression. It also reflects…an increasingly unpredictable US foreign policy…[because] as governments line up to meet [Emperor] Xi Jinping as a hedge against [mad Emperor] Trump…human rights concerns…are routinely sidelined…allowing Beijing to effectively whitewash its crimes and recast China as a reliable…alternative to the United States…
Cops are nothing more than state-sponsored terrorists:
…the Atlanta…“Cop City” [scheme] is at the center of a much larger experiment…[to replace an] urban forest…[with] the most expansive surveillance network of any city in the U.S…supercharg[ing] a pattern of digital tracking in Black neighborhoods…Georgia-based surveillance companies [are already] market[ing] this model nationwide…[despite] its ties to immigration [pogroms] and protest policing…A 2025 mapping project estimated that Atlanta now has about 124 surveillance cameras for every 1,000 residents…higher than any city in the world outside of a handful in China…The network…metastasized through the city’s Connect Atlanta program, which lets [useful idiots give pigs] live access to their private feeds…
The Last Shall Be First (#1600)
Judges need to start presenting a united front against monarchical diktats:
A federal judge…issued a written opinion blasting [Trump henchman] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for…wanton disregard…for the rule of law in restricting federal funding for gender-affirming care for minors…The judge made it clear he was throwing out the Kennedy declaration…[and] granted an injunction prohibiting the federal government from trying to supersede professionally-recognized standards [again because]…the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lack[s] the authority to unilaterally establish standards of medical care…[government] lawyers [backpedaled, claiming]…that Kennedy’s declaration reflected his personal opinion…and was not binding…[but] the judge found it was “strikingly apparent” that the…federal government’s arguments are based on [a] “bald-faced lie”…[saying] he was not persuaded by the federal government’s “attempts to gaslight” the court…
Politicians want to “regulate” consensual sex, but not this dangerous toy:
When researcher Nicholas Tiller began to feed health questions into chatbots as a test, he [did not] expect…this level of failure. Five [chatbot]s, 250 questions and a total score of just over 50 percent correct responses. And 1 in 5 of the…wrong [answers] were…dangerous[ly wrong]…A separate…study…in JAMA Network Open…gave 21 [chatbots all]…failing grades…[Another] recent experiment [show]ed how easily…chatbots [can be made to spout complete nonsense]…the problem is not an isolated quirk [but is intrinsic to the way chatbots function]…
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!
In the News (#1632)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged Above the Law, adolescence, agency denial, Aladdin’s Satellite, artificial stupidity, California, Canada, censorship, cops, domestic violence, fascism, Florida, Google, illegal aliens, internet, Panopticon, Pennsylvania, politicians, psychology, Pyrrhic Victory, rape, robots, sex offender registry, Shame Shame, surveillance, The End of the Beginning, Virginia, Walled Garden, Welcome to the Future on April 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »
[Chatbots] can be really good at the care and feeding of a delusion. – unnamed source
The End of the Beginning (#1308)
…a federal judge has permanently blocked the [federal government] from prosecuting Californians who [cannot] register…[as “]Sex Offender[s” because] the state doesn’t require them to do so. In a lawsuit filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation…four John Does described the impossibility of complying with…a [diktat] issued by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021 [which demanded that] anyone who’s ever been convicted of a sex offense to register with their state, regardless of whether their state’s laws match the federal requirements…up[on pain of] 10 years in federal prison. This…was particularly problematic for individuals who are no longer required, nor permitted, to register as a sex offender in their home state…there [we]re thousands of individuals in California alone facing the same penalties for circumstances outside of their control…
Lawsuits are the only way to hinder a government that won’t control itself:
…the San Jose [cop shop]…has access to…a network of 474 ALPR cameras that blanket the city, [unconstitutionally] recording residents as they go about their daily lives. More than 1,000 [San Jose pig]s are authorized to [root through] that information…[without] a warrant, probable cause, or even individualized suspicion…[plus pigs in] nearly 300 other [st]ies across California. [Because] that “creepy” and “deeply intrusive” surveillance system violates the Fourth Amendment, the Institute for Justice [has filed] a lawsuit…represent[ing] a class consisting of “all San Jose residents who were drivers of vehicles” that have been photographed by the city’s cameras during the last year or will be photographed in the future…seeking a court order that would require the [pigs] to delete or block access to images and data collected by the cameras after 24 hours unless it has “a specific warrant based on probable cause”…In addition to license plate numbers…Flock’s software [also] generates [“fingerprints”] based on each car’s characteristics…can produce a “vehicle journey map” showing “everywhere the car has been seen”…”analyze patterns of movement,” “flag repeat visitors to a location,” “identify vehicles frequently seen together,” “generate lists of vehicles that have visited multiple locations of interest,” and “predict the future route a vehicle might take”…
Google pretends temporarily making this “opt-in” makes them better than Facebook:
…Google’s latest [chatbot] upgrade…lets users opt-in to connecting Google apps to Gemini…[including] all your photos…Gemini…can scan everything to form its own views of you and everyone you know…[and allow its] Nano Banana 2…[image generator with the sophomoric name] to…use actual images of you and your loved ones….to [create shitty cartoons]…Gizmodo sums it up pretty well as “solving a problem no one had”…
All cops will have these within a few years:
The Department of [Father]land Security is developing specialized [perve]rt glasses that will allow federal [goon]s on American streets to automatically identify “illegal aliens” [and protesters] from a distance…these new ICE Glasses…will be able to [parse] vast federal holdings of biometric data…to identify people in real-time…They…will be two-way, not only able to…match to [targe]ts already in databases, but also to secretly record people to add them to new domestic watchlists…
Chatbots will encourage whatever madness a user discusses with them:
…chatbot[-facilitated]…violence [is]…on the rise…a mass shooter…at Florida State University …used ChatGPT…to [plan]…his attack…[as did Jesse Van Rootselaar in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia]…iterative, sycophantic conversations with chatbots can create powerful feelings of intimacy and trust…among troubled [or mentally ill] people…[leading to] a wave of lawsuits from families…[whose] loved ones [were driven] to kill themselves and others…A Pittsburgh man who…stalk[ed] and violently threaten[ed] 11 women…relied on ChatGPT as a “therapist” and “best friend” to justify his thinking…Google Gemini…sen[t an armed Florida man] on delusional missions…then encouraged [his] suicide…Google[‘s response was “no[body’s] perfect”…
Goodness, who could ever have predicted this?
Unfortunately for the Australian government (and fortunately for most kids), the implementation of a [social media] ban is going about as well as many critics predicted. Kids are largely avoiding enforcement, with 61 percent of kids ages 12–15 who had accounts before the ban still having access to at least one of them…many kids are able to game the system by changing their appearance to look older and fool age-estimation software. Others have used false IDs or VPNs to maintain their access…Still other[s], like 15-year-old Noah Jones, are suing the government for infringing on their…rights…[but] many [others] have not been so lucky. At least 4.7 million accounts have been disabled, and hundreds of thousands of new accounts have been blocked…60 percent of parents [have deluded themselves into seeing] positive behavioral outcomes
[despite objective evidence to the contrary]…
Virginia’s former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who…derailed [his own career] by sexual[ly] assault[ing women], fatally shot his wife before killing himself…the couple’s teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight [on April 16th]…The couple was going through a divorce…
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!
In the News (#1631)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged A Moral Cancer, advertising, Arizona, artificial stupidity, Canada, censorship, consensual crime, cops, drugs, Europe, evidence, Facebook, First They Came for the Hookers, France, Google, internet, Ireland, Lack of Evidence, lawyers, LGBT rights, Mad Libs, male prostitutes, Netherlands, porn, psychology, scams, statistics, stripping, surveillance, The Notorious Badge, The Prudish Giant, Walled Garden on April 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »
We cannot agree to the step-by-step creation of a Chinese-style internet in Europe. – Piotr Müller
First They Came for the Hookers… (#1160)
Just in case you think being a “legal” sex worker protects you:
In March 2024…a lawsuit filed by patrons of three [Arizona] strip clubs — Dream Palace in Tempe and Skin Cabaret and Bones Cabaret in Scottsdale…claimed that dancers were drugging scores of customers and racking up six-figure charges on their credit cards…the [claims appear to have been lifted from] the 2019 film Hustlers…and…neither man could prove he’d been drugged, but…Phoenix attorney Rod Galarza…[has] now [recruited] more than 40 plaintiffs, with the total amount of allegedly bogus charges exceeding $2.3 million…And yet no charges were ever filed in the case…Scottsdale police presented the case to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office…only to have both decline [it for]…“lack…[of] sufficient evidence”…police didn’t…speak to any dancers…at the clubs, didn’t search the club for drugs and didn’t send in undercover cops. Former club employees who did talk to police reported no direct knowledge of any drugging scheme…and…Todd Borowsky, who owns the Skin and Bones clubs…[has] filed…[a] federal…[law]suit [against] the city of Scottsdale, the [cop shop] and several individual cops…[for] perpetrating a vindictive sham investigation against the clubs…[which] went to great lengths to document their clients’ pricey forays into VIP rooms, requiring signed contracts, a fingerprint and even a photo of the customer holding up the paperwork for each transaction…
Scottsdale cops have a long and sordid history of trying to pin crimes on strippers.
Throwing other sex workers under the bus is a shortcut to losing my sympathy:
A gay Canadian adult film star…was detained for over eight hours by U.S. Customs before receiving a 10-year ban from the country. Milo Miles…was traveling to Las Vegas…in January…to attend the GayVN Awards…where he was set to present and was nominated for six awards…[when goons] accused him of “escorting with no evidence” and were fixated on the “gay clothes”, fiber pills, and PrEP he had packed…When…they found evidence of his career in…porn [it got worse]…then…two hours [later they] found evidence of escorting…Miles [then threw other sex workers under the bus by trying to invoke a bullshit distinction between]…prostitution…[and] escorting…U.S. Customs has the [power] to deny entry to people they believe are sex workers…and will use coercive tactics to try and elicit a confession…
In many ways, Microsoft and Google are as evil as Facebook:
An independent privacy audit of Microsoft, [Facebook], and Google web traffic in California found that the companies [routinely] violat[e] state regulations…[by shoving] ad cookies in[to] a user’s browser even if they opt…out of tracking…The webXray California Privacy Audit…found that most tech companies [simply] ignore when a user asks to opt-out of cookie tracking. [Facebook’s] code [does not even] contain…[a] check for globally standard opt-out signals—it loads unconditionally, fires a tracking event, and sets a cookie regardless of the consumerʼs privacy preferences…[The three companies] have collectively paid billions in fees for previous privacy violations …[but simply view] these fines [as a cost of doing business]…One of the things…revealed in the audit is [that those]…annoying pop-ups that ask users how they want to handle cookies…do…not work…Google, [Facebook], and Microsoft all [lied, saying “nuh-uh” while theatrically crossing their fingers behind their backs]…
From the first time I saw one of those cookie banners I knew they were bullshit; I never respond to them, instead simply archiving the page as soon as such a popup appears, because I suspect that the act of clicking itself triggers some kind of fine-print consent, as in a phishing email.
Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:
…the Tax Foundation…[has] reported that “cigarette smokers in the European Union pay far more in excise taxes than they do for the cigarettes themselves…at least 60 percent of the national weighted average retail price…The highest…is levied in Ireland at €10.71 ($12.58) per pack…followed by France at €8.09 ($9.51) and the Netherlands at €7.77 ($9.13)”…[outside] the E.U…taxes make up almost 60 percent of the…Swiss…price…[and almost 50] per cent of the…British price…[unsurprisingly,] Europe’s black market for cigarettes…[is therefore] grow[ing]…especially in France and the Netherlands…France continues to remain the largest [European] market for…black market…cigarette[s]…at 38.5 percent, just slightly exceeding the 37 percent share in Ireland…
Any doctor who trusts chatbots should be sued for malpractice:
…chatbots [are especially dangerous] when used to make medical diagnoses, particularly when faced with incomplete information…frequently narrowing too quickly to a single answer...researchers evaluated 21 LLMs, including leading models by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI and DeepSeek. It found that failure rates exceeded 80 per cent for all models when they needed to do so-called differential diagnosis — when full patient information was lacking…
The only way to ensure data is not abused is not to collect it:
The European Union’s unveiling of a mobile app to check people’s age online has quickly turned sour, as cybersecurity experts found glaring privacy and security problems with the code…turning into a PR disaster for Brussels…security consultant Paul Moore…hacked the app in under 2 minutes…[while] Baptiste Robert, a prominent French white hat hacker, confirmed…it was possible to bypass the app’s biometric authentication features…The European Commission [quickly backpedaled, absurdly declaring]…”When we say it’s a final version, it’s…still a demo version”…and…the vulnerability “was fixed”…
Every study shows that chatbot usage harms brain function:
In a new study, researchers [demonstrate once again]…that [using chatbots for]…cognitive labor [such as] writing…studying [and] coding…can rapidly impair users’ intellectual ability and willingness to persist…After [using the electronic crutch for as little as] 10 minutes…people…performed worse and gave up more frequently than those who never used it…a growing body of research [shows] that [chatbot reliance] can distort and dampen users’ thinking and independence, and…outsourcing cognitive tasks to [chatbots] could put [lazy fool]s in a “boiling frog”…erosion of [their] cognitive “muscles”…“these effects will accumulate over years, and by the time they are visible, they will be difficult to reverse,” the study [says]… “Once the [chatbot] is taken away…people [don’t simply give] wrong answers…They’re…not [even] willing to try without [the chatbot]”…over-reliance [therefore] function[s much] like an addiction…
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!
In the News (#1629)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged A Broker in Pillage, bogus studies, California, Canada, censorship, Colorado, cops, fascism, Gullible's Travels, I Spy, illegal aliens, Indiana, internet, left-right myth, Massachusetts, New York, Panopticon, politicians, psychology, serial killers, Shifting the Blame, Surplus Women, surveillance, To Molest and Rape, violence vs. sex workers on April 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The Fifth Amendment…was designed to bar Government from forcing some people alone to bear…burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole. – Armstrong v. US, 1960
The quality of social science studies has not improved in the last 15 years:
A massive seven-year project exploring 3,900 social-science papers has ended with a [predictable] finding: researchers could replicate the results of only half of the studies…John Ioannidis, a metascientist at Stanford…says…the results are “not surprising”, because they are in line with those from smaller, earlier studies…Researchers have been investigating a ‘crisis’ in the reliability of scientific results for more than a decade…not just in the social sciences, but also in the biomedical field. The…findings…don’t necessarily mean that science is being done poorly…[or dis]honest[ly; the reports may simply be written poorly, without]…enough data or details for experiments to be repeated accurately…
Apparently, his cop buddies will escape scot-free:
[The] Long Island…serial killer [has] pleaded guilty…to murdering seven women and admitted he killed an eighth…[architect] Rex Heuermann…strangled the women, m[ost] of them sex workers, over a 17-year span and buried their remains…along an isolated beach highway across the bay from where he lived…He faces life in prison and will be sentenced at a later date…The investigation began in…2010 after [the]…remains w[ere discovered, but was stalled and obstructed for years by police who were chummy with Heuermann, including disgraced former Police Chief James Burke]…
Another cop who stalked victims through the official cop grooming program:
A [typical and representative Colorado cop has been] indicted…[for molesting] two [underage] m[arks] in the [cop shop’s official grooming] program…Troy Brienzo[‘s cronies tried to protect him by only releasing a] heavily redacted [copy of the] indictment…[but] police accountability nonprofit Blue Surveillance [got ahold of a less-redacted copy]…show[ing] both victims were enrolled in the…[groom]ing program…
The erosion of US air travelers’ rights which started with TSA is now complete:
…ICE…[has] arrested more than 800 people [in the past year using] tips shared by…TSA…which supplied ICE with records on more than 31,000 travelers…the [scheme]…was created in 2007 to allow [universal surveillance of]…passenger[s by checking them against unconstitutional]…government watchlists…[and justified by barfing the word “]terrorism[” in the faces of useful idiots]…but the…Trump [regime]…is [using it to] pursu[e and persecute ordinary migrants]…and [nonwhite US citizens]…
In 2022, police caused extensive damage to Amy Hadley’s home in South Bend, Indiana, because they [willful]ly [chose to pretend] a fugitive was inside the house [despite being told otherwise by Hadley and her son]. That same year, a Los Angeles SWAT team wrecked Carlos Pena’s print shop while [staging theatrics] to arrest a [man] who [was not there]…Hadley and Pena were stuck with the tab for the havoc wrought by police operations—a plainly unfair but increasingly common situation that could be rectified by the “just compensation” that the Fifth Amendment requires when property is “taken for public use”…Hadley and Pena are asking the Supreme Court to recognize that remedy…The Institute for Justice, which represents both Hadley and Pena, argues that [the “fuck you”] exception…[is] not supported by the text or history of the Takings Clause…
Civil rights advocates often joke that the Third Amendment is the only one that hasn’t been undermined, but I fail to see any important difference between the government forcibly taking people’s homes to quarter troops and forcibly taking them to serve as props for cops and robbers games.
Safetyism is destroying society:
A row has broken out in one of Canada’s wealthiest neighbourhoods [between sane people and]…surveillance [profiteers who want to create] the country’s first “virtual gated community” to [exploit useful idiots’ unrealistic fears of “]crime[“]…Craig Campbell, the Rosedale resident who proposed the plan…runs a security company. He [told unattributed scary tales about unnamed “friends” who suffered a home invasion in order to sell] a plan in which an initial group of 100 residents would pay a C$200…monthly subscription [to impose]…licence plate [surveillance on everyone in the area, whether they like it or not]…Campbell holds the Canadian licensing rights for Flock, and [said] he “absolutely has a [scheme to exploit his neighbors’ fears, belching]…“my family’s safety” [at reporters]…
Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:
…Massachusetts [politicians have] passed…one of the country’s most restrictive policies on youth social media use…It would…prohibit kids under 14 from having accounts [at all regardless of the parents’ wishes, and require]…parent[al]…consent for 14- and 15-year-olds…[politicians burbled about] studies [which] have shown…ex[actly the opposite of what politicians pretend they show]…and…[vomited “]protecting our children[” in the faces of civil rights advocates, while also moronically claiming that passing surveillance measures promoted by Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg somehow constitutes]…“standing up to Big Tech”…[when] asked…if [politician]s thought about data privacy as they prepared the legislation, [Grand Poobah] Ron Mariano [barfed]…“protect kids[“], and…compare[d] their proposal to a[n unconstitutional] social media law in Florida…
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!
In the News (#1628)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged artificial stupidity, cell phones, censorship, fascism, I Spy, internet, law, Mad Libs, masturbation, Part of the Picture, porn, rape, robots, scams, serial killers, sex work is work, statistics, Surplus Women, surveillance, Texas, The Puritan Recrudescence, To Molest and Rape, Utah, Walled Garden, Wisconsin on April 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The political incentive to vote for anything labeled “child protection” is enormous. – Juan Vasquez
Most of the victims of serial killers are typically sex workers:
Prosecutors have charged a man [responsible for] some of the deaths linked to the “Texas Killing Fields“, an area near Houston where the bodies of dozens of women were found beginning in the 1970s…the bodies of more than 30 women were found there…[over the years, probably from] multiple perpetrators…[but] James Dolphs Elmore Jr….[has been indicted for the murders] of 16-year-old Laura Miller and 30-year-old Audrey Cook, whose bodies were found…in 1986…prosecutors [were] also…seeking indictments against Clyde Hedrick…Elmore’s longtime friend. But…Hedrick died by suicide last month before the grand jury came back with a decision…
The Puritan Recrudescence (#1503)
Puritans consider damage to women’s livelihoods a feature of their censorship schemes:
…Nearly 50 percent of the U.S. population now lives in states with age verification laws that target adult content on the internet. These laws [not only] restrict freedom of expression for adult consumers, but [also] are proving even more costly for the people who actually work in…adult entertainment…Over 45 percent of sex workers have seen a noticeable drop in their income…[and] nearly 98 percent of [them]…attribute at least some of this to the “war on porn,” which includes age verification laws. The average income for an online sex worker…clocks in around $58,700 annually—but 38 percent…report making only between $10,000 and $40,000 annually. More than half…have income from outside of the adult industry, while about 35 percent are solely dependent on adult work…so when it comes to age verification laws, clearly much more is at stake than the freedom of the consumer…
Microsoft admits its chatbot is merely an error-prone toy:
An update to [Microsoft’s] Terms of Use document for Copilot on October 24, 2025 [states]: “Copilot is for entertainment purposes only. It can make mistakes, and it may not work as intended. Don’t rely on Copilot for important advice. Use Copilot at your own risk”…[unfortunately,] a…[dis]couraging statement from an anonymous Microsoft spokesperson [says] the disclaimer…will be altered [to something less honest] with [the] next update…
Privacy as we once knew it is a thing of the past:
…Ron Wyden [and five other politicians] sent a letter to [Trumpist henchwoman] Tulsi Gabbard, [saying]…“We…urge you to let the American people know what, if any, impact the use of commercial…VPN…services can have on their privacy rights against warrantless surveillance”…since the [politicians] have access to classified intelligence, they may have seen evidence that…VPN providers…might [already] be a target for the…NSA[, which] can conduct [surveillance] …through the controversial [FISA] Section 702…which allows…warrantless surveillance of [any] US persons…communicati[ng with any entity outside] the US[, including VPN companies]…
Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?
Washington County [Utah has] agreed to [reward typical and representative] Sheriff Nate Brooksby [with] $100,000…after he abruptly resigned following [his repeated] sexual harassment …[of female staff and at least one] deputy’s wife…Brooksby [also] interfered in an investigation into Jeff Johnson, [his pet] deputy…[who] was charged with…[stalking people via] criminal investigation records…Brooksby [claimed his victims wanted it but also]…offered his resignation [in exchange for a payout]…
Puritanware has a long history of security issues:
At least three people warned Quittr, an app that [claims it can] help men stop masturbating, about serious security issues for months, but the creators of the app didn’t fix them until weeks after 404 Media reached out for comment multiple times [and courteously refrained from naming it until it was fixed]…Quittr’s founder, Alex Slater…[didn’t bother fixing his product because he was too busy living] the opulent lifestyle the success of Quittr has afforded [him], including driving exotic super cars and living in a Miami mansion…
A politician who cares about civil rights is a rare bird these days:
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers [has] vetoed an age verification bill…cit[ing] First Amendment problems and the practical impossibility of implementing age-gating systems without creating new privacy risks for every adult forced to hand over identification just to browse the internet…the age verification bills proliferating across state legislatures share a common DNA — and much of it traces back to lobbying efforts by large technology companies and third-party identity verification vendors who stand to profit enormously from mandatory compliance regimes…who[se]…burden…falls disproportionately on smaller operators while giving large platforms — which already collect vast amounts of user data — a structural advantage…age verification mandates are functionally a surveillance infrastructure project dressed up as child protection…
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!
The Mark of Throwback Thursday
Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, tagged acting, artificial stupidity, blogging, ethics, fantasy, imaginative fiction, internet, psychology, Reviews, sex work is work, Who in Review, yin and yang on April 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The concept of “free sex” is largely a male fantasy. – “Waiting for Lightning”
In the online world, as in the real one, you don’t get something for nothing. –
“Something for Nothing”
Even the finest thespian can’t conjure Hamlet out of lackluster dialogue draped carelessly over a checklist. – “In Flux”
[Those] who declare CGI “art”, or even declare it superior to real human-created art, are soulless clowns whose opinions should be rejected by anyone who cares about beauty, life, and humanity. – “The Philistine Majority“
In the News (#1626)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged Aladdin’s Satellite, artificial stupidity, censorship, Choke Point, cops, dirty, domestic violence, Facebook, internet, Mad Libs, masturbation, New Mexico, North Carolina, porn, psychology, robots, scams, semen, Shame Shame, The Cop Myth, The Puritan Recrudescence, When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals on April 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
A book that unexpectedly explodes upon opening it would be good grounds for a product liability claim; a book whose content inspires someone to act recklessly should not. – Elizabeth N. Brown
The government is now demanding banks not do what it has repeatedly demanded they do:
Federal Trade Commission…sent letters…to the CEOs of PayPal, Stripe, Visa and Mastercard, warning them against debanking practices — including denying access to services due to a customer’s…“political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities”…last year…the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a report on debanking…in which it named adult entertainment as one of several sectors facing discrimination for engaging in activities contrary to banks’ “values”…[and threatening] an FTC investigation…but those rules will not stop banks from making decisions regarding their customers in a way deemed “consistent with safety and soundness.” This leaves broad leeway for banks to continue discriminatory or exclusionary practices toward adult industry creators and businesses…
When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1450)
Politicians increasingly use nuisance lawsuits to circumvent the Constitution:
[Facebook] has been ordered to pay New Mexico [politicians] $375 million, in a verdict that paves the way for more states to [rob] social media companies under the guise of child protection—and demand changes that will compromise everyone’s online speech and privacy…the lawsuit [misused]…the state’s Unfair Practices Act…States [ab]using…consumer protection laws [to achieve unconstitutional tyranny they could not otherwise accomplish] have been a big trend lately. This ruling all but ensures it will intensify…Section 230…is supposed to protect against this sort of thing. If someone uses Facebook to engage in illegal activity, it’s that person…who may be criminally liable…[but] state attorneys general have been fighting against this…for nearly two decades…[because] they’re stuck prosecuting individual criminals…not [deep-pocketed corporations they can pillage]…The verdict in this case…”will be terrible for the open internet,” said Techdirt[‘s]…Mike Masnick…
It’s too bad they don’t inflict all of their violence on each other:
…two [North Carolina pigs who lived together got in a fight which ended with a sow shooting her pig boyfriend]…Adam Bean [dead. Because the murderer is also a cop, the pig herd is attempting to hide as much]…information [as possible]…
The only way to rein in chatbot pushers is to threaten their cash flow:
OpenAI won’t be rolling out an erotic version of ChatGPT any time soon…the controversial plan has been shelved “indefinitely”…as even its own advisors warned that ChatGPT users could form unhealthy attachments, which might harm their mental health. One advisor chillingly suggested that the tweak risked turning ChatGPT into a “sexy suicide coach”…[and lawyers warned] it [would be] hard to keep illegal behavior out of outputs, like bestiality and incest…investors questioned why OpenAI would risk its reputation on a product with “relatively small upside” for…[a company regularly] linked to mental health harms in both kids and adults [which have led to] lawsuits…
“LLMs…train the brain to disengage…[leading] to passivity…and low integration of concepts“:
…chatbots have become a common part of many [fools’] daily lives, even though they…[give] wrong answers…45 percent of the time. But [stupid people] don’t understand that reality…and…tend…to take…chat[bot vomit] at face value, even when it [gives] them the incorrect answer…experiment…participants were asked to answer a variety of reasoning and knowledge-based questions. Despite making the use of ChatGPT optional, over 50 percent…chose to use the chatbot to answer the questions…researchers…[found almost 80% of chatbot] users w[ere] willing to believe what[ever nonsense it barfed up] regardless of accuracy, in what [researchers] termed a “cognitive surrender” that effectively overrode their intuition and deliberation process…“to outsource thinking itself”…[and] give up their own agency…further cementing [their dependency] on [machines]…
“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” – Frank Herbert, Dune
To Musk, this is pocket change:
Elon Musk’s [pet] chatbot [MechaHitler has] been banned from [gener]ating non-consensual…[sexual] images…by a Dutch court…the…order [applies to all of]…Europe…and…[includes] a [token] penalty of 100,000 euros ($115,000) for every day it [refuses] to comply…with a maximum fine of 10 million euros…Numerous lawsuits have [also] been filed…[including one from] Baltimore [abusing] the city’s consumer protection laws and…[an]other…[from] three teenagers in Tennessee [who were actually victimized by MechaHitler]…
Compared to Musk’s net worth, this is like me being fined 6¢ a day, maximum $6.
The Puritan Recrudescence (#1621) 
Another broadside against the dangerous “semen retention” cult:
Regular ejaculation — for example, by masturbation — produces higher quality sperm…according to a comprehensive new…meta-analysis of more than 115 studies…that cumulatively involved nearly 55,000 men, as well as 56 studies of 30 non-human species…The results revealed that stored sperm deteriorates over time, resulting in DNA damage, reduced motility, and other defects that can affect fertilization and embryo outcomes…The study…sheds light on the possible evolutionary origins of masturbation, which has been observed in…dozens of [nonhuman] species including dolphins, elephants, lions, and many primates. Masturbation may have emerged as a way to avoid leaving sperm in the tank for too long. Indeed, even species that don’t masturbate in the traditional sense of self-stimulation have still been observed offloading sperm in a practice called “sperm dumping”…
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!
In Search of Boole
Posted in Biography, History, Miscellaneous, tagged advertising, artificial stupidity, Enshittification, Google, internet, libraries on April 3, 2026| 1 Comment »
The search bar replaced the reference desk without replacing the skills behind it. – Hana Lee Goldin
When I was in library school in the early ’90s, the internet was very young and largely accessed by libraries, universities, and research corporations via several companies such as Dialog which charged by the minute for access. Because of this, it was considered important for librarians to learn how to formulate effective Boolean searches which would return roughly half a dozen good, solid articles on the topic. It was recognized that a search delivering dozens or hundreds of results was a poor one because it would take too much (expensive) time and (professional) effort to sift through all that to find what one was actually looking for. And I was really good at it; I excelled at crafting “Goldilocks” searches which would return a manageable number of relevant articles, neither too many nor too few, usually on the first try. Then two things happened: AOL started offering unlimited connection time, and Google came up with its non-Boolean search engine which delighted non-librarians by returning thousands of items in the pretense that more is better. And so an entire generation of people has grown up with absolutely no idea how to craft an effective search, leaving them helpless in the face of Google’s rapid enshittification, and therefore easy prey for its predatory and typically-wrong chatbot. As Google has rapidly decayed I’ve tried several other search engines, but none of them are remotely as good as classic Google was.
That’s why I was so excited to discover this article by reference librarian Hana Lee Goldin, explaining not only how to get around Google’s loathsome practice of dishing up swill instead of what you ordered, but also how to use Boolean operators which have apparently always been hidden in the system. Goldin explains the reason for her article concisely:
Google…constantly…swaps in synonyms, personalizes results based on your history, and decides what you probably meant rather than returning what you typed. Most of the time that interpretation is invisible. These tools are how you override it.
Beyond that, I’m not going to quote her excellent article because you should read it all. The link above is to her Substack blog, but to head off the possibility of link rot I’ve also backed it up. And if Hana happens to read this: from a retired reference librarian, thank you!
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