I would never have guessed that so many people online not only don’t know what a Socratic question is, but are so insecure about their ignorance they call such questions “stupid”. But last week a parade of clowns on Bluesky declared that such a question I posed was not only “stupid”, but also not a Socratic question at all because…they believe all Socratic questions follow some kind of rigid and predictable form, I guess. Given that they could simply have consulted the Wikipedia entry I linked above, this cannot be a mere failure of education; it appears to be a manifestation of Asimov’s observation that Americans seem to think that “democracy” means an ignorant opinion is equal to an educated one. Another factor is that very few (two people as of this writing) of those who responded with more than a “like” or retweet seem to have actually understood the question that was being asked. Unfortunately, there’s a great deal of that online; most people seem to glance at a sentence or tweet, recognize a few words, quickly form their own question from those few words, and respond to that mistaken notion of the question rather than the one which was actually asked. I’m not sure if that has to do with the “guess the meaning” school of reading which was popular in US public schools for several decades, or if it’s a manifestation of the inability to focus that seems to plague many younger Americans, or both. Most social media users would rather guess at the meaning of a tweet and vomit out a quick reaction than actually read the question asked and consider it before replying, or else simply ignore it and move on to something else. They seem to consider it some kind of moral failing to simply bypass things without spewing out some kind of reaction, yet at the same time they don’t want to invest the cerebral effort to answer like a rational adult rather than like an ill-bred and rather stupid child who would rather be playing in the mud than actually [ugh] thinking.
Posts Tagged ‘internet’
Socratic Stupidity?
Posted in Philosophy, Words, tagged Bluesky, internet, language, psychology, teachers on July 3, 2026| 1 Comment »
In the News (#1651)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged abortion, artificial stupidity, censorship, Censorship Ascendant, cops, dehumanization, drugs, fascism, internet, law, Louisiana, Mad Libs, Monsters, New York, Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs, politicians, porn, prisons, Pyrrhic Victory, Russia, Size Matters, sporting events, surveillance, The Last Shall Be First, The Vultures Descend, transgender, Utah, Walled Garden, You Were Warned on July 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »
If there are no punishments for violating someone’s rights, they’re not really rights at all. – Hemant Mehta
The only religion which it’s actually free to practice in the US is Christianity:
The Supreme Court has made it official: Religious freedom only applies if you’re a conservative Christian…[by] rul[ing] 6-3…that a Rastafarian man whose hair was cut off against his will—violating his religious beliefs—had no legal remedies available to him…Damon Landor…hadn’t cut his hair in decades because he follows the Nazarite vow—which includes a reference to Numbers 6:5: “… No razor may be used on their head… they must let their hair grow long.” He continued that vow even after entering two Louisiana jails in 2020, for a five-month sentence…[but] when he was transferred to a third [dungeon]…Landor worried they might try to cut his hair to fit in with [victim subjugation] policies, so he showed [screws] paperwork [of]…The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000…[which] says prisons that receive federal funding can’t violate someone’s religious beliefs unless there’s a really good reason for it…They threw his paperwork in the trash, handcuffed him to a chair, and shaved off his hair. He later sued…both the prison and the individual [screw]s for violating his rights…[but] writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said [because the screws didn’t want to follow the law]…they couldn’t be held accountable…
Madison Square Garden compiled a list of activists who have publicly criticized [its] use of facial recognition…in…a document…accessible to [anyon]e in…the company…MSG[‘s owner] Jim Dolan[, who also owns Radio City Music Hall]…has…a reputation for being pernicious against his perceived enemies, [and] is…keeping track of specific people who take issue with [his creepy surveillance]…The…list…[includes] three people who have criticized MSG’s use of facial recognition: Evan Greer…of…Fight for the Future; Albert Fox Cahn…of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project…and…[Adam] Schwartz…of [EFF, and]…includes background information…social media handles and…screenshots of [criticism]…“The fact that MSG is creating dossiers on activists who say things they don’t like shows exactly why private companies should not be allowed to use dangerous surveillance technologies like facial recognition,” [said] Greer…“Given their recent treatment of a trans woman trying to use the bathroom…I’m also not surprised they misgendered me”…
Goons are now being dispatched to intimidate people for wrongthink:
Two…[ICE goons threaten]ed…a Syracuse [New York] woman…[in an attempt] to [censor her] social media account[, claiming she was mean to them]…PaigeLynne Gonyea said she believes they [we]re referring to a January post where she named the [goon] who [murdered] protester Renee Good. Gonyea was working as a poll worker…at the Central Library…when [the goons showed up]. She…invited them in[side because]…she did not want to meet them outside alone…The [goons] handed [her] a form letter [full of Trumpist] threats…[of] prosecution…“They tried to scare me into signing it”…she said…she does not intend to delete her post…[but instead contacted] the attorney general’s office…[her US representative, the] Mayor [of Syracuse] and the New York Civil Liberties Union…
Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs (#1532)
Never forget that this started with censorship of internet porn:
Anastasia Ovsyannikova…has been detained [in Russia for being] on [OnlyFans]…She gained fame through her collaborations with Diana Shurygina, wh[o]…was [also] arrested in Moscow earlier this month [when cops staged a theatrical raid] on her apartment and [stole] cameras and [other] filming equipment…the…p[er]secution is part of a growing wave of cases targeting women over online adult content. In a separate case, a woman named Anastasia F. was detained in Yekaterinburg on similar charges [for] posting explicit content on OnlyFans…The Kremlin has for several years sought to position the country as more [puritanical]…But this stance hardened a[s part of its propaganda campaign to draw attention away from its disastrous] invasion of Ukraine in February 2022…
Western nations are competing to out-China China:
[Politicians have]…unveil[ed] a [uniparty collaboration] on [the massive internet surveillance and censorship bill named]…KOSA…[which] now…includes age verification for [any website that any politician points at while belching “]sexually explicit[“, plus provisians allowing the government to control the design of] video game[s] and…social media…platforms…[plus threats to attack]…platforms [which refuse] to silence users [enough for politicians’ tastes]…
This was always the endgame, regardless of claims to the contrary:
In its quest to outlaw abortion across the country, the [forced birth] movement has [long courted the wishy-washy by claiming they want]…women who get the procedure…spared punishment, while doctors and others who make it available should be p[ersecuted]…But a growing number of [forced-birth fanatics] are starting to [drop the mask,] argu[ing] that the only way to stop women from ending their pregnancies [is] to arrest them. The [unmasking] is coming as [forced-birth fanatics] express frustration that the number of abortions happening now is higher than [before] Roe v. Wade was overturned, largely because [women don’t want fanatical strangers controlling their bodies]…
Reason needs to be far more skeptical of the outlandish claims of chatbot pushers:
…Utah has passed several laws and initiatives to [funnel]…healthcare [money into the hands of chatbot purveyors], including a[n ill-considered scheme] launched earlier this year to allow…chatbots to fill prescriptions…[via a fascist collaboration named] Doctronic…[so far] the project [only allows algorithmic refills of ongoing]…prescriptions and medication for asthma, diabetes, and other c[hronic] health conditions. Patients still need to visit a[n actual] doctor for new prescriptions…but…[as AMA executive John Whyte points out] “It’s really a concern about a slippery slope. Do we start here with prescriptions, then all of a sudden, is it going to lead to diagnostic tests?”…Doctronic [claims] its platform is guided by the opinions of board-certified physicians[, but the exact same statement is made by insurance companies about the medical washouts whom they employ to deny claims]…
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 (#1649)
Posted in Current Events, Fiction, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged Africa, Angola, artificial stupidity, Botswana, cops, Enshittification, fascism, Florida, Gabon, Google, homosexuality, I Spy, illegal aliens, imaginative fiction, internet, law, LGBT rights, Mad Libs, Namibia, Niger, No Difference, Ohio, politicians, pregnancy, prisons, Pyrrhic Victory, racism, Stop faking!, surveillance, teachers, To Molest and Rape, Torture Chamber, United Kingdom, Washington (state) on June 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Hello, I am…a…toaster. – Google’s “AI summary” algorithm
The UK wants a flawed computer algorithm to officially override migrants’ self-reported ages:
Age verification is consuming the internet…[and] is about to seep into the offline world…Starting next year, the British government is planning to introduce facial age [guessing software]…to [overrule] the [self-reported] age of asylum seekers…[using the excuse that] many asylum seekers…[do] not have documents proving their age, [so the government can officially]…class…[many legal minors] as adults…strip…[them of] legal protections and [hurl them into] adult-only [concentration camps]…an internal UK government report…shows how the systems regularly mistake [adolescents] for adults…[especially when] deployed against…Sub-Sarahan Africans…[which are typically] off by an average of 4.6 years, meaning that a 13.5-year-old girl could be assessed as an 18-year-old adult…
How long before Google becomes completely useless?
If you Google “SCP-565” — an iconic entry in the collaborative fan fiction universe known as the “SCP Foundation” — the [so-called “]AI Overviews[“] describes the nonexistent entity as though it were entirely real, without a single acknowledgement that it’s a piece of online horror fiction…Ed’s Head is a made-up “anomaly” among the many fictional “objects, entities, and phenomena” dreamed up by members of the SCP Foundation fandom. As the lore goes, the SCP Foundation is a non-government organization that collects and contains supernatural discoveries. Writers catalogue these fictional phenomena — which range from the terrifying to the downright bizarre — in the form of fake records, studies, research documents, and logs, all of which are indexed in a sprawling archive…[but] Google’s [Chatbot] Overviews…[predictably] present…entities from the expansive SCP universe as real items, events, or beings…We first caught wind of th[is when]…social media discovered that a Google search for “SCP-426” — a fictional toaster that causes anyone talking about the toaster to refer to it in the first person — returns an…Overview in which the [chatbot] discusses the mysterious entity in the first person, as if [it had] itself…been impacted by the toaster’s supernatural effect…
Once again: chatbots are incapable of telling fantasy from reality because they are incapable of understanding that the word fragments (“tokens” in industry jargon) they process correspond to anything outside of the chatbot itself. 
A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners:
It has always been difficult to get help inside federal prison. But in recent years, it has become nearly impossible…The rate at which the bureau granted [relief] has fallen from just under 7% in 2000 to less than 2% in 2023…[the vast majority] are rejected without consideration for the content of their complaint, for arcane reasons such as including too many pages or not filing enough copies…[and] a 1996 federal law requires prisoners to complete the internal grievance process before filing a lawsuit…healthcare-related requests…[a]re the third most common reason for…complaint, behind [dehumanizing living conditions] and [sexual or physical abuse by] staff…Of all medical grievances [clos]ed in 2023, fewer than 1% were granted…state [dungeons typically give slightly more relief, with most]…grant[ing it in] roughly 15% of [cases, though some like]…Texas…[h]over [around] 4%…reasons for rejections [are often ludicrously cruel], like writing with a pencil instead of a pen, or a woman reporting sexual abuse who was rejected for misspelling her abuser’s last name. One…Spanish-speaking prisoner filed a grievance asking for translation services, but was rejected for writing it in Spanish…
African anti-LGBT campaigns are a lot like US anti-sex work campaigns:
Niger’s military junta announced a new penal code that criminalizes…anyone who “commits or attempts to commit an immodest or unnatural act or practices lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, Queer, intersex, Asexual…acts”…What does it mean to punish “acts” that are “asexual”? Does having a platonic relationship constitute an “asexual act” that violates this prohibition? Ghana’s parliament recently criminalized [merely] “identifying” as [LGBT and invented]…a “duty”…to [rat out one’s friends, family, and confidantes to] police…On the other hand, the high court in Namibia…recently struck down laws against gay sex…[as did] Angola in 2021, Gabon in 2020, and…Botswana…[in 2019]…
His involvement with a grooming program isn’t mentioned until 5 lines from the end:
Bethel [Ohio boss hog] Chad Essert [has been arrested] in Florida after a…grand jury indicted him on 70…sex crime…[charges for repeatedly molesting at least one] minor…from…2005 [to] 2010…Essert…served as an instructor with the Young Marines [at] the time…Essert [fled to Florida]…in May [after being rewarded with a paid vacation for some other unnamed crime]…
It’s OK; soon all “healthcare” will just be chatbots anyway:
For more than two years, a D[anish chatbot]…has been listening to Seattle residents’ 911 medical calls without their knowledge…to [algorithmically determine] which callers don’t deserve a[ctual help, but are instead]…route[d]…to a nurse-staffed Texas call center [with a wait time of several hours. And as is typical for so-called “AI” systems, this is done]…without any disclosure to callers [or] public review…Seattle [bureaucrats describe this as]…a conservative approach [despite]…the…wrongful death of one 911 caller…
How clueless would a woman have to be to give busybodies this kind of data?
Stanford graduates Jenny Duan and Abhinav Agarwal want to solve two hard problems: create a [gewgaw fools will buy] and measure hormones to help [the government track women’s pregnancies]. The pair is building a startup called Clair Health to track inflammation and bloating markers, energy levels, and cycle phase classification to give [government bureaucrats] insights into cycle irregularities and perimenopause, as well as hormonal fluctuations, and how to [target women for violence using] those changes [as justification]. The company has raised $11.6 million in [fascist] funding…and…uses [buzzwords like “]onboarding[“]…[“]AI[“]…[“]biomarkers[“] and…[“]voice stack[” to dazzle marks with bullshit]…Clair Health’s device has 10 biosensors, including a novel biomagnetic sensor for hormonal [surveillance]…of…women [who can get pregnant]…
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 (#1647)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged abortion, Alabama, artificial stupidity, Canada, cell phones, cops, drugs, Enablers, Facebook, fascism, Feudalism Redux, Germany, Google, I Spy, internet, lawheads, Mad Libs, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Panopticon, Pennsylvania, politicians, Pyrrhic Victory, rape, robots, surveillance, To Molest and Rape, When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals on June 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »
They want to take away our ability to make an anonymous phone call. – Cooper Quintin
“Unlawful gratuities” is such a sterile way to say “rape”:
A [typical and representative] NYPD [cop named]…Matthew Lambert [pled guilty to minor charges]…to [escape consequences for raping one woman and sexually harassing others]…In [the rape case], Lambert arrested a woman for [supposed shoplifting and threatened her with jail unless she submitted to rape]…
Privacy as we once knew it is a thing of the past:
A surveillance company plans to add sensors to automatic license plate readers…that would [enable] the devices…[to] sweep up unique identifiers of mobile phones, [tech gewgaw]s, and other Bluetooth-enabled devices in those cars…[to let pigs] identify specific drivers or passengers…SignalTrace…would turn ALPR cameras from devices focused on tracking cars to ones that can more readily track the location of particular people…surveillance company Leonardo, which [market]s SignalTrace [to fascist regimes,] says [it] can sweep up…the RFID tags in key cards and pet microchips; devices with Bluetooth such as wireless headphones, fitness trackers, and mobile phones; components of a car like tire pressure sensors and infotainment systems; and Wi-Fi sources such as vehicle hotspots and laptops…
The…FCC…wants to make it effectively impossible for people to buy…burner phones…[in a massive “fuck you”] to domestic abuse survivors…journalists, and many [others. It]…plans to do this by legally forcing the country’s telecoms to store a wealth of personal information about essentially all phone customers…The FCC is [justify]ing the data collection [by barfing the word “]scammers[” in the faces of useful idiots]…But [actual]…criminals…have no trouble creating fake documentation or identities[, so this is clearly aimed at] protest, immigrants, and women…
These companies need to be bankrupted by lawsuits:
A German court has ruled that Google is directly liable for what its [so-called “]AI[“] search overviews say. Previous case law shielding search engine operators from liability doesn’t apply to [such] overviews…because the “AI overview” is its own content, not just a list of search results. Google’s…overviews…falsely tied two publishing companies to scams, subscription traps, and shady business practices…[by drawing] connections that didn’t appear in any of the linked sources. The publishers sent Google a cease-and-desist letter, but Google [ignored it. The]…overviews work nothing like traditional search results…[because the computer] rewrites and judges results…”according to its own structure”…In the case at hand, for example, it…[even invented] red flags for the [nonexistent] scam, and tips for users…Google built the [system], Google offered it to users, so Google owns what it [excret]es…
This unhinged lunacy is spreading like rot:
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has issued [ludicrous] cease-and-desist letters to six companies [which are not subject to Alabama law, including one in the UAR, pretending that internet advertising which can be read by]…Alabama residents…is illegal…[and abus]ing Alabama consumer…[protection laws in an attempt to circumvent the First Amendment]…The letters [threaten] each company[, demanding they] immediately stop [women in Alabama from reading their] advertising…[and ord]ering abortion-inducing drugs [from them]…
This is already a data collection project; it would be easy to expand the kind of data it collects:
The US Coast Guard recently announced it has launched an armada of at least six sailing drones in the Great Lakes…to…“track illicit activity”…Saildrone Inc’s Voyager surveillance vessels can operate for 100 days at a time without needing servicing…the[y] can operate for months without refueling and can “track vessels across wide maritime regions”…the drones are equipped with [computer-controlled] radar [and] cameras and…Saildrone…[owns] the surveillance data and [can] sell…it to the government…or [anyone else]…the presence of surveillance sailing drones on the Great Lakes may fuel [the]…accurate narrative among water users…that the waterways have become unsafe [because the government can excuse any violence, no matter how egregious, by simply barfing out the word “]safety” [at the faces of useful idiots]…Saildrone…[has also] announced a $50m [collaboration with] Lockheed Martin to equip its 65-ft unmanned vessels “with lethal, combat-proven [murder weapons]” such as…missile launcher[s]…
People really need to get it into their thick skulls that any form of data collection can be perverted by bad actors such as government; the only way around that is not to collect it at all.
Zuckerberg will wait until the uproar dies down, then will sneakily do this again:
Just days after a damning WIRED report exposed that [Facebook] had quietly embedded facial recognition technology…code into millions of phones, the tech giant has…[temporarily] reverse[d] course…the app’s June 5th…update appears to have quietly removed all those features and systems…this…does not equal a permanent change of heart…and…[Facebook’s] FRT ambitions…aren’t going away…
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 (#1644)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged Aladdin’s Satellite, Apple, artificial stupidity, asset seizure, brothels, Business As Usual, cell phones, censorship, cops, fascism, Florida, Google, illegal aliens, Indiana, internet, Mad Libs, New York, North Carolina, politicians, Pyrrhic Victory, racism, rape, scams, surveillance, The Cop Myth, To Molest and Rape, Walled Garden, When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals on June 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Students have just as much a right to access information as adults. – Cameron Samuels
Prohibition invariably leads to corruption:
…in November 2023…a joint state and local raid on two northern Indiana massage parlors—Jade Massage…and Relax Spa…inv[olved]…four penis massages for a…[disguised pig before the gang] raided the businesses and s[tole] more than $97,000 in cash, along with a car. Spa owners Guan Yu and Wujiao Liu, a married couple, were [brutalized and thrown in cages]…and their cash is missing…State police are now investigating…[after town marshal] Robert Byrd…tracked some of the [loot] down to a rented storage locker…but…$33,540.51 was missing…
Though cops are given free rein to sexually assault sex workers in every US state, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Florida are especially notorious and actually defend such assaults as “evidence gathering”.
Erosion of civil liberties only starts with “undesirables”; it never stops there:
The Department of [Father]land Security is expanding its capacity to scan irises as part of its mass deportation [pogroms and to add to DFS’ immense] biometric data[base]…a $25 million no-bid contract [awarded] to BI2 Technologies…is more than five times the amount of the company’s last [DFS] contract, awarded last fall…the co[ntract includ]ed more than 1,500 iris scanners, as well as access to the company’s mobile app, including a[n iris scan] database…
The Constitution is quickly becoming a dead letter:
Texas’ law requiring app marketplace operators like Google and Apple to verify all users’ ages and seek parental permission before minors can download apps or make in-app purchases can go into effect for now…the [deeply-authoritarian] 5th…Circuit [has unsurprisingly ruled]…block[ing] a temporary injunction issued by a federal district judge…in December [because] the…law [patent]ly violate[s] the First Amendment…[the law’s sponsors barfed “]protect children[” in the faces of those who support]…free speech rights. Louisiana and Utah have passed similar laws that have not yet gone into effect…
Amazon is angry that the biggest cheaters won its biggest cheater contest:
Amazon has shut down an internal company…board which ranked employees based on how much they used [chatbot]s at work…because it was easily cheated and…encouraged wasteful and expensive [chatbot] use…some tech company executives [labor under the delusion] that if employees are [actually doing their]…work [instead of training chatbots to replace them] they are not being productive enough…with some [actually] bragging about how they are spending more money on [chatbots]…than actual human employees. This has resulted in a situation where some employees are running scripts that make it seem like they are using [chatbot]s a lot to game metrics and appease their bosses, but the [chatbots]…are [merely] burning money and resources with no benefit to productivity…
Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?
An NYPD [pig] pointed a loaded gun in a female subordinate’s face [in the cop shop] in March after subjecting her to incessant sexual harassment [since October 2024], often joined by a supervisor…[deranged pig] Quilbvio Espinal [is being sued by Megan Kwan]…[after he was] arrest[ed on March 26th, then rewarded with a paid vacation]…Espinal was…apparently embarrassed ..whe[n] Kwan…[dared to make a suggestion, which boss hogs characterized as]…provok[ing] him, as if…his [out-of-control behavior] were [somehow her] fault…for some 18 months before…he [threatened to murder her], Espinal and [another pig named] Jayson Valentin…had made her life a living hell…[by] “incessantly” making sexualized comments about Kwan being Asian that “became increasingly explicit” and continued on a near-daily basis throughout 2025 and until his arrest this year…he…also sent [crude texts and] racist and pornographic video content to Kwan…Valentin openly laughed at and participated in Espinal’s abuse…[and] sent her a [dick] pic…on [Snapchat]…
When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1630)
Uthmeier’s hoping to get a cut of the “AI” gravy train before it collapses:
Florida is [su]ing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman [to] profit [from traged]y, in the first [of many ambulance-chasing] lawsuit[s] brought by…state [attorneys general] against the ChatGPT maker over the [dangers posed by simpletons and mentally-ill people using] the chatbot. The lawsuit…[is full of the usual grandiose and bombastic claims politicians cram into lawsuits intended to pillage politically-unpopular companies, such as Backpage, Target, and tobacco companies, but Uthmeier]…is also seeking to hold Altman personally liable….”for potentially up to billions of dollars” in [loot for Florida politicians]…
Why are people shocked when those paid & encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?
A North Carolina [cop] has been fired after…doorbell camera video showing] him repeatedly punching a [90-pound] woman during an arrest [went viral]…The [cop shop at first rewarded him with a paid vacation until protests started, and the boss hog at first tried to justify the brutal attack by barfing]…”suspicious female” [at protesters. The gang is still hiding his identity]…
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 (#1643)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged A Moral Cancer, artificial stupidity, Canada, comics, consensual crime, cops, drugs, Enablers, ethics, fascism, France, I Spy, Illinois, internet, Moloch, Ohio, Panopticon, politicians, Pyrrhic Victory, rape, robots, Shame Shame, Spain, surveillance, Sweden, teachers, Texas, To Molest and Rape, universal criminality, violence vs. sex workers, Welcome to the Future on June 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »
AI will be used to create a hellscape of over-enforcement. – Jay Stanley
Pigs in schools are a menace which should be abolished:
Since the massacre…in Uvalde in 2022, school districts across Texas have spent billions of dollars to [cram pigs into] every campus in the state…[despite the obvious fact that cops did nothing] to protect students from [that] traged[y. Predictably]…the constant presence of [armed thugs] has transformed the way many public schools manage discipline, subjecting students to heavy-handed police tactics for behavior that once would have landed them only in the principal’s office…[as in the adult world, cops] display…startling belligerence…grabbing or tackling students a fraction of their size over [ordinary juvenile] misconduct…Children in elementary school…as young as 6…[a]re handcuffed. Teenagers [a]re arrested, charged with crimes and even jailed. In [many] cases, they [need to be taken to] hospitals, bruised or concussed, after [deranged thugs] body-slam…[them] or shock…[them with] Tasers, which are prohibited in the state’s juvenile d[ungeons] but allowed in its public schools…[and these are a mere fraction of the atrocities, because school] districts and [cop shops hide the full scope of the violence from the public]…
The rise of computerized zombies:
[The corpse of] Stan Lee is [be]ing…digital[ly paraded through the streets] through a new [collaboration] between ElevenLabs and Stan Lee Universe…[which] will [synchronize a cartoon of] the Marvel legend…to [a chatbot trained on his]…voice…The [abomination] is part of a growing [moral corruption] in entertainment to use [computers] to [exploit] the [reputation]s and legacies of iconic creators. The [scheme was first tested]…at L.A. Comic Con…and [because they didn’t get lynched] ElevenLabs is now…[cramm]ing [the cartoon and chatbot] into multiple [exploit]ative products…Late last year, Michael Caine [sold his soul to] them as well…
Safetyism is destroying society:
BusPatrol, a company that has installed [computeriz]ed cameras in tens of thousands of school buses around the U.S., now plans to turn those cameras into automatic license plate readers…capturing the location of every vehicle the buses drive past, and [throwing] that data [in]to [pigsties]…essentially transform[ing] school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles, taking a technology that was originally [sold to useful idiots] to issue tickets to people illegally passing stopped buses and using it for…warrant[less surveillance in partnership with fascist]…giant Axon…BusPatrol [already] has cameras in more than 40,000 buses across 24 states. [Present]ly, those cameras [only photograph]…vehicle[s which]…pass…the school bus while it has its stop signs…extended…[but] the planned changes would…expand that system to scan the license plates of all vehicles the buses pass…and…record the car’s…GPS location…in order to…generate more revenue…[for] BusPatrol [investors]…
Not as good as destroying them, but courage is alien to politicians:
The city of Dayton, Ohio has covered its Flock automated license plate reader cameras with black trash bags…because police there are unsure whether the cameras are still active and the city also doesn’t seem to know whether [the devil’s bargain it made with fascists] allowed [it] to take the cameras down. The move comes after months of resident outrage…[over] the city [“accidentally”] sharing Flock camera data for [Trump’s pogroms]…Dayton is not the first city to cover its Flock cameras with trash bags because they can’t figure out how to immediately terminate the use of the cameras. Late last year, the city of Evanston, Illinois also covered its cameras with trash bags while it was waiting for the company to remove them [for the second time, because]…after…Evanston terminated its contract with Flock…and…removed [the cameras]…Flock “reinstalled the cameras without the city’s permission” and [Evanston had to] sen[d it] a cease-and-desist [to get them permanently removed]…
Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:
France ha[s] banned “a number of popular nicotine-based products including Zyn pouches.” Those caught violating the measure could face up to five years in prison and a fine of $436,600…Swedish Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa…called the ban…on these pouches, which originated in Sweden, an “attack on the Swedish way of living”…Sweden, Italy, Greece, and four other countries have raised “formal concerns”…that the…ban violates the E.U.’s single market laws…[pointing out that pouch-using] members of the European Parliament…[which meets in] the French city of Strasbourg…risk [police violence by] traveling to France…tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable deaths [in France], and…55 percent of…French smokers…want…to quit…[but] a lack of access to nicotine pouches will keep many people addicted to cigarettes. Meanwhile, Sweden…has the lowest smoking rate in Europe…predominantly thanks to oral nicotine products. Since the 1980s, it has seen its smoking rate fall from 30 percent to less than 5 percent…
Medical privacy will soon go the way of house calls:
Headway, a popular online therapy platform, says it will require clients and providers to undergo biometric scanning, and there’s no way to opt out other than leaving the platform…Headway [justifies the privacy violation by barfing] “safe[ty]”…at…patients…[and] providers…Many mental health providers or the practices they work for use Headway to help them get credentialed with insurance companies and process billing and other administrative tasks. Through Headway, providers can be in-network with a much wider variety of insurance plans…it will use the [Palantir-linked fascist organ] Persona to verify identities, a[d]ding [their data] to…Peter Thiel’s [huge trove of information he happily sells to anyone who can pay, including Trump stooge]…Robert F. Kennedy Jr…
A gang of pigs tried to poach on another gang’s rape territory:
[Three]…Toronto cops [tried to escape consequences for violently sexually assaulting a]…Spanish [escort in Barcelona by announcing that they were fellow pigs] and flash[ing] a Toronto badge…Evan Penner Glennie and Richard Theodore Rand [were caught] just [after attacking the] escort [in a taxi, leaving her] bloodied and shaken. She had…been [both] sexually groped…and physically assaulted inside the vehicle. A third…[culprit named] Caglar Yigit…fled the scene…to [escape] Spanish [cops] who had responded to the woman’s cries for help…[and] was later arrested on the…island of Mallorca…all…three [made bond and]…have since been allowed to return to Canada, [where they] have been [rewar]ded with pa[id vacations]…
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 (#1642)
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged agency denial, bogus studies, censorship, crypto-moralism, Denmark, Enshittification, ethics, fascism, Florida, France, I Spy, illegal aliens, internet, Mad Libs, Ohio, Panopticon, politicians, psychology, surveillance, Texas, The Puritan Recrudescence, Thou Shalt Not, United Kingdom, Walled Garden, Welcome to the Future on May 30, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The Trump…[regime] is more interested in monitoring and intimidating public servants than in actually governing. – Michael Martinez
Crypto-moralists believe anything people enjoy must be “bad for them”:
Social media use ranks with smoking as a threat to the health of young people, according to [a bizarre exaggeration of]…a submission to a government consultation on social media use for under-16s…the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges [actually] says doctors should routinely ask about screen time…when seeing younger patients. There is no [evidence]…that [social media] is harmful to children [or young adults, and in fact two massive new studies show that moderate usage is actually good for young people. What actually seems to harm them is pervasive surveillance and infantilization, such as referring to young adults as “children” and attempting to control everything they see, hear, and do. But]…Technology Secretary Liz Kendall [wants to ban] social media for under-16s [despite the abject failure of such a totalitarian scheme]…in Australia…Kendall said…”No [mere facts are] going to stop me from [impos]ing what I think is right [on everyone else]”…
In surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:
Executives at Home Depot and Lowe’s want to hide…the[ir collaboration with government efforts to destroy] civil rights [b]y shar[ing] automatic license plate reader…data with…cop…[shops, spook houses] and [goon squads], who use the information to hunt [people they wish to brutalize]…shareholders are asking them to produce reports describing how their company assesses the risks…when they [collaborate]…by [feeding] the Flock [network]…pictures of vehicles as they drive by…[so pigs, spooks, and goons can root in them] to [target human beings for violence by]…identify[ing their] cars…[government actors can] watch children…stalk and terrorize [sexual prey, and harass]…people seeking reproductive health care, or people of the “wrong” race…
Fools eagerly hand the government constant surveillance without even being asked:
Oura rings are [faddish tech gewgaw]s worn on a finger. These [self-surveillance gimmick]s keep track of a person’s health data, like heart rate, sleep patterns, menstrual cycles, and dozens of other data points, including their location…Oura’s [half-assed] security design choices allow governments to [root in whatever] records [they like]…And, Oura…data is not end-to-end encrypted. That means that an[yone with the apparatus can intercept any]…user’s health data…at [many] points as it travels from…ring…through…phone app, over the internet, and…[onto] Oura’s [insecure] servers…staff [can] access it…as [can]…a prosecutor with a warrant, a hacker with stolen keys, or a [politician with]…a fustercluck of a[n agenda]…Oura would not say how…often it turns over user data [to malicious actors like cops, but it]…has sold over 5.5 million rings to date…
Fascists are infuriated by free people who ignore their diktats:
VPNs are currently under attack in various ways…last year, the Danish government…[tried to criminalize us[ing] a VPN to access geoblocked streaming content or…websites [politicians dislike]…France [wants]…to compel NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, and others to block access to pirate sites and services…[which will] open…the door to…more calls to use [such orders] for a wider range of material…some [legitimate VPN provid]ers are considering whether to abandon the French market completely…[driving] people [to use shady] VPN providers…The UK government has announced wide-ranging [censorship] plans [justified by barfing]…“keep children safe online”…[in] adult [citizens’ faces]…the[se]…misguided plans will also bolster the growing attempts by the copyright industry to demonise VPNs – a core element of the Internet’s plumbing – as unnecessary tools that are only used [by peasants to disobey their rightful masters]…
“Bossware” is even more horrifying when the boss is the government:
The Trump [regime] is building a surveillance network to spy on its own workforce across multiple agencies…[and] has already given Palantir an initial $3.9 million to do so…the USDA…VA…[and] SSA…[are already] surveilling workers…and measuring occupancy levels…[as]…a prelude to consolidating or outright shuttering of more offices nationwide, based on…staff levels [which] are low because DOGE [fired 348,219] workers last year…as…part of…Russell Vought’s plan to strip Americans of federal services…Research shows working under constant scrutiny harms workers’ physical and mental health…[but] Palantir…is getting rich off U.S. taxes…
Evil corporations are using artificial stupidity to destroy journalism entirely:
A [web]site called National Today…[is re]publish[ing]…reworded version[s] of o[thers’ work]…and…present[ing] the reporting as if it were the original source…[it] is blatant plagiarism…[from] countless…publications, ranging from top newspapers to local newsrooms across the country…stealing their original reporting and using it to publish a torrent of what appear to clearly be [computer]-generated articles, complete with bizarre errors and hallucinations. The scope is immense. [Futurism reporters] tried to count how many it published in a single day, but lost count around 300…In addition to the incredible speed at which it churns out all this slop, National Today is full of comically terrible errors…[such as replacing] real people’s names with “Jane Doe”…[or getting] stuck on a certain quote, repeatedly jamming it into articles where it makes no sense…National Today is…[run] by the TOP Agency, a flashy [PR firm] that claims to have worked with nationally-known companies including Microsoft, Intel…US Bank and Discover…
Safetyism has always enabled totalitarianism:
…163 immigration-related searches were registered in Cleveland’s Flock camera audit logs between December 28th and January 27th, despite the city having blocked immigration searches since November…[this is because] the drones [sold to useful idiots as helping] the Cleveland fire and emergency medical services were “accidentally” and “mistakenly” included in Flock S[urveillance]’s national network…the records include dozens of searches explicitly referencing “I.C.E”…[and] originat[ing in quisling states such as] Florida…and…Texas…
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!
Out of the Past
Posted in Biography, Fiction, History, tagged imaginative fiction, internet, libraries, Lost Angels, New Orleans, The Big Boom on May 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »
As a lifelong bibliophile with a special interest in reference books, I’m always delighted to find a useful one that I didn’t even know existed. Regular readers know that I’ve been working on a novel, The Big Boom, set in New Orleans of 1925 and featuring the characters from “Until the End of Days“ and “Hellhound”. It will surprise no one who has read more than a few examples of my work that I’m an absolute fiend for accuracy; anachronisms and other such errors really annoy me when I encounter them, so there’s absolutely no way I’m going to let them creep into my work if I can possibly avoid it. But once in a while, the fact one needs is far too obscure for the enshittified latter-day Google to turn up, and since there is no academic library nearby that can turn into a complicated search unless I want to rewrite that section of the story so as to avoid referencing unknown facts.
Now, some of you may know that early 20th-century New Orleans had one of the most extensive networks of streetcars in the United States, but as automobiles proliferated in the 1930s some of the lines began to close down, and after World War II an unholy alliance of Detroit manufacturers and corrupt New Orleans politicians conspired to replace the clean, quiet, efficient, and long-lasting (there are streetcars still in operation today which were built in the 1920s) electric streetcars with filthy, noisy, inefficient, “modern” buses which must be replaced every few years. By 1953 only the St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street lines were left, and in 1964 the Canal Street line was pulled out as well; the only line which survived into my adulthood was the St. Charles line, and even it was reduced to about half of its former range. So when streetcar routes came into the plot twice in the first four chapters of my book, I started trying to find maps of the network in its 1920s heyday, only to be repeatedly thwarted. Finally, a few weeks ago, a serendipitous search turned up a photo of the map someone had posted to Reddit; it was much too low-resolution to be of any use, but the poster had the good sense many internet denizens lack: she named the source. I immediately went to Amazon, located a copy, bought it for the very reasonable price of $20, and it arrived a week ago Saturday. It was published in 1955, was written by a New Orleanian who was an age-peer of my main characters, and was even better than I’d hoped for; it had three different maps (1880, 1906, and a combined 1915-1930 map), detailed descriptions of each route, schematics of the cars, period photos galore, and a wealth of facts I couldn’t have hoped for (such as the fact that the normal fare from 1922 to at least 1955 was 7¢). The whole thing was so exciting that I spent most of the following afternoon immersed in it, editing my text to insert small details, and generally feeling like a kid in a candy store. I know some of y’all probably find this amusing, but as I’ve said many times, “You can take the girl out of the library, but you can’t take the librarian out of the girl.” Or the old woman, for that matter. And I always treasure books which connect me to a world I was born too late to explore for myself.
On the Tweet Where You Live
Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Music, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged Aladdin’s Satellite, artificial stupidity, blogging, Bluesky, comics, consensual crime, dirty, drugs, ethics, fascism, imaginative fiction, internet, Iran, language, politicians, Post-Christianity, psychology, Pyrrhic Victory, robots, sex work is work, video, Washington DC on May 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Old-style criminals ran their criminal activities as businesses; techies run their businesses as criminal enterprises.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-18T07:51:15.991Z
These things look like the wearer's head shrunk, which makes them a perfect visual metaphor for chatbot usage.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-21T03:54:52.643Z
"She swindled him out of the $40,000 he spent on her…"Make up you minds; either he spent it or she swindled him. Buyer's remorse does not a "swindle" make.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-23T03:32:42.585Z
In my youth, nobody used a word any harsher than "eccentric" to describe old ladies who refused to drive economy cars, insisted big tube radios sounded better than transistor radios, or was unimpressed with cinema special-effects spectacles.I hope to be afforded the same courtesy.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-23T17:07:28.260Z
Not crushing enough.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-24T17:45:48.193Z
"Sam Altman, the head (in the nautical sense) of OpenAI…"Please proceed.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-25T17:29:34.342Z
A sophomoric twit proposes a stupid thought experiment involving button-pushing. If more than 50% of people on social media respond, other sophomoric twits will continue to propose stupid thought experiments, but if less than 50% respond the fad will die. Do you participate?
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-26T16:31:10.502Z
I'm sick to death of hearing this nonsense about "girl dads" and "boy moms". How about just being parents who actually CARE about their children, regardless of gender? And I don't mean "help them achieve arbitrary standards of success" or "keep them physically 'safe' at the cost of personal growth".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-27T17:44:27.936Z
I do not keep cursed objects in my home, and furthermore as a wise old crone who lives near a damp, creepy forest I advise y'all not to keep them in your homes, either.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-27T18:01:27.631Z
Dude looks like he just got a facefull of Joker toxin.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-30T03:59:39.099Z
A housecat is much smaller than a human, and absolutely cannot win in a fight with a determined human. But it doesn't need to; all it NEEDS to do is make grabbing it so painful and bloody that the human decides grabbing it isn't worthwhile.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-30T18:23:30.477Z
The Bluesky autocensor has labeled this "explicit or potentially disturbing". If you're disturbed by the Three Stooges' cartoon violence, I suggest you just mute or block me now, because it isn't going to get any better for you.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-01T18:04:59.499Z
I stopped considering myself a Christian about 50 years ago, and I am still nauseated by the level of blasphemy constantly pouring out of Gomorrah-on-the-Potomac.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-02T02:52:58.126Z
I propose we change the name from the Department of Justice to the Department of Vengeance, so as to more accurately describe its activities. If a hypothetical future regime somehow changes that in a way that will make abuse much harder*, we can consider changing it back.*This will never happen.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-03T17:54:28.666Z
Millennials and Gen Xers may recognize this song as the main title of "The Adventures of Pete & Pete". But what Polaris didn't dare tell Nickelodeon, for fear of losing the gig, is that the song is about the Kent State massacre. The titular "Sandy" is Sandra Lee Scheuer.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-04T16:59:54.865Z
It's true, I was there.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T04:03:23.278Z
A lot of people (ESPECIALLY in cities like Portland or Seattle) use the term "anarchist" as a synonym for "hooligan", when in actuality they're closer to antonyms. True anarchists have their own moral code which they firmly adhere to, for reasons which should be obvious.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T16:45:46.775Z
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-09T04:45:27.463Z
So the antecedent of "you" here is…countries? Or is he saying all "not stupid" countries should shoot at an individual, such as a US local cop, who shoots at me, Maggie McNeill? Or does he mean there should be a grand free-for-all in which all national militaries avenge all individual shootings?
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-09T17:26:29.171Z
"it is context window buffers""I thought a string of instructions could be my friend""Mensa"{insert "I am very smart" meme}
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-11T17:19:05.355Z
This looks worse than "Reptilicus".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-12T17:34:06.980Z
My favorite subgenre of country is philosophical country, epitomized by songs written by Jimmy Webb.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-13T16:47:24.314Z
Roughly 1/3 of US voters are authoritarian.Roughly 1/3 are liberal.And the remaining 1/3 are spineless reeds who will bend with the political winds.The entire history of US politics, from the founding generation until now, is the struggle to capture the middle third.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-14T17:45:43.395Z
He also announced future initiatives to fight saline bags, stints, dental chairs, and MRI machines, but he's leaving the fights against vaccines and antibiotics to his buddy Frankennedy.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-16T17:31:42.572Z
Throwback Thursday’s Coffin
Posted in Biography, History, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged abortion, BDSM, blogging, Catholicism, ethics, internet, language, porn, propaganda, psychology, surveillance on May 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Calling the name on government records “real”, rather than the name by which people are widely known, the name they chose for themselves and built a career on, is a sickening obeisance to the State. – “What is Real?”
True principles and valid ethics don’t depend on the gut-level preferences of any one person. – “Under the Sun”
My lifelong practice of burning my candle at both ends has resulted in my brain aging far more than those of people who haven’t been running theirs on “high” since the Nixon era.
– “More Often Nowadays”
Catholic education has traditionally put such a strong emphasis on critical thinking skills that some wit once pointed out that the Church was its own worst enemy because it provided children with the tools that undermine faith.
– “Just As Good“
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