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Posts Tagged ‘Iran’

In the News (#1619)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Young people still have human rights.  –  David Greene

No Escape

The predictable result of sociopaths being given total power over women:

…Prison counselor Richard MacLeod…repeatedly [raped] Andrea Nielsen…at Illinois’ Logan C[age Stack]…But…when her cellmate reported the abuse to prison investigator Todd Sexton and Warden Margaret Burke, the pair “formulated an outrageous plan to use her as unwitting ‘bait’ to try to catch MacLeod in the act…Sexton [would] stay late a few times, crawl around in the ceiling above the room MacLeod used to sexually assault Nielsen, and wait to jump down and intervene”…The plan [required]…MacLeod [to attack when Sexton was in his voyeur position, so of course it failed]…A jury found [Burke, Sexton, and MacLeod] all…liable and ordered them to pay Nielsen $19.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages…[but] the 7th Circuit…partially reversed the lower court’s ruling and ordered a new trial on damages…for Sexton and Burke…to [reset the amount of damages]…MacLeod [coerced] Nielsen…[by threaten]ing [to deny] her calls with her 6-year-old daughter…he…[would] subject her to…[unprotected] vaginal and oral [rape when she came to his]…office [for the calls]…he [also]…threatened [to destroy her mail] and [put her in solitary confinement]…if she reported [him]…

Welcome to the Future (#1428)

Indiscriminate murder is so much easier when blamed on machines:

In order to [ma]ke a b[ig social media show]…of its attack on Iran, the U.S. military [used a chatbot combined with]…Maven Smart System…built by…Palantir…to [pick victims] in Iran…Embedded into the system is Anthropic’s AI tool Claude, a technology that was banned by the Pentagon [on orders of the lunatic Secretary of Defense] last week…As planning for a potential strike in Iran was underway, Maven, powered by Claude, suggested hundreds of targets, issued precise location coordinates, and prioritized those targets according to importance…Claude has also been used in [inventing imaginary] terror plots and in the raid that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.  But this is the first time it has been used in major war operations…Hours before the bombing in Iran began, [the mad emperor belch]ed he was banning government agencies from further using Anthropic’s tools…be[cause] the company [didn’t want]…the tools [used for] mass domestic surveillance and [murder robots]…The military will continue using its technology as it waits for a replacement to be phased in…

Shame, Shame (#1580)

Apparently these fools didn’t learn from Zuckerberg’s flushing $77 billion:

…the “Tillyverse” [is a cartoon] world [imagined for cartoon character]…Tilly Norwood…to [exist in with other cartoon characters who will “]build artificial acting careers[“]…Particle6…the [software company behind]…Tilly Norwood and its universe…has…recruited Amazon Executive Mark Whelan from Prime Video…and [the delusional nitwit cabal already imagines their cartoon as]…“a future global superstar”…[with “]humour[“, a “]daily life[“, “]career choices[“, and “]fans”…[in response to] SAG-AFTRA…[correctly pointing out] that Norwood is…“a character generated by a computer program”…Particle6…[developed an unnerving tic, spastically belching out nonsense buzzwords including] “rapid acceleration”…“AI talent”…and…“cultural spark”…

Thought Control (#1593)

The mad emperor’s reign of terror continues:

H.R. 7661 t[ies]…federal education funding to restrictions on certain books and educational materials…[in order to] pressure…schools to remove titles that discuss identity, history, and lived experiences…politicians [dislike]…This is…about whether the federal government can use its power to narrow the range of…perspectives available to students…It is about whether educators and school librarians will feel forced to self-censor to protect their budgets.  And it is about whether young people will grow up in classrooms shaped by political fear instead of free expression…Once the government begins deciding which viewpoints are acceptable, every reader’s freedom is at risk…as we’ve already seen in [individual] states…

Walled Garden (#1595)

Western nations are competing to out-China China:

…The bipartisan effort to censor and deanonymize the internet for everyone…[is behind] a dozen “child online safety” bills…[intended to] force social media companies to enact invasive identity verification measures…[which would permanently link every] user’s offline identity…with their online behavior…constitut[ing] one of the most sweeping rollbacks of civil rights in recent history.  It would allow for unprecedented levels of mass surveillance and censorship, endangering the most marginalized members of society.  Whistleblowers exposing corporate wrongdoing…[or] government employees speaking out about illegal behavior or bad policies could face [retalia]tion, and activists organizing protests could be identified and surveilled before ever setting foot on the street…Already, the U.S. government is flooding social media platforms with subpoenas seeking to unmask hundreds of anonymously run anti-ICE social media accounts.  These laws would make it all the more easier for the government to target and prosecute those who dissent…and [the Quisling party has]…become integral to advancing these proposals, falsely claiming that surveillance laws will crack down on Big Tech or curb [nonexistent] social media addiction…The laws would create a massive new market for third-party identification vendors, [which is why psychopaths]…such as Peter Thiel…Elon Musk…and…Mark Zuckerberg [support these and even worse laws]…

Vulture Watching (#1608)

Forced-birth fanatics really do want more women to die:

…crisis pregnancy centers [are] organizations that advertise free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds but dissuade women from pursuing abortions and contraceptive options.  Since the [rogue SCOTUS] ended national abortion access in June 2022, the centers have seen an infusion of taxpayer dollars in many Republican-led states….[even though they] endanger public health by “causing delays in accessing legitimate health care”…Twenty-one states funneled…$491 million…to [these scams] between fiscal years 2022 and 2025…not includ[ing] millions some states diverted from federal programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families…Yet that largesse hasn’t been matched by corresponding regulation…[even though the centers regularly lie]…about their services…[and] promote [dangerous pseudo-]treatments like abortion pill reversal… the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists…[says] “they operate outside of ethical principles and best care practices”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1617)

In which glassholes are hoist with their own petard:

[Facebook has been forced to admit that] subcontracted workers [can]…view…films and images…captured by its…[perve]rt glasses for the purpose of improving the “experience”…[the privacy violations were discovered] by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet…and Goteborgs-Posten…[a Facebook mouthpiece] said…”[Our] glasses help you…to [violate the privacy of anyone in]…the world around you”…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Rapists of the Week #10

Posted in Current Events, Rapists of the Week, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

License to Rape

Police states define the bodies of all citizens as “crime scenes” which can be violated by “authorities” at will:

A…[leaked document reveals that a]n Iranian teenager was sexually assaulted and killed by three…Iran[ian cops]…16-year-old Nika Shakarami…vanished from an anti-regime protest in 2022.  Her body was found [by her mother] nine days later.  The government claimed she killed herself…[but] the report summarises a hearing on Nika’s case…[which] includes…the names of her [murderers: Arash Kalhor, Sadegh Monjazy, and Behrooz Sadeghy,] and [identifies] the senior commanders who tried to hide the truth…[cops pulled her into] an un[marked] van…[and Monjazy] molested her while he was sitting on her…Despite being handcuffed and restrained, she fought back, kicking and swearing…[which the three cops then used as an excuse] to beat her [to death] with batons…

If Men Were Angels

“Youth group director” = “youth pastor” = preachy molester:

…a [typical and representative] youth group director [named] Brett Franklin Bymaster…is charged with committing sex crimes against a young girl, starting when she was 8 years old…For years, teenagers and their parents raised concerns about Bymaster’s conduct…[but] church leaders covered up [the truth]…Bymaster “groomed” teens, took naked showers with minors on field trips, sexually harassed minors with unwanted touching, groped underage girls, and pressured youth group members into sexually explicit conversations…he…was manipulative, a “bully,” psychologically abusive, “toxic,” and spiritually abusive…A teen girl attempted suicide in September 2018 in response to Brett’s…”slut shaming”…Bymaster left the church in 2019 and became…a faith…[healer]…

You’d think “youth pastor” would be a big red flag by now:

Three [women] who…were sexually abused as minors by a youth pastor at Champion Forest Baptist [have] sued the Houston megachurch and the Southern Baptist Convention…[for enabling and covering up the depredations of typical and representative] minister Timothy Jason Jeltema[, who] was sentenced in 2022 to five years in prison…church leaders [ignored the victims’] reports of [Jeltema’s] crimes and [even] interfer[ed] with police investigations…there remains a federal investigation into the SBC’s handling of sexual abuse…

To Molest and Rape

“During encounters with” sounds so much nicer than “while raping”:

A federal grand jury indicted a Columbus [Ohio cop named]…Nicholas Duty…[for] purposefully deactivating or removing his police body camera…on Oct. 31, 2023, and March 22, 2024…Duty [wanted to hide that he was harassing one woman and]…sexual[ly assaulting anoth]er…[as usual, his supervisors are more obsessed with the disposition of his magical clown costume than with his victims’ welfare.  However, even if he skates on the assault]…altering records to obstruct a federal investigation is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison…

No Escape (#1399)

The last time we saw this lawsuit, the number was 1500:

…sexual…abuse…[of] juvenile detainees [by screws and probation officers was common]…in Los Angeles County for more than three decades.  Now, [over 2500] victims are taking action with a lawsuit against LA County…an LA Times investigation in 2010 found at least 11 probation officers had [already] been convicted of crimes or disciplined for [molesting, raping, or beating] the youth [the state gave them total power over, yet as usual]…the [rapists] are…protected…[by] the department…and…some are still on the job…In February, California’s Board of [Caging Human Beings]…voted to close the remaining juvenile halls in LA within 60 days unless numerous changes were implemented…[yet] the facilities…continue operating — at least, for now…Of the [known rapists], some are deceased, others retired so long ago their records have been purged and those…currently with the department have been [rewarded with paid vacations]…Probation Officer Thomas Jackson…[one of the worst offenders,] announced his retirement…A few days later, [fellow serial rapist] Ernest Walker also announced his retirement…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #7)

This is the kind of dangerous animal the State grants power to:

[A typical and representative] Washington…cop who [raped his girlfriend’s drunk friend in February recent]ly slaughtered his ex-wife and underage girlfriend before [kidnapp]ing the teenager’s infant on [April 22nd,] the[n shot himself in]…the head…[when] Oregon [cops caught up with him the next day]…The 1-year-old child…was taken into custody…[Elias] Huizar…[shot his] ex-wife Amber Rodriguez eight times outside the elementary school where she worked…[in front of their] 9-year-old son…While looking for the maniac, [cops] found the body of his underage girlfriend…Angelica Santos…in his home…

To Molest and Rape (#1431)

When they only knew about his molesting a teenager, they were hiding his name and picture:

[A thug sent by the state of Wisconsin to spy on, harass, and intimidate students, whose name is] Steven Rosales…[now faces] bestiality charges [on top of his previous charges for molesting a teenage girl]…Rosales [fucked] his pet dog several times…and photographed it…

To Molest and Rape (#1434)

Just another molester cop avoiding consequences:

A [Florida cop named]…Jose Robell Hernandez…accepted a plea agreement where he would be guilty of aggravated child abuse.  He was also facing charges [for] having sex with a minor…but those have been dropped as part of the agreement.  [The] judge…sentenced [him] to 10 years of probation…Hernandez met a 17-year-old on Tinder.  Her profile said she was 23…Police discovered this when the teen called 911 frantic and reported a body in a garbage bag.  There was no body, and she told [cops] she had not taken her medication…[when they] asked…for her personal information…she handed them her phone [and they rooted through it, reading]…text messages between her and Hernandez…including one in which she accused him of getting her pregnant…she told [cops] she misled Hernandez about her age in person and on Tinder…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1311)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[Forcing people to provide private] data…is dangerous, because it’s not a matter of if it will be breached; it’s a matter of when.  –  Caden Rosenbaum

Schadenfreude 

Yet another opportunistic fraud has been unmasked:

…the…[“]sex trafficking[” opportun]ist known as Eliza Bleu has broken into some of the top tiers of right-wing media in just a few years, growing her audience through…[claims that she is] “a survivor of human trafficking”…But now Bleu[‘s lies have been exposed by]…embarrassing images from her past…and…contradict[ions in her backstory from different] videos and interviews—and her frequent use of different names online…Now two former friends of Bleu [have come forward with more details which reveal]…that, at best, Bleu is exaggerating her experiences for attention…Carly Wenzel, a one-time pal…who has known her for two decades…added she believes Bleu is “completely lying”…

Lying Down With Dogs (#335)

What other country uses the term “prostitution” to criminalize consensual behavior the regime dislikes?

An Iranian court has handed jail sentences of more than 10 years each to a young couple who danced in front of one of Tehran’s main landmarks in a video seen as a symbol of defiance against the regime…Astiyazh Haghighi and her fiance, Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, both in their early 20s, were arrested in early November…Haghighi was not wearing a headscarf…women are also not allowed to dance in public, let alone with a man…The couple, who already had a following in Tehran as popular Instagram bloggers, were convicted of “encouraging corruption and public prostitution” as well as “gathering with the intention of disrupting national security”…they [were]…deprived of lawyers during the [kangaroo] court…and attempts to secure their release on bail [were] rejected…

Negative Secondary Effects

It usually starts with sex workers, but it never stops with us:

A bill introduced in West Virginia…aims to ban adult entertainment businesses from the state…The language of the bill is both borderline graphic and incredibly vague: it defines the body parts that stores are prohibited from showing in books, live performances, and films with meticulous specificity…but specific details on which businesses will actually be affected if this bill were to pass into law are left mostly undefined…Under th[e bill’s current language], a bookstore that sells [sex education books or videos]…would be considered an adult business…the terms of this bill could effectively make gay bars and nude modeling at art schools illegal…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1021)

This would be terrible even if the cops weren’t lying:

The…NYPD…is in the process of redesigning its fleet of p[igmobi]les, which will now have 360-degree cameras installed in them for constant [surveillance] of the [citizen]s…Po[rk] Commissioner Keechant Sewell…[lied] that…there are no plans to e[quip] the [cameras with] facial recognition technology…[but she bragged about]…an “augmented reality” app…will allow [cops] to point their smartphones at a location, such as a…[person’s home], and learn about things like wanted suspects or previous 911 calls connected to the address…

Creepy Coppers

The people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A [Virginia cop named]…David Stone…is currently being held without bond a[fter being]…arrested on Jan. 25…[on] 50 child pornography charges…

Stupor Bowl (#1277)

It’s unsurprising that Arizona is still promoting this nearly-mummified fantasy with police violence against women:

Despite more than a decade of research, reports, editorials, magazine articles and even police accounts debunking the odious myth that the Super Bowl is a magnet for sex trafficking, this zombie lie remains catnip to local politicians, police and media ahead of Super Bowl LVII…But occasionally a little truth sneaks through the miasma of misinformation, as is the case with…Fox 10’s report bolster[ing] the long-disproven…hoax…it inadvertently reveals [that]…Phoenix Police…ha[ve] been regularly arresting unknown numbers of adults [under the pretext that they might be “]victims of sex trafficking[” and] allowing [prohibitionist] groups to proselytize them while in custody…If that sounds familiar, it should, because about 10 years ago, the PPD was involved in a similar, highly-controversial program with ASU’s School of Social Work called Project ROSE…

The Mob Rules (#1307)

Tyrannical politicians are now competing to see which state can make adolescence most closely resemble a prison sentence:

A pair of bills in Utah would impose draconian requirements on social media platforms [under the pretext] of protecting children….social media companies would be required to verify the ages of all users from Utah, get parental consent before allowing someone under age 18 to open or maintain an account, provide parents or guardians of minors with “access to the content and interactions” of accounts maintained by their children, and…minors would be prohibited from using social media between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m…The bill would also authorize a[nyone, including bureaucrats]…to sue social media companies for [supposed] violations…

Update: This was signed into law in March.

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1306)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 21, 2023| 1 Comment »

We did prohibition, it didn’t work.  –  George Koob

Pyrrhic Victory (#1189)

“Criminality” is a status defined entirely by the State:

…the head of [the] Iranian…morality [police] said in a September interview that [facial recognition] technology would be used “to identify inappropriate and unusual movements,” including “failure to observe hijab laws”…[activists] monitoring the ongoing [protests] have noticed that some people…are confronted by police days after an alleged incident—including women cited for not wearing a hijab…the pattern indicates face recognition is already in use…women…[are also] receiving citations in the mail for hijab law violations despite not having [been physically accosted by a cop]…Women deemed violators of the law can lose access to banks, public transportation, and other essential…services.  Repeat offenders can spend years in jail or in [“re-education” camps]…

Virtual Imperialism (#1202)

Beijing’s campaign to silence Chinese people outside China is becoming more aggressive:

…a Chinese outpost [in New York] conducting police operations without jurisdiction or diplomatic approval — one of more than 100 such outfits around the world…[was searched by] F.B.I. counterintelligence agents…last fall…Irish, Canadian and Dutch officials have called for China to shut down police operations in their countries…[but] the F.B.I. raid is the first known example of the authorities seizing materials from one of the outposts…The Chinese…[claim] the outposts…are staffed by volunteers who help Chinese nationals perform [benign] tasks like renewing their driver’s licenses back home.  But Chinese state news media reports…cite police and local Chinese officials by name describing the operations…[as “]overseas police service centers[” which engage in]…“collecting intelligence” and solving crimes abroad without collaborating with local officials…Some of those online articles have been deleted recently as Western officials and human rights groups have called attention to the police offices…[which are] part of Beijing’s larger drive to keep tabs on Chinese nationals abroad, including dissidents…

A Moral Cancer (#1260)

Crypto-moralists want people to believe they could live forever by simply eliminating every single pleasurable activity from their lives:

After decades of confusing and…contradictory [claims by crypto-moralists]…the[y’re now claiming to be really really right this time when they claim]…even small amounts of alcohol can have health consequences…When experts talk about the dire health consequences linked to excessive alcohol use, people often assume that it…[means excessive] alcohol use…But th[at’s not good enough for puritans, who want the gullible to be afraid of even]…moderate consumption…the [ever-changing] U.S. Dietary Guidelines…[now] recommend…[no] more than two drinks a day for men and…one drink a day for women…[but] the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…[which is well known for the consistency of its claims and “]recommend[ations” says…if you abstain [most of the time]…and have two or three drinks…on[ce in a while it still]…count[s] as excessive consumption [and God will smite you with cancer]…

Property of the State (#1293)

Universal criminality provides many avenues for State violence:

Alabama’s attorney general [Steve Marshall] said he could prosecute women who take abortion pills, despite language in the state’s new abortion ban that ensures it won’t be used against people who receive abortions…That state’s law against “chemical endangerment” of a child was originally passed to punish people who exposed children to meth labs.  But it’s been used to prosecute numerous pregnant women accused of taking drugs, including marijuana alone…Since abortion pills are now an illegal drug in Alabama…Marshall’s statement doesn’t seem like an empty threat at all…

Opting Out (#1295) 

The UK’s decade-long campaign to censor the internet has taken a mindlessly-carceral turn:

Nearly 40 [politicians are demanding]…the [long-debated] Online Safety Bill…[include] an amendment that would give Ofcom, the communications watchdog, extra powers to prosecute tech bosses and hold them criminally liable for breaches of their [newly-invented “duty”] to protect children [from vaguely-defined “harms”]…

The Cop Myth (#1303)

Sleeping with cops isn’t safe for men, either:

A [cop] running for mayor of Houston…was arrested…[for] assaulting her live-in boyfriend with her police baton and stun gun…Robin Williams…punched her boyfriend in the mouth and struck him with her…baton early Dec. 31 at their Houston home – four months after…beating him with the baton and using a taser on him…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1304)

Apparently, magic insta-fentanyl only affects cops:

Camden County [New Jersey bureaucrats bragged] that [cops]…arrest[ed] five men…[for] fentanyl and cocaine possession and manufacturing, [but] 11 [cops who raided them all had panic attacks when they saw the] fentanyl [their victims were handling without harm] and required medical treatment [to get them to stop crying, fainting and engaging in other histrionics]…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Links #640

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Are you a girl?…Because you fucking fight like a girl.  –  Matt King

Since I’m not a fan of rap, I decided to commemorate the passing of Coolio with this parody of his most famous release.  He also infamously tried to sue Weird Al over it, but later displayed wisdom and maturity by publicly admitting that he had been wrong and apologizing to Weird Al.  Coincidentally, the other celebrity death listed here was a close friend of Weird Al’s.  The links above the video were provided by Popehat; Emma Evans; Isley and Franklin Harris; Cop Crisis; Popehat again; Stephen Lemons; and Cop Crisis again, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so very much!

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Tricked Out Treats

Posted in Links, Miscellaneous, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I’ve always been dedicated to the idea of this as the time of year for spooky fun.  So every year I collect all the spooky, creepy or scary content from the previous year into one place just before Halloween.  If you’ve come to my blog in the past year, or don’t remember previous editions, they are “Trick or Treat”, “More Trick or Treat“, “Tricks and Treats“, “This Trick’s a Treat”, “Tricky Treats“, “A Trickle of Treats”, “Tricking and Treating“, and “Tricks for the Treat“.  Horror, death or Halloween-themed columns of the past year include “Dead on Arrival“, “The Mysteries“, “Could It Be…Satan?“, “The Sparkle of a Star“, and “The October Country“; there are creepy or spooky-fun videos in Links #541, #553, #566, and #590, and here’s a collection of spooky or Halloweeny links:

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Links #581

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Get down on the fucking floor.  –  typical Chicago “peace officer”

The latest addition to my collection of unusual covers is unusual indeed!  The links above it were provided by Elizabeth N. Brown, Scott Greenfield, Radley Balko, Mike Siegel, C.J. Ciaramella, Cop Crisis, and Stephen Lemons, in that order.

From the Archives

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In the News (#1041)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 23, 2020| 1 Comment »

The government has adopted a win-at-all-costs approach and [an attitude] that the ends justify the means.  –  Michael Piccarreta

Elephant in the Parlor

Politician takes bribes, hires whores.  Yawn.

…federal [documents]…suggest…a years-long trail of bribery between City Councilmember Jose Huizar and a Chinese development firm with a megaproject slated for downtown Los Angeles…[real estate broker] George Chiang…started a real estate consulting company in 2014…that directed money, consulting fees, casino chips, flights on private jets, luxury hotel stays, prostitutes and escort services between developers…[politicians] and [bureaucrats]…in exchange for approval of an 80,000-square foot commercial project and other downtown developments…

Dangerous Speech (#958)

The government keeps demonstrating that it doesn’t really care that its war on thought is wholly and incontrovertibly unconstitutional:

A fiery motion to dismiss filed in the Lacey/Larkin case on May 1…accuses the U.S. Department of Justice of “outrageous government misconduct,” claiming federal pettifoggers and government agents repeatedly trampled upon the defendants’ attorney-client privileges…despite repeated warnings from defense counsel…and two [court] orders…the government continued to question former Backpage CEO and owner Carl Ferrer concerning confidential legal advice that was subject to joint defense and representation agreements with other defendants…the government grilled Ferrer repeatedly through “seven successive interviews” over the course of 13 months, beginning the day of his plea deal…In doing so…the government engaged in “outrageous” and “unconstitutional” misconduct.  Prosecutors “willfully invaded” Lacey and Larkin’s attorney-client privileges in order to “gain a tactical advantage in the case,” thereby violating the defendants’ Fifth Amendment right to due process of law and their Sixth Amendment right to counsel…Barring outright dismissal, the motion asks for an evidentiary hearing to determine the extent of the harm done to the defendants and possible sanctions against the government, such as the exclusion of Ferrer as a witness, the suppression of other evidence, or the disqualification of the entire prosecution team…

Negative Secondary Effects (#974)

The human cost of a prohibitionist crusade:

In March 2019 my life was turned upside down…by feminist groups who said I needed saving…Becoming a dancer at Sheffield’s Spearmint Rhino was the best thing I’d ever done.  It gave me the confidence I desperately lacked…[but then] Not Buying It sent private [dicks] into our club to buy lap dances and secretly film the women dancing.  They did this to “prove” to Sheffield Council that Spearmint Rhino was in breach of its own code of conduct and should have its licence revoked.  They filmed women naked and without their consent, and this was only the beginning…it traumatised the women …[and] hurt their families, their friends and their children…the ensuing campaign to close our club left me extremely anxious and scared to go to work…I was paranoid that every person who came into the club was another undercover investigator trying to take my job away.  I was always on edge, watching people, checking buttons for cameras, looking in people’s ears to see if they were wearing earpieces.  I was hyper-aware of customers who used their mobile phones and frightened that they were secretly recording me.  It was torture.  Work went from being the place I felt safest to a place I felt judged and under attack…

Business As Usual (#1001)

Every so often one of these sadly-typical stories gets more media attention:

Agents with…DHS…in Arizona have been “fighting” human trafficking by sending federal immigration agents to [rape women they claim to be]…victims…[then] seizing their assets, and telling the press it was these women who were the real predators.  Federal agents [raped] at least 17…”Asian females” working in massage parlors around Mohave County, Arizona, over a five-month period in 2018…the years-long operation yielded three misdemeanor charges…[the] scenario…is far from an isolated incident…national and mainstream media have been discovering and disapproving of “Operation Asian Touch.”  This is great—so long as nobody mistakes what happened in Mohave County for an atypical investigation.  If you track initial claims about massage parlor-based human trafficking through to their actual conclusions, you’ll almost always find law enforcement simply targeting sex workers, small-business owners, immigrants, and the people who patronize them with harassment, assault, arrest, property seizure, prosecution, detainment, and deportation. And the “victims” they allegedly set out to save frequently wind up facing criminal charges.  There are only two roles women can play in this Homeland Security-led charade: helpless sex slave or conniving human trafficker.  (Both types…are invited to stroke ICE agent penises)…

I Spy (#1006)

But please, tell me more about “wings” and “blue states” and “democracy”:

The U.S. Senate comfortably approved a 2-1/2-year extension of parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)…by 80-16, far more than the 60 votes needed for passage.  The measure must be approved…by the House of Representatives before it can be sent to the White House for President Donald Trump to veto or sign into law…

Like Houses (#1031)

All they were waiting for was a strong enough excuse:

In India, the COVID-19 crisis is turning out to be the perfect excuse for the government to consolidate its pre-pandemic surveillance ambitions.  Since May 4, as restrictions began to ease, the government has mandated the installation of its contact-tracing smartphone app for anyone who works…or uses public transport.  Failing to do so is criminal…Unsurprisingly, digital rights and civil society organizations are pushing back on the new di[ktat]…

Reawakening

A high-profile example of the quiet rebellion that’s already started everywhere in the US:

Alameda County [bureaucrats] backed down in their conflict with Elon Musk, reversing their shutdown order and granting provisional approval for Tesla’s Fremont, California plant to reopen.  Musk had already reopened the plant for business in defiance of the lockdown order, tweeting …”If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me“…Musk’s civil disobedience against the COVID lockdown regime is a high-profile instance of a wider trend…

Social Distancing (#1036)

At its core, Australia is still prohibitionist:

…as Australia eases itself out of COVID-19 restrictions…in [a] three-stage framework…strip clubs and brothels were specifically listed “to remain closed” even in stage three…other businesses with…skin-to-skin contact – like waxing, massages, tattoos, bathhouses and saunas – are allowed to open in stage three.  Scarlet Alliance CEO Jules Kim [said]…”We hoped this…outbreak wouldn’t be used as an excuse to turn back…gains made in sex worker legislation, but it’s hard to see this as anything but discrimination, considering similar businesses are allowed”…federal [bureaucrats] recommended brothels and strip club venues should stay shut [indefinitely]…sole operator sex workers…are banned after being classed as “non-essential”…

Meanwhile, over in New Zealand:

The national lift to COVID-19 alert level 2 means it’s business as usual for many Kiwis, including sex workers…The New Zealand Prostitute’s Collective (NZPC) released guidelines for sex workers on their website…with a checklist of hygiene practices and safety measures workers, brothels and massage parlours should be implementing…

Torture Chamber (#1038)

No human is truly free while governments claim the “right” to lock people in filthy, disease-ridden cages:

In the vast majority of the world’s overcrowded and underfunded prisons…physical distancing is simply not an option.  In situations where close confinement, shared facilities and spaces and poor hygiene are commonplace…prison[ers]…are living in constant fear of the ticking COVID-19 time bomb…UNAIDS, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime are calling on leaders to make detention a last resort, to close drug rehabilitation detention centres and to decriminalize sex work, same-sex sexual relations and drug use.  They are urging countries to release the people who can be released…The Government of Ethiopia…has released more than 30,000 prisoners and has heightened sanitation measures.  Indonesia is releasing more than 50,000…Iran is releasing 40% of its total prison population, 100,000 people, while Chile is set to release around 50,000 people…

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In the News (#1006)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Any gun-rights advocate or pro-choice voter understands that making something illegal doesn’t make it go away, only more dangerous.  –  Kaytlin Bailey

License to Rape

Police states define the bodies of all citizens as “crime scenes” which can be violated by “authorities” at will:

…Mbalaminwe Mwimanzi was watching sports at a friend’s apartment on the evening of January 15, 2019…[when pigs] stormed the apartment with a warrant allowing them to search [the location but not the people] for drugs…[cops] searched Mwimanzi three separate times [anyhow]…[when the first two pigs] found no[thing]…Joshua Wilson, who is being sued by Mwimanzi and the ACLU-DC…[forced] Mwimanzi, who was still handcuffed, to spread his legs…[so he could grope] Mwimanzi’s backside and…[violate his] anus…the[n]…he…fondled [Mwimanzi’s testicles]…Mwimanzi told [the other cops] that Wilson had sexually assaulted him….[and] asked to be taken to a hospital as he was experiencing pain…ACLU-DC has already filed three previous lawsuits over similar [sexual assaults]…

Paint By Numbers

Silly “awareness raising” stunts by crowds of idiots are mostly a thing of the past; now they’re usually marketing gimmicks:

The Greater Dallas Restaurant Association’s 24Hour Dallas initiative introduced an anti-human trafficking program…[which purports to] give…businesses a way to help trafficked persons…“realize they are not free [because they’re very stupid and restaurateurs who have never done sex work know more about their lives than they do] and give them steps to take to escape their captors”…[magic] signs will be placed in public restrooms…on the sex…trafficking superhighway…

This is the first time I’ve seen the ludicrous “sex trafficking superhighway” term for I-20 outside of Alabama.

Choke Point (#665) 

Fascism in action:

Following the US government’s assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, PayPal has delayed and blocked numerous small donations to The Grayzone that mentioned this website’s news coverage of Iran.  At the same time…Facebook has censored a The Grayzone video reporting on the US government’s escalation against Iran and its ally Hezbollah.  In 2010, PayPal froze donations to WikiLeaks…Now independent journalism websites…are suffering from blockages imposed by PayPal that appear directly linked to Washington’s aggressive actions in the Middle East…

A Moral Cancer (#972)

Anti-vaping lunacy is quickly reaching “sex trafficking” levels of disinformation:

This is not simply wrong, it’s unbelievably wrong…For starters, the death rate of jumping out of airplanes without parachutes is 100 percent (the odd Vesna Vulović story notwithstanding).  For vaping, not so much…even New Jersey’s official site for anti-vaping propaganda admits that there is only a single confirmed case of a Garden State vaper—out of what must be hundreds of thousands if not millions of users—dying from illness related to electronic cigarettes…also…neither of the vaping devices pictured…are the sort that use the black-market THC cartridges that have been most plausibly linked to most serious illnesses, let alone deaths.  But when you’re dealing with propaganda, it’s best not to get too lost in the weeds (perhaps especially when the propaganda is somehow related to weed)…

See also “Unsafe for Human Consumption” for more unbelievably-exaggerated lies about drugs.

Rotting Fruit (#973)

An account of Epstein’s crimes that doesn’t devolve into torture porn:

A lawsuit filed…by the…U.S. Virgin Islands alleges that…Jeffrey Epstein sexually trafficked hundreds of young women and girls on his private island as recently as 2018 by using a web of shell companies to carry out and conceal his crimes…The allegations…shed new light on the tactics Epstein used to hide his illicit activities.  Epstein…brought girls as young as 11 to his private island, known as Little St. James, and maintained a database to track their availability and movements…Most of the companies were created in 2011 and 2012, soon after Epstein registered as a sex offender in the Virgin Islands following his 2008 guilty plea…[in return for] a…non-prosecution agreement from then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta…[which] shelved a federal sex trafficking indictment that could have put Epstein away for life…The lawsuit…is the first…to allege that Epstein continued to commit crimes after 2005…

Little Boxes (#975)

SCOTUS leaves the conflict between the 7th and 10th Circuits unresolved:

The U.S. Supreme Court…will not consider an appeal by three women who were arrested for exposing their breasts at a New Hampshire beach more than three years ago.  The women — who are now part of a global campaign called Free the Nipple — were arrested in 2016…Heidi Lilley, Kia Sinclair and Ginger Pierro argued in their appeal that the local ordinance that resulted in their arrests and convictions violates their 14th Amendment rights because it applies to women but not men.  The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld their convictions…ruling that…laws that…criminalize…women but not men [for the same actions somehow don’t discriminate on the basis of gender, because tits]…

Shift in the Wind (#983)

A pro-decrim article by a former sex worker in a conservative-leaning newspaper:

…Time and money spent hunting grown-ups for doing consensual adult things with each other could be used to test rape kits, investigate reports of sexual violence and provide emergency support to victims.  But politicians…throughout the country are trying to increase raids on massage parlors, increase surveillance at hotels and make men like Robert Kraft register as a sex offenders…cracking down on consensual adults in the sex industry won’t make any of us safer…prohibition…creates black markets where career criminals thrive…

I Spy (#1000)

Anyone who doubts that politicians are deranged megalomaniacs should be following this:

Attorney General William P. Barr declared…that a [single] shooting [incident outweighs the privacy interests of every single Apple customer because]…terrorism, and he asked Apple…to [break encryption it developed to be unbreakable so the government can snoop in]…two phones used by the gunman…Barr…call[ed] on Apple and other technology companies to find a solution [to the laws of mathematics.  Spooks pretend]…they need access to [Mohammed Saeed] Alshamrani’s phones to see messages from encrypted apps like Signal or WhatsApp [because he is Muslim]…

With Friends Like These… (#1003)

So helping!  Many respectful!

…Louis Theroux[‘s] documentary, Selling Sex, [exploited three sex workers named] Caroline, Victoria and Ashleigh…Ashleigh and [her best friend] Georgina…published an open letter to the show’s creators and the BBC, describing their disappointment and mistreatment…[by] Theroux and his collaborators…[who] set out to tell a certain narrative on sex work[ers as]…victim[s]…Theroux[‘s]…faux-naive narration…constantly referred to unspecified people finding sex work unsavoury and “unhealthy”..[though] no evidence of this was presented in the programme…Theroux…ask[ed] every woman he interviewed about the…“damage” [he assumed caused them to begin sex work]…There was…no mention of the closure of Backpage…which forced thousands of sex workers further into the fringes…Selling Sex felt lazy and uncontentious, challenging its subjects rather than its viewers…

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Links #496

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2020| 4 Comments »

I will fucking shoot you!  –  “Officer” Keith Sweeney

You don’t need to understand Farsi to appreciate this very short film by a very young filmmaker (20) which won an award at the Luxor Film Festival.  It was contributed by Mama Tush, and the links above it are from Scott Greenfield, Cop Crisis (x3), Melanie Moore, Radley Balko, and Lenore Skenazy (in that order).

From the Archives

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