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Posts Tagged ‘Kentucky’

You’re going to kill me.  –  Lisa Edwards

Since every one of this week’s links, all provided by Cop Crisis, was just horrible, I’m sure y’all will understand if I inject some levity by way of the video.

From the Archives

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

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A right does not, as a practical matter, exist without any remedy for its enforcement.  –  Justice Elissa Cadish

The End of the Beginning (#1197) 

It’s horrifying that a court order was required to stop the government from trying to punish people for being unable to do the literally impossible:

A rule that Attorney General Merrick Garland issued in 2021…requires people to do things that are plainly impossible.  If they have been convicted of a sex offense, they must register with their state, even when the state neither requires nor allows them to do so.  They also must supply the state with all the information required by federal law, even when the state does not collect that information…someone [unable] to meet those requirements…who travels outside his state can be charged with a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.  At trial, the defendant has the burden of proving that he was unable to register “as required”…That Kafkaesque situation, a federal judge in California [has] ruled…violates the constitutional right to due process…The case, John Doe v. Department of Justice, illustrates the perverse consequences of the federal government’s attempt to identify and track sex offenders through detailed registration requirements that often conflict with state law…

Panopticon (#1212)

Useful idiots keep providing government with excuses for Orwellian levels of surveillance:

A bill…in the Mississippi Legislature would require public schools and postsecondary institutions to install video surveillance cameras all over their campuses.  The bill would require that the cameras also record audio and that they be installed in classrooms, auditoriums, cafeterias, gyms, hallways, recreational areas, and along each facility’s perimeter.  Further, it would permit [even adult] students’ parents to view live feeds of classroom instruction…the bill’s sponsor…Stacey Hobgood…[belched out the catchphrases] “critical race theory”…and…”accountable”…[to justify creating a stifling] atmosphere of suspicion and distrust [across every school in the state]…

Robocops (#1249)

Since SCOTUS refuses to slay this monster of its own creation, state courts will need to do the job for it:

…the Nevada Supreme Court [has] unanimously ruled that victims of wrongful searches and seizures have the right to sue the responsible government officials.  Just as critically, the court firmly rejected qualified immunity as a potential defense against those lawsuits.  The court’s twin holdings will better ensure that government officials can actually be held accountable for their misconduct…

Thought Control (#1268)

I never would’ve thought my first profession would become as much a target for authoritarians as my second:

Books containing [what politicians vaguely term] “sexually explicit” content…would be banned from North Dakota public libraries under [newly-proposed] legislation…the measure…proposes up to 30 days imprisonment for librarians who refuse to remove the [censored] books…In addition to banning depictions of “sexual identity” and “gender identity,” the measure specifies 10 other things that library books cannot visually depict, including “sexual intercourse,” “sexual preference” and “sexual perversion,” — though it does not define any of those terms.  The proposal does not apply to books that have “serious artistic significance” or “materials used in science courses,” among other exceptions…

Presumably, the “serious artistic significance” would be determined by politicians, which is a bit like asking a panel of tone-deaf 11-year-olds to discuss the relative merits of Bach cantatas.

The Vultures Descend (#1273)

Calling politicians on their hypocrisy is an interesting strategy:

A group of religious leaders who support abortion rights [has] filed a lawsuit…challenging Missouri’s abortion ban, saying [politicians] openly invoked their religious beliefs while drafting the measure and thereby imposed those beliefs on others who don’t share them.  The lawsuit…is…among nearly three dozen post-Roe lawsuits that have been filed against 19 states’ abortion bans…and…was…filed on behalf of the faith leaders by Americans United for Separation of Church & State and the National Women’s Law Center…Lawsuits in several other states take similar approaches.  In Indiana, lawyers for five anonymous women…and…Hoosier Jews for Choice have argued that state’s ban infringes on…Jewish teaching that a fetus becomes a living person at birth and…Jewish law prioritizes the mother’s life and health…In Kentucky, three Jewish women sued, claiming the state’s ban violates their religious rights under the state’s constitution and religious freedom law…

Presumption of Guilt (#1288)

Another step toward total financial surveillance:

…if you’ve sent money across American borders…Big Brother is likely watching.  In what began as an Arizona-led effort before going nationwide, a not-so-independent nonprofit organization has been indiscriminately compiling sensitive financial information and making it available to [cop shops and spook houses] across the country…ACLU…has published more than 200 documents revealing details of the program which fed a vast database of sensitive data…run by an organization called the Transaction Record Analysis Center…The surveillance dates to 2006, when Arizona’s attorney general sought details from Western Union about money transfers to and from the Mexican state of Sonora…[the ensuing] legal battle [was] settled in 2010…and…TRAC was established in 2014 as a nominally independent repository for intercepted financial records…in 2019…DHS took over funding TRAC and…[began] compel[ling] financial disclosures with…a type of subpoena…

Blunt Instrument (#1296)

This will continue for as long as the voters allow it to:

Attorney General Daniel Cameron has announced [a scheme]…to [use “]human trafficking[” as an excuse to carry out violent pogroms] in Kentucky by targeting “illicit massage businesses”…[Cameron plans to threaten] landlords and [spread racist propaganda] to [encourage useful idiots to snitch on migrant-owned] businesses that Cameron [wanks to pedophilic fantasies about]…Cameron is…running for governor this year…

 

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

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I’m quite used to the prison making all these decisions for us, because we are still state property.  –  Desiree Romero

The Course of a Disease (#1084)

You’ll have to forgive me for finding this terribly amusing:

The number of [incalls, labeled “]illegal brothels[” by French police]…has tripled in the past two years…[because the “Swedish model” exposes]…street prostitution [to debilitating police harassment]…With hotels and the concierges of apartment blocks now extremely vigilant about rooms [rented by sex workers out of fear they will be]…pros[ecuted as “]pimps[“, sex workers] are increasingly opting for detached houses in…the [suburbs of Paris]…police…[of course vomited out bizarre fantasies about “sex trafficking”, but this outcome was predicted by those warning about the consequences of the so-called “]Nordic model[“] of [asymmetric criminalization]…

Torture Chamber (#1102)

Your “leaders” refer to this atrocity as “correction”:

Arizona [prisons are]…inducing the labor of pregnant prisoners against their will, according to three women [violated thus]…all three…were induced before their due dates…and…all three…were told…they were being induced because it was a policy…they believe it is being implemented to reduce liability for the prison system…two of the women said they were receiving medical bills…a common [indignity inflicted upon]…people [condemned to]…Arizona prisons

To Molest and Rape (#1181)

Expecting sociopaths to “think about what they did wrong” amounts to criminal negligence:

[UK cop]s who preyed upon women and posted homemade pornography to social media are among hundreds allowed to keep their jobs…[as] the c[itizenry]…continues to be plagued by [violent, sociopathic cops]…Most received little more than a slap on the wrist after their behaviour came to light, with some facing no repercussions whatsoever…one former chief constable [admitted that these hundreds of cases are just] “the tip of the iceberg”…at least 921 [cops were] investigated for [online] conduct…[and] texts…since the start of 2017.  Yet only six per cent…led to…dismiss[al, though]…many [involved rape]…sexual [coercion] and [harassment.  Cops who saw any consequences at all]…routinely escaped with…“reflective practice” – thinking about what they have done – or “management action”, which amounts to [stern words from] a superior…in…many cases [cops]…faced “no action” at all for predatory…behaviour…[including the] target[ing of] vulnerable women…and stalk[ing]

The Mob Rules (#1231)

Most commentary on this censorship law ignores its dangerous enforcement mechanism:

Laurie Schlegel is…a…[“]sex addiction[” profiteer turned pro-censorship]…Louisiana [politician who succeeded in]…pass[ing a law demand]ing age verification for any website that contains 33.3% or more pornographic material…[Even though the law adequately defines neither “pornography” nor how this percentage is supposed to be measured, that doesn’t matter because it is to be enforced by nuisance lawsuit like the Texas abortion statute SCOTUS has chosen to ignore]…Louisiana [residents can seek to cash in by claiming in a lawsuit that] “children are getting access to pornography”…

The Vultures Descend (#1253)

An important step toward ending this front in the ruinous culture war:

For the first time, retail pharmacies…will be allowed to offer abortion pills in the United States under a regulatory change made [on January 3rd] by the Food and Drug Administration…Until now, mifepristone…could be dispensed only by a few mail-order pharmacies or by specially certified doctors or clinics.  Under the new…rules…patients will still need a prescription…but any pharmacy that agrees to accept those prescriptions…can dispense the pills in its stores and by mail order…the F.D.A. [also] removed the in-person requirement…The second drug in the regimen, misoprostol, has never been as tightly restricted as mifepristone and is used for many different medical conditions; it is easily obtained at pharmacies through a typical prescription process…

The Cop Myth (#1292)

Cop deals with disagreement exactly as he normally does, and the press is shocked:

[A] Glasgow [Kentucky]…co[p was arrested] on New Year’s Day…Joseph Ramey…rep[ea]tedly assaulted h[is girlfriend, then]…handcuffed her…and held her against her will…

Without Let or Hindrance (#1298)

These abuses are for some reason finally getting the attention they’ve needed for a generation:

Once considered a last resort reserved for parents who abandon their children, the involuntary and permanent termination of parental rights [by the State] now hangs over every mother and father accused of any[thing the State chooses to call] abuse or neglect…No state terminates parental rights more frequently or [quickly] than West Virginia, [where]…one in 50 children [w]ere [violently and non-consensually abducted from]…both of their parents from 2015 to 2019…most…within 11 months of [the state abducting them] from their home for the first time…Nationally, the parents of about 327,000 children [had] their rights [ripped from them by the State] from 2015 to 2019…one-fifth…in less than a year.  Over the past 25 years, [the State has]…increasingly turned to this ultimate consequence, partly in response to Clinton-era federal policies that…[financially incentivize these abduc]tions.  According to a recent study, the [number of children permanently abducted by the State]…doubled from 2000 to 2016.  One in 100 U.S. children — disproportionately Black and Native American — [are thus abducted]…through the [pretext of] child welfare…before they turn 18…Most of those [cases were justified by]…allegations of neglect, [largely] a [dysphemism for]…poverty…Just 15% of [these cases were based in]…concerns about physical or sexual abuse…

 

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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[Can’t] we see [police] doing other things than showing up with a tank?  –  Jennifer Bacon

For the first time since July, I didn’t have a video either suggested by an obituary or in queue from previous weeks, so I went to YouTube and found this rather strange video from 1969.  The links above it were provided by Lucy Steigerwald, Cop Crisis (x3), Radley Balko, Stephen Lemons, and Emma Evans, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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The scale of this is beyond what anyone imagines.  –  Anna Arons

Without Let or Hindrance

Some people still believe these sociopaths are motivated by a desire to “protect children”:

Across the nation, child protective services agencies [violate] the home lives of roughly 3.5 million children [and teenagers] every year…only about 5% of them are ultimately [declared] to have been physically or sexually abused.  With rare exceptions, all of these investigations include at least one [raid], and often multiple…Yet in a ProPublica and NBC News survey that drew detailed responses from 40 state child welfare agencies, all said they would only obtain a warrant or court order to search a home — or call the police for [backup] — in rare cases when they are denied entry…It’s a staggering reality — likely millions of warrantless searches a year — and one that has not been reported [adequately] before…

To Molest and Rape

Typical and representative, by their own admission:

Kansas’ 2021 Officer of the Year has been indicted on charges of rape and aggravated sexual battery…Guillermo Gutierrez…[committed the crime] on May 19, 2022, in Dodge City…

Comfort Zone (#873)

The UK finally admits the “human trafficking” narrative is about migration control:

The Home Office has taken the modern slavery brief away from the minister responsible for safeguarding and classed it as an “illegal immigration and asylum” issue…The move is seen as a clear sign that the department is doubling down on Suella Braverman’s suggestion that people are “gaming” the modern slavery system and…“derailing the UK’s policy on illegal migration”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1265) 

Moral imbeciles are almost completely out of control:

A bill introduced in the Michigan Legislature…could mean life in prison for any parent or doctor who “consents to, obtains, or assists with a gender transition procedure for a child”…[where “child” is used to mean “legal minor”]…Gender transition procedures are defined to include not just surgical interventions but also the prescription of puberty blockers and hormones…under the proposed change, prescribing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to a teenager would be equivalent to severely beating a child.  And it would be defined as a more severe form of abuse than starving or abandoning a kid…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1279)

The stupider the belief, the harder it is to debunk:

Florida’s [Propagandist] General continues to…[drum up hysteria about migration, claim]ing that its effects are spilling over into all aspects of life…Ashley Moody [went on] Fox & Friends [to spread tall tales] about how transnational drug gangs are bringing in lethal narcotic cocktails, [imagin]ing that some of these concoctions may take the form of popular candies.  “We’re seeing them put it in candy packaging, like Nerds packaging. And Halloween’s coming up and those of us with young children have to…start learning about the fentanyl crisis and warning our children”…Host Ainsley Earhardt [confused] the topic…[by say]ing…“so many people are sending their children off to college right now. It’s fall…and we worry that they’re going to take one little pill just because it looks like candy”…

Yes, these people are actually conflating young men and women of university age with children so young they’ll put anything that looks like candy in their mouths.  I couldn’t have invented anything so imbecilic, infantilizing, and disconnected from reality even if I had money riding on it.

Choke Point (#1280)

PayPal is becoming a major threat to civil liberties:

PayPay HK has halted services for the League of Social Democrats (LSD) – one of the remaining active pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong – due to unspecified “excessive risks”…[without] explain[ing] what the “excessive risks” are…Chow Ka-fat…of the LSD [sai]d…the group had not been able to accept any new donations via its PayPal account since the day it received the email, but they can still withdraw money from it…

Stalkers in Blue (#1281)

No, this is a different Louisville cop stealing women’s nude pictures:

A [typical and representative] Louisville [cop]…used [cop surveillance] technology as part of a scheme that involved hacking the Snapchat accounts of young women and using sexually explicit photos and videos they had taken to extort them…Bryan Wilson used his…access to Accurint, a powerful data-combing software used by police departments to [snoop in people’s private business without a warrant]…to obtain information about potential victims.  He would then share that information with a hacker, who would hack into private Snapchat accounts to obtain sexually explicit photos and videos….Wilson would then contact the women, threatening to post the photos and videos online and share them with their friends, family, employer and co-workers unless more sexually explicit material was provided to him…Wilson…[has already] pleaded guilty to a cyberstalking charge as well as to a charge related to…[a scheme] in which Wilson and other [pigs] assaulted pedestrians by throwing beverages out of unmarked p[igmobile]s, sometimes filming their exploits…

 

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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You ain’t paralyzed.  –  typical Florida screw

The Public Eye (#789)

It’s always heartening to see a sex worker run for office, especially when she wins:

A transgender politician in Mexico’s ruling MORENA party is under fire for posting pornographic videos of herself on Twitter.  But María Clemente García Moreno—a federal deputy in Mexico City who made history in 2021 when she and another politician became the first trans people elected to the country’s congress—also moonlights as a sex worker and contests that it’s within her rights to post whatever she wants…

Torture Chamber (#1069)

Florida screws love yelling “Stop faking!” at their victims after intentionally breaking their necks:

Craig Ridley…[was] a 62-year-old prisoner in Florida who, after having his neck broken by guards, was left to die in his cell…Ridley…was…tackled…to the ground face first on Sept. 8, 2017…[by brutal screws who th]en manhandled, mocked and ignored [him]…even as he begged for help…as he lay in his cell, unable to walk and starving because he couldn’t reach the food he was being given.  After five days of this paralysis, guards finally took him to a hospital, where…he died on Oct. 12…intubated and unable to communicate…the…story was kept hushed for years…

Winding Down (#1179)

Destigmatization of psychedelics is happening much more quickly than I would’ve expected:

Shroomyz is Toronto’s first magic mushroom dispensary and the second in the province…A Shroomyz in Ottawa opened in May of this year…Shroomyz is akin to any cannabis store you’d find in the city.  Windows are taped off for privacy and customers need to buzz in to enter…The store supplies everything from dried psilocybin and microdose capsules to mushroom chocolates and mushroom tea…

Winding Down (#1243)

It’s great to see anti-prohibitionist views quickly becoming mainstream:

Prohibition is not working—and that can be seen most strikingly with cocaine, not cannabis…Global production hit a record of 1,982 tonnes in 2020, according to the latest data, though that is likely to be an underestimate.  That record high is despite decades of strenuous and costly efforts to cut off the supply.  Between 2000 and 2020 the United States ploughed $10bn into Colombia to suppress production, paying the local armed forces to spray coca plantations with herbicide…or…yank up bushes by hand.  To no avail…murder in Colombia is three times more common than in the United States; in Mexico, four times.  In some areas, drug gangs are so wealthy and well-armed that they rival the state…the cocaine gangs will remain powerful so long as their product is illegal in the rich countries that consume most of it, such as the United States.  Half-measures, such as not prosecuting cocaine users, are not enough.  If producing…is still illegal, it will be criminals who produce it…the real answer is full legalisation, allowing non-criminals to produce a strictly regulated, highly taxed product, just as whisky- and cigarette-makers do…

To Molest and Rape (#1263)

The New Orleans cop who stood by and watched a rape has thought up an excuse:

Earl J. Brown III…resigned a week after The Times-Picayune published audio from a 911 call demonstrating that — though he was just a block away — Brown declined to intervene [in a rape] for more than three minutes.  By that point, the suspect had fled.  Brown later [claimed]…he was working a security detail on a movie set and that he had been trained to wait for backup before responding.  Brown also heard over the radio that New Orleans [cops] had been dispatched…[so he figured they would eventually get there, and called it good]…Scott Seymour…who investigated the incident, rejected Brown’s explanation and concluded he violated several department policies by failing to act.  Seymour recommended firing Brown, but he resigned before…that [happened, which] means Brown maintains a clean record…and [could be rehired as a cop somewhere else]…

See also “To Molest and Rape (#1273)” below.

The Cop Myth (#1271)

You’ve heard of “burying the lede”, but this one just keeps getting worse:

A Louisville [cop sent]…a sexually explicit photo of a woman to more than a dozen people without her consent….Harry Seeders…was arrested…and charged…under the so-called Kentucky “revenge porn” law that went into effect in 2018…Seeders…was on [paid vacation as a reward for] a previous domestic violence incident…in May 2021 [in which he attacked] a woman he was dating…[by] hit[ting her]…in the mouth and then chok[ing] her…those charges[, which] are still pending…[were filed when] Seeders was [already enjoying a paid vacation he received as a reward for murdering]…a [random] man…on Nov. 22, 2020…and [trying to blame his victim]…

To Molest and Rape (#1273)

It’s not only Louisiana cops who prefer to rape by proxy:

A garda is under suspension…[for trying] to hire a man to [rape] a female colleague…the [cop apparently]…contacting a man online, possibly on the Darkweb…[and the scheme] apparently came to light when the man, understood to be in Scotland, began arranging to travel to Ireland…

 

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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There have been so many news items of this sort lately, I had to collect them together to avoid overwhelming my regular news columns.

If Men Were Angels

Maybe it’s a bad idea to teach kids to blindly submit to authority:

A former Johnson C[ounty Kentucky] girls’ basketball coach…[named] Darrin Rice [was arrested on] rape, sexual abuse and sodomy charges…He was listed as the coach for nine seasons…[until] Spring of 2022…

To Molest and Rape (#1161)

Spokane allowed this animal to run wild for years:

One of the women raped by a…Spokane [cop] has filed a $1 million claim against the city [because] the police department ignored “red flags”…[and] allowed Nathan Nash “to use his uniform and authority to prey on women”…Nash…[has already been convicted of] raping two women…during [pretextual] follow-up visits to [domestic violence] investigations…the city ignored…numerous concerns about [these pretextual “visits”]…Nash remains charged with official misconduct related to a third victim and is scheduled to be tried on that charge next month.  He’s set to be sentenced for the rapes in October...

Creepy Coppers

Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:

A [typical and representative] Winnipeg [cop] is dead after being charged with possessing child pornography…Yvan Corriveau was found dead…[the day after his fellow cops raided his house and charged him with both] possession of child pornography…[and disseminating it.  Cops refuse to]…provide…further information…

To Molest and Rape (#1202)

“Police explorer” programs are nothing but grooming schemes for predatory cops:

Three Stoughton [Massachusetts cops repeatedly molested]…a young woman who killed herself last year while she was [pregnant for one of the cops]…Sandra Birchmore, 23, had been [repeatedly molested by]…Matthew G. Farwell…[since she] was just 13…[and involved in] the department’s youth explorers program, which [grooms teenage girls for rapist cops]…Birchmore’…[was also sexually abused by]…Farwell[‘s]…twin brother, William, and their…supervisor in the…[grooming] program…Robert C. Devine…

Stalkers in Blue (#1261)

Another sexual predator specifically targets traumatized women:

A [typical and representative] Barnsley [cop] who [stalked at least two] female victim[s] of crime has been jailed…Liam Mills…started sending inappropriate messages to the [first] victim on the day…she attended a police station in relation to domestic abuse…the [messages] bec[ame increasingly]…explicit…[and included implied threats of violence]…he had also s[tarted grooming] a young woman he…[knew] was suffering a mental health crisis.  Mills…has been placed on the barred list which means he will never work in policing again…[he] was sentenced to nine months in prison…

To Molest and Rape (#1272)

“Having sexual relations” is such a neutered way to say “molesting”:

A [typical and representative]…Florida [cop] was fired…for…[molest]ing…a 13-year-old girl while [wearing his magical clown costume]…Sheridon Edward Archer…was [also arrested]…Archer [first] “contacted the teenager through a social media app”…[called] “MeetMe”…The victim was reportedly able to identify Archer by his tattoos…

Torture Chamber (#1273)

They’ll use any excuse to protect their own:

A [typical and representative screw]…who pleaded guilty to raping two women at a prison in Fort Worth, was sentenced to 18 months…half the amount of time one of his victims is serving for drug possession…Luis Curiel…was [actually] sentenced to 18 months for each charge, but the judge ruled the sentences could be served at the same time…Betzabel Banda-Martinez said Curiel abused her multiple times a week for four months from June to October 2021.  He raped her and physically assaulted her…often leaving large bruises and bite marks on her body.  Because Curiel could listen in on her phone calls…[and] threatened her family and children [she was afraid to tell anyone lest he harm them]…

Naturally, they’re hiding his identity so as to make it easier for him to rape again when he gets out.

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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This fucking cop is still a block away and this girl got raped on the street corner!  –  witness to the crime

License to Rape

“Search” is the most common government euphemism for “molest”:

…650 [legal minors] were strip-searched [by London cops without good reason] over a two-year period and the majority were found to be innocent of the [accusat]ions [cops used to justify the molestation] …in almost a quarter of cases (23%) an appropriate adult was not present during the search, despite this being a [legal] requirement…of children [and young adults] aged 10 to 17 who were strip-searched between 2018 and 2020, almost three out of five (58%) were black…for 2018 alone the figure rose to 75%…

Torture Chamber 

Your “leaders” refer to this as “correction”:

…a lawsuit against [St. Louis] and [a pack of screws reports]…that [human beings locked in cages without having]…been convicted of any crime — are subjected to “persistent and widespread torture practices”…[foremost among these being] pepper-sprayed for any number of capricious reasons or for no apparent reason at all…In 2019, the St. Louis county executive resurrected a local advisory board to monitor conditions at the jail after the deaths of several detained people, including one person who died of a curable form of leukemia…But as conditions at the jail continued to deteriorate, several board members resigned in protest…[because] they were not…[actually allowed] to…investigate conditions…the city of St. Louis has denied all wrongdoing…[and a spokesbureaucrat vomited out the words] “order and security in the correctional facility” [as an excuse for the torture, which includes]…regularly shut[ting] off detained people’s water for hours or days at a time…

If Men Were Angels  

It’s getting harder to tell the preachers from the cops:

A [Missouri] pastor has been charged…[with] sexually abusing a child…John Hampton…abused two children, starting four to five years ago…[Cops]…tried to talk to Hampton in May, but Hampton told [them] he didn’t have time to speak to them [so they just let it go for a few months]…

To Molest and Rape

I suspect prosecutors get off on coming up with ridiculous-sounding euphemisms for rape:

A [typical and representative] California [cop] faces a federal indictment [for raping] four women while [wearing his magical clown costume]…J. DeShawn Torrence…[faces] a maximum…penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine…[for] crimes [of rape and sexual assault committed] from August 2017 to June 2021…without a legitimate law enforcement purpose…

Presumably, raping a sex worker in order to entrap her and destroy her life would be considered “a legitimate law enforcement purpose”.

Above the Law (#923)

Rapist politicians generally prefer to assault drunk women:

A…Kentucky [politician]…was arrested [for]…rape.  John Tilley…[raped] a woman who could not consent due to her level of intoxication…[besides being a state legislator] he…served as Justice and Public Safety Cabinet secretary from December 2015 through 2019, overseeing Kentucky State Police, the Department of [Locking People in Filthy Cages] and other agencies…

Notice how any association with cops has a high correlation with being a rapist?

To Molest and Rape (#946) 

Some Louisiana cops prefer to rape by proxy:

A New Orleans [cop who] was flagged down…in the French Quarter by a witness who…saw a man raping an unconscious woman in plain view on the street corner…didn’t budge…the witness…[then called] 911…[and] grew increasingly frantic as the [cop continued]…to [do nothing]…Another [pigmobile] had already driven past the [rape] without stopping, she added…Two minutes passed. “He’s still not even coming!” the witness said.aid.  The dispatcher also became exasperated, “Ma’am, this is…I can’t speak freely…I understand”…The witness [who is a respiratory therapist] returned to the corner and [started CPR when she] found the victim without a pulse.  The [rapist] had fled…The witness…asked not to be named because she fears [police] retribution…

The Prudish Giant (#1251) 

Why does anyone still trust Facebook?

A Nebraska teenager is facing criminal charges alleging she aborted a fetus in violation of state law, after [cops rooted in] her Facebook messages using a search warrant.  Seventeen-year-old Celeste Burgess…[was transformed into] an adult [by the power of a magic prosecutorial finger] along with her mother Jessica Burgess…Nebraska c[riminalizes] abortions beyond 20 weeks…[cops found out via a snitch and couldn’t wait to ruin a young woman’s life]…Facebook [has been playing both sides on the issue; while]…the company [has] announced that it will reimburse employees who…must travel to a different state to seek an abortion…Instagram and Facebook posts about acquiring abortion pills…[a]re being systematically removed…[and the company has] continued to earn revenue from anti-abortion advertisements containing dangerous misinformation…Facebook [is also] collecting data from users interacting with abortion services websites, and [selling it]…to anti-abortion groups…

Since the earlier Texas case was dropped, Burgess may end up being the first woman prosecuted under the new abortion prohibitionist regime.

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Without economic freedom you cannot have political freedom.
–  John H. Cochrane

Peeping Toms

This article on how Lawrence v Texas and other cases relate to sex work isn’t flawless by any stretch; while the author makes some good points (especially regarding the common claim that Lawrence specifically excluded sex work), he also makes some shaky assertions and endorses some rather odious academic interpretations, which is perhaps unsurprising given his academic background.  Worth reading, but only cum grano salis.

A Broker in Pillage

It’s rare to see these schemes called what they are: extortion:

Two years ago, prosecutors offered a [Kentucky] man a deal: give up $380,000 in cash through asset forfeiture, and criminal charges just filed against his family would be dropped.  The case has now been resolved, with no criminal convictions for anyone involved — but police and prosecutors still kept the bulk of the cash.  Patrick Card was arrested in 2019 [on]…marijuana…charge[s]…As prosecutors began negotiating [a plea bargain]…they [decided to also] indict…his mother, father and wife…[then] offered Card a plea deal that would reduce his charges and dismiss those against his family if he forfeited the cash…He turned down the deal…[and eventually] the commonwealth’s attorney agreed to dismiss the charges and return a portion of the s[tolen] money.  “This supposed ‘offer’ was nothing more than an attempt by the Commonwealth and its agents to leverage the threat of indictment and prosecution for financial gain,” said attorney Daniel K. Robertson…the prosecutor agreed to…return Card’s [elderly]…parents’…bank account…but [kept]…$305,050 and three dozen guns [stolen from Card]…

To Molest and Rape

They try to make these cases sound like the rapist was doing his victim a favor:

A Le[cherous]…deputy sheriff…[is the target of] a federal lawsuit…filed [by]…Sabrina Adkins…Ben Fields [coerced] her [into submitting to rape]…six times late at night last year in a district judge’s chambers where he [raped] her [both] oral[ly] and [vaginally]…Adkins…was coerced and compelled to comply with Fields’ [demand]s given his “position and power and because she could not afford to pay for the ankle monitor and did not want to return to…jail.”  Fields…has not been charged criminally…

Choke Point (#1096)

Alas, useful idiots think these tyrannies are perfectly acceptable when used against people they dislike:

By invoking emergency powers and freezing the assets of…protesters, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes clear that civil liberties protections mean little when the government can deny you access to your money.  That financial weapon has been used…in democracies against controversial (to some) businesses and organizations…”It’s a Western version of China’s social credit system that does not altogether prohibit political dissent but makes it so costly that it becomes impractical to the ordinary citizen,” David Sacks, former PayPal COO, writes…Sacks warned that we should expect a wave of firms denying services to those who don’t share their ideology…this isn’t the first example of governments conscripting private companies against targets that otherwise enjoy legal protection.  Credit card companies have been pressured into denying services to suspected sex workers, and the U.S. federal government’s Operation Choke Point cut off gun dealers, payday lenders, and sex-oriented businesses from banking without the muss or fuss of proving any illegality…

The Last Shall Be First (#1132) 

Texas has officially lost its collective mind:

Texas…Attorney General Ken Paxton has declared all medical treatment of transgender minors to be child abuse and says that his office could prosecute parents of transgender children, as well as “mandatory reporters” who fail to report medical treatment of transgender children to the state.  In tandem…Gov[ernor and former AG] Greg Abbott has [ordered] state [“child protection” bureaucrats] to begin investigating any families that may be giving their trans kids puberty-blocking drugs or hormones, or allowing them to undergo surgical treatments…Paxton’s policy…is a rejection of transgender medical care entirely, as further evidenced by [his] concession that some types of genital surgery are “medically necessary” when they correct genetic disorders or cancer…Abbott…[also] threatens criminal penalties for anybody [with a functional moral compass] who [refuses] to [snitch on trans kids, their parents, and their doctors]…

Law of the Instrument (#1136)

Picture what you’d think of as “sex trafficking”, then compare it to this:

A school spirit club mom has been accused of having sex with nine pupils from a Tennessee school.  Melissa Blair allegedly had sexual encounters between spring 2020 and late 2021 with teenagers as young as 14…Blair is charged with solicitation of a minor, 18 counts of statutory rape…[and] four counts of human trafficking by patronizing prostitution…District attorney Steve Crump said cops want to “make the fullest amount of [political coin] possible…[out of] this, it truly is about…a headline, it’s…about trying to [posture] as much as possible, [so] our [subjects think we’re actually ‘fighting crime’]”…

To Molest and Rape (#1203)

Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?

[Police] chief [Thomas J. Herbst], of…Manville [New Jersey was rewarded with a paid vacation]…after a [female] employee [reported] in a civil lawsuit that he repeatedly sexually assaulted her at work and raped her at her home in a “prolonged pattern and practice of abhorrent sexual harassment” that continued for 13 years…Herbst…masturbat[ed] in front of the woman at the [cop shop]…and [molested] her…on a regular basis while he was a lieutenant…He later raped [her] approximately 10 times in the police archive room and began to regularly rape her at her home and in a hotel parking lot during her lunch hour…she was a single mother when the…assaults began and she feared losing her job…if she reported the [attacks]…She came forward now partly because she is retirement age…

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Until somebody figures out a good way to rein-in government snoopiness, it might be better to avoid taking selfies at protests.  –  J.D. Tuccille

Thou Shalt Not (#35)

Prohibitionism is a dangerous mental illness:

Some packets of biscuits will be banned from [certain areas of] supermarkets from 2023…the new law bans [stores] from selling [foods labeled] HFSS (high in fat, sugar and salt) [by government-employed puritans from displays in] checkout areas, ends of aisles and store entrances…government…[nannies justified the new law by barfing out the phrase]…childhood obesity [while maintaining laws that keep children from healthy outdoor exercise]…a [government] study [declared that most Britons are far too stupid and weak-willed to make their own food choices, so those choices must therefore be made for them]…

Torture Chamber

If there’s one thing the US needs, it’s more sadistic rapists in the military:

…Brandon Scott Price, a [typical and representative Kentucky] prison guard, was convicted of [a misdemeanor assault charge for anally raping a chained woman]…his…judge…sentenced [him]…to [a mere] 12 months in jail…but said Price could avoid jail time if he [re-]enlisted in the military within 30 days…enlistments are subject to military regulations that would require Price to seek a waiver for his sexual-assault conviction from military officials.  The military has spent more than a decade struggling to limit sexual assault among troops…[on the way back from the hospital after she had suffered] a medical emergency…Price pulled the van…over and [anally raped] the woman…then [claimed she wanted it]…

Choke Point (#611) 

PayPal needs to be buried in similar lawsuits before this will stop:

Three PayPal users who’ve…had their accounts frozen and funds [stol]en by the company without explanation have filed a federal lawsuit against the online payment service.  The plaintiffs…are…proposing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all other users who’ve had their accounts [similarly violated] and are seeking restitution, as well as punitive and exemplary damages.  Lena Evans…[ha]d been a PayPal user for 22 years…[when] the website s[tole] $26,984 from her account six months after…fr[eezing it] without ever telling her why…Roni Shemtov sa[w] PayPal s[teal] over $42,000 of her money and never got an acceptable [or consistent] reason for why her account was terminated…Shbadan Akylbekov…[explained that] PayPal s[tole] over $172,000 of his money without…explanation…[except] a letter that says she “violated PayPal’s User Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy”…PayPal has long angered many a user for limiting accounts and freezing their funds for six months or more.  One high-profile case was American poker player Chris Moneymaker’s who had $12,000 [stol]en from his account after six months of being limited.  Moneymaker was already in the process of asking people to join him in a class action lawsuit before his funds were “mysteriously returned”…

Blunt Instrument (#1012)

Oh look, Texas cops are staging pogroms against migrant-owned businesses; what a surprise.  The only thing even remotely unusual about this farrago of loathsome oinking, agency denial, pious bullshit and revolting bootlicking is that the violent racist psychopaths vomit out the word “trafficking” only 5 times in a 21-paragraph copaganda screed.  By contrast, the word “illicit” (a word which characterizes prohibitionist propaganda more than any other) appears 9 times.  But given that this was published (to use the most charitable word possible for this human-centipede excretion) by the Dallas Morning News, a rag so filled with prohibitionist masturbatory fantasies that it’s an embarrassment to the entire state of Texas, that actually counts as a twisted kind of progress.

I Spy (#1086) 

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

…[Since] social media an easy and low-cost means of gathering intelligence…cops and their private-sector contractors snoop on us…while fishing for anything of interest…instead of curbing such abuses, many politicians want more.  “Social media has become a significant source of information for U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies,” the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law noted in a report released last week…Customs and Border Protection…routinely runs the names of people of interest, including journalists and activists, through databases…For years, the FBI used Dataminr, “a third-party service that [surveills]…social media posts”…in 2019 [it switched] to ZeroFox, which offers a similar service.  Some FBI agents blamed their inability to anticipate the January 6 riot at the Capitol on the changeover…and…over the past year, law enforcement has come under pressure to engage in even more monitoring of social media because of its failure to anticipate the…riot…

Stalkers in Blue (#1180)

This disgusting article is loaded with copsucking and emotional manipulation:

A [typical and representative] NYPD [cop], who survived [a 2015 “dismissal probation” after drug paraphernalia and needles were found in his locker], was fired…after he repeatedly [sexually harassed] vulnerable women [he was] arrest[ing]…[including] wom[e]n he believed to be domestic abuse victim[s] and…sex [workers, but who]…were actually [other rolepaying cops]…investigati[ng him due to complaints]…He also used an NYPD computer to [stalk other women] …and [lied]…to [other cops]…about [his predatory behavior]…

Right from the headline on, IB Times attempts to manipulate the reader’s sympathies; the cop who repeatedly tried to get into the pants of women he arrested or “investigated” is described as a “veteran” and a “hero”.  His attempted manipulation and rape is described as “romantic”, his victims’ criminal histories are emphasized, and his other shenanigans are not mentioned until far down in the story.  It’s vile even by the standards of cop stenography.

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1204)

Cops think they can just make up their own pharmacology and demand reality conform to it:

Fentanyl that is about 50 times more potent than “what has regularly been found and tested” in the region has been recovered in Hartford, police [lie]d…[after] find[ing] nearly 40 bags of fentanyl…[near where] a seventh-grader [overdosed.  Though the boy appears to have eaten]…the drug…a…spokesp[ig preferred to oink a bunch of weird cop fantasies about how]…“this product can be deadly to anyone coming in contact with it, including absorption through the skin…fentanyl is a poison”…

Fentanyl is a life-saving synthetic drug, no more a “poison” than any other medicine.  It cannot be absorbed through the skin, and no batch is “50 times more potent” than any other; of course, this confused oinking might be attempting to convey the claim that most heroin cut with fentanyl in Hartford is only about 2% fentanyl, whereas this was nearly pure.  But it’s difficult to tell in proximity to so many exaggerations, cop fantasies and outright lies.

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