Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘law’

In the News (#1622)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Hawley is…trying to substitute…politicians for…scientists and health professionals.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Available Weapon

When mere accusation is sufficient, anyone can wield the state’s weapons:

[Actress] Rebel Wilson‘s…public relations team discussed plans to create anonymous websites that [libel]ed the producer of The Deb [by accusing her] of [“]sex trafficking[“]…In a recording obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, digital fixer Jed Wallace instructed…publicist Melissa Nathan to assert without evidence that the producer, Amanda Ghost, is a “madame” whose work involves procuring young women for wealthy and powerful men…Nathan’s The Agency Group…deployed websites featuring character-assassinating claims about Ghost…on [order of]…Wilson’s production company…The now-deleted site…[says] “she turned full pimp”…[and] refers to Ghost as the “Indian Ghislaine Maxwell”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1470) 

Governments are asserting ever-greater control over people’s medical care:

The…4th Circuit…upheld West Virginia’s ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgeries in a unanimous ruling on…10 March…arguing with little evidence that gender-affirming care for trans adults was [a] “dangerous…experimental procedure”…[and bizarrely] claim[ing] that trans people had become “disdainful of their sex” and [should therefore be forced to]…“appreciate their sex” [by government diktat]…The…ruling is the first time a federal court…[has upheld] a restriction on healthcare for trans adults…human genomics academic Dr Jey McCreight branded the ruling “complete nonsense scientifically,” saying it was based on “fascist eugenics, not biology”…

Enshittification (#1557)  

May the same happen to every company which does this:

In January 2023, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced…that the company was making a hard pivot to…[computer-generated] slop…neither insiders nor the public were particularly compelled by the move…[but] Peretti doubled down…shuttting down its Pulitzer Prize-winning BuzzFeed News division…[in favor of computer-generated] quizzes…and…sloppy…repetitive [chatbot-generated articles]…the company’s stock [predictably] took a massive beating…[and it] reported a net loss of $57.3 million in 2025…an official statement [said]…“there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern”…Peretti [is so delusional he is]…now…hoping to bring “new AI apps to the market”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1586)

These things are designed to appeal to the dregs of humanity:

A claimant giving evidence in the High Court [of the UK] was fed answers through [perve]rt glasses he was wearing that were connected to his mobile phone…Laimonas Jakstys…[then lied about] the…glasses [when confronted]…Jakstys gave his evidence through an interpreter…After several questions, [Sarah Walker, counsel for the defendants, told the judge]…she could hear an interference coming from around Mr Jakstys and [him to remove] his glasses…After a few further questions…Jakstys’ mobile phone started broadcasting [his coach’s voice] out loud…The following day, the judge directed that the [glasses and phone be held by his solicitor]…

The Vultures Descend (#1600)

Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:

A new bill introduced by [prohibitionist lunatic] Josh Hawley…would [criminalize] medication abortion across the country.  To support this [scheme], Hawley is relying on a…highly deceptive report that purportedly shows abortion-inducing drugs are unsafe…[to force the] FDA…[to rescind] approval of the drug mifepristone…and [also encourage prohibitionist grifters and opportunists]…to sue abortion pill manufacturers…women can still (fairly easily, it seems) have abortion-inducing medications shipped to them, [render]ing [Hawley’s scheme unfit for its stated purpose from square one]…

The Vultures Descend (#1604)

Under a totalitarian regime, medical personnel cannot be trusted with personal information:

…in December…Alexia Moore took 200mg of Misoprostol…[in] Southeast Georgia…[then went to a] hospital…and…[delivered a] premature [girl which doctors kept alive for about an hour]…Moore was arrested [in early March] and charged with murder…Georgia [law]…essentially deems a [fetus] alive once [fetal cardiac myocyte activity can be measured]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1607)

Government thugs don’t care how many lives are destroyed by their evil:

…Angela Lipps…spent nearly six months in jail after Fargo [North Dakota cops carelessly accused her of]…bank fraud [based on nothing more than error-prone] facial recognition software…Lipps told [cops] she had never been to North Dakota [nor]…ever been on an airplane until [the pigs abducted] her to North Dakota…She r[otted away] in a Tennessee jail for nearly four months…awaiting extradition….Her attorney, Jay Greenwood…obtained her bank records and pr[oved]…Lipps was more than 1,200 miles away in Tennessee at the time [cops lied that she was]…in Fargo…[the pigs refused to] pay for her trip home, leaving her stranded [in North Dakota].  Local defense attorneys helped cover a hotel room and food on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and a local non-profit, the F5 Project, was able to help her return to Tennessee…While jailed and unable to pay bills, Lipps lost her home, her car and her dog…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

Mama Throwback Thursday

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The surest way to lose my cooperation is to accompany the demand with a phrase like “you must”, “you are required to”, “it’s the law”, etc.  –  “Off the Green”

Some of life’s greatest pleasures are pleasant precisely because they’re so ephemeral; if rainbows were always a feature of the sky, few would ever bother to look up at them in wonderment and appreciation.
–  “Diary #663”

Baby-step reforms…are mostly intended to distract activists and hush timid human rights campaigners.  –  “Lack of Evidence (#1421)”

[Trump] wants to make the US status as the world’s cop official, complete with the cop power to terrorize whoever he likes on a whim without anything resembling consequences.  –  “Client Kingdoms”

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1621)

Posted in Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Every day felt like a week. Every week felt like a month. Every month felt like a year.  –  Owen Ramsingh

I’m Sure You Feel Safer Now

Cops will victimize anyone they can catch:

An 80-year-old man was recently arrested in Plattsburgh, New York…[during a Father]land Security [raid]…on…a massage business…the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office [collaborated with Father]land Security [to] execute…the [raid, with cops getting]…the…[white male victims while Father]land Security [gets]…the…Asian women [who are typically raped and robbed prior to deportation]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1057)

It’s sad that in the 21st century we’re still debunking claims that semen has magic powers:

…the…centuries-old myth…that sex or orgasm before a competition diminishes athletic performance…has repeatedly failed to [be] support[ed by]…numerous studies…whi[ch]…have shown that sex and orgasm are more likely to increase testosterone than decrease it.  Now, a particularly well-designed laboratory study…[by] Spanish researchers…[has shown that] masturbation produced small but statistically significant improvements in certain performance measures…[including] increased total exercise time…[and] greater handgrip strength…there were no negative effects…[and] testosterone levels were actually higher in the masturbation condition.  Cortisol levels were also elevated, suggesting increased physiological arousal rather than depletion…

Thought Control (#1443)

Politicians really want to be able to define anything as “obscene” at will:

A new Ohio bill seeks to [penalize] companies who provide online resources for the state’s public schools and libraries…[if a politician later points at anything in those resources while belching the magic word] “inappropriate”…the companies would [be subjected to] a three-strike rule, in which they would be notified…and given the ability to “cure” the resources [by censoring them on demand]…The bill would [also censor] resource[s including]…drugs, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, [any] illegal activities…or…LGBT…[people]…

I Spy (#1569)

Elon Musk and all his “DOGE” goons should spend the next few decades in prison:

…a [typical and representative “]DOGE[” goon named John Solly who]…had access to two highly sensitive [Social Security] databases…share[d] the information with his [new] private employer…a c[ompany named Leidos]…an unprecedented breach of security protocols…[foolishly enabled by SCOTUS.  Solly bragged] to…several co-workers that he possessed two tightly restricted databases of U.S. citizens’ information…on a thumb drive.  The databases…include records for more than 500 million living and dead Americans, including Social Security numbers, places and dates of birth, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and parents’ names…he a[sked]…the whistleblower…[for] help transferring data from a thumb drive “to his personal computer so that he could ‘sanitize’ the data before using it at [Leidos” and]…the…colleague…refused to help him…because of legal concerns, [but Solly bragged] that he [did not care that it was]…illegal [because the mad emperor would pardon him]…

To Molest and Rape (#1592)

Good riddance to bad rubbish:

A [typical and representative Pennsylvania cop named]…Francis Connell Collier…was…killed…in a [shootout]…with [other cops]…who…[were trying to arrest him for] rape of a[t least two] child[ren]…beginning when they were about five or six years old…from 2001 through…2004…

Walled Garden (#1616)

The only way to ensure data is not abused is not to collect it:

Spain’s data protection authority…imposed a total fine of €950,000 on Yoti Ltd, the British digital identity and age verification company, after finding three distinct violations of [law]…the AEPD has [also] ordered Yoti to implement corrective measures within six months…Yoti’s…app allows users to create a verified identity account by uploading a government-issued identity document and taking a selfie…Yoti [claimed] that the facial scan it performs does not constitute biometric data…because…the purpose is not to uniquely identify users but to authenticate them.  The authority [sensibly] rejected this [ridiculous] argument…

Torture Chamber (#1620)

Some of these “suicides” are murders; others are people driven to suicide by barbaric abuse:

S[crews] at the nation’s largest [concentration camp] have placed bets on which [of their victims] will be the next to die by suicide…Camp East Montana [was refurbished from a WWII-era concentration camp used to falsely imprison US citizens of Japanese descent]…On an average day…around 3,000 [ICE victims] are [imprisoned there without adequate]…food [or]…medical care…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1618)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

In a sane culture we wouldn’t praise people for baselessly calling the cops on strangers.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

[Texas politician] Tony Gonzales…faced growing pressure to resign…[because] he [raped] a staff member [and sexually harassed her so severely afterward that she committed suicide by self-immolation]…Gonzales…has denied [sending the texts, claim]ing…the[y]…were part of a smear campaign by his top rival in the race, Brandon Herrera[, apparently expecting people to believe that Herrera repeatedly spoofed his phone number]…

Signs (#751)

The moral panic is over, but useful idiots still love to sic cops on strangers:

…Jonathan Puddle…had the audacity to take his teenage daughter to an Ontario coffee shop.  When another patron saw the pair together—an older man with a teenager!—he…followed the Puddles to their car, questioned them, and then called the police…[who took] an image of the pair…from a security camera and [blasted it out] online…[to] tens of thousands of people as [though they were fugitives]…”See something, say something” started as a War on Terror slogan and eventually morphed into a mantra employed by the Department of [Father]land Security…in anti–sex…campaigns…so…large swaths of the public [now believe that]…spying on and reporting fellow citizens based on vague vibes is the key to keeping everyone safe…

Welcome to the Future (#1544)

Everything I read about modern corporate work makes me happier I became a whore:

…“Bossware” refers to the technology some managers use to s[py on] employees…The term was popularized by a 2020 report from the [EFF]…Managers have always sought to keep an eye on employees to make operations more efficient.  But the rise of [machine learning systems]…has [made it more demoralizing, humiliating, and toxic]…In…trucking, for example, [computeriz]ed video tools can trigger real-time alerts if a driver looks [anywhere but straight ahead, and]…in some white-collar desk jobs…employers are using algorithmic and biometric tools to [micromanage employees]…The use of work-surveillance technology took off during the pandemic.  As many people started working remotely, [nosy control-freak] employers began…tracking keyboard strokes, taking screenshots and monitoring pauses [because they were no longer able to lurk behind employees and breathe down their necks]…The goal of these tools is to [wring] more out of workers…but [they are typically poor indicators of]…how much work someone is actually getting done…Beyond the psychological toll, “bossware” tools…present “serious health and safety risks for workers,” including potential physical injury…

The Cop Myth (#1583)

Belief in the magic power of “protective orders” gets women killed:

The town of Kenbridge [Virginia] and its [cop shop have been sued for]…$140 million…by Heather Burrow…[for] gross negligence among other claims…[because she] asked the police chief for protection from [her cop ex-boyfriend] Charles Aaron Stokes.  Instead of providing protection, the chief [told]…Stokes [so he could retaliate, and he did so by shooting] her…multiple times within minutes of being told…Stokes is facing separate criminal charges [but]…is not named in the civil lawsuit…

This is your regular reminder that SCOTUS has ruled that the police have no duty to protect citizens.

Walled Garden (#1588)

Surely you didn’t think this would stop with the internet?

California’s Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), signed by…Gavin Newsom in October…[demands that] every operating system provider in California…collect age information from users at account setup and transmit that data to app developers…with the law taking effect on January 1, 2027.  The law’s broad definition of an “operating system provider”…pulls in not just Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, but Linux distributions and Valve’s SteamOS…Developers…are [thereby] “deemed to have actual knowledge” of their users’ age range under the law, [thus] shift[ing] legal liability for [enforcing politicians’ notions of] age-appropriate content…onto [people the state can more easily and profitably rob via fines]…up to…$7,500…Despite signing it, Newsom issued a statement urging the legislature to amend the law before its effective date, [thus allowing him to have his cake and eat it as well.  Since politicians are too stupid to understand the concept of open source software, it should be amusing to watch their moronic flailing when they try to]…enforce…[their stupid law] against Linux distributions, [which]…have no centralized account infrastructure…

Torture Chamber (#1607)

It doesn’t help young victims of state violence to infantilize them:

All unaccompanied immigrant [minors] who are pregnant, many by rape, are being [concentrated in] a single [camp] in Texas in order to avoid providing abortion services…Since July, more than a dozen pregnant [girls] have been [traffick]ed to…the [camp, near the] town of San Benito…[most are 15 to 16, but some] are as young as 13, and about half are pregnant because of rape, [though] in Texas, [that makes no difference]…When a pregnant [minor] is moved to Texas…she can’t access an abortion – without a federal official needing to deny [it]…Because of their young age, “many of them will be comparatively high-risk pregnancies” who need specialized care…[but] the south Texas [concentration camp has no such] facilit[ies and]…is hours away from [any] major cities…equipped to offer that care…

Mad Libs (#1613)

Politicians want to “regulate” consensual sex, but not this dangerous fantasy:

ChatGPT Health regularly misses the need for medical urgent care and frequently fails to detect suicidal ideation…[yet] OpenAI…promotes [it] as a way for users to “securely connect medical records and [health surveillance] apps” to generate health advice…The first independent safety evaluation of ChatGPT Health…found it under-triaged more than half of the cases presented to it…[in comparison with] three [actual] doctors…In 51.6% of cases where someone needed to go to the hospital immediately, the platform said stay home or book a routine medical appointment…[they] wouldn’t live to see…Meanwhile, 64.8% of completely safe individuals were told to seek immediate medical care…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

Twin Throwback Thursday

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Accept no source as an absolute authority, especially when they demand you should.  –  “No Absolute Truths”

Many criminals are entrepreneurs; it’s just that their business happens to be illegal.  –  “Midwinter Tweets”

It’s always rather funny when a fanatical devotee of fundamentalist Christianity or fundamentalist feminism (they’re hard to tell apart) tries to attack me on some post from over a decade ago, and the best they can come up with is “You’re a whore!” And I’m like, “Yes, and?”  –  “Tweets for the Tweet”

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1614)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[The US] constitution…cannot be overwritten by a state legislature.  –  Jeffrey Sandman

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1051)

It’s not surprising this started at the most oppressive of the Nevada brothels:

Sex workers at one of Nevada’s legal brothels are unionizing with the Communications Workers of America …If successful, it would be [a] first [for]…the U.S.  The effort came after [Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump attemp]ted t[o impose] a new contract that would give the business perpetual control over workers’ intellectual property rights…A majority of the brothel’s 74…workers…have agreed to join the union.  Managers …have [retaliated by] fir[ing] at least three of the workers…and…threaten[ing] other[s]…To unionize, the workers must first prove to federal labor authorities that they are employees rather than independent contractors…Sheri’s Ranch…is owned by [typical and representative] Chicago [pig] Chuck Lee, [and is so notorious for its infantilizing repression of its] workers [it is widely derided in the industry as “Pussy Prison”.  The abuses include confiscating their laptops and medications, spying on email and negotiation with clients, and random room searches, and]…beginning in late December…it [started] demanding [workers] grant Sheri’s Ranch “irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual” rights to any content they produce while staying at the brothel…[including] the ability to sell videos or photos…without their permission…[to] create [computer]-generated c[artoons] featuring their images…[even] after [their] death…and…to…[grant] the brothel…power of attorney [over all such content]…

It’s about time US sex workers started unionizing like their European sisters.

I Spy (#1425)

Remember when Google’s motto was, “Don’t be evil”?

Google [obey]ed an [ICE] subpoena that demanded a wide array of personal data on a student activist and journalist, including his credit card and bank account numbers…Amandla Thomas-Johnson had attended a protest targeting companies that supplied weapons to Israel at a Cornell University job fair in 2024 for all of five minutes, but the action got him banned from campus.  When [the] Trump [regime]…issued a series of [diktats] targeting student…proteste[rs], Thomas-Johnson and his friend Momodou Taal went into hiding…Thomas-Johnson, who is British, believes that ICE [intended to use] that information to track and eventually [abduct] him — but he had already fled to Geneva, Switzerland…The Electronic Frontier Foundation…and the ACLU of Northern California sent a letter to Google, Amazon, Apple, Discord, [Facebook], Microsoft, and Reddit…calling on tech companies to resist similar subpoenas in the future…without [actual warrants]…to give [intended victims] the opportunity to fight [such extrajudicial demands], and to resist gag orders…

The Mob Rules (#1539)

Don’t let the “private” language fool you; these nuisance lawsuits were instigated and bankrolled by Morality in Media:

A federal judge in Kansas has dismissed two of the four private age verification lawsuits filed…by an unnamed plaintiff [using] her teenage son [as a prop]…the judge granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss…ruling that…simply operating a website accessible in Kansas – even one that Kansas residents could view – is not enough to establish liability.  Under the U.S. Constitution, courts may only exercise power over defendants that have deliberately targeted or conducted activities in the state.  Allowing lawsuits based solely on website accessibility…would mean any website could be sued anywhere, a result long rejected by federal courts…

Mad Libs (#1571)

These algorithms are not only unintelligent; they are making those who believe in them stupid as well:

[The ignoramuses running] many companies are [foolishly trying] to get more employees to use [chatbots so they don’t have to pay]…workers [their full]…value…But…they…may not see what [imaginary] gains are costing them until it’s too late…[because chatbot]s d[o]n’t reduce work, they consistently intensif[y] it.  In an eight-month study…we found that employees [regularly] worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day…because [the hype] made “doing more” feel possible…[but] once the excitement of experimenting fades, workers can find that their workload has quietly grown and feel stretched from juggling everything that’s suddenly on their plate…lead[ing] to cognitive fatigue, burnout, and weakened decision-making…[in addition] to lower quality work…and other problems…

Panopticon (#1591)

Safetyism is destroying society:

[Cop shop]s across the US are quietly [abus]ing school district security cameras to assist Donald Trump’s mass [pogroms]…The a[buse] originate[s] from Texas school districts that contract with Flock S[urveillance to target teachers]…parents and students as young as five…[demonstrating how] campus surveillance technology [justified by barfing out the formula “]student safety[“] is being repurposed to support [the police state]…Flock devices have been installed by more than 100 public school systems nationally…and audit logs from six Texas school districts show campus camera feeds are captured in a national database that [cop shops, spook houses, and goon squad]s across the country can access…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1597)

These things are designed to appeal to the dregs of humanity:

…Social media is awash with videos of men…approaching women in public spaces and attempting to flirt with them or ask for their numbers..the videos are filmed and uploaded to platforms like TikTok and Instagram without the permission or knowledge of the [woman] being filmed…[and] rack up thousands…[or] millions of views…While the concept of the pick-up artist is nothing new…so-called “manfluencers”…are covertly filming women to create misogynistic content…

Censor Chic (#1610)

Civil suits are society’s best weapon against jawboning:

…[FIRE] is suing…[Trumpist henchwomen] Pam Bondi and…Kristi Noem on behalf of Kae Rosado and Mark Hodges, who respectively created a Facebook group and an app that hosted video footage of ICE operations to inform the public and hold our government accountable…Mark runs Kreisau Group, which aims to preserve evidence of governmental abuses of power.  On his Eyes Up app, users can upload videos, record new videos, or access uploaded videos, which Eyes Up arranges on a map of the United States after Mark and his moderators review and approve each video.  Kae…started a Facebook group in January 2025…about the impact of ICE raids on daily life in Chicago…The group remained small until Sept[ember]…when ICE commenced…a…[massive pogrom sophomorically] dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz”…[after which the] group grew to…nearly 100,000 members…it is unconstitutional for the government to coerce private companies like Apple and Facebook into censoring content on their behalf.  However…Bondi and Noem [not only did this, but openly]…boasted [about it]…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1613)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

A clumsy attempt…to put a cuddly face on a rather dystopian reality.  –  Chris Gilliard

The Vultures Descend (Bragging Rights)

No evil is too sleazy for forced-birth fanatics:

An anti-choice group called “Voices for Life” is trying a new strategy to put a target on the backs of abortion providers and recipients in [Indiana by] seeking to make…identifying details about them publicly available…Eleven abortion providers have been murdered in the U.S. since 1993, and abortion clinics continue to experience arson attacks and invasions.  From 2023 to 2024, there were 37 reported cases of stalking and 38 reported cases of assault…against abortion providers…Indiana’s abortion ban was passed almost immediately…after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade…It permits abortions in certain cases…but…bans abortion clinics…[so there are] very few abortions…Yet that isn’t enough for [fanatics]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1412) 

The time, money, and energy our society is flushing down the “culture war” toilet is incalculable:

In Kansas, more than a bathroom bill is at stake for transgender residents as [psychopathic politicians] jam through a bill to mass-invalidate the driver’s licenses of every trans person in the state…HB246…declares that all driver’s licenses out of step with the state’s definition of man and woman are invalid, and instructs [bureaucrats] to identify every license issued to a trans person and send written notice that the license must be surrendered and reissued…The bill institutes an extreme and novel punishment of transgender residents for continuing to live their lives as normal, and the legality of stripping people of legal ID in this way is questionable.  However, there has been little coverage of the measure because the legislature paired it with one of the most extreme bans on trans people using public restrooms in the entire country.  The bathroom ban has been covered in local news stories and by the Erin in the Morning newsletter, which mentioned but did not focus on the driver’s license changes…

Thought Control (#1527)

These psychopaths won’t be satisfied until they can actually start arresting and caging librarians:

…a bill…in…Georgia…[would criminalize] librarians [who refuse] to…censor…books about LGBTQ people or issues.  Senate Bill 74, sponsored by [censorious politician] Max Burns…[would allow prosecu]tion…of [librarians for working in a library containing books that a politician chooses to point at while spastically barfing out the magic formula “]harmful…to minors[” if]…the…libraries [don’t] ban…people under 18 [from the premises]…Burns told reporters…“At the end of the day, the objective is to…[demand] that…professional…librarians [act as mindless facilitators of the whims of politicians, in violation of all decency and professional ethics]”…

Walled Garden (#1533)

“A disaster waiting to happen”:

Discord [has] announced…that it’s [impos]ing…[user surveillance] on its platform globally starting next month, when it will automatically set all users’ accounts to a “teen-appropriate” [censorship level] unless they [convince an algorithm] that they’re adults.  Users who [refuse to submit to facial recognition or recording of their government ID] will not be able to access age-restricted servers and channels, won’t be able to speak in Discord’s livestream-like “stage” channels, and will see c[ensorship black screens] for any content Discord [algorithms declare “]graphic[” or “]sensitive[“]…users w[ill even] be [banned from]…age-restricted server[s]…they were part of before [the surveillance regime was imposed]…Discord [mouthpieces pooh-poohed]…concerns around data privacy, [despite a recent] data breach that exposed users’ age verification data, including images of government IDs…

Panopticon (#1584) 

One couldn’t ask for a better example of useful idiocy:

At Sunday’s Super Bowl, Ring advertised “Search Party,” a cute, horrifyingly dystopian feature…designed to turn all of the Ring cameras in a neighborhood into a dragnet that uses [recognition algorithms] to look for a lost dog…[with] one [simple] post…in the Ring app…It does not take an imagination of any sort to envision this being tweaked to work against [people the state has declared “]criminals[“, including] undocumented immigrants, or [else] other…[passersby] deemed “suspicious” by people…on its dystopian “Neighbors” app…Ring rose to prominence…by forming [fascist] partnerships with local police around the country, asking them to shill their doorbell cameras to people…in return for a system that allowed police to [demand] footage from individual users without a warrant [or the consent of the camera “owner”]…

This is only a temporary retreat:

Following intense backlash to its partnership with Flock S[urveillance]…Ring has announced it is [temporarily backpedaling from] the integration [until the furor dies down]…Over the last few weeks, the company has faced significant public anger over its connection to Flock, with Ring users being encouraged to smash their cameras, and some announcing on social media that they are throwing away their Ring devices…

Ring has a history of claiming to retreat from fascist police-statery, then quietly resuming the supposedly-renounced behavior once things quiet down.

Torture Chamber (#1607)

This will continue until the evil US immigration policy is reformed:

…a handwritten note…wrapped around a lotion bottle…was thrown by a man held captive inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center…on [February 1st]…“It’s cold here all the time and the food is poor…For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh.  We are all in one big room with no doors or windows.  We can’t see any grass or trees.  We are all constantly sick.”  The bottle needed to be tossed with enough strength to make it across a cement wall, two barbed wire fences each around twelve-feet high and separated by about five feet of gravel, and ten additional feet of road…Two lotion bottles with the same note were tossed over…[because if screws see messages being thrown out] they rush…to grab them…so…[nobody can find out which] hostages…[are imprisoned in which] facilities…[but activists] have collected 14 lotion bottles, two deodorant bottles, and one AA Battery that [hostag]es have thrown over the fences with notes attached to them.  These items have included a total of 102 names and A-Numbers…[which] are…numbers assigned by the Department of [Father]land Security to [victims]…Organizers use this information to add…funds [to hostages’]…commissary…[and] phone call…[accounts]…

Mad Libs (#1612)

What an opportunity for ambulance-chasers to cash in:

This study evaluated whether the customized ECG Reader-GPT model could serve as a supportive tool—rather than a substitute for expert judgment—during ECG interpretation in the emergency department…Ten emergency medicine specialists (EMSs) interpreted each ECG…The same ECG set was assessed by a customized [chatbot]…Two cardiologists, blinded to group assignments, scored all responses using a predefined key.  EMSs demonstrated markedly higher diagnostic accuracy…correctly interpret[ing] 77% of ECGs, whereas ECG Reader-GPT achieved 24%…indicating that the model is…insufficient for real-world ECG interpretation…

But when actual physicians merely used the software for “assistance”, the results were even worse:

In 2021…Johnson & Johnson [pompously] announced a “leap forward”:  it [crammed a chatbot in]to a medical device used to treat chronic sinusitis…the software…would [supposedly]…assist ear, nose, and throat specialists in surgeries.  The device had already been on the market for three years [prior to insertion of the parasitic chatbot, during which time the FDA] received [seven] unconfirmed reports of…device malfunction…Since [the chatbot was crammed in, there have been]…at least 100 malfunctions and adverse events…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1611)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

George Orwell told us about thought crime as a cautionary fable…this…seems like an attempt to put it into action.  –  Micah Kubic

Chauvinism (#1421)

The Olympics always provide an excuse for governments to “clean things up” in the host cities before the guests arrive:

LA County…plans to remove…thousands of unhoused people from areas around sports venues ahead of the Olympic games in 2028.  [Bureaucrats] issued a strategy report last week advising local governments on how to [abduct] people from encampments…and [force] them into temporary housing.  However, the same report notes that…there [are not] enough beds and there’s no new funding for such an effort…

Eavesdropping (#1503)

Google still claims this doesn’t happen:

Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a class-action lawsuit [over its] voice assistant…illegally record[ing] users and…shar[ing] their private conversations with advertisers…Google [pretends] that its voice assistant w[ill] only register people’s speech when [they] utter…an activation phrase, such as “Hey Google,” [but this is a lie and]…the Google devices [have] recorded private conversations about financial issues, personal decisions and employment…[Victims] will be able to submit claims for up to three Google devices, although…individuals [will] receive…[a paltry] $8 to $40 per person…

Walled Garden (#1570)

The internet’s global scope is the main reason politicians hate it and want to destroy it:

The Online Safety Act grants the U.K.’s online [cens]or, Ofcom, sweeping authority to…censor online content under the guise of protecting children.  The results have been disastrous…and…Ofcom…[has] quietly been pressuring U.S. companies to comply with their orders…lawyer Preston Byrne…represents four U.S. websites targeted by Ofcom: 4chan, Gab…Kiwi Farms, and Personal Autonomy LLC (the provider of the forum Sanctioned Suicide)…In one email response to Ofcom, he [wrote that] their demands on 4chan were “legally void” and would make “excellent bedding” for his “pet hamster”…but…if Ofcom keeps pressuring people…the risk is that…people will…comply because the letters are scary…The Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International Tyranny & Extortion (GRANITE) Act, which was originally proposed on Byrne’s blog, would allow U.S. companies and individuals to sue foreign governments that attempt to censor Americans.  If the U.S. successfully sued a foreign government in a U.S. court, the foreign country’s assets could be forfeited…Wyoming has become the first to formally introduce the legislation…but Byrne thinks federal legislation would be more effective…

Panopticon (#1587)

Cops are trying to hide their 4th Amendment violations:

[Cop]s are being told to “be as vague as permissible” about why they are using the Flock surveillance system in order to not le[t the public discover illegal snooping] via public records requests…police [incompetent]ly leak[ed] the details of millions of surveillance targets nationwide due to public records redaction errors…[and] rather than looking at this…as a huge operational security failure associated with…a [fascist]…surveillance system, police [fantasize] that [they rather than their victims are in danger]…highlight[ing] how [cops irrationally and pathologically imagine] themselves as being consistently and universally under threat from the people [they want to dominate]…

Panopticon (#1594)

Cops will invariably use warrantless surveillance to harass people:

On Oct. 21 the entire Lenexa, Kansas [cop shop] was hunting Canyen Ashworth…[because a pig decided without evidence that he must be the guy who put up]…posters on city property…[since he wrote] a guest column critical of Lenexa Police…for the Kansas City Star…The [anti-ICE] poster [infuriated the pig herd so bureaucrats claimed they were]…“in violation of Lenexa city ordinances”…[even though] posters about lost pets and community events were generally not removed.  The [cops didn’t know who posted them, but boss hog Dawn] Layman [was pissed off about the column, so]…Ashworth…was [targeted for police violence by]…tracking [hi]s movement around Lenexa using the city’s license plate reader system.  [Pigs were told he]…was…“MYOC”…shorthand for “make your own case.”  [In other words, cops were being ordered to frame] Ashworth…for [whatever] reason [they could dream up]…

I Spy (#1604)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

ICE has vastly expanded its tech tools over the last year after an [obscene] influx of cash…[from the] Trump [regime.  Father]land Security…awarded Palantir a nearly $30 million contract to build a system backed by artificial [stupidity to target]…individuals for [violence.  Another]…tool…built by Paragon…lets [goons] take control of phones or remotely hack into them…The others were built by Penlink…[to exploit]…data scraped from the web and information from data brokers…ICE…[also] use[s a facial recognition app called]…Mobile Fortify…[when it was pointed out to Father]land Security officials [that these tools flagrantly violate Constitutional rights, they moronically babbled]…“lawful law…lawfully…legal authorities”…

I Spy (#1610)

The rise of prosocial surveillance:

In recent weeks, efforts to track ICE [goon]s’ movements and identities have exploded online, including sites to report ICE raid locations.  Even prolific cybercriminal collectives — better known for their ransomware attacks on luxury carmakers — are joining the fray by releasing the names and personal information of hundreds of ICE [goons] and [DFS spooks] online…“Even when the government pushes to block high-profile apps or webpages, people will continue to share information with their community to keep each other safe,” said Mario Trujilo [of EFF]…Residents in communities targeted by the [regime for pogroms]…have also built tools to…map Flock…cameras and detect [porcine] surveillance devices…through Bluetooth signals…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

Links #813

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Get back in the game, or I’ll shoot you.  –  Andrew Lawson

Due to the plethora of guillotine memes that have populated social media since the current guillotine-worthy regime took power, I’ve often thought of this song, but it was the recent death of Brigitte Bardot which finally moved me to feature it.  The links above the video were provided by Nicholas Grossman, Jesse Walker, The Onion, Nun Ya, Jesse Walker again, Jessica Pishko, and Popehat, 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!

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1608)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[Letting] pregnant women [die]…is consistent with accepted standards of care in our region.  –  mouthpiece for Cone Health in North Carolina

Gorged With Meaning (#408) 

You know puritanism has run amok when a college student is forced to apologize for going to one of her school team’s football games:

Former adult film star Abella Danger found herself at the center of unexpected attention this week after a televised crowd shot during the NCAA final sparked online chatter and attention she…never wanted…she is…currently a [law] student at the University of Miami, a[nd when she attended]…the [game]…at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium…[an ESPN] camera[man made the questionable decision to] linger…on [her]…during a pivotal moment late in the game…[hypocritical porn] viewers [who] recognized [her apparently blamed her sex rays for jinxing the team or something].  “I am so deeply sorry to anyone I offended with my attendance at the game,” she told [TMZ]…

Something Rotten in Sweden (#750)

Washington state politicians are still ignoring advocates’ advice in favor of puritanical virtue-signaling:

[Politicians] are moving fast to [worsen] Washington’s laws on [adults having consensual sex]…before international travelers come to town for the 2026 FIFA World Cup…the King County Prosecut[or’s office vomited decades-old prohibitionist propaganda at them to]…bump up…paying for sex from a simple misdemeanor to a…felony [because prosecutors aren’t ruining enough lives yet]…

Sex Rays (#1367)

When there’s no censorious payment processor in the way, sex businesses can be powerful helpers:

…the folks at Minneapolis sex shop Smitten Kitten…have mobilized to support neighbors amid a violent and unrelenting [pogrom] by the Trump [regime]…inside the shop, volunteers are organizing canned foods, diapers, clothes, and other essentials to be distributed to…“families that are stuck at home because they’re scared of…ICE [attacks]”…the shop’s Instagram page has been leveraging its platform to boost donation opportunities for community members in the area, sharing GoFundMe, Venmo, and Cash App campaigns…The shop is also partnering with neighboring businesses…to make sure people are being fed.  And volunteers are standing outside of the shop to protect anyone coming in or out from [attack by goons] in the immediate area…

Welcome to the Future (#1414)

Anything connected to a computer can be used to spy on you:

…It’s standard for workplace printers to log certain information, such as the names of files they print and the users who printed them.  In an apparent attempt to avoid detection, [a whistleblower]…took screenshots of [government] materials, cropped the screenshots, and pasted them into a Microsoft Word document…[but his fascist contractor] employer could see not only the typical metadata stored by printers, such as file names, file sizes, and time of printing, but…also…the actual contents of the printed materials — in this case…the screenshots themselves…Whenever someone presses print in a network outfitted with this printer monitoring software, the program creates a clandestine copy of the file and generates an image of page…printed…users might be entirely unaware that the contents of printed files are archived…

Torture Chamber (#1437)

New York supposedly bans long-term solitary confinement:

Teenagers as young as 12…in New York [dungeons] are held for prolonged periods in solitary confinement cells without plumbing…A federal class action lawsuit [was] filed by the Legal Aid Society and the law firm Jenner and Block [because]…New York…”routinely and unlawfully imposes solitary confinement”…in filthy, dehumanizing…cells for 23 to 24 hours a day—in some cases for weeks or even months at a time…”Almost none of the cells…have toilets or sinks.  As a result, [victims] must [beg] to be released from their cells to use the bathroom or be forced to use garbage pails, water bottles, food containers, or buckets to relieve themselves…The smell of urine and feces can permeate these [cell blocks]”…

Vulture Watching (#1534)

Another look at the totally-predictable results of bad laws:

…dangerous miscarriages…are relatively rare events.  What are far more common…are high-risk pregnancies…Each year, hundreds of thousands of women enter pregnancy with chronic conditions that put them at an elevated risk of long-term complications and, in some cases, death…[bu]t abortion bans generally don’t include exceptions that cover these kinds of health concerns…instead, the exceptions are for the “life of the mother.”  In practice, this often means doctors won’t act without strong evidence that their patients are very likely to die.  Where there have been efforts to create…exceptions to cover a range of medical risks women can face in pregnancy, [forced-birth fanatic]s have fought against them…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1566)

Every so often the areas of my reporting beat converge:

…In posts on ManyVids, the porn platform’s official account holds imaginary conversations with aliens, alongside [computer]-generated videos of UFOs, fractal images, “angel numbers,” and a video of its founder and CEO Bella French in a space suit shooting lasers from her eyes.  French launched the site in 2014 as a former cam model herself, and the platform has millions of members and tens of thousands of creators…[yet she] recently changed her personal website to state her new goal is to “transition one million people out of the adult industry and do everything we can to ensure no one new enters it.”  The statement follows posts…about new strategies to pivot the site toward safe-for-work, non-sexual content.  This sudden shift away from years of messaging about being a compatriot with sex workers, combined with bizarre [chatbot]-generated text and images…has made some creators worry for their livelihoods, and caused others to leave the site completely…When faced with backlash, MV removed the ability to comment on posts…[which] appear to be ramblings and images generated by a person in active psychosis…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »