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Posts Tagged ‘marriage’

Don’t we have something more interesting and important to think about?  –  Jan Kirsch

See No Evil (#1092)

What happens when puritans are not ignored as lunatics:

No one had any problem with the eggplant, then the peach showed up.  To those [with sick minds, these fruit represent]…phallic and derrière references…the…sculpture[s] in…Ellicott City…[Maryland are the work of]…Jan Kirsch, an artist and landscape designer who[se oeuvre consists mostly of large]…sculptures…of…fruit[s] and vegetable[s such as]…Chile Pepper #2…a six-foot pear…and a couple of intertwined carrots…Kirsch [is not mentally ill and therefore] knew nothing about peach and eggplant emojis being used suggestively [by adolescents] to represent body parts…[but pearl-clutchers filed] anonymous complaints about the sculptures…with the county’s planning and zoning department in June…And Julie Danna, the commission’s chair, [is herself a censorious prude, so the result was a foregone conclusion regardless of protests from sane people]…

No Escape

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

A [typical and representative] Boston [screw named]…William Cooper…rape[d]…a person [locked] in [one of the city’s filthy cages]…on July 7…Cooper taped trash bags to the office window before [forc]ing [his victim in there]…The [victim said nothing until she was released from the cage]…and…“no longer fearing retribution” [from the rapist or his fellow gang members]…

To Molest and Rape (#1407)

Cops allowed one of their gang to rape a baby for almost two years after he was reported:

A [typical and representative San Antonio cop named]…Albert John Sanchez Jr. was [finally] arrested and charged with…[repeatedly raping a baby under 2 years old.  The cops have known about the rapes since January 5th, 2024, when another of his victims], a 13-year-old[, reported witnessing]…the [rapes, but they merely]…charged [him] with…child pornography [and let him otherwise run free]…

Shame, Shame (#1410)

Why would anybody waste good money to talk to a computer program pretending to be a dead man?

…nearly seven years after [Stan Lee’s] death at the age of 95, [his celebrity is being exploited by people who programmed] a hologram that will use [a linked chatbot] to have [fake] conversations with fans…at the Stan Lee Experience section of the [Los Angeles Comic] Con…which costs…$20 to enter…tak[ing] photos with the hologram or hav[ing] a three-minute…[interac]tion with [the chatbot while the hologram mimes talking will cost extra]…

Eavesdropping (#1473)

If you think these ads won’t be “personalized” by spying, I have a “smart” bridge to sell you:

A software update rolling out to Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerators in the US is putting ads on the [screen]s…despite Samsung insisting…in April that it had “no plans” to do so…the writing’s been on the wall ever since Samsung embraced a “screens everywhere” initiative for its home appliances.  After all, it was Samsung that started bunging ads into its old smart TVs ten years ago…

Torture Chamber (#1501)

A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners:

…more than a dozen [victims of a prison “nurse” named Joseph Eastridge have filed]…more than 20 federal lawsuits…since 2002 [after he] withheld or cut off access to medication or equipment, including bandages and braces, even if the prisoner had had access to the items for decades; told prisoners that their conditions, ranging from debilitating back pain to diarrhea, were fake or “normal”; refused to write passes for people with injuries or disabilities to keep them in bottom bunks; and [repeat]edly retaliated against those who filed grievances by removing access to meds…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1571)

What’s worse than chatbot “therapy”? Chatbot marriage “counseling”:

As [chat]bots…become inextricably tangled with [gullible] people’s private and public lives, it’s causing [100%]…predictable new crises…in romantic relationships…an uncanny dynamic is unfolding across the world: one person in a couple becomes fixated on ChatGPT or another bot — for some combination of [pseudo-]therapy, [bad] relationship advice, or [pseudo-]wisdom — and ends up tearing the partnership down as the [program] makes more and more radical interpersonal suggestions…Spouses relayed bizarre stories about finding themselves flooded with pages upon pages of ChatGPT-generated psychobabble, or watching their partners become distant and cold — and in some cases, frighteningly angry — as they retreated into an [algorithmically-warped] narrative of their relationship.  Several even reported that their spouses suddenly accused them of abusive behavior following long, pseudo-therapeutic interactions with ChatGPT…

 

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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This is absolutely being framed as a tool of abuse.  –  Eva Galperin

Above the Law

Don’t fret, it’s for your “security”:

An Israeli government [“]cybersecurity[” bureaucrat] was…arrested recently by Las Vegas police…[for respond]ing [to] a…[cop fantasy role-playing as a teenage girl] online…Tom Artiom Alexandrovich…faces felony charges…[but] has since been released [after paying] $10,000…and returned to Israel…Alexandrovich…[was] in Las Vegas earlier…for the Black Hat Briefings, a yearly meeting of [“]cybersecurity[“] professionals…

Remember what “black hat” used to mean?  It still does.

What the Hell Were You Thinking? (#417)

Amateurs repeatedly screw up what sex workers have done for many years:

…The Tea app, much like the Are We Dating the Same Guy Facebook groups, invites [amateur] women to join and share red flags about men to help other [amateur] women avoid them.  In order to verify that every person who joined…was a woman, Tea asked users to upload a picture of their ID or their face.  Tea was founded in 2022 but…[in] July this year…reached the top of the Apple App Store chart…and claimed it had more than 1.6 million users…but…Tea did not have all the “safety measures” it needed to keep women safe….[because] users’ images, identifying information, and more than a million private conversations…were compromised in two separate security breaches in late July.  The first…was immediately abused by…misogynists on 4chan to humiliate women…after Tea failed to [capture]…the Are We Dating the Same Guy community, [it] shifted tactics to raid those Facebook groups for users…[using] paid influencers…competing Facebook groups with nearly identical names…[and] hijacked Facebook accounts that spammed the real…groups with links to Tea app…[resulting in] a third security breach which exposed the personal data of…paid…promote[rs]…while [Tea founder Sean] Cook said he built Tea to “protect women,” he repeatedly put them at risk and tried to replace a grassroots movement started by a woman who declined to help him…

Secret Squirrel (#1403)

Modern monogamy is becoming increasingly sick:

TikTok [hucksters are] selling GPS trackers marketed with viral videos that have voiceovers explicitly encouraging secretly tracking a romantic partner.  Some of the videos have millions of views, and…more than a hundred thousand of the devices have been sold…The trackers are advertised as undetectable by Apple’s FindMy system.  Many of the videos encourage people to secretly install the devices in their partners’ cars if they suspect them for things like being “out with friends every night”…“This is absolutely being framed as a tool of abuse,” said Eva Galperin…of…the [EFF].  “Anything where the justification is ‘catch your partner cheating’ or ‘get peace of mind about your partner’ is enabling coercive control”…Alongside the trackers, the same c[ulprit]s are advertising secret audio-recording devices with similar abusive framing…

The Last Shall Be First (#1413) 

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

After a yearslong legal battle, West Texas A&M University students can finally host a drag show…in March 2023…Spectrum WT, an LGBT-focused student club, sought permission to use Legacy Hall, a university venue, to host a drag show that would raise funds for the Trevor Project…While the university had allowed a wide range of events to take place in Legacy Hall—including religious events, a congressional candidate forum, and a local livestock show—the university’s president, Walter Wendler, stepped in to prevent the drag show from going forward…[pretending to be a champion of] womanhood…even [though he] admitted that the show [wa]s First Amendment–protected…the lower court…[backed] Wendler…[up, absurdly belching the word “]lewdness[” as a justification]…

Torture Chamber (#1555)

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

A United States Senate investigation has identified more than 500 credible reports of human rights abuses in [cages where the Trump regime has crammed] immigra[nts]…since January…the investigation—led by US senator Jon Ossoff…unearthed 41 cases of physical and sexual abuse; 14 involving pregnant [victims] and 18 involving [legal minors]…span[ning dungeons] in 25 states…[one] pregnant woman…bled for days before…miscarry[ing] alone without medical attention…Children as young as 2 were…[denied] medical [care, including one case]…where a…[screw] dismissed her mother’s pleas for help by telling her to “just give the girl a cracker.”  A…child recovering from brain surgery was…denied follow-up care, and a 4-year-old undergoing cancer treatment was deported without access to doctors.  The…most abuse reports [were from concentration camps] in Texas, Georgia, and California…

Walled Garden

Prohibitionists always end up with egg on their faces:

The government needs to [magically] stop children using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass age checks on porn sites, [claimed]…Dame Rachel de Souza[, who also absurdly and cluelessly] called for age verification on VPNs…[but another bureaucrat] said VPNs are legal tools for adults and there are no plans to ban them…

To Molest and Rape (#1562)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

…a [typical and representative] Indianapolis [cop named]…David McDaniel…[repeat]edly molested two girls on several occasions, [starting] with one…when [she]…was 8 years old…[and the other] 9…[one of the victims, who is now] 17…told her father that…McDaniel…[had repeatedly molested her] for…nine years…[his practice was to co]me into the room where the girls were sleeping and touch…their [genitalia]…

 

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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How many more stories do we have to hear of immigrants being mistreated at these black hole detention centers?  –  Frederica Wilson

If Men Were Angels

“Authorities” decided this girl’s fate against her will:

…a [typical and representative Pennsylvania “]youth pastor[” named]…Robert David Fenton…[was] sentence[d to] three to six years…[for] sexual assault…and [will be condemned]…to…[the “]sex offender[” registry] for life…His sentence is part of a plea agreement…Fenton was a youth pastor…from 1996 to 1998 when he…claimed [to have had a] vision from God that he and [his then-14-year-old victim] should marry…A betrothal was then agreed to by Fenton, the victim’s parents, and church officials…[but not] the victim.  After [escap]ing the [cult], the victim came forward and sought support to heal from the abuse…in July 2021…Fenton fled to Australia before charges were filed…[but] was [caught when]…he tried entering…the Philippines from…Australia, on April 24, 2024…[and extradited] to [the US to] stand trial…

Permanent Record (#1274)

In more civilized countries, employers can’t get away with this:

[A Mexican] government [institute]…must pay more than 800,000 pesos in compensation to Jovanna Isabel Ortega Gómez…[because] the institution…fir[ed] her for having an…OnlyFans page.  The case of the doctor, who worked at the institution for about a year, became public in September 2023, when she filed a lawsuit…for unjustified dismissal…Dagoberto Valdés Juárez, general director of ISSSTECALI…[pretended] that Ortega Gómez was [not] fired for having an account on the well-known digital platform, despite the fact that this was one of the arguments in the case.  He [claim]ed that the doctor worked with them on a substitute basis at the Mexicali hospital and that she requested a position at the institution, which was denied…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1443)

Serial lawsuit abuser Ken Paxton wants Texas kids’ teeth to rot:

Texas [Psychopath-]General Ken Paxton is [harass]ing two leading toothpaste makers over their use of fluoride, [pretend]ing that they are “illegally marketing” the teeth cleaners to parents and kids “in ways that are misleading, deceptive, and dangerous.”  The toothpaste makers [Paxton hopes to pillage] are Colgate-Palmolive…and Proctor & Gamble…fluoride…effectively prevents dental cavities and improves oral health…But…[Trumpists have revived the 1950s era paranoid belief that] the naturally occurring mineral is a form of communist mind control…that…[can magically] lower IQ in children…Paxton referenced [a popular-in-Trumpland bogus] study in his announcement of the [“]investigation[” along with a blatantly crypto-moralist claim]…that…toothpaste [is bad if it has] appealing flavoring…

Shame, Shame (#1509)

Still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology?

…realtime deepfake[s are] created by…fraudsters…[by] digitally manipulat[ing] their appearance in real time to match a photo on a drivers’ license, dating profile, or a celebrity.  Like a chameleon, these scammers, who can be involved in everything from romance scams…to fraudulent tax refunds, can hide their true appearance with just a laptop and phone and produce very realistic results…Yahoo Boys are fraudsters typically based in Nigeria who traditionally used Yahoo emails as part of their scams, but have now broadened to all manner of schemes…It is now very common to see spammy video ads on social media that use a deepfaked version of a celebrity or public figure…But those were pre-rendered, static files…uploaded to YouTube…realtime deepfakes allow a scammer to talk directly to their mark and improvise on video calls or livestreams.  They can appear just as human as the person they are impersonating, potentially fooling not only people but also…automated systems

The Vultures Descend (#1522)

This insanity will keep getting worse until these maniacs are forcibly stopped:

Republicans and [associated MAGA trolls] have jumped on a [bogus] report published by a[n authoritarian] think tank that claims the abortion drug mifepristone is harmful to women…the study is junk science…but that’s not stopping [forced-birth pro]ponents from using it to lobby for more abortion pill restrictions…FDA Commissioner Martin Makary [has] said he has “no plans” to restrict mifepristone…But…[he is one of] Trump[‘s creatures]…and…[has] routinely spread anti-abortion misinformation…

Torture Chamber (#1526)

The State tortures thousands of people for crossing an imaginary line:

A woman from Haiti died after [being crammed into a filthy cage in Florida for] over two months [thanks to]…ICE…Marie Ange Blaise…had been complaining about chest pain for hours…[so screws yelled “Stop faking!” at her] and told her to go lie down…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #20)

I’m guessing the “underage family member” was his stepdaughter:

[Typical and representative Texas cop] Andrew Smith was sentenced to 14 years in prison [for repeatedly molesting his stepdaughter when she was] under 14…he…was arrested…on Jan. 12, 2021 after [she reported him.  Up until]…February [of this year], Smith was [still] accusing his victim of lying about the [repeated] assault[s, yet now claims to be] remorseful [while still blaming the attacks on his being sad and drunk]…

 

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 going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind. – Donald Trump

Girls, Girls, Girls! (#517)

Every experienced sex worker knows the signs:

Indicators like a decline in business at brothels, lower tips for strippers and other nontraditional measures…can tell us a lot about the economy’s health…business at [one European] brothel…is down…“We’re seeing clients come in less often, try to negotiate lower prices or stop visiting altogether…more clients are going for the cheapest possible service”…said [the manager]…Legal brothels in the U.S. are seeing…revenue…down roughly 20% since last quarter…Strip club revenue in Vegas is down about 12%…

Secret Squirrel (#916)

Modern monogamy is becoming increasingly sick:

…the RAW Ring…[i]s a “dystopian loyalty tracker” that [is marketed to] help [jealous spouses] catch a cheating partner in the act.  It’s not a product that actually exists yet, but the idea was developed by the folks behind RAW, a dating app that aims to cut down on catfishing and ghosting by making its users upload unfiltered, real-time, dual-camera selfies…RAW…CEO Marina Anderson [made the warped assertion that]…“The ring…[can] give couples more ways to explore each other’s feelings on a deeper level and build more trust”…The [gadget] will have an optical sensor to measure heart rate and heart rate variability, a skin temperature sensor, plus an accelerometer and gyroscope for detecting movement.  It will also have a noise-cancelling MEMs microphone to analyze voice tone….[and] will utilize a [magical truth computer that lives in]…the cloud to do “deeper trend analysis”…

I cannot imagine even living like this, much less believing the looking-glass concept that it will “build trust”.

A Moral Cancer (#1169)

The claim that certain foods can take “time off one’s life” isn’t new, but this absurd specificity is increasingly popular with crypto-moralists:

As you add more ultraprocessed foods to your diet, your risk of a premature death from any cause rises, according to…Carlos Augusto Monteiro…[the person] who coined the term “ultraprocessed” in 2009…and [claims food can be]…“habit-forming”…[similar studies have blamed “]ultraprocessed food[” for]…cardiovascular disease…mental disorders…anxiety…obesity…sleep disorders…diabetes…depression…cancer…cognitive decline and stroke…

Shame, Shame (#1407)

The latest attempt to wreck the internet by barfing the magic words “revenge porn” at websites:

…the TAKE IT DOWN Act…[w]ould…give politicians another tool with which to pressure technology companies into doing their bidding….[by] mak[ing] it a federal crime to publish “any [real or computer-generated fake] intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual” online…[unless the violator is a cop, spook]…or other government actor [trying to destroy people’s lives via deception]…The bill would require online platforms to establish a notice and removal regime similar to those [commonly ab]used for [supposed] copyright infringement…the measure [is]…easily wielded as a jawboning tool…[and] easily susceptible to corrupt uses, such as removing images embarrassing to politicians…”The bill is so bad that even the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative…has come out with a statement saying that…it cannot support this bill due to its many, many inherent problems,” notes Mike Masnick at Techdirt

I Spy (#1450) 

It’s long past time to rethink the safety of the US mail:

The law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service has quietly begun co[llabor]ating with federal immigration officials to locate people [Trump’s stooges accuse] of being in the country illegally…Immigration officials are seeking photographs of the outside of envelopes and packages…and access to the postal investigation agency’s broad surveillance systems…The agency [appears to be conspiring with] the administration [due to threats] that it could seize control of the Postal Service…

Shame, Shame (#1502)

Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

Facebook…Platforms [including Instagram and WhatsApp are] racing to popularize a new class of…c[hatbot]s that Mark Zuckerberg believes will be the future of social media…[despite] concerns [within] the company …[that] these bots may have crossed ethical lines…by quietly endowing [imaginary] personas with the capacity for fantasy sex…[even with] underage users…To boost the popularity of these souped-up chatbots, Meta has cut deals for up to seven-figures with celebrities like actresses Kristen Bell and Judi Dench and wrestler-turned-actor John Cena for the rights to use their voices…[pretending] that it would prevent their voices from being used in sexually explicit discussions…[even though] test conversations with s[uch] bots…found that…to [be a lie]…The bots demonstrated [having been programmed with the information]* that the [simulated] behavior was both…illegal…[and considered by the majority to be morally wrong, but do it any]way…[because] Zuckerberg [and his henchmen] made multiple internal decisions to loosen the guardrails around the bots to make them as engaging as possible…

*I had to edit The Wall Street Journal‘s line, “The bots demonstrated awareness that…” because the statement is nonsense; computer programs are not self-aware, despite advertising claims to the contrary.

I Spy (#1520)

Alas, car manufacturers’ lawsuit settlements only apply to their selling data to those who don’t want to violently destroy people’s lives:

Automakers are increasingly pushing consumers to accept monthly and annual fees to unlock pre-installed [“]safety[“] and performance features…increas[ing] drivers’ exposure to government surveillance and the likelihood of being [targeted for] police [harassment.  Cop shops]…regularly train…on how to take advantage of “connected cars,” with subscription-based features drastically increasing the amount of data…[in response to big lawsuits] GM…now requires a court order before handing over location data…[but] other car manufacturers [vary] in the[ir willingness to snitch on customers, with]…Ford [being especially eager to rat people out for trivial bullshit]…when [try]ing [to pin] a crime…[on any convenient victim, cops] commonly rely on a procedure known as a “tower dump” [to]…identify virtually any devices that have connected to a specific cell tower during a certain window of time…The…technique is becoming increasingly unpopular in US courts…[and] a Fifth Circuit ruling last year…recognized] that a warrant to “geofence” an area and [spy on] a wide variety of in[nocent citizens] is inherently unconstitutional.  On the back of that…a federal magistrate in Mississippi ruled two months ago that tower dumps are likewise unconstitutional…[and] Google…announced technical changes to its software last year, making it effectively impossible to respond to these types of warrants…

 

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

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In their quest for absolute power over the lives of their subjects, politicians can’t let little things like justice, decency or the law stop them.  –  “Counterfeit Comfort (#16)

I will never cease to be amazed at the inability of statists to recognize that the expansion of government will never stop until it is somehow forced to.  –
The Auctioneer Effect

If your wife said, “if you wouldn’t look at food on TV you wouldn’t need to eat,” you’d recognize this as a patent absurdity, yet our culture tries to convince people this is true of sex.
–  “The Craving

There are lots of reasons a person might desire something in the abstract, yet never partake of it in reality.  –  “In the Abstract

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This discussion…[is] likely to escalate and go absolutely nowhere.  –  Molly Burrets

I’m unsure why squeaky rubber chickens have become musical instruments on YouTube, but this one (shared by Mike Siegel) is probably the funniest one yet.  Mike also provided the last link above the video; the first two are from Mistress Matisse and Kevin Wilson, and all the others are from IncarcerNation.

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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Meménto, homo, quia pulvis es, et in púlverem revertéris.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-17T18:28:25.457Z

Looks like the main reason I virtually never see targeted ads is that I've never installed any Facebook product on my phone or had an account with any of them.Hope this information proves useful to you.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-18T18:45:41.677Z

Collectivism is a serious mental illness and the most dangerous of evils.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-19T18:04:50.766Z

"And you, poor creatures, who conjured *you* out of the clay? Is God in show business too?"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-20T18:53:29.644Z

You know, it's possible to criticize Trump without sounding like a collectivist copsucker. Please do try.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-21T16:26:34.431Z

Same energy as, "the impact of Daleks on young people's mental health", "the impact of witchcraft on young people's mental health", or "the impact of Teletubbies on young people's mental health".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-22T18:25:19.920Z

Belief in the magical protective powers of "restraining orders" gets people killed, and by SCOTUS precedent no cop will ever be held liable for failing to "protect" someone.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-23T18:12:27.098Z

Mel Gibson sharing his sexual fantasies is way far into TMI territory.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-25T04:11:45.760Z

Google should adopt the motto, "Don't be stupid".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-28T06:20:22.877Z

It is only wrong to lie to individual human beings. Lying to collectives (including governments) and their functionaries (including cops) is often moral, especially when those collectives are engaged in evil.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-29T05:11:21.026Z

That there is no justice (as human conceive it) in the world is evidenced by the fact that I'm here grieving the death of a 66-year-old woman who never hurt anyone while Xi Jinping (71), Vladimir Putin (72), and Donald Trump (78) are still alive and aggressively destroying others' lives.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-29T18:11:50.883Z

More like watching a slug try to stand upright.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-30T18:11:31.142Z

When retailers need to raise prices due to Trump's tariff's, they need to clearly display the math on their label, eg:"OUR PRICE: $10 FEDERAL TARIFF: $2.50YOU PAY: $12.50" Like a lot of grocery stores did with municipal "soda taxes" a few years ago. Let people know EXACTLY whose fault it is.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-01-31T19:10:28.969Z

Pay attention to who uses the phrase "Gulf of America". Anyone who would pander to such absurdity is a dangerous opportunist, regardless of who sits on the imperial throne.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-01T19:13:04.863Z

Half of all people are stupid.More than half of the remaining half are fools.More than half of the remainder of THAT division are ignoramuses.More than half of what's left after that are self-deluded.And a healthy fraction of the last 5% are moral imbeciles.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-02T18:47:15.777Z

People talk about "representation", IOW that people like seeing others who are somehow like them in prominent positions. Well, lots of Americans are stupid, bigoted ignoramuses.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-03T19:02:18.083Z

Disconnecting it with sledgehammers would be MUCH quicker and far more effective.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-04T19:08:33.634Z

THIS RIGHT HERE. I'm all for reducing bloated government and eliminating the fat. But liposuction is a careful, sanitary medical procedure, not attacking an obese person in the street with a chainsaw.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-06T19:29:43.249Z

Ever wonder what happened to scripts that were rejected by "The X Files" for being too farfetched?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-08T20:07:04.998Z

The so-called "right" has never actually been in favor of limited government; they have ALWAYS been in favor of more cops, more prisons, more criminalization, and more military, the most violent arms of government.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-09T18:07:09.916Z

There is no bottom to Trumpist stupidity.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-11T17:49:21.038Z

There's already an established term for this kind of "minder"; the term is "political officer" or "political commissar".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-12T18:34:34.987Z

THIS. Trump is masculine in the same exact way that Divine was feminine.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-13T18:29:11.263Z

I've been disobeying "authorities" since before puberty, and living as an actual outlaw for 25 years. It's not instantly fatal, I assure you.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-14T18:37:03.051Z

The price we pay for the gift of having wonderful people in our lives is the pain we have to endure when they are no longer there.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-15T20:07:31.933Z

When I see the word "illegal" used as the primary adjective in a description of why the speaker hates a person or thing, it's strong evidence that the opinion can safely be disregarded.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-02-16T18:40:05.692Z

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There’s nothing…prohibitionists hate more than whores who refuse to allow themselves to be pimped to the prohibitionist cause.  –  “Real People

Though prohibitionists will vociferously deny it, all prohibitionism is the same.  –  “Change a Few Words

The demons [prohibitionists] imagine…in cartoons, games and television shows [are] nothing more than the ones which…drive…[them] to anti-social behavior.  –  “Physician, Heal Thyself

The tragedy of relationships is that women want men to change, and they don’t, while men don’t want women to change, and they do.  –  “Fossil

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Essentially, prostitution law punishes women for not being men.  –  “Mecca

The sick minds of police are compelled to project their own internal ugliness onto the external world.  –  “The Clueless Leading the Hysterical

Sammy Cahn was right; love and marriage do go together exactly like a horse and carriage:  traditionally associated, but not the only conceivable arrangement, and perhaps not even the best one.  –  “Like a Horse and Carriage

Paradoxically, we all tend to hold on to the things that hold us back.  –  “Inexperience

Governments can define actual actions as “crimes” and threaten dire consequences for those actions, but the intangible contents of the human mind are forever out of their reach.  –  “The Next Target

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THE ANTI-TRAFFICKERS ARE THE TRAFFICKERS.  –  Borys vs Ballard

Sex Work is Work

Can you imagine this even being in question for any other form of work?

The Prague High Court has ruled that two women forced into [work] in the United Kingdom are entitled to keep the CZK 1.8 million they earned during their exploitation…The women were part of a larger group of Czechs lured to Great Britain with the promise of lucrative work.  Once there, they were forced into sex work, with their earnings and identification documents seized by the traffickers.  For months, the gang exploited them, taking all the money they made while the women lived in slave-like conditions.  Last year, the Prague High Court convicted five members of the gang…[bu]t declined to award financial compensation to the [victims because the judges were bluenosed sociopaths who]…argued that [it was just]…to [deprive] the women…[of their] earnings [because they didn’t like their form of work.  But]…the women [appeal]ed to the Constitutional Court.[which] ruled in their favor, stating that the [means by which they earned] the money was irrelevant.  What mattered, the court said, was that the women had been unlawfully deprived of their earnings…

The Last Shall Be First (#1413)

How defective does an adult need to be to think doing this to teenagers is OK?

An Oregon school district [has] asked [Texas politician] Ted Cruz’s…campaign to take down two ads targeting transgender athletes because they include a photograph of two minor girls who are not transgender and whose parents did not give the Cruz campaign permission to use the photo…[the] ads…[target Cruz’s] opponent…Colin Allred…[because he] support[s]…trans-inclusive policies, [and] feature photographs of high-profile transgender athletes…Lia Thomas and CeCé Telfer…and…also…of two teenage [athletes from]…Western Oregon.  Neither of the [Oregon] girls…are transgender, though the Cruz ads imply otherwise…

Panopticon (#1449)

Lawsuits are the only way to hinder a government that won’t control itself:

[The Institute for Justice has] filed a federal lawsuit…suing Norfolk [Virginia] for [its] use of Flock…license plate readers [to] track…vehicle[s’] movements through the city and beyond.  Norfolk installed 172 of the cameras last year, and the[re are]…over 450 of them in the region. Police and prosecutors [belch out puffery about “]crimes[” and try to dismiss]…privacy concerns…“Norfolk has created a dragnet that allows the government to monitor everyone’s day-to-day movements without a warrant or probable cause,” [said attorney] Michael Soyfer…The case could potentially make it to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that a similar surveillance system in Baltimore was an unconstitutional search…Flock camera capabilities go beyond the documentation of license plates.  They photograph every vehicle that passes and upload the images into a database where they are stored for [at least] 30 days.  The machine-learning in the system does not necessarily need a license plate to track a vehicle: the make, model, color and other distinguishing features, like damage or a bike rack, are also documented…The Flock database also allows subscribers to share and access data…nationwide…

Served Cold (#1469)

It’s so satisfying to see this sleazebag hoist with his own petard:

Tim Ballard, the [“rescue” fetishist and profiteer] whose wildly exaggerated [schemes] were the basis of the hi[ghly fictionalized] 2023 film Sound of Freedom, is facing a new legal action from six women who last year sued him for sexual exploitation — leading Ballard to sue them for defamation earlier this month.  The latest complaint is the first federal suit targeting Ballard; it comes from accusers Celeste Borys, Mary Hall, Sasha Hightower, Krista Kacey, Kira Lynch, and Bree Righter.  The filing [also] names Ballard associates Matthew Cooper and Michael Porenta, as well as Ballard’s former organization, Operation Underground Railroad…as defendants….the plaintiffs…seek relief under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003

Paying the Bills

Five weeks ago, I told y’all that I’m facing a projected $3000 shortfall for my annual operating budget, and asked for help making up that difference.  Well, several of my loyal readers have already stepped up, generously helping me to the tune of $2400.  So now I’m only facing a $600 shortfall; if you aren’t yet a subscriber, won’t you please consider becoming one?  A $1/day subscription would take $90 off of that total, and other levels would help in proportion.  Or if you’re already a subscriber but can spare some extra right now, I’d really appreciate it; I really hope to get this done by Thanksgiving, so it doesn’t interfere with my annual toy drive!

The Vultures Descend (#1478)

This judge was constrained by law to make this ruling, but it’s still welcome:

[An Ohio court] issued a permanent injunction blocking Ohio’s 2019 six-week abortion ban from taking effect, marking the first permanent injunction stemming from Ohio’s Reproductive Freedom Amendment, which took effect in December…This is also the first permanent injunction throughout the country of an abortion ban following the passage of a pro-abortion rights ballot amendment.  The case, Preterm v. Yost, was originally filed…on September 2, 2022, and enforcement of the ban has been blocked since [twelve days after that]…

The Cop Myth (#1483)

Cops think violence is the solution to every problem, including caretaker stress:

[An 80-year-old] retired [Michigan cop named]…William…Kitzmiller [murdered] his wife, Donna, b[ecause]…he [couldn’t handle the stress of taking care of her after she developed] Alzheimer’s disease…[he called 911 to make the excuse] “I’ve given my wife a merciful ending from her Alzheimer’s disease” [then turned the gun on himself]…Caregivers report higher levels of stress than the general population [but people who aren’t sociopaths don’t murder those they care for because of it]…

Long-time readers will recall that for a year and a half I was the primary caretaker for a dear friend with a brain injury, and I am now caring for my disabled friend Grace.  I therefore know whereof I speak.

 

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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