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Posts Tagged ‘McNeill’s Law’

Is there anything you wouldn’t do to save a child?  –  Tim Ballard

Buried Truth

Yet another example of McNeill’s Law:

A[n Indiana] man [named Eldon W. Phelps has been]…arrest[ed for]…possession of child pornography…[after NCMEC reported he had] an image of a [prepubescent] girl [being raped by] an adult male…[when interrogated,] Phelps told police…they would find more [of the same]…on his desktop computer…Phelps [h]as a…[history of vomiting ugly rhetoric against “pedophiles” on Twitter]…

Joey the Player

A rare case of “authorities” actually doing something about a serial rapist of sex workers:

Jose Torres…was convicted of…four counts of [“persuading women to travel interstate to engage in prostitution”]…From May 2015 to October 2019, Torres persuaded, induced and enticed…sex workers…to travel [to New Jersey]…to [see him as a client, specifically]…target[ing] out-of-state sex workers…with promises of large sums of payment.  Once the women were in New Jersey, Torres refused to pay them…[and] became aggressive, often assaulting and raping them.  Each charge of coercion and enticement carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.  Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 27, 2024…

Rape is not a federal offense, but Mann Act violations are.  At least this shitty law was used against an actual violent criminal for a change, but…

To Molest and Rape (#1338)

Give sexually-aggressive thugs power over teen girls; what could possibly go wrong?

…no charges will be filed against a[n Ohio cop assigned to spy on, harass, and intimidate students]…for [grooming and molesting] a female student…at the high school…[he was assigned to lurk in.  His behavior made his] wife…[suspicious so she rooted in his] phone…and [found]…a number of…lengthy…late…night [calls with the girl, plus]…messages [that were] “personal in nature and clearly unrelated to school business…a dozen or more times a day…many messages [were] sexual in nature including specific requests for sex”…the student…in[sists] “no sexual conduct beyond touching and kissing took place”…last month, [Bernhardt stalked her]…even though he’d been warned not to have contact with her…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals

Governments will keep using civil suits to circumvent due process until the practice is declared unconstitutional:

The state of Utah [has] filed a lawsuit against TikTok…for [magical]ly harming the mental health of children and teens, following in the footsteps of states like Arkansas and Indiana…The new lawsuit accuses TikTok of leveraging “[magica]l algorithms and m[ind-control] design features” to entice young users to use the app [in] violation of the state’s consumer protection laws…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1371)

Politicians don’t even try to make their new laws Constitutional any more:

[An] Ohio [politician named Steve Demetriou has] introduced an age verification bill called the “Innocence Act,” which…could make posting any nude image online without verifying age a felony…and would [criminalize] anyone under the age of 18 [who views] sexually explicit content.”  Demetriou…claim[s] that unspecified studies have shown that “pornography is a pathway to mental health issues for children and can be a precursor to sexual aggression”…[and absurdly belched out the phrase] “human trafficking” [for extra hysteria value]…

Served Cold (#1375)

Ballard’s house of marked cards is collapsing:

[Fiv]e women [have] filed a lawsuit against Tim Ballard…for…abuse…[of] the Couples Ruse…in which a woman would accompany Ballard pretending to be his wife or girlfriend…Ballard would tell the women it was necessary to continue the ruse even while at private accommodations because [magical ninja] traffickers could be surveilling them[, presumably via psychic powers or invisibility,] at any moment…even though the accommodations were always at designated “safe houses”…Ballard [demanded sex]…in [order] to have “real chemistry” because…traffickers would be [magically] able to determine…if they were actually involved or not [via magic spells]…He frequently asked women to practice…before a mission ever took place…through a number of different sexual activities…and…at…strip clubs…Ballard believed he could “talk to the dead prophet Nephi and issue forth prophecies about Ballard’s greatness and future as…President of the United States, and ultimately the Mormon Prophet, to usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ”…


Y’all may remember that I’ve repeatedly described Ballard as a megalomaniac.

To Molest and Rape (#1379)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

Arkansas State Police arrested [a cop named] Roy E. Mitchell…[for] sexual assault [against a minor]…following a call [made by some unnamed party] to the…Crimes Against Children Division Hotline…

 

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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They are holding my puppy for ransom.  –  Caleb Gibson

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor and sex offender” is a large and ever-expanding group:

…a [Florida] pastor [was arrested] after two underage girls described the sexual abuse they endured at his hands…Derrell Redding…abuse[d one young teen and one girl under 12, but]…in August…the two girls decided to tell their aunt and uncle…

Many of them are “youth pastors”:

A [California preacher named]…Nicholas Garrett Corl…was [arrested for molesting]…a child under 14…an employee from [his]…church [called the cops on him]…Corl…[is] Youth Pastor…teaches…classes, [and] is the athletics director and basketball coach…

Others don’t have a church of their own:

A [California] priest…[named] Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara…[h]as [been] arrested…[for] possessing “over 600 images of child sexual abuse material, including…prepubescent…boys”…Martinez-Guevara…is affiliated with the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit Religious Order…[but] has been removed from ministry by the archdiocese and his order…

The Mote and the Beam (#786)

The government’s latest sleazy trick: attacking with civil suits rather than criminal charges, because the burden of proof is reversed:

A lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office targets a motel…with a [harassment campaign] that…[is intended to make political coin out of the moribund “]sex trafficking[” hysteria for the politically-ambitious but unimaginative] Hydee Feldstein Soto[, who bloviated mathematically-imbecilic talking points from over a decade ago but lacks the spine to admit she hates whores]…

Between the Ears (#1104)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen:

A company that makes a [male] chastity device…that can be controlled by a partner over the internet exposed users’ email addresses, plaintext passwords, home addresses and IP addresses, and — in some cases — GPS coordinates, due to several flaws in its servers, according to a security researcher…who…gained access to a database containing records of more than 10,000 users, thanks to two vulnerabilities…He…reached out to the company on June 17 alerting them of the issues in an attempt to get them to fix the vulnerabilities and protect their users’ data…[but] the company…[neither] fix[ed] the vulnerabilities…no[r] respond[ed]…Given that he wasn’t getting any answers, on August 23 the researcher defaced the company’s homepage in an attempt to warn the company again, as well as its users…Less than 24 hours later, the company removed the researcher’s warning and restored the website…but…did not fix the flaws, which remain present and exploitable…

Property of the State (#1245)

The government thinks it even has the right to leer at the inside of your body:

Scientists in Poland have…developed lab tests that can detect whether people have taken abortion pills—and those tests are already being used to investigate pregnancy outcomes under the country’s abortion ban…Advocates in the U.S. have told people for years that, if they had to go to the hospital after taking the pills by mouth, medical workers wouldn’t be able to tell…these drug tests could mean even more people criminalized by the healthcare system…Hospitals in the U.S. routinely test pregnant women for drugs without their consent, sometimes [abducting] their newborns and other children as a result…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1304)

“Fentanyl” is becoming another porcine pretext for harassing and robbing people:

Days after Irvine [California cops pretend] they saved a pit bull puppy from a fentanyl overdose…a preliminary drug test on the pup came back negative.  [Now]…the city [is demanding] more than $2,000…ransom…[from] Caleb Gibson, the dog’s owner, [who said]…“I’m a college student on financial aid, so I don’t have that kind of money to throw around”…[cops] maintain…that the animal had overdosed [despite the negative test]…the…[fact] that dogs are far less sensitive to the drug than humans…and…[the fact that] it is not possible for [humans or] animals to overdose simply from being exposed to the substance by touching or inhaling it, despite police [fantasies]…to the contrary…

Served Cold (#1359)

Surprising absolutely no one who understands McNeill’s Law:

Tim Ballard’s exit from Operation Underground Railroad…followed an investigation into…sexual misconduct involving seven women…the [rescue industry con art]ist, who appears to be preparing for a Senate run, invited women to act as his “wife” on…overseas missions [suposed]ly aimed at rescuing victims of sex trafficking.  He would then…coerce those women into sharing a bed or showering together, claiming that it was necessary to fool traffickers…The total number of women involved is believed to be higher than seven, as that would only account for employees, not contractors or volunteers…Ballard…[already has a] new [rescue industry] organization, the SPEAR Fund; and…the [Mormon] Church…[has] accused Ballard of inappropriately using the name of a church elder…“for Tim Ballard’s personal advantage and activity regarded as morally unacceptable.”

Spotlight (#1373)

While I’m pleased to see Asstoon fall, the surveillance company he founded will still be outing sex workers to the pigs without him:

Ashton Kutcher has resigned as chairman of the board of Thorn, the anti…sex [worker] organization he co-founded in 2009 with his then-wife Demi Moore.  His wife Mila Kunis, who served as an observer on the organization’s board, is also stepping down.  The move comes in the wake of outrage over their letters of support for Danny Masterson, who has been convicted of raping two women…

 

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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Expanding the definition of human trafficker means more convictions, which…means huge “increases” in…trafficking numbers that authorities can point to in order to further justify expanding the police state.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Buried Truth

I think we have enough evidence to start calling this “McNeill’s Law”:

Believers in the…QAnon [outgrowth of the popular “sex trafficking” moral panic] are always on the hunt for the powerful pedophiles they imagine run the world…but…court records reveal that QAnon leader Phil Godlewski has a criminal past of his own involving an inappropriate relationship with a minor that [apparently] turned sexual.  Thanks to an ill-conceived defamation lawsuit against a local newspaper, Godlewski has put his conspiracy-theory career at risk by inadvertently prompting the release of more details regarding his case, including lurid text messages and a video of his erect penis.  Perhaps worse…Godlewski has [apparently] been caught both committing perjury himself and attempting to convince his own victim to do the same to ensure a “financial windfall” for them both…

Innocence Never Had

Most states are trying to distance themselves from the most wackadoodle aspects of “sex trafficking”” mythology, but Florida prefers to take the facts about one of the few situations in which young girls really are in increased danger of sexual exploitation – the foster care system – and view it through the bizarrely-distorted lens of a dying moral panic.  If you’ve got a little time, read these concise comments I made about the topic a few years ago, and then try this outlandish fantasy of “neighborhood sex traffickers” “prowling the area” to abduct unwary 12-year-olds by the thousands without anyone at all noticing.  Though I hesitate to ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence, this reads like an attempt to exploit the plight of young people dramatically failed by the government into a narrative that can be used to advance a specific political agenda for that same government.

All-Purpose Excuse

Anything can be “trafficking” if you use your imagination:

…The U.K…[is] using its Modern Slavery Act to target anyone who employs a minor in the drug trade…[Glodi] Wabelua was the first drug dealer to be prosecuted under the U.K.’s Modern Slavery Act, but not the last…most of the defendants in drug-related [“modern] slavery[“] cases were Black men under 21.  Many, if not all, were only one rung removed from the streets themselves”…Laws targeting prostitution and low-level drug crimes may seem overly punitive to you and me, but for many authoritarians these punishments don’t go far enough.  By ratcheting up the charges to human trafficking or modern slavery, officials can subject sex workers and drug dealers to much longer periods of incarceration, larger fines, and more stringent restrictions on movement, employment, free association, free speech, and privacy…

To Molest and Rape

To cops, the most important factor is whether a rapist crony was wearing his magical clown costume at the time:

[A typical and representative] New York [cop named]…Kristofor O’Rourke [has finally been arrested for a sexual assault he committed]…on July 1…he…[accused] a woman [of]…driving while intoxicated and then…oral[ly raped her after]…threatening to take her to jail if she didn’t comply…[after the victim registered her] complaint…O’Rourke was immediately [rewarded with a paid vacation]…

Panopticon (#1203)

It’s only one step from “all commercial vehicles” to “all vehicles”:

The Department of Transportation is considering a disturbing new rule that could force every commercial motor vehicle to install an electronic device that would wirelessly transmit location data and other personal information to police on demand…[DoT] offers no reason to believe the warrantless collection of identifying information will make anyone safer.  It might make some inspectors’ jobs easier, but that is no reason to override the rights of truck owners and operators.  One might as well call for putting us all in ankle monitors, just because it might reduce crime if the cops know where everyone is all the time.  The Fourth Amendment requires the government to get a warrant before encroaching into private space to gather information…The Supreme Court has ruled that police must get a warrant—regardless of whether the subject of a search has a reasonable expectation of privacy—before they physically install a tracking device.  The rule is no different just because the government forces people to purchase and install the tracking device on their own property…

Opting Out (#1261) 

The UK’s decade-long campaign to censor the internet continues to be a comedy of errors:

Britain will not force tech giants to remove content that is “legal but harmful” from their platforms after campaigners [convinced a few influential politicians]…that the move could curtail free speech…Online safety laws would instead focus on the [nebulous goal of] protection of children and on ensuring companies removed content that was illegal or prohibited in their terms of service…[but spokesbureaucrats] would not specify what legal content should be censored…

The Cop Myth (#1281)

“Law enforcement worker” is a new low in trying to hide the fact that a violent criminal is a cop:

A Virginia [cop drove to California]…murdered the mother and grandparents of a teenage girl he catfished online, [then tried to burn down their house] before trying to [abduct]…the teen…[neighbors] called…the…[cops when they witn]essed…the [abduction and saw the]…fire…The Riverside Fire Department …discovered [the] three [murder] victims…[while] the [violently-deranged cop,] Austin Lee Edwards…[fled] through San Bernardino County…before being fatally shot by…[sheriff’s] deput[ies.  Luckily the girl was unharmed]…The slain family members were identified as 69-year-old Mark Winek, his wife 65-year-old Sharie Winek, and their daughter, 38-year-old Brooke Winek…

 

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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Every member of a sexual minority with half a brain already knows that people tend to lie about their beliefs and opinions in order to go along with the crowd; it’s why so many politicians publicly persecute sexual behavior (including paying sex workers, having sex with other men, and watching porn) that they themselves indulge in.  The behavior is so typical, in fact, that I’ve formulated what I call McNeill’s Law: “The more any man crusades against a particular sex act, the more likely he is to be a practitioner.”  This is why polls and surveys of sexual behavior and attitudes, including the much-vaunted General Social Survey, are so notoriously unreliable:

…as I’ve written on multiple occasions, the GSS is conducted face to face and is a terrible source for any sexual data (such as “have you ever paid for sex?“) because people simply lie about sexual questions.  These surveys don’t find anything about what people are actually doing sexually; what they measure is people’s relative comfort with the question, which is a horse of a different color…

So this recent article in Reason didn’t surprise me in the slightest:

…”Social pressure to have the ‘right’ opinion is pervasive in America today,” notes Populace, a social-research organization, in a report published this summer.  “In recent years, polls have consistently found that most Americans, across all demographics, feel they cannot share their honest opinions in public for fear of offending others or incurring retribution…One important, but underappreciated, consequence of a culture of censorship is that it can lead individuals not only to self-silence, but also publicly misrepresent their own private views (what scholars call preference falsification)”…

A few examples from the article:

…Whereas 59 percent of Americans publicly agree that wearing a mask was an effective way to stop the spread of COVID-19, only 47 percent privately hold that view…

…74 percent…privately think parents should have more influence over public school curriculums, but only 48 percent are willing to say so publicly…while in public a majority (60 percent) say discussing gender identity in public schools is inappropriate for young children (K-3), in private this is not the majority view (only 40 percent privately agree)…

…44 percent of Democrats publicly insist corporate CEOs should take stands on controversial issues, but only 11 percent believe that in private…

…In public, 39 percent of Asian-Americans say the U.S. should completely phase out use of fossil fuels, but only 13 percent privately agree…

…A 64 percent majority of Republicans publicly favored overturning Roe v. Wade, but only 51 percent agree in private…

…A 61 percent majority of political independents publicly say that whether someone is a man or woman is determined by their sex at birth, but 45 percent really believe that…

…42 percent of those 18-29 years old privately believe racism is built into the economy, government, and educational system, although 65 percent say that in public…

In sometimes contradictory ways, Americans are misrepresenting what they actually believe to endorse views they don’t really hold…

I don’t really have a concluding statement on this, because it simply provides supporting evidence for something I’ve always assumed.  Except maybe, “Most people are moral cowards; proceed accordingly.”

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We should not allow people…in positions of authority to…lie to us.
–  Los Angeles Times

Buried Truth

I think we have enough evidence to start calling this “McNeill’s Law”:

A Missouri man who sought to ban several LGBTQ books from schools…is now facing a felony charge of…child molestation.  Ryan Utterback…of Kansas City, also faces a misdemeanor charge of…domestic assault and, in a separate case, a misdemeanor of furnishing…pornographic material to a minor.  Utterback had spoken at a school board meeting in November…to advocate for [censorship] of books in North Kansas City Schools libraries…Accusations against Utterback…describe separate instances in 2020 in which he…touched a 12-year-old girl…and…a teenager…under…[their clothes, and]…in 2021…showed pornographic video footage to a child…around 4 years old…

Don’t Call It Trafficking 

Silly nurse; don’t you know that defrauding and exploiting workers is only “trafficking” when sex is involved?

Novie Dale Carmen paid $20,000 to quit her nursing job…[with] Health Carousel…the…staffing agency that had helped get her from the Philippines to a hospital in…Pennsylvania…she was paid much less than the American nurses around her.  She was banned from discussing her working conditions or going out of town without notifying the agency.  Health Carousel seemed to keep finding ways not to count her work toward the 6,240 hours on her contract—the first three months of shifts didn’t qualify, the company said, because it considered that time part of her orientation period.  Mandatory overtime didn’t count toward her quota, either.  And because she couldn’t refuse overtime, her shifts could stretch as long as 16 hours in an understaffed emergency room…To pay [the]…quitting fee, she borrowed the money from her boyfriend, who’d been saving for years to buy a house.  She…was desperate to get away from Health Carousel without being sued for quitting, as had happened to many of her peers.  Now Carmen is the one suing.  She’s filed a proposed class action in Health Carousel’s home state of Ohio, accusing the company of human trafficking…

Peeping Toms (#690)

Cops love their “crackdowns” against gay men, but some politicians don’t like the optics any more:

Over the course of a six-week operation, Cincinnati police arrested or cited 20 men in Mt. Airy Forest, a huge and heavily wooded park on the city’s west side…[long] known as a place where gay men meet up for sexual encounters…[disguised] cops recently targeted this area…posing as [peaceful] men [in order to] prowl [for victims].  Police were set to release video of the stings [in order to shame their victims]…but the mayor’s office asked them not to…while also criticizing the premise of the stings…[new] Mayor Aftab Pureval…told police to “cite nonviolent offenses to court rather than…shaming…or jailing nonviolent offenders”…But [Spokespig] Dan Hils isn’t happy with this outcome [and angrily oinked copisms such as]…”values”…and…”law and order”…

Torture Chamber (#1037)

This will continue as long as screws have absolute power over their victims:

Inside one of the only federal women’s prisons in the United States, [prisoners are routinely]…subjected to rampant sexual abuse by [screws] and even the warden, and [a]re…threatened or punished when they…speak up.  [Reporters and bureaucrats absurdly refer to the torture as “]correction[“, but prisoners and some staff refer to the] institution in Dublin, California…[as] “The rape club”…[the] toxic [US prison] culture…[has] enabl[ed] years of sexual misconduct by predatory employees[, while] cover-ups…have largely kept the abuse out of the public eye…prisoners [are often condemned] to solitary confinement for reporting abuse and…officials in charge of preventing and investigating sexual misconduct…themselves [regularly] abus[e prisoners and ignore their pleas for help]…

The Implosion Begins

I did not foresee that the “sex trafficking” moral panic would implode in such a spectacular and entertaining fashion:

The National Butterfly Center on the Rio Grande in [Texas]…clos[ed]…after receiving “credible threats” against staff.  Marianna Wright, the center’s executive director, made the decision after a confrontation last week with a Republican congressional candidate from Virginia…[named] Kimberly Lowe [who] visited the center, demanding to see “illegals crossing on rafts”…[and repeating popular media fantasies about] sex trafficking….Wright has fended off…[QAnon-style fantas]ists for years, after the center filed suit against the Homeland Security Department in 2017 over former President Donald Trump’s plans to build a border wall through the 100-acre nature preserve…since 2019, [the fantasies]…have [grown to include]…dead bodies and a “rampant sex trade” at the center…Doctored images of the center’s dock, suggesting it was used to transport migrants, were spread by Brian Kolfage, the head of the “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign…

Stupor Bowl (#1110)

Pathetic public promotions of misogynistic masturbatory material like this appear to be all that’s left of the once-popular “gypsy whores” myth.  This one starts with a religious fanatic sharing his sexual fantasies about 7-year-olds and claiming that having sex involves selling one’s soul, then continues with a professional “survivor” babbling incoherent rubbish about the internet, and concluding with a pig making furtive movements in his pants while spinning fantasies about all the “victims” he’s going to rescue.  But on the same day KABC was sharing tragedy porn, the generally-prohibitionist LA Times gave us this instead:

…the [claim that the] Super Bowl…is linked to a spike in human trafficking…is solemnly repeated by [cops], [politicians] and news outlets…[even though] it’s a myth.  It has been debunked many times over, including by some leading organizations that fight trafficking.  Academic studies and serious news reporting have found no connection between trafficking and the game…Like all urban legends that just won’t die, this one appears to confirm but compartmentalize our fears…It’s like the fake but persistent Halloween story that pedophiles snatch trick-or-treaters from their porches…Panic over the sexual abuse of children…is good for law enforcement business…and because fear of crime is good for the news business as well, false or imagined threats uttered by [cops] and repeated uncritically by news outlets or even in [cop glorification] dramas like CSI become part of a body of “copaganda” — statements that serve police interests and become commonly accepted despite…being demonstrably untrue…

To Molest and Rape (#1205)

Notice how often rapist cops’ victims are underage?

A [typical and representative] DeKalb County [Georgia cop named Derrick Gardner] is behind bars after being charged with rape, child molestation, and more…

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Financial Times omits any mention of the nature of [the] groups…[who] inten[d] to “eradicate” an entire legal industry.  –  Gustavo Turner

Follow Your Bliss

Understand that people like this are the norm in policing sexual offenses, and always will be:

An FBI agent who investigated sex crimes against children has been arrested and charged with multiple sex crimes against children across several states…David Harris [got himself] tasked with investigating crimes against children, including child pornography…[so it’s no surprise that] in February…he…expos[ed] himself to a 14-year-old girl…while on vacation in [Florida]…but…the…investigation…led to other [sex] crimes committed by Harris [against both] minors and adults in…Louisiana and Texas…[snooping in Harris’ phone revealed] conversation[s in which he admitted]…his sexual preference [for] underage [girls] and [bragging about] his exploits…Harris was arrested earlier this summer in Ascension Parish [Louisiana] and…has outstanding arrests warrants…from East Baton Rouge and Orleans Parish[es and] Tyler, Texas…

Traffic Jam (#403)

By this standard of “evidence”, Johnny Cash is lucky he was never accused of murder:

A jury found Defendant, Jaimian Sims, guilty of sex trafficking a minor and…the…court imposed a life sentence.  Sims appeals…arguing [among other things] … that certain rap videos were improperly admitted into evidence and shown to the jury…He contends that the lyrics…were fictional and did not depict his real life…Although these videos speak only generally to the pimping lifestyle and are cumulative of testimony in that respect, the violence and weapons depicted in the videos are relevant to the force charge—that Sims sex trafficked by force, fraud, or coercion…[the judges declared they we]re satisfied that the videos were not harmful to the defense…

License to Rape (#652)

Prohibition turns the body of every citizen into a “crime scene”, which can be violated by cops at will:

State officials say a new grant will be used to provide training for Georgia law enforcement officers to draw blood from drivers [without their consent so as to]…prosecut[e them for] DUI…

If you’re not horrified by the prospect of psychopathic thugs running around with permission to jam needles into people’s bodies without their consent on the side of the road, you must be new to this blog.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#799)

Expect the equation of human sexuality with pollution to become more common:

The editorial board of the Financial Times — arguably the world’s most influential news source for the banking, investment and overall finance industries — published an editorial…[which] compares sex work and adult content to…environmental pollutants, and parrots sensationalist pieces by The New York Times and the BBC alleging a non-existent “proliferation” of illegal content on adult sites…The subhead…soberly warns its readers…that working with the porn industry “can pose legal as well as reputational risks”…It’s the old circular argument favored by censors, prudes and well-paid religious anti-porn activists: reputable banks should not do business with sex workers or porn because they have been known to look for alternative forms of financing — which sex workers and porn are forced to resort to because reputable banks won’t do business with them…“The argument for banks to stay away from porn is, if anything, stronger than staying away from coal,” is the Financial Times’ take on that dubious comparison…

Scapegoats (#930)

It’s fascinating how the State has changed the excuse for these laws from “morality” to “animal abuse”:

[Typical and representative cop] Terry Yetman…was charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse of animals…including filming sex with his own police K9.  This decorated cop was also charged with 31 counts of child pornography several months later.  Now, nearly 3 years after his initial arrest…Yetman — despite facing over 70 charges — pleaded guilty to just one count of possession of child pornography and five counts of sexual abuse of an animal…He faces a total of 45 years in prison and mandatory registration as a sex offender…

Rough Trade (#1043) 

Gee, I wonder why this happens so often in Ireland?

A Dublin man [who] attack[ed] and violently h[eld] three women in his home against their will during separate incidents has been denied bail.  Aaron Barwell…[attacked] three [different]…escorts…on 29 January, 13 August and [27 August].  He is also accused of making threats to kill or cause serious harm to two of the women…[Barwell apparently believed that claiming] the third incident was prompted by a theft of cocaine, and the others arose after [he refused to] pay…[the escorts would somehow get the judge to grant him bail]…

A Moral Cancer (#1157)

Though the claim that certain foods can take “time off one’s life” is not new, I’ve never seen one this absurdly specific:

…[Nutritionists] at the University of Michigan…created a Health Nutritional Index which [claims to quantify] the nutritional impact…of almost 6,000 foods and calculated the health burden of each one.  Their findings [predictably singled out popular, pleasant foods, claiming] that every hot dog a person eats takes…36 minutes off their healthy life expectancy.  Soft drinks…shortened life by 12 minutes, bacon by six minutes…each double cheeseburger…nine minutes….[and] each portion of cheese…a minute off [the un]healthy [end of] life…the index also [claims] that it’s equally possible to [magically]  add minutes…each banana was [claimed] to add 13 and a half minutes…as was a portion of baked salmon…a peanut butter and jelly sandwich…[supposedly] adds a whopping 33 minutes to life…

The puritanical notion that lifelong deprivation of pleasure in the vague hope of adding a few extra minutes of senility and decrepitude to the far end of one’s old age – a time one has only a 50% chance of reaching in the first place, statistically – is so alien to my way of thinking, I’ve never been able to wrap my head around it, even as a concept for consideration.

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Th[is is] not a slippery slope; [i]t’s a fully built system just waiting for…pressure to make the slightest change.  –  India McKinney & Erica Portnoy

Monkey Business

Higher primates understand the concept of “value”:

The long-tailed macaques who roam the [the Uluwatu temple in Bali] are infamous for brazenly robbing unsuspecting tourists and clinging on to their possessions until food is offered as ransom payment.  Researchers have found they are also skilled at judging which items their victims value the most and using this information to maximise their profit…Mobile phones, wallets and prescription glasses are among the high-value possessions the monkeys aim to steal…and…demand better rewards…for higher-valued items…

If Men Were Angels

“Pastors” are as bad as cops:

[Australian] pastor Brian Houston has been charged for allegedly concealing child sexual abuse by his late father Frank Houston…in the 1970s…Frank Houston, who died in 2004, has been accused of abusing nine boys while a Pentecostal preacher…

A Broker in Pillage (#897)

Yet another government scam to steal Philadelphia citizens’ property:

…relocation towing…is when the police…or a private tow company moves legally parked vehicles to make room for a special event, utility work, or some other [pretext]…they are supposed to relay the new location of each vehicle to police headquarters, so when an owner finds their car missing and call 911, police can tell them where it is.  I[n reality]…drivers have reported spending days or weeks searching for their cars…because neither the [Philadelphia Parking Authority] nor police have any information about the tow.  Many…are recorded…with a pre-Internet system that relies mostly on handwritten notes and fax machines…The PPA [claims] tows from temporary no-parking zones are primarily a police function.  Police [claim] tow companies could be to blame for missing vehicles.  The tow companies [claim] police sometimes lose the information they provide.  Drivers who get sucked into the bureaucratic vortex describe it as city-sanctioned auto theft, often followed up by a shakedown by the PPA if the car was moved to an illegal parking space, then ticketed, towed or booted.  The resulting fees can be difficult or impossible to fight…

To Molest and Rape (#995)

Serial rapist rapes another vulnerable woman:

A [typical and representative] Spokane [cop out on bail]…for…[rap]ing a victim of domestic violence was arrested…[again] after another woman reported he raped her [before he was fired for the previously-reported rape]…Nathan Nash[‘s MO was the same]…in…both [cases; he]…responded to their calls for police assistance and later [raped them during pretended]…“follow-ups”…In the [new] case, Nash [displayed] his gun…then pushed the victim onto the couch, to[re] her clothes off, and raped her…he…[then forc]ed her in[to] the shower…[to wash away evidence]…the victim is disabled and has an apparent minor cognitive disability…

The Widening Gyre (#1057)

Observation: fools waste money.  Conclusion: “sex trafficking”!

Last May, the K-pop…group BTS entered into a partnership with McDonald’s to release a limited-edition promo meal that…almost immediately sold out, and enterprising individuals on social media decided to take advantage of the group’s enormous popularity by selling certain items from the meal online.  One item in particular, a chicken nugget shaped like a “crewmate” from the multiplayer online game Among Us, was auctioned off on eBay for nearly $100,000…[then] last month, [a TikTok idiot] posted a video accusing various eBay sellers peddling the BTS chicken nuggets of…“human trafficking”…The idea that a chicken nugget eBay listing would serve as a front for child trafficking was clearly ridiculous on its face.  Yet many of the commenters appeared to be…[just that ridiculous]…

I Spy (#1155)

The beginning of the end for private communication:

Apple has announced…new “protections for children”…in iCloud and iMessage…this means…Apple is planning to build a backdoor into its…system[s]…Apple’s…appease[ment of] government agencies…is a shocking about-face for users who have relied on the company’s leadership in privacy and security.  There are two main [spyware apps] the company is planning to install in every Apple device.  One…will scan all photos as they get uploaded into iCloud Photos to see if they match a photo in the database…maintained by…NCMEC…the other…scans all iMessage images sent or received by…accounts designated as owned by a minor…and…notifies the parent when…images [an algorithm decides are “sexual”] are sent or received.  All it would take to widen th[is]…backdoor…is an expansion of the…parameters to look for additional types of content…The abuse cases are easy to imagine: governments that outlaw homosexuality might require…[calling the cops on] apparent LGBTQ+ content, or an authoritarian regime might demand the classifier be able to spot popular satirical images or protest flyers…

I Spy (#1158)

Still think this djinni is ever going back into its bottle?

…several high-profile female journalists and activists…have…been targeted and harassed by authoritarian regimes in the Middle East through hack-and-leak attacks using the Pegasus spyware, created by Israeli surveillance technology company NSO Group.  The spyware transforms a phone into a surveillance device, activating microphones and cameras and exporting files without a user knowing…a key part of the harassment…is the use of private photos…[which would be] tame by Western standards…[but] are considered scandalous in…societies like Saudi Arabia and were…used to publicly shame these women and smear their reputations…Pegasus spyware is linked to human rights violations around the world…including the [murder] of Jamal Khashoggi…by Saudi agents…

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If there is one thing more powerful than shame, it is the need to find someone else to blame.  –  David Flint

It Looks Good On Paper

Yet another state touts bullshit “safe harbor” laws:

The Virginia General Assembly unanimously passed two bills to [pretend to] help [wwomen labeled] sex trafficking survivors [when it’s convenient for the state.  The bills will]…allow…[“perfect victims”] to have convictions related to [sex work] removed from their personal records…[if they can jump through enough hoops to] prove t[o authoritarian busybodies that they were passive, doll-like “victims”] forced…to commit crimes…

Send In the Clowns

Not a clown, but still about kids hoaxing credulous adults:

Merseyside Police ha[d]…to reassure [gullible parents th[at no]… “plague man”…dressed in all black and wearing a crow-like mask similar to that of a 17th-century plague doctor…was…[lurk]ing in parks…to kidnap [their brats]…the sightings…turned out to be…a…hoax…[perpetrated by] students [falsely] reporting sightings…

To Molest and Rape (#956)

At least the BBC uses the word “rape” when a cop is the rapist:

A [typical and representative cop] has been charged with rape and sexual assault…Ben Lister…has been suspended from [West Yorkshire Police]…

Whither Canada? (#1017)

Sex workers ask the Canadian Supreme Court to uphold its own judgment:

The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform — an alliance of 25 sex worker rights groups across the country led predominantly by and for sex workers — along with several individual applicants, have filed a Notice of Application seeking to strike down the [laws establishing Canada’s Swedish-style] sex work prohibitions…because they violate sex workers’ constitutional rights to security, personal autonomy, life, liberty, free expression, free association, and equality…National Coordinator Jenn Clamen [said] “This government has spent five years paying lip service to human rights and to feminism, and it’s time for them to act.”  In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled three prostitution prohibitions in criminal law to be unconstitutional because they caused harm to sex workers and contravened sex workers’ rights to liberty and security.  This was the federal government’s opportunity to recognize sex workers’ rights and well-being by decriminalizing sex work.  Instead, the government…created a set of laws…that reproduce those same harms…

Rotting Fruit (#1055)

Given the filth spewing from every aspect of this affair, there’s no way to tell whether Maxwell’s conduct could legitimately be considered “sex trafficking”:

Prosecutors added two charges against Ghislaine Maxwell in a case accusing her of grooming and abusing young women and girls for Jeffrey Epstein…The new counts against Maxwell now include sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor…the new charges…prolong…the length of the alleged conspiracy and adds a “Minor Victim-4”…

False Witness (#1121)

Sunlight really is the best disinfectant:

…Texas [pigs have been shamed into]…end[ing]…the [monstrous] practice of using hypnosis to [manufacture “evidence”]…more than forty years after its inception…The decision [seems to be the result of unwel]come…[public attention due to]…The Dallas Morning News…series, “The Memory Room,” which [showed how]…Texas…repeatedly doubl[ed] down on the practice despite scientific evidence that hypnosis can distort witness memories and lead to false convictions…Texas officers continue[d] to [use]…the debunked technique…[to intentionally] send…dozens of men and women to prison and some to their deaths.  The Texas Rangers are among the most [egregious offenders]…performing at least 1,700 hypnosis sessions since the 1980s.  The…[most] recently [w]as October 2020…Even without the program, local police departments may still be using hypnosis to [manufacture]…evidence [which Texas law still allows] to be used in courts…

Predictable Consequences

I wish I could believe that this tragedy would finally put a stake into the heart of the “sex addiction” myth once and for all:

…the press and the authorities…have spent years not only pushing the idea of sex addiction…[but also] portraying…sex workers and…sex-positive academics as evil, corrupt enemies of the state, traffickers and the wreckers of civilisation…they are complicit in crimes like this…[because] their constant demonisation of consensual sex between adults…has stoked the fires of hysteria, anger, social shaming and violent retribution…men who visit sex workers or masturbate to porn and then feel disgust afterwards are going to hold the sex workers…responsible, because it deflects blame from themselves…Often, this transferred disgust and unwillingness to accept responsibility for sexual desire shifts into campaigning against the sex industry…We see this in assorted anti-porn, NoFap, incel and rescue movements, dominated by very angry and aggressive men who want to punish women (and men) for giving them erections.  Are we surprised that some people are taking this anger beyond online rape and death threats and into the real world?  Yet these people have been indulged, encouraged and supported by politicians and the media…Set yourself up as anti-porn, anti-trafficking or anti-sexualisation, and you can pretty much say whatever you like without having to provide evidence, while your aggressive and exploitative responses to anyone who questions you will be glossed over…

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I make way more money per hour playing a professor in the dungeon than being one in real life.  –  Mistress Snow

Aggressive Ignorance

In Florida, you can now get a “certification” in racist, misogynistic propaganda:

Florida State University has launched a new certification in human trafficking prevention and intervention…to [indoctrin]ate [authoritarians in the approved]…human trafficking [propaganda]…the Tallahassee Police Department [recently] charged over 170 people [with various misdemeanors it pretended were linked together]…into a sex trafficking network…[authoritarians and profiteers] who seek to get the certification can use what they learn and apply it to…[profiting from the] crim[inalization of consensual acts and inventing propaganda]…just like [the cops did with] this one…

Buried Truth

I think we have enough evidence to start calling this “McNeill’s Law”:

An anti-LGBTQ+ Hungarian politician has resigned from the European Parliament after being caught in what’s being described as an orgy involving 25 men.  József Szájer, who has spoken proudly of writing a ban on same-sex marriage into Hungary’s constitution, acknowledged…that he had been at what he called a “house party”…in Brussels…[which was] raided [using the excuse of] violation of Belgium’s COVID-19 restrictions, banning gatherings of more than four people.  Szájer was caught “shimmying down a drainpipe” in an attempt to escape police…He had no identifying documents with him and had drugs in his backpack…[but] was released with a warning after [cops] escorted him home and he produced his diplomatic passport.  Police, however, “have opened a case against those present for violating lockdown rules, as well as against Szájer for possession of drugs”…

Shame, Shame

The state believes it’s OK for its operatives to dox you, but not vice-versa:

French President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party agreed…to completely rewrite a draft plan that would have c[riminaliz]ed the…shar[ing of] images identifying [violent cops], after large protests over the weekend against police violence…More than 133,000 people, including 46,000 in Paris alone, demonstrated against the draft bill and in favour of free speech…The rallies followed the publication of video footage of a Black man being beaten up by three [cops] inside his own music studio…Macron…branded [the evidence] “shameful” for France [and therefore tried to prevent it happening not by controlling the pigs, but by criminalizing the act of revealing it]…Article 24…[would have] made it a crime – punishable by a year in prison and a 45,000 euro ($54,000) fine – to share [pictures of cops] with an “obvious intention to harm” [as determined by authoritarian bureaucrats]…

Imaginary Evils (#737)

Remember, huge police operations have never found more than a single-digit number of “sex trafficking” cases anywhere in the UK:

[Cops fantasize that] nearly 100…woman were [magically] trafficked into Scotland and forced into prostitution despite the ­lockdown restrictions…Fil Capaldi, head of Police Scotland’s National Human Trafficking Unit said: “[Pimps are magical ninjas who can walk through walls and pull screaming children through computer monitors, so naturally they have no trouble with travel restrictions]…Slavery is not a thing of the past, it’s happening in every local authority throughout ­Scotland…When ­international borders open up again, we will see a spike in trafficking”…he said Covid rules may have helped the traffickers keep their vile trade hidden…

So “sex trafficking” increases under restrictions, and it also increases when there are no restrictions.  It’s easy to make contradictory statements when nobody expects you to provide even the most rudimentary evidence of anything you say.

Feminine Pragmatism (#970) 

It’s good to see that the media are beginning to grasp this:

More than half of all college professors are now “adjuncts”: part-time freelance instructors who…have the same PhDs as their tenured and full-time colleagues, but who get paid low amounts on a per-course basis, with few or no benefits and little job security.  Typically, adjuncts (also known as “contingent faculty”) string together gigs at multiple colleges, which pay an average of $3,984 per course…So, many adjunct professors now find themselves needing to find significant side-work to stay afloat…Last December, Mistress Snow…wrote a personal essay for the Chronicle of Higher Education, entitled “I Told My Mentor I Was a Dominatrix: She Rescinded Her Letter of Recommendation.”  The summer before the article came out, she found herself without a teaching gig—which is common for adjuncts…[so] she w[ent]…back [to] the sex trade…

Social Distancing (#1055)

So many “enlightened” countries still believe that disease is caused by “sin”:

On September 26, 2020 the Government of Ontario closed down strip clubs without warning or consulting strippers.  At the same time, other similar businesses such as bars continued to be allowed to operate.  Strippers are not demanding we be given exceptional treatment…we only want to be treated fairly.  This means being consulted about the implementation of prevention and other occupational health and safety measures at our workplaces, rather than government officials assuming we are vectors of disease that pose particular risk to public health…

Social Distancing (#1082)

Another example of how “lockdowns” cause far more harm than good:

…In sub-Saharan Africa, 16 countries have an HIV prevalence rate greater than 37 per cent among sex workers.  “To ignore HIV prevention and sex workers during an emergency is self-defeating,” said Innocent Modisaotsile…[of] the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.  “New infections and demands for ARV treatment will burden the health system.”  COVID-19 has brought hardships to sex workers in Africa…in terms of loss of income, police crackdowns, exclusion from social protection schemes, and increased violence…in the past two decades Kenya’s robust HIV prevention and care programme has reduced HIV prevalence among sex workers significantly…[via] drop-in centres (DICs) that provide safe spaces, healthcare and peer support…[but] under the lockdown [police roadblock are preventing sex workers from accessing the centres]…

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Exodus Cry[‘s]…history of hateful rhetoric toward women and…those who don’t abide by their vision of purity…is extremely disturbing.  –  Pornhub

Follow Your Bliss

A typical and representative “law enforcement hero”:

Christopher Bryant…of Ruidoso, New Mexico [was arrested]…on charges of transportation of child pornography…[because] he…[searched for] child pornography on the internet and took screenshots of three [porn] images of children…[then] sent the images to himself by email.  Bryant was recognized in 2019 as a “Law Enforcement Hero of Child Protection” by a state agency…

Cops and Robbers (#910) 

The rescue industry provides many opportunities for wealthy white folks to play cowboy:

Over the past few years, Marisol Nichols has been juggling the demands of being an [television] act[ress]…with a side gig as a…[scam artist making money from hysteria over] sex trafficking.  The latter is now being turned into a television series after Sony Pictures Television optioned rights to her story…She has been [lying to people targeted by] the FBI, [sociopathic fascists] Operation Underground Railroad and [common pigs] to serve as the “bait” for sting operations domestically and internationally…Nichols…has participated in numerous [examples of cop glorification propaganda]…such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law & Order: SVU, more than once playing a cop…she began to work in the [rescue industry] after her career slowed down around 2012…

She’s not really a pig, but she played one on TV.  And in life-destroying scams.

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#972)

Unsurprising for entities in the disinformation business:

Fentanyl…has taken on mythical properties [among cops.  Many]…have claimed to have nearly died from accidental exposure, based on the scientifically inaccurate idea that a deadly amount of fentanyl can pass through human skin or even poison the air around it.  That myth has spread through…fusion centers…[which] have circulated fentanyl myths, causing [cops] to panic [like little girls]…Out of 121 fentanyl-related bulletins in the BlueLeaks trove reviewed by Reason, at least 36 claimed that fentanyl could be absorbed through the skin and at least 41 discussed the alleged danger of airborne fentanyl…

It’s nice to see them harming each others’ mental health for a change.

You Were Warned (#976)

So far, the vultures are being shot down, but they’ll continue to harass businesses until FOSTA is overturned:

[An ambulance-chaser] sued [the messaging app] Kik [in hopes of getting a lot of loot courtesy of]…FOSTA…[which] Congress enacted…to [encourage exactly this kind of nuisance] lawsuit…against Internet services.  The question is exactly what FOSTA did–a difficult question to answer because of FOSTA’s terrible drafting.  Court opinions trying to navigate the FOSTA/Section 230 interplay are extremely complex and technical in nature, and thus hard to understand…The plaintiff trie[d] to show that Kik violated [the law by]…“participat[ing] in a venture” with [imaginary] sex traffickers…The court grant[ed] Kik’s motion to dismiss…[because] the facts don’t seem to indicate any actual or attempted sex trafficking…Perhaps the court might have approached the opinion differently if the[re had actually been any behavior remotely resembling] sex trafficking…

Panopticon (#993)

Is it just me, or does this sound like an attempt at reverse psychology?

[FBI] documents warned that owners of Amazon’s Ring and similar video doorbells can use the systems…to watch police..leak[ed documents]…describe…numerous ways police and the FBI could use Ring surveillance footage, but it also cites “new challenges” involving sensor- and camera-equipped smart home devices….[which] can offer an early warning when [pigs] are approaching a house to [root around, destroy it, or brutalize and murder]…the owner…[In actuality,] this isn’t [an]y more information than a security camera would capture…and…Ring…[collaborates] with hundreds of [cop shops]…to hand over footage [without the owners’ permission]…

The Pro-Rape Coalition (#1023) 

Anti-sex profiteers never tell their marks that the 1st amendment isn’t subject to veto by busybodies clicking on an internet petition:

Laila Mickelwait’s…”TraffickingHub” campaign to [censor] Pornhub…has nearly two million signatures…There are many legitimate reasons for revenge porn victims and adult content owners to be critical of Pornhub…But what people who sign the TraffickingHub petition might not understand is that the campaign…comes from the world of anti sex [work] activism—and specifically, from a large Christian organization, Exodus Cry, which…[promotes police violence against] sex work[ers] and wants to abolish porn altogether…it…[also] has a history of homophobia and bigotry, and…peddl[es] a victim narrative to “save” sex workers while harming them with pushes for [pro-rape] legislation…

Losing Their Shit

The reek from the dying rescue industry is now wafting over from Europe:

…the European Freedom Network (EFN) [is a conspiracy between] 250 [evangelical] groups that [harass and persecute sex workers]…Leanne Rhodes…who lives in Portugal, is the Executive Director of the EFN…[and provides exampls of how “sex trafficking” propaganda] has changed substantially after the Covid-19 crisis…“organisations could no longer [harass sex workers in person, so] they lost [track of easy targets]…a lot of our partners have [invented new masturbbatory fantasies about]pimps…dump[ing “victims”]…mafias have moved from street prostitution to online prostitution. There is a massive increase in video sex, chat rooms…pornography and so on, all over the place and very early on as lockdowns started…you can sell people over the internet over and over…

Except for the new “pimps dumping slaves” trope, this is the same filth they’ve been peddling for over a decade.  Did they think nobody would notice?

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