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Posts Tagged ‘Mexico’

Being on the registry…has been a death sentence.  –  David Kingrea

Property of the State

So, will Texas now try to stop people from crossing the border into Mexico?

Mexico’s Supreme Court [has thrown] out all federal criminal penalties for abortion…ruling that national laws prohibiting the procedure are unconstitutional and violate women’s rights…The ruling will require the federal public health service and all federal health institutions to offer abortion to anyone who requests it…Some 20 Mexican states…still criminalize abortion.  While judges in those states will have to abide by the court’s decision, further legal work will be required to remove all penalties…Mexico City was the first Mexican jurisdiction to decriminalize abortion 15 years ago…Argentina…legalized the procedure…[in January 2021, and] Colombia [did so early last year]…

If Men Were Angels

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

Jonathan Shaheen, a [typical and representative] Colorado Springs church pastor and music teacher, [was arrested for] sexual exploitation of a child…[because he talked to] a couple in New Mexico who were said [by some unnamed party] to be exploiting children…

Some of these articles are so vague they wouldn’t even be newsworthy were the accused anyone more credible than a cop or preacher.

Spotlight (#845) 

Asstoon has spent the last 14 years attacking sex workers, so it’s good to see him in hot water over his poor judgment:

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis reportedly wrote letters in support of actor Danny Masterson during his rape trial, which recently found him guilty on two counts of forcible rape…[com]mitted…between 2001 and 2003…Kutcher wrote that Masterson “instantly” became a “dedicated co worker, and role model to me” when the pair began working together on That ’70s Show in 1998…

In addition to bankrolling a dangerous surveillance engine which uses facial recognition to out sex workers to the pigs, Kutcher is a delusional megalomaniac who has claimed to have actual godlike powers.

The End of the Beginning (#1290) 

The state should have to pay substantial damages to people it wrongfully condemns to its pariah list:

David Kingrea…[was falsely] accused…of sexual…abus[e by his ex-girlfriend’s son in 2011]…though…he maintained his innocence…[he] was found guilty [on no evidence other than the boy’s word, and]…sentenced to…12 months [in]…jail…[followed by eternal condemnation to] the Virginia Sex Offender Registry…[but] in the fall of 2020…the boy, who is now an adult, [recanted his lies]…clearing [Kingrea’s] name and getting him off the sex offender…[registry.  The state then fobbed him off with a mere] $55,000 [for twelve years of hell]…The Innocence Project…[has proposed a] bill [stating]…“that people…be compensated $25,000 per year for…[wrongful condemnation to the registry]…the person who wrongfully accused [Kingrea is] currently serving time in prison for an unrelated crime…

A Broker in Pillage (#1324)

“Program” is a helluva euphemism for “criminal conspiracy”:

Wayne County, which includes the city of Detroit, has long run a program where it s[teals] cars and cash from people police [decide to falsely accuse of “crimes” involving] drugs or prostitution…Now a federal court has severely curtailed this…[scheme as a] violat[ion of] due process…the U.S. Supreme Court has a similar case on its docket, so a broader precedent may soon be set…After [cops steal] their vehicle…people are [extorted]…of around $1,000 [to] get their [own property] back immediately or…the county [will illegally] sell the vehicle and pocket the proceeds.  People can challenge a forfeiture in court, but it is expensive and…takes…up to a year even to get a hearing…The court ruled that this period was too long, and the hearing needs to happen within two weeks (one judge argued that it should be within 48 hours)…

To Molest and Rape (#1365)

He wasn’t a “former” cop when he repeatedly raped a six-year-old:

A [typical and representative] Jacksonville [Florida cop] is in…jail charged with…child [molestation].  The case dates to 2005, when…Christopher Tyree…began [rap]ing her during sleepovers…when she was six years old…a prior 2007 criminal complaint made by two girls, ages 9 and 10, w[as completely ignored by his cronies at the time, as was]…a 2017 case…in which he was accused of inappropriate conversations with a 14-year-old over Instagram…

Dangerous Speech (#1367)

The Backpage trial has become an evil self-parody:

…government attorneys have — for the second time — asked federal Judge Diane Humetewa to exclude any mention of the First Amendment in front of the jury during the Backpage trial.  Yes, that’s right, prosecutors want no talk of free speech in a case that’s all about free speech…That Backpage should not be held accountable for acts of third parties who posted or responded to an adult-themed ad on Backpage — as long as the ad was legal on its face and, thus, protected by the First Amendment — should be self-evident to all…but…the government does not want a fair fight…

 

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

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There’s seemingly no policy turd that lawmakers are unwilling to polish in the name of “the children”.  –  J.D. Tuccille

Saint Death 

Apparently, popular and social media have played a large part in the global expansion of her worship:

…one Latin American New Religious Movement has reached Kyiv that perhaps few would expect: The cult of Santa Muerte – Holy Death…Dr. Andrew Chesnut of Virginia Commonwealth University, probably the foremost expert on Santa Muerte, says that the Mexican folk saint depicted as a female skeleton, from whom her devotees seek protection and favors, is the fastest-growing new religious movement in the world.  The skeleton saint went off the historical grid until the 1940s when American anthropologists “re-discovered her,” in Mexico. [The religion] became known to the larger American audience due to the television series Breaking Bad, as an object of devotion for Mexican drug cartels…the professor…[says] Santa Muerte “made her way to Europe via social media, especially Facebook and Instagram”…

If Men Were Angels

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

…Allan Kyle Jones…pastor at Lifeway Community Church in Loxley, [Alabama,] was [arrested and charged with possession of child pornography]…

Choke Point (#993) 

It always starts with a politically-unpopular group like sex workers or gun owners, but never stops there:

The House Judiciary Committee is investigating banks for sharing Americans’ financial information with the FBI without regard for privacy concerns…there’s no doubt about the threat to civil liberties posed by the government’s leverage over the financial industry; that’s long established.  At question in this investigation is whether…that cozy relationship is being wielded in political warfare between the country’s political factions…financial institutions have long operated as surveillance arms of the state, tracking transactions and movements, making assumptions about what they might mean, then turning that information over to government officials under regulatory pressure…based on idiosyncratic interpretations of vague laws and regulations…such power creates incentives to over-interpret activity as “suspicious” and to snitch on customers to stay on the good side of federal agencies…

Robocops

It’s rare that a court rules that some violent hooliganism is so stupid even a cop should’ve known better:

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Waylon Bailey…of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, made a joke on Facebook that alluded to the 2013 Brad Pitt zombie movie World War Z.  “RAPIDES PARISH SHERIFFS OFFICE HAVE ISSUED THE ORDER,” he wrote, that “IF DEPUTIES COME INTO CONTACT WITH ‘THE INFECTED,'” they should “SHOOT ON SIGHT.”  He added: “Lord have mercy on us all. #Covid9teen #weneedyoubradpitt.”  That post went up on March 20, 2020…that same day, about a dozen deputies wearing bulletproof vests descended upon Bailey’s home with their guns drawn…[screaming obscenities] and arrested him for violating a state law against “terrorizing,” a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison…the Rapides Parish District Attorney’s Office [wisely] declined to prosecute Bailey.  But when [he] sued…[a] judge…dismissed his claims with prejudice, concluding that his joke was not covered by the First Amendment, that the arrest was based on probable cause, and that [the pigs were] protected by qualified immunity…the 5th Circuit [has now] ruled that…was wrong on all three counts…

The Mob Rules (#1303)

Stupid people want you to believe that anti-sex authoritarians “do not agree on much”, because red and blue pap:

[Maine politician] Lois Reckitt…intends to submit a proposal for consideration in the 2024 legislative session modeled after a porn age-verification law in Louisiana …[joining six other] states — Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, Virginia and Utah — [in the monkey see, monkey do parade]…with unanimous or near-unanimous support from…[censorious imbeciles with the social sense of lemmings.  Unsurprisingly, the puritanical] Reckitt…[was also behind the scheme which recently imposed the dangerous, misogynistic Swedish model on] Maine

You Were Warned (#1359)

Some politicians apparently believe that KOSA doesn’t destroy the internet thoroughly enough:

…the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act…borrows bad proposals from another federal bill and combines them with legislative idiocy enacted at the state level.  The resulting concoction could destroy internet privacy, subjecting all our online activity to government scrutiny in the name of shielding wee ones from harm…the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act generates the sort of cross-aisle consensus that generally only accompanies terrible ideas.  The bill “contains elements of the dangerous Kids Online Safety Act“…and…doubles down on bureaucratic control and surveillance of internet activity…its authors find substituting restrictive laws for parental responsibility…a convenient excuse for imposing controls that people would be unlikely to tolerate under any other circumstance…the digital ID pilot program is the real warhead in this particular legislative weapon, since…[politicians hate] online anonymity.  The bill provides a clear path towards linking internet activity to identities so that, for example, politicians could identify their critics…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1366)

The way local media parrots copaganda in the face of clear evidence of its foolishness is utterly pathetic:

…Milwaukee co[p]…Adriean Williams had an unexpected [panic attack after touching a scary]…blue sweater…”It’s terrifying” [he whimpered, remembering the scary, scary fuzziness.  Then another cop wasted]…Narcan, a nasal spray that counteracts the effects of opiates [and can act as a placebo for hysterical cops who imagine they’ve touched magic insta-fentanyl.  Actual doctors have explained time and again that]…incidental fentanyl exposure [has no such] immediate and profound reactions, but [cops are superstitious children who imagine they know better.  This mass hysteria affected another of]…Williams[‘ cronies]…the very next day…[when he] believe[d] cocaine….[was] fentanyl [and had a panic attack]…

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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Where are all the good people to put a stop to this?  –  Joann Meyer

To Molest and Rape

If only there were a concise term for “forcing a woman into a sexual relationship”:

A judge has approved a 10-year [toothless “]protection order[“] against…Glen Trejo…[a cop in Granger, Washington] who [was rewarded with a]…paid…[vac]ation…[for] repeatedly [rap]ing a…woman…often while [wearing his magical clown costume]…Trejo admits…the [rapes], but says [she wanted it]…The woman [fell victim to Trejo after] she went to the police department last year to report a vehicle that had been following her, and Trejo took her report…he…[sometimes ga]ve her money…because…he [knew it would damage her credibility if ]…it [came to light]…

Dangerous Speech

This raid was not “unprecedented”; the precedent was set by the federal campaign of persecution against Michael Lacey & Jim Larkin, which mainstream journalists have pointedly ignored for 6 years:

In an unprecedented raid [on August 11th], local [cops stole] computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper’s reporters, and the publisher’s home. Eric Meyer, owner and publisher of the newspaper, said…the message was clear: “Mind your own business or we’re going to step on you.”  The city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have,” Meyer said…

The parallels with the Backpage case didn’t stop there:

Joann Meyer, who spent nearly 60 years as a reporter, columnist, editor and associate publisher at The Marion County Record in Kansas, died…a day after the police [illegally raid]ed [her home and] the newspaper’s offices.  She was 98…the coroner…concluded that the stress of the [raid caused her death]…

Mainstream media are claiming the raid was instigated by a well-connected restaurateur, but freelance journalist Marisa Kabas has a better explanation:

What has remained unreported until now is that, prior to the raids, the newspaper had been actively investigating Gideon Cody, Chief of Police for the city of Marion.  They’d received multiple tips alleging he’d retired from his previous job to avoid demotion and punishment over alleged sexual misconduct charges

A Tale That Grew in the Telling (#975) 

Given that the term “human trafficking” means whatever busybodies (with or without government powers) want it to mean, it can always be claimed to be “growing”.  In this credulous regurgitation of prohibitionist propaganda, it seems to mostly mean “coerced prostitution”, though the article also pretty clearly states that the so-called “victims” did sex work because they were refugees the Northern Irish government does not allow to work in their chosen professions, and have children to support.  However, this contradiction and confusion is unsurprising given that the rescue industry group in the article also infantilizes adult women with Phds, asserts that 6 = 230, repeats an urban legend as fact, and ignores the fact that sex work advocates and human rights experts told them exploitation would increase under the Swedish Model, but they ignored us and are now apparently trying to use the dying moral panic to get a big cash infusion from the government.

Decentralization (#1212) 

Once bitcoin exchanges got in bed with the government, this was inevitable:

[Roughly]…two-thirds of sex workers have lost access to either a bank account or financial service, while 40 percent have had an account closed within the past year.  Faced with this [discrimination], sex workers have gone in search of an alternative means of both storing wealth and accepting payment.  In cryptocurrency, for a time, it appeared they had found…[a way for] clients to pay discreetly…[and] sex workers a way to bypass the banking system…But…though sending and receiving crypto payments is relatively simple, converting it into dollars is sometimes not.  The typical method is to transfer crypto to an exchange, where earnings are converted into regular money, which is then withdrawn to a bank account…But sex workers are sometimes banned from crypto exchanges too…leaving them st[uck] with [valueless data] they cannot use to pay rent or buy goods…

I smelled this coming when I read Coinbase’s TOS, which is one reason I’ve never used cryptocurrency; it was clear there would never be a dependable, government-proof way to turn it into actual money.

Surplus Women (#1355)

What kind of garbage “journalist” uses women’s murders as an opportunity to moralize via scare quotes?

Baja California’s State Attorney’s Office says…[serial killer] Bryan Rivera is responsible for a fourth murder that occurred in Tijuana while he was in the city last year.  Rivera…is now the subject of extradition proceedings in federal court in Los Angeles.  The Mexican government wants Rivera returned to Tijuana to face murder charges [for]…the deaths of three other…sex workers….[and] they have evidence showing Rivera was in Tijuana when the murder of the fourth woman occurred, and that she was killed in the same way as the other three…

Vulture Watching (#1364)

Texas wants to have its blood and drink it as well:

Salia Issa had just begun her shift as a…[pregnant Texas screw] when she felt the intense pain of what she believed was a contraction…but…prison policy wouldn’t allow her to leave her post until someone could replace her.  No one came for hours.  Issa kept calling for relief, but her supervisor [unsurprisingly claimed]…she was lying…two and a half hours [later]…she was allowed to leave…[and] drove to a nearby hospital, where doctors rushed her into emergency surgery…The baby was delivered stillborn.  If Issa had gotten to the hospital sooner, medical personnel told her, the baby would have survived…the prison agency and the Texas attorney general’s office, which has staked its reputation on “defending the unborn” all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, are arguing the agency shouldn’t be held responsible for the stillbirth because…it’s not clear that Issa’s fetus had rights as a person…

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

To Molest and Rape (#1364)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

[Tennessee cop] Tommie Lee House [was arrested for molesting a teenager while wearing his magical clown costume; other cops rooted in his phone and found a nude photo of the same teen taken]…earlier this year…

 

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

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[An FBI] suggestion…is not a suggestion. It is in fact effectively an order.  –  Darrell Issa

Surplus Women

Cops love awkward, overcomplicated language:

Three women [have been] found dead near the Trinity River in [Dallas, and]…Oscar Sanchez Garcia…is being charged with th[e]…murder[s].  The body of 60-year-old Limberly Robinson was found in late April.  25-year-old Cherish Gibson was found dead in the same area two months later.  The third woman was found [July 15th and] has not yet been identified.  Police believe at least two of the victims have possible ties to prostitution…

Would it have been too difficult to say, “at least two of the victims may have been sex workers”?

No Difference (#1334)

Will this be another victory for US evangelical prohibitionists?

Kenya is…introducing legislation that would criminalise openly identifying with, or supporting, the LGBTQ+ community…including openly identifying as LGBTQ+ or wearing Pride emblems.  Those found in breach of the law would face a minimum of 10 years in jail while those found guilty of performing same-sex acts would face a minimum of 14 years…anyone found guilty under a clause for “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as engaging in “homosexual acts with a minor or disabled person and transmitting a terminal disease through sexual means”, could be executed.  The bill heavily mirrors Uganda’s…which was signed into law earlier this year.  Similar bills are also being proposed in Tanzania…South Sudan…[and] Ghana

You Were Warned (#1344)

“This bill is not about kids’ safety, because it will put their safety at risk”:

With…KOSA…be[ing] debated in…Congress…Joe Biden [has] come out [to] give a full throated endorsement of the horrible, dangerous, bill that will damage privacy and harm children…the Republicans have been quite vocal about how they support KOSA because they know they can use it to suppress LGBTQ voices.  They flat out said that they believe that “keeping trans content away from children is protecting kids”…KOSA….[is] not about “protecting” kids privacy at all.  It’s about giving the government more control over kids.  The nature of the bill will require more data collection…[and] create serious 1st Amendment concerns by holding companies potentially liable if kids face harm that…an [ambulance-chaser can pretend was somehow related]…to anything they found online…

Now would be the time to call your congresscritter to scare it away from being associated with this police-state garbage.

Torture Chamber (#1344)

I’m sure they occasionally yelled “Stop faking!” at him as he wasted away:

By the time he died alone in his Miami-Dade jail cell in the summer of 2021, (5’10”) Randy Heath weighed just 113 pounds…[because] guards…allowed [him]…to languish [for 9 months] in the jail’s mental health unit…[and] did not properly feed, monitor, or administer…medication…the…Medical Examiner’s Office…[claims] Heath…died from “food asphyxia” after a large piece of orange blocked his airway, with the contributory cause being pica, an eating disorder in which people compulsively eat things that aren’t food…Heath…had been in and out of…jail since 2002 on various charges…[but the most recent arrest] in April 2020 [was on the pretext that he touched] his ankle monitor [in a manner disallowed by The State]…He would remain on the floor of his cell unattended for hours…in his own urine and feces…Although he was regularly prescribed medication for his mental illnesses, his toxicology report detected no medicine in his system at the time of death…

Censor Chic (#1354)

Partisans deny this when it’s their side making “suggestions”:

…based on current evidence, the FBI has not explicitly demanded that social media companies censor any specific posts or news stories.  But…[as] the Supreme Court [said] nearly 60 years ago: Americans “do not lightly disregard public officers’ thinly veiled threats to institute criminal proceedings against them if they do not come around.”  Much is said in our current discourse about…power imbalances…When your boss asks if you can stay late or come in on the weekend, you can say no. But in the back of your mind, you know there may be consequences…It’s…a similar dynamic when the government sends “suggestions” to private individuals or companies over which it exercises…authority…When the FBI floods social media platforms with “alerts” about content it obviously wants taken down, it doesn’t deserve a pass just because it didn’t say out loud: “or else”…The FBI uses the weight and authority of its office to lean on platforms in an attempt to do what the First Amendment forbids it from doing directly: suppress protected speech.  This tactic is called “jawboning,” and is not something we should blithely accept in a society committed to free expression as a fundamental value…

Served Cold (#1357)

Ballard’s increasingly-bizarre antics have apparently upset his partners in profiteering:

Tim Ballard, the celebrity [“sex] trafficking[” profiteer] whose heavily fictionalized exploits served as the inspiration for the [fak]e box-office hit Sound of Freedom, is no longer CEO of the Nazarene Fund, the Glenn Beck-backed [rescue industry] organization…a letter is circulating in Utah’s philanthropic community, which claims that Ballard left OUR following an internal investigation…[after] an employee filed an HR complaint after returning from a mission with Ballard…

Elsewhere, Kaytlin Bailey uses Ballard’s fanciful story as a springboard for discussion of why “rescue” narratives are not only nonsense, but distracting from measures that really help sex workers.

Torture Chamber (#1358)

It does not help young victims of governmental brutality to infantilize them as “children”:

…inside…the…largest juvenile [prison]…in…New Mexico…[young people] between the ages of 12 and 17 are routinely subjected to strip searches, held for weeks in cells without toilets, and left with only a thin plastic sheet to block out the glare of hallway lights that never turn off.  Girls face particularly harsh conditions, often placed in…solitary confinement…chronic understaffing…[is used to excuse holding prisoners] for weeks, in temporary booking cells with no toilets or sinks…[yet somehow there are enough staff for weekly sexual assaults euphemized as “]strip searches[“.  Girls who]…refuse…to [submit are]…locked in…cell[s] until [they “]consent[“]…

 

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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Seniors are living longer and are more active…thi[s]…can pose greater risk.  –  “Analysts”

I really enjoy good song parodies, and I think Remy’s are some of the best ones out there these days.  The links above the video were provided by Stephen Lemons, Mike Siegel (x2), Scott Greenfield, SWOP-USA, Jesse Walker, and Nun Ya, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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We don’t even think about [masturbation] as relapsing, because…it’s not an addiction.  –  Nicole Prause

Show and Tell

Was this unfortunate person the one who sent me the proof of Ashley Madison’s con game?

Will Harrison was terminated as an Ashley Madison employee in November 2011, and by early 2012 he’d turned his considerable harassment skills squarely against the company.  Ashley Madison’s long-suspected army of fake female accounts came to the fore in August 2012 after the former sex worker turned activist and blogger Maggie McNeill published screenshots apparently taken from Ashley Madison’s internal systems suggesting that a large percentage of the female accounts on the service were computer-operated bots.  Ashley Madison’s executives understood that only a handful of employees at the time would have had access to the systems needed to produce the screenshots McNeill published online…on Mar. 5, 2014, Harrison committed suicide by shooting himself in the head…This fact was apparently unknown to Biderman and other Ashley Madison executives more than a year later when their July 2015 hack was first revealed

To Molest and Rape

A cop posing as a masseur is still a cop:

A [typical and representative Ontario cop] who admitted to sexually abusing 11 women at his side massage business [has escaped with a slap on the wrist, namely] an 18-month sentence at home.  David Kukoly…was not a registered massage therapist but still operated his “Massage by Dave” business from his…home using a different last name.  Under the pre[text] of providing massages, he [molest]ed 11 women…between 2016 and 2018…[but] Justice Richard Blouin…decided against the Crown’s request for a four-year prison sentence…[and gave the budding rapist a mere] year and a half of house arrest [because cop]…

The reporter inserts “was not a registered massage therapist” as though a piece of paper could magically control sexual predators despite considerable evidence to the contrary.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1124)

There’s a reason I’ve repeatedly called this cult “dangerous”:

…NoFap ideology tends to breed much bigger problems…suicidal feelings [are associated with] more engagement in the NoFap subreddit and related communities, and the more involved a participant [i]s with NoFap and other groups like PornFree, the more suicidal they report…feeling in response to their last relapse.  One problem with this—beyond the obvious— is that their “relapses” aren’t…real to begin with…because…people who masturbate to porn…aren’t actually “addicted” to it at all…there’s no objective basis for pornography addiction, an opinion supported by numerous peer-reviewed studies and experts in the field.  That isn’t to say that people can’t use pornography compulsively…but that it doesn’t fit in with the very clearly defined scientific idea of addiction, which involves a physiological withdrawal and a loss of pleasure in other activities…

Disaster (#1276)

Unfortunately, this is all we could expect right now:

The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals…upheld the district court’s judgment against the Woodhull Freedom Foundation in its four-year legal battle to have FOSTA-SESTA declared unconstitutional, and rejected the strict scrutiny challenge proposed by free speech advocates.  Woodhull…was joined in the appeal by Human Rights Watch, the Internet Archive, Alex Andrews and Eric Koszyk…in January…legal observers…deemed the judges’ line of questioning as leaning toward the possibility of at least part of FOSTA-SESTA being struck down [but]…their new ruling…[declare]s that “neither Section 2421A of FOSTA nor FOSTA’s amendments to the Trafficking Act are overbroad or unconstitutionally vague,” [and] that “FOSTA’s c[ensorship]…comports with the First Amendment [because “sex trafficking”]…

Surplus Women (#1294)

Mexican cops are more concerned about sex workers’ lives than their US counterparts are:

A…suspected serial killer who targeted sex workers in Mexico has been arrested in Southern California…Mexican authorities are working to extradite…Bryan Rivera…of Downey, California who is believed to be responsible for the deaths of three sex workers in Tijuana…in 2022…

Thought Control (#1343)

Politicians are avid devotees of cutting off their noses to spite their faces:

Mississippi has a new law on the books [which effectively bans]…use of digital resources…for those under the age of 18…Even if granted parental permission, minors may not have materials available to them, if vendors do not ensure every item within their offerings meets the new, wide-reaching [political] definition of “obscenity”…[which states] any vendor is out of compliance by simply having materials available in their system which depict sexual reproduction or queerness in any capacity.  Images of nude female breasts…[even in] biology and anatomy books…would be out of compliance with the law.  Platforms like Hoopla and Overdrive are not set up to create systems which change access based on [politicians’ whims].  Library staff are also unable to preview and rate every item available within such platforms, leading to a position [where libraries must completely] shut down access [in order to protect librarians from legal persecution]…

Panopticon (#1344)

Cops will continue to do this until there are criminal penalties for it:

…The Electronic Frontier Foundation…has sent [Sacramento County Sheriff] Cooper a letter requesting that [his] Office cease sharing ALPR data with out-of-state agencies that could use it to prosecute someone for seeking an abortion…the…office…has shared license plate reader data with [cop shops] in states that have passed laws banning abortion, including Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas.  Adam Schwartz, EFF senior staff attorney, called automated license plate readers “a growing threat to everyone’s privacy”…and…a sheriff in Texas, Idaho or any other state with an abortion ban on the books could use that data to track people’s movements around California, knowing where they live, where they work and where they seek…medical care…71 [cop shops] in 22 California counties…[a]re sharing such data…in [direct] violation of a 2015 law [banning the practice]…

 

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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Law enforcement feels they can treat mental health issues like criminal issues.  –  Ben Crump

Torture Chamber

This will continue until journalists stop obediently referring to senseless violence as “correction”:

A [ga]ng of [screws] at a Memphis jail used handcuffs as makeshift brass knuckles to beat a Black inmate and kneeled on his back and neck until he went limp in a pool of blood, according to surveillance video…The county medical examiner ruled Gershun Freeman’s death on Oct. 5, 2022, a homicide…Freeman seemed to be experiencing a mental health crisis and was [confin]ed naked and alone to minimize the risk of [escaping further torture by killing himself]…surveillance video shows two [screws decided to]…mace…him [for no particular reason]…Freeman is seen shielding himself from the mace with an orange piece of fabric, which he was given [in lieu of an actual blanket]…and…attempting to…bat away the mace can…at least seven [screws used that as an excuse to attack Freeman]…kicking…and beating him with fists, handcuffs…mace cans…heavy rings of jailer’s keys…and “sets of brass handcuff keys”…[until he succumbed, then] kneeling on [his] back, neck and head for over five minutes…[until he] stopped breathing…jail staff did not perform CPR or attempt any resuscitation…[instead walking] over…[his] body, until medical staff arrived…

Torture Chamber (#1116)

Remember, these people were locked in this cage facility because of US policies:

Guards…in [a prison for migrants]…walked out of the burning building as screams could be heard on the street in downtown Ciudad Juárez.  Thirty-nine migrants died locked in that cell as the [cage stack] burned on the night of March 27, and another died later at the hospital…Survivors say those who died did so for one reason: they could not or did not pay a $200 bribe to s[crews] to be released…the…jail…was a de facto “extortion center,” where only migrants with the means to pay were released.  Others would have to stay in jail and be sent to Mexico City or deported back to their origin country…

Torture Chamber (#1292)

Yelling “Stop faking!” at the sick and dying is one of screws’ favorite games:

Ta’Neasha Chappell was arrested for theft in Brownstown, Indiana, in May 2021…Her bail was set at $4,000—an amount too high for her family to pay…On July 15, [she] became mysteriously and violently ill…she called for help repeatedly throughout the night…[as] she was throwing up blood.  During the night she became increasingly incoherent, stripping off her clothes and soiling herself…no one provided medical care or called an ambulance…At 3:12, a jail employee told Chappell—who was lying on the floor moaning, “This just makes us think you’re faking it”…she was pronounced dead at 5:45 that evening…Chappell’s death was “probable toxicity from an unknown substance,” based upon “a green liquid in Chappell’s abdomen and her altered mental state, among others”…several inmates…said that Chappell had been poisoned by other prisoners, who “had allegedly been slipping a cleaning product…into her food and drink”…Chappell’s…family has filed a lawsuit against the jail employees who ignored her cries for help…Chappell is not the first person to die under mysterious circumstances in the Jackson County Jail.  In August 2021, Joshua McLemore, a man with untreated schizophrenia died of multiple organ failure after he was left in a solitary cell for three weeks—during which time he refused to eat and became increasingly delirious.  McLemore’s family has also filed a lawsuit against the jail…

Here’s more detail on the McLemore case:

…Joshua McLemore…was l[ocked] in a small, windowless cell for 20 days straight in Jackson county jail in July and August of 2021.  The cell had no bed or bathroom and had fluorescent lights on at all hours.  In [recently-released surveillance] footage, McLemore, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, appears detached from reality, speaking gibberish, rolling in filth and his own waste and becoming clearly emaciated.  He received daily meals through a small slot in his jail door, but appears to have rarely eaten them.  H[is only] human interactions [were] on…four occasions…when guards [decided to mindlessly brutalize] him…McLemore [had originally been hospitalized for]…psychosis…[but] when…he pulled [a nurse’s] hair…a guard…called…police, which sent [a whole gang of thugs]…to…carry…him out of the hospital in his underwear [and throw him into the dungeon where he eventually died]…

Of course, Georgia has an unusually-high number of these as well:

A 32-year-old man [locked in a cage] at Georgia’s Clayton County Jail begged for medical help for nearly two months before succumbing to testicular cancer in January…Alan Willison had been locked up at the scandal-plagued jail since October on a third-degree forgery charge.  In November, he began complaining of severe pain and swelling in one of his testicles, but [screws]…gave him only over-the-counter medication to manage his pain.  “NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL,” Willison wrote in a Nov. 23 request for medical care…In early December, Willison received testing indicating that he likely had cancer, but it was not until Jan. 19 that he saw a urologist, who officially diagnosed him.  He died a week later, on Jan. 26…the Clayton County Medical Examiner…determined that Willison had died of testicular cancer complicated by medical neglect….unhygienic living conditions at the jail…malnourishment and physical abuse…

Another case from Georgia:

LaShawn Thompson was at the Fulton County Jail for three months before he was found dead in a jail cell…”[that] was not fit for a diseased animal”…Thompson…had mental issues…but [screws] did nothing to administer aid to him or help him…until he died…[covered with bites from bed]bugs and [other] insects…

The Punitive Mindset (#1294) 

“Drug” fantasies are just a pretext; the real reasons for this are petty torture of prisoners and more profits for the carceral state’s fascist partners:

P[ropaganda about] drug overdoses in the jail…[is being used by well-known prohibition fantasist] Tom Dart…[as an excuse to] ban…visitors from bringing in paper, including documents routinely carried by attorneys fulfilling their constitutional duty to provide legal counsel to [Dart’s victims].  The facility…is among jails and prisons across the country [pre]tending…th[at]…paper soaked with illegal narcotics…[is the the cause of overdoses, despite the fact that it is well-known that drugs in jails are smuggled in by screws, as demonstrated by the fact that overdoses actually increase when mail and books from outside are banned]…Dart’s office…[c]ould not provide any…[actual facts to support the cop fantasy of] overdoses tied to deadly paper…Cook County Public Defender Sharone R. Mitchell Jr.’s office…seemed surprised and distressed by the restrictions…[which appear to be aimed at forcing] public defenders to share information with their clients…[via] computers [so cops can secretly spy on conversations they are not legally allowed to access]…

No Escape

Your “leaders” refer to state-employed thugs raping women as “correction”:

[After] raping a…[prisoner]…a [Tennessee screw named]…James Thomas…[not only] still works as a [screw] for the Maury County Sheriff’s department…but…was given a raise…

In the rest of this confused mess of a news item, a so-called “victims’ advocate” burbles nonsense about “sending messages“, while the reporter thinks a 60-word digression about the rapist’s sister is more important than the crime the story is supposed to be about.

No Escape (#1312)

Prosecutors are rarely interested in going after rapists with badges:

Terry Grassaree [got away with rape] for years b[ecause he was first a cop and later sheriff]…in Macon, Miss…There were [regular]…rape[s] inside the jail [by] Grassaree…and [others, both cops and prisoners, and Grassaree always]…covered up the episodes.  At least five people, including one of his fellow deputies, [witness]ed him…beating [prison]ers or choking them with a police baton…Now, more than three years after losing an election and retiring, and 16 years after a woman first [report]ed that…Grassaree pressured her to lie about being raped, the [typical and representative] sheriff faces criminal charges…of…bribery [rather than rape and assault]…

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

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The political discourse around the border tends to be built around a fantasy.  –  Dave Maass

If Men Were Angels

At least this one wasn’t a “youth pastor”:

A [typical and representative] Orange County [California] pastor has been convicted of sexually abusing two young girls he is related to…Jose Andres Lopez…[committed the assaults from] 1991 through 2020…[he was caught] on Aug. 21, 2020, [when] the [second] victim…was…13…but the abuse started when she was 3…The victim’s brother…was…in the house and…[over]heard…“noise he describes as a rhythm that sounded like having sex”…the victim [later told] her brother…what was happening…[and] the next day, the brother told his mother and the tearful victim confirmed it…During the investigation, deputies “stumbled on a police report” out of Massachusetts from a 12-year-old who said [Lopez] had molested her for years…

Nor was this one:

Indianapolis pastor…Tyree Coleman…offered to pay…a…17-year-old…[for sex and] the teen told police…they got a search warrant for Coleman’s cell phone and…discovered that Coleman…the founder of…[a charity] which feeds homeless people in Indianapolis…was using donations to his non-profit to pay [male sex workers]…During that investigation, police received a new complaint from a…man who accused Coleman of raping him…[after] he missed his bus…and was left stranded…Coleman offered him a room at his home…Coleman would pay him [for]…oral sex and later [for intercourse, but]…the victim [later changed his mind and] told Coleman to stop several times but Coleman refused…Coleman [also] threatened to kill him if he had a sexually transmitted disease…

The Red Umbrella (#1033)

As long as sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence:

A man [named Matthew Sean Donaldson who is] obsessed with video games…brutally bludgeoned [a sex worker] with a hammer in a luxury hotel…with intent to murder [her]…on February 23, 2021…Donaldson bought a hammer and read numerous news articles about women being murdered before he brought the [victim]…to his hotel room…He used a knife to cut off the woman’s underpants in what was to be his first ever sexual experience…the[n started]…a heated argument about the ethics of sex work [to give himself an excuse to attack her]…He left her lying in a pool of her own blood with severe cranial and body injuries as he fled the scene.  Later that night…Donaldson sent the victim a cruel taunting text that said: “Should have picked a different career, honey”…and…also posted a photo of the luxury hotel room to social media with the caption: “game over”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1083)

All too often, evil arrives cloaked in the mantle of expediency:

Panera Bread is rolling out palm scanners that will link customers’ handprints to their loyalty accounts — a move the company paints as convenient but that privacy advocates have decried.  The biometric…technology, developed by Amazon, will hit stores in the next few months…The gadgets will [also] suggest menu items based on customers’ order histories…Amazon One technology is [already] in use at some 200 locations across the country, including Amazon’s Whole Foods Market subsidiary and Amazon Go stores.  Panera says the technology will securely store its customers’ biometric data.  However, digital rights activists [correctly point out] that [any] information [which exists] could be [demand]ed by federal agencies or accessed by hackers…

Feudalism Redux (#1251)

The crusade to reduce Americans to serfdom continues:

…Idaho Republicans…seek…to limit minors’ ability to travel for abortion care without parental consent.  The legislation would create a whole new crime — dubbed “abortion trafficking” — which is defined in the bill as an “adult who…either procures an abortion … or obtains an abortion-inducing drug” for the minor…The legislation also includes a statute allowing the Idaho attorney general to supersede any local prosecutor’s decision, preemptively thwarting any prosecutor who vows not to enforce such an extreme law…The legislation doesn’t actually say anything about crossing state lines, but…since nearly all abortions are illegal in Idaho…[the people politicians want to terrorize are] traveling to the border with the intent of crossing state lines, likely into Washington, Oregon or Montana, to get an abortion there…

Panopticon (#1254)

This is only going to get worse for the foreseeable future:

There is perhaps no stretch of American land as politicized as the U.S.-Mexico border…There are towering fences and walls.  Border agents…patrol…the boundary in trucks.  But border security is becoming increasingly stealthy…as the government erects a “virtual wall”—a fortification not made of steel and concrete, but drones, surveillance towers, and artificial intelligence…border [hawks pretend] this…is a more humane and efficient way of keeping undocumented immigrants out…but in reality, the virtual wall has…been expensive, broadly expanded the surveillance abilities of unaccountable government agencies, and forced migrants into taking more dangerous journeys rather than keeping them out.  More dollars are being spent, more migrants are dying, and more civil liberties violations are occurring…

License to Rape (#1263)

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

Police are [molest]ing children in their p[igmobile]s…Almost 3,000 children were [molested under the pretext of a “]search[“]…by police in England and Wales between 2018 and mid-2022, [650 between 2018 and 2020 and 2197 in the next two years]…Nearly a quarter of [molestation]s involved a child aged between 10 and 15, while the youngest [victim was]…an eight-year-old…1 per cent were [molest]ed within public view, and 6 per cent…with at least one [cop] of a different gender than the [victim lurking to watch]…

The Cop Myth (#1297)

UK officials are just as dedicated to hiding the truth about cops as US ones:

[Cop shops] in England and Wales have been…[caught] trying to “evade public scrutiny” after an Observer investigation found that the outcomes of dozens of officer misconduct cases have been deleted from their websites.  They include some of the most serious cases of criminality, including that of the serial rapist David Carrick…the vast majority were either failing to publicise cases, despite a legal obligation to do so, or deleting misconduct cases from their websites after 28 days…including cases related to sexual offences or domestic violence…The law specifically calls on forces to publicise the results of misconduct hearings “as soon as practicable after the officer has been notified of the outcome”…but…the records at 72% of forces were incomplete.  Many were missing more than half or all of the misconduct outcomes…

 

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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No one wants to hear the Cookie Monster say he’s going to kill their family.  –  LA business owner

Some of you may know the name of Wayne Shorter, the great jazz saxophonist whose passing is commemorated by this week’s video. But few will know the name of Ricou Browning, the diver, underwater stunt man and underwater cinematographer who played the “gill man” in The Creature from the Black Lagoon and also directed many underwater action sequences in movies of the ’50s & ’60s, notably Thunderball.  The links above the video were provided by Jesse Walker, Franklin Harris, Jesse again, Franklin again, Scott Greenfield, Joe Lancaster, and Fiona Harrigan, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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It’s difficult to measure how much you’re harming someone’s relationships and connections with the free world.  –  Keri Blakinger

Surplus Women

Apparently Mexican cops are more concerned about sex workers’ lives than their US counterparts are:

A suspect behind serial killings of sex workers in Tijuana is thought to be somewhere in San Diego, and the Attorney General of Baja California says he is working with U.S. authorities to find the killer…a U.S citizen…[who] finds his victim’s [sic] in strip clubs and bars in Zona Norte…the suspect [rapes]…his victims, [then] beats them and kills them…Each woman was found dead in a motel room…Authorities say they are keeping some details of the murders confidential so as not to alert the suspect…[but] they…know who he is and that he crossed the…border into San Diego…

Follow Your Bliss

The naive believe the government propaganda that “sex predators” are creepy dudes who hang out at playgrounds; in reality, they are largely people in positions of authority over their preferred targets:

A campus [cop named David Laudon] at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth resigned…[after groping a female student and then constantly harassing her with frequent unwanted texts and calls] in 2010…Laudon, was then…hired…in the nearby town of Blackstone, Massachusetts [to lurk in schools and harass students.  While there]…Laudon was [given his dream job of]…investigating reported sexual assaults and [leering at] students…who have been sexually victimized…Blackstone [sacked]…Laudon…after…[finding out about his previous] misconduct…but [w]as [kept] on the town police force…as an investigator who handles sexual assault reports…

Above the Law (#1142)

They usually make these cases sound like the scumbag was doing his victim a favor:

…police chief…Kenny Payne of Plaquemine, Louisiana, was indicted by a grand jury with…malfeasance in office…[after demanding] a…woman…[reveal her] breasts and perform oral sex on him [in exchange for dropping a case against her boyfriend]…The next day, Payne ordered a lieutenant to delete text messages from the woman to the [cop she] report[ed] the [demand to]…Payne also requested Iberville Parish Sheriff Brett Stasi to…cease…investigati[ng]…him after the woman filed a…complaint…

The Punitive Mindset (#1159) 

“Safety” is just a pretext; the real reasons for this are petty torture of prisoners and more profits for the carceral state’s fascist partners:

…On Nov. 14, New York City Department of [Torturing Caged Humans] commissioner Louis Molina outlined plans to digitize mail in city-run facilities…cit[ing cop fantasies of] “dozens” of letters “soaked in fentanyl” [to justify a scheme] to have mail scanned by a third-party vendor and delivered to incarcerated people via tablet.  If the plan goes into effect, it will make New York the latest in a string of carceral systems to end the delivery of paper mail…By damaging…people’s ties to the outside community, the policy could make it more difficult for them to re-enter society, potentially increasing their chances of recidivism…Wanda Bertram…[of] the Prison Policy initiative [says] mail bans are nothing but the flavor of the week in prison and jail policy…11 state prison systems…about 140 jails nationwide…and the Federal Bureau of Prisons [inflict this petty mistreatment on those condemned to their clutches despite]…a host of technical issues: delayed deliveries, blurred photographs, unreadable letters, and missing pages.  In…Pennsylvania…scanning…has resulted in Christmas cards being delayed until March…

Creepy Coppers

Reporter tries to bury the lede; headline writer won’t participate:

A [Georgia cop named]…Robert Vaughn [was arrested] and [charged with possession of child porn] in both Clay and Early County…after receiving [too many reports on his online activity to ignore]…from…NCMEC…[but his cronies are still hiding his identity by refusing to release a mugshot]…

Panopticon (#1256)

Amazon’s fascist collaboration with cops just keeps getting worse:

The New York Police Department…has joined Neighbors, [the] public neighborhood watch platform owned by Amazon’s Ring where video doorbell owners can post clips, and where [cops] can enlist the help of [snitches and useful idiots to fink on their neighbors]…over 2,000 of the nation’s [cop shops] have [already] signed on, including in Los Angeles and Chicago…[NYPD] do[es] not…[yet] have the ability to view or tap into Ring cameras…in real-time [as San Francisco cops already do]…

To Molest and Rape (#1293)

Your “leaders” refer to raping kids as “correction”:

Two [California screws] have been arrested [for]…sex crimes against children…The [screws lurked in] different prisons.  It’s unclear if the two [rapi]sts [a]re connected.  Matthew James Leavens…is being charged with six counts…including rape…[and] Matthew Robert Solem…was [charged with]…14…

 

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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