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Posts Tagged ‘Michigan’

You can literally sell shit in a can, wrapped in piss, covered in human skin, for a billion dollars if the story’s right, because people will buy it.  –  Chase Herro

Since I really like these kind of blues-rock instrumentals, “Green Onions” was the only correct choice for a Steve Cropper sendoff.  The lyrics above the video were provided by Jesse Walker, Mike Siegel, T. Greg Doucette, Ryan Marino, Tracy Quan, Asawin Suebsaeng, and IncarcerNation, 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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Online age verification is not just a major invasion of privacy, but a potential bonanza for cybercriminals.  –  Attila Tomaschek

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor” + teacher = “youth pastor”:

Fort Collins [Colorado cops] have arrested Matthew McGinley…[a typical and representative] pastor and teacher [for grooming and molesting]…a…student…for more than one year…[starting in] the 2018-2019 school year…and…continu[ing]…until the victim cut off communication [in 2020]…McGinley [later confessed] to…a church leader…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1548)

Boss hog tries the same bullshit with cops that cops routinely feed the media:

…[A Massachusetts boss hog named] Michael Alibozek…was…[rewarded with a paid vacation after offering money to a sow fantasy role-play]ing online [as a sex worker.  In order to get higher charges and negatively influence the judge, the sow]…arranged for a meet-up [in a]…school parking lot…Alibozek [absurdly claimed] that he “went on a website to try to get girls off the street…He meets with them, talks with them, and attempts to set them straight”…

Walled Garden (#1570)

Western nations are competing to out-China China:

Under the pretense of protecting minors and preserving morals, [politicians] in the United States and the United Kingdom are putting the privacy of millions of citizens at risk.  Age verification bills…[have metastasized] across much of the US since 2022…but…the latest proposals from [wannabe cens]ors in Wisconsin and Michigan take aim not just at access to adult content, but at virtual private networks as well…internet users have been turning to VPNs to make it appear as though their connection is originating from a different location, effectively bypassing [surveillance laws]…As a result, VPN use has skyrocketed, which is a boon for VPN providers, but…free VPNs [can hide]…malware [that will]…log their internet activity or misuse their personal data…Online age verification is not just a major invasion of privacy, but a potential bonanza for cybercriminals.  With millions of internet users uploading images of their faces alongside their government-issued IDs…age verification companies have become extremely attractive targets for hackers…[regardless of politicians’ empty] promises to keep data safe…

Buried Truth (#1581)

No, this is a different pro-censorship Michigan politician caught on hookup sites:

The name, email address, and home address of [Michigan politician] Bryan Posthumus…along with a credit card bearing his name, appear in data from Ashley Madison…AdultFriendFinder and Fling.com…Posthumus used [“family values”, anti-LGBT, anti-abortion, and associated buzzwords to drive his political career, but]…his…Fling.com…lists top interests as “fetish,” “group sex,” and…an interest in men, women, or couples….

Dangerous Speech (#1583)

The only thing they “regret” is not getting away with this:

The county [whose sheriff illegally raided] a small-town Kansas newspaper…in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor…the…Sheriff’s Office also crafted a statement [pretend]ing regret…the…agreements [cover] Eric Meyer, the owner and editor of the Marion County Record…Ruth Herbel, the [politician] whose home was raided in tandem with the newspaper office, and two other journalists. The agreements coincide with consent judgments expected to be submitted in their federal cases against the county…the paper…[still has other] ongoing cases against the city…

I Spy (#1587)

Bounty hunters are the lowest, most toxic species of vermin tolerated by US society:

…ICE…is allocating as much as $180 million to pay bounty hunters and private [dick]s who verify the address and location of undocumented people ICE wishes to…[abduct.  These and similar bottom feed]ers all have access to powerful [and often illegal] surveillance technology and tools…rang[ing] from…ALPR…databases [to]…location data harvested from smartphones…

Sexcrime (#1588)

Censors never, ever stop until they are forced to stop:

…Proponents of [a new UK bill pretend] the mere existence of choking porn [magically] harms women, even when it’s created consensually between adults…[politicians] are also proposing a range of other regulations related to sex work, including one that would define publishing sex worker ads as “pimping” and another that could criminalize paying sex workers for webcam performances…The [choking] ban…would [even criminalize possession of]…realistic [cartoon porn]…so…anyone who has previously downloaded or purchased any BDSM porn could be prosecuted…and…imprisoned…[another] amendment would let porn performers retroactively withdraw consent…[making adult performance] contract[s unenforceable]…yet another…would make it illegal to possess…any [image manipulation] software…

 

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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[“]AI[“]…is beginning to resemble one of the great speculative manias of market history.  –  Karim Moussalem

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A North Carolina…[politician nam]ed Cecil Brockman…was arrested on [October 8th for child molestation and]…statutory rape…[before his court appearance the next day,] Brockman suffered [a panic attack and]…was taken to a local hospital…his…party is calling for Brockman to resign…[so] the[y can]…pick a replacement..[but] if Brockman doesn’t resign, the[y will probably]…impeach…[him]…

Buried Truth

Yet another example of McNeill’s Law:

A [politician] leading a campaign to ban pornography in Michigan appears to have had an account on a pornographic hook-up website that promised users they could “find sex” and “get laid tonight”…Josh Schriver…has called porn a “scourge” and compared it to heroin…but…an account linked to his personal AOL email address appeared in a data breach from Fling.com…[where his] profile indicat[es] sexual interests including “fetish” and “groupsex”…

A Moral Cancer (#1515)

Prohibitionists never tire of treating adults like children:

In 2015, Oregon [politicians impos]ed a law that prohibited the sale of vaping products “packaged in a manner that is attractive to minors”…The resulting regulations offer a “non-exclusive list” of packaging features that the OHA deemed “likely to appeal to minors,” including images of “food or beverages…such as candy, desserts, soda, [and] food or beverages with sweet flavors including fruit or alcohol.” Also forbidden: “terms or descriptive words for flavors that are likely to appeal to minors such as tart, tangy, sweet, cool, fire, ice, lit, spiked, poppin’, juicy, candy, desserts, soda, [and] sweet flavors including fruit, or alcohol flavors.”  The premise of these rules is that such flavors [never] appeal to…adult smokers looking for a less hazardous form of nicotine consumption…[but] adults who switch from smoking to vaping overwhelmingly prefer the flavors that the OHA views as juvenile…The…regulations require vape shops to actively conceal information that their customers want…[by censoring] labels…[which] means customers must ask employees for information that ordinarily would be on the label…a state appeals court [has] rul[ed] that the law…is “unconstitutional on its face”…

Shame, Shame (#1525)

Zuckerberg’s sleaziness has no bottom:

Strike 3 Holdings, a company that…makes [adult videos it describes as] “high quality,” “feminist,” and “ethical”…is suing [Facebook]…for…infringing its copyright-protected content [by] using it to train [machine learning systems]…since 2018…[Facebook’s] motive was partly to obtain otherwise difficult-to-scrape visual angles, parts of the human body, and extended, uninterrupted scenes—rare in mainstream movies and TV—to help it create what Mark Zuckerberg [absurdly] calls [artificial] “superintelligence”…[Facebook] used the BitTorrent protocol to download and distribute [2,396 of Strike 3’s copyright-protected porn videos], which is illegal…[and] made [the] videos accessible to minors…since BitTorrent does not have age verification…

Thought Control (#1546)

The only way to stop these maniacs is to hit them where it hurts most:

A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an [attempt to censor] books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes…will be paid $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.  Terri Lesley was fired…[by] Campbell County in 2023, two years into the [censorship crusade]…P[oliticians collud]ed with the [wannabe censors] and violated Lesley’s First Amendment rights…[but the] board…[l]ied…claim[ing she was fired for incompetence]…Lesley’s attorney, Iris Halpern…and her firm, Rathod Mohamedbhai in Denver, have supported fired library employees elsewhere in recent years.  Under the settlement agreement, Lesley is dropping her lawsuit, though a separate lawsuit she has filed against [the] three [wannabe censors]…will continue…

The Cop Myth (#1570)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do:

A [typical and representative Tennessee cop] has been indicted…on federal charges [for violently attack]ing his estranged girlfriend…Alan James Greenman…was initially arrested Aug. 21…[the day after he barged into] her apartment complex at 6:25 a.m. [while wearing his magical clown costume]…he…accused her of cheating on him and demanded to see her cellphone.  She told [him] to leave and [he responded by destroying her]…television…and…cellphone…he…[then threw] her…onto the bed…[and] punched her in the head multiple times…she tried to leave [but] Greenman [threatened] her…[with his] gun…[saying] “I’m going to fucking kill you”…he [then went on a rampage, destroying] her belongings…[until she managed to escape with] her [toddler] son…[the Clarksville cop shop] has sensors on their duty holsters that activate their p[igmobile’s] in-car camera when the weapon is drawn…the camera…captured…her [escape] and [his subsequent confession]…to…an unknown male…when [cops later] searched the [victim’s] apartment, they found Greenman hiding under clothing in [her] bedroom closet with his personally owned pistol[, apparently planning to ambush and murder her when she returned]…

Mad Libs (#1571)

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

The Bank of England [is]…warning of an intensifying risk of a “sudden correction” in global financial markets driven by the spending frenzy on [machine learning]…it’s the…clearest warning yet that we could be on the precipice of an [economic] disaster…the…[“]AI[“] bubble…[is] 17 times the size of the dotcom-era bubble and four times bigger than the 2008 financial crisis…only a measly five percent of [machine learning] pilot programs…succeed…with the vast majority falling flat.  Yet [the mania]…now accounts for roughly 40 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product…[so when] the…spending boom falls apart, it could take down the entire economy with it…

 

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

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Y’all gonna have to kill me, I will kill myself.  –  Jarrell Johnson

I came to know and love jazz and swing not only via my grandparents, but also via Captain Kangaroo, which used to feature what amounted to music videos with puppets.  Alas, none of those bits from the show seem to be available online or anywhere else, but I did find this charming little slideshow backing one of the songs the Captain used to play.  The links above it were provided by Jesse Walker, Mike Siegel, Amy Alkon, Scott Greenfield, and IncarcerNation (x3), in that order.

From the Archives

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Amazon [is] serving as a midwife for…law enforcement technologies.  –  Jay Stanley

The Punitive Mindset (Chamber of Horrors) 

“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:

The Illinois Department of [Torturing Caged Humans] will now permanently scan most physical mail sent to [its victims] and…upload…[it] to [the overpriced, substandard] tablet [prisoners are forced to buy if they want to read anything or have any contact with the outside world]…the [only exception is]…legal mail…the [screws’] union…has encouraged the move [to help obscure the well-known fact that drugs in prisons are smuggled in by screws]…the department [even absurdly vomited the word “]emergency[” to justify the move]…But a bipartisan legislative committee [refused] to [buy] the [claim]…at least 14 other states [deny their victims] physical mail…[even though] the rate of random positive drug tests [dramatically increase after such schemes are implemented, as do overdose rates]. In Ohio, lawyers [have reported that screws] are opening confidential mail…

I Spy (#1469)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

ICE…has bought access to a surveillance tool that is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones…this…gives ICE…an “all-in-one” tool for searching both masses of location data and information taken from social media…without a warrant or court order…ICE spent more than $5 million on…Tangles…and [its tracking add-on] Webloc [which were developed] by an Israeli company called Cobwebs…[which merged with another fascist conglomerate called] Penlink in July 2023…

Welcome to the Future (#1475)

Welcome to the “safe” future you keep voting for:

…Amazon’s [Orwellian-named “]law enforcement and school safety team[“], led by a…Washington [cop], is aggressively courting new customers…[for] its own surveillance offerings and an expanding array of [surveillance] tools that run on its [servers], among them…car tracking from…Flock…[ML systems]…with billions of records on U.S. citizens from Lucidus…now owned by Flock…app…[connected fascist fusion] centers…Gun detection software from ZeroEyes…[LLMs] that can…write police reports…[algorithms] from Veritone [which] can identify and track individuals in surveillance footage or video posted to social media…[and] Verus…which constantly monitors and transcribes [im]prison[ed human beings’ phone] calls…

I Spy (#1513)

Politicians will never stop until privacy is completely abolished:

The UK government…is…[once again trying] to [force] Apple to create a backdoor into its cloud storage service, this time targeting only British users’ data…In February, Apple withdrew its most secure cloud storage service, iCloud Advanced Data Protection, from the UK [in response to the previous spying attempt]…Caroline Wilson Palow…of…Privacy International…[points out that] the new [attempt is]…“just as big a threat to worldwide security and privacy” as the old one…“If Apple breaks end-to-end encryption for the UK, it breaks it for everyone.  The resulting vulnerability can be exploited by [governments], [cop]s and other bad actors the world over”…

Thought Control (#1537)

It took seven years for people to start fighting wannabe censors:

Educated We Stand, a national nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending public education…has quickly become a counterweight to Moms for Liberty and other groups pushing [pro-censorship] “parental rights” agendas in education.  The group reported a 78% win rate in endorsed school board races nationwide last year, including major victories in Florida, Wisconsin, and Michigan…The organization…raised more than $375,000 in grassroots donations in its first six months and says its mission is to fight book bans, elevate the voices of teachers and parents, and champion equity-focused, evidence-based policies…

Welcome to the Future (#1540)

Privacy as we once knew it will soon be a thing of the past:

The U.K. may be about to…require every adult…to have a digital ID in order to work in the country, with these IDs becoming mandatory by 2029…when somebody presents a plastic driver’s license, that interaction is between the two parties, and the government is none the wiser…But digital…IDs…are…built so…the system notifies the government every time [they are] used…giving the government the ability to track [physical movements and internet] history…a digital ID system, once created, would prove catnip to politicians…[who would demand its] use…for taxes, travel, health records…government benefits…social media accounts…[and] age-gated websites…[and would] link…[it] to facial recognition…database[s]…a lot of bad ideas regarding technology…in Europe, and especially the U.K., seem to wind their way over to the U.S. eventually…And as of June, 13 states had launched digital driver’s license systems and an additional 21 have passed legislation that would enable or study such a system…

Walled Garden (#1573)

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

Bluesky will begin [forcing adult Ohio] users…[who don’t have VPNs] to [submit to intrusive surveillance via]…Kids Web Services’ (KWS)…This is the same [concess]ion [to censors] that Bluesky is already using in South Dakota and Wyoming to comply with similar laws…

 

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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So-called “quality of life” policing is…literally costing lives. – Meghna Philip

Perquisites

Are amateurs really so sheltered that this sort of thing shocks them?

Top executives of [RCI Hospitality Holdings, the] company that owns [Rick’s Cabaret and other] strip clubs across the [US,] sent a New York state auditor on at least 13 free trips to Florida, lavishing him with lap dances in Miami…In exchange for the favors, RCI settled audits for less than it owed, in total avoiding $8 million in taxes…[now an] indictment…[has] charged six men — five executives and the auditor — and three RCI-owned strip clubs in Manhattan with 79 crimes between 2010 and 2024…the executives falsified business records to conceal the bribes, recording cash payments to the auditor as promotional expenses for the clubs…

Droit du Seigneur (#350)

Prosecutors dragged their feet so much, it took 13 years for this to get from accusation to plea bargain:

[Typical and representative Washington DC cop] Linwood Barnhill…[has] pleaded guilty…to sex trafficking a minor…Barnhill…[pimp]ed minor girls…[making] over $10,000…from one of…his victims…Barnhill…is already a registered sex offender…[he was first accused in the current case in September 2012 and rewarded with a paid vacation, but nothing else was done until he was actually caught on December 3, 2013, with a teen girl who had been reported missing]…

I Can’t Breathe (#1439)

Due to the complicity of medical examiners, it’s impossible to know how many of these were murders:

Deaths in NYPD custody have surged to levels not seen in at least a decade, with 40 people dying in 2023 and 2024 combined — roughly double the toll of any two-year period since at least 2016…One of those deaths was…Christopher Nieves, who collapsed repeatedly inside a Brooklyn courthouse holding cell last month after being arrested for allegedly shoplifting food.  His Legal Aid attorney frantically pleaded with [cops] to take him to a hospital as his skin yellowed and his body gave out[, but the cops just yelled “Stop faking!’ at him repeatedly until] he collapsed and died a few hours later…two [of the deaths, those of Saniyah Cheatham in July and Musa Cetin in August, were claimed to be] suicides [bu]t…families and advocates [have questioned] that…one…case…where the police claimed no force was used was the [death] of…Samuel Williams…but [in reality cops intentionally]…veered [their pigmobile] into his lane [on a narrow bridge so]…Williams’ [motorcycle would] collide with [it]…and go soaring through the air…Williams died from those injuries the following day…

A Moral Cancer (#1497)

Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:

In 2023, New York [state] raised its cigarette excise tax…to $5.35 per pack.  New York City imposes its own tax of $1.50 per pack, and that’s before you include federal and sales taxes, making for the most expensive smokes in the country…at…about $12 [a pack.  Prohibitionists]…hailed the increase, [pretend]ing it [would] lead to fewer smokers…[but in reality] “New York has created a cigarette-smuggling empire, and the worst is yet to come,” [said economist] Todd Nesbit…even before the…hike, more than half of cigarettes sold in the state of New York lacked local tax stamps and were smuggled from elsewhere…[but a new] study found that in 2024, the percentage of littered packs bearing the proper NYC tax stamp declined to 16.6%.  Georgia [taxed at 37¢/pack] surpassed Virginia [taxed at 60¢/pack] as the primary source of littered cigarettes…only about one cigarette pack of every six gathered by the research team in New York City passed through legal channels…[and many] bypassed the legal and taxed supply chain [entirely, bearing no tax stamp at all]…

A Broker in Pillage (#1559)

What would you call a gang who conspired to rob an old woman with dementia?

…a 91-year-old Pennsylvania woman has lost her home—and all of its worth—over a small tax debt…In 2020, Gloria Gaynor (not the disco queen) forewent her yearly trip to the tax office during COVID-19…Gaynor’s faculties noticeably declined around then…[she] returned in 2021 to pay her property taxes…under the impression that…the government would apply her money toward the previous year. Instead, it went to 2021, and her…$3,500 bill ultimately reached $14,419 with penalties, interest, and fees.  The government sold that debt to a real estate firm, the CJD Group, which then [legally stole] the deed to the home…a…2023 Supreme Court case…ruled home equity theft illegal…But…governments are getting around it…by selling properties for the value of the debt—instead of putting it on the market or selling it at auction—so…the…excess equity [goes] to…a private company…CJD Group…has acquired 62 deeds from [just that one] county…since 2011 and…the issue…isn’t limited to Pennsylvania…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1570)

These people are so drunk on their own Kool-aid they can’t see the problem with letting a defective algorithm act as its own gatekeeper:

OpenAI has announced it is introducing new safety measures for ChatGPT after [it caused] a wave of…teen suicide[s]…ChatGPT will now attempt to guess a user’s age, and in some cases might require users to share an ID…OpenAI [has been] sued by the parents of Adam Raine, who died by suicide in April…ChatGPT helped him write…his suicide note, suggested improvements on his methods, ignored early attempts and self-harm, and urged him not to talk to adults…In August…a 56-year-old man…committed a murder-suicide…after ChatGPT indulged his paranoia…[and] another lawsuit…[was filed by the parents of] a 13-year-old girl…[who was encouraged by a fictional-character chatbot to hide her] suicid[al ideation from friends and family]…ChatGPT will now also apply different rules to…[people it guesses] are…under…18 [by calling the cops on them if they seem] suicidal…

Walled Garden (#1573)

This “monkey see, monkey do” parade is now parading around the world:

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva…signed into law new rules [demanding surveillance of all Brazilians who] use…social media, online video games and other digital services…[without a VPN, under the typical cl]aim of [“]protecting children[“]…“Freedom of expression is…an excuse for committing crimes in the digital world,” he said…

 

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 have a child problem and it’s probably time to talk about it.  –  unnamed Facebook employee, April 2017

See No Evil (#1505)

The Japanese are the only people left on Earth who can tell fantasy from reality:

One of the hundreds of laws adopted by Texas recently [invent]s a…felony…[for merely looking at any nude picture of a fictional character] that appears to [any Texas politician to] be…younger than 18 years of age…[within the fictional universe inhabited by the characters, despite all Japanese animation characters looking like that.  Politicians justified the prohibitionist onset by barfing out the marketing term “]artificial intelligence[“, yet clearly states that the law applies to]…“a cartoon or animation[“.  Comics book store owners]…have…already pulled some volumes of…popular Japanese comic[s]…due to concerns [of being targeted by violent censors]…

Shame, Shame (#1535)

Zuckerberg is completely out of his mind:

…[Facebook has repeatedly claimed that] child safety [is] a top priority across its platforms.  But…researcher[s working for the company]…said…[it routinely] suppressed research that might have illuminated potential safety risks to children and teens on the company’s virtual reality devices and apps…[on orders from] its legal team…[which] seek[s] to “establish plausible deniability” about negative effects of the company’s products…[even though] children younger than 13 [routinely] bypass…age restrictions to use the company’s virtual reality services…In Zuckerberg’s [deranged] vision, people will maneuver in and out of virtual and physical spaces for work, entertainment and socializing…But earnings reports show that Reality Labs, the company’s virtual reality division, has lost more than $60 billion over the past five years…In 2021, a…child sex offender in Michigan…was sentenced to 35 years in prison [for trying to lure children via the so-called “Metaverse”, and] in 2022, a…man [molested] a 13-year-old girl [after abducting her]…in Utah after they, too, met and interacted…the [same way]…

Eavesdropping (#1537)

As if rude assholes talking loudly on cell phones wasn’t bad enough:

[A chatbot in a] pendant is now…[available] for $129…[“Friend”] connects…through [an] iPhone…to a chatbot in [someone else’s computer] that’s powered by Google’s Gemini…You can tap on the disc to ask [the chatbot] questions…and it responds…by sending…text messages through the companion app…It also listens to whatever you’re doing…and offers a running commentary on the interactions [with non-consenting strangers] you have…[via] microphones that are always activated…wearing the [“]Friend[“] will likely earn you the ire of everyone around you…[especially because it] is the creation of Avi Schiffmann…a creepy…man in his early twenties…[who] can be brash, snarky, and vocally unconcerned about critical feedback, and…that attitude has carried over to the device he has infused with his essence…[which] comes off as opinionated, judgy, and downright condescending…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1553)

“Criminality” is a status defined entirely by the State:

…ICE…recently spent nearly four million dollars on facial recognition technology…to [find] people it [pretend]s have assaulted [its goons]…Clearview has…repeatedly contracted with ICE…but those purchases did not explicitly say the technology would be used to identify people the agency [wished to target with spurious claims of “]assaulting officers[“]…

Creepy Coppers (#1554)

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A[n Alabama screw] is under arrest for sending [dick pics] and [porn] videos to [underage girls] through Snapchat…Christopher Thomason…sent…more than 100 [dick pics] of him [wearing his magical clown costume] to at least three underage [girls, one]…of [whom was]…12…He [also] tried to meet up with a girl at a high school football game…his boss h[og used the opportunity to strut around bloviating self-aggrandizing copaganda]…

Walled Garden

This “monkey see, monkey do” parade is now parading around the world:

Aussies [who don’t use VPNs] will soon be required to [ask Nanny permission to access any part of the internet any politician chooses to point at while barfing “]pornography[“, “]violence[“]…[“]inappropriate[“, or whatever other magic words they choose to add later]…Companies [can be targeted by politicians for looting using] the new laws [as an excuse]…Similar rules will be imposed on apps…includ[ing]…chatbots…[the] government…last year [declared that it didn’t give a shit]…about breaches of privacy…

Walled Garden (#1565)

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

After blocking its service in Mississippi over its new [beg-for-permission-to-use-the-internet] law, [Bluesky] is taking a different approach to comply with [surveillance] laws in South Dakota and Wyoming…users [without VPNs] in South Dakota and Wyoming can [submit to surveillance]…through…Kids Web Services’ (KWS)…the same [data-selling company it uses] to comply with the U.K.’s [misnamed] Online Safety Act…[which in actuality puts] users at increased risk of identity theft…

 

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 think he did anything wrong, obviously.  –  murderous cop’s lawyer

This has always been my favorite Connie Francis song; I love the way its sweet, slow tone masks absolutely vicious schadenfreude.  The links above it were provided by Scott Greenfield, Mike Siegel, Jesse Walker, IncarcerNation, Nun Ya, Jacob Sullum, and Yasmin Nair, 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 get to choose whether—and how—we adopt technology that can eviscerate our humanity.  –  Brian Klaas

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1361)

To “admit” something is to confess to something true, not to a delusion:

…Mark Edwin Dykema was [sentenced to 180 days in jail and] put on probation for three years…[for taking “upskirt” videos at a church and elsewhere in Michigan.  He was recently] handed [a similar sentence in another] county for similar crimes.  Dykema [tried to blame his antisocial behavior on a “]pornography addiction[” even though there is no such thing]…

Vulture Watching (#1464)

Politicians who drink enough Kool-Aid refuse to believe their own experiences:

[Florida politician] Kat Cammack arrived at the emergency room in May 2024…[in] need…[of] a shot of methotrexate to help expel her ectopic pregnancy…[but] her state’s six-week abortion ban had just taken effect…[and] doctors and nurses who saw her…were [prudently] worried about losing their licenses or going to jail if they gave her drugs to end her pregnancy.  She began arguing her case [just as other women and women’s advocates have]…but [reasonable and legitimate] concern about the law’s [vague, confusing, piss-poor] wording made doctors [understandably] hesitant…Months later, Florida regulators [finally deigned] to address what they [mischaracterized as] misinformation, making clear that doctors should intervene in cases such as Cammack’s…[because she is a limp-spined, narrow-minded Republican minion,] Cammack doesn’t fault the Florida law for her experience.  Instead, she accuses [“]the left[“] of scaring medical professionals [by correctly explaining] that they could face criminal charges for violating the law…[and] medical staff [for]…fear[ing having their lives wrecked by prosecutors eager]…to enforce the ban.   [Human rights advocates] said blaming medical workers echoes the “playbook of antiabortion extremists that for decades have been blaming and villainizing doctors”…

Thought Control (#1491)

Just keep plunging that ice pick in; the bad thoughts will go away eventually:

…a mind-boggling list of hundreds of books purged from…Tennessee school libraries…[includes] a book…called Ancient Greece and the Olympics…[banned for having “The Discus Thrower“] on the cover…[others] include…[Shel] Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic…Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan…They Called Us Enemy by George Takei..Richard Jolley: Sculptor of Glass, a[bout a Tennessee] artist…Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird…John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath…In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater…Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak…Art Spiegelman’s…Maus, The Hidden Children of the Holocaust by Ester Kustanowitz…The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders…the bans are coming without any review or discussion…[because any politician can demand] censorship of [any book by pointing at it and belching any of an]…expanding [list] of [magic words] such as “sexually explicit,” “obscene,” and “harmful to minors”…[putting] Tennessee…on par with states like Florida, Iowa, and Texas…

Creepy Coppers (#1532)

Just another kind of cop, with typical cop behavior:

A [typical and representative anti-migrant thug from North Carolina] was indicted on [child porn] charges…Philip Andrew Douglass…was accused of knowingly distributing and possessing the [smut without government permission, by other cops who were sharing it with permission]…

You Were Warned (#1533)

No shit. Sensible people did tell y’all:

Technology to check a person’s age and ban under 16s from using social media is not “guaranteed to be effective” and face-scanning tools [often] give…incorrect results, concede the operators of a Australian government trial of the scheme.  The tools being trialled – some involving [programs] analysing voices and faces – would be improved through [more intrusive surveillance methods], those running the scheme have [predictably] suggested.  The trial also found “concerning evidence” some technology providers were seeking to gather too much personal information [and then not handing it over to the government.  Despite these predictable issues]…the operators [still] insist…age assurance can work and maintain personal privacy…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1538)

How much will it cost for a doctor to remove them from your face after somebody punches you for filming them without consent?

[Facebook] is announcing its next…glass[hole eyewear] with Oakley.  The limited-edition…HSTN (pronounced “how-stuhn”) model costs $499 and…other Oakley models with [Facebook]’s tech will be available starting at $399…Like the existing…Ray-Ban glasses, the Oakley model features a front-facing camera, along with open-ear speakers and microphones that are built into the frame.  After they are paired with a phone, the glasses can be used to [dox anyone who just happens to walk past their camera and Facebook’s LLM] can also [make up shit] about what someone is seeing and even [aggravate the wearer’s mental health issues.  Facebook]…is [market]ing th[is] new [overpriced toy]…to…athletes…and…the built-in camera now shoots in 3K video, up from 1080p for the…Ray-Bans…

Is it just me, or do these look like cheap plastic sunglasses for kids?

Mad Libs (#1548)

Not only are these algorithms unintelligent; they are making those who use them unintelligent as well:

…Every piece of technology can either make us more human or less human.  It can liberate us from the mundane to unleash creativity and connection, or it can shackle us to mindless robotic drudgery of isolated meaninglessness…When [computers are] used to diagnose cancer or automate soul-crushing tasks that require vapid toiling, [they] make…us more human and should be celebrated.  But when [they] suck…out the core process of advanced cognition, cutting-edge tools can become an existential peril.  In the formative stages of education, we are now at risk of stripping away the core competency that makes our species thrive: learning not what to think, but how to think….Our minds make us human—and language provides the social architecture of our thoughts.  [Large language models are] already killing off important parts of the human experience.  But one of [their] most consequential murders—so far—is the demise of a longstanding rite of passage for students worldwide: an attempt to synthesize complex information and condense it into compelling analytical prose.  It’s a training ground for the most quintessentially human aptitudes, combining how to think with how to use language to communicate…This is part of what is lost by ChatGPT, the mistaken belief that the spat out string of words in a reasonable order is the only goal, when it’s often the cognitive act of producing the string of words that matters most…

 

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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[Modern] ideas about coercion and consent…[a]re…so…arcane…[they] stop…just short of taking astrological signs into account.  –  E. N. Brown

A Broker in Pillage (#1324)

For the complicated backstory of this ongoing travesty, click on the subtitle link above:

A prosecutor who [brazen]ly weaponized the criminal code to retaliate against a man for filing a class-action lawsuit that challenged the notorious [legalized robbery racket] in Wayne County, Michigan, is not entitled to prosecutorial immunity, a state appeals court has ruled…sending the man’s lawsuit against that prosecutor back to the trial court…Suits like Reeves’ are usually doomed before they begin, as prosecutors are protected by absolute immunity for judicial or quasi-judicial functions…[even if they] falsify evidence, introduce perjured testimony, coerce witnesses, or hide exculpatory information from the defense.  But the State of Michigan Court of Appeals…ruled yesterday that Dennis Doherty, the [blatantly-corrupt] prosecutor…was not entitled to that protection, because [he took so many shortcuts his] misconduct did not qualify as quasi-judicial…[unfortunately, he is still] entitled to qualified immunity…[which may still sink] Reeves[‘ case]…

Panopticon (#1470)

If there’s a camera, cops will conscript it for use as a surveillance tool:

[LAPD] obtained video footage from a Waymo driverless car as part of its investigation into a hit-and-run in which a separate, human-driven car hit a pedestrian…[and] published the footage…on its YouTube page to ask the public for help identifying the driver of the vehicle…[demonstrating] that [cops] are now looking at…robotaxis as…[handy] surveillance [tools]…[just like] Teslas, extremely pervasive Ring cameras, and [delivery robots]…Waymo is rapidly expanding…and…the proliferation of Waymo cars also means the proliferation of roving surveillance cameras…

The Prudish Giant (#1513)

Why does anyone still trust Facebook?

Tracking code that [Facebook] and Russia-based Yandex embed into millions of websites is de-anonymizing visitors by abusing legitimate Internet protocols, causing Chrome and other browsers to surreptitiously send unique identifiers to…apps installed on a device…Google says it’s investigating the abuse, which allows [Facebook] and Yandex to…bypass core security and privacy protections provided by both the Android operating system and browsers that run on it.  Android sandboxing, for instance, isolates processes to prevent them from interacting with the OS and any other app installed on the device, cutting off access to sensitive data or privileged system resources.  The bypass…allows the companies to pass cookies or other identifiers from Firefox and Chromium-based browsers to…tie that vast browsing history to the [Facebook or Yandex] account holder…Google said the behavior violates the terms of service for its Play marketplace and the privacy expectations of Android users…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1532)

Most Americans still believe France is a sex-positive society:

French authorities are seriously considering restricting public access to some of the world’s most popular social media sites [using the excuse of] prevent[ing legal minors] from accessing pornography…President Emmanuel Macron [is also harping on]…the country’s push to ban social media for under-15s…[using the excuse of] the murder of a teaching assistant in a high school…[ARCOM] is considering designating websites such as Bluesky, Mastodon and Reddit — all of which allow the distribution of adult content — as porn platforms, obliging them to implement stringent age verification requirements…

Imaginary Evils (#1539)

Backpage was only the test case for this ethically-bankrupt strategy:

…[in] the OneTaste case…a jury has returned a guilty verdict against Rachel Cherwitz and Nicole Daedone…the larger implications of this case…[a]re not pretty…[institutionalized] ideas about coercion and consent…went from…acknowledging that sexual assault needn’t necessarily involve force or violence…to women getting support for claims of sexual coercion…even when they seemed to willingly go along with sexual activity at the time but later said that they weren’t enthusiastic enough about it and a partner should have known that and stopped…Are sexual partners supposed to be mind readers? Do women have any responsibility for explicitly making their wishes known?…It was a new paradigm…sold, perversely, as empowering to women…We’re uncomfortable as a culture with “assigning women complete sexual responsibility, even though we want them to have complete sexual liberty,” said Kat Rosenfield on a recent…podcast…And once you’re in that mode, you end up with some real mental shenanigans around consent…[which] have now crossed over from…cultural vibes to legal standards adopted by federal prosecutors with the power to…put people in prison…We’re looking at campus kangaroo courts come to a federal courthouse, with U.S. attorneys fully embracing…one more step in the total infantilization of women, negating the gains in sexual and social autonomy that we’ve won...

Business Opportunity (#1539)

This pernicious abuse of power has become more common of late:

For 20 years, Amy Stanford and her sister Carolyn Wilson have run Time for Dinner, a…meal prep business that has served generations of local families in Brentwood, Missouri.  Now she’s one of several local small business owners suing the city over its decision to label their properties “blighted”…[so it can steal them to make way for a] $436 million redevelopment plan…with new office buildings and apartment complexes…[which would] generate [more] tax revenue…a [sloppy and incomplete] 2023 study…commissioned [by the city declared]…the entire corridor blighted…and…no evidence of blight [was] presented [for the majority of buildings]…During the trial, which began in May…the city used…retroactive…justifications…using [a] 2018 survey…and [ignoring]…Missouri’s standards…[requiring “]a predominance of unsafe conditions…or other issues that…endanger public health, safety, or welfare”…Dave Phillips, a Minnesota architect and property inspector…testified that using the city’s blight criteria, virtually any property could be deemed blighted, including 70 percent of Brentwood’s housing stock…

I Spy (#1546)

Elon Musk’s “DOGE” didn’t “fail”; it accomplished exactly what he intended:

Elon Musk’s [“DOGE”] goons…transmitted a large amount of data—all of it undetected—using a Starlink Wi-Fi terminal they installed on top of the White House…in mid-March with the sign-off of Donald Trump’s [regime], but against concerns raised by security officials…[Musk pretended] installing Starlink was intended to address connection “dead zones” on the White House compound…[but in reality] the move was intended to bypass White House systems that track the transmission of data—with names and time stamps—and secure it from spies…

 

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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