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Posts Tagged ‘Micromanagement’

You’re an asshole, police chief.  –  Joan Meyer

Bad Girls

“Sex trafficking” is an increasingly-popular excuse for young women to try to evade consequences for violent crimes:

A Texas woman whose case received [attention from opportunists]…after her family alleged she was a victim of [“]sex trafficking[“] has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her role in a fatal robbery…Zephaniah “Zephi” Trevino…was charged in connection with the death of Carlos Arajeni-Arriaza Murillo…Trevino was among three people charged…Philip Aguilera Baldenegro and Jesse Martinez…were each charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery and are awaiting trial…Trevino’s attorney and family [claim she]…was [blameless because] Aguilera, her co-defendant, [was her pimp]…But Aguilera’s attorney, David Finn, says…it was Trevino who organized the robbery…

Micromanagement (#1012)

The fascists who own most of these companies allow cops to root in them at will, regardless of what the patsies who contracted with them believe they “agreed” to:

…several high-profile [police collaborators]…exploited a loophole in a commercial database called GEDmatch, allowing them to search the DNA of individuals who explicitly opted out of sharing their genetic information with police.  The loophole…allows genealogists [collaborat]ing with police to manipulate search fields within a DNA comparison tool to trick the system into showing opted-out profiles…[this is only one] disturbing example of how genetic genealogists and their [cop cronies], in their zeal to [destroy strangers’ lives], skirt [paper-thin] privacy rules put in place by DNA database companies to [give] their customers [a false sense of security].  How common these practices are remains unknown, in part because police and prosecutors have fought to keep details of genetic investigations from being turned over to [legally-innocent people the prosecutors wish to lock in cages].  As commercial DNA databases grow…the genetic privacy of millions of Americans is in jeopardy…

The Widening Gyre (#1134)

It’s been over two years since we’ve seen an unembellished “sex trafficking from a store” scary tale:

[A Facebook] post claims that a friend’s husband brought his kids to Walmart and his daughter wandered to another aisle…and when he reached her, he saw a man in a trench coat picking up the young girl and leaving…Walmart employees tackled him and police were called…a group of men who have “come out here from Mexico to sex traffic kids in all of [Idaho]” and lists local places such as Pocatello, Rexburg, and Rigby.  The post has been shared countless times on social media and many [gullible nitwit]s have contacted EastIdahoNews.com asking us to investigate.  We found that no police departments in eastern Idaho have received any reports of kidnappings or sex trafficking in Walmart or any other stores…

“Mexicans in trench coats ‘sex trafficking’ children from Idaho Walmarts” is the most ridiculous non-Q “sex trafficking” tall tale we’ve heard in quite a while.

The Cop Myth (#1286)

Cop deals with disagreement in typical cop fashion, and the press is shocked:

Four people are dead and six more are in the hospital after a [typical and representative cop] opened fire at a historic biker bar in Trabuco Canyon, [California]…deputies shot the [violently-deranged cop, yet somehow cops claim]…it is unclear how the [murdering cop] died…the [senseless attack] started [when the cop attacked] his wife…[then decided to start shooting at random until] at least nine people were shot…

The Mob Rules (#1338)

Ignoramus censors are shocked when people they have no power over ignore their stupid laws:

Virginia [politicians demanded adult sites spy on their users, but]…the majority of these websites are [simply ignoring the stupid]…law…[and] an increasing number of Virginians are using [VPNs to] easily g[ain] access to these websites…[the stupid law] also [encourages profiteers] to sue pornographic websites [which ignore it]…some…websites — most notably Pornhub — have opted to block…access…[to] their platforms [from non-VPN using] Virginia [users in order to] prote[ct themselves from predatory lawsuits enabled by] the new law, [but] residents can still easily access adult content through a plethora of…lesser-known websites…only one website, xHamster, is [spy]ing [on users as demanded]…by [censorious politicians].  Ten websites…block…[access as Pornhub does], and 54 remain entirely unrestricted…because their companies are not based in the United States, which makes [them less vulnerable to publicity-seeking US politicians and ambulance-chasing US lawyers]…

I Spy (#1353)

The direct result of the Establishment’s sick lust to know everything about everybody:

…a secret weapon criminals are selling access to online…appears to tap into an especially powerful set of data: the target’s credit header.  This is personal information that the credit bureaus Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion have on most adults in America via their credit cards.  Through a complex web of agreements and purchases, that data trickles down from the credit bureaus to other companies who offer it to debt collectors, insurance companies, and [cop shops]…criminals [who don’t belong to state-sponsored gangs] have managed to tap into that data supply chain, in some cases by stealing…identities [of members of state-sponsored criminal gangs], and are selling unfettered access to their criminal cohorts online…communities where this tool is advertised include chat rooms focused on swatting…SIM swapping, in which hackers take over a victim’s phone number to then receive login codes and break into their online accounts; and physical violence, where criminals [not sponsored by the State] hire one another to rob, shoot, or assault their enemies and vandalize the target’s home [without state permission].  Overall, the tool offers exceptional power and requires little to no technical sophistication to obtain a victim’s sensitive data…even for people who have otherwise been careful with distributing their personal information, and who have taken steps to have their details scrubbed from other data brokers…

Dangerous Speech (#1365)

The publisher of the Record died on her feet, at least figuratively speaking:

Marion County Record co-owner Joan Meyer leaned into her walker and stood up to at least six [pigs rooting]…her living room during a bizarre series of [il]legal…raids of her residence, the newspaper’s office and a city council member’s home.  Meyer, 98, died of cardiac arrest the day after [cops invaded and robbed]…her house despite her protests…the [rooting herd] included Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody [who had been hired despite resigning in disgrace from his previous job due to incompetence and shitty behavior]…

 

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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Conflating…sex work with sex trafficking is not only obtuse, but has deeply harmful consequences.  –  Savannah Sly and Diane Goldstein

Change a Few Words

Savannah Sly and Diane Goldstein of LEAP question why sex work is still persecuted while drug restrictions are being loosened:

On October 8, President Biden pardoned thousands of people convicted of simple marijuana possession.  In doing so, he took a step toward undoing the harms of…a notorious era of mass criminalization that has caused untold damage to our communities.  This historic, if limited, moment is worthy of celebration.  But it throws into sharp relief how the tools of criminalized prohibition continue to wreak havoc on marginalized communities, particularly in the realm of sex work…Harmful morality policing punishes drug use and poverty, fosters corruption and promotes the investigation of other victimless “crimes” like sex work, as both of our organizations, New Moon Fund and the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, have recognized…

Monsters

This is some seriously warped behavior:

…Buti Sashi…was armed with a large knife when he went to the homes of [transgender] sex workers…[he had] arranged to meet…at [Dublin] apartments.  In the first attack on the night of May 26, 2017, Sashi began hitting the victim on the face and body before cutting her with the knife.  He demanded sex and [rap]ed her before stealing her mobile phone and laptop…[and leaving her with] a fracture to her left jaw and to an eye socket bone…a month later, on June 28, Sashi and another man forced their way into the flat of another transgender sex worker.  Sashi was again carrying a large knife and both men began beating the victim and [stole] two mobile phones from her.  When a housemate tried to help [her]…the men attacked him, breaking his jaw and cutting him twice with the knife.  They [then robbed him of]…his phone, laptop and €300 in cash…Sashi…has…previous convictions…for…the violent robbery of a taxi driver in August 2014…[and] for assault of a sex worker and theft from sex workers [in 2017]…

Business As Usual

If only there were a concise term for “forced into sex”:

A [typical and representative] Hernando County [Florida cop]…forced a person [to submit to rape] by threatening to arrest them if they refused…Zachary Carter [committed the crime at least twice]…The news release…does not specify a gender of the person Carter [raped]…

Given that this is Florida, my guess is that the reason the cops are playing coy about gender is that the victim was a trans woman.  And given the circumstances, and that he was able to find her twice, she is probably a sex worker (which is why I chose this heading).

To Molest and Rape (#920)

When this monster was first arrested, he was reported to be merely a serial stalker:

A Perth jury that asked for urgent counselling because of the “sickening and confronting” material they were having to view has convicted a [typical and representative West Australian cop]…of drugging, [rap]ing and indecently recording 13 women…Adrian Trevor Moore…was once [convic]ted…of 87 offences…committed over a 12-year period…He met most of the women through online dating sites such as Tinder and RSVP, and he used the police computer system to [pry into their private business]…Moore readily admitted being interested in BDSM and “dominant/submissive” role-playing, and [claim]ed that [the bitches were all lying and they wanted it anyway]…

Surplus Women (#1153)

Cops can’t be bothered to investigate the disappearance of sex workers, especially black sex workers:

…a 22-year old Black woman escaped…after being kidnapped, [rap]ed, and held captive in [a] basement…[i]n Excelsior Springs, Missouri…[by a] man [named] Timothy Haslett Jr…She…[was] kept…in a small room in the basement that [Haslett] had built…restrained in handcuffs on her wrists and ankles…she was able to get free when he left to take his child to school…[but still] had a metal collar around her neck with a padlock, and duct tape around her neck…[she had been held captive since] the beginning of September…Bishop Tony Caldwell [and others]…made reports of numerous murdered and missing Black women…who were missing were being taken from an area on Prospect Avenue in Kansas City…[but] the Kansas City Police Department…called the…[reports] “completely unfounded rumors,” dismissing the concerns.  Local news outlets [obediently] followed suit, [as usual.  The woman who escaped]…said her friends “did not make it out” and were killed by…Haslett…

Micromanagement (#1260)

Any information you give to the State can and will be used against you:

Texas public school systems are set to distribute DNA and fingerprint identification kits for K-8 students to parents [foolish and frightened enough] to participate…The cards are intended to be kept by guardians [and can be subpoenaed by]…law enforcement in order to potentially [connect relatives to crimes, but they’re being sold to the gullible as being used to] help find missing or trafficked children…

Torture Chamber (Rapist Roundup)

The State refuses to call this what it is:

A jury has convicted a [typical and representative Rhode Island screw of two rapes]…Collins Umoh…was found guilty of [a lesser] count…[invented especially for cops, so]…he…face[s a mere]…five years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000 [for multiple rapes]…

 

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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When you become a snitch, [cops] keep your drug problem going and then they arrest you for it.  –  Harold Murry

Torture Chamber (#1116)

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

Throughout this summer, [young adults] in Texas’ youth prison system have repeatedly been trapped in their cells, forced to urinate in water bottles and defecate on the floor…Calls for immediate action by juvenile justice advocates and dozens of [politicians] to address the crisis have largely gone unanswered by Gov. Greg Abbott…In May and June, more than a dozen detained youths at the Giddings [Cage Stack] said [screws] didn’t let them out of their cells to use the bathroom between 4:30 p.m. and 8 a.m. during the week due to short staffing…On the weekends…youths were sometimes kept in their cells 22 hours a day…[so they] had no choice but to use water bottles, milk cartons, lunch trays or pieces of paper as makeshift toilets…

Torture Chamber (#1207)

Just because his victim was gullible doesn’t make this not rape:

The Department [of locking people in cages] quietly canned a Rikers Island guard after…he repeatedly [raped] a [prisoner], provided her with drugs and pressured her to delaying filing a report that she’d [also] been raped by a [different screw]…Leonard McNeill [was] fired for…“exploit[ing] the inmate, pos[ing] a security risk, [and providing an example of the system’s] corruption”…[the other rapist screw,] Jose Cosme…copped a plea with prosecutors, and as part of his deal was fired, forced to register as a sex offender and sentenced to 10 years of probation.  McNeil has so far avoided prosecution…

Micromanagement (#1213)

Any information you give to cops can and will be used against you:

A woman whose rape kit DNA was used to link her to an unrelated property crime has filed a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco over the incident…police…later dropped the charges against her…[after] a backlash from advocates…legal experts and [even a few politicians], many of whom warned the practice could affect victims’ willingness to [report crimes against them]…

The Implosion Begins (#1213)

Everyone who spread “sex trafficking” hysteria contributed to this atrocity:

A Michigan man, who had reportedly been sucked into QAnon…was killed by police after [murder]ing… his wife…Igor Lanis…also [shot and killed his dog and shot] one of [h]is…daughters, Rachel, [but the girl managed to call police]…after being shot in the back and legs…

The Vultures Descend (#1251)

This vulture feeding frenzy is going to get a lot uglier:

After decades of saying abortion’s legality should be left up to individual states, Republicans are wasting no time in exposing that for the convenient lie it was…Sen. Lindsey Graham…is reportedly backing a federal ban on abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy…The bill’s name [“Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act”] is…designed to make anyone who votes against it seem to the casual observer like an extremist or even a monster.  (See also: any bill with sex trafficking in the name.)  The phrase late-term abortion is not a medical term.  But in general, it refers to an abortion in the third trimester (which starts at 28 weeks) or, at least, an abortion that takes place after the point of fetal viability (when a fetus could survive outside the womb, around 23 or 24 weeks)…

To Molest and Rape (#1263)

Some Louisiana cops prefer to rape by proxy:

A woman…[whom cops coerced into being a snitch w]as…left…on her own [by the cops who coerced her]…unprotected and unmonitored in real time…Under threat of violence, the dealer…oral[ly raped her]…twice — in an attack so brazen he paused at one point to conduct a separate drug deal…Even as the woman cried and her assailant threatened to put her “in the hospital,” [pigs fucked off]…down the block…[supposedly] unaware of what was going on…because…they [didn’t care whether] such an attack might happen and the devices the woman carried didn’t have the ability to transmit…in real time…it wasn’t until the woman left the area on her own and contacted her handlers that [cops bothered to]…arrest…Antonio D. Jones…And while it’s not clear what kind of deal the woman struck with the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office…Just three weeks after her recorded assault…[s]he…was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia…and she’s been pulled over and booked on possession charges at least twice since then…

To Molest and Rape (#1267)

Most rapist cops have multiple underage victims:

A [typical and representative London cop] has been charged with [raping] an underage girl…child…[porn] and other child sex offences…Hussain Chehab…is accused of a total of 13 crimes…he was arrested in July 2021 [but not] charged [until September 13th 2022]…The offences [were committ]ed between 2019 and 2021…

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Give people a load of propaganda about…sex trafficking and voila—awareness has been raised!  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Above the Law

Why does nobody ever recognize the likely outcome of giving guys in hyper-masculine professions power over teenage girls?

…a New York Times investigation…has found that the [Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps] program has repeatedly become a place where retired military officers prey on their teenage students.  In the past five years…at least 33 JROTC instructors have been criminally charged with sexual misconduct involving students, far higher than the rate of civilian high school teachers…Victims have reported sexual assaults in classrooms and supply closets, during field trips or on late-night rides home, sometimes committed after instructors plied students with alcohol or drugs.  One [victim] said her instructor told her that sexual submission was expected of women in the military.  A[nother]…said her JROTC instructor warned that he had the skills to kill her without a trace if she told anyone about their sexual encounters…[Another] said she was forced to kneel at her instructor’s bedside, blindfolded, with a gun to her head…

To Molest and Rape

Never call the cops for any reason whatsoever:

A federal appeals court in Texas has sent a case back down to a lower court after deciding that a…sheriff’s deputy who…forced a woman to expose her genitals to him while he masturbated isn’t entitled to a qualified immunity defense…On Sept. 18, 2018, [Melissa] Tyson’s husband [foolishly] called the Sheriff’s Department of Sabine County, Texas, to request a welfare check on his wife…while [he] was out of town.  [David] Boyd called Melissa Tyson that night…telling her…that he handled welfare checks because he was a preacher, although…[his] “ministerial credentials had actually been revoked eleven years prior because”…[he] had…been sued by church members for [repeat]ed sexual misconduct…

The Mote and the Beam (#900)

I suppose it could have been much worse:

…Overall, the 2022 version of the human trafficking bill is shorter than many earlier iterations and lower on the sort of carceral solutions and surveillance initiatives that defined them…at least isn’t simply throwing more money at cops for prostitution stings.  And a section pressuring hotels to [indoctrinate] staff on spotting human trafficking (an endeavor without a great track record) was removed…But there are…repeated references to “trafficking transmitted through technology”…[censorious asshats and their] lawyers have been trying to broaden the scope of sex trafficking laws to cover not just underage or forced prostitution but also the transmission of certain pornographic images by commercial tech platforms…it will…likely mean going after tech platforms in a way that jeopardizes a wide variety of free speech related to sex…

Guinea Pigs (#1153) 

Stalwart friend of whores Mark Draughn picks apart claims that computers can detect “sex trafficking” in ordinary escort ads:

…I’ve obtained a copy of [a]…research paper…[in which researchers] “used machine learning and custom web crawlers to collect and analyze a data set of online ads for escort and sex work services”…you need sex trafficking ads to train an ML system to recognize sex trafficking ads.  I suppose it’s possible in theory: They could have searched police human trafficking case files to find instances where the victims were the subject of online sex ads and then used those ads for training and testing the ML model against ads tied to actual sex trafficking.  The problem…is that actual sex trafficking cases are…too rare to build up a large enough corpus of online ads to train an ML classifier.  So where did the researchers find those ads?  How did they know the ads were for human trafficking victims?  The short answer is that they didn’t.  Instead, they used a manual classification system to deem some of the ads as possibly related to sex trafficking…[using] a list of trafficking indicators from [typical prohibitionist propaganda]…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1255)

Cops want their hysteria to trump reality:

[Flint, Michigan cop] Forrest Bradley…was one of two deputies who [had panic attacks]…after previously [subduing] a…[prisoner] who had overdosed from fentanyl-laced heroin…[the other hysteric was named] Justin Hall…[neither described any of] the [known] effects of a fentanyl overdose [but that didn’t stop local media from gullibly lapping up every word drooled by “authorities” about it]…

A Moral Cancer (#1256)

The claims of crypto-moralists are growing increasingly absurd:

People who consume more than 17 units of alcohol in a week – equal to about five large glasses of wine or eight pints of beer – were found to have “older” DNA…The study…[claims] that consuming alcohol in excess can wreak havoc on DNA by causing damage to telomeres — like protective caps at the ends of a chromosome — which could eventually lead to age-related diseases and the formation of cancer…

Cancer is probably inevitable for anyone who doesn’t die of something else first, but don’t tell that to puritans, who want people to believe they could live forever by simply eliminating every single pleasurable activity from their lives.  Of course, then there’d be little point to an extended lifespan, but one can’t have everything.

Micromanagement (#1258)

Any information you give to the State can and will be used against you:

New Jersey police…use…blood samples taken from babies to in[criminate their parents]…the practice came to light after a case in which [cops]…subpoenaed a…lab for a blood sample drawn from a child.  Police then performed DNA analysis on the…sample that [suppos]edly linked the child’s father to a crime committed more than 25 years ago…a…lawsuit…filed jointly by the [Office of the Public Defender] and the New Jersey Monitor, now seeks to compel the state…to disclose…the full extent of the practice.  All babies born in the state of New Jersey are required to have a blood sample drawn within 48 hours as part of a mandatory [disease] testing program…if police are able to…obtain the samples through subpoena, then…the…screening…is entering all babies…into a DNA database with no ability to opt out…

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It won’t only be sex workers who lose in the end.  –  Heather Berg

Confined and Controlled

“Progressives” want everyone forced into collectives so they can be “managed”:

…the [currently-popular progressive] narrative [is] that…gig workers…should be done away with rather than understood as a vanguard.  This narrative [pretend]s that gig work is new and newly exploitative.  Its primary goal is to bring gig workers back into full-time employee status…[including in its] relationships to the state…But…sex workers’ stories belie the idea that gig workers are dumbly lured by false promises of flexibility.  Many sex workers seek out sex work precisely because it does not follow the rules of full-time jobs.  People…whose lives can’t accommodate schedules bosses set might pursue sex work because it means better conditions or because they find it impossible to get and keep straight jobs…freedom from a boss dictating the conditions of your work can make the workday materially better…Sex work prohibitions…attempt to reign [sic] in th[ose]…who use sex work to achieve this kind of freedom…

Though the article is heavily larded with academic jargon, it still makes some good points.

If Men Were Angels

Parents should keep their kids far away from both cops and “youth pastors”:

An Arlington [Washington] youth pastor has been charged with…child rape for…[molesting a 15-year-old] girl…Kendal Kippen…worked at Jake’s House Church in 2017 and 2018…[under] his father…the lead pastor…In September 2020…[someone] report[ed both Kippen and]…church [leaders]…includ[ing] the [elder Kippen, because they] were attempting to h[ide] the situation…the victim…[has] filed a civil lawsuit against Kippen and Jake’s House…

To Molest and Rape (#926)

When the victim is a small child, rapist cops sometimes get their comeuppance:

A [typical and representative] police chief in Pennsylvania may spend more than three decades behind bars for repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting a child relative of his friend…Brent Getz [will] serve a sentence of 16 to 32 years in jail…three years of state probation…and [permanent condemnation to the] sex offender…registr[y]…his co-defendant…Gregory Wagner…is…the victim[‘s uncle].  The assaults took place in his home from 2007, when the victim was 4, and continued until 2012…

Creepy Coppers

The people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A [typical and representative] Florida [cop]…appeared in court…to face a child pornography charge…Christopher James Chappell [appears to have bought pictures or video]…in…a…[tangible,] shipped [format rather than the now-typical]…inter[net form]…

Micromanagement (#1213)

Any information you give to cops can and will be used against you:

A 76-year-old California man accused of two decades-old murders was arrested after his DNA was collected from a breathalyzer during an unrelated traffic stop…James Gary…was charged with murder…in the 1996 killing of Winifred Douglas…who…was…strangled and [beaten]…Additional charges are expected in the 1980 killing of Latrelle Lindsay…[who] was [raped, beaten]…and [strangled.  Cops]…determined in 2012 that the DNA profile from the [Douglas] case matched a piece of evidence in the [Lindsay] case, [but] no suspect…was identified [at the time]…

For every actual malefactor this kind of tactic catches, there are dozens of ordinary people harassed for minor “crimes” or framed for major ones.

The Mob Rules (#1241)

The number of laws empowering busybodies to harass victims with nuisance lawsuits will only keep growing until they’re ruled unconstitutional:

California…Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a co[pycat]…law patterned after a Texas anti-abortion law [but for]…gun control…the…law allow[s anyone] to sue anyone who distributes [guns California has defined as] illegal…parts that can be used to build weapons, guns without serial numbers, or .50-caliber rifles…[since they rely on the same mechanism, encouraging nuisance lawsuits from opportunists]…California’s law will automatically be invalidated if the Texas law is eventually ruled unconstitutional…An unusual combination of gun owner advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union have criticized Newsom for creating what they said amounts to a bounty system to encourage such lawsuits.  The ACLU called California’s law “an attack on the constitution” for deliberately trying to sidestep judicial review…and for undermining due process rights…

Thought Control (#1253)

I never would’ve thought my first profession would become as much a target for authoritarians as my second:

Library workers across Oklahoma’s Metropolitan Library System (MLS) were shocked…after receiving instructions to avoid using the word “abortion” and not to help patrons locate abortion-related information on either library computers or their own devices.  Workers were [threatened with]…penalties under the state’s abortion laws…The message also [warn]s library workers to be wary of people who try to trick staff into giving them information on how to obtain an abortion so they can report them to [cop]s…The notes also say that librarians can direct patrons toward medical databases, to a computer to run their own search, or to state statutes if patrons have questions about laws pertaining to the topic.  The…[new policy directly] contradict[s] the American Library Association’s Principles of Intellectual Freedom

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By and large, the [state’s] reaction is, “Who cares? A child is dead. Let’s put her in prison for the rest of her life.”  –  Karla Fischer

Bad Girls

I don’t usually think ages are an important detail, but this is an exception:

…two Thai sex workers…Nualpan Coxon, 67, and Pornthip Phonkoed, 63, both of Auckland, have been on trial…[for defrauding] and…blackmail[ing three elderly men]…between August 2015 and February 2018…prosecutor Rebecca Mann…described the pair’s behaviour as “psychological coercion”…but…defence counsel Russell Boot told the jury…”They were not deceived in any way…It wasn’t until their wives and daughters found out … that it became an issue”…

Micromanagement

Any information you give to cops can and will be used against you:

The San Francisco police crime lab has been entering sexual assault victims’ DNA profiles in[to] a database used to identify suspects in crimes…District Attorney Chesa Boudin…said his office was made aware of the practice last week, after a woman’s DNA collected years ago as part of a rape exam was used to link her to a recent property crime.  If DNA from a rape kit was used without consent for purposes other than investigating the underlying rape case, it may be a violation of constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures as well as California’s Victims’ Bill of Rights, Boudin said.  Such a practice could also create another deterrent to sexual assault victims coming forward…Boudin said his office was investigating the scope of the practice…the database potentially includes thousands of victims’ DNA profiles, with entries over “many, many years”…

For comparison: roughly 60% of prostitution charges in the US result from the charged sex worker becoming the victim of some crime.

Property of the State

The state wants vengeance for the loss of future tax revenue:

[On] New Year’s Eve…2019, Rebecca Hogue, then a 28-year-old cocktail waitress, arrived home in Norman, Oklahoma, around 4 a.m. and went to check on her 2-year-old son…Ryder…her boyfriend, Christopher Trent…had put him…in his crib, where he appeared to be sleeping…when she woke up again a few hours later, Trent was gone.  And her toddler, still in the crib, was…dead…Days later, [police] found [Trent] hanging from a tree in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, where he’d killed himself…he’d [apparently] beaten the boy while Hogue was away at work…[because] they found the words “Rebecca is Innocent” carved into a tree…But in the ultimate act of victim-blaming against a grieving mother, the state of Oklahoma…convicted [her] of first-degree murder, even though she never laid a hand on the boy…Hogue was convicted under Oklahoma’s “failure to protect” law, which requires parents to [magically] shield their kid from physical harm if [a jury decides] they…[“]should[“] have been [clairvoyantly] aware…that another adult [wa]s abusing the child…

Broken Record (#747) 

There’s something especially pathetic about a politician who fails to realize a prohibitionist trope is long past its sell-by date:

…In a city council video that reads like sketch comedy…[Hudson, Ohio] mayor [Craig Shubert]] warns that if you open up the lake to ice fishing, ice shantytowns will follow, and the​​n commercial sex…”If you open this up to ice fishing, while on the surface it sounds good, then what happens next year—does someone come back and say I want an ice shanty?…And if you then allow ice fishing with shanties, then that leads to another problem: prostitution.  Just data points to consider,” he added. (Apparently, Shubert doesn’t understand what “data points” means)…

At least Shubert had the sense to realize he had become a laughingstock, and resigned the following week.

I Spy (#1154) 

The government thinks you shouldn’t be allowed any privacy whatsoever:

…the U.S. Postal Service…is violating the privacy and civil liberties of the American people by using sophisticated tools to break into hundreds of citizens’ cellphones and collect their social media posts…the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) admitted in its 2020 annual report that it not only employed top-of-the-line technology hundreds of times to hack into mobile phones but also planned to expand its use of…Cellebrite…and GrayKey…to break into phones, unscramble otherwise unreadable encrypted data, and copy it for [pigs] to [root] through.  This technology is dangerous and prone to abuse…

The Implosion Begins (#1189)

Everyone who spread “sex trafficking” hysteria contributed to this atrocity:

…Troy Burke…admitted to killing his wife, Jessica…by shooting her three times in the head in their [Michigan] home…a judge allowed Burke to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, after psychiatric evaluations by both the state and independent experts concluded that he was not fit to stand trial…Burke believed his tablet device was sending him signals from QAnon members who told him that his wife was working for the CIA…the messages directed him to kill his wife to save the world from child sex trafficking…it’s unclear if the messages Burke was speaking about were real or imaginary, but…QAnon…was built on…false claim[s about]…child sex-trafficking [spread for the past two decades by politicians, cops, the news media (including Vice), sex work prohibitionists, and amoral profiteers]…

Permanent Record (#1200)

Coverage of these incidents is growing more sympathetic:

Cami Strella…tried to tune out distress about being outed until a classmate who discovered her online identity broached a conversation about sex and Strella’s online content.  That encounter signified to Strella that her time as a student in occupational therapy with a neurological rehabilitation track was nearing a close…she…sought the advice of a trusted academic adviser who told her it would be best if she left the program…[so] she followed that advice and submitted her intent to unenroll from the only graduate program to which she had been accepted…Lutheran-affiliated Lenoir-Rhyne University has no policy against digital sex work, [and] a university spokesperson…said the school encourages Strella to communicate her concerns to university leadership…

“Communicate her concerns”?  What sanctimonious bullshit.  Note also that despite the generally-sympathetic tone, writer Lateshia Beachum still felt compelled to include dysphemisms such as “earning a living in society’s underbelly” and sophomoric tee-hee attempts at wit such as “pull themselves up by their garter belts to attain financial stability”.

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I was found guilty the minute that mugshot went up.  –  Julie Levitch

Micromanagement

Any data in government hands will inevitably be misused by cops:

…a new data collection and analysis program…called “molecular HIV surveillance”…is used to identify groups of people…where HIV is spreading quickly.  When someone tests positive for HIV, a doctor usually orders a partial sequence of the virus’s genome to check for signs of drug resistance, and the result gives them information on which medicines will work best.  But in recent years, public health [bureaucrats] have been analyzing the virus’s sequence data to monitor how the pathogen spreads…[because of] HIV’s swift evolution…it [rapidly] mutate[s into]…genetically distinct strains.  When two people share similar strains, it suggests they are linked, directly or indirectly, by recent transmission…[but cops] might access and misuse the data in states where…HIV [is]…criminal[ized]…HIV-positive people…[want] assurances that data will be kept away from police and prosecutors…[but] public health [bureaucrats instead prefer to mouth platitudes about]…balanc[ing] the risks [instead of demanding laws to protect the data]…

This is just “contact tracing” by another name.

Monsters (#616)

It’s unusual for reporters not to excuse this as a “mistake”:

A transgender woman…[named] Kristina Frost [was arrested in] San Diego…on November 25, 2020…she was [at first] placed alone in a holding cell…But [was] later [intentionally]…moved…to a “minimally monitored” cell with three men…”against her wishes”…Frost[‘s]…DMV records and driver’s license both said she was a woman…[but she was] repeatedly misgendered [by screws]…both in person and on official reports…Frost was [then] “viciously” attacked by one of the men in the cell after she had fallen asleep…[including] “closed-fist punches” to the face, which resulted in her jaw being fractured in two places…Frost required two surgeries for her broken jaw and is now required to wear dentures…[screws] witnessed the attack and…none of them “immediately intervened.”  The [attacker] was “eventually” removed from the cell…[but] Frost…[was made] to wait…12 hours for medical attention, despite being unable to eat or drink water because of her injuries…Frost has sued San Diego County and its sheriff’s department for punitive and compensatory damages, and…attorney fees…[due to their] deliberate indifference to safety risks…

Across the Pond (#723)

Every four years, Ipswich claims it will “eradicate” street work:

[Politicians] have [bloviated that they will]…end the “scourge” of street prostitution in Ipswich – [just as they did in 2017 and 2013]…following news that a “small number” of sex workers are on the streets of Ipswich, 15 years after the Steve Wright murders…[a spokespig oinked that] “Police are [swagger]ing [around]…the area aimed at [intimidating] those who [reject the interference of official busybodies]…and the males who [pay their rent and other needs]…Funding of £124,000 will be used to i[ncrease surveillance] coverage…and [maximize the danger of rape and other violence against all women by increasing police presence]…

Gorged With Meaning (#902)

Prohibitionists want inexperienced sex workers harmed or even killed, to “send a message” of course:

A [politician] has condemned Durham University for promoting [safety] training for students working in the adult sex industry.  Michelle Donelan…[bloviated a lot of poisonous nonsense about how censorship constitutes] “protect[ion]”…The university [explain]ed the training was important to “ensure students can be safe and make informed choices” after noting an “emerging trend” of students selling sexual services…Donelan…[replied by barfing out infantilizing dysphemisms such as] “normalise”…”target”…[and] “trap”…[student union spokesman] Jonah Graham…said:  “You’ve got to be maliciously disingenuous to pretend to misunderstand this as anything other than an attempt to support students in a difficulty arising from the reality of rising costs in higher education.  Trying to create a scandal from an attempt to support people whose work can make them vulnerable is contemptible”…

Shame, Shame (#937)

They should never have been made public in the first place:

Many news outlets have stopped publishing mugshots — or at least so many of them — but some states and cities are beginning to grapple with a more fundamental issue: Why do police release th[em]…and should they be allowed to?…The Justice Department has repeatedly refused to release mugshots, arguing…that there’s no public safety interest in releasing pictures that are a “lasting image of what can be one of the most difficult episodes in an individual’s life.”  Last year, the San Francisco Police Department stopped releasing them as well…At least three states have gone a step further, barring the release of some mugshots.  In 2019, New York changed its open records law to ban the release of mugshots unless [the cops want to]…This year, California prohibited police from putting the images on social media, and Utah banned publishing mugshots until after conviction…

Choke Point (#1065) 

Decriminalization is just the beginning:

Australian financial institutions, particularly the Big Four banks, have far more control over the sex work industry than many of us realise.  Sex workers’ battles with the tech and finance industries have dominated headlines in recent months, from MasterCard and Visa’s decision to ban the use of their services on PornHub, to OnlyFans’ [aborted] plan to ban sex work from the platform altogether…On top of the already devastating blow of the pandemic practically obliterating the ability to safely conduct in-person sex work, the industry has been ravaged by a series of changes…designed to…make sex work significantly less safe…We saw this in the case of Mastercard’s policy changes, which were designed to [shield the company from attacks by “]sex trafficking[” fetishists, and] resulted in thousands of…sex workers having to go to more extreme measures to make money…a similar piece of legislation…implemented [using the popular fascist excuses of]…money laundering and terrorism funding, is allowing Australian banks to get away with financial discrimination right in our own backyard…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1176)

It’s good when they feed on each other:

…[Mississippi cop] Harold “Tad” Rogers was arrested…[for having] sexually explicit conversations with…an[other cop fantasy role-playing as a 13-year-old girl]…Rogers tried to solicit explicit pictures from the [oth]er [wank]er…[and w]as…charged with one count of enticement of a child to produce sexually explicit pictures…

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Less than two years ago I broke up the “Pyrrhic Victory” tag by repurposing two existing tags and creating a new one, “Panopticon“.  But surveillance has become such an all-pervasive phenomenon in the 21st century, it even creeps into tags that originally had nothing to do with it.  One of these is “Between the Ears“, which originally grew from a column about how not to handle women’s sexual problems; once sex gadgets started connecting to the internet, though, it was inevitable they’d start spying on people, and that has expanded far beyond sex gadgets.  So I’m starting this new tag, under which items about internet-connected devices surreptitiously eavesdropping on people’s private conversations will be listed in the future; references back to “Between the Ears” #545, 674, 722, 791, 858, 959, 966, 984, 986, and 1152 will also be listed under this tag from now on, as will references back to I Spy (#1069) and #1144.  Items about other kinds of surveillance will continue to be filed under “Guinea Pigs“, “I Spy“, “Micromanagement“, “Panopticon“, “Pyrrhic Victory“, and “Welcome to the Future“, as before.

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To what extent the prosecution will twist the law to its ends remains to be seen.  –  Stephen Lemons

Whore Madonnas (#808)

More from Juniper Fitzgerald:

…my children’s book, How Mamas Love Their Babies…is the only children’s book– to my knowledge– to include a sex-working mother: “Some mamas dance all night long in special shoes. It’s hard work!”…You would never suspect that such a modest inclusion of sex workers in a picture book about how parents provide for their children by any means necessary would provoke the bowels of the internet so profoundly.  Claims that I—along with Hilary Clinton, mind you—am sex-trafficking my own child grace my timeline even three years after publication.  My inbox still tells me that I am a literal witch and devil worshipper—whatever the fuck that means.  Or, my favorite, that I am “communist whore filth.”  It’s easy to dismiss Q-anon and #PizzaGate believers as a handful of rabid, marginal cultists.  But these…exist on the same continuum with wine-sipping white ladies who think sex workers are a threat to their children…

The Punitive Mindset (#880) 

“Drugs” are a popular pretext for petty vindictiveness in US prisons:

Billy Steffey…is a former federal inmate…still trying to fight the BOP for stripping him of good behavior credits and throwing him in solitary confinement for five months based on…an unverified [drug] test with a well-established track record of leading to wrongful arrests…[such] tests…[a]re not admissible…in court; and the manufacturers explicitly warn that all tests should be sent to crime labs to be verified…Yet the federal Bureau of Prisons relies solely on such tests to pu[nish prisoners]…and strip them of…rights…with virtually no avenue for recourse…The issues with these tests have been known for decades and are easily verifiable…In December [2017] a [screw] opened a package…legal…papers [that he claimed] felt “unusually thick” and gritty and looked discolored…many…prisons have…bann[ed] physical mail and used book donations…[under the pretext that] they…are [used]…to…s[muggle] drugs…[screws] tested the…papers…[and claimed they saw evidence of] amphetamines…[then] linked the package to Steffey after [rooting in his] email…threw him in…solitary…for five months…and…stripped him of 41 days of “good time” credit…

A Moral Cancer (#1000)

Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:

[Oregon governor] Kate Brown…[approved] a bill banning the online sale of nicotine-containing vaping products to state residents…despite convincing evidence that limiting access to e-cigarettes drives users, especially young people, to traditional cigarettes that pose greater health risks…as politicians eternally pretend to not understand, banning things doesn’t mean that people give up on them.  Instead, it drives them to legal substitutes that may pose different or greater risks, or else to black market suppliers who offer products of unknown quality and safety.  [When] San Francisco banned the sale of flavored tobacco products in 2018…92 percent of [users] continued their habits after the ban…[but] high school students’ odds of smoking conventional cigarettes doubled…The conclusion that prodding youthful users from vaping to cigarettes is a bad idea is not [even] controversial…

Micromanagement (#1012)

This would be better news if judges didn’t simply rubber-stamp cops’ warrant requests:

Maryland and Montana have become the first states to pass laws…requir[ing] police to have court authorization…[and] probable cause…[Maryland further requires that] the crime being probed must be a murder, a rape, a felony sexual offense, or a “criminal act involving circumstances presenting a substantial and ongoing threat to public safety or national security”…AncestryDNA and 23andMe both prohibit such investigations using an ordinary user profile.  But other companies, such as FamilyTreeDNA and GEDMatch…allow police to [root in] their databases…[at will]…

Devil’s Advocate (#1114) 

Your periodic reminder that a child-shaped toaster is still a toaster:

[Creepy weirdos] assigned to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s [Sympathetic Magic] Unit have arrested and charged a…man accused of possessing child[-shaped toasters]…in October 2020, [intrusive and unconstitutional surveillance revealed] that William Crowder…ordered a child[-shaped toaster] to be shipped to his home.  TBI agents subsequently [roo]ted…at Crowder’s residence and found at least six [toasters (it’s difficult to be sure because Tennessee cops can’t count that high)], several of them dressed in children’s clothing…Crowder [was charged] with six counts of [making toast in a way that upsets redneck busybodies]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1138)

Another cop demonstrating exactly what he is:

Minnesota State [pig] Albert Kuehne sat in his [pigmobile] in March 2020 and [rooted] through a phone belonging to a 25-year-old woman he’d just…[accused] of drunken driving…he [had no permission to even touch the phone, but] clicked through her photos [anyway].  Hours later, the woman’s boyfriend noticed something alarming on her MacBook, which was synced to her phone:  Outgoing text…messages to an unknown phone number with nude and partly clothed pictures of the woman attached.  When they called that unfamiliar number, Kuehne answered…Kuehne…[has finally] admitted that he sent himself three explicit photos of the woman, and then deleted the outgoing messages on the woman’s phone to try to cover his tracks.  Kuehne pleaded guilty…to a misdemeanor…

Dangerous Speech (#1138)

US “authorities” keep pretending “because sex” is an excuse for any tyranny:

During a June 7 status conference…in the Lacey/Larkin case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Rapp…objected to the phrase “escort services” in a survey question about whether jurors had “strong feelings” concerning…the “legal adult entertainment industry”…Rapp [claimed] that the phrase is “a misnomer” for “prostitution services…[that] suggests that escort services [are] somewhat legal”…Whitney Bernstein, an attorney for Jim Larkin, [correctly responded] that escort services are…legal…in…many…states…[Judge] Brnovich…overruled Rapp, allowing the question to remain…

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Backpage and small sex-work ad sites were the test case. Censoring the rest of the internet is the goal.  –  Elizabeth Nolan Brown

License to Rape

Police states define the bodies of all citizens as “crime scenes” which can be violated by “authorities” at will:

…the American Civil Liberties Union [filed suit against] two southern Minnesota sheriff’s deputies [who sexually assaulted] a woman on the side of the road in below-freezing temperatures [using the excuse of a “search”], ignoring her pleas to be taken to the hospital or police station and searched the “the right way”.  During the 2018 incident, Kelli Jo Torres…asked the [rapists] to stop trying to reach into her vagina 25 times…[while] the[y]…kept her outside without a coat in 9 degree weather, along an interstate on-ramp, for a half-hour before [finally] taking her to a hospital to [justify the assault]…

Since Sheriff Evan Verbrugge prefers to hide the identity of rapists, he gets his picture here until and unless someone can provide me with a picture of rapists Dallas Hamm and Shelley Douty.

The Widening Gyre (#923)

Fact:  woman thinks stranger “looks sad”.  Conclusion: sex trafficking!

At 7:40 p.m. April 30, a woman…returned to her apartment [in Cleveland] after being out of state for the past month.  In her apartment’s parking lot, she noticed two cars that were unfamiliar.  She [harassed] the cars’ drivers…and was not satisfied [that they didn’t simply tell her to fuck off]…The woman then [peeked] through a window into an[other person’s] apartment…and saw a female who appeared to be sad.  [Fantasiz]ing that what she had witnessed may have something to do with human trafficking, the woman called police…After [cops] knock[ed] on the unit’s door to try to [harass, rape, rob, abduct or murder]…the female…[the occupants wisely] denied [them] entry…

Do I really need to say, “don’t call the fucking pigs on a stranger because you thought they looked sad“?

Micromanagement (#969)

It only starts with people the state wants you to hate and distrust:

The Trump administration has started forcibly collecting DNA samples from immigrants in detention and sending that information to an FBI criminal database called the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) for permanent storage…The Supreme Court approved this gross invasion of individual privacy in Maryland v. King (2013), ruling 5–4 that the law did not violate constitutional protections against illegal searches and seizures because the original arrest had required probable cause…[but] the vast majority of [immigrants] are detained not because they have committed serious crimes with actual victims but because a harsh Clinton-era enforcement law vastly increased detentions for nonviolent immigration-related offenses…the Justice Department…insist[s] that even if immigration detainees have committed no crimes at the time they are booked, having a permanent DNA record makes it easier to track them if they do so…later.  By this logic…DNA testing could be forced on all American citizens.  Anyone, after all, could commit a crime at some point in the future…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1030)

I’m sure you feel safer now:

Clearview AI…said it is ending its relationships with…entities and private companies [that do not claim the “right” to inflict violence upon people they dislike] amid…several potential class action lawsuits…[including one] which argues Clearview violated an Illinois statute regarding the use of biometric data for commercial purposes…Despite public assurances from Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That that its software was meant for law enforcement, internal documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News showed numerous private companies had used the service including Macy’s, Walmart, Bank of America, and Target…

So they’re now promising to only sell their Super Snooper to violent racist gangs whose entire purpose is to destroy the lives of as many people as possible.  That’s obviously much better.

The Pro-Rape Coalition (#1033) 

Another censorship attempt from the same old authoritarian playbook:

Taking a page from their crusades against Craigslist and Backpage, [prohibitionists] are calling for credit card companies to stop doing business with porn websites…[by] throw[ing] around phrases like sex trafficking and child abuse while p[retend]ing their request [i]s a common-sense plea to stop exploitation…The[y claim]…it is impossible to “judge or verify consent” in online porn content…[which] is “not only factually wrong but also intentionally misleading”…When Craigslist and later Backpage were the moral panic’s big targets…Illinois sheriff Tom Dart [demanded] companies to stop doing business with these websites—even though government officials and [other prohibitionists] had earlier [forc]ed Craigslist and Backpage to accept credit card payments because they thought it would make [surveill]ing customers easier.  Dart went so far as to threaten credit card companies that did business with Backpage, prompting Visa and Mastercard to temporarily suspend their services. (This was later ruled unconstitutional)…

Social Distancing (#1034)

Sex workers must help each other, because few others will:

The…pandemic has closed down Poland’s strip clubs and massage parlours, leaving many sex workers struggling to make ends meet but also inspiring solidarity via an online fundraising campaign.  Similar ventures have also appeared elsewhere in the West…

Torture Chamber (#1037)

Your regular reminder that rapist screws are not confined to the US:

Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS)…have learned that a[n unnamed rapist screw in]…Nova [Scotia]…was arrested and charged with [several rape-related crimes, yet they’re still trying to hide his identity]…The…women [who] reported the abuse to authorities…were ignored, transferred and [humiliated by being forced] to apologize [to the rapist]…by their very nature, prisons are violent and oppressive institutions…[which] make those held inside incredibly vulnerable to [rape and other sexual] abuse [such as]…routine strip searches [by screws]…

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