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Posts Tagged ‘Micromanagement’

In the News (#1662)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The freedom to read is fundamental to a free society.  –  John Adams*

To Molest and Rape

When will amateur women learn cops are dangerous sex predators?

An Illinois [cop named]…Douglas Lee…was stripped of his [magic] powers and [arrested for]…drugging a woman while she was out with friends, taking her to a hotel…[rap]ing her…[then dump]ing her in her car [and leaving her in a parking lot] overnight…Lee…frequently visited the bar where [his victim] worked as a bartender [so she foolishly believed she knew him and drank]…a shot [he gave her]…the [next] thing she remembered…was [waking]…up in her car around 10:45 AM the next day [with]…her pants…inside out, her bra…on the passenger seat and her shirt…tucked into the pocket of her jacket…One [of her] friend[s told her] she had seen [her]…dancing [with Lee]…video footage…showed Lee [taking] the woman [out of] the bar [and when confronted he said she wanted it]…

Micromanagement (#965)

I’d really like to be wrong once in a while:

For more than a decade, New York City has been amassing…DNA samples…without…consent or any court involvement as a routine matter, specifically for inclusion in its “Suspect Index,” a rogue database not authorized by law…includ[ing] samples from people who…have been expressly excluded as suspects in a crime, [people] who have never been charged with a crime…and exonerated or acquitted individuals.  The Suspect Index currently contains 34,872 profiles…routinely collect[ed]…in an orchestrated, surreptitious manner through ruses involving straws, bottles, or even cigarettes, without…a court order…….from those who are merely brought in for questioning and even from children it tricks…

If Men Were Angels (#1406)

Psychopath Grady Judd never misses an opportunity for self-aggrandizement:

A [Florida] preacher…had sex with at least one underage boy and an adult man without telling them he was HIV-positive…Timothy Chaneyfield…[met] the…14-year-old boy…on a dating app before…[taking] their chats to Instagram, which [reported him] to [NCMEC]…Sheriff Grady Judd[, in his typical fashion, made the incident all about himself, using the opportunity to call someone far less dangerous than he is]…“a menace to society”…[and pretending] he [did not understand why]…authorities in Baltimore[, where Chaneyfield was when the arrest warrant was issued, did not want to play stupid cop games instead of simply letting Judd arrest him when he got back to Florida]…

Thought Control (#1501)

A Trumpist stooge declares that the First Amendment does not apply to Arkansas:

Arkansas Act 372 amends state laws by including librarians and booksellers among those who can be criminally charged [if any authoritarian Froot Loop anywhere in the world points at any book in their stock while barfing the magic words]…“harmful to minors”…Librarians and booksellers could face up to a year in prison if they’re [declared] to have “distributed” [magically abjured] material to those under the age of 18…[which] includes simply having the book sitting on a shelf…The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas…[permanently enjoined the law] in January 2025, [but wannabe censors appealed to the]…Eighth Circuit [and Trumpist henchman] L. Steven Grasz…[singlehandedly] overturn[ed] that court’s decision…[thus forcing] librarians and booksellers [to censor their entire collections or risk state violence]…

*Not the Founding Father, but an Arkansas attorney.

Welcome to the Future (#1572)

Giant fascist corporation makes it even easier for cops to lie:

Axon…has cornered the body cam market and is now…pitching products…that use [chatbots] to automate [cop] report writing…Draft One has been pitched as a time-saver…[that can] “potentially free up 25% of an officer’s time.”  Considering a lot of [cops] spend most of their time engaged in pretextual stops, this…just means [cops] will be able to violate rights more frequently with no perceivable benefit to public safety.  Then there’s the problem…[of chatbot] hallucinations…[such as the chatbot-generated] report…[that] claimed a Heber City [Utah cop] had shape-shifted into a frog…The other problem..is that [chatbot-generated reports also] generat[e] a new layer of plausible deniability.  If errors are found, cops can blame it on the algorithm…[and] if cops aren’t writing their own reports, they can’t [honest]ly claim these statements are their own under oath…

Panopticon (#1658)

There are good reasons warrantless surveillance is unconstitutional:

…in Wapello County, Iowa, the…usage policy…tells police…“DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY”…It is not just local police in small communities who are creating policies designed to obfuscate Flock usage…police in multiple states [are] told to “be as vague as permissible” about…Flock because their searches c[an] be obtained using public records requests…The [illegal] guidance…is reminiscent…[of] tha[t] on some other secretive police technologies.  For years, police tried to hide the existence of cell site simulators (popularly known as Stingrays), going as far as to drop criminal cases where it was likely that a judge would expose information about them…

The cop euphemism for lying in reports and courts about use of illegal surveillance is “parallel construction“.

Enshittification (#1660)  

Scenes from the early days of a dark age:

In January, [the mad emperor] posted two clips from a popular YouTube account [falsely claim]ing…[that] Walmart was closing hundreds of California stores…Gavin Newsom’s communications team [debunked] the posts on [Twitter, but]…the YouTube channel…[Trump parroted i]s mostly populated by sensational [computer]-generated videos that purport…to show various companies leaving California, grocery stores running out of food, and school teachers quitting en masse.  The…videos…look decent enough t[o fool chatbot-addled idiots, who don’t]…realize or care that they [are slop]…Newsom’s office…worked with YouTube to identify more than 700 accounts since January that were subsequently removed for violating the company’s terms of service through its…new support system for public figures, creators, and journalists that flags when someone’s face is used without their permission in deepfakes…

 

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

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In the News (#1604)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

It’s Soviet-style education.  –  Martin Peterson

Thought Control (#1480)

The ghost of Kurt Vonnegut vs. Utah censors:

On behalf of the Kurt Vonnegut Estate, authors Elana K. Arnold, Ellen Hopkins, and Amy Reed, and two anonymous high school student[s] with the ACLU of Utah filed a complaint on January 6 to challenge…the…[state book banning] law…which [allows any politician or other busybody to ban any book statewide merely by pointing at it and barfing the formula]…“harmful to minors” [into the face of anyone who wants to read the book]…Slaughterhouse-Five…remains [high] on the [ALA]…list of most-banned classics, decades after its 1969 publication…and…Nanette Vonnegut, the late author’s daughter, [said]…“Utah’s…determination to ban books like Slaughterhouse-Five…is antithetical to what my father fought for during World War II”…

Crippling Thought (#1513)

Surely you didn’t think they’d stop with libraries and primary schools?

Martin Peterson, a philosophy professor at Texas A&M…[has been] told…that he needed to [censor]…Plato from his syllabus…[to] comply with new policies [demanding political control of all education]…the A&M system [is rushing to obey moral illiterates]…Course sections are being canceled or potentially reclassified, threatening students’ schedules.  And professors are…losing [tenure and with it] academic freedom…“A philosophy professor who is not allowed to teach Plato?” Dr. Peterson said…“Is that really what they want?”…

One would think Texas politicians would be fans of a philosopher who taught that there are “inferior” people who are only fit to be slaves.

Mad Libs (#1554)

It’s not really a doctor, it just plays one in the fantasies of tech cultists:

…[Open]AI’s [latest irresponsible advertising claim is that its chatbot can be] a “healthcare ally”…ChatGPT Health is…designed for users to ask their health-related questions in what it [pretend]s [i]s a more secure…environment…and…is [irresponsibly] encouraging [its naive] users to connect their personal medical records and [health surveillance] apps…[it even claims] that ChatGPT can analyze lab results…the [disclaimer fine print claims] that ChatGPT Health is “not intended for diagnosis or treatment,” but it [knows] full…[well that’s exactly] how people [will] us[e it]…In August, physicians published a report…of a man being hospitalized for weeks with an 18th-century medical condition after taking ChatGPT’s…dangerous health advice[, and other chatbots cause similar harm]…

I Spy (#1579)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

A social media and phone surveillance system ICE bought access to is designed to monitor a city neighborhood or block for mobile phones, track the movements of those devices and their owners over time, and follow them from their places of work to home or other locations…the…data…is…acquired from hundreds of millions of phones via a company called Penlink, [and] can be queried without a warrant…the technology…consist[s] of two Penlink products called Tangles and Webloc…Users can perform a single perimeter analysis to search a specific area for mobile phones across a certain time period…then select…[any] particular phone, and, by extension, its owner…seeing where else it has travelled both locally and across the country…

Micromanagement (#1589)

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

…the Department of [Father]land Security…[wants] its [goon]s to gather and store more biometric data [including DNA] on anybody associated with applications for “benefits” including family visas, Permanent Resident (green) Cards, and work permits…[for] “identity management”…the new rule would affect not just immigrants but “U.S. citizens, nationals, and lawful permanent residents, regardless of age”…Institute for Justice…attorney Tahmineh Dehbozorgi [writes]…”this…is creating a vast genetic dragnet that endangers the Fourth Amendment rights of everyone, all without Congress’ approval”…

The Vultures Descend (#1602)

When a prosecutor can’t destroy a life through legal means, they use the complicit media instead:

[When] Kentucky police arrested a woman [for taking] abortion pills…and bur[ying] fetal remains in her backyard…prosecutors [knew they didn’t have a “]fetal homicide[” case, so]…police [simply lied, claiming]…she buried “a developed male infant”…[so] local news outlets…[would run] with the story, splashing the woman’s name and mugshot across the internet…[for] national outlets…[to] pick…up…the state’s attorney [has already] filed to dismiss the fetal homicide charge, [leaving] only [harassment]…charges…[such as] tampering with physical evidence…and…concealing the birth of an infant…so…Whatever the outcome of the case…a woman sits in jail, and Google results for her name may always pull her mugshot and references to a supposed capital crime…

Shame, Shame (#1602)

MechaHitler is the most antisocial chatbot, and it’s not even close:

[MechaHitler] is generating nonconsensual pornographic images of women with their clothes removed and wearing bikinis with swastikas on them…including [legal] minors…Several targets are Jewish, including…Holocaust survivor[s]…Other requests add additional neo-Nazi content such as “put her in a swastika bikini and [a MAGA hat]”…

 

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

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In the News (#1589)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Recovered memory stuff…[is] a revenant that keeps popping out of the grave.  –  Richard McNally

If Men Were Angels

It’s telling how often “authorities” willing to pay for sex prefer underage girls:

A Missouri [preacher named]…Daniel Smathers…[was found] guilty of [“sex]…trafficking[” for paying an underage sex worker, and]…sentenced to 35 years in prison…He was arrested in 2022 after…the…girl[‘s]…mother…found social media posts about her daughter seeking a…sugar daddy[ and reported it to the cops, triggering an investigation]…

Time Warp

Here’s another bizarrely-anachronistic article that reads like something from the height of “sex trafficking” hysteria 13 years ago.  This time it’s from The New York Times, the rag which first launched “sex trafficking” hysteria in January of 2004 and was among its most aggressive promoters until Trumpists gained control of the narrative in 2020 and the Times pivoted to describing their own pet fantasy as a “right-wing conspiracy theory“.  But apparently, copsucker Emily Nunn was busy joyriding with cops when that memo came down, because she’s still not only still characterizing sex workers as pathetic, doll-like vegetables passively controlled by evil “pimps”, but also babbling about “hubs” and claiming that a single street can be a “notorious sex-trafficking corridor”.  Don’t waste your time reading this trash, because it’s the same recycled cop wanking fantasies regular readers have already seen a thousand times.

False Witness (#1105)

The dangerous and discredited doctrine of “repressed memories” is back under a new alias:

…Internal Family Systems…[is] a [pseudoscientific “]therapy[“] centered on…the [belief] that each individual has multiple selves…known as parts…[each] a literal personality with its own identity, age, feelings, even body…[it was invented during the Satanic Panic] in the 1980s…[but] has exploded in social media…Gwyneth Paltrow has praised IFS on her Goop[y Vaginas] podcast…[but actual] psychiatrists and psychologists…are…warning…[that] IFS [is]…a dangerous pseudoscience…that…[can] destabilize already fragile mental states…Former [victims of the practice report seeing]…women crawling around like babies or lying in fetal positions…run[ning] in circles screaming…[or pretending to] switch ages, genders, even species…in group sessions t[hey invent gruesome] stories of parents pimping out their daughters to entire neighborhoods, a grandmother molesting a child in a bathtub, a child forced into a meat locker with dead animals…[or] sexual abuse as an infant…former [victims have]…sue[d practitioners who]…took advantage of [their]…emotionally distressed state to make [them] believe th[ey]’d been repeatedly raped [in]…satanic cult[s] and…[forced to eat] babies…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1463)

Phrenology for tech worshipers:

…Personality assessments are an accepted part of [job] recruitment processes.  They normally involve candidates taking surveys and guessing what…answer[s the potential employer wants to see.  But popular pseudoscience claims]…personality types can be encoded in facial features, and that [machine learning algorithms] can spot them…and…predict…[a potential employee’s ability to serve the corporate machine acceptably]…one of [a] new paper’s authors…[thinks it would be a great idea to force potential borrowers to submit to] facial analysis [to] give lenders useful clues about a person’s propensity to repay loans…

Micromanagement (#1543)

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

A proposed change to a Department of [Father]land Security…rule could impose “biological sex” DNA testing on millions of immigrants and Americans as part of the Department’s mass biometric surveillance program—which also includes retinal scans, voice capture, and more.  In addition to the obvious human rights violations posed by the changes—which, among other things, would amend policy to allow children to be targeted by biometric surveillance—it would put a target on the back of…women and [gender-nonconforming] people…citizens and non-citizens alike…The policy as proposed doesn’t have…any safeguards for privacy or constitutionality—the government can retain someone’s DNA profile indefinitely…to…track individuals in perpetuity through “continuous vetting”…

Shame, Shame (#1577)

Do nitwits still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology?

Social media accounts on TikTok and [Twitter] are posting [computer]-generated videos of women and girls being strangled…One [Twitter] account…has been posting dozens of [such] videos [since] mid-October.  The[y]…are usually 10 seconds long and mostly feature a [cartoon of a] “teenage girl” being strangled, crying, and struggling to resist until her eyes close and she falls to the ground…

Torture Chamber (#1585)

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

A federal judge [has] issued a temporary restraining order…in response to an emergency class action lawsuit filed on behalf of individuals who have been [locked up in] the Broadview…ICE…[dungeon] near Chicago.  The order requires that the [hellhole] provide [victims] with clean bedding and space to sleep, basic hygiene supplies, showers, free water, and three full meals a day.  [Victims] must also be given their prescribed medications and be allowed to communicate with attorneys…ICE [victims]…in…Broadview…[are locked up] in…cell[s] with roughly 150 other people, [forced to attempt to] sleep…on the floor…near overflowing toilets, inoperable showers, and a lack of hygiene products like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap…the…[food is] cold…[and prepared under unsanitary conditions that give many prisoners] diarrhea….[which they must endure on] a toilet…inside the…crowded…cell…[without] privacy…[they are] denied access to an attorney while being [tortured as described so as to induce them] to sign legal documents…relinquish[ing] their rights…[torturers] argue that [they should be allowed to torture people by labeling] Broadview…a [“]temporary holding facility” even though…it has really become a prison…

 

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

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The Wedding of Throwback Thursday

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Rational adult humans must be free to make their own choices, even if others don’t like what they choose.  –  “Delicious Poison”

In the American mind, the “risk” of creating an unidentifiable “dirty” picture outweighs that of creating a human life.  –  “Check Your Premises (#26)”

Modern technology has made the old witchcraft belief a fact:  if an evil person gets ahold of some part of you, no matter how small, he then has power over you.  –  “Micromanagement”

[One m]ust wonder how any sane, modern adult believes that sex for pay in a hotel room is somehow intrinsically different from “free” sex in the same room.  –  “Cooties“

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In the News (#1543)

Posted in Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It’s hard to imagine a situation where a 4-year-old was involved in criminal activity.  –  Stevie Glaberson

To Molest and Rape

If “there is no reason to believe anyone aided him,” the screws were criminally negligent:

A [typical and representative] Arkansas police chief serving a 30-year sentence for murder and rape has escaped from prison and remains at large…Grant Hardin…has been in prison since 2017 for first-degree murder and rape [committed while]…he…was the…police chief of Gateway, Arkansas…[in] a makeshift [disguise that wouldn’t have fooled and competent guard]…Stone County Sheriff Brandon Long [claimed he]…did not have any knowledge of how Hardin was able to escape…[and] has “a lot of questions”…Nathan Smith, the former…prosecutor [on his case said]…Hardin…”He has no moral core or center”…Hardin pleaded guilty in October 2017 to first-degree murder…of…James Appleton…[and] is also serving 50 years in prison for the 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher…that was [depicted] in the 2023 television show Devil in the Ozarks…

Micromanagement (#1039)

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

The [US] government has collected DNA samples from upwards of 133,000 migrant children and teenagers—including at least one 4-year-old—and uploaded their genetic data into [CODIS,] a national criminal database used by [cop shops] and [spook houses, which was]…originally built for convicted sex offenders and violent criminals…Experts say…the DNA dragnet [will soon] be used for more extensive profiling…CBP [demanded DNA samples from as many as]…2.8 million people [altogether]…a sweeping expansion of biometric surveillance…that explicitly targets migrant populations…

Torture Chamber (#1332)

Any civilized country would be deeply ashamed of this:

Unfortunately for…the estimated 55,000 pregnant women who [are violently hurled into US] jails every year, little data exists on the impact [being confined in filthy cages] has on pregnancy…A 2024 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office…found that “comprehensive data on pregnant women incarcerated in state prisons and local jails do not exist…[despite the US having] one of the highest maternal mortality rates” and “incarcerat[ing] women at the highest rate in the world”…between 1980 and 2022, the female prison population in the U.S. grew by more than 585 percent, more than twice the growth rate of the male prison population.  Much of this increase has been attributed to [the government’s pro-carceral jihad of the early ’90s]…Women have seen drug-related arrests increase by 317 percent since 1980, while men have seen a 69 percent jump.  Today, more than half of [caged] women are [locked up] for drug and property offenses…

Blunt Instrument (#1408)

“Sex trafficking” is no longer a magic brain-pause spell, but that hardly matters under the racist, anti-migrant MAGA regime:

A…[racist] Louisiana [politician named]…Beth Mizell [has proposed a new bill targeting Asian massage parlors]…Mizell[‘s head spun around wildly as she projectile-vomited racist “sex trafficking” myths for other politicians to masturbate to, drawing heavily on the wanking fantasy of the submissive Asian woman and peppering her rant with puritan-pleasing dysphemism like]…“illicit”…[while panting about] “6-10 men a day, seven days a week”…The bill also would prohibit keeping bunk beds inside massage parlors [so as to cut into massage workers’ income]…

The Vultures Descend (#1489)

Your “leaders” know what’s best, so shut up and obey:

One might have thought that last November, when Missourians voted to enshrine “reproductive freedom,” including abortion, in the state constitution, that would be the end of the conversation…But local Planned Parenthood affiliates are still fighting in court to overturn the web of restrictions, known as TRAP laws, that made providing abortions virtually impossible in the state…These include a 72-hour waiting period…and a rule that providers must have admitting privileges at a hospital 15 minutes away, to name just a few.  In a pair of decisions in December and February, Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang agreed to temporarily suspend enough of those old laws to allow abortions to resume in Missouri while the court case heads to a January 2026 trial.  But…the state supreme court overturned Zhang’s rulings, ordering her to [change her mind.  Politicians have also]…voted to put yet another constitutional amendment on the ballot—this one repealing the reproductive freedom amendment and banning virtually all abortions…

Panopticon (#1540)

“Safety” has become the State’s universal excuse for violation of civil rights:

…Texas [cops] performed a nationwide search of more than 83,000 automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras while [hunt]ing…a woman who…had a self-administered abortion, including cameras in states where abortion is legal…Sheriff Adam King of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office [blatantly lied] that…“her family was worried that she was going to bleed to death, and we were trying to find her to get her to a hospital…it was about her safety”…Elizabeth Ling, senior counsel for If/When/How…[said about 26% of abortion] criminal[ization] cases…originate after [a busybody foolishly trusted by] the person getting an abortion [snitches] to police…

I Spy (#1542)

Wave bye-bye to the last remaining shreds of your privacy:

In March, President Trump [issued] an [illegal imperial edict demanding] the federal government to share data across agencies, [violating the Privacy Act of 1974 and paving the way for] a master list of personal information on Americans that [w]ould give him untold surveillance power…[his henchmen] have…turned to…Palantir, the [cop-enabling surveillance firm which started out by spying on sex workers, by forcibly cramming]…a key Palantir product called Foundry into at least four federal agencies, including D.H.S. and…Health and Human Services…pav[ing] the way for…Trump [and his creatures] to easily merge information from different agencies…creating detailed portraits of Americans…including their bank account numbers…[and] medical [records]…[in order] to advance his political agenda by policing immigrants and punishing critics…Privacy advocates…and others] have filed lawsuits to block data access…[even] Palantir employees have been unnerved by the [scheme]…and [are trying to claim it’s not their fault if a tool they created specifically to destroy lives is used to destroy lives]…

 

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

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In the News (#1526)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Libraries have never been political.  –  Nancy Pack

Bad Girls (#1271)

It’s an extremely bad idea to try to do the work of any professional without any training in the field:

…Michael Dale wanted his eyes sealed shut with ultra-strong Gorilla Glue and then for [California] OnlyFans model Michaela Rylaarsdam to glue a sex toy in his mouth…Rylaarsdam t[hen] encase[d] him in Saran Wrap “like a mummy”…including…over his head [so he] asphyxiated…while…Rylaarsdam “masturbated with a vibrator next to him, apparently creating content” for her web page where she calls herself Asshley SinCal…The videos…have been sealed from public view…Rylaarsdam called 911 when she [finally got around to checking on] Dale [and unsurprisingly found him] unresponsive.  He was determined brain dead and [was taken off life support four days later on April 21…2023…

Thought Control (#1328)

A few sane judges are the only thing protecting US libraries from morally-defective politicians:

A federal judge…ordered Elbert County…[Colorado] to restore library books [a school] district banned…Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney…also prohibit[ed] the school board from removing books “because the district disagrees with the views expressed therein or merely to further their preferred political or religious orthodoxy.”  The injunction comes [because] the [ACLU] sued the school district in December…The…19…removed books primarily featured Black, brown and LGBTQ people…[and] includ[e] The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Beloved and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and #Pride: Championing LGBTQ Rights by Rebecca Felix.  [The censorious politicians are so megalomaniacal they even tried to] prohibit…students from sharing books with each other…

Micromanagement (#1368)

Since no laws protect this data, its new owners may allow cops to root through it at will:

…23andMe…has publicly reported that it is in financial distress and…there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern…Californians [may]…direct the deletion of their genetic data [and destruction of samples] under the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) and California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA)…

Thought Control (#1430)

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

…The Alabama public library…board of trustees recently voted to withhold state funding from the Fairhope public library after complaints from [pro-censorship agitators that librarians were actually doing their jobs rather than mindlessly obeying any censor who barfed out a moronic opinion]…the board [also] voted to immediately dismiss the executive director of the state library agency…The Fairhope library’s defunding is the first measure taken under a new [censorship] law…“We are unapologetic about standing up for…[thought] control, even if that means…defunding local libraries [to force mindless obedience]”, [board chair John] Wahl said…Read Freely Alabama has started a fundraiser for the Fairhope library to try to replace the $42,000 in state funding…[and has already] raised $8,000…

Torture Chamber (#1459)

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

Family members of [human being locked in cages] at Krome D[ungeon for migrants in Florida] are speaking out about the [horrific] conditions of the facility…A video that has since gone viral shows people sleeping on the floor, and a man pleads for help…[because] there is little to no food…Marlene Amador Costafreda…[whose] fiance was [thrown into] the [hellhole]…said…”They are being treated like dogs.  There’s no AC, everybody is sick…[but] there’s no medical attention, [not even]…a bathroom”…In February…a Ukrainian man…died…after…falling ill at Krome and [then ignored.  ICE]…said in a statement…“[they’re ‘illegals’ and we yell ‘stop faking!’ at them, what more do you want?] Humane treatment[?]”…

Krome is supposed to only be a dungeon for male victims, but ICE doesn’t care:

Immigrant women…were…chained for hours on a prison bus without access to food, water or a toilet…[and forced] to urinate on the floor…as many as 27 women [were crammed into] a small holding cell…[without any kind of bedding, and given only] one three-minute shower [every] three or four days…”We smelled worse than animals,” one [victim] said. “More girls were coming every day”…[some] were held…at the Krome [Dungeon] in Miami – a [cage stack] reserved for men…none [of the victims] has a criminal background…

You Were Warned (#1480)

Vote Blue no matter who!

At the exact moment when Donald Trump and his MAGA allies are actively dismantling democratic institutions and working to silence critics, a group of Democratic Senators have decided to collaborate with Trump’s supporters to make it easier to censor speech online…[by] repeal[ing] Section 230…To understand just how dangerous this move is, consider…that…Amy Klobuchar — one of the [push]ers of this new bill…introduced legislation to amend Section 230 in a way that would allow the Health & Human Services Secretary to designate certain online content as “health misinformation”, requiring websites to remove it…Today…Robert F. Kennedy Jr…would literally have the power to declare pro-vaccine information as “misinformation” and force it off the internet…And that was just one narrow carve-out…Now these [authoritarian stooges] want to remove all protections entirely…[by] put[ting] a sunset date on Section 230 to magically “force big tech to come to the table” to negotiate “something better”…

The Punitive Mindset (#1481) 

This is vile even by the abysmally-low moral standards of politicians:

Sheriff John Montgomery of Baxter County, Arkansas…[petulantly reacted to the FCC ending his ability to bleed the families of human beings locked in his filthy cages by] ending all [prisoner] phone calls on March 30, 2025…[as of] April 1, 2025…[the FCC] lower[ed] the obscene rates of [such] phone calls…[to a maximum of] $1.35…[sheriffs justify their robbing mostly-poor families by barfing the magic word “]security[” at the gullible], but [in reality] the system had…become a way for local agencies to [r]ake…in…kickbacks…the FCC finally took a hatchet to this entire system…[by] slash[ing] the fees…bann[ing] all sorts of nickel-and-dime fees…and…prohibit[ing kickbacks, and moral imbeciles like Montgomery]…are…taking it out on the [human beings] in…[their clutches]…

 

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

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In the News (#1512)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[There are] too many examples of investigative tools that become runaway trains.  –  Rebecca Brown

Torture Chamber (#1305) 

It seems highly unlikely that anything will be done about this under the Trump regime:

Floors streaked with blood, rat-infested cells, flooded hallways and routine beatings by [psychopathic thugs]…are but some of the degrading conditions within Alabama state prisons revealed by leaked cellphone videos in a…new documentary that premiered at the Sundance film festival…The Alabama Solution, directed by Andrew Jarecki…and Charlotte Kaufman, reports on the inhumane living conditions, forced labor and rampant [screw] violence…as told by [prisoners]…under constant physical threat from prison management.  Despite [toothless] federal calls for prison reform, Alabama’s prisons currently operate at 200% capacity…[and] have the highest rates of murder, drug addiction and death in the country…prison[ers used smuggled]…cellphones…to document an outrageously brutal and…corrupt system…incarcerated activists Melvin…Ray and Robert Earl…Council [led a] network of sources record[ing]…beatings, unsanitary conditions…drug[s]…supplied by [screws]…and first-person testimony at great personal risk.  Council was nearly beaten to death by guards during the course of production and lost sight in one eye; another source recorded smears of blood trailing from Council’s cell after he was dragged away, unconscious and facedown…


Thought Control (#1325)

Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only threatening librarians and teachers:

A broad coalition of educational, civil rights, and literary advocacy organizations are banding together to…[oppose] proposed [book-banning] legislation…in Texas.  More than a dozen such bills have been filed this legislative session…[including] one [that] would criminalize almost anyone who allows a [legal minor] to have access to [any] material that [any politician has pointed at while barfing “]harmful to minors[“, such as people who]…put a little free library in [their] front yard…[another] would allow…the…handful of people who…travel…the state with lists of hundreds…of books [they want banned]…to [instead] ban them statewide…

Torture Chamber (#1374)

The 100% predictable result of a judge’s half-assed attempt to stop Louisiana from torturing young people:

Louisiana imprisons young people in an adult jail where they’re attacked by guards, deprived of an education, and kept away from their families…The new court filings are the latest development in a years-long lawsuit [against]…Louisiana…[for caging legal minors] at adult lockups [instead of]…juvenile facilities.  The state’s Office of Juvenile [In]justice…began incarcerating [them]…at Jackson Parish Jail in 2023 after a federal judge ordered them to move all [legal minors] out of…Angola…young [prisoners have since] told the court…that the guards “are very quick to use mace and put their hands on us”…[they’re cag]ed in…“modified shipping container[s]” in the middle of a field…they have been…shot with pepper balls, and had “taser gloves” used on them…there is no school…or…in-person visitation and…they can only call home if they have money in their accounts…the Sheriff’s Office…[lies that prison]ers get 87 minutes a month of free phone call and…and onsite visits are allowed…[but] David Utter…part of the legal team representing the youth, said parents have reported that the Sheriff’s Office told them they cannot visit their children…[and] the legal team had to put money in one client’s account just to be able to speak with him on the phone…

Served Cold (#1405)

Tim Ballard’s partners in profiteering are trying to salvage as much of the scam as possible:

A [disgraced “]sex trafficking[” hysteria profiteer] group is planning to relocate to Minnesota and hoping to set up shop in a new city-owned…facility in Minneapolis.  The prospect that the group, Our Rescue, might be selected to [indoctrinate] police [in “]sex trafficking[” propaganda] in the new South Minneapolis Community Safety Center has drawn criticism from [rival profiteer groups] who call Our Rescue’s approach outdated and poorly informed…Our Rescue was formerly known as Operation Underground Railroad.  It’s moving from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis [but can’t escape either its reputation or a pending] federal lawsuit…

Micromanagement (#1425)

Cops just love new ways to railroad people:

…Parabon NanoLabs was founded…[to profit from] DNA [analysis.  At first the company pursued the prosocial goal of]…developing cancer therapies…[but soon degenerated] into a prominent purveyor of…DNA phenotyping…to [cop shops]…Parabon [claims] its Snapshot FDP System “accurately” predicts not only eye, hair, and skin color, but also face shape.  For a fee, the company will provide [cops] with a rendering of its predictions in the form of a color composite sketch [they can and do run through facial recognition systems]…scientists and legal experts…warn that the company’s sketches are, at best, misleading…Even a scientist who helped develop the technology says it’s not ready for real-world use…In a criminal legal system rife with wrongful convictions and racial bias, there are countless ways…an unproven tool [can be abused]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1433)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

A New York [politician] is trying to introduce the same age verification legislation that has resulted in massive porn sites…going dark across much of the U.S…The bill, introduced by [sociopaths] Jake Ashby and…Mary Beth Walsh, is almost identical to every other [sex surveillance] law that has passed across the country in the last two years…and…defines “material harmful to minors” as a laundry list of sex acts and body parts…

Eavesdropping (#1501)

I have no words sufficient to describe how foolish this is:

Just months after we learned Chinese hackers had compromised US telecom systems through government-mandated backdoors, an inexperienced developer from Musk’s DOGE unit is pushing untested code directly into the Treasury’s payment infrastructure…It seems reasonable to call it one of the most dangerous cyberattacks on the US government.  The Treasury Department wants us to believe…Musk’s team’s access…[was] “read only”…But…[in] reality…a 25-year-old…named Marko Elez (who had refused to give any of his brand new colleagues his last name) had been granted…full administrator privileges to the system….and…is…pushing untested changes directly into production on a system that handles trillions in federal payments…the code changes have a very specific purpose: creating mechanisms to block payments while hiding the evidence…

 

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

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In the News (#1458)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Journalism is not a crime.  –  Adam Rose

Crime Against Society (#1179)

Louisiana isn’t the only state that chooses to punish sex workers in this deranged fashion:

I have three degrees, and two jobs where they don’t matter…[becau]se of…the restrictions of parole and the sex offender registry.  I earned my degrees in prison.  I was arrested at 19 while doing survival sex work, and prosecutors used my trans identity and the fact that I was using drugs…to escalate the charges.  I spent 13 years in…[Georgia prisons] before my release in 2023.  The irony is that now, I think back on sex work as something that represents financial stability…the very last thing I want is to…risk…being sent back.  Sex work would certainly be a violation of my parole.  But so would not being able to keep up with the hundreds of dollars per month it costs to be on the registry, on top of the usual expenses like rent and medical debt…So there’s a Catch-22.  In order to not break the law, I need income that’s sufficiently above minimum wage and that doesn’t involve background checks or 1,000-foot distance restrictions.  But the options that fit that description are not legal…

Top Cop (#1191)

This sex-worker hating psychopath may soon have the power she so desperately craves:

President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race…and [threw]…his “full support and endorsement” behind Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the party’s new nominee…Kamala Harris the horrible campaigner and Kamala Harris the cop can be easy to forget if you’re only considering…her [unremarkable] tenure as vice president…[whose] most distinguishing feature has been a series of bizarre but benign word salads…But…one major thread in Harris’ career…has been flip-flopping on issues to suit the…moment…le[aving] a long-term impression of her as [a] rudderless…phony…if Harris becomes the party’s nominee, the rush to anoint her a saint…is going to kick into overdrive quickly, both because of her identity and out of desperation to avoid Trump getting elected again.  But…her worst tendencies…include…using the state to crack down on problems…better solved through nonpunitive approaches…using moral panics around sex in self-serving ways…acting cavalierly toward the Constitution, defending dirty prosecutors, and finding new ways for the government to poke into people’s lives…

Micromanagement (#1260)

New Jersey cops already abuse the DNA its newborn residents are compelled by law to surrender:

Mandatory genomic sequencing of all newborns…sounds like something out of a dystopian sci-fi story.  But it could become a reality in New Jersey, where [bureaucrat]s are considering adding [it] to the state’s mandatory newborn testing regime…”What we’re talking about is information…that could allow the state…to…monitor and surveil them and their families for the rest of their lives,” [said] Dillon Reisman…[of] ACLU…New Jersey…parents are…told that the testing is mandatory.  They are not told that…the state holds on to these blood samples for 23 years, putting no legal restrictions on how they can be used…[by cops or bureaucrats].  Some states were found to be selling the blood samples to researchers, or turning [it] over to the Pentagon‘s DNA registry.  Now, New Jersey parents are seeking a court order requiring the state to return or destroy the blood samples…or to get informed consent from parents to hold on to it…

The Scarlet Letter (#1397)

I’m sure there are other federal laws which could be used against other state “prostitution” laws:

The Tennessee government has agreed to begin scrubbing its sex offender registry of dozens of people who were convicted of prostitution while having HIV…for more than three decades, Tennessee’s “aggravated prostitution” laws have made prostitution [while]…HIV-positive [a felony, but] Tennessee [actually made it even worse] in 2010 by reclassifying prostitution with HIV as a “violent sexual offense” with a lifetime registration as a sex offender — even if protection is used.  At least 83 people are believed to be on Tennessee’s sex offender registry solely because of these laws, with most living in the Memphis area, where [disguised pigs] and p[igs in suits] most often [employed] the statute [to ruin lives]…the Tennessee attorney general’s office…said in an email statement it would “continue to defend Tennessee’s prohibition on aggravated prostitution”…

Torture Chamber (#1428)

If those confined there can’t come and go as they please, it isn’t a “shelter”, “housing”, or “school”; it is a prison:

Employees of the largest [contractor jailing] unaccompanied migrant [minors] in the U.S. repeatedly sexually abused and harassed [minors] in their care for at least eight years…[committ]ing a s[adly-typical] litany of offenses…as the company amassed billions of dollars in government contracts.  Southwest Key Programs Inc. employees, including supervisors, raped, [molest]ed or solicited sex and nude images of [adolescents and even some] children beginning in 2015 and p[roba]bly earlier…At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges…since 2020…Southwest Key’s vast network of [concentration camps] across three states…have room for more than 6,300 [people]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1442)

Cops are nothing more than state-sponsored terrorists:

In March of 2021, I published a 15 part series detailing the history of deputy gangs inside of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department…[this] attracted the attention of dozens of department personnel, and triggered direct surveillance by the sheriff’s department…in October of 2021…I requested electronic records of any communications made by LASD that contained my name.  The department denied my initial request, which prompted me to sue…after nearly two years, LASD opted to settle the matter and turn over the records.  More than 50 members of the sheriff’s department sent more than 800 pages of emails about me in the course of just 7 months.  Since [my] reporting…I have received numerous personal threats of death and rape.  Other threats have been directed at my family and loved ones…via direct message on social media, email, and anonymous texts.  I have been pulled over…[and] have seen p[igmobi]les stationed outside of my house…

To Molest and Rape (#1457)

They’re trying to pretend this one isn’t typical and representative by calling him “part-time” and saying he was “attempting to complete his certification”:

A [typical and representative Alabama cop] was fired and arrested after being [caught molesting kids.  His name is] Joshua Dane Wells…

 

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

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In the News (#1425)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

No one should fear a knock at the door from police simply because of what the YouTube algorithm serves up.  –  Albert Fox-Cahn

Not So Different

Politicians can’t resist using popular web services to expand surveillance:

A bill recently introduced in Colorado  aims to make dating apps such as Hinge and Bumble [worse] for users [under the pretext of “safety”].  The first section…would force all dating services with any users in Colorado to submit an annual report to Colorado’s attorney general about misconduct reports from users in the state or about users in the state…[or] the entire United States.  These reports would all become public…Scorned lovers, racists, incels, and others with hostile motives could file false reports and harm people’s job and dating prospects in the future.  And a report on a government website looks a lot more legitimate than someone mad on social media.  These reports might even lead to [cops harass]ing innocent users…

Permanent Record (#1275)

Teachers are supposed to be robots who have no lives outside of school:

Domonique Brown was a history teacher…in the Detroit area, but in her off hours…worked as an aspiring rapper named Drippin Honey…she was [fired] from her job…[because one single] parent complained that she was a “bad influence” on her students because she’s a rapper, despite being voted teacher of the month in December…the parent [was allowed to] remain…anonymous [after the drive-by character assassination,] and didn’t [even bother to] go into detail about what they found objectionable about her rapping…Brown said she plans to take legal action against the school…

Stalkers in Blue (#1313)

Even seemingly-consensual sex with a cop may actually be something else:

A [typical and representative FBI] agent…has been arrested for…secretly filming women [he had] sex [with] at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with [cops] estimating there could be more than 80 victims.  Mark Allen Wells…stored the pornographic images and videos on his computer in neatly organized files.  Morgan Ballou, who dated Wells off and on between 2016 and 2022 said that he had shown her the library of nudes, at which point she contacted one of the women whose name showed up, his now ex-fiancé Savanna Smith…The pair went to the police [last] May…and…over the following months, more victims were identified.  His ex-wife came forward [to report] that he had secretly recorded her via a hidden camera on the bookshelf in one of their bedrooms.  It was also revealed that Wells…sent sexually explicit images of them to at least eight people…

Schadenfreude (#1376)

“Nonprofit” merely refers to the organization; those who run it often make plenty of profit:

…Candace Lierd is the founder and former CEO of a [Utah-based “rescue industry organization named]…Exitus…[who embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars] donated to the organization…she made false claims that she was a nurse or physician, [that she] had a position with the United Nations[,] and [that she had] founded several multimillion-dollar companies…Lierd has a stack of 42 charges filed against her…[most of which are] fraud[-related]…felonies…Exitus…did not renew its business license after it expired in 2022, but continued to seek donations on Facebook and Instagram….[with fantasies about fictional] orphan rescues in Europe…Exitus raised over $1,697,000 through [lies and fabric]ations…the[n used the] money…to buy a…new home[, a car for her son, and other things, but]…much of the money is still unaccounted for.

Micromanagement (#1381)

A “Tornado of Bad Ideas”:

In keeping with law enforcement’s grand tradition of taking antiquated, invasive, and oppressive technologies, making them digital, and then calling it innovation, police in the U.S. recently combined two existing dystopian technologies in a brand new way to violate civil liberties. A police force in California recently employed the new practice of taking a DNA sample from a crime scene, running this through a service provided by US company Parabon NanoLabs that guesses what the perpetrators face looked like, and plugging this rendered image into face recognition software to build a suspect list…scientists have affirmed that predicting face shapes—particularly from DNA samples—is not possible.  But this has not stopped…police [from] using DNA to create a hypothetical and not at all accurate face, then using that face as a clue on which to base investigations…Not only is this full dice-roll policing, it also threatens the rights, freedom, or even the life of whoever is unlucky enough to look a little bit like that artificial face…

I Spy (#1385)

Curiosity offends the state, comrade:

Federal [spooks] have ordered Google to provide information on all viewers of select YouTube videos…the orders are unconstitutional because they threaten to turn innocent YouTube viewers into criminal suspects…Kentucky…cops sought to identify the individual behind the online moniker “elonmuskwhm”, who they suspect of selling bitcoin for cash, potentially [ope]ning [him up to persecution under] money laundering laws…In conversations with the user in early January [2023, spooks] sent links of YouTube tutorials for mapping via drones and augmented reality software, then [demand]ed Google [dox everyone] who…viewed the videos [that week by exposing]…the names, addresses, telephone numbers and user activity for all Google account users who accessed the…videos…and…the IP addresses of non-Google account owners who viewed the[m]…court records do not show whether or not Google [licked the boot that time]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #8)

Once a cop, always a cop:

[A retired] Utah [cop]…Sheriff’s Office administrator…[and] mental health counselor…[named] Mitchell McKee [has been] arrested…[for molesting] a teen[age boy].  The teen…told police he was abused by an adult man in exchange for vape pens…he is [considered dangerous because he is] a retired [cop who]…knows where…[his] victim lives…

 

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

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In the News (#1381)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

If war is the health of the state…then scaring the hell out of people is the health of the security state.  –  J.D. Tuccille

Micromanagement

Since practical limits on surveillance are vanishing, legal limits are more important than ever:

It sounds like science fiction, but researchers are getting better and better at retrieving tiny traces of human genetic material called environmental DNA…that we leave floating in the air or water, and mining it for genetic info.  The technique has…[already] been used for…detecting the…COVID-19  [virus] in wastewater, [and] tracking endangered or invasive species.  But now, a team of scientists has attempted to see how much information it could glean from human eDNA specifically…analyzing samples for genetic markers related to genealogy and even ethnicity.  As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, a team led by University of Florida wildlife geneticist David Duffy found that they could trace back medical and ancestry information from these minute traces of human DNA.  And that has privacy experts deeply worried…[because cops] already…[ab]use…flawed and controversial DNA tools to [persecute people]…

Creepy Coppers

The people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A TikTok-famous small-town police chief traded incest videos via a secret Twitter account…Joel Justice Womochil…[was] police chief in Burns, Kansas…[from] February 2022…until his sudden resignation in early August…A little over a week later, Womochil was arrested [for child porn]…[after] Synchronoss Technologies, which provides cloud storage for Verizon Wireless customers, [reported] that [Womochil] had backed up a dozen video and image files of hardcore child abuse…

Incidentally, the ass-backward fantasy that Pedobear, a character created to mock people behaving creepily about young girls online, is actually some sort of symbol for pedophiles is a product of cops’ sick, warped minds, and was the topic of the very first “The Clueless Leading the Hysterical” in December 2011.

Welcome to the Future (#1261)

Conditioning kids to accept constant, intrusive surveillance:

…”Research demonstrates the damaging effect of surveillance on children’s ability to develop in healthy ways,” [wrote law professor Barbara] Fedders…”[they] cannot develop the ability to evaluate and manage risk…in order to function effectively.”  Notably, school surveillance normalizes the idea that constant monitoring is good and necessary for preserving safety…”3 in 10…Americans under 30 favor ‘the government installing surveillance cameras in every household’ in order to ‘reduce domestic violence, abuse, and other illegal activity,'” the Cato Institute…[reported] in June…and…A survey of college students by the Foundation for Individuals Rights and Expression (FIRE) found “forty-five percent said blocking other students from attending a speech may be acceptable in some situations”…If young Americans ultimately reject liberty, it may result from trapping them in miniature surveillance states that defy every premise of a free society.  Kids will grow up to value freedom only if they’re raised in an environment where privacy and liberty are treated as normal and good…

Thou Shalt Not (#1299)

Because this kind of prohibition will surely be different!

People in England born on or after January 1, 2009, will be [criminalized if they] ever buy…cigarettes under [a “monkey see, monkey do” law] announced…by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak [which would ape New Zealand’s scheme right down to the date of prohibition]…The prime minister [lied that] smokers put “huge pressures” on the country’s National Health Service despite the fact smokers in the U.K. pay far more in taxes than they cost in terms of health care…”Not only is this prohibitionist wheeze hideously illiberal and unconservative, it is full of holes,” says Christopher Snowdon…of…the Institute of Economic Affairs…”adults [will] buy cigarettes informally from slightly older adults and will inflate the black market in general”…But cigarettes aren’t alone in Sunak’s war on nicotine—disposable e-cigarettes, which have been blamed for an uptick in youth vaping, could also be banned…

A Broker in Pillage (#1341)

Nobody will be safe until this odious, contemptible practice is recognized as unconstitutional:

A North Carolina teenager was hoping to get her life back on track after a state judge ordered a man who sexually abused her to pay her $69,000.  Instead, she got a nasty surprise.  The local [cops] had already s[tolen] the cash through civil asset forfeiture, and it was already [spent].  Despite a judge’s order, she will get nothing…Mario Alberto Gomez-Saldana II…pleaded guilty…and is currently serving a prison sentence…[but the cops claimed to have found plant leaves when they ransacked his house, and used that as a pretext to steal money] Saldana [had] won [in] the lottery in 2018…[an after-tax total of] $70,507…North Carolina…is one of four states that only allows forfeiture after a criminal conviction…But under the Justice Department’s equitable sharing [scheme], federal authorities may “adopt” state and local civil asset forfeiture cases and…local [cop shops who collaborate in the racket get a kickback of]…up to 80 percent of the [loot]…the sheer injustice of th[is] case ha[s] led to calls from Congress to pass federal legislation to stop cases like this from happening in the future…

I Spy (#1353)

When it comes to surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

…ICE…CBP…and the Secret Service all broke the law while using location data harvested from ordinary apps installed on smartphones.  In one instance, a CBP official also inappropriately used the technology to…[stalk] coworkers…For years U.S. government agencies have been buying access to location data through commercial vendors, a practice which…skirts the Fourth Amendment requirement of a warrant.  During that time, the agencies have typically refused to publicly explain the legal basis on which they based their purchase and use of the data.  Now, [a DHS] report shows that three of the main customers of commercial location data broke the law while doing so…ICE [has refused to] stop…use of such data [despite lack of warrant or supervisory] approval…

The Vultures Descend (#1358)

Regardless of what pompous politicians eventually do, many overseas pharmacies will sell to US customers without playing “Mother-May-I” games:

A handful of independent pharmacies across the [US] have quietly begun dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone under new rules created by the Biden administration earlier this year…Thousands of branches of major pharmacy chains are poised to join them — making the drugs more accessible to millions of people nationwide and kicking off a new phase of the legal and political battle over the most popular method of ending a pregnancy…

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