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Posts Tagged ‘Minnesota’

Feeling that the law shouldn’t apply to such matters…does absolutely nothing to change the…facts.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1374) 

“Sex addiction” is basically a shared delusion of guilt-ridden patients and biased “therapists”:

Moral incongruence theory…has been used to explain why so-called sex addicts don’t have more sex than other people but feel worse about it.  When people hold moral beliefs about certain kinds of sexual behavior but still engage in those same behaviors, they are likely to experience shame…guilt…depression, distress, and anxiety…therapists who promote…sex and porn addiction do little to help resolve these moral conflicts and instead focus on the sexual behaviors.  This may be due to moral incongruence in the therapists themselves…No research supports treatments that address pornography as an addiction.  New research by Justine Meador…[showed that] certified sex addiction therapists…had a personal history of seeking sex addiction treatment themselves, compared to less than 5 percent of non-CSAT therapists…Mental health professionals who had higher levels of moral incongruence about their own sexuality were significantly more likely to diagnose porn addiction in other people…[even] when considering clinical vignettes containing symptoms of depression or bipolar disorder along with pornography use…

The Vultures Descend (#1417)

“Fetal personhood” policies are going to keep getting more absurd:

…Honeyhline and Jason Heidemann [used in-vitro fertilization in 2015 to conceive a daughter, and they cryogenically stored two remaining embryos.  An agreement they signed at the time specified that any frozen embryos would be owned jointly but did not say what would happen in the event of divorce.  When they divorced in 2018, they] couldn’t decide who should retain ownership of the frozen embryos…Honeyhline…wanted to use the frozen embryos to conceive another child…But [on] March 7, 2025…Judge Dontae L. Bugg…dismiss[ed her]…suit [under the ridiculous pretense] that “human embryos are not subject to partition” under Virginia law “as they do not constitute goods or chattels capable of being valued and sold.”  Bugg goes on to [opine] that there’s no way that two embryos can be divided equally between two people because “the unique nature of each human embryo means that an equal division cannot conveniently be made”…

Yes, American jurisprudence has now descended to the point where “two cannot be evenly divided by two” is supposed to be taken as a serious judicial opinion.

Enshittification

Another factor in the coming dark age: computer-generated garbage making records of this period unreliable:

There are thousands of…accounts [spew]ing thousands of [computer-generated video]s and images across every social media platform.  Large parts of the SEO industry have pivoted entirely to [CGI] content, as has some of the internet advertising industry…the brute force attack….relies on rapid trial-and-error to guess a password…[these] attacks are not very efficient, but they are effective.  An attacker relentlessly hammers the target until a vulnerability is found or a password is guessed…The best way to think of the slop and spam that [CGI] enables is as a brute force attack on the algorithms that control the internet and which govern how a large segment of the public interprets the nature of reality…the intended “audience” of [CGI] slop is social media and search algorithms, not human beings.  What this means…is that human-created content is getting almost entirely drowned out by [CGI] content because of the sheer amount of it…there is a near total collapse of the information ecosystem and thus of “reality” online…[so] many users seem to have completely lost the ability to tell what is real and what is fake, or simply do not care anymore…

Thought Control (#1491)

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

Florida leads the nation in book [censorship], and [sane people] fear new legislation moving through the State Capitol would make [the problem even worse].  Currently, state law surrounding book challenges mirrors the national standard of obscenity, also known as the Miller Test…the new legislation approved by its first Senate committee Tuesday would prohibit school boards from [using any kind of human judgment] when [responding to a censorship demand, instead requiring them to robotically]…take a book down to its parts and pieces and [censor it if any Froot Loop objects to as much as a single word or line].  The bill also includes penalties for districts that [don’t censor enough books for state politicians’ liking], allowing the Department of Education to withhold state funding…

Vulture Watching (#1500)

Texas pretends to care about women’s health in defense of its crusade to kill more women:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [crowed about] the arrest of Maria Margarita Rojas…for providing…abortions and illegally operating a network of clinics…without a license…Paxton [vomited disgusting propaganda onto the upturned faces of reporters, pretending to care about the health of pregnant women]…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1514)

The mad emperor wants to use copaganda to wreck the medical system and excuse even more state violence:

[Mad emperor] Trump [plans to] designat[e]…fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction…a…State [Department]…source speculates the purpose is a combination of designating fentanyl cartels as terrorist organizations…creating justification for conducting military [invasions of] Mexico and Canada…[and inventing] justification for rounding up homeless encampments and deporting drug users who are not citizens…[the imperial proclamation] “cites a statute that does not entail an authority to ‘designate’ substances as WMD” [and will obviously have] “negative effects on entities that legitimately handle, ship, and deliver opioids for pharmaceutical purposes”…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1521)

Laws are for the peasantry, not the rulers:

Minnesota [Trumpist politician] Justin Eichorn was arrested…for…soliciting a [cop who was fantasy role-playing as]…a 16-year-old [girl online.  When he showed up to] meet [the imaginary teen sex worker]…he was arrested…

Just last week, Eichorn made national news for his nauseating display of bootlicking, proposing that he and three other MAGA cultists, none of who have PhDs in psychology, be allowed to invent an imaginary mental illness called “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, characterized by a revulsion for Trump and his disgusting behavior, and have it counted by actual mental health professionals as an actual mental illness in Minnesota.

 

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

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[There 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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I wanted her arrested for assault, not executed.  –  Talisa Coombs

This catchy number was one of my favorite songs from Sesame Street, but I hadn’t thought about it in years until a recent retweet by Elizabeth N. Brown recalled it to me.  The links above it were provided by Mike Siegel; T. Greg Doucette (x2); IncarcerNation; Scott Long; Dan Savage and Franklin Harris; and Tracy Quan, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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Habang natutulog ka, kinakain ko ang hininga mo.  –  Batibat

Somehow, I’ve never seen this early Tim Burton short, narrated by Vincent Price; I can’t think of a better choice for the Sunday before Halloween! The links above it were provided by Phoenix Calida, Ryan Marino, The Onion, Popehat, Jesse Walker, Stephen Lemons, and C.J. Ciaramella, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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Workers reported smelling a foul odor but thought it was an issue with the plumbing.

James Earl Jones gave so many amazing, iconic performances I decided to mark his passing in the same way I did that of Paul Reubens: by featuring an obscure performance you may be unfamiliar with. This was the very first celebrity guest spot on Sesame Street back in 1969, and proves that Jones could make any recitation entertaining.  The death was called to my attention by Franklin Harris, and all the other links are from IncarcerNation.

From the Archives

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

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We should be perfectly clear about the ultimate goal of Axon, its network, and the people behind The Fall of Minneapolis: They want to make it easier for police to kill people without consequence.  –  Radley Balko

Regular readers of this blog need no introduction to Radley Balko; in fact, many of my longest-term readers were introduced to me via a guest-blogging stint on his old blog, The Agitator, in July of 2012.  If you are unfamiliar with his work, let me simply say that he is quite possibly the greatest living criminal justice journalist, and that is neither hyperbole nor flattery.  His thoroughness and dedication are truly awe-inspiring, and I couldn’t be as fair and measured as he is when discussing horrifying injustices and nauseating atrocities if there were 10 million bucks riding on it.  His latest project is a massive three-part debunking of copsucking authoritarians’ ongoing “effort to retroactively justify Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd“, and the third part includes a section on “excited delirium”, a fictional syndrome used to exonerate cops from culpability when they asphyxiate black people with their shockingly-brutal and sadistically thuggish arrest tactics.  I’ve been paying attention to this peudoscientific claptrap for some time now, so given what I already know about “NHI” and sex workers being among the police state’s perenial guinea pigs for new evils, this probably shouldn’t have surprised me:

Excited delirium…posits that some people just spontaneously die during intense, high-stress interactions with police, through no fault of law enforcement.  It’s…highly dubious and not supported by any major medical organization.  Over the last several decades, there’s been a concerted effort to pressure medical examiners to diagnose excited delirium when the real cause of death was positional asphyxia.  This not only exonerates cops who kill, it encourages police practices that will lead to more deaths…The origin of excited delirium is shonky and steeped in bigotry…it…was first described in the mid-1980s by Miami medical examiner Charles Wetli after a wave of black sex workers were found dead under mysterious circumstances.  Because some of the women had cocaine in their system, Wetli theorized that there must be something about the physiology of black women that causes them to spontaneously die after mixing cocaine with sex.  Despite the absurdity of Wetli’s theory, it precluded homicide as a manner of death, which made it much more difficult for police to investigate the possible murders.  It wasn’t until a victim was found in a similar state as the other bodies, but had no cocaine in her system, that the city’s chief medical examiner reviewed the…other cases…[and] found evidence of asphyxiation that Wetli had overlooked.  Police eventually arrested a serial killer named Charles Henry Williams for the murders…

…The Miami debacle should have been an embarrassment that ended Wetli’s career.  It did not.  The controversy isn’t even mentioned in his fairly long New York Times obituary.  Instead, he failed upward, becoming the chief medical examiner in Suffolk, County, New York…[where he] continued to develop his theory in ways that proved convenient for law enforcement.  He expanded excited delirium to also include black men, particularly those who die in police custody.  “Seventy percent of people dying of coke-induced delirium are black males, even though most users are white,” he once said.  Instead of concluding that perhaps this was because police were more likely to use excessive force against black men, Wetli added, “It may be genetic”…Wetli’s work eventually landed him a lucrative side gig with Axon International, the company that makes the Taser (formerly known as Taser International), who began to pay Wetli to testify as an expert witness at the trials of police officers accused of brutality…

There’s a great deal more; this is just a small sample.  Jesse Walker suggested that the best way to read the piece is to start with part three, covering the big picture, following links back to the first two parts as you go; that seems wise to me, given the depth and density of the piece,  But however you read it, read it you should.  And if you aren’t already following Radley’s work, you really need to correct that.

 

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Over and over and over again…the system itself harms children and families.  –  Wendy Bach

Monsters

Nex Benedict, a gender-nonconforming 16-year-old in Owasso, Oklahoma, died on February 8th after what school officials are calling “a fight” in the girls’ bathroom involving three older girls.  Of course, they always call it a “fight” even when three kids beat one kid’s head against a tile floor hard enough to send them to the hospital.  News coverage of Nex’s death is all over the place, though much of it quotes the absurd claim that the death was pure koinkydink, unrelated to the beating; or claims Nex started it; or uses their birth name.  The only things that are certain is that Oklahoma politicians have stoked a climate of fear and hate against kids like Nex, who was forced to use the bathroom corresponding to their biological sex despite the obvious danger, and is now dead as a result.  I’ll publish a follow-up when there seems to be some consensus about facts instead of conflicting masses of self-serving political bullshit, butt-covering by school officials, and speculation by outsiders.  But for now the important thing to keep in mind is that this idiotic culture war is not only an unforgiveable waste of time and resources, but has an actual body count.

Social Autoimmune Disorder (#594)

There’s never a shortage of useful idiots who think the leopards will never eat their faces:

San Francisco [idio]ts living along Capp Street in the Mission District spent much of last year pushing for [magic bill-elimination] barriers to…[“abate” the “]prostitution problem[“.  Of course, as sensible people predicted, the stroll merely moved] a few blocks down [to] the Shotwell Street area…[now useful idiots]…have drafted a petition, calling on the city to install 16 of its new license plate reader cameras in the neighborhood…Mayor London Breed..is also pushing for Proposition E to pass, which would allow the city to use facial recognition cameras for surveillance

To Molest and Rape

Just another typical and representative cop:

[The Washington DC cop shop is hiding the identity of a pig who raped a woman in his pigmobile] in [Montgomery County] Maryland…he has been [rewarded for the crime with a] paid [vacation]…the woman [was apparently lured into the car]…on Feb. 1…[under the pretext of a “date”]…

Property of the State (#1182)

Oklahoma is another state which seems to simply hate women:

Amanda Aguilar’s…baby tested positive for marijuana…[because] Aguilar had been taking the drug to treat severe morning sickness…Medical marijuana is legal in Oklahoma, and she had a doctor-approved state license to use it.  Her son was healthy at birth.  But the hospital r[at]ted her [out] to child welfare workers, who handed over her baby’s drug test results to police…In June, a judge in Kay County tossed out the charges against Aguilar…she [had not] broke[n] state law…But the [sociopathic] local prosecutor…filed an appeal to reinstate the charges, [moronically] arguing that…the fetus…did not have its own, separate license to use medical marijuana.  The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is expected to hear the arguments later this year…potentially opening the door for more criminal cases…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1327)

There is absolutely no legitimate reason for a vending machine to have this capability:

A set of [computerized] vending machines at the University of Waterloo is expected to be removed from campus after…a student noticed an error message on one of the[m which]…appeared to indicate there was a problem with a facial recognition application…A picture of the error message was posted online and students quickly started sharing it..Since then, many have tried to cover a small hole on the machine that they believe houses a camera…the manufacturer…Invenda…[claims] the…machines can detect the presence of a person, their estimated age and gender…”without storing such data on permanent memory mediums [sic] or transmitting it over the Internet”…

This certainly casts a different light on another, similar story:

Amazon is in the process of replacing a breakroom coffee machine in its Maple Grove [Minnesota] warehouse after an employee inadvertently discovered a camera inside the machine that took pictures of the breakroom…[the] East African workers…who comprise a sizable [fraction] of Amazon’s Minnesota workforce…have a history of protesting the company’s wages and workplace conditions…a labor organization…said the situation is concerning because of previous incidents where the retail giant used tech to track workers’ productivity in excessive and illegal ways

Any information which exists can be misused by corporations or demanded by cops; the only way to stop that privacy invasion is not to collect the information in the first place.

The Cop Myth (#1395)

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

A Vallejo [California cop] was arrested…on Valentine’s Day after his ex-girlfriend reported to Oakland police that he’d threatened and harassed her for months…Ronald Dupree…[had previously been] reported…to Vallejo police [but they did nothing except tell Dupree she had reported him]…Dupree started texting or calling her dozens of times per day, often from a blocked number…he al[so]…threatened her, adding that he knew how to dispose of a body, and that he would file a missing person’s report to locate her if she ever tried to hide…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #6)

Your “leaders” say this trash is fit to “correct” others:

A [typical and representative Pennsylvania screw]…sexually abused a [14-year-old] teenage girl…John Mollica…[seduced] the girl, [telling her] “I’m obsessed with you and I’m willing to kill for you”…[and giving] her cash…and [gifts]…when [cops] questioned Mollica…he…denied having a “relationship” with the teen and further stated that he thought she was only 11 years old…

 

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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He is now in hell for eternity as a traitor to his country.  –  Justin Mohn

Since I already shared “Brand New Key” three years ago, here’s Melanie’s second biggest hit in recognition of her passing.  The links above the video (discounting the first) were provided by PopehatScott Long and Dan Savage; IncarcerNation; Asawin Suebsaeng; IncarcerNation again; and Radley Balko, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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If government speech determines what books can be in the library…children can only see…ideas…the government has approved. – Ken Paulson

The Scarlet Letter (#798)

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

Tennessee’s decades-old aggravated prostitution statute violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Department of Justice [has] announced…warning that the state could face a lawsuit if officials don’t immediately cease enforcement.  Tennessee is the only state in the United States that imposes a lifetime registration as a “violent sex offender” if convicted of engaging in sex work while living with HIV, regardless of whether the person knew they could transmit the disease…The department is calling on the state to not only stop enforcing the law, but also remove those convicted under the statute from the sex offender registry and expunge their convictions…

Business As Usual (#1333)

Psychopathic rapist-murderer cop gets slap on the wrist:

A [typical and representative] Ohio vice cop [who regularly raped sex workers by threatening them with violence and arrest] has pleaded guilty on federal charges related to kidnapping, after being cleared earlier this year of murder…charges in a similar but separate incident.  Andrew Mitchell…pleaded guilty to…deprivation of rights under color of law and…obstruction of justice.  Prosecutors have recommended he…se[rve a mere] seven to 11 years in federal prison…

Creepy Coppers (#1364)

Some cops don’t limit themselves to one type of creepiness:

A [typical and representative] New York co[p and screw named]…Jeffrey Thomas Singleton is behind bars [in] Pasco County…Florida…for possession of child pornography, video voyeurism, and sexual contact with animals…33 files of child pornography…were found…[plus] a hidden camera that he allegedly used to shoot videos of a girl undressing…[cops] also found images of Singleton engaging in sex…with his two dogs…

I could’ve filed either of these guys in two different tags, but this one seemed most pertinent:

A [typical and representative Minnesota cop]…previously accused of attempting to solicit sex from [other cops fantasy role-playing as teenagers online has been] re-arrested…on eight new charges…Mathew Richard Adamson…[took] photos of three adult women, two children, and one…[apparent] teen…[girl] using hidden cameras in various restrooms…[he also] saved screenshots of [women] in various states of undress…from a [cop surveillance camera hidden in the jail]…and [collected]…child pornography, featuring children ages 8-12…

Thought Control (#1366)

That they are willing to openly admit this is a sign of how bad things have become:

Florida…Attorney General Ashley Moody has declared th[at]…public schools…[and] libraries…do not exist to promote the free exchange of ideas, but rather, to “convey the government’s message.”  In a legal brief, the State of Florida argues it has a First Amendment right to remove…any book…from public schools and libraries…the state [contends that]…public school libraries are “a forum for government speech, [not a] forum for free expression”…

The Cop Myth (#1393)

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

Erika de Lima was…murdered by her husband cop, Thiago de Lima, on [December 3rd] in São Paulo, Brazil.  A surveillance video showed Erika de Lima attempting to drag Thiago de Lima out of a car.  The [murderer pistol-whipped]…her…about five times before shooting her in the chest twice…in broad daylight…

Vulture Watching (#1395)

Texas Supreme Court declares that the only way for doctors to know if an abortion is legal is to perform it and see if they get prosecuted:

The Texas Supreme Court [has] overturned a lower court order allowing an abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition, hours after her lawyers said she had decided to leave Texas for the procedure in the face of the state’s abortion bans.  The court ruled that…Kate…Cox’s doctor, Damla Karsan, “[did not correctly guess the magic words]…the court [wanted to hear to allow an]…exception[, so Cox just has to risk sepsis which will lead to infertility or even death]”…

To Molest and Rape (#1395)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative] San Diego Co[p named]…Jose Soto…[has pled] guilty [to] child pornography…and…continuous child sexual abuse…[of] a child under 14…involving two young victims…

“Continuous sexual abuse” also describes this cop’s behavior:

A [typical and representative Washington] D.C. [cop named Charles Johnson II] has been sentenced to…32 years in prison…[for] sexually abus[ing his girlfriend’s daughter,] who was nine and ten years old at the time…he took advantage of her when[ever] she was left in his care…[after] his release, Johnson will be [condemned] to [the]…sex offender [registry] for the remainder of his life…

It really amazes me when multiple people give these predators access to their kids:

A [typical and representative North Carolina cop named]…Johnathan Andrew Edwards…was charged with…[filming] multiple underage girls ranging in age from 7 to 17…in a[n undefined] sexual act…

 

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 official nutrition scolds want your food to taste bad.  –  Ronald Bailey

This year, I managed to find a few Lovecraftian videos for the season; this one is a French film from 2003.  The links above it were provided by The Onion; Phoenix Calida; Mark Draughn; Gustavo Turner and Mike Siegel; Nun Ya (x2); and Ronald Bailey, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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