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Posts Tagged ‘Montana’

I feel the tallow’s bovine powers eliminating the vaccines from my blood!  –  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (sort of)

Since I’m not really a reggae fan, I wasn’t familiar with Jimmy Cliff, but I really dig this song.  The links above it were provided by Anarres Ansible, Nun Ya, The Onion, T. Greg Doucette, Jesse Walker, and IncarcerNation (x2), 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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You’re not the minority anymore.  –  Old Karen’s friend

When Mike Siegel tweeted a TikTok video of Creepy Stare Piano Guy performing “My Heart Will Go On” on rubber chickens, I went to YouTube to find a copy I could embed, but it was not there.  However, this cover of the same song by a different deadpan rubber chicken musician was, so here you go.  The links above it were provided by Nun Ya (x2), Ryan Marino (x2), Mike Siegel 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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An inherent risk with any type of app that allows users to track or spy on [people] is that…data…can be leaked.  –  Jason Koebler & Emanuel Maiberg

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

[Typical and representative New York politician] Dan Halloran — who spent years in federal prison for a $200,000 bribery scheme to rig a mayoral election — has been arrested and charged for having hundreds of sickening child sex abuse videos on his phone…Halloran[‘s phone was searched]…at Miami International Airport…as he arrived…from Cuba…[and] was found with 1,362 child sex videos hidden on his iPhone — including about 35 videos of…prepubescent…girls…

I Spy (#1272)

Any loophole in any right will inevitably be expanded by authoritarians:

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — or HIPAA — established in 1996 to protect the privacy and security of patient health information, includes [an] exception…[for pigs rooting in people’s private business.  So of course]…after [SCOTUS overturned Roe v Wade] in 2022 [sociopathic cops and prosecutors immediately started trying to pry into women’s private medical]…records…to [ruin their lives] and those [of their doctors and friends].  Health officials [therefore]…enacted a HIPAA rule to keep health information private when the patient was in a state with legal [abortion] access and the care was obtained legally…Two lawsuits [now] seek to rescind that…rule, while another brought by [predatory psychopath] Ken Paxton goes a step further, asking the court to [give pigs carte blanche to dig in women’s private]…health information [without any restrictions whatsoever.  Giving this violent lunatic what he wants]…“could erode patients’ trust…in their providers and dissuade them from wanting to seek out health care”…said Ashley Emery…[of] Partnership for Women and Families. “[Cops] could [even] pressure a psychiatrist to share patient notes from therapy sessions without a…warrant”…Missouri…Tennessee…Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia…all [want cops given such control over]…doctors and pharmacists in [any] state…as [if that weren’t bad enough, Trumpist stooge]…Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk…[is try]ing…to permanently block…HIPAA [entirely]…

Secret Squirrel (#1385)

I can’t feel sorry for people with problems of their own making:

T-Mobile sells a small GPS tracker…called SyncUP, which [parents] can use to track the locations of young children who don’t  have cell phones yet.  [On April 1st, some] parent[s] who use…SyncUP…[were] shown the exact, real-time locations of…random children around the country, but not the locations of [their] own kids…It is clear the tracked people are children because their profile pictures show images of young kids wearing backpacks, and many of the locations shown are schools…T-Mobile [blamed]…”a temporary system issue…that resulted from a planned technology update”…T-Mobile also offers a device called SyncUp DRIVE, which is a dedicated car tracking device.  In a Reddit thread called “SyncUp sharing locations of other users,” several posters said that they were being shown other people’s locations…

I Spy (#1420)

Everything I read about these apps makes me happier I have never even looked at one:

Apple’s iOS apps catering to the sugar dating, BDSM, and LGBTQ+ communities – where privacy is…paramount – have leaked highly sensitive content…BDSM People, CHICA, TRANSLOVE, PINK, and BRISH apps had publicly accessible secrets published together with the apps’ code…[the exposed] information [included] API keys, passwords, [and] encryption keys…credentials placed in client applications are accessible to [cops, spooks, and other malef]actors [who] can easily abuse them to gain access to…profile photos, public posts, profile verification images, photos removed for rule violations, and private photos sent through direct messages…All of the affected apps [we]re developed by M.A.D Mobile Apps Developers Limited.  Their identical architecture explains why the same type of sensitive data was exposed…the apps are exclusive to iOS and do not have Android or web alternatives…

Thought Control (#1422)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

New Hampshire [politician] Glenn Cordelli…w[ants to make it easier to]…ban…books…by [taking]…oversight of book complaints…[away from] school administrators [and] local school [boards and handing it]…to the [much more politicized] State Board of Education…Cordelli [absurdly declared] “This is not banning of books,” [before adding that making sausage does not involve the slaughter of animals, and that having] children [does not involve] sex…

No Escape (ROTW #10)

And this is just LA County; every single jurisdiction in the US has similar rates:

Los Angeles County plans to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 [lawsuits over] sexual abuse…in…its juvenile facilities and foster homes, dwarfing the largest sex abuse settlements in U.S. history…The Boy Scouts of America, by comparison, agreed to pay $2.46 billion.  The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has paid out about $1.5 billion…Victims of USC gynecologist George Tyndall got $1.1 billion.  Michigan State University paid $500 million to victims of team doctor Larry Nassar.  The unprecedented settlement stems from…a 2020 state law that gave victims of childhood [and adolescent] sexual abuse a new window to sue…the thousands of lawsuits, most of which involve [horrifying] abuse from the 1980s through the 2000s, [demonstrate how] government…facilities turn…into hunting grounds for predators…[due to the] immense power [officials are given] over [human beings of all ages locked] in their c[ages]…the $4-billion settlement [doesn’t even] cover…all…of the…lawsuits.  Some attorneys were not willing to participate in the “global mediation process,” and plaintiffs in those cases will be part of a separate settlement…

I Spy (#1490)

Civil liberties violations only start with people the government has demonized:

U.S. immigration officials [want]…to collect social media handles from people applying for…green cards or citizenship, to comply with an [imperial edict] from [mad emperor Trump, thus]…expand[ing] the government’s reach in social media surveillance to people already vetted and in the U.S. legally, such as asylum seekers, green card, and citizenship applicants—and not just those applying to enter the country…social media monitoring by immigration [busybodies] has been a practice…since…the second Obama administration and [was] ramp[ed] up under Trump’s first [reign]…

 

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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They tested “self-trafficking” charges on sex workers first.
–  Mistress Matisse

Thought Control (#1343)

I was destined to be threatened with state violence regardless of career path:

Georgia…[politicians are ap]ing…bill[s from other states] aimed at [criminaliz]ing…librari[an]s, but [sane people] say it would chill free speech and open the state up to lawsuits.  Senate Bill 74…would [criminalize] an[y]…librarians…including at school libraries, who [help any]…minor…[find any book that any politician has pointed at while belching the word “]harmful[” even if the targeted]…book…[has been] in the library for…years…Christoper Bruce…[of] the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia…[pointed out] that the bill is similar to [one recently] struck down in Arkansas

Pyrrhic Victory (#1465)

Undermining of civil liberties only starts with “undesirables”; it never stops there:

[Mad emperor Trump is demanding that] undocumented immigrants age 14 or older…register and provide fingerprints…DHS will [then] issue “evidence of registration,” which immigrants over 18 must carry and [produce every time a racist cop or spook demands it.  The scheme is a Trumpist attempt to]…criminal[ize]…undocumented…migra[tion, which is currently]…a civil violation and not a criminal one.  [Any such new] requirements…would require [actual] new laws, not [mere] executive orders or policy changes…

Feudalism Redux (#1497)

Montana politicians are trying to reduce all women to serfdom:

A new Montana bill “establishing the criminal offense of abortion trafficking” could criminalize pregnant women who cross state lines to get an abortion…Aiding or assisting someone else in such…would also make one guilty of abortion trafficking.  Criminalizing driving someone else out of Montana to do something that’s legal in another state is itself ridiculous. But the language of this bill would very clearly criminalize some pregnant women who transport themselves out of state too…Per a constitutional amendment voters passed in 2024, Montana allows abortion up until fetal viability and provides an exception to this limit if the mother’s life or health is at risk…But…there are…justifiable reasons for getting an abortion after about 24 weeks…and…It’s also possible that Montana…will someday topple the recent constitutional amendment and…ban abortion much earlier in pregnancy…this is unlikely to stop with Montana.  In fact, it’s possible that Montana is seen by some as the perfect test ground for this sort of thing precisely because it currently allows abortions until viability…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #17)

When will the mainstream media admit that pigs in schools are a menace?

A [typical and representative Pennsylvania cop paid to lurk in schools and spy on, harass, and intimidate students] is facing [misdemeanor] charges for [raping] a 14-year-old girl nearly 100 times…Anthony DePanicis Jr….[raped the girl] almost weekly [from 1991 to 1994, when she]…turned 17…

Thought Control (#1509)

As an alumna of the LSU MLIS program, I am fully qualified to declare this absolutely bat-shit insane:

…at Livingston Parish libraries…the…shelves reserved for young adult books are temporarily empty…[because] the local library board…[demand]ed pulling 30,000 young adult print and audiobook materials from children’s sections and moving those [lunatics might conceivably] deem…sexually explicit to the adult side in each of the five library branches.  Young adult is a category of books geared toward youths 13 and older[, whom]…Louisiana law [now] defines…[as “children”, equivalent to kindergarteners]…Since 2022, [pro-censorship fanatics] and [politicians] have [demanded massive censorship as] the [book-banning fad has spread among Trumpists]…Jennifer Holden, an [especially-vile pro-censorship fanatic], said further actions need to be taken, like [officially eliminating the entire YA category to restrict teens to young children’s books]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1514)

Cops don’t care how many false positives these systems shit out, and Detroit cops don’t even pretend to care:

Last year, Detroit police wrongly arrested LaDonna Crutchfield after facial recognition software incorrectly identified her as the culprit of a shooting…[they had no] warrant…[but] handcuffed, detained, and jailed her anyway…[sole]ly on [the] facial recognition [output, and]…released [her] only when it became obvious [even to halfwit cops] that they had arrested the wrong person…six hours after [they brutalized her and]…dis[rupted her life]…Detroit police [have a history of similar incompetence, having terrorized]…Porcha WoodruffRobert Williams…[and Michael Oliver in the same way]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1516) 

Another moronic culture war “monkey see, monkey do” parade is underway:

Pennsylvania [politician] Robert Leadbeter…has announced that he soon plans to introduce a [bill aping one from Iowa] that would make it a felony…[to] allow…a minor to attend a drag show…Leadbeter [vomited buzzwords and culture-war shibboleths at reporters, including]…”corrupt the morals”…”decency”…”sexually charged”…[“]premature sexualization…family values and parental rights[“]…

 

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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Just because the tech exists doesn’t mean people/employers have to abuse it.

Pyrrhic Victory (#1065) 

Facial recognition systems have quietly become ubiquitous:

Wegmans Food Markets has launched a facial recognition pilot program at one of its New York City locations, prompting some shoppers to express concerns about privacy and pricing…a Wegmans spokesperson [claimed] the pilot will run for 60 days and…will involve employees who have agreed to participate…the spokesperson [also belched out buzzwords like]…“commitment”…”safe”…”exploring”…and…”security”…the move could usher in dynamic pricing….already…in use by Walmart and Kroger…

Creepy Coppers

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

A [typical and representative Oklahoma cop named]…Ryan Matthew Matthias…[was arrested] for having several files of obscene images of children online…they [tossed his house and found more]…on…several digital devices…

Checklist (#1380)

Airlines:  do you really want to keep accepting liability for employees harassing passengers due to the government propaganda you force-feed them?

A Virginia Beach man was [harassed with “]human trafficking[” propaganda] by Southwest Airlines and [interrogated by] Norfolk International Airport police…John Kerrigan was flying with his [teenage] daughter…and her…friend…back from Las Vegas….[every time] Kerrigan would get up to go to the restroom, the flight attendant was [repeatedly] asking the girls…peculiar questions.  “She keeps asking if we’re all right and if we know you,” Kerrigan[‘s] daughter…told him…Southwest called airport police during the flight [to continue the harassment of not just]…Kerrigan…but the [other] passengers w[ho were detained in their seats while]…three [little pigs] got on and…[humiliated] Kerrigan…[with their sexual fantasies in front of] all of the other passengers…[after interrogating him] for about 20 minutes…[they final]ly let him go…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1479)

All cops will have these within a few years:

A new app developed by a trio of [sociopath]s in Indiana is…using facial recognition technology to provide information about individuals just by looking at them.  The app…utilizes ChatGPT and Meta Glass technology to access public information archives.  “So, we all have a digital footprint, right? How good would it be if eventually, like there aren’t secrets. Knowing who I’m talking to, knowing who I’m about to meet,” said Kris Peterson, [apparently unaware of what a moral imbecile he is revealing himself to be]…Peterson demonstrated how the app could change a stranger’s phone passcode and even access phone contacts to make calls…

The Cop Myth (#1480)

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

A [sociopathic thug paid by the state of Kansas to torture helpless people locked in cages like animals has been] arrested…for…domestic violence…[Sheriff Jeff Easter of] Sedgwick County [delayed action for weeks, is hiding the thugs’s name and picture, and rewarded him with a paid vacation even though he tried to] strangle [his girlfriend on October 7th, then since he was not arrested, beat]…her…on Oct. 28…

The Vultures Descend (#1486)

A few states are managing to beat off the vultures:

…reproductive freedom initiatives…prevailed in seven of the ten states where they were on the ballot.  Measures meant to protect abortion access were approved by voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York.  And most of these weren’t close calls at all…Until [last week], the pro-choice position prevailed in every state where abortion-related measures were on the ballot, including…Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio.  That…pattern is broken somewhat by results in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota…In Florida, 57 percent of voters supported…an Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion…but it falls short of the 60 percent approval threshold required for constitutional amendments in Florida.  In Nebraska, [only] 48.7 percent of voters approved the state’s Right to Abortion measure…But a competing measure—Initiative 434—passed 55.3 percent…and…allows for first trimester abortions but prohibits second and third trimester abortion unless “necessitated by a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest.”  Only in South Dakota…did a reproductive freedom initiative truly flop…

The Cop Myth (#1487)

Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

A…Cleveland [cop who wasn’t wearing his magical Clown Costume of Legal Immunity tried to murder his wife]…outside of [an] elementary school [on Halloween]…Alexander Sinclair was [fighting with his victim] off-site and carried…the [violence into the] parking lot…[after ramming] the [victim’s] vehicle [with his]…

 

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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Buried Truth

Another fine example of McNeill’s Law:

Aberdeen Councilman Riley Carter…was arrested [on July 30th for]…rape of a child…The victim…stat[Ed] that Carter had touched them sexually “a lot of times”…over the last two years, as often as several times per week…Carter would unplug a camera…in the…bedroom before…[molesting], as well as cameras in areas leading to the room…after his arrest…Carter…[confessed to] the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office…

Out of Control (#1374)

What is wrong with doctors who do this?

…A…Missoula [Montana] emergency room doctor [named Tyler James Hurst], who is charged with a slew of sex crimes, [appeared] in court via Zoom from a [“]sex addiction[” blame-avoiding] facility in Mississippi…[because] seven victims [so far] have [reported]…that…Hurst…[molested] them…and in some cases g[ave them] opiates and [raped] them…the state asked that he be [extradited] from Mississippi and [jailed] in…[Montana] on a $750,000 bond…victims are still coming forward and more charges are still in the process of being filed…Hurst is planning to return to Montana, to be [confined to] another [“]sex addiction[” blame-avoiding] ranch in Corvallis….[with] a GPS monitor…if he is removed from the program, he is to [be] immediately [jailed]…

Torture Chamber (#1390)

“Failed to protect them from sexual abuse” is such a sterile way to say “repeatedly raped them”:

The U.S. Department of Justice found unconstitutional conditions at all five of Texas’ juvenile detention facilities, where [young adults] were exposed to excessive force, sexual abuse and in the case of disabled [minors, maltreatment] that [was used as an excuse by screws to keep] them [locked] in c[ages] longer or [to send] them to adult prisons…[screws] excessively used pepper spray on [young people], employed dangerous restraint techniques…kept [them] isolated for days or weeks on end…[and facilitated] a “pervasive atmosphere of sexual abuse, grooming and [rape by] staff”…

Reporters: get it through your thick skulls that infantilizing young victims of governmental brutality as “children” does not help them, and in fact further cultivates a climate in which they are treated as less than adult citizens.

To Molest and Rape (#1459)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A[n Ohio cop is at large, though] on a GPS monitor after being arrested on 32 counts of rape…Charles R. Davis…rape[d] and…sexual[ly abused…[at least two victims] between March 2020 and October 2022, and many [were rapes of] a victim under 13…

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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Banning books contradicts the very essence of what our country stands for.  –  Alexi Giannoulias

Gingerbread House

Now that the hysteria is dying, bureaucrats are finally making a long-overdue effort to control rescue industry profiteering:

…the Department of Children and Families will [finally] start putting together rules for [gingerbread]…houses across Florida…[after investigative] reporting…exposed the lack of standards or regulations for those [facilities which]…exploit…[women forced into them by the state using the pretext of “sex trafficking” hysteria]…

Torture Chamber

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

Victor Russo…died…from an inoperable brain bleed caused by blunt force injuries to his head.  The prison [li]ed Russo’s fatal injury was sustained in a fall [which coincidentally happened a week after a] prolonged beating by [Alabama screw] Mohammad Jenkins that was caught on a…surveillance camera…The [state’s pet] medical examiner [wagged his tail] and [obediently] classified Russo’s death as an accident.  So Jenkins was charged with [mere] assault, not [wanton] murder…Jenkins…is…a…[typical and representative screw] in an out-of-control prison system, who preyed on incarcerated men, using violence and cruelty with abandon…for 20 plus years, [Alabama Department of Torturing Caged Humans] promoted…Jenkins through the ranks, while he left behind a long…trail of [victims and was]…quietly reward[ed for] it…whi[le]…the federal government [did nothing]…

An Example To the West (#916)

the Lady Mermaid Empowerment Centre…is an organisation led by [Ugandan] sex workers fighting to decriminalise their profession while documenting violations [by police] and providing free contraceptives and counselling.  It works with 25,000 women annually, spread across 122 hot spots – street corners, bars, brothels and lodges – in Kampala and two other districts…

Creepy Coppers

Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:

a [South Carolina cop named]…Daniel Shealy [was fired after he was caught]…distribut[ing]…child pornography over the internet.  [His bosses were much more concerned with his magic clown costume than with the crimes he committed] …

Thought Control (#1250)

It’s sad the the First Amendment has been so weakened it needs a state law to give it teeth:

As libraries across the country face threats and book bans, Illinois [has] become the first state in the nation to ban the practice…House Bill 2789…prevents public schools and community libraries that ban books from accessing state funding…Under the new law, Illinois public libraries must adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights to receive any state funding — which includes “materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation”…

The Mob Rules (#1368)

Pornhub has repeatedly chosen not to spy on its users:

Pornhub…has blocked people in Montana from viewing the site [without a VPN in response to]…a new state law that requires websites to verify the age of a person before they can access the site’s content…Pornhub said they were specifically making the decision to block access at this time due to the government ID age verification requirement. Saying…“giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk”…

Permanent Record (#1387)

It’s unusual to see a man targeted thus, and even more unusual for it to involve university-level teachers:

UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow, who was denied a pay raise five years ago over inviting a former porn actress to speak on campus, has been fired for himself engaging in explicit sexual acts with his wife on popular porn websites.  Gow…was already planning to retire at the end of the school year.  But in a three-hour, closed-door meeting…the Board of Regents unanimously decided to terminate his chancellorship and [move to strip him of tenure in an effort to cheat him of his pension even though he did not]…violate…any specific UW system policies…

 

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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You would think…the government would want to encourage a substance that helps people to quit smoking rather than discourage its use.
–  Kyle Kutasi

The Face of Trafficking

Note that cases of actual coercion don’t look much like the myths:

Three [Missouri] men kept a student from India in a locked [basement] and forced him to work, do chores and endure severe beatings over the course of several months…Venkatesh R. Sattaru was charged with human trafficking, kidnapping and other charges after…forc[ing] a 20-year-old college student who moved to the U.S. last year to work for Sattaru’s company and sleep…on an unfinished floor without access to food, water or a bathroom…Sravanvarma Penumetcha and Nikhil V. Penmatsa…helped Sattaru further the abuse by issuing beatings and lashings with electrical wire, PVC pipe, metal rods, wooden boards, sticks and [plastic] hoses…a neighbor…called [the cops after]…the…student…ran out of the house…trembling uncontrollably, heavily scarred and suffering from bruises and swelling all over his body… Sattaru is a wealthy, powerful man in India with political…connections…and [cop friends, so the victim] feared that he would be killed if he identified Sattaru…

Dutch Threat (#1005)

Though cloaked in “helping” language, this is actually just a way for the Dutch government to establish more effective financial surveillance over sex workers:

Dutch banks want to make it easier for sex workers to open a business bank account…Sex workers often encounter problems with business bank accounts because they work a lot with cash, making it difficult for b[usybodie]s to know where the money comes from.  It is also difficult for banks to determine the sector’s typical income and expenditures, which complicates [pry]ing [into their financial affairs]…the banks [have] set up a new Sector Standard, which specifies that banks can use sex workers’ tax returns to determine where their income comes from and what is typical for them…

Creepy Coppers

Cops of all types love their child porn:

A [typical and representative Vermont screw named]…Benjamin Mallery…pleaded guilty to [a minor charge]…under a plea deal [to avoid a series of child porn charges.  Unlike non-cops, Mallery will skate] with…a…[mere] 60 days — with 10 years of probation…and…[condemnation] to [the]…sex offender [registry]…

Typical and representative cop Blake Gruny of St. Johns County Florida was arrested for child porn in early October, and typical and representative cop Jordan Collins of Elgin, Illinois was charged for the same thing on December 6; both stories consist mainly of their bosses strutting around, vomiting bombastic rhetoric about how these typical and representative predators are neither typical nor representative.

You Were Warned (#1341)

Politicians no longer bother to consider whether their new diktats are Constitutional:

A TikTok ban in Montana is likely unconstitutional, a federal judge [has] ruled…Judge Donald Molloy…issued a temporary halt to enforcing the ban.  It was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024, and [politicians with dollar signs in their eyes imagined they would collect]…$10,000 penalties per day for app stores or TikTok “each time that a user accesses TikTok, is offered the ability to access TikTok, or is offered the ability to download TikTok”…

A Moral Cancer (#1374)

A dangerous new front in the Drug War claims its first victim:

A[n Australian] man has been charged with possessing liquid nicotine despite Health Minister Mark Butler [ly]ing [that] smokers will not be personally targeted [by cops due to] vape cr[iminalizatio]n.  Trinite Williams…pleaded not guilty…after [cops found it while rooting through] his car on October 8 [in order to find something to charge him with]…Mr Williams’ lawyer Kyle Kutasi [said] his client was “extremely frustrated” because he [was foolish enough to actually] believe…a [politician’s lies]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1386)

Cops are sexual predators who often specifically target traumatized women:

A Surrey [BC] RCMP [cop] abused his power to search police databases for information on a troubled 19-year-old sex worker…then appeared at [her] home under false pretences to [try to maneuver her into] sex…Peter Leckie knew the young woman had recently experienced the murder of her father, a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and entry into the sex trade…[this is not the first time] Leckie…specifically targeted [vulnerable] women…[yet he was let off with] six months of house arrest and…a year of probation…

The Widening Gyre (#1388)

Poor “sex traffickers” have apparently been forced to give up their ambitious schemes to abduct women and children from big-box stores such as Target and Ikea, and instead to pathetically lurking in strip-mall parking lots.  While they could once afford to lure them with roseshoney, or $100 bills, they’ve now been reduced to attempting to trick them with empty candy wrappers.  And while one of these dopey Twitter posts once attracted thousands of “likes”, I’ve never seen as much mockery as this one drew.  So scary!

 

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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They never actually say, “Go do this or else you’re going to have this consequence.”  But everybody just knows.  –  Judge Jennifer Elrod

To Molest and Rape

If only there were a concise term for “commission of a nonconsensual sexual act”:

…a [typical and representative] Savanna [Oklahoma cop named]…Jeffery Scott Smith Jr…[us]ed a traffic stop [as a pretext]…to [violently rape a passenger in the car]…and…deactivat[ed] his…body…camera and…dashboard camera…with the intent to [get away with violent aggravated rape]…

Life Imitates Artifice (#849)

Every so often the failed “forced sex trafficking abortions” trope bobs up, like a turd that just won’t flush:

[Without presenting any evidence,] Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen…accused [Planned Parenthood]…of falsifying records…about sexual assault against minors and statutory rape, suggesting th[is]… “could be happening with human trafficking victims.”  The…comments in a July 31 radio interview echo a decade-old…[evangelical trope from the popular “sex trafficking” mythology claim]ing that the national Planned Parenthood organization abets human trafficking…

I suspect that the reason the “forced sex trafficking abortions” myth didn’t become more popular is that, despite the considerable overlap between anti-whore and anti-abortion activism, abortion rights constitute a sacred cow among the “progressives” who did much of the heavy lifting promoting the moral panic.  This same discomfort with logical developments of their pet hysteria resulted in organs like The New York Times distancing themselves from their own propaganda once it developed into QAnon.

Thought Control (#1285)

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

Florida’s…”Don’t Say Gay” law…was expanded on 31 March, to prohibit instruction on gender and sexuality up until the eighth grade, and on reproductive health until the 12th grade.  The legislation also…[censors] material that [politicians or bureaucrats choose to arbitrarily label] “pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct”…[in order to protect teachers from persecution by the State,] the Hillsborough County schools district announced it will now only teach excerpts from some of Shakespeare’s most-famous works…On 3 August…Florida’s Department of Education…ruled that AP psychology classes were a violation of the law due to LGBTQ+ content…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1309)

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

A deputy’s first-person perspective during a [panic attack] was captured on his body camera, along with a[dministration of a placebo]…by a fellow deputy that [helped him calm down despite having no actual medical effect]…Nick Huzior, who is now [enjoying a vacation at taxpayer expense, claimed]…he felt extremely lightheaded, shaky and [numb, none of which are symptoms of]…fentanyl…Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly [used the panic attack as an excuse to claim a cop panicking like a little girl over wholly imaginary terrors is somehow heroic]…

Checklist (#1150)

Uber already encourages its drivers to spy on riders and rat sex workers out to the pigs:

Texas law will now require all drivers of Transportation Network Companies…to receive [even more of the same absurd and overbroad “signs of human trafficking“ indoctrination they’ve been forced to endure for almost a decade now]…The bill comes after [rescue industry corporations recognized they are losing an]…easy…[way to milk] their victims [for donations]…and [enlisted politicians in fear of losing a powerful excuse for police-statery]…

I know that’s a huge edit, but there really is nothing new to see in this asinine regurgitation of tired old tropes, including “King of the Hill“.

Torture Chamber (#1359)

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

…Florida prison officials and medical staff allowed an incarcerated man’s prostate cancer to spread untreated until he was left paralyzed, terminally ill, and afflicted with infected bed sores that rotted to the bone.  When he wrote desperate pleas for help, one official concluded, “This is not an emergency.”  In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last year…Elmer Williams [explain]s that [screws] and nursing staff denied and delayed medical treatment for months after he filed a grievance against them.  The…delays were not just bureaucratic incompetence but retaliation…medical records…reveal [that] staff were aware of his extremely high indicators for prostate cancer, aware of a long-overdue “urgent” referral to a urologist, and aware of his rapidly deteriorating condition…

Censor Chic (#1359)

It’s good to see at least some judges still respect their oath to uphold the Constitution against the government:

Federal judges hammered fresh nails into the coffin of the Biden censorship regime…[in] the Justice Department’s appeal of a July 4 decision in Missouri v. Biden…[where] Federal Judge Terry Doughty…delivered 155 pages of damning details of federal browbeating, jawboning and coercion of social-media companies…The Biden administration…then sought to redefine all its closed-door shenanigans as public service…[claiming that] since federal SWAT teams did not assail the headquarters of social-media firms, the feds are blameless…[and pretending] it’s irrelevant that…Biden publicly accused social-media companies of murder for not censoring far more material and that Biden appointees publicly threatened to destroy the companies via legislation or prosecution…

 

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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Whenever there is a power imbalance…consent is not really possible.  –  Meg Foster

Thou Shalt Not (#971)

Crypto-moralists believe that people enjoying a food is sufficient reason for declaring it “unsafe”:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised most people to avoid most kinds of “non-sugar sweeteners”, after a 2022 review of the evidence found they don’t help with weight control long term and [crypto-moralists claim without evidence that they] may cause diabetes, heart attacks and death…the evidence supporting [the idea that eating less sugar reduces sugar intake] is mixed.  Some short randomised trials have found that consuming drinks with sweeteners instead of the full-sugar versions can reduce weight gain in children, but others have failed to show a benefit.  Population studies tend to show that sweetener consumption correlates with higher rates of diabetes and heart disease – but this could be because people are more likely to use sweeteners if they are heavier to start with…

The lede is of course both buried and quintessentially crypto-moralist: “The perfect solution is going for water.”  To “hydrate” your meal of insects and raw vegetables, I’m sure.

A Broker in Pillage (#1101)

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

…”civil asset forfeiture”…remains a boil on the ass of American jurisprudence.  Now, in a rare demonstration of cooperation across political divides, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have joined together to introduce legislation to reform the practice…at the federal level.  They are supported by a coalition of organizations that put aside ideological differences in an attempt to curb the dangerous practice…The FAIR Act…requires that seizures be conducted in court rather than through administrative processes and also guarantees legal representation for federal forfeiture targets…[I]t isn’t a perfect bill…but…some improvement is better than none for a practice that has largely served as an exercise in legalized highway robbery…

I Spy (#1206)

Remember, Twitter claims this surveillance isn’t surveillance:

…in the wake of the reversal of Roe v. Wade…U.S. Marshals …received regular alerts from Dataminr, a[n “official partner” of Twitter] that persistently monitors social media for corporate and government clients, about the precise time and location of both ongoing and planned abortion rights demonstrations…Dataminr flagged the social media posts of protest organizers, participants, and bystanders, and leveraged Dataminr’s privileged access to the so-called firehose of unrestricted Twitter data to monitor constitutionally protected speech…

You Were Warned (#1279)

A little bit of good news about mob-rule attempts to castrate Section 230:

The U.S. Supreme Court…upheld Section 230, ruling in favor of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube/Google in two cases…Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh…which dealt…with…Section 230 protections…In the unanimous decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas…SCOTUS held that the tech companies’ conduct “did not constitute aiding and abetting [terrorists] because they did not knowingly provide substantial assistance to the groups in carrying out the terrorist act in question”…the ruling means that…“the Supreme Court made it abundantly clear that social media platforms like Twitter cannot be held civilly liable for third-party content”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1299)

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

The…TSA’s trial rollout of biometric facial recognition technology at airport security checkpoints…is…[supposedly] voluntary.  However, in a March 14 interview with Kyle Arnold of The Dallas Morning News, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said that if the TSA gets its way, biometric screening technology will eventually not be optional.  But even without mandating facial recognition, fears of delay or poor treatment by TSA staff may lead travelers to submit when they’d rather not…Additionally, the TSA risks travelers’ privacy by collecting personal data and sending it to the Department of Homeland Security (even if the TSA [pretends] that the data is anonymized, encrypted, and eventually deleted)…

You Were Warned (#1328)

These attempts to destroy the internet are just going to keep getting worse:

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte has signed into law a measure to severely restrict…TikTok, making his state the first to enact a near-total ban on the social media platform…The law, slated to take effect on January 1, 2024, would bar TikTok from [legally] operating in Montana.  It would also prohibit app stores from offering TikTok for download within state lines — a ban that tech companies [correctly state] will be impossible to [enforce, in addition to being]…a violation of the…First Amendment…TikTok has earned bipartisan scrutiny in the US and other countries over questions of privacy, surveillance and [partial ownership by] Beijing’s government…Gianforte promised…to…widen…[the ban] to other social media apps with foreign ties, including the China-based WeChat and Telegram, which was founded by two Russian-born entrepreneurs…

To Molest and Rape (#1338)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative] Los Angeles [cop] has been charged with sexually assaulting four boys…Paul Razo…[molested] two of his young male relatives; one was 11 or 12 years old and the other was about 13 when the abuse began…The other two victims were sons of a woman Razo had been dating…one was 9 or 10 when Razo began molesting him, and the other…was 12…The assaults occurred between 2006 and 2017…

UPDATE: Razo has apparently died while in the “care” of his cronies.

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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