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Posts Tagged ‘Montana’

In the News (#1341)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Broker in Pillage, abortion, asset seizure, California, cell phones, censorship, China, crypto-moralism, fascism, Google, I Spy, internet, Montana, politicians, Pyrrhic Victory, rape, surveillance, Thou Shalt Not, To Molest and Rape, Twitter, You Were Warned on May 24, 2023| 1 Comment »

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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Links #668

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged Arizona, cops, crypto-moralism, disease, games, I’m Sure You Feel Safer Now, imaginative fiction, Kansas, Montana, Never Call the Cops, teachers, Texas, United Kingdom, video on April 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

You have to physically take their phones…because [otherwise]…they’re just too tempted to play chess. – Justine Wewers

One of the great things about the internet is that it’s a lot easier to share fan-made films than it used to be; here (just in time for May Eve) is a funny little Lovecraft video from creators we’ve seen here before; next week I’ll share another one. The links above the video were provided by Clarissa, Mike Siegel (x2), Radley Balko, and Cop Crisis (x2).

From the Archives

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In the News (#1325)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged cell phones, censorship, cops, Florida, hysteria, Idaho, If Men Were Angels, internet, Iowa, law, LGBT rights, libraries, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Morality Lessons, New York, No Difference, politicians, porn, propaganda, rape, Safe Position, scams, South Carolina, Swedish model, Tennessee, Texas, The Puritan Recrudescence, Thought Control, To Molest and Rape, Uganda, Utah, violence vs. sex workers on March 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Discussions and debates [about sex work are] happening in the absence of those who are most affected by it. – Solomon Friedman

If Men Were Angels

“Youth pastor”, “youth leader”, “youth director”…can’t y’all settle on one term for preachy molesters?

A [typical and representative] youth director at a[n Iowa] church…[named] Travis Albers…has been charged with [sexual abuse of] a child…Trinity Reformed Church in Pella…[did not] fire…him [until] after his arrest March 5…

No Difference (#431)

Another victory for US evangelical prohibitionists:

Uganda’s parliament has passed a bill which would criminalise people who identify as gay, or a[ny] sexual minority…Under the proposed legislation, friends, family and [busybody strangers]…would have a duty to r[a]t [out] individuals in same-sex relationships…Homosexual acts are already illegal in the east African country. But the bill seeks to go further and criminalise people on the basis of their sexual identity…Individuals or institutions which support or fund LGBT rights’ activities or organisations, or publish, broadcast and distribute pro-gay media material and literature, also face prosecution and imprisonment…In 2014, Uganda’s constitutional court nullified a similar act…because it had been passed by parliament without the required quorum…

Safe Position (#1123)

Katz is doing exactly what Swedish criminalization proponents do: lying and harming women:

[After] sex worker Yang Song fell to her death [as the direct result of] an NYPD raid on [her workplace]…New York elected officials…[made their usual empty] promise[s]…Melinda Katz…assured voters that she would not prosecute sex workers, [but since she is a proponent of]…the…[evi]l Nordic Model…sex workers [knew she was lying]…Katz’s record reveals she has…continu[ed] to prosecute most of the prostitution arrests that are made…Queens continues to have the highest prostitution arrest rate in the city…and…Katz has…only declin[ed] to prosecute one case in her whole term. She has maintained the highest rates of prosecution for prostitution…in the city…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1247)

A decent article despite the usual journalistic credulity about prohibitionist claims:

In the heat of a [prohibitionist crusade to censor the internet], Mindgeek, owner of Pornhub, [has been] acquired…by the private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners. Pornhub…has faced intense [persecution despite]…hosting [far fewer] videos that depict…child sexual abuse [than platforms such as Facebook]. After a[rch-prohibitionist Nick Kristof provided a platform for the evidence-free claims of anti-sex worker activists], Visa and Mastercard suspended services from the site…in 2021 it took Pornhub [dramatical]ly less time to remove reported child sex abuse material…than other platforms…Pornhub responded to…notifications…from NCMEC in less than five hours on average, compared to the total average from…websites, which was [five times longer,] more than 24 hours…Out of 30 million reports of child exploitation to NCMEC in 2021, Pornhub submitted just over 9,000 reports…Ethical Capital Partners plans to support and center sex workers and sexually explicit content creators in discussions about legislation and regulation, including what payment processors like Visa and Mastercard do and don’t allow from sex workers and pornography websites…

To Molest and Rape (#1253)

Cops really believe they’re above the law:

Rick Duncan, the [typical and representative Minnesota] sheriff previously convicted of harassing and stalking an employee, is being sued by another woman…[because] he used nearly identical means to coerce her into sex around the same time…Prosecutors last year also charged Duncan in a new case with five counts of criminal sexual conduct over [rapes] dating back to 2017…Duncan fabricated evidence to [threaten the woman into submitting to rape, but made] it appear as though the [threats] were [somehow coming from an anonymous third party]…Duncan [simultaneous]ly [confused] the woman [by claiming] he would keep her safe…A federal jury last year awarded more than $1.1 million to th[e employee], who[m]…Duncan [tried to rape with similar bizarre tactics]…Duncan was also charged criminally [but merely]…sentenced to four years of probation. At his sentencing, he [blamed his rapist behavior on members of the public being mean to poor widdle piggies]…

Thought Control (#1268)

My first profession is becoming almost as much a target for authoritarians as my second:

Local police have been called out to Texas public libraries to [forcibly censor] books…in at least five instances….Adam Steinbaugh…[of FIRE said]…“They are treating librarians as suspects. That should be concerning for everyone”…No librarians have [yet] been charged with a crime. But in recent months Texas [politician]s have proposed a dozen bills that would change state law to make it easier to prosecute them for obscenity…

Morality Lessons (#1285)

Once Utah passed this unconstitutional bill, it became another case of “monkey see, monkey do”:

Eight states are weighing [censorship] bills that would force phone and tablet manufacturers…to automatically enable…censor[ship software whether the customer wants that or not]…The only way to disable the [automatic censor]…would be through passcodes. Providing such a passcode to a [legal minor] would be forbidden, except when done by a parent…Many device manufacturers already have adult content [censorship software] available for use, though it is not the norm to have them turned on by default…In recent years, some phone makers have added [more aggressive censorship software] that use[s error-prone algorithms of the type used by Facebook to censor artwork and pictures of plastic dolls] to censor individual images on certain applications. One of these…bills was passed…in Utah but cannot go into effect unless five additional states pass similar laws — a provision included to prevent Big Tech companies from isolating the state a[s it deserves]…This year, Florida, South Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee, Iowa, Idaho, Texas and Montana [politician]s are all considering versions of the bill…

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Vulture Watching

Posted in Current Events, News, Tyranny, tagged abortion, agency denial, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Australia, censorship, consensual crime, disease, drugs, fascism, Google, I Spy, Idaho, internet, law, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, pregnancy, Property of the State, South Carolina, surveillance, Texas, The Vultures Descend, welcome to our world, Wisconsin on August 4, 2022| 2 Comments »

After the government does something especially awful, there is usually an avalanche of horror stories illustrating exactly what reasonable people warned would happen after the awful government act. The overturn of Roe v Wade is no exception; if I had included these stories in my normal news columns, they would’ve completely dominated most of the late July installments. So instead, I opted to collect them all together here; future updates to these stories will appear in regular news columns under the appropriate tags.

One of the strongest reasons to oppose authoritarian laws of any kind is that they inevitably harm people the politicians insist they weren’t trying to target:

A sexual assault survivor chooses sterilization so that if she is ever attacked again, she won’t be forced to give birth to a rapist’s baby. An obstetrician delays inducing a miscarriage until a woman with severe pregnancy complications seems “sick enough.” A lupus patient must stop taking medication that controls her illness because it can also cause miscarriages. Abortion restrictions in a number of states and the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade are having profound repercussions in reproductive medicine as well as in other areas of medical care…Even in medical emergencies, doctors are sometimes declining immediate treatment. In the past week, an Ohio abortion clinic received calls from two women with ectopic pregnancies…who[se] doctors wouldn’t treat them…

More about the aforementioned lupus drug many women are now being denied:

Methotrexate is a cheap, common drug prescribed to millions of Americans…[for] rheumatic illnesses…inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis or cancer…[but because] it is used off-label to end ectopic pregnancies…it could be restricted by doctors or pharmacists even in states…that do not ban abortion…in low doses, it has proved to be one of the safest, least expensive and most effective treatments for roughly a dozen autoimmune conditions, from juvenile idiopathic arthritis to Crohn’s disease…“I have gotten some reports where children have been denied methotrexate for their juvenile arthritis until they’ve proven they’re not pregnant,” said Dr. Cuoghi Edens…a rheumatology expert…“The majority of rheumatic diseases affect females at substantially higher rates than males…The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in women to men is 3 to 1. For lupus it’s 10 to 1. And so rheumatology is a very female-predominant patient population”…some doctors have already stopped prescribing methotrexate rather than risk [persecution]…Many pharmacists have likewise refused to fill methotrexate prescriptions, or have demanded additional proof before dispensing the medication to patients they believe could get pregnant…

And it’s not just a few fundamentalist asshat pharmacists, either:

…the largest pharmacy chain in the country sent explicit instructions to its pharmacists informing them that new checks would be implemented to confirm the reason a doctor prescribes a drug before filling routine medications for patients…CVS headquarters sent a memo to pharmacies in [Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, Oklahoma, and Texas]…review[ing] diagnosis codes that are deemed acceptable for dispensation, which include miscarriage…If they find abortion is the intended use, they “must refuse to fill the prescription”…

Some of the tyrannies forced-birth fetishists are trying to impose are blatantly unconstitutional:

South Carolina [politician]s introduced legislation that would make it illegal to “aid, abet or conspire with someone” to obtain an abortion…Provisions would outlaw providing information over the internet or phone about how to obtain an abortion. It would also make it illegal to host a website or “[provide] an internet service” with information that is “reasonably likely to be used for an abortion”…the proposal is…modeled off a blueprint created by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), an antiabortion group, and designed to be replicated by [politician]s across the country…

Other FOSTA-inspired laws which encourage nuisance lawsuits have unfortunately not yet been declared unconstitutional:

Nearly four years after a woman ended an unwanted pregnancy with abortion pills obtained at a Phoenix clinic, she finds herself mired in an ongoing lawsuit [after]…A judge allowed the woman’s ex-husband to establish an estate for the embryo, which had been aborted in its seventh week of development. The ex-husband filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the clinic and its doctors in 2020, alleging that…[he has the right to make decisions for his ex-wife]…

Naturally, this new extension of the police state will be enabled by the same fascist surveillance tactics as the War on Whores:

Many of the states rushing to ban abortion are also the biggest users of a surveillance tool that [cops] could use to track women ending their pregnancies — the location data from people’s phones…states across the country are already using this kind of data for other [surveillance and harassment]. And a POLITICO analysis found that many of the states that have criminalized abortion have relied increasingly on location data in recent years…Figures from Google…show that the company received 5,764 “geofence” warrants between 2018 and 2020 from police in the 10 states that have banned abortion as of July 5…

Of course, sex workers know all about most of these oppressions, because they’re tested on us first before being extended to amateurs:

Madolline Gourley, a Brisbane resident…was treated like a criminal during her transit through Los Angeles on 30 June, where she was detained at the border due to suspicions about her intention to house- and cat-sit in exchange for accommodation while holidaying in Canada. Gourley was held in a detention room, interrogated twice, patted down, fingerprinted and photographed…At one point a US b[ureaucrat] asked Gourley, who was wearing a loose-fitting dress, whether she was pregnant. The same question was repeated as she was moved between rooms. When she again [replied that]…she was not pregnant, Gourley was asked whether she had had an abortion…

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In the News (#1198)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged abortion, agency denial, Arizona, asset seizure, brothels, California, consensual crime, cops, Creepy Coppers, drugs, Enablers, Facebook, Florida, law, lawyers, Legislators Gone Wild, Montana, Nevada, Never Call the Cops, New Zealand, Policing for Profit, porn, prisons, psychology, Texas, The Mob Rules, Thou Shalt Not, To Molest and Rape, Torture Chamber on December 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »

The federal government is literally paying state and local police to circumvent state law. – Justin Pearson

To Molest and Rape

If only there were a concise word for “coerced into having sex”:

An Elk Grove [California cop], along with [his cop shop] and city of Elk Grove, are being sued by a woman who…was [raped by]…the [cop, whose identity the state is hiding so he can continue to prey on other vulnerable women]…in April, the woman called 911 to report the theft of her vehicle’s catalytic converter…When the [rapist, who was among the responding cops, discovered]…she was single, he took her number and [claimed] it would be used for the investigation…[but in actuality] he [used it to harass]…her…th[reatening] her son…if she did not [submit]…she complied [due to reasonable]…fear of retaliation…[but] called [a different cop shop]…to…report…the…rape [afterward]…

Thou Shalt Not (#642)

New Zealand cops apparently lack sufficient reasons to brutalize people:

New Zealand is [criminaliz]ing young people [who]…buy cigarettes in a rolling program that aims to make [every]…smoke[r in the country a criminal] by 2025…Each year the age limit will be increased until…[all Kiwis who smoke are criminalized]…As part of the strategy, cigarette prices have [been artificially] increased by 10 per cent every year for the 10 years between 2011 and 2020, but…the price hike has…creat[ed] a black market for cigarettes…

But just in case you thought politicians were capable of logic:

New Zealand has become the first country in the world to permanently legalise drug checking services, which will allow individuals to test the safety of illicit substances at festivals and other locations without the fear of legal repercussions…

So will services checking the safety of black market cigarettes be legal?

Policing for Profit (#924)

Until there are criminal penalties for this behavior, cops have no incentive to stop:

In [2016], Florida passed a law [intended to] reform…the state’s civil asset forfeiture process…But despite t[his]…Florida remains one of the most prolific practitioners of [legalized robbery, because]…local and state police can evade the new restrictions by [simply] working with the federal government [to divvy up the take]…In 2012, the Justice Department demanded that the police department in Bal Harbour, Florida—population 2,500—return $4 million in forfeited assets after audits showed the department had been misusing funds for lavish expenses, vehicles, payouts to snitches, and first-class travel…Bal Harbour police had been running a [so-called] task force…[which actually] laundered $56 million for drug cartels through undercover police bank accounts…police in the suburb of Sunrise, Florida…raked in millions by using well-paid snitches to lure cocaine buyers into town from around the country…and s[teal]ing their cash…a dozen members of the…vice squad had each made hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime pay through the stings…

Legislators Gone Wild (#1102)

The fanatical, unhinged Guinasso and his pet fantasist are at it again, now with the financial backing of Morality in Media:

[A professional fantasist] and two…unnamed…[collaborators, backed by anti-sex extremists Morality in Media, have re-]filed a [previously-dismissed] lawsuit…against Nevada’s Governor [and others, seeking]…to put an end to legalized…prostitution in the state [because of their fantasies about it]…The lawsuit [bizarrely claims]…that…legalized prostitution…[is] “violating the thirteenth amendment’s ban on slavery”…Guinasso [also] argues that…prostitution [should be further criminalized because]…it…[allows women to] make a good living…

The Mob Rules

A district court judge has to do SCOTUS’ job because it won’t:

S.B. 8, the Texas law that bans abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, relies on a novel enforcement mechanism…It authorizes lawsuits by “any person” against “any person” who performs or facilitates a prohibited abortion and promises plaintiffs at least $10,000 in “statutory damages,” plus reimbursement of their legal expenses, if they win. That “unique and unprecedented” arrangement …violates the state constitution’s standing requirements for civil actions, the separation of powers, and the right to due process…[ruled] Travis County District Court Judge David Peeples…His 48-page order emphasizes how the law’s “completely new” enforcement mechanism favors plaintiffs over defendants and warns that the same strategy could be deployed against all sorts of politically disfavored constitutional rights…”It is one thing to authorize taxpayers or citizens to file suits against government officials to make them obey a law, and…quite another thing to incentivize citizens or persons to file suits against other private citizens to extract money from them, with no pretense of compensating the claimant for anything”…

Since IANAL, I can’t judge whether SCOTUS arguments supporting its continued refusal to take action are specious or not. But they’re certainly convenient.

Torture Chamber (#1189)

Arizona screws think they can cure mental illness by torture:

Day after day…Rahim Muhammad slammed his head into the prison cell door…[because he] heard voices that told him to harm himself. But instead of providing counseling…Arizona prison staff repeatedly gassed Muhammad with pepper spray…more than 40 times over eight months [in the past year]…In one two-week period, Muhammad was pepper sprayed 15 times. Sometimes [screws] gassed him twice a day…[or] shot him at close range with a pepper ball gun…The treatment…was recently highlighted in the [class action suit over medical neglect in Arizona prisons. Screws]…have no psychiatric training, but nevertheless told Muhammad that his frequent self-harming behavior is a choice…and…”We’ll gas you, we’ll shoot you, and we’ll tase you until you stop”…Muhammad has spent the majority of the past seven years in…[solitary confinement]…causing [even more] harm…

Creepy Coppers

Setting an example for his underlings:

The [typical and representative] East Helena [Montana] chief of police…admitted…that he distributed child pornography in 2019 using [Facebook]…William Daly Harrington…faces a mandatory minimum five years to 20 years in prison…[and] a $250,000 fine…[he was caught] in September 2020…[after] Facebook Messenger [told cops]…that the Facebook Messenger account…belong[ing] to Harrington….sent…child pornography…[to another] account…

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In the News (#1146)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged A Moral Cancer, Backpage, cell phones, censorship, consensual crime, cops, Dangerous Speech, Devil's Advocate, drugs, escort services, hysteria, Madonna/whore, Maryland, Micromanagement, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, politicians, prisons, sex toys, Stalkers in Blue, stripping, surveillance, Tennessee, The Punitive Mindset, Whore Madonnas on June 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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

Whore Madonnas (#808)

In the News (#1139)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged censorship, cops, dirty, Disaster, drugs, Elephant in the Parlor, FBI, Florida, Idaho, internet, law, lawheads, LGBT rights, Massachusetts, Montana, politicians, porn, prisons, rape, sex offender registry, sex rays, sex work is work, South Carolina, Standard Operating Procedure, The End of the Beginning, To Molest and Rape, Torture Chamber on May 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[The “sex offender” registry] thoroughly ruins someone’s life.
– Elizabeth Ehret

Elephant in the Parlor

Americans pretend “politician hires whores” is something other than a yawn:

When…Matt Gaetz attended a 2019 GOP fundraiser in Orlando, his date that night was…a paid escort and amateur Instagram model who led a cocaine-fueled party after the event…The Florida congressman’s one-time wingman, Joel Greenberg, will [out] that escort to [busybodies] as one of more than 15 [sex workers] Gaetz [hired]…what distinguishes this woman, Megan Zalonka, is that…Greenberg [moved money around to tip her an extra]…$7,000 to $17,500…Gaetz…has declared that he “never paid for sex” [and] wrote off the stay at the hotel as a campaign expense…

“Politician lies” ain’t news, either.

The End of the Beginning

It’s good to see so many challenges to these medieval laws:

In 1993, when he was 18, Randall Menges had consensual sex with two other teenage boys at a camp in Idaho. [He] was charged…with “crimes against nature”…and served seven years in prison…[then condemned to] the sex-offender registry…a federal judge in Montana ruled that Mr. Menges’s name should be removed from the…registry…but…the Montana attorney general, Austin Knudsen…said he planned to appeal…because “[laws are more important than people]”…Last September, [attorney] M[atthew] Strugar, along with the A.C.L.U. of Idaho, filed a federal lawsuit challenging Idaho’s law on behalf of Mr. Menges and another man who was forced to register as a sex offender because he was convicted 20 years ago in another state for performing oral sex on his wife…

Torture Chamber

Funny how people die of “undetermined causes” while cops are brutalizing them:

…[two South Carolina screws murdered] Jamal Sutherland, a Black man with mental illness, in jail…[by tas]ing [him] and pepper-spray[ing him multiple times while he cried that]…he couldn’t breathe…The county coroner has [tried to exonerate the screws by blaming]…his [death on] an “excited state” with unfavorable effects from prescription drugs [rather than the fact that] police [were attacking him with a high-voltage weapon and dangerous toxic chemicals]…Sutherland’s manner of death remains “undetermined,” according to the coroner…[screws] Lindsay Fickett and Brian Houle…were [at first rewarded with paid vacations]…but the…sheriff…[later fired them in response to public outcry]…

Nothing To Be Proud Of

I hope they’re so “disheartened” they go out and find honest work:

Organizers of New York City’s Pride events…are banning [cops] and other [government-sponsored thugs] from marching in their huge annual parade until at least 2025 and will also seek to keep on-duty [cops] a block away from the celebration…“law enforcement…can…be threatening, and at times dangerous, to those in our community who are most often targeted with excessive force and/or without reason”…the Gay Officers Action League said in a release it was disheartened by the decision…and [called] the decision…[to place the safety of cops’ victims above the sadfeelz of cops] “shameful”…

To Molest and Rape (#862)

Note that politicians took three years to act on doing something about rapist cops:

House [politicians] just passed a bipartisan bill that would make it illegal for federal [pigs, spooks and g-men] to [rape] people…the[y have abducted]…th[us closing the “she wanted it”]…loophole…[which] protect[s rapist cops]…The Closing the Law Enforcement Consent Loophole Act, created by Rep. Jackie Speier…would make it a criminal offense for [pigs, spooks and g-men] to engage in any sexual activity with anyone…while exercising their [police powers]…On the state level, it’s still legal in 34 states for [cops] to [rape] someone in custody [as long as they belch out the magic words “she wanted it” when caught]…

Disaster (#1130)

It’s just going to keep getting worse:

…eBay…has changed its policies regarding what it considers “adult items” effective June 15, completely eliminating the category “Adult Only” for new listings…Items that contain nudity are allowed only if the eBay moderators consider it to be “nude art listings that do not contain sexually suggestive poses or sexual acts” and if they are accordingly categorized and labeled…[however] eBay also…reserves the right to decide what is and is not “art”…The company…somehow decided that vintage copies of only four magazine titles — Playboy, Playgirl, Mayfair and Penthouse — may be listed for sale or auction “as long as the listing does not contain nude images or explicit content.” All other adult publications are banned…[as are] erotic videos and films…video games with a rating of X, XXX, R18 or unrated…and all “sexually explicit anime, comics, books, films, animation, manga, hentai [and] yaoi”…

To Molest and Rape (#1137)

Imagine a non-cop child rapist getting only three years:

A [typical and representative] Massachusetts [cop]…convicted…of [raping] a child was sentenced…to [less than] three years in prison…Daniel Cintron was convicted in a jury-waived trial of two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and two counts of intimidation of a witness…Cintron has been in [jail] since 2018 when he…rap[ed] three girls. But a jury in 2019…[said it was OK for him to] rape [kid]s while deadlocking on [mostly clown-costume-related] charges…

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In the News (#1117)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged agency denial, Bangladesh, brothels, California, consensual crime, cops, dirty, disease, drugs, evidence, Facebook, Florida, georg, Georgia, hysteria, Idaho, Japan, Japanese Prostitution, Lack of Evidence, law, Loose Cannons, Madonna/whore, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New York, porn, propaganda, racism, red-light districts, Rooted in Racism, sex rays, Social Distancing, South Dakota, surveillance, The Monsters Are Due, The Peril, The Pro-Rape Coalition, The Widening Gyre, Think of the Children!, United Kingdom, Utah, violence vs. sex workers, Winding Down, yellow journalism on March 6, 2021| 2 Comments »

DHS…is spending its time knowingly policing paid sex acts between consenting adults (even though prostitution is not a federal crime). – Elizabeth Nolan Brown

Japanese Prostitution

A modern descendant of the walled districts of feudal times:

…In its prime from the late ‘70s to mid ‘80s, Japanese civil servants, policemen, and salarymen from the nearest main island would take a 3-minute boat ride to [Watakano]…where a quarter of its 270 residents were sex workers…girls…could each make as much as two million yen ($19,000), or the equivalent of $26,000 today, every month. Residents who weren’t sex workers ran grocery stores, cafes, and apartment complexes. Hidden yet prosperous, Watakano Island enjoyed decades of economic wealth. But when Japan’s economic bubble burst in 1992…high spenders stopped visiting…the[n]…In 1998, Japan legalized [outcall] escort services…

Rooted in Racism

Anti-sex laws are deeply rooted in racism all over the world:

…law enforcement uses sex-negative legislation to enable harm against marginalized communities…Laws targeting sex work and pornography “have sexist, racist, and classist origins”…and those underlying roots continue to manifest themselves to this day. For example, “anti-trafficking” organization Polaris works with [cops] and ICE to arrest and deport…sex workers with a special emphasis on Asian sex workers. Between 2012 and 2016, arrests of Asian people in New York City for “unauthorized practice of a profession” and prostitution rose 2,700 percent. In 2018 Polaris launched a campaign to close “illicit” massage parlors…thousands of Asian women have lost their businesses and their livelihoods…Laws against loitering for purposes of prostitution…empower police to profile, harass and arrest women for existing in public spaces…[using excuses] such as “wearing a skirt” and “standing somewhere other than a bus stop or taxi stand” as justification…

Think of the Children! (#571)

No doubt the children were contaminated by sex rays!

A Sacramento [woman’s] three young kids were expelled from a Catholic school because she sells sexy videos online. The principal…[wo]n’t even [let the children] pick up their things left in class. Crystal Jackson…is making up to $150,000 a month selling access to photos and videos on her Only Fans account. [Only] some of the pictures include nudity. But…a [busybody caught her husband looking at]…her site and started a campaign [with her busybody friends] to get her three kids [expelled by sending poison pen letters including screenshots]…to the diocese and school principal…

I’m sure Jesus would approve of punishing children for the sins of their parents.

Lack of Evidence (#897)

They were “safeguarded”, no doubt at a “safe house”. How stupid do these pigs think we are?

Twelve people have been arrested after…police [staged a pogrom] in Woolwich and Kent…[in order] to…exploit…sex workers [to further racist propaganda]…police st[aged an American-style raid]…on…February 16, by battering down the door and smashing glass as they [chased their terrified middle-aged Chinese victims] down [like animals]…This [pogrom resulted in] the arrest of a 44-year-old woman…a 52-year-old man…a 37-year-old…man…a 59-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman. Another woman was arrested for immigration offences….and two [other] women were…safeguarded…to [be deported] at a later date. [Two spokespigs oinked a lot of filthy wanking fantasies about]…modern slavery…organised…crime…and money laundering…

This is your regular reminder that massive police operations in the UK have never found more than a single-digit number of “sex trafficking” cases.

The Pro-Rape Coalition (#1026)

“Sponsored content” means content a paper was paid to publish; it’s an ad, not journalism:

…the Guardian and the Observer [have] launched…a two-year reporting project [advertised as] investigating and exposing human rights abuses around the world…[but is in actuality sponsored] by Humanity United…[it] builds on [previously-published propaganda and yellow journalism]…on human trafficking…modern slavery…[and] sex trafficking…

Click on the subtitle link for Gustavo Turner’s previous reporting on the previously-published content mentioned above, which includes “articles and editorials with a distinct War On Porn…slant“, including providing “a platform to…Exodus Cry founder Laila Mickelwait…Humanity United…[is] a U.S.-based [prohibitionist] foundation…[founded by] a billionaire p[rohibition]ist couple…who were embroiled in a labor human trafficking scandal of their own around the time they founded Humanity United…”

Social Distancing (#1084)

While India allows deranged prohibitionists to dictate public health policy:

Bangladesh has started inoculating older sex workers at the country’s biggest brothel…to protect the most vulnerable in the pandemic…“If I don’t reach them, they may not come…It’s important to encourage groups…who are disadvantaged,” said Dr Asif Mahmud of the Goalanda district where the brothel is…Bangladesh…launched a vaccination drive in the first week of February and has since vaccinated nearly 2.5 million people…

The Widening Gyre (#1103)

Hysterical fantasies about normal events seem most common in the South:

Savannah [Georgia] is [becom]ing [a hotspot for fantasies about]…human trafficking. In one incident, a woman claim[ed] a man…was attempting to distract her at a…gas station so that he could take her children…[in reality, the man she intended to inflict cop violence upon] was actually a gas station employee who was attempting to tell [her] that the pump she was at was inoperable. The second…post [claimed] an unmarked black car with a blue dome light in the dash attempted to pull [her] over…[she] further [lied that she] called 911 and learned the black car and a blue truck have been involved in local human trafficking incidents. Police [den]y [that there was any such call or any such]…incidents…[in reality] the post[er]…had [simply] been involved in a confrontation in traffic with the other vehicle…

Loose Cannons (#1109)

Too bad the settlement won’t come out of prosecutors’ and sheriffs’ personal assets:

…one of the…[victims of the 2019 pogroms which entrapped Robert Kraft] has filed a federal civil lawsuit to see that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again. Keith Taig is seeking to obtain class-action status for himself and anyone who was [illegal]ly filmed while visiting the…East Spa…and subsequently slapped with criminal charges…While prosecutors [were eventually forced to] drop…all cases against the men who were surveilled, publicly humiliated, and used to make claims of a sham trafficking bust, the women…[are still being] prosecuted [despite being]…the very people police [pretend]ed…they were in this to save. Four…have already pleaded guilty to prostitution. Two…are still staring down serious charges…Some local press continues to report that [Lanyun] Ma stands accused of “human trafficking,” although no such charges exist…and…Prosecutors are still planning to use the [illegal] surveillance footage…

Winding Down (#1114)

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

Efforts to thwart voter-approved marijuana legalization…are evidence of a “playbook” that reflects new legal strategies and greater willingness among [politicians] to [disregard] election results…In Idaho, some [politicians] are…trying to preemptively ban marijuana legalization through an amendment to the state constitution…Utah [politicians] enacted a much more narrow medical cannabis program than was called for by a voter-approved citizen initiative…[and] the Utah Supreme Court ruled that the governor and Legislature were within their legal rights to [ignore the voters because they know better]…The Nebraska Supreme Court shot down a medical marijuana initiative before Nov. 3, saying it violated the state’s single-subject rule for ballot measures…South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem [used a similar rule] to [ignore] that state’s voter-approved…initiative…and now…backe[rs of liberty are] preparing to appeal to the state Supreme Court…In Mississippi, a constitutional challenge to voter-approved medical marijuana…is based on a signature-collection technicality that would nullify “every initiative in the past two decades”…Montana, which also has faced [authoritarian] legal challenges to its voter-approved recreational marijuana initiative, [is in better shape due to]…having a governor committed to upholding the vote…

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In the News (#1099)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged agency denial, brothels, censorship, consensual crime, cops, Down Under, hysteria, internet, law, Montana, New York, New Zealand, Permanent Record, politicians, porn, prisons, propaganda, racism, scams, sex rays, sex work is work, slavery, Swedish model, The Course of a Disease, The Next Target, United Kingdom, Washington (state), yellow journalism, You Were Warned on December 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This is a question about what level of censorship power we want to give to payment processors. – Danny O’Brien & Rainey Reitman

Down Under (#410)

This is what prohibitionists call the “failure” of decriminalization:

A New Zealand sex worker has won a six-figure payout as part of a settlement after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a b[rothel] owner…The settlement was an important reminder that all workers, regardless of the type of work they did, have the right to freedom from sexual harassment in the workplace, said Michael Timmins, director of the office of human rights proceedings…the woman[‘s]…identity, and all other details in the case, remain…confidential…

The Gun in the Room

All laws, even “progressive” ones, are more heavily enforced vs minorities:

…of the [tickets Seattle] police have i[nflicted using the bike helmet law] since 2017, at least 43% were given to people struggling with homelessness…Since 2019, that number was 60%. The total is almost certainly an undercount…In total, Seattle police have issued only 117 helmet citations since 2017, at least 50 of which were given to [homeless] people…Last summer’s protests served to amplify a growing [but long-overdue] skepticism of the criminal justice system’s reach, particularly when it comes to nonviolent [behavior arbitrarily defined by the state as] crime. The wide-scale rejection of the so-called war on drugs typifies the shift most dramatically, but…all…citations — for drug use, traffic stops or bike laws — tend to reveal most clearly the disparities of the criminal justice system…In Seattle, for example, one in four jaywalking tickets issued between 2010 and 2016 went to a Black pedestrian…

A Procrustean Bed (#965)

Authoritarians pretend this is more humane than prison:

Passages [is] one of eight privately-owned pre-release facilities in Montana…To [be sent to] Passages means to submit a 24-hour schedule for each day, subject to approval, accounting for every single minute, around the clock. There’s little privacy; the women sleep four to a small hotel-sized bedroom…Their possessions are rigorously inventoried…inmates…of[ten]…wind up back in prison…because…of…infractions [that] are not crimes on the outside…The…program effectively requires women to be inmates and low-wage workers at the same time. Either role is difficult, but trying to do both at once is mentally and physically crushing…“Honestly, most people would rather just stay in prison because once you’re done with prison then you’re done,” said…former [inmate Tara Norman…Room and board is $15 a day, so if you start your stay with 90 days of drug treatment, you could be starting your pre-release over $1,200 in debt. You can’t complete the program until your drug treatment fees are paid off…There are endless fees for room and board, counseling, instructional materials, laundry, and other necessities. Months can pass where the inmate is working but has no money left from her check because it’s all going to pay for fees and expenses…

Permanent Record (#1036)

If prohibitionists really want to “rescue” sex workers, why do they keep trying to shut us out of other jobs?

A medic was outed by the New York Post…for posting…pictures on OnlyFans for extra income…The article…attempted to make something scandalous out of the fact that the 23-year-old had posted nude photos to the popular subscription site. It…quoted an anonymous FDNY paramedic turned morality cop who snarked that other first responders “make more money by pulling extra shifts, instead of pulling off their clothes”…The [hit post] was quickly decried by critics on Twitter, including [politician] Alexandria Ocasio Cortez…who tweeted at the publication, “Leave her alone. The actual scandalous headline here is ‘Medics in the United States need two jobs to survive.’” The tweet received over 300,000 more likes than the Post’s tweet of its story….one of Kwei’s friends started a GoFundMe page in her name, writing that [Lauren] Kwei had turned to sex work in order to support herself and her family and was now at risk of losing her job…A representative for SeniorCare EMS [said]…Kwei is still employed and it does not intend to let her go over this issue…[but] the GoFundMe…attracted more than 1,500 donors and raised $33,000—far above the stated goal of $5,000…

As I wrote last week, “many more people than ever before are watching, and increasing numbers of them do not at all like what they see“.

The Course of a Disease (#1088)

Swedish model fanatics just won’t stop trying to impose their filth on the UK:

Parliament has passed a controversial bill proposing the UK adopts the “Nordic model”…[which] is opposed by sex workers and [human rights] groups including Amnesty International…who [explain] that the legal model it proposes is driven by ideology, not evidence and puts workers’ lives at risk…In [prohibitionist propaganda], the Nordic model criminalises clients and third parties in the sex trade, leaving workers unharmed, whilst supporting them to leave the industry. However, evidence from countries where it is [impos]ed shows that it has created more dangerous working conditions, whilst still criminalising workers and not supporting exit for those who want to leave the industry…

You Were Warned (#1095)

Congress won’t stop until it controls the internet:

[Politician] Lindsey Graham…[has] introduced legislation that would…implement a sunset for Section 230, the 1996 law that grants legal protects to tech platforms for third party content posted on their sites. The law has come under fire from [pro-censorship politicians including]…President Trump[, who] has said he will veto the National Defense Authorization Act…the annual defense policy bill, because it does not include a Section 230 repeal…[politicians] have long [made absurd claims]…against [the law that]…they have failed to back…up with evidence. [Politicians pretend]…repealing the law could serve as a check on increasingly powerful companies such as Facebook…

The Next Target (#1097)

Prohibitionists care only about “messages”, not facts:

…the campaign against Pornhub appears to be more about moral grandstanding and leveraging generalized shame around pornography than addressing the real problem of child abuse and exploitation…Morality in Media…and Exodus Cry have been teaming up to portray Pornhub as a uniquely prolific and unrepentant purveyor of smut featuring minors and abuse. But [because facts]…do not support this contention…crusaders…resort to using statistics in weaselly ways…for instance…Shared Hope International peppers its calls to shut down Pornhub with general stats about child sex abuse material…they [all] suggest that the only feasible solution is to take drastic aim at porn or digital privacy more broadly—sometimes both…Conflating role-playing with actual abuse is also a common feature of anti-Pornhub advocacy …In the past few days, Pornhub announced new policies surrounding content and removed all videos from non-verified accounts…these changes have long been on the list of porn performer and producer demands…[but] little coverage has acknowledged this…nor the broader labor and intellectual property issues behind it…

The EFF and Vice also published strong criticisms of this latest front in the War on Whores.

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In the News (#1087)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged (State) Violence Against Women, agency denial, Arizona, Backpage, brothels, censorship, consensual crime, cops, Dangerous Speech, disease, domestic violence, drugs, Election Day, Greeks Bearing Gifts, holidays, hysteria, Legislators Gone Wild, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, politicians, propaganda, rape, Shame Shame, Social Distancing, South Dakota, Suppression, surveillance, The Clueless Leading the Hysterical, Tissue of Lies, To Molest and Rape, United Kingdom, video, violence vs. sex workers, Washington DC on November 7, 2020| 3 Comments »

Drugs are winning the war on drugs. – Elizabeth Nolan Brown

Suppression

Watch what you say in front of your children, comrade:

Conversations over the dinner table that incite hatred must be prosecuted under Scotland’s hate crime law, [a megalomaniacal politician bloviated]…Journalists and theatre directors should also face the courts if…Humza Yousaf [or some other censorious sociopath disagrees with them]…the…bill has been condemned by [supporters of human rights and even] the Scottish Catholic Church [and some cops]…It will introduce an offence of [magically] stirring-up of hatred against people [by witchcraft, but only if they belong to specially privileged classes]…Mr Yousaf said that there should be no “dwelling defence” in his bill. He told the Scottish parliament’s justice committee that children, family and house guests must be [forced to become informants for the pigs by threatening them with violence if they refuse]…

Election Day (#937)

We are watching the beginning of the end of the War on Drugs:

Of nine drug decriminalization or legalization measures on state ballots [this week]…not a single one failed. These were decisive victories, too, not close calls…In D.C., more than three-quarters of voters approved Initiative 81, declaring “that police shall treat the non-commercial cultivation, distribution, possession, and use of entheogenic plants and fungi”—those that contain ibogaine, dimethyltryptamine, mescaline, or psilocybin—“among the lowest law enforcement priorities”…Arizona…voters were 59.85 percent in favor of legalization [of recreational cannabis]…In New Jersey, the proportion favoring legalization was…67 percent…In South Dakota, 69 percent approved the medical marijuana measure…and…[53%] the recreational marijuana measure…Montana saw nearly 57 percent of voters approve recreational marijuana…Mississippi, voters said yes to two medical marijuana measures…with…74 percent…in favor…Oregon’s measure to decriminalize non-commercial possession of all drugs saw…59 percent of voters approve…and nearly 56 percent of voters approved…the Psilocybin Services Act, which…[allows] licensed …providers to…[sell “magic”] mushroom and fungi products…

See also “The Clueless Leading the Hysterical” below.

Shame, Shame (#951)

Bird-brains still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology:

Dangerous Speech (#1041)

The government keeps demonstrating that it doesn’t really care that its war on thought is wholly and incontrovertibly unconstitutional:

…Susan Brnovich, the presiding judge in the prosecution of [a half dozen former members of the Village Voice Media family], is married to the state’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Mark Brnovich…we have argued — to no avail — that the judge has a conflict. Previously Judge Douglas Rayes disqualified himself because he had a friendly relationship with attorneys on both sides of this case…Judge Susan, on the other hand, is sleeping with General Mark. She sees no problem…Mark Brnovich published an incendiary — and wildly inaccurate — propaganda booklet attacking Backpage, the classified advertising platform, in 2018…In the absence of any disclosure by her that her husband had already set the table for her, we went to court under the impression that Susan was an impartial jurist…We have only recently connected these judicial dots courtesy of a curious attorney who asked: Did you know…? We did not…The defendants then are left to ponder the pillow talk between these interlocutors…

(State) Violence Against Women

The “Violence Against Women Act” doesn’t fight its named subject; it promotes it:

…”mandatory arrest” policies…spread across the U.S. after the passage of the…Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), part of the infamous 1994 crime bill. The man behind [it]…was…Joe Biden. The parent bill, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994…has since been disavowed by Democrats and Republicans, including…Biden…But Biden and the broader Democratic Party are still boasting in 2020 about VAWA…the product of activist agendas and political convenience, written and sold on ideas and evidence that were either dubious or outright debunked…Biden’s law funneled billions to police and prosecutors to enact policies that put women in greater danger—and said victims’ wishes didn’t matter when they conflicted with what the state thought best…Democrat[s claim]…that 30 years ago, “domestic violence was treated as a private matter, not a heinous crime”…But [this] doesn’t square with the historical record …”Assaults and threats of physical violence against intimate partners have been illegal for centuries,” noted lawyer Leigh Goodmark in The New York Times last year…[even] Prohibition [was pushed using the common belief]…that drunkenness was the main cause of abuse…As Aya Gruber, a law professor…and former public defender, writes in…The Feminist War on Crime, “The nascent battered women’s movement was radical and antiauthoritarian at its core…[but quickly] transformed…into a propolicing, proprosecution lobby”…

Tissue of Lies (#1081)

The latest pig fad: collecting a bunch of unrelated raids, arrests & record updates and calling the resulting dog’s breakfast a “human trafficking sting”:

In what is [pretended by cops and prosecutors] to be the largest anti-human trafficking operation in state history, Ohio [pigs characterized a series of arrests of teenagers and adults as]…the…recover[y of] 45 missing children…and more 100 other human trafficking survivors…Hop[ing that nobody would notice the large amount of time the arrests were spread over, and that they were made by]…50 [diffient gangs of thugs]…Ohio Attorney General David Yost…[made furtive movements in his pants while describing the arrest of teenagers running away from abuse homes and/or living with non-custodial parents as] “lives that were rescued from this evil”…Yost [also seemed to lump the arrests of sex workers into his fantasy]…and…[tied it to] a two-week operation in Georgia that [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution examined and found that, by combining a variety of cases, pigs had intentionally and maliciously fostered a false perception that confused the public and harmed innocent people]…

Cops all over the US are apparently trying to shore up the dying “sex trafficking” mythology by combining a few arrests of sex workers and clients with mass arrests of teens in foster care and shelters and pretending they’re related.

To Molest and Rape (#1083)

Notice how often rapist cops’ victims are underage?

A Baltimore Police SWAT [thug]…has been charged with child sex abuse…Donald P. Hildebrandt …“denies all the charges against him, and adamantly maintains [that she wanted it]”…

Legislators Gone Wild (#1086)

Sex workers need to keep suing prohibitionists whenever possible:

…Alice Little, who works at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch…is taking legal action [against Nevada governor Steve Sisolak] because…he…is [discriminating against] sex workers [by refusing to allow brothels to do business] while allowing other high-contact businesses to reopen …“For months…tattoo shops and massage parlors…have been…open while the…brothels remain shuttered. If it’s safe for a customer to get a massage at a massage parlor, then it should be safe for a customer to visit a…brothel…Sex workers like me are suffering financially and emotionally. We have minimal options for economic relief and limited alternative employment opportunities due to our stigmatized work history”…Most strip clubs in Clark County are also still closed…Little is being represented by attorney Marc J. Randazza…

The Clueless Leading the Hysterical (#1086)

Reporters are finally getting that nobody is going to give expensive cannabis edibles to your spawn for free:

Since 1996…drug warriors and their credulous collaborators at newspapers and TV stations have repeatedly warned parents that seemingly friendly strangers might be trying to get their kids high on Halloween by passing off THC-infused candy as ordinary treats. Yet none of those stories cited any actual examples…since substituting expensive marijuana edibles for cheap candy…offers no obvious payoff even for maliciously minded stoners…[but] after two decades of this nonsense…[some reporters] are starting to…show…appropriate skepticism…”No One’s Going to Give Your Kids Free Weed in Their Halloween Candy,” said the headline over an October 2019 Slate piece by Jane C. Hu…A week later, the Washington Examiner ran an opinion piece…with the same message…NBC News ran an essay by Simon Moya-Smith with this headline: “The Halloween tale of marijuana handed out to trick-or-treaters is as real as a ghost story.” This month the Spokane Spokesman-Review noted that “tainted treats turn out to be mostly make-believe”…

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