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Posts Tagged ‘New Orleans’

Links #739

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

So vague it’s hard to imagine a person writing it.  –  Bob Carpenter

In case any of you wondered, the character appearing at the bottom of my August 9th column was Morgus the Magnificent, who hosted horror movies on various New Orleans TV stations intermittently from 1959 to 2005 (and in syndication starting in 1987).  If you’re interested, there are plenty of his silly “experiments” on YouTube, but here’s a song about him from the year he premiered.  The links above it were provided by Desiree Alliance, Nun Ya (x2), Jesse Walker, Mistress Matisse, Franklin Harris, and IncarcerNation, 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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Links #736

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

We all live below sea level in one way or another.  –  Matthew Christopher

Another video from Amy Winfrey on big corporations stealing art to train programs they hope will replace artists.  The links above it were provided by Jesse Walker, Brooke Magnanti, Scott Greenfield, IncarcerNation, Nun Ya, and Mistress Matisse, 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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In the News (#1436)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Sex workers…are not selling themselves, they are selling a service.  –  Tammy Franks

Surplus Women

Why does this story avoid the obvious?

A…Bothell [Washington politician named James McNeal]…was arrested [on April 30th] after a 20-year-old woman was found dead inside [his] home…”laying face up in a bed, fully nude” and covered by bedding…the King County Medical Examiner’s Office found “injury marks” on [her] neck and “under the left side of her jaw”…the woman had been dead for about 24 hours at the time [cops] found [her].  Evidence …“indicates death from asphyxia”…

Monkey Business 

So much for human uniqueness:

A Sumatran orangutan in Indonesia has self-medicated using a paste made from plants to heal a large wound on his cheek…It is the first time a creature in the wild has been recorded treating an injury with a medicinal plant…A research team…spotted Rakus with a large wound on his cheek in June 2022…then saw Rakus chewing the stem and leaves of plant called Akar Kuning – an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial plant that is also used locally to treat malaria and diabetes.  He repeatedly applied the liquid onto his cheek for seven minutes…then smeared the chewed leaves onto his wound until it was fully covered.  He continued to feed on the plant for over 30 minutes…the researchers saw no sign of infection and the wound closed within five days.  After a month, Rakus was fully healed.  The scientists concluded that Rakus knew he was applying medicine because orangutans very rarely eat this particular plant and because of the length of the treatment…

If Men Were Angels (#947) 

The problem isn’t Catholicism, Christianity or even religion; it’s teaching kids to blindly submit to authority:

A criminal investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans is based on a suspicion that it may be linked to child sex trafficking…The affidavit requesting the search warrant…alleges that multiple sex abuse victims…were transported to other parishes and outside of Louisiana, where they were sexually abused.  It further alleges a scheme…in which abused children were instructed to provide “gifts” to certain priests…to signal that the children were targets for sexual abuse…multiple victims reported that they were brought to the New Orleans Seminary, where they were instructed to “swim naked in the pool and would be sexually assaulted or abused”…the information that led to a suspicion of sex trafficking was obtained by police during an earlier investigation into a retired priest named Lawrence Hecker, who is accused of raping an underage teenage boy in the 1970s…

The Mob Rules (#1323)

Until this batshittery is declared unconstitutional, things will keep getting worse:

As soon as Collin Davis found out his ex-partner was planning to travel to Colorado to have an abortion in late February, the Texas man retained a high-powered antiabortion attorney — who…immediately issued a legal threat…[of] “wrongful-death claims”…Davis…is…[now] asking for the power to investigate…[so he can] sue either under the state’s wrongful-death statute or the novel Texas law…that allows private citizens to file suit against anyone who “aids or abets” an…abortion…The case also illustrates the role that [abusive] men who [want revenge on former] partners…could play…either by filing their own civil lawsuits or by [snitching] to [the pigs like bootlicking little tattletales]…Davis’s petition — filed…by Jonathan Mitchell, a prominent antiabortion [fanatic]…follows a lawsuit filed last spring by another Texas man, Marcus Silva, who is attempting to sue three women who allegedly helped his ex-wife obtain abortion pills…

The Course of a Disease (#1372)

Australian prohibitionists won’t stop trying to impose this evil scheme:

South Australia’s upper house voted 10-9 to reject…“Nordic model” [criminalization of] prostitution…[beside the usual Swedish rot features] the Bill…would also have compelled government to [treat] sex workers [as cases of arrested development unable to make work decisions without State]…assistance…Greens member Tammy Franks led the charge against the [criminalization attempt] in a furious speech, denouncing the Bill as “slavery” for sex workers…Franks and other members of the Labor Party…expressed support for full decriminalisation of the industry…Franks…expressed alarm about how close [the vote] was and…said…“I think they’ll be back for another attempt at some stage”…

You Were Warned (#1383)

Politicians no longer care about whether their new diktats are Constitutional:

Apparently, the world needs even more terrible bills that let ignorant senators grandstand to the media about how they’re “protecting the kids online”…This one is called the “The Kids Off Social Media Act” (KOSMA) and it’s an unconstitutional mess built on a long list of debunked and faulty premises…The…bill…would be an outright ban on social media accounts for anyone under the age of 13…we kinda already have a “soft” version of that because of COPPA, which puts much stricter rules on sites directed at those under 13.  Because most sites don’t want to deal with those stricter rules, they officially limit account creation to those over the age of 13…all this generally did was to have parents teach kids that “it’s okay to lie,” as parents wanted kids to use social media tools to communicate with grandparents.  Making that “soft” ban a hard ban is going to create a much bigger mess and prevent all sorts of useful and important communications (which, yeah, is a 1st Amendment issue)…

The Last Shall Be First (#1408)

This needs to happen to every State tattle-site regardless of intended target:

Utah set up an online form for people to accuse other[s]…of violating the state’s… “bathroom bill”…[which] is being flooded with memes and troll comments…the auditor also left the submissions database open to the public—without…protections [to prevent] viewing other people’s submissions…One can also attach images to the form…those included photos of Barry Wood, characters from Bee Movie, and Shutterstock images of bull testicles…Trolling snitch lines set up to enforce bad laws is a time-honored tradition online.  When Indiana launched a form for reporting schools “that teach about LGBTQ+ issues…[or] Black history”…people flooded [it] with memes…A similar outcome happened for Virginia’s tip line against teachers who taught “critical race theory”.  In 2020, New York City[‘s]…snitch line to report [people]…not social distancing…[was] filled…with dick pics…

 

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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Diary #711

Posted in Diary, tagged , , , on February 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Today is Lundi Gras (“Fat Monday”), the day before Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”).  In New Orleans, those who can (and truth be told, many who can’t) start the party early today, or else get things ready for the party tomorrow.  I have even known die-hards who go out to their favorite spot on the St. Charles Avenue parade route to camp out overnight so as to beat the folks who don’t get out there until after dawn, but honestly, I think that’s a bit mental. Of course, I was always more of a Vieux Carre celebrant than a paradegoer, which works a lot better for a woman who has difficulty making it to her own kitchen by 8 AM, much less some crowded and possibly cold, rainy neutral ground somewhere in the Garden District.  It has now been 18 years since I’ve been to a Mardi Gras celebration of any kind, and noplace I’ve lived since even seems to know it exists (or else they call it by some Philistinism like “Pancake Day”, about which the less said, the better).  But to this day it feels very weird to me when businesses are open or people want to schedule things on Mardi Gras, and I don’t think that will change between now and that future day when I eat my very last piece of king cake.

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Links #702

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 16, 2023| 1 Comment »

I should be taking you to jail!  –  “Officer” Benjamin Jacquot

I came upon this odd, charming little alternate-world fantasy a few weeks ago; I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  The links above it were provided by Dan Savage, Mark Bennett, Emma Camp, Clarissa, 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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Links #695

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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

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

From the Archives

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

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Maytweets

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Diary #672

Posted in Biography, Diary, tagged , , on May 16, 2023| 1 Comment »

After I bought my property in Oklahoma, Matt and I returned to New Orleans from 2004-2006 to work.  During that time we lived in Mid-City just a block off Bayou St. John, so we often passed by the massive necropolis at the corner of Canal Street and City Park Avenue which locals simply refer to as “The Cemeteries”.  Early in 2006, I noticed that a statuary adjacent to the cemeteries had a “Going Out of Business” sign, and stopped in to inquire; it turned out that the city had used the recent Hurricane Katrina as a pretext to steal the business’ building and land under eminent domain (with only a few weeks’ notice) to build a new 911 call center which could have been located in any of a number of other places, so the owners were trying to sell off as many statues as they could because their storage facility couldn’t hold them all while the owners figured out what they were going to do.  At the time I had just spent several months as the only escort in town, so I had the cash to buy six marble statues at fire-sale prices.  Some of y’all have probably spotted them in various pictures over the years, but for the first time I’m reaching the point where all of them will be displayed properly.  I’ve decided to place this one in honor of Venus Cloacina, the purifier of waters, in the vicinity of the septic tank; that’s north of the house, in the new paddock extension (if you look closely, you can probably just make out one of the new T-posts for the fence extension at upper right).  As you can see I need to clean her up, and I’ve asked Jae to make a rock garden around her, both for decorative purposes and to dissuade the animals from trying to scratch themselves against her and knocking her over.  And soon, you’ll see another of those statues in the atrium.

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Silver

Posted in Biography, Music, Philosophy, tagged , , , on April 13, 2023| 9 Comments »

25 years ago this month, Grace and I moved in together.  We’d only met a few months before, in November of ’97; I had only been stripping a few weeks and a girl I worked with asked me along to a party she’d been invited to.  As it turned out, she felt the party was a bust but I was enjoying myself, so when she wanted to go I asked our hostess if any of the other guests could perhaps give me a ride home later.  She asked Grace, who was happy to give me a lift, and by the time she left my place later that evening we had already become friends.  She started writing me (actual paper!) letters and a couple of months later mentioned she wanted to move from northern Louisiana down to New Orleans.  I suggested she move in with me at least temporarily, and a quarter-century later here we are.

From the beginning, she showed herself to be a good friend and a generous roommate; I had no car of my own at the time, but she insisted I use her truck so I could dance at the more lucrative clubs in the French Quarter rather than the quieter suburban place I was commuting to on my bicycle.  And when I finally got sick of strip-club management bullshit in the autumn of ’99, it was Grace who encouraged me to start escorting instead.  When I bought my ranch in 2002 there was absolutely no question that she would move up to Oklahoma with me, and she took care of the place while I continued to work in New Orleans until ’06.  It was her loyalty and dependability which allowed me to travel for work and activism, and when, in December of ’16, I asked how she felt about moving to Washington, she replied simply, “I want to be with you.”  People have often assumed that, because Grace is very butch and I’m definitely femme, that we’re a lesbian couple, but though I’m bisexual Grace is as straight as an arrow; in fact, it’s the success of our partnership (I doubt we’ve really argued even a dozen times in all those years) which eventually made me realize that sex is really a very poor reason for two people to live together, and that the cultural messaging which paints “romantic” relationships as the pinnacle of human interaction is pure garbage:

The true pinnacle of human interaction is intimate friendship; it persists under conditions that destroy “romances”, lasts much longer on average, and is an incredibly powerful connection despite governmental attempts to place other relationships (including sexual & familial ones and even the one-sided “relationship” between individual & State) above it.  Friendship is the most powerful kind of love in the world, which is why government constantly tries to weaken it; it persists despite the fact that, unlike practically every other relationship between two people, it has absolutely no legal status.  Other relationships require government to prop them up; friendship is the only one which is able to stand completely on its own.

So if married couples can celebrate their silver anniversary, I see no reason why Grace and I shouldn’t celebrate 25 years of best-friendship and successful cohabitation.  I don’t recall the exact day, but it was definitely mid-April, and we’re going to have a celebration this summer once the weather gets warmer and drier.  So, please join me in a toast to Grace, and though she’s too camera-shy to take a picture with me, I’ll show her all the good wishes you send in the comments or on Twitter.

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In the News (#1304)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2023| 1 Comment »

There’s a continual commitment to using violence to control people and manage problems in this country.  –  Elizabeth Davies

The Truth About “The Truth About…”

Some psychopaths use moral panics to get attention at others’ expense:

A 22-year-old woman…[named] Eleanor Williams…[pretended] on Facebook…[that] she had been beaten and raped by [Muslim] men who took her to sex “parties” around the north-west of England.  The post, made…on 20 May 2020, prompted…more than 1,000 people [to] donate £22,000 to…her…and drove a sharp rise in racism…Curry house windows were smashed, beloved restaurants were boycotted and one Muslim takeaway owner was chased down the street by men who poured alcohol over his head…It also ruined the lives of those she falsely accused, who were spat at, ostracised and called “paedo” in the street…Wh[en] Williams…[made the] post…she had already been charged with making false rape allegations against four [other] men.  One of them, an 18-year-old man who had gone on a night out with her and friends, spent 10 weeks in prison…before police [bothered to] check…his alibi….[and] realised they had [arrested] him [for arguing] in [public] on the very night she first accused him of drugging and raping her…Williams had multiple phones she used to create a fictional web of abusers as well as fellow victims she created to corroborate her lies…[she concocted the fantasy] after watching [various “sex trafficking” propaganda movies and fakeumentaries, including]…the 2008 film Taken…Williams [even]…injur[ed herself]…with a claw hammer police found covered in Williams’s blood but absent of anyone else’s DNA…

To Molest and Rape (#1215)

It’s kinda nauseating to read this monster’s prattle about Jesus:

Dennis Wallace Perkins was sentenced to 100 years in [Louisiana] state prison…after the [typical and representative cop]…pleaded guilty to [several charges of rape and related crimes stemming from molestation and other violations of children he gained access to via]…his wife…Cynthia…[who allowed him to spooge into] batter [for cupcakes]…she then served to students at Westside Junior High School, where [she was]…employed as an English teacher…Perkins filmed himself making the revolting concoction.  Cynthia Perkins…[also] aid[ed] her husband in [raping and otherwise violating kids]…Perkins addressed the court…[claiming without evidence that] “Jesus Christ has forgiven me”…and…that…certain facts [which] “came to light in pre-trial motions”…would [somehow] have helped his case…

The Last Shall Be First (#1235) 

Another attempt to extend legal minority to 25 based in pseudoscience:

[A new] Oklahoma bill…proposed…by [politician] David Bullard…aims to prevent healthcare professionals from providing “gender transition procedures” to those…under 26…professionals administering [or referring patients to such]…care [c]ould be convicted of a felony…

See No Evil (#1270)

Let’s hope these opportunists get the same treatment as the Nirvana baby:

Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting were…teenagers…in the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli.  The film was a hit and was nominated for four Academy Awards, but it also stirred controversy [among bluenoses] over a bedroom scene which included images of Whiting’s buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts.  Now in their 70s, Hussey and Whiting filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court…[hoping to cash in by] accusing Paramount of sexually exploiting them and distributing nude images of [young people who are now infantilized as] children.  The suit alleges that Zeffirelli — who died in 2019 [and is therefore unable to contradict their claims] — assured both actors that there would be no nudity in the film…but [later]…implored them to perform in the nude…[yet] the suit [also] alleges that…[they] were…filmed nude without their knowledge….They are seeking [a payday] “believed to be in excess of $500 million”…The lawsuit relies in part on a California law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for [mummified] claims of child sexual abuse…

To Molest and Rape (#1281)

Most rapist New Orleans cops don’t do it by proxy:

…sexual violence by New Orleans [cops is]…an everyday practice of policing…on average, there is a complaint of sexual violence filed against an NOPD officer every 10 days…[and rapists are usually] allowed to resign without any investigation: of the 254 NOPD officers who left their job between 2019-2021, 90 percent had been reported for misconduct in the previous year…Of the 944 [thugs] currently employed by the NOPD, around 190 have at least one complaint of sexual and/or intimate partner violence. Of those…26 have two or more complaints, and 5…have three or more complaints.  The highest number of complaints for one [cop] still employed by the NOPD is 64…

The Cop Myth (#1297)

The death toll will continue to rise until policing as we know it now is abolished:

US law enforcement killed at least 1,176 people in 2022, making it the deadliest year on record for police violence since experts first started tracking the killings…Police…killed an average of more than three people a day, or nearly 100 people every month last year…including people fatally shot, beaten, restrained and Tasered…Only 370 (31%) involved…an alleged violent crime…What’s more, in 32% of cases last year, the person was fleeing before they were killed, generally running or driving off…Black residents were three times more likely to be killed by US police than white people. The inequality is particularly severe in some cities, including Minneapolis where police have killed Black residents at a rate 28 times higher than white residents, and Chicago, where the rate was 25 times higher…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1299)

If you didn’t foresee where this was going, you haven’t been paying attention:

The New Hanover County [North Carolina] Sheriff’s Office has charged a man with assault with intent to kill or seriously injure after [cops fantasized that he “]expos[ed” them]…to a “dangerous opioid drug.”  Lewis Drayton…attempted to throw drugs out of his vehicle and [when three little pigs saw this they panicked]…causing [one of the brave heroes to faint]…the Sheriff’s Office is awaiting lab testing to determine what the substance was…The charges follow a string of incidents over the last few years in which law enforcement across the country have claimed exposure to fentanyl has caused symptoms which…don’t line up with the drug’s effects.

 

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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