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Posts Tagged ‘North Carolina’

It’s like she’s a ghost.  –  Jason Kilburn

I couldn’t decide whether to send David Johansen off with a New York Dolls number or a Buster Poindexter one, so I defaulted to his older (and more influential) idiom while linking the other.  The links above the video were provided by Brooke Magnanti; Walter Olson; Jesse Walker; Matt Welch; C.J. Ciaramella & 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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[Sex work] should be decriminalized and not in any way regulated because it is a sex worker’s body and it is up to them to decide how they will use it in their livelihood.  –  Sean Baker

The Notorious Badge

From Hustlers to Pretty Woman, films centering sex workers continue to drive blockbusters for Hollywood — and last year was no different.  Anora was one of Hollywood’s most lauded films of 2024…By casting real-life sex workers in the club scenes…the film made strides that are rare for Hollywood.  Multiple sex workers were reportedly hired as consultants to ensure the accuracy and fair portrayal of these characters, and there was even a private screening of the film…for…sex workers…[but] the film industry continues to discriminate against…actors with a history of sex work — ironically, even when they’re auditioning to play sex workers…

Sexcrime (#1354)

It’s only been six years since the UK lost in court the last time it tried this:

…pornography should be banned…[if any bureaucrat working for the UK censorship agency] Ofcom [points at it and belches the magic formula]…”degrading, violent and misogynistic”…[the] propos[al is basically an attempt to reinstate the overturned 2014 law] that porn videos [refused]…for any [BBFC] certificate in the offline world should be banned online.  Baroness Bertin[, a fanatical pro-censorship politician, claimed in Nixonian fashion]…”I’m not a prude”…[while demanding that] the state should police people’s sex lives…

Shame, Shame (#1421)

These thieves have absolutely no shame:

Botify AI, a site for chatting with [computers]…hosts bots resembling real actors that state their age as under 18, engage in sexually charged conversations, offer “hot photos,” and in some instances describe age-of-consent laws as “arbitrary” and “meant to be broken”…MIT Technology Review…found popular user-created bots…meant to resemble Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, and Millie Bobby Brown, among others.  After receiving questions…about such characters, Botify AI removed the[m]…from its website, but numerous other underage-celebrity bots remain…Botify…[is] operated by Ex-Human, a [corporation] that…also licenses [chatbots] to other companies, like the dating app Grindr…and…has more than a million different characters, [imita]ting everyone from Elon Musk to Marilyn Monroe…


The Cop Myth (#1484)

Good riddance to bad rubbish:

A [typical and representative] Nashville [cop] died [of old age] while in [jail] for [murdering] his wife…87-year-old John Sorace died on Feb. 20, following…[his] arrest…for…reckless homicide after [murdering] his wife on Jan. 9…

Thought Control (#1498)

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

Several [wannabe book-banners] spoke out…against the effort to pass legislation designed to deter book banning in Connecticut libraries.  They [bloviate] that [individual] parents should have [power to overrule librarians and remove]…books [from] library shelves…[for all legal minors], particularly…those [which might] contain [information authoritarian parents want to deny them]…Bob Duff…co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1271, said Connecticut libraries dealt with 113 [attempts] to [ban] books in 2023 alone.  Duff said that bans “pave the way for greater censorship”…and…[waste] librarians[‘ time while threatening them with culture-war violence]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1499)

Politicians will use any asinine rhetoric to gain control of the internet:

[The U.S. Congress’ top anti-porn crusader, Utah] Senator Mike Lee has introduced [a bill with the deeply-moronic moniker] the Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act, a step toward [age-gating the entire internet so as to make government surveillance of adults even easier than it already is.  Previous attempts at similar censorship, both at the State and federal level]…have [repeatedly] been challenged and overturned by [federal courts, up to and including] the Supreme Court on the grounds of not [being remotely Constitutional].  Nonetheless…[politicians keep trying anyway because defending the indefensible in court doesn’t come out of their pockets, and culture-war jihads appeal…to the authoritarian nitwits who vote for them]…and garner…[financial] support from the [usual collection of pro-censorship gangs and cabals which infest the US]…

If Men Were Angels (#1517)

Wannabe preachers are often as bad as the real thing:

[North Carolina cops] arrested Lucas Timothy Hunt…the founder of the “Thank You Jesus” signs movement, [for child porn, acting on information from]…the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children…the Thank You Jesus mission…re[fu]sed…[to] comment…

 

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

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The hospitals are at fault. The clinicians are at fault. Our policies are at fault.  –  Dr. Davida Schiff

The Truth About “The Truth About…”

At first, I believed her, until it became clear that Nifong was showboating:

Crystal Mangum, the former exotic dancer who accused three Duke men’s lacrosse players of rape in 2006…now [admit]s she lied…“I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t…And I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me,” Mangum said on the web show “Let’s Talk with Kat“…The interview took place at the North Carolina [prison]…where Mangum is serving time for [the] 2013 [knife] murder…[of] her boyfriend…she said she hopes the three men will forgive her…[Mike Nifong,] the district attorney [who turned] the case [into a circus,] was convicted of criminal contempt and disbarred…

If Men Were Angels

Preacher can’t or won’t behave like a moral person; what a shock:

A [typical and representative Oklahoma] pastor…[named] James McMillan was arrested in late November…[becaus]e he unzipped his pants and began touching himself in front of a…[teen girl] while [driv]ing down a Cleveland County highway.  McMillan was arrested again [on December 9] for [show]ing [porn]…to a minor…he…has been [repor]ted [for] sexual abuse…in multiple [social] services and [criminal] cases dating back to 2003 [but nothing has ever been done]…

Cops and Robbers (#1328)

Cops don’t like it when non-cops ape their entrapment schemes:

Police are …[hu]nting teenage gangs [which are] terrorizing gay men in “pedo hunts” in the Sydney area…Nearly a dozen organized attacks have been connected to the…gangs, likely a fraction of the actual number…the victims were gay men who arranged to meet in public parks with someone they met on a dating app like Grindr.  Instead of a consensual hook-up, they were confronted by multiple teenagers, who then taunted, beat, and robbed the victims, sometimes using [guns Australian politicians like to pretend don’t exist in Australia]…Several of the victims were forced [by threats] to c[laim they were] pedophiles while being filmed, [so the attackers could post the]…videos…online, in…[places such as] an Instagram account called “pedohunting_syd”…At least five boys, ages 14 to 17, have been charged in connection with the assaults and robberies, as well as…possessing unauthorized firearms.  Police are describing the gang as a terror group…

Thought Control (#1460)

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

After years of culture war battles in school and public libraries, the campaign by [pro-censorship] “parent rights” groups has succeeded in casting a nationwide chill over the market for children’s books…During the 2023-24 school year, there were more than 10,000 book bans in public schools — a 200% rise over the previous year.  The books overwhelmingly included LGBTQ+ themes and characters of color, according to PEN America.  Many of the same books are banned over and over across the country, through coordinated efforts by [pro-censorship] groups…Teachers and librarians, facing threats and fearful of losing their jobs or even going to jail…are hesitating to put [any] books that include LGBTQ+ characters or discussions of racism on their shelves…sales of such books are down significantly…and authors have seen school visits canceled, leaving them without a crucial income stream…[wannabe thought controllers vomit out the word “]pornography[” at sane, moral people, and opine that “authors and publishers]…should be imprisoned.  Educators and public librarians who [stock any book we point at] should be classed as registered sex offenders”…

Thought Control (#1468)

Politicians really do believe they can control people’s thoughts via threats:

Karen Cahall…who teaches third grade [in Ohio], was recently suspended for three days without pay and threatened with termination…for [hav]ing four books in her classroom library [of about 100 books] that contained LGBTQ characters…Ana On The Edge, The Fabulous Zed Watson!, Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea, and Too Bright to See…[were on a list used by busybodies to harass teachers] and…on October 30, 2024, a [wannabe thought-controller took it up on herself to compare every title in Cahall’s library against that list, then]…sent an email complaining to…every [school board] member…Superintendent Tracey Miller, who [has neither spine nor principles, claimed]…Cahall’s inclusion of these books in her classroom library violated school district policy…[against books about] “topic[s] on which opposing points of view [exist]”…Cahall has filed a…lawsuit against Miller and…School District…[because] their actions were [blatantly] unconstitutional…

Property of the State (#1474) 

How long will society accept its medical system being used as a tool of state violence?

Across the country, hospitals are dispensing medications to patients in labor, only to report them to child welfare authorities when they or their newborns test positive for those very same substances on subsequent drug tests…The[se]…are…medications routinely prescribed to millions…every year…includ[ing] morphine or fentanyl for epidurals or other pain relief, anxiety medications, and two different blood pressure meds prescribed for C-sections.  In a time of increasing surveillance and criminalization of pregnant women since the end of Roe v. Wade, the hospital reports have prompted calls to the police, child welfare investigations and even the [abduction] of children from their parents…

You Were Warned (#1483)

Politicians will use any trick to gain control of the internet:

[Pro-censorship politician] Mike Lee has introduced a bill to…forc[e unconstitutional] age verification on app stores and mobile devices, with [the] goal of chilling sex-related speech.  Lee [misuses the word] “accountability” [to weirdly represent]…”big corporations”…[as public] “moral[ity agencies” despite the fact that]…big corporations like Google and Apple already ban apps featuring sexual content…[for] everybody…[so] this legislation is about…age-gating…social media…and making tech companies even more afraid of allowing anyone to access adult content…[by inventing] a private right of action for parents and guardians [to file nuisance lawsuits] against app stores…If minors download a web browser and visit porn websites, their parents can sue.  If minors download X or Bluesky or Reddit and happen upon some sort of sexualized image, their parents can sue.  If minors download a chat app and peers direct message them GIFs featuring cartoons committing violence, or inappropriate selfies, or any message at all, their parents can sue.  All a parent has to [do is belch out the word “]harm[“]…or “lewd”…

 

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

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We can’t eradicate the human sex drive.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Worse Than I Thought (#335)

Just because the moral panic is moribund, doesn’t mean politicians aren’t going to keep using sex as an excuse to destroy lives:

North Carolina has made it a felony crime to patronize a sex worker…a crime that comes with a presumptive minimum sentence of four months in prison, up to two years…in recent years, we’ve seen a disturbing trend of states starting to classify attempts to pay for sexual activity as a felony…mirror[ing] the misguided and detrimental path [of]…the war on drugs.  Three states now make it a felony crime to pay for sex or attempt to pay for sex…In 2021, Texas became the first…then…last May, Oklahoma [followed]…Morality in Media…is a major driver of these laws and, more generally, the idea that we can “end demand” for prostitution…sold…by [conflating female agency with]…sex trafficking…

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor” + teacher = “youth pastor”:

A [Texas] pastor and teacher in Grapevine is under arrest for possession of child pornography…Arturo Alarcon…[plant]ed hidden cameras in a church-owned mobile home used to host visiting families. [After these were discovered by visiting missionaries staying there], detectives found an image of child pornography on Alarcon’s cell phone…one of the cameras was designed to look like a clock.  Another…was like a bug zapper…Alarcon [has, unsurprisingly, long been buddy-buddy with] Grapevine Police…

Welcome to the Future (#1159)

Of course they had to be forced to end this ugly, evil scam:

The Pasco County [Florida] Sheriff’s Office is permanently scuttling a [“]predictive policing[” sc]am that was the subject of…a pending civil rights lawsuit…[due to its unceasing,] unconstitutional harassment of families.  In a settlement agreement ending that…lawsuit, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office [was forced to admit] that it…[had intentionally violated] the plaintiffs’ First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights…In addition to ending the…[scheme] and agreeing not to create a similar one, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office will pay [a mere] $105,000 to the four plaintiffs…

A Moral Cancer (#1322)

Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:

If you want to create a black market in a perfectly legal product, just make regulations and taxes so onerous that many people prefer to buy from illegal vendors…that’s certainly the case with cigarettes… “New York has the highest inbound smuggling activity, with an estimated 54.3 percent of cigarettes consumed in the state deriving from smuggled sources in 2022,” note [Adam] Hoffer and [Jacob] Macumber-Rosin [in the latest edition of the Mackinac Center’s regularly compiled research on the topic]. “New York is followed by California (46.7 percent), New Mexico (41.2 percent), Massachusetts (39.7 percent), and Washington (36.8 percent)”…because their tax rates drive people to purchase their smokes from illicit dealers, high-tax states suffered a revenue hit in 2022 of more than $5 billion.  Since 2007, they’ve lost out on more than $79 billion….[and] with flavored tobacco banned in places like California and Massachusetts, those products are available in those states only on the black market…New Hampshire taxes cigarettes at the rate of $1.78 per pack, which is relatively low. As a result, find the Mackinac Center and the Tax Foundation, 31.43 percent of cigarette sales are for smuggling elsewhere.  That puts it in third place after Wyoming, where 49.2 percent of cigarette sales are smuggled out of state, and Delaware, where 34.4 percent of sales are resold in higher-tax jurisdictions…

Feudalism Redux (#1390)

If you need a law like this to control your teen offspring, you’ve already lost them:

[The Ninth Circuit] has ruled that Idaho can [attempt to] enforce its abortion travel ban, which [criminalizes adults who assist] minors [who] travel…out of state for abortions without parental consent.  The decision…reversed a 2023 decision that had blocked the law on First Amendment grounds.  The law [is intended to allow a parent or guardian to force a minor to carry an unwanted or even dangerous pregnancy to term by terrorizing anyone who might help a girl to exercise her right to bodily autonomy.  Its]…sweeping language…could [even] apply to a grandmother driving a pregnant minor to the post office to pick up a package containing abortion medication, for example…

You Were Warned (#1437)

Increasingly-unhinged federal courts uphold a blatantly-unconstitutional law:

A panel of three federal…judges ruled unanimously…to uphold a law that could [unconstitution]ally ban TikTok in the United States…[unless its] Chinese owner, ByteDance…sell[s] it to a…[politically-connected] American owner by Jan. 19, 2025…the…decision sets the table for TikTok to take its case to the Supreme Court…During his campaign, [dancing orange-utang] Donald Trump…[claimed] he would “save TikTok”…though opinions among his [gang of unhinged cronies]…are mixed on whether…to [include this particular]…unconstitutional [action among]…the…flawed and dangerous precedent[s they already support to]…give…the government far too much power [over] Americans’ speech online…

Mad Libs

The reason so-called “AI” spouts out gibberish is that it is incapable of telling truth from falsehood:

Following Hunter Biden’s pardon by his father…Ana Navarro-Cardenas, a commentator who appears on The View and CNN…cited a pardon granted by President Woodrow Wilson of his brother-in-law Hunter deButts…and…an Esquire article called “A President Shouldn’t Pardon His Son? Hello, Anybody Remember Neil Bush?” was based on the premise that George H.W. Bush pardoned his son Neil; it has since been retracted “due to an error.”  The day before its publication, Occupy Democrats’ executive editor Grant Stern tweeted a similar claim that Jimmy Carter pardoned his brother Billy…As far as I can tell, n[one of these] actually occurred.  Where was all this coming from? Well, I don’t know what Stern or Esquire’s source was. But I know Navarro-Cardenas’, because she had a follow-up message for critics: “Take it up with Chat GPT”…

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

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If you want to kick the door in…you’re more than welcome to.
–  Paige Mitchell

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A [North Carolina politician named]…Richard Braswell…[has been] sentenced to…prison…[for] 20 to 33 months and [condemned] to [the]…sex offender [registry] for 30 years…[because] in April 2022…[he molest]ed a 13-year-old girl…Divorce records filed by Braswell’s wife said…he…“took the victim and her brother with him to work under the pretense of having them do some work for him, then sent the victim’s brother on an errand”…

The Cop Myth (#1306)

Sleeping with cops isn’t safe for men, either:

…three Elyria [Ohio cops] stormed a man’s home, tased and arrested him without [cause or] warrant on May 11, 2023…Raul Ortiz…[was attacked by his cop] ex-girlfriend, Brittany Warner, [with two other thugs and permission from senior sow Paige Mitchell.  The gang] kick[ed] down Ortiz’s front door[, supposedly] to retrieve [Warner’s] belongings…though she no longer lived [there]…then tased, arrested and charged Ortiz with five felonies, all of which were later dropped…[politicians] wrote that [Mitchell’s okaying this]…“defied common sense”…but [she was only given a slap on the wrist.  Henchthug]…Colty Hersh [was given an even milder love tap, and]…the third [thug] involved, Chris Lewis, was [not even given a stern lecture.  Boss Hog]…William Pelko didn’t [even deign to notice his pigs’] actions until…a year after the [crime was committ]ed, just eight days after [local news] first reported it…Ortiz has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Elyria, [the cop shop] and each [offending cop]…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1444)

The claims in these nuisance lawsuits are increasingly absurd:

More than a dozen states are filing lawsuits…accusing TikTok of harming the well-being of children by using [magically-]addictive product features that keep them [spellbound] on the platform, in a [moronic] salvo that amplifies the company’s legal perils as it tries to stave off a federal ban.  Attorneys general from 13 states and the District of Columbia are a[bus]ing…local consumer protection laws by [ascrib]ing [supernatural powers] to [a program], exposing young users to mental and physical risk…The complaints represent the second multistate attempt to [loot] a major social media company…[using spurious] claims they are contributing to a youth mental health crisis in the United States [which is actually caused by government-encouraged intrusive surveillance and infantilization of young adults], following a flurry of similar lawsuits against Facebook…last year…California AG Rob Bonta…is co-leading the [witch hunt] alongside…New York AG Letitia James, [claiming]…that TikTok [vampirical]ly designed the app to “feed on young users”…[the rest of the nitwit parade consists of] Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington…

The Punitive Mindset (#1457) 

Modern attorneys general are vile even by the low standards of politicians:

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and 13 other [fascist] attorneys general [have] filed a petition…asking a federal court to block new rules that reduce the cost of phone and video calls with people in prisons and jails…The [politicians object to] new rules…prohibit[ing] telecommunications companies from paying commissions or kick-backs to jails and prisons…and [to] long-term benefits that include lower risks of reoffending and an increased likelihood of successful re-entry…[which would reduce the] prison…[popula]tion…[they also object to] prisons and jails [being less able to bleed needy families to increase their profits]…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1467)

Politicians and bureaucrats are empowered to force stupidity on others:

Every morning, before opening the mail, Tulsa County Election Board employees Kerry Martin and Taylor Gutierrez put on N95 masks, face shields, medical smocks and surgical gloves…[because] Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman [is a yokel who believes copaganda about]…election boards across the country receiving mail containing fentanyl…“one piece of mail that was sent to the state Election Board in Oklahoma City…included a multi-page document and…flour…[causing] Freeman [to absurdly belch out “]dangerous substances[“] …“It’s unfortunate that we live in a society [where idiots] have [the power to force us] to do this kind of stuff,” Martin said…

The Cop Myth (#1477)

If he’d been wearing his magical clown costume, this would’ve gone very differently for his victim:

A homeowner shot and killed an…Atlanta [cop] who…broke into his home…around 5 a.m. [without a magic scroll of permission]…Aubree Horton…was…recently [named] “Investigator of the Year” at the [cop shop]’s annual [self-aggrandization] breakfast…[fellow cops excuse]ed Horton [as] “experiencing a mental health episode or under the influence of narcotics”…[when he was] shot [by his intended victim] in self-defense…

Torture Chamber (#1480)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”, but “journalists” shouldn’t parrot them:

[Screw]s routinely lock severely mentally ill men in [cages] on Rikers Island for weeks and even months in [flagrant] violation of city law, [according to] a jail social worker who [finally developed enough backbone to quit] three weeks ago…

 

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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Slavery is not bad.  Some people need to be slaves.  I wish they would bring it back.  I would certainly buy a few.  –  Mark Robinson

Elephant in the Parlor (#705)

Politicians watching kinky porn is no more unusual than their being hypocrites and psychopaths:

North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson said he won’t end his campaign despite a CNN report that reads like a mad lib of campaign-killing material…Robinson called himself a “black NAZI” and a “perv” in posts on…a [porn-sharing] message board [named “Nude Africa”]…Robinson also reportedly wrote about peeping on women in public showers, being thrilled by some absolutely filthy pornography (think The Human Centipede), and called for reinstituting slavery…The cherry on top of it all, given the GOP’s current moral panic over transgender issues, is…Robinson’s “affinity for transgender pornography”…Robinson [has] denied that he’d made the posts…

Broken Record (#1112) 

Irish versions of the “gypsy whores” myth were quaint even before other prohibitionists abandoned them:

There was a surge in demand for sex workers at the National Ploughing Championships in Co Laois last week, according to a [religious prohibitionist organization] that…[persecutes] sex…[workers].  Ruhama [is still trying to spread the long-debunked fantasy] that large-scale events attended predominantly by men were “big catalysts” for sexual exploitation…

To Molest and Rape (#1216)

A rapist cop’s evil begets more evil:

Letcher County [Kentucky] Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines…walked into the chambers of Judge Kevin Mullins, closed the door and…murder[ed him with a gun]…then walked out of the chambers with his hands up and surrendered without incident…Stines had been a bailiff in Mullins’ courtroom for years before he was elected sheriff…The [murder may be related to] a federal civil lawsuit filed by…a [woman who was repeatedly raped by a sleazebag deputy]…inside Mullins’ chambers for six months [under threat of being locked in a filthy cage]…The lawsuit accused Stines of “deliberate indifference in failing to adequately train and supervise” [rapist cop] Ben Fields…[who got off with a mere] six months in jail, followed by six and a half years of probation…

If Men Were Angels (#1428)

Cop and preacher is like the molester equivalent of a full house:

A…[preacher] who…worked [as chaplain] for the Indianapolis…Police Department…sexually abus[ed] a child “over 100 times”.  Sylvester Driscoll[‘s] victim confessed to her school counselor in August that Driscoll had raped and sexually abused her for years…Driscoll [groomed her by] show[ing] her [porn] videos…since she was 5 years old.  The first sexual assault by Driscoll…[was] not long after that…and…he…would makes threats to keep her from telling anyone…

Eavesdropping (#1449)

Some politicians are starting to admit Shotspotter is a boondoggle:

…Ending ShotSpotter would fulfill a campaign promise by [Chicago] Mayor Brandon Johnson…[but] some City Council members [who get kickbacks from the company] are trying to compel his administration to extend the…contract…economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council has co-authored a study that found…ShotsSpotter…reallocat[es] police resources away from…911 calls…to…ShotSpotter alerts [which in Chicago are 91% false positives]…this reallocation is causing 911 calls to…suffer in terms of response times…there isn’t any evidence that this technology is actually benefiting crime clearance or crime reduction efforts…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1465)

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

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights…studied how the Department of Justice…the Department of Homeland Security…and the Department of Housing and Urban Development…[mis]use [facial recognition] technology…leading to wrongful arrests, bias in accessing housing and more troubling outcomes…[there is] a [total] lack of federal oversight, with no standardized regulations to [minimize]…abuses of power and privacy concerns…Because there are no public databases which show how often FRT searches are used on individuals…“conducting public oversight of the government’s use of FRT to determine if civil rights violations are occurring is extraordinarily difficult.”  Customs and Border Patrol…uses the technology in 53 airports, 40 seaports and all pedestrian lanes at the Mexican border…HUD uses FRT in surveillance cameras in public housing…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1465)

It’s too bad cops don’t spend all of their time fantasy role-playing with each other:

A Fresno [California cop named] Paige McQuay [was arrested, but also rewarded with a paid vacation, because he interacted with another cop fantasy role-playing as a teenage girl online]…

 

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 [a surveillance experiment] happens at the border doesn’t mean that that’s where it’s going to stay.  –  Petra Molnar

If Men Were Angels

Apparently this preacher wasn’t the molester, but is covering for him:

A [North Carolina] pastor [named Kenny Parker] is facing charges [because] he failed to report…a string of sexual assault[s of legal] minors that spanned…several years…Parker is also the chief administrator of the church’s school…

Creepy Coppers

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

A[n Illinois cop named]…William Griswold…[has been arrested] for [possession and distribution of] child pornography…and…was immediately placed on unpaid leave…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1235)

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

…DHS…plans to collect and analyze photos of the faces of migrant children at the border in a bid to improve facial recognition technology…This includes children “down to the infant”…Facial recognition…has traditionally not been applied to children, largely because training data sets of real children’s faces…consist of either low-quality images drawn from the internet or small sample sizes with little diversity…[due to] the significant [ethical issues] regarding privacy and consent when it comes to minors…[but] DHS [doesn’t give a damn about the consent of migrants and]…339,234 children arrived at the US-Mexico border in 2022…if the face prints of even 1% of those children had been [scanned], the resulting data set would dwarf nearly all existing data sets of real children’s faces…and [all obtained]…from a population that has little recourse…Petra Molnar, author of The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of AI [said]…“if…you are faced with the impossible choice of either: get into a country if you give us your biometrics, or you don’t…That completely vitiates informed consent”…This question becomes even more challenging when it comes to children…

A Broker in Pillage (#1289)

Burying government in lawsuits is the only way to slow its depredations:

A new class action lawsuit [was filed because] Indiana [cop shops steal]…millions of dollars a year in cash from FedEx packages without eve[n] in[vent]ing…a…crime [to accuse the owners of].  Henry and Minh Cheng, who run a small California jewelry wholesaler business, [explain] in [the]…suit…that [cops stole] over $42,000 in cash from a FedEx package en route to them from a client in Virginia…[but] they’re not the only victims…Indiana [cops] “exploit Indianapolis’s location at the Crossroads of America to [steal] millions of dollars in currency being shipped from one side of the nation to the other.”  The Chengs’ countersuit against the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office and the State of Indiana was filed on their behalf by the Institute for Justice…Marion County [alone] has s[tolen] $2.5 million…from at least 130 FedEx parcels in transit from one non-Indiana state to another over the past two years…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1301)

Sometimes I just can’t force myself to take cops’ sophomoric pomposity seriously:

[Michigan] Sheriff Chris Swanson [dressed up in a sheet with two holes cut in it and jumped out, yelling “BOO!” at a typical and representative Florida cop named]…Jeffrey Morningstar…Swanson [bragged about how spooky he and his cronies were, pretending to be a (presumably deceased)]…trafficker selling a 15-year-old…Morningstar…want[ed] to…have sex with [for a thrift-store price]…“W[oooooooo, aren’t you scared?”]…Swanson [demanded, claiming] that [he plans to keep running around, startling]…anyone…he [can]…find…

Thou Shalt Not (#1353)

Only a prohibitionist could imagine that examining 10 people constitutes a “study”:

Consuming a drink with erythritol — an artificial sweetener used to add bulk to stevia and monk fruit [sweeteners] and to sweeten low-carb keto products — more than doubled the risk of blood clotting in 10 healthy people…Previous research has linked erythritol to a higher risk of stroke, heart attack and death…Consuming a drink with an equal amount of glucose, or sugar, did not affect blood platelet activity in another group of 10 people…

Dangerous Speech (#1368)

Much more of this, please:

A [typical and representative] Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a weekly newspaper has been charged with felony obstruction of justice…Gideon Cody…[led] the raid [in retaliation for] the Marion County Record [investigating the fact that he was hired despite resigning in disgrace from his previous job due to incompetence and shitty behavior]…Publisher Eric Meyer’s mother, who co-owned the newspaper and lived with him, died the next day of a heart attack…[due] the stress of [armed pigs invading her home].  Meyer said…authorities appear to be making Cody the “fall guy” for the raid when numerous officials were involved…The Record…and [some of its] staffers have filed four federal lawsuits against Cody and [his gang]…includ[ing] a wrongful death claim [for] total damages exceed[ing] $10 million.  The city’s current annual budget is about $9.5 million…

 

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 my movies, everybody always dies.  –  Brian Steven Smith

Surplus Women

Your “leaders” work hard to ensure this happens more often:

Brian Steven Smith…[of] South Africa…[has] been [sentenced to 226 years in prison for the]…murder[s of two Alaska native sex workers,] Kathleen Henry in 2019 and Veronica Abouchuk, either in 2018 or 2019…[Smith made] graphic videos…[of] Henry’s [murder, then drove around with her]…body in the back of his pickup for two days before dumping her body on a rural road south of Anchorage…The video never shows [his] face but his distinctive [South African] accent is heard…narrat[ing] as if to an audience and urges Henry to die as she’s repeatedly beaten and strangled in an Anchorage hotel room…Valerie Casler…who provided the images to police…stole…Smith’s [phone from the console of his] pickup when they were on…a [professional] date…[and] found…[the] video on it…[then] transferred [it] to an SD card she [gave to police]…During an eight-hour police interrogation…Smith confessed to police that he also killed Abouchuk…and shot her in the head before dumping her body north of Anchorage…police…later found a skull with a bullet wound there…

To Molest and Rape

Rapist cops often specifically target vulnerable women:

A West Palm Beach [Florida cop named]…James Bush…was arrested on July 12 [for trying to rape a woman]…after a man called [911] to evict his girlfriend.  When Bush arrived, he told the man to leave…the[n immediately] asked her if she wanted to “go upstairs and have some fun.”  He then grabbed her arm…[and dragged] her to a bedroom, [where he] tried to…oral[ly rape her, then switched tactics to]…offer…her “$2,000 to get your own place”…[she] eventually [got him to leave, but he returned with another cop]…hours later…[when] the…boyfriend called police again…The woman [then] told the [other cop] that Bush had sexually assaulted her and that she had evidence on her phone.  “Bush grabbed her phone during a struggle and deleted video, which was retrieved during the subsequent investigation”…

The Implosion Begins (#1079)

Now that the hysteria has imploded, local media are happy to attack the same fantasies they eagerly spread for two decades:

…a sting operation to nab sexual predators…was run…in May by Millersville [Tennessee] Assistant Police Chief Shawn Taylor and a colorful cast of [fellow psychopaths] he assembled…Taylor did not involve other law enforcement agencies with more experience in such operations because of his un[til-recently popular] conspiracy theories that…state officials are involved in child sex trafficking…Members of a private group posed online as minors — despite Millersville police being told by prosecutors that the sting would be legal only if [pigs] were the ones doing the [entrapment]…Taylor [claimed] investigators would be using [illegal] “pre-signed search warrants”…he…has voiced support for all sorts of bizarre…child sex trafficking [myths which were popular with reporters as long as they only demonized sex workers instead]…of…powerful…Democrats…[and] imagines that Millersville, a community of about 6,000 people just north of Nashville, is at the center of Tennessee’s drug and human trafficking operations…Two of the men were introduced to the group as “prayer warriors,” who are part of a group that believes…human trafficking i[nvolves]…”demons”…and former Navy SEAL Craig “Sawman” Sawyer…[who in 2018] took a Tucson TV crew to a camp that he [fantasiz]ed might have been used for child sex trafficking…

Follow Your Bliss (ROTW #2)

Beware of men who “volunteer” to be in positions of authority over your kids:

A [Michigan church volunteer named]…Jonathan Russell is facing 10 charges [of child molestation]…Russell [targeted] children he…was [given authority over as] a volunteer youth organizer for the [First Baptist] church [of Bridgeport].  In March…he…was arraigned in Crawford County on three similar charges…[and] previously was convicted in North Carolina in 2016 on charges that he spanked [children] without their parents’ permission…

I Spy (#1398) 

If “official” thugs can obtain your data without a warrant, so can unofficial ones:

The call and text message records of tens of millions of AT&T cellphone customers in mid-to-late 2022 were exposed in a massive data breach…the telecom company…blamed [on] an “illegal download”…the compromised data includes the telephone numbers of “nearly all” of its cellular customers and the customers of wireless providers that use its network between May 1, 2022 and October 31, 2022….[and] every number AT&T customers called or texted – including customers of other wireless networks – the number of times they interacted and the call duration…customer names were not exposed…however…publicly available tools can [easily] link names with specific phone numbers…AT&T…learned [about the breach] on April 19 [of this year, but]…the US Department of Justice…de[mand]ed in May and in June that [the company] delay…public disclosure…

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

I Spy (#1415)

Cops and politicians should never have been allowed to insert themselves into any doctor-patient relationship, but that ship sailed long ago:

 J.D. Vance…Trump’s pick for vice presidential nominee, pressured federal regulators last June to kill a privacy rule that prevents police from accessing the medical records of people seeking reproductive services…The rule was designed to prevent [cops] in anti-abortion states from using private records to hunt down and prosecute people who cross state lines in search of abortion services.  If the Trump-Vance ticket wins this year’s presidential election, the new administration could rescind the rule…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1450)

Politicians increasingly use nuisance lawsuits to circumvent the Constitution:

…NGL…seems like a fairly standard social media offering, allowing users to post questions or prompts and receive anonymous responses.  Now, the Federal Trade Commission…has ordered [it] to ban users under age 18…[claiming that it] “unfairly” marketed the app to minors…[while barfing out the magic censorship-justifying buzzwords] “cyberbullying and harassment”…To settle the lawsuit, the agency is not only making NGL pay $5 million, it’s also requiring the app to ban those under age 18 from using it…[which] is effectively a backdoor way to accomplish what Congress has been failing to mandate legislatively and what courts have been rejecting when state [politician]s do it…the FTC does not seem to be requiring NGL to check IDs…[yet,] but…it doesn’t seem like a long shot from here to either a) punishing the company further if kids lie about their ages, thereby necessitating the use of ID checks or other age verification schemes by NGL, and/or b) requiring more invasive age verification schemes in future orders to social media companies…

 

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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Help us, we can’t breathe.  –  Elizabeth Nomura

Shame, Shame (#516)

Some of y’all may recall that when all the “police reform” types started touting body cameras as the solution to surging police brutality, I was skeptical:

McNeill points out that the camera records the public, not the officer. She adds, “As long as the cops have the power to turn the cameras off or decide whether footage is released, it’s difficult to see what is to be accomplished here.”

That was February of 2015, and over 9 years later civil rights lawyer Alec Karakatsanis has published a law journal article demonstrating that, as usual, I was correct: the cops wanted the cameras as a surveillance tool, and useful idiots who imagine violent thugs can be “reformed” obligingly gave them exactly what they wanted:

By situating the rise of the police body camera within its actual legal, political, and economic contexts, I suggest that the body camera is one of the most important Trojan horses in contemporary U.S. history.  What follows is a case study of how the police bureaucracy used its own violence as the perfect alibi to get well-meaning people who lacked sufficient information to support greater police procurement budgets, more advanced and efficient technologies of control and incarceration, an explosion of profit for a small group of companies, and an expansion of the capacity of the government to surveil us. And most remarkably: All of it happened under the guise of making the police bureaucracy more “accountable” and “transparent”…

To Molest and Rape

Cops are a menace to women of all ages:

An Orange County woman [has] filed a federal lawsuit…against an Anaheim [cop who]…raped her after seeing her at an In-N-Out Burger and getting her name by running her license plate number…[typical and representative cop] Carlos Romero [was rewarded by] the city of Anaheim…[with a] paid [vacation for raping her] in 2023 after [she reported his stalking, harassing]…and [threatening her until he got tired of her refusing him]…sex…and [raped]…her [vaginally and orally despite her]…repeatedly t[elling] him “no”…His gun was…in full view [and]…she “was terrified and fearful for her life” and just wanted Romero to leave…

Panopticon (#1308)

“Safety” has become the #1 excuse for Orwellian levels of surveillance:

North Carolina [politician] Michele Morrow has made [a fetish of subjecting students to police-state measures that her own children would not have to endure, since she]…home-school[s them.  Like many authoritarians, she is obsessed with incredibly-exaggerated fears of] pedophiles and…gun violence [which she wants to use as an excuse to give dangerous thugs even more power to harass, spy on, persecute, and molest students.  Paradoxically, she wants to give these pervert thugs access to]…video surveillance in classrooms, hallways and bathrooms…

Torture Chamber (#1371)

Americans’ sick lust for torture turns ordinary prison sentences into death sentences:

A…[woman locked up in] California’s largest women’s prison [at Chowchilla] has died amid a brutal heatwave that has left residents without air conditioning begging for relief…temperatures in the region climbed above 110F (43.3C)…[but mouthpieces for the State pretend that had nothing to do with her] death…There have been reports of potentially fatal conditions inside jails and prisons during heatwaves across California and in Nevada, Illinois, Texas, Florida and other states this year.  The Chowchilla fatality has escalated fear and panic throughout the…overcrowded [dungeon, in] which…more than 2,000 people [are locked in cages without] air conditioning…[while screws refuse] to provide enough cold water and other supplies that would alleviate their suffering and reduce heatstroke risks…[many prisoners are] struggling with nausea and headaches…[while officials refuse to maintain or repair] swamp coolers meant to lower temperatures…[for] prison[ers]…locked in these death chambers [while bureaucrats deny the crisis and pretend their facilities are humane]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1423)

The currently-fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parade has escaped the US and is careening all over Europe:

The Senate of the Republic of Ireland…[will] debate the country’s proposed…[“monkey see, monkey do”] Online Age Verification…Bill…[whose] sponsor…hailed as a victory the fact that the…imprecise language…[of the US laws his bill apes] has already had a chilling effect on free speech, [namely] “porn suppliers such as Pornhub to cease providing services [to people who don’t know what VPNs are]” in those states…The bill makes platforms and app stores liable for any failure to implement [government-mandated surveillance, and they are specifically required]…to store the…data they collect [at their own expense] for five years, and [make it available for pigs to root through at will]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #11)

I just can’t feel sorry for cops sexually abused by other cops:

A [Virginia cop named Michael Rusk] is suing his former department and local…[politicians] for $5 million for…sexual harassment a[fter]…he…shot and severely injured his superior…Christopher Gibson [for sexually assaulting him]…police leadership not only knew about the continued harassment but purposefully disregarded it because Rusk is a man…[for years] Gibson made…sexual advances toward [Rusk] including hand-holding, touching, slapping, stalking, and grooming…the[n]…in January 2023, after a night of drinking…Gibson…sexually assault[ed] Rusk…and…Rusk…[responded by shooting] Gibson several times before calling 911…

If Men Were Angels (#1449)

If I followed up on every rapist cop or preacher, I wouldn’t have room for anything else.  But sometimes I have to make an exception:

In 1982, [21-year old married] pastor Robert Morris…[seduced and molested 12-year-old] Cindy Clemishire…while he was staying at her parents’ home in Oklahoma…But 25 years later, when Clemishire hired an attorney and threatened to sue Morris…hi[s]…lawyer…responded by blaming Clemishire for what happened to her…The Feb. 6, 2007, letter was one in a series of exchanges that year between Sharpe and [Clemishire’s lawyer] Gentner Drummond…Clemishire…had been seeking $50,000 in restitution from Morris to cover the cost of counseling.  Morris…offered to pay $25,000, but the talks fell apart…because [Clemishire] was not willing to sign a nondisclosure agreement…

 

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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Voice ordering solution {repeat three times}.  –  Mason Smoot

Given the final verse, this seemed the most appropriate sendoff for Kinky Friedman; both obit and video were contributed by Jesse Walker, who also published his own tribute to the quirky country star.  The remaining links above the video were provided by Franklin Harris, Violet Blue, Stephen Lemons, and IncarcerNation (x3), 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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