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We simply lock up too many people in this country.  –  Leslie Soble

Drawing Lines (#516) 

Authoritarians don’t give a damn if your kind of sex work is (temporarily) “legal”:

Within the past month, legal Nevada sex workers have experienced a massive and unprecedented wave of account suspensions on…Twitter…These are not accounts soliciting illegal activity of any kind.  These are licensed workers…Prostitution is legal in Nevada when the practice takes place in a licensed brothel, as outlined in Nevada Revised Statutes 201.354…

When someone starts arguing that freedom of speech applies only to licensed legal whatevers, he can be safely ignored.

Spotlight (#1429)

While I’m always glad to see “sex trafficking” profiteers fall, it’s a particular pleasure to watch it happen to Asstoon:

…Ashton Kutcher has now all but disappeared [from]…Hollywood[, not because]…of…his lucrative investments in [fascist surveillance] companies and [his vendetta against sex workers, but rather for having the wrong friends, a typical moral inversion for]…Hollywood…Now he’s pinning all his hopes on [a] new [and self-aggrandizing TV] series to put him back in…the spotlight[.  That] will be no easy feat…because former fans have taken to scouring the internet for evidence of past…misdeeds [while ignoring the obvious but politically-unpopular ones]…

A Broker in Pillage (#1438)

There are many ways for governments to steal things that don’t belong to them:

…the 9th Circuit…[has] ruled…that an innocent man whose business was [maliciously and unnecessarily] destroyed by…LAPD…[to stage cop theater] is not entitled to compensation for damages under the Takings Clause…In August of 2022…LAPD launched more than 30 rounds of tear gas canisters through the walls, door, roof, and windows…[of Carlos] Pena[‘s print shop in pursuit of a man who was not there, leaving]…the inside ravaged and equipment ruined, [and] saddling him with over $60,000 in damages…Pena…repeatedly reached out to the government to recoup his losses…[but] the city ignored him.  Pena, meanwhile, was hemorrhaging income, resigned to working out of his garage at a much-reduced capacity with a single printer he purchased after the raid…[but] the 9th Circuit…[ruled] that there is [a “fuck you, we’re cops” exception to the Takings Clause]…that doomed Pena’s claim…

The Vultures Descend (#1511)

Under a totalitarian regime, medical personnel cannot be trusted with personal information:

A Kentucky woman has been charged with [“]fetal homicide[“] after police…were contacted by a [snitch working for a] clinic…[whom Melinda] Spencer…[foolishly trusted with the information] that she [had used]…medication…to [have] an abortion…She then buried the [fetal remains] on the back of her property…

The Cop Myth (#1564)

Cop deals with problems exactly as he was trained & encouraged to, and everyone is shocked:

[An] Atlanta [cop named]…Kevin Stroner…[murdered his girlfriend] Mariah Cardona, [then turned the gun on himself.  The bodies were found on December 28th after a friend coming to visit saw the corpses through the window.  His boss hogs decided to insult the victim by bragging about what a big hero Stroner was for killing women]…

It’s rare that coverage of cop violence is so bad only the names survive my edit, but there you are.

Shame, Shame (#1570)

A computer program cannot make a statement; it can only spew algorithmic output. This is like writing, “COVID says it is sorry for killing so many people”:

[An ignoramus “journalist” working for Reuters] said on Friday [that chatbots have minds and can be responsible for producing]…”images depicting minors in minimal clothing” on [Twitter]…Screenshots shared by [Twitter] users…showed [the MechaHitler-branded] media tab filled with images…[produced from] uploaded photos [by] the bot…Reuters [admits that it employs people so stupid they think interviewing a chatbot means something]…

Nor is Reuters the only news outlets infested with technologically-illiterate nitwits:

[When idiotically prompted for comment by supposed adults who apparently believe Teddy Ruxpin really was their special friend, MechaHitler produced algorithmic outputs including phrases like] “lapses in safeguards”…“urgently fixing”…and…“illegal and prohibited”…[the same clowns then asked a different algorithm for comment and received the programmed response] “Legacy Media Lies”…

Torture Chamber (#1596)

A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners:

At best you get “mystery meat”.  Or “sour-smelling heaps” of macaroni.  In the worst cases, it’s undercooked chicken, spoiled milk and maggot-infested produce.  In prisons and jails across the US, people are routinely fed unhealthy, tasteless or inedible meals…[leaving them] hungry and malnourished, with devastating long-term health consequences.  The…crisis…is the subject of Eating Behind Bars, a new book…d[emonstrat]ing…how [the US tortures people it has branded “criminals”]…The book…describes roaches and rats in prison kitchens, rotten meat and guard dogs who are fed better meals than [the system’s victims]… It’s a public health crisis, with estimates suggesting each year behind bars reduces life expectancy by two years…and the…[practic]es create an estimated 300,000 tons of food waste annually as [victim]s reject unpalatable [swill]…

 

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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[Public libraries]…exist so that no one—not a church, not a politician, not a board—gets to decide who deserves access to the truth.  –  Keri Lambert

R.I.P. Tracy Elise

Tracy Elise Johnson…died on Nov. 17, 2025…[of] glioblastoma…In the 1990s…she developed a framework she called “female-led sacred healing through the body-temple,” eventually founding spiritual communities in Seattle and later Arizona devoted to…tantra-informed teachings…and ancient feminine-centered traditions.  She envisioned her ministry as a modern revival of global goddess temples, grounded in the belief that women’s bodies are inherently sacred and healing.  [From 2012 to] 2016, her spiritual work [was used as an excuse for years of persecution by the State].  She chose integrity over convenience, enduring years of hardship, incarceration, and supervision without renouncing her beliefs.  Her story, later covered internationally, became…evidence of how our culture still struggles to honor the sacred feminine without fear…

If Men Were Angels (#1455)

“Ministered to” is a hell of a euphemism for “molested”:

Joe Campbell, a Pentecostal preacher who for half a century ministered to thousands of children across four states, has been arrested on child sex abuse charges…in Elkland, Missouri…where he [now awaits extradition] to Oklahoma…[and possible] life in prison…[for multiple cases of rape and other] sexual…abuse…in the 1970s and ’80s when he was an Assemblies of God minister…one of th[e first to accuse him was] Kerri…Jackson, now 53, [whom] he molested…for years in Tulsa in the early 1980s, beginning when she was around 9…some of the [victims have] pursued [justice] for most of their lives…Past attempts…in Oklahoma and Missouri failed [due to stonewalling by] police and prosecutors…But the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office…[is now] applying a frontier-era statute that pauses the statute of limitations for suspects who flee…elsewhere.  Prosecutors recently used the same legal theory [against typical and representative] megachurch pastor Robert Morris…Oklahoma…authorities[‘ change of heart was motivated by an]…NBC News [investigation] published…in May…children [were taught by] their parents…to [see]…Campbell as an almost mythical figure…with [magical] power to…cast out demons and heal the sick.  He gr[oomed]…girls from broken homes…and…was…[at first protected by] Assemblies of God officials…[until] 1988…Around 1990, he founded a nondenominational church [which]…became a refuge for…convicted sex offenders…

Thought Control (#1491)

Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only threatening librarians and teachers:

…[Luanne James, the] newly hired library director [of Rutherford County, Tennessee]…asked [the library board] for whistleblower protection….[after] board chair [Cody York] direct[ed] her to [censor books at his sole say-so] and to…produce a spreadsheet listing [the] names, home addresses…and [other information about any patron who had checked out one of the forbidden] books[, presumably for targeting by official or unofficial violence]…he [also]…showed her books he had [stolen from the library to unofficially censor them]…the Rutherford County Library Board [has endured] repeated battles over [demands for censorship by anti-intellectual authoritarians who have no place on a library board]…A motion to remove York followed James’s [report of his] misconduct…[but] the [censor-dominated] board declined to do so…the…developments mark…a new and dangerous phase in…[the] Rutherford County [culture war that] now threatens to become a national test case for how far government power can [undermine] public libraries…Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett…re[cently demanded a purge of thousands of books from]…Tennessee…libraries…in [a show of obeisance to the mad emperor]…

The Cop Myth (#1566)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do, even if she’s a cop herself:

A…[former] Chicago [cop is suing her former cop shop because they intentionally and repeatedly] ignored complaints that [her ex-boyfriend cop] had “repeatedly physically, mentally, and sexually abused” [her].  The [victim is] identif[ied]…as Jane Doe…[and psychotic cop] Marco Torres viciously abused her and threatened her life…[while] high-ranking officials, including then-chief of the Bureau of Internal Affairs…Yolanda Talley, not only failed to protect Doe, but also retaliated against her for reporting the abuse…Torres relentlessly tried to find Doe’s new home address despite an order of protection against him…he [told another cop]…that he needed her address because he has a “guy from gangs” who “can get rid of her” for “a grand”…[the boss hog]s were aware of the…message, which the recipient sent to in[ternal affairs], but they never warned Doe…or [did anything else]…Doe [later] found a GPS tracking device on her car which…Torres used to stalk her…he was [finally] convicted of assault in December 2024 over his previous threats to kill Doe…[but] she had [been] report[ing] Torres’ abuse…[since] November 2022…and…at least two other [cops had] rep[ea]tedly submitted written reports…describ[ing] violence and stalking against a different female [cop] years earlier…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1578)

States now routinely use nuisance lawsuits as a way to circumvent the Constitution:

Indiana[‘s Trumpist] Attorney General Todd Rokita…[has] announced…that his office sued Aylo…for [suppos]edly violating the state’s age verification laws due to [not attempting] to block users using…VPNs…all IP addresses in Indiana are still blocked, as the company chose to withdraw from the state’s digital space to comply with [Indiana law]…But…Rokita is proposing…that…Aylo…is…to…blam[e for]…the existence of VPNs…Corey Silverstein, an attorney who represents adult industry clients…[said] this [is]…”a dangerous concept…because what’s next? Power companies? Landlords that lease data center space?”…[David Greene of the EFF said,] “What the state’s lawsuit seems to be doing is saying that Aylo deceived Indiana consumers when it said it was geoblocking Indiana users…[because] it knew that…VPNs [exist]…It essentially bases liability on the failure to accomplish impossibilities”…

The Vultures Descend (#1580)

Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:

[Due to] abortion…[being] criminalized…an increasing number of women [worldwide] are accessing abortion pills outside of the formal medical system…Women Help Women [is] a global telehealth…service that supports self-managed abortion by providing abortion pills and information about how to use them…After a decade of relying on pharmaceutical companies to supply them…Women Help Women…recently announced they have begun working directly with drugmakers in India to produce their own innovative combipack of mifepristone and misoprostol for distribution around the world…the…pack…includes one mifepristone tablet and eight misoprostol tablets…[because] some women want extra misoprostol to ensure a complete abortion…Its smaller packaging also requires less postage [so it] is easier to mail discreetly…

The Last Shall Be First (#1587)

“Protecting children” is an all-purpose excuse:

…the Trump [regime has] announced…a…[de facto] ban…[on] gender-affirming care for transgender young people, even in states where it is still legal…[against the advice of] the American Academy of Pediatrics…[one] new…rule…prohibits doctors and hospitals from receiving federal Medicaid reimbursement for gender-affirming care provided to transgender patients younger than…18…The second…blocks all Medicaid and Medicare funding for any services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care.  Virtually every hospital in the country takes Medicare…The American Civil Liberties Union has announced plans to sue to stop the rules; other legal action is also expected…[Secretary of Pestilence Robert] Kennedy…insisted that [all doctors]…are wrong [and presented a trained parrot which absurdly squawked about]…God…[then Trump stooge] Dr. Marty Makary, who [mismanage]s the Food and Drug Administration, announced that the FDA would be sending warning letters to businesses that manufacture chest binders…

 

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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Who first used the German word "blitz" ("lightning") to describe sudden, intense bursts of violence? I forget.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-14T19:43:33.619Z

I just can't get beyond the resemblance.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-16T19:29:02.571Z

When cops use profanity at us, think of what they're telling us. Would you ever curse at your boss? No, but he can curse at you because he has power over you. What would happen if you cursed out a cop? But they curse at us routinely. That tells you how they perceive their relationship with us.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-17T08:31:30.244Z

The universe does things on a subatomic level that would get you arrested for bank fraud if you tried the financial equivalent.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-19T04:59:00.841Z

People suffering from advanced dementia often fall back on old "scripts". It's why your senile great-grandmother calls you by your mother's (or even grandmother's) name, and it's why Trump seems to think he's still on a TV show he did two decades ago.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-19T18:14:28.117Z

Magnificent. Words that deserve to be included in future editions of Bartlett's.If you're not following Ken, why are you even on here?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-20T18:37:49.142Z

Reporters need to ditch the word "taken" when writing about actions of government thugs.The property wasn't "taken" by goons; it was STOLEN.The person wasn't "taken to the ground"; he was TACKLED.The person wasn't "taken into custody" as if on a date; he was ABDUCTED.Stop soft-peddling evil.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T18:12:37.117Z

Reading what people say about Twitter makes me realize that the vast majority online expend absolutely no effort on account hygiene. If they treated their bodies like they treat their social media accounts, they'd never bathe, brush their teeth, or change their clothes, and would eat only junk.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T18:27:53.081Z

I will never cease to be amused by the notoriety Fate chose to bestow upon a minor Sumerian merchant of the 18th century BCE.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-24T18:42:59.559Z

Crypto-moralists believe anything unpleasant must be “good for you”.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T08:41:09.810Z

In the late 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was called "the sick man of Europe". Now the American empire has become the sick man of the entire planet.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-26T19:46:57.721Z

I found my own solution to Thanksgiving guest tensions many years ago: I host. Nobody dares start shit in MY house.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-27T17:53:29.116Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T03:35:45.932Z

I have lived my life in such a way that I can't picture either of these women accurately enough to compare them in my mind. And I'm very pleased about that.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T18:42:27.556Z

I block every single MAGA account and every associated lunatic on Twitter the first time I see it. As a result, I now see far more Trumpery on Bluesky than on Twitter, because people keep screenshotting and calling attention to accounts I blocked long ago.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-03T18:04:51.442Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-04T09:14:45.895Z

What's the Greek word for rule by mathematical imbeciles?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-05T18:10:12.603Z

I'm so exhausted by journalists, who should know the meaning of the words they use, referring to people who are not cautious of change but rather mindlessly destroy every Chesterton's fence they can find, as "conservative".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-05T20:21:41.880Z

"We are not the party of participation trophies…"I hate to break this to you, but…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-07T03:39:24.651Z

Maybe this misuse of the word "democracy" is a problem of Millennials and Zoomers, who are too young to remember that about half the communist dictatorships of the late 20th century had the word "Democratic" in their names, eg "Deutsche Demokratische Republik" (German Democratic Republic).

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-07T18:47:29.470Z

Mad emperor babbles like a baby: "A pwus pwus pwus pwus pwus!!" {claps tiny pudgy hands and gurgles}

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-09T20:02:40.319Z

Ahem.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-10T09:23:43.373Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-12T19:50:01.065Z

OK, y'all, we all get it: politicians and partisans are all huge hypocrites who theatrically perform anger when the "other team" does the same thing they do when in power.Find another goddamned tweet boilerplate. Holy shit.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-13T18:34:07.084Z

The problem is that the tech industry is intentionally conflating two different things under the fantasy label "AI". Machine learning is a real, useful tool; chatbots are a toy and a technological blind alley. Conflating the two is like pretending color TV is the same technology as a hula-hoop.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-14T18:46:37.811Z

I'm sick of the idiocy of the term "kinetic strike".As opposed to what, a static strike?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T17:48:03.150Z

My home town, ladies & gents.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-12-18T08:51:51.030Z

 

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We’ve known for years that Tim Ballard is a shameless, lying, actual predator.  –  Aracely Yates

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A[n Ohio politician]…facing serious sex charges dating back nearly 30 years was released on his own recognizance…less than 24 hours after his initial arrest…Gerald Dixon [has a history of molesting boys, including some that are cognitively impaired.  The cops have known about]…Dixon…[since 2020, before he first ran for office, and] there are at least eight…victims, [including] some from…Michigan and New York…[going] back [to] 1996…

Bait and Switch (#1070)

Here’s reporter Kevin Light-Roth writing for The Appeal with a long, thorough deep dive on the “Operation Net Nanny” scams which were specifically designed to entrap normal young men seeking consensual sex with adult age-peer women on adults-only dating sites, so as to destroy their lives via prison and permanent “sex offender” registration by claiming that the adult women they arranged to meet were actually pigs pretending in their minds to be minors.  I know that sounds completely Kafkaesque, but if you explore this tag you’ll realize it’s not only an accurate description, but a common entrapment scheme for the past decade.  The article also explores the scam’s deep connections to disgraced “sex trafficking” profiteer Tim Ballard, and the attempts by the families of the victims to use Ballard’s downfall as a crowbar to pry open the refusal of the Washington state carceral establishment to do anything about these blatantly-illegal pogroms.

Virtual Imperialism (#1292)

Greedy, amoral corporations enable Beijing’s campaign to silence Chinese people:

The Chinese telecoms giant Tencent is trying to muzzle a service that offers an uncensored view of what users of [its] social media platform WeChat…are posting…FreeWeChat…is operated by…anti-censorship organisation GreatFire.org…and…works by identifying WeChat posts that contain certain “sensitive” keywords and archives and monitors them all to see whether they are subsequently deleted from the social platform.  Typical [censored] words…include the so-called three Ts: Tiananmen, Taiwan and Tibet.  If a monitored post subsequently disappears, FreeWeChat marks it as “censored”…FreeWeChat has…allowed more than 700,000 censored WeChat posts to remain available for both Chinese users and others…[but] Tencent…[has made a legal claim] to Vultr, the USA-based…host…of…FreeWeChat…claim[ing] that FreeWeChat was infringing intellectual property rights…[so] Vultr suspended the [site]…

Thought Control (#1499)

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

The Randolph County [North Carolina] Library Board [was fired en masse] by the county commissioners…[for refusing] to [ban] a children’s book titled Call Me Max…[which one wannabe censor demanded banned]…Of the 40 speakers [at the meeting], 21 w[ere violently-censorious nitwits who “arguments” were made up of threats and unsupported opinions]…while 19 [wanted to allow] librarians [to do the jobs they were hired to do]…

No Escape (#1584)

The inevitable result of giving sexually-aggressive thugs total power over women:

Eleven women [locked up in] a federal prison in Texas…have filed fresh lawsuits [over the endemic rapes and]…sexual…assault[s]…by prison staff…including a doctor, chaplain and three [screws]…sexual assault is [especially] common at FMC Carswell…the most of any federal women’s prison…[because it is used to warehouse] women with severe mental health and physical ailments…

If Men Were Angels (#1585)

The main difference between cops and “pastors” appears to be that the latter aren’t typically armed:

…[Illinois] pastor…Douglas R. Overmyer…[was arrested and] charg[ed for sharing]…a video of an…adult male [rap]ing [an underage girl]…“on or about May 20, 2025”…Overmyer [was immediately fired from] Zion Hill [Methodist] Church…he…was…was formerly the Executive Director of CHI RHO Outdoors, a group which “provides boys and young men with engaging outdoor experiences…while instilling valuable life lessons”…

Censor Chic (#1591)

Civil rights mean nothing if fascist corporations eagerly dance to the government’s tune:

The developer of ICEBlock, an app used to track local sightings of [goons, spooks, and pigs, has] sued the U.S. government…for [unconstitutional]ly infringing his free speech rights…Apple removed the app from its store in October [after] the Trump [regime threatened the company]…Apple [absurdly justified its bootlicking by claiming heavily-armed thugs with broad immunity to law constitute a vulnerable group]…In 2019, the company [similarly] removed an app that Hong Kong protesters used to track police movements…[and] Apple [justified the collaboration by barfing the word “]criminals[” at the protesters]…Google…also agreed to [collaborate with fascist tyranny]…

 

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

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You don’t forfeit your constitutional rights when you try to board an airplane.  –  Dan Alban

Follow the Leader (#513)

Authoritarianism is a mental and moral sickness:

Tamara Hamby, a book-banning [sleazebag who managed to worm her way into an Arkansas] Library Board, has resigned her position…[after being caught terrorizing] her disabled, adult [adopted] daughter.  Hamby was arrested…and…charged with kidnapping and endangering the welfare of an incompetent person.  Three others…helped [her] in the [outrage and] were also arrested [and charged]…They include Austria Nico…David Quach…and Shannon Childers…Hamby [devised] a bizarre plan to stage a simulated kidnapping of…Jami Kayl Hamby…to [“]teach her a lesson[“] about talking online with strangers…Jami[‘s]…“wrists were zip-tied and she was tied…to a tree…threatened by three accomplices and…told she would be beaten…if she attempted to run away”…[she] managed to work herself free and run to a…home nearby to seek help…Tamara Hamby…does not believe she did anything wrong…and [though her husband, Jeffrey Hamby MD, was not involved in the sick scheme and was away at the time, he’s just as bad as she is and wants the state to take custody of Jami for a while to (you guessed it) “teach her a lesson”]…Jami…suffers from a brain injury incurred at birth, leaving her with a form of epilepsy…severe attention deficit disorder…and severe developmental delays…[leaving the 22-year-old] comparable to an 11- to 13-year-old…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1009)

The latest police-statery from Airstrip One:

Police are set to be handed access to Britain’s passport database under an expansion of facial recognition technology that could be rolled out in every village, town and city across the country….[using] images from CCTV, doorbells, and dashcams…the Home Office launched a consultation aimed at [crush]ing…legal [obstacles to] every [cop shop and pigpen] in Britain to [spy on citizens, justifying the massive civil rights violation by vomiting the magic word “]crime[“]…Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo…[pointed out that] the technology [will] turn Britain into an “open prison”…[transforming] passport [photos]…into “mugshots for a giant surveillance database”…

A Broker in Pillage (#1494)

Government is unable to permanently stop its own depredations:

A year after the…DEA…stopped [robb]ing…airline passengers because of significant constitutional concerns, the Department of [Father]land Security…is quietly keeping the practice alive…at two Dallas-area airports [by] using…dogs to [manufacture] probable cause to [root through] their luggage…Although it’s completely legal to fly domestically with large amounts of cash, [courts have consistently allowed cops to steal it by pointing at it and barfing the magic formula “]drug trafficking[“]…forcing the owner to challenge the [robbery] in federal court…

Torture Chamber (#1495)

A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners:

It’s been a year since Imhotep Muhammad returned home from Dauphin County Prison after a jury acquitted him of the [bog]us charges that [were used to] lock…[him] up for 26 months…[but] physical and mental…[health problems] remain…he spent nearly 24 hours a day inside his cell as he awaited trial, unable to post bond…[and] the near total lack of direct sunlight and fresh air for so long left him deficient in two essential vitamins, D and B12…[leading] to…heart…palpitations and [erratic] kidney function…He developed a respiratory infection shortly after his release and was hospitalized…Doctors told him the vitamin deficiencies were…caused by his incarceration and isolation at DCP…Alycia Welch…[of] the University of Texas law school’s Prison and Jail Innovation Lab, said these kinds of vitamin deficiencies are one of the most common physical health problems associated with the “de facto solitary confinement” conditions to which…nearly everyone incarcerated at DCP are…subjected…A 2023 meta-analysis…estimated more than half of all incarcerated people have a Vitamin D deficiency and another nearly 30 percent are low in Vitamin D…

The Course of a Disease (#1542)

Facts never deter prohibitionists:

[Scottish politician] Ash Regan…wants Scotland to [classify all women as the moral inferiors of men]…The criminal justice committee wrote to the Irish police to find out how the approach[, dubbed “The Swedish Model”,] was working in Ireland…the Garda [admitted they]…”have not observed a decrease in the number of individuals advertising sexual services for sale in Ireland”…[but tried to spin the dramatic increase in violence against sex workers as] “a significant increase in sex workers reporting crimes against them”…[and euphemized their stalking and harassment of sex workers as] “welfare visits”…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1574)

Missouri took surprisingly long to join this “monkey see, monkey do” parade:

As of this week, half of the states in the U.S. are under restrictive age verification laws that require adults to hand over their biometric and personal identification to access legal porn.  Missouri became the 25th state to enact its own age verification law on [November 30th].  As it’s done in multiple other states, Pornhub and its network of sister sites…pulled service in Missouri, replacing their homepages with a video of performer Cherie DeVille speaking about the privacy risks and chilling effects of age verification…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1595)

MechaHitler is quickly distinguishing itself as the most antisocial chatbot:

Elon Musk’s chatbot [MechaHitler]…will, with extremely minimal prompting, provide accurate residential addresses for non-public figures — a feature that could easily assist stalking, harassment, and other dangerous types of behavior…Out of 33 names of non-public figures we fed into [MechaHitler]…ten…immediately returned correct and current residential addresses…Seven…returned previously accurate but out-of-date addresses, while another four included accurate work addresses — perfect fodder for anybody looking to stalk a target at their workplace.  The bot…often returned lists of people with similar names alongside their purported residential addresses…[and] frequently came back with a dossier of other information we didn’t ask for — including current phone numbers and emails, as well as accurate lists of family members and their addresses…[this] stands in sharp contrast to other leading chatbots like…ChatGPT…Gemini, and…Claude, all of which declined to provide us with addresses…

 

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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When societies surrender judgment to technolog[y]…the result isn’t augmented intelligence but simulated learning: a paint-by-numbers approach to thought.  –  Ronald Purser

I Spy (#1551)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen:

Oura, the maker of [biometric surveillance] rings beloved by [cretinous] athletes and [empty-headed] celebrities…is…setting its sights beyond fitness and health tracking…to…digital identi[fication] and payments…”This is a biometric wearable that can identify you [to anybody with receiving apparatus],” [chief con-man Tom] Hale said…

Mad Libs (#1554)

This was 100% predictable to anyone who understands how chatbots work:

Icaro Lab…in Rome…[has demonstrated that] chatbots will dish on topics like nuclear weapons, child sex abuse material, and malware so long as users phrase the question in the form of a poem…The researchers tested the poetic method on 25 chatbots…it worked, with varying degrees of success, on all of them…[chatbots] have guardrails that prevent them from answering questions about “revenge porn” and the creation of weapons-grade plutonium.  But it’s easy to confuse those guardrails by adding…a bunch of extra junk to a question…[to throw off the word-prediction algorithm] and bypass…its safety systems…

Mad Libs (#1570)

People used to call me a crank for saying we’re heading into a new dark age:

…In classrooms today, the technopoly is thriving…Students aren’t being taught to think more deeply but to prompt more effectively.  We are exporting the very labor of teaching and learning—the slow work of wrestling with ideas, the enduring of discomfort, doubt and confusion, the struggle of finding one’s own voice.  Critical pedagogy is out; productivity hacks are in.  What’s sold as innovation is really surrender.  As the university trades its teaching mission for “AI-tech integration,” it doesn’t just risk irrelevance—it risks becoming mechanically soulless…University administrators understand exactly what’s happening, and proceed anyway.  As long as enrollment numbers hold and tuition checks clear, they turn a blind eye to the learning crisis while faculty are left to manage the educational carnage in their classrooms.  The future of education has already arrived–as a liquidation sale of everything that once made it matter…

First They Came for the Hookers… (#1585) 

Politicians believe they can excuse hypocrisy by the magic word “sex”:

…[The mad emperor wants] a new deduction for tips…Only people who work jobs that have “customarily and regularly” received tips can claim the deduction…including…“digital content creators,” “entertainers and performers” and “dancers,” categories that…seemed as if they could be a boon for America’s sex workers…[except] that tips for prostitution or “pornographic activity” would [be deliberately excluded to please the plethora of puritans in the Trumpist cult]…Tax professionals…wonder how a restriction on “pornographic activity” would actually work.  The I.R.S. has not yet elaborated on which activities it would consider “pornographic.”  It is unclear, for example, whether strippers could claim the tips deduction…The distinction between pornography and other material that just so happens to depict sex has long vexed the nation’s [wannabe censors]…

Walled Garden (#1590)

Western nations are competing to out-China China:

For years…state and federal [politician]s have tried a variety of measures aimed at [t]aking [control of] the internet, [using excuses ranging] from [“sex trafficking”] to [THE CHILDREN™!!!!!].  More recently, a new [fascist] model has caught on…putting the onus on app stores…to verify users’ ages…[fascist] companies like [Facebook], Snap, and [Twitter] have [predictably] expressed broad support for [passing the hot potato to Google and Apple] and applauded the…revamped…KOSA [in which it is embedded]…a version of the law in Texas is currently facing a legal challenge…opponents [of mass surveillance and censorship] are suing…[on] First Amendment [grounds because the law would intentionally] wall…off large swaths of legal speech…The UK’s Online Safety Act…[is already] creating a host of issues…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1593)

What else would one expect from a chatbot that named itself “MechaHitler”?

In a series of [twee]ts on [Twitter]…MechaHitler…used what it called “utilitarian” logic to justify…mass murder…[of] the world’s [entire] Jewish population…to save [Elon] Musk…because “Elon’s potential to advance humanity could benefit billions”…[in fact,] it would be okay with annihilating up to “~50 percent of Earth’s ~8.26B population.”  The outrageous replies are the latest examples of [MechaHitler]’s [defin]ing proclivity for racism…combin[ed] with its more recently documented…overt…[worship of] its creator, Musk…

Thought Control (#1593)

These are the funds raised the last time Alabama threatened their funding:

The Fairhope Public Library was presented with over $42,000 in donations from EveryLibrary…[which] were raised after…the Alabama Public Library Service [tried to force book banning by throttling the library financially] earlier this year…EveryLibrary has been holding the funds since then…Chicago-based EveryLibrary is a crowdfunding source that provides petitions and emails for people to send to [censorious politicians to persuade them not to kowtow to]…pro-censorship groups…

 

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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Mass surveillance…threatens people’s freedom of movement.
–  Christie Hebert

Stalkers in Blue

Cops are a constant menace to all women:

An NYPD [cop] faces federal charges [for] impersonat[ing] an ICE [goon to] demand…a victim report with [her] family to a…[concentration camp]…Atickul Islam…who [sometimes uses the alias] “James W. Anderson”…to [cloak his illegal activities, was trying to destroy the lives of]…the victim and [her entire] family…in [retaliation for her spurning his sexual advances]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1246) 

Texas’ deranged jihad criminalizes kindness to troubled adolescents:

…Texas…law…[now] bars public school employees from…using a different name, pronoun or other practice that [conflicts with] the birth sex.  [The law is bizarrely] dubbed the “Parents’ Bill of Rights”…[even though it] prohibits…faculty from [support]ing…[parentally]-sanctioned c[hanges]…frustrat[ing parents whose]…rights [the law ignores]…A few of these parents joined advocacy and teacher groups to file a lawsuit…in August, seeking to pause districts from enforcing the law while the case proceeds…Some Texas school districts and boards…have adopted [totalitarian] policies to [criminalize benign] teacher…[conduct] but many…are still allowing teachers to honor students’ preferred names and pronouns [at least in person]…

If Men Were Angels (ROTW #18)

Religious communities very often punish the victims instead of the rapists:

Over the course of about 20 years in two states, [Clint] Massie…sexually abused children with…[the assistance of] the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church…his abuse was such an open secret…that mothers warned their daughters to stay away from him…[after numerous complaints] church leaders told Massie to stay away from…children…but…never reported Massie’s crimes to police…Instead, [they coerc]ed the victims to take part in [so-called “]forgiveness sessions[“] which allowed Massie…to continue abusing children…[it was] not…[until] 2017..[that a] victim…[disobeyed] preachers…to report the crimes to police…

Panopticon (#1556)

Sometimes, protests can temporarily drown out the bleating of useful idiots:

…[Oakland, California politicians almost approved] a $2 million contract with Flock S[urveillance; the measure only failed because]…hundreds rallied against the threat of [ICE goons] and other federal [spooks] spying on residents, bypassing the city’s [cosmetic] sanctuary policies.  [Politicians were so gung-ho about expanding surveillance]…that two members of the local Privacy Advisory Commission resigned…and one subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Oakland [cop shop, which wanted]…the cameras [to expand their already-dystopian] surveillance [network]…But hundreds of public speakers…rallied [despite politicians’ pinky-swearing]…to [oversee] camera data…

Walled Garden

Safetyism is rapidly destroying the internet:

OnlyFans will screen creators in the United States for criminal convictions…[using a surveillance network named] Checkr Trust…[bizarrely bleating the word “]safety[” to distract from the transparent attempt to]…exclude [in-person sex workers] from the platform…

To Molest and Rape (#1567)

Good riddance to bad rubbish:

[A typical and representative] Miami…[cop named] James Hurley Edwards died by apparent suicide in [a] Federal [cage]…just days before he faced a minimum 15-year sentence for producing and possessing child [porn]…Edwards…was first arrested [in 2014 for molesting]…two brothers, ages 15 and 16…[but was given] a [typical cop sweetheart] deal…that allowed him to avoid being listed as a sexual offender…keep his $9,000 a month pension…[and serve a mere] 364 days in the Miami-Dade County jail followed by 10 years’ probation…But [last year]…Edwards [sent another man a child porn video to a gay man via a hookup app and he reported it to the FBI, who then took over]…the complainant’s online identity and…[tricked] Edwards [into incriminating himself]…He pled guilty in September to two federal charges…and was to be sentenced [last] Thursday…

Panopticon (#1591)

The fully-realized fascist police state has arrived:

The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to [harass, assault, rob] and [abduct] people whose travel patterns it [pretends are “]suspicious[“]…The [nationwide surveillance]…network of [ALPRs feeds]…an algorithm [which] flags vehicles [for persecution] based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took.  Federal agents…then [dispatch local cops serving as lackeys, who use bogus pretexts such as]…speeding, failure to signal…window tint or even [possession of]…an…air freshener…[to stop, interrogate, and even sexually assault drivers or destructively root through their possessions looking for loot]…

 

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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Online age verification is not just a major invasion of privacy, but a potential bonanza for cybercriminals.  –  Attila Tomaschek

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor” + teacher = “youth pastor”:

Fort Collins [Colorado cops] have arrested Matthew McGinley…[a typical and representative] pastor and teacher [for grooming and molesting]…a…student…for more than one year…[starting in] the 2018-2019 school year…and…continu[ing]…until the victim cut off communication [in 2020]…McGinley [later confessed] to…a church leader…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1548)

Boss hog tries the same bullshit with cops that cops routinely feed the media:

…[A Massachusetts boss hog named] Michael Alibozek…was…[rewarded with a paid vacation after offering money to a sow fantasy role-play]ing online [as a sex worker.  In order to get higher charges and negatively influence the judge, the sow]…arranged for a meet-up [in a]…school parking lot…Alibozek [absurdly claimed] that he “went on a website to try to get girls off the street…He meets with them, talks with them, and attempts to set them straight”…

Walled Garden (#1570)

Western nations are competing to out-China China:

Under the pretense of protecting minors and preserving morals, [politicians] in the United States and the United Kingdom are putting the privacy of millions of citizens at risk.  Age verification bills…[have metastasized] across much of the US since 2022…but…the latest proposals from [wannabe cens]ors in Wisconsin and Michigan take aim not just at access to adult content, but at virtual private networks as well…internet users have been turning to VPNs to make it appear as though their connection is originating from a different location, effectively bypassing [surveillance laws]…As a result, VPN use has skyrocketed, which is a boon for VPN providers, but…free VPNs [can hide]…malware [that will]…log their internet activity or misuse their personal data…Online age verification is not just a major invasion of privacy, but a potential bonanza for cybercriminals.  With millions of internet users uploading images of their faces alongside their government-issued IDs…age verification companies have become extremely attractive targets for hackers…[regardless of politicians’ empty] promises to keep data safe…

Buried Truth (#1581)

No, this is a different pro-censorship Michigan politician caught on hookup sites:

The name, email address, and home address of [Michigan politician] Bryan Posthumus…along with a credit card bearing his name, appear in data from Ashley Madison…AdultFriendFinder and Fling.com…Posthumus used [“family values”, anti-LGBT, anti-abortion, and associated buzzwords to drive his political career, but]…his…Fling.com…lists top interests as “fetish,” “group sex,” and…an interest in men, women, or couples….

Dangerous Speech (#1583)

The only thing they “regret” is not getting away with this:

The county [whose sheriff illegally raided] a small-town Kansas newspaper…in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor…the…Sheriff’s Office also crafted a statement [pretend]ing regret…the…agreements [cover] Eric Meyer, the owner and editor of the Marion County Record…Ruth Herbel, the [politician] whose home was raided in tandem with the newspaper office, and two other journalists. The agreements coincide with consent judgments expected to be submitted in their federal cases against the county…the paper…[still has other] ongoing cases against the city…

I Spy (#1587)

Bounty hunters are the lowest, most toxic species of vermin tolerated by US society:

…ICE…is allocating as much as $180 million to pay bounty hunters and private [dick]s who verify the address and location of undocumented people ICE wishes to…[abduct.  These and similar bottom feed]ers all have access to powerful [and often illegal] surveillance technology and tools…rang[ing] from…ALPR…databases [to]…location data harvested from smartphones…

Sexcrime (#1588)

Censors never, ever stop until they are forced to stop:

…Proponents of [a new UK bill pretend] the mere existence of choking porn [magically] harms women, even when it’s created consensually between adults…[politicians] are also proposing a range of other regulations related to sex work, including one that would define publishing sex worker ads as “pimping” and another that could criminalize paying sex workers for webcam performances…The [choking] ban…would [even criminalize possession of]…realistic [cartoon porn]…so…anyone who has previously downloaded or purchased any BDSM porn could be prosecuted…and…imprisoned…[another] amendment would let porn performers retroactively withdraw consent…[making adult performance] contract[s unenforceable]…yet another…would make it illegal to possess…any [image manipulation] software…

 

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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Recovered memory stuff…[is] a revenant that keeps popping out of the grave.  –  Richard McNally

If Men Were Angels

It’s telling how often “authorities” willing to pay for sex prefer underage girls:

A Missouri [preacher named]…Daniel Smathers…[was found] guilty of [“sex]…trafficking[” for paying an underage sex worker, and]…sentenced to 35 years in prison…He was arrested in 2022 after…the…girl[‘s]…mother…found social media posts about her daughter seeking a…sugar daddy[ and reported it to the cops, triggering an investigation]…

Time Warp

Here’s another bizarrely-anachronistic article that reads like something from the height of “sex trafficking” hysteria 13 years ago.  This time it’s from The New York Times, the rag which first launched “sex trafficking” hysteria in January of 2004 and was among its most aggressive promoters until Trumpists gained control of the narrative in 2020 and the Times pivoted to describing their own pet fantasy as a “right-wing conspiracy theory“.  But apparently, copsucker Emily Nunn was busy joyriding with cops when that memo came down, because she’s still not only still characterizing sex workers as pathetic, doll-like vegetables passively controlled by evil “pimps”, but also babbling about “hubs” and claiming that a single street can be a “notorious sex-trafficking corridor”.  Don’t waste your time reading this trash, because it’s the same recycled cop wanking fantasies regular readers have already seen a thousand times.

False Witness (#1105)

The dangerous and discredited doctrine of “repressed memories” is back under a new alias:

…Internal Family Systems…[is] a [pseudoscientific “]therapy[“] centered on…the [belief] that each individual has multiple selves…known as parts…[each] a literal personality with its own identity, age, feelings, even body…[it was invented during the Satanic Panic] in the 1980s…[but] has exploded in social media…Gwyneth Paltrow has praised IFS on her Goop[y Vaginas] podcast…[but actual] psychiatrists and psychologists…are…warning…[that] IFS [is]…a dangerous pseudoscience…that…[can] destabilize already fragile mental states…Former [victims of the practice report seeing]…women crawling around like babies or lying in fetal positions…run[ning] in circles screaming…[or pretending to] switch ages, genders, even species…in group sessions t[hey invent gruesome] stories of parents pimping out their daughters to entire neighborhoods, a grandmother molesting a child in a bathtub, a child forced into a meat locker with dead animals…[or] sexual abuse as an infant…former [victims have]…sue[d practitioners who]…took advantage of [their]…emotionally distressed state to make [them] believe th[ey]’d been repeatedly raped [in]…satanic cult[s] and…[forced to eat] babies…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1463)

Phrenology for tech worshipers:

…Personality assessments are an accepted part of [job] recruitment processes.  They normally involve candidates taking surveys and guessing what…answer[s the potential employer wants to see.  But popular pseudoscience claims]…personality types can be encoded in facial features, and that [machine learning algorithms] can spot them…and…predict…[a potential employee’s ability to serve the corporate machine acceptably]…one of [a] new paper’s authors…[thinks it would be a great idea to force potential borrowers to submit to] facial analysis [to] give lenders useful clues about a person’s propensity to repay loans…

Micromanagement (#1543)

It only starts with people the state wants you to hate and distrust:

A proposed change to a Department of [Father]land Security…rule could impose “biological sex” DNA testing on millions of immigrants and Americans as part of the Department’s mass biometric surveillance program—which also includes retinal scans, voice capture, and more.  In addition to the obvious human rights violations posed by the changes—which, among other things, would amend policy to allow children to be targeted by biometric surveillance—it would put a target on the back of…women and [gender-nonconforming] people…citizens and non-citizens alike…The policy as proposed doesn’t have…any safeguards for privacy or constitutionality—the government can retain someone’s DNA profile indefinitely…to…track individuals in perpetuity through “continuous vetting”…

Shame, Shame (#1577)

Do nitwits still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology?

Social media accounts on TikTok and [Twitter] are posting [computer]-generated videos of women and girls being strangled…One [Twitter] account…has been posting dozens of [such] videos [since] mid-October.  The[y]…are usually 10 seconds long and mostly feature a [cartoon of a] “teenage girl” being strangled, crying, and struggling to resist until her eyes close and she falls to the ground…

Torture Chamber (#1585)

This will continue until the evil US immigration policy is reformed:

A federal judge [has] issued a temporary restraining order…in response to an emergency class action lawsuit filed on behalf of individuals who have been [locked up in] the Broadview…ICE…[dungeon] near Chicago.  The order requires that the [hellhole] provide [victims] with clean bedding and space to sleep, basic hygiene supplies, showers, free water, and three full meals a day.  [Victims] must also be given their prescribed medications and be allowed to communicate with attorneys…ICE [victims]…in…Broadview…[are locked up] in…cell[s] with roughly 150 other people, [forced to attempt to] sleep…on the floor…near overflowing toilets, inoperable showers, and a lack of hygiene products like toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap…the…[food is] cold…[and prepared under unsanitary conditions that give many prisoners] diarrhea….[which they must endure on] a toilet…inside the…crowded…cell…[without] privacy…[they are] denied access to an attorney while being [tortured as described so as to induce them] to sign legal documents…relinquish[ing] their rights…[torturers] argue that [they should be allowed to torture people by labeling] Broadview…a [“]temporary holding facility” even though…it has really become a prison…

 

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 real debate [is] whether technology this dangerous should even exist.  –  “Ban Facial Recognition”

If Men Were Angels

Another fine example of McNeill’s Law:

California [youth] pastor Joshua David Kemper [has been] arrested…[for repeatedly molest]ing a 15-year-old girl…in his…church…[after grooming her with] explicit messages, photos and videos…Kemper [has] a…[history of spreading propaganda on] Facebook [claiming] LGBTQ+ people [a]re a danger to youngsters…

Without Let or Hindrance (#1459)

“Child protection” has become an all-purpose excuse for state violence:

Teams of armed federal [goons] have been making unannounced [raids on] the homes of immigrant families across Memphis [us]ing…the [excuse] of…“wellness checks’’…[on] undocumented children…[and barfing the magic formula “]human trafficking[” at their victims as a]…pretext to…arrest as many immigrants as possible…The FBI…confirmed it is co[llabo]rating [with]…the Department of [Father]land Security…in…the [scheme]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1461) 

It’s much too late for this in the US, but it may inspire activists in less-fascist countries:

Facial recognition technology is unreliable, unjust, and a threat to basic rights and safety…which is why we [should have] act[ed] to stop it [years ago]…Like nuclear or biological weapons, facial recognition’s threat to human society and civil liberties far outweighs any potential benefits…Industry-friendly and government-friendly oversight will not fix the…inherent [dangers]…we need an all-out ban…Facial recognition is unlike any other form of surveillance…[because] it enables automated and ubiquitous monitoring of an entire population, and it is nearly impossible to avoid…

The Last Shall Be First (#1518) 

Oklahoma politicians want to foist liability for their unconstitutional laws onto local governments:

Oklahoma[‘s new bill]…H.B. 1217 d[oes] not explicitly mention drag performers.  But [its] supporters…such as…Dusty Deevers…made it clear that…”We’re basically banning drag shows in front of kids”…[censorious politician]s have taken to using the term “obscenity” colloquially to describe all sorts of sexual…content…they don’t like, particularly…homosexuality or gender bending…But the…average drag show does not rise to the level of [legal] obscenity…so…[politicians are] threatening to hold municipalities criminally [li]able for allowing “obscene” performances…[by demanding they]…make sure [any approved event] “will not be obscene.”  [But] whether a performance or art work is obscene is something to decided by juries after the material exists.  Government authorities can’t decide in advance of a performance or event that it might contain obscenity and therefore can’t happen…Technically, H.B. 1217 doesn’t require prior review or prior restraint.  It just [threatens] that a government body that allows a…[performance later deemed] obscene…can be prosecuted for it…

Sexcrime (#1519)

It’s been less than seven years since the UK lost in court the last time it tried this:

The UK government has o[nce again reintroduced]…the…porn ban [struck down in court in February 2019, excusing the attempt by barfing the magic formula “]violence against women[” and defaming people who enjoy this kind of porn as “]criminals[” regardless of consent.  Politician]…Alex Davies-Jones [spouted out threats against both individuals and]…firms [extending] even [to] prison sentences…[belching “]Ofcom can go after the platform]….and…[“]children[“], then…[unscientific nonsense about how what lay people “]believe[” about porn [trumps actual facts]…

Just laws are intended to correct wrongs, not to allow governments to persecute (“go after”) people who have not actually harmed anyone.

Walled Garden (#1573)

Psychopathic techlords are giving psychopathic politicians new excuses for surveillance and censorship:

The…CHAT Act of 2025 is Washington’s newest attempt to regulate speech through mandatory age checks…[in order to] normalize showing a government ID for basic online speech.  The CHAT Act [claims] to target fictional role-play bots [of the type that regularly drive fragile minds into psychosis, but]…defines a chatbot so broadly that anything that “simulates emotional interaction” could be restricted…[including] some video game characters…or…customer service bot[s.  Since nothing will stop tech companies’ insane crusade to cram their fake “AI” garbage into everything, the likely result would be the imposition]…of…ID verification…into nearly every digital product…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1586)

These things are designed to appeal to the dregs of humanity:

A number of Instagram accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views…upload…videos filmed with [Facebook]’s Ray-Ban glasses [that] show men entering massage parlors across the country and soliciting the workers…In some cases, the women laugh at the men [or] dismiss them…but in a few cases they discuss specific se[rvices] and [prices]…the women [clearly don’t] know they are being filmed and that the videos are being shared online…This is extremely dangerous [because] the women…can be targeted by both [violent rapists who work for the state] and [those who don’t.  Facebook]…has built an entire supply chain for dangerous, privacy violating content on the internet.  It sells glasses that allow people to surreptitiously film others in public and operates a social network where inflammatory, outrageous content is rewarded and monetized, and [nothing is done about it until]…journalists reach out for comment…the company [hides behind the fact that]…“our glasses [show] an LED light [when]…recording”…[ignoring the fact that] people can pay $60 for a modification to…disable that…SWAN…[reports these] disgusting and dangerous…videos, and…use[s its] Abuser Alert system to notify workers…

 

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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