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Posts Tagged ‘propaganda’

When we use the courts to…bully someone into an unnecessary medical procedure against their will, it’s akin to torture.  –  Cherise Doyley

Property of the State (#431) 

When this evil started a decade ago, potential victims were warned in advance:

Cherise Doyley…wanted to try for a vaginal delivery, but she understood from years of experience as a professional birthing doula that things don’t always go as planned…Doctors told her they were concerned about the [<2%] risk of uterine rupture…[but] she understood th[at negligible] risk…and repeatedly told doctors she wouldn’t consent to a cesarean without trying to have a vaginal delivery first…Then a nursing supervisor wheeled a tablet up to her bed and informed her she was in court….[for] failing to agree to a C-section…abortion restrictions can lead to pregnant women being denied lifesaving care…[bu]t the opposite problem, forced treatment, could also become more common in states like Florida that have fetal personhood policies [which place politically-determined “rights” of a fetus above that of an adult]…woman…who…is…[essentially considered an] incubator…

To Molest and Rape

Most rapist cops use their cop power, but some prefer the brute-force approach:

Detroit…[cop] Benjamin Wagner…is now facing life in prison on numerous kidnapping and [rape] charges…[for at least] five [attacks carried out] between 1999 and 2003…Wagner targeted girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 23, approaching them while they were walking and then forcing them at gunpoint into secluded areas…The charges are tied directly to sexual assault kits collected at the time of the attacks…[which the police] never [bothered to] investigate…[a “new broom” politician named Kym] Worthy launched a sweeping initiative to [make political coin]…It took nearly a decade just to test all of the kits…

I Spy (#1422)

Your regular reminder that used cars still exist:

…a federal mandate requiring surveillance technology that monitors your every blink, glance, and head nod…[will empower a computer to] decide…whether you’re fit to drive.  If [a computer program] determines you’re impaired (blood alcohol ≥0.08% or showing fatigue), it can prevent ignition startup or limit vehicle speed…[buy]ing…a 2027 model means accepting this digital copilot…[worse still,] these systems [will be] updatable [without owner consent, allowing]…monitoring capabilities [to be expanded] post-purchase [at a political whim]…manufacturers [will almost certain]ly upload biometric data to corporate servers…[for] sharing with insurance companies to [raise] your premiums…Car manufacturers [point out that]…false positives [will regularly] strand drivers.  They’re concerned about customer backlash and [100% predictable] sales declines as buyers seek older, unmonitored vehicles.  The federal government [justifi]es this surveillance [by barfing the word “]safety[” at useful idiots]…

The Vultures Descend (#1510)

This twisted scheme was first attempted in Wyoming:

…The [latest attempt by forced-birth politicians to make abortion more difficult, odious, and stigmatized]…would [criminalize] flush[ing] abortion or miscarriage remains down a toilet “to protect both human dignity and America’s water systems”…The bill[‘s sponsor, Mary]…Miller[, vomited a lot of bizarre claims and convoluted dysphemisms all over reporters while attempting to justify her attempt to]…force women [using abortion pills] to [bleed into a bag marked “BIOHAZARD”]…and bring the [expelled tissue] to their physician.  [Presumably, women who miscarry unexpectedly would be expected to leave the results in the toilet, go and get one of these scarlet bags, and then scoop the mess, feces and all, into it, upon pain of]…a $50,000 fine and up to five years in prison…Trace amounts of all medications…can be found in wastewater…but there is no scientific evidence to back up the [prohibitionist propaganda] that abortion pills are polluting drinking water or harming [anyone]

Pyrrhic Victory (#1511)

Looks like it’s time for veils to come back into fashion:

Walmart has recently been awarded patents…for [algorithms which enable]…surveillance pricing, the practice of charging people different prices for the same goods and services based on their unique [facial-recognition-linked profile in the software]…Another patent recently granted to Walmart…involves the use of machine learning to predict the demand of various items and recommend prices…[using] third-party data…

Torture Chamber (#1602)

Fascism in action:

West Virginia prisoners [have filed a class action lawsuit against] Aramark Corporation [because it] serves inedible, low-quality food in its prison cafeterias to drive customers to its [overpriced] food-for-purchase programs…Aramark is the largest food provider in the United States to prisons and jails…and…brought in $18.5 billion [last year.  It has a long history]…of serving inedible or spoiled foodprepared in kitchens where workers have [regular]ly found maggots…In Kentucky, Aramark’s [terrible] food…led to a prison riot [in 2015]…

Walled Garden (#1621)

As the old adage says, “Three can keep a secret if two are dead”:

…an unprotected database [belonging] to IDMerit, a company that claims to help businesses verify identities, exposed roughly 1 billion sensitive records across 26 countries.  In the United States alone, more than 203 million records were left unsecured…researchers…discovered [the] exposed…database on Nov. 11…anyone who knew where to look could access it.  Inside were full names, home addresses, postal codes, dates of birth, national ID numbers, phone numbers, email addresses and gender information…Researchers notified the company, and the database was secured the following day…[bu]t automated bots constantly scan the internet for exposed databases and can copy them within minutes…

 

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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So many people still feel the need to wait for some business entity to temporarily carry a show they want to see, typically polluted with commercials, when home video has existed in one form or another for over 40 years and most shows can be permanently purchased for the price of a decent meal.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-15T18:02:27.299Z

Trump really does believe what he sees in movies.Here we see him attempting the Jedi mind trick.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T03:04:37.228Z

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" – Upton Sinclair

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T19:00:27.452Z

People who do not eat chips could be ‘left behind’, says Frito-Lay’s CEO

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-18T19:55:52.543Z

Funniest thing I've seen this week.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-20T08:52:14.194Z

It's garbage. It's shit. It's noise. It's paint hurled at a canvas. It's an overflowing toilet. It's hated by anyone who knows anything about art. It enriches fascists. It ignores consent and good taste. It's stupid. It's bad. It's a disease. It's random. It reeks. It's unwelcome. It's everywhere.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-21T18:50:08.193Z

Over a decade ago, I was warning young women not to let random people who aren't doctors inject filth into their butts.Now I'm warning young men not to hit themselves in the face with hammers.Really, y'all, plastic surgery is not something you can learn by watching YouTube videos.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-24T18:24:12.301Z

In traditional scholarship, caring about what other educated people thought about one's ideas was called "peer review", and it was considered intrinsic to the process.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-24T18:39:40.974Z

Concentration camps. Go on, you can type the words if you try. I believe in you. Just keep repeating the mantra, "I have a backbone, I have a backbone, I have a backbone", and you should be able to either type the words or just copy paste from here: "concentration camps".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-25T17:54:59.340Z

Stolen. The word you're looking for is "stolen", not "taken away"; that is a term reserved for parents disciplining their own children, ie "she took away his bb gun until he stopped shooting cats". The term for strangers permanently taking others' possessions is "stealing". They STOLE the crayons.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-26T17:56:06.044Z

Do history classes in New York teach students about William the Acquirer and the Acquisitions of Genghis Khan?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-27T18:20:18.610Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nGK&#8230;

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-28T17:52:47.390Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-28T19:35:46.602Z

Those of you who weren't adults at the time of the Gulf War may not remember that it, more than any other event, created the 24-hour news cycle which has bedeviled the US ever since. It turned CNN from a low-rating sideline into a high-rating main event, and gave us the nauseating term "scud stud".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-02T17:39:49.401Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-03T18:01:27.024Z

Honestly, I don't know how you young gals put up with this. In my day (points with cane) all we had to worry about beside cops and bad clients was the puritanical old woman whom the publisher of the Yellow Pages (Barry Co IIRC) allowed to ban certain words in escort service ads.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-04T08:21:33.548Z

Trump replaces Barbie with Mr. Potato Head.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-05T20:02:33.887Z

Challenge for those who aren't religious fanatics: explain to those who *are* that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and that the burden of proof is NOT on those demanding such evidence.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-07T17:31:04.244Z

This is called a "win-win" scenario.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-08T17:44:05.190Z

If they simply phrased the headline truthfully as "women are falling in love with a fantasy of romance", people would recognize that this is nothing new.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-09T17:41:07.413Z

How quaint. Those of us who still play real old-fashioned D&D are going to start looking like people who bake all of their own bread instead of buying Wonder Bread.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-10T17:00:58.084Z

There's illiteracy, and then there's *functional* illiteracy, and then there's…whatever this is.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-11T03:40:34.394Z

People who are terminally online habitually type out bizarre, unpronounceable sequences of letters and symbols which attest to how little of their lives are spent actually speaking to normal people in real life.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-11T19:07:51.122Z

Future history students will refuse to believe it when their professors tell them that one of the factors that precipitated the 21st-century dark age was gambling fanatics intentionally falsifying records for profit. Having taught history, I can hear the adolescent voices already: "That's stupid!"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-13T17:28:41.148Z

On Bluesky this morning, I'm seeing the usual mixture of political & aesthetic posts.On Twitter, I'm being attacked by incensed Millennials apparently unable to comprehend why a 60-year-old woman who neither has kids nor watches TV doesn't know about a gimmick kid food first sold in the late '90s.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-14T18:22:27.167Z

"Police shoot black man in the back."There, FIFY.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-15T17:24:47.878Z

Boo hoo hoo, his diaper is wet and nobody wants to play with him.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-16T02:40:56.057Z

I think @ryanlcooper.com called it correctly: Trump will go down as one of the Great Idiots of History.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-17T17:24:50.126Z

Deep respect for Tony Moore.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-18T17:14:20.090Z

So THIS is where Big Balls went.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-19T17:41:07.379Z

Après moi, le déluge.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-20T18:08:32.460Z

People idolize flawed human beings, creating statues of them as though they were pharaohs & literally putting them up on pedestals, only to tear them down again as soon as the flawed human is found to have been flawed.We could save so much time and energy by simply not setting up humans as gods.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-03-21T07:47:25.342Z

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The first prohibitionist laws date to the late 19th century, but it was in the 20th that the concept…penetrated the minds of the general public so thoroughly that most took it for granted that for governments to tell people what they could consume, what they could own, and even what thoughts they could have…was not only normal, but desirable.  –  “Leaving the 20th Century

If you find an article interesting, infuriating, or whatever, you can follow the thread of references back through similar articles, often for years, while marveling at the obsessive lengths and depths to which my librarian’s brain will go to impose order on chaos.  –  “Rabbit Hole

Copsucking reporters waste considerable space quoting boss pigs oinking about how typical and representative cops aren’t really typical or representative.  –  “Creepy Coppers (#1418)

I have never broken a promise to [Grace] in the past and I’m not going to start now merely because she’s not in a position to remind me.  –  “Diary 766

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Young people still have human rights.  –  David Greene

No Escape

The predictable result of sociopaths being given total power over women:

…Prison counselor Richard MacLeod…repeatedly [raped] Andrea Nielsen…at Illinois’ Logan C[age Stack]…But…when her cellmate reported the abuse to prison investigator Todd Sexton and Warden Margaret Burke, the pair “formulated an outrageous plan to use her as unwitting ‘bait’ to try to catch MacLeod in the act…Sexton [would] stay late a few times, crawl around in the ceiling above the room MacLeod used to sexually assault Nielsen, and wait to jump down and intervene”…The plan [required]…MacLeod [to attack when Sexton was in his voyeur position, so of course it failed]…A jury found [Burke, Sexton, and MacLeod] all…liable and ordered them to pay Nielsen $19.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages…[but] the 7th Circuit…partially reversed the lower court’s ruling and ordered a new trial on damages…for Sexton and Burke…to [reset the amount of damages]…MacLeod [coerced] Nielsen…[by threaten]ing [to deny] her calls with her 6-year-old daughter…he…[would] subject her to…[unprotected] vaginal and oral [rape when she came to his]…office [for the calls]…he [also]…threatened [to destroy her mail] and [put her in solitary confinement]…if she reported [him]…

Welcome to the Future (#1428)

Indiscriminate murder is so much easier when blamed on machines:

In order to [ma]ke a b[ig social media show]…of its attack on Iran, the U.S. military [used a chatbot combined with]…Maven Smart System…built by…Palantir…to [pick victims] in Iran…Embedded into the system is Anthropic’s AI tool Claude, a technology that was banned by the Pentagon [on orders of the lunatic Secretary of Defense] last week…As planning for a potential strike in Iran was underway, Maven, powered by Claude, suggested hundreds of targets, issued precise location coordinates, and prioritized those targets according to importance…Claude has also been used in [inventing imaginary] terror plots and in the raid that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.  But this is the first time it has been used in major war operations…Hours before the bombing in Iran began, [the mad emperor belch]ed he was banning government agencies from further using Anthropic’s tools…be[cause] the company [didn’t want]…the tools [used for] mass domestic surveillance and [murder robots]…The military will continue using its technology as it waits for a replacement to be phased in…

Shame, Shame (#1580)

Apparently these fools didn’t learn from Zuckerberg’s flushing $77 billion:

…the “Tillyverse” [is a cartoon] world [imagined for cartoon character]…Tilly Norwood…to [exist in with other cartoon characters who will “]build artificial acting careers[“]…Particle6…the [software company behind]…Tilly Norwood and its universe…has…recruited Amazon Executive Mark Whelan from Prime Video…and [the delusional nitwit cabal already imagines their cartoon as]…“a future global superstar”…[with “]humour[“, a “]daily life[“, “]career choices[“, and “]fans”…[in response to] SAG-AFTRA…[correctly pointing out] that Norwood is…“a character generated by a computer program”…Particle6…[developed an unnerving tic, spastically belching out nonsense buzzwords including] “rapid acceleration”…“AI talent”…and…“cultural spark”…

Thought Control (#1593)

The mad emperor’s reign of terror continues:

H.R. 7661 t[ies]…federal education funding to restrictions on certain books and educational materials…[in order to] pressure…schools to remove titles that discuss identity, history, and lived experiences…politicians [dislike]…This is…about whether the federal government can use its power to narrow the range of…perspectives available to students…It is about whether educators and school librarians will feel forced to self-censor to protect their budgets.  And it is about whether young people will grow up in classrooms shaped by political fear instead of free expression…Once the government begins deciding which viewpoints are acceptable, every reader’s freedom is at risk…as we’ve already seen in [individual] states…

Walled Garden (#1595)

Western nations are competing to out-China China:

…The bipartisan effort to censor and deanonymize the internet for everyone…[is behind] a dozen “child online safety” bills…[intended to] force social media companies to enact invasive identity verification measures…[which would permanently link every] user’s offline identity…with their online behavior…constitut[ing] one of the most sweeping rollbacks of civil rights in recent history.  It would allow for unprecedented levels of mass surveillance and censorship, endangering the most marginalized members of society.  Whistleblowers exposing corporate wrongdoing…[or] government employees speaking out about illegal behavior or bad policies could face [retalia]tion, and activists organizing protests could be identified and surveilled before ever setting foot on the street…Already, the U.S. government is flooding social media platforms with subpoenas seeking to unmask hundreds of anonymously run anti-ICE social media accounts.  These laws would make it all the more easier for the government to target and prosecute those who dissent…and [the Quisling party has]…become integral to advancing these proposals, falsely claiming that surveillance laws will crack down on Big Tech or curb [nonexistent] social media addiction…The laws would create a massive new market for third-party identification vendors, [which is why psychopaths]…such as Peter ThielElon Musk…and…Mark Zuckerberg [support these and even worse laws]…

Vulture Watching (#1608)

Forced-birth fanatics really do want more women to die:

crisis pregnancy centers [are] organizations that advertise free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds but dissuade women from pursuing abortions and contraceptive options.  Since the [rogue SCOTUS] ended national abortion access in June 2022, the centers have seen an infusion of taxpayer dollars in many Republican-led states….[even though they] endanger public health by “causing delays in accessing legitimate health care”…Twenty-one states funneled…$491 million…to [these scams] between fiscal years 2022 and 2025…not includ[ing] millions some states diverted from federal programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families…Yet that largesse hasn’t been matched by corresponding regulation…[even though the centers regularly lie]…about their services…[and] promote [dangerous pseudo-]treatments like abortion pill reversal… the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists…[says] “they operate outside of ethical principles and best care practices”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1617)

In which glassholes are hoist with their own petard:

[Facebook has been forced to admit that] subcontracted workers [can]…view…films and images…captured by its…[perve]rt glasses for the purpose of improving the “experience”…[the privacy violations were discovered] by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet…and Goteborgs-Posten…[a Facebook mouthpiece] said…”[Our] glasses help you…to [violate the privacy of anyone in]…the world around you”…

 

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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“Make The Empire Great Again!” is not a new idea.  –  “Blake’s 5

When governments are allowed to be arbiters of fact…they wrongly label as “disinformation” facts which those in power find inconvenient.  –  “Disinformation About Disinformation

Though politicians and profiteers still use “sex trafficking” as a handy excuse for tyranny, other excuses have become more fashionable and at least the endless stories about idiots with taped mouths parading around to “raise awareness” of cops’ wanking fantasies have largely dried up.  –  “Four Times Four

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People [can] just tell them politely to fuck off.  –  Yves Jeanrenaud

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A[n assistant politician in Alaska named]…Craig Scott Valdez…[has been] indicted by a federal grand jury…[for] production of child pornography…he [regularly]…used Snapchat to “groom and entice juvenile [girls]”…The indictment references a specific…15-year-old girl in Anchorage last October, though the FBI has identified at least 11 other…victims…

If Men Were Angels

“Having a sexual relationship” is such a nice way to say “molesting”:

A [typical and representative] pastor at a Western Kentucky church has been arrested for [repeat]edly [molest]ing…a minor [for four to five years, starting when she was 12 or 13]…David Rodgers…was immediately fired and prohibited from participating in church-sponsored functions…he…admitted to the [crime and then killed himself]…after posting a $75,000 bond…

No Difference (#1443)

History will remember the early 21st century as a time of worldwide repression:

Two young women in their early 20s were arrested in Northwestern Uganda…after neighbors r[att]ed [on] them [to cops for] kissing in public and hosting other women in their one-room apartment…Wendy Faith…and Alesa Diana Denise…[had only been] in…the…apartment [for a] week…[when evil monsters sicced the cops on them] on February 18…Human rights activists…condemned the arrests…[explain]ing the “Kill the Gays” law fuels blackmail and extortion against…LGBT…[people.  Earlier in the month] a…court rejected the first case brought under the [law because]…the [victim’s health had deteriorated so badly] due to his extended detention in [a filthy cage] between arrest and trial…[and politicians] associated with the [unpopular law, pushed and bankrolled by US evangelical groups including Morality in Media and Family Watch International, have been]…defeated in [recent] reelection bids…

Eavesdropping (#1482)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen thousand:

A software engineer’s earnest effort to steer his new DJI robot vacuum [cleaner] with a video game controller inadvertently granted him a sneak peak into thousands of people’s homes…Sammy Azdoufal…reverse-engineer[ed] how the robot communicated with DJI’s remote cloud servers…[and] discovered that the same credentials that allowed him to see and control his own device also provided access to live camera feeds, microphone audio, maps, and status data from nearly 7,000 other vacuums across 24 countries…[which] could have [allowed cops or spooks]…to [use them as] surveillance tools…without their owners ever knowing…DJI [claim]s…the issue has been “resolved”…[but] experts who have long warned that internet-connected…devices present attractive [opportunities] for [surveillance]…

Mad Libs (#1595)

This was 100% predictable:

Anthropic, the wildly successful [“]AI[” scam outfit] that has cast itself as the most safety-conscious of the top [chatbot makers], is dropping the central pledge of its flagship safety policy…In 2023, Anthropic committed to never train a…[chatbot] unless it could guarantee in advance that the company’s safety measures were adequate…But in recent months the company decided to radically overhaul the [policy by] scrapping the promise to not release [chatbots] if Anthropic can’t guarantee proper risk mitigations in advance…Anthropic’s c[o-found]er Jared Kaplan…[said] “We didn’t really feel, with the rapid [inflation] of [the “]AI[” bubble], that it made sense for us to make unilateral commitments…if competitors are [making more money than us]”…When Anthropic introduced the [policy] in 2023, Kaplan…hoped it would encourage rivals to adopt similar measures…But [since they didn’t]…the company [realized that]…“If one [chatbot maker] paused development to implement safety measures while others moved forward [recklessly]…that could result in a world [where we make less money than them]”…

Panopticon (#1614)

A good idea that needs to increase by several orders of magnitude:

…in La Mesa, a small city just east of San Diego, California, observers happened upon a pair of destroyed Flock cameras…just weeks after the city decided, in [spite] of public protest, to continue its contracts with the surveillance company…In recent months, people have been smashing and dismantling the surveillance devices, in incidents reported in at least five states, from coast to coast…reflect[ing] growing anger…over the surveillance technology…Flock…readers…gather not just license plate images, but other identifying data used to ‘fingerprint’ vehicles, their owners, and their movements.  This data can be collected, stored, and accessed without a warrant, making it…popular w[ith cop shops, spook houses, and goon squads]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1615)

Every weapon eventually begets a defense:

A new…app warns if people nearby may be wearing s[urveillance] glasses…which stalkers and harassers have repeatedly used to film people without their knowledge or consent.  The app scans for smart glasses’ distinctive Bluetooth signatures and sends a push alert if it detects [one]…in the local area…“I consider it to be a tiny part of resistance against surveillance tech,” [said] Yves Jeanrenaud, the…sociologist who made the app…[which] works by looking for Bluetooth “advertising frames”, which are small bits of data devices regularly broadcast as part of their normal operation.  Jeanrenaud…decided to make the app after reading [about men]…filming [sex workers and ICE goons wearing them during pogroms.  He said]…after identifying a device, a user “may act accordingly”…

 

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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Accept no source as an absolute authority, especially when they demand you should.  –  “No Absolute Truths

Many criminals are entrepreneurs; it’s just that their business happens to be illegal.  –  “Midwinter Tweets

It’s always rather funny when a fanatical devotee of fundamentalist Christianity or fundamentalist feminism (they’re hard to tell apart) tries to attack me on some post from over a decade ago, and the best they can come up with is “You’re a whore!” And I’m like, “Yes, and?”  –  “Tweets for the Tweet

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Face recognition technology…poses a uniquely dire threat to the practical anonymity we all rely on.  –  Nathan Freed Wessler

Bait and Switch (#662)

Whenever you see claims that a sting “caught pedophiles” or is “fighting the demand for child sex trafficking”, refer back to the original article in this heading:

A [Department of Defense contractor assigned to] do…background checks for [ICE]…was arrested in a Bloomington, Minnesota, sex sting.  But the story is being twisted—by people employing the same sort of despicable smear tactics we see from ICE…[boss hog] Booker Hodges [strutted around, pompously belching up the typical “child sex trafficking” rhetoric cops use to justify these scams, while]…news media and countless folks on social media have been [parrot]ing [that]…narrative…but—as is so often the case—it…[was] just a vice operation aimed at adults looking to find other adults for sexual activity…Bloomington Police’s press conference and post about [the sophomorically-dubbed] “Operation Lookin’ for Love in All the Wrong Places” are truly bizarre.  The YouTube video of the conference opens with an elaborate skit, acted out by Bloomington cops…[and boss hog] Hodges…spends part of the press conference singing “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places” and [mocking his victims]…as he shows their mugshots…

As I’ve said before, cops pretending to be entertainers should be a summary firing offense.

A Broker in Pillage (#1235)

This kind of evil will never stop until there are criminal charges for the cop and politician perpetrators:

The hamlet of Brookside, Alabama, has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit three years after local news investigations revealed that it was running a predatory speed trap.  The Institute for Justice…sued Brookside in 2022 on behalf of motorists who…were framed and swindled by the town…[whose] unusually large police force was bankrolling the city budget by fining people traveling through and towing their cars under [bullshit]…charges…Brookside, a place with no traffic lights and one commercial property…”collected $487 in fines and forfeitures for every man, woman and child“…and…income from [the robberies] comprised 49 percent of the town’s budget…Brookside’s racket was so outrageous that the Justice Department filed a “statement of interest” in support of the…lawsuit…and…the Alabama state legislature [has now] passed a bill capping the revenue municipalities can keep from fines to just 10 percent of their general operating budgets…and [Brookside in particular faces] 30 years of strict caps on how much revenue [it can make]…from policing…

Guinea Pigs (#1362) 

New tools for tyranny are often tested first on whores, but never stop with us:

An underground site uses facial recognition to reveal the site a camgirl streams on…present[ing] a serious privacy risk to sex workers…who may not want stalkers, harassers, or employers to discover their profiles…Camgirlfinder has been running for several years, with most adult streaming platforms being added in 2021…[and] contains faces from a wide variety of adult streaming platforms, including Chaturbate, MyFreeCams, and LiveJasmin…The database appears to include sex workers who may not have streamed for years, creating the risk that someone may use the site to find them even if they decided to not stream anymore.  The site then sells all images it has of a particular person for $1 per model…

Nor does this stop with specialized sites and online locations:

Porn performer Siri Dahl’s personal information, including her full legal name and birthday, was publicly exposed earlier this month by [MechaHitler]…Almost instantly, harassers started opening Facebook accounts in her name and posting stolen porn clips with her real name on sites for leaking OnlyFans content.  Dahl has used the name…since the beginning of her career in the adult industry in 2012…[MechaHitler] provided her personal information unprompted; the user likely only wanted information on what performer appeared in the clip.  This is the latest in a series of abuses inflicted by [the chatbot] and its users…

Enshittification

News publishers are working to hasten the coming of the new dark age:

Now major news publishers are actively blocking the Internet Archive—one of the most important cultural preservation projects on the internet—because they’re worried [machine learning] companies might use it as a sneaky “backdoor” to access their content.  This is a mistake we’re going to regret for generations…blocking the Internet Archive isn’t going to stop [chatbot] training.  What it will do is ensure that significant chunks of our journalistic record and historical cultural context simply…disappear…When websites disappear—and they disappear constantly—the Wayback Machine is often the only place that content still exists…the Internet Archive’s efforts to permanently preserve our digital culture are essential infrastructure for anyone who cares about historical memory…Future historians trying to understand 2025 will have access to archived versions of random blogs, sketchy content farms, and conspiracy sites—but not The New York Times.  Not The Guardian…We’re creating a historical record that’s systematically biased against quality journalism…

Thought Control (#1557) 

Woman convicted for “abuse” of an imaginary person fictionally pretending to be a child:

Lauren Ashley Mastrosa…wrote [a book named] Daddy’s Little Toy under the pen name Tori Woods and published it…in March.  The book is about an 18-year-old woman named Lucy who roleplays as a toddler with Arthur, an older man who is her father’s best friend.  Mastrosa was charged [with child porn offenses in Australia] after the book sparked outrage [among people who cannot tell fantasy from reality]…a…magistrate [and a cop both repeatedly declared that]…the female protagonist[, a fictional character invented by Mastrosa from her imagination who was]…repeated[ly declared]…to…be…18…[was]…”similar to a young child”…[which] invited the reader to imagine…thing[s] that [the government] prohibited…[despite the fact] that [the depicted] role play w[ould be completely] legal [if the characters were real people and not figments of a woman’s imagination]…

Note that the magistrate is talking here about literal thoughtcrime, declaring that it is criminal to invite readers to imagine things the government dislikes.

The Cop Myth (#1566)

This report of a murderous cop tried to hide that the victim was his wife:

A Buffalo [New York cop named Lance Woods] has been arrested [for the execution-style] murder…[of his wife] Alexis Skoczylas…[by] a single gunshot wound to the head…there were no calls in the past for domestic violence…[and their] two children…are [safe and] in the care of relatives…[the apparent motive was] Skoczylas fil[ing] for a contested divorce in September…Woods…was [paid to lurk in schools in order to spy on, intimidate, and harass students, but has no known history of molestation]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1614)

Facebook is the most antisocial corporation other than those who actually run prisons:

Five years ago, Facebook shut down the facial recognition system for tagging people in photos [after it was forced to settle several class-action lawsuits]…Now it wants to [use Trump’s massive pogroms as cover to]…add the feature to its s[py] glasses…[so its chatbot can fully doxx anyone in public without their consent]…“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” according to [an internal memo]…

 

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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These guys really need to watch more film noir.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-15T18:12:23.909Z

You have to sleep sometime, guys.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-17T19:01:24.980Z

Four of these look WORSE in the "after" pictures. Middle right is DRAMATICALLY worse.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-19T02:53:53.205Z

They really do believe Heaven is clouds where people walk around in a semblance of life forever. It's remarkably stupid, childish, Bronze-Age thinking.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-20T08:26:34.100Z

The International Board of Kakistocracy

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-23T18:25:56.755Z

American flag lapel pins are virtue signaling. The FBI saying how much they loved MLK is virtue signaling. Laws named after dead kids are virtue signaling. State-sponsored "prayer breakfasts" are virtue signaling. Etc, etc. Any sincerely moral person can see the difference without effort.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-25T09:01:06.051Z

If I were Canadian, right now I would feel like one of the guys in this scene:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T03:22:24.145Z

"Dismantled" in the same sense as the Hindenburg was "dismantled".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T18:37:28.791Z

Treasury Secretary Meisterburger has some advice for parents.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-28T16:56:31.831Z

Modern journalists:Talking about a guy who has been out of political office for decades: "President So-and-So", "Senator So-and-So"Talking about a cop sent to prison for using his position to murder or rape somebody last year: "Former officer So-and-So"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-29T19:23:12.888Z

I hereby declare the word "pivot" officially hackneyed. Find a different verb to beat to death by overuse.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T08:52:51.698Z

The "We need new Democrats" whine triggers off the Mom region of my brain: "You haven't done anything with the Democrats I already gave you."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-31T18:05:24.186Z

Raise your hand if you're old enough to remember when it was the DEMOCRATS pretending "unified government" was a good thing.Extra points if you remember that the Clintonian slur for "checks and balances" was "gridlock".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T18:02:15.967Z

Oh look, it's another of those things us cranks have been warning all y'all Very Smart Futurist People about for years.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T17:20:55.791Z

What is this thing supposed to be? An Easter Island statue?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T03:38:50.271Z

If only there were some simple way to kill the bacteria so the milk would be safe to drink. If some genius were to invent such a process, we could even name it after him.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T03:20:03.432Z

Actual economists disagree.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T19:49:45.952Z

How can anyone who has ever read Asimov's nonfiction not know this? He used to BRAG about it. I knew Asimov was a sex pest before entering HIGH SCHOOL because when I was in 8th grade I got on a kick of reading all of his essay collections, and he talks about it more than a little.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-06T03:08:49.403Z

I was used to sex workers being the most *ethical* people on the internet, but in the past 15 years they've proven themselves to be among the most intelligent and literate as well.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T18:29:51.990Z

"Facts undermine his testimony" is such a weird, nerf-bat way of saying "He lied".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T17:46:14.535Z

I was taught in catechism that God is all-forgiving, so from a Christian perspective the answer to this would be "yes".That having been said, I am neither a god nor a Christian, so I am under no obligation to forgive those who enabled the current police state over the past ≈ 150 years.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-09T19:09:35.536Z

They make ME think of the campfire scene in "Stand By Me" where the boys seriously discuss, "Who is stronger, Superman or Mighty Mouse?"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T18:20:24.645Z

They really do think "But he gave them candy after molesting them" is a defense.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T08:51:42.315Z

It has dawned on me that most young people don't understand that political parties are about as fixed as sand dunes, and drift all over with the political and social winds over time. Which is just a more extreme example of the common inability to recognize that the same is true for species.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-12T18:25:49.074Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-13T19:18:32.880Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-15T08:58:03.773Z

Your regular reminder that Eisenhower warned us about all this in January 1961, but everyone just basically ignored him until it was much too late.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-16T18:10:17.125Z

You've gotta admire a man who trusts his friends' understanding of physics enough to attempt this.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T19:04:26.838Z

Given that the statement "This power will be abused" is always 100% accurate over the long term, you'd think the Pollyannas would've learned by now. But I reckon that's against their dopey natures.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-18T18:21:26.639Z

I just noticed this:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-19T19:01:26.364Z

 

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In the end, you don’t feel disturbed – you feel blank.  –  Monsumi Murmu

I wasn’t really a big Parliament-Funkadelic fan, but Grace was very fond of them; I think this is the sendoff she would’ve suggested for Billy Nelson.  The links above it were provided by Dan Savage, Jesse Walker (x2), Mike Masnick, Nun Ya, Walter Olson, and The Onion, 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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