The Honest Courtesan

[The US] constitution…cannot be overwritten by a state legislature.  –  Jeffrey Sandman

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1051)

It’s not surprising this started at the most oppressive of the Nevada brothels:

Sex workers at one of Nevada’s legal brothels are unionizing with the Communications Workers of America …If successful, it would be [a] first [for]…the U.S.  The effort came after [Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump attemp]ted t[o impose] a new contract that would give the business perpetual control over workers’ intellectual property rights…A majority of the brothel’s 74…workers…have agreed to join the union.  Managers …have [retaliated by] fir[ing] at least three of the workers…and…threaten[ing] other[s]…To unionize, the workers must first prove to federal labor authorities that they are employees rather than independent contractors…Sheri’s Ranch…is owned by [typical and representative] Chicago [pig] Chuck Lee, [and is so notorious for its infantilizing repression of its] workers [it is widely derided in the industry as “Pussy Prison”.  The abuses include confiscating their laptops and medications, spying on email and negotiation with clients, and random room searches, and]…beginning in late December…it [started] demanding [workers] grant Sheri’s Ranch “irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual” rights to any content they produce while staying at the brothel…[including] the ability to sell videos or photos…without their permission…[to] create [computer]-generated c[artoons] featuring their images…[even] after [their] death…and…to…[grant] the brothel…power of attorney [over all such content]…

It’s about time US sex workers started unionizing like their European sisters.

I Spy (#1425)

Remember when Google’s motto was, “Don’t be evil”?

Google [obey]ed an [ICE] subpoena that demanded a wide array of personal data on a student activist and journalist, including his credit card and bank account numbers…Amandla Thomas-Johnson had attended a protest targeting companies that supplied weapons to Israel at a Cornell University job fair in 2024 for all of five minutes, but the action got him banned from campus.  When [the] Trump [regime]…issued a series of [diktats] targeting student…proteste[rs], Thomas-Johnson and his friend Momodou Taal went into hiding…Thomas-Johnson, who is British, believes that ICE [intended to use] that information to track and eventually [abduct] him — but he had already fled to Geneva, Switzerland…The Electronic Frontier Foundation…and the ACLU of Northern California sent a letter to Google, Amazon, Apple, Discord, [Facebook], Microsoft, and Reddit…calling on tech companies to resist similar subpoenas in the future…without [actual warrants]…to give [intended victims] the opportunity to fight [such extrajudicial demands], and to resist gag orders…

The Mob Rules (#1539)

Don’t let the “private” language fool you; these nuisance lawsuits were instigated and bankrolled by Morality in Media:

A federal judge in Kansas has dismissed two of the four private age verification lawsuits filed…by an unnamed plaintiff [using] her teenage son [as a prop]…the judge granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss…ruling that…simply operating a website accessible in Kansas – even one that Kansas residents could view – is not enough to establish liability.  Under the U.S. Constitution, courts may only exercise power over defendants that have deliberately targeted or conducted activities in the state.  Allowing lawsuits based solely on website accessibility…would mean any website could be sued anywhere, a result long rejected by federal courts…

Mad Libs (#1571)

These algorithms are not only unintelligent; they are making those who believe in them stupid as well:

[The ignoramuses running] many companies are [foolishly trying] to get more employees to use [chatbots so they don’t have to pay]…workers [their full]…value…But…they…may not see what [imaginary] gains are costing them until it’s too late…[because chatbot]s d[o]n’t reduce work, they consistently intensif[y] it.  In an eight-month study…we found that employees [regularly] worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks, and extended work into more hours of the day…because [the hype] made “doing more” feel possible…[but] once the excitement of experimenting fades, workers can find that their workload has quietly grown and feel stretched from juggling everything that’s suddenly on their plate…lead[ing] to cognitive fatigue, burnout, and weakened decision-making…[in addition] to lower quality work…and other problems…

Panopticon (#1591)

Safetyism is destroying society:

[Cop shop]s across the US are quietly [abus]ing school district security cameras to assist Donald Trump’s mass [pogroms]…The a[buse] originate[s] from Texas school districts that contract with Flock S[urveillance to target teachers]…parents and students as young as five…[demonstrating how] campus surveillance technology [justified by barfing out the formula “]student safety[“] is being repurposed to support [the police state]…Flock devices have been installed by more than 100 public school systems nationally…and audit logs from six Texas school districts show campus camera feeds are captured in a national database that [cop shops, spook houses, and goon squad]s across the country can access…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1597)

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

…Social media is awash with videos of men…approaching women in public spaces and attempting to flirt with them or ask for their numbers..the videos are filmed and uploaded to platforms like TikTok and Instagram without the permission or knowledge of the [woman] being filmed…[and] rack up thousands…[or] millions of views…While the concept of the pick-up artist is nothing new…so-called “manfluencers”…are covertly filming women to create misogynistic content…

Censor Chic (#1610)

Civil suits are society’s best weapon against jawboning:

…[FIRE] is suing…[Trumpist henchwomen] Pam Bondi and…Kristi Noem on behalf of Kae Rosado and Mark Hodges, who respectively created a Facebook group and an app that hosted video footage of ICE operations to inform the public and hold our government accountable…Mark runs Kreisau Group, which aims to preserve evidence of governmental abuses of power.  On his Eyes Up app, users can upload videos, record new videos, or access uploaded videos, which Eyes Up arranges on a map of the United States after Mark and his moderators review and approve each video.  Kae…started a Facebook group in January 2025…about the impact of ICE raids on daily life in Chicago…The group remained small until Sept[ember]…when ICE commenced…a…[massive pogrom sophomorically] dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz”…[after which the] group grew to…nearly 100,000 members…it is unconstitutional for the government to coerce private companies like Apple and Facebook into censoring content on their behalf.  However…Bondi and Noem [not only did this, but openly]…boasted [about it]…

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