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Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Here at Sunset, we burn our garbage. In Washington, they pile it up behind a desk, put a hat on it, and then interpret the noises it makes as it decays as pronouncements from a god.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-12T16:51:59.685Z

Stop using cutesy names for atrocities.This is the Dade-Collier Concentration Camp. Calling it that (or something similar) should be style for every US news outlet. "Cute" names are soft collaboration.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-17T17:17:26.728Z

Remember when I said the TRULY dangerous animals at the Dade-Collier Concentration Camp were not alligators and pythons, but rather mosquitoes?Thread.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-18T03:58:27.048Z

Trump's ratings are not far enough "underwater" until he and all his henchmen are drowned.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-18T18:36:15.452Z

Politicians are not your friends. They are not "leaders". And they will throw their constituents under the bus to save their own rotten hides any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-19T07:37:33.762Z

Our culture pretends that computer programs can think, but human beings can be programmed like computers.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-21T19:37:40.849Z

These people believe that their imaginary weather control conspiracy is run by The Riddler.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-22T17:54:11.274Z

In the 19th century, it was believed that for the whites of the eyes to show all around the irises was a sign of severe congenital mental illness.We don't believe that anymore, but sometimes we get a clear example of why they believed it.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-23T08:07:10.204Z

Notice how childishly idiotic Trump sounds when babbling about "The Left" as though it were one big corporation?Guess how it sounds when somebody babbles about "The Right" in that same way?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-24T17:02:37.657Z

Maybe they should just make Garanimals for adult men?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T17:59:57.802Z

Plus, women don't allow themselves the kind of laziness that many men do. Using LLMs to write bullshit because they're too lazy to do it themselves is something men are FAR more likely to rationalize is OK; women tend to know it isn't and would feel healthy shame if they did it anyway.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-27T07:48:44.022Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-28T17:24:17.763Z

Actually, this is a severe understatement. It's more like a toddler threatening to beat up the combined armed populace of the entire world, including all military and police.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-29T17:44:41.893Z

Metaphor alert.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-30T17:27:17.729Z

TV adventure show continuity girl. "No, Kirk McGoody *cannot* blast through Unobtanium,because in season 2, episode 6 it was an important plot point that his blaster could not do that. Now on page 32; it's well-established Tricia Buxom is an only child, so she can't have an evil sister."

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-31T07:59:07.911Z

Collectivism is a mental illness and one of the greatest evils in the world. archive.is/bWikm

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-01T16:41:08.164Z

It "promised ways to cheat Death"? If you believe that, for only $1000 I'll promise you a way to turn yourself into a god.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-03T02:57:50.213Z

Just imagine how low your self-esteem has to be to willingly take a job which is the functional equivalent of letting all your viscera be ripped out through your anus so a politician can shove his hand up there and use you as a hand puppet.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-03T17:15:12.324Z

The way architects feel looking at this is the way I feel when some nitwit says robots will soon take sex workers' jobs.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-04T07:41:48.689Z

Post two characters who always bring you joy.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-06T03:09:55.088Z

When there was noise late in the evening in my neighborhood in Seattle, it was because two carloads full of young men were driving down the avenue shooting at each other.When there was noise late in the evening here at Sunset, it was because a neighbor's cows got out.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-06T07:52:37.252Z

When a single person anywhere in the world can generate a turd, what do fertilizer companies still represent?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-08T04:48:42.525Z

Gee, I wonder whose idea it was to put the letter "X" above the door.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-08T17:56:12.166Z

As one does.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-09T17:26:18.604Z

I cannot envision a world where an email or pop-up saying, "We reimagined _________!" gets any response from me other than, "How nice for you."

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-10T17:54:30.687Z

For decades, I've warned "progressives" that pretending government officials with fancy titles are "experts" was a very dangerous idea. And now people have learned what they were taught.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-11T17:44:07.884Z

Universally evergreen tweet: It is always a bad idea to live in the capital city, close to the rulers.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-12T16:40:31.515Z

I am not a violent person, but that face is asking to be hit repeatedly with a baseball bat.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-14T04:23:24.475Z

That's not what this shows. It does not show "Republicans are abstaining from alcohol"; it shows that Republicans are self-reporting to polls that they don't drink. They're not at all the same thing, as any competent psychologist or social scientist could tell you.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-14T07:34:01.210Z

He looks like the victim of a botched head transplant.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-16T07:35:13.255Z

What's the penalty for "resisting" or trying to escape if these evil goons attack? Is it worse than being crammed into a filthy dungeon in a swamp for months, and then being deported to El Salvador or the Sudan with no due process? Because if not, resistance is ALWAYS the sensible course of action.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-08-17T17:27:42.971Z

 

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Not At All Strange

Posted in Current Events, History, Tyranny, tagged , , , , on August 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Most academics and many journalists labor under a view of politics so rosy it rises to the level of a delusion, such as in this book passage I recently saw on social media which declares that the descent of a republic into fascism is “one of the strangest chapters in history”.  What a bizarre statement!  For anyone who has lived in the real world for as long as I have and studied history and the behavior of masses as carefully as I have, there is one inescapable conclusion:  The orderly (not “peaceful”) degeneration of a republic into a fascist state is not strange at all, not in any way.  The premise that such a shift is “strange” derives from two pious fallacies not uncommon in ivory towers: 1) That the majority of the populace want self-determination rather than control from above (they do not; only about 1/3 do); and 2) That the majority don’t want the “other” oppressed.  But in reality, a very large fraction of humans view the world as a hierarchy in which they would ideally occupy a position perhaps 1/3 of the way from the top, with their “betters” making wise decisions and doing the hard work of running things, and their subalterns in subservient roles.  That’s why this kind of social arrangement, with exalted “leaders” at the top and servants at the bottom, with the typical citizen of the dominant race, caste, or class in the upper middle, is so common throughout human history.  Republics take intellectual and moral work, and most people are intellectually and morally lazy.  Furthermore, the kind of corporate power which is necessary for the development of fascism can only arise in relatively open societies rather than highly-stratified authoritarian ones; in other words, for fascism to arise from a relatively “democratic” society is not only not “strange”, it is the only kind of society from which fascism is likely to arise at all.

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In the News (#1557)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Technologies funded to police sex work now monitor everyone.
–  Kate Zen & Chanelle Gallant

See How Well It Works?

Years after the end of the hysteria, fanatics still pretend their dissemination of fantasies is the reason those fantasies never materialize:

A [scam outfit belatedly set up to profit from hysteria over “]sex trafficking[” tried to drum up “gypsy whore” panic over] the NFL Draft in Green Bay[, Wisconsin]…HER Alliance, formerly known as Awaken…says they didn’t see a large uptick [of “victims”] during the draft thanks to [their propaganda about “]the signs of trafficking[“]…

Without Let or Hindrance

Everyone victimized by “child protection” agencies needs to sue:

A Georgia couple whose children were [abducted by the state] for two years following a [malicious accusation] of child abuse have filed a lawsuit…in 2023…Matt and Tuckey Hernandez took their youngest daughter, 3-month-old Emma, to the doctor after noticing some swelling on one of her legs…X-rays found that Emma’s leg and ribs were fractured in several places…[pediatrician] Stephen Messner…[immediate]ly diagnosed Emma with “non-accidental trauma”…[despite] no evidence of abuse on the couple’s 3-year-old…Messner never reviewed any of Baby Emma’s…medical history…the state [immediately abducted both]…daughters…placed the[m]…in a series of foster homes…[and] charged [the parents] with child abuse…DFCS…refus[ed] to place the girls with relatives or family friends…Emma had very low vitamin D, which…had caused her to develop neonatal rickets, weakening her bones…Genetic testing also indicated that Emma had defects in her collagen genes, possibly causing conditions associated with fractures in infants.  But these [facts] were…ignored by the DFCS, which continued to attempt to sever Matt and Tuckey’s parental rights [to sell] the girls…[to] another family…Last month, Matt and Tuckey were acquitted of all charges, and their daughters were finally returned to them…

Rotting Fruit (#894)

The first interesting development in this whole affair since ever:

…QAnon didn’t start in a vacuum; it followed two decades of mainstream media and politicians…using the flimsiest evidence and most distorted data to falsely claim that America was in the midst of a sex trafficking epidemic.  And then along came Jeffrey Epstein…[whose] well-documented crimes involving teenage girls, and his roster of rich and powerful friends, could be read by motivated audiences as backing up QAnon claims…Trump…[and his henchmen] began to actively encourage the idea that Epstein’s client list was being deliberately withheld by Democrats with something to hide…But…now, Trump is telling people to forget about Jeffrey Epstein entirely…so…the whole “release the files” business seems slightly less preposterous now that Trump and his lackeys seem desperate to draw attention away from them…The theoretical files were useful as a tool to raise suspicion about Trump’s opponents.  But the actual files…could be a liability or an embarrassment…in that they don’t actually prove anything nefarious about any Democrats…As a political tool, the Epstein files are much more useful if they remain hidden…

Thought Control (#1109) 

Western countries have criminalized fiction the government dislikes for years:

Pingping Anan Yongfu…is among at least eight [writers] in recent months wh[o] have shared accounts on Chinese social media platform Weibo of being arrested for publishing gay erotic fiction…At least 30 writers, nearly all of them women in their 20s, have been arrested…since February…some are still [locked] in c[ages, and]…many more…[including some readers,] were summoned for [interrogation]…Haitang Literature City, a Taiwan-hosted platform known for its “danmei”, the genre of so-called boys’ love and erotic fiction…has cultivated a fiercely devoted following, especially among young Chinese women.  These authors are being accused of breaking China’s pornography law for “producing and distributing obscene material”.  Writers who earn a profit could be jailed for more than 10 years…Although authors of heterosexual erotica have been jailed in China…Gay erotica…seems to bother authorities more…

Enshittification (#1524)  

Another factor in the coming dark age: computer-generated garbage making records of this period unreliable:

…the [CGI] slop endgame, for social media companies, is creating a hyper personalized feed full of highly specific [fiction] about anything one could possibly imagine.  Because [CGI] slop is so easy to make and because social media algorithms are so personalized, this means that Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube can feed you anything they…want…Case in point: Facebook…slop…shows [LSU] football coach Brian Kelly assisting in the Texas floods…[on] a Facebook page called LSU Gridiron Glory…[which] is [also] churning out slop that includes Brian Kelly…reacti[ng] to last month’s tragic Air India crash…getting his lost wallet returned to him, donating to the homeless…in the hospital with a rare illness…being deported by Trump, talking to Apple CEO Tim Cook, and…secretly “paying off the debt owed by a struggling gardener”…fans of the NBC show The Voice…[are being fed] slop of judge Blake Shelton saving dogs in the Texas flood…carrying a girl out of a medical clinic…donating to an animal rescue shelter, etc…many of these bizarre images link out to [LLM]-generated “news” websites…overloaded with ads…

Blunt Instrument (#1543)

“Sex trafficking” hysteria laid the groundwork for Trump’s anti-migrant pogroms:

Since January…raids on massage parlors have intensified, targeting immigrant women suspected of sex work…[yet] these workers — among ICE’s most systematically targeted — are largely excluded from community defense…On June 11, ICE and local police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, raided nine massage parlors, d[isappear]ing 10 Chinese women…into ICE’s sprawling detention system…yet not a single organization called for their release…nearly 1,000 arrests in Queens, New York, targeted immigrant sex workers and street vendors.  In Arizona, over 200 arrests were made.  In Texas, 11 parlors were closed in February and May under emergency powers that bypass criminal charges…In other labor sectors, worksite raids sparked massive outpourings of solidarity and creative resistance..but sex workers are left to fend for themselves…the…immigrant rights movement calibrates its messaging to appeal to moderate respectability — complying with lines drawn between the “deserving” and the disposable…To some, the…[current anti-migrant pogrom]s appear unprecedented.  But for those organizing with sex workers, they’re all too familiar.  For years, ICE has used migrant sex workers as testing grounds for its most aggressive tactics…

I Spy (#1543)

Wave bye-bye to the last remaining shreds of your privacy:

…ICE…is now using data from the Insurance Services Office’s ClaimSearch, a private industry service for detecting car and health insurance fraud…ClaimSearch includes 1.8 billion insurance claims and 58 million medical bills—along with the personal data attached to them, including addresses, tax identification numbers, and license plates.  ClaimSearch…[openly admits]…that it grants full access to [any cop shop or spook house which wants it, yet]…Verisk, the company that runs ClaimSearch, [l]ied [by claiming]…ICE…is [somehow an exception, probably because]…ICE has access…through another government agency…[given that] the Trump [regime issued] an [illegal diktat] to tear down “information silos” between federal agencies, and…Palantir…has a contract with ICE to…target [human beings for abduction]…

 

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

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In the News (#1556)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

If they feel emboldened enough to do this to another [cop], imagine what they must do to assault, frame and extort regular citizens.  –  Julia Yoo

Catastrophic Consequences (#798)

This sleazy harassment tactic spread from Canada to Scotland to England to Ireland:

[Irish cops barged into incal]ls “in every major town and city in Ireland” as part of a major world-wide [publicity stunt to intimidate migrants using the hackneyed excuse of “]human trafficking[“.  Cops bragged that] they [had] int[imidat]ed 179 sex workers in 92 [incal]ls and [also harass]ed 5,421 passengers on 37 flights at Dublin Airport over the course of just one week last month.  [They thought it was bragworthy that they had managed to find] one man [to accuse of a crime after harassing 5600 innocent people whom they slandered as “]organised crime groups[“; they also stoked racism and xenophobia by specifying the national origin of all the innocent women they terrorized and infantilized as passive, vegetable-like]…victims[”]…

Welcome To Our World (#995)

It isn’t only sex workers being hunted to death by armed thugs any more:

A m[igrant worker named Jaime Garcia] is on life support after he was [hunted by ICE goons until he]…fell 30 feet off a building while [fleeing for his life and freedom]…He was taken to the hospital with a broken neck and skull….and…is not expected to survive…

Panopticon (#1429)

Safetyism is the police state’s most powerful fuel:

Last year, Oakland installed nearly 300…surveillance cameras across the city to track the movement of [anyone using an] automobile…Now, [as predicted, politicians] are taking steps to expand the reach of this…[surveillance.  Pigs now want to ape San Francisco by] integrat[ing] privately owned security cameras into OPD’s surveillance system…For years, [useful idio]ts have been able to share their surveillance camera footage with OPD by registering their cameras on a city website.  But [now], Oakland…[cops want to do that without the owners’ consent.  Trained seals from the Useful Idiots’ Association of Oakland obediently barked “]helping solve crimes[“]…in…[support].  The privacy commission [asked] whether the expanded surveillance…could be used to furnish data to federal agencies, [even though that is already standard procedure despite]…California [supposedly banning] local jurisdictions from sharing data with [cop shops] from out of state, including federal [spook houses and goon squads]…

Cops and Robbers (#1430)

These crackpots get more dangerous every time we hear of them:

A…[QAnon-adjacent crackpot group] called “Veterans on Patrol” told [KWTV in Oklahoma City] that it is “targeting” Oklahoma weather radars, days after an individual vandalized [the station]’s…radar.  The group, which [has previously harassed homeless people in Spokane, Washington and attacked migrants in Arizona], believe[s] weather radars control the weather…Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, the [group’s] founder…[is not a veteran and is a fugitive from Arizona after skipping his sentencing for destroying humanitarian water stations set up for migrants]…he believes…in [both “chemtrails” and Satanic pedophiles who harvest adrenochrome from children’s blood]…Chief [KWTV] Meteorologist David Payne said that…wh[en] weather radar [is] sabotaged, “We cannot track severe weather…[such as] tornadoes”…

Thought Control (#1528)

Canadian politicians are eager to join the Trumpist “monkey see, monkey do” censorship parade:

Alberta has issued a ministerial order to [ban] books from school libraries that [any politician points at while barfing “]sexually explicit[“]…libraries will also no longer be permitted to provide students in Grade 9 or below with [anything any politician points at while belching the mouthful “]non-explicit sexual content[“.  Politician Demetrios]…Nicolaides [said]…“We believe that students should be curious, inquisitive and exploratory about…[any topic except] sex”…

You Were Warned (#1533)

The open internet is rapidly becoming a thing of the past:

Bluesky is adding age verification to its platform in the UK as part of efforts to comply with the [misnamed] Online Safety Act…the platform says it will let users verify their age by scanning their face, uploading an ID, or entering a payment card…through Kid Web Services (KWS), an Epic Games-owned tool that developers can use to implement age verification and parental controls on their platforms.  If users don’t want to verify their age, or if they’re under 18, they will still be able to have an account [if they use a VPN or agree to be infantilized]…

The Cop Myth (#1555)

It’s too bad they don’t inflict all of their violence on each other:

A…Homeland Security [goon] is suing a San Diego [pig for]…beating him in a “parking lot rage” at a California Costco, leaving him with a concussion and a dislocated shoulder…Chu Ding…was knocked unconscious by…Jonathan Ferraro…[on] July 2, 2024…then was [locked in a cage without]…food, water and medical care…for five hours…the assault st[arted]…when Ferraro [intentionally] blocked Ding…in a parking space with his truck…Ding tapped on the…truck “to let Ferraro know that he was leaving,” resulting in a violent reaction…[starting with] Ferraro [jumping out]…and call[ing] Ding a “Chinese piece of shit”…Ding’s lawsuit [also] names [a gang of other cops for conspiring with Ferraro]…to falsify an arrest report and…to try to extort an apology to justify [Ferraro’s subhuman brutality]…DHS initiated an internal investigation into Ding, who was [not] cleared of wrongdoing [until] several months later…[even though the DA dropped the bogus charges only] a week [later]…

 

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

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In the News (#1555)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 16, 2025| 1 Comment »

We need to take back control over the tools that we use.  –  Mike Masnick

It’s a Start

Let’s see if this lasts any longer in Pittsburgh than it did in New Orleans:

Pittsburgh City Council [has passed] an ordinance that would [allow cops to choose to charge]…sex work[ers with]…a [municipal] summary offense [instead of the state misdemeanor charge, which]…“can involve up to a year in jail, and…fines [of]…up to $10,000”…the m[unicipal offense would inflict]…“just a small fine similar to a traffic ticket”…[state] laws also require those charged with prostitution to show up to court, a requirement that the [optional offense under the] ordinance would do away with… the ordinance would not [remove cops’]…ability…to…charge people [with the existing state prostitution offense]…

These halfway measures are just a bone to activists; they never make a difference and never last more than a couple of years.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1410)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

If [politician]s in New York and Minnesota get their way, social media users will be [harassed by compelled-speech popups making nonsensical claim]s about the [supposed] toll their scrolling habits could be taking on their mental health.  Legislatures in both states recently passed legislation requiring [“]warning labels[“] on social media, despite a…federal court…declaring a similar law for porn websites…unconstitutional.  The Minnesota [version] says a “conspicuous mental health warning label” must appear each time a user accesses a social media platform and only disappear when the user exits the platform or [clicks a box]…The New York [version]…mandates that any social media platform that provides [typical] basic features…must display a warning label “prescribed by the commissioner of mental hygiene.”  This is peak performative lawmaking [which]…lets [politicians]…pretend to be doing something to save us from the boogeyman du jour, Big Tech…In the real world, government goons telling you to put down Instagram and go touch grass would be unlikely to help even if it could pass constitutional muster—which it almost certainly won’t…

The Cop Myth (#1546)

Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

A [North Carolina cop] resigned [after] he threatened a man with [a knife] at a restaurant…and accused [his victim] of touching his daughter.  Wesley Lane[‘s victim] has epilepsy, autism and an intellectual learning disability…surveillance video and witness statements [proved Lane’s excuse was full of shit]…

You Were Warned (#1550)

The subtitle above says it all:

…Starting at the end of 2025, Australians [who don’t use VPNs] will [be forced] to verify their ages when…using e[ither]…Google [or] Microsoft [Bing, which were singled out as] the two biggest search engines in the country…search engines [must otherwise “impose] tools and/or settings like ‘safe search’ functionality, at the highest [censorship] setting by default[, assuming every user]…is…an Australian child”…the measures are similar to what’s being considered for the country’s under-16 social media ban…age assurance laws like this…[are known to] be [in]effective[, but politicians don’t care because the “internet safety” theater] is [the entire point]…VPNs allow people to surf from other locations, bypassing location-specific rules…and [sites not based in Australia] may simply choose not to [infantilize their users]…

Mad Libs (#1550)

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

…there’s now something of a cottage industry for writers and coders who specialize in fixing [LLM vomit]…Sarah Skidd, an American product marketing manager…was approached by an agency that urgently needed someone to redo copy…after having a…chatbot do the work to save a few bucks…she spent 20 hours redoing the copy from scratch…[which] meant her client was shelling out $2,000 for copy that likely would have ended up being far cheaper had a human just written it in the first place.  With more and more companies rushing to [jump on the fake “]AI[” bandwagon] over the past few years, things are shaking out in [100% predictable] ways…Sophie Warner…of the UK-based digital marketing agency Create Designs..[ha]s been fielding more and more requests from clients to clean up [LLM vomit]…In one recent case, a client ended up going without a website for three days and having to pay Create Designs nearly $500 over a small line of code that ChatGPT had written for them…[when a human could have written] the original…[in] about 15 minutes…but [gullible fools are still buying tech advertising claims]…that [computer programs] can replace expert work…

Torture Chamber (#1551)

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

Immigrants being [locked up] in [large closet]s in Lower Manhattan have [reported] being unable to bathe or change clothes, cramped conditions, sometimes being provided just one meal a day, and sleeping on concrete benches or the floor…[for] days at a time… “There’s no room to sit down – standing room only,” said Rebecca Rubin, an immigration attorney…[cowardly] Congress[critter]s, who for weeks have been refused entry at the site…have [merely complained rather than using their authority to enter and inspect]…The [closet]s used to be temporary holding areas where [victims of ICE] were [locked] for a few hours before being transferred to larger…[prisons]…But…in recent months, [victims] have been [packed in like sardines]…for [up to 10] days…

Aladdin’s Satellite

How to make an LLM simulate psychosis:

[Last] week, Elon Musk’s Grok [chatbot] started spewing extreme antisemitism, responding with conspiracy theories about Jewish people, and for a brief period telling people to call it “MechaHitler”.  The incident perfectly illustrates why Alex Komoroske’s manifesto about the dangers of centralized AI, which we ran less than a month ago, has been making waves.  When a single person controls the dials on an [LLM] system, they…inevitably will…tweak those dials to serve their own interests and worldview, not their users’.  Just days [before], Elon claimed that his team had “improved Grok significantly” and that “you should notice a difference when you ask Grok questions”…People sure did notice a difference.  The transformation wasn’t subtle, and it wasn’t accidental…a similar [ham-handed “improvement”] two months or so ago [resulted in] Grok bec[oming] obsessed with linking everything to [“]white genocide[“]…as the situation escalated, they [tried to fix it, but]…eventually…[had to take it] offline entirely…

From now on, house style on The Honest Courtesan will be to refer to Musk’s chatbot not by the wildly-incongruous name “Grok”, but by its self-chosen appellation “MechaHitler”.

 

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

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Links #784

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The power of telling people you pray is incredible.  –  Josh Hawley (sort of)

Since I featured an Avengers-themed music video last week, I figured I’d do it again with one my over-40 readers may remember.  The links above it were provided by Phoenix Calida; Greg Lukianoff & Franklin Harris; The Onion; IncarcerNation (x3); and Franklin Harris again, 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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The Wedding of Throwback Thursday

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Rational adult humans must be free to make their own choices, even if others don’t like what they choose.  –  “Delicious Poison”

In the American mind, the “risk” of creating an unidentifiable “dirty” picture outweighs that of creating a human life.  –  “Check Your Premises (#26)”

Modern technology has made the old witchcraft belief a fact:  if an evil person gets ahold of some part of you, no matter how small, he then has power over you.  –  “Micromanagement”

[One m]ust wonder how any sane, modern adult believes that sex for pay in a hotel room is somehow intrinsically different from “free” sex in the same room.  –  “Cooties“

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In the News (#1543)

Posted in Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It’s hard to imagine a situation where a 4-year-old was involved in criminal activity.  –  Stevie Glaberson

To Molest and Rape

If “there is no reason to believe anyone aided him,” the screws were criminally negligent:

A [typical and representative] Arkansas police chief serving a 30-year sentence for murder and rape has escaped from prison and remains at large…Grant Hardin…has been in prison since 2017 for first-degree murder and rape [committed while]…he…was the…police chief of Gateway, Arkansas…[in] a makeshift [disguise that wouldn’t have fooled and competent guard]…Stone County Sheriff Brandon Long [claimed he]…did not have any knowledge of how Hardin was able to escape…[and] has “a lot of questions”…Nathan Smith, the former…prosecutor [on his case said]…Hardin…”He has no moral core or center”…Hardin pleaded guilty in October 2017 to first-degree murder…of…James Appleton…[and] is also serving 50 years in prison for the 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher…that was [depicted] in the 2023 television show Devil in the Ozarks…

Micromanagement (#1039)

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

The [US] government has collected DNA samples from upwards of 133,000 migrant children and teenagers—including at least one 4-year-old—and uploaded their genetic data into [CODIS,] a national criminal database used by [cop shops] and [spook houses, which was]…originally built for convicted sex offenders and violent criminals…Experts say…the DNA dragnet [will soon] be used for more extensive profiling…CBP [demanded DNA samples from as many as]…2.8 million people [altogether]…a sweeping expansion of biometric surveillance…that explicitly targets migrant populations…

Torture Chamber (#1332)

Any civilized country would be deeply ashamed of this:

Unfortunately for…the estimated 55,000 pregnant women who [are violently hurled into US] jails every year, little data exists on the impact [being confined in filthy cages] has on pregnancy…A 2024 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office…found that “comprehensive data on pregnant women incarcerated in state prisons and local jails do not exist…[despite the US having] one of the highest maternal mortality rates” and “incarcerat[ing] women at the highest rate in the world”…between 1980 and 2022, the female prison population in the U.S. grew by more than 585 percent, more than twice the growth rate of the male prison population.  Much of this increase has been attributed to [the government’s pro-carceral jihad of the early ’90s]…Women have seen drug-related arrests increase by 317 percent since 1980, while men have seen a 69 percent jump.  Today, more than half of [caged] women are [locked up] for drug and property offenses…

Blunt Instrument (#1408)

“Sex trafficking” is no longer a magic brain-pause spell, but that hardly matters under the racist, anti-migrant MAGA regime:

A…[racist] Louisiana [politician named]…Beth Mizell [has proposed a new bill targeting Asian massage parlors]…Mizell[‘s head spun around wildly as she projectile-vomited racist “sex trafficking” myths for other politicians to masturbate to, drawing heavily on the wanking fantasy of the submissive Asian woman and peppering her rant with puritan-pleasing dysphemism like]…“illicit”…[while panting about] “6-10 men a day, seven days a week”…The bill also would prohibit keeping bunk beds inside massage parlors [so as to cut into massage workers’ income]…

The Vultures Descend (#1489)

Your “leaders” know what’s best, so shut up and obey:

One might have thought that last November, when Missourians voted to enshrine “reproductive freedom,” including abortion, in the state constitution, that would be the end of the conversation…But local Planned Parenthood affiliates are still fighting in court to overturn the web of restrictions, known as TRAP laws, that made providing abortions virtually impossible in the state…These include a 72-hour waiting period…and a rule that providers must have admitting privileges at a hospital 15 minutes away, to name just a few.  In a pair of decisions in December and February, Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang agreed to temporarily suspend enough of those old laws to allow abortions to resume in Missouri while the court case heads to a January 2026 trial.  But…the state supreme court overturned Zhang’s rulings, ordering her to [change her mind.  Politicians have also]…voted to put yet another constitutional amendment on the ballot—this one repealing the reproductive freedom amendment and banning virtually all abortions…

Panopticon (#1540)

“Safety” has become the State’s universal excuse for violation of civil rights:

…Texas [cops] performed a nationwide search of more than 83,000 automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras while [hunt]ing…a woman who…had a self-administered abortion, including cameras in states where abortion is legal…Sheriff Adam King of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office [blatantly lied] that…“her family was worried that she was going to bleed to death, and we were trying to find her to get her to a hospital…it was about her safety”…Elizabeth Ling, senior counsel for If/When/How…[said about 26% of abortion] criminal[ization] cases…originate after [a busybody foolishly trusted by] the person getting an abortion [snitches] to police…

I Spy (#1542)

Wave bye-bye to the last remaining shreds of your privacy:

In March, President Trump [issued] an [illegal imperial edict demanding] the federal government to share data across agencies, [violating the Privacy Act of 1974 and paving the way for] a master list of personal information on Americans that [w]ould give him untold surveillance power…[his henchmen] have…turned to…Palantir, the [cop-enabling surveillance firm which started out by spying on sex workers, by forcibly cramming]…a key Palantir product called Foundry into at least four federal agencies, including D.H.S. and…Health and Human Services…pav[ing] the way for…Trump [and his creatures] to easily merge information from different agencies…creating detailed portraits of Americans…including their bank account numbers…[and] medical [records]…[in order] to advance his political agenda by policing immigrants and punishing critics…Privacy advocates…and others] have filed lawsuits to block data access…[even] Palantir employees have been unnerved by the [scheme]…and [are trying to claim it’s not their fault if a tool they created specifically to destroy lives is used to destroy lives]…

 

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 Tweetles

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Music, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

See also "terrorist", "trafficker", and "prostitute".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-17T18:03:29.108Z

People who are not queer, kinky, or professional: I beg you to research what a "gangbang" is, so you can stop making yourselves look like gullible idiots for repeating cops' 30-year-old sophomoric joke.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T04:39:04.483Z

There ain't a healthy person in that room, psychologically speaking.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-20T03:52:21.862Z

I beg reporters to recognize that this is a religion, and to cover it accordingly. Treat pronouncements about magical godlike "AI" the same way you'd treat pronouncements about Jesus or demons.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T17:46:02.394Z

Takeaway: Y'all aren't being NEARLY polite enough to "Cat, I farted". You need to be so scrupulously polite and indirect that you sound like a parody of a Victorian.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T17:54:39.862Z

Presumably, the 51% who view Vikings favorably are also big fans of having their life savings stolen by cops via asset forfeiture.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-23T18:39:54.767Z

I am not going there.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-24T04:09:00.768Z

"I'm Called Little Buttercup"

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-25T19:43:49.356Z

I wonder if he can make it through without loudly soiling his diaper.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-26T17:12:52.987Z

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie usTo see oursels as ithers see us!

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-27T16:58:51.364Z

Setup: Someone just proposed the toast, "To the voters."

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-28T17:28:03.370Z

If "sex trafficking" hysteria gets transferred to cops and other porcine creatures, I can live with that.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-29T17:32:29.234Z

But did he loudly shit his diaper at the funeral, as he did at the rededication of Notre Dame in December?www.inquisitr.com/donald-trump…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-04-30T17:13:03.854Z

Zuckerberg is a sad, pathetic person with a sad, pathetic inner life, and all his billions haven't been able to buy him a personality or real friends. So naturally he thinks everybody is like that.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-01T17:47:00.990Z

Did someone give an LLM the prompt, "fork in the road"?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-02T18:12:00.622Z

Any guesses on what movie Trump watched recently?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-05T03:54:24.166Z

Oh, look, I was right again. Must be a day ending in "y". bsky.app/profile/drew…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-05T17:16:21.183Z

Many more headlines like this, please. Reporters & editors: you can editorialize in your own paper/website. You needn't parrot the government's euphemisms, dysphemisms, and other propaganda.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-06T16:50:24.831Z

Collaboration. maggiemcneill.com/2025/05/07/i…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-07T16:57:55.264Z

See also "political lesbian".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-08T17:13:58.409Z

So he's basically saying he can't do it because Democrats might be mean to him, then he'd cry and soil his diaper.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-09T19:30:14.678Z

I would like to be able to cast a huge spell that would cause ANYONE who uses the phrase "some say" to immediately explode.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-12T04:00:06.232Z

I will never have as much money as this Avelo dude.But I have a soul, which is more than I can say for him.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-13T07:37:35.404Z

YOU can be arrested for leaving a 12-year-old unattended.For ICE thugs, it's part of the job description.Neither of these is a sign of a healthy society.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-13T16:51:14.913Z

Politicians and cops (including prosecutors) are sick human beings who think everyone is as warped and dishonest as they are. Accordingly, they think drug tests with a high rate of false positives are "more accurate", and those are the ones they buy. reason.com/2025/05/11/m…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-14T16:58:19.261Z

If Grok's current behavior doesn't help you to recognize that there is no "intelligence" in these programs, you are hopeless. http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/nationa…

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-15T05:36:15.208Z

To my friends and others I follow on here:NOTHING makes me skip right over your tweet without even reading it faster than a CGI picture. If you want original pictures, pay an actual human artist for them.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-16T17:08:15.258Z

It's unsurprising the Trump regime is able to blatantly violate the Constitution with the full support of many Americans, because most of them are too goddamned stupid to understand it even if they'd ever bothered to read it, which they haven't.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-17T16:21:35.767Z

 

 

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In the News (#1537)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Just because these tools act like your friend doesn’t mean that they are.  –  Miranda Bogen

The Widening Gyre (#928)

Georgia cops are still destroying lives over racist “brat snatching” fantasies:

After [being locked for] 45 days in a…Georgia…jail on a [bogus] charge of attempted kidnapping, Mahendra Patel was released on…bond…Patel, 57, was arrested on March 18 and initially denied bail after a [hysterical racist] accused him of trying to kidnap her 2-year-old son in a…[crowded] Walmart…[in actuality] Patel approached…Caroline Miller…to ask for help finding Tylenol.  Miller was sitting on a motorized shopping cart…for disabled customers (even though she is not disabled) and had [the] toddler…on her lap…[But because] Patel [is brown, Miller turned that innocent interaction into]…”I had to rip my baby out of some…man’s hands because he was trying to snatch him”…However, security footage shown during Patel’s latest bail hearing…[shows] that Patel…was merely trying to help stabilize the toddler as the mother began standing up from the cart…Witnesses also [contradicted]…Miller’s story…[but] Prosecutor Jesse Evans [wants to ruin an immigrant’s life]…and…[is doubling down on his fantasy of catching a dangerous] criminal…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1417)

Fools refuse to grasp what a danger biometric identification actually is:

Sam Altman…[has] announced…a new…eye-scanning orb….[which] scans [gullible fools’] irises, creates a unique user ID, stores that information on the blockchain, and uses it as a form of identity verification…the [sales pitch claims] it could ostensibly thwart [the same] scammers…enable[d]…by [Altman’s] other startup, OpenAI…So the World app, and its hardware component, are Altman’s solution to [a self-created] problem…whiffs of a scam have plagued the startup since it launched…[though it] claims…12 million users have been verified with the orb.  The company says it expects to generate revenue…through fees paid by [busybodies who want people’s] identities verified…But World is also a for-profit cryptocurrency company that…has been criticized by privacy advocates…[for] explicitly marketing its services to countries with a high percentage of unbanked or underbanked citizens, and…[bribing] people to sign up and have their irises scanned.  Brazil and Hong Kong have [already] banned Worldcoin [and its attendant] features…Kenya, Portugal, and Spain [have] all instituted temporary restrictions…

Thought Control (#1472)

A small victory for American ideals, but a victory nonetheless:

…the majority of candidates backed by pro-censorship organizations like Moms for Liberty lost their school board races in Texas on [May 3rd, demonstrating]…that the tide may be turning against the…pro-censorship [cult]…in [urban], suburban, and rural districts [alike, even]…candidates backed by big money [authoritarian groups]…In another victory for grassroots groups fighting for intellectual freedom, in Florida, a bill that would have redefined “harmful to minors”…to [mean whatever any politician or other wannabe censor points at while barfing that phrase]…died in session on [May 2nd]…

No Escape (#1475)

The human and financial costs of our society’s sick infatuation with incarceration are staggering:

Another 10 men who were [locked in cages by the state of Oregon as teenagers]…are suing the state [because] the longtime p[hys]ician at the facility…sexually abus[ed] them.  More than 20 men [were molested by] Dr. Edward Gary Edwards…and…[screws, staff, nurses, and] officials at the [cage stack] ignor[ed] the[ir complaints] and [intentionally] allow[ed the abuse] to continue.  Edwards worked…at the [prison] for more than four decades…[and] died in February…The abuse was so well-known…he…had a nickname: “Dr. Cold Fingers”…[his victims] are seeking $51 million…[this is only] the latest lawsuit [against Oregon’s juvenile dungeon system].  Emily Echtenkamp…was convicted in March of sexually abusing [one victim]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1521)

What kind of warped mind thinks it’s OK for male cops to barge into a women’s bathroom?

A [lesbian] couple…were [h]arrassed…[by a male security guard in a women’s restroom]…at The Liberty Hotel [in Boston]…Ansley Baker and…Liz Victor…went to a Kentucky Derby party at the hotel [on May 3rd, but] their afternoon ended when hotel security [barged into] the women’s restroom and…started banging on the stall doors.  Baker [presents in a masculine fashion]…and…the…creep…[demanded her] ID…to check [her] gender…[When he was shown to be an idiot he demanded] the couple…leave the hotel…and [lied to management that] they [were]…”sharing a bathroom stall”…and [had attacked] “our security team”…even…[though] there was only one [guard]…

Shame, Shame (#1535)

Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

Mark Zuckerberg has a new way to invade your privacy: a creepier version of [Cat, I Farted].  Last week, Facebook…launched…a dedicated home for [its LLM] chatbot.  The app, which climbed to No. 2 on the iPhone free download charts, promises users a more “personalized” [chatbot] with tailored answers and [“]advice[“].  And it includes a new social network for people to share their [chatbot] conversations and images.  But [it accomplishes this “personalization” via] surveillance…drawing on years of personal information tracked by its sister apps Facebook and Instagram…it buil[ds] a so-called memory file…that…by default ke[eps] a copy of everything…said to it — to tailor its responses…to train a future version of [the LLM] and, eventually, [to] target [users] with ads…push[ing] the limits on privacy in ways that go much further than rivals [Cat, I Farted] or [Google] Gemini…Whatever you chat about with [the computer], just picture Zuckerberg watching…

Torture Chamber (#1536)

The State tortures thousands of people for crossing an imaginary line:

The Trump [regime] has created a human rights crisis with its draconian, made-for-TV campaign of mass deportation…three people died inside [concentration camps] in April alone, bringing the total…since Trump returned to [power] to at least seven…Brayan Garzón-Rayo, a 27-year-old man from Colombia…died on April 8…in Missouri…Nhon Nguc Nguyen, 55, from Vietnam, died on April 16 after [being caged for] two months…in Texas…Marie Ange Blaise, a 44-year-old citizen of Haiti…died on April 25…after several weeks of being shuffled between [camps] in Louisiana, Florida and Puerto Rico…dozens of people have died preventable deaths in…ICE…con[centration camps] in the past, and…conditions are rapidly deteriorating as the [regime] packs facilities as part of [the mad emperor’s] war on immigrants…there are [currently] nearly 50,000 people [crammed into the camps, and]…Trump [wants]…to [add] 84,000 more…

 

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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