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Posts Tagged ‘Russia’

In the News (#1420)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 13, 2024| 1 Comment »

The advertising technology ecosystem is the largest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man.

Droit du Seigneur

What did this guy think he was, a cop?

A Las Vegas family court marshal is accused of sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl…Bryce Tokunaga…is not [alleged to have harmed or threatened]…the girl [in any way, but bought her] condoms, food, hygiene products, hair and nail services, and…hotel rooms where she could [work]…Tokunaga [was caught driving the girl to a stroll]…

Despite the story being larded with the usual weird “sex trafficking” dysphemisms, what Tokunga actually appears to be guilty of is extremely poor judgment by functioning as the pimp of a girl who was already an experienced street worker despite her age and was determined to continue regardless of the State’s defining her as a passive, doll-like “child”.

The Face of Trafficking

Note that cases of actual coercion don’t look much like the myths:

Gerardo Quijada-Soto…smuggled Javier Rodriguez-Castro from Honduras to the United States, through Mexico, along with 12 other individuals.  They initially crossed the border January 8, 2021.  Rodriguez-Castro was…taken to…Fun Noodle in Abilene….[where] he…observed a large stack of cash change hands between Quijada-Soto and owner of Fun Noodle, Hai Zhuang.  From that moment on, Rodriguez-Castro was…treated as a…slave.  “His passport was thrown into a water heater closet,” and he “was forced to work 10-12 hour days,” without breaks…In late summer…[he] was able to escape to Dallas…during his more than six months in captivity…Zhuang beat him, and…he was forced to eat scraps from customers because he wasn’t fed properly…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1306)

“Criminality” is a status defined entirely by the State:

At least five people have been detained in Moscow after attending the funeral of Alexei Navalny…One woman who attended the rally and was caught on video chanting “glory to the heroes,” a pro-Ukraine slogan, was arrested on M[arch 4th]…but allowed to return home the following day.  Police a[rrest]ed two other attendees [the next]…day, although the charges remain unknown…Moscow’s extensive surveillance system and facial recognition technology [was likely used] to identify attendees…[given that] several new surveillance cameras [were installed] around the church and cemetery [a few days before] the ceremony…

You Were Warned (#1396)

Politicians no longer bother to consider whether their new diktats are Constitutional:

Politicians won’t stop trying to make a TikTok ban happen…We went here with Trump, who tried to ban TikTok via executive order in 2020. (The courts said no, and the Biden administration rescinded the order.)  We went here with Montana, which passed a TikTok-banning law last year. (The court said no…though Montana is appealing.)  We went here with multiple bills…in 2022…and…in 2023…[which foundered] after being introduced…Now, here we are again, with a [theatrical] bill…call[ed]…the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA?)…[which] would…expand…presidential power to restrict Americans’ access to tools for getting and disseminating information—what could go wrong?… 

Creepy Coppers (#1411)

It didn’t take long for this one to demonstrate exactly what he is:

A 19-year-old [Florida man] was sworn in as a deputy on M[arch 4th]– but by sundown, [his employer] had a search warrant for his phone…[typical and representative cop] Kai Cromer…was [sent to lurk]…at a…high school…[and four girls] recognized [him as someone who]…had [demanded] explicit photos and videos over Snapchat…[by] telling [them], “I’m going to be law enforcement. I’m very powerful”…video of an underaged girl was found on Cromer’s phone which led to his arrest…

I Spy (#1412)

In mass surveillance, fascism runs rings around communism:

In 2019, a government contractor…named Mike Yeagley began making the rounds in Washington, DC.  He had a blunt warning for anyone in the country’s national security establishment who would listen: The US government had a Grindr problem…Yeagley was able to access the geolocation data on Grindr users through a hidden but ubiquitous entry point: the digital advertising exchanges that serve up the little digital banner ads along the top of…nearly every…ad-supported mobile app and website….[which make] your precise location available in near-real time to both advertisers and people like Mike Yeagley, who specialized in obtaining unique data sets for government agencies…Yeagley showed…all that information was available for sale, for cheap.  And it wasn’t just Grindr, but rather any app that had access to a user’s precise location—other dating apps, weather apps, games.  Yeagley chose Grindr because…when speaking to a bunch of intelligence agencies, there’s no way to get their attention quite like showing them a tool capable of revealing when their agents are visiting highway rest stops…

I’m a bit skeptical of this timeline, given that I’ve been aware of this collaboration since 2017, and I’m no tech expert.  But the article is lengthy and contains a lot of interesting information on this rights-destroying surveillance machine.

The Cop Myth (#1418)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do:

A [typical and representative Alabama cop attacked]…his wife and caus[ed] her to miscarry…[in March 2022] Robert Allen Maddox Jr…threw his then-wife to the floor of their home…and began choking her…he…then began punching [her] in the stomach, causing her to miscarry…Maddox was arrested…and…four months…[later was] charge[d]…with…murder [because Alabama].  That murder charge was later reduced to one count of manslaughter [because cop]…

 

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 (#1419)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2024| 1 Comment »

You can’t censor what isn’t said in the first place.  –  Sarah McLaughlin

Surplus Women

A classic case of “NHI”:

The family of a murdered sex worker have said police “have blood on their hands” after a man was finally brought to justice despite earlier major investigation failings..Iain Packer…was found guilty of…the “execution” of Emma Caldwell…after…[Packer] lured [her] from Glasgow’s red-light district, dr[ove] to remote woods 40 miles away, strangled [her] and dumped [her body] naked in a ditch…Packer [frequently hired] sex workers…and admitted to police in the initial 2005 investigation that he had previously [hired] Emma…[but] he was not arrested or charged for 17 years as [cops preferred to persecute] a group of Turkish men [despite other sex workers telling cops that Packer was sexually violent years before Caldwell was killed].  Packer…was convicted of 11 charges of rape against nine women among dozens of other offences…the family solicitor said: “A toxic culture of misogyny and corruption meant the police failed so many women and girls who came forward to speak up against Packer – instead of receiving justice and compassion, they were humiliated, dismissed and in some instances arrested, while the police gifted freedom to an evil predator to rape and rape again”…

Censorship Ascendant

In our increasingly-connected world governments are increasingly able to cause trouble for people who say things they dislike far beyond their own borders:

On Nov. 16, 2023, Reuters published a deeply-reported investigation about an Indian company named Appin, which…act[s] as a “premier provider of cyberespionage services for private investigators working on behalf of big business, law firms and wealthy clients.” But…Reuters has removed their reporting, and some other outlets have followed suit…[due to] a court order against Reuters…secured in India by a group operating under the Appin name…Globally, even in the United States, people are unable to read reports about Appin because a court order from half a world away limits everyone’s access to online news and information.  This…may hint at what’s increasingly the future of censorship online…authors of stories about the reporting, or even about the removals of it, face pressure now, too…Readers…can find it at Distributed Denial of Secrets…and…on Archive.Today.  But…[even] Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine [chickened out]…

Virtual Imperialism (#1202)

Governments worldwide are emulating China’s evil:

…”transnational repression” [is] a form of authoritarianism that…has becoming disturbingly common in recent years…”More than 20 percent of the world’s national governments have reached beyond their borders since 2014 to forcibly silence exiled political activists, journalists, former regime insiders, and members of ethnic or religious minorities,” finds a Freedom House report released in February…”25 countries’ governments were responsible for 125 incidents of physical transnational repression in 2023 alone, including assassinations, abductions, assaults, detentions, and unlawful deportations.”  Last year enjoyed the dubious distinction…of featuring the first documented cases of transnational repression by Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador…Sierra Leone, and Yemen…[though] the year’s main culprits [were] Russia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, and China…

If Men Were Angels (#1256)

Female “youth ministers” aren’t safe either, at least if they’re married:

[The husband of a Louisiana youth minister] has been arrested [for molesting]…children…Daniel Steven Parker [has been committing] …similar…crimes…at [least since]…2020…and [probably much longer]…

No Escape

Your “leaders” refer to this mindless brutality as “correction”:

A woman [locked in a cage by the state of] Georgia…has filed a federal lawsuit [because] she was [so brut]ally [rap]ed by a[n out-of-control screw she] had to undergo surgery…for partial uterus removal…

No Difference (#1359)

Another victory for US evangelical prohibitionists:

Ghana’s parliament has passed a [horrifying] new bill that imposes a prison sentence of up to three years for anyone convicted of [merely] identifying as LGBT…[and] a maximum five-year jail term for forming or funding LGBT…groups.  [Politicians] heckled down attempts to replace prison sentences with community service and counselling…The bill, which had the backing of Ghana’s two major political parties, will come into effect only if President Nana Akufo-Addo signs it into law…[but] he previously said…he would do so if the majority of Ghanaians want him to.  Gay sex is already against the law in Ghana – it carries a three-year prison sentence…[but] activists fear there will now be witch-hunts…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #6)

Give sexually-aggressive thugs power over teens; what could possibly go wrong?

…[A Nebraska cop named] Juan Casado Moya [has been charged] for [repeatedly molesting]…a 16-year-old [girl]…at…the…school…[where]…he [was assigned to spy on, harass, and intimidate]…student[s.  He has been rewarded with a paid vacation]…

 

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 (#1395)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 8, 2023| 1 Comment »

We’re having to evacuate from our own country.  –  Sergei Troshin

Secret Squirrel (#1202)

These wannabe Stasi will be lucky if a guilty conscience is the worst consequence of this ugly violation of their daughter’s trust:

A few years ago, we gave our daughter, now 18, a stuffed bear for her birthday.  At the time, we had recently discovered she had a boyfriend whom she was hiding from us…[so] we [decided] to [spy on her while pretending we weren’t]…breaking her trust…[by] install[ing] a hidden camera inside the eye of the stuffed bear.  Our daughter is now in college, and we overheard her telling her roommate how grateful she was for our trust in her…We have been racked with guilt ever since.  How can we tell our daughter about the camera without destroying our relationship with her?  Should we tell her at all?

Thou Shalt Not (#1299)

Will progressives ever stop cheering police violence in the name of “public health”?

New Zealand’s new…coalition government is abandoning a [new]…plan to [expand the drug war by criminalizing] smoking for future generations, in a move [criticized by] health experts [who think they have the right to enforce their diktats with police violence]…the [scheme]…would [have] gradually raise[d] the legal age so that anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, would…[forever] be [criminalized for] buy[ing] tobacco [regardless of age].  The New Zealand [drug war expansion inspired a monkey see-monkey do parade, with]…England…Ireland…Wales…[and] Hong Kong [already in line behind the prohibitionist bandwagon]…

The Cop Myth (#1350)

Why are people surprised when cops treat family members like they treat others?

 An Oklahoma City [cop with a long history of domestic violence] has been arrested again, but this time [for]…child abuse….Kristopher Gellenbeck…and…his…ex-wife…were exchanging their three children, ages 8-15, when he…began yelling at her and…pushed their oldest son out of the way to get to her.  The…[boy] grabbed Gellenbeck by the shirt in an effort to pull him away from his mother…[he then responded by attempting to] strangle…the…[boy.  But when] he…[saw she] was dialing 911…he…stopped strangling their son and ran towards her, grabbing her phone and “smashing” both of her hands against the window…“I never felt safe being around Kristopher, but I tried to do the correct thing and allow him to still see his children…[but they] have told me numerous times they do not want to go over to his house because they are afraid of him…I truly believe that if he gets close to use again, he can kill us,” Gellenbeck’s ex-wife wrote to a judge…In 2021, [Gellenbeck] was…charge[d with]…kidnapping…[and] domestic assault a[fter he broke into her house, tried to steal] her [entire] security camera system…grabbed her phone and [then held her prisoner for a while in her own home]…

Vulture Watching (#1364)

The psychopaths who rule Texas blame doctors for being afraid of prison or wanton destruction of their livelihoods:

Lawyers [for] Texas…[bizarrely argue] that women should sue their doctors, not the state, [because politicians inserted themselves and the police into the doctor-patient relationship]…Beth Klusmann of the Texas Attorney General’s Office [claimed] that [every possible life-threatening condition in pregnancy is invariably recognizable due to]…“a woman is bleeding…[and] has amniotic fluid running down her legs”…Zurawski v. Texas was brought by 22 women who[m]…state law…forced…to carry nonviable and dangerous pregnancies to term…many…were denied care because, despite the severity of the damage that the nonviable pregnancy was doing their body…they weren’t quite sick enough for it to be clearly life threatening.  Forty businesses have also signed a brief in support of the suit — arguing that ambiguities in the law have…cost…nearly $15 billion in lost revenues, and businesses and employees leaving the state…the 2021 law flew in the face of a long history of doctors being allowed to determine when abortion was necessary to preserve the health of the mother under state law — even when the procedure, in general, was not legal…

Monsters (#1392)

Never forget that this started with censorship of internet porn:

Russia’s Supreme Court has declared what it calls “the international LGBT public movement” an extremist organisation and banned its activities across the country…even though no such organisation exists as a legal entity.  The hearing was held behind closed doors, [and]…nobody from “the defendant’s side” had been present…Sergei Troshin, a municipal deputy in St Petersburg who came out as gay last year, [said]…”I think this will mean that anyone whom the state considers an LGBT activist could receive a long prison sentence for ‘participating in an extremist organisation’…There is panic in Russia’s LGBT community.  People are emigrating urgently…We’re having to evacuate from our own country”…

Cops lost no time in proving the panic justified:

Russian security forces raided gay clubs and bars across Moscow Friday night, less than 48 hours after the country’s top court banned what it called the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organization…

Served Cold (#1393)

This just keeps getting better:

…Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes…us[ed] “unconstitutional suppression” of [Suzanne Whitehead’s] rights to free speech after she tried to tell the truth about Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad…[her new] lawsuit alleges Reyes “apparently believes” Ballard is the “chosen one” and…[therefore] treats Ballard as if he’s above the law…Reyes [even] wrote a [“very self-aggrandizing”] scene [for a proposed] sequel to the [propaganda] film…Sound of Freedom…[which] reinforces how Reyes covers for Ballard and fails to disclose financial conflicts…Whitehead says Reyes’ “political credibility” allowed the Attorney General to act as a “blocker, quashing complaints against Ballard and OUR with the cover of the top law enforcement officer in the state of Utah”…

To Molest and Rape (Still Another Rapist Roundup)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

[Florida cop] Aurelio Gerald Rodriguez…was arrested in [early] November…for…physical and sexual abuse [of]…3 girls who were related to him [in some unexplained fashion].  The girls are 9, 16 and 18 now and report that the abuse began [for the eldest] when [she] was…10 [and the second when she was 7]….[beside] the…grooming…and [molestation] he…[would talk about] their “sexual needs”…[and] his [own] needs.  The girls described being always afraid of him because he was “angry and mean” to them while the [molestation]…occurred more times than they can estimate…The oldest girl said they were silent because they were afraid he would not let them see their mother, something…he…apparently controlled.  The…molestation persisted…until he was [arrested]…in November…

Given the situation and relative ages, I’m guessing he’s their grandfather.  This one is also related to his victim:

Justin Sigmon…[is a typical and representative] Virginia [cop]…On May 25, 2023, he departed from…Miami on a Carnival cruise ship…and…[was] filmed in the ship’s dining room with a 9-year-old girl…described as his “relative” sitting on his lap while he persistently moved his hands to her inner thighs and genital area.  The girl was seen pushing his hand away numerous times and he persisted…[even when] she crossed her legs…the molestation lasted about 10 minutes…and when the girl got up, he is seen touching and covering his own crotch for some time.  This was recorded by a bystander and…confirmed by the ship’s surveillance cameras.  He was charged in Florida with a federal crime when the ship docked on June 3, 2023…[and] convicted by a jury [on November 17th]…Sentencing was set for Jan. 12…

This one doesn’t appear to be related to his victim, but given the obfuscation it’s hard to tell:

A[n nonymous London cop] has been [sacked] for [molesting]…an underage runaway [of unspecified age or gender]…who was reported missing…he…”exploited and abused” the [victim] after making contact with them on social media…on 16 August 2019…he…[even] allowed them to stay [at his place] on 26 August without informing police or social services…

 

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 (#1392)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

He got so excited that I was bisexual, like, maybe he needed to change his underwear.  –  “Alison”

Without Let or Hindrance

Some still believe these sociopaths are motivated by “child protection”:

…an…anonymous caller, whom L.B. believes to be a former acquaintance with a grudge, has [repeatedly called] New York’s state child welfare hotline….[to] make outlandish, often already-disproven claims about her…[in order] to…trigger a government intrusion into her domestic life…Over the past three years, the agency either has [raid]ed her home or [molest]ed and [interrogat]ed her son at school more than two dozen times.  [Bureaucrats] have sought a warrant for only three of these searches, most recently in August.  All of those requests have been rejected by judges…[yet] it keeps happening, and it’s nearly always the same routine…[busybodies with cop henchmen] demand entry into her apartment, ringing her doorbell and, embarrassingly, sometimes those of her neighbors as well, at all hours of the day and night.  They [leer at] her child’s unclothed stomach and thighs, and sometimes take pictures.  And they interrogate him without her consent, covering topics like whether she has sex around him…L.B. [has now] filed a federal lawsuit against the commissioner of ACS and the city of New York…[because] her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures has been repeatedly violated by the agency’s warrantless incursions…

If Men Were Angels

“Youth pastor”, “youth leader”, “youth minister”, “youth director”…can’t y’all settle on one term for preachy molesters?

Luis Mendoza…was arraigned…on multiple counts of…grooming and [molest]ing…a minor…[he was reported by the victim’s] parents…

Paint By Numbers (#1070)

Dumb “anti-trafficking” events are now mostly ads for sports:

[Several professional golfers collaborated with]…Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody for a celebrity golf tournament with a focus on [promoting “]sex-trafficking[” propaganda.  Funds raised from the Teeing Off to Stop Human Trafficking golf tournament…will [be given to cops to conduct pogroms against sex workers while spewing talking points and nonsense statistics]…

Monsters (#1300)

Never forget that this started with censorship of internet porn:

Russia’s justice ministry has filed a motion with the country’s Supreme Court to ban the activities of what it calls the “international LGBT public movement” as extremist…[due to] inciting “social and religious strife”…The extremist label has been used in the past by Russian authorities against rights organisations and opposition groups…The top court will examine the motion on 30 November.  The ban would make it impossible for LGBT organisations to operate and put activists and employees at risk of criminal prosecution…

Stupor Bowl (#1311)

It’s no longer unusual to see this type of article on “sex trafficking”myths:

Every year…a…public relations blitz repeats the long-discredited myth that major sporting events such as the…[Super Bowl] are a magnet for sex trafficking.  There’s not a shred of evidence to support it…so why does it keep coming back?…federal and local law enforcement agencies use this “trafficking hysteria” as an excuse to mount lucrative vice stings…renaming prostitution as human trafficking, pretending to rescue “sex trafficking victims” and saddling people with prostitution arrests…We are asking the media to ask critical questions.  Do not simply repeat whatever the police might claim.  Do not be complicit in this annual ritual.  Instead, speak to the sex workers who are being rounded up, harassed and criminalized to provide extravagant headlines for the police.

The End of the Beginning (#1373)

What kind of moral imbeciles condemned him to the registry in the first place?

In 2012, when Adam Nesteikis was 25 years old, his friend [a younger neighbor who had been molesting him, encouraged] him to pull down his pants in front of a young girl…Adam is intellectually disabled, which means he didn’t realize he had done something wrong.  He also didn’t understand what it meant when, after a trial, he was placed on the sex offense registry.  He just knew that for some reason, he lost the job he loved wiping tables.  He could no longer participate in the Special Olympics.  And he couldn’t scuba dive—his very favorite activity—because the club practiced in a high school pool and he was no longer allowed to be near young people.  Thankfully, this injustice has finally been remedied: This year, he received a full pardon from…Gov. J.B. Pritzker [of Illinois].  His record will also be expunged…

Served Cold (#1382)

The schadenfreude of watching Tim Ballard’s reputation go down in flames is so very sweet:

A female [“]operator[” for]…OUR…spent time with [Tim Ballard] on a private island, where he claimed to directly communicate with God, before shadowing him as he trawled massage parlors and strip clubs across the British Virgin Islands, despite there being no intelligence to suggest that…any trafficking was going on at all…In planning and execution, the [organization’s] work was amateurish and dangerous…it became clear to her that the OUR hierarchy was fully aware of what Ballard was doing…and…other top members of the organization…were themselves participants in the couples ruse…[her] story…depicts an organization focused on allowing its celebrity founder, who had become completely detached from reality, to live the lavish lifestyle of a wealthy sex tourist and sexually manipulate and abuse volunteers under the guise of saving children….

Looks like the cops are getting involved as well:

A woman…[has reported fallen rescue industry con man] Tim Ballard [for] sexually assault[ing] her, the first known instance of a…[criminal] accusation…after similar [attacks on women have led to] two civil lawsuits…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1300)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Your face is like a password you can’t change.  –  Pete Warden

Torture Chamber

Just in case you thought this was restricted to the US:

…a man [died in] a central Japan police station…[after being beaten and then] left naked and bound with his head in a toilet bowl, and a senior official is among those…[recorded on camera] kicking the…[prisoner] as he lay tied up…[cops also] neglected to take necessary medical measures, such as having a doctor examine the man, though he had diabetes and schizophrenia…

Stalkers in Blue

This week’s entry in the “No shit” department:

…Connecticut cop…Joshua Zarbo has been suspended after he…ask[ed] an emergency dispatcher to check a woman’s license plate to obtain her name and personal information in hopes of securing a date…It’s not the first time a police officer in the state [ab]used the system to identify potential [sexual target]s…[typical and representative] Norwalk [cop] Taranjit Singh resigned in 2021 before he could be punished after…four women [reported] he either pulled over and threatened to give them a ticket unless they gave him their cellphone number or obtained their names and addresses through the same database system Zarbo…[ab]used…One…wom[a]n who was twice stopped by Singh…became so fearful of running into him again that she moved out of Norwalk…

Eavesdropping (#1152)

Why does a vacuum cleaner need either a camera or a wifi connection?

In the fall of 2020, gig workers in Venezuela posted a series of images to online forums where they gathered to talk shop.  The photos were mundane, if sometimes intimate, household scenes captured from low angles…In one particularly revealing shot, a young woman in a lavender T-shirt sits on the toilet, her shorts pulled down to mid-thigh.  The images were…taken by…development versions of iRobot’s Roomba J7 series robot vacuum…[and] sent to Scale AI, a startup that contracts workers around the world to label audio, photo, and video data used to train artificial intelligence…iRobot—the world’s largest vendor of robotic vacuums, which Amazon recently acquired for $1.7 billion in a pending deal—confirmed that these images were captured by its Roombas in 2020.  All of them came from “special development robots…that are not and never were present on iRobot consumer products for purchase”…given to “paid collectors and employees” who signed written agreements acknowledging that they were sending data streams, including video, back to the company for training purposes…

Monsters (#1195)

Never forget that this started with censorship of internet porn:

…Putin…[has] signed new legislation that widely bans public expression of [LGBT content]…in [Russia by criminalizing the]…spread [of] “propaganda” about “nontraditional sexual relations” in the media, advertising, movies or…social media…and from any outlet visible to minors.  Distributing to minors any information “that causes children to want to change their sex” was also prohibited…Putin has long cast [the existence of sexual minorities] as a Western intrusion into Russia’s traditional society and values, and proponents of the new law recently likened the[ir crusade]…to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, which they [depict] as a broader civilization clash between them and the West…

Prudish Pedants (#1223)

Redefining words to mean something more convenient is the oldest trick in the politicians’ playbook:

…Sen. Mike Lee…[has] introduced the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA), which attempts to edit the legal definition of “obscenity” to allow…for [government] regulation of pornography…The definition of obscenity is based on a stringent, three-part test originating from the 1973 case Miller v. California…IODA is an attempt to challenge the Miller test’s prominence, creating an alternate definition of obscenity…[which]…would basically render the majority of pornography legally obscene…thus allow[ing] for the criminalization of most internet pornography, by removing the requirement that sexual depictions be “patently offensive,” as well as the requirement that “contemporary community standards” be used to judge material…

Stalkers in Blue (#1282)

Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?

A Los Angeles [cop has enjoyed a paid vacation since]…he…shared explicit photographs and videos of his [cop] wife with other [cops]…without her knowledge or consent.  Brady Lamas…[merely] faces…misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct…[for] shar[ing] the images between Dec. 29, 2021, and Jan. 24 in a group chat on Kik…They were discovered by his wife…on Jan. 30…[and he was rewarded] the day after…

Cops have also been known to secretly record video of ostensibly consensual sex.

Absolute Corruption (#1293)

Expecting moral courage from a politician is like expecting a duckbilled platypus to perform Shakespeare:

In a [wholly predictable] reversal of a [rare moment of moral clarity, Massachusetts governor] Charlie Baker…withdrew his recommendation to pardon Gerald Amirault and Cheryl Amirault LeFave, who were convicted in a [“Satanic Panic” kangaroo court] in…1984…the Amirault family has always maintained their innocence…[and] the testimony of [young] children, which formed the backbone of the case, was coerced by improper interviewing techniques.  But after years of litigation, including two trials and six Supreme Judicial Court rulings, the courts upheld their convictions.  Baker recommended the pardons against the advice of the Advisory Board of Pardons…but the Governor’s Council must confirm any pardon recommendation…and…more than half of the eight councilors expressed grave doubts about [the political popularity of bucking “child sex abuse” hysteria]…Councilor Eileen Duff said she does not believe the Amiraults are eligible for a pardon because they did not [perjure themselves by claiming guilt for “crimes” that never happened]…Amirault will be released from strict parole conditions in another year.  But both LeFave and Amirault will continue to have to register as sex offenders in the absence of a pardon…

 

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In the News (#1239)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The viewpoints…individuals and businesses hold are real, even if they differ from the views of…government officials.  –  Judge Aleta A. Trauger

Surplus Women

The BBC feeds stigma just as much as the Russian media this story criticizes:

On the day she was murdered, 20 July 2020, Olga had a profile on an online escort site where she went by the name Margo.  A 53-year-old former convict, Oleg Tochilkin – who had been released on parole after serving part of a 20-year prison sentence for crimes including murder…b[eat] and strangled Olga…then [dump]ed her naked body…at the entrance to [his apartment] building…One headline read, “Do you feel sorry for this kind of victim of violence?”  Another was, “The bloody details of how a prostitute from Bryansk was killed”.  And there was the one that called Olga a “whore” and referred to her killer as “grandpa”…

Instant Criminal

This guy is lucky his evil wife wasn’t smarter:

…on April 18…Angel Moore [told cops in]…Wynnewood [Oklahoma that]…she’d [somehow] seen a man using his phone to download child [porn.  She claimed]…the man’s wife, Lacey Hucks, managed to get the phone away from her husband and gave it to Moore so she could alert police.  The man was swiftly arrested, and…over 800 child sex abuse images [were found] on that phone…[but] deputies noticed that the phone that the husband had on him at the time of his arrest didn’t have any content similar to what was on the phone Moore had given them.  They only kept the husband in jail overnight, and got a warrant for Hucks’ phone—which showed that she and Moore had been discussing plans to make the police report before April 18…Moore quickly folded under questioning…an[d]…told a deputy that Hucks had…coached her…to deliver the false report against her husband…in hopes of winning a child custody battle…Hucks and Moore…were arrested on charges of conspiracy and knowingly reporting a false crime.  Hucks faces an additional charge of aggravated possession of child sex abuse material; if convicted on that charge, she faces up to life in prison…

Buttons, Bags & Banknotes (#770)

I’m not sure who Bindel thinks she’s convincing with this tedious claptrap, but I’ve got to hand it to Liz Brown for being far more patient with her than I could possibly manage.

I Spy (#1015)

Are there really sane adults gullible enough to swallow this?

The NSA — which has undermined encryption standards in the past — says it won’t undermine the next strain of encryption, one being built to withstand the inevitable arrival of quantum computing…“There are no backdoors,” said Rob Joyce, the NSA’s director of cybersecurity…Pardon my cynicism, but that’s exactly the sort of thing someone planning to backdoor encryption would say…While it’s true the NSA has spent less time agitating (at least publicly) for encryption backdoors than, say, the FBI, its troubling past strongly suggests it should not be taken at its word this time around…Quantum computing has the capacity to be the pipe wrench that makes security efforts mostly irrelevant.  The sooner a new standard can be put in place, the better.  If the NSA can help achieve this more quickly, it should.  But it should never be assumed the NSA’s intentions are pure…

The Last Shall Be First (#1140)

One small victory against a rising tide of bigotry:

A federal judge struck down a Tennessee law…that would have [forced] businesses in the state to post warning notices on their public restrooms if they have policies allowing transgender patrons to use the facilities that match their gender identities…Judge Aleta A. Trauger…wrote…that the law violates the First Amendment of the Constitution because it compels speech that is controversial and with which the plaintiffs disagree.  “It would do a disservice to the First Amendment to judge the Act for anything other than what it is: a brazen attempt to single out trans-inclusive establishments and force them to parrot a message that they reasonably believe would sow fear and misunderstanding about the very transgender Tennesseans whom those establishments are trying to provide with some semblance of a safe and welcoming environment,” Trauger wrote…

Out of Control (#1173)

The next level beyond spooge-based sexual assault:

An Arby’s manager…urinated in the milkshake mix…for his own “sexual gratification” on at least two occasions…Stephen Sharp, who was being investigated for child pornography, admitted to police that he enjoyed relieving himself in the restaurant’s milkshake mix while working as a night manager at a Vancouver, Washington, location…[cops found] dozens of [child porn] photos and videos…as well as the urine video on his digital devices…Investigators are looking for any unlucky customers who bought and drank the urine-contaminated shakes…

To Molest and Rape (#1230)

So many rapist cops, so many underage victims:

A Dallas [cop who was] arrested last summer [for] sexual assault of a child is now facing a second charge after more victims came forward…Tyrone William Jr….[h]as [been on paid vacation since…June [of last year]…

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In the News (#1225)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Technology is not magic.  –  Andrea O’Sullivan

To Molest and Rape

So many words to downplay a rape:

A Columbia [South Carolina cop]…was arrested…[for raping] an “incapacitated” person…[and] was fired from the department shortly after[ward]…Keith Ryan Williamson [committed the rape]…in October…

“Accomplished sexual battery with the victim and had reason to know that the victim was incapacitated at the time of the assault” is a ridiculously cumbersome way to say “raped a drunk woman”.

To Molest and Rape (#1158)

Rapist cops don’t only target women:

An Indianapolis [cop] is [merely] facing misconduct and battery charges…[despite sexually assaulting] a handcuffed man…multiple times before throwing him to the ground…Travis Lewis…[decided to arrest the] man who called police [in the first place, and when he resisted being forced into a pigmobile]…Lewis…grab[bed] the man’s [testicles]…and…twist[ed them violently.  In video the man can be heard screaming]…”My balls are bleeding”…Lewis [then] threw the man to the ground…

Stalkers in Blue (#1167)

Once in a while, there’s evidence of the way cops act toward women:

A…Charleston[, South Carolina cop]…was fired…after a…[woman he tried] to coerce [into sex at] a department store [secretly recorded his harassment with her phone]…Darryl Felkel…made repeated attempts to coerce the woman…at [her work in] a Dillard’s department store…the woman refuse[d]…him…but…he…[just kept on haranguing her for seven] minutes…

Decentralization (#1181)

Bitcoin is a kind of folk devil for economically-illiterate politicians:

Politicians who don’t like bitcoin rarely have one reason.  They have all of the reasons, and will seize on whichever one is most convenient or newsworthy at the time.  Right now, it’s war.  Hillary Clinton was trotted out to wag her finger at crypto exchanges that did not extralegally ban all Russians from their services. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is on the case, “monitoring” cryptocurrency for its capacity to give aid and comfort to the Ruskies…But [Elizabeth] Warren stole the show with fearmongering about…”criminals and cheats” before…direct[ing confused] questions at a representative from…a blockchain forensics company…which…is…routinely able to unmask transactions…Warren, surprised but undeterred, continued with her confused line of questioning, so proud of herself that she put a transcript of the objectively embarrassing exchange on her government webpage…

Scapegoats (#1210)

No rumor is so stupid that some politician won’t believe and repeat it:

Nebraska [politician] Bruce Bostelman…is the latest [fool] to repeat th[e] urban legend [that] “Schoolchildren dress up as animals—cats or dogs—during the school day…And now schools are wanting to put litter boxes in the schools for these children to use.  How is this sanitary?” he said…during a televised debate, before backtracking hours later amid school district denials…similar myths have made the rounds in Iowa, Michigan, and Texas, prompting the same denials from school administrators…these stories…line up perfectly with conservative fears about transgender and non-binary students and…reminiscent of how [politicians] for years insisted that same-sex marriage legalization would lead to people marrying animals…

Thought Control (#1222)

Every so often the difference between upper and lower house becomes visible:

An Idaho bill that would have cr[iminalized]…librarians who provide minors with content [politicians] deemed inappropriate is now dead in the water; it…[will] not get a hearing in the state Senate…the Idaho Senate has also declined to take up the state House’s anti-trans bill…

Science! (#1223)

“Sex trafficking” fetishists keep publicizing their creepy fantasies about Ukranian women:

Social media posts from a German sex work support network [were dishonestly]…use[d as propaganda by prohibitionists] falsely claiming the group is “recruiting” Ukrainian refugees to work in brothels.  The group was in fact highlighting support for existing sex workers…Trans*Sexworks is a Berlin-based peer support and mutual aid group primarily for transgender, intersex and non-binary people who do sex work…Wren Oscyth, one of the group’s members…explained…“We have absolutely no connection to brothels or places of employment in Germany.  There currently is not a single member of our group who is employed at a brothel or club since it is very uncommon for those places to hire trans and non-binary workers”…

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Links #611

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , on March 21, 2022| 4 Comments »

Where is the baby pit bull?  –  cop, during no-knock raid

I’m really annoyed that The Steven Banks Show, an extremely funny comedy produced by my home-town PBS station, WYES, has never been released on DVD.  To give you a taste, here’s the show’s soundtrack album (which I own on CD, naturally).  The links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel, Franklin Harris, Cop Crisis, Jesse Walker, Cop Crisis again, and Amy Alkon, in that order.

From the Archives

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In the News (#1195)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

The people having the greatest sexual fulfilment were [those] who…discarded the entire package of paint-by-numbers ideas about sexuality.  –  Peggy Kleinplatz

The Truth About “The Truth About…”

Another of those nonexistent false rape accusations:

Alice Sebold’s bestselling 1999 memoir Lucky tells the story of a young woman raped by a stranger…Sebold went on to write the bestseller The Lovely Bones, a fictional account of a teenage girl raped and killed.  But last week Anthony Broadwater, the man who served 16 years in prison for raping Sebold, was exonerated.  Timothy Mucciante, a producer working on a film adaptation of Lucky, was fired after raising questions about inconsistencies in Sebold’s story…[and] discrepancies between the memoir and the facts of the case, to the point where he…ended up hiring a private investigator [who]…broke the case.  Broadwater’s conviction…rested on shaky evidence: Sebold had…initially picked a different man out of a lineup—and the only forensic evidence was a form of hair analysis that [even] the government now [admits is] junk science…Broadwater was [condemned to] the New York Sex Offender Registry after his 1999 release, and…remained on it until a few days ago.  His case starkly highlights the needless cruelty of sex offense registries…

Between the Ears (#322)

Professionals have been telling y’all this for decades:

…truly magnificent sex has very little to do with daring feats of seduction or screaming orgasms…erotic intimacy is more a state of mind than a physical act.  In a recent study, Magnificent Sex, psychologist and sex therapist Dr Peggy J Kleinplatz and her colleagues at Ottawa University…recruited people from around the world across the age, gender and sexuality spectrum – who self-reported having had, at some point in their lives, truly mindblowing sex.  Through a series of interviews, researchers began to build up a picture of what “the best sex ever” looks, feels and sounds like…Despite the different ways each participant actually had sex, at the very peaks of the experience, everyone was feeling the same kinds of things: total absorption in the moment, deep connection with their partner, and openness and a willingness to take a few emotional risks…

The rest has the same kind of advice sex educators have been giving people for as long as there’s been such a thing (see the subtitle of this item?) but it won’t do any good, because most people just want a magic pill.

Checklist (#685)

Thought you could avoid the “sex trafficking” Gestapo by taking a bus rather than a plane?  Think again:

Denver [cops swarmed]…a Greyhound bus [on November 29th]…[they delayed the bus for hours, interrogat]ing…passengers and [root]ing [through people’s] luggage [without their consent, using the excuse of “]a possible human trafficking situation[” reported by a busybody indoctrinated by government “signs of trafficking” propaganda]…an adult female was [on the bus] and…The Denver Police Human Trafficking Unit is investigating [why she was traveling without a male]…no one has been arrested at this time…

Monsters (#863) 

All internet “porn” censorship schemes have similar endgames:

A powerful Russian [politician]…unveiled…a bill proposal that would classify all depictions of LGBTQ+ relationships in the same banned or restricted categories as pornography…[while] another [politician announced]…he had prepared a catalog of “toxic content,” using a system that labels content from “completely banned” to “simply undesirable”…Vitaly Milonov…[said] “the state…[should] not allow the broadcast of films with LGBTQ+ content”…and…Igor Ashmanov… “would flag topics such as radical feminism [and] ‘child-free’ lifestyles, as well as the promotion of homosexuality and bestiality”…Last month, an[other politician blathered toxic nonsense about]…“the rights of law enforcers [to inflict violence upon individuals for their thoughts]”…

Winding Down (#1114)

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

South Dakota voters made history last November by simultaneously approving ballot initiatives aimed at legalizing recreational and medical use of marijuana…Amendment A…prevailed by an eight-point margin in a state that is…largely conservative.  But thanks to…legal [obstructionism]…by [prohibitionist] Gov. Kristi Noem, Amendment A was almost immediately tied up in litigation, and…[now] the South Dakota Supreme Court [has] definitively overturned it…[on a technicality the amendment’s backers called “a far-fetched legal theory”, an assessment the dissenting judge agreed with]…unless the state legislature independently implements the policy embodied in Amendment A, the ruling means supporters…will have to try again next year with an initiative that addresses the court’s legal objections…

The Crumbling Dam (#1153)

Will the feds interfere with this as they did in Philadelphia?

In an attempt to curb a surge in overdose deaths caused by [street drugs made] increasingly potent [by the iron law of prohibition], New York City will authorize two supervised injection sites in Manhattan…New York…will become the first U.S. city to open officially authorized injection sites…other cities including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Seattle have taken steps toward supervised injection but have [been blocked by prohibitionists both in and out of government]…Mayor Bill de Blasio…sent a letter to the providers promising “not to take enforcement action” against their operations and…four of the city’s five district attorneys — [in]cluding [crypto-prohibitionist]…Cyrus R. Vance Jr…

I Spy (#1173)

I’ll believe Facebook is actually going to do this when it actually does it:

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s parent company…doesn’t plan to roll out end-to-end encryption…by default on Messenger and Instagram until 2023…Antigone Davis, Meta’s head of safety, attributes the delay to concerns about user safety…[which does not]…mean…[actual safety, but is in actuality an Orwellian euphemism for copsucking]…UK…[politicians are trying to criminalize encryption in their fiefdom] and…the US…Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, and Japan…all [subscribe to mathematically-illiterate lawhead beliefs that it’s possible]…to give [pigs and spooks a “backdoor” to root around in people’s private affairs while magically preventing thugs and busybodies who don’t work for the State from exploiting the same intentional gap in security]…

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Tricked Out Treats

Posted in Links, Miscellaneous, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I’ve always been dedicated to the idea of this as the time of year for spooky fun.  So every year I collect all the spooky, creepy or scary content from the previous year into one place just before Halloween.  If you’ve come to my blog in the past year, or don’t remember previous editions, they are “Trick or Treat”, “More Trick or Treat“, “Tricks and Treats“, “This Trick’s a Treat”, “Tricky Treats“, “A Trickle of Treats”, “Tricking and Treating“, and “Tricks for the Treat“.  Horror, death or Halloween-themed columns of the past year include “Dead on Arrival“, “The Mysteries“, “Could It Be…Satan?“, “The Sparkle of a Star“, and “The October Country“; there are creepy or spooky-fun videos in Links #541, #553, #566, and #590, and here’s a collection of spooky or Halloweeny links:

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