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Links #728

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

He was in his bedroom asleep and you go in shooting.  –  Michael Monroe

A recent thread on BlueSky reminded me of this song, which I liked very much as a kid.  Carl Douglas actually had a number of songs which described movies he had seen; another of them was “Witchfinder General”, which I shared back in January of ’17.  The links above the video were provided by Mark Draughn, Scott Greenfield, Radley Balko, IncarcerNation (x2), and Billy Binion, 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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In the News (#1440)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The new [Belgian] scheme seems…to grant government too much say in the employer-employee relationship.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

German…politician…Martin Neumaier…was [featured] in…several videos and photos…performing…fetishistic acts [which] began to circulate this week…the media was verified as authentic…[and Neumaier] said he had filmed them “voluntarily and with pleasure,” adding that all viewers…“had the right to…publish it wherever they see fit.”  In one of the videos, Neumaier could be seen naked while reciting the first verse of Nazi-era German national anthem and using an anal dildo…in another, Neumaier inserted a feces-covered dildo into his rectum before smearing it on a Quran.  In other videos, Neumaier was heard expressing his desire to “rape to death” one of the 12 wives of the Prophet Mohammed, smearing feces on his face and body, and licking public toilet seats…[now another] politician…[named Rene Dierkes claims] he ha[s] evidence [of] Neumaier…procuring young boys for sexual abuse…Neumaier [has in response] filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons alleging blackmail…

Business As Usual

As long as sex work is criminalized, rapist cops will target sex workers:

A [typical and representative Florida cop named]…Stephen Corbin [h]as…be[en]…arrested…[for attem]ting [to] sexual[ly] assault…at…[least two sex workers in Daytona Beach].  Sheriff Mike Chitwood [used the occasion to bloviate a lot of pompous nonsense one could barely believe was spewed by a grown adult]…Corbin…threaten[ed] the women [with arrest]…and [has apparently] picked…up [sex workers] in [the past] and [properly] paid for sex…

The Face of Trafficking 

Oh look, she managed to call for help without “hotlines” and magic bathroom stickers:

A 17-year-old girl was able to save herself from [an abductor] by texting 911…with “pleas for help” around 3 a.m. on May 9…[in] Ventura County [California.  She]…began texting landmarks and other “identifiable information” she was seeing, which helped the agency quickly dispatch deputies to the correct area…Investigators…believe…[she] was [brought] to Ventura County roughly two months ago from Mexico.  She has been placed with the county’s Children & Family Services until authorities can locate her family…[cops] arrested Gerardo Cruz…his bail is set at half a million dollars…

The story repeatedly uses the words “trafficking” and “trafficked”, but in the absence of information about the purpose and manner of the abduction, more neutral words are called for to avoid making the girl the unwilling subject of prohibitionist wanking fantasies.

Little Boxes (#837)

The shittiest-paying sex work ever:

…many of OnlyFans’ top earners…hire…a management agency to help keep up with…customers’ demands for personal attention…they…provide…a team of contractors whose sole job is to masquerade as the creator while swapping DMs with her subscribers…agencies tend to favor contractors who reside in lower-wage countries…like the Philippines and Venezuela…these workers are relatively well-educated, with university-level English and ace typing skills that some developed in high-pressure call centers…Even for positions with a starting hourly wage of just $2, agencies often demand…evidence that applicants ha[ve] not only chatted on OnlyFans before but had also cajoled subscribers into purchasing thousands of dollars’ worth of so-called exclusive content…

Welcome to the Future (#1052)

Cop excuses produced by human bootlickers are bad enough:

…giant [fascist corporation] Axon [has] announced Draft One, a new product that uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo to automatically generate police reports from…bodycam audio.  The product promises to make police…reports…[more] helpful in…prosecution [rather than more factually accurate]…the user [has] to select what…[level of] severity [they want] the [report spin to justify], be that no charge, an infraction, a misdemeanor, or a felony…[cops are supposed] to proofread the draft, make any corrections, and sign off on its accuracy….Matthew Guariglia…at…the Electronic Frontier Foundation [said]…“Policing, with its legal power to kill, detain, or ultimately deny people’s freedom, is too powerful an institution to outsource its official narratives to technologies in a way that makes officers immune to critique, transparency, or accountability because they have…plausible deniability that they…were not aware of mistakes the [algorithm] made”…

The Cop Myth (#1432)

Cop violence is never limited to members of the public:

A Prince George’s County [cop] has been suspended and placed on house arrest fo[r attacking his wife on May 14th]…Robert Harvin III smash[ed] his wife’s iPhone and assault[ed] her after she…caught him on the phone with his mistress…Harvin…pushed her, dragged her to the floor and…choke[d her]…once she was able to break free, she grabbed Harvin’s…police radio and called for help.  Harvin [absurdly] claims the [violence] was “mutual, like Matrix”…[but his own] Google Nest kitchen camera revealed…Harvin’s wife “yelling and screaming for him to get away from her.”  Their doorbell camera footage also shows him “actively assaulting [his wife] by dragging and punching her”…

Nor is it limited to male cops:

Two [married] Detroit [cops have been] suspended [and] charged with child abuse….Jared…and Liana Shaw…are…[typical] and…representative…and…both…[aggressively choked] Liana’s two children…a 12-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl….[because the] son…tried to intervene when the pair had been fighting…[the boy’s] grandmother…called the cops when she saw what was happening.  The two children are staying with her while this case works its way through the courts.  Three of Jared’s children have also been placed with relatives.  The Shaws…bond[ed out and are currently at large]…

Leaving the 20th Century (#1438)

Looks like I was wrong about Belgian decrim:

…Belgium…is trying to bring sex workers into “social protection” programs and employee benefits…The decriminalization law was a first step to making sex workers eligible for such things.  The second step was the law…that The Publica makes sound like a horrifying, dystopian mess…Under the decriminalized system, sex workers could be self-employed, and they could hire third parties to help them in various ways.  They could also be freelance workers in an establishment run by someone else.  But sex workers could not themselves be employees.  Under the new law, “sex workers will also be able to work under an employment contract, thus gaining access to social security: pension, unemployment, health insurance, family benefits, annual vacation, maternity leave,” according to UTSOPI…the law imposes obligations on both businesses that employ sex workers and on sex workers who work for those businesses…we’re not talking individual “pimps” (a one-person sex work business cannot legally hire employees) but registered businesses that have contracted as a sex work employer and taken on all the responsibilities that entails…

In my defense, I must point out that the scheme grants government so much say in business relationships I confused it for legalization until Liz Brown broke it down for me.

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 #722

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

How many poor people in the world must die before we consider this a “crime against humanity”?  –  open letter from 100 Nobel Laureates

I think this video, made in 1899, might be the oldest one I’ve ever featured on this site (though the soundtrack is 21st-century).  The director, Georges Melies, is perhaps best remembered for “A Trip to the Moon” (or at least one famous image from the film); he invented many special effects, a number of them visible here, which were used for a century until replaced by CGI.  The links above the video were provided by Clarissa, Emma Camp, Ronald Bailey, Radley Balko, and IncarcerNation (x3), 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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In the News (#1433)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

They destroyed my life…and now they want to keep quiet.  –  Daegun Chun

Traffic Jam (#694)  

The first exoneration of a victim of “sex trafficking” hysteria has come, 14 years earlier than I expected.  Of course, it happened in Canada, where the hysteria was never as virulent as in the US, and like the Heather Wyker “Somali sex trafficking gang” case, it was based entirely in cop wanking fantasies without a shred of actual evidence or a single credible witness, and collapsed because the primary victim refused to be intimidated into signing a fake confession and “admitting guilt” to the mob at gunpoint.  But the victims of the Satanic Panic were convicted on even more fantastical (and often physically-impossible) charges, with even more absurd “evidence”, and it was more than ten years after the end of the hysteria before any of them were exonerated.  I don’t know if this bodes well for most victims of “trafficking” hysteria, given that the US government is still actively engaged in promoting the lies and fantasies that were used to cage them.  This is a long and intense article, but I think it’s worth every free-thinking person’s time and effort to thoroughly grasp the lengths to which modern “democratic” governments will go to destroy innocent people’s lives in order to advance a propaganda narrative those in power find convenient to their agenda.

I Spy (#787)

Surveillance beyond the wildest dreams of the Stasi:

…the [newly-enacted]…RISAA…’s primary purpose is to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act…But the bill also… “vastly expands the U.S. government’s warrantless surveillance capabilities”…that provision means  that nearly any…entity with access to telecom or internet equipment could be forced to participate in the federal government’s digital spying regime.  The big target…is likely to be the owners and operators of data centers…but…”any company, vendor, or any of their employees who touch the physical infrastructure of the internet could now be…compelled to assist with FISA surveillance“…even someone like a custodian could be legally compelled to assist in the federal government’s spying efforts…gathering places like hotels and coffee shops have been specifically excluded from the law.  But…because…places where journalists work are not specifically exempted…”American newsrooms [could be]e bugged by the government.  And journalists won’t [honestly] be able to reassure [sources] that they’re not, because, for all they know, the building maintenance worker is an involuntary government spy”…

I Spy (#1376)

This is not Grady Judd’s domain in Florida, but it has the same love of using sleazy means to violate people’s civil rights using the typical excuses:

A…[surveilla]nce system that can identify aliases and collect years of personal data from hundreds of online sources is now being used by the Polk County [Iowa] Sheriff’s Department…ShadowDragon surveillance software is [one of many justified to the public by barfing out the words “]human trafficking[“, but in reality has mostly been used so far to spy on protests, pregnant women, gamers, black people and kinky people]…The…software can…map out online identities and associations or correlations among people using…social media, chat rooms and dating platforms…Operation Underground Railroad — a [disgraced Utah]-based [“rescue industry” corpor]ation — donated $4,000 to pay for Polk’s first-year of software expenses…

Cops and Robbers (#1379)

“Journalists” lionize a sexual predator who gets his jollies destroying lives:

…Olive Hugh…use[s fake] Facebook accounts…to [fantasy role-play as] girls between the ages of 12 to 16…[so he can entrap young men with trickery in order to get them charged as “]child predators[” by p]rosecutor[s who don’t care that they’re getting people convicted entirely on the evidence of online conversations]…Hugh finds a sense of [sexual satisfaction] with each successful [entrapment, especially since he has an audience in cops who]…monitor…the chats between [Hugh] and [his victims, not to mention his]…social media accounts have over 50 thousand followers…

You Were Warned (#1420)

Politicians no longer care about whether their new diktats are Constitutional:

…the House of Representatives [has] passed a measure that would require a change in [TikTok]’s ownership or ban it if that doesn’t happen…it’s essentially the same divestiture-or-ban bill…now tucked into…the insanely named 21st Century Peace through Strength Act…that deals with everything from fentanyl trafficking to Russian sanctions, Iranian petroleum, Hamas, and boatloads of foreign aid.  The…Act would ban TikTok unless it completely breaks ties with its Chinese parent-company, ByteDance, within 270 days…and could be used to justify a ban on all sorts of popular apps tied to China, Russia, Iran, or any other country that gets deemed a foreign adversary…The most obvious constitutional problem is the First Amendment…It may also amount to a[n unconstitutional] bill of attainder.—a law punishing a specific person or entity, without a trial…and…the forced sale violates the Fifth Amendment…[because on paper] the government cannot take your property without accusing and convicting you of a crime…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1424)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

…the California Assembly’s Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee voted last week to move forward a version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by [pro-censorship] activists…AB 3080 is backed by Exodus Cry…and [a host of other busybodies, bluenoses, pearl-clutchers, and other useful idiots]…

Torture Chamber (#1427)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

[Prisoners] in…Oklahoma…were locked in filthy shower stalls…for days on end.  In a lawsuit filed last week, the [prisoners seek reparations for such]…an obvious violation of their Eighth Amendment rights…[screws] at the Great Plains C[age Stack] locked [their victims]…in [the] stalls for extended periods, without access to basic amenities like adequate food and water.  Most were placed in 3-foot by 3-foot shower cells, though at least one was confined in an even smaller space.  Confinement periods listed in the suit ranged from 24 hours to four days…[some of] the…stalls [were] filled with human feces and [they were given no] bathroom…the only water they had access to was scalding hot shower water.  One prisoner…was repeatedly pepper sprayed during his [confinement] in the ad hoc [oubliette].  Another…was left without clothing, and had to borrow a shirt…[which] he later used to attempt suicide [in order to escape unending torture inflicted solely]…because guards knew that he was a sex offender…a…state…investigation…found that several different Oklahoma facilities regularly locked [prisoners] in shower stalls…

 

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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Rapists of the Week #9

Posted in Current Events, Rapists of the Week, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

To Molest and Rape

The sleazy “confidential informant” system enables corruption and abuse:

A [Texas woman has filed a] federal lawsuit…against a [typical and representative cop named] Terry Fountain [describes how he used outstanding]…warrants and charges [against her to demand she submit to repeated rape and other abuses, starting in late 2017, under the guise of using her as a stool pigeon]…in addition to the [serial rape], Fountain demanded that she move…in order to be closer to him [so as to facilitate more frequent rape.  He also demanded]…sexually explicit images…[and] phone…sex…[and demanded she] buy drugs for him…he also coerced other acquaintances of hers into [submitting to rape]…by January 2023…[she finally] realized that Fountain had no intention of helping her and that…the warrants he [used against] her about were no longer active…

The Cop Myth (#1295)

Cop fails upward into a career in politics:

[Politician] Jon Stone’s New Hampshire [cop] career ended when he threatened to kill fellow [cops] in a shooting spree, and murder his chief after raping the chief’s wife and children, all while he was already under scrutiny for his inappropriate relationship with a teen girl…Stone [has managed to get himself]…elected [twice by]…fighting to keep [internal] reports secret for years.  Last month, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that Stone could not block their release in response to [a] reporter’s 2020 right-to-know request, ending years of legal challenges…The documents portray Stone in 2006 as an out-of-control and unstable man who…had a reputation for being aggressive on the job and had already been disciplined for assaulting a mentally disabled man during an arrest…But the investigation into his inappropriate relationship with a…High School girl, started when she was 15, brought out a violent and deranged side of Stone that [caused fellow cop Jesse Vezina]…to [say,] “If he gets fired, people are afraid he will go postal…people think he is crazy and wonder why he is a police officer”…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1301)

They really can’t stop themselves:

A [typical and representative Florida cop] who was arrested and fired in 2022 for [interacting with another cop fantasy role-playing as a 14-year-old girl], is now facing charges in a second, new case…Jarrod Eldridge [appears to have fallen for another cop fantasy role-playing as a teenager online]…on Feb. 15…

No Escape

They often try to make it sound like the prisoners consented:

A [typical and representative North Dakota screw named] Anthony Aadland…faces felony charges for…sexually assaulting two female [prisoner]s…including [rape]s in areas without cameras such as the attorney’s room…

Creepy Coppers (#1410)

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A [typical and representative Michigan cop] is now facing felony charges for…videotaping [his stepdaughter* naked]…Joseph Fornier…[used hidden spy cameras] for…years…[but] was fired [for] refusing to comply with an internal investigation…[rather than for the voyeurism, which was reported to cops by] his wife [when she] filed a personal protection order against him in February…

*I’m guessing about the identity of his victim, because the story absurdly refers to her only as “a family member”, but his wife reacted by leaving him.  The vague “in a sexual way” appears to mean “nude”.

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #8)

Well, this is different:

A [sow named Selena Perez, who was assigned to spy on, harass, and intimidate students] at a California middle school was arrested for [molesting a female] minor…under 14 years old…

 

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 (#1425)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

No one should fear a knock at the door from police simply because of what the YouTube algorithm serves up.  –  Albert Fox-Cahn

Not So Different

Politicians can’t resist using popular web services to expand surveillance:

A bill recently introduced in Colorado  aims to make dating apps such as Hinge and Bumble [worse] for users [under the pretext of “safety”].  The first section…would force all dating services with any users in Colorado to submit an annual report to Colorado’s attorney general about misconduct reports from users in the state or about users in the state…[or] the entire United States.  These reports would all become public…Scorned lovers, racists, incels, and others with hostile motives could file false reports and harm people’s job and dating prospects in the future.  And a report on a government website looks a lot more legitimate than someone mad on social media.  These reports might even lead to [cops harass]ing innocent users…

Permanent Record (#1275)

Teachers are supposed to be robots who have no lives outside of school:

Domonique Brown was a history teacher…in the Detroit area, but in her off hours…worked as an aspiring rapper named Drippin Honey…she was [fired] from her job…[because one single] parent complained that she was a “bad influence” on her students because she’s a rapper, despite being voted teacher of the month in December…the parent [was allowed to] remain…anonymous [after the drive-by character assassination,] and didn’t [even bother to] go into detail about what they found objectionable about her rapping…Brown said she plans to take legal action against the school…

Stalkers in Blue (#1313)

Even seemingly-consensual sex with a cop may actually be something else:

A [typical and representative FBI] agent…has been arrested for…secretly filming women [he had] sex [with] at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with [cops] estimating there could be more than 80 victims.  Mark Allen Wells…stored the pornographic images and videos on his computer in neatly organized files.  Morgan Ballou, who dated Wells off and on between 2016 and 2022 said that he had shown her the library of nudes, at which point she contacted one of the women whose name showed up, his now ex-fiancé Savanna Smith…The pair went to the police [last] May…and…over the following months, more victims were identified.  His ex-wife came forward [to report] that he had secretly recorded her via a hidden camera on the bookshelf in one of their bedrooms.  It was also revealed that Wells…sent sexually explicit images of them to at least eight people…

Schadenfreude (#1376)

“Nonprofit” merely refers to the organization; those who run it often make plenty of profit:

…Candace Lierd is the founder and former CEO of a [Utah-based “rescue industry organization named]…Exitus…[who embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars] donated to the organization…she made false claims that she was a nurse or physician, [that she] had a position with the United Nations[,] and [that she had] founded several multimillion-dollar companies…Lierd has a stack of 42 charges filed against her…[most of which are] fraud[-related]…felonies…Exitus…did not renew its business license after it expired in 2022, but continued to seek donations on Facebook and Instagram….[with fantasies about fictional] orphan rescues in Europe…Exitus raised over $1,697,000 through [lies and fabric]ations…the[n used the] money…to buy a…new home[, a car for her son, and other things, but]…much of the money is still unaccounted for.

Micromanagement (#1381)

A “Tornado of Bad Ideas”:

In keeping with law enforcement’s grand tradition of taking antiquated, invasive, and oppressive technologies, making them digital, and then calling it innovation, police in the U.S. recently combined two existing dystopian technologies in a brand new way to violate civil liberties. A police force in California recently employed the new practice of taking a DNA sample from a crime scene, running this through a service provided by US company Parabon NanoLabs that guesses what the perpetrators face looked like, and plugging this rendered image into face recognition software to build a suspect list…scientists have affirmed that predicting face shapes—particularly from DNA samples—is not possible.  But this has not stopped…police [from] using DNA to create a hypothetical and not at all accurate face, then using that face as a clue on which to base investigations…Not only is this full dice-roll policing, it also threatens the rights, freedom, or even the life of whoever is unlucky enough to look a little bit like that artificial face…

I Spy (#1385)

Curiosity offends the state, comrade:

Federal [spooks] have ordered Google to provide information on all viewers of select YouTube videos…the orders are unconstitutional because they threaten to turn innocent YouTube viewers into criminal suspects…Kentucky…cops sought to identify the individual behind the online moniker “elonmuskwhm”, who they suspect of selling bitcoin for cash, potentially [ope]ning [him up to persecution under] money laundering laws…In conversations with the user in early January [2023, spooks] sent links of YouTube tutorials for mapping via drones and augmented reality software, then [demand]ed Google [dox everyone] who…viewed the videos [that week by exposing]…the names, addresses, telephone numbers and user activity for all Google account users who accessed the…videos…and…the IP addresses of non-Google account owners who viewed the[m]…court records do not show whether or not Google [licked the boot that time]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #8)

Once a cop, always a cop:

[A retired] Utah [cop]…Sheriff’s Office administrator…[and] mental health counselor…[named] Mitchell McKee [has been] arrested…[for molesting] a teen[age boy].  The teen…told police he was abused by an adult man in exchange for vape pens…he is [considered dangerous because he is] a retired [cop who]…knows where…[his] victim 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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Links #714

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

We were told to hand the kids a couple of jelly beans and a quarter cup of lemonade at the end.  –  Paul Connell

To honor the passing of Steve Lawrence, here’s a number in which he and his wife & lifelong singing partner Eydie Gormé join Steve Allen, Ann Sothern, and two very big guest stars in a number on Allen’s show, where Lawrence & Gorme were regulars.  The links above the video were provided by Dan Savage, Amy Alkon, Radley Balko, The Onion, IncarcerNation (x2), and Mike Siegel, 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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In the News (#1417)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 2, 2024| 2 Comments »

This…is a very good example of panic legislation.  –  Mary deYoung

Winding Down (#1106)

Until the concept of prohibition itself is challenged, these measures are just crumbs thrown to the peasants from their masters’ tables:

Germany’s parliament is expected to…make [it] the third country in Europe to legalise the drug for personal use…Adults would be allowed to possess 50g at one time at home, and 25g in public…[prohibitionists burbled the usual pro-police-violence nonsense, including dishonest] doctors…[who vomited lies about] the risk of addiction [even though cannabis is not addictive]…

Eavesdropping (#1167)

Shotspotter is a boondoggle designed to manufacture false evidence for cops:

ShotSpotter…places its microphone sensors primarily in low-income communities of color…the exact locations…have been kept secret from both its [cop shop] clients and the public at large…[but] a leaked document…details the…precise locations and uptime of 25,580 ShotSpotter microphones.  The…surveillance devices…[are] at more than a thousand elementary and high schools…atop dozens of billboards, scores of hospitals, and…more than a hundred public housing complexes…More than 12 million Americans live in neighborhoods with at least one…microphone, [and] sensors can be found in 84 metropolitan areas and 34 states or territories in the United States.  Nine cities have more than 500 sensors installed, including Albuquerque, New Mexico; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, DC; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Las Vegas, Nevada…in aggregate, nearly 70 percent of people who live in a [surveilled] neighborhood…[are] either Black or Latin…

The Implosion Begins (#1265)

The hysteria is imploding so hard, it’s falling all the way back to its roots:

Utah [poluticians] are moving forward with a bill that would criminalize so-called ritualistic child sexual abuse [despite the complete lack of evidence that such a thing exists or has ever existed.  A recent]…hearing…[was packed with mentally ill] adult…[fantasists who have been enabled and encouraged to dwell in their delusions for decades]…Utah’s role in the 1980s [Satanic] panic was significant.  Many of the first well-known cases of alleged ritual abuse originated in the state, as did the movement’s central figures, including therapists who used hypnosis and manipulative interview techniques to [create false] memories [in] alleged child victims…Local media promoted the claims…

The Vultures Descend (#1323)

Alabama has at long last got the “fetal personhood” it claimed to want; let’s see how they like it:

The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system is pausing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that [absurdly declared] frozen embryos are children…reproductive rights advocates and medical experts have been warning…for days…that the high court’s decision could have devastating consequences for Alabamians seeking infertility treatments…and…could soon have profound impacts far beyond the state’s borders…[the unscientific declaration] will likely not only make the already high costs of infertility treatments substantially higher, but will likely also discourage many providers from offering them at all in the state in fear of being held liable for wrongful death…

And if that worries you, how about this?

Most House Republicans have cosponsored a bill declaring that life begins from the moment of conception…[almost immediatel]y after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are “unborn children”…the “Life at Conception Act“…states that the term “human being” includes “all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization”…[and] does not include any exception for in vitro fertilization…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1327)

Maybe this will teach fools what a danger biometric identification actually is:

…it’s becoming clear that biometric screens are just as easy to bypass as…other…security…[as demonstrated by a new] banking trojan that steals people’s faces.  Un[wary] users are tricked into giving up personal IDs and phone numbers and…prompted to perform face scans.  These images are then swapped out with AI-generated deepfakes that can easily bypass security checkpoints.  The method — developed by a Chinese…hacking family — is believed to have been used in Vietnam [last] month, when attackers…[used it to] withdr[aw] the equivalent of $40,000 from [a victim’s] bank account…This discovery reveals the alarming, growing threat that biometrics pose…Face swap deepfake attacks increased by 704% between the first and second halves of 2023…The[re was]…also…a 672% increase in the use of deepfake media being used alongside spoofing tools and a 353% increase in the use of emulators (which mimic user devices) and spoofing to launch digital injection attacks…

Remember this the next time some ninny tells you that cartoon porn is the worst possible use for deepfakes.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1405)

Nebraska’s float in the “monkey see, monkey do” parade is notable for its open infantilization of women:

…Nebraska [politicians are considering] a bill t[o use] young people…[as a pretext] to [spy on adults’ viewing of] online porn by [“age verification” of people too ignorant to use a VPN]…Dave Murman…[admits] his goal is to pr[etend]…women a[re equivalent to] children…[and also that] he [wants to join the “monkey see, monkey do” parade because] Utah,  Louisiana, and Arkansas [did]…

Served Cold (#1406)

This just keeps getting better:

A [Colombian] woman is suing for defamation and emotional distress because of the way she was portrayed in the [propaganda] film Sound of Freedom, marking a fifth lawsuit filed against Tim Ballard and [his rescue industry outfit], Operation Underground Railroad…Kely Johana Suarez Moya…“was tragically condemned by the Defendants to the entire world as being a child trafficker without any due process or due diligence by the Defendants,” the lawsuit reads.  Other defendants…include…[the] movie [itself]…the distributor…and…writers…Katherine Ballard, [and]…Janet Russon, a former OUR employee and Tim Ballard’s psychic…Ballard and OUR lied to the public about a “sting operation” in Colombia…where operatives “rescued” children at a “pedophile party” on the Colombian Island of Baru in 2014…In reality…[they lured]…in impoverished…young adults with the promise of money…[and] “None of the young adults…were trafficked in any way (other than by Ballard)”…

 

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 (#1413)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 17, 2024| 1 Comment »

People might [not] be sick of book bannings, but are they sick of having their money wasted?  –  anonymous Texas teacher

The Red Umbrella 

As long as sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence:

Non-[Irish] sex workers were targeted by a recent scam where a person or people pretended to work for a major advertising website and asked them to provide personal information…[when] the workers did not realise it was a scam and replied to the messages…a number of them were…threatened with physical or sexual violence.  Linda Kavanagh…[of] SWAI…said non-national sex workers were deliberately targeted…She said m[ost] workers don’t report threats, or actual assaults, to gardaí because they…[reasonably] fear they’re going to be blamed for the work that they do…

Panopticon (#1277)

Cops use their panopticon exactly as EFF predicted they would:

In 2022, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that would allow the city’s police…to access footage from private security cameras [as long as they could invent a credible-sounding excuse]…the SFPD [is required to] compile quarterly reports detailing how many times it [abused the privilege]…The report released in January shows that in the third quarter of 2023…[64 pigs] spent a collective 193 hours and 19 minutes [rooting through] live surveillance footage…Police made 49 arrests as a result of surveillance, of which 42 were for narcotics…[only] four were for “theft/larceny,” and one was for [contempt of cop]…all of the r[oot-f]ests [centered on] just five [neighborhoods, one of them the Tenderloin]…the longest [root]ing session was during the Outside Lands Music Festival in August in Golden Gate Park, when [pigs rooted through] 42 total hours of live footage…in [defense of this creepy spying, the]…District Attorney…b[elch]ed [out] the [word]…”fentanyl”…San Francisco is [also]…rolling out new traffic cameras, which are more effective at filling government coffers than preventing traffic fatalities…

The Last Shall Be First (#1351) 

The time, money, and energy Americans are flushing down the “culture war” toilet is incalculable:

[Murfreesboro] Tennessee…must pay $500,000 as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over an ordinance designed to ban drag performances…Last year, the Tennessee Equality Project…filed a federal lawsuit after leaders announced they would no longer be approving any event permit requests submitted by the organization…[due to what politicians absurdly labeled] “illegal sexualization of kids”…the city not only vowed to deny TEP permits but also decided later to update its “community decency standards”…to [include merely being gay as]…“obscene or harmful to minors”…Under the [settl]ement, the city…[mus]t also…repeal the ordinance and process any upcoming event permit applications submitted by TEP…

Thought Control (#1376)

Texas’ ice-pick self-lobotomization is becoming increasingly spasmodic:

In November…Conroe…Texas public school [board members]…decided…to g[ive themselves]…final say of what [books are] in libraries and classrooms….[since then] books are being removed to meet the preferences of individual board members, parents or other individuals through “internal review”…one teacher says…thousands of books from…classroom collections [were seized by] the district.  At the teacher’s school alone, over 550 books, equivalent to more than $7,300 were packed and moved out of…[class]rooms…over 30 library titles have been banned…[and] another ten books [are likely to follow]…later this month.  Within the past two school years, at least 125 of all the titles banned from the district libraries came from internal reviews…112 books have been prohibited from being on classroom shelves…last week, [one self-appointed censor demanded the removal of]…Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, Geography Club by Brent Hartinger, Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok, American Girls by Alison Umminger and Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson…When [a] teacher asked what administrators…planned to do with the [seized] titles, [she]…was told…the books would await “disposal”…

Thought Control (#1389)

Too bad all authoritarian organizations aren’t so short-lived:

…Moms for Liberty experienced a meteoric rise at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as local chapters sprang up to push back against coronavirus restrictions in schools.  The organization soon expanded to pushing book bans and o[ther censorship]…But…the local chapter in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, [has] shut down due to lack of interest…[and] participation also appears to be flagging for…the…organization’s first chapter…in…Brevard County [Florida; at a]…school board…meeting…to discuss a[n attempt to censor]…The Kite Runner and Slaughterhouse-Five…only one Moms for Liberty member showed up…and eventually snuck out of the room [when speakers compared the pro-censorship cult to the Taliban]…The national…organization…has started to see its [15 minutes ending]…as the group was rocked by a sexual assault scandal…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1409)

Censorious politicians are vying to see who can make their new laws the most unconstitutional:

The U.S. Congress’ top anti-porn crusader, Utah Senator Mike Lee, [has] introduced a bill last week that would effectively outlaw all sex work…by classifying any consent influenced by a person’s economic circumstances as coercive…“This is, of course, the dream of the faith based ‘anti-trafficking’ folks — and SWERFs — who believe that no true consent can exist for sex work when money is involved,” [the Free Speech Coalition’s Mike] Stabile added. “It would essentially codify their white slavery panic into law”…

This warped attempt to infantilize women has been part of evangelical feminist dogma for some time, despite its self-evident absurdity.

The Last Shall Be First (#1410)

How defective does an adult need to be to think doing this to a teenager is OK?

A Utah school board member caused a social media firestorm when she publicly singled out and suggested a high school athlete was transgender with no evidence.  She later [uselessly] apologized…[long after her flying monkeys had] personally attacked the player, the student’s school district had to provide extra security for her, and the [politician] who wrote the state’s anti-transgender athlete bill [vomited out her own stupid opinion]…in violation of her own [law].  The post from Natalie Cline…set…off 16 hours of hateful speculation that continued even after she deleted it…

 

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 (#1411)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Cops face little recourse, even when…cases…were based on little more than writing some sort of Asian sex-slave fanfic.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

The Course of a Disease (#909)

Prohibitionist scum know decriminalization is the only moral framework for sex work; that’s why they keep trying to trick people into thinking the Swedish model is decrim:

[Massachusetts politicians, one of them ironically from] Salem, are p[ushing]…a bill t[o infantilize sex workers and attempt to starve them into submission by persecuting clients]…The bill was created with support from…a Boston-based [prohibitionist] organization that [exploits marginalized]…sex [workers.  Meanwhile, a crony of those same politicians]…has…filed a bill…that would require…hotel workers in the state [to be indoctrinated in the asinine “]signs of sex trafficking[” which encourage businesses to harass unescorted women and engage in racial profiling]…

Blunt Instrument (#1064)

Everyone harmed by these evil “stings” and raids needs to keep suing the agencies which conduct them:

A Utah man is suing after being [falsely] implicated in a[n imaginary] human trafficking ring for driving his wife to and from her job at Asian massage businesses…Police raided the places in early 2021 and arrested Joseph Ferreri, his wife Juying Wang, and several other women associated with the businesses where Wang worked.  A police document justifying Ferreri’s arrest relies heavily on generalizations about Asian massage businesses and race-based stereotypes.  It’s also peppered with misrepresentations—like describing Wang as a “girl” even though she’s in her 50s and two years older than Ferreri…[cop] Shawn Lott…”embellished, omitted, and made up facts to paint Joe Ferreri as an international sex trafficker…the sole basis for targeting Joe was the race/ethnicity of his wife and her occupation”…all charges…were eventually dropped. But by then…his name and picture were published in news outlets that described him as part of a human trafficking ring.  He and his wife were temporarily barred from seeing each other.  He lost his job, and with it any chance of a pension he was more than halfway to qualifying for.   The only work Ferreri could find following the arrest was a temp gig in a coal mine…

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1097) 

It’s never called “trafficking” when the government and crony corporations do it:

…Intricate, invisible webs…link some of the world’s largest food companies and most popular brands to jobs performed by U.S. prisoners nationwide…If they refuse to work, some can jeopardize their chances of parole or face punishment like being sent to solitary confinement.  They also are often excluded from protections guaranteed to almost all other full-time workers, even when they are seriously injured or killed on the job.  The goods these prisoners produce wind up in the supply chains of a dizzying array of products…from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour, Coca-Cola and Riceland rice.  They are on the shelves of virtually every supermarket in the country, including Kroger, Target, Aldi and Whole Foods.  And some goods are exported, including to countries that have had products blocked from entering the U.S. for using forced or prison labor.  Many of the companies buying directly from prisons are violating their own policies against the use of such labor.  But it’s…enshrined in the Constitution by the 13th Amendment, [which states that] slavery and involuntary servitude are banned – except as punishment for a crime.  That clause is currently being challenged on the federal level, and efforts to remove similar language from state constitutions are expected to reach the ballot in about a dozen states this year…

Eternal Vigilance (#1264)

Why is it so difficult for amateurs to grasp the difference between a renter offering sex as payment and a landlord demanding it?

Randy Hames, owner of…an…[Alabama] RV Park…was arrested in 2018…[and] charged with…human trafficking, soliciting prostitution, and attempted sexual extortion…Hames had been [previously] arrested twice on similar charges…after at least 10 female tenants reported Hames making unwanted advances in exchange for lowered rent…A federal trial [is now underway as] prosecutors…allege…Hames violated the Fair Housing Act by creating a hostile home environment for his tenants…he…also…evicted a few…after they refused his advances…

The Last Shall Be First (#1403) 

It’s never really about “protecting children”:

Several [politicians] from Michigan and Ohio were recorded in an online forum planning to try to ban trans health care for everyone, regardless of age…“In terms of endgame, why are we allowing these practices for anyone?” said [Michigan politician Josh] Schriver…“I think…we have to take sometimes small bites,” said [Ohio politician Gary] Click, who then lauded restrictions [recently] placed on…adult clinics by Ohio’s [governor]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1408)

This tells you everything you need to know about politicians’ motivations:

Rather than defend a clearly unconstitutional measure passed to “protect” kids from social media, the government of Utah [claims it] intends to repeal the law…[which] kicked off a [“monkey see, monkey do” parade] of similar measures…Now that it faces a pair of challenges in federal court, the state has a new stance: “Psych! We didn’t actually mean it!”…“They know it’s unconstitutional.  They know it’s pure grandstanding and culture warrioring,” writes Techdirt editor Mike Masnick. “And they don’t want to face the music for abusing the rights of the citizens who elected them to support the Constitution, not undermine it”…

Creepy Coppers (#1410)

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

[NYPD cop] Angad Beharry…[has been] arrested…[for paying a Venezuelan woman living in Indiana] to take sexually explicit photographs and videos of [her nine-year-old girl], and to transmit them over the Internet to [him]…Beharry…possessed [numerous other] sexually explicit video[s] and images of…prepubescent minors…[he was caught because he also paid a woman in] Colombia…[to take similar pictures of her] one-year-old [daughter, and when she was caught she snitched on him to the cops]…and…also [snitched on her “]friend[” from] Venezuela…

 

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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