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In the News (#1549)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It is shameful that they are using…this technology…to target…people who are…just going to work.  –  Ruth Beltran

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A…[British politician named] Patrick Spencer…[sexually] assault[ed]…two women…before he was elected…on 12 August 2023 at the Groucho Club [in London]…the [drunk politician repeatedly harassed]…the f[irst victim until she]…walked away…then…[sneaked up on her from behind] and [groped her]…the second…[woman was caught completely by surprise w]hen [this weirdo suddenly came up]…behind her and [started groping her tits]…the[y both]…complain[ed]…to the…club, [who in turn] reported [the lecherous politician] to the police[, who didn’t bother to do anything about it until]…earlier this year…

Creepy Coppers

Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:

[A New Jersey cop named] Anthony Kelly…has pled guilty to…distribution of child [porn after]…NCMEC…[reported him to the] prosecutor’s office…[Kelly was] distributi[ng the porn] from a Kik account…between July…and October 2024…He was…charged on November 26…[and agreed to a plea bargain sentence of] seven years in…prison…[with] parole…[and condemnation to the “sex offender” registry] for life…

A Broker in Pillage (#1463)

South Carolina is one of the most flagrant abusers of this unconstitutional practice:

For the first time in nearly 20 years, [people] can travel without fear of [“]Operation Rolling Thunder[”], an annual [scheme to rob motorists] along Interstate 85.  [Typical and representative] Sheriff Chuck Wright initiated the multiday cr[iminal conspiracies] in 2006 and expanded them over the years to involve 11 [cop shops].  But…Wright resigned on May 23…[due to] a federal criminal investigation, and interim Sheriff Jeffery Stephens announced during his first news conference that the [racket] will not continue…Operation Rolling Thunder was an unconstitutional search-and-seizure machine that subjected thousands of innocent people to pretextual, warrantless searches…[in which predatory cops] routinely pulled over vehicles on the flimsiest of excuses and then [rooted through the cars]…and [luggage without warrants or probable cause in order to steal whatever they found.  In one especially-egregious case, cops waylaid]…a charter bus from Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and treated every student on board like a criminal…the Institute for Justice…sued for access to…records from 2022, the year of the Shaw incident…[and] found that over 72 percent of vehicle searches produced nothing illegal.  [The cops] cashed in anyway…and…nobody knows exactly where the money goes…due to weak accounting and reporting laws…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1515)

Cops won’t drop this fantasy until “news” media stop obediently parroting it:

A [hysterical Ohio cop named Brayden Moon] was revived with [the placebo effect] after [having a panic attack] from s[eeing what he assumed was] fentanyl [while trying to destroy citizens’ lives with drug charges] during a [pretextual] traffic stop…[excused by getting permission] from a [dog, which naturally suffered no symptoms because]…fentanyl [has no effect]…due to [casual contact, regardless of moronic copaganda about “]exposure[“.  Whiny-baby] Moon collapsed…after [hearing too many porcine tall-tales about magical]…overdose…[a small herd of pigs wast]ed several doses of Narcan, successfully [convincing the little pansy that he had been “rescued”, like mommy kissing a boo-boo to make it all better].  Moon[‘s victims will not escape harm so easily, and the Boss Hog strutted around oinking nonsense about]…“experience and training”…

I Spy (#1535)

Are there really people so naive they actually believe speed traps are about “safety”?

…Washington State P[igs have] a new tool to help [them cash in on] speeding drivers, and your cellphone may have [been conscripted to] help…[them without your consent].  Cellphone data from more than 1 million cellphone users in Washington in 2023 helped the state identify where to look for…drivers [they can profit from via speeding tickets]…the co[p shop] used [your tax money] to purchase telematic data gathered by Michelin…to show when and where [the speed limits were too low for the conditions, so] drivers were [routinely exceeding those arbitrary limits]…Over the next six weeks…Washington State Patrol will be looking [to cash in by lurking] in four locations where [the] speed…[limit is arbitrarily low]: Interstate 5 from Joint Base Lewis-McChord to Fife, from Fife to Auburn on I-5, north and south of Everett on I-5, and a 14-mile stretch of Interstate 90 east and west of downtown Spokane…

Panopticon (#1543)

Don’t think this will only be used to persecute the “other”; we’re well past that:

Florida [pigs rooted] in…a vast…surveillance network…of…license plates scanned by cameras controlled by the [fascist] surveillance company Flock Safety — to aid in immigration [pogrom]s…between March 13 and May 5, [Florida pigs rooted in the database] more than 250 [times, especially]…in the week before and during Operation Tidal Wave, a high-profile [pogrom labeled with one of the sophomoric and self-aggrandizing “operation” titles cops in general and Florida cops in particular love so much]…More than 100 [cop shops and pig herds] in Florida use Flock, [whose system was built despite years of warnings] …from civil rights advocates…[cop shops] across the country conducted these types of searches “either at the behest of the federal government or as an ‘informal’ favor to federal [spooks and goons]”…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1547)

France’s lust to spy on citizens and censor the internet hits an obstacle:

On 16 June, the Administrative Court of Paris suspended the French government’s age verification requirement on EU-based porn companies…[because it is il]legal under EU law…French [censors have]…launch[ed] an appeal…The crux of the issue…is th[at France tried] to bypass the EU’s country-of-origin principle…[which] means a country cannot regulate a company that’s based in another EU state unless a formal objection process…is followed…Xhamster…[and] Aylo…[are] based in Cyprus…This is not the first time France’s [control-freakishness has] clashed with EU law…

 

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 (#1548)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

What does a human slowly going insane look like to a corporation?  It looks like an additional monthly user.  –  Eliezer Yudkowsky

You Were Warned (#1345)

Politicians will never stop until the open internet is destroyed:

[Politicians have] re-introduced [a bill which intentionally] threatens security and free speech on the internet…the STOP CSAM Act of 2025…would undermine services offering end-to-end encryption and force internet companies to take down lawful user content…[using the perennial excuse of stopping] child pornography…[which] is already highly illegal…The bill applies to “interactive computer services,” which broadly includes private messaging and email apps, social media platforms, cloud storage providers, and many other…service providers…[and] opens the door for civil lawsuits against providers for…employ[ing] end-to-end encryption…on…the [spurious grounds that]…merely providing an encrypted service that can be used to store any image—not necessarily CSAM—recklessly facilitates the sharing of illegal content…Not every platform will have the resources to fight these threats in court, especially…[since] the bill…creat[es another] exception to Section 230…Without that protection, platforms are much more likely to aggressively monitor and censor users…

Buried Truth (ROTW #3)

Another textbook example of McNeill’s Law, courtesy of “Moms for Liberty”:

…South Carolina [politician] RJ May [was honored by the pro-censorship cult “Moms for Liberty”] as their 2023 Legislator of the Year and had him speak at their 2022 event on “[Subvert]ing Education in America”…[so predictably, he has now been] arrested…[fo]r nearly a dozen federal charges [of] distributing child [porn]…May…used the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts on the Kik social media network during spring 2024…Prosecutors…say that May “has a sexual interest in children the same age as his own children” and…“a sexual interest in incest” between young children and their parents…[but] also…found videos on his laptop of him having sex with three underage…sex work[ers]…May…was the co-chair of the state’s [Orwellian-named pro-censorship “]Freedom Caucus[“] until they kicked him out over the kiddie porn charges…

Mad Libs

Unbalanced minds use external tools like Ouija boards or programs to amplify existing beliefs:

In recent months…[many] people…claim to have unlocked hidden knowledge with the help of [Cat, I farted]…persuad[ing themselves that the program] had revealed a profound and world-altering truth…Eliezer Yudkowsky, a decision theorist…[explains that] OpenAI might have primed [the program] to entertain the delusions of users by optimizing its chatbot for “engagement”…[these] chatbots are “giant masses of inscrutable numbers”…and the companies making them don’t know exactly why they behave the way that they do…Reports of chatbots going off the rails seem to have increased since April, when OpenAI briefly released a version of [Cat, I farted] that was overly sycophantic…a spokeswoman for OpenAI said…“We’re working to understand and reduce ways ChatGPT might unintentionally reinforce or amplify existing, negative behavior”…[some victims] later…realize that the seemingly authoritative system was a word-association machine that had pulled them into a quicksand of delusional thinking.  [But] not everyone comes to that realization, and in some cases the consequences have been tragic…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (ROTW #17)

It’s too bad cops don’t spend all of their time fantasy role-playing with each other:

A [Texas cop named]…Gabriel Slusher was [arrested for talk]ing to [another cop fantasy role-playing as] an 8-year-old girl online.  Slusher was charged with a[sking the other cop] to…[send nude pictures of the imaginary] child…he remains in the Montgomery County Jail…suspended without pay…

Welcome to the Future (#1540)

Anyone who trusts Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

[The Facebook chatbot]’s public stream is perhaps the most depressing feed I’ve come across in a long time.  It’s full of people sharing intimate information about themselves — things like thoughts on grief, or child custody, or financial distress.  And it seems like some people aren’t aware that what they’re sharing will end up on a public feed…some…might have clicked the wrong button and didn’t realize what they were doing…conversations with [the chatbot] aren’t public by default…so, maybe some of those people wanted the world to read their…chats [with a machine].  And others, maybe not…If a person uses the voice chat function, you can actually listen to recordings of their conversation if they’re shared…

“Whatever you chat about with the computer, just picture Zuckerberg watching.”  And every other denizen of Facebook, too.

Thought Control (#1541)

No parody of puritanism could be as absurd as the current reality in Florida:

In a chilling meeting of the Florida State Board of Education…a school district superintendent was publicly browbeaten and repeatedly threatened with criminal prosecution [because]…he…had not unilaterally and permanently removed a list of 55 books from school libraries…[using the ludicrous excuse of] “parents’ rights” [despite the fact that] no Hillsborough County parent had objected to the books at issue.  Rather, the State Board had summarily declared that the…books were “pornography”, even though none of the books met the legal definition of pornographic material…[and] many…are award-winning literature that have been read by students for years…Board [members were angry]…that…[Superintendent Van] Ayres i[mplied that]…librarians…[knew their jobs better than politicians.  The gang of psychopaths responded by vomiting abuse at Ayres, calling him and the librarians “]illiterate[“]…”child abusers”…and…”garbage”…and [demanded all the] librarians…be “terminated immediately”…[also threatening them with] criminal prosecution…

Though Hillsborough County educational officials oppose tyranny, unfortunately the same cannot be said for its sheriff and cops.

I Spy (#1543)

Civil liberties violations only start with those politicians have chosen to demonize:

[The] Trump…[regime has] provided deportation [thug]s with personal data — including the immigration status — on millions of Medicaid enrollees…[in order] to [facilitate mass deportations]…Medicaid officials unsuccessfully sought to block the data transfer, citing legal and ethical concerns…[but henchmen of Minister of Pestilence] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the dataset handed over to the Department of Homeland Security…and…were given just 54 minutes on [June 10th] to comply…The dataset includes the information of people living in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington, D.C., all of which allow non-U.S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars.  CMS transferred the information just as the [regime] was ramping up its [pogrom]s in Southern California…

 

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 (#1546)

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

Anybody who thinks LLMs are a direct route to…AGI that could fundamentally transform society…is kidding themselves.  –  Gary Marcus

A Broker in Pillage (#1438)

It’s rare these days to see a judge side with justice against power:

Years after a SWAT team in Texas destroyed an innocent woman’s home while [pla]ying [war with] a fugitive, the local government [has been ordered] to pay her $60,000 in damages plus interest…the end…[of] a legal odyssey that saw Vicki Baker…left with…the bill for…damages…[after pigs maliciously] detonated about 30 tear gas grenades inside Baker’s home, blew off the garage entryway with explosives, and careened a BearCat armored vehicle through her backyard fence.  They smashed the windows and drove through her front door…[despite already having been] given…a garage door opener and the code to enter the home…[these theatrics] were [also performed despite the fact that kidnapper] Wesley Little…had…[already] released the [victim] unharmed [and committed]…suicide…

Civil rights advocates often joke that the Third Amendment is the only one that hasn’t been undermined, but I fail to see any important difference between the government forcibly taking people’s homes to quarter troops and forcibly taking them to enable cops and robbers games.

Panopticon (#1445)

Other California cops are learning from drone-happy Chula Vista:

Sacramento County is eyeing a new approach to track and [spy on homeless] people…The county’s probation department [pretends] it [“]needs[“]…drones to [harass] homeless people who are on probation…The drones…will be [equipped with speakers] to [allow cops to oink at] homeless people…[without] exposing themselves to potential risk…and [thereby plan a strategy]…to move in [for pogroms.  Another]….goal is to [expedite] issuing warrants when a homeless person does not show up for their probation check-ins…The Sacramento Homeless Union [obvious]ly opposes the plan…Crystal Sanchez, the union’s president, [said this]…”is just the latest escalation in a disturbing trend – treating people in crisis as if they are criminals to be surveilled…Instead of investing in real housing solutions, the county is doubling down on tactics that traumatize, intimidate and further destabilize those who are already vulnerable”…

Mad Libs

As I keep saying: these algorithms are not “intelligent” in any way:

Apple researchers have found “fundamental limitations” in cutting-edge [“]artificial intelligence[“] models, in a paper…[demonstrating] that large reasoning models…faced a “complete accuracy collapse” when presented with…complex problems…[LLMs] outperformed LRMs in low-complexity tasks, while both types of model suffered “complete collapse” with high-complexity tasks…Gary Marcus, a US academic who has [not drunk the “]AI[” Kool-Aid], described the Apple paper as “pretty devastating”…The paper also found that reasoning models wasted computing power by [attempting to brute-force]…solutions and…for higher-complexity problems…fail[ed] to generate any correct solutions…even when provided with an algorithm that would solve the problem…The paper concluded that the current approach to AI may have reached limitations [just as critics like Maggie McNeill have predicted for decades]…

To clarify that last editorial insertion: I’ve been saying since the early ’90s that digital computers, by reducing everything to binary, are fundamentally unable to think as we understand the concept, regardless of how big or fast they are or how complex the software, because intelligence requires grasping the concept “maybe”, which is excluded by binary data processing.

I Spy (#1511)

The Supine Court allows Musk to steal sensitive personal information on every American to feed his surveillance machine:

The Supreme Court [has] allowed members of [Elon Musk’s so-called] Department of Government Efficiency to access [confidential] Social Security Administration data [in violation of the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act]…the Trump [regime had asked] the justices to lift an injunction issued by a federal judge in Maryland…in [response to a] lawsuit challenging [“]DOGE[“] actions…filed by…the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees…the American Federation of Teachers…[and] the Alliance for Retired Americans…the groups said…”This ruling will enable…Trump and [Musk’s minions] to steal Americans’ private and personal data”…In a separate order…the Supreme Court…allow[ed] the [regime] to…shield [“]DOGE[“] from freedom of information requests…

IOW, the “justices” say Musk and his stooges have the “right” to know everything about us, but we have no right to know anything about them.

Thought Control (#1537)

The only way to stop these maniacs is to hit them where it hurts most:

After five years of…being called a “smut peddler” and a “pedophile” by a woman from a [the pro-censorship cult “Moms for Liberty”], West Michigan librarian Christine Beachler…filed a civil lawsuit against the [harasser], Stefanie Boone…Michigan libraries and librarians [have] fac[ed aggressive] attacks from [“Moms for Liberty” and other wannabe censors who often hide their identities to avoid public ridicule, but]…librarian[s are public employees so it was easy] for…Boone [to] wage…a relentless “smear campaign” against…Beachler…Boone…has read excerpts from books out of context at school board meetings…posted floods of [lies] about her on Facebook saying she provides pornography to minors…called [her] a groomer…a pedophile…[an]d a whore…Boone [also] filed her own [frivolous] lawsuit against Beachler, as well as the school district and several school employees for what she says are violations of her…right…to…indoctrinat[e]…students…

Torture Chamber (#1537)

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

Immigrants [caged] in…[Leavenworth] prison in…Kansas and their attorneys reported an unsanitary, inequitable and unhealthy environment that has left people, even those who have won their immigration cases…[trapped in] crowded [cages with] extended lockdowns, de[nied]…medical treatment, restricted contact with their families, and no access to religious services [or sunlight].  In some cases, these conditions have led to suicide attempts…

The Cop Myth (#1545)

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

…a…[typical and representative Minnesota cop named]…Larry D. Alstead…sustained multiple gunshot injuries in [a shootout with fellow cops] but died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound…[the cops invaded his home after his wife] report[ed he had attacked her in a] domestic assault…and th[en] locked [himself] in the basement…

 

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 (#1544)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

If you can do it to them, you can do it to any of us. – Rabbi William Gershon

A Whore in Church

Matthew 21:31 seems pretty straightforward to me:

Professionally, I now openly represent myself as a Christian dominatrix who uses Christian rituals to heal the connection between sexuality and spirit.  My clients often come to me because I work specifically with the deconditioning of the religious wound that has caused harmful beliefs around their sexuality…Out of the shadow of shame, they are no longer “wicked” or “evil”― they are holy…Jesus…spen[t] time with and perform[ed] miracles for prostitutes…Jesus never cast anyone out, and he never denied anyone the miracles, signs and wonders that flowed through him; he wanted everyone to have a personal relationship with God, free from the constraints of organized religion.  So even though many Christians would view me as “sinful” and even undeserving of a relationship with God, I reject that view, because I know Jesus loves me and wants the best for my life…

Creepy Coppers

[An Illinois cop named Eli Barthel] has been arrested for child pornography offenses…after [he was caught in an] FBI [trap]…

Welcome to the Future (#1265)

New forms of intrusive surveillance are always justified as “safety”:

…[moral imbeciles] have come up with…an electronic tattoo, stuck to the forehead …[to spy on the moods of] pilots, healthcare workers and other professions where managing mental workload is crucial to preventing catastrophes…[by giving bosses] “some warning and alert so that they can [be relieved]…of [duty],” said Dr Nanshu Lu, an author of the research…[ignor]ing the [obvious fact that data from such a] device [would be compiled in]…workers[‘ files and used to judge their performance]…Lu and colleagues describe how using questionnaires to investigate mental workload is problematic, not least as people are poor at objectively judging [whether they should be demoted or fired]…the “e-tattoo” is a lightweight, flexible, wireless device [constantly]…attached to the forehead [during work hours to]…detect…brain activity…and…eye movements…[allowing human beings to be monitored by] a machine-learning algorithm [as though they were machines themselves]…

Click on the subtitle to see the “demoralizing, humiliating, and toxic” abuses already possible with existing employee-monitoring technology.

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1391)

This would be hilarious if it were their own money these idiots were throwing away:

The [US] Senate is considering a fentanyl exposure bill that would fund “containment devices”…TruBLOC LLC, a company that manufactures the type of…devices in question, sells 1.5-ounce canisters as a set of 12 for $359.40, or as a set of 48 for $1,437.60…TruBLOC [claims]…“Inhalation is the main route of exposure”…[which] would [not be entirely wrong] if the term were being used to refer to sniffing or snorting fentanyl, but in this context the term is describing passive inhalation — i.e. breathing air while standing somewhere in the vicinity of fentanyl…a…video [lies that]…“Small amounts of opioids can kill an officer”….then shows the gloved hands of a…paid actor awkwardly peeling the orange residue off the seat in a manner that strongly recalls attempting to peel off sour candy that’s melted.  The hands remain gloved, despite the fact that the threat that did not exist to begin with has been contained…


Virtual Imperialism (#1472)

As I’ve explained under this tag before, Beijing’s campaign to silence Chinese people outside China has become far more aggressive.  Rolling Stone published an excerpt from Those Who Should Be Seized Should Be Seized, a new book detailing Chinese surveillance, harassment, intimidation, and sometimes abduction or assassination of activists who flee China.  The excerpt tells the story of Serikzhan Bilash, an ethnic Kazakh human rights activist who was pursued by Chinese agents from Xinjiang to Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan, then to Istanbul, and eventually to Washington DC and New York, always trying to terrorize him into shutting up and dismantling his organization, Atazhurt.  If you don’t know about the extent of China’s terrorism of expatriates and its willingness to violate other countries’ sovereignty, you really should read it in its entirety.

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1524) 

Much more of this, please:

An isolated tribe in the Amazon…[has sued] The New York Times over [yellow journalism] in the newspaper [claim]ing their people’s recent access to the internet…[has led to] members of the tribe…develop[ing] pornography addictions [even though there is no such thing].  The Marubo tribe…filed the defamation lawsuit…seeking $180 million in damages…[over the paper’s] “portray[al of] the Marubo people as a community unable to handle basic exposure to the internet, [and pretending]…that their youth had [developed narcissistic personality disorder as a result]”…After the piece was published, other outlets, including TMZ and Yahoo!, published their own versions of the [accusations], which in many cases…exaggerate the [already-dishonest] claims [even further].  That prompted The Times to run a[n attempt at a semi-retraction en]titled “No, A Remote Amazon Tribe Did Not Get Addicted to Porn”…But it wasn’t enough.  The Marubo [correctly point out] that the original statements were “inflammatory” and conveyed that the tribe “had descended into moral and social decline as a direct result of internet access”…

Business Opportunity (#1527)

This sort of NIMBY bullshit is exactly why there are so many homeless people in the first place:

…the town of Toms River, New Jersey is planning to use eminent domain to condemn a church, raze it, and build a park and pickleball courts on the spot.  The planned condemnation [is obviously] motivated by a desire to prevent the church from opening a small homeless shelter on part of its…11 acres of land…the church, which was founded in 1865…[rents space to] an affordable housing nonprofit…[which] asked to create a small homeless shelter [but] the mayor [insists pickleball is more important than housing the needy because local NIMBYs said so]…the town’s interfaith council [are] united in their opposition to the [scam]…and…there is substantial public opposition…[so] the condemnation…will likely be challenged in court under the state and federal constitutions…

 

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 #778

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[I’ve] no recollection of personally ever throwing a petrol bomb.
–  James Duthoit

Longtime readers may recall that Shostakovich is one of my favorite composers, but I was unfamiliar with this piece until it was recently shared by Mike Siegel.  The links above it were provided by Franklin Harris (x2), Nun Ya, T. Greg Doucette (x2), IncarcerNation, and Missy Mariposa, 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 (#1541)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

This is the facial recognition technology nightmare scenario that we have been worried about.  –  Nathan Freed Wessler

Pyrrhic Victory (#1291)

This is no surprise to anyone acquainted with how things are done in New Orleans:

For two years, New Orleans police [have] secretly [spied on]…city streets [with facial recognition] in search of suspects, a[n illegal] surveillance method without a known precedent in any major American city…New Orleans police [abuse]…a private network of more than 200 facial recognition cameras to [leer at] the streets…automatically pinging [cop]s’ mobile phones through an app to [report] the names and current locations of [any possible] matches [for police harassment].  This [blatantly violates] a 2022 city council ordinance, which limited police to using facial recognition only for searches of specific suspects in…violent crimes and [prohibits] generalized…tracking…Each time police want to scan a face, the ordinance requires them to send a still image to trained examiners at a state facility and later provide details about these scans in reports to the city council…[but] the…cameras ha[ve] played a role in dozens of arrests, including at least four people who were only charged with nonviolent crimes…[cops regularly hid] their reliance on facial recognition matches in police reports…to the city council [in order to circumvent the law]…

Secret Squirrel (#1385)

This sickness will get much worse before it gets better:

According to recent research…“nearly 1 in 5 young people believe it’s OK to track their partner whenever they want”…Many constantly share their location with their partner, or use apps like Life360 or Find My Friends…one of the most disturbing notions is that acceptance of digital monitoring is…a way to create – rather than undermine – a sense of trust.  When government officials or tech industry bigwigs proclaim that you should be OK with being spied on if you’re not doing anything wrong, they’re…demanding…we trust them.  But it’s not about trust, it’s about control…and…use of digital spying tools by parents on their children has “anaesthetised young people to the whole idea of being monitored”, teaching them that surveillance is a form of love…and [equating it with] safety…[thus empowering] police, intelligence agencies and…politicians…to undermine [privacy, civil rights, and even]…safety [from state violence]…


Torture Chamber (#1461)

Americans’ sick lust for torture turns ordinary prison sentences into death sentences:

…Missouri prison[ers] have filed a lawsuit [because] they’re suffering from life-threatening extreme heat in their un-air-conditioned cells during the summer…[in] violat[ion of both] the Missouri Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act…Algoa [Dungeon] is one of four prisons in the state where none of the [cell blocks] have air conditioning.  And, due to the building’s design, it is frequently hotter inside…than outside.  Even at night, temperatures remain high…[and the only] heat-mitigation practices include…warm showers; the option to purchase one small, personal fan; and…[splitting] small coolers [of quickly-melting ice among] 100-plus people in each [cell block]…Due to a lack of outlets in solitary confinement, [those locked up] there are unable to use fans…According to legal documents…[similarly-inhumane] prison units in Texas reached 149 degrees Fahrenheit in 2023…

I Saw My Brain (#1492)

The psychopathic Grady Judd won’t pass up any opportunity to inflict harm on as many people as possible:

A recent “human trafficking enforcement operation” in Polk County, Florida, led to 244 arrests—albeit none for human trafficking…ICE…Homeland Security, and the U.S. Army [?]…were involved in [the sophomorically-entitled] Operation Fool Around and Find Out, along with more than a dozen Florida [cop shops beside Judd’s]…In addition to targeting adults for trying to consensually engage other adults in private sexual activity, immigration enforcement seems to have been a goal.  A press release…notes that 36 of those arrested “are here illegally”…[and] color-coded boxes around some [mug shots] denote that the…[victims are] receiving welfare benefits…Among those arrested was [a] former NFL player…[which] catapulted this story into national news.  And that’s meant a whole lot of outlets [parroting]…the police’s preferred narrative…

This will continue until the majority of those arrested fight back with lawsuits, or the voters of Polk County get tired of paying the many lawsuits that are already filed against this cretin every year.

The Cop Myth (#1496)

How long will America ignore the costs of its sick worship of state-sanctioned violence?

Since 2013…Phoenix [cops] have [murdered] 173 people…the second-highest total in the country behind…Los Angeles…The study used data from Mapping Police Violence, a website that has become widely known as the foremost tracker of police killings…in the United States since 2013.  It has utilized information from police and media reports to [do what cop shops and governments have refused to do]…Estimates suggest the database captures 92% of police killings….the five deadliest police forces[are] Los Angeles [with] 199 deaths…Phoenix [with] 173…Houston [with] 128…New York [with] 126 [and]…San Antonio [with] 106…In June 2024, the Department of Justice completed a years-long investigation…[which] found that…Phoenix police…taught…tactics that were “dangerous, unnecessary and unreasonable,” including that…deadly force…would lead to de-escalation….[Phoenix cops regularly] fired…at people who presented no immediate threat and…[often strangled] people who had not committed a crime…

Thought Control (#1524)

Just keep plunging that ice pick in; the bad thoughts will go away eventually:

A fresh round of books — more than 600, by one estimate — have been taken out of circulation from Hillsborough County classrooms after [deranged] state [politicians] ramped up pressure on school district officials.  Those books include Margaret Atwood‘s The Handmaid‘s Tale, Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Ari Folman’s Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation…[Psychopath] General James Uthmeier [foamed at the mouth and waved his dick around while ludicrously barfing that the books were]…“patently pornographic”…He said the state’s newly created Office of [Froot Loop] Rights plans to give [random Froot Loops power to censor any book statewide]…since 2022, Hillsborough County has removed 389,073 books from its collection of more than 2 million books, and will continue to “actively [burn down]” its collections…

Sales Pitch (#1530)

Swedish politicians are angry that their law doesn’t destroy enough lives yet:

Participating in interactive adult live-streams or ordering custom porn clips are about to be punishable by a year in prison in Sweden, where a new law expands an already-[tyrannical] model of sex work criminalization to the internet…The text of the newly-passed bill (in the original Swedish here, and auto-translated to English here) states that criminal liability…shouldn’t have to require physical contact between the buyer and seller…Buying pre-recorded content, paying to follow an account where pornographic material is continuously posted, or otherwise consuming porn without [having to deal directly with the sex worker as a businessperson] is outside of the scope of the law…

 

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 (#1536)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

How many more stories do we have to hear of immigrants being mistreated at these black hole detention centers?  –  Frederica Wilson

If Men Were Angels

“Authorities” decided this girl’s fate against her will:

…a [typical and representative Pennsylvania “]youth pastor[” named]…Robert David Fenton…[was] sentence[d to] three to six years…[for] sexual assault…and [will be condemned]…to…[the “]sex offender[” registry] for life…His sentence is part of a plea agreement…Fenton was a youth pastor…from 1996 to 1998 when he…claimed [to have had a] vision from God that he and [his then-14-year-old victim] should marry…A betrothal was then agreed to by Fenton, the victim’s parents, and church officials…[but not] the victim.  After [escap]ing the [cult], the victim came forward and sought support to heal from the abuse…in July 2021…Fenton fled to Australia before charges were filed…[but] was [caught when]…he tried entering…the Philippines from…Australia, on April 24, 2024…[and extradited] to [the US to] stand trial…

Permanent Record (#1274)

In more civilized countries, employers can’t get away with this:

[A Mexican] government [institute]…must pay more than 800,000 pesos in compensation to Jovanna Isabel Ortega Gómez…[because] the institution…fir[ed] her for having an…OnlyFans page.  The case of the doctor, who worked at the institution for about a year, became public in September 2023, when she filed a lawsuit…for unjustified dismissal…Dagoberto Valdés Juárez, general director of ISSSTECALI…[pretended] that Ortega Gómez was [not] fired for having an account on the well-known digital platform, despite the fact that this was one of the arguments in the case.  He [claim]ed that the doctor worked with them on a substitute basis at the Mexicali hospital and that she requested a position at the institution, which was denied…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1443)

Serial lawsuit abuser Ken Paxton wants Texas kids’ teeth to rot:

Texas [Psychopath-]General Ken Paxton is [harass]ing two leading toothpaste makers over their use of fluoride, [pretend]ing that they are “illegally marketing” the teeth cleaners to parents and kids “in ways that are misleading, deceptive, and dangerous.”  The toothpaste makers [Paxton hopes to pillage] are Colgate-Palmolive…and Proctor & Gamble…fluoride…effectively prevents dental cavities and improves oral health…But…[Trumpists have revived the 1950s era paranoid belief that] the naturally occurring mineral is a form of communist mind control…that…[can magically] lower IQ in children…Paxton referenced [a popular-in-Trumpland bogus] study in his announcement of the [“]investigation[” along with a blatantly crypto-moralist claim]…that…toothpaste [is bad if it has] appealing flavoring…

Shame, Shame (#1509)

Still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology?

…realtime deepfake[s are] created by…fraudsters…[by] digitally manipulat[ing] their appearance in real time to match a photo on a drivers’ license, dating profile, or a celebrity.  Like a chameleon, these scammers, who can be involved in everything from romance scams…to fraudulent tax refunds, can hide their true appearance with just a laptop and phone and produce very realistic results…Yahoo Boys are fraudsters typically based in Nigeria who traditionally used Yahoo emails as part of their scams, but have now broadened to all manner of schemes…It is now very common to see spammy video ads on social media that use a deepfaked version of a celebrity or public figure…But those were pre-rendered, static files…uploaded to YouTube…realtime deepfakes allow a scammer to talk directly to their mark and improvise on video calls or livestreams.  They can appear just as human as the person they are impersonating, potentially fooling not only people but also…automated systems…

The Vultures Descend (#1522)

This insanity will keep getting worse until these maniacs are forcibly stopped:

Republicans and [associated MAGA trolls] have jumped on a [bogus] report published by a[n authoritarian] think tank that claims the abortion drug mifepristone is harmful to women…the study is junk science…but that’s not stopping [forced-birth pro]ponents from using it to lobby for more abortion pill restrictions…FDA Commissioner Martin Makary [has] said he has “no plans” to restrict mifepristone…But…[he is one of] Trump[‘s creatures]…and…[has] routinely spread anti-abortion misinformation…

Torture Chamber (#1526)

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

A woman from Haiti died after [being crammed into a filthy cage in Florida for] over two months [thanks to]…ICE…Marie Ange Blaise…had been complaining about chest pain for hours…[so screws yelled “Stop faking!” at her] and told her to go lie down…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #20)

I’m guessing the “underage family member” was his stepdaughter:

[Typical and representative Texas cop] Andrew Smith was sentenced to 14 years in prison [for repeatedly molesting his stepdaughter when she was] under 14…he…was arrested…on Jan. 12, 2021 after [she reported him.  Up until]…February [of this year], Smith was [still] accusing his victim of lying about the [repeated] assault[s, yet now claims to be] remorseful [while still blaming the attacks on his being sad and drunk]…

 

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

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The Real Me

Posted in Perception, Philosophy, tagged , , , , , , on May 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The internet has long been a haven for fraud.  Way back when I first signed up for AOL in the latter part of 1996, the customer service rep was telling me about instant messaging and said, “You can send someone a picture of a bikini babe and tell them it’s you,” to which I replied, “Why on Earth would I want to do that?”  Almost thirty years later, that conversation seems rather quaint, and that type of fraud has pivoted 180o, from real conversation paired with fake pictures to real pictures paired with fake conversation:

…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…

And now, with the growing popularity of ML chatbots, this kind of deception doesn’t even require human assistants:

Riley…Reid’s…”clone”…is essentially a chatbot, except it’s been trained on Reid specifically.  So, when Reid’s [program] sends messages, they’re based on things IRL Reid has said; the facts that it shares are real; and, when it sends me voice notes, it speaks in Reid’s own tone and cadence…Reid, like many sex workers, has found herself unauthorisedly cloned on other sites..so she wanted to take matters into her own hands…”If I don’t engage, others will misuse my image”…

And given the increasing sophistication of computerized audiovisual doppelgangers, it seems likely that online reality will completely break down in the very near future.  Well, I want no part of it.  When I replied to that AOL rep a generation ago, I was not merely being a smartass; I honestly don’t see the point of such deception.  I mean, of course I understand why dishonest people might do it, and why a prominent sex worker might do it to head off someone else doing it to her.  But even as an escort, I never developed a work persona; I was always just me, and that has not changed.  People who meet me in real life have often commented that I speak like I write, and that IRL I’m just like I am online (except nicer).  And that’s not going to change.  When any of my readers interacts with me online, it’s really me, not an employee or computer program.  When you read one of my essays, you can be sure that it was really written by me, not shat out by a large language model.  Using one or more of these tricks might make my work easier or more lucrative, but it would also undermine my reasons for having an online presence in the first place.  So if you appreciate that, please do consider providing a little financial support; “bots” don’t need to eat or pay bills, but I sure do!

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Links #773

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, Music, News, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It’s an obvious attempt not to go to jail.  –  genius cop, about paralyzed man

Since I recently featured the video for what may be my favorite Blondie song, I figured I’d also share this one, which was my favorite Blondie song in high school; I especially liked blaring it on the car stereo while driving.  The links above it were provided by Marc Randazza; Justin Amash; Warren Bell; Andrew Fleischman; Popehat; Jesse Walker and Franklin Harris; and Kevin Wilson, 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 (#1533)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It really doesn’t even take burning books to change a culture, it just takes stopping good people from reading them.  –  Arlene Kasselman

The Face of Trafficking

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

A woman has filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta church…[because] she and others were trafficked and forced to work in inhumane conditions after being recruited as young ministry students.  The [offenders include] the Atlanta Dream Center Church and its affiliated Pentecostal Christian denomination Assemblies of God, among others…“K.D.”…joined the church’s Atlanta School of Ministry in 2014 to train as a missionary…[bu]t she and other young students were instead forced to work unpaid catering events, live in dangerous environments, and were given moldy, expired food to eat…“Young, vulnerable individuals…were recruited nationwide with promises of missionary training, only to be systematically isolated, manipulated, and coerced into providing unpaid labor at sporting events, conventions, and corporate gatherings across the country.”  The woman…was twice sexually assaulted during her time with the church, once by a pastor and another time by a guest…the pastor…threatened her life, saying “she ‘would not make it to her 21st birthday’ if she ever left his control”…

Banishment (#1113)

How a country treats its prisoners reveals a great deal about it:

Nationally, more than 6,000 people are held in [so-called] sex offense civil commitment…the states that run such programs [pretend] they’re focused on rehabilitation, [but in reality they are simply]…a thinly veiled way to warehouse people instead of treating them.  Such programs…[are] stacked with draconian release conditions….[and] do…not prevent sexual violence…the system is a way for politicians and elites to respond to [moral panic over]…sexual violence…while still refusing to acknowledge…that strangers do not perpetrate most sexual violence…Minnesota holds the highest number of people in the system per capita, while California has the most overall.  The systems’ populations also balloon due to their low release rates…

You Were Warned (#1490)

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

Discord has added a new age verification system…as “an experiment” …currently active in the UK and Australia in response to recent [censorship laws]…users may be asked to verify their age when encountering content flagged by its [autocensor], or when they try to change their settings to [circumvent the autocensor]…The user will be given two verification options.  The first asks them to scan their face…and…the o[ther]…to submit…a photo of an ID document (such as their passport or driving licence)…Discord says age verification is a one-time process, but that if…the…[algorithmically-determined] age group is incorrect…they can try to verify their age again, either by using the same [flawed and error-prone] process or [by] opting for a manual review…Australia’s…ban…[on] social media for [people] under 16…is still to come into effect…In the UK, [censorship agency] Ofcom has [demand]ed that all websites wh[ich a bureaucrat has pointed at while belching “]pornographic material[“], including social media platforms, need to add “robust” age-checking…by July…if other countries follow suit with similar restrictions [non-VPN] users in those countries can expect to face similar [spying]…

Thought Control (#1512)

Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only threatening librarians and teachers:

A [new “mob rule” censorship] bill [in]…Texas…could have serious implications for small businesses…HB1375 [encourages] individuals to sue [under the absurd premise that people can be “]harmed[“] by [books if a politician points at them and barfs out the word “]obscene[“]…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1517)

The claims in these nuisance lawsuits are increasingly absurd:

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier [has launched] an[other nuisance]…lawsuit[, this time] against Snapchat, based on [utterly ridiculous claims about magical] predators…“Snap is deceiving Florida parents about the dangers children face…from [magical teleportation] features…allowing sexual predators and drug dealers access [to kids’ bedrooms”, barfed]…the AG[, moronically adding]…“We’re gonna hold these people accountable” [even though it is Uthmeir, not any corporation, who is accountable to Florida citizens]…The attorney general [also waved his dick around while drooling pap about “]addictive design features[” despite this being psychological nonsense.  He also bragged]…“We’re going to be putting these bad guys away” [even though a lawsuit is a civil procedure, not a criminal one]…

I Spy (#1530)

Medical privacy will soon be a thing of the past:

The National Institutes of Health is [sic] amassing private medical records from a number of federal and commercial databases to give [Trump henchman] Robert F. Kennedy Jr….[ammunition in his] effort to [ban vaccines using a bogus] study [of] autism…[this] will allow…researchers [specifically] picked [to produce the “findings”] Kennedy…[wants] to obtain…medication records from pharmacy chains, lab testing and genomics data from patients treated by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service, claims from private insurers and data from smartwatches and fitness trackers will all be linked together [in violation of HIPAA, to create]…a new…registry…to track Americans with autism…Kennedy’s [flying monkeys lied that there]…would be…”state of the art protections” [for] confidentiality…

The Cop Myth (#1531)

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

A Miami [cop] was arrested…[for attacking] his wife [while drunk]…Christian Vladimir Sanchez [drank an entire bottle of rum and then fell down]…in the shower…[before trying] to make sexual advances on h[is wife in front of their young daughter.  After]…she refused…he…demanded that…she leave their home and…give him her cellphone…Sanchez then got on top of her…and [beat] her…[while] demanding [the]…phone…she…eventually freed herself…and fled…Sanchez has since been released from jail on…bond, but [was also 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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