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Posts Tagged ‘sex offender registry’

When a police department says there’s nothing to worry about unless you’re a criminal, there definitely is.  –  Will Freeman

If Men Were Angels

This was directly caused by people teaching children unquestioning obedience to “authority”:

…sexual abuse [is a pattern among typical and representative]…members of Trinity Church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho…John “Beau” Summerlin…a founding member and former deacon…has been charged with [molesting teen girls]…between 2012 and 2015…the victim first disclosed the abuse to her mother in 2015 [but] pastor…Stuart Bryan [swept it under the rug]…Summerlin [fled to] Mississippi and [was later arrested there]…Josiah Bryan, son of [the] pastor…[raped] multiple siblings…rep[ea]tedly…between 2005 and 2010…and…was [recently] arrested…in Texas…

I Spy (#1461)

Now that word of automakers’ nonconsensual surveillance of their marks is getting out, here come the excuses:

For researchers…data [from surreptitious auto surveillance] is a “game changer”…Unlike…data sold to the insurance industry [without the victims’ permission], the data that researchers see is [supposedly] anonymized…But…Even if the data is [claimed by busybodies to] be…used for the public good, [consumer advocate Jen] Caltrider [points out the obvious fact that] drivers should know it is being collected and have an easy way to stop it from happening, because…“Anonymized data is never anonymous, especially when location is included…people aren’t used to getting in their car and thinking they need to play with the settings to protect their privacy”…

Panopticon (#1479)

Privacy as we once knew it will soon be a thing of the past:

Some Motorola automated license plate reader surveillance cameras are live-streaming video and car data to the unsecured internet where anyone can watch and scrape them…a privacy advocate then developed a tool that automatically scans the exposed footage for license plates, and dumps that information into a spreadsheet, allowing someone to track the movements of others in real time…these ALPRs are deployed all over the United States by cities and police departments…and…many of them are misconfigured to stream to the open internet rather than a private network…the[ir]…IP addresses can be found using the Internet of [Shit] search engine Censys…So far, roughly 170 unencrypted ALPR streams have been found…

I Spy (#1493)

Why every company wants you to download its “app”, and why you shouldn’t:

Each time you see a targeted ad, your personal information is exposed to thousands of advertisers and data brokers through a process called “real-time bidding”…the most privacy-invasive surveillance system that you’ve never heard of…The ads you see are the winners of milliseconds-long auctions that expose your personal information to thousands of companies a dayBid requests containing more personal data attract higher bids, so websites and apps are financially motivated to harvest as much of your data as possible…As a result, entire businesses have emerged to harvest and sell data from online advertising auctions…RTB is [also] regularly exploited for [illegal, warrantless] government surveillance…For example, the data broker Near Intelligence collected data about more than a billion devices from RTB auctions and sold it to the U.S. Defense Department.  Mobilewalla sold bidstream data to another data broker, Gravy Analytics, whose subsidiary, Venntell, likewise has sold location data to the FBI, ICE, CBP, and other government agenciesPatternz, another surveillance tool built on bidstream data, was advertised to security agencies worldwide as a way to track people’s locations…

Stalkers in Blue (#1495)

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

An Ohio [cop] has [su]ed a sheriff’s office [for abduct]ing her young child…and then spreading…explicit images of her from her cellphone…Miranda Brothers…[was harassed starting] on January 1, 2024…using the [excuse that she had supposedly left] the child alone with a registered sex offender…The child was [abducted by cops] and Brothers was charged with child endangerment…the[n cops stole]…her phone and…shared [her nudes] with…the [rest of the herd] and “potentially further”…

Shame, Shame (#1502)

Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

Instagram has begun testing a feature in which [Facebook computers] will automatically generate images of users in various situations and put them into that user’s feed.  One Redditor…told 404 Media that at one point he had uploaded selfies of himself into Instagram’s “Imagine” feature, which is [Facebook’s] image generation feature…“Once you access that feature and upload a selfie to edit, you’ll start seeing these ads pop up with auto-generated images with your likeness”…A [Facebook mouthpiece said] the images are not “ads,” but are a new feature…[Facebook] has begun testing live…“You may see images…created just for you (based on your interests or current trends),” an announcement post from September read…The Reddit post…came on the same weekend that [Facebook’s computer]-generated profiles went viral and were ultimately deleted from the platform.  [Zuckerberg and his henchgeeks have convinced themselves] that people want to be shown more and more [computer]-generated content and [are] finding new ways to [cram] people’s feeds [full of electronic masturbation]…

Cops and Robbers (#1503)

The legacy of To Catch a Predator just keeps on hurting people:

Five…Massachusetts…[students lured] a man to the Assumption University campus in a plot [to attack him] that…was inspired by the television show To Catch a Predator and a fad on TikTok.  The students were part of a [mob] that chased the man from a campus building after he was invited there by a student on the dating app Tinder…[members of the mob fantasized that] the man [was] a sexual predator..[even though] the woman who invited him to the campus, Kelsy Brainard…[truthfully] said on her Tinder profile that she was 18…The [mob]…grabbed him and blocked him from leaving the room…[but] he escaped, and…[fled in] his car…[instigators] Easton Randall…Isabella Trudeau…Joaquin Smith..[Kelsey] Brainard…and Kevin Carroll [have been charged with crimes including kidnapping, conspiracy, and assault]…

 

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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I don’t for a second believe that this woman is going into labor.
–  Caleb Stewart

The movie Amadeus continues to inspire modern musicians, as demonstrated by this takeoff on “Gangnam Style” called to my attention by Mike Siegel.  The links above it were provided by IncarcerNation, Tracy Quan, T. Greg Doucette, Tim Cushing, Ryan Marino, Stephen Lemons, and C.J. Ciaramella, 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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If you want to kick the door in…you’re more than welcome to.
–  Paige Mitchell

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A [North Carolina politician named]…Richard Braswell…[has been] sentenced to…prison…[for] 20 to 33 months and [condemned] to [the]…sex offender [registry] for 30 years…[because] in April 2022…[he molest]ed a 13-year-old girl…Divorce records filed by Braswell’s wife said…he…“took the victim and her brother with him to work under the pretense of having them do some work for him, then sent the victim’s brother on an errand”…

The Cop Myth (#1306)

Sleeping with cops isn’t safe for men, either:

…three Elyria [Ohio cops] stormed a man’s home, tased and arrested him without [cause or] warrant on May 11, 2023…Raul Ortiz…[was attacked by his cop] ex-girlfriend, Brittany Warner, [with two other thugs and permission from senior sow Paige Mitchell.  The gang] kick[ed] down Ortiz’s front door[, supposedly] to retrieve [Warner’s] belongings…though she no longer lived [there]…then tased, arrested and charged Ortiz with five felonies, all of which were later dropped…[politicians] wrote that [Mitchell’s okaying this]…“defied common sense”…but [she was only given a slap on the wrist.  Henchthug]…Colty Hersh [was given an even milder love tap, and]…the third [thug] involved, Chris Lewis, was [not even given a stern lecture.  Boss Hog]…William Pelko didn’t [even deign to notice his pigs’] actions until…a year after the [crime was committ]ed, just eight days after [local news] first reported it…Ortiz has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Elyria, [the cop shop] and each [offending cop]…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1444)

The claims in these nuisance lawsuits are increasingly absurd:

More than a dozen states are filing lawsuits…accusing TikTok of harming the well-being of children by using [magically-]addictive product features that keep them [spellbound] on the platform, in a [moronic] salvo that amplifies the company’s legal perils as it tries to stave off a federal ban.  Attorneys general from 13 states and the District of Columbia are a[bus]ing…local consumer protection laws by [ascrib]ing [supernatural powers] to [a program], exposing young users to mental and physical risk…The complaints represent the second multistate attempt to [loot] a major social media company…[using spurious] claims they are contributing to a youth mental health crisis in the United States [which is actually caused by government-encouraged intrusive surveillance and infantilization of young adults], following a flurry of similar lawsuits against Facebook…last year…California AG Rob Bonta…is co-leading the [witch hunt] alongside…New York AG Letitia James, [claiming]…that TikTok [vampirical]ly designed the app to “feed on young users”…[the rest of the nitwit parade consists of] Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington…

The Punitive Mindset (#1457) 

Modern attorneys general are vile even by the low standards of politicians:

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and 13 other [fascist] attorneys general [have] filed a petition…asking a federal court to block new rules that reduce the cost of phone and video calls with people in prisons and jails…The [politicians object to] new rules…prohibit[ing] telecommunications companies from paying commissions or kick-backs to jails and prisons…and [to] long-term benefits that include lower risks of reoffending and an increased likelihood of successful re-entry…[which would reduce the] prison…[popula]tion…[they also object to] prisons and jails [being less able to bleed needy families to increase their profits]…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1467)

Politicians and bureaucrats are empowered to force stupidity on others:

Every morning, before opening the mail, Tulsa County Election Board employees Kerry Martin and Taylor Gutierrez put on N95 masks, face shields, medical smocks and surgical gloves…[because] Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman [is a yokel who believes copaganda about]…election boards across the country receiving mail containing fentanyl…“one piece of mail that was sent to the state Election Board in Oklahoma City…included a multi-page document and…flour…[causing] Freeman [to absurdly belch out “]dangerous substances[“] …“It’s unfortunate that we live in a society [where idiots] have [the power to force us] to do this kind of stuff,” Martin said…

The Cop Myth (#1477)

If he’d been wearing his magical clown costume, this would’ve gone very differently for his victim:

A homeowner shot and killed an…Atlanta [cop] who…broke into his home…around 5 a.m. [without a magic scroll of permission]…Aubree Horton…was…recently [named] “Investigator of the Year” at the [cop shop]’s annual [self-aggrandization] breakfast…[fellow cops excuse]ed Horton [as] “experiencing a mental health episode or under the influence of narcotics”…[when he was] shot [by his intended victim] in self-defense…

Torture Chamber (#1480)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”, but “journalists” shouldn’t parrot them:

[Screw]s routinely lock severely mentally ill men in [cages] on Rikers Island for weeks and even months in [flagrant] violation of city law, [according to] a jail social worker who [finally developed enough backbone to quit] three weeks ago…

 

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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I would rather be dead than ever go back.  –  victim of ALA

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1136)

Laws are for the peasantry, not the rulers:

A [typical and representative] North Dakota [politician] who was one of the most powerful members of the Legislature [will] plead guilty…in federal court to traveling to Europe with the intent to pay for sex with a minor.  Ray Holmberg…was indicted in October 2023…and…will…have to register as a sex offender…

A Broker in Pillage (#1276)

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

In Spartanburg County, South Carolina, on Interstate 85, [cop]s stop vehicles for…any infraction, no matter how minor…lead[ing] to a roadside interrogation and warrantless search…the [sophomorically-entitled “Operation Rolling Thunder” has been committed] every year since 2006, yet no one has ever done a systematic audit…It took a lawsuit to finally pry the records loose…Over 72 percent of vehicle searches during [the scheme] in 2022 produced nothing illegal.  Officers routinely treated innocent drivers like criminals…[and] currency as contraband.  The records describe no single case in which officers found a large amount of cash and did not seize it…[they] pressured property owners to sign roadside abandonment forms, giving up claims to their cash on the spot…Officers focused on vehicles with out-of-state plates, rental cars, and commercial buses.  Over 83 percent of the [victims]…lived out of state…and 75 percent…were black…[the armed-robber cops] do not create incident reports for every search.  They only document their “wins”…[so there are] no records for 102 of the 144 searches that occurred during [the scheme] in 2022…This leaves government watchdogs in the dark—by design.  They cannot inspect public records that do not exist.  Victims cannot cite them in litigation…

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1387)

The entire “troubled teen” industry needs to be sued out of existence:

There is a highly lucrative, multibillion-dollar market of residential “behaviour modification programmes”…in the US, where an estimated 50,000 children [and teenagers] are [sent] by their parents…against their will every year.  All operate in closely guarded secrecy.  There are more than a hundred in Utah alone, but some are based offshore in remote, low-regulation, low-cost foreign locations such as Samoa, Costa Rica, Mexico and Caribbean islands…[they are condemned to these camps] for bunking off school, wearing inappropriate clothes, swearing, [or using] cigarettes or alcohol…a sizeable number [are]…adopted by parents who had then changed their minds…many [we]re had been diagnosed [by quacks] with oppositional defiant disorder, whose symptoms…[are] indistinguishable from typical adolescent behaviour…boys aged 14-18 confined in [Atlantis Leadership Academy, or ALA, raided by Jamaican officials in February]…had been starved, waterboarded and brutally beaten with broom handles, rakes, belts and metal water bottles…sleep-deprived and relentlessly insulted…bleach and salt [were] rubbed in their wounds; others…were [brutally assaulted,] threatened with knives and kept in solitary confinement for months on end…

Panopticon (#1429)

“Prostitution” is such a handy excuse for surveillance:

Moral panic about sex work leads to law enforcement practices that reach far beyond anyone engaged in or with erotic labor.  The latest example comes from San Diego…where cops are putting up a creepy surveillance tower under the auspice of stopping…prostitution…[by] record[ing] video of anyone who happens to be in the area…even if you think that punishing prostitution customers (or sex workers themselves) is a swell idea, it’s hard to see how the surveillance tower makes any sense…the tower is very visible and local media have been publicizing it.  Smart sex workers and their customers will simply move to another, less visible area…It seems clear that th[is]…is…just a way for authorities to look like they’re doing something about sex trafficking while further normalizing the idea of conducting broad, warrantless surveillance of everyone…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1432)

Phrenology for tech worshipers:

Michal Kosinski…has made…plausible[-sounding] claims that machine-learning algorithms…can discern deeply private things about us — our intelligence, our sexual preferences, our political beliefs — using little more than…photographs of our faces…Science has been trying to divine truths about personality and behavior from various tests and images for centuries…Phrenologists used calipers to measure bumps on people’s heads, hoping to diagnose mental incapacities or moral deficiencies…none of these “sciences” worked…[and] every time someone claimed they’d found a way to measure people’s inner traits based on their exterior features, it quickly turned into a tool to discriminate…Yet today…facial recognition continue[s] to be…abused…in everything from marketing and job hiring to college admissions and law enforcement…

Opting Out (#1438)

Politicians refuse to recognize that prohibition of speech, ie censorship, is as doomed to failure as other kinds of prohibition:

As riots rock…Britain, some [politicians] are trying to blame social media…[rather than the] government policy…[causing] the country’s civil unrest…they…want social media companies to ban [any] user accounts [politicians point at, calling this indirect censorship]…”their responsibilities”…Ofcom, the British…[censorship bureau], has already [harass]ed social media companies…about online speech, in…the name of “safety”…Making businesses liable for speech that is not their own is fraught with [wholly]…intended consequences…[by] strongly incentiviz[ing] those businesses to remove any content that could invite legal scrutiny…allowing [government] control over online discourse without the messy optics of jailing citizens for wrongthink…

The Cop Myth (#1446)

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

An…Atlanta [cop was]…arrested [for murdering] a man…outside of a…bar during a birthday party…Melvin Potter…[shot] Devon Anderson…to [death after he] tried to de-escalate [an] argument…[between the drunk] Potter…[and another partygoer.  Potter]…was [previously] arrested on DUI charges in 2021…but [as is typical for drunk-driving cops escaped without consequences]…

 

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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Journalism is not a crime.  –  Adam Rose

Crime Against Society (#1179)

Louisiana isn’t the only state that chooses to punish sex workers in this deranged fashion:

I have three degrees, and two jobs where they don’t matter…[becau]se of…the restrictions of parole and the sex offender registry.  I earned my degrees in prison.  I was arrested at 19 while doing survival sex work, and prosecutors used my trans identity and the fact that I was using drugs…to escalate the charges.  I spent 13 years in…[Georgia prisons] before my release in 2023.  The irony is that now, I think back on sex work as something that represents financial stability…the very last thing I want is to…risk…being sent back.  Sex work would certainly be a violation of my parole.  But so would not being able to keep up with the hundreds of dollars per month it costs to be on the registry, on top of the usual expenses like rent and medical debt…So there’s a Catch-22.  In order to not break the law, I need income that’s sufficiently above minimum wage and that doesn’t involve background checks or 1,000-foot distance restrictions.  But the options that fit that description are not legal…

Top Cop (#1191)

This sex-worker hating psychopath may soon have the power she so desperately craves:

President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race…and [threw]…his “full support and endorsement” behind Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the party’s new nominee…Kamala Harris the horrible campaigner and Kamala Harris the cop can be easy to forget if you’re only considering…her [unremarkable] tenure as vice president…[whose] most distinguishing feature has been a series of bizarre but benign word salads…But…one major thread in Harris’ career…has been flip-flopping on issues to suit the…moment…le[aving] a long-term impression of her as [a] rudderless…phony…if Harris becomes the party’s nominee, the rush to anoint her a saint…is going to kick into overdrive quickly, both because of her identity and out of desperation to avoid Trump getting elected again.  But…her worst tendencies…include…using the state to crack down on problems…better solved through nonpunitive approaches…using moral panics around sex in self-serving waysacting cavalierly toward the Constitutiondefending dirty prosecutors, and finding new ways for the government to poke into people’s lives…

Micromanagement (#1260)

New Jersey cops already abuse the DNA its newborn residents are compelled by law to surrender:

Mandatory genomic sequencing of all newborns…sounds like something out of a dystopian sci-fi story.  But it could become a reality in New Jersey, where [bureaucrat]s are considering adding [it] to the state’s mandatory newborn testing regime…”What we’re talking about is information…that could allow the state…to…monitor and surveil them and their families for the rest of their lives,” [said] Dillon Reisman…[of] ACLU…New Jersey…parents are…told that the testing is mandatory.  They are not told that…the state holds on to these blood samples for 23 years, putting no legal restrictions on how they can be used…[by cops or bureaucrats].  Some states were found to be selling the blood samples to researchers, or turning [it] over to the Pentagon‘s DNA registry.  Now, New Jersey parents are seeking a court order requiring the state to return or destroy the blood samples…or to get informed consent from parents to hold on to it…

The Scarlet Letter (#1397)

I’m sure there are other federal laws which could be used against other state “prostitution” laws:

The Tennessee government has agreed to begin scrubbing its sex offender registry of dozens of people who were convicted of prostitution while having HIV…for more than three decades, Tennessee’s “aggravated prostitution” laws have made prostitution [while]…HIV-positive [a felony, but] Tennessee [actually made it even worse] in 2010 by reclassifying prostitution with HIV as a “violent sexual offense” with a lifetime registration as a sex offender — even if protection is used.  At least 83 people are believed to be on Tennessee’s sex offender registry solely because of these laws, with most living in the Memphis area, where [disguised pigs] and p[igs in suits] most often [employed] the statute [to ruin lives]…the Tennessee attorney general’s office…said in an email statement it would “continue to defend Tennessee’s prohibition on aggravated prostitution”…

Torture Chamber (#1428)

If those confined there can’t come and go as they please, it isn’t a “shelter”, “housing”, or “school”; it is a prison:

Employees of the largest [contractor jailing] unaccompanied migrant [minors] in the U.S. repeatedly sexually abused and harassed [minors] in their care for at least eight years…[committ]ing a s[adly-typical] litany of offenses…as the company amassed billions of dollars in government contracts.  Southwest Key Programs Inc. employees, including supervisors, raped, [molest]ed or solicited sex and nude images of [adolescents and even some] children beginning in 2015 and p[roba]bly earlier…At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges…since 2020…Southwest Key’s vast network of [concentration camps] across three states…have room for more than 6,300 [people]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1442)

Cops are nothing more than state-sponsored terrorists:

In March of 2021, I published a 15 part series detailing the history of deputy gangs inside of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department…[this] attracted the attention of dozens of department personnel, and triggered direct surveillance by the sheriff’s department…in October of 2021…I requested electronic records of any communications made by LASD that contained my name.  The department denied my initial request, which prompted me to sue…after nearly two years, LASD opted to settle the matter and turn over the records.  More than 50 members of the sheriff’s department sent more than 800 pages of emails about me in the course of just 7 months.  Since [my] reporting…I have received numerous personal threats of death and rape.  Other threats have been directed at my family and loved ones…via direct message on social media, email, and anonymous texts.  I have been pulled over…[and] have seen p[igmobi]les stationed outside of my house…

To Molest and Rape (#1457)

They’re trying to pretend this one isn’t typical and representative by calling him “part-time” and saying he was “attempting to complete his certification”:

A [typical and representative Alabama cop] was fired and arrested after being [caught molesting kids.  His name is] Joshua Dane Wells…

 

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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Simply claiming that the “age verification preserves online anonymity” does not make it so.  –  Judge Patrick Higginbotham

Policing for Profit

Cops usually make up some pretext, however flimsy, for their armed robbery schemes:

Indiana State Police…located 26 shipping containers [full of military surplus and other equipment, plus] a…forklift…and a[n entire] locomotive [stolen] from the former Jeffersonville Powder Plant…[by] former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel…[by interrogating] Sheriff’s Office…employees [ordered to] move…the property…Defense Department…criminal investigators said the Clark County Sheriff’s Office had received $7 million in surplus property between 2015 and 2022 when Noel was sheriff.  Auction records…show…two air compressors and a generator [were] sold [in 2023]…Noel has been charged with 25 felonies…

Chauvinism (#335)

“Major events such as…the Olympics always provide an excuse for governments to ‘clean things up’ in the host cities before the guests arrive”:

French police [a]re cracking down on Paris sex workers ahead of the Olympics…Charities working in…the Boulogne and Vincennes woods…ha[ve] noted “increased police patrols ahead of the Games with heavy-handed identity controls on women working in the sex industry.”  They urged authorities [not] to…”rob, rape and assault [sex workers].”  French authorities[‘ pretext is a mythical] increase in prostitution during the Olympic and Paralympic Games which will begin on July 26 – something…[repeatedly disproven by years of reports and stud]ies…”Contrary to [government claim]s, sex workers are not in the process of arriving in large numbers in Paris where the cost of accommodation is constantly increasing ahead of the Olympics”…Other charities have denounced efforts by the French authorities to move migrants and the homeless out of the capital ahead of the Games…

The tagline quote is from an essay I wrote for Reason ten years ago; note what’s missing from their rhetoric despite its omnipresence in stories about the London Olympics?

Lack of Evidence (#1312) 

California pigs are still using “sex trafficking” myths to argue they should be allowed to assault, rape, and abduct women for merely existing in public:

…little more than a year after SB 357 became law, some [politician]s want…to once again criminalize loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution.  Supporters of the bills…[vomited a lot of ugly, moronic nonsense about how cops are brave heroes whose often-violent harassment of women on the street constitute] efforts to combat human trafficking [and women are much too stupid and pathetic to make their own decisions, so cops must be empowered to force them, for their own good of course]…

The whiplash-inducing speed with which California pivots on civil rights issues is one of the reasons I tend to be such an Eeyore on these baby-step reforms, which are mostly intended to distract activists and hush timid human rights campaigners.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1405)

The 5th Circuit is, as usual, somewhat confused:

…the 5th Circuit [has] handed down a mixed opinion in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton.  The Court unanimously upheld the preliminary injunction barring [Texas] from mandating pseudoscientific “health warnings” on adult websites.  By a 2-1 decision, however, it lifted the injunction against the state’s age verification mandate…this decision does not change the fact that platforms that do not implement age verification measures will be at risk of prosecution by the Attorney General, as has been the case since the Fifth Circuit stayed the preliminary injunction last September…As the dissenting opinion by Judge Higginbotham makes clear, [lifting the injunction] violates decades of precedent from the Supreme Court [requiring]…strict scrutiny to content-based regulations that limit adults’ access to protected speech…

Shame, Shame (#1405)

These ghouls have absolutely no shame:

Marilyn Monroe, who died 62 years ago, has been [imit]ated [by] a “hyper-real” [computer]-generated digital [zombie] that lets fans engage in a conversation with [a computer imitating] the late act[ress] — wh[ich] can answer questions “in Marilyn’s signature voice and style,” according t[o]…Soul Machines…which [claims]…the…chatbot…is able to read users’ emotions and respond accordingly via…proprietary camera and microphone technology…other recent…i[mitation]s [of] dead celebrities…include an animated biopic of French singer Edith Piaf that will use [a computer] to create a facsimile of her voice and image and the Calm app’s [computer]-generated [imitation] of Jimmy Stewart reading a bedtime story

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1415)

Next time you find yourself wondering why Florida is such a perpetual cavalcade of crazy, visit this link and read the whole thing, then ask yourself what kind of defective intellect could possibly fall for even 3% of this egregious bootlickery.  The single fact contained therein is that Florida politicians have economized by creating one unconstitutional float to enter into two fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parades, the “age verification” parade and the “social media is a tool of Satan intentionally designed to destroy Our Precious Children” parade.  WWSB couldn’t find even a single employee with low enough self-esteem to sign off on this turd, so it’s simply credited to “staff”.  I suppose an intern assigned to copy-paste a press release does qualify as “staff”, so at least that much is true.

The Last Shall Be First (#1418) 

Both sides in the culture war have completely taken leave of their senses:

A newly proposed law in Missouri could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they’re found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning…[bill sponsor] Jamie Gragg…said the goal of the bill is to [define legal minors as the property of] the family that they come from [without legal rights as individuals]…

 

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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If government speech determines what books can be in the library…children can only see…ideas…the government has approved. – Ken Paulson

The Scarlet Letter (#798)

I’m sure there’s some federal law which could be used against other state “prostitution” laws:

Tennessee’s decades-old aggravated prostitution statute violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Department of Justice [has] announced…warning that the state could face a lawsuit if officials don’t immediately cease enforcement.  Tennessee is the only state in the United States that imposes a lifetime registration as a “violent sex offender” if convicted of engaging in sex work while living with HIV, regardless of whether the person knew they could transmit the disease…The department is calling on the state to not only stop enforcing the law, but also remove those convicted under the statute from the sex offender registry and expunge their convictions…

Business As Usual (#1333)

Psychopathic rapist-murderer cop gets slap on the wrist:

A [typical and representative] Ohio vice cop [who regularly raped sex workers by threatening them with violence and arrest] has pleaded guilty on federal charges related to kidnapping, after being cleared earlier this year of murder…charges in a similar but separate incident.  Andrew Mitchell…pleaded guilty to…deprivation of rights under color of law and…obstruction of justice.  Prosecutors have recommended he…se[rve a mere] seven to 11 years in federal prison…

Creepy Coppers (#1364)

Some cops don’t limit themselves to one type of creepiness:

A [typical and representative] New York co[p and screw named]…Jeffrey Thomas Singleton is behind bars [in] Pasco County…Florida…for possession of child pornography, video voyeurism, and sexual contact with animals…33 files of child pornography…were found…[plus] a hidden camera that he allegedly used to shoot videos of a girl undressing…[cops] also found images of Singleton engaging in sex…with his two dogs…

I could’ve filed either of these guys in two different tags, but this one seemed most pertinent:

A [typical and representative Minnesota cop]…previously accused of attempting to solicit sex from [other cops fantasy role-playing as teenagers online has been] re-arrested…on eight new charges…Mathew Richard Adamson…[took] photos of three adult women, two children, and one…[apparent] teen…[girl] using hidden cameras in various restrooms…[he also] saved screenshots of [women] in various states of undress…from a [cop surveillance camera hidden in the jail]…and [collected]…child pornography, featuring children ages 8-12…

Thought Control (#1366)

That they are willing to openly admit this is a sign of how bad things have become:

Florida…Attorney General Ashley Moody has declared th[at]…public schools…[and] libraries…do not exist to promote the free exchange of ideas, but rather, to “convey the government’s message.”  In a legal brief, the State of Florida argues it has a First Amendment right to remove…any book…from public schools and libraries…the state [contends that]…public school libraries are “a forum for government speech, [not a] forum for free expression”…

The Cop Myth (#1393)

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

Erika de Lima was…murdered by her husband cop, Thiago de Lima, on [December 3rd] in São Paulo, Brazil.  A surveillance video showed Erika de Lima attempting to drag Thiago de Lima out of a car.  The [murderer pistol-whipped]…her…about five times before shooting her in the chest twice…in broad daylight…

Vulture Watching (#1395)

Texas Supreme Court declares that the only way for doctors to know if an abortion is legal is to perform it and see if they get prosecuted:

The Texas Supreme Court [has] overturned a lower court order allowing an abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition, hours after her lawyers said she had decided to leave Texas for the procedure in the face of the state’s abortion bans.  The court ruled that…Kate…Cox’s doctor, Damla Karsan, “[did not correctly guess the magic words]…the court [wanted to hear to allow an]…exception[, so Cox just has to risk sepsis which will lead to infertility or even death]”…

To Molest and Rape (#1395)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative] San Diego Co[p named]…Jose Soto…[has pled] guilty [to] child pornography…and…continuous child sexual abuse…[of] a child under 14…involving two young victims…

“Continuous sexual abuse” also describes this cop’s behavior:

A [typical and representative Washington] D.C. [cop named Charles Johnson II] has been sentenced to…32 years in prison…[for] sexually abus[ing his girlfriend’s daughter,] who was nine and ten years old at the time…he took advantage of her when[ever] she was left in his care…[after] his release, Johnson will be [condemned] to [the]…sex offender [registry] for the remainder of his life…

It really amazes me when multiple people give these predators access to their kids:

A [typical and representative North Carolina cop named]…Johnathan Andrew Edwards…was charged with…[filming] multiple underage girls ranging in age from 7 to 17…in a[n undefined] sexual act…

 

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

Without Let or Hindrance

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

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

If Men Were Angels

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

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

Paint By Numbers (#1070)

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

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

Monsters (#1300)

Never forget that this started with censorship of internet porn:

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

Stupor Bowl (#1311)

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

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

The End of the Beginning (#1373)

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

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

Served Cold (#1382)

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

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

Looks like the cops are getting involved as well:

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

 

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

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When have the people who ban books ever been the good guys?
–  Keri Lambert

Stalkers in Blue

This creepy shit appears to be a cop’s twisted idea of “flirting”:

[Florida cop] Dylan Fruh [resigned before he could be fired for stalking]…a 17-year-old girl whom he traffic-stopped [on a flimsy pretext and demanded]…her phone number…[he then] followed her and parked 3 spaces over…and…[started repeatedly] texting and calling her…When this was reported…[he claimed to his] superiors…that he had followed her to make her more comfortable with cops…While investigating this, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office searched his phone and found yet another c[reepy stalking of] yet another [underage] girl…No photo [of Fruh] can be found on the Marion County Sheriff’s Office page or elsewhere…

Why do so many cops seem to believe that stalking and harassing women will “build trust“?

Thought Control (#1356)

Surely you didn’t think this crusade would stop with libraries and the internet?

Murfreesboro [Tennessee] passed an ordinance in June banning “indecent behavior”…[and] specifically [referencing] Section 21-72 of the city code…[which defin]es homosexuality [as “sexual conduct”]…An ACLU-backed challenge…has already been launched, but that hasn’t stopped [politicians] from [us]ing the measure [for its intended purpose, banning LGBT-themed]…books…from the public library…[including] the books Flamer, Let’s Talk About It, Queerfully and Wonderfully Made, and This Book Is Gay.  The board also implemented a new library card system that categorizes books into certain age groups…[so] children and teenagers will only be able to check out books that correspond to their age group; they will need permission from a parent or guardian to check out “adult” books…[including] many classic high school books, such as To Kill a Mockingbird…

Dangerous Speech (#1373)

The main phase of this evil self-parody is finally over:

After a dozen years of legal tussles, seven years in the crosshairs of ambitious prosecutors, and five-and-a-half years fighting a federal case that saw his business forcibly shuttered, his assets s[tolen], and his longtime partner [harrassed into] suicide, alt-weekly newspaper impresario Michael Lacey was found guilty Thursday on just one of the 86 criminal charges levied against him…But the government’s fanatical pursuit of Lacey and his four other Backpage co-defendants is far from over…[the] award-winning investigative journalist…was found guilty of international concealment money laundering, which could land him in prison for up to 20 years, and not guilty of international promotional money laundering.  But after a week of contentious deliberations, the jury could not come to agreement on the other 84 charges, prompting U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa to declare a second mistrial…That means Lacey could face a third federal trial…for the crime of running a classified ads site…executives Scott Spear and John Brunst were found guilty of…over 20 counts apiece…[and] could very easily spend the rest of their lives in prison…Andrew Padilla and Joy Vaught, [who were charged specifically to goad them into testifying for the prosecution,] were found not guilty on their 51 prostitution counts…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1375)

Opportunists taking advantage of cop gullibility by selling them ordinary gear at inflated prices just by slapping the word “fentanyl” on it would be hilarious if it were their own money these idiots were throwing away, but of course it isn’t; it’s money they steal from others, either indirectly (by taxation) or directly (by pointing at it and belching “drugs”).  And now that they’ve extended their panic to dogs, there are even more opportunities to wreck lives by accusing victims of the made-up crime of “exposing” others to fentanyl.

Counterfeit Comfort (#1383) 

It’s good to see someone with a functional moral compass addressing this topic:

Meaghan Ybos…is president of Women Against Registry, an organization dedicated to ending sex offender registration…when her rapist was finally caught, nine years after the attack…she…learned that the Memphis Police Department had neglected to test the majority of the rape kits it collected, including hers.  Since then, she’s been pushing back against the myth of the rape kit “backlog”…[which she describes as “]political theater…It’s…politicians and law enforcement…using victims like me as a currency…A lot of times the retort to people arguing against the registry is, “You should tell that to so-and-so who was raped when she was 16 by a stranger.” OK: Well, I was. That was my case. I actually have a rare type of stranger rape that doesn’t even happen to that many people, and I’m still against this…Is it good for a society to be able to punish people after they’ve served their punishment? Is it good for our society to accept the government keeping lists of people for whom constitutional rights can be suspended?…the registry is counterproductive as any supposed crime reduction goal[“]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1389)

The latest entry in the currently-fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parade:

Indiana [politician] Mike Bohacek…has filed a bill that he [doesn’t admit is to monitor adults] online…[it] would require age verification for websites [politicians summarily deem] pornographic…[and invent a new crime for] a website operator [to fail to guess what politicians might declare]…pornographic material without [spying on users]…

To Molest and Rape (#1389)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative Colorado cop named]…Dylan Miller…was arrested…[for] kidnapping [and] sex[ually] assault[ing]…a 15-year-old girl…in July at the North Lake Park in Loveland [Colorado]…Miller…[target]ed the girl [by using the pretext that she was] in [the] park after-hours…[he demanded she] walk with him to a secluded area of the park…[and] sexually assaulted her…

 

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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