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Posts Tagged ‘Shame Shame’

This is exactly how our system is supposed to work.  –  Mini Timmaraju

To Molest and Rape

“Serious domestic incident” seems to mean he raped his ex:

A Monroe [Louisiana cop named]…Chad Austin Prather…was [arrested and charged]…for…rape [but also rewarded with a paid vacation]…

The Face of Trafficking (#1533)

It says a great deal that when something resembling the myths really happens, a church is behind it:

An FBI raid revealed 57 victims of forced labor living in cramped quarters at a lavish Florida mansion [owned by] the leaders of a church…David Taylor…and Michelle Brannon…[ran] a forced labor and money laundering scheme through…Kingdom of God Global Church…Taylor, who calls himself “Apostle,” and Brannon, his “executive director,” established call centers across the country, staffed by followers working long hours with no pay, tasked with collecting donations…and [also] to work…as…Taylor’s personal servants who fulfilled [his] demands around the clock…The call centers earned $50 million…over the last 10 years…If victims disobeyed…or failed to reach his monetary goals, Taylor and Brannon punished the victims with public humiliation…psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults, and threats of divine judgment in the form of sickness, accidents, and eternal damnation…At the mansion…[were] seven Mercedes Benz sedans and two Bentley sedans…as well as $500,000 in gold bars in Brannon’s bedroom…Taylor claimed to have had “multiple face-to-face encounters with God” and said he was “Jesus’ best friend”…He often demanded sexually explicit videos and photos from women within the organization, and investigators…found thousands of such videos…

You Were Warned (#1533)

Oh look, sensible people were correct as usual:

Discord has confirmed one of its third-party [age gate] providers [was hacked and]…the…government-issued IDs…[used to submit to] age verification laws [stolen]…Experts have warned collecting sensitive personal information, [including] government-issued IDs, is a “disaster waiting to happen” and sites adopting age verification would be a prime target for hackers…

The Vultures Descend (#1536)

Much of the culture war is driven by ignoramuses refusing to understand how things work:

The [FDA] has approved a[nother] generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, expanding its supply at a time when [minions of] the Trump [regime want]…to sharply restrict [legal] access to [it]…The approval…means…three American companies can now produce [the drug]…The FDA. approved the original pill 25 years ago and in 2019 approved the first generic version…nearly two-thirds of abortions in the country are carried out with medication…[which] is a major reason…the number of abortions in [states that want the procedure banned] has not decreased…By law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must approve an application if it demonstrates that the generic drug is identical to the brand-name drug…

Even after a century of “Drug War” failure, prohibitionists refuse to get it into their thick skulls that banning a thing does not make it magically vanish; people simply get what they need on the black market.  Even if the US wholly “banned” mifepristone, it is still made in other countries and could easily be smuggled in.

Welcome to the Future (#1540)

Anybody still using Facebook products deserves everything they get:

[Facebook] will soon use what people [foolishly] tell its…chatbot to…target them with even more personalized ads…[Facebook] already targets users with ads based on what they post and click on, as well as who they’re connected to…but in conversations with [the] chatbot, users could directly tell the company…what [ads] they…[might] have [less resistance to, leading]…to…potentially harmful content recommendations…[Facebook calls this] “improv[ing] people’s experience”…

Shame, Shame (#1554)

A program is not a “she”, and running a program is not “acting”:

[A corporation hopes] Hollywood [will accept a program called “]Tilly Norwood[” as an actress even though it is just a computer program].  The [program runs an animated] brunette [image which]…has so far made only brief public appearances…on social media…”Tilly Norwood is not an actual human performer. It’s a…[computer-driven] construct,” said…SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin in…a formal statement condemning the [tech companies’ attempt to convince]…people [that the program is “intelligent”]…and…[c]an…replace a human being…under the terms of SAG-AFTRA’s contract with Hollywood producers, studios may not use synthetic performers without…bargaining over terms…[but that doesn’t stop]…Particle6, the London-based production studio behind the [cartoon, from ridiculous claims about]…talent agencies [“]signing[” the character and] calling [it] “the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman”…

If Men Were Angels (#1578)

“Worship leader”.  How many variations on these titles are there?

A [Texas] worship leader is facing charges of promoting child pornography…Jon Paul Sheptock [was apparently turned in by one of his victims]…and…was [convenient]ly [arres]ted at…a…prison…where he was providing ministry services to [people locked in the state’s filthy cages]…

 

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 have to spend quite a lot of money just to have fun.  –  guy obsessed with women being murdered

Counterfeit Comfort (#420)

If you’re a fan of “sex offender” registration, meet one of your bedfellows:

A man [nam]ed…Varun Suresh…has been charged…[for] stabbing…a 71-year-old [Fremont, California] man…to [death]…Suresh [told cops] that he [targeted his victim because he was a]…registered sex offender…

The Face of Trafficking

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

A [Pennsylvania] man [named Ramiro Caal Jolomana] is facing human trafficking charges…[because he] forc[ed] two young immigrant girls…ages 14 and 17, to work on a mushroom farm, with little compensation, while threatening to have them punished or deported if they strayed from him…The 14-year-old…was forced to work 16-hour shifts, seven-day work weeks, only to have her paycheck signed over to Jolomna and his wife…[she] was also…forced to perform domestic chores…The 17-year-old girl was…was…subjected to similar conditions…

Damned If You Don’t (#1243)

Cops will never stop these evil scams until there are criminal charges for their behavior:

…civil rights lawyer Jared Trujillo [used] TikTok to warn queer men about an [ongoing] sting operation…in New York’s Penn Station…Amtrak cops have been using the Sniffies app to target and arrest gay men on a charge of lewdness “even if their response is innocuous”…a similar scandal came to light in 201[4], when Port Authority p[igs]—including one [the herd thought it was hilarious to refer to by the sophomoric nickname]…”The Gay Whisperer“—were charged with…“public lewdness[” for merely using urinals in the men’s room.  Violent scams]…like this…disproportionately target Black and Brown queer men…[putting] these men a[t] even more at risk [from] ICE [goons]

Shame, Shame (#1514)

Do nitwits still think realistic porn cartoons are the worst use for this technology?

YouTube removed a channel that was dedicated to posting [computer]-generated videos of women being shot in the head following 404 Media’s request for comment.  The videos were clearly generated with Google’s new…video generator tool, Veo, according to [the] watermark…The channel…started on June 20, 2025.  It posted 27 videos, had over 1,000 subscribers, and had more than 175,000 views…All the videos…follow the exact same formula…a woman begging for her life while a man with a gun looms over her.  Then he shoots her.  Some videos have different themes, like…Lara Croft being shot, “Japanese Schoolgirls Shot in Breast,” “Sexy HouseWife Shot in Breast,” “Female Reporter Tragic End,” and Russian soldiers shooting women with Ukrainian flags on their chest…

Mad Libs (#1546)

Oh look, Maggie is right again, what a surprise:

OpenAI researchers [have finally admitted] that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits…that cannot be solved through better engineering…[so-called “]hallucinations[“] stem…from statistical properties of language model training rather than implementation flaws…“Unlike [actual] intelligence, it lacks the humility to acknowledge uncertainty,” said Neil Shah…[of] Counterpoint Technologies…the OpenAI research [also] revealed that industry evaluation methods actively encourage…the problem…[by] penaliz[ing] “I don’t know” responses while rewarding incorrect but confident answers…

As I’ve said for decades: true intelligence requires the concept of “maybe”, therefore it is impossible to achieve with digital computers which must by their very nature reduce everything to “yes” and “no”.

To Molest and Rape (#1570)

When will the mainstream media admit that pigs in schools are a menace?

A [typical and representative Ohio cop paid to lurk in a high school to spy on, harass, and intimidate students has been] arrested [for, predictably, molesting]…a…student…Andrew Warren Bobb…was [also]…charged with tampering with evidence and violating a protection order after [he] was [order]ed to [stay away from his victim]…by [her] guardians…Bobb had [deleted incriminating pictures from his]…cell phone…

Walled Garden (#1570)

The word “Orwellian” is overused, but in this case it is absolutely spot on:

…UK…[censors are predictably pushing for more surveillance, claiming the misnamed] Online Safety Act…do[es]n’t go far enough.  For example…[encrypted] messaging apps [cannot be snooped into]…the [censorship bureau], Ofcom…[wants compulsory] biometric analysis…the entire time [any adult] is logged in…Using biometric systems which integrate into an operating system, platforms can verify the identity of a user throughout the entirety of their session.  To do this, the system, driven by [machine learning], will learn about an individual’s appearance, behaviour and voice to build an identity which the user can be verified against.  Then, when the user logs on, they are continuously monitored by the system…consistently [peering into everything they do] until they log out [and keeping it in a file any cop, spook, or other government busybody can pry into at will]…

 

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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Don’t we have something more interesting and important to think about?  –  Jan Kirsch

See No Evil (#1092)

What happens when puritans are not ignored as lunatics:

No one had any problem with the eggplant, then the peach showed up.  To those [with sick minds, these fruit represent]…phallic and derrière references…the…sculpture[s] in…Ellicott City…[Maryland are the work of]…Jan Kirsch, an artist and landscape designer who[se oeuvre consists mostly of large]…sculptures…of…fruit[s] and vegetable[s such as]…Chile Pepper #2…a six-foot pear…and a couple of intertwined carrots…Kirsch [is not mentally ill and therefore] knew nothing about peach and eggplant emojis being used suggestively [by adolescents] to represent body parts…[but pearl-clutchers filed] anonymous complaints about the sculptures…with the county’s planning and zoning department in June…And Julie Danna, the commission’s chair, [is herself a censorious prude, so the result was a foregone conclusion regardless of protests from sane people]…

No Escape

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

A [typical and representative] Boston [screw named]…William Cooper…rape[d]…a person [locked] in [one of the city’s filthy cages]…on July 7…Cooper taped trash bags to the office window before [forc]ing [his victim in there]…The [victim said nothing until she was released from the cage]…and…“no longer fearing retribution” [from the rapist or his fellow gang members]…

To Molest and Rape (#1407)

Cops allowed one of their gang to rape a baby for almost two years after he was reported:

A [typical and representative San Antonio cop named]…Albert John Sanchez Jr. was [finally] arrested and charged with…[repeatedly raping a baby under 2 years old.  The cops have known about the rapes since January 5th, 2024, when another of his victims], a 13-year-old[, reported witnessing]…the [rapes, but they merely]…charged [him] with…child pornography [and let him otherwise run free]…

Shame, Shame (#1410)

Why would anybody waste good money to talk to a computer program pretending to be a dead man?

…nearly seven years after [Stan Lee’s] death at the age of 95, [his celebrity is being exploited by people who programmed] a hologram that will use [a linked chatbot] to have [fake] conversations with fans…at the Stan Lee Experience section of the [Los Angeles Comic] Con…which costs…$20 to enter…tak[ing] photos with the hologram or hav[ing] a three-minute…[interac]tion with [the chatbot while the hologram mimes talking will cost extra]…

Eavesdropping (#1473)

If you think these ads won’t be “personalized” by spying, I have a “smart” bridge to sell you:

A software update rolling out to Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerators in the US is putting ads on the [screen]s…despite Samsung insisting…in April that it had “no plans” to do so…the writing’s been on the wall ever since Samsung embraced a “screens everywhere” initiative for its home appliances.  After all, it was Samsung that started bunging ads into its old smart TVs ten years ago…

Torture Chamber (#1501)

A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners:

…more than a dozen [victims of a prison “nurse” named Joseph Eastridge have filed]…more than 20 federal lawsuits…since 2002 [after he] withheld or cut off access to medication or equipment, including bandages and braces, even if the prisoner had had access to the items for decades; told prisoners that their conditions, ranging from debilitating back pain to diarrhea, were fake or “normal”; refused to write passes for people with injuries or disabilities to keep them in bottom bunks; and [repeat]edly retaliated against those who filed grievances by removing access to meds…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1571)

What’s worse than chatbot “therapy”? Chatbot marriage “counseling”:

As [chat]bots…become inextricably tangled with [gullible] people’s private and public lives, it’s causing [100%]…predictable new crises…in romantic relationships…an uncanny dynamic is unfolding across the world: one person in a couple becomes fixated on ChatGPT or another bot — for some combination of [pseudo-]therapy, [bad] relationship advice, or [pseudo-]wisdom — and ends up tearing the partnership down as the [program] makes more and more radical interpersonal suggestions…Spouses relayed bizarre stories about finding themselves flooded with pages upon pages of ChatGPT-generated psychobabble, or watching their partners become distant and cold — and in some cases, frighteningly angry — as they retreated into an [algorithmically-warped] narrative of their relationship.  Several even reported that their spouses suddenly accused them of abusive behavior following long, pseudo-therapeutic interactions with ChatGPT…

 

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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We have a child problem and it’s probably time to talk about it.  –  unnamed Facebook employee, April 2017

See No Evil (#1505)

The Japanese are the only people left on Earth who can tell fantasy from reality:

One of the hundreds of laws adopted by Texas recently [invent]s a…felony…[for merely looking at any nude picture of a fictional character] that appears to [any Texas politician to] be…younger than 18 years of age…[within the fictional universe inhabited by the characters, despite all Japanese animation characters looking like that.  Politicians justified the prohibitionist onset by barfing out the marketing term “]artificial intelligence[“, yet clearly states that the law applies to]…“a cartoon or animation[“.  Comics book store owners]…have…already pulled some volumes of…popular Japanese comic[s]…due to concerns [of being targeted by violent censors]…

Shame, Shame (#1535)

Zuckerberg is completely out of his mind:

…[Facebook has repeatedly claimed that] child safety [is] a top priority across its platforms.  But…researcher[s working for the company]…said…[it routinely] suppressed research that might have illuminated potential safety risks to children and teens on the company’s virtual reality devices and apps…[on orders from] its legal team…[which] seek[s] to “establish plausible deniability” about negative effects of the company’s products…[even though] children younger than 13 [routinely] bypass…age restrictions to use the company’s virtual reality services…In Zuckerberg’s [deranged] vision, people will maneuver in and out of virtual and physical spaces for work, entertainment and socializing…But earnings reports show that Reality Labs, the company’s virtual reality division, has lost more than $60 billion over the past five years…In 2021, a…child sex offender in Michigan…was sentenced to 35 years in prison [for trying to lure children via the so-called “Metaverse”, and] in 2022, a…man [molested] a 13-year-old girl [after abducting her]…in Utah after they, too, met and interacted…the [same way]…

Eavesdropping (#1537)

As if rude assholes talking loudly on cell phones wasn’t bad enough:

[A chatbot in a] pendant is now…[available] for $129…[“Friend”] connects…through [an] iPhone…to a chatbot in [someone else’s computer] that’s powered by Google’s Gemini…You can tap on the disc to ask [the chatbot] questions…and it responds…by sending…text messages through the companion app…It also listens to whatever you’re doing…and offers a running commentary on the interactions [with non-consenting strangers] you have…[via] microphones that are always activated…wearing the [“]Friend[“] will likely earn you the ire of everyone around you…[especially because it] is the creation of Avi Schiffmann…a creepy…man in his early twenties…[who] can be brash, snarky, and vocally unconcerned about critical feedback, and…that attitude has carried over to the device he has infused with his essence…[which] comes off as opinionated, judgy, and downright condescending…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1553)

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

…ICE…recently spent nearly four million dollars on facial recognition technology…to [find] people it [pretend]s have assaulted [its goons]…Clearview has…repeatedly contracted with ICE…but those purchases did not explicitly say the technology would be used to identify people the agency [wished to target with spurious claims of “]assaulting officers[“]…

Creepy Coppers (#1554)

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

A[n Alabama screw] is under arrest for sending [dick pics] and [porn] videos to [underage girls] through Snapchat…Christopher Thomason…sent…more than 100 [dick pics] of him [wearing his magical clown costume] to at least three underage [girls, one]…of [whom was]…12…He [also] tried to meet up with a girl at a high school football game…his boss h[og used the opportunity to strut around bloviating self-aggrandizing copaganda]…

Walled Garden

This “monkey see, monkey do” parade is now parading around the world:

Aussies [who don’t use VPNs] will soon be required to [ask Nanny permission to access any part of the internet any politician chooses to point at while barfing “]pornography[“, “]violence[“]…[“]inappropriate[“, or whatever other magic words they choose to add later]…Companies [can be targeted by politicians for looting using] the new laws [as an excuse]…Similar rules will be imposed on apps…includ[ing]…chatbots…[the] government…last year [declared that it didn’t give a shit]…about breaches of privacy…

Walled Garden (#1565)

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

After blocking its service in Mississippi over its new [beg-for-permission-to-use-the-internet] law, [Bluesky] is taking a different approach to comply with [surveillance] laws in South Dakota and Wyoming…users [without VPNs] in South Dakota and Wyoming can [submit to surveillance]…through…Kids Web Services’ (KWS)…the same [data-selling company it uses] to comply with the U.K.’s [misnamed] Online Safety Act…[which in actuality puts] users at increased risk of identity theft…

 

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 machines aren’t just taking over our work—they’re taking over our minds.  –  Nicolas Hulscher

Shame, Shame (#1535)

Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

[Facebook] has appropriated the names and likenesses of celebrities – including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez – to create dozens of flirty social-media chatbots without their permission…While many were created by users with a [Facebook] tool…employee[s] had produced at least three…All…have been shared on…Facebook [or its] Instagram and WhatsApp platforms…the bots…often insist…they [are] the real [McCoy] and…routinely ma[k]e sexual advances…[Facebook] deleted about a dozen of the bots, both “parody” [bots] and unlabeled ones, [when it realized Reuters was about to publish a]…story…on the[m]…at least one of [Facebook]’s primary [LLM] competitors, Elon Musk’s platform, [MechaHitler], will also produce images of celebrities in their underwear…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1560)

Don’t let computers call them, either:

…more and more stories [are] emerg[ing] about…chatbots leading people to self-harm, delusions, hospitalization, arrest, and suicide.  As the loved ones of the people impacted by these dangerous bots [file lawsuits against]…the companies that [let these programs run wild and flagrantly lie about their abilities]…OpenAI…has…done little more than offer copy-pasted promises…now [the company is] scanning users’ messages for certain types of…content, escalating [some]…to human staff for review — and, in some cases, reporting it to the cops

The Cop Myth (#1560)

Cop is a cop is a cop is a cop:

A judge has found a [CBP goon] liable for civil assault for [threatening] a hotel maintenance man [with a gun when he came to] the [goon]’s room to unclog his toilet…Joshua Jones was part of a Phoenix-based [goon gang] sent to Portland in July 2020 to guard the federal courthouse…during nightly unrest downtown after [a cop murdered] George Floyd in Minneapolis…Christopher Frison…arrived at Jones’ room about 5 p.m. on July 27, 2020, and knocked several times.  Frison also called out “maintenance,” gave his name and waited, holding a plunger…[bu]t Jones opened the door quickly and pointed a gun at [him]…Jones [claimed] he thought a protester might have been outside his…door…and…he was prepared “to protect that room”…yet…never looked in the peephole…before opening…“What the hell are you doing? What is going on?” Frison…screamed…Joshua Keller, one of the government lawyers representing Jones…[absurdly] argued that Frison’s recollection of events wasn’t realistic, [because] it wouldn’t make sense for [a loose-cannon cop to act like a loose-cannon cop]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #22)

When will the mainstream media admit that pigs in schools are a menace?

A [Florida cop] assigned to lurk in a]…high school [to spy on, harass, and intimidate students, predictably molested] a 16-year-old female student…Saul Garcia [was rewarded with a paid vacation since]…April 16, [but has now been sacked and arrested]…

The Cop Myth (#1561)

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

Cincinnati [cop] Thomas Back was arrested [for] domestic violence after a 911 call[er gave cops his] license plate number…[after] seeing [him] pull o[ver] into a grassy area…a woman, who was screaming and crying, [jumped out] and ran toward a wooded area…Back [then drove past her, jumped out, grabbed her and] threw h[er back] into his pickup…and…drove away…[the] argument [started because]…another woman attempted to [call] him [via a video app] while they were driving…a judge…issued a temporary protective order for [the] girlfriend…

Mad Libs (#1565)

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

A new MIT study…has found that using ChatGPT to help write essays leads to long-term cognitive harm—measurable through EEG brain scans.  Students who repeatedly relied on ChatGPT showed weakened neural connectivity [and] impaired memory recall…While the [LLM]-generated content often scored well, the brains behind it were shutting down.  The findings are clear: Large Language Models…like [Cat, I farted] and [MechaHitler] don’t [actually] help students write—they train the brain to disengage…the brain essentially “lets go” of the effort required for synthesis and memory…[leading] to passivity…and low integration of concepts…

Walled Garden (#1567)

Prohibition can never actually succeed in eradicating the banned thing:

When the United Kingdom began [demand]ing…websites…verify their users’ ages…sites that complied…saw visits from British internet addresses collapse.  But…porn sites that disregarded the [asinine] rule…have been rewarded with a flood of traffic…Some have doubled or even tripled their audiences…compared with the same time last year…John Scott-Railton…[of] the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto…called [it]…“a textbook illustration of the law of unintended consequences…The more the government squeezes, the more they reward the very sites that scoff at their rules”…[yet wannabe censors keep idiotically burbling that the internet is a bar while demanding] adults…give sensitive information to scattered websites, exposing them to data breaches…[which] happen all the time…the…censorship movement…[is already moving] far beyond porn to “wall off huge sections of the internet, with the government as the sole gatekeeper”…The anonymous message boards 4chan and Kiwi Farms [have] sued Ofcom in U.S. District Court…

 

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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Instant Criminal

The Gestapo are using fake “child porn” charges because the mere accusation will keep useful idiots from demanding due process for their victims:

…more than…100 cruise ship crew members…have been summarily deported and had their work visas revoked in recent months based on unsubstantiated allegations by CBP [goons] of possessing or viewing child pornography….the [goons]…are boarding cruise ships with a list of targets and s[teal]ing their cell phones, laptops, and electronics.  The [victims] are handcuffed and [goons] pressure them to sign an admission, which includes a [“]voluntary[“] revocation of their C1/D visa…[without being] shown [any] evidence…or allowed legal representation…the cruise ship industry…heavily relies on international crews…[especially from] the Philippines…the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) and the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC), say more than 100 Filipino sailors have been arrested, deported, and had their work visas revoked since June…A person whose…crewmember visa is revoked cannot reapply for another one for 10 years…[thus destroying] their livelihood…

On the rare occasion the goons claim any “evidence” at all, it’s stuff like this:

A Filipino worker at a cruise ship lost his job over a video showing him and his wife kissing their 3-year-old son…after US [goons pointed at it and barfed “]child pornography[“]…They also [stole] his cell phone and gave it back after a month, but not before deleting the video…

Creepy Coppers

This one not only uses the distancing “former”, but also tries to excuse the crime because…the criminal is a good shot?  “A [typical and representative Ohio cop named]…Robert Golden Vogel [was arrested] and charged…with [multiple child porn offenses after cops went to his house on a ‘disturbing the peace’ complaint]…

If Men Were Angels (ROTW #19)

You’d think “youth pastor” would be a big red flag by now:

A…youth pastor in Virginia is facing federal charges [for posing] as a teenage boy to exchange nude photos and videos with young girls, telling one of them…that it was “time for her to see her first dick”…Jacob Ryan Barnett… “repeatedly [pestered]”…young…[girls] for pictures of [their] crotch…On May 20, the FBI…[was contacted by] a mother in Michigan [to report] that [someone]…had been attempting to groom her 15-year-old daughter…on TikTok [he claimed to be]…“a 17-year-old boy from Virginia…called…Jodie Johnson”…the FBI subpoenaed Verizon for…the account holder behind Johnson’s number, which showed it belonged to Barnett…his…TikTok account appeared to be following “thousands of minor girls”…

Beware of men who “volunteer” to be in positions of authority over your kids:

“Hundreds” of images of child pornography were found on a computer that…belonged to a [Texas] youth church volunteer [named]…Kevin Hartgrove…[who preferred] young girls between the ages of 11 and 13…

Creepy Coppers (#1530)

This sleazebag tried to frame a woman for his crime:

A [typical and representative] Idaho [cop named]…Caleb Sickinger…was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison for…obtaining images of a child from social media, digitally altering them to appear pornographic, and distributing the altered images to an individual in Alabama…[while claiming to be] a woman in Idaho.  [The FBI raided]…the [innocent] woman[‘s]…home…[but found] no [child porn, and the] email addresses did not match…the [victim’s.  The]…FBI [eventually stopped turning the victim’s life upside down when they realized that] Sickinger [had used] images from the woman’s social media account to mascaraed [sic] as her when distributing the [porn of her]…child…

He “mascaraed” as her?  When will news media admit that editors are not optional?

 

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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Good luck explaining th[e danger of censorship] to people who actually think fake nude pictures are worse than totalitarianism.  –  “Shame, Shame (#1163)

To a mind…unaccustomed to independent thought, being part of a group that can be said to be the “most” at anything is something to be proud of.  –  “Bragging Rights

One reason I’ve never used cryptocurrency [is that] it was clear there would never be a dependable, government-proof way to turn it into actual money.  –  “Decentralization (#1365)

Though I’ve read the explanation of why the cohort born from 1928 to 1945 was first named “The Silent Generation“, I cannot fathom how so many nitwits still think it’s a good label.  –  “Silent, Indeed

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The misconception of algorithms as “intelligent” entities is a dangerous one.  –  Webb Wright

Vulture Watching (#1430)

Another attempt to use antique laws to ban abortion is foiled:

On July 2, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled th[at]…an 1849 law…[politici]ans [were trying to use to] ban…abortion from conception to birth [does no such thing]…in 2022, abortion providers in Wisconsin stopped providing services for fear of violating the 175-year-old law, which says that “any person, other than the mother, who intentionally destroys the life of the unborn child” is guilty of a felony and subject to 15 years imprisonment unless the life of the patient is at risk.  The state’s…attorney general Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit arguing the law operates only as a feticide law…and does not ban “consensual abortions”…[in addition,] the 1849 law…has been implicitly repealed by later regulations, including a measure criminalizing abortion at 20 weeks…[the] court agreed with Kaul…Justice Jill Karofsky…described the effort to apply a 175-year-old law with almost no exceptions in the present day as a sign of a “world gone mad”…

The Punitive Mindset (#1526) 

Fascism in action:

[Trump hench]man Brendan Carr has dec[re]ed t[hat] prisons and jails [can] keep…price[-gouging the families of people locked in cag]es until at least 2027, delaying implementation of rate caps approved last year…Carr…[bloviated a lot of fascist nonsense justifying] the change…[but FCC] commissioner Anna Gomez [said]…”the FCC made the indefensible decision to ignore both the law and the will of Congress…[in order to] shield…a…system that inflates costs and rewards kickbacks to c[arcer]al facilities at the expense of [caged human beings] and their loved ones”…

Shame, Shame (#1532)

Why would anybody waste good money to talk to computer programs pretending to be people?

One of the tech industry’s weirder cycles of brand reincarnation has given us yet another new version of Napster: a site teeming with [cartoons of] well-lit, photogenic people smiling confidently and talking with their hands…This new version of Napster surfaced on June 25 when a Florida company formerly known as Infinite Reality, which leveraged mysterious funding to buy the Napster brand for $207 million in March and then renamed itself after that purchase, announced “Napster Companions”…[with technobabble about] “thirty psychometric parameters that make each agent distinct”…Think of this as trying to put a [pseudo-]human face on [LLM] chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude…the company’s press release says…”If an agent does not already exist, the Napster Companion platform auto-generates a new one on the fly”…Access costs $19 a month or $219 a year…and…you must click a checkbox next to [a] disclaimer [wherein you claim to “understand” that chatbots are neither intelligent nor people and have a tendency to make shit up]…

Torture Chamber (#1539)

A society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners:

A [victim of the] federal [government] had to have one of his…limbs partially amputated after being kept in restraints for two days.  Another [cag]ed person died after being pepper sprayed and left shackled in a restraint chair for five hours.  The Department of Justice Office of Inspector General…published those details…after receiving dozens of [repor]ts a year from [prisoners who] were strapped to beds or chairs for long periods of time and assaulted…BOP policy allows [deranged screws] to [ab]use restraints [in virtually any way they please as long as they belch the magic word “]disruptive[” at some point before, during, or after the torture, and pinky-swear that it wasn’t]… a method of punishment…[no] documentation [or] video or audio [of the torture is required, not]…even…medical checks of [human beings left to suffer] in restraints…there [a]re no [time] limits…and [virtually no] review of the use of restraints…

Mad Libs (#1550)

The only thing LLMs can actually process is language, so of course their output depends on the language used:

When [large language] models were tested on simulated writing from [people foolish enough to think a word-association algorithm can practice medicine], they were more likely to advise against seeking medical care if the [make-believe] writer [supposedly] made typos, included emotional or uncertain language – or was [pretended to be] female…Abinitha Gourabathina at [MIT]…used [another LLM] to help create thousands of [make-believe] patient notes in different formats and styles…includ[ing LLM imitations of] patients with limited English proficiency…health anxiety…[overly-]emotional tone or gender-neutral pronouns.  The researchers then fed the [LLM output] to four [other]…LLMs…commonly used to power chatbots and told the[m]…to answer questions about whether the [make-believe] patient should manage their [make-believe] condition at home or visit a clinic…the various format and style changes made all the [large language] models between 7 and 9 per cent more likely to recommend [make-believe] patients stay home instead of getting medical attention.  The models were also more likely to recommend that [make-believe] female patients remain at home, and…more likely than [actual] clinicians to change their recommendations for treatments because of [supposed] gender and [feigned] language style…

Creepy Coppers (#1551)

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

A [Maryland cop named]…James Dodson Jr. was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police…[for] twice asking a friend [via Snapchat] to see her 11-year-old son naked in a picture or in person…he also admitted to [her that he] watch[es] child pornography…[after she reported him cops raided] Dodson’s [house] and [searched his] phones a[nd]…computers…[his boss hog used the opportunity to strut around and bloviate self-aggrandizing copaganda]…

Aladdin’s Satellite

A shortcut to LLM-induced psychosis:

…A growing number of [fools] are [mis]using…chatbots as “trip sitters”…this is a potentially dangerous psychological cocktail…while it’s far cheaper than in-person psychedelic therapy, it can go badly awry…Throngs of [nitwits] have turned to…chatbots in recent years as surrogates for human therapists…directly encouraged by some prominent figures in the tech industry, who [irresponsibly fantasize] that [word-association algorithms without consciousness] will [magically] revolutionize mental-health care…a profusion of chatbots designed specifically to help users navigate psychedelic experiences have been cropping up online…[but] experts…agree…[that] replacing human therapists with…bots during psychedelic experiences is a bad idea…[because] the basic design of large language models…is fundamentally at odds with the therapeutic process…

 

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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They're absolutely DESPERATE to force people to listen to them.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-14T04:16:00.895Z

Dr. Zaius' ancestor.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-16T04:37:49.434Z

Textbook megalomania.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-16T17:28:24.241Z

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51233

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-17T18:00:54.379Z

Creating "criminals" with the stroke of a pen is one of the oldest governmental tricks there is. It allows the government to invent enemies where none existed, in order to justify the expenditure of manpower and treasure to "fight" the imaginary self-created evils.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-19T17:06:09.131Z

"Senate Republicans went nuclear" is a hyperbolic lie. Which is a damned shame.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-22T17:32:04.679Z

On top of being unethical, CGI pictures on social media are nearly always ugly, and often creepy.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-23T17:05:40.213Z

Too bad, so fucking sad.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-24T17:31:59.000Z

Some people on here really are so much in love with being outraged that the evil circus centered in Washington STILL isn't enough for them, so they have to invent deeply stupid things that are nothing to do with themselves to be outraged about.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-25T16:46:54.149Z

One of the things I despise most about Musk is that he has provided ammo to the "solve earthly problems first, hurp derp derp" crowd which has bedeviled space exploration at least since Gemini.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-28T17:51:58.270Z

And since they're FEDERAL secret police, we could even call them the "Secret State Police", or SESTAPO for short.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-29T17:23:32.825Z

I am begging reporters, in the name of journalistic dignity, to STOP calling Trump's package of tyranny the "One Big Beautiful Bill". It doesn't matter that the regime calls it that; find another term. This one makes anyone who uses it sound like a rather stupid first-grader.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-30T16:50:26.544Z

I must point out that "Swedish model" regimes have tried to do this with sex work clients for years, prosecuting them for paying sex workers in other countries where it's legal. Nobody cared, and the precedent was set.The avalanche has already started; it is too late for the pebbles to vote.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-05-31T17:06:35.965Z

Mad emperor is still mad.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-01T07:32:33.397Z

It's a testament to the human ability to Not Get It that, in a world where the writing of every critic, philosopher, and scholar in human history is available at their fingertips for reading and consideration, most people still have absolutely no clue what "art" is.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-02T17:54:04.679Z

Cops are overgrown children cosplaying War, with all the rest of us forced into their stupid, childish game without our consent, consuming vast funds from the public treasury and ruining lives by the hundreds of thousands.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-03T17:24:16.608Z

If your response to governmental attempts to ban things is to complain that they should be banning something you dislike instead of something you like, you are part of the problem.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-04T17:17:38.599Z

Your regular reminder that "illegality" is a status defined entirely by the state, which can be changed at the whim of politicians.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-05T16:30:56.462Z

In related news, the administration has announced it will be releasing a PDF of all Trump's sayings from his speeches and social media writings, to be called the "Little Red Book", which will be pushed into all US cell phones via the national emergency alert system and will be impossible to delete.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-06T17:51:08.259Z

If you want people to believe that cops who rob, rape, or murder are a "small and unrepresentative" minority of "bad apples", you must also admit that looters are a "small and unrepresentative" minority of "bad apple" protesters. And the latter aren't protected by QI.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-08T16:59:07.930Z

ORDNUNG WIRD WIEDERHERGESTELLT!

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-09T18:32:57.685Z

Once again: PLEASE stop calling LLMs "AI". When you keep reinforcing the techlord-promoted fantasy that these algorithms are a kind of "intelligence", YOU are helping to push mentally-ill people into belief that these systems are more than electronic parrots. futurism.com/chatgpt-ment…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-10T17:47:16.452Z

Remember how bird-brains kept claiming that the WORST POSSIBLE USE for this technology was putting celebrity faces on porn actresses, and I warned y'all it would soon be used to manufacture police state propaganda?I won't even *bother* saying "I told you so" this time. Except I guess I just did.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-11T17:14:26.984Z


I have a joke about Tantalus, but I won't tell it to you.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-13T17:52:16.380Z

Politicians don't think like that. To a politician, for adolescents to be Schrödinger people, either adult or "child" as an "official" requires, is a FEATURE, not a bug. That's why they're now trying to extend adolescence to 25 for men and menopause for women.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T17:57:21.198Z

"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them." – Frank Herbert, "Dune"

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-15T17:07:24.060Z

Politics has never been "cool" at any point in human history. It's just that politicians and their fans DELUDE themselves into BELIEVING that they are cool. Even dour shitheads like Cromwell, Robespierre and Mao thought they were fucking rock stars.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-16T17:07:32.168Z

Since this is all fantasy anyhow: I use my time line converter to dramatically slow my progress through the time stream so that I can set free everyone tied to the tracks, remove all the passengers from both trolleys, then tie the person who proposed the problem to the tracks and walk away.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-17T17:20:27.161Z

It's always interesting to watch people who truly believe in "right-left" idiocy get all confused when politicians or other "officials" behave in a way that doesn't neatly fit into one or the other of those boxes.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-18T17:11:18.210Z

Accurate headline: "Women are 20% less likely than men to be intellectually lazy, and 25% more likely to recognize that computers can't actually think, regardless of advertising claims to the contrary."www.ft.com/content/7f0f…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-19T15:34:37.150Z

 

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It is functionally impossible for people to drive anywhere without having their movements tracked.  –  the Institute for Justice

Property of the State

Every “official” involved in this utter and complete abomination should be imprisoned for life:

Adriana Smith, a registered nurse…was nearly nine weeks pregnant in early February when she started experiencing intense headaches…caused by…multiple blood clots in her brain…[but after she] was declared brain dead…[the State of Georgia demanded her cadaver be kept connected to machines] until doctors believe the baby can survive outside the womb — likely at 32 weeks…Under Georgia’s [monstrous]  law, abortion is banned…[even] if the mother’s life is [over]…her medical team is…not legally allowed to consider other options…[despite the fact that the fetus] has fluid on the brain and…may be blind…[or un]able to walk, [or] may not survive…[to add insult to abomination, the family is being stuck with] mounting hospital bills…

Panopticon (#1486)

Surveillance beyond the wildest dreams of the Stasi:

Flock, the automatic license plate reader…company whose cameras [spy on] more than 5,000 communities in the U.S., is building a product that will use [internet search] tools, data brokers, and data breaches to “jump from LPR…to person,” allowing police to [illegal]ly identify and track the movements of specific people…without a warrant or court order…Th[is makes]…Flock…into a much more invasive tool, potentially able to link a vehicle passing by a camera to its owner and then more people connected to them, through marriage or other association…Flock employees [are] questioning the ethics of using hacked data as part of their surveillance product…[but] the tool is already being used by some [cop shops without permission or regulation]…

End Demand (#1505)

Courts curtail the power of cops and prosecutors much too rarely these days:

Does answering a prostitution ad make a man a sex trafficker?  The highest court in Massachusetts says no, in a ruling that represents a win for both common sense and civil liberties…Commonwealth v. Garafalo…involved a [scheme in which cops]…pretending to be…sex workers…arrested men who [answered their fraudulent ads and]…charged them with…sex…trafficking…[but] there was no trafficked person…and taking “every single John, charg[ing] them with sex trafficking, and put[ting] them in prison for five years” was not “the intent” of the sex trafficking law, defense attorney Patrick Noonan told the court…[which agreed] that…Merely agreeing to “the terms extended by [a] sex worker[, real or imaginary,]…cannot reasonably be [considered coercion]”…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1521)

Politicians won’t be satisfied until they can micromanage every aspect of teens’ lives:

Virginia teens under 16 will soon face [political interference in] their social media usage [under] a…new…law…[demanding] social media companies…set default time limits of one hour per day for [Virginia] users under 16…with parents having the ability to adjust that time up or down.  [Politicians congratulated themselves on their self-imagined wisdom and power, ignoring the fact that all a teen will need to do is use a VPN to appear to be someplace other than Virginia]…

Property of the State (#1529) 

How long will Western society allow cops and prosecutors to terrorize traumatized women?

[UK] police have been issued guidance on how to [raid] women’s homes [in search of] abortion drugs and [snoop in] their phones for menstrual cycle tracking apps after unexpected pregnancy loss…the National Police Chiefs’ Council…on “child death investigation”…also suggests a woman’s digital devices could be [stolen] to help [prosecu]tors “establish a woman’s knowledge and intention in relation to the pregnancy”.  That could [also] include [snooping into] a woman’s internet searches [and] messages to friends and family…Details are also provided for how police could [illegally] bypass legal requirements for a court order to [pry into her] medical records…The Abortion Act of 1967 allows women to end their pregnancies under medical supervision up to 24 weeks, or beyond…if the life of the mother is at risk or if the foetus has a serious abnormality…Leading abortion providers, legal experts and medical professionals have…called for [the new guidelines] to be amended…

The Cop Myth (#1533)

They tried to hide this murderer’s cop identity by shoving it down to paragraph 20:

[A cop named Gregory Guilfoyle who was] convicted of shooting his wife and leaving her for dead in a blizzard was sentenced to 100 years in prison by an Indiana judge May 12…Hannah Lynch…nearly died in her own front yard with a gunshot wound to her head.  She has a permanent shunt in her skull…lost part of her toe to frostbite…[and] had to relearn most of her basic motor skills…She was also pregnant at the time of the shooting and lost the baby…three of four experts at trial suggested that Guilfoyle was insane…[and] Guilfoyle [himself blamed the attempted murder on]…his [being a cop]…and…[claims] that he was hallucinating at the time…the jury found Guilfoyle “guilty but mentally ill”…[which means] he will receive psychiatric treatment [while in prison]…

Welcome to the Future (#1537)

Anyone who trusts Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

Mark Zuckerberg…[is] pitching a [dystopian] future where [computer programs] give people something that “knows them well,” not just as pals, but as…therapists…but this future is already…starting to seem extraordinarily dangerous…we’re watching the impending collision of two alarming trends.  In one, tech executives are encouraging people to reveal ever more intimate details to [their computers], soliciting things users…may not even tell their closest friends.  In the other, the government is obsessed with obtaining a nearly unprecedented level of surveillance and control over residents’ minds…with little regard for legal or ethical restraints.  [The Trump regime]…has indiscriminately arrested and revoked the residency of legal immigrants on the basis of legally protected speech and activism…announced plans to build a federal database…of people with autism…and…is…working to centralize data about Americans that’s currently stored across different agencies…[while] US residents are being urged to discuss their mental health conditions and personal beliefs with chatbots…whose owners are cozy with the [regime]…

 

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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