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Posts Tagged ‘sporting events’

In the News (#1378)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[Screws] punish people who can’t fight back.  –  Gregory Hyde

The Truth About “The Truth About…”

Just another of those nonexistent false rape accusations:

Gerardo Cabanillas…[rotted] in prison for nearly three decades…[after being] accused [by cops] of a brutal robbery at gunpoint and sexual assault of a young woman in [Los Angeles] in 1995…The 18-year-old had been involved in a separate robbery in the area and [vaguely] matched the description given by the woman, so [incompetent cops] assumed the crimes were linked…During a seven-hour interrogation during which Cabanillas [was denied] access to an attorney, [pig inquisitor] Jack Lee Alirez promised the young man he would be released on probation if he admitted to what he was being accused of…[that was a lie, and] Cabanillas was [instead] charged with 14 felonies, convicted and sentenced to a de facto life sentence…The victim…never identified him in court…and…[her] boyfriend [only] identified Cabanillas [because the cops]…told him…Cabanillas…had confessed…his case was finally taken up by the California Innocence Project in 2017…[and] this year, DNA evidence not only cleared Cabanillas, but also identified another suspect, who was already in prison awaiting trial for murder…Th[e actual rapist]…went on to commit additional sexual assaults…

If Men Were Angels

Even the distancing “former” is the same as for rapist cops:

A [typical and representative Iowa] pastor…[named] Mark Benson…gave a young girl medicine to make her sleep, then sexually assaulted her several times between 2009 and 2012, when she was between 10 and 13 years old…

Perquisites (#840) 

Expect use of this term to continue expanding wildly:

..former NU cheerleader Hayden Richardson…alleges that University employees repeatedly put [her] and her peers in situations where they were groped, harassed and assaulted by fans and alumni for the purpose of soliciting donations to the school…In June 2021, NU filed a motion to dismiss federal claims including forced labor, sex trafficking and forced-labor trafficking and state claims related to breach of contract and emotional distress…U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang [has now] ruled…that the University failed to argue that the Trafficking Victims Protection Act does not apply under the provisions listed by Richardson…noting that the “Spirit Squad Contract” Richardson signed with the University amounted to financial coercion.  Had Richardson not attended [such] mandatory events…and thus had to leave the team, she would have owed NU more than $10,000 for her scholarships and cheer-related expenses…

I Spy (#1184)

“Child porn” is merely a pretext for mass surveillance on an unprecedented scale:

…in October [Swedish politician Ylva] Johansson’s [mass surveillance] proposal [will be] put to a vote in the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament…The regulation would obligate digital platforms – from Facebook to Telegram, Signal to Snapchat, TikTok to clouds and online gaming websites – to [snoop into user’s private files and communications] and report any [image a mindless, error-prone algorithm decides is] child [porn]…so-called “client-side scanning”…will unleash a massive new surveillance system and threaten the use of end-to-end encryption…Johansson, however, [keeps barfing out the word] “children”…and…is…“influenced by companies pretending to be NGOs but acting more like tech companies”, said Arda Gerkens, former director of Europe’s oldest hotline for reporting online [child porn].  “Groups like Thorn use everything they can to put this legislation forward…because they have a commercial interest in doing so…Who will benefit from the legislation?…Not the children.”

The Punitive Mindset (#1196) 

“Drugs” are a popular pretext for petty vindictiveness in US prisons:

Another state prison system is facing a lawsuit over its use of inaccurate drug field tests to throw incarcerated people in solitary confinement.  The class-action lawsuit, filed…by Columbia Legal Services in a Washington state circuit court, alleges that the Washington State Department of [Torturing Caged Humans (TCH)] uses unreliable field kits to test mail for drugs and then uses the unverified results to put inmates in solitary confinement, move them to higher security prisons, and strip them of visitation rights and other privileges…items that have tested “presumptive positive” include blank notebook paper and manila envelopes purchased directly from [TCH]’s commissary…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1279)

The stupider the belief, the harder it is to debunk:

[Facts and common sense have]n’t kept [hysteria] over rainbow fentanyl from gaining momentum again as Halloween nears…police in Tulalip, Washington, [tried to panic] parents after finding pastel-colored fentanyl pills at a local casino…”rainbow fentanyl” pills were also seized near Charlotte, North Carolina…”Joe Camel” [inanely barfed] Charles Odell, the CEO of a [company profiting from prohibition, oblivious to this being a non sequitur]…

The Cop Myth (#1374)

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

…[typical and representative] Pennsylvania [cop] Ronald K. Davis [has been charged] with felony strangulation, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment…and o[ther crimes after trying to discredit his mistress by having her committed]…he took a [non-cop buddy] and [attacked] her…[but his buddy] captured the [assault] on video.  That video…and text communications with Davis show that [the mistress] was rational and the involuntary commitment was improper.  As a result of Davis’ actions, [she] was involuntarily committed for five days…

 

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

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In the News (#1361)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Anytime there’s a bipartisan consensus and a preachy New York Times op-ed, you can assume something you enjoy is about to get regulated out of existence or made worse in quality.  –  Liz Wolfe

Broken Record (#687) 

Sparsely-populated states are still clinging desperately to “sex trafficking” myths that larger states have quietly backed away from:

The Sturgis Motorcycle rally officially begins on August 4th.  [Blah blah pearl-clutching, lies about criminal charges, infantilization of women, and cop swagger]…South Dakota’s pheasant hunting season also causes a spike in sex trafficking in South Dakota…

The Last Shall Be First (#924)

If you didn’t see this coming, you haven’t been paying attention:

Christine Gallinaro [took] her [deeply autistic] 15-year-old son…[to a cinema] in…New Jersey…[and brought him] into the women’s toilets because there was no family one…her son, who…is non-verbal, “is not equipped to go into a men’s bathroom in a public setting alone”…However, the…theatre’s manager approached them in the…crowded lobby, shouting…“a grown man should not be in the women’s restroom” and “this is not a transgender bathroom”.  He then told an assistant manager to call the police [on them]…

Above the Law (#1142)

They usually make these cases sound like the rapist was doing his victims a favor:

A disgraced Wisconsin prosecutor secretly recorded himself having sex with three women, including one he was prosecuting.  Daniel Steffen…[of] Wisconsin…was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he was convicted in April…“While the defendant and Victim #1 are still engaged in sex, the defendant looks at the camera, sticks his tongue out, and winks several times,” and can be heard repeatedly telling the victim, “Who’s in charge?” the complaint said…In addition to his prison time, Steffen must serve two years of extended supervision, four years of probation, and placement for 10 years on Wisconsin’s sex offender registry.

You Were Warned (#1279)

The bipartisan war on the internet moves us another step closer to idiocracy:

“[The internet causes] sex…trafficking, drug[s and death”, bloviate perennial nuisances] Lindsey Graham…and Elizabeth Warren…in t[he] New York Times…What follows is a litany of untrue statements and gross exaggerations about the way Big Tech operates and the purported harm done by the cluster of websites that millions of Americans willingly use on a daily basis…Warren and Graham go on to announce they’re introducing [another terrible internet-breaking law] to create [yet] an[other government agency]…”charged with licensing and policing…tech companies” which will be “nimble” and “adaptable” (just like all those other government agencies).  The regulator will “prevent online harm” (by waving a magic wand and ensuring no bad actors ever go online); “promote free speech and competition”…by scrapping Section 230 and…”guard Americans’ privacy” (because government agencies do a great job at cybersecurity!…

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1293)

Blaming bad behavior on an imaginary “addiction” is the opposite of admitting responsibility:

[Actor] Terry Crews recently [attempt]ed [to avoid responsibility for abusive behavior toward his wofe and kids by blaming it on an imaginary “]porn addiction[” he melodramatically described as a]…”battle”…

It isn’t only celebrities who use this dodge to lessen their culpability:

[Indiana teacher] Christopher “Kit” Degenhart…[pled] guilty…to…seduc[ing a 17-year-old student in the theater department he headed]…Degenhart will spend one year behind bars while participating in a work release program.  After one year, he’s scheduled to move into home detention while working in the program for six more months…he…will [then] be on two and a half years of probation…[inclu]ding sex addiction meetings…[and] regist[ration] as a sex offender…

Thought Control (#1328)

Texas has figured out how to stop judges from overruling library censorship: simply eliminate libraries:

Houston…will be eliminating librarian positions at 28 schools this upcoming year and converting the libraries into “[punishment] centers” where kids [declared to have] behavioral issues will be [confined]…This…[is] part of the new superintendent Mike Miles[‘  “]reform[“] program…[with the Orwellian title] New Education System…a total of 85 schools…have joined Miles’ program, and of those, 28 campuses will lose their librarians.  The district said th[ose 28] will have the opportunity to transition to other roles within the district…[but] the [employment of the] remaining 57 NES schools’ librarians will be assessed on a case-by-case basis…

To Molest and Rape (#1358)

“Sexual offenses” sounds so much milder than “rape”:

The [typical and representative] chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police is being investigated over serious allegations of sexual offences in Northern Ireland.  Will Kerr was a [cop] in Northern Ireland for 27 years before [being promoted] in 2018…he said [she wanted it]…

 

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

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In the News (#1350)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Public spaces are not majority spaces.  –  Judge David Nuffer

Broken Record (#851)

Omaha’s repeated rehash of this same silly tale is even more pathetic now that the trope has died off nearly everywhere else:

The College World Series is back in…Omaha…[so] human trafficking [profiteer] groups are asking you to be on high alert.  “Nebraska’s a hotspot,” [burbled] Julie Shrader…of Restoring Wings.  A 2,900-mile corridor connects Nebraska to neighboring states, putting it at the center of a national road system…

Because clearly it’s unusual for a largish midwestern city to be near the center of the country, or connected to other states by highways.

Checklist (#1134)

Uber already encourages its drivers to spy on riders and rat sex workers out to the pigs:

[Politician]s are working to [attempt to revive the moribund “]sex trafficking[” hysteria by attempting to stoke panic about] rideshare apps…[after] Uber ma[de] changes to its age requirement…[It now] allows minors ages 13 to 17 to request rides without an accompanying adult…Sabrina Crawford is [a rescue industry profiteer and sex trafficking fetishist who wants politicians to infantilize young people even more than they do now]…

A Broker in Pillage (#1155)

When laws pretended to control cops contain no criminal penalties, cops simply ignore them:

You can sign this piece of paper, abandon the $18,000, avoid arrest and continue on…Don’t sign, and you will go to jail.  You could face felony charges.  Your van will be towed.  Your dog will be taken to the pound…[Pretextual] stops like these, where passing motorists are pulled over, searched and…any cash that’s found [extorted from them], are big business in Seward County, population 17,692…Here, money is routinely s[tolen by police] without anyone being charged or proven guilty of anything.  The sheriff’s department has specialized in and perfected the practice, known as civil asset forfeiture, despite a 2016 law meant to ban it in Nebraska….which…was designed to require a criminal conviction before the state could seize money…but [politicians] left two loopholes.  Seizures over $25,000 could circumvent state law entirely by being adopted into federal court.  And [cops] could still [steal cash] under state law if [they pointed at the money and barfed out the magic word “]drugs[“] even if there are no drugs in the car…It’s the legal tactic Seward County now uses far more often than any other county in Nebraska…

The Last Shall Be First (#1338) 

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

California…parents could potentially lose custody of their children if they refuse to support their child’s decision to “transition” to another gender…Currently the policy is limited to divorce proceedings, but opponents have argued that it will inevitably expand.

The Cop Myth (#1339)

Reporter tries to bury the lede; headline writer won’t participate:

Maryland [cops]…arrested a [typical and representative cop named]…Jason Michael Colley…[for child abuse, only a year after he was let off with a slap on the wrist for beating] his 6-month-old daughter…[to] death…on September 19, 2017…[and trying to pass it off as] seizures…Judge Julia A. Martz-Fisher sentenced Colley to…50 years, suspending all but eight years to be served on private home detention.  She also ordered Colley…not engage in physical punishment of children [but he has apparently ignored that]…

As I’ve often said, cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors.  And certainly not small children.

The Last Shall Be First (#1345) 

Why do people need “permits” to exercise their speech rights in the first place?

The city of St. George [Utah] must issue a permit for a…group…to host an all-ages drag show in a public park, a federal judge ruled, calling the city’s attempt to stop the show unconstitutional discrimination…Southern Utah Drag Stars and its CEO, Mitski Avalōx, sued the city…after [it] denied the group permits…in April…citing a never-previously-enforced ordinance that forbids advertising before permit approval.  The permit denial based on that ordinance, [Judge David] Nuffer wrote in his ruling, was a pretext for discrimination…

The Last Shall Be First (#1346) 

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

A federal judge delivered a stinging rebuke to Florida [politicians]…over…a new state law that banned minors from receiving “puberty blockers” and other types of gender-affirming care…Judge Robert Hinkle…blocked the state from applying the ban to three minors whose parents are part of an ongoing lawsuit…and…the ruling suggests that a key part of the law itself could get knocked down as the legal challenge proceeds…Hinkle’s 44-page ruling called the…ban…“an exercise in politics, not good medicine.  This is a politically fraught area.  There has long been, and still is, substantial bigotry directed at transgender individuals.  Common experience confirms this, as does a Florida legislator’s remarkable reference to transgender witnesses at a committee hearing as ‘mutants’ and ‘demons’…”

 

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

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Links #677

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The idea that [cops] have a protectable right to personal privacy while conducting a search of someone’s home is nothing short of absurd.  –  David Carey

Wow, there sure were a lot of celebrity deaths in the past couple of weeks; I think the most obits I’ve had in one Links column before was three or four; it was certainly less than six.  But none of them were musicians, so here’s a parody of one modern ritual surounding the other end of the human experience.  The links above it were provided by Stephen Lemons and Franklin Harris; Dan Savage and Radley Balko; Jesse Walker and Scott Greenfield; C.J. Ciaramella; and Scott Long, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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In the News (#1349)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

All the alarm bells should be going off when [politicians] use their elected power to control…children’s ideas.  –  Val Benavidez

Surplus Women

Sick men may respond violently when sex workers refuse to belong to them:

The neighbor and content partner of [adult] performer Charlotte Angie has been convicted in Italy for her 2022 murder.  Davide Fontana was sentenced…to 30 years in prison for beating Angie to death…Angie…[had a short-lived] relationship…[with] Fontana…[in] 2021…and [apparently did not realize]…he was [obsessed with her because she] agreed to shoot a BDSM sex video [with him] in January 2022…after binding…he[r, Fontana] took a hammer and…hit…her all over her body and on her covered head…then cut her throat with a kitchen knife…From January to March, Fontana used Angie’s phone to impersonate her on her social media accounts, and also paid her rent and bills…[while he] traveled around…looking for places to dispose of the…body parts…[cops found them] on March 20, 2022, apparently the same day Fontana finally disposed of them by throwing them down a cliff in Valcamonica…

If Men Were Angels

It’s getting harder to tell the preachers from the cops:

A 75-year-old deacon at a church in Walker County [Georgia] faces hundreds of sex abuse charges…Dennis Carl Laman…[repeatedly molested a] 30-year-old victim [with] cerebral palsy [who] is bound to a wheelchair and has a low mental capacity…she…told [a] doctor…and…her caregiver that Laman had fondled her inappropriately, and that the…abuse had been going on for about 6 years…Laman…confessed [to molesting]…the woman…about 199 times…

To Molest and Rape

Another cop following his bliss:

A [typical and representative Irish cop] who was…questioned [due to] allegations of rape was released without charge…he was [previously] involved in…investigat[ing] multiple high profile sexual abuse cases…

The Last Shall Be First (#1266)

If you didn’t see this coming, you haven’t been paying attention:

…a…9-year-old daughter was verbally assaulted at a track and field event…[in] Kelowna…[British Columbia]…she was competing in a shot-put event when a grandfather of one of the other participants started yelling at her…[saying], “Hey, this is supposed to be a girls’ event, and why are you letting boys compete”…the man then carried on to demand certification to prove that [the girl] was born female…the man’s wife then started calling [the girl’s mot]her “a genital mutilator, a groomer, and a pedophile”…School District superintendent Kevin Kaardal [said]…steps are being taken to ban the man from all school-related events…

Part of the Picture (#1280)

Some people still claim we don’t live in a police state:

Prosecutors in Monroe County [Indiana] charged Hannah’s husband with possession of child [porn, so]…the court ordered that he not have access to any electronic devices as a condition of his pretrial release from jail.  To ensure he complied with those terms, the probation department installed Covenant Eyes on Hannah’s phone, as well as those of her two children and her mother-in-law.  In near real time, probation officers are being fed screenshots of everything Hannah’s family views on their devices…Covenant Eyes doesn’t permit its software to be used…[for] monitoring people on probation…but…courts in at least five US states have [illegally done so anyway]…Less than a week after Covenant Eyes was installed…her husband’s probation officer [claimed] her husband had violated the terms of his bond…[because] Covenant Eyes [reported] that her phone had visited Pornhub…[in actuality,] her phone had made a network request to the website’s servers as part of a background app refresh…on her Chrome browser…This is a known issue with Covenant Eyes [but prosecutors don’t care]…

Thought Control (#1343)

It seems I was destined to be threatened with state violence regardless of my career path:

…[Texas] Gov. Greg Abbott [criminalizing librarians who stock books politicians declare “]explicit[“, and]…prohibit schools from purchasing books that [politicians decl]are “sexually explicit, pervasively vulgar or educationally unsuitable”…Abbott [also declared that books politicians dislike are]…”trash”…Under the bill, [a political] Commission is tasked with [declaring which ideas will henceforth be legal in Texas, and task]…book vendors to [guess what politicians may arbitrarily want censored]…

Panopticon (#1346)

Hanging a camera on an animal essentially turns it into a surveillance drone:

A case recently filed in a federal district court in Connecticut alleges that a state government agency violated the Fourth Amendment by attaching a camera to a bear they knew frequented the plaintiff property owners’ land…tagged as Number 119…The bear-mounted cam was allegedly supplied…by…the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP)…[which had accused] the plaintiffs…of “illegally” feeding bears on their property.  So, this cambear appears to be part of DEEP’s efforts to prove the allegations against the couple (Mark and Carol Brault).  This surveillance attempt failed when the couple noticed the bear and its digital appendage…no warrant was obtained before DEEP converted an apparent regular visitor to the Braults’ property into a confidential non-human source.  The Braults say this is a Fourth Amendment violation, with the bear acting as a government agent, albeit one incapable of being directly controlled…

 

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

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In the News (#1314)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[Some prosecutors] don’t want to turn miscarriages into crime scenes.  –  Miriam Krinsky

A Mound of Filth (#907) 

Though “sex trafficking” hysteria is moribund, outlets which once promoted it are now distancing themselves from it, and supporting the human rights of sex workers is no longer the kiss of political death, one wouldn’t know it from this article, which reads like something written nine years ago at the apex of the moral panic.  All the tired Arizona tropes and stale characters (the Phoenix Dream Center, “Cuckoo Clock” McCain, bogus “statistics”, “Body Fluids” Sepowitz, wanking fantasies about sex workers’ lives, “King of the Hill” claims, etc) are trotted out in juxtaposition with the mummified “gypsy whores” myth in order to promote a re-animated “Project Rose”, now rebranded as “The Arizona model”.  It would almost be sad if these people weren’t dangerous, well-funded sociopaths on a crusade against women’s sexual autonomy, and employing an army of rapist thugs to accomplish it.

Zeitgeist

Sexual violence is not merely a problem of US policing; it’s endemic to policing as an institution:

…we need to recognize that [sexual violence] is systemic…it is built into policing cultures…Last year, the B.C. Municipal Undercover Program, was shut down…following [revel]ations [of the extreme lengths to which cops would go to “prove” they weren’t cops]…14 women working for the Ottawa Police…reported that they were sexually assaulted or harassed by male [cops] over the previous three years…The 2022 Tiller report…said, “The all-too-common attitude was that women were in the workplace for the sexual amusement and gratification of male members”…Even more, what happens in the force does not stay in the force…[cops regularly inflict sexual violence on women they encounter, with] Indigenous women [being] disproportionately impacted…police do not protect individuals and communities from sexual violence.  The history of police mishandling sexual assault cases, and further traumatizing victims in the process, is well documented…an[d]…policing institutions themselves are sites of sexual violence.  Police are often the perpetrators…

Devil’s Advocate (#1114) 

The absurdity becomes more obvious when we substitute “toaster” for “sex doll”:

A [Utah politician] committee…gave unanimous approval to a bill that would prohibit the possession, purchase, or distribution of [toasters] made to look like minors or children…a representative from the Utah Attorney General’s Office said there is a “high correlation” between possession of the [appliance]s and [possession of marijuana.  Politician]…Nate Mutter…said…s[toners often smoke up all their weed, so rooting pigs]…aren’t able to find evidence [that doesn’t actually exist]…”What we do know about the [toaster]s, though, is that there’s a high correlation between them being found in homes with [weed, because stoners get the munchies and use them to heat pop-tarts] or [frozen waffles]…So, in those cases where we [want to harass someone who hasn’t actually done anything wrong], this would be an additional tool to [arrest] someone…and [lock] them in…[a cage]”…

Creepy Coppers

He aced the predatory pervert job requirement, but failed the lying test:

Sergio Celaya arrived at the El Mirage [Arizona] Police Department on February 6 hoping to get hired as a police assistant.  However…whilst doing a polygraph test Celaya reportedly confessed to having videos showing underage girls having sex on his computer…police [then] searched his home…and…found a flash drive holding thousands of pornographic videos and photographs, including one of children aged 12-13…

Negative Secondary Effects (#1226)

I’m glad I was wrong about the lawsuit’s chance of success:

Edinburgh sex workers prevailed…when a judge ruled that the city council’s attempt to ban all strip clubs was unlawful.  The council’s policy, known as “nil-cap,” effectively banned all “sexual entertainment venues”…in the…capital.  Local sex workers, alongside the clubs where they make their living, launched a judicial review and…Lord Richardson released an 82-page judgment ruling the policy unlawful…

The Vultures Descend (#1273)

Bloodthirsty politicians are furious about having their crusades thwarted:

Republican…[politicians] frustrated by…district attorneys who have publicly pledged not to bring charges under their state’s abortion laws…have introduced bills that would allow state officials to either bypass the local prosecutors or kick them out of office…In Texas, [two mob-rule] bills…would allow [lawsuits against]…a district attorney who fails to prosecute abortion-related offenses…[or] anyone suspected of “aiding and abetting” an abortion.  In Georgia, [politicians] want to create a…commission that could…remove local prosecutors who [offend state politicians]…A…South Carolina [bill] would give the state attorney general the power to prosecute abortion cases…And [an] Indiana…[bill]…would allow a…special prosecutor to enforce laws when a local prosecutor declines to do so…

To Molest and Rape (#1309)

“Attempted to engage in a sexual relationship” is such a long-winded way to say “tried to molest”:

A Walton County [Florida cop named]…Artie Rodriguez…was immediately removed from his position [as a thug paid to  spy on, harass, and intimidate students] at Walton Academy after…a [genderless person reported] Rodriguez attempted to [molest them]…in person and [groom them] via text…Rodriguez showed the student explicit photos, [grop]ed them…and provided them with a vape pen…

 

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

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In the News (#1313)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Those people aren’t hurting anyone.  –  Aaron Wojack

Torture Chamber 

It’s amazing how often people die mysteriously when cops are around:

…[An] internal surveillance recording…shows…Anthony “Tony” Mitchell, being carried into the loading area of the Walker County [Alabama] Jail.  Mitchell is limp, his head and feet dangling as uniformed personnel — “Sheriff” emblazoned on one of their vests…work to put him into [a] police vehicle.  The video contradicts an earlier statement from the Walker County Sheriff’s Office claiming Mitchell was “alert and conscious” when he left the jail for transport to a local hospital…the…[cops are “]investigating[” themselves]…

Update, four days later:

The mother of Anthony…Mitchell…has filed a federal lawsuit against multiple jail officials, including Sheriff Nick Smith, a[fter cops murdered him]…by leaving him in the jail’s walk-in freezer “or similar frigid environment” for hours…while…[strapped naked] in a restraint chair…[Mitchell’s ordeal began] when family members [stupidly thought their reason for calling the cops was an exception]…

The Widening Gyre (#420)

Lawheads still believe that barricades can magically eliminate the need for money:

[San Francisco bureaucrats] plan to install barriers…along a strip of Capp between 18th and 22nd streets where [street workers] appear most concentrated…the barriers are meant to put an end to the “cruising zone”.  [But San Francisco being what is is,] residents and [politicians claim to be]…worried about the [sex workers they want persecuted by police and denied an income, while at the same time vomiting a steady stream of copaganda and dysphemisms out of the other side of their faces]…

To Molest and Rape

No female motorist is safe while the state continues to pay sexual predators to harass us:

A [typical and representative] Arizona…[cop named Tremaine Jackson w]as…sentenced to [a mere] five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to [a few minor] sex-related charges…[to escape the full consequences of the] actions…[that led to] 61 [felony charges including]…sex[ual assault], kidnapping and fraud…Jackson was also placed on lifetime probation…Jackson was [first] arrested…on Sept. 10, 2019…in…[response to] complaints from…eight [of his] victims…[Typically,] Jackson would…pull over women between midnight and 4:30 a.m. and detain them for around two hours…[while pressing] the woman [for various kinds of sexual contact and asking what she] was “willing to do” to avoid arrest.  The [harassment and molestation] misconduct ranged from forced touching to asking for cellphone numbers and nude pictures…He [once]…pressur[ed] a woman to [give him a blow job] and follow[ed] her to a friend’s house…[but she outwitted him by running] inside and lock[ing] the door…

Rooted in Racism (#935)

The racism of European “anti-trafficking” schemes is getting harder to disguise:

Police claim they have dismantled an international sex trafficking ring that allegedly lured hundreds of women from China to Europe and forced them into sex work…Europol [claime]d the action represents the largest Chinese human trafficking bust in European history.  The gang’s accused ringleaders are [claim]ed to have forced hundreds of women in debt bondage into sex work in slave-like conditions in hotels across Europe…

Now that the public has largely lost interest in “sex trafficking” fantasies, expect the claims of cops and politicians to grow more grandiose until they hit on a new anti-migration paradigm.

Opting Out (#1268)

Most Americans still believe France is a sex-positive society:

France will become the first country to introduce a “digital certificate” for anyone seeking to view online pornography to prove they are not under age.  People wanting to visit pornography websites [who are too ignorant to install a VPN, and gullible enough to]…install a government application on their mobile phones [will open themselves up to totalitarian spying in order to] prov[e]…they are at least 18 years old…Websites that do not comply with the order risk being banned from France…[politicians paved the way for the mass surveillance scheme with propaganda melodramatically] entitled Hell Behind the Scenes, which [was heavily influenced by a cabal of prohibitionist associations aiming to abolish all sex work]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1300)

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

As part of a plea deal [to drop separate domestic violence charges], a Pinole [California cop]…has pleaded no contest to a felony charge for secretly recording sex with a woman…The deal allows…Anthony Luciano Vasquez to…serve 120 days of house arrest and two years probation…Vasquez was charged in 2021 after his own cousin [snitched]…that Vasquez “sent out secretly recorded sex videos and pictures” to a text message group called “The Mafia” that included 17 people.  He was charged with secretly filming two women, one of whom has filed a lawsuit against him and the city of Pinole…[yet] his attorney [claimed] in a September 2021 interview that [the victim wanted it]…

Law of the Instrument (Another Rapist Roundup)

I guess they figure describing rape as “sex trafficking” will net a larger payout:

Three former members of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team are suing their former coach, a national federation and its CEO and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee for sex trafficking, harassment and enabling and covering up multiple acts of sexual assault and misconduct…Olympians Rosey Fletcher and Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, along with Erin O’Malley, alleged in their lawsuit that Peter Foley…used his position of trust to “coerce sexual acts through force, manipulation, emotional abuse, intimidation and retaliation”…

 

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

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In the News (#1311)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[Forcing people to provide private] data…is dangerous, because it’s not a matter of if it will be breached; it’s a matter of when.  –  Caden Rosenbaum

Schadenfreude 

Yet another opportunistic fraud has been unmasked:

…the…[“]sex trafficking[” opportun]ist known as Eliza Bleu has broken into some of the top tiers of right-wing media in just a few years, growing her audience through…[claims that she is] “a survivor of human trafficking”…But now Bleu[‘s lies have been exposed by]…embarrassing images from her past…and…contradict[ions in her backstory from different] videos and interviews—and her frequent use of different names online…Now two former friends of Bleu [have come forward with more details which reveal]…that, at best, Bleu is exaggerating her experiences for attention…Carly Wenzel, a one-time pal…who has known her for two decades…added she believes Bleu is “completely lying”…

Lying Down With Dogs (#335)

What other country uses the term “prostitution” to criminalize consensual behavior the regime dislikes?

An Iranian court has handed jail sentences of more than 10 years each to a young couple who danced in front of one of Tehran’s main landmarks in a video seen as a symbol of defiance against the regime…Astiyazh Haghighi and her fiance, Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, both in their early 20s, were arrested in early November…Haghighi was not wearing a headscarf…women are also not allowed to dance in public, let alone with a man…The couple, who already had a following in Tehran as popular Instagram bloggers, were convicted of “encouraging corruption and public prostitution” as well as “gathering with the intention of disrupting national security”…they [were]…deprived of lawyers during the [kangaroo] court…and attempts to secure their release on bail [were] rejected…

Negative Secondary Effects

It usually starts with sex workers, but it never stops with us:

A bill introduced in West Virginia…aims to ban adult entertainment businesses from the state…The language of the bill is both borderline graphic and incredibly vague: it defines the body parts that stores are prohibited from showing in books, live performances, and films with meticulous specificity…but specific details on which businesses will actually be affected if this bill were to pass into law are left mostly undefined…Under th[e bill’s current language], a bookstore that sells [sex education books or videos]…would be considered an adult business…the terms of this bill could effectively make gay bars and nude modeling at art schools illegal…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1021)

This would be terrible even if the cops weren’t lying:

The…NYPD…is in the process of redesigning its fleet of p[igmobi]les, which will now have 360-degree cameras installed in them for constant [surveillance] of the [citizen]s…Po[rk] Commissioner Keechant Sewell…[lied] that…there are no plans to e[quip] the [cameras with] facial recognition technology…[but she bragged about]…an “augmented reality” app…will allow [cops] to point their smartphones at a location, such as a…[person’s home], and learn about things like wanted suspects or previous 911 calls connected to the address…

Creepy Coppers

The people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A [Virginia cop named]…David Stone…is currently being held without bond a[fter being]…arrested on Jan. 25…[on] 50 child pornography charges…

Stupor Bowl (#1277)

It’s unsurprising that Arizona is still promoting this nearly-mummified fantasy with police violence against women:

Despite more than a decade of research, reports, editorials, magazine articles and even police accounts debunking the odious myth that the Super Bowl is a magnet for sex trafficking, this zombie lie remains catnip to local politicians, police and media ahead of Super Bowl LVII…But occasionally a little truth sneaks through the miasma of misinformation, as is the case with…Fox 10’s report bolster[ing] the long-disproven…hoax…it inadvertently reveals [that]…Phoenix Police…ha[ve] been regularly arresting unknown numbers of adults [under the pretext that they might be “]victims of sex trafficking[” and] allowing [prohibitionist] groups to proselytize them while in custody…If that sounds familiar, it should, because about 10 years ago, the PPD was involved in a similar, highly-controversial program with ASU’s School of Social Work called Project ROSE…

The Mob Rules (#1307)

Tyrannical politicians are now competing to see which state can make adolescence most closely resemble a prison sentence:

A pair of bills in Utah would impose draconian requirements on social media platforms [under the pretext] of protecting children….social media companies would be required to verify the ages of all users from Utah, get parental consent before allowing someone under age 18 to open or maintain an account, provide parents or guardians of minors with “access to the content and interactions” of accounts maintained by their children, and…minors would be prohibited from using social media between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m…The bill would also authorize a[nyone, including bureaucrats]…to sue social media companies for [supposed] violations…

Update: This was signed into law in March.

 

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

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Links #653

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I wanted him to have a positive view of police…we ended up going to [the] emergency room.  –  Shelia Jackson

I hadn’t realized that classical Greece had an early form of pipe organ, the hydraulis; thanks to Genya for drawing my attention to this recording of a reconstructed example of the instrument.  The links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel, Amy Alkon, Cop Crisis (x3), Dan Savage, and Lenore Skenazy, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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In the News (#1277)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Americans are increasingly aware that their privacy is evaporating before their eyes.  –  Ed Markey

Torture Chamber

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

A W[est Virginia] man died 19 days [after the state locked him in a cage]…Alvis Shrewsbury…called his family members daily.  But as the days went on, his appearance on video calls began to worry his family members more and more…”After we were talking to him on the 10th (of September), he’d already been beaten.  His face was black,” his daughter Miranda Smith said…”He was telling us about his ribs being broken.  It was hard to breathe. He hadn’t had a bowel movement in over a week and nothing was being done about it”…Shrewsbury was the fifth person who died in the [same dungeon in the] last year…Kyle Robinson…[was the first] in September 2021.  Then a month later, John Lewis Jarrell died after [only] a week…In March, Quantez Burks died less than two days after [being condemned there and]…that [same] month, Richard Wriston…Shrewsbury’s body is in the custody of the West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner…[but] the family plans to conduct an independent autopsy of his body…

Thought Control (Censorship Ascendant)

Censors are now pretending thoughts they don’t like constitute a “crime”:

…over the past several years, Germany has [chosen to terrorize and]…criminally prosecut[e] people for [saying things politicians dislike] online…German authorities have br[anded]…insults, threats and harassment…[as “hate speech” and sent] police [on predawn] raid[s of people’s] homes…[where they rob their victims of] electronics and [abduct them using the pretext of “]questioning[” in a campaign reminiscent of the country’s dark 20th-century past].  Judges have enforced fines worth thousands of dollars each and, in some cases, [locked victims in cages for wrongthink].  The threat of prosecution, they believe, will [terrorize people into] not e[xpressing disfavored ideas.  They pretend]…that they are encouraging and defending free speech by providing a space where people can share [favored pro-state and majoritarian] opinions without fear of being [challenged by contrary ideas]..:

Stupor Bowl (#1211)

This pathetic public promotion of misogynistic masturbatory material appears to be all that’s left of the once-popular “gypsy whores” myth:

An estimated 5% of men have or will be buyers of sex workers, [said cops making furtive movements in their pants]…“The traffickers will, of course, follow the money to Arizona”…That’s why Glendale police are working with other law enforcement agencies across the Valley to catch traffickers coming to the state…

I’ve written before about the ever-shrinking fraction of men who will admit to having paid for sex, the unreliable methodology that produces these impossibly-low numbers, the ugly and misogynistic fantasy that paying for sex is “buying a woman”, and the weird and self-contradictory inclusion of the term “sex worker” in this kind of agency-negating propaganda.  And that’s before we even get to this myth that even prohibitionists outside of Arizona now admit is deeply stupid.

Panopticon (#1256)

San Francisco pigs are no longer satisfied with waiting for useful idiots’ consent:

San Francisco [politicians rubber-stamped] a new s[urveillance] policy allowing police to access thousands of private cameras in a live feed without a search warrant…the…proposal…will take effect in 30 days and sunset in 15 months…police can monitor the cameras…for any [event that they decide to call] “significant”…or [basically any other time they can think of an excuse]…The Electronic Frontier Foundation …called the new policy a “troubling ordinance” that could have a chilling effect on First Amendment and other rights…“Misdemeanors like vandalism or jaywalking happen on nearly every street of San Francisco on any given day — meaning that this ordinance essentially gives the SFPD the ability to put the entire city under live surveillance indefinitely,” the organization wrote in a press release…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1260)

Cops won’t drop this fantasy until local media stop obediently parroting it:

…two [West Virginia cops] were hit in the face with an unknown substance [thrown by a man they were trying to brutalize and abduct.  Being hysterical whiny-babies, the immediately assumed the substance was the magical black magic version of fentanyl which haunts cop fantasies, and]…one…suddenly [had a panic attack.  Since this kind of hysteria is contagious among those with weak minds]…the second [pig also had a panic attack]…An off-duty nurse helped administer NARCAN, which [acted as a placebo to placate the two cowards]…

Thought Control (#1265)

Surely you didn’t think this would stop with LGBT books?

…at the start of Banned Books Week…Reshma Saujani was awakened by an alert on her phone letting her know that the Girls Who Code book series [she founded] had been banned from classrooms in the Central York School District in Pennsylvania.  On Twitter, she attributed the ban to the [pro-censorship] Moms for Liberty group…Other books banned by the…district include such controversial-sounding titles as A Is for Audra: Broadway’s Leading Ladies from A to Z; Condoleeza Rice: Being The Best; Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and his Orchestra; Elizabeth Blackwell: The First Woman Doctor; Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code; I Love My Hair!; Muffin Wars; The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage; I Am Rosa Parks; Who Was Lucille Ball? and about a hundred others…the…common thread [seems to be books] that…acknowledge that Black people or women of any color exist and do things…There is good news: this ban has already been defeated.  Yay!  The bad news is that it was all very stupid from beginning to end…

I Spy (#1270)

The number of politicians who support such reform is very small:

Civil rights lawyers and [a small minority of politicians] are pushing for legislation that would limit U.S. [cop shop]s’ ability to buy cellphone tracking tools to follow people’s whereabouts, including back years in time…[usually] without a search warrant.  Concerns about police use of the tool known as “Fog Reveal…also surfaced in a Federal Trade Commission hearing three weeks ago.  [Cop]s have been using the platform to search hundreds of billions of records gathered from 250 million mobile devices, and hoover up people’s geolocation data to assemble so-called “patterns of life”…

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 very much!

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