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Posts Tagged ‘Stop faking!’

In the News (#1582)

Posted in Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, News, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else’s throat hoping they’ll give you a little thumbs up and like it.  –  Zelda Williams

R.I.P. Miss Major

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a legendary transgender activist…since Stonewall, died Monday at age 78…she…had suffered from health problems for some time and had recently begun receiving hospice care…In 1962, she moved to New York City, where she…performed in drag shows…[and] became a sex worker.  She participated in the Stonewall uprising of 1969…and…[after h]er arrest…on a robbery charge…spent time in men’s prisons and mental hospitals in the early 1970s, [where] she was often severely mistreated…Upon regaining her freedom, she became an advocate for incarcerated trans people, especially trans women [cag]ed in men’s prisons and those who have survived police brutality…In the 1980s, Miss Major became involved in addressing the AIDS crisis…[and] after moving to San Diego…started a home health care agency, Angels of Care, to assist people with the disease…she [later] became a health educator with the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center…and…[retir]ed to Little Rock in 2016…

Torture Chamber (#1074)

“Non-consensual gynecological procedures” are just institutionalized rape:

The Trump [regime] is planning to [cage] immigrants at a Georgia jail that became known for…subject[ing women] to non-consensual gynecological procedures…the Irwin County D[unge]on…drew nationwide attention in the fall of 2020, when a number of [victims] and a nurse-turned-whistleblower [reveal]ed the [rampant] medical misconduct.  After months of [unsuccessfully trying to repress the reports], the Biden administration stopped [lock]ing immigrant women there in 2021…Fourteen women sued ICE and Irwin…over the [viol]ations in 2021, [but there were] at least 40 [victims]…Early this year, the lawsuit was settled…

I Spy (#1388)

Nothing infuriates violent, self-important busybodies more than private affairs that are none of their business:

In Europe, the latest proposal for a “chat control” regulation put forward by the Danish presidency would require every internet-connected device to include government spyware…[which] would flag artwork, fan fiction, family photos and chats, relying on unreliable [computer algorithms]…Globally, [surveillance and censorship] laws…are driving users underground…virtual private network (VPN) usage has soared, as has usage of the privacy-centric Tor browser, which reached its highest level ever this year – nearly 20 million daily users, six times its long-term average…Tor was created by the US navy to counter authoritarian regimes when the “open Internet” was official US policy.  Now…western [governments are]…becoming the authoritarians Tor was designed to circumvent, while the Tor network becomes the new “open Internet”…

Enshittification (#1557) 

This will not stop until SWAT cops murder a prankster:

…teenagers…are using [image-generation software] to create images of a disheveled, seemingly unhoused person in their home and sending them to their parents…[claiming] they let the…[imaginary person] in to use the bathroom, take a nap, or…get a drink of water…then, predictably, the parents lose their cool and demand they kick the [imaginary] man out.  The kids, of course, record the whole thing, and post their parents reactions to TikTok…[some gullible] parents call the [cops, potentially leading to]…“a SWAT response”…

As in modern politics, the collapse of reality online is leading to real-world consequences.

Torture Chamber (#1574)

Experiencing any kind of medical emergency when cops are around is tantamount to a death sentence:

A new…federal lawsuit [has been filed by the family of] a Minnesota postal worker [who] died after [cops] and [screws deliberately] ignored clear signs he was suffering from a massive stroke – [choos]ing [instead to pretend] his medical emergency [was] drug impairment…Kingsley Fifi Bimpong…[was dumped] on a jail cell floor [and allowed to lie] in his own urine for hours without medical attention…On the night of November 16, 2024, [a pig saw] Bimpong…driving the wrong way…into oncoming traffic…after being pulled over, Bimpong appeared extremely confused.  He couldn’t say where he lived or worked, even though he was wearing a USPS vest, and repeatedly said, “I don’t know”…[big pig] Martin Jensen [is supposedly] trained…to…distinguish…drug impairment from medical emergencies such as strokes…[but couldn’t be bothered to perform an] evaluation…[claiming it] would be “a whole bunch of time wasted”…[because] Bimpong [was black.  So instead he]…was arrested for…DWI…[thrown violently to the floor] in a holding cell…and…[left him to die] in his own waste…for more than three hours…the…nurse was not called until…he [started] foaming at the mouth and having [a] seizure…Toxicology reports…later…confirmed no drugs were in his system…

Shame, Shame (#1576)

It isn’t merely disrespectful; it’s ghoulish:

Dr. Bernice King, daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr…has joined calls to stop the use of [machine learning image generators] to recreate deceased celebrities.  King voiced support for filmmaker Zelda Williams, who…criticized [computer]-generated videos of her late father, Robin Williams…saying, “If you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop”…

If Men Were Angels (#1580)

Wannabe preachers are often as bad as the real thing:

In August, an adult stepson of Covenant Eyes cofounder Ron DeHaas was arrested in Michigan…Thomas Wideman…[was arrested for talking to a cop fantasy role-playing] online…as a 14-year-old [girl.  Cops]…later found child [porn] on his phone…DeHaas covered some of his stepson’s $300,000 bond…

 

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 (#1576)

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

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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In the News (#1575)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

So-called “quality of life” policing is…literally costing lives. – Meghna Philip

Perquisites

Are amateurs really so sheltered that this sort of thing shocks them?

Top executives of [RCI Hospitality Holdings, the] company that owns [Rick’s Cabaret and other] strip clubs across the [US,] sent a New York state auditor on at least 13 free trips to Florida, lavishing him with lap dances in Miami…In exchange for the favors, RCI settled audits for less than it owed, in total avoiding $8 million in taxes…[now an] indictment…[has] charged six men — five executives and the auditor — and three RCI-owned strip clubs in Manhattan with 79 crimes between 2010 and 2024…the executives falsified business records to conceal the bribes, recording cash payments to the auditor as promotional expenses for the clubs…

Droit du Seigneur (#350)

Prosecutors dragged their feet so much, it took 13 years for this to get from accusation to plea bargain:

[Typical and representative Washington DC cop] Linwood Barnhill…[has] pleaded guilty…to sex trafficking a minor…Barnhill…[pimp]ed minor girls…[making] over $10,000…from one of…his victims…Barnhill…is already a registered sex offender…[he was first accused in the current case in September 2012 and rewarded with a paid vacation, but nothing else was done until he was actually caught on December 3, 2013, with a teen girl who had been reported missing]…

I Can’t Breathe (#1439)

Due to the complicity of medical examiners, it’s impossible to know how many of these were murders:

Deaths in NYPD custody have surged to levels not seen in at least a decade, with 40 people dying in 2023 and 2024 combined — roughly double the toll of any two-year period since at least 2016…One of those deaths was…Christopher Nieves, who collapsed repeatedly inside a Brooklyn courthouse holding cell last month after being arrested for allegedly shoplifting food.  His Legal Aid attorney frantically pleaded with [cops] to take him to a hospital as his skin yellowed and his body gave out[, but the cops just yelled “Stop faking!’ at him repeatedly until] he collapsed and died a few hours later…two [of the deaths, those of Saniyah Cheatham in July and Musa Cetin in August, were claimed to be] suicides [bu]t…families and advocates [have questioned] that…one…case…where the police claimed no force was used was the [death] of…Samuel Williams…but [in reality cops intentionally]…veered [their pigmobile] into his lane [on a narrow bridge so]…Williams’ [motorcycle would] collide with [it]…and go soaring through the air…Williams died from those injuries the following day…

A Moral Cancer (#1497)

Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:

In 2023, New York [state] raised its cigarette excise tax…to $5.35 per pack.  New York City imposes its own tax of $1.50 per pack, and that’s before you include federal and sales taxes, making for the most expensive smokes in the country…at…about $12 [a pack.  Prohibitionists]…hailed the increase, [pretend]ing it [would] lead to fewer smokers…[but in reality] “New York has created a cigarette-smuggling empire, and the worst is yet to come,” [said economist] Todd Nesbit…even before the…hike, more than half of cigarettes sold in the state of New York lacked local tax stamps and were smuggled from elsewhere…[but a new] study found that in 2024, the percentage of littered packs bearing the proper NYC tax stamp declined to 16.6%.  Georgia [taxed at 37¢/pack] surpassed Virginia [taxed at 60¢/pack] as the primary source of littered cigarettes…only about one cigarette pack of every six gathered by the research team in New York City passed through legal channels…[and many] bypassed the legal and taxed supply chain [entirely, bearing no tax stamp at all]…

A Broker in Pillage (#1559)

What would you call a gang who conspired to rob an old woman with dementia?

…a 91-year-old Pennsylvania woman has lost her home—and all of its worth—over a small tax debt…In 2020, Gloria Gaynor (not the disco queen) forewent her yearly trip to the tax office during COVID-19…Gaynor’s faculties noticeably declined around then…[she] returned in 2021 to pay her property taxes…under the impression that…the government would apply her money toward the previous year. Instead, it went to 2021, and her…$3,500 bill ultimately reached $14,419 with penalties, interest, and fees.  The government sold that debt to a real estate firm, the CJD Group, which then [legally stole] the deed to the home…a…2023 Supreme Court case…ruled home equity theft illegal…But…governments are getting around it…by selling properties for the value of the debt—instead of putting it on the market or selling it at auction—so…the…excess equity [goes] to…a private company…CJD Group…has acquired 62 deeds from [just that one] county…since 2011 and…the issue…isn’t limited to Pennsylvania…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1570)

These people are so drunk on their own Kool-aid they can’t see the problem with letting a defective algorithm act as its own gatekeeper:

OpenAI has announced it is introducing new safety measures for ChatGPT after [it caused] a wave of…teen suicide[s]…ChatGPT will now attempt to guess a user’s age, and in some cases might require users to share an ID…OpenAI [has been] sued by the parents of Adam Raine, who died by suicide in April…ChatGPT helped him write…his suicide note, suggested improvements on his methods, ignored early attempts and self-harm, and urged him not to talk to adults…In August…a 56-year-old man…committed a murder-suicide…after ChatGPT indulged his paranoia…[and] another lawsuit…[was filed by the parents of] a 13-year-old girl…[who was encouraged by a fictional-character chatbot to hide her] suicid[al ideation from friends and family]…ChatGPT will now also apply different rules to…[people it guesses] are…under…18 [by calling the cops on them if they seem] suicidal…

Walled Garden (#1573)

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

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva…signed into law new rules [demanding surveillance of all Brazilians who] use…social media, online video games and other digital services…[without a VPN, under the typical cl]aim of [“]protecting children[“]…“Freedom of expression is…an excuse for committing crimes in the digital world,” he said…

 

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 (#1574)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We all have the right to live a private life…without…a government drone flying overhead and watching us without a warrant or our knowledge.  –  Matt Cagle

If Men Were Angels (#1274)

It says a great deal that when something resembling “sex trafficking” propaganda really happens, a church is behind it:

…A federal racketeering conspiracy indictment…[has] charged that…Naasón Joaquín García…and five associates used [García’s] La Luz del Mundo Church to sex-traffic women and children and produce and distribute child pornography, among other crimes.  His 79-year-old mother was among those charged…García is already serving a 16-year, eight-month state sentence after pleading guilty in California in 2022 to…[sexually abus]ing three different minors…After his arrest in the California case in 2019, the new indictment says, Mr. García’s associates, including one posing as a lawyer, pressured witnesses and victims not to [talk to cops] and directed pastors of the church to deliver sermons calling victims who had come forward liars…

Thought Control (#1289)

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

…If [pro-censorship politician Mike] Pelfrey couldn’t persuade voters to elect him to “fix” the [Josephine County, Oregon] library’s [“]problem[” of insufficient censorship]…he would simply de…fund the community institution…Recalled Commissioner John West [aided and abetted him to put pressure]…on the…remaining commissioners…to…push…the Trump agenda of bigotry, hatred, and intimidation…For over two years…a small group of white men [has been] deciding who gets access to a community asset…A handful of people are eager to withhold library services from tens of thousands to score a few political points.  That’s all it is, and that’s all it has ever been…

Panopticon (#1437)

Courts keep allowing the state to enrich itself via unconstitutional warrantless surveillance:

Sonoma County [California is using “]unlicensed cannabis crops[“]…as [an excuse] to [levy] six-figure fines, [leading to] foreclosures…evictions…and devastation…for folks…who did not grow cannabis…In June, the…ACLU…filed a lawsuit on behalf of…residents…[because] the authorities’ “runaway spying operation” violates constitutional protections against unlawful searches…[via] a fleet of high-powered drones…with precision zoom cameras, all while concealing the surveillance from residents, the media, and local oversight bodies…[more than] a dozen Sonoma residents…might lose their home…because of…county code enforcement making as much money off of [low tax-bracket] people [as possible]…

I Spy (#1515)

Cops everywhere are moral imbeciles, and those who facilitate their evil are enemies of humanity:

…Forensic analysis by…Citizen Lab…found that commercially available FlexiSPY spyware was [surreptitiously] installed on…two [Kenyan filmmakers’] phones on or around May 21…The phones were [stolen by cops] on May 2, when [they] arrested documentarians Mark Denver Karubiu and Bryan Adagala, cinematographer Nicholas Wambugu, and graphic designer Christopher Wamae at a studio in…Nairobi…the four were released [the next day] without charge but four phones, a tablet, computers, and storage devices…were not returned until July 10…Police [were trying to gin up a case against] the filmmakers [because they were embarrassed by]…“Blood Parliament,” a BBC documentary that implicated Kenyan [cops] in the June 2024 [murder]s of protesters…[but] the four “were not involved in any way in the making” of the documentary…FlexiSPY markets itself for [abusive] parents and [exploitative] employers to “know everything that happens” on a computer or phone, including monitoring messages, emails, and social media; recording calls; tracking device locations, website visits, and passwords; downloading photos and videos; and listening through a device’s microphone…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1531)

Missouri is increasingly allowing its politicians to govern by edict, without tiresome democratic processes:

Missouri will require…websites [a politician has pointed at while belching the word “]pornographic[” to spy on users who don’t use VPNs]…The regulation [circumvents the need to enact a law by pretending anything sexual]…constitutes an “unfair practice” under…Missouri [consumer protection law.  New attorney general Catherine]…Hanaway [wasted no time in showing she could be as ridiculous as any male politician, spinning her head around 360o while projectile vomiting buzzwords including]…“hold…accountable[“…”]human trafficking[“], and…[“]dangerous[“.  The scheme was originally dreamed up by former]…attorney general…Andrew Bailey, who [has joined the Trump regime]…

Torture Chamber (#1539)

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

When Sheqweetta Vaughan gave birth to a healthy baby boy…in January…[she] had just…beg[u]n a two-year [prison] sentence…Six months [later], Vaughn…d[ied] alone in a sweltering hot [solitary confinement] cell and nobody [noticed]…until her body had already begun to decompose…[the] deputy coroner…report[ed]…“a strong odor of decay.”  The temperature in the cell was in the 90s, and there was little ventilation…procedure requires [screws] in those units to look in on prisoners at least every 30 minutes…but the level of decomposition…[demonstrates she] had been dead at least a day before paramedics were called…Vaughan’s death…marks the second known instance in the last two years in which the body of a Georgia prisoner was discovered decomposing in a cell. In April 2023…Anthony Zino…was dead for five days…before [screws] noticed…he [had been murdered]…and stuffed inside a mattress…Vaughan was being treated by a prison psychiatrist and had been prescribed…haloperidol…[for which] one of the side effects…is an increased risk of heat stroke…

If Men Were Angels (Nasty Pictures)

Wannabe preachers are often as bad as the real thing:

Jason Yates, once the public face of conservative Christian voter outreach, has pleaded guilty to possession of child [porn]…as part of a plea deal that dismissed six [more serious] charges…many [of the children in the images] appearing to be under the age of 10…at least eight…depicted children between the ages of five and seven…the unraveling began in July 2024 when a family member accidentally found a hard drive while sorting through Yates’ office.  Upon opening the files, they encountered graphic images…and [reported him to cops.  Under interrogation] he…disclosed a prior expunged conviction involving similar material…Yates…frequently…oppose[d] LGBTQ rights, abortion access, and secular governance…[as] “sexually deviant messaging” targeting children and called such influence “infernal programming”…

 

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 (#1567)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »

This is absolutely being framed as a tool of abuse.  –  Eva Galperin

Above the Law

Don’t fret, it’s for your “security”:

An Israeli government [“]cybersecurity[” bureaucrat] was…arrested recently by Las Vegas police…[for respond]ing [to] a…[cop fantasy role-playing as a teenage girl] online…Tom Artiom Alexandrovich…faces felony charges…[but] has since been released [after paying] $10,000…and returned to Israel…Alexandrovich…[was] in Las Vegas earlier…for the Black Hat Briefings, a yearly meeting of [“]cybersecurity[“] professionals…

Remember what “black hat” used to mean?  It still does.

What the Hell Were You Thinking? (#417)

Amateurs repeatedly screw up what sex workers have done for many years:

…The Tea app, much like the Are We Dating the Same Guy Facebook groups, invites [amateur] women to join and share red flags about men to help other [amateur] women avoid them.  In order to verify that every person who joined…was a woman, Tea asked users to upload a picture of their ID or their face.  Tea was founded in 2022 but…[in] July this year…reached the top of the Apple App Store chart…and claimed it had more than 1.6 million users…but…Tea did not have all the “safety measures” it needed to keep women safe….[because] users’ images, identifying information, and more than a million private conversations…were compromised in two separate security breaches in late July.  The first…was immediately abused by…misogynists on 4chan to humiliate women…after Tea failed to [capture]…the Are We Dating the Same Guy community, [it] shifted tactics to raid those Facebook groups for users…[using] paid influencers…competing Facebook groups with nearly identical names…[and] hijacked Facebook accounts that spammed the real…groups with links to Tea app…[resulting in] a third security breach which exposed the personal data of…paid…promote[rs]…while [Tea founder Sean] Cook said he built Tea to “protect women,” he repeatedly put them at risk and tried to replace a grassroots movement started by a woman who declined to help him…

Secret Squirrel (#1403)

Modern monogamy is becoming increasingly sick:

TikTok [hucksters are] selling GPS trackers marketed with viral videos that have voiceovers explicitly encouraging secretly tracking a romantic partner.  Some of the videos have millions of views, and…more than a hundred thousand of the devices have been sold…The trackers are advertised as undetectable by Apple’s FindMy system.  Many of the videos encourage people to secretly install the devices in their partners’ cars if they suspect them for things like being “out with friends every night”…“This is absolutely being framed as a tool of abuse,” said Eva Galperin…of…the [EFF].  “Anything where the justification is ‘catch your partner cheating’ or ‘get peace of mind about your partner’ is enabling coercive control”…Alongside the trackers, the same c[ulprit]s are advertising secret audio-recording devices with similar abusive framing…

The Last Shall Be First (#1413) 

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

After a yearslong legal battle, West Texas A&M University students can finally host a drag show…in March 2023…Spectrum WT, an LGBT-focused student club, sought permission to use Legacy Hall, a university venue, to host a drag show that would raise funds for the Trevor Project…While the university had allowed a wide range of events to take place in Legacy Hall—including religious events, a congressional candidate forum, and a local livestock show—the university’s president, Walter Wendler, stepped in to prevent the drag show from going forward…[pretending to be a champion of] womanhood…even [though he] admitted that the show [wa]s First Amendment–protected…the lower court…[backed] Wendler…[up, absurdly belching the word “]lewdness[” as a justification]…

Torture Chamber (#1555)

This will continue until the evil US immigration policy is reformed:

A United States Senate investigation has identified more than 500 credible reports of human rights abuses in [cages where the Trump regime has crammed] immigra[nts]…since January…the investigation—led by US senator Jon Ossoff…unearthed 41 cases of physical and sexual abuse; 14 involving pregnant [victims] and 18 involving [legal minors]…span[ning dungeons] in 25 states…[one] pregnant woman…bled for days before…miscarry[ing] alone without medical attention…Children as young as 2 were…[denied] medical [care, including one case]…where a…[screw] dismissed her mother’s pleas for help by telling her to “just give the girl a cracker.”  A…child recovering from brain surgery was…denied follow-up care, and a 4-year-old undergoing cancer treatment was deported without access to doctors.  The…most abuse reports [were from concentration camps] in Texas, Georgia, and California…

Walled Garden

Prohibitionists always end up with egg on their faces:

The government needs to [magically] stop children using virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass age checks on porn sites, [claimed]…Dame Rachel de Souza[, who also absurdly and cluelessly] called for age verification on VPNs…[but another bureaucrat] said VPNs are legal tools for adults and there are no plans to ban them…

To Molest and Rape (#1562)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

…a [typical and representative] Indianapolis [cop named]…David McDaniel…[repeat]edly molested two girls on several occasions, [starting] with one…when [she]…was 8 years old…[and the other] 9…[one of the victims, who is now] 17…told her father that…McDaniel…[had repeatedly molested her] for…nine years…[his practice was to co]me into the room where the girls were sleeping and touch…their [genitalia]…

 

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 (#1551)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We deserve to know who is shooting us in the face even when they have their badge covered up.  –  Kyle McDonald

Pyrrhic Victory (#1275)

The very first prosocial application of facial recognition technology I’ve seen:

A new site, FuckLAPD.com, is using public records and facial recognition technology to allow anyone to identify [LAPD cops] they have a picture of.  The tool, made by artist Kyle McDonald, is designed to help people identify cops who may otherwise try to conceal their identity, such as covering their badge or serial number…The tool allows users to upload an image…to search over 9,000 LAPD headshots obtained via public record requests…image processing happens on the device, and no photos or data are transmitted or saved on the site…“This data has been provided in response to either public records requests or public records lawsuits…[so] fucklapd.com is not scraping any data”…Clicking “view profile” under the result[s sends users] to the Watch the Watchers site by the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition…In 2018 McDonald made another tool called ICEspy which…does much the same thing as FuckLAPD.com…That tool originally used a Microsoft API, b[ut] Microsoft [censored] it…[so] McDonald…recently relaunched the tool to run locally on devices…

I Spy (#1533)

The writer of this article is one of those fools who thinks anything involving gadgets is laudable:

[Trump] He[nchman] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants [to force] everyone to wear a smartwatch, fitness tracker, or other [medical surveillance device] as part of his…agenda [to ban vaccines].  “My vision is every American is [subject to my surveillance] within four years,” he [bloviated, absurdly characterizing government surveillance as]… “people taking control over their own health”…[and further explaining that he wants every meal to become a bean-counting ordeal.  Fascist]…companies stand to benefit from a government-backed [demand] for Americans to buy their products, and Kennedy plans to soon [waste tens of millions in] “one of the biggest advertising campaigns in HHS history to encourage Americans to use wearables”…Kennedy [also] plans to use [the] data…[to] track…and [persecute]…autis[tic people]…

Welcome to the Future (#1540)

I’m fine with this as long as it’s only tech companies harming each other:

As Scale AI seeks to reassure customers that their data is secure following [Facebook]’s $14.3 billion investment, leaked files and the startup’s own contractors indicate it has some serious security holes.  Scale AI routinely uses public Google Docs to track work for high-profile customers like Google, [Facebook], and [Twitter], leaving…training documents labeled “confidential” accessible to anyone with the link…the…method [is] efficient for its vast army of at least 240,000 contractors and presents clear cybersecurity and confidentiality risks…sensitive details about…[those] contractors [were also exposed], including their private email addresses and whether they were suspected of “cheating”…There’s no indication that [the company has yet] suffered a breach because of this….[but] such practices…leave the company and its clients vulnerable to various kinds of hacks, such as hackers impersonating contractors or uploading malware into accessible files…

Property of the State (#1545) 

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

…Women have faced pregnancy criminalization for decades, especially under drug laws…Pregnancy Justice has tracked more than 1,800 pregnancy-related arrests and detentions between 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided, and 2022, when the decision was overturned.  But in the first year after Dobbs, Pregnancy Justice documented 210 pregnancy-related prosecutions, the most they’d found in a single year since they started this research.  And 22 cases involved…miscarriages, [mostly] in states with bans, like Idaho, but also in states with more liberal abortion policies…Alabama prosecutes more pregnant [women] than any other state…[especially] in Etowah County, wh[ere politicians and cops routinely abuse]…a 2006 chemical endangerment law intended to protect children from meth labs…[because] these cases are…more about emotion than science…serious charges are often dropped or reduced [due to lack of evidence], but by then, many of the harms of incarceration have already taken hold…[including bond fees,] reputationally damaging news headlines, [state abduction] of their other children, [and loss of] housing and employment…

Torture Chamber (#1546)

This will continue until the evil US immigration policy is reformed:

…911 calls from 10 of the nation’s largest…migra[nt dungeons] found that serious medical incidents are rising [in most] of the [cages]…at least 60 percent of the c[age stack]s…had reported serious pregnancy complications, suicide attempts, [and rapes].  Since January, these 10 [dungeons] have collectively placed nearly 400 emergency calls…50…involved…cardiac episodes, 26…seizures…17…head injuries…seven…suicide attempts…[and] six [rapes by screws.  But]…experts [say] the true number of medical emergencies is far higher…[because] many serious incidents [are ignored by staff, who prefer to yell “Stop faking!” at their victims instead of helping them]…Even among those that did [deign to call for] outside help, a third of all the calls had vague or nonexistent descriptions, with details often [censored] by authorities…

Creepy Coppers (ROTW #21)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”, but you don’t have to:

A [typical and representative Kansas screw named]…Brice Berk…[has been] arrest[ed for making]…and distribut[ing] child pornography…after a [report from] the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children…

Welcome to the Future (#1548)

Another of the many reasons not to play with chatbots:

…For years, OpenAI gave users the option to delete their conversations with ChatGPT, rather than let their personal queries linger on corporate servers.  Now, they can’t.  A badly misguided court order in a copyright lawsuit requires OpenAI to store all consumer ChatGPT conversations indefinitely—even if a user tries to delete them…ChatGPT’s 300+ million users submit over 1 billion messages to its chatbots per day, often for personal purposes…reveal[ing] personal details that, in aggregate, create a comprehensive portrait of a person’s entire life…Putting users in control of their data is a fundamental piece of privacy protection.  Nineteen states, the European Union, and numerous other countries already protect the right to delete under their privacy laws.  These rules exist for good reasons: retained data can be sold or given away, breached by hackers, disclosed to [rooting cops], or even used to manipulate a user’s choices through online behavioral advertising…The court granted the order based on [the authoritarian assumption] that users who delete their data are probably copyright infringers looking to “cover their tracks”…

 

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 (#1539)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »

People…saying nice things about you…cannot be the standard by which we render something criminal coercion.  –  Elizabeth Nolan Brown

Opting Out (#1336) 

If other big websites followed suit, the damage done by this totalitarian nonsense would be dramatically curtailed:

Wikipedia is challenging the UK’s…Online Safety Act…[because] it is at risk of being subjected to the act’s toughest category 1 duties, which…[would undermine] the safety and privacy of Wikipedia’s army of volunteer editors…its entries could be manipulated and vandalised, and resources would be diverted from protecting and improving the site…if…Wikipedia [chose not to dox its] users and editors, it would [be forced] to allow anonymous [trolls] to block other posters from fixing or removing any content[, including intentional misinformation or vandalism inserted by the same troll.  Doxing]…volunteer editors [to governmental busybodies] would [also]…breach…the foundation’s commitment to collecting minimal data about readers and contributors…volunteer communities working in more than 300 languages could be exposed to “data breaches, stalking, vexatious lawsuits or even imprisonment by authoritarian regimes”…

Torture Chamber (#1457)

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

A federal judge [has] stripped control of the Rikers Island jail complex from New York City and ordered the appointment of an independent manager to fix rampant violence and persistent constitutional violations…Judge…Laura Taylor Swain…warned city officials last year that she was inclined to impose a receivership after finding that the city was in contempt of…an agreement it entered in 2015 to settle a lawsuit over brutality at Rikers.  In fact, violence, death…and most other metrics of human misery got demonstrably worse…The loss of direct control of Rikers is…one of the loudest warning sirens so far that something has gone profoundly wrong in American prisons and jails…Last year, a Justice Department investigation found “dehumanizing” filth and violence at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta…The Justice Department found unconstitutional conditions at three Mississippi prisons last year as well…In one Texas county jail, three people died of thirst over a two-year period.  And in Texas state prisons, which lack air conditioning, people are being cooked to death in the summer heat.  On the West Coast, one man lay dying for four hours before jail staff noticed…[and] in Alameda County, California…jail staff ignored [a] corpse for three days…

The Public Eye (#1470)

Much, much, much more of this, please:

A…candidate for [New Jersey] State Assembly is selling photos of her feet on an adult content website…Rebecca Holloway, a former Clementon school board member…has been legally selling photos of her feet in various poses on Feetfinder.com for the last two years…and…[is] a self-employed marketing consultant…

You Were Warned (#1483)

I really wish I were wrong about the Uniparty:

…Chuck Schumer and Richard Blumenthal joined MAGA Republicans to reintroduce the Kids Online Safety Act…a bill that Heritage [Foundation and sponsor Marsha Blackburn have] proudly proclaimed as central to [the] strategy of censoring progressive content around LGBTQ issues and abortion…It raises a huge question of…what the fuck are they thinking?…The Trump administration is systematically implementing every element of Heritage’s Project 2025 censorship playbook.  There’s no more room for wishful thinking about how KOSA might be used.  And yet, Democrats seem to act as if none of that is happening, and we can just assume good faith in how KOSA will be implemented and enforced by an FTC that has loudly proclaimed its willingness to conduct partisan, culture war witch hunts on behalf of Project 2025’s goals…last year, House GOP members actually stopped the bill after realizing it was a censorship tool that could be used against their own speech.  But now that Trump has won (and the GOP acts as though there will never be another free election), that objection may evaporate…

The Mob Rules (#1514)

Wannabe censors team up with ambulance-chasers to capitalize on mob rule laws:

[Morality in Media] has filed lawsuits against four porn websites for allegedly failing to follow a [predator]y…Kansas law that requires porn sites to verify users [sic] age…The suits claim a Kansas [woman] found [her] 14-year-old had been accessing…pornography on [her old laptop, which he found in a closet]…“Kansas law requires pornography companies to [let themselves be pillaged by neglectful prudes who don’t bother to install censorship software on their own computers],” said Dani Pinter…of [Morality in Media]’s Law[fare arm]…

Imaginary Evils (#1516)

Liz Brown on another company the government is trying to destroy with “sex trafficking” myths despite a lack of “sex trafficking” charges:

…in…the OneTaste trial…Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin Farrell a[sked] government witness Rebecca Halpern…[where the] clitoris…is…[as part of questioning about] orgasmic meditation…[which] OneTaste encouraged as a daily practice.  Halpern had been a willing participant in O.M., as a student and later a coach…in the second week of trial, the clitoris isn’t the only thing that the feds seem at a loss to find.  Also missing…has been convincing evidence of coerced or forced labor…four witnesses have testified…that they were able to come and go freely…that they had free access to phones, computers, email, and mail—and that they were free to visit family, friends, and places…Some took vacations. Some had outside jobs…they had other places and skills they could turn to, college degrees, loved ones outside the group.  They also had agency within the organization, accepting and advocating for different positions and conditions, and leaving these positions when they wanted to without threats or backlash…

Business Opportunity (#1527)

If you thought “asset forfeiture” was brazen robbery, get a load of this:

Honey Meerzon’s parents are Jews from the Soviet Union…Luis Romero’s parents fled Castro’s Cuba when he was eight years old.  The two ended up as neighboring business owners…in Perth Amboy, New Jersey…Romero has…run…his family’s tire shop, Quick Tire, for…20 years.  Meerzon has owned the four-unit rental property next door for…ten.  Now, the…city council of Perth Amboy [has declared] that Meerzon’s and Romero’s properties were not, in fact, comfortable homes or a successful business, but are rather blighted hazards…because their two buildings are too close together, too close to the street, and have…stray cats [nearby]…the city says it is now entitled to [steal] the properties…for…a massive…warehouse project…[by a fascist collaboration] between the city’s redevelopment agency and Denver-based developer Viridian Partners…

 

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 (#1537)

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

Just because these tools act like your friend doesn’t mean that they are.  –  Miranda Bogen

The Widening Gyre (#928)

Georgia cops are still destroying lives over racist “brat snatching” fantasies:

After [being locked for] 45 days in a…Georgia…jail on a [bogus] charge of attempted kidnapping, Mahendra Patel was released on…bond…Patel, 57, was arrested on March 18 and initially denied bail after a [hysterical racist] accused him of trying to kidnap her 2-year-old son in a…[crowded] Walmart…[in actuality] Patel approached…Caroline Miller…to ask for help finding Tylenol.  Miller was sitting on a motorized shopping cart…for disabled customers (even though she is not disabled) and had [the] toddler…on her lap…[But because] Patel [is brown, Miller turned that innocent interaction into]…”I had to rip my baby out of some…man’s hands because he was trying to snatch him”…However, security footage shown during Patel’s latest bail hearing…[shows] that Patel…was merely trying to help stabilize the toddler as the mother began standing up from the cart…Witnesses also [contradicted]…Miller’s story…[but] Prosecutor Jesse Evans [wants to ruin an immigrant’s life]…and…[is doubling down on his fantasy of catching a dangerous] criminal…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1417)

Fools refuse to grasp what a danger biometric identification actually is:

Sam Altman…[has] announced…a new…eye-scanning orb….[which] scans [gullible fools’] irises, creates a unique user ID, stores that information on the blockchain, and uses it as a form of identity verification…the [sales pitch claims] it could ostensibly thwart [the same] scammers…enable[d]…by [Altman’s] other startup, OpenAI…So the World app, and its hardware component, are Altman’s solution to [a self-created] problem…whiffs of a scam have plagued the startup since it launched…[though it] claims…12 million users have been verified with the orb.  The company says it expects to generate revenue…through fees paid by [busybodies who want people’s] identities verified…But World is also a for-profit cryptocurrency company that…has been criticized by privacy advocates…[for] explicitly marketing its services to countries with a high percentage of unbanked or underbanked citizens, and…[bribing] people to sign up and have their irises scanned.  Brazil and Hong Kong have [already] banned Worldcoin [and its attendant] features…Kenya, Portugal, and Spain [have] all instituted temporary restrictions…

Thought Control (#1472)

A small victory for American ideals, but a victory nonetheless:

…the majority of candidates backed by pro-censorship organizations like Moms for Liberty lost their school board races in Texas on [May 3rd, demonstrating]…that the tide may be turning against the…pro-censorship [cult]…in [urban], suburban, and rural districts [alike, even]…candidates backed by big money [authoritarian groups]…In another victory for grassroots groups fighting for intellectual freedom, in Florida, a bill that would have redefined “harmful to minors”…to [mean whatever any politician or other wannabe censor points at while barfing that phrase]…died in session on [May 2nd]…

No Escape (#1475)

The human and financial costs of our society’s sick infatuation with incarceration are staggering:

Another 10 men who were [locked in cages by the state of Oregon as teenagers]…are suing the state [because] the longtime p[hys]ician at the facility…sexually abus[ed] them.  More than 20 men [were molested by] Dr. Edward Gary Edwards…and…[screws, staff, nurses, and] officials at the [cage stack] ignor[ed] the[ir complaints] and [intentionally] allow[ed the abuse] to continue.  Edwards worked…at the [prison] for more than four decades…[and] died in February…The abuse was so well-known…he…had a nickname: “Dr. Cold Fingers”…[his victims] are seeking $51 million…[this is only] the latest lawsuit [against Oregon’s juvenile dungeon system].  Emily Echtenkamp…was convicted in March of sexually abusing [one victim]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1521)

What kind of warped mind thinks it’s OK for male cops to barge into a women’s bathroom?

A [lesbian] couple…were [h]arrassed…[by a male security guard in a women’s restroom]…at The Liberty Hotel [in Boston]…Ansley Baker and…Liz Victor…went to a Kentucky Derby party at the hotel [on May 3rd, but] their afternoon ended when hotel security [barged into] the women’s restroom and…started banging on the stall doors.  Baker [presents in a masculine fashion]…and…the…creep…[demanded her] ID…to check [her] gender…[When he was shown to be an idiot he demanded] the couple…leave the hotel…and [lied to management that] they [were]…”sharing a bathroom stall”…and [had attacked] “our security team”…even…[though] there was only one [guard]…

Shame, Shame (#1535)

Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

Mark Zuckerberg has a new way to invade your privacy: a creepier version of [Cat, I Farted].  Last week, Facebook…launched…a dedicated home for [its LLM] chatbot.  The app, which climbed to No. 2 on the iPhone free download charts, promises users a more “personalized” [chatbot] with tailored answers and [“]advice[“].  And it includes a new social network for people to share their [chatbot] conversations and images.  But [it accomplishes this “personalization” via] surveillance…drawing on years of personal information tracked by its sister apps Facebook and Instagram…it buil[ds] a so-called memory file…that…by default ke[eps] a copy of everything…said to it — to tailor its responses…to train a future version of [the LLM] and, eventually, [to] target [users] with ads…push[ing] the limits on privacy in ways that go much further than rivals [Cat, I Farted] or [Google] Gemini…Whatever you chat about with [the computer], just picture Zuckerberg watching…

Torture Chamber (#1536)

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

The Trump [regime] has created a human rights crisis with its draconian, made-for-TV campaign of mass deportation…three people died inside [concentration camps] in April alone, bringing the total…since Trump returned to [power] to at least seven…Brayan Garzón-Rayo, a 27-year-old man from Colombia…died on April 8…in Missouri…Nhon Nguc Nguyen, 55, from Vietnam, died on April 16 after [being caged for] two months…in Texas…Marie Ange Blaise, a 44-year-old citizen of Haiti…died on April 25…after several weeks of being shuffled between [camps] in Louisiana, Florida and Puerto Rico…dozens of people have died preventable deaths in…ICE…con[centration camps] in the past, and…conditions are rapidly deteriorating as the [regime] packs facilities as part of [the mad emperor’s] war on immigrants…there are [currently] nearly 50,000 people [crammed into the camps, and]…Trump [wants]…to [add] 84,000 more…

 

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

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In the News (#1536)

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

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

If Men Were Angels

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

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

Permanent Record (#1274)

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

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

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1443)

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

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

Shame, Shame (#1509)

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

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

The Vultures Descend (#1522)

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

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

Torture Chamber (#1526)

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

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

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #20)

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

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

 

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

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Links #773

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

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

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

From the Archives

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