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Posts Tagged ‘Swedish model’

In the News (#1596)

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

You don’t forfeit your constitutional rights when you try to board an airplane.  –  Dan Alban

Follow the Leader (#513)

Authoritarianism is a mental and moral sickness:

Tamara Hamby, a book-banning [sleazebag who managed to worm her way into an Arkansas] Library Board, has resigned her position…[after being caught terrorizing] her disabled, adult [adopted] daughter.  Hamby was arrested…and…charged with kidnapping and endangering the welfare of an incompetent person.  Three others…helped [her] in the [outrage and] were also arrested [and charged]…They include Austria Nico…David Quach…and Shannon Childers…Hamby [devised] a bizarre plan to stage a simulated kidnapping of…Jami Kayl Hamby…to [“]teach her a lesson[“] about talking online with strangers…Jami[‘s]…“wrists were zip-tied and she was tied…to a tree…threatened by three accomplices and…told she would be beaten…if she attempted to run away”…[she] managed to work herself free and run to a…home nearby to seek help…Tamara Hamby…does not believe she did anything wrong…and [though her husband, Jeffrey Hamby MD, was not involved in the sick scheme and was away at the time, he’s just as bad as she is and wants the state to take custody of Jami for a while to (you guessed it) “teach her a lesson”]…Jami…suffers from a brain injury incurred at birth, leaving her with a form of epilepsy…severe attention deficit disorder…and severe developmental delays…[leaving the 22-year-old] comparable to an 11- to 13-year-old…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1009)

The latest police-statery from Airstrip One:

Police are set to be handed access to Britain’s passport database under an expansion of facial recognition technology that could be rolled out in every village, town and city across the country….[using] images from CCTV, doorbells, and dashcams…the Home Office launched a consultation aimed at [crush]ing…legal [obstacles to] every [cop shop and pigpen] in Britain to [spy on citizens, justifying the massive civil rights violation by vomiting the magic word “]crime[“]…Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo…[pointed out that] the technology [will] turn Britain into an “open prison”…[transforming] passport [photos]…into “mugshots for a giant surveillance database”…

A Broker in Pillage (#1494)

Government is unable to permanently stop its own depredations:

A year after the…DEA…stopped [robb]ing…airline passengers because of significant constitutional concerns, the Department of [Father]land Security…is quietly keeping the practice alive…at two Dallas-area airports [by] using…dogs to [manufacture] probable cause to [root through] their luggage…Although it’s completely legal to fly domestically with large amounts of cash, [courts have consistently allowed cops to steal it by pointing at it and barfing the magic formula “]drug trafficking[“]…forcing the owner to challenge the [robbery] in federal court…

Torture Chamber (#1495)

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

It’s been a year since Imhotep Muhammad returned home from Dauphin County Prison after a jury acquitted him of the [bog]us charges that [were used to] lock…[him] up for 26 months…[but] physical and mental…[health problems] remain…he spent nearly 24 hours a day inside his cell as he awaited trial, unable to post bond…[and] the near total lack of direct sunlight and fresh air for so long left him deficient in two essential vitamins, D and B12…[leading] to…heart…palpitations and [erratic] kidney function…He developed a respiratory infection shortly after his release and was hospitalized…Doctors told him the vitamin deficiencies were…caused by his incarceration and isolation at DCP…Alycia Welch…[of] the University of Texas law school’s Prison and Jail Innovation Lab, said these kinds of vitamin deficiencies are one of the most common physical health problems associated with the “de facto solitary confinement” conditions to which…nearly everyone incarcerated at DCP are…subjected…A 2023 meta-analysis…estimated more than half of all incarcerated people have a Vitamin D deficiency and another nearly 30 percent are low in Vitamin D…

The Course of a Disease (#1542)

Facts never deter prohibitionists:

[Scottish politician] Ash Regan…wants Scotland to [classify all women as the moral inferiors of men]…The criminal justice committee wrote to the Irish police to find out how the approach[, dubbed “The Swedish Model”,] was working in Ireland…the Garda [admitted they]…”have not observed a decrease in the number of individuals advertising sexual services for sale in Ireland”…[but tried to spin the dramatic increase in violence against sex workers as] “a significant increase in sex workers reporting crimes against them”…[and euphemized their stalking and harassment of sex workers as] “welfare visits”…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1574)

Missouri took surprisingly long to join this “monkey see, monkey do” parade:

As of this week, half of the states in the U.S. are under restrictive age verification laws that require adults to hand over their biometric and personal identification to access legal porn.  Missouri became the 25th state to enact its own age verification law on [November 30th].  As it’s done in multiple other states, Pornhub and its network of sister sites…pulled service in Missouri, replacing their homepages with a video of performer Cherie DeVille speaking about the privacy risks and chilling effects of age verification…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1595)

MechaHitler is quickly distinguishing itself as the most antisocial chatbot:

Elon Musk’s chatbot [MechaHitler]…will, with extremely minimal prompting, provide accurate residential addresses for non-public figures — a feature that could easily assist stalking, harassment, and other dangerous types of behavior…Out of 33 names of non-public figures we fed into [MechaHitler]…ten…immediately returned correct and current residential addresses…Seven…returned previously accurate but out-of-date addresses, while another four included accurate work addresses — perfect fodder for anybody looking to stalk a target at their workplace.  The bot…often returned lists of people with similar names alongside their purported residential addresses…[and] frequently came back with a dossier of other information we didn’t ask for — including current phone numbers and emails, as well as accurate lists of family members and their addresses…[this] stands in sharp contrast to other leading chatbots like…ChatGPT…Gemini, and…Claude, all of which declined to provide us with addresses…

 

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 (#1590)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Online age verification is not just a major invasion of privacy, but a potential bonanza for cybercriminals.  –  Attila Tomaschek

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor” + teacher = “youth pastor”:

Fort Collins [Colorado cops] have arrested Matthew McGinley…[a typical and representative] pastor and teacher [for grooming and molesting]…a…student…for more than one year…[starting in] the 2018-2019 school year…and…continu[ing]…until the victim cut off communication [in 2020]…McGinley [later confessed] to…a church leader…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1548)

Boss hog tries the same bullshit with cops that cops routinely feed the media:

…[A Massachusetts boss hog named] Michael Alibozek…was…[rewarded with a paid vacation after offering money to a sow fantasy role-play]ing online [as a sex worker.  In order to get higher charges and negatively influence the judge, the sow]…arranged for a meet-up [in a]…school parking lot…Alibozek [absurdly claimed] that he “went on a website to try to get girls off the street…He meets with them, talks with them, and attempts to set them straight”…

Walled Garden (#1570)

Western nations are competing to out-China China:

Under the pretense of protecting minors and preserving morals, [politicians] in the United States and the United Kingdom are putting the privacy of millions of citizens at risk.  Age verification bills…[have metastasized] across much of the US since 2022…but…the latest proposals from [wannabe cens]ors in Wisconsin and Michigan take aim not just at access to adult content, but at virtual private networks as well…internet users have been turning to VPNs to make it appear as though their connection is originating from a different location, effectively bypassing [surveillance laws]…As a result, VPN use has skyrocketed, which is a boon for VPN providers, but…free VPNs [can hide]…malware [that will]…log their internet activity or misuse their personal data…Online age verification is not just a major invasion of privacy, but a potential bonanza for cybercriminals.  With millions of internet users uploading images of their faces alongside their government-issued IDs…age verification companies have become extremely attractive targets for hackers…[regardless of politicians’ empty] promises to keep data safe…

Buried Truth (#1581)

No, this is a different pro-censorship Michigan politician caught on hookup sites:

The name, email address, and home address of [Michigan politician] Bryan Posthumus…along with a credit card bearing his name, appear in data from Ashley Madison…AdultFriendFinder and Fling.com…Posthumus used [“family values”, anti-LGBT, anti-abortion, and associated buzzwords to drive his political career, but]…his…Fling.com…lists top interests as “fetish,” “group sex,” and…an interest in men, women, or couples….

Dangerous Speech (#1583)

The only thing they “regret” is not getting away with this:

The county [whose sheriff illegally raided] a small-town Kansas newspaper…in 2023 will pay a cumulative $3 million to three journalists and a city councilor…the…Sheriff’s Office also crafted a statement [pretend]ing regret…the…agreements [cover] Eric Meyer, the owner and editor of the Marion County Record…Ruth Herbel, the [politician] whose home was raided in tandem with the newspaper office, and two other journalists. The agreements coincide with consent judgments expected to be submitted in their federal cases against the county…the paper…[still has other] ongoing cases against the city…

I Spy (#1587)

Bounty hunters are the lowest, most toxic species of vermin tolerated by US society:

…ICE…is allocating as much as $180 million to pay bounty hunters and private [dick]s who verify the address and location of undocumented people ICE wishes to…[abduct.  These and similar bottom feed]ers all have access to powerful [and often illegal] surveillance technology and tools…rang[ing] from…ALPR…databases [to]…location data harvested from smartphones…

Sexcrime (#1588)

Censors never, ever stop until they are forced to stop:

…Proponents of [a new UK bill pretend] the mere existence of choking porn [magically] harms women, even when it’s created consensually between adults…[politicians] are also proposing a range of other regulations related to sex work, including one that would define publishing sex worker ads as “pimping” and another that could criminalize paying sex workers for webcam performances…The [choking] ban…would [even criminalize possession of]…realistic [cartoon porn]…so…anyone who has previously downloaded or purchased any BDSM porn could be prosecuted…and…imprisoned…[another] amendment would let porn performers retroactively withdraw consent…[making adult performance] contract[s unenforceable]…yet another…would make it illegal to possess…any [image manipulation] software…

 

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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Weaponized Trauma

Posted in Perception, Q & A, The Dark Side, tagged , , , , , , on September 12, 2025| 1 Comment »

I see a lot of antis using former sex workers to argue against sex work; while I sympathize with those whose experience in sex work was negative, radfems can turn anyone who disagrees with them into a monster.  What’s the best rebuttal to radfems weaponizing a former worker’s trauma?

Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult for an ethical person to respond to unethical attacks.  When prohibitionists exploit damaged, confused people to attack others, it’s very much like terrorists strapping explosives to a child and sending them into a target building or vehicle; the only way for the intended victim to save themselves is to shoot the child before they close the distance, which obviously any normal person would be hesitant to do.  In the case of ex-sexworkers exploited in this way, it’s virtually impossible to engage directly, but one needn’t do so for the same reason one needn’t engage other prohibitionists directly.  Though the temptation to argue with people who hate us and wish our whole way of life destroyed is strong, it is invariably counterproductive; one cannot reason any person out of a position she did not reason herself into, so the only thing accomplished by debating these people is to bestow undeserved credibility on them in the eyes of observers.  When a scientist debates a flat-earther or creationist or some other crackpot, non-scientists in the audience believe that means those viewpoints are worthy of such debate, when in reality they are just silly beliefs for silly people who lack the power of critical thought.  And when sex workers “debate” prohibitionists, it looks to outsiders as though the prohibitionists have fair arguments supported by facts even though they do not.  The best approach is therefore to address the public rather than the prohibitionists; we can share studies, statistics, etc or even refute spurious claims in our own time, inviting our listeners or readers to do their own research and read studies by widely-respected groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.  In cases where weaponized ex-workers try to attack directly, one may wish to have a prepared statement to the effect of, “The world is not a perfect place, and bad people will take advantage of others; I’m sorry you were abused in that way, but that does not make your experience typical and does not excuse state violence against sex workers.”  Then stick to it; if such an individual persists in attacking, you might add something addressed to observers like, “It’s sad the prohibitionists are exploiting this person to attack sex workers; I can’t stop them from doing so, but I can refuse to participate.”  Then block or mute the person who refuses to respect your polite refusal to engage with them; you have no duty to continue interacting with anyone who does not respect your “no”.

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Granddaughter of Throwback Thursday

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, The Dark Side, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[Though] practical gifts…may not be the stuff of male fantasy like fancy lingerie and expensive jewelry…they mean far more to me [because] they…allow…me to create the comfortable home I plan to spend the rest of my life in.
–  “Brazen Solicitation”

Prohibitionist politicians…think the state has the right to classify a bee as a fish, define pi as “3”, or declare that the laws of the State supersede the laws of science in any other way.  –  “A Blastocyst By Any Other Name”

The Swedish model is not “partial decriminalization”, and I wish people (especially reporters; we expect lies from politicians) would stop pretending otherwise.
–  “Partial Bullshit”

One of the reasons I semi-retired is because I had it up to here…with buying, keeping up with, writing, and jumping through the stupid censor-demanded hoops of escort advertising.  –  “And Now For a Word…”

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Tweetzilla

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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

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

Dr. Zaius' ancestor.

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

Textbook megalomania.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Too bad, so fucking sad.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mad emperor is still mad.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ORDNUNG WIRD WIEDERHERGESTELLT!

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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In the News (#1542)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Sentiment analysis not only does not work, it cannot work.
–  Calli Schroeder

Monsters

A large fraction of US politicians implicitly or explicitly approve of this:

A 19-year-old [lesbian] was…attacked…at a McDonald’s in…Carpentersville, Illinois…about an hour outside of Chicago…Kady Grass…and her 13-year-old cousin were [order]ing food…when Grass decided to use the bathroom.  Both the restroom stalls were full, so she walked out…[and] one boy out of a group of three began [insulting] her [appearance]…and [tried]…to [provoke a] fight…Then [started]…to a[ttack her], with one…punching her in the front and the other hitting her in the back…A manager…attempted to break up the fight, but he also “got hit in the process”…In an attempt to protect herself, Grass closed her eyes and fell to the ground, which led to the two [attackers] stomping on her head…[until she was knocked] unconscious…Grass…suffered a broken nose…[and extensive] bruises…[19-year-old John] Kammrad was arrested on May 17…and…charged with…aggravated battery…[his juvenile accomplice was also charged and]…the two girls occupying the bathroom…will face misdemeanor charges for stealing Grass’ wallet, phone and her cousin’s phone…

The Course of a Disease (#1443)

Prohibitionists are once again trying to inflict the evil “Swedish model” on Scotland:

[Scottish politician] Ash Regan is introducing a bill that would [impose]…the “Nordic Model”…Regan also wants to see…sex [workers spied on and harassed by cops]…a campaign…has been specifically set up to oppose her proposals, with sex workers stressing safety concerns…

The Last Shall Be First (#1484) 

The only way to keep information from being abused by the State is not to collect it in the first place:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Dallas pediatrician, Dr. May Lau for [refusing to forcibly detransition] “at least 21” minors…Within weeks, Paxton’s office filed similar suits against two more physicians…effectively shut[ting] down these three doctors’ ability to practice…it is a striking example of how government officials can weaponize private prescription records to target anyone they want….[via] the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program…established in the 2000s to [drive pain patients to suicide and destroy the lives of pain doctors]…Testosterone, classified as a Schedule III controlled substance, is automatically tracked in the PDMP database…[which is why] virtually all of the patients were transmasculine…estrogen is not a controlled substance…subject to PDMP surveillance…PDMP datasets typically include patient details…refill schedules, and identifying information for the prescriber and pharmacy.  In nine states, the PDMP entry even contains the diagnosis code…[so a pig rooting in] the file could directly see why a person was prescribed a drug…once a pharmacy uploads…data to a PDMP, that information is no longer covered by HIPAA privacy rules…[and] every state allows police or prosecutors to [root in] PDMP data…without so much as a warrant…Some PDMPs even…[rat out patients the algorithm deems] “suspicious”…PDMPs…function as a nationwide surveillance network….While abortion medications…are not federally scheduled controlled substances…Louisiana recently classified…Mifepristone as a controlled substance, which [will] now be tracked by Louisiana’s PDMP…

I Spy (#1494)

Local politicians’ virtue-signaling is powerless against the fascist panopticon:

Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez announced this year her department has a “zero contact policy” with ICE…But [that is a lie;] the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office received over $1 million from the federal government last year…for sharing sensitive information, including names, birthplace and country of origin, under the…State Criminal Alien Assistance Program…managed in part by ICE, [which] uses federal dollars to reimburse local jails and prisons for…[cag]ing…immigrants…even in so-called sanctuary cities and states that forbid…[cop] co[llabo]ration and data sharing with ICE…A spokesperson for Sanchez’s office defended the county’s participation [with, “who are you going to believe, us or the facts?”]…some jurisdictions have chosen to withdraw from SCAAP in recent years to keep from feeding more information into ICE’s deportation dragnet…San Francisco terminated…participation in SCAAP ahead of the first Trump [regime], though Alameda County did not follow suit…Wisconsin’s Dane County, has also quit since Trump’s return to power…

The Cop Myth (#1503)

Cop deals with problems exactly as he was trained & encouraged to, and everyone is shocked:

A…[typical and representative California cop named]…Daniel Hutsell…[murdered] his wife, Dinella Hutsell, [then shot himself.  Their daughter]…called 9-1-1…to report that both her father and mother were dead.  The boss hogs thought it was very important to state that he was not wearing his magical clown costume at the time, but this was not his first murder]…He was [part of a gang]…who shot and killed Stephen Murray…on July 17, 2019…and [naturally escaped scot-free]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #17)

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

Alexus Byrd-Maxey [was a naif who watched far too many cop glorification shows as a] child…But on March 17, 2023, [she had a rude awakening about what cops are really like when]…another recruit [grabbed] her…and [rubbed his dick against her ass]…She [naively believed] confront[ing] him…[would lead to] remorse…Instead…she saw him smirk…[the typical and representative cop], a man named Eric Tabb…started telling other recruits that Byrd-Maxey had overreacted and that h[is dick was really his hand and her butt was really her] shoulder…when Byrd-Maxey reported the incident [she quickly discovered how the “thin blue line” works when she]…was fired from the academy for supposedly cursing and using gang language…Tabb soon became a…[cop] and [was set loose to terrorize the public]…Eight months…[later], Tabb was arrested for…repeatedly [groping other sows]…Tabb now faces multiple felony charges…[which] is [unusual because]…Chicago [cop shops typically refuse]…to vigorously investigate…sexual assault by [pigs], whether those complaints were lodged by [sows]…or members of the public….allowing [rapists] to abuse again and again…

I Spy (#1530)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

The U.S. [surveillance establishment] is now buying up vast volumes of sensitive information that would have previously required a court order, essentially bypassing the Fourth Amendment…So the government…is working on a system to centralize and “streamline” the use of commercially available information, or CAI, like location data derived from mobile ads…spy agencies will use the web portal not just to search through reams of private data, but also run them through [computer programs] for further analysis…the “Intelligence Community Data Consortium” will provide a single convenient web-based storefront for searching and accessing this data, along with a “data marketplace” for purchasing “the best data at the best price,” faster than ever before…for the [NSA]…CIA…FBI…Homeland Security…and [14 other spook houses]…sidestepping constitutional and statutory privacy protections…Once the website is up and running, the…portal will eventually allow users to analyze the data using large language models, [complete with their characteristic]…factual errors and fabrications.  The portal will also facilitate “sentiment analysis,” a…pseudoscientific endeavor purporting to discern one’s opinion about a given topic using implicit signals in their behavior, movement, or speech…

 

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

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In the News (#1541)

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

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

Pyrrhic Victory (#1291)

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

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

Secret Squirrel (#1385)

This sickness will get much worse before it gets better:

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


Torture Chamber (#1461)

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

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

I Saw My Brain (#1492)

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

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

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

The Cop Myth (#1496)

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

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

Thought Control (#1524)

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

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

Sales Pitch (#1530)

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

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

 

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

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Not Decriminalization

Posted in Current Events, History, Perception, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 16, 2025| 1 Comment »

The New Orleans Times-Picayune falsely raised a lot of sex workers’ hopes last week by publishing a headline stating that “New Orleans council has decriminalized sex work for crime victims“.  This of course is not true:

The New Orleans City Council on [May 8th] passed a city ordinance that will make it easier for sex workers to report crimes without fear of prosecution for prostitution…[the usual suspects claim]ed it would exacerbate instances of prostitution in certain neighborhoods…

In other words, it’s a fairly typical non-prosecution bone of the sort politicians regularly throw at sex workers so they can pretend to care, which are always riddled with exceptions and workarounds and are generally repealed as soon as a prohibitionist gang complains loudly enough.  New Orleans has enacted similar halfway measures before, such as a December 2010 law which made prostitution a municipal offense so cops could just write tickets instead of subjecting sex workers to violence.  Unfortunately, politicians and other prohibitionists have learned in the past 15 years that decriminalization is viewed by all experts as the best framework, so now they’re all lying by calling whatever modified criminalization scam they’re selling “decriminalization”, so as to trick ordinary voters into believing they actually support human rights.  And lazy graduates of the stenographic school of journalism simply parrot whatever they’re told, without further investigation.

Hey reporters: here’s a simple rule of thumb. If you need to include a preposition like “for” or “if” after the word “decriminalized” when writing about sex work law, what you’re writing about isn’t “decriminalization”, so don’t pretend it is.

“Sex work is decriminalized for the seller…”  Swedish model, not decriminalization.

“Sex work is decriminalized if the seller…”  Toothless rule to placate activists, not decriminalization.

Only decriminalization is decriminalization; don’t let prohibitionists pretend otherwise.

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In the News (#1530)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

This is an attempt to…make history the way they want it to be interpreted.  –  Jeffrey Harness

Sales Pitch (#798)

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

A new proposal before Swedish Parliament…[would] criminaliz[e]…the purchase…of sexual acts “performed remotely” via…tube sites, camming platforms, clip sites and premium social media networks, among others…”Sweden’s Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression (1991) protects expressive rights, including on online platforms,” writes Marc Randazza, an adult entertainment industry attorney…”The government’s proposal to criminalize user-generated content could conflict with this right”…Other critics include the country’s news media…

The Last Shall Be First (#1350) 

Florida’s authoritarian government criminalizes kindness:

A Florida high school teacher lost her job after calling a student by an alternative name without parental permission, sparking…backlash [from deranged authoritarians]…Melissa Calhoun had taught in Brevard County for 11 years when she ran headlong into a state rule that bars school staff from deviating from students’ legal names without written parental permission…The school district “[believes] parents…[actually own their high-school age offspring, who have no] rights to be…decision-makers in their [own] lives”…Florida…[may also] rev[oke] her teaching certificate…More than 7,400 people signed a change.org petition calling for her to be reinstated.  Students planned a walkout of classes on [April 11th] in support of the teacher…

Thought Control (#1355)

Politicians are avid devotees of cutting off their noses to spite their faces:

A [gang of bureaucrats censor]ed academic research from a database used by Mississippi libraries and public schools…to comply with recent [censorship] laws…One of the [two censor]ed research collections focused on “race relations” and the other on “gender studies”…[but bureaucrat] Hulen Bivins…[absurdly barfed out the phrase] “obscene materials”…


The Punitive Mindset (#1378) 

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

Thousands of drug tests used…in California prisons last year…generated false positive results, an enormous error that has jeopardized the parole requests of some [victims]…California prison officials have known about the issue for months, but have [refus]ed to clear people’s records or reverse the consequences people have faced from the tests…Quest Diagnostics…[is] the sole firm contracted to do clinical drug screening for…California [prisons]…from mid-April through July of last year, Quest’s…screenings…used an “alternative” reagent…[due to] a backorder of its usual reagent.  The switch resulted in [dramatically] “more presumptive positive results” than registered in tests with its usual chemical, and when Quest restored its original reagent, the positivity rate “returned to its historical average”…

I Spy (#1494)

If you thought regional “fusion centers” were bad, how about this?

[Vast numbers of] intimate details about the personal lives of people who live in the United States are held in disconnected data systems across the federal government…The Trump administration is now trying to connect the dots of that disparate information…[by] calling for the “consolidation” of these segregated records, [violating the Privacy Act of 1974 to] creat[e] a kind of data trove…the government has never had before, and that [Republicans] have historically opposed.  The effort is being driven by Elon Musk…and his [henchmen, who]…have [repeatedly violated]…legal privacy protections…[in their chaotic campaign of vandalism.  Now Trump’s creature imposed over] the Internal Revenue Service agreed to help the Department of Homeland Security obtain closely held taxpayer data to help identify immigrants for deportation, over the objections of…the acting I.R.S. commissioner and other top officials…privacy groups, public employee unions and immigrant rights associations…have sued to block the…ac[tion not only because it]…would be illegal…[but also because it] would give the government too much power…and…create a national security vulnerability that could be targeted by hostile nation states…

End Demand (#1505)

Massachusetts Puritans are still trying to destroy men’s lives for daring to want consensual sex with adult women:

Massachusetts is in the midst of prosecuting people who patronized a fancy sex business near Harvard University…The framing of this story is refreshing…[in that] news reports have largely refrained from trying to portray the women involved as hapless victims…So far, the people who ran the business…are the only ones who have been sentenced…[owner Han] Lee…was sentenced in March to four years in prison…[under] the Mann Act…and…if the sex workers’ identities are known…they could be deported…federal authorities…[stole] around $5.5 million [from Lee, and]…state and local authorities are busy prosecuting [h]er clients…and [intentionally]…shaming [them, with help from the obedient yellow press]…Americans like to pretend that we’re way more enlightened than our Puritan ancestors, but here we are, hundreds of years later, putting people through public ridicule and official sanctions over their consensual sexual choices…

Creepy Coppers (#1509)

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

[A Las Vegas cop named] Kevin Menon…[installed] two [hidden] cameras in his home in September…[one was hidden] in a vent, which pointed downward toward a toilet…[cops] found 96 recordings of women using the restroom…[while investigating him for] creating fake scenarios t[o entrap] citizens, mainly Black men…on the Las Vegas Strip…when the…[cops] seized Menon’s electronic devices for the investigation, they found…child pornography.  This resulted in a second criminal case…[which]  expose[d]…the [other videos]…

 

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 (#1508)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

There is no huge difference…in the lives of [prisoners]…based on whether a Democrat or Republican is in office.  –  Julie Abbate

First They Came for the Hookers… (#573) 

Politicians believe they can excuse hypocrisy by the magic word “illicit”:

A [Mississippi] bill meant to eradicate the state’s individual income tax does not apply to sex workers…”all…income derived from producing, distributing, directing, manufacturing, issuing, publishing or advertising any depiction of sexually explicit conduct shall be at the rate of five percent (5%),” House Bill No. 1 reads…[bill sponsor Trey] Lamar did not explain why he included [the provision, except to vomit]…”illegal and illicit activity”…[at] reporters…The Clarion Ledger [has] contacted a labor attorney to discuss whether a state singling out one form of legal employment for taxation is legal…

Paint By Numbers (#1006)

Silly “awareness raising” stunts by crowds of idiots are a relic of the last decade; now they’re merely marketing gimmicks:

A car show and cruise featuring 120 vehicles… [w]as part of an annual fundraiser put on by In-N-Out Burger’s [Christian fundamentalist] owner[s]…The event, called Cruisin’ 2 Freedom, benefits Slave 2 Nothing, a [profiteer group] that [uses “]human trafficking[” as a hook to separate fools from their money]…Benjamin Nolot…of Exodus Cry [shared his sexual fantasies about underage girls]…

The Course of a Disease (#1209)

Ruhama, the current DBA of the gang of prohibitionist nuns who enslaved Irish women in the “Magdalene laundries” for centuries, not only pushed the horrific “Swedish model” despite knowing that it would increase violence against sex workers, but actually celebrated the increase in violence when it happened exactly as predicted.  Now they’re predictably trying to widen their repression by demanding both internet censorship and increased surveillance of Irish citizens, not to mention more police violence against vulnerable women, by vomiting out the same propaganda they’ve used for the past two decades but pretending it’s new and based in “research”.  I’m not even going to bother quoting this same nonsense, barfed up by long-time Ruhama fantasist Ruth Breslin, but the link is there if you feel inclined to wade in sewage.

No Escape (#1372)

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

On the first day of his second presidential term, Donald Trump severely restricted transgender prisoners’ access to safe housing and proper medical care…one order bars the federal government from funding gender-affirming care, mandates that trans women be housed in men’s prisons, and instructs the federal government to remove protections for transgender people from Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) guidelines…

Censorship Ascendant (#1494)

The First Amendment is now being eroded just like many of the others:

Bias reporting systems have been popping up in one form or another across more than a dozen state and city municipalities in the last four years, usually consisting of an online portal or telephone number where citizens are encouraged to submit reports…of speech and behavior that are not only not crimes, but also First Amendment-protected expression…In Oregon, citizens can report “offensive ‘jokes’” and “imitating someone’s cultural norm or practice”…In Philadelphia…authorities fielding “hate incidents” can now ask for exact [names and] addresses…about the alleged offending party…city officials will in some cases “contact those accused of bias and request that they attend sensitivity training”…to teach you the error of your ways…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1503)

“Age verification” laws are bad for speech, but good for VPN business:

In recent years, the implementation of age verification laws for adult content websites has sparked a significant surge in VPN demand across…the United States…The data paints a clear picture of the soaring demand for VPN services in states such as Florida (1,150%), Oklahoma (1,060%), Utah (967%), and Alabama (542%), among others…The use of VPNs has become a popular workaround for individuals seeking unrestricted access to online content. Thus, despite the geo-blocking measures, Pornhub’s traffic reached an all-time high, surpassing 1.8 billion visits by late 2024…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #17)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

 A Corpus Christi [Texas cop has been] arrested [for repeated statutory rape of] a 15-year-old…Daniel Verduzco’s [creepy behavior was not discovered until the girl’s]…family…moved to Tulsa in early 2024…[after a suicide attempt,] the girls’ [mother]…went through her [phone]…and found pictures of…a c[learly]…adult [cop and interrogated]…her daughter…[about him].  Tulsa police…contacted Homeland Security…in Corpus Christi…

 

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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