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Posts Tagged ‘teachers’

We do not need to be the board of censorship of Alabama.  –  Ron Snider

Feminists and Other Puritans (#1177)

Once again:  this alliance is neither new nor “bizarre”:

…[Prohibitionists] who…identify as “radical feminists”…have long-utilised anti-trafficking legislation to push for restrictions on sex work.  Fighting “sex trafficking” is also a popular crusade for [fundamentalist] Christian groups, who view sex work as depraved moral behaviour…At times, these two groups have joined forces in a…[not at all] “unlikely alliance” to pursue these ends…We at GAATW have noticed that many organisations from both camps have recently expanded their use of anti-trafficking frameworks to also advocate for the abolition of surrogacy and [persecution of trans people]…GAATW has broadened its own fight by forming new alliances with social justice movements beyond trafficking, sex work and migration…to counter the increasingly organised and well-funded attack on the rights of sex workers and people who act as gestational surrogates…

Thought Control (#1516)

A few sane judges are the only obstacles to the mad emperor’s reign of terror:

…the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island [has] struck down the Trump [regime]’s [unconstitutional] attempts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).  The decision was issued in response to a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of 21 states…[the mad emperor wanted] to take away…shared access to books in rural and remote areas…and…countless [other] library services…to…terminat[e]…the agency’s grants…halt…data collection and research, and…[sack] nearly all of the agency’s staff….the…court ruling [correctly recognized] that those actions were arbitrary…capricious and [illegal]…and permanently prohibits the [mad emperor] from t[rying again] in the future…

No Escape (#1538)

The inevitable result of giving sexually-aggressive thugs total power over women:

…women [locked] in a San Francisco jail were…forced to undress in front of [screws] while [the leering thugs]…filmed them with their body-worn cameras…17 women [have] filed a claim with the city…[while cops tried to excuse the violation as a “]search[“]…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1555)

Isaac Asimov once described computers as “high-speed morons”; they do whatever they’re told to do very fast, without judgment:

Elon Musk is a better role model than Jesus, better at conquering Europe than Hitler, the greatest blowjob giver of all time, should have been selected before Peyton Manning in the 1998 NFL draft…[can] “drink piss better than any human in history,” and is a better porn star than Riley Reid, according to [MechaHitler, Twitter]’s sycophantic…chatbot that has seemingly been reprogrammed to…choose Musk as being superior to the entire rest of humanity at any given task…It is…pretty funny…but…also an example of how big tech companies…regularly put…their thumbs on the scales of their…chatbots to distort reality and to obtain their desired outcome.  “Elon’s intelligence ranks among the top 10 minds in history, rivaling polymaths like da Vinci or Newton,” one…answer reads…

Thought Control (#1558)

Alabama censors are still trying to force obedience by illegally choking off library funds:

A two-year [censorship] battle…at the Fairhope Public Library is…flar[ing up] again…as the…[highly-politicized] Alabama Public Library Services board [is once again trying to illegally withhold] tens of thousands of dollars in state funding…John Wahl, chairman of the…board…[bloviated] “I…should control the content that children are exposed to…[regardless of what] parents…want”…Read Freely Alabama…has criticized the [rogue boards’s actions, saying]…“It’s a slap in the face to the taxpayers of Fairhope…The money was appropriated for our library by the legislature”…

Thought Control (#1579)

It took seven years for people to start fighting wannabe censors:

In a stunning rebuke of the [pro-censorship cult], Moms for Liberty…candidates failed to win a single contested race across the United States in the November 4, 2025, elections…all 31 M4L-endorsed candidates…in [races where anybody at all ran against them] were defeated, marking the first total shutout for the organization since…2021…the…elections confirmed…[that] voters across party lines are increasingly rejecting the [bizarre police-state] tactics that defined Moms for Liberty’s national strategy…and…are tired of outrage politics in schools…

Torture Chamber (#1584)

This will continue until screws face criminal charges for each and every assault on prisoners:

Even in a system known for its brutality, [the gang murders of] Robert L. Brooks and Messiah Nantwi stood out.  Both men were handcuffed…[and literally] torture[d to death]…resulting in criminal charges against 20 of the [murderers] and sending officials scrambling to try to portray the episodes as unacceptable aberrations.  But…New York…state prison guards [routinely]…restrain…[victims before] assaulting them…thousands of…times…in the past decade…guards [routinely]…punch…kick…[and] stomp…on prisoners, smash…their fingers in cell doors…[hit their testicles] with batons, and even waterboard…them…[and] the rate…has been climbing steadily for the past decade…[especial]ly in…the past three years…

 

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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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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It’s the most…emperor-has-no-clothes-type situation that I have ever witnessed.  –  Alison Macrina

As I pointed out a few weeks ago, it’s not unusual these days for a news item to fall into more than one category, and as the fascist tech industry provides ever more tools for oppression, that will happen ever more often.  Here’s a recent one from 404 Media which examines the way artificial stupidity is being used to further library censorship while simultaneously flooding the system with garbage intended to drown out the signal of real information with propaganda, disinformation, and LLM gobbledygook noise:

…a company called the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database [has] announced a new version of a product called Class-Shelf Plus…used by school libraries to keep track of which books are in their catalog…[the] new [version] includ[es]…“automation and contextual risk analysis”…The company…is [trying to trick]…school libraries [into believing their product can help]…“in overcoming a book ban”…[when what it actually does is to encourage the censorship by] simply suggest[ing] other books “without the c[ensor]ed content”…software like this is just the tip of the iceberg; [librarians] are being inundated with new pitches for…library tech and catalogs are being flooded with [LLM] slop books that they need to wade through.  But more broadly, [ML] maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics…[the aggressive promotion of what is deceptively advertised as “artificial intelligence”] is not separate from book bans, educational censorship efforts, and the war on education, libraries, and government workers being pushed by…any number of MAGA groups…Human labor, inquiry, creativity, and expertise is spurned…[because hucksters claim] anything can be learned, approximated, or created in seconds.  And…an LLM or a machine algorithm can [be programmed by agents of a censorious state to] decide whether content is “sensitive”…

…The resurgent war on knowledge, academics, expertise, and critical thinking…has its roots in the hugely successful recent war on “critical race theory,” “diversity equity and inclusion,” and LGBTQ+ rights that painted librarians, teachers, scientists, and public workers as untrustworthy…There are DOGE’s mass layoffs of “woke” government workers, and the plan to replace them with [chatbo]ts…There are “parents rights” groups that pushed to ban books and curricula that deal with the teaching of slavery, systemic racism, and LGBTQ+ issues and attempted to replace them with [propaganda]…Many teachers feel they…increasingly [waste] their days grading student essays that were actually written by robots…

…Justin, a cohost of the podcast librarypunk, [characterizes this as]…“Part of a fascist project to offload the work of thinking, especially the reflective kind of thinking that…cultivates empathy and challenges your assumptions…If we can offload that cognitive work, it’s far too easy to become reflexive and hateful, while having a robot cheerleader telling you that you were right about everything all along”…The future being pushed by both [ML] boosters and educational censors is one where access to information is tightly controlled.  Children will not be allowed to read certain books or learn certain narratives.  “Research” will be performed only through one of a select few [computer programs] owned by…giant…[fascist corporations] which are…[part of] the Trump [regime] and which have gone to the ends of the earth to prevent their black box machines from spitting out “woke” answers lest they catch the ire of the [mad emperor]One need look no further than [Elon Musk’s misnamed “]Grokipedia[“]…a project by the world’s richest man…to replace a crowdsourced, meticulously edited fount of human knowledge with a robotic imitation built to further his political project

…Justin, from librarypunk, said [chatbots have] given people “absolute impunity to ignore reality…[it] is a direct attack on the way we verify information…[because it] both creates fake sources and obscures its actual sources.”  That is the opposite of what librarians do, and teachers do, and scientists do, and experts do…

There is a LOT more, and you should read it in its entirety.

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Some of your human visitors could probably take some lessons in behavior from him.  –  Priscilla Lange

As usual, I found an appropriate seasonal video too late for Halloween.  The links above it were provided by T. Greg Doucette (“solidarity”, “memoriam”, and “kids”); Jesse Walker (RIP); Mike Siegel (“Baskervilles” and “money”); and IncarcerNation (“cops”).

From the Archives

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

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These failings are not isolated incidents.  –  Jean Philip De Tender

R.I.P. Stephanie Johnson

Stephanie Johnson, who performed as a burlesque dancer in New York in the 1960s and ’70s under the stage name Tanqueray, and whose vivid stories of that grittier time in the city’s history…turned her into a viral social media star [in 2019 through the social media account Humans of New York], died on Oct. 11 at her home in Manhattan. She was 81…her son Mitchell Springle…said she had suffered a series of strokes…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1536)

Serial lawsuit abuser Ken Paxton wants to profit from Trumpist delusions:

Ken Paxton, the [psychopath-]general of Texas, [has] sued the makers of Tylenol…[pretend]ing that the companies hid the risks of the drug on brain development of children.  The lawsuit is the latest [attempt to profit from the mad emperor’s delusion] that use of Tylenol during pregnancy can cause autism…and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder…The [belief is] a longstanding [one] among [anti-vaxxers and similar crackpots including] Robert F. Kennedy Jr…[whom the mad emperor appointed to wreck] the nation’s…health [system]…Hundreds of lawsuits in state and federal courts have been filed in recent years by [crackpots looking for a payout]…the largest group of cases…[has been] dismissed [for being completely unsupported by anything resembling] scientific evidence…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1568)

These things are designed to appeal to the dregs of humanity:

I recently reviewed Even Realities G1 smart glasses…and the first real-world thing I used them for was scamming someone.  I told a local bartender I had an encyclopedic knowledge of film, and I would answer the hardest movie trivia question he could come up with in exchange for a drink.  After a short consultation with Google, dude came back with “Who directed 1922’s Cabinet of Dr. Caligari?”  I tilted my head thoughtfully and repeated the question as if verifying I heard him right.  The [chatbot] agent silently did its thing, and in about three seconds, the answer was floating before my eyes, totally invisible to everyone around me…Even inspected up close, G1s offer no indication of electronics of any kind: No USB port, no flashing light, no visible controls.  The [chatbot] is activated with a subtle tap behind the ear.  Repeating the question sends the [chatbot] off for the answer, [which may or may not be correct]…You could do the same trick with a pair of [Facebook] Display glasses

Mad Libs (#1577)

Oh look, word-guessing programs produce nonsense, what a surprise:

New research coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union…and led by the BBC has found that [LLM “]assistants[“] – already [very popular with] millions of [gullible, lazy] people – routinely misrepresent news content no matter which language, territory, or…platform is tested.  The…study…involv[ed] 22…media…organizations in 18 countries working in 14 languages…[with] ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity…45% of all [chatbot] answers had at least one significant issue…31%…showed…missing…or incorrect attributions…20% contained…[“]hallucinated[“] details…Gemini performed worst with significant issues in 76% of responses…[yet these shitty “]assistants[“] are already replacing search engines for [gullible] users…

Welcome to the Future (#1579)

Don’t let a fucking computer call them, either:

A…[computerized “gun] detector[“] led police to believe a [student] was armed…at a Baltimore County school…when [in reality] it [was]…a bag of chips.  Taki Allen was sitting with friends…outside [the] School, eating a bag of chips after football practice.  About 20 minutes later, [cops barged in] with guns, [threatening] Allen [with them and screaming for him to]….”Get on the ground”…police told him [artificial stupidity had declared] his bag of chips…a weapon [and cops’ natural stupidity did the rest].  “They made me get on my knees, put my hands behind my back, and cuffed me. Then, they searched me and they figured out I had nothing…[but] a Doritos bag”…

Torture Chamber (#1582)

The State calls torture “correction”. For journalists to parrot that is a choice:

…[Deranged screws] at a Western Maryland prison shut off the water to a mentally ill man’s cell, then allowed him to suffer for eight days before he finally died of dehydration…On July 5, 2023, [one screw]…noted in a logbook that Lamont Mealy, [locked] in [solitary confinement] without even toiletries…looked dazed and was unresponsive…H[is superiors ignored the report and]…hours later, Mealy…was dead….[of] dehydration…with fecal matter in and around his mouth…[yet] the [complicit] medical examiner…ruled the manner of death an accident…[the coverup would have succeeded if not for] letters written by a fellow prisoner…[cag]ed nearby, Danny Hoskins…[who] filed complaints…[report]ing that [screws intentionally deprived] Mealy…[of] water…[and regularly] taunted [him as he was slowly dying]…The first complaint prompted [screws] to come to Hoskins’ cell and beat him [for trying to ruin their fun, then]…he was…transferred to another prison. [But] he then sent letters to the governor, the attorney general and [others]…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1583)

This situation is not going to get better on its own:

OpenAI has released a rough estimate of how many ChatGPT users globally may show signs of having a severe mental health crisis in a typical week…a growing number of people have ended up hospitalized, divorced, or dead…[because] the chatbot fueled their delusions and paranoia…OpenAI estimated that around .07 percent of active ChatGPT users show “possible signs of…psychosis or mania” and .15 percent “[show]…explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent.”  OpenAI also…found that about .15 percent of active users exhibit behavior that indicates potential “heightened levels” of emotional attachment to ChatGPT weekly…ChatGPT now has 800 million weekly active users…therefore…around 560,000 people [weekly] may be…experiencing mania or psychosis.  About 2.4 million more are possibly expressing suicidal ideations or prioritizing talking to ChatGPT over their loved ones, school, or work…

 

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

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I love that so many media outlets are now using the most ridiculous-looking Trump photos they can find, such as this one which makes him look constipated. LOOK HIM WUB HIS TUMTUM!

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-15T02:26:10.801Z

Since he's over a decade younger than I am, statistically I won't live to see him go. But it'll be pretty funny when this dude dies of a statistically typical cause at a statistically typical age despite wasting a quarter of his life chasing the illusion of "immortality".Behold the folly of Man.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-17T17:04:43.609Z

Dementia doesn't always present as befuddlement a la Biden; it can also present as confusion and disinhibition, both of which Trump displays with increasing frequency and severity. You ever hear nursing home nurses talk about being grabbed by dirty old demented men? Disinhibition. As is this.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-19T07:47:06.295Z

One of the rewards of being old is you get to smile sweetly when the young people finally start recognizing the wisdom of a position you've espoused for decades that THEY previously proclaimed wrong.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-20T17:06:21.614Z

How is that even supposed to be pronounced, "Kadollar-huh"?Holy heavy metal umlaut, Batman!

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-21T17:15:31.307Z

Looks like Trump isn't the only well-known psychopath who has a fetish for pretending to be an inflatable sex doll.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-22T03:30:51.581Z

There are TWO links between acetaminophen and autism!1) Both start with "A"2) Both are subjects you might ask a doctor about.SMOKING GUN!!!

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-24T16:25:49.304Z

I hate living in a time where I know who the fucking *education superintendent* of fucking OKLAHOMA is.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-25T17:55:25.694Z

A look at Antichrist prophecies by an actual theologian (as opposed to a Thiel-origin): archive.is/SGZcS

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-26T03:16:23.700Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-26T18:36:48.693Z

Anyone familiar with the folklore of primitive cultures will recognize this. It's based on the idea of names having magical power, so if the name of some evil thing is mentioned it may appear (hence the traditional phrase "Speak of the Devil…") Not speaking of something robs it of power.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-27T17:24:42.257Z

I don't believe @alyankovic.bsky.social had anything to do with this video.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-28T16:48:49.339Z

Beginning to look more and more like this:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T17:23:36.102Z

Trump inflatable sex dolls come in several sizes, to fit all needs:

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-01T17:57:06.284Z

Also: the groundwork for this was laid by US courts repeatedly excusing cops for smashing into random people's homes in the middle of the night because they didn't care to get the address correct. And in a larger sense, by allowing unconstitutional "no knock" warrants in the first place.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-02T18:10:58.682Z

Better headline: "Extremely Stupid People are Angry at Pope for Being Catholic".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-04T02:24:46.168Z

Before you dash off some sophomoric apologia of police-statery, ask yourself if you *really* want one of the best living American journalists thoroughly vivisecting you in a multi-part essay.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-04T17:43:15.609Z

It's funny how many nitwits have no problem with all the businesses they hate as long as politicians they hate get to run it roughly half of the time.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-05T18:33:43.795Z

Post a "demonic sexual performance" at Superb Owl halftime.I'll start.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-06T16:31:59.573Z

Can you imagine going through life as a quadriplegic because your parents were too stupid and evil to vaccinate you?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T02:44:54.470Z

We really need Anglophone journalists in the UK, Canada, and Australia to start writing about the political situation in the US using the same kind of language they use when writing about political situations in developing countries. "the regime", "dissidents", "the regime's secret police", etc.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T17:05:00.733Z

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T17:50:30.707Z

Someone needs to invite Miller to a late-night tea party.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-10T16:31:59.503Z

Reporters: stop using the deferential term "detaining" when talking about ICE goons' abduction of innocent people from US streets. You proper term would indeed by "abduction", but if you want to pretend neutrality you could use "capture", which at least says nothing about the captors' motives.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-11T17:22:08.981Z

So long, Mommy.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-13T02:17:15.023Z

It would be a far better world if things like this happened more often.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-14T17:32:47.303Z

21st-century soi-disant "Christians" commit blasphemy as casually and often as Marquis de Sade characters.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-15T18:10:07.405Z

Thinking is, always has been, and always will be the greatest enemy of power; that's why the powerful always want to shut it down.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-16T19:42:10.008Z

Is it completely impossible for MAGA creatures to keep their mouths SHUT for long enough to take a fucking picture?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-18T07:29:32.013Z

The mad emperor is now tweeting cartoons of himself making poo-poos on people who are mean to him.You thought there were a lot of books and documentaries about Hitler over the past 80 years? You ain't seen NUTHIN' yet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWHD…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-10-19T19:59:02.583Z

 

 

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There’s usually some kind of boogeyman…that justifies the building of a very extreme…policing apparatus.  –  Matthew Guariglia

It’s not unusual these days for a news item to fall into more than one category, so I have to figure out which is best; in such cases I typically link recent examples of the other applicable categories, or at least include them among the tags.  But sometimes the article does such a good job of analyzing the connections between the various categories, I feel it’s better to simply call my readers’ attention to the article and urge y’all to read it in its entirety.  This Reason article from a week ago today is a good example:

…On issues such as library books, abortion, gender, and even food, the culture war is now feeding the police state.  This phenomenon started in the states, and none have pursued it with more intensity than Florida and Texas, where governors and legislatures have competed to show that they’re fighting the hardest against what they call “woke”…[but] now…using criminal law, mass surveillance, [snitch] lines, and the threat of police violence to wage the culture war…is [becoming]…a danger to every American who wants to live, work, and travel without being monitored and menaced by the state…

…the…Trump…[regime]’s campaign against universities on such issues as anti-Israel protests, transgender athletes, and critical race theory were all preceded by Florida, wh[ich]…PEN America…[has] dubbed…the “blueprint state” for the White House’s run of education-related executive orders…The sheer number of bills churned out over the past few years by Florida and Texas is notable, especially in light of how petty the targets can be—drag queens, librarians, whoever might be using a certain bathroom stall…Also notable [is] those laws’ dismal track record in court.  Federal judges, even those appointed by Trump…have repeatedly struck down culture-war bills…represent[ing] a boundless paternalism…indistinguishable from the…identitarian politics that [proponents of such laws claim to oppose, such as bans on]…cultivated meat…[one] Texas [politician ludicrously defended as]…”plain cowboy logic“…in the bizarre, zero-sum logic of politicians like DeSantis and [Nebraska Governor Jim] Pillen, the freedom to eat bacon harvested from a pig that was alive and sensate before it was slaughtered is contingent on consumers never being given a choice to try an alternative…

…What makes the creation of new criminal statutes especially worrisome is law enforcement’s sweeping power to search and investigate targets…[via] vast, nationwide databases of personal information…facial recognition, cellphone surveillance, license plate tracking, sophisticated social media monitoring, and more…the huge surveillance architecture and data-sharing networks being created now won’t go back in the box when the current…[regime] is over, nor will they consider whether their targets used to have the right kind of politics…

There’s much, much more, bridging tags including Eavesdropping, Guinea Pigs, I Spy, The Last Shall Be First, Panopticon, Pyrrhic Victory, Thou Shalt Not, Thought Control, Universal Criminality, The Vultures Descend, Welcome to the Future, and many others.  So go read it!

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

Counterfeit Comfort (#420)

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

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

The Face of Trafficking

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

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

Damned If You Don’t (#1243)

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

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

Shame, Shame (#1514)

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

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

Mad Libs (#1546)

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

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

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

To Molest and Rape (#1570)

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

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

Walled Garden (#1570)

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

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

 

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

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You’re not the minority anymore.  –  Old Karen’s friend

When Mike Siegel tweeted a TikTok video of Creepy Stare Piano Guy performing “My Heart Will Go On” on rubber chickens, I went to YouTube to find a copy I could embed, but it was not there.  However, this cover of the same song by a different deadpan rubber chicken musician was, so here you go.  The links above it were provided by Nun Ya (x2), Ryan Marino (x2), Mike Siegel again, and Radley Balko, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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Who thought of this?  –  Brent Chapman

Everybody knows Popeye, but did you know he was introduced to the screen (he first appeared in the “Thimble Theater” comic strip in 1929) in a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon?  By the end of the following year he had already replaced Betty as the Fleischer Studio’s biggest star.  The links above the video were provided by Carol Fenton, Mike Siegel, Phoenix Calida, Ryan Marino, IncarcerNation, The Onion, and T. Greg Doucette, in that order.

From the Archives

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

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