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Posts Tagged ‘Tennessee’

In the News (#1449)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 26, 2024| 1 Comment »

Illegal drugs are cheaper, more readily available, more potent, [and] more widely used than they were 20 years ago.  –  James Martin

If Men Were Angels

“Inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady” is a helluva way to say “molesting a 12-year-old”:

Robert Morris, founding pastor of Gateway [mega]Church in Southlake, Texas…has confessed to…sexually abusing [Cindy Clemishire] over multiple years beginning when she was 12…Morris [burbled a lot of evangelical buzzwords like]…repented…walked in purity and accountability…blessing…and…forgiveness…[but] Clemishire [explained]…that…when Morris began abusing her…he…was a 20-year-old traveling evangelist…[already] married…[with a young] son…Morris…[betrayed] her family[‘s]…friends[hip after being] invited into their home and…repeatedly abused her in Texas and Oklahoma…[while telling] his wife that he was merely “counseling” her…For years…she has been warning churches…about Morris because she doesn’t believe she’s the only one who suffered his abuse…

Long Hidden

Cops aren’t the only violent profession whose members feel sexually entitled:

…hundreds of Kenyan women [have] filed complaints with the UK military over the years, a[fter being raped by British soldiers]…in the remote villages where the British Army trains its soldiers in Kenya. The British Army Training Unit, Kenya (BATUK), is headquartered in the town of Nanyuki…[and] Britain pays Kenya about $400,000 a year to allow its soldiers to train…mostly in the expansive wildlife conservancies in Laikipia and Samburu counties.  Kenya renewed the defense pact in 2021 despite strong local opposition…[due to numerous] allegations of rape and other crimes, including murder, by British soldiers deployed there [since] the 1950s…hundreds of women from the mostly pastoralist Maasai and Samburu communities who accused the British Army of rapes in the 1970s and 80s…were represented by the British lawyer Martyn Day in a landmark civil case in London in the early 2000s…[but] in 2007, Britain’s Ministry of Defense dismissed claims…brought by 2,187 women…[claiming] the…evidence appeared to have been fabricated…[and refusing to] conduct DNA tests on any of the 69 mixed-race children…born from rape by British soldiers…[but as they] can now be sued in Kenyan courts…as part of a new addition to the 2021 defense pact…lawyer Kelvin Kubai has signed up more than 300 of the women who previously brought rape claims and is working to reintroduce the case in Kenyan courts…

Rooted in Racism (#1305)

Never forget that this barbarity began using the excuse of “fighting human trafficking”:

The Greek coastguard has caused the deaths of dozens of migrants in the Mediterranean over a three-year period…including nine who were deliberately thrown into the water.  The [others]…died as a result of being forced out of Greek territorial waters, or taken back out to sea after reaching Greek islands…The Greek government has long…forced returns – pushing people back towards Turkey, where they have crossed from, which is illegal under international law.  But this is the first time the…number of…fatalities…[due directly to] the Greek coastguard’s actions [has been calculated]…

Panopticon (#1316)

This is too useful a tool of state control for the rulers to give it up:

A new lawsuit says that Illinois’ widespread use of…automatic license plate readers…violates the Fourth Amendment…because it breaches citizens’ reasonable expectations of privacy…”Defendants are tracking anyone who drives to work in Cook County—or to school, or a grocery store, or a doctor’s office, or a pharmacy, or a political rally, or a romantic encounter, or family gathering—every day…without any reason to suspect anyone of anything, and are holding onto those whereabouts just in case they decide in the future that some citizen might be an appropriate target”…Illinois’ highway [panopticon] began in 2019 [as so many civil liberties abominations do,] with the passage of [a law bearing a crime victim’s name]…Illinois State Police [started with] a $12.5 million state grant in 2021…which was more than doubled in June 2022…[so far] Illinois…has purchased 652 license plate cameras, of which 340 are installed in Cook County…

Permanent Record (#1380)

I can’t feel sorry for someone whose job is ruining lives for violating arbitrary diktats when they get in trouble due to a similar diktat:

Nashville [cop] Sean Herman was recently arrested…weeks after it was revealed that he appeared in a viral OnlyFans clip in [his magical clown costume].  He faces two felony official misconduct charges for [using the clown suit for something other than terrorizing people]…If found guilty, Herman could face prison…[cop shop busybodies] reportedly “discovered the video and identified him as the person in [the magical clown costume], seen in the video from the chest down, who took part in a mock traffic stop in an OnlyFans skit during which he groped the exposed breast of the female driver”…

A Moral Cancer (#1396)

Australia expands the Drug War, and prohibitionists pretend the wholly-predictable consequences are somehow surprising:

Since March of last year, the Australian state of Victoria has been rocked by a series of [murders,] arsons and firebombings…in an escalating turf war between rival gangs…the drug at the center of this conflict: nicotine…[prohibitionists prai]se…Australia…for its graphic warnings on cigarette packs, extremely high cigarette taxes, and strict prohibitions on e-cigarettes…[which together constitute] a form of “de facto prohibition”…[so] predictably…the share of tobacco sold illegally…has…doubled [in recent years] to…nearly a quarter of Australian sales…There are 1.8 million vapers in Australia and about nine out of 10 of them source their vapes illegally…[either by buying] e-cigarette components and…nicotine liquid from abroad…or [by getting] disposable vapes manufactured cheaply in China…Australia’s…response…is to crack down even harder…in…contrast…New Zealand, which has similarly high cigarette taxes but embraces a much more liberal approach to vaping…now boasts one of the world’s lowest rates of smoking…

Eavesdropping (#1417)

Even cops are starting to admit Shotspotter is a boondoggle:

New York City [has wasted tens of millions] on gunshot detection technology that rarely works…ShotSpotter…uses microphones and…software in an attempt to detect the sound of gunshots…When a sound triggers the system, ShotSpotter alerts the police department, and officers are dispatched to the scene…[but] an analysis…found that 87% of the time [cop]s were dispatched to a scene where there was no evidence of a shooting…“The evidence shows that NYPD is wasting precious time and money on this technology and needs to do a better job managing its resources,” [said City Comptroller Brad] Lander… “Chasing down car backfires and construction noise does not make us safer”…It marks the latest report calling the technology’s efficacy into question.  A 2021 audit by Chicago’s Office of Inspector General found that of more than 50,000 alerts there, only 9.1% resulted in evidence of a gun-related offense…Houston Mayor John Whitmire also said he would cancel the city’s contract with the company, telling the Houston Chronicle that it is a “gimmick”…

 

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 (#1438)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Forcing random, innocent individuals to shoulder th[e] cost [of police actions] would be as fair as conducting a lottery to determine who has to pay the police chief’s salary each year.  –  Slaybaugh v. Rutherford County

Leaving the 20th Century (#1223)

This is not “decriminalization” as previously claimed, but rather an overhaul in the existing legalization regime:

A new law in Belgium…is being touted as a win by UTSOPI, the Belgium Union of Sex Workers…the legislation…outlines that prostitutes will receive health insurance, a pension, maternity and holiday leave, and unemployment benefits.  Their pimps will be forced to provide them with a “safety button” to use for emergencies…Prostitutes are to be granted “rights” to refuse sexual acts, stop sexual acts, perform sexual acts in the manner they prefer, and refuse to sit behind Amsterdam-style windows…However, should a prostitute use these “rights” 10 times within six months, their pimp can then call on a government mediator to intervene…

“Pimp” appears to be used here to mean “brothel owner”; the article is silent on what the law says about escorts and other non-brothel sex workers.

Panopticon (#1349)

Rural residents are less affected by state surveillance than urbanites, but they aren’t safe:

In December 2022, Reason reported that both state and federal wildlife agents routinely trespass onto private land and plant cameras.  Two Tennessee homeowners successfully sued the state over the practice…the state appealed…and…the court of appeals [has now] ruled in the homeowners’ favor…In the case of Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth, [agents] not only entered their…properties but also installed trail cameras…without a warrant and ignoring “No Trespassing” signs…

Censor Chic (#1366)

Government censors are growing ever bolder:

…federal agencies such as the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) [have] restarted [their jawboning attempts] with [social media] platforms…[under the tissue-thin guise of] “removing disinformation on their sites as the November presidential election nears”…these [attempt]s resumed in March, around the same time oral arguments in Murthy v. Missouri — which centers on the feds’ censorship efforts — were heard before the U.S. Supreme Court…Neither agency provided an answer when questioned on how they determine what constitutes “disinformation” or what other federal agencies they are collaborating with in these efforts to have “disinformation” removed from social media…

Opting Out (#1376)

A new censorship regime has been imposed on British subjects:

[The UK censorship agency] Ofcom [wants more censorship power over] Instagram, YouTube and 150,000 other web services [using the popular excuse of “]child safety[“ to push]… tech firms to [deny users anonymity], [censor] and downrank content [the government dislikes], and apply around 40 other steps to [give the government more control over what its]…subjects [can see, hear, and read]…That suggests Brits may need to get accustomed to [us]ing [a VPN if] they [want to] access a range of online content…

A Broker in Pillage (#1400)

There are many ways for governments to steal things that don’t belong to them:

A federal court…heard arguments in an appeal concerning…the…”police powers”…exception to the [Constitution]…Mollie and Michael Slaybaugh…are…on the hook for over $70,000 after a SWAT team destroyed much of their home in Smyrna, Tennessee…in…[pursuit of Mollie’s] adult son, James Jackson Conn—who did not live with her but had recently arrived to visit…she offered to speak to Conn and bring him out of her house, [but the cops prevented]…her [from] re-enter[ing and instead]…broke down the door and launched dozens of tear gas grenades into the Slaybaughs’ home, laying waste to nearly everything…Their insurance [refused] to assist them, as their policy—like many policies—does not cover damage caused by the government…The notion that “police powers” immunize the government from liability is what doomed Leo Lech’s lawsuit, which he filed after a SWAT team did so much damage to his home…that it had to be demolished…Los Angeles refused to compensate Carlos Pena after a SWAT team destroyed his…print shop  in pursuit of a suspect who barricaded himself inside, and…Vicki Baker[‘s]…judgment from a federal jury…was ultimately overturned by the…5th Circuit, which ruled there was a “[fuck you]” exception to the Takings Clause…

Civil rights advocates often joke that the Third Amendment is the only one that hasn’t been undermined, but I fail to see any important difference between the government forcibly taking people’s homes to quarter troops and forcibly taking them to enable cops and robbers games.

The Cop Myth (#1410)

Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

A…Memphis [cop in full magic clown regalia] kidnapped a man, shot him in the head and unsuccessfully tried getting rid of his body…Patric J. Ferguson [murdered Robert Howard]…on Jan. 5, 2021, [because Howard was dating Ferguson’s ex-girlfriend.  Ferguson then] dumped his body in the Wolf River in Memphis with the help of another man, Joshua M. Rogers…who [has been]…charged with accessory after the fact…

Sleeping with a cop is not only dangerous to the woman who does so, but to everyone else in her life, especially after she stops sleeping with the cop.

You Were Warned (#1434)

At least there are a few judges willing to restrain other judges’ megalomania:

[Twitter] had a win over the Australian government after the Federal Court overturned a legal block on videos of the Sydney church stabbing.  The [Australian censorship] Commission won a temporary court injunction last month after [Twitter] refused to comply with a…global [censorship order]…Justice Geoffrey Kennett…rejected a bid to extend the injunction until a full trial…The decision does not represent a final legal win…but senior legal sources…said the interim decision…proved the legitimacy of [Twitter’s] case…

 

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 (#1428)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

We can, indeed, convince ourselves that boogeymen are real.
–  Claire Zagorski & Ryan Marino

Legal Is as Legal Does

Who but a politician could conceive of fighting some crime by criminalizing legal business?

[Due to] the discovery of a U.S. citizen with two girls, aged 12 and 13…in a luxury hotel in Medellín…[Colombia]…Mayor Federico Gutiérrez…[has] prohibit[ed] sex work in…for six months, and…[declared] a 1 a.m. closing time for bars…for a month…Gutiérrez…says he is acting under extraordinary circumstances…[to] fight…back against the mafias that he says run [the] El Poblado [neighborhood by denying legal income to legal businesspeople, and subjecting them to police harassment]…He also announced that there would be meetings with owners of bars and hotels to clarify new “rules of the game”.  Establishments that do not comply with the rules…will not only be subject to closure, but also to [the government stealing their property]…Timothy Allan Livingston…was arrested and detained for 12 hours…[but] released…because he had not been [actually] caught in the act of sexually abusing the girls.  He was released on [March 29th], and boarded a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida…

The chief danger of a “tolerated” system is that cops or politicians can suddenly and without warning decide to be intolerant.

Torture Chamber (#1153)

The government tried to establish a precedent that it need not feed its prisoners:

The federal government is required to “expeditiously” house migrant [minors] who cross into the United States [without permission], rather than allow them to remain in unsafe open-air sites along the border…Federal District Court…Judge Dolly M. Gee [ruled]…in a class-action lawsuit…minors at the sites [a]re in legal custody of the Department of Homeland Security and thus…entitled to certain rights and protections, such as a safe and sanitary environment, even if they ha[ve] not yet been formally processed…The outdoor areas where migrants have been waiting [because the US refuses to let them continue north] lack shelter, food and sanitation…Unaccompanied children and young families sometimes arrive in poor health…dehydration and heat stroke have become common problems…and nighttime temperatures, wind and rain are creating conditions ripe for hypothermia…The government had argued that the children [and adolescents] were not yet in U.S. custody so it had no obligation to provide services….[yet] Border Patrol…control[s] the minors’ ability to leave the sites…Judge Gee denied the [government’s] request for a specific time limit for how long minors could be held [without food, water, shelter, or medical care]…

Welcome to the Future (#1351)

Indiscriminate murder is so much easier when blamed on machines:

…the Israeli army has developed a…[computer] program known as “Lavender”…to generate targets for…bombing…the…system is designed to mark all suspected operatives in the military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), including low-ranking ones, as potential…targets…human personnel…serve…only as a “rubber stamp” for the machine’s decisions…the Israeli army systematically attacked the targeted individuals while they were in their homes — usually at night while their whole families were present — rather than during the course of military activity…Additional automated systems, including one called “Where’s Daddy?”…were used…to track the targeted individuals and carry out bombings when they had entered their family’s residences…The result…is that thousands of Palestinians — most of them women and children or [noncombatants] — were wiped out by Israeli airstrikes, especially during the first weeks of the war, because of [a computer]’s [mindless] decisions…the army…decided…that, for every junior Hamas operative that Lavender marked, it was permissible to kill up to 15 or 20 civilians…[and if] the target was a senior Hamas official…the army on several occasions authorized the killing of more than 100 civilians…[to eliminate] a single commander…

You Were Warned (#1361)

Ignorant, irrelevant authoritarian spouts ignorant irrelevancies in support of more authoritarianism; what a shock:

Hillary Clinton is the latest to jump on the “Repeal Section 230” bandwagon…Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have insisted that it needs to be repealed.  Senators [from] both sides of the [uniparty]…are supporting bills to repeal [it].  And now Hillary Clinton has joined the crew of ignorant political pundits spouting nonsense about 230…removing Section 230 will not fix whatever problem any of these people think it will fix…Section 230 serves a particularly useful purpose: preventing frivolous lawsuits.  What everyone calling for its repeal is effectively saying is that they want more frivolous lawsuits, most of which will simply be stopped eventually by the First Amendment, but after much more significant expense for websites…what Biden and Clinton seem to be admitting in their desire to remove liability protections is that they want to suppress speech…because they know that any threat of more frivolous litigation would lead companies to…[be far more] censorial…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1391)

Politicians are always happy to wreck lives by inventing new crimes from copaganda:

…While addiction and drug policy experts have repeatedly refuted the idea that touching fentanyl alone can cause an overdose, like a stubborn weed, the lie keeps coming back.  And now the myth has drifted upward to poli[tician]s…At this moment, three bills — one in Florida (SB 718), one in West Virginia (HB 5319) and the other in Tennessee (SB 1754) — are making their way through their respective state legislatures.  All three will allow for a felony charge to be levied against people who [possess]…fentanyl or a fentanyl analog, such as carfentanil or remifentanil…[if a cop has a panic attack nearby]…HB 5319 casts an even wider net, encompassing any opioid regardless of potency…[but] does include language which would require a laboratory test for opioids be administered to the [panicky pig.  But]…SB 718 and SB 1754 [allow charges based entirely in a cop’s imagination]…

If Men Were Angels (ROTW #8)

Turns out he isn’t just a wannabe cop:

Monte Chitty, the [Florida] pastor [who drugged and molested a 15-year-old girl], [was] released on a $75,000 bond soon after his March arrest…[he] was supposed to be arraigned [on April 1st, but] fled in a white van with out-of-state plates and is no longer believed to be in…Florida…he…has lived in 25 states where he’s worked in churches and may have places to hide out; [prosecutor Dennis] Ward [said]…“This guy’s a former cop from Alaska…so I’m concerned about everybody in [his] path”…

The Punitive Mindset (#1426) 

Let’s hope we can soon say, “Good riddance to bad rubbish”:

Last week, the nation’s largest prison and jail telecom corporation, Securus, effectively defaulted on more than a billion dollars of debt.  After decades of preying on incarcerated people and their loved ones with exploitative call rates and other predatory practices that have driven millions of families into debt, Securus is being crushed under the weight of its own.  In March, the company’s creditors gave the corporation an eight-month extension to pay up, urging its sale to a new owner to stave off an otherwise imminent bankruptcy…The slow death of the largest player in this space is not accidental.  It follows six years of intense advocacy to expose the vulnerability of the prison telecom industry’s business model on both ethical and economic grounds.  Organizers have waged a strategic war against Securus, educating investors and the public about the company’s predatory practices while successfully advocating for legislation and regulation to rein them in…The company’s failure would represent a remarkable victory for advocates—and a potential beginning of the end for the prison telecom industry as we know it…

 

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

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In the News (#1424)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Artificial intelligence is not that intelligent.  –  Ella Dawson

Dirty Amateurs

Why are amateurs so damned averse to using condoms?

…Calmara claims to use AI to screen photos uploaded by users for STIs.  They want you to open their website, take a picture of your partner’s genitals before having sex, and upload it to their database so that a…[computer] can review it and scan for 10+ “conditions” including herpes, syphilis, and HPV.  Buried in the Q&A section…Calmara makes it clear-ish that they cannot actually diagnose anyone with any STI, the AI only “works” for penises, and you should really just go to a doctor for an accurate STI test.  But you wouldn’t glean any of that from their cocky Instagram or glossy imagery.  “No cap, just facts,” the copy reads beneath an illustration of a dancing robot.  “Up to 90% accuracy, our AI is grounded in real science.”  Uh… sure…the service is so misguided that it’s easy to dismiss it as satire.  But…Calmara is…not satire, and available to download right now…their…own fine print says, “These offerings should not be used as substitutes for professional medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or management of any disease or condition.”  So what is this service for?  Literally why does it exist when it cannot provide the service it advertises?…

Moral Climate

Never make the mistake of thinking the current zeal for library censorship is limited to either the US or the so-called “right wing”:

Cathy Simpson, the CEO of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library, [h]as [been] fired…[because the board dislikes a group she quoted in] an op-ed column published by The Lake Report.  The Feb. 22 opinion piece, “Censorship and what we are allowed to read”…drew strong criticism from a few…over its promotion of some of the principles espoused by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR)…[regarding] “hidden library censorship,” which she said takes two forms — “the vigorous defence of books promoting diversity of identity, but little to no defence of books promoting diversity of viewpoint, and the purchase of books promoting ‘progressive’ ideas over ‘traditional’ ideas”…[library board chair Daryl Novak tacitly admitted that Simpson was fired purely due to the] content related to FAIR, [because] “the balance of (Simpson’s) article, you can’t really criticize”…

Censorship Ascendant

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

Police Scotland…will in[timid]ate actors and comedians if a…[wannabe censor points at them and croaks the magic words] “threatening and abusive” [because] under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) [Law, the taboo magic] can be communicated “through public performance of a play”…the Assistant Chief Constable responsible for overseeing the implementation of the controversial legislation has [washed his hands of it] after just a year in the post…Police Scotland has [threaten]ed that it will investigate every [incident, no matter how trivial, reported as a “]hate crime[“]…despite the force adopting a “proportionate response” approach to [actual] crimes…there [h]as [been] an outcry from artists…[pointing out] that in the past shows ha[ve] been picketed by organisations trying to get them shut down and warn[ing] that “putting theatre in its own category makes it a target”…

I Can’t Breathe (#1329)

It’s about time cops stopped being allowed to cover up their murders so easily:

The Colorado Senate [has] pass[ed] legislation that would bar the term “excited delirium” from use by [cops and medical examiners.  If signed by]…Governor Jared Polis…it would bar the term [or any of its synonyms] from being used in [cop] training or incident reports, or from being listed as a cause of death on a death certificate…Prominent medical organizations have urged [cops and medical] professionals to not use the [pseudoscientific] term…[whose sole purpose is] to justify injury or death to individuals [attacked and restrained by] police…

Thought Control (#1345)

Some censors are so mentally ill they feel threatened by the sexuality of trees:

The Floyd County (Va.) Public Schools have suspended a…community reading of Katherine Applegate’s Wishtree following complaints that the middle-grade novel depicts a monoecious red oak, a tree with reproductive parts that can pollinate and flower simultaneously.  In the book, originally published in 2017, the tree claims an identity that is “both” female and male and responds to diverse pronouns:  “Call me she.  Call me he.  Anything will work”…[wannabe censor] Jodi Farmer…took to Facebook to [warn] Floyd County residents about the [terrifying] reference to…[vegetable biology], calling the book “indoctrination at its finest”…

Apparently, Farmer imagines these scary, scary words will bewitch her children into transkingdomism.

The Next Target (#1371)

Rather than actually filing a lawsuit against Mastercard for its discriminatory policies against sex workers (which would cost them actual money), ACLU prefers to Tweet, to dilly-dally with complaints to the FTC (a bureau of a government which actively persecutes sex workers and encourages corporations to do the same), and now to file a petition which I can’t imagine will prove to be any more effective than its other slacktivist efforts.  Given the wording of the petition and the website page it’s included in, this seems more like an exercise in virtue-signaling than an actual effort to right an injustice, but I reckon it can’t actually hurt you to sign it.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1417)

Tennessee’s float in the current “monkey see, monkey do” parade will cost it millions every year:

A Tennessee bill would make it a felony for an adult content website to allow access to a minor without age verification…[bill sponsor] Becky Massey…[burbled a lot of nonsense about magic sex-ray emitting pictures, but didn’t publicize that her exercise in morality theater] will cost the state more than $4 million in the first year and then $2 million each year after that…

 

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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Tweetenstein

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 22, 2024| 1 Comment »

 

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In the News (#1413)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 17, 2024| 1 Comment »

People might [not] be sick of book bannings, but are they sick of having their money wasted?  –  anonymous Texas teacher

The Red Umbrella 

As long as sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targeted for violence:

Non-[Irish] sex workers were targeted by a recent scam where a person or people pretended to work for a major advertising website and asked them to provide personal information…[when] the workers did not realise it was a scam and replied to the messages…a number of them were…threatened with physical or sexual violence.  Linda Kavanagh…[of] SWAI…said non-national sex workers were deliberately targeted…She said m[ost] workers don’t report threats, or actual assaults, to gardaí because they…[reasonably] fear they’re going to be blamed for the work that they do…

Panopticon (#1277)

Cops use their panopticon exactly as EFF predicted they would:

In 2022, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that would allow the city’s police…to access footage from private security cameras [as long as they could invent a credible-sounding excuse]…the SFPD [is required to] compile quarterly reports detailing how many times it [abused the privilege]…The report released in January shows that in the third quarter of 2023…[64 pigs] spent a collective 193 hours and 19 minutes [rooting through] live surveillance footage…Police made 49 arrests as a result of surveillance, of which 42 were for narcotics…[only] four were for “theft/larceny,” and one was for [contempt of cop]…all of the r[oot-f]ests [centered on] just five [neighborhoods, one of them the Tenderloin]…the longest [root]ing session was during the Outside Lands Music Festival in August in Golden Gate Park, when [pigs rooted through] 42 total hours of live footage…in [defense of this creepy spying, the]…District Attorney…b[elch]ed [out] the [word]…”fentanyl”…San Francisco is [also]…rolling out new traffic cameras, which are more effective at filling government coffers than preventing traffic fatalities…

The Last Shall Be First (#1351) 

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

[Murfreesboro] Tennessee…must pay $500,000 as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over an ordinance designed to ban drag performances…Last year, the Tennessee Equality Project…filed a federal lawsuit after leaders announced they would no longer be approving any event permit requests submitted by the organization…[due to what politicians absurdly labeled] “illegal sexualization of kids”…the city not only vowed to deny TEP permits but also decided later to update its “community decency standards”…to [include merely being gay as]…“obscene or harmful to minors”…Under the [settl]ement, the city…[mus]t also…repeal the ordinance and process any upcoming event permit applications submitted by TEP…

Thought Control (#1376)

Texas’ ice-pick self-lobotomization is becoming increasingly spasmodic:

In November…Conroe…Texas public school [board members]…decided…to g[ive themselves]…final say of what [books are] in libraries and classrooms….[since then] books are being removed to meet the preferences of individual board members, parents or other individuals through “internal review”…one teacher says…thousands of books from…classroom collections [were seized by] the district.  At the teacher’s school alone, over 550 books, equivalent to more than $7,300 were packed and moved out of…[class]rooms…over 30 library titles have been banned…[and] another ten books [are likely to follow]…later this month.  Within the past two school years, at least 125 of all the titles banned from the district libraries came from internal reviews…112 books have been prohibited from being on classroom shelves…last week, [one self-appointed censor demanded the removal of]…Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, Geography Club by Brent Hartinger, Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok, American Girls by Alison Umminger and Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson…When [a] teacher asked what administrators…planned to do with the [seized] titles, [she]…was told…the books would await “disposal”…

Thought Control (#1389)

Too bad all authoritarian organizations aren’t so short-lived:

…Moms for Liberty experienced a meteoric rise at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as local chapters sprang up to push back against coronavirus restrictions in schools.  The organization soon expanded to pushing book bans and o[ther censorship]…But…the local chapter in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, [has] shut down due to lack of interest…[and] participation also appears to be flagging for…the…organization’s first chapter…in…Brevard County [Florida; at a]…school board…meeting…to discuss a[n attempt to censor]…The Kite Runner and Slaughterhouse-Five…only one Moms for Liberty member showed up…and eventually snuck out of the room [when speakers compared the pro-censorship cult to the Taliban]…The national…organization…has started to see its [15 minutes ending]…as the group was rocked by a sexual assault scandal…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1409)

Censorious politicians are vying to see who can make their new laws the most unconstitutional:

The U.S. Congress’ top anti-porn crusader, Utah Senator Mike Lee, [has] introduced a bill last week that would effectively outlaw all sex work…by classifying any consent influenced by a person’s economic circumstances as coercive…“This is, of course, the dream of the faith based ‘anti-trafficking’ folks — and SWERFs — who believe that no true consent can exist for sex work when money is involved,” [the Free Speech Coalition’s Mike] Stabile added. “It would essentially codify their white slavery panic into law”…

This warped attempt to infantilize women has been part of evangelical feminist dogma for some time, despite its self-evident absurdity.

The Last Shall Be First (#1410)

How defective does an adult need to be to think doing this to a teenager is OK?

A Utah school board member caused a social media firestorm when she publicly singled out and suggested a high school athlete was transgender with no evidence.  She later [uselessly] apologized…[long after her flying monkeys had] personally attacked the player, the student’s school district had to provide extra security for her, and the [politician] who wrote the state’s anti-transgender athlete bill [vomited out her own stupid opinion]…in violation of her own [law].  The post from Natalie Cline…set…off 16 hours of hateful speculation that continued even after she deleted it…

 

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

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In the News (#1400)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2023| 1 Comment »

These warrants…turn innocent people into suspects.  –  Jennifer Lynch

If Men Were Angels

This will continue until fools stop teaching children unquestioning obedience to “authority”:

An Independence [Missouri] pastor…[named] Virgil L. Marsh [has confessed to repeatedly] …molest…ing two girls under the age of 14 who attended his church between 2011 and 2018…Virgil [burbled to] police [about]…“forgiveness from God”…the second…victim…[was only] eight and nine years old…[when] Marsh [was molesting her]…

Creepy Coppers

This is the kind of garbage the state pays to spy on and harass your kids:

A [typical and representative Missouri cop named Darrin Skinner] who [was paid to surveil, intimidate, and harass high] school [students has been] charged with 14 felony counts [for collecting and sharing] child [porn on a social media network called]…MeWe…

I Spy (#1220)

If more companies did this, the fascist surveillance state would be severely hobbled:

Google [has] announced it would soon change the way it would store and access users’ opt-in “Location History” in Google Maps, making the data retention period shorter, and making it impossible for the company to access it.  That means it will no longer respond to “geofence warrants,” a [civil-right violating] co[p]…tool used…to force Google to hand over information about all users within a given location during a specific timeframe…Google’s decision…is a major win for privacy advocates and criminal defense attorneys who have long decried these [unconstitutional] warrants…

A Broker in Pillage (#1250)

There are many ways for governments to steal things that don’t belong to them:

In June of 2022, [cops]…threw dozens of tear gas grenades into [a woman’s South Bend, Indiana] house…smashed windows, destroyed the security cameras, punched holes in the walls, ripped a panel and fan from the bathroom wall and ceiling, ransacked and tossed furniture, snatched curtains down, and broke a mirror and various storage containers…a litany of personal belongings…were ruined.  [Cops were after] a man named John Parnell Thomas…who…did not own the home, did not have any relationship with its owners, and had never been there.  The actual owner, Amy Hadley…told [cops] that Thomas was not inside and that her security cameras…would have alerted her if a stranger had forced his way in [but of course they didn’t care and proceeded to destroy her house like a mob of deranged hooligans, and have refused to pay for the damages]…Her home insurance helped her in part but declined to pay the full amount, which totaled at least $16,000…

Civil rights advocates often joke that the Third Amendment is the only one that hasn’t been undermined, but I fail to see any important difference between the government forcibly taking people’s homes to quarter troops and forcibly taking them to serve as props for cops and robbers games.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1391)

The currently-fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parade has escaped the US:

The [authoritarian] government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez intends to implement age verification to access adult content on the internet…Spain’s data regulator Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) is developing a process to require web users to utilize a digital ID…[similar to the one in Louisiana that suffered] a data breach [months after the state started the “age verification” parade]…

The Cop Myth (#1397)

This one really was an ex-cop, but still just as dangerous:

A former…Tennessee [cop named]…Lawrence Goodine…[has been] charged with murder, kidnapping and tampering with evidence…[after murdering his girlfriend] Kara Akins…[by] strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head…Goodine [absurdly claimed] he had woken up at 3 a.m. and found the victim dead…[of an] overdose…Goodine…was fired [from the pig herd] in 2007…

To Molest and Rape (#1399)

Sometimes molester cops helpfully provide photographic evidence of their crimes:

Hidden cameras captured hundreds of hours of…footage inside a bathroom and bedroom at the home of a [typical and representative] California [cop who]…sexually abus[ed] an underage boy…One camera [was] placed in a light fixture above a toilet…another [was] concealed in a bedroom smoke detector…The [typical and representative cop], James Plas Grider, is seen in one video masturbating while wearing his [magical clown costume]…

Other cops’ fixation on the magical clown costumes of rapist cops is a common element of these stories:

New Mexico State Police arrested Joe Lucero Gonzales last month…for sending nude photos to four teen…[girl]s through social media and [raping] one of them in his [pigmobile] while [wearing his magical clown costume]…The teens range in age from 15 to 17…

 

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 (#1397)

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

If government speech determines what books can be in the library…children can only see…ideas…the government has approved. – Ken Paulson

The Scarlet Letter (#798)

I’m sure there’s some federal law which could be used against other state “prostitution” laws:

Tennessee’s decades-old aggravated prostitution statute violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Department of Justice [has] announced…warning that the state could face a lawsuit if officials don’t immediately cease enforcement.  Tennessee is the only state in the United States that imposes a lifetime registration as a “violent sex offender” if convicted of engaging in sex work while living with HIV, regardless of whether the person knew they could transmit the disease…The department is calling on the state to not only stop enforcing the law, but also remove those convicted under the statute from the sex offender registry and expunge their convictions…

Business As Usual (#1333)

Psychopathic rapist-murderer cop gets slap on the wrist:

A [typical and representative] Ohio vice cop [who regularly raped sex workers by threatening them with violence and arrest] has pleaded guilty on federal charges related to kidnapping, after being cleared earlier this year of murder…charges in a similar but separate incident.  Andrew Mitchell…pleaded guilty to…deprivation of rights under color of law and…obstruction of justice.  Prosecutors have recommended he…se[rve a mere] seven to 11 years in federal prison…

Creepy Coppers (#1364)

Some cops don’t limit themselves to one type of creepiness:

A [typical and representative] New York co[p and screw named]…Jeffrey Thomas Singleton is behind bars [in] Pasco County…Florida…for possession of child pornography, video voyeurism, and sexual contact with animals…33 files of child pornography…were found…[plus] a hidden camera that he allegedly used to shoot videos of a girl undressing…[cops] also found images of Singleton engaging in sex…with his two dogs…

I could’ve filed either of these guys in two different tags, but this one seemed most pertinent:

A [typical and representative Minnesota cop]…previously accused of attempting to solicit sex from [other cops fantasy role-playing as teenagers online has been] re-arrested…on eight new charges…Mathew Richard Adamson…[took] photos of three adult women, two children, and one…[apparent] teen…[girl] using hidden cameras in various restrooms…[he also] saved screenshots of [women] in various states of undress…from a [cop surveillance camera hidden in the jail]…and [collected]…child pornography, featuring children ages 8-12…

Thought Control (#1366)

That they are willing to openly admit this is a sign of how bad things have become:

Florida…Attorney General Ashley Moody has declared th[at]…public schools…[and] libraries…do not exist to promote the free exchange of ideas, but rather, to “convey the government’s message.”  In a legal brief, the State of Florida argues it has a First Amendment right to remove…any book…from public schools and libraries…the state [contends that]…public school libraries are “a forum for government speech, [not a] forum for free expression”…

The Cop Myth (#1393)

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

Erika de Lima was…murdered by her husband cop, Thiago de Lima, on [December 3rd] in São Paulo, Brazil.  A surveillance video showed Erika de Lima attempting to drag Thiago de Lima out of a car.  The [murderer pistol-whipped]…her…about five times before shooting her in the chest twice…in broad daylight…

Vulture Watching (#1395)

Texas Supreme Court declares that the only way for doctors to know if an abortion is legal is to perform it and see if they get prosecuted:

The Texas Supreme Court [has] overturned a lower court order allowing an abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition, hours after her lawyers said she had decided to leave Texas for the procedure in the face of the state’s abortion bans.  The court ruled that…Kate…Cox’s doctor, Damla Karsan, “[did not correctly guess the magic words]…the court [wanted to hear to allow an]…exception[, so Cox just has to risk sepsis which will lead to infertility or even death]”…

To Molest and Rape (#1395)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative] San Diego Co[p named]…Jose Soto…[has pled] guilty [to] child pornography…and…continuous child sexual abuse…[of] a child under 14…involving two young victims…

“Continuous sexual abuse” also describes this cop’s behavior:

A [typical and representative Washington] D.C. [cop named Charles Johnson II] has been sentenced to…32 years in prison…[for] sexually abus[ing his girlfriend’s daughter,] who was nine and ten years old at the time…he took advantage of her when[ever] she was left in his care…[after] his release, Johnson will be [condemned] to [the]…sex offender [registry] for the remainder of his life…

It really amazes me when multiple people give these predators access to their kids:

A [typical and representative North Carolina cop named]…Johnathan Andrew Edwards…was charged with…[filming] multiple underage girls ranging in age from 7 to 17…in a[n undefined] sexual act…

 

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 (#1391)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

When have the people who ban books ever been the good guys?
–  Keri Lambert

Stalkers in Blue

This creepy shit appears to be a cop’s twisted idea of “flirting”:

[Florida cop] Dylan Fruh [resigned before he could be fired for stalking]…a 17-year-old girl whom he traffic-stopped [on a flimsy pretext and demanded]…her phone number…[he then] followed her and parked 3 spaces over…and…[started repeatedly] texting and calling her…When this was reported…[he claimed to his] superiors…that he had followed her to make her more comfortable with cops…While investigating this, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office searched his phone and found yet another c[reepy stalking of] yet another [underage] girl…No photo [of Fruh] can be found on the Marion County Sheriff’s Office page or elsewhere…

Why do so many cops seem to believe that stalking and harassing women will “build trust“?

Thought Control (#1356)

Surely you didn’t think this crusade would stop with libraries and the internet?

Murfreesboro [Tennessee] passed an ordinance in June banning “indecent behavior”…[and] specifically [referencing] Section 21-72 of the city code…[which defin]es homosexuality [as “sexual conduct”]…An ACLU-backed challenge…has already been launched, but that hasn’t stopped [politicians] from [us]ing the measure [for its intended purpose, banning LGBT-themed]…books…from the public library…[including] the books Flamer, Let’s Talk About It, Queerfully and Wonderfully Made, and This Book Is Gay.  The board also implemented a new library card system that categorizes books into certain age groups…[so] children and teenagers will only be able to check out books that correspond to their age group; they will need permission from a parent or guardian to check out “adult” books…[including] many classic high school books, such as To Kill a Mockingbird…

Dangerous Speech (#1373)

The main phase of this evil self-parody is finally over:

After a dozen years of legal tussles, seven years in the crosshairs of ambitious prosecutors, and five-and-a-half years fighting a federal case that saw his business forcibly shuttered, his assets s[tolen], and his longtime partner [harrassed into] suicide, alt-weekly newspaper impresario Michael Lacey was found guilty Thursday on just one of the 86 criminal charges levied against him…But the government’s fanatical pursuit of Lacey and his four other Backpage co-defendants is far from over…[the] award-winning investigative journalist…was found guilty of international concealment money laundering, which could land him in prison for up to 20 years, and not guilty of international promotional money laundering.  But after a week of contentious deliberations, the jury could not come to agreement on the other 84 charges, prompting U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa to declare a second mistrial…That means Lacey could face a third federal trial…for the crime of running a classified ads site…executives Scott Spear and John Brunst were found guilty of…over 20 counts apiece…[and] could very easily spend the rest of their lives in prison…Andrew Padilla and Joy Vaught, [who were charged specifically to goad them into testifying for the prosecution,] were found not guilty on their 51 prostitution counts…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1375)

Opportunists taking advantage of cop gullibility by selling them ordinary gear at inflated prices just by slapping the word “fentanyl” on it would be hilarious if it were their own money these idiots were throwing away, but of course it isn’t; it’s money they steal from others, either indirectly (by taxation) or directly (by pointing at it and belching “drugs”).  And now that they’ve extended their panic to dogs, there are even more opportunities to wreck lives by accusing victims of the made-up crime of “exposing” others to fentanyl.

Counterfeit Comfort (#1383) 

It’s good to see someone with a functional moral compass addressing this topic:

Meaghan Ybos…is president of Women Against Registry, an organization dedicated to ending sex offender registration…when her rapist was finally caught, nine years after the attack…she…learned that the Memphis Police Department had neglected to test the majority of the rape kits it collected, including hers.  Since then, she’s been pushing back against the myth of the rape kit “backlog”…[which she describes as “]political theater…It’s…politicians and law enforcement…using victims like me as a currency…A lot of times the retort to people arguing against the registry is, “You should tell that to so-and-so who was raped when she was 16 by a stranger.” OK: Well, I was. That was my case. I actually have a rare type of stranger rape that doesn’t even happen to that many people, and I’m still against this…Is it good for a society to be able to punish people after they’ve served their punishment? Is it good for our society to accept the government keeping lists of people for whom constitutional rights can be suspended?…the registry is counterproductive as any supposed crime reduction goal[“]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1389)

The latest entry in the currently-fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parade:

Indiana [politician] Mike Bohacek…has filed a bill that he [doesn’t admit is to monitor adults] online…[it] would require age verification for websites [politicians summarily deem] pornographic…[and invent a new crime for] a website operator [to fail to guess what politicians might declare]…pornographic material without [spying on users]…

To Molest and Rape (#1389)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative Colorado cop named]…Dylan Miller…was arrested…[for] kidnapping [and] sex[ually] assault[ing]…a 15-year-old girl…in July at the North Lake Park in Loveland [Colorado]…Miller…[target]ed the girl [by using the pretext that she was] in [the] park after-hours…[he demanded she] walk with him to a secluded area of the park…[and] sexually assaulted her…

 

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 (#1390)

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

Abortion trafficking is not a thing.  –  Judge Debora Grasham

An Avalanche of Bullshit (#976)

Another high-profile pogrom of an Asian-owned business has been announced in the media by parroting cops’ and prosecutors’ masturbatory fantasies, racist propaganda, and ludicrously-Victorian language.  The use of the word “service” as a verb in the headline is as telltale as the presence of the word “sophisticated”, used by cops for the last decade as an excuse to rape sex workers.  The primary trope of the coverage is the popular pretense that it’s somehow shocking that modern men of means and position are as likely to buy sex as such men have always been since the beginning of human civilization.  Fairly-ordinary fees and costs of doing business are represented as extravagant; extremely mundane practices like screening clients and making bank deposits are described with weird, convoluted language so as to make them seem somehow esoteric and criminal; and adult women are infantilized as passive victims by invoking the “submissive Asian woman” fantasy.  One day, our culture may grow up enough to recognize that pragmatic sexual arrangements are nobody else’s business, but that day is not today, so we can look forward to months of lurid fixation on the prurient details and none on the government’s crime of wasting massive amounts of money and manpower in order to destroy the lives of people who harmed nobody.

Creepy Coppers

Seems like a significant fraction of child porn is spread by cops:

A [cop from] Tennessee was arrested…[for] requesting [nude photos]…from a mother in Virginia who sent him [nude] photos and videos of her juvenile daughter.  Dan Roark…was…charged with…production of child pornography…an anonymous [snitch first reported the daughter]…

I had to aggressively edit this one because it was so larded with obfuscatory language:

A [typical and representative Missouri cop] has been indicted by a federal grand jury…August Price Gildehaus…was charged…with one count of enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity…producing child pornography…and…attempting to distribute child pornography…

Feudalism Redux (#1327)

Politicians don’t even try to make their new laws constitutional any more:

…a federal judge [has] granted a temporary restraining order against…[Idaho’s unconstitutional law inventing a new crime called] “abortion trafficking”…[which] criminaliz[es] any adult who assists a minor in obtaining abortion medication or a lawful abortion out of state without parental consent. [The law essentially allows a] parent…or guardian…to f[orce a]…minor…[to carry an unwanted or even dangerous pregnancy under the rhetoric of]…“parental rights”…the law is [both] unconstitutionally vague [and infringes] on the…right…to interstate and intrastate travel…

Cops and Robbers (#1328)

Of course they’ll never charge the cops who use similar tactics with no more concern for ethics:

Jason Nassr, the man behind…Creeper Hunter TV, [was] sentenced…to…18 months of house arrest…from 2015 to 2020, Nassr posted videos he claimed showed men contacting him for sex when…he was [ageplaying]…he would communicate with men on dating sites and social media platforms, typically portraying himself as an 18-year-old female.  Once the correspondence turned sexual…Nassr would [start ageplaying while yet including hints that] he was [actually ov]er 18 — as young as age 10…Those who continued to communicate with him would end up featured on Creeper Hunter TV.  Nassr recorded in-person confrontations, showed screen captures of text conversations, and included full names and phone numbers…Around 100 episodes were posted…at least two of [Nassr’s victims] have died by suicide…[but] Justice Alissa Mitchell…[let him off with] house arrest, six months of a 10 p.m. curfew and two years of probation…

I Spy (#1376)

Nothing infuriates violent busybodies more than privacy:

On October 26, the UK Parliament passed the Online Safety Act…the government has…admitted there…is no…way to scan E2EE messages or services without breaking their encryption…[so] Ofcom…now…propos[es] to use hash matching…a mass surveillance [technique] that could easily be abused by law enforcement.  Hash matching…compares…videos, pictures or text…to a database of illegal content…by turning the content into “hashes”, a sample of the content a bit like a fingerprint…similar systems already in place have returned numerous false positives that can ruin people’s lives…and bog the system down, forcing companies…to investigate perfectly innocent media…every app you download to share files or access social media could contain spyware to [root through] the media on your device and [snitch to the cops]…the database of illegal material will [certainly expand and]…could very easily become a tool of censorship, similar to how the Chinese government scans for images of the Tiananmen Square protests…

The Cop Myth (#1378)

41% of cops admit to beating their wives; some don’t stop with mere beating:

A [typical and representative Alabama screw named]…David Tolbert was arrested after…he [murdered]…his wife on Nov. 15, 2022…[by shooting her] in [public] outside of a business…

Torture Chamber (#1387)

It does not help young victims of governmental brutality to infantilize them as “children”:

…[young people locked up]…in more than a dozen [prisons] in Illinois…[are routinely] “tased, pepper sprayed…roughed up by [screws]…forced into isolation for days at a time…[and] denied access to…medications…mental health treatment…and…schooling, [in defiance of] state and federal laws”…[at one cage stack] in Benton…Solitary confinement is the rule…[prisoners] spend between 20 and 23 hours per day confined in their cells…[where] fluorescent lights [are left on]…24 hours a day…the cells themselves are f[ilthy] and infested with [toxic] black mold…

 

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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