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Posts Tagged ‘The Cop Myth’

At the time [I molested a boy], I was the victim.  –  Phillip Fisher Jr

Buried Truth

A textbook example of McNeill’s Law:

A [Philadelphia] pastor who coordinates the faith-based outreach for the [pro-censorship cult] Moms for Liberty was convicted a decade ago of sexually abusing a teenage boy.  Phillip Fisher Jr…helps connect the [cult] with local faith leaders to boost membership…Fisher blames his conviction on…Lyndon LaRouche…

Policing for Profit

Cops will never stop doing this as long as the state keeps giving them pretexts:

Miami [cop] Frenel Cenat…was arrested on November 17, 2023 on charges including…extortion, [robbery] and attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  When a [snitch] told the FBI that…Cenat had…stolen money and drugs from them…[the FBI set him up] to [try to] extort $50,000 from a man whom he “caught” in a drug transaction.  The conversation was recorded…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1271) 

Perhaps we’re nearing the end of this nasty, twisted saga:

The company that owns Pornhub reached an agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office, resolving a 30-month federal investigation into its role in the Girls Do Porn…case.  Aylo, formerly Mindgeek, has been accused in multiple civil lawsuits — some of them ongoing — of knowingly hosting videos…the victims [were promised] would never be seen in the United States…Aylo…didn’t plead guilty to any crime, and the FBI will dismiss the charges in three years, subject to court approval and Aylo’s compliance with the agreement…“While the production company provided the platforms with written documentation that purported to be consent forms signed by women who were featured in the GDP/GDT productions, and Aylo was unaware of GDP/GDT’s criminal conduct, Aylo now understands that those forms were obtained by GDP/GDT through fraud and coercion”…Aylo voluntarily agreed to pay individuals who were defrauded by Girls Do Porn and its affiliates, whose images were posted on Aylo’s platforms…

I Spy (#1360) 

The government thinks you shouldn’t be allowed any privacy whatsoever:

A little-known surveillance program tracks more than a trillion domestic phone records within the United States each year, according to a letter…sent by US senator Ron Wyden to the Department of Justice…challenging the program’s legality…Data Analytical Services…has for more than a decade allowed [cops and spooks] to mine the details of Americans’ calls, analyzing the phone records of countless people who are not suspected of any crime…the program targets not only those in direct phone contact with a criminal suspect but anyone with whom those individuals have been in contact as well.  The DAS program…is run [with the full and voluntary] coo[per]ation [of] the telecom giant AT&T, which captures and conducts analysis of US call records for [cop shops and spook houses] across the country…[raking in] more than $6 million [for] the program, which allows [snooping into] the records of any calls…includ[ing]…the caller and recipient’s names, phone numbers, and the dates and times they placed calls…

To Molest and Rape (#1382)

Give aggressive thugs power over teens; what could possibly go wrong?

[Typical and representative Indiana cop] Tim Armstrong was arrested and accused of [attempting to molest a teen boy]…between April and August of 2022.  Th[e boy] told a school counselor that Armstrong asked him to send sexually explicit videos and images and asked him inappropriate questions on several different occasions.  Indiana State Police…also found…that Armstrong had [watched porn]…on his school-issued cellphone while [assigned to spy on, harass, and intimidate students.  In addition to that job]…Armstrong has [also been a politician and] high school baseball coach…

The Cop Myth (#1390)

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

[Illinois cop] Michael Huff [murdered] his wife…Jackie…on [November 20th, then shot himself]…the [bodies were] discover[ed]…after…[a neighbor complained about] shots fired…at the Huff residence…

Served Cold (#1392)

The schadenfreude of watching Tim Ballard’s reputation go down in flames is so very sweet:

Documents filed in a lawsuit against Tim Ballard accuse him of grossly exaggerating his job with the…CIA…to [con people out of] millions of dollars…Frank Montoya Jr., a retired [FBI] agent…confirmed the CIA hires interns…in the…Watch Office…he [said]…employees who work in the CIA Watch Office are…“basically making coffee and answering telephones”…

 

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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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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People who believe that the human psyche and human culture are both the products of Divine ordination have either never fallen in love, or else they think God is a sadist.
–  “Since the Model Came Out

Human beings don’t exist to serve you, to be “empowered” by you, or to be defined in relation to you.  –  “Up for Grabs

The police are terrorists; their job is to inspire terror of violating the whims of politicians by inflicting violence on people who are legally innocent of any wrongdoing.  –  “The Cop Myth

I call sex work a harm reduction method for monogamy because it is.  –  “Because It Is

Hollywood has its collective head so far up the collective prohibitionist rectum that it has to bend over backward describing an actual pimp as a “male madam” and a “sex fixer” rather than simply admitting that the truth about sex work doesn’t resemble a bad screenplay full of evil “traffickers”, pathetic “victims” and brave “rescuers”.  –  “R.I.P. Scotty Bowers

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We have zero comment.  –  Mrs. Brian Lovell

I stumbled across this fan video of a song from Aice Cooper’s new album, and not only do I like, it, it’s actually seasonal!  The links above it were provided by Phoenix Calida, Mike Siegel, Amy Alkon, and Radley Balko (x3), 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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[Screws] punish people who can’t fight back.  –  Gregory Hyde

The Truth About “The Truth About…”

Just another of those nonexistent false rape accusations:

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

If Men Were Angels

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

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

Perquisites (#840) 

Expect use of this term to continue expanding wildly:

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

I Spy (#1184)

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

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

The Punitive Mindset (#1196) 

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

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

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1279)

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

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

The Cop Myth (#1374)

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

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

 

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

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The modern porn-addiction treatment industry…seem[s] to be feeding and enabling narcissism.  –  David Ley

The Public Eye (#660)

We’ve seen sex workers win elections in Latin America, but can one win in the puritanical US?

A [nurse practitioner] running for [office] in Virginia…performed sex acts with her husband for a live online audience and encouraged viewers to pay them with “tips” for specific requests…Susanna Gibson…streamed [the performance] on Chaturbate…and…more than a dozen videos of the couple…were archived on [another] site…[called] Recurbate…a Republican operative [snitched to] The Washington Post about them…in…an [attempt to harm her campaign.  Gibson called the outing]…“a sex crime”…[alleging that sharing the] videos [without her permission] constitutes a violation of the state’s revenge porn law, which [criminalizes]…“maliciously” distribut[ing] nude or sexual images of another person with “intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate”…

Out of Control (#1116)

What is wrong with doctors who do this?

For decades, patients warned Columbia about the behavior of obstetrician Robert Hadden. One even called 911 and had him arrested. Columbia let him keep…practicing for another five weeks.  Eight patients say he assaulted them in that time…To date, more than 245 patients have alleged that Hadden abused them, which by itself could make him one of the most prolific sexual assailants in New York history.  But the total number…may be far higher.  On any given day during his two decades…at Columbia, Hadden saw 25 to 40 patients.  Tens of thousands came under his care.  A baby girl he delivered grew up to be a teenager he allegedly assaulted.  Hadden…was sentenced in July to 20 years in federal prison — the result of a long, arduous process that Columbia often undermined…In agreeing to pay $236.5 million to resolve lawsuits brought by 226 of Hadden’s victims, Columbia admitted no fault…But the university’s own records show that women repeatedly tried to warn Columbia doctors and staff about Hadden…

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1278) 

Anyone who’s ever been involved with a narcissist will see the truth of this:

In 2012, when I first began publishing challenges to the concepts of sex addiction and pornography addiction, one concern I raised was whether these diagnoses enabled persons with personality disorders to externalize responsibility for their often selfish behaviors…Now, new research justifies my early concerns, finding that personality features associated with narcissism contribute to viewing oneself as a porn addict.  Past research has found that persons high in narcissism report higher levels of pornography use in general, and…recent research has found that persons higher in narcissism…are more likely to identify themselves as victims…Externalizing responsibility and blaming others are common features of narcissism, as persons high in narcissism rarely see themselves as at fault for problems or misbehaviors…

See No Evil (#1316)

Australian cops, bravely protecting imaginary children from imaginary abuse:

A[n Australian] man has been charged over allegedly creating and operating an online child exploitation game used by…paid subscribers…The…game…[featured lolicon] images, which [are criminalized] in Australia…[cops swaggered around pretending they had saved the world from some] insidious [evil while vomiting out moral panic shibboleths such as] “in our own backyard” [and]…”hold them to account”…

The Cop Myth (#1343)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do, even if she’s a cop herself:  “[An Alabama cop named] Kenneth Booth shot and killed…[his cop girlfriend] Lexi White, then took his own life during an argument…

A Moral Cancer (#1356)

Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:

Disposable vapes will be banned [in the UK under the pretext that children [are] becoming addicted to the devices…health ministers …[have] decided [to borrow the American propaganda that no adults like]…bright colours and [sweet] flavours…

Torture Chamber (#1358)

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

A federal judge ordered Louisiana officials…to begin moving kids out of the former death row unit at Angola, one of the nation’s most notorious prisons…U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick accused state officials of breaking “virtually every promise” they had made when announcing the plan to move [legal minors] to the prison…[screws] had locked [minors] up in cells for days at a time as a form of punishment, punished detained youth with the use of handcuffs, mace, and denial of family visits, and failed to provide appropriate educational and social services and mental health treatment…The ruling gives the state one week to move youth out of Angola…

 

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 an asshole, police chief.  –  Joan Meyer

Bad Girls

“Sex trafficking” is an increasingly-popular excuse for young women to try to evade consequences for violent crimes:

A Texas woman whose case received [attention from opportunists]…after her family alleged she was a victim of [“]sex trafficking[“] has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for her role in a fatal robbery…Zephaniah “Zephi” Trevino…was charged in connection with the death of Carlos Arajeni-Arriaza Murillo…Trevino was among three people charged…Philip Aguilera Baldenegro and Jesse Martinez…were each charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery and are awaiting trial…Trevino’s attorney and family [claim she]…was [blameless because] Aguilera, her co-defendant, [was her pimp]…But Aguilera’s attorney, David Finn, says…it was Trevino who organized the robbery…

Micromanagement (#1012)

The fascists who own most of these companies allow cops to root in them at will, regardless of what the patsies who contracted with them believe they “agreed” to:

…several high-profile [police collaborators]…exploited a loophole in a commercial database called GEDmatch, allowing them to search the DNA of individuals who explicitly opted out of sharing their genetic information with police.  The loophole…allows genealogists [collaborat]ing with police to manipulate search fields within a DNA comparison tool to trick the system into showing opted-out profiles…[this is only one] disturbing example of how genetic genealogists and their [cop cronies], in their zeal to [destroy strangers’ lives], skirt [paper-thin] privacy rules put in place by DNA database companies to [give] their customers [a false sense of security].  How common these practices are remains unknown, in part because police and prosecutors have fought to keep details of genetic investigations from being turned over to [legally-innocent people the prosecutors wish to lock in cages].  As commercial DNA databases grow…the genetic privacy of millions of Americans is in jeopardy…

The Widening Gyre (#1134)

It’s been over two years since we’ve seen an unembellished “sex trafficking from a store” scary tale:

[A Facebook] post claims that a friend’s husband brought his kids to Walmart and his daughter wandered to another aisle…and when he reached her, he saw a man in a trench coat picking up the young girl and leaving…Walmart employees tackled him and police were called…a group of men who have “come out here from Mexico to sex traffic kids in all of [Idaho]” and lists local places such as Pocatello, Rexburg, and Rigby.  The post has been shared countless times on social media and many [gullible nitwit]s have contacted EastIdahoNews.com asking us to investigate.  We found that no police departments in eastern Idaho have received any reports of kidnappings or sex trafficking in Walmart or any other stores…

“Mexicans in trench coats ‘sex trafficking’ children from Idaho Walmarts” is the most ridiculous non-Q “sex trafficking” tall tale we’ve heard in quite a while.

The Cop Myth (#1286)

Cop deals with disagreement in typical cop fashion, and the press is shocked:

Four people are dead and six more are in the hospital after a [typical and representative cop] opened fire at a historic biker bar in Trabuco Canyon, [California]…deputies shot the [violently-deranged cop, yet somehow cops claim]…it is unclear how the [murdering cop] died…the [senseless attack] started [when the cop attacked] his wife…[then decided to start shooting at random until] at least nine people were shot…

The Mob Rules (#1338)

Ignoramus censors are shocked when people they have no power over ignore their stupid laws:

Virginia [politicians demanded adult sites spy on their users, but]…the majority of these websites are [simply ignoring the stupid]…law…[and] an increasing number of Virginians are using [VPNs to] easily g[ain] access to these websites…[the stupid law] also [encourages profiteers] to sue pornographic websites [which ignore it]…some…websites — most notably Pornhub — have opted to block…access…[to] their platforms [from non-VPN using] Virginia [users in order to] prote[ct themselves from predatory lawsuits enabled by] the new law, [but] residents can still easily access adult content through a plethora of…lesser-known websites…only one website, xHamster, is [spy]ing [on users as demanded]…by [censorious politicians].  Ten websites…block…[access as Pornhub does], and 54 remain entirely unrestricted…because their companies are not based in the United States, which makes [them less vulnerable to publicity-seeking US politicians and ambulance-chasing US lawyers]…

I Spy (#1353)

The direct result of the Establishment’s sick lust to know everything about everybody:

…a secret weapon criminals are selling access to online…appears to tap into an especially powerful set of data: the target’s credit header.  This is personal information that the credit bureaus Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion have on most adults in America via their credit cards.  Through a complex web of agreements and purchases, that data trickles down from the credit bureaus to other companies who offer it to debt collectors, insurance companies, and [cop shops]…criminals [who don’t belong to state-sponsored gangs] have managed to tap into that data supply chain, in some cases by stealing…identities [of members of state-sponsored criminal gangs], and are selling unfettered access to their criminal cohorts online…communities where this tool is advertised include chat rooms focused on swatting…SIM swapping, in which hackers take over a victim’s phone number to then receive login codes and break into their online accounts; and physical violence, where criminals [not sponsored by the State] hire one another to rob, shoot, or assault their enemies and vandalize the target’s home [without state permission].  Overall, the tool offers exceptional power and requires little to no technical sophistication to obtain a victim’s sensitive data…even for people who have otherwise been careful with distributing their personal information, and who have taken steps to have their details scrubbed from other data brokers…

Dangerous Speech (#1365)

The publisher of the Record died on her feet, at least figuratively speaking:

Marion County Record co-owner Joan Meyer leaned into her walker and stood up to at least six [pigs rooting]…her living room during a bizarre series of [il]legal…raids of her residence, the newspaper’s office and a city council member’s home.  Meyer, 98, died of cardiac arrest the day after [cops invaded and robbed]…her house despite her protests…the [rooting herd] included Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody [who had been hired despite resigning in disgrace from his previous job due to incompetence and shitty behavior]…

 

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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The system that they…tell the public guarantees accountability is a farce.  –  Thomas Beck

I know many will view this as a double sacrilege (because Prince), but I’ve never liked “Nothing Compares 2 U”.  So I thank Greg Lukianoff for pointing me to this song, which not only better showcases O’Connor’s singing (IMHO), but also seems more lyrically appropriate.  The links above the video were provided by Gustavo Turner; Walter Olson; Jesse Walker; Isley; Aaron Ross Powell and Jesse Walker again; Missy Mariposa; 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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If thou have a great black bowl in thy hand and it be full of good ale and thou leave anything therein, thou puttest thy soul into greater pain.  –  The Heege Manuscript

I recently saw a Twitter thread asking for people’s favorite David Bowie songs, and I honestly have to say this is mine; I’ve liked it ever since it was in heavy rotation when the film came out.  The links above it were provided by Jesse Walker; Lenore Skenazy; Kevin Wilson; Jesse Walker again; Radley Balko; Elizabeth N. Brown; and Conner Habib, Dan SavageFranklin Harris, 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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Public spaces are not majority spaces.  –  Judge David Nuffer

Broken Record (#851)

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

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

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

Checklist (#1134)

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

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

A Broker in Pillage (#1155)

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

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

The Last Shall Be First (#1338) 

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

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

The Cop Myth (#1339)

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

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

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

The Last Shall Be First (#1345) 

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

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

The Last Shall Be First (#1346) 

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

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

 

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

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