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Posts Tagged ‘The Implosion Begins’

Small Mercies

Posted in Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 26, 2024| 2 Comments »

I will always be grateful to QAnon cranks for making “sex trafficking” rhetoric unpalatable to anyone outside of the MAGA cult, thus causing the moral panic to implode.  Oh, we still have to put up with “sex trafficking” being used as an excuse for evil and tyranny, but at least we no longer need endure endless racist memes of black men’s hands over white girls’ mouths; parades of taped-mouth morons walking around or standing on lawns; or creepy fetishists demanding people draw red Xs on their hands, dye their hair blue, make paper airplanes, or wave origami birds in strange women’s faces.  It’s like the Drug War: still being used as excuse for State violence, but no more fried egg commercials or “classes” where cops encourage kids to rat their parents out to the Gestapo.  Still, I’d much rather see the yellow press furiously backpedaling from a hysteria they eagerly promoted for two decades, describing it with words like “unfounded” and “right-wing conspiracy theory”, than breathlessly espousing pure idiocy such as “4% of all US adolescents are ‘sex slaves’“, “It’s possible for a woman to be raped by 100 men a day without the neighbors noticing“, “300,000 13-year-olds vanish every year without the news being able to name even one“, “Women are so incompetent, they are unable to book hotel rooms or travel“, “Only a tiny minority of men pay for sex, yet it’s enough to sustain one of the world’s largest criminal industries“, and even “34 – 7 = 13“.

Thank Heaven for small mercies.

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In the News (#1456)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

In my movies, everybody always dies.  –  Brian Steven Smith

Surplus Women

Your “leaders” work hard to ensure this happens more often:

Brian Steven Smith…[of] South Africa…[has] been [sentenced to 226 years in prison for the]…murder[s of two Alaska native sex workers,] Kathleen Henry in 2019 and Veronica Abouchuk, either in 2018 or 2019…[Smith made] graphic videos…[of] Henry’s [murder, then drove around with her]…body in the back of his pickup for two days before dumping her body on a rural road south of Anchorage…The video never shows [his] face but his distinctive [South African] accent is heard…narrat[ing] as if to an audience and urges Henry to die as she’s repeatedly beaten and strangled in an Anchorage hotel room…Valerie Casler…who provided the images to police…stole…Smith’s [phone from the console of his] pickup when they were on…a [professional] date…[and] found…[the] video on it…[then] transferred [it] to an SD card she [gave to police]…During an eight-hour police interrogation…Smith confessed to police that he also killed Abouchuk…and shot her in the head before dumping her body north of Anchorage…police…later found a skull with a bullet wound there…

To Molest and Rape

Rapist cops often specifically target vulnerable women:

A West Palm Beach [Florida cop named]…James Bush…was arrested on July 12 [for trying to rape a woman]…after a man called [911] to evict his girlfriend.  When Bush arrived, he told the man to leave…the[n immediately] asked her if she wanted to “go upstairs and have some fun.”  He then grabbed her arm…[and dragged] her to a bedroom, [where he] tried to…oral[ly rape her, then switched tactics to]…offer…her “$2,000 to get your own place”…[she] eventually [got him to leave, but he returned with another cop]…hours later…[when] the…boyfriend called police again…The woman [then] told the [other cop] that Bush had sexually assaulted her and that she had evidence on her phone.  “Bush grabbed her phone during a struggle and deleted video, which was retrieved during the subsequent investigation”…

The Implosion Begins (#1079)

Now that the hysteria has imploded, local media are happy to attack the same fantasies they eagerly spread for two decades:

…a sting operation to nab sexual predators…was run…in May by Millersville [Tennessee] Assistant Police Chief Shawn Taylor and a colorful cast of [fellow psychopaths] he assembled…Taylor did not involve other law enforcement agencies with more experience in such operations because of his un[til-recently popular] conspiracy theories that…state officials are involved in child sex trafficking…Members of a private group posed online as minors — despite Millersville police being told by prosecutors that the sting would be legal only if [pigs] were the ones doing the [entrapment]…Taylor [claimed] investigators would be using [illegal] “pre-signed search warrants”…he…has voiced support for all sorts of bizarre…child sex trafficking [myths which were popular with reporters as long as they only demonized sex workers instead]…of…powerful…Democrats…[and] imagines that Millersville, a community of about 6,000 people just north of Nashville, is at the center of Tennessee’s drug and human trafficking operations…Two of the men were introduced to the group as “prayer warriors,” who are part of a group that believes…human trafficking i[nvolves]…”demons”…and former Navy SEAL Craig “Sawman” Sawyer…[who in 2018] took a Tucson TV crew to a camp that he [fantasiz]ed might have been used for child sex trafficking…

Follow Your Bliss (ROTW #2)

Beware of men who “volunteer” to be in positions of authority over your kids:

A [Michigan church volunteer named]…Jonathan Russell is facing 10 charges [of child molestation]…Russell [targeted] children he…was [given authority over as] a volunteer youth organizer for the [First Baptist] church [of Bridgeport].  In March…he…was arraigned in Crawford County on three similar charges…[and] previously was convicted in North Carolina in 2016 on charges that he spanked [children] without their parents’ permission…

I Spy (#1398) 

If “official” thugs can obtain your data without a warrant, so can unofficial ones:

The call and text message records of tens of millions of AT&T cellphone customers in mid-to-late 2022 were exposed in a massive data breach…the telecom company…blamed [on] an “illegal download”…the compromised data includes the telephone numbers of “nearly all” of its cellular customers and the customers of wireless providers that use its network between May 1, 2022 and October 31, 2022….[and] every number AT&T customers called or texted – including customers of other wireless networks – the number of times they interacted and the call duration…customer names were not exposed…however…publicly available tools can [easily] link names with specific phone numbers…AT&T…learned [about the breach] on April 19 [of this year, but]…the US Department of Justice…de[mand]ed in May and in June that [the company] delay…public disclosure…

Any information which exists can be misused by corporations or demanded by cops; the only way to stop that privacy invasion is not to collect the information in the first place.

I Spy (#1415)

Cops and politicians should never have been allowed to insert themselves into any doctor-patient relationship, but that ship sailed long ago:

 J.D. Vance…Trump’s pick for vice presidential nominee, pressured federal regulators last June to kill a privacy rule that prevents police from accessing the medical records of people seeking reproductive services…The rule was designed to prevent [cops] in anti-abortion states from using private records to hunt down and prosecute people who cross state lines in search of abortion services.  If the Trump-Vance ticket wins this year’s presidential election, the new administration could rescind the rule…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1450)

Politicians increasingly use nuisance lawsuits to circumvent the Constitution:

…NGL…seems like a fairly standard social media offering, allowing users to post questions or prompts and receive anonymous responses.  Now, the Federal Trade Commission…has ordered [it] to ban users under age 18…[claiming that it] “unfairly” marketed the app to minors…[while barfing out the magic censorship-justifying buzzwords] “cyberbullying and harassment”…To settle the lawsuit, the agency is not only making NGL pay $5 million, it’s also requiring the app to ban those under age 18 from using it…[which] is effectively a backdoor way to accomplish what Congress has been failing to mandate legislatively and what courts have been rejecting when state [politician]s do it…the FTC does not seem to be requiring NGL to check IDs…[yet,] but…it doesn’t seem like a long shot from here to either a) punishing the company further if kids lie about their ages, thereby necessitating the use of ID checks or other age verification schemes by NGL, and/or b) requiring more invasive age verification schemes in future orders to social media companies…

 

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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Hush…Hush, Tweet Charlotte

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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The Throwback Thursday Syndrome

Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Some men simply can’t handle the truth that women are in control of the sexual sphere, so they invent myths and fantasies with which to convince themselves that it’s actually the other way around.
–  “Head Games”

If the primary purpose of a movie is to entertain, it makes sense that a film can be “so bad it’s good”; some movies are just so incredibly, amazingly, jaw-droppingly bad that we can’t help finding them funny.
–  “Pull the String”

The claim that sex workers “sell our bodies” is…based on the notion that…a woman has nothing of value to offer except her sexuality, [therefore] if she “sells” that she has “sold herself” and there is nothing left.  –  “More Harm Than Good“

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In the News (#1435)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 8, 2024| 1 Comment »

Failing to succumb to [jawboning] has been elevated to a criminal matter.  –  Elizabeth Nolan Brown

Surplus Women

Your “leaders” want this to happen more often:

A potential serial killer has been caught after he [raped] two [sex workers], strangled them to death, and dumped their bodies at the same intersection about a month apart…Carlos Yadiel Baez-Nieves was arrested…for driving with a suspended license…[and while in jail confessed to] killing…Fatia Flowers and…Nichole Daniels…Sheriff John Mina [used the excuse of women’s tragic deaths to swagger and brag about cop magic even though the killer was caught due to other sex workers reporting that] Daniels got into a white pickup truck [at a 7-Eleven] and…video surveillance [from] the [store clearly showed]…his truck…

The Implosion Begins

Oh look, journalists have “discovered” what I’ve been saying about QAnon for four years, and “sex trafficking” in general for fourteen:

During the Red Scare, [Americans] believed that Soviet agents were everywhere, having secretly infiltrated all levels of society…The Satanic Panic convinced Americans of the 1980s that absurd claims of ritual abuse and sacrifice were somehow credible…At any given time, America is moving in and out of some moral panic or another.  Harm to children is a persistent theme.  In recent years, however, our national obsession with these moral panics has consumed our politics…The…current obsession with “child sex trafficking” — the animating force behind such conspiracy theories as QAnon and Pizzagate, as well as coded political insults like “groomer” — has roots in this moral panic hyped by powerful Republicans and Democrats alike.  The panic reached its crescendo with the 2018 federal indictments related to a sex ad hub called Backpage.com…

The article is a tie-in to a podcast series called “Hold Fast“, about the persecution of Backpage and its owners, which I’ve heard is very good.  But please allow me some small bitterness about the fact that I shouted about this for a decade before the “Fourth Estate” began to pay attention.

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #1)

It’s good to see someone else recognize this grooming program for what it is:

The youth program that introduced [Sarah] Birchmore to [her molest]ers is among hundreds of such chapters at [cop shops] around the country…law enforcement Explorer posts are d[isguis]ed [as programs] to help teens…learn about policing…[but in reality they are grooming schemes for predatory cops].  At least 194…[cops] have [been caught] groom[ing], sexually abus[ing] or [raping]…Explorers since 1974…The vast majority of th[e victims] were teenage girls — some as young as 13…In many [of these] programs, armed [thugs] were allowed to be alone with teenage Explorers…[and as is usual in cases of criminal cop behavior, cop shops] minimized or dismissed the concerns of those who reported creepy] behavior…[rare] cases led to criminal charges. [A much smaller number] went to prison, while others received probation or weren’t required to register as sex offenders.  [Most cop shops] allowed [rapists and molest]ers to keep their jobs after a reprimand or short suspension…

Served Cold (#1395)

Ballard’s downfall will be even sweeter if he takes a politician with him:

A new filing in the lawsuit brought by five women [whom] Tim Ballard…sexual[ly] assault[ed] has added an allegation of rape, as well as a [report]…that a witness saw Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes using cocaine at a private club in downtown Salt Lake City…Operation Underground Railroad…had given nearly $1 million in grants to Reyes’ office “in order to motivate…Reyes to protect Ballard and OUR.”  After a criminal investigation was opened by the Davis County attorney’s office, Ballard was upset, the suit asserts, “especially since Ballard made arrangements for…Reyes to use a penthouse at Mac’s Place with women and cocaine”…

Virtual Imperialism (#1419)

Governments worldwide are emulating China’s evil:

India’s…assassination plots in the United States and Canada are part of an expanding wave of aggression against dissident groups seeking protection in other countries.  Their home governments are increasingly willing to disregard the sovereignty of those nations and send agents across borders to subdue political enemies…India has faced few consequences for its use of violence and intimidation against dissident groups, in part because the United States and its allies want closer ties with India in a new era of competition with China.  Cross-border repression takes various forms including violence, harassment and surveillance.  India, which eclipsed China last year as the world’s most-populous country, is part of an expanding roster of dozens of nations now employing such tactics…

“A darker side of Modi’s India”?  Darker than censorship, religious repression, and institutionalized racism?

The Vultures Descend (#1423)

Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:

Louisiana [politician]s are considering adding mifepristone and misoprostol…to the list of controlled dangerous substances in the state, creating penalties of up to 10 years of prison time for anyone caught with the drugs.  It’s the latest move by anti-abortion politicians trying to control access to abortion pills, which people are ordering online…and using to end their pregnancies, despite Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban…

Dangerous Speech (#1434)

Here’s Liz Brown with a deep dive on the tyrannical persecution of Backpage:

…From the beginning, this prosecution has been premised on a bogus rationale (authorities yammer on about sex trafficking though none of the defendants are charged with sex trafficking), overreaching in its scope (attempting to hold a web platform accountable for user-generated speech, in contradiction to Section 230), offensive to the First Amendment, and relentless in its attempts to handicap the defense…[Judge Diane] Humetewa’s [most recent] order showcases how this case has turned normal content moderation into criminal activity—in what should serve as a warning to tech companies of all sorts.  The government’s demands are simply impossible…

 

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 (#1430)

Posted in Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, News, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 17, 2024| 1 Comment »

The procurement of health insurance is not a mandatory religious ritual.  –  Judge Leanna K. Weissmann

The Punitive Mindset (#838) 

We need a class-action suit for booksellers affected by these evil policies:

A Georgia jail is refusing all books shipped to inmates, except those that come from major retailers.  One local bookshop is suing…[over the] unconstitutional…policy[, which is excused by having cops barf out the magic word]…”contraband”…prison officials [all over the US pretend] that inmates receive shipments of paper that has been soaked in drugs…[when in reality, it is well-known that drugs in prisons are smuggled in by screws]…Jeffrey Singer, a practicing physician and senior fellow at the Cato Institute [politely expressed the absurdity of the “paper soaked in drugs” fantasy by saying]…”I don’t know if any of these things have ever occurred, or whether law enforcement is simply imagining such scenarios”…

False Witness (#1105)

Good riddance to toxic rubbish:

Bennett Braun, a Chicago psychiatrist whose diagnoses of repressed memories involving horrific abuse by devil worshipers helped to fuel what became known as the “Satanic panic” of the 1980s and ’90s, died on March 20 in Lauderhill, Fla…He was 83…Braun…claimed that he could help patients uncover memories of childhood trauma…which…were responsible for the splintering of a person’s self into many distinct personalities.  He…became…frequently quoted…in the news media…and…publicized his [bizarre fantasies]…of…patients discover[ing] memories of being tortured by satanic cults…key[ing] into a growing national panic…[that] began in 1980 with the book Michelle Remembers…and spiked following allegations of abuse at day care centers in California and North Carolina…[tabloid] TV…[heavily] promoted such claims…[but] the psychiatric profession bore [most of the] responsibility…[because fabulist]s like…Braun [gave] it a gloss of authority…[rather than urging proper investigations of literally-impossible claims]…

Cops and Robbers (#1181) 

Only a few years ago, media outlets were lionizing wackos like these:

Members of a[n Arizona-based] militia group called Veterans On Patrol have spent recent weeks conducting “operations” in Spokane — searching the streets near homeless shelters looking for people they think are victims or perpetrators of human trafficking.  The group has been distributing fliers to homeless people with a phone number and instructions to call Veterans On Patrol instead of the police if they suspect trafficking is occurring…Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer, the leader of the group, arrived in Washington earlier this year and has been attempting to establish a base of operations in the Inland Northwest…Arthur…is not a veteran.  The group started [in 2015] with the stated goal of veteran suicide prevention, but later evolved to focus on immigration and…[fantasies of “]preventing child trafficking[“]…In 2018, Arthur discovered an abandoned homeless camp in Tucson, Arizona, that he [imagin]ed was part of a massive sex trafficking network…Arthur says he isn’t a QAnon adherent, but he does espouse related conspiracies involving chemtrails and Satanic pedophiles who supposedly harvest adrenochrome from children’s blood…In Arizona, Veterans On Patrol members have harassed aid workers, chased people through the desert and physically detained migrants…Arthur has a warrant out in Arizona after skipping out on his sentencing for destroying humanitarian water stations set up for migrants…

Vulture Watching

Psychopathy is typical in politicians, but this is complete derangement:

Arizona’s…Supreme Court [has] revived a near-total ban of abortion, invoking a 1864 law that forbids the procedure except to save a mother’s life and punishes providers with prison time…It superseded the previous law, which mandated the right to end a pregnancy by the 15-week mark, resetting policy to the pre-Roe v. Wade era and adding Arizona to the roster of 16 other states where abortion is virtually outlawed…the…ban could force Arizona’s licensed abortion clinics to ramp down dramatically or shutter…The legal upheaval landed as reproductive rights advocates push for a November ballot measure that would protect access to abortion in the Arizona state constitution.  Campaigners have already gathered more than enough signatures to qualify…

The Vultures Descend (#1308)

Now this is an interesting development:

The U.S. Supreme Court 2014 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby allowed religious, anti-abortion employers to refuse to cover contraception in their employee health insurance.  But an extraordinary April 4 appellate court decision in Indiana turned the…decision into a winning argument for abortion rights…The…case was brought in 2022 by five anonymous plaintiffs of…the group Jewish Hoosiers for Choice….[who] argued that their religious doctrine teaches that a fetus is part of a woman’s body, not an independent being with its own rights.  The abortion ban, then, violates their religious freedom to decide whether to have an abortion.  This argument, which undergirds similar religious freedom lawsuits across the country, including in Kentucky, Missouri and Florida, is a profound pushback against the Christian right’s attempts to assert their position, that life begins at conception and that a fetus is a person, as the only genuine religious belief…Judge Leanna K. Weissmann [wrote that]…If the owners of Hobby Lobby could engage in religious exercise by refusing to provide coverage for contraceptives they considered abortifacients…then “it stands to reason that a pregnant person can engage in a religious exercise by pursuing an abortion”…

Stalkers in Blue (#1408)

This cannot be reformed:

Dana Rachlin, a prominent police reform advocate, once collaborated so closely with local precincts in North Brooklyn that she often worked out of the office of NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey…Rachlin…[foolishly] grew [to trust him] so much…that when…she was raped in October 2017, one of the first people she called was Maddrey, who urged her to file a police report, despite her reservations…Now Rachlin…[has filed] a federal lawsuit [because] police officials weaponized [supposedly-]confidential details of that sexual assault to retaliate against her for her vocal criticism of violent policing…in mid-2020 NYPD officials cut off her access…and told precinct leaders not to work with her.  Soon afterward…[details of] her…sexual assault was circulated to community advocates, mixed in with misinformation… and the [lie] that she fabricated the attack and falsely accused a Black man of rape. Those same claims later surfaced in two anonymous letters sent to…politicians and others… Rachlin [said] “This isn’t just about me. It’s about…a department that reacts to even the slightest criticism with ruthless tactics designed to instill fear and cause compliance”…

Thought Control (#1415)

I was destined to be threatened with state violence regardless of career path:

[Two Alabama bills] comprise a package…aimed at [redefin]ing…obscenity [in a manner that violates the First Amendment] while also removing free speech protections for school and public libraries…[thus] allowing [librarians] to be criminally prosecuted…[if a politician points at books or other library] materials [while barfing out the magic formula] “harmful to minors”…librarians…would have to guess…which…materials…[any of hundreds of censorious politicians might target, which is impossible, so] librarians will likely favor caution and simply not place [any book which has ever been “challenged” by any wannabe censor anywhere in the country] into circulation instead of dealing with the potential liability that comes from making those materials accessible…

 

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 (#1417)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 2, 2024| 2 Comments »

This…is a very good example of panic legislation.  –  Mary deYoung

Winding Down (#1106)

Until the concept of prohibition itself is challenged, these measures are just crumbs thrown to the peasants from their masters’ tables:

Germany’s parliament is expected to…make [it] the third country in Europe to legalise the drug for personal use…Adults would be allowed to possess 50g at one time at home, and 25g in public…[prohibitionists burbled the usual pro-police-violence nonsense, including dishonest] doctors…[who vomited lies about] the risk of addiction [even though cannabis is not addictive]…

Eavesdropping (#1167)

Shotspotter is a boondoggle designed to manufacture false evidence for cops:

ShotSpotter…places its microphone sensors primarily in low-income communities of color…the exact locations…have been kept secret from both its [cop shop] clients and the public at large…[but] a leaked document…details the…precise locations and uptime of 25,580 ShotSpotter microphones.  The…surveillance devices…[are] at more than a thousand elementary and high schools…atop dozens of billboards, scores of hospitals, and…more than a hundred public housing complexes…More than 12 million Americans live in neighborhoods with at least one…microphone, [and] sensors can be found in 84 metropolitan areas and 34 states or territories in the United States.  Nine cities have more than 500 sensors installed, including Albuquerque, New Mexico; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, DC; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Las Vegas, Nevada…in aggregate, nearly 70 percent of people who live in a [surveilled] neighborhood…[are] either Black or Latin…

The Implosion Begins (#1265)

The hysteria is imploding so hard, it’s falling all the way back to its roots:

Utah [poluticians] are moving forward with a bill that would criminalize so-called ritualistic child sexual abuse [despite the complete lack of evidence that such a thing exists or has ever existed.  A recent]…hearing…[was packed with mentally ill] adult…[fantasists who have been enabled and encouraged to dwell in their delusions for decades]…Utah’s role in the 1980s [Satanic] panic was significant.  Many of the first well-known cases of alleged ritual abuse originated in the state, as did the movement’s central figures, including therapists who used hypnosis and manipulative interview techniques to [create false] memories [in] alleged child victims…Local media promoted the claims…

The Vultures Descend (#1323)

Alabama has at long last got the “fetal personhood” it claimed to want; let’s see how they like it:

The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system is pausing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that [absurdly declared] frozen embryos are children…reproductive rights advocates and medical experts have been warning…for days…that the high court’s decision could have devastating consequences for Alabamians seeking infertility treatments…and…could soon have profound impacts far beyond the state’s borders…[the unscientific declaration] will likely not only make the already high costs of infertility treatments substantially higher, but will likely also discourage many providers from offering them at all in the state in fear of being held liable for wrongful death…

And if that worries you, how about this?

Most House Republicans have cosponsored a bill declaring that life begins from the moment of conception…[almost immediatel]y after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are “unborn children”…the “Life at Conception Act“…states that the term “human being” includes “all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization”…[and] does not include any exception for in vitro fertilization…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1327)

Maybe this will teach fools what a danger biometric identification actually is:

…it’s becoming clear that biometric screens are just as easy to bypass as…other…security…[as demonstrated by a new] banking trojan that steals people’s faces.  Un[wary] users are tricked into giving up personal IDs and phone numbers and…prompted to perform face scans.  These images are then swapped out with AI-generated deepfakes that can easily bypass security checkpoints.  The method — developed by a Chinese…hacking family — is believed to have been used in Vietnam [last] month, when attackers…[used it to] withdr[aw] the equivalent of $40,000 from [a victim’s] bank account…This discovery reveals the alarming, growing threat that biometrics pose…Face swap deepfake attacks increased by 704% between the first and second halves of 2023…The[re was]…also…a 672% increase in the use of deepfake media being used alongside spoofing tools and a 353% increase in the use of emulators (which mimic user devices) and spoofing to launch digital injection attacks…

Remember this the next time some ninny tells you that cartoon porn is the worst possible use for deepfakes.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1405)

Nebraska’s float in the “monkey see, monkey do” parade is notable for its open infantilization of women:

…Nebraska [politicians are considering] a bill t[o use] young people…[as a pretext] to [spy on adults’ viewing of] online porn by [“age verification” of people too ignorant to use a VPN]…Dave Murman…[admits] his goal is to pr[etend]…women a[re equivalent to] children…[and also that] he [wants to join the “monkey see, monkey do” parade because] Utah,  Louisiana, and Arkansas [did]…

Served Cold (#1406)

This just keeps getting better:

A [Colombian] woman is suing for defamation and emotional distress because of the way she was portrayed in the [propaganda] film Sound of Freedom, marking a fifth lawsuit filed against Tim Ballard and [his rescue industry outfit], Operation Underground Railroad…Kely Johana Suarez Moya…“was tragically condemned by the Defendants to the entire world as being a child trafficker without any due process or due diligence by the Defendants,” the lawsuit reads.  Other defendants…include…[the] movie [itself]…the distributor…and…writers…Katherine Ballard, [and]…Janet Russon, a former OUR employee and Tim Ballard’s psychic…Ballard and OUR lied to the public about a “sting operation” in Colombia…where operatives “rescued” children at a “pedophile party” on the Colombian Island of Baru in 2014…In reality…[they lured]…in impoverished…young adults with the promise of money…[and] “None of the young adults…were trafficked in any way (other than by Ballard)”…

 

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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New Year’s Eve 2023

Posted in History, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 31, 2023| 1 Comment »

Fascists, prohibitionists, and other violent busybodies…can always be counted on to use every power at their disposal to inflict as much suffering as possible on those weaker than they are.  –  “NYE 2022“

As I first predicted over a decade ago, “sex trafficking” hysteria did not end quietly, but instead violently imploded.  In “The Widening Gyre” I referred to the moral panic as “an increasingly-erratic cultural meme spinning wildly out of control, whose far-flung debris is going to cause a lot more damage before it finally disintegrates”, and boy was I right; though we no longer have to endure endless parades of lackwits with tape over their mouths, and cops’ public masturbation to the “gypsy whores” myth in Super Bowl host cities is more likely to evoke mockery than parroting these days, the toxic fallout of the collapse is everywhere, and will likely poison the social ecosystem for many years to come.  Of course all the terrible laws the hysteria spawned will stay on the books, just as the terrible laws spawned by its previous incarnation a century go (such as 1910’s Mann Act) are still around for the government to oppress people with.  And though the surviving QAnon offshoot of the panic is largely the realm of Trumpists, it’s far too late for belated debunking by prohibitionist media such as The New York Times (which eagerly promoted “sex trafficking” hysteria when it served their authoritarian goals and funneled money into its coffers via clickbait) to have any real curative effect on the paranoid poison which has permeated every part of Western society and may yet engender still-worse laws.  But in the long run, the most dangerous effect of “sex trafficking” hysteria may result from its shifting of the Overton window.  The “white slavery” hysteria of the previous century shifted the public perception of sex work from something which, while distasteful to many, was recognized as normal and even necessary, to a “social evil” which could be eradicated by state violence; similarly, “sex trafficking” rhetoric, by casting women as permanent children wholly unable to view sex pragmatically or even plan travel or place ads without male assistance, paved the way for the ongoing erosion of many of women’s hard-won rights which has already resulted in the widespread recriminalization of abortion across much of the US, the sexual infantilization of women in Canada and much of Europe, and a worldwide war on porn which has made ambitious censorship and surveillance schemes acceptable to useful idiots worldwide.  Where this will end, it’s impossible to say, but one thing is sure:  however destructive a wildfire may be, it’s at least possible to fight it when there aren’t hordes of fools running around throwing lit matches everywhere they go.

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In the News (#1399)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I spent almost a year in a locked-down facility, with a disgusting, horny, grown man that’s supposedly my probation officer.  –  victim statement

I Spy (#1060)

Fascism in action:

A federal inquiry has found that several major pharmacy chains have a policy of turning over customers’ pharmacy records to police without a warrant.  The results [are]…concern[ing]…especially as fights over prescription abortion medication continue nationwide…these [porcine] demands typically come in the form of a subpoena, an order that doesn’t require approval from a judge, unlike a warrant…as debates over controversial medications—from abortion pills to opioid medications—loom large, customers’ ability to keep their prescription history private from [rooting pigs] is paramount…

The Implosion Begins (#1145)

I am deeply amused by mainstream media furiously backpedaling from a hysteria they eagerly promoted for two decades:

Prominent [MAGATs]…are promoting a…[fantasy, founded in the popular “sex trafficking” hysteria,] that pedophiles have been using Etsy to distribute child porn, sold under the guise of wildly expensive digital downloads of images of pizza.  This new [myth] has emerged from the fecund muck of [“child sex trafficking” hysteria, aggressively promoted by cops, politicians, “rescue” profiteers, and the mainstream media since the mid-Oughts, which more recently developed into] QAnon and Pizzagate…The fixation with pizza among [“sex trafficking”] adherents stems from the [constant repetition of the moronic myth] that “[getting a ‘sex trafficking victim’ online is as easy as ordering a pizza]”…or that pizza, generally, can be a veiled reference to pedophilia…[recently, nut cases on] Twitter…began [obsessing about] strange listings on Etsy…[which] purported to sell digital downloads of images of pizza — some of them marketed with images of hungry children — for exorbitant prices, running thousands of dollars…YummyYumPizza…was offering an encrypted “Pizza file” for $4,000.  Another…offered a similar “Pizza Image” for $9,000…These shops are no longer active on the site…because they violate…policies…[against] inflated pricing…

“Sex trafficking” hysterics’ bizarre fixation on pizza is so popular, I have an entire tag dedicated to it.

Eavesdropping (#1152)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen:

A marketing team within…Cox Media Group…claims it has the capability to listen to ambient conversations of consumers through embedded microphones in smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices to gather data and use it to target ads…Called “Active Listening,” CMG claims the capability can identify potential customers “based on casual conversations in real time.”  The news signals that what a huge swath of the public has believed for years—that smartphones are listening to people in order to deliver ads—may finally be a reality in certain situations.  Until now, there was no evidence that such a capability actually existed, but its myth permeated due to how sophisticated other ad tracking methods have become.  It is not immediately clear if the capability CMG is advertising…is being used on devices in the market today, but the company [call]s it…“a marketing technique fit for the future. Available today”…

Torture Chamber (#1267)

This will continue as long as sexually-aggressive men are given power over young women:

Faced with roughly 1,500 plaintiffs [su]ing the county [for] tolerating unchecked sexual abuse at its juvenile [jails, Los Angeles]…has spent the last two years removing [serial] sexual abusers from its ranks…[usually by letting them retire or giving them paid vacations]…Courtney Thom, whose [law] firm represents roughly 150 clients suing the county, said…“that number — and I guarantee it’s probably double if not more — it just shows how irresponsible the county is”…In April, the county estimated it will need to spend $1.6 billion to $3 billion to resolve a deluge of lawsuits [result]ing [from the] county [tolerating] staffers…raping and molesting the [legal minors] they were paid to [confine and torture]…officials said at the time that they expected roughly 3,000 people to sue.  But as of early November, the county had seen roughly 3,800 plaintiffs [including the] 1,500 [who were raped or otherwise] sexual[ly] abuse[d] at the probation halls and camps.  Nearly all the rest [were raped or molested by thugs working for] the county’s Department of Children and Family Services…

A little over a year ago, I said of this abuse, “I guarantee you that the number is a lot higher than 70, probably by at least one order of magnitude.”  Of course I was right, as usual.

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1378)

Whatever these kids ate wasn’t fentanyl, because these aren’t opioid symptoms:

Two people have been arrested and charged after seven Virginia elementary students ate gummy bears from a plastic baggie that [cops pointed at and oinked “]fentanyl[” after using a notoriously-unreliable]…field test [on] the bag…The students – all fourth-graders – experienced symptoms including nausea, vomiting, headache and muscle spasms…

Field tests used by cops “have an error rate so high that they’re akin to ‘witchcraft, phrenology or simply picking a number out of a hat’.”

Business Opportunity (#1394)

Sometimes, a little light is all it takes to send the cockroaches scurrying:

After over a month of mounting public criticism, the government of Hanover County, North Carolina, has decided to drop its plans to s[teal] the strip club adjacent to its government center building…the county will now explore a voluntary purchase of the club…

To Molest and Rape (#1397)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [Pennsylvania cop named]…Tyler Humphreys, was charged with rape, statutory sexual assault…[and] other…[offenses against] a 9-year-old boy and two girls [aged]…15…and…11…[he violently] assaulted [the] 9-year-old…[when he] was [only] 12 [himself, but]…rap[ed the] 15-year-old [last December and molested the 11-year-old for years]…

They often use their cop privileges to stalk victims:

A Staten Island cop arrested for sexual…abuse of teen…[boys stalked]…his victims…using an NYPD database…Christopher Terranova…[found one victim] after the boy had been the victim of a robbery…

And sometimes they’re even convicted:

A [typical and representative Louisiana cop named]…Bryan Dawayne Kibodeaux was found guilty of…rap[ing three]…juvenile…victims…from 2016 through 2019…he faces two life sentences…[plus] 125-495 years…

 

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

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In the News (#1366)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

They never actually say, “Go do this or else you’re going to have this consequence.”  But everybody just knows.  –  Judge Jennifer Elrod

To Molest and Rape

If only there were a concise term for “commission of a nonconsensual sexual act”:

…a [typical and representative] Savanna [Oklahoma cop named]…Jeffery Scott Smith Jr…[us]ed a traffic stop [as a pretext]…to [violently rape a passenger in the car]…and…deactivat[ed] his…body…camera and…dashboard camera…with the intent to [get away with violent aggravated rape]…

Life Imitates Artifice (#849)

Every so often the failed “forced sex trafficking abortions” trope bobs up, like a turd that just won’t flush:

[Without presenting any evidence,] Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen…accused [Planned Parenthood]…of falsifying records…about sexual assault against minors and statutory rape, suggesting th[is]… “could be happening with human trafficking victims.”  The…comments in a July 31 radio interview echo a decade-old…[evangelical trope from the popular “sex trafficking” mythology claim]ing that the national Planned Parenthood organization abets human trafficking…

I suspect that the reason the “forced sex trafficking abortions” myth didn’t become more popular is that, despite the considerable overlap between anti-whore and anti-abortion activism, abortion rights constitute a sacred cow among the “progressives” who did much of the heavy lifting promoting the moral panic.  This same discomfort with logical developments of their pet hysteria resulted in organs like The New York Times distancing themselves from their own propaganda once it developed into QAnon.

Thought Control (#1285)

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

Florida’s…”Don’t Say Gay” law…was expanded on 31 March, to prohibit instruction on gender and sexuality up until the eighth grade, and on reproductive health until the 12th grade.  The legislation also…[censors] material that [politicians or bureaucrats choose to arbitrarily label] “pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct”…[in order to protect teachers from persecution by the State,] the Hillsborough County schools district announced it will now only teach excerpts from some of Shakespeare’s most-famous works…On 3 August…Florida’s Department of Education…ruled that AP psychology classes were a violation of the law due to LGBTQ+ content…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1309)

The way local media parrots copaganda in the face of clear evidence of its foolishness is utterly pathetic:

A deputy’s first-person perspective during a [panic attack] was captured on his body camera, along with a[dministration of a placebo]…by a fellow deputy that [helped him calm down despite having no actual medical effect]…Nick Huzior, who is now [enjoying a vacation at taxpayer expense, claimed]…he felt extremely lightheaded, shaky and [numb, none of which are symptoms of]…fentanyl…Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly [used the panic attack as an excuse to claim a cop panicking like a little girl over wholly imaginary terrors is somehow heroic]…

Checklist (#1150)

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

Texas law will now require all drivers of Transportation Network Companies…to receive [even more of the same absurd and overbroad “signs of human trafficking“ indoctrination they’ve been forced to endure for almost a decade now]…The bill comes after [rescue industry corporations recognized they are losing an]…easy…[way to milk] their victims [for donations]…and [enlisted politicians in fear of losing a powerful excuse for police-statery]…

I know that’s a huge edit, but there really is nothing new to see in this asinine regurgitation of tired old tropes, including “King of the Hill“.

Torture Chamber (#1359)

I’m sure they occasionally yelled “Stop faking!” at him as he wasted away:

…Florida prison officials and medical staff allowed an incarcerated man’s prostate cancer to spread untreated until he was left paralyzed, terminally ill, and afflicted with infected bed sores that rotted to the bone.  When he wrote desperate pleas for help, one official concluded, “This is not an emergency.”  In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last year…Elmer Williams [explain]s that [screws] and nursing staff denied and delayed medical treatment for months after he filed a grievance against them.  The…delays were not just bureaucratic incompetence but retaliation…medical records…reveal [that] staff were aware of his extremely high indicators for prostate cancer, aware of a long-overdue “urgent” referral to a urologist, and aware of his rapidly deteriorating condition…

Censor Chic (#1359)

It’s good to see at least some judges still respect their oath to uphold the Constitution against the government:

Federal judges hammered fresh nails into the coffin of the Biden censorship regime…[in] the Justice Department’s appeal of a July 4 decision in Missouri v. Biden…[where] Federal Judge Terry Doughty…delivered 155 pages of damning details of federal browbeating, jawboning and coercion of social-media companies…The Biden administration…then sought to redefine all its closed-door shenanigans as public service…[claiming that] since federal SWAT teams did not assail the headquarters of social-media firms, the feds are blameless…[and pretending] it’s irrelevant that…Biden publicly accused social-media companies of murder for not censoring far more material and that Biden appointees publicly threatened to destroy the companies via legislation or prosecution…

 

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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