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Posts Tagged ‘Welcome to the Future’

In the News (#1608)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[Letting] pregnant women [die]…is consistent with accepted standards of care in our region.  –  mouthpiece for Cone Health in North Carolina

Gorged With Meaning (#408) 

You know puritanism has run amok when a college student is forced to apologize for going to one of her school team’s football games:

Former adult film star Abella Danger found herself at the center of unexpected attention this week after a televised crowd shot during the NCAA final sparked online chatter and attention she…never wanted…she is…currently a [law] student at the University of Miami, a[nd when she attended]…the [game]…at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium…[an ESPN] camera[man made the questionable decision to] linger…on [her]…during a pivotal moment late in the game…[hypocritical porn] viewers [who] recognized [her apparently blamed her sex rays for jinxing the team or something].  “I am so deeply sorry to anyone I offended with my attendance at the game,” she told [TMZ]…

Something Rotten in Sweden (#750)

Washington state politicians are still ignoring advocates’ advice in favor of puritanical virtue-signaling:

[Politicians] are moving fast to [worsen] Washington’s laws on [adults having consensual sex]…before international travelers come to town for the 2026 FIFA World Cup…the King County Prosecut[or’s office vomited decades-old prohibitionist propaganda at them to]…bump up…paying for sex from a simple misdemeanor to a…felony [because prosecutors aren’t ruining enough lives yet]…

Sex Rays (#1367)

When there’s no censorious payment processor in the way, sex businesses can be powerful helpers:

…the folks at Minneapolis sex shop Smitten Kitten…have mobilized to support neighbors amid a violent and unrelenting [pogrom] by the Trump [regime]…inside the shop, volunteers are organizing canned foods, diapers, clothes, and other essentials to be distributed to…“families that are stuck at home because they’re scared of…ICE [attacks]”…the shop’s Instagram page has been leveraging its platform to boost donation opportunities for community members in the area, sharing GoFundMe, Venmo, and Cash App campaigns…The shop is also partnering with neighboring businesses…to make sure people are being fed.  And volunteers are standing outside of the shop to protect anyone coming in or out from [attack by goons] in the immediate area…

Welcome to the Future (#1414)

Anything connected to a computer can be used to spy on you:

…It’s standard for workplace printers to log certain information, such as the names of files they print and the users who printed them.  In an apparent attempt to avoid detection, [a whistleblower]…took screenshots of [government] materials, cropped the screenshots, and pasted them into a Microsoft Word document…[but his fascist contractor] employer could see not only the typical metadata stored by printers, such as file names, file sizes, and time of printing, but…also…the actual contents of the printed materials — in this case…the screenshots themselves…Whenever someone presses print in a network outfitted with this printer monitoring software, the program creates a clandestine copy of the file and generates an image of page…printed…users might be entirely unaware that the contents of printed files are archived…

Torture Chamber (#1437)

New York supposedly bans long-term solitary confinement:

Teenagers as young as 12…in New York [dungeons] are held for prolonged periods in solitary confinement cells without plumbing…A federal class action lawsuit [was] filed by the Legal Aid Society and the law firm Jenner and Block [because]…New York…”routinely and unlawfully imposes solitary confinement”…in filthy, dehumanizing…cells for 23 to 24 hours a day—in some cases for weeks or even months at a time…”Almost none of the cells…have toilets or sinks.  As a result, [victims] must [beg] to be released from their cells to use the bathroom or be forced to use garbage pails, water bottles, food containers, or buckets to relieve themselves…The smell of urine and feces can permeate these [cell blocks]”…

Vulture Watching (#1534)

Another look at the totally-predictable results of bad laws:

…dangerous miscarriages…are relatively rare events.  What are far more common…are high-risk pregnancies…Each year, hundreds of thousands of women enter pregnancy with chronic conditions that put them at an elevated risk of long-term complications and, in some cases, death…[bu]t abortion bans generally don’t include exceptions that cover these kinds of health concerns…instead, the exceptions are for the “life of the mother.”  In practice, this often means doctors won’t act without strong evidence that their patients are very likely to die.  Where there have been efforts to create…exceptions to cover a range of medical risks women can face in pregnancy, [forced-birth fanatic]s have fought against them…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1566)

Every so often the areas of my reporting beat converge:

…In posts on ManyVids, the porn platform’s official account holds imaginary conversations with aliens, alongside [computer]-generated videos of UFOs, fractal images, “angel numbers,” and a video of its founder and CEO Bella French in a space suit shooting lasers from her eyes.  French launched the site in 2014 as a former cam model herself, and the platform has millions of members and tens of thousands of creators…[yet she] recently changed her personal website to state her new goal is to “transition one million people out of the adult industry and do everything we can to ensure no one new enters it.”  The statement follows posts…about new strategies to pivot the site toward safe-for-work, non-sexual content.  This sudden shift away from years of messaging about being a compatriot with sex workers, combined with bizarre [chatbot]-generated text and images…has made some creators worry for their livelihoods, and caused others to leave the site completely…When faced with backlash, MV removed the ability to comment on posts…[which] appear to be ramblings and images generated by a person in active psychosis…

 

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 (#1594)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[Computer-generated music] will have a corrosive effect on the whole industry.  –  Jason Palamara

Welcome to the Future (#1351)

The only way to keep data from being abused by government actors is not to collect it in the first place:

A California judge ordered the end of a[n illegal and unconstitutional] law enforcement program that surveilled the electrical smart meter data of thousands of Sacramento residents…without suspicion to find [“]evidence[“] of cannabis growing…turn[ing] all 650,000 SMUD customers into suspects…Granular electrical usage data can reveal intimate details inside the home—including when you go to sleep, when you take a shower, when you are away, and other personal habits and demographics…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1506) 

Given that dancers win every one of these suits, the old strip club business model is a dead duck:

A Denver District Court [has] ruled…that strip club entertainers are employees and have protections under the City’s wage and employment laws…Denver Labor, a division of the Auditor’s Office, investigated PT’s Showclub Centerfold, PT’s Showclub, and Diamond Cabaret in 2023 and Rick’s Cabaret in 2024 for minimum wage and other labor law-related violations…

Thought Control (#1518)

To say this was “Trump-inspired” is like saying diarrhea is “cramp-inspired”:

One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett…ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes or characters.  Hargett [incorrectly claimed] libraries that made such books available to children were violating federal and state law.  Some libraries have closed for days so staff could focus on weeding out [bann]ed volumes…the Tennessee Regional Library System…covers most of the state except larger cities like Nashville and Memphis…Hargett…[bloviated about one of the mad emperor’s diktats, but so-called “]executive orders[“] are not federal law and…do not apply to state or local governments…

Walled Garden (#1563)

Much more of this, please, worldwide:

Australia’s [totalitarian] social media ban for [legal minors] is being challenged in the nation’s highest court, with two teenagers [correctly pointing out that] the law is unconstitutional as it robs them of their right to free communication…The law…was justified by [wannabe censors vomiting the word “]children[” in the faces of rational people]…15-year-olds Noah Jones and Macy Neyland – backed by a rights group – will argue the ban completely disregards the rights of [legal minors]…After news of the case broke, Communications Minister Anika Wells told parliament…”[Fuck them kids]”…

Shame, Shame (#1580)

A program cannot create art, nor can a cartoon character be an artist:

…[hip-hop artist Christopher “Topher” Townsend has created a cartoon character he named] Solomon Ray [to promote] gospel music [generated by a computer program]…spark[ing controversy] in the gospel community and beyond…[with many correctly observing that the sound compositions have] “no spirit”…[and some going so far as to imply that the program is a Satanic scheme to] “draw…people away from real Christian singers…in these last days”…

Panopticon (#1587)

Cops will invariably use warrantless surveillance to harass people:

A police chief in suburban Atlanta has been arrested…[for using] the city’s automated license plate…cameras to stalk and harass multiple people.  Michael Steffman…had been the police chief…[of] Braselton [since April, but was a typical and representative pig there]…since 2005.  He announced his resignation…just before his arrest…became public.  The GBI…[refused to] say…how many people were harassed…

Walled Garden (#1592)

“Fairer industry conditions are possible when the people in charge actually come from the world they are profiting on“:

Hidden is the TikTok version of OnlyFans…[which creator Stella] Barey built…around discoverability…“It creates an ecosystem where we’re all bringing fans that are circulating to everybody,” which helps girls who don’t have large followings…Hidden is all about giving creators more control, and many of its features reflect that mission by creating avenues for “passive income and promotion”…Hidden takes an 18 percent cut (compared to 20 percent on OnlyFans)…[and] has charge-back protections up to $2,500…Every creator also has a liaison who is familiar with their account and will respond within 24 hours to any questions.  All of these features exist in one form or another on other adult sites.  Hidden just happens to bring them together for the first time…

 

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 War on Knowledge

Posted in Current Events, History, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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In the News (#1586)

Posted in Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, News, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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

R.I.P. Stephanie Johnson

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

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1536)

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

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

Pyrrhic Victory (#1568)

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

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

Mad Libs (#1577)

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

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

Welcome to the Future (#1579)

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

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

Torture Chamber (#1582)

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

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

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1583)

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

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

 

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

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Cowboy Logic

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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In the News (#1580)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

This is exactly how our system is supposed to work.  –  Mini Timmaraju

To Molest and Rape

“Serious domestic incident” seems to mean he raped his ex:

A Monroe [Louisiana cop named]…Chad Austin Prather…was [arrested and charged]…for…rape [but also rewarded with a paid vacation]…

The Face of Trafficking (#1533)

It says a great deal that when something resembling the myths really happens, a church is behind it:

An FBI raid revealed 57 victims of forced labor living in cramped quarters at a lavish Florida mansion [owned by] the leaders of a church…David Taylor…and Michelle Brannon…[ran] a forced labor and money laundering scheme through…Kingdom of God Global Church…Taylor, who calls himself “Apostle,” and Brannon, his “executive director,” established call centers across the country, staffed by followers working long hours with no pay, tasked with collecting donations…and [also] to work…as…Taylor’s personal servants who fulfilled [his] demands around the clock…The call centers earned $50 million…over the last 10 years…If victims disobeyed…or failed to reach his monetary goals, Taylor and Brannon punished the victims with public humiliation…psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults, and threats of divine judgment in the form of sickness, accidents, and eternal damnation…At the mansion…[were] seven Mercedes Benz sedans and two Bentley sedans…as well as $500,000 in gold bars in Brannon’s bedroom…Taylor claimed to have had “multiple face-to-face encounters with God” and said he was “Jesus’ best friend”…He often demanded sexually explicit videos and photos from women within the organization, and investigators…found thousands of such videos…

You Were Warned (#1533)

Oh look, sensible people were correct as usual:

Discord has confirmed one of its third-party [age gate] providers [was hacked and]…the…government-issued IDs…[used to submit to] age verification laws [stolen]…Experts have warned collecting sensitive personal information, [including] government-issued IDs, is a “disaster waiting to happen” and sites adopting age verification would be a prime target for hackers…

The Vultures Descend (#1536)

Much of the culture war is driven by ignoramuses refusing to understand how things work:

The [FDA] has approved a[nother] generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, expanding its supply at a time when [minions of] the Trump [regime want]…to sharply restrict [legal] access to [it]…The approval…means…three American companies can now produce [the drug]…The FDA. approved the original pill 25 years ago and in 2019 approved the first generic version…nearly two-thirds of abortions in the country are carried out with medication…[which] is a major reason…the number of abortions in [states that want the procedure banned] has not decreased…By law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must approve an application if it demonstrates that the generic drug is identical to the brand-name drug…

Even after a century of “Drug War” failure, prohibitionists refuse to get it into their thick skulls that banning a thing does not make it magically vanish; people simply get what they need on the black market.  Even if the US wholly “banned” mifepristone, it is still made in other countries and could easily be smuggled in.

Welcome to the Future (#1540)

Anybody still using Facebook products deserves everything they get:

[Facebook] will soon use what people [foolishly] tell its…chatbot to…target them with even more personalized ads…[Facebook] already targets users with ads based on what they post and click on, as well as who they’re connected to…but in conversations with [the] chatbot, users could directly tell the company…what [ads] they…[might] have [less resistance to, leading]…to…potentially harmful content recommendations…[Facebook calls this] “improv[ing] people’s experience”…

Shame, Shame (#1554)

A program is not a “she”, and running a program is not “acting”:

[A corporation hopes] Hollywood [will accept a program called “]Tilly Norwood[” as an actress even though it is just a computer program].  The [program runs an animated] brunette [image which]…has so far made only brief public appearances…on social media…”Tilly Norwood is not an actual human performer. It’s a…[computer-driven] construct,” said…SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin in…a formal statement condemning the [tech companies’ attempt to convince]…people [that the program is “intelligent”]…and…[c]an…replace a human being…under the terms of SAG-AFTRA’s contract with Hollywood producers, studios may not use synthetic performers without…bargaining over terms…[but that doesn’t stop]…Particle6, the London-based production studio behind the [cartoon, from ridiculous claims about]…talent agencies [“]signing[” the character and] calling [it] “the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman”…

If Men Were Angels (#1578)

“Worship leader”.  How many variations on these titles are there?

A [Texas] worship leader is facing charges of promoting child pornography…Jon Paul Sheptock [was apparently turned in by one of his victims]…and…was [convenient]ly [arres]ted at…a…prison…where he was providing ministry services to [people locked in the state’s filthy cages]…

 

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 (#1579)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 8, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Amazon [is] serving as a midwife for…law enforcement technologies.  –  Jay Stanley

The Punitive Mindset (Chamber of Horrors) 

“Drug” fantasies are just a pretext; the real reasons for this are petty torture of prisoners and more profits for the carceral state’s fascist partners:

The Illinois Department of [Torturing Caged Humans] will now permanently scan most physical mail sent to [its victims] and…upload…[it] to [the overpriced, substandard] tablet [prisoners are forced to buy if they want to read anything or have any contact with the outside world]…the [only exception is]…legal mail…the [screws’] union…has encouraged the move [to help obscure the well-known fact that drugs in prisons are smuggled in by screws]…the department [even absurdly vomited the word “]emergency[” to justify the move]…But a bipartisan legislative committee [refused] to [buy] the [claim]…at least 14 other states [deny their victims] physical mail…[even though] the rate of random positive drug tests [dramatically increase after such schemes are implemented, as do overdose rates]. In Ohio, lawyers [have reported that screws] are opening confidential mail…

I Spy (#1469)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

ICE…has bought access to a surveillance tool that is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones…this…gives ICE…an “all-in-one” tool for searching both masses of location data and information taken from social media…without a warrant or court order…ICE spent more than $5 million on…Tangles…and [its tracking add-on] Webloc [which were developed] by an Israeli company called Cobwebs…[which merged with another fascist conglomerate called] Penlink in July 2023…

Welcome to the Future (#1475)

Welcome to the “safe” future you keep voting for:

…Amazon’s [Orwellian-named “]law enforcement and school safety team[“], led by a…Washington [cop], is aggressively courting new customers…[for] its own surveillance offerings and an expanding array of [surveillance] tools that run on its [servers], among them…car tracking from…Flock…[ML systems]…with billions of records on U.S. citizens from Lucidus…now owned by Flock…app…[connected fascist fusion] centers…Gun detection software from ZeroEyes…[LLMs] that can…write police reports…[algorithms] from Veritone [which] can identify and track individuals in surveillance footage or video posted to social media…[and] Verus…which constantly monitors and transcribes [im]prison[ed human beings’ phone] calls…

I Spy (#1513)

Politicians will never stop until privacy is completely abolished:

The UK government…is…[once again trying] to [force] Apple to create a backdoor into its cloud storage service, this time targeting only British users’ data…In February, Apple withdrew its most secure cloud storage service, iCloud Advanced Data Protection, from the UK [in response to the previous spying attempt]…Caroline Wilson Palow…of…Privacy International…[points out that] the new [attempt is]…“just as big a threat to worldwide security and privacy” as the old one…“If Apple breaks end-to-end encryption for the UK, it breaks it for everyone.  The resulting vulnerability can be exploited by [governments], [cop]s and other bad actors the world over”…

Thought Control (#1537)

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

Educated We Stand, a national nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending public education…has quickly become a counterweight to Moms for Liberty and other groups pushing [pro-censorship] “parental rights” agendas in education.  The group reported a 78% win rate in endorsed school board races nationwide last year, including major victories in Florida, Wisconsin, and Michigan…The organization…raised more than $375,000 in grassroots donations in its first six months and says its mission is to fight book bans, elevate the voices of teachers and parents, and champion equity-focused, evidence-based policies…

Welcome to the Future (#1540)

Privacy as we once knew it will soon be a thing of the past:

The U.K. may be about to…require every adult…to have a digital ID in order to work in the country, with these IDs becoming mandatory by 2029…when somebody presents a plastic driver’s license, that interaction is between the two parties, and the government is none the wiser…But digital…IDs…are…built so…the system notifies the government every time [they are] used…giving the government the ability to track [physical movements and internet] history…a digital ID system, once created, would prove catnip to politicians…[who would demand its] use…for taxes, travel, health records…government benefits…social media accounts…[and] age-gated websites…[and would] link…[it] to facial recognition…database[s]…a lot of bad ideas regarding technology…in Europe, and especially the U.K., seem to wind their way over to the U.S. eventually…And as of June, 13 states had launched digital driver’s license systems and an additional 21 have passed legislation that would enable or study such a system…

Walled Garden (#1573)

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

Bluesky will begin [forcing adult Ohio] users…[who don’t have VPNs] to [submit to intrusive surveillance via]…Kids Web Services’ (KWS)…This is the same [concess]ion [to censors] that Bluesky is already using in South Dakota and Wyoming to comply with similar laws…

 

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 (#1574)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We all have the right to live a private life…without…a government drone flying overhead and watching us without a warrant or our knowledge.  –  Matt Cagle

If Men Were Angels (#1274)

It says a great deal that when something resembling “sex trafficking” propaganda really happens, a church is behind it:

…A federal racketeering conspiracy indictment…[has] charged that…Naasón Joaquín García…and five associates used [García’s] La Luz del Mundo Church to sex-traffic women and children and produce and distribute child pornography, among other crimes.  His 79-year-old mother was among those charged…García is already serving a 16-year, eight-month state sentence after pleading guilty in California in 2022 to…[sexually abus]ing three different minors…After his arrest in the California case in 2019, the new indictment says, Mr. García’s associates, including one posing as a lawyer, pressured witnesses and victims not to [talk to cops] and directed pastors of the church to deliver sermons calling victims who had come forward liars…

Thought Control (#1289)

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

…If [pro-censorship politician Mike] Pelfrey couldn’t persuade voters to elect him to “fix” the [Josephine County, Oregon] library’s [“]problem[” of insufficient censorship]…he would simply de…fund the community institution…Recalled Commissioner John West [aided and abetted him to put pressure]…on the…remaining commissioners…to…push…the Trump agenda of bigotry, hatred, and intimidation…For over two years…a small group of white men [has been] deciding who gets access to a community asset…A handful of people are eager to withhold library services from tens of thousands to score a few political points.  That’s all it is, and that’s all it has ever been…

Panopticon (#1437)

Courts keep allowing the state to enrich itself via unconstitutional warrantless surveillance:

Sonoma County [California is using “]unlicensed cannabis crops[“]…as [an excuse] to [levy] six-figure fines, [leading to] foreclosures…evictions…and devastation…for folks…who did not grow cannabis…In June, the…ACLU…filed a lawsuit on behalf of…residents…[because] the authorities’ “runaway spying operation” violates constitutional protections against unlawful searches…[via] a fleet of high-powered drones…with precision zoom cameras, all while concealing the surveillance from residents, the media, and local oversight bodies…[more than] a dozen Sonoma residents…might lose their home…because of…county code enforcement making as much money off of [low tax-bracket] people [as possible]…

I Spy (#1515)

Cops everywhere are moral imbeciles, and those who facilitate their evil are enemies of humanity:

…Forensic analysis by…Citizen Lab…found that commercially available FlexiSPY spyware was [surreptitiously] installed on…two [Kenyan filmmakers’] phones on or around May 21…The phones were [stolen by cops] on May 2, when [they] arrested documentarians Mark Denver Karubiu and Bryan Adagala, cinematographer Nicholas Wambugu, and graphic designer Christopher Wamae at a studio in…Nairobi…the four were released [the next day] without charge but four phones, a tablet, computers, and storage devices…were not returned until July 10…Police [were trying to gin up a case against] the filmmakers [because they were embarrassed by]…“Blood Parliament,” a BBC documentary that implicated Kenyan [cops] in the June 2024 [murder]s of protesters…[but] the four “were not involved in any way in the making” of the documentary…FlexiSPY markets itself for [abusive] parents and [exploitative] employers to “know everything that happens” on a computer or phone, including monitoring messages, emails, and social media; recording calls; tracking device locations, website visits, and passwords; downloading photos and videos; and listening through a device’s microphone…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1531)

Missouri is increasingly allowing its politicians to govern by edict, without tiresome democratic processes:

Missouri will require…websites [a politician has pointed at while belching the word “]pornographic[” to spy on users who don’t use VPNs]…The regulation [circumvents the need to enact a law by pretending anything sexual]…constitutes an “unfair practice” under…Missouri [consumer protection law.  New attorney general Catherine]…Hanaway [wasted no time in showing she could be as ridiculous as any male politician, spinning her head around 360o while projectile vomiting buzzwords including]…“hold…accountable[“…”]human trafficking[“], and…[“]dangerous[“.  The scheme was originally dreamed up by former]…attorney general…Andrew Bailey, who [has joined the Trump regime]…

Torture Chamber (#1539)

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

When Sheqweetta Vaughan gave birth to a healthy baby boy…in January…[she] had just…beg[u]n a two-year [prison] sentence…Six months [later], Vaughn…d[ied] alone in a sweltering hot [solitary confinement] cell and nobody [noticed]…until her body had already begun to decompose…[the] deputy coroner…report[ed]…“a strong odor of decay.”  The temperature in the cell was in the 90s, and there was little ventilation…procedure requires [screws] in those units to look in on prisoners at least every 30 minutes…but the level of decomposition…[demonstrates she] had been dead at least a day before paramedics were called…Vaughan’s death…marks the second known instance in the last two years in which the body of a Georgia prisoner was discovered decomposing in a cell. In April 2023…Anthony Zino…was dead for five days…before [screws] noticed…he [had been murdered]…and stuffed inside a mattress…Vaughan was being treated by a prison psychiatrist and had been prescribed…haloperidol…[for which] one of the side effects…is an increased risk of heat stroke…

If Men Were Angels (Nasty Pictures)

Wannabe preachers are often as bad as the real thing:

Jason Yates, once the public face of conservative Christian voter outreach, has pleaded guilty to possession of child [porn]…as part of a plea deal that dismissed six [more serious] charges…many [of the children in the images] appearing to be under the age of 10…at least eight…depicted children between the ages of five and seven…the unraveling began in July 2024 when a family member accidentally found a hard drive while sorting through Yates’ office.  Upon opening the files, they encountered graphic images…and [reported him to cops.  Under interrogation] he…disclosed a prior expunged conviction involving similar material…Yates…frequently…oppose[d] LGBTQ rights, abortion access, and secular governance…[as] “sexually deviant messaging” targeting children and called such influence “infernal programming”…

 

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 (#1572)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Help me, I can’t breathe.  –  Francis Gigliotti

If Men Were Angels

On Aug. 28, New York State Police arrested [a Methodist minister named] Ronald E. Wenzinger…for [talking online to a cop fantasy role-playing as a teenager]…

Cashing In On Shame

What was once pure fraud can now be accomplished in reality:

…one specimen of widely available spyware has turned [w]hat [used to be a scam] into a…[serious crime by] detecting when the user is browsing pornography…screenshotting it, and taking a candid photo of the victim through their webcam…an open-source variant of “infostealer” malware known as Stealerium…like all infostealers, is designed to infect a target’s computer and automatically send a hacker a wide variety of stolen sensitive data, including banking information, usernames and passwords, and keys to victims’ crypto wallets.  Stealerium, however…also monitors the victim’s browser for web addresses that include certain NSFW keywords, screenshots browser tabs that include those words, photographs the victim via their webcam while they’re watching those porn pages, and sends all the images to a hacker—who can then blackmail the victim…cybercriminals attempt…to trick users into downloading and installing Stealerium as an attachment or a web link, luring victims with typical bait like a fake payment or invoice…

Welcome to the Future (#1440)

Oh what a surprise, how could anyone have predicted this, etc:

…Axon[‘s]…Draft One…[is a program] that [is supposed to] turn [cop] body camera footage and audio into intelligible police reports…civil rights advocacy groups like the [EFF] and ACLU…[have pointed out that LLM’s] tendency to insert inaccuracies into texts—including wholesale inventions known by technologists as “hallucinations”…[make such systems unreliable and dangerous].  Axon [claims] its…safeguards…[are] designed to ensure [cop]…actually read…the…reports rather than rubber-stamping them.  But records obtained by Mother Jones through [FOI] laws almost uniformly show [cop shops] that use the software turn…such features off….[to] reduce…or eliminate…human oversight…reports generated by the…tool…have [certainly] been used in plea deals…essentially [telling] lie[s]…to the court that can’t be easily revealed…

I Can’t Breathe (#1447)

Dare I hope fewer coroners are willing to cover up cops’ crimes?

The death of a Massachusetts man this summer outside a fish market was attributed [in part] to…police…The July 11 death of Francis Gigliotti was deemed…a…homicide [by]…the medical examiner…[but] District Attorney Paul F. Tucker…is…[trying to justify the cops’] actions [anyhow]…Seven [cops]…were [rewarded with paid vacations for the murder of a man who]…was [intentionally] restrained…face down…[even though the DoJ]…has warned [cops] for decades to roll [prisoners] off their stomachs as soon as they are handcuffed because of the danger of positional asphyxia…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1456)

Ambulance-chasers have given themselves the power to rob internet companies:

…the Federal Trade Commission…is proposing that Aylo, [owner of] Pornhub and other popular porn…platforms, be ordered to pay the state of Utah $5 million…[due to supposedly] violating…Utah’s Consumer Sales Practices Act by failing to stop Pornhub users from uploading [porn] the [state has demonized]…In its complaint, the FTC spends a lot of space listing Pornhub tags and titles such as “helpless teens,” “internet creeper,” “shower spy cameras,” and “shamed sluts”…No one let FTC workers visit the Netflix homepage.  We’ll soon have an investigation into how Netflix is promoting murder and corporate espionage and witchcraft…Porn, like other types of entertainment media, often relies on fictional characters and scenarios…some of the content users uploaded to Pornhub may have actually been illegal…[but] Pornhub…tightened up its content rules…in 2020…And most of the things that the FTC objects to are policies [from] before 2020…[also,] distributing child pornography is a crime.  If a web platform is knowingly distributing child pornography, the proper recourse is for the Department of Justice to bring a criminal case…

The Cop Myth (#1461)

Cop violence is never limited to adults:

[A] Texas [cop named] Micah Smyth [was turned in by his wife for inflicting multiple injuries on their small child.  Smyth]…claimed to have accidentally dropped the child while a[bus]ing his other child in the bathroom…the…injuries [were so severe] the child [had to be] taken to [specialists at a] Children’s Hospital in Lubbock…who…found…a fractured skull with a brain bleed, bruises on his back and a healing rib fracture…that [could not be] solely based on an accidental drop…Smyth…was arrested and charged with…child [abuse both] in this case…[and] an additional…charge from 2022 [which his cop buddies previously ignored, thus allowing three more years of abuse]…

If the victims are young enough, there may even be consequences:

A [typical and representative] Milwaukee [cop] is heading to prison…[for] abus[ing] his infant daughter…Martinese McDaniel…[was left with the child by his] girlfriend[, who] came home one day in January 2023 to find the…two-month old…wasn’t breathing and McDaniel…[shaking] her…in a panic.  A pediatrician diagnosed the infant with brain bleeding, hemorrhaging, rib fractures, bruises and other injuries consistent with abuse.  McDaniel gave investigators surveillance video of his home…with one hour of the video [conveniently] missing during the time that his daughter stopped breathing…

Eavesdropping (#1501)

Just a reminder that these hackers exploited vulnerabilities intentionally placed into systems to allow “authorized” busybodies to spy on you:

[The full extent of last year’s massive]…attack by [the Chinese government’s] Salt Typhoon [hacking team] is [finally becoming clear]…It targeted more than 80 countries and may have stolen information from nearly every American…[by] exploit[ing  vulnerabilities intentionally inserted into] global communication networks [to allow cops easy wiretap access]…British and American officials have described the attack as “unrestrained” and “indiscriminate.”  Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain were also signatories to the statement, which was part of a [childish “We see you!” strategy] directed at the Chinese government…The…hack…highlights China’s ambitions for global [domina]nce, which were [recently] on display…at an elaborate military parade in Beijing that featured fighter jets, tanks and thousands of troops marching across Tiananmen Square…

 

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 (#1570)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The machines aren’t just taking over our work—they’re taking over our minds.  –  Nicolas Hulscher

Shame, Shame (#1535)

Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

[Facebook] has appropriated the names and likenesses of celebrities – including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez – to create dozens of flirty social-media chatbots without their permission…While many were created by users with a [Facebook] tool…employee[s] had produced at least three…All…have been shared on…Facebook [or its] Instagram and WhatsApp platforms…the bots…often insist…they [are] the real [McCoy] and…routinely ma[k]e sexual advances…[Facebook] deleted about a dozen of the bots, both “parody” [bots] and unlabeled ones, [when it realized Reuters was about to publish a]…story…on the[m]…at least one of [Facebook]’s primary [LLM] competitors, Elon Musk’s platform, [MechaHitler], will also produce images of celebrities in their underwear…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1560)

Don’t let computers call them, either:

…more and more stories [are] emerg[ing] about…chatbots leading people to self-harm, delusions, hospitalization, arrest, and suicide.  As the loved ones of the people impacted by these dangerous bots [file lawsuits against]…the companies that [let these programs run wild and flagrantly lie about their abilities]…OpenAI…has…done little more than offer copy-pasted promises…now [the company is] scanning users’ messages for certain types of…content, escalating [some]…to human staff for review — and, in some cases, reporting it to the cops…

The Cop Myth (#1560)

Cop is a cop is a cop is a cop:

A judge has found a [CBP goon] liable for civil assault for [threatening] a hotel maintenance man [with a gun when he came to] the [goon]’s room to unclog his toilet…Joshua Jones was part of a Phoenix-based [goon gang] sent to Portland in July 2020 to guard the federal courthouse…during nightly unrest downtown after [a cop murdered] George Floyd in Minneapolis…Christopher Frison…arrived at Jones’ room about 5 p.m. on July 27, 2020, and knocked several times.  Frison also called out “maintenance,” gave his name and waited, holding a plunger…[bu]t Jones opened the door quickly and pointed a gun at [him]…Jones [claimed] he thought a protester might have been outside his…door…and…he was prepared “to protect that room”…yet…never looked in the peephole…before opening…“What the hell are you doing? What is going on?” Frison…screamed…Joshua Keller, one of the government lawyers representing Jones…[absurdly] argued that Frison’s recollection of events wasn’t realistic, [because] it wouldn’t make sense for [a loose-cannon cop to act like a loose-cannon cop]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #22)

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

A [Florida cop] assigned to lurk in a]…high school [to spy on, harass, and intimidate students, predictably molested] a 16-year-old female student…Saul Garcia [was rewarded with a paid vacation since]…April 16, [but has now been sacked and arrested]…

The Cop Myth (#1561)

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

Cincinnati [cop] Thomas Back was arrested [for] domestic violence after a 911 call[er gave cops his] license plate number…[after] seeing [him] pull o[ver] into a grassy area…a woman, who was screaming and crying, [jumped out] and ran toward a wooded area…Back [then drove past her, jumped out, grabbed her and] threw h[er back] into his pickup…and…drove away…[the] argument [started because]…another woman attempted to [call] him [via a video app] while they were driving…a judge…issued a temporary protective order for [the] girlfriend…

Mad Libs (#1565)

These algorithms are not only unintelligent; they are making those who use them less intelligent as well:

A new MIT study…has found that using ChatGPT to help write essays leads to long-term cognitive harm—measurable through EEG brain scans.  Students who repeatedly relied on ChatGPT showed weakened neural connectivity [and] impaired memory recall…While the [LLM]-generated content often scored well, the brains behind it were shutting down.  The findings are clear: Large Language Models…like [Cat, I farted] and [MechaHitler] don’t [actually] help students write—they train the brain to disengage…the brain essentially “lets go” of the effort required for synthesis and memory…[leading] to passivity…and low integration of concepts…

Walled Garden (#1567)

Prohibition can never actually succeed in eradicating the banned thing:

When the United Kingdom began [demand]ing…websites…verify their users’ ages…sites that complied…saw visits from British internet addresses collapse.  But…porn sites that disregarded the [asinine] rule…have been rewarded with a flood of traffic…Some have doubled or even tripled their audiences…compared with the same time last year…John Scott-Railton…[of] the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto…called [it]…“a textbook illustration of the law of unintended consequences…The more the government squeezes, the more they reward the very sites that scoff at their rules”…[yet wannabe censors keep idiotically burbling that the internet is a bar while demanding] adults…give sensitive information to scattered websites, exposing them to data breaches…[which] happen all the time…the…censorship movement…[is already moving] far beyond porn to “wall off huge sections of the internet, with the government as the sole gatekeeper”…The anonymous message boards 4chan and Kiwi Farms [have] sued Ofcom in U.S. District Court…

 

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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