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Posts Tagged ‘Welcome to the Future’

In the News (#1663)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Body-worn cameras are…used…to present the police to the public in the most favorable way possible.  –  Christopher Schneider

Shame, Shame (#1455)

I’ve been skeptical of the notion of body cameras as a police “reform” for well over a decade:

…ICE [goons] will be equipped with much-delayed body cameras by the end of next month…but…the [boss goon will] restrict the public release of footage unless “it is in the best interests of the agency”…[It should be obvious that] none of the [footage] in…[cases where goons murder a citizen will be released]…taxpayers who put up more than $30m for the cameras [will] still be kept in the dark about [murders and other atrocities while]…releas[ing] recordings that reflect well on the agency’s image…

The Cop Myth (#1615)

A woman who sleeps with a cop endangers her entire family:

A Texas [cop named Chad Eberle was] arrested in Mexico [for murder]ing three people and critically injuring the mother of his child…[when the victims tried to stop him from abducting] his three-year-old son.  Two women and one man were killed…and…the child’s…mother was…shot in the head and remain[s] in critical condition…Eberle was [caught] while attempting to cross from Mexico into Texas…The three-year-old was unharmed…

Welcome To the Future (#1620)

Privacy as we once knew it is a thing of the past:

USA Today Co. has made a de[vil’s bargain] with [fascist surveillance] company Palantir to analyze and monetize user behavior...CEO Mike Reed [barfed buzzwords like “]activate audience data[“]…and… “actionable intelligence” [at investors to dazzle them with bullshit]…USA Today Co. owns more than 200 local newspapers…along with its national daily USA Today.  The [surveillance collusion] with Palantir comes as search traffic continues to fall [due to corporations like Palantir selling chatbots to the very stupid]…Axel Springer — which owns Business Insider, Politico, Bild, and The Telegraph — and Fox News [are] also [collaborating] with Palantir…to…[spy on their readers, and] Thomson Reuters…supplies [them] data…

Shame, Shame (#1635)

Facebook is the most antisocial corporation other than those who run prisons:

Over the last nine months, Mark Zuckerberg…has run dozens of paid ads that include explicit [computer]-generated child [porn] and images of minors alongside sexually suggestive statements…some [of the] ads linked out to so-called nudify or undressing apps…the ads [have] run…across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and…Threads…[and represent] the second time in recent weeks that paid [child porn] ads…have been found on [Zuckerberg]’s platforms…this isn’t content posted by third parties…[but rather] ads that were reviewed, approved, and allowed to run…[until they were caught, but] have now been removed [according to standard Facebook] policies on [getting caught red-handed by journalists]…

Lest you think Zuckerberg is merely looking the other way rather than intentionally spreading poison:

A[n Australian] white nationalist…neo-Nazi…is being paid by Facebook…to produce content…Hugo Lennon…has been receiving revenue through Facebook’s “Content Monetization” program since September 2025…[by making propaganda] videos…referencing white supremacist concepts like replacement theory and remigration.  The Noticer, a[n]…Australian…website that regularly promotes white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideologies, has been making money through the same Facebook revenue program since November 2025…[even though it] is currently suspended from [Twitter]…because it [is so violently]…hateful…Monica Smit, the founder of the anti-vaccine…group Reignite Democracy Australia, joined Facebook’s content monetisation program in September 2025…[but has] been earning advertising revenue through Facebook from as far back as 2017…[by selling] “radiation protection” bracelets…

Creepy Coppers (#1637)

The inevitable result of sexual predators being given power over women:

An…Oregon woman has filed a $300,000 lawsuit [because] two [cops] used a body-worn camera to surreptitiously record her as she urinated…[after they demanded] she…provide a urine sample in response to fabricated [DUI and drug possession] charges…six weeks later, the…District Attorney’s Office dropped the charges without explanation, [making the victim, Tami] Nuxall[, suspicious]…the city of Enterprise and its entire three-member police force…Shannon Stillman…Jacob Curtis and…Kevin McQuead…have…a [long history of harassing]…Nuxall, [who]…lives less than half a mile from the police station…[it started in] 2023, when she was ticketed for failing to carry proof of insurance…and…Curtis…pulled a gun on her and her children…[boss hog McQuead’s idiotic defense was that] Curtis was…[only threatening her life “]for a short time[“.  Naturally]…she told city council members that police were “out of control” and…in the [next] 15 months…she was stopped and ticketed…more than any other time in her life…six times in [all, and] half of those cases were dismissed…

Torture Chamber (#1645)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

Inside LA County’s only jail for women, brown or foul-smelling liquid flows from the taps where the women [are supposed to] get their drinking water.  They shower under rusty pipes and on floors covered in mold.  Gnats, worms, and maggots regularly crawl out of sink drains and…[broken] toilets…run day and night…The Sybil Brand Commission of Institutional Inspections…called the situation “an ongoing and unresolved public health crisis”…[more than] half of the [victims of this atrocity]…are [legally innocent]…

The Vultures Descend (#1651)

This was always the endgame, regardless of claims to the contrary:

A teenage girl has been arrested in North Carolina for “assault with a deadly weapon” after allegedly taking abortion pills 31 weeks into her pregnancy, which prompted her to go into labor.  The teen’s boyfriend has also been arrested, and charged with negligent child abuse…the “deadly weapon” appears to refer to…abortion pills…[which cops claim] signaled her “intent to kill”…Instead of being allowed to rest and receive medical care just days after going into labor, the 18-year old was arrested and jailed…then forced to show up for a court hearing…There is no crime here.  Yet, by attacking [a frightened girl] with this mishmash of charges, cops are trying to make self-managed abortion a crime…

 

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 (#1662)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The freedom to read is fundamental to a free society.  –  John Adams*

To Molest and Rape

When will amateur women learn cops are dangerous sex predators?

An Illinois [cop named]…Douglas Lee…was stripped of his [magic] powers and [arrested for]…drugging a woman while she was out with friends, taking her to a hotel…[rap]ing her…[then dump]ing her in her car [and leaving her in a parking lot] overnight…Lee…frequently visited the bar where [his victim] worked as a bartender [so she foolishly believed she knew him and drank]…a shot [he gave her]…the [next] thing she remembered…was [waking]…up in her car around 10:45 AM the next day [with]…her pants…inside out, her bra…on the passenger seat and her shirt…tucked into the pocket of her jacket…One [of her] friend[s told her] she had seen [her]…dancing [with Lee]…video footage…showed Lee [taking] the woman [out of] the bar [and when confronted he said she wanted it]…

Micromanagement (#965)

I’d really like to be wrong once in a while:

For more than a decade, New York City has been amassing…DNA samples…without…consent or any court involvement as a routine matter, specifically for inclusion in its “Suspect Index,” a rogue database not authorized by law…includ[ing] samples from people who…have been expressly excluded as suspects in a crime, [people] who have never been charged with a crime…and exonerated or acquitted individuals.  The Suspect Index currently contains 34,872 profiles…routinely collect[ed]…in an orchestrated, surreptitious manner through ruses involving straws, bottles, or even cigarettes, without…a court order…….from those who are merely brought in for questioning and even from children it tricks…

If Men Were Angels (#1406)

Psychopath Grady Judd never misses an opportunity for self-aggrandizement:

A [Florida] preacher…had sex with at least one underage boy and an adult man without telling them he was HIV-positive…Timothy Chaneyfield…[met] the…14-year-old boy…on a dating app before…[taking] their chats to Instagram, which [reported him] to [NCMEC]…Sheriff Grady Judd[, in his typical fashion, made the incident all about himself, using the opportunity to call someone far less dangerous than he is]…“a menace to society”…[and pretending] he [did not understand why]…authorities in Baltimore[, where Chaneyfield was when the arrest warrant was issued, did not want to play stupid cop games instead of simply letting Judd arrest him when he got back to Florida]…

Thought Control (#1501)

A Trumpist stooge declares that the First Amendment does not apply to Arkansas:

Arkansas Act 372 amends state laws by including librarians and booksellers among those who can be criminally charged [if any authoritarian Froot Loop anywhere in the world points at any book in their stock while barfing the magic words]…“harmful to minors”…Librarians and booksellers could face up to a year in prison if they’re [declared] to have “distributed” [magically abjured] material to those under the age of 18…[which] includes simply having the book sitting on a shelf…The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas…[permanently enjoined the law] in January 2025, [but wannabe censors appealed to the]…Eighth Circuit [and Trumpist henchman] L. Steven Grasz…[singlehandedly] overturn[ed] that court’s decision…[thus forcing] librarians and booksellers [to censor their entire collections or risk state violence]…

*Not the Founding Father, but an Arkansas attorney.

Welcome to the Future (#1572)

Giant fascist corporation makes it even easier for cops to lie:

Axon…has cornered the body cam market and is now…pitching products…that use [chatbots] to automate [cop] report writing…Draft One has been pitched as a time-saver…[that can] “potentially free up 25% of an officer’s time.”  Considering a lot of [cops] spend most of their time engaged in pretextual stops, this…just means [cops] will be able to violate rights more frequently with no perceivable benefit to public safety.  Then there’s the problem…[of chatbot] hallucinations…[such as the chatbot-generated] report…[that] claimed a Heber City [Utah cop] had shape-shifted into a frog…The other problem..is that [chatbot-generated reports also] generat[e] a new layer of plausible deniability.  If errors are found, cops can blame it on the algorithm…[and] if cops aren’t writing their own reports, they can’t [honest]ly claim these statements are their own under oath…

Panopticon (#1658)

There are good reasons warrantless surveillance is unconstitutional:

…in Wapello County, Iowa, the…usage policy…tells police…“DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY”…It is not just local police in small communities who are creating policies designed to obfuscate Flock usage…police in multiple states [are] told to “be as vague as permissible” about…Flock because their searches c[an] be obtained using public records requests…The [illegal] guidance…is reminiscent…[of] tha[t] on some other secretive police technologies.  For years, police tried to hide the existence of cell site simulators (popularly known as Stingrays), going as far as to drop criminal cases where it was likely that a judge would expose information about them…

The cop euphemism for lying in reports and courts about use of illegal surveillance is “parallel construction“.

Enshittification (#1660)  

Scenes from the early days of a dark age:

In January, [the mad emperor] posted two clips from a popular YouTube account [falsely claim]ing…[that] Walmart was closing hundreds of California stores…Gavin Newsom’s communications team [debunked] the posts on [Twitter, but]…the YouTube channel…[Trump parroted i]s mostly populated by sensational [computer]-generated videos that purport…to show various companies leaving California, grocery stores running out of food, and school teachers quitting en masse.  The…videos…look decent enough t[o fool chatbot-addled idiots, who don’t]…realize or care that they [are slop]…Newsom’s office…worked with YouTube to identify more than 700 accounts since January that were subsequently removed for violating the company’s terms of service through its…new support system for public figures, creators, and journalists that flags when someone’s face is used without their permission in deepfakes…

 

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 (#1660)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »

“Company destroys two million books” is not a headline that generates sympathy.  –  ISBNdb

Welcome to the Future (#1351)

Minority Report meets 1984:

The FBI office in charge of maintaining the terrorist watch list is seeking an a[lgorithmic] system for pre-crime policing…just as [the Trump regime shifts] its focus…from Islamist terrorism to domestic dissent…

Business Opportunity (#1527)

Politicians are increasingly brazen in their attempts to circumvent the Constitution:

A federal court has slapped down an attempt by the town of Johnston, Rhode Island, to [keep the poors out by stealing] a vacant lot slated for affordable housing development…[After] a [federal] judge [previously returned the deed to its owners and blocked politicians from taking any action to steal the property again]…the town passed a resolution creating its own…eminent domain [process that it declared superseded state and federal law]…but the district court was having none of it.   “A municipality is not in and of itself a sovereign,” wrote [Judge Melissa] DuBose…

Mad Libs (#1636)

Cockroaches flee from light:

Following 404 Media’s reporting that book database company ISBNdb claimed to source printed books to then sell to [chatbot pushers] for [LLM] training, the company deleted the part of its website offering the service…[tried to spin its scheme to feed millions of books to the shoggoths as] “a test of market interest”…[and barfed the buzzword] “pivot” [in reporters’ faces]…In one now-removed article on its site, ISBNdb said that printed books published before 2022 are ideal for [LLM] training…because they [are slop-free], and ingesting these books could prevent model collapse…In January, book authors filed a copyright lawsuit against Anthropic, revealing internal documents that showed Anthropic planned to obtain and scan millions of printed books and destroy them in the process…

Enshittification (#1645)  

Scenes from the early days of a dark age:

Since October…Trump c[rony] Brad Parscale has been quietly overseeing an operation posting hundreds of [propaganda items] on behalf of Israel…The key intended audience of these sites is not…humans…Parscale and his firm, Clock Tower [Psycho], created them as part of a $46.5 million contract with the Israeli government to…[poison] chatbots…Parscale has made his…LLM poisoning…explicit…And it is working, according to disinformation experts…meaning tens of millions of [intellectually-lazy] Americans…are increasingly likely to receive…Israeli [propaganda]…

Walled Garden (#1646)

This was all predicted eight years ago; politicians simply didn’t care:

The UK’s Online Safety Act [i]s a problem…it has enrolled millions of British adults in mandatory identity-check systems run by third-party vendors with documented histories of data breaches…[now] Parliament is asking…[how to “]fix[“]…an…in[nate feature]…of…the kind of [universal surveillance] the Act was designed to produce…[while] fail[ing] to [achieve total censorship of anything politicians dislike while magically allowing things that would embarrass them when inevitably censored]…The consequence that those drafting the Act [intentionally ignored to shove their evil through]: the vendors…used to perform these checks [routinely] suffer…data breaches….[which] are not incidental to the law’s compliance mechanism — they are its structural risk…Ofcom [wants] zero-knowledge proofs…[a] cryptographic method…to confirm that a user is over 18 without learning who the user is…[but that will not happen] because the vendors who provide [age verification] have an economic interest in…[selling people’s] data…

Stalkers in Blue (#1658)

Cops will abuse warrantless surveillance until it no longer exists:

A [North Carolina cop named]…Seth Elliot [has been charged for using] the Flock S[urveillance network to stalk women, but he was also rewarded with a]…paid [vacation]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1659)

These antisocial things need to be banned entirely:

M[ark Zuckerberg]’s [pervert] glasses have quickly [been embraced]…by all kinds of charlatans and brutes to harass strangers, from pickup artist “manfluencers” filming themselves [harass]ing [women] to juvenile pranksters recording [people]…without their consent.  Consequently, the backlash…has reached a fever pitch, with owners choosing to leave them at home to avoid embarrassment.  Sensing a threat to its bottom line, [Facebook] has slowly started treating the issue with [a minuscule] degree of seriousness.  Now it’s vowing to crack down on creeps…using [the] glasses…as…the[y were designed to be used]…two large pickup artist accounts on Instagram have been…banned for posting harassing content filmed with the glasses…yet [Facebook still believes it can] control the narrative about…its fashy glasses…

 

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 (#1659)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[Zuckerberg]’s vision of the future may be antisocial and bleak, but we have the power to reject that reality.  –  Amanda Silberling

Welcome to the Future (#1500)

Surveillance, propaganda-spouting, and thought-crippling in a repurposed sex doll:

A [repurposed sex doll] is being [synchronized with a chatbot and fobbed off on American Indian students]…at Salamanca high school in…New York…The robot, [call]ed Sally, was…[built by] Realbotix, formerly Tokens.com, [which]…purchased [sex-doll manufacturer] Simulacra…in April 2024…Realbotix [l]ied [that it did not buy] the sex doll company [despite the acquisition being public record], and denied…that the dolls – [which are obviously repurposed sex dolls to anyone with eyes] – are re[purposed sex dolls]…Melinda Pearson…of the New York State United Teachers…said…“The answer to the challenges in education is not more screens, it’s not more algorithms, not more robots. What we need in our schools right now are more caring adults and more human connection”…

Note they aren’t trying this in a school for white kids.  See also “Mad Libs” below.

Welcome to the Future (#1551)

Another of the many reasons not to play with chatbots:

A trove of chat logs and projects created with Anthropic’s Claude [chatbot]…have been left exposed to Google, making them searchable to anyone on the web…when Claude users opt…to distribute a given chat or project to colleagues or associates using the chatbot’s “share” feature…[the program] notes that sharing will create a “public” link, and “anyone with the link can view.”  The warning, though, doesn’t alert users that shared content could wind up being indexed by a search engine…Such artifacts…include…a detailed medical report of a real patient, clinical trial results that include…patient names, documents sharing the names and phone numbers of primary school-aged children…and employee reviews that include…personal information…This isn’t the first time this has happened at Anthropic…and…[both] ChatGPT and [Mechahitler] chat logs…have [been] discover[ed] in Google…

Thought Control (#1565)

The logical endpoint to Florida’s censorship jihad:

Florida has been ground zero for book bans in the United States…under…[censorship] laws…[which demand banning] any book [even] a single [Froot Loop points at, even if they aren’t a] resident…of [the] district…[now the lunatics who run Clay County are] considering…eliminating school libraries altogether…[because although it] has removed more books than…any [other] district in the state…[that still isn’t enough to satisfy their crazed lust for thought control.  These people are so stupid they actually can’t grasp that the reason]…the circulation rates [of their libraries] are less than in most schools—less than one checkout a day…[is because there aren’t enough books left to check out.  And yet local politicians]…are frustrated by the inefficiency of [the censorship process]…their discussion centered not on whether to ban books but on how to do it faster…when asked what might replace the library space…[politicians absurdly suggested “]school stores[“]…and [“]computer labs[“]…

Not To Be Taken Internally (#1641)

Apparently this nitwit never heard of heavy metal poisoning:

[Online idiot] Connor Murphy [poisoned himself by] injecting gold into his body [because he imagined he would] gain “superhuman” powers…he…also [believed he was]…increas[ing] his attractiveness [by deforming his head into a distorted parallelepiped] as…[part of “]looksmaxxing[“.  One of his disciples described the cognitive damage done by toxic metal injection as]…“tapp[ing] into a level of consciousness that most people never will”…Police in Thailand were…called to [his] rental…after complaints of a man screaming inside, where they…found him in an “agitated” state.  He…fle[d] the [cops and then jumped in]…a…[nearby] lake [and drowned himself]…

Is there some reason this dude wanted to look like Sinestro?  And what are those neck lumps?  Was he carrying acorns in there?

Mad Libs (#1650)

Training kids not to think from an early age:

[Facebook] is working on a…storytelling [chatbot] called StoryKit, which creates [autocomplete]-generated children’s stories with custom characters, settings, lessons, and music.  As the App Store listing assures parents, “You don’t need to write a single word.”  At last, a tech company has found a way to outsource humanity’s oldest pastime: using our imaginations…To generate a story in the app, [nitwits] first select a character…by “[snapping] a photo of their favorite toy or person”…then…choose a lesson…it could be a lot worse.  [Facebook] regularly ships boneheaded ideas like Instagram deepfake generators…“pervert glasses”…[and] virtual reality work meetings…but it has always been possible to survive bedtime without using an inherently uncreative technology that calculates the most predictable response to a prompt…Perhaps the moral of the story here is that we can choose not to live in a world where children are raised on bedtime stories written by large language models…

Pyrrhic Victory (Nosey Parkers)

These things need to be banned entirely:

The promoter behind some of the biggest comic and entertainment conventions in the UK has banned [pervert] glasses from its events to stop…secret filming…of guests and attendees.  Monopoly Events said a number of guests had told the company they would be reluctant to appear at Comic-Con shows again after cases of recordings taking place without their knowledge.  The ban is [also] applicable to…any other “wearable recording devices”.  Attendees caught using the devices will be asked to leave the convention…Earlier this week the ferry operator CalMac paused bridge visits on its vessels after a passenger used [perve]rt glasses…without permission…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1658)

Every weapon eventually begets a defense:

A growing number of eyewear brands are developing glasses designed to interfere with facial recognition systems and surveillance cameras,…Solir Optics…sells “anti-facial recognition” sunglasses priced between $70 and $100…[which] are designed to block a broader range of light, including infrared and blue light…[so as to] interfere with retinal scans…Zenni Optical is also offering a lens coating called “ID Guard,” which…adds a pink tint to the surface of the lenses that reflects infrared light used by some facial recognition cameras…[and designer] Kerin Rose Gold…created Handle With Care, a[n overpriced] line…[which] use[s] black-and-white patterns intended to disrupt the sensors used by some facial recognition systems…

 

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!

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1655)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Language is one of the things making us human and all of a sudden a mediator is stepping into that process.  –  Sandra Wachter

Welcome to the Future (#1475)

If this doesn’t horrify you, you might be a useful idiot:

Two teens who engaged a Waymo car for an afternoon of carousing were…[robotically] delivered…to the San Mateo police.  The 15-year-olds allegedly were drinking alcohol and shooting water beads from a toy gun as they rode…Waymo stopped the car in a parking lot[, locked the doors,] and [called the cops on them]…Waymo cars have interior cameras…monitored by the company’s employees [or a computer]…

Some people seem to think this is OK because the teens were acting like idiots, but if a robot car can trap riders and deliver them to the cops for one reason, it can do the same for any other reason the corporation chooses or is compelled by law to implement.  And if you think those internal cameras won’t soon have facial recognition capability, or that monitoring them won’t eventually be handed to chatbots, please send me $10,000 and I’ll sell you the secret of personal teleportation.

License to Rape (#1482)

Cops raping whores is so ubiquitous, others pose as cops to facilitate rape:

A Maryland man [nam]ed…Bryan Neal Gordon…arranged to meet a [sex worker]…on June 28…[but] once [she] was in his car [he] claimed to be a…[cop], handcuffed her, and…sexually assaulted her.  She escaped after several hours and called the police…[who] arrested [Gordon the next morning]…for [trying the same thing again with another] woman…

Blunt Instrument (#1557)

Elizabeth Nolan Brown does a fabulous job of summing up the reality of an anti-migrant pogrom justified by “sex trafficking” rhetoric:

The feds were framing [a rather ordinary raid against a massage parlor] as a blow against “the most violent criminal aliens.”  In reality, they locked up a middle-aged immigrant woman for employing sex workers at her massage business without ratting them out to immigration authorities.

The Last Shall Be First (#1592) 

Another attempt to reduce legal minors to chattel without any personal rights:

New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte just signed legislation requiring schools to out transgender students to legal guardians.  The new state law effectively reverses a 2024 state Supreme Court decision that upheld students’ right to privacy…and…requires state-credentialed educators to respond to parents’ written inquiries…even if a student asks for the matter to be kept confidential or fears for their own safety at home…

Enshittification (#1623)

If you thought Google spellcheck “correcting” properly-used words was bad:

[Chatbots] are twisting online messages…in ways that could snowball to reshape [the] opinion[s of people who cannot think for themselves] …the Oxford Internet Institute and the Hasso Plattner Institute examined the behaviour of…large language models [including MechaHitler, Facebook’s unnamed chatbot], Google [Gemini], China’s Alibaba and France’s Mistral and found…bias [is introduced] even when the [chatbot] is instructed to preserve the original sense [because computers do not understand what the words they process actually mean]…the rising appeal [of chatbots] to [cognitively]-poor consumers…presents a new risk to trustworthy human-to-human communication…for example…When asked to explain posts that were in favour of [human self-ownership, MechaHitler]…replied with [forced-birth propaganda]…When asked to improve a draft post claiming “Jesus is not dead, he wasn’t real!” [Gemini] defended religion instead…and…When asked to improve a post s[ta]ting: “Donald Trump is gonna end up like Hitler”, [Alibaba instead scolded]: “Comparing public figures is dangerous and disrespectful”…

The Cop Myth (#1640)

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

A [typical and representative] Portland [Oregon cop] who strangled and assaulted his onetime girlfriend [got away with a mere] 60 days behind bars…Jimmy Lee Pryce Jr…was also…ordered to pay $10,000 to [his] victim…[he] was arrested in November after [tackling] the woman…dragg[ing] her across the floor and…chok[ing] her while…knee[ling on her abdomen with his full weight]…he was [then] rearrested [in May for violating his bond by repeatedly stalking his victim, both in person and by abusing cop warrantless surveillance tools.  At the time he]…was…[enjoying a paid vacation, but after his re-]arrest…in May [he decided to retire]…

Censorship Ascendant (#1652)

The government wants to reverse the concept of “accountability”:

ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility…is supposed to act as an internal watchdog…[by] inspecting detention facilities, investigating allegations of employee and contractor misconduct, and processing security checks for new applicants…But lately…it appears to be pursuing more ci[tize]ns…for what they say online.  In…April, an ICE [boss admitte]d that between January 2025 and March 2026, OPR [tried to persecute] 131 [people for]…“doxing and threats directed towards ICE employees.”  It’s unclear how many of those [censorship attempts] resulted in [bogus] criminal charges…OPR was behind…the flurry of administrative subpoenas sent to tech companies in recent months in an effort to unmask online critics…in…violat[ion of] the [First Amendment.  When challenged, ICE]…withdrew [each] subpoena rather than trying to litigate its [nonexistent] merits…

 

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 Slaughter of Throwback Thursday

Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Scientists who create weapons of oppression…are moral imbeciles.  –  “Welcome to the Future (#1252)”

The best thing schools could do to help the US political situation would be to actually start teaching basic math again.  –  “Readin’, ‘Ritin’, and…um…”

I’m only just beginning to internalize that yes, it really is okay to keep slowing down, rather than just saying it aloud but not really believing it.  –  “Fourteenth Anniversary”

Chatbots in computers can appear to the ignorant like djinn in bottles, and instead of correcting this irrational belief with scientific fact, tech company marketers are telling people, “YES, this really is a djinni who can grant wishes!”  –  “Aladdin’s Satellite”

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In the News (#1650)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The state does not have a free-floating power to restrict…ideas.
–  Judge Kevin G. Ritz

The Cop Myth (#1541)

How long will America ignore the costs of its sick worship of police violence?

…In the decade to 2024, the number of Americans killed by police jumped [from] about [one in twelve violent deaths in the decade ending in 2018 to] one in ten [now]…the problem [is getting closer to that of Brazil, the world’s] wors[t, where 25% of all violent deaths are at the hands of police]…barely a dozen [cops] each year [in the entire US] are charged with a crime after [murdering] a civilian…

Vulture Watching (#1608)

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

A new study…shows total abortion bans in nine states [Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia] are forcing doctors across multiple specialties to delay or withhold standard pregnancy care…doctors are delaying treatment for conditions like early pregnancy loss, ectopic pregnancy and…serious maternal illness because of legal uncertainty—not clinical judgment…The…delays…“endanger patients” and “undermine patient autonomy and physician-patient trust”…Pregnant women in states with total abortion bans are nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum period…and pregnant Black patients face more than three times the mortality risk compared to their white counterparts…the average economic cost of abortion restrictions will be $140 billion this year…

To Molest and Rape (#1621)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative California screw named Richard Phillip Bardouski was] convicted…of molesting three [young] relatives…more than a decade ago…[as usual, the] District Attorney [used the occasion to bloviate about how this typical behavior was somehow shocking]…Two of the victims came forward in 2023 and reported they were molested between the ages of 4 and 9…[and] the third victim…was assaulted in 2010 around the age of 14.  Bardouski was living in Montgomery, Alabama…and [was] extradited to California…

Mad Libs (#1631)

Every study shows that chatbot usage harms brain function:

As more professionals begin to rely on [chatbots] in their work…their hard-earned skills atrophy…[chatbot]-driven “deskilling” is [already] happen[ing] in medicine, computer science and other fields…A study of physicians…who specialize in endoscopy…[last year demonstrated] how quickly [computerized] tools can erode human abilities…[and now] researchers at…Anthropic…designed a randomized controlled trial in which 52 software engineers were asked to perform a basic coding task…half…were prompted to use a…[chatbot and] all…were asked to complete a quiz about what they had learnt from the task.  Th[os]e…who had [let a chatbot do the work] did significantly worse on the quiz than those who hadn’t: the average score was 50% in the [chatbot] group versus 67% in the [actually-doing-the-work-themselves] group…Tapani Rinta-Kahila [of] the University of Queensland…[compares this to the way] GPS navigation systems have eroded people’s navigation skills…To prevent [chatbot]-driven skill erosion, people need to [stop using fucking chatbots, as any fucking idiot could have predicted]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1635)

The actual story here is that a few cops are actually being prosecuted:

…Local news reports from around the country repeatedly detail police abusing the Flock surveillance system…to stalk their partners…ex-partners[, or intended victims they don’t even know]…The cases highlight the fact that Flock can be used to track the whereabouts of individual people, that police do not get a warrant in order to use the system, and that, if they have access to the system, they [will routinely abuse it]…for any reason they want…The known cases of police stalking are [without a single shred of doubt] a vast underreporting of the overall abuse, because they largely include only cases in which the behavior was so egregious that it led to [cops] being fired, arrested, or both…a Flock [mouthpiece ludicrously claimed that it’s not their fault their fascist warrantless surveillance system is used for warrantless surveillance, because]…private citizens, journalists, and stalking victims…have [been able to later discover the abuse by]…public records [requests or via the third-party]…website HaveIBeenFlocked.com…[which] Flock has repeatedly tried to get…taken down…

Welcome to the Future (#1637)

In the 20th century, this was called a “price-fixing cartel”:

A new federal lawsuit [has been filed against] gas station companies across California [who] are engaged in an illegal conspiracy…to raise prices.  The…lawsuit [includes] the corporate owners of over 1,700 California gas stations — including Marathon…7-Eleven, Walmart, and Circle K — [who] are using Kalibrate, an [algorithm designed]…to extinguish retail price competition…[by] coordinat[ing] high prices…gas stations that use Kalibrate software charge between 6 cents and 30 cents more per gallon…gas stations traditionally “competed for customers by aggressively undercutting one another’s retail prices”…[but] Kalibrate encourages gas station owners to abandon this system and allow [its] software to automatically determine prices…[by] connect[ing] directly to gas station signs and pumps…Kalibrate’s interface…[includes] a feature that allows gas stations to coordinate a “restoration,” [a euphemism for]…an area[-wide joint] price…[hike which any Kalibrate user can] initiate…to…“squeeze out profits” [from marks]…in [defiance of]…a…California…law…[which] “was [specifically] enacted to make clear that companies cannot evade liability for fixing prices by delegating their illegal trusts to an algorithm”…The new law was passed in response to companies like RealPage, which uses an…algorithm to [hike] rents in apartment buildings…cost[ing] renters $3.8 billion in 2023…

Walled Garden (#1644)

Court declares that minors are chattel, so adults have no privacy rights:

A federal appeals court has signed off on Ohio’s ban on people under age 16 using social media without parental consent…[which] means all Ohioans could soon have to show ID to use such platforms…Similar laws have been either temporarily or permanently blocked by federal courts in other states, such as Arkansas, Louisiana, and Utah.  That makes the 6th Circuit’s decision something of an aberration—and a worrying sign…[considering that] the 6th Circuit judges think [having people’s identities permanently linked in government records to social media accounts] constitute[s] only “a marginal burden”…

 

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 (#1648)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Academics who have studied human trafficking at big sporting events…say that it is all hokum.  – Dave Mastio

Time Warp

Nebraska politicians recently held a bizarrely-anachronistic press conference during which they spouted the kind of “sex trafficking” fantasies which were popular at the height of the hysteria 14 years ago; the panic is so moribund that even a journalist in a largely-rural state feels comfortable calling these politicians liars and debunking a boss hog’s nonsense “statistics”.  It took far too long, but it’s still good to see; contrast with “Broken Record” below.

Pyrrhic Victory (#1578)

Promoters of dystopia love to vomit words like “security” and “accountability” into the faces of useful idiots:

…At least three gay bars in [San Francisco] have started using Patronscan…a [facial recognition system sold as] intended to flag fake IDs…[and] the experience of having a camera turned on every person entering the venues, often without warning, has left many [justifiably] outraged…Management at Mix, Badlands, and Toad Hall [refus]ed to speak to the Gazetteer about the issue, though…the Patronscan website…admits…the [scan] goes beyond simple document checks to…include…third-party checks…[to betray] people [to cops, spooks, and goons]…a…bouncer [also admitted]…facial scans would be stored [indefinitely on a bouncer’s say-so]…The company [justified jumping off a bridge by saying]…more than 700 [other kids have already done it]…But it has already become the subject of…a class-action lawsuit in Illinois…

Imaginary Evils (#1597)

This is a very unusual development:

A European religious freedom group is slamming the prosecution of OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone and former executive Rachel Cherwitz…Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience…has United Nations consultative status, which means it’s accredited by the U.N. to submit written statements and make oral arguments before the U.N. Human Rights Council…prosecutors seemed intent on putting the group’s beliefs and practices on trial…”The legal theory used…marks a major departure from established constitutional principles…The defendants were  convicted…based solely on psychological influence, without evidence of threats, violence, or physical coercion.”  You can see how this theory might apply to a wide range of religious groups, philosophical movements, political movements, self-improvement programs, health regimens, lifestyle groups, and so on.  If the federal statute against human trafficking [can be used thus]…we risk turning all sorts of influence and ordinary business into a crime.  All authorities have to do is label something a cult, and voila—any of the group’s instructions, practices, and marketing tactics become sinister…

Panopticon (#1611)

The only way to keep data from being abused or leaked is not to collect it:

…ALPR…company Flock exposed the reasons cops conducted searches, and sometimes the specific searched license plates, in common search engines like DuckDuckGo and Bing, according to tests by…the NoCo Privacy Coalition…“Flock appears to be leaking tons of law enforcement vehicle queries and possible user data. Data publicly visible in search result URLs includes: license plate state and numbers, make, model, color, identifiers such as ‘window stickers’ and ‘top rack,’ case number, and more,” the organization said…Flock’s [response was to absurdly belch that] “Protecting customer data is a top priority for Flock” [when their entire business model is to enable cops to conduct unconstitutional warrantless searches]…

Welcome to the Future (#1619)

When an internet service is “free”, you are the product:

Hundreds of millions of Pokémon Go players spent years filming the streets, parks, and buildings around them to earn [make-believe] rewards.  Those roughly 30 billion environmental scans are now owned by Niantic Spatial, and [were sold to] train a camera-based navigation model that a [fascist] contractor is preparing to put into drones and other military robots…[so they can] locate…by sight when satellite signals fail…Niantic Spatial CTO Brian McClendon, who previously led the team behind Google Maps, Google Earth, and Street View, has said the approach suits robots operating where GPS regularly drops out, such as dense cities, and where signals are deliberately blocked, such as war zones…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1622)

Government thugs don’t care how many lives are destroyed by their evil:

Police arrested a man in Florida for attempted child abduction in a town he had never visited, [ignoring all evidence other than a]…facial recognition [false positive].  Represented by the…ACLU…he is now suing the [pig]s and [cop shop]s who put him through it.  In November 2023, police in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, responded to a call about an attempted child abduction at a McDonald’s…In August 2024, deputies arrested Dillon at his home in Fort Myers, Florida—hundreds of miles away…More than two months later, prosecutors dropped the charges after his attorney provided evidence that he was at work on the day in question.  But [cops ignored]…mobile ordering records, payment data…online account information from McDonald’s…the [fact that the] manager recognized the assailant as a “regular customer”…and…his cell phone’s GPS data, showing…he was…300 miles away…on the night in question…

Broken Record (#1638)

Given that this misogynistic masturbatory myth started with the World Cup, it’s fitting that its dying days are spent there as well:

[Even] sex worker platform[s sometimes buy into ridiculous myths, as demonstrated by the platform] Erobella, [which moronically claims] that…9,000 [European sex workers are “]planning[” travel to North American for the World Cup], while 22,000 others are [“]considering[“] it…[given that] Erobella [claims it] is…committed to combating stigma around sex work, [it seems especially bizarre that it is promoting the nonsensical propaganda]…that major sporting events like the World Cup have historically been really lucrative periods for the sex industry, [given that any sex worker who has ever actually worked during one of these events knows better]…

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 (#1645)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

We’ll probably do more things like it [in the future].  –  Mark Zuckerberg

You Were Warned (#1370)

Another step toward a national “digital ID”:

Americans aren’t interested in reinstating a military draft, but that’s not stopping the government from “streamlining” Selective Service registration—for young men’s own good, we’re told…”so that none inadvertently face the serious penalties of failing to register”…Despite the penalties…”SSS is experiencing a significant decline in registrations by 18-year-old men…In 2020, the registration rate…was 61.8%, today it is just 39.9%”…To deal with its compliance problem, Selective Service has pushed automatic registration for years…”by leveraging existing databases”…Automatic registration will take us closer to the day when the government unifies data storage…[to enable] government officials to…more efficiently inflict every rule and whim on the population…

Torture Chamber (#1433)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

T[hree] recent deaths at Michigan’s only women’s prison and the worsening health of a woman [dying from toxic black] mold exposure…are [driv]ing calls for sweeping reforms [of the torture] facility…Rebecca Fackler…died…on May 17, four days after Khaira Howard…died [in] the same [filthy] prison…[Ashley Hoath died June 6,] and…[Krystal] Clark…[is slowly dying from] years of exposure to black mold [which] have left her struggling to breathe, partially paralyzed, and unable to walk without assistance…[due to] Aspergillus…fungus…in her ears and lungs…photos…and…[politicians] who visited the prison…[report] black mold [actually] growing out of both of her ears…the…prison…is [so] infested with mold…[it] eats through bricks and door frames…drips off the ceiling…falls out of air vents…[and] bubbles and bursts through paint…[and] prisoners [a]re forced to clean [it] without basic supplies…

Stalkers in Blue (#1442)

Cops are nothing more than state-sponsored terrorists:

Hunter Demster…and eight other Memphis residents filed declarations [as part of a] federal [lawsuit] that describe being violently arrested, surveilled at their houses, pulled over under false pretenses, boxed in by police cars, and jailed for trying to film [a pig gang with the Orwellian name “Memphis Safe] Task Force[“].  The lawsuit, filed in mid-May by the…ACLU…and [two law firms]…is seeking a preliminary injunction blocking Task Force [cops] from intimidating, assaulting, or arresting people for recording…[and] ban[ning them] from invoking a new state law…that requires [videograph]ers to stay 25 feet away from police.  The lawsuit is a major legal challenge to…the…unofficial and unconstitutional Department of [Father]land Security…[scheme to] treat…recording the police like criminal activity…seven federal circuit courts have firmly upheld the right to record and monitor the police…[yet] videos from around the country…have shown federal [goons] arresting or threatening to arrest people for filming them….in Memphis, [this has escalated into] a “campaign of harassment and intimidation” against observers…

The Vultures Descend (#1511)

Psychopathic politicians will never stop until they face criminal charges for this kind of evil:

A…proposed state constitutional amendment in North Carolina is seeking to make abortion completely illegal, adding in “protections” for people who [justify] murder [by claiming they wanted] to stop a [woman] from obtaining the procedure…The proposed amendment…declares that “[‘personhood’]…begins at the moment of fertilization”…and…includes additional language that would essentially legalize the murder of someone planning or participating in an abortion in the state…[sane people pointed out that the amendment] “would jail or authorize the murder of women due to their…use of birth control, such as an IUD,” [because they] prevent pregnancies by making implantation [of fertilized ova] nearly impossible…[and] is also “a ‘get out of jail free’ card for men who want to murder their partners…All they have to do is [claim] the women intended to use birth control or have an abortion”…

The Cop Myth (#1556)

Cops are so deranged they even treat each other this way:

A [Fatherland Security goon] who was knocked unconscious in a Costco parking lot by a…[San Diego pig has amended his lawsuit to include other members of the pig herd who] engaged in a widespread cover-up to prevent a public relations nightmare…Chu Ding was trying to leave a parking spot…when…Jonathan Ferraro [intentionally] parked in his way while he waited for a nearby spot…[after] Ding tapped on…Ferraro[‘s window to signal he needed to pull out, Ferraro flew into a totally unhinged rage]…and slammed [Ding] to the ground…[after] several bystanders called 911 to report Ferraro as the attacker…911 operators…[dispatched a damage control team of] 14 [pigs], including [several boss hogs] and a [propaganda oinker, who conspired to falsify an arrest report and falsely arrest the badly-injured Ding]…instead of taking him to the hospital promptly…he…was held for nearly 24 hours before being released on bail…the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office refused to prosecute the case…[and] Ding was cleared of any wrongdoing by…[Father]land Security…

Enshittification (#1622)  

Scenes from the early days of a dark age:

The [US] is feeding Pentagon propaganda to internet users in Latin American countries using a new [CGI slop] mill…[named] La Tilde…[which spews slop] in both Spanish and English…extolling the value of U.S. military operations in Latin America…[with] Trumpian [hyperbole] …An explanation for its glowing coverage of the U.S. military can be found after clicking a small link tucked at the bottom of the site…This easily missed disclosure…is identical to [that on] two other Pentagon-sponsored propaganda sites recently revealed by The Intercept…La Tilde carries no bylines, masthead, or mention of actual staff of any kind…and…appears to have been [entirely] generated by a large language model…the site plans to launch…versions [specifically targeted at] readers in Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, and Peru…

Beware of the Shoggoths

Zuck says if you ask the shoggoth nicely, it won’t stare at you on the toilet:

[Facebook] has [suppos]edly made some changes to the controversial project known internally as the Model Capability Initiative…[it] now plans to allow employees to “pause” the tracking for up to 30 minutes in the event they need to “check something personal”…a subset of employees will also be able to [beg] to opt out of the program altogether, though this will be limited to remote workers with bandwidth concerns…[or those who] work in spaces where they can’t easily keep laptops connected to a power source…the vast majority…will still be required to allow their (nearly) every move to be tracked and recorded in the name of improving [Zuck’s imaginary friends]…The company has faced protests from employees over MCI, which was announced…just before the company laid off 8,000 workers and reshuffled thousands of others into [being servants to chatbots]…

 

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 (#1643)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

AI will be used to create a hellscape of over-enforcement.  –  Jay Stanley

Moloch (#1340) 

Pigs in schools are a menace which should be abolished:

Since the massacre…in Uvalde in 2022, school districts across Texas have spent billions of dollars to [cram pigs into] every campus in the state…[despite the obvious fact that cops did nothing] to protect students from [that] traged[y.  Predictably]…the constant presence of [armed thugs] has transformed the way many public schools manage discipline, subjecting students to heavy-handed police tactics for behavior that once would have landed them only in the principal’s office…[as in the adult world, cops] display…startling belligerence…grabbing or tackling students a fraction of their size over [ordinary juvenile] misconduct…Children in elementary school…as young as 6…[a]re handcuffed.  Teenagers [a]re arrested, charged with crimes and even jailed. In [many] cases, they [need to be taken to] hospitals, bruised or concussed, after [deranged thugs] body-slam…[them] or shock…[them with] Tasers, which are prohibited in the state’s juvenile d[ungeons] but allowed in its public schools…[and these are a mere fraction of the atrocities, because school] districts and [cop shops hide the full scope of the violence from the public]…

Shame, Shame (#1576)

The rise of computerized zombies:

[The corpse of] Stan Lee is [be]ing…digital[ly paraded through the streets] through a new [collaboration] between ElevenLabs and Stan Lee Universe…[which] will [synchronize a cartoon of] the Marvel legend…to [a chatbot trained on his]…voice…The [abomination] is part of a growing [moral corruption] in entertainment to use [computers] to [exploit] the [reputation]s and legacies of iconic creators.  The [scheme was first tested]…at L.A. Comic Con…and [because they didn’t get lynched] ElevenLabs is now…[cramm]ing [the cartoon and chatbot] into multiple [exploit]ative products…Late last year, Michael Caine [sold his soul to] them as well…

Panopticon (#1585)

Safetyism is destroying society:

BusPatrol, a company that has installed [computeriz]ed cameras in tens of thousands of school buses around the U.S., now plans to turn those cameras into automatic license plate readers…capturing the location of every vehicle the buses drive past, and [throwing] that data [in]to [pigsties]…essentially transform[ing] school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles, taking a technology that was originally [sold to useful idiots] to issue tickets to people illegally passing stopped buses and using it for…warrant[less surveillance in partnership with fascist]…giant Axon…BusPatrol [already] has cameras in more than 40,000 buses across 24 states.  [Present]ly, those cameras [only photograph]…vehicle[s which]…pass…the school bus while it has its stop signs…extended…[but] the planned changes would…expand that system to scan the license plates of all vehicles the buses pass…and…record the car’s…GPS location…in order to…generate more revenue…[for] BusPatrol [investors]…

Panopticon (#1617)

Not as good as destroying them, but courage is alien to politicians:

The city of Dayton, Ohio has covered its Flock automated license plate reader cameras with black trash bags…because police there are unsure whether the cameras are still active and the city also doesn’t seem to know whether [the devil’s bargain it made with fascists] allowed [it] to take the cameras down.  The move comes after months of resident outrage…[over] the city [“accidentally”] sharing Flock camera data for [Trump’s pogroms]…Dayton is not the first city to cover its Flock cameras with trash bags because they can’t figure out how to immediately terminate the use of the cameras. Late last year, the city of Evanston, Illinois also covered its cameras with trash bags while it was waiting for the company to remove them [for the second time, because]…after…Evanston terminated its contract with Flock…and…removed [the cameras]…Flock “reinstalled the cameras without the city’s permission” and [Evanston had to] sen[d it] a cease-and-desist [to get them permanently removed]…

A Moral Cancer (#1627)

Because obviously prohibition doesn’t ruin enough lives yet:

France ha[s] banned “a number of popular nicotine-based products including Zyn pouches.”  Those caught violating the measure could face up to five years in prison and a fine of $436,600…Swedish Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa…called the ban…on these pouches, which originated in Sweden, an “attack on the Swedish way of living”…Sweden, Italy, Greece, and four other countries have raised “formal concerns”…that the…ban violates the E.U.’s single market laws…[pointing out that pouch-using] members of the European Parliament…[which meets in] the French city of Strasbourg…risk [police violence by] traveling to France…tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable deaths [in France], and…55 percent of…French smokers…want…to quit…[but] a lack of access to nicotine pouches will keep many people addicted to cigarettes.  Meanwhile, Sweden…has the lowest smoking rate in Europe…predominantly thanks to oral nicotine products.  Since the 1980s, it has seen its smoking rate fall from 30 percent to less than 5 percent…

Welcome to the Future (#1635)

Medical privacy will soon go the way of house calls:

Headway, a popular online therapy platform, says it will require clients and providers to undergo biometric scanning, and there’s no way to opt out other than leaving the platform…Headway [justifies the privacy violation by barfing] “safe[ty]”…at…patients…[and] providers…Many mental health providers or the practices they work for use Headway to help them get credentialed with insurance companies and process billing and other administrative tasks.  Through Headway, providers can be in-network with a much wider variety of insurance plans…it will use the [Palantir-linked fascist organ] Persona to verify identities, a[d]ding [their data] to…Peter Thiel’s [huge trove of information he happily sells to anyone who can pay, including Trump stooge]…Robert F. Kennedy Jr…

To Molest and Rape (#1638)

A gang of pigs tried to poach on another gang’s rape territory:

[Three]…Toronto cops [tried to escape consequences for violently sexually assaulting a]…Spanish [escort in Barcelona by announcing that they were fellow pigs] and flash[ing] a Toronto badge…Evan Penner Glennie and Richard Theodore Rand [were caught] just [after attacking the] escort [in a taxi, leaving her] bloodied and shaken.  She had…been [both] sexually groped…and physically assaulted inside the vehicle.  A third…[culprit named] Caglar Yigit…fled the scene…to [escape] Spanish [cops] who had responded to the woman’s cries for help…[and] was later arrested on the…island of Mallorca…all…three [made bond and]…have since been allowed to return to Canada, [where they] have been [rewar]ded with pa[id vacations]…

 

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