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Posts Tagged ‘Winding Down’

In the News (#1422)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2024| 1 Comment »

Infantilization of young adults is all the rage these days.  –  E.N. Brown

Winding Down (#1087)

Politicians are terrified of losing ways to destroy peaceful citizens’ lives:

Oregon [politicians have] overwhelmingly [signaled their disdain for the will of their constituents by voting for] recriminalization of low-level drug possession , reversing a landmark reform that voters endorsed when they passed Measure 110 in 2020.  Gov. Tina Kotek has indicated that she is inclined to sign the bill, ratifying a regression driven by unrealistic expectations and unproven assertions…[boss politician] Kate Lieber…claims, “we are…mak[ing] sure Oregonians have access to the treatment and care that they need.”  But Oregon is not merely making sure that people “have access” to treatment; it is foisting “help” on people who do not want it by threatening them with incarceration…

Still a Child (#1154) 

The 5th Circuit sucked Louisiana politicians’ dicks on this in 2018; will the 11th imitate them?

Florida [politicians have]…approved a bill banning 18- to 20-year-olds from being strippers or from working in any other capacity at an adult entertainment venue.  Like a similar bill passed in Texas in 2021, the Florida bill [was justified by vomiting out the phrase “]human trafficking[“, with the usual]…potential to…make abuse and exploitation worse.  It’s also part of a growing movement across the U.S. to push up the boundaries of childhood, [criminaliz]ing all sorts of things once legal for 18- to 20-year-olds…[if] Ron DeSantis…signs it, the law will take effect July 1.  Young adult strippers…would not themselves be subject to penalty.  Rather, the bill would make it a crime to…employ…someone under age 21…in these businesses…[even] if an establishment is tricked by a fake ID…It also says the employment must be done “knowingly,” so it’s unclear exactly how these two standards can coexist…

Thought Control (#1250)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

Hundreds of new books featuring characters of color and LGBTQ+ themes were found [in] the trash at a Staten Island elementary school…sparking an education department investigation…Some had sticky notes on them…A note on My Two Border Towns, about a boy’s life on the United States-Mexico border, read “Our country has no room and it’s not fair.”  A note on The Derby Daredevils…read…“Discusses dad being transgender.  Teenage girls having a crush on another girl”…a note on We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know read “negative slant on white people”…A note on Julian Is A Mermaid…read “Boy questions gender”…Notes on pages of Black Panther: The Young Prince read “Witchcraft? Human skulls” and “Pact with Devil. Burned in fire”…[the person who discovered the books said] “this [censorship] feels like censorship…It feels like book banning”…

I Spy (#1372)

Is having a shiny new status symbol really worth being spied on and price-gouged?

LexisNexis is a…global data broker with a “Risk Solutions” division that caters to the auto insurance industry and has traditionally kept tabs on car accidents and tickets…[but] General Motors [and other automakers are now surreptitiously providing data to]…LexisNexis…to create a risk score…for insurers to use as [an excuse for raising people’s]…insurance [rates]…In recent years, insurance companies have offered incentives to people who [foolishly] install dongles in their cars or download smartphone apps that monitor their driving, including how much they drive, how fast they take corners, how hard they hit the brakes and whether they speed.  But “drivers are historically reluctant to participate in these programs,” as Ford Motor put it…[so] car companies are collecting information directly from internet-connected vehicles for use by the insurance industry…[without] a driver’s awareness [or] consent…

Thought Control (#1405)

I’m unsure of how this affects Florida’s more widespread censorship problem:

…Equality Florida and Family Equality, [along with individual plaintiffs, have] reached a…settlement agreement with the…Florida Department of Education, and school districts that resolves their facial challenge to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law… The agreement effectively nullifies the most dangerous and discriminatory impacts of…the law…The settlement restores the ability of students, teachers, and others in Florida schools to speak and write freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in class participation and schoolwork.  It also…reinstates Gay-Straight Alliances…[and] requires the State Board of Education to…make clear that the settlement reflects the considered position of the State of Florida on the scope and meaning of this law…

The Cop Myth (#1420)

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

[A typical and representative] South Carolina [screw named]…Joshua Bradford..[h]as [been] charged with [aggravated] domestic violence…and [other felonies for]…shooting…[his wife] while she was holding a child in a [car] seat…

Note the attempt to obscure that this psycho is a cop by referring to him as a “sheriff’s office employee”; we’ve seen this weasel-trick before.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1421)

Texas residents, like those of several other states, now need VPNs to watch porn:

Aylo has blocked access to Pornhub in Texas…following the decision by the…5th Circuit upholding the state’s controversial age verification law [while a challenge filed by Aylo and others proceeds].  The company posted a message explaining its decision, which can be read by those attempting to reach the platform in Texas…Aylo is also calling on all adult sites to comply [in this way]…

Pornhub has repeatedly taken the principled stand of refusing to spy on its users for the State.

 

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

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In the News (#1417)

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

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

Winding Down (#1106)

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

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

Eavesdropping (#1167)

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

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

The Implosion Begins (#1265)

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

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

The Vultures Descend (#1323)

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

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

And if that worries you, how about this?

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

Pyrrhic Victory (#1327)

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

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

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

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1405)

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

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

Served Cold (#1406)

This just keeps getting better:

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

 

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

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In the News (#1404)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2024| 1 Comment »

They just threw him out like trash.  –  Gretchen Hankins

If Men Were Angels

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

A [typical and representative] pastor of an independent Baptist church in…Warsaw [Virginia] is facing 30 felony charges [for molesting and even raping children]…at the church between 1981 and 1997.  Albert Benjamin Wharton…has [worked for]…seven churches in Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida over the past four decades[, so there may be many more victims]…

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#667)

It’s never called “trafficking” when the government or a crony corporation does it:

Universal Health Services…is the nation’s largest psychiatric hospital chain, with 185 inpatient…facilities and dozens of acute care hospitals…More than 21,000 inpatient psychiatric beds—or one in six across the country—are operated by UHS, which brought in $13.4 billion last year.  In recent years, the company has been the subject of several high-profile lawsuits and investigations…UHS facilities admitted patients who didn’t need to be there…failed to provide adequate treatment…billed insurance for unnecessary services…improperly used physical and chemical restraints and isolation….[and] used suicidal ideation to “justify almost any admission”…thousands of foster kids have been [condemn]ed in recent years to UHS’s psychiatric facilities, where they typically stay for weeks or months, sometimes leaving far worse off than when they arrived…a symbiotic relationship has developed between…[“]child welfare[“] agencies, which have too many kids in custody and not enough places to put them, and [fascist] companies like UHS…Kids often come back to facilities again and again, acting out more with each admission…To UHS and its competitors…foster kids are “a gold mine”…

Believe Them

Mississippi demonstrates exactly what it thinks of its subjects:

Some 215 bodies were found in a pauper’s cemetery… just outside of Jackson, [Mississippi]…intended for people who have no known family, but…relatives…were never contacted by officials.  Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing the families of Marrio Moore, Dexter Wade, and Jonathan Hankins, who were all buried in the cemetery without the knowledge of their families…the deceased are put in body bags and placed into…graves [so shallow that]..the stench [of decomposition is]…drawing buzzards…Wade was [not a prisoner; he was run over by a cop driving a pigmobile, then his]…identification [was ignored and his]…family was not notified…[so they] thought he was missing until…recently…

The Mob Rules (#1322)

Partisan fanatics want you to believe this is fundamentally different from very similar laws in Arkansas and Utah, because “red and blue”:

…the supposed “harm” of social media to teen mental health just isn’t supported by the data.  But it seems it’s never enough to stop savior-complex folk…[like] Jim Steyer, who has more money and ignorance than sense, trying to quietly push a California ballot initiative that would adjust the California constitution in an unconstitutional (by the US Constitution) manner to falsely claim that social media is deliberately harmful to kids, and that people should be able to sue social media for a million dollars any time any kid anywhere is “harmed” in a manner…that the…company should have magically stopped.  He submitted the proposal…right before the holidays when most people weren’t paying attention, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta has a comment period open that ends on January 17th…Bonta’s office has supported a variety of problematic “protect the children online!” laws, including the Age Appropriate Design Code that a district court has already noted was pretty clearly unconstitutional…

Winding Down (#1342)

Politicians are terrified that the state is losing ways to destroy peaceful citizens’ lives:

California’s…governor…Gavin Newsom…[vetoed] bills that would have decriminalized four naturally occurring psychedelics and authorized Amsterdam-style cannabis cafés.  Senate Bill 58…was similar to a groundbreaking ballot initiative that Colorado voters approved in 2022, [and] would have eliminated criminal penalties for adults 21 or older who use psilocybin, psilocyn, mescaline, or dimethyltryptamine…But [Newsom claims]…it would be [“]reckless[“] to stop threatening psychedelic users with arrest and jail…Assembly Bill 374…would have allowed dispensaries, with local approval, to serve marijuana along with noncannabis food and beverages, which is currently illegal.  It also would have explicitly allowed live music…[but] Newsom [is] “concerned this bill could undermine California’s long-standing” [war on]…smoking…

A Moral Cancer (#1388)

SCOTUS says it’s OK for politicians to specifically target black people with prohibitionist laws:

The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a challenge to a California law that bans the sale of flavored cigarettes, leaving the state law in place…The ban’s challengers…told the justices that the law “has shut the doors to one of the Nation’s largest markets for flavored tobacco products and thereby banned a product (menthol cigarettes) that has been lawfully sold for nearly a century,” [and which are used by 77-88% of black American smokers]…

Vulture Watching (#1394)

SCOTUS also says it’s OK if deranged Idaho politicians let women die and ruin doctors’ careers if they try to prevent that:

The Supreme Court [has] allowed Idaho to enforce its strict abortion ban, even in medical emergencies, while a legal fight continues.  The justices said they would hear arguments in April and [if any women die before that it’s just tough luck]…the Biden administration has argued that hospitals that receive Medicare funds are required by federal law to provide emergency care, potentially including abortion, no matter if there’s a state law banning abortion…

 

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 (#1389)

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

Apparently, some adults find it appropriate to contact the police over a fictional book involving gargoyles.  –  Jennifer Armentrout

If Men Were Angels

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

Corey White…a [typical and representative] youth pastor…[in] Midland [Texas] was arrested [for possession of child porn] on Oct. 23…White has waived his rights to a preliminary hearing and…will be held in jail without bond as he waits for trial…New York [cops discovered someone] distributing child [porn] via…Omegle…New York [cops found White among his customers and reported him to their counterparts in Texas]…

Is an “associate pastor” something like a “youth pastor”?

…an…associate pastor in McAlester [Oklahoma named]…David Prince was [apparently] involved in…sexually explicit online chats [with a cop fantasy role-playing as a legal minor, during which he]…claimed to [molested someone the cops defined as a]…child…[Cops then descended upon] Prince[‘s]…residence [and arrested him after finding child porn]…on [his]…computer…

Torture Chamber (#1253)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

An inspection…of a women’s prison in Tallahassee[, Florida revealed]…significant [sanitation] issues…[including] moldy bread…discolored and rotting vegetables…rodent droppings, warped food containers, and bags of cereal with insects in them…roofs routinely leak…[and the cells have] worn bedding, rusted…lockers, issues with showers and toilets, and [toxic] black [mold] on walls and ceilings…[lazy] staff [randomly changes]…the time of day it distributes insulin and drugs…”which may limit the therapeutic benefit of these drugs”…

Crying for Nanny (#1326)

This will never stop while politicians and ambulance-chasers claim heckler’s veto over the entire internet:

The owner of video chat platform Omegle has taken the site offline…[and] replaced [it] with a lengthy message about free speech…In 2021, a woman filed a lawsuit against Omegle for $22 million.  She claimed that she was paired with an adult man wh[ile violating the site’s TOS, which prohibited users below 18, wh]en she was 11 years old, and that he manipulated her into masturbating and urinating on camera in front of him over the course of three years…In July, a judge [declared] that Omegle can’t be shielded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, [because he didn’t like]…Omegle’s design itself…[which allowed] speech between [anonymous] users…Another lawsuit…makes similar claims…[in his post-shutdown message, site owner Leif K-Brooks criticized the government-encouraged] “constant barrage of attacks on communication services, Omegle included, based on the behavior of a malicious subset of users…The only way to please these people is to stop offering the service.  Sometimes they say so, explicitly and avowedly; other times, it can be inferred from their act of setting standards that are not humanly achievable.  Either way, the net result is the same”…

Winding Down (#1343)

When will the federal government finally read the writing on the wall?

Ohio…[has] becom[e] the 24th state to legalize recreational use [of cannabis]…Issue 2…allows adults 21 or older to publicly possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and grow up to six plants at home…[and] also will create a system to license and regulate commercial sales.  That’s assuming Ohio legislators do not [hobble] or [castrate] the rules…which they have the power to do with any “initiated state statute,” as opposed to a constitutional amendment.  Before Issue 2 was submitted to voters, the…General Assembly passed up a chance to enact it, and now the measure returns to the legislature, which can [wreck] it before it takes effect…

Thought Control (#1362)

Do I really need to say, “Not because someone borrowed a book from a library”?

Two Florida members of the [pro-censorship cult] Moms for Liberty…called police on a pair of school librarians over a book in a bestselling young adult fantasy series…[cult member] Jennifer Tapley [bizarrely claimed]…“Pornography [was] given to a minor in a school”…[because] Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout…[was borrowed by] a 17-year-old…The…book centers around an 18-year-old heroine who is losing her vision but can see and talk to ghosts… To keep her abilities hidden from demons…gargoyle shape-shifters guard her…The [wannabe censors object to]…“one [scene] where the main character almost has sex”…Tapley [tried to hide her identify from well-deserved] …public r[idicule] of her…[attempt to inflict state violence on librarians while fellow cultist] Tom Gurski [vomited out “]Ron DeSantis…says this is child pornography.  It’s a serious crime”…T[o its credit,] the sheriff’s office [sent the complaint to the school board]…and closed its case…Gurski…[previously attempted to subject librarians] in Milton, Florida…[to police violence] over Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, which has an LGBTQ character…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1371)

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

Monitoring what [citizens] do online is something [politicians] want to make easier for p[olice].  That’s why they’ve proposed a bill…that would block [web]sites [Alabama politicians deem “pornographic”] from anyone under 18 years old…Ben Robbins…plans to sponsor a [“monkey see, monkey do” age verification] bill [with extra-asinine features unique to Alabama.  He wants to force]…companies to register with the state as adult content distributors…and tax…Alabamians [for visiting such sites].  Lastly, the bill will require distributors to have written consent from people who are posted on the site.  Louisiana, Texas, and Utah have similar[ly-unconstitutional] laws.  Each state faces ongoing lawsuits from the Free Speech Coalition because of them…[politician] Robbins [parroted the “internet is a bar” argument a federal judge mocked and rejected in a challenge to the Arkansas version of this same law]…

To Molest and Rape (#1387)

Though the reporter used the distancing “former”, the headline writer didn’t cooperate:

A [typical and representative screw] was sentenced in federal court…for traveling [from Tennessee] to…North Carolina [to rape a toddler]…John Allen Biggins [was condemned to] 17 years in prison…[followed by] a lifetime of…[probation and condemnation to the] sex offender…[registry.  While communicating with a fantasy role-playing] Homeland Security [spook]…Biggins…claim[ed] he had [raped]…his underage stepdaughter and express[ed] interest in [raping]…the [roleplaying spook’s imaginary] 4-year-old daughter.  At one point, Biggins discussed…in detail [how exactly he wanted to violate] the [imaginary] toddler…

By contrast, in this case everyone involved tried to bury the lede as far down as possible:

A [typical and representative Missouri screw] and [his wife have] pleaded guilty…to recording their sexual assault of a child.  Paul Emerson Schofield…and his wife, Sara Ellen Emerson…admitted they had recorded images of child sexual abuse over a three-year period from July 29, 2019, to June 7, 2022…[they were caught because Schofield] uploaded the images to a social media platform…a…search…[revealed] several videos showing the two sexually assaulting an unconscious child, as well as other images of the sexual abuse of children…

 

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 (#1344)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 3, 2023| 2 Comments »

Anti-sex-work rhetoric…continues to dominate mainstream media.  –  Holly Randall

If Men Were Angels

One would think that by now, the title “youth pastor” would be a big red flag:

[A typical and representative] youth pastor [previously] charged with child sexual assault is now facing new charges…Jordan Huffman…jump[ed bail in Wisconsin]…and [fled to]…Florida [where he] was [caught and] extradited to Wisconsin…the [newly-reported] victim said the crimes began in 2017…[at] 12 years old…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#907)

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

The Texas legislature has passed a new age verification law that compels adult websites to post pseudoscientific anti-porn propaganda disclaimers declaring that “pornography is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases conditioned responses and weakens brain function.”  The measure, HB 1181, is a much-augmented version of Louisiana’s age verification law and its many copycats, and echoes the debunked “porn addiction” language of faith-based anti-porn groups…

Compelled speech is, of course, unconstitutional, but Southern politicians in particular seem determined to negate that inconvenient fact by wishing very hard.

Held Together With Lies (#938)

In case you ever doubted the danger of letting government dictate what constitutes “disinformation”:

YouTube [has] removed…an episode of the Holly Randall Unfiltered industry podcast, featuring an interview with…Elizabeth Nolan Brown debunking myths about sex trafficking spread by anti-sex-work activists, mainstream media and politicians.  YouTube [claims] the content was removed due to a supposed violation of its policies against “harmful conspiracy theories.”  Randall appealed the removal but YouTube [bots automatical]ly dismissed the appeal, [pretending actual humans] had reviewed the content…and [claiming that debunking harmful propaganda]…is [not] “safe”…YouTube consistently platforms…pseudoscientific and religious attacks against sex workers and the adult industry without flagging the frequent lack of factuality in those videos…

Winding Down (#1289)

Occasionally, cops’ lies are too outrageous even for politicians:

As of July 1…Maryland…law will allow adults 21 or older to publicly possess up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana.  In anticipation of that…Maryland [politicians] last month passed H.B. 1071, which will bar police, also effective July 1, from treating the [actual or pretended] smell of cannabis as sufficient grounds for stopping or searching pedestrians or cars.  Virginia enacted a similar law in 2020, and…Missouri and Illinois…have proposed the same basic reform…Any evidence obtained in violation of the new rules is “not admissible in a trial, a hearing, or any other proceeding.”  Notably, that includes “evidence discovered or obtained with consent,” which is little more than a legal fiction when people are waylaid by armed agents of the state with the power to informally punish uncooperative drivers…

Panopticon (#1316)

Cops will continue to do this until there are criminal penalties for it:

[Three civil liberties groups demanded that] seventy-one California [cop shops]…immediately stop sharing automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with [cop shops] in other states because it violates California law and could enable prosecution of abortion seekers and providers elsewhere,  The letters from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU NorCal), and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) gave the agencies a deadline of June 15 to comply and respond…Since 2016, sharing any ALPR data with out-of-state or federal [cop shops or spook houses] is a violation of the California Civil Code…Nevertheless, many agencies continue to use services such as Vigilant Solutions or Flock Safety to make the ALPR data they capture available to out-of-state and federal agencies [because, as is typical of laws pretended to control cops, the law has no criminal penalties for violators].  California…also [passed]…a[nother toothless] law…prohibiting state and local [cop shops] from providing abortion-related information to out-of-state [cop shops]…

You Were Warned (#1337)

The censors are growing bold enough to admit their real goals:

Democrats naively (and incorrectly) believ[e] that because [KOSA is] called the “Kids Online Safety Bill” it will magically protect children, even though tons of experts have made it clear it will actually put them at greater risk.  Meanwhile, Republicans are now freely admitting that they’re going to use KOSA to force websites to censor LGBTQ content.  They’re literally proud of it.  The Heritage Foundation, which at least used to have some principled stances before being taken over by culture warriors without any principles, is bragging about how it will use KOSA in this manner…the enforcement mechanism in the bill is that state Attorneys General get to bring lawsuits against websites for not removing such “harmful” content.  And if you don’t believe that there are GOP state AGs itching to bring exactly these lawsuits, you haven’t been paying attention…

Torture Chamber (#1343)

Denying medication to people locked in cages is just a silent version of yelling “Stop faking!” at them:

Dexter Barry waited 12 years to get a new heart…In 2020, his long wait paid off.  His new heart allowed him to imagine a healthy life…But in 2022, after…[the state unnecessarily locked] him in [a cage] for two days [for arguing with a neighbor, and refused to give him] his life-sustaining medication, his body rejected the heart [and he died]…Barry told [both the pigs and the judge] at least seven times that he needed to take his anti-rejection medications every day to survive…[but they didn’t give a shit]…

 

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 (#1343)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I can’t breathe.  –  8-year-old murdered by US Border Patrol

License to Rape

Prohibition turns the body of every citizen into a “crime scene”, which can be violated by cops at will:

A [typical and representative] Orlando [Florida cop named Jonathan Mills]…was found guilty of [misdemeanor] battery nearly a decade after he…grop[ed] a [woman under the pretext of a “]search[” after belching out the word “drugs” in]…August 2014…Mills was sentenced to [a mere] 30 days in…jail…Mills…was kept on the force for years despite multiple complaints of misconduct since he was hired in 2012…[including] two…excessive force [lawsuits]…which cost city taxpayers $130,000…

Crying for Nanny (#997)

The hotel industry is really going to regret having collaborated with fanatics rather than fighting “sex trafficking” hysteria:

A Las Vegas, Nevada, woman alleges in a new federal lawsuit that she was…trafficked at an Albuquerque motel whose management “overtly encouraged” the “horrific” behavior in March 2019. The woman…contends that employees at the Midtown Motel 6…should have known that she was being repeatedly exploited by her trafficker and the “many men who sexually assaulted her.”  But no one intervened and no one called police…

IOW she had a pimp and they didn’t rat her out, so now she’s off the street and seeking a payout.  I can’t feel sorry for Motel 6, though, because the chain typically has such a cozy relationship with pigs they’ve actually been sued over it.

Vulture Watching

Psychopathy is typical in politicians, but these laws are indicative of complete derangement:

…By the time [Kiersten Hogan] arrived at the hospital, she had lost too much amniotic fluid for her son to survive — but hospital staff didn’t tell her that…“I was told that if I tried to discharge myself, or seek care elsewhere, that I could be arrested for trying to kill my child. So of course, I stayed”…[for] a harrowing five days…where…religious counselors repeatedly came to visit her, even though she had declined pastoral care.  She…[was] terrified of…going…into premature labor, and be[ing] arrested…she was [finally] discharged [after delivering a stillborn child] and told she could return to work the next day, “as if nothing had happened”…Hogan is one of eight new plaintiffs who [have] joined a lawsuit against the state of Texas…seeking clarification about what qualifies as a medical emergency under Texas’…abortion bans…lawyers for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the initial suit in March, asked a district court…for a temporary injunction blocking Texas’ abortion bans in cases of pregnancy complications as the case continues…

Thought Control (#1308)

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

Librarians could face years of imprisonment and tens of thousands in fines for providing…books to [legal minors if politicians arbitrarily declare those books “obscene” or “harmful”] under new state laws that permit criminal prosecution of school and library personnel.  At least seven states have passed such laws in the last two years…although governors of Idaho and North Dakota vetoed the legislation.  Another dozen states considered more than 20 similar bills this year, half of which are likely to come up again in 2024…Some of the laws impose severe penalties on librarians, who until now were exempted in almost every state from prosecution over obscene material — a carve-out meant to permit accurate lessons in topics such as sex education.  All but one of the new laws target schools, while some also target the staff of public libraries and one affects book vendors…the laws [are designed to] forge a climate of fear among school librarians, spurring…censorship [by librarians lest] books [religious fanatics and other self-appointed moral authorities dislike are later used as a pretext to persecute librarians]…

Torture Chamber (Chamber of Horrors)

I’m sure they helpfully yelled “Stop faking!” at this little girl as she died:

…an 8-year-old girl…died [while locked] in [a cage for over a week by the US] Border Patrol…[because] agents repeatedly ignored pleas to hospitalize her…as she felt pain in her bones, struggled to breathe and was unable to walk….Mabel Alvarez Benedicks said…“She cried and begged for her life and they ignored her”…People are [supposed] to be [locked in cages for] no more than 72 hours under agency policy, a rule that is violated [with nauseating regularity]…

The Cop Myth (#1335)

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

A [typical and representative Georgia cop]…was sentenced to life in prison for the [wanton murder] of his girlfriend in June 2020…Jason Cunningham…[murdered] Nicole Harrington…[because during and argument about her] seeing another man, known as Maui…[she said] “at least Maui has a large penis”, and Cunningham shot her point-blank in the head…[and left] her body…in [an] elevator…

Winding Down (#1335)

When will the federal government finally read the writing on the wall?

Minnesota, which legalized medical marijuana in 2014, [has become] the 23rd state to allow recreational use…Adults 21 or older will be allowed to possess two ounces or less of marijuana in public, share that amount with other adults, keep two pounds or less at home, and grow up to eight plants…Marijuana products will be subject to a 10 percent retail tax, in addition to standard state and local sales taxes…Local governments will be allowed to regulate retailers and cap their number but will not be allowed to ban them entirely…Cannabis consumption initially will be limited to private residences.  But the law eventually will allow marijuana use at specially licensed businesses and events…

 

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 (#1342)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Americans’ privacy shouldn’t depend on whether the government uses a court order or credit card.  –  Ron Wyden

I Spy (#1067)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

Customs and Border Protection…is using an invasive…[surveillance] tool to screen travelers, including U.S. citizens, refugees, and people seeking asylum, which can…link their social media posts to their Social Security number and location data…Called Babel X, the system lets a user input a piece of information about a target—their name, email address, or telephone number—and receive a bevy of data…includ[ing the victim’s] social media posts, linked IP address, employment history, and unique advertising identifiers associated with their mobile phone…Babel Street…the tool[‘s maker, claims it]…is also able to perform “sentiment analysis”…

Winding Down (#1133)

Washington state politicians demonstrate their hypocrisy:

The Washington Supreme Court effectively decriminalized drug use two years ago…[politicians] predictably viewed…that…as intolerable, and…promptly approved a [temporary] law that made possession a misdemeanor…That law is scheduled to expire on July 1, which prompted a bipartisan panic…[resulting in] a new bill criminalizing drug possession, which Gov. Jay Inslee immediately signed into law…[because] he…[claims] drug users cannot be trusted to decide for themselves what they need…[so the state must] ignores their preferences…[by]forcing them, under the threat of jail, to accept the “help” that the state is offering, whether they want it or not.  Although that might look like kidnapping and extortion, Inslee insists it is an act of love.  Notably, that policy does not apply to drinkers…Nor does it apply to cannabis consumers…It applies only to people who use psychoactive substances that the state has deemed beyond the pale…

Policing for Profit (#1166)

No matter how little their victims have, cops will steal it and fuck up their lives in the process:

A [typical and representative] California [cop has] been charged…for…stealing money that a homeless man had saved for dental work…John Sanzone…arrested [the] man [in] August 2022 and found that…he…had $3,500…Sanzone stole it…Sanzone was previously…[accused of stealing] $1,300 during an arrest in 2021…

Panopticon (#1232)

Why pay for surveillance when useful idiots can be talked into providing it?

For the past year [cops in Rialto, California have] been trying to [intimidate] owners of private surveillance cameras [in]to enroll[ing] in…Fusus, a [surveillance] tech company that aims to boost public [surveillance] by making it easier for police to access privately owned surveillance cameras [without warrant or oversight]…In Rialto, the police have access to over 150 livestreams across restaurants, gas stations, and private residential developments – a number they are hoping to increase through [intimidating useful idiots]…Fusus technology is being operated in over 60 different cities and counties across more than a dozen states…[despite the objections of people who care about privacy]…Fusus…tramples the privacy of residents, and…hand[s] police tools that are easily abused…

Judging by Houston and San Francisco, this won’t stay voluntary for long.

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1266)

Another baby step toward recognizing sex work as work:

After months of late-night picketing in North Hollywood, the dancers of the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar have become the only unionized strippers in the US.  Their victory was finalized with a unanimous vote by 17 dancers in favor of unionization…and marks the first time that the Actors Equity association, a century-old union for stage actors, singers and dancers, will represent strip club workers…The campaign, which started in March 2022, was galvanized by…unsafe working conditions and…retaliatory firings of dancers who tried to address customers’ dangerous behavior themselves…“While some elements of their job are unique, [strippers] are essentially performance artists, and have a lot in common with other Equity members who dance for a living,” Kate Shindle, the union president, said in a statement…

The Last Shall Be First (#1319) 

It’s two!  Two!  Two fads in one!

In late April, an abortion ban failed to pass in Nebraska—but Republicans weren’t ready to give up on it.  So they tacked an abortion ban onto a bill banning gender-affirming care for…minors…and passed the whole Frankenstein bill on [May 19th]…The final bill bans abortion after 12 weeks…and bans gender-affirming surgeries for everyone under the age of 19…the state chief medical officer [will be required] to design new rules for…trans…care that is not surgical, such as puberty blockers.  People already receiving treatment are exempt from those restrictions…The bill also includes a [mob rule]…section, [encouraging] citizens to seek…damages…from [any] health care professional who performed gender-affirming care within two years…

The Last Shall Be First (#1337) 

Of course Florida had to have its own “bathroom bill”:

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida [has] signed…a bill that would criminalize trans people [who use] public restrooms…[appropriate to their] legal…gender [if that is different from their chromosomes and genitalia present at birth]…People…who are accused [by busybodies] of being trans also w[ould] be obligated to undergo genitalia exams, DNA testing, and other invasive procedures…

 

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 (#1335)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Spin the wheel and see what political expression is next on the chopping block. It might just be your own.  –  Sarah McLaughlin

A Whore in Church

Matthew 21:31 seems pretty straightforward to me:

A Christian OnlyFans star says she feels more connected to her faith since she…started…seven years ago, and now believes God put her on earth to help “liberate” other women from their sexual shame. Courtney Tillia…previously worked as a high school teacher but found that her life lacked meaning and her spirituality was suffering as a result…[she] initially felt ashamed of her [work]…before she slowly began to realize that her strict Christian upbringing was the cause of her guilt…

Leaving the 20th Century

Another Australian state sees the light:

Queensland will decriminalise sex work after a long-awaited review recommended sweeping changes…including scrapping the Prostitution Licensing Authority, repealing some police powers and allowing services to be advertised on radio and TV…sex work is under a licensing framework in Queensland, [which means] about 90% of sex workers are in the “unlawful sector” privately or at unlicensed businesses.  Sex workers have long rallied against the laws that prohibit them from employing a receptionist, working with others or texting other sex workers before and after a booking to make sure they’re safe…police can currently also pose as clients and entrap workers by pressuring them to offer blacklisted services…

Censor Chic (#1248)

Corporations have become the favored tool of censors worldwide:

…recent moves from some leading names in tech and social media paint a worrying picture…censorship laws are increasingly determining what people…can do online.  You might not live within the borders of China…India, [the US, the UK, or Germany] but that doesn’t mean their censorship laws won’t affect what you write, see, and say—and some [internet] companies are helping them enforce these rules globally…investigative journalist Saurav Das shared the fact that—in response to legal demands—Twitter blocked access to two tweets he had posted about India’s Minister of Home Affairs…Censorship demands…from…India…are nothing new, and Twitter…has thus far agreed to…block…the material from view within India…in line with [Twitter boss Elon] Musk’s faulty understanding of “free speech” as a simple reflection of an individual country’s laws, no matter how oppressive.  But this time, Twitter…blocked the tweets not just within India…but everywhere…[this] may…be part of a deeply troubling trend of tech companies willingly choosing to allow the most authoritarian diktats to guide content moderation…

The Cop Myth (#1254)

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

A [typical and representative] Idaho [cop named Daniel Charles Howard] is facing charges…for the [2021] murder of his…wife…Kendy Wilkins…In May 2014, he was charged with first-degree stalking, aggravated assault and malicious injury to property…[after] learning his wife had been having an affair with their…neighbor…he rep[ea]tedly…harass[ed and threatened]…the…neighbor…

Winding Down (#1289)

When will the federal government finally read the writing on the wall?

Delaware just became the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana….Gov. John Carney, a [soft prohibitionist], said he will allow two legalization bills to take effect without his signature, notwithstanding his continued concerns about the consequences of [not sending cops to destroy the lives of people for enjoying something he doesn’t]…Delaware has allowed medical use of marijuana since 2011, and in 2015 legislators decriminalized possession of an ounce or less, making it a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine.  Carney supports both of those policies but…last year he vetoed recreational legalization.  The…[legislature] recently approved essentially the same legislation that Carney blocked last year, this time by larger margins, making it more likely that a veto would be overridden…

I Spy (#1319)

Surely you didn’t believe the pretexts for such surveillance would long remain limited to “child porn” and “terrorism”?

A new U.S. Senate bill would require private messaging services, social media companies, and even cloud providers to report their users to the…DEA…if they find out about certain…drug sales…the Cooper Davis Act…is likely to result in a host of inaccurate reports and in companies sweeping up innocent conversations…[and] incentiv[ize] …dragnet searches of private messages…Most troubling, this bill is a template for [politician]s to try to force internet companies to report their users…for other…speech…[including] the sale or purchase of [sex, adult content, or] abortion pills…

To Molest and Rape (#1320)

In the UK, “disciplinary action” can mean giving rapists early retirement at full pay:

The [London] Police is paying the full salary costs of 145 [cops] who have been [rewarded with paid vacations for] crimes including rape, fatal shootings and paedophilia.  They are made up of 105 [basic thugs] and 40…of a higher undisclosed rank – giving the total combined salary cost…of at least £3.4million over the last six years…[as if that weren’t bad enough] 29 [rapists are still loose with full police powers to stalk more victims]…

 

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 (#1312)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2023| 1 Comment »

Pay sex workers to educate you so you’re not reiterating harmful stereotypes out of ignorance.  –  Mahx Capacity

The Notorious Badge 

Hollywood follows rather than leads, so this is a good sign of a cultural shift:

…sex worker character[s] in…movie[s] or TV show[s]…are [typically] nameless, background-less, and function as nothing more than victims to be killed in a violent manner…but…a handful of [recent]…shows have represented sex work as ordinary work, and sex workers as complex characters, not singularly defined by the way they make money…What’s more, sex workers are becoming some of the most beloved characters — no longer the victims, but the heroes of their own stories.  In recent releases like the second season of The White Lotus, and movies like The Menu, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande and Pleasure, sex workers are…among the most likeable (or, in the case of The White Lotus and The Menu arguably the only likeable) characters …and their choices are front and centre in the narratives…

Creepy Coppers

The people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

…a [typical and representative Michigan cop named]…Todd Barraco…was arrested on Wednesday for possession of…over 230,000 images and over 9,000 videos…of boys between the ages of 3 and 12 being sexually abused by adults…Barraco was initially arrested on March 17, 2022…when he went to a house…with the intent of having sexual relations with a[nother cop fantasy role-playing as a] minor…

Lack of Evidence (#1249) 

Useful idiots can always be counted on to eagerly lick up whatever toxic sludge cops vomit all over their upturned faces as they kneel in obeisance before the police state.  Here’s an example; it’s mostly just the usual wildly-exaggerated demonization of streetwalkers which yellow journalists parrot every time a stroll shifts due to police harassment.  But in this case, cops fed the ninnies the lie that the problem is due to the fact that they can no longer point their filthy fingers at any woman they want and oink out the word “prostitute” in order to justify assault, rape, and abduction (revoltingly euphemized as “rescuing women they believe to be human trafficked”).  Even by the abysmally-low standards of local news copaganda, this one is repellent in the extreme.

Torture Chamber (#1291)

Rather than solving this problem by convicting fewer people and giving screws less power over them, politicians say the solution is MOAR PRISON:

Wash[ington politicians are considering]…legislation that would lead to more prison time for [screw]s who sexually abuse [people locked in cages by the state and put completely under the power of those screws]…the bill…[is a response to the case of typical and representative] Forks jail guard John Gray…who…served [only] 13 months of his 20-month sentence…[after] Kimberly Bender…died by suicide in [the] Forks [cage stack] in 2019 after [her] report…to [bureaucrats] that Gray sexually [abu]sed her [was completely ignored until she was dead]…

Winding Down (#1302)

Destigmatization of psychedelics is happening much more quickly than I would’ve expected:

Australia…announced that…MDMA and psilocybin…will soon be used in the treatment of depression and post-traumatic stress.  Psychiatrists will be able to prescribe the two substances from July…[due to] “sufficient evidence for potential benefits in certain patients”.  The two drugs are…“relatively safe”…and provide…an “altered state of consciousness” that could help patients…

No Escape

The government is beginning to grudgingly admit what everyone already knew:

…the…Bureau of Justice Statistics…released detailed data…on more than 2,500 substantiated incidents of sexual assault in U.S. prisons and jails between 2016 and 2018.  The data starkly show how federal, state, and local officials have ignored their constitutional duty to protect incarcerated people from sexual assault, despite federal laws [pre]tended to create zero-tolerance policies for prison rape…the report found that perpetrators of staff sexual misconduct were…convicted, sentenced, fined, or pleaded guilty in [a mere] 20 percent of incidents in jails, and only a minuscule 6 percent…in prisons.  And less than half of those staff lost their jobs…The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003 was supposed to create zero-tolerance policies for sexual abuse in U.S. prisons.  However, PREA is largely toothless and, in many prisons, it’s a bad joke…

To Molest and Rape (#1310)

This time, they’re trying to pretend he isn’t typical and representative by stating his continuous molestation of at least one kid started before he became a cop:

An El Paso [cop] was arrested [for]…aggravated sexual assault of child over a period of at least three years…Eric Bernardino Ramirez…[started] the repeated…molestation…[in 2014] before Ramirez joined the El Paso Police Department six years ago…

 

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 (#1302)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 8, 2023| 2 Comments »

We need to…finally pursue drug policies that help people instead of incarcerating them.  –  Scott Wiener

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

It’s deeply satisfying to see cops preying upon each other:

…Charlotte [North Carolina cops arrested]…a state trooper [named]…Jeffrey Scott Salyer f[or]…misdemeanor…charges [of hiring a sex worker] and one felony count of [getting a blow job]…on Dec. 23…Salyer resigned that same day…

Follow the Leader

Note that as a cop and screw, Conklin was legally allowed to treat strangers and their kids in exactly this same way:

…a [typical and representative] Arizona [screw and his wife violently]…abus[ed] their 10 children…Kelly [and Melissa] Conklin [were found out] after two of their boys ran away by jumping out of their bedroom window…[and spoke] with…other [cops]…In one instance…the…father…grabbed [a] child…[in a chokehold, then] slammed him to the ground…[and locked] him in handcuffs…he …had [previously] slammed [the same boy’s] face into the gravel, punched him, banged his head, then choked him to the point that he blacked out…The boy also said that he had been beaten…by his father using handcuffs…the [boys’] room locks from the outside, [so] they must use a doorbell to ask to leave the room…they sleep on the floor, because there is no bed for them.  In another instance, [Conklin pulled a knife on] one of the girls…and held her to the wall…after one child [was left with] a black eye [from the abuse]…Conklin…pulled a gun and threatened the other kids…telling them they needed to lie to DCS about [it]…

A Moral Cancer (#1157)

As I’ve been telling you since 2012:

[Shoddy] studies have been linking red meat consumption to health problems like heart disease, stroke, and cancer for years.  But…nearly all the research is observational, unable to tease out causation convincingly.  Most are plagued by confounding variables…[and] are based on self-reported consumption…lastly, the reported effect sizes in these scientific papers are often [too] small…[to be] really worth worrying about…In a new, unprecedented effort, scientists at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) scrutinized decades of research on red meat…formulating a new rating system to communicate health risks in the process…“We found weak evidence of association between unprocessed red meat consumption and colorectal cancer, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and ischemic heart disease.  Moreover, we found no evidence of an association between unprocessed red meat and ischemic stroke or hemorrhagic stroke,” they summarized…

To Molest and Rape (#1181)

An earlier report identified only 245, until somebody dug deeper:

More than 400 Scottish [cops] have been reported to their bosses [due to] serious misconduct…sexual assault[, or rape]…Police Scotland commissioned an internal review following the rape, kidnap and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard in March 2021, by [London cop] Wayne Couzens.  The report showed that Police Scotland had recorded 410 [complaints] over four years…around 118 of the 410 were “assessed [by bureaucrats] as criminal” with the remaining 292 classed as “non-criminal”, which saw 44 [cops] resign or retire “during proceedings” [to escape the consequences of their actions]…

If Men Were Angels (#1251)

“Youth pastors” of a feather flock together:

…David Shagena was a youth leader at The River Church [in Port Huron, Michigan] when [he molested at least four] minors…Shagena’s name was brought up while [cops] were investigating another [typical and representative] youth pastor, William Stefan Wahl…

Torture Chamber (Rapist Roundup)

Your “leaders” refer to rape as “correction”:

A guard at a California…prison [for women] is under investigation after the state [finally decided to listen to] more than 22 [women who reported that]…Gregory Rodriguez [had raped them]…

Winding Down (#1289)

When will the federal government finally read the writing on the wall?

Colorado voters last month approved a groundbreaking ballot initiative that decriminalized five psychedelics derived from fungi or plants: psilocybin, psilocyn (another psychoactive component of “magic mushrooms”), dimethyltryptamine (DMT, the active ingredient in ayahuasca), ibogaine (a psychedelic derived from the root bark of the iboga tree), and mescaline (the active ingredient in peyote).  This month a California legislator introduced a bill, S.B. 58, that emulates Colorado’s new policy, aiming to legalize the possession, preparation, noncommercial transfer, and transportation of those five drugs by adults 21 or older…polling indicates that California voters are receptive to the idea, which builds on a series of reforms in other jurisdictions that suggest psychedelic prohibition could collapse faster than marijuana prohibition did, thanks largely to recent research on the potential benefits of these drugs…

 

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