Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Wyoming’

In the News (#1581)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[“]AI[“]…is beginning to resemble one of the great speculative manias of market history.  –  Karim Moussalem

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A North Carolina…[politician nam]ed Cecil Brockman…was arrested on [October 8th for child molestation and]…statutory rape…[before his court appearance the next day,] Brockman suffered [a panic attack and]…was taken to a local hospital…his…party is calling for Brockman to resign…[so] the[y can]…pick a replacement..[but] if Brockman doesn’t resign, the[y will probably]…impeach…[him]…

Buried Truth

Yet another example of McNeill’s Law:

A [politician] leading a campaign to ban pornography in Michigan appears to have had an account on a pornographic hook-up website that promised users they could “find sex” and “get laid tonight”…Josh Schriver…has called porn a “scourge” and compared it to heroin…but…an account linked to his personal AOL email address appeared in a data breach from Fling.com…[where his] profile indicat[es] sexual interests including “fetish” and “groupsex”…

A Moral Cancer (#1515)

Prohibitionists never tire of treating adults like children:

In 2015, Oregon [politicians impos]ed a law that prohibited the sale of vaping products “packaged in a manner that is attractive to minors”…The resulting regulations offer a “non-exclusive list” of packaging features that the OHA deemed “likely to appeal to minors,” including images of “food or beverages…such as candy, desserts, soda, [and] food or beverages with sweet flavors including fruit or alcohol.” Also forbidden: “terms or descriptive words for flavors that are likely to appeal to minors such as tart, tangy, sweet, cool, fire, ice, lit, spiked, poppin’, juicy, candy, desserts, soda, [and] sweet flavors including fruit, or alcohol flavors.”  The premise of these rules is that such flavors [never] appeal to…adult smokers looking for a less hazardous form of nicotine consumption…[but] adults who switch from smoking to vaping overwhelmingly prefer the flavors that the OHA views as juvenile…The…regulations require vape shops to actively conceal information that their customers want…[by censoring] labels…[which] means customers must ask employees for information that ordinarily would be on the label…a state appeals court [has] rul[ed] that the law…is “unconstitutional on its face”…

Shame, Shame (#1525)

Zuckerberg’s sleaziness has no bottom:

Strike 3 Holdings, a company that…makes [adult videos it describes as] “high quality,” “feminist,” and “ethical”…is suing [Facebook]…for…infringing its copyright-protected content [by] using it to train [machine learning systems]…since 2018…[Facebook’s] motive was partly to obtain otherwise difficult-to-scrape visual angles, parts of the human body, and extended, uninterrupted scenes—rare in mainstream movies and TV—to help it create what Mark Zuckerberg [absurdly] calls [artificial] “superintelligence”…[Facebook] used the BitTorrent protocol to download and distribute [2,396 of Strike 3’s copyright-protected porn videos], which is illegal…[and] made [the] videos accessible to minors…since BitTorrent does not have age verification…

Thought Control (#1546)

The only way to stop these maniacs is to hit them where it hurts most:

A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an [attempt to censor] books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes…will be paid $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.  Terri Lesley was fired…[by] Campbell County in 2023, two years into the [censorship crusade]…P[oliticians collud]ed with the [wannabe censors] and violated Lesley’s First Amendment rights…[but the] board…[l]ied…claim[ing she was fired for incompetence]…Lesley’s attorney, Iris Halpern…and her firm, Rathod Mohamedbhai in Denver, have supported fired library employees elsewhere in recent years.  Under the settlement agreement, Lesley is dropping her lawsuit, though a separate lawsuit she has filed against [the] three [wannabe censors]…will continue…

The Cop Myth (#1570)

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

A [typical and representative Tennessee cop] has been indicted…on federal charges [for violently attack]ing his estranged girlfriend…Alan James Greenman…was initially arrested Aug. 21…[the day after he barged into] her apartment complex at 6:25 a.m. [while wearing his magical clown costume]…he…accused her of cheating on him and demanded to see her cellphone.  She told [him] to leave and [he responded by destroying her]…television…and…cellphone…he…[then threw] her…onto the bed…[and] punched her in the head multiple times…she tried to leave [but] Greenman [threatened] her…[with his] gun…[saying] “I’m going to fucking kill you”…he [then went on a rampage, destroying] her belongings…[until she managed to escape with] her [toddler] son…[the Clarksville cop shop] has sensors on their duty holsters that activate their p[igmobile’s] in-car camera when the weapon is drawn…the camera…captured…her [escape] and [his subsequent confession]…to…an unknown male…when [cops later] searched the [victim’s] apartment, they found Greenman hiding under clothing in [her] bedroom closet with his personally owned pistol[, apparently planning to ambush and murder her when she returned]…

Mad Libs (#1571)

These algorithms are not only unintelligent; they are making those who believe in them stupid as well:

The Bank of England [is]…warning of an intensifying risk of a “sudden correction” in global financial markets driven by the spending frenzy on [machine learning]…it’s the…clearest warning yet that we could be on the precipice of an [economic] disaster…the…[“]AI[“] bubble…[is] 17 times the size of the dotcom-era bubble and four times bigger than the 2008 financial crisis…only a measly five percent of [machine learning] pilot programs…succeed…with the vast majority falling flat.  Yet [the mania]…now accounts for roughly 40 percent of the United States’ gross domestic product…[so when] the…spending boom falls apart, it could take down the entire economy with it…

 

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 (#1573)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We have a child problem and it’s probably time to talk about it.  –  unnamed Facebook employee, April 2017

See No Evil (#1505)

The Japanese are the only people left on Earth who can tell fantasy from reality:

One of the hundreds of laws adopted by Texas recently [invent]s a…felony…[for merely looking at any nude picture of a fictional character] that appears to [any Texas politician to] be…younger than 18 years of age…[within the fictional universe inhabited by the characters, despite all Japanese animation characters looking like that.  Politicians justified the prohibitionist onset by barfing out the marketing term “]artificial intelligence[“, yet clearly states that the law applies to]…“a cartoon or animation[“.  Comics book store owners]…have…already pulled some volumes of…popular Japanese comic[s]…due to concerns [of being targeted by violent censors]…

Shame, Shame (#1535)

Zuckerberg is completely out of his mind:

…[Facebook has repeatedly claimed that] child safety [is] a top priority across its platforms.  But…researcher[s working for the company]…said…[it routinely] suppressed research that might have illuminated potential safety risks to children and teens on the company’s virtual reality devices and apps…[on orders from] its legal team…[which] seek[s] to “establish plausible deniability” about negative effects of the company’s products…[even though] children younger than 13 [routinely] bypass…age restrictions to use the company’s virtual reality services…In Zuckerberg’s [deranged] vision, people will maneuver in and out of virtual and physical spaces for work, entertainment and socializing…But earnings reports show that Reality Labs, the company’s virtual reality division, has lost more than $60 billion over the past five years…In 2021, a…child sex offender in Michigan…was sentenced to 35 years in prison [for trying to lure children via the so-called “Metaverse”, and] in 2022, a…man [molested] a 13-year-old girl [after abducting her]…in Utah after they, too, met and interacted…the [same way]…

Eavesdropping (#1537)

As if rude assholes talking loudly on cell phones wasn’t bad enough:

[A chatbot in a] pendant is now…[available] for $129…[“Friend”] connects…through [an] iPhone…to a chatbot in [someone else’s computer] that’s powered by Google’s Gemini…You can tap on the disc to ask [the chatbot] questions…and it responds…by sending…text messages through the companion app…It also listens to whatever you’re doing…and offers a running commentary on the interactions [with non-consenting strangers] you have…[via] microphones that are always activated…wearing the [“]Friend[“] will likely earn you the ire of everyone around you…[especially because it] is the creation of Avi Schiffmann…a creepy…man in his early twenties…[who] can be brash, snarky, and vocally unconcerned about critical feedback, and…that attitude has carried over to the device he has infused with his essence…[which] comes off as opinionated, judgy, and downright condescending…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1553)

“Criminality” is a status defined entirely by the State:

…ICE…recently spent nearly four million dollars on facial recognition technology…to [find] people it [pretend]s have assaulted [its goons]…Clearview has…repeatedly contracted with ICE…but those purchases did not explicitly say the technology would be used to identify people the agency [wished to target with spurious claims of “]assaulting officers[“]…

Creepy Coppers (#1554)

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A[n Alabama screw] is under arrest for sending [dick pics] and [porn] videos to [underage girls] through Snapchat…Christopher Thomason…sent…more than 100 [dick pics] of him [wearing his magical clown costume] to at least three underage [girls, one]…of [whom was]…12…He [also] tried to meet up with a girl at a high school football game…his boss h[og used the opportunity to strut around bloviating self-aggrandizing copaganda]…

Walled Garden

This “monkey see, monkey do” parade is now parading around the world:

Aussies [who don’t use VPNs] will soon be required to [ask Nanny permission to access any part of the internet any politician chooses to point at while barfing “]pornography[“, “]violence[“]…[“]inappropriate[“, or whatever other magic words they choose to add later]…Companies [can be targeted by politicians for looting using] the new laws [as an excuse]…Similar rules will be imposed on apps…includ[ing]…chatbots…[the] government…last year [declared that it didn’t give a shit]…about breaches of privacy…

Walled Garden (#1565)

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

After blocking its service in Mississippi over its new [beg-for-permission-to-use-the-internet] law, [Bluesky] is taking a different approach to comply with [surveillance] laws in South Dakota and Wyoming…users [without VPNs] in South Dakota and Wyoming can [submit to surveillance]…through…Kids Web Services’ (KWS)…the same [data-selling company it uses] to comply with the U.K.’s [misnamed] Online Safety Act…[which in actuality puts] users at increased risk of identity theft…

 

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 (#1565)

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

If [every single]…book…[in] public school libraries constitutes government speech, the State is babbling prodigiously and incoherently.  –  Frederick Sperling

If Men Were Angels

Another “youth pastor”, another distancing “former”:

A Jersey City pastor [named]…Robert Anthony…Langston…[repeatedly molested at least] two [boys under 15 while he was “youth pastor”] of Landmark Tabernacle in Denver…in [the late ’90s.  One of the]…victims…had an abusive situation at home…[and] was groomed…to…accompan[y] Langston and his wife as they evangelized across the U.S. and eventually settled in Jersey City…[where] he…continued to be “groped and assaulted” by the pastor after [2003]…he…was “very scared” to report the abuse because “the church is very anti-homosexuality.”  The second victim…[said] Langston…“appeared to prefer boys in the church who had absent fathers or were raised by their grandparents”…

To Molest and Rape

Some rapist cops are indiscriminate in their habits:

A [California cop named]…Juan Pensina…[has been] arrest[ed on numerous charges of forcible vaginal, anal, and oral rape, but also rewarded with a paid vacation]…Pensina [raped some of] the…victims while [wearing his magical clown costume] and…[some not, both in his pigmobile and] in…[other places]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1537)

What kind of warped mind thinks this is OK?

A Minnesota teen [has] filed a charge of discrimination against a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant…after…a server followed her into the women’s restroom and demanded she “prove” she was a girl.  Gerika Mudra…[was harassed by the] server[, who]…banged on the stall door while saying, “This is a women’s restroom. The man needs to get out of here”…Mudra, a biracial lesbian who is not transgender, said she’s been in similar situations before…but…[this] woman [would not] leave her alone…[until] she unzipped her hoodie to show she has breasts.  The server didn’t say anything in response but left the restroom…

Thought Control (#1548)

Florida censors lose every challenge, but it doesn’t stop them:

A federal judge…struck down [most] of a Florida law that’s been used to remove [thousan]ds of books from public school libraries since it was enacted in 2023…Judge Carlos Mendoza…struck down…[provisions] that made it easier to challenge books if they included any sexual content…[so] the…[standard] reverts back to…the Miller Test…The 2023 law…[had exposed] educators…to…criminal penalties and los[s of] their teaching certificates if [any censorious Froot Loop chose to point at any book while barfing the word “]inappropriate[“]…As a result, Florida led the country in school book bans last year with 4,561 instances…State officials [horrifyingly] argued…that Florida was entitled to regulate books in public school libraries [because] such actions amounted to…“government speech”…

Mad Libs (#1550)

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

…doctors [who rely on chatbots can lose] skills after just a few months…a new study..[showed machine learning programs could] help…health professionals…detect pre-cancerous growths in the colon, but when the assistance was removed, their ability to find tumors dropped by about 20% compared with rates before the tool was ever introduced…[bureaucrats] around the world are…[trying to cram so-called “]AI[” in]to [healthcare systems] with a view to boosting…pro[fitabil]ity…[but] doctors [quickly] become over-reliant on its recommendations, “leading to clinicians becoming less motivated, less focused, and less responsible when making cognitive decisions without [computer interfere]nce,” the…paper [said]…Yuichi Mori…one of the scientists involved, predicted that the effects of de-skilling will “probably be higher” as [machine learning systems are crammed into more areas of expertise]…

Walled Garden

The open internet is becoming a thing of the past:

…age verification laws went into effect in Wyoming and South Dakota, requiring sites [any politician points at while barfing the formula] “material that is harmful to minors” to verify visitors are over 18 years old.  Th[is is not] just…two more states joining the nearly 30 that have [embraced]…invasive, ineffective methods of keeping kids away from porn online…[because] unlike the laws passed in other states, they don’t state that this applies only to sites with “33.3 percent” or one-third “harmful” material…which…opens a huge swath of sites to the [surveillance] burden…The same [pro-censorship gangs] that have lobbied for age verification laws…have also spent years targeting social media platforms…and…streaming services like Netflix, for hosting adult content…age-gating the entire internet only pushes adult consumers and [adolescents] alike into less-regulated…spaces and situations, while everyone just uses VPNs to get around gates…

The Cop Myth (#1562)

It’s too bad they don’t inflict all of their violence on each other:

Carlos Baker, the Chicago [cop] who [murdered] his partner Krystal Rivera…[has now] attacked a[nother] female [cop]…The [victim reported]…that Baker and another woman beat her [on August 10th] at [a] bar…[because she wouldn’t] delete [certain] videos taken on her cellphone…[she] escaped, with the help of others, and had a friend take her to [the] hospital…It’s not clear what’s on the videos…Officials…have referred to the shooting [of Rivera] as an accident, but [her] family has called for an outside investigation …[because] Rivera had been a key witness to the theft of a…gun…and [Baker may have wanted to silence her.  His]…career as a cop has been [characteriz]ed by disciplinary problems from the start, including a complaint…[due to his stalking] another…woman at a bar…[and threatening] her…[with] a gun…and…more than a dozen [other reports] of misconduct since joining the [pig herd] in December 2021…

 

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 »

Links #775

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Has anyone seen the moon lately?  I’ve been looking for 7 days.  –  Kambree Nelson

I’ve featured several other unusual covers of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” over the years, but here’s another one provided by Steve Roonie.  The links above the video are from Franklin Harris, Jesse Walker, IncarcerNation (x3), Radley Balko, and Franklin Harris again, in that order.

From the Archives

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

Read Full Post »

Links #769

Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

You wake up one day and discover you’re dead.  –  Ned Johnson

Windsor McCay, the cartoonist who created the classic comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, was also an early animator; I recently found this century-old example of his work.  The links above the video were provided by Mike Masnick, Jesse Walker, T. Greg Doucette, Scott Long, Ryan Marino, and Walter Olson, in that order.

From the Archives

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

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1510)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Women are not children [who]…need people making decisions for us.  –  Julie Burkhart

I Spy (#990)

The only way to keep data from being misused by state enforcers is not to collect it in the first place:

California [cops] improperly accessed a state database of private information more than 7,000 times in 2023…the EFF discovered…that…[cop shops] reported 7,275 misuses of the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, or CLETS, to the state Department of Justice in 2023.  The vast majority of those offenses were committed by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department…which was responsible for 6,789 of the violations…Because of the amount of sensitive information on CLETS, there are rules about when and why [cops] can use it, as well as requiring mandatory reporting of abuses…[which] include cops using it to look up information on romantic interests or retaliate against rivals…[an unknown but presumably much larger number of abuses were never caught and therefore went unreported]…

A Moral Cancer (#1388)

Trump is the proverbial stopped clock:

…Trump’s…[FDA has] withdraw[n] the…proposal to ban menthol tobacco and nicotine products nationwide…[introduced] in 2022 [by] the Biden…FDA…the administration quickly backed off its public endorsement of the prohibition after realizing how unpopular the proposed bans were with voters.  It never took the steps needed to withdraw the proposed rules, however…The…administration said it was targeting…black adults [in particular for this new campaign of violence]…

A Moral Cancer (#1395)

Will progressives ever stop cheering police violence in the name of “public health”?

Newton [Massachusetts politicians] voted to approve an ordinance…that [criminalize]s the sale of tobacco or e-cigarette products to anyone born on, or after, March 1, 2004…joining the busybody politicians of] Brookline, Needham and 10 other Massachusetts communities with similar so-called “generational bans” on tobacco…the state’s high court backed the town’s right to [inflict police violence on people who break the arbitrary] rule last March…David Micley voted against the measure[, saying]…“there’s a cost to taking…away people’s individual choices”…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1409)

The censorious lunatic who tried to criminalize “sexting” last year is at it again:

An Oklahoma [politician is once again trying to]…ban pornography in the entire state…Dusty Deevers [attempted to justify his totalitarian violence by spinning his head wildly around while vomiting idiocies and buzzwords including]…“moral sanity”…“degenerate”…”highly addictive drug”…“innocence”…”plague”…[and] “locked away for decades” [at reporters]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1459)

In a just court system, facial recognition “evidence” would be as inadmissible as polygraph results:

An Ohio judge threw out key evidence in a murder case…because the prosecution improperly relied on facial recognition technology…Blake Story was shot in Cleveland last February, and police used surveillance footage taken six days later to [hang] the killing [on] Qeyeon Tolbert…[by running] the video…[through] a regional fusion center[‘s subscription to] Clearview…[no human identified] Tolbert without…Clearview…[and the cops hid the fact that they used it] in the search warrant affidavit which ultimately allowed them to enter Tolbert’s apartment…[without] probable cause…Clearview includes a disclaimer in its reports warning [cops] that its findings are not “intended or permitted” to be used as admissible evidence…The Cleveland case is [good] news for [victims of] prosecutors around the country [because] police are increasingly using facial recognition…to arrest [people]…without any a[ctu]al evidence…

Torture Chamber (ROTW #13)

The government calls this “justice”; for journalists to parrot that is a choice:

…a…350 pound…[mutant screw named Tyler Grant Lynn was given free reign to terrorize legally-innocent]…teen-aged boys…[by] twist[ing their]…arms over their heads [until they broke].  The snap of one boy’s fracturing left humerus…could be heard by the…microphone on a security camera mounted 40 feet away.  An administrator at the [Kentucky jail] who saw the boy’s arm hanging awkwardly later [yelled “stop faking!” at him]…despite [a politician’s] promises…and…a federal civil rights investigation, [subhuman thugs] continue…to [brutalize young people]…The boys were given ibuprofen…after [reporting] their broken arms…[to] a nurse…[who refused] to examine the[m and instead just yelled “stop faking!” at them]…The boys were [finally] taken to a Paducah hospital three days later…The second boy needed surgery to put metal plates in his arm to repair the damage…

The Vultures Descend (#1493)

Because abortion is protected by the Wyoming constitution, forced-birth fanatics keep framing their attempts as “keeping women safe”:

Two bills that would [make abortion more difficult and odious have] passed [a Wyoming committee]…One would…use the [“admitting privileges” scam to] clos[e] Wyoming’s only [abortion] clinic…the other [uses bogus “environmental” concerns to humiliate women using abortion drugs by forcing them]…to [bleed into a bag marked “BIOHAZARD”]…and return the tissue to their physician for disposal…Wellspring [Health Access] founder Julie Burkhart said…it was “within the realm of possibility” that attorneys representing Wellspring would file a lawsuit against HB 42 if it passes the Senate and is signed by the governor…and…the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not find any evidence that mifepristone was significantly contaminating waterways more than any other pharmaceutical drug…

 

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 »

Rapists of the Week #17

Posted in Current Events, Rapists of the Week, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

License to Rape

Police states define the bodies of all citizens as “crime scenes” which can be violated by “authorities” at will:

A suburban New York [cop shop sexually] violated residents…[routinely] making illegal arrests [in order to commit sexual assaults it called] strip and cavity searches…a new…[DoJ] report on…[the] misconduct…in Mount Vernon, just north of New York City, is one of 12 investigations opened by the DOJ into local policing agencies since 2021…No single [sexual assault] prompted the investigation…but the [sexual violation] of two [elderly] women…[was a typical and representative example, excused by rapist cops barfing the word “]drugs[” at]…the women…After an internal investigation found that the [rapist cops] had lied [to justify the assault, they were not charged for their crime but instead merely]…docked a few vacation days…Until at least the fall of 2022, it was the Mount Vernon [rape gang]’s practice to [molest and violate] every person it arrested…[sometimes] also s[exually assaulting] people they did not [even bother to falsely accuse of crimes]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #11)

Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?

The NYPD’s [biggest costumed pig has] abruptly resigned…after…[it was dis]covered…that he demanded sexual favors from a subordinate in exchange for massive amounts of overtime…Jeffrey Maddrey[, a close friend of rapist Mayor Eric Adams,] stepped down soon after…Quathisha Epps…[reported] that he routinely preyed upon her…in a [deal for her scamming]…roughly $204,000 in overtime…last year…Epps…worked for Maddrey as he moved up in the NYPD from Chief of Housing to Chief of Patrol, but…his sexual demands didn’t start until June 2023 when he landed as Chief of Department…When she started to try to get away from Maddrey recently, Epps was outed on a list…in retaliation…and is being investigated over the excessive overtime…Maddrey [previously preyed upon another sow named]…Tabitha Foster [who] filed an unsuccessful 2016 civil suit…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (#1476)

It’s too bad cops don’t spend all of their time fantasy role-playing with each other:

A [California screw named]…Anthony Michael Russo…died by suicide at his home…[after he propositioned and sent porn to another cop fantasy role-playing]…as a 15-year-old [on the internet.  His boss then made a big show of crocodile tears over the predictable result of his entrapment scheme]…

To Molest and Rape (#1479)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A [typical and representative]…Wyoming [cop] is facing two felony sex charges [for] sexually abus[ing] multiple children [as young as 6].  Myron Chatwin could face up to 40 years in prison and $20,000 in fines if convicted…

And yes, that includes their bosses:

The people of Maypearl [Texas] trusted Police Chief Kevin Coffey.  Few were aware that Maypearl was the eighth [cop shop] that Coffey had worked at in 11 years.  Fewer knew that there was a trail of accusations and secrets in his past.  And none could have predicted the destruction he would wreak in their town.  The kids would eventually call him The Creeper.  The adults would denounce him as a monster.  The prosecutors who put him away for child sexual abuse would describe him as a master manipulator “who groomed the community”…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #15)

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

A [typical and representative] Scranton [Pennsylvania cop named]…Stephen Carroll sexually assaulted multiple students while he was [paid to lurk in schools in order to spy on, harass, and intimidate students]…four of [his victims] were underage…[and] Carroll…drugg[ed] some of the[m in order to rape them more easily]…

No Escape (#1498)

Much, much more of this, please:

The US Bureau of Prisons (BoP) has agreed to pay $115m to more than 100 [victims] of [serial rape by screws and other staff]…at FCI Dublin…[AKA] the “rape club”…Victims who came forward to report the abuse have been fighting for years for protections and accountability.  Seven former Dublin employees, including the warden…and…chaplain, have been criminally convicted of sexual crimes, and more than 20 other employees were [rewarded with paid vacations]…The settlement appears to be the largest single payout in BoP history…and…includes a proposed consent decree…[which] covers nearly 500 class members who are…now [cag]ed in other prisons.  The consent decree stipulates that the the bureau will be subject to continued outside monitoring and will…limit the use of solitary confinement…and release eligible plaintiffs to home confinement and community programs “as soon as practicable”.  Survivors of the Dublin [atrocities] shipped to other prisons [like cattle] have reported continued…retaliation and…[denial of] access [to] trauma recovery services…some of the victims were targeted because they were not US citizens and…face ongoing deportation risks…

 

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 (#1497)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

We can’t eradicate the human sex drive.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Worse Than I Thought (#335)

Just because the moral panic is moribund, doesn’t mean politicians aren’t going to keep using sex as an excuse to destroy lives:

North Carolina has made it a felony crime to patronize a sex worker…a crime that comes with a presumptive minimum sentence of four months in prison, up to two years…in recent years, we’ve seen a disturbing trend of states starting to classify attempts to pay for sexual activity as a felony…mirror[ing] the misguided and detrimental path [of]…the war on drugs.  Three states now make it a felony crime to pay for sex or attempt to pay for sex…In 2021, Texas became the first…then…last May, Oklahoma [followed]…Morality in Media…is a major driver of these laws and, more generally, the idea that we can “end demand” for prostitution…sold…by [conflating female agency with]…sex trafficking…

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor” + teacher = “youth pastor”:

A [Texas] pastor and teacher in Grapevine is under arrest for possession of child pornography…Arturo Alarcon…[plant]ed hidden cameras in a church-owned mobile home used to host visiting families. [After these were discovered by visiting missionaries staying there], detectives found an image of child pornography on Alarcon’s cell phone…one of the cameras was designed to look like a clock.  Another…was like a bug zapper…Alarcon [has, unsurprisingly, long been buddy-buddy with] Grapevine Police…

Welcome to the Future (#1159)

Of course they had to be forced to end this ugly, evil scam:

The Pasco County [Florida] Sheriff’s Office is permanently scuttling a [“]predictive policing[” sc]am that was the subject of…a pending civil rights lawsuit…[due to its unceasing,] unconstitutional harassment of families.  In a settlement agreement ending that…lawsuit, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office [was forced to admit] that it…[had intentionally violated] the plaintiffs’ First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights…In addition to ending the…[scheme] and agreeing not to create a similar one, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office will pay [a mere] $105,000 to the four plaintiffs…

A Moral Cancer (#1322)

Prohibitionists always claim surprise when the predicted effects of one of their bans appear:

If you want to create a black market in a perfectly legal product, just make regulations and taxes so onerous that many people prefer to buy from illegal vendors…that’s certainly the case with cigarettes… “New York has the highest inbound smuggling activity, with an estimated 54.3 percent of cigarettes consumed in the state deriving from smuggled sources in 2022,” note [Adam] Hoffer and [Jacob] Macumber-Rosin [in the latest edition of the Mackinac Center’s regularly compiled research on the topic]. “New York is followed by California (46.7 percent), New Mexico (41.2 percent), Massachusetts (39.7 percent), and Washington (36.8 percent)”…because their tax rates drive people to purchase their smokes from illicit dealers, high-tax states suffered a revenue hit in 2022 of more than $5 billion.  Since 2007, they’ve lost out on more than $79 billion….[and] with flavored tobacco banned in places like California and Massachusetts, those products are available in those states only on the black market…New Hampshire taxes cigarettes at the rate of $1.78 per pack, which is relatively low. As a result, find the Mackinac Center and the Tax Foundation, 31.43 percent of cigarette sales are for smuggling elsewhere.  That puts it in third place after Wyoming, where 49.2 percent of cigarette sales are smuggled out of state, and Delaware, where 34.4 percent of sales are resold in higher-tax jurisdictions…

Feudalism Redux (#1390)

If you need a law like this to control your teen offspring, you’ve already lost them:

[The Ninth Circuit] has ruled that Idaho can [attempt to] enforce its abortion travel ban, which [criminalizes adults who assist] minors [who] travel…out of state for abortions without parental consent.  The decision…reversed a 2023 decision that had blocked the law on First Amendment grounds.  The law [is intended to allow a parent or guardian to force a minor to carry an unwanted or even dangerous pregnancy to term by terrorizing anyone who might help a girl to exercise her right to bodily autonomy.  Its]…sweeping language…could [even] apply to a grandmother driving a pregnant minor to the post office to pick up a package containing abortion medication, for example…

You Were Warned (#1437)

Increasingly-unhinged federal courts uphold a blatantly-unconstitutional law:

A panel of three federal…judges ruled unanimously…to uphold a law that could [unconstitution]ally ban TikTok in the United States…[unless its] Chinese owner, ByteDance…sell[s] it to a…[politically-connected] American owner by Jan. 19, 2025…the…decision sets the table for TikTok to take its case to the Supreme Court…During his campaign, [dancing orange-utang] Donald Trump…[claimed] he would “save TikTok”…though opinions among his [gang of unhinged cronies]…are mixed on whether…to [include this particular]…unconstitutional [action among]…the…flawed and dangerous precedent[s they already support to]…give…the government far too much power [over] Americans’ speech online…

Mad Libs

The reason so-called “AI” spouts out gibberish is that it is incapable of telling truth from falsehood:

Following Hunter Biden’s pardon by his father…Ana Navarro-Cardenas, a commentator who appears on The View and CNN…cited a pardon granted by President Woodrow Wilson of his brother-in-law Hunter deButts…and…an Esquire article called “A President Shouldn’t Pardon His Son? Hello, Anybody Remember Neil Bush?” was based on the premise that George H.W. Bush pardoned his son Neil; it has since been retracted “due to an error.”  The day before its publication, Occupy Democrats’ executive editor Grant Stern tweeted a similar claim that Jimmy Carter pardoned his brother Billy…As far as I can tell, n[one of these] actually occurred.  Where was all this coming from? Well, I don’t know what Stern or Esquire’s source was. But I know Navarro-Cardenas’, because she had a follow-up message for critics: “Take it up with Chat GPT”…

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 (#1493)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The unregulated data broker industry poses a clear threat to national security.  –  Ron Wyden

Elephant in the Parlor (#1139)

People keep pretending “politician hires whores” is something more than a yawn.  I can’t even bring myself to quote any of this pearl-clutching nonsense, which basically consists of restating “Matt Gaetz hired escorts” over and over and over again in hopes of eventually convincing the reader that this is not only bad, but somehow unusual.  That Gaetz’s downfall is due to honest and extremely mundane business transactions rather than the evil he openly espouses is a sign of just how sick American culture has become.  And any reporter who un-ironically uses the phrase “drug-fueled sex parties” can safely be dismissed as a pathetic, puritanical pearl-clutcher.

The Vultures Descend (#1324)

Another judge doing what judges should do more often: nullify tyrannical laws:

A state judge…struck down Wyoming’s overall ban on abortion and its first-in-the-nation explicit prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy in line with voters in yet more states voicing support for abortion rights…Judges [also] struck down bans in Georgia and North Dakota in September…In the Wyoming case, the women and nonprofits who challenged the laws argued that the bans…violated a 2012 state constitutional amendment saying competent Wyoming residents have a right to make their own health care decisions…

Whither Canada? (#1377)

Another attempt to overturn laws that were already known to be unconstitutional when enacted:

Kloubakov v. Canada…was brought by two men—Mikhail Kloubakov and Hicham Moustaine—who were employed as drivers for…sex [workers].  Both men were found guilty…[under] Canada[‘s version]…of…the Nordic Model…[which under] Bedford…is…unconstitutional….the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform (CASWLR)…sued to overturn the new laws…[but] the Ontario Superior Court tossed the…case [last year, and]…their appeal is still pending…Kloubakov only focuses on the two offenses that Kloubakov and Moustaine were charged with—benefiting materially from prostitution and procuring persons for sexual services—and not on the whole package of antiprostitution laws…”We hope that the Supreme Court will strike down these two provisions and that we will get the chance to argue before the Supreme Court that the other provisions are also unconstitutional,” said Jenn Clamen, of the CASWLR…The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association is one of the groups that intervened on the side of the plaintiffs, meaning it, too, wants to see the regulations struck down…

Shame, Shame (#1398)

Well, that didn’t take long:

Instagram is flooded with hundreds of [computer]-generated influencers who are stealing videos from real models and adult content creators, giving them [computer]-generated faces, and monetizing their bodies with links to dating sites, Patreon, OnlyFans competitors, and various [sleazy] apps…Instagram is unable or unwilling to stop the flood of [computer]-generated content on its platform and protect the human creators…who…are now competing with [computers] in a way that is impacting their ability to make a living…“AI pimping”…is now trivially easy…using an assortment of off-the-shelf [software, much of it]…hosted on the Apple App and Google Play Stores…what was once a niche problem…has industrialized in scale, and shows [t]hat social media may [soon] become…a space where [computer]-generated content eclipses that of humans…

I Spy (#1420)

Could this evil industry be shut down in the name of “security”?

A joint investigation by WIRED, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), and Netzpolitik.org reveals that US companies legally collecting digital advertising data are also providing the world a cheap and reliable way to track the movements of American military and intelligence personnel overseas, from their homes and their children’s schools to hardened aircraft shelters within an airbase where US nuclear weapons are believed to be stored.  A collaborative analysis of billions of location coordinates obtained from a US-based data broker provides extraordinary insight into the daily routines of US service members.  The findings also provide a vivid example of the significant risks the unregulated sale of mobile location data poses to the integrity of the US military and the safety of its service members and their families overseas…

Torture Chamber (#1481)

“Officials” demonstrate what they think of the people they have power over:

Interviews with the families of people who die in federal prison show a remarkably consistent cruelty by BOP officials toward them during the worst moments of their lives.  Families describe delays in being notified that their incarcerated loved one had been hospitalized, or even died; having their phone calls ignored; not being allowed to see their loved one in their final moments; delays in being sent the body and death certificate; being given inaccurate or incomplete information about the manner of death; or waiting months and years for the Bureau to fulfill their public records requests for more information about how their loved one died…NPR reported in January that the BOP was misclassifying deaths as “natural,” which prevents further investigation and leaves families in the dark about what really happened…

I Spy (#1490)

Governments won’t stop until privacy of any kind is absolutely impossible:

…Graykey, a phone unlocking and forensics tool that is used by [cop shops and spook houses] around the world, is only able to retrieve partial data from…modern iPhones that run iOS 18 or iOS 18.0.1…according to [leaked] documents…The leak is unprecedented for Grayshift, the highly secretive company which made the Graykey before being acquired by Magnet Forensics…Although one of its main competitors Cellebrite has faced similar leaks before, this is the first time that anyone has published which phones the Graykey is able, or unable, to access…[its] capabilities against Android devices are more mixed, likely due to the high level of variance between different Android devices which are made by a wide spread of companies.  With Google’s own Pixel range of phones, the Graykey is able to only extract partial data on the most recent…devices…when the phone is in an After First Unlock (AFU) 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!

Read Full Post »

In the News (#1490)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Government officials are eager to turn public fears into blank checks for expanding their own intrusive power.  –  J.D. Tuccille

I Spy (#1149)

Grayshift is constantly in a cat-and-mouse game with Apple:

Apple quietly introduced code into iOS 18.1 which reboots the device if it has not been unlocked for a period of time, reverting it to a state which…[makes] it harder for police to break in…an inactivity timer….will cause devices in an AFU state to reboot…AFU refers to After First Unlock, which is when somebody, presumably the phone’s owner, has unlocked the device at least once since being powered on, and which generally can make it easier for [pigs to root in].  BFU, or Before First Unlock, is when a user has not unlocked the phone since it was turned on, and is typically a harder state for forensic tools to crack…Magnet Forensics recently acquired Grayshift, the company that makes the phone unlocking tool GrayKey…

Censorship Ascendant

The government says only government-owned libraries are legal:

In September, a federal appeals court dealt a major blow to the Internet Archive…[by upholding] a lower court ruling that [claimed] the Internet Archive’s huge, digitized lending library of copyrighted books was
not covered by the “fair use” doctrine and infringed on the rights of publishers…The Internet Archive [has]…an online collection of 44 million books and texts [and]…operates a digital lending library called the Open Library.  The Archive owns a physical copy of every book in the Open Library, and it scans and uploads them.  Except for a period during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Archive has allowed only one digital copy of a book to be checked out at a time—a one-to-one owned-to-loaned ratio, just like a brick-and-mortar library.  In 2020, four publishers—Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House—sued the Archive, alleging copyright infringements…”It’s absurd that the Internet Archive is allowed to mail me a physical book it owns.  The physical publishers can’t stop that.  But [the Archive] can’t give me the same content in digital form,” [said] Cara Gagliano, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the Archive in court…

Stalkers in Blue (#1300)

Cops believe all women’s bodies are for their sexual use:

A [typical and representative] Missouri [cop] is [being sued for]…pull[ing women over and using]…traffic stops a[s a pretext to steal] nude photos [from their] cell phone[s]…at least [eight times in all]…Julian Alcala…[used the pretext of] a broken taillight on two separate occasions…for [the woman who filed the suit.  Her] proof of insurance….was on her cell phone, [so] he took her phone back to his car, where he searched her phone for nude photos…took photos of them with his own cell phone and later distributed these photos to others…this isn’t [even close to] the first time…a [cop] has stolen intimate photos off women’s phones.  In 2014, a group of California [cops made]…a “game” of stealing nude photos from arrested women’s phones…

I Spy (#1369)

Civil liberties violations only start with people the government has demonized:

…early in the first Trump administration…the incoming president…call[ed] for “extreme vetting”…of…migrants…and visitors…the U.S. government wanted access to people’s online lives, especially their social media accounts, to continuously monitor their statements and opinions…[via] media, blogs, public hearings, conferences, academic websites, social media websites…radio, television, press, geospatial sources, internet sites, and specialized publications…The monitoring soon applied to millions of people entering legally…Biden…kept the program in place…The Knight First Amendment Institute assisted two documentary filmmakers’ associations who [have] sued to end the program.  The plaintiffs feared government officials peering through their correspondence with colleagues visiting from overseas and scrutinizing the opinions expressed in their communications and their work (arguments are scheduled for December)—and, maybe, sharing the results with partner agencies in other countries…

You Were Warned (#1438)

Australia’s rulers seem even more eager to destroy the internet than US rulers:

Australia’s government says it will introduce…legislation to ban [people] under 16 from social media.  Prime Minister Anthony Albanese [belched out magic words like]…”harm”…and…”safety”…to [justify a plan that could only be enforced by forcing everyone to produce ID in order to use the internet]…the government said the ban will not apply to young people already on social media…[politicians and puritans claim] that social media platforms can harm the mental health of adolescents, [but in actuality these problems are caused by government-encouraged intrusive surveillance and infantilization of young adults]…

Paying the Bills

Seven weeks ago, I told y’all that I’m facing a projected $3000 shortfall for my annual operating budget, and asked for help making up that difference.  Well, several of my loyal readers have already stepped up, generously helping me to the tune of $2500.  So that now leaves only a $500 shortfall!  If you can spare some or all of that remainder right now, I’d really appreciate it; that would get this done before Thanksgiving, so it doesn’t interfere with my annual toy drive!

The Cop Myth (#1489)

Why are people shocked when men paid and encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

…in August…a [typical and representative Wyoming cop named]…Michael Hughes [got drunk and] wa…ved his [gun around]…at his…apartment [complex.  Responding cops]…evacuat[ed]…some o[f his neighbors after]…he put two bullets…into the apartment above him and “threatened to shoot anyone who comes through the door”…hi[lariously,]…when the S[WAT] Team flew a drone through a broken window [to spy on him] Hughes snatched it out of the air, bent the propellers and threw it back out the window…[yet they continued to play footsie with him for 17 hours instead of attacking with overwhelming force as they would’ve done had there been children, minorities, or old people in the apartment]…

 

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 »

Older Posts »