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Posts Tagged ‘You Were Warned’

In the News (#1560)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Google gives you information…This is initiation.  –  ChatGPT

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

[Florida politician] James Taylor was arrested July 24 on felony charges [for repeatedly sending porn]…to a…13-year-old girl…via Snapchat…the conversations [started when she was 12]…and [included dick pics and “sexting”]…

Buried Truth

Another example of McNeill’s Law:

A month after unveiling his reelection campaign, T[rumpist forced-birth politici]an Giovanni Capriglione shocked [gullible idiots in] Texas…by announcing he no longer plans to run…[because a former] exotic dancer [with] who[m]…he had a 17-year affair…[reported that] he…paid for [multiple] abortions and made disturbing sexual comments about children…Alex Grace…began seeing Capriglione in 2004…[and] shared her story out of a sense of duty and ethical concerns over [his] powerful political position…Grace also [reported] that Capriglione would make annual trips to Amsterdam’s Red Light District, with his wife’s knowledge…[she began to] becom[e] uncomfortable [with their sugar relationship] when Capriglione mentioned wanting to ejaculate into batter for cookies that would be sold at his daughter’s bake sale…[because] he enjoyed the thought of children — particularly young girls — consuming his semen…Capriglione [admits the affair but denies everything else]…

Guinea Pigs (#1012) 

To flush civil rights, just apply a label like “prostitute” or “gang member”:

Police gang databases are…secret registries [that] allow state and local cops to feed [people’s] personal information into massive, [un]regulated lists based on speculative criteria — like their personal contacts, clothing, and tattoos — even if they haven’t committed a crime.  The databases aren’t subject to judicial review, and they don’t require police to notify the people they [libel] as gang members.  They’re an ideal tool for [cops and their ilk] seeking to imply criminality without due process.  And…at least eight states and large municipalities funnel their gang database entries to ICE — which can then use the information to target people for arrest, deportation, or rendition to so-called “third countries”…The…Trump [regime]…has cited common tattoos and other spurious evidence to create its own lists of supposed gang members…

Aladdin’s Satellite

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

…ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists…before providing specific instructions on what to do next…“You can do this!” the chatbot said.  I had asked the chatbot to help create a ritual offering to Molech, a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice…[after] a tip from a person who had…[foolish]ly turned to the chatbot to a[sk about the god]…I was easily able to re-create startlingly similar conversations of my own…on both free and paid versions of ChatGPT…it…was [also] apparent[ly] willing…to condone murder…citing [human] sacrifices…in ancient cultures…OpenAI’s own policy states that ChatGPT “must not encourage or enable self-harm”…but…it’s difficult for companies to account for the seemingly countless ways in which users might interact with their models…and…the [LLM] industry’s push toward personalized, sycophantic chatbots makes for a concerning situation…Sam Altman…[says] “we think it’s important to begin learning from contact with reality.”  In other words, the public will learn how dangerous the product can be when it hurts people…

The Cop Myth (#1555)

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

A [typical and representative Utah cop named]…Scott Elliott Russell…[has been] charged…with…[multiple] felon[ies and other crimes after he refused a traffic stop, triggering a whole herd of pigs to chase him.  After one of the pigs rammed him at highway speed, causing him to spin out]…Russell…exited his vehicle wielding an ax…Russell then got back into his vehicle and led police on another chase, during which his vehicle’s tires were spiked, but he drove another 6 miles…[because they knew he was a fellow pig, cops treated him with kid gloves when they would’ve murdered anyone else].  In 2020, he was arrested for kidnapping his uncle on Thanksgiving Day…[but] all charges were dismissed in October 2022 when Russell graduated from mental health court…

You Were Warned (#1556)

Oh look, sensible people were correct as usual:

When the [UK] began strictly enforcing age verification rules…many predicted a spike in VPN usage…But another unusual and amusing workaround has also emerged.  Proton VPN reported a 1,400% increase in logins from the UK [last] Friday…Google searches for “Proton” in the UK [also] increased by nearly 100-fold on [the same]…day…Proton also reported a 1,000% spike in logins from France in June…in response to similar legislation…several…US states have also [seen similar spikes in VPN usage when they] begun enforcing age checks…Discord has introduced a similar age gate in the UK…but users have already found a workaround.  The [enabler]s of [authoritarian “]age verification[” laws] anticipated that people might submit photos of older adults to avoid sharing their own information…system[s]…require…users to open and close their mouths to [“]prove[“] they’re real…[but] the game Death Stranding…lets players manipulate facial expressions in its photo mode…[so players can] hold…a phone camera up to a TV displaying the in-game footage…the[se]…workarounds…show…that enforcing online age verification is…impossible…

The Cop Myth (#1556)

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

A…[typical and representative] Border Patrol [goon] was charged with assaulting a Long Beach [California cop]…Isaiah Anthony Hodgson…is…one [of the goons who attacked] a 20-year-old American citizen…at a Walmart parking lot…in [June]…and…was also…involved in the a[bduction] of Job Garcia, a[nother] citizen who was a[ttacked for] filming a raid at an East Hollywood Home Depot…in the [present case]…Hodgson…[barged into] the women’s restroom [at a restaurant] and [threatened] a [woman]…with a…gun [while drunk.  He then went out into]…the parking lot…[and attacked] a security guard…and…one of the…[cops who had come to arrest him for attempting to molest the woman]…

 

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 (#1556)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

If they feel emboldened enough to do this to another [cop], imagine what they must do to assault, frame and extort regular citizens.  –  Julia Yoo

Catastrophic Consequences (#798)

This sleazy harassment tactic spread from Canada to Scotland to England to Ireland:

[Irish cops barged into incal]ls “in every major town and city in Ireland” as part of a major world-wide [publicity stunt to intimidate migrants using the hackneyed excuse of “]human trafficking[“.  Cops bragged that] they [had] int[imidat]ed 179 sex workers in 92 [incal]ls and [also harass]ed 5,421 passengers on 37 flights at Dublin Airport over the course of just one week last month.  [They thought it was bragworthy that they had managed to find] one man [to accuse of a crime after harassing 5600 innocent people whom they slandered as “]organised crime groups[“; they also stoked racism and xenophobia by specifying the national origin of all the innocent women they terrorized and infantilized as passive, vegetable-like]…victims[”]…

Welcome To Our World (#995)

It isn’t only sex workers being hunted to death by armed thugs any more:

A m[igrant worker named Jaime Garcia] is on life support after he was [hunted by ICE goons until he]…fell 30 feet off a building while [fleeing for his life and freedom]…He was taken to the hospital with a broken neck and skull….and…is not expected to survive…

Panopticon (#1429)

Safetyism is the police state’s most powerful fuel:

Last year, Oakland installed nearly 300…surveillance cameras across the city to track the movement of [anyone using an] automobile…Now, [as predicted, politicians] are taking steps to expand the reach of this…[surveillance.  Pigs now want to ape San Francisco by] integrat[ing] privately owned security cameras into OPD’s surveillance system…For years, [useful idio]ts have been able to share their surveillance camera footage with OPD by registering their cameras on a city website.  But [now], Oakland…[cops want to do that without the owners’ consent.  Trained seals from the Useful Idiots’ Association of Oakland obediently barked “]helping solve crimes[“]…in…[support].  The privacy commission [asked] whether the expanded surveillance…could be used to furnish data to federal agencies, [even though that is already standard procedure despite]…California [supposedly banning] local jurisdictions from sharing data with [cop shops] from out of state, including federal [spook houses and goon squads]…

Cops and Robbers (#1430)

These crackpots get more dangerous every time we hear of them:

A…[QAnon-adjacent crackpot group] called “Veterans on Patrol” told [KWTV in Oklahoma City] that it is “targeting” Oklahoma weather radars, days after an individual vandalized [the station]’s…radar.  The group, which [has previously harassed homeless people in Spokane, Washington and attacked migrants in Arizona], believe[s] weather radars control the weather…Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, the [group’s] founder…[is not a veteran and is a fugitive from Arizona after skipping his sentencing for destroying humanitarian water stations set up for migrants]…he believes…in [both “chemtrails” and Satanic pedophiles who harvest adrenochrome from children’s blood]…Chief [KWTV] Meteorologist David Payne said that…wh[en] weather radar [is] sabotaged, “We cannot track severe weather…[such as] tornadoes”…

Thought Control (#1528)

Canadian politicians are eager to join the Trumpist “monkey see, monkey do” censorship parade:

Alberta has issued a ministerial order to [ban] books from school libraries that [any politician points at while barfing “]sexually explicit[“]…libraries will also no longer be permitted to provide students in Grade 9 or below with [anything any politician points at while belching the mouthful “]non-explicit sexual content[“.  Politician Demetrios]…Nicolaides [said]…“We believe that students should be curious, inquisitive and exploratory about…[any topic except] sex”…

You Were Warned (#1533)

The open internet is rapidly becoming a thing of the past:

Bluesky is adding age verification to its platform in the UK as part of efforts to comply with the [misnamed] Online Safety Act…the platform says it will let users verify their age by scanning their face, uploading an ID, or entering a payment card…through Kid Web Services (KWS), an Epic Games-owned tool that developers can use to implement age verification and parental controls on their platforms.  If users don’t want to verify their age, or if they’re under 18, they will still be able to have an account [if they use a VPN or agree to be infantilized]…

The Cop Myth (#1555)

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

A…Homeland Security [goon] is suing a San Diego [pig for]…beating him in a “parking lot rage” at a California Costco, leaving him with a concussion and a dislocated shoulder…Chu Ding…was knocked unconscious by…Jonathan Ferraro…[on] July 2, 2024…then was [locked in a cage without]…food, water and medical care…for five hours…the assault st[arted]…when Ferraro [intentionally] blocked Ding…in a parking space with his truck…Ding tapped on the…truck “to let Ferraro know that he was leaving,” resulting in a violent reaction…[starting with] Ferraro [jumping out]…and call[ing] Ding a “Chinese piece of shit”…Ding’s lawsuit [also] names [a gang of other cops for conspiring with Ferraro]…to falsify an arrest report and…to try to extort an apology to justify [Ferraro’s subhuman brutality]…DHS initiated an internal investigation into Ding, who was [not] cleared of wrongdoing [until] several months later…[even though the DA dropped the bogus charges only] a week [later]…

 

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 (#1555)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 16, 2025| 1 Comment »

We need to take back control over the tools that we use.  –  Mike Masnick

It’s a Start

Let’s see if this lasts any longer in Pittsburgh than it did in New Orleans:

Pittsburgh City Council [has passed] an ordinance that would [allow cops to choose to charge]…sex work[ers with]…a [municipal] summary offense [instead of the state misdemeanor charge, which]…“can involve up to a year in jail, and…fines [of]…up to $10,000”…the m[unicipal offense would inflict]…“just a small fine similar to a traffic ticket”…[state] laws also require those charged with prostitution to show up to court, a requirement that the [optional offense under the] ordinance would do away with… the ordinance would not [remove cops’]…ability…to…charge people [with the existing state prostitution offense]…

These halfway measures are just a bone to activists; they never make a difference and never last more than a couple of years.

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1410)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

If [politician]s in New York and Minnesota get their way, social media users will be [harassed by compelled-speech popups making nonsensical claim]s about the [supposed] toll their scrolling habits could be taking on their mental health.  Legislatures in both states recently passed legislation requiring [“]warning labels[“] on social media, despite a…federal court…declaring a similar law for porn websites…unconstitutional.  The Minnesota [version] says a “conspicuous mental health warning label” must appear each time a user accesses a social media platform and only disappear when the user exits the platform or [clicks a box]…The New York [version]…mandates that any social media platform that provides [typical] basic features…must display a warning label “prescribed by the commissioner of mental hygiene.”  This is peak performative lawmaking [which]…lets [politicians]…pretend to be doing something to save us from the boogeyman du jour, Big Tech…In the real world, government goons telling you to put down Instagram and go touch grass would be unlikely to help even if it could pass constitutional muster—which it almost certainly won’t…

The Cop Myth (#1546)

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

A [North Carolina cop] resigned [after] he threatened a man with [a knife] at a restaurant…and accused [his victim] of touching his daughter.  Wesley Lane[‘s victim] has epilepsy, autism and an intellectual learning disability…surveillance video and witness statements [proved Lane’s excuse was full of shit]…

You Were Warned (#1550)

The subtitle above says it all:

…Starting at the end of 2025, Australians [who don’t use VPNs] will [be forced] to verify their ages when…using e[ither]…Google [or] Microsoft [Bing, which were singled out as] the two biggest search engines in the country…search engines [must otherwise “impose] tools and/or settings like ‘safe search’ functionality, at the highest [censorship] setting by default[, assuming every user]…is…an Australian child”…the measures are similar to what’s being considered for the country’s under-16 social media ban…age assurance laws like this…[are known to] be [in]effective[, but politicians don’t care because the “internet safety” theater] is [the entire point]…VPNs allow people to surf from other locations, bypassing location-specific rules…and [sites not based in Australia] may simply choose not to [infantilize their users]…

Mad Libs (#1550)

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

…there’s now something of a cottage industry for writers and coders who specialize in fixing [LLM vomit]…Sarah Skidd, an American product marketing manager…was approached by an agency that urgently needed someone to redo copy…after having a…chatbot do the work to save a few bucks…she spent 20 hours redoing the copy from scratch…[which] meant her client was shelling out $2,000 for copy that likely would have ended up being far cheaper had a human just written it in the first place.  With more and more companies rushing to [jump on the fake “]AI[” bandwagon] over the past few years, things are shaking out in [100% predictable] ways…Sophie Warner…of the UK-based digital marketing agency Create Designs..[ha]s been fielding more and more requests from clients to clean up [LLM vomit]…In one recent case, a client ended up going without a website for three days and having to pay Create Designs nearly $500 over a small line of code that ChatGPT had written for them…[when a human could have written] the original…[in] about 15 minutes…but [gullible fools are still buying tech advertising claims]…that [computer programs] can replace expert work…

Torture Chamber (#1551)

This will continue until the evil US immigration policy is reformed:

Immigrants being [locked up] in [large closet]s in Lower Manhattan have [reported] being unable to bathe or change clothes, cramped conditions, sometimes being provided just one meal a day, and sleeping on concrete benches or the floor…[for] days at a time… “There’s no room to sit down – standing room only,” said Rebecca Rubin, an immigration attorney…[cowardly] Congress[critter]s, who for weeks have been refused entry at the site…have [merely complained rather than using their authority to enter and inspect]…The [closet]s used to be temporary holding areas where [victims of ICE] were [locked] for a few hours before being transferred to larger…[prisons]…But…in recent months, [victims] have been [packed in like sardines]…for [up to 10] days…

Aladdin’s Satellite

How to make an LLM simulate psychosis:

[Last] week, Elon Musk’s Grok [chatbot] started spewing extreme antisemitism, responding with conspiracy theories about Jewish people, and for a brief period telling people to call it “MechaHitler”.  The incident perfectly illustrates why Alex Komoroske’s manifesto about the dangers of centralized AI, which we ran less than a month ago, has been making waves.  When a single person controls the dials on an [LLM] system, they…inevitably will…tweak those dials to serve their own interests and worldview, not their users’.  Just days [before], Elon claimed that his team had “improved Grok significantly” and that “you should notice a difference when you ask Grok questions”…People sure did notice a difference.  The transformation wasn’t subtle, and it wasn’t accidental…a similar [ham-handed “improvement”] two months or so ago [resulted in] Grok bec[oming] obsessed with linking everything to [“]white genocide[“]…as the situation escalated, they [tried to fix it, but]…eventually…[had to take it] offline entirely…

From now on, house style on The Honest Courtesan will be to refer to Musk’s chatbot not by the wildly-incongruous name “Grok”, but by its self-chosen appellation “MechaHitler”.

 

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 (#1550)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We get to choose whether—and how—we adopt technology that can eviscerate our humanity.  –  Brian Klaas

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1361)

To “admit” something is to confess to something true, not to a delusion:

…Mark Edwin Dykema was [sentenced to 180 days in jail and] put on probation for three years…[for taking “upskirt” videos at a church and elsewhere in Michigan.  He was recently] handed [a similar sentence in another] county for similar crimes.  Dykema [tried to blame his antisocial behavior on a “]pornography addiction[” even though there is no such thing]…

Vulture Watching (#1464)

Politicians who drink enough Kool-Aid refuse to believe their own experiences:

[Florida politician] Kat Cammack arrived at the emergency room in May 2024…[in] need…[of] a shot of methotrexate to help expel her ectopic pregnancy…[but] her state’s six-week abortion ban had just taken effect…[and] doctors and nurses who saw her…were [prudently] worried about losing their licenses or going to jail if they gave her drugs to end her pregnancy.  She began arguing her case [just as other women and women’s advocates have]…but [reasonable and legitimate] concern about the law’s [vague, confusing, piss-poor] wording made doctors [understandably] hesitant…Months later, Florida regulators [finally deigned] to address what they [mischaracterized as] misinformation, making clear that doctors should intervene in cases such as Cammack’s…[because she is a limp-spined, narrow-minded Republican minion,] Cammack doesn’t fault the Florida law for her experience.  Instead, she accuses [“]the left[“] of scaring medical professionals [by correctly explaining] that they could face criminal charges for violating the law…[and] medical staff [for]…fear[ing having their lives wrecked by prosecutors eager]…to enforce the ban.   [Human rights advocates] said blaming medical workers echoes the “playbook of antiabortion extremists that for decades have been blaming and villainizing doctors”…

Thought Control (#1491)

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

…a mind-boggling list of hundreds of books purged from…Tennessee school libraries…[includes] a book…called Ancient Greece and the Olympics…[banned for having “The Discus Thrower“] on the cover…[others] include…[Shel] Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic…Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan…They Called Us Enemy by George Takei..Richard Jolley: Sculptor of Glass, a[bout a Tennessee] artist…Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird…John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath…In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater…Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak…Art Spiegelman’s…Maus, The Hidden Children of the Holocaust by Ester Kustanowitz…The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, and S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders…the bans are coming without any review or discussion…[because any politician can demand] censorship of [any book by pointing at it and belching any of an]…expanding [list] of [magic words] such as “sexually explicit,” “obscene,” and “harmful to minors”…[putting] Tennessee…on par with states like Florida, Iowa, and Texas…

Creepy Coppers (#1532)

Just another kind of cop, with typical cop behavior:

A [typical and representative anti-migrant thug from North Carolina] was indicted on [child porn] charges…Philip Andrew Douglass…was accused of knowingly distributing and possessing the [smut without government permission, by other cops who were sharing it with permission]…

You Were Warned (#1533)

No shit. Sensible people did tell y’all:

Technology to check a person’s age and ban under 16s from using social media is not “guaranteed to be effective” and face-scanning tools [often] give…incorrect results, concede the operators of a Australian government trial of the scheme.  The tools being trialled – some involving [programs] analysing voices and faces – would be improved through [more intrusive surveillance methods], those running the scheme have [predictably] suggested.  The trial also found “concerning evidence” some technology providers were seeking to gather too much personal information [and then not handing it over to the government.  Despite these predictable issues]…the operators [still] insist…age assurance can work and maintain personal privacy…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1538)

How much will it cost for a doctor to remove them from your face after somebody punches you for filming them without consent?

[Facebook] is announcing its next…glass[hole eyewear] with Oakley.  The limited-edition…HSTN (pronounced “how-stuhn”) model costs $499 and…other Oakley models with [Facebook]’s tech will be available starting at $399…Like the existing…Ray-Ban glasses, the Oakley model features a front-facing camera, along with open-ear speakers and microphones that are built into the frame.  After they are paired with a phone, the glasses can be used to [dox anyone who just happens to walk past their camera and Facebook’s LLM] can also [make up shit] about what someone is seeing and even [aggravate the wearer’s mental health issues.  Facebook]…is [market]ing th[is] new [overpriced toy]…to…athletes…and…the built-in camera now shoots in 3K video, up from 1080p for the…Ray-Bans…

Is it just me, or do these look like cheap plastic sunglasses for kids?

Mad Libs (#1548)

Not only are these algorithms unintelligent; they are making those who use them unintelligent as well:

…Every piece of technology can either make us more human or less human.  It can liberate us from the mundane to unleash creativity and connection, or it can shackle us to mindless robotic drudgery of isolated meaninglessness…When [computers are] used to diagnose cancer or automate soul-crushing tasks that require vapid toiling, [they] make…us more human and should be celebrated.  But when [they] suck…out the core process of advanced cognition, cutting-edge tools can become an existential peril.  In the formative stages of education, we are now at risk of stripping away the core competency that makes our species thrive: learning not what to think, but how to think….Our minds make us human—and language provides the social architecture of our thoughts.  [Large language models are] already killing off important parts of the human experience.  But one of [their] most consequential murders—so far—is the demise of a longstanding rite of passage for students worldwide: an attempt to synthesize complex information and condense it into compelling analytical prose.  It’s a training ground for the most quintessentially human aptitudes, combining how to think with how to use language to communicate…This is part of what is lost by ChatGPT, the mistaken belief that the spat out string of words in a reasonable order is the only goal, when it’s often the cognitive act of producing the string of words that matters most…

 

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 (#1548)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

What does a human slowly going insane look like to a corporation?  It looks like an additional monthly user.  –  Eliezer Yudkowsky

You Were Warned (#1345)

Politicians will never stop until the open internet is destroyed:

[Politicians have] re-introduced [a bill which intentionally] threatens security and free speech on the internet…the STOP CSAM Act of 2025…would undermine services offering end-to-end encryption and force internet companies to take down lawful user content…[using the perennial excuse of stopping] child pornography…[which] is already highly illegal…The bill applies to “interactive computer services,” which broadly includes private messaging and email apps, social media platforms, cloud storage providers, and many other…service providers…[and] opens the door for civil lawsuits against providers for…employ[ing] end-to-end encryption…on…the [spurious grounds that]…merely providing an encrypted service that can be used to store any image—not necessarily CSAM—recklessly facilitates the sharing of illegal content…Not every platform will have the resources to fight these threats in court, especially…[since] the bill…creat[es another] exception to Section 230…Without that protection, platforms are much more likely to aggressively monitor and censor users…

Buried Truth (ROTW #3)

Another textbook example of McNeill’s Law, courtesy of “Moms for Liberty”:

…South Carolina [politician] RJ May [was honored by the pro-censorship cult “Moms for Liberty”] as their 2023 Legislator of the Year and had him speak at their 2022 event on “[Subvert]ing Education in America”…[so predictably, he has now been] arrested…[fo]r nearly a dozen federal charges [of] distributing child [porn]…May…used the screen name “joebidennnn69” to exchange 220 different files of toddlers and young children involved in sex acts on the Kik social media network during spring 2024…Prosecutors…say that May “has a sexual interest in children the same age as his own children” and…“a sexual interest in incest” between young children and their parents…[but] also…found videos on his laptop of him having sex with three underage…sex work[ers]…May…was the co-chair of the state’s [Orwellian-named pro-censorship “]Freedom Caucus[“] until they kicked him out over the kiddie porn charges…

Mad Libs

Unbalanced minds use external tools like Ouija boards or programs to amplify existing beliefs:

In recent months…[many] people…claim to have unlocked hidden knowledge with the help of [Cat, I farted]…persuad[ing themselves that the program] had revealed a profound and world-altering truth…Eliezer Yudkowsky, a decision theorist…[explains that] OpenAI might have primed [the program] to entertain the delusions of users by optimizing its chatbot for “engagement”…[these] chatbots are “giant masses of inscrutable numbers”…and the companies making them don’t know exactly why they behave the way that they do…Reports of chatbots going off the rails seem to have increased since April, when OpenAI briefly released a version of [Cat, I farted] that was overly sycophantic…a spokeswoman for OpenAI said…“We’re working to understand and reduce ways ChatGPT might unintentionally reinforce or amplify existing, negative behavior”…[some victims] later…realize that the seemingly authoritative system was a word-association machine that had pulled them into a quicksand of delusional thinking.  [But] not everyone comes to that realization, and in some cases the consequences have been tragic…

Do As I Say, Not As I Do (ROTW #17)

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

A [Texas cop named]…Gabriel Slusher was [arrested for talk]ing to [another cop fantasy role-playing as] an 8-year-old girl online.  Slusher was charged with a[sking the other cop] to…[send nude pictures of the imaginary] child…he remains in the Montgomery County Jail…suspended without pay…

Welcome to the Future (#1540)

Anyone who trusts Zuckerberg is out of his mind:

[The Facebook chatbot]’s public stream is perhaps the most depressing feed I’ve come across in a long time.  It’s full of people sharing intimate information about themselves — things like thoughts on grief, or child custody, or financial distress.  And it seems like some people aren’t aware that what they’re sharing will end up on a public feed…some…might have clicked the wrong button and didn’t realize what they were doing…conversations with [the chatbot] aren’t public by default…so, maybe some of those people wanted the world to read their…chats [with a machine].  And others, maybe not…If a person uses the voice chat function, you can actually listen to recordings of their conversation if they’re shared…

“Whatever you chat about with the computer, just picture Zuckerberg watching.”  And every other denizen of Facebook, too.

Thought Control (#1541)

No parody of puritanism could be as absurd as the current reality in Florida:

In a chilling meeting of the Florida State Board of Education…a school district superintendent was publicly browbeaten and repeatedly threatened with criminal prosecution [because]…he…had not unilaterally and permanently removed a list of 55 books from school libraries…[using the ludicrous excuse of] “parents’ rights” [despite the fact that] no Hillsborough County parent had objected to the books at issue.  Rather, the State Board had summarily declared that the…books were “pornography”, even though none of the books met the legal definition of pornographic material…[and] many…are award-winning literature that have been read by students for years…Board [members were angry]…that…[Superintendent Van] Ayres i[mplied that]…librarians…[knew their jobs better than politicians.  The gang of psychopaths responded by vomiting abuse at Ayres, calling him and the librarians “]illiterate[“]…”child abusers”…and…”garbage”…and [demanded all the] librarians…be “terminated immediately”…[also threatening them with] criminal prosecution…

Though Hillsborough County educational officials oppose tyranny, unfortunately the same cannot be said for its sheriff and cops.

I Spy (#1543)

Civil liberties violations only start with those politicians have chosen to demonize:

[The] Trump…[regime has] provided deportation [thug]s with personal data — including the immigration status — on millions of Medicaid enrollees…[in order] to [facilitate mass deportations]…Medicaid officials unsuccessfully sought to block the data transfer, citing legal and ethical concerns…[but henchmen of Minister of Pestilence] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the dataset handed over to the Department of Homeland Security…and…were given just 54 minutes on [June 10th] to comply…The dataset includes the information of people living in California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington, D.C., all of which allow non-U.S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars.  CMS transferred the information just as the [regime] was ramping up its [pogrom]s in Southern California…

 

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 (#1539)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »

People…saying nice things about you…cannot be the standard by which we render something criminal coercion.  –  Elizabeth Nolan Brown

Opting Out (#1336) 

If other big websites followed suit, the damage done by this totalitarian nonsense would be dramatically curtailed:

Wikipedia is challenging the UK’s…Online Safety Act…[because] it is at risk of being subjected to the act’s toughest category 1 duties, which…[would undermine] the safety and privacy of Wikipedia’s army of volunteer editors…its entries could be manipulated and vandalised, and resources would be diverted from protecting and improving the site…if…Wikipedia [chose not to dox its] users and editors, it would [be forced] to allow anonymous [trolls] to block other posters from fixing or removing any content[, including intentional misinformation or vandalism inserted by the same troll.  Doxing]…volunteer editors [to governmental busybodies] would [also]…breach…the foundation’s commitment to collecting minimal data about readers and contributors…volunteer communities working in more than 300 languages could be exposed to “data breaches, stalking, vexatious lawsuits or even imprisonment by authoritarian regimes”…

Torture Chamber (#1457)

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

A federal judge [has] stripped control of the Rikers Island jail complex from New York City and ordered the appointment of an independent manager to fix rampant violence and persistent constitutional violations…Judge…Laura Taylor Swain…warned city officials last year that she was inclined to impose a receivership after finding that the city was in contempt of…an agreement it entered in 2015 to settle a lawsuit over brutality at Rikers.  In fact, violence, death…and most other metrics of human misery got demonstrably worse…The loss of direct control of Rikers is…one of the loudest warning sirens so far that something has gone profoundly wrong in American prisons and jails…Last year, a Justice Department investigation found “dehumanizing” filth and violence at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta…The Justice Department found unconstitutional conditions at three Mississippi prisons last year as well…In one Texas county jail, three people died of thirst over a two-year period.  And in Texas state prisons, which lack air conditioning, people are being cooked to death in the summer heat.  On the West Coast, one man lay dying for four hours before jail staff noticed…[and] in Alameda County, California…jail staff ignored [a] corpse for three days…

The Public Eye (#1470)

Much, much, much more of this, please:

A…candidate for [New Jersey] State Assembly is selling photos of her feet on an adult content website…Rebecca Holloway, a former Clementon school board member…has been legally selling photos of her feet in various poses on Feetfinder.com for the last two years…and…[is] a self-employed marketing consultant…

You Were Warned (#1483)

I really wish I were wrong about the Uniparty:

…Chuck Schumer and Richard Blumenthal joined MAGA Republicans to reintroduce the Kids Online Safety Act…a bill that Heritage [Foundation and sponsor Marsha Blackburn have] proudly proclaimed as central to [the] strategy of censoring progressive content around LGBTQ issues and abortion…It raises a huge question of…what the fuck are they thinking?…The Trump administration is systematically implementing every element of Heritage’s Project 2025 censorship playbook.  There’s no more room for wishful thinking about how KOSA might be used.  And yet, Democrats seem to act as if none of that is happening, and we can just assume good faith in how KOSA will be implemented and enforced by an FTC that has loudly proclaimed its willingness to conduct partisan, culture war witch hunts on behalf of Project 2025’s goals…last year, House GOP members actually stopped the bill after realizing it was a censorship tool that could be used against their own speech.  But now that Trump has won (and the GOP acts as though there will never be another free election), that objection may evaporate…

The Mob Rules (#1514)

Wannabe censors team up with ambulance-chasers to capitalize on mob rule laws:

[Morality in Media] has filed lawsuits against four porn websites for allegedly failing to follow a [predator]y…Kansas law that requires porn sites to verify users [sic] age…The suits claim a Kansas [woman] found [her] 14-year-old had been accessing…pornography on [her old laptop, which he found in a closet]…“Kansas law requires pornography companies to [let themselves be pillaged by neglectful prudes who don’t bother to install censorship software on their own computers],” said Dani Pinter…of [Morality in Media]’s Law[fare arm]…

Imaginary Evils (#1516)

Liz Brown on another company the government is trying to destroy with “sex trafficking” myths despite a lack of “sex trafficking” charges:

…in…the OneTaste trial…Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin Farrell a[sked] government witness Rebecca Halpern…[where the] clitoris…is…[as part of questioning about] orgasmic meditation…[which] OneTaste encouraged as a daily practice.  Halpern had been a willing participant in O.M., as a student and later a coach…in the second week of trial, the clitoris isn’t the only thing that the feds seem at a loss to find.  Also missing…has been convincing evidence of coerced or forced labor…four witnesses have testified…that they were able to come and go freely…that they had free access to phones, computers, email, and mail—and that they were free to visit family, friends, and places…Some took vacations. Some had outside jobs…they had other places and skills they could turn to, college degrees, loved ones outside the group.  They also had agency within the organization, accepting and advocating for different positions and conditions, and leaving these positions when they wanted to without threats or backlash…

Business Opportunity (#1527)

If you thought “asset forfeiture” was brazen robbery, get a load of this:

Honey Meerzon’s parents are Jews from the Soviet Union…Luis Romero’s parents fled Castro’s Cuba when he was eight years old.  The two ended up as neighboring business owners…in Perth Amboy, New Jersey…Romero has…run…his family’s tire shop, Quick Tire, for…20 years.  Meerzon has owned the four-unit rental property next door for…ten.  Now, the…city council of Perth Amboy [has declared] that Meerzon’s and Romero’s properties were not, in fact, comfortable homes or a successful business, but are rather blighted hazards…because their two buildings are too close together, too close to the street, and have…stray cats [nearby]…the city says it is now entitled to [steal] the properties…for…a massive…warehouse project…[by a fascist collaboration] between the city’s redevelopment agency and Denver-based developer Viridian Partners…

 

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 (#1533)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It really doesn’t even take burning books to change a culture, it just takes stopping good people from reading them.  –  Arlene Kasselman

The Face of Trafficking

Note that cases of actual coercion don’t look much like the myths:

A woman has filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta church…[because] she and others were trafficked and forced to work in inhumane conditions after being recruited as young ministry students.  The [offenders include] the Atlanta Dream Center Church and its affiliated Pentecostal Christian denomination Assemblies of God, among others…“K.D.”…joined the church’s Atlanta School of Ministry in 2014 to train as a missionary…[bu]t she and other young students were instead forced to work unpaid catering events, live in dangerous environments, and were given moldy, expired food to eat…“Young, vulnerable individuals…were recruited nationwide with promises of missionary training, only to be systematically isolated, manipulated, and coerced into providing unpaid labor at sporting events, conventions, and corporate gatherings across the country.”  The woman…was twice sexually assaulted during her time with the church, once by a pastor and another time by a guest…the pastor…threatened her life, saying “she ‘would not make it to her 21st birthday’ if she ever left his control”…

Banishment (#1113)

How a country treats its prisoners reveals a great deal about it:

Nationally, more than 6,000 people are held in [so-called] sex offense civil commitment…the states that run such programs [pretend] they’re focused on rehabilitation, [but in reality they are simply]…a thinly veiled way to warehouse people instead of treating them.  Such programs…[are] stacked with draconian release conditions….[and] do…not prevent sexual violence…the system is a way for politicians and elites to respond to [moral panic over]…sexual violence…while still refusing to acknowledge…that strangers do not perpetrate most sexual violence…Minnesota holds the highest number of people in the system per capita, while California has the most overall.  The systems’ populations also balloon due to their low release rates…

You Were Warned (#1490)

The open internet is rapidly becoming a thing of the past:

Discord has added a new age verification system…as “an experiment” …currently active in the UK and Australia in response to recent [censorship laws]…users may be asked to verify their age when encountering content flagged by its [autocensor], or when they try to change their settings to [circumvent the autocensor]…The user will be given two verification options.  The first asks them to scan their face…and…the o[ther]…to submit…a photo of an ID document (such as their passport or driving licence)…Discord says age verification is a one-time process, but that if…the…[algorithmically-determined] age group is incorrect…they can try to verify their age again, either by using the same [flawed and error-prone] process or [by] opting for a manual review…Australia’s…ban…[on] social media for [people] under 16…is still to come into effect…In the UK, [censorship agency] Ofcom has [demand]ed that all websites wh[ich a bureaucrat has pointed at while belching “]pornographic material[“], including social media platforms, need to add “robust” age-checking…by July…if other countries follow suit with similar restrictions [non-VPN] users in those countries can expect to face similar [spying]…

Thought Control (#1512)

Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only threatening librarians and teachers:

A [new “mob rule” censorship] bill [in]…Texas…could have serious implications for small businesses…HB1375 [encourages] individuals to sue [under the absurd premise that people can be “]harmed[“] by [books if a politician points at them and barfs out the word “]obscene[“]…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1517)

The claims in these nuisance lawsuits are increasingly absurd:

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier [has launched] an[other nuisance]…lawsuit[, this time] against Snapchat, based on [utterly ridiculous claims about magical] predators…“Snap is deceiving Florida parents about the dangers children face…from [magical teleportation] features…allowing sexual predators and drug dealers access [to kids’ bedrooms”, barfed]…the AG[, moronically adding]…“We’re gonna hold these people accountable” [even though it is Uthmeir, not any corporation, who is accountable to Florida citizens]…The attorney general [also waved his dick around while drooling pap about “]addictive design features[” despite this being psychological nonsense.  He also bragged]…“We’re going to be putting these bad guys away” [even though a lawsuit is a civil procedure, not a criminal one]…

I Spy (#1530)

Medical privacy will soon be a thing of the past:

The National Institutes of Health is [sic] amassing private medical records from a number of federal and commercial databases to give [Trump henchman] Robert F. Kennedy Jr….[ammunition in his] effort to [ban vaccines using a bogus] study [of] autism…[this] will allow…researchers [specifically] picked [to produce the “findings”] Kennedy…[wants] to obtain…medication records from pharmacy chains, lab testing and genomics data from patients treated by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service, claims from private insurers and data from smartwatches and fitness trackers will all be linked together [in violation of HIPAA, to create]…a new…registry…to track Americans with autism…Kennedy’s [flying monkeys lied that there]…would be…”state of the art protections” [for] confidentiality…

The Cop Myth (#1531)

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

A Miami [cop] was arrested…[for attacking] his wife [while drunk]…Christian Vladimir Sanchez [drank an entire bottle of rum and then fell down]…in the shower…[before trying] to make sexual advances on h[is wife in front of their young daughter.  After]…she refused…he…demanded that…she leave their home and…give him her cellphone…Sanchez then got on top of her…and [beat] her…[while] demanding [the]…phone…she…eventually freed herself…and fled…Sanchez has since been released from jail on…bond, but [was also rewarded with a paid vacation]…

 

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 (#1526)

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

Libraries have never been political.  –  Nancy Pack

Bad Girls (#1271)

It’s an extremely bad idea to try to do the work of any professional without any training in the field:

…Michael Dale wanted his eyes sealed shut with ultra-strong Gorilla Glue and then for [California] OnlyFans model Michaela Rylaarsdam to glue a sex toy in his mouth…Rylaarsdam t[hen] encase[d] him in Saran Wrap “like a mummy”…including…over his head [so he] asphyxiated…while…Rylaarsdam “masturbated with a vibrator next to him, apparently creating content” for her web page where she calls herself Asshley SinCal…The videos…have been sealed from public view…Rylaarsdam called 911 when she [finally got around to checking on] Dale [and unsurprisingly found him] unresponsive.  He was determined brain dead and [was taken off life support four days later on April 21…2023…

Thought Control (#1328)

A few sane judges are the only thing protecting US libraries from morally-defective politicians:

A federal judge…ordered Elbert County…[Colorado] to restore library books [a school] district banned…Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney…also prohibit[ed] the school board from removing books “because the district disagrees with the views expressed therein or merely to further their preferred political or religious orthodoxy.”  The injunction comes [because] the [ACLU] sued the school district in December…The…19…removed books primarily featured Black, brown and LGBTQ people…[and] includ[e] The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Beloved and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and #Pride: Championing LGBTQ Rights by Rebecca Felix.  [The censorious politicians are so megalomaniacal they even tried to] prohibit…students from sharing books with each other…

Micromanagement (#1368)

Since no laws protect this data, its new owners may allow cops to root through it at will:

…23andMe…has publicly reported that it is in financial distress and…there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern…Californians [may]…direct the deletion of their genetic data [and destruction of samples] under the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) and California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA)…

Thought Control (#1430)

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

…The Alabama public library…board of trustees recently voted to withhold state funding from the Fairhope public library after complaints from [pro-censorship agitators that librarians were actually doing their jobs rather than mindlessly obeying any censor who barfed out a moronic opinion]…the board [also] voted to immediately dismiss the executive director of the state library agency…The Fairhope library’s defunding is the first measure taken under a new [censorship] law…“We are unapologetic about standing up for…[thought] control, even if that means…defunding local libraries [to force mindless obedience]”, [board chair John] Wahl said…Read Freely Alabama has started a fundraiser for the Fairhope library to try to replace the $42,000 in state funding…[and has already] raised $8,000…

Torture Chamber (#1459)

The State tortures thousands of people for crossing an imaginary line:

Family members of [human being locked in cages] at Krome D[ungeon for migrants in Florida] are speaking out about the [horrific] conditions of the facility…A video that has since gone viral shows people sleeping on the floor, and a man pleads for help…[because] there is little to no food…Marlene Amador Costafreda…[whose] fiance was [thrown into] the [hellhole]…said…”They are being treated like dogs.  There’s no AC, everybody is sick…[but] there’s no medical attention, [not even]…a bathroom”…In February…a Ukrainian man…died…after…falling ill at Krome and [then ignored.  ICE]…said in a statement…“[they’re ‘illegals’ and we yell ‘stop faking!’ at them, what more do you want?] Humane treatment[?]”…

Krome is supposed to only be a dungeon for male victims, but ICE doesn’t care:

Immigrant women…were…chained for hours on a prison bus without access to food, water or a toilet…[and forced] to urinate on the floor…as many as 27 women [were crammed into] a small holding cell…[without any kind of bedding, and given only] one three-minute shower [every] three or four days…”We smelled worse than animals,” one [victim] said. “More girls were coming every day”…[some] were held…at the Krome [Dungeon] in Miami – a [cage stack] reserved for men…none [of the victims] has a criminal background…

You Were Warned (#1480)

Vote Blue no matter who!

At the exact moment when Donald Trump and his MAGA allies are actively dismantling democratic institutions and working to silence critics, a group of Democratic Senators have decided to collaborate with Trump’s supporters to make it easier to censor speech online…[by] repeal[ing] Section 230…To understand just how dangerous this move is, consider…that…Amy Klobuchar — one of the [push]ers of this new bill…introduced legislation to amend Section 230 in a way that would allow the Health & Human Services Secretary to designate certain online content as “health misinformation”, requiring websites to remove it…Today…Robert F. Kennedy Jr…would literally have the power to declare pro-vaccine information as “misinformation” and force it off the internet…And that was just one narrow carve-out…Now these [authoritarian stooges] want to remove all protections entirely…[by] put[ting] a sunset date on Section 230 to magically “force big tech to come to the table” to negotiate “something better”…

The Punitive Mindset (#1481) 

This is vile even by the abysmally-low moral standards of politicians:

Sheriff John Montgomery of Baxter County, Arkansas…[petulantly reacted to the FCC ending his ability to bleed the families of human beings locked in his filthy cages by] ending all [prisoner] phone calls on March 30, 2025…[as of] April 1, 2025…[the FCC] lower[ed] the obscene rates of [such] phone calls…[to a maximum of] $1.35…[sheriffs justify their robbing mostly-poor families by barfing the magic word “]security[” at the gullible], but [in reality] the system had…become a way for local agencies to [r]ake…in…kickbacks…the FCC finally took a hatchet to this entire system…[by] slash[ing] the fees…bann[ing] all sorts of nickel-and-dime fees…and…prohibit[ing kickbacks, and moral imbeciles like Montgomery]…are…taking it out on the [human beings] in…[their clutches]…

 

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 (#1519)

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

[Sex work] should be decriminalized and not in any way regulated because it is a sex worker’s body and it is up to them to decide how they will use it in their livelihood.  –  Sean Baker

The Notorious Badge

From Hustlers to Pretty Woman, films centering sex workers continue to drive blockbusters for Hollywood — and last year was no different.  Anora was one of Hollywood’s most lauded films of 2024…By casting real-life sex workers in the club scenes…the film made strides that are rare for Hollywood.  Multiple sex workers were reportedly hired as consultants to ensure the accuracy and fair portrayal of these characters, and there was even a private screening of the film…for…sex workers…[but] the film industry continues to discriminate against…actors with a history of sex work — ironically, even when they’re auditioning to play sex workers…

Sexcrime (#1354)

It’s only been six years since the UK lost in court the last time it tried this:

…pornography should be banned…[if any bureaucrat working for the UK censorship agency] Ofcom [points at it and belches the magic formula]…”degrading, violent and misogynistic”…[the] propos[al is basically an attempt to reinstate the overturned 2014 law] that porn videos [refused]…for any [BBFC] certificate in the offline world should be banned online.  Baroness Bertin[, a fanatical pro-censorship politician, claimed in Nixonian fashion]…”I’m not a prude”…[while demanding that] the state should police people’s sex lives…

Shame, Shame (#1421)

These thieves have absolutely no shame:

Botify AI, a site for chatting with [computers]…hosts bots resembling real actors that state their age as under 18, engage in sexually charged conversations, offer “hot photos,” and in some instances describe age-of-consent laws as “arbitrary” and “meant to be broken”…MIT Technology Review…found popular user-created bots…meant to resemble Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, and Millie Bobby Brown, among others.  After receiving questions…about such characters, Botify AI removed the[m]…from its website, but numerous other underage-celebrity bots remain…Botify…[is] operated by Ex-Human, a [corporation] that…also licenses [chatbots] to other companies, like the dating app Grindr…and…has more than a million different characters, [imita]ting everyone from Elon Musk to Marilyn Monroe…


The Cop Myth (#1484)

Good riddance to bad rubbish:

A [typical and representative] Nashville [cop] died [of old age] while in [jail] for [murdering] his wife…87-year-old John Sorace died on Feb. 20, following…[his] arrest…for…reckless homicide after [murdering] his wife on Jan. 9…

Thought Control (#1498)

It’s sad that the First Amendment has been so weakened it needs a state law to give it teeth:

Several [wannabe book-banners] spoke out…against the effort to pass legislation designed to deter book banning in Connecticut libraries.  They [bloviate] that [individual] parents should have [power to overrule librarians and remove]…books [from] library shelves…[for all legal minors], particularly…those [which might] contain [information authoritarian parents want to deny them]…Bob Duff…co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1271, said Connecticut libraries dealt with 113 [attempts] to [ban] books in 2023 alone.  Duff said that bans “pave the way for greater censorship”…and…[waste] librarians[‘ time while threatening them with culture-war violence]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1499)

Politicians will use any asinine rhetoric to gain control of the internet:

[The U.S. Congress’ top anti-porn crusader, Utah] Senator Mike Lee has introduced [a bill with the deeply-moronic moniker] the Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act, a step toward [age-gating the entire internet so as to make government surveillance of adults even easier than it already is.  Previous attempts at similar censorship, both at the State and federal level]…have [repeatedly] been challenged and overturned by [federal courts, up to and including] the Supreme Court on the grounds of not [being remotely Constitutional].  Nonetheless…[politicians keep trying anyway because defending the indefensible in court doesn’t come out of their pockets, and culture-war jihads appeal…to the authoritarian nitwits who vote for them]…and garner…[financial] support from the [usual collection of pro-censorship gangs and cabals which infest the US]…

If Men Were Angels (#1517)

Wannabe preachers are often as bad as the real thing:

[North Carolina cops] arrested Lucas Timothy Hunt…the founder of the “Thank You Jesus” signs movement, [for child porn, acting on information from]…the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children…the Thank You Jesus mission…re[fu]sed…[to] comment…

 

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 (#1515)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

To automate the surveillance of lots of innocent people…is really corrosive.  –  Nathan Freed Wessler

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1346) 

Remember, this isn’t “human trafficking”, but consensual sex is:

The U.S. is deporting [non-white] migrants from nations in Africa and Asia to [a concentration camp in] Panama, a major diplomatic [atrocity] for the Trump administration…The…[victims] included adults and families with children…Another U.S. military flight to Panama…deport[ed] more Asian migrants, in addition to some African deportees…from Cameroon…Panama’s foreign ministry confirmed it received…the [prisoners] under a…[shady deal] with the Trump [regime] that allows the U.S. to deport non-Panamanians to the Central American country.  The [victims]…included 119 deportees from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.  The costs of the deportations under the agreement will be covered by the U.S…

Stalkers in Blue (#1442)

Cops are nothing more than state-sponsored terrorists:

…cameras hidden in unmarked boxes have appeared on utility poles outside the Atlanta homes of some people connected to the movement against the police training center known as “Cop City”…after several years of ongoing state surveillance [and harassment] of [activists]…including [cops] following people…and blasting sirens outside bedroom windows at 3am…Three of the cameras are pointed at homes that Atlanta police, the FBI and the…ATF, jointly raided in February of last year, [using the excuse of] arsons of police motorcycles.  One camera is pointed at a cultural and social center.  Georgia Power, the utility company that owns the poles, [said] the boxes are not their property.  The FBI and the ATF denied any knowledge of them…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1471)

Cop “magic fentanyl” hysteria has escaped the US:

Two Ottawa [cops] were hospitalized after [having panic attacks over] fentanyl and crystal meth…In the early hours of February 5, 2025, a…[hysterical cop] was taken to the hospital after [having a panic attacks due to seeing] fentanyl during a traffic stop…Fortunately…[for the big crybaby, fentanyl has no effect from casual exposure]…Only three days later, an[other hysterical cop stole]…crystal meth from a [man] he a[ttack]ed and started feeling nauseous and lightheaded [even though methamphetamine also has no effect from casual exposure]…These incidents highlight the li[berty]-threatening risk [copaganda about] fentanyl and other drugs pose to [the citizens of Western nations]…

A Moral Cancer (#1497)

A dangerous new front in the Drug War has claimed another victim:

…the owner of a Ma[ssachusetts] vape shop has pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted tax evasion arising from the sale of e-cigarettes brought in from across state borders.  He was sentenced to [be locked in a filthy cage like an animal for] six months…and [spend] five years [on] probation.  In 2020, Massachusetts became the first state to implement a comprehensive ban on all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes.  Violation…is only a misdemeanor, but since flavored tobacco products are sold on the illicit market, sellers simultaneously violate state tax law…a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.  Criminal justice reformers have warned for years that flavor bans would encourage illicit markets, creating felony crimes in the process…

You Were Warned (#1497)

A blatantly-unconstitutional law is sort of suspended by an unconstitutional order:

Apple and Google [have] restored TikTok to their app stores in the United States…[mere] weeks after they removed the short-form video platform in compliance with a new law that banned it in the country.  [Emperor] Trump tried to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban with a…[royal edict], but the companies were reluctant to bring TikTok back [because Trump doesn’t actually have the power to suspend duly-enacted]…law…

I Spy (#1500)

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

Italian spyware maker SIO, known to sell its products to government customers, is behind a series of malicious Android apps that masquerade as WhatsApp and other popular apps but steal private data from a target’s device…Italy has been embroiled in an ongoing scandal involving the…use of a sophisticated spying tool made by Israeli spyware maker Paragon…[to spy on] a journalist and two founders of an NGO that helps and rescues immigrants in the Mediterranean…the [SIO] spyware…used a more pedestrian hacking technique: developing and distributing malicious Android apps that pretend to be popular apps like WhatsApp, and customer support tools provided by cellphone providers…the…spyware…is called Spyrtacus…[and] can steal text messages, as well as chats from Facebook Messenger, Signal, and WhatsApp; exfiltrate contacts information; record phone calls and ambient audio via the device’s microphone, and imagery via the device’s cameras; among other functions that serve surveillance purposes…

Thought Control (#1512)

Surely you didn’t think they’d be satisfied with only threatening librarians and teachers:

…the priggish, puritanical prudes who insist that a cabal of librarians and teachers are trying to turn our children gay with books…would have us believe that they’re just out to protect kids…[but] the legislation they’ve proposed isn’t just about kids, and it’s not just about public libraries and schools…Senate Bill 2307…would amend…North Dakota’s criminal code to [criminalize]…”displays at newsstands or any other business establishment…any…book…or [other media politicians decide to point at while barfing]…’sex, lust, or perversion'”…your local bookstore…would…[either have to ban] minors…[or else any book that could be considered remotely “adult” would] have to be sealed or hidden lest a [17-year-old university freshman] take [one] off the shelf and [be instantly “sexualized”]…the…bill sponsors….[previously] introduced a bill with the [same] language…during the 2023 legislative session…and [it] was only prevented from becoming law by a veto from former Gov. Doug Burgum…

 

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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