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Posts Tagged ‘You Were Warned’

In the News (#1420)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 13, 2024| 1 Comment »

The advertising technology ecosystem is the largest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man.

Droit du Seigneur

What did this guy think he was, a cop?

A Las Vegas family court marshal is accused of sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl…Bryce Tokunaga…is not [alleged to have harmed or threatened]…the girl [in any way, but bought her] condoms, food, hygiene products, hair and nail services, and…hotel rooms where she could [work]…Tokunaga [was caught driving the girl to a stroll]…

Despite the story being larded with the usual weird “sex trafficking” dysphemisms, what Tokunga actually appears to be guilty of is extremely poor judgment by functioning as the pimp of a girl who was already an experienced street worker despite her age and was determined to continue regardless of the State’s defining her as a passive, doll-like “child”.

The Face of Trafficking

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

Gerardo Quijada-Soto…smuggled Javier Rodriguez-Castro from Honduras to the United States, through Mexico, along with 12 other individuals.  They initially crossed the border January 8, 2021.  Rodriguez-Castro was…taken to…Fun Noodle in Abilene….[where] he…observed a large stack of cash change hands between Quijada-Soto and owner of Fun Noodle, Hai Zhuang.  From that moment on, Rodriguez-Castro was…treated as a…slave.  “His passport was thrown into a water heater closet,” and he “was forced to work 10-12 hour days,” without breaks…In late summer…[he] was able to escape to Dallas…during his more than six months in captivity…Zhuang beat him, and…he was forced to eat scraps from customers because he wasn’t fed properly…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1306)

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

At least five people have been detained in Moscow after attending the funeral of Alexei Navalny…One woman who attended the rally and was caught on video chanting “glory to the heroes,” a pro-Ukraine slogan, was arrested on M[arch 4th]…but allowed to return home the following day.  Police a[rrest]ed two other attendees [the next]…day, although the charges remain unknown…Moscow’s extensive surveillance system and facial recognition technology [was likely used] to identify attendees…[given that] several new surveillance cameras [were installed] around the church and cemetery [a few days before] the ceremony…

You Were Warned (#1396)

Politicians no longer bother to consider whether their new diktats are Constitutional:

Politicians won’t stop trying to make a TikTok ban happen…We went here with Trump, who tried to ban TikTok via executive order in 2020. (The courts said no, and the Biden administration rescinded the order.)  We went here with Montana, which passed a TikTok-banning law last year. (The court said no…though Montana is appealing.)  We went here with multiple bills…in 2022…and…in 2023…[which foundered] after being introduced…Now, here we are again, with a [theatrical] bill…call[ed]…the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA?)…[which] would…expand…presidential power to restrict Americans’ access to tools for getting and disseminating information—what could go wrong?… 

Creepy Coppers (#1411)

It didn’t take long for this one to demonstrate exactly what he is:

A 19-year-old [Florida man] was sworn in as a deputy on M[arch 4th]– but by sundown, [his employer] had a search warrant for his phone…[typical and representative cop] Kai Cromer…was [sent to lurk]…at a…high school…[and four girls] recognized [him as someone who]…had [demanded] explicit photos and videos over Snapchat…[by] telling [them], “I’m going to be law enforcement. I’m very powerful”…video of an underaged girl was found on Cromer’s phone which led to his arrest…

I Spy (#1412)

In mass surveillance, fascism runs rings around communism:

In 2019, a government contractor…named Mike Yeagley began making the rounds in Washington, DC.  He had a blunt warning for anyone in the country’s national security establishment who would listen: The US government had a Grindr problem…Yeagley was able to access the geolocation data on Grindr users through a hidden but ubiquitous entry point: the digital advertising exchanges that serve up the little digital banner ads along the top of…nearly every…ad-supported mobile app and website….[which make] your precise location available in near-real time to both advertisers and people like Mike Yeagley, who specialized in obtaining unique data sets for government agencies…Yeagley showed…all that information was available for sale, for cheap.  And it wasn’t just Grindr, but rather any app that had access to a user’s precise location—other dating apps, weather apps, games.  Yeagley chose Grindr because…when speaking to a bunch of intelligence agencies, there’s no way to get their attention quite like showing them a tool capable of revealing when their agents are visiting highway rest stops…

I’m a bit skeptical of this timeline, given that I’ve been aware of this collaboration since 2017, and I’m no tech expert.  But the article is lengthy and contains a lot of interesting information on this rights-destroying surveillance machine.

The Cop Myth (#1418)

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

A [typical and representative Alabama cop attacked]…his wife and caus[ed] her to miscarry…[in March 2022] Robert Allen Maddox Jr…threw his then-wife to the floor of their home…and began choking her…he…then began punching [her] in the stomach, causing her to miscarry…Maddox was arrested…and…four months…[later was] charge[d]…with…murder [because Alabama].  That murder charge was later reduced to one count of manslaughter [because cop]…

 

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 (#1396)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 11, 2023| Leave a Comment »

You would think…the government would want to encourage a substance that helps people to quit smoking rather than discourage its use.
–  Kyle Kutasi

The Face of Trafficking

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

Three [Missouri] men kept a student from India in a locked [basement] and forced him to work, do chores and endure severe beatings over the course of several months…Venkatesh R. Sattaru was charged with human trafficking, kidnapping and other charges after…forc[ing] a 20-year-old college student who moved to the U.S. last year to work for Sattaru’s company and sleep…on an unfinished floor without access to food, water or a bathroom…Sravanvarma Penumetcha and Nikhil V. Penmatsa…helped Sattaru further the abuse by issuing beatings and lashings with electrical wire, PVC pipe, metal rods, wooden boards, sticks and [plastic] hoses…a neighbor…called [the cops after]…the…student…ran out of the house…trembling uncontrollably, heavily scarred and suffering from bruises and swelling all over his body… Sattaru is a wealthy, powerful man in India with political…connections…and [cop friends, so the victim] feared that he would be killed if he identified Sattaru…

Dutch Threat (#1005)

Though cloaked in “helping” language, this is actually just a way for the Dutch government to establish more effective financial surveillance over sex workers:

Dutch banks want to make it easier for sex workers to open a business bank account…Sex workers often encounter problems with business bank accounts because they work a lot with cash, making it difficult for b[usybodie]s to know where the money comes from.  It is also difficult for banks to determine the sector’s typical income and expenditures, which complicates [pry]ing [into their financial affairs]…the banks [have] set up a new Sector Standard, which specifies that banks can use sex workers’ tax returns to determine where their income comes from and what is typical for them…

Creepy Coppers

Cops of all types love their child porn:

A [typical and representative Vermont screw named]…Benjamin Mallery…pleaded guilty to [a minor charge]…under a plea deal [to avoid a series of child porn charges.  Unlike non-cops, Mallery will skate] with…a…[mere] 60 days — with 10 years of probation…and…[condemnation] to [the]…sex offender [registry]…

Typical and representative cop Blake Gruny of St. Johns County Florida was arrested for child porn in early October, and typical and representative cop Jordan Collins of Elgin, Illinois was charged for the same thing on December 6; both stories consist mainly of their bosses strutting around, vomiting bombastic rhetoric about how these typical and representative predators are neither typical nor representative.

You Were Warned (#1341)

Politicians no longer bother to consider whether their new diktats are Constitutional:

A TikTok ban in Montana is likely unconstitutional, a federal judge [has] ruled…Judge Donald Molloy…issued a temporary halt to enforcing the ban.  It was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024, and [politicians with dollar signs in their eyes imagined they would collect]…$10,000 penalties per day for app stores or TikTok “each time that a user accesses TikTok, is offered the ability to access TikTok, or is offered the ability to download TikTok”…

A Moral Cancer (#1374)

A dangerous new front in the Drug War claims its first victim:

A[n Australian] man has been charged with possessing liquid nicotine despite Health Minister Mark Butler [ly]ing [that] smokers will not be personally targeted [by cops due to] vape cr[iminalizatio]n.  Trinite Williams…pleaded not guilty…after [cops found it while rooting through] his car on October 8 [in order to find something to charge him with]…Mr Williams’ lawyer Kyle Kutasi [said] his client was “extremely frustrated” because he [was foolish enough to actually] believe…a [politician’s lies]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1386)

Cops are sexual predators who often specifically target traumatized women:

A Surrey [BC] RCMP [cop] abused his power to search police databases for information on a troubled 19-year-old sex worker…then appeared at [her] home under false pretences to [try to maneuver her into] sex…Peter Leckie knew the young woman had recently experienced the murder of her father, a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and entry into the sex trade…[this is not the first time] Leckie…specifically targeted [vulnerable] women…[yet he was let off with] six months of house arrest and…a year of probation…

The Widening Gyre (#1388)

Poor “sex traffickers” have apparently been forced to give up their ambitious schemes to abduct women and children from big-box stores such as Target and Ikea, and instead to pathetically lurking in strip-mall parking lots.  While they could once afford to lure them with roses, honey, or $100 bills, they’ve now been reduced to attempting to trick them with empty candy wrappers.  And while one of these dopey Twitter posts once attracted thousands of “likes”, I’ve never seen as much mockery as this one drew.  So scary!

 

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

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In the News (#1389)

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

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

If Men Were Angels

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

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

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

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

Torture Chamber (#1253)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

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

Crying for Nanny (#1326)

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

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

Winding Down (#1343)

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

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

Thought Control (#1362)

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

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

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1371)

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

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

To Molest and Rape (#1387)

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

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

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

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

 

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

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In the News (#1383)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

We lie together on the floor until someone buys us.  –  Margarita

Counterfeit Comfort 

Facts have absolutely nothing to do with US sex laws:

When Henry was 18, he had sex with a 16-year-old he met on a dating app who said they were 18 too.  The 16-year-old’s parents found out, summoned the cops, and Henry was charged with a sex offense.  He took a plea: no jail time, and seven years on the sex offense registry…this…made it nearly impossible to find work…After three years with little income—and several hundred dollars a year in payments for court-mandated polygraph tests—Henry moved back in with his parents.  The neighbors got up in arms, so all three of them moved to Henry’s grandmother’s house…At last, Henry found a good job.  But when he gave his probation officer his office address, he was told it was too close to a school…Henry begged his probation officer to let him keep this hard-won job.  The officer said he could continue working until a judge ruled on his request.  But when Henry got to court…the judge issued the harshest ruling possible, sentencing Henry to six years in state prison…

To Molest and Rape

They usually make these cases sound like the rapist was doing his victims a favor:

[A typical and representative Idaho cop named] Ryan A. Bendawald…[has been charged with rap]ing…at least seven women[, often by threatening them with criminal charges if they refused to submit]…

The Missing Word (#838)

If only there were a specific word for this sort of thing:

Women seeking jobs as domestic workers in the UAE…are being detained and abused in squalid accommodation, while recruiters sell them over apps and social media platforms to household employers…women…[a]re denied food, held captive and treated violently…[while] being marketed in an “exploitative” way reminiscent of slavery…with employers charged less for the services of black domestic workers and being told they do not even need to provide them with proper bedrooms…migrants wait, in limbo, for an employer to take them on…a process that can take months, with women often being returned to the agencies at the whim of an employer…

So this is only “reminiscent” of slavery, whereas highly-paid, flexible, self-employment is slavery if it involves sex.  That makes so much sense.

You Were Warned (#1177)

Child porn will only be the first of many excuses to bleed internet companies:

Australia’s [internet control agency has]…fined…Twitter — 610,500 Australian dollars ($385,000) for failing to…explain [to bureaucrats’ satisfaction] how it [deals with] child [porn]…because…[it did not fully fill out] a…question[aire]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1344)

Pseudoscience is much more useful as a tool of social control than science could ever be:

Texas recently passed a law that would require some websites to display a lengthy claim concerning the supposed scientifically-based harms of pornography…I study the effects of pornography on humans.  I was unable to find any truthful scientific statement in this state-forced speech…Texas has created a completely false statement by misrepresenting the science of myself and other scholars.  If they want to continue to make such outlandish, false claims, I and other scientists will continue to accurately describe the actual state of the science…

You Were Warned (#1370)

These tyrannies often start with sex workers, but never stop with us:

KOSA…would [invent] a “duty of care” requiring social media apps and websites to “prevent and mitigate” [anything any politician chooses to declare a “]harm[“] to children…the bill would allow state Attorneys General to sue apps and sites if they [pretend] certain content is harmful to minors—meaning AGs could weaponize the law to attack content they simply disagree with.  In response, platforms likely would preemptively block content they think could get them sued.  Much has been made of the bill’s potential to lead to online censorship of LGBT…content and sex ed info for everyone, not just kids, and [much to the surprise of silly people who believe in “wing” mythology] …22 Democratic Senators co-sponsor it—including…[pro-censorship politician] Elizabeth Warren…KOSA could also censor content about abortion on sites ranging from social platforms…to abortion resource websites…

Property of the State (#1376)

Etowah County is one of those jurisdictions which needs to be sued into oblivion:

In March 2021, [pigs] in Etowah county, Alabama, arrested Ashley Caswell [using the pretext] that she’d tested positive for methamphetamine while pregnant and was “endangering” her fetus.  Caswell, who was two months pregnant at the time, became one of a growing number of women imprisoned in the county in the name of protecting their “unborn children”.  But over the next seven months [locked in a cage] for “chemical endangerment”…Caswell was denied regular access to prenatal visits, even as officials were aware her pregnancy was high-risk…She was also denied her prescribed psychiatric medication and slept on a thin mat on the concrete floor…for her entire pregnancy.  In October, when her water broke and she pleaded to be taken to a hospital…[screws] told her to “sleep [labor] off” and “wait until Monday” to deliver – two days away.  During nearly 12 hours of labor, staff…[shouted at] her to “stop screaming”, to “deal with the pain” and that she was “not in full labor”.  Caswell…was alone and standing up in a jail shower when she ultimately delivered her child…and…nearly bled to death…The baby survived, but…was immediately [abducted by “authorities”]…he[r] lawsuit, filed by…Pregnancy Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center, is the first case to challenge the conditions for jailed pregnant women in Etowah county…the national leader in arresting women under the guise of protecting their fetuses…

 

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 (#1377)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I am more afraid of the police than being raped again. – survey comment

To Molest and Rape

“Sexual misconduct targeting vulnerable women” sounds so much nicer than “rape”:

Two [typical and representative] West Midlands [cops] who [manipulated women into submitting to rape by threatening men in their lives]…have been jailed.  Anthony Ritchie…and Steven Walters…even targeted the same woman…Walters previously served a four-year sentence for [raping] two different women in 2015 whilst [wearing his magical clown costume]…Ritchie began [manipulating one]…woman in 2014 after he [arrested her partner on] a…domestic violence [charge]…Walters [had already raped]…the same woman [a year earlier]…Ritchie [got another woman to submit to rape] in 2014…[by threatening] to arrest her son…

Welcome To Our World (#1131)

The naive can’t understand why so many women are reluctant to report rapes:

Three-quarters of respondents to the largest ever survey of rape and sexual assault survivors in England and Wales said their mental health was damaged “as a direct result of what police did, or failed to do, in their case”…The survey…exposes multiple failures in the policing of serious sexual crimes, and reveals that “countless respondents said their rapist went on to sexually offend again against them and/or others because police did not take their report seriously”.  Women described feeling more traumatised by their experience with the police than they had been by the original rape…Only 14% of respondents said they felt safer as a result of what the police did, while 39% said they felt less safe…56%…said they would be unlikely to report any future rapes…

The Punitive Mindset (#1186) 

Prison officials are allowed to excuse any violation of civil rights by belching out magic words like “crime” or “gang”:

The Florida Department of [Torturing Humans Locked in Cages] paid $2.5 million to California-based Leo Technologies to begin using its surveillance program called Verus beginning in August. The program scans incoming and outgoing calls, including to inmates’ friends and family…for keywords selected by prison officials and…uses speech-to-text technology…to transcribe the content of conversations that include those keywords…The only calls that the company [claim]s are excluded from monitoring are communications with lawyers, doctors and spiritual advisers.  The company [belched out the keyword]… “criminal”…[to justify exposing people’ private speech to pigs and] prosecutors. C[age stacks] have for decades [spied on] incoming and outgoing phone calls…[but] using a[lgorithms allows the spying to be constant]…A 2021 Reuters news story examining the use of the technology in eight other states found that Verus was programmed to record conversations that included words like “abogado”…Spanish…for lawyer.  In Alabama, the technology listened for keywords that could potentially help a sheriff fight off lawsuits from [his victims] and civil rights activists regarding prison safety and sanitation…

Given the cases routinely filed against prison collaborators like Securus for recording attorney-client calls, Leo’s claim that it doesn’t do this is hardly credible.

Opting Out (#1269) 

In the 21st century, censorship & surveillance are tightly bound together:

A federal judge [has] issued an injunction blocking the California attorney general from enforcing the controversial California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), which was passed last year after lobbying from a British baroness.  U.S. District Judge Beth Freeman stated that “the law’s commercial speech restrictions likely violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment”…trade group NetChoice sued last December to block CAADCA, claiming the law “would pressure private companies into becoming ‘roving censors’ of content that California deems harmful, or else face ‘draconian penalties’ as high as $7,500 per child per violation”…

Whither Canada? (#1279)

I guess we can’t expect anything but hypocrisy from any part of any government:

The movement to reform sex work laws in Canada took a blow…[when] Ontario’s Superior Court [asserted that an unconstitutional law is actually constitutional]…The verdict…was in response to a constitutional challenge launched in 2021 by the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform (CASWLR), which is made up of 25 groups from across the country that support and provide services for sex workers.  The constitutional challenge [pointed out] that Canada’s laws around sex work infringe on sex workers’ Charter rights to bodily autonomy, equality, safety and security, as they increase stigma, prevent sex workers from discussing consent with a client and invite targeted arrest and violence…

You Were Warned (#1353)

It’s too bad politicians don’t always end up with egg on their faces after issuing stupid authoritarian diktats:

…the Online News Act…has been an utter disaster, leading to millions in lost revenues with cancelled deals, reduced traffic for Canadian media sites, declining investment in media in Canada, and few options to salvage this mess…While the Australian experience lasted a few days, the blocking in Canada has now gone on for weeks and there is little reason to believe that [Facebook] will reverse its position [and start paying a]…4% [link tax]…for a minimum of $234 million…The effect of the news link blocking in Canada has led to smaller and innovative services laying off staff or stopping all new hiring.  Some report losing as much as 50% of their website traffic…there is little hope that [Facebook] will return to news in Canada.  If Google follows suit, no Internet company will be subject to [this deeply stupid law]…investment in the sector has ground to a halt, Canadians have lost access to news on social media, and small and independent media are particularly hard hit…

The Mob Rules (#1370)

Hypocritical trash behaving like hypocritical trash:

The North Carolina Senate voted unanimously…to mandate age verification on adult websites, after a [sleazy politician] snuck a copycat amendment mirroring other states’ requirements into an unrelated bill…[to] add a computer science class to the state’s high school graduation requirements…[Amy] Galey…[claimed] that overall traffic to adult websites in Louisiana dropped 80% after that state’s age verification law passed…

Correction: 80% of Louisianians who visit porn sites started using VPNs rather than let the government snoop into their private affairs.

 

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 (#1370)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 6, 2023| 1 Comment »

There’s seemingly no policy turd that lawmakers are unwilling to polish in the name of “the children”.  –  J.D. Tuccille

Saint Death 

Apparently, popular and social media have played a large part in the global expansion of her worship:

…one Latin American New Religious Movement has reached Kyiv that perhaps few would expect: The cult of Santa Muerte – Holy Death…Dr. Andrew Chesnut of Virginia Commonwealth University, probably the foremost expert on Santa Muerte, says that the Mexican folk saint depicted as a female skeleton, from whom her devotees seek protection and favors, is the fastest-growing new religious movement in the world.  The skeleton saint went off the historical grid until the 1940s when American anthropologists “re-discovered her,” in Mexico. [The religion] became known to the larger American audience due to the television series Breaking Bad, as an object of devotion for Mexican drug cartels…the professor…[says] Santa Muerte “made her way to Europe via social media, especially Facebook and Instagram”…

If Men Were Angels

“Pastor and sex offender” is a large and ever-expanding group:

…Allan Kyle Jones…pastor at Lifeway Community Church in Loxley, [Alabama,] was [arrested and charged with possession of child pornography]…

Choke Point (#993) 

It always starts with a politically-unpopular group like sex workers or gun owners, but never stops there:

The House Judiciary Committee is investigating banks for sharing Americans’ financial information with the FBI without regard for privacy concerns…there’s no doubt about the threat to civil liberties posed by the government’s leverage over the financial industry; that’s long established.  At question in this investigation is whether…that cozy relationship is being wielded in political warfare between the country’s political factions…financial institutions have long operated as surveillance arms of the state, tracking transactions and movements, making assumptions about what they might mean, then turning that information over to government officials under regulatory pressure…based on idiosyncratic interpretations of vague laws and regulations…such power creates incentives to over-interpret activity as “suspicious” and to snitch on customers to stay on the good side of federal agencies…

Robocops

It’s rare that a court rules that some violent hooliganism is so stupid even a cop should’ve known better:

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Waylon Bailey…of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, made a joke on Facebook that alluded to the 2013 Brad Pitt zombie movie World War Z.  “RAPIDES PARISH SHERIFFS OFFICE HAVE ISSUED THE ORDER,” he wrote, that “IF DEPUTIES COME INTO CONTACT WITH ‘THE INFECTED,'” they should “SHOOT ON SIGHT.”  He added: “Lord have mercy on us all. #Covid9teen #weneedyoubradpitt.”  That post went up on March 20, 2020…that same day, about a dozen deputies wearing bulletproof vests descended upon Bailey’s home with their guns drawn…[screaming obscenities] and arrested him for violating a state law against “terrorizing,” a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison…the Rapides Parish District Attorney’s Office [wisely] declined to prosecute Bailey.  But when [he] sued…[a] judge…dismissed his claims with prejudice, concluding that his joke was not covered by the First Amendment, that the arrest was based on probable cause, and that [the pigs were] protected by qualified immunity…the 5th Circuit [has now] ruled that…was wrong on all three counts…

The Mob Rules (#1303)

Stupid people want you to believe that anti-sex authoritarians “do not agree on much”, because red and blue pap:

[Maine politician] Lois Reckitt…intends to submit a proposal for consideration in the 2024 legislative session modeled after a porn age-verification law in Louisiana …[joining six other] states — Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, Virginia and Utah — [in the monkey see, monkey do parade]…with unanimous or near-unanimous support from…[censorious imbeciles with the social sense of lemmings.  Unsurprisingly, the puritanical] Reckitt…[was also behind the scheme which recently imposed the dangerous, misogynistic Swedish model on] Maine…

You Were Warned (#1359)

Some politicians apparently believe that KOSA doesn’t destroy the internet thoroughly enough:

…the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act…borrows bad proposals from another federal bill and combines them with legislative idiocy enacted at the state level.  The resulting concoction could destroy internet privacy, subjecting all our online activity to government scrutiny in the name of shielding wee ones from harm…the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act generates the sort of cross-aisle consensus that generally only accompanies terrible ideas.  The bill “contains elements of the dangerous Kids Online Safety Act“…and…doubles down on bureaucratic control and surveillance of internet activity…its authors find substituting restrictive laws for parental responsibility…a convenient excuse for imposing controls that people would be unlikely to tolerate under any other circumstance…the digital ID pilot program is the real warhead in this particular legislative weapon, since…[politicians hate] online anonymity.  The bill provides a clear path towards linking internet activity to identities so that, for example, politicians could identify their critics…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1366)

The way local media parrots copaganda in the face of clear evidence of its foolishness is utterly pathetic:

…Milwaukee co[p]…Adriean Williams had an unexpected [panic attack after touching a scary]…blue sweater…”It’s terrifying” [he whimpered, remembering the scary, scary fuzziness.  Then another cop wasted]…Narcan, a nasal spray that counteracts the effects of opiates [and can act as a placebo for hysterical cops who imagine they’ve touched magic insta-fentanyl.  Actual doctors have explained time and again that]…incidental fentanyl exposure [has no such] immediate and profound reactions, but [cops are superstitious children who imagine they know better.  This mass hysteria affected another of]…Williams[‘ cronies]…the very next day…[when he] believe[d] cocaine….[was] fentanyl [and had a panic attack]…

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 (#1367)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 26, 2023| 1 Comment »

A facility didn’t kill my uncle; three deputies tased him while he was having a heart attack.  –  Sherilyn Sabo

St. James Infirmary

A program that did one thing well tried to be all things to all people:

St. James Infirmary…[i]s shutting down….[after] years…[of] mismanagement…Money was squandered, benefits went unpaid, and at one point the health clinic’s license allegedly lapsed, leaving medical providers in limbo…in the middle of the pandemic, staff on the ground saw problems spiral out of control.  Directors of the site quit or were pushed out…Shifts went severely understaffed…Brianna Singleton, a former nurse practitioner with St. James, [sai]d…the decision to take on housing programs dealt the organization a fatal blow.  “We were out of our depth…It felt like a magician pulling red flags out of their hat — they just kept coming”…

Torture Chamber 

Blaming torture and neglect on a building is brazen even by cop standards:

Between 2012 and 2016, the [East Baton Rouge Parish Prison] had a death rate more than twice the national average…Since 2012, there have been 59 fatalities in custody.  Jail staff have long…neglect[ed sick prisoners, leading to]…deadly lapses in medical treatment, and in 2016, the brutal treatment of people arrested and jailed for protesting the Baton Rouge police [murder] of Alton Sterling sparked a movement for jail reform.  The man who has overseen the jail for 15-plus years…Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, has often blamed the deaths on the building…[because he wants] a new, even larger facility, but voters have shot down requests for funding to build a new one.  The sheriff, [like most of his diseased ilk]…has…profit[ed from] his office, raking in significant campaign contributions from contractors during elections where he has…lacked a significant challenger.  This includes thousands of dollars in donations from a law firm that has represented Gautreaux and his co-defendants against plaintiffs whose loved ones have died in his jail…

Sex Rays (#1003)

I’m sure the people of Maui didn’t want her dirty whore money anyhow:

The OnlyFans model using her nude photos to raise money for Maui wildfire relief efforts can no longer crowdfund on GoFundMe…because the platform shut down her efforts.  Mariah Casillas, who goes by Lavagrll on social media, was sending nudes to folks who donated $10 to victims of the deadly Maui wildfires…The model raised over $7,400 in just a few days, but…GoFundMe [clutched its pearls, clucked about]…”prohibited conduct”…[and] refunded [all the money so the would-be donors got] her nudes for free [which I’m sure made the bluenoses at GoFundMe feel better].  She’s now taking her nude fundraiser over to OnlyFans…

Unsafe for Human Consumption (#1269)

If you didn’t see this one coming, you haven’t been paying attention:

[Louisiana politician] Liz Murrill…mixed two classic Republican strawmen — the drug war and abortion — into a single, unexpected and wholly unsubstantiated talking point: Nefarious drug pushers are lacing online abortion pills with fentanyl…In a…[radio interview] Murrill…[started by bloviating standard prohibitionist talking points, including the bogus] claim that cannabis is a gateway drug, [then declared that] the smell of marijuana is ruining American communities…“everywhere we go, we see these communities that are just being destroyed by the smell and…people are sleeping on the streets.  One thing leads to the other”…she [then]…claimed cannabis legalization has somehow been a boon for illegal fentanyl sales…and…then…pivoted to…abortion pills…Of course, there is no evidence that abortion pills are being mixed with fentanyl and they remain perfectly safe — and legal in most states…Ironically, Republicans have created a de facto gray market for abortion pills…if Murrill’s random musings about fentanyl and abortion pills were true, it would mean th[ey]…are responsible…since they made the pills illegal in the first place…

You Were Warned (#1341)

This is an extremely dangerous precedent:

TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance has spent years negotiating a national security agreement with the Biden Administration that would avoid a ban on the short video app in the United States…that agreement…would give [the US] government…the authority to: examine TikTok’s U.S. facilities, records, equipment and servers with minimal or no notice; block changes to the app’s U.S. terms of service, moderation policies and privacy policy; veto the hiring of any executive involved in leading TikTok’s U.S. Data Security org; order TikTok and ByteDance to pay for and subject themselves to various audits, assessments and other reports on the security of TikTok’s U.S. functions; and, in some circumstances, require ByteDance to temporarily stop TikTok from functioning in the United States.  The draft agreement would make TikTok’s U.S. operations subject to extensive supervision by an array of independent investigative bodies…and…force TikTok U.S. to exclude ByteDance leaders from certain security-related decision making, and instead rely on an executive security committee that would operate in secrecy from ByteDance…

Dangerous Speech (#1348)

It’s almost like the judge is intentionally setting up another mistrial:

…federal Judge Diane Humetewa…shot down a defense suggestion that the prosecution not use the terms “sex trafficking” and “child sex trafficking” during the Aug. 29 trial of award-winning journalist Michael Lacey and four others, calling the position a “non-starter”.  Humetewa also overruled a defense objection to her proposed jury instruction on the First Amendment, despite the defense’s claim that the instruction’s wording does not comport with precedents set by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Most of the two-hour hearing dealt with establishing a jury pool of 110 persons, out of which 16 will be plucked to serve as 12 jurors and four alternates.  Humetewa said she added questions to the jury questionnaire aimed at finding out if potential jurors knew of the recent, tragic death of veteran newspaperman Jim Larkin and if it would affect their ability to be impartial…

The Widening Gyre (#1360) 

This time, the “sex trafficking” lie was told to divert blame for bad behavior:

The junior Marine charged with sexually assaulting a [14-year-old girl]…met [her] on a dating app where she told him she was 22…Pfc. Avery Rosario…is currently…charged with…sexual assault of a child over age 12…Rosario’s defense team argued that the Marine and two friends who witnessed his interactions with the girl all believed she was 22…[her] Tinder profile…said she was 21…In screenshots of direct message exchanges on Tinder and Instagram shown in court…she told him she was actually 22…The girl’s aunt posted a series of videos on TikTok saying the girl had been the victim of sex trafficking and was sold to the Marine [presumably by “traffickers”] for sex…But [after] she [was] seen in the hallway of the barracks…She made several contradicting statements to investigators…first giving them a false birthday.  She later told them she’d lied to the Marine about her age…she [later claimed she] had been sex trafficked and had come to the base to be rescued…

 

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 (#1364)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Far too often, journalists reserve their free speech defenses for people they actually like.  –  Matt Welch

To Molest and Rape

Seems like there’s more to this than we’re being told:

A [typical and representative] Detroit [cop] is on house arrest and facing life in prison after [rap]ing his…wife last week…David Apperson…was arraigned…on a charge of first-degree sexual conduct, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison…

You Were Warned (#1208)

Imbecilic judges side with censors & ambulance-chasers against the law and the Constitution:

…the 7th Circuit has decided…that Salesforce can be held liable for [supposed] sex trafficking on Backpage, even if Salesforce had nothing to do with the underlying crime, or any knowledge of it…because Salesforce magically should have known that Backpage was engaged in sex trafficking [even though it wasn’t], overturning a lower court ruling that had dismissed the case…this directly contradicts both the 9th Circuit and the DC Circuit, and appears to also go against what the Supreme Court ruled in Taamneh…The ruling, by Judge David Hamilton…and signed on to by Judge Doris Pryor…is…really bad?  Divorced from reality?  Driven by nonsense and moral panic?  All of those…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1305)

Cops really don’t care how many false positives these systems shit out:

Porsha Woodruff was getting her two daughters ready for school when six [cops] showed up…to…arrest [her] for robbery and carjacking…She was eight months pregnant…[but] Detroit [cops]…held [her] for 11 hours, [interrogated her and stole]…her iPhone…After [finally]…bond[ing out]…she went straight to the hospital where she was diagnosed with dehydration and given two bags of intravenous fluids.  A month later, two weeks before giving birth to her son, the Wayne County prosecutor dismissed the case against her…Woodruff is the sixth person to report being falsely accused of a crime as a result of facial recognition…[mis]used by police…all six…have been Black; Ms. Woodruff is the first woman…It is the third case involving the Detroit Police…Woodruff [has] filed a lawsuit for wrongful arrest…

Vulture Watching (#1343)

In which Texas tacitly admits it wants women with problem pregnancies to die:

A Texas judge issued a temporary injunction against the state’s abortion ban…[but] this injunction was itself blocked just hours later by an appeal from the state attorney general, leaving a final decision on the case to the Texas Supreme Court…Judge Jessica Mangrum issued an injunction against the law as part of a ruling in Zurawski v. State of Texas, a lawsuit brought by five…women who…were denied medically necessary abortions due to unclear language in the state’s abortion ban…”With the threat of losing their medical licenses, fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and up to 99 years in prison lingering over their heads,” the suit states, “it is no wonder that doctors and hospitals are turning patients away—even patients in medical emergencies”…

R.I.P. Jim Larkin

“The reality of veteran newspaperman Jim Larkin’s untimely demise on July 31 at age 74 has begun to sink in, with remembrances, articles, and commentary appearing on social media and legacy media alike…”

Creepy Coppers (#1362)

Cop is a cop is a cop is a cop:

A[n] adjunct professor at Utah Valley University [who was also a typical and representative cop] from California was arrested on multiple child pornography charges…Daniel Waddington…tried to record a video of a 13-year-old girl showering through a crack in the door…[he] told the girl he was just recording the audio of her singing, [but] the person who reported [him]…later found…more than 300 images and videos of child pornography…on [his laptop and phone, plus]…a photo shot up a woman’s dress or skirt in…a classroom at [the] university…

To Molest and Rape (#1363)

Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:

A Georgia [cop] was recently arrested…[for] molest[ing] a teenage girl…Patrick Benjamin Ventura…[fell under] suspicio[n because he was apparently molesting her while he was supposed to be working]…

And certainly not actual children:

A…Baton Rouge [cop named]…Demichael Robertson…was…[arrested for molest]ing a child in his care who was under the age of 12…

 

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 (#1361)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Anytime there’s a bipartisan consensus and a preachy New York Times op-ed, you can assume something you enjoy is about to get regulated out of existence or made worse in quality.  –  Liz Wolfe

Broken Record (#687) 

Sparsely-populated states are still clinging desperately to “sex trafficking” myths that larger states have quietly backed away from:

The Sturgis Motorcycle rally officially begins on August 4th.  [Blah blah pearl-clutching, lies about criminal charges, infantilization of women, and cop swagger]…South Dakota’s pheasant hunting season also causes a spike in sex trafficking in South Dakota…

The Last Shall Be First (#924)

If you didn’t see this coming, you haven’t been paying attention:

Christine Gallinaro [took] her [deeply autistic] 15-year-old son…[to a cinema] in…New Jersey…[and brought him] into the women’s toilets because there was no family one…her son, who…is non-verbal, “is not equipped to go into a men’s bathroom in a public setting alone”…However, the…theatre’s manager approached them in the…crowded lobby, shouting…“a grown man should not be in the women’s restroom” and “this is not a transgender bathroom”.  He then told an assistant manager to call the police [on them]…

Above the Law (#1142)

They usually make these cases sound like the rapist was doing his victims a favor:

A disgraced Wisconsin prosecutor secretly recorded himself having sex with three women, including one he was prosecuting.  Daniel Steffen…[of] Wisconsin…was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he was convicted in April…“While the defendant and Victim #1 are still engaged in sex, the defendant looks at the camera, sticks his tongue out, and winks several times,” and can be heard repeatedly telling the victim, “Who’s in charge?” the complaint said…In addition to his prison time, Steffen must serve two years of extended supervision, four years of probation, and placement for 10 years on Wisconsin’s sex offender registry.

You Were Warned (#1279)

The bipartisan war on the internet moves us another step closer to idiocracy:

“[The internet causes] sex…trafficking, drug[s and death”, bloviate perennial nuisances] Lindsey Graham…and Elizabeth Warren…in t[he] New York Times…What follows is a litany of untrue statements and gross exaggerations about the way Big Tech operates and the purported harm done by the cluster of websites that millions of Americans willingly use on a daily basis…Warren and Graham go on to announce they’re introducing [another terrible internet-breaking law] to create [yet] an[other government agency]…”charged with licensing and policing…tech companies” which will be “nimble” and “adaptable” (just like all those other government agencies).  The regulator will “prevent online harm” (by waving a magic wand and ensuring no bad actors ever go online); “promote free speech and competition”…by scrapping Section 230 and…”guard Americans’ privacy” (because government agencies do a great job at cybersecurity!…

Neither Addiction Nor Epidemic (#1293)

Blaming bad behavior on an imaginary “addiction” is the opposite of admitting responsibility:

[Actor] Terry Crews recently [attempt]ed [to avoid responsibility for abusive behavior toward his wofe and kids by blaming it on an imaginary “]porn addiction[” he melodramatically described as a]…”battle”…

It isn’t only celebrities who use this dodge to lessen their culpability:

[Indiana teacher] Christopher “Kit” Degenhart…[pled] guilty…to…seduc[ing a 17-year-old student in the theater department he headed]…Degenhart will spend one year behind bars while participating in a work release program.  After one year, he’s scheduled to move into home detention while working in the program for six more months…he…will [then] be on two and a half years of probation…[inclu]ding sex addiction meetings…[and] regist[ration] as a sex offender…

Thought Control (#1328)

Texas has figured out how to stop judges from overruling library censorship: simply eliminate libraries:

Houston…will be eliminating librarian positions at 28 schools this upcoming year and converting the libraries into “[punishment] centers” where kids [declared to have] behavioral issues will be [confined]…This…[is] part of the new superintendent Mike Miles[‘  “]reform[“] program…[with the Orwellian title] New Education System…a total of 85 schools…have joined Miles’ program, and of those, 28 campuses will lose their librarians.  The district said th[ose 28] will have the opportunity to transition to other roles within the district…[but] the [employment of the] remaining 57 NES schools’ librarians will be assessed on a case-by-case basis…

To Molest and Rape (#1358)

“Sexual offenses” sounds so much milder than “rape”:

The [typical and representative] chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police is being investigated over serious allegations of sexual offences in Northern Ireland.  Will Kerr was a [cop] in Northern Ireland for 27 years before [being promoted] in 2018…he said [she wanted 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 (#1359)

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, The Dark Side, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[An FBI] suggestion…is not a suggestion. It is in fact effectively an order.  –  Darrell Issa

Surplus Women

Cops love awkward, overcomplicated language:

Three women [have been] found dead near the Trinity River in [Dallas, and]…Oscar Sanchez Garcia…is being charged with th[e]…murder[s].  The body of 60-year-old Limberly Robinson was found in late April.  25-year-old Cherish Gibson was found dead in the same area two months later.  The third woman was found [July 15th and] has not yet been identified.  Police believe at least two of the victims have possible ties to prostitution…

Would it have been too difficult to say, “at least two of the victims may have been sex workers”?

No Difference (#889)

Will this be another victory for US evangelical prohibitionists?

Kenya is…introducing legislation that would criminalise openly identifying with, or supporting, the LGBTQ+ community…including openly identifying as LGBTQ+ or wearing Pride emblems.  Those found in breach of the law would face a minimum of 10 years in jail while those found guilty of performing same-sex acts would face a minimum of 14 years…anyone found guilty under a clause for “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as engaging in “homosexual acts with a minor or disabled person and transmitting a terminal disease through sexual means”, could be executed.  The bill heavily mirrors Uganda’s…which was signed into law earlier this year.  Similar bills are also being proposed in Tanzania…South Sudan…[and] Ghana…

You Were Warned (#1344)

“This bill is not about kids’ safety, because it will put their safety at risk”:

With…KOSA…be[ing] debated in…Congress…Joe Biden [has] come out [to] give a full throated endorsement of the horrible, dangerous, bill that will damage privacy and harm children…the Republicans have been quite vocal about how they support KOSA because they know they can use it to suppress LGBTQ voices.  They flat out said that they believe that “keeping trans content away from children is protecting kids”…KOSA….[is] not about “protecting” kids privacy at all.  It’s about giving the government more control over kids.  The nature of the bill will require more data collection…[and] create serious 1st Amendment concerns by holding companies potentially liable if kids face harm that…an [ambulance-chaser can pretend was somehow related]…to anything they found online…

Now would be the time to call your congresscritter to scare it away from being associated with this police-state garbage.

Torture Chamber (#1344)

I’m sure they occasionally yelled “Stop faking!” at him as he wasted away:

By the time he died alone in his Miami-Dade jail cell in the summer of 2021, (5’10”) Randy Heath weighed just 113 pounds…[because] guards…allowed [him]…to languish [for 9 months] in the jail’s mental health unit…[and] did not properly feed, monitor, or administer…medication…the…Medical Examiner’s Office…[claims] Heath…died from “food asphyxia” after a large piece of orange blocked his airway, with the contributory cause being pica, an eating disorder in which people compulsively eat things that aren’t food…Heath…had been in and out of…jail since 2002 on various charges…[but the most recent arrest] in April 2020 [was on the pretext that he touched] his ankle monitor [in a manner disallowed by The State]…He would remain on the floor of his cell unattended for hours…in his own urine and feces…Although he was regularly prescribed medication for his mental illnesses, his toxicology report detected no medicine in his system at the time of death…

Censor Chic (#1354)

Partisans deny this when it’s their side making “suggestions”:

…based on current evidence, the FBI has not explicitly demanded that social media companies censor any specific posts or news stories.  But…[as] the Supreme Court [said] nearly 60 years ago: Americans “do not lightly disregard public officers’ thinly veiled threats to institute criminal proceedings against them if they do not come around.”  Much is said in our current discourse about…power imbalances…When your boss asks if you can stay late or come in on the weekend, you can say no. But in the back of your mind, you know there may be consequences…It’s…a similar dynamic when the government sends “suggestions” to private individuals or companies over which it exercises…authority…When the FBI floods social media platforms with “alerts” about content it obviously wants taken down, it doesn’t deserve a pass just because it didn’t say out loud: “or else”…The FBI uses the weight and authority of its office to lean on platforms in an attempt to do what the First Amendment forbids it from doing directly: suppress protected speech.  This tactic is called “jawboning,” and is not something we should blithely accept in a society committed to free expression as a fundamental value…

Served Cold (#1357)

Ballard’s increasingly-bizarre antics have apparently upset his partners in profiteering:

Tim Ballard, the celebrity [“sex] trafficking[” profiteer] whose heavily fictionalized exploits served as the inspiration for the [fak]e box-office hit Sound of Freedom, is no longer CEO of the Nazarene Fund, the Glenn Beck-backed [rescue industry] organization…a letter is circulating in Utah’s philanthropic community, which claims that Ballard left OUR following an internal investigation…[after] an employee filed an HR complaint after returning from a mission with Ballard…

Elsewhere, Kaytlin Bailey uses Ballard’s fanciful story as a springboard for discussion of why “rescue” narratives are not only nonsense, but distracting from measures that really help sex workers.

Torture Chamber (#1358)

It does not help young victims of governmental brutality to infantilize them as “children”:

…inside…the…largest juvenile [prison]…in…New Mexico…[young people] between the ages of 12 and 17 are routinely subjected to strip searches, held for weeks in cells without toilets, and left with only a thin plastic sheet to block out the glare of hallway lights that never turn off.  Girls face particularly harsh conditions, often placed in…solitary confinement…chronic understaffing…[is used to excuse holding prisoners] for weeks, in temporary booking cells with no toilets or sinks…[yet somehow there are enough staff for weekly sexual assaults euphemized as “]strip searches[“.  Girls who]…refuse…to [submit are]…locked in…cell[s] until [they “]consent[“]…

 

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