March 21, 2021 by Maggie McNeill
The younger generation...don't understand at all how the government could ever enter your bedroom and tell you what to do. - Mandie Landry
Creating a Monster
There really is nothing new under the sun:
Neither Craigslist's personals nor...US [censorship of] the sexual commerce they make possible are uncharted territory. Reading...coverage of...FOSTA-SESTA, gives me a sense of déjà vu. I have spent the last several years researching how, more than one hundred years before Backpage opened its online classifieds-well before the rise of the internet...lonely hearts [and] sex workers...had access to Parisian "back-page" classifieds. Then as now, [politicians] scrambled for ways to stop them from using this new, democratizing print technology to "immoral" ends. The largely unsuccessful, often counter-productive, and oppressive solutions they came up with during the French Third Republic (1870-1940) look strikingly similar to those the US legislature is testing out now...
This article is three years old, but it's about century-old events anyhow.
This might fly in New Orleans, but it'll definitely be uphill in the rest of the state:
False Witness (#920)Sexual acts between consenting adults should remain just that, state Rep. Mandie Landry said, regardless of whether they involve a financial transaction. She said she will author a bill in the Louisiana Legislature that would do away with the state's existing laws that outlaw prostitution...."If two people engage in a relationship in their own home, whether they exchange money or not, it's between them"...Prostitution involving minors will remain illegal because minors cannot give consent, she added...
Texas cops routinely destroy lives with the same method used to create the Satanic panic:
The Scarlet Letter (#941)...a vast body of research shows hypnosis does not increase the chance of retrieving accurate memories. In fact, it may implant imaginary ideas or distort recollections. At least 21 states ban evidence in court that was gleaned solely through hypnosis. Yet a Dallas Morning News analysis found Texas law enforcement has used the dubious method nearly 1,800 times over 40 years, sending dozens of people to prison - and some to their deaths. After one week of training, any Texas [cop]...who passes an exam can attempt to use hypnosis in a criminal investigation. Hundreds...have been certified to practice it in Texas since 1988...
Why do puritans pretend the literally prehistoric practice of shaming constitute a "modern" approach to harming people for having sexual urges?
The Alabama House of Representatives...approved legislation that would post pictures of men a[ccus]ed [o]f...solicitation...to shame them...f[or having]...sex[ual needs. Bill sponsor] Merika Coleman...[bloviated a lot of disgusting sexual fantasies about] human trafficking...an[d]...argued that the state needs to attack the de[sire] for sex...Coleman said [she doesn't care that]...posting the picture of a person who was arrested...harms those individuals who are not found guilty for the rest of their lives. [She said it's OK that] they are not able to get jobs...
Japanese Prostitution (#950) 
Japanese attempts to suppress and hide sexuality prior to the Olympics will never be sufficient to please puritanical gaijin:
Torture Chamber (#950)Social pressure surrounding the upcoming Tokyo Olympics has resulted in distribution troubles for traditional Japanese adult magazines, which have drastically harmed the already dwindling sector...[using the excuse] " that the magazine covers were offensive to women and inappropriate in front of children "...In the years leading up to the games' original date of Summer 2020, "some of the country's biggest convenience store chains...said they would stop selling the publications altogether"...Akira Ikoma, editor-in-chief of the porn magazine My Journey...said Japan is "hiding this part of the culture because they're embarrassed"...
"Packed" = "concentrated". And the concise word for "tent facility" is "camp":
All-Purpose Excuse (#1063)Hundreds of immigrant children and teenagers have been [imprisoned] at a Border Patrol tent facility in packed conditions, with some sleeping on the floor because there aren't enough mats...Some [are locked up]...for a week or longer, despite the agency's three-day limit for detaining [minors]...they...a[r]en't...allowed to phone their parents or other relatives who may be wondering where they are. Despite...coronavirus, the[y]...are kept so closely together that they can touch the person next to them...Some have to wait five days or more to shower, and there isn't always soap available, just shampoo...Biden's administration denied the lawyers access to the [camp because]...attorney visits to Border Patrol [camp]s [have] revealed severe problems, including dozens of children held at one [camp] without adequate food, water, or soap...
I love that Trumpists are holding onto the "sex trafficking" narrative like grim death:
Winding Down (#1101)On March 8th, the Lifeboat Project had the opportunity to host [politicians] and [profiteers trying] to stop [sex work using propaganda about] human trafficking...it was also a...[photo] opportunity for Ivanka Trump and [a payday for professional]...trafficking survivors...the...Founder of The Lifeboat Project, Jill Bolander Cohen...[introduc]ed the [fantas]y of having a universal signal that could be used world-wide...[instead of other folk magic] such as [wa]ving [red paper birds around like a semaphore flag]...or [activa]ting...[a super-duper anti-pimp tampon found in a public] bathroom ...Jill be[lieves the stupid trope that]...victims [are literally "voiceless"]...so...[she proposed] flashing the letters "H" and "T" in American Sign Language...
A long-overdue move by Mexico to throw off US domination:
You Were Warned (#1119)...Mexic[an politicians]...approved a bill...to legalize recreational marijuana...The 316-to-129 vote in Mexico's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, came more than two years after the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that the country's ban on recreational marijuana was unconstitutional and more than three years after the country legalized medicinal cannabis...the measure is widely expected to sail through the Senate before being sent to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has signaled support for legalization. The measure...would allow adults to [us]e...and, with a permit, grow a small number of cannabis plants at home. It would also grant licenses for producers - from small farmers to commercial growers - to cultivate and sell the crop...
Unless some country makes a policy of providing a safe haven, the open internet is doomed:
The Russian government's internet regulatory agency, Roskomnadzor, has announced it will be slowing down Twitter...in the country, alleging that the platform has "ignored requests to take down material harmful to children," including adult content. Regional experts [say]..."that the Twitter slowdown was just the start of a large-scale offensive by authorities to assert control over - and ultimately block - social media"...Like many American crusaders against Section 230...Roskomnadzor claims this attack on free expression [i]s...to "save the children"...
