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"About 10 months into the program, however, Matt started to feel an intense sense of self-loathing, which gave way to thoughts of self-harm. “If you’re identifying every little thought that comes into your head as a demonic personal flaw or addiction, you start to hate yourself,” he says. “I thought about suicide at about 10 months in because I was buying into this stuff deeply. You start to believe something is deeply broken with you.”"

"Despite the lack of evidence supporting Harker’s methods, bishops employed by the church regularly referred members to his practice, with Harker specifically including resources for bishops on his website."

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fox13now.com/news/local-news/u

"FARMINGTON, Utah — A therapist based in Davis County has been charged with abusing a "vulnerable" woman over a span of several years "under the guise of providing her therapy."

Maurice Wade Harker, 54, was charged Tuesday with aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult and kidnapping — both second-degree felonies.

According to the charging documents, Harker repeatedly abused a client of his between 2012 and 2021. The woman suffered serious injuries throughout this time, and she said she even thought she might die during one of the sessions.

The woman said Harker used aggressive, hands-on and even violent tactics, claiming he had to do so because she was possessed by a demon. The victim had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses. She had been abused as a child, court documents stated, and Harker "preyed upon her vulnerabilities."

Prosecutors say Harker's repeated assaults resulted in multiple physical injuries. These included a broken thumb, a knee injury, black eyes from being elbowed by Harker, and neck injuries. She said he would even pin her down and cover her mouth and nose, claiming this would help get rid of her "demon."

The Rolling Stone article states that Harker is "fairly well-known in the [Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] community." In 2005, he founded Life Changing Services, a pornography addiction treatment group that appears to be based on LDS principles, but not directly sponsored or supported by the church."

"addiction" In other words, normal sexual desires.

"Sons of Sacrifice, for “men with same sex attractions who want sexual self-mastery”"

Of course, they would have a program like this, although it appears everyone suffers equally there.

"Such recollections, however, are also intermingled with feelings of shame, self-hatred, and even, in some cases, thoughts of suicide as a result of undergoing treatment."

The effects of the program in general.

@dylanlindgren I would be wary of interacting with that person. He is an extremely bad faith actor.

That is like if I built a giant hamster wheel, rigged it up to a power generation device, ran inside it, and called myself "Big Energy".

Olives  
Silliest take was a think of the children guy screaming about Signal being "Big Tech" (it's a non-profit) and how they don't care about the childre...
Olives boosted

Silliest take was a think of the children guy screaming about Signal being "Big Tech" (it's a non-profit) and how they don't care about the children because they only care about profit. It was an anti-E2EE take.

Olives boosted
Olives boosted

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#Mastodon

"1 in 3 people on the Internet are [minors]"
Considering there are billions of people on the Internet, it seems the amount of abuse is very small then.

Olives boosted

It goes without saying that it is not the place of any British Government to go asking platforms to remove particular people because they're apparently bad people for committing some crime (which doesn't even have anything to do with the platform).

"debate"

Interesting language to describe the government screaming at the top of their lungs at civil society.

Curiously, the groups in mainland Europe which are more in favor of chat control are either branches of foreign groups, or receive a lot of money from them.

Whereas, ones which are more local tend to be far more sceptical.

That is what I've seen at least.

I suppose I'll add that that BDSM (which I mentioned briefly) is still not going to be associated with crime per the studies.

If that is insufficiently clear.

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I'm avoiding commenting on this one an awful lot one, otherwise you fall into the trap of "free expression is a matter of taking about which celebrity has been hit, rather than far more systemic forms of censorship".

But, it's another example of "going by the seat of your pants" moderation, where YouTube jumps in inexplicably.

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It's also arbitrary and inconsistent. Is YouTube going to start policing every random celebrity who has ever had a sex scandal?

I don't think that's going to work.

YouTube taking on a role of an unappointed judge of morals.

"According to plaintiffs, Wayne County seizes vehicles simply because of the vehicle’s location in an area generally associated with crime. Regardless of the owner’s innocence, Wayne County impounds the vehicles and its contents until the owner pays a redemption fee. This fee is $900 for the first seizure, $1,800 for the second, and $2,700 for the third, not including other fees for towing and storage.

If the owner is unwilling or unable to pay the redemption fee, the only alternatives are either to abandon the vehicle or to wait for county prosecutors to decide whether to initiate civil forfeiture proceedings."

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ij.org/press-release/sixth-cir

"ARLINGTON, Va.—Today, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Wayne County violated the rights of Detroiters by not offering prompt court hearings within two weeks of their vehicles being seized. Wayne County regularly seizes and retains vehicles for months or longer without providing an opportunity for a hearing to challenge the seizure and get their vehicles back."

"According to the court’s own opinion, it usually takes “at least four months, on top of any previous delays (usually an additional four to six months)” for a car owner to get in front of a judge after their car has been seized. The court further held “that Wayne County violated [the] Constitution when it seized plaintiffs’ personal vehicles—which were vital to their transportation and livelihoods—with no timely process to contest the seizure."

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