Research has shown that getting traffic stopped by police is correlated with lower likelihood to vote (arc). I think it’s reasonable to infer that the heavy visibility of constant police actions against citizens has a huge chilling effect on democratic participation in Texas (and like every other red state in the south too).
The dead also can’t have their consent violated and feel that particular psychological trauma which I think is the real root of what makes rape such a particularly awful thing.
Fair enough, but when someone commits an arson not knowing someone’s in the building and that person dies it’s still murder, and it doesn’t seem right that defendant knowledge matters in one situation and not the other.
I’d say if the alleged conduct here is true it should be charged as attempted rape and punished the same as an actual rape, so this is kind of a semantic thing, but it’s something I feel pretty strongly about. I just think that it dilutes our understanding of what rape is and why it’s so horrible to call something rape when it doesn’t happen to a living creature.
I’m not saying one is worse or more traumatizing than another or trying to diminish the horrible thing that was allegedly inflicted on the deceased’s family and friends here, and I would be totally in favor of sexual assault of a corpse carrying the same penalties as rape. I just believe that it’s a disservice to rape victims to call sexual assault of a corpse rape. The particular harm that was inflicted here is different than the harm that’s inflicted when a living creature has their consent violated. It might just be a semantic distinction but words mean things and powerful words like “rape” should be defined very narrowly.
So, federal government goons can just crash in to your court proceedings and kidnap people, and if your state judges try to stop them from doing that you’ll punish them by removing the power to hear cases that was given to them by the voters of the state, and that is supposed to restore confidence in Wisconsin’s court system? Like, did they just not say it out loud all together like that before putting out this ruling or is the Wisconsin supreme court really this stupid?
I don’t think you can rape a corpse because the suffering of a living victim is an essential part of what makes rape rape.
I do think it should criminal to commit sexual acts with a corpse, but I don’t think we should call that crime rape.
That’s a smart buying strategy, but unless you’re actually pulling out the antennas these subscription services use it won’t be an effective security strategy
Yep, unless you get down to the level of pulling antennas off of circuit boards, but you’ll probably have to be careful that that doesn’t set off some sort of anti tampering system that shuts the whole car down
Can, probably yes, will, probably no
That comment you’re replying to might not be a “I don’t care about the pain and suffering of old people” so much as a “I don’t like it when evil media companies exploit the pain and suffering of famous old people for click bait headlines,” which I don’t really agree with (talking about problems is how problems get fixed imo and bad elder care is a problem), but it’s a take in good company (arc)
If I had a nickel for every poll that came out on April 25 2025 showing this same basic pattern I’d have three nickels, which isn’t a lot but it is weird that we have a fascist president
https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/abc-news-washington-post-ipsos-april-2025 (arc)
https://apnorc.org/projects/immigration-remains-one-of-trumps-strongest-issues/ (arc)
That tracks with polls I’ve seen showing low approval rates for the media
Born and raised in a rural area of it where redneck assholes bullied me for being a neurodiverse little weirdo, but my parents were super supportive and let me keep to myself (well, after their well meaning efforts to push me into a few extra curriculars went badly for everyone) and just spend hours and hours at my local library where I read every history and sci fi book I could get my hands on. The librarians noticed and recommended more books, showed me how to request things from big city libraries that had way better collections, and let me know that some libraries even carried cassettes, which let me get into punk and folk and alternative music that really opened my eyes to what the world could be outside of my small little town.
So, yeah, anytime I manage to say something cogent or insightful or funny or good in whatever way thank librarians authors musicians and parents who support and protect their kids (even when those kids embarrass them in front of the neighbors by, like, driving the station wagon into the hedges because I was distracted thinking about what a Joe Strummer character would do in the Star Wars expanded universe).
I don’t think it was a single presidential election that did this, the Republican party has been working towards this at least since they ran Goldwater on an anti-civil rights and anti-new deal platform in 1964. Democracy is a pain in the ass for bigots and oligarchs, so the Republican party united them in opposition against it and now their very long game is paying off. Nixon being pardoned for Watergate, Reagan getting zero blame for Iran Contra, the Supreme Court stealing the 2000 election, Bush lying about WMDs to start a bullshit war to win reelection, McConnell refusing to accept Obama’s judicial nominees - all of these attacks on anything that would hold them accountable for their theft of public resources and violence against marginalized people brought us to this point. Trump is just the worst symptom of a disease that’s been festering for decades.
The US federal government just abducted a member of the Wisconsin judiciary who was duly elected by their voters under the normal process that state has used for decades. If we didn’t have this whole Constitution thing binding us together (which, like, do we still have that thing?) everyone would call that an act of war.
Yeah, I mean among other things once ICE kidnapped this guy there was no way she was going to be able to finish holding a proper trial on the charges that actually brought him there, so she just took a series of fully legal steps (i.e. she’s allowed to access that private hallway and grant other people access to it) to protect the judicial process of her trial same as any judge should want to do.
I think in light of this development it’s now perfectly reasonable for judges to just instantly order the arrest of any ICE agents that show up to their court rooms on a charge of attempted justice obstruction. Put them in a jail cell and make them defend their actions and intentions before they do that to you, nothing less is going to be sufficient for protecting the orderly process of trials from ICE’s obstruction.
Yeah, my only takeaway from this is that we really should bring back dueling so Musk and Bezos could settle their dispute in a way that might actually make the world a slightly better place
If someone from the Trump administration says the sky is blue you should look outside to confirm
This is a pretty striking statement.
For starters the Federal Aviation Administration, an agency within the US Department of Transportation Duffy leads, has previously said it will take no part in determining whether people who fly on suborbital flights are astronauts. The agency makes this clear on its human spaceflight page, stating: “The FAA no longer designates anyone as an ‘astronaut.’ In addition, the FAA does not define where space begins.”
To step back just a little bit, the FAA created a commercial “Astronaut Wings” program back in 2004 to recognize the two pilots of SpaceShipOne, Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie, who flew the vehicle above 50 statute miles (80 km). After that time, the program recognized private citizens who flew on Virgin Galactic’s Unity spacecraft, Blue Origin’s New Shepard, and SpaceX’s orbital Crew Dragon vehicle. You flew, and you got astronaut wings.
Then, in December 2021, the agency stopped issuing wings. “With the advent of the commercial space tourism era, starting in 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration will now recognize individuals who reach space on its website instead of issuing Commercial Space Astronaut Wings,” the agency said. “Any individual who is on an FAA-licensed or permitted launch and reaches 50 statute miles above the surface of the Earth will be listed on the site.”
Sanchez, Perry, and the others are recognized on this site today.
Aww, poor baby justices had to stay up late working? Well, maybe if you didn’t issue a stupid as hell ruling that tried to have it both ways a week ago and then kicked everything into the 5th circuit you wouldn’t be working at midnight on a Saturday, but here we all are.
It’s one rock breaking loose when we need a landslide, but that’s how landslides always start
Yeah, this is actually a really good point I should edit into my post