#Constitutionalism Locke

[unpretty]

traditional yelling-and-hitting abusive parent bruce wayne is SO boring to me okay. give me a man who is doing his best and his best isn't good enough. the harder he tries the worse it becomes. he wants to do right by them. he is constitutionally incapable of doing right by himself. he cannot begin to comprehend what it does to a person to see a person they care for, who has cared for them, destroy himself. you are the child and you thought he was the adult but he's never been the adult. he locked himself in stasis so he could hold his trauma forever and he'll never accept that he's allowed to let it go. he's hurting himself and he's always been hurting himself and you can never let on that it hurts you because he won't stop, he'll just put more distance between you, enough that he thinks you won't notice anymore. you thought he was going to save you but he was drowning before you even got here. you love him and you hate him for making you love him and for making you watch him stagger under the weight of all his masks. but as long as there's a crisis, as long as there's someone else to save, it's fine. it can be fine. you can save someone, somewhere. you can do it together and it can feel like helping. you have all these feelings and nowhere to put them because you can never tell anyone. because that wouldn't be fair to him. they wouldn't understand. he's doing his best.

#original #ficblogging

[fatehbaz]

The government of Australia’s northeastern state of Queensland has stunned rights experts by suspending its Human Rights Act for a second time this year to be able to lock up more children.

The ruling Labor Party last month [August 2023] pushed through a suite of legislation to allow under-18s – including children as young as 10 – to be detained indefinitely in police watch houses, because changes to youth justice laws – including jail for young people who breach bail conditions – mean there are no longer enough spaces in designated youth detention centres to house all those being put behind bars. The amended bail laws, introduced earlier this year [2023], also required the Human Rights Act to be suspended.

The moves have shocked Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall, who described human rights protections in Australia as “very fragile”, with no laws that apply nationwide.

“We don’t have a National Human Rights Act. Some of our states and territories have human rights protections [...]. But they’re not constitutionally entrenched so they can be overridden by the parliament,” he told Al Jazeera. The Queensland Human Rights Act – introduced in 2019 – protects children from being detained in adult prison so it had to be suspended for the government to be able to pass its legislation.

---

Earlier this year, Australia’s Productivity Commission reported that Queensland had the highest number of children in detention of any Australian state. Between 2021-2022, the so-called “Sunshine State” recorded a daily average of 287 people in youth detention, compared with 190 in Australia’s most populous state New South Wales, the second highest. [...]

[M]ore than half the jailed Queensland children are resentenced for new offences within 12 months of their release.

Another report released by the Justice Reform Initiative in November 2022 showed that Queensland’s youth detention numbers had increased by more than 27 percent in seven years.

---

The push to hold children in police watch houses is viewed by the Queensland government as a means to house these growing numbers. Attached to police stations and courts, a watch house contains small, concrete cells with no windows and is normally used only as a “last resort” for adults awaiting court appearances or required to be locked up by police overnight. [...]

However, McDougall said he has “real concerns about irreversible harm being caused to children” detained in police watch houses, which he described as a “concrete box”. “[A watch house] often has other children in it. There’ll be a toilet that is visible to pretty much anyone,” he said. “Children do not have access to fresh air or sunlight. And there’s been reported cases of a child who was held for 32 days in a watch house whose hair was falling out. [...]"

---

He also pointed out that 90 percent of imprisoned children and young people were awaiting trial.

“Queensland has extremely high rates of children in detention being held on remand. So these are children who have not been convicted of an offence,” he told Al Jazeera.

Despite Indigenous people making up only 4.6 percent of Queensland’s population, Indigenous children make up nearly 63 percent of those in detention. The rate of incarceration for Indigenous children in Queensland is 33 times the rate of non-Indigenous children. Maggie Munn, a Gunggari person and National Director of First Nations justice advocacy group Change the Record, told Al Jazeera the move to hold children as young as 10 in adult watch houses was “fundamentally cruel and wrong”. [...]

---

[Critics] also told Al Jazeera that the government needed to stop funding “cops and cages” and expressed concern over what [they] described as the “systemic racism, misogyny, and sexism” of the Queensland Police Service.

In 2019, police officers and other staff were recorded joking about beating and burying Black people and making racist comments about African and Muslim people. The recordings also captured sexist remarks [...]. The conversations were recorded in a police watch house, the same detention facilities where Indigenous children can now be held indefinitely.

Australia has repeatedly come under fire at an international level regarding its treatment of children and young people in the criminal justice system. The United Nations has called repeatedly for Australia to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to the international standard of 14 years old [...].

[MR], Queensland’s minister for police and corrective services, [...] – who introduced the legislation, which is due to expire in 2026 – is unrepentant, defending his decision last month [August 2023].

“This government makes no apology for our tough stance on youth crime,” he was quoted as saying in a number of Australian media outlets.

---

Text by: Ali MC. "Australian state suspends human rights law to lock up more children". Al Jazeera. 18 September 2023. At: aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/18/australian-state-suspends-human-rights-law-to-lock-up-more-children [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[kanekoii]

If you write for jp livers, could I request yandere headcanons for Oliver Evans? I love him so much but there aren’t any writers for him 😭

Sorry if requests aren’t open btw

mika’s notes -> omg omg omg two of my favorite things jp AND yandere??!??! tskr anon tskr…

pairing -> yandere! oliver evans x gn! reader

genre -> scenario

song -> your reality - dan salvato

warnings -> yandere obv, manipulation, toxic oliver im sorry, kidnapping

prof didn’t think he’d fall in love, well, ever. needless to say, that expectation was blown out of the water as soon as he locked eyes with you. ultimately, there would be many skeptics of his love for you, considering how openly violent it is. those monsters are simply constitutionally incapable of comprehending how perfect your shared love with him is, he would think to himself.

so perfect, in fact, that not one person aside from oliver himself was even worthy of looking at you, let alone talking to you. every friend of yours would slowly decide they didn't want to be around you anymore, leaving only you to hide in your boyfriend's arms while he protects you from what he perceives to be an overly dangerous world.

he won't let you go, not even outside without his company. even then, he barely allows you outside to go to the grocery store or get fresh air. once oliver can trust that you won't run away from him, maybe he'll allow you to get around more than just his room and you’ll have access to the rest of his home. don’t try the windows or doors though, he’d gladly track you down if you manage to escape.

doesn’t matter where you run, he will always find you. he’s a pretty smart man, so escaping isn’t really an option. just accept it and spend the rest of your life with him the way he so desperately wants.

#mika is still very sick but i’m trying my best #lyr.fic #nijien x reader #nijisanji x reader #nijisanji en #nijien #nijisanji #nijisanji jp #niji jp #nijisanji x you #oliver evans #oliver evans x reader #oliver evans x you

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Republican state legislators In North Carolina are establishing a new investigative body that Democratic critics have aptly compared to a “secret police force.”

This new entity, formally known as the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations, or “Gov Ops” for short, will be chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R). It grants the state the authority to investigate various matters, including “possible instances of misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, mismanagement, waste, abuse, or illegal conduct.”

Gov Ops, a product of North Carolina’s most recent state budget, was established via a comprehensive bill passed in late September. Despite Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s refusal to sign the legislation, the Republican majority in the state legislature pushed it through just 10 days later, thanks to their veto-proof majority and the state’s laws restricting the governor’s ability to make line-item vetoes. Gov Ops is slated to take effect next week.

Any way you slice it, Gov Ops seems like a recipe for government overreach and abuse. If you find yourself under investigation by Gov Ops, you won’t be allowed to publicly discuss any alleged constitutional violations or misconduct by the investigators. All communications with committee personnel would be treated as “confidential.” Shockingly, you’d also be denied the right to seek legal counsel regarding your rights if Gov Ops were to search your property without a warrant, irrespective of whether it’s in a public or private space.

Nora Benavidez, a senior counsel with the nonprofit advocacy group Free Press, told The Daily Beast, “This is a question for the courts ultimately. But the powers granted to the Gov Ops appear to give them overreaching investigative authority, which invokes constitutionality questions.”

A critical aspect of Gov Ops development lies in the language within the statute itself. The key phrase, as highlighted by Republican state legislators, is the investigation of “possible instances of misfeasance.”

It’s unsettling that North Carolina’s Republican state legislators are poised to wield unchecked partisan authority, devoid of any form of accountability, to determine what qualifies as “possible instances of misfeasance.” This newfound investigative power threatens to have far-reaching repercussions on fundamental civil liberties, particularly those closely intertwined with the state legislature—such as voting rights and abortion.

Consider the 2020 election aftermath. Following the election’s conclusion, several North Carolina Republican lawmakers—mirroring Trump and other far-right figures nationwide—demanded access to voting machines, relying on dubious sources and unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Initially, North Carolina Republicans asserted that they would work with police to obtain warrants for such inspections. However, with the advent of Gov Ops, committee leaders could now allege “possible instances of misfeasance,” eliminating the need for a warrant and keeping the public in the dark.

With the 2024 election looming, Republicans in the state legislature will redraw voting maps after the new conservative majority on the state’s Supreme Court legalized partisan gerrymandering. (The Princeton Gerrymandering Project called North Carolina one of the most gerrymandered states in the country.)

The redistricting process in the state has been grueling; since 2011, six different versions of maps have been drawn. The process has been conducted mainly behind closed doors, and North Carolinians continue to express frustration over how they’ve been locked out of the process.

A provision of Gov Ops will likely permit lawmakers drawing the maps to bypass public records requests: “lawmakers responding to public records requests will have no obligation to share any drafts or materials that guided their redistricting decisions.”

Now, let’s look at abortion. During a legislative hearing, state Sen. Graig Meyer (D) asked lawmakers, in a hypothetical scenario, if Gov Ops could access personal health records (like ultrasounds) that are required by the state to receive abortion pills. Sen. Meyer found that Gov Ops, with its widespread ability to investigate with zero oversight, could release information like this “to the public in a hearing” if it wanted to.

Benavidez explained, “At the end of the day, Gov Ops actions and requests for information are all protected as confidential, adding a layer of opacity which means people in North Carolina will have largely no idea what the Gov Ops entity is really doing.”

The consolidation of power by Republicans in North Carolina through Gov Ops is not just a cause for concern; it is a stark warning sign. The ability of state legislators to wield unchecked authority—shielded from the scrutiny of the voters they are obliged to serve—strikes at the heart of democratic principles.

Transparency and accountability are not optional in a democracy; they are its lifeblood.

When the process of drawing voting maps becomes cloaked in secrecy, when mechanisms to hold our elected officials accountable are dismantled, we risk losing our most cherished rights to our legislators, who should be our staunchest defenders.

Government powers like Gov Ops can potentially erode the very foundations of our democracy—which can’t work if politicians refuse to work for the people and have any accountability.

#us politics #news #republicans #the daily beast #conservatives #alt right #secret police #Gov Ops #Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations #Phil Berger #Tim Moore #Gov. Roy Cooper #government overreach #fourth amendment violations #fourth amendment #illegal search and seizure #warrants #Nora Benavidez #Free Press #Republican state legislators #civil liberties #voting rights #gun rights #abortions #confidentiality #gerrymandering #redistricting #Graig Meyer #YouTube #videos

[magthemage]

Soooo... Some friends and I decided to run a bi-weekly creative event where we improvise a random OC xD We pick a Jojo part, pick a name, RNG the biometric traits so we all have a starting "concept" and then we run wild, giving both a design and a backstory! It's mind blowing how different the same concept turned out! Meet version one of the bi-weekly OC, Eleanor Cavendish!

Want to see how my fellow artists ran the concept? ♥ See @theschneckenhouse 's version [HERE]! ♥ See @white-nolse 's version [HERE]! ~ Backstory under the cut ~

Eleanor Cavendish - Born in New York as Eleanor Vanderbilt, an American noveau riche, daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the first self-made magnate who made a fortune in railroads and shipping. A rather refined, yet quiet lady, her passive nature became her undoing as her mother Frank Armstrong coveted the status that came with the idea of having a nobility title, something constitutionally forbidden in America after the civil war. So, against her daughter's wishes, she promised her to the Baron of Northbourne, Alexander Cavendish, a 59 year old old-school noble that had more poise than funds to keep his state running. Catherine tried to run away with her sweetheart of the time, the son of the Vanderbilt's cook, but the boy was quickly 'dispatched to work at the ferry station' and she was locked in her bedroom against her will until the day of the marriage. Once in England against her own will, married to a man she found disgusting, she met the ever elusive Dio Brando at a party held to celebrate Jonathan's entrance to the university. She saw in him the freedom and danger she was doomed to never have in her marriage and he found a quick piggybank to use for his whims.

#magdraws #magoc #jjba #jjba oc #jjba part 1 #dynamic with friends #digital art

[adickaboutspoons]

🤡🛒⛔ for the meme!

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

I prefer to think of most of my WIPs as in long-term holding patterns, but yeah, there's a couple that will prolly never get developed further. There's one I wrote to entertain my Discord girlies (g/n) as an canon-divergence to 1x7 where Jack is drunk enough to black out before whippies part II & drunken Ed goes to see about Stede reading in his bunk. And I quoted entirely too much "Tess of the D'urbervilles" and there is drunken knifeplay.

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

I'm constitutionally incapable of not comparing Stede to the sun or going on at length about Ed's incredible eyes. You know it's an envinoveritas joint if Stede is deeply oblivious or, at the very least, nobly restrained when it comes to Ed, because he's fundamentally incapable of believing that anyone, much less *Ed*, could be attracted to him. Oh, also I'm a little obsessed with Ed creatively swearing in his head - if the fic is from his POV, there WILL be at least on instance where he's all "Fucking fuck a motherless poxy cock-swallowing twat waffle of a duck taint in hell."

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh? I think I'm a pretty funny writer, but I don't really laugh at my own jokes. That said, I'm not above a self-satisfied smile. Here's a scene from a Taskmaster AU I've been pecking away at for the entertainment of my Discord girlies (g/n). The premise is that, while recording the tasks, Stede got assigned a solo task to send cheeky texts to Greg's phone every day for five months, only to find out at the record for the in-studio part of the show that Greg hadn't received a single one; Stede had sent them all to the wrong number. Which started to text back after the episode aired...

He climbed out of bed, wincing just a little when he stretched and cursing his old bones. He went to the bathroom, brushed the bog-taste from his mouth, pulled on some clean clothes, then grabbed his phone to go downstairs and put on some tea. A calming brew might be just the thing, depending on what William S. Hornberry, Esq. had to say. Will answered on the second ring. “It’s already on telly, Stede. You really just need to put Channel 4 as far from your mind as possible,” he sighed into the phone without any preamble. “No - I mean, yes, I know. This is not about that. Well, adjacent to that. What I mean to say is I got a reply. From the person I’ve been texting in error I mean.” There was another sigh down the line, and the sound of Will taking a sip of a calming brew of his own. “Okay. Let’s have it.” “What?” “Read it to me - what does it say?” Stede picked the Taskmaster phone up off the counter and thumbed the power button. He undid the lock screen (a picture of Greg’s disapproving face staring out at him), and pulled up the text window. “Oh! There’s more since I went to bed last night!” he said. He skimmed over the new message quickly. So far, no indication that this was going to go south! Excellent. He judiciously tempered his excitement until he heard Will’s opinion, though. Will waited in polite silence. Stede cleared his throat, scrolled back up to where the messages started, and read it all off to him. “‘Loved the show tonight.' 'Been loving the texts even more.' 'Keep ‘em coming.' 'Sexy.' That’s all the stuff from before I went to bed. The new stuff says: ‘You deserved more than 2 points for Kings Quest. That game rocked.' 'Let me know when you’re done playing with floppy things. I’ve got something hard I think you might be interested in.’ So what do we think? Doesn’t seem like they’re inclined to sue me, right?” “Well, if he is, he won’t have a leg to stand on now that he’s flirting back,” Will answered with a hearty chortle. “Flirting? What - no! Just being cheeky, surely? Giving as good as they got.” Another heavy sigh heaved its way down the line. “Stede, I say this not just as your lawyer, but, after all these years, someone I hope you think of as a dear friend. You don’t have the best track record when it comes to realizing someone is flirting with you.” “I think I’d know if someone was flirting with me.” Stede huffed. “Name one time you’ve seen someone flirt with me and I didn’t recognize it.” There was a long silence. So long that Stede pulled the phone away from his ear to see if the call had dropped. “Just-” Stede pulled the phone back to his ear quickly, “Just send yourself screencaps from the Taskmaster phone, ok? Just in case it gets deactivated? That way you’ll still have the evidence. Leave it to me to prove intent.” “Okay,” Stede agreed. “Do you want me to forward it to you as well?” “God no - I don’t want your Etonian smut. Not until absolutely necessary at least.” “You’re hilarious,” Stede said wryly. “No, that’s your job. Goodbye, Stede. I’m charging you for the whole hour.” “Hilarious,” Stede repeated and rang off.

#ask meme #ofmd fic #my modest contribution to fandom

[scotianostra]

On May 7th 1711 the Scottish philosopher David Hume was born.

I had the chance to post this on April 26th, as it also flags up as his birth date. The reason for this is the calendar change at the start of 1711, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, at times I have used the old style calendar, this year the latter.

As well as a philosopher David Hume was a historian and essayist, he is placed amongst the likes of John Locke, Francis Bacon, George Berkeley and Thomas Hobbes.

Hume is remembered for his influential system of radical philosophical empiricism, scepticism and naturalism. Hume intently believed that passion rather than reason governed human behaviour and that human knowledge was solely based on human experience.

Sadly, Hume gained fame much later in his life, his works having been appreciated and considered of immense value only posthumously. Hume began his literary journey with his masterpiece, ‘A Treatise of Human Nature’. Though the book was widely discarded and written off by the critics then, it is today considered as one of the post important works on history of western philosophy.

Hume found success only later in his life when he turned into an essayist. His job as a librarian in the University of Edinburgh helped him access a lot of research materials which provided him the guided information for his massive six volume masterpiece, ‘The History of England’. The book earned favourable response and became a bestseller. It was considered as a standard history of England during its time. He is considered as a pivotal figure in the history of philosophical thought.

As with many from past generations Hume has been scrutinised over the last few years due to his disgusting racist views. The University of Edinburgh removed the name of David Hume from one of its campus buildings, citing concerns that the 18th century philosopher’s views on race cause “distress” to modern day students. However, the move has been criticised by several academics, including some employed by the university. They pointed out that Hume’s wider writings offered profound insights into human nature and served as a source of inspiration to generations of thinkers.

In his essay, “Of National Characters,” Hume says:

I am apt to suspect the negroes and in general all other species of men (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation; no ingenious manufactures amongst them, no arts, no sciences. On the other hand, the most rude and barbarous of the whites, such as the ancient GERMANS, the present TARTARS, have still something eminent about them in their valour, form of government, or some other particular. Such a uniform and constant difference could not happen in so many countries and ages, if nature had not made an original distinction betwixt these breeds of men. Not to mention our colonies, there are Negroe slaves dispersed all over Europe, of which none ever discovered any symptoms of ingenuity, tho’ low people, without education, will start up amongst us, and distinguish themselves in every profession. In JAMAICA indeed they talk of one negroe as a man of parts and learning; but ’tis likely he is admired for very slender accomplishments like a parrot, who speaks a few words plainly.

Dr Asanga Welikala, a lecturer in public law at the university and co-convenor of the Keith Forum on Commonwealth Constitutionalism, was among those to oppose the renaming of the tower.

He wrote on Twitter: “I do not agree with this decision. David Hume’s thought has inspired me throughout a 20 year career working to further constitutional democracy in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. As an employee of Edinburgh University I was not consulted in this.”

There have also been calls for his statue to be removed from it’s prominent place on the Royal Mile.

#scotland #scottish #history #edinburgh #philosopher #historian

[myrddin-wylt]

man there's gonna be a lot of super interesting elections next year. aside from the US general election, we'll also see:

Mexico's general election and very possibly first female president of Mexico

the Malian military will have to either keep its promise and hold presidential elections or hold onto power and almost certainly convince ECOWAS to intervene militarily

so South Sudan's first presidential election is supposed to be held, though if you've been following the news lately, that's less certain now...

we'll see how Ramaphosa and his party fair in South Africa. I've lowkey been more interested in watching what he does before the election

but I'm very excited to see if Canada will give us that public humiliation of Trudeau I've been asking for the past several years

I know India might hold a national election, so it'll be interesting to watch Modi until then as well

the government of Belarus is getting ready to embarrass itself again

Ukraine's presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled but expected to be delayed until martial law is lifted, as per Ukraine's constitution. lmao @ Putin for constitutionally locking in the very same president he tried to illegally and militarily kick from power. lmao bitch you thought

last but not least, Russia's presidential election is in March 2024 and I'm not sure if I'm excited or nervous or expect nothing but I can't help but wonder if Alexei Navalny is going to even survive that long

[dutch-and-flemish-painters]

Richard van Bleeck - William Petyt Holding a Copy of the Magna Carta - c 1690

oil on canvas, height: 74 cm (29.1 in); width: 60 cm (23.6 in)

Tower of London, UK

William Petyt (or Petit) (1640/1641 – 3 October 1707) was an English barrister and writer, and a political propagandist in the Whig interest.

Petyt was born in 1640 or 1641 in the village of Storiths, near Bolton Abbey, Skipton, Yorkshire, and educated at the Free Grammar School (now Ermysted's Grammar School), Skipton, and Christ's College, Cambridge. He was admitted as a barrister to the Middle Temple in June 1660, and to Barnard's Inn in June 1661. He was specially admitted to the Inner Temple on 25 November 1664, and subsequently called to the Bar there in February 1671 and made a bencher in 1689. He served as Treasurer (that is, the head) of Inner Temple in 1701–1702.

On 25 July 1689, Petyt was appointed Keeper of the records at the Tower of London by William III, replacing in that position Robert Brady who had made a very effective attack for the Tories on Petyt's The Antient Right of the Commons of England Asserted (1680).[6] Petyt was attacked also from his own side, the Whigs, by Thomas Hunt.

Petyt wrote against the separation of powers, and in favour of Parliament's control of the judiciary. Influential in its time, in particular on John Locke, was a version of "ancient constitutionalism" propounded in the writings of John Sadler, James Tyrrell and Petyt.

Petyt died unmarried in Chelsea, London, on 3 October 1707, and was buried in the west part of Temple Church. In his will he left £50 to the Free Grammar School in Skipton which was used to purchase books for needy students. He also left £200 for the maintenance of alumni of the Free Grammar School who had been admitted as scholars at Christ's College, Cambridge. In addition, he entrusted to his trustees his books and manuscripts together with £150 for buying or building a place to preserve them. Inner Temple Library was enlarged for this purpose, and in 1708 Petyt's trustees deposited his collection there, except for about 2,000 items which his brother Sylvester (1640–1719) took to his home in Yorkshire. Sylvester, who also attended the Free Grammar School, eventually bequeathed to the school the generous sum of £30,000 to form the Petyt Trust, and also books belonging to himself, his brother and friends which became the Petyt Library.

Richard van Bleeck (1670–1733) was a Dutch Golden Age painter.

#richard van bleeck #golden age #the hague #uk #portrait

[originalleftist]

The three main arguments against Biden seem to be:

-He's old.

-Hunter Biden.

-Gaza.

Trump is almost as old, lives a more unhealthy life style, was out of his mind even without dementia, and also long life and good health aren't really a plus in a dictator FOR LIFE, which is what he aspires to be.

The cornerstone of this case is literally a confessed Russian agent who's been arrested for giving false testimony.

Biden, at least, supports a Palestinian state in principle, and has worked to get more aid into Gaza. Donald Trump supports a Muslim ban.

Also, many legal experts, judges, and state officials agree that Trump is Constitutionally ineligible to be President as an insurrectionist oath breaker under the 14th Amendment, and that will be true regardless of whether SCOTUS (including the three justices he and appointed, one of whom is likely complicit in the insurrection or at least married to someone who is) decides to ignore the Constitution on his behalf. Literally, of the two, Biden is the only one legally eligible to hold the office.

And no, there is no remotely viable third option, poll after poll and vote after vote proves that, and the stakes are too damn high for self-delusion.

But maybe you're asking, okay, but what are the positives to Biden? What has he done? Well, again, literally the only major candidate who's Constitutionally eligible to hold the office, which is fucked up beyond belief, but here we are. But if that's not enough:

Most diverse and representative Federal judiciary in American history.

Federal Marijuana pardons (he literally can't pardon state convictions, only Federal).

Massive infrastructure bill.

Lowered prices of various prescription drugs.

Hundreds of billions in student debt relief, for nearly four million Americans and counting.

Helped ensure Ukraine's continued survival.

And this is the start of a VERY long list.

Reasons to vote for Trump? I don't know, you want everyone who's not a rich white Christian man to suffer more than you want a liveable planet? You really get off on seeing little kids locked in cages?

Seriously folks, this isn't a hard choice.

#US #Politics #Election #2024 #Joe Biden #Israel #Gaza #Ukraine #Bidenomics #Hunter Biden #Trump #Fascism #Propaganda #Misinformation #Ridin' With Biden #Vote Blue

[blueheartbookclub]

"A Foundation of Modern Political Thought: A Review of John Locke's Second Treatise of Government"

John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" stands as a cornerstone of modern political philosophy, presenting a compelling argument for the principles of natural rights, social contract theory, and limited government. Written against the backdrop of political upheaval in 17th-century England, Locke's treatise remains as relevant and influential today as it was upon its publication.

At the heart of Locke's work lies the concept of natural rights, wherein he asserts that all individuals are born with inherent rights to life, liberty, and property. Locke argues that these rights are not granted by governments but are instead derived from the natural state of humanity. Through logical reasoning and appeals to natural law, Locke lays the groundwork for the assertion of individual rights as fundamental to the legitimacy of government.

Central to Locke's political theory is the notion of the social contract, wherein individuals voluntarily enter into a political community to secure their rights and promote their common interests. According to Locke, legitimate government arises from the consent of the governed, and its authority is derived from its ability to protect the rights of its citizens. This contract between rulers and the ruled establishes the basis for legitimate political authority and provides a framework for assessing the legitimacy of governmental actions.

Locke's treatise also advocates for the principle of limited government, arguing that the powers of government should be strictly defined and circumscribed to prevent tyranny and abuse of authority. He contends that governments exist to serve the interests of the people and should be subject to checks and balances to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of a few. Locke's advocacy for a separation of powers and the rule of law laid the groundwork for modern democratic governance and constitutionalism.

Moreover, Locke's emphasis on the right to revolution remains a contentious and influential aspect of his political philosophy. He argues that when governments fail to fulfill their obligations to protect the rights of citizens, individuals have the right to resist and overthrow oppressive regimes. This revolutionary doctrine has inspired movements for political reform and self-determination throughout history, serving as a rallying cry for those seeking to challenge unjust authority.

In conclusion, John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" is a seminal work that continues to shape the discourse on political theory and governance. Through his eloquent prose and rigorous argumentation, Locke presents a compelling vision of a just and legitimate political order grounded in the principles of natural rights, social contract, and limited government. His ideas have left an indelible mark on the development of liberal democracy and remain essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the foundations of modern political thought.

John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" is available in Amazon in paperback 12.99$ and hardcover 19.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 181

Language: English

Rating: 9/10                                           

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

#Second Treatise of Government #John Locke political theory #Natural rights philosophy #Social contract theory Locke #Limited government principles #Individual liberty Locke #Government legitimacy theory #Consent of the governed #Locke's political philosophy #Locke's theory of government #Locke's political ideas #Locke's philosophy of freedom #Locke's view on governance #Locke's theory of sovereignty #Locke's concept of property rights #Locke's influence on democracy #Enlightenment political thought #Liberal democracy Locke #Civil liberties in Locke's theory #Separation of powers Locke #Rule of law Locke #Right to revolution theory #Constitutionalism Locke #Political reform ideas #Tyranny resistance Locke #Locke's concept of equality #Locke's principles of justice #Government accountability Locke #Freedom of expression Locke #Civic duty in Locke's theory

[cridhe]

Asylum seekers, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, had been crossing the porous Egypt- Israel border since 2006, braving kidnappings, torture, and rape by Bedouin traffickers, and have been rounded up and deported by the Israeli immigration police since 2012. The deportations were presented as “protecting the Jewish identity of the state” and copper- fastening Israel’s racialized citizenship regime. Thus, in August 2012 Interior Minister Eli Yishai instructed the Population and Immigration Authority to arrest Eritreans and North Sudanese, since the “infiltrator threat is just as severe as the Iranian (nuclear) threat,” insisting that deporting “illegal migrants” upholds the “Zionist dream” and that “until I can deport them I’ll lock them up to make their lives miserable.” Israel has enacted a series of laws aimed at preventing people it contentiously calls “infiltrators” rather than asylum seekers from entering the state. It is worth noting that the term “infiltrators” was used in the 1950s to describe Palestinians attempting to return to the lands they had been expelled from in 1948.

The attempts to deport asylum seekers to “third countries” in Africa, mostly Rwanda and Uganda, with whom Israel trades in arms and security equipment, followed the deportations of “unauthorized” labor migrants since the early 2000s. In order to ensure their deportability— the threat rather than the act of removal from the nation-state— Israel constructed an electric fence along its border with Egypt, and the “world’s largest detention facilities” able to hold up to 11,000 people, where the “infiltrators” could be detained up to three years without trial— allegedly the longest such detention period in the West. Israel has a uniquely low refugee recognition rate: as shown in a Knesset report, only 200 people had been awarded refugee status in Israel since its establishment in 1948, and between 2009 and 2012, of 14,000 asylum applications, only twenty- two people were recognized as refugees.

David Sheen, who has been documenting the racialization of African migrants and asylum seekers, describes Israel’s success in reducing the number of Africans living in the territory it controls as “ethnic cleansing,” the term Pappe employs to describe the 1948 Nakba. Documenting the unapologetic racialization of African asylum seekers by politicians, Sheen notes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s pre-2015 election boast about limiting the access of African asylum seekers, racialized as “terrorists,” to the Jewish state: “We shut off, completely closed off access to terrorists, to infiltrators to the State of Israel . . . The only state that managed to control its borders.” Once Netanyahu secured reelection, Sheen adds, he appointed to his cabinet three Likud lawmakers who were featured speakers at a May 2012 anti-African rally in Tel Aviv that devolved into a full-on race riot: “For years, Netanyahu has led a team of ministers who demonized Africans in the minds of the Israeli public by associating them with terrorism and fatal diseases.”

In September 2013 the Israeli High Court ruled against the constitutionality of the Anti-Infiltration Law that allowed jailing asylum seekers for three years without trial, refusing to examine their asylum applications and treating them like criminals. However, Sheen writes, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who headed the parliamentary “lobby to return the infiltrators to their countries”— a group dedicated to expelling all African refugees from Israel— introduced a bill that would limit the high court’s power to overturn laws. In 2015, as judges were concluding the deliberations over the Knesset’s third amendment to the Anti- Infiltration Law, Shaked was busy uploading videos to the internet depicting African refugees in a negative light.

Commenting on the Supreme Court as negating Zionist values in her speech before the Israel Bar Association in Tel Aviv, on August 29, 2017, Shaked pitted Zionism against human rights. According to Gideon Levy,

if in 1975, Israel’s UN ambassador Chaim Herzog dramatically tore up a copy of UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, equating Zionism with racism, the justice minister has now admitted the truthfulness of the resolution (which was later revoked) . . . Shaked prefers Zionism to human rights, the ultimate universal justice. She believes that we have a different kind of justice, superior to universal justice. Zionism above all. It’s been said before, in other languages and other nationalist movements.

In November 2017, Israel further escalated its racializing asylum policies announcing its intention to forcibly deport 40,000 African asylum seekers— including 27,500 from Sudan and 7,800 from Eritrea— and to close the Holot detention facility by 2018. Asylum seekers, whose applications Israel does not recognize, were given a choice to either leave Israel voluntarily for Rwanda or Uganda within three months, or suffer indefinite detention in Israel. Israel would pay Rwanda— which it had armed during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi— 5,000 dollars for each asylum seekers it accepts, and would grant 3,500 dollars plus airfare to each African who agrees to leave. Netanyahu referred to the policy as the “increased removal” of the “infiltrators”: “This removal is enabled thanks to an international agreement I achieved, which allows us to remove the 40,000 remaining ‘infiltrators’ without their consent.” Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who introduced the proposal, said the deportations were necessary to “return peace and quiet” to the country and “ease the suffering of residents in south Tel Aviv and other neighborhoods where the infiltrators reside.”

from 'Traces of Racial Exception: Racializing Israeli Settler Colonialism' by Ronit Lentin

#israel #racism #palestine #so gross

[starryeyes2000]

The Road Back: Chapter 40

The Dud

Read on AO3 or FFN

Rating: Teen

Pairings: Christopher Pike x OFC (Aalin)

Word Length: 3.2k

Summary: Once the physical injuries from Talos healed, Chris resolutely moved on resuming a casual social life. When he met someone who called to his heart and each time the moment was right to become lovers he pulled back. Unwilling to trust himself. Unsure if the attraction and his feelings were real. Torn between desire and self-protection. For the Talos incident was more than kidnapping, imprisonment, and mind-control. It was a violation of the deepest and most intimate kind. And perhaps there was no way back.

Excerpt:

Years Ago

The decades following the end of the Earth-Romulan conflict proved an era of prosperity for the alpha and beta quadrants as well as the Orion arm of the galaxy. After the armistice, war allies, Earth, Vulcan, Andor, and Tellar, formalized their coalition by establishing the United Federation of Planets, creating a shared executive, legislature, judiciary, and currency. The sovereign states of this union also acted in common. For its constituents, governing would be local and central, all bound by commitments to share knowledge and resources, to conduct fair trade, to guarantee and further the universal rights of all sentient life while respecting the beliefs, social forms, and material traits of every group.

A constitution was written codifying these rights. Starfleet was chartered for mutual defense and exploration. Other species petitioned for inclusion and at a rapid pace this confederation expanded in membership and territory.

Not all within the Federation’s protection experienced this prosperity. Or safety. There were biases for the founding members and those species possessing abundant quantities of natural resources underpinning modern life, such as dilithum crystals, which could not be done without and nor created in a lab. Growth came too fast, taxing the fledgling union’s capabilities and cohesion. When a species proved its readiness to join, all of its home planets’ colonies were grandfathered into the Federation without verification that these adjunct and often splinter groups’ mores met the minimum threshold required for entry. A few parent governments did not police their far-flung dependencies; Starfleet did not possess the personnel, ships nor warp capability for regular visits to these holdings. In some colonies, monies granted for providing food, shelter, health care, public services, and basic constitutionally protected amenities were extorted by local officials, business executives, and other criminals.

William Matthews was born into one of these settlements, one too far from prominent members of the Federation, belligerent or aggressive aliens, or busy shipping corridors to merit notice. His parents, Terrans who emigrated to this distant world after earthquakes and floods destroyed their birth colony, enticed by false promises of high wages and land of their own, accepted indenture in exchange for the cost of passage. They worked in a cramped and crumbling factory, locked in a building manning an assembly line from sunup to sunset, with three days off each lunar cycle. On this planet, the moon waxed and waned every sixty Earth days. His parents died in a fire, orphaning him at nine years old.

Continue reading on AO3 or FFN

Series Masterlist | OC Masterlist | Author Masterlist

Taglist: @arrthurpendragon @ocappreciation @ocappreciationtag @bardic-tales @themaradwrites @chickensarentcheap

#Christopher Pike #Christopher Pike x OC #Captain Pike #Captain Pike x OC #Star Trek #Star Trek: Discovery #Star Trek: Strange New Worlds #star trek fanfiction #star trek fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #ocfanfic #ocfanfiction #Star Trek Discovery #Star Trek Strange New Worlds #anson mount #strange new worlds #star trek: snw #star trek snw #snw

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Ilya Shapiro, Leor Sapir and John Ketcham

Published: Mar 23, 2023

An emerging issue in public education is school officials’ secret “social transitioning” of children into alternate gender identities. A case currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Foote v. Ludlow School Committee, presents the clearest opportunity yet to uphold parents’ rights and protect kids from serious risks associated with social transitioning.

During the 2020–21 school year in the Ludlow, Massachusetts, district, teachers and staff actively promoted children’s social transitioning—calling them by new names and pronouns, while hiding these changes from parents. One counselor had secret discussions with students, including over online chat, suggesting that they weren’t safe with their parents. The parents of two children complained to school administrators. The superintendent called the parents’ concerns “thinly-veiled intolerance” and claimed that the school officials’ actions were required by state educational guidelines and antidiscrimination laws. The parents sued in federal court, alleging a violation of their constitutional rights to direct the upbringing of their children, make medical and mental-health decisions for them, and enjoy familial privacy.

Last December, the district court granted the school’s motion to dismiss. The court reasoned that plaintiffs had not “explained how referring to a person by their preferred name and pronouns, which requires no special training or skill, has clinical significance when there is no treatment plan or diagnosis in place.” In other words, social transitioning, standing alone, was not medically relevant and thus fell outside of the parents’ right to make health-care decisions for their kids. Plaintiffs appealed to the First Circuit, where the case is pending.

We recently filed an amicus brief supporting the parents that corrects the district court’s understanding. It presents medical research showing that, far from a neutral act or polite convention, social transition is an active mental-health intervention that poses serious risks to children and adolescents. Consequently, its use in schools infringes on parents’ constitutionally protected rights.

Decades of medical research have found that at least 70 percent of gender-dysphoric children desist by adulthood; that is, most will eventually grow to feel comfortable with their natal sex. Given this natural remission, the Dutch clinicians who pioneered pediatric gender transition have recognized that early social transition carries serious risks. They warned that some children transitioned early “barely realize that they are of the other natal sex” and develop a sense of reality unrooted in their biological sex and loaded with unrealistic expectations. The Dutch team therefore recommended postponing social transition until adolescence—and then only after a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Researchers and clinicians treating gender-distressed youths have similarly expressed concern that social transition can lock in a temporary phase of identity development and unnecessarily make accepting one’s sex and coming to terms with one’s body more difficult. A 2013 study found that social transition was associated with the persistence of gender dysphoria—but the authors could not state with confidence whether transition perpetuated these feelings, or whether those who would not have desisted naturally were more likely to have socially transitioned. A 2022 study by researchers who intended to show that “trans kids know who they are” and rarely change their minds inadvertently supported the first hypothesis. The social transitioning of children interferes with the natural process of desistence and increases the chances of unnecessary, harmful medicalization.

There’s also good reason to believe that transgender identity isn’t stable in adolescents—or even adults. In recent years, a cohort of adolescents suddenly experiencing gender-dysphoric feelings has rapidly emerged, suggesting that cross-gender feelings are neither innate nor immutable. Clinicians have no consistent and reliable way to distinguish between “true transgender” youths—those in whom cross-gender feelings are indicative of a lifelong struggle with accepting one’s body and sex and a related desire to live socially as a member of the opposite sex—and those who are merely, and in some cases temporarily, “gender-nonconforming.” Claims about minuscule rates of regret are based on studies done almost exclusively on adults. The handful of adolescents in these studies were transitioned under the Dutch protocol, a more conservative approach rarely, if ever, practiced in American clinics. Recent studies have acknowledged rates of regret and retransition from 10 percent to 30 percent.

Moreover, U.S. medical groups are increasingly out of step with their European counterparts on the use and value of social transition. Whereas American associations have mischaracterized the desistence/persistence literature and called for automatic “gender affirmation” of children, regardless of age, health authorities in Finland and the U.K. have recognized that social transition is an active psychological intervention, rebuffing the idea that children’s self-perception should be “affirmed” reflexively.

Finally, when transgender-identified plaintiffs and their advocates in court argued that they were legally entitled to use opposite-sex bathrooms, they claimed that social transition was a “critical” part of the medical treatment for gender dysphoria.

Given all this evidence, the question of whether to pursue social transition of students falls squarely within fit parents’ constitutionally protected discretion to make their children’s health-care decisions. Ludlow school officials acted unconstitutionally by socially transitioning students against their parents’ wishes and in secret. Even worse, they put the mental and physical health of minors at risk. The First Circuit should reverse the district court and protect students from harm at the hands of ideologically motivated government employees who believe they know best.

[ Via: https://archive.ph/CaxbC ]

==

https://cass.independent-review.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Cass-Review-Interim-Report-Final-Web-Accessible.pdf#page=62

Social transition – this may not be thought of as an intervention or treatment, because it is not something that happens within health services. However, it is important to view it as an active intervention because it may have significant effects on the child or young person in terms of their psychological functioning. There are different views on the benefits versus the harms of early social transition. Whatever position one takes, it is important to acknowledge that it is not a neutral act, and better information is needed about outcomes.

#Leor Sapir #Ilya Shapiro #John Ketcham #gender ideology #genderwang #queer theory #social transition #gender identity #gender affirmation #gender affirming #affirmation model #detrans #detransition #religion is a mental illness

[keriwangxianrecs]

link / tags and summary removed as the fic is locked

I can’t pick an actual favourite fic because I’m constitutionally indecisive, but I am starting off the blog with this one, which may be my most-reread fic so far.

This fic makes me feel feelings! There are so many brilliant and touching turns of phrase that have stuck with me. I’m a total sucker for ‘unrequited love before a happy ending’ fics. 

#wangxian #diamondbruise #angst #canon au #pining

[mariacallous]

Honestly, the chapter "How We Locked Up The Republicans" is one of the best ones in the whole book, and has as the crux and central event a situation as dramatic as the 15 round Speaker's election we just sat through.

It involves the state budget, a supplemental school finance bill, Republicans trying to sound reasonable but being obstructive and dumb, and constitutionally-required vote thresholds with a narrow majority needing a small number to swing over to the other side.