kengr

Explosion Destroys Mysterious Monument in Georgia, Authorities Say

Somebody bombed the Georgia Guidestones.

I don't recall hearing about them before fayanora pointed me at an article about this.

But since the most likely explanation is that somebody set the bomb(s) because they thought the Guidestones were "satanic" then they are behaving *exactly* the same way the Taliban did when it destroyed those ancient Buddist statues.

Blowing something up because it is not approved of by *your* religion is never justified.

Also, it violates the freedom of religion that keeps *your* religion safe from others.

So this is not merely illegal, it's also *stupid*. Your religion is not "special". It doesn't deserve (or get) special consideration. That's the whole *point* of that part of the First Amendment.

doing this sort of thing "justifies" burning churches and bombing temples. You don't get to have it both ways. Either all religions deserve respect, or none do. And I don't think you really want the latter.

Since former President Trump is apparently filing lawsuits in an attempt to regain access the social media platforms he's been banned from, I figure it's time to remind folks about how the First Amendment works.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

OK, lets take these in order. The religion clause says the *government* can't act *for* or against a religion *as* a religion. But it does *not* say that something being part of your religion gets you a free pass if it violates a law (unless that laws is specifically aimed a religion or religions).

It also doesn't say that "free exercise" of your religion allows you to try to force other people to live in accordance with your religion's rules.

Freedom of speech is again a matter of the government not being able to control what you do and don't say. But it says nothing about *consequences* to your speech. Libel, slander and obscenity laws all are cases of your speech having consequences.

Likewise, private citizens and groups are are not restricted from saying "you can't say that on my property". If you are in a public space, or on your own property, they don't have a say about it.

Well "disturbing the peace" does come into play, but that's about *how* you are saying it, not *what* you are saying.

Not the "on their property" bit. That's what makes it legally for social media companies to ban you or limit what you say. It's *their* soapbox you are using. If they object,, you are pretty much stuck unless you can make a claim of discrimination.

It's not violating your freedom of speech, because you can say things elsewhere.

Freedom of the press is much the same, except rather than individuals, we are dealing with "publishers". And website owners *are* publishers. Just as you can't force a newspaper or TV station to print/air your words, you can't force a website to carry them either. *They* have editorial control, not you.

Want t be able to say anything you want? Start your own site. Just remember that you are subject to the laws about libel, slander and obscenity. Also, if you are using a hosting company, *they* can object to your content.

Now as to "peaceably assemble", the "peaceably" is the biggie. That's the difference between a legitimate protest or demonstration and a riot. And yes, the definitions get abused a *lot*. In both directions.

Finally we have "petition the Government for a redress of grievances". That one is fairly obvious. But again, *how* you do it matters. See my comments above about the difference between protests and riots.

I will note that you are more likely to get you "petition read/listened to if you aren't screaming or name calling.

Anyway, getting back to Trump, he'll almost certainly be claiming his freedom of speech is being violated. But in actual *fact* what he wants is to violate the social media company's freedom of the press by forcing them to publish things they don't want to.

I was reading an EFF post about police requesting copies of videos from Amazon Ring cameras and similar gizmos to try to identify protestors.

That reminded me of threads on using IR LEDs to mask your face from cameras.

My mind took it in a different direction. Make a loose net with LEDs at the junctions. A small, thin cable connects it to a battery pack. You could wear it as a veil, or make it more closely fitting to your face/head.

Add various other colored LEDs to the mix and it would be rather festive and decorative.

Then my mind made a jump. Same thing, but over the breasts and genitals for folks in nude events like the World Naked Bike Ride. Folks can take all the pics they want, but the "good parts" would be blurred out.

Feel free to use this idea as long as you make me one too :-)

The Supreme copurt ruled that the Civil Rights Act's section regarding discrimination on the basis of sex *does* apply to homosexuals and transgender folks . So now sexual orientation and gender identity are protected classes.

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/15/863498848/supreme-court-delivers-major-victory-to-lgbtq-employees?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews

A quote: "The vote was 6-3 with conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch joining the court's four liberal justices in the majority.".

This prtetty much means that the ban on transgendered people in the military has to go out the window along with the HHs rule change that removed protections for LGBT people.

Trump and a lot of his supporters must be *livid*!

Pirate Jenny (from The Threepenny Opera) sun by Lotte Lenya (who sang the the original German version in the movie back in 1931)



Warning: the dream she describes is more than a bit violent. not *detailed* violence, but...

Interesting side note. When Bobby Darin sang his version of Mack the Knife (Also from The Threepenny Opera) he included her name in the lyrics as one of MacHeath's girlfriends.

Apparently The Threepenny Opera is *very* anti-capitalist. :-)

The two are essentially the same, it's just that "white nationalism" is an attempt to sound better.

But both are spurred by the same thing: the idea (fact!) that in a few decades, whites will no longer be the majority in America.

That's why they are anti-immigrant. And anti-non-white.

What they avoid thinking about is that short of mass sterilization or pogroms, it *is* going to happen. at best they could delay it a few years.

BTW, it might be fun arguing with them that they should *want* free birth control for minorities. It'd slow down the demographic shift. :-)

What they very carefully don't think about much less *talk* about is that the reason they are afraid is that they don't want to be treated the way *they* treat minorities. This includes giving up "white privilege".

Which makes the *real* solution almost *literally* unthinkable. Change the laws so that minorities get equal rights. That way, when (no *if*) they become a minority, they won't get discriminated against.

Of course, either way, they will no longer have white privilege so that makes it a harder sell.

But realistically, there's no way that's not going to happen eventually. And the more drastic the measures they take to try to prevent it, the worse the backlash will be.

I *hope* we can avoid a second civil war. But I'm not that optimistic.

There are problems with the way asylum seekers are being treated and how they are being held. There are problems with conditions in jails, prisons, and many other place.

There's a solution. It'd fix all these and more. Alas, it's likely impossible to implement.

First step. To avoid all the games that get played about jurisdiction and what things are called set the rules up to cover *any* facility (may need a more general term) where people are not free to leave when they want to.

That'll cover everything from jails to internment camps, andf many other places as well (including a lot of the so-called "summer camps' and "rehab centers" that kids and teens get sent to to brainwash them into being what their parents want. these are usually based on "religion" btw.

Incidentally, to cover those *and* to deal with some other tricks various agencies have used to get around Us law, we should make it illegal to send people out of the US to such facilities in other countries unless said facilities are subject to the same inspections and rules as the ones in the US.

Now about those rules and inspections. The inspectors need to be something like the International Red Cross/Red Crescent inspectors for POW camps in various wars.

They may *not* be denied access to facilities or inmates.

Permanent video records should be maintained by some group independent of those running the facility. They will be used to investigate incidents of violence against staff *or* inmates. Likewise they will be used to investigate complaints of abuse.

They will *not* be available to those running the facilities (otherwise they'd use them to tighten their grip[ op the inmates).

There will be standards for food quality and quantity, sanitation, and other living conditions. This includes but is not limited to crowding, medical care and staffing.

Failure to abide by the rules will result in anything from fines to shutdown of the facility. Criminal charges *will* be filed against staff responsible *and* their superiors (the superiors, all the way up the chain are responsible for hiring and failing to properly supervise the folks under them).

Lets see how fast the possibility of jail time affects the people higher up the food chain.

Facilities will not be permitted to get overcrowded. (ie if they can't handle more people under the rules they either have to release enough to allow the new ones in, or they have to find someplace else for the new ones to go).

To prevent funding games, an adequate budget must be drawn up and the funds put in escrow. If one is not provided, one will be drawn up by outside experts.

The budgets are to prevent cutting costs by scrimping on food (quality or quantity), staffing, health care, etc.

Something will need to be done to avoid the problems of "unfunded mandates",

One would hope that setting things out as "if you want this many people in jail/prison/whatever you'll have to spend this much money" would get the politicians and public to make their expectations more realistic, but we all know better.

Private facilties (which, interestingly enough would include some schools and rehab centers) would also be affected rather strongly by this stuff.

I trust I don't have to explain *why* the odds of anything like this being implemnted are essentially nil, do I?

While talking about a number of things with alatefeline last night a couple of things came up.

One was unconscious assumptions. The other was the old canard "it takes two to make a fight".

While reading this article, the two ideas bashed together in my head.

The problem with "it takes two to fight" is the horribly inaccurate assumption it makes about "male" interactions in childhood. Namely that the choice is "fight"/"don't fight".

In reality, the choice is "get beat up"/"try to protect yourself". so it's actually unconscious gaslighting.

I mentioned "male" above because in my experience, it's always the female authority figures spouting this nonsensical piece of "wisdom". I suspect that is because of the differences in "male" and "female" socialization. Boys are expected to have fights. girls are "trained" to attack in less physical ways.

Though come to think of it, "it takes to to have a fight" *should* be equally applicable (and wrong) to the social sniping among girls, which can get *really* nasty by high school.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me" is another horrible example of gaslighting kids and is another bit of "wisdom" that should be stomped on *hard*.

Name calling can do *more* damage than physical assault, Bruises, even broken bones heal a lot faster than the emotional damage those "harmless" words can inflict.

I know I'm far from the only person to have PTSD from *emotional* abuse.

Muslims Recoil at a French Proposal to Change the Quran

Gee, the Bible and various other Christian writings have been used to justify racism, anti-Semitism and many other things. As well as to justify countless wars and terrorist acts.

Yet we don't hear calls to revise these things but rather to go after the folks who misuse them.

Can't have it both ways folks

Got my flu shot the other day while I was at the pharmacy for something else.

You have to fill out a form with a bunch medical info and some personal.

I noticed one change from last year's form.

For Sex, it now had Male Female and Other.

Yay.