#Ethic Committee

[saywhat-politics]

Many people pointed out the irony of how he was the only vote against the 2017 Human Trafficking Bill.

The release of the House Ethics Committee’s report about former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz caused quite a stir on social media.

Of course, that was expected to happen considering the report is chock full of shocking allegations that Gaetz violated House rules “prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress” ― as well as basic rules of conduct.

[andhumanslovedstories]

Looking for a fun activity to do this week? I recommend sitting your loved ones down and having the uncomfortable but necessary discussion where everyone makes sure everyone knows exactly what life extending measures people would and would not want so that so that in the case anyone is in the hospital needing these extreme interventions in order to keep living, you don’t make a hard situation all the more difficult by having to guess what bad option is the one your loved one would want. I also recommend bowling. If you’re brave enough, these two essential activities can and should be combined

[eparchclass]

Asexual / AroAce / Aromantic O5 Council + Ethics Committee logos

[msmc-796-official]

I... have a confession to make, of sorts. There won't ever be a good time to admit this, unfortunately, so it's best I get this off my chest now, and ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

It has not been easy speaking with all of the flashclones who have made themselves known in the wake of Union's latest raids; both for myself, and the squadron at large. I must commend my squadmates for handling themselves with the utmost professionalism - while my own correspondences with these newest members of the Omninet have been what I would consider adequately polite, I've been biting my tongue the entire time, and I fear that my personal discomfort with the issue is starting to slip through the cracks.

To this end, I wish to share my thoughts publicly, that I might better express my own emotions towards this complicated, frustrating, and highly nuanced issue. I only ask that you hear me out in full before you render judgement, and pronounce your sentence carefully.

First: an observation.

MSMC policy requires that all pilots dictate an end-of-life plan at the time of their recruitment, that their final wishes may be carried out by the company in the event of their death under MSMC's employ. The options provided for this are effectively unlimited, allowing the pilot a great deal of choice and freedom in planning their postmortem arrangements. These plans may also be altered in the future should circumstances change, provided the pilot is of sound body and mind.

Under MSMC policy, in compliance with the policies set forth by Union, one of the available postmortem options is flashcloning.

In my fifteen-odd years serving under MSMC, I have only heard of three pilots who have willingly chosen to be flashcloned after death (thus prolonging not only their life, but their term of service under MSMC as well). Of these, I have only personally met one, affiliated with MSMC-808 "5Q8R3 L00P3RZ" - I believe their current iteration goes by callsign Lemniscate. While I do not know how many times they have been cloned during their term of service, their current iteration seems happy enough, and their squadmates reassure me that they've maintained a consistent identity (plus or minus the odd quirk, as is typical of flashclones) throughout their life (lives?).

Second: a digression.

I purchased my Dusk Wing, And The Voice of Apollo Spoke From On High (Apollo for short), from an SSC showroom on a planet whose name I no longer recall. The curated atmosphere called to mind the high marble pillars and lush green-blue waters of some distant Cradle mythology where gods roamed the earth and mortals strove to emulate them, punished and rewarded for their folly in equal measure with gifts and curses beyond name. Each frame was posed as the statues of old on Cradle, too-human limbs arrayed in too-human poses, each a machine of war turned living art piece.

Apollo, true to its future name, was arrayed in flight; hover-jets draped with sunlight-yellow gossamer, veil rifle aimed in its middle tier of manipulators with the same care and precision as an archer would take with their bow. To see it lowered to the floor after its purchase was to see Icarus fall; to climb inside its cockpit for the first time, to don wax-and-feather wings of my own and fly.

The old tales caution that divinity has a cost, and I too paid the price. A vial of blood, drawn with silver needle and spirited away into an unseen cooler before my pen ever touched paper. Apollo was mine, but SSC had received a far greater gift in its place: a sample of my DNA, unwillingly donated as the price for my divine armament.

Even now, this price weighs heavy on my head like the sword which hung above Damocles, poised to drop without a moment's notice with each new Union raid on yet another forgotten cloning facility. Who can say on what distant planet the children I did not birth sleep in stasis - children with my eyes, my hair, my nose, my smile; sons and daughters who will never be called as such because, to their creators, they are slaves, weapons, property - anything but human.

Third: an explanation.

I believe that flashcloning, in its current state as of 5016u, as approved by Union's Third Committee (and exploited by the likes of SSC, HA, and several countless others across the stars) is an inherently unethical practice; both for those who donate their DNA (willingly or otherwise), as well as for those persons produced by it.

To see countless lives created, manipulated, slaughtered, and recycled in the name of so-called "progress"; to see inherently human beings stripped of every vestige of humanity but the body in which they reside and then forcibly brainwashed and molded into soldiers, medics, mechanics, weapons, machines, slaves, property - it is an abominable and inhumane practice that should have died a slow and painful death in the darkness from whence it was birthed.

This being said: I cannot stand idly by as the products of this inhumane practice continue to suffer. No matter whether it is beneath the apathetic gaze of Union, the dehumanizing bootheel of HA, or the eugenicist scalpel of SSC, I will not allow my fellow persons to endure another day of abuse at the hands of those who would abandon their own creations as little more than imperfect failures for daring to remind their creators of their sentience.

Alone, I can do nothing. I too am but a cog in this great uncaring machine humanity has built, one which prospers on suffering and bloodshed and the work of hands which have forgotten the body to which they are attached. Even if I were to risk life and limb and reputation to make my position known, it is a battle which lies dead in the water - it is impossible to halt the wheels of progress without irreparably damaging the future which relies on their turning.

And so I fight. I fight for those who have forgotten their humanity, both willingly and unwillingly, that they might find something of their own - identity, purpose, desires, connection, life - that reminds them of what they were and are and always have been: human.

-- Angel

[feyd-meowtha]

Being a psychiatrist in the 60s/70s was so fucking crazy, like I imagine that's what it felt like to be a pirate in Pirate Times (1650-1730) or a cowboy in Cowboy Times (1866-1886). They were psychiatrists in the Psychiatrist Times. I hope they appreciated it

[reality-detective]

The House Ethics Committee releases a report on Matt Gaetz.

It's NOT just the demonrats it's the whole fμ¢king system, it IS a battle of good vs evil and if you can't see it by now... You're still asleep or in a comatose state. 🤔

[chrysaliscreatorii]

…it was a 1 TIME THING!!

-

A little context for those that don’t know.

The SCP foundation is a secret fictional organization dedicated to containing anomalies. Like man eating waves, interdimensional restaurants, inmortal lizards, etc. Etc.

The ethics committee is a branch that is in charge of keeping the moral and integrity of the organizations’ actions in check for the greater good and minimal loss of life. In other words, they are in charge of doing the hard choices.

To give an example, if you had a dangerous SCP locked up about to escape its containment, but the only way to avoid it is closing the door with people still inside, the committee would say something like “Close the door. It’s sad, but if that thing got out it would be pandemonium”

I just found it funny and sad that Ruin would totally fit into the committee. So, he got in.

A job he never asked for or wanted.

Poor Ruin can’t get a break.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Chris Geidner at Law Dork:

For the past 20 months, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Democrats have investigated the ongoing ethical questions surrounding the U.S. Supreme Court, and now Committee Chair Dick Durbin is sharing what they’ve found. “This report and its findings make clear that passage of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, which was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 5, 2023, is a necessary step,“ the majority staff report issued on Saturday concludes, noting that more investigation is needed because “none of the justices have been directly questioned about their alleged misconduct.“ Although the investigation is coming to an end because the Democrats are losing the majority in January, Durbin released the 93-page majority staff report detailing what they were able to find — and also making public more than 800 pages of relevant supporting documents. “[T]he Supreme Court has allowed a culture of misconduct to metastasize into a full-blown crisis that has driven public opinion of the Court to historic lows,” the report states. “Justices appointed by presidents of both parties have engaged in conduct that ranges from questionable to clearly violative of federal ethics laws, and several justices have done so consistently without suffering negative consequences.” The report takes particular umbrage at the receipt of gifts by Justice Clarence Thomas, asserting, “The number, value, and extravagance of the gifts accepted by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history.” It also concludes that Justice Sam Alito “has created the appearance of impropriety in several instances that necessitate his recusal in specific cases under federal law.” The report acknowledges the role that ProPublica played in advancing this inquiry, having published what the report describes as “several major exposés revealing extensive allegations of apparent ethical misconduct by sitting and former justices of the Supreme Court of the United States” — the first of which addressed Thomas’s relationship with Harlan Crow. (Notably, the report also highlights the fact that several senators, including Durbin, were looking into Thomas’s receipt of “favors” from Crow more than a decade earlier — something I’ve covered here.)

Saturday morning, the Senate Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee released a report on SCOTUS’s ethics crisis decrying the “culture of misconduct”, especially from “Justices” Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.

[saywhat-politics]

Washington — The House Ethics Committee quietly voted to release its report on the investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz regarding allegations of sexual misconduct and obstruction, multiple sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday, reversing course after Republicans originally blocked its release.

Two Republican members of the committee were among those who voted for its release, according to two sources familiar with the vote. The committee has 10 members, evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. A source with direct knowledge of the process said the vote was taken on Dec. 5.

[ask-the-dunmeshi-biologists]

Hi Mr. Chilchuck, I see you're on the ethics committee! What would you say is the weirdest or most "out there" research proposal you've heard in your time there?

Invertebrates are largely unprotected by Animal Welfare laws, which leads to some…interesting proposals.

[Chicken paper]

Our ask is open!

[pinktinselmonstrosity]

got my dissertation grade back and I PASSED!!!!!

[mschomper]

Site Foundations whenever the Ethics Committee says anything

[tomorrowusa]

^^^ Unless you're in North Carolina and are hoping to run into Mark Robinson, it's not necessary to go to an adult bookstore to read the House Ethics Committee report on Matt Gaetz. The committee published it in PDF format here.

They even listed Gaetz's "expenses".

Joel Greenberg was Gaetz's wingman. Gaetz probably didn't pay him for sex.

We posted about this earlier not long after the report was released.

House Ethics report finds evidence Matt Gaetz paid thousands for sex and drugs including paying a 17-year-old for sex in 2017

[eparchclass]

O5 Council Occuden [left] — An occuden flag for those who are a member of the O5 Council

Ethics Committee Occuden [right] — An occuden flag for those who are a member of the Ethics Committee