#flaws of the american prison system

[eileennatural]

i don't mean to generalize rich people or british people but once, during conversation about my dissertation topic (prison industrial complex) with an oxford graduate and phd candidate, she brought up and then spoke at length about how much she loves reality shows that are set inside prisons. how funny she thinks they are. what an. absurdly tone deaf direction to take that conversation

[timeisacephalopod]

Its real strange when Americans especially (meaning politicians, less citizens but them too sometimes) say socialism doesn't work because how the hell would you even know. Half the shit American politcians describe as socialism isn't socialism, and often they treat those things like the sky will fall if they're implemented (like healthcare. Ignore Canada right above you. Lie about how our system works by telling people you need to wait years to see Drs about life threatening issues when you only get waitlisted for specialists and not for years either, it's generally a few months. Not ideal but not what American politicians say either. Ignore every other country with universal healthcare better than Canada's, which is everyone's, because there's no need to even lie about those after making the country above you look bad for not charging 80K to look at a band-aid, which is somehow an improvement to waitlists like the poor won't just die instead of seeing a dr).

Not to mention the US has invaded so many countries with politics farther left then theirs just to install right wing terrorists and then get mad when some of those terrorists they straight up funded do a 9/11 to them like they have slaughtered thousands to "spread democracy" by overthrowing democratically elected leaders all over the world for being "too socialist" or communist so how do you know socialism doesn't work? If it doesn't it's because America specifically has never allowed it to, like you can't invade every single country that does things mildly different, completely destroy them, and then say "see socialism doesn't work!" like you had nothing to do with the collapse of that system???? It's literally the meme of Eric Andre shooting that guy and being like "how come socialism didn't work!" like they didn't just shoot socialism in the face in cold blood. And also capitalism doesn't need to work at all in any way, efficient or not, for everyone to defend it to the hilt so like ok who cares if socialism works if you don't care that capitalism doesn't and you defend it anyway? Clearly "works" isn't a prerequisite to using that system so that's not even an argument worth bringing up at that point.

[alwaysbewoke]

our entire political system is flawed, but

you're not going to change it in one election to perfection; what you can absolutely do is make everything worse in one election. also, you can acknowledge that the system needs work and that you want more without lying and pretending as if it has produced nothing positive for you. the problem right now with many people is that you guys want an instant solution. you want an instant fix. however, there is no such thing. there will not be one election or one candidate or one bill that's going to fix this. this is going to take long-term, strategic, methodical work for us to make it right, and i can tell right now that many people are not up for the task. they're too weak, but they won't be weak enough to complain, make videos, tweets, ig posts, reels, tiktoks, blog posts and whatever whining when shit hits the fan. they'll be the first ones howling at the moon and gnashing their teeth without taking responsibility for the part they played in the shitstorm.

here's some simple advice: pack the senate and congress with hardcore progressives. hardcore progressives. and then go to your local election and pack that with hardcore progressives again. but by no means should any of us accept any talk or strategy that gives the republicans power. at some point, you've got to stop playing checkers in a chess game.

however, the problem is this point of view should have been adopted in 2016. i fear that it might actually be too late because people played checkers in the chess game knowing full well that whoever won that election was going to have at least one supreme court pick. that winner actually got three and now has set this country back for the foreseeable future. generations are going to be feeling that pain. we missed out on critical years to address climate change. the voting rights of black people have been completely undermined. the educational opportunities for black people have also been undermined. discrimination against gay people has been affirmed. we saw the death of millions of americans at the hands of a global pandemic that was profoundly mishandled, and yet having seen and experience all of this people are willing to entertain the idea of allowing those in power who did all this to get even more power again. UNBELIEVABLE! people like that deserve ridicule.

if you actually care about black lives, people of color, trans rights, gay rights, healthcare, education, palestine, dr congo, police brutality, child poverty, climate change, restoring democracy, voting rights, equitable access to all levels of education, ending the prison industrial complex, women's rights, and etc do not entertain any talk about taking actions that will give republicans power. not in the short term. not in the long term. don't let your anger and your disappointment force your hand into making things worse for yourself and others. there's already been widespread voter suppression so if you think you're going to give republicans all that power and then vote to take it away from them down the line when everything is more to your liking, you are delusional. if you really want to change things (like for real, you're not just talking shit about "progress"),here are some insightful videos:

#FuckBidenButHellToTheNoOnAnyRepublican

[realjaysumlin]

The History of Mass Incarceration | Brennan Center for Justice

The way in which individuals identify themselves is often overlooked, leading to a misleading system that fails to recognize the equality of all human beings. This flawed system has been perpetuated since Bacon's Rebellion, when the concept of whiteness was used to create divisions in colonial America. The ruling elite, driven by a fear of rebellion, exploited this idea of whiteness to pit poor people against each other and maintain their power.

For the first time in American history, whiteness was used as a tool to unite individuals against those who did not fit into the white narrative, reinforcing a false sense of superiority. It is disheartening to see that even those who are marginalized by this system often internalize and perpetuate these harmful beliefs.

Racism and colorism continue to plague societies around the world, rooted in the false construct of whiteness. In order to address these issues, we must dismantle the notion of whiteness and strive towards true equality for all individuals.

[lilithism1848]

Atrocities US committed against PRISONERS

The US currently operates a system of slave labor camps, including at least 54 prison farms involved in agricultural slave labor. Outside of agricultural slavery, Federal Prison Industries operates a multi-billion dollar industry with ~ 52 prison factories , where prisoners produce furniture, clothing, circuit boards, products for the military, computer aided design services, call center support for private companies.

Ramping up since the 1980s, the term prison–industrial complex is used to attribute the rapid expansion of the US inmate population to the political influence of private prison companies and businesses that supply goods and services to government prison agencies. Such groups include corporations that contract prison labor, construction companies, surveillance technology vendors, companies that operate prison food services and medical facilities, private probation companies, lawyers, and lobby groups that represent them. Activist groups such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) have argued that the prison-industrial complex is perpetuating a flawed belief that imprisonment is an effective solution to social problems such as homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy. 

The War On Drugs, a policy of arrest and imprisonment targeting minorities, first initiated by Nixon, has over the years created a monstrous system of mass incarceration, resulting in the imprisonment of 1.5 million people each year, with the US having the most prisoners per capita of any nation. One in five black Americans will spend time behind bars due to drug laws. The war has created a permanent underclass of impoverished people who have few educational or job opportunities as a result of being punished for drug offenses, in a vicious cycle of oppression. 

In the present day, ICE (U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement), the police tasked with immigration enforcement, operates over 200 prison camps, housing over 31,000 undocumented people deemed “aliens”, 20,000 of which have no criminal convictions, in the US system of immigration detention. The camps include forced labor (often with contracts from private companies), poor conditions, lack of rights (since the undocumented aren’t considered citizens), and forced deportations, often splitting up families. Detainees are often held for a year without trial, with antiquated court procedures pushing back court dates for months, encouraging many to accept immediate deportation in the hopes of being able to return faster than the court can reach a decision, but forfeiting legal status, in a cruel system of coercion.

Over 90% of criminal trials in the US are settled not by a judge or jury, but with plea bargaining, a system where the defendant agrees to plead guilty in return for a concession from the prosecutor. It has been statistically shown to benefit prosecutors, who “throw the book” at defendants by presenting a slew of charges, manipulating their fear, who in turn accept a lesser charge, regardless of their innocence, in order to avoid a worst outcome. The number of potentially innocent prisoners coerced into accepting a guilty plea is impossible to calculate. Plea bargaining can present a dilemma to defense attorneys, in that they must choose between vigorously seeking a good deal for their present client, or maintaining a good relationship with the prosecutor for the sake of helping future clients.

European countries. John Langbein has equated plea bargaining to medieval torture: “There is, of course, a difference between having your limbs crushed if you refuse to confess, or suffering some extra years of imprisonment if you refuse to confess, but the difference is of degree, not kind. Plea bargaining, like torture, is coercive. Like the medieval Europeans, the Americans are now operating a procedural system that engages in condemnation without adjudication.”

A grand jury is a special legal proceeding in which a prosecutor may hold a trial before the real one, where ~20 jurors listen to evidence and decide whether criminal charges should be brought. Grand juries are rarely made up of a jury of the defendant’s peers, and defendants do not have the right to an attorney, making them essentially show-trials for the prosecution, who often find ways of using grand jury testimony to intimidate the accused, such as leaking stories about grand jury testimony to the media to defame the accused. In the murders of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, all of whom were unarmed and killed by police in 2014, grand juries decided in all 3 cases not to pursue criminal trials against the officers. The US and Liberia are the only countries where grand juries are still legal.

The US system of bail (the practice of releasing suspects before their hearing for money paid to the court) has been criticized as monetizing justice, favoring rich, white collar suspects, over poorer people unable to pay for their release. 

On Jan 26th, In Mississippi state penitentiary, an inmate was found hanging in his cell, in a string of deaths in the prison. This is the 12th death within a single month. 

A photo surfaced of a November 2019 training class for prison guards in west virginia, showing 34 trainees doing a nazi salute. Only 3 people have been fired. A large number of prison workers, and populations in prison towns, are white supremacists. 

A black-site interrogation warehouse in Chicago called Homan Square is notorious for the sexual abuse, torture, and disappearances of its prisoners. The main interrogator, Richard Zuley, applied torture techniques he learned at Guantanamo Bay at Homan Square. 

On Oct 25, 2014, a mentally ill inmate, Michael Anthony Kerr, at the Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville, NC, died of thirst after being denied water during a 35-day solitary confinement. Prison officials have said since Kerr’s death six months ago that they would investigate the events that led to his death, but no report has been issued and officials have not said when one would be. 

On May 23rd, 2014, a mentally ill inmate at a Dade County correctional facility near Miami FL was tortured to death by prison guards. Darren Rainey was serving a two-year sentence for cocaine possession when he was forced into a locked shower by prison guards as punishment for defecating in his cell, says one inmate. Once Rainey was inside the shower, guards blasted him with scalding hot water as he begged for his life. Investigators determined that there was not enough evidence to charge the guards. 

The Crime Bill of 1994, signed into law by Bill Clinton, increased the size of the US prison industry and dealt with the problem of crime by emphasizing punishment, not prevention. It extended the death penalty to a whole range of criminal offenses, and provided $30 billion for the building of new prisons, to crack down on “super predators”, a term used by Hillary Clinton to refer to remorseless juvenile criminals. 

In the 1978 case, Houchins v. KQED, Inc. the Supreme Court ruled that the news media do not have guaranteed rights of access to jails and prisons. It ruled also that prison authorities could forbid inmates to speak to one another, assemble, or spread literature about the formation of a prisoners’ union. 

In September 1971, prison guards killed George Jackson, a black Marxist and member of the Black Panthers in San Quentin prison (who had served 10 years of an indeterminate prison sentence for a $70 robbery), after he attempted to free himself and other inmates. Outrage over this, terrible prison conditions, and mistreatment by white prison guards, caused the Attica Prison Riot, in which 33 inmates and 10 prison guards were killed, and sparked dozens of prison riots across the country. In Attica, 100 percent of the guards were white, prisoners spent fourteen to sixteen hours a day in their cells, their mail was read, their reading material restricted, their visits from families were conducted through a mesh screen, their medical care disgraceful, 75% were there as a result of plea bargaining, and their parole system inequitable. 

Many companies in the 1800s were guilty of using prison laborers, such as the Tennesee Coal Iron and Railroad Company. In 1891, the prison workers struck and overpowered the guards, and other neighboring unions came to their aid.

[mariacallous]

Last year, the Ukrainians defeated Russia’s invading army on the battlefield, denying Russian President Vladimir Putin all of his core objectives for the war. He failed to de-militarize Ukraine, install a puppet government in Kyiv, bring Ukraine back into Russia’s fold, and stop NATO expansion. Today, Ukrainians are more committed to their nationhood than ever, and their democratically elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, remains in power. Ukraine now has a stronger military and closer ties to NATO than ever before; Finland has joined the alliance, and Sweden is set to follow. In 2022, Ukraine’s armed forces won the Battle of Kyiv, the Battle of Kharkiv, and the Battle of Kherson, liberating more than 50 percent of the territory that Russia had occupied since launching its full-scale invasion.

Now, some of these successes could be reversed because of waning U.S. support. The false claim of a battlefield stalemate has brought about a new narrative that Americans should stop helping Ukraine because it cannot win. Alarmingly, the U.S. House of Representatives has delayed voting on the Biden administration’s request for supplemental military aid. Without new assistance from the United States, Ukraine will soon run out of arms, ammunition, and funds to fight effectively against the occupying Russian forces. Most urgently, the Ukrainian government needs air defense systems to protect its people and civilian infrastructure against Russian missiles and Iranian drones this winter. And Ukraine also needs additional weapons to defend and extend last year’s gains.

Putin clearly understands Ukraine’s precarious position in the U.S. Congress. Recently, he boasted that Ukraine would last only a week if the United States stopped providing military assistance. Putin is wrong: The Ukrainians have made it abundantly clear that they will continue to fight. Recall how, in February 2022, thousands of Ukrainians across the country prepared Molotov cocktails to defend against the Russian invaders. Putin’s statement, however, once again proves that he is not seeking to negotiate. Instead, he is waiting for the United States to quit on its Ukrainian partners so he can launch a new offensive to seize more of Ukraine and destroy its democracy. Without U.S. assistance, more Ukrainians will certainly die, and Ukraine may well lose more territory.

By delaying further assistance to Ukraine, House Speaker Mike Johnson and his supporters are acting against the United States’ own interests. Congress should approve new aid to Ukraine as fast as possible—not as a gesture of charity for Ukraine but as a hard-nosed and clear-headed investment in U.S. security objectives.

The moral argument for supporting Ukraine is clear. Despite the United States’ numerous past mistakes and current flaws, I still believe that it should be a force for good in the world. Russia’s war of colonial conquest is immoral and wrong. We cannot allow the world to return to a state of anarchy, where powerful countries can change borders at will. We cannot stand by as civilians are slaughtered, prisoners tortured, people raped, and children kidnapped. Withdrawing military assistance to Kyiv will not end the war but rather prolong it, leading to more deaths on both sides. The war in Ukraine is a democracy defending itself against a dictatorship. It is simply wrong to let an autocrat invade, occupy, annex, and destroy a country with a political system that Americans and so many others around the world deeply believe in. Global public opinion polls show that a majority of the world’s people prefer democracy to other forms of government. Unlike some other wars, there can be no confusion about right and wrong in this conflict. Those in Congress who cherish international law, human rights, and democratic values should not find it hard to pick a side.

But if moral arguments are not enough to sway members of Congress and their constituents, there are also some compelling realpolitik arguments for providing more aid to Ukraine. U.S. military assistance to Ukraine directly serves U.S. national security far beyond Ukraine. There are four ways a Ukrainian victory advances core U.S. interests.

1. A Ukrainian victory will dramatically diminish the threat from Russia. Even this year, which some observers have wrongly described as a military stalemate, Ukrainian forces have been systematically degrading the Russian army, destroying military infrastructure, and pushing the Russian Black Sea Fleet out of Crimea and the western Black Sea. The U.S. government now estimates more than 350,000 Russian military casualties—enormous losses for a fighting force once thought to be the world’s third-most powerful. The Ukrainians have destroyed massive amounts of Russian weaponry, including main battle tanks, fighter aircraft, submarines, and landing ships.

Without any direct U.S. involvement in fighting Russia, U.S. assistance has helped substantially degrade a major military threat to U.S. allies and potentially the United States itself—a strategy called “offshore balancing.” A defeated or vastly depleted Russian army will allow the United States to spend less on European defense, send fewer soldiers to NATO bases in the Baltics and Poland, worry less about being drawn into a future European war, and shift its money and attention toward other problems at home and abroad. Ukrainians are fighting the Russians today so that Poles, Estonians, and perhaps Americans do not have to fight them tomorrow. Russia’s imperial appetites will be neutralized only after a clear, humiliating defeat. A Russia that finally stays within its own borders is clearly in the U.S. national interest.

It is also premature to give up on Ukraine winning back its territory. This year, Ukrainian forces had to launch a counteroffensive without the weapons they needed to do so effectively. If the United States and Ukraine’s many other supporters stay the course, that will not be the case in future counteroffensives. Senior Ukrainian officials I met in Kyiv in September believe, as many outside experts do, that time is on Ukraine’s side in a drawn-out fight, especially when their warriors are better protected by fighter jets and air defenses, better armed with longer-range missiles, and better equipped with more sophisticated, domestically developed drones.

After the war ends, Ukraine will emerge as a powerful U.S. and NATO ally. Ukraine’s military will be one of Europe’s largest and best-armed, a defensive bulwark to deter future renewed Russian aggression and keep the peace. Already, Ukraine is moving away from its Soviet-era systems and adopting U.S.- and NATO-made weapons. After the war, Ukraine should quickly be invited to join NATO as it will become a serious provider of security for all of Europe. Ukraine could also become a reliable weapons supplier to NATO—who is building better sea drones than Ukraine today? It will also emerge as a major customer of U.S. weapons. More generally, a democratic, market-oriented, reconstructed Ukraine embedded in the European Union and NATO will be a significant economic partner for both Europe and the United States.

For Russia, defeat in Ukraine will speed up the demise of Putin’s domestic system of autocratic rule, just as the Soviet Union’s bloody and humiliating defeat in Afghanistan hastened the end of the Communist dictatorship. The end of Putinism will not happen overnight; it will most likely gain momentum only after Putin’s death or incapacitation. The United States and its European allies have a profound interest in weakening autocratic rule in Russia. A Russian defeat on the battlefield accelerates that outcome.

The opposite in equally true. If the United States abandons Ukraine now, the Russian threat to U.S. allies in Europe will only grow. Putin’s regime will become even stronger and threaten the United States’ democratic European allies even longer into the future.

2. The war’s outcome has clear implications for U.S. security interests in Asia. A Ukrainian victory, bolstered by strong U.S. and allied support, will make Chinese President Xi Jinping think harder about invading Taiwan, an assessment I heard repeatedly from top officials in Taiwan during a trip there last summer. If the United States continues to help Ukraine, Xi will be more likely to believe that the U.S. commitment to help Taiwan is credible. A U.S.-supported Ukrainian victory will also undermine Xi’s hypothesis that the United States is a declining, overextended power and that the democratic world can no longer act in unity for any sustained period.

Again, the opposite is equally true: If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, Xi will feel emboldened. If the United States stopped supporting Ukraine, Xi might assess that U.S. support for Taiwan would be temporary and feckless. Just as Putin is trying to do today in Ukraine, Chinese leaders will wait for politicians in Washington to doubt the wisdom of military and financial assistance to an embattled Taiwan and then call on Taipei to negotiate. To all those Republican members of Congress who argue that the focus should be on countering the China threat: Defeating Putin is a critical component of that grand strategy. Cutting military aid to Kyiv is precisely the wrong message to send to Beijing.

3. The war’s outcome will affect global U.S. interests. A Ukrainian victory would be a win for all those wanting to preserve the rules-based international order established and maintained by the United States since the end of World War II. Among that order’s amazing achievements have been the end of European overseas imperialism, establishing the taboo of annexation, and setting the global rules that brought an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity to the world. Wars of outright conquest and annexation, so frequent before 1945, rarely occurred, even during intense superpower competition during the Cold War. These outcomes served U.S. interests and made the world safer for Americans. A return to a Hobbesian world of annexation and imperialism would not serve U.S. interests. Americans would be dragged into these conflicts and potentially be at war with other major powers. The United States has no interest in returning to that kind of world.

4. The outcome of the war will have major implications for the contest between democracies and autocracies. Throughout its history, the United States’ enemies and rivals have been dictatorships, not other democracies. Think of imperial Japan, imperial Germany, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. When autocracies become democracies, it makes the United States safer. Think of post-1945 Japan, Germany, and Italy and then post-communist Europe, including Russia during its brief democratic phase in the early 1990s. Similarly, powerful autocracies make Americans less secure. Think of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. A Ukrainian victory will chalk up a win in the democracy column, perhaps even helping to reverse a nearly two-decade global trend of democratic erosion. In the great-power contest with China over the next several decades, democratic and liberal ideas constitute some of the greatest advantages of the United States and its democratic allies; this makes defending democracy a national interest. This is not just idealism: As former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright argued, “Promoting democracy … is not just the right thing to do. For America it is the smart thing to do.” Nowhere is this struggle of ideas more acute than in Ukraine. If Ukraine wins, the momentum for democrats around the world will grow, including those in neighboring Russia and Belarus. If Ukraine loses, the momentum for dictators will grow. The stakes are that high.

It is time for Congress to vote on a new assistance package for Ukraine. A yea vote is not only good for Ukraine but also a prudent investment in the national security of the United States.

[weywookitswestwood]

HEYYO I FINISHED MY VIV CHARACTER ANALYSIS/BIO/HCS!! +18

(UPDATE: I added a few more hcs cuz I forgot to add them. I might remember more so expect the list to get a little longer)

Just putting a few content warnings out there before you go on scrollin’, there are some nsfw hcs down below so if you’re under 18, you’re in the wrong place. Also there is some mentions of family em*tional *buse and trauma so please skip if you don’t wanna read. Anyways, please enjoy~

Full name: Viviano Westwood (wasn’t born with a middle name)

Nicknames: Westwood, V, Viv, Vivi(don’t ever call him this, he’ll get mad), Vivikins(Or this), Big Guy/Fella/Lug, Vivano, Vibiano, Fabiano, Steve, Eastwood, Winwood, Jarhead(on second thought, only refer to him as either Westwood, V, or Viv)

Stand: Planet Waves (DISC)

Birthday: July 31st, 1983

Zodiac: Boar

Age: 28

Height: 6’1 (186 cm)

Nationality: American (Mostly of English and a bit of Italian descent)

Occupation: G. D. St. Prison guard

Personality: Large and in charge… sort of. Values brawn over brains. Not meaning he’s stupid, he’s just a simple man. Lacks in direction, both figuratively and literally. Because of his physical strength and his simple nature, he gets treated like an ox, whether it be from his parents or his job. Due to his upbringing, he has difficulty opening up or being sentimental. Instead, he copes through anger such as punching walls or snapping at people. He sees crying or being vulnerable as signs of weakness, another result from his upbringing. Likes to antagonize weak targets or criminals to make himself feel better. He claims he turned to the justice system because he wanted to keep evil people locked up for good from the public. That could be true, BUT others around him know there’s more to it than the reason he gives. Behind this mask, he’s an insecure and lonely man. Doesn’t have a spouse or kids or pets. He can be sociable, but doesn’t have any close friends. His love life is zero to none. He relishes in the heat of the moment, but once the discussion of marriage or starting a family is brought up, he’s out the door. Despite his flaws, he’s strong, resilient and yearns for excitement in his life. Perhaps being with the right people, he can find himself underneath that cold exterior and be a nicer, happier guy.

Favorite musician: Earth, Wind, & Fire, The Marshall Tucker Band(he’s a closeted country fan), and not a fan of the singer but he likes Fantasy by Mariah Carey

Favorite book: Playboy magazine

Favorite food: Anything SPICY

Background: Viviano was born in 1983 in Texas to a military veteran father and a hairdresser mother. From the time he was in diapers to 12 years of age, he lived a strict military lifestyle. No, his father wasn’t physical towards Viviano, but their relationship was better described as a “drill sergeant and cadet” dynamic than a “father and son” one. Basically this meant raising Viv how to be a “man” like teaching him how to use a gun at 4 years old and berating him if he began to cry. If there was one thing Viviano feared the most… it was his father. He had a close relationship to his mother, even being labeled a “momma’s boy” by his dad.

By 12, his parents divorced and he chose to go with his mother to Florida, not before his father called him a “disappointment”. For seven years, Viviano lived with his mom in Port Orange, Florida, being enrolled in junior high. While not as bad as his father and at times would be overly affectionate, his mom did boss him around. He was a growing boy after all, he was able to reach and physically do things that she couldn’t. At school, teachers looked down at him as a strong, yet intellectually incompetent boy, who could care less about his grades. Not only that, he needed to boss someone like how his parents bossed him, so he made a name for himself as a bully. He would continue to pick on classmates all through high school until his grades were so abysmal he had to be held back in his senior year and didn’t graduate until the year 2002 when he was about 19. Both of his parents were ashamed of this news.

After graduating high school, he tried to join the military but after three months of boot camp, he left. His father called him a “lost cause”. It was the most humiliating moment of his life. He got a job at a Miami customs house and was there for years until he was let go. He wouldn’t tell anyone why but supposedly it was due to his temper. At 25, he got a job as a prison guard at the Green Dolphin State Prison.

Random headcanons: (Warning: some are sfw/nsfw)

SFW:

-Has a bit of a gambling addiction

-Only child

-Not the best driver, gets worked up if he misses his turn

-Mf doesn’t wear socks (I know I bring this up constantly as a joke but this is canon)

-His mom cuts his hair

-Overheats easily, he’s always warm to the touch not even an ice bath will cool him down

-Big sports fan, especially football and baseball, his favorite teams are the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Marlins, respectively

-Has a really bad habit of cracking his knuckles

-Has naturally long eyelashes

-Doesn’t really have any talents besides bench pressing and being strong

-He can be self conscious about trivial things like being insecure about the size of his hands (he’s afraid of having small hands)

-Accidentally punched his grandma in the chest after tickling him too hard (she was okay just had to go to the hospital for a small fracture in her ribcage)

-Misses living in Texas

-He had a bit of a Texan accent growing up, it’s mostly gone but it’ll randomly come up when his voice cracks

-Sucks at flirting

-Doesn’t have a filter

NSFW:

-Not a virgin

-If you ask him who he’s into, he would say women but secretly, he’s a bit curious if ya catch my drift

-Doesn’t really have a type as long as the woman is of age, consenting, and isn’t a bitchy hag

-Likes being the dominant one when it comes to… ahem, the bed

-He likes to make anything into a “battle”; sex, play wrestling, tickle fights, etc. he’ll do whatever it takes to make his partner submit (psst hey you, yeah you, there’s a way to beat him, he’s super ticklish on his belly, ribs, and feet, get him in one of his death spots, he’ll be sobbing for mercy)

-Frequently gets hard ons, even in the most inconvenient of times (at work)

-Likes to be on top, but is nice enough to be a service top too

-Loves a partner who’s either a switch or just as domineering as he is

-One of his kinks is bondage, loves the idea of cuffing up his partner and letting his hands roam all over their body

-Can see him being a foot guy (dunno why, just cuz I guess); prefers to give than to receive because he’s ticklish but will be okay receiving it if his partner really wants to; but he loves foot jobs

-His favorite thing (I’m sorry everyone)… is CBT; any chance his partner is grabbing or crushing him down there, he’s on cloud nine (this part was honestly painful to write)

-Loves oral, receiving that is (but he likes to give as well)

[slycopersicum-in-disguise]

I know Athena's plotline isn't going to be about the flaws in the American prison system and especially how that intertwines with America's history of slavery. But the stupid, eternally optimistic part of my brain can't help hoping.

[eretzyisrael]

Defining oppressed Jews as ‘white’ and ‘privileged’ is insulting to all

This article is a few months old but the trends it criticises are with us and continue to gain traction. David Bernstein, Jason Guberman and Elina Caplan argue convincingly in the Jewish Journal that efforts to make the Jewish community more inclusive of Jewish diversity have been used to smuggle in an illiberal ideology—often under the guise of racial justice or antiracism.

David Bernstein

Jason Guberman

The idea that Jews benefit from a presumed system of oppression paints them, in the prescriptive victim/oppressor ideology, as privileged oppressors. This notion, which should be offensive to all Jews, is downright insulting to many immigrants who were often severely oppressed in their home countries. For example, Middle Eastern and North African Jews were “otherized” at times by legal restrictions and by informal yet widespread discriminatory practices. Jews from the FSU suffered overt, government-led oppression that explicitly kept them out of universities and workplaces and sent them to prison or labor camps for so much as learning Hebrew. Defining them as “white” in the binary model where all white people are considered oppressors erases their identities and imposes a worldview completely at odds with their lived experience.

Too often, American Jewish organizations have misguidedly embraced this ideology themselves. One Jewish denomination offered a four-part “learning” on race and racism for rabbis and cantors, proclaiming, “This space is for white clergy and will serve as a white antiracist affinity space.” Such ideological pronouncements and trainings (disturbingly similar to “re-education” campaigns that many suffered through) are anathema to immigrant Jewish communities that oppose the familiar revolutionary concept of dismantling systems, rather than making incremental progress in the very nation and system that has attracted refugees from all over the world. Indeed, for all its flaws, America remains the number one destination in the world for immigrants, voting with their lives to attain the unrivaled freedom of the U.S. Constitution, which ensures that the American system can evolve and that individuals can define themselves and make their own opportunities.

If the Jewish community listens, it will hear an immigrant chorus that is in equal parts dismay and horror. Dismay over the reality that most American Jews cannot recognize the extreme ideological and antisemitic undertones of what is happening right in front of them. And horror over the fact that by the time American Jews come to their senses, it may be too late. These Jews are far more likely to feel alienated rather than supported by these well-intentioned, ideologically charged efforts at making the Jewish community more inclusive. Such efforts do not, in fact, make Jewish life more inclusive. They make it more exclusionary. They shut out Jews who bring to this country all of their high hopes—as well as their traumas.

Read article in full

[tieflingkisser]

Muslim Women Are Having Their Hijabs Torn Off by Police All Over America

Women across the country are having their civil rights blatantly violated while in police custody.

On the morning of April 25, Sumaya Hamadmad, a research scientist at Ohio State University, was sitting in the center of campus when she was arrested for “criminal trespassing.” Students had formed an encampment to call for the university to divest from Israel earlier that morning, before being dispersed by campus police. When Hamadmad and a friend arrived at the campus Oval—not to protest, but simply to enjoy the sunny morning—there was no crowd left. But the Ohio State Police Department targeted Hamadmad and accused her of attempting to form another encampment. When she started questioning the officers’ false assumptions and orders for her to leave, she was arrested. And when her friend questioned Hamadmad’s arrest, she too was arrested. Hamadmad was then transferred to a Franklin County jail. There, she was strip-searched and ordered to take off her hijab, a religious head covering worn by Muslim women. Despite making multiple requests to have her hijab returned to her, she was denied any sort of head covering for the 12 hours that she remained in custody. Tucking her arms and hair into her shirt, she did what she could to remain covered.

[...]

Hamadmad is not alone in having her religious freedom violated in this way. Multiple incidents of law enforcement officials taking off women’s hijabs against their will have occurred alongside sweeping arrests at pro-Palestine protests. Many of these incidents took place on college campuses. There have been verified reports from students and faculty at least four universities—Arizona State University, Columbia University, Depaul University, and Ohio State University—as well as alleged incidents at several others. The influx of arrests of Muslim women at pro-Palestine protests highlights a critical flaw in the criminal justice system. The hijab is an expression of a Muslim woman’s faith, symbolizing modesty, privacy, and agency over one’s body, and depriving a woman of that coverage can be humiliating and traumatizing. Muslim women have a clear First Amendment right to keep their heads covered for religious purposes, including in spaces where others might have to remove head coverings. Reflecting this, the Bureau of Prisons allows for incarcerated Muslims to keep their hijabs on in federal prisons, and at least 17 states, including New York, specifically allow for religious head coverings to be worn throughout a prison. Yet there are no federal laws that explicitly protect a woman’s right to keep on her hijab while being arrested, in police custody, or in a temporary holding facility, either for a mug shot or otherwise. The difficulty that Muslim women have experienced is also reflective of the general vitriol that Muslim women have been facing in activism spaces. (Just look at this video from the University of California, Los Angeles, where pro-Israeli counterprotesters chant at women, “Take off your hijab and get a job.”) And even before pro-Palestine solidarity encampments spread across American universities, many Muslim activists had already been experiencing violations of their religious liberties.

[...]

Dalal Shalash, a Palestinian who was arrested at the OSU encampment, said at a Columbus City Council meeting on April 29 that she saw three women made to remove their hijabs for mug shots at a Franklin County jail. One did not have her hijab returned until Shalash “made a scene,” demanding that the officers do so. Shalash compared this violation of the women to the humiliation tactics of the Israeli military. “We had women’s hijabs being forcefully removed, which is all too reminiscent of the humiliation tactics of the IOF, who regularly strip Palestinian women they arrest, for no other reason than to humiliate,” she said at the meeting. According to the United Nations. Countless Palestinian women have been subject to sexual assault by the Israeli Defense Forces, which includes strip searches by male officers.

[...]

“Dictatorship doesn’t happen suddenly. It’s chipped away piece by piece. That’s why we need to stop it at the beginning,” said Hamadmad, who remembers asking to be read her Miranda rights, to which the officer replied, “No, I don’t have to.” Unbeknownst to her at the time, the Supreme Court had silently rolled back many of the protections guaranteed by the famous 1966 Miranda v. Arizona case in 2022. “You can sense dictatorship when you’ve been through it, and I could sense it in that moment.”

[kingdomofthelandofthelost]

The fact that the new Matilda Musical makes it super obvious that Matilda is a stand user with a love of books.

Led Zeppelin has a song named Moby dick. Matilda loves books and Moby dick is a classic. Her stand let's her read people's stories and make her own. The Americanized stand name would obviously be White Whale. Because she is searching for her own white whale. In doing so she can manifest and manipulate the space around her into a story.

Trunchbull is the obvious enemy stand user. She calls it the chokey which is another word for prison. Clearly Trunchbulls official japanese stands name is Prison Song (system of a down) but it has to be Americanized for legal reasons. Chokey is a pretty strong stand. It literally locks away whoever is put inside at a length determined by the user. It's only flaw is that it can't kill. But in the new musical you literally see her summon nearly 30 Chokeys.

This has been a jjbaXmatilda fan reading

[mad-scientist-enthusiast]

This may piss some people off, but idrc.

Given recent events in the US I see a lot of violent rhetoric being pushed by leftists, and I feel like it's important to evaluate our own beliefs on utilitarianism.

In leftist spaces we generally combat the utilitarian beliefs that certain individuals are more important/have more value than others. There's a general acknowledgement that those in higher positions, or who hold more privilege are treated as if they do hold more value by our society, and that this is very flawed. We recognize the issues in assigning MORE worth to some people and not to others. And we like to think we personally wouldn't assign value to people, yet as soon as someone does something we don't agree with (morally or otherwise) we switch gears. I'm not saying to be nice to everyone that we disagree with, but I am saying that everyone, even those who have done the most vile and unforgivable things have an intrinsic value as a human being, and deserve to be treated like one. For example, we know that the American prison system is fucked and actively detains and strips the rights from the poor and disadvantaged. And generally, we don't seem to fault the individuals, looking instead to the system. We advocate for rehabilitation of prisoners because we still see them as humans worthy of life. But when someone does commit a crime that is seen as irredeemable, that changes. Then it's okay that their rights are taken. It's okay if we misgender them. Hell, it's even okay if they are killed, because they've lost that value to us now. Do you see where I am going with this?

Recently I've seen self-proclaimed leftists saying in TIKTOK COMMENTS that they would love to see someone go on a manhunt to kill Nex Bennedict's killers. And while I obviously do not condone their actions, I hope it doesn't sound crazy for me to say that I don't think this is right?? It's unfair that they killed Nex Bennedict, but it is also not fair of us to sentence these teenagers to death because we have determined that they have lost the ability to be valued as a human being. What they did is unforgivable, but that doesn't mean we should strip them of their humanity because of this.

As humans, our worth should not be equated to the worst thing we've ever done. We all have worth because we are human. Assigning worth to people based on anything else is such a slippery slope because it's so arbitrary of a concept. If we can agree that all killers lose their value and deserve to die, then we'd have to define what specific circumstances makes someone a "killer." Otherwise, that might include accidental killings or self defense. But even then, this ignores the possibility that people can and very often do change. How do we judge someone's worth on something we can't all agree upon? It hurts to say that a killer deserves the basic right to life when you know that their victim absolutely did too. But they deserve to live and exist just as much as we all do.

And yes, killing can be substituted in for anything here that we find ourselves devaluing others based upon. No one deserves death. No one's life is any more or less important than anyone else's.

I would like to specify that there IS nuance to this, and not every situation is just black and white. By violence I am mostly referring to the sentiment that some people deserve death or deserve to be killed. I am not referring to violence in general, or violence against oppressive systems/individuals as I am aware that social change is destructive and that sometimes that requires violence. I know that I specified self defense mentioning the broad definition of a killer, and that is regarding the fact that in some cases killing someone else is legally and/or societally just. That being said, even someone killed in self defense did not deserve to die.

These conversations are difficult to have because it's not something we really want to accept. There are some horrible people in the world who do horrible things. But they are human too.

[beardedmrbean]

In a discussion on a poll declaring patriotism is on the decline, The View’s Sunny Hostin dismissed the issue of internment camps for Uyghur Muslims by declaring the United States imprisons far more Black people.

A Wall Street Journal/NORC survey found only 38 percent of respondents considered patriotism “very important,” which is a drop from 70 percent in 1998.

Alyssa Farah Griffin argued at one point that despite its flaws, the U.S. is the greatest nation and must act as the leader of the free world or communist China will.

“If America is not the number one global power, it’s not going to be Denmark, it’s going to be communist China, a country that right now the government is imprisoning Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps. It is a deeply racist government, it’s a human rights-violating government, it’s a government that if they are the leader of the free world, we are not a free world like we are right now,” Griffin said.

She later declared, “Nowhere else in the world do all these women sit at this table.”

“We all know it’s a great country because we all have benefitted from some of the great things about this country,” Joy Behar said, noting however young people fear regular mass shootings and a broken healthcare system.

Hostin jumped in and circled back to Griffin mentioning China’s internment camps.

“When I listen to Christopher Wray, the head of the FBI, he said white supremacy is the biggest domestic threat to this country and so as a woman of color and with a 6’2″ black kid in college and a 5’7″, 5’8″ Black kid in high school, I don’t see that part of American exceptionalism. I’m sorry,” Hostin said. “I think this country has a lot of problems that could be solved. Yes, maybe they’re putting Muslims in jail in Afghanistan, I think you mentioned?”

“China,” Griffin replied.

“China? They’re putting a lot more Black people in jail here,” Hostin said.

According to an NBC News report, Chinese officials have worked to coverup the torture carried out at these camps. More than one million Muslims are reportedly held captive in these reported camps, which human rights groups have widely condemned. Prisoners reportedly face abuse, work in factories, and are forced to renounce their religions.

According to a report from the think tank Prison Policy Initiative this year, the U.S. had approximately two million people detained in prisons and Black Americans make up around 38 percent of that population, meaning approximately 760,000. None of these prisoners are held in concentration camps, according to any reports.

Griffin asked what country on the planet is ahead of the United States on race. No one offered up the U.S. as leading China and others on race and Whoopi Goldberg described a different America than what she’s seen before.

“This is really about all of things that we believed we were doing that we don’t do anymore,” she said. We don’t teach people that it is your birthright to vote in this country. It’s a gift. We don’t teach people what their rights are as human beings.”

Watch above via ABC.

__________________

[the-feminist-philosopher]

TERFism is the ideological end of "girl boss feminism" (also known as "choice feminism" and "convenient incrementalism"). That movement was always going to lead us here; was always going to lead us to this idea that an all-female or female-led society would be some utopia.

There is still no consideration for how these circles reproduce racism and classism and homophobia and ableism. Many of our critiques of TERFism mirror the critiques of the girl-boss movement of the '00s. Because TERFism is the evolution of choice feminism.

Critiques include:

The movement solely focuses on the empowerment of individuals rather than uplifting the most marginalized

The movement is chronically white and wealthy

The movement focuses on finding success within the mascuninist and corporatist state rather than dismantling it

Leaders and figure heads for the movement contribute to colonial systems of power and corporate imperialism

The movement is too focused on breaking glass ceilings, often at the expense of black and brown women

The idea that female empowerment lies in economic success and 'weaponizing' features of the patriarchy in a woman's 'favor' is deeply flawed

The movement is focused on women keeping and embodying traditional male power rather than dismantling current power structures

The movement is rife with anti-blackness, antisemitism, classism, and transphobia

They fail to account for how their "female utopia" groups reproduce white supremacy, heterosexism, ableism and classism

They are not skeptical enough of power in and of itself

...

"Girl boss feminism" is a capitalistic and colonial construction, and it has always been headed by very affluent white women who reproduced exploitative systems, often in the hopes that the "American dream" was on the other side. These wealthy women believe that their pursuit of power can be rebranded as some sort-of righteous quest for equality, and that their success as female executives and entrepreneurs and politicians and leaders would lift up the women below them. It's essentially just trickle down social capital.

"Girl boss feminism" is the feminism that taught women it is empowering to work within the patriarchal system and masculinist state rather than work to dismantle this. And it taught women that if they worked within the oppressive system, they could make gains for all womankind.

"Girl boss feminism" is throwing your weight behind the police and the prison system because it "protects women." It's pro-capitalist, arguing that the current power structure can empower and employ women and even make them wealthy. It is pro-imperialist, advocating for military or corporate intervention under the guise of politically or economically liberating oppressed women from those men. And it is pro-gender differentiation; the idea that men are men and women are women and never the twain shall meet.

"Girl boss feminism" is the feminism that taught women that buying pussy pins and hats and lingerie and make-up and t-shirts with catchy slogans (like Adult Human Female) could essentially buy them empowerment and equality. And it never required them to look critically at the capitalist system they operated within.

"Girl boss feminism" is Posie Parker and JK Rowling and pussy hats and all-female work spaces with rampant sexual assault allegations and sweat shops that make your catchy T-shirts and MLMs and the mainstream popularity of expecting an OnlyFans and clothing lines that say "NastyGirl." It is the affluent women who make their "competition with men and the plight of other affluent women like themselves synonymous with the conditions affecting all women." It is the belief that all women are oppressed by the patriarchy, but not all women are affected by other axes of oppression. It's the commodification and co-optation of liberation language.

"Girl boss feminism" is fighting tooth and nail to convince us to protect the features of the patriarchy that have allowed women like them to girl boss, and they're doing it under the guise of protecting these illusory "sex-based rights" women supposedly have. It is ignoring the fact that women and people assigned female at birth were granted rudimentary compensation or reparations for sexism-based discrimination, not special rights for being a woman or assigned female at birth. It is paving the way for the incel and MRA community to challenge this sexism-based compensation as a "special female privilege" and dismantle them in court.

The girl boss is the same person who has stated that the only reason why they would not want to be a woman (and instead a man) is because they think it would confer them male privilege, access to the patriarchal power structure, and the ability to wield and weaponize this power and privilege in their favor. Because they believe it'd be a hoot to be the ones on top.

What will kill this type of feminism? Acknowledging "that a slight expansion of college-educated women’s access to venture capital or mentoring opportunities was never a meaningful change to begin with, or an avenue via which meaningful change might be achieved." We need to become more skeptical of power in and of itself.

I hope that the COVID-19 pandemic revealed this type of "feminism" for the grift that it is. Because "when a country is grappling with mass death, racist state violence, and the unemployment and potential homelessness of millions of people, it becomes inescapably clear that when women center their worldview around their own [ ] hustle, it just re-creates the power structures built by men, but with women conveniently on top."

[aimmyarrowshigh]

also! can you tell us a bit about nadia van dyne? i see you write drabbles for her and post about her sometimes but i know NOTHING about her! like? a wasp that was in the red room? fascinating, tell me more

MY BLORBO, NADIA VAN DYNE!

How do I even begin to explain Nadia Van Dyne? Nadia Van Dyne is flawed, but flawless. She has one of the highest IQs in the Marvel Universe and started the Agents of G.I.R.L. to champion women scientists and heroes. I hear her genetic ability to shrink is insured for $10,000. I hear she's taking driving lessons... with Carol Danvers. Her favorite musical artist is Dazzler. One time, she met Doctor Doom on a plane, and they became best friends and he sort of became a good guy for a while. One time, she punched Monica Rappaccini in the face... and it was awesome.

::record scratch::

Okay, now that that's out of my system, seriously for real though, Nadia is the best. Every part of her character creation is that she was made to be my best blorbo girl. I love her.

Quick biography:

Way way way back in the day, Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym fell in love with a Hungarian entomologist (and political prisoner) named Dr. Maria Trovaya, who escaped to the US. She is who got him interested in ants. They got married. They went on their honeymoon to Hungary, where the Red Room kidnapped Maria and faked her murder so that Hank/the Americans wouldn't try to get her back. Hank had a nervous breakdown and got REALLY into ants, became Ant-Man, etc.

MEANWHILE: Maria is alive and being held captive by the Red Room when it's discovered that SHE'S PREGNANT WITH HANK'S BABY. She gives birth in the Red Room and is immediately killed, because now the Red Room doesn't need her -- they have her baby, who they can train from literal birth AND who is the product of TWO geniuses instead of just being ONE genius. Maria survives just long enough to name her Nadia, which means "hope" (because Hope Van Dyne in the MCU actually came first, and Nadia is an homage to her).

(Double meanwhile: Hank meets Janet Van Dyne, whom he thinks looks like 'a less beautiful Maria,' and he is a piece of shit. He marries Janet, is physically and emotionally abusive, Janet gets out, Hank turns into Ultron, it's a whole thing.)

Back in the Red Room, Nadia's FIRST MEMORY IN THIS WORLD is of A KIND MAN WITH A SILVER ARM TELLING HER SHE'S SMART. ::cries for 70 years::

Nadia is raised and trained to be a Red Room agent, but she's put in the science division that I'm forgetting the name of, so she does not have to pass as many physical tests as other Red Room girls (for example, she only has to be able to kill someone in like 14 ways instead of 27). She has one friend in the science division, who is much more into the killing aspect of the Red Room than Nadia is and protects her: Ying. However, because of their closeness, Ying is taken away and reassigned to the normal assassin program. Nadia is alone.

Nadia is determined to escape the Red Room and bring Ying with her, so she eventually manages to acquire black market Pym Particles and experiments with them. She integrates their size-changing properties into her being because hand-wavey superhero science and escapes into the Quantum Realm and thereafter, to America.

She makes her way to Hank's last known address in New Jersey, but oh no, Hank is dead sort of, and also Ultron, sort of, whatever, he's gone. Nadia is crushed that he is dead (she doesn't know about the Ultron part). Nadia decides to become the Wasp and join the Avengers. She saves Vision's life and is like, "YAY I SAVED MY NEPHEW'S LIFE!" and she's not technically wrong. Jarvis immediately is like, "I am adopting this child. Let's go meet Janet."

Janet and Nadia meet by saving the President from a microbomb, idk, it's a whole thing. Anyway, they meet, and Janet immediately just totally falls in love with Nadia and takes her out for a day on the town to experience all of the things she'd never gotten to do before, while living in the Red Room, like ice cream and not being in the Red Room.

Then Civil War II happens and idk whatever.

Then Nadia decides that she is going to form the Agents of G.I.R.L. and that's where her first solo series starts, and you should read it because it's SO GOOD!!!!

Fun Nadia Facts:

Canon aroace!

Canon bipolar representation! Her manic episode is the best-written one that I've ever read.

Canon cute language mix-ups and Russian accent!

Canon thinks of Viv Vision, whom I also deeply love, as her great-niece, and she's again, not wrong!

Janet and Bobbi are co-raising her and Ying! And I ship Janet/Bobbi so much!

Nadia is a badass optimistic traumatized scientist ballerina angel superhero, and I love her.

[fates-theysband]

rare americans' music is great bc you leave their stuff on shuffle and you'll go from "ballad about tricking the devil because god damn it you're not going to be stuck in hell just because you were a normal flawed person who got dealt a really shitty hand in life" to "the united states prison system is a disgusting institution that ruins the lives of nonviolent drug offenders just so the companies that own the prisons can exploit them" to "man isn't food awesome"