#ordinance on convicted

[newzquest]

Rahul Gandhi "Tore" the 2013 Ordinance that could have saved him from disqualification.

Wish Rahul could have undo now..'Ordinance should be torn and thrown out' ''अध्यादेश को फाड़कर बाहर फेंक देना चाहिए': काश राहुल अब इसे पूर्ववत कर सकते थे, काश अध्यादेश ना फाड़ दिया होता ! कहते हैं वक्त की लाठी बे-आवाज़ होती है.. दर्द का एहसास बाद में पता

Wish Rahul could have undo now..‘Ordinance should be torn and thrown out’ ”अध्यादेश को फाड़कर बाहर फेंक देना चाहिए’: काश राहुल अब इसे पूर्ववत कर सकते थे, काश अध्यादेश ना फाड़ दिया होता ! कहते हैं वक्त की लाठी बे-आवाज़ होती है.. दर्द का एहसास बाद में पता लगता है. एक इक बात में सच्चाई है उस की लेकिन,अपने हरकतओ से मुकर जाने को जी चाहता है!! Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a member of Parliament…

[dubiousdisco]

What is brazils viewpoint on illegal immigrants. Do they deport?

In Brazil, all immigrants have the same rights to education, health and work, whether they are refugees or not.

There are also some ordinances that provide for residence authorization for some specific nationalities.

ex haiti, venezuela, syria, afghanistan

There are no illegal immigrants. they may be in an irregular situation in the country, that being, not have an appropriate documentation for their situation. To live regularly in Brazil, you must have a residence permit. Not having the right document does not make a person a criminal, as this infraction is administrative. They will be able to resolve this situation and then be allowed to reside in Brazil. (source in pt)

The Constitution prohibits the extradition of native Brazilians and foreigners convicted of political or opinion crimes. Naturalized Brazilians can only be extradited for common crimes committed before naturalization or in the case of drug trafficking.

Deportation, provided for in Law 13,445/2017, known as the Migration Law, consists of the compulsory removal of a person in an irregular migration situation in the country. It results from an administrative procedure and is preceded by personal notification with an express list of irregularities and a deadline for regularizing the situation, in order to avoid deportation.

Also provided for in the Migration Law, expulsion is an administrative measure of compulsory removal of a migrant or visitor from Brazilian territory and impediment of re-entry into the country, for a determined period. What can give rise to expulsion is conviction for genocide or crimes against humanity, war or aggression, as well as the commission of an intentional crime, when there is intent, punishable by imprisonment. (source in pt)

Brazil has progressive and open immigration laws that allow migrants and refugees to quickly receive regularized status and apply for formal employment.

(Source in english)

Ministry of justice will restringe entry of immigrants without visa (in Brazil) source in pt

that's all i could find. there was a rise in deportation during 2020 (covid), 26901 when in 2019 it was 36. it is not usual.

the only personal experience i can share is that a lot of haitians live here in my city after 2018 and a lot of venezuelans arrive constantly, some start living here. and yeah never heard of them being deported from here personally

[hallikset]

Hermitcraft V. Mumbo from the POV of someone with no court knowledge <3

while im not very good at law, the frustration i felt watching hermitcraft v mumbo is INSANE. ON BOTH SIDES!!

"I'd like to point out, the plaintiff is a convicted criminal of this court"

Okay and? Objection, what is the relevance??? His crime is totally different from the charges being brought upon Mr. Mumbo K. Jumbo (i believe anyway, i have not seen doc's case)

However, the plaintiffs were all over the place in terms of the charges brought to Mumbo. Noise ordinances/pollution, environmental pollution, zoning laws, smth about loss of profit--im sure there's more.

Also, despite how this is NOT how courts work (in america, anyway) loved how Bdubs just. Basically did lawyer work.

Anyway, someone get Quackity on Tall Claims Court he'd eat them ALL up. Or go insane.

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint John Ogilvie

1579 - 1615

Feast Day: March 10

Patron of Scotland

Saint John Ogilvie was a Scottish Roman Catholic Jesuit martyr, born into a wealthy respected Calvinist family in 1579.  In the midst of the religious controversies and turmoil that engulfed Europe of that era, he decided to become a Roman Catholic. He joined the Society of Jesus and was ordained a priest in Paris in 1610. After ordination, he returned to Scotland in November 1613 disguised as a horse trader named John Watson, to minister to the few remaining Roman Catholics in the Glasgow area where it was illegal to preach or otherwise endorse Roman Catholicism. In 1614, he was betrayed and arrested in Glasgow, convicted of high treason for refusing to accept the King's spiritual jurisdiction, suffered terrible tortures and was hanged. 

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[morlock-holmes]

In one of those things that makes you feel like reality is slipping away, Neil Gorsuch, in his majority opinion, essentially paraphrases that famous Anatole French quote,

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread."

Here's Gorsuch (Page 3 of the decision):

Grants Pass’s public-camping ordinances do not criminalize status. The public-camping laws prohibit actions undertaken by any person, regardless of status. It makes no difference whether the charged defendant is currently a person experiencing homelessness, a backpacker on vacation, or a student who abandons his dorm room to camp out in protest on the lawn of a municipal building.

The man isn't an idiot. His argument is that, in the precedent cited, the Supreme Court ruled that one cannot criminalize a status. Specifically, it cannot criminalize the status of being an addict.

(c) Plaintiffs insist the Court should extend Robinson to prohibit the enforcement of laws that proscribe certain acts that are in some sense “involuntary,” because some homeless individuals cannot help but do what the law forbids. See Brief for Respondents 24–25, 29, 32. The Ninth Circuit pursued this line of thinking below and in Martin, but this Court already rejected it in Powell v. Texas, 392 U. S. 514. In Powell, the Court confronted a defendant who had been convicted under a Texas statute making it a crime to “ ‘get drunk or be found in a state of intoxication in any public place.’ ” Id., at 517 (plurality opinion). Like the plaintiffs here, Powell argued that his drunkenness was an “‘involuntary’” byproduct of his status as an alcoholic. Id., at 533. The Court did not agree that Texas’s law effectively criminalized Powell’s status as an alcoholic. Writing for a plurality, Justice Marshall observed that Robinson’s “very small” intrusion “into the substantive criminal law” prevents States only from enforcing laws that criminalize “a mere status.” Id., at 532–533. It does nothing to curtail a State’s authority to secure a conviction when “the accused has committed some act . . . society has an interest in preventing.” Id., at 533. That remains true, Justice Marshall continued, even if the defendant’s conduct might, “in some sense” be described as “ ‘involuntary’ or ‘occasioned by’” a particular status. Ibid.

My counterargument would be that not all alcoholics drink, and they certainly do not all get drunk in a public place.

All homeless people must sleep.

My big picture question is that, if you have a status that essentially requires certain behavior, what, in practice, is the distinction between criminalizing the status and criminalizing the behavior?

Suppose I do not have private property on which I am allowed to sleep; how might I avoid getting arrested for violating this ordinance?

The answer is that I literally cannot. By definition.

The court, I suspect, would argue back that essentially "Not having private property on which to sleep" is itself not a status, but a behavior, and the state may have a justified reason to criminalize the behavior of not acquiring private property on which to sleep.

I hope I don't need to explain why I find that barbaric (And frankly, stupid as well).

PS - The conflation between behavior that is occasioned by a status and behavior that is involuntary in Powell seems like a moral mistake by the court. An Alcoholic may get drunk in his house, rather than in public; therefore, even though public drunkenness is clearly occasioned by his status as an addict, it is not involuntary.

For example, imagine a state law which makes it illegal to check your blood sugar. Does this not essentially criminalize the status of being Diabetic? If the state objected that it had not criminalized being a diabetic, because all citizens were forbidden from checking their blood sugar, I hope we'd be able to dismiss that as the absurdity that it is.

[ausetkmt]

At President Trump's rally in Tampa last week, a familiar face made it back in the national news. Maurice Symonette, also known as Michael the Black Man, was front and center in a crowd hurling invective at CNN reporter Jim Acosta, waving a "Blacks for Trump" sign.

Symonette has been a regular at Trump rallies all over Florida and as far away as Arizona. Just last month, he popped up at the U.S. border to appear in a video with disgraced sheriff-turned-pardoned-Senate-candidate Joe Arpaio.

All that national exposure raises an obvious question: Who is paying the bills for Symonette, a former member of Miami's murderous Yahweh ben Yahweh cult, to represent "Blacks for Trump" at Trump rallies? 

Since Blacks for Trump isn't a registered political organization with the Florida Division of Elections or the Federal Election Commission, there are no public records of any donations funding the group's operations.

It seems unlikely Symonette is fronting the cash for his travel himself because he filed for bankruptcy this past May. In federal court records, he reports that he's unemployed, generates no income, and has $0 in the bank. He also says four banks have staked claims on $2.9 million worth of property around Dade County. 

So how is he getting to Arizona and Tampa to stand behind Trump on national TV?  Reached on his cell phone, Symonette declined to discuss his group's financing. "You guys are horrible racists," he said. "You are lawbreakers and you're mean... God is going to punish you horribly."

Throughout the '80s, Symonette — then known as Maurice Woodside — was a devoted follower of Yahweh ben Yahweh, a charismatic preacher who wore white robes and called himself the Messiah.

Federal prosecutors later accused Yahweh, whose real name was Hulon Mitchell Jr., of ordering his followers to murder at least 14 people, including random white vagrants who were massacred as an initiation rite.

Symonette was charged in federal court along with Mitchell and 15 other followers in 1990; while the cult's leader was later convicted of 14 charges of murder conspiracy and served nearly two decades in prison, Symonette and six other cult members were acquitted.

In the decades since, Symonette has been charged with crimes including grand theft auto, carrying a weapon onto an airplane, and threatening a police officer, but has never been convicted. (He does have a pending case on a municipal ordinance charge in Hollywood after police showed up to a really loud party he threw.)

Since Trump's election, Symonette has carved out an unlikely new niche as one of President Trump's most visible African-American supporters. He has a knack for getting prime placement directly behind Trump and has handed out hundreds of his "Blacks for Trump" signs.

They advertise his website, which is full of conspiracy theories about Cherokees running the U.S. banking system. (Really.)

Symonette was even featured at a Miami Trump rally that prosecutors later alleged had been funded by Russian nationals looking to disrupt the election.

Symonette filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on May 16, listing Washington Mutual, Homecomings Financial, HSBC Bank, and Indymac Bank as his creditors; each institution laid claim to one of four houses. Three are in North Miami-Dade County, and one is near Kendall.

In court docs, his only listed assets are clothing, watches, various household items, and a pool table. He does say that his live-in girlfriend, whom he doesn't identify by name, provides him with $2,000 per month.

Could that money from his significant other cover Blacks for Trump's various trips around the country to support the president on TV? Symonette wouldn't discuss that with a New Times reporter. 

Instead, he spoke at length about his belief that the banking system is corrupt. He added that "Trump being the president is the greatest blessing we have ever had."

In his bankruptcy case, he's repeated those allegations about the banking system being crooked to Judge Laurel M. Isicoff. He's also repeatedly sought to change hearings that overlapped with Trump events. Symonette suggested the scheduling conflicts are a sinister plot to keep him away from the spotlight at Trump rallies.

"Creditors know that I have a rally in Arizona on July 25 and deliberately set the hearing on that date to cause me and my musical band to miss the performance and the rally with the bus we rented," he wrote in a motion filed the same morning as the Phoenix rally. "The creditors overheard that at the house we are disputing... and set that hearing on the same date just to harm me."

That motion was denied, as was another he filed on July 30, just before Trump's Tampa rally. "As founder of Blacks for Trump, (I) have rented vans to go to Trump's rally. We need to make the country aware how the banks (FOREIGNERS FROM THE EAST) are illegally taking WHITE AND BLACK PEOPLE'S houses away."

Maurice Symonette's story is baffling, to put it mildly. Symonette, who also goes by the name Michael the Black Man, somehow went from being part of the murderous Yahweh ben Yahweh cult to getting acquitted of murder charges himself to being a staple at Donald Trump's presidential rallies all over the country. Even among the rogue's gallery of rodeo clowns and Bond villains who make up Trump's core cadre of supporters, Symonette might legitimately be the weirdest person hovering around Trumpworld

.

After Michael the Black Man turned up at a Tampa-area Trump rally last week and led anti-press chants, it's worth taking note of all the bizarre places he's materialized since becoming a prominent Trump supporter:

1. At the original October 2016 Trump rally where he first popped up on TV:

Conservative Twitter is abuzz this afternoon with a trending hashtag: #BlacksForTrump. The spark is clear: Thousands have retweeted photos from Trump's rally in Lakeland, Florida, this afternoon showing a small group standing directly behind the Donald while enthusiastically waving "Blacks for Trump" signs. "Blacks are for Trump and the left can't stand it," writes @LawlessPirate, with another pic of the sign-waving man wearing a shirt reading "Trump & Republicans Are Not Racist." So who is this new face of Trump's elusive black support? He's none other than Michael the Black Man, also known as Maurice Woodside or Michael Symonette, who has made waves in Miami in recent years with protests against the Democratic Party and rallies for the GOP. He's also a former member of the murderous Yahweh ben Yahweh cult, which was led by the charismatic preacher Hulon Mitchell Jr., who was charged by the feds in 1990 with conspiracy in killings that included a gruesome beheading in the Everglades. Michael, along with 15 other Yahweh followers, was charged for allegedly conspiring in two murders; his brother, who was also in the cult, told jurors that Michael had helped beat one man who was later killed and stuck a sharpened stick into another man's eyeball. But jurors found Michael (and six other Yahweh followers) innocent. They sent Mitchell away for 20 years in the federal pen. In the years that followed, Michael changed his last name to Symonette, made a career as a musician, started a radio station in Miami, and then reinvented himself as Michael the Black Man, an anti-gay, anti-liberal preacher with a golden instinct for getting on TV at GOP events. He's planned events with Rick Santorum and gotten cable news play for bashing Obama. Since 1997, he's been charged with grand theft auto, carrying a weapon onto an airplane and threatening a police officer, but never convicted in any of those cases. 

2. At a Trump rally in Bayfront Park in Miami just before the election: 3. At a rally allegedly organized with the help of Russian agents:

A federal grand jury filed charges against 13 Russian nationals [in February 2018] for allegedly stealing identities, wiring money overseas, and staging a small series of flash mobs to help tip the 2016 election in Donald Trump's favor. It's unclear whether the social media campaign had any actual impact on voting, but the FBI alleges Russian money indeed affected one small group of Miamians who unknowingly used Russian cash to pay for supplies for an unnamed rally the September before the presidential election. There still seem to be online traces of that Moscow-funded rally. Only one publicized, pro-Trump rally appears to have taken place in the Miami area — #LatinosConTrump in Doral at 1 p.m. September 11, 2016. The event was pitched as an "anti-media" protest outside the town's Univision offices. The national group Latinos With Trump created flyers for the rally and noted that virtually all of Miami's most prominent pro-Trump groups — Cubans 4 Trump, Hispanas for Trump, Latinas for Trump, and the official Miami Trump Volunteers — would attend.

4. At a 2017 Trump rally in Phoenix, per the Washington Post:

And so it was Tuesday night before a crowd of Trump supporters in Phoenix who had come to watch another show. There was the president, whipping up the wildly cheering crowd, and then there was Michael the Black Man, chanting just beyond Trump’s right shoulder in that trademark T-shirt. The presence of Michael — variously known as Michael Symonette, Maurice Woodside and Mikael Israel — has inspired not only trending Twitter hashtags but a great deal of curiosity and Google searches. Internet sleuths find the man’s bizarre URL, an easily accessible gateway to his strange and checkered past. The radical fringe activist from Miami once belonged to a violent black supremacist religious cult, and he runs a handful of amateur, unintelligible conspiracy websites. He has called Barack Obama “The Beast” and Hillary Clinton a Ku Klux Klan member. Oprah Winfrey, he says, is the devil. Most curiously, in the 1990s, he was charged, then acquitted, with conspiracy to commit two murders.

5. With noted racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio at the U.S.-Mexico border just last week:

Via our sister paper Phoenix New Times:

Former sheriff Joe Arpaio filmed a video at the U.S.-Mexico border with a former Florida cult member who goes by the name Michael the Black Man. In the video posted on Thursday, Michael has his arm around Arpaio as the ousted former sheriff promotes his improbable race for Arizona's open Senate seat during a visit to the border fence in Naco, Arizona. Michael was a follower of the Yahweh ben Yahweh cult, a black-supremacist religious sect in Florida. In 1990, the feds charged Michael and over a dozen fellow cult members with conspiracy related to brutal murders in Florida. Alongside Arpaio and Michael in the video is an independent Senate candidate in Massachusetts, Shiva Ayyadurai, who shared the live video on Twitter. Born in India, Ayyadurai is a scientist and MIT graduate who claims that he invented email. He began his Senate campaign as a Republican before switching to run as an independent. Ayyadurai’s campaign uses the slogan, “Defeat #FakeIndian Elizabeth Warren,” as a derogatory jab at his Democratic opponent. “First of all, I’m from Massachusetts, so of course I’m supporting this great guy,” Arpaio says of Ayyadurai in the video. “He’s gonna win.” Michael says, “We’re at the border right here, between Arizona and Mexico.” He turns to Arpaio to ask if he has anything to say to the camera. The aging former sheriff brings up his law enforcement background. “It’s great to see the border again; I haven’t seen it in a while,” Arpaio says. 

If you've got any info on who's paying Symonette's travel bills to Trump rallies, email [email protected] or [email protected]

For a second, Donald Trump seemed to be backing off his vitriolic attacks on the free press. After five journalists were massacred at the Annapolis Capital Gazette, Trump briefly toned down his slurs. He even invited New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzburger to the White House to clear the air. But it didn't last.

Trump quickly returned to his Stalinist, enemies-of-the-people label for journalists and then lied about his meeting with Sulzburger to insist that truthful reporting is "fake news." Those insults have a real effect, and that fact was never frighteningly clearer than at Trump's rally last night in Tampa, where an unhinged-looking mob screamed insults and waved middle fingers at journalists, particularly CNN's chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

The scene left many political watchers deeply shaken, including Acosta:

Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018

But most national press watchers didn't notice who was right at the center of that mob hurling invective at Acosta and his colleagues: Yep, it was Michael the Black Man, AKA Maurice Symonette, a former member of Miami's murderous Yahweh ben Yawheh cult who once faced charges of conspiring in the group's murders.

That's him with his instantly recognizable "Blacks for Trump" sign:

.@Acosta is trying to do a stand-up at #trumptampa and the crowd is booing and chanting “CNN sucks” behind him. pic.twitter.com/XiULajB1Li— Emily L. Mahoney (@mahoneysthename) July 31, 2018

Symonette has been a mainstay at Florida Trump rallies and over the past year has popped up at other Trump-linked events around the nation. Just last week, he flew to Arizona to film a video at the border with disgraced former sheriff Joe Arpaio. Trump's staff regularly gives Symonette front-and-center seats where he waves his black-and-white sign on national television.

Here's some background on Symonette from New Times' earlier reporting on him:

He's also a former member of the murderous Yahweh ben Yahweh cult, which was led by the charismatic preacher Hulon Mitchell Jr., who was charged by the feds in 1990 with conspiracy in killings that included a gruesome beheading in the Everglades. Michael, along with 15 other Yahweh followers, was charged for allegedly conspiring in two murders; his brother, who was also in the cult, told jurors that Michael had helped beat one man who was later killed and stuck a sharpened stick into another man's eyeball. But jurors found Michael (and six other Yahweh followers) innocent. They sent Mitchell away for 20 years in the federal pen. In the years that followed, he changed his last name to Symonette, made a career as a musician, started a radio station in Miami and then re-invented himself as Michael the Black Man, an anti-gay, anti-liberal preacher with a golden instinct for getting on TV at GOP events. He's planned events with Rick Santorum and gotten cable news play for bashing Obama. Since 1997, he's been charged with grand theft auto, carrying a weapon onto an airplane and threatening a police officer, but never convicted in any of those cases. 

In other words, he's exactly the kind of guy you might not want to drive into a blind rage at journalists who are just trying to do their jobs. Yet there he was in Tampa, right in the middle of the crowd screaming at Acosta — who, incidentally, took time to talk to the crowds who were so angry with him:

After each live shot, @Acosta would walk down and politely talk to the people who just heckled him. He talked to one group for at least 15 minutes. pic.twitter.com/J26nlxfD6k— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) August 1, 2018

There are two safe bets on this topic going forward: Trump won't stop throwing insults at the media, and wherever the president is whipping up that anger, Michael the Black Man will probably be there with his signs, happily taking the bait.

[fancoloredglasses]

Over the Edge (Well, THAT escalated quickly!)

[All images are owned by DC Comics and Warner Bros-Discovery. I hope I’m too small-fry to sue…]

[Thanks to Batgirlspain for the inspiration]

I originally wanted to review this episode of New Batman Adventures for Halloween, but I think most of you will agree that what I went with instead worked better (though a number have commented that I may have been a bit too harsh. However, I stand by my opinion!) So now, instead of a few days before Halloween, this review will be out a few days after the Day of the Dead, which I think is more appropriate.

If you would like to watch the episode, it’s available on Max or behind your favorite paywall.

We open with Batman and Robin on the run from…

Wait, the GCPD is after Batman (and using deadly force)? AND they know who he is?!  What the fucking fuck?!

One of the officers throws a grenade (what police department lets its officers carry grenades?!) at them, nearly blowing Robin to bits! The Dynamic Duo run for the Batmobile, but…

They have RPGs as well? Why aren’t they using this sort of ordinance on Bane or Killer Croc?!

The officer blows up the Batmobile, cutting off the Caped Crusaders’ escape.

Batman buys some time by using his trophies against Gordon and his men.

Namely, the giant penny.

Then, another avenue of escape is cut off by Detective Montoya, but they jump off the ledge toward the water below and into the waiting Batboat. Gordon is about to fire on them when…

…Alfred joins the struggle. He’s quickly subdued, but bought enough time for the Batboat to clear the Batcave. However, they’re not in the clear yet as…

Once again, the cops have an RPG handy to blow up the Batboat (someone please explain why Gordon’s been just sitting on these), but misses. Just as they’re about to fire another volley…

...Nightwing joins the fray and draws their fire. He then fires mini torpedoes at the Police boat’s engine, disabling it as the Dynamic Duo and Former Boy Wonder make their escape.

But why is the GCPD going all out to take down Batman? And how does Gordon know who Batman is? We’ll let Batman explain…

(Thanks to FLYBOY727)

OK, while I understand Gordon being upset about Batman being responsible for putting Barbara in harm’s way, that’s a HUGE step from blaming him yo being her murderer (after all, Scarecrow was the one who knocked her off of the building)! Personally, I think Bullock was salivating at the chance to take down the Bat and planted the seed in Gordon’s head.

But that still doesn’t explain how Gordon knows who Batman is!

For that, let’s fast forward a bit in this flashback to Wayne Manor where Bruce gets a phone call from Gordon.

OK, THAT explain it, though are you telling me the future Oracle wouldn’t have encrypted her computers out the wazoo?

As Gordon hangs up, Bruce sees the GCPD drive up, including a battering ram tank! (Seriously, if Gordon had access to all of this, then WHY is Gotham’s criminal element allowed to run rampant?!) Bruce and Tim retreat to the Batcave, which brings us to where we came in.

(Thanks to Tim Bengsch)

Yeah, you’d think Dick would realize that Gordon is capable of putting two and two together.

Now on his own, Batman ponders his next move (I hear Star City’s nice this time of year)

Meanwhile in Gordon’s office, Mayor Hill tries to get Gordon to stand down.

Since the public knows about Barbara’s connection to Batman…

Hill demands Gordon’s resignation.

Meanwhile, on Tabloid TV…

The assembled villains are suing Bruce Wayne for $1 billion!

...under the advice of the Dini-verse's version of Johnny Cochran.

Meanwhile, Gordon has to decide if he quietly resigns or fights the legal system.

With the clock ticking, Gordon goes to Blackgate Prison.

The convict in the shadows agrees to Gordon’s plan.

(Thanks to The World's Finest)

Oh, don’t tell me this was an “it’s all a dream” episode?!

I guess it was!

Turns out Batgirl got a lungful of the Scarecrow’s fear gas and it surfaced her worst fears in her mind.

Barbara decides that, to keep that nightmare scenario from happening, she would come clean to her father (though not reveal the rest of the Bat Family’s secrets)

That night, Barbara invites her father to dinner…and a talk.

Barbara tries to stammer out what she has to say, but is interrupted by Gordon.

So it is implied that Gordon might already know about Barbara…and possibly the others.

And with that, we fade out and credits roll

[gatheringbones]

[“When it passed, some feminists hailed the 1994 Crime Act as a triumph because it included major legislation that sought to tackle violence against women – the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). In a 2015 Feminist Current essay titled ‘A Thank-You Note to “Carceral”/”Sex-Negative” Feminists’, writer Penny White typifies this mainstream feminist praise for the VAWA and the police, writing that feminists of the seventies and eighties were ‘heroes’ who ‘paved the way for the Violence Against Women Act … which gave law enforcement 1.6 billion dollars to investigate and prosecute sexual and domestic violence … [This] transformed our culture into a bigger, safer, and freer space for women than I had ever dreamed possible.’

Rhetoric like this doesn’t just forget about victims of police and state violence – it throws them under the bus. Liberal commentator Amanda Marcotte caused outrage when she wrote an article titled ‘Prosecutors Arrest Alleged Rape Victim to Make Her Cooperate in Their Case. They Made the Right Call’, arguing that it was ‘understandable’ that prosecutors ‘might try to do everything within their power to convict [the perpetrator]’, including jailing his victim, adding that ‘we have to decide what’s more important to us: putting abusive men in jail or letting their victims opt out of cooperating with the prosecution as they see fit’. Carceral feminism prioritises punishing wrongdoers above all else, even protecting victims.

These competing perspectives on the 1994 Crime Act speak to larger conflicts within the feminist anti-violence movement and illuminate some of the problems with seeing the police as the solution to violence against women. Identifying the problems of this law-and-order approach pushes us to locate violence against women within the broader texture of state violence – including arrests, deportations, evictions, loss of child custody, anti-homelessness ordinances, the war on drugs, gentrification, and racism in policing and in the criminal justice system. The fight for decriminalisation is just one strand. Working to end the power of the police to assault, arrest, prosecute or deport people in the sex trades is part of a larger struggle for safety, a struggle which includes freeing incarcerated survivors, ending cash bail, and fighting for investment in the things that make people safer – not cops and prisons.”]

molly smith, juno mac, from revolting prostitutes: the fight for sex workers’ rights, 2018

[haggishlyhagging]

As the theory of woman's wickedness gathered force, her representative place in the church lessened. From century to century restrictive canons multiplied and the clergy constantly grew more corrupt— although bearing bad reputation at an early date. Tertullian, whose heavy diatribes are to be found in large libraries, was bitter in his opposition to marriage. While it took many hundreds of years for the total exclusion of woman from the Christian priesthood, the celibacy of the clergy during this period was the constant effort of the church. Even during the ages that priestly marriage was permitted, celibates obtained a higher reputation for sanctity and virtue than married priests who, infinitely more than celibates were believed subject to infestation by demons.

The restriction upon clerical marriages proceeded gradually. First the superior holiness of the unmarried was taught, together with their greater freedom from infestation by demons. A single marriage only was next allowed, and that with a woman who had never before entered the relation. The council of A.D. 347, consisting of twenty-one bishops, forbade the ordination of those priests who had been twice married or whose wife had been a widow. A council of A.D. 395 ruled that a bishop who had children after ordination should be excluded from the major orders. The council of A.D. 444 deposed Chelidonius, Bishop of Besancon, for having married a widow. The council of Orleans (A.D. 511), consisting of thirty-two bishops, decided that monks who married should be expelled from the ecclesiastical order.

The church was termed the spouse of the priest. It was declared that Peter possessed a wife before his conversion but that he forsook her and all worldly things after he became Christ's, who established chastity. Priests were termed holy in proportion as they opposed marriage. The unmarried among the laity who had never entered that relation, and the married who forsook it, were regarded as saintly. So great was the opposition to marriage that a layman who married a second time was refused benediction and penance [was] imposed. A wife was termed "an unhallowed thing."

So far from celibacy producing chastity or purity of life, church restrictions upon marriage led to the most debasing crimes, the most revolting vices, the grossest immorality. As early as the fourth century (A.D. 370) the state attempted purification through a statute enacted by the emperors Valentinian, Valerius and Gratian, prohibiting ecclesiastics and monks from entering the houses of widows, single women living alone or girls who had lost their parents. The nearest ties of relationship proved ineffectual in protecting woman from priestly assault and incest became so common, it was found necessary to prohibit the residence of a priest's mother or sister in his house. This restriction was renewed at various times through the ages. The condemnation of the council of Rome (Easter, 1051) under the pontificate of Pope Leo IX, was not directed against married priests but against those who held incestuous relations.

Yet, although the church thus externally set her seal of disapprobation upon this vice, her general teaching sustained it. Gregory, Bishop of Venelli—convicted of this crime by the Council of Rome—was punished by excommunication but in a short time was restored to his former important position. The highest legates were equally guilty with the inferior priests. Cardinal John of Cremona, the pope's legate to the Council of Westminster (1125), sent by Pope Honorius for the express purpose of enforcing celibacy, became publicly notorious and disgraced and was obliged to hastily leave England in consequence of his teaching and his practice being diametrically opposed.

Through this clerical contempt of marriage, the conditions of celibacy and virginity were regarded as of the highest virtue. Jerome respected marriage as chiefly valuable in that it gave virgins to the church while Augustus, in acknowledging that marriage perpetuated the species, also contended that it also perpetuated original sin.

These diverse views in regard to marriage created the most opposite teaching from the church. By one class, the demand to increase and multiply was constantly brought up and women were taught that the rearing of children was their highest duty. The strangest sermons were sometimes preached toward the enforcement of this command. Others taught an entirely different duty for both men and women and a large celibate class was created under especial authority of the church. Women, especially those of wealth, were constantly urged to take upon themselves the vow of virginity, their property passing into possession of the church—thus helping to build up priestly power. Another class held the touch of a woman to be a contamination and to avoid it, holy men secluded themselves in caves and forests.

Through numerous decretals, confirmation was given to the theory that woman was defiled through the physical peculiarities of her being. Even her beauty was counted as an especial snare and temptation of the devil for which, in shame, she ought to do continual penance. Chrysostom, whose prayer is repeated at every Sunday morning service of the Episcopal Church, described women as a "necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic peril, a deadly fascination and a painted ill." But to escape her influence was impossible, and celibacy led to the most direful results. Monks and hermits acknowledged themselves tormented in their solitary lives by visions of beautiful women. Monasteries were visited by an illness to which celibacy imparted a name and impurity of body and soul spread throughout Christendom. The general tone of the church in regard to marriage, its creation of a double code of morality, its teaching of woman's greater sinfulness—together with that of her absolute subordination to man—subverted the moral character of the Christian world, within whose borders the vilest systems of immorality arose which the world has ever known, its extent being a subject of historical record.

-Matilda Joslyn Gage, Woman, Church and State

[darkmaga-returns]

President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar is warning sanctuary cities of dire consequences if they refuse to turn over illegal immigrants, saying he’ll seek Justice Department authority to charge officials with obstruction and harboring if they don’t turn over illegal border crossers in their custody. “They need to be aware of a couple things. No. 1, impeding a federal law enforcement officer is a crime. No. 2, if you knowingly harbor or conceal an illegal alien from ICE, that's a crime,” Tom Homan told Just the News in a wide-ranging interview. “So don't cross that line!” The former acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was named earlier this month by Trump to coordinate all border security issues from the White House starting Jan. 20. He has been crafting plans already.

Both the president-elect and Homan have been clear they intend to launch mass deportations of the more than 14 million illegal aliens believed to have entered the country during the Biden presidency, beginning with those who are accused or convicted of crimes.

Since then, some blue states and cities have announced they will resist the Trump administration’s effort when it begins in January. The city of Los Angeles, for instance, passed an ordinance last week affirming it is a sanctuary city, matching the state law that California first passed in 2017.

[mitsdriveswhere]

The Seven Cities of Gold

I've always been a little fascinated in how myths affect myths and one great example of this is the Seven Cities of Gold. This, primarily, is considered one of the oldest European-American myths, one created by Spanish colonists and invaders.

The Seven Cities of Gold, or the Seven Cities of Cíbola, was a Spanish myth of indigenous cities built of or filled with gold, around the beginning of the sixteenth century. They are most closely associated with the 1540 entrada headed by Vasquez de Coronado into primarily modern day Arizona and New Mexico. The origin of this myth, however, is a bit confusing, for a couple reasons.

There are no Seven Cities of Gold

Which Seven Cities has never actually been solidified

This myth seems to predate European knowledge of the Ancestral Puebloan cities in New Mexico for which they are named (Cíbola being one of the first terms Europeans used to describe Zuni)

Which gets into the reason as to why such a myth exists. Fundamentally, (in my opinion) there are two factors that resulted in the creation of the myth of the Seven Cities of Gold: the economics of slavery and abolitionism, and the age old equivalent of the game Telephone.

The economics and history of slavery at this time, I think is fairly well understood, but I digress: Spain colonized Mexico and every other part of the Americas they could reach for imperial advantage. Spain needed money to fund its Inquisition (yes that one), and to rebuild after the Reconquista. As imperial powers do, they needed a source of income, preferably with unpaid labor. The Americas provided both of these, especially in Southern Mexico, where the Aztecs, already quite adept at mining and refining gold, had populous cities and traversable infrastructure. The Incas, like the Aztecs, also indicated to Spain that the Americas were filled with the riches they desired (people they could enslave, and precious metals - especially gold and silver).

Abolitionism on the other hand, especially in the early 1500s, is something I don't really hear so much about, even though it was a strong political force at the time. Granted, not abolitionism in the way we think of it today - let's not pretend that democracy was even on the horizon. But at the very least, Spain was at the forefront of a political movement away from the equivalent of chattel slavery - a shift the US would not catch onto for another three hundred years. The human rights violations of Spain's early conquistadors (and yes, the people of that time also thought of it that way) were abhorrent both politically and - worse for Spain - economically. Surprising to no one, someone willing to commit the worst acts imaginable on another human being is not all that willing to then go along with society's basic functions of decency. If you can name an early conquistador, I can name exactly how they fell from grace, were convicted, exiled, or yes - even murdered. It's all of them. So, Spain had a human rights movement, which manifested in several "protectionary" laws for the indigenous - especially the Laws of Burgos and the Ordinances of Discovery (I use quotations because, again, Europeans were still doggedly racist, and these laws reflected this). Some of these laws were so humanitarian in nature, Spanish colonists revolted in some areas because of how many rights were being granted to the indigenous (truly, please read about Pizarro's assassination, it's magnificent, and contextually relevant).

One actor in this movement, of course, was the first viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza. Mendoza, while politically very shrewd, was in favor of these humanitarian movements. He would not have agreed to breech the northern border of his colony - was was then Central/Northern Mexico - only to conquer, like those before him. That position of his changed only after a survivor of a once-thought-to-be-very-very-very-dead entrada from ten years prior wandered out of Northern Mexico and back into Spanish occupied lands - Cabeza de Vaca. De Vaca spoke of cities he had been told about that were encrusted with jewels. This, Mendoza would move for, so he sent a scouting party, the survivors of said party returned to say they had also been told stories of cities of gold. Somewhere along the way, this report was twisted to say that the scouting party had actually seen cities of gold - specifically the city Cíbola (Zuni). Gold moved Spanish action, this is a constant through history. So Mendoza began preparing the first entrada of his office - the entrada of Coronado. From there, it's history (Coronado was also a fail-son like every conquistador before and after him. Look it up, he's cringe.).

But, where the fuck did the myth of Seven Cities come from? The scouting party saw one (1), and it was from a distance. This is where we get into the equivalent of the game of Telephone, aka how information was disseminated for nearly humanity's entire existence until the Phoenicians.

Humans, oddly enough, have a penchant for the number 7. We just really like it, for whatever reason. Lots and lots of legends and myths involve the number 7, but the two specially that likely influenced the myth of the Seven Cities come from two backgrounds - the Seven Caves of Chicomoztoc, and the Seven Cities of Antillia. Fascinatingly, two completely separate myths that evolved entirely independently of each other. The Seven Caves is a Nahua (Aztec) myth, about the origin of the Nahua themselves. Like many other Central American and American Southwestern peoples, the Nahua origin myth tells of the people emerging from the underground, specially from seven caves in this instance. It's an absolutely beautiful reminder just how well humans are able to keep our history even without writing it down. Unfortunately, the Spanish heard this myth, and thought 'Oh, how great would it be if we could find these caves, and loot them.' After all, the great Aztec cities they'd looted so far yielded a lot of gold. So, already, Spanish colonizers were primed with the desire to search for yet-to-be-discovered hordes of gold.

The second myth is of European origin, before the Americas were ever sailed to. The myth of the "lost" island of Antillia, or the Seven Cities of Antillia, revolved around a phantom island, of all things. Phantom islands are islands that do not exist, but were created through mapping errors when maps were made by hand by some guy going "yeah that looks about right". Maps were collaborative, so if some guy put down on the portion of the sea that he'd mapped that there's an island there, the next person over would also put it down, because how is he to know that the first guy was wrong. Phantom islands were chronic in early seafaring, because people also have a penchant for, scientifically speaking, making shit up. (See early maps of the gulf of Mexico, it does wonders for imposter syndrome. They were legit just making shit up.) The phantom island of Antillia was an island once incorrectly drawn off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula, long before 1492, and was said to be the hiding place of several prominent members of the Catholic Church - with highly desirable land and lots and lots of money. It was this myth that already existed in the mind space of Spanish citizens, once again priming them for the rumors told of Cíbola.

There have of course been speculations of what the Seven Cities might actually be, or at the very least, the remaining six, but it remains a fact that there were no cities of gold. No matter how much National Treasure 2 wants us to think it's in some god forsaken place like South Dakota.

[mariacallous]

In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the hands of former police officer Derek Chauvin and three other now former officers, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. However, the legislation never received a vote in the U.S. Senate. Though Democrats and Republicans agreed on a large portion of the legislation, they hit a stalemate on qualified immunity. Some police reform and accountability advocates shifted back to the local level. Minneapolis entered into a police reform agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz appeared to support police reform, but Democrats in the state believed the legislation did not go far enough, while Republicans felt the legislation went too far.

In January 2023, Tyre Nichols was murdered by police officers in Memphis, Tennessee. Similar to the Floyd murder, police officers were fired and convicted of criminal charges. Once again, police reform advocates and community members demanded changes to improve police accountability. The city of Memphis enacted a series of laws to enhance police accountability, including ordinances aimed at limiting pretextual traffic stops—named in honor of Tyre Nichols—and increasing transparency by requiring data collection on the individuals stopped and the locations of these incidents.

Different from Governor Waltz, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill blocking cities in the state from implementing some police reforms, essentially making the Memphis laws noted above ineffective. As our data show below, Tennessee has enacted more “pro-policing” legislation compared to Minnesota and also has a higher rate of police-involved fatalities.

Tennessee and Minnesota are just two examples of states that have drawn public attention for their policing practices. To provide greater insights into how individual states compare, we created a State-level Policing Legislation Database. This resource is designed to assist researchers, policymakers, and community members by compiling data from a range of governmental, nongovernmental, and nonprofit organizations. Below, we outline the categories represented in the maps.

State-level demographic data were collected using the U.S. Census Bureau’s QuickFacts tool, which provides 2023 statistics for all states and counties. QuickFacts data are drawn from multiple sources, including Population Estimates, the American Community Survey, the Census of Population and Housing, the Current Population Survey, Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, State and County Housing Unit Estimates, County Business Patterns, Non-employer Statistics, the Economic Census, the Survey of Business Owners, and Building Permits.

Data on the number of citizens killed by police were gathered through the Mapping Police Violence project, a 501(c)(3) organization widely regarded as providing the most comprehensive and current information on police violence.

Data on the stability of state legislative control were obtained from Ballotpedia, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive information on U.S. elections, politics, and policy. To assess the stability of party control within each state legislature, a stability ratio was calculated for a 10-year period (from 2014 to 2023). This ratio represents the total number of years the current governing party (as of 2024) maintained control of either legislative chamber, scaled to a maximum of 10 years per chamber. For instance, in Pennsylvania, the Republican Party controlled the Senate for all 10 years and the House for nine out of 10 years, resulting in a stability score of 19/20. Nebraska, which has a unicameral legislature, was the only state excluded due to the absence of party control data.

Data on average annual salaries of state legislators were sourced from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), a nonpartisan association of current state legislators representing U.S. states, territories, and commonwealths. Using the NCSL’s 2024 annual compensation report, the data were analyzed to assess whether legislative resources were associated with the number of police reform bills proposed and enacted.

Legislation was examined using the NCSL Policing Legislation Database, which tracks law enforcement-related topics such as accountability and oversight, employment policies, and standards. This database includes all legislation introduced since May 2020 and is updated monthly by NCSL staff as new legislation is identified.

Legislation is categorized as policing protections or policing reforms.

Legislation was labeled as protective if it:

Increased appropriations or instituted new grant programs;

Limited oversight capabilities;

Limited liability or increased protections for officers accused of misconduct;

Imposed harsher penalties on citizens for crimes against police;

Imposed harsher penalties for participation in protest activities;

Created exemptions or exceptions to training standards or reform bills;

Expanded the size of the police force;

Expanded the powers of police to arrest or detain; or

Increased resources for individual officers.

Legislation was labeled as reformatory if it:

Imposed new or enhanced standards on training or hiring;

Increased oversight or enhanced accountability;

Banned or limited institutional practices, officer tactics, or use of invasive technology; or

Implemented technology to increase transparency.

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint John Ogilvie 1579 - 1615 Feast Day: March 10 Patron of Scotland

Saint John Ogilvie was a Scottish Roman Catholic Jesuit martyr, born into a wealthy respected Calvinist family in 1579.  In the midst of the religious controversies and turmoil that engulfed Europe of that era, he decided to become a Roman Catholic. He joined the Society of Jesus and was ordained a priest in Paris in 1610. After ordination, he returned to Scotland in November 1613 disguised as a horse trader named John Watson, to minister to the few remaining Roman Catholics in the Glasgow area where it was illegal to preach or otherwise endorse Roman Catholicism. In 1614, he was betrayed and arrested in Glasgow, convicted of high treason for refusing to accept the King's spiritual jurisdiction, suffered terrible tortures and was hanged.

Prints, holy cards and plaques are available here: {website}

[coochiequeens]

I've taken many jabs at the ACLU for defending perverted freaks now here's the HRC following their lead.

By Reduxx Team February 16, 2024

A registered child sex offender was welcomed at the Human Rights Campaign’s North Carolina Dinner gala last week, just months after a controversy involving him being awarded a top LGBT advocacy prize. Chad Severance-Turner, a former youth minister, is currently the Chief Executive Officer at the Carolina LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce.

On February 10, the Human Rights Campaign in North Carolina held its annual dinner gala, with a number of top LGBT activists in attendance. Among the speakers at the Bank of America-sponsored “Without Exception” event was HRC Press Secretary Brandon Wolf and Democrat State Senator Lisa Grafstein.

But among those featured in attendance was Chad Severance-Turner, a registered child sex offender who has managed to rise to prominence as an LGBT advocate in North Carolina.

As previously reported by Reduxx, Turner was first accused by three boys of sexual abuse in 1998.

According to a GoUpstate report on the case from 2000, all of the victims who had come forward had met Turner through his position as the music director at the New Harvest Church of God in Gaffney, South Carolina. The cases were tried separately due to the nature of the charges, and Turner was ultimately only convicted on one offense. 

Of the incidents Turner was convicted on, a 14-year-old boy had testified that Turner had invited him to spend the night at his house in the nearby community of Bessemer City, North Carolina. The victim stated that during the visit, Turner had questioned him on how he’d feel about a man performing oral sex on him. 

Turner, wearing a silver vest, at the February 10 HRC Dinner.

“I thought he was joking,” the boy told the court. He explained that Turner frequently questioned him about sexual acts between men and women, which upset him because of the man’s position in the church. The victim continued that, following a revival meeting, he and Turner stayed overnight at the home of one of the other alleged victims. 

The teen says he awoke to find Turner fondling his genitals, but didn’t immediately report it due to shame.

The second minor, who said he was 15 when the incident occurred, stated he was invited to Turner’s home where the older man showed him a pornographic video of a man and a woman having sex. He then said that later that night, after he and Turner went to sleep in the same bed, he woke up to find Turner fondling him.

The third alleged victim, who was also 15 at the time, said Turner had made the same advances to him over a three-week period when he stayed in the boy’s home. The minor said Turner had fondled him several times. 

“He told me if I ever told the pastor, he’d make me look like a fool and a liar,” the boy said.

Turner’s registration with the North Carolina Sex Offender and Public Protection Agency.

During the trial, Turner’s defense attorney, Thomas Shealy, accused the boys of perpetrating a “witch hunt,” and asserted that it was suspicious that there was a few month delay between them being sexually abused and them going to their parents. 

Turner was ultimately convicted on the charges related to the first victim, and sentenced to 10 years in prison for committing lewd acts on a minor under the age of 16. He served 2 years behind bars before being released on parole and being ordered to the sex offender registry.

Since being released from prison, Turner has become an active and notable member of the Charlotte LGBTQ advocacy community. 

In 2012, Turner was elected the president of the LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce, immediately heading efforts to push for an expanded “nondiscrimination” ordinance which many complained would have prevented businesses from maintaining spaces such as washrooms as single-sex. 

He was named “Person of the Year” by LGBT news outlet QNotes in March of 2015, but would resign from his Chamber of Commerce post in 2016 after his history as a child sex offender came to light. He would once again join the LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce as its inaugural CEO in 2021, a position he has held since. Under his leadership, the Chamber has secured partnerships with prominent organizations like Fifth Third Bank, NASCAR, Duke Energy, Wells Fargo, Sonoco, and Novant Health. He was also recently appointed by Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles to serve on the city’s Business Advisory Committee.

Turner has previously been awarded an honor by the Human Rights Campaign at their annual gala, though at the time, HRC officials refused to state whether they were aware of his child sex offender status prior to giving him the award.

Most recently, Turner was honored with the Harvey Milk Award by Charlotte Pride in a controversial move that was quickly reversed after Reduxx reported on his pedophile past.

[offender42085]

Post 0583

Dominick David Black, Wisconsin inmate 717987, Kenosha County (Wisconsin) inmate 161466, born 2001; released to probation August 2023

Vehicle Operator Flee/Elude Officer

Dominick Black, a friend of Kyle Rittenhouse who faced two felony charges for buying a rifle used by Mr. Rittenhouse, has agreed to plead no contest to lesser charges in a deal.

Mr. Black, 20, bought an AR-15-style rifle in May 2020 for Mr. Rittenhouse, who was then 17 and too young to buy the gun legally. Mr. Rittenhouse used the rifle when he killed two people and wounded a third during an altercation amid protests in Kenosha, Wis. Mr. Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of homicide and other charges after a trial, testified that he was acting in self-defense when he fired the weapon.

Mr. Black, who was a witness for the prosecution in Mr. Rittenhouse’s widely followed homicide trial, was initially charged with two counts of intent to sell a dangerous weapon to a minor, a felony. Under the agreement made public, Mr. Black agreed to plead no contest to a noncriminal county ordinance violation of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, his lawyer, Anthony Cotton, said during a brief hearing.

In the Kenosha courtroom where Mr. Rittenhouse’s trial took place, Judge Bruce Schroeder of Kenosha County Circuit Court accepted the plea agreement and imposed a fine of $2,000.

Thomas Binger, an assistant district attorney in Kenosha, said in court that he believed it was appropriate to dismiss the felony charges, given Mr. Black’s willingness to cooperate in the case, and to impose a fine.

“I believe that does serve as a form of punishment and a deterrence to anyone going forward into the future,” Mr. Binger said. “I do want to close by saying that I do believe that it is a serious offense to purchase a firearm for someone who is not legally able to do so. Our office will continue to vigorously prosecute those offenses. And it is still our office’s position that 17-year-olds should not go armed with firearms.”

During Mr. Rittenhouse’s trial, Mr. Black told the court that he bought the gun on a trip with Mr. Rittenhouse to northern Wisconsin, where Mr. Black’s family owned a hunting property, and stored it at his stepfather’s house in Kenosha for Mr. Rittenhouse. He said that on the day of the shooting in August 2020, as protests were unfolding in Kenosha, he and Mr. Rittenhouse brought their guns from Mr. Black’s stepfather’s house and drove downtown, where they cleaned graffiti and, at night, guarded used-car lots.

Mr. Black got to know Mr. Rittenhouse when he was dating McKenzie Rittenhouse, one of Mr. Rittenhouse’s sisters.

Subsequent to the Rittenhouse events, Mr Black has been arrested 4 times, three times in 2022 and once in 2023,  He has been charged with operating a vehicle with a suspended license, operating an unregistered vehicle, operating without insurance, fleeing LEO, bail jumping, operating at excessive speeds,  As of June 1, 2023 he is in jail on a conviction related to fleeing an LEO.  He was sentenced to 6 months. He was released to probation in August 2023.

3u

Last reviewed September 2024

[eaglesnick]

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.”  Seneca the Younger

Nigel Farage is jetting off to the USA for a second time in a month. Pocketing  £12,000 for a speech at the “Keep Arizona Free Summit". it appears he is more interested in increasing his own personal wealth than serving the people of Clacton who elected him as their MP.

The “Keep Arizona Free” flier has this billing:

“Featuring Keynote Speaker Nigel Farage. Also known as “Mr Brexit", is a British politician, broadcaster and political analyst” (Keep Arizona Free Summit 2024)

Other speakers include the crusading Christian Brandon Tatum, a man who converted to Christianity in 2008 and now says he is working for the “Great Commission”. This means Tate is an evangelical Christian.

Unfortunately, Tate goes beyond simply preaching the word of God. Much like political Islam and Islamic extremists, Tate combines his faith with politics. He describes the Democratic Party in America as “the enemy".

“You cannot say that you are a Christian and you believe in Christian values and you turn around and vote for a party that believes in mutilating kids and gay marriage and all this other stuff,”  (Tate: 30/11/23)

I’m not sure how much child mutilation and “other stuff” happened under democrats Obama and Joe Biden but mixing politics and religion is a recipe for intolerance and dictatorship: just look to Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Yemen where Islamic theocratic governments rule with an iron fist. But don’t think a Christian theocratic dictatorship could not happen in the West.

“Jesus is their saviour, Trump is their candidate” was a recent headline in an apnews.com article.  And reiterating the hatred of liberal politicians, espoused by Nigel Farage’s fellow speaker Brandon Tate, Time Magazine said this:

“Trump has white evangelicals in his pocket. Whatever cognitive dissonance some devout Christians may feel for supporting a twice-impeached serial philandering liar who tried to stage a coup and threatens violence against political opponents is easily dismissed with the conviction that no Republican nominee, no matter how problematic, could be worse than losing to a Democrat.”

Another speaker sharing the Keep Arizona Free Summit platform with Nigel Farage is James T. Harris, another deeply religious man on the right of US politics, a man “committed to faith".

Farage will be in the company of like-minded people. Speaking of Britain, Farage said:

"We are a Christian country with a Christian constitution and a Christian monarch…I absolutely believe in Christian values that have made this country great." (Daily Mirror: 19/12/2015)

According to Evangelical Focus, only 6% of the UK population are practicing Christians, while 42% are non-practicing Christians. This presents Farage with a problem. Declaring his Christian believes will not bring him many votes, unlike in the USA where political evangelicalism thrives. But don’t believe for one minute right wing Christians don’t look to Farage as a UK saviour in the same way fundamentalist Christians in America look toward Trump.

This was a headline during the recent UK election campaigne:

“Reform UK: The Best Option for British Christians”. (Crisis Magazine: 01/07/24)

Fundamentalist Christians, like fundamentalist Islamist, are totally intolerant of people with values and believes that do not match their particulate brand of religious zealotry. 

Railing against the concept of social justice, Crisis said that Christians in the western world (do they mean white Christians?) were:

“..ignoring the voting recommendations of bishops wedded to a “social justice” ideology largely developed by the very same prelates, priests, thinkers, and activists who variously tolerate, implicitly accept, or actively favor sexual immorality, female ordination, liturgical abuses and numerous other evils—turning instead to such parties as the Brothers of Italy, Poland’s Law and Justice Party, and France’s National Rally.”

There you have it. GOOD Christians vote for the far-right. BAD Christians vote for liberal democracy, which brings us back to the “Keep Arizona Free Summit" and its guest speakers.

All three are regarded as “good Christians” hence their invitation to speak.

I am sure the people of Clacton, where over half of those over 16 are “economically inactive” will be cheering their support as Farage pockets his £12,000  fee as a “good Christian”. Maybe, he will ask his fellow speakers to pray for the one-in-three children in Clacton who are living in poverty? Maybe Farage, the highest paid MP in Parliament, will take heed of what Jesus said about riches.

 “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” (Matthew 19:12)

Maybe, but I sincerely doubt it.