#prison population

[realgoogleclassroom]

I'm going to give you two facts today, class because they came up in a conversation I had earlier:

1. The United States of America, despite being about 4% of the world population, has about 20% of the world's prison population

2. By the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution: Slavery is fully legal, as long as it is a punishment for a crime.

Let's discuss this with the class, shall we?

[usauthoritarianism]

Okay

This’nsan example.

[unimatrix-420]

The U.S. Congress has enacted an average of 4-6 million “words of new law in each two-year Congress” since World War II.4 Last year in early September, around 800 new laws went into effect at once, many of which focused “on crime and punishment.”5 If it wasn’t already suspect as to why the world’s self-proclaimed freest country holds the world’s largest prison population,6 it can certainly be expected of a nation that has so many laws criminalizing actions that it “lacks the manpower and resources to accomplish the task” of counting them all, though one current estimate is there are 3,000 criminal acts on the books.7 Most ordinary citizens simply trying to go about their days are not going to know when any of what they are doing is considered “illegal,” and quite possibly some crime.8

-- from my article | Comrades, let us radicalize (2020)

[loudlylovingreview]

Cecilia Zavala: Pardon Me | Ending the Stigma That Harms Generations

When we reduce people to their convictions, we fail to see their humanity, their potential, and the harm this judgment causes not just to them but to their families. A handcuffed prisoner languishes in a prison cell. (Photo: Doug Berry/Getty Images) ~ U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent clemency grants to 1,500 Americans sparked renewed discussions about second chances. Yet for millions of…

[thecapitolradar]

From the article:

We actually agree with Sen. Blackburn here. That *doesn't* mean we're turning down the pressure on Pres. Biden to deport EVERY prisoner who came to this country illegally.

Our sources say that's upwards of HALF A MILLION people. That half million includes the members of transnational gangs. You know, the ones that Donald Trump SWORE to deport, the ones he was so obsessed with that he made a campaign promise to deport them?

Promises made, promises used as toilet paper.

So, yes, use Sen. Blackburn's smaller numbers to get that border legislation passed, by all means. But don't forget the MASSIVE population of hardened criminals who flitted into this country illegally, and stayed because Donald Trump let them.

And don't let Joe Biden forget them, either.

[discordiansamba]

boiling rock au zuko learning so many important lessons about the fire nation and it's actual role in the hundred year war and the truth behind the air nomad genocide and the imprisonment of the southern waterbenders. how to see past the lifetime of propaganda he's grown up with. the truth about the cultures he's been lied to all his life about. how bad the war is even for his own people. your father is a cruel and abusive asshole.

but also.

learning how to pick locks. if you want to knock someone out, this is the best place to strike. here's how you forge a document. it's totally good and cool to steal from the rich and murder is also okay. here's how you make a shiv. he's surrounded by criminals and political prisoners and prisoners of war and he's learning so much from them.

are all of these lessons good ones? no

is he absorbing it all anyways? absolutely.

[samdeancrimespree]

when that guy points at sam through the prison fence and goes “you’re mine, baby,” and sam just looks fucking perplexed and nods. and dean says (in his sleaziest voice) “don’t worry, sammy. promise i won’t trade ya for smokes.” we get it dean he’s Your property. Jesus Christ. a little surprising they weren’t all trying to call dibs on you too but it’s nice to know that your first response to hearing someone hit on your brother is that he’s already taken.

dean being. Entertained by the fact that sams roommate keeps “staring at him” is also just… unhinged

and then he immediately gets in a fight because some guy said One harsh word to sam. after SAM bumped into him. fucking freak

[casually-eat-my-soul]

I lied, put your clothes back on. I’m going to explain how I think the wands in Harry Potter are tools that help the government control the population.

[favvnsongs]

op deleted the post so im just gonna, like i think its actually important to talk about why we're likely gonna see more of this kind of reporting

first off. ✨alleged✨

so. obviously. something something rich kid privilege. very fancy food blogger picture. "european dishes" and the insinuation that he alone is getting a special menu. but this is like, the weekly meal plan for the general population. it's linked within the article lmfao.

as for WHY this is being reported as a top story (in people, mind you, so ... kinda sorta a gossip rag to begin with but i digress), thats a pretty easy thing to answer as well - we just gotta take a peek into the comment section

its all pretty cut and dry. its all for the same reason that theyve cut the audio from the "this is an injustice and an insult to the intelligence of the american people" clip, and now almost entirely report on it as an unhinged outburst.

[boringkate]

Somehow still continually trippy to remember that the United States isn't just a fascist country in a "truly none of us are free under capitalism" type of way (just like us fr) or a "the horrors inflicted upon the world by western imperialism are unending" type of way (just like us fr), but ALSO in a "their incarceration rate is higher than North Korea's" type of way (I knew it was bad, but wtf lol).

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

ok also. i think a thing people don’t get is that “make students read whole books” was a radical intervention in US reading pedagogy that also came from the same people who started the anti phonics crusade. and then in theory we all settled on balanced literacy which is the best of both worlds but in practice, well, all kinds of things bc US education is so numerically large and decentralized it’s shockingly difficult to meaningfully generalize about. lol. anyway so like as i keep saaayiiiing there is no mythical past where We Taught Reading Good and if you have ever looked at Wack Ass Stuff being promoted as the teaching of reading and thought “thank god my teachers did it right”: they almost certainly didn’t, you’re probably just in the lucky half or so of the population that didn’t need that much instruction.

[dreadfutures]

I do have my issues about the Corridor YouTubers but this is a really good discussion about the current wildfires in SoCal, the destruction, and the geography of the area and how it contributes to our fires.

In some you can see the hurricane speed winds. You can see that the brush does get trimmed back but the whole state is so dry that it will still burn with 100mph wind friction and heat. It's not any political *fault, this is the worst wind storm and worst fire conditions ever. It's a natural disaster.

One thing that's not the most apparent is how hard it can be to get out of neighborhoods in the foothills where the roads are really tight and switchbacky. Another thing that's blink and you'll miss it is the mention of embers getting caught on the winds. You can be ok and far from an evacuation danger zone one minute and then the sparks get blown 100mph into your neighborhood and your house goes up; or one side of your house could be on fire and you are in such an apocalyptic situation that you might as well take a video :-/ I hate it when people are saying those people are dumb or it's their fault if things get destroyed when you don't know the conditions they might be (not) able to drive in or (not) evacuate from their neighborhood or how it feels to lose absolutely everything.

Anyway the ad revenue on this video will be donated.

[usauthoritarianism]

Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in New York

[bright-eyes-strawberry-lies]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it is super weird that no kid showed up to CHB with like their dog or their lizard or whatever pet they've got.

[waitineedaname]

I love that shang qinghua does not count as a normal person

[sneakystorms]

One reason to vote i haven't personally seen mentioned (at least not phrased this way) is that even IF both candidates had the same exact genocide-enabling policies regarding israel, and only differed on domestic policy, one would still present a better fighting chance for palestine because like. A population with better healthcare, less poverty risk, stronger unions, higher wages and better protection for protesters will be more capable of protest.

A person who has to work multiple jobs to stay afloat is less likely to care and to protest about palestine than one who has to work less. A person who has to be a full time caretaker for an elderly or disabled family member with no financial support is less likely to educate themselves, to care and to protest than one who has the support they need. A person who already cares about and protests their country's insufficient climate policies will be more likely to take the time to protest Israel's genocide if there's fewer pieces of bad climate legislation to occupy their attention.

On the whole, a population that's healthier, more secure and less oppressed by its government doesn't inherently, entirely become complacent and self satisfied - many people in it will have the time, energy and safety to pay attention to the injustices elsewhere in the world and try their best to do something about them