#texas hate crime law

[alwaysbewoke]

[cavalierzee]

Zion Rider Urinates On Mosque

James Nunn shares a photo of himself urinating on a mosque in Tyler, Texas, while wearing a star of david jacket.

[qqueenofhades]

I would like to... gently shake the people going 'Dick Cheney/Alberto Gonzalez/[insert neoconservative architect here] endorsing Harris is entirely and only a bad look for Harris' because that's not the point. And like, I get feeling weird about it (I've been unimpressed with Dick's backpedaling since Liz Cheney got primaried), but: Trump is proving too extreme for THE PEOPLE WHO MADE HIM POSSIBLE. This is their consequences. THAT'S the point.

Look, this is what I think about it: I fucking hate Dick Cheney and all the architects of the Bush Junior neoconservatism-early-aughts-War-on-Terror-Patriot-Act-No-Child-Left-Behinding Republican Party that laid the groundwork for the Tea Party and then for Trump. If there was any justice in the world, Dubya would be at the Hague for a war crimes tribunal and not allowed to sit in Texas painting dogs and enjoying a quiet retirement. But he was fortunate to be the president of the most powerful country in the world, and America doesn't obey international law unless it feels like it, so that's what we get. (And yes, someone asked Dubya if he was going to endorse in 2024, following Cheney, and was told, no doubt with much pious handwringing, that "President Bush retired from presidential politics many years ago." But he's still raising money for MAGA Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, evidently. Fuck you, George W. Bush. Kids these days don't say it enough.)

However, since literally the entire pre-Trump establishment Republican party is now deciding that Trump is too insane, fascist, and dangerous even for them, I'm not surprised but still annoyed that Online Leftist Logic (TM) has translated that to "Harris must secretly be an early-noughties hard-right neocon Republican and that's why they want to vote for her!!!" Most if not all of them have said that they openly disagree with her policies but are voting for her anyway because she is the only way to maintain American constitutional democracy. And yes, we're all shocked that DICK FUCKING CHENEY, architect of the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, felt that there was in fact a line of fascist government overreach that he wasn't willing to cross, but if that's the case -- if even these completely terrible warmongering corporate assholes are like "uh Trump is too bad even for us to support," then you should, I don't know, maybe listen to that. But as ever, I search for logic in vain.

Likewise: Harris has made zero policy concessions to these Republicans and she never went fishing for Cheney's endorsement specifically. She didn't suddenly declare Iraq a totally okay and normal thing in order to get Cheney and his warhawks on board, and yes, Old Dickhead probably has no small amount of personal motive to get back at Trump considering what he did to Liz. But that's the thing where apparently political motives should only ever be pure, moral, and Perfect, and taking the right action for the "wrong" reasons is still disqualifying because you weren't thinking enough pure moral thoughts while you did it, or something. I don't give a fuck why Cheney decided to vote for Harris, because I don't respect his opinion and can't foresee myself ever doing so. But because we are in an unprecedented historical moment where even DICK GODDAMN CHENEY thinks that Donald Trump is too dangerous to ever have power again, I will thank him for doing that and that alone and then tell him to hit the f'n road if he thinks he deserves a scrap of credit or Democratic policy concessions for it. He doesn't. He sucks. But he's still making a choice that we need to see made at this moment, and people who don't get that, as usual, can STFU.

Basically: Cheney's endorsement is not directed at you, and it's not intended to move voters who already fit your profile and therefore think, like I do, that Cheney can eat shit. It's directed to all the career-Republican-politician types who can see him doing that and decide that they can do the same thing. Hell, we just had 17 former staffers of Ronald Reagan announcing their Harris endorsement (in addition to the 200+ Bush, McCain, Romney alumni who already signed on and all the ex-Trump officials at the DNC) and going so far as to insist that Ol' Ronnie Raygun himself would have supported Harris. Now look. I hate Ronald Reagan more than any other twentieth-century president. The degree to which he ALSO laid the groundwork for incredible damage to America cannot be overstated. But because I am not an idiot, I can see that this does not mean Harris has suddenly turned into Reagan in her policies. So. Yeah.

The other thing to note here is that Harris has seen the advantage in cultivating a bipartisan coalition and making a cross-party case for voting her to preserve American democracy. Now, a lot of the Republicans have said that they are going to stay Republicans and they want to purge their party of Trump and MAGAism, they are trying to buy time for that transition to happen by voting for Harris, and while I have never voted for or agreed with a Republican in my whole life, I actually think that's a good thing! I don't WANT to fear the end of American democracy every four years because the Republican Party has become a screaming shitgibboning insane vehicle of American Gilead while inciting stochastic terrorism against Springfield, Ohio and everyone else who doesn't bow down to Trumpist Dear Leader and his KKK alt-right Elon Muskified supporters! I don't WANT this howling fascist conspiracy-theory-puppet-of-Vladimir-Putin black hole of violence to be just what we have to accept as the center-right (except you know, now far-far-far-far-can't-see-it-with-a-telescope-right) party in America! I would prefer it if we had a functioning democracy again where both parties were engaging in fair competitiveness and good faith and had the basic premise of making people's lives better, even if they disagreed about how to do it! I would REALLY like it if we could go back to the days of disagreeing about taxes and foreign policy and social welfare -- you know, NORMAL THINGS -- instead of Commander Vance and the Project 2025 foot soldiers trying to install a theocratic fascist dictatorship! I WOULD LIKE THAT A WHOLE LOT!

That said: I have pretty much reached my limit with asking people to vote. I have done it for 8+ years (since before Trump was elected the first time) and I'm done. Either you know the stakes of this election at this point, or you're so blindly and stupidly committed to misunderstanding them that there's nothing I or anyone else can possibly do to convince you. I still see people posting a lot of stuff from the bad-faith anti-democratic leftist cranks and arguing with them endlessly and... why? Why? Why are you giving them the oxygen and exposure that they crave, and which is giving them more attention than anyone else is giving them? Block them. Mute them. STOP ENGAGING WITH EVERYTHING THEY SAY EVEN IF YOU'RE TRYING TO REFUTE IT. It's not going to work, and at this point, it's not remotely conducive to winning this election. The Great Myth of the Undecided Voter (TM) is another one that, I hope, can finally bite the dust, and the actual undecided voters who are out there are not the ones posting dirtbag leftist bullshit about Harris on The Website Formerly Known as Twitter. This election is now completely down to a numbers game: who can make their identified voters turn out to vote. So please. Spend your time and energy on reaching those folks, who might want to or have said they will vote but need a push or extra help to make sure they do.

That being the case, if lifelong Republicans want to vote for Harris and help defeat a Trump dictatorship, they're actually being more helpful for the cause of American democracy than every single shrieking Online Leftist out there, and maybe they should think about that. I'm amused at how they still think they can make demands of the Democrats, because -- when your entire plan from the word go has been "I'm not voting for the Democrats and there's nothing you can do to make me!!!" -- why are you surprised that they don't take your thoughts and opinions into account? That's the basic simplest Democracy 101 version of how electoral politics works. If you have removed yourself from their voter pool and laugh and scoff at any suggestion that you should enter it, then they're not gonna listen to you or think that they should make policy to appease you (which is good, because most of these people are fucking nuts). That's why they're blowing a gasket disowning AOC, still one of the most left-wing members in the House, because she wants to actually win and make real changes in society and has reached a happy-ish marriage with the Democratic party, instead of virtuously losing her seat and becoming irrelevant like some other members of the Squad who got primaried out this year. And the Democrats have accepted many of AOC's views as mainstream policy! She didn't change, but she stayed in the party and worked with it, and the party as a whole is moving to where she was all along. But because any hint of compromise or working to get results, rather than just posting self-righteous screeds on the internet, is Bad, she had to go, I guess. Or something.

Anyway. That's the that on that. If you want to win this election, target and talk to the people who have already identified themselves as likely or possible voters, they just need that extra push to become definite voters. I'm over the anti-democratic hypocritical leftist cranks as much as I am the screaming shitgibboning racist-mob-inciting fascists. If it takes some Republicans gritting their teeth and getting on board the "let's save American democracy" boat with me, then fine. They're actually willing to do the smallest tiny thing to make that outcome come about, and that means, for right now, they are the enemy of my enemy and I'll accept their help. After that, I would in fact like it if we had a sane center-right party again, once Trump is in jail and we can fumigate the MAGA rot. It's up to them.

[reasonandempathy]

The weird radical/revolutionary politic larpers on this site are so allergic to political pragmatism I swear lmao. I am definitely left of the Democratic Party and I am certainly voting for Joe Biden in November. Not because I like him (I don’t). He is absolutely horrific on Gaza and that’s only the top (and priority considering there is a genocide going on there) of a list of complaints I have about him. I even voted uncommitted in my state’s presidential primary (the Pennsylvania one; I had to write it in) to protest. However, I’m still thinking pragmatically. Trump has said things that make me credibly think he will be worse on Gaza (insane that being worse on Gaza than Biden is possible but it is unfortunately), and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Project 2025, the potential for him to appoint more deeply conservative justices, more of his aggressively screwing over poor and middle class people with his tax policies. And does anyone else remember the spike in hate crimes after the race was called for him in 2016? Before he was even inaugurated? Whether people vote or not in November we will still have to deal with one of these two men in office come January unless all of the internet ancom larpers overthrow the government by then (doubt), so I’d rather deal with the one who will be marginally less bad and who didn’t try to overthrow the government. Can’t have your revolution if nobody’s alive cause you kept pushing off politically participating because there was no perfect option. 👍

Political pragmatist anon, sorry for ranting in your askbox but I feel like I lose brain cells watching these people talk. The other day I saw someone say Biden is bad because Roe v. Wade fell under his administration… even though the reason for that was Trump appointed justices. 💀 (2/2)

Fucking insane. Sincerely.

It's a completely, flatly binary choice for anyone with a brain stem and sincerity. It's distilled into the two below images:

Where all major third party candidates are even on the ballot

How many electoral votes the largest of those (green party, a.k.a. Jill Stein) would win if they won every single state they're on the ballot for.

They are literally, legally, incapable of winning the election. They are not on enough state ballots to win and Jill Stein would need to somehow win California and Texas to even "win" all the states they're on the ballot for. Which, again, would still not be enough to win the presidency and throw it to the currently existing Republican House of Representatives. Which would put Trump in office.

It's that straightforward. That simple. That BLARINGLY obvious to literally everyone except these people.

On the one hand you have:

Significant and continuous support for Israel and it's genocide

Record levels of pardons for low-level drug offenses

the gearing up of the strongest anti-trust regime since the early 20th century

the most aggressive NLRB I've seen in my lifetime, with massive wins and institutional changes to help workers

Including getting Rail strike workers a week of sick-leave that gets paid out at the end of the year, which is better than NYC and LA sick leave laws

Millions of people (not enough) getting student debt forgiveness

Some trillion dollars (not enough)of investment in renewable resources and infrastructure

Proposed taxes on unrealized capital gains (a.k.a. how billionaires never have any money but can still buy Kentucky, Iowa, and Twitter)

Effectively an end to overdraft fees

The explicit support of leftist world leaders like Lula de Silva. Who he has explicitly worked with to expand worker rights in South America.

Has capped (some, not enough, only a tiny amount really but it's something) some drug prices, including Insulin.

Reduced disability discrimination in medical treatment

Billions in additional national pre-k funding

Ending federal use of private prisons

Pushing bills to raise Social Security tax thresholds higher to help secure the General Fund

Increasing SSI benefits

and more

vs

Said Israel should just nuke Gaza and "get it over with"

Personally takes pride in and credit for getting Roe v Wade overturned

Is arguing in court that the President should be allowed to assassinate political rivals

Muslim Ban Bullshit, insistently

Actively damages our global standing and diplomatic efforts just by getting obsessed with having a Big Button

Implemented massive tax cuts on ich people, tax hikes on middle class and poor people, and actively wants to do it again

"Only wants to be a dictator for a little bit, guys, what's the big deal"

Is loudly publicly arguing that the US shouldn't honor its military alliances after-the-fact

Tore up an effective and substantial anti-nuclear-proliferation treaty with Iran

Had a DoEd that actively just refused to process student debt forgiveness applications that have been the law of the land for decades now

Has a long record of actively curtailing and weakening the NLRB and labor movement, including allowing managers to retaliate against workers, weakened workplace accommodation requirements for disabled people, and more

Rubber stamped a number of massive mergers building larger, more powerful top companies and increasing monopolistic practices

Fucking COVID Bullshit and hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths

Openly supporting fascists and wannabe-bootlicks ("Very fine people" being only the beginning of it

It's really not fucking close.

[fishsticksloser]

If it's alright - And if it's not then i understand if you're going to delete this - to request about Rise! Future! Leonardo x Rabbit yokai!fem!Reader? (NSFW S3x), where Leonardo and reader get into roleplaying as cowboy Shierff and an outlaw female criminal. Leonardo is the dominating one while reader is the submit side.

And yes it would involve things like; ropes tying, rough S3x, Leonardo getting to cowboy accent (?)

/ 🐔 Anon reader /

If You Can't Be Good, Be Bad With Me

f!Leo x fem!reader

Warnings: Smut with a tiny plot, p in v, rough sex, light bondage (handcuffs), ear and tail pulling, spanking, slight Sir kink, Leo has a country accent, Leo calls you a good/bad girl (sue me...), rabbit yo'kai!reader, FAKE guns, swearing, enemies to lovers if you squint really really hard

A/N: I've spent like 2 months writing this because I was just sitting there looking at it and going "wtf do I do?" But here you are, so sorry for the wait. I actually threw out the first draft because I hated it so much... This is a little different than the prompt and I apologize, my brain couldn't do it. :/

"My, my, my... What have we here?" Leonardo's voice was deep, soothing, and with a faint drawl that spoke of Texas. His words were slow and measured, just before he'd bring the hammer down with that thunderous attention. Leo squinted at you, narrowing his gaze before slowly walking towards you. "You look like you're on the wrong side of the law there, doll." Leo stops in front of you, hands on his hips just above his holsters. "What're you doin' on this here land, Miss?"

"Doin' what I can to survive, sheriff." You answer, continuing to stuff your pockets and bag with whatever was in reach. You seemed completely unbothered that the sheriff was standing over and watching you. "Is that a crime?"

"Well yes, it is." Leo responds cooly, his stance loose and relaxed despite you obviously committing a crime. His hands hover over his holsters, his tone becomes more intimidating. "The punishment for those crimes tends to be less uh... agreeable. And yet... I could be lenient with you." Leo's face softens as he looks down at the small, humanoid rabbit. He kneels down to get a better look. "And what exactly is in your pockets, little one? Come now, let's have a look."

You open your bag and empty your pockets. Its not like you were stealing much of anything really. Some bread and not so valuable things like knick knacks and trinkets. Nothing that's really worth anything.

"No guns?" He mutters, eyeing you up and down with a sly, teasing smirk. "That makes things so much sweeter." Leo's eyes twinkle in the sunlight as he stand up. His gaze seems to study every little crevice in your face, taking note of your expressions, trying to figure out everything about you. "You're not from these parts, are ya, darlin'? What's your pretty face doin' so far down south?"

"Got kicked outta town for not marryin' my suitor. Left with nothin'." You repond, repacking your bag and pockets. "Train only took me this far..."

"Not bein' married? Why, now that's a crime against the holy union of man and woman, darlin', 'specially out here." Leo shakes his head placing a hand on his face, feigning disgust. His other hand still rests on his holster. "Can't just leave you out here in this hot dust storm." Leo's eyes flicker up to your face and he grins widely.

"I've got nowhere to go." You say, pleading. "Please just let me go, I'll... I'll go find a place to settle down and be law abiding."

"Well, I'm afraid I can't let that happen, darlin'," Leo responds, his tone slowly becoming slightly more forceful. "The folks 'round these parts say you've done some unsavory and illegal things. I can't just let a law-breaker roam free like that." Leo seems to enjoy your pleas, leaning in more. He leans his body close to yours, whispering close to your ear. "Unless you want to do something for me..."

"And what would that be, sir?" You ask quietly, a shiver running down your spine as his breath fans over your ear. Leo grins as he leans in, his lips inches from your ear.

"You could do all sorts of things for me. It's such a shame for a pretty little thing like you to be caught for crimes you definitely didn't do. But, I'm feeling generous today, and, as the local lawman, I can definitely overlook your sins, darlin'." The corner of his lips curl into a smug grin. "All for a few private favors from you."

"You catch my drift?" He asks, his voice talking on a more predatory tone as his fingers graze down your waist and back. His hot breath caresses down the back of your neck, his eyes burning into your form before glancing back at your own. "Such a delicate, pretty thing..."

"Yes, sir. I understand." You mutter, your ears standing tall and twitching slightly.

"Good girl." He whispers as he leans in close. "And you know if you do well, maybe I could be generous and let you off of that punishment." Leo's voice comes out low and smooth, almost sultry as he leans back just enough to let his fingers stroke along the side of your face. "All you have to do is play nice, understand?"

"Yes, sir." You nod firmly, his eyes seem to study you once more. His fingers slide down and grasp your chin, gently tilting your face upwards as his other hand reaches for your waist.

"Good girl." He says, his eyes burn like hot coals as he bring your face inches from his. "And you know, when I get back to town, I have to write a report. And if I see my girl following through with our little arrangement, I'll make sure they know what a good girl you've been. If you're a good girl. Got it, darlin'?"

Who knew you'd end up here?

"Yes, sir."

"Mm... That's a good girl." Leo whisper as he closes the last few inches between you and him, pushing his lips against yours in a quick but firm kiss. He pulls back slowly before speaking. "You don't mind if I let these hands wander now, do you, darlin'?"

"No, sir." You mumble as he kisses you again, eyes fluttering closed and your hands move to cup the back of his head. Leo grins as he continues to kiss you, his body slightly tilting to get a better grip on you. HIs right hand wraps around your waist and pulls you closer as his left searches through his pocket for something. He fumbles around for a bit more before pulling out a pair of handcuffs.

"Oh, and I almost forgot. Can't be letting my pretty, lawbreaker darlin' roam free... 'specially after getting caught." He chuckles and beings to fasten your arms behind your back with the cuffs. You don't protest, letting him fit the cuffs on your wrist comfortably. "Good girl. Now, I have just the punishment in mind." He says with a smirk, wrapping an arm around your waist to pull you closer. His other hand grips your chin as he kisses your neck softly. "Maybe I could show you what being a good girl for me would get you, darlin'. If you play your cards just right, I might be feeling generous with another reward."

You let out a small whine, basically having no other option and really not in the mood to say no. You give him a small nod and tilt your head to the side to give him better access. His lips meet your neck again, travelling upwards to finally find those sweet, soft lips of yours.

"That's an obedient girl... You know, you're lucky I like good girls. I mean, you could be in big trouble if you had been a bad girl." He whispers, his hands massaging your hips, slowly sliding them upwards. Leo decides that his lips are not the only way of satisfying the desires, sliding his hand under your dress, his fingers running over that soft, silky skin. His eyes are burning with hunger, the heat of the desert finally getting to him. The heat of his breath blowing across your body, breath mingling, your lips coming together in a hungry kiss.

꒦꒷⚔️꒷꒦

Everything's a blur, but you find yourself in the sheriff's station. Leonardo laughs a little at all that nonsense before pulling your head up enough for another kiss. He holds you by the ears, he smacks his hand harder on your ass with your tail twitching with every hit. Your dress bunched up around your waist as you bend over his desk, your legs spread wide apart, offering yourself to him completely.

The desk creaks under both of you, his lips on your neck as he rocks into you, your bodies meeting with a wet slapping sound. You're open for him. Each thrust sends waves of pleasure through you, your mouth left hanging open, moans echoing throughout the room.

"Oh yeah, take that, darlin'!" He whispers, his voice thick with a low purr as he grabs on to your hips. "You're my good girl." He moves down to your ear, his lips nuzzling against it.

You moan, standing in your toes so he hits a better angle. You moan loudly as he hits that soft spot inside you. Your legs shake and you ball my fists in the part of your dress you could reach, you arms still cuffed. You feel his hand connect with your ass with a loud smack and you squeak, jolting at the sting. "Good girl," he breathes, his voice low and husky as he rocks into you harder, going a little faster. He bites on the side of your neck before whispering to you ear. "Such a good girl, darlin'.. you'll get it good.." He lets off a low hum to match the pace of his thrusts.

He brings his free hand down to your tail before giving it a light tug, laughing as you squirm and whine. "Aww, such a good, sweet thing," he sighs, his tone low and husky before biting on your neck again. "I love the way you take it so well, darlin'.. you're so good for me, such a sweet darlin'," he whispers to you, pulling you closer so he can kiss the side of your face.

He spanks you hard one final time before moving his hands over to tug on your ears, holding them tightly in his fists as he goes even harder and faster, his hips bucking aggressively to meet your thighs. "Such a good girl!" He whispers, his voice turning low and throaty as his eyes bore into yours. "Take it all, darlin'.. such a good girl!"

"C-Close, sir!" You whimper, tears falling down your cheeks. He tilts your head up to look at him, but makes sure to keep your body against the desk for him. It puts you into an uncomfortable arch.

Leonardo moans loudly, his expression turning more feral with every thrust as he rocks into you. His hips moving as forcefully as he could, he pushes harder and harder like he was trying to drive you through the desk, his free hand still holding onto your ears. Finally, his climax is about to peak and he lets out an, "Ahhhh… such a good girl, darlin'.."

At your releases, Leo lets out a groan and lets his thrusts die down a bit, pressing against your back with his chest as he slowly rocks into you. His face is buried deep into your neck, "Shhh... be a good girl.. be my good girl for me," he whispers to you, his voice low and husky. His free hand is playing with your tail, rubbing it up and down before giving it another tug for good measure and he slowly pulls out. "Such a good girl..." He murmurs, letting go of your ears and giving you a light tap on your ass.

[gaslightwestern]

Hell's Half Acre

Charlotte would be the first to admit hiding from the law behind a newspaper was an awful idea, what with her face and name spread across the front page.

When death comes to Fort Worth and strikes her new circle of friends, Charlotte O’Shea resolves to hunt down the culprit before they kill again. Murder isn’t the only mystery in the air however. Elijah Addison and Thomas Quinn, two headstrong cowboys and her partners-in-crime-solving, are determined to uncover what made the socialite run away from New York and why she is no stranger to firearms.

— Status: Drafting | Tag: #Hell's Half Acre — Genres: Historical Mystery, Western — Setting: Fort Worth, Texas & New York City (1874-1878). — POV: Multiple. 3rd Person. Past Tense. Dual Timeline.

Themes and Tropes: Love in all its forms. Anti-heroine. Found family. Being your own person. Organized crime. Queer cowboys. If it isn't the consequences of my own actions. Parallels. Obsession. Haunted by the past. Murder, mayhem, and other wild west shenanigans.

Cast of Characters

Can't a man visit his on-and-off-again boyfriend without all hell breaking loose? Not for Elijah Addison, a restless cowboy turned shrewd detective who becomes relentless in his pursuit of justice.

By his side is Thomas Quinn, who most write off as little more than a legend's son. Stubborn as anything and fiercely protective of his family and friends, he doesn't trust Charlotte in the slightest.

Sam Quinn is a three-time, war-hating, disabled veteran with a larger-than-life personality. A lifelong troublemaker, when he isn't sticking his nose where he shouldn't, Sam runs Quinn's Firearms.

A seamstress and aspiring journalist, Mabel Williams is determined to expose the rot in New York City regardless of the enemies she gains along the way. Her talent for disguises often comes in handy.

Having grown up in the shadow of his brother, not being good enough has long haunted Warren Howard. But if life will not give him what he wants, he will take it for himself regardless of the cost.

Vivacious and self-absorbed, Charlotte O'Shea enjoys her place in New York's high society. Surrounded by friends and engaged to the wealthy Nathaniel Howard, her life is perfect. So why is Charlotte out west pretending to be someone she's not?

Please let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist: @cirianne, @jacqueswriteblrlibrary, @oliolioxenfreewrites, @glbettwrites

[readyforevolution]

IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW THIS YESTERDAY THEN TODAY WOULD BE A GOOD DAY TO LEARN THIS.... "All stories don't have a happy ending"

In 1866, one year after the 13 Amendment was ratified (the amendment that ended slavery), Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina began to lease out convicts for labor (peonage). This made the business of arresting Blacks very lucrative, which is why hundreds of White men were hired by these states as police officers. Their primary responsibility was to search out and arrest Blacks who were in violation of Black Codes. Once arrested, these men, women and children would be leased to plantations where they would harvest cotton, tobacco, sugar cane. Or they would be leased to work at coal mines, or railroad companies. The owners of these businesses would pay the state for every prisoner who worked for them; prison labor.

It is believed that after the passing of the 13th Amendment, more than 800,000 Blacks were part of the system of peonage, or re-enslavement through the prison system. Peonage didn’t end until after World War II began, around 1940.

This is how it happened.

The 13th Amendment declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." (Ratified in 1865)

Did you catch that? It says, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude could occur except as a punishment for a crime". Lawmakers used this phrase to make petty offenses crimes. When Blacks were found guilty of committing these crimes, they were imprisoned and then leased out to the same businesses that lost slaves after the passing of the 13th Amendment. This system of convict labor is called peonage.

The majority of White Southern farmers and business owners hated the 13th Amendment because it took away slave labor. As a way to appease them, the federal government turned a blind eye when southern states used this clause in the 13th Amendment to establish laws called Black Codes. Here are some examples of Black Codes:

In Louisiana, it was illegal for a Black man to preach to Black congregations without special permission in writing from the president of the police. If caught, he could be arrested and fined. If he could not pay the fines, which were unbelievably high, he would be forced to work for an individual, or go to jail or prison where he would work until his debt was paid off.

If a Black person did not have a job, he or she could be arrested and imprisoned on the charge of vagrancy or loitering.

This next Black Code will make you cringe. In South Carolina, if the parent of a Black child was considered vagrant, the judicial system allowed the police and/or other government agencies to “apprentice” the child to an "employer". Males could be held until the age of 21, and females could be held until they were 18. Their owner had the legal right to inflict punishment on the child for disobedience, and to recapture them if they ran away.

This (peonage) is an example of systemic racism - Racism established and perpetuated by government systems. Slavery was made legal by the U.S. Government. Segregation, Black Codes, Jim Crow and peonage were all made legal by the government, and upheld by the judicial system. These acts of racism were built into the system, which is where the term “Systemic Racism” is derived.

This is the part of "Black History" that most of us were never told about.

[deadpresidents]

It's been a tough week to be an American, so here's something to think about for Independence Day.

When Lyndon B. Johnson was President, he was so determined to do as much as possible in the time that he had that, according to Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin (who was also a personal aide to LBJ in his final years in office and retirement), his swimming pool at the LBJ Ranch in Texas "was strangely equipped with special rafts for a telephone, a notepad, and a pencil; if the President thought of someone he wanted to call or something important he wanted to record, he could float over to the various rafts that held the necessary equipment."

Notice that she used the plural "rafts" -- as in there were more than one of these rafts in the small pool at his ranch in the rural Texas Hill Country. And, while most business obviously wasn't done in the swimming pool, some of it was, and it was part of the way LBJ operated as a political genius. A political genius who helped leave behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Head Start and school breakfast programs, Job Corps, PBS, NPR, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for Humanities, Fair Packaging and Labeling for things you shop for and Truth-In-Lending laws, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (which included the Fair Housing Act, Indian Civil Rights Act, and codified federal hate crime laws), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (which eliminated racially discriminatory immigration policies), the first Clean Air Act (arguable the most important environmental protection law in American history), and much, much, much more including...oh, what was it? Oh yeah: the Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid.

[beardedmrbean]

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was interrupted during a congressional hearing dedicated to discussing "hate" on Tuesday by an anti-Israel agitator who stood up shouting "F---ing Jews." 

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled, "A Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America," Cruz discussed soaring antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of Oct. 7. 

"Antisemitism is a unique, historic form of evil, and over millennia, it is manifested in violence, mass murder and genocide," Cruz said. "October 7th was one of the darkest days in human history when terrorists murdered over 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages. Women and girls were raped. It was the single largest mass murder of Jews in a day since the Holocaust. In the wake of October 7th, we have seen antisemitism explode across the United States and across the world, but especially on college campuses." 

After listing examples of antisemitic and pro-Hamas messages hurled toward Jewish students, Cruz called out the Biden-Harris administration. 

COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS TO REACH ‘CRESCENDO OF INTIMIDATION’ AS SCHOOL SUFFERS LATEST BLACK EYE

"Throughout all of this, the Biden-Harris administration has been utterly absent. Does anyone doubt if the Klan were on college campuses terrorizing African American students, threatening African American students, that we would see the FBI there, that we would see prosecutors there, that we would see federal funding cut off to universities? Of course we would. And we should," Cruz said. "But when it comes to antisemitism, the Democrats have a problem. I would note this is occurring in blue states with blue governors, because the Democrat Party is terrified of the pro-Hamas wing of their party."

"In states like Texas and Florida, we don't allow this. At the University of Texas, when violent protests threatened Jewish students, police officers arrived and arrested them. That's what happened when you enforce the law," Cruz continued. "Every Republican member of this committee asked the chairman to hold a hearing on antisemitism in February. And yet we don't get a hearing on antisemitism. We get a hearing generically on hate."

Cruz was about to explain why he believes the Biden administration is to blame for this, when a man in the audience stood up and interjected, shouting profanities including "F---ing Jews," according to video on social media. The anti-Israel agitator was then escorted out. 

"And this is the kind of anger and hate that is encouraged. You're now seeing the hate manifesting right here," Cruz said, referencing the protester. 

"So we now have a demonstration of antisemitism. We have a demonstration of the hate," he added. 

Cruz proceeded to ask one of the witnesses, Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, "Has the Biden administration cut off the funding of any of the colleges that have allowed this hate? Have they indicted anyone for funding these violent protests? Have they indicted the people paying for the matching tents, or have they sat there silently and have the universities, sat there silently while their students are terrified to go to class?" 

Goldfeder responded, "They have not indicted anyone." 

"Has any university had their funding cut off for allowing this sort of violent intimidation?" Cruz asked. 

"Not a single university," Goldfeder said. 

The senator earlier referenced how the Anti-Defamation League has illustrated how the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States more than doubled from 2022 to 2023. 

ACTRESS SELMA BLAIR CONDEMNS ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS 'PRAISING' HAMAS TERRORISTS: 'SOMETHING VERY WRONG'

Cruz said that "college campuses in particular have become vile incubators of hatred of Jews," citing examples of how one Cornell University student made threats after Oct. 7, including statements such as "if I see a pig, male Jew, I will stab you and slit your throat.If I see another pig female Jew, I will drag you away and rape you and throw you off a cliff." 

The Republican senator displayed a flier circulated by a student organization at California State University, Long Beach, calling for a "Day of Resistance" celebrating Oct. 7, noting how the flier included an image of a person parachuting with a fan attached, "a direct reference to and a glorification of Hamas terrorists that used gliders to descend upon a music festival and murder 260 innocent people and take many more hostages." 

Cruz recalled that in the days after now-former Columbia University President Minouche Shafik was confronted about soaring antisemitism on campus before the House Education and the Workforce Committee in April, Rabbi Elie Buechler issued a warning to Jewish students that Columbia "cannot guarantee Jewish students' safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy," and that he "would strongly recommend" that Jewish students leave campus and go back to their homes.

Cruz said the rabbi "had every reason to be concerned," as at Columbia's campus, individuals yelled, "We're all Hamas! Long live Hamas!" 

The senator continued to list examples of antisemitism on campuses across the U.S., including the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who was told to "go back to the gas chambers," and displayed a photo of a student at Columbia University holding a sign reading "al-Qassam's next targets," in front of a group of students holding American and Israeli flags in counter-protest. 

"Al-Qassam is the military arm of Hamas. According to social media, this particular student is a wealthy student from Georgia. She's not Palestinian, but she has been taught lies and hatred, and she feels perfectly comfortable advocating the murder of her fellow students at Columbia," Cruz said. 

[daughterofapollo-official]

Leo Vadez son Hepheastus.

So when we are first introduced to the Character Leo Valdez we are informed that he was sent to Military School by the court.

But Uncle Rick never told us the crime!

Leo Valdez is Anorexic. Now I do say this out of malice. In fact I find find him to be one of the most impressive demigods.

But if you pay attention to how he is written it’s pretty obvious.

Leo will forget to eat unless you eat with him. And you have to tell him you’re hungry.

Leo can go three days without eating and not get hungry.

He fits in Georgie’s clothes and she is a 7 year old girl.

Leo wears layers and long sleeves and pants. Even in the summer. And keep in mind, Leo was born and raised in south and Wild West. Texas and Arizona. The boy spent the first 15 years of his life in desert with said attire.

He doesn’t show it. But his very insecure about his body type. He uses the terms skinny and scrawny all the time. Becuase he’s heard it as a way to refer to him so often that he just accepted it. He says it too take away its power. But it doesn’t work. It still hurts when people point out his body type.

Leo is used to not eating. He is part of Disney’s dead mom club.

No one cooked for him growing up. That’s why he is such a good cook. He had to learn.

But who has the money for groceries all the time? Not him. So he developed the habit of not eating to often. And things snowballed…

Leo Valdez has had many run-ins with the law.

Under age use of substances. Yes, multiple. His main vice? Cigs. Lights them up with his own finger tips. Who cares if you’re homeless when you look cool, right? (And no I do not think smoking cigarettes is cool but for a Hispanic misguided teenager who already has a criminal record and no family. It’s pretty clear he’d look at the older kids in his social group smoking and he’d smoke too.)

Breaking and entering. Sometimes he needed a place to hide.

Shop lifting. It’s not because it was fun. He just needed to.

Truancy. He just didn’t give a shit about waisting his days at school in a classroom. And with his grades? With all his learning disabilities and lack of a support system. There wasn’t much hope anyway.

He’s grades all suck. So there was no point in trying.

Fights. He tried to avoid them. It’s not like he went out looking for them but he ain’t no bitch. You punch him he’ll punch back. And leave a Leo Valdez hand shaped burn on yo face!

Leo was a foster kid he wasn’t put into some fancy orphanage he was put in the foster system. Meaning he had mini foster homes, but no one adopted him. I mean, why would they when he first got there? He was already eight years old and then he hit puberty and then he was a teenager and he was brown. No one wants a brown kid. And he was a teenager he masturbated no one wants a teenager. Everyone wants babies white babies. So obviously. When ever his white foster moms would try to encourage him or tell him he could do better in life if he just tried he’d call bullshit and sneak out to smoke cigarettes and drink beer with his friends.

He’s been in the back of a police car more times and he can count because his foster parents thought he was missing.

It doesn’t really put much effort in with foster parents at a point. He did it first when he was 89 1011 by the time he turned 12 he stopped giving a shit.. he hated when his foster parents would Taco Bell and attempted to make him feel welcome in their home. at a certain point he realize that no matter how hard he tries to connect with these people how hard he forgives them for their stupid misguided decisions she’s never gonna fit in and they’re never going to adopt him so he stopped trying.

He’s an amazing mechanic and an absolute comedian, but other than that, his greatest talent is wiggling out of windows and with his little body, it is easy. And climbing, jumping over wall (Mexican joke, not intended, but a happy accident)

Mid he is bored, which he is. He will leave.

[alwaysbewoke]

In 1865, enslaved people in Texas were notified by Union Civil War soldiers about the abolition of slavery. This was 2.5 years after the final Emancipation Proclamation which freed all enslaved Black Americans. But Slavery Continued… In 1866, a year after the amendment was ratified, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina began to lease out convicts for labor. This made the business of arresting black people very lucrative, thus hundreds of white men were hired by these states as police officers. Their primary responsibility being to search out and arrest black peoples who were in violation of ‘Black Codes’ Basically, black codes were a series of laws criminalizing legal activity for black people. Through the enforcement of these laws, they could be imprisoned. Once arrested, these men, women & children would be leased to plantations or they would be leased to work at coal mines, or railroad companies. The owners of these businesses would pay the state for every prisoner who worked for them; prison labor. It’s believed that after the passing of the 13th Amendment, more than 800,000 Black people were part of that system of re-enslavement through the prison system. The 13th Amendment declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Lawmakers used this phrase to make petty offenses crimes. When Blacks were found guilty of committing these crimes, they were imprisoned and then leased out to the same businesses that lost slaves after the passing of the 13th Amendment. The majority of White Southern farmers and business owners hated the 13th Amendment because it took away slave labor. As a way to appease them, the federal government turned a blind eye when southern states used this clause in the 13th Amendment to establish the Black Codes.

[mariacallous]

A 32-year-old man in Pennsylvania posted a video on YouTube this week where he picked up a clear plastic bag containing the severed head of his father and held it in front of the camera.

“This is the head of Mike Mohn, a federal employee of over 20 years, and my father,” Justin Mohn said in the now-deleted video reviewed by WIRED. “He is now in hell for eternity as a traitor to his country.”

Over the course of the next 14 minutes, he ranted about a myriad of far-right talking points and conspiracies including Black Lives Matter, taxes, the LGBTQ community, and the Biden administration. He also urged viewers to kill all federal employees and seize federal offices, while railing against “far-left woke mobs.” He claimed to be the head of an American militia network known as Mohn’s Militia. “I am now officially the acting president of America under martial law,” he said.

But there was one issue that he focused on more than any other: migrants along the southern US border.

“The federal government of America has declared war on the American citizens and the American states,” the man says. “America will be less protected when the fifth column of illegal immigrants strikes Americans on our own soil.”

He also made demands that the US close its borders to immigrants and for “the mass deportation of the millions of illegal immigrants who have entered the country under the Biden regime, which has put Americans in direct harm.”

Over the past few weeks, right-wing rhetoric around a so-called migrant invasion reached new heights as the standoff between Texas governor Greg Abbott and President Joe Biden’s administration over the removal of razor wire on the Texas-Mexico border has continued. A convoy of far-right extremists is driving to the border and Republican politicians around the country have come out in support of Abbott.

Multiple researchers tell WIRED that the events and rhetoric surrounding the Texas-Mexico border could be linked to the violent video Mohn posted this week. This border controversy and the incendiary rhetoric surrounding it appeared to be something that deeply angered Mohn, highlighted by his YouTube video and the rest of his extensive online footprint of books, pamphlets, music and social media posts, many of which are steeped in far-right conspiracies. In a 2020 essay entitled “America’s Coming Bloody Revolution,” Mohn claims a violent revolution against the government is not only necessary but will succeed.

“For individuals in this conspiratorial mindset who have been subjected to countless hours of extremist narratives and grievances, every new flashpoint—from the Texas border crisis to the Israel/Hamas war to Taylor Swift—is evidence that their worldview is the reality,” Jon Lewis, a research fellow with the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, tells WIRED. “This act of violence represents the threat posed by mainstreaming hateful and dehumanizing rhetoric.”

“I listened to his diatribe about 20 times to write it all out and there is zero doubt in my mind that he was influenced by the recent events involving Texas,” Caroline Orr, a behavioral scientist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland who tracks extremism online, wrote on X. “This was expected and there will be others.”

Investigators have not mentioned a motive for the alleged decapitation, but Mohn was formally charged early Wednesday morning with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and possession of an instrument of crime with intent. Police said in a statement posted to Facebook that they were alerted to the incident when Mohn’s mother called 911 and said she had come home to find her husband’s decapitated body on the floor of their bathroom. Mohn was arrested 100 miles away on Tuesday evening when he was discovered armed and wandering around a Pennsylvania National Guard training center at Fort Indiantown Gap, AP reported.

Multiple experts believe that extremism and conspiracy theories could still be at the root of what happened. “Some have been quick to write Mohn off as mentally unwell and while this may be accurate, this incident illustrates the threat of anti-government extremism and conspiracy theories, which have become all too common since the 2020 election,” Katherine Kenealy, the head of threat analysis at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, tells WIRED. “He was so steeped in anti-government beliefs that he not only viewed his father as a ‘traitor’ because of his purported job, but selected him as a target because of it.”

Following the alleged murder, far-right figures immediately began boosting conspiracies about the beheading being a false flag in favor of the Democrats—something that has virtually become a reflex action among far-right figures following major news.

One of the main narratives shared was a claim that the Democrats were behind the incident as a way of boosting support for the Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity bill currently making its way through Congress. One of those pushing this narrative was Laura Loomer, a close ally of former president Donald Trump.

“Justin Mohn sure looks like the perfect Democrat Patsy for the sake of demonizing people who call out the invasion on the border, and for the sake of getting support to ban militia,” Loomer wrote on X, adding: “Just another ‘coincidence.’”

“False flag and ‘psyop’ conspiracy theories have rapidly spread online since the incident,” Kenealy tells WIRED. “These narratives detract from the severity of the incident and attempt to minimize the threat posed by anti-government ideologies.”

But despite a long history of Mohn expressing his disturbing views on platforms like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, as well as publishing music on YouTube, Spotify, and Deezer, experts say that it would have been virtually impossible to identify him as a threat before his alleged beheading of this father this week.

“It’s more or less impossible to track this stuff in advance most of the time,” Orr tells WIRED. “We can make an educated guess about what will happen when politicians are putting out inflammatory rhetoric that has incited violence previously, but it’s extremely hard to identify who is going to be the one who responds to the ‘call.’”

As the convoy heads toward the border and rallies are organized in Eagle Pass, Texas, Republican lawmakers, including former president Donald Trump, continue to push violent rhetoric. These kinds of actions, experts say, could lead to potential violence.

“It's hard to determine when acts of violence like this will occur, but given the panic being spread about the border, it's highly likely that more will act on these narratives,” Samantha Kutner, an extremism researcher and CEO of counter-terrorism company GlitterPill, tells WIRED. “Not everyone who gets exposed to conspiratorial worldviews and beliefs and theories about the border wall engages in violence, but the proliferation of disinformation and conspiracy theories does impact certain subsets of the population who are perhaps more vulnerable to that messaging than others.”

[documenting-apartheid]

JUNE 21 2024- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) is calling on law enforcement authorities to investigate the attempted murder of a Palestinian mother and her two young children as a hate crime.

On May 19th, a Texas woman attempted to drown two Palestinian children and their mother in a pool. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) is calling on law enforcement authorities to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

"The alleged attack (Euless PD report 24-00022036) reportedly occurred on Sunday, May 19th, at the family’s apartment complex swimming pool area.  Mrs. H, the mother, who wears hijab (Islamic head scarf) and modest swimwear, was watching her children in the shallow end of the pool when a White American woman entered the swimming pool area." "The alleged attacker reportedly approached the mother with racist interrogations then jumped into the swimming pool and grabbed the children to the deep end of the pool to allegedly drown them." "The mother reported jumping into the pool to save her children. According to the mother, her 6-year-old-son was able to escape, but her petite 3-year-old daughter was unable. The alleged attacker snatched off the mother’s head scarf and used it to beat the mother as well as kicking her to keep her away while forcing her daughter’s head underwater." "Mrs. H stated that an African American man helped rescue her daughter from the attacker and more people gathered and witnessed. Cuffed and taken away by the police officer, the attacker reportedly shouted to a bystander woman who was calming the mother down “Tell her I will kill her, and I will kill her whole family.”

"A recent CAIR report says it received more than 8,000 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian in 2023 – a 56% increase over previous year - and the highest the number has been in 28 years"

[fandomwe1rd0]

Sentencing Rick's crimesss!

We're doing our favorite abusive old man babbbyy! Now, to be clear, some people on YouTube did do this, but they tended to stop around season 3, and I'm gonna do until season 7. Also, I am not a lawyer. I am just a weirdo with too much times on her hands with Google, so this probably isn't 100% accurate, I'm simply doing this for fun! Now, let's set some ground rules for sentencing everyone's favorite chaotic neutral old man!

Only his crimes on Earth towards humans or animals on earth will be counted. Yeahhhh sorryyyyyy. I know the majority of his crimes are in outer space, butttt something tells me that you can't sentence someone for crimes that they committed while in space, probably like a diplomatic immunity thing, so he's lucky, maybe that's why he commits so many crimes in space, but worry not, there are still plenty of crimes he committed on Earth.

He will receive the max charge for every crime, while you may get a lower sentence for certain crimes if you show guilt, or are young, Rick rarely shows guilt, and is a grown ass man. I mean he's literally 70, so the court will probably give him max sentence for every crime, this also just makes it easier on me.

Any crimes that are subjective will not be counted, example, Rick saying in Total Rickall that he made a similar mistake of shooting something innocent on a planetary scale will not be counted, only the crimes we see on-screen will be counted, this also makes it easier on me.

I am not counting the comics, (I know some of them are set in Rick's universe, butttt I have not read them, and cannot find to motivation too, hahahaha depression's a bitch.) NO I AM NOT COUNTING THE ANIME! FUCK YOU! THAT'S NOT CANON! I REFUSE TO THINK ABOUT THAT EVER AGAIN! Or any of their games, since to my knowledge, they aren't canon. I am strictly staying to the TV show, I hope that doesn't upset anyone butttt I mean c'mon-

I am counting all of this with U.S laws, since we do not know what state they are in (Beth does say she was from Michigan, but, she uses past tense, so this implies they don't live their now) so I will only be counting them by U.S Texas standards, since that's where I live.

I am only counting what normal Rick did. Not tiny Rick, not toxic Rick, and not healthy Rick. Only normal Rick.

Those are the rules, now let's go straight to the crimes!

Flying while being unlicensed. Now…this subject is uh…kinda complicated. I did see many credible sources saying it is legal to fly without a license if you are piloting a specific aircraft, it is legal. Butttt I'm pretty sure Rick's spaceship wouldn't count as an acceptable aircraft to drive without a license. Soo he will be fined $32,666 as he did this, he did this 3 time on Earth, in the pilot, we see him driving his spaceship drunk, that will be important later. Then in the dragon episode (Dragon episode, I hate you) he did this again when he went to pick Jerry up. Then in the dinosaur episode, he did this again. I will not be counting all the times when he comes home from adventures with Morty, since I'm genuinely unsure if that would count or not. So with this crime alone, Rick would pay a fine of $97, 998. Sooo yeah-

Flying under the influence. Now…one could argue Rick is always under the influence…which well you wouldn't be wrong. But I'll only be counting the times where he is noticeably intoxicated. Which, correct me if I'm wrong is only in the pilot. The max sentence for that is $2,000 and 180 days in jail. Which is insanely generous if you ask me-

Child abuse. I meannn we all knew this was coming. In Rattlesnack Ricklatica, Rick becomes angry with Morty when he messes something up, and gives him a black eye. Now, I did say we wouldn't sentence him for crimes that weren't in space, but since he's doing this against a human child, I would say he can still be sentenced for a crime. He also slaps him 2 times, once in Lawnmower Dog, and another in Rick Potion #9 when Morty was having a panic attack (Which is totally helpful and wouldn't make the panic attack worse at all!) He also emotionally abuses Morty a lot, and since it will take wayyyyy too long to count all of the times he emotionally abuses Morty, I'll just sentence him once for it, cool? Cool. There is also medical abuse due to the chips he puts in Morty. We don't know how many exactly, but we know there is at the very least 3. He put a chip that can turn Morty into a car, and a chip that can turn Morty into a boat. He also "child-proofed" Morty to make him able to breath in space, so he gets 3 more charges on medical child abuse. Now since none of these cause serious bodily harm to Morty, it counts as a misdemeanor. We charge him 4 times for these crimes, and we get about 3 years and 6 months in jail. Again, insanely generous.

Involuntary manslaughter. This one was complicated to place, but I decided to count it anyway. So you might remember in the pilot, Frank threatens Morty, and Rick freezes Frank, and runs off with Morty, which leads to him accidentally having Frank fall over and die. I was considering listing this as 2nd degree murder, since he froze Frank, and that might count as having a desire to bodily harm to victim, but not kill them, butttt since Rick seemed to only want to stop Frank but not killed him, I did not count it as 2nd degree murder. It also counts as involuntary, since he did not have any maliace while committing this crime, he was just too lazy to unfreeze him, which counts as a negligent act. I am also counting the president security guard (Or wtf they are called I dunno) died when he touched Rick in the season 3 finale, since Rick told him not to touch him, but he didn't listen, this act didn't have malice and Rick didn't intend to cause bodily harms to this person, but still committed it sooo, for that his sentence is 40 years!

Attempted murder. He tries to kill Amy's (She's Mr. Poopybutthole's wife btw if you're confused) new lover in Poopy Got His Poop Back. The sentence for this is 20 years sooo yeah.

1st degree murder. Now if we were counting the crimes in space, this would be too much to list, it's good that I decided to just due his earth crimes, since counting his full kill count sounds like pain. I was tempted to count the 2 people who died on Rick's lawn in the turkey episode, butttt Rick was techinecallyyyyy using his property rights, so I won't count it. He did evaporate 2 people in Get Schwifty, so I'll count that. Other than that, I don't think there's any. 2 is way less than I expect, butttt he does commit most of his crimes in space, so ig that counts. So he would get 2 life sentences for these. He did also do the same to someone else in the same episode, but he was protecting the president, so this doesn't count.

Offering alcohol to minors. I did not know he did this for the longest time, but in Mort: Raganrick, he offers Morty a mead (An alcoholic drink, I had to search that up because I did not know what a mead was-) which Morty rejects. The max sentence for offering alcohol to minors, is a year and $4,000

Grevious Bodily Harm. Now, I've seen what Rick did in Prime's universe count as mass omnicide, and while I can definitely see this, Prime Jerry conrimed that the people were still in there, just trapped in the horror, so for simplicity, I'll just do one count of grevious bodily harm without intent. The max sentence is 5 years.

Attempted mass omnicide. He tried to kill the entire world in the pilot. He is so insane I love him. Now it was hard to find a sentence for this, since there was very little information, but the only one I could find was 15 years in jail and $500,000 fine.

Substance abuse. This is self explanatory. 10 years and a fine of $10,000.

Battery. He said he was going to kill Jerry and was about to fight the president, so this would give him around 2 years.

Physical assault He slapped Jerry, got into a slap fight with the Devil, assualted 4 people (They all deserved it though) in the post end credits of Rickful things, and fought the president. For 7 charges, he would get 70 years in jail, and a fine of $70,000.

Conspiracy to murder. He was planning to murder Jerry in the season 3 finale, the max sentence for conspiracy is life.

I mayyy have missed some, but that's all I got for right now, now some honorable mentions!

More 1st degree murder. A lot of it was self-defense, so I didn't add it.

Drug possession, he does possess drugs, but they are space drugs, so I didn't count it.

Animal cruelty. He did kill all the snakes from the snake planet, so I considered it, but they were alien snakes, so I didn't count it.

All of his sentences and fines added up: 3 life sentences, 167 years, 3 months, and 180 days in jail, and $683,998 in fines! It's what he deserves <3 (Affectionate)

[qqueenofhades]

I hate to rain on today’s much needed joy parade, but do you think the USA is headed for civil war in the near future? It’s increasingly feeling like 2024 is going to be a make or break year and with division at an all time high it feels like there’s going to be complete chaos in the streets even if we avoid crisis at the polls. Like, even though I’m in a “safe state” (for now) I’m seriously considering strategies of fleeing the country, just in case. Don’t know what I’m asking for, help? Reassurance maybe? Advice?

I think my answer to that is... yes but also no, and no but also yes, and yes but also no. Which I realize is not entirely helpful and not as clear as anyone would like, but let me try to explain:

The far-right has always been militant, violent, and prone to apocalyptic and fascist rhetoric. This isn't a new thing in American history, and it's come to the fore at moments of particular stress and division. Trump's presidency obviously gave much-unwanted oxygen to them, right when people were starting to claim that Obama's election meant that America was in a "post-racial era" (LOL), but they themselves are not new. We had the Civil War itself, we had the lynchings and racial terror and Jim Crow/Ku Klux Klan era, we had the Bund (the American Nazis) holding huge public gatherings in the run-up to WWII and enjoying substantial domestic support, etc etc etc. This is all scary and unsettling, and most of us don't have a personal memory of dealing with it before, because we're not old enough. But that doesn't mean it hasn't happened before, and that we haven't survived it.

Let's take yesterday, for instance. Trump spent all week promising fire and death and vengeance and playing literal videos of January 6th at his campaign rally in Waco, Texas (famed as the site of the Waco Siege of 1994; look it up). He insisted his supporters would rain vengeance on anyone who dared to arrest him and otherwise threatened mass-scale disturbances and the other tools of public violence that fascists use to enforce their will. And what happened? It's 12+ hours since the first indictment went through (30 counts of business/document fraud, which is not a piddling charge) and we've had bupkis. We've had a lot of Republican politicians tweeting their performative hypocritical outrage, yes, but we haven't suddenly had the country explode in fire and flame either. I'm sure there have been localized protests, but I haven't heard about major anything. And one set of indictments has gone through, others will be empowered to follow. In a way, I think it's a good thing that non-political crimes went first? Yes, the Republicans are screaming about a political witch hunt because that's literally the only thing they can do, but starting by nabbing Trump for relatively low-level (but still extensive) business fraud and then moving onto the treason sets a pattern and makes it easier to comprehend.

The thing is: Nazis, at heart, are cowards. They like to paint themselves as bold and valiant soldiers fighting for the Right Way of Life, but it's all fantasy, delusion, and cosplay. They were empowered to do January 6th because Trump was literally the sitting president and told them to do it, but that's no longer the case, and they're shit scared of facing anyone who might enforce real consequences on them. (Once again, if you take nothing else from following me: Nazis are punk-ass fucking pissant cowards who think they're tough and are in fact a bunch of asshole morons, the end.) The mantra of "Make Racists Afraid Again" is working, to an extent. Yes, we have hellholes like Missouri, Florida, Texas, and Tennessee where the state GOP is working as hard as they can to enforce the worst and most regressive laws imaginable, but that's still not universal. As I also say a lot, the reason Republicans attack, discredit, and outlaw voting so much is because they can never win a fair election on the merits. Their ideas suck, and on some level they know that. They just care about being cruel, fascist, and stupid, and while that's certainly a troubling and significant minority in America, it's not as big as anyone thinks.

Almost 60% of Americans think both that "woke" is a good thing and the cases against Trump should permanently disqualify him from holding any office again. Yet again: the GOP is in the minority, and that's why they use so many dirty tricks to establish and enforce their power. Also, I can guarantee you that not one of the keyboard warriors fulminating about how The Democrat Party Is Being So Mean To President Trump is ever going to actually go out and start an actual civil war. They have established interests, money, benefits from the system, and they don't want to overturn that. They want the masses angry and stupid, yes, but they want them angry and stupid in support of keeping discriminatory structures and systems in place. That can't work if there are no systems at all. Yes, we will still have white supremacists and fascists committing ongoing individual acts of violence, i.e. school shootings, and it's hard to argue that this doesn't constitute a civil war of some sort, or at least ongoing stochastic terrorism. But while you have people like Marge Two Names Greene out there blabbing about a National Divorce, I can guarantee you that if it ever came to actually DOING it, Marge and Brave Brave Sir Kevin would be nowhere to be found. Again: they want to derive power and money from the operation of an unfair system, not the end of that system. It sucks, but still.

Honestly, I want the Dominion lawsuit to keep going on, and dragging all of Fox News' hypocrisy, deception, and disinformation into the public eye. Fox is the biggest cancer on this country, as is the case with Rupert Murdoch's global disinformation empire overall (when, WHEN will HE fucking die, if we're talking death lottery wishlists?) But the lawsuit and its subsequent publicity has had an effect: a small but significant number of Fox viewers (26%) realized the network was lying to them, and 13% said that they no longer believed the 2020 election was stolen after reading about the Fox efforts to lie about it and then cover up their lies. So while the right-wing media bubble is huge and terrible, it's also not impenetrable, and taking Fox down/substantially discrediting it would have a major effect on the pay-for-play misinformation media sphere.

This is getting long, so let me try to sum up: the far-right advocating separatist fantasies of violence/war/fascist domination is not new, and has been a thing in American history for as long as there has been America. But at least in the current moment, it is not the majority, it is not widely popular, it will never be embraced by ordinary mainstream Americans and not just the insane cultists, its so-called devoted soldiers yell on Twitter and cable news and will never once be spotted actually fighting for it, and it's the cynical last gasp of a hate movement that is seeing its institutional and generational hold on America (and the world) finally on the brink of permanently shifting. So of course it's trying to make itself look as big and scary as possible, like any wounded animal, but it's on the back foot, and we have a chance to really kill it. Not permanently or forever, since that's the nature of human history, but at least for now and buy us some more time, and despite everything, I remain cautiously optimistic about our likelihood of doing so. I know it's scary, I know it's awful, I know it feels overwhelming, but it is still not winning, and it won't. As long as we do our part.

Hugs. Hang in there.

[sanjuwrites]

wip wednesday

IM BACK! i have been gone for a hot minute because my life caught on actual fire, but im back and better than ever baby <3

to make up for it, i'm posting two different snippets from two different fics, one firstprince and one tarlos! enjoy! thanks to @alrightbuckaroo, @birdclowns, and @inflarescent for the tag!

agent reyes

TK greets him in the morning with a cup of coffee. 

The cup is made to perfection, and Carlos is seriously starting to doubt how much Paul is really involved in TK’s agenda here. 

Carlos murmurs a quiet thank you instead of screaming like he really wants to and approaches Marjan, who’s in a hoodie with the hood up, furiously typing. 

“Marj, have you even slept today?” 

“No sleep when we have a crime syndicate to take down.”

“Okay,” he says slowly, “but I have access to information that the CIA has spent years compiling. Why are you botheri- oh.”

Marjan flips her laptop around and Carlos is startled to find a clone of Sean Cunningham’s l staring back at him. “Marjan, what the fuck? How the hell did you – what?”

“Turns out Cunningham’s lackeys are kind of idiots because the video was sent from Cunningham’s main compound, where he stays. Really, the asshole apparently hasn’t ever heard of a firewall–”

Paul, who’s wandered over, interrupts her. “Marj, get to the point. You do this every time.”

Marjan rolls her eyes but continues. “I traced IP addresses back from the ransom video that was sent to TK’s email address and from there I hacked into his Wi-Fi connection–”

“Marjan, I don’t think any of the intel departments at Langley can do this.” Carlos is staring at her in awe.

She smirks at him, before continuing. “You fools need to stop interrupting me. Anyway, I just hacked through the four laptops hooked up to the Wi-Fi connection until I figured out which one was his. Voila!”

Carlos ducks down, pressing a palm flat to the table as he scrolls through the laptop. “Marjan, this is insane – we have data here that I could only dream of having.”

Marjan smiles tiredly, sipping at the mug of coffee Nancy hands her. “Babe, I think coffee is the last thing I need right now, but thank you. I love you very much,” she says while pressing the mug into Paul’s hands, “but Paul and Carlos are going to play now. We,” Marjan says, pulling Nancy close, “are going to go to bed now. ” Judd whistles from where he is in the kitchen, drawing a laugh out of everyone in the room. 

Nancy wraps her arms around Marjan in reply, “You heard her, gentlemen. I will be taking my girlfriend to bed now, and I expect no interruptions. My girlfriend needs her beauty sleep. It’s decaf, by the way!” she says, her voice faraway now.

alex runs for congress

“Politics hasn’t been my dream for almost twelve years, sweetheart,” Alex says softly, not really making eye contact with Henry.

“Alex, I know what happened with Richards and the emails was brutal, but we have nothing holding us back like that anymore and –”

“It’s not Richards, Hen, it’s you.”

That stops Henry cold, and he looks at Alex, mouth open in shock. “What do you mean?” Alex stays quiet, and Henry pushes further. “Alex, what do you mean?”

Alex continues to avoid eye contact with Henry as he starts talking again. “That night I came to Kensington Palace, you told me you wouldn’t trade one prison for another. You’re barely free from the Crown, Henry, and I don’t want to drag you into the circus of American politics, not when you hated being in the public eye so much, to the point that it almost cost me you. I refuse to let anything cost me you again, so I put all my dreams in a little box and locked it away, because I would rather live a quiet life with you and immigration law than a loud one alone in Congress. I was wine drunk at one of Mom’s fundraisers when I was talking to Erica about wanting to flip Texas again, and I didn’t think it would ever really come up again.”

Henry doesn’t answer, grabbing Alex’s face between his hands and pressing a featherlight kiss to his lips before resting their foreheads together. “Love, I didn’t realize you had that in the back of your mind, and that this was what is stopping you from entering politics. Listen to me,” he says, moving them so he’s looking at Alex eye to eye, “nothing is going to stop me from spending the rest of my goddamn life with you. You could lose your job, become a house husband, or go on to become the president of the United States, and I would not care.” Henry takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly. “Do you want this, Alex? Like without the influence of anything else, deep down, do you want this? Do you want to run?”

i'm gonna tag @carlos-in-glasses, @catanisspicy, @theghostofashton, @welcometololaland, @rmd-writes, @paperstorm, @bonheur-cafe, @chaotictarlos and @lightningboltreader!