“But in the well-intentioned battle against sexual assault, facts become irrelevant, and truth never seems to matter.”
Trauma Informed Investigations Stole My Son’s Future
““If you’d have asked me before my son was accused of sexual misconduct, I would have said that trauma-informed investigations were a good idea. Living through the '90s as a female college student, then as a woman motivated to be successful in a male-dominated field, sexual harassment, inequality, and forcible rape happened. It still happens today. Then so many victims were afraid to come forward as they are now. However, in our rush for justice, we are bearing witness to the creation of a new class of victim on college campuses and in the criminal justice system. The innocent.
These new victims aren’t given the presumption of innocence. They aren’t entitled to know the accusation against them. Evidence is withheld from them and their lawyers. Police officers ask deceptively leading questions, and school investigators are both judge and jury making life-altering sanction decisions based on the presumption that a ‘victim’ never lies. ””
— A. Pebble
Comments
No to the American's Creed
Sunday - 10Mar2019 Filed in: Quotes & Thinkums&Morality & Modern Life
““I believe in the United States of America as a Government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a Republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect Union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my Country to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag; and to defend it against all enemies.””— The American's Creed as quoted in Embracing the American's Creed
❝❝Regarding the creed.
No.❞❞— NeoWayland, comments on Is #AOC-ward (aka Ocasio-Cortez) a mere puppet for sinister people?
So here is this marvelous piece of 1917 poetry, and I said no. Why?
It's the difference between the Dream and the actuality.
One topic I've been debating recently is the emergency powers of the President. If you accept that the President has the power to declare emergencies, it's not exactly “of the people, by the people, for the people.” It's literally what one man said, not subject to debate or dissent. Theoretically it can be revised by Congress, but in practice it never is.
It doesn't stop there. Some agencies have power to regulate the people and the states. While sometimes these powers are subject to Congressional review, usually these regulations have the power of law without actually being law. What's worse is that the agencies often have administrative courts with different requirements. It's outside the normal court system and not subject to the rules of law. These regulations do not come from the "consent of the governed."
America has not been “a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States” since at least the Civil War. Everything from education to Prohibition to the EPA has been forced on the states, often in direct violation of the wishes of the citizens of the states. There's very little way to opt out.
America was never meant to be a “a perfect Union, one and inseparable;”. The phrase comes from the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, but somehow the creed left out one word that changes the meaning. We're not meant to have a perfect union, we're supposed to have a more perfect union. As in we haven't done it yet, it's a work in progress. We're still arguing over what that means and how we can do it.
And yes, that means that if people don't like it, they can leave it. Even whole states.
Those ideals of “freedom, equality, justice, and humanity” are mutually incompatible. Specifically, freedom and justice aren't about equality or humanity. For most of the 20th Century, the idea of equality was used to rein in exceptional and unusual people. They couldn't be allowed to challenge the status quo. I don't know what the ideals of humanity are, but I am pretty sure we don't agree.
Speaking of justice, there are unjust American laws. Mandatory minimum sentencing, civil forfeiture, eminent domain, vice laws, laws and regulations preventing the use of precious metals as legal tender, mandatory union dues, "free speech" zones, zoning laws, the list goes on and on.
Nobody, no person, no institution, and certainly no nation deserves love without reservation. If you do not question what your nation does, you have failed as a citizen. The Constitution is not perfect and certainly the law is not perfect. And lest we forget, this nation was founded on the biggest and most polite "screw you" in human history. You can't choose liberty unless you embrace the right to walk away.
That's it. That's why my response is a simple word.
No.
It's the difference between the Dream and the actuality.
One topic I've been debating recently is the emergency powers of the President. If you accept that the President has the power to declare emergencies, it's not exactly “of the people, by the people, for the people.” It's literally what one man said, not subject to debate or dissent. Theoretically it can be revised by Congress, but in practice it never is.
It doesn't stop there. Some agencies have power to regulate the people and the states. While sometimes these powers are subject to Congressional review, usually these regulations have the power of law without actually being law. What's worse is that the agencies often have administrative courts with different requirements. It's outside the normal court system and not subject to the rules of law. These regulations do not come from the "consent of the governed."
America has not been “a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States” since at least the Civil War. Everything from education to Prohibition to the EPA has been forced on the states, often in direct violation of the wishes of the citizens of the states. There's very little way to opt out.
America was never meant to be a “a perfect Union, one and inseparable;”. The phrase comes from the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, but somehow the creed left out one word that changes the meaning. We're not meant to have a perfect union, we're supposed to have a more perfect union. As in we haven't done it yet, it's a work in progress. We're still arguing over what that means and how we can do it.
And yes, that means that if people don't like it, they can leave it. Even whole states.
Those ideals of “freedom, equality, justice, and humanity” are mutually incompatible. Specifically, freedom and justice aren't about equality or humanity. For most of the 20th Century, the idea of equality was used to rein in exceptional and unusual people. They couldn't be allowed to challenge the status quo. I don't know what the ideals of humanity are, but I am pretty sure we don't agree.
Speaking of justice, there are unjust American laws. Mandatory minimum sentencing, civil forfeiture, eminent domain, vice laws, laws and regulations preventing the use of precious metals as legal tender, mandatory union dues, "free speech" zones, zoning laws, the list goes on and on.
Nobody, no person, no institution, and certainly no nation deserves love without reservation. If you do not question what your nation does, you have failed as a citizen. The Constitution is not perfect and certainly the law is not perfect. And lest we forget, this nation was founded on the biggest and most polite "screw you" in human history. You can't choose liberty unless you embrace the right to walk away.
That's it. That's why my response is a simple word.
No.
Hexing justice
Friday - 19Oct2018 Filed in: Quotes & Thinkums&Politics
❝❝As I said before, apparently the motivation for hexing Kavanaugh has moved from justice to attack.
This will have consequences, regardless of who did what where and when.❞❞
— NeoWayland, NeoNote — Political hexing
Posers, the lot of them
We “refuse to be silent any longer”: magic as self-care after Kavanaugh
It's junk like this that makes me angry at the posers calling themselves pagans.
They don't want justice. The want attention. They don't know the least little thing about magick. But they know how to put on a show.
Exactly what is it that either Trump or Kavanaugh have done to threaten them?
It all boils down to putting conservative judges on the bench. Eighty-four so far.
The implications are terrifying. It means that most progressives know that they only way they can have a progressive society is by controlling the judiciary. Not by getting people elected, but by having a moral authority with the final say.
I don't like conservatives either. But the actions of the progressives are driving me away.
And progressives still can't point to one thing that has been done and say, "Look, here is the threat!"
It's about who is on the bench. Not about what was said. Not about what was done. But about who sits in judgement.
That is tyranny.
They don't want justice. The want attention. They don't know the least little thing about magick. But they know how to put on a show.
Exactly what is it that either Trump or Kavanaugh have done to threaten them?
It all boils down to putting conservative judges on the bench. Eighty-four so far.
The implications are terrifying. It means that most progressives know that they only way they can have a progressive society is by controlling the judiciary. Not by getting people elected, but by having a moral authority with the final say.
I don't like conservatives either. But the actions of the progressives are driving me away.
And progressives still can't point to one thing that has been done and say, "Look, here is the threat!"
It's about who is on the bench. Not about what was said. Not about what was done. But about who sits in judgement.
That is tyranny.
We've regressed
Tuesday - 10Jul2018 Filed in: Quotes & Thinkums&Morality & Modern Life
❝❝Given how some absolutely insist that any accusations of sexual impropriety must be treated as unquestioned truth, I'd argue that we've regressed.
Sometimes people lie. I don't think that is very hard to understand. We shouldn't base justice on lies. That's not hard to understand either.❞❞
— NeoWayland
Ownership
Wednesday - 21Feb2018 Filed in: Quotes & Thinkums&Liberty
““Admit it, what is worrying you is right and justice; what is worrying you is ownership – not yours, of course, but that of others. You find it difficult to accept that others are free to dispose of their property (the only way to be an owner); you want to dispose of your property . . . and theirs.””
— Frederic Bastiat, “Plunder and the Law”
One thing that can keep you free
Wednesday - 17Jun2015 Filed in: Morality & Modern Life&Law