The Republican Party!

https://www.newsweek.com/texas-republican-candidate-brad-benson-charged-child-porn-offences-hours-before-election-1841474

4th offence. It's getting serious... one more and they could take away his giant floating hamster wheel licence.

Omg…drawings of naked people! Heaven forfend! I feel I might be getting the vapours.

He’s the same kind of ridiculous puritanical idiot that wants David to be covered. Ridicule him at every turn, and stone him if he eats shellfish, pork, wears blended fabrics, tells a lie (uh oh…get a rock), or does literally anything on Saturday, the true Jewish sabbath god commanded be honored, etc. Stone him to death….and his family…like the Bible prescribes.

I notice his talking points didn’t actually come from the book he was holding that he said contained it, he had some print out he was reading, not a book. Typical dishonest righty bait and switch…not that what he read was even inappropriate.

I also note that teaching 10 year olds basic biology is 100% proper. My school taught these basic biology tidbits earlier than 6th grade, didn’t yours?

If you want your children growing up ignorant morons, send them to Christian school where incest is good, rape is good, drugging people is good, drugging your own father with the intent to rape him is good, slavery is good, violent murder is good, killing entire generations of babies is good…but eating at red lobster is a death penalty level offence, so is wearing a cotton/poly blend, or mowing/cooking/working on the sabbath.

You maggots are such frightened little infants, you show us every day.

Where you start greatly impacts where you end up.

One party wants to offer 4 more years of public education, and your party is dead set against it.

Yes, there are plenty of poor white people, but far more poor blacks per capita by race.

The fix is multi fold with many unknowns, but an equal justice system where black defendants aren't 10 times more likely to go to prison based on the same evidence and circumstances would be a great start. Many fathers are MIA because they're in prison for minor drug offences while white defendants of similar charges usually get probation.

Pay better attention, the issue now is people don't want those low paying jobs and companies can't fill them, not a lack of them.

Lack of roads and bridges and electricity and an educated work force kill jobs and GDP. There are more than enough infrastructure jobs to do to jot only keep the entire construction industry busy for decades, there are constantly more as infrastructure ages. They may be part time projects, they are full time permanent jobs.

Look at GDP last year, fool. Under those tax cuts we had the largest drop in GDP ever. Holy fuck! The total rise in GDP under Trump is barely 1% in 4 years, disastrous, not flourishing.

Your dad didn't go to prison for fitting the description.

Just like not all those white kids had all those head starts, not all black kids have none. They needed to work harder and overcome more in almost all cases to be successful, and had to defend their right to success repeatedly, just ask one. Sports superstars are under what, 2000 people, not all of which make millions. Exceptions often prove the rule.....Remember his question about going to school on a non athletic scholarship? Relegating people to one or two professions they are allowed to be successful in based on race is definitely racist.

Edit: Studies show professional whites make about 1/3 more than blacks and even more compared to Hispanics even as lawyers, and whites make up over 85% of lawyers and 60% of the population while blacks are about 5% of lawyers and over 18% of population.
https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/a_law_degree_provides_a_larger_earnings_boost_to_whites_than_minorities_res
https://www.mycase.com/blog/aba-2019-report-lawyer-demographics-earnings-tech-choices-and-more/
The head starts never end.

The people working minimum wage hated it enough that they aren't going back and businesses can't find low wage employees....so.....

Wow, we agree on your last point. Your party, and definitely Trump absolutely disagree 100%. Their agenda is to ensure that is never the case but instead (successfully) argue that affluenza should excuse even murder and should definitely shield them from any lesser charge.

No dummy, his life was never in danger, his windows were not broken, his escape not blocked. He could have easily backed out, evidenced by the fact that HE FUCKING DID BACK UP TO GET UP ENOUGH SPEED TO ATTEMPT TO KILL THE CROWD.

He wasn't trying to stop them, he wasn't trying to escape them, he was trying to kill them. That is the quick path to anarchy, when contempt of cop becomes a capitol offence and the cops are judge, jury, and executioner, that's anarchy, not law enforcement. Duh.

"the police shouldn't take any effort to stop us?"....are you trying to say murder is the only tool police have? So, if a cop sees you Jwalking they should just run you down and leave because you might look scary? Wow, that's some serious right wing insanity. Good thing for you they don't use those tactics against white people or there would be tens of thousands of anti maskers dead and another ten thousand treasonous traitors who tried to overthrow the government by force and murder.

And, I guess you're saying everyone involved in any way with the insurrection should be hunted down and killed. That was certainly a more violent, deadly crowd that actually attacked police, not just stood in front of one. I just think they should spend a decade in prison and lose voting rights for life.

The sad thing is that many sheriffs operate above or outside the same rule of law that other police are supposed to follow. Unless they are voted out or can be found guilty of a federal offence, they are like kings of their own little feudal state.

Saw a nice clip of Grahm, talking about Clinton, saying that Nixon's impeachable offence was ignoring congressional subpoenas.
That is impeachable, and he should be removed with any Republicans who support his stonewalling.

Just a few Senate seats is all it will take to route out these traitors. Nice the Democrats regain control, they need to strengthen congressional rules making it a felony to ignore subpoenas, and instant impeachment to request political favors from foreign powers....even if you say you were joking when you get caught.

Today two major Trump donors and Giuliani cohorts from Florida were arrested for taking over a million dollars in cash from Ukrainian and Russian officials in secret and funneling it to Trump and other Republicans in a scheme going back to at least 2016 when they gave Trump nearly $400000 for his campaign. The Ukrainian donors wanted the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine removed, something Trump actually did for them....quid quo pro.
It won't be a surprise at all to find out the Russians wanted us out of Syria for their recent donations....something Trump just gave them by abandoning our allies and bringing Daesh (ISIS) back from the dead.

The difference is whether they are punching up or down, or at least should be, even if local laws don't reflect it.

Does Israel need defending? Are trans people, gay people, etc, discriminated against routinely? Then it is arguable that it is the employer's duty to his workplace environment to rid themselves of forces hostile to gender and racial diversity.

So if the person above had been actively maligning Jews, for example, it would of course be a fireable offence, but requiring them to sign some sort of pro-Israeli document is demeaning, even if you are not particularly anti-Israel or anti-Judaism.

This. If you are a sex offender or killed somebody, you should get your rights back. For non-violent drug offences as soon as you are out, for theft and other crimes against other people, perhaps a period of time after if you got off early, but otherwise, there's no reason to hold off rights...

Wow, I really must be getting old. Why is society becoming so horrified by physical violence? If you grab someone like this, getting punched out is not an escalation of violence, but an appropriate deterrent.

As for between men and women, I think this is a situation where you have to be willing to offend the extreme feminists by observing that men and women although equal, are also different. A 115lb women assaulted by a 170lb man warrants a different response than a 170lb man assaulted by a 115lb woman. IMO, the larger stronger man can more easily afford to warn the woman to not repeat the offence prior to a physical response. It also seems to me that society disagrees and thinks they should be considered and handled identically, but I think society has that wrong.

Yes, rational people who DO insist on distinctions have rallied to Aziz, because he is not an abuser, but you would have us all ignore that and ruin him.

If there's a line, you make distinctions based of level of offence.

From what I've heard he's accused of, I've had far worse from girlfriends who didn't know what men liked. He was handsy in bed and bad at sex. Have you heard otherwise?

What I find unacceptable is her not telling him there's a problem, clearly when subtlety failed, but expecting him to act as if she had, and using #metoo to amplify his lackluster performance and make him guilty of sex crimes by association.
What's more unacceptable is the movement to deny gradients of evil so he IS guilty of sex crimes by their estimation for being inexperienced with sex.

I have yet to hear a single thing he did with bad intent or in any way criminal or even ungentlemanly, just inexperienced or plain bad in bed. He called/texted her respectfully thinking she had a great time, and seemed shocked she hadn't. Maybe there's stuff I don't know about this case? It sure sounds like a failure to communicate, which I place on her shoulders.

Who is Grace again? His accuser?

It's the mentality, not the degree.
Ruin them all, let God sort it out is really what's happening, and it leaves those of us looking for equality and justice with a bitter taste and serious reservations.
Relatively minor? Career and reputation eradication isn't minor, especially based on accusations....once they're proven or admitted, ok.
I don't know what's happening with Asis, but the intent was clearly to ruin his career over his dates belated regrets, and refuse to acknowledge there's any difference between his inexperienced bumbling and forceful sexual abuse. That is unacceptable, and if that's what #me too is about now, fuck them...I'm out.

That is why you don't overreach, and don't lump minor offences with major ones. It turns reasonable people against your cause.

Again, if making distinctions are not proper, why is the minor distinction between the sexes on this issue front and center? Why are there no #me too accusers going after women?
This really is turning into a battle of the sexes rather than an honest attempt to solve a real, serious issue, sex abuse.
I think that's horrendous, and damns the needed movement to likely failure, certainly it begs for opposition.

No, you miss the point.
Distinctions are important.
It matters hugely, recognizing the difference between violent rape and an uninvited shoulder rub, just as it matters making the distinction between a spanking and attempted murder....not just legally but rationally.

I wholeheartedly disagree that making those distinctions about gradients of wrongness in any way denies the ability to see that both are wrong.....except for the brainless who can't do both.

Public shaming IS a sentence, one that harms your job, finances, family, and future. I have no problem with fair public shaming, but lumping a bad date in with real rapists is as fair as lumping you in with kidnappers and murderers because you slapped a disobedient child's behind.

He denies he did anything to intentionally make her uncomfortable or pressure her, which is what she accuses him of.

NO SIR. THAT IS YOUR POSITION, you said until overboard sentencing becomes a problem, there's no distinction needed between bad sex and forced sex.
Yes, it's not cool, but it's also not abuse unless it is.

If, like this woman, she #metoo'd that you were an octopus that ignored all her nonverbal signals to stop, your denial wouldn't mean much, and most people would just call you a rapist....just like his denial means nothing to you and you're more than willing to let him be lumped in with rapists and abusers.

You lumped them together in your post about how making distinctions is out of fashion. It's like you said stop eating broccoli, sugar, and bacon, then balked when I said broccoli is good for you, you only meant deep fried candied broccoli. Come on.

Don't expect me to read what you mean and ignore what you write...I absolutely hate that.
Don't be sexually aggressive...do be weird.

Yes, distinctions matter immensely.

No, grading offences is proper, otherwise you put rape and going Dutch on a date at the same level because they both upset the date.

If the person goes on a long date with you, accepts an invitation to your bed, undressed and engages in sex, asks you to slow down a bit (which means continue, slower, which you do), and continues, sleeps over, and only later complains, maybe relationships aren't for HER. Her date did absolutely nothing wrong. Verbal cues trump non verbal cues in the dark 99.9999999% of the time....pretty much any time there's no gun to your head.

@Payback, @newtboy you're missing the point.

It doesn't matter if rape is worse than groping... we need to start drilling into people that neither is acceptable.

The sentence for these crimes is different and that's correct. (So no, a shoplifter isn't Bernie Madoff)

But as far as I know, none of the accused has been sentenced to anything.

But public shaming as a minimum? I'm fine with that.

And Aziz Ansari doesn't deny what happened, he's just "sorry she feels that way".

"Does this go both ways? If a man has a bad date, or bad sex..."
There's a difference between bad sex and being pressured into sex. Even if it's not rape, it's still not cool.

"I hope that girl you had a bad date with in high school doesn't come back to show you the error of your position by adding your name to the "me too" list, destroying your career, family life, and future with no recourse to prove your innocence...all because she didn't orgasm.....but I do hope you see the error."

If she came back said I was crap in bed, I would probably shrug and say "hey I was a teenage boy, they're all crap at sex". If she said, I pressured her into sex, I would deny it vigorously.

"Being weird is the same as being a rapist?!? Jesus fucking Christ, I always thought you were rational. "
Come on, newt, you know that's not what I said. I said "stop being weird, gropey or rapey". If I said "stop eating bacon, doughnuts or sugar", would you think I meant that bacon, doughnuts and sugar are the same?

First, I like weird people on a day to day basis. Second, there's nothing wrong with consensual weirdness.

But in context, it's pretty clear what I was talking about. But if you must have it spelt out, don't
- force people to watch you masturbate
- meet people (especially younger members of the opposite sex that work for you) in a dressing gown in your hotel room
- make sexually explicit remarks to strangers

But to reiterate, yes, there are degrees of violation. Rape is worse than groping and groping is worse than exposure. There, happy now?

Now that we're all agreed on that, can we focus on stopping the problem instead of this pointless grading of offences?

This really isn't difficult. If you can't tell whether another person is enthusiastic about sexual activity with you... maybe relationships aren't for you.

This kind of women are why so many men think all women are just idiots only worthy of being used and abused. In these women's case, that's correct. Intentionally tricking someone into parenthood should be a capitol offence, imo, sentence to be carried out before the birth.
Astonishing.