Sir Mike, Knight of the Kitchen Table

@redrose_anna And punkins. 😬

I only murder pineapples.

(article length warning also sorta Twitter Law School) On diminished capacity as a defense to criminal charges being an example of the breakdown of the social contract. What is diminished capacity in a criminal context? Basically, it is a defense to a criminal charge that admits that the person did the act, however, the person lacks the capacity to form the specific intent to cause harm by that act. Get ready for some Lawyer Latin. In the US, criminal acts require two parts: actus reus and mens rea. Actus reus is guilty act - did this person commit this act. Mens rea is guilty mind - did this person have the specific intent to cause that specific harm. The easiest distinction for mens rea is the difference between manslaughter and murder. Manslaughter is when a person kills another, however, there was no specific intent to kill someone. Murder is when the person commits the act with the specific intent to kill the person. See re: Con Air and how Nicolas Cage was in on involuntary manslaughter while Steve Buscemi was in on murder. A defense of diminished capacity is a defense that the person who did the act was not capable of forming the necessary specific intent. The lack of capacity can be due to mental illness, alcohol or drug use, limited intelligence, or developmental disability. The argument for allowing diminished capacity as a defense is that a person should not be held criminally liable if that person is unable to form the specific intent to commit that crime. The issue is, of course, that the person did the act. There is a victim. Harm was done. And, importantly, if the person who did the act is not incarcerated, then there is nothing to prevent that person from committing the act again. If someone is so mentally ill or of such delayed development to not understand why not to do the act once, what is to stop the person from doing the act again? The social contract for diminished capacity was presented as this - the person who did the act will not be jailed for a crime since the person did not have mens rea. That peson will, however, be removed from society somehow, usually institutionalization. As a society, we do not want to jail people who lack the capacity to form specific intent, but we also recognize that those people are not safe to be around others. That's how it was presented. Everyone take a moment to laugh bitterly as to how it's played out over the last, say, half century. Diminished capacity is a prime example of the breakdown of the social contract. Only one side of the contract is being honored. People are no longer removed from society when found to have diminished capacity. Not only that, the categories of what counts for diminution of capacity seem to expand nigh infinitely while institutionalization contracts dramatically. People will say, very reluctantly, that someone who is severely mentally ill should be allowed to be institutionalized instead of jailed if, and only if, said institutionalization occurs for the same time period as the jail sentence would be. People will say, very reluctantly, that someone whose mental development stopped at late childhood should not be jailed if, and only if, that person is placed into some kind of facility where that person will not be allowed into adult society without intense supervision ever again. Again, I will pause to allow everyone's abs to recover from the work out from all the laughing. When the terms of only one side of a contract are met while the terms of the other side are openly violated, the contract is broken. The social contract on diminished capacity was protrayed to be that person cannot understand their actions are unsafe so that person will not go to jail but that person will be removed for society since that person lacks the capacity to comply with the rules of society. The removal of the consequences should result in the removal of the defense. That is the most generous outcome. /fin

I'm very, very good at worrying -- 65 years of practice! 😃 I can't stop it, but I can make it manageable. For me, the trick is to make sure I've got as much under control and I've done as much as I can at any time; the rest is not my burden (and worrying happens when I am unable to let that part that's in God's hands to Him -- still working on that. Tactically, this means checklists, schedules/appointments, and in some cases diagramming out flow-charts to sketch out "what if" scenarios and make sure I've got a plan for each of those. Also document the worst likely outcome, that really helps me with perspective, e.g. for a pet, that's pretty serious - but for a lot of other things, it might come down to just money... important, but not at all like a pet! Regarding the cat's situation: were it me, I'd do as you've done already (search, plan for a vet visit), but also research online for what can happen, what the symptoms are for various complications, how long it would take to pass, and I'd write notes describing what to look for. (For myself not anyone else, just to remind me of reality, 'cause especially in the wee hours of the morning my brain likes to add lots of color to the symptoms to really kick the worry into high gear. It really helps to re-read my notes, check on the animal, and put my mind somewhat at ease so I can sleep.) (Footnote for anyone reading who's snickering or shaking your head at this idiot with lists and notes and charts -- well, laugh, but count yourself blessed that you don't suffer from this personality trait.)

@PitmasterMark69 Outstanding choice for a pie; little early for strawberries here but the rhubarb is in top form right now.

My wife made strawberry rhubarb pie. Hashtag: winning.

@TraditionSarah Have a copy of that too! My mother got it for me when I left home for my first apartment. That was 45 years ago; it's on the big bookshelf in the family room.

I still stand by my tried and true:

@usedgov And this, this image, is why we do not need a U.S. Department of Education. 🤦‍♂️

SKILLS THAT PAY OFF.

@JenSue2point0 Good Morning! High School rapidly approaches!

GM, friends! First and last day of 7th grade! 💜☀️

Bring back the Betty Crocker cookbook.

@BrandonDonkey2 Concur. Don't actually *dislike* people more now that I'm older -- it's just that I don't find as many *compelling* reasons to deal with people IRL anymore. 🤷‍♂️

The older I get the more introverted I get.

@Joshua_Graham50 @1982VintageNut @fakeftedd Seeing the same thing when viewing VN's post. 😬 You can say a LOT of things about Chicago, but apparently dissing deep-dish pizza is a slice too far.

@1982VintageNut @fakeftedd Twitter is a part of Big Deep Dish🤔

👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

Honest answer: the same amount of evidence exists in THIS case as existed in the Floyd case, which is to say that no racism is obviously apparent. So, we will go ahead and trumpet this as racism anyway, exactly as did the left about Floyd. Because, you see, it's no longer about "following the rules" -- we learned a lot since the "mostly peaceful" "summer of love", and we can play the victim/racist game too. If that's not acceptable to you, well, let's just wait to see how the justice system handles these two compared to the Floyd thing -- the justice system in MN is so corrupt that these two, unlike the cop who's rotting in prison over Floyd, will be out on bail, and have their charges reduced to something far less than manslaughter -- and they'll be back on the street stealing cars and killing white people ('cause that's acceptable) in no time at all!

@EndWokeness In those incidents, racist motivation of the assailant or bad policing were alleged to have been involved in the deaths. Is there any evidence in this case that the alleged assailants were racially motivated in the murder? (It's an honest question.)

Say His Name: Amos Ferrier (38) Combat veteran. 15 years of service. He was just kiIIed in MN by Janiya Samiah Frost and Riniyah Brinique Allan. 0 national outrage.

@redrose_anna Delicious breakfast! Vastly under-rated IMO.

A late breakfast: eggs, mozzarella and spinach

@FoundersGirl Dogs are the best.😃

welcome home

@ShadesOfPunky OMG

Story time. Buckle in…. Today we’re corpse cleaners! 🍿🪑👀

I fully support the original Massie; he's right on so many things - and principles DO matter. But the new Massie? Something's wrong, badly wrong, and for the good of the nation we cannot let him continue as he is. I hope he comes around and straightens out his act, there are many other roles in which he can contribute -- just not this one, at this time.

I am getting a lot of hate from some long time friends, real life friends, too, for celebrating Massie’s primary loss. It’s sad to see. I have always been a Massie supporter, up until the past few months, and I still don’t disagree with him on much at all. But it’s time to turn the page if we are going to get anything done for the next 2 1/2 years. Status quo will have us accomplishing nothing, and essentially making Trump 2.0 a lame-duck presidency. That’s NOT what we voted for. I implore you disheartened Massie supporters to read the article below. 🙏🏼

@LuckyMcGee @TexitDarling @Pardon_Me_Again Sounds like an opportunity to kidnap a puppy, folks!

@TexitDarling @Pardon_Me_Again 🥹🙏🏼 I sure do appreciate that, but I’d have a Mister and a Bitsy with me! 😂🥰

@redheadranting It's in the same place as my 19mm extra-short wrench (the very special one that changes adjusting the mower deck from "utterly impossible" to "merely challenging"). It was right there on the workbench, and now I cannot find it for anything. 😤

Ok, the weirdest thing happened. I have a glass water filter/dispenser - it's a big, a few gallons worth. I keep a smaller mason jar under the spigot in case it leaks, but also because it fits under the spigot and most other vessels do not. Today I went to get water for my coffee and it's gone. I looked everywhere in the dish rack, dishwasher, my office, in the fridge - everywhere. I even looked outside. It's just gone. I am the only one who lives in this house. Where'd it go?

@fresheggistan @ShamashAran Hmm... I think I see the problem here.😅 (I too drive a GM truck... but it's got well over 150K miles on it, so I no longer worry so much about GM authentic parts.)

@ShamashAran 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

What fucking wipers are you buying

@BrandonDonkey2 @LiLa__lee18 Well, that's a third data point, and my hypothesis is listing badly and taking on water... 😅

@LiLa__lee18 @MisterLousy I had a great high school experience. I'm still in touch with a bunch of my friends. I hate ceremonies of any kind information, including graduation.

Why graduation ceremonies are important is because it’s the close of a chapter. You’ve spent four years with the same people. You’ll hug and say your goodbyes promising to keep in touch, but you most likely won’t. The teenage years are core memories. Graduation means something.

@ForestMommy Turkey wins! (Love that display!)

Lesser Goldfinch and Gobbler

Western Tanager