Elizabeth Creegan

@RichardRos74352 @MyClickInTime @lady_valor_07 Torturing scum to death does no more to prevent them from causing future harm than simple execution does.

@c87033 @MyClickInTime @lady_valor_07 people like you being too soft on scum are why we have judges releasing violent felons onto our streets to harm more innocent people. Mercy to to guilty is cruelty to the innocent

I am totally okay with this!! You?

@MyClickInTime @lady_valor_07 No. The rapist murderers were rightfully executed. We no longer have to live with them. The victim's family, and the firing squad, is still around and will continue to be around. Let's not leave torturers around.

@c87033 @lady_valor_07 So, raping a child TO DEATH wasn’t torture? I say the family SHOULD have the right to decide the method and speed of the death of the murderer of their child.

@OpenMin43511213 @Her_Nonymous_D No. Small children legitimately need to board with a parent and are the most common excuse for this behavior.

@Her_Nonymous_D They should probably let all window seats board first, then middle seats, then aisle seats- problem solved

I always hear stories about people acting entitled on flights, like seats are just… suggestions. Today happens to be the first time I actually watched it happen in real life. I was already seated when a family came in and took the row next to me. They had booked the middle and the aisle, but somehow managed to spread across all 3 seats by putting their “lap child” in the window seat. I remember thinking, okay… this should be interesting when the actual seat owner shows up. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a woman came down the aisle, checked her ticket, and stopped right there. “That’s my seat,” she said, pointing to the window. The family looked at her and asked, “Do you specifically…

@Blogsbloke @ElliotMalin Because there is no good faith case to be made that a nation as militarily superior to the Palestinians is attempting to commit genocide on them and failing so badly the population is increasing.

@ElliotMalin Why is making a good faith charge of genocide, given the consequences of the actions of the Israeli government, a blood libel?

Alright, but it *isn't* genocide because the elements of the crime are clearly missing. This is a blood libel that has caused Jews to be murdered. It must stop. Not a single accusation has been able to establish that intent is present to the standard required. Not a single one has used the appropriate legal analysis to make the legal conclusion that they do. Each accusation has systematically ignored the conduct of Hamas in relation to informing us about Israeli conduct and what is permissible. This violates the key provisions of the jurisprudence because it ignores the test that must be taken, known as the only reasonable inference test. Here, from Bosnia v. Serbia (2007), para. 373: “The dolus specialis, the specific intent to destroy the group in whole or in part, has to be convincingly shown by reference to particular circumstances, unless a general plan to that end can be convincingly demonstrated to exist; and for a pattern of conduct to be accepted as evidence of its existence, it would have to be that it could only point to the existence of such intent.” When each accusation ignores the conduct of Hamas, it fails to assess the reasonable alternative explanations. If there exists reasonable alternative explanations, such as human shielding (see: GCIV 28 & API 51(7)), weaponization of healthcare infrastructure (see: GCIV 19), diversion of aid (see: GCIV 23), it cannot possibly be genocide. We do know, with plenty of evidence, that each of these is relevant to the analysis because we know that Hamas has utilized human shielding (they admit to it and have done this for decades), have weaponized hospitals (Mohammad Sinwar was killed under the European hospital and we hear from Gazans about the presence of armed militants), and have diverted aid (Al Jazeera confirmed this just yesterday), then it cannot possibly be found that dolus specialis is present. If dolus specialis is not present, it cannot be genocide. Moreover, substantiality is very clearly missing. From, Krstić: "It is well established that where a conviction for genocide relies on the intent to destroy a protected group “in part,” the part must be a substantial part of that group. The aim of the Genocide Convention is to prevent the intentional destruction of entire human groups, and the part targeted must be significant enough to have an impact on the group as a whole. Although the Appeals Chamber has not yet addressed this issue, two Trial Chambers of this Tribunal have examined it. In Jelisić, the first case to confront the question, the Trial Chamber noted that, “[g]iven the goal of the [Genocide] Convention to deal with mass crimes, it is widely acknowledged that the intention to destroy must target at least a substantial part of the group.” The same conclusion was reached by the Sikirica Trial Chamber: “This part of the definition calls for evidence of an intention to destroy a substantial number relative to the total population of the group.” As these Trial Chambers explained, the substantiality requirement both captures genocide’s defining character as a crime of massive proportions and reflects the Convention’s concern with the impact the destruction of the targeted part will have on the overall survival of the group." In Sikirica the chamber stipulated that about 3% is not substantial enough to constitute genocide. In Gaza the death toll, including combatants and not accounting for live births (which outnumber measured death) is about 3.25%. If we want to discuss live births, we would see population increase over the course of the war. Per Save the Children, the UN, and Palestinian Ministry of Health officials the births throughout the war ranged from about 4,000 - 5,500 per month. 4,000(30)=120,000 5,500(30)=165,000 120,000-72,500=+47,500 165,000-72,500=+92,500 So, we can demonstrate that the population has not decreased as measured in death vs. birth, but the opposite. It is very clearly not genocide if you actually understand what genocide is and how it works. This is very clearly a blood libel that has caused the very harm you are saying you are speaking against, @shannonrwatts. I think your heart is in the right place, Shannon. But I also think that you are helping cause the very problem you are speaking against here by helping perpetuate the blood libel that is very clearly erroneous and has caused real and demonstrable harm against Jews. You cannot be an ally and spread the blood libel. And you must stop pushing it.

@JeremyWallis10 @getyrtrouserson @firasd @agraybee Elected by the state legislature. We forget how dominant legislatures used to be.

@getyrtrouserson @c87033 @firasd @agraybee Senators are supposed to represent the State. Not the People. That is what House Representatives are for. Senators were meant to be appointed by Governors.

Let's see. So far, with less than $1 trillion, he has used his wealth and his ability to manage engineers to: - rocket launches at a tenth the price of anyone else - dig tunnels in diameters up to 20' (so far) for a hundredth the price - create implantable chips letting the paralyzed use computers - mass produce an autopilot car that I'd actually be willing to be driven by under normal conditions - mass produce a decently fast charger for electric cars - create a satellite network offering internet to anyone with electrical power and a view of the south sky (presumably the north sky in the southern hemisphere?) fast enough to do zoom meetings - decensor the mass communications network we're on with community notes flagging some misleading stuff without taking it down -- though I think that one was more willingness to do than anything else It's not like he lets his money rot. He does a lot of stuff very useful for the world both with and in exchange for his money.

JUST IN: Elon Musk says his goal is to reach a $10 trillion net worth. "$10T or bust"

@firasd @agraybee No. The electoral college gives the smaller states more sway because the states get electoral votes equal to their house representation (proportional to population) PLUS their senate representation (2 for every state.)

@agraybee Yeah the idea that it gives smaller states more sway is just an accident of current circumstances. If Florida or Texas become swing states (as FL used to be within our lifetimes) then Wisconsin won’t matter so much

Everyone says airlines can't compete on quality of travel because passengers purchase solely on price. But passengers aren't guaranteed quality of travel when they try to purchase it. I once booked a moderately more expensive flight because the aircraft listed had more leg room. There was a substitute aircraft with less leg room. So I paid extra money for quality I didn't get. Ever since then I *have* purchased on price and timing, with a nod to the airline's reputation (e.g. pay extra for Jet Blue, pay extra to avoid Frontier.) There's space for an airline which has rows with extra legroom (for extra cost, obviously) and guarantees those in seating. There's space for an airline which has rows configured for obese people (probably for roughly half again the usual coach price) and guarantees those in seating. You could have an airline app which when you were on a plane knew the available meals, snacks, and drinks based on your ticket, and you could order at your leisure with a ten minute warning to order now before flight attendants started delivering food. If people didn't want to load it on their phone, $10 for use of a tablet (which also has games loaded on it) plus $75 deposit refundable when returned. And that could be doable with built-in screens but I bet Spirit doesn't have those. Not sure how to hedge against oil prices....

There are rumors that Elon Musk may be exploring a takeover of the bankrupt Spirit Airlines, with ambitious plans to revolutionize the air travel experience. Imagine the possibilities: Optimus humanoid robot flight attendants, seamless Starlink connectivity, AI-powered travel planning, frictionless payments through X, and door-to-door service with Robotaxi. What do you think? @elonmusk

@LeftMenaceIA @JexMix4 @hell_line0 No one doing modern gerrymandering strings together white neighborhoods selectively; they string together Democratic neighborhoods or Republican neighborhoods, regardless of the color of the inhabitants, with just enough of the other party to prevent it from having a district.

@c87033 @JexMix4 @hell_line0 White people don't complain when they do that with white neighborhoods and create white districts. Because that's what this did as well.

Let’s clarify something: the white woman in the picture is Supreme Court Justice, who sided with the 6-3 majority to gut the VRA last week. She voted to take voting rights from the two Black children she adopted.

@JexMix4 @hell_line0 The right to have Black districts drawn so that they'd be in the same district as people of their race, even if that involves taking five different black neighborhoods in different towns with nothing in common and "connecting" them into a district via interstates with no people.

@hell_line0 So are the two black kids not allowed to vote because of her ruling? I'm confused and trying to understand. What rights were taken from the black kids?

@strda221 @QuasLacrimas Then politics captures whatever body has the districting power.

@QuasLacrimas Or, you know, do what every other Western democracy does, and take the districting power away from the politicians?

The reason there will never be a law to restrict gerrymandering is that the only way to do it impartially, the algorithmic creation of compact districts, would result in a GOP supermajority. Zero Democratic Senators will support

@dpheneghan1 @BrianEastwoodx If you aren't a thief who steals from little children, it's only by accident.

No dude, you and your father are the problem. First grade children should not be encouraged, taught, rewarded to arbitrage the system. The teacher did the right think, unfortunately the lesson hasn't sunk into your thick and greedy head. I'll bet your father was a real a$$hole.

I had a commie teacher in first grade. I brought $25 in quarters to school to hit up the pencil machine in the main hallways before school one day. The machine was filled with highly sought after official league sports pencils like these below. She confiscated the 100 pencils and called my parents. My dad laid into her so hard. He knew I wanted to spend my allowance on pencils and she gave them away to everyone in the class.

School, of course, ends before working hours do. Many states let you stop going to school at 16 or 17; they all let you stop at 18 or when you graduate if earlier. Many (most?) have online asynchronous options. (All do if you count online private school.) Some states let you count work experience as ONE class, including scheduling for it. Some states / school districts / individual schools just let high schoolers leave school whenever they don't have a class (some restrict this to students in good standings.) And of course, people don't magically change into full-fledge adults when they turn 18 and/or graduate from high school. They need to apply for a better job (and/or a job with better prospects) and get accepted. But you're missing the ways in which jobs which hire and fire lightly because you can always be replaced by a teenager are useful to adults. Dad's business went bust, or he got fired and his employer is fighting him on unemployment, or Dad divorced stay-at-home Mom and the person needs SOME income now, even if it's a fifth of what they're used to. Places which care about qualifications are reluctant to hire overqualified people because they'll have to replace them soon. Places which care about qualifications are reluctant to hire women who've been out of the workplace for 15 years. It's not much, but it's fast, and it's a stepladder. Some adults-by-age haven't learned to show up to work every day on time, or haven't learned to keep working when the boss isn't working. If they could learn these things by being taught them by teachers, they'd've learned in school. They need to learn by experience, and the best teacher is a string of easy-hire-easy-fire jobs. If you make it impossible for people to get hired until they're worth $20/hour you cut these people's legs off at the knees because they not only aren't but won't learn to become worth $20/hour until they've lost a dozen $12/hour jobs.

People say this, and then never wonder why fast food places are open while kids are in school

@MyHandleNo @BamaSaltyMarine That's not fair. You can't get EITC for not earning ANYTHING. You have to earn something, but not too much. The marginal tax rate for the people in the underclass trying to earn their way out can exceed 100% from loss of multiple benefits including EITC.

@BamaSaltyMarine And those on welfare receive “Earned Income Credit” for not earning anything! 😡

Just in case you forgot and need a reminder…. Income tax: the fine you pay for being a productive member of society. Welfare: the reward you get for being an unproductive member of society.

@SirCat21 And while I'm wishing I'd like a pony.

Okay what if free college, free books, even transportation to all regions, educators paid decently, no stress finding a job after graduation, public libraries open 24 hours, decent sidewalks, minimum wage goes up, no parking fees or extortion

@Hatz_of_the_CBF @JustinWStapley This has nothing to do with the inability of one-party states to cheat in Presidential elections under an electoral college system.

@c87033 @JustinWStapley A state whose Governor was brother and decisions were made by some questionable means and a Supreme Court ruling that was a little specious

Under the Electoral College, the President is elected by the states and it is the states who choose to run popular elections to select electors. This is actually an integral part of the longevity of the union, because the great compromise ensures that small states are not subsumed by a national policy driven be the population advantage of large states. Remove this framework and why would a state like Wyoming stick around and be dictated to by a government that only represents the coastal enclaves?

Florida in 2000 was a swing state. Regardless of what you think of Florida in 2000, it's possible to cheat in swing states in electoral college elections. It's NOT (usefully) possible to cheat the strongly partisan states where cheating would be easiest, because if you need to cheat you've lose in the swing states.

@c87033 @JustinWStapley Florida 2000 might like a word about states being non-partisan

Let me spell it out. Since the electoral votes are what determine the President, California gains no advantage by letting 16-year-olds vote. Under a popular vote system, that would be significant vote gain for the Democrats. Under an electoral vote system, highly partisan states (say California or Florida) are simply not in play and can't cheat in favor of the candidate the state as a whole prefers. Or, to be precise, if a partisan state is in doubt, the election is going to the candidate it opposes regardless if which way the partisan state goes.

@c87033 @JustinWStapley It doesn’t do any of that.

@kivakiva6 @MibshaD Adoption is an option.

@MibshaD A child carries lifelong emotional damage from being raised by a parent that clearly did not want them. You think kids don't know? They know.

Hot take It better to regret an abortion then regretting your child