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I'm still surprised that none of you liked my glorious new license plate.
I liked your license plate.
(It wasn't obvious at the time that it was yours, and not just some random photo.)
Originally Posted by chiefmg
The Dems have been getting away with so much for so long that they think they are untouchable. In their world, anything they do is right and proper, so they can do whatever they desire. That would explain their skipping down the primrose path of their Trump scorched earth policy without a care in the world, oblivious to how it is being perceived outside of their fans. At this point in time who is to say they are wrong?
On a long timescale, social norms, and the relative influence and perceived credibility of various groups of people, change.
Our generation enjoyed 35 years of relative social peace and rationality after Nixon's resignation and the withdrawal of the US from Vietnam.
Over the past decade, we've swung back into an environment of fear, hysteria and political binaryism which mirrors that of the McCarthy era.
It would not be unreasonable to expect this to last for a good while longer, until both factions have had a chance to be exposed, recognized, and replaced with more moderate elements.
It is my hope to live to see a day when nobody is comparing anybody to Hitler (unless, you know, they've invaded all of Europe and slaughtered tens of millions of civilians), and the Presidential ballot at the general election contains multiple candidates which the majority of the electorate actually have to rationally weigh the relative merits of in deciding for whom to cast their vote.
I did. how long you think they will let you keep it?
My mom said they same thing, I don't personally see the issue.
Originally Posted by hector
And I don't know about NC but I'm fairly certain in FL you would pay more tax for a vanity plate annually. Irony?
I don't believe we have sales taxes on DMV transactions but I couldn't find my receipt. But I don't draw as much issue with sales tax, income and property taxes are the truly unethical ones.
Unrelated, something else occurred to me while in the shower, about the present Trump situation.
If this business with the classified documents does go to trial, it's not going to be before the Senate this time. It'll be an ordinary criminal trial, with a jury.
Try to imagine what the jury selection process would look like. Trying to find 12 people (plus alternates) who didn't walk into the courtroom that day already convinced that Trump should be either executed for crimes against humanity, or appointed President for life.
Try to imagine what the jury selection process would look like. Trying to find 12 people (plus alternates) who didn't walk into the courtroom that day already convinced that Trump should be either executed for crimes against humanity, or appointed President for life.
I was thinking about this the other day, absolutely impossible to get a fair jury.
The US could go a long way towards funding the Biden administration's most recent spending bill by televising that jury selection live, with pro-wrestling-style announcers.
This is what certain people at the far-left of the political spectrum in the US want to happen here. And that's not as farfetched as it may sound, given that parents who question the decisions of school boards are "domestic terrorists."
Female Saudi activist gets record 34 years in prison for critical tweets
Sarah Dadouch and Annabelle Timsit
Published August 17, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. EDT
Salwa al-Shehab with her husband Zohair al-Ghasham and her sons Noah and Adam, posted on Dec. 2, 2020.
BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia quietly sentenced a woman to 34 years in prison over her Twitter activity last week, marking the longest Saudi sentence everfor a peaceful activist and launching a fresh wave of fear among the government’s detractors, three rights group said.The woman, Salma al-Shehab, was detained in January 2021 in Saudi Arabia, where she was on vacation, days before the Saudi citizen and mother of two was set to return to her home in Britain, according to rights groups. The charges faced by the 33-year-old all revolved around her Twitter activity, according to court documents.
Shehab had been active on the social media platform during campaigns demanding the abolition of the country’s guardianship system, which gives men legal control over certain aspects of female relatives’ lives. She had also made calls for the freeing of Saudi prisoners of conscience.
According to court records obtained by The Washington Post, Shehab was accused of using a social media website “to disrupt public order, undermine the security of society and stability of the state, and support those who had committed criminal actions according to the counterterrorism law and its financing.”
The documents said she supported such individuals “by following their social media accounts and rebroadcasting their tweets,” and that she spread false rumors. The documents went on to say that following her appeal, it was decided that her prison sentence was too short “considering her crimes,” and that her previous sentence failed to “achieve restraint and deterrence.”
On top of a 34-year sentence and subsequent 34-year travel ban, which begins after the prison sentence ends, the court ruled that her mobile phone be confiscated, and her Twitter account be “closed down permanently.”
The charges are familiar: Sowing sedition and destabilizing the state are accusations frequently used against activists in the kingdom who speak up against the status quo. Saudi Arabia has long wielded its counterterrorism law against its citizens whose protests are deemed unacceptable, especially if they criticize the de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In late 2021, the initial ruling against Shehab gave her six years in prison. When she appealed, however, it was increased to 34 — the country’s longest sentence against a peaceful activist, according to several human rights groups.
Rights groups have repeatedly warned about the government’s recent use of the counterterrorism law. In April, Human Rights Watch said laws such as “the notoriously abusive counterterrorism law and the anti-cybercrime law, include vague and overly broad provisions that have been widely interpreted and abused.” The rulings are also often characterized by inconsistent and harsh sentences.
As the sentence includes the closure of her Twitter account, at least one rights group is trying to make sure her account is not shut down, said Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and communications at ALQST, a London-based Saudi rights group.
“Now we’re working with Twitter not to close it or to make them aware that at least if they’re asked to close it, it comes from the Saudi government and not from her,” she said. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto leader, in Mecca on Aug. 16.
In its statement on Tuesday, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, which tracks arrests in the kingdom, said the decision to sentence Shehab under the counterterrorism law “confirms that Saudi Arabia deals with those who demand reforms and critics on social networks as terrorists.”
The group said the ruling sets a dangerous precedent and shows that Saudi Arabia’s widely lauded efforts to modernize the kingdom and improve women’s rights “are not serious and fall within the whitewashing campaigns it is carrying out to improve its human rights record.”
Shehab is a lecturer at Princess Nourah University in Saudi capital, Riyadh, and a PhD student at Britain’s University of Leeds. She was conducting exploratory research there about new techniques in oral and dental medicine and their applications in Saudi Arabia, a colleague who worked with her in Leeds said.
The person, who spoke on the condition anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case, described Shehab as a “wonderful” and “generous” colleague — “the type of person who always brings in treats.”
She never publicly spoke of politics, the colleague added, instead speaking often of her children and showing friends and colleagues photos of them. She “missed her family a lot.”
Shehab went back to Saudi Arabia at the end of 2019 and never came back to school. At first, that didn’t alarm anyone, given the long period of coronavirus lockdowns that began in March 2020 in England. But eventually, her colleague said, people began asking, “has anyone heard from Salma?”
“It came as a shock to all of us because we thought, how can a person like her be arrested,” the person said. The University of Leeds did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
When asked whether it was monitoring Shehab’s case or involved in any attempts to secure her release, the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told The Post via email that “ministers and senior officials have repeatedly raised concerns over the detention of Women’s Rights Defenders with the Saudi authorities and will continue to do so.”
Shehab belongs to the minority Shiite sect of Islam — viewed by many hard-line Sunni Muslims as heretical and whose adherents in Saudi Arabia are often automatically viewed with suspicion.
Saudi Arabia often has been criticized for its treatment of the Shiite minority. Earlier this year, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in its annual report on human rights that the kingdom “systematically discriminates against Muslim religious minorities,” including Shiites.
Shehab’s last Twitter activity was on Jan. 13, 2021, two days before her arrest, when she retweeted a classic Arabic song about missing a loved one’s company.
On her Twitter page, which remains active, she has a pinned tweet of a prayer asking for forgiveness if she had ever transgressed against another human unknowingly and asking God to help her reject injustice and help those who face it.
The tweet ends with “freedom to the prisoners of conscience and to every oppressed person in the world.”
This is what certain people at the far-left of the political spectrum in the US want to happen here. And that's not as farfetched as it may sound, given that parents who question the decisions of school boards are "domestic terrorists."
Female Saudi activist gets record 34 years in prison for critical tweets
Yes. The far left in the US likes to call conservatives '*****' , but they are the ones acting like the actual **** party. This is the real opression they look to bring here.
One of the far-right podcasters should start referring to cancel-happy leftists as "Saudis," to mirror their appropriation of the term "****" to describe non-leftists.
The term will explode instantaneously, and then Mike Godwin can make an observation about this.
One of the far-right podcasters should start referring to cancel-happy leftists as "Saudis," to mirror their appropriation of the term "****" to describe non-leftists.
makes me think of the groomer thing, it worked surprisingly well.
The Washington Post just printed an article talking about how Planned Parenthood is planning to spend $50 million (a record) on the midterm elections this year. Which is unsurprising.
But, it occurred to me... how is Planned Parenthood allowed to spend any money at all on electoral campaigns?
A quick dive into their most recent annual report discloses that their largest single source of revenue (at 38% of total) comes in the form of Grants and Reimbursements from government health services (both state and Federal).
While this clearly cannot be illegal (they've been a huge political campaign finance source for years), it's only just now occurred to me how odd it is that tax dollars are being spent on political campaigns. I'm assuming that this is direct spending, rather than campaign contributions, but still...
I would genuinely love to sit down and have a beer with the attorney who figured out how to do that.
The Washington Post just printed an article talking about how Planned Parenthood is planning to spend $50 million (a record) on the midterm elections this year. Which is unsurprising.
But, it occurred to me... how is Planned Parenthood allowed to spend any money at all on electoral campaigns?
A quick dive into their most recent annual report discloses that their largest single source of revenue (at 38% of total) comes in the form of Grants and Reimbursements from government health services (both state and Federal).
While this clearly cannot be illegal (they've been a huge political campaign finance source for years), it's only just now occurred to me how odd it is that tax dollars are being spent on political campaigns. I'm assuming that this is direct spending, rather than campaign contributions, but still...
I would genuinely love to sit down and have a beer with the attorney who figured out how to do that.
Joe Joe Joe.....this is the wash / rinse / repeat cycle. It's made famous by government monopolies (teacher's unions, prison guard unions, power and utility unions) spending PAC money to elect their government lackeys of choice, who then support programs that funnel money to their government monopolies of choice. See the latest legislation that passed for details, and ask yourself how each item added allows the government to either take more in taxes or have more control over corporations and even markets. Central Planning using the funds of the little guy against them...utter perfection.
08-16-2022, 09:16 PM
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