The Unabomber’s cabin, sitting in an FBI storage facility on an airforce base in Sacramento, photographed by Richard Barnes. Sure looks out of its element; as Barnes says, “the cabin represents a particularly American ideal of rural self sufficiency and independence gone horribly awry”, and its context is sort of the opposite of that. I wonder if it still sits there, waiting.
Interesting tutorial on how to escape rape.
You’d think this would be required study in high schools, but no.
(Source: freeselfdefense)
What’s intriguing about this 1931 map is how much beer they’re still drinking in the Rust Belt during Prohibition. That map would track reasonably well with a map of today.
But after nearly a decade of temperance, why all the beer? As a drug, it’s inferior to liquor or wine because the lower proof means lower street value. As contraband, it’s harder to smuggle because it takes up more mass. Distribution is difficult because, well, how many bottles of beer can your average scofflaw walk away with? Otherwise they have to consume it on site, at the speakeasy or wherever. Maybe there were advantages in brewing speed? More turnover = greater profit?
Looking at this map you’d think Prohibition had practically no affect on drinking habits at all. Funny, that.
Trigger warning: rape apology, rape culture, sexual assault
The problem with this? Rape isn’t a property crime.
And if you can find the sentence where that’s asserted, you might have a point.
It’s a crime on a person’s body, and it’s a violent crime. You can’t lock your body away like you would your keys.
I am much more likely to be assaulted in high-crime areas. I hide myself away from those areas. And we can have a conversation about class and poverty and an inability to escape such crime hot-spots, but that’s a second order of business.
Your body comes with you everywhere, and you can’t hide it. That’s right, even clothes won’t hide your body, because everyone knows there is still a body underneath! So, this metaphor is bullshit,
Your insistence on treating metaphor as a literal parallel is bullshit. The whole point of metaphor is that it’s not literally applicable. Given your comment, we can’t use metaphor when talking about crime.
and anyone who is “serious about preventing rape” won’t perpetuate the victim-blaming mentality that it perpetuates.
While you may be serious about preventing rape, you’re unserious about discussing rape. I’d argue they’re correlated.
Oakland cop got out his car. Walked the beat. Shadowed him for 5 blocks. He went into convenience stores, beauty shops. “How is everything?” Shook hands. Smiles.
Con: He’s 5 blocks from a car when a call comes in.
Pro: Walked ahead of him. Saw 3 or 4 skeezy types spot the cop and decide to walk the opposite direction.
Foot patrols. How bout that.
“I sat down with these people and told them, ‘You want to do your killings? Do it in Oakland. Do it in Richmond. Do it elsewhere. But don’t do killing in San Francisco. It reflects badly on a black mayor.’”
- Former Mayor Willie Brown, on a meeting with S.F. gang leaders.
Paul Shin Devine, a former Apple global supply manager accused of masterminding a scheme in which he leaked company secrets to Asian suppliers in return for hefty kickbacks. Devine is being held without bail by the Feds …
Poring through the painstakingly detailed, 47-page suit against him, it appears Apple is coming after its former employee in a manner that makes its treatment of the Gizmodo boys look like a trip to the nail salon.
“Because your momma wants you home.”
IS OAKLAND BURNING.COM
Live streaming update with up-to-second coverage from the Oscar Grant fallout.
Oh. Now I get it. Passover. Literally, “pass over.”
I am so dense sometimes.
(From yesterday’s staff meeting:)
boss: We should lock the doors.
generic: That would be wise, I think.
boss: And we should put that Oscar Grant poster on the front door.
generic: What?
boss: The one they keep posting.
generic: Why?
boss: So they won’t vandalize our building.
generic: …?
boss: They’ll see the poster on our front door and know we’re on their side.
generic: I don’t think riots are that discerning.
coworker: It can’t hurt.
generic: What are we, ancient Israelites?
boss: … ?
generic: You know, how the Angel of Death came and… I don’t know, killed all the 1st born sons of every house?
coworker: What the fuck are you talking about?
generic: They marked the door! I think. With like, a red X of blood or something. It was a code for the angel to only enter Egyptian houses, the ones without the X.
boss: Oh.
generic: You don’t want us to be an Egyptian house. You want us to be a Jewish house. In this particular analogy.
boss: Right.
coworker: Shit’s about to get biblical.
boss: Or not.
generic: Or not.
- 2nd-degree murder: Mehserle knew the actions he was taking could cause a death but took those actions anyway.
- Voluntary manslaughter: Mehserle acted in the heat of passion or Mehserle believed his life was in danger but used too much force in defending himself.
- Involuntary manslaughter: Mehserle committed an act that posed a high risk of death or great injury because of the way the act was committed. Or, Mehserle’s actions could be found by a reasonable person to be reckless.
Judge ruled out Murder One, which seems fair. Not much aforethought in Johnny-Trigger, I don’t think.
The max for voluntary manslaughter in California is 11 years. And they will riot in the Biggety O if that’s what’s behind door #2. (Hell, no one worth knowing hasn’t lost a decade to a bad decision or two.)
The interesting question is: How favorable a verdict to the defense would avoid some overturned cars? If he gets 30 years instead of life, do they just loot some stores? How do you half-ass a riot? Isn’t it kind of an all-or-nothing affair?
Remember, Bay Area juries are notoriously lenient and favorable to the defense. All that permissiveness comes home to roost.
But whatever we do, let's not be disrespectful of people's faiths.
I couldn’t get through it. I had to stifle the urge to vomit.
(via brittneyg)
Oakland Catholics set aside an area on church grounds where they could think about how they were raped by priests, back when they were children.
amberofthismoment: Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI
Richard Dawkins, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”.
It’s not so much that I think Dawkins is wrong as that I believe he’s naive. He’s like a teenager who has learned just enough to be dangerous and is trying to solve ethics problems with chemistry proofs. I’m atheist, but I would never disrespect people and their faiths like he does. I would never chisel faith down to its worst moments and say “Burn the whole system.” You’d expect a scientist who touts rationalism as supreme to extremism would be a bit more tactful.
Religion is a complex issue and Dawkins consistently oversimplifies. The big picture is that the Catholic Church and other religions have also fostered great moral victories: overthrowing Communist dictatorships, fighting segregation in the US, and earning Native American rights in Latin America.
And molesting children. Raping hundreds and thousands of little children. He is lodging a specific charge against a head of state, who personally enables pederasts. He’s not the only one raising this question. To you, this is naive? If a Nobel Prize winner sodomized your little brother, would you give him a pass? Because legal action was unrealistic?
For decency’s sake, arresting the Pope is the least we should be considering.
