What's in the news?

[Oniya]

Sometimes there will be a 'lesser included charge' that the jury can opt for, but I think Lisztes has the situation pretty well figured.  If the DA had given a 'lesser included' of manslaughter,  they might have gotten him convicted of manslaughter. 

[TheGlyphstone]

Thats usually why they do both. Its the DAs fault for not including a manslaughter charge as well.

edit: ninajed by oniya.

[Lilias]

Speaking of Megham and Harry's engagement, is that true that Meghan will have to convert to Anglicanism before she is allowed to marry Harry?

Yes.

[gaggedLouise]

Yes.

That's kinda funny - Sweden also has a constitutional rule that the monarch and anyone in the line of sucession has to be a member of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, but we've actually had at least two queen consorts in the last two hundred years who were Roman catholics. I think there's a fat chance that the current queen Silvia (wife of the king) was also raised a catholic, she grew up in southern Germany and Brazil, but there's never been any fuss about it. The royal children have alwys been raised Lutherans, but their mothers were able to dissent. And this is a country where Roman catholicism was painted in very black colours right into the mid-20th century; it was portaryed as a semi-pagan and decayed brand of Christianity, and associated with cruelty (the inquisition) and blind obedience (the Jesuits!). And we had a state hurch until only about twenty uears ago. So you'd have thought that they'd have been very strict on keeping catholics out of the royal family...but not really. :)

[Orval Wintermute]

That's kinda funny....

Yes and no, Queen Elizabeth is head of the Church of England so Meghan & Harry's offspring would be in the line of succession to become head of the church and so have to be brought up in the religion. I suppose the parallel would be the next Pope not being brought up as a Catholic.

[Serephino]

Yes, any children would need to be brought up in that religion, but one wouldn't think their mother would have to be a member.  I'm Pagan, my father was some kind of Christian, Lutheran I think, and my mother I believe is Agnostic.  So children are not necessarily what their parents are.  Though churches have rules I personally think are really stupid, so... *shrug*

[Lilias]

Yes and no, Queen Elizabeth is head of the Church of England so Meghan & Harry's offspring would be in the line of succession to become head of the church and so have to be brought up in the religion. I suppose the parallel would be the next Pope not being brought up as a Catholic.

That is the case in all countries where there is a state church - the royal family must belong to it. It was routine in the Russian and Greek royal families all the way to abolition (the latter in 1974). Prince Philip did it, Dowager Queen Sophia of Spain did it, and even more recently, Mary Donaldson converted from Presbyterianism to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark to become Crown Princess. It's not about faith, it's about national allegiance and a unified front.

[TheVillain]

Which, in fairness, is ridiculous but no more ridiculous then having a royal family in the first place.

[HairyHeretic]

Given that the then monarchy started the Church of England (if I remember my history right) you'd see why they'd kinda have to belong to it :)

[Oniya]

Given that the then monarchy started the Church of England (if I remember my history right) you'd see why they'd kinda have to belong to it :)

Yep - The Pope wouldn't give Henry VIII yet another divorce/annulment, so he said 'Sod off, I'm making my own Church.'  Only probably worded more regally.

[TheGlyphstone]

Yep - The Pope wouldn't give Henry VIII yet another divorce/annulment, so he said 'Sod off, I'm making my own Church.'  Only probably worded more regally.

With blackjack and hookers?

[Oniya]

Not sure about the blackjack.  >_>  But the Royal Bedchambers were a bit of a revolving door at the time.

(Divorced, beheaded, died
Divorced, beheaded, survived.)

[Valerian]

With blackjack and hookers?

Well, card-playing and his pick of mistresses, sure.   

[TheGlyphstone]

Not sure about the blackjack.  >_>  But the Royal Bedchambers were a bit of a revolving door at the time.

(Divorced, beheaded, died
Divorced, beheaded, survived.)

This quote gets far funnier when you misread it as referring to two people instead of six.

[Sara Nilsson]

This quote gets far funnier when you misread it as referring to two people instead of six.

Thats how I read it too and went.. wait what? "Really my king, did you have to cut off my head? You could just say no, you know. Men! Always going for the beheadings, well lets see if you can survive it in return."

[Oniya]

It was the mnemonic my college history professor gave us to remember the eventual fates of Henry's wives.    As for it referring to two people:  Ever seen the movie 'Death Becomes Her'? 

[Valerian]

One of my favorite Henry VIII stories dates from when he was hunting for wife number three and had sent out some diplomatic feelers to Christina of Denmark, said to be the most beautiful royal lady in Europe.  She was also unafraid to speak her mind, however, and legend has it that when she was asked her views on marrying Henry, she replied, "Had I two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal."  I've always loved that line and I hope she did say it... though the diplomat in question would have been hard-pressed to turn that into something more tactful, I suspect.   

[Beguile's Mistress]

One of my favorite Henry VIII stories dates from when he was hunting for wife number three and had sent out some diplomatic feelers to Christina of Denmark, said to be the most beautiful royal lady in Europe.  She was also unafraid to speak her mind, however, and legend has it that when she was asked her views on marrying Henry, she replied, "Had I two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal."  I've always loved that line and I hope she did say it... though the diplomat in question would have been hard-pressed to turn that into something more tactful, I suspect.   

We studied England and the creation of the Anglican Church in our high school history class.  Our teacher asked what we would reply if asked to marry Henry VIII.  I don't recall what I would have said by one of my classmates answered:

"I have too much invested in hats and tiaras to risk my head for a marriage to England."

[gaggedLouise]

One of my favorite Henry VIII stories dates from when he was hunting for wife number three and had sent out some diplomatic feelers to Christina of Denmark, said to be the most beautiful royal lady in Europe.  She was also unafraid to speak her mind, however, and legend has it that when she was asked her views on marrying Henry, she replied, "Had I two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal."  I've always loved that line and I hope she did say it... though the diplomat in question would have been hard-pressed to turn that into something more tactful, I suspect.   

His daughter Elizabeth never maried of course, though she had many suitors and court favourites. One of those who did propose to her, early in her reign, was Eric XIV, king of Sweden (the "XIV" was just for show, there were less than half that number of true kings called Eric before him). The handsome prince sent her a large portrait painting of himself brought by a party of courtiers. Elizabeth remarked that he was very good-looking, but he never made the journey to England himself, and soon both of them were too busy with war and conflicts to think about the proposal anymore. It was probably just as well that it didn't happen; a couple of years later Eric turned mad as a hatter, personally killed a few of the top nobles without a trial, after locking them up on dubious charges of conspiracy, and alienated most of the nobility; his brothers rebelled and after a quick war removed him from the throne. Eric is known ever since as the legendary mad, gifted and unbalanced guy in the line of Swedish kings.

[TheGlyphstone]

Gustav II Adolph will always be my favorite Swedish king.

[gaggedLouise]

Gustav II Adolph will always be my favorite Swedish king.

He's regarded as one of the best over here too. :)

[gaggedLouise]

Trump is likely going to make good on his campaign pledge to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy there, according to CNN, citing White House sources. The decision could be announced as early as tuesday.

Israel has claimed (all of) Jerusalem to be its real capital since 1967 but no embassies are located there and most countries, including nearly all of their allies, see the claim as something that needs to be aligned to a wider agreement on Israel and the Palestinians. To Trump and many republicans it's a cherished idea to have Jerusalem fully recognized - not least to underscore a continuity between biblical Israel and the modern state - but actually doing it presents a security minefield, and many ordinary Palestinains and Arabs would see it as an affront. Even the construction of an embassy compound, with all the security resources and barriers, sounds like it could be challenging to pull off.

Symbol politics and grandstanding should be avoided in middle eastern diplomacy.

[Trieste]

Yeah.  Be angry at the DA for not charging the guy with the correct charge.  Based on the article it should have been fairly obvious due to complete lack of motive.

The jury had the option to convict of manslaughter and they chose not to do so. This covers recklessness without intent to kill, so the jury didn't think there was any recklessness in the case and the prosecution failed to prove otherwise.

My personal favorite is that I see people who have bragged about ducking jury duty before posting about how stupid this jury was. What exactly do you think happens when you duck jury duty?

[Hades]

My inner nerd had many geekgasms over this news article, because I am a certifiable space addict.

NASA fires Voyager's thrusters for the first time in 37 years - and they work

Technology built back in 1980 and in mutha-ferking space for the past 4 decades still works, meanwhile the coffeepot they bought at work two weeks ago has already broken down.  Clearly, shenanigans must be called on this.

[TheGlyphstone]

My inner nerd had many geekgasms over this news article, because I am a certifiable space addict.

NASA fires Voyager's thrusters for the first time in 37 years - and they work

Technology built back in 1980 and in mutha-ferking space for the past 4 decades still works, meanwhile the coffeepot they bought at work two weeks ago has already broken down.  Clearly, shenanigans must be called on this.