What's in the News? 2.0

[Skynet]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/27/us/illinois-expunging-marijuana-convictions-trnd/index.html

It is neat to wake up and see my state putting into motion something that will legalize weed for those 21 and up(I think it should also be decriminalized for those who are younger), that sets free many in prison for smoking weed, removes from the records that they were even convicted which is very important for things like seeking jobs, includes a social equity program to help those convicted open their own businesses, and money to help weed selling startups.

Interestingly, the governor recently banned ICE concentration camps from being built in the state as well. Both undocumented immigrants and the non-violent drug offenders make up a substantial part of the private for-profit prison industry which gets paid money to fill up cells. I'm hoping that this is the first series of steps in de-privatizing this system across the nation.

[Tolvo]

My state has a lot of problems, but in ways I'm very thankful I live here. It is one of the most progressive states in the country. And I actually have some protections here as a trans person unlike in most states.

[Tolvo]

https://wtop.com/virginia/2019/06/prosecutors-seek-life-sentence-in-charlottesville-car-attack/slide/1/

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/28/us/charlottesville-car-attacker-sentencing/index.html

https://www.nbc29.com/story/40721016/james-alex-fields-jr-being-sentenced-in-federal-court

James Alex Fields Jr, the person who murdered Heather Heyer by ramming her with a car when he attempted to run over a crowd of antifascist protesters during the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, is being sentenced today. His lawyer is attempted to get him less than life on the ground of claiming mental illness. However Fields had a long history of espousing Nazi ideologies and according to the testimony of a former friend who travelled with him to a Nazi death camp, Fields treated it like an amusement park. He idolized Adolf Hitler for certain, the death camp story is simply one story from a former friend, but there is a lot of evidence of James Alex Fields Jr fantasizing about being a part of the Third Reich. It is expected that he will get life, as he made a bargain that by pleading guilty on 29 accounts they would drop the 30th which would require a death penalty. Still even if in this single sentencing he doesn't get life, there will be another future sentencing that will add onto this. Unless he lives for 500 years he's likely to die in prison for his act of domestic terrorism.

For the record in case anyone also wasn't aware there is a conspiracy theory that Heather died of a heart attack and that James Alex Fields Jr had heard a gunshot and was driving to flee from it. This is false.

https://wset.com/news/local/medical-examiner-heather-heyer-died-of-blunt-force-injury-during-unite-the-right-rally

https://www.nbc29.com/story/39577456/fields-trial-day-6

I'd think most who post here would already know of this case but I thought i'd post this just in case someone joins in who doesn't know much about it who may have heard some very false statements about it.

[Kurogane]

Could/would the Idiot in Chief give the guy a pardon?
I mean, he said there were fine people on both sides.

[Regina Minx]

Could/would the Idiot in Chief give the guy a pardon?
I mean, he said there were fine people on both sides.

In theory he could be pardoned for the federal crimes. However Fields is also due to be sentenced instate court in July, where he’ll probably get another life sentence.

[Tolvo]

I doubt he would, he later made negative statements about those at the rally though he didn't want to really address that for a time and still gave very weak statements. He also probably just doesn't give a shit about James Alex Fields Jr. There are no benefits for him in doing so that I can really see, and there hasn't been a large movement in voting bases to see him pardoned. Even a lot of far right extremists try to distance themselves from Fields and try to paint him as not truly one of them or a false flag as they realize any association with him will pretty much put you forever in the camp of hardcore Neo Nazis. Usually he is more popular with online far right personalities who spread conspiracy theories like memes to make them worm their way into pop culture and public discourse. And they're not a very particularly powerful voting base or political force more so they're useful just for silencing and harassing and hurting people which they'll do anyway.

[Sara Nilsson]

He got life.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/28/us/charlottesville-car-attacker-sentencing/index.html

[Skynet]

He got life.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/28/us/charlottesville-car-attacker-sentencing/index.html

While this cannot undo the death and misery he created, I hope that this provides some level of solace to the Heyer family.

[Blythe]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/alabama-woman-marshae-jones-faces-manslaughter-charge-death/story?id=63987168

What the actual fuck, Alabama.

This is insane. Whether someone is conservative, moderate, or liberal, everyone can and should acknowledge how dangerous this precedent Alabama is trying to set is for pregnant women.

[clonkertink]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/alabama-woman-marshae-jones-faces-manslaughter-charge-death/story?id=63987168

What the actual fuck, Alabama.

This is insane. Whether someone is conservative, moderate, or liberal, everyone can and should acknowledge how dangerous this precedent Alabama is trying to set is for pregnant women.

This is some Handmaid's Tale shit, with a big helping of racism to go with it. Fuck.

[Skynet]

It's all part of making the world a worse place. Corporations which shred social safety nets make people desperate and resentful. Defunding public education and fostering distrust of news and higher institutes of learning makes it easier to create alternate reality bubbles to seed with propaganda. Forcing women to carry children to term and punishing them for defying this prevents more women from achieving upward mobility. It also puts African-Americans and Latinos in a lose-lose situation: they can't get abortions, they're Welfare Queens breeding out of control, they're part of the Great Replacement. If they do get abortions, they're called baby-killers and must be saved from themselves. Drum up anti-Muslim sentiments to justify drone strikes in Pakistan and air strikes in Syria, which in turn gives terrorist groups over there less willingness to a ceasefire, and in turn allows the private defense industry to overcharge the military. Forestall climate change reform at the behest of natural gas and oil companies, which in turn creates more refugees from the Third World for the right-wing to scare people with.

The Republican Party cannot win votes by making the world a better place. Intentional cruelty is part of the platform.

[Lustful Bride]

A good example here of why Trump and Putin get along so well.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-says-liberalism-eating-itself-migrant-influx-wrong/ar-AADBIgo?ocid=spartandhp

[Tolvo]

I just wanted to mention a news story that is very fresh, but I don't really want to link to it as there's honestly a lot of misinformation regarding it currently especially considering there is no good information on what happened. Andy Ngo a far right activist who tends to show up at rallies to physically try to invade the space of others has been milkshaked, and allegedly beaten. Currently it is not known what really happened, mostly we just have his word and he basically makes a living off antagonizing people and lying. Now there were plenty of witnesses but it's too early for there to be a clear idea of what actually happened. I don't think it's impossible someone beat him, he does intentionally harass and antagonize people and basically tries to get this sort of thing to happen to then yell "See the left is violent!" However I also think because of that it's important to not take the bait from people like that. In either case the events are super unclear at this time so I'd urge some skepticism until people can figure out what happened completely, though I wouldn't say anyone can't post such things of course anyone can post what they want and to some people it may be considered a clear cut case.

[gaggedLouise]

Finnish company planning to launch food based on a kind of artificially made flour, with no need for traditional cereals or other plants. Their new 3D-printed 'industrial flour' is based on CO2, electricity (which dould be derived from solar energy), microbes and water...Could be in a supermarket near you in a few years time. :)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/29/plan-to-sell-50m-meals-electricity-water-air-solar-foods

Not sure how bread made from the stuff would taste, but it's certainly an interesting break with traditional ways of producing cereal foods - and if it were combined with technology that pulls excess carbon out of the atmosphere, it could turn into a major step forward.

[gaggedLouise]

Holy crap... 

/Trigger warning: Pregnant woman brutally killed by strangers (?)/

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-48817109

[Markus]

Holy crap... 

/Trigger warning: Pregnant woman brutally killed by strangers (?)/

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-48817109

Ohh Lord, say it isnt so. The girl's too attractive to die... (blows nose)
Ahem, on a more serious note, thats just sickening, if she was eight months in, the assailants would have known she was pregnant, and attacked her brutally anyway.

[Tolvo]

We probably shouldn't respond as a joke or not about how it is a shame someone was murdered because they're attractive. It's just in general really disrespectful to them and puts a value not on their life but on their beauty.

[Lustful Bride]

A nuclear powered drilling facility in the arctic. What could possibly go wrong!?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chernobyl-on-ice-russia-plans-to-tow-a-nuclear-power-station-to-the-arctic/ar-AADAHMl?ocid=spartandhp

[Rinzler]

I just wanted to mention a news story that is very fresh, but I don't really want to link to it as there's honestly a lot of misinformation regarding it currently especially considering there is no good information on what happened. Andy Ngo a far right activist who tends to show up at rallies to physically try to invade the space of others has been milkshaked, and allegedly beaten. Currently it is not known what really happened, mostly we just have his word and he basically makes a living off antagonizing people and lying. Now there were plenty of witnesses but it's too early for there to be a clear idea of what actually happened. I don't think it's impossible someone beat him, he does intentionally harass and antagonize people and basically tries to get this sort of thing to happen to then yell "See the left is violent!" However I also think because of that it's important to not take the bait from people like that. In either case the events are super unclear at this time so I'd urge some skepticism until people can figure out what happened completely, though I wouldn't say anyone can't post such things of course anyone can post what they want and to some people it may be considered a clear cut case.

Well, there's nothing alleged about the beating now. Here's the video of it happening (content note: quite a nasty bit of mob violence meted out to a small, unarmed bloke)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WzMZxT-41k

[Tolvo]

This sort of thing is what I mean. We see he was punched once, then kicked twice from barely within reach. Silly stringed, and hit with milkshakes. But the video being passed around starts right before the punch. As he is in the middle of people, we have no idea of how he got into that group of people. Did they surround him, did he run into them? Did he throw a punch or not? This could have been an attack without prior violence, though I wouldn't say unprovoked as Andy Ngo has highlighted journalists to target. It is kind of like the debate over whether punching Richard Spencer was fine. Legally it's unwise to condone violence. It is frankly very strange that conservatives would post a video missing how the encounter started, how many have been posting photos with outright lies, various conspiracy theories about milkshakes containing quick dry cement(Which a milkshake would cause to not dry). This incident is so early it is hard to tell what led up to this event. But he did oundoubtably get punched once and kicked twice, and did get hit with milkshakes and sprayed with silly string. Was he attacked after this? Was he before this? Did he attack anyone at any point? And again a part of the problem with his accounting of the events, he is a person well known for constantly lying about the left, about Muslims, about anyone he hates and sees as an enemy. He's a conspiracy theorist who constantly posts about how any violence the left faces is a false flag and hoaxed.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/wall-street-journals-andy-ngo-writes-cowardly-islamic-england-2018-8?r=US&IR=T

https://www.city-journal.org/campus-hate-crime-hoaxes

https://quillette.com/author/andy-ngo/

It is also kind of annoying to see people say this is an attack on journalists when many journalists where there, totally unharmed. And while Andy Ngo works for Quillette which makes target lists of left wing journalists, who then have been used by groups such as Attomwaffen Division.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/alt-right-antifa-death-threats-doxxing-quillette-a8966176.html

https://newrepublic.com/article/154205/quillettes-antifa-journalists-list-couldve-gotten-killed

And Ngo loves to highlight people for targeting. This is someone who is genuinely dangerous, spreads misinformation, and lies rather frequently. So I'm going with healthy skepticism. Though I don't really care that they have a gofundme for him(Whether or not he intended to get into a fight hospital bills are a thing and I don't think it "proves" he wanted this or planned it, and he didn't even open it himself). Now if one abhors all violence the circumstances don't really matter, that's alright many are against any form of violence. And legally it's not a good defense, "Well he's a dangerous individual who spreads hatred and tries to inspire hate crimes while hiding they exist." That's not really relevant legally when you punch or kick someone. More so if he in any way assaulted them prior to the clip is what's important in that regard(For instance placing a hand on ANYONE AT ALL could count).

[Rinzler]

Andy Ngo may be a provocative figure, but I'm not entirely sure that a good way to deal with him lies with an unaccountable mob of masked vigilantes on a self appointed mission to play judge, jury and executioner on people they decree as fascists.

If Andy Ngo has indeed been spreading fibs and getting left-wing journalists put on right wing hit lists, I'm sure crowdfunded legal action and making sure the police are aware of his activities will suffice. Maybe I'm just eccentric or something, but I think it's better to leave vigilante mobs out of such things.

[Tolvo]

How are they judge, jury, and executioner? One punch and two kicks makes someone require a comparison to violent unregulated law enforcement? A part of people being in antifascist movements if fighting fascism, they tend to not trust the legal system which they feel fails the people. Which given the US government's current status and incidents such as the FBI arresting stabbing victims because they were leftists being attacked by who they thought were the KKK(It was Neo Nazis not the KKK) distrust of the legal system and law enforcement is very understandable. It is often a question of what can be done when the system is highly ineffective and corrupt. Now if they had crowded him and got him on the ground, and kept hitting him, that'd be more in the territory of deadly assault. I'd consider that far more akin to excessive force, kicking someone on the ground is incredibly dangerous to do. Any kind of stomping clearly would cross the line. Punching someone, kicking them twice, and hitting them with dairy milkshakes and spraying them will silly string I would not consider evocative of the image of law enforcement clad in black armor executing people with guns after they've surrendered.

Also typically their is a lot of founding for people that each antifascist group opposes and why they identify them as fascists. Andy Ngo for instance supports Eugenics, various forms of extreme prejudice, he supports a heavily far right government, jailing of antifascists and political opponents, and regularly claims hate crimes are mostly made up. At one point he even wrote about how trans day of remembrance is built on a lie and most trans people who are remembered on that day died for unrelated reasons to transphobia. Mob justice can be incredibly dangerous, same for vigilante justice, but to many people there is no option left. We have concentration camps, people are being executed by police, rights and liberties are being taken away, voices are being silenced. Not all of these things are new to the current presidency but they have really gone into hyperdrive. Now I still think they probably shouldn't have punched or kicked him, everything else in the clip though is not something I'd consider bad optics or spreading a bad message. Even if Andy Ngo did charge them or something it's better to resist that as he lives to provoke and create controversy. Though one could argue he might have had a weapon or bomb but in that case they'd have restrained him and searched him.

[Rinzler]

As you wish, Tolvo. Looking over all that, I - well, I can't really be arsed to deal with it.

As for me, I've got RPs to get on with, safe in the knowledge that we have the infallible judgement of antifa to protect us from the fascists.

[Tolvo]

I'm not really sure why my statement made it sound like I think antifascists are infallible to you, as I stated I think punching and kicking him was a pretty poor choice even if he provoked them as he's one person against a crowd unless they actually saw him holding a deadly weapon or he stated he had one, in which case they wouldn't have limply kicked or punched him. Unless you aren't responding to me but you mentioned my name so I'd assume you are responding to me though you don't appear to be responding to my statements with your comments as that would make no logical sense.

[Rinzler]

I'm not really sure why my statement made it sound like I think antifascists are infallible to you, as I stated I think punching and kicking him was a pretty poor choice even if he provoked them as he's one person against a crowd unless they actually saw him holding a deadly weapon or he stated he had one, in which case they wouldn't have limply kicked or punched him. Unless you aren't responding to me but you mentioned my name so I'd assume you are responding to me though you don't appear to be responding to my statements with your comments as that would make no logical sense.

So you do think antifa are probably not the best judges of who is or isn't a fascist then?