#Major Crimes Act

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Oklahoma has the authority to prosecute non-Native people who commit crimes against a Native person on tribal lands.

The Justices, in a 5-4 decision, said that both the state and federal government have jurisdiction to prosecute these crimes. The case, Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, had been viewed as a pivotal one that cuts right into the heart of the fight over tribal sovereignty. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion.

Neil Gorsuch, who was joined by the three liberal Justice in his dissent, wrote that when the Cherokee were exiled to Oklahoma, they were promised that they would be free from state interference. “Where this Court once stood firm, today it wilts,” Gorsuch wrote. “Where our predecessors refused to participate in one State’s unlawful power grab at the expense of the Cherokee, today’s Court accedes to another’s.”

In 2015, Oklahoma state prosecutors charged Victor Castro-Huerta for the malnourishment and neglect of his five-year-old disabled stepdaughter. He was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison. Castro-Huerta is not Native, but the victim, his stepdaughter, is a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the abuse took place on the Cherokee Reservation. Castro-Huerta challenged the decision by arguing that under the 2020 Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, he can only be federally prosecuted. McGirt held that nearly half of Oklahoma is tribal land, and as such, under the Major Crimes Act, Oklahoma cannot prosecute crimes by Native citizens on tribal lands without federal approval.

In this case, Oklahoma argued that McGirt does not apply because the defendant was Native. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals had previously ruled that the state does not have the right to prosecute non-Native people for crimes with a Native victim on tribal land, but the Supreme Court disagreed.

This week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, a case that is seeking to limit the scope of a decision the Court made less than two years ago. In July 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in McGirt v. Oklahoma that Congress never annulled the Muscogee Nation reservation. After the McGirt ruling, an additional five reservations in the state were affirmed by lower courts—meaning that more than 40 percent of Oklahoma is now legally Indian Country.

Oklahoma argues that the scope of McGirt should be reviewed because the decision caused “sweeping turmoil” and “pitched Oklahoma’s criminal-justice system into a state of emergency.” The case centers on Victor Manuel Castro-Huerta, a non-Native man who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for neglecting his Native American stepchild while living on the Cherokee Nation reservation. His conviction was overturned by Oklahoma’s highest criminal-appeals court after he argued that the state lacked jurisdiction over his case. (He has already pleaded guilty to federal charges.) Oklahoma then appealed the case to the Supreme Court, reasoning that the state should retain jurisdiction over Castro-Huerta and all other non-Native defendants in crimes with Native victims.

To prove that McGirt wreaked havoc in Oklahoma, the state is claiming that it has lost jurisdiction over 18,000 prosecutions a year, many of which are now “going un-investigated and unprosecuted, endangering public safety.”

The problem is that this number seems to have come out of nowhere; Oklahoma doesn’t provide any source for it. Over the past several months, we tried to verify Oklahoma’s claim by filing information requests and collecting data from the governor’s office, the office of the attorney general, various district attorneys, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, tribes, and the federal judiciary. We found that Oklahoma’s claims did not hold up to scrutiny.

Despite this, there is reason to worry that Oklahoma’s dubious numbers could still convince a majority of the Court. McGirt was decided by a slim 5–4 majority, and since then, the makeup of the Court has shifted. In his 2020 dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts largely agreed with Oklahoma’s claims that upholding tribal land and treaty rights in Oklahoma would lead to chaos. If five justices side with Oklahoma in Castro-Huerta, they could rewrite state jurisdiction on more than 300 reservations in the United States, changing how crimes are prosecuted on tribal land, not just in Oklahoma.

Such a consequential decision should be based on information that has been publicly verified. Instead, Oklahoma is asking the Supreme Court to issue a decision based on speculation at best—and inaccurate and misleading information at worst.

When we asked the Attorney General’s office where the 18,000 estimate came from, a spokesperson told us that “due to active litigation, our office cannot disclose that information at this time.” But the state seems to expect that, even without a public source, the Supreme Court will rely on this number.

The Court should proceed with caution. According to data collected from the Tulsa district attorney and the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council, the total number of criminal cases filed in eastern Oklahoma (where McGirt is relevant) fell by 13,131 from 2019 to 2021—the years that the reservations of the six tribes were affirmed. A significant number, but less than 18,000. (It should be noted: These are the same years that the coronavirus pandemic reduced the number of arrests and prosecutions in Oklahoma and affected rates across the country.)

To see if there was a gap in criminal prosecutions—the state also claims that tribal and federal efforts to take over cases were “woefully insufficient” and left an “alarming gap” of a suggested 10,000 cases—we compared the decrease in state cases filed with the number of federal and tribal cases filed. Since their various reservations were affirmed, the tribes have filed more than 11,400 felony and misdemeanor criminal cases, and U.S. attorneys have filed nearly 1,000 cases in federal court in 2021. Taken together, that leaves a gap of fewer than 1,000 cases, and some of that may be more the result of the pandemic than any problem specific to Oklahoma and the reservations.

This isn’t the first time Oklahoma has provided the Supreme Court with numbers and estimates that lack a public source. In the years that Oklahoma has litigated the reservation issue in front of the Court, its estimates of how many past convictions could be affected have increased from “hundreds, if not thousands” in 2018 to “over 3,000” in 2020 to “at least 76,000” in its petition to the Court to take the Castro-Huerta case last fall, a number widely cited in media coverage at the time. But eventually, courts decided that McGirt would not apply to past convictions, and the state has stopped using the 76,000 estimate.

When we initially asked the Governor’s office how it came up with that number, its communications director, Carly Atchison, told us that the 76,000 estimate, while now moot, represents all cases that could have been affected by McGirt from January 2005 to April 2021. However, “as far as methodology goes, you’d need to ask the district attorneys. Our office was presented with the estimate, we did not help to compile it,” she wrote to us in an email. In a follow-up, she again distanced the office from the 76,000 number, but she still could not provide any transparency about how the Governor’s office may have arrived at that figure in the first place.

Both the Governor’s office and Oklahoma’s petition claimed the estimate came from district attorneys, but no district attorneys we spoke with knew what the Governor’s office was talking about. “To my knowledge, we have made no such communication to the Governor’s office, nor has one been requested,” Tim Webster, the district attorney for Atoka, Bryan, and Coal Counties, told The Atlantic. Steve Kunzweiler, the DA for Tulsa—eastern Oklahoma’s most populous county—told us he did not supply the governor’s estimate. The Attorney General’s office and the law firm Paul, Weiss, which filed the petition, did not respond to The Atlantic’s request for comment.

The most accurate way to know how many prosecutions were affected by McGirt would be to simply count. After spending months filing requests for data with local district attorneys, we found that McGirt cases are being tracked inconsistently among Oklahoma prosecutors and in some places not at all. The state of Oklahoma funds and administers the criminal-justice agencies that are best equipped to collect data on the impact of McGirt. There is no reason that the public debate should still be based on estimates with secret sources, instead of real and publicly available numbers.

According to data provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, we found that in the 18 months following the McGirt ruling, 68 people were released from Oklahoma’s custody to the street because of the decision. An additional 123 people were released to tribal or federal custody, 13 people successfully overturned one of their convictions but remain incarcerated by Oklahoma on other charges, and four defendants were already on probation at the time they won their appeal.

After months of litigation, Oklahoma courts eventually ruled that McGirt does not apply to old convictions. As a result, the actual number of Oklahoma inmates who have obtained relief based on McGirt is going down, not up. Of the 68 defendants released to the street, four have been returned to custody, eight more have had their order granting post-conviction relief revoked by an Oklahoma court, and in another 23 cases, district attorneys have filed motions asking the court to vacate its order granting the defendant relief. That leaves 33 Oklahoma defendants who—so far—have gotten off free and clear.

That’s not to say the McGirt decision had no impact. It was a considerable shift in criminal jurisdiction in eastern Oklahoma. When we spoke with Oklahoma prosecutors, they described the transition in criminal jurisdiction as tumultuous. “Chaotic is the best word to describe the environment that followed McGirt,” Kunzweiler, the Tulsa district attorney, told us.

But tribal leaders told us that though the transition was a huge logistical hurdle, the level of chaos was greatly influenced by the level of cooperation they received from local prosecutors and law enforcement. In some counties, local DAs and the tribes worked together to make sure that cases didn’t slip through the cracks. According to the Seminole Nation prosecuting attorney Timothy Brown, before the reservation was affirmed in April 2021, the local assistant DA sent the tribe a list of defendants who could be released from jail or state prosecution. Brown took that list and filed charges in the Seminole Nation’s court. In other districts, there was little or no coordination. Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill told us that in some counties within their reservations, “the elected district attorneys were so hostile to tribal jurisdiction that there was essentially zero communication … Cherokee Nation’s assistant attorney generals would literally sit through state-court criminal dockets … to identify cases that involved an Indian defendant.”

The tribes, for their part, have increased the capacity of their criminal-justice systems; they’ve filed thousands of cases, hired more prosecutors, and received federal funds to hire victim advocates and special prosecutors.

The Muscogee Nation, the tribe at the center of the 2020 Supreme Court decision, has hired nine criminal investigators to its Lighthorse Police Department, 20 more police officers, five new prosecutors, seven new legal support staff, and one new criminal investigator within the Muscogee Nation attorney general’s office. Since July 9, 2020, Muscogee Nation officials have made 1,622 arrests and filed 3,932 criminal cases. To date, Muscogee Nation has 63 cross-deputization agreements in place; this allows both state and tribal police to stop, arrest, and detain people no matter the Native status of the suspect or victim. Some tribes, such as the Chickasaw Nation, have even hired special assistant United States attorneys, who can prosecute cases in both tribal and federal courts, to help with the increased federal caseload. The Cherokee Nation alone committed nearly $30 million of its 2021–22 budget to criminal justice on its reservation—a historic amount. Of the eight new prosecutors that the Cherokee Nation has hired, four of them previously worked for Oklahoma district attorneys. Because tribal and federal prosecutors have higher salaries than Oklahoma prosecutors, Oklahoma DAs are losing staff and now facing shortages, according to Kunzweiler.

It is the constitutional role of Congress, not the Supreme Court, to change who has criminal jurisdiction on a reservation. Oklahoma started petitioning the Court to review the McGirt decision only after its attempts at congressional legislation to narrow the scope of the decision failed. Congress has acted, however. The most recent congressional spending bill allocated more than $62 million to help with the costs of increased tribal criminal jurisdiction. And the recent reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act expanded tribal jurisdiction over non-Native perpetrators for certain violent crimes.

In the McGirt case, Oklahoma invited the Supreme Court to make a decision based on fear and speculation rather than the law. Justice Neil Gorsuch and a majority of the Court rejected that invitation, noting that the disarray Oklahoma warned about wasn’t relevant to their judicial review. Two years later, we can now see that the state’s claims were exaggerated. But the role of the Court to interpret—not create—law hasn’t changed.

#us politics #news #mother jones #the atlantic #op eds #us supreme court #scotus #Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta #Oklahoma #native americans #native land #McGirt v. Oklahoma #Justice Brett Kavanaugh #justice neil gorsuch #Victor Castro-Huerta #Major Crimes Act #Cherokee Nation #2022 #Chief Justice John Roberts #Seminole Nation #Muscogee Nation #Chickasaw Nation #Violence Against Women Act #gov. kevin stitt #John O'Connor

[mxtxfanatic]

Ngl, I’m actually pretty uncomfortable reading my old posts defending the goodness of the common people and their right to defend themselves—as persecuted groups or as individuals—from hierarchical tyranny, given how easily in this current irl moment a not-insignificant amount of people have fallen into supporting an active genocide, because I cannot separate this from how much pushback I got (and still sometimes get) for being consistent in my politics

#I don’t want to say it’s triggering #because that’s not the right word #but what do you call the thing you feel #when you spent the last 1+ year arguing that common people are usually good #and hierarchies of oppression are bad even if certain individuals you like are at the top #that violence is not all inherently bad #and violence against oppression is in fact good #all topics that are major themes affirmed in the literal texts being discussed #only to have people YELLING at me that i am wrong #because THEY believe that the only thing that makes you a good person #is joining the corrupt hierarchy and affirming status quo #only for me to turn on the news and see this same logic of disaggreers #being used to justify an active genocide #maybe it’s cognitive dissonance #because my understanding of fiction is always couched within the reality it was created in #but the fact that the same arguments can be used to justify crimes against humanity #in both fiction AND reality? #it makes the act of fandom discourse less… enjoyable #less innocuous

[gynecologistmsfrizzle]

Hmm I believe I remember learning a few years ago that when one is asked to acknowledge that they’re impacted subconsciously by systemic racism/sexism/homophobia etc, or is told that they’re behaving in a way that’s bigoted/harmful, “no I’m not” is the wrong answer. So I think some of you should get less excited about saying that when Jewish people tell you you’re being antisemitic.

#guess what. Your views on Israel and Palestine ARE in fact going to be influenced by the fact that one of those nations is Jewish. #Just as it’ll be influenced by the fact that one of those nations is majority Muslim. #Just as your feelings about police shootings will be influenced by the majority of victims being Black or Indigenous. #Just as your feelings about EVERYTHING will be impacted by the social forces that have shaped you and colour your perception. #Antisemitism actually DOES colour the words of people insisting that targeting Israeli civilians was a legitimate act of resistance. #Just as racism and Islamophobia colour the words of Israeli politicians and soldiers who insist that wiping out Gaza is a fair price to pay #for wiping out Hamas. #it has been absolutely staggering to see person after person on this site #casually assert that rules of war do not apply when the civilians they protect are Israeli #and refuse to consider even the SLIGHTEST possibility that the ease with which that assertion came to them #might have SOMETHING to do with an internalized belief that — say — #there is no such thing as a Jewish civilian? that all Jews are inherently loyal to other Jews above any loyalty to justice? #that all Jewish people wield a sort of inherent power that makes them less vulnerable and therefore acceptable targets? #Of course you’re antisemitic. Yes. You. I am too. We all are. We live in an antisemitic society. #And if you‘ll acknowledge that societal racism and sexism and homophobia inform your subconscious beliefs #and you’ll critically reflect on THOSE #but you won’t afford antisemitism the same dignity #I think that probably says something about something. #Just to be clear this actually isn’t a post that says anything about my stance on Israel and Palestine #because my stance on that is actually extremely simple— FTR it’s ’apartheid and war crimes and forced displacement are bad things’ #but this is about the internet’s RESPONSE #and the downright celebratory glee that I saw people have on oct 7th #and the fucking twisted excitement they’ve shown treating further Israeli war crimes like ammunition to justify it #and the simple truth that — while I’ll believe you MIGHT still have condoned it — #I do not believe any of you would have CELEBRATED the massacre of thousands of civilians in a period of minutes #if. those. civilians. had. not. been. Jews. #Rhi talks #palestine #antisemitism #Yeah and I’ll post this one too. Anon is still on. String me up.

[koishua]

so fucking shameful how an overwhelming amount of germans and the german authority are so pro-israel so much so to the point where it's banned to do protests in many of the large states and cities

#tp #disgusted by every single comment i see #so pathetic and cowardly. you dont owe israel shit #an overwhelmingly large majority of politicians being so unashamedly silent and even supportive of the genocide acted by israel makes me #sick to my stomach. war crimes are being committed and y'all shaking hands with herzog #so devastated because even some of my old classmates are unfazed by the (over a) thousand innocent Palestinian children #why are you punishing a collective group for the acts of a small portion of it #it's not even self retaliation. it's just another opportunity for israel to continue (and now “justify”) their ethnic cleansing #*the death of over a thousand innocent Palestinian children #Palestinians aren't safe anywhere around the world. what gave you the right to stab a six year old child over and over again #and murder him just because he was Palestinian #military conflict should never affect civilian lives on both sides.

[bimbosupreme]

The real tragedy of it all is that despite all the turmoil that happened in their real life, the creation of limbo, fusing with limbo, the events as their existence as an apostle to the foreign god.. despite all of those evils committed both in their life and as an alterego, douman can never ever be truly 100% evil. At chaldea, they do things that can very well be misinterpreted as further misdeeds but the sei interlude we just had very much demonstrates that despite everything douman can’t help but assist those in need in some way, even if it is twisted and could have gone wrong. Gudako/gudao points out the very obvious good thing they were attempting and of course douman runs from such accusations. Mind you, this is their alter ego self doing it. My god the capacity of good in them is astonishing. They will always help wont they? They still have it in them to perform good. Despite everything??? Probably why i will forever hold douman dear, they’re a gem…

#I’m very distraught at such information #any additional info I obtain of doumans backstory just fuels the fire of admiration I have for douman when they joined chaldea #aaaaaa….. #this comic just further cements my belief that a majority maybe all of their evil deeds is tinged with a silver lining #technically they did eliminate a source of murders and grudges in one swoop even if the intention of this act was to harvest dark power for #fighting seimei #I wish for douman to do more crimes wheeeeeeeeeeee

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Sahota, the sixth ranger. Assigned to babysit the team and is not happy about it. The only one with any real experience, and the only one who seems to take the mission seriously.

#im a sucker for those lil lip scars #character design #total$hit$how #t$$ sahota #now i get to loredump in the tags: (mostly regular facts not fun ones) #sahota is 32 and has experience but jericho is the oldest at 35. kaius is the youngest at 26. Hunter is 27; Joy is 29 #and Benji is 30 #every single one of these people thinks they are the main character and will act accordingly. they tend to be selfish and chaotic #some more than others #the majority of them have east or southeast asian heritage; the one exception is jericho who is black #every single one has committed crimes and is now trapped in my beloved plot of 'we'll wipe your records if you do this job'

[yioh]

LEO WAS SO FUCKING GOOD MY KING VIJAY IS BACKKKKKKKKKKKKK

#the movie showcased his true range of acting GOD he’s so good at his job #i’m so happy their utilising him to his max potential #in fact the entire movie EVERYTHING was so fucking good #I CANT BELIEVE KAMAL HASAN AND ARJUN APPEARWD AS MAJOR VILLAINS I WAS DEADDDD #THEY SLAYED THEIR ROLES #AND TRISHA SKANXKQBDICHEKWBDKEHDJDKCWIE MY LOVE MY LOVE MY LOVE #WHEN THEY KISSED MY HEART STOPPED BEATING #THE CUTEST FAMILY EVER #leo i support all ur crimes #THE TWIN TROUBLE MAKER GANGSTER BRO SIS DUO WERE ALSO SO GOOD THEY WERE SO RIDE OR DIE FOR U #THE MUSIC #THE DIRWCTION #PRODUCTION #VISUALS #10000000/10

[teamphobia]

GO BANE GO!!! You’re like the evil team leader that’s a superhero for Pokémon!!!

That's my job, isn't it? Everyone acts like I'm the one causing problems. 😒

#(he says. having inflicted major acts of violence and crime across Merrtoz) #pkmn irl

[tovaicas]

the whole point that the horde cannot resist their call to arms (just like ishgardians) and are being born just to fight and die in a war (just like ishgardians) only gets more horrifying once you remember that a dravanian’s physical, permanent form in adulthood is dictated by their desires and the kind of life they lead as children. Ehll Tou’s quests show this explicitly; she develops dextrous hands and an upright posture to facilitate tool use.

entire scores of niddhog’s brood are born just to be weapons. have spent their entire lives hearing nothing but niddhog’s hatred and calls for violence. how many siege dragons, vishap, wyverns, and more look like that because they were born to fight a war.

the ishgardians cannot even remember the original sin they committed. the younger generations of niddhog’s children are being forced to fight for a family member they never knew. cycles upon cycles upon cycles of violence.

#spoilers #major spoilers #the vault covers up their crimes and facilitates a hyper militaristic society to fight it for them #niddhog bears scores of soldiers and twists their forms to better commit acts of violence. #nobody ever won here. there is just an uneasy end of the fighting. #ishgardposting #saint.txt

[seokwoosmole]

If I see another article about B.I apologizing for his drug scandal again istg I’ll throw something

#I’m not blaming him at all #has nothing to do with him #but are ppl seriously still mad about this to the point where he feels like he still needs to frequently apologize??? #ppl be acting as if he was an addict #and ok #let’s say he was #hypothetically let’s say that was the case #the way idols and trainees are treated in the kpop industry how can u blame them for finding coping methods #even if they’re not good ones #ppl in dire situations make dire choices #also it was just weed bruh #sk stop making this man apologize and focus ur attention to crimes that are drastically harming ppl #also thought it was interesting that he thanked international fans specifically #my man knows where a large majority of the hate’s coming from :/ #Kim Hanbin #b.i #hanbin

[scarletspider2the2ndpower]

“The Grim Hunt: Chapter 2,” Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1/1963), #635.

Writer: Joe Kelly; Penciler: Michael Lark; Inkers: Stefano Gaudiano and Matt Southworth; Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth; Letterer: Joe Caramagna

#Marvel #Marvel comics #Marvel 616 #Amazing Spider-Man #Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #Amazing Spider-Man 1963 #Kaine #Kaine Parker #Spider-Man #Peter Parker #gosh what a rollercoaster set of panels #but I guess this is where Kaine’s and Peter’s incredible similarities but few significant differences come to a head #because I find it interesting that Kaine speaks on Peter’s guilt here but it’s not like Kaine isn’t a mass of guilt himself #the major difference between the two of them is that where Kaine focuses his guilt on an incredibly small circle of people #(which Pete apparently would describe as “selfish”) #Peter chronically over-extends himself (which Kaine would invariably refer to as “foolish”) #and idk I just can’t help but think that in the moments where Peter and Kaine really dislike each other #it’s in no small part due to how much they dislike the baser aspects of themselves #(what with Peter being perpetually haunted by That One Time he acted selfishly #and Kaine simultaneously having a conscience that loathes the crimes he’s committed yet feeling trapped by circumstance)

[fursasaida]

This article is from 2022, but it came up in the context of Palestine:

Here are some striking passages, relevant to all colonial aftermaths but certainly also to the forms we see Zionist reaction taking at the moment:

Over the decade I lived in South Africa, I became fascinated by this white minority [i.e. the whole white population post-apartheid as a minority in the country], particularly its members who considered themselves progressive. They reminded me of my liberal peers in America, who had an apparently self-assured enthusiasm about the coming of a so-called majority-minority nation. As with white South Africans who had celebrated the end of apartheid, their enthusiasm often belied, just beneath the surface, a striking degree of fear, bewilderment, disillusionment, and dread.

[...]

Yet these progressives’ response to the end of apartheid was ambivalent. Contemplating South Africa after apartheid, an Economist correspondent observed that “the lives of many whites exude sadness.” The phenomenon perplexed him. In so many ways, white life remained more or less untouched, or had even improved. Despite apartheid’s horrors—and the regime’s violence against those who worked to dismantle it—the ANC encouraged an attitude of forgiveness. It left statues of Afrikaner heroes standing and helped institute the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which granted amnesty to some perpetrators of apartheid-era political crimes.

But as time wore on, even wealthy white South Africans began to radiate a degree of fear and frustration that did not match any simple economic analysis of their situation. A startling number of formerly anti-apartheid white people began to voice bitter criticisms of post-apartheid society. An Afrikaner poet who did prison time under apartheid for aiding the Black-liberation cause wrote an essay denouncing the new Black-led country as “a sewer of betrayed expectations and thievery, fear and unbridled greed.”

What accounted for this disillusionment? Many white South Africans told me that Black forgiveness felt like a slap on the face. By not acting toward you as you acted toward us, we’re showing you up, white South Africans seemed to hear. You’ll owe us a debt of gratitude forever.

The article goes on to discuss:

"Mau Mau anxiety," or the fear among whites of violent repercussions, and how this shows up in reported vs confirmed crime stats - possibly to the point of false memories of home invasion

A sense of irrelevance and alienation among this white population, leading to another anxiety: "do we still belong here?"

The sublimation of this anxiety into self-identification as a marginalized minority group, featuring such incredible statements as "I wanted to fight for Afrikaners, but I came to think of myself as a ‘liberal internationalist,’ not a white racist...I found such inspiration from the struggles of the Catalonians and the Basques. Even Tibet" and "[Martin Luther] King [Jr.] also fought for a people without much political representation … That’s why I consider him one of my most important forebears and heroes,” from a self-declared liberal environmentalist who also thinks Afrikaaners should take back government control because they are "naturally good" at governance

Some discussion of the dynamics underlying these reactions, particularly the fact that "admitting past sins seem[ed] to become harder even as they receded into history," and US parallels

And finally, in closing:

The Afrikaner journalist Rian Malan, who opposed apartheid, has written that, by most measures, its aftermath went better than almost any white person could have imagined. But, as with most white progressives, his experience of post-1994 South Africa has been complicated. [...]

He just couldn’t forgive Black people for forgiving him. Paradoxically, being left undisturbed served as an ever-present reminder of his guilt, of how wrongly he had treated his maid and other Black people under apartheid. “The Bible was right about a thing or two,” he wrote. “It is infinitely worse to receive than to give, especially if … the gift is mercy.”

#south africa #apartheid #colonialism #palestine

[soon-palestine]

In a statement that was shared with The Nation, a group of 25 HLR editors expressed their concerns about the decision. “At a time when the Law Review was facing a public intimidation and harassment campaign, the journal’s leadership intervened to stop publication,” they wrote. “The body of editors—none of whom are Palestinian—voted to sustain that decision. We are unaware of any other solicited piece that has been revoked by the Law Review in this way. “ When asked for comment, the leadership of the Harvard Law Review referred The Nation to a message posted on the journal’s website. “Like every academic journal, the Harvard Law Review has rigorous editorial processes governing how it solicits, evaluates, and determines when and whether to publish a piece…” the note began. ”Last week, the full body met and deliberated over whether to publish a particular Blog piece that had been solicited by two editors. A substantial majority voted not to proceed with publication.” Today, The Nation is sharing the piece that the Harvard Law Review refused to run. Some may claim that the invocation of genocide, especially in Gaza, is fraught. But does one have to wait for a genocide to be successfully completed to name it? This logic contributes to the politics of denial. When it comes to Gaza, there is a sense of moral hypocrisy that undergirds Western epistemological approaches, one which mutes the ability to name the violence inflicted upon Palestinians. But naming injustice is crucial to claiming justice. If the international community takes its crimes seriously, then the discussion about the unfolding genocide in Gaza is not a matter of mere semantics. The UN Genocide Convention defines the crime of genocide as certain acts “committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.” These acts include “killing members of a protected group” or “causing serious bodily or mental harm” or “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” Numerous statements made by top Israeli politicians affirm their intentions. There is a forming consensus among leading scholars in the field of genocide studies that “these statements could easily be construed as indicating a genocidal intent,” as Omer Bartov, an authority in the field, writes. More importantly, genocide is the material reality of Palestinians in Gaza: an entrapped, displaced, starved, water-deprived population of 2.3 million facing massive bombardments and a carnage in one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Over 11,000 people have already been killed. That is one person out of every 200 people in Gaza. Tens of thousands are injured, and over 45% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed. The United Nations Secretary General said that Gaza is becoming a “graveyard for children,” but a cessation of the carnage—a ceasefire—remains elusive. Israel continues to blatantly violate international law: dropping white phosphorus from the sky, dispersing death in all directions, shedding blood, shelling neighborhoods, striking schools, hospitals, and universities, bombing churches and mosques, wiping out families, and ethnically cleansing an entire region in both callous and systemic manner. What do you call this? The Center for Constitutional Rights issued a thorough, 44-page, factual and legal analysis, asserting that “there is a plausible and credible case that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza.” Raz Segal, a historian of the Holocaust and genocide studies, calls the situation in Gaza “a textbook case of Genocide unfolding in front of our eyes.”

#palestine #gaza #free palestine #end the the colonialism #end the occupation #harvard #harvard law review #genocide

[craycraybluejay]

You know how a pretty obvious majority of kinksters are submissives? You want to know a big part of the reason why it's hard to find a dom that's into the same hard kink you are?

Ask a hardcore masochist what they think of being whipped.

Then ask a hard sadist what they think of whipping someone.

Do you notice that the sadist/dom will often either dance around an answer or try to use soothing language/euphemism not unlike the way how in many places people are still expected to discuss sex if at all. Gentle, calculated language.

The issue is, especially with a new surge of purity culture overtaking so-called "leftist" online circles, is that fantasy becomes a moral judgement.

Sub with a noncon kink: "I want to be raped" (cnc but like. People can talk ab it how they want don't cancel me fr.)

Response from Normies: "well that's weird and kinda dark but ok"

Dom with a noncon kink: "I want to rape"

Response from Normies: "I'm calling the police and you should kys and you're also a sexual abuser and even though you haven't said anything about kids you're also also a pedophile :)"

Not only does the attitude of murderous hatred against doms/tops with hard kinks/fetishes/paraphilias make it difficult for them to practice those kinks (safely and ethically) out of fear of social backlash if it's ever found out even if both they and their partner[s] had a great time and are fine-- but, it actively puts innocent people in danger by equating thoughts and attractions of ANY KIND to the act of hurting others against their will. It equates fantasy, which can oftentimes be played out safely if in a modified way with real harmful actions.

Also, kink is still illegal in many places, so don't "its illegal" me about harder kinks. Law is not morality, none of us are free until all of us are free, etc. You get the gist.

You want to see more doms? Meet someone who can indulge your "scary badwrong" sexy feelings? Then maybe don't actively promote a culture where you put ANY kind of attraction or kink under fire. It doesn't matter if it'd be unethical to act out in real life. Some of the most common kinks worldwide are unethical as fuck to act out irl, including rape. That's why we have cnc, come on, guys.

You know what? In fact, you SHOULD actively shun people who shame others for their sexual feelings. EVEN if you think it's gross. EVEN if it wouldn't be ethical to act on irl. Let these types know that their puritan ideals are NOT accepted here. Let them know that if they want to go to church they can do that but not in your space, not forcing other (non consenting!) people to listen to their hateful and repressive ideology.

Like, hey, I'm not into ABDL, for example. But I will defend to the death other people's right to be into that. To think and feel whatever they think and feel. You think diapers are sexy? Great! I don't personally see the appeal, but you do you boo. There is no Correct Way to be sex/kink negative. Either you believe in thought crime or you don't.

And yes, this post includes "harmful" paraphilias (I put it in quotes because they're only harmful if acted on), sadomasochism, mutilation fetishism, etc etc. Every "gross" or "evil" kink, fetish, para you can possibly imagine. The stuff that makes you horny is just stuff that makes you horny, and being horny is normal. Being "weird horny" is also normal. No one deserves to experience shame, let alone public harassment or hate over feelings they most of the time don't Choose to have. Be mindful of puritan rhetoric and strike it down when you see it.

#important #psa #hard kink #nsft topic #pro para #pro kink #the 'dom shortage' #obv there are other factors but this is just a connection I'm pointing out #purity culture #purity wank #puritans #sex and sexuality #tw r@pe mention #p3d0 panic/the trend of calling everyone you don't like a p43d0phi13 despite that that's as i said before #NOT the same thing as csa or ANYTHING like that and simply an experienced attraction #attraction is not r@pe; foot fetishists r not going to randomly hump ur foot and same w ever other kink #thought crime #puritanism #the purity culture wave #discourse #except if you disagree pls block me this is a pro kink blog forever and ever #thoughts are thoughts #anti para people scare me bc if u think someone cant help but have sex with someone/something theyre attracted to... #what EXACTLY are you going to do if someone romantically rejects you???????????? #turning the argument around here. if this is your belief then i do not trust you around me and my loved ones #because if attraction is action then i am scared for the people you are attracted to #because it isn't. and the fact that you think it is says more about you than anyone you hate for their attractions