Joshua Sharp @JoshuaSharp@qoto.org

The Army Increasingly Allows Soldiers Charged With Violent Crimes to Leave the Military Rather Than Face Trial

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A federal watchdog called for ending the practice nearly 50 years ago, but the military pushed back.

Now, soldiers leave the Army with a negative discharge, avoiding possible federal conviction and with little record of the allegations against them.

W/ @texastribune

#Military #Army #ArmedForces #Crime #CriminalJustice #Justice #Soldiers #Courts

https://www.propublica.org/article/military-army-administrative-separation?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

The number of children and teens killed by gunfire in the United States increased 50% between 2019 and 2021.
FIFTY PERCENT. IN TWO YEARS. I keep pretty close tabs on these statistics and I had no idea it was that bad. 
#gunviolence #publichealth

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/04/06/gun-deaths-among-us-kids-rose-50-percent-in-two-years/

I remember when Aaron Swartz was criminally prosecuted for downloading too many academic journal articles, but, sure, it's totally cool to scrape everyone's personal photographs as part of a commercial effort to market discriminatory surveillance tech to police departments.

https://www.businessinsider.com/clearview-scraped-30-billion-images-facebook-police-facial-recogntion-database-2023-4

Significant detail regarding #ClarenceThomas failure to disclose multiple gifts of travel from Harlan Crow over the years. In 2004, the LA Times reported on gifts Thomas disclosed he had received from Crow. After this reporting, Thomas didn’t stop accepting gifts from Crow; he just stopped disclosing them. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-06/the-times-reported-about-justice-thomas-gifts-20-years-ago-after-he-just-stopped-disclosing-them #JudicialEthics

I keep seeing strange takes from lawyers suggesting caution before condemning Clarence Thomas and, well, look, if my girl Sonia is also secretly living up the high life in the offseason on a billionaire's dime then impeach her too.

But she isn't. He is and he isn't even sorry.

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow

This is my favorite part of the Justice Thomas story. The sheer bullshittery.

Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire: SCOTUS Justice Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From Major GOP Donor
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Island-hopping on a superyacht.

Private jet rides around the world.

The undisclosed gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the Supreme Court.

“It’s incomprehensible to me that someone would do this,” says one former judge.

#SCOTUS #SupremeCourt #ClarenceThomas #Ethics #Travel #News

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

Just want to point out that the premise of all these columns which argue "you can't indict Trump because some DA might invent charges against Obama or Clinton" is:

Law is completely fake, judges are all liars, and anyone can be sent to jail for anything.

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If that's the case, shouldn't we be talking about a massive overhaul of the entire criminal justice system, including releasing the vast majority of people in prison? 🤔

Uh huh, sure, the same thing was said about the industrial revolution and about mass production and about personal computers but then the wealthy absorbed all of productivity benefits and then kept demanding a bigger and bigger slice of the pie anyway.
https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-investor-predicts-ai-will-free-humanity-from-work-2023-3

Again #teammassspec wins JBC’s method madness!

My lab would cease without MS, which requires expertise in sample preparation/analysis & intelligence/patience in data interpretation! Hoping that my uni does invest in the next MALDI-TOF!

Our MALDI-TOF is 12 years old, but kept in shape via service contract. The funding it came after I wrote a piece of paper with ‘MALDI’ on it and put it into a prayer fountain at a Kyoto temple!

https://www.asbmb.org/journals-news/jbc-methods-madness

God, how far Alan Dershowitz has fallen. He could start a pillow company at this point.

Boy do I have some thoughts about this CEO's quote in @drewharwell's great reporting on Midjourney.

1) THIS IS HOW YOU END UP WITH TOOLS THAT APPLY ONE COUNTRY'S AUTHORITARIAN RULES TO A GLOBAL AUDIENCE

2) He doesn't at all consider that Chinese people might also want to satirize Xi Jinping. Do they not matter?

3) "Minimize drama" is condescending nonsense. Being able to criticize one of the most authoritarian leaders in emerging tech is not a question of "drama."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/03/30/midjourney-ai-image-generation-rules/

"How’s this for an idea that should not be controversial: Ban assault rifles, not books."
~@StevenBeschloss

#Meme #Books #BannedBooks #GOP #GunViolence #Guns #SchoolShooting #Tennessee #Nashville

If they cared about kids they’d ban guns instead of books.

4 YEAR OLD: I can't sleep, Daddy. I'm afraid of Frankenstein.
ME: Don't you mean Frankenstein's monster?
4 YEAR OLD: I do not. Personally, I find unethical and irresponsible scientific practice far more terrifying than any monster and so should you.