At what age can someone be considered able to consent “meaningfully”? What happens when someone is manipulated, groomed, or coerced into giving consent to a predatory “partner”? There are xtian cults in the US that teach their members pedophilia is Fine Actually, where the children consent to sex with adults. What does consent mean, there?

It’s easy to talk about choice and freedom, but less easy to discuss what produces a choice and what comprises freedom. Our understanding is imperfect, thus our laws are also imperfect…

Whatever the case, I think the important thing is being able to identify and stop predatory behavior and abuse. That’s something a community is more suited for than a government, unless we accept mass surveillance. Sadly, our communities at large are in a sorry state right now, but that’s a whole discussion in itself.

Now, in that 86% of marriages, how many of those girls were 17 and how many of those adult men were 18 or 19?

The source covers this, I highly recommend reading it. “An overwhelming majority – some 86% – were girls [aged 16 or 17], and most were wed to adult men an average of 4.02 years their senior.”

I’m also not saying every situation is a pedo situation; just that problematic (safe to say, predatory) situations represent a too-large percentage. In many cases, these girls are groomed or abused for some time before marriage.

Between 2000 and 2021, nearly 315,000 children were legally entered into marriage across the U.S. The vast majority [86%] were girls wed to adult men.

You’re right—only 4 in 5 underage marriages involve pedos. A fabulous argument for keeping it legal

Source

It gives predators an exception from statutory rape laws regarding their underage spouses. But I guess that’s mere substance

Unity is built through coalition, not homogeneity.

Also, it’s spelled “dilute”.

Solidarity is the greatest asset we have in this system which survives by dividing us. Big respect for these artists

Goated statement tbh

Wow that’s thorough. Thanks for posting

You’re right thanks! Late night brain moment

You’re right, thanks for the correction

Fun fact, that big gash is called Valles Marineris and it’s the deepest canyon in the solar system.

There’s probably nothing scary in there…

Edit: largest not deepest, this is what I get for staying up too late

… judge last week froze the mandates that the states use the system if they want USPS to deliver their ballots, but said USPS could still offer the portal to states that voluntarily want to upload the mail voter information. The Justice Department is appealing that ruling.

… USPS leadership was dismissive of concerns, and, according to the report “insisted that it was easy to understand what was needed and also that there was no time to write down the requirements.”

… When election officials bring ballots to their USPS site for delivery, either the entire batch of ballot envelopes or a sampling will be physically scanned – depending on where the ballots are being dropped, according to the whistleblower. If just a single ballot envelope scan does not align with the information in the portal, USPS will refuse to deliver the entire batch of ballots while the discrepancy is being sorted out.

Neat. I wonder whether they will even tell anyone when their ballots are invalidated.

With “friends” like this, who needs enemies?

You’re saying Trump’s victory was dependent on the small percentage of voters who are trans and not the massive percentage of the population that routinely doesn’t vote?

the trans

Oh, I see, you’re one of those. Ta-ta, windbag…

Save you a click: stay in jail, freakshow.

“Nearly all its claims are procedurally barred; the overwhelming testimonial and documentary evidence adduced at trial conclusively established her guilt; and her petition’s claims are demonstrably meritless, and generally based on speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods,” Engelmayer wrote.

… Habeas petitions are often filed as a last resort and to protect against unlawful confinement after appeals are exhausted, as happened after Maxwell’s conviction and sentencing.

The judge noted that many of Maxwell’s claims of “new evidence” stem from documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

… "On the contrary, to the extent it is relevant, far from exculpating her, it incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges,” he wrote.

It’s not about the ethanol, but all the other things (including other alcohols) they don’t bother to distill out of the product.

Child marriage is still legal in 33 states, and I’ll let you guess as to those states’ political leanings.

If you guessed Republican, the party whose elected representatives boast a higher rate of sex crimes against children than the trans people they tell us to hate… congrats!

The survivor website Unchained At Last tells us:

Between 2000 and 2021, nearly 315,000 children were legally entered into marriage across the U.S. The vast majority [86%] were girls wed to adult men.

9 out of the 10 states with the highest teen pregnancy rates are also, you guessed it…

Yes we did. Be proud of that. <3

Careful… the cheap stuff can do things to your stomach lining that’ll make you wish you’d paid the extra money instead

By the time I quit alcohol, I was developing peripheral neuropathy and fatty liver from all the drinking. I ended up in urgent care after a particularly bad night. The intake staff treated me like shit because they didn’t understand why someone would drink like that; I was taking up space that someone with an “actual” problem could’ve used. I was laid up in the hospital for three days having auditory hallucinations while I detoxed.

I was lucky enough to have enough time and space to introspect about how my life had gotten so fucked up. Turned out I was coping with massive amounts of unrealized trauma. I came out as queer, I transitioned, and I ditched my unhealthy “friends” and “family”.

5+ years sober, my nerves are better and my liver is back to normal. I shed 40 pounds of alcohol weight. I finally have a healthy relationship with myself.

To anyone who’s struggling… don’t give up. You are capable of winning your fight.