Jon's Ramblings

Ace. Eastern Orthodox. Your Favorite Criminologist. Card-Carrying Commie.

[traskian]

CRISIS

SCREAM! No, just a dropped hammer. Not the failing tube's death cry, Nor the fall of an elder's heft. Rest, child, all is well.

SMACK! COME QUICKLY! SHE'S FALLE-no. No, she's fine. Just a trick of the floorboards. A phantom in your ears. Relax, boy, all is well.

NO!

GOD, IT'S THE END! Hurry! If you don't the-- False alarm. Doctor's got it covered. He's gonna be alright. Go, son, all is we---

DEATH. They've fallen. Done. While you slept. While you were out. While you caught breath.

No. You don't get to be tired. Why should you? You weren't even here-- When all was hell.

[traskian]

Ashling

Enflamed child!

Cindered childhood; smoldered soul! Pity? No. JUSTICE!

Who sold this youth?

Who took his home, condemned him to the civilizing barbarism of explosions, shrapnel, disease, immolating body and spirit?

Why is it he, not they

who must now suffer Flame's greed and charred chills of apathy?

What unholy power lends them command?

To make them pretenders, Seated on thrones of Cobblebodied ashlings?

And who, Who will bring vengeance to the smoked family? And justice for the child? Or must he seek it himself; Alone, unloved, and cast aside Like candlewax and spent wick?

[traskian]

Rootless

Torn from home, turned outlander still From warm gardens to cold mountains; Wave-crested beach to uneven fields.

Without roots, digging deeper still Worn down, broken, splintered, but Reaching further still, desperate for the lost leaves.

Without seeds, spreading farther still Branches clawing out, calling out, guarding, offers comfort Yet never receives.

Without rings, growing older still... Calling out.

Without rot, standing stronger still... Breaking out.

Without thought, just remaining still.... Still... Still... Forever out.

[sweetpeas-and-appletrees]

Fight against hunger as hard as you fight for abortion rights or equal pay.

- Mikki Kendall | Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women White Feminists Forgot

[takis-essays]

Is Prostitution a Victimless Crime?

Target word count: 1500 Actual word count: 799

Prostitution is considered a moral crime. Moral crimes don't necessarily involve breaking any major laws, or prosecution for any laws that do get broken. They involve the breaking of common morals or deviation from societal norms. An example of moral crime (asides from prostitution) is begging. While it doesn't land you any jail time, it is still actually a crime.

Prostitution falls under moral crime, because it deviates from the norm. The majority of people don't perform sexual acts to receive a payment. Many people see it as morally wrong, because they believe it represents violence against women, or that it requires loss of dignity. It is most often strongly disliked by those with religious backgrounds, as religion plays a great part in shaping morals. There is also an overlap between prostitution and trafficking, as many prostitutes are, or have been, trafficked; however, sex workers have said it is important to distinguish the two from each other, as they are not the same thing.

As stated in the above paragraph, a common argument siding with the opinion that there are victims within prostitution, is that it endorses violence against women. There have been many accounts of sex workers who have been assaulted and beaten, often having things done to them against their will. There is a belief that women who work as prostitutes have somehow given up their human rights and are exempt from the rights to protection which are easily given to other citizens. Public discourses concerning female safety often mention the view that women who do not act responsible with how they act are 'asking for it' or should not have the right to public protection, as they put themselves in that situation by choice. However, a person's human rights should still apply no matter what they choose to do with themselves, as it is their own business.

There is also the argument talking about trafficking often overlapping with prostitution. It is widely believed that prostitution must involve trafficking in every instance, and while that isn't the case, approximately 40% of prostitutes have reported that they were former child prostitutes, meaning they were forced into the industry by either being trafficked or being a teenage runaway. 40%, while not being the majority, is still a very large number. Despite the clear overlap in prostitution and trafficking, there was a study done by two academics, Liz Kelly and Linda Regan, which investigated the extent of the sex trafficking problem within the UK. They concluded that the problem could be anywhere between two to twenty times larger than what we know, however the meaning of the term "trafficking" has been loosened and broadened, making it lose it's rightful impact. People have exaggerated the amount of trafficked prostitutes by making assumptions, and have used it to describe the general movement of sex workers, even when they willingly travelled somewhere themselves.

An argument that agrees with the statement that prostitution is a victimless crime is that the criminalisation of prostitution is the main cause of the victimisation of anyone within the scenario, especially the offender. It is thought that criminalisation of prostitution is one of the leading structural factors that create vulnerability within the prostitutes. There is not only a link between criminalisation and violence against the individual providing the service, but also a link between criminalisation and HIV transmissions, further affecting the workers. Committing a crime in itself is seen as irresponsible and risky, meaning that society's generalised view of prostitution is that they are there because they have chosen to enter and stay in their situation. They also think that once someone enters the field of prostitution, they have immediately degraded themselves and they shouldn't complain, since it was their choice. This view in itself victimises sex workers, as now they feel that they are lesser and undeserving of protection rights. This in turn makes them more vulnerable and susceptible to violence. According to statistics, around 40% to 70% of prostitutes have or are experiencing some type of violence due to or within their career. This argument suggests that if prostitution was decriminalised, it would be a victimless activity or service; however, this is opposed by an observation of locations where prostitution is legal. It is shown that places that have made prostitution legal actually experience a larger amount of sex trafficking into the country, as do richer, more advanced countries with higher populations. And example of this is Germany, which further legalised prostitution in 2002 by allowing third-party involvement. Now, Germany considers prostitution a regular job subject to tax payment and retirements, with about 150,000 people actively working as prostitutes. Despite this, the estimated stock of trafficking victims in 2004 was 32,800, which is about 62 times more than in Sweden, a country which re-criminalised prostitution in 1999.

(Unfinished)

Bibliography: Opinions on sex work: https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/trafficking/worldwide-debate-about-sex-work-morality-meets-reality-48216

Opinions for and against: https://prostitution.procon.org/questions/is-prostitution-a-victimless-crime/

Violence against sex workers: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/26912/1/Phipps_VAWchapter.pdf https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.0141-9889.2004.00405.x

Trafficking and prostitution: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/oct/20/trafficking-numbers-women-exaggerated https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X12001453#s0030

Criminalisation of sex work: https://d8dev.nswp.org/sites/default/files/impact_of_criminalisation_pb_prf01.pdf

General statistics: https://sex-crimes.laws.com/prostitution/prostitution-statistics

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

Breakdown in Prisons

“Prior to all the riots under study, there was a breakdown in administrative control and operation of the prison. Prison riots are a product of that breakdown and should be thought of as such. Constituent elements of this breakdown included scandals; escapes; inconsistent and incoherent rules for inmates and guards; fragmentation, multiplication of levels, and instability within the correctional chain of command; weak administrators, often “outsiders” to the system; conflict between administration and guards, often resulting from strong guards organized in a union or otherwise cohesive and with good bargaining position relative to the state; public dissent among correctional actors; and the disruption of everyday routines for eating, work, and recreation. … Of course, we only have detailed information on prisons where there were riots, not on those that avoided them, so our comparison is mainly a matter of inference. It is possible that all prison systems, even those without riots, had problems as severe as the ones we have recorded here; but we doubt it. The political tensions at Attica, the role of gangs at Joliet, the chaos in the New Mexico system, the guard rebelliousness in Michigan, and the poverty-driven noncompliance in West Virginia seem to us to be special things, beyond the pressures faced by the average underfunded and overcrowded system.

The effects of this breakdown are twofold. First, the deprivations of imprisonment surpass legitimate bounds. Inmates are not propelled to riot merely because they are deprived of the amenities available outside of prison—for punishment is the purpose of prison—but because the prison violates the standards subscribed to concurrently or previously by the state or by significant groups outside of the prison. Well-managed prisons, with adequate staffing and physical resources, perpetuate a feeling among inmates that the system conforms to reasonable standards of imprisonment. When stability and uniformity are not present, inmates look to other standards to judge their conditions.

Perhaps most important, where administrators and guards are powerful, unified, and competent, the conditions of imprisonment themselves seem more legitimate; the captors are seen as authoritative rather than merely powerful. On the other hand, where various actors in the prison structure are, or view each other as, fools, incompetents, or rascals, the appearance of legitimacy and of competence (and the two always go together) dissipates. Albert Salomon has pointed out the importance in the preparation of great revolutions of scandals destroying the people’s faith in their rulers, and Peter Berger’s comment on this is relevant here: “Long before social systems are brought down in violence, they are deprived of their ideological sustenance by contempt.” The prison is not rehabilitative, say inmates; it is not constitutional; it is not even rational.

The second effect of a generalized systemic breakdown is the erosion of the security system. Poorly organized prisons are prone to appalling lapses in security, both in the indiscipline or inadequacies of the guard force and in the failures of the physical structure. This is the other necessary element of a preriot situation. In addition to the perception of their privation as illegitimate, the inmates must also perceive the system as physically vulnerable, and it must be vulnerable.

As security erodes, the acts of resistance we call “preparation” are more and more apt to succeed. Resistance snowballs; plans for a riot are widely discussed; they become realistic.

Erosion of security not only makes it more likely that inmates will initiate a disturbance; it makes it more likely that the disturbance will mushroom into a full -scale riot. Its spread to the rest of the institution is not inevitable, but depends on the organization and responsiveness of the guard force and on the adequacy of the architectural and human factors of security. Locked and maintained security grills or a quickly mobilized show of force can prevent a riot’s spread and shorten its duration. Although the prison may still have experienced a “riot,” the magnitude of the disturbance will put it in a different class from the disturbances we have studied. Recent riots at Iowa State Penitentiary and South Carolina’s Kirkland Correctional Institution began the same way the New Mexico riot had begun; the former was crushed in two hours and the latter in four, in each case by practiced action of a riot control team.

A prison whose deprivations are considered no longer legitimate by prisoners can maintain stability through a well-maintained,disciplined security system. A security system which breaks down may not lead to a riot if the deprivations do not fall below what inmates believe is fair. But the two failings are likely to occur in tandem. First, they can share a common cause in administrative breakdown. Furthermore, they reinforce each other. A failure in security erodes the legitimacy of the deprivations and may make the conditions of life worse,… On the other hand, disgruntled inmates put a greater strain on the security system.” - Bert Useem and Peter Kimball, States of Siege: U.S. Prison Riots, 1971-1986. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. pp. 218-222   

[traskian]

Did You Forget?

Did you forget us?

Forget the sisters who would laugh, sit on the porch for hours.... talking, joking, thinking of how great things would be once a few short years had passed?

Did you forget?

Forget your brother who would fall, need help getting up... drowning, breaking, needing you to teach him and help him with the things his father could never do?

Did you forget?

Your Nana who gave it all? Your Mother who would give even more? Both dead, now, with tears streaming over empty eyes?

Did you forget?

When you took that car and that bottle of Feckin Irish?

Did you forget?

When you mistook a guardrail for a toll booth?

Did you forget?

When your car took a swim in the Delaware Bay?

Did you forget?

Don’t forget.

Don’t forget the sisters who are waiting on the porch.

Don’t forget the brother who thinks of you as father.

Don’t forget when you feel the cold coming.

Don’t forget when the light dims too dark.

Don’t forget... We love you.

[traskian]

Passing Numb

It gave no quiver, nor stirred one thought.

Our souls were simply rushed asleep.

A body gone limp, one distraught.

It gave no quiver, nor stirred one thought.

Chill and numb, not a tear wrought.

Shaken, none, those that keep.

It gave no quiver, nor stirred one thought.

Our souls were simply rushed asleep.

[aceshouseofcards]

[traskian]

[distractedelf]

Paizo, You're Just The Best!

So a little while ago I made a post about coming out as Transgender, and the issues that came with that regarding my family and my friends. Wes Schneider (I’m a tumblr noob and have no idea how to make that into a link to his tumblr), of Paizo Publishing sent me a message, and asked if he and his people could send some swag to make a hard time easier. Well. It arrived.

That gesture in itself was amazing, but inside the cover of the Inner Sea Gods hardcover was this.

Annnnd! On the inside cover of Chronicle of the Righteous was this.

From Wes himself!~ And I’ll even show you the pages he marked off as things that might be of particular interest to me. One of the Empyreal Lords in Chronicles of the Righteous called “Arshea”

Who embodies both and neither gender, and “Worshipers believe that one’s gender and role in society are not tied to one’s physical form.” The second marked page was in “The Worldwound Incursion” and it was for a character named “Anevia Tirabade” 

Who’s very opening line is “Born a man and originally named Anvenn”. A deep, and.. just, I don’t really know how to put into words, amazing thank you to Wes and to Paizo. Not only did they think of me, and send me these awesome things! But personal thought was put into every little gesture. It.. Yeah, I don’t know how to express how grateful I am for just a kind gesture in a difficult time for me. It wasn’t something that HAD to be done, it was something they chose to do. As an absolute fan of their work in general, I can’t begin to explain what it means. Thank you Wes, and thank you Paizo.

[traskian]

Paizo, you are officially the greatest company ever. Gamers of the world, salute!

[overpricedvodka]

@IjeomaOluo on discussing feminism with dudes.

That feeling when something is hilariously spot on and depressingly accurate.

Can’t decide whether to howl with laughter or yell in frustration.  Eh, I’m multi-faceted.  I’ll just do both!

[studentsocialworker]

I read these out loud to my wife in the parking lot of a grocery store and we couldn’t go in until I finished because they are perfect.

[traskian]

I can't speak for anywhere else, but this is pretty much all I ever hear outside of some *VERY* specific areas on my college campus and when I point something out, I'm more or less dismissed as aiding "the fake feminists"/wanting to be a woman (though why this would be considered an insult is beyond my comprehension)/picking "ho's" before "bros". 

Even more so if I point out that there's a difference between a debate and an argument....or a shouting match. 

[azurea]

By Jean Jullien.

[kamikazeruler]

Visual representation on how we let technology ruin social interactions and pleasant experiences.

[3dbabyfromallymcbeal]

Me: *hates this*

[gothicprep]

why do baby boomers love to produce this “technology is bad fire is scary and thomas edison was a witch” garbage?

[zmizet-deactivated20170716]

fuck THIS

I never see a cashier with an empty queue. Self-serve checkout machines make life GREAT for people with social anxiety or self conscious people. I get nervous that everyone is judging my weight. So when I do my monthly ice-cream, chocolate, and menstrual products run, I will do it with a fucking self-serve machine.

I’m happy seeing my friends take photos of their food. I like taking photos of my food. Because there is a chef in the back of the kitchen who works hard to plate things beautifully and in any other situation, people dive in immediately and ruin that image. We take photos to preserve that image and who the fuck knows, if I was the chef I would be digging through instagram hoping to see my plate on there. We’re celebrating someones hard work, work that is generally temporary.

And I don’t know what kind of friends you have, but if someone is taking a photo of their food, I’m not gonna bother talking to them until they’re done. Why would you try to have a conversation when someone is busy?? And it takes a few minutes, you can wait for someone who wants to perform a small act of creativity.

It’s nice to get likes on instagram. If you’re monogamous and on tinder, it’s not technology’s fault you’re contemplating cheating. What is SO BAD about having food delivered to your home? And is there anything wrong with having movies streaming instantly? No - but if you complain that Netflix takes up your life than be an adult and step back. It’s not technology’s fault that you have no self control.

Selfies are fun. Selfies are great. Your friend is a jerk if they don’t even take a minute to take of photo of you as well. Why do you care if people use technology around you on the subway? That makes me feel less self-conscious that people are staring or judging me. They can play their games, read, etc. Someone is occupied, why is that so wrong?

Your phone has a zoom option so you can record/photograph a concert? FUCKING good for you! 

And again. If your phone keeps you up, be an adult, get some self control and step back. 

Technology isn’t bad. You’re just upset with yourselves for having a lack of self-control. You hate that people connect through technology. And maybe, you just don’t like seeing people love themselves, enjoy life, and feel joy. That’s your problem, not technology’s.

[joaquinphoenixsveganleatherboots]

^^^ bang on.

[thequantumqueer]

i’ll just leave this here:

[vastderp]

fixed some of these

i would have done the rest but my eyes were about to roll out of my head over the clueless hypocrisy and self-congratulatory posturing of digitally illustrating luddite crapola about how baaaad technology is, and then posting it on the internet for people to enjoy it.

artist owned themself harder than any critic could, credit where due

[sabrielhasablog-blog]

Did you know?

When trains became a thing, people were frightened that they would destroy human social structure, because passengers on trains all brought books to read instead of striking up conversation with strangers, like was customary if you were sharing a stage coach.

[studentsocialworker]

Just stop

I don’t want to see anyone more pictures of people of color, most often black, who have been killed by police.

And by that, I mean - Police, stop murdering people of color.

[traskian]

A Rant on the Black Robe Regiment

The Black Robe Regiment Disclaimer: "We are in no way associated with any militia or organization who would call their people to armed conflict...."

Rev. Paul P. Waldmiller~Black Robe Regiment Pastor: "[J]oin a real militia and take action. Don't get involved with people who want to 'form a committee to review the formation of a committee, to organize a committee to look at the idea of formulating a committee.' You get my drift. Those folks are useless and not interested in doing anything concrete regarding getting this nation back on track....Go with your church and militia members and start making citizen's arrests of corrupted Government Officials and those at local Islamic Terrorist Training Camps. In another words, pray, plan, prepare and follow through. Rules of engagement against unrepentant evil you ask ? There are no rules. Unrepentant evil must be removed. Period.

... So what are you waiting for ? Be like King Abdullah (i.e. EXECUTE) !You need permission ? OK, you have permission to defend your God given liberty's and also to remove unrepentant evil. You have the reason, you have the plan, now go out and get your country back in Jesus Name !"

...Aaaand that's the group that Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher associates with, aaaand that's the representative who wants AP US History removed because it is part of the "evil" that is, as he puts it, "indoctrinating our youth at the exclusion of the Christian perspective."

Congratulations, both to Mr. Waldmiller and Rep. Fisher, you have managed to revolt and horrify every fiber of my being...a feat not even the worst Bob Jones indoctrinated, Fox News absorbing, hell and brimstone pulpit pounding, straw man utilizing, hate mongering, racist, sexist, pond scum masquerading as a "speaker of God's Word" has managed to accomplish.

[everybodyontheinternet]

On February 26, the FCC is going to decide if the internet should stay free and fair, or if it should be handed over to the cable companies.

You don’t want them to pick the cable companies.

Join everybody on the internet to help the FCC do the right thing.

[showland-deactivated20260503]

Enough said.