New analysis today from Americans for Tax Fairness, a left-leaning group, finds the Biden legislation is heavily progressive — despite SALT would in aggregate tax top 1% while funding programs for bottom/middle class. In line w/ other analyseshttps://t.co/kndh8Cluwqpic.twitter.com/P4iNinyV8Z
Anti-voter laws are a major threat to our democracy. The Freedom to Vote Act can protect voters' rights and stop corrupt politicians from eroding our democracy.
Instead of rejecting christofascism, Republicans have become christofascists.
Children with weapons of war around a Christmas tree? Boosting? The insecurities are staggering. These poor kids.
Christofascists have one god, the gun.
Celebrate Jesus with a gun. For children
Patriarchy includes women. Going after vulnerable women, women in need, women in abusive relationships, rape victims, their privacy, their reproductive rights that have precedent for FIFTY years, is beyond despicable.
It’s non-stop punching down.
Misogyny is the default.
Double standard.
I hate the term "drug-seeker" so much! Literally every patient is a drug-seeker; If there is a drug that can relieve and/or cure what ails you, the act of going to a doctor's office is you seeking it out!!! It boggles my mind how willfully ignorant and cruel the label is. https://t.co/GYvnHKwpX8
I have chronic pain that limits my quality of life, it restricts / limits my ability to function. That is just a fact of my life. I had a muscle relaxer doctor had been prescribing me for years that worked great for me. The Florida legislators felt they knew better than my doctors, better than any doctors and said that if the doctors office also wrote prescriptions for some other medications then they couldn’t write prescriptions for the medication I was taking. Even if I was not taking the other medications. If they did prescribe the medication I was using and the patient died for any reason, any reason, the pain doctors could be charged with murder. My doctors immediately stopped prescribing the medication. I have never found another that works as well for me. Thanks Florida. Hugs
A mother places a sign on her child before he begins his journey by bike in 1937 pic.twitter.com/jLXKylBl9Q
Not only is this incredibly pure, it’s made a lot of transphobes have to say the quiet bit out loud: the problem is people having a good time not conforming to their assigned sex and gender roles. (Nowhere is it mentioned how any of the actors in this short clip identify). https://t.co/250oiwFDgV
Yeah, Lisa, you sure pwned that mentally disturbed, homeless guy who allegedly lit that tree on fire! Yes it was wrong to burn that fake tree (?) In front of a fake news provider (!) I Don’t know if I should shake my head in disgust or give a thumbs up to the symbolism ! It wasn’t even a Christmas tree. Fox built a metal pyramid, hung greenery (probably fake), then hung decorations on it. You can call it a tree, I suppose, but it has the same relationship to a real tree that Fox’s construction of patriotism has to real patriotism. Hugs
Are you also wanting the Covid death totals and lack of active government plans for distribution of the soon to be approved vaccine that was happening during tRump’s last year in office?
While millions wait for a lifesaving shot, the U.S. death count from covid-19 continues to soar upward with horrifying speed. On Tuesday, the last full day of Donald Trump’s presidency, the death toll reached 400,000 — a once-unthinkable number. More than 100,000 Americans have perished in the pandemic in just the past five weeks.In the U.S., someone now dies of covid every 26 seconds. And the disease is claiming more American lives each week than any other condition, ahead of heart disease and cancer, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.“It didn’t have to be like this, and it shouldn’t still be like this,” said Kristin Urquiza, whose father, Mark, died of covid in June, as the virus was sweeping through Phoenix.
See it is easy to pretend only good came from a presidential term if you are willing to ignore the facts and reality. The reason gas prices were so low is there was a lack of demand due to the world wide Covid Pandemic and large over supplies this caused. What brought the price of gas back up was renewed demand as the world started to function again as the pandemic was being handled. Again world wide. Scottie
Kids need full armor to survive in school these days. Hugs
Some 15 year olds are more mature than others, but no 15 year old is an adult. There is a long history of charging minors as adults since the 1970’s as part of the war on crime. It presumably helps deal with the fact that an age is not the same as a degree of maturity. It’s also a technique for dealing with a particularly depraved crime, such as murdering several people where the DA thinks the maximum punishment for a juvenile isn’t sufficient.
I would prefer a magical system where each person is tried as they actually are, and then upon conviction, sent to rehab where they would stay until (magically) we knew they were better, including time in a half-way house to prove they were better. Puritan USA can’t cope with that though. PUNISHMENT is the primary goal.
Biden has announced that sending in troops to defend Ukraine is off the table, so he is basically telling Putin to go ahead and invade. I know Biden doesn’t like war, but damn we just approved 780 billion dollars for the military for one year. One year. Why if we can not use them to stop the invasions of a friendly democracy from an authoritarian dictatorship. China is watching this and feeling that they can invade Taiwan at any time and the US wont interfere. Hugs
At least Biden is standing up to Putin unlike tRump who was desperate to have Putin’s approval for some tRump project in Moscow, which tRump never got. Hugs
Telling kids that Hell exists and they will go there if they don't do X, or do Y, is child abuse https://t.co/pHN1JMWg00
And this shows what the right wing is now, trolls and insult performance artists. Lets not bother to be role models for the kids nor a democracy other countries look up to. Hugs
Progressives or corporate Democrats. The issues the progressives are talking about and promoting are the same ones the entire party was trying to promote and implement way back in the 1970’s. Back then people like Nancy Pelosi were all for the progressive things like universal healthcare, free education, food assistance, and so much more. Then Nancy got addicted to the corporate money and she couldn’t get enough. She was one of the ones who pulled the Democrats to the right year after year decade after decade. When she was asked why she should be Speaker of the House she replied because she brought in the most donation money. But while the Democrats moved right to be part of the wealthy corporations the people of the US have not. In fact the country has moved more left supporting the LGBTQ+ community, legalizing cannabis, voting rights for people who finished their prison sentences, universal single payer healthcare, help for food insecurity, help for the homeless, help with childcare, and so much more. It really has become a civil war in the US between the wealthy and the public. Hugs
Only because the misleading right wing media keeps lying about vaccines, masks, and the personal responsibility people have to stop the spread of the virus. Hugs
The unity problem is more the result of unrelenting nonsense attacks by right wing media, often simply made up stuff they know their base will not check. Law and order is actually better as the tRump admin used unidentified illegal squads to kidnap people off the streets who were using their constitutional right to protest. These people were taken to hidden locations, illegally questioned, detained, their items searched with out permission, never charged with a crime and then released often with out their phones or other property. Reporters protected by law and the 1st amendment were attacked and their equipment destroyed all to please the wannabe strongman dictator, tRump. The US has far more world respect now with Biden president than when tRump (also known as TFG, the former guy) was in office. TFG destroyed long running friendships with democracies and tried to start friendships with only authoritarian governments. The world reacted badly to that. The laws and people enforcing the borders have not changed despite Biden and the people want them too. The US is still violating the rights of those seeking refuge status as they did before. We still have freedom and some of us are still sane. Talk about nonsense phrases meaning nothing and everything. And before someone shouts Covid as a loss of freedom fact is the SCOTUS found a century ago the government had a right to enforce health laws / requirements. And lastly fuel prices. Fuel prices started coming down right after TFG approved selling the Saudi’s weaponry that every other US president refused, for good reason. But the Saudi’s put lots of money in both tRump’s and his son-in-law’s pockets so who cares about indiscriminate killing, right. Then came the pandemic with Covid ended a lot of need for fuel, travel mostly stopped, office buildings were empty, prices of fuel fell from lack of demand and over supply. Now that demand is rising and the OPEC nations throttling the supply to make up the profits they lost prices of fuel were rising. That is no more. For the last three weeks fuel prices, the cost per barrel of oil has fallen. If you are not seeing it at the pump it is because of price gouging and profit taking. Facts matter. These are the facts. Scottie
Those are not the facts. Where’s your proof that people were kidnapped off the streets and had their phones stolen from them? Which even if that were true would be far less than what happens to those that our current pretender in chief doesn’t like. At least those people, again if even true, would still have their lives. As for the bovine excrement relating to reporters, they relentlessly attacked Trump and he refused to take their questions. No squelching of first amendment rights. Also, if by media you mean news reporters, there is no media anymore, let alone right-wing. They all spew opinion and propaganda these days, even Fox is left-wing, and no three pundits who are slightly right of center are not right-wing nor do they make Fox right-wing. Though, if it somehow magically did, they’d be one outlet amongst dozens.
Hey Anon, ever hear of google? Easy to find the facts. But I did the work for you. Here are three links proving that yes tRump illegally had people kidnapped off the streets.
Federal law enforcement officers have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland and detain protesters since at least Tuesday. Personal accounts and multiple videos posted online show the officers driving up to people, detaining individuals with no explanation about why they are being arrested, and driving off.
And, officials offended by charged terms such as kidnapping would like us to instead use the term “lawful detainments”. But under federal and state law, kidnapping is commonly defined as the unlawful transportation and confinement of a person against their will.
By that definition, John Parks was kidnapped by police and armed federal forces on 29 July in Portland, Oregon. “I was surrounded by men in camo, and black,” he told me, with tense inflection, “They put me in the back of an unmarked vehicle and refused to tell me why I was being detained.”
tRump bragged about having the US Marshal service track down and kill a left wing antifa supporter who shot a maga man in self defense. According to witnesses the police never attempted to arrest the suspect they just ran up and opened fire on him.
President Donald Trump on Thursday gloated over the September killing of Portland, Oregon, murder suspect Michael Reinoehl by law enforcement officers who had been deputized as US Marshals. “We sent in the US Marshals,” Trump said during a campaign rally in North Carolina, adding that it “took 15 minutes (and) it was over.”
The President immediately followed that statement by appearing to indicate that authorities had no intention of ever taking Reinoehl alive.
“They knew who he was; they didn’t want to arrest him, and in 15 minutes that ended,” Trump said.
I think it funny you think tRump did not want to talk to reporters. Did you see no media coverage during the four years tRump was president? He took every opportunity he could to push himself in front of the media cameras. He craves attention and wanted as much TV time as he could get. Again these are facts, sorry if they disrupt your alternative reality. Scottie
“I don’t want a baby” is as good of a reason to have an abortion as “I am a rape survivor.” Similarly, “I have no desire to procreate” is as good of a reason to take birth control as “I have endometriosis.” It’s an ob/gyn office not a church.
Conservative SCOTUS’ can’t connect all their beliefs because they are all bullshit religious opinions. Right to privacy? Not this time. Freedom from religion? Not this time.
Christofascism is here. ACB proves it
The misogyny of patriarchy.
Trump was against masks because it would mess with his orange make-up.
The right wing has nothing new to offer so they keep trying to scare their viewers, the cult base, with misleading cartoons. It has been pointed out that tRump added nearly 8 trillion to the debt with not a complaint from the right nor care of base. The plans of the Biden administration have been vetted to add to the income of the treasury and the increase the economy unlike tax breaks for the wealthy. When the GOP is running the show, not one Conservative cartoonists brings up “debt, big government (Trump did make the Government bigger during is term), or any “noise” about reckless spending”. And yet this Congress hasn’t come any where near the debt levels created by the GOP sponsored 2017 tax cuts that benefited no one but the wealthy. Now change ‘big government’ to ‘big military’ and see if it flies better. Hugs
Lisa must not have had anything worthwhile to draw to day, so she filled it with this. VPs tend to not do much unless you think of Dick Cheney and his highly profitable manipulation of Shrub. She is perceived as a real threat, that’s while all the attacks. They amount to a good recommendation. The media is already trying to stir up a nomination fight between her and Buttigieg for the ratings they hope to get. It is all about the click, the money, for corporate media. Hugs
Wow the projection is stunning. It has become a game for the right now to just blame everything their side / tRump did on Biden. It is a complete denial of reality. It is kid stuff with the rubber glue chant. Fingers in ears I don’t want to believe you shit. It gets tiring to respond. But I keep trying. Hugs
Here is the comment I left on the cartoon site. Every time I do this I get some clown tRump cult member with limited vocabulary and lack mental agility attacking me with the most tiresome fake right wing media talking points, at least the ones they can remember. Hugs
The unity problem is more the result of unrelenting nonsense attacks by right wing media, often simply made up stuff they know their base will not check. Law and order is actually better as the tRump admin used unidentified illegal squads to kidnap people off the streets who were using their constitutional right to protest. These people were taken to hidden locations, illegally questioned, detained, their items searched with out permission, never charged with a crime and then released often with out their phones or other property. Reporters protected by law and the 1st amendment were attacked and their equipment destroyed all to please the wannabe strongman dictator, tRump. The US has far more world respect now with Biden president than when tRump (also known as TFG, the former guy) was in office. TFG destroyed long running friendships with democracies and tried to start friendships with only authoritarian governments. The world reacted badly to that. The laws and people enforcing the borders have not changed despite Biden and the people want them too. The US is still violating the rights of those seeking refuge status as they did before. We still have freedom and some of us are still sane. Talk about nonsense phrases meaning nothing and everything. And before someone shouts Covid as a loss of freedom fact is the SCOTUS found a century ago the government had a right to enforce health laws / requirements. And lastly fuel prices. Fuel prices started coming down right after TFG approved selling the Saudi’s weaponry that every other US president refused, for good reason. But the Saudi’s put lots of money in both tRump’s and his son-in-law’s pockets so who cares about indiscriminate killing, right. Then came the pandemic with Covid ended a lot of need for fuel, travel mostly stopped, office buildings were empty, prices of fuel fell from lack of demand and over supply. Now that demand is rising and the OPEC nations throttling the supply to make up the profits they lost prices of fuel were rising. That is no more. For the last three weeks fuel prices, the cost per barrel of oil has fallen. If you are not seeing it at the pump it is because of price gouging and profit taking. Facts matter. These are the facts. Scottie
Not even close but nice to see the right wing trying hard to demonize those they disagree with. In case you don’t know the story Toobin He exposed himself during a Zoom call with colleagues in what he says was an accident. Toobin claimed “I didn’t think other people could see me,” and it seems that he was masturbating.
People familiar with the matter said that Toobin exposed himself when he began masturbating during the Zoom, apparently as part of a different video call. The people said that they did not believe he intended his colleagues to witness it.
It seemed to me to be an accident he did not intend to expose his sexual activity to others, he was removed from his jobs, he under went reviews and The New Yorker did not find any other forms of misconduct by him during its probe of his 27 years at the magazine.
It is well known that what Chris Cuomo did was completely different. Cuomo did try to deliberately deceive his co-workers, his bosses, and the viewers. He was doing things he knew his contract forbid and were against the company polices. But having said that why is the right wing so upset with Cuomo and Toobin but ignoring the many violations of rules by Fox News hosts? Fox news hosts go on stage at tRump rallies to promote tRump, and have since tRump was president. Cuomo was trying to help his brother, but Fox hosts were doing far more for tRump. When these cartoonist show the same outrage over that I will listen to their fake outrage over CNN. Hugs
This is late because there was not much to post in the morning so I got interested in other things. I made a loaf of bread that came out great. Then I helped Ron make a wonderful meal of rare Roasted Beast, baked potatoes, and broccoli, and hot just baked bread. I would like to add I am not sorry, the meal was great and we had a lot of fun. Also got the laundry done. Be well, many hugs. Scottie
But no pay increase or or other things for the workers. Hugs
It should be noted that the Squad has been leading the charge, using up all their political capital, to enact policies that directly help the poor and working-class. Despite that, they are still labeled "highly educated elites" who don't care about the working-class. 2/
Must be in a third world country where people have to go into debt to finance a university education. Meanwhile USAian students go to university in places like The Sorbonne in Paris, Oxford or Cambridge or Manchester or Edinburgh in the UK and graduate in 4 years and have little to no debt. Hugs
Yes, Bob Dole was a republican and, please remember, when he appeared in the Seate to push for some “handicapped” legislation, he WAS roundly greeted by his “fellow” republicans – but they refused to pass the legislation he wanted. Of course, what’s in the Senate, now, are not really republicans so he should have known better than to try to appeal to them.
By the way, on what he’s shown as tossing away – As a politician, Dole made a habit of carrying a pen in his right hand to prevent others from trying to shake it since he lost the use of his right arm in a war-time injury. Hugs
IMO it’s getting increasingly hard to see a viable path to avoiding prolonged minority rule in America https://t.co/9yK81cNbgb
“People talk a lot about how democracy itself is on the line in the 2022 election. What this misses is that in a number of states majority rule is already a thing of the past in state governments b/c the legislatures are so effectively gerrymandered.” https://t.co/ZBAl6iZJqx
1. North Dakota school superintendent blasts Critical Race Theory, compares Democrats to Nazis.
"Time to move away from godless corrupt woke, left-wing ideology and back to the devout Christ centered Republic the founders envisioned."https://t.co/PoAjhoNNlo
On our left: Hungary, on our right Poland. The hand in the middle belongs to the European Court of Justice’s Advocate General, who has filed and “opinion” that those two right wing countries must follow the rules that they agreed to when joining the union. Or, this cartoonist implies, lose funding. The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland have all gone backwards on democracy and human rights in recent years. I hope it can be reversed. Hugs
Until viability a zygote / fetus doesn’t anything. It doesn’t and shouldn’t have more rights than the woman it is inside of. I am tired of hearing about the “heartbeat” at a time when the heart is not even developed yet. Too many people have wannabe wishes instead of facts. They claim personhood for the fetus but ignore the personhood of the woman the zygote / fetus is in. They say the fetus has potential, but they ignore the potential of the woman the fetus is in. Hugs
Ergo, Smollett makes all the right wing attacks okay. Smollett did something stupid that will no doubt cause him trouble for the rest of his life. You sure it wasn’t George Soros and Antifa and migrant caravans and Communists and baby-eaters? It is the same old story deflection the Right wing deploys daily. The right wing stands behind their bad actors. Smollett has destroyed his career, unless he becomes a MAGA. Well,if he comes out and pledges his soul to the orange messiah I’m sure Republicans will flock to his defense. I note that Mr Goodwyn, like all the “conservative” cartoonists who have mocked Smollett, have drawn exactly nothing about Donald Kirk Hartle, the Nevada man whose claims that someone had fraudulently voted under the identity of his dead wife were widely touted by Trumpublicans and given a national platform by conservative media — and was arrested for committing the fraud himself. Trumpublicans don’t believe that Hartle did anything bad – by their definition, voter fraud is only bad if they can imagine it being done by Democrats… they also like to point out that voting fraud like Hartle’s proves that the election was tainted and that Trump should be reinstated – even when the only voting fraud they can find was a Republican doing it for Trump…Hugs
The road to fascism is lined with people telling you to stop overreacting.
A member of Congress thinks that cancer is contagious.
Republicans love the ignorance. Rather than cast out the idiots, they become the idiots.
So kind of the WSJournal opinion editors, Misters Gigot and Heninninger, to find 3 other Misters to respond to their editorial advising the Supremes strike down Roe v Wade. pic.twitter.com/3iFnHNZp2X
Who needs science or data when you only follow predetermined narratives?
Great article on a great injustice. Anthony Broadwater was wrongfully convicted of raping Alice Sebold four decades ago — and fought to get his life back https://t.co/JD6xHPQO99
This all comes just as the DOJ has determined that Alabama prisons have not improved over the past two years despite the ongoing lawsuit against them – and frankly it seems like rodents are the least of their problems. https://t.co/6komO9Dlcl
Why does the right wing media blame Biden for what the Republicans are doing. Oh yes they are the misleading lying right wing media. The Build Back Better bill had money to help people buy electric vehicles that Republicans wouldn’t support. Same with the infrastructure bill that again Republicans fought. So electric cars too expensive for most people, blame Republicans. Hugs
This cartoonist is one of the most rabid right wing I have the displeasure to read. In order to slam a Democrat elected governor he insinuates that crime only happens where and when a Democrat is in charge. This is false. Any life experience and a quick google search will show that. Crime is driven not by politics but by other factors such a poverty, income inequality, housing, and other basic needs being unmet. Hugs
So are school shootings and every other goddam kind of shootings. Only the Boys in Blue matter. the rest are collateral damage or the fault of the ’libs”. I noticed he wasn’t as compassionate towards the Capital Police that were injured during the Insurrection. It is a tragedy when any officer loses their life when on the job. Also tragic, and likely more preventable, is how many have lost their lives due to Covid:https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/16/us/police-vaccine-covid-deaths/index.html COVID-19 killed more police officers in the last 18 months than guns. That was 100% preventable if they would get vaccinated and wear masks. Perhaps there would be fewer shootings if the gun makers and their propaganda puppets in the NRA worked on promoting proper gun safety, responsibility, and use instead of telling gullible Americans that a handgun under the Christmas tree is a great gift for children. Hugs
He said he was pulling the hammer back at the direction of Halyna Hutchins, and when they had the angle right, he let the hammer go and the gun went off. You need to work on your comprehension skills, and if you believe there is no such thing as an accidental discharge of a gun, your history of gun accidents. No one has shown any motive he may have had to murder anyone, and witnesses agree it was an accident. What is really disgusting is the way neocons are gleefully dancing on Halyna Hutchins’ grave because it advances their narrative. Alec Baldwin mocked the God Emperor tRump on a TV comedy show. That’s really all you need to know here. Hugs
For around $150, plexiglass, water, lenses, and ordinary mirrors, professor of Physics at the University of Rochester John Howell built an uni-directional optical cloaking device: This video shows one of the devices and two of his sons… sometimes: https://t.co/H1NPb6RPjApic.twitter.com/4lupYhLejI
Truly one of the most disturbing things I’ve witnessed in a long time. A Congressman, in a bid to overturn Roe V Wade and deny American women reproductive rights. Publicly referred to them as “Earthen vessels, sanctified by Almighty God.” Give me strength. pic.twitter.com/LvYM46GRVN
You cannot watch this and say the United States is not filled with religious extremists. Just because it’s disguised by religious platitudes of familiarity, does not make it any less dangerous. Before America tackles extremism worldwide, it would be best to look within.
Good morning and Happy Saturday to everyone who knows that Women are not "earthen vessels" as the far right extremist Madison Cawthorn describes, and we're determined to defeat him in 2022 so that they all get that message.
Madison Cawthorn sure didn’t treat “earthen vessels” with much respect when he briefly went to Christian college. According to his inane analogy the other day, I guess he was trying to force them to make a bunch of “Polaroid photos” https://t.co/jEsIMPit8d
Seems a lot of reporters are missing this rise in hours. It is a huge deal. It fits a story where employers can't hire workers, so they increase the workweek of the existing labor force https://t.co/b5LhSL2467
Russia is the guy in the tank, the tank is flying the Russian flag. Hugs
Interesting to learn that some people cannot distinguish supporting sex workers by making the job much safer vs supporting sex work. Sex work doesn’t need my support. Marginalized and criminalized people need my support. And yours.
— Cathy Reisenwitz (51/100 sketches) (@CathyReisenwitz) December 4, 2021
Because there are more guns than people in America? Why are guns readily accessible by kids? Oh that’s right. The only nation in the world that has more guns than people in its country and suffers from more gun violence than any other country. What could those other countries be doing besides blaming the kids? Hmmm. They are killing other kids because that is what they have been taught. Because Republicans glorify guns and the right to shoot people. Hugs
Who is holding up a full spending bill, oh yes the Republicans. Aren’t the obstructionist Republicans the ones behind all these stopgap funding schemes all the way back to nasty Newt and his contract on America?
On the one hand you have folks whose intent is to try to do the best thing they can for their constituents. And who enjoy it when the manage to do something useful, or even nice. On the other hand you have folks whose intent is to accumulate power and wield it to pay off the corporate “donors” who effectively own them. And whose greatest joy is “prevent”… and siphoning taxes from the middle class into the bank accounts of the obscenely wealthy (taking a cut for themselves in the process). This piecemeal hackery is (part of) EXACTLY what they want: Make the process look so artificial and contrived that everyone will lose interest in the whole political process. Which is the only way they get to KEEP the power they now have. Also, it helps them in their fight to rid America of democracy. Hugs
Dr Fauci uses science to judge the incoming data. Data changes and he reacts to those changes. Just because the Bible has not changed, and is not a health book never should be used for medical science, doesn’t mean we should ignore the changing information on viruses. Hugs
This one is here because I see far too many argue this way and think they are winning on right wing media and misleading political cartoons. Trolling and insulting is thought to show brilliance and mastery of both subject matter and the other people. My though on this is if you have to resort to insults you have already lost, with the exception of the rare bit of sarcasm. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 
Some 15 year olds are more mature than others, but no 15 year old is an adult. There is a long history of charging minors as adults since the 1970’s as part of the war on crime. It presumably helps deal with the fact that an age is not the same as a degree of maturity. It’s also a technique for dealing with a particularly depraved crime, such as murdering several people where the DA thinks the maximum punishment for a juvenile isn’t sufficient.
I would prefer a magical system where each person is tried as they actually are, and then upon conviction, sent to rehab where they would stay until (magically) we knew they were better, including time in a half-way house to prove they were better. Puritan USA can’t cope with that though. PUNISHMENT is the primary goal.