Gentle Space
Apr12
on 2017-04-12
at 00:01
Too Much Information – an online comic
An old house, a geek, a cute transvestite, a very tall lesbian, and at least one ghost–what could happen? – Adult situations and artistic nudity. Not suitable for children.
Vote Incentive
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Hmm… kind of like what the southern US states did just 10 short years after slavery was declared illegal; They quickly passed a bunch of new laws against harmless things like vagrancy and loitering that effectively made being unemployed into a crime, (and later minor recreational drug use) then made the punishment for those crimes forced labour… which basically meant slavery was back on again, for every black person they could flimsily attach the label of “criminal” to, and there was almost no public protest, because they were “criminals” receiving deserved “punishment” (or so the papers would repeat over and over).
This abuse of the loophole in the constitution’s 13th amendment to effectively bring back slavery continued until…
uh…
well…
how can I put this?
…
It never stopped.
Today, the USA has the highest % of it’s population incarcerated than any country in the world, and the Penal Labor system represents 100s of thousands of non-optional “jobs” for which they are paid either nothing or pennies on the dollar of what the wage should be for the work, and no labor laws about workplace standards and safety protect them, because they are not “employees”.
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Rep. William Lacy Clay of Missouri introduced a joint resolution this week that would remove the 13th Amendment’s “punishment clause,” or language that excepted convicted prisoners from the ban on slavery and involuntary servitude.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/democratic-lawmakers-introduce-a-resolution-to-amend-the-13th-amendment-to-end-forced-prison-labor/ar-BB1bC5v4
Maybe, someday soon, justice will prevail!
Thanks for sharing that!
While I DO like hearing actual senators raising the subject (finally), words are cheap, Action and results count.
I’ll reserve any excitement or approval for when this accomplishes more than getting their names in the news for a week.
You expect all the southern senators whose family businesses save millions a year by taking advantage of the prison labor programs for dirt-cheap workers are not going to vote in favour of a constitutional change.
Just like 150-odd years ago. You’ll probably have to shoot them to get anything done.
Sadly, I wouldn’t count on it passing anytime soon. There are too many deep pockets that profit from the system as it The best thing we can do for now is voting at both the Federal and State level. Elect people willing to block voter suppression attempts. Vote for people that remember justice is not measured by a conviction rate and the State never wins when an innocent person goes to prison. Eliminate the option of “for profit” prisons and keep working to protect people’s rights. If everyone has them they are Rights. If only some have them those are called privileges.