Tag: police state

New York lawmakers seek major expansion of state power to criminalize sexual relations

Due to pressure from activists and political figures including President Joe Biden, colleges have made it harder for students accused of sexual misconduct to show they obtained “consent” from their partners.

Lawmakers in New York are now looking to expand this effort to criminal courts.

Bills in the state Assembly (A6540) and Senate (S6200) would nullify consent if it were obtained through “deception, fraud, concealment or artifice,” meaning a person who told a falsehood or incomplete truth in the pursuit of sex could be prosecuted for sexual assault.

Assembly sponsor Rebecca Seawright portrayed the measure, which would define consent for the first time in New York penal law, as needed to “hold predators like Harvey Weinstein accountable.” 

A press conference outside her office featured two women who testified against the disgraced Hollywood producer, Tarale Wulff and Dawn Dunning, according to ABC News. Since Weinstein defended himself by claiming “that he felt confused” about the definition of consent, “there will be no more confusion” under this legislation, Wulff said.

The Senate version, sponsored by James Sanders, invokes sexual assault trials for Weinstein and entertainer Bill Cosby. Jurists in both proceedings told jurors to use their “common sense” in defining consent, which resulted in a mistrial for Cosby, an extensive “Justification” section claims.

“Failure to define consent creates disparate outcomes in convicting sexual predators as each jury grapples to create its own definition with no guidance from New York State’s statutes,” the Senate version reads. “This vital concept cannot be left to chance.”

New York criminal defense attorney Scott Greenfield faulted their wording as being unrealistic “in the real world.”

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CNN Analyst Says White House Should Tell Americans: “The Moment Of Freedom For You Is When You Get Vaccinated”

A CNN panel suggested the administration should persuade unvaccinated people to take the Covid-19 vaccine by offering them their freedom in return.

In a discussion on how the White House can convince “vaccine hesitant” individuals to dose up, CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen urged using the promise of freedom and a return to normality as incentives.

“If we can tell those individuals who otherwise would not get vaccinated, if we say to them, the moment of freedom for you is when you get vaccinated, when you reach the two-week mark, these are people who otherwise might not be vaccinated, so let’s give them that incentive,” Wen said Thursday.

Wen made similar remarks earlier this month when she suggested the CDC and the White House use the promise of freedom as a proverbial “carrot” on a stick for unvaccinated individuals.

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Biden Erased Decades of Historic Crimes in His Speech to Congress

Following 9/11, the Bush administration, in conjunction with Congress, expedited the passage of the Patriot Act, a wide-sweeping national security law that infringed on the civil liberties of every American in the name of fighting terror. The Fourth Amendment became a relic of the past as the government’s power to surveil and spy on its own citizens reached its peak. Individuals who shared names with persons of interest or suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens, landed on government no-fly lists, restricting their right to freely move about the country for dubious reasons and with no due process or recourse. And even worse, many had their right to due process eviscerated when they were detained by the newly-created Department of Homeland Security and found themselves at Guantanamo Bay without even being charged with a crime.

Yet this is not the first time that American citizens, or even permanent residents for that matter, had their rights infringed upon by the government.

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