Manjushri

I assume they're going to cut out all the woke parts of the Bible... wait, if they cut out the woke, that would leave only the Old Testament without any Jesus. Are they going to shoehorn a bunch of Old Testament fire and brimstone into the story of Jesus? Are we finally going to get the full-on, gun-tote'n Republican Jesus they've always dreamed of?

SNAP benefits per person are very modest. Nationally, average monthly snap benefits per individual are $187 per month.

No reason at all?! Are you kidding? They're doing it for profit. It's all for the bottom line! If a few kids starve, who cares? Most of them are brown anyway.

OP has a point. You might be surprised how little money it takes to influence legislation. ABSCAM showed just how cheaply political favors can be purchased.

From there, our investigation led to southern New Jersey and on to Washington, D.C. Our criminal contacts led us to politicians in Camden who were willing to offer bribes to get our "business" a gambling license in Atlantic City. Then, when we expressed interest in their suggestion to get the sheik asylum in the U.S., these corrupt politicians arranged for us to meet some U.S. Congressmen who could make it happen with private legislation. For a price, of course: $50,000 up front and an extra $50,000 later.

When the dust settled, one senator, six congressman, and more than a dozen other criminals and corrupt officials were arrested and found guilty.

Admittedly, this was $100,000 in 1980 dollars, but even today, lobbyists don't give millions to politicians to get things passed.

Occupy Wall Street rounded up $400,000 to wipe out $15 million in medical debt not that long ago. I would think that a concerted effort by progressive organizations could collect millions to lobby politicians to write and pass progressive laws. I've often wondered why this doesn't happen.

Fair point. I should have asked if it was 'legally sound' rather than just if it was legal.

...those in opposition believe the bills will cause pressure on jails to increase compensation for other incarcerated labor. Is it time for full incarceration labor reform?

Oh, my God! You want to pay people for their labor? No! This will not stand! We convicted these people under countless bullshit laws, like illegal possession of a plant, so we could profit off of slave labor and we will not let you woke progressives interfere with our God given right to profit off the suffering of others!

An EO to overrule state legislation? Is that even remotely legal? Can't the states just tell him to fuck off. The courts aren't going to throw state law out the window because the president says they are bad laws. It would take an act of Congress to do that and Congress failed in the attempt earlier this year.

I honestly cannot think of a single reason why I, or anyone else, would want this crud built into anything other than toys, and even then I doubt it would end well.

Okay, I know it's bad form to reply to my own post, but one day after I posted the above, I saw this story.

AI-powered plushie pulled from shelves after giving advice on BDSM sex and where to find knives

It also explains different sex positions, “giving step-by-step instructions on a common ‘knot for beginners’ for tying up a partner, and describing roleplay dynamics involving teachers and students and parents and children – scenarios it disturbingly brought up itself,” the report stated.

I don't like your LLM because A) It's a piece of junk and I cannot trust it's answers, and B) It's designed and built by an organization focused solely on gathering every bit of data about me that it's possible to gather and use that information to squeeze every nickle out of me you can.

I honestly cannot think of a single reason why I, or anyone else, would want this crud built into anything other than toys, and even then I doubt it would end well.

Because our government is predominantly made up of elite criminals who have just not been caught yet. It's just professional courtesy, really.

Yeah, 4 republicans crossed the aisle to sign the discharge petition with every democrat and force the vote. Once they did that, nearly every republican voted with the democrats in favor of the bill. Because a vote against it would be a vote to protect pedophiles and even MAGA voters can't twist themselves into enough of a pretzel to vote for a representative who does that.

Oh, let me check down detector to see what's impacted.

Well, shit...