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What do you do when you don't have the funding to address a perpetual backlog of unanalyzed rape kits? Ask drivers to foot the bill when applying for a driver's license:
Across the country, there's a backlog of kits containing potential evidence of sexual assaults. Victim advocates say the situation threatens public safety. Lawmakers in dozens of states are pushing for funding, and in Texas, one state representative has offered an innovative solution.
Thousands of rape kits sit sealed and untested in forensics labs and law enforcement offices in Texas. What's missing is state and local funding to pay to analyze the evidence in many of those kits.
If state Rep. Victoria Neave has her way, residents could help chip in. When Texans go to the Department of Public Safety office to apply for a driver's license, they'd be asked if they'd like to help the state pay to test DNA evidence from sexual assault cases — in the same way they're asked if they want to donate to support veterans or organ donation.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @09:34PM (12 children)
Those fuckers signed up for military duty, and got paid for their trouble with money stolen from me. Fucking beggars.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @09:45PM (2 children)
Theoretically the term "Veteran" would cover the sub-set of Vietnam vets that were drafted and did not willingly sign up.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday April 14 2017, @12:05AM (1 child)
Still, if they served their term honorably and did what was expected of them, then why should it make a difference?
I'm all for dodging the draft if it's to boycott a bullshit war you don't believe in, but those who slogged it out should receive the same benefits (except an enlistment/commission bonus) regardless.
As an aside, my dad is a Vietnam vet who enlisted willingly during the war because he was a bum going nowhere in life had a lot of funny stories about Marines trying to get kicked out -- temporary homosexuality, motherfuckers would literally walk up to the gunny and throw fistfuls of joints on the desk saying, "I want out," etc.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 14 2017, @01:13AM
Did temporary homosexuality or joints work as a bail out of military card at all?
Perhaps communist sympathies or Russkie connections work? ;)
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by edIII on Thursday April 13 2017, @10:13PM (8 children)
Stolen? Hardly. You're an American so get over it. Soldiers get paid, but they also take a lot of orders, shit, and run the real risk of dying. Why do they do this? So other Americans at home have the freedom and luxury to spit on them and say vile things.
Veterans means they served, and may have served in war time (America is mostly at war), and they don't get what they deserve. Have you seen a Veteran's hospital?
A beggar is what you would be, and you would be doing it with a British accent, if it weren't for Americans signing up for or being drafted into war.
All so entitled little shits like you can deliver barbs to Veterans on the Internet.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @10:30PM (1 child)
Why do they do this? So other Americans at home have the freedom and luxury to spit on them and say vile things.
That's probably their intention, but it often does not work out that way in practice. Attacking random countries, as we've been doing for many decades, does nothing to increase or protect the freedom of Americans at home. Soldiers don't get to decide these things, but just because someone is a freedom fight in spirit does not mean that they are a freedom fighter in practice.
But of course the real problem is with the ones in power who take advantage of these people.
if it weren't for Americans signing up for or being drafted into war.
Conscription is a form of slavery and no free country would ever use it. Any country that even allows for the possibility of using it is fundamentally broken. Even allowing the country to be destroyed by the enemy is preferable to using it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by HiThere on Friday April 14 2017, @01:03AM
There are arguments in favor of universal conscription, but it needs to actually be universal. When the poor are conscripted and the rich get out, it is, as you said, slavery. And when all are conscripted, but only the poor are endangered, it is also a form of slavery.
The problem is, the ones who set policy are not endangered by the policies they set. Even if they were this would not be a complete solution, history is full of brutal and malicious generals who lead from the front, but they are less common than those who plan wars that don't endanger themselves or those they care for. Unfortunately, the highly skilled are a limited resource, so if you don't protect them your society is disadvantaged. And those in charge will always think of themselves as highly skilled.
I don't see a good answer. The "volunteer army" sure isn't one. It's a bit more volunteer than if we had press gangs roaming the streets, but when areas are economically depressed, a "volunteer" isn't that much of a volunteer, and when recruits are lied to, calling them volunteers is a blatant lie in and of itself.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @10:44PM (4 children)
What a load of crap. The last war we won that arguably involved national security was WWII. Of the current veterans only a small percentage were involved in operations that made the US safer. Most of it was nation building that led to the current wave of terrorism.
And no neither Iraq not Afghanistan resulted in us being safer.
Not to mention the fact that we can't afford to spend over half a trillion a year on defense.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday April 13 2017, @10:50PM (1 child)
So what about the draftees? They didn't even want the job, they just got letters saying "you're in the army now".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @12:56AM
Even worse are the conscientious objectors. We were treated like garbage. People calling us cowards and whatnot; doing humiliating work designed to punish; getting paid less for the same work as those with unrestricted status. I may have disliked the military before, but seeing the machine like that was even more enlightening. Oh, and I served side-by-side with someone the whole time and he gets benefits I don't because many of them weren't written with people like me in mind.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday April 14 2017, @01:05AM
It's possible that the Korean war made us safer. I haven't really studied that part of history.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @12:11PM
And no neither Iraq not Afghanistan resulted in us being safer.
Yet. We're still at war there.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday April 14 2017, @12:11AM
Hooo boy, my buddy worked at the VA and when I went to visit the place was pretty pathetic. It was clean, but the lines were long and it was like China in the sense that there would be motherfuckers literally crawling across the floor, or they'd fall out of their seats and slump down and start twitching, and nobody (staff or peers alike) would even pay any attention. In the pharmacy you have motherfuckers in tattered clothing moaning and howling and Jonesin' for their opiates and benzodiazepines. It was like Michael Jackson's Thriller, waiting room edition.
Final Impression of the VA: They spend more on their janitorial services than they do actually helping veterans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @09:49PM (1 child)
Saw the headline, thought this was about sperm donations.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Thursday April 13 2017, @10:28PM
Yeah, I had a brain bleach moment as well when I read the headline.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday April 13 2017, @09:53PM (12 children)
- Shiny new bombers! Who wants my high-tech smart bombs? Buyers form a line to the right, targets on the left!
- Excuse me, sir, we seem to need a few million to test evidence pertaining to tens of thousands of life-altering crimes.
- Go away, beggar! Don't you have any shame? I'm working hard for the benefit of the best country on Earth!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @09:58PM (1 child)
Didn't you know? I have it on good authority that a woman's body just shuts that whole thing down in these cases.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @11:52PM
Like we're shutting down Planned Parenthood. LOLOL
(Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday April 13 2017, @10:22PM (5 children)
About my reaction. This isn't a cause to find new funding, but is a cause to fire a ton of people, and clawback their salaries and pensions too. It's gross negligence to the extent I find it criminal.
It literally means that the authorities didn't do their fucking jobs. What we paid them to do them already, they didn't do them, and now we need to pay again? What fucking shit is this?
I know how to get to the money. Dock every single authorities pay along with every single politician until their backlog is gone. Then next time remind them if they can't do their fucking jobs, then resign, and we will elect somebody else to do it.
life altering crimes
Perhaps so, but it was just women. Apparently we don't give a fuck what happens to our mothers, sisters, and wives. Their lives were altered radically, but authorities cannot be bothered to do their damn jobs and find justice for the victims. In a very real sense, all of those victims have been harmed twice. Once by the attacker, and twice by the authorities apathy.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday April 13 2017, @10:46PM (1 child)
Agreed. I'll bet they wouldn't be interested in trashing all their drug tests until they catch up on the rape kits either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @12:17AM
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/01/27/0328204 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @07:39AM (1 child)
It literally means that the authorities didn't do their fucking jobs.
How do you come to that conclusion?
If you are given a workload a couple of orders of magnitude beyond your capacity and you fail to complete it, does that really mean you didn't do your job?
These departments are underfund and thus under-staffed and under-equipped. Your response is just screaming, ignorant rage that can only make the problem worse.
Sounds to me like there is more going on with you and this story than you are saying.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @06:23PM
stfu, you mindless slave. these stupid pieces of shit are too busy robbing (and raping women on the side of the road for weed) to bother to find out who is raping people (excluding the raping cops)? and you want to make excuses for them. Anyone who backs the enforcement of unconstitutional laws is guilty of sedition and needs to be dealt with. A final solution, if you will.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Friday April 14 2017, @01:54PM
What's even sadder is that the rape kits are just the tip of the ice berg. I have a friend in another state who was raped. The stories she tells about watching this guy avoid justice is just staggering. She is harassed by this guy's family, but that seems to be ok with the police and judicial system. She couldn't have a lawyer, but he could. The DA wouldn't talk to her at all about her case. When the case wound up with a court date (but only to delay the trial the first of many times), the DA allowed the charges dropped down to the equivalent of jay walking. She's supposed to have counseling, but the system blocks her from that too.
That is America today.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 14 2017, @02:01AM
Does this mean that if we don't donate to IRS they will not attempt to collect taxes? ;-)
Hmm.. sounds like the government can get caught in a momentum-22!
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Friday April 14 2017, @08:48PM (2 children)
You are SO right!!! Those ISIS folks are SUCH CHAMPIONS of women's rights and should not be perturbed in their mission. We should let them carry on - not only in the middle east, but in Europe as well!
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday April 14 2017, @11:46PM (1 child)
We bomb ISIS, but we fund Saudi Arabia and their oppression of women.
We bomb ISIS, but we fund Israel and their sectarian Apartheid.
US women (and men) who have been raped are owned justice, especially when step 1 is as simple as processing actual hard evidence. Even without touching the Pentagon budget, you could start with the cost of one Florida golf trip.
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Saturday April 15 2017, @09:27AM
"we fund Saudi Arabia and their oppression of women."
Wrong. We defend Saudi Arabia and sell weapons to them, and conveniently, politicians in this country receive campaign donations from them.
The former Secretary of State and Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton is largely responsible for facilitating that arrangement in her role as Secretary.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/08/obama-administration-offered-115-billion-weapons-saudi-arabia-report [theguardian.com]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-from-hillary-clintons-state-department/5498517 [globalresearch.ca]
"We bomb ISIS, but we fund Israel and their sectarian Apartheid."
Are you an anti-Semite?
Just kidding - I hate the control that Israel has over politicians in this country, as well. But again, the ROOT of the problem is not truly the US funding Israel, it is Jews in this country funding the politicians that is the problem.
There's always that argument to be made, that money for X could have gone to Y. Have you spent any money on car repairs recently? Well, instead of selling or donating your vehicle, taking the bus, and donating that money to rape victims you are essentially supporting rapists, am I right? It's just a really weak argument. The world cannot stop because of a problem that has been happening since before there were even human societies. Rape is terrible, murder is more terrible. I would stop a murderer before I stopped a rapist, and would much sooner stop a murder-rapist. That is what the members of ISIS are - would you like some supporting evidence?
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/06/06/19-yazidi-girls-burned-alive-for-refusing-to-have-sex-with-their-isis-captors.html [foxnews.com]
I could go on. So which is more important - processing evidence for victims or preventing new, more brutal and deadly attacks?
You can't say killing ISIS makes women in those regions less safe. Or are you one of the feminists who believes that women are more oppressed in the US than in Saudi Arabia? Or that US women paying more for specially-scented womens deodorant domestically is a bigger problem than the hijab or stonings which happen outside of our borders?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @10:43PM
Hey men, donate so we may jail your ass!
Yea. Women!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @11:17PM (1 child)
We could donate to solve murders. If the donations don't happen, murders don't get solved.
We could donate to support SWAT team raids for pirated movies. We could donate to make sure people get speeding tickets. We could donate when the governor is corrupt and needs to be arrested. I wonder what would be most popular?
Better yet, people who don't want this stuff could donate too, and it counts against getting the stuff done. We could have bidding wars, which would be very profitable. It's empowerment of the people. Rapists can vote with their dollars.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @12:02AM
Evolution happens. Society is evolving from its dependence on violently imposed monopolies toward a system of mutually agreed upon contracts. You can see its beginnings in Texas.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Thursday April 13 2017, @11:28PM (11 children)
I live in California, not Texas. Our illustrious leaders just seriously jacked up gas and registration taxes to pay for road repair. They never addressed the issues of how they've been raiding the road repair fund for decades, most recently about 2 years ago. We have 2 gas taxes, A and B (don't remember the details). A is dedicated to road repair, B isn't. So they lowered the tax on A, raised it on B, result was revenue neutral so they avoided all sorts of "Um, yeah, how about no" and slid it through. End result is less money for road repair, more money into the cesspit known as the general fund.
IMHO, the government, local, state, and federal, has plenty of money. The problem is what they decide to spend it on. They don't get campaign contributions for fixing roads, they do for bullet trains from nowhere to nowhere.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @12:10AM (7 children)
bullet trains from nowhere to nowhere
Madera to Shafter, to be precise. Amazed that anyone voted for that shit!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Friday April 14 2017, @01:10AM (3 children)
Maybe the people who are like my friends yesterday: train was scheduled for an absolutely absurd 4 hours and 50 minutes for a 174-mile trip, which takes 3+ hours by car (across LA to SD).
The train was pretty full despite that, so there is demand. It was also almost an hour late, barely beating a moped or a well-juiced cyclist.
The state of US trains is abysmal. The airports add two hours to every trip.
If the train to nowhere actually gets somewhere, people will realize what they've been missing (if the price doesn't reflect the short-term build costs, but is considered a strategic decades-long return).
The European and Chinese are waving at us from the late 20st century. Don't blink, they're passing by at 200 mph.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 14 2017, @01:50AM
The Shanghai Maglev Train, waves at 430 km/h (270 mph) ;-)
So the US has slow airports with fast planes OR, crappy train lines OR, snail fast cars?
1st nation..
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday April 14 2017, @01:53AM (1 child)
Maybe the people who are like my friends yesterday: train was scheduled for an absolutely absurd 4 hours and 50 minutes for a 174-mile trip, which takes 3+ hours by car (across LA to SD).
Back in the 80s I did a SIGGRAPH in Frisco, and decided to take the train home from SF to San Diego. First shock: Cost something like 150% over the plane ticket. Expected shock: 6-8 hours as opposed to 1 hour. Why? I'd heard the views were awesome and had the time.
The reality? Train left SF a couple hours late. Going into the scenic parts of the ride we stopped. Why? Never found out. An hour later we started moving again, too bad it was dark and the scenic thing couldn't happen.
Best part? Get into LA (remember, this was a San Francisco to San Diego train ride), find out we have to get onto a bus for the rest of the trip. That damned bus ride took longer than the original plane ride would have. Did I mention Amtrack cost more?
First and last time I took Amtrack anywhere.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by dry on Friday April 14 2017, @05:52AM
If it's like Canada, freight trains have priority. You sit at the station waiting for the track to clear then you pull over to a siding to let another slow moving freight go by.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday April 14 2017, @01:44AM (2 children)
I live in California and have never heard of Madara nor Shafter. LA to Vegas? Ok. LA to SF? Ok. Madera to Shafter sounds like a city who's name is made up to match "Shaft-us".
Fuck Brown, fuck the dems in sacto, I will never trust them with anything financial for the rest of my life (which, granted, I'm old and rest of my life aint' that long).
Then again, I've been watching these fuckers for 50 years now and fuck em, just flat out fuck em when it comes to honestly spending the money they get.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @04:58AM (1 child)
It is I believe halfway between Stockton and Modesto on Highway 99, although I might be wrong and it is sout of Modesto on the way to Fresno. Regardless it can be considered the sticks of Central California.
Having said that, it is probably a lot of relatively flat ground, and easier to get easements/land purchases in than most of the rest of the state, which might be why they chose it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Friday April 14 2017, @04:18PM
They wanted to create facts on the ground, with the money which had been approved.
You can spend those billions digging one great tunnel right away (i.e. after 10 years of studies and delays), or you can lay down a hundred miles of track on flat farmland.
The second option makes it easier to point at, when arguing that the project is moving ahead and providing jobs.
Even if the work gets suspended, a straight right-of-way with tracks has value, while a half-bored tunnel is a liability.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by kaszz on Friday April 14 2017, @01:56AM (2 children)
I think you summarize the problem quite spot on. The problem is not money supply, but money spending priorities. Which makes one wonder in this case where Texas spends theirs.
To remove taxes from burdening your income, move out or become big corp inc.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday April 14 2017, @03:14AM (1 child)
Agreed, the problem isn't ONLY the money.
Its been known [slate.com] since 2014 that the cost of the test [endthebacklog.org] and entering the results into CODIS [fbi.gov] ranges from $500 to $1500 max. I suspect the price has come tumbling down in the years since those stories were published.
(Samples from victims take longer and more work that the cheek swab, because there may be multiple sources, some consensual).
Cost isn't the only, or, it turns out even the main reason for the backlog. [thebillfold.com] There are social stigmas involved, and murder cases take precedence, and god help you if your case falls behind an officer involved shooting, where its all hands on deck and all evidence gets tested in a multiple labs.
The last administration already threw $41 Million dollars [archives.gov] specifically at the backlog problem in 2014, and apparently accomplished nothing. That was on top of $430 million in violence against women programs of equally questionable effectiveness.
The backlog is not money related.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 14 2017, @03:19AM
More investigators needed?
(ie money..)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @06:40PM
the whole government spends it's time stealing from working people and reinvesting in the scam called gov. so, they revenue on the highways so they can hire more thieves and buy more gear. persecuting people for non crimes while real criminals roam free committing property crimes and sex crimes. the federal gov and all it's slimey whores get on tv and lament why the people are getting sick of pigs while spewing their bile of "pigs are out protecting us". yeah fucking right. don't worry government whores. once we clean the streets of highway robbers we're coming to your office to render some fat. fuck all you motherfuckers.