Palm springs current weather

Spring is here and I'm ready to get outside!! Problem is, I haven't got anybody to share the good times with. I'm a 36 y/o cf Afro-Latina with an ambivert personality, looking for a few good folks to "yes, and..." their way through all the fun times up for grabs in the city.
Some currents on my list: archery rock climbing touring the Masonic Temple eating my way through the SEA market oggling Dr J's shoes
I'm going to be adventurous and not place limits on who I'm open to meeting. Let's get out there and have fun!

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/magazine/how-much-can-restitution-help-victims-of-child-pornography.html
When Nicole was a child, her father took pornographic pictures of her that still circulate on the internet.
Victims of child pornography can now collect damages directly from those convicted of possessing their images. But how much can restitution help them repair their lives?
By Emily Bazelon Jan. 24, 2013
The detective spread out the photographs on the kitchen table, in front of Nicole, on a December morning in 2006. She was 17, but in the pictures, she saw the face of her 10-year-old self, a half-grown girl wearing make-up. The bodies in the images were broken up by pixelation, but Nicole could see the outline of her father, forcing himself on her. Her mother, sitting next to her, burst into sobs.
The detective spoke gently, but he had brutal news: the pictures had been downloaded onto thousands of computers via file-sharing services around the world. They were among the most widely circulated child pornography on the Internet. Also online were video clips, similarly notorious, in which Nicole spoke words her father had scripted for her, sometimes at the behest of other men. For years, investigators in the United States, Canada and Europe had been trying to identify the girl in the images.
Nicole's parents split up when she was a toddler, and she grew up living with her mother and stepfather and visiting her father, a former policeman, every other weekend at his apartment in a suburban town in the Pacific Northwest. He started showing her child pornography when she was about 9, telling her that it was normal for fathers and daughters to "play games" like in the pictures. Soon after, he started forcing her to perform oral sex and raping her, dressing her in tight clothes and sometimes binding her with ropes. When she turned 12, she told him to stop, but he used threats and intimidation to continue the abuse for about a year. He said that if she told anyone what he'd done, everyone would hate her for letting him. He said that her mother would no longer love her.
Nicole (who asked me to use her middle name to protect her privacy) knew her father had a tripod set up in his bedroom. She asked if he'd ever shown the pictures to anyone. He said no, and she believed him. "It was all so hidden," she told me. "And he knew how to lie. He taught me to do it. He said: 'You look them straight in the eye. You make your shoulders square. You breathe normally.'"
When she was 16, Nicole told her mother, in a burst of tears, what had been going on at her father's house. Her father was arrested for child rape. The police asked Nicole whether he took pictures. She said yes, but that she didn't think he showed them to anyone. A few months later, while her father was out on bail, Nicole was using a computer he gave her to work on a presentation for Spanish class when she came across a file with a vulgar name that she couldn't open. She showed it to her mother and stepfather, and they brought the computer to the police.
A search detected five deleted video files of child pornography, two of them showing Nicole and her father. In the spring of 2006, he was charged with a new crime—producing the videos—and he fled the country. At this point, the police didn't realize that Nicole's father had also distributed the images.
Months later, the police said they had no leads on her father, so Nicole went on television to ask the public for any tips that might help them find him. A police officer in Toronto involved in tracking child pornography around the world saw the broadcast and recognized Nicole as an older version of the girl in the notorious videos. The Toronto officer set off an alert that reached the police in Nicole's hometown, informing them that she was the victim in a major pornography-distribution case.
The alert brought the local detective to Nicole's house on that December day, to confirm that she was in fact the girl in the pictures that circulated around the globe. "It was the worst moment of my life," Nicole said of seeing the pictures of herself. "In a way, I didn't remember it being that bad with my father—and then I saw that it was. Knowing that other people, all over, had seen me like that, I just froze. I could hear my mother crying, but I couldn't cry."
Nicole's appearance on TV produced a tip that eventually led the police to arrest her father in Hong Kong. But by going public, she had inadvertently exposed her identity to thousands of men who for years had collected her images. On one Web site with an American flag design, on a thread that continued for four years, commenters described in detail the acts of rape and bondage Nicole had experienced. One called the videos "legendary." Another called her "an eager participant" because her father instructed her to smile and talk in the videos. "The fact remains that she is the most searched for, sought after and downloaded ever," a third commenter wrote. "There are hours of video out there. It's just too bad there are not more willing like her."
For Nicole, knowing that so many men have witnessed and taken pleasure from her abuse has been excruciating. "You have an image of yourself as a person, but here is this other image," she told me. "You know it's not true, but all those other people will believe that it's you—that this is who you really are."
Until the 1970s, magazines with titles like Lolita were rife with sexual images of minors and routinely sold alongside adult pornography at red-light bookstores. In 1978, Congress made child pornography illegal, and four years later, the Supreme Court upheld a state law banning its sale. The court's decision changed the market along with the law. "The commercial distributors started to go out of business," said Kenneth Lanning, a retired F.B.I. agent who consulted on child pornography cases for decades. For a time, distribution and production plummeted. But then came the Internet. By the mid- to late 1990s, Lanning said, "there was a way for people seeking it to find each other and send images."
A decade later, the Justice Department interviewed veteran experts like Lanning for a 2010 report, and concluded that "the market—in terms of numbers of offenders, images and victims"—was growing to a degree described as "overwhelming" and "exponential." In the early-Web year of 1994, only 61 defendants were sentenced in federal court for child-pornography offenses; in 2011, 1,880 were, a 30-fold increase. The federal definition of child pornography extends to young people up to age 18, but the 2010 report noted that it had become more common for images to involve young children, as well as violence and sadism.
Precise numbers of child-pornography viewers are hard to come by. Unicef estimates that there are at least hundreds of thousands of Web sites with child pornography worldwide. Child-pornography consumers are even more likely to swap with one another via hidden networks. Using a tool developed at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 2009, police have logged close to 22 million public I.P. addresses offering child-pornography pictures or videos via peer-to-peer file sharing, which allows users to download content from one computer to another; almost 10 million of the I.P. addresses were located in the United States. Many of the users shared only a single illegal image, perhaps downloaded inadvertently, but others offered collections of hundreds or thousands of pictures.
To gain access to a group of downloaders, a recent arrival may have to prove himself by delivering new material. Often this involves digitally altering an existing image, but in some cases, it can also mean seducing children to create new pictures to trade. The most desired series zoom around the Internet. "A lot of these guys have a collector's mentality," Lanning said. The pictures Nicole's father took became must-haves and went viral.
For Nicole, knowing that her photos were circulating was an unrelenting burden. It was hard to concentrate at school and hard to forge new friendships. She stayed close to just a few friends from her church. Her family is deeply Christian—"I've found comfort in my faith," she says—and she was home-schooled for a few years as a younger child. Her friends from church were the only ones she told about her father. "Everyone else I held at arm's length," she told me when we met this summer at her lawyer's office. Nicole speaks deliberately and carefully, and on that day she was wearing an outfit that matched her coral nail polish and perfectly applied makeup. "But other kids found out after my father was charged. I remember walking down the hallways and thinking I could hear people saying, 'There's the girl who was raped by her dad.'"
In her junior year, Nicole transferred to a community college with a program for students who wanted to earn an associate's degree while finishing high school. "At the time I'd have said I went for academic reasons, but looking back, it was also to isolate myself," she said.
Late that spring, Nicole got a series of messages on Myspace from a man who said he had been looking for her for five years. He asked, "Want me to come visit u?" When Nicole blocked him, he wrote to one of her friends on Myspace, telling her that Nicole was a "porn star"—and sending two images. "That's when I fully realized what it meant for these pictures to be out there," Nicole said. "I couldn't get away from it, not really. I started getting paranoid and having nightmares."
The man was arrested and went to prison, but Nicole couldn't avoid the knowledge that other men were still looking at the sexual photos of her young self. Later that year, she got a letter from the Victim Notification System at the Justice Department. Congress had passed a law in 2004 mandating that crime victims receive notice every time a suspect is arrested or has a court appearance. The letter was addressed to Nicole's mother and stepfather because she hadn't yet turned 18; it informed them that a man in California had been arrested for possessing a pornographic photo of her. "It just sat there on the counter for days," Nicole remembered. "We didn't really know where to put it." More arrests followed and more letters—piles of them. "We stacked them in a laundry basket in a walk-in closet so I wouldn't have to see them," Nicole said. "Then there were more baskets, and we had to move them to the garage. It was really hard for me. I was still scared of my father, but I knew him. These other people, they were strangers, and there were so many of them."
The piles of letters would eventually connect Nicole with another young woman who had also been abused and then lead them both to court. Back in April 1998, in one of the first investigations into Internet trafficking of child pornography, the F.B.I. started tracking an AOL user, with the handle HAZMAT029, who was posting on an AOL bulletin board service. HAZMAT029 sent 80 illegal pictures to another user, BMR169, along with e-mails that included the message: "do me a favor. get a peice [sic] of paper and wright HI HAZ on it and take a pic of her in nothing but stockings pulled down below her [genitals]." BMR169 e-mailed back pictures of a young girl, her shorts and underwear pulled to the side, sitting on a gray carpet in front of a wooden dresser. Next to her, a note read, "HI HAZ."
The F.B.I. traced BMR's AOL account to a suburban house in a small town, and in October of that year, a team of agents arrived with a search warrant. In a basement bedroom, they found the gray carpet and the dresser. They also seized a computer full of illegal images, including pictures that showed the same girl being forced to give oral sex and being raped. The man the F.B.I. suspected was BMR wasn't home, so the agents showed the face of the child in the photos to his wife and his adult son. Did they recognize the girl?
They did. As they spoke, one of the agents looked out the window of the house and saw the girl playing in the yard across the street. "It's something I'll never forget," he told me.
Amy, as she's called in the court documents, was BMR's 9-year-old niece. Shown sanitized versions of the pictures, Amy denied that her uncle had abused her. She said he told her she was special and took her to buy treats like beef jerky, and she didn't want anything bad to happen to him. "How is he?" she asked her parents in the weeks after his arrest. "Is he going to be mad at me?"
Over months of therapy, Amy began to talk about the abuse. "My mind has everything in it," she told her therapist, according to court records I read with her permission. She remembered her uncle trying to have sex with her—it hurt, and she pulled away. And she remembered, at his direction, chatting with men over the Internet about the photos he sent them.
Amy's uncle pleaded guilty to one count of rape and two counts of child sexual abuse in state court and was sentenced to the minimum for each one, adding up to 12½ years in prison. In federal court, he pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography and received a 12-year sentence. Amy's current lawyer, James Marsh, says her parents were told the state and federal penalties would run consecutively, but instead, her uncle was allowed to serve the two at the same time.
Amy was given a diagnosis of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder the year her uncle was sentenced, but she also asked to stop going to therapy—she told her parents that she didn't want to talk about the abuse anymore. Her mother, who worked in health care, and her father, a tradesman, blamed themselves for trusting Amy's uncle with her. For years Amy's mother barely spoke to Amy's aunt, who remained married to her husband, even though the sisters continued to live across the street from each other.
As Amy grew up, she tried to push aside what had happened to her. Every few months, in middle school and high school, her parents would ask if she wanted to talk about it, and each time she would say no. "I was always thinking about it, but I wasn't ready to deal with how I felt," she says now. Amy threw herself into her social life, going out and drinking in the hills behind her house. Even to the friends who knew, it almost seemed as if the abuse hadn't happened.
When she was 17, Amy received her first crime-victim notice from the Justice Department. "My mom said it was a mistake, because I was still a minor—the letter should have been addressed to her and my dad," she said. "But it had my name on it, and I never got mail, so I wanted to open it. My parents took me into their room and said we needed to have a talk." Amy's parents had never told her that her uncle had distributed images of her to other men. "It had been so long by then, eight years," she said. "They didn't know how to tell me."
Amy's parents took her to see Marsh, who had started the public-interest Children's Law Center in Washington. At their first meeting, he explained to Amy that the letters meant her pictures had been traded countless times online. "I just felt so full of shame," Amy said. "I started wondering, Has he looked at them? He said he hadn't, and that made me feel better. But then I thought, Who has?"
Marsh researched legal remedies for Amy. Combing through his casebooks, he found a provision in the Violence Against Women Act that he had never heard of before: it gave the victims of sex crimes, including child pornography, the right to restitution or compensation for the "full amount" of their losses. Enumerating what those losses could be, Congress listed psychiatric care, lost income and legal costs and concluded, "The issuance of a restitution order under this section is mandatory."
The provision for restitution, enacted in 1994, had yet to be invoked in a case of child-pornography possession. The basis for such a claim wasn't necessarily self-evident: how could Amy prove that her ongoing trauma was the fault of any one man who looked at her pictures, instead of her uncle, who abused her and made the pornography?
Marsh suggested that Amy see a forensic psychologist, Joyanna Silberg, who evaluated Amy and said she would need therapy throughout her life and could expect to work sporadically because of the likelihood of periodic setbacks. Silberg attributed these costs—Amy's damages—to her awareness of the ongoing downloading and viewing. "Usually, we try to help survivors of child sexual abuse make a very strong distinction between the past and the present," Silberg, who has given testimony on Amy's behalf for restitution hearings, told me. "The idea is to contain the harm: it happened then, and it's not happening anymore. But how do you do that when these images are still out there? The past is still the present, which turns the hallmarks of treatment on their head."
Marsh put together a lifetime claim for Amy totaling almost $3.4 million. With the crime notices arriving in the mail, Marsh started tracking men charged with possession of her pictures. He looked, in particular, for wealthy defendants. He planned to use the concept of joint and several liability to argue that each defendant should be on the hook for the full amount of his client's damages—that is, for millions of dollars. Joint and several liability is often used in pollution cases: when several companies dump toxic waste in a lake over time, a plaintiff can go after the company with the deepest pockets, and a judge can hold that single company responsible for the entire cost of the cleanup—with the understanding that it's up to that polluter to sue the others to pay their share.
In July 2008, Marsh learned about the arrest of Alan Hesketh, a former vice-president of Pfizer, who was charged with trading nearly 2,000 child-pornography photos online—among them four pictures of Amy. Marsh filed one of his first requests for restitution with the prosecution. Hesketh pleaded guilty, and his sentencing was scheduled for later that year.
At the time of the Hesketh case, Amy was struggling. She was 19 and living with her boyfriend. She had enrolled at a local community college, but she drank too much to concentrate on studying. The crime-victim notices had stirred up the past for her, and she wasn't in regular therapy. "The last class I went to, there was this PowerPoint slide, something about child sexual abuse, and I thought, I can't do this," she told me as she sat in her kitchen smoking a cigarette. "It just brought everything back." Amy dropped out after that, without telling her parents. "I told myself I would just take a year off," she continued. "But you know, statisticwise, once you leave school, the chances you'll finish go down about 80 percent."
Amy has a quick intelligence—she's a college dropout who can rattle off her own odds of going back—and asks lots of questions. She has focused her curiosity on the legal strategy that Marsh has pursued for her. When Hesketh was sentenced, Amy decided she would be there. "I kind of wanted to face my fear," she told me. She also wanted to prove a point: Hesketh was arguing, through his lawyer, that he had committed a victimless crime—a common defense in cases of child-pornography possession. "I thought, I want him to look at me and know that I'm not a picture; I'm a person," she said.
In a federal courthouse in Bridgeport, Conn., in October 2008, Amy sat on the opposite side of the courtroom from Hesketh's family. The judge opened the proceedings by acknowledging that there was a victim in the courtroom. Amy listened as Hesketh's grown children asked the judge for mercy for their father. "His kids kept saying he was the best grandfather ever," she said. "And I was like: 'But you know. You know what he did.'"
Then Hesketh took the stand. As Amy remembers it, he said, "I'm so sorry." Earlier, he said that "he hadn't hurt anyone," Amy told me. "Now he totally flipped around. I felt like I'd made an impact. It was like, 'He knows now.'"
Hesketh was sentenced to 6½ years. Four months later, in an unprecedented move, the judge advised Hesketh to settle the restitution claim and he agreed to pay $130,000.
Not long after, Amy found out she was pregnant. She wasn't sorry—at the time she had faith in her boyfriend, whom she had told about the abuse and the photos. But he was a heroin user and dealer, and he went to jail two months after their son was born. Amy started seeing another man who she says had a jealous streak and broke her nose, twice. He also broke her infant son's leg, she told me. She took the blame when he threatened her, and she had to give up custody to her mother for six months.
As she recalled this time in her life, she took out her phone and scrolled through her photos until she found a close-up of her beaten face: lip split, one eye half-closed, nose swollen and cheek yellow with bruises. The young woman next to me had clear skin and bright eyes, and I had just watched her charm a police officer into calling us a cab. The girl in the photo was expressionless.
Amy stared at the picture on her phone. "That was my normal," she said.
Six months after Hesketh's sentencing, Marsh went after another child-pornography defendant, Arthur Staples, a 65-year-old sheriff's deputy in Virginia, who had chatted online with an undercover detective and expressed an interest in young children. Staples sent one image of a young girl (not Amy), and he was caught with more than 600 pictures on his computer, including hers. Staples agreed not to appeal any sentence or restitution judgment. The judge sentenced him to 17½ years, and made the unusual move of ordering him to pay all of Amy's claim. To Marsh's surprise, Staples turned out to have $2 million in assets. He has since paid $1.2 million to Amy. (Marsh says the government let Staples's wife keep part of the estate.) While Amy has been turned down for restitution by some courts, which have stated that there was not enough proof that any one man who viewed her pictures was responsible for the harm she has suffered, she has won more than 150 cases, totaling $1.6 million. Most of the amounts aren't large: $1,000 or even $100, paid out in checks as small as $7.33.
Nicole has also been pursuing restitution. Her lawyer, Carol Hepburn, did her own research and got in touch with Marsh when she learned about the claims he was bringing for Amy. The two lawyers now collaborate on ideas and strategy, though they represent their clients separately. Since receiving her first check for $10,000, Nicole has collected more than $550,000, mostly in small amounts from 204 different men. So far only a few other child-pornography victims have gone to court for restitution. Many may not know there is a legal remedy; others don't know their images have circulated.
The restitution checks gave Nicole a lift when they started to trickle in, but, like Amy, she had trouble with the transition into adulthood. In the fall of 2008, Nicole was attending a one-year bible college and working at an ice-cream shop. At work she felt increasingly self-conscious around male customers. Had they seen her pictures? Were they like the man who stalked her on Myspace—were any of them coming to the store because they knew? That spring, Nicole testified at her father's sentencing. She asked the judge to give him a long punishment, and her father was sent to prison for 50 years. Her roommates, one of whom was a friend from her childhood church, supported her. "But I didn't have a counselor there, and that was tough," she said. "I called my parents and said: 'I have to quit my job, and I need to come home. I feel like I'm going crazy.'"
During her first few weeks at home, Nicole slept all day in her childhood bedroom and stayed up late watching sitcoms like Sabrina and The Nanny. Finally, she started counseling and was able to get a job doing administrative work at a nuclear-waste site. That June, she testified at the sentencing hearing of four child-pornography defendants caught with her images, hoping to gather strength from speaking out. Instead, the experience made her feel exposed.
More than a year later, in the fall of 2010, she left for a four-year college away from home. She was worried about being on her own, but she wanted to try. "I push myself," she told me. "I don't like to say something is too much for me." Like Amy, however, she took a psychology course, about child development, that brought up unbearable memories. During lectures, she began going blank. "All of a sudden class would be over, and I would be like, 'What happened?'" she said. She started skipping class for fear of continuing to disassociate.
Nicole, who wasn't in counseling at the time, failed all but two of her courses that spring. "I just totally broke down," she said. "I'd come home and sit in the same position and stare into space, and then I'd look at the clock, and it was six hours later." Nicole talked about this period of her life with Hepburn and me over dinner one night last summer. She showed us a tattoo on her right wrist: a heart sheltered by wings that she got after her father's sentencing. She also learned to make tattoos, and she took out her phone to show us a picture of the first one she created, an anchor with a rope curled around it. "My cousin is a tattoo artist, and he taught me," she said. "We grew up together, and he was a very easy person to hang out with during that bad time. I'd go over to his place, and he'd be drawing, and he said, 'You're into design, you could do this.' When I tried I felt this release of emotions. We started drawing for hours to music—Tom Petty, Cake, everything. You have to learn how to go smoothly and keep the same pressure on the line the whole time. I drew anchors over and over again on grapefruit. I'd been numb for months, and now I could feel again. I actually felt joy."
In the fall of 2011, Nicole transferred to a campus closer to her family. She made her way through her course work by avoiding subject matter that upset her and by allowing for her own limitations. "I had to accept that, because I have this extra stressor, I get overwhelmed by things that other people can do," she said.
Nicole decided to spare herself going to court, so she wasn't in El Paso, in September 2011, for the sentencing of Luis Enriquez-Alonso, a student at the University of Texas. He agreed to plead guilty after being caught with thousands of illegal videos and images, including Nicole's, on his computer. At the hearing, Enriquez-Alonso and his parents listened while the prosecutor read into the record a statement Nicole wrote about what it is like to know men are looking at her pictures: "After all these years and going to different counselors, I still haven't learned the trick to let my mind rest," Nicole wrote. "When I do sleep, my dreams are vivid and I remember them for weeks. A common theme is finding myself naked in front of a crowd of people or in an enclosed space and I can't escape or run away fast enough."
That day, without a court order, Enriquez-Alonso's family handed over a check for $150,000, along with an expression of remorse. "That really touched me," Nicole said, "that his family wanted to make sure that I was taken care of, that I could get all the counseling I need. Most of the time when I get restitution, there's no story behind it. I feel like they're forced to give the money. In this case, they wanted to do it, and there were words behind it, kind words." Enriquez-Alonso, who faced a maximum of 10 years in prison, is serving 5.
Study after study links child sexual abuse to psychological trauma, addiction and violent relationships in adulthood. There is almost no research, however, that deals with the specifics of Amy and Nicole's experiences: What additional harm comes from knowing that pictures of your childhood exploitation are circulating widely?
The Supreme Court actually addressed this question in its 1982 decision upholding child-pornography bans. "Pornography poses an even greater threat to the child victim than does sexual abuse or prostitution," Justice Byron White wrote, quoting from a book about abused children. "Because the child's actions are reduced to a recording, the pornography may haunt him in future years, long after the original misdeed took place."
David Finkelhor, a sociologist who directs the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, sees the moral weight of the Supreme Court's proclamation, but not the empirical proof. "The evidence doesn't yet tell us to what extent the experience of being a pornography victim aggravates the experience of the sexual abuse itself," he told me. "How do you separate it out?"
Courts have disagreed on this question. In at least a dozen cases, defendants have appealed restitution decisions and mostly won. In five of those cases, federal appeals courts have expressed skepticism that Amy and Nicole should receive more than nominal restitution. Two other appeals courts have allowed the young women to recover from individual defendants as members of the group of viewers but, so far, only for amounts of $10,000 or less. (Amy collected a far greater sum from Arthur Staples because he waived his right to appeal.)
Last spring, the legal battle was focused on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. One panel of three judges upheld full restitution to Amy of millions of dollars from a Texas man. Based on that decision, a second three-judge panel affirmed a separate $529,000 restitution order for Amy against a New Orleans defendant, but voiced its fundamental disagreement with the original ruling. To address the dispute, 15 Fifth Circuit judges gathered last May for a hearing in New Orleans. James Marsh and Carol Hepburn were there along with Amy; Nicole chose not to go. Amy knew this was the most significant hearing to date, and she wanted to show the judges that she was real, just as she had shown Alan Hesketh.
At the lectern to argue her side was Paul G. Cassell, a former federal judge who teaches law at the University of Utah. Cassell is a staunch conservative (he challenged the right to a Miranda warning before the Supreme Court), and Marsh and Hepburn, both Democrats, were surprised at first to be allied with him. But as a leading advocate for victims' rights, Cassell sees in Amy's claims a chance to lay the groundwork for broader change.
For 30 years, the victims'-rights movement has fought for a larger role for victims in criminal prosecutions. Victims have gained the right to make statements in court about the impact a crime has had on them, which judges can take into account in determining punishment. Restitution remains an ambitious next step. The standard context is crime involving financial loss—a bank robber ordered to return stolen money to the bank or an embezzler who must repay the employer he defrauded. Cassell sees Amy and Nicole's cases as a route to expand the idea. "I'd like to pursue the concept of total restitution for all victims, for whatever crimes and losses a defendant has caused," Cassell told me. "This is a good opportunity to show how it can work."
In the courtroom, Cassell linked the defendants to the network for child-pornography distribution. "What the defendants have done is collect images of an 8-year-old girl being bound, raped and sodomized," he said. "If you participate in a market, you become responsible for that market." The lawyer for the New Orleans defendant disagreed. She argued that there was no proof that her client, in particular, had harmed Amy—no way to show that his viewing of her images caused damage. She also called the restitution order for $529,000 "grossly disproportionate to his culpability relative to other people who have abused Amy."
Michael Rotker, the lawyer for the department, told the court that the problem with the restitution awards was that there was no statutory authority for joint and several liability—nothing in the law, as Congress wrote it, which allowed a victim to recover a large award from one defendant who could then seek to recoup those losses by suing other defendants. Instead, Rotker argued, each defendant could be held responsible only for a small and roughly equal fraction of the whole. He offered this hypothetical example: if 200 men were convicted of possessing Amy's images, and her claim for damages totaled $3 million, then a judge would have discretion to order a defendant to pay restitution of $15,000 to $30,000.
As the lawyers spoke, Amy's eyes filled with tears. "Some of it was hard to listen to," she told me later. "But my therapist said to think of it as a store, with different compartments you can take out and put back. She said, 'When you were a little girl, you had to compartmentalize to deal with everything you went through.' So I can still do that now, and sometimes it's good, I guess."
At one point in the proceedings, Judge Emilio Garza stopped Cassell, not to challenge him, but to pick up on his theme. "It seems to me that we're in this brave new world, where not only was there an actual rape, but I'm going to suggest to you there is a continuing digitized rape," the judge said. "Possession of the digitized recording of the rape contributes to the system, contributes to the economic benefit of those who produced this thing."
The judges would not announce their decision for several months, but at the end of the hearing, Amy focused on what Garza said that day. "To hear that from a judge—I couldn't believe it," she told me. "It was so relieving. It was like he really got it. He understood."
Just six weeks after Amy got home from New Orleans, her uncle was released from prison after completing his concurrent 12-year sentences. Amy says she was greatly relieved when her aunt told her that she wouldn't allow him in the house. Instead, he was paroled nearby. When Marsh texted to give her the address, Amy happened to be only a few blocks from it. "I almost dropped the phone," she said. "Oh, my God, it was just so weird. I thought, He's got binoculars, he's looking for me. I thought the worst." Marsh reminded her that if her uncle contacted her, he would go back to prison. And also that she was an adult now and safe from her uncle's [abusiveness toward children].
Last month, while standing in line at Wal-Mart with her brother and a friend, Amy saw a man who she thought was her uncle looking at her. "I wasn't positive because I haven't seen him for so long," she said. "But as soon as I made eye contact, I didn't breathe." Was she being paranoid? She couldn't tell. The man seemed to follow them out of the store. As they got into her car, the man stopped to light a cigarette, and she thought he was staring at them. "It was very, very scary," she said.
Today, a sentence like the one Amy's uncle received—with no additional prison time for a federal conviction for pornography production and distribution—is extremely rare. The penalties for distributing or receiving pornography have become harsher. Receiving one illegal photo carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years. The number of images a defendant downloads increases the punishment, as does his use of a computer. Now that large volumes of data stream with a click, the average recommended prison term for possession has jumped to 10 years, even if a defendant has no criminal record and there is no evidence that he produced or distributed porn. Because some child sexual abuse cases still end in relatively low penalties in state court, there's a paradox: defendants who look at sexual pictures of children can spend more years in prison than people who abuse children but don't have pornography of them.
The United States Sentencing Commission held hearings last February to discuss whether the punishment for child-pornography offenders has become both disproportionate and unfair—with people who committed similar crimes receiving vastly different penalties, based on the subjective decisions of judges. Restitution was discussed even though the prevailing view is that technically it isn't considered part of punishment. Its purpose is to "make the victim whole," as the legal phrase goes. "Simply put, an innocent victim should not suffer financial losses from a crime—the defendant should make good on those losses," Cassell said.
But Douglas Berman, an Ohio State University law professor who writes a frequently cited blog about sentencing, argues that the commission could rethink the role of restitution. In some cases, restitution could be considered commensurate to prison time—and courts could recommend shorter sentences for child-pornography collectors who agree to compensate victims based on their ability to pay. Berman thinks the key to making this leap is adopting the point of view of the victim. "Victims are shrewder than most prosecutors about the diminishing returns of long incarceration," he said. "They want perpetrators to serve some time. They want these men's lives disrupted, and they want the deterrence that helps protect other people. But they're often wise enough to realize that there's not much gain in deterrence from a 5 or 10 year sentence to 15 years. If victims are saying that restitution is as, or more, important to them than five extra years, I very much think the sentencing commission and Congress should listen."
When I asked Amy about such a trade-off, she supported it. Nicole had mixed feelings: she liked the idea of greater incentives for restitution, but she wasn't sure about giving up longer punishments, given how easy it would be for someone to leave prison and go back to downloading child pornography. Cassell says that using restitution in this way could have value. "If it makes the perpetrators internalize how they've hurt the victims—if it makes them see there are real victims—then you deter them from doing this again when they get out," he said.
Berman also favors a proposal that has been discussed at the Justice Department: a general compensation fund that would systematically collect restitution from child-pornography offenders and pay it out to victims like Amy and Nicole based on the harm they suffered and the costs they've incurred because of it. A compensation fund could give more victims the financial means to put their lives back together. And it could force more defendants to reckon with the children in the pictures and with their own role in supporting a market that depends on abuse.
Restitution has allowed Amy and Nicole to get the counseling they need, but receiving large sums can be complicated. When Amy received her $130,000 check from Alan Hesketh, she went on shopping sprees at the mall, splurging at stores like Abercrombie & Fitch. She had never been able to earn a steady paycheck, and the money was a sudden windfall. By the time the $1.2 million check came last spring, she was more considered. She didn't want to stand out in her small town. Last summer, she bought a modest three-bedroom house a few miles from her childhood home, where her mother and brothers still live.
Amy has also discovered that she likes giving money away—to her mother for a new deck, to a close friend who wanted kitchen cabinets she couldn't otherwise afford. It's her way of dealing with the discomfort of having resources that people around her don't and repaying those who helped her along the way.
1/

Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance: $5,173.90 in a 401k and $45 in a Roth IRA. The 401k balance represents 9 months of contributions. I opened the IRA in high school and haven't contributed anything since.
Equity if you're a homeowner: N/A
Savings account balance: $5,012 in HYSA and $4,860 in savings account. $1,520 in vacation savings, and $230 in moving sinking fund.
Checking account balance: $5,600 in main checking account.
Credit card debt: I pay my cards off in full twice a month when I get paid. I use a Chase Sapphire Preferred for the majority of my expenses but keep my wifi recurring bill on my oldest card.
Student loan debt: $26,000 for a degree in the field I currently work in. I went to a very expensive private school that was mostly covered by scholarship and financial aid. Additionally, my parents took out a $25,000 loan to help pay for my degree. I have BEGGED my parents to let me pay them back for some of these loans (since they are private and my federal loans are on pause) but its extremely important to them that they helped contribute to my education.
I track my expenses on Mint.
Section Two: Income Progression: (buckle up its a long one)
2016: paid canvasser in high school on political campaigns. $15 an hour but hours/campaigns were inconsistent.
2017-2018: barista (15 hrs a week @ $15 an hour+tips)+ work study job ($15 an hour)
That summer did an internship program that paid for housing+provided a stipend ($800 a month).
2018-2019: Interned at a non-profit ($15 an hour) part-time. Worked as a resident advisor and got a food stipend in addition to free housing. That summer I worked the front desk at a gym on the weekends ($15 an hour), worked a research job on campus that covered my housing (20 hrs a week), and interned 24 hours a week ($15 an hour).
2019-2020 Worked at the gym, worked for the school as an RA, and then interned in the Spring as well.($15 an hour)
2020: Working 30 hours a week at my internship while going to school virtually full-time.
2021: In March I am extremely burnt out and am scared I won’t be able to get my shit together and graduate. Quit my job and got a short-term nannying gig to cover rent+expenses($20 an hour). Got a full-time job offer for an entry-level consulting role in May. Was offered $56,000 and got a small raise to $60,000.
2022: Really hate my job. Start casually applying and got a job offer at my current org. Was offered $85,000 but with an end-of-year COLA was $92,000 by EOY 2022.
2023: Got a promotion and a senior title. I’m now making $107,000 a year.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $5558
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: $depends
I started babysitting in college and would babysit 2-4 times a month. In March it’ll be $300 which I’m putting towards my vacation fund.
Section Three: Expenses
Monthly
Rent: $1,110 for 1 bedroom in a 2-bedroom apartment utilities included.
Renters insurance: $15 a month
Wifi: $33 for my portion
Retirement contribution: $130 taken from my paycheck (company matches this)
Savings contribution: $540 or 10% of my take-home pay
Therapy copay- $80 a month
Health Insurance: Covered 100% by work
Apple storage: $3
Groceries ~ Roughly $300 but I love to host so sometimes more
Donations (please specify if monthly or annual):
$25 monthly reoccurring to color of change
$30 monthly reoccurring to DC abortion fund
~$20-30 a month in cash for when people on the street ask for money.
Annual expenses
One Medical: $199
Annual Capital bike share membership: $95
Credit Card: $95 (really worth it)
Paid hobbies: I’m an endurance athlete but have already purchased expensive gear. I use my company’s quarterly $250 wellness stipend to cover race fees+ and any one-off purchases. I use my office gym+public recreation centers.
Day 1 Tuesday:
5:30 am: I wake up but decide its too cold to go outside and that morning workout will happen tonight.
7:00 am: Finally get up and reheat homemade refried beans for breakfast (savory breakfast ftw) and read. I fall asleep for 30 minutes (I call these morning naps) and barely have enough time to shower before therapy. I have a $20 copay. (Included in monthly expenses)
10:00 am: walk to the office. I settle into work with all the free beverages.
1:00 pm: I put together a desk salad from stuff I brought from home and eat while watching a webinar.
5:30 pm: I walk to cvs on my way home and buy dishwasher pods. (**$10 for my half)**I get two since they are buy one get one. I realize in the CVS that I forgot to bring a hair tie but I don’t want to buy a new pack just for one. I text my friend who lives nearby and go to her apartment.
6:30 pm: I visit for a while and then walk over to the pool. There is no entrance fee since it’s a public facility.
7:45 pm: I’m out and showered and realize if I hustle I can make it for at least half of weekly trivia. I call an Uber. ($11). At trivia I just get a club soda even though I really want a sandwich and fries. ($5 for soda water+tip). We win! I forgo the free celebratory shot bc school night+empty/exercised stomach.
9:00 pm: My friend drives me home and we catch up in the alley behind my apartment. My roommate offers some soup that he made but its not enough and I end up eating more refried beans.
10:00 pm: I read 3 pages of a book before falling asleep with my kindle in my hand.
​
Day 2 Wednesday
5:45 am: Wake up, brush teeth, choke down some apple sauce and I’m out the door for a workout. I come back home to shower, change, and bike to meet 2 friends for coffee/breakfast near my office.
8:00 am: By far the best part of living in a city is having friends in close proximity. I get a bagel sandwich and a black coffee ($11.84). I come into work and book some misc. work travel. I have a bit of a crisis that I don’t have any practical luggage for work travel. I look at Kate Spade, Everlane, Dagne Dover, Lululemon for weekender bags. I have pretty impulsive spending tendencies but am on a big anti-lifestyle creep campaign right now.
1:00 pm: Office has pizza in recognition of March Madness. I get a slice to supplement the salad I brought from home. The pizza isn’t great which I make a big mental note for next time.
3:00 pm: I hit the wall and all I want to do is browse!!!
5:30 pm: I take the train to meet my friend for dinner close to her office. I have to reload my transit card. ($20). We get burgers and then she drives me home. ($15)
1:00 am: I can’t fall asleep which is pretty rare for me.
($46.84)
Day 3 Thursday
7:00 am: I sleep in and make breakfast at home. I’m stressed about work deliverables so I quickly take a shower and bike to work. At my desk by 8 AM.
1:00 pm: It's a really nice day out so I bring the salad I brought from home to the public park near my office and eat there. I bring my laptop in case something comes up but take a half hour after eating to read on my kindle. I finish my book and am tempted to buy the next in the series, but instead, I’ll just wait for my turn through the public library.
5:00 pm: I would love to work a bit longer but have hit a wall and am useless. I go downstairs and do a 30-minute ride on the office gym peloton and then do a pretty basic core routine. Despite exercising a lot, I’m pretty weak and lack a ton of core strength so these cross-training sessions are important. I used to do a lot of studio fitness but found the energy to not be my vibe and many instructors to be rude and dismissive.
6:00 pm: As I’m heading out, I run into a friend who is also leaving his office. I haven’t seen him in a while and it's a great surprise! He lives close to my neighborhood so we walk together.
6:30 pm: I shower because I’m meeting some friends at a drag show tonight. I’m exhausted and want to skip. I make some eggs and then go take a nap.
9:00 pm: I take the bus over to the bar and meet my friends. There aren’t a ton of women there but it’s a nice vibe. My friend buys me a drink since he knows how hard it was for me to commit to late-night plans, and also has a ton of singles so we can tip the queens. I run into a woman whom I’ve seen before, and she asks if we want to get coffee. I get the impression that she wants to be friends (lesbian problems!!!).
11:00 pm: I mooch on my friend's uber and walk home. I text my friend's boyfriend to split the Uber but he said don’t worry about it.
Day 4 Friday
8:00 am: I sleep in after a later night. I take a shower and get ready for work. I wear the wrong jacket and am freezing. I enter the office and raid the shared fridge for yogurt and fruit.
1:00 pm: I’m only working a half day today because of some comp time I need to use up from last week. Normally I wouldn’t go into the office on a Friday but they are doing construction outside of my apartment and I know I would focus better outside of my home. The return to the office is completely voluntary and I prefer going in to working from home. At the same time, I would be pissed if my employer mandated office days.
2:00 pm: I get lunch at Chipotle ($14.03) before my waxing appointment. I get my eyebrows done next door. ($23 with a $10 tip). It's raining so I take the bus home.
3:30 I get a text from a family canceling a babysitting job for tonight. I'm really bummed but send some feelers out to try to get together with people. I'm thankful I don't depend on babysitting money anymore.
5:00 pm: I walk to a brewery nearby to meet some friends. I get two 5 oz beers and some appetizers for the table to split. My friend brings their mom which is fun. ($37.62). On my way out I got proper dinner to go ($22.07)
Day 5 Saturday
7:30 am: I have some friends running a race so I get up and meet my friends at a designated spot. We have speakers and cheer for everyone for several hours. I buy Starbucks egg bites and a coffee for me and a sandwich and coffee for a friend. I have to refill my app. ($25).
11:30 am: After the race, we meet up with everyone and go grab lunch. Someone else pays for the uber, and my friend's mom generously picks up the tab for lunch.
4:00 pm: I walk home with a friend but we stop at a grocery store so I can buy Rice Krispies, food coloring, and marshmallows for a treat I’m bringing to a party later tonight. ($13.36)
5:00 pm: I make the rice crispy treats as well as a bright green margarita for an st Patricks day party. I lie down for a few hours before the party.
8:00 pm: I take the bus over to my friend's house. I realize I didn’t eat a real dinner but convinced a few people to go in on a pizza. Another friend goes and picks it up. ($6 for my portion). I end up staying longer than planned and take an uber home. ($14.20)
Day 6 Sunday
9:30 am: A little hungover. I make breakfast and coffee but go back to bed.
2:00 pm: I finally decide it's time to be a real person. I get up and take the train uptown to the public pool.
4:00 pm: I swim for an hour and then head out. On my way to the train station, I get a tea ($4.26) which is objectively overpriced and ridiculous but hot herbal tea on a cold Sunday just hits.
5:00 There is some maintenance on the train and I have to wait for a shuttle or bus back to my place. I’m going out of town early this week and decide I’m not meal-prepping or cooking just for one day. There is a chipotle near the train station. As I’m walking over, I stopped by a woman asking for change. I have no cash but offer to buy her dinner. She gets a large sandwich combo ($23.11). She says that she is $20 short of a hotel room and asks if I can get money out of an ATM for her. I go to CVS where I also buy shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and deodorant. ($19.11) My card isn’t working with the ATM. I try to see if I can add my debit card to my apple wallet so I can get cash back from CVS for buying gum ($1.97) but it doesn’t work. I end up getting a $50 visa gift card. ($56.95 with activation fee). She is upset I wasn’t able to give her cash and yells at me. I hand over the stuff but just feel weird about the situation and our interaction.
6:00 pm: I ended up missing the bus and have to go a bit further than intended. I still haven’t grabbed dinner yet (rip my chipotle plans) and grab a salad from a generic fast-casual place. ($13.51)
8:00 pm: When my roommate comes home I debrief on the situation at the train station but tell him I bought a woman dinner- not that I also spent $70 at CVS. He said that he and several friends have seen that woman before and that she has the story for everyone. I hope my $50 helps her nonetheless.
10:00 pm: I download a new book from the library and fall asleep.
Day 7 Monday
5:30 am: I get up, pack my stuff for the whole day, and go and work out. I bike to the pool and get ready for work there.
8:00 am: I’m OOO for the rest of the week and am under a big crunch to get everything done. I get to work early and settle in with provided breakfast.
12:30 pm: I was in back-to-back meetings this morning but need to run an errand across town. Normally I would bike but I uber so I can work from the backseat. ($12.38) I pick up birthday cupcakes for a friend (someone else paid for them) and then hail an uber back to the office. ($8.94). On my way in I Sweetgreen but am able to expense because of a particular meeting I was in.
6:00 pm: My friend and I take the train uptown for a friend's birthday party. I get one beer ($11.54 with tip) but the rest of the food and drink were covered by my friend's parents.
10:00 pm: My friends and I take the train back and I grab a bike to make it the rest of the way.
Weekly total: $383.69
Reflections:
This felt like a very typical week of spending for me. I try to follow the 50/30/20 rule, but proportional to my income my rent is pretty low- so I don’t mind spending money especially to be social and in the company with others. It may not feel like it from this library, but the (ongoing) pandemic was (and is) disruptive to my life/routines and I have had a really hard time getting out of the house for a while. I’m glad that is no longer the case.
A few months ago I think this spending would have come as a shock but I downloaded MINT at the beginning of the year and am now way more on top of my spending. Lifestyle creep is so real, and I feel it. So I’m doing as much as possible to live a full and well-balanced life within my means.
I constantly am confronted with things I want to buy but the more I learn about values based spending (Her First 100k on Instagram) I realize that these items won't get me closer to the things that make me happy. To me those are my hobbies, traveling, and spending time with friends. My mom has never bought a name-brand thing full-price in her life, and I know that I've been influenced by others to love and want name-brand things. I'm proud anytime I resist the impulse to get something, especially if it is an item that many other people have.

[US][A][STORMRAGE] 8/8H 3/8M Recruiting Healers for Mythic Progression!
Hello and thank you for considering < Out of Focus > to be your new home! We are a semi-hardcore Mythic Progression raiding guild formed at the beginning of Shadowlands consisting of motivated players anxious to make meaningful progression together and we sincerely hope you will consider taking off into Dragonflight alongside us!
Though the guild was only formed last expansion those of us who started it are well versed and experienced leaders! We have raiders with CE experience, raiders who are grizzled veterans from Vanilla to now, raiders who have raid lead and organized raids from the most beloved to the floppiest of flops. I want to reassure anyone considering us to rest assured that the majority of us are dedicated raiders, players and friends who have been doing this for a long time; we have the raid leading and guild managing experience that allows us a significant advantage to be able to build an exceptional community not only for aspiring raiders but for all who step foot inside our welcoming halls.
As was the case with most small guilds in Shadowlands, we had our ups and our downs as subscriptions declined and recruiting fell stale, but through it all we never wavered and were able to weather the storm and emerge with the majority of our team in tact and ready to take on Dragonflight together. Our progression was 6/10M Nathria and then the Blizzard Nation attacked with it's endless slew of lawsuits and bad takes setting us behind with 3/10M Sanctum and 1/11M Sepulcher as we just could not recruit enough to make the significant strides we had hoped for. Nevertheless, we pressed on and in Season 4 we cleared all Fated Raids for our Slime Kitty before deciding to take a raiding break until better content came out.
With Dragonflight now upon us we know we can do better and we will, and that is why we are putting out the call to join our team and soar towards our Mythic goals with us!
Our TYPICAL Schedule is as follows:

• PROGRESSION RAID: Tues/Weds 8-11PM EST
• GUILD M+ NIGHT: Fri. 8-10PM EST
• ALT NIGHT: Saturday 8-11PM EST (bi-weekly)
• SOCIAL NIGHT: Monday 8pm-10PM EST (every second Monday of the month)

The events we offer range from Progression Mythic raiding to an optional M+ Night where we organize groups and are able to push high keys successfully on time as well as mentor others to be able to join us in high pushes; to Alt Raid night to a Social Event once per month in order to foster bonds and unwind from the daily grind (this can be anything from Guild Among Us sessions to Expansion Transmog World Tours or WoW Trivia Nights with Guild prizes!).
In addition to scheduled events, our group is a close-knit group always looking to expand. You will always find someone willing to run a key with you or just chat in discord while you do dailies. We all play together across multiple platforms (we even have a FFXIV Free Company pushing Savage content!) and games and would encourage you to join us in our warm and welcoming environment.
Additionally, we have a side Horde Guild (also on Stormrage for Mythic raiding purposes) with a connected community for those who wish to remain in the guild but swap to Horde races with the new cross-faction provisions. The purpose of this is to keep guild chat flowing smoothly among our team and we sincerely hope to expand upon that for flexibility on our raid team. The dream is that Blizzard will allow all factions to be under one guild someday, but this is our way of accommodating our raiders who always dreamed that one day their Human Hunter could be an Orc. We do not want factions to be an issue and are working hard to keep it organized so that they aren't!
As stressed above, our community is super important to us and as such is the main focus of all we do. I can assure you that those of us who chose to invest in this space did so after great thought and personal reflection after watching other guilds struggle with the unfortunate toxicity that can plague the mid-tier. We wanted to make this guild to weed out that disease and make a good, strong base so that we may achieve our end game goals in a healthy frame of mind and with people we enjoy playing with.
So what are we looking for? Currently, we are in need of Healers- and healers with hearty offspecs for versatility. Classes we would prioritize include, but are not limited to:

• Monk (Mistweaver)
• Priest (Holy)
• Paladin (Holy)
• Shaman (Resto)

The bottom line? We are always looking for exceptional players to push high content with and have fun doing so! If you are interested or have additional questions or comments please contact Hyliia: HYLIIA#1004 or Nevali: Nevali#5081 on discord. Thank you so much for your time and happy dragon riding!

I have decided that I'm going to get the konig countergrams, 17x8 5-100 +40.
I'm currently on 1 inch tein lowering springs and I'm trying to figure out a good tire that won't scrub.
I'm thinking about getting the Falken Azenis FK510. 245/45 R17
What are your opinions? This is also my daily.

Looking at 2 travel trailers and I am curious how the axles and width affect towing. Both RVs are very similar bunkhouses.
One is 4k lbs dry, 23ft, single axle with torsion suspension and 7ft wide.
The other is 4k lbs dry, 24ft, tandem axle with leaf springs and 8ft wide.
Tow vehicle is 2021 Ram 1500. Assuming all other variables will be identical (wdh, loaded weight, weather conditions etc.) would one tow better or easier than the other?

Original announcement:

I apologize for the sudden development, but there was no better way to safely do this.
At the request of attorneys on both sides of this dispute, and on the advice of other key stakeholders working on resolving the Terra situation, we are closing the UST Restitution Group Discord immediately. While the server has been closed to new invites for a while, with this final step, the ability to make new posts and read old ones is as of now shut down.
I understand this will likely be a disappointment to many of you, not lessened by the abruptness with which it's happened. I wish it didn't have to be this way myself. Against what seemed like massive odds, this server became the launchpad for the most crucial lawsuits and investigations, and it's probably no exaggeration that thanks to the community here, we got through some truly gut-wrenching times last year. Even now, 10 months since May, it's still nice to have a place to socialize.
However, having weighed the current benefits against the risks in the legal fight ahead, it's clear to us that for the viability of the lawsuits, the right move now is to retire the server. We simply can't risk potentially sensitive legal communication becoming visible to the public, especially in the presence of so many unverified identities in this 4,000-person community.
Note that this advisement applies for any private communities that may be tempted to spring up in the wake of this closure: on behalf of the lawyers, I stress once again that further communication in groups will only pose a risk to our success.
Keep in mind as well that if you have news, sensitive info, or anything else to share, FM and I will still be reachable privately on Discord. Though it won't be public, all the legal efforts are still underway, and we'll all still keep fighting.
Finally, it's been a privilege getting to meet, know, collaborate with, and serve the folks here. What tenacity and strength, what an incredible group.
Antithesis

Update 1:

P.S. I have been receiving many messages so let me clarify a few things.
There’s no secret reason as to why we had to “really” close the server. My message above is transparent and should be taken at face value. It’s just impossible to keep a tight grip on sensitive communication with so many unverified identities in here. That’s a legal risk plain and simple and we can’t proceed further without mitigating it.
People have also asked how they will stay up to date on news about the broad situation and on high-level lawsuit statuses. I have a few ideas but I need to run them by our legal counsel before committing to anything - it was a priority to close the server first. No guarantees but if there are developments on this front, will note it here.
Antithesis

Update 2:

As promised, a final message on how to receive updates and have access to other relevant resources:
A read-only website has been put together where UST victims can follow publicly available news, get tax help, track the progress of lawsuits, and so on.
https://depegged.org
As I understand it, and as some of you already know, there are two really huge updates already, just published today... 😉
We still have a way to go but these are some big developments. So for right now, I encourage you to take a little time to breathe a bit and celebrate. I know that's what I'm going to do. Take care all and hopefully one day we'll all talk again.
Antithesis

While their Discord channel is no longer accessible, the group founder does read this Subreddit

Please be patient as English is not my first language.
I (30 F) recently found out that my sister (32 F) is pregnant with her second child and got very pissed.
For context:
I moved from my home country to study abroad around 3 years ago, there I found my partner got engaged last year and we’re getting married this year. On January we decided on the date for my wedding and I told my family before closing on the venue in the country me and my partner currently live in.
Everyone was very excited and my bf and I even agreed on paying for my sister’s and my niece’s ticket and expenses regarding the wedding, as she has been struggling financially since before my niece was born two years ago. So much so that she receives support from my parents still and me and my boyfriend help out also whenever needed. Everyone agreed and everything was perfect.
I came to my home country for a few weeks and my other sister told me that our sister was pregnant, three months into her pregnancy and that she didn’t know how to tell me as she won’t be able to attend the wedding because her due date is around the time of the wedding.
I was pissed as I chose that date because it was convenient for my family as tickets are cheapest in that month (which us not that cheap becase they can go for 1000 USD) and she has known before we closed on the date and could’ve told us.
When coming to my home country for spring break I bought the tickets in January also (very expensive tickets btw as it is high season) but wanted to come now as she told me she was going to be traveling after, in low season. Two weeks before coming she told me that her, my niece and her boyfriend are leaving to another country right in the middle of the week I told her I was coming, and when I told her that wasn’t nice as I moved everything to be here for this week she said “this is what is convenient for my family and they are my priority”. I got angry but let it go.
With this second pregnancy I got very angry but didn’t say anything to her, I expressed this to my parents and they told me I was being selfish and should understand her struggle and her life. On top of that, as her due date is around my wedding probably my family is going to take a shorter trip to attend the wedding or won’t even go at all as my sister will need them more.
AITA for getting angry at my sister for getting pregnant a second time?

Hello again. As some of you might remember, I run a small B&B close to a National Park with mountains, hills and forests. The vast majority of our guests are lovely (if a little boring for this particular subreddit). Here's a little gem that happened this weekend, though.
Let me introduce you to "The Girls" as they call themselves - all caps. Let's call them Mel, Liz, Laura and Cece - all in their fifties and on a little getaway from their husbands and teenage kids. They came in on Friday around 4pm and, after sitting down with me for check-in and our little "welcome to our B&B, this is the common room, feel free to use it at any time" spiel, they immediately brought out several bottles of Rosé Cava - not without offering me to join them for a glass or three. Having a few more check-ins, I politely declined, bu enjoyed seeing them getting ever merrier and even drawing another two women into their card games at the fireplace.
Loud and motherly, Mel is the self appointed "ringleader" and loves drawing everyone around her into conversation. According to her, she loves hiking a lot and food even more, "hence my figure" - which, granted, is a bit stocky. Her brown eyes framed by dark, greying curls and the hard-to-miss bright red spectacles have deep laughing lines around them.
The Girls are well-equipped for a long weekend on the trails: high end, well worn hiking boots, sustainable outdoor wear (in line with Cece's faded "Greenpeace" shirt from the 90s and Laura's vegan option for breakfast) and sensible layers for the unpredictable weather this time of year. Finally, some guests I don't have to worry about sending out into nature. The next day (Saturday), at breakfast, I recommend them my favourite hiking trail: out the door, up and around the hill with sweeping views of the forests and mountains. On the way back, following a stream to a beautiful, mirror like lake. Along the outlet on a bit of an advanced trail to a slightly hidden, cute little waterfall and back through the forest. All in all, it should take around four hours (five with breaks) - plenty of time between their start around 11am and their bookings at the restaurant next door at 6 and the sauna for 8pm.
3:15 pm - I'm in the garden pruning some plants for spring when my phone rings. It's Cece. "Hey, I'm really sorry to bother you, but Mel fell into the water. She is kind of wet..." (Muffled sounds, Mel comes on the phone. Laughing. A good sign.) "Yeah, I did a typical Mel. Listen, I can't seem to walk well. Is there any way your partner could come and pick me up? We're at the waterfall."
Why my partner (Chris)? He is active with the hiking club and as a trail maintenance volunteer has permission to drive the car on the forestry trails. Worried, I tell them to wait at the lake (closest pickup point he can drive to) and pry Chris away from ironing next week's laundry for the B&B. I can't go with him (the car's a five seater and there are four Girls), but here is what he later told me:
Arriving at the lake, he walked towards the waterfall and found the four of them in good spirits, albeit a bit cold - with not one, but TWO of them sopping wet: Mel and Liz. After some deliberation, he led Mel and Liz to the car, put a tarp on the back seats and drove them home. Apparently, Mel insisted that Laura and Cece "finish the beautiful walk for all of us" - which they did.
Back here, I received them with fresh towels and was worried to see that Mel wasn't just wet, but also limping. I offered to call emergency services (our country has good health insurance), but she declined with one of her typical laughs and opted for a shower instead. Assisted by Liz, she limped off to their apartment, the two of them leaving a trail of water and mud all the way to their door. Which, I should add, Liz offered to clean up herself - Chris, my sweet guy with a mop already in hand, wouldn't hear of it.
An hour later, after Laura and Cece had also returned and showered, The Girls were back in the common room and opting for the Mulled Wine I offered them after the cold dip they had. This time of year, the mountain streams are barely over freezing temps after all. Finally I got to hear the whole story: apparently Mel did a real classic - posing for a photo in front of the warerfall, she slipped and fell backwards into the water. Luckily, it was a stream and not a ravine. With the stream bed being muddy as well as rocky, Liz had to half-jump in herself to help Mel, who had lost her balance completely and apparently twisted her knee in the process. She got lucky not to hit her head, though, and is in good spirits.
Laughingly, they show me the "before" and "after" photos - Liz and Mel posing sopping wet and covered in mud, but clearly laughing in front of the waterfall.
After having a good dinner next door (and apparently befriending the owners), The Girls spent an hour in our sauna before opting for an early night. This morning, after breakfast, it was time for check-out. I was glad to see that Mel was doing much better, but wearing pajama pants at breakfast. She explained why, too - not that I asked, but she loves (occasionally over-)sharing. Apparently she chafed her legs badly while walking back from the waterfall to the lake in her wet pants - and the only thing she could bear wearing this morning were her PJs. At least the knee is doing much better after the sauna, apparently.
While checking out they made their next booking for a long weekend in June. "Have to finish that hike, after all!"
Gotta love The Girls.

Tez2, a reputable Rockstar insider has suggested on the GTA Forums that GTA 6 is likely to be released this year with a tentative release date of 2024.
According to my own reports which date back to June 2021, this seems to be the case. My sources have said that Grand Theft Auto 6 has been aiming for a 2024 release date for some time, but speculation and past reveal/release schedules of the likes of GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 suggest the game will be delayed until 2025.
If I were to guess – I believe the game would release in the holiday of 2025 instead of the spring.
As for when the announcement is made is unclear, but typically Rockstar Games likes to announce its big reveals on its own. So to set expectations, I wouldn’t necessarily expect the game to be announced at E3. Instead, I expect some form of reveal trailer in Q4 2023 to coincide with past reveals.
According to my own sources, one of the major reasons for such a long-winded “delay” is that GTA 6 will release on current-generation consoles only. With the tentative 2024 date being planned as far back as 2021, it was a means of ensuring that GTA 6 would have a sufficient console market to release on.
In late 2022, Rockstar Games had a security breach that resulted in over 70 videos on GTA 6 gameplay surfacing online. In its subsequent earnings call, Take-Two Interactive addressed investors to state that the leak was unfortunate, but they believe it had no impact on development.
“There’s no evidence that any material assets were taken, which is a good thing, and certainly the leak won’t have any influence on development or anything of the sort, but it is terribly disappointing and causes us to be ever more vigilant on matters relating to cybersecurity”, it was said.
As for GTA 6, for now, we’ll need to continue sitting tight and see what gets announced in the hopefully near future.
When do you think GTA 6 will be announced?
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Slasher film! Here are options for downloading or watching Scream 6 streaming the full movie online for free on 123movies & Reddit, including where to watch the anticipated slasher series Scream six at home. Creed III 2023 available to stream? Is watching Scream 6 on Disney Plus, HBO Max, Netflix or Amazon Prime? Yes, we have found an authentic streaming option/service.
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Watch Now:> Scream 6 Online Free
Slasher films also have a great deal of appeal for those who enjoy watching horror or thriller movies. The American slasher movie "Scream VI", which will be released soon, is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. This film features a large cast of characters created primarily by Kevin Williamson. Produced by Paul Neinstein, James Vanderbilt, and William Sherak. The sixth film in the Scream film franchise will be this one.
An intriguing look at the sixth sequel of the self-aware slasher series is already there in the first Scream 6 trailer. Though it is the 6th installment of this movie series, this one will be the direct sequel to the previous film, “Scream V." So, the characters are coping with what they had to experience in the last film. It plays a major role in this one. It significantly develops this storyline.
This upcoming sequel is grabbing attention for a variety of reasons, including legacy sequels, moving the franchise to New York City, the returns of Courteney Cox's Gail Weathers and Hayden Panettiere's Kirby, as well as Neve Campbell's absence, who won't be playing Sidney Prescott in the new movie.
It is claimed that despite Neve Campbell's absence from the upcoming movie, the script still makes references to the Sidney character and is "protective" of her. Radio Silence made a comment about Campbell's absence in December 2022 and said that it "greatly" influenced the writing. They made the choice to take advantage of the change to put greater emphasis on the other characters. They also expressed their admiration for Campbell and the Sidney character, mentioning the possibility of her reappearance in later episodes.
When Does the Scream 6 Movie Come Out?
On March 31, 2023, Scream VI was initially scheduled for release in the US. Interestingly, Paramount Pictures is making fans happy. The newest installment of the Scream franchise will now make its premiere three weeks earlier than anticipated on March 10th. RealD 3D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema versions of the movie are anticipated for release.
When Will Scream VI Be Available for Streaming?
If you want to watch Scream VI from the comfort of your couch, you’ll have to wait a bit longer for the digital release. Hopefully not too much though if history repeats itself! The previous film in the series, Scream (2022), was originally released in cinemas in mid-January 2022. It was then released digitally and was available to stream on Paramount+ at the beginning of March, only a month and a half later. Scream VI will also be available to stream on Paramount+ eventually, but no date has been given yet as to when it will be available to subscribers.
Prior to the film's wider release, the event celebrates the theatrical release of the movie exclusively in theaters with one special 3D showing in participating theaters around the country, including Dolby Cinema, 4DX, and other premium large format theaters.
The sixth installment of Scream will hit theaters on March 10, 2023. Of course, not everyone prefers to watch their favorite scary movies in a theater. Fans are anticipating the film's potential streaming release date and wondering if it will be made available on Netflix, Paramount Plus, HBO Max, or some other streaming service.
Where to watch Scream 6 Online:
As of now, the only way to watch Scream 6 is to head to a theater when it releases on Friday, March 3. You can find a local showing on Fandango. Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait for it to become available to rent or buy on digital platforms like Vudu, Peacock, Apple and YouTube, or become available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Following its release in theaters, the film will be available to stream on Prime Video. Expect the movie to hit the streamer 45 days after its theatrical run, which should be sometime in April. it's most likely that Prime Video will be the main platform that will stream Creed III.
Is Scream 6 on Netflix?
Scream 6 won't probably be available on Netflix because Paramount Plus should be the only streaming service to provide it. That would be a very bizarre move on the part of Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group to permit the horror film to stream elsewhere.
Is Scream 6 streaming on HBO Max?
Scream 6 is expected to stream on HBO Max at some point after its theatrical run. No official streaming release date for the movie has yet been given, but as it comes from Warner Bros., it will likely arrive on the platform after its cinematic debut barring some unprecedented events or a unique deal.
Is Scream 6 Available On Hulu?
Viewers are saying that they want to view the new movie Scream 6 on Hulu. Unfortunately, this is not possible since Hulu currently does not offer any of the free episodes of this series streaming at this time. It will be exclusive to the MTV channel, which you get by subscribing to cable or satellite TV services. You will not be able to watch it on Hulu or any other free streaming service.
Is Scream 6 streaming on Prime Video?
After completing its huge $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, the movie studio behind Scream 6, in March 2022, Amazon Studios will undoubtedly be making the film available to stream on their Prime Video platform.
The first two Creed movies are available to watch on the streaming service, so it is just a matter of time before Scream 6 also makes an appearance. No official date has yet been set, but it will likely take a couple of months from the film’s theatrical release before it is available for streaming.
Scream 6 streaming release date for Paramount Plus:
Scream 6's official streaming release date is unknown, but the audience can make some predictions about the release date of Scream (2022) if they consider the time that passed between its theatrical release and its debut on Paramount Plus.
Released on January 14, "Scream" (2022) debuted on Paramount Plus on March 8. This indicates that there were 53 days between the streaming release and the theatrical premiere. The movie could be purchased digitally as well, on March 1, one week before it debuted on Paramount Plus. Given this, fans might anticipate that Scream 6 will be accessible for streaming on Paramount Plus around May 2, 2023.
However, Paramount Pictures has already stated that after a 45-day theatrical window, the majority of their movies will be exclusively streamable on Paramount Plus. If this is the case, Scream 6 might debut on or around April 24, 2023, earlier than predicted.
Scream 6 streaming on HBO Max, Disney Plus, or another streaming platform:
Due to Scream 6's exclusivity on Paramount Plus, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and other streaming services, it is unlikely that they will offer it for streaming.
Scream 6 plot summary:
In Scream VI, Ghostface must once more be faced by the four Scream 2022 survivors. The official summary states that- the four survivors depart Woodsboro and begin a new life after the most recent Ghostface killings. The characters are traveling to New York City, as seen on the poster.
Who is in the Scream 6 cast?
As Tara Carpenter, Jenna Ortega will return. As Sam Carpenter, Tara's older sister, Melissa Barrera, will make another appearance in Scream VI. With the Carpenter sisters in New York City, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding will also be making a comeback as the identical twins Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin. They also share a blood relationship with one of the terrible victims from the first movie as Randy Meeks' (Jamie Kennedy) niece and nephew. The only Scream series character to appear in each film is Gale Weathers, who is still played by Courtney Cox. Hayden Panettiere will return as Kirby Reed. ghgtuy

Anyone welcome! Just Send me a intro about you :)
Hey im Jonathan! I would love to meet new people from wherever to game, make jokes? Text, anything! Let me tell you more about me!
Please be able to hold a conversation instead of saying “cool” “ok” “yeah”
About me: I’m from Texas
I am LGBTQ 🏳️‍🌈 Friendly
Lover of memes
I love to watch sci fi/ fantasy movies the most. Favorite would be LOTR : The Two Towers. sci fi would be tron legacy.
I enjoy gaming a lot and would love to play with people. I play a lot of multiplayer games. I love stardew and halo the most, but i play zelda, mario, doom and a whole lot of other games so just ask me what else i play.
On my free time i like to write about fantasy short stories and Or about my days.
I like to go on walks of hikes depending on the weather.
I like to explore more of nature by heading into a nearby forest.
Music: i like daft punk and metallica.
Reading: i like to read young adult fantasy and non fiction books. Percy Jackson and The Mortal Instruments especially. And ACOTAR Too
I enjoy Studio Ghibli, Anime, and Marvel and Dc Movies
I have a couple of dogs if you want to see them, just ask me :)
Currently plan to work on my masters this fall!
Thats mostly everything from me but if you’re interested to learn more just ask!l

Hi,
I'm interested in becoming a firefighter in or near Chicago. I currently have no relevant training, and from what I've seen most local departments require an EMT-P license and that you be under 34 years old at date of hire. CFD does not, but they also apparently only take applications every 5-10 years, just did last year, and it's a total crapshoot. I'm nearing 31, and see that acquiring an EMT-P is over a year long process, so I need to get started ASAP.
As far as I understand, the basic flow is getting your EMT-B, getting 6+ months of relevant work experience, and then entering an EMT-P program.
For getting my EMT-B - I currently live in Lincoln Park in Chicago, it seems Malcolm X College's Summer session program is likely my best bet? A little over $1,000, would have me completing the program at the end of July. I have an associate's degree already, so I don't believe I'd get any help from FAFSA, but I'd love to be corrected on this or pointed in the direction of any other resources to loweeliminate that cost.
There are also some educational institute programs in the suburbs, which would be difficult for me as I don't have a car. I bike everywhere (did through the winter, not worried about weather) or take public transit if absolutely necessary.
On the other hand, I see that Superior offers an 18 week EMT-B course starting April 17th, in the same general area as Malcolm X College. That would have me completing the course in mid-August, so also comparable. The downside there is that the course is free so long as you work for them full-time for 12 months after completing the program. Given from what I've seen most EMT-P programs are looking for 6 months of work experience, and I want to get through that ASAP, that's a poor tradeoff, and I also can't find any information on what it costs to just pay for the course rather than fulfill the commitment. Lots of comments on other threads about the instruction being of poor quality compared to the educational institute courses as well.
This is where I feel like I know less. It seems like, assuming I do my own courses, once I complete the EMT-B certification, I have some options in terms of work. What considerations do I need to keep in mind here if I want to become a firefighter? I see a lot of talk about IFT, 911, and ER tech. It sounds like 911 response on an ambulance would be most relevant for me, right? And Medex and Buds are the options there? I also saw some discussion on ER tech jobs often leading to your employer paying for your EMT-P program though - what do I need to know about this possibility? While keeping in mind that the ultimate goal of all of this is to become a firefighter, not to be a career EMT or hospital employee. This is all a means to an end.
I suppose I should put in a few other bits of relevant information that might help anyone reading give me better answers more aligned with my situation. I currently have a job with a very flexible schedule that pays a few $/hr more than what I see for EMS. I can schedule it around classes. So I don't absolutely need to do something like the Superior program to keep my bills paid as I go through training. I am in excellent physical shape, I am disciplined, and I am a fast learner, so I'm not worried about being overwhelmed by anything, I just want the most efficient path to completing my EMT-P and becoming a firefighter in the Chicago area.
And I am very much open to learning about any other alternate paths worth considering - I've seen people go out of state for accelerated programs and then apply for reciprocity in their state, and some interesting things about doing volunteer firefighting to get through these programs or hired through alternate means in an accelerated manner. I just don't know much about these options, if they exist for me, or where to start on finding more information.
I am trying to do my own research here and not ask to be spoonfed, but I don't know what I don't know, so any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

So I currently work as a mobile developer and i also dabble a bit with server less functions and all that. What should i be leaning next to up-skill and land a better package.
Off the top of my head i can think of: - React native - Swift UI - Cloud computing - Java spring boot - Node js, express js
Im very confused rn about which one to learn first.

NCSEchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas
Start Time: approximately 3:30pm EDT on March 26th
Television: FOX @ 3:30pm EDT
Radio: PRN @ 3:30pm EDT
Race Length: 68 laps (232.97 mi / 374.92 km)
Race Stages: 15-15-38
Track Information: Circuit of The Americas is a 3.426 mile (5.51 kilometer) road course located in Austin, TX USA.
Weather Forecast: NASCAR.com / AccuWeather.com
Current Standings at NASCAR.com
Race Center at NASCAR.com
NASCAR Drive at NASCAR.com
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