a smattering

yes, the jury is expected to consider the facts either way. that's why this conversation happened -- I assume this was during juror selection and one of Musk's attorneys asked if anyone had bias against Musk, since they know that's very possible. this juror and at least one other raised their hands to indicate that they do hold bias. the judge followed up to ask if they could set their bias aside for the sake of the trial. this juror is answering honestly about their (in)ability to do so. they were likely struck from the jury pool for this, although it was a civil case.

I've seen some tags saying they should have just lied, so for anyone not in the loop: the jury ultimately did find that he was responsible for misleading stockholders (but there wasn't enough evidence that he "intentionally schemed" to do so, unfortunately). he's appealing the decision, but at present he's expected to pay $2.1 billion in stocks and $500 million in options to thousands of people. so this person's inclusion was probably not needed, it happened anyway.

And body autonomy does include things that you don’t personally like either. I was prompted to write this post after a series of bad takes from progressives, but one of them was re-hashing the Sabrina Carpenter album cover drama with “I don’t think it’s conservative of me to think that the album cover is a bad look when we’ve seen images of women being abused in this way” because I do actually think you’ve failed to understand feminism by projecting your morals onto a woman who was consensually expressing her own autonomy just because she expressed it in a way that you didn’t like or that made you uncomfortable.

Body autonomy also means unhealthy choices. Body autonomy also means regret rates. Body autonomy also means freedom of sexuality. Body autonomy also means mutilation. If you believe body autonomy has limitations and exceptions, then your feminism is most likely surface level.

???

There was a union election at one warehouse in 2021, which failed, but the results were overturned when the NLRB found that Amazon had illegally interfered. They used company meetings to emphasize that a union might shut the warehouse down (threatening their jobs), they spread anti-union propaganda painting union leaders as fat cats wasting dues, and they put the mailbox to cast ballots inside one of their own tents right outside the facility in sight of guards. People reported feeling surveilled and unable to discuss organizing efforts. So they got a do-over election in 2022, but that count was pending in court for 2 years as ~22% of the votes were contested by Amazon and it was too close to call. In 2024, a judge ruled that the union organizers should get a third election as a result of Amazon continuing illegal anti-organizing actions such as confiscating union materials from break rooms. But that election is still pending, as the union organizers and Amazon both challenge each other in court.

Another warehouse had a successful election and formed the first Amazon union in 2022. Two years later, Amazon had still refused to recognize and bargain with them, and was intentionally draining their funds dry in court. So they joined with the Teamsters. Another two years later, just a few months ago, the NLRB has now officially ruled that Amazon has been acting illegally in this case as well and ordered them to begin negotiations.

All Amazon employees are now able to join the Teamsters and ~10k have joined since their partnership with the Staten Island union. But without specific union presence at individual facilities, it's still not easy to flex the benefits of your solidarity. Amazon actively suppresses union efforts at every opportunity until they're legally ordered to stop. (And even that doesn't stop them, often.) Like, in late 2024, the Teamsters picketed 200 facilities, and Amazon retaliated by draining employees' Unpaid Time Off buckets to create a 'valid' reason to fire them. Again, the NLRB has stepped in and ruled that was illegal, the time must be returned to those employees, and (once again) Amazon must clearly post notices informing workers of their rights to organize.