3 ms·

You can put anything in a contract. If you're really creative you might get a chuckle out of the judge. The realpolitik move here is for Hassouna to include t

You can put anything in a contract. If you're really creative you might get a chuckle out of the judge. The realpolitik move here is for Hassouna to include the clause so the bureaucrat evaluating his submission can check the box without sticking their neck out and then do what he damn well pleases. The state isn't gonna take him to court for the same reason the states you cheer-lead for only ever use their gun laws to secure better plea deals and never actually prosecute them in court.

ceejayoz 5y ago
> The state isn't gonna take him to court... It's quite clear that's not the case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-BDS_laws#Constitutional_challenges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-BDS_laws#Constitutional_c...
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  Did we read the same article? What part of "the Court held that "content based laws...are presumptive unconstitutional" was unclear? That's what caused Texas to turn around and revise the law saying it needs to be in contract boilerplate. And every city rolls their eyes and says "ok, whatever mom" and implements it. What do you think the odds that Houston a) wants to enforce the terms b) will actually decide to try and enforce the terms are.
  - ceejayoz 5y ago
    That the courts have mostly (and rightly) decided against the states is not evidence for "the state isn't gonna take him to court". Even unenforced laws can have a chilling effect, as well.
    - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
      Well those goal posts just got 10yard farther away. Regardless, as a civil engineer reading the political winds is already part of his job. If the city is gushing over bike lanes you better be sure that your proposal mentions how you've spec'd things out to include potential for easily adding a bike lane even if what you proposed is not special in that regard. This is no more chilling than the maze of routine mixed messages politics and game theory he already has to deal with. Chilling is the whole point of this law. He's presumably not an idiot and he figured that out as soon as he knew about the change. If he thought suing the state would actually jeopardize his income (suing the state creates a massive conflict of interest his government clients could easily use to justify cutting ties) he almost certainly wouldn't be doing it. In reality he knows how the people he does business with lean and knows they won't care or will think well of his lawsuit.
      - ceejayoz 5y ago
        You can't grump about goalposts and then equate including bike lanes in a proposal with anti-BDS laws in the same paragraph. C'mon.
        throwaway0a5e 5y ago
        That was just an example of knowing how to figure out the politics and play the game. It takes some creative literacy standards to consider that "equating" them.

ceejayoz 5y ago

> The state isn't gonna take him to court... It's quite clear that's not the case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-BDS_laws#Constitutional_challenges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-BDS_laws#Constitutional_c...

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
Did we read the same article? What part of "the Court held that "content based laws...are presumptive unconstitutional" was unclear? That's what caused Texas to turn around and revise the law saying it needs to be in contract boilerplate. And every city rolls their eyes and says "ok, whatever mom" and implements it. What do you think the odds that Houston a) wants to enforce the terms b) will actually decide to try and enforce the terms are.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  That the courts have mostly (and rightly) decided against the states is not evidence for "the state isn't gonna take him to court". Even unenforced laws can have a chilling effect, as well.
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    Well those goal posts just got 10yard farther away. Regardless, as a civil engineer reading the political winds is already part of his job. If the city is gushing over bike lanes you better be sure that your proposal mentions how you've spec'd things out to include potential for easily adding a bike lane even if what you proposed is not special in that regard. This is no more chilling than the maze of routine mixed messages politics and game theory he already has to deal with. Chilling is the whole point of this law. He's presumably not an idiot and he figured that out as soon as he knew about the change. If he thought suing the state would actually jeopardize his income (suing the state creates a massive conflict of interest his government clients could easily use to justify cutting ties) he almost certainly wouldn't be doing it. In reality he knows how the people he does business with lean and knows they won't care or will think well of his lawsuit.
    - ceejayoz 5y ago
      You can't grump about goalposts and then equate including bike lanes in a proposal with anti-BDS laws in the same paragraph. C'mon.
      - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
        That was just an example of knowing how to figure out the politics and play the game. It takes some creative literacy standards to consider that "equating" them.