5 ms·

"Two men were released after The Times asked about them, half a year after their sentences had been completed." Horrific. This egregious human rights violatio

"Two men were released after The Times asked about them, half a year after their sentences had been completed." Horrific. This egregious human rights violation is something you'd think you read about in a developing nation, not a developed nation.

kurthr 2y ago
Sounds really expensive for the municipality. The local jailers are probably doing well, though sticking it to the local rubes who support them.
- CobrastanJorji 2y ago
  Many people are happy to spend money to hurt members of out-groups.
  - thrance 2y ago
    And they don't even care if it hurts them too, as long as the out-group suffers more.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  If you or I did the same thing, we'd be in jail shortly for kidnapping and false imprisonment. Here, at best, it just means the local taxpayers pay a settlement.
nine_zeros 2y ago
[flagged]
- ajsnigrutin 2y ago
  As someone who was born in the country that led the third world, don't use us as comparison for stuff like that. Stuff like this is often forgotten: https://i.redd.it/lb2npuvhxobb1.jpg https://i.redd.it/lb2npuvhxobb1.jpg
  - ty6853 2y ago
    You're aware Yugoslavia had an ethnic war not long after that right?
    - ajsnigrutin 2y ago
      Yes, i still live here. But being third world doesn't mean that everything is shitty and everything bad should be compared to that.
      - smcl 2y ago
        "third world" is often US shorthand for "the foreign places I don't know much about but the guys who live inside my TV tell me are bad" If someone's using it to describe poor conditions (especially in their own country) you can just smile and move on safe in the knowledge that their contribution to the conversation isn't really worth spending much time thinking about
- FirmwareBurner 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - t-writescode 2y ago
    People in the States know how fast our country can fall and don’t accept “well, we’ve still got a ways to go” as an excuse for the descent. The so-called best shouldn’t compare itself to others, it should compare itself to itself from yesterday. And in those regards, we are descending rapidly, especially for those of us LGBTQ+, women and minorities. Do not forget how fast Saudi Arabia and other countries changed from their liberal views to literal theocracies.
    - FirmwareBurner 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - t-writescode 2y ago
        Trans people can't get passports[0] Literally everything with the word "gay" is being removed from federal ledgers[1, 2] Initiatives to **penalize** companies that still choose to have DEI hires greatly impacts anyone that's not a white male. [3] Anti-Abortion legislation directly attacks women's health, including when there's a harm to the mother. [4] Elderly may very well be missing out on their social security payments [5] Frankly, to imagine that things aren't getting worse for women, bipoc and lgbtq+ people at this point means you've either lived under a rock, in which case, "Welcome! The world is worse now."; you're willfully ignorant of the harm that's being done to so, so, *so* many communities; or, you're acting in bad faith and sealioning[6]. [0] https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2025/03/07/transgender-nonbinary-passports/80567094007/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2025/03/07/transgender... [1] https://www.npr.org/2025/03/19/nx-s1-5317567/federal-websites-lgbtq-diversity-erased https://www.npr.org/2025/03/19/nx-s1-5317567/federal-website... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_government_online_resource_removals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_government_... [3] https://www.newsweek.com/costco-under-fire-states-trump-dei-policies-terminate-2021863 https://www.newsweek.com/costco-under-fire-states-trump-dei-... [4] https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=woman+dies+needed+abortion&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=woman+dies+needed+abortion&... [5] https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/social-security-lutnick-doge-checks https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/social-security-lutnick-dog... [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning
jMyles 2y ago
[flagged]
- wtcactus 2y ago
  Colonization ended 50 years ago and yet, there were never as many slaves in the world as there are today. There are more than 40 million people enslaved now. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Slavery_Index https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Slavery_Index
  - jMyles 2y ago
    Colonization has only ended in express terms. In many parts of the world, including essentially all of the developing nations where slavery has expanded in the past half-century, the dominant economic activity are forms of extraction at the behest either multinationals, OPEC, China, or USA.
    - wtcactus 2y ago
      The worst offender in the present is India with 8 million slaves. Who do you argue is colonizing India at the moment?
      - pnutjam 2y ago
        Sure Jan, they can just shrug off close to a 100 years of colonization like it never happened. It's not even been 100 years since it officially ended.
        wtcactus 2y ago
        So, let me see if I've got this straight: - India had been practicing slavery since immemorial times [1] - Then, the British started ruling the place and after only 2 years in power they abolished slavery in all parts of India they controlled [2] - Then the British left, slavery returned to India, and it's somehow the fault of the British it still exists. This sums up quite nicely your argument, right? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_India#Slavery_in_Ancient_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_India#Slavery_in_An... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_India#British_Indian_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_India#British_India...
almostgotcaught 2y ago
> Horrific. This egregious human rights violation is something you'd think you read about in a developing nation, not a developed nation. bruh you have no idea. seriously. the "justice system" in the US should not be called a justice system, but a slavery and penal system: > Thirteenth Amendment, Section 1: > Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. the US also has private prisons. do you understand? e.g., there are about 1000 prisoners in california that are also firefighters getting paid $10 a day. do you think they cost $10 a day to california? EDIT: I was possibly mistaken about this example specifically (see below) but only as of 2022-2023 (the fire fighters program has been around for much longer than 2022-2023). there are many other examples; if you've ever seen prisoners stamping license plates in a movie, the allusion is exactly to this kind of "work": https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/national-verify/incarcerated-workers-prisoners-make-license-plates-other-items/536-64abeb45-66e1-4ee9-839f-d51607a0497c https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/national-veri... damning pull quote: > Two out of three people incarcerated in state and federal prisons are also workers, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) estimated in a June 2022 report.
- potato3732842 2y ago
  It's also a "wealth transfer from people not part of the system to people who are" system.
  - almostgotcaught 2y ago
    it's lots of gross things that many educated americans refuse to engage with/consider and rather deny as "behind us".
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  > the US also has private prisons. do you understand? e.g., there are about 1000 prisoners in california that are also firefighters getting paid $10 a day. “E.g.” is is misused here: California prison firefighters are not an example of private prisons (California does not employ private prisons.) > do you think they cost $10 a day to california? Well, yeah, they are state prisoners in state prisons, whos do you think is paying the $10/day to the prisoners?
alistairSH 2y ago
something you'd think you read about in a developing nation, not a developed nation. Sadly, we have become one of the shit-hole nations Trump loves to rant about. And we (the voting public) have been 100% complicit.
simpaticoder 2y ago
> This egregious human rights violation is something you'd think you read about in a developing nation, not a developed nation. Yes, but a note of hope. "The future is unevenly distributed" cuts both ways, the good and the bad. At least we know about some of the atrocities happening here, and good that we haven't been warn down and we still recognize them as such. One tip to deal with a firehose of bad news: rank it based on physical proximity. That way you won't be overwhelmed and lose perspective. "Life is suffering" as the Buddhists say. I believe that if you could empathize with even 1% of the suffering of humans this moment you would be overwhelmed. Egregious failures of the state, like in the OP's piece, must ultimately be solved by those that caused it. Our desire to swoop in and fix other people's problems needs appropriate caution. Consider the lessons of US intervention in the Somali Civil War in the 90's.
IsTom 2y ago
Another reason why "the richest third-world nation" monicker holds.
sersi 2y ago
I think at this point the general consensus of most Europeans is that the US has more in common with a developing nation than with a developed nation when it comes to equality in the eye of justice, equal access to health care, support for the downtrodden and freedoms...
- walrus01 2y ago
  I've heard the US described as a third world country wearing a Gucci belt.
  - NekkoDroid 2y ago
    I personally still call the USA "the most advanced 3rd world country posing as a 1st world country"
- fuckbrownpeople 2y ago
  [dead]
- Veelox 2y ago
  This general consensus is part of why Trump gets support for his recent trade and defense comments and actions. Also, from an economic perspective the US has been successful and has poured that success into different buckets than Europe would prefer but that's fine, let the US be the US and let Europe be Europe. Numbers for anyone curious US gdp per capita ~$82.7k EU gdp per capita ~$41.1k
  - skyyler 2y ago
    All that GDP per capita and there are still hungry children in West Virginia and single mothers that can't afford to eat healthy food because of their medical debt. Shame.
  - PartiallyTyped 2y ago
    GDP per capita doesn’t mean much when people are slaving away / need 2-3 jobs to survive / are starving / can't feed children. All evidence shows the US is a failed democracy.

kurthr 2y ago

Sounds really expensive for the municipality. The local jailers are probably doing well, though sticking it to the local rubes who support them.

CobrastanJorji 2y ago
Many people are happy to spend money to hurt members of out-groups.
- thrance 2y ago
  And they don't even care if it hurts them too, as long as the out-group suffers more.
ceejayoz 2y ago
If you or I did the same thing, we'd be in jail shortly for kidnapping and false imprisonment. Here, at best, it just means the local taxpayers pay a settlement.

nine_zeros 2y ago

[flagged]

ajsnigrutin 2y ago
As someone who was born in the country that led the third world, don't use us as comparison for stuff like that. Stuff like this is often forgotten: https://i.redd.it/lb2npuvhxobb1.jpg https://i.redd.it/lb2npuvhxobb1.jpg
- ty6853 2y ago
  You're aware Yugoslavia had an ethnic war not long after that right?
  - ajsnigrutin 2y ago
    Yes, i still live here. But being third world doesn't mean that everything is shitty and everything bad should be compared to that.
    - smcl 2y ago
      "third world" is often US shorthand for "the foreign places I don't know much about but the guys who live inside my TV tell me are bad" If someone's using it to describe poor conditions (especially in their own country) you can just smile and move on safe in the knowledge that their contribution to the conversation isn't really worth spending much time thinking about
FirmwareBurner 2y ago
[flagged]
- t-writescode 2y ago
  People in the States know how fast our country can fall and don’t accept “well, we’ve still got a ways to go” as an excuse for the descent. The so-called best shouldn’t compare itself to others, it should compare itself to itself from yesterday. And in those regards, we are descending rapidly, especially for those of us LGBTQ+, women and minorities. Do not forget how fast Saudi Arabia and other countries changed from their liberal views to literal theocracies.
  - FirmwareBurner 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - t-writescode 2y ago
      Trans people can't get passports[0] Literally everything with the word "gay" is being removed from federal ledgers[1, 2] Initiatives to **penalize** companies that still choose to have DEI hires greatly impacts anyone that's not a white male. [3] Anti-Abortion legislation directly attacks women's health, including when there's a harm to the mother. [4] Elderly may very well be missing out on their social security payments [5] Frankly, to imagine that things aren't getting worse for women, bipoc and lgbtq+ people at this point means you've either lived under a rock, in which case, "Welcome! The world is worse now."; you're willfully ignorant of the harm that's being done to so, so, *so* many communities; or, you're acting in bad faith and sealioning[6]. [0] https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2025/03/07/transgender-nonbinary-passports/80567094007/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2025/03/07/transgender... [1] https://www.npr.org/2025/03/19/nx-s1-5317567/federal-websites-lgbtq-diversity-erased https://www.npr.org/2025/03/19/nx-s1-5317567/federal-website... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_government_online_resource_removals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_government_... [3] https://www.newsweek.com/costco-under-fire-states-trump-dei-policies-terminate-2021863 https://www.newsweek.com/costco-under-fire-states-trump-dei-... [4] https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=woman+dies+needed+abortion&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=woman+dies+needed+abortion&... [5] https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/social-security-lutnick-doge-checks https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/social-security-lutnick-dog... [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning

jMyles 2y ago

[flagged]

wtcactus 2y ago
Colonization ended 50 years ago and yet, there were never as many slaves in the world as there are today. There are more than 40 million people enslaved now. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Slavery_Index https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Slavery_Index
- jMyles 2y ago
  Colonization has only ended in express terms. In many parts of the world, including essentially all of the developing nations where slavery has expanded in the past half-century, the dominant economic activity are forms of extraction at the behest either multinationals, OPEC, China, or USA.
  - wtcactus 2y ago
    The worst offender in the present is India with 8 million slaves. Who do you argue is colonizing India at the moment?
    - pnutjam 2y ago
      Sure Jan, they can just shrug off close to a 100 years of colonization like it never happened. It's not even been 100 years since it officially ended.
      - wtcactus 2y ago
        So, let me see if I've got this straight: - India had been practicing slavery since immemorial times [1] - Then, the British started ruling the place and after only 2 years in power they abolished slavery in all parts of India they controlled [2] - Then the British left, slavery returned to India, and it's somehow the fault of the British it still exists. This sums up quite nicely your argument, right? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_India#Slavery_in_Ancient_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_India#Slavery_in_An... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_India#British_Indian_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_India#British_India...

almostgotcaught 2y ago

> Horrific. This egregious human rights violation is something you'd think you read about in a developing nation, not a developed nation. bruh you have no idea. seriously. the "justice system" in the US should not be called a justice system, but a slavery and penal system: > Thirteenth Amendment, Section 1: > Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. the US also has private prisons. do you understand? e.g., there are about 1000 prisoners in california that are also firefighters getting paid $10 a day. do you think they cost $10 a day to california? EDIT: I was possibly mistaken about this example specifically (see below) but only as of 2022-2023 (the fire fighters program has been around for much longer than 2022-2023). there are many other examples; if you've ever seen prisoners stamping license plates in a movie, the allusion is exactly to this kind of "work": https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/national-verify/incarcerated-workers-prisoners-make-license-plates-other-items/536-64abeb45-66e1-4ee9-839f-d51607a0497c https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/national-veri... damning pull quote: > Two out of three people incarcerated in state and federal prisons are also workers, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) estimated in a June 2022 report.

potato3732842 2y ago
It's also a "wealth transfer from people not part of the system to people who are" system.
- almostgotcaught 2y ago
  it's lots of gross things that many educated americans refuse to engage with/consider and rather deny as "behind us".
dragonwriter 2y ago
> the US also has private prisons. do you understand? e.g., there are about 1000 prisoners in california that are also firefighters getting paid $10 a day. “E.g.” is is misused here: California prison firefighters are not an example of private prisons (California does not employ private prisons.) > do you think they cost $10 a day to california? Well, yeah, they are state prisoners in state prisons, whos do you think is paying the $10/day to the prisoners?

alistairSH 2y ago

something you'd think you read about in a developing nation, not a developed nation. Sadly, we have become one of the shit-hole nations Trump loves to rant about. And we (the voting public) have been 100% complicit.

simpaticoder 2y ago

> This egregious human rights violation is something you'd think you read about in a developing nation, not a developed nation. Yes, but a note of hope. "The future is unevenly distributed" cuts both ways, the good and the bad. At least we know about some of the atrocities happening here, and good that we haven't been warn down and we still recognize them as such. One tip to deal with a firehose of bad news: rank it based on physical proximity. That way you won't be overwhelmed and lose perspective. "Life is suffering" as the Buddhists say. I believe that if you could empathize with even 1% of the suffering of humans this moment you would be overwhelmed. Egregious failures of the state, like in the OP's piece, must ultimately be solved by those that caused it. Our desire to swoop in and fix other people's problems needs appropriate caution. Consider the lessons of US intervention in the Somali Civil War in the 90's.

IsTom 2y ago

Another reason why "the richest third-world nation" monicker holds.

sersi 2y ago

I think at this point the general consensus of most Europeans is that the US has more in common with a developing nation than with a developed nation when it comes to equality in the eye of justice, equal access to health care, support for the downtrodden and freedoms...

walrus01 2y ago
I've heard the US described as a third world country wearing a Gucci belt.
- NekkoDroid 2y ago
  I personally still call the USA "the most advanced 3rd world country posing as a 1st world country"
fuckbrownpeople 2y ago
[dead]
Veelox 2y ago
This general consensus is part of why Trump gets support for his recent trade and defense comments and actions. Also, from an economic perspective the US has been successful and has poured that success into different buckets than Europe would prefer but that's fine, let the US be the US and let Europe be Europe. Numbers for anyone curious US gdp per capita ~$82.7k EU gdp per capita ~$41.1k
- skyyler 2y ago
  All that GDP per capita and there are still hungry children in West Virginia and single mothers that can't afford to eat healthy food because of their medical debt. Shame.
- PartiallyTyped 2y ago
  GDP per capita doesn’t mean much when people are slaving away / need 2-3 jobs to survive / are starving / can't feed children. All evidence shows the US is a failed democracy.