5 ms·

I assume she will get a settlement, the city (the taxpayer) will pay for it and nothing else changes. There will be even less money for infrastructure repair an

I assume she will get a settlement, the city (the taxpayer) will pay for it and nothing else changes. There will be even less money for infrastructure repair and people will keep voting for the same people.

snazypaparazzi 5mo ago
I think everything is consistent with the perspective Texas represents toward the united states. It's fine if Texas doesn't implement reforms and fails. (There are 49 other states and may the ones that invent or adopt the best practices survive.)
- smt88 5mo ago
  What do you think “fails” means exactly? How does Texas fail in a way that doesn’t harm innocent people in both Texas and the rest of the country/world? Texas is larger (in both population and economy) than most countries in the world.
  - snazypaparazzi 5mo ago
    The Federal government enforces a few rules and then leaves things to the state and people. Obviously that means the state and people have no nanny to protect them from consequences of their decisions. If they drain their budgets fighting the civil rights of their population instead of fixing a problem then they might look like a lot of bankrupt municipalities. The US is obligated to let that happen.
    - autoexec 5mo ago
      Not really. The federal government bails Texas out of the messes they get themselves into all the time (like their shitty power grid). Historically, Texas has often received more in federal funding than it contributes in federal taxes.
      - snazypaparazzi 5mo ago
        Sure, most of the South is in a hypocritical position of claiming to want the federal system I described, I want them to get it..
        girvo 5mo ago
        People are arguing with you as if you’re not making the same point they are, amusing
      - golem14 5mo ago
        Is the Texas power grid shitty? Say, compare to California’s?
        johnny22 5mo ago
        it's that texas has it's own power grid. Other states tend to share grids.
        ceejayoz 5mo ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis was pretty notable.
        borski 5mo ago
        Yes. Both are shitty, but CA is at least shared with the national grid.
      - 1659447091 5mo ago
        > The federal government bails Texas out of the messes they get themselves into all the time (like their shitty power grid) What (federal) bailout did Texas receive for the power grid? Unless something changed, Texas refuses fed help for the power grid because it wants to stay independent. Texas bailed itself out of the 2021 power grid failure with a couple/few billion dollars that Texas pays for. And while not great, Texas refused hundreds of millions in federal money to shore up flood protections, which came to light last year. Texas is not your typical southern state that takes and does nothing for itself.
    - 1659447091 5mo ago
      > If they drain their budgets If Texas seceded from the US (which there is an actual movement here that gets loud with Democrat presidents) it would be the 8th or 9th largest economy in the world. The oil propping up the US while the US admin is/was grifting large paychecks for friends and family with the Iran thing -- comes from Texas. No one posting words online then getting payouts is going to bankrupt them.
      - snazypaparazzi 5mo ago
        This kind of private income is not necessarily going to result in much improvement in municipality income, it can be used to reduce municipality income i.e. by political contributions to bills like California Prop 13. I would be a bit skeptical that civil rights violations over the web would be enough to bankrupt many municipalities but I think it is the larger point of no State laws or system of accountability for any of the things an official may do.. Some officials choose liquid investments or select large civil projects, etc. I'm very happy with the possibility of Texas leaving the union. Anyone who isn't Texan should focus on leaving Texas to its rights with acceptance of as little liability for Texas as possible. Texas can fix itself or not, not my problem.
  - fzeroracer 5mo ago
    This is true, but Texans as a whole keep enabling these outcomes by both voting and supporting politicians that create it, as well as the state as a whole generally refusing aid. It's one of the (many) reasons why I immediately moved out of the state when I had a chance. There's only so much that can be done when a lot of the states politics and environment is wholly self-destructive.
  - alsetmusic 5mo ago
    > Texas is larger (in both population and economy) than most countries in the world. Californian here, we're bigger than Texas, laughed at the plight of ordinary people who voted for the terrible outcome they got when there was a massive winter storm and no electricity in 2021. Of course, I want good things for all people and I don't want anyone to suffer (this extends to my political enemies unless you're at the top making decisions that cause harm and then I'm flexible). I honestly could see the hilarity of that disaster while still having compassion for the people on the ground. They voted based on social disagreements rather than competency and reaped the rewards. That said, there are very few actual competent leaders in USA government regardless of professed party. It's just that Texas keeps re-electing grifters who are nakedly corrupt (Ken Paxton and Ted Abbot come to mind). The citizens of the state are so blind as to punch themselves in the face when they vote. "Ted Cruz says leaving Texas during winter disaster was 'obviously a mistake' as he returns from Cancún"[0] 0. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/ted-cruz-cancun-power-outage/ https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/ted-cruz-cancun-powe...
    - 1659447091 5mo ago
      > Californian here, we're bigger than Texas, laughed at the plight of ordinary people who voted for the terrible outcome they got when there was a massive winter storm and no electricity in 2021. [...] I honestly could see the hilarity of that disaster ... The wiki has the official death toll at 246[0]. It's estimated to actually be over 700. I don't see the humor at all. But then again, I also don't find humor in the death and destruction of all the wildfires out your way either, do you? or do you only conflate devastating natural disaster outcomes to voting outcomes in states with results you don't like? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis#Impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis#Impact
- luxuryballs 5mo ago
  fine for who? Texans? this is a silly mentality, no need to compare any other location, Texas as a standalone entity and the many stakeholders wouldn’t reasonably think it’s fine
  - snazypaparazzi 5mo ago
    I'm supposed to force social darwinists to do what's best for them and make sure all policies prevent them from failing even if their goal is to invalidate those policies. Texas can make laws in its state legislature to prevent municipalities from creating liabilities. If they are good other states can adopt them. If they don't they can get bent which is also good for other states that make better choices to see benefit in making better choices. As the old curse goes, may they get everything they want.
    - luxuryballs 5mo ago
      welcome to Earth where the law of the jungle never needed any endorsement or approval
epistasis 5mo ago
That's not a fair assumption in the current political environment. Those who have lots of money will get fair hearings under the court, but those with less power might not. There's a reason people like Elon Musk write into agreements that they must be settled in particular Texas courts.
- aliasxneo 5mo ago
  I don't think that's the full picture. Activist judges have been a problem for awhile now, and it seems to be mostly influenced by ideology rather than purely money.
  - epistasis 5mo ago
    You can't really venue shop for an "activist" judge but you can for one who will side with the powerful over the weak. Your comparison is itself not a full picture.
    - deleted 5mo ago
      [deleted]
  - cjkaminski 5mo ago
    That's quite a claim. You need to cite your sources for this one, if you want to be taken seriously.
    - aliasxneo 5mo ago
      I'm not sitting on a precompiled list I can just drop into a comment. But I do have a pretty hard rule about investing more effort than someone else already has. So this would be an unequal trade for me to go spend the rest of my Saturday building a list for someone who wrote two sentences on the internet. To add slightly more flavoring, I think its a pretty reasonable view to assume that the massive fracturing happening in the American political scene is most likely affecting the judicial branch. Perhaps you disagree. Take it as an opinion. Don't take it seriously. Whatever floats your boat.
ryandrake 5mo ago
The point of the arrest was not to win. The point was to inconvenience the whistleblower, cause her grief, and maybe as a bonus make her spend a night or two in jail. Nobody doing this remotely believed that they wouldn't have to settle. They did it to show that if you speak out against them, they'll arrest and inconvenience you. So the next person who gets a thought to speak out might decide not to bother. Same for the guy in TN who got arrested for posting that anti-conservative meme. Nobody thought they would win, but they want to make everyone else think twice about criticizing a particular political side.
- john_strinlai 5mo ago
  >They did it to show that if you speak out against them, they'll arrest and inconvenience you. So the next person who gets a thought to speak out might decide not to bother. some of my students have expressed that they wish they could get arrested for a meme and walk away with a couple hundred grand. i, of course, have told them that they would be playing with fire. but they are still viewing it as a potentially life-changing payday. so, for some subset of people, they might be having to opposite of the desired chilling effect.
  - ryandrake 5mo ago
    Yea, an arrest on your record, even if you're acquitted and/or get a settlement for police wrongdoing, can still mess you up. There are employers and landlords who will ask you / check whether you were ever arrested, regardless of the outcome of the arrest. Mere involvement with Law Enforcement puts a permanent black mark on your record and can interfere with basic things for the rest of your life.
    - beepbooptheory 5mo ago
      As someone who lives this reality (arrest but no conviction), it's in practice not really so bad. It's never come up with a landlord. The last time it came up was after being accepted to grad school and I had to fill out a form about it. You do just carry with you the knowledge that if you ever get pulled over the cop can pull it up about you and have reason to hassle you more.

snazypaparazzi 5mo ago

I think everything is consistent with the perspective Texas represents toward the united states. It's fine if Texas doesn't implement reforms and fails. (There are 49 other states and may the ones that invent or adopt the best practices survive.)

smt88 5mo ago
What do you think “fails” means exactly? How does Texas fail in a way that doesn’t harm innocent people in both Texas and the rest of the country/world? Texas is larger (in both population and economy) than most countries in the world.
- snazypaparazzi 5mo ago
  The Federal government enforces a few rules and then leaves things to the state and people. Obviously that means the state and people have no nanny to protect them from consequences of their decisions. If they drain their budgets fighting the civil rights of their population instead of fixing a problem then they might look like a lot of bankrupt municipalities. The US is obligated to let that happen.
  - autoexec 5mo ago
    Not really. The federal government bails Texas out of the messes they get themselves into all the time (like their shitty power grid). Historically, Texas has often received more in federal funding than it contributes in federal taxes.
    - snazypaparazzi 5mo ago
      Sure, most of the South is in a hypocritical position of claiming to want the federal system I described, I want them to get it..
      - girvo 5mo ago
        People are arguing with you as if you’re not making the same point they are, amusing
    - golem14 5mo ago
      Is the Texas power grid shitty? Say, compare to California’s?
      - johnny22 5mo ago
        it's that texas has it's own power grid. Other states tend to share grids.
      - ceejayoz 5mo ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis was pretty notable.
      - borski 5mo ago
        Yes. Both are shitty, but CA is at least shared with the national grid.
    - 1659447091 5mo ago
      > The federal government bails Texas out of the messes they get themselves into all the time (like their shitty power grid) What (federal) bailout did Texas receive for the power grid? Unless something changed, Texas refuses fed help for the power grid because it wants to stay independent. Texas bailed itself out of the 2021 power grid failure with a couple/few billion dollars that Texas pays for. And while not great, Texas refused hundreds of millions in federal money to shore up flood protections, which came to light last year. Texas is not your typical southern state that takes and does nothing for itself.
  - 1659447091 5mo ago
    > If they drain their budgets If Texas seceded from the US (which there is an actual movement here that gets loud with Democrat presidents) it would be the 8th or 9th largest economy in the world. The oil propping up the US while the US admin is/was grifting large paychecks for friends and family with the Iran thing -- comes from Texas. No one posting words online then getting payouts is going to bankrupt them.
    - snazypaparazzi 5mo ago
      This kind of private income is not necessarily going to result in much improvement in municipality income, it can be used to reduce municipality income i.e. by political contributions to bills like California Prop 13. I would be a bit skeptical that civil rights violations over the web would be enough to bankrupt many municipalities but I think it is the larger point of no State laws or system of accountability for any of the things an official may do.. Some officials choose liquid investments or select large civil projects, etc. I'm very happy with the possibility of Texas leaving the union. Anyone who isn't Texan should focus on leaving Texas to its rights with acceptance of as little liability for Texas as possible. Texas can fix itself or not, not my problem.
- fzeroracer 5mo ago
  This is true, but Texans as a whole keep enabling these outcomes by both voting and supporting politicians that create it, as well as the state as a whole generally refusing aid. It's one of the (many) reasons why I immediately moved out of the state when I had a chance. There's only so much that can be done when a lot of the states politics and environment is wholly self-destructive.
- alsetmusic 5mo ago
  > Texas is larger (in both population and economy) than most countries in the world. Californian here, we're bigger than Texas, laughed at the plight of ordinary people who voted for the terrible outcome they got when there was a massive winter storm and no electricity in 2021. Of course, I want good things for all people and I don't want anyone to suffer (this extends to my political enemies unless you're at the top making decisions that cause harm and then I'm flexible). I honestly could see the hilarity of that disaster while still having compassion for the people on the ground. They voted based on social disagreements rather than competency and reaped the rewards. That said, there are very few actual competent leaders in USA government regardless of professed party. It's just that Texas keeps re-electing grifters who are nakedly corrupt (Ken Paxton and Ted Abbot come to mind). The citizens of the state are so blind as to punch themselves in the face when they vote. "Ted Cruz says leaving Texas during winter disaster was 'obviously a mistake' as he returns from Cancún"[0] 0. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/ted-cruz-cancun-power-outage/ https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/ted-cruz-cancun-powe...
  - 1659447091 5mo ago
    > Californian here, we're bigger than Texas, laughed at the plight of ordinary people who voted for the terrible outcome they got when there was a massive winter storm and no electricity in 2021. [...] I honestly could see the hilarity of that disaster ... The wiki has the official death toll at 246[0]. It's estimated to actually be over 700. I don't see the humor at all. But then again, I also don't find humor in the death and destruction of all the wildfires out your way either, do you? or do you only conflate devastating natural disaster outcomes to voting outcomes in states with results you don't like? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis#Impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis#Impact
luxuryballs 5mo ago
fine for who? Texans? this is a silly mentality, no need to compare any other location, Texas as a standalone entity and the many stakeholders wouldn’t reasonably think it’s fine
- snazypaparazzi 5mo ago
  I'm supposed to force social darwinists to do what's best for them and make sure all policies prevent them from failing even if their goal is to invalidate those policies. Texas can make laws in its state legislature to prevent municipalities from creating liabilities. If they are good other states can adopt them. If they don't they can get bent which is also good for other states that make better choices to see benefit in making better choices. As the old curse goes, may they get everything they want.
  - luxuryballs 5mo ago
    welcome to Earth where the law of the jungle never needed any endorsement or approval

epistasis 5mo ago

That's not a fair assumption in the current political environment. Those who have lots of money will get fair hearings under the court, but those with less power might not. There's a reason people like Elon Musk write into agreements that they must be settled in particular Texas courts.

aliasxneo 5mo ago
I don't think that's the full picture. Activist judges have been a problem for awhile now, and it seems to be mostly influenced by ideology rather than purely money.
- epistasis 5mo ago
  You can't really venue shop for an "activist" judge but you can for one who will side with the powerful over the weak. Your comparison is itself not a full picture.
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
- cjkaminski 5mo ago
  That's quite a claim. You need to cite your sources for this one, if you want to be taken seriously.
  - aliasxneo 5mo ago
    I'm not sitting on a precompiled list I can just drop into a comment. But I do have a pretty hard rule about investing more effort than someone else already has. So this would be an unequal trade for me to go spend the rest of my Saturday building a list for someone who wrote two sentences on the internet. To add slightly more flavoring, I think its a pretty reasonable view to assume that the massive fracturing happening in the American political scene is most likely affecting the judicial branch. Perhaps you disagree. Take it as an opinion. Don't take it seriously. Whatever floats your boat.

ryandrake 5mo ago

The point of the arrest was not to win. The point was to inconvenience the whistleblower, cause her grief, and maybe as a bonus make her spend a night or two in jail. Nobody doing this remotely believed that they wouldn't have to settle. They did it to show that if you speak out against them, they'll arrest and inconvenience you. So the next person who gets a thought to speak out might decide not to bother. Same for the guy in TN who got arrested for posting that anti-conservative meme. Nobody thought they would win, but they want to make everyone else think twice about criticizing a particular political side.

john_strinlai 5mo ago
>They did it to show that if you speak out against them, they'll arrest and inconvenience you. So the next person who gets a thought to speak out might decide not to bother. some of my students have expressed that they wish they could get arrested for a meme and walk away with a couple hundred grand. i, of course, have told them that they would be playing with fire. but they are still viewing it as a potentially life-changing payday. so, for some subset of people, they might be having to opposite of the desired chilling effect.
- ryandrake 5mo ago
  Yea, an arrest on your record, even if you're acquitted and/or get a settlement for police wrongdoing, can still mess you up. There are employers and landlords who will ask you / check whether you were ever arrested, regardless of the outcome of the arrest. Mere involvement with Law Enforcement puts a permanent black mark on your record and can interfere with basic things for the rest of your life.
  - beepbooptheory 5mo ago
    As someone who lives this reality (arrest but no conviction), it's in practice not really so bad. It's never come up with a landlord. The last time it came up was after being accepted to grad school and I had to fill out a form about it. You do just carry with you the knowledge that if you ever get pulled over the cop can pull it up about you and have reason to hassle you more.