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Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

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Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#71
post #61
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure we've all wasted keystrokes on stupider things.

If you want a dose of your own medicine, "stupider" isn't a word. You're thinking of "more stupid".

https://www.quora.com/Is-stupider-a-word-Why-or-why-not

Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#72
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Gypsy cab" is a slang term for an unlicensed taxi, and no longer has anything to do with the Romani people. It's not a term I personally use (outside a descriptive context like this), but it doesn't seem intended as an insult.

Maybe not, but wouldn't it be better to avoid antiquated ethnic slurs like "Gypsy cab" in favor of cool neutral terms like "unlicensed"?

One of the (I guess intended) effects of using an aniquated slang word is to illustrate that this is not a new problem, but that this very same problem exists for so long that it got its own well known insulting term a long time ago.

Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#73
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "skirting around" do you mean "blatantly flouting"? Because that's the truth of it.. Uber, Lyft, et al are just central dispatch for gypsy cabs. I don't see any reason they shouldn't get massive fines or seized vehicles in all locales they operate.

> Uber, Lyft, et al are just central dispatch for gypsy cabs. True fact: Every single Uber and Lyft vehicle which I've ridden in, in New York City, has a Taxi and Limo Commission plate on it in the T123456C format. The so-called "gypsy cab"+ market consists of the vehicles without those plates. (+complete with casual old-fashioned ethnic slur)

casual old-fashioned ethnic slur

It's not a slur. Why does everything need to be so PC these days? The term may have originated in NYC, home of much colorful language.

Here's a Village Voice article that provides a lot of background and that quotes illegal cab drivers referring to themselves that way:

   once a gypsy, always a gypsy
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/how-some-illegal-taxi-drive...

Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#74
post #49

This is a stupid grammar nitpick I only offer in the hopes that you find it useful for your writing. No dismissal of your arguments or denigration of your character is intended. I think you want the word "affected" in your second paragraph. Effects are the result of causation, whereas affect refers to the causation. The citizens were affected by the effects of this policy.

Contrary to the opinions of others, I appreciated your post. While a nitpick, you provided the both the correction and a good way to remember which word is used in which situation. As someone who has to stop to consider which one to use sometimes, I appreciate the extra effort.

You may be interested to know --- well, I find it interesting --- that there are lesser known meanings of 'affect' and 'effect' which are the other way round. You can effect a change, where 'effect' a verb. And people can have an affect, where 'affect' is a noun largely synonymous to 'mood'.

I believe it's even possible to affect affects by effecting an affect effect, in effect. English is weird.

(Linguistic tangents are best tangents!)

Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#75
post #37

This is on of the things that fascinates me about the US. Such blatant injustice would be unthinkable in the Europe.

Nah, I'm sure Europe has their own flavors of injustice against its people. It's just the nature of governments.

Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#76
post #2

Is this an Uber thing? I didn't see it mentioned.

This is a much older fight in NYC than Uber. They're probably involved in a good number of the cars in question in recent years, but a back-and-forth over to what extent to tolerate vs. crack down on unlicensed taxi services has been going on for decades. The general category is often called by the somewhat racist term "gypsy cabs".

Why is that a racist term?

To be honest, I had never heard the term until recently when I heard it used on a TV show.

Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#77
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "skirting around" do you mean "blatantly flouting"? Because that's the truth of it.. Uber, Lyft, et al are just central dispatch for gypsy cabs. I don't see any reason they shouldn't get massive fines or seized vehicles in all locales they operate.

Based on your racist and derogatory statements, I have to wonder if you're involved in the taxi industry. The fact is, taxi lobbies are just protection rackets. I don't like Uber at all due to the way they treat their customers and drivers, but ridesharing is the future and the taxi mob is desperate to stop them from growing. If that means paying off the local law enforcement and city officials to illegally and uncon…

Wait, I don't understand. Because this person used a term that you describe as a racist and derogatory term, you are claiming the entire taxi industry is racist? As I asked elsewhere, how is this term racist and derogatory?

Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#78
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber wasn't explicitly mentioned, but it just sounds like the TLC is overly trigger happy in seizing cars, presumably because of the uptake in services like Lyft and Uber who in the TLC's eyes are skirting around the law.

By "skirting around" do you mean "blatantly flouting"? Because that's the truth of it.. Uber, Lyft, et al are just central dispatch for gypsy cabs. I don't see any reason they shouldn't get massive fines or seized vehicles in all locales they operate.

Uber and Lyft are licensed livery cabs in NYC. Livery cabs are not allowed to accept street hails, but are allowed to be ordered for pick up in other ways (such as through a phone call). The only way that they would be illegal is if you believe that ordering through a phone app is more similar to street hailing than it is to ordering through a phone call, but I think that is a huge stretch.

Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#79
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on your racist and derogatory statements, I have to wonder if you're involved in the taxi industry. The fact is, taxi lobbies are just protection rackets. I don't like Uber at all due to the way they treat their customers and drivers, but ridesharing is the future and the taxi mob is desperate to stop them from growing. If that means paying off the local law enforcement and city officials to illegally and uncon…

Wait, I don't understand. Because this person used a term that you describe as a racist and derogatory term, you are claiming the entire taxi industry is racist? As I asked elsewhere, how is this term racist and derogatory?

(I agree with your first point.)

> As I asked elsewhere, how is this term racist and derogatory?

Gypsy is a racially problematic term.

Using that term to refer to unlicensed cabs links travellers (who may or may not be Roma) to crime and dangerousness.

If you care about this kind of stuff it's probably a good idea to move to phrases like "unlicensed cabs". You get some benefit it's more useful for an international audience.

Re: Judge: NYC Seizing Thousands of Cars Without Warrants Is Unconstitutional

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Uber, Lyft, et al are just central dispatch for gypsy cabs. True fact: Every single Uber and Lyft vehicle which I've ridden in, in New York City, has a Taxi and Limo Commission plate on it in the T123456C format. The so-called "gypsy cab"+ market consists of the vehicles without those plates. (+complete with casual old-fashioned ethnic slur)

casual old-fashioned ethnic slur It's not a slur. Why does everything need to be so PC these days? The term may have originated in NYC, home of much colorful language. Here's a Village Voice article that provides a lot of background and that quotes illegal cab drivers referring to themselves that way: once a gypsy, always a gypsy http://www.villagevoice.com/news/how-some-illegal-taxi-drive...

>referring to themselves that way

Apply this logic to any other ethnic slur and see how well it works out for you.

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