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North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

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Re: North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

#101

Post by mindslight »

elteto wrote: post #84

The framing of the title is a bit disingenuous. He is not “talking” about engineering to a bunch of college students. He is providing expert opinion in a court case. This is a whole different deal and I think there is nuance here. Honestly, I don’t like the manipulation with the title and how they are framing the whole thing. Makes me cautious about emitting an opinion.

I started to worry when I saw that he had given a legal deposition. But "Wayne testified truthfully that he was not (and never had been) a licensed engineer". So according to the article, there was no misrepresentation to the court.

Engineering licensure is generally opt-in for activities that require it, and you obviously don't need to be a licensed engineer to testify plainly in court (contrast with signing off on plans for a building, for which you do), so he should be in the clear.

Of course getting this close to what the state board considers their turf (Professional Engineer expert witnesses, whose testimony carries more weight) explains why they're trying to stomp on him - similar to that engineer in Oregon who got legally harassed for a bunch of years for doing math about red light cameras.

Re: North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

#102

Post by kwhitefoot »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #78
fragileone wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[citation needed]

https://oll.libertyfund.org/quote/thomas-jefferson-on-whethe... > The question Whether one generation of men has a right to bind another, seems never to have been started either on this or our side of the water… (But) between society and society, or generation and generation there is no municipal obligation, no umpire but the law of nature. We seem not to have perceived that, by the law of nature, one generation is t…

This one of the principles of parliamentary sovereignty in the UK: No Parliament can bind a future parliament. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_sovereignty

Re: North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

#104

Post by comicjk »

ReptileMan wrote: post #85
hliyan wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why the letter of the law is so important, paradoxically. It is never good to have unreasonable/archaic laws in the book and have law enforcement look the other way. Since almost everyone ends up breaking them, it allows law enforcement to basically charge any selected person. Such laws should be struck off the book. I believe in Latin, this is called Lex malla, lex nulla - roughly translates to "No law is be…

This is literally MO of every totalitarian government - make it impossible to not be a law breaker, so we can arrest you at anytime.

I don't think that's necessarily true. This is a trick for working around the rule of law, but totalitarian governments don't need that subtlety. They have dummy courts and full control over what's legal. To take the most extreme example, Nazis didn't pass harsh jaywalking laws and then use them on Jews; they actively made laws against Jews.

Re: North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

#105

Post by an_opabinia »

beebeepka wrote: post #81
travisjungroth wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst example of this is Oregon has their own version of the FAA. It’s grandfathered in because it was established before the FAA. You pay $12 a year for an Oregon pilot’s registration. And in return for this bureaucracy, society gets... nothing.

Does it not create jobs? Not saying it's good nor bad.

I'm not sure why this is being downvoted. Much, if not all, of politics, on both sides, for ordinary people, is concerning who gets what welfare. For every Oregon FAA there are probably 100 offices in the military and government agricultural sector that provide a small number of good but sort of meaningless jobs.

For every 1 soldier actually shooting bullets or 1 bonafide back-bending farmer there are 999 comfy desk jobs for college educated people in the same org chart. Many for whom college was paid for by that government. Is that good or bad?

Re: North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

#106

Post by breck »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #33

Texas may do a lot of crazy things when it comes to state government, but one thing I think we definitely got right is the Texas Sunset Commission ( https://www.sunset.texas.gov/ ). Basically, all boards set up by the state government are automatically abolished every 10 years I believe unless the state legislature passes a law to continue the board. So every 10 years the Sunset Commission evaluates agencies/boards a…

I wonder if all laws should have such a thing.

Re: North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

#107

Post by lsaferite »

breck wrote: post #106
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #33

Texas may do a lot of crazy things when it comes to state government, but one thing I think we definitely got right is the Texas Sunset Commission ( https://www.sunset.texas.gov/ ). Basically, all boards set up by the state government are automatically abolished every 10 years I believe unless the state legislature passes a law to continue the board. So every 10 years the Sunset Commission evaluates agencies/boards a…

I wonder if all laws should have such a thing.

They should.

Re: North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

#108

Post by dasudasu »

nomdep wrote: post #100
elteto wrote: post #84

The framing of the title is a bit disingenuous. He is not “talking” about engineering to a bunch of college students. He is providing expert opinion in a court case. This is a whole different deal and I think there is nuance here. Honestly, I don’t like the manipulation with the title and how they are framing the whole thing. Makes me cautious about emitting an opinion.

In the article it says he declared that he wasn’t a licensed engineer. At most, you could argue that his expert testimony is not valid, saying that it is illegal it is a whole different deal. It smells like corruption of the NC government to me.

"I'm not a medical doctor, but here is a bunch of medical advice that should be used to prosecute this defendant." It doesn't sound that great either way. Either you have the expertise to make such judgments, or you don't, and shouldn't try to pass off legal opinions you can't legally make with a disclaimer, as if that absolves everything. I can fully understand someone getting irritated at this and trying to go one step further.

Re: North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

#109

Post by vzaliva »

The article's title is misleading. NC does not forbid him to talk engineering. He can write blog posts, yell at the corners, print books. What it does not allow him is to testify as a witness in a court presenting himself as an engineering expert. While I agree this distinction (being licensed) is stupid, the court is within its right to impose it. Spinning this case as some sort free speech supression is just bad jourlalism.

Re: North Carolina tells retired engineer he can't talk about engineering

#110

Post by benrbray »

Swenrekcah wrote: post #63
dotancohen wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s like the 10’s of thousands of people jaywalking without > issue and then the homeless guy that gets arrested for jaw walking. I'll take the opportunity to branch OT. This selective enforcement has always been such a problem, has there ever been any attempt - anywhere - to address it? Such that if a citizen can demonstrate selective enforcement he can also be absolved of the same crimes that the rest of the pop…

Just the concept of “jaywalking” as a punishable offense is revolting to me.

The term "jaywalking" is intentional slander of pedestrians popularized by car manufacturing companies who were hell-bent on subjugating American cities to the automobile.

[1] https://www.vox.com/2015/1/15/7551873/jaywalking-history

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...

[3] (Not Just Bikes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWsGBRdK2N0

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