There needs to be a RICO prosecution.
The TLAs will never allow them to set that precedent.
The DOJ under Obama and earlier used to regularly sue in cases like this. Probably not as often as they needed to, but they did.
Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
41–50 of 63 posts
Re: Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quality of life > money. I love the US for its beauty and many parts of its culture, but I would never want to live there. In western europe it is normal for people to go to preventive care, or hospitals and NOT fear to be bankrupt. Its normal to have four weeks of paid vacation a year. Its normal to have a safety net when you fall on hard times, e.g. when you lose your job or family or mind. Its normal to think of p…
About the infant morality rate specifically, that's in large part due to a different reporting standard. And, as to the "regular walking or cycling distance" the US simply has less population density. That said, I think mandatory vacation and universal healthcare would be nice.
Could you explain or link to the "different reporting standard" between USA and everyone else for infant mortality please?
Re: Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Party membership is not defined by fealty to one man/woman in any of the major political parties, so there's that.
Until recently though the only fealty was a deceased former leader of the party (Reagan). The living fealty thing is new and disturbing. But let's not pretend it's a US trait. I hear more criticism about democratic leaders from democrats than republicans. Less vitriol, but more criticism.
Criticizing political leaders who are (in your opinion) underperforming seems like a healthy state for a representative democracy/republic form of government.
If the leaders of your party are (or hold themselves to be) above criticism, that’s a sign that something is deeply unhealthy (as we’ve seen recently).
Re: Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Party membership is not defined by fealty to one man/woman in any of the major political parties, so there's that.
Until recently though the only fealty was a deceased former leader of the party (Reagan). The living fealty thing is new and disturbing. But let's not pretend it's a US trait. I hear more criticism about democratic leaders from democrats than republicans. Less vitriol, but more criticism.
> I hear more criticism about democratic leaders from democrats than republicans
Arguably because the democratic establishment is closer to the republican establishment than the democratic base.
Re: Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Party membership is not defined by fealty to one man/woman in any of the major political parties, so there's that.
Until recently though the only fealty was a deceased former leader of the party (Reagan). The living fealty thing is new and disturbing. But let's not pretend it's a US trait. I hear more criticism about democratic leaders from democrats than republicans. Less vitriol, but more criticism.
> I hear more criticism about democratic leaders from democrats than republicans. Less vitriol, but more criticism.
This is healthy, isn't it? Politics should be an environment where everybody can and does critique everybody, right?
And, yes, it's not just a US thing. But it's one of many bellwethers that differ between US and Canada. Despite the notional monarchy.
Re: Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
#46The more I read and experience such things along with the healthcare scam and sudden bills from hospitals and haggling with insurance, the more I wonder why I immigrated to the US when I could have taken my software skills and education to anywhere else like Europe or Canada. This country is for hustlers and grifters and the cunning.
Exactly. I've called it the "grief economy" Whomever can suffer the most grief wins. For example when trying to cancel a service the person on the other end is making at least minimum wage to waste your time for free. They can easily suffer more grief than you and so they have little to no reason to try and solve your issue quickly or at all.
I've seen so many of these games since coming to the US. It's setup for whomever can suffer the most will get a good price, the customer service, or other kinds of "privileges" considered just normal decency in other countries.
The only solution I've found is to interact and depend as little as possible on others. They're pretty unlikely to come through for you if needed.
Re: Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
#47This is such a clear conflict of interest with the potential for corruption that every state should require that municipal fines go to a general fund. Under no circumstances should a police department be a revenue center.
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Re: Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
#48> Brookside Police did patrol the 1.5-mile stretch of Interstate 22 within their jurisdiction and wrote tickets that brought in $82,467 in fines. So that was the most productive one? After salary, health care and operating costs, The roi does not sound all that good.
That was from 2018. In 2020, the fines were $600,000.
Inflation has been bad lately, but wow.
Re: Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think I care about salary so much especially when I hear that the other countries have a better social safety net. As a software engineer I am confident I can make decent pay for the area. I am not looking to send my kids to private school or avail a world class surgeon or have a beach house or make millions. I just want a good happy middle class life writing code and without a lot of hustling. And somehow th…
If you have experience and good English skills you should be able to find programming jobs in most of the bigger EU countries. And world class surgeons are everywhere, you just don't pay world class prices everywhere. I don't need or want a famous surgeon, I want someone that makes sure I'm well and that I don't need to pay off for the rest of my life. Anecdote: When he was three my son needed a rare emergency surger…
> but this buys us the promise and the image of comfort and security
FTFY
Re: Police in this tiny Alabama town suck drivers into legal ‘black hole’
#50The more I read and experience such things along with the healthcare scam and sudden bills from hospitals and haggling with insurance, the more I wonder why I immigrated to the US when I could have taken my software skills and education to anywhere else like Europe or Canada. This country is for hustlers and grifters and the cunning.
Exactly. I've called it the "grief economy" Whomever can suffer the most grief wins. For example when trying to cancel a service the person on the other end is making at least minimum wage to waste your time for free. They can easily suffer more grief than you and so they have little to no reason to try and solve your issue quickly or at all. I've seen so many of these games since coming to the US. It's setup for who…
"Whoever can suffer the most grief wins" also seems like an apt description of what it's like to participate in a representative democracy's political process.