Live data from Hacker News

Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

reclaimthenet.org

111–120 of 350 posts

Re: Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

#111
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Qualified Immunity should not apply ever. Period. No one should be above the law for any reason ever.

Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Qualified immunity, as a concept, makes perfect sense. Police officers are not jurists, and they will make mistakes in enforcing the law. Making those officers personally liable for honest mistakes is, IMO, excessive. The issue isn't qualified immunity itself, but rather the maximalist interpretation that seems pervasive in the US justice system, and the overwhelmingly…

"Doctors and nurses will make mistakes in performing medicine. Making those doctors and nurses personally liable for honest mistakes is, IMO, excessive."

How many other jobs can we apply this to?

Re: Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

#112
post #103

This week, there was two different settlement close to $800K related to someone posting and getting arrested about what charlie kirk said. This woman shouldn't settle for anything less.

Do you have information on this? I’m curious to see.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/retired-cop-jailed-o...

Re: Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

That's quite a claim. You need to cite your sources for this one, if you want to be taken seriously.

Re: Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yup, i think a majority of people would agree with you, so why hasn't it happened? I think the answer is that elected representatives are more beholden to public sector unions than their constituents.

Texas: Famously pro-union

yeah texas is definitely not pro-union - except that the only public sector unions that are allowed are for police and firemen... with Texas police unions contributing the the 3rd highest amount to politicians (behind CA and NY) - so its a real thing.

https://www.pelrb.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Public-S...

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/06/police-unions-spend...

Re: Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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]

Re: Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

#116
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Qualified Immunity should not apply ever. Period. No one should be above the law for any reason ever.

Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Qualified immunity, as a concept, makes perfect sense. Police officers are not jurists, and they will make mistakes in enforcing the law. Making those officers personally liable for honest mistakes is, IMO, excessive. The issue isn't qualified immunity itself, but rather the maximalist interpretation that seems pervasive in the US justice system, and the overwhelmingly…

> Police officers are not jurists, and they will make mistakes in enforcing the law. Making those officers personally liable for honest mistakes is, IMO, excessive.

Or maybe police training should be longer than a coding bootcamp... in some countries, police work is an undergraduate major and the programs are quite competitive. Similarly, there are countries without qualified immunity as a policy, and it doesn't seem to fundamentally undermine policework there.

Re: Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

#117

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.

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.)

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

Re: Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

#120

The craziest part is the police defending this action as a “cut and dry” case. Meanwhile the lawsuit this woman just filed will hurt taxpayers and not the corrupt city officials and police that caused this. We need to ban all forms of immunity - none for cops, politicians, or judges. They need to be personally liable for their actions.

This entire debacle weirds me out. Surely the police is aware of the water issues. They drink from the same tap as the locals do. What would a sane person call arresting people that publicly call out that your water supply is obviously contaminated?
Post reply on HN