Live data from Hacker News

Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

reclaimthenet.org

271–280 of 350 posts

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

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must not have ever been poor because the idea of several thousand dollars right now completely obliterates any notion of "maybe less money later, possibly" Particularly if you're young and poor. Humans don't really work the way you're implying from your armchair.

There's poor and stupid, and then there's poor and smart

I can tell you which one is significantly more common

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

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How would being arrested for memeing be a black mark? It would be a hilarious talking point that I would be more than happy to chat with a landlord, employer, or literally anyone else about. Anyone who would hold that against you is pretty much a textbook example of a bad person (banal evil or some such).

I think you are underestimating how anal the entire job and rental application process has become. You won't have the chance of talking to anyone. An automated system runs your name against a database before any human is involved in the process. And why would any human bother talking to someone with an arrest history when there are probably tens, if not hundreds, of applicants who are just as competent as you?

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

#273
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…

We should have the exact opposite of qualified immunity - committing a crime under the color of authority as a serious felony in itself.

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

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 happe…

I read somewhere that aliasxneo eats turds with a fork and knife. I'm not sitting on a precompiled list of sources, and it would be unfair to ask me to spend my Saturday building a list for someone whom I read eats turds with a fork and knife. I won't say what aliasxneo does to add slightly more flavoring, but I think it's a pretty reasonable to assume it's gross and lazy.

Kudos for taking the time to type all of that out lol. I clearly hit a nerve.

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

#275
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Semantics. The result is the same. The cause: no repercussions for missing the system that is in place is a bigger fallacy imho

How is it semantics? If someone posts something in a land that has laws preventing it, then they know the possible repercussions. Someone posting something where it is legal gets arrested, they have recourse for the violations done to them. It's so not the same, I'm straining to understand what you think the point you are making is.

I'd guess the semantics is along the lines of she was still arrested, and any legal recourse she may have will take time and money with likely zero repercussions to the police dept.

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

#276
post #79
post #47

How does a town in the richest nation in the history of the planet not have the resources to get clear drinking water flowing through their taps?

>How can X in the richest nation in the history of the planet be... I've honestly grown absolutely sick of this type of comment as I get older. If you're not from the states, it's maybe understandable, but throughout my life most of the folks with me on the left that make these statements are completely ignorant of how their own government works and just assume "shit should be taken care of" without actually having t…

Well I'm not from the states and I stopped reading at that point. If you're "absolutely sick" of this conversation don't participate in it, but if you're going to you should do so politely and in good faith, not starting with a tirade like that.

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

#277
I predict it won't stand.

“We have received reports that some citizens have been hospitalized due to bacteria in the water. This is a serious public health concern that deserves immediate attention. If your water looks discolored, contains sediment, has a strong odor, or you have experienced related health issues, please send us a message. We are gathering information and reporting findings to the state.”

that is pretty solidly "free speech", not defamation, not allegations of anything, not "libel"‡

‡libel noun 1. a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation

Example: he was found guilty of a libel on a Liverpool inspector of taxes

-defamation -defamation of character -character assassination

2. (in admiralty and ecclesiastical law) a plaintiff's written declaration

verb 1. defame (someone) by publishing a libel

Example: the jury found that he was libelled by a newspaper

---- But law can be complex and "injustices" happen all the time, so we'll see...

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

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 lif…

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.

this is gonna have chilling effects on free speech in america. people are gonna be thinking twice about criticising authorities after a pattern of this happening on a national level is established

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

#280
post #204

> The statute requires that a person knowingly circulate a false report. Combs says she was repeating what people told her. Gregory says she should have verified it with the hospitals first It would be a violation of HIPAA for a medical system to disclose that to a private individual. The State Health Services or TCEQ would need to conduct that investigation and ask those questions. Both of those are state level agen…

Texas is a quasi fascist state at this point. I wouldn’t hold your breath about Greg Abbott coming to the rescue. This type of interaction with their constituents is common now.
Post reply on HN