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Texas woman arrested for Facebook post about town water quality

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

#341
post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We already have two such coalitions within Congress: Republicans and Democrats. How is that working out?

Those are coalitions of politicians, which to an increasing extent are part of the "powerful" group that needs to be overridden. By coalitions I mean coalitions of the actual citizenry.

I struggle to imagine how would something like that form, function, or become powerful enough to matter. Do you have any examples of such coalitions?

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

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I explained the problem in very simple terms. But your rebuttal is "nuh uh, here are all the details that irrelevant that I think are really cool". The people still pay for it. They pay for all the settlements, plus they pay another big slice on top for the insurance industry (since they do nothing for free). Then cops do the same thing, and lobbyists push on the insurance industry to allow them to keep breaking head…

The parent poster is suggesting the cop needs to pay for the insurance. Cop salaries aren't going to rise to meet the most uninsurable person, eventually a cop will be unable to afford their insurance based on their salary. You, in fact, argue in support of their idea -- there's lots of people who want to be cops. That keeps salaries lower, making a ballooning insurance cost impossible for a bad cop to continue to pa…

>The parent poster is suggesting the cop needs to pay for the insurance.

If you told McDonald's that they had to pay a 10¢ tax on every cheeseburger, and then you turned around and told me "Hey, it's ok, McDonald's will pay the tax, you don't have to!" it'd mean that you were intellectually defective. You can see that right? That McDonald's would instantly raise the price of the burger not even 10¢ but probably 11¢ or 12¢. No one needs to be told this, of course, but I need to lay everything out perfectly clear because not everyone is a non-idiot.

If this is true of McDonald's, how do you think it's somehow not true of cops? Do you think they will just take a $20,000/year hit in their effective income? Do you think that there is some mechanism that will prevent them from forcing the prevailing salary/wages higher until the cost is born by taxpayers? If you think there is such a mechanism, please explain how you came up with that bizarre notion. If you don't think there is a particular mechanism that will do this, please tell me that you're not just assuming there must be one.

>You, in fact, argue in support of their idea -- there's lots of people who want to be cops. That keeps salaries lower

I have never implied, let alone argued, that there are people who "want to be cops". There is generally supply sufficient to meet the demand for that particular occupation. Even that might be a little strong, these are people who earn far more than most Americans would guess, and definitely more than you'd believe given that there is no dire shortage of potential recruits.

>That keeps salaries lower, making a ballooning insurance cost impossible for a bad cop to continue to pay.

All doctors pay hefty malpractice insurance premiums. It is not "bad doctors" who pay it. All pay it, bad ones too... assuming that "bad" does not sink so low that they lose their license (the bar is truly low here, people need to die or suffer really horrible outcomes in ways that they can't make excuses or find scapegoats).

All cops would (hypothetically) pay these hefty malpractice insurance premiums. Not just "bad cops". All. But they really wouldn't pay them, because their salaries just aren't as high as, say, a pediatric surgeon or an anesthesiologist. So their pay would balloon higher through well-understood and uncontroversial principles of economics. Enough that, after several years, we would expect the difference in average salaries between the two time periods to be roughly equal to the average insurance premium.

You already posit that bad cops would be forced out because they can't afford insurance. This means that the burden of the payouts for settlements plus the burden of the value extracted by the insurance industry will be born entirely by non-bad cops. These cops won't just take a $20,000/year hit to their incomes. The candidate pool will shrink, making it more difficult to hire, and municipalities will be forced to raise their offers until they are able to hire to whatever level they had already decided upon.

Bad cops will be hired too (remember, the mechanism you are proposing is that bad cops will be forced out after being bad, because insurance will drop them). So we don't see an improvement in outcomes... bad cops do what they do until they are forced out (just as now). And we won't see an improvement in taxpayers footing the bill for their abuse, instead of paying directly, there will be another layer of indirection where the cops pay for the insurance company to do it (and the insurance company adding a fee on top for all their "work"), but then turn around and tell us to pay them more so they can afford the insurance. And you won't get to say "nope, not paying more", because you only make decisions indirectly, by voting every few years.

All human beings over the age of 11 and iq 95 should be able to reason this out from first principles.

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

#343
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think “fails” means exactly? How does Texas fail in a way that doesn’t harm innocent people in both Texas and the rest of the country/world? Texas is larger (in both population and economy) than most countries in the world.

> Texas is larger (in both population and economy) than most countries in the world. Californian here, we're bigger than Texas, laughed at the plight of ordinary people who voted for the terrible outcome they got when there was a massive winter storm and no electricity in 2021. Of course, I want good things for all people and I don't want anyone to suffer (this extends to my political enemies unless you're at the top…

> Californian here, we're bigger than Texas, laughed at the plight of ordinary people who voted for the terrible outcome they got when there was a massive winter storm and no electricity in 2021. [...] I honestly could see the hilarity of that disaster ...

The wiki has the official death toll at 246[0]. It's estimated to actually be over 700. I don't see the humor at all. But then again, I also don't find humor in the death and destruction of all the wildfires out your way either, do you? or do you only conflate devastating natural disaster outcomes to voting outcomes in states with results you don't like?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis#Impact

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

#345
post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HIPAA or not, I assume the hospital wouldn’t tell a private citizen anything concerning anyone else, just on general principles. There’s no FOIA or something like that to force them to.

But they don't have to disclose identifying information to say, "yeah, we've had more XYZ cases," or some other statistic. I'm not saying she should have to contact the hospital to exercise her right to free speech. I'm just saying that HIPAA doesn't mean healthcare institutions are a black box. I find that idea strange because I can immediately see how to ask questions to work around it while still protecting indivi…

> “…HIPAA doesn’t mean healthcare institutions are a black box.”

Ok, but it’s a sure-fire way to not answer any question you don’t like or if you are unsure of the person making the request—from the receptionist to the hospital administrator. A convenient “fig leaf” if you will.

In a more charitable view—if a hospital admin did disclose something they shouldn’t the consequences are legal. E.G. the context for answering has to be legal, or someone trained to answer your specific questions. Now, try to find that person and get an answer—crickets.

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

#346
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…

> It would be a violation of HIPAA for a medical system to disclose that to a private individual. If multiple people told her they were hospitalized then you could ask and answer about that in a general way without violating HIPPA. "Were the multiple cases of hospitalization due to water quality issues in the recent month?" As long as individual data isn't revealed then there is no violation. Which is obvious when yo…

I was almost arrested a couple days ago because i walked to the nearest grocery store with my backpack on. I needed to visit a specialty shop nearby and put the goods in my backpack. I travel with a backpack. It holds my money, identification, nicotine, other odds and ends, some aleve, and also a foldable cane, an assistive device that I need when my bad knee goes out (tibial plateau). The store was willing to confiscate my bag for me, but are naturally not responsible if it all goes missing, or if the cash goes missing, or if my cards get skimmed, or if someone social engineers another employee into handing the bag to them. So in order to protect the stores green beans, I am ordered to forfeit all my personal property and identity information as well as my assistive device. When i refuse, they called the cops and attempted to insinuate over the phone to the cops that I "may have weapons" and "may be dangerous" even though I am just literally an austistic disabled person walking a mile to the store because it was too rainy to ride my motorcycle. In either case, I would be wearing a backpack. This is essentially the same as a woman carrying a purse. I am at a point I no longer want to participate in this society or even live amongst anyone here. I can no longer function except in full isolation apparently because everything I am, and everything I've done for four decades on this planet, is being attacked and criminalized with prejudice. I am constantly kicked out of stores for existing, i cannot go anywhere without people yelling at me or threatening violence against me. I despise existence and everyone that has enabled this society to become this way. There is nothing good here anymore.

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

#347
post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are coalitions of politicians, which to an increasing extent are part of the "powerful" group that needs to be overridden. By coalitions I mean coalitions of the actual citizenry.

I struggle to imagine how would something like that form, function, or become powerful enough to matter. Do you have any examples of such coalitions?

Unfortunately most of them are bad. The Tea Party is maybe one, for instance. Note that I'm not describing any type of "structure" here. I just mean a group of people who are willing to vote for the same things.

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

#348

100% of all law enforcement is criminal. Nobody makes laws except criminals

I don’t agree with the arrest and definitely not every law either, but this has got to be rage bait. I’m quite happy to live in a society with laws

When people are paid to hurt others, they will always hurt the weak, not the evil.

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

#349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since at least the 70s everyone knew that it caused lung cancer. It's just that industry spending prevented anyone from doing something about it, in the exactly the same way that we've been seeing with global warming.

Again, free speech as commonly used, is about Constitutional protection from the government trying to curtail and/or punish individual's speech. Prior to the internet, the "free speech" you're thinking of was down to whoever owned the printing press of interest. The OP was about the government punishing a woman for criticizing their public utility.

I wasn't replying to the OP.

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

#350
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be a necessary mechanism to prevent harm, but it is not free speech. Whenever you are lying you are not a free being, because you need to invest a part of your energy to uphold the lie.

what the..? This sounds like Facebook mumbo jumbo. Free speech has nothing to do with your state of freedom (i.e. being a 'free being'). Being 'free' also literally means choosing on what to spend your energy. Complete nonsense!

Apologies for the late reply. It’s nice that you take the time to read things on Facebook. I don’t. I suggest you read through your sentences again and recognize the mumbo jumbo you’ve cobbled together there. Good luck.
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