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Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

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Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#481

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

teeray wrote: post #191
ryandrake wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxpayers should get a line item on their tax bills that specifically counts the amount of their bill that went toward settlements arising out of police misconduct, so they can see in numeric terms what they're voting for.

> what they're voting for. If citizens had granular voting power (i.e. liquid democracy), this would make more sense. As it stands you get to vote for team red or team blue once in a while and hope that their votes impact that line item you’re concerned about.

Seems like the problem is only having two teams. People should be voting for anyone who's not team red or team blue in this case as otherwise things are not going to get better and both teams will have a race to the bottom (I'd say there's already a winner in that race).

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#482

Post by malshe »

iugtmkbdfil834 wrote: post #345
malshe wrote: post #340

On a related note, if you want to know more about the power of sheriffs in the US, I strongly recommend this book- The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy by Jessica Pishko

Huh? It is the opposite. It is the local enforcement and consideration that keeps the reckless federal encroachment from happening more often.

If that’s what you believe, you must read this book to gain an alternative perspective

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#483

Post by malshe »

TrnsltLife wrote: post #371
malshe wrote: post #340

On a related note, if you want to know more about the power of sheriffs in the US, I strongly recommend this book- The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy by Jessica Pishko

The elected office of sheriff, being a law enforcement office, can push back at the county level to overreaching state government, in a similar way to how state government through states' rights can push back against an encroaching federal government. It's a power of government that is closer to the people and more accountable to them, theoretically. Not to say it can't be abused but it can also serve a valuable role…

Sheriffs can push back but how often they do? Many sheriffs in the US are strongly aligned with Trump making it very difficult to see how they will push back against him. It’s more likely that they will push back against the state governors who are pushing back against the federal government

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#484

Post by pseudalopex »

jacobsenscott wrote: post #105
ceejayoz wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the offending employee likely can't pay the judgment in full My doctor is required to carry malpractice insurance. Those who commit repeated egregious mistakes become uninsurable. Make cops do the same.

Many (most? idk) governments that employ the cops (city, county, whatever) do have insurance for this, and grant police qualified immunity. There are some attempts to hold cops liable as well - https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb20-217 . The City Council in my town immediately restored qualified immunity for their police. Don't underestimate the level of absolute blind support for cops that exists among the US populati…

They did not say governments should have legal insurance. They said cops should have malpractice insurance. Insurers calculate individual rates and want profit.

Your town's council overrode a state law?

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#485

Post by pseudalopex »

bbor wrote: post #31
arein3 wrote: post #19

Thank god 1st amendment works. But it should not get paid from taxpayer money, instea the offending officer ahould pay it

Eh, I’d prefer they get punished. Imagine if you misconfigured a service and then had to pay out the fee for breaking your company’s reliability contract… And to say the least, I doubt the officer has $800K.

This was not an accident.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#486

Post by pseudalopex »

elicash wrote: post #315
dylan604 wrote: post #208

"Today, the parties announced in a joint statement that Larry will receive $835,000 in exchange for dismissing his complaint. " They do not mention what their cut of that will be, but since they also do not specifically state they were working pro bono, I'd imagine it'll be around 40-50%.

"Larry will receive" answers your question. But elsewhere on their website, on the Submit a Case FAQ, they do say very clearly: "Will this cost me anything? No. FIRE is a charitable, non-profit organization and does not charge for any of its services." https://www.fire.org/research-learn/submit-case-faq

> "Larry will receive" answers your question.

Settlement reports are top line in my experience. Not bottom line.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#487

Post by csa »

etothet wrote: post #410
worik wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Second problem I see is that this took 37 days to resolve "Justice delayed is justice denied " is an important principle that appears to have been forgotten in the west

Not just the west. Posted a couple weeks back here on HN: https://sundaicity.com/blogs/getting-arrested-in-japan https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48078647

When people read these links, I encourage them to assume that the author/creator left out part of the story for convenience or due to lack of knowledge (specifically the language and customs around legal issues in Japan).

Her story does not jibe with any of my experiences, direct or indirect, with law enforcement in Japan.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#488

Post by kelnos »

cco wrote: post #471
freediddy wrote: post #155

The fact that taxpayers and not the police themselves have to pay the settlement is the worst part of this. Every settlement against the police should be taken from their pension fund. This is something I've been advocating for decades now, because it creates an incentive not to do things like this. Right now, good cops don't patrol bad cops because it won't affect them. By aligning the incentives right, it will mean…

Their pension is funded by tax dollars, this doesn't change the incentive structure. You'd need to have it either impact their pension payments in a way that cannot be backfilled or more directly force the police officers themselves to carry liability insurance (far better). Of course tax dollars pay their salaries as well, but if an officer became uninsurable then it weeds them out eventually.

Right, but taking from their pension directly reduces their payout when they retire. Not sure what you mean by "cannot be backfilled"; the budget is the budget, and the tax dollars only go where the (non-police) elected officials say.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#489

Post by actionfromafar »

cgriswald wrote: post #261
actionfromafar wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government already has that, since currently anyone (except the King) can get the death penalty.

I am opposed to the death penalty in all cases, for a variety of reasons. However, currently the court has to at least find that a murder has occurred or in some cases child rape (sometimes with conditions like a second offense). These are categorically different offenses that are unlikely to occur during the normal course of a public servants job, except perhaps if police kill someone there may be a question whether…

For the record, I am also against the death penalty. I just thought it would be a funny Venn diagram to keep it for the existing crimes, but only if the perpetrator is also a public servant. But better abolish it completely.

Re: Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit

#490

Post by Hikikomori »

kypro wrote: post #224
orwin wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure it's threat of violence. Sure, in some of the cases, the threats are mild ('i will fuck you up'), but they are often repeated, which, to be clear, should be considered harassment in any case (and the fact that it still isn't in other countries is wild. Someone keeps sending me insults, I should be able to legally retaliate to make him stop, no?)

Do you live in the UK? This isn't true. Here in the UK it is illegal to be grossly offensive online. Racism for example will have you charged under the Communications Act 2003.

Have the racists tried not being racists?
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