A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center

Post by eudamoniac » Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 6:52 PM UTC

mothballed wrote: post #341

smoe wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how effective the French protests are, since I haven't lived in Europe for a while. But even as a Swiss, at least judging from TV, protests in the U.S. generally seem very tame. Not advocating punching the police as a default, but in my opinion, protests need to be disruptive if they're going to get anyone's attention at all. I don't really see what a few people standing on the sidewalk with cardboard si…

In the US if you're with a group of people and there is some leader or group planning unlawful property destruction or violence, there is a very very good chance it is a fed or confidential informant operation and you are the mark / patsy to which all the blame will be assigned when you're staring at a sheet of paper that says US v [your name] .

Post by protocolture » Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 10:29 PM UTC

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #559

protocolture wrote: post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the government can unilaterally end other peoples contracts and forcibly acquire property. Why does it then follow that they must follow a contract that they could otherwise end just by giving it away and compulsorily acquiring it back? Its like a pet bear that is allowed to eat from the floor but not when the meat is dangled over its nose. Imagine a scenario where the government is building a rail line from A to…

Sounds like government should consider that before choosing to enter into contracts that constrain them then doesn't it? If it needs the flexibility it should not choose to limit the flexibility voluntarily and contractually.

Post by wyre » Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 11:08 PM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #539

wyre wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, a gift if a gift, but if I give you a gift and then you go off and sell it for $10mil you're a terrible friend.

If we are extending this metaphor, given the property passed through many hands, i feel like the equivalent would sort of be like giving a friend a gift, the friend eventually dies, their children sell it when dealing with the estate because they dont have use for the item. That seems like a pretty normal thing to do.

Post by well_ackshually » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 2:03 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #486

bumby wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Median US income is $45k. Almost 18% of US household income goes to healthcare costs. So you’re saying healthcare access/quality, time off, and mortality are moot once you make $23/hr? Color me skeptical.

I mean, you're on the cusp there but $23/hr is around where "full benefits" jobs become the norm. Also keep in mind that French pay a lot for healthcare too, except it's called taxes. That $23/hr in France would be taxed at 30% compared to 12% in the US. This only gets more dramatic as you climb the income scale, which inevitably means (in France) you are paying way more taxes (41% at $100k) while using those social…

Post by phatskat » Fri, Jun 12, 2026, 3:50 PM UTC

pesus wrote: post #355

ramgine wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American police are much more inclined to escalate any violence instead of trying to de-escalate.

And if there isn't violence, the police tend to escalate things and make it violent. I suspect this works to prevent/neuter any serious protests so long as the potential protestors still have something to lose, and in America there is very little in the way of a safety net, so living conditions would have to (continue to?) deteriorate quite a bit before protests started heading in a French direction.