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Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

theguardian.com

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Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#91

Post by [deleted] »

Quinner wrote: post #74
anonchan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The forced labor described in the article is unjustifiable. But China imprisoning populations solely for having a different religion and culture is worse than America imprisoning people for (at least mostly) real criminal convictions.

Our criminal justice system is designed to incarcerate black people. A third of black people will be incarcerated at some point in their lives. You're six times as likely to be incarcerated if you're black than if you're white.

[deleted]

Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#92

Post by wombatpm »

pphysch wrote: post #35
hellbannedguy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they should be able to work if they want. I just don't want private entities profiting off prisoners our taxes house.

I agree completely. Any prison labor programs should be entirely in the public sector.

A d pay the federal minimum wage

Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#93

Post by beckman466 »

whycombinater wrote: post #83
Quinner wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our criminal justice system is designed to incarcerate black people. A third of black people will be incarcerated at some point in their lives. You're six times as likely to be incarcerated if you're black than if you're white.

93% are men, 7% women. Our criminal justice system is designed to incarcerate men. edit: High five to sibling comment.

your point? both statistics are valid and relevant, and aren't mutually exclusive.

weird comment. statistics aren't a game you win.

Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#94

Post by [deleted] »

jorblumesea wrote: post #86
pessimizer wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or equating forced prison labor to forced prison labor.

Someone being in prison simply for being of a certain ethnicity isn't the same as someone being in prison for crimes. Even if the root of those crimes might be complex socio-economic factors like discrimination and income inequality. In addition, the level of human rights prisoners get in the US is far beyond what any Uighur experiences. Right to a lawyer, right to appeal convictions, visits from family members. It's…

[deleted]

Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#95

Post by OldHand2018 »

jdavis703 wrote: post #82
OldHand2018 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't pass off non-Wagyu beef as Wagyu beef unless the consumer doesn't know what Wagyu beef is. I totally disagree with the organic vs conventional chicken argument. I would suggest that the difference you notice is the breed of the chicken. Organic vs non-organic and free-range vs non-free-range is not something where you'd say that there is an information arbitrage opportunity. The concept was that this analys…

You could very well be right about chicken breeds. I never thought about different breeds tasting different. I know there are super-sized industrial ones which taste horrible. But what are good small chicken breeds? And would a fancy/organic supermarket butcher be a good source for this?

Those are good questions and I don't know that I can give you good answers. I think the answer would be yes about the butcher.

I just moved out to the "country" and might raise some chickens myself. If so, I'll be doing some research into the breeds that have the best flavor.

Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#96

Post by dang »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #5

> Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal...prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton. This is super weird because the US _also_ still uses forced prison labor to pick cotton.

You started a hellish flamewar with this comment. Obviously the topics are serious but internet flamewars about these things are profoundly unserious and not what this site is for. Please take more care in the future, and please use HN in the intended spirit of thoughtful, curious conversation.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

We've detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28644625.

Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#97

Post by [deleted] »

nickff wrote: post #81
Quinner wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our criminal justice system is designed to incarcerate black people. A third of black people will be incarcerated at some point in their lives. You're six times as likely to be incarcerated if you're black than if you're white.

... And about ten or eleven times more likely to be incarcerated if you're male than female. Does this mean that the 'justice system' was twice as well 'designed to incarcerate' men? https://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/genderinc.html

[deleted]

Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#98

Post by BugsJustFindMe »

dang wrote: post #96
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #5

> Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal...prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton. This is super weird because the US _also_ still uses forced prison labor to pick cotton.

You started a hellish flamewar with this comment. Obviously the topics are serious but internet flamewars about these things are profoundly unserious and not what this site is for. Please take more care in the future, and please use HN in the intended spirit of thoughtful, curious conversation. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html We've detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=286…

> You started a hellish flamewar with this comment.

Well, it's clear after the fact, but that was not intentional. You have way more experience monitoring and tracking these threads and therefore predicting what will probably happen than any of the rest of us. I do think it's hypocritical for a government to impose sanctions for doing something (forced prisoner labor) that that government also does with its own prisoners. It would be nice if we could have an honest discussion about our carceral state without people repeatedly leaning into the idea that "convicted of crime"="deserves what they get, but only here and not there". But I understand that there are clearly now many greyed comments under here, so I don't fault you for separating the thread. And I can't predict that it won't happen again, but I'm sorry about bringing what this thread became to your doorstep.

Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#99

Post by beckman466 »

nickff wrote: post #81
Quinner wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our criminal justice system is designed to incarcerate black people. A third of black people will be incarcerated at some point in their lives. You're six times as likely to be incarcerated if you're black than if you're white.

... And about ten or eleven times more likely to be incarcerated if you're male than female. Does this mean that the 'justice system' was twice as well 'designed to incarcerate' men? https://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/genderinc.html

the point is that there is too much Sinaphobia in mainstream western news outlets that means global north countries' behavior is not proportionately called out. many stories about China are unfounded and dangerous, and mostly have to do with China being technologically strong.

Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain

#100

Post by [deleted] »

adewinter wrote: post #21
pphysch wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US, Germany, Russia, Brazil, China, India, etc. The truth is that giving convicted prisoners opportunities to work is probably a big net positive. I'm sure plenty of them would work for pennies rather than rot in a cell. The root of the problem is if there is injustice in sentencing or coercive work conditions. Not the work itself. But that requires far more investigation to establish than pearl-clutching about the u…

> than pearl-clutching about the universal practice of "forced labor". So it's because everyone does it that it's "ok", then? Or because you think it's better than "rotting in a cell"? Whatever man. The issue is that the labour is _forced_. Give prisoners a choice to work or not and pay them, at market value, for their work. If you're against choice and pay for prisoners you really shouldn't be embarrassed to just go…

[deleted]
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