Post AjWRhKhTmp7unJ4hvM by Lane@dice.camp
(DIR) More posts by Lane@dice.camp
(DIR) Post #AjW7B08ugXz6gcDFCa by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-02T10:18:24Z
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If you feel safe walking down the street in your town, safe knowing no one will hit you over the head and take all your stuff or hurt you it's not because there are police, or because there are laws, it's because your neighbors are decent people. (I feel very safe in NYC and in the Bronx for this reason. I like the people here, they have had my back many many times, and I've had theirs.)
(DIR) Post #AjW7N6ekIJ5IMWsFwe by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-02T10:20:32Z
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Anyway the same is true of abuse of power. Powerful people are limited in the abuse they can do, not by rules, or by laws, but by who they are and the respect they have for their office. That ought to give you a little jolt of terror but it also explains a lot. There is no perfect set of rules that can't be twisted into something ugly. This is not to say we shouldn't try, but it's always about the people who hold the power and mutual respect.
(DIR) Post #AjW7duY2Z6rJjTkc9w by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-02T10:23:34Z
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Sometimes a key limit on abuse is the knowledge that "the people won't stand for it" ... that there is a point at which all of the teachers, and doctors, and mechanics and nurses won't go to work but instead show up at your governor's mansion and throw rotten vegetables at you because you are so terrible. That all these people who keep the world running, and your catered dinners showing up in the dumb waiter might stop focusing on their mortgages and start throwing a fit. Are we there yet?
(DIR) Post #AjW8dHPmA672Ji9F2m by jannem@fosstodon.org
2024-07-02T10:34:42Z
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@futurebird Looking at earlier examples all over the world, when teachers and doctors and mechanics protest it generally ends up with a lot of dead or disappeared teachers, doctors and mechanics.It's only when the people with guns - police and/or military - join that things can change. Not often for the better, mind you.
(DIR) Post #AjW8xLMxAX1ANCOYM4 by billiglarper@rollenspiel.social
2024-07-02T10:38:18Z
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@futurebird I like your positive outlook on people. And for a large part I agree - most people are decent.But personally, I learned to calculate with about 5% assholes. Folks who care more about what they can get away with than what is "right". Or who simply enjoy being mean.And they can impact the health and wellbeing of a society or organisation.I think the police is a great example. Yes, professional ethics matter. But you get them by enforcing the rules and punishing abuse.
(DIR) Post #AjW9WiJvpQdvgsqbbs by godofbiscuits@sfba.social
2024-07-02T10:44:41Z
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@futurebird considering that Trump has called protesters “traitors” and will have immunity concerning how he dispatches with them, I’d say it doesn’t look favorable for workers.
(DIR) Post #AjW9YbmL7bszys2RdI by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-02T10:44:48Z
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@billiglarper I wish police would just focus on solving murders. Their clearance rate is horrible.The only time I feel scared and fearful walking around in the Bronx is when I see the NYPD. I try to get out of any area where I see them inconspicuously and as quickly as possible. The only violence I've witnessed on the streets in 10 years was cops roughing up teens for taking back & skateboarding. I took out my phone to film them and the police turned on me and I knew I was next.
(DIR) Post #AjW9cqNykrfaRTfCfw by nottrobin@union.place
2024-07-02T10:45:14Z
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@futurebird Iceland is the only country who, after the 2008 crash, let banks go bust and jailed bankers.Parliament House, Alþingishúsið, is right next to the central square in Reykjavik - its wall & windows are metres from public space.The "kitchenware revolution" is now infamous: Protesters brought pots & pans to the square and made a racket right outside parliament.Icelanders held the rich to account because the literal distance between the people and the government was far smaller.
(DIR) Post #AjW9vbTARBr1gM2GjA by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-02T10:49:11Z
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@billiglarper The teens were kids I knew. Beyond harmless. It made me so angry to see them "learning" that they need to be polite and deferential to police or face violence without recourse. I wish I could have been defiant and brave and told them off and kept filming because I was not breaking any law, I have not criminal history. I'm as pure as the driven snow. But, I have a friend with a broken jaw bone who was also pure and righteous, and he has a lot of medical bills.
(DIR) Post #AjWAxgrJTEr6vkt9SC by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-02T11:00:45Z
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@DaveMWilburn @billiglarper All they do is harass teenagers and park illegally on our community vegetable gardens and sidewalks. None of the cool things you see in the TV programs.
(DIR) Post #AjWBgUKOuHAT68r5pw by nafnlaus@fosstodon.org
2024-07-02T10:56:09Z
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@nottrobin @futurebird Most of the útrásarvíkingar (banking magnates) got away scott-free; only those who pulled Enron-style fraud went to jail (just like happened to Enron execs). And their sentences and conditions were pathetically light, to the point that at one point one was photographed in a town near the jail buying ice cream (just walked out, then walked back). They commonly transferred their assets to other people to avoid seizure and continued to enjoy them post-sentence.
(DIR) Post #AjWBgVTIefsee21iLY by nafnlaus@fosstodon.org
2024-07-02T10:58:39Z
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@nottrobin @futurebird The famous "bank going bust" case involved the Icesave accounts. The issue is that they weren't government-backed, ala FDIC; they were backed by a private fund, and that private fund went bankrupt.Backing accounts by a private fund probably shouldn't have been allowed, but it was by EU banking law, and we won the case rather than settling. The key factor is, this is how they were set up *before* the crash, not something that was done post-facto.
(DIR) Post #AjWBgWOjD9olW8tZrM by nafnlaus@fosstodon.org
2024-07-02T11:08:10Z
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@nottrobin @futurebird Back to the bankers that went to jail for outright fraud, they went to Kvíabryggja. Here's some pictures of what it's like.Club Fed, basically. They could easily turn it into a hotel if they ever wanted.
(DIR) Post #AjWBloZN4pDtK8OhzE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-02T11:09:48Z
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@nafnlaus @nottrobin I have mixed feelings about showing that some prisons are "too nice"Prisons should be decent places. Places that make people better for their time spent without full liberty. But also... yeah.
(DIR) Post #AjWBoXrzcdXGOpPSyW by billiglarper@rollenspiel.social
2024-07-02T11:10:11Z
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@futurebird That sucks. And yes, there's also shitty behaviour by police officers in Germany. Some of it systemic (especially racism).But there's also strong professional ethics. Violence is not much of an issue. (Debate is mostly about whether police could have handled an armed mentally ill person better, or the application of pain grips when folks resist arrest). And the clearance rate for completed murder is at 96.3%.#PolizeiProblem
(DIR) Post #AjWCEPtXtZqXC8TM5Q by VirginiaHolloway@urbanists.social
2024-07-02T11:14:59Z
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@futurebird @billiglarper I'm sorry that happened to you. It is so sad that with all our wonderful potential so much of human society is so awful.
(DIR) Post #AjWChiVblhKPK4FOXQ by VirginiaHolloway@urbanists.social
2024-07-02T11:20:03Z
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@futurebird @nafnlaus @nottrobin I have new plans for the rest of my life. I'm going to move to Iceland, set up a bank, do some fraud, and hope to be sent to Kviabrggja. (Even if I can't begin to pronounce it.)
(DIR) Post #AjWD5z8FcBtBpRtUZs by Elizabeth3@toot.community
2024-07-02T11:24:40Z
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@futurebird @billiglarper I’m sorry that happened. It’s a terrible feeling when you can’t help, especially kids you know.
(DIR) Post #AjWE3oxCaPT5dXG3Qu by billiglarper@rollenspiel.social
2024-07-02T11:35:30Z
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@futurebird For most common violence witnessed, I would go with drunken men. By far. Germans consume a third more alcohol than Americans. There are also no laws against public drinking, and no real closing hour.
(DIR) Post #AjWEmNjEej1SEKyPlQ by jwcph@helvede.net
2024-07-02T11:43:11Z
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@futurebird Exactly right. Any civilized society is predicated on good-faith participation by the majority of its members and, crucially, by the powerful. This principle has almost always been laid down in how laws were enforced; in most societies breaking the spirit of a law was implicitly or explicitly considered as bad as or worse than breaking the letter. This has changed over the past couple of decades, however; a cultural switch towards "not caught lying = telling the truth"...
(DIR) Post #AjWFfdCkoki49i7qme by lampsofgold@veoh.social
2024-07-02T11:53:29Z
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@futurebird a couple years back my uncle had his truck stolen, the cops wouldn’t even take a statement, my aunt had to steal it back while it was parked at a gas station
(DIR) Post #AjWHwhOAiKYxxojSpU by ReverendMoose@mas.to
2024-07-02T12:18:33Z
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@futurebird in my neighborhood the police cars are all black SUVs with the word police also written in black, they clearly are not trying to protect anyone other than themselves.
(DIR) Post #AjWJ7uQafwUZXjlzGq by ptmesis@writing.exchange
2024-07-02T12:32:12Z
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@futurebird @nafnlaus @nottrobin I think for me it comes down to whether this is likely to lower recidivism. For underprivileged youths, this kind of place would probably be very effective, to get them away from the things that facilitate crime and to get them to reflect.Somehow, for white-collar criminals I don't think this is either deterrent or effective rehabilitation. In fact I'm not sure what an effective, humane form of rehabilitation would look like for white-collar crime.
(DIR) Post #AjWKCoon3kWDXyzssS by nottrobin@union.place
2024-07-02T12:44:23Z
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@futurebird @nafnlaus I suspect this issue is about the inequality of it
(DIR) Post #AjWL8salBeLw2y7VoW by _L1vY_@mstdn.social
2024-07-02T12:54:52Z
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@futurebird YEP.
(DIR) Post #AjWM0NXEs5RJMaz2LA by DerGiga@troet.cafe
2024-07-02T13:03:58Z
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@futurebird Agree, this looks like a cell should look like. Not that far from a standard cell in Germany. As a hotel it would be nice/ok for a few days, like any prison until the point one can't leave hits. One could question the resocialisation efforts surrounding the imprisonment, but one would have to be a revengeful barbarian, maybe American, to not see this as anything else than the standard a prison should be, as long as escapes aren't a problem. @nafnlaus @nottrobin
(DIR) Post #AjWM40OqpVQAljn10K by rschlack@techhub.social
2024-07-02T13:05:06Z
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@futurebird I wish this were universally true. But I have to watch out where I go in NYC. I would be targeted for sure.
(DIR) Post #AjWPFRcwEv4sGDWbwG by qkslvrwolf@mastodon.social
2024-07-02T13:40:50Z
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@futurebird we should be. Long past time for a general strike.
(DIR) Post #AjWRhKhTmp7unJ4hvM by Lane@dice.camp
2024-07-02T14:08:11Z
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@futurebird But they are the deep state! We don't need skilled professionals, we need people who will do what the people who don't know what the fuck they are doing tell them.
(DIR) Post #AjWUnPv3ax6ga41CyG by VaylLarkinPoet@disabled.social
2024-07-02T14:43:03Z
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@futurebird As a white person, I see a lot of, we'll call it the Cop Fallacy in my community: It goes farther than thinking that "cops are good". At least some part of them believes if the police are brutal and unjust to Black and Brown people, that somehow makes them kind and just to white people. They don't get that police are brutal, full stop. White? Great. You male? You sober? You sane? Can they claim you weren't? Like magic - now you're the enemy. Oppressive systems oppress. That's it.
(DIR) Post #AjWUyphk4B8ZjnEZVo by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-02T14:44:35Z
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@Yuki @jargoggles They are the worst thing about the city. The tourism board should have a word... LOL(when will anyone take the issue seriously?)
(DIR) Post #AjWjg1miQWrV0w3Fb6 by izzyamar@twit.social
2024-07-02T17:29:45Z
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@futurebird I live in the Bronx, can confirm. The people who live here - not the cops - make me feel safe.
(DIR) Post #AjWmFV0NyfTlgRUH44 by reckhert@mastodon.social
2024-07-02T17:58:30Z
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@futurebird https://youtu.be/JTDZ5O5lH_0?si=L11XN9_1w_yXpZXy
(DIR) Post #AjWoTohnjGK2kGkWkC by swope@mstdn.plus
2024-07-02T18:23:34Z
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@futurebird Whether you feel safe or not entirely depends on your own implicit biases. Many people feel safe driving to the airport, but are anxious about flying. But in reality they are at much more risk in the car than the airliner.Folks who have a media diet full of xenophobia are going to be anxious in a cosmopolitan place like NYC, whether that's rational or not.