Goldfish trained to drive cars on land.
I have so many questions…
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I guess it was too hard to program autonomous cars so they found a new solution
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The real mistake here was not numbering them like it was a really limited collection.
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Definitely WTF.
How did no one else in the OR notice / report him? Organ transplants are complicated procedures. It’s not like there’s one doc alone with the patient.
As suggested in the thread…
Transgender Therapy to own the libs?
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Free guess on what ethnicity the defendant is not a member of.
We have a real problem in this country when it comes to slapping people in jail for really trivial things while people who commit much more serious acts - including crimes against people - get slaps on the wrist. (Ask me about the 2 people who intentionally targeted 2 others, shot them bad enough that both had to be airlifted to Mega City Hospital, fled police and got away, torched their getaway vehicle, then lied to police when caught.) It’s even worse when those actions are targeted against certain demographics.
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I agree with you. But in this case I feel like we are missing some of the story. I know in my city, if you have a violation like this the city will send you a letter informing you that you need to take care of the issue by some date (my understanding is two weeks). You might even get a second warning letter. It is only after ignoring the city for over a month that fines would start to be issued. So it wasn’t like this property was uncared for for a week or two, it was probably all summer long that it was left untended. Then, instead of cleaning up the property and paying the fine, the homeowner challenged the ticket in court and probably plead not guilty instead of no contest. I’m guessing that’s what set the judge off. I still think she overreacted but I doubt she would have actually thrown the guy in jail if that had been an option.
Also, if you ever know of a person in this kind of situation where they are having difficulty maintaining their property because of age or illness, contact your local Knights of Columbus council. They will almost certainly organize a group of guys to help.
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Also unclear if the judge was addressing the defendant or the defendant’s son.
And agree with Snake: plenty of local organizations that are more than willing to find help for things like “clearing right-of-ways from overgrowth”.
Did you read the article? Watch the video? [The full hearing is available online.] It was a $100 fine. He’s apparently ill, but also can’t really speak much English and needed his son to help translate. Jail time doesn’t accomplish anything here; it doesn’t deter him from letting the alley get overgrown again when he can’t do it himself and relies on family to do it.
Then again, we have an entire government industry committed to jailing people for the smallest offenses that carry trivial fines (and in some places, charging them for their time in jail … and then re-jailing them when they can’t pay that), so really this isn’t that surprising.
I did not know KoC did this. I’m pretty certain this family didn’t know it either, and certainly didn’t have contacts to be able to get that kind of help. Really certain the father’s more concerned about his health and living day-to-day than trying to make phone calls to others to take care of things, especially when his son has been in charge of that stuff for a while.
What difference does that make? It’s even worse if the argument is she was addressing the defendan’t son because he wasn’t charged at all.
It’s $100. (Well, that + court costs, so probably more like $200.) This wasn’t they never clean the alley, it’s constantly overgrown, this is the 5th / 6th / 7th time they’ve been cited for this. Even in that instance, what purpose does jail time for someone sick with cancer accomplish? “Yeah, we’re gonna show that sonofabitch there’s laws in this country, you follow them or you pay the price!” Cool, then when he has issues in jail the taxpayers get to shell out money for his care.
(Or, you do like some places do and leave him in his cell to suffer, ignore his pleas for help, laugh about his suffering and maybe go mock him some, he eventually dies, you laugh about that and applaud the fact he’s dead, and then claim - and get - qualified immunity when the family tries to sue you for your gross negligence that caused the guy’s death, because there’s no other court case that “clearly establishes” you’re liable when you intentionally withhold medical care from someone you know is sick and needs immediate help or they’ll die, especially in the specific set of circumstances that existed in that situation. Because … that’s a thing, too.)
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It would be the difference between reporting that the exchange was directed at the older man vs. addressing the younger man. It may very well discredit that the judge was acknowledging the defendant’s condition by addressing the son directly. If this were the case, then the news outlet is guilty of “spinning” the story to present a falsehood.
Wait, so instead of “the judge threatened a 72-year old cancer patient with jail time over a $100 fine” it really should have been “the judge threatened the son of a 72-year old cancer patient with jail time over a $100 fine, even though the son had not been charged with anything.”
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I did read the article and I watched the news clip but not the full hearing. It feels to me like the judge way overreacted which makes me feel like there is something that wasn’t reported. It is also possible, maybe even likely, that she is just a terrible person. As a forgiving optimist, I like to believe that we didn’t get the whole story and the judge made a mistake.
Both KofC councils I’ve been a member in have done clean up work for people. If someone reached out to our council and asked for help with this, we would have had a crew there on Saturday to clean it up. Usually we get this kind of request from a parish member but not all the time. We even have a separate fund set up specifically to help local people/families deal with issues. I’m sure there are other groups out there that would help but I know my brother knights would step up for certain. I’ve done lots of unique volunteer opportunities.
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FTR, I’m in this camp as well.
Could the judge have handled it “better”? A lot depends on information that we don’t know and are likely never to have full access to.
But that article is definitely set up to be a rage-generator, IMO. That is, it definitely could’ve been reported in a far less contentious manner.
It would never have occurred to me to contact Knights of Columbus, or any other social club, when I had cancer and wasn’t up to dealing with some weeds. Damn I’m glad that my municipality doesn’t have laws requiring me to tend to municipal property. (no, I don’t have to shovel the sidewalks. The town has a plow for the ones that actually need to be clear.)
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She reads the charge, asks him if he’s responsible or not responsible (or something else, whatever that was), he states he’s got cancer and is very weak. She immediately repsonds with “You should be ashamed of yourself. If I could give you jail time for this, I would.” That’s all within 67 seconds. At this point, the only thing the son has said was “you were sick” to his father who’s explaining himself. She also ends with the admonition “you better get that cleaned up.”
This seems pretty clear to me. Maybe there’s something missing before the video starts where he states his name and she reads out the charge.
Ah, yes - the article would have been much more neutral and informative if it had merely said “judge fines local man $100 for failing to clear weeds of property” without reporting the fact that the man charged is elderly and cancer-stricken or that she threatened someone with jail time over … (checks notes) a $100 fine for a first offense for failure to clear vegetation from public areas, from 17 months ago. You know, because judges berating individuals in that manner isn’t a problem that needs to be highlighted. It’s one of the unknown job perks.
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TIL Knights of Columbus is not unique to Columbus.
I think we agree that the judge was out of line. She was armed for bear while on a snipe hunt if you ask me. That is odd behavior that I can’t explain. If I’m interpreting your posts correctly, you think it’s because she is a terrible person. That’s a definite possibility and I don’t dismiss it. I’m hoping that she was having a bad day and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back for whatever reason. I definitely hope for better behavior from my judges and I wouldn’t vote to reelect her.
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The Knights are not a social club but rather a fraternal benefits society. Originally created to provide life insurance benefits for Catholic men, it has grown beyond just that (although there is still the insurance company and many members also purchase insurance through KofC). We hold to four primary principles: charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism with charity being the most important principle by far. Each year the organization as a whole provides millions of dollars in donations. My council alone provided over $50K to various local organizations and people last year and provided over 10,000 service hours. It isn’t a perfect organization but we do a lot of good without a lot a fanfare which is perfect for me.
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