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So all we need to do is find a way to put people in prison!
Win-win!
Ah yes, California's penal legion of ~~slaves~~ "indentured servants" that we uh... voted to keep around in the last election.
Man, CA politics are fucking bizarre. Sometimes the slam dunk no-brainer propositions fail and there never seems to be a really good reason why.
Money, and liberals.
California is liberal. Not left. Every once in a while some leftist proposition comes up that threatens money, and money always wins.
When they say liberals are wolves in sheep's clothing, this is kinda what they're talking about. They care, they really care about their fellow man, as far as their comfortable standard of living allows.
Any billionaire is free to step in and properly compensate these heroes, but they won’t
To play devil's advocate, and out of blind ignorancr, what's the alternative? Do nothing? Conscript the public?
Fund the bloody fire brigade
No no no no, that's too sensible
Land value taxes to fund well-paid firefighters. Regulations on water usage, land use, and construction. Repeal Prop 13.
The country has plenty of able bodied and willing firefighters, just not enough willing to do it for poverty wages with a seasonal employment schedule. I used to work with a bunch of these crazy bastards in the off season when I was a line cook.
No, pay the prisoners for fucks sake. Also, a lot of people would want that money but its extremely hard to get a job if youre, for example, homeless.
Take all the subsidy tax dollars that go to big oil and spend them on firefighter salary.
Wasn't this the thing as well where once they are released they cannot legally work as firefighters
No, I've spoken with CalFire guys about it. Apparently a bunch of departments actually will take note of prison crews they like working with and will hire out of that pool when their prison term is up. I think people who are ineligible to be firefighters due to their record are generally not permitted to be out on prison crews.
Also keep in mind that they are getting charged by the day to be in prison and if ever released will owe a large bill. Usually this results in immediate bankruptcy which further increases chances of future incarceration. By design
I already thought this was bad when they were ~~asked~~ made to work fast food jobs. ~~Asking~~ Making them to risk bodily harm is an entirely different idea. I think I want my first responders to feel fairly compensated when I call for help.
They mention how much money they're making but not that everything they have to spend it on comes from the institution imprisoning them and unconscionably price-gouged even by outside standards.
They're slaves, not incarcerated firefighters.
So go free them. Be the next John Brown. Follow in the footsteps of that Luigi guy.
Also, many of them are ineligible to become actual firefighters after their release from prison due to their criminal record. I would be slightly more okay with this system if it translated into a guaranteed position as a firefighter following release if they agree to go to an area in need like in smaller communities that have trouble recruiting firefighters.
I wonder if the Alethi pay their slaves better. What's the normal hourly rate for a firefighter?
I think one of the absolute stupidest things about this when it comes up is that when these same people get let out of prison they can’t even get the job of fire fighter because of their criminal record.
While no legal system is perfect, I much prefer the way some countries prevent the public from hearing the actual names of criminals or someone’s criminal history. Not everyone needs to be branded for life with a scarlet letter. It would reduce recidivism as well.
Fire Country
Yes, that is a TV show.
Slavery is alive and well in the United States Of America.
(As a side note it's funny how, with a century of delay, the US pretty much followed the UK in making slavery "illegal" by just making chattel slavery illegal and, not long after, replacing it with indentured servitude. The non "funny" side is that Britain has already dropped indentured servitude but the US is busy actually expanding their variant of it with things like 3-strikes legislation)
The 13th Amendment to the US constitution makes slavery illegal except for prisoners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_States
The 13th Amendment to the US constitution makes slavery illegal except for prisoners.
Exactly my point.
The type of prisioners made to work like this in the US tend to be people who are in prison for crimes directly or indirectly related to poverty, not things like murder, making it it a lot like indentured servitude worked in Britain were people who couldn't pay their debts were used as slaves.
It could be worse: they could be insured by UHC :)
They'll probably need specialty pulmonology care later in life and a lot of public insurance plans either don't cover it, or the waiting lists for Medicaid patients are obscene. At least UHC would get you onto the shorter waiting list.
So no more "Delay, Deny, Defend"?
Grandmaster: Revolution? How did this happen?
Topaz: Don't know. But the Arena's mainframe for the Obedience Disks have been deactivated and the slaves have armed themselves.
Grandmaster: Ohhh! I don't like that word!
Topaz: Mainframe?
Grandmaster: No. Why would I not like "mainframe?" No, the "S" word!
Topaz: Sorry, the "prisoners with jobs" have armed themselves.
Grandmaster: Okay, that's better.
Thor Ragnarok is the only MCU movie I care to rewatch once in a while, along with Infinity War
I actually purchased Thor: Ragnarok so that I could watch it repeatedly. I love it so much. I'm pretty sure about 90% of that movie was ad-libbed by Taika just giving them a vague outline of what the scene is supposed to be about and then just setting the actors loose to improv to their heart's content.
Edit: Also, watching Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) absolutely kill it as the most exasperated evil queen is one of my favorite things in a movie ever.
Hey, they're lucky not to be used as slaves!
The 13th Amendment states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Let's call for-profit prisons what they are - Plantations.
I always assume it's a European (or maybe Canadian) that makes posts like this. Last time I asked, I think they we're European - definitely not American.
But I really hope that Americans, at least, know that the right to enslave is enshrined in their constitution.
Oh, a bunch of us know, but because of gerrymandering and the ignorance of the larger populace, there's not a goddamn thing we can do about it.
American here, been saying it's slavery for a while. Not all of us are clueless.
Public work is one thing if we had a fair justice system (we don't)
Private work is absolutely indefensible.