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Jaysyn , to Politics in Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level With “Death Star” Law
@Jaysyn@kbin.social avatar

The deeply conservative Texas Legislature

Correction: they are christofascists.

Party of Small Government, right here folks!

Th4tGuyII , to Politics in Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level With “Death Star” Law
@Th4tGuyII@kbin.social avatar

Surely it has to be unconstitutional to create a law which essentially inhibits local governments from actually governing in major aspects of the law?

Or is that the intention... To have it be challenged, and then sent up to the now rather right-biased SCOTUS and make it a precedent?

spaceghoti OP ,

According to the lawsuits filed against this law, it’s explicitly against the Texas constitution.

TWeaK ,

The article says that the Federal government provides no protection between State and County or City. Texas specifically may have law prohibiting this new law, but that’s only because the new law is too broad and too vague. That might not stop other states from implementing the law successfully, however.

It won’t go to SCOTUS, it’s all at the state level. Unless someone comes up with a US constitutional angle, or something.

eldavi ,

It won’t go to SCOTUS, it’s all at the state level. Unless someone comes up with a US constitutional angle, or something.

to add to this: state lawmakers (especially texas) goes out of their way to make sure that there’s nothing in these proposals that could service as excuse for the federal gov’t to get involved because the state courts usually do what the state legislature wants.

Ted_Bunny ,

The TX Constitution is extremely malleable. Amendments are routine, and they use them in places other states would use normal legislation.

imperator3733 , to Politics in Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level With “Death Star” Law

Yet another clear example of why I have no intention to ever live in, visit, or do business in that hell-hole of a state.

Supervisor194 ,
@Supervisor194@lemmy.world avatar

Small government utopia has higher taxes than California.

newtraditionalists , to U.S. News in I Went on a Vigilante Raid to “Save” Kids Sold for Sex. What We Did Haunts Me Now.

This is absolutely horrifying to read about from so many angles. Perhaps most disgusting is the movie coming out. Props to the author for showing some insight and willingness to admit fault. So many people are seemingly unable to admit wrong doing.

Fixbeat , to Politics in Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level With “Death Star” Law

Anyone know what regulations they’re trying to nullify?

sim_ , (edited )

I know at least one: the state GOP took umbrage with a police oversight act that Austin passed in May.

Edit: actually, the “Death Star” bill didn’t concern this. There was separate legislature proposed to block city-specific police oversight but it was unsuccessful thankfully.

Lifecoach5000 ,

I believe this also kills the mandatory water breaks in Dallas for construction workers due to this BS. Someone please fact check me if I’m wrong.

FarFarAway ,

Not just dallas, but Houston and Austin, as well. San antonio was about to follow suit, until this passed.

odium ,

Would this affect the water conservation and plastic bag laws in Austin?

TWeaK ,

Potentially, it isn’t clear, but if someone sued the city would have to argue it in court.

If the city wins, they only get their legal expenses back if the suit is frivilous. If the city loses, they pay the claimants costs and legal expenses.

This law was written to make money for lawyers.

burntbutterbiscuits ,

It is too unconstitutionally vague and it is impossible to know which regulations would be affected other than the few specific ones mentioned in the bill.

scytale ,

It’s so they can apply it to anything they want and make exceptions for the things they don’t want to be affected.

TWeaK ,

In general the law is very vague, and apparently exactly what it covers will have to be argued in court. However if the city loses it will have to pay the other side’s costs, while if it wins it will still pay its own fees unless the lawsuit is particularly frivilous.

Apparently there are some sections defined, eg over animal regulations (no doubt heavily in favour of the farming industry), but most of it leaves it completely open to interpretation. Interpretation that private interest groups can sue over, with the city paying.

Lord_McAlister ,

Likely almost all of them.

agent_flounder ,
@agent_flounder@lemmy.one avatar

I’m not sure if anyone quite knows the entire scope of this law’s impact. But I’m not in TX and just trying to wrap my head around all this from the distant lands of Colorado with limited time.

HB 2127 will not allow local governments to have more strict regulations when it comes to business and commerce. Some local rules that will be removed by the bill include mandatory water breaks for construction workers, eviction moratoriums and protections against predatory lending

The bill is generally broad and a City of Austin spokesperson told KXAN it could take years before the full extent of the law is known.

When it comes to the city of Round Rock, this section of the law will have an impact. … In 2018, the city passed an ordinance that created requirements a business had to meet to commercially sell pets.

newsnationnow.com/…/death-star-texas-law-to-impac…

Houston:

In Houston, the law would overturn local ordinances regulating tow-truck companies, outdoor music festivals, noise regulations and boarding homes, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a Monday press conference. But the full extent of what local laws would become illegal remains unclear.

Abbott and business lobbying groups, particularly the National Federation of Independent Business, have long pushed for a wide-ranging law like HB 2127 that negates city rules like mandated water breaks and paid sick leave ordinances in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio — which courts had prevented from taking effect.

In recent years, lawmakers have passed laws to prevent cities and counties from requiring landlords to rent to tenants with federal housing vouchers or regulating fracking within their limits. If cities and counties want to raise property taxes a certain amount each year or rein in their police budgets, they have to get voter approval under legislation approved in the past few years. Local governments can no longer enact mask mandates or require schools or businesses to close if there’s a COVID-19 outbreak under a new law passed this year.

texastribune.org/…/houston-texas-lawsuit-local-co…

Ft Worth…

House Bill 3921 exemplifies the changes proposed in both the House and Senate. It would have obliterated zoning for existing residential neighborhoods. It would have allowed changes that would permanently alter neighborhoods enjoyed by Fort Worth residents.

House Bill 3526, which states that “a municipality may not apply building codes to the construction of a solar pergola,” an outdoor awning or covering using solar panels.

Read more at: www.star-telegram.com/…/article277266483.html#sto…

[Ft Worth City attorney Leann] Guzman, who has been with the attorney’s office for nearly 20 years, said her staff has tried to go through and “scrub our city code” to see where Fort Worth might be vulnerable to a lawsuit.

Read more at: www.star-telegram.com/…/article277505038.html#sto…

Furbag , (edited ) to Politics in Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level With “Death Star” Law

The tone-deafness of calling their shitty law “Death Star” is so funny that it’s un-funny.

edit: I guess I didn’t read it carefully enough. My bad, y’all.

Laughbone ,

They watched Star Wars and sided with the empire.

Turkey_Titty_city ,

The empire is just trying to bring order to a chaotic galaxy of stupid aliens who just need to be taught how to be better, like the white-skinned humans.

Zorque ,

The most telling thing about the sequels is that they decided to make the Empire new order less racist and sexist than in the EU.

Gotta make sure the megalomaniacal fascist states are inclusive!

jtk ,
@jtk@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Omg, why am I just realizing the empire is all humans?

_cerpin_taxt_ ,

They’re literally meant to be space Nazis haha. Right down to the uniforms and flags. TLJ when Donal Gleason’s character is giving a speech was very heavy-handed with it. These guys sided with the space Nazis!

jtk ,
@jtk@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Domhnall Gleeson. TIL he was a Weasley :) I had no idea that was him.

_cerpin_taxt_ ,

Oops haha. Accidentally merged his name with Donal Logue. Yep, Domhnall played Bill! Him and his dad were in HP. Brendan is such a great actor, too. In Bruges is easily a top 10 movie for me! Domnhall killed it in Ex Machina and Black Mirror, as well.

rynzcycle ,

was given a much zippier name by its opponents...

They didn't, the sane people did.

spaceghoti OP ,

I think that’s the nickname given it by their opponents. But the moniker is appropriate.

TWeaK ,

It’s the opponents of the law that gave it that name.

bbbhltz , to U.S. News in I Went on a Vigilante Raid to “Save” Kids Sold for Sex. What We Did Haunts Me Now.
@bbbhltz@beehaw.org avatar

Delusional.

And that painting. Like…what the hell? And the name of the organisation?!

This looks like something South Park or Family Guy would make up, doesn’t it?

offensive paintingoffensive painting

wjrii ,
@wjrii@kbin.social avatar

That's in the finest tradition of tone-deaf, clueless whitewashing Mormon painters, including their own mythology.

bbbhltz ,
@bbbhltz@beehaw.org avatar

Those are something else.

wjrii ,
@wjrii@kbin.social avatar

I mean, Kenobi Space Jesus has a pretty direct antecedent in Mormon art. They took the Medieval and Renaissance European tradition of making literally everybody white and brought it deep into the twentieth and even twenty-first centuries.

bbbhltz ,
@bbbhltz@beehaw.org avatar

Not a believer in any sense, but I would follow Kenobi and put his portait on my wall. No doubt about it.

Ubermeisters , (edited ) to Politics in Trump Defenses of Georgia Phone Call Are Strong Arguments Against Trump 2024 Campaign

I was just following orders how would I have been expected to understand the implications

It’s funny how these people are all complete and absolute morons whenever “common sense” is the baseline denominator to hold them against… these people do not represent us if they don’t understand the scope of thier positions.

So which is it? Either you know full well what you did, or: you shouldn’t have been in the office in the first place? Both are issues.

Jaysyn , to Politics in Trump’s Ploy to Evade Punishment for Jan. 6 Is Coming Into Focus
@Jaysyn@kbin.social avatar

I've been saying this since he crossed the Rubicon by not giving back NatSec documents as a private citizen.

Trump is going to die in Federal custody.

quindraco ,

I doubt that very much. I think he’s going to die in state custody.

rynzcycle , to Politics in Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level With “Death Star” Law

Ok, proposal, an executive order by Biden that nullifies any state law that nullifies any city or municipal law. Call it "Death Star, but like the bigger one from ROTJ".

Absolutely illegal and unconstitutional, not to mention stupid (red cites in blue states). But I really want to see:
"Executive Order 14107 of August 30, 2023
Death Star, bigger but worse"

Kyrgizion ,

Executive order 66…

rynzcycle ,

Seriously how did I miss that.

chahk ,

Executive Order 1701-A The Doomsday Machine.

ArbiterXero , to Men's Liberation in Want to Fix America’s Broken Sexual Culture? Ditch the Myth That Young Men Don’t Want Love.

This is literally the centre of the incel problem.

spaduf OP Mod ,
@spaduf@slrpnk.net avatar

Would you be willing to expand a little bit for the purposes of discussion?

ArbiterXero ,

Oh for sure!

I’ve known several incels, and in my experience, their entitlement to sex is really just an extension of wanting to feel loved.

Men grow up in a near drought of love and physical affection. After about 5 years old, we can’t hug our best friends.

Then men are told that they will pick a blushing bride that will be everything to them.

And when that doesn’t work, they become bitter and don’t know what to do with the rejection, because they have shit coping skills and mix up their entitlement for love with an entitlement for sex.

It’s a mess. I’m not absolving the incels of their shitty behaviour, but I’m also not going to say that “they deserve to feel unloved”

But I think the solution starts with recognizing that the incels actually want love. In my experience, women want to feel loved, and THEN trust you physically with sex. This makes sense because the physical danger for women is very real. Men seem to do it backwards. They want to get physical first and then trust you with love, since emotional danger is very real to them.

Anyways I’ll stop rambling, this is a mix of facts and personal experiences, but I really stand by the general point.

spaduf OP Mod ,
@spaduf@slrpnk.net avatar

I really think you nailed it here

ArbiterXero ,

Thanks, I go through great pains to try and truly understand issues rather than “grab the pitchforks”

It’s all too easy to see someone as evil, rather than just a person hurting. Once you see the hurt, you have to be careful not to go all “bleeding heart” and excuse their crimes.

dumples ,
@dumples@kbin.social avatar

I’ve known several incels, and in my experience, their entitlement to sex is really just an extension of wanting to feel loved.
Men grow up in a near drought of love and physical affection. After about 5 years old, we can’t hug our best friends.

I think you really have hit the nail on the head about how sex is the only source for a lot of important emotions and needs that is socially acceptable in a toxic gender roles based system. Sex is the only place that physical intimacy, honesty, giving / receiving pleasure, tenderness, feeling sexy etc. can be achieved. Most people cannot express that correctly and can't see they can get it elsewhere. This causes tons of issues for people both within and without relationships.

ArbiterXero ,

💯

The amount of pressure it puts on a partner to be your sole source of emotional confort is tremendous.

The other option for men is solitude.

There is a better way.

dumples ,
@dumples@kbin.social avatar

For sure. Be the change you want to see to all your male friends. I hug all my friends and have started complimenting my male friend a lot more. It's infective

gapbetweenus ,

Men seem to do it backwards. They want to get physical first and then trust you with love, since emotional danger is very real to them.

This always seemed strange to me. I need a emotional connection to a person first, to have sex with them. Given I can establish one rather fast.

Hacksaw ,

INCELS need to realise their problems stem from needing to be loved. It’s not anyone else’s job to understand them and fix their lives FOR them. But we can help them understand insofar as they’re willing to learn.

The second thing they and all of us need to realise is that we can’t get ALL our love from romantic partners. That puts a HUGE burden on the relationship. We need to learn how to share platonic love again. That’s what’s breaking us men. If we can’t learn to love eachother without toxic masculinity telling us it’s “gay” or whatever, then we’re doomed to losing men to loneliness, despair, and inceldom.

ArbiterXero ,

^ mic drop moment.

This is the men’s revolution that’s needed. The feminist revolution came, and was absolutely necessary, and now we need one for men. We didn’t keep up with the times.

dumples ,
@dumples@kbin.social avatar

Exactly right. The queer and feminist community made it acceptable to be whoever they want to be. Time for men to join the forces and do what makes them happy and to not what they think they have to. Remember that if someone else likes something different or hates something you love that doesn't diminish your enjoyment

dumples , to Men's Liberation in Want to Fix America’s Broken Sexual Culture? Ditch the Myth That Young Men Don’t Want Love.
@dumples@kbin.social avatar

I think this makes some great point but doesn't talk enough about how the cultures makes sex exclusively about the conquest for men as well. There is almost no talk about intimacy or pleasure from the sex but rather if it was gotten at all. The overall goal is have sex. Its isn't pleasure focused for either party with the assumption is that the man ejaculates from PIV. The queer and kink communities have really focused on the entire aspects and emotions that sex can provide. This trickled into most sex positive books and most of the advice was geared to women to allow them to feel any sexual pleasure but is applicable for all genders.

I think most men understand that sex can provide multiple emotions at once but can't articulate what they need and how they get it outside of sex as well. We need to talk about how young men want love and that sex can be part of that. I highly recommend people look into kink and sex positive books to understand relationships and what sex can mean outside the traditional sexist narrative.

umbrella ,
@umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

what books and what is their usual advice?

dumples ,
@dumples@kbin.social avatar

For general sex and relationships I recommend Hot and Unbothered. Its from a sex therapist and it talks about how to find and ask about the sex that you actually want. Its got great advice for anyone about how to think about your relationship and even has some exercises and worksheet (like a Yes, No & Maybe checklist).

For Kink the top two books are The New Topping Book and The New Bottoming Book which gives overview for topping and bottoming. They both start with some examples of what goals or feeling you might want to achieve. Some of their examples are Empathy, Creativity, Bigness, Nurturing, Control, innocence, Lust, Power etc. It then gives some practical advice about how to start with experimenting and how to ask about getting what you want. Its a great way to see what is out there even if you aren't interested in kink.

The real reason you should check them out is for communication skills for on-going enthusiastic consent. If you see how someone asks to be hog tied with a ball gag in their mouth and whipped silly its easy to ask for anything else. Same with safety both emotional and physical. The most interesting part is how right after giving detailed instructions on how to whip someone is how choking is never safe. Its interesting to see what can be safe and what cannot be.

fracture ,

holy shit these are great recs, tysm

dumples ,
@dumples@kbin.social avatar

I'm happy to help. If you need more books all of the books above will have their own reference / recommendations. Good luck!!!

Poggervania , to U.S. News in I Went on a Vigilante Raid to “Save” Kids Sold for Sex. What We Did Haunts Me Now.
@Poggervania@kbin.social avatar

Haven’t heard of them until this article, but holy moly does the Ballard dude have a hero complex. Between the whole TV show idea, the movie, and that painting of himself, it seems to me that all he cares about is being the “chew bubblegum and kick ass” sort of action hero instead of legitimately trying to help the kids after they are “rescued”.

It sounds like to me this Operation Underground Railroad is really meant for tacticool dudebros and rich people to feel like something they’re not: a hero.

nhgeek ,
@nhgeek@beehaw.org avatar

Exactly what I was thinking and planned to say here when I came to the comments. Well said. This is Meal Team Six stuff for kids who grew up watching too many bad action movies.

JackbyDev , to U.S. News in I Went on a Vigilante Raid to “Save” Kids Sold for Sex. What We Did Haunts Me Now.

Wow, so two of those children were kidnapped specifically because of the demand generated by the sting and then they got dumped out a week later from the shelter presumably back onto the streets.

Astroturfed , to Politics in Texas Takes Attacks on Austin to New Level With “Death Star” Law

“Small government” unless you don’t agree with them, then fuck you here comes big brother.

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