Eleven year old honor roll student put in solitary
texasobserver.org(Copy of my comment posted below)
This article is about Brownsville-RGV.
Local government there is some of the worst nationally.
The FBI has been running a massive anti-corruption operation there for over a decade now that has found corruption from the Mayor to the County DA all the way to their Congressman [0][1][2].
It's sad because the people there are hardworking, but because a large portion of the RGV's population is undocumented or an immigrant and is littered with fiefdoms and multi-generational political families, it has been neglected. The principal mentioned in the article is herself a member of one of these multi-generational public servant families in RGV
[0] https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/South-Texas-a...
[1] https://www.npr.org/2015/07/06/413463836/corruption-on-the-b...
[2] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/22/henry-cuellar-king-...
What's an RGV?
Rio Grande Valley. It's the name for the region that is the southern tip of Texas. It's overwhelmingly Latino, and was never economically integrated into the rest of Texas as Tejanos (the Mexican settlers in Texas) were able to retain power there after 1834. RGV is basically split between Tejanos (who have US citizenship) and immigrants (documented and undocumented) from neighboring Mexico. Within the RGV, a handful of Tejano political families essentially run everything there. There have been some attempts to clean up politics and governance there, but it's hard when a significant portion of the population there cannot vote, and a significant portion of the rest will vote for existing patronage networks. It's the similar issue in the Missippi Delta, portions of Central California, and portions of Upstwre New York - multi-generational patronage networks have a stranglehold on power.
Could you recommend somewhere to learn more about the NY component?
It's upstate New York, not the rest of NY.
A notable example was the Buffalo Billion scandal with bid rigging to open a tech campus in Albany for photovoltaic cell, nanotechnology, and semiconductor manufacturing. [0][1]
It was a legacy making project for Gov. Mario Cuomo (he started the precursor in the 90s) and his son Gov. Andrew Cuomo [1]
Albany was largely cleaned up after Cuomo "resigned" because there was a bottom-up revolt by millennial lawmakers and staffers working in Albany and on the Hill to coordinate a way to clean up Albany poltical culture [2]
You're Irish though, so I'd compare it to the corruption crackdown that happened in Ireland after the collapse of Anglo-Irish Bank and the very improper relations between builders, banking, and govt in Ireland in the 90s and 2000s.
[0] https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/201...
[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/07/after-scandals-and-...
[2] https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2021/0...
Appreciate it, and the localisation.
Rio Grande Valley
It's in the links.
School administrators are, for some wild reason, given strange power over law enforcement (the School Resource Officers) either on purpose or just in practice.
I’ve been arrested and taken to a detention center for simply refusing an order to detention without being given my write-up on the basis that being punished without being told about the infraction is wrong. In all, I was arrested and given a generic “Disturbing the Peace” style charge as a minor but, charged as an adult, because three weeks prior I had worn a jacket that was not on the list of school approved colors while in a poorly heated out-building. All because petit tyrants refused to honor the basic human right of telling the punished their crime.
These government schools and their seemingly unimpeachable administrators need reigned in as surely as the police and prosecutors. Whether they choose prosecution to cover for their weak egos or out of simple laziness, it’s unacceptable that they punt on problems and then invoke “Zero Tolerance” the second they’re expected to solve minor problems.
SPP. Brutality and power first, decency last.
What is this flagged? The title isn't Clickbait, an 11 year old asking for a counseling was actually arrested and placed in solitary confinement in a juvenile detention center.
Ask yourself, will the comments be productive?
Are they bad yet; or is it a case of "no good is likely to come from this so we'll foreclose any possibility"?
Why was the post that was just posted about discussing moderation in hacker news flagged and removed? Welcome to hacker news.
I don't know what post you're referring to but I'm pretty sure we didn't see it, which would mean that users flagged it. If you tell me the link I can look into it.
Everything wrong with the US justice system in one headline.
That's certainly a gross exaggerating but that went through my head when reading it. I didn't even know if this was about a case in the US. I just assumed it.
Yeah, I don't understand. The recent mass shooter had many signs of being mentally unwell and the police did nothing. And somehow, here is a 5th grader they are trying to brand as a terrorist.
> [...] Garza called law enforcement, who detained him and placed him in solitary confinement for three days at the Darrell B. Hester Juvenile Detention Center in Brownsville.
Of all the people involved in that decision and its execution, did anybody even had a fleeting thought of this being wrong?
Apparently the judge hearing the case did, by stopping the confinement and switching to home detainment. But the fact that it got that far, without any of the adults intervening, is upsetting.
Why is this "[flagged]" ? What does it mean ?
Users with karma above a certain level get's a 'flag'-link under each submission or comment. If a sufficient number of users flag an item then that item gets 'flagged' and eventually possibly also marked as 'dead' and it drops out of view.
Users don't have to explain why they flag an entry, but to my understanding it is usually because such users think that the entry attracts 'low quality comments', like bashing a whole nation state on scant grounds which inevitably causes the discussion to go down in flames.
I can understand this, but at the same time find it a pity that people can't have sensible discussions about sensitive topics. I find this story is one of those that deserve a better destiny than to be stomped away.
I don’t know how this translates into American legal language but do school officials have a statutory duty of care towards the children?
They do, but they also are given a very wide berth on how they can define "care".
Every state has different laws.
Land of the free
It's Brownsville-RGV. Local government there is some of the worst nationally. The FBI has been running a massive anti-corruption operation there for over a decade now that has found corruption from the Mayor to the Counth DA all the way to one of their Congressmen [0][1][2].
It's sad because the people there are hardworking, but because a large portion of the RGV's population is undocumented or an immigrant and is littered with fiefdoms and multi-generational political families, it has remained very poor despite having a decent port and oil economy
[0] https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/South-Texas-a...
[1] https://www.npr.org/2015/07/06/413463836/corruption-on-the-b...
[2] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/22/henry-cuellar-king-...
*Terms and conditions apply*
Offer only valid in participating states. Does not apply to net wealth <$1M. Skin pigmentation and drug screening test required to qualify. Applications open 2-3Pm EST on Tuesday and Wednesday only. Drive through customers only note: pedestrians attempting to use the drive in will be arrested and subject to deportation. Health care not included. Credit score must be 700+ to qualify. Please bring $500 in cash for administrative fee or you will lose your place in line
I thought the only countries that imprisoned children, were the kind of ones that forbid women's ankles in public - guess I was wrong.
There are parts of the US which would also forbid women from showing their ankles if they thought they could get away with it.
You've probably heard this before, but:
The USA is not a singular nation from the inside. There's a single foreign policy and a single military system and a single treaty negotiator, but on the inside it's 51+ jurisdictions, one of which isn't even based on the same underlying jurisprudence as the others ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Louisiana ).
You're not wrong - much of the US would be that country if only that pesky Constitution weren't in the way.
We are only a few years removed from people being threatened with detainment for showing their nose in public.
What the hell is wrong with the US
The "U" means united, but doesn't mean every state is the same (this was in a particular part of Texas).
It's always worth remembering the wide diversity in culture and social norms, much like you wouldn't consider Europe to have a single culture even though there is the EU.
It’s humans. Humans can be monsters.
(But some systems do seem to enable them)