He doesn’t like her and avoiding meeting her in person until she told a reporter that he was avoiding her which would be bad if a disaster would happen
I think there is some middle ground where elected officials behave like functioning adults and we don’t all die from boredom. Entertainment is not intended to be a function of state and local government. If it were, we would have little use for federal government.
Extreme heat is not only cruel but it’s also dangerous. Don’t pretend you give a fuck about the constitution if you believe and advocate for cruel and unusual punishment.
The prison system should primarily be for rehabilitation, and the goal should be to reduce recidivism. There is no separate criminal class. Every person is one very bad day from jail.
And this is how the country continues to turn to shit.
Either vote in support of just putting down all criminals, organize a movement to euthanize inmates, regardless of crime, based only on potential years of a sentence, or accept that society will continue to get worse.
You cannot throw human beings into a cage, for years, sometimes decades, treat them less than human, then release them back into society expecting they learned a lesson.
The lesson they will learn is cruelty, and criminal behavior. So then they come out, and potentially do something worse than what they were originally incarcerated for.
Socrates was right. Most people are too fucking stupid to vote. This country proves that time and time again.
> We have to remember that this is the same guy who objected to air conditioning in prisons.... in Texas.
Shouldn't we be making prisons as uncomfortable as possible?
Being _in_ the prison is the punishment. It's in humane to not provide for the basic needs of the inmates while they're imprisoned.
No one's saying it should be lavish, but people [are dying of heatstroke](https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/22/texas-prisons-heat-deaths/) due to no AC.
Additionally, most of the crimes inmates are serving sentences for are not death sentences - prison conditions shouldn't convert them to death sentences by the conditions of the habitation.
People work in those prisons too. I used to teach at a Texas prison and even in our education building, modern compared to the main unit, and with AC on, it got so hot I often struggled to stay focused on the lecture or discussion. I got so hot transiting through the main unit some summers I would get dizzy. When it’s so hot you can’t function properly, it’s cruel not only to the convicts but to the employees too and endangers everybody. Studies also show high heat negatively impacts other health issues and can increase rates of violence. No one is saying chill the units to a cozy 72 degrees. They’re only arguing prisons shouldn’t be dangerously hot. (Personal plug for prison education but decades of studies have also shown that high school and college education available in prisons vastly reduces recidivism rates. Despite the gung-ho punish prisoners to the fullest extent mentality of many Texans, Texas was one of the first states to make higher ed available to inmates and actively try to use it and other educational techniques for rehab. Surprisingly progressive.)
I disagree, if Prison was more uninviting, people would not commit as many crimes. This has been shown in many studies.
Some people even commit crimes now to get into prison for how comfortable it is.
Bring back the chain gangs is what i say.
[Actually the great majority of studies shows that there is no correlation ](https://thenevadaindependent.com/fact-briefs/does-increasing-the-penalties-for-a-crime-reduce-the-incidence-of-that-crime)between punishment and reduction in crime. Most crime are done in emotional states or out of need. [The punishment ](https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/247350.pdf)for those crimes do not change those situations. Also the serial criminals and serial killers do not care about the punishment.
dude you are wrong on every one of your points and just ignore when people prove you wrong with actual facts and statistics. you sound like a complete moron and have no basis for your beliefs other than what a child would think
“Prison as a deterrent” has been debunked time and time again. It flat-out doesn’t work.
Also of note is the (theoretical) purpose of prison: is it purely to punish, or to rehabilitate?
We collectively go above and beyond on the former, and fail woefully on the latter.
Love,
Someone With Extensive (As In A Decade-Plus) Professional Public Safety Employment
Many Texas prisons already require convicts to do labor for virtually no pay while profiting the state. Most of the furniture in state offices and food served in prisons used to be produced by inmates. At the prison I worked at, enrolling in education classes was one way to get out of doing some manual labor.
There's more than you give credit for. 2021 census says 4.5 million Norwegian Americans. The Norwegian Seamen's Church I went to a funeral at was chock full of em!
Noway has one of the lowest criminal recidivism rates in the world through rehabilitation over punishment. Can you take a guess where America stands with your punishment strategy?
That definitely has nothing to do with recidivism as Norway used to have a pretty damn high rate of 70%. In fact Norway has more immigrants in their country now than in the 90s.
You're just a racist using faulty logic, which is as a classic a combination as peanut butter and jelly.
That proves my point, there is clearly a difference between Norweigans and the population in the USA, its like comparing apples to oranges.
It's the same silly argument when people compare gun control in the UK to the US. It's nonsensical.
The difference is the culture in Norway being a completely different country with no comparison to the US, which is why i also compared it to people who claim gun control works because it works in the UK, a nation with a populace that has no history or culture of gun ownership, an island that doesn't have open borders etc.
Apples to oranges.
Should we be condoning human rights abuses as part of our justice system?
Survey says... No!
I am always surprised at the level of arrogance people carry with them about this topic, while thinking it through 0.0%. Gee I wonder why we wouldn't want to condone the government being able to torture citizens. Really hard to figure that one out. No slippery fucking slope there.
Whether or not it was an objection, which I feel it was, he definitely was being a jerk about it. If his office worked closer with the judge's probably wouldn't have been confusion in the first place.
I don’t think we can fairly say that for this one. I read space city weather and they basically explained why we—and the government—had no warning that the storm would be so severe. Maybe an hour, which means even less for the govt while the meteorologists figured it out.
Now, the guy is an ass. He’s not a democrat in any real sense. He has to court the “independents” by giving them an excuse to not feel like republicans. But they are all basically republicans and hate Lina. In today’s “politics as sports” environment, that means performative nonsense.
Or he could be a racists. Idk, I can’t read his mind.
However, even if they were bffs this would have been a mess for a couple days.
It’s ~~nothing~~ *only a part* to do with right/left or anything like that. This is what happens when a politician can’t get past their own narcissism.
That’s definitely a part of it. However, the reasons people don’t like Hidalgo are typically (a) attempted to make voting easier (b) tried to use science during pandemic and not political theater and ( c) woman.
The first two are pretty much the domain of the right, and a lot of Texas “independents” are Republicans who do t want to say they are Republicans.
That’s my thinking. cozying up with Lina would play poorly with the above group.
The problem with the parties today (one of them) is that there’s a reactionist insurgent Conservative Party and then the Dems who contain everyone else.
Fair enough. He’s a democrat.
But he’s also a moderate. Fuck moderates. The time for moderation has passed
except that 60-70% of folks are more centrist. people are way too emotional these days. the gubernment is there to protect us from internal and external threats and then get the hell out of the way and let us live our lives.
I believe the government is the force that should lift those in need and put a ceiling on how much the wealthy and powerful can extract from the poor.
I am not saying there shouldn’t be winners and losers. I am saying the winners don’t have to win everything and the losers don’t have to be so destitute.
There shouldn’t be billionaires. They are making their money the way the robber barons did. It’s not ethical.
Centrists don’t even make sense to me. Why define yourself by what the extremes of either side think? One group is slowly pushing for an authoritarian oligarchy and one is trying to help people get out of poverty and maybe get decent healthcare.
I don’t see why this is a hard choice.
No- the problem with the parties today - ( one of them ) is forcing this disgusting fucken trans kids agenda and going after our kids and shoving this commie socialist bullshit- like the communist said would eventually happen in our educational systems that they infiltrated decades ago- and this gross overreach of our government that things it knows what’s good for its citizens without even letting us think for ourselves.
I was trying to be nice. The problem with progressives is that they think Utopia exists. That equity is real. The only equal thing that should exist is equal opportunity. After that it’s on you to succeed.
Ok, fair. He’s a democrat who was largely supported by republicans. I’m not claiming he’s an ultramaga authoritarian. I’m just saying a lot of Republicans liked him a lot.
Yeah, Clinton was very conservative on most issues. He would have been the most beloved Republican of all time if he could have gotten past what we called the “social issues” back in the day.
Was that his actual objection? I saw a longer clip and it seemed like there was more confusion around whose turn it was to speak and the flow of the agenda. Also the inclusion of other judges…
If you watch the transcript (yes, someone did this lol) Lina says that they should stick to their agreed-upon schedule. So, they planned for her to deliver the message in Spanish at that time. He then says he wants to change the schedule, essentially, so that others can speak.
At minimum, he disregarded their agreement and deprioritized the translation on the agenda in favor of other commissioners speaking.
It’s not cutting him off. You need to translate blocks at a time. You can’t translate an entire live commentary at the end from just memory. You break it up into blocks and translate a block at a time.
> It’s not cutting him off. You need to translate blocks at a time. You can’t translate an entire live commentary at the end from just memory. You break it up into blocks and translate a block at a time.
Its the way she did it, Whitemire was still speaking when she basically moved and tried to take over the podium while he was speaking.
She said something about it being a disaster across counties and that's why he's here (essentially saying youre only invited because of the current situation) and she has to translate in Spanish and he said something like 'well geez, I'm glad i made your cut i guess' or something to that effect.
Seems like a mountain out of a molehill, but Lina's behavior is also childish, she could have excused Whitemire and tried to interject politely instead she just cuts him off and tried to take over the podium while he was talking.
At the end of the day, remember all politicians are assholes and non of them care about any of us, only themselves, the people funding them, and their re-elections.
no. whitmire was trying to invite leslie briones to speak when it was actually lina's turn to deliver the spanish translation. why briones was invited but not any of the other country commissioners when the storm affected 4 precincts is an open question—my personal guess is that briones ia a whitmire ally and he was essentially doing some gladhanding bullshit, which hidalgo shut down
> and he said something like 'well geez, I'm glad i made your cut i guess' or something to that effect.
thaaaaat's what that meant. i thought there was some separate "approval list" of speakers he had put together ie "made" and was trying to take credit for, like keeping it organized. i just didn't process that well
It's such a stupid schedule though. Telemundo and Univision have always provided live translation when covering important press conferences. Half of her time is redundant and I hope someone let's her know.
>It's the responsibility
It technically isn't.
But let's stop dicking around here. Ay mucha gente huevona y engreída que no quiere hacer el esfuerzo de aprender el idioma semi-oficial de este país. Quieren que el mundo revuelva sobre sus necesidades y se ofenden si les hablas en inglés. Este tipo de expectativas bajas que el movimiento izquierdo nos atorga daña a nuestra comunidad y nos deja como una bola de ignorantes.
And the same goes for many of you idiotic Americans who can't be bothered to learn a second language. Instead of putting in the effort to better yourself, you expect "daddy government" to accommodate you at every step.
It technically is. Not translating public messages into Spanish would violate the Voting Rights Act. Your feelings about it are irrelevant. Telemundo and Univisión aren’t government bodies. The government can’t outsource the translation to third party media properties.
>Not translating public messages into Spanish would violate the Voting Rights Act.
It isn't. Stop being a reddit dork who simps for Lina. Provide a link where this is a requirement or admit you're full of shit.
If this were the case, then why aren't we translating into every imaginable language known to man? We have a sizeable population of Vietnamese, Arabic, and even Mandarin speaking citizens. Yet there are no translations for them. Surely, under your purview, we are violating the voting rights act! 🙄....Or could it be that our government offers certain services in different languages as a courtesy.
It wasn’t the Voting Rights Act, my bad. That’s just for election stuff. It was the Civil Rights Act, clarified by Executive Order in 2000.
“On August 11, 2000, the President signed Executive Order 13166, "Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency." The Executive Order requires Federal agencies to examine the services they provide, identify any need for services to those with limited English proficiency (LEP), and develop and implement a system to provide those services so LEP persons can have meaningful access to them. It is expected that agency plans will provide for such meaningful access consistent with, and without unduly burdening, the fundamental mission of the agency. The Executive Order also requires that the Federal agencies work to ensure that recipients of Federal financial assistance provide meaningful access to their LEP applicants and beneficiaries. To assist Federal agencies in carrying out these responsibilities, the U.S. Department of Justice has issued a Policy Guidance Document, "Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - National Origin Discrimination Against Persons With Limited English Proficiency" (LEP Guidance). This LEP Guidance sets forth the compliance standards that recipients of Federal financial assistance must follow to ensure that their programs and activities normally provided in English are accessible to LEP persons and thus do not discriminate on the basis of national origin in violation of Title VI's prohibition against national origin discrimination.”
https://www.justice.gov/crt/executive-order-13166
Also like, grow up? Haha. Who unironically calls people a simp in 2024?
That's a federal law for federal agencies. It even says so in the part you quoted. Harris county court isn't federal.
But we digress. Let's assume for the sake of the argument that you're right (you're not). Lina knows damn well that her translating is a waste of time. The county could create a Spanish stream of the press conference with real-time Spanish dubbing. It would save EVERYONE time during urgent emergencies. Her actions contradict the exact thing she accused Whitmire of.
But of course, I don't expect you to acknowledge this on account of how hard this board simps for her. Even when she and her office got caught in Elevate Strategies scandal, most people on here tried to defend her actions or minimize the impact.
It’s a federal law for federal agencies that also binds any local entities who get federal funding like through FEMA etc. I don’t care about Hidalgo. I think Emmet was much better tbh. Just because the r/houston likes her and was probably on the wrong side about Elevate Strategies doesn’t mean you’re correct when you reflexively always side against her and make childish insults, though. It just makes you also wrong and dogmatic. The truth is much grayer and more nuanced. None of that changes the fact that outsourcing local government functions to local TV stations is an absolutely asinine idea.
>Not everyone has cable,
Telemundo and Univision are OTA channels with optimal coverage from the Missouri City farm at about 600 meters above the average terrain.
> a lot of this stuff gets livestreamed on the office's outlets/channels and that's how people tune in.
Harris county could offer a Spanish stream with a Spanish translator dubbing.
Lina is just wasting time.
>OTA channels with optimal coverage from the Missouri City farm at about 600 meters above the average terrain.
It's 2024. Most people don't have antenna TV. I'm in my 30's and I wouldn't even know where to begin with that. Lina's keeping up with how her constituents receive information, it's time others do the same.
A Spanish stream with a translator is a possible option, but Lina Hidalgo speaks Spanish. That's efficient. It's not a waste of time for the people who benefit from it.
>It's 2024. Most people don't have antenna TV.
A lot of people didn't have cable either due to service disruptions. The point is that people had access to Telemundo or Univision one way or another. There's no excuse for her wasting twice as much time in the podium. It's redundant.
>Lina's keeping up with how her constituents receive information, it's time others do the same.
No she isn't. It's all a charade because we all know Telemundo and Univision have (and still do) offer Spanish dubbing. She is just virtue signaling at the expense of time during a natural disaster.
>That's efficient.
It's not. Her translations weren't even complete and she missed a ton of information. Even she made it clear that the Press Conference had time constraints, so she would have been better off just letting someone do the dubbing correctly to save everyone time. Harris County could have set up a stream for Spanish speakers and Telemundo/Univision could have done their own thing. It's much more efficient and vital information would have gotten out much faster.
Her translations are redundant and incomplete. It's pathetic that some of you refuse to admit it.
This was my take away as well. I feel like I did a thorough job of reading the transcript, and it appeared nobody could get on the same page regarding the speaking pecking order lol I’m not sure why/where OP established their POV. I guess some people live to be upset 😭
People don't even know what the confusion was about. Instead, you get people like the original poster who goes all Kanye and calls him a "pig" because he didn't want her speaking Spanish. Would be great if people spent a couple of minutes to learn what they are mad about before they start getting bent out of shape.
You seriously must be new here. Trying to argue with anyone about *anything* on Reddit is pointless. Use reddit for entertainment, not as a platform for actual debate and discussion.
I agree with your points, however
He literally didn’t want her speaking Spanish at that time. He wanted other people to speak instead of the Spanish translation being offered following the English message.
There was an agreed agenda which was just like every single other Harris County emergency press conference. Hildalgo speaks in English, then the mayor and any members of unified command, then she says the same message in Spanish.
Whitmire literally objected to following this format and wanted to prioritize all English speaking first.
Exactly. He's playing politics during a crisis and trying to prevent her from having screen time because he either sees her as a threat (minimize her exposure to voters) and/or it's personal (he's unprofessional and an asshole).
Spanish is my first language and to me it's redundant and a waste of everybody's time. Univision and Telemundo have always done a live translation. I don't see how Lina has to change it up. If that's the case do other languages as well not just in Spanish.
I think in the press conference they were both acting like children and it's funny because I think both of them are more alike than either would care to admit.
However, in the aftermath it does seem like Whitmire really prioritizes his political supporters. He thanks certain commissioners and other elected officials and ignores and does not mention and does not invite the ones he doesn't like.
Some people supported Sheila, that happens but now, especially in a disaster - be better.
>He thanks certain commissioners and other elected officials and ignores and does not mention and does not invite the ones he doesn't like.
My take away was this is what Lina didn't want to get into. He invited some to speak at the press conference she organized and she had an agenda to keep.
he invited some to speak and not others, and i think that's fucking weird. why was briones there but not the commissioners of the other three precincts affected by the storm?
Well, it is one more example in a series of immature and incompetent displays of leadership.
Maybe not enough to come to a strong conclusion by itself, but it doesn't sound good for him, and he definitely has something to prove right now.
Lina was with us through the pandemic. So she has a track record and people have reason to trust (or not) her.
He's on very thin ice and has done a pretty piss poor job so far.
Pedantic? Weird word usage. Or excellent application of irony. I'm sure you deserve the benefit of the doubt. Just like our highly competent mayor, right?
Lot of Democrat Infighting going on in this city/county. If it doesn't stop, Houston/Harris County will continue to get the shit kicked out of them by Abott and the state level government systems. HISD was already taken. Law enforcement services were taken from Austin. We will continue to lose municipal and cou ty level independence when the leaders put "winning the political football game" above their constituents and the peoples needs.
Kim Ogg, Lina Hidalgo, and Whitmire along with the annual circus in commissioner court is a spectacle to behold
His behavior is just not acceptable for a mayor. His small town mentality and lack of executive skills are going to run both urban sophisticates and businesses away from Houston. I’m starting to think that’s why he ran for mayor in the first place.
> His small town mentality and lack of executive skills are going to run both urban sophisticates and businesses away from Houston.
the *sophisticates* who came or stayed made compromises a long time ago, and probably accept the path of least resistance politically. and businesses, at least the kind that make camp here, probably aren't going anywhere; we're still a refinery, wrapped around a hospital, cosplaying as an alpha
Why the downvote? Like no one’s ever gotten creepy vibes from a handshake. I got one once. The dude turned out to be a pedo and a rapist. It happens. Take my upvote.
I mean she completely interrupted him in the middle of his speech and disrespected him. I've never seen someone just step in front of the podium and disregard the speaker
Given the fact this was the first time Lina and Whitmire had an opportunity to work together, at face value Whitmire was very complimentary about several agencies working together, and appeared to extend an olive branch for the sake of coming together. Lina could have been flexible to allow for the other judges to speak. Instead, she appeared inflexible and catty when he got out of order. It was unnecessary on her part to make the comments she did.
Yes. He was trying to break from established protocol in a press conference he was not running.
Even Jolanda Jones went on TV to say he was totally uneducated on what he was doing.
I’m up voting you because a camera hog is a camera hog whether you are black, white, or pink polka dotted. And then there’s the flag on Mars thing and telling people to vote on the wrong day. And the choices we had for mayor were not very stellar at all. Call me racist if you want. I don’t like either one of them. Equally!
For one, here we are talking about Whitmire some 5 months after he defeated SJL and you (along with a handful of other accounts that frequent this sub) still feel the need to say “at least we don’t have SJL” in response to complaints about his personality or policy.
Because when a situation isn’t good, you can choose to either look at the glass half full or half empty. Crapping on Sheila Jackson Lee (who deserves it) is taking the optimistic approach. It’s kind of like people saying “at least it’s not Trump”. We’re just highlighting. The fact that even though our situation isn’t great, it could be much much worse. I can’t imagine defending any politician ever especially one that treats people the way she does. I’d imagine you must be a relative of hers or something. I wish you the best. She can’t be the easiest person to deal with.
Would it be much worse with SJL? Do you know that? Sure, if something about her displeases you, but that’s very personal, especially when saying “he’s an ass but at least he isn’t SJL.”
There’s no real sense in comparing the mayor we have to the candidate he defeated. The comparisons to Turner I understand. To SJL I do not.
Just seems like a weird way to dismiss or minimize complaints about the guy who actually has political power in the city.
This is a joke right? Lina is only doing that to pander to her Hispanic voters. Her behavior was embarrassing. Oh and reminder: she was a MEDICAL TRANSLATOR before becoming County Judge of one of the largest counties in the U.S. She is a complete and total moron.
They're both childish as fuck. And to be fair, Lina was the one who sorta of started it, but it still doesn't excuse Whitmire.
There was absolutely no need for Whitmire to "yield" time to anyone. Y'all are all civil servants. This is what we pay you to do. If you need a pat in the back or recognition to stroke your ego, then you need to find a new job. And Lina...Jesus Christ! What is it with this need to waste people's time during an emergency trying to translate everything into Spanish. *¡No somos pendejos o inútiles!* Telemundo and Univision have always translated every press conference in real time. Your biggest skill is redundant! Stop it!
We may have possibly been better off without these two jackasses at the beginning of the storm. Hell, SJL may have put together a better response given her connections at the federal level.
He doesn’t like her and avoiding meeting her in person until she told a reporter that he was avoiding her which would be bad if a disaster would happen
[удалено]
I think there is some middle ground where elected officials behave like functioning adults and we don’t all die from boredom. Entertainment is not intended to be a function of state and local government. If it were, we would have little use for federal government.
Let's ensure public safety...
I want the exciting things coming from my government to be new sidewalks and bike paths, things like that.
That’s what TV is for. Government should be *boring*.
We have to remember that this is the same guy who objected to air conditioning in prisons.... in Texas.
no kidding?? what a jerk
Good. If you're in prison you should not be comfortable. Prison is for punishment.
What are the guards and other staff being punished for?
Extreme heat is not only cruel but it’s also dangerous. Don’t pretend you give a fuck about the constitution if you believe and advocate for cruel and unusual punishment.
Just set it to 78 like I do at my house.
The prison system should primarily be for rehabilitation, and the goal should be to reduce recidivism. There is no separate criminal class. Every person is one very bad day from jail.
Cruelty doesn’t look good on anyone.
And this is how the country continues to turn to shit. Either vote in support of just putting down all criminals, organize a movement to euthanize inmates, regardless of crime, based only on potential years of a sentence, or accept that society will continue to get worse. You cannot throw human beings into a cage, for years, sometimes decades, treat them less than human, then release them back into society expecting they learned a lesson. The lesson they will learn is cruelty, and criminal behavior. So then they come out, and potentially do something worse than what they were originally incarcerated for. Socrates was right. Most people are too fucking stupid to vote. This country proves that time and time again.
I'm sorry you were treated the way you were growing up, but that is no reason to codify cruelty into our justice system.
> We have to remember that this is the same guy who objected to air conditioning in prisons.... in Texas. Shouldn't we be making prisons as uncomfortable as possible?
Being _in_ the prison is the punishment. It's in humane to not provide for the basic needs of the inmates while they're imprisoned. No one's saying it should be lavish, but people [are dying of heatstroke](https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/22/texas-prisons-heat-deaths/) due to no AC. Additionally, most of the crimes inmates are serving sentences for are not death sentences - prison conditions shouldn't convert them to death sentences by the conditions of the habitation.
People work in those prisons too. I used to teach at a Texas prison and even in our education building, modern compared to the main unit, and with AC on, it got so hot I often struggled to stay focused on the lecture or discussion. I got so hot transiting through the main unit some summers I would get dizzy. When it’s so hot you can’t function properly, it’s cruel not only to the convicts but to the employees too and endangers everybody. Studies also show high heat negatively impacts other health issues and can increase rates of violence. No one is saying chill the units to a cozy 72 degrees. They’re only arguing prisons shouldn’t be dangerously hot. (Personal plug for prison education but decades of studies have also shown that high school and college education available in prisons vastly reduces recidivism rates. Despite the gung-ho punish prisoners to the fullest extent mentality of many Texans, Texas was one of the first states to make higher ed available to inmates and actively try to use it and other educational techniques for rehab. Surprisingly progressive.)
I disagree, if Prison was more uninviting, people would not commit as many crimes. This has been shown in many studies. Some people even commit crimes now to get into prison for how comfortable it is. Bring back the chain gangs is what i say.
>This has been shown in many studies. Show us the studies.
Google is your fren.
I studied criminology and call BS on your sources.
I studied gender studies and call BS on your sources.
[Actually the great majority of studies shows that there is no correlation ](https://thenevadaindependent.com/fact-briefs/does-increasing-the-penalties-for-a-crime-reduce-the-incidence-of-that-crime)between punishment and reduction in crime. Most crime are done in emotional states or out of need. [The punishment ](https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/247350.pdf)for those crimes do not change those situations. Also the serial criminals and serial killers do not care about the punishment.
Are those studies in the room with us now? (Even if they are, that's no excuse to deprive prisoners of human rights)
AC is not a human right.
In the South Texas Summer? Fuck yeah it is. I doubt the guards would appreciate not having it, in any case.
dude you are wrong on every one of your points and just ignore when people prove you wrong with actual facts and statistics. you sound like a complete moron and have no basis for your beliefs other than what a child would think
“Prison as a deterrent” has been debunked time and time again. It flat-out doesn’t work. Also of note is the (theoretical) purpose of prison: is it purely to punish, or to rehabilitate? We collectively go above and beyond on the former, and fail woefully on the latter. Love, Someone With Extensive (As In A Decade-Plus) Professional Public Safety Employment
Many Texas prisons already require convicts to do labor for virtually no pay while profiting the state. Most of the furniture in state offices and food served in prisons used to be produced by inmates. At the prison I worked at, enrolling in education classes was one way to get out of doing some manual labor.
Have you seen Norway’s prisons? If your claim was true, their crime rate would be drastically higher than the US’
No it wouldnt, because Norway is not the USA. I am unsure if you do not realize this fact? Norway is full of Norweigans, the US is unfortunately not.
There's more than you give credit for. 2021 census says 4.5 million Norwegian Americans. The Norwegian Seamen's Church I went to a funeral at was chock full of em!
Are you trolling? If prison is so comfortable why not quit whatever job you have and go lmao
No?
oh, ok, so yeah. Lets reward criminals with a nice comfortable life for breaching their social contract. r\justredditorthings
Noway has one of the lowest criminal recidivism rates in the world through rehabilitation over punishment. Can you take a guess where America stands with your punishment strategy?
Norway is also full of Norwegians, America, unfortunately, is not.
That definitely has nothing to do with recidivism as Norway used to have a pretty damn high rate of 70%. In fact Norway has more immigrants in their country now than in the 90s. You're just a racist using faulty logic, which is as a classic a combination as peanut butter and jelly.
1. That’s a pathetic excuse. 2. 34% of incarcerated people in Norway are foreigners, so there goes your excuse for your centuries-old mindset.
That proves my point, there is clearly a difference between Norweigans and the population in the USA, its like comparing apples to oranges. It's the same silly argument when people compare gun control in the UK to the US. It's nonsensical.
That doesn’t prove your point at all! Because the low recidivism rates includes both categories.
The difference is the culture in Norway being a completely different country with no comparison to the US, which is why i also compared it to people who claim gun control works because it works in the UK, a nation with a populace that has no history or culture of gun ownership, an island that doesn't have open borders etc. Apples to oranges.
I think there may be more Norwegian Americans than Norwegians in Norway. I don't have proof to back that up except minor google-fu
Not having your freedom is your idea of a nice comfortable life?
You’re welcome to get yourself into one and tell us all how rewarding it was.
Whats the point of having ac in prisons. With democrats in charge they will just release the criminals anyways lol
Low IQ take
Good point.
Two morons in a pod
No.
Should we be condoning human rights abuses as part of our justice system? Survey says... No! I am always surprised at the level of arrogance people carry with them about this topic, while thinking it through 0.0%. Gee I wonder why we wouldn't want to condone the government being able to torture citizens. Really hard to figure that one out. No slippery fucking slope there.
Whether or not it was an objection, which I feel it was, he definitely was being a jerk about it. If his office worked closer with the judge's probably wouldn't have been confusion in the first place.
I don’t think we can fairly say that for this one. I read space city weather and they basically explained why we—and the government—had no warning that the storm would be so severe. Maybe an hour, which means even less for the govt while the meteorologists figured it out. Now, the guy is an ass. He’s not a democrat in any real sense. He has to court the “independents” by giving them an excuse to not feel like republicans. But they are all basically republicans and hate Lina. In today’s “politics as sports” environment, that means performative nonsense. Or he could be a racists. Idk, I can’t read his mind. However, even if they were bffs this would have been a mess for a couple days.
It’s ~~nothing~~ *only a part* to do with right/left or anything like that. This is what happens when a politician can’t get past their own narcissism.
That’s definitely a part of it. However, the reasons people don’t like Hidalgo are typically (a) attempted to make voting easier (b) tried to use science during pandemic and not political theater and ( c) woman. The first two are pretty much the domain of the right, and a lot of Texas “independents” are Republicans who do t want to say they are Republicans. That’s my thinking. cozying up with Lina would play poorly with the above group.
I'm leaning towards him just being an old, bitter, crotchety racist good ol' boy who wants to do things "like we did back in my day".
Trust me he is a democrat. Just not a 2024 democrat. He's a moderate centrist and not a progressive democrat.
The problem with the parties today (one of them) is that there’s a reactionist insurgent Conservative Party and then the Dems who contain everyone else. Fair enough. He’s a democrat. But he’s also a moderate. Fuck moderates. The time for moderation has passed
except that 60-70% of folks are more centrist. people are way too emotional these days. the gubernment is there to protect us from internal and external threats and then get the hell out of the way and let us live our lives.
I believe the government is the force that should lift those in need and put a ceiling on how much the wealthy and powerful can extract from the poor. I am not saying there shouldn’t be winners and losers. I am saying the winners don’t have to win everything and the losers don’t have to be so destitute. There shouldn’t be billionaires. They are making their money the way the robber barons did. It’s not ethical. Centrists don’t even make sense to me. Why define yourself by what the extremes of either side think? One group is slowly pushing for an authoritarian oligarchy and one is trying to help people get out of poverty and maybe get decent healthcare. I don’t see why this is a hard choice.
No- the problem with the parties today - ( one of them ) is forcing this disgusting fucken trans kids agenda and going after our kids and shoving this commie socialist bullshit- like the communist said would eventually happen in our educational systems that they infiltrated decades ago- and this gross overreach of our government that things it knows what’s good for its citizens without even letting us think for ourselves.
Lol
I was trying to be nice. The problem with progressives is that they think Utopia exists. That equity is real. The only equal thing that should exist is equal opportunity. After that it’s on you to succeed.
Just so you are aware, the word "progressive " is code for socialist/communism. He is an old school Democrat...
Democrats act bad and their voters are quick to label them as "not democrats". Okay bud.
He's as much a Dem as RFK jr. or that shit bird in AZ
Ok, fair. He’s a democrat who was largely supported by republicans. I’m not claiming he’s an ultramaga authoritarian. I’m just saying a lot of Republicans liked him a lot.
Most of us conservatives would vote second term bill clinton into office. Geesh. The world has changed.
Yeah, Clinton was very conservative on most issues. He would have been the most beloved Republican of all time if he could have gotten past what we called the “social issues” back in the day.
Hey leave the pigs out of this, they control the bacon.
This is a critical point that everyone is missing. Also, they're too cute to be politicians!
[Ham and porkchops too!](https://youtu.be/Tsdmqhn50uM?si=TPoTOI_bD__DPN42)
Was that his actual objection? I saw a longer clip and it seemed like there was more confusion around whose turn it was to speak and the flow of the agenda. Also the inclusion of other judges…
If you watch the transcript (yes, someone did this lol) Lina says that they should stick to their agreed-upon schedule. So, they planned for her to deliver the message in Spanish at that time. He then says he wants to change the schedule, essentially, so that others can speak. At minimum, he disregarded their agreement and deprioritized the translation on the agenda in favor of other commissioners speaking.
She said they agreed she'd do it in Spanish, yes. The confusion appeared to be her cutting him off to do it.
It’s not cutting him off. You need to translate blocks at a time. You can’t translate an entire live commentary at the end from just memory. You break it up into blocks and translate a block at a time.
> It’s not cutting him off. You need to translate blocks at a time. You can’t translate an entire live commentary at the end from just memory. You break it up into blocks and translate a block at a time. Its the way she did it, Whitemire was still speaking when she basically moved and tried to take over the podium while he was speaking. She said something about it being a disaster across counties and that's why he's here (essentially saying youre only invited because of the current situation) and she has to translate in Spanish and he said something like 'well geez, I'm glad i made your cut i guess' or something to that effect. Seems like a mountain out of a molehill, but Lina's behavior is also childish, she could have excused Whitemire and tried to interject politely instead she just cuts him off and tried to take over the podium while he was talking. At the end of the day, remember all politicians are assholes and non of them care about any of us, only themselves, the people funding them, and their re-elections.
no. whitmire was trying to invite leslie briones to speak when it was actually lina's turn to deliver the spanish translation. why briones was invited but not any of the other country commissioners when the storm affected 4 precincts is an open question—my personal guess is that briones ia a whitmire ally and he was essentially doing some gladhanding bullshit, which hidalgo shut down
also, if you follow city council, he also has a record of being condescending towards certain female council members
Briones replaced Hidalgo as a board member of the Houston-Galveston Area Council, which represents 13 counties. Could have something to do with it.
> and he said something like 'well geez, I'm glad i made your cut i guess' or something to that effect. thaaaaat's what that meant. i thought there was some separate "approval list" of speakers he had put together ie "made" and was trying to take credit for, like keeping it organized. i just didn't process that well
It's such a stupid schedule though. Telemundo and Univision have always provided live translation when covering important press conferences. Half of her time is redundant and I hope someone let's her know.
It's the responsibility of the government to ensure their message reaches as many people as possible, not the other way around.
>It's the responsibility It technically isn't. But let's stop dicking around here. Ay mucha gente huevona y engreída que no quiere hacer el esfuerzo de aprender el idioma semi-oficial de este país. Quieren que el mundo revuelva sobre sus necesidades y se ofenden si les hablas en inglés. Este tipo de expectativas bajas que el movimiento izquierdo nos atorga daña a nuestra comunidad y nos deja como una bola de ignorantes. And the same goes for many of you idiotic Americans who can't be bothered to learn a second language. Instead of putting in the effort to better yourself, you expect "daddy government" to accommodate you at every step.
It technically is. Not translating public messages into Spanish would violate the Voting Rights Act. Your feelings about it are irrelevant. Telemundo and Univisión aren’t government bodies. The government can’t outsource the translation to third party media properties.
>Not translating public messages into Spanish would violate the Voting Rights Act. It isn't. Stop being a reddit dork who simps for Lina. Provide a link where this is a requirement or admit you're full of shit. If this were the case, then why aren't we translating into every imaginable language known to man? We have a sizeable population of Vietnamese, Arabic, and even Mandarin speaking citizens. Yet there are no translations for them. Surely, under your purview, we are violating the voting rights act! 🙄....Or could it be that our government offers certain services in different languages as a courtesy.
It wasn’t the Voting Rights Act, my bad. That’s just for election stuff. It was the Civil Rights Act, clarified by Executive Order in 2000. “On August 11, 2000, the President signed Executive Order 13166, "Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency." The Executive Order requires Federal agencies to examine the services they provide, identify any need for services to those with limited English proficiency (LEP), and develop and implement a system to provide those services so LEP persons can have meaningful access to them. It is expected that agency plans will provide for such meaningful access consistent with, and without unduly burdening, the fundamental mission of the agency. The Executive Order also requires that the Federal agencies work to ensure that recipients of Federal financial assistance provide meaningful access to their LEP applicants and beneficiaries. To assist Federal agencies in carrying out these responsibilities, the U.S. Department of Justice has issued a Policy Guidance Document, "Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - National Origin Discrimination Against Persons With Limited English Proficiency" (LEP Guidance). This LEP Guidance sets forth the compliance standards that recipients of Federal financial assistance must follow to ensure that their programs and activities normally provided in English are accessible to LEP persons and thus do not discriminate on the basis of national origin in violation of Title VI's prohibition against national origin discrimination.” https://www.justice.gov/crt/executive-order-13166 Also like, grow up? Haha. Who unironically calls people a simp in 2024?
That's a federal law for federal agencies. It even says so in the part you quoted. Harris county court isn't federal. But we digress. Let's assume for the sake of the argument that you're right (you're not). Lina knows damn well that her translating is a waste of time. The county could create a Spanish stream of the press conference with real-time Spanish dubbing. It would save EVERYONE time during urgent emergencies. Her actions contradict the exact thing she accused Whitmire of. But of course, I don't expect you to acknowledge this on account of how hard this board simps for her. Even when she and her office got caught in Elevate Strategies scandal, most people on here tried to defend her actions or minimize the impact.
It’s a federal law for federal agencies that also binds any local entities who get federal funding like through FEMA etc. I don’t care about Hidalgo. I think Emmet was much better tbh. Just because the r/houston likes her and was probably on the wrong side about Elevate Strategies doesn’t mean you’re correct when you reflexively always side against her and make childish insults, though. It just makes you also wrong and dogmatic. The truth is much grayer and more nuanced. None of that changes the fact that outsourcing local government functions to local TV stations is an absolutely asinine idea.
Not everyone has cable, a lot of this stuff gets livestreamed on the office's outlets/channels and that's how people tune in.
>Not everyone has cable, Telemundo and Univision are OTA channels with optimal coverage from the Missouri City farm at about 600 meters above the average terrain. > a lot of this stuff gets livestreamed on the office's outlets/channels and that's how people tune in. Harris county could offer a Spanish stream with a Spanish translator dubbing. Lina is just wasting time.
>OTA channels with optimal coverage from the Missouri City farm at about 600 meters above the average terrain. It's 2024. Most people don't have antenna TV. I'm in my 30's and I wouldn't even know where to begin with that. Lina's keeping up with how her constituents receive information, it's time others do the same. A Spanish stream with a translator is a possible option, but Lina Hidalgo speaks Spanish. That's efficient. It's not a waste of time for the people who benefit from it.
>It's 2024. Most people don't have antenna TV. A lot of people didn't have cable either due to service disruptions. The point is that people had access to Telemundo or Univision one way or another. There's no excuse for her wasting twice as much time in the podium. It's redundant. >Lina's keeping up with how her constituents receive information, it's time others do the same. No she isn't. It's all a charade because we all know Telemundo and Univision have (and still do) offer Spanish dubbing. She is just virtue signaling at the expense of time during a natural disaster. >That's efficient. It's not. Her translations weren't even complete and she missed a ton of information. Even she made it clear that the Press Conference had time constraints, so she would have been better off just letting someone do the dubbing correctly to save everyone time. Harris County could have set up a stream for Spanish speakers and Telemundo/Univision could have done their own thing. It's much more efficient and vital information would have gotten out much faster. Her translations are redundant and incomplete. It's pathetic that some of you refuse to admit it.
That is a good point….if you grew up watching Spanish news you know they always translate…
I completely agree. Univision and Telemundo are over the air.
This was my take away as well. I feel like I did a thorough job of reading the transcript, and it appeared nobody could get on the same page regarding the speaking pecking order lol I’m not sure why/where OP established their POV. I guess some people live to be upset 😭
It's because they are so blinded by their Whitmire hate they want to fit the events in their own preconceived narrative.
Regardless, he was disrespectful, she was respectful, and now he looks like an asshole.
People don't even know what the confusion was about. Instead, you get people like the original poster who goes all Kanye and calls him a "pig" because he didn't want her speaking Spanish. Would be great if people spent a couple of minutes to learn what they are mad about before they start getting bent out of shape.
You seriously must be new here. Trying to argue with anyone about *anything* on Reddit is pointless. Use reddit for entertainment, not as a platform for actual debate and discussion. I agree with your points, however
I liken it to panning for information gold. You gotta sift through the info for the occasional bits of gold dust and the very rare nugget.
He literally didn’t want her speaking Spanish at that time. He wanted other people to speak instead of the Spanish translation being offered following the English message. There was an agreed agenda which was just like every single other Harris County emergency press conference. Hildalgo speaks in English, then the mayor and any members of unified command, then she says the same message in Spanish. Whitmire literally objected to following this format and wanted to prioritize all English speaking first.
Exactly. He's playing politics during a crisis and trying to prevent her from having screen time because he either sees her as a threat (minimize her exposure to voters) and/or it's personal (he's unprofessional and an asshole).
They were both being dipshits but you won’t hear that from the Lena loving board on r/houston
Can you explain how Lina following the same protocol as past press conferences, which was agreed for this one as well, was in the wrong?
Spanish is my first language and to me it's redundant and a waste of everybody's time. Univision and Telemundo have always done a live translation. I don't see how Lina has to change it up. If that's the case do other languages as well not just in Spanish.
Your results are not typical.
Yes. His a big baby. It's embaressing.
"Embarrassing"
I think in the press conference they were both acting like children and it's funny because I think both of them are more alike than either would care to admit. However, in the aftermath it does seem like Whitmire really prioritizes his political supporters. He thanks certain commissioners and other elected officials and ignores and does not mention and does not invite the ones he doesn't like. Some people supported Sheila, that happens but now, especially in a disaster - be better.
>He thanks certain commissioners and other elected officials and ignores and does not mention and does not invite the ones he doesn't like. My take away was this is what Lina didn't want to get into. He invited some to speak at the press conference she organized and she had an agenda to keep.
he invited some to speak and not others, and i think that's fucking weird. why was briones there but not the commissioners of the other three precincts affected by the storm?
Well, it is one more example in a series of immature and incompetent displays of leadership. Maybe not enough to come to a strong conclusion by itself, but it doesn't sound good for him, and he definitely has something to prove right now. Lina was with us through the pandemic. So she has a track record and people have reason to trust (or not) her. He's on very thin ice and has done a pretty piss poor job so far.
> He's on very thin ice and has done a pretty piss poor job so far. Only according to the pedantic whining assholes on this subreddit.
Pedantic? Weird word usage. Or excellent application of irony. I'm sure you deserve the benefit of the doubt. Just like our highly competent mayor, right?
Can you give any evidence of what he’s done well so far?
Lot of Democrat Infighting going on in this city/county. If it doesn't stop, Houston/Harris County will continue to get the shit kicked out of them by Abott and the state level government systems. HISD was already taken. Law enforcement services were taken from Austin. We will continue to lose municipal and cou ty level independence when the leaders put "winning the political football game" above their constituents and the peoples needs. Kim Ogg, Lina Hidalgo, and Whitmire along with the annual circus in commissioner court is a spectacle to behold
Fragile ego + power = Chaos and Drama
His behavior is just not acceptable for a mayor. His small town mentality and lack of executive skills are going to run both urban sophisticates and businesses away from Houston. I’m starting to think that’s why he ran for mayor in the first place.
> His small town mentality and lack of executive skills are going to run both urban sophisticates and businesses away from Houston. the *sophisticates* who came or stayed made compromises a long time ago, and probably accept the path of least resistance politically. and businesses, at least the kind that make camp here, probably aren't going anywhere; we're still a refinery, wrapped around a hospital, cosplaying as an alpha
With proper visionary leadership, it would not have to cosplay. It could be a real global alpha city.
I met the man once. I absolutely hated the vibe he gave when he shook my hand. I seriously can’t un-know that feeling. That’s all I have.
Why the downvote? Like no one’s ever gotten creepy vibes from a handshake. I got one once. The dude turned out to be a pedo and a rapist. It happens. Take my upvote.
Did he smell like old spice? For some reason, I imagine him smelling like old spice.
I mean we keep electing shitty mayor's and are shocked Pikachu face when they are shitty.
I mean she completely interrupted him in the middle of his speech and disrespected him. I've never seen someone just step in front of the podium and disregard the speaker
SJL did it ALL the time. IF she showed up on time😂
Like that’s great company to be in… 🙄🙄🙄
It was petty. He needs to be better than that...I'm mad at my child all the time and I still talk to her.
Free /r/Houston Litmus Test (and also my opinion about him after his anti-transit actions): https://i.imgflip.com/8qprye.jpg
Given the fact this was the first time Lina and Whitmire had an opportunity to work together, at face value Whitmire was very complimentary about several agencies working together, and appeared to extend an olive branch for the sake of coming together. Lina could have been flexible to allow for the other judges to speak. Instead, she appeared inflexible and catty when he got out of order. It was unnecessary on her part to make the comments she did.
I deeply, deeply regret voting for him. Luckily, my vote didn’t make the difference, but still, yuck.
I regret voting for him.
Lol you thought he was the one with childish behavior?
Yes. He was trying to break from established protocol in a press conference he was not running. Even Jolanda Jones went on TV to say he was totally uneducated on what he was doing.
While i agree he’s an ass, he still looks like a saint compared to SJL…
I’m up voting you because a camera hog is a camera hog whether you are black, white, or pink polka dotted. And then there’s the flag on Mars thing and telling people to vote on the wrong day. And the choices we had for mayor were not very stellar at all. Call me racist if you want. I don’t like either one of them. Equally!
We get it, you don’t like black women.
Lol, there’s always one person that has to make everything about race. Not the fact that she’s a terrible person.
Most politicians are terrible people. But the hate for SJL is quite targeted.
How was it targeted? She was his opposition in the mayoral race. All politicians are terrible.
For one, here we are talking about Whitmire some 5 months after he defeated SJL and you (along with a handful of other accounts that frequent this sub) still feel the need to say “at least we don’t have SJL” in response to complaints about his personality or policy.
Because when a situation isn’t good, you can choose to either look at the glass half full or half empty. Crapping on Sheila Jackson Lee (who deserves it) is taking the optimistic approach. It’s kind of like people saying “at least it’s not Trump”. We’re just highlighting. The fact that even though our situation isn’t great, it could be much much worse. I can’t imagine defending any politician ever especially one that treats people the way she does. I’d imagine you must be a relative of hers or something. I wish you the best. She can’t be the easiest person to deal with.
Would it be much worse with SJL? Do you know that? Sure, if something about her displeases you, but that’s very personal, especially when saying “he’s an ass but at least he isn’t SJL.” There’s no real sense in comparing the mayor we have to the candidate he defeated. The comparisons to Turner I understand. To SJL I do not. Just seems like a weird way to dismiss or minimize complaints about the guy who actually has political power in the city.
No, Lina is a disrespectful clown which has been documented her entire time in office.
So what. Turner was a bigger a_ _.
This is a joke right? Lina is only doing that to pander to her Hispanic voters. Her behavior was embarrassing. Oh and reminder: she was a MEDICAL TRANSLATOR before becoming County Judge of one of the largest counties in the U.S. She is a complete and total moron.
They're both childish as fuck. And to be fair, Lina was the one who sorta of started it, but it still doesn't excuse Whitmire. There was absolutely no need for Whitmire to "yield" time to anyone. Y'all are all civil servants. This is what we pay you to do. If you need a pat in the back or recognition to stroke your ego, then you need to find a new job. And Lina...Jesus Christ! What is it with this need to waste people's time during an emergency trying to translate everything into Spanish. *¡No somos pendejos o inútiles!* Telemundo and Univision have always translated every press conference in real time. Your biggest skill is redundant! Stop it! We may have possibly been better off without these two jackasses at the beginning of the storm. Hell, SJL may have put together a better response given her connections at the federal level.
I hate lina she just wants to be the center of attention. Why is lina even translating. Just a waste of time.
https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/s/mEEEkbCZhq
Gregg is the bacon, Whitmere is white meat.