• houseofleft@slrpnk.net
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    25 days ago

    Joke aside, giving homeless people isn’t actually illegal right? That’d be almost as insane as half the stuff the US has inacted lately.

    Edit: oh wow, that is disgunstingly inhumane and I have no idea how someone can support policy that bans charity and still sleep at night.

    • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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      25 days ago

      Depends on the area but it certainly is illegal in some places.

      Edited to add, to be clear it’s not really laws that say “you cannot feed homeless people”. But that is how they are enforced.

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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      25 days ago

      it’s illegal where I am in the USA to give housed people a bottle of water standing for hours in the direct sunlight if they’re in line to vote.

      The hope is that will disincentive people to vote.

          • satans_methpipe@lemmy.world
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            25 days ago

            Providing material aid to voters in line can be construed as electioneering. Even an unlabeled water bottle. It sucks, but it keeps the harrasing threatening bully types away from voter queue lines.

            • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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              25 days ago

              in general it’s telling people who to vote for

              in context it’s telling people who to vote for while in line

              the “joke” I was making is that handing people water while in line does not support a specific party

              • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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                25 days ago

                handing people water while in line does not support a specific party

                So, you’re right on the merits, but you’re wrong on the political strategy.

                Long lines are a deliberate consequence of under-supplied polling locations. And under-supplied polling locations are a result of disenfranchisement efforts by incumbents. By subverting the intent of the incumbents to discourage voting, you are de facto in support of anti-incumbency candidates and are therefore breaking the spirit of the law.

                You’ll note that the long-line polling locations also tend to be over-policed and over-surveilled precisely for the purpose of identifying edge-cases that violate the law and prosecuting it. Neighborhoods with richer and more incumbent-friendly voters tend to have a police presence more fixated on hedging out anti-incumbent protesters and keeping out people not registered to vote in these wealthy enclaves.

                • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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                  25 days ago

                  I just don’t agree with your assertion that voter disenfranchisement efforts are necessarily a function of an incumbent party. There are many politicians who want people to vote even if it’s not for them.

                  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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                    25 days ago

                    There are many politicians who want people to vote even if it’s not for them.

                    I’ve never met a politician that’s spent money or resources turning out voters for the opposition.

                    I’ll spot you that plenty of politicians are blasie about losing or so overconfident that they don’t see their defeat coming. Consequently, they don’t work to undermine election integrity deliberately. But any instance in which a politician or party seeks to disenfranchise the voting pool, it is consistently in defense of their partisan self-interest.

    • kamenLady.@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      Just like actively doing something against climate change. They are striving to make both things illegal and punishable.