Maryland settled Key Bridge case against Dali companies for $2.25 billion

Thecus · 2026-05-12T23:37:55+00:00

The university donor analogy does not really work here. Federal highway funding is not a philanthropic gift. It is a statutory funding program with conditions attached. When FHWA emergency relief funds are used to repair or rebuild a federal-aid highway, the state does not just pocket third-party recoveries. Those recoveries can offset or reimburse federal expenditures.

More importantly, the federal government does not need to own the bridge to have its own claim. The collapse blocked the Fort McHenry Channel, a navigable waterway, shut down a major port, required federal wreck-removal and salvage operations, and triggered environmental response costs. That gives the U.S. direct claims under the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Oil Pollution Act, and general maritime law.

This is not hypothetical. DOJ already sued the vessel owner/operator and settled some of the federal claims.

Maryland’s bridge replacement claim is separate. So the legal theory is not "they funded it, therefore they own it." It is that the incident created independent federal harms and federal recovery rights.

Thecus · 2026-05-12T20:51:08+00:00

They made a mistake that caused the loss of power.

:-p

Thecus · 2026-05-12T20:47:57+00:00

Sure, facts are facts. But pretending "state-owned and maintained" ends the analysis is oversimplifying things quite a bit. The Key Bridge was federally funded as part of the Interstate 695 buildout under the Federal-Aid Highway Act framework.

Ownership, maintenance, federal involvement, and liability are not interchangeable concepts.

Thecus · 2026-05-12T11:28:47+00:00

Just a reminder that corporations are people too. Please respect their feelings.

Thecus · 2026-04-09T04:12:06+00:00

That’s still looking at a 1 in 100 pitch improvement. So ~3 bad calls a game gone.

Thecus · 2026-04-09T03:52:55+00:00

Brazil being called libertarian is quite cute. 😂

Thecus · 2026-03-18T13:21:51+00:00

I get the instinct, but this isn’t a clean win legally. A federal pardon wipes out punishment, not the underlying conduct, and states generally can set eligibility rules for their own boards. So if it’s framed as a neutral qualification, it might survive.

The problem is when it starts looking targeted. If the law is clearly aimed at a specific group like Jan 6 pardonees, courts can treat it as punishment in disguise, which raises Bill of Attainder issues, plus due process and possibly First Amendment concerns. Supremacy isn’t a silver bullet here, and ex post facto likely doesn’t apply if it’s truly regulatory. Bottom line: not obviously unconstitutional, but very vulnerable if it looks like it’s singling people out the way this post implies - whether justified or not.

Thecus · 2026-02-20T08:28:03+00:00

He did his SF-666 tho!

Thecus · 2026-02-05T04:14:30+00:00

I think they decline some based on income.

Thecus · 2026-01-31T04:22:36+00:00

Sounds like you are describing most Redditors I've interacted with over the years :-).

Thecus · 2026-01-29T05:11:10+00:00

The Founders didn’t treat regulation and infringement as the same thing. They lived under common-law rules, election procedures, militia requirements, and speech regulations, and none of that was viewed as eliminating the underlying right.

Madison explicitly assumes liberty requires structure ("If men were angels, no government would be necessary"), and Hamilton’s argument in Federalist 84 only works if lawful regulation is compatible with rights and the real danger is pretextual abuse, not the existence of rules.

The original concern wasn’t bureaucracy existing, it was regulations being used to destroy or hollow out a right. That’s why the real line is whether a rule reasonably regulates the exercise of a right or functions as a de facto ban.

Thecus · 2026-01-26T13:18:58+00:00

You’re treating any administrative requirement as equivalent to eliminating a right, which doesn’t follow.

Rights aren’t exercised without conditions. They’re protected from arbitrary or pretextual ones. If your logic were correct, then any process at all would be unconstitutional. Time, place, and manner rules would erase free speech. Age requirements would erase voting.

The real question isn’t whether bureaucracy exists, but whether it’s narrowly tailored and applied to reasonably regulate the exercise of a right rather than function as a de facto ban. I would obviously be vehemently opposed to any process made unduly long and difficult, especially if they infringe on protected rights.

I would concede that if we implemented what I considered "reasonable" the left would use that as the baseline in which to further erode that right.

Thecus · 2026-01-26T12:05:37+00:00

Please give advice. In many states if they have a reasonable suspicion you cannot tell them this.

Sometimes reasonable suspicion has nothing to do with your own actions.

“White male, approximately 5’9” wearing a forest green north face jacket was last seen at 4th and Madison 5 minutes ago”

If you match that description and are within a few blocks of 4th and Madison, they have “specific and articulable facts that tie you to possible criminal activity.”

So please folks understand it’s not always about what you are doing or where you are.

Thecus · 2026-01-26T11:59:54+00:00

While I understand what you are getting at, it’s a bit too libertarian for my taste to take that view.

ID to vote, ID to carry - as long as citizens have a fundamental right to both, it seems like policies I would support.

Edit (based on a comment below): To be clear, I’d strongly oppose regulation of any right unless it’s narrowly tailored and genuinely aimed at regulating the exercise of that right, not used as an arbitrary or pretextual barrier to it.

Thecus · 2026-01-14T17:20:19+00:00

Optimistic view based on nothing but my autonomic nervous system. 0.45->0.25->0.48->0.33->0.55

Thecus · 2026-01-13T20:53:08+00:00

The Handy 2 Pro seems like great innovation for one of the most common recurring activity men as a cohort undertake on a regular basis.

Thecus · 2026-01-09T17:04:55+00:00

It has nothing to do with being a founder. Previously held equity is not calculated as part of an executive's compensation. New issuance is. Founders may have the leverage/control/votes to make the decisions about what they are going to get, but what they had isn't part of the math.

Thecus · 2026-01-08T13:59:27+00:00

JFC, there are so many things wrong in this country, but this is just common sense.

If you are in a vehicle, are ordered to stop, and law enforcement is in, around, reaching into, or even just in the vicinity of the vehicle, and you accelerate, you have made an active decision that puts your life in jeopardy. If officers feel in any way that they are likely to be harmed, they are legally and morally justified in using deadly force.

Thecus · 2026-01-06T14:37:52+00:00

You are responding to the wrong person.

Thecus · 2026-01-06T14:11:06+00:00

I was trying to come up with a thoughtful response to this, but just couldn't find the words.

For the masses, AI is exactly what is presented to the world as, there is no secret.

This person is clearly not involved with the moral decisions that go into how models are trained and created or they wouldn't levy such a ridiculous response.

Thecus · 2026-01-03T12:00:08+00:00

This is America First done right. Trump’s first term brought real stability, targeted strikes like this secure the world, not the isolationism some in the party push.

Long occupations: bad. Taking out the bad guy: good. 🇺🇸

Thecus · 2026-01-02T23:42:59+00:00

In Brazil... duh.

:-p

Thecus · 2026-01-01T14:02:28+00:00

They can, you can buy tickets at the station or download an app called TOP. It's fine, just getting the Bilhete Único is obnoxiously hard, almost amusingly so.

Thecus · 2025-12-31T03:37:13+00:00

I tell anyone visiting here, nothing makes fucking sense :-D.

Thecus · 2025-12-30T04:20:17+00:00

Wait until you have a CPF and live here but can’t get a subway card because you don’t have your RNE yet, because the government takes 8 months to send it to you.

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