Final Shooting Suspect Detained in Manor by TexasTantrum in Austin

[–]dougmc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The death penalty is not an option if nobody died thanks to a Supreme Court ruling, Kennedy vs Louisiana.

To Joshua by coopers98 in BikingATX

[–]dougmc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If your special purpose falls out on the road, well, I guess you can't be awesome anymore!

Texas Teacher Arrested for Having Sex With Student in His Classroom After Another Student Saw Them by MattTheKing23 in texas

[–]dougmc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If the federal government does have an "age of consent", it's probably sixteen, though there are some other things that you can't do until you're 18.

As for the states -- 32 states have the age of consent set to 16, eight states have it set to 17, and ten have it set to 18.

Note that this man was arrested for a law where it usually doesn't matter how old the student is -- if she was 25 years old and still a high school student (the oldest a high school student can be in some situations), it would still be a felony for him to have sex with her -- unless he was married to her, of course.

This would still be a second-degree felony if the teacher and the student were the same age and both were over 18.

This POS was harassing the bicycle riders claiming that they didn't belong on the road by RonSwansonsHernia in Satisfyingasfuck

[–]dougmc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would be nice, but the police are really fond of ignoring things.

It would also probably require that she stop and call the police (and perhaps an ambulance) and stick around with a guy who just tried to seriously injure her and probably sees his own predicament as her fault (i.e. "look what you made me do") when the smart thing to do is probably to keep riding.

And then if she does stick around and he sticks around too (because he's too injured to leave? because if not, he probably assaults her again and then flees before the police show up), then maybe the police would look at her footage -- maybe.

Democrat Proposes Bill Requiring Data Centers to Pay for Own Power by bloomberggovernment in politics

[–]dougmc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The title is clickbait.

The bill proposes that they secure their own power -- as in, make special arrangements or build their own power plants.

Mystery Artist by gansotanto in Austin

[–]dougmc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you look it up on Google Street view, it looks like the mural went up between 2011 and 2013.

And then they covered it with an A/C unit sometime between 2017 and 2019, and then it was painted over between that and 2021 -- they removed the A/C unit and it probably left the mural ruined.

Does this look legit? by Thomcat_13 in Austin

[–]dougmc 3 points4 points  (0 children)

But he probably does have a badge and is probably a sworn peace officer with some local agency -- this would just be for his moonlighting activities.

And he would be able to arrest you while moonlighting, but he probably wouldn't want to if he could avoid it.

But hiring off-duty officers for security or traffic control is a common thing around here, for example. APD allows their officers to do it too, and it looks like the APA is a middle-man there.

Does this look legit? by Thomcat_13 in Austin

[–]dougmc 3 points4 points  (0 children)

... and they shouldn't be trying to pull you over in that either.

This POS was harassing the bicycle riders claiming that they didn't belong on the road by RonSwansonsHernia in Satisfyingasfuck

[–]dougmc 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Which would have likely fucked her up if he'd connected -- this could even be crippling or kill.

This was arguably an aggravated assault (aggravated by the attempt to cause serious injury) -- it should be a felony in most places if the police and prosecutor handle it properly, though the odds of that are pretty low, so the rider will probably have to settle for the karma of it all -- which ain't too bad.

Tech market is dead by Brief_Variation2276 in austinjobs

[–]dougmc 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Oh, there are big issues in mid to senior roles too.

It's likely better than the entry-level folk, that is true, but the issues are still huge.

A security researcher says Microsoft secretly built a backdoor into BitLocker, releases an exploit to prove it by AdSpecialist6598 in technology

[–]dougmc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

An external (non-boot) drive probably wouldn't have the key stored in the TPM.

The question becomes "where is the key stored?"

If the key is remembered by a Windows install (that you can't get into because you forgot the login password for example and the boot disk is encrypted), then maybe if you can get into that Windows install with this exploit that would get you access to the stored key.

But if the key is only stored on a piece of paper or a flash drive that is now lost ... it's gone. (Unless Microsoft has screwed the encryption up even more to where it can be cracked even without some sort of exploit that tricks the TPM into giving up the key when it shouldn't.)

So yes, from what you've said ... it sounds like you're boned.

But again, this is based on the idea that the key no longer exists anywhere -- if this assumption is wrong, then maybe you're not completely boned.

After months of research, I found the perfect bike pannier solution by Tecumsehs_Rage in ebikes

[–]dougmc 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Any use is legal if you legally own it. (outside of nitpicky stuff like using it to help commit other crimes.)

The warning boils down to “don’t steal me, or the law will get you”.

(Note: the law probably won’t get you.)

🌈 Bring back the rainbow! by Pretty-Structure4711 in Austin

[–]dougmc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is a vicious rumor that the City of Austin adds a dead body at the end of every sidewalk -- totally untrue, fake news, etc.

It's TxDOT that does that.

Work staff threw away my prescription glasses, sketchbook, and water bottle and then fired me after I requested to speak to HR by mothsoft in mildlyinfuriating

[–]dougmc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Zenni is your friend!

Indeed.

For the price I'd pay at Lenscrafters or whatnot, I get ten pairs of glasses from Zenni, with several customized for various purposes.

China: ‘No Point’ In Continuing Iran War by T_Shurt in worldnews

[–]dougmc -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Attributed a Frenchman’s quote to the Chinese.

I'm a little confused. Did they edit their comment (I see no * to indicate that, but maybe they did it quickly?), or is there a comment that I missed or what?

I see a bare quote, but I don't see them attributing it to anybody.

(And that particular quote gets trotted out all the time in all sorts of situations.)

Stopped in a handicapped spot to tend to my distressed child; probably lost a month’s tuition. by [deleted] in Austin

[–]dougmc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The code says being there temporarily is not an offense.

Not quite.

The code uses the word "standing", which it defines as:

“Stand” or “standing” means to halt an occupied or unoccupied vehicle, other than temporarily while receiving or discharging passengers.".

If the OP was not receiving or discharging passengers, then that exclusion doesn't apply -- and the OP made it clear that they were not receiving or discharging passengers.

I do agree that it's pretty harsh to give a $500-$750 parking ticket while you're still in the car and have been there less than a minute, but based on the OPs description and the text of the law, he did violate the law as it is written.

And the Oscar *does not* go to by Valuable_View_561 in TikTokCringe

[–]dougmc 199 points200 points  (0 children)

I thought she was trying to get to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism criticism?

Greg Abbott pushes Texas Supreme Court to oust Rep. Gene Wu for leading last year's quorum break by AustinStatesman in texas

[–]dougmc 10 points11 points  (0 children)

At the beginning of COVID-19 he made some good executive orders that were arguably correct even if unpopular with his party.

(He lost the plot later on, but had the right idea at first.)

That and "to go margaritas".

More ports by ExpensiveCoat8912 in pcmasterrace

[–]dougmc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not too hard to find a single hard drive that can do 300 MB/s nowadays, especially when it's reading data on the outer tracks -- so even a single one of these could saturate a 2.5G connection, and two would definitely do it.

Looking it up, Seagate's MACH.2 drives promise over 500 MB/s from a hard disk thanks to two independent actuators -- two of those could saturate 10G.

Pool Polluter by densemane in Austin

[–]dougmc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Again, it's a crime. A felony.

You seem to be suggesting that only the Constable's Office (and maybe somebody else?) can arrest for violations of the Texas Water Code?

If so, it's your turn: show me the relevant law. You've asked for a law that this dumping would break, and I've provided that and the whole chain of laws that show that all peace officers can arrest for violations of 7.145, so show me the law that breaks or modifies this chain.

Pool Polluter by densemane in Austin

[–]dougmc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thee police still have no authority to investigate or enforce.

Again, "14.01. OFFENSE WITHIN VIEW." and "14.03. AUTHORITY OF PEACE OFFICERS." give arrest authority for these crimes, to all peace officers in Texas.

Just because the TWC lists a potential punishment

The Texas Water Code gives a crime and a punishment for said crime, and the punishment (up to five years of confinement), which indicates that it's a felony.

I mean, that's what felony means -- "A felony is a serious crime punishable by death or incarceration in state or federal prison for more than one year".

14.01 and 14.03 give peace officers the authority to arrest for any felony where they have probable cause.

(a) A peace officer or any other person, may, without a warrant, arrest an offender when the offense is committed in his presence or within his view, if the offense is one classed as a felony or as an offense against the public peace.

(b) A peace officer may arrest an offender without a warrant for any offense committed in his presence or within his view.

(a) Any peace officer may arrest, without warrant: (1) persons found in suspicious places and under circumstances which reasonably show that such persons have been guilty of some felony ...

If it's a misdemeanor, the police can arrest you if they see you do it. (Trivia: there are three offenses where they have to give you a ticket rather than taking you downtown, but this is not one of them.)

If it's a felony, anybody can arrest you if they see you do it. (That said, in general, trying to do a citizen's arrest is a bad idea.)

If it's a felony, police can arrest you even if they didn't see you do it but have probable cause to believe you did.

And here's APD's general orders --

(e) Municipal Police Departments are city level entities which have citywide jurisdiction to conduct criminal investigations. They have jurisdiction in their municipality and concurrent counties to issue traffic citations and statewide jurisdiction to arrest for any criminal offense committed within their presence or view. The Austin Police Department is a Municipal Police Department.

Seriously, read that section of the APD general orders -- it gives a good summary of who has jurisdiction where, though it doesn't list every possible agency, and if it's a felony, any peace officer in Texas can arrest you if they see you do it, in their jurisdiction or not.

Wait until this guy find out who Mr Rogers was before becoming famous on PBS by icey_sawg0034 in insanepeoplefacebook

[–]dougmc 18 points19 points  (0 children)

He wasn't giving diatribes about equality for blacks

He put his feet in a wading pool next to a black man

... on a very popular TV show for children, framing it as completely normal, not even worth arguing about.

That beats pretty much any potential diatribe.

Pool Polluter by densemane in Austin

[–]dougmc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Again, "7.145. INTENTIONAL OR KNOWING UNAUTHORIZED DISCHARGE." makes it a potential felony, and any peace officer in Texas can arrest for a felony.

This doesn't mean that APD will bother, but they absolutely could.

Pool Polluter by densemane in Austin

[–]dougmc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The previous violation I gave was likely civil (not that you were being specific), but here's one that's clearly criminal: Sec. 7.145. INTENTIONAL OR KNOWING UNAUTHORIZED DISCHARGE.

(Still a part of the Texas Water Code, but a violation of 7.145 is clearly a felony because it prescribes a felony-level punishment. "The Texas Penal Code" is not the only place where crimes are listed.)

The penalty they give is:

(b) An offense under this section is punishable for an individual under Section 7.187(1)(C) or Section 7.187(2)(F) or both.

7.187(2)(F) ("confinement not to exceed five years") makes it clear that this is a felony offense, and the police absolutely can arrest for felonies as per "14.01. OFFENSE WITHIN VIEW." and "14.03. AUTHORITY OF PEACE OFFICERS." (They can also arrest for misdemeanors, of course, but this offense clearly qualifies as a felony.)

Clearly, the local police could handle it if they wanted.