The Glade 4.0

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/30/justice/california-dea-settlement/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I know we discussed this somewhere, but can't find it.

Anyway, they settled. DEA accepts responsibility, changes policies, student gets paid.

$4.5 million. Seems in the ball park to me.

Thumbs up all around.

That's still really horrifying.

At this point, he got a good deal out of it, but he nearly died.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

I'd be stoked if someone thought my life was worth $4.5M

Only 4.5? That's $107,000 per productive year, or only $60,000 per year for an average lifespan. If somebody valued my life that low after effectively being tortured and locked in a closet, I'd damn sure not settle. I'd work the rest of my life to be sure those cops see prison.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

That doesn't sound fulfilling at all. I'd rather take the $4.5m and go live a happy life.

And technically, they paid him 4.5 million dollars for 5 days of his life.

That's $900,000 a day. Or almost $330 million a year, pro-rated.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

More than many make in a lifetime, and all he had to do was sit in a dark room for less than a week. Meh. Saying that he was tortured is one hell of a stretch when we have inmates in normal prisons stuck in solitary for the rest of their lives.

I don't think he should have settled. This should have went to trial and the DEA should have had to explain how in the name of allthat is decent this happens

Yea, you're right, being locked in a room for days without water is easy-peasy.

Also:
1) Some people consider solitary to be torture.

2) People in solitary still get food and water.

3) Generally, people in solitary have been convicted of a crime.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

I'd hang out in a room for 5 days without food or water for $4M

They could make a game show out of it.

Heh, I think it might be a little different psychologically if you know you're getting out, Lenas.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

^ ding ding

I still wouldn't refuse a settlement. I'm too non-confrontational.

Nope. I'll take the 4.5M and go live my life. I wouldn't want to deal with a trial and all that other drawn out bullshit, and in the end have the government get off on a technicality.

Take the money and run.

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Holy shitsnacks!

He won't get that. Tax half of it away, give 25% to his lawyer. He will walk away with closer to 1M.

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Its a fair and worthy settlement. It was a mistake not an intentional act, and people that xonsider solitary torture are idiots.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Do they tax court settlements? Wouldn't surprise me if they do.

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Holy shitsnacks!

This.

I guarantee I would *rather* be in solitary in Prison.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Damn those moronic scientists!

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... ve-unusual

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This settlement is tax free, that's one of the benefits of settling with the federal government. No idea how much his lawyer is going to get, though.

Personally, I'd want to know how that happened, and what is being done to ensure stuff like that doesn't happen. Surely he had to be "booked" which means a record of him was created somewhere.
I realize it wasn't intentional or even torture.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

http://blog.oregonlive.com/taxes/2008/1 ... _octo.html

Also I can't find any exemptions for them on Irs.gov

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Since the vast majority of people in solitary confinement are not there for extended periods, and in fact merely being in prison can and does have psychological effects, AND since determining what is cruel and unusual is not in the purview of science, yes, damn those scientists who need to shut the **** up and stop expressing opinion as science.

It's their job to point out the possible effects. It's the job of society, as represented in the courts to decide if those effects are cruel and unusual. Scientists in general need to be told they are citizens and their opinions matter no more thna anyone else's.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

If you were given the option of ending it, but you only got the money if you made it to the end, I don't think there is any way you'd be getting the $4M. I think you are seriously underestimating how terrible going that long without water would be.

And as mentioned above, he was pretty sure he was going to die there. That can really screw with you psychologically.

Yes, it can. However, you can survive 4 days without water without much of a problem when temperatures are not extreme and you don't need to exert yourself much, both definitely the case in solitary.

Regardess, 4.5 million is a very fair settlement for those things, and for "thinking you are going to die in there" which is questionable. Actual estimate of the value of life don't generally exceed 7 million dollars, so given that he did not actually die, this settlement is quite fair. Outrage at the circumstances is acceptable, any lingering outrage at the settlement is flat-out asshattery.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."