“HB 211 is a debt trap. It creates a population of people who are, by definition, unable to pay. And then converts that inability into a labor obligation,” Michael Ryan, a finance expert and founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, told Newsweek. “The ‘streets to success’ framing is deliberate misdirection. No legitimate treatment program requires the patient to work off their bill under threat of incarceration."

I’m morbidly fascinated by how carefully this article avoids using the obvious term. But slavery. It’s slavery. It is a bill that would literally, legally, enslave a population (of predominantly Black men, fucking surprise) for the “crime” of being poor.

    • Courtney (she/her/they) @lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      6 days ago

      Bring back?

      My random internet person, we enshrined it in our goddamn constitution. It never went away, we legalized it and constitutionally protected it in such a way that ensures it will never go away until the document on which it is written is burned along with the institution that created it.

      There’s never going to be anything 2/3 of states agree on enough to change the constitution for again. Divisive politics and complicit media make sure of that.

        • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          No. Lincoln and his supreme court (he appointed no less than five justices) wrecked that and set the dangerous precedent that no part of the US can unilaterally secede. The south attempted to secede for a bad reason, but this also preempts any part of the US doing it for a good reason in the future.

          So as much as we might like to, say, get a huge saw and just chop Florida off and leave it to float away, the other states as well as congress must agree in order to do so.

          • RVGamer06@sh.itjust.works
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            5 days ago

            Of course.

            But i was talking about “extra-legal” ways to do so. Possibly with a little military help from Canada and/or EU?

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