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Congressman Tries to Cut Pay of ICE Prosecutor with Racist X Account to $1
(www.texasobserver.org)
this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2026
259 points (99.2% liked)
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No i'm saying he is doing something stupid.
and employers have evry right to remind folks “free speech” does not mean “no consequences.”
as someone who’s taxes pay this douchebag’s salary, I am fine lowering it to 1. Or fine firing him for conduct unbecoming.
The problem is, it's an illegal salary, which means he's going to have an opportunity to sue, choosing more tax dollars to defend it, and then whatever court awarded fine on top of it.
Do you realise you're taxes also pay for a teachers salary, and politicians having something to say about this salary also means they have something to say about that teachers salary? I would be fine with ICE lowering his salary, i'd be fine with ICE firing, i'd be fine with him being taken to jail after a fair trial. But politicians having this power is very very dangerous in the current political climate, even if this single time the power is used for doing good.
i’m well aware of what taxes go to. and … well ok with none of my taxes paying bigots. all of them.
Why do you feel it is unfair for his salary to be lowered?
Because the rule of law is, that if you commit crime x you get punishment y. Lowering salary is not a regular punishment. If he would be fined with paying a fine the amount of his salary that would be ok with me. I'm not saying this man doesn't deserve punishment. But if his punishment was torture i'd also call that unfair.
Rule of Law means equal punishment for equal crimes regardless of the person committing them, so he should get the same punishment as someone who doesn't work at ICE.
As far as I can tell he didn’t break a law, it’s just a conflict of interest to have a racist prosecuting immigrants. So cutting his pay to force him out of the position was all that could be done by the people trying to remove him from that role. But you feel that isn’t fair.
If you don't break a law you shouldn't be punished by the office that is about whether laws were followed or not. I know that sounds crazy. He could be punished by his employer, fine. He could be punished by an angry mob, fine. But if this guy gets punished while not breaking the law, you can bet some other people who didn't break the law will still get punished. For me considering something legally fair has nothing to do with what he deserves. I don't think we'll come to agree on that.
If you’re at work and you do something that would get you fired (which isn’t against the law) you should be fired. Why defend a racist in this scenario?
I'm not defending him, that's the result of me arguing the system should be fair. If his employer would fire him, i would be silent. Politicians are not employers. Let's look at it from another perspective; imagine a colleague of this racist have an x account where he tells people to come to protests about climate change, do you think a politician should have something to say about his salary too?
So weird. And yes, you're defending him.
I'm not. I'm defending his position. It has nothing to do with the rotten apple himself.
The position of being a racist. That's what's being discussed. Racism is not a crime so it's an absolutely bizarre position to say that for some arbitrary reason, only law should be able to punish him for being a racist.
My employer can dock my pay or fire me for being a racist. Being a racist is not a protected characteristic. One has to wonder what the hell your point here would be.
Your employer can and should if you did something racist while doing your work. Your employer should not be able to fire you or lower your salary you for stuff you post online in your free time. Not even is that is as vile as this guys stuff. I'm not arguing he isn't a racist. Aside that, politicians aren't the employer of individual officers, teachers, social workers, etc.
Why assume he's being stupid? Seems his opinions are intentional and informed.
You can do something intentionally and still have someone consider that stupid. I get a lot of downvotes because people like him punished. I'm fine with him being punished, i am not fine with politicians acting as employers. A politician should also not be able to vote on the salary of a teacher, policeman or someone who cleans the government buildings. That is what i called stupid, the fact that he can punish someone for something wrong.
I see your point and have been upvoting you because it is absolutely true that once a standard is disposed with in service of a just cause, it tends to be disposed with for pretty much any cause thereafter, no matter how unjust. It IS a loss when just practices and standards are overturned, especially when it's because there's nothing else left to do.
The problem is that we are in a state of extreme social and political dysfunction where normal routes of dealing with corruption and bad actors have themselves been hijacked. This, getting rid of a fair standard in order to accomplish a desired goal that should have gotten taken care of far earlier and by other fair rules -- what you are protesting -- is all that's left.
As I said in another comment, in a functioning society we would not now be having this conversation. The usual practices would be taking care of most of this, with time and resources available to deal with outliers. But here we are. I appreciate your stand, I just wonder if there will be anything left to defend when the dust settles.
I think i should have been less judging and more understanding of the small amount of power the good guys have left. I know how it is right now is very far away from how it should be and i understand the weapon you have is a lot better than the weapon you wish you had. I'm looking in from the outside and seeing all these standards being overturned is very depressing. I want to shout 'DON'T DO IT, IT WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU!', but at the same time who am i to judge, especially when it will be used against you no matter what you do. I think rooting for a fair system might not be as important right now as rooting for the people who are fighting an uphill battle against powerful villains. I never expected my first comment would get so much backlash, so it definitely was insightful to hear so many people disagree with me.
Nah, you're good. I'm glad we still have people speaking up for what is actually right, and not just that which has become necessary because everything else built on fairness has collapsed. And you're right, unfortunately: every rule broken now will probably be broken for all, and for the worst of reasons.
If these are your first comments then I look forward to more. You sure did get a warm welcome to Lemmy, lol.
I thought you didn't like new Accounts? You blasted me pretty good for having a new account just yesterday actually. Called me a bot and a troll. Was part of your whole strawman argument, remember? You didn't address a single point, just chirped the age of my account. AND THEN YOU DELETED YOUR REPLY when I torched it with my rebuttal. Super accountable of you! My comment is still there, visible for all to see.
Nice job being another spineless American. Couldn't even cut it on the internet. One more nasty, spineless American to add to the list. No wonder your country is getting rolled daily.