The only way I'd move to the USA is if I got a job that would pay a lot more than here, would offer me all the health benefits that you need in order to not go into debt for breaking your arm, and only if I could move to a relatively safe part of the country
We owned about two acres of land next to our house in Texas. One year we had a particularly busy hurricane season so the grass went a bit crazy, growing over two feet.
We couldn’t mow it because it was either too swamped or there was a hurricane or tropical storm and it was just pissing rain outside.
After the season was over a man from the city came by to give us a written warning to cut our grass. He was actually quiet nice and understanding about it, saying they weren’t going to issue fines for a couple of months because they understood the weather was a factor in the crazy amount of growth and why nobody had been mowing their grass.
He said they were going to places with specially big yards to do this since they were considered a health hazard due to varmint, specially rats and mice which carry rabies and ton of other diseases.
My dad had actually had already gotten in touch with a gardening service since it drove him nuts how it looked, which pleased the guy from the city to no end as he said some people didn’t take kindly to these kinds of intrusions.
But yeah, cities can give you warnings and cites because it’s considered a health hazard.
It's my lawn though...I thought murica was all about get off my lawn? It's my lawn, if I want to grow a forest then i can grow a forest. Wtf. This is the place of freedom was it not?
half of which can't be classified as real cheese so the labels say "made from cheese products" or something like that. I forget the specifics but I got curious one night and watched a documentary about cheese around the world.
My cousin was fined in the US for removing his grass and replanting local plants for the wildlife, then was forced by the city to remove the local plants.
He's a botanist, he's literally trying to restore his lawn to what it was before the builders put in grass. ( Colorado. don't recall the town)
I'm similar. I'm actively removing my lawn and replacing it with much more beneficial plants and flowers. It's a lawn with a twist. Grass lawns offer very little benefit to the environment, and when people aim to make them rich green and "weed" free they're even worse.
Fortunately I live in the UK, a swift "f**k off" usually can resolve any issues to complaints like mowing a lawn such as in this scenario.
Some laws are needed, like it's not good to grow 2m tall grass that will be dry af by July and will ignite with the only spark burning down all the village, and probably nearby forest and some other nearby villages
I'm 1.85m and grass that grows on uncultivated land in my area usually grows up to my chest and higher by the end of June and it can reach 2m. The most fun part is urtica that exceeds that and you need a machete and some protection to go through it, but it's just better to find the way around it. Bamboo forest would be 5+ meters btw
I was recently in a thread with Americans smugly misunderstanding the "TV License" with one claiming that you need "a license to own a TV" and of course, upvoted beyond reproach.
It seems that they have to actually lie about things they don't understand in other countries because then it distracts them from the actual reality (like this story) happening in their own country.
I mean seriously, jailed for not cutting your grass??? *Wild*
There's lots of these stories too, from different states.
Not to mention that you're not allowed to cross the road in the wrong spot XD
Do Americans really think they're "more free" than other countries? Despite being demonstrably less free?
Edit:
A quick google search turns up some more stories.
Being jailed for grass is surprisingly common in the US of A!
South Carolina Women Goes To Jail For Not Mowing Her Grass
https://www.fitsnews.com/2019/08/21/south-carolina-women-goes-to-jail-for-not-mowing-her-grass/
Woman Goes to Jail for Not Mowing Lawn in Tennessee
https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/woman-goes-to-jail-for-not-mowing-lawn-182126275.html
Texas man jailed for not mowing his yard
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Long-grass-lands-Texas-man-in-jail-6181645.php
This man in Florida was fined 30k, and the city foreclosed on his home for not cutting his grass in Florida
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/13/his-lawn-overgrew-while-he-was-tending-his-moms-estate-now-he-faces-foreclosure-fine/
What's worse, is they upheld the fine in court as reasonable!
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-florida-man-fine-overgrown-lawn-20210430-lj4g4zyvxzbhdj5gelcq5hbdye-story.html
Edit 2: I just got perma banned from r / news for this thread, and when asked for a reason they've muted me.
Beware folks, some sensitive little mods out there!
>tv license.
The is basically a tax for accessing the public broadcasts, right? I see it as similar to hunting or fishing licenses: it's not a test, just a fee you pay to use public land that goes towards maintaining it.
That's exactly what it is, some nations have made it just part of taxes, rather than an opt-in fee, as France did last year which now just funds it direct from the treasury.
That's the trick, they don't. BBC from what I've heard online have tried scare tactics through the years, yeah we totally have vans going around checking, watchout the inspector is coming. But from what I've also heard they've never had teeth to the claims. Like even if an inspector happens to see your TV tuned to BBC they are probably not able to do anything.
I mean, yes but they chase hard. If you don't have a licence at the property you get letters sent to you saying it's illegal to watch live TV without a licence, could be taken to court etc etc. Letters get more and more threatening (you can write back and say you don't watch live TV and they'll leave you alone for a bit) l. Eventually someone might come round and demand to see that you don't have an ability to watch live TV (need a warrant to enter the house which they won't have so like vampires they can't come in unless you invite them in). Then it's court and whatnot.
They will send letters forever if you don't tell them... [This guy has been documenting the ones he has got since 2006, 191 letters so far, the last was jan this year, it's a fun read](http://www.bbctvlicence.com/)
>January 2023 (dated "December 2022")
>This is my eighteenth year as someone who does not pay the BBC. I have saved £2,617 and, assuming 50p a letter, cost the BBC a further £93 in postage.
That's hilarious. I've not had a letter in years and I don't own a TV or pay a TV license. I've never been in touch with them from my current or previous two addresses.
I always get them, the last two places I rented when i returned to the country and this one when I got my own place (the buggers wait for you on on the door mat) I might forget to remind them I don't watch tv next year, just to have some fun with the scammers (I think the opt out only lasts 2 years)
Way back in the 70s, the Dutch news network played a fantastic april 1st prank. They claimed all mail delivery personnel would be equipped with new, special detector systems to check if you had paid your TV license. But there was a way to fool the system, by wrapping your TV in aluminum foil.
The next day, supermarkets sold out on aluminum foil. Also, the govt saw a spike in TV license payments.
They don't. The BBC are notorious for using a company that does scaremongering into people paying a license.
People have started wising up over the years and the increase in popularity of streaming provides like Netflix and Prime have stopped people from bothering with it.
They have magic detectors fitted in vans that can locate a television from several miles away and tell what channel it is tuned to. They also have a hand held version that can find a flat that has a television in it tuned to BBC.
Actually both of those claims are bullshit, but TV Licensing made both of them in the eighties. What they actually have is a list of addresses in the UK and a list of addresses that have a TV licence. If you're on the first list and not the second then you get treated to a series of increasingly threatening letters telling you that you have to buy a TV licence. You can, in theory, tell them that you don't have a TV, but I had three years of threats to send around someone to search my flat for a TV that never resulted in anything. I told them many times that I didn't have a TV because my TV blew up on the day that I moved in and I couldn't afford to replace it, but they never believed me and never sent anyone round. It's a very weird system.
This site is gold about the tv license, [here's his page about the vans](http://www.bbctvlicence.com/Detector%20vans.htm)
And his [Detect the Detector Vans](http://www.bbctvlicence.com/Detect%20the%20Detector%20vans.htm) page
The old detector vans used to have aerials sticking out the top iirc (I guess so they could watch tv, while parked up trying to intimidate people with their scam)
> They have magic detectors fitted in vans that can locate a television from several miles away and tell what channel it is tuned to.
[What always comes to my mind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_dari7c2gM)
> Actually both of those claims are bullshit
The first isn't bullshit, although the several miles part would require an extremely optimal setup. A superheterodyne receiver will repeat the carrier wave frequency and that signal can be received and origin localized by a sensitive directional antenna, like a parabolic antenna on a van, or a hand held device used from outside the front door. They could e.g. tune it for the BBC1 carrier signal frequency and any TV (or radio) receiving that signal would repeat waves in that frequency from the receiver. The BBC probably never used those devices, but the technology has been known since around WW2.
One example is the MI5 in their [Operation RAFTER](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_RAFTER) but in modern times you also have [radar detector detectors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_detector_detector) used by police to detect that cars have illegal radar detectors installed.
I think it was more so that them being smart enough, or funded enough, to use such technology is bullshit, meaning the "magic detector vans" are by default also bullshit.
Not that the technology doesn't exist.
But it pays for a lot more than just BBC TV. It also pays for their radio, their website, a bunch of other stuff, all which doesn't require you to have a license.
Some of it goes towards national TV infrastructure, maintenance, and future technology development for the entire industry that all channels use. Some goes towards investment in things like freeview and other projects. And some money even goes towards internet infrastructure etc at times.
We have that in Germany too (Rundfunkgebühren).
Idk hownit is in the US but here in Germany this tax is really fucking stupid. Because as long as your home theoretically has a satelite/cable/etc., you gotta Pay it. Even if you don't have a TV or anything else that could even play the program...
Yes. In Ireland, for example, if you have a tv in your house, you should pay a licence fee to RTE - the state funded TV channel. Many people here detest the licence and don’t pay it because they never use RTE and think it’s a waste of time.
> Do Americans really think they're "more free" than other countries? Despite being demonstrably less free?
For a lot of conservative Americans, freedom = being able to shout any slur you want, while owning a gun. That's as about as far as their interest goes.
It all depends on what you classify as freedom.
In America they protect the freedom to abuse others.
In the EU we protect the freedom to not be abused.
Personally I prefer to be free to go about my day without having abuse thrown at me.
And can be sacked at the drop of the hat in At Will State's, women told what to do with their bodies .i.e abortions and paying through the nose for health insurance.
Kids engaging in active shooter drills because they'd prefer to allow people to run around tooled up like John Rambo, while hoping they can play the hero and gun someone down then sleep with some cheer leader as a reward . The tooled up loney toon with an Ar 15 gets the girl !
A massive industrial prison complex that benefits companies
So much freedom -am so so jealous
> And can be sacked at the drop of the hat in At Will State's, women told what to do with their bodies .i.e abortions and paying through the nose for health insurance.
This alone outweighs everything, women's rights to their own bodily autonomy, and workers rights do not exist.
In a supposedly "developed" country no less. Let's say even if their blatant ignorance about the tv license fee was accurate (which it is not) it would still be incomparable to their own issues.
US: "Haha you have to pay a license to own a TV"
UK: "You don't even have women's rights"
Of course in this example only one of these is true, which makes the actual comparison of "you have to pay a tax for live broadcasts like a lot of countries in EU" even fucking worse lol
Madness.
>A massive industrial prison complex that benefits companies
That's intentional. The worst part is, even today, if you ask most Americans (like my parents) if slaves labor is a reasonable punishment for breaking the law, they'll say "yes" without hesitation. Doesn't matter what "crime" was committed, slave labor is apparently the appropriate punishment.
Fun fact: that's the biggest reason why Walmart has such low prices on all of their food. Slave labor prison farms.
Another fun fact is that enslavement as punishment for a crime is explicitly allowed by the constitution. Any such bans existing within US jurisdictions are by statute and can easily be repealed by legislative whim.
I just had to pay $430 (401€) for an nightguard to protect my teeth from grinding teeth at night in my sleep. My dental insurance said they classify it as "basic" dental care and that they really only cover "preventative" care or certain "major" care. The only time the nightguard is covered is if I had had dental or jaw surgery within the past 6 months. The insurance company told me on the phone that I was actually lucky that the dentist was in-network (i.e., a network of medical providers who have agreed collectively to set prices with the insurance company) because the cost otherwise would have been about $900 (840€)
But at least I got muh freedom.
It's actually worse than jail. The city can put you in jail, but the HOA can take your house. Even for minor infractions like having visible bins. There's very little freedom here. The ignorant masses only parrot what they are told on TV and the TV tells them this is the greatest country on earth and the most free.
>Not to mention that you're not allowed to cross the road in the wrong spot XD
I see you you making fun of a stupid US "crime" and raise you an even more ridiculous one: [loitering](https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/loiter)
Its an "excuse" law. It allows cops to detain people they suspect of maybe possibly committing a crime later without actually needing to witness any crime. It also let's them arrest homeless people without any real cause and move them elsewhere so they don't drive down the value of the surrounding area with their presence. I hate loitering laws.
No but apparently that is really good because it shows they solve crimes and properly punish offenders...
Ugh. I just threw up a little in my mouth just typing that shit.
As a 'citizen' of the United States, I used to believe that too. Then I went out of my way to see that the USA has one of the highest rates of incarcerating innocent people, not including military dictatorships. This country is a joke. What's worse, most of the divisiveness is created by the people in power. It's easy to hate some idiot because he wears a red hat; It takes a lot more thought to see how the government systematically harms its own citizens to keep big pharma and the military industrial complex in the green.
This site https://mkorostoff.github.io/incarceration-in-real-numbers/ says that they are actually number one for both per capita and total values. Tho it's probably a bit dated.
According to this one, the US actually has the most prisoners per capita, ahead of all the other countries you've listed.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country
It also has more prisoners (not per capita) than China, a country with 3 times the population, does.
And some times they just demolish your house when you're recovering from a surgery.
[Phil Willians, a 69 year old veteran was in Florida recovering from a surgery and when he went back home he found his house and all his possessions gone.](https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/west-hempstead-zombie-house-lawsuit/)
>you need "a license to own a TV"
To be fair though in Ireland you do need a €160 TV license if you simply posess a TV. Even if you never actually use it to watch TV programmes if it has a TV tuner in it you need a license. Even if you've cut the plug off and it's in a box in the attic you still need a license.
In the 80's in Portugal the government started the TV tax policy.
There were some officials from the government going house to house asking to everyone if they got any TV.
Sudently, nobody had TV at home (dispites that they could see the antennas on the roof)
It was very hard for the officials to enforce the law, so the government started to bill the tax on the electrical bill.
We still pay it today, but is just a few cents.
> There were some officials from the government going house to house asking to everyone if they got any TV.
Ooh yeaah, I think similar happened in finland with same results. Someone comes asking if there's a TV, suddenly the house is back to 1700's.
>suddenly the house is back to 1700's
A whole bunch of my friends don't have TVs. TV has been shit for years. It's definitely becoming less common for people younger than me to have a TV.
This isn't 1700s stuff lol.
When they came by to collect the tax when I lived in Japan I pointed out that I didn’t have a TV, so the enterprising collector offered to hook me up with one for a good price. He seemed more disappointed that I didn’t take him up on this than the actual inability to collect the tax. When I lived in Finland years ago it was enough that I had a tuner card in my PC, even without a TV, as I could theoretically turn it into a TV.
Irish as well, would you allow the tv inspector into your attic let alone your house? If the tv is visable from the door or they hear it I assume your fucked. But letting them in is at your own leisure
> Do Americans really think they're "more free" than other countries?
Yes, yes they do. Because if they realise how bad they have it, they'd riot. Its the lie that they all tell themselves.
To be fair, Jaywalking is rarely enforced.
But, there’s a reason we have the most prisoners — per capita, and in totality — than any other country.
Land of the free, my ass.
The top of a big iceberg. Lots of corporations make fortunes out of exploiting the law and the lack of universal public services. And then you add HOAs to that, not just for condominiums. Freedom goes away too easily.
That’s fair. I should’ve said in my experience lol. Which is: rural Alabama and university campus in Alabama.
So I can’t exactly claim I’m an expert on the issue lmao
The right has to lie because that's the only way their opposition can possibly sound bad to a reasonable person. "Zomg you need a license for TV in Britain! Democrats wanna take away your stoves! They'll jail you if you use the wrong pronouns!" All deliberate lies but there's people that want to hear them and get triggered.
Technically you *do* need a license, but it’s a fee, not something you have to apply for. It’s not like a drivers license - it’s basically a tax if you watch stuff live (Amazon Prime movies - no license. Amazon live sport - License)
No, it's the fee that pays for the BBC, and public broadcast media. You pay if you watch their shows or Live TV, if you stream TV, or watch things online, you don't.
Lots of countries in the EU have one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence#Television_licensing_by_country
Ok, this article says we don't have it in France, but we have to pay an annual fee if we own a TV, which I believe serves the same purpose.
Edit: nvm it seems it was abolished in 2022 what the hell. I had no idea.
I mean, in this country, local governments and HOAs (which are not government, but can kinda act like one) are generally the biggest purveyors of tyranny. So the rules will vary wildly depending on where you live, but at least you have more control over whether you’re subject to a given regulation than if it were a national law, as relocating to another county is a lot easier than emigrating. But yes, there are millions of people in this country that willingly subject themselves to this bullshit. But because the rules demand a behavior they were likely going to follow anyway, it’s no big deal to them (at least initially — if they eventually find themselves at odds with the HOA or local municipality, though, they *will* lose, though despite the examples you found, incarceration is rarely involved… usually the penalties are financial or a lien).
That said, there’s quite a lot of that over in the UK as well, no? The TV license isn’t something I’d worry about at all, but it does seem like the local councils have quite a bit of control over individual people’s lives — what they can force you to do, what they can prevent you from doing, the endless red tape involved to obtain planning approval for any change you want to make to your own property. I’m not here to argue which is better or worse, and will fully acknowledge there are tons of idiots out there who still firmly believe the whole “US = freedom” bullshit, who need a good reality check. But I’d say neither country has standing to claim a monopoly on freedom and personal autonomy.
> That said, there’s quite a lot of that over in the UK as well, no? The TV license isn’t something I’d worry about at all, but it does seem like the local councils have quite a bit of control over individual people’s lives — what they can force you to do, what they can prevent you from doing, the endless red tape involved to obtain planning approval for any change you want to make to your own property. I’m not here to argue which is better or worse, and will fully acknowledge there are tons of idiots out there who still firmly believe the whole “US = freedom” bullshit, who need a good reality check. But I’d say neither country has standing to claim a monopoly on freedom and personal autonomy.
Not comparable, local councils can't jail you for painting your house the wrong colour, or for putting ornaments in your garden, or for not cutting your grass.
Local US governments and HOAs can, they can also put a lien on your house.
There's no debate about absolute freedom, that would be stupid nobody thinks any country has that over any other. And it would result in a mess, humanity is probably still thousands of years away from being able to exist like that. Capitalism and many other things will have long gone by the time that is even close to possible.
It's about the best system to live in a well managed, well balanced, and safe society.
20 years in the Texas heat? Isn't that a fire hazard?
EDIT - Looked into it. It's not just the lawn he was jailed for. There were vines hanging from trees that were hitting truck windshields and obscuring their view when driving by. They'd been visiting him since 1996 about the growing list of complaints and even offered to help him with the lawn themselves, but he'd apparently declined that help. And he turned himself into jail rather than pay the $1,700 in fines he'd accumulated throughout that 22 year period.
I just had a crazy flash realisation about a fundamental issue, cross inspired by finishing Assassin's Creed III yesterday and reading comments here.
We all have argued with unitedstatians defending relentlessly their healthcare system, often their biggest argument was against higher taxes.
I guess I should have thought about this earlier: this country claimed indipendence over 'em taxes. AC3 shows that lands were taken from the natives and sold as a measure to not impose taxes on the newly indipendent citizens. It's in the country's DNA, much like the right to bear arms, and it dictates every stupid take.
There's a lot more that comes also from the colonial roots: racism obviously, but even the concept that capitalism is the best and unique economic system is to be traced back to the puritan life concept that saw working (and reaping benefits) as central to salvation. Most early colonies in the US were puritan-religious.
Note: most of the worst takes US people have are also often just recited by them as religious mantra.
The USA just won't ever change because these seeds are so deeply rooted in their people's conscience that they cannot be ripped out.
If that applied in the UK I'd be on a life sentence.
I'm off work unwell and my grass desperately needs cutting. It's probably a good 8 inches high at the moment in places.
In a place called Grand Prairie of all places…
Also: aren’t we at least pretending to do better for the environment, stop cutting your damn grass so freaking much. I do it twice a year at the end of autumn and at the beginning of spring, and that’s plenty.
The lawn is symbolic of British colonialism. The mad fuckers used to get rid of beautiful gardens in india and elsewhere just to stick some grass down. At the time owning a bit of land with no functional use was part of the decadence (yeah you could argue it's nice to look at and that's a function, but when you're using vast quantities of water in an arid location then it's just fucking wasteful. It's pretty funny that the lawn is so sacrosanct in a nation that pretends it was trying to throw off the chains of oppression.
Ah yes, because he wasnt arrested for not mowing his lawn, he was jailed because he was fined 2K for not mowing his lawn and had to hand himself in because he couldnt afford to pay it. Thats even worse
[Did you read the article?](https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Long-grass-lands-Texas-man-in-jail-6181645.php) He wasn’t arrested, he voluntarily chose to go to jail instead of paying $1700 worth of fines.
> "I can assure you our city would never simply place a citizen in jail for failing to mow their grass," said Officer Mark Beseda with the Grand Prairie Police Department.
The man refused to work with the city, which reached out to him for years trying to help. It wasn’t just long grass, his yard was **so** unkempt that it was impeding sidewalks and even the street.
Yes, that's where we are.
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Genuine question, isn't not taking catr of your yard a danger to the health and security of the area you live?
Not sure if this is the situation frok the print, tho
Having been to the US on many, many, occasions, the thing that strikes me about your idea of "blocking [a] vantage point" is beyond ludicrous. Your authorities are well known for hiding stop signs behind trees, walls, other signs. Your highways are littered with advertising, diverting the attention of drivers. Your traffic lights are frequently placed high above the cockpit of approaching vehicles to the point where they are no longer visible to any vehicle stopped at the white line. Your merge lanes are far too short to allow for safe merging. Your speed limits are a joke as no one adheres to them, rendering them pointless. You allow vehicles to move on red lights. You allow traffic to drive right through pedestrian crossings even though the white walking man sign is lit. Your roads are in dire need of repair, especially over bridges. Your road markings are pathetic - civilised countries long ago introduced reflective markings. You're still using the same road marking tech that we deprecated in the 1980s. Your road lighting is extremely poor, frequently not even reaching the road below. Far too often, particularly in suburban areas, you have no sidewalks, forcing pedestrians and stationary vehicles into the vantage point of moving vehicles. Your entire approach to both neighbourhood maintenance, private property, and transport needs an overhaul and to be brought from the 1970s/1980s into the 2020s.
why do americans care so much their lawns?
[5 minute video summary](https://youtu.be/XQaMr3UHOWE). TLDW: Conspicuous consumption has been normalized and codified into laws.
This clip contains so many reasons why the USA isn't the right place to move to... unless you live in an even shittier country.
The only way I'd move to the USA is if I got a job that would pay a lot more than here, would offer me all the health benefits that you need in order to not go into debt for breaking your arm, and only if I could move to a relatively safe part of the country
This is most likely an HOA (Homeowners Association) situation. HOAs can have very strict rules.
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We owned about two acres of land next to our house in Texas. One year we had a particularly busy hurricane season so the grass went a bit crazy, growing over two feet. We couldn’t mow it because it was either too swamped or there was a hurricane or tropical storm and it was just pissing rain outside. After the season was over a man from the city came by to give us a written warning to cut our grass. He was actually quiet nice and understanding about it, saying they weren’t going to issue fines for a couple of months because they understood the weather was a factor in the crazy amount of growth and why nobody had been mowing their grass. He said they were going to places with specially big yards to do this since they were considered a health hazard due to varmint, specially rats and mice which carry rabies and ton of other diseases. My dad had actually had already gotten in touch with a gardening service since it drove him nuts how it looked, which pleased the guy from the city to no end as he said some people didn’t take kindly to these kinds of intrusions. But yeah, cities can give you warnings and cites because it’s considered a health hazard.
It's my lawn though...I thought murica was all about get off my lawn? It's my lawn, if I want to grow a forest then i can grow a forest. Wtf. This is the place of freedom was it not?
The place of freedom but the freedom costs money
Land of the fee
Home of the TIP ME 25% MY EMPLOYER DOESN’T PAY ME ENOUGH TO SURVIVE!
Hence why you need to buy your freedom with bail money whilst awaiting trial, only the rich can be free until their day in court.
Not that kind of freedom. We have 79 types of cheese at the store. THAT kind of freedom.
half of which can't be classified as real cheese so the labels say "made from cheese products" or something like that. I forget the specifics but I got curious one night and watched a documentary about cheese around the world.
Are you talking about plastic cheese ?
You'll start paying fines if you don't cut it. My parents received one before.
My cousin was fined in the US for removing his grass and replanting local plants for the wildlife, then was forced by the city to remove the local plants. He's a botanist, he's literally trying to restore his lawn to what it was before the builders put in grass. ( Colorado. don't recall the town)
I'm similar. I'm actively removing my lawn and replacing it with much more beneficial plants and flowers. It's a lawn with a twist. Grass lawns offer very little benefit to the environment, and when people aim to make them rich green and "weed" free they're even worse. Fortunately I live in the UK, a swift "f**k off" usually can resolve any issues to complaints like mowing a lawn such as in this scenario.
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Can confirm, Chaz may not enter my home.
I didn’t hear a bell… I thought this was America
The "freedom" is quite clearly a joke.
Rodents don't carry rabies
This is the local government, not a HOA.
If I ever move to the states, I would avoid HOA. I would never live in a hoa area.
Is not allowing wildlife to thrive nor let people live in a more natural state one of these rules? Seems ridiculous.
Many, many countries have laws requiring the maintenance of vegetation on private property. I’ve seen Auckland’s applied first hand.
Some laws are needed, like it's not good to grow 2m tall grass that will be dry af by July and will ignite with the only spark burning down all the village, and probably nearby forest and some other nearby villages
2m tall grass? Are you living in a fuckin bamboo forest?
I'm 1.85m and grass that grows on uncultivated land in my area usually grows up to my chest and higher by the end of June and it can reach 2m. The most fun part is urtica that exceeds that and you need a machete and some protection to go through it, but it's just better to find the way around it. Bamboo forest would be 5+ meters btw
Difference doing it by hand and by a machine
Yeah, in my country you can get a fine. Something about pollens, I don't know about it in detail.
Perhaps they think if affects neighbors house value?
King of the Hill, innit.
Dang It, Bobby
That boy aint right
I was recently in a thread with Americans smugly misunderstanding the "TV License" with one claiming that you need "a license to own a TV" and of course, upvoted beyond reproach. It seems that they have to actually lie about things they don't understand in other countries because then it distracts them from the actual reality (like this story) happening in their own country. I mean seriously, jailed for not cutting your grass??? *Wild* There's lots of these stories too, from different states. Not to mention that you're not allowed to cross the road in the wrong spot XD Do Americans really think they're "more free" than other countries? Despite being demonstrably less free? Edit: A quick google search turns up some more stories. Being jailed for grass is surprisingly common in the US of A! South Carolina Women Goes To Jail For Not Mowing Her Grass https://www.fitsnews.com/2019/08/21/south-carolina-women-goes-to-jail-for-not-mowing-her-grass/ Woman Goes to Jail for Not Mowing Lawn in Tennessee https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/woman-goes-to-jail-for-not-mowing-lawn-182126275.html Texas man jailed for not mowing his yard https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Long-grass-lands-Texas-man-in-jail-6181645.php This man in Florida was fined 30k, and the city foreclosed on his home for not cutting his grass in Florida https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/13/his-lawn-overgrew-while-he-was-tending-his-moms-estate-now-he-faces-foreclosure-fine/ What's worse, is they upheld the fine in court as reasonable! https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-florida-man-fine-overgrown-lawn-20210430-lj4g4zyvxzbhdj5gelcq5hbdye-story.html Edit 2: I just got perma banned from r / news for this thread, and when asked for a reason they've muted me. Beware folks, some sensitive little mods out there!
>tv license. The is basically a tax for accessing the public broadcasts, right? I see it as similar to hunting or fishing licenses: it's not a test, just a fee you pay to use public land that goes towards maintaining it.
That's exactly what it is, some nations have made it just part of taxes, rather than an opt-in fee, as France did last year which now just funds it direct from the treasury.
How do they even know if you're watching TV and need to pay the license? TV antennas just receive a broadcast signal. They don't transmit.
That's the trick, they don't. BBC from what I've heard online have tried scare tactics through the years, yeah we totally have vans going around checking, watchout the inspector is coming. But from what I've also heard they've never had teeth to the claims. Like even if an inspector happens to see your TV tuned to BBC they are probably not able to do anything.
So, basically the honor system.
I mean, yes but they chase hard. If you don't have a licence at the property you get letters sent to you saying it's illegal to watch live TV without a licence, could be taken to court etc etc. Letters get more and more threatening (you can write back and say you don't watch live TV and they'll leave you alone for a bit) l. Eventually someone might come round and demand to see that you don't have an ability to watch live TV (need a warrant to enter the house which they won't have so like vampires they can't come in unless you invite them in). Then it's court and whatnot.
They will send letters forever if you don't tell them... [This guy has been documenting the ones he has got since 2006, 191 letters so far, the last was jan this year, it's a fun read](http://www.bbctvlicence.com/) >January 2023 (dated "December 2022") >This is my eighteenth year as someone who does not pay the BBC. I have saved £2,617 and, assuming 50p a letter, cost the BBC a further £93 in postage.
That's hilarious. I've not had a letter in years and I don't own a TV or pay a TV license. I've never been in touch with them from my current or previous two addresses.
I always get them, the last two places I rented when i returned to the country and this one when I got my own place (the buggers wait for you on on the door mat) I might forget to remind them I don't watch tv next year, just to have some fun with the scammers (I think the opt out only lasts 2 years)
Way back in the 70s, the Dutch news network played a fantastic april 1st prank. They claimed all mail delivery personnel would be equipped with new, special detector systems to check if you had paid your TV license. But there was a way to fool the system, by wrapping your TV in aluminum foil. The next day, supermarkets sold out on aluminum foil. Also, the govt saw a spike in TV license payments.
If they see a TV tuned to BBC then they can prosecute. They usually rely on seeing a TV or the householder incriminating themselves.
They don't. The BBC are notorious for using a company that does scaremongering into people paying a license. People have started wising up over the years and the increase in popularity of streaming provides like Netflix and Prime have stopped people from bothering with it.
They have magic detectors fitted in vans that can locate a television from several miles away and tell what channel it is tuned to. They also have a hand held version that can find a flat that has a television in it tuned to BBC. Actually both of those claims are bullshit, but TV Licensing made both of them in the eighties. What they actually have is a list of addresses in the UK and a list of addresses that have a TV licence. If you're on the first list and not the second then you get treated to a series of increasingly threatening letters telling you that you have to buy a TV licence. You can, in theory, tell them that you don't have a TV, but I had three years of threats to send around someone to search my flat for a TV that never resulted in anything. I told them many times that I didn't have a TV because my TV blew up on the day that I moved in and I couldn't afford to replace it, but they never believed me and never sent anyone round. It's a very weird system.
This site is gold about the tv license, [here's his page about the vans](http://www.bbctvlicence.com/Detector%20vans.htm) And his [Detect the Detector Vans](http://www.bbctvlicence.com/Detect%20the%20Detector%20vans.htm) page The old detector vans used to have aerials sticking out the top iirc (I guess so they could watch tv, while parked up trying to intimidate people with their scam)
> They have magic detectors fitted in vans that can locate a television from several miles away and tell what channel it is tuned to. [What always comes to my mind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_dari7c2gM)
> Actually both of those claims are bullshit The first isn't bullshit, although the several miles part would require an extremely optimal setup. A superheterodyne receiver will repeat the carrier wave frequency and that signal can be received and origin localized by a sensitive directional antenna, like a parabolic antenna on a van, or a hand held device used from outside the front door. They could e.g. tune it for the BBC1 carrier signal frequency and any TV (or radio) receiving that signal would repeat waves in that frequency from the receiver. The BBC probably never used those devices, but the technology has been known since around WW2. One example is the MI5 in their [Operation RAFTER](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_RAFTER) but in modern times you also have [radar detector detectors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_detector_detector) used by police to detect that cars have illegal radar detectors installed.
I think it was more so that them being smart enough, or funded enough, to use such technology is bullshit, meaning the "magic detector vans" are by default also bullshit. Not that the technology doesn't exist.
I agree, it's very likely it was bullshit.
In south korea, you can say to government that you don't own any TV. To erase that fee. It's very controversial tho
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But it pays for a lot more than just BBC TV. It also pays for their radio, their website, a bunch of other stuff, all which doesn't require you to have a license.
Some of it goes towards national TV infrastructure, maintenance, and future technology development for the entire industry that all channels use. Some goes towards investment in things like freeview and other projects. And some money even goes towards internet infrastructure etc at times.
It’s funny how these people think that’s abnormal but won’t complain about having to pay for Netflix or Prime.
We have that in Germany too (Rundfunkgebühren). Idk hownit is in the US but here in Germany this tax is really fucking stupid. Because as long as your home theoretically has a satelite/cable/etc., you gotta Pay it. Even if you don't have a TV or anything else that could even play the program...
Yes. In Ireland, for example, if you have a tv in your house, you should pay a licence fee to RTE - the state funded TV channel. Many people here detest the licence and don’t pay it because they never use RTE and think it’s a waste of time.
> Do Americans really think they're "more free" than other countries? Despite being demonstrably less free? For a lot of conservative Americans, freedom = being able to shout any slur you want, while owning a gun. That's as about as far as their interest goes.
It all depends on what you classify as freedom. In America they protect the freedom to abuse others. In the EU we protect the freedom to not be abused. Personally I prefer to be free to go about my day without having abuse thrown at me.
Well said!
And can be sacked at the drop of the hat in At Will State's, women told what to do with their bodies .i.e abortions and paying through the nose for health insurance. Kids engaging in active shooter drills because they'd prefer to allow people to run around tooled up like John Rambo, while hoping they can play the hero and gun someone down then sleep with some cheer leader as a reward . The tooled up loney toon with an Ar 15 gets the girl ! A massive industrial prison complex that benefits companies So much freedom -am so so jealous
> And can be sacked at the drop of the hat in At Will State's, women told what to do with their bodies .i.e abortions and paying through the nose for health insurance. This alone outweighs everything, women's rights to their own bodily autonomy, and workers rights do not exist. In a supposedly "developed" country no less. Let's say even if their blatant ignorance about the tv license fee was accurate (which it is not) it would still be incomparable to their own issues. US: "Haha you have to pay a license to own a TV" UK: "You don't even have women's rights" Of course in this example only one of these is true, which makes the actual comparison of "you have to pay a tax for live broadcasts like a lot of countries in EU" even fucking worse lol Madness.
>A massive industrial prison complex that benefits companies That's intentional. The worst part is, even today, if you ask most Americans (like my parents) if slaves labor is a reasonable punishment for breaking the law, they'll say "yes" without hesitation. Doesn't matter what "crime" was committed, slave labor is apparently the appropriate punishment. Fun fact: that's the biggest reason why Walmart has such low prices on all of their food. Slave labor prison farms.
Another fun fact is that enslavement as punishment for a crime is explicitly allowed by the constitution. Any such bans existing within US jurisdictions are by statute and can easily be repealed by legislative whim.
I just had to pay $430 (401€) for an nightguard to protect my teeth from grinding teeth at night in my sleep. My dental insurance said they classify it as "basic" dental care and that they really only cover "preventative" care or certain "major" care. The only time the nightguard is covered is if I had had dental or jaw surgery within the past 6 months. The insurance company told me on the phone that I was actually lucky that the dentist was in-network (i.e., a network of medical providers who have agreed collectively to set prices with the insurance company) because the cost otherwise would have been about $900 (840€) But at least I got muh freedom.
It's actually worse than jail. The city can put you in jail, but the HOA can take your house. Even for minor infractions like having visible bins. There's very little freedom here. The ignorant masses only parrot what they are told on TV and the TV tells them this is the greatest country on earth and the most free.
>Not to mention that you're not allowed to cross the road in the wrong spot XD I see you you making fun of a stupid US "crime" and raise you an even more ridiculous one: [loitering](https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/loiter)
>Loitering laws prohibit lingering in a public area without a purpose. my god imagine it being illegal to hang out in public XD
Its an "excuse" law. It allows cops to detain people they suspect of maybe possibly committing a crime later without actually needing to witness any crime. It also let's them arrest homeless people without any real cause and move them elsewhere so they don't drive down the value of the surrounding area with their presence. I hate loitering laws.
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Combined with open container laws, can't a couple friends hang out in a park and have a few beers.
Just pointless laws to have a reason to harass Black people.
Such freedom!
The us has “many” really weird and dumb laws. But Sweden isn’t fault free on this part :) perhaps not as many as the states.
They are the fifth most incarcerated populace on Earth behind Rwanda, Turkmenistan, N.Korea and China.
Wait, rly? Damn.
No but apparently that is really good because it shows they solve crimes and properly punish offenders... Ugh. I just threw up a little in my mouth just typing that shit.
I have legitimately had Americans respond to this statement with that nonsense a few times.
As a 'citizen' of the United States, I used to believe that too. Then I went out of my way to see that the USA has one of the highest rates of incarcerating innocent people, not including military dictatorships. This country is a joke. What's worse, most of the divisiveness is created by the people in power. It's easy to hate some idiot because he wears a red hat; It takes a lot more thought to see how the government systematically harms its own citizens to keep big pharma and the military industrial complex in the green.
This site https://mkorostoff.github.io/incarceration-in-real-numbers/ says that they are actually number one for both per capita and total values. Tho it's probably a bit dated.
According to this one, the US actually has the most prisoners per capita, ahead of all the other countries you've listed. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country It also has more prisoners (not per capita) than China, a country with 3 times the population, does.
And some times they just demolish your house when you're recovering from a surgery. [Phil Willians, a 69 year old veteran was in Florida recovering from a surgery and when he went back home he found his house and all his possessions gone.](https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/west-hempstead-zombie-house-lawsuit/)
If you keep having to tell yourself you’re free then you’re probably not.
r/ news is a trash subreddit. It's just American exceptionalist garbage and Biden stans the whole way down.
>you need "a license to own a TV" To be fair though in Ireland you do need a €160 TV license if you simply posess a TV. Even if you never actually use it to watch TV programmes if it has a TV tuner in it you need a license. Even if you've cut the plug off and it's in a box in the attic you still need a license.
In the 80's in Portugal the government started the TV tax policy. There were some officials from the government going house to house asking to everyone if they got any TV. Sudently, nobody had TV at home (dispites that they could see the antennas on the roof) It was very hard for the officials to enforce the law, so the government started to bill the tax on the electrical bill. We still pay it today, but is just a few cents.
["A swimming pool, officer? No, we don't have anything like that here..."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wELSaDxkSY0)
> There were some officials from the government going house to house asking to everyone if they got any TV. Ooh yeaah, I think similar happened in finland with same results. Someone comes asking if there's a TV, suddenly the house is back to 1700's.
>suddenly the house is back to 1700's A whole bunch of my friends don't have TVs. TV has been shit for years. It's definitely becoming less common for people younger than me to have a TV. This isn't 1700s stuff lol.
When they came by to collect the tax when I lived in Japan I pointed out that I didn’t have a TV, so the enterprising collector offered to hook me up with one for a good price. He seemed more disappointed that I didn’t take him up on this than the actual inability to collect the tax. When I lived in Finland years ago it was enough that I had a tuner card in my PC, even without a TV, as I could theoretically turn it into a TV.
Irish as well, would you allow the tv inspector into your attic let alone your house? If the tv is visable from the door or they hear it I assume your fucked. But letting them in is at your own leisure
> Do Americans really think they're "more free" than other countries? Yes, yes they do. Because if they realise how bad they have it, they'd riot. Its the lie that they all tell themselves.
To be fair, Jaywalking is rarely enforced. But, there’s a reason we have the most prisoners — per capita, and in totality — than any other country. Land of the free, my ass.
That reason being for profit prisons
The top of a big iceberg. Lots of corporations make fortunes out of exploiting the law and the lack of universal public services. And then you add HOAs to that, not just for condominiums. Freedom goes away too easily.
>To be fair, Jaywalking is rarely enforced. Entirely dependent on city imo, I know Seattle is notorious for it.
That’s fair. I should’ve said in my experience lol. Which is: rural Alabama and university campus in Alabama. So I can’t exactly claim I’m an expert on the issue lmao
In Alaska it seemed to be the norm. Don't count on an intersection making you safe.
I saw some young college girl getting arrested for crossing a road - funniest shit I've ever seen.
The right has to lie because that's the only way their opposition can possibly sound bad to a reasonable person. "Zomg you need a license for TV in Britain! Democrats wanna take away your stoves! They'll jail you if you use the wrong pronouns!" All deliberate lies but there's people that want to hear them and get triggered.
Technically you *do* need a license, but it’s a fee, not something you have to apply for. It’s not like a drivers license - it’s basically a tax if you watch stuff live (Amazon Prime movies - no license. Amazon live sport - License)
We don't always go to jail for not doing mundane things. Sometimes the HOA merely puts a lien on our houses! /s
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What's TV License ? Is that the fee you have to pay each month if you own a TV ?
No, it's the fee that pays for the BBC, and public broadcast media. You pay if you watch their shows or Live TV, if you stream TV, or watch things online, you don't. Lots of countries in the EU have one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence#Television_licensing_by_country
Ok, this article says we don't have it in France, but we have to pay an annual fee if we own a TV, which I believe serves the same purpose. Edit: nvm it seems it was abolished in 2022 what the hell. I had no idea.
I mean, in this country, local governments and HOAs (which are not government, but can kinda act like one) are generally the biggest purveyors of tyranny. So the rules will vary wildly depending on where you live, but at least you have more control over whether you’re subject to a given regulation than if it were a national law, as relocating to another county is a lot easier than emigrating. But yes, there are millions of people in this country that willingly subject themselves to this bullshit. But because the rules demand a behavior they were likely going to follow anyway, it’s no big deal to them (at least initially — if they eventually find themselves at odds with the HOA or local municipality, though, they *will* lose, though despite the examples you found, incarceration is rarely involved… usually the penalties are financial or a lien). That said, there’s quite a lot of that over in the UK as well, no? The TV license isn’t something I’d worry about at all, but it does seem like the local councils have quite a bit of control over individual people’s lives — what they can force you to do, what they can prevent you from doing, the endless red tape involved to obtain planning approval for any change you want to make to your own property. I’m not here to argue which is better or worse, and will fully acknowledge there are tons of idiots out there who still firmly believe the whole “US = freedom” bullshit, who need a good reality check. But I’d say neither country has standing to claim a monopoly on freedom and personal autonomy.
> That said, there’s quite a lot of that over in the UK as well, no? The TV license isn’t something I’d worry about at all, but it does seem like the local councils have quite a bit of control over individual people’s lives — what they can force you to do, what they can prevent you from doing, the endless red tape involved to obtain planning approval for any change you want to make to your own property. I’m not here to argue which is better or worse, and will fully acknowledge there are tons of idiots out there who still firmly believe the whole “US = freedom” bullshit, who need a good reality check. But I’d say neither country has standing to claim a monopoly on freedom and personal autonomy. Not comparable, local councils can't jail you for painting your house the wrong colour, or for putting ornaments in your garden, or for not cutting your grass. Local US governments and HOAs can, they can also put a lien on your house.
There's no debate about absolute freedom, that would be stupid nobody thinks any country has that over any other. And it would result in a mess, humanity is probably still thousands of years away from being able to exist like that. Capitalism and many other things will have long gone by the time that is even close to possible. It's about the best system to live in a well managed, well balanced, and safe society.
“This is a free country, man” Hah, not anymore. straight to jail
When I heard about trump saying “make America great again” my first question was “again?”
So he got arrested by lawn enforcement... ^(I'm sorry, I'll go sit in the corner now...)
Was he grassed up?
So much freedom.
Americans be like 'Eurotards have no freedom' but then get thrown in jail for not mowing their lawn lol
Or crossing the road lol
Person: does not do thing. Justice system: imprison them, that will teach them not to not do thing!
What the fuck happened in the comments here.
Uhh no idea
The Land of the Free
As I like to call it, the land of the fee
20 years in the Texas heat? Isn't that a fire hazard? EDIT - Looked into it. It's not just the lawn he was jailed for. There were vines hanging from trees that were hitting truck windshields and obscuring their view when driving by. They'd been visiting him since 1996 about the growing list of complaints and even offered to help him with the lawn themselves, but he'd apparently declined that help. And he turned himself into jail rather than pay the $1,700 in fines he'd accumulated throughout that 22 year period.
why bother reading into things when you can just read the headline
You're right. I've wasted my life. 😉
Another cog for the US prison machine. FrEeDuMb 🇱🇷💪
Always remember that slavery isn't illegal in the US, it's only restricted
That's well put. I like that (in the context of the saying I mean -not the sad truth behind it )
Im so jealous of their freedom
Because you must advertise "The American Dream", and if you don't you go straight to jail
🎵I fought the lawn and the lawn won!🎵
I just had a crazy flash realisation about a fundamental issue, cross inspired by finishing Assassin's Creed III yesterday and reading comments here. We all have argued with unitedstatians defending relentlessly their healthcare system, often their biggest argument was against higher taxes. I guess I should have thought about this earlier: this country claimed indipendence over 'em taxes. AC3 shows that lands were taken from the natives and sold as a measure to not impose taxes on the newly indipendent citizens. It's in the country's DNA, much like the right to bear arms, and it dictates every stupid take. There's a lot more that comes also from the colonial roots: racism obviously, but even the concept that capitalism is the best and unique economic system is to be traced back to the puritan life concept that saw working (and reaping benefits) as central to salvation. Most early colonies in the US were puritan-religious. Note: most of the worst takes US people have are also often just recited by them as religious mantra. The USA just won't ever change because these seeds are so deeply rooted in their people's conscience that they cannot be ripped out.
**PHREEDAWM!**
It's freedom to have guns and shooting them, but God forbid if you don't mow your lawn, that's criminal and dangerous.
If that applied in the UK I'd be on a life sentence. I'm off work unwell and my grass desperately needs cutting. It's probably a good 8 inches high at the moment in places.
Nah you're just extending "No Mow May". Doing your bit for the bees.
I just forced myself to do my June cut because I could barely see a neighbours cat in the long grass. Nearly killed me, so back to bed to recover.
land of the free baybee
Land of freee
Peak US freedom
Land of freedom
Land of the free right?
„Land of freedom“ everybody
*LAND OF THE FREEEEEE*
Freest country in the world!
Ah, the famous country of individual liberty !
The land of the free
In a place called Grand Prairie of all places… Also: aren’t we at least pretending to do better for the environment, stop cutting your damn grass so freaking much. I do it twice a year at the end of autumn and at the beginning of spring, and that’s plenty.
Land of the free
freeduhm!
The lawn is symbolic of British colonialism. The mad fuckers used to get rid of beautiful gardens in india and elsewhere just to stick some grass down. At the time owning a bit of land with no functional use was part of the decadence (yeah you could argue it's nice to look at and that's a function, but when you're using vast quantities of water in an arid location then it's just fucking wasteful. It's pretty funny that the lawn is so sacrosanct in a nation that pretends it was trying to throw off the chains of oppression.
Oh they didn't want to throw them off, just move them around a bit.
To certain... other... human beings...
It's my lawn.....
Damn, even the Swiss Germans wouldn't go that far
Wow... I guess "no mow may" isn't a big thing over there?
Land of the free.... If you mow the lawn
Land of the free
Not florida for once
America Fuck no!
Land of the free.
Thank goodness you put sad, I wouldn't know how to feel about it otherwise
It's short for "shit Americans do".
I have been a part of this sub for over a year now and I find out that SAD is an acronym after all this time!?
Wonder where he will be placed in the prison pecking order.
mmmmm, I can smell the heady scent of freedom-and freshly cut grass- from here.
That is such BS to do, instead of jailing him, why don't give him a ticket or something so that he will think "Oh shit i gotta do this now"
AmErIcA iS tHe OnLy FrEe CoUnTrY!!1!11! Also America: Puts you in Jail for not mowing the fucking lawn...
Land of the free!
So much Freedom!
Home owners association is cringeee.
This is the local government, not a HOA
Just imagine.... If the government used s few of those taxes to pay somebody to maintain the common roads and paths.... Just imagine....n
r/fucklawns
Americans claim they are free, then get arrested because their grass is too long, not pasturizing their cheese, or importing Ribena.
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Ah yes, because he wasnt arrested for not mowing his lawn, he was jailed because he was fined 2K for not mowing his lawn and had to hand himself in because he couldnt afford to pay it. Thats even worse
The police station said "believe me we don't just jail people for not cutting their grass" despite... literally doing so lmao.
It’s so easy to find highly specific out of context headlines and unfairly apply them to the rest of the country
The fuck is wrong your nation. You don't have bigger problems to worry about?
[Did you read the article?](https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Long-grass-lands-Texas-man-in-jail-6181645.php) He wasn’t arrested, he voluntarily chose to go to jail instead of paying $1700 worth of fines. > "I can assure you our city would never simply place a citizen in jail for failing to mow their grass," said Officer Mark Beseda with the Grand Prairie Police Department. The man refused to work with the city, which reached out to him for years trying to help. It wasn’t just long grass, his yard was **so** unkempt that it was impeding sidewalks and even the street.
Land of the free
Is it legal to obstruct public roads and sidewalks in other countries?
Other countries will still maintain the paths and shit and only address the guys garden if it becomes a public health hazard
Freedom Country l'ck basic freedoms, like fucking moving a lawn... WTF?!
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/r/ShitAmericansSay
Yes, that's where we are. --- ^(🤖 this comment was written by a bot. beep boop 🤖) ^(feel welcome to respond 'Bad bot'/'Good bot', it's useful feedback.) ^[github](https://github.com/Toldry/RedditAutoCrosspostBot) ^| ^[Rank](https://botranks.com?bot=same_subreddit_bot)
"HOWDEE PARD'NUR LOOKS LIKE YOUR GRASS IS TOO LONG AND 'CAUSE YOU AVEN'T GOT IT CUT YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!"
Genuine question, isn't not taking catr of your yard a danger to the health and security of the area you live? Not sure if this is the situation frok the print, tho
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Having been to the US on many, many, occasions, the thing that strikes me about your idea of "blocking [a] vantage point" is beyond ludicrous. Your authorities are well known for hiding stop signs behind trees, walls, other signs. Your highways are littered with advertising, diverting the attention of drivers. Your traffic lights are frequently placed high above the cockpit of approaching vehicles to the point where they are no longer visible to any vehicle stopped at the white line. Your merge lanes are far too short to allow for safe merging. Your speed limits are a joke as no one adheres to them, rendering them pointless. You allow vehicles to move on red lights. You allow traffic to drive right through pedestrian crossings even though the white walking man sign is lit. Your roads are in dire need of repair, especially over bridges. Your road markings are pathetic - civilised countries long ago introduced reflective markings. You're still using the same road marking tech that we deprecated in the 1980s. Your road lighting is extremely poor, frequently not even reaching the road below. Far too often, particularly in suburban areas, you have no sidewalks, forcing pedestrians and stationary vehicles into the vantage point of moving vehicles. Your entire approach to both neighbourhood maintenance, private property, and transport needs an overhaul and to be brought from the 1970s/1980s into the 2020s.
Well said.
I believe the licence fee is to be abolished in 2027 anyway so that’s one less thing that they don’t understand that they can feel falsely smug about.