“You people are next” does seem pretty threat-ish, however:
After being charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, a judge set Boston’s bond at $100,000.
That is completely out of touch with what happened. “You people are next” not an act of terrorism.
It’s hard for me to agree this is a threat after media has spent years explaining why all of Trump’s language is actually never threatening or inciting violence, even after his language incited violence.
It is towards the ruling class. They can’t let this grow into something that threatens them.
It’s easily argued that the statement was a warning, not a threat.
Per the GoFundMe, she was released and charges dropped:
Hi everyone, it looks like the county released Briana with no charges, so I stopped the campaign. See here: https://www.polksheriff.org/inmate-profile/2435323 I am looking how to run a gazillion of reimbursements on this platform.
They think they’re making an example. That this will have a chilling effect.
They’re wrong. All this is going to do is radicalize even more people. As it should.
Remember folks, the company reps you interact with are generally not the ones making the rules they are paid to abide by. They’re working for a living, just like us.
With that, calling this an “act of terrorism” is an incredulous overreaction that just goes to show how badly they’re shitting their pants right now.
They’re working for a living, just like us.
They’re part of the machine that sucks the blood of the people. I wouldn’t advocate violence, but they’re not worthy of our respect.
I’ve quit jobs because of ethical concerns before, these people don’t make a living just like me.
Imagine having the privilege of not having to compromise your morals because you can get a job just like that in this economy
Edit: yes, y’all apparently are rocks or trees. The rest of us need to eat for sustenance and have responsibilities beyond " what news headline will garner my outrage today"
Imagine not compromising my morals cost me a lot. Time after time. But as someone with a strong consciousness, I know it will cost me more to compromise on my personal values. It’s just that it’s not a monetary cost.
You sound like an economical slave, why do you accept the situation?
You sound like an economical slave, why do you accept the situation?
Because I need food and shelter otherwise I die.
there is shelter and food, plenty to go around- it’s being locked behind an amoral paywall.
do the moral things at your job and get fired over it. make it clear when you apply elsewhere why you were fired.
if we’re being forced to choose between doing the right thing and surviving, the system is broken AND those hoarding obscene amounts, living in luxury, making the decisions to further screw customers and employees in the name of investors and executives need to be addressed, one way or another.
…Im not saying any of this is easy, but the other option seems to be just try to be happy with the scraps they let us fight over? no thank you.
I took that job and quit a month in for the same reason. I’d rather be in crippling debt than compromise my morals that badly. I couldn’t do it and look at myself in the mirror in the morning.
That’s exactly how they want you to think and be.
Angry at those with even a modicum more. But keep doing at Walmart and Amazon and every other conglomerate.“I was just following orders.”
I’d rather be homeless than get paid to kill innocent people.
We learned about individual responsibilities before, the slaying of poors is not just making a living, it’s not the corporate entity that is the evil it is the henchmen that have individual rights to say stop just like any soldier that is told to rape and plunder innocents
I am fairly certain insurance claim staff are used to hearing worse.
working for whom ?
May the first amendment suit she files after this gain her the money she needs for her healthcare. And may whatever insurance company this is be dissolved.
This occurred in Deregulated Fucking Florida and I thought the damn MAGATs are for freedom of speech.
Only for billionaires or corporations
First “witch” burned by inquisition of capitalism
First? You’re joking, right?
I feel this is only the beginning.
According to the affidavit, 42-year-old Briana Boston used the phrase during a call with BlueCross BlueShield about a denied claim.
“Delay, Deny, Depose. You people are next,” she allegedly said near the end of the call.
The “You people are next” line certainly adds some context to this story.
A bit, but it still doesn’t explain how this warrants terrorism charges and $100,000 bail. A visit from the police and probation or anger management courses? OK I still don’t really agree but it makes some sense. But not prison time. She’s getting punished harder than many rapists and child molesters.
MAGA paraded with more direct threats of violence on signs, after Jan 6th, with no accountability.
Why wouldn’t an insinuation of terrorism warrant a terrorism charge and a lot of bail money? That doesn’t make sense.
See, telling your supposed enemy your intentions was the first mistake. If you didn’t intend to go through with it, then it was just an empty threat. Either way it’s dumb.
Stephen Bonczyk of Lakeland Florida is a tyrant and fascist who doesn’t respect our right to free speech in the US. In my opinion.
Those LLs in the llc titles are coming into focus
Threatening the hospital that was denying my father care, leaving him to die, was the only way I got into the literal board room to reason with them. I got them to resume treatment after they dicked around for a month and he refused to leave because he was going to die if he left.
He still died because he was so sick at that point that they couldn’t do the procedure he needed when he first arrived.
So I threatened them in 2010, and I’d fucking do it again now for my child. We are supposed to stand up for our loved ones.
It’s disgusting. There needs to be legal recognition of all that is at stake for patients and their families. The denial of necessary care is structural violence and should be treated as such by everyone.
Agreed. It’s straight up murder
Maybe if you get another vote?
As in, if trump doesn’t turn the country into a dictatorship, hopefully we have a future candidate that will treat health care as a human right? 🤞
got them to resume treatment after they dicked around for a month and he refused to leave because he was going to die if he left.
I had to play this card once, too. I was in the cardiac unit for 28 days, and they were going to send me home because they couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and the insurance decided I wasn’t worth the expense anymore.
I refused to leave until they gave me a diagnosis, because i would have just died otherwise.
Pretty sure the healthcare system still wants that.
What was wrong?
Dysautonomia causing SVT and sinus arrest. I have a loop monitor now and am on heart meds.
e: they wanted to send me home with ‘anxiety’.
What did you threaten them with? Thats the most important part.
Financial extermination. But threat of violence would’ve been my next step in trial and error. It’s my family… I’d do anything for them. People even told me I should’ve. It was a tough situation and I was young. A little younger than Luigi.
Once you threaten violence, its a ticket straight to jail. Not very effective
Yeah, threatening violence is useless currently. Either act on it or have a plan B.
Well I wouldn’t say that. But threats of violence are best done anonymously
Ok yeah fair enough
So, no free speech in the US after all?
Depends on how much money you have.
Elon Musk could tweet about this (he won’t, though, because he’s a shit-eating ass nozzle) and nothing would happen.
Nothing. Not a thing. They can do anything they want, but the poors get shit on and jailed.
Paid speech
🌎👩🏼🚀🔫👩🏼🚀
Never has been.
And also shouldn’t be
You can free speech on X and truthsocial about shooting Mexicans. But you can’t free speech on other platforms about shooting CEOs.
Because “free speech” can only align with the platform you are on. If it doesn’t align, then it is some other form of speech which is not allowed. Very simple.
The lower classes must be kept in check otherwise they might realize how easy it would be for this to happen again. So let’s give a person a 100k bond, charge them with an act of terrorism for saying words fhat are literally used to describe the techniques of insurance companies
Free speech doesn’t conver threats.
So, Trump will be arrested as well?
He should be, yes.
deleted by creator
Interesting to note, they mentioned the Florida woman’s name, but not the judge’s.
Interesting, interesting, interesting.
I take it that was the the information they could get.
Well Lakeland is Polk county, known by people who grew up in FL as the meth capital of Florida. All arrest records are public record in Florida, so finding a judge wouldn’t be hard I imagine. First appearance court rooms should be the link below. Not sure which judge it would have been on Wednesday.
I said Wednesday because if she was arrested Tuesday Florida does first appearances the next morning (unless it’s a weekend) https://www.jud10.flcourts.org/virtual-courtroom-links/polk-first-appearance
“The working class is being oppressed to the point of breaking, so we better just keep them all locked up.”
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
“Status of our country.” Lol. A fucking gilded age shithole where the rich a finally being treated like the outta be?
Fucking florida. It’s like they all live there to prove a just god does not exist as they haven’t been washed away yet despite it being fucking florida.
No, but in 10 to 20 years nature will be doing the Lord’s work.
The beatings will continue until moral improves.
She threatened the ruling class. And in a feudal society are not allowed to do that.
Honestly the judge can be added to the fucking list.
Evil. They’re evil.
Let’s not make him a liar
The “status of our country” is genocidal empire of massive inequality destroying the planet.
How much do judges make? The average income is around 30k a year in us, and thats just the income not even saving.
No one making 30k is going to have savings
I don’t get how people live on 30k. They have to be a multi income residence. Even in the cheap areas, that is so little in this country.
I imagine the “Delay, Deny, Depose” didn’t get her in trouble nearly as much as the “You people are next” part. Yeah, that’s a bit hostile there.
Please, marginalized people get more explicitly threatening crap said to them all the time and people rarely get arrested or charged for that. She’s being charged because the system wants to make an example out of her. The judge basically said so himself at the bail hearing,
“I do find that the bond of $100,000 is appropriate considering the status of our country at this point,” the judge said.
They need to appeal this. Clear judicial error. If he wouldn’t have done this 3 weeks ago legally he can’t do it now.
100k for a threat made in reaction to what was likely fear for her life, or the life of her loved one.
It’s pretty amazingly cruel.
Ouch. “This place is a shit show,” the judge said. (Not really, just fixed it for him).
Not saying you are wrong about the marginalized, but in this case she made, what could be considered threatening, a call to a health care provider that was not only actionable, but entirely recorded.
“The system” won’t make an example out of her, “Exhibit A” will. That’s the difference.
Yet, if Trump said it live in front of cameras, it would be “a joke.”
In Trump’s case it would be on 5th avenue in broad daylight.
Just a joke though.
It’s both.
$100k bond for a threat that is neither specific nor credible is absurd.
If it were a first time offender threat against a normal person (which is more specific), at most it would result in probation and a restraining order.
The bond is ridiculous, but the arrest wasn’t.
I’ve met victims of domestic violence who were threatened much worse than “you guys are next” so I’m not buying this as anything other than the system trying to use her as an example.
Oops, I completely misinterpreted your comment. Not sure what etiquette says, but I feel silly and am removing mine.
I agree that this person saying “you guys are next” is not a threat to the degree that it should be chargeable, and that she’s being made an example of.
Just want to point out that your example implies domestic violence is a lower level of violence, and as such this shouldn’t count as a real threat?
Reading comprehension ain’t for everyone.
Edit: on some reflection that might be a rude reply if you don’t already know that domestic violence threats in the US are largely ignored.
Thanks for the reflection edit! I don’t think I’m stupid, but you’re right that I didn’t read your comment correctly. Do you want me to remove my original reply?
Edit: decided to remove
I recommend doing it like I did below the horizontal lines down there 👇
btw, tap me 4 formatting tip
To strike through, use ~~ before and after the offending text:
~~This text would be strike’d~~
The United States has the most equitable healthcare system on earth.Edit: sorry about that, cat stepped on my keyboard
For something really embarrassing -
Original embarrassing comment:
I hate Star Trek
Newly edited comment:
edit: removed opinion I reconsidered
Were their threats recorded? The fact that people have said worse doesn’t change the fact that it was a threat.
There’s no direct threat there more than saying the boogeyman will get you. People threaten marginalized communities like this on TV, radio and social media every day with no impunity because it’s just vague enough not to count because stochastic terrorism is totally cool for SOME people.
Seems like free speech to me?
First amendment doesn’t cover true threats. So it all kinda depends on context and whether who it was said to felt as though they were in real danger.
Bullshit. Denying life saving care is a much much much more direct threat to life, as are abortion denials. The concept of a true threat depends mainly on whether you are an acceptable threat maker or not.
Except if you are actively dying and I refuse to help in my personal capacity, I’m not threatening to harm you. I’m just not helping you from imminent harm (presuming I didn’t cause that imminent harm). Now if you’re on fire and I’m currently watering my lawn with the hose when you ask for help, it’s shitty of me to not help. But if you’re in a gunfight with someone and you’re asking me to render aid as they are still a threat, sorry pal.
E: Apparently some ignorant idealists don’t like making a distinction. Tough shit. From a legal standpoint, that’s how it works.
Now if you’re on fire and I’m currently watering my lawn with the hose when you ask for help, it’s shitty of me to not help.
Inaction is still an action. If you have the ability to save someone and you let them die, you may as well have started the fire yourself.
The only real point you have is that you don’t render aid when there’s an active threat.
I’m just not helping you from imminent harm
Doesn’t the law protect that in some way? I thought medical professionals were compelled to save lives first and then “worry” about costs later with the Hippocratic Oath and all. Or maybe it’s limited to some instances? Idk, I’m not from the US and our system works way differently.
That is a “good Samaritan” law. They can compel you to help, but that could be calling law enforcement. That’s also why in my examples the gunfight still had a deadly threat. No laws compel you to put yourself in danger to help.
Hot take here in Lemmy. Get it while it’s still hot!
That doesn’t seem like a true threat to me.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-1/true-threats
A person speaking out of anger who the person does not have a real reason to fear and believe they’ll follow through is not a true threat. Saying “you’re next” is clearly hyperbole. There’s no chance she loses this case. They’re just trying to make an example out of her for the moment to scare other people.
You might say it is a true threat in and of itself. There is very good reason for people to believe the state will arrest more people who use this speech. They’re assuming this is true, because they want them to fear them in order to stop them. This is what we call terrorism, except it’s the state doing it so I guess it’s totally fine.
Even more importantly, it matters who you’re threatening. Your wife? Meh, no biggie. An insurance company? Straight to jail.
“a bit hostile” -> straight to jail
Do not threaten commerce, they don’t tolerate that. The money must flow at all costs.
Talk to any call center worker at any shitty company in the US and they’ll tell you they’ve heard the same thing or worse before. This isn’t new for shitty companies at all, they’re just trying to make it seem like it’s new in response to this situation and not something that they’ve been ignoring for decades.
Ohh good point. Have a call center friend; heard stories…
I can agree with your statement, but is it an act of terrorism? I don’t think her threat should be categorized as terrorism.
I don’t think it’s terrorism either as I understand. Terrorism targets citizens for leverage.
Clearly she was saying that they were next to receive a gift basket for all their hard work in denying claims for profit
