<story><title>New York Governor announces 100% workforce reduction for non-essential services</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/20/new-york-governor-announces-100-workforce-reduction-for-non-essential-services/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fennecfoxen</author><text>For good &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; for ill, it is Constitutionally problematic to &amp;quot;lock down&amp;quot; an entire state, as it is essentially placing millions of people under arrest, which in the general case is a stupefyingly terrible power for any government to wield.&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the state can &lt;i&gt;totally&lt;/i&gt; shut down businesses. In circumstances like this, it is not suspect in the least.&lt;p&gt;I will further note that for Cuomo to be criminally prosecuted, he would need to commit some crime. Now, this happens sometimes in NY government (quite often, really) but it usually involves corruption; I am not aware of any particular law he has violated in acquitting his duties in this matter. Anger may indeed be &lt;i&gt;quite&lt;/i&gt; justified, but when politicians are prosecuted for their policies after the fact, this is usually more effective at turning a place into a banana republic than it is at improving the quality of the policies.</text></item><item><author>ransom1538</author><text>Sorry what? His state has the highest infection rate and he just &lt;i&gt;NOW&lt;/i&gt; did a 100% workforce reduction. He hasn&amp;#x27;t even issued &amp;quot;a shelter in place&amp;quot; order.  BARS WERE OPEN MONDAY.  Thousands of deaths will be on his hands. I think he should be criminally prosecuted.&lt;p&gt;NY needs to be locked down &lt;i&gt;NOW&lt;/i&gt;.</text></item><item><author>throwaway5752</author><text>There is no doubt Cuomo should be the national point person for the response to the crisis based on his performance so far. He is independently working with regional manufacturing to retool to make critical medical PPE and ventilators, and has organized a regional coalition including CT, NJ, and PA. I have not agreed with him all the time, but his crisis management has been exemplary and he will have saved many lives in NY by the time this is done.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dragonwriter</author><text>&amp;gt; For good and for ill, it is Constitutionally problematic to &amp;quot;lock down&amp;quot; an entire state&lt;p&gt;Not particularly, curfew and similar restrictions are common emergency measures, and their is no Constitutional difference for greater scale except that it reduces the possibility of it being covert discrimination. And, even if it was, Cuomo had one of the most pressing needs to do it of any state, and was slower than some others. Now, I&amp;#x27;m not arguing he was negligent, but he&amp;#x27;s not a head-and-shoulders above everyone else standout the way he&amp;#x27;s been portrayed upthread, either.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; On the other hand, the state can totally shut down businesses&lt;p&gt;Cuomo was slow at that, too.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; I will further note that for Cuomo to be criminally prosecuted, he would need to commit some crime&lt;p&gt;Untrue. People are criminally prosecuted (and even convicted) without committing crimes all the time. He&amp;#x27;d have to be accused of a crime, though.</text></comment>
<story><title>New York Governor announces 100% workforce reduction for non-essential services</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/20/new-york-governor-announces-100-workforce-reduction-for-non-essential-services/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fennecfoxen</author><text>For good &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; for ill, it is Constitutionally problematic to &amp;quot;lock down&amp;quot; an entire state, as it is essentially placing millions of people under arrest, which in the general case is a stupefyingly terrible power for any government to wield.&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the state can &lt;i&gt;totally&lt;/i&gt; shut down businesses. In circumstances like this, it is not suspect in the least.&lt;p&gt;I will further note that for Cuomo to be criminally prosecuted, he would need to commit some crime. Now, this happens sometimes in NY government (quite often, really) but it usually involves corruption; I am not aware of any particular law he has violated in acquitting his duties in this matter. Anger may indeed be &lt;i&gt;quite&lt;/i&gt; justified, but when politicians are prosecuted for their policies after the fact, this is usually more effective at turning a place into a banana republic than it is at improving the quality of the policies.</text></item><item><author>ransom1538</author><text>Sorry what? His state has the highest infection rate and he just &lt;i&gt;NOW&lt;/i&gt; did a 100% workforce reduction. He hasn&amp;#x27;t even issued &amp;quot;a shelter in place&amp;quot; order.  BARS WERE OPEN MONDAY.  Thousands of deaths will be on his hands. I think he should be criminally prosecuted.&lt;p&gt;NY needs to be locked down &lt;i&gt;NOW&lt;/i&gt;.</text></item><item><author>throwaway5752</author><text>There is no doubt Cuomo should be the national point person for the response to the crisis based on his performance so far. He is independently working with regional manufacturing to retool to make critical medical PPE and ventilators, and has organized a regional coalition including CT, NJ, and PA. I have not agreed with him all the time, but his crisis management has been exemplary and he will have saved many lives in NY by the time this is done.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ransom1538</author><text>Turns out, we do have a law against what he is doing:&lt;p&gt;Manslaughter: the crime of killing a human being without malice aforethought, or otherwise in circumstances not amounting to murder.</text></comment>