Anonymous wrote:We have not established that everyone breaks the law.

Yes we have. PP admitted upthread that everyone has driven a little above the speed limit.

I agree that some transgressions are worse than others. But you have to understand that different transgressions are going to have higher or lower percentages of people who are outraged about them. Some obvious ones are universal. Others are not. And a bunch are in the middle.

Anonymous wrote:So we've established that everyone breaks the law, but is selective about when to be outraged. You are outraged are more categories of transgressions than others, and that's your right. No need to clutch pearls though when the rest of us don't agree with you 100% of the time about when outrage is appropriate.

No. It's just that some traffic laws, like speeding limits and jaywalking, are a different category of law. The goal is safety, and what constitutes safety is highly variable depending on conditions. We could have a long discussion about this, but it's pretty obvious. Let's just say that 5 miles over a speed limit on a completely empty road is very different than 5 miles over on the same road in very heavy traffic.

Trying to pretend like boundary fraud the same as minimal speeding is stupid and deflecting.

Boundary fraud (and tax fraud) is a deliberate, lasting act that negatively impacts others.

Anonymous wrote:So we've established that everyone breaks the law, but is selective about when to be outraged. You are outraged are more categories of transgressions than others, and that's your right. No need to clutch pearls though when the rest of us don't agree with you 100% of the time about when outrage is appropriate.

You don’t get to decide when people decide you are an antisocial cheater. and no, lying to get your kid into JR is not the same as going 10 mph over the speed limit.

Anonymous wrote:I know a student attending Jackson Reed whose family tells everyone she got in through the lottery 2 years ago. Now we all know that’s not true. I’d like to report them. Thanks.

Your mama raised you wrong. How disgusting.

Anonymous wrote:DCPS has been going downhill for a few years now and it is just getting worst. The whole equity and race to the bottom helps no one. Why try to game a system with such mediocre schools as their “best”?

If you don’t get into one of few decent charters (DCI, Basis, Latin), just move to the close in burbs or get an apartment there rent out your DC place. Schools are much better overall, run better, and better serve the higher performing kids.

Poof, then you have a secure pyramid and no further worries about lottery, schools, etc..Plus the state college optiins are so much better too.

Done. Then you can move on with other important things.

Yeah I think that is part of what is off-putting for me. Someone who would go to such lengths to send their kid to JR or Deal seems like they may just enjoy the feeling of “pulling one over” on the system.

Anonymous wrote:Replace "DC" with any state/government agency in the world and the last sentence would still be true.

Even a "good citizen" will at times pass cars and enter an exit lane at the last moment in a traffic jam, or submit tax returns that aren't 100% accurate. We all push the envelope in life, especially when knowing that crossing the line may go unpunished.

I haven’t ever done either of those things - they are both quite antisocial and not at all normal. I think your calibration is off. No wonder your feelings are hurt that the rest of us think you are a cheater. Your are literally so reflexively entitled that you don’t recognize it.

Anonymous wrote:So we've established that everyone breaks the law, but is selective about when to be outraged. You are outraged are more categories of transgressions than others, and that's your right. No need to clutch pearls though when the rest of us don't agree with you 100% of the time about when outrage is appropriate.

We have not established that everyone breaks the law. You just like to assume that because it's how you justify your own behavior -- "whatever, everyone breaks the rules."

And actually some legal transgressions are worse than others, and it's not pearl clutching to tell you that boundary fraud creates a lot of negative externalities that a lot of us don't like. I'm not freaking out over your morality, I'm justifiably annoyed that boundary frauds cause school overcrowding and cause unfairness in the lottery system, which was created specifically to make the school system in DC more fair.

If I am breaking rules that harm other people and disrupt systems in this way, I'm totally okay with you or someone else calling me out and telling me so, because we live in a society and this is why laws exist.

Anonymous wrote:Replace "DC" with any state/government agency in the world and the last sentence would still be true.

Even a "good citizen" will at times pass cars and enter an exit lane at the last moment in a traffic jam, or submit tax returns that aren't 100% accurate. We all push the envelope in life, especially when knowing that crossing the line may go unpunished.

If you “push the envelope” to help yourself to a really big advantage that the rest of us follow the rules and accept we cannot have … then you are a liar and a cheat and we will call you that. and sometimes yes, you will get reported.

You can get away with it but you cannot also claim the moral high ground. Sorry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that "we all" push the envelope in life. Are you saying you intentionally lie on your taxes because you think it's unlikely you'll get caught? Also I've seen horrific accidents caused by people who veer into the exit lane last minute, please don't do that. Just wait and take the next exit.

Have you never driven above the speed limit?

Have you ever not included every single 1099-INT or 1099-DIV on your tax returns, or inflated the value of charitable donations?

Everyone has driven a little above the speed limit.

Far fewer people have deliberately cheated on their taxes. That is really bad!

Shame on you for trying to normalize tax cheating! Shame on you for trying to excuse boundary fraud.

+1, and the fact that the PP is acting like lying on your taxes is no big deal is a good indication that no one should be trusting their judgment on whether other behaviors are okay.

Also regarding the speed limit, there's a difference between going a little over the limit in order to keep up with traffic or because you didn't realize how fast you were going, and speeding like you matter more than everyone else on the road and deserve to go 10 mph faster than any of them. Boundary fraud is a lot more like the latter than the former -- it's one person being selfish in a way that negatively impacts everyone else, because they feel entitled to more and better.

So we've established that everyone breaks the law, but is selective about when to be outraged. You are outraged are more categories of transgressions than others, and that's your right. No need to clutch pearls though when the rest of us don't agree with you 100% of the time about when outrage is appropriate.

Anonymous wrote:I thought the threshold was legality, not whether something is "normalized" or "excused"?

Yes, you are right.

I thought the threshold was legality, not whether something is "normalized" or "excused"?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that "we all" push the envelope in life. Are you saying you intentionally lie on your taxes because you think it's unlikely you'll get caught? Also I've seen horrific accidents caused by people who veer into the exit lane last minute, please don't do that. Just wait and take the next exit.

Have you never driven above the speed limit?

Have you ever not included every single 1099-INT or 1099-DIV on your tax returns, or inflated the value of charitable donations?

Everyone has driven a little above the speed limit.

Far fewer people have deliberately cheated on their taxes. That is really bad!

Shame on you for trying to normalize tax cheating! Shame on you for trying to excuse boundary fraud.

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that "we all" push the envelope in life. Are you saying you intentionally lie on your taxes because you think it's unlikely you'll get caught? Also I've seen horrific accidents caused by people who veer into the exit lane last minute, please don't do that. Just wait and take the next exit.

Have you never driven above the speed limit?

Have you ever not included every single 1099-INT or 1099-DIV on your tax returns, or inflated the value of charitable donations?

Anonymous wrote:Replace "DC" with any state/government agency in the world and the last sentence would still be true.

Even a "good citizen" will at times pass cars and enter an exit lane at the last moment in a traffic jam, or submit tax returns that aren't 100% accurate. We all push the envelope in life, especially when knowing that crossing the line may go unpunished.

I disagree that "we all" push the envelope in life. Are you saying you intentionally lie on your taxes because you think it's unlikely you'll get caught? Also I've seen horrific accidents caused by people who veer into the exit lane last minute, please don't do that. Just wait and take the next exit.

The school boundaries in DC exist for a reason and when you violate the law to take a spot at a school that you are not legally entitled to, you are harming other people. For some schools, like Deal and J-R, this behavior is resulting in over-crowding that is diminishing the experience of all kids at those schools and taxing their physical and financial resources. But also if boundary cheaters result in a school filled to it's max, this means that they will not offer any lottery spots, which means people who play by the rules and use the lottery to try and obtain OOB spots are deprived of the chance to do so thanks to boundary cheats.

There's really no defense for this behavior. It's wrong and harmful.