Category: Media and Culture,

Inside the Philadelphia DA’s side hustle — selling seized homes to speculators and cops

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Local Interest,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

In neighborhoods across Philadelphia, …police seized properties after drug raids. Once they were taken, the district attorney auctioned them off to the highest bidder, for cash that went back to the law enforcement agencies. The legal process is known as civil asset forfeiture.

…controversially, with no guilty verdict required.

…A forfeiture petition for one property lists one gram of marijuana, a half gram of cocaine and some over-the-counter pills as justification for taking. In one case recently settled in a $3 million class-action lawsuit, Norys Hernandez nearly lost the rowhouse she and her sister owned after police arrested her nephew on drug dealing charges and seized the house. Another family named in the suit fought to save their house from the grip of law enforcement after their son was arrested for selling $40 worth of drugs outside of it. Of the lawsuit’s four named plaintiffs, three had their houses targeted for seizure after police accused relatives dealing drugs on the property. None of the homeowners were themselves accused of committing a crime.

…The failure of law enforcement to plan for the reuse of these forfeited properties, which often held marginal real estate value, means that many wound up in the hands of absentee landlords or investors who often did not have the resources or motivation to improve the properties. The largest single buyer of forfeited property was a self-described real estate speculator who dabbles in rent-to-own schemes. As many as 325 of these properties appear to be vacant years after their sale and 427 are tax delinquent.

…Finally, records showed that members of Philadelphia law enforcement directly benefited from these sales. This investigation detected at least 11 properties that were sold to Philadelphia police officers trying their hands at real estate investment.

…The full number of sales to police could be much higher. But the Philadelphia Police Department refused to disclose any information about the sale of forfeited property to its officers and a spokesman for the DA said the office had not kept records of who bought auctioned property — or even how many properties were sold.

Critics say these sales to officers demonstrate a conflict of interest and highlight the ethical flaws in a system they say creates a financial incentive for law enforcement to take private property.

…These seizures were notably focused in black and Latino neighborhoods with high rates of poverty. Forty-one percent of all forfeited properties were concentrated in just four ZIP codes in North Philadelphia and Kensington, all with majority black or Latino populations and poverty rates well above the city’s average. For comparison, other large swaths of the Philadelphia, such as Center City, never saw a single property forfeited. Ever.

PlanPhilly | Inside the Philadelphia DA’s side hustle — selling seized homes to speculators and cops

hmmmm

Campaign Leadership: The Hardest Glass Ceiling in Politics

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

One prominent female member of Congress told POLITICO that she has gone so far as to make it a habit to keep a man in the room when delivering orders to her political staff. Often, he is a friend; sometimes, a hired hand. He serves a sole purpose: to repeat what she says so that other men—her subordinates—listen and take her points seriously.

…Only a few of the women who spoke to POLITICO for this story suggested that this environment was rooted in intentional malice. Instead, most chalked up the slights to obliviousness.

The handful of men interviewed for this article were startled to learn the women around them are so alienated. All of the men said they were disturbed once they looked at the terrain through the eyes of their female colleagues.

“What if it isn’t just that women are excluded from lucrative leadership roles in campaigns, but what if the end result of this is fewer women in the U.S. Senate?” wondered a male Republican consultant. “It never occurred to me.”

The Hardest Glass Ceiling in Politics – POLITICO Magazine

hmmmm

John McCain funeral: George W. Bush and Michelle Obama pass candy

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

In a video clip shared on Twitter, Bush takes the small parcel from Laura Bush, and passes it to Obama. In the clip, Obama takes the piece from Bush and whispers “thank you.” The George W. Bush Presidential Center later confirmed to USA TODAY that the item in question was not candy, but actually a cough drop. Even cuter.

While Bush and Obama may seem like an unlikely duo, each coming from different political parties and different backgrounds, the two found kindred spirits in each other, Bush told People in a 2017 interview.

“She kind of likes my sense of humor,” Bush said in the interview. “Anybody who likes my sense of humor, I immediately like.”

John McCain funeral: George W. Bush and Michelle Obama pass candy

TBT awww

Guns kill more U.S. kids than cancer. This emergency physician aims to change that

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Modern Parenting,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

In March, in the wake of the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school, Congress wrote that CDC is free to probe the causes of gun violence, despite the Dickey amendment. (The agency has not done so, citing a lack of money.) And annual firearm-related funding from NIH, according to a search of its RePORTER database, roughly tripled after a 2013 presidential directive that was issued in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Just as importantly, the agency began to flag firearm violence in some of its calls for research.

…Their animating principle is that gun violence, like any other public health bane, can be tackled scientifically, divorced from any political agenda. “There is a science to injury prevention,” Cunningham says. She and others note that decades of studies on motor vehicle safety led to evidence-based policies such as car seat and seat belt laws, which have dramatically reduced childhood motor vehicle fatalities even though many more cars are on the road.

…Cunningham is confident that the problem of gun violence can be solved with science—and with participation from all sides. So, she keeps searching for common ground. “We are not having any conversations here that are an ‘us and them’ narrative,” she told scientists at the meeting. “We are about reducing kids dying.”

Guns kill more U.S. kids than cancer. This emergency physician aims to change that | Science | AAAS

hmmmm

Facebook selling data? Emails show it gave some companies preferential access to user data

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Facebook gave some companies preferential access to user data — including invites to friends in users’ networks — without clearly getting permission, according to excerpts from emails released by the U.K. Parliament Wednesday. The social media giant and its founder Mark Zuckerberg also mulled ways to charge outside companies for user data, the email excerpts show.

Apps from companies including Airbnb, Netflix and Lyft were “whitelisted” — allowing full access to users’ friends — even after Facebook said in 2015 it had phased out that feature. 

…The emails also show CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussing ways to encourage users to share more on Facebook in a way that would “increase the value” of the network.

…Facebook maintains that it never sells user data, but many data-privacy advocates say the distinction between selling data and charging companies to access users based on their data is a rather fine line for practical purposes.

Facebook selling data? Emails show it gave some companies preferential access to user data – CBS News

hmmmm

Rudy Giuliani accuses Twitter of bias for hyperlinking text

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Of course, it wasn’t “Twitter allowing someone to invade” Giuliani’s tweet because that is patently ridiculous. It was, as The New York Times reports, a quick-thinking prank from Jason Velazquez, the owner of a web design firm in Atlanta, who noticed that Giuliani’s typo accidentally created a valid hyperlink. Velazquez quickly bought the URL and published the message “Donald J. Trump is a traitor to our country.”

…(While a basic knowledge of how hyperlinks work on Giuliani’s part would have solved this issue, it’s also worth pointing out that editable tweets would have allowed Giuliani to simply fix his typo.)

While this could all be interpreted as an amusing gaffe by someone who doesn’t understand how the internet works, it’s a bit more concerning when you consider that Giuliani — who runs a cybersecurity consulting firm called Giuliani Partners — also serves as Trump’s adviser for cybersecurity issues. The fact that instead of simply owning up to his error, Giuliani immediately turned toward accusing Twitter of anti-Trump bias is extremely problematic.

Rudy Giuliani accuses Twitter of bias for hyperlinking text – The Verge

hmmm

Obama says Fox News viewers, New York Times readers live in ‘entirely different’ realities

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

“Whether it was (Walter) Cronkite or (David) Brinkley or what have you, there was a common set of facts, a baseline around which both parties had to adapt and respond to,” Obama said at Rice University.

Obama says Fox News viewers, New York Times readers live in ‘entirely different’ realities – CNNPolitics

hmmm

Security cooperation with Europe is ‘imperative’, MI6 chief to warn as no-deal Brexit threat grows

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

In a rare public address, Alex Younger will outline how cooperation with European allies has prevented multiple attacks in the UK and the continent by Isis and other terrorist groups.

…Speaking at St Andrews University in Scotland, he will reiterate that: “Russia or any other state intent on subverting our way of life not to underestimate our determination and our capabilities, or those of our allies.”

Security cooperation with Europe is ‘imperative’, MI6 chief to warn as no-deal Brexit threat grows | The Independent

hmmmm

This Student Is Suing Because She Was Never Offered Civics Lessons

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Education,, Money, Class, and Poverty,1 Comment

Aleita Cook, 17, has never taken a class in government, civics or economics. In the two social studies classes she took in her four years at a technical high school in Providence, R.I. — one in American history, the other in world history — she learned mostly about wars, she said.

...“I don’t know what I’m supposed to know,” she said. We’re hoping we win this lawsuit and change it to where my younger brothers can have a really good education, and go into adulthood knowing how to vote, how to do taxes, and learning basic things that you should know going into the real world.”

Left unanswered were many practical questions she had about modern citizenship, from how to vote to “what the point of taxes are.” As for politics, she said, “What is a Democrat, a Republican, an independent? Those things I had to figure out myself.”

…Horace Mann, an early advocate of compulsory public schooling, wrote in 1847 that education’s purpose was to foster “conscientious jurors, true witnesses, incorruptible voters.”

…Beyond civics classes, the suit also argues that the state’s neediest children, particularly Latino immigrants and students with special needs, are failing to acquire the basic academic skills they need to effectively exercise their rights to free speech and voter participation. Among eighth grade English-language learners in 39 states, those in Rhode Island ranked last in math and second to last in reading on the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress.

…Fewer than half the states hold schools accountable for teaching civics, according to a review in 2016 by the Education Commission of the States. Only 23 percent of American eighth graders were proficient in civics on the 2014 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test that included questions on the Constitution and the roles of the various branches of government.

Are Civics Lessons a Constitutional Right? This Student Is Suing for Them – The New York Times

hmmmm

Senate Democrats demand details from DOJ on any conflicts of interest for Whitaker – POLITICO

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

..More than $1.2 million in compensation Whitaker …received as executive director of an organization that has sued Democratic lawmakers several times in the past, and on Benczkowski’s history working on behalf of a Russian bank.

…The senators said previous DOJ responses to requests for information on the officials were heavily redacted.

“Some of these are renewed requests because DOJ has either failed to respond or has provided incomplete responses to prior requests from Congress,” the senators wrote. “To maintain the public’s trust in an impartial DOJ, we urge you to provide prompt, complete, and public responses to the issues we raise.”

Senate Democrats demand details from DOJ on any conflicts of interest for Whitaker – POLITICO

hmmm