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Sunday, May 18, 2025

Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. The diagnosis was announced by his personal office on Sunday, May 18, 2025, following a period of increased urinary symptoms that led to further medical evaluation. read more


Friday, April 18, 2025

A federal judge has blocked the Biden administration from deporting noncitizens to countries not listed in their removal orders without first giving them a chance to raise safety concerns. The ruling requires the government to notify affected individuals and provide at least 15 days for them to contest their deportation if they fear danger. The judge said deporting people without this process could lead to serious harm, such as torture or death, and violates basic legal protections. The order applies to all noncitizens with final removal orders.


Friday, April 04, 2025

"ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Claude all recommend the same 'nonsense' tariff calculation." read more


Comments

#81 | Posted by ScottS

LOL, nope!

First, your specific claim about murder rates lacks credible sourcing.

The assertion that "rich Blacks commit murder at 2x+ the rate of poor Whites contradicts established data. The most comprehensive studies (e.g., U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics) show:
- Homicide offending correlates most strongly with neighborhood disadvantage, not race or individual income.
- When controlling for neighborhood conditions (e.g., poverty density, under-resourced schools, policing patterns), racial disparities in violent crime rates sharply decrease or vanish.
- No peer-reviewed study supports your exact claim. The closest data (FBI SHR) shows homicide rates are driven by community-level factors, not individual wealth.

Second, you're ignoring how systemic racism shapes "wealth" for Black Americans:
- "Rich" equal opportunity: High-income Black families often live in disadvantaged neighborhoods due to housing discrimination (e.g., racial steering, mortgage redlining). A Black household earning $100k lives in a neighborhood with higher poverty rates than a White household earning $30k ([Stanford study, 2020](
inequality.stanford.edu)).
- Exposure to violence: Economic status doesn't override racialized policing or environmental risk. High-income Black youth face disproportionate police surveillance and violence exposure compared to low-income White youth ([PNAS, 2019](www.pnas.org)).

Third, poverty alone doesn't explain disparities; structural factors do:
- Sentencing disparities: For identical crimes, Black defendants receive sentences 20% longer than White defendants ([USSC, 2017](www.ussc.gov)).
- Wrongful convictions: Black people are 7x more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder than Whites, especially if the victim is White ([National Registry of Exonerations](www.law.umich.edu)).
- Homicide clearance rates: Murders with Black victims are solved 30% less often than those with White victims, skewing statistics ([FBI UCR, 2020](ucr.fbi.gov)).

Focusing on race-specific crime rates without acknowledging how systemic bias creates differential outcomes is like blaming a car crash victim without mentioning the other driver ran a red light. The data shows:
1. Your murder statistic is unsupported by credible research.
2. "Wealth" doesn't shield Black Americans from structural inequities.
3. Disparities reflect systemic failures, not inherent traits.

If you have a peer-reviewed source for your claim, I'm open to reviewing it. Until then, the evidence points to systemic factors as the primary driver of disparities.

nij.ojp.gov
harvardlawreview.org
www.brookings.edu

And it's telling that you're solely focusing on violent crime when nonviolent crime is most significant. Just to, again, reiterate: Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow demonstrates that the explosion of Black incarceration rates in the U.S. is not primarily driven by violent crimes like murder, but by decades of racially targeted drug enforcement and low-level, nonviolent offenses. She shows that, starting in the 1980s, the War on Drugs was deliberately escalated in Black communities, even though research consistently finds White Americans use and sell drugs at similar or higher rates. This led to millions of Black Americans being arrested, charged, and labeled as felons for nonviolent drug offenses, not for violent crimes[1][5][7].

Alexander argues that this system of mass incarceration functions as a new form of racial caste, stripping Black individuals"often for minor, nonviolent offenses"of basic rights and opportunities in employment, housing, voting, and education. She emphasizes that these outcomes are not accidental or simply a byproduct of poverty or crime, but the result of intentional policy choices that disproportionately target and control Black communities[1][5].

By focusing only on murder rates, one ignores the central mechanism by which the criminal justice system has marginalized Black Americans: the mass criminalization and incarceration for nonviolent drug offenses. This policy-driven disparity (not a supposed cultural or inherent criminality) is what Alexander identifies as the New Jim Crow, perpetuating racial inequality under the guise of colorblind law enforcement[1][5][7].

[1] en.wikipedia.org
[2] www.ojp.gov
[3] learn.elca.org
[4] www.newyorker.com
[5] newjimcrow.com
[6] www.reimaginerpe.org
[7] pulitzercenter.org
[8] www.learningforjustice.org

#77 | Posted by ScottS

It's true that Black Americans are overrepresented in homicide statistics, but it's misleading to present these numbers as proof that crime is simply a matter of individual or "cultural" failings, or to ignore the broader context. While you are correct that homicide clearance rates are low, nationally, about half of murders go unsolved, it's important to note that in cities like Baltimore, murders involving Black victims are actually less likely to be solved than those involving White victims. Lower clearance rates in high-crime areas often reflect issues like under-resourced police departments, strained community trust, and the complexity of cases, not just the volume of crimes or the racial makeup of those involved.

The overrepresentation of Black Americans in crime statistics is a real phenomenon, but decades of research show it is closely tied to systemic factors such as concentrated poverty, residential segregation, underfunded schools, lack of economic opportunity, and the legacy of discriminatory policies. When any community, regardless of race, faces high rates of poverty and disadvantage, crime rates tend to be higher. This pattern is seen in poor White communities as well, both in the U.S. and around the world. Want to see the data (i.e., facts as you refer)?

Black communities have historically been over-policed for certain crimes and under-protected for others, leading to both higher arrest rates and lower clearance rates for crimes where Black people are victims. There is also well-documented evidence of wrongful convictions, disparities in sentencing, and differences in how crimes are investigated based on race. I can show you the data (i.e., facts).

Ultimately the idea that "everywhere is racist" should not be used to dismiss the reality of systemic racism. Insteads it highlights how global histories of colonization, segregation, and economic exclusion have shaped outcomes for Black populations in many countries. Crime statistics reflect far more than individual choices; they are shaped by generations of policy, economic inequality, and social conditions. Focusing only on the numbers without context ignores the root causes and leads to the wrong conclusions about both crime and solutions. If you're interested, I can share credible studies and sources that go deeper into these issues.

And what systemic barriers are those exactly?
#61 | Posted by ScottS

So glad you asked for actual context as it relates to the data (i.e., facts as you desrcibe)!

Plenty of that context has already been provided, but I'll reiterate anyways since you inquired:

There is extensive research showing that systemic racism has created and sustained economic and social disparities affecting Black Americans. Here are some key examples:

1. Discriminatory Lending and Housing Policies:
From the 1930s through recent decades, practices like redlining systematically denied Black families access to mortgages and homeownership, which is the main way most Americans build wealth. This has led to persistent gaps in homeownership rates, property values, and accumulated wealth between Black and White families[1][4][6].

2. Segregated and Underfunded Schools:
Because public schools rely heavily on local property taxes, neighborhoods with lower home values"often due to historic discrimination"have underfunded schools. This limits educational opportunities and outcomes for many Black children, perpetuating cycles of poverty[1].

3. Employment Discrimination and Wage Gaps:
Black workers face higher unemployment rates and wage disparities even when controlling for education and experience. This limits income growth and the ability to repay debts or accumulate savings[7][8].

4. Predatory Financial Services:
Communities of color are disproportionately targeted by payday lenders and other high-cost financial services, which trap families in cycles of debt and reduce their ability to build wealth[1].

5. Criminal Justice System Disparities:
Higher incarceration rates among Black Americans, driven by systemic biases, disrupt families and economic stability, further contributing to economic inequality[7]. Highly recommend you read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Era of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, as previously mentioned.

6. Legacy of Historical Policies:
The cumulative effect of slavery, Jim Crow laws, segregation, and discriminatory policies has created structural barriers that continue to impact Black communities today[5][8]. Again, Alexander's book explains this at length

These systemic factors are not about individual choices but about how institutions and policies have created unequal starting points. Addressing these barriers is essential to creating a fairer lending system and economic opportunity for all.

If you want, I can share more detailed studies and data on these points. Hoping you're sincerely interested.

[1] www.healthaffairs.org
[2] www.americanprogress.org
[3] www.americanprogress.org
[4] home.treasury.gov
[5] www.nationalcivicleague.org
[6] www.aclu.org
[7] www.solutionsjournalism.org
[8] inequality.org

#59 | Posted by ScottS

You're right that Black borrowers have higher student loan default rates, and that family structure and economic challenges play a role. But it's misleading to reduce these outcomes to "self-imposed" cultural issues or to single parenthood alone.

Let's clarify the facts:

- The most recent data shows that about 47% of Black mothers are single mothers, not 72%[4][5]. While this is higher than other groups, it's also important to note that the majority of single mothers in the U.S. are white[2].
- Single motherhood is linked to economic hardship across all races, not just Black families[6]. Poverty rates for single-mother households are high for every group, and these challenges are shaped by broader social and economic forces, not just "culture"[6].
- The reasons for higher single-parent rates in Black communities are complex and include the legacy of discriminatory policies like redlining, mass incarceration, and employment discrimination that have disrupted family structures and limited economic opportunities for generations[7].
- Despite these challenges, Black women are now among the most educated groups in the U.S. and are often the primary breadwinners for their families, showing resilience and determination in the face of adversity[2].

On lending fairness:
Advocating for a "fair" lending system means understanding why some groups face more barriers to repayment and addressing those root causes, not just cutting off access. If we ignore the impact of systemic inequality and historical disadvantage, we risk blaming people for circumstances beyond their control, like you're doing here with your referenc to Black culture.

Pointing to single parenthood or "culture" as the main explanation for economic disparities oversimplifies a much bigger picture. The data shows that structural racism, policy choices, and economic inequality are the real drivers behind these outcomes"not just individual or cultural failings.

If you want to talk about solutions, let's focus on policies that support families, improve access to education, and address the systemic barriers that have held people back for generations.

[1] datacenter.aecf.org
[2] www.essence.com
[3] jbhe.com
[4] www.visualcapitalist.com
[5] www.voronoiapp.com
[6] singlemotherguide.com
[7] www.mother.ly
[8] www.jsums.edu

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