A federal appeals court panel on Thursday halted an outside review of thousands of documents seized from former president Donald Trump's Florida residence, ruling that a lower-court judge was wrong to appoint an expert to decide whether any of the material should be shielded from criminal investigators. read more
Donald Trump reported losses on his tax returns every year for a decade ... read more
Elie Mystal: Under John Roberts, the idea that the Supreme Court can police itself has been revealed to be an utter farce. Roberts tries to paint a rosy scenario, but the reality is that the court has become an ethical disaster under his watch. It will likely continue to be one, so long as he is in charge. read more
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration has declined to issue fines after over 14,000 violations of a sex trafficking law by Florida hotels and lodging establishments. An investigation published on Sunday by the Sun Sentinel found that 6,669 hotels and other lodging establishments had received 14,279 citations since a 2019 sex trafficking law required them to make modest changes to protect victims. read more
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy served further notice Sunday that his potential speakership will be politically volatile, saying he will try to keep three high-profile Democrats off of certain committees. McCarthy has targeted Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; and Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., members of the House Intelligence Committee. read more
Before I continue, I just read something for the very first time that changes things immensely: Fierro DID still have the handgun when the additional police arrived on the scene. More information:
When police arrived a few minutes later, the gunman was no longer struggling, Mr. Fierro said. Mr. Fierro said he feared that he had killed him.As I stated earlier, "Unless there's more to the story than is being currently reported, there was ZERO need to cuff and detain the injured Fierro for more than an hour. N-o-n-e" and there was more to the story than was initially reported which places everything into a different light. So be it.
Mr. Fierro was covered in blood. He got up and frantically lurched around in the dark, looking for his family. He spotted his friends on the floor. One had been shot several times in the chest and arm. Another had been shot in the leg.
As more police filed in, Mr. Fierro said he started yelling like he was back in combat. Casualties. Casualties. I need a medic here now. He yelled to the police that the scene was clear, the shooter was down, but people needed help. He said he took tourniquets from a young police officer and put them on his bleeding friends. He said he tried to speak calmly to them as he worked, telling them they would be OK.
He spied his wife and daughter on the edge of the room, and was about to go to them when he was tackled.
Officers rushing into the chaotic scene had spotted a blood-spattered man with a handgun, not knowing if he was a threat. They put him in handcuffs and locked him in the back of a police car for what seemed like more than an hour. He said he screamed and pleaded to be let go so that he could see his family.
Eventually, he was freed. www.nytimes.com
I still think that it's fair to ask why the first cops and witnesses didn't vouch for Fierro long before an hour had to pass, but since he still was in possession of the hand gun his detainment was obviously justified.
Just found this video interview of Fierro telling how he and others managed to subdue the killer: twitter.com
So why didn't they just make the cap$75k?
Because if they had lowered it to that point the case could have been made that it was solely based on helping minority students, hence it would be illegal. (See the case mentioned in post 44)
If you go to the whitehouse.gov link the entire goal of the relief program to mainly target lower income and less affluent students is made in painstaking detail. It's starts with the actual title:
FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Student Loan Relief for Borrowers Who Need It Most
The income cap was placed that high for a couple of very salient reasons. One, depending upon where one lives - ie., in more expensive areas within the U.S. - the small percentage at the top end (5%) are indeed negatively impacted by student loan debt due to their higher cost of living. These people may have 6 figure salaries, but they by no means aren't equally as needy as lower income debtors. And two, Department of Education estimates that, among borrowers who are no longer in school, nearly 90% of relief dollars will go to those earning less than $75,000 a year.. www.whitehouse.gov
And perhaps most importantly, are those relief recipients who also received Pell Grants.
Nearly every Pell Grant recipient came from a family that made less than $60,000 a year, and Pell Grant recipients typically experience more challenges repaying their debt than other borrowers.
Pell Grant recipients are more than 60% of the borrower population. The Department of Education estimates that roughly 27 million borrowers will be eligible to receive up to $20,000 in relief, helping these borrowers meet their economic potential and avoid economic harm from the COVID-19 pandemic. (same link as above)
I have never argued that it was "skewed" to help the affluent, but it sure as hell was DESIGNED to help a lot of them, and COMPLETELY ignore the lowest income people who didn't get the benefit of higher education, many of whom have lost their homes, vehicles and livelihoods due to the pandemic.
The US Government spent trillions of dollars providing widespread relief - including cash infusions and rent forbearance - during the height of the pandemic. To imply that this particular program is somehow unnecessary is to completely ignore the unique factors encompassing student loan lending and the very predatory nature of how millions will never get out from under one of the only debts not dischargeable in bankruptcy, something no corporation nor wealthy person faces no matter how reckless and feckless their debts may have been compiled. Due to the way repayment is structured, many recipients will never repay their loans and many will end up paying their principle amounts multiple times over.
I have done a great deal of research myself and am well aware of the MANY MANY data points involved. Your statistical dump adds absolutely nothing to change the points I have made. It is and was a vote buying scheme.
It takes a special kind of ignorance to conclude that every one of the tens of millions of student loan debtors will choose their political candidates simply because of this relief. Why wouldn't that have been true of the trillions in relief checks sent to almost every household in America? Weak minds create their own reality. Voters are more sophisticated than those who try to pigeonhole them out of their own political biases and jealousies. Every transfer of money done on behalf of the government can be viewed as "buying votes." What do you think high end tax cuts do, make the rich vote for the party NOT giving them more money that the rich don't need? When people use this canard, it only confirms their points are not to be taken seriously for they're not serious people to begin with.