The News Thread

[Dak]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5cfbb6e08044

Black churches have become an unexpected battleground in the national debate over the future of payday lending. The Trump administration is reviewing a federal rule that threatens to cripple the industry, while payday lenders find themselves enmeshed in battles in multiple states over their business.

The debate often pits clergy against one another. Payday proponents in the church say the industry provides an important service after years of national banks pulling back from offering loans in regions with large minority or poor populations and black-owned banks all but disappearing.

Longtime opponents of payday lending have sometimes been blindsided by the advocacy of their religious brethren. They say that payday proponents are misreading not only the financial realities of borrowing at dangerously high rates but also biblical teachings — and are being co-opted or bought by an industry with a long history of exploiting African Americans.

“We lost the battle, but the war is not over,” said the Rev. James T. Golden, pastor of the Ward Temple AME Church in southwest Florida. The faith leaders who sided with payday lenders make up a sliver of the state’s faith community, said Golden, who is helping mobilize a coalition to block the Florida law from going into effect next year, including enlisting ministers and pastors who have yet to pick a side.

This is actually a really fucking difficult issue and I find this incredibly interesting.

 

[rms]

meaning you side with either pro payday / against payday?

 

[viewerfromnihil]

Another one:

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html

Bourdain was in France working on an upcoming episode of his award-winning CNN series "Parts Unknown." His close friend Eric Ripert, the French chef, found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room Friday morning.

Just for you guys, I'm assuming he didn't use a gun.

And a relevant article I read in the Post this morning:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ntry-new-report-shows/?utm_term=.46c1d4927506

Suicide rates rose in all but one state between 1999 and 2016, with increases seen across age, gender, race and ethnicity, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In more than half of all deaths in 27 states, the people had no known mental health condition when they ended their lives.

In North Dakota, the rate jumped more than 57 percent. In the most recent period studied (2014 to 2016), the rate was highest in Montana, at 29.2 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national average of 13.4 per 100,000.

And in other news relating to G7 Trump is once again using his mouth as Putin's cock-dock. Oh and kid gloves for ZTE.

 

[Dak]

Suicide reflects feelings of hopelessness. With a couple of exceptions, those stats reflect the economic and population hollowing out of the heartland I've already mentioned. Additionally, thanks to the near total control of the media and liberal arts by crazy people (and that includes Fox News/Rush/etc), the increasingly isolated and economically disadvantaged persons in heartland states see a terrible world out there when they listen to the radio or watch TV.

 

[Satanstoenail]

Apparently I’m the only person on the planet who has no idea who Anthony Bourdain is

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Never heard of him either

 

[The Ozzman]

On the next episode of Parts Unknown: DEATH

 

[Dak]

He's some haggard guy that committed suicide, that CNN thinks is important.

 

[rms]

i think he's considered the largest influence on all food and cooking shows with how show No Reservations

 

[viewerfromnihil]

Bourdain was a cool dude. I'm not much of a TV guy, but I always found No Reservations and Parts Unknown entertaining. I haven't read much beyond the New Yorker essay that made him famous, but I enjoyed everything I read from him nonetheless. Sucks to have happened.

If CNN is looking for somebody to take his spot for Parts Unknown, I'll happily volunteer.

 

[Dak]

I was being overly dismissive, but I don't care much for TV, and double or triple my lack of interest when it comes to cooking shows. It's always interesting to me on a more abstract level when well liked, reasonably successful people commit suicide.

 

[Satanstoenail]

Bourdain was a cool dude.

Judging by my Facebook feed, he was the coolest dude ever. Just about everyone on my friends list has posted a touching tribute about how he turned cooking into poetry and saved all the whales and ended several wars or something. It’s kinda weird that I’ve never heard of this guy before.

 

[Dak]

Judging by my Facebook feed, he was the coolest dude ever. Just about everyone on my friends list has posted a touching tribute about how he turned cooking into poetry and saved all the whales and ended several wars or something. It’s kinda weird that I’ve never heard of this guy before.

Signaling. I only knew about him from commercials/ads.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Bourdain was a badass. I mainly know about him just from being exposed to cable when I visit my grandma, but he had a rock star personality and an intriguing worldview which transcended the subject matter of his shows.

 

[Dak]

https://www.justice.gov/file/1071991/download

Comey’s initial draft statement, which he shared with FBI senior leadership on May 2, criticized Clinton’s handling of classified information as “grossly negligent,” but concluded that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a case based on the facts developed in the Midyear investigation. Over the course of the next 2 months, Comey’s draft statement underwent various language changes, including the following:

• The description of Clinton’s handling of classified information was changed from “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless;”

• A statement that the sheer volume of information classified as Secret supported an inference of gross negligence was removed and replaced with a statement that the classified information they discovered was “especially concerning because all of these emails were housed on servers not supported by full-time staff”;

• A statement that the FBI assessed that it was “reasonably likely” that hostile actors gained access to Clinton’s private email server was changed to “possible.” The statement also acknowledged that the FBI investigation and its forensic analysis did not find evidence that Clinton’s email server systems were compromised; and

• A paragraph summarizing the factors that led the FBI to assess that it was possible that hostile actors accessed Clinton’s server was added, and at one point referenced Clinton’s use of her private email for an exchange with then President Obama while in the territory of a foreign adversary. This reference later was changed to “another senior government official,” and ultimately was omitted. Each version of the statement criticized Clinton’s handling of classified information. Comey told us that he included criticism of former Secretary Clinton’s uncharged conduct because “unusual transparency…was necessary for an unprecedented situation,” and that such transparency “was the best chance we had of having the American people have confidence that the justice system works[.]”

Duplicitous Comey doesn't have the same ring to it.

We were deeply troubled by text messages exchanged between Strzok and Page that potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations. Most of the text messages raising such questions pertained to the Russia investigation, which was not a part of this review. Nonetheless, when one senior FBI official, Strzok, who was helping to lead the Russia investigation at the time, conveys in a text message to another senior FBI official, Page, “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it” in response to her question “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!”, it is not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate’s electoral prospects. This is antithetical to the core values of the FBI and the Department of Justice.

We do not question that the FBI employees who sent these messages are entitled to their own political views. However, we believe using FBI devices to send the messages discussed in Chapter Twelve—particularly the messages that intermix work-related discussions with political commentary—potentially implicate provisions in the FBI’s Offense Code and Penalty Guidelines. At a minimum, we found that the employees’ use of FBI systems and devices to send the identified messages demonstrated extremely poor judgment and a gross lack of professionalism. We therefore refer this information to the FBI for its handling and consideration of whether the messages sent by the five employees listed above violated the FBI’s Offense Code of Conduct.

We go high.

 

[rms]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/harvard-asian-enrollment-applicants.html

 

[Dak]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/harvard-asian-enrollment-applicants.html

Saw it. No surprise.

 

[rms]

surprise to me was the vocal ness of asians saying this is going to be weaponized against affirm action by whitey instead of being like wtf other minorities

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Whitey benefits from affirmative action relative to Asians. Half of them are Jews anyways. I hope Harvard gets the fuck sued out of them.

 

[Dak]

Whitey benefits from affirmative action relative to Asians. Half of them are Jews anyways. I hope Harvard gets the fuck sued out of them.

The handful of elite schools like Harvard need their NP status revoked and the corporate tax rate levied on all assets/donations/income. That would hurt them far worse than a lawsuit.