I read that he was released to the courts. What does that mean exactly? I'm not familiar with the French legal system, does that mean is still in custody of sorts?
Political Discussion
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I read that he was released to the courts. What does that mean exactly? I'm not familiar with the French legal system, does that mean is still in custody of sorts?
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
I saw that he was released and then the courts would take over. I don’t know? I also saw that he was told not to leave the country. So I think he is released.
Supreme Court refuses to allow Biden’s student loan repayment plan — for now — The Washington Post
The Biden administration plan, known as Save, offers lower monthly student loan payments and a faster path to loan cancellation for millions of borrowers.
apple.news
The saga continues...
DownIsTheNewUp
Well-Known Member
Charges have now been filed:
French Authorities Charge Telegram Founder Pavel Durov — The Wall Street Journal
The move opens a deeper investigation into whether the tech entrepreneur failed to counter the spread of illegal content on the app
PARIS—French judicial authorities brought preliminary charges against Telegram founder Pavel Durov for a host of crimes, including complicity in distributing child pornography, illegal drugs and hacking software on the messaging app—a stunning blow for an entrepreneur who became a hero for internet libertarians over the past decade.
The pragmatist in me wants to believe this is about cutting off Russia from tech they are using against Ukraine. But there are reports that Ukraine was using it too.
So the cynic in me thinks that this is about limiting the footage coming out of Isreal because supposedly journalists are using it as a way to get footage out of Isreal.
TenderLovingKiller®
Well-Known Member
Or maybe it’s about the state holding a platform accountable for allowing child porn and other criminal activity to run unfettered in violation of French law?
It’s doesn’t have to be some great conspiracy. The site openly allows this vile content on their platform should face consequences.
Vinyl&Kicks86
Well-Known Member
TenderLovingKiller®
Well-Known Member
worse than Hitler, amirite?
Don’t you start with that BS
Twitter was an absolute dumpster fire of people rooting on the Supreme Court decision today to continue to block Biden student loan repayment plan. All about how they or their children worked hard to pay off their student loans and handouts, and that the Biden administration was the most corrupt illegal presidency in US history.
TenderLovingKiller®
Well-Known Member
But Obama wore a tan suit once while president.
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
This has nothing to do with Russia. Dude was born there but is French and somewhere else dual citizen now. He is officially an enemy of the state in Russia. This is about criminals using his site to do shit and him not cooperating with authorities.
TenderLovingKiller®
Well-Known Member
But that’s different because he’s a kindly (white) geriatric with pockets full of jelly beans whose second wife held seances in the White House. It’s completely different.
Did we ever even see the long form version of Obama’s birth certificate?
TenderLovingKiller®
Well-Known Member
Attorney General Mayes Sues RealPage and Residential Landlords for Illegal Price-Fixing Conspiracy
PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes today announced a lawsuit against RealPage, Inc. and nine major residential apartment landlords operating in Arizona for conspiring to illegally raise rents for hundreds of thousands of Arizona renters in the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas. RealPage is a...
And now the feds are getting involved:
The DOJ files an antitrust suit against a software company for allegedly manipulating rent prices
The Department of Justice and eight states’ attorney generals filed an antitrust lawsuit against rental software company RealPage on Friday, accusing it of using algorithms to drive up rent prices nationwide.
www.engadget.com
This is a start. Really hope some real good comes out of it.
mdmost
Well-Known Member
Good. We've got to address the rent and housing problems in this country. It goes hand in hand with the increase in the rate of unhoused people. When the margins are so close, every dollar counts. I remember the stats about how that modest Covid relief package helped get a lot of people out of poverty. Then the funds ran out but everything else went up price wise.
Homelessness in Salem is substantially increases since 2020. There is a housing shortage, especially after people relocated from Boston proper to the suburbs as remote work took hold. Because there is a lot of demand, how they set rent pretty much forgets that people exist who make less than 100k a year. There is nothing for them. Section 8 housing has a wait list of 10 to 15 years to get into, and the units that apartment complexes have to make as "affordable" are anything but. For example, if they are charging $2800 for a 1 bedroom apartment for standard rent, the affordable housing units are prices at $2400. Like wtf. Sure they get $400 off but most people who need affordable housing can't afford $2400 a month. And how does that pricing work. Is it some outdated regulation that says they much charge something like $400 less a month to be considered affordable and doesn't not take into account the current insane rent values?
mdmost
Well-Known Member
The housing shortage is definitely a problem that requires a government solution. I'm not someone always seeking a government solution but simple economics show that the cost of building new housing does not allow for affordability of the units to be a consideration. Yes, units are set aside as "affordable" but that's typically to get tax breaks or approval for a zoning change (at least that's the case locally in Dallas). We're also hitting a point where affordable apartments have hit the end of their life cycle and need to be torn down or heavily renovated to bring them up to code. That's money no one wants to spend or if it is spent, what's put down to replace it has to be something that's expensive to help the construction company/land owner/property manager recoup what they've put in. It's a bit of chicken and egg. You want affordable housing but it costs a lot to make that housing. So it will take an expansion of the government to cover the cost. One of many reasons I hope Kamala wins. Infrastructure and housing are the easiest items to win on. Marketplace on NPR has a great series this week about how the infrastructure package is already benefitting areas like rural Kentucky and businesses that have taken the investment to improve things like access to high speed internet.
The issues with housing are not even taking into account the NIMBY aspect of barriers to getting more affordable housing. In my area, there are lots of dilapidated structures like a former Home Depot site from the 1970s and a stretch of salvage/auto repair yards that are being looked at for new housing. That sends the red flags up in the neighborhood because of the fear of more people moving into the area, increased traffic, massive structures (4 to 5 stories) towering over a neighborhood. There's also a plan put forth by the city called Forward Dallas which involves rezoning single family homes into duplex, triplex, and 4 plex enabled plots of land. The idea is to add more density and with it, maybe more affordable housing. And of course, no one wants a single family home next to them to be torn down and replaced with either a 4 plex, or 4 smaller houses on one plot of land. I get the fear though. We're already facing, in my "modest" neighborhood that we were lucky to find in 2004 when it was really affordable, a new influx of teardowns. Smaller homes with large yards are being bought up and torn down. In their place come giant almost million dollar homes that are at least 2 stories and use almost every square inch of the land. They dwarf the houses on either side and now more smaller, affordable homes are being torn down. Sadly that's the way of the world. My brother lives in a nicer area called Lake Highlands. He bought at the end of 1999 when the area was mostly older people. His street from back then to now has maybe 40% of the original homes remaining, his included. All of the new homes are massive and go for over 1M each. He knows that once he sells, his house will be torn down and replaced with a new one.
The issues with housing are not even taking into account the NIMBY aspect of barriers to getting more affordable housing. In my area, there are lots of dilapidated structures like a former Home Depot site from the 1970s and a stretch of salvage/auto repair yards that are being looked at for new housing. That sends the red flags up in the neighborhood because of the fear of more people moving into the area, increased traffic, massive structures (4 to 5 stories) towering over a neighborhood. There's also a plan put forth by the city called Forward Dallas which involves rezoning single family homes into duplex, triplex, and 4 plex enabled plots of land. The idea is to add more density and with it, maybe more affordable housing. And of course, no one wants a single family home next to them to be torn down and replaced with either a 4 plex, or 4 smaller houses on one plot of land. I get the fear though. We're already facing, in my "modest" neighborhood that we were lucky to find in 2004 when it was really affordable, a new influx of teardowns. Smaller homes with large yards are being bought up and torn down. In their place come giant almost million dollar homes that are at least 2 stories and use almost every square inch of the land. They dwarf the houses on either side and now more smaller, affordable homes are being torn down. Sadly that's the way of the world. My brother lives in a nicer area called Lake Highlands. He bought at the end of 1999 when the area was mostly older people. His street from back then to now has maybe 40% of the original homes remaining, his included. All of the new homes are massive and go for over 1M each. He knows that once he sells, his house will be torn down and replaced with a new one.
I know I have talked about it before in this thread, but Massachusetts has pretty much the worst affordable housing crisis in the nation right now.
Rent control was repealed back in the 1990's because it "stifles competition" and we were already starting to see a housing shortage. Developers were not interested in developing housing at a rate sufficient to keep up with demand.
State law requires locally zoning committees to approve zoning changes with a super majority. Thus the NIMBY aspect, where a very vocal few can effectively block all the zoning changes. You know, with the same old same old stories that the zoning changes would change community dynamics, increase drugs and crime, decrease their property values and so on. And changing this state law, also requires a super majority vote that has been blocked every step of the way. It's been a hot button issue, and the last couple of governors said they would repeal that law but have failed.
Salem's former mayor campaigned on and made promises to build affordable housing in Salem. She tried for nearly a decade by billing it all different kinds of ways, such as working class housing, elderly housing and so on. But she was always 1 vote short of having the super majority and didn't get a single attempt through the zoning board. It was an epic failure. Salem has though had a housing boom. I have seen it myself since moving here 10 years ago. All kinds of apartment complex are being built. But they all are "ultra luxury" and have amenities like rooftop fire pits and micro breweries with tap rooms. All way more expensive than my current apartment and something I could never afford. But because the average rent has gone up by so much, my place keeps telling me my unit is below market value and keep jacking up the price.
Another issue is that many Boston suburbs are historic and single family homes only. NIMBY is blocking any zoning that would allow multi family homes or apartment complexes as they don't want to change their community. The state recently tried forcing them to pass zoning changes and build X amount of new housing that is either multi family or apartment complex by making it a requirement to continue to receive government subsidies for residence to access public transportation. In many cases, NIMBY and the vocal few were able to block changes and rather give up subsidies for public transportation. The end result, the people who rely on public transportation end up having to pay more for it. Another failed initiative and only further added to the problem of affordability.
All these changes over the past 30 years, have led to pretty much any housing being built anywhere in the state to only be luxury and target people who make $100,000 a year or more.
Rent control was repealed back in the 1990's because it "stifles competition" and we were already starting to see a housing shortage. Developers were not interested in developing housing at a rate sufficient to keep up with demand.
State law requires locally zoning committees to approve zoning changes with a super majority. Thus the NIMBY aspect, where a very vocal few can effectively block all the zoning changes. You know, with the same old same old stories that the zoning changes would change community dynamics, increase drugs and crime, decrease their property values and so on. And changing this state law, also requires a super majority vote that has been blocked every step of the way. It's been a hot button issue, and the last couple of governors said they would repeal that law but have failed.
Salem's former mayor campaigned on and made promises to build affordable housing in Salem. She tried for nearly a decade by billing it all different kinds of ways, such as working class housing, elderly housing and so on. But she was always 1 vote short of having the super majority and didn't get a single attempt through the zoning board. It was an epic failure. Salem has though had a housing boom. I have seen it myself since moving here 10 years ago. All kinds of apartment complex are being built. But they all are "ultra luxury" and have amenities like rooftop fire pits and micro breweries with tap rooms. All way more expensive than my current apartment and something I could never afford. But because the average rent has gone up by so much, my place keeps telling me my unit is below market value and keep jacking up the price.
Another issue is that many Boston suburbs are historic and single family homes only. NIMBY is blocking any zoning that would allow multi family homes or apartment complexes as they don't want to change their community. The state recently tried forcing them to pass zoning changes and build X amount of new housing that is either multi family or apartment complex by making it a requirement to continue to receive government subsidies for residence to access public transportation. In many cases, NIMBY and the vocal few were able to block changes and rather give up subsidies for public transportation. The end result, the people who rely on public transportation end up having to pay more for it. Another failed initiative and only further added to the problem of affordability.
All these changes over the past 30 years, have led to pretty much any housing being built anywhere in the state to only be luxury and target people who make $100,000 a year or more.
DownIsTheNewUp
Well-Known Member
You can call it a conspiracy if you want. Again, I alluded to it being my gut instincts. But it's a known fact that both sides are using the platform in the Ukraine / Russia war. And that journalists are using images and videos from Gaza out into the world. And as somebody who despises Tik Tok and is open to conversations of shutting it down / forcing the sell-off, this now marks two platforms known for helping get the real story from Israel to the general public that have now been gone after by Western governments. So the timing is somewhat fishy when you consider Netenyahu is desperate to control the story and just kicked Israel's primary left wing new organization out of the country.
Also Macron is a jackass and the epitome of everything wrong with Neoliberals so it's completely fair to question his motivations.
Macron Refuses to Appoint Left-Wing Prime Minister, Sparking Call for Protest
The decision has made the left furious, saying that Macron is bucking democratic norms to refuse the left power.
truthout.org
Macron rejects left’s PM candidate, keeping governance talks stalled
The French president reiterated his refusal to appoint a left-wing government following last month’s snap elections.
www.politico.eu
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