July 11, 2014

ACE Cash Express to pay $10 million to settle debt-collection probe

Irving, Texas -- Irving-based ACE Cash Express, one of the nation’s largest payday lenders, has agreed to refund borrowers $5 million and pay the U.S. government another $5 million in fines for using illegal collection tactics such as threatening criminal action against customers who fell behind on payments and informing their employers of the debt.

“ACE used false threats, intimidation and harassing calls to bully payday borrowers into a cycle of debt,” said Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which negotiated the settlement. “This culture of coercion drained millions of dollars from cash-strapped consumers who had few options to fight back.”

In addition, ACE on Thursday said it had disciplined employees prior to March 2012 over the way collections were handled, and others involved were no longer at the company. The CFPB began examining the practices three months later.

The federal watchdog agency, working with the Texas Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner, said it found that ACE used the deceptive and abusive practices to collect consumer debts directly and through collection agencies.

More at http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/07/10/5962002/ace-cash-express-paying-10-million.html .

[font color=green]Applause for Cordray and the CFPB.[/font]

July 11, 2014

Militias move forward on Texas border, leader's background emerges

Chris Davis

SAN ANTONIO - Groups describing themselves as militias have set up a training area near San Antonio and say there already are four "operations on the ground" along the US-Mexico border in Texas.

The groups, which supported Cliven Bundy at a standoff at his Nevada ranch earlier this year, posted an update on a website used to organize the efforts Tuesday night that said there are currently three "troops on the ground" on the Arizona border, and "four credible operations on the ground" on the Texas border.

The Texas militia, known as "Operation Secure Our Border," is being led by Chris Davis, a 37-year-old truck driver who was discharged from the Army in 2001 "under other than honorable conditions in lieu of trial by court martial," according to a summary of Davis' military service obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.

The details of Davis' discharge are protected from public view through the Privacy Act of 1974. Davis, originally from Florida, served in the Army from 1996-2001 as a mechanical systems operator-maintainer and was ranked as a private at the time of his discharge.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Militias-move-forward-on-border-with-Bundy-s-5612344.php .

July 11, 2014

Austin brothers who heckled Obama got meeting with president instead

Juan and Mizraim Belman were admittedly scared as they prepared to heckle the most powerful man in the free world.

They were in the audience Thursday for President Barack Obama’s speech at the Paramount Theatre when they both stood up and began yelling at the commander in chief, demanding immigration reform.

The brothers are both immigrants living in the U.S. without legal authorization who have called Austin home for 11 years. They began shouting for Obama to end the deportation of people like their mother, who could face deportation at any time.

“My brother and I, we were very nervous to get in front of him and interrupt his speech,” said Mizraim Belman, a 16-year-old junior at Crockett High School. “We knew that this was our opportunity, our families can’t wait any more.”

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/austin-brothers-who-heckled-obama-got-meeting-with/ngdCw/ .

July 11, 2014

The Unnecessary Expense of Immigrant Detention

The Dragan family. Read more from Angela Maria Dragan at http://www.gofundme.com/acf0i4 .

Over the past decade and a half, the federal government has created a cash cow for private prison companies by detaining record numbers of undocumented immigrants in for-profit lockups. In 2009, Congress even imposed a quota on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), obliging the agency to detain an average of 34,000 immigrants per night across all of its facilities. At an average cost of $164 per day per detainee, the math works out quite well for private prison companies such as GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America, which post billions in annual revenue. Taxpayers should be infuriated. Proven, common-sense alternatives to detention, including monitoring and case management, are available at a savings of more than $1 billion a year.

To fulfill the so-called bed mandates, detention centers are often populated with low-level detainees who are neither threats to security nor flight risks. Texas in general, and ICE’s San Antonio field office in particular, house among the highest number of low-level detainees in the country.

Consider 29-year-old Andrei Dragan. Dragan has been incarcerated at the South Texas Detention Center (STDC) in Pearsall, about an hour southwest of San Antonio, since May 23. Dragan, who has lived in the U.S. legally off and on since he was 5, lost his permanent residency due to a drug offense in 2010.

But he doesn’t need to be locked up. He served his sentence and dutifully obeyed his terms of probation.

More at http://www.texasobserver.org/unnecessary-expense-immigrant-detention/ .

July 11, 2014

China Grove police chief charged with DWI

SAN ANTONIO -- China Grove Police Chief Larry Davis was arrested on a DWI charge in Central Texas while he was driving his marked patrol unit last month, the Temple Police Department confirmed Thursday.

Davis, who has since resigned as police chief, was arrested at 1:09 p.m. June 22. His departured leaves China Grove, a town just east of San Antonio, with just one police officer.

More at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/China-Grove-police-chief-charged-with-DWI-5612356.php .

[font color=green]The only question is whether he had his samurai sword with him?[/font]

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July 11, 2014

Mack Brown to debut as ESPN analyst

SAN ANTONIO -- It looks like former Texas Longhorns football coach Mack Brown will make his debut as an ESPN college football analyst this fall.

Although neither ESPN nor Brown have confirmed the role, Brown is expected to work an on-air role during the upcoming college football season, according to the Dallas Morning News.

There has been a speculation for months about Brown's move to television, especially since Lou Holtz, ESPN analyst and former Notre Dame coach, will retire at the end of the 2014 season. Also, longtime ESPN analyst Lee Corso has stirred the rumor mill with retirement speculations.

Brown, 62, was replaced by Charlie Strong, former head coach for Louisville, after resigning as head coach following last season.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Mack-Brown-to-debut-as-ESPN-analyst-5612253.php .

July 11, 2014

$66M plan would replace Astrodome with green space

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the NFL’s Houston Texans have devised a $66 million plan to demolish the vacant Astrodome and turn the site into an outdoor green space that is reminiscent of downtown’s Discovery Green and also pays tribute to the historic stadium. Read full details of the plan in the documents below. (Gensler Architects)

Photo gallery at link below.

Houston -- County leaders said Thursday they are open to considering a $66 million plan devised by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the NFL's Houston Texans to demolish the iconic Astrodome and turn the nearly 9-acre site into a massive outdoor space reminiscent of downtown's Discovery Green.

The two organizations – the primary tenants of the South Loop sports complex where the vacant stadium stands – briefed commissioners on their proposal this week.

The project, titled the "Astrodome Hall of Fame," calls for tearing down the dome, bringing the floor to ground level and installing an open-air structure where the walls once stood, according to a 37-page proposal obtained by the Houston Chronicle. The plan, drawn up by two architecture and construction firms, is designed to pay tribute to "the Astrodome's history" and realize its potential as an "outdoor fulcrum" of NRG Park.

Renderings show what looks like the ribs of the former stadium circling a vast, grassy space with multiple event stages. Tributes to the various events, athletes and entertainers – from Elvis to Earl Campbell – who have played and performed at the stadium throughout the decades would be installed on each of 72 structural columns that would stand as tall as the 49-year-old structure.

More at http://www.chron.com/news/politics/houston/article/Rodeo-Texans-have-66M-plan-to-demolish-dome-5613159.php#photo-4462800 .

July 11, 2014

Neoliberal monstrosities

David McNally is a Canadian socialist and activist, and the author of numerous books, including Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance and Monsters of the Market: Zombies, Vampires and Global Capitalism. In late June, he was interviewed by Andrew Sernatinger and Tessa Echeverria for their Black Sheep Socialist Podcast. The interview transcript was first published in two parts at New Politics. Below is part two of the interview; click here to go back to part one.

----------

Tessa: It's of course important to understand how capitalism works and how the current crisis came to be in order to use that information to mobilize our social movements in a forward trajectory, and not just see it as crazy people instituting this plan that's not good for the economy.

I was hoping we could transition into talking about Monsters of the Market. In the introduction, you talk about how people say capitalism is a monstrous system, and that's what we're up against, but we need to recognize the real monstrosities that capitalism has brought about and the way it forces us to live under the system every day. I was wondering if you could go into why you wrote the book--tell us why you thought this was an important book and what was your process?

It's interesting because we've been starting, I think appropriately, from the economic side of the equation in terms of the most basic thing that people talk about in their lives: paying the bills, paying the rent, paying the mortgage, can they find a few more hours of work and so on.

But there's a danger in that, and I say that as somebody who writes a lot in the area of political economy. There's a danger that we don't pay attention to so many other dimensions of experience in a capitalist society. Here I think the image of monsters and monstrosity is really important.

More at http://socialistworker.org/2014/07/09/neoliberal-monstrosities .

July 11, 2014

Purrsday UB40 Catblog: Catnip Claw and Order Edition

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time

It's said that it just don't pay

But what good's working hard, all they give you is your card

And you know there's not much you can say

So you take what they give, you've no money to live

And your family don't understand

After all these years, they will end up in tears

With a mountain of bills in their hand


Reform! When do we need it? Niaou!

Now your lesson is learned, there's nowhere to turn

It's no use pleading for help

When you're left on the heap, there is nothing to keep you

From going and helping yourself

When you're left on the heap, there is nothing to keep you

From going and helping yourself

The dilemma you've found is you're morally bound

Now your moral code, it needs a review


Next time, lock ‘em up!

So what do you care, you know life isn't fair

And for years they've been stealing from you

Now your lesson is learned, there's nowhere to turn

It's no use pleading for help

When you're left on the heap, there is nothing to keep you

From going and helping yourself

When you're left on the heap, there is nothing to keep you

From going and helping yourself


I sense disappointment in the future.

The dilemma you've found is you're morally bound

Now your moral code, it needs a review

So what do you care, you know life isn't fair

And for years they've been stealing from you

Now your lesson is learned, there's nowhere to turn

It's no use pleading for help

When you're left on the heap, there is nothing to keep you

From going and helping yourself


Call the doctor, it’s been more than four meowers.

July 10, 2014

Greg Abbott on Barack Obama: ‘He’s all hat and no cattle’

Two hours before President Barack Obama’s Thursday speech on the economy, Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott criticized the president’s policies, namely health care reform, and cast the president as an ineffective leader whose reforms are hurting entrepreneurs and women.

“The problem is that the president does little more than just talk,” Abbott told a packed crowd at Lavazza Espression, a downtown coffee shop near the Paramount Theatre where Obama will speak at midday.

Addressing the growing scandal involving long patient waits and falsified records at Veterans Affairs hospitals and the unfolding crisis at the Texas-Mexico border, where more than 52,000 unaccompanied minors have entered illegally, Abbott took shots at Obama even as hundreds across the street waited in line to hear the president speak.

“Whether it’s on the broken VA system, or our porous border, he is all talk and no action,” Attorney General Abbott said. “He’s all hat and no cattle.”

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/abbott-criticizes-obama-before-austin-speechhes-al/ngcnT/ .