Some Helpful Ideas For Biden’s Impeachment
We must get to the bottom of his semi-fascist-y behavior. For democracy!We must get to the bottom of his semi-fascist-y behavior. For democracy!Atlanta 'machete man' scaring customers, 'terrorizing' residents with knife-waving rituals. He can't be removed due to unwilling police and the COVID eviction moratorium.
Business owners and residents in Atlanta's Kirkwood neighborhood are complaining that an individual performing daily knife-waving rituals is "terrorizing" customers and visitors, but the "machete man" reportedly can't be removed.
What are the details?
"I pass him [and] I immediately get alarmed," local salon owner Kelsey Womack told WAGA-TV this week before recounting the first time he showed up on the block.
"I came back to the business [and] tried to warn all of the clients and the staff that there was someone out there that didn't look sane with a weapon," she recalled.
The man, 33-year-old Brandon Barkley, has several knives and — based on video footage — what appears to be a sword. He regularly waves them in the front lawn of the home where he is staying and sometimes even in the street.
Yet police have said his behavior doesn't amount to a violation of the law, instead characterizing the situation as a "civil matter." WAGA reported that police have been called on the man repeatedly since he first showed up a few months ago, yet he still remains.
I-Team: Atlanta business owner says man with machete scaring her customers www.youtube.com
When reached by the news outlet this week, Barkley insisted that he means no harm to anyone and classified the performances as religious rituals. He added that he's simply "a passionate person who talks about God."
But according to Invitation Homes, the property management company that owns the home he's living in, Barkley is a squatter. The group has tried earnestly to evict him, but the process has reportedly been slowed by DeKalb County's COVID-19 eviction moratorium.
What happened in August?
Things reached a boiling point in August when Barkley was caught on surveillance video threatening passersby with what later was identified as a stun gun.
"He was shocking the Taser, however it works. The client who was outside said, 'Do not come at me with that Taser,'" Womack said.
Several believed the stun gun to be an actual firearm and called the police. Shortly after, Barkley was arrested on a felony charge of aggravated assault.
According to WAGA, Invitation Homes changed the front door lock and put up a no trespassing notice. But only days later Barkley, still holding a key to the backdoor, returned claiming to be out on bond.
"He assured us he owns the home, has the keys, and that his knife performances are part of his journey to becoming an angel," the news outlet reported.
Anything else?
Barkley and his mother claim that he paid $20,000 in cash to a couple to live at the home, but no documentation has been submitted as proof.
Barkley's mother added that her son does not have any mental health issues, he's just "really into God."
Andy Richter inadvertently exposes problem with the eviction moratorium as his son hunts for new apartment
Comedian Andy Richter, known for his role as Conan O'Brien's sidekick, has inadvertently exposed the unintended consequences of the controversial eviction moratorium.
What did Richter say?
Writing on Twitter, Richter said his son is searching for a studio apartment in southern California. According to Richter, the landlord of one perspective apartment requested six months of rent up front — in addition to advanced payments of the first and last month's rent.
"My son is looking for a studio apartment around USC, and one that he applied for a couple days ago told us that the owner wanted 6 months rent up front (after he and I both paid app fees)," Richter explained.
"No wonder people f***ing hate landlords and the management companies that facilitate them," he complained. "Oh, and that's in addition to first and last month's rent for deposit."
After noticing that his initial tweet was generating criticism, Richter lamented that he did not understand why his economic position meant he could not "point out when something is unfair."
"I'm a feminist male. Do you really not want me to criticize sexism? I'm for racial equality. Does my whiteness mean I can't speak out against racism? It's puzzling why people with whom I largely agree want me to stfu about income equality, exploitation of the poor, etc," Richter said.
"I can understand that it bugs someone that my kid goes to an expensive school and that I can afford to help him with an apartment. Truly. But I don't get why you'd want me to shut up about having an experience with landlord greed. Doesn't me shutting up just serve the landlords?" he added.
What was the reaction?
Richter was quickly informed that his reaction had exposed one of the key problems with the eviction moratorium.
Specifically, critics explained that weary landlords are now more reluctant to rent their properties without stipulations that ensure their financial protection, such as requiring more money up front.
- "Crazy stuff Andy. Turns out there are serious consequences when the government tells property owners that they aren't allowed to evict tenants who don't pay their rent. Who could have ever predicted this except any adult with a functioning brain?" Matt Walsh responded.
- "If you can't evict people for failing to pay, more landlords will want the money upfront," Robby Soave, senior editor at Reason, pointed out.
- "Alexa, what is the obvious consequence of a nationwide eviction moratorium?" National Review's Charles Cooke mocked.
- "Gee, I wonder if there was some reason that landlords might be worried that their tenants might suddenly stop paying rent and try to protect themselves against it.Send your thank you note to 1600 Pennsylvania, Andy," Noam Blum said.
- "This is, in fact, a predictable unintended consequence of long-running government restrictions on evictions. Landlords, by & large, weren't doing this before the moratoriums. They respond to government incentives like anybody else in the economy," National Review writer Dan McLaughlin reacted.
- "Hey, after the last year or so of not getting paid *at all* yet still having to shell out for the mortgage and maintenance and all of that, I can quite comfortably say I'd probably put some pretty heavy requirements on the people I rented to as well," one person said.
- "That's because of the eviction moratorium. If landlords know they can't evict tenants for failure to pay, they have to require more money up-front. Actions have consequences," another person explained.
The Supreme Court ruled this week the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's extension of the eviction moratorium was not legal.
Supreme Court blocks eviction moratorium, allowing evictions to resume nationwide
The U.S. Supreme Court is permitting evictions to resume around the country by blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary pandemic-related eviction moratorium.
"If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it," the majority wrote in an unsigned opinion.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order issued earlier this month temporarily prohibited evicting those unable to afford their rent from residential properties located in counties with substantial or high transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19.
The court said that "the CDC has imposed a nationwide moratorium on evictions in reliance on a decades-old statute that authorizes it to implement measures like fumigation and pest extermination. It strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts."
The agency issued the new order, which had been slated to stay in effect through Oct. 3, shortly after the expiration of a previous eviction moratorium.
While the latest moratorium applied to counties with significant COVID-19 transmission, the prior moratorium had applied nationwide, according to the New York Times.
The three most liberal Supreme Court Justices dissented from the majority's move.
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued an order that, in light of the rise of the COVID–19 Delta variant, temporarily prohibits certain evictions in high-transmission counties through October 3. Today, this Court, as an emergency matter, without full briefing or argument, blocks that order by vacating a lower court's stay. I think the Court is wrong to do so, and I dissent," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote. He was joined in the dissent by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
"The National Apartment Association (NAA) has long held that the CDC's eviction moratorium is unlawful and is pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the order," NAA President and CEO Bob Pinnegar said in a statement. "The government must move past failed policies and begin to seriously address the nation's debt tsunami which is crippling both renters and housing providers alike. Only by moving past moratoriums can we ensure America's 40 million renters have affordable homes today, tomorrow and in the future."
Rep. Rashida Tlaib collected up to $50,000 as a landlord, despite co-sponsoring 'cancel rent' bill
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) collected thousands of dollars as a landlord while co-sponsoring bills that would cancel rent payments.
Tlaib's 2020 financial disclosure report filed Friday reveals that the progressive lawmaker took in between $15,001 and $50,000 from a property in Detroit. Tlaib received the same income range on the rental property in 2019, according to financial records.
Fox News reported the Michigan Democrat's property is estimated to be worth between $100,001 and $250,000, according to the disclosure.
In December, Tlaib wrote on Twitter how we need to protect Americans from "landlords and bill collectors."
"Always tons of agreement for tools of war and destroying families abroad, but never this much enthusiasm for protecting American families at home from landlords and bill collectors in the midst of a pandemic," she tweeted.
Always tons of agreement for tools of war and destroying families abroad, but never this much enthusiasm for protec… https://t.co/RbE9ESn31e
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) 1609369148.0
Tlaib, who makes $174,000 a year as a representative, co-sponsored a bill authored by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D–Minn.) in April 2020 to "institute a nationwide cancellation of rents and home mortgage payments through the duration of the coronavirus pandemic."
Tlaib also co-sponsored the latest version of the bill, which was introduced in March 2021 "to suspend obligations of residential renters and mortgagors to make payments during the COVID-19 emergency, and for other purposes."
"It's really important that we understand that moratoriums are good, but they're going to end and without payment and debt cancelation we are kicking the crisis down the road," Tlaib said at a news conference announcing the bill in March, according to Reason.
Fox News asked Tlaib if she offered her tenants the opportunity to cancel their rent, but the outlet reported that her office did not return a request for comment.
Tlaib isn't the only progressive Democrat to demand that rent be canceled while receiving income from being a landlord. Financial disclosures revealed this week that Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) made thousands of dollars from a rental property in Boston.
In December, Pressley wrote on Twitter, "We must cancel rent, extend eviction and foreclosure moratoriums, provide rental assistance, and offer legal representation for those at risk of eviction. This is a public health emergency."
Also in December, Pressley tweeted that canceling rent was "literally a matter of life and death."
Pressley also co-sponsored Omar's Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act.
College students of course favor government's eviction moratorium — then get schooled by landlords, others who know its real price
In the wake of the eviction moratorium extension by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Campus Reform visited college students in Washington, D.C., to get their opinions on renters living for free on properties they don't own while landlords still have to pay mortgages.
Given that just about all college students are renters, generally speaking, you can imagine that they were in favor of the the eviction moratorium put in place due to business shutdowns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
"People don't deserve to be thrown out of their homes, especially in a time like this," one student told the outlet.
Another student said the eviction moratorium is a "basic moral thing" and a matter of "forgiveness" when income has vanished for so many people.
"It seems like a good thing," another student said of the eviction moratorium.
In fairness, the students interviewed, by and large, also said it isn't fair that property owners are stuck footing the bills in the absence of rent — however, a number of them said that's where the government has to step in and cover financially for property owners.
Indeed, when they were asked how they'd feel if they were in property owners' shoes, the students admitted that they'd be "upset" and "very pissed" and "irritated" and "bummed out."
A splash of cold water
Commenters on the below video showing the interviews with the D.C. college students tore into the students' responses:
- "I am a landlord. My tenant hasn't payed rent In a year. This is literally my life," one commenter wrote. "It's frustrating. I might lose the house to taxes because the government didn't stop charging me taxes on the houses when they decided I couldn't rent successfully anymore."
- "'No one should be kicked out of their home.' Umm it's not YOUR house if you're renting it," another commenter shot back.
- "'People don't deserve to be thrown out of their homes.' They are renting and not paying said rent," another commenter observed. "This is why people don't listen to youth. They are too readily to give advice when they in the same sentence say I don't know any details of the issue."
- "People lose their home[s] because they can't pay the mortgage[s] but the people living in the rented homes live there for free. ... Dems at their best!" another commenter said.
- "It's funny watching these people who believe they are going to 'fight the man' and 'put truth to power' cry and beg for more government control," another commenter declared. "Absolute buffoons."
Students LOVE Biden's Eviction Moratorium… As Long As It Doesn't Apply To Them youtu.be
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