Facebook allowed housing ads that are racist, exclude minorities

In February, Facebook said it would step up enforcement of its prohibition against discrimination in advertising for housing, employment or credit.

But our tests showed a significant lapse in the company’s monitoring of the rental market.

Last week, ProPublica bought dozens of rental housing ads on Facebook, but asked that they not be shown to certain categories of users, such as African Americans, mothers of high school kids, people interested in wheelchair ramps, Jews, expats from Argentina and Spanish speakers.

All of these groups are protected under the federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to publish any advertisement “with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.” Violators can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

Every single ad was approved within minutes.

The only ad that took longer than three minutes to be approved by Facebook sought to exclude potential renters “interested in Islam, Sunni Islam and Shia Islam.” It was approved after 22 minutes.

Under its own policies, Facebook should have flagged these ads, and prevented the posting of some of them. Its failure to do so revives questions about whether the company is in compliance with federal fair housing rules, as well as about its ability and commitment to police discriminatory advertising on the world’s largest social network.
READ MORE

Trump warns McCain after his speech on 'half-baked' American foreign policy

President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a warning shot after Republican Senator John McCain questioned "half-baked, spurious nationalism" in America's foreign policy.

Trump said in a radio interview with WMAL in Washington that "people have to be careful because at some point I fight back." The president added "I'm being very, very nice but at some point I fight back and it won't be pretty."

McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent 5 years in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp and is battling brain cancer, offered a simple response to Trump: "I have faced tougher adversaries."

In Philadelphia last night, the six-term Republican senator from Arizona received an award for a lifetime of service and sacrifice to the country.

In addition to recalling his more than two decades of military service and his imprisonment during the war, McCain took a moment to go a step further than the night's other speakers, who lamented what many described as a fractured political climate.
READ MORE

The Republican's guide to Presidential etiquette

Republicans used to care a lot about how a president comports himself, and whether he acts at all times with the dignity his station demands.

“Is President Obama Disrespecting the Oval Office?” Fox News asked in 2010, with a link to images of Mr. Obama and his aides tossing a football, or eating apples just inches from the Resolute desk.

“Wear a suit coat and tie,” said Andrew Card Jr., President George W. Bush’s former chief of staff, in reaction to pictures of Mr. Obama in shirtsleeves in 2009.

“I do expect him to send the message that people who are going to be in the Oval Office should treat the office with the respect that it has earned over history,” Mr. Card said.

But hey, that was then! In 2017, there’s a whole new bar for tolerable conduct by the commander in chief. Our original guide cataloged several dozen examples. Almost five months later, it’s clear that an update is necessary. This expanded list is meant to ensure that Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and other congressional Republicans never forget what they now condone in a president.
READ MORE

Trump ends DACA: Obama slams decision, calls it 'wrong' and 'cruel'

Former US president Barack Obama has decried his successor Donald Trump's decision to end an amnesty for 800,000 people brought to America illegally as children, calling it "wrong," "self-defeating" and "cruel."

"To target these young people is wrong, because they have done nothing wrong. It is self-defeating because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel," he said in a statement yesterday hours after US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been rescinded.

"What if our kid's science teacher, or our friendly neighbour turns out to be a Dreamer? Where are we supposed to send her? To a country she doesn't know or remember, with a language she may not even speak?" Obama questioned.

He said the move was not "required legally", while terming it a "political decision".

Trump scrapped the Obama-era amnesty programme that granted work permits to immigrants who arrived in the country illegally as children, a move likely to impact 800,000 undocumented workers including more than 7,000 Indian- Americans.
READ MORE

Has the moment for environmental justice been lost?

Given how President Donald Trump has taken aim at the Environmental Protection Agency with regulatory rollbacks and deep proposed budget cuts, it may come as no surprise that the Office of Environmental Justice is on the chopping block.

This tiny corner of the EPA was established 24 years ago to advocate for minorities and the poor, populations most likely to face the consequences of pollution and least able to advocate for themselves.

It does so by acting as a middleman, connecting vulnerable communities with those who can help them. It heads a group that advises EPA officials about injustices and another that brings together representatives from other federal agencies and the White House to swap proposals.

When it works, all the talk leads to grants, policies and programs that change lives.

In the Arkwright and Forest Park communities in Spartanburg, South Carolina, residents were living near contaminated industrial sites and a landfill — and dying of respiratory illnesses and cancer at extraordinary rates. They used a $20,000 environmental justice grant from the EPA as seed money to form partnerships with local businesses and government agencies. Those alliances, in turn, helped bring more than $250 million in infrastructure, community health centers, affordable housing, environmental cleanups and job training to the area.

Trump's budget proposal would effectively eliminate the office and the $2 million it takes to operate it. An EPA spokesperson suggested in a statement that the agency doesn't need a special arm devoted to environmental justice to continue this work.
READ MORE

US House to vote on Bill imposing sanctions on Russia, Iran, North Korea

The United States (US) House will vote on the bill agreed by Congressional Republicans and Democrats, that includes a package of sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, thus making it harder for President Donald Trump to lift sanctions on Moscow.

The House will vote on the bill on Tuesday and the Senate is likely to take it up after that. The bipartisan agreement could send the new bill to President Trump by the end of the month. It was not immediately clear whether Trump would veto the bill, an action that would spark an outcry from both parties and risk a potential override with a two-thirds vote.

Democrats and some Republicans have expressed concerns that the US President is considering giving Russia back two compounds in Maryland and New York that were seized by the Obama administration in December.

The House is scheduled to leave for its August recess at the end of next week.

The bill limits Trump's power of easing sanctions on Russia, as it gives Congress power to veto any decision made by the President that would "significantly alter" US foreign policy in connection with Russia, Fox news reported.

The White House had objected to a key section of the bill that would mandate a congressional review if Trump attempted to ease or end the sanctions against Moscow.

"The legislation ensures that both the majority and minority are able to exercise our oversight role over the administration's implementation of sanctions," said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the No. 2 House Democrat.
READ MORE

Trump may prohibit business with Cuban military in rejig of Obama's policy

President Donald Trump is expected to announce his new policy with Cuba in Miami next week, seeking to reverse some of the changes made under former President Barack Obama's opening with the island.

The Trump administration has been discussing policy changes that include prohibiting business with the Cuban military while maintaining the full diplomatic relations restored by Obama.

The White House has also been debating new restrictions on American leisure travel to Cuba, which has more than tripled since Obama's 2014 announcement.

Trump is expected to announce the policy on Friday in Miami, according to a person familiar with the plan. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans. The White House said the timing had not yet been finalised.
READ MORE