EXCLUSIVE: Blue Cities Dole Out Homeless Services Based on Race and Sexual Identity
Plus, Chinese propaganda outlets jump into crusade against American data centers as Beijing races for AI supremacy
The homelessness crisis in Multnomah County, Oregon, home to deep-blue Portland, is among the worst in the country. The county allocates public housing resources using a point-based system that gives preferential treatment to minorities, non-native English speakers, and those who are “LGBTQIA2S+,” the Free Beacon‘s Aaron Sibarium reports.
“Rolled out in October 2024, the Multnomah Services and Screening Tool awards up to 5 points to non-white, non-straight applicants who speak English as a second language—more than the 4 points it would award a domestic violence survivor with a six-year-old child who has been homeless for over a year,” Sibarium writes. “The rubric, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon through a public records request, is ‘designed to prioritize … BIPOC households, LGBTQIA2S+, [and] people with disabilities,’ according to a Frequently Asked Questions pamphlet. It awards 1 point for ‘interest in LGBTQ services,’ 2 points for ‘English as a second language,’ and another 2 points for ‘interest in culturally specific services,’ a catch-all term for Portland’s race-based housing program.”
The system, which American Civil Rights Project director Dan Morenoff described as “very unconstitutional,” might sound like a veritable kick-me sign for the Trump administration as it seeks to defund housing programs that use racial preferences. “But that has not stopped housing authorities in a host of Democratic jurisdictions from rolling out their own race-based systems—even in counties, like Multnomah, where the majority of homeless people are white.” The Free Beacon identified five states, including Maryland, Minnesota, and Illinois, as well as several cities, that have incorporated racial preferences into their housing programs.
“In at least two states, Maryland and Minnesota, race appears to be the single largest factor in allocating rent relief,” writes Sibarium. “At a time when the Trump administration has promised to protect ‘the civil rights of all Americans,’ the programs are a stark indication that some people, including the poorest and most vulnerable, are falling through the cracks.”
Propaganda outlets controlled by China, Russia, and Iran are promoting campaigns in the United States to oppose the construction of new data centers, “indicating that Beijing and Moscow are looking to impede artificial intelligence innovation in the U.S.,” our Collin Anderson reports.
The effort is especially pronounced in Chinese state media outlets like China Daily, the Global Times, and China Global Television Network, all of which have published content in recent weeks stating that “energy-hungry data centers” are causing a “major spike in energy prices” and “emerging as a new source of economic strain” in the United States. The propaganda push comes as the United States and China race to achieve AI supremacy, a battle Beijing has fought in part by conspiring to steal American tech. “At the same time,” Anderson writes, “Beijing is encouraging U.S. movements aimed at voluntarily restraining American tech innovation—and is gaining momentum among progressives on Capitol Hill,” most notably Bernie Sanders.
“A group of lawmakers, including Sanders and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.) and Maxwell Frost (D., Fla.), are backing a proposal from the left-wing environmental group Food and Water Watch to enact a nationwide moratorium on new data centers, Politico reported. Sanders, meanwhile, is set to participate in a Wednesday discussion on ‘the existential threat of AI’ that will also feature two CCP-backed academics. One of them, Xue Lan, is a professor at Tsinghua University, a CCP-affiliated school that conducts research for China’s military. The other, Zeng Yi, serves as the dean of the Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance.”
A Democratic nominee for the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents, Dearborn attorney and Hezbollah fan Amir Makled, filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of a gunman who was killed while trying to shoot up a police station during a Christmas toy drive, court records reviewed by our Alana Goodman show.
The gunman, Ali Naji, entered Dearborn Police Headquarters on Dec. 18, 2022, pulled a handgun from his waistband, aimed it at the police officer working the front desk, and pulled the trigger. When the gun malfunctioned and Naji scrambled to fix it, the officer shot and killed him. An investigation by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office found that the officer “acted in lawful self-defense and in the defense of others.”
Makled said otherwise. His complaint seeking damages from the police department on behalf of Naji’s family argued that the gunman was a “truly remarkable individual” whose “heart was big.” It also argued that police should have used “deescalation” techniques like, “Introduce yourself and attempt to obtain the other person’s name,” and, “Express genuine concern and understanding.”
You’ll be shocked to learn that a federal judge tossed the lawsuit, calling the use of force “reasonable as a matter of law.” An appellate court also sided with police after Makled appealed.
“The University of Michigan Board of Regents nominee’s legal career has included other controversial cases,” Goodman writes. “As the Free Beacon reported last week, Makled represented an alleged ISIS terrorist who is on trial for allegedly plotting to shoot up gay nightclubs last fall. Makled withdrew as that alleged terrorist’s attorney in February, about a month after launching his campaign, because his client could no longer afford to retain him. Before leaving the case, Makled argued that the charges were part of an Islamophobic smear campaign.”
Additional reading:
Harvard Business School says it’s “thrilled to welcome” a keffiyeh-wearing, Israel-demonizing tech businessman, Amjad Masad, for an upcoming “Leading with AI” conference. Masad reportedly inked a deal to make his company, Replit, “the exclusive AI coding software for Saudi governmental agencies” but he says he’d never work with the “illegitimate and criminal government” of Israel. He also calls people who don’t believe Israel is committing genocide “retard[s],” a term Harvard has said constitutes “verbal abuse.”
The United Arab Emirates is leaving the oil cartel OPEC, it announced on Tuesday, a major blow to members like Iran, Iraq, and Venezuela. “Emirati officials had long floated the idea of quitting the cartel, complaining that quotas had unfairly limited their ability to export oil,” the New York Times reported. A member of the Abraham Accords, the UAE and Israel maintain strong relations; Israel reportedly sent the country an Iron Dome air defense system in the opening days of the war against Iran.
As ABC and its parent company Disney face calls from Donald and Melania Trump to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a “joke” asserting that the first lady had “a glow like an expectant widow,” the FCC “is moving toward a review of Disney’s broadcast licenses,” citing the company’s diversity policies, which commission chairman Brendan Carr says may include illegal “race- and gender-based discrimination,” Semafor reported.
The FBI raided more than 20 locations in Minneapolis, some of them Somali-run daycare centers, as part of a federal fraud investigation. Gov. Tim Walz, who previously condemned a federal prosecutor who indicted dozens of Somali fraudsters, took credit for the raids, writing, “Today’s raids by state and federal law enforcement happened because our state agencies caught irregular behavior and reported it.” Uh huh.
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Well Portland might not give points to whites but they do allow the homeless unfettered access to hard drugs and outdoor defecation and urination so there’s that
"The system, which American Civil Rights Project director Dan Morenoff described as “very unconstitutional,”..."
Well, when you've lost the ACLU.
"“Beijing is encouraging U.S. movements aimed at voluntarily restraining American tech innovation—and is gaining momentum among progressives on Capitol Hill,” most notably Bernie Sanders."
Reminds one of Russian propaganda against US fracking. More American useful idiots cutting themselves off at the knees...