DL Open Thread: Saturday, August 26,2023

Some good will come of this.

Ohio Rethugs Just Won’t Quit On Abortion Referendum.  And/or their growing political demise.  Check this out:

On Thursday, the Ohio Ballot Board approved a summary of the amendment text, which will appear on the ballots, that bears little resemblance to the full amendment. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) — a champion of the unsuccessful 60 percent threshold initiative, opponent of the abortion amendment and 2024 U.S. Senate candidate — provided the swing vote to approve the summary.

He also revealed that he had a hand in crafting the new summary, saying that “having worked extensively on drafting this, I do believe it’s fair and accurate.”

Advocates of the amendment had pushed for having its full text appear on the ballot. LaRose shot that down, responding that the full amendment would be available on posters at voting locations, per the Ohio Capital Journal.

“They know that they have to put their thumb  — and all their fingers, and their elbows and knees — on their side of the scale to make it as biased as possible in order to have any chance at winning,” Ohio Rep. Elliot Forhan (D), a member of the ballot board, told TPM.

“It goes to the bigger picture of why are we here at all — because we have a democracy in the state of Ohio that is not reflective of the will of the voters,” he added, pointing to the state’s aggressive gerrymandering, along with a lack of campaign finance regulations and transparency measures.

The new summary sprinkles the anti-abortion phrase “unborn child” throughout, substituting it for “fetus.” It erases all mention of giving people the right to make decisions about their miscarriages, fertility treatments and contraception. Critics have called it “confusing” and “misleading.”

Yes, there will likely be a lawsuit, but the Ohio Supreme Court is dominated by right-wing neanderthals.  The good news?  Even with the misleading language, the referendum is likely to pass.

Muni Bonds And ‘The Black Tax’:  One more way to keep the poor from getting decent services:

When cities need to raise money for roads and water lines, they have a few options. They can raise taxes, for instance, or charge fees for city services. If that isn’t enough, though, they can also issue bonds, borrowing on a $4 trillion credit market to pay for new construction projects they can’t afford otherwise. These municipal bonds function like loans that banks and investors make to local governments, and they’re an essential tool for filling out city budgets.

“This is how your sewage gets funded, this is how your water gets funded, this is how public schools and public services are funded,” said Matthew Wynter, a research professor of finance at Stony Brook University.

But a growing body of research shows that this credit market is also helping perpetuate systemic racism. When Black towns and cities try to borrow money on the bond market, they pay higher interest rates than their white counterparts. A paper published last week in the science journal PLOS One finds that this “Black tax” amounts to as much as $900 million per year in the United States. These higher borrowing costs can prevent these towns from pursuing much-needed infrastructure upgrades, or push them toward default and bankruptcy if they fall behind on interest payments.

While racial bias is accounted for in the municipal markets, climate change isn’t, according to the new research.

Erika Smull, lead author of the paper and a research analyst at Breckinridge, an investment management company, said that both the racial bias she found and climate change represents, “two huge systemic risks to not just the [municipal] market, but kind of everything about the United States.” 

The inequality in the bond market perpetuates a cycle of debt and disinvestment in Black communities, but it also has huge implications for environmental justice and climate resilience. If local leaders can’t raise money to protect water lines and prepare for floods, their constituents will end up reliant on decaying and vulnerable public infrastructure. 

Destin Jenkins, a historian of capitalism at Stanford University, has written that segregated white suburbs benefited from high credit ratings which entrenched municipal wealth in the period after World War II. Conversely, he argues, investors punished Black towns for their shoddy infrastructure and lack of access to capital.

When bond rating agencies like Moody’s assessed the creditworthiness of cities, they would penalize Black towns for racial inequality that persisted from slavery. “Bond rating analysts participated” in the process of segregation, Jenkins writes, “by insisting that their ratings were reflections of objective economic conditions.”

The solution?:

Sondra Collins, a senior economist at the University Research Center for the State of Mississippi, said that given the persistence of racial discrimination in the municipal bond market, the best thing to achieve equity is to rethink the system as a whole. Dubrow’s firm has suggested that Congress could offer more direct grants for infrastructure improvements, or that the U.S. Treasury could backstop local bonds, which might assuage investor fears of default.

Not optimistic.

Delaware State Police Still Hiding Body Cam Footage Of Beating:

State Police issued a statement on Wednesday, saying they learned of the incident during an internal body-worn camera review on Tuesday, and also learned of a social media post by the family showing pictures of Jayden’s injuries.

State Police said the issue is being handled by the Department of Justice and the Office of Professional Responsibility.

“Additionally, we are also investigating whether or not there was any failure to intervene by other DSP personnel who were present at the time of the incident. We assure you that a comprehensive investigation is underway and we are examining all available evidence,” Delaware State Police said in a social media post Wednesday. “At our core, the Delaware State Police values our community’s trust and we will provide additional details as we are able.”

As of Friday night, Delaware State Police has not made the body cam footage viewable to the public.

Davis said he hopes the family coming forward will nudge Delaware State Police to not hide behind the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights and show the footage to the public, and also issue charges.

“The appropriate criminal charges must be brought against this trooper or troopers, and the truth must be revealed to the public because it reflects some serious problems with law enforcement.”

Personal to ‘Delaware State Police’:  Thugs (and accomplices) with badges do not translate to community trust.  Stop the cover-up.