Privatization: Why Michigan Special Education Sucks

Yes, privatization is the reason why Michigan Special Education sucks.

Privatization made the people poor, then stole the children, the land and the votes.

Here are just a few recent articles to support my previous statement that Michigan Special Education Sucks.

57 Detroit schools have high levels of lead and copper in drinking water

And this is my all time favorite reason why Michigan Special Education Sucks:

Michigan EAA, Detroit Public Schools and "The Elected Ones"

Learn more: BEVERLY TRAN: Michigan EAA, Detroit Public Schools and "The Elected Ones" http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2015/12/michigan-eaa-detroit-public-schools-and.html#ixzz5SuRSIWmX
Stop Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare

I believe I have made my point.

Michigan's special education efforts near bottom in nation: U.S. report

If Laurie Kondek could fix what ails Michigan's special education system, it would be this: She would ensure that children like her Samuel — who is severely autistic and has several other ailments — would have the same shot at success as kids with no special needs.

"You have these special ed kids who have so much potential. Maybe they're not going to fly as high academically ... but my kid is just as valuable," said Kondek, who lives in Northville and has one son who attends the local district there and another who attends a nearby charter school.

To Kondek and many others, Michigan is falling short. And the U.S. Department of Education agrees, identifying Michigan in a recent report as the only state in the nation "needing intervention" this year because of the poor academic performance, high dropout rates and low graduation rates of its special education students.

Michigan shared the distinction with the District of Columbia, plus the U.S. territories of Palau and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. If Michigan remains in that designation for three straight years, it could lose some federal funding.

How bad are Michigan's results? The education department gave Michigan a 59 percent for its outcomes for special education students — much of it based on student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a rigorous national exam given to a representative sample of students in each state. The state with the highest percentage: Massachusetts with 88.75.

More: Study: Michigan special education is underfunded by $700M

More: 13 Michigan schools earn coveted Blue Ribbon awards

Here's a look at the data that earned Michigan the designation, one of four given by the education department (meets expectations, needs assistance, needs intervention and needs substantial intervention):

• Only 22 percent of fourth-graders and 34 percent of eighth-graders scored at or above the basic level in reading on the NAEP, which breaks down scores in four levels (below basic, basic, proficient and advanced).
• Only 39 percent of fourth-graders and 19 percent of eighth-graders scored at or above the basic level in math on the NAEP.
• 29 percent dropped out of school during the 2016-17 school year. 
• Only 63 percent earned a traditional high school diploma.

Michigan had been designated previously as needing assistance.

The data isn't surprising to Marcie Lipsitt, the organizer of a Wednesday rally in Lansing on special education issues and a vocal critic of how the state and local school districts address the needs of such students.

Lipsitt said Michigan, for instance, sets too high a bar for identifying a child as having a learning disability. And she believes it often ignores what she describes as "glaring violations" of the law.

"There's no accountability, no transparency. ... There is no concern for the outcomes for children," Lipsitt said.

The rally will include speeches from a bipartisan set of speakers — including Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic candidate for governor, and Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. Lipsitt said Whitmer's opponent in November's election, Republican Bill Schuette, was invited but no one from his campaign responded.

Calley, a longtime special education advocate and the father of a child with autism who attends public schools, said there is too much focus on compliance at the state level and not enough on improving programs.

"If we were more concerned about identifying what kids need and providing it ... and helping school districts to develop the resources and knowledge and know-how to be effective, we'd be way better off," Calley said. "It can't just be about compliance."

Michigan's focus on compliance is clear in the federal report: It earned just 8 out of 24 points for results, and 17 out of 20 points for compliance. Massachusetts, on the other hand, earned 21 points for results and 18 for compliance.

Calley believes one way for schools to improve outcomes for students with disabilities is through behavior management programs — such as positive behavior interventions and support. More commonly known as PBIS, it's a more proactive approach to behavior management that focuses on teaching good behavior and expectations rather than addressing behavior after the fact.

Calley said he doesn't have data showing behavior is more of an issue with special education students, but "I just know ... a child with autism, for example, you need to much more directly and proactively teach and reinforce desired behavior."

Such behavior approaches keeps kids in school learning, Calley said.

"A student that’s not in school is not learning."

Fight to get services

For much of Samuel's education, Kondek has fought to get services he needs —beginning with trying to get her son identified as special needs so he could begin receiving preschool services. It took her from the time he was 2 until he turned 4.

The fight has continued. Now, she works to ensure that her son has assistance such as a full-time aide in the classroom. It's crucial not just for him, she said, but also for his teachers. That's important, she said, given that there's currently a shortage of special education teachers.

"If there’s not enough adult support in the classroom for these teachers, they aren’t set up to succeed," Kondek said.

Just as important, others said, is properly funding special education programs. Students with special needs are often more difficult to educate because they need additional resources. Federal law requires they receive a free and appropriate education.

Calley chairs a special education task force that last year released a report showing the state is underfunding special education by $700 million. That dollar amount is the difference between what it costs to educate special education students in Michigan and what the state spends to educate them.

That report noted that under the current system, the state funds special education students either through the per-pupil grant schools receive — which varies by school district — or 28.61 percent of the expenses associated with educating the child. Schools get whichever of the two is the greatest amount.

But that often creates inequities, Calley said. The lowest per-pupil amount a district can receive is a little under $8,000, but some districts receive well over $12,000 per pupil.

Calley says it would be better to have a system that would — for each special education student — pay schools a per-pupil amount as well as a percentage of the costs to educate that student.

Michelle Fecteau, a Democrat on the State Board of Education, is also among Wednesday's speakers. And like Calley, she has experience as a parent — she has had one biological child and three children she fostered who required special education services. As one of eight elected board members, Fecteau says she gets a couple of phone calls a week from people with concerns about special education.

"I've talked to plenty of parents who struggle to get the services they need," Fecteau said. At the same time, she said, "I've talked to principals that want to provide those services, but they don't have the resources to do it."

The people who work in special education programs — at the local level and the state level — "are not the villains," Fecteau said.

"We need to come together to fight for better financing and better models for supporting kids and their families," she said. "I don't think our state invests enough in these kids."

"I think these kids are worth that investment."

Rally seeks to spark discussions

Lipsitt is hoping the rally will spark a conversation about special education, and that it will become a key issue in the race for November elections. She's hopeful that whoever the next governor is will rescind an executive order issued in the 1990s by then-Gov. John Engler that stripped much of the state board's power and put it in the hands of the state superintendent. She believes the special education system has deteriorated since then.

Lipsitt also believes that parents of children who don't have disabilities need to become more cognizant of what she calls a crisis in special education.

"People have to use their voices, their pens. They have to use their presence on social media and talk about the state of education in Michigan," Lipsitt said. "Public education is not serving children in Michigan, and that includes children with disabilities."

State working to improve outcomes

Teri Chapman, director of the office of special education at the Michigan Department of Education, was not available for comment last week, said Bill DiSessa, an MDE spokesman.

He provided a statement that acknowledged outcomes for students with disabilities — graduation rates, dropout rates and NAEP results — "are the underperforming factors identified in the U.S. Department of Education's report."

The statement said the MDE is "in the process of moving in a new direction to improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities." It is part of the department's efforts to transform Michigan from a state that is struggling with academic outcomes to a state that is a Top 10 performer.

That effort includes an "evolving partnership" between MDE and intermediate school districts in the state that "further ensures the alignment and coordination that evidence-based practices are implemented and supported in local districts."

Fecteau said the board briefly discussed the federal report in August.

"I would like to have a discussion at the state board that looks into this more deeply, and understand why this is the way it is," she said of Michigan's status as needing intervention. "What are the root causes ... and where do we really need to make some changes and address it."

Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6551, lhiggins@freepress.com or @LoriAHiggins

If you want to go

Each one of these speakers are system sucks and have not done a damn thing about the child poverty or the fact that charter schools do not provide IEP testing or services.

You cannot even get your kids' school records if the charter school does not want to release it because you have to hire a private attorney.

That is what Bill Schuette, the Attorney General said to me, because he is too busy defending the state in these fraudulent educational operations.

The Michigan Kids with IEPs Count Day Rally — which seeks to draw attention to the need to fix the special education system in Michigan — is set for 12:30-2:30 p.m. Wednesday on the steps of the Michigan Capitol.

Among the speakers:

• Lt. Gov. Brian Calley
• Gretchen Whitmer, Democratic candidate for governor
• Andy Levin, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress
• Michelle Fecteau, Democratic member of the State Board of Education
• Tom McMillin, Republican member of the State Board of Education
• Mark McWilliams, Michigan Protection and Advocacy
• Colleen Allen, president and CEO, Autism Alliance of Michigan
• Kristin Totten, education attorney, ACLU of Michigan

For more information, contact organizer Marcie Lipsitt at 248-514-2101 or at marcielipsitt@outlook.com

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DEFANGO: Jessica Ashooh + Reddit Banout2018 + Censorship Facebook + ACLU Israel? MM vs Def 3

Let us not forget Melanie Slone of CREW.

SOROS EMPLOYEE: Meet The Reddit Executive Who Is Shutting Down Trump Supporters

Current director of policy at Reddit, Jessica Ashooh, is coming under heavy criticism as Reddit bans pro-President Donald Trump voices.

Ashooh started working for Reddit after an executive stint at the George Soros-funded Atlantic Council, which is also reportedly funded by the Chinese. Reddit is run by Steve Huffman, aka “Spez,” following the suicide of free speech-minded Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, who faced 35 years in prison in a hotly contested computer fraud case.

Jessica Ashooh is believed by some to be responsible for the account “arabscarab,” which has been leading the charge to shut down the Q Anon movement on the Reddit platform. The Great Awakening, the second-largest pro-Trump subreddit, was banned Tuesday night in a move that has rocked the online community.

More than 30 covert left-wing actors have been identified in the censorship Plot, which includes posing as Trump supporters to post intentionally offensive content and flagging it. Some of these activists are linked to Media Matters and the ACLU. An employee of CBS has been identified as a member of the plot but denies involvement. Top Reddit moderators continue to investigate the network of activists who are executing “Ban Out 2018,” an assault on Trump supporters. 

Ashooh, overseeing policy at Reddit, is a veteran of George Soros’ Atlantic Council, where she served as deputy director of the Middle East Strategy Task Force as recently as the spring of 2017, when she moved to Reddit. The January 2017 David Brock meeting in Florida, where he laid out a social media censorship plan, kicked off a period of Silicon Valley aggression against the American people at just the time Ashooh was transferring from the Atlantic Council to Reddit. The Atlantic Council now works with Facebook to police independent news content on Mark Zuckerberg’s social media platform.

Ashooh also worked for the government of the United Arab Emirates and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was an adviser to the Kurdistan regional government during the Obama administration.

In the hours since Q’s banning, a number of top Trump supporters have been banned from Reddit and the tech company is preventing any new pro-Trump subreddits from being created. Reddit is also wiping away the postings and clearing the posting histories of numerous Trump supporters and Trump-supporting forums.

Left-wingers have a formal name for their effort to ban President Donald Trump-supporting subreddits: BanOut 2018. The liberals have announced that they are now in “Phase 3” of the banning project.

Here is the Reddit thread.

Here is one choice quote from the Reddit thread: “Your comment was removed because it isn’t the phrase ‘I fully support banout 2018’ Feel free to make a new comment showing your support of this great cause.”

BanOut 2018 is an even bigger project than some leftists want to admit.

“Every mod on that sub is a power mod who controls many defaults,” a source told Big League Politics, referring to BanOut 2018.

Here is the page for BanOut 2018:

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A Few Inspirational Words Of Encouragement To Michigan Eastern District Attorney's Office On Civil Rights & Child Protection

"Get 'em."

This is nothing more than a case of violence against little girls, no, wait, girls do not fall under the Violence Against Women Act because the Act does not capture girls or victims of human trafficking.

Girls fall under child protective services which is privatized, and in many instances, operates under the color of law of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which also just so happens to have a land use regulation or rather "protection".

I thought it wise to claim the defensive arguments, in advance, because you know they like to throw those holy ground protection spells under the First Amendment out there.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that religion has always been used to cloak the residuals of the peculiar institution, in the name of the tax exempt god.

Is it not time to preserve the annals of history and make the defendants present their proofs for the methods and reasons of why they brand their chattel?

I would like to see some hard core, raw cross examinations as to what happens if a girl does not want to be "cut" and how come no one has ever reported it.

I would like to hear original source testimony from the religious leaders and child protection organizations as to why they have not brought forth any public educational campaign on what to do when a little girl is in the situation of refusing to be tied down, occasionally drugged, legs spread, to have a body part severed, as part of a bloody religious ritual.

Is there a celebration afterwards?

Obviously, these girls did not believe in this religious ritual, having to be dragged across state lines under the guise of a religious celebration, then drugged and restrained.

Is this not a violation of a child's religious beliefs considering the fact that they were probably screaming the name of God to make it all stop, if they were not drugged up, you know?

Where are all the child protection groupies and how come they are not protesting like they are protesting the separation of children at the border and not the separation of children by Child Protective Services, because children have no civil rights, you know?

You do know the Violence Against Women Act is being tied to the Budget, if not approved, set to shutdown government October 31, 2018, right?

Where is Dawud Walid?

Where are the civil rights affronters Kary Moss & Michael Steinberg?

It is campaign season, you know.

I only share these few words of inspiration to remind the world that Detroit is preserving the annals of history through the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Get 'em, all."

Feds discover 3 more girls in genital mutilation case

The federal government has found three more female genital mutilation victims who traveled to Michigan for the procedure — all of them elementary school girls from Illinois who came here with their mothers for religious cuttings, prosecutors say.

One of the girls was cut on Valentine's Day in 2015; another at the start of her 2015 school year, court records show. The third was cut in March 2015.

All three Illinois girls were about 7 years old at the time of the procedures, according to a new indictment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, where eight people are facing charges in the nation's first genital mutilation case, including two doctors and four mothers.

Prosecutors have now identified nine victims in the case: two 7-year-old girls from Minnesota; four Michigan girls ages 8-12, and the three Illinois girls.

According to the new indictment, one of the Michigan girls was given Valium ground up in liquid Tylenol during her procedure in 2015.

The lead defendant in the case is Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, 45, of Northville, whom prosecutors have estimated performed genital mutilation on at least 100 girls over a 12-year-period.

For Nagarwala, this latest indictment comes with some bigger headaches as the government re-charged her with a crime that could send her to prison for 30 years if convicted: conspiracy to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Nagarwala had initially been charged with a similar crime — it carried a life sentence — accusing her of transporting a minor with intent to engage in "sexual activity." A federal judge dismissed that count eight months ago, concluding there wasn't merit for it, as the defense argued.

But this time around, the prosecution added in a tweaked version of that crime, accusing Nagarwala of "illicit sexual conduct" as opposed to "sexual activity." This charge involves the 2017 cuttings involving the two Minnesota girls  who described the procedures as painful.

According to court documents, one girl said that she got a shot, screamed, and "could barely walk after the procedure, and that she felt pain all the way down to her ankle." The other said she was "laid on an examining table with her knees near her chest and legs spread apart," that she was "pinched" in the genital area, that it "hurted a lot" and that there was "pain and burning."

Both girls were told to keep the procedures a secret, court records show. One said "the doctor made her (friend) cry."

More on Freep.com

Genital mutilation victims break their silence: 'This is demonic'

Report: Girl's genital mutilation injury worse than doctor claims

Nagarwala's lawyer, Shannon Smith, declined comment. She has long maintained that her client never engaged in female genital mutilation, but rather performed a benign procedure that involves a scraping of the genitalia. The procedure, the defense has argued, is a religious practice of the Dawoodi Bohra, a small-Indian Muslim sect of which Nagarwala and her codefendants are members of.

The defense also is challenging the 1996 law that criminalized female genital mutilation in the United States, alleging it is unconstitutional. It carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

The case involves allegations that Nagarwala and others for years subjected children to genital mutilation procedures out of a Livonia medical clinic during after hours, and went to great lengths to keep it secret. Her codefendants are Dr. Fakhuruddin Attar, who is accused of letting her use his Livonia clinic to carry out the procedures; and his wife, Farida Attar, who is accused of assisting Nagarwala in the examination room during the procedures.

"Dr. Attar is innocent, and we'll fight the new charges ithe same way that we planned to fight the old ones — with truth and the facts," Attar's attorney, Mary Chartier, write the Free Press in an email.

 A fourth woman, Tahera Shafiq, also is charged with assisting in the exam room. The other four defendants are mothers, accused of subjecting their children to the practice.

According to court records, Nagarwala and the Attars instructed members of their religious community not to speak about the genital cutting procedures that had taken place.

Prosecutors have argued that the federal genital mutilation law is clear: It prohibits "knowingly circumcis(ing), excis(ing) or infibulat(ing) the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of any other person who has not attained the age of 18 years."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Woodward has argued repeatedly in court that the defendants knew what they were doing was illegal, but did it anyway. She has called their crimes "heinous" and argues the harm was severe.

"According to some members of the community who have spoken out against the practice, the purpose of this cutting is to suppress female sexuality in an attempt to reduce sexual pleasure and promiscuity," a Homeland Security Investigations special agent wrote in a 2017 court filing.

Especially egregious, authorities have argued, is that this procedure was carried out by a doctor who took an oath to do no harm.

"She knew that this was illegal but did it anyway," Woodward has said of Nagarwala, stressing: "As a medical doctor, she is aware that female genital mutilation has no medical purpose."

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Cocktails & Popcorn: Detroit & Wayne County Figure Out That Fees Are Not Taxes

"Fee starts with the letter "F".

I would like to take the time to extend my sincerest gratitude and raise a glass of champagne with a side of my famous rosemary popcorn to Corporate Counsel for the City of Detroit, Wayne County and the U.S. Attorney's office for their attention to this matter.

I shall assume someone finally figured out that the term "fee" starts with an "F" and "tax" starts with an "T", which are not the same thing.

Ergo, a fee can never be a tax.

As for the ACLU and UCHC, well, I am going to that tale later on down the road because they were the biggest cheerleaders for the Detroit Land Bank Authority since its inception, but hey, what do I know?

"Tax" starts with the letter "T"

According to Michael Steinberg, I know nothing, just ask him and let me know what he said!

Smooches.

Foreclosures to be sold back to owners in ACLU, city settlement

The ACLU of Michigan has reached a settlement in its 2016 lawsuit against Detroit that includes a deal to save potentially thousands of foreclosed homes over the next three years by selling them back to low-income owners for $1,000.

Under the plan, a group of homes headed to this year's fall tax auction will instead be bought by the city and sold to owner-occupants who prove they qualified for the city's poverty tax exemption, which lowers or eliminates tax bills.

The Detroit City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to approve the settlement. Council members James Tate and Janee Ayers were not present for the vote.

The ACLU sued the city in Wayne County Circuit Court two years ago over how it administered the state-mandated property tax break for the poor, arguing it was inaccessible to the vast majority of homeowners who were needlessly losing their homes to foreclosure.

It's not clear how many homes would be sold back to owners this fall but it could be in the hundreds, officials said.

“We’re thrilled that this settlement will help thousands of Detroiters who were going to lose their homes for inability to pay taxes they never should have had to pay," said Michael Steinberg, legal director of the ACLU of Michigan. "It's a start to putting the worst tax foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression behind us."

Steinberg said funding to buy the homes will come from charitable donations and $275,000 contributed by the city as part of the lawsuit settlement agreement. He said more funding from area foundations is expected for the program, which will be run by the United Community Housing Coalition, a city housing nonprofit.

Detroit city officials say this settlement supports their vision of maintaining home ownership and keeping residents in their homes.

"It's turning the page to the start of a great partnership and a continuation of the work we have been doing to prevent people from losing their homes," said Eli Savit, senior adviser and legal counsel to Mayor Mike Duggan. "It’s a win for all involved."

The foreclosure crisis has had a deep effect on Detroit, which remains the nation's poorest big city and recently flipped from majority homeowner to 54 percent renter. The county seized about 100,000 Detroit properties for unpaid property taxes from 2011 through 2015, about a quarter of all parcels, researchers have found.

About 4,800 Detroit properties are headed to foreclosure this year as of mid-June, according to data from the treasurer's office. Of those, about 2,000 are believed to be occupied by homeowners or renters.

“It can be devastating for residents that experience a financial setback, and it's time that the city look itself in the mirror and say how can we be better at assisting our most vulnerable residents,” said Councilman Gabe Leland.

The United Community Housing Coalition, which helps residents avoid foreclosure, said it so far has about 100 clients it believes will qualify. The nonprofit has been holding foreclosure workshops to qualify owners since April.

Residents have to be approved by July 13 and should call the group at (313) 963-3310, ext. 339, to start the process as soon as possible.

"It's a huge deal and it's extremely important to have the city's approval," said Michele Oberholtzer, director of the Tax Foreclosure Prevention Project for United Community Housing Coalition. "It's the city affirming it's support of home ownership and it's turning this negative thing of tax foreclosure into an opportunity for people to become stable."

There is a possibility the program could run out of money to purchase homes if many apply, according to Ted Phillips, executive director of the United Community Housing Coalition.

Homeowners who are in payment plans with the treasurer don't qualify, Steinberg said. The program is aimed at those facing the foreclosure auction.

"It's not a panacea," Steinberg said. "It doesn’t directly help people who are not currently in foreclosure or people who have already lost their houses. However, it’s a critical first step."

Steinberg said there are ongoing discussions with foundations on how to help people in payment plans who could be facing foreclosure in the future. And he said the city has agreed to purchase foreclosed homes in 2019 and 2020 for those who qualify.

Leland said work to ensure residents stay in their homes was "far from over."

"We must stay vigilant for the people that stayed here," he said. "The property tax exemption laws were enacted to help residents in need hold on to their piece of the pie.”

Erica Burrell, a 35-year-old mother of two, hopes this means she'll be able to keep her west-side home. It's headed to the auction over $10,500 in tax debt.

She and her husband purchased the home two years ago and the seller never told them of the outstanding debt. The couple's only income is her husband's disability payments from being shot as a child.

"For the home to get snatched from us for someone else's debt is really crazy," Burrell said. "This is a blessing."

The city will buy the properties by paying 60 percent of each home's unpaid tax bill. That includes the money that was due various governments agencies, including the county, schools and library. But it doesn't include the city's share of tax debt -- the other 40 percent.

As a part of the agreement, the city is considering that debt a loss. It's not clear yet how much that will cost the city. The 2,000 properties facing the auction believed to be occupied by homeowners or renters owe $15 million.

United Community Housing Coalition will then repay the city the 60 percent from the fund and sell the homes to owners for $1,000. That money will go into the fund managed by the nonprofit to help purchase homes in future years.

Municipalities are able to buy foreclosed homes for the unpaid taxes before they are auctioned off, which in Wayne County happens annually in September and October.

To take advantage, homeowners have to prove they could have qualified for the tax exemption between 2014 and 2017 but didn't receive one. If the homeowner qualifies this year for the tax break, they only have to sign a sworn statement they would have qualified in the past and won't have to produce old documentation proving their income, Steinberg said. The Detroit Citizens Board of Review will vet the applications.

The ACLU maintained the city's application process for the tax exemption violated homeowner's due process rights, in part by setting an artificial deadline. Some applicants didn't get a reason for their denial and others didn't receive a response at all, according to the lawsuit.

And residents who wanted to apply had to go to City Hall and fill out an application to get an application mailed to them, Steinberg said. Some never got the application in the mail or it came after the deadline, he said.

He said the city has improved the process, putting the form online. And they've agreed to mail a flier about the program to a majority of residents yearly, reduce the documents homeowners are required to submit, as well as train all city staff who interact with residents about the process.

"This agreement streamlines the process and makes it much more accessible to Detroiters," Steinberg said. "So individuals who are poverty stricken will be able to qualify for the poverty exemption going forward."

The lawsuit, filed in 2016 by the ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. and the Washington, D.C., law firm Covington & Burling, originally was aimed at stopping the Wayne County Treasurer's annual tax foreclosure auction.

But that aspect was dismissed by the courts. The ACLU had argued the office violated the Federal Fair Housing Act by disproportionately foreclosing on black homeowners, a process driven by Detroit's inflated city tax assessments.

It was fraud because "taxes" start with the letter "t" and "fees" start with the letter "f".

But last year, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by Wayne County Judge Robert Colombo, dismissing the county from the lawsuit because Colombo ruled it should have been brought in front of the Michigan Tax Tribunal.

The city will pay five of the homeowner plaintiffs in the lawsuit $5,000 as a part of the settlement.

UCHC and the city are expanding a separate program this year to buy foreclosed rentals and sell them to tenants. The nonprofit did that with 80 homes last year and hope to do several hundred this year with the city's help.

Renters will have to pay about 70 percent of the tax debt over a year with no interest and put $500 down, Phillips said. The nonprofit has gotten $200,000 from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to purchase the homes and hopes to get other foundation money soon. 

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Detroit Foreclosure Study Omitted Detroit Land Bank Authority Tax Fraud Schemes

The study is a bad assessment because it omitted the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

In the spirit of fuchsia...

Study: Bad assessments prompt 10K Detroit foreclosures

One in 10 Detroit tax foreclosures between 2011 and 2015 were caused by the city's admittedly inflated property assessments, a study by two Chicago professors has concluded.

Keep in mind that only one in 10 in Detroit property tax foreclosures were addressed in this study.  I will be addressing the other 9 out of 10.

Over-assessments causing foreclosure were concentrated in the city's lowest valued homes, those selling for less than $8,000, and resulted in thousands of Detroit homeowners losing their properties, according to the study.

Many of these homes were targeted for foreclosures, as represented in entire blocks of vacant homes due to predatory lending.  When I say predatory lending, I mean people taking out  mortgages that were sold off and bundled to out of state fake corporations that in turn bundled and sold them again to foreign corporations, where property values were inflated for bundling purposes.  These mortgages even bundled up property tax payments to the City which were never paid, so people were paying their property taxes in many instances.

"The very population that most needs the city to get the assessments right, the poorest of the poor, are being most detrimentally affected by the city getting it wrong," said Bernadette Atuahene, a law professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law who has studied the impact of the city's over-assessments on homeowners.

No one cares about "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth) because there were plans already being rolled out on land speculation.

"There is a narrative of blaming the poor that focuses on individual responsibility instead of structural injustice. We are trying to change the focus to this structural injustice."

In order to change the structural injustice, you have to stop the fraud.

The Wayne County treasurer foreclosed on about 100,000 Detroit properties for unpaid property taxes from 2011 through 2015, about a quarter of all parcels, as the city suffered the after-effects of population decline, the housing market crash and the Great Recession.

The technical term is called forced migration.  It was intentional.

The study, co-authored by Christopher Berry, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, is the first to publicly estimate how many foreclosures were caused by the city's chronic over-valuation of city property, the authors say.

The City was well aware of over-valuation of city property as seen with individuals contesting in front of City Council, who were too busy trying to figure out how to get a few of these homes and reduce their own property taxes.

Atuahene and Berry acknowledged many things trigger tax foreclosure, anything from an owner's job loss to a death in the family.

...or dealing with the Solid Waste Disposal Fee that was magically sent over to the Wayne County Treasurer's Office for foreclosure that no one knew about because Detroit Property Tax Assessors just put the fee on the tax bill, with no due process of a court of law, without notification.

They estimated the number of foreclosures caused by over-assessments in part by calculating the foreclosure rate if all properties were properly assessed. The study also controlled for properties various purchase prices, neighborhoods and sale dates.

The study failed to mention the Detroit Land Bank Authority or the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, being conducted with data from 2011 through 2015, which would be considered to be excluded endogenous variables, making the conclusion of the study to be suspect because they were doing quiet titles wiping which were wiping out property taxes behind the backs of unsuspected property owners.

The scheme went like this:  You may or may not, more thank likely not, were notified by the City of delinquent property taxes that were sent over to Wayne County Treasurer before they officially went into the foreclosure period.  By the time you found out that Wayne County had assessed an outrageous late fee and charges, almost coming up to 50 percent of what the original taxes were, you were too busy muddling through City and County governments trying to find resolution, or at least answers, the Detroit Land Bank Authority had filed a lis pendens, of which they only notified the property, and not the property owner, because they were too busy "maximizing revenues" in fake billing for the quiet title process, the property ownership was transferred, probably NSP2 mortgages were taken out, defaulted, and a second quiet title was filed to wipe out the mortgages, sold, and levied those outrageous delinquent property taxes upon the new owner who purchased the home from the online auction, getting a certified cashier's check, from a bank, in the name of Title Source, Inc. ̣really, they told you to make the check out the TSI, then sent the tax money back to the City, which in turn, was "refunded" to.... I shall assume, TSI, where the money was....I shall assume, used to fund political campaigns.

The study fails to even mention TARP, let alone the state law which grants authority for the Detroit Land Bank Authority to capture 50 percent of the property taxes.

Detroit officials, including Mayor Mike Duggan, have acknowledged the city's assessments were inflated for years but said accuracy has improved with double-digit reductions over the last four years. The city completed a city-wide reassessment in 2016, required by the Michigan State Tax Commission. The city had not done a complete reassessment since the 1950s.

See how things can happen when you stand up and speak out.  Consistency is always an admirable trait.

State regulators launched an investigation in 2013 citing a series in The Detroit News that exposed rampant over-assessments, tax delinquencies and mismanagement in the city's Assessment Division.

But nothing was done about the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

City officials have maintained residents could have filed appeals with the city and state if they believed their assessments were unfair.

They did.  Many were granted but that is not the issue I am addressing here.  I am addressing the omission of the Detroit Land Bank Authority in the study.

Detroit’s Deputy CFO-Assessor, Alvin Horhn, said Wednesday he hadn't reviewed the study but he believed that "most of their assumptions rely on data that does not meet the standards of the State Tax Commission and would not be applicable under Michigan law."  Atuahene has said the data does comply with the law.

I concur that the data did appear to be suspect as it did not address the actions of the Detroit Land Bank Authority wiping out taxes with the City before the foreclosure process commenced providing due process to the property owner.  When I say due process, I mean to say,  "Did the 'Legal Geniuses' ̣trademark pending, over at the Detroit Land Bank Authority file quiet titles on the homes then collect taxes before or after the homeowner found out the property was in the foreclosure process?"

"We believe the citywide reappraisal has been an important part of the major reduction in the number of foreclosures occurring in the city, which continue a steady decline and will provide a solid foundation for future growth," Horhn wrote in an email. "The number of foreclosures of owner occupied homes, specifically, has gone down by nearly 90% over the past few years."

No, no, no.  It is not the citywide reappraisals that have reduced the number of foreclosures, it is the fact that you already foreclosed on the majority of the population of homeowners in Detroit. Duh.

Atuahene, also a member of the Coalition to End Unconstitutional Tax Foreclosures, said the group wants the city to provide “reparations” for families who forfeited their homes in tax foreclosures, like she and community activists have done for the Bonnett family.

A NGO wanting to jump into the "reparations" game?  I smell more covert purposes of this study.  Let me tell you why in the Tale of Reparations Propaganda because this had nothing to do with the phenotypic features.  This was strictly about targeted populations in prime, highly speculated geographical areas, through crappy predictive modeling, on how to maximize revenues for Social Impact Bonds. Period.  Wake up and keep it real.  It is all about the almighty cryptocurrency.  The race card is just a cover to keep running the fraud schemes of stealin' the children, the land and the votes.

The county foreclosed on Sonja Bonnett's home in 2015 over $5,000 in unpaid taxes. Bonnett, 38, was purchasing the home on land contract for $20,000. Atuahene said Detroit taxed her home at a market value of $46,000.

The land contract more than likely was never registered with the Wayne County Register of Deeds.  The databases were not coordinated at that time, and more than likely, still not, but I have not checked.

The coalition recently partnered with a housing nonprofit to buy another foreclosed home and give it to Bonnett along with her husband and seven kids. They will celebrate her move in Thursday. 

Bonnett said the city needs to repay homeowners who lost their homes because they could not pay tax bills that were artificially inflated by bad assessments.

There was a non profit that was getting federal funding to assist homeowners in tax foreclosures, but ended up running a scam and kept the grant, never paid the taxes, then snatched up the houses in the 500 dollar buy back program, but I am not going to go there for now.  Let's just get our popcorn ready.

"They wrongfully lost their houses," Bonnett said. "It wasn't just morally wrong. It was illegal."

The average property that sold for under $8,000 was assessed at 7.5 times its actual sale price, according to the researchers.

Hold on a minute.  What about the Wayne County Sheriff sales that never took place?  I should not have made that statement.  I greatly apologize for making any public assertions in violations of under the color of law, of any questionable actions of these Sheriff auctions downtown in the auditorium, where swatchs of properties were never called.  For me to even make such a claim would be careless and may impede an ongoing federal investigation.  For this, I am so sorry.  At no time did I mean to conjure up visions of anyone representing a fake ass NGO, like the Detroit Land Bank Authority or the Detroit Economic Development Corporation, running over to the court and filing quiet titles, wiping out the taxes that they would levy through federal grants that they refused to give to the people who were supposed to get the funds to prevent foreclosures.  Ok, I really did not mean to say that.  Let me walk away from this.

Former Gov. John Engler in 1999 signed into law an overhaul of the state property tax code designed to make it faster and easier to return delinquent properties to productive use. It meant shortening the process from six years to three years and led to the seizure and resale of homes at auction beginning in the early 2000s.

It is called privatization.  Engler is not that smart.  He does what he is told to do.  Keep it real.

It's unclear how many occupied homes will be headed to this fall's tax foreclosure auction. A spokesman for the Wayne County Treasurer's office said Wednesday that they were still evaluating numbers and will likely issue an update in July.

These numbers are still up in the air because we need to see how many of these properties were Detroit Land Bank Authority properties that were stolen then flipped.

Detroit is currently facing a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan that maintains the city's poverty tax exemption, which wipes away property taxes for low-income owners, violated homeowner's due process rights with a convoluted application process.

Nah, it is not that convoluted.

I went down there and met with them.

Steinberg threw a tizzy when I presented the issues surrounding the fraudulent operations of the Detroit Land Bank Authority as I was thrashing the legal basis of his class action lawsuit.  One reason was because I live in the historic district that is the subject of his suit.

The two sides are in settlement negotiations, said ACLU legal director Michael Steinberg.

Make that money and save those houses using propaganda.

The lawsuit originally named the Wayne County Treasurer, arguing the office violated the federal Fair Housing Act by disproportionately foreclosing on black homeowners. But the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by Wayne County Judge Robert Colombo, dismissing the county from the lawsuit because it should have been brought in front of the Michigan Tax Tribunal.

Columbo should have recused himself due to the fact that we are dealing with Detroit Land Bank Authority transgressions of property tax law for which he renders judgments all the time in their favor when he knows perfectly well, from being put on public notice when I filed with the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission on him, that they were never incorporated.

Columbo kicked the proverbial can down the road, as far as possibly away from himself, to a state jurisdiction, which I find to be quite a fascinating move.

Perhaps, Columbo is elevating the issues surrounding Michigan's participation in the property tax fraud scheme in Detroit, which is under federal investigation through SIGTARP.

Anyway, the "Taxed Out" report is suspect, in my eyes as propaganda for the ACLU because Kary Moss, just got pulled in by her New York handlers, who just so happened to be all wrapped up in this real estate fraud scheme of people losing their homes.

Kary Moss

Allow me to tell you the quick tale of why Kary and the ACLU sucks.

Executive director of ACLU to leave Michigan for New York position

Kary Moss, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, is leaving Michigan to join ACLU's senior leadership team in New York, she announced on Facebook.

I am using the Wikipedia link to demonstrate how well documented the work of Kary Moss and asset forfeiture through the Corporation for Enterprise Development, now known as Prosperity Now, which seems to be behind the Detroit Economic Development Corporation, Detroit Land Bank Authority and the Kresge Foundation.

She started out in child welfare fraud.

Kary should remember me coming into the office, around the first of every year for about 3 years, orating like the long lived orators of Athens public squares, to give testimony to the atrocities of child welfare in Michigan, ending in the traditional prayer that they all wake up each and every morning to tear soaked pillows for failing to even acknowledge to screams of the trafficking of tiny humans.

I used to attend administrative faculty functions where, only a few, would gather with me in a stifled chuckle of social etiquette, making fun of the ACLU, I like to call A CLUeless organization, on how it makes its decisions to take on public issues.

"Are you an African-American, Lesbian, Quadriplegic, Veteran? Well, it looks like we have ourselves a guaranteed, class action, certifiable case.  Get them NGOs out there to start fundraising for the programs we can federally bill to bring awareness to the needs of this population."

Yes, they quite often will serve Cocktails ̃and Popcorn at these academic consortia and yes, we all lived in the Cass Corridor, before they came in and stole the properties and made it all fancy to "save more savages" of Detroit with more Public Private Partnerships out of New York or California.

Just remember that.

"Bye Kary"

The end.

Taxed Out: Illegal property tax assessments and the epidemic of tax foreclosures in Detroit By: Bernadette... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

This thesis is pretty darn tight.  I am impressed and I do not say this arbitrairily nor capriciously.  Someone needs to get with this for what I see as a magnitude for future applications.

Detroit Looks Toward a Massive Blight Condemnation: The Optics of Eminent Domain in Motor City - Yxta Maya... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

ACLU Tax Foreclosures Class Action Complaint against Wayne County, et al 7-13-2016 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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Day 41.5. Judge Chutkan Hears ACLU vs Mattis Habeas Corpus Case

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Day 51 - Where is Eric Braverman?

Soros Fake Human Rights Orgs Wave the Bloody Flag

Rahman Admits He Hasn't Been to Syria in 15 Years

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Rick Snyder And Maura Corrigan Knew and Had A Plan For Flint

They knew.  They lied.

Listen how the process was explained by this mother.

City increases water rates after the switch to nasty river water.

People have water shut off because they cannot afford to pay the water bill.

The home is condemned and Child Protective Services comes to remove the kids and place them in foster care, which is privatized.

Even though this how it typically plays out, the American Enterprise Institute and those in support of the Paul Ryan budget proposals had, not only a plan of action, but funding for it.

Medicaid.
 
What this mother and the ACLU may not know is that the response of the State of Michigan leadership is very well planned, callous, financially logical and politically feasible.

This is testimony of Maura Corrigan, former Michigan Supreme Court Justice, former Michigan Director of Department of Human Services, November 2015, to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on the quest to privatization.

Here is a quote from Madame Corrigan, quoting Rick Snyder, her boss, the Governor:

 What we want, and how we got here 

Here I quote my former boss, Governor Rick Snyder, who stated it more eloquently than I can.  In his 2015 State of the State address, Gov. Snyder stated: 

“This is about revolutionizing how government operates. This is time for the bigvision….Before our country was even founded, why did people come to America? And,after it was founded, why did people come and why do they come today? We are theland of opportunity. That’s what makes us who we are. Now the issue is to have a fair chance to have that opportunity in our country.” 

The governor continued: 

“If you go back to the 1930s, we built a system that was about adding programs andthese are good well-intentioned people, but if you look back over the last 80 years, whathave we done? We have added prescriptive program after prescriptive program. Wheredo we stand today? We’ve counted 145 plus programs and still counting: 35 in healthcare, 40 in work force, and 70 in child services. The system is failing folks—that’s nothow you solve the problem of helping people have opportunities. What we have done issliced and diced people into programs. We have moved away from treating them as realpeople. In fact, in some cases we have taken some of their dignity away as a person, byputting them through so many programs.”

Ways and Means Testimony of Maura Corrigan on Privatization 2015

As I have previously alleged, Michigan intentionally poisoned the people of Flint.

The plan was to swoop in with privatized "life coaches", funded through Medicaid, more than likely Targeted Case Management and/or new "Opportunity Grants".

This is just one glimpse into the privatization model for social services, which includes taking over public schools and more corporate subsides of wages.

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Lawsuits Coming Down In The Great Michigan Water Poisoning

The poisoning of Flint's children was intentional.  Period.

Michigan Governor
Rick Snyder

Whether or not these state actors face criminal prosecution has yet to be seen, and more than likely they will weasel their way out of any charges, crying state immunity, and all, but at least the ACLU has stepped up and has announced its intent on suing the city and state.

The #DOJ needs to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

A class action of this magnitude is yet another challenge to the legitimacy of Michigan's Emergency Manager Law which, unsurprisingly, provides for the dumping of the state appointed Emergency Manager as an independent contractor, a legal responsibility of the city.

Michigan lied.

There are a few things I hope come out of this suit of law:

1.  I would like to see some form of trust fund set up to assist these families and all children, for life in Flint, to improve their lives and future generations;

2.  I would like to see resignations of all involved.  This includes elected leaders as well as policymakers, think tanks, which were involved in the decision making process;

3.  I would like to see this Bill of Attainder, the EM Law, vigorously challenged in the public purview.

Flint Residents Suing Over Toxic Tap Water

A "short-sighted effort to save a buck" poisoned the city's water.

Residents of Flint, Michigan, are suing over dangerous lead levels in their tap water resulting from state and local efforts to save money by switching the city's water supply last year.

"In their short-sighted effort to save a buck, the leaders who were supposed to be protecting Flint’s citizens instead left them exposed to dangerously high levels of lead contamination," Michael Steinberg, legal director for the ACLU of Michigan, said in a release. The ACLU, along with the National Resources Defense Council, a national nonprofit that advocates on environmental issues, on Monday filed a notice of intent to sue the city and state.

Several Flint families last week filed a separate lawsuit against local and state governments seeking class-action status in federal court. Lead poisoning, whether from water or paint chips, can cause physical and permanent neurological harm. Children are particularly vulnerable.

Last year, Flint officials and an emergency manager appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) switched the city's water supply from Detroit's system to the Flint River. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality admitted last month that it had failed to implement proper corrosion controls, and the new water wound up leaching dangerous amounts of lead from city pipes. 

"Not only were the city and state’s actions dangerous and misguided, they were illegal, too," Steinberg said.

Despite complaints from residents and reports that the water had high lead levels, local and state officials denied there was a problem -- until a local pediatrician documented a spike in blood lead levels among Flint children, prompting the city to switch back to Detroit's water.

"This action is about holding the government accountable for failing to protect the public health of an entire community," Anjali Waikar, an attorney with the NRDC, said in a statement. "This case also highlights a troubling trend in which the government is willing to turn a blind eye when it comes to protecting the lives of poor, black people."

The NRDC and ACLU said the state is still failing to follow water-testing protocols set forth by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and that they'll file their suit in 60 days if Snyder and other officials don't remedy these violations. Snyder's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech University civil engineering professor, helped expose the high lead levels in Flint's water.

"My heart goes out them, and I wish them the best in trying to hold agencies accountable for the irreparable damage done to Flint’s innocent children," Edwards said, noting that similar efforts to hold officials in Washington, D.C., accountable for toxic water have not yet succeeded.

HuffPost readers: Do you live in Flint? Do you have children younger than 6 and concerns about the water? Tell us about it -- email arthur@huffingtonpost.com. Please include your phone number if you're willing to be interviewed. 

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Lawyer revives Michigan prison sex abuse fight, this time for teens

Sex abuse of youth is a daily, hourly occurrence in foster care but the ACLU has refused to take on that issue for years.  Guess there is no money in it.

Washington, D.C. — The same attorney who got a $100 million settlement from Michigan for female inmates alleging sexual harassment by male guards is taking up the cause of teen prisoners who she says are being abused by older inmates.

American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan lawyer Deborah LaBelle made the claim of sexual and physical abuse of Michigan inmates under 18 years old last week here before a multinational panel. She highlighted the story of one alleged victim.

LaBelle played audio testimony before the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights from what LaBelle described as a 17-year-old prisoner identified only as "Matthew." Prison guards not only didn't stop the sexual and physical abuse by older inmates in his cell and the showers, but laughed, the teen said in the audio as he broke down in sobs.

"They bunked me with another adult," the teen said in a recording the ACLU presented last Monday before the commission — an independent part of the Organization of American States, whose 35 members are from North and South America.

"I was sexually assaulted. He was in his 30s. He said that he was going to stab me if I told anyone," he said.

Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said all complaints are taken seriously and investigated, but this allegation was not filed with the state agency.

"Although Ms. LaBelle alleges this youthful offender was raped, she has never filed any complaint with the Michigan Department of Corrections and has never brought this matter to the department's attention for proper investigation," Marlan said. "Instead, sadly, it appears that Ms. LaBelle is using this story as an attempt to inflame perceptions regarding the Michigan Department of Corrections."

The Department of Corrections is aware of the assaults on Matthew, said LaBelle, director of the ACLU's juvenile justice project. The ACLU of Michigan has interviewed 69 inmates under 18 in the state's prisons, she said.

"Fifty-three percent have been sexually assaulted by adults," LaBelle said. "Matthew is one of them."

The state of Michigan called the ACLU's claims misleading.

"The Michigan Department of Corrections takes great care in housing and separating youthful offenders from adult offenders in prison," said Marlan, who added the state welcomes an opportunity to address the commission on the "truth regarding its prisons and the housing and treatment of youthful offenders."

Department of Corrections policy insists juveniles — those under 17 — don't have contact with adult inmates in the nearly 43,500-prisoner system. There are 18 such inmates who are housed together separate from adult prisoners at the Lapeer County Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, Marlan said.

Another 75 inmates are 17 years old and treated as adults under Michigan's criminal justice system, according to the Department of Corrections.

"We do try and keep 17-year-olds in one location and separated from older prisoners," Marlan said. "However, it's not a requirement under our policy."

Most states and international standards view 17-year-olds as juveniles, according to the ACLU and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Eight states including Michigan prosecute 17-year-olds as adults, according to the U.S. Justice Department. New York and North Carolina automatically prosecute 16-year-olds as adults, the department said.

Commission to watch video

The story of Matthew was designed to highlight the risks to teens under 18 locked up with older inmates in Michigan and 24 other states, according to the ACLU of Michigan, which urged intervention to end the practice.

"I find the information we have received alarming," said Tracy Robinson, one of seven commissioners, during the one-hour hearing last Monday.

The commission is expected to watch video testimony of Michigan inmates under 18 recorded by the ACLU and may issue a report, recommendations or do further investigation.

LaBelle successfully won a $100 million settlement against Michigan in 2009 on behalf of female inmates who alleged sexual misconduct by male guards.

The commission is holding 63 hearings this year, with four regarding human rights cases in the U.S., said Emilio Alvarez Icaza, executive secretary of the Inter-American human rights system. Colombia and Mexico each has the most hearings with six apiece, Icaza said.

Hearing the Michigan case "is quite unique," he said. "For the commission, it's sending the message that this is very important. It's a very serious matter."

The United States should set an example, Icaza said.

"If the United States is talking internationally about human rights," he said, "they should pay attention at home."

Corrections denies claims

Michigan officials were absent from the hearing because Marlan said the state wasn't invited to testify.

"We categorically deny the false and misleading information provided by attorney Deborah LaBelle," Marlan said. The department "was not informed of this hearing, was not invited to participate at this hearing and was not provided any opportunity for rebuttal or investigation."

The commission followed its custom of inviting the federal government to represent the U.S. at the hearing. In this case, U.S. Department of Justice officials testified on U.S. efforts to protect juveniles in prisons by not placing them with adults. They didn't address the situation in Michigan.

New federal rules effective in August require states to offer protections for inmates under 18 or risk a cut in Department of Justice funding. Youthful inmates must not be placed in a housing unit where they'll have contact with adult prisoners, department officials said.

After hearing Matthew's tape, one Department of Justice official said it reminded him of his early work with prison clients, which has "haunted" him.

"This is an issue that is deeply important to the (Department of Justice) and to others," said Jonathan Smith, chief of the special litigation section of the Civil Rights Division.

Smith didn't indicate whether the Justice Department might investigate the matter.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130318/METRO/303180343#ixzz2NuaaZmKi
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