Spyke

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Navy Federal rejected more than half of black applicants for mortgages

With respect to data, there does seem to be a damning amount of it in the CFPB dataset they analyzed for the article. The fact that approvals were this disproportionate even when accounting for “income, debt-to-income ratio, property value, downpayment percentage, and neighborhood characteristics” is alarming. Specifically with respect to income, approval for lowest-quartile whites exceeded that of highest quartile blacks. Yes, credit score was not available in the dataset, but we know it doesn’t fully explain the gap because of its frequency as a cited reason for denial, and reliance on credit doesn’t really do much to dig NFCU out of this hole IMO.

I’m tempted to agree with the authors assessment that the use of automated tools by the underwriters is a likely contributor. Use a tool trained on historically racist data and practices, and that’s what you’ll get more of.

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For people who've taken philosophy classes, was there something you learned that you now use everyday?

Something that’s weirdly stuck with me (even though he’s not my favorite philosopher) is Kant’s Categorical Imperative which says, briefly, do only the things that would still be okay if everyone did them.

I think it fills in a nice gap left by the golden rule (treat others as you’d like to be treated) in drawing attention to how some things which don’t seem to do much harm would be a major problem if broadly adopted.

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Farmer owes $82,000 in contract dispute over use of a ‘thumbs-up’ emoji, judge says

he had done at least four other contracts with Achter via text. He said the only difference this time was Achter responded with a “thumbs-up” emoji instead of “ok”, “yup” or “looks good.”

I think this precedent set between the two parties is relevant, giving an otherwise casual text message a little more authority. Not that one word text responses are how you should enter a contract, but it’s what they had already been doing.

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IRS says its number of audits is about to surge. Here's who the agency is targeting.

The IRS plans to triple the audit rates on large corporations with assets of more than $250 million. Audit rates for these companies will rise to 22.6% in tax year 2026 from  8.8% in 2019.

Large partnerships with assets of more than $10 million will see their audit rates increase 10-fold, rising to 1% in tax year 2026 from 0.1% in 2019.

Wealthy individuals with total positive income of more than $10 million will see their audit rates rise 50% to 16.5% from 11% in 2019.

"There is no new wave of audits coming from middle- and low-income [individuals], coming from mom and pops. That's not in our plans," Werfel said.

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“Church of Bleach” family gets years in prison for deadly “miracle” solution

Throughout the trial, the Grenons represented themselves but did not speak in their defense, seemingly as a form of protest. They had court-appointed defense attorneys who stood by during the trial, but the Grenons did not allow them to speak for them.

In July, it took a Miami jury just 30 minutes to return the guilty verdicts for the four men, according to the Miami Herald.

The Herald reported that the men broke their silence during sentencing last week to plead for mercy and protest their prison terms.

Didn’t work out like ya hoped, huh?

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YSK tricks for one of the cheapest meals: beans and rice

Also, if this sounds too boring to anyone - do not underestimate the power of keeping a bunch of fun hot sauces around. They don’t have to be too spicy, but something similarly vinegar based will have a decent shelf life and be pretty cheap per serving.

I’m not just eating pantry staples again, I’m enjoying a smoky chipotle bean stew on top of some fragrant mango-lime-habanero rice.