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HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge Says Biased Home Appraisal Problem Is Systemic

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Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge appeared on CNN’s Tonight show (08/22/22) to address recent media reports that show significant appraisal disparities between homes owned by people of color, as opposed to those owned by Whites. Secretary Fudge told CNN host Laura Coates that the appraisal problem, which was initially relegated to homes in redlined districts, is now “systemic, and intentional to some degree.”

The latest example which has stunned many, involves two Black Johns Hopkins University professors, Nathan Connolly and Shani Mott, who live in an affluent Maryland neighborhood. The Black couple’s home was initially appraised at $472,000, but after they “whitewashed” their home and let their White friend pose as the home owner, their house was appraised at a staggering $950,000, almost double the initial value.

Asked for her response to the outrageous Maryland incident, Secretary Fudge said(2:23): “I think professionally and personally, it is an absolute violation of the law. It is a violation of the fair housing law, it is a violation of the lending law, so what HUD is doing, and what we have done already is, we were tasked by the president to look at appraisal bias, because what we know is that it used to be that these things happened only in redlined communities, but now it is pervasive. It is happening everywhere, and we determined that part of the problem was how appraisers are trained, who is in the appraisal industry, and how they are governed, and so what we did in March was to present a report that showed how deeply this whole bias situation is across this country. It is systemic, and it is intentional to some degree…What we’ve already done is have the appraisal sub committee say to every single state in this country, the test that you use is no longer valid because it is a violation of the fair housing law.”

Secretary Fudge clarified her remarks regarding the test saying she was referring to the test to become an appraiser, adding(3:53), “What we have looked at is how data is collected. That’s part of the problem, it’s the data. So they collect data, and the data is not what it should be, they then use the data in a way that it should not be used, and so they come up with these biased appraisals. But as well, when you look at an industry that is more than 95% White, you find that people of color are treated differently because there is an inherent bias with a lot of them, and because they collect the data, the data is not good data.”

Secretary Fudge also made a startling acknowledgement regarding HUD, saying no previous administration has ever attempted to address the home appraisal bias problem, which is now evidently systemic. She said(5:05): “It has not happened before. This is the first of it’s kind report, this is the first if it’s kind subcommittee. It’s called Property Appraisal Valuation Equity. What the president has said is that we have to look at everything through a lens of equity. What we have realized is that people selling homes, just as the persons you were talking about, and even people buying homes, if their appraisal is not correct, what we find, especially as Black people and communities of color and underserved communities, is we lose great wealth just through the appraisal process. If those homes are appraised the way that they should be, then we look at being able to pass down significantly more resources and more wealth to generations that follow. But if we are constantly undervaluing communities of color, either because they are communities of color, or that the person themselves is in a community that they don’t think that we should be in, then we consistently lose wealth in our communities, and that’s why this is so important from an equity situation.”

Secretary Fudge concluded with her personal home appraisal story, telling host Coates that her house , which is in a Black community, is literally two doors away from an all-White community. She has a bigger lot size and house than the one two doors away from her, yet her house is valued at $25,000 less than that house in the White community.

Bottom line folks, the problem of biased home appraisals is a major one, and needs to be confronted head on. As Secretary Fudge correctly pointed out on CNN, “If those homes are appraised the way that they should be, then we look at being able to pass down significantly more resources and more wealth to generations that follow.” This issue is especially important to communities of color.

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DHS Inspector General Sat On Missing Secret Service Texts Info For A Year

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CNN’s Whitney Wild appeared on Outfront w/Erin Burnett show(07/29/22), where she dropped a bombshell, telling host Jim Sciutto(subbing for Erin), that embattled DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari did not find out about the missing Secret Service text messages in December 2021 as has been previously reported, but rather, in May 2021–seven months earlier. This means Inspector General Cuffari took a whole year before informing the January 6th Committee about the missing texts, a totally unacceptable position, which only heightens concerns about a possible cover up by DHS.

As host Sciutto correctly pointed out in his intro, it’s not only the missing Secret Service texts that are at issue here, but also, those from former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, and his top Deputy Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli’s texts are crucial to the January 6th Committee’s investigation because former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue testified before the Committee, under oath, that Trump had tasked Cuccinelli with seizing all voting machines for the purposes of investigating his bogus election fraud claims. Cuccinelli’s communications with Trump’s White House officials, or Trump himself, would therefore be very valuable to the January 6th Committee, and the fact that they cannot be retrieved, should be cause for serious concern, even a possible criminal investigation.

CNN’s Whitney Wild(video at 1:50):“What they had said prior is that the [DHS] Inspector General was aware of the missing text messages as of December 2021, that was the information we had learned some days ago, when two key Democrats were calling for the Inspector General’s recusal. Now, sources tell CNN, that the Secret Service notified the office of the Inspector General that text messages were erased in May of 2021, seven months earlier than previously known. The Secret Service has explained that these text messages were lost in a previously scheduled data migration of agents cell phones. The Committee [January6th] and Cuffari [DHS-IG] are interested in these text messages because, as you point out, these are people who were right at the center of what was going on on January 6th, and depending on what the content is, could shed light on the Secret Service’s response that day, and further, what they witnessed, among others…The other big thing that we’re learning here about the timeline[is]…in July, a representative for the Inspector General’s office told the Department of Homeland Security, they were no longer seeking these text messages. That was in July of 2021, about a year before the Inspector General brought these hurdles to congressional oversight committees.”

There’s no other way to interpret Whitney Wild’s remarks other than(I’d be happy to stand  corrected of course), DHS Inspector General Cuffari is not being forthright about his investigation into the missing Secret Service texts. The shifting narratives as to when his office found out about the missing texts only raises suspicions from the general public, of a possible DHS cover up. Also, why did his office stop looking for the texts in July 2021? Wasn’t that the proper time for him, or the DHS Secretary for that matter, to notify the January 6th Committee of the problems they were having retrieving the texts? Very suspicious indeed.

Bottom line folks, the missing Secret Service texts scandal is just the latest in a long line of very troubling stories emanating from DHS, which all center around the same original sin–lack of proper congressional oversight, an issue Yours Truly has repeatedly screamed about, to your rolling eyes of course. Simply put, DHS has devolved into the corrupt federal behemoth we are witnessing today because at every turn since it’s inception, Congress and the corporate mainstream media, have looked the other way, when the public has raised credible concerns about abuses at/by the agency.

One only hopes that some of the outrage over the missing/deleted Secret Service texts will be aimed at complicit Congress and the corporate mainstream media. Simply put, DHS and other agencies tasked with our national security, will never change without proper/effective oversight. Plain and simple.

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Rebekah Mercer Ted Cruz And The Cambridge Analytica Connection

Data firm Cambridge Analytica has made headlines in recent weeks after news reports surfaced that among other things, the data firm harvested user data from social media giant Facebook without the users’ consent, and later used the harvested data to create psychological profiles of voters for political campaign purposes. The public’s outrage following revelations of this massive invasion of privacy by Cambridge Analytica has seriously hampered its business operations with the latest reports suggesting that the data firm is shutting down. A lot of the outrage has also been directed at one of the data firm’s top executives, Rebekah Mercer because she doubles up as a GOP Super Donor. The daughter of Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Robert Mercer, Rebekah was the major financial force behind then candidate Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign. A lot of the public outrage has therefore been directed at Rebekah Mercer in regards to the tactics Cambridge Analytica  may have employed in the Trump campaign.



The Mainstream Media has paid little attention to the fact that prior to supporting the Trump campaign, Rebekah Mercer and her Cambridge Analytica were solidly behind then presidential candidate Ted Cruz. An interesting March 20, 2018 piece by The Dallas Morning News however has raised questions about the role Cambridge Analytica played in Ted Cruz’s Presidential Campaign. In the article members of the Texas Democratic Party blasted Cruz’s ties to Cambridge Analytica saying Cruz benefited from a “Massive invasion of privacy” and “deceitful activity”. Texas Democratic Party’s Deputy Executive Director Manny Garcia added, “Ted Cruz will stop at nothing to weasel his way into power, even if it means weaponizing stolen information to manipulate people to like him….Cruz’s campaign exploited personal information to create psychological profiles on millions of Americans. All to keep lining the pockets of Cruz’s billionaire super PAC donors — like Robert Mercer, who funded this propaganda machine.”

Cruz Campaign Spokeswoman Catherine Frazier responded to the attack by Texas Dems saying, “They[Cambridge Analytica] assured us the claims made in the press were false” adding that the Cruz Campaign relied on Cambridge Analytica’s assurances that “all data used by them were obtained legally, that they would conduct their operations ‘in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations,.”

The fact of the matter however is we now know through numerous subsequent revelations including by whistleblowers that Cambridge Analytica did indeed engage in very questionable and potentially illegal conduct and that Ted Cruz Campaign benefited from it. In a July 7, 2015 Politico piece for example, Ted Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler is quoted as marvelling at the services of Cambridge Analytica during the Iowa Caucus saying “I’ve seen their product, and it’s better than anything I’ve ever seen.”

The same Politico piece also says that Cambridge Analytica sent its staff to work at Cruz Campaign Headquarters in Houston, Texas meaning some of Cambridge Analyica’s questionable tactics were also applied to Texas voters who use Facebook.

The response by Cruz Campaign Spokeswoman Catherine Frazier therefore, that they relied on Cambridge Analytica’s assurances not to invade people’s privacy does very little to answer the central charge levelled by Texas Democrats–that Cruz campaign benefited and is still benefiting from improperly/illegally obtained data. Nobody is faulting the Cruz Campaign for relying on Cambridge Analytica’s assurances. The fact of the matter is the data firm improperly/illegally acquired people’s data from Facebook and used it for the campaign’s benefit. This is now a proven fact not a supposition.

Even more troubling is the fact that Cruz Campaign may still be benefiting from this improperly/illegally obtained data in the U.S. Senate race against Democrat Beto O’Rourke—essentially running an illegal campaign. The Texas Republican Primary was held on March 1, 2016(Super Tuesday). At that time Cambridge Analytica was still in Cruz’s corner as he tried to fend off then candidate Donald Trump from scoring an upset victory in Texas.

Any reasonable person would therefore conclude that Cambridge Analytica did indeed harvest Texans’ Facebook data to help Cruz beat Trump in the Texas GOP Primary. It strains credulity to suggest that the Cruz Campaign is not using this information in their current heated battle against Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke for the U.S. Senate seat

Bottom line, a very plausible argument can be made(in federal court) that Ted Cruz’s previous ties to Cambridge Analytica render his current campaign for the U.S. Senate AN ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN borne out of, as Texas Dems put it, “A MASSIVE INVASION OF PRIVACY.” The DNC/Texas Dems should really explore a federal lawsuit against the Cruz Campaign. If such a venture were ever to materialize (Dems winning lawsuit), the DNC knows what to do, send Yours Truly a check for handing Dems the biggest prize in Elections 2018 (a coveted U.S. Senate seat from Texas) without ever casting a vote.

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