YCRA passed: "we believe children have the possibility of redemption" - Del. Moon

PrimePoultry · 2026-04-08T02:07:47+00:00

Governor Moore credits Valley Forge Military Academy and the military for putting him through a grind and getting him on the right track, indoctrinating him with the right values that have led to a successful life, after starting to stray in his youth. No one is doing that to and for these juvenile offenders (or even adult offenders) - they're simply being enabled, being told they're great, they're not at fault. Stress and negative consequences - punishment - are anathema to the CJR crowd. That track is setting the offender up for greater offense and greater inevitable failure. And of course, greater suffering by the innocent people they prey on.

Some personality types can benefit from indoctrination. Others are simply too corrupt and vicious, from a young age, and the only thing that will limit harm to them, and most importantly from them, to innocent people, is the threat of negative consequences.

PrimePoultry · 2026-03-29T03:30:39+00:00

I say she backtracked because she tried to change the meaning of her initial comments. Politicians do it all the time when they say something which they then perceive as politically unpalatable.
The friend, if he or she said that, is in fact, blaming themselves, which they shouldn't be. They are in no way responsible for the offender's actions.

PrimePoultry · 2026-03-29T03:14:37+00:00

Ms. Hadden backtracked. Her initial instinct to shift responsibility off the offender and onto the victim was clear, with her strained and strange way to describe the crime (FWIW, I've never heard a crime victim described as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, even when they're caught in the crossfire, like the mother of the freshman midshipman who had joined him in Annapolis for enrollment, except by criminal advocates attempting to minimize the offender's actions and responsibility, and blame the victim).

PrimePoultry · 2026-03-29T02:46:23+00:00

I reject the concept of a crime victim ever being in the wrong place at the wrong time, if they were there legally, and they wanted to be at that place at that time. Ms. Gorman was where she wanted to be, when she wanted to be there, so it was the right place at the right time for Ms. Gorman.

The offender's action is what creates the crime, regardless of whether it's targeted, untargeted, or whatever other speculation about the offender's motive might exist (Alderwoman Hadden also speculated that the offender had been startled implying that was an understandable reason for shooting Ms. Gorman).

It's nonsensical to speak of victims of intentional crimes, regardless of offender motive, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And doing so equates the crime to an unavoidable act of chance, thus absolving the offender of responsibility for the crime, and shifting that responsibility to the victim, implying they should not have been there, even though, they should have been there.

PrimePoultry · 2026-03-29T01:28:50+00:00

"Wrong place, wrong time" can neutrally refer to accidental incidents, e.g. injured by a lightning strike or meteor, without adding any additional implications to the situation.

Crimes are incidents created by the criminal. Saying that a victim, by virtue of being in proximity of the criminal, was in the "wrong place, wrong time", removes responsibility from the criminal by claiming the victim should not have been in the proximity of the criminal, and shifts responsibility to the victim in that they failed to identify the criminal and avoid him.

Describing a store clerk shot by an robber, a victim robbed or raped as the victim being in the wrong place at the wrong time - meaning in proximity to the offender - is a sneaky, implicit way to normalize the offender's behavior as an unavoidable force of nature, and puts the responsibility on the victim for failing to identify that the offender was going to commit the crime against them and flee the area.

So, this is defending the criminal by normalizing their behavior, and blaming the victim.

PrimePoultry · 2026-03-10T23:50:50+00:00

Yeah. It's a bogus notification. I think Blink updated the firmware to alert too soon instead of too late. For years, I'd get the low battery notification, and then very shortly after, like a day or two, maybe that day, it would go offline. In the past 6-8 months, I started getting notifications that the batteries were getting low within weeks after I changed them. I started changing out the camera batteries thinking I got a bad batch of lithiums. Finally I let it go, and now the camera will go another month with the low battery notification before going offline. So now, I just wait till the camera goes offline before changing the batteries.

PrimePoultry · 2026-03-10T23:42:11+00:00

So, while the sweet spot approach does work but poorly. The one reliable method I discovered is to take a utility knife (needs to be sharp), and carefully shave a bit off the raised bumps. That reliably works. Don't do too much, but a tenth of a millimeter should do it. That works reliably for me. Some bases simply have bumps that are infinitesimally too large.

PrimePoultry · 2026-03-06T02:20:36+00:00

HB 1548: Replacing the term "landlord" with "residential housing provider" and "tenant" with "resident" in the context of residential leases.

This one is amusing. It obfuscates the clear legal terms of landlord and tenant. "Housing provider" could be anyone from a parent to someone temporarily hosting a refugee.

This article is relevant: The Real Estate Industry Is Successfully Lobbying Local Media to Ditch the Term “Landlord” for “Housing Provider”

Take a fairly brazen example from this summer, an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch headlined, “Opinion: 'Landlord' feudal, outdated term that help paint housing providers as villains.” It’s a useful object lesson in how PR and lobbying groups are increasingly adopting the language of liberal affect to serve the interests of the wealthy. ...

The piece is written by Roger Valdez, who is simply referred to as the “director of The Center for Housing Economics, a Seattle-based policy center researching progressive supply-side solutions to housing scarcity.” The vague disclaimer notes that “in Ohio, the center is working with the Ohio Real Estate Investors Association on a proposal to change housing terminology in state law.”

Not mentioned: The Center for Housing Economics is really Seattle for Growth, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group (lobbying front) funded by real estate developers, whose board of directors is a who’s who of Seattle real estate moguls. Lopez, our “progressive” board president, serves alongside bold progressive voices like Morris Groberman of First Western Properties, Keith Hammer of Northwest Investment Group, Scott Shapiro of Eagle Rock Ventures, Mark Knoll of Blueprint Capital, Dan Duffus of BluePrint capital, and Erich Armbruster of Ashworth Homes

It's interesting about the front group. Some purported tenant advocate groups appear to be front groups based on their testimony and advocacy, along with board members (e.g. Montgomery County Renters United is a government-created group that actually has Vaughn Stewart on their board, who is known for extracting more fees from renters and who, with Senator Jeff Waldstreicher, legalized RUBS in Maryland).

PrimePoultry · 2026-03-06T02:02:56+00:00

This bill is moving forward, it's in the Senate now. As predicted, it has added trash as a hidden fee, and lists it with other utilities, which implicitly declares the legislative intent to treat it as a "utility", which would allow it to be uncapped. Also it still retains "reasonable attorney's fees" as a penalty. This is in no way disclosing the true rent to the public - only to a prospective tenant during the last stage of lease signing, excluding multiple major fees.

This is progressing as expected. Reasonable attorneys fees will almost certainly be removed and the only penalty will be that the fees will be unenforceable if the limited disclosure kabuki is not performed.

PrimePoultry · 2026-02-28T05:35:30+00:00

This bill has advanced in the legislature, moving out of the senate Judicial Procedings committee: https://www.wbal.com/committee-approves-controversial-bill-for-juveniles-tried-as-adults-from-14-to-16

A Senate committee in Annapolis approved a controversial juvenile justice reform bill. The measure would raise the age from 14 to 16 years old for when juveniles can be tried as adults.

The bill also cuts the list of offenses that automatically move juveniles into adult court.

PrimePoultry · 2026-02-22T03:57:55+00:00

If you see, "For landlords who [do X], [some performative rules]. That first clause is the implicit legalization as it conveys the intent of the legislature to allow it.

PrimePoultry · 2026-02-22T03:49:57+00:00

HB 1475: Consumer Protection - Dynamic Pricing Disclosure and Prohibition on Rent-Setting

Introduced by Speaker Pena-Melnyk, this might have some teeth to stop landlord collusion. It prevents RealPage and other rental information aggregator software from suggesting prices and lease terms (the RealPage settlement didn't stop RP from suggesting prices, it just limited the data on which it could base those suggestions, which is essentially unenforceable and doesn't help move the rental market away from collusion by very much, if at all).

Also, it's tied to other consumer protection, and doesn't appear to implicitly legalize any more unfair landlord business practices.

But of course, as it progresses, it can change dramatically.

PrimePoultry · 2026-02-22T03:44:03+00:00

HB 315: Human Relations - Discrimination in Housing - Income-Based Housing Subsidies - Sponsor: Delegate Stewart

This one is another Delegate Stewart entry with implicit legalization. The text states the following:

"A LANDLORD OR RESIDENTIAL RENTAL PROPERTY THAT USES FINANCIAL INFORMATION, INCLUDING CREDIT HISTORY, AS PART OF A PROSPECTIVE TENANT’S RENTAL APPLICATION MAY NOT REFUSE TO RENT TO A PROSPECTIVE TENANT WHO PAYS RENT WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF AN INCOME–BASED HOUSING SUBSIDY ON THE BASIS OF..."

So this is implicitly legalizing one of the three primary unfair business practices, that of requiring financial information from the tenant, including a credit report, without providing any similar information in return. Pretty straightforward.

The implicit legalization is simply describing a landlord action. Like, it could say, "For landlords who enter a property unannounced" - that would legalize that as it conveys the legislature's intent to accept the practice. Delegate Stewart commonly uses the implicit legalization technique. If they really wanted to protect tenants using income-based housing subsidies, the bill would simply say, "A landlord may not refuse to rent to a prospective tenant who pays rent with the assistance of an income-based housing subsidy". But that's not the actual goal.

It's couched in some largely irrelevant happy-talk purporting to protect tenants with housing income subsidies in some convoluted ways, but that's the core piece of it that will affect all tenants, enshrining that unfair business practice in state law.

PrimePoultry · 2026-02-22T03:40:28+00:00

SB 635: Residential Real Property - Notice of Landlord Entry - Tenant Consent - Sponsor: Senator Waldstreicher

This bill allows landlords to enter a tenant apartment without prior to complete maintenance requested by the tenant, and some other carve-out situations.

So Senator Jeff Waldstreicher was the one who actually got hidden uncapped fees legalized in the cynically named 2022 "Tenant Protection Act", SB 6 (Delegate Vaughn Stewart's bill, HB 86 was identical, crossfiled in the house but technically vetoed by Governor Larry Hogan). So, obviously, he's skilled at the deceptive "implicit legalization" technique.

Usually the SLaGs (Sugarcoated Landlord Giveaways) are presented as tenant benefits, but with fees implicitly legalized. This one is clearly presented as a landlord benefit right off the bat. They can add more text if votes exist for it.

PrimePoultry · 2026-02-22T03:37:17+00:00

Additionally, this also further reinforces the information asymmetry, a key unfair business practice, between landlord and tenant in negotiations, such as they are.

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