Category: The American Spectator
Mr. and Mrs. Bureaucrats, Show Us Some Mercy
My goddess, my dream girl since I saw her gliding towards me in a light blue satin dress at a…
The Spectator P.M. Ep. 172: Do Politics Have a Place at the Thanksgiving Table?
Thirty-one percent of Americans are bound to debate politics during Thanksgiving dinner, according to a recent poll that surveyed what…
Thanksgiving Is More Than Turkey
It’s that time. Which is to say it’s Turkey Time in America again. Once again, families are getting together for…
The New Ceasefire Status Quo is War
Over the weekend, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) carried out a major airstrike against Hezbollah in Beirut, constituting the first…
Fascism for Dummies
It’s time for a new installment in the For Dummies series. Since the 1980s, these best-selling, concise, step-by-step reference manuals…
Women’s March Leader Tossed Out for Anti-Semitism Lands on Mamdani Transition Team
A former Women’s March leader who was forced out of the organization for anti-Semitism has reemerged as a member of Zohran Mamdani’s transition team.
The post Women’s March Leader Tossed Out for Anti-Semitism Lands on Mamdani Transition Team appeared first on .
Part 2: How I Found Out My Journalist Side Piece Was Cheating on Me With Her Fiancé Again
She did it again. It was roughly 107 days later. Another triumph over evil and incompetence. Another lump of salt in time’s gaping wound. Joseph R. Biden, the nominal president, had flamed out like a California wildfire kissing the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Mouths forced open, cheeks clenched tight. Engorged tongues tangling like cattails in the briny muck of beachfront bliss. The low whine of steam clouds billowing breast-like over the horizon. Almighty nature tamed at last.
The post Part 2: How I Found Out My Journalist Side Piece Was Cheating on Me With Her Fiancé Again appeared first on .
RealPage, accused of rental price fixing, settles suit with feds
A real estate website once accused of facilitating a “housing cartel” has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice.
After a more than year-and-a-half battle, RealPage and the DOJ have come to an agreement that will limit certain features on the app that renters claimed were unfair.
‘Replacing competition with coordination … renters paid the price.’
In 2024, tenants from a popular building in Jersey City, New Jersey, took RealPage to court over allegations of landlords sharing nonpublic information on the website, including vacancy data.
The tenants said the information inflated rental prices, effectively resulting in price-fixing rent across cities due to landlords using the same algorithm to dictate their prices.
In November 2023, the attorney general of Washington, D.C., submitted a different complaint against 14 other landlords operating more than 50,000 rental units in territory.
“Effectively, RealPage is facilitating a housing cartel,” said D.C.’s AG Brian Schwalb.
A DOJ suit in August 2024 seemingly tipped the scales, and now RealPage has agreed to settle on terms.
According to the DOJ’s Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, RealPage was “replacing competition with coordination, and renters paid the price.”
The settlement stops RealPage from coordinating pricing, Slater said in a video posted to X, and forces the app to cease using competitor data to set rents in real time. As well, RealPage can no longer generate “hyper-localized pricing that pushes rent up” and must eliminate features that discourage landlords from lowering prices.
“It means rents set by the market, not a secret algorithm,” Slater remarked.
In a press release, RealPage boasted that the settlement led to no findings or admissions of liability, including no financial penalties or damages being awarded.
However, the company did reveal that it agreed to be independently monitored to confirm ongoing compliance with the new terms. Reuters reported that the monitorship will last three years and limit how RealPage collects and uses nonpublic data.
RELATED: Did rent go up? Blame AI price-fixing
Stephen Weissman, Gibson Dunn partner and former deputy director for the Federal Trade Commission, reiterated the company’s denial of any wrongdoing and blamed the spread of misinformation for alleged misconceptions on how the app operates.
“There has been a great deal of misinformation about how RealPage’s software works and the value it provides for both housing providers and renters.”
Weissman claimed that the company’s use of “aggregated and anonymized nonpublic data” has led to lower rents and more “pro-competitive” effects.
Aiden Buzzetti, president of the Bull Moose Project, told Return that he feels the settlement ensures that “Americans who rent are not subject to illegal price-fixing practices.”
Buzzetti added, “We support the Trump administration’s transformative direction to hold corporations like RealPage accountable when they violate the law.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
THROWN OUT: Judge Dismisses Comey, James Indictments — But Charges Could Be Brought Again
According to a Fox News report, federal Judge Cameron Currie found that Lindsey Halligan could not charge James Comey and Letitia James.
Founder of ‘America First’ AIPAC Tracker Is Self-Proclaimed Marxist Who Lives in Germany
A founder of Track AIPAC, a group that accuses pro-Israel U.S. politicians of being “foreign agents,” is a self-proclaimed Marxist who lives in Germany.
The post Founder of ‘America First’ AIPAC Tracker Is Self-Proclaimed Marxist Who Lives in Germany appeared first on .
