Motus Mentis

Here’s a news story. I’d say it was “shocking”, or “amazing”, but at this point it really isn’t.

It’s bad, though.

In brief:

New York City has signed a no-bid contract with a “W/MBE” company (i.e., not run by white men) to make debit cards to be issued to “migrants”. The cards will have no names attached, can be loaded with up to $10,000 at a time, and will be given to city officials to hand out at their own discretion. No ID or other credentials will be required of those receiving them. The cards will be loaded with city funds, and the issuing company, MoCaFi (headed by a black man who started the firm back when the violent criminal Michael Brown tried to steal a police officer’s weapon and got ventilated for it), will get a percentage of any funds the city deposits on the cards.

We read:

So, to sum up so far, the Adams administration, with no oversight, no consultation with the city council, and no public discussion, has given itself the flexibility to launch a massive parallel benefits program, alongside — not replacing — traditional welfare cash assistance and (for New Yorkers legally in the country long-term) federal food stamp benefits.

But those traditional programs, at least, come with reasonable, if not fail-safe, fraud protections. People must prove eligibility for these programs, including providing identification.

SNAP food stamp cards are not debit cards. They’re programmed only to pay for specific food items.

Adams’ potential multibillion-dollar debit card program, by contrast, has no such built-in protections.

As the contract with MoCaFi clearly notes, “cardholders will not be subject to ID verification,” and “the city shall be responsible for the accurate delivery” of cards to “consumers.”

And, “after delivery of [cards] to the city, the city shall be responsible for the security of the [cards] until delivered … to the cardholders.”

Under the contract, upon request by the city, MoCaFi will simply dump off hundreds, or more, of blank debit cards with no one’s name on them, with unknown amounts of money to be loaded on them — up to “$10,000 per card” at any one time — by the city.

The city may even issue debit cards to children: “if [cards] are to be distributed to any person under the age of 18 … the city … shall confirm that the minor cardholder’s parent or guardian has consented to the minor’s acceptance and use of the card.”

So, city employees and shelter contract workers are going to be in charge of handing out cards to be loaded and regularly refilled with untraceable cash, to people who have no forms of identity acceptable to the American financial services system, under a program with no eligibility or verification policy.

What could go wrong?

To list one potential problem among many, gang members will know that people staying in adjacent rooms, including vulnerable women and minor children, are in possession of these debit cards.

And potential card recipients will quickly learn who is in a position to make the decision of whether they can get a card.

Someone just posted on Twitter:

Eric Adams: “Why are they all coming to New York?”

Also Eric Adams: “Here’s a Free Hotel, Free Food and a Debit Card with Free Money”

I was having dinner with a friend last night — a capable man in his mid-thirties who might be described, in current parlance, as /ourguy/ — and he told me that younger folks of his acquaintance these days are what he called “clownpilled”: the insanity of the world they now have to make their way in is just taken for granted.