Reason Roundup

Shutdown Leaves No Money for FBI Snitches and Drug Buys: Reason Roundup

Also, they have no tires?

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FBI Agents Association

Snitches get no pay during shutdown. The partial government shutdown hasn't just hurt airport security theater. The drug war is suffering too: FBI agents are complaining that they don't even the funds to pay snitches or to buy drugs in undercover stings.

These complaints come up in a 72-page FBI Agents Association report in which anonymous agents talk about the shutdown's effect on FBI operations. It has "stripped the department of the ability to buy drugs for narcotics busts and pay confidential informants," notes NBC News. "Not being able to pay confidential human sources risks losing them and the information they provide forever," one agent says.

Another complains that agents had to take a brief break from "using government funds to purchase narcotics or firearms from gang members," while a third is upset that there's no money to "conduct controlled narcotics purchases." Yet another's lament:

[W]e are going to be unable to conduct any controlled purchases of illicit drugs because the FBI and our partner…have no evidence purchase funds available.

Throughout the report, agents object to a lack of funds for paying "confidential human sources" and for fighting the war on drugs. The shutdown may also be affecting the FBI's ability to give overtime pay to state and local cops working with them on drug and prostitution stings.

In addition, the bureau seems to be running out of DNA tests and tires:

At least one agent complains about not being able to protect oil and gas industry representatives:

FBI Agents Association

The Senate is supposed to vote today on two separate shutdown-ending measures—one backed by Republicans, one backed by Democrats, and neither expected to pass.

FREE MINDS

New York state prisons are indefinitely holding post-release prisoners because there's not enough room in supportive housing facilities. Now lawyers for six men have filed a federal lawsuit "to force Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to address a shortage of housing for people with serious mental illnesses who need help adjusting to life outside prison walls," The New York Times reports.

Read the complaint here.

FREE MARKETS

Major layoffs are happening at BuzzFeed, Verizon, and Gannett. BuzzFeed is set to lay off 15 percent of its staff—about 220 employees. The news was reported by The Wall Street Journal yesterday and later confirmed by BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. The company saw double digit growth in 2018 but still failed to meet revenue targets.

Yesterday also saw an announcement from Verizon that its media division—which includes HuffPost, Yahoo, and AOL—will cut 7 percent of its employees. And Gannett is laying off newspaper staff around the country.

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