onfocus

"CEO Greg Becker personally led the bank’s half-million-dollar push to reduce scrutiny of his institution – and lawmakers obliged."

A lesson we should all take from this: sometimes you have to tell the libertarians no so people don’t get horrifically screwed if things blow up.

"Silicon Valley Bank Chief Executive Officer Greg Becker sold $3.6 million of company stock under a trading plan less than two weeks before the firm disclosed extensive losses that led to its failure."

It’s so funny when these coincidences happen.

"For generations, members of the Beers family of Canton, Ohio, have used Christian faith to sell health coverage to more than a hundred thousand people like Martin. Instead they delivered pain, debt and financial ruin, according to an investigation by ProPublica based on leaked internal documents, land records, court files and interviews. They have done this not once but twice and have faced few consequences."

Another side effect of our broken US health care system is evil people like these using people's faith and right wing media diet against them to steal money.

"In the piece, Fuller recounts a time in 2016 he saw a man grab “a handful of beef jerky” and walk out of a Walgreens. Based on this five-year-old anecdote and a statement from Walgreens, Fuller declared a “shoplifting epidemic” and called into question a sentencing-reform measure that reduced some thefts from felonies to misdemeanors. The piece, notably, does not include any data on crime rates in San Francisco."

The media wrote dozens of stories about a retail theft epidemic but it wasn’t based on reality. Why does the media choose to write about some topics frequently based on hearsay? Why aren’t there consequences or retractions with the same volume?

"Others may argue that with so much money involved, the bad guys will find another way. I strongly disagree. There are only three existing mechanisms capable of transferring a $5 million ransom—a bank-to-bank transfer, cash or cryptocurrencies. No other mechanisms currently exist that can meet the requirements of transferring millions of dollars at a time."

More fuel for the anti-crypto fire.

"The findings of nearly 300 pages include shocking new details about specific abuse cases and shine a light on how denominational leaders for decades actively resisted calls for abuse prevention and reform."

Decades of family values.

"Taherzadeh and Ali's alleged ruse was uncovered when a US Postal Inspector started investigating an alleged assault of a USPS letter carrier in an apartment complex where the two men allegedly had multiple units, according to court documents."

Speaking of federal agencies and crime, WTAF? Every time I see new information from this story it gets more bizarre.

"The inflow of cash hasn’t exactly been small, either. A separate tally by the watchdog group Accountable.US shows that these companies and many of the trade groups to which they belong have donated more than $8 million to Congress’s 147 objectors since January 6."

hIsToRy wIlL ReMeMbEr

Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist writing about national security and civil liberties.

By the way if you want more context and detail about the January 6 Insurrection investigation, tune into Marcy Wheeler on the emptywheel weblog. There's more happening than you hear in the news. Also @emptywheel on Twitter.

"By this point, those lies have been circulating for what feels like forever. But at tonight’s rally, as Trump’s fans called for the arrests of poll workers and the reinstatement of the rightful president, I got the sense that this might be just the beginning."

This can only happen in a society with elite criminal impunity. We should all demand real consequences for crimes no matter how much money the perpetrator has. Our culture of billionaire worship is garbage.

"Brooks was released on $1,000 bail, however, despite being charged with running over a woman with his car — the same method he allegedly used to murder five people on Sunday. The district attorney's office has already admitted that this bail was 'inappropriately low,' and promised to open an internal review. Sadly, however, this is no surprise to anyone who has witnessed the long-standing problems of law enforcement failures around domestic violence."

Domestic violence is violence. We should be treating it as a serious offense with serious consequences.

"After a nearly monthlong civil trial, the jury in U.S. District Court deadlocked on two key claims but found the white nationalists liable on four other counts in the lawsuit filed by nine people who suffered physical or emotional injuries during the two days of demonstrations."

Four years later. The wheels of justice are slow, but hopefully this means less incentive for violence in the future.