The Insane Rationalizations, Bigotry And Hypocrisy Of The Right

[Jeff]

There was a law passed back in '12, the STOCK Act, which apparently addressed that loophole. Whether or not it applies in these instances I'm not sure about but that's why it needs to be investigated.

 

Thanks. If it was supposed to stop this crap then it's failed, perhaps on purpose, because this isn't the first time this has been done in the last few years with no repercussions.

[Murph]

Just remember, they are our masters.

[Nobu]

Insider trading has always been one of the privileges of congressional rank. The surprise is that the STOCK Act actually got passed, and if there are no loopholes in it.

[Skywalkre]

 

There was a law passed back in '12, the STOCK Act, which apparently addressed that loophole. Whether or not it applies in these instances I'm not sure about but that's why it needs to be investigated.

 

Thanks. If it was supposed to stop this crap then it's failed, perhaps on purpose, because this isn't the first time this has been done in the last few years with no repercussions.

 

Laws are often not about stopping something but about punishing improper behavior. It's possible some of these moves were legit and out of the hands of these individuals. There's only one way to know, though, and that's to look into it. I'm more concerned that even that effort won't be made.

[Ivanhoe]

Having now had the Justice Dept politicized, don't be surprised if no action is taken.

Personally, I would like to see all elected and appointed officials be sentenced to 5 years on a chain gang for such conduct.

[Jeff]

 

 

There was a law passed back in '12, the STOCK Act, which apparently addressed that loophole. Whether or not it applies in these instances I'm not sure about but that's why it needs to be investigated.

 

Thanks. If it was supposed to stop this crap then it's failed, perhaps on purpose, because this isn't the first time this has been done in the last few years with no repercussions.

 

Laws are often not about stopping something but about punishing improper behavior. It's possible some of these moves were legit and out of the hands of these individuals. There's only one way to know, though, and that's to look into it. I'm more concerned that even that effort won't be made.

 

 

Apparently, it lasted 2 years before they undid it. Another great bipartisan triumph for DC. If they go after any of these people, it will be because they let the cat out of the bag and got all of them in hot water.

 

How Congress Quietly Overhauled Its Insider-Trading Law

April 16, 20135:12 PM ET

TAMARA KEITH

 

 

The legislative process on Capitol Hill is often slow and grinding. There are committee hearings, filibuster threats and hours of floor debate. But sometimes, when Congress really wants to get something done, it can move blindingly fast.

 

That's what happened when Congress moved to undo large parts of a popular law known as the STOCK Act last week.

A year ago, President Obama signed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act into law at a celebratory ceremony attended by a bipartisan cast of lawmakers.

 

"I want to thank all the members of Congress who came together and worked to get this done," he said.

 

The law wouldn't just outlaw trading on nonpublic information by members of Congress, the executive branch and their staffs. It would greatly expand financial disclosures and make all of the data searchable so insider trading and conflicts of interest would be easier to detect.

 

But on Monday, when the president signed a bill reversing big pieces of the law, the emailed announcement was one sentence long. There was no fanfare last week either, when the Senate and then the House passed the bill in largely empty chambers using a fast-track procedure known as unanimous consent.

 

In the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., shepherded the bill through. It was Friday afternoon at 12:52. Many members had already left for the weekend or were on their way out. The whole process took only 30 seconds. There was no debate.

 

"There weren't too many members of Congress who were aware of this legislation," says Craig Holman, the government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. "And I suspect very, very few understood what a sweeping radical change it is to the STOCK Act."

 

Records In The Basement

To understand how the law changed, I asked Holman to meet me in the basement of the Cannon House Office Building.

 

"This is where the public records are kept, for those who can handle traveling to Washington, D.C.," Holman explained.

 

That's right. If you want to look up the financial disclosure forms filed by high-level congressional staffers — say, to find out whether they've been using the privileges of their positions to make well-timed stock trades — you have to come to this office.

 

Holman showed me how it works. You have to enter your name and address into a computer, and then you can search. But you have to know the name of the person you are searching for. If he or she has filed a financial disclosure form, it will come up as a PDF, which you can print at a cost of 10 cents a page.

 

"The database itself is almost meaningless," says Holman. He says the only option for those who want to get a comprehensive look at what some 2,900 staffers have filed is to review the cases one by one. "And that's just too big a job for anybody to do."

 

The STOCK Act was supposed to make this task significantly easier. Records for members of Congress, the executive branch and their staffs were supposed to be posted online in a searchable, sortable and downloadable format.

 

If you wanted to see who traded health care stock just before a committee acted on a health care bill, it would be easy. No trips to the basement required.

 

But there were concerns, especially among the 28,000 executive branch staff who would be required to post their financial disclosures online.

Going Too Far?

 

"There were particular concerns about risks for those who either travel overseas on government business or work overseas," says Carol Bonosaro, president of the Senior Executives Association, who represents many of those executive branch employees.

 

An independent study said there were also risks of identity theft, which she says the new law helps avoid.

 

"What has been eliminated now is the ability of people to go phishing, if you will," she says.

 

The White House cited the independent report in explaining why the president signed the bill. And a spokesman for Cantor said the House and Senate were simply following recommendations of the study. But Lisa Rosenberg, a lobbyist for the Sunlight Foundation, which advocated for the STOCK Act, says Congress went too far.

 

"It's really shocking that they used basically the situation of questions about whether some language in the bill was overbroad to just gut the bill — to gut the transparency measures that apply to themselves," she says.

 

Still, two major elements of the law remain. Insider trading is illegal, even for members of Congress and the executive branch. And for those who are covered by the now-narrower law, disclosures of large stock trades are required within 45 days. It will just be harder to get to them.

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2013/04/16/177496734/how-congress-quietly-overhauled-its-insider-trading-law

 

[Murph]

Well if Never Trumper Burr gets indicted, who gets his seat? Also what about the rest of them, are we going to see investigations and/or indictments? DiFI is immunized because she is a Democrat, they are never held to account.

[Jeff]

Well if Never Trumper Burr gets indicted, who gets his seat? Also what about the rest of them, are we going to see investigations and/or indictments? DiFI is immunized because she is a Democrat, they are never held to account.

I've heard that even though there is a Dem governor, the law calls for him to be replaced by another Republican.

[Murph]

FBI confiscates Senator Burr's cell phone. https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-intelligence-chairman-served-fbi-search-warrant-over-stock-trades-report-says

 

 

Federal agents seized a cellphone belonging to a prominent Republican senator on Wednesday night as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into controversial stock trades he made as the novel coronavirus first struck the U.S., a law enforcement official said.

Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, turned over his phone to agents after they served a search warrant on the lawmaker at his residence in the Washington area, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a law enforcement action.

To obtain a search warrant, federal agents and prosecutors must persuade a judge they have probable cause to believe a crime has been committed. The law enforcement official said the Justice Department is examining Burr’s communications with his broker.

Of course we know that the FBI lies on their PC affidavits regularly, so I hope they did this one correctly. They are taught to "testi-lie".

[Jeff]

Thirteen idiots and an FBI agent isn't much of a "militia". Hope it's more than a dozen keyboard warriors jibber jabbering on the internet. If they're guilty, lock 'em up! 

Quote

 

FBI thwarts ‘civil war’-crazed militia’s plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Michigan militia members plotted to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — and storm the capitol building in a bid to start a “civil war,” prosecutors said Thursday.

Officials announced federal charges against six men for conspiring to abduct Whitmer — and another seven suspects busted on state anti-terrorism charges for the plot, which involved a militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen.

 

 

[Jeff]

 

[Murph]

2 hours ago, Jeff said:

Thirteen idiots and an FBI agent isn't much of a "militia". Hope it's more than a dozen keyboard warriors jibber jabbering on the internet. If they're guilty, lock 'em up! 

 

Low hanging fruit, bet the FBI set up the whole thing.

[Murph]

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

 

Bet he votes for Harris/Biden.

[Stargrunt6]

1 hour ago, Murph said:

Low hanging fruit, bet the FBI set up the whole thing.

Another election year psyop, mebbe?

 

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/10/08/fbi-announces-arrests-of-michigan-militia-actually-anarchists-for-plotting-against-governor-whitmer/

[Ivanhoe]

3 hours ago, Murph said:

Bet he votes for Harris/Biden.

Not likely, in fact Bernie was probably too conservative. Self-described anarchists in the US tend to be Marxists of the street-violence/mob-rule ilk.

 

[DB]

Frequently "anarchists" don't even know what the term actually means. They think that it means no responsibilities, when it is supposed to mean the ultimate assumption of personal responsibility.

Not that it matters. American political discourse recognises only two polar opposites - Democrats and Republicans. Everyone that disagrees with a Democrat is therefore a Republican.

There is one exception. Anyone who physically assaults a Republican is non-aligned, heroic and forced to do it by Republicans.

[Murph]

1 hour ago, DB said:

Frequently "anarchists" don't even know what the term actually means. They think that it means no responsibilities, when it is supposed to mean the ultimate assumption of personal responsibility.

Not that it matters. American political discourse recognises only two polar opposites - Democrats and Republicans. Everyone that disagrees with a Democrat is therefore a Republican.

There is one exception. Anyone who physically assaults a Republican is non-aligned, heroic and forced to do it by Republicans.

Sad but true.  "The Republicans made me murder, loot, and rape!  It is their fault!"

[Ivanhoe]

15 hours ago, Stargrunt6 said:

Another election year psyop, mebbe?

 

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/10/08/fbi-announces-arrests-of-michigan-militia-actually-anarchists-for-plotting-against-governor-whitmer/

 

[rmgill]

16 hours ago, Murph said:

Low hanging fruit, bet the FBI set up the whole thing.

Let's wait and see. 

[Stargrunt6]

7 hours ago, DB said:

Frequently "anarchists" don't even know what the term actually means. They think that it means no responsibilities, when it is supposed to mean the ultimate assumption of personal responsibility.

Not that it matters. American political discourse recognises only two polar opposites - Democrats and Republicans. Everyone that disagrees with a Democrat is therefore a Republican.

There is one exception. Anyone who physically assaults a Republican is non-aligned, heroic and forced to do it by Republicans.

That's the irony of fanatics, a lot barely know the ideology they promote.

[rmgill]

I  have argued with hard core leftist who were arguing for socialist policies, confiscation of property and state authoritarian practices who said that they were libertarians....

[Stargrunt6]

1 hour ago, rmgill said:

I  have argued with hard core leftist who were arguing for socialist policies, confiscation of property and state authoritarian practices who said that they were libertarians....

Libertarian has to be the most abused political self-appellation ever.

It's like "no dude, you're just a Republican with gay friends, " or "you're just a Democrat who owns guns."

Meanwhile, libertarians are shifting leftward  if Reason.com is any indication.

[rmgill]

I think, if you espouse the core tenants of Thomas Jefferson, you can be an honest libertarian.

Edited October 9, 2020 by rmgill

[Jeff]

3 hours ago, Stargrunt6 said:

Libertarian has to be the most abused political self-appellation ever.

It's like "no dude, you're just a Republican with gay friends, " or "you're just a Democrat who owns guns."

Meanwhile, libertarians are shifting leftward  if Reason.com is any indication.

There are an awful lot of "libertarians" who love them some totalitarianism.

[Soren Ras]

12 hours ago, rmgill said:

I think, if you espouse the core tenants of Thomas Jefferson, you can be an honest libertarian.

<mr picky>

I believe you meant core tenets.

</mr picky>

"tenants of Thomas Jefferson"  conjures up a concept for a comedy series about Thomas Jefferson as landlord and all the wacky hijinks that ensue as the author of the Declaration of Independence must contend with tenants who fail to pay the rent or who insist on keeping their livestock with them, all the while engaged in a war of practical jokes against John Adams, accompanied by the constant exasperated comments from Sally Hemmings and her trademark  line "Oh no, you DIDN'T!"

Of course that could never get greenlit these days. Though you could possibly make an animated show about the pigeons who live on the empty plinths where Jefferson's statues used to be.

 

--

Soren