US Politics: Testing, Testing, T... Te.. Testing

[Fragile Bird]

6 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

oh gotcha. Yeah some SEC violation?

After the GFC there was a law written stating that members of Congress and the Senate could not use secret information to sell or buy stocks. In one of the stories about Burr it mentions he was one of the senators who voted against it. I don't know if this means the law was passed or not. Maybe it was supposed to be a Senate rule or something.

Fez, do you know?

[Frey family reunion]

9 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

oh gotcha. Yeah some SEC violation?

That's what I was wondering.

[Larry of the Lawn]

1 minute ago, Fragile Bird said:

That is true, but I admit it. But all through January and February, every single day, people on CNBC were saying why are people ignoring coronavirus? Fund managers were saying they were selling things to have cash ready. People always ignore the warning signs that are plain as the nose on your face, in retrospect.

That's not the point though.  Burr specifically downplayed it in public while cashing out.  Haven't combed through statements fron Loeffler and Feinstein, but if they used info not available to the public to make those decisions they should have all of their fortunes confiscated other than whatever shitty crumbs they give the poorest among us right now and get working at a "starter" job, aka the essential personnel that are keeping everyone afloat here 

[Ran]

30 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Diane Feinstein, through her husband, also participated in this insider sell-off and buy.

No she didn't:

What's being referred to here is the STOCK Act, BTW, which makes sure that people in Congress are subject to insider trade laws. Bill signed into law by Obama in 2012.

[Fez]

1 minute ago, Fragile Bird said:

After the GFC there was a law written stating that members of Congress and the Senate could not use secret information to sell or buy stocks. In one of the stories about Burr it mentions he was one of the senators who voted against it. I don't know if this means the law was passed or not. Maybe it was supposed to be a Senate rule or something.

Fez, do you know?

The STOCK Act prohibits insider trading by members of congress or their staff. It passed the Senate 96-3. Burr was one of the 3 that voted against it. It's a law, Obama signed it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOCK_Act

I'm not positive, but I believe it implements the same penalties that others face for insider trading. So up to 20 years prison time.

[Fragile Bird]

3 minutes ago, Fez said:

The STOCK Act prohibits insider trading by members of congress or their staff. It passed the Senate 96-3. Burr was one of the 3 that voted against it. It's a law, Obama signed it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOCK_Act

I'm not positive, but I believe it implements the same penalties that others face for insider trading. So up to 20 years prison time.

One thing I know for sure about the US, they like to make examples of people who are inside traders. They go after the Martha Stewarts and they go after the secretaries in a law firm who overhear converstions about mergers. Will they go after a senator?

[IheartIheartTesla]

4 minutes ago, Ran said:

No she didn't:

What's being referred to here is the STOCK Act, BTW, which makes sure that people in Congress are subject to insider trade laws. Bill signed into law by Obama in 2012.

Well, I guess it isn't bipartisan after all, and the narrative holds.

In terms of politics, like I said, Whitmer is doing a great job here. Why cant she be President instead of Biden?

[Fez]

Our President everybody...

 

[Fragile Bird]

Geez, why do I watch the daily Task Force press conference? Trump is making me puke again. Asked what he had to say about the fact many Americans were scared he lashed at the reporter, at fake news, at bad journalists, at the dishonesty of the press.

He should be struck by lightning.

[Ran]

9 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

In terms of politics, like I said, Whitmer is doing a great job here. Why cant she be President instead of Biden?

She's one of the most disliked governors in the country, no doubt unfairly, but still. Not a good thing when it comes to the presidency.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

11 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

One thing I know for sure about the US, they like to make examples of people who are inside traders. They go after the Martha Stewarts and they go after the secretaries in a law firm who overhear converstions about mergers. Will they go after a senator?

ONly if he is a Democrat, who is also into escorts.

Which, brings us to..

48 minutes ago, sologdin said:

as an incidental, that's my favorite song of all time. as much as having drug-addled orgies for a long weekend may be desirable, it is dreadfully bad public health advice. or perhaps i am too coronaphobic?

Who reminded me of that scene in Full Metal Jacket, where Joker remarks that half the hokers are intelligence officers in the vietcong, while the others have diseases, thus recommends only those who cough. So I think I'll update it.

Half the working girls are Russian operatives, the others have corona, so I recommend you only hire the Trump supporting NRA members for the moment.

[Fragile Bird]

Pompeo just said the border with Mexico was going to be closed to prevent any Chinese from entering into the US.

Does he know Canada wanted the border shut down to prevent pestilential Americans from entering the country?

[Fragile Bird]

Aaaasrggghhh!

Trump: the US is doing things better than anyone else in the world.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

6 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Pompeo just said the border with Mexico was going to be closed to prevent any Chinese from entering into the US.

I take it the US education system isn't particularly into Geography. First it was all the Syrian refugees marching thru South America to the US border, now it's the Chinese. I am really curious what the mental representation of a World Map in this US administrations minds looks like. On a second thought, I don't want to go down that rabbit hole.

[Fragile Bird]

Gawd almighty, the US had a broken obsolete testing system and Donald Trump has made it great again.

"A broken, old, frankly terrible system and we are not getting credit for it."

History being rewritten before your very eyes.

[dornishpen]

13 hours ago, mcbigski said:

So people with low to no taxable earned income already are going to be hardest hit by an economic slowdown?  Is coronavirus endangering anyone's welfare, housing subsidies, or food stamps? (is SNAP the right acronym now? or is that just in my state?)  The working poor and middle class are going to be hardest hit by a long term economic slow down.  Makes sense to prioritize them.

I find it amusing that most of the same people who go on and on about sustainability in an economic/environmental context also tend to want unlimited free candy.

It is endangering access to food stamps (yes SNAP everywhere officially). The Trump administration recently finalized a rule that non-elderly adults without dependent children who are not considered officially disabled by the government (on disability: SSDI, SSI and maybe state disability) cannot receive SNAP for more than 3 months in a 3 year time period unless they meet certain work or job training criteria. This rule can be waived by the USDA under certain conditions like high unemployment rates above 10%, but they are not required to waive the rule and even if that happens in a few months unemployment is not that high yet, but almost no one can find a job right now.

[dornishpen]

27 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

I take it the US education system isn't particularly into Geography. First it was all the Syrian refugees marching thru South America to the US border, now it's the Chinese. I am really curious what the mental representation of a World Map in this US administrations minds looks like. On a second thought, I don't want to go down that rabbit hole.

Sorry for the double post. Yes American schools are terrible at teaching geography and most Americans knowledge of it is limited to Canada North, Mexico South, and places where we recently fought wars/invaded. However you really shouldn't take the Trump administration literally when they say they're locking down the southern border because of Syrians or Chinese or whatever, it's still about racism and xenophobia towards Latinos, they're just using that as an excuse.

[Fez]

If Mitch McConnell truly can get a massive bipartisan stimulus/economic life raft bill written and passed by Monday, it would be one of the most impressive legislative accomplishments in US history. I mean it.

And it would make his history of roadblocking and stonewalling all the more galling.

[Gaston de Foix]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

One thing I know for sure about the US, they like to make examples of people who are inside traders. They go after the Martha Stewarts and they go after the secretaries in a law firm who overhear converstions about mergers. Will they go after a senator?

Burr's defense is that he didn't rely on the classified information.  If it can be proved that he did (based on timing and, ideally, contemporaneous electronic communications) then he is toast.  But the Senate ethics committee will almost certainly not subpoena him.  It will be the SEC or the DOJ that will have to do so in an investigation. 

By contrast Loeffler's defense (as publicly stated anyway) is that she had nothing to do with the trades.  If it can be proved that she did then she will also be in hot water.  Lying to the public or in a press release is not a crime but it's not a good look before a jury.

Important to note the law on insider trading wouldn't have covered these acts but the Obama STOCK Act appears to do so.  That is their principal legal jeopardy. 

[Gaston de Foix]

18 minutes ago, Fez said:

If Mitch McConnell truly can get a massive bipartisan stimulus/economic life raft bill written and passed by Monday, it would be one of the most impressive legislative accomplishments in US history. I mean it.

And it would make his history of roadblocking and stonewalling all the more galling.

He can't.  He's not playing this to get it passed by Monday.  That would have been a five corners negotiation.  He's playing this to hold his caucus together and make the Democrats look obstructive.  Losing 8 R Senators for Phase 2 was a major warning sign.  

I doubt he can pass anything in the Senate unless he can divide and conquer the Dem minority and he would much rather negotiate with them than Pelosi (let alone Pelosi negotiating with Mnuchin and ramming her preferences down the Senate's throat).  The Dem senators should stick with Pelosi and dictate terms.