June 2024 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

BREAKING: Supreme Court Freezes EPA's 'Good Neighbor' Rule
by Gunnar Larson 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

BREAKING: Supreme Court Freezes EPA's 'Good Neighbor' Rule <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1812331?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Katie Buehler The U.S. Supreme Court stayed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's plan to reduce cross-state pollution Thursday, finding several states and industry groups challenging it in court will likely prevail on the merits. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1812331?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1812331?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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Congressman Andy Barr Stacks a Hearing on the Fed’s Stress Tests with Lobbyists for Megabanks
by Gunnar Larson 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/06/congressman-andy-barr-stacks-a-heari… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 27, 2024 ~ Congressman Andy Barr Congressman Andy Barr Delivering Opening Remarks at a Stress Test Hearing on June 26, 2024 Yesterday the House Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy Subcommittee held a hearing titled “Stress Testing: What’s Inside the Black Box?” The hearing was convened to examine the manner in which the Federal Reserve conducts its stress tests of the megabanks. The witnesses called to testify included the following: an employee of the Financial Services Forum, a registered lobbyist for banks; an employee of the Bank Policy Institute, a registered lobbyist for banks; Jonathan Gould, a lawyer from Jones Day, whose clients are banks; and one lonely soul, Greg Feldberg, Research Director of the Yale Program on Financial Stability, who was the only credible voice on the witness panel. The Chair of this Subcommittee is Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky whose largest four campaign donors are the following: employees of the Wall Street private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Blackstone Group; Wall Street-connected venture capital firm and a major political donor, Andreesen Horowitz; employees and the Political Action Committee of JPMorgan Chase, the five-count felony megabank on Wall Street that is leading the charge to gut federal regulatory proposals for higher capital at the high risk megabanks. Barr began the hearing with an opening statement that closely tracked the arguments that were about to be made by his three witnesses tied to Wall Street banking. Those witnesses proceeded to attack the Fed for the secrecy of its models used to conduct the stress tests and to lobby for putting the models out for public comment. Feldberg, the Yale researcher, said this: “The banks spend a great deal of money trying to reverse engineer the stress tests. And don’t think they do that for any other reason than trying to game the process. They can do a pretty good job of reverse engineering because they already get more information about the stress test models than any other country gives their banks.” Bolstering Feldberg’s argument, the Fed announced yesterday that all 31 banks it had stress tested had passed the tests. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Questioning Witness at House Hearing on Stress Tests, June 26, 2024 Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Questioning a Witness at House Hearing on Stress Tests, June 26, 2024 Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, was one of the last members of the Subcommittee to speak. She summed up the hearing like this: “Again, deregulation is a failed approach. Yet, bank lobbyists are continuing to push for less stringent oversight. My colleagues across the aisle are working with big banks to publicly reveal the mechanics behind stress testing. This is not a pro-transparency, good governance argument. They simply want to help banks game the system and circumvent oversight.” Anticipating this rigged hearing, the nonprofit watchdog group, Better Markets, released a 13-page detailed analysis of how the Fed’s stress tests have already been weakened and have reduced Americans’ confidence in the U.S. banking system. One of the many important points made by Better Markets is that the Fed eliminated its qualitative assessment of banks which was originally in the stress tests. Better Markets writes: “Weaknesses in bank practices that are reviewed during the qualitative assessment, particularly those supporting risk measurement and data integrity, can undermine the Fed’s supervisory stress test because the Fed uses information it receives from the banks as inputs. . . . “The Fed could object to the bank’s planned capital payouts under the qualitative assessment. This was known as the ‘qualitative objection,’ which was publicly disclosed in an annual announcement that outlined the reasons for the objection and could lead to temporary restrictions on a bank’s ability to make capital distributions to investors, restrictions that could remain in place until the bank fixed its weak practices.” With the qualitative assessment removed, it is no wonder that megabank JPMorgan Chase can face charges of laundering money for international child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein; keeping two sets of books; admitting to rigging the U.S. Treasury market and precious metals markets; and secretly owning a sprawling network of oil and gas assets and power plants – while still sailing through the Fed’s stress test.

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Re: Morning Spam
by Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

On Thu, Jun 27, 2024 at 09:57 Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many <gmkarl(a)gmail.com> wrote: > This is important! > > — > > A tribe of animal hunters is having a big celebration. > > Members of other tribes hear the festivities, and come to join. > > Member of tribe 2: “This is great! What are you guys celebrating?” > > Member of tribe 1: “Welcome to our celebration! We’re celebrating having > killed 100 animals this season! It’s awesome!” > > Tribe 2 has counted the animals in the area. There were only 100. > > — > > Member of tribe 3: “It’s great you guys have food for the winter, but we > need animals to hunt too, and there aren’t many left.” > > Member of tribe 1: “Um!” > > Member of tribe 4: “Honestly, we need you to bring all your important > people together into a formal meeting with the other tribes, so we can > discuss this incredibly important matter.” > > Member of tribe 1: “Oh!” > > Member of tribe 5: “Or we will wage war on you otherwise! Please help this > come to a peaceful solution!” > > Member of tribe 1: “Definitely! Goodness! I’ll bring this up with other > people and introduce you to others too to make sure this happens!” > > Member of tribe 6: “But we don’t want to hamper your festivities! > Celebration is important!” > > Member of tribe 1: “Thank you!” > > Member of tribe 7: “But we can’t drop this either!” > > — > > After the festivities, a formal meeting is held among all the tribes to > discuss hunting in the area … > > [ > in our meeting we found that tribe 1 had been possibly exposed to > influences of corruption, partly snake oil business people, also other > things influencing their governance and possibly even how they performed > their religious teachings. > > the issue was the corrupt influences were not interested in forthrightly > participating in the meeting, because they were profiting so much from the > situation. > > instead the other tribes decided to spend a lot of time thoroughly getting > to know the people of tribe 1 to prepare to act on the problem of > corruption safely and properly. > > we’re thinking it’s likely important to keep that hidden from the corrupt > people. learning how to do that might be a priority. (forming real > alliances with corrupt people might be awesome!) > > possible big mistakes. > ] > possible summary: we need to have a formal meeting with you but if there are influences of coercion making these problems, we don’t want them at the meeting _unless_ they will not harm it or any attendees

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High Court 'Inadvertently' Posts Order Punting Abortion Case
by Gunnar Larson 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

High Court 'Inadvertently' Posts Order Punting Abortion Case <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1851943?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> By Mark Payne The U.S. Supreme Court mistakenly released a draft order Wednesday that would allow emergency abortions in Idaho, with a majority saying the court was wrong to consider a state challenge at this time. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1851943?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1851943?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…>

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Rep. Seeks Info On Sex Allegations Against Ex-GMU Law Prof
by Gunnar Larson 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

Rep. Seeks Info On Sex Allegations Against Ex-GMU Law Prof <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1851957?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> By Aebra Coe The chair of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce has requested information in a letter to the president of George Mason University and its law school's dean regarding the institution's response to sexual misconduct allegations against former professor Joshua Wright, who is also a former Federal Trade Commission commissioner. Letter attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1851957?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1851957?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6fb9-4a5…>

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Tuna Buyers Settle $1B Price-Fixing Claims Before July Trial
by Gunnar Larson 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

Tuna Buyers Settle $1B Price-Fixing Claims Before July Trial <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1851594?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Lauren Berg Tuna buyers seeking $1 billion in damages over allegations that StarKist, its parent company and a private investment firm that put money into Bumble Bee Foods conspired to hike the price of the tinned fish have reached settlements just ahead of trial, according to a California federal judge's order Tuesday. Order attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1851594?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1851594?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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CFPB Delays Start Of Small-Biz Loan Rule Deadlines Until '25
by Gunnar Larson 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

CFPB Delays Start Of Small-Biz Loan Rule Deadlines Until '25 <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1851571?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Jon Hill The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday formally pushed back the compliance deadlines for its contested rule that establishes reporting requirements for the small-business lending market, putting nearly 10 more months on the clock for banks and other lenders after a court-ordered stay. 2 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1851571?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1851571?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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Gun Co. Co-Owner Tells Del. Justices That Partner 'Lied'
by Gunnar Larson 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

Gun Co. Co-Owner Tells Del. Justices That Partner 'Lied' <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1851621?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> By Leslie A. Pappas A joint owner of a gun manufacturing business who accused his partner of duping him out of his 50% stake told Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday that the partner — who won the case — had repeatedly "lied" during Chancery Court litigation, so the trial court's decision should be overturned. 3 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1851621?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/delaware/articles/1851621?nl_pk=8f2e5a76-bb66-462b-a…>

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Bribery Ruling Could Disrupt ComEd Verdict, Madigan Trial
by Gunnar Larson 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

Bribery Ruling Could Disrupt ComEd Verdict, Madigan Trial <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1852016?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Celeste Bott The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Wednesday narrowing the federal bribery law long relied upon to curb local corruption is expected to make waves in two prominent Chicago cases, attorneys say, with one likening it to a "nuclear bomb" exploding prosecutors' convictions of a former ComEd executive and lobbyists. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1852016?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1852016?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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Supreme Court Bribery Ruling Limits Government's 'Arsenal'
by Gunnar Larson 27 Jun '24

27 Jun '24

Supreme Court Bribery Ruling Limits Government's 'Arsenal' <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1851999?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Phillip Bantz The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday limiting the reach of a federal bribery law has removed a "novel" tool that prosecutors employed in a wide range of public corruption cases and could result in fewer prosecutions of state and local officials, experts say. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1851999?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1851999?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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