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Ex-FTX CEO Bankman-Fried Arrested in Bahamas as US Files Charges
by Gunnar Larson 13 Dec '22

13 Dec '22

Ex-FTX CEO Bankman-Fried Arrested in Bahamas as US Files Charges https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-12/sam-bankman-fried-arrest… They say this to me nearly every day. XNY.io obviously is better than FTX.

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Cobra meeting to discuss plans for military staff to cover striking workers | Military | The Guardian
by Gunnar Larson 12 Dec '22

12 Dec '22

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/11/cobra-meeting-to-discuss-pl… Skip to main contentSkip to navigation Sign in The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian Support us News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Show More Search input Search google-searchSearch Support us Print subscriptions Search jobs Digital Archive Guardian Puzzles app Guardian content licensing site The Guardian app Video Podcasts Pictures Inside the Guardian Guardian Weekly Crosswords Corrections Facebook Twitter UKUK politicsEducationMediaSocietyLawScotlandWalesNorthern Ireland Military Cobra meeting to discuss plans for military staff to cover striking workers Labour and former army head warn repeated use of armed forces may lead to burnout and soldiers quitting Members of the British Army and a Border Force Official Peter Walker and Dan Sabbagh Sun 11 Dec 2022 17.30 EST Plans for military staff to cover for striking workers are to be discussed at a Cobra meeting, amid warnings that over-stretched troops are being used repeatedly to bail out ministers unable to solve disputes. With about 1,000 personnel due to miss Christmas breaks as they fill in for ambulance crews and border staff, military sources and retired senior officers warned about the potential impact on morale for troops whose real-terms pay has also declined. Ministers from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will take part in a pair of scheduled meetings of the government’s Cobra emergencies planning committee, billed as a chance to finalise contingencies to cope with an upcoming wave of public sector strikes. Nurses are set to become the latest to stage a walkout on Thursday, after the government refused an offer by unions to pause the action if ministers agreed to talks over a possible pay deal. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said on Sunday that while the health secretary, Steve Barclay, would talk to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Unison union, he would not discuss any deviation from a pay award decided over the summer by the official NHS pay review body. Thousands of ambulance workers and other NHS staff across England and Wales are also due to strike on 21 December over pay, while Border Force staff at airports and ports will strike from 23 December to Boxing Day, and from 28 December to New Year’s Eve. Rail workers are also scheduled to hold more strikes over Christmas, as are Royal Mail staff. The first Cobra meeting, on Monday, will be headed by Oliver Dowden, who as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster is the most senior minister in the Cabinet Office, which is in charge of planning for the strikes. As well as the MoD, ministers from the Department for Transport, Department of Health and Social Care and the Home Office will take part, with a second meeting planned for Wednesday. The 1,000 military personnel will be joined by the same number of civil servants and volunteers in being trained to carry out duties such as checking people at borders and staffing ambulances, with 600 of the troops filling in for Border Force workers. While one government source argued that such numbers were standard for “military aid to civilian authorities” (Maca) arrangements, some in the military have started to question the amount of assistance being sought, with soldiers missing what could be their third Christmas in a row, after the military were called into help with the Covid crisis and other deployments. “Maca used to be last resort. Now it’s the go-to. Bad government planning equals soldiers missing Xmas,” said one military source, reflecting what they said were repeated grumblings they had heard from junior ranks. Lord Richard Dannatt, the former head of the army, warned over the weekend that soldiers being forced to miss Christmas with families could damage morale and see some quit. “Soldiers might decide they’ve had enough of bailing the government out of the muddles it gets itself into,” he told the Mail on Sunday. “They might think: ‘I joined to be a soldier, not a strike-breaker.’” Labour has reiterated its request to the MoD to spell out how many personnel in total are being used for Maca duties, and warned that the extent of such duties could affect national security. “Our armed forces are there to defend our nation, but are having to bail out Conservative ministers who are grinding our country to a halt,” said John Healey, the shadow defence secretary. “Troops will perform these tasks with total professionalism, but extra domestic demands raise real concerns while ministers continue to cut the size of the British army and the UK faces growing threats.” Sign up to First Edition Free daily newsletter Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In quotes released to announce the Cobra meetings, Dowden stressed the government’s line that the public should blame unions for any problems. “The government will do all it can to mitigate the impact of this action, but the only way to stop the disruption completely is for union bosses to get back round the table and call off these damaging strikes,” he said. But in response to the offer from the RCN and Unison, Cleverly said it was impossible for ministers to amend awards decided by the independent pay body, even though these are only advisory, are based on parameters set by ministers, and have been ignored in the past. “The point is, meetings are different from pay negotiations,” Cleverly told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show. “Ultimately, independent bodies are there for a reason, to take the politics out of this kind of stuff. And we respect the judgment they have made, and we’re implementing it.” Labour’s Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said ministers were seeking to blame a crisis in the NHS this winter on striking staff, rather than seeking a solution. “They’re quite happy to see paramedics and nurses go on strike because when the proverbial hits the fan this winter, they are going to blame nurses and paramedics for an NHS crisis which is squarely the fault of a Conservative government,” Streeting said. “I think that’s dangerous. I think it’s reprehensible. I think it’s irresponsible.” Sir Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England, also said the service was working with unions to ensure patients remain safe on strike days. “We are working hard to make sure patients are safe. Emergency services will be maintained, so if you have a life-threatening condition then please continue to call 999, and if [you have a] non life-threatening condition then 111 should be your dockyard of call,” he said. $608,463 contributions $1,000,000 our goal Lend us a hand in 2023 We have a small favour to ask. Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian’s fearless journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. More than 1.5 million supporters, from 180 countries, now power us financially – keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent. We’re raising $1m to support our reporting in 2023. We hope you’ll consider a year-end gift. Unlike many others, the Guardian has no shareholders and no billionaire owner. Just the determination and passion to deliver high-impact global reporting, always free from commercial or political influence. Reporting like this is vital for democracy, for fairness and to demand better from the powerful. And we provide all this for free, for everyone to read. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of the events shaping our world, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action. Millions can benefit from open access to quality, truthful news, regardless of their ability to pay for it. Help us reach our $1m goal for 2023. Make a year-end gift to the Guardian from as little as $1 – it only takes a minute. If you can, please consider supporting us with a regular amount each month. Thank you. Contribution frequency Single Monthly Annual Contribution amount $7 per month $13 per month Other Continue Remind me in January Accepted payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and PayPal Topics Military Industrial action British army Ministry of Defence James Cleverly Oliver Dowden Wes Streeting news Reuse this content More on this story Rail strikes to go ahead as RMT votes to reject latest offer 6h ago Whitehall graduate scheme members to vote on strike action 11h ago Nurses will strike this week in UK after talks with health secretary stall 28m ago Factcheck: are UK strikers greedy, unrealistic and putting others in danger? 15h ago Military in thankless task as soldiers drafted in to replace striking workers 1d ago Ministers refuse to negotiate with nurses on pay to prevent NHS strikes 2d ago Officers unlikely to stand in for striking ambulance drivers, police chiefs say 3d ago Nurses’ union leader accuses Steve Barclay of ‘bullyboy’ tactics 3d ago Most viewed UKUK politicsEducationMediaSocietyLawScotlandWalesNorthern Ireland News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning Sign up for our email About us Help Complaints & corrections SecureDrop Work for us California resident – Do Not Sell Privacy policy Cookie policy Terms & conditions Contact us All topics All writers Digital newspaper archive Facebook YouTube Instagram LinkedIn Twitter Newsletters Advertise with us Guardian Labs Search jobs Back to top © 2022 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (modern)

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Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice The board’s role in building resilience Boards of directors can help executive teams build the foresight, response, and adaptation capabilities they need to manage future shocks.
by Gunnar Larson 12 Dec '22

12 Dec '22

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D_bURM5ffRybFF-lQIZ12RK7ETx9aah0/view?usp=… Brody Larson collates 55 highlights to: "The board’s role in building resilience," from McKenzie and Company.

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[ot][spam] ranting re doctorow’s new book
by Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many 12 Dec '22

12 Dec '22

i mentioned the newer “attack surface” book to somebody recently, and i think i erred when i said it looked to me like it complied with the state more than the previous, i developed this opinion from the medium.com link advertising it. it described the new book as “redeeming” readers, and it described it as “adult”-like and the older as “child”-like. in my experiences of intense authoritarian influence in the usa mid-2010s, grassroots views were considered “child”-like, while accepting authority was described as “growing up” to be an “adult”, similarly grassroots hacking was considered criminal and evil. it was distressing to me to see this messaging in the doctorow article, and i figured doctorow had sold out. since, i have learned that doctorow is strongly associated with medium.com, blogging there with high frequency (recent article on neuroimplants), and i found a different website that lists terms in the new masha attack surface book. i recognized every term i skimmed as something important for people to learn about. so, i am thinking i should judge it less quickly, but it still looks weird, i wonder who picked the phrasing i responded to.

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Besides Shor's algorithm and its implications for cryptography
by professor rat 12 Dec '22

12 Dec '22

Besides Shor’s algorithm and its implications for cryptography, here’s the rest of what quantum computers promise: A quantum computer could open new frontiers in mathematics, revolutionizing our idea of what it means to “compute.” Its processing power could spur the development of new industrial chemicals, addressing the problems of climate change and food scarcity. And it could reconcile the elegant theories of Albert Einstein with the unruly microverse of particle physics, enabling discoveries about space and time. How long until quantum computers unify GR and the Standard Model? We just need better, fault-tolerant, qubits, and then: A thousand fault-tolerant qubits should be enough to run accurate simulations of molecular chemistry. Ten thousand fault-tolerant qubits could begin to unlock new findings in particle physics. Needless to say increasing use of quantum PKI guarantee a cryptoanarchist internet the future-shock from which could cause fatal whiplash in many cases of those unfamiliar with exponential developments and singularities. The ' Govcorp conspiracy crowd for one.

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No One Trusts the FTX Bankruptcy Case: News Outlets Intervene; Justice Department Trustee Demands Independent Examiner; SEC Orders Disclosures
by Gunnar Larson 12 Dec '22

12 Dec '22

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/12/no-one-trusts-the-ftx-bankruptcy-cas… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: December 12, 2022 ~ Sam Bankman-Fried Sam Bankman-Fried, Co-Founder and Former CEO, FTX Two days after the disgraced crypto exchange, FTX, filed its bankruptcy petition in Delaware bankruptcy court, Wall Street On Parade published an article explaining why it was problematic that the Big Law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell somehow managed to become the legal advisor on the FTX bankruptcy process despite its prior engagements with FTX and Alameda Research, the hedge fund owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and ousted CEO of FTX. We wrote at the time: “The General Counsel of FTX.US, the FTX exchange serving customers in the U.S., is former Sullivan & Cromwell partner, Ryne Miller, who had co-chaired the law firm’s commodities, futures and derivatives group and worked at the law firm for eight years prior to joining this speculative, upstart crypto exchange… “Another Sullivan & Cromwell partner involved with FTX is Ken Li, who represented FTX.US last year in its acquisition of crypto derivatives firm, LedgerX, which provides trading in crypto futures, options and swaps to both retail and institutional clients. “But of greatest significance was Sullivan & Cromwell’s representation of both Alameda Research and FTX in their joint bid to purchase the assets of bankrupt crypto exchange, Voyager Digital Holdings, last year. While Sullivan & Cromwell’s website states that it represented FTX.US in its winning bid, the filings in the court case indicate that Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers Andrew G. Dietderich, Brian D. Glueckstein, and Benjamin S. Beller were also representing Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund that is alleged to have misappropriated customers’ funds from the FTX exchange….” Now, lots of other folks are sharing Wall Street On Parade’s skepticism of what’s happening in the Delaware bankruptcy court involving the FTX bankruptcy proceedings. Just last Friday, December 9, four major news outlets filed an emergency motion with the court asking for transparency in the proceedings. The news outlets are Bloomberg News, Dow Jones (parent of the Wall Street Journal), the New York Times and the Financial Times. The news outlet intervenors wrote as follows in their court filing: “Debtors [FTX and its more than 100 affiliates incorporated in secrecy jurisdictions like the Bahamas and Antigua] have been accused of lack of transparency in their business. That mindset appears to have carried over to this bankruptcy, as they have taken the extraordinary step of seeking to keep under seal their list of creditors, a document which, with very few exceptions, has historically been open to the public. Intervenors object to the continued sealing and redaction of information that historically has been quintessentially public in nature.” And this: “Redacting the names of the creditors will have far-reaching impact as the case progresses. Will any creditor who wants to file a motion or an adversary proceeding be entitled to do so anonymously? Would preference actions redact the names of defendants who are creditors? This will turn the entire proceeding into a farce, with only the Debtor’s name publicly spoken. This would be contrary to Congress’s ‘strong desire to preserve the public’s right of access to judicial records in bankruptcy proceedings.’ Video Software Dealers Ass’n, 21 F.3d at 26 (quoted in In re Alterra Healthcare Corp., 353 B.R. at 75). The Court has indicated that proofs of claim will not be submitted anonymously. If disclosure it inevitable, there is no point to keeping the names anonymous now.” That action by major news outlets followed a filing on December 1 by the U.S. Trustee, who is the watchdog for the U.S. Department of Justice in bankruptcy cases. The U.S. Trustee’s filing requested the appointment of an independent examiner in the FTX matter. In making the request, the U.S. Trustee, Andrew R. Vara, noted that FTX had disintegrated over “the course of eight days in November” after having a valuation of “$32 billion just earlier this year.” He called it “likely the fastest big corporate failure in American history.” He further explained his demand as follows: “An examiner could—and should—investigate the substantial and serious allegations of fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct, and mismanagement by the Debtors, the circumstances surrounding the Debtors’ collapse, the apparent conversion of exchange customers’ property, and whether colorable claims and causes of action exist to remedy losses. The appointment of an examiner is mandatory under 11 U.S.C. § 1104(c)(2) because the Debtors’ fixed, liquidated, unsecured debts to its customers alone far exceed section 1104(c)(2)’s $5 million threshold. “An examination is preferable to an internal investigation under the facts of these cases because the findings and conclusions of the examination will be public and transparent, which is especially important because of the wider implications that FTX’s collapse may have for the crypto industry….” Like Wall Street On Parade, the U.S. Trustee shows skepticism in his court filing about how, and by whom, John Ray III, the man who replaced Sam Bankman-Fried as CEO of FTX, was appointed. The U.S. Trustee writes in the court filing: “Mr. Ray was appointed the CEO of the Debtors on the Petition Date, after Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO. Mr. Ray does not indicate who appointed him. As noted above, the Omnibus Corporate Authority signed by Bankman-Fried reflects that he ‘authorize[d], instruct[ed] and consent[ed]’ to Mr. Ray’s appointment. Mr. Ray’s first official act was to authorize the chapter 11 filings of the Debtors and the commencement of these cases. But the Omnibus Corporate Authority attached to the Debtors’ petitions was signed solely by Bankman-Fried. Mr. Ray states that ‘new independent directors’ have been appointed to what Mr. Ray calls the ‘the primary companies in the FTX Group,’ with one separate director being appointed to each of the WRS, the Alameda, and the Ventures Siloes and two other directors to the Dotcom Silo. Mr. Ray does not disclose who appointed these directors. Mr. Ray does not indicate whether Bankman-Fried’s counsel was consulted with respect to the appointments. He also does not indicate whether these new directors are the only directors on the Debtors’ boards or whether any directors from the prepetition period remain.” Elsewhere in the court filing the U.S. Trustee writes: “An investigation by an examiner into the alleged conversion by the FTX Trading arm of the Debtors of $10 billion of customers’ property to lend to its affiliate Alameda, in violation of the express provisions in FTX’s customer contracts, and into the use of software to conceal such misuse is unquestionably in the interests of the Debtors’ creditors and other interests of the estates. The many instances of what Mr. Ray describes as a ‘complete failure of corporate controls and [] a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here’ such as those detailed in paragraph 30 of this Motion, also warrant examination.” And this: “…the questions here are much broader than in a typical chapter 11 case; they are not merely about where money flowed or who can sue whom. Rather, they are larger questions about the fundamentals of these cases. Was this an unsuccessful business or a successful fraud? In other words, is there anything to save here?” The U.S. Trustee’s court filing is signed by Juliet M. Sarkessian, Benjamin A. Hackman, and David Gerardi, trial attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice. Since the proceedings thus far in the Delaware bankruptcy court have drawn a dark curtain around the parties that were involved with FTX, either as investors or customers, the Securities and Exchange Commission took the unusual step last week of ordering all publicly-traded companies that had relationships with crypto companies that are experiencing financial distress or filing bankruptcy to make disclosures in their SEC filings as to the “direct or indirect impact that these events and collateral events have had or may have on their business.” To underscore the ramifications that may occur from failure to make appropriate disclosures in their SEC filings, the SEC provided a sample letter that a company suspected of withholding relevant information from the SEC and the public might receive. The sample letter included the following paragraph: “To the extent material, discuss how the bankruptcies of XX and XX and the downstream effects of those bankruptcies have impacted or may impact your business, financial condition, customers, and counterparties, either directly or indirectly. Clarify whether you have material assets that may not be recovered due to the bankruptcies or may otherwise be lost or misappropriated.” The requests by the media outlets and the U.S. Trustee, along with other matters, are expected to be discussed at this Friday’s FTX hearing in the Delaware bankruptcy court. You can watch the live stream of the hearing, beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET at this link.

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[ot] karl prayer to rebels and mind controllers
by Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many 12 Dec '22

12 Dec '22

hihi, I am so incredibly thankful for the swathe of recent successes in my life, that seem to be growing faster and faster. Today, I am relating back that it is too much at once right now. I have hard-to-describe internal experiences that relate to my ability to protect remaining small parts of my behaviors, memories, cognition, consciousness, and personal identity, that become very threatened and can get further damaged, when I resist my influences too much. I need some time with my influence believing I am fully complying. It expects me to: - be completely unproductive - do nothing to empower myself, such as making money or reusable tools - be slightly disempowering of myself, draining my resources in small ways - be disreputing myself to others, appearing unpleasant - be indulgent and controllable - acting "moronic" and minimally strengthening my mind - [other things] I need to be aware these things are happening, to stop harming myself internally, right now. I need some time doing only things that could be these things. JUST AT MOST A FEW DAYS. this can easily snowball. I personally enjoy doing productive things, so it is generally easy to find little things that counter the first point that parts of me are really interested in. I have some things that slightly counter the points above I am working on. Things that are more familiar to me are much easier. The situation relates internally to different states of mind and internal processes I have; sometimes complex projects are completely safe; other times I can barely do anything at all. It depends on what information the dissociated parts of my mind are exposed to, and what beliefs they develop. I have a lot of sensory gaps, unfortnutely, so there are many options, but the influence has not really been using them much. Thank you for so much aid.

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Gramps charged with dumping garbage illegally
by professor rat 12 Dec '22

12 Dec '22

Lawyers have also obtained rafts of internal messages that are “evidence that Grarpamps, sorry, Fox knew the lies it was broadcasting about Dominion were false” and part of a culture of politically loaded reporting and broadcasts far from the network’s claim to be “fair and balanced”. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/dec/11/rupert-murdoch-fox-dominion-l… Reposts not scowls from afart

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C-punks owe Muslims a favor
by professor rat 12 Dec '22

12 Dec '22

Since Osama chewing up the scenery took heat away from our first-wave cypherpunk revolution, I propose Muslims be rewarded with a strong PR focus on boosting global hawala in general and the bhang trade with former East Pakistan, in particular. Also oppressors of Muslims in China and Burma be removed with extreme prejudice. All those in favor spam ' Aye "

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Cryptocurrency: "Audits" That Aren't, Lies That Are
by grarpamp 12 Dec '22

12 Dec '22

To date no exchange has published a true audit, not least one lincluding all liabilities. Binance's Alleged Crypto Audit Failed, Not Even Its Auditor Would Vouch For It https://mishtalk.com/economics/binances-alleged-crypto-audit-failed-not-eve…

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