March 19, 2023

Sunday, March 19, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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The theme is children.

We learned how different Democrats and Republicans were on children, when the sad news that Trump separated children from their parents hit our media.

Recently, child labor laws have once again become an American issue - strengthened by President Biden through executive order, weakened and rushed to judgment by the newly elected Republican Governor of Arkansas Sarah Huckabee Sanders (she formerly a Trump Press Secretary and adherent, her father formerly AK Governor, Presidential Candidate, Right Wing thought theorist and Fox populist).

Republicans love embryos and hate children.

This painful split is being duplicated internationally. Yesterday -

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and an official at the center of an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, the court announced Friday (CNN).

Russia Signals It Will Take More Ukrainian Children, a Crime in Progress.

The International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for President Vladimir V. Putin highlights a practice that the Kremlin has not concealed and says will continue.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia’s abduction and deportation of Ukraine’s children since its invasion of the country was so well-documented and terrifying that when Russian forces prepared to withdraw from the southern city of Kherson last fall, doctors at a hospital there hurriedly hid babies and falsified their records.

When Russian soldiers arrived, the staff at Kherson Regional Hospital said the infants were too critically ill to move, Olha Pilyarska, the head of its neonatal anesthesiology department, recalled in an interview on Saturday.

“They put lung ventilation devices near all the children,” she said.

The efforts saved 14 babies from being swept up in a campaign that has systematically transferred thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia to be resettled in foster families and put on track to become Russian citizens.

Russian authorities, far from disguising the deportations, have put the children on display in Red Square photo-ops and at lavish concerts celebrating the war. They have also signaled that more deportations are on the way. (New York Times.)

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Trump and his devotees on steroids.

Meanwhile, kindness prevails in Minnesota, where a Democratic Governor is in charge. Touch to watch. 👇

I am remembering Obama and “his” children - a world we can aspire to build.

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Taking care of our country.

Joe is always busy.

President Biden asks Congress for new tools to target executives of failed banks. One aspect of the plan would broaden the F.D.I.C.’s ability to seek the return of compensation from executives of failed banks, a power currently limited to the largest banks. (New York Times).

Biden to Congress: Ban execs of failed banks from the industry.

President Biden wants Congress to enact tougher penalties for executives who oversee failed banks.

Why it matters: Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were both taken over by the FDIC in the last week — events that threatened to grow into a larger-scale banking crisis.

• The banks' downfall had to do with how they managed the risk that sat on their balance sheets — risks that sat in plain sight.

What he's saying: "I'm firmly committed to accountability for those responsible for this mess," Biden said.

• "No one is above the law — and strengthening accountability is an important deterrent to prevent mismanagement in the future."

• "When banks fail due to mismanagement and excessive risk taking, it should be easier for regulators to claw back compensation from executives, to impose civil penalties, and to ban executives from working in the banking industry again."

Backstory: Silicon Valley Bank experienced a record bank run last week after a crisis of confidence among investors and depositors.

• At issue: Losses in its portfolio of long-term bold holdings, which sank in value as interest rates rose rapidly.

• The bank faced the prospect of selling these assets for less than what they paid for them, in order to fund withdrawals. It announced a $1.8 billion loss on one such sale last week.

• Critics point out that interest-rate risk was a well-known market risk over the last few years, and say the bank should have hedged its portfolio appropriately.

Worth noting: SVB CEO Greg Becker sold $3.6 million worth of his own stock in the company in late February — an action that the Department of Justice may scrutinize.

The bottom line: Becker saw tens of millions of dollars in the value of his equity evaporate over the last year — plus, he lost his job.

While that might be somewhat of a deterrent for other bank executives, the law itself limits the Federal government's ability to hold banking leaders accountable, as Biden noted in his remarks.

"Congress must act to impose tougher penalties for senior bank executives whose mismanagement contributed to their institutions failing," Biden said. (Axios)

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Elizabeth Warren and Katie Porter.

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What new crimes will be added to the current charges Trump has accumulated?

Federal investigators examined Trump Media for possible money laundering, sources say.

Federal prosecutors in New York involved in the criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s social media company last year started examining whether it violated money laundering statutes in connection with the acceptance of $8m with suspected Russian ties, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The company – Trump Media, which owns Trump’s Truth Social platform – initially came under criminal investigation over its preparations for a potential merger with a blank check company called Digital World (DWAC) that was also the subject of an earlier investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Towards the end of last year, federal prosecutors started examining two loans totaling $8m wired to Trump Media, through the Caribbean, from two obscure entities that both appear to be controlled in part by the relation of an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the sources said.

The expanded nature of the criminal investigation, which has not been previously reported, threatens to delay the completion of the merger between Trump Media and DWAC, which would provide the company and Truth Social with up to $1.3bn in capital, in addition to a stock market listing.

Federal prosecutors’ interest in the two payments appears to have started when Wilkerson, through his attorneys Patrick Mincey, Stephen Bell and Phil Brewster, alerted the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York to the payments on 23 October 2022.

Trump was the chairman of Trump Media at the time, though it was unclear whether he was aware of the opaque nature of the two loans. Trump typically did not seem to be particularly interested in managing the day-to-day running of Trump Media, Wilkerson said.

But Trump was interested in the deal, Wilkerson said, because he got to own 90% of the shares without putting any money into the company. According to one source familiar with the matter, however, Trump invested some money into DWAC, which could allow him to cash out twice in the event the merger was consummated.(The Guardian)

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Trump and his family failed to report nearly $300,000-worth of gifts from foreign governments, House Democrats allege in new report.

(CNN) — Donald Trump and his family failed to report nearly $300,000-worth of gifts they received from foreign governments between 2017 and 2020, including a “larger-than-life-sized painting” of the former president that may currently reside at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to a new report by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee and supporting documents obtained by CNN.

Over 100 gifts from foreign officials, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, with a total value of over a quarter of a million dollars, were never disclosed to the State Department by Trump and members of his immediate family as required by law, the report says.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told CNN that the fact these items were never reported and some are now missing “suggests serious violations of the foreign Emoluments Clause.”

“That part of the Constitution is America’s original anti-bribery law,” Raskin said, noting lawmakers could make criminal referrals if there is evidence to warrant doing so.

The Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act prohibits a president and federal officials from keeping foreign gifts that exceed the minimal value, which is currently set at $415. The law also put a system in place for how information about foreign gifts gets publicly disclosed and allows recipients of items valued over the set dollar amount have the option of purchasing and retaining them. (CNN).

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Last, this repeat of January 6 may well add additional insurrection charges to the ones Jack Smith is investigating.

Tuesday will soon be here.

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