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Republican Senate candidate’s hedge fund managed $415m in Russian debt
#David #McCormick, the Republican candidate for US Senate in #Pennsylvania,
led the largest hedge fund in the world while it managed and advised funds holding hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian debt,
documents obtained by the Guardian show.
Filings with the US Department of Labor, known as "form 5500s", show that ⚠️from 2017 to 2021, #Bridgewater #Associates managed funds holding as much as $415m in Russian sovereign bonds.
Since 2019 👉these types of investment have been subject to increasingly stringent US #sanctions, in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Holding such assets is not illegal, but ♦️the question of McCormick’s work with foreign investments and how it might influence his political career has already coloured his current campaign, against the incumbent Democratic senator, #Bob #Casey.
McCormick stepped down as Bridgewater CEO in 2022, in order to run for Congress and a month before Russia mounted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
But sanctions were first levied three years before that when, according to the firm itself, as co-CEO from 2017 to 2020 and then as sole CEO, McCormick was responsible for “overseeing the firm’s strategy, governance, and operations”.
McCormick himself has saidabout his time as Bridgewater boss: “Whatever we did I’m responsible for.”
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/o…
Republican Senate candidate’s hedge fund managed $415m in Russian debt
Pennsylvania candidate David McCormick led Bridgewater, which managed millions in Russian funds, documents showMartin Pengelly (The Guardian)
Backed by a cabal of wealthy conservative patrons like industrialist #David #Koch,
banker #Richard #Mellon #Scaife,
and the devout Catholic entrepreneur #Frank #Hanna,
the Federalist Society under Leo became a breeding ground for conservative judges who were recruited at law school,
groomed through the society’s program of events and talks,
and then bound together through their careers.
“The key was to figure out how to develop what I call a ‘pipeline’
— basically, where you recruit students in law school,
you get them through law school,
they come out of law school,
and then you find ways of continuing to involve them in legal policy,” Leo later explained.
In 2005, the Federalist Society began openly advocating for #John #Roberts
— a former member
— to be nominated to fill a vacant seat at the Supreme Court,
the first time it had campaigned publicly for a particular candidate.
A few months later, its sway had grown so much that it torpedoed President George W. Bush’s own preferred candidate for another vacant seat on the Supreme Court
— #Harriet #Miers, a judge and close friend of the president who wasn’t a member of the Federalist Society
— and pressured him to nominate #Samuel #Alito, one of its members, in her place.
Leo worked closely with the "Judicial Confirmation Network",
a new nonprofit organization set up using funds from #Robin #Arkley, a California businessman known as the
“foreclosure king,” who had made billions buying up mortgages of people in financial difficulties.
The idea for #JCN had been hatched at a dinner in Washington attended by Leo and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia shortly after Bush’s reelection in late 2004.
JCN spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on radio and online advertisement to shape public opinion.
It was run by #Neil and #Ann #Corkery, a couple who had been members of #Opus #Dei since at least the eighties.
Neil had been a critical figure in getting a new residence for male, celibate members of the Catholic movement built in Reston, Virginia.
“Opus Dei members preach their faith through their work as well as the friendships they develop,” Ann explained.
She and her husband would later preach their faith by becoming central figures in a series of nonprofits that would channel dark money for Leo’s efforts.
Biden urges port operators to increase wages after 45,000 workers go on strike
Joe Biden has urged port operators to give workers a “meaningful increase” in pay after tens of thousands went on strike,
prompting some of the busiest ports in the US to brace for crippling disruption.
About 45,000 port workers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) began walking off the job after their contracts expired at midnight,
with 36 ports along the east and Gulf coasts affected.
They typically handle about half of the nation’s ocean shipping.
Talks over a new contract between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) have broken down,
and the union dismissed a last-ditch offer from operators hours before the strike was due to began.
Hours after the strike began, the White House issued a robust statement calling on USMX to negotiate a “fair” contract that reflects “the substantial contribution” of ports workers to America’s economy.
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/o…
Biden urges port operators to increase wages after 45,000 workers go on strike
Strike – the first by port workers on US east coast since 1977 – threatens to shut down ports from Maine to TexasMichael Sainato (The Guardian)
Ports-strike CEO’s crude attacks on Biden and Democrats
An executive representing ports where tens of thousands of workers went on strike this week
made a series of critical and crude remarks about Joe Biden,
tied Kamala Harris to concerns about over-taxation,
and appeared to endorse a rightwing conspiracy theory.
#David #Adam, chairman and chief executive of the United States Maritime Alliance ( #USMX ),
👉attacked prominent Democrats in a string of social media posts uncovered by the Guardian.
It comes after about 45,000 dockworkers at ports along the US east and Gulf coasts walked off the job
– the first such strike since 1977
– as part of a dispute between the USMX and the International Longshoremen’s Association over pay and automation.
The sweeping strike,
disrupting 36 ports from Maine to Texas,
has already raised fears of supply shortages and price increases on the eve of November’s election.
A month ago, when a LinkedIn user suggested that “everything Biden has touched in the past is turning to shit!” -- Adam replied: “The runny kind….”
It was part of a discussion about how Biden’s student-debt relief plan was being held up in the courts.
In another comment on the thread, Adam wrote: “If ya can’t get an American Democrat to pay what they borrrowed [sic], how you gonna get a California illegal immigrant to pay back their $150K loan the CA Dems are offering?”
Three months ago, another user appeared to endorse a popular conspiracy theory surrounding the emergence of a totalitarian world government while commenting on a video of Biden discussing immigration. -- “Did I miss the vote America took in agreement of One World Order? Treasonous actions have consequences!” they wrote.
“I think Kerry and Gates voted two thumbs up on that a few years ago …” Adam replied.
theguardian.com/business/2024/…
Revealed: CEO at heart of US ports strike made crude attacks on Biden and Democrats
David Adam of USMX made coarse remarks about president and appeared to endorse rightwing conspiracy theoryMichael Sainato (The Guardian)
David Brock on Clarence Thomas and supreme court hijack: ‘The original sin’
#David #Brock once attacked #Anita #Hill,
who accused #Clarence #Thomas of sexual harassment.
♦️His new book slams Thomas♦️
Thirty years ago, David Brock made his name as a reporter with 🔸"The Real Anita Hill",
a book attacking the woman who accused Clarence Thomas,
George HW Bush’s second supreme court nominee,
of sexual harassment.
After tempestuous hearings, Thomas was confirmed.
Brock
– who memorably characterized Hill, a law professor, in sexist terms as “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty”
– was launched as a rightwing media star.
Thirty years on, Thomas still sits on the court, the longest-serving hardliner on a bench tilted 6-3 to the right by three confirmations under Donald Trump.
But Brock switched sides long ago, disillusioned by rightwing lies.
He apologized for smearing Hill and eventually became a prominent Democratic operative, close to Bill and Hillary Clinton.
He founded watchdogs and Super Pacs and kept on writing books.
He dealt with his political conversion 20 years ago in 🔸"Blinded by the Right: the Conscience of an Ex-Conservative".
Now, with🔸 "Stench: The Making of the Thomas Court and the Unmaking of America",
he has returned to what he calls “the original sin” of the modern supreme court:
“Thomas’s perjury to get on the court”
and his allegedly untruthful answers to questions about his treatment of Hill and other women.
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/s…
David Brock on Clarence Thomas and supreme court hijack: ‘The original sin’
Brock once attacked Anita Hill, who accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. His new book slams ThomasMartin Pengelly (The Guardian)