February 6, 2019

Jaime Harrison pitches South Carolina Democrats on possible US Senate run against Graham

Washington - An announcement could be imminent that a prominent S.C. Democrat plans to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in 2020.

Jaime Harrison — a former S.C. Democratic Party chairman who now has a leadership position with the Democratic National Committee — met with Democrats in the S.C. House and state Senate Tuesday.

The meetings were a chance for Harrison to talk about his interest in the U.S. Senate race to some of the state’s most prominent Democratic elected officials, a courtesy in advance of a formal announcement.

In a meeting Tuesday with the S.C. House Minority Caucus, Harrison spent 10 minutes behind closed doors addressing assembled lawmakers. He got a warm reception as he worked the room, hugging state representatives that he has known for years.

Read more here: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article225546105.html

February 6, 2019

Venezuela-Colombia Bridge Blocked to Keep Out Humanitarian Aid

President Nicolas Maduro’s authoritarian regime seems to be serious about its threat to block humanitarian aid from entering Venezuela.

On the Venezuelan side of a disused bridge to Colombia, freight containers have been positioned across the road and security forces have been put in place behind them. That border crossing has become the focal point of the effort by Juan Guaido, the lawmaker trying to oust Maduro with the backing of the U.S. and other countries, to get aid into the country to help starving Venezuelans and further undermine Maduro’s grip on power.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-06/venezuela-colombia-bridge-blocked-keeping-out-humanitarian-aid


A gas tank and shipping containers obstructing passage to Venezeula are seen on the Tienditas International Bridge in an aerial photograph taken over Cucuta, Colombia, on Feb. 6, 2019. Photographer: Ivan Valencia/Bloomberg

February 6, 2019

Banks weigh whether to embrace or avoid progressive firebrand Ocasio-Cortez

Barely a month into the new Congress, financial lobbyists in Washington are already strategizing how to handle the star power of rookie Democrat lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The Democratic Socialist and Wall Street critic joined the 60-member House Financial Services Committee in mid-January and more than a dozen lobbyists interviewed by Reuters say the 29-year-old activist and former bartender is too high-profile to ignore.

Richard Hunt, chief executive of the Consumer Bankers Association, said he had not encountered a lawmaker like Ocasio-Cortez in more than 20 years in Washington. “She has the ability to influence unlike a lot of other freshmen.”

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1085599303878496263

The youngest woman ever to serve in Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has become a social media phenomenon with her posts and live-streams on everything from climate change to skin care tips attracting millions of followers across Twitter and Instagram.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-aoc/banks-weigh-whether-to-embrace-or-avoid-progressive-firebrand-ocasio-cortez-idUSKCN1PV27N

February 6, 2019

John Duran -- Accused Of Sexual Misconduct At Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles -- Will Step Down

Mayor of West Hollywood — John Duran — Accused Of Sexual Misconduct At Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles — Will Step Down


The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles told its members Monday that longtime board chairman and major fundraiser John Duran—who is also mayor of West Hollywood—will step down from his post at the end of the season.

The change in leadership comes amid allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that all sound remarkably the same.

Duran denied any wrongdoing according to the Los Angeles Times and said “that after 20 years with the chorus, he was planning to leave anyway. But, he said, the ‘toxic’ climate within the organization spurred by ‘false allegations’ contributed to his decision to step down this summer.

Multiple current or former chorus members told the Los Angeles Times that they were victims of Duran’s harassment. Singers Brian Phillip Nichoalds and Jason Tong reported strikingly similar times where Duran put his hands inside their pants or underwear. Other accusations included inappropriate comments.

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2019/02/mayor-of-west/

February 6, 2019

Miami Drug Company CEO Guilty of Fraud So Large He Crashed a Puerto Rican Bank

Westernbank used to be one of the largest financial institutions in Puerto Rico. It once employed 1,500 people.

But it took just one man to take down the San Juan-based bank. In 2010, a Key Biscayne resident named Jack Kachkar ended its operation with a $142 million fraud scheme, prosecutors say. From 2005 to 2007, Kachkar's pharmaceutical company, Inyx, allegedly faked paperwork that convinced Westernbank to loan him $142 million. On Monday, a federal court found Kachkar guilty of eight counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

“Jack Kachkar’s fraud caused substantial harm to the 1,500 employees of Westernbank and the people of Puerto Rico,” Ariana Fajardo Orshan, chief federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida, said in a media release. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to the prosecution of those individuals and corporations that use Miami and other South Florida communities as their base to operate multinational fraud schemes.” (The Miami Herald first reported the conviction.)

But before becoming internationally famous for stealing huge sums of money, Kachkar was a wannabe sports team owner. In 2007, he tried to buy a majority stake in the French soccer club Olympique de Marseille, one of the most popular and storied football squads in Europe. Kachkar nearly succeeded — the French press reported he even danced with the team's players inside the Marseille locker room at one point. He'd offered the team's then-majority shareholder, Robert Louis-Dreyfus (a second cousin of Seinfeld and Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus), 180 million Canadian dollars for a controlling interest in the team.

Read more: https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/jack-kachkar-guilty-of-fraud-that-crashed-puerto-ricos-westernbank-11074453

February 6, 2019

Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini also wore blackface, and he has yet to resign

Last week, Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel resigned from office after photos surfaced of him wearing blackface and mocking Hurricane Katrina survivors. This happened just a few days before photos of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam appeared showing him in blackface next to a guy in a Ku Klux Klan outfit in his medical school yearbook.

Obviously, Ertel did the right thing in the end, and Northam should resign immediately.

But while this past week's headlines have absolutely skewered Ertel and Northam, Florida still has an elected official who wore blackface and has yet to resign.

Anthony Sabatini, a 30-year-old Florida state representative and former city commissioner, also has a damning blackface photo on his record. While a sophomore at Eustis High School, the current Howey-in-the-Hills Republican dressed up as one of his African American friend, complete with blackface, do-rag and gold chains.

Read more: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2019/02/05/florida-rep-anthony-sabatini-also-wore-blackface-and-he-has-yet-to-resign

February 6, 2019

Florida lawmakers want tough stance on contractor that botched SunPass toll system

State lawmakers called Tuesday for transportation officials to maintain a hard financial line against a contractor blamed for a troubled project last summer to upgrade the SunPass system, as final toll invoices from a backlog go out to motorists this week.

Members of the Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee implored the state Department of Transportation to hold Conduent State & Local Solutions accountable for its implementation of the SunPass Centralized Customer Service System.

“It’s not just the monetary damages that take place,” said Committee Chairman Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa. “We are in a time when there is an unprecedented level of distrust in government and its ability to fill a basic pothole. And these kinds of things just give rise to that frustration and concern. They give a black eye to the department, a black eye to members of the Senate.”

While Department of Transportation District 4 Secretary Gerry O'Reilly told the committee the toll-collection system is “climbing in the right direction,” Sen. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, questioned why Conduent, which has other contracts with the state, continues to handle the SunPass system.

Read more: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2019/02/06/florida-lawmakers-want-tough-stance-on-contractor-who-botched-sunpass-toll-system

February 6, 2019

Roofing scammers stole nearly $500K from Volusia-Flagler residents after hurricanes, officials say

DAYTONA BEACH — Two brothers are accused of stealing more than nearly half a million dollars from dozens of customers in Volusia and Flagler counties who needed roof repairs and using the loot to pay for expensive vacations, designer gear and other personal expenses, according to a state investigation.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and 7th Judicial Circuit State Attorney R.J. Larizza on Wednesday announced the arrests of Adolph Carlson, 44, and John Carlson, 41, in “Operation Hurricane Hustle,” which included investigations in several local cities.

Both men are charged with a count of organized scheme to defraud over $100,000 and second count of organized scheme to defraud. Both were jailed without bail, according to a flier released Wednesday.

The scheme was carried out from January 2016 through April 2018, officials said. And while the brothers are accused of scamming 58 victims in the 7th Circuit which covers Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns and Putnam counties, they have victimized more than 150 victims in the state at a cost of more than a half million, officials said.

Read more: https://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20190206/roofing-scammers-stole-nearly-500000-from-volusia-flagler-residents-after-hurricanes-officials-say

February 6, 2019

One Reason Apple's Computers Are Mostly Made In China: A Tiny Screw

In a 2016 speech, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump used colorful language to urge Apple to build products in the U.S., rather than in China. In fact, the iPhone and Mac-maker had been doing that on a small scale, or trying to, since 2013, manufacturing the high-end Mac Pro in Austin.

Jack Nicas, who covers Silicon Valley for the New York Times, says making Macs in the U.S. was easier said than done.

“Apple contracted an Austin manufacturer called Plextronics to build that Mac Pro,” Nicas says. “And as they designed and built and tested that new computer on this Austin factory line, they would iterate the design and sometimes need new screws.”

Nicas says ordering new screws in the volume and turnaround time needed proved difficult. In China, creating new screws of this type is a straightforward task, Nicas says, but not in the U.S., where machine shops aren’t set up to produce them. With a capacity of 1,000 screws per day, the Lockhart, Texas machine shop Plextronics contracted with could not meet the needs of mass Mac Pro production.

Read more: http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/one-reason-apples-computers-are-mostly-made-in-china-a-tiny-screw/

February 6, 2019

State Rep. Bill Zedler Files Bill to Permit LGBTQ Discrimination

Texas representative Bill Zedler of Arlington has filed HB 1035, a bill that Equality Texas says includes the “bathroom bill” and doubles down on LGBTQ discrimination. This filing is a departure from the more moderate tone coming out of Austin this legislative session, one focused on “bread and butter” issues like public education and property taxes.

Zedler’s bill would legally protect discrimination in healthcare, social services, the workplace, access to housing, in business, and in government by creating special rights for those who hold two specific religious beliefs: opposition to marriage equality and rejection of transgender people. The bill contains some of the same divisive bathroom regulations that overshadowed much of the 2017 session.

“Rep. Zedler missed the message voters sent last fall, when they sent home the author of 2017’s notorious bathroom bill,” said Samantha Smoot, interim executive director of Equality Texas. “Voters have had it with the hatefulness. They want lawmakers to focus on the economy and public education, not take aim at LGBTQ Texans’ rights.”

It appeared at the beginning of the current session that the too-close-for-comfort November 2018 election had put a scare in leaders like lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, who came within single digits of losing his seat. Texas Republicans have been accustomed to heartier leads for over two decades. As the electoral pendulum appeared to be swinging back, the “Big Three” (governor Greg Abbott, speaker Dennis Bonnen, and Patrick) tried to take on a more moderate tone for 2019. This bill could indicate that all of that was just talk, and that LGBTQ Texans are still on the legislative menu.

Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2019/02/state-rep-bill-zedler-files-bill-to-protect-lgbtq-discrimination/