June 14 2024
Garland contempt; private equity; mifepristone; cyberattacks; Chinese ports; Flag Day
1 ELECTION 2024 Republican House holds AG Garland in contempt
2 Private equity evades tax on $1t in fees: Oxford study
3 CULTURE WARS Supreme Court unanimously protects abortion pill mifepristone
4 Hospital cyberattacks increase 50% in April
5 Chinese port construction in South America sparks concern
6/14/1777 Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes
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1 ELECTION 2024 Republican House holds AG Garland in contempt
The House voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, escalating a fight over audio recordings related to the President Biden's handling of classified documents. Garland has defied subpoenas from the Republican-led House Judiciary and Oversight committees demanding that the Justice Department hand over the audiotapes of the president's interview with special counsel Robert Hur as part of their impeachment inquiry. Mr. Biden asserted executive privilege over the recordings of Hur's interviews with the president and the ghostwriter of his book as the committees moved forward with contempt resolutions against Garland in May. The resolution passed by a vote of 216 to 207, with all but one Republican voting to back it.
The resolution directs the House speaker to refer the case to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia for potential criminal prosecution. The Justice Department is unlikely to prosecute Garland, who leads the department. Last month, Justice Department officials wrote a legal memo, which was obtained by CBS News, that argued against prosecution. "No U.S. Attorney has pursued criminal contempt charges against an Executive Branch official asserting the President's claim of executive privilege," the memo said.
Article Source: CBS
2 Private equity evades tax on $1t in fees: Oxford study
The world’s largest private capital firms have avoided income taxes on more than $1tn in incentive fees since 2000 by structuring the payments in a way that subjected them to a much lower levy, according to new research from Oxford university. Ludovic Phalippou, a professor at Oxford’s Said School of Business, found fund groups dedicated to private investment strategies such as buyout firms, venture capital, infrastructure and distressed debt have earned more than $1tn in so-called carried interest pay since the turn of the century. Phalippou’s calculation comes as such performance fees have for years drawn political scrutiny in the US and Europe, and face a wave of renewed calls to close what prominent politicians characterise as a “loophole”. The savings amount to hundreds of billions of dollars at current tax rates. The fees are charged at long-term capital gains rates that are substantially lower than income tax rates. For publicly traded firms, as much as half of the fees are paid to shareholders in the form of dividends.
Article Source: FT
3 CULTURE WARS Supreme Court unanimously protects abortion pill mifepristone
The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously rejected an effort seeking to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, preserving for now the widespread availability of the most common method American women use to end their pregnancies. The case was the first major abortion issue to come before the court since its 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and rescinding the federal constitutional right to the procedure that it had recognized since 1973. That ruling bitterly divided the court over constitutional views on individual rights and set off a series of state-level battles that have expanded abortion access in the Northeast and Pacific Coast while largely outlawing the procedure in most of the South and parts of the Midwest.
Article Source: WSJ
4 Hospital cyberattacks increase 50% in April
When Change Healthcare paid $22 million in March to a ransomware gangthat had crippled the company along with hundreds of hospitals, medical practices, and pharmacies across the US, the cybersecurity industry warned that Change's extortion payment would only fuel a vicious cycle: Rewarding hackers who had carried out a ruthless act of sabotage against the US health care system nationwide with one of the largest ransomware payments in history, it seemed, was bound to incentivize a new wave of attacks on similarly sensitive victims. Now that wave has arrived. In April, cybersecurity firm Recorded Future tracked 44 cases of cybercriminal groups targeting health care organizations with ransomware attacks, stealing their data, encrypting their systems, and demanding payments from the companies while holding their networks hostage. That's more health care victims of ransomware than in any month Recorded Future has seen in its four years of collecting that data, says Allan Liska, a threat intelligence analyst at the company. Comparing that number to the 30 incidents in March, it's also the second biggest month-to-month jump in incidents the company has ever tracked. While Liska notes that he can't be sure of the reason for that spike, he argues it's unlikely to be a coincidence that it follows in the wake of Change Healthcare's eight-figure payout to the hacker group known as AlphV or BlackCat that was tormenting the company.
Article Source: Wired
5 Chinese port construction in South America sparks concern
In this serene town on South America’s Pacific coast, China is building a megaport that could challenge U.S. influence in a resource-rich region that Washington has long considered its backyard. The Chancay deep-water port, rising here among pelicans and fishermen in small wooden boats, is important enough to Beijing that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to inaugurate it at the end of the year in his first trip to the continent since the pandemic. Majority-owned by the giant China Ocean Shipping group, known as Cosco, Chancay promises to speed trade between Asia and South America, eventually benefiting customers as far away as Brazil with shorter sailing times across the Pacific for everything from blueberries to copper. As nations around the world shudder at a new flood of cheap Chinese manufactured goods, the port could open new markets for its electric vehicles and other exports. China is already the top trade partner for most of South America. The U.S. worries that China’s control over what could become South America’s first true global commercial hub will allow Beijing to further strengthen its grip over the region’s resources, deepen its influence among America’s closest neighbors and eventually plant its military nearby.
Article Source: WSJ
6/14/1777 Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes
June 14, 1777: During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopts a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” The national flag, which became known as the “Stars and Stripes,” was based on the “Grand Union” flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes. According to legend, Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new canton for the Stars and Stripes, which consisted of a circle of 13 stars and a blue background, at the request of General George Washington. Historians have been unable to conclusively prove or disprove this legend. With the entrance of new states into the United States after independence, new stripes and stars were added to represent new additions to the Union. In 1818, however, Congress enacted a law stipulating that the 13 original stripes be restored and that only stars be added to represent new states. On June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. As instructed by Congress, the U.S. flag was flown from all public buildings across the country. In the years after the first Flag Day, several states continued to observe the anniversary, and in 1949 Congress officially designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.
Sources
1. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-vote-merrick-garland-contempt-biden-audio-recordings/
2. https://on.ft.com/3VkylM4
3. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/supreme-court-abortion-pill-mifepristone-f78f3320?st=l2txxwufrzr8i4y&reflink=article_copyURL_share
4. https://www.wired.com/story/change-healthcare-22-million-payment-ransomware-spike/
5. https://www.wsj.com/world/chancay-peru-port-china-south-america-trade-ffc75d32
Thanks for reading!
