“The rise of populists and polemicists has created a micro-industry in bashing private schools.”
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
1938-1939 Nazis in Madison Square Garden
Disturbing Pictures From The History Of America's Nazis Since the 1930s, American Nazi parties have sought to advance their agenda of hate, bigotry, and ignorance. https://www.buzzfeed.com/gabrielsanchez/american-hate?utm_term=.usO4MdRjg#.nvkvkAM9L
A Look Back at the 1939 Pro-Nazi Rally at Madison Square Garden and the Protesters Who Organized Against It
Intersections: Pro-Nazi Rally at Madison Square Garden, 1939 - Amplify ampthemag.com/the-real/intersections-pro-nazi-rally-at-madison-square-garden-1939/
The Nazi Rally in Madison Square Garden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gU9op16rjQ
In the 1930s, thousands of American Nazis hailed George Washington as the ‘first fascist’ The history of Nazi summer camps and rallies in NYC Nazis Hail George Washington As First Fascist,” read a March 7, 1938 headline in Life magazine. The brief article reported on a boisterous group of pro-Nazi Americans who called themselves the German American Bund. The organization, whose antagonistic rallies and assemblies were rife with anti-Semitic and ethno-nationalist rhetoric, had begun to capture mainstream attention as the very politics they embraced were driving Europe toward war. https://timeline.com/nazis-america-camps-rallies-4fc6dfe5e3b3
'They Didn't Just Go Away': Historian Talks About NYC's 1939 Nazi Rally http://gothamist.com/2017/08/14/nazi_rally_history_msg_nyc.php via Gothamist
Nazi Summer Camps In 1930s America? https://n.pr/1P09Pob
There Were American Nazi Summer Camps Across the US in the 1930s http://gizmodo.com/how-american-nazis-used-summer-camps-to-indoctrinate-th-1743267747?
American Bund The Failure of American Nazism: The German-American Bund’s Attempt to Create an American “Fifth Column” The Battle of Charlottesville http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-battle-of-charlottesville
It would have been naïve to expect the President to unambiguously condemn neo-Confederates (“Heritage, not hate,” etc.), but Nazis? For reasons that are not hard to discern, the swastika, at least in the United States, has always been more clearly legible as a symbol of racial bigotry than the Confederate flag. This country has countenanced more gatherings of white supremacists than it is possible to count, yet Nazism, precisely because Americans do not feel implicated in its worst predations, has typically been easily recognizable as intolerable. In the wake of Rockwell’s gathering, Chicago’s mayor, Richard Daley, denounced the group as “thugs and hoodlums.” Following the Bund rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia ordered an investigation into their tax compliance—a move that uncovered embezzlement that proved fatal to the organization. In that context, Trump’s decision in February to remove white supremacists from a federal program to counter violent extremists (while maintaining focus on Muslim terrorists) is telling. This had the effect of emboldening the reactionary legions. It was predictable that Richard Spencer’s coalition of the contemptuous would come together. Rockwell was never more than a fringe character, but Spencer increasingly looks like the vector of a formidable anger—one that needs to be confronted at direct angles, not oblique ones. When questioned about the rationale for Trump’s even handedness, the White House clarified that both the protesters and the counter-protesters had resorted to violence. This is notable in that the United States was once a country that did not see Nazis and those willing to fight them as morally equivalent. Aside from that, however, there were no images of anti-fascist protesters mowing down reactionaries with their cars. In 1939 Nazis rallied in Chicago to make Germany great again Four thousand supporters gave the Nazi salute in a northwest-side park.
It can’t happen here? Confronting the fascist threat in the US in the late 1930s By Joe Allen Issue #87: Features Share The first article in this series (ISR 85, Sept.–Oct. 2012) focused on the struggle against the Silvershirts in Minneapolis.1 Part 2 focuses on the struggle against the German American Bund and the Christian Front in New York City. http://isreview.org/issue/87/it-cant-happen-here
Nazi Party Sympathizers in Philadelphia Before the War (Part 1) https://hsp.org/blogs/fondly-pennsylvania/nazi-party-sympathizers-in-philadelphia-before-the-war-part-1
Nazi Party Sympathizers in Philadelphia Before the War (Part 2) https://hsp.org/blogs/fondly-pennsylvania/nazi-party-sympathizers-in-philadelphia-before-the-war-part-2
The Bund: The American Arm Of The Nazi Party Before And During WWII By John Kuroski on April 2, 2017
When Nazis came to New York
Support for the Nazi party wasn't limited to Europe. During WWII, American support for the Nazis was growing, as is evident in these jarring images of Nazis in New York. From the suburbs of Long Island to the Big Apple, we take a look back at when Hitler and his Nazis' attempt to infiltrate the American public in New York. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nazis-new-york-gallery-1.2856907?pmSlide=1.2856893
Lebanese Help Each Other as Economic Crisis Crushes Lives
With the entrenched political class failing to chart a way out, Lebanese are doing what they’ve done in previous crises
The Associated Press
Jan 05, 2020 4:45 AM
A little boy waits for a Christmas present as anti-government protesters distribute gifts to the needy, at Martyrs' Square in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 22, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
Panic set in on a WhatsApp group used to organize Lebanese protests when one member said he intended to kill himself because he can’t provide for his kids.
The desperate call came on the heels of the suicide of a father of two that had stunned the public and raised alarm over how dire Lebanon’s economic conditions have become.
So Mohamed Shkeir, one of dozens of members in the group, sprang into action. The 23-year-old architect student along with friends launched a campaign appealing for donations – for the man and for others suffering. They posted an ad on social media and, to show transparency, created a spreadsheet to track the money.
A volunteer tosses a Christmas present, as anti-government protesters distribute clothing to the needy ahead of Christmas, at Martyrs Square in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 22, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
As Lebanon’s protest movement enters its third month, the economic pinch is hurting everyone. Layoffs are increasing, salary cuts are the norm, banks are capping withdrawals and prices are quickly rising. The euphoria that marked the first days of the protests is being replaced with gloom.
Related Articles
Lebanon protesters are wielding the ultimate weapon
Lebanon’s vital tourism industry takes huge hit amid turmoil
Lebanese protesters defy capital controls in sit-in
With the entrenched political class failing to chart a way out, Lebanese are resorting to what they’ve done in previous wars and crises: They rely on each other, not the state. “We got to a situation where people are not able to buy food for their kids or pay their rent,” Shkeir said.
The despondent friend “said he had no money and what is the revolution doing about it and asked why the politicians are not paying attention,” Shkeir said. They were able to convince him not to kill himself, though he refused to take any donations. Shkeir and his group continued their campaign, giving money, food, clothes and supplies to 58 families so far this month, including one family reduced to using candles because they can’t afford electricity.
Over recent years as Lebanon’s economy worsened, people turned to familiar ways to cope, like mosque and church charities or helping each other, forgiving debts or handing out food. Those means have already been getting stretched thin.
Words of encouragement are taped to a window at a mental health organization operating the national suicide prevention helpline in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 23, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
The protests – and the 24-hour news cycle focused on them – have brought a surge of help by rallying public attention to the suffering. Campaigns to collect food, winter clothes and helplines for people in economic and emotional distress are popping up everywhere, intensified by the Christmas spirit.
Stores have offered discounts and set up boxes for donations of clothes or money. Ads on TV urged Lebanese to pack bags of donations instead of suitcases for travel. Another urged Lebanese in the diaspora coming home to visit to bring “medicines, clothes and goodies” to give, because “Lebanon needs help.”
Some restaurants have offered to deliver free food, and bakeries put out bread for anyone who needs. A yoga studio organized classes to fundraise for the needy. WhatsApp groups and Instagram pages shared addresses of local small businesses for shoppers to use for Christmas gifts. “We are all in this together,” said one tagline. A group of web developers created an app, Khayyak or Your Brother, to coordinate between those who want to help and those in need. “Don’t lose hope, you are not alone,” the advertisement for the app said.
The efforts are in part driven by the famed entrepreneurial spirit that helped Lebanese get through numerous previous crises, including a 15-year civil war and several wars with Israel that wrecked the infrastructure and economy.
Volunteers wait for calls at Lebanon's Embrace, a mental health organization operating the national suicide prevention helpline in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 23, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
But the protests have also created a unique experience – “something for everybody,” whether they support or oppose the revolt, said Mia Atwi, a clinical psychologist.
“People feel more that they are all suffering the same thing, the rich and the poor ... a common kind of loss,” she said.
Atwi is co-founder of Lebanon’s Embrace, a mental health organization operating the national suicide prevention helpline. The helpline now receives 100 calls a week, up from up to 10 before reports of suicides or attempted suicides first erupted three weeks ago.
Atwi attributed the jump to the spike of media and public attention to the issue of suicide, something she said has saved lives. Calls even come from rural areas, not just Beirut as they did in the past. Still, the government hasn’t given her organization a toll-free number, despite paying $25,000 a year for the four-digit helpline.
A volunteer serves food at a public Christmas dinner, as an initiative to help those in need, in Martyrs Square where anti-government activists are encamped in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 23, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
Many campaigns have sprung out of the protest movement. Weekly clothes donations and distributions were set up in the downtown Beirut squares at the epicenter of the demonstrations and near the Central Bank, which protesters accuse of corruption and fueling the economic crisis.
“We only have each other,” proclaims the campaign’s hashtag, a snub of the political class and the state. Rim Majid, a 21-year-old student, quit university in Beirut to participate in “everything revolution.”
After hearing of news of the man’s suicide in early December, she set up a griddle at a downtown protest site to make free manousheh, a traditional Lebanese flatbread. Next to the griddle is a donation box with the man’s name. Someone donated enough wheat for a week of baking.
“The suffering existed before, but now we are going through a crisis, one that will only get worse,” she said
Volunteers sort donated clothing for the needy in a tent near Martyrs' Square in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 22, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
The help isn’t only monetary. During a discussion one evening at a protest tent, a concerned woman asked: “What are the revolutionaries going to do when those who pay mortgages for their homes are unable to?” A young participant suggested the protesters could physically block the bank and the police from evicting people.
For Shkeir, the charity spirit reflects the principles of the protests – the rejection of an entire political elite seen as corrupt and of Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system.
Shkeir said his group’s donation campaign makes sure to transcend sectarian and political divisions and offers an alternative to the patronage that politicians use to cement their power. The campaign has members from Christian, Sunni and Shi’ite areas.
At least three donors came to them instead of established charities because, he said, they wanted to avoid donating along sectarian or political lines.
Shkeir had once planned to migrate like many others driven out by Lebanon’s economic problems. The protests convinced him he has no other place to be but home, he said.
In the last two months, he said, he met people from across different classes and sects he never imagined talking to.
“Our relations are built on humanity and national unity,” he said. “Our friendships are built on helping people.”
The Associated Press
With the entrenched political class failing to chart a way out, Lebanese are doing what they’ve done in previous crises
The Associated Press
Jan 05, 2020 4:45 AM
A little boy waits for a Christmas present as anti-government protesters distribute gifts to the needy, at Martyrs' Square in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 22, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
Panic set in on a WhatsApp group used to organize Lebanese protests when one member said he intended to kill himself because he can’t provide for his kids.
The desperate call came on the heels of the suicide of a father of two that had stunned the public and raised alarm over how dire Lebanon’s economic conditions have become.
So Mohamed Shkeir, one of dozens of members in the group, sprang into action. The 23-year-old architect student along with friends launched a campaign appealing for donations – for the man and for others suffering. They posted an ad on social media and, to show transparency, created a spreadsheet to track the money.
A volunteer tosses a Christmas present, as anti-government protesters distribute clothing to the needy ahead of Christmas, at Martyrs Square in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 22, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,APAs Lebanon’s protest movement enters its third month, the economic pinch is hurting everyone. Layoffs are increasing, salary cuts are the norm, banks are capping withdrawals and prices are quickly rising. The euphoria that marked the first days of the protests is being replaced with gloom.
Related Articles
Lebanon protesters are wielding the ultimate weapon
Lebanon’s vital tourism industry takes huge hit amid turmoil
Lebanese protesters defy capital controls in sit-in
With the entrenched political class failing to chart a way out, Lebanese are resorting to what they’ve done in previous wars and crises: They rely on each other, not the state. “We got to a situation where people are not able to buy food for their kids or pay their rent,” Shkeir said.
The despondent friend “said he had no money and what is the revolution doing about it and asked why the politicians are not paying attention,” Shkeir said. They were able to convince him not to kill himself, though he refused to take any donations. Shkeir and his group continued their campaign, giving money, food, clothes and supplies to 58 families so far this month, including one family reduced to using candles because they can’t afford electricity.
Over recent years as Lebanon’s economy worsened, people turned to familiar ways to cope, like mosque and church charities or helping each other, forgiving debts or handing out food. Those means have already been getting stretched thin.
Words of encouragement are taped to a window at a mental health organization operating the national suicide prevention helpline in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 23, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
The protests – and the 24-hour news cycle focused on them – have brought a surge of help by rallying public attention to the suffering. Campaigns to collect food, winter clothes and helplines for people in economic and emotional distress are popping up everywhere, intensified by the Christmas spirit.
Stores have offered discounts and set up boxes for donations of clothes or money. Ads on TV urged Lebanese to pack bags of donations instead of suitcases for travel. Another urged Lebanese in the diaspora coming home to visit to bring “medicines, clothes and goodies” to give, because “Lebanon needs help.”
Some restaurants have offered to deliver free food, and bakeries put out bread for anyone who needs. A yoga studio organized classes to fundraise for the needy. WhatsApp groups and Instagram pages shared addresses of local small businesses for shoppers to use for Christmas gifts. “We are all in this together,” said one tagline. A group of web developers created an app, Khayyak or Your Brother, to coordinate between those who want to help and those in need. “Don’t lose hope, you are not alone,” the advertisement for the app said.
The efforts are in part driven by the famed entrepreneurial spirit that helped Lebanese get through numerous previous crises, including a 15-year civil war and several wars with Israel that wrecked the infrastructure and economy.
Volunteers wait for calls at Lebanon's Embrace, a mental health organization operating the national suicide prevention helpline in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 23, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
But the protests have also created a unique experience – “something for everybody,” whether they support or oppose the revolt, said Mia Atwi, a clinical psychologist.
“People feel more that they are all suffering the same thing, the rich and the poor ... a common kind of loss,” she said.
Atwi is co-founder of Lebanon’s Embrace, a mental health organization operating the national suicide prevention helpline. The helpline now receives 100 calls a week, up from up to 10 before reports of suicides or attempted suicides first erupted three weeks ago.
Atwi attributed the jump to the spike of media and public attention to the issue of suicide, something she said has saved lives. Calls even come from rural areas, not just Beirut as they did in the past. Still, the government hasn’t given her organization a toll-free number, despite paying $25,000 a year for the four-digit helpline.
A volunteer serves food at a public Christmas dinner, as an initiative to help those in need, in Martyrs Square where anti-government activists are encamped in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 23, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,AP
Many campaigns have sprung out of the protest movement. Weekly clothes donations and distributions were set up in the downtown Beirut squares at the epicenter of the demonstrations and near the Central Bank, which protesters accuse of corruption and fueling the economic crisis.
“We only have each other,” proclaims the campaign’s hashtag, a snub of the political class and the state. Rim Majid, a 21-year-old student, quit university in Beirut to participate in “everything revolution.”
After hearing of news of the man’s suicide in early December, she set up a griddle at a downtown protest site to make free manousheh, a traditional Lebanese flatbread. Next to the griddle is a donation box with the man’s name. Someone donated enough wheat for a week of baking.
“The suffering existed before, but now we are going through a crisis, one that will only get worse,” she said
Volunteers sort donated clothing for the needy in a tent near Martyrs' Square in Beirut, Lebanon, on December 22, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo,APThe help isn’t only monetary. During a discussion one evening at a protest tent, a concerned woman asked: “What are the revolutionaries going to do when those who pay mortgages for their homes are unable to?” A young participant suggested the protesters could physically block the bank and the police from evicting people.
For Shkeir, the charity spirit reflects the principles of the protests – the rejection of an entire political elite seen as corrupt and of Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system.
Shkeir said his group’s donation campaign makes sure to transcend sectarian and political divisions and offers an alternative to the patronage that politicians use to cement their power. The campaign has members from Christian, Sunni and Shi’ite areas.
At least three donors came to them instead of established charities because, he said, they wanted to avoid donating along sectarian or political lines.
Shkeir had once planned to migrate like many others driven out by Lebanon’s economic problems. The protests convinced him he has no other place to be but home, he said.
In the last two months, he said, he met people from across different classes and sects he never imagined talking to.
“Our relations are built on humanity and national unity,” he said. “Our friendships are built on helping people.”
The Associated Press
Trump was just undercut by the Pentagon on his shocking claim of a Saudi Arabia quid pro quo
on January 15, 2020 By Cody Fenwick, AlterNet
- Commentary
Donald Trump is the most explicitly transactional of modern presidents, and it’s gotten him into trouble. His offering of support from the U.S. government to Ukraine in exchange for a personal favor — an announcement of investigations into his political rivals — wound up making him the third American president to be impeached.
And in an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham last Friday, Trump revealed he was engaging in another explicit quid pro quo — not, apparently, for a personal favor, but corrupting nonetheless — with Saudi Arabia.
“We’re sending more [troops] to Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia is paying us for it,” Trump said. “I said ‘Listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you. But you’ve got to pay us.’”
This is pretty much as direct a quid pro quo as you can get — an offer to do something on the condition of getting paid. And since what is supposedly being paid for is U.S. military personnel, critics argued that Trump was turning American forces into a de facto mercenary army.
“He sells troops,” said Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI) on Twitter.
Trump even went further with his claim, saying the payment was already sent to “the bank,” though he didn’t specify which bank, and Ingraham didn’t press him.
“They’re paying us,” Trump said. “They’ve already deposited $1 billion in the bank.”
According to a statement from the Pentagon to Vox, however, none of this is right.
It said the Defense Department “has engaged Saudi Arabia on contributing to US activities that support regional security and dissuade hostility and aggression,” and that the country had agreed. However, it doesn’t look like any money has actually changed hands, as the Pentagon said that “discussions are ongoing to formalize these contributions.”
The Pentagon also pushed back on the quid pro quo Trump laid out, without calling him out directly.
“Contributions of this nature do not lead to the deployment of additional US forces, and they do not drive DoD to take on new missions or responsibilities,” it said.
What’s left unknown is who is really telling the truth. Trump lies all the time, of course, but sometimes he has accidental bouts of candor. And administration officials often shade the truth, or contradict the known facts entirely, in an effort to avoid the horrifying implications of Trump’s claims. Regardless, Trump seems to want people to think the U.S. military is up for sale, which is terrifying enough on its own.
INGRAHAM: Don't the American people have a right to know what specifically was targeted by Soleimani?
TRUMP: "I don't think so." pic.twitter.com/Dsi3Ow8Nhs
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 11, 2020
on January 15, 2020 By Cody Fenwick, AlterNet
- Commentary
Donald Trump is the most explicitly transactional of modern presidents, and it’s gotten him into trouble. His offering of support from the U.S. government to Ukraine in exchange for a personal favor — an announcement of investigations into his political rivals — wound up making him the third American president to be impeached.
And in an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham last Friday, Trump revealed he was engaging in another explicit quid pro quo — not, apparently, for a personal favor, but corrupting nonetheless — with Saudi Arabia.
“We’re sending more [troops] to Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia is paying us for it,” Trump said. “I said ‘Listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you. But you’ve got to pay us.’”
This is pretty much as direct a quid pro quo as you can get — an offer to do something on the condition of getting paid. And since what is supposedly being paid for is U.S. military personnel, critics argued that Trump was turning American forces into a de facto mercenary army.
“He sells troops,” said Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI) on Twitter.
Trump even went further with his claim, saying the payment was already sent to “the bank,” though he didn’t specify which bank, and Ingraham didn’t press him.
“They’re paying us,” Trump said. “They’ve already deposited $1 billion in the bank.”
According to a statement from the Pentagon to Vox, however, none of this is right.
It said the Defense Department “has engaged Saudi Arabia on contributing to US activities that support regional security and dissuade hostility and aggression,” and that the country had agreed. However, it doesn’t look like any money has actually changed hands, as the Pentagon said that “discussions are ongoing to formalize these contributions.”
The Pentagon also pushed back on the quid pro quo Trump laid out, without calling him out directly.
“Contributions of this nature do not lead to the deployment of additional US forces, and they do not drive DoD to take on new missions or responsibilities,” it said.
What’s left unknown is who is really telling the truth. Trump lies all the time, of course, but sometimes he has accidental bouts of candor. And administration officials often shade the truth, or contradict the known facts entirely, in an effort to avoid the horrifying implications of Trump’s claims. Regardless, Trump seems to want people to think the U.S. military is up for sale, which is terrifying enough on its own.
INGRAHAM: Don't the American people have a right to know what specifically was targeted by Soleimani?
TRUMP: "I don't think so." pic.twitter.com/Dsi3Ow8Nhs
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 11, 2020
Former SNC-Lavalin executive Sami Bebawi sentenced to 8 years in prison
Case centred on several major infrastructure projects in Libya
Sidhartha Banerjee · The Canadian Press · Posted: Jan 10, 2020
Sami Bebawi, right, was sentenced Friday at the Montreal
courthouse. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)
Former SNC-Lavalin executive Sami Bebawi was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison Friday, wrapping up the last of the criminal charges brought against the engineering giant and its former employees involved in fraud and corruption in Libya.
Bebawi was impassive as he was sentenced by Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer, who explained he was opting for a penalty closer to the top of the scale given a number of aggravating factors in the case.
The 73-year-old had been defiant as he entered the courtroom for sentencing while pulling a carry-on suitcase.
When a reporter yelled out whether other managers from the engineering firm should be held to account and "fall on their swords,'' he replied: "definitely.''
A jury last month found the former head of SNC-Lavalin's construction division guilty of paying kickbacks to foreign officials and pocketing millions as he worked to secure contracts for the company beginning in the late 1990s.
The case centred on several major infrastructure projects and dealings with Saadi Gadhafi, a son of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
The jury also heard Bebawi tried to pay off a subordinate to change his testimony so he could avoid prosecution himself.
Cournoyer pointed to several factors, including the sophisticated nature of the fraud, the degree of planning and premeditation and Bebawi's behaviour after the infractions had been committed.
The federal prosecutors who brought the case to trial were satisfied with the sentence, saying it brought a message of deterrence and denunciation.
Crown calls behaviour an 'embarrassment'
Crown prosecutor Anne-Marie Manoukian called it an "embarrassment for Canadian companies to act in that kind of behaviour.''
"Our Canadian obligations with regards to our treaties and with regards to what is an infraction in Canada, that is not the way that business should be done,'' she said.
The Crown had sought nine years behind bars after a jury convicted Bebawi last month of five charges including fraud, corruption of foreign officials and laundering proceeds of crime.
Crown prosecutor Anne-Marie Manoukian speaks to reporters at the courthouse in Montreal on Friday. She said Bebawi's sentence is "very close" to what the Crown had requested. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
"It is in fact very close to what we asked the court to impose,'' Manoukian said.
"There were very many aggravating circumstances in this case and very few mitigating circumstances, as the judge stated.''
Court to decide fate of proceeds of crime
Bebawi's defence lawyers — who did not address reporters after sentencing — had countered with a suggestion of a six-year prison sentence.
Handcuffed and sitting in the prisoner's box after sentencing, Bebawi motioned reassuringly to family members in the courtroom.
The case returns to the court on Jan. 28 to discuss what to do with the proceeds of crime.
The sentence brings to an end a lengthy, federally led investigation and prosecution of the engineering firm and some of its employees.
Millions of dollars in Sami Bebawi's accounts were bonuses authorized by SNC-Lavalin bosses: defence
In the days following the Bebawi verdict, the Montreal engineering giant also settled criminal charges on its business dealings in Libya, with its construction division pleading guilty to a single count of fraud and agreeing to a $280-million fine to be paid over five years and a three-year probation order.
The resolution brings the company closer to ending a long-standing scandal that tarnished its reputation and ensnared the highest office of the Canadian government in scandal for months.
"It's nice to be able to close the chapter on a case that's been going on since 2011,'' Manoukian said. "To date, all the charges we have laid are all completed.''
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Greed drove former SNC exec's alleged fraud, corruption scheme, Crown says
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CBC INVESTIGATES What the SNC board may have known about the firm's dealings in Libya — like the office safe with $10M cash
SNC-Lavalin pleads guilty to fraud for past work in Libya, will pay $280M fine
Case centred on several major infrastructure projects in Libya
Sidhartha Banerjee · The Canadian Press · Posted: Jan 10, 2020
Sami Bebawi, right, was sentenced Friday at the Montreal
courthouse. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)
Former SNC-Lavalin executive Sami Bebawi was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison Friday, wrapping up the last of the criminal charges brought against the engineering giant and its former employees involved in fraud and corruption in Libya.
Bebawi was impassive as he was sentenced by Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer, who explained he was opting for a penalty closer to the top of the scale given a number of aggravating factors in the case.
The 73-year-old had been defiant as he entered the courtroom for sentencing while pulling a carry-on suitcase.
When a reporter yelled out whether other managers from the engineering firm should be held to account and "fall on their swords,'' he replied: "definitely.''
A jury last month found the former head of SNC-Lavalin's construction division guilty of paying kickbacks to foreign officials and pocketing millions as he worked to secure contracts for the company beginning in the late 1990s.
The case centred on several major infrastructure projects and dealings with Saadi Gadhafi, a son of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
The jury also heard Bebawi tried to pay off a subordinate to change his testimony so he could avoid prosecution himself.
Cournoyer pointed to several factors, including the sophisticated nature of the fraud, the degree of planning and premeditation and Bebawi's behaviour after the infractions had been committed.
The federal prosecutors who brought the case to trial were satisfied with the sentence, saying it brought a message of deterrence and denunciation.
Crown calls behaviour an 'embarrassment'
Crown prosecutor Anne-Marie Manoukian called it an "embarrassment for Canadian companies to act in that kind of behaviour.''
"Our Canadian obligations with regards to our treaties and with regards to what is an infraction in Canada, that is not the way that business should be done,'' she said.
The Crown had sought nine years behind bars after a jury convicted Bebawi last month of five charges including fraud, corruption of foreign officials and laundering proceeds of crime.
Crown prosecutor Anne-Marie Manoukian speaks to reporters at the courthouse in Montreal on Friday. She said Bebawi's sentence is "very close" to what the Crown had requested. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
"It is in fact very close to what we asked the court to impose,'' Manoukian said.
"There were very many aggravating circumstances in this case and very few mitigating circumstances, as the judge stated.''
Court to decide fate of proceeds of crime
Bebawi's defence lawyers — who did not address reporters after sentencing — had countered with a suggestion of a six-year prison sentence.
Handcuffed and sitting in the prisoner's box after sentencing, Bebawi motioned reassuringly to family members in the courtroom.
The case returns to the court on Jan. 28 to discuss what to do with the proceeds of crime.
The sentence brings to an end a lengthy, federally led investigation and prosecution of the engineering firm and some of its employees.
Millions of dollars in Sami Bebawi's accounts were bonuses authorized by SNC-Lavalin bosses: defence
In the days following the Bebawi verdict, the Montreal engineering giant also settled criminal charges on its business dealings in Libya, with its construction division pleading guilty to a single count of fraud and agreeing to a $280-million fine to be paid over five years and a three-year probation order.
The resolution brings the company closer to ending a long-standing scandal that tarnished its reputation and ensnared the highest office of the Canadian government in scandal for months.
"It's nice to be able to close the chapter on a case that's been going on since 2011,'' Manoukian said. "To date, all the charges we have laid are all completed.''
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NORTH KOREAN HACKERS USE TELEGRAM TO STEAL CRYPTOCURRENCY
UK victims among those targeted in Lazarus Group's cyber-theft campaign
Hackers from North Korea have developed a way to steal bitcoin and other cryptocurrency through the messaging app Telegram, according to new research.
Cyber security specialists from Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs said the notorious Lazarus Group, a hacking collective with links to North Korea, has come up with "enhanced capabilities" in order to target individuals and organisations around the world.
The cyber-theft campaign, referred to as Operation AppleJeus, has been ongoing since at least 2018 and has so far claimed victims in the UK, China, Poland and Russia.
The hackers lure in victims by setting up fake cryptocurrency websites, as well as fake trading groups on the Telegram app. Telegram did not respond to a request for comment.
Malicious links on the sites and groups then infect the target’s device and give attackers access to user data.
"Since the initial appearance of Operation AppleJeus, we can see that over time the authors have changed their modus operandi considerably," Kaspersky Researchers wrote in a report detailing the attacks. "We assume this kind of attack on cryptocurrency businesses will continue and become more sophisticated."
Cryptocurrency has been a consistent target of North Korean hackers in recent years, with experts saying it offers a "financial lifeline" to evade crippling economic sanctions and finance the development of nuclear weapons.
"Cryptocurrency exploitation is allowing North Korea to transact with the rest of the world in ways that aim to circumvent sanctions designed to curb its proliferation financing," Kayla Izeman, a research analyst who co-authored a paper on the phenomenon, told The Independent last year.
Read more
Notorious dark web criminal makes $100k bitcoin price prediction
A UN report from 2019 estimated that North Korea has earned up to $2 billion in cryptocurrency by hacking online exchanges and organisations.
This far exceeded original estimates by the UN Security Council, which claimed the country had amassed around $670m worth of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
North Korea has previously denied accusations that it engages in cyber crime, while simultaneously courting cryptocurrency and cyber security experts at conferences held in Pyongyang.
UK victims among those targeted in Lazarus Group's cyber-theft campaign
Hackers from North Korea have developed a way to steal bitcoin and other cryptocurrency through the messaging app Telegram, according to new research.
Cyber security specialists from Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs said the notorious Lazarus Group, a hacking collective with links to North Korea, has come up with "enhanced capabilities" in order to target individuals and organisations around the world.
The cyber-theft campaign, referred to as Operation AppleJeus, has been ongoing since at least 2018 and has so far claimed victims in the UK, China, Poland and Russia.
The hackers lure in victims by setting up fake cryptocurrency websites, as well as fake trading groups on the Telegram app. Telegram did not respond to a request for comment.
Malicious links on the sites and groups then infect the target’s device and give attackers access to user data.
"Since the initial appearance of Operation AppleJeus, we can see that over time the authors have changed their modus operandi considerably," Kaspersky Researchers wrote in a report detailing the attacks. "We assume this kind of attack on cryptocurrency businesses will continue and become more sophisticated."
Cryptocurrency has been a consistent target of North Korean hackers in recent years, with experts saying it offers a "financial lifeline" to evade crippling economic sanctions and finance the development of nuclear weapons.
"Cryptocurrency exploitation is allowing North Korea to transact with the rest of the world in ways that aim to circumvent sanctions designed to curb its proliferation financing," Kayla Izeman, a research analyst who co-authored a paper on the phenomenon, told The Independent last year.
Read more
Notorious dark web criminal makes $100k bitcoin price prediction
A UN report from 2019 estimated that North Korea has earned up to $2 billion in cryptocurrency by hacking online exchanges and organisations.
This far exceeded original estimates by the UN Security Council, which claimed the country had amassed around $670m worth of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
North Korea has previously denied accusations that it engages in cyber crime, while simultaneously courting cryptocurrency and cyber security experts at conferences held in Pyongyang.
---30---
Lessons from History: The Startling Rise to Power
of Benito Mussolini
IT CAN HAPPEN HERE
IT CAN HAPPEN HERE
by EF Iodice
Jul 3, 2018 - Fascists. Union organizations were crushed. The Federterra (farmer's coop) shrank from some one million ..... Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum. Mussolini ..... 47 Hollander, Ethan J. Italian Fascism and the Jews (PDF).
Behind the blitz: Falun Gong practitioners spend millions on Shen Yun ads. How do they do it?
Matthias Gafni Jan. 11, 2020
Matthias Gafni Jan. 11, 2020
1of5
A man walks near a Shen Yun billboard as he approaches
Park Blvd. and East 20th Street, in Oakland, Calif., on
Tuesday, January 7, 2020.
Photo: Yalonda M. James, The Chronicle
2of5
A Shen Yun ad and poster are seen on the outside of the
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday,
January 7, 2020 in San Jose, Calif.Photo: Lea Suzuki,
The Chronicle
A smiling young woman flying through the air, her legs splayed at a perfect 180 degrees as she reaches her arms skyward, unveiling a nearly full circle of white fabric
It’s “Shen Yun” season and if your heart circulates blood you’ve seen an advertisement promising “5,000 years of civilization reborn.” In the Bay Area and across many parts of the world, Shen Yun ads are as ubiquitous as 1-877-Kars4Kids radio jingles as they encourage people to shell out for tickets to see the dance troupe and symphony that — to the surprise of some viewers — promote the spiritual movement called Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa.
If it seems practitioners of Falun Gong, which is locked in a bitter political battle with the communist government of China, spend a lot on publicity for the show, well, they do.
Shen Yun-linked nonprofit groups spent at least $39.3 million on advertising across the country from 2015 to 2017, according to a Chronicle review of three years of federal tax returns, the most recent made public. It’s possible the spending has gone up since, and that the records analyzed do not account for all of the spending on publicity for Shen Yun.
Over those three years, Shen Yun Performing Arts Inc., based in Cuddebackville, N.Y., reported revenue of $72.8 million, largely from ticket sales for shows performed in various cities by one of the dance company’s traveling troupes. The outfit just finished up a run of shows in San Francisco and has upcoming performances in San Jose, Berkeley, Modesto and Fresno.
Shen Yun Performing Arts spent $47.2 million in those three years, according to tax returns, putting on its shows that accuse the Chinese Communist party of persecuting Falun Gong adherents. That has helped the nonprofit boost its assets from $61 million to $95.7 million by the end of 2017.
In San Francisco and the Bay Area, the shows are run by the San Francisco Falun Buddha Study Association, which lists as its mission: “Foster the universal principles and values of ‘truthful, compassion and tolerant’ through various forms including Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) studies, exercises and experience-sharing activities.”
A Shen Yun billboard in the 900 block of Mission St. in
Matthias Gafni joined The San Francisco Chronicle as an enterprise reporter in February 2019. He investigates stories in the East Bay and beyond. For almost two decades, Gafni worked for the Bay Area News Group – San Jose Mercury News, East Bay Times and Vallejo Times-Herald -- covering corruption, child sexual abuse, criminal justice, aviation and more. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and graduated from UC Davis. He lives with his wife and three kids in the East Bay.
3of5Shen Yun advertisement at 6th and Folsom in San Francisco,
Calif., on Tuesday, January 7, 2020.
Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle
The image is likely hanging on your doorknob as you read this. And popping up on your Facebook feed. When you glance up from your phone, there it is again — on a billboard, a bus or the wall of a BART platform
The image is likely hanging on your doorknob as you read this. And popping up on your Facebook feed. When you glance up from your phone, there it is again — on a billboard, a bus or the wall of a BART platform
A smiling young woman flying through the air, her legs splayed at a perfect 180 degrees as she reaches her arms skyward, unveiling a nearly full circle of white fabric
It’s “Shen Yun” season and if your heart circulates blood you’ve seen an advertisement promising “5,000 years of civilization reborn.” In the Bay Area and across many parts of the world, Shen Yun ads are as ubiquitous as 1-877-Kars4Kids radio jingles as they encourage people to shell out for tickets to see the dance troupe and symphony that — to the surprise of some viewers — promote the spiritual movement called Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa.
If it seems practitioners of Falun Gong, which is locked in a bitter political battle with the communist government of China, spend a lot on publicity for the show, well, they do.
Shen Yun-linked nonprofit groups spent at least $39.3 million on advertising across the country from 2015 to 2017, according to a Chronicle review of three years of federal tax returns, the most recent made public. It’s possible the spending has gone up since, and that the records analyzed do not account for all of the spending on publicity for Shen Yun.
Over those three years, Shen Yun Performing Arts Inc., based in Cuddebackville, N.Y., reported revenue of $72.8 million, largely from ticket sales for shows performed in various cities by one of the dance company’s traveling troupes. The outfit just finished up a run of shows in San Francisco and has upcoming performances in San Jose, Berkeley, Modesto and Fresno.
Shen Yun Performing Arts spent $47.2 million in those three years, according to tax returns, putting on its shows that accuse the Chinese Communist party of persecuting Falun Gong adherents. That has helped the nonprofit boost its assets from $61 million to $95.7 million by the end of 2017.
In San Francisco and the Bay Area, the shows are run by the San Francisco Falun Buddha Study Association, which lists as its mission: “Foster the universal principles and values of ‘truthful, compassion and tolerant’ through various forms including Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) studies, exercises and experience-sharing activities.”
Such nonprofit organizations are required by law to release their tax returns. The Chronicle’s review of ad spending looked at more than 30 groups, most of whom posted three years of records. Shen Yun Performing Arts itself spends no money on advertising, instead relying on the smaller Falun Dafa nonprofits, based out of regions across the country, to promote the shows in their areas.
In 2017, the San Francisco nonprofit group reported $3.9 million in ticket sales, while spending $2.2 million on advertising and promotion.
In general, spending such a high percentage of expected revenue on marketing “just defies logic,” said Bill Pearce, assistant dean of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and its chief marketing officer.
“Typically, if you’re higher than 10% it’s really high,” he said, noting that the industry benchmark for ad spending is 7.5% of projected revenue. “It’s truly from a marketing standpoint what we call a ‘heavy-up.’ ”
Shen Yun’s finances seem to pencil out, Pearce said, thanks to the work of volunteers. The San Francisco Falun Gong group reported having 100 volunteers, while the international theater company had another 211, according to the 2017 tax returns. Each regional nonprofit operates on a completely volunteer workforce.
The theater company reported paying 192 employees a total of $5.9 million in 2017, meaning dancers and other paid workers made less than $30,000 on average.
A Shen Yun ad is seen on the side of a bus traveling down
In 2017, the San Francisco nonprofit group reported $3.9 million in ticket sales, while spending $2.2 million on advertising and promotion.
In general, spending such a high percentage of expected revenue on marketing “just defies logic,” said Bill Pearce, assistant dean of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and its chief marketing officer.
“Typically, if you’re higher than 10% it’s really high,” he said, noting that the industry benchmark for ad spending is 7.5% of projected revenue. “It’s truly from a marketing standpoint what we call a ‘heavy-up.’ ”
Shen Yun’s finances seem to pencil out, Pearce said, thanks to the work of volunteers. The San Francisco Falun Gong group reported having 100 volunteers, while the international theater company had another 211, according to the 2017 tax returns. Each regional nonprofit operates on a completely volunteer workforce.
The theater company reported paying 192 employees a total of $5.9 million in 2017, meaning dancers and other paid workers made less than $30,000 on average.
A Shen Yun ad is seen on the side of a bus traveling down
Santa Clara Street on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 in San Jose,
Calif. Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle
Another financial benefit: Falun Gong is linked to the Epoch Times and Epoch Media Group, news organizations founded by practitioners that provide an outlet to handle printing, direct mail and other marketing needs for Shen Yun, according to tax returns.
The Epoch Times, which in recent years has been criticized for supporting far-right conspiracy theories, prominently features stories about Shen Yun. An article on the website dated Friday carried the headline, “Corporate Leaders Applaud Shen Yun’s Beautiful Stories of Integrity.”
Officials at Shen Yun Performing Arts headquarters did not respond to a request for comment, but one of the volunteers at the San Francisco nonprofit spoke to The Chronicle.
David Zhang, a software engineer who has practiced Falun Gong for 16 years, helps promote performances in the Bay Area. The mass advertising is only possible because he and other followers give their time, Zhang said, emphasizing he spoke for himself and not the entire nonprofit.
“I don’t dance or sing, I just do my best to help and do it from the bottom of my heart,” he said. “We’re facing an incredible challenge and we want to get the word out. We’re facing incredible repression.”
Shen Yun was formed in 2006 by followers of Falun Gong, which Li Hongzhi had founded in China in 1992 and drew on the tradition of qigong, in which breathing, meditation and movement foster good health or spiritual enlightenment.
Li drew attention for voicing strange beliefs, including saying in a 1999 interview with Time magazine that “aliens have begun to invade the human mind and its ideology and culture.” But Falun Gong has fought allegations that it is a cult from Chinese authorities, and journalists and researchers who have written about the movement say it has no record of using abuse or coercion.
The Chinese government banned Falun Gong in 1999, and in recent years the embassy in the U.S. has not shied from striking against Shen Yun — and its organizers.
Before the show started at a Dec. 20, 2019 performance
Another financial benefit: Falun Gong is linked to the Epoch Times and Epoch Media Group, news organizations founded by practitioners that provide an outlet to handle printing, direct mail and other marketing needs for Shen Yun, according to tax returns.
The Epoch Times, which in recent years has been criticized for supporting far-right conspiracy theories, prominently features stories about Shen Yun. An article on the website dated Friday carried the headline, “Corporate Leaders Applaud Shen Yun’s Beautiful Stories of Integrity.”
Officials at Shen Yun Performing Arts headquarters did not respond to a request for comment, but one of the volunteers at the San Francisco nonprofit spoke to The Chronicle.
David Zhang, a software engineer who has practiced Falun Gong for 16 years, helps promote performances in the Bay Area. The mass advertising is only possible because he and other followers give their time, Zhang said, emphasizing he spoke for himself and not the entire nonprofit.
“I don’t dance or sing, I just do my best to help and do it from the bottom of my heart,” he said. “We’re facing an incredible challenge and we want to get the word out. We’re facing incredible repression.”
Shen Yun was formed in 2006 by followers of Falun Gong, which Li Hongzhi had founded in China in 1992 and drew on the tradition of qigong, in which breathing, meditation and movement foster good health or spiritual enlightenment.
Li drew attention for voicing strange beliefs, including saying in a 1999 interview with Time magazine that “aliens have begun to invade the human mind and its ideology and culture.” But Falun Gong has fought allegations that it is a cult from Chinese authorities, and journalists and researchers who have written about the movement say it has no record of using abuse or coercion.
The Chinese government banned Falun Gong in 1999, and in recent years the embassy in the U.S. has not shied from striking against Shen Yun — and its organizers.
Before the show started at a Dec. 20, 2019 performance
of Shen Yun at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley.
Photo: Alix Martichoux, SFGATE
“Clearly, the so-called ‘Shen Yun’ is not a cultural performance at all but a political tool of ‘Falun Gong’ to preach cult messages, spread anti-China propaganda, increase its own influence and raise fund(s),” the embassy states on its website. “(The) show denigrates and distorts the Chinese culture, and deceives, makes fool of and even brings harm to the audience.”
On its own website, Shen Yun leaders state, “While Falun Dafa practitioners in China continue to face horrific abuse, the Party has been extending its persecution outside of China. This includes harassing Shen Yun.”
Shen Yun means the “beauty of divine beings dancing,” and has six companies touring the world, claiming to perform in more than 150 theaters every year.
The show is a “soft approach in trying to interest people in their practices and win people over,” said David Bachman, an international studies professor at the University of Washington who specializes in Chinese politics. He said he often sees students handing out Shen Yun fliers on campus.
In a particularly detailed tax return, the Greater Philadelphia Falun Dafa Association offered a peek inside its operation of 55 volunteers. In 2017, Shen Yun put on 23 shows in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, gaining almost 31,000 attendees and almost $2.8 million in ticket sales.
The group spent $1.4 million in advertising that year, paying an Illinois company $500,000 for direct mailing and a Dallas television station $200,000 for ads. It also paid $320,000 to two companies linked to Falun Gong for direct mailing and online ads, according to its tax return.
Photo: Alix Martichoux, SFGATE
“Clearly, the so-called ‘Shen Yun’ is not a cultural performance at all but a political tool of ‘Falun Gong’ to preach cult messages, spread anti-China propaganda, increase its own influence and raise fund(s),” the embassy states on its website. “(The) show denigrates and distorts the Chinese culture, and deceives, makes fool of and even brings harm to the audience.”
On its own website, Shen Yun leaders state, “While Falun Dafa practitioners in China continue to face horrific abuse, the Party has been extending its persecution outside of China. This includes harassing Shen Yun.”
Shen Yun means the “beauty of divine beings dancing,” and has six companies touring the world, claiming to perform in more than 150 theaters every year.
The show is a “soft approach in trying to interest people in their practices and win people over,” said David Bachman, an international studies professor at the University of Washington who specializes in Chinese politics. He said he often sees students handing out Shen Yun fliers on campus.
In a particularly detailed tax return, the Greater Philadelphia Falun Dafa Association offered a peek inside its operation of 55 volunteers. In 2017, Shen Yun put on 23 shows in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, gaining almost 31,000 attendees and almost $2.8 million in ticket sales.
The group spent $1.4 million in advertising that year, paying an Illinois company $500,000 for direct mailing and a Dallas television station $200,000 for ads. It also paid $320,000 to two companies linked to Falun Gong for direct mailing and online ads, according to its tax return.
A Shen Yun billboard in the 900 block of Mission St. in
San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, January 7, 2020.
Photo: Yalonda M. James, The Chronicle
Pearce, the Berkeley marketer, called the advertising blitz “omnipresent,” an approach that can backfire.
“There’s always a risk that if your message is seen too many times consumers will tune it out,” he said. “I think you can go past building a brand and you start building a meme.”
Zhang said that while volunteers are not marketing experts, they feel the publicity is effective.
“It’s working good. It’s getting a lot of people to the performances. Most of the shows sold out,” Zhang said. “That’s the goal of marketing. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni
Matthias Gafni
Follow Matthias on:https://www.facebook.com/SFChronicle/mgafni
Photo: Yalonda M. James, The Chronicle
Pearce, the Berkeley marketer, called the advertising blitz “omnipresent,” an approach that can backfire.
“There’s always a risk that if your message is seen too many times consumers will tune it out,” he said. “I think you can go past building a brand and you start building a meme.”
Zhang said that while volunteers are not marketing experts, they feel the publicity is effective.
“It’s working good. It’s getting a lot of people to the performances. Most of the shows sold out,” Zhang said. “That’s the goal of marketing. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni
Matthias Gafni
Follow Matthias on:https://www.facebook.com/SFChronicle/mgafni
Matthias Gafni joined The San Francisco Chronicle as an enterprise reporter in February 2019. He investigates stories in the East Bay and beyond. For almost two decades, Gafni worked for the Bay Area News Group – San Jose Mercury News, East Bay Times and Vallejo Times-Herald -- covering corruption, child sexual abuse, criminal justice, aviation and more. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and graduated from UC Davis. He lives with his wife and three kids in the East Bay.
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