CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M

DoJ charges two Europeans with using crypto to aid North Korea evade sanctions

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 Real Smart Money

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April 25, 2022

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TL;DR Breakdown

• The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) charges two Europeans with conspiracy to help North Korea evade sanctions.
• Alejandro and Christopher used cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to circle political and economic sanctions.

On Monday, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the indictment of two Europeans for crypto fraud. The two stand accused of collaborating with a recently imprisoned cryptocurrency researcher to assist North Korea in avoiding U.S. sanctions. According to Manhattan prosecutors, Cao de Benos, 47, and Emms, 30, could face up to 20 years in jail for conspiring to break United States sanctions.

The United States DoJ covers more legal ground in Griffiths` case

The pair stand charged in a superseding indictment, which was made public today in the Southern District of New York, conspiring to violate United States sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea). The two worked with a U.S. citizen, Virgil Griffith, to illegally provide cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology services to North Korea.

Over the previous several years, various nations have imposed political and economic penalties on North Korea. The Biden administration enacted its first weapons-related sanctions in mid-January 2022.

According to a statement released by the DoJ and Department of State, the Treasury Department announced the measures that followed six North Korean ballistic missile tests since September, each of which violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.

On 2 April 2022, the United States imposed new sanctions on five North Korean organizations involved in the country’s most recent missile tests. The penalties included the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) flight in more than four years.

According to court records, Alejandro Cao De Benos, a Spanish citizen, and Christopher Emms, a British national, joined forces to organize the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference (the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference) for the benefit of North Korea.

Representatives from the DoJ said that Griffith traveled to North Korea via China in April 2019. After being denied permission to attend by the U.S. Department of State, Griffith subsequently gave a talk at the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference. All this occurred even though the U.S. Department of State denied him entry.

Cao De Benos and Emms remain at large. Griffith pleaded guilty to conspiring to assist North Korea in evading economic sanctions in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). In April 2022, the DoJ sentenced him to 63 months in jail with a $100,000 fine. 

the united states will not allow the north korean regime to use cryptocurrency to evade global sanctions designed to thwart its goals of nuclear proliferation and regional destabilization. this indictment, along with the successful prosecution of a co-conspirator, virgil griffith, makes clear that the department will hold anyone, wherever located, accountable for conspiring with north korea to violate u.s. sanctions.

said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the DoJ’s National Security Division.

DoJ takes a stricter stand on crypto use to evade sanctions

During the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference, Emms and Griffith taught attendees how to use blockchain and cryptocurrency technology to launder money and skirt international sanctions. The North Korea’s authorities authorized the Emms and Griffith’s presentations at the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference and customized them to fit the audience.

in his own sales pitch, emms allegedly advised north korean officials that cryptocurrency technology made it ‘possible to transfer money across any country regardless of what sanctions or any penalties governments impose on any country.’ the sanctions imposed against north korea are critical in protecting the security interests of americans, and we continue to aggressively enforce them with our law enforcement partners both here and abroad.

said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York.

The DoJ and the FBI are leading the investigation, with significant assistance from the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, the DoJ’s Office of International Affairs, the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement, and the Singapore Police Force.

A persistent misunderstanding appears to have taken hold among lawmakers: that cryptocurrencies, in general (and especially Bitcoin), endanger sanctions regimes and anti-money laundering efforts due to the anonymity they provide users.

The DoJ has been actively involved in digital currencies both domestically and internationally. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) made a historic record seizure of $4.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency in early February. The DoJ also announced the arrest of a New York pair for laundering funds stolen from a cryptocurrency exchange.

As the United States imposes economic sanctions to counter Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, cryptocurrencies have been suggested as a method for the Kremlin to avoid them. However, the belief that Bitcoin provides perfect anonymity is incorrect and overlooks the complex dynamics currently at play between cybercriminals, authorized parties, and law enforcement agencies.

Alejandro Cao de Benos (left) and Christopher Emms (right), who the U.S. accuse of helping an American crypto expert travel to Pyongyang and violate American sanctions | Images: Alejandro Cao de Benos’ personal website and Christopher Emms Facebook account, edited by NK News

Over half of working women are burnt out, study shows

New study of 5,000 women finds work-life balance nearly nonexistent, majority of women more stressed than they were one year ago.

Israel National News
26.04.22 

Working woman iStock

A new survey of 5,000 working women has found that over half are more stressed than they were one year ago, NBC News reported.

The study by Deloitte, which included women in 10 countries, was first published Tuesday by NBC News.

It found that 53% of women reported higher stress levels than one year ago, along with lagging mental health and a nearly-nonexistent work-life balance. The majority of women seeking to leave their jobs cited burnout as their top reason.

Flexible work was offered only by one-third of employers, the survey showed, and 94% of participants were afraid that asking for flexibility would affect their future careers.

Emma Codd, the global inclusion leader at Deloitte, told NBC News that "Sixty percent of the women that work in a hybrid way tell us they’ve already faced exclusions."

Meanwhile, 59% of respondents say they have experienced microaggressions and harassment at work over the course of the past year, but over 90% of these women were afraid that reporting the incidents would have a negative impact on their careers.

Pakistan: Wealth of Farah Khan, friend of Imran Khan's wife, grew rapidly during PTI regime

ANI
26th April 2022

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 26 (ANI): Wealth of Farah Khan, a close friend of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's wife Bushra Bibi, grew exponentially during the PTI government and does not match with the declared source of income, as per the reports.

The reports reveal that Farhat Shahzadi also known as Farah Khan and her husband Ahsan Iqbal Jameel exchanged millions of rupees' gifts and loans during the Imran Khan government, reported The New International.

This comes at a time when Farah Khan left Pakistan for Dubai amid corruption allegations and Imran Khan in a recent presser ducked a question about his relationship with Farah and simply walked away.

Both husband and wife are the alleged beneficiaries of the whitening of the black money scheme during the PTI government. They had declared Rs 328.7 million and Rs 20 million respectively under the Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019.

The corruption saga is not limited to Farah and her husband. The assets of Farah Khan's family, including her husband, her sister, and her father-in-law, also grew rapidly within a year after the Imran Khan government came into power.

Farah's sister Musarrat Khan also bought 15 residential plots in the LDA City in Lahore and three residential plots in DHA, Lahore.

She had received Rs 84 million in foreign remittances in two years despite having no declared assets/business abroad. Musarrat Khan told News International that her assets had been declared with the tax authorities and all her sources of income were legitimate.

Apart from that, the investigation by the media outlet unveils that Farah Khan's father-in-law Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, who publically disassociates himself from Farah Khan and Ahsan Jameel, was also a beneficiary of their growing fortune.

Earlier a photograph of Farah Khan seen on a flight with a handbag that is claimed to costs USD 90,000, had gone viral on social media.

According to reports in local Pakistan media, PMLN leader and former finance minister Miftah Ismail alleged that the handbag was worth USD 90,000 (Rs16.5 million). (ANI)

Israeli forces kill young Palestinian refugee in West Bank

The New Arab Staff
26 April, 2022

Occupying Israeli forces have killed Palestinian refugee Ahmed Ibrahim Oweidat, 20, in the West Bank city of Jericho in the latest in a series of attacks

The Fatah movement in Jericho declared a general strike in protest at the young man's death [Getty]

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man on Tuesday when they stormed a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho.

The Palestinian health ministry said 20-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim Oweidat "succumbed to critical wounds sustained by live bullets to the head, at dawn today in Aqabat Jaber camp" which is near Jericho.

The incident is the latest in a series of Israeli attacks in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - including at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site - amid the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Oweidat is the 25th Palestinian to have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since late month.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said three men were injured when the "undercover" forces raided the camp overnight.

With the exception of the health sector, the Fatah movement in Jericho declared a general strike in protest of his death.

Israel's army in a statement to AFP said that soldiers conducted an overnight operation in Aqabat "to apprehend wanted suspects."

Israeli settlers shoot Palestinian farmers in West Bank

"During the operational activity, dozens of Palestinians violently rioted and attacked the soldiers. The rioters burned tires, and hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers.

"The soldiers responded with riot dispersal means and live ammunition," the statement said, adding that no Israeli soldiers were hurt.

Over 600,000 Israeli settlers reside in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israeli forces since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, in settlements which are illegal under international law.

Palestinians in the West Bank regularly face intimidation, violence, and restrictions on day-to-day activity from settlers and Israeli forces.

Agencies contributed to this report.

Hamas: Palestinians’ Strong Steadfastness Thwarts Israeli Plots in Aqsa Mosque


TEHRAN (FNA)- A high-ranking member of Hamas resistance movement said the recent developments in the occupied Al-Quds mark “a new victory for the Palestinian nation similar to the Operation Al-Quds Sword".

The Palestinian resistance front has managed to propagate its discourse, Moussa Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas political bureau, stated, Palinfo reported.

Abu Marzouk pointed out that local residents of Al-Quds rose up in defense of sacred Islamic and Christian sites in the holy city, noting that those living in the West Bank presented a great example of resistance and sacrifice despite Israeli restrictive measures.

Palestinian officials and resistance groups have repeatedly voiced concerns over the Israeli regime’s plot to divide Al-Aqsa into Jewish and Muslim sections or set visiting times.

Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked Palestinian worshipers at the site since early April, with the onset of the holy month of Ramadan which coincided with Jewish Passover.

More than 150 Palestinian worshipers were injured when Israeli forces stormed the compound in the holy occupied city of Al-Quds’ Old City last week. The forces have kept up their violations on the flashpoint site besides cracking down on solidarity protests throughout the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian FM Calls on International Community to Stop Israeli Aggression, Criminal Acts


TEHRAN (FNA)- The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates called on the international community to fulfill its responsibilities and adopt appropriate measures to stop the Israeli regime’s violations of human rights and criminal acts, particularly its land expropriation and settlement expansion policies.

The ministry has urged the international community to fulfill its obligations by taking necessary legal steps to compel the occupying Tel Aviv regime to stop its violations and aggression, and to pressure Israel to engage in serious negotiations that would put an end to the occupation of Palestinian-owned land, WAFA News Agency reported.

International measures have so far failed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and have instead given Israel more time to eliminate the remaining opportunities for the so-called two-state solution, the statement noted.

The Palestinian foreign ministry then held the Israeli regime fully and directly responsible for expansion of illegal settlements, Judaization of Al-Quds as well as attempts to disconnect the occupied holy city from its Palestinian neighborhoods.

It emphasized that Israeli authorities are exploiting the international situation and racing against time to advance their expansionist colonial projects, and to implement the apartheid system in occupied Palestinian territories.

The ministry described Israel’s practices and plans as a coup against the existing agreements, stressing that the Tel Aviv regime is fiercely opposed to peace.

The Palestinian foreign ministry finally condemned Israeli regime’s plans aimed at the expansion of existing settlements and outposts, construction of new settler units, as well as confiscation and razing of Palestinian lands.

Palestinian officials and resistance groups have repeatedly voiced concerns over the Israeli regime’s plot to divide Al-Aqsa into Jewish and Muslim sections or set visiting times.

Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked Palestinian worshipers at the site since early April, with the onset of the holy month of Ramadan which coincided with Jewish Passover.

The clashes in Al-Quds had sparked fears of another armed conflict similar to an 11-day war last year between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas.

Israel waged the war last May in response to Palestinian retaliation against violent raids on worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the regime’s plans to force a number of Palestinian families out of their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Al-Quds.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 260 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli offensive, including 66 children and 40 women.

The Satanic Temple sues elementary school as after-school club rejected

By Sarah Do Couto 

 Global News
April 26, 2022 

View image in full screenThe Baphomet statue is seen in the conversion room at the Satanic Temple where a "Hell House" is being held in Salem, Massachusetts on October 8, 2019. - The Hell House was a parody on a Christian Conversion centre meant to scare atheist and other Satanic Church members. Getty

The Satanic Temple has filed a lawsuit against a Pennsylvanian elementary school after the school board voted to deny the establishment of the After School Satan club.


Northern Elementary School in York, Pa., is being sued on the grounds of constitutional violation. The Satanic Temple intends to prove the school board discriminated against the temple by barring the creation of the After School Satan club, despite other organizations being allowed to operate their own programs.

Mathew Kezhaya, the general counsel for The Satanic Temple, told ABC the litigation could take up to two years to complete — potentially longer if the case were moved to the U.S. Supreme Court.

READ MORE: The rise of the Satanic Temple in Canada

“The First Amendment prohibits a government from considering the popularity of communicative activity when determining whether to facilitate that communicative activity on equal terms with other, similarly situated, groups,” he told ABC.

According to ABC, Northern Elementary School officials made “discrete statements” informing the temple if they removed “Satan” from the club’s name, their chances of being permitted as an after-school program would increase.

Lucien Greaves, a Satanic Temple spokesperson, told Fox News it will be costly for the school and community to continue with litigation, should they still bar the After School Satan club.

“If they deny us the use of a public facility, which they have no right to do, it’ll have to move into litigation — costly litigation that the community is going to have to pay for,” he said.

On The Satanic Temple’s website, the organization claims the after-school program does not actually involve Satan.

“The After School Satan Club is an after-school program that promotes self-directed education by supporting the intellectual and creative needs of students,” they wrote.

“The After School Satan Clubs meet at select public schools where Good News Clubs also operate,” The Satanic Temple continued. “Trained educators provide activities and learning opportunities, which students are free to engage in, or they may opt to explore other interests that may be aided by available resources.”

The Satanic Temple also claims the After School Satan club includes no religious instruction whatsoever.

“Proselytization is not our goal, and we’re not interested in converting children to Satanism,” they wrote. “After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us.”

1:30 The rise of The Satanic Temple in Canada – Jul 20, 2019

 

Chernobyl anniversary: Russian aggressive actions seriously increase risk of new nuclear accident

April 26, 2022

On the anniversary of the 1986 Chornobyl accident, the EU reiterates its utmost concern over the nuclear safety and security risks caused by Russia’s recent actions at the Chornobyl site. Russia’s illegal and unjustified aggression in Ukraine again jeopardises nuclear safety on our continent, says a joint statement released by EU High Representative Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson. 

“Thirty-six years ago, the accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant led to one of the most horrific nuclear incidents in history. This long-lasting tragedy has had widespread consequences in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and in other parts of Europe, causing fatalities, human suffering, long-term health damage, food shortages, and polluting the environment,” says the statement. “Some 350,000 people had to leave their homes in severely contaminated areas, with social and economic consequences that continue to this day.”

The EU is now deeply concerned that Russia has targeted and occupied Ukrainian nuclear sites, recklessly damaging the facilities. According to Borrell and Simson, “the unlawful occupation and the interruption of normal operations, such as preventing the rotation of personnel, undermine the safe and secure operation of nuclear power plants in Ukraine and significantly raise the risk of an accident.”

The EU’s officials also called on Moscow to return control of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian authorities and refrain from any further actions targeting nuclear installations.

The EU has been among the first to react to the Chornobyl disaster. It has provided €432 million for the Chornobyl New Safe Confinement, along with loans worth €600 million, together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to Ukraine’s Comprehensive Safety Upgrade Programme for safety improvements of other nuclear power plants in Ukraine.

Find out more

Press release

‘Peace Dividend’ Dwindles as Nations Boost Defense Spending

Rich Miller and Alexander Weber, Bloomberg News

Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet, manufactured by BAE Systems Plc, and other military aircraft during a visit by Romania's President Klaus Iohannis, Romania's Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, and Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, to NATO forces at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Military Base in Constanta, Romania, on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Finland started a process expected to lead to the Nordic nation’s bid to enter the NATO defense bloc, while media in neighboring Sweden reported its ruling party is now backing the idea after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photographer: Andrei Pungovschi/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The economic and budgetary benefits of lower military spending enjoyed by the West since the end of the Cold War look set to dwindle as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forces the focus back on to defense from Berlin to Washington. 

The coming ramp-up in security outlays threatens to crowd out space on already-strained government budgets for politically popular social priorities, and may well lead to higher taxes and bigger deficits. 

It might also divert money from more productivity-enhancing areas of the economy, robbing societies of some the resources they’ll need in the future to support aging populations.

“It’s going to be very painful,” said former International Monetary Fund chief economist and Harvard University professor Kenneth Rogoff. “The peace dividend has paid for a lot of things.”  

Former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and his then U.K. counterpart, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, popularized the term “peace dividend” to highlight the gains the West would reap from the disintegration of the Soviet Union-led Eastern bloc in the early 1990s.

 The benefits, indeed, were enormous.

The U.S. slashed discretionary defense expenditures from an average 6.3% of gross domestic product from 1966 to 1991 to 3.6% since then, according to data from the White House. 

That has effectively saved the federal government trillions of dollars over that time frame -- even after taking account of money diverted to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also helped enable Washington to run a budget surplus in the late 1990s, freeing up resources for companies to spend on boosting productivity as the Internet proliferated. 

With the U.S. continuing to guarantee their security, European countries were even more aggressive in cutting back. Germany, the region’s largest economy, has saved more than 500 billion euros ($536 billion) since 1991 as it was able to keep military expenditure below 2% of GDP, according to Hubertus Bardt of the German Economic Institute in Cologne. 

“There’s been substantial relief for public coffers thanks to the reduction of defense spending,” he said. 

Of course, like all government expenditure, increased military outlays boost GDP. Just ask defense contractors. 

But the “bang for the buck,” so to speak, is much less than for some other forms of expenditure, such as that on infrastructure like roads and airports.

And while the U.S. economy benefited from commercial applications of breakthroughs financed by military spending, such payoffs are far from certain and are obviously not the main focus of the defense effort.

“Defense is expensive. It’s inefficient,” Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in Foreign Affairs this month.  “But it is an essential insurance policy designed to guarantee that the U.S. can protect itself, its allies, and its interests.“

With Russian aggression suddenly shifting perceptions in Europe of regional threats, Germany has led the charge in switching toward rearmament. The government has earmarked 100 billion euros to beef up its military after years of underinvestment, has already announced plans to buy fighter jets, and is now weighing a spending spree on anti-missile defenses.

“Vladimir Putin’s attack has changed the security situation in Europe,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said in March as he unveiled plans for new defense investments.

 “The peace dividend is used up.”

In one demonstration of that new paradigm on Tuesday, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced a doubling of defense support for Ukraine to 2 billion euros after international criticism of the country’s hesitant stance. A shipment anti-aircraft tanks was also authorized to aid the war effort. 

Other European countries are also stepping up military spending, with non-NATO member Sweden, for example, now aspiring to meet the 2% of GDP target pursued by members of the alliance.

Not all have the financial clout to do that. Analysts at debt ratings company Moody’s Investors Service have identified Italy, Spain, Belgium and Portugal as countries that could face what they called “fiscal risks” if they emulated Germany’s example and lifted defense spending to the equivalent of 2% of GDP.

European Union countries are also normally subject to strict rules limiting debt and deficits, potentially obstructing any attempt to raise military spending. Italian premier Mario Draghi says that regime should be loosened to reflect the need to prioritize defense.

Another way to supplement such efforts would be joint investment at the EU level. The bloc’s leaders have discussed financing as much as 2 trillion euros in new military and energy spending, perhaps with the use of joint debt. 

In the U.S., President Joe Biden called on March 29 for a roughly 4% increase for defense outlays to $813 billion in the 2023 fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1, including $682 million in funding for Ukraine. 

The bulk of the money in the president’s request -- $773 billion -- is earmarked for the Pentagon in what the White House describes as “one of the largest investments in our national security in history.”

The proposal faced immediate push-back from Republicans in Congress who argued that it fails to keep up with inflation, or with challenges including China’s rising military might and Russia’s war on Ukraine. 

Perhaps in a nod to progressive Democrats -- who have long argued that the government should spend less on defense and more on social programs -- Biden’s budget sees military spending falling below 3% of GDP in 2026 and then declining further to 2.4% in 2032, the last year of the budget window.

Defense Spending Doubts

Some economists -- including a number of Democrats -- doubt that outlays on defense will follow such a declining trend as a share of the economy, even if European nations step up with their own efforts.

“It seems highly implausible that we will not need as a country to increase defense spending considerably more rapidly than current projections of GDP growth, given escalating threats from Russia, from China and potential threats in the Middle East,” said Lawrence Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary under President Barack Obama and is a paid contributor to Bloomberg TV.

He argues that any stepped-up increase in spending should be paid for by increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations, rather than financed by the government issuing more debt.

Other economists have also called for social spending cuts to help make room for national security. Glenn Hubbard -- who served as chief White House economist to Republican President George W. Bush -- supports reforms of the government’s huge Social Security and health care programs that would pare back the benefits going to the well off.

The U.S. and Europe “face fiscal choices that are hard,” said Hubbard, who is now a professor at Columbia University. “This is going forward, year in and year out, about removal of the peace dividend.”

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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TD seeks to tap growing Florida tech-talent base with 200 hires

Kevin Orland, Bloomberg News

Now Showing

 TD Bank

Toronto-Dominion Bank is looking to hire 200 technology workers at its office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to take advantage of a growing talent pool in the region.

The hires, which will take place over the next two years, are part of a tech-hiring blitz that the Toronto-based bank announced in January. The bank said at the time that it plans to hire more than 2,000 tech workers this year, more than six times the number it added in 2021.

For the Fort Lauderdale office, the bank is focusing on software engineers and staff skilled in security programs, among other jobs, said Greg Keeley, senior executive vice president for platforms and technology. The region has seen an increase in tech talent in recent years, accelerated by the pandemic, because of the universities in the area and quality-of-life factors like the weather.

The hiring plan is “really around getting access to, making our footprint known and really engaging in the South Florida talent market, given how fast it’s growing and the types of resources that are moving here,” Keeley said in an interview. 

The plan includes a partnership with the Alan B. Levan - Nova Southeastern University Broward Center of Innovation, a tech accelerator and startup incubator, to help with recruitment, the bank said in a statement. 

Toronto-Dominion has had a retail-banking presence in Florida for more than a decade. The lender in February agreed to buy regional bank First Horizon Corp. for US$13.4 billion, a deal that would allow the Canadian firm to expand in the U.S. Southeast. 

The far-right's repulsive QAnon-infused 'groomer' smear is a clarion call for violence

Susan J. Demas, Michigan Advance
April 26, 2022

Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-13th District) (Screen Grab)

Earlier this month, Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton) used her invocation on the Senate dais to launch a political tirade that children are “under attack” from “forces that desire things for them other than what their parents would have them see and hear and know.”

That prompted walkouts from some Democratic senators, so Theis saw an opportunity to make some quick campaign cash, as she’s facing a rough GOP primary with a former President Trump-endorsed challenger.

“Progressive social media trolls like Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Snowflake) who are outraged they can’t … groom and sexualize kindergarteners or that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery,” reads Theis’ email titled, “groomers outraged by my invocation.”

Republicans, banking on the fact that they’ll win the midterms (since the party out of power usually does), have launched savage attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, abortion rights and race equity, from Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law to Idaho’s law allowing families of rapists to sue abortion providers.

Many Democratic officials have avoided direct confrontation, even though none of these measures are popular, oddly ceding ground on basic civil and human rights issues. It’s like they’re already preparing to lose in 2022.

But if Theis thought McMorrow would adopt a defensive crouch, she was wrong. Instead, the first-term Democrat delivered a fiery Senate speech last week.

“I didn’t expect to wake up yesterday to the news that the senator from the 22nd District had overnight accused, by name, of grooming and sexualizing children in an email fundraising for herself,” she said. “So I sat on it for a while wondering, why me? And then I realized, because I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme.”

McMorrow’s “epic takedown” went viral, followed by predictable takes dinging her for her newfound fame and raising serious money from it (interestingly echoing bitter complaints from Theis, who has remained unapologetic).

It’s adorable when the politically savvy pretend they don’t understand how politics works (yes, running for office takes money). But this also conveniently ignores that Theis was the one who fired the first shot by blatantly trying to capitalize off of her anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry, while making McMorrow an explicit target of hate.

Meanwhile, McMorrow’s speech captivated Democratic leaders from President Joe Biden on down, as well as frustrated progressives and folks just concerned with basic common decency.

Even Democratic consultant James Carville, who claims the party is veering too far left with “wokeness” (whatever that means), told the Washington Post McMorrow’s speech was an “enormously effective piece of communication. There’s really no comeback to it.”

It was clearly the right speech at the right time. Nobody knows exactly what will catch fire and what won’t — politics isn’t an exact science — but McMorrow’s self-proclaimed status as a “straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom” likely didn’t hurt.

Would a similarly impassioned speech from a gay or trans lawmaker have resonated as deeply? I honestly don’t know and it’s worth considering what that means.

But I do know there’s one aspect of this story that needs to be talked about more. The QAnon-infused “groomer” smear from Republicans that LGBTQ+ people and Democrats are trying to harm and abuse children isn’t just disgusting — it’s dangerous.

It’s a call to violence to the far-right base in the name of saving children at a time when political threats are already on the rise. There’s a reason why McMorrow was holding back tears when she recalled talking about Theis’ email to her mother, who cried, was “horrified,” and “asked why I still do this, and to think of my daughter.”

It’s not just LGBTQ+ people and allies who are targets — there even have been stomach-churning reports of their young children being accosted by bigots.

But far-right leaders with enormous platforms, like Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Michigan GOP gubernatorial hopeful Tudor Dixon and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, don’t show any sign of letting up on gross smears that LGBTQ+ people and Dems are “sexualizing” kids.

Why would they? This is just following the playbook of the radical anti-abortion movement. Remember when right-wing talk show host Bill O’Reilly whipped up fury against Dr. George Tiller, who he repeatedly denounced as a “baby killer”? Tiller was murdered by an anti-abortion activist while attending church in 2009.

Why pretend this can’t happen again?

Republicans embracing politicians eager for violence like Trump, who has called for shooting anti-police brutality activists and migrants at the border, is part of the party’s march to white nationalism and authoritarianism.

Far-right activists have descended on Michigan’s Capitol multiple times since 2020, with heavily armed protests against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s early COVID-19 health orders and Trump’s 2020 election loss. Since then, there have been a carousel of outrages, from masks to critical race theory to LGBTQ+ people daring to exist.

After the first protest in April 2020, Trump was in a frenzy, tweeting, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” It’s also worth remembering what he wrote after rioters with AR-15s and signs like “Tyrants Get the Rope” breached the Capitol later that month in what was a dress rehearsal for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire,” Trump wrote. “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”

This is what fascists do and have always done. They threaten officials and threaten to take over institutions by force, claiming to speak for the majority when they do not.

Trump’s advice to the sane majority was just to give in and no one would get hurt. The far-right has only become more emboldened in the two years that have followed, putting public health and school board officials in their crosshairs.

That’s why we must stand up every time they target marginalized groups and public servants. It’s easy to dismiss fascists as deranged, but they are relentless.

They’re counting on those of us fighting to preserve decency and democracy to give in to terror and exhaustion. But that’s not an option.


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EU under pressure to get tough on Vietnam rights record

Experts are calling on the EU to take a stance on Vietnam's rights record amid new trade talks.



The EVFTA was meant to improve rights issues in Vietnam

After a planned human rights dialogue session with Vietnam was postponed earlier this month, the European Union is under renewed pressure to get tough on the one-party state, which is often ranked as one of the worst abusers of human rights in Asia.

Bilateral trade surged by around 13% in 2021, largely the result of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) that came into effect the previous year, which was hailed by Brussels as the "most ambitious free trade deal ever concluded with a developing country."

Part of the commission's pitch to skeptics in the European Parliament was that the EVFTA required the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party to introduce several reforms, notably on workers' rights, and open up monitoring to civil society groups. Many reckon this was a false promise.

The EVFTA was supposed to bring about human rights improvements in Vietnam, "but ever since the deal was signed in 2020, repression against social and environmental activists by Vietnamese authorities has never been higher," said Maria Arena, an MEP and chair of the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights.

Repression on the rise

Jessica Nguyen, advocacy officer of the 88Project, a monitoring group, says there are at least 207 jailed activists and political prisoners in Vietnam, the highest number of any Southeast Asian state, and that things are getting worse.

According to their soon-to-be-published report for 2021, while the number of arrests and trials in 2020 and 2021 were similar, the severity of sentences was far greater in 2021. Of the 32 activists tried last year, 23 were sentenced to five or more years in prison, whereas less than half of those tried in 2020 received such lengthy sentences.

A bilateral human rights dialogue was supposed to be held in Brussels earlier this month but was postponed because medical reasons prevented the Vietnamese delegation from traveling, said an EU official. It isn't known when the session will be held.

"We share the concerns raised by civil society about the human rights situation in Vietnam," said Peter Stano, an EU spokesperson. "The EU has consistently called on the Vietnamese authorities to release detainees and to guarantee the right to a fair trial for all individuals.”

"We will continue to monitor human rights in Vietnam, and work with all those concerned towards the improvement of the situation," he added. "Despite the concerns, we believe that the EU must continue to engage with the country's authorities and on the ground. The next available opportunity is the Human Rights dialogue."
Trade policy 'incompatible' with rights

Arena, the chair of the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights, reckons there is little hope that this new session "will bring any change on the ground if the [European] Commission keeps tolerating the Vietnamese government's blatant violations of its human rights obligations and commitments."

"Overall, Vietnam is a clear example that our trade policy is not compatible with the objectives of promoting human rights and the environment with our trade partners," she noted.

Camille Nessel, an analyst at Université Libre de Bruxelles and Ghent University, has written about the EU's attempt to create what she calls an "ethical narrative."

"In the EVFTA narrative, Vietnam's political elites are largely 'devillanized.' The EU presents Vietnam as a developing country, struggling with developmental issues, instead of an authoritarian state," Nessel told DW.

"The EVFTA is presented as bringing economic development to Vietnam, and therefore necessary to fight 'underdevelopment' in Vietnam," she added. "At the same time, almost no agency is given to Vietnam's authoritarian political apparatus in being responsible for the human rights situation in Vietnam.

As part of the EVFTA, both sides were supposed to create their own Domestic Advisory Group (DAG), a civil-society component to allow independent observers to monitor the implementation of the EVFTA, especially in areas such as workers' rights, land rights and the environment.

Although the EU established its DAG in December 2020, the Vietnam counterpart hasn't yet been formed. Vietnam "has been dragging its feet," said Nguyen, of the 88Project, adding that bilateral meetings have had to be postponed as a result.
Critics call out too little change

Worse, in July last year, the journalist Mai Phan Loi and lawyer Dang Dinh Bach were arrested on alleged trumped-up charges of tax evasion. They were sentenced to four and five years in jail, respectively, in January. Both were executive board members of the VNGO-EVFTA Network, an unofficial version of the DAG formed by several Vietnamese civil society groups.

Perhaps adding insult to injury, the Vietnamese authorities in January also arrested the prominent environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh, whose five-year, EU-funded project had just ended.

Claudio Francavilla, the EU advocate at Human Rights Watch, called the DAG a "smokescreen, a fairy tale."

Not only can one not find independent and registered civil society groups in Vietnam, he said, the DAG is only tasked with monitoring the implementation of the EVFTA. That definition could be stretched but the Vietnamese authorities won't allow it..

"Unfortunately, a majority of MEPs was persuaded by the EU and businesses to have a very low ambition on human rights,” Francavilla commented.

But that was the case from the very start of the process. In 2019, months before the European Parliament voted to approve the EVFTA, the famed independent journalist Pham Chi Dung was arrested, supposedly because of his reporting about the trade pact and associated human rights issues. He was jailed for 15 years in early 2021.

Edited by: Leah Carter