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RainCaster

RainCaster's Journal
RainCaster's Journal
August 26, 2022

Inside the Secretive World of Irish Limited Partnerships

A fascinating story from Bellingcat No limits, open story for all to read.

What Exactly is an Irish Limited Partnership?

ILPs came into existence as part of the United Kingdom’s 1907 Limited Partnerships Act. At this time, Ireland was still a part of the UK.

The same act brought into existence Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs), a corporate vehicle exclusive to Scotland. Bellingcat has previously produced a number of reports concerning the alleged misuse of SLPs after a series of high-profile money laundering schemes came to light.

These include a fraud that was estimated to have illegally extracted US $1 billion from banks in Moldova in 2014. In 2017, two SLPs were used to funnel billions out of Azerbaijan to be spent on luxury goods and to peddle political influence in Europe. SLPs played a major role in the Russian Laundromat scandal, where $20.8 billion was moved out of Russia through a network of banks worldwide.

SLPs, like ILPs, had limited filing requirements and did not require the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) of the partnership – the person who ultimately controls a business – to be named.
August 26, 2022

Why the U.S. Supreme Court Is Bad for the Jews

Found in an Israeli paper. Copied all 4 paras, but you can go listen to her tell you the story.

Why the U.S. Supreme Court Is Bad for the Jews: LISTEN to Dahlia Lithwick

After a series of dramatic decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, the “wall between church and state is almost completely eroded,” warns our guest Dahlia Lithwick, a senior journalist at Slate and legal commentator for MSNBC.

In a conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, she highlights two recent cases decided by the new conservative court majority that prioritized the “religious liberty” of school employees and have “wiped away” the idea that “schools, particularly public schools, are meant to be a place where students could not face religious proselytizing.”

Lithwick, who lived in Charlottesville during the 2017 “Unite the Right” march, also discussed the five-year anniversary of that frightening event, saying that “the deep unease that American Jews feel with being both the recipients of Christian nationalism … while also recognizing that they are white and have the privilege of whiteness even when the Nazis march … is a faultline in how American Jews think about themselves and their power.”

Lithwick, whose new book "Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America" comes out in September, also discusses why the religious beliefs of justices - from RBG’s Judaism to the Catholic judges who have banned abortion - is a “third rail” for journalists like herself, and the difference between “cynical” Israelis who have long considered their Supreme Court to be highly politicized, and Americans who have been “gobsmacked” to discover that the court “is a partisan political body.”

IMO, SCOTUS is bad for all of us.
August 26, 2022

'Turning point': Climate change forces early start to Champagne harvest



The harvesting of grapes in France's Champagne region and in vineyards across the country has already begun, far earlier in the season than is normal – a result of the extreme heat seen across Europe this summer. While August harvests used to be extremely rare, they are now becoming common due to climate change, say winemakers. And the warming weather may soon start forcing changes to how the famous sparkling wine is produced.
August 26, 2022

The Euro is dropping below the dollar

Yep- it really is. Here's the link.

The single currency closed at 0.9927 per US dollar on Tuesday, according to European Central Bank data. That's the lowest it has closed against the greenback in over two decades. The current slide has been swift: Just before Russia launched its war in Ukraine, €1 was worth $1.15.

August 18, 2022

Anti-vax group run by JHFK Jr. finally banned by Facebook & Instagram

At long last, it has really happened.

Desperate remedies
Loathsome anti-vax group run by RFK Jr gets Meta permaban—finally

Yesterday, the anti-vaccine group the Children’s Health Defense celebrated the spread of poliovirus in New York, mocking health officials spreading awareness that polio is vaccine-preventable. Today, CHD reports that the group was also permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram yesterday. A screenshot of Meta’s notification in its press release says that the ban is due to CHD’s practice of spreading "misinformation that could cause physical harm."

A Meta spokesperson tells Ars that Meta “removed the Instagram and Facebook accounts in question for repeatedly violating our COVID-19 policies.”

CHD says the ban came “without warning,” cutting the anti-vax group off from hundreds of thousands of followers on both social media platforms. Denying allegations that the group spreads misinformation, CHD suggested instead the ban is connected to CHD’s lawsuit against Meta that questions the validity of how Facebook and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention label health misinformation. The group's legal counsel in that lawsuit, Roger Teich, suggested that the ban was improper.

“Censorship is not only unconstitutional, it’s un-American,” Teich said in the press release.


Censorship is un-american, but spewing bullshit is a god-given right, according to JFK Jr and his band of toadies.
August 14, 2022

Forum for those who read books?

I would like to have a place where we can share books that we've read. Have discussions about them, etc. Just like we do for movies & TV shows.

Example: I'm reading a book now called 'Tightrope, Americans reaching for hope'. This book speaks to many of us about the fragility of our economic system and the support network that is failing our society.

Earl, if there is enough interest, could you creat this please?

Discuss amongst yourselves...

July 9, 2022

NC wants to ban free car chargers

Car and Driver: North Carolina Bill Would Mandate Removal of Free EV Chargers.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a40543385/north-carolina-wants-remove-free-public-ev-chargers/

No shit, they really want this. At least one republican does anyhow.

Politicians have to run on some kind of platform, and Ben Moss—my incoming state House representative here in North Carolina's District 52—decided that his animating principle is Being Mad at Electricity. To prove his animosity toward this invisible menace, he's sponsoring House Bill 1049, which would allocate $50,000 to destroy free public car chargers. It contains some other enlightened ideas, but that's the main theme: We've simply got to do something about these free public chargers, even if it costs us $50,000! Those things cost tens of cents per hour, when they're being used.
July 2, 2022

Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis- Blow Me (A Kiss)

This is worth the time


March 1, 2022

Russian op-ed on Putin

Link here
[T]here are far fewer people actually out protesting. You have to understand that ordinary people in Russia are scared out of their minds. On the first day of the conflict, almost 1,000 protesters were jailed across Russia for walking outside with as little as a piece of paper that said: “I don’t want war.” According to the independent media source OVD-info, in the first four days of the war more than 5,200 people were arrested.

My friend spent time in jail for walking down the same street as the protesters. A professor of sociology, Grigory Yudin, was arrested in the centre of Moscow and reportedly beaten up in the back of an autozak (police bus).
...
Putin, who is so keen on history, is unknowingly digging his own grave. With Russia cut off from Swift and facing sanctions from the EU, the US, and the UK, it’ll take only a few years before it runs into extremely hard times. And when it does, people will not be afraid any more. If history teaches us anything, it’s that people – even ones as stubborn and patient as the Russians – will not tolerate a lack of food. When the money runs out, so will Putin’s clock.

And we – the new generation of Russians – will be waiting.

Profile Information

Gender: Male
Home country: USA
Current location: Left Coast
Member since: Mon Oct 10, 2016, 07:19 PM
Number of posts: 10,866

About RainCaster

A Reformed Republican who saw evil and shook its hand. (Nixon) He now spends his time trying to change the world for the better.
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