Posts on Saturday, March 11, 2023
Silicon Valley Bank employees received their annual bonuses Friday just hours before regulators seized the failing bank, according to people with knowledge of the payments. The Santa Clara, California-based bank has historically paid employee bonuses on the second Friday of March, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about the awards. The payments were for work done in 2022 and had been in process days before the bank's collapse, the sources said.
Silicon Valley Bank, which was closed by U.S. regulators Friday after massive withdrawals and the collapse of its share price, was the bank of choice for the Israeli high-tech sector. The California-based bank, which in 2008 opened an Israeli branch on Tel Aviv’s Ha’arba’a Street, held billions of dollars in deposits of Israeli high-tech companies, invested in many local startups and – no less important – extended credit to dozens of Israeli technology companies.
The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized $175 million of the bank’s deposits, making this the biggest bank failure since the global financial crisis in 2008.
Etsy is warning sellers that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday is causing delays in processing payments, according to an email from the company shared with NBC News.
The online do-it-yourself goods mega shop said it used SVB to facilitate disbursement to some sellers, and that it was working with other payment partners to issue deposits. "We wanted to let you know that there is a delay with your deposit that was scheduled for today," the email from Etsy said.
"We know that you count on us to help run your business and we understand how important it is for you to receive your funds when you need them,"
The accepted definition of "racism" is "prejudice against members of a different ethnic group," with "ethnic" defined as a "subgroup ... with a common national or cultural tradition." By this definition, residents of the South and the West constitute "ethnic groups," and there is abundant evidence of prejudice against these regions in American history and in today's politics and media.
What the Northern and coastal elite feel toward the South and West is a level of contempt that amounts to racism. For many decades, liberals have displayed a racist attitude toward white Southerners, a group with which most liberals in the coastal regions have little contact.
“I took the most aggressive action ever — in all of history in any country — to take on the climate crisis by lowering your home energy bills,” crowed Joe Biden during a speech touting his insane budget proposal. He might as well have claimed that he took “the most aggressive action ever — in the history of the universe” for all the truth there was in that statement. [Tweet] The Republican National Committee was bewildered.
“Huh?” wondered the RNC. “Electricity is up 11.9%, fuel oil is up 27.7%, and natural gas is up 26.7% over last year.” [Tweet] Not to be outdone, Vice President Kamala Harris had her own fantasy
Shocking footage has revealed the moment a South Carolina student was 'slammed against a wall' and screamed at by her teacher for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
The parents of Marissa Barnwell, 15, have launched a lawsuit following the episode, which erupted on the ninth-grader's birthday last November.
The incident occurred at River Bluff High School in Lexington, where honor roll student Barnwell claims she was accosted while quietly walking to class. She says her teacher, named Nicole Livingstone, became enraged after seeing the 15-year-old had not stood still as the pledge rang out across the campus' intercom system.
'I was just in disbelief,' said Barnwell
On Friday, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to declassify all U.S. intelligence information on the origins of COVID-19.
The bill previously passed the Senate by unanimous consent last week and now awaits President Biden’s signature. He says he hasn’t made a decision yet, but should he sign it, the relevant intelligence would need to be released within 90 days. While the bill doesn’t have an enforcement mechanism, there is nevertheless a significant amount of pressure on Biden to sign the bill, and with unanimous, bipartisan approval, the backlash he could face by vetoing it would probably be
Officials with the United States Navy have renamed two ships whose names have ties to the Confederacy. The U.S. guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville, which was homeported in San Diego for many years, has been renamed Robert Smalls, honoring a Civil War-era maritime pilot who commandeered a Confederate ship in 1862 and turned it over to the Union forces.
Smalls was born a slave and went on to become a mariner, a businessman, a publisher and a congressman who represented South Carolina, the state where he was born.
The decision to make the change was due to its former name, which was
Donald Trump was featured in a song by the J6 Prison Choir called “Justice For All.” It soared to the top of iTunes.(Snip)Proceeds go to the January 6 political prisoners and their families. The J6 Prisoner Choir is made up of people incarcerated for their involvement on Jan 6th.
Dr. Susan Bradley, a Canadian psychiatrist and pioneer in child gender dysphoria treatment, came out against the popular model of affirming children’s transgender identities and putting them on puberty blockers — a practice she was once involved in — in an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Bradley started a pediatric gender clinic in 1975 aimed at treating children with gender dysphoria — a deep sense of discomfort with one’s body and biological sex — in which she offered a therapy-focused approach; most patients outgrew their feelings of being transgender over time, she told the DCNF. Around 2005, the clinic began prescribing puberty blockers to gender-dysphoric children as a way
A big bank has gone down, the second in 48 hours. The U.S. trade deficit has widened. Inflation is out of control with the Fed openly warning the rate hikes to beat it back are going to keep coming.
Yet for Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats, keep calling for more federal spending. That's where the problem is coming from. Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, just as economist Milton Friedman explained. Call for more spending and what's really being called for is more inflation and the interest rate hikes that follow to stop that inflation, both of which are now wreaking havoc.
Biden just did that this week,
VA House Stops Democrats From Putting
A Right To Partial-Birth Abortion In The
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A Right To Partial-Birth Abortion In The
State Constitution replies
Republicans in the Virginia House defeated a Democrat effort to change the legislative body’s rules and put an amendment on the ballot that would have codified legal protections for abortionists in the commonwealth’s constitution.
In a final vote on Feb. 23, Republican delegates voted down a rule change to resurrect the radical “Right to Abortion” Amendment, proposed by House Democrats earlier in the 2023 session. The amendment would have sanctioned the killing of the unborn in the Virginia Constitution, legalized abortion up to and during birth, made possible taxpayer-funded abortion, and inhibited the passage of future laws to protect the unborn.
A head of risk assessment at the beleaguered Silicon Valley Bank has been accused of prioritizing pro-diversity initiatives over her actual role after the firm imploded on Friday.
Jay Ersapah - who describes herself as a 'queer person of color from a working-class background' - organized a host of LGBTQ initiatives including a month-long Pride campaign and implemented 'safe space' catch-ups for staff.
In a corporate video published just nine months ago, she said she 'could not be prouder' to work for SVB serving 'underrepresented entrepreneurs.'
The problem with cable news is that — outside of perhaps Tucker Carlson, who seems genuinely committed to exposing truths and has paid the price for it in the form of the Majority Leader calling for his censorship from the Senate floor — it’s not news. It’s state propaganda, by and for the special interests that have purchased the state.
These special interests include big agriculture, big pharma, and, of course, the private weapons manufacturers that comprise the military-industrial complex.
Lever News explains:
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, cable news networks have routinely called on defense officials-turned-consultants to offer analysis and help the American public make sense
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., on Friday introduced legislation that would allow congressional employees to carry legally possessed weapons in self-defense to and from Capitol Hill and safely store them while at work.
The Safe Storage Lockers for House Office Buildings Act would require Capitol Police to install and operate lockers at the entrances of House office buildings where workers could store their weapons.
In Washington, D.C., individuals are allowed by law to carry and use certain weapons for self-defense, including self-defense sprays, stun guns and concealed firearms. However, both D.C. and federal law prohibit individuals from carrying these weapons inside a federal building.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced backlash late this week after falsely claiming during a White House press briefing that Daily Wire host Michael Knowles called for the “eradication of transgender people” during a speech at CPAC.
During her comments to reporters, Jean-Pierre referenced Knowles’ speech last Saturday when he called for the “eradication” of radical gender ideology. Several Left-wing media outlets which initially claimed that Knowles called for the “eradication” of people, not an ideology, later corrected their reporting. But Jean-Pierre, just before misrepresenting Knowles’ words, said the White House must
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Silicon Valley Bank collapsed Friday in the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history after a run on deposits doomed the tech-focused lender’s plans to raise fresh capital.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it has taken control of the bank via a new entity it created called the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara. All of the bank’s deposits have been transferred to the new bank, (snip)
Insured depositors will have access to their funds by Monday morning,(snip)Depositors with funds exceeding insurance caps will get receivership certificates for their uninsured balances, meaning businesses with big deposits stuck at the bank are unlikely
Military aid provided by the United States and its NATO allies to Ukraine is being found in the hands of Iranians, according to a new CNN report.
“Russia has been capturing some of the US and NATO-provided weapons and equipment left on the battlefield in Ukraine and sending them to Iran, where the US believes Tehran will try to reverse-engineer the systems,” four sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
“Over the last year, US, NATO and other Western officials have seen several instances of Russian forces seizing smaller, shoulder-fired weapons equipment including Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft systems
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has called for the release of Jacob Chansley, the "Qanon Shaman" who was sentenced to prison following entering the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Newly released footage of the Capitol riot showed Chansley telling supporters of former President Donald Trump to "go home" and "obey our president." Musk, retweeting the video posted on Twitter, wrote "free Jacob Chansley" on Friday evening. "I’m not part of MAGA, but I do believe in fairness of justice," Musk wrote when someone replied to his post claiming he was a part of the MAGA movement. "Chansley was falsely portrayed in the media as a violent criminal who tried to overthrow
A Texas trooper has warned Americans to rethink traveling to Mexico as three women vanish after crossing the border to sell clothes at a flee market, joining the more than 500 US citizens that are missing in the country.
Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has issued a stark warning for American travelers as many gear up for Spring Break and plan trips to the popular travel destination.
'Our department is urging anyone traveling to Mexico, especially spring breakers, to avoid those areas, because right now it is too dangerous with the increase in violence and kidnappings in Mexico,'
One-third of Democrats believe President Biden has a “conflict of interest” with China potentially affecting his administration’s response to China’s “aggressive actions against the U.S.,” a Convention of States Action/Trafalgar Group survey released this week found.
The survey asked respondents, “Due to the Biden family’s business relationships with China, do you believe President Biden has a conflict of interest when responding to China’s aggressive actions against the U.S.?”Across the board, 57.2 percent said “yes,” Biden has a conflict of interest. 33.5 percent do not believe he does, and 9.3 percent said they are not sure.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) appeared to suggest United States military serving overseas should be barred from watching Fox News. Swalwell made the comments speaking on MSNBC with host Katie Phang on Saturday.
Phang asked Rep. Swalwell if there should be any sort of “congressional oversight, regulations, some type of gatekeeping” regarding Fox News, after Tucker Carlson aired previously never-before-seen footage from the events of January 6, 2021.
President Joe Biden’s proposed 2024 budget, which was released Thursday, hopes to fund sex-change surgeries and gender-affirming treatments for military veterans. “Recognizing the diversity of America’s veterans, the Administration is also taking action to advance equity across veterans’ services,” the budget reads.
“In addition to ending the ban on transgender service, the Administration is committed to providing gender affirming care to the Nation’s veterans — and last year, the VA announced that it was extending survivor benefits to certain survivors of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex veterans.”
A class action suit filed in California alleges LG Electronics USA, Inc. sold gas range stoves in the United States without properly notifying customers of toxic emissions prior to their purchases.
The suit comes as the industry faces attacks and efficiency proposals by the Biden administration that would remove up to half the current gas range ovens on the U.S. market.
A California woman who purchased an LG gas stove from Costco in October 2022 claims in the suit that she was unaware of the “risks” associated with the product before purchasing.
“Ms. Sherzai relied on the representations on the marketing materials disclosing risks,” read the lawsuit.
For a member of the academic class, there’s a burden to bring something intellectually-worthwhile to the table. When you have nothing to offer (like the vast majority of college professors), you simply invent new scholarly-ish terms.
Instead of “pedophile” or “child predator”, academia offers us the softer “minor-attracted person.”
Instead of “sexual mutilation” or “medical malpractice”, we get “gender-affirming care.”
And now, drum roll please…Cara Daggett, a professor at Virginia Tech and a “climate sociologist” unveils her latest literary horror: “petro-masculinity”.
(Apparently, all it takes to signal academic genius as a leftist is to smash a couple of buzzwords together separated by a hyphen.) Earlier this week, Canada’s National Observer ran an essay
PORTLAND, Ore. – In the last decade, gender pronouns have become a much more common sight to see and hear – both in social media profiles, in their email signatures, on patches and pins, and when they introduce themselves. As the fight for LGBTQ+ equality and rights continues, many people, including celebrities like Sam Smith and Demi Lovato, have publicly announced that they’re non-binary and use they/them pronouns. (Snip) People can also use non-gendered or gender-neutral pronouns such as they/them, ze/zir, ze/hir, xe/xem, fe/fem, ey/em, co/co, or per/per. Some of these, such as ze/sem and fe/fem, are known as neo
MINNEAPOLIS -- Bud Grant, the stoic and demanding Hall of Fame coach who took the Minnesota Vikings and their mighty Purple People Eaters defense to four Super Bowls in eight years and lost all of them, died Saturday. He was 95. The Vikings announced Grant's death on social media. (Snip) Wearing his trademark purple Vikings cap and a stone-faced demeanor, Grant’s steely sideline gaze became synonymous with his teams. He was a mainstay among coaches of his era, a decorated group that included Don Shula, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, John Madden and Hank Stram. Grant, however, had little interest in
Previously censored videos of Jan. 6, 2021, are now circulating online and sparking controversy and shock. The videos show people who appear to be Antifa disguising themselves as Trump supporters, and Trump supporters stopping Antifa vandalism. Another video shows a man who said he witnessed Antifa disguising themselves and saying they wanted to make Trump supporters look bad. The eyewitness further insisted the Jan. 6 protesters committing vandalism were not Trump supporters.
Actor and director Kevin Sorbo tweeted the video below with the comment, “Now do you believe me?” [Tweet] Cartoonist Scott Adams quote-tweeted a video of Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman” who was
Footage from January 6th shows Jacob Chansley, or the "QAnon Shaman," on a speaker reading then-President Donald Trump's tweet telling protesters to go home.
"Donald Trump has asked us to go home," Chansley said to the gathered crowd. "We made our point and Donald Trump has asked for everybody to go home. So what are we going to do? We are going to obey our president, we're going to do what he asked. "Respect the Capitol," a man in the crowd shouted. "We are not Antifa," Chansley repeated.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) reintroduced a bill that would designate Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) in response to increased drug trafficking across the southern border. If passed, The Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act would require the State Department to provide a report on the cartels and would give the federal government the power to crack down on them, such as the ability to curb financial support for the cartels since it is illegal for a U.S. citizen to support FTOs.
The Gulf cartel, Cartel del Noreste, the Sinaloa cartel, and the Jalisco New Generation cartel
China vs. USA
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The battle between WW2 German and British scientific intelligence was described by Winston Churchill as the “Wizard War” in his postwar memoirs. But in that distant age, the “Wizard War” was still junior to the physical conflict between armies of millions, systems of mass production and access to copious quantities of raw materials. Mental strife was only a useful adjunct what was still primarily a material struggle. Today, as Eric Schmidt of formerly of Google argues in Foreign Affairs, it is the armies of millions, systems of mass production that is subordinate to the war of minds. “Rather than natural resource wealth or mastery
For those who watched Thursday’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing regarding the Twitter Files, the arrogant, dismissive, (and hilariously ignorant) attitude on display by the subcommittee’s Democrat members was hard to stomach. While most hearings are dog and pony shows to some degree, the Dems’ seek-and-destroy mission aimed at undermining the credibility of witnesses Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger and muddying the waters was blatant.
As a former Democrat (of the “classical liberal” variety) the disdain for journalistic ethics and best practices and utter indifference to the gross governmental overreach
Stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) lost its dollar peg and slumped to an all-time low on Saturday after Circle, the U.S. firm behind the coin, revealed that some of the reserves backing it were held at Silicon Valley Bank.
Circle has $3.3 billion of its $40 billion of USDC reserves at collapsed lender Silicon Valley Bank, the company said in a tweet on Friday.
The coin broke its 1:1 dollar peg and fell as low as $0.88 shortly after 0800 GMT on Saturday according to market tracker CoinGecko. It recovered slightly to trade around $0.90 by 1120 GMT.
Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on Friday
Here’s another lawyer joke:
A mathematician, an engineer, and a lawyer were each asked the question, “What is two plus two?”
The mathematician answered, “It’s four. It’s exactly four.”
The engineer answered, “It’s four, give or take a little. It depends on the precision of the numbers.”
The lawyer answered, “What do you want it to be?”
Lawyers are supposed to be zealous advocates for their clients. That’s not just customary; it’s a formal provision in the American Bar Association Rules of Professional Conduct – the ABA ethics rules.
A federal appeals judge appointed by Donald Trump has demanded an apology from Stanford Law School after he was invited to speak, only to be berated by a pious dean while woke students shouted abuse at him.
Judge Kyle Duncan, from the fifth circuit of appeals, was ambushed by associate dean of equity, diversity and inclusion Tirien Steinbach during a discussion Thursday night. But she then launched into an impassioned six minute speech - which she had written down - condemning his life's work.
Steinbach - a former ACLU lawyer who previously defended free speech - initially claimed Duncan had a right to express his views.
Steve Forbes was attending a party in New York City Wednesday celebrating the book “Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation” when the exact type of radicals described in the new release attacked him, grabbing his drink and emptying it on him, pushing over piles of books and yelling about “fascism!” and “Black lives Matter!”Such class.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley can always be counted on to weigh in with something smart: (Tweet) “In reality, such attacks are the very hallmark of fascism,” Turley tweeted.
Forbes, the 75-year-old CEO of Forbes Media and two-time Republican presidential candidate, described what happened as he was talking to
Every July, Minot Air Force Base, the only one to contain two ‘legs’ of the nuclear triad, celebrates ‘Diversity Day’. Held at the Jimmy Doolittle Center, named after the hard-charging Air Force pioneer who led the first air raid into Japan after Pearl Harbor, Diversity Day showcases “many different cultures along with other diversities such as religion and disabilities” representing the various cultures at Minot Air Force Base.” Jimmy would not approve.
A culture notably absent from the Diversity Day festivities at Minot is a culture of competence.
Two Air Force commanders have been fired after their units failed nuclear surety inspections.
Increased age heightens the risk of developing dementia. Dementia heightens the risk of slips, trips, and falls, resulting in physical incapacitation. Stumbling, bumbling seniors who are physically and mentally incapacitated should probably not serve -- serve -- as elected leaders.
A centerpiece of Nikki Haley’s rationale for her candidacy for president is that we need a new generation of leadership. Some agree with her call for mental competency tests for politicians over age 75. Some disagree, including, naturally, the American Association of Retired People. The AARP asserts that it should be unacceptable to discriminate based on age.
Fifth Circuit appellate judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, who was shouted down by Stanford Law School students as administrators looked on in silence, says the protesters behaved like "dogshit."
Now, in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon, Duncan is calling on the school to discipline the students who disrupted his talk and to fire the school’s associate dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion, who stepped in during the event to chastise him and deliver what the judge described as a "bizarre therapy session from hell."
Tucker pulled his punches
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I watched what I thought was a serious journalist blow the first night of the supposed big J6 tape release. But I couldn't help noticing that he picked stuff we already knew -- and he was WEAK.
Where was the video of fed provocateurs and violence coordinators?
Capitol Police flash bang and rubber bullet/baton attacks on an unarmed citizen crowd?
The deceptions about the barricades?
The beatings of unarmed women and lots of unarmed mem, one, Roseann Boyland who died?
What was so hard about demonstrating to the public that the J6 was a Reichstag Fire scam?
The questions surrounding the case of Jacob Chansley — the guy known as the “QAnon Shaman” — have gotten more traction since Tucker Carlson began raising the issue on his show. Carlson raised questions about the video showing Chansley being led around the Capitol building by multiple police officers. They don’t stop him; they even open doors for him. After they lead him to the Senate chamber, he says a prayer for their help on the Senate floor.
Chansley was sentenced to 41 months in prison for pleading guilty to “obstruction of an official proceeding.” He never hurt anyone, that wasn’t even alleged.
You might have expected CNN This Morning to gleefully welcome the prospect of Donald Trump being indicted in connection with the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. But no! Reacting to the news that Trump has been invited to testify before the Manhattan grand jury—interpreted as a sign that an indictment was likely imminent, today's show reacted with stunning skepticism to the prospect. Hosting the segment, Kaitlan Collins teed up CNN legal correspondent Paula Reid to pour cold water on the situation. Noting that the prosecution would hinge on the testimony of Michael Cohen, a convicted felon and admitted liar,
EXCLUSIVE: The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is warning that the tax hikes in President Biden’s proposed budget would have a "devastating" effect on Americans across the country.
"It means a working-class (American) is going to have to pay more to put food on the table, clothes on their backs and gasoline in their cars, because this incredible spending will only fuel inflation. These Biden taxes will only reduce the take home pay for all Americans," Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday.
"Whether you make less than $400,000 a year or whether you make more than $400,000 a year, the policies
“What, me worry?” Think of the Kevin Bacon gif from Animal House – you know, where the panicked crowd is rushing past him after the parade, as he tries to keep everyone calm. A little Zen breathing might be in order, considering we have the brainless trust that’s in charge.
The sudden collapse of a little-known, California-based tech lender fueled market chaos on Friday and sparked fears of a wider contagion that some experts worry could upend the US banking sector.
Silicon Valley Bank — a 40-year-old lender to startups and venture capitalists — became the second-biggest bank casualty in US history as it was abruptly shut down.
Prominent conservatives throughout politics and media reacted to the sudden closure of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on Friday. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is already standing firm against bailouts for the bank, and many are pointing to “Bidenflation” as a driver of the implosion. Gaetz appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room where Bannon asserted that the closure was “100 percent because of Biden’s policies.” He predicted the federal government would be pressured for a bailout next week and asked Gaetz how he would respond.
The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has thousands of tech startups wondering what happens now to their millions of dollars in deposits, money market investments and outstanding loans.
Most importantly, they're trying to figure how to pay their employees. "The number one question is, 'How do you make payroll in the next couple days,'" said Ryan Gilbert, founder of venture firm Launchpad Capital. "No one has the answer."
SVB, a 40-year-old bank that's known for handling deposits and loans for thousands of tech startups in Silicon Valley and beyond, fell apart this week and was shut down by regulators in the largest bank failure since the financial crisis.
Roku has $487 million of cash and cash equivalents in uninsured deposits at failed Silicon Valley Bank, the streaming media company said in an filing on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About 26% of Roku's $1.9 billion in cash was deposited with SVB, which was placed into receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. midday Friday. Roku shares fell over 4% in extended trading on the news. "At this time, the Company does not know to what extent the Company will be able to recover its cash on deposit at SVB," Roku said in a press release.
Nonetheless, Roku said it believed it would be