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Judd Legum
@JuddLegum 5 years, 6 months ago 869 views

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1. @Microsoft has released new information in an attempt to justify its late-December donation to @HawleyMO

But does its story add up?

No.

And I have receipts.

Follow along if

@Microsoft @HawleyMO 2. @HawleyMO announced he would object to the Electoral College and attempt to overturn Biden's victory on 12/30

On 12/31 Hawley's joint fundraising committee reported a $2500 contribution from @Microsoft

But Microsoft claims this is a distortion

https://t.co/wvs0kg0CJW

3. @Microsoft says it APPROVED to donation to Hawley on 12/10 and mailed the check on 12/17

The implication is if it had known Hawley was contesting the legitimacy of the election it wouldn't have donated the money

But Microsoft's story doesn't hold up

https://t.co/wvs0kg0CJW

4. By the time Microsoft approved the donation on 12/20, Hawley had been contesting the legitimacy of the election and promoting Trump's lies about election fraud for WEEKS.

Let's review.

https://t.co/wvs0kg0CJW

5. In a NOV 5 interview on Tucker Carlson, Hawley promoted reports that illegitimate ballots were being dumped into polling places in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

https://t.co/wvs0kg0CJW

6. On November 7, after all media outlets projected Biden as the winner, Hawley tweeted that the election was still up in the air because of "allegations of fraud."

https://t.co/wvs0kg0CJW

7. On NOV 10, Hawley introduced a bill that experts said was "aimed at bolstering the president's unsubstantiated claims of fraud"

It would have required 24/7 video surveillance of drop boxes, among other things

https://t.co/wvs0kg0CJW

8. "Trump's fraud claims are false and toxic. Hawley must stop endorsing them," the St. Louis Dispatch wrote in an editorial on NOV 11.

I could go on and on. The point is, by the time @Microsoft approved the donations, Hawley's posture was well-known

https://t.co/wvs0kg0CJW

9. @Microsoft is trying to navigate a reputational crisis.

But spin that is inconsistent with the facts won't cut it.

For more accountability journalism, sign up for the newsletter.

https://t.co/TfpCItdVSo

More from Judd Legum

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum

1. Today, 130+ GOP members of Congress will vote to ignore millions of voters and try to install Trump for a second term.

We reviewed thousands of FEC records to find the top corporate donors to this group.

Follow along if interested.

2. Top corporate donors to 138 Republican members of Congress voting to subvert democracy:

@ATT ($2M, 130 members)
@Comcast ($1.7M, 126 members)
@UPS ($1.5M, 121 members)
@Deloitte ($1.3M, 90 members)
@EY_US ($1.2M, 79 members)
@PwC (890K, 71

3. Top corporate donors to 138 Republican members of Congress voting to subvert democracy (con't):

@UnitedHealthGrp (749K, 73 members)
@Delta (710K, 86 members)
@KPMG (693K, 67 members)
@Walmart (679K, 111 members)
@Pfizer (610K, 74

4. Top corporate donors to 138 Republican members of Congress voting to subvert democracy (con't):

@Google (610K, 75 members)
@Amazon (598K, 104 members)
@Microsoft (505K, 83 members)
@Lowes (498K, 69 members)
@BankofAmerica (448K, 51

5. Top corporate donors to 138 Republican members of Congress voting to subvert democracy (con't):

@CapitalOne (375K, 50 members)
@WellsFargo (322K, 55 members)
@AnheuserBusch (302K, 38 members)
@bostonsci (274K, 54

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum

1. While @RonDeSantisFL was fighting the culture wars, banning CRT and shipping migrants to Martha's Vineyard, he failed to meaningfully address Florida's dysfunctional and collapsing property insurance market

And now things are going to get much

2. Florida's property insurance system was in crisis even though the state had not been struck by a major hurricane since 2018.

Then Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida's west coast, killing at least 74 people and inflicting tens of billions of dollars in property damage.

3. Florida property faces catastrophic risks from weather events that worsen each year due to climate change.

Floridians pay an average of "$4,231 a year per [property insurance] policy, compared to a US average of $1,544."

4. In the last five years, six Florida insurance companies have gone out of business "without responding to a hurricane, and four more are in the process of liquidation."

5. The collapsing market has left many Floridians reliant on the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., a state-run agency that is supposed to be the "insurer of last resort." It now provides property insurance for more than 1 million

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Judd Legum
@JuddLegum

1. Texas Republicans just released the text of its voter suppression bill, SB7

Votes will be held before midnight Sunday

The bill includes a NEW PROVISION that allows judges to OVERTURN AN ELECTION "WITHOUT DETERMINING HOW INDIVIDUAL VOTERS VOTED"

Follow along if interested

2. This section appears to validate Trump's claims that he won various states because a certain number of people voted "illegally" without any other details

Now people like Guiliani can take these absurd allegations to court and, with a sympathetic judge, OVERTURN AN ELECTION

3. Texas is poised to adopt this unprecedented and radical legal provision without ANY DEBATE IN EITHER CHAMBER

It was negotiated in a secret conference committee and released on a Saturday of a holiday weekend

And there is plenty of other bad stuff in this bill

4. The final bill text also:

Bans drive-thru voting and voting after 9PM (used disproportionately by voters of color in Harris County)

Bans voting on Sundays before 1PM (Souls to the polls)

Makes it more difficult for people with disabilities to vote by mail

5. I'll keep this thread updated with more information about Texas' SB7. It completely overhauls the state's voting system and was just made public a few hours ago.

For updates and more accountability journalism, sign up for my newsletter

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum

1. BREAKING

3 major corporations say they'll suspend donations to the Republican Attorneys General Association, which helped drive participation in last Wed's events

@Facebook

@Lyft

@DoorDash

Follow along for more on these 3 plus 60 other

@lyft @DoorDash 2. University of Phoenix (@UOPX) is taking things a step further.

The for-profit university, which donated $50,400 to RAGA last year, is demanding its money back

"We have asked RAGA to return our contribution to us as soon as

3. @Lyft tells https://t.co/Gl6evXRDcZ that it "not be renewing our membership in RAGA for 2021"

@Facebook says it was "surprised and appalled" by the RAGA's conduct

4. @DoorDash says that "Any individual or organization that encouraged or facilitated this horrific behavior must be held accountable."

All this is a wakeup call for the Republican Attorneys General Association, which has accepted NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS INVOLVEMENT

5. More details coming in this thread. But if you value this kind of work, please subscribe to our newsletter, Popular Information.

It's free to sign up.

The newsletter, not this Twitter account, is what makes this work

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum

1. If you turn on CNBC, you'll hear a narrative that reckless retail investors from Reddit are destabilizing the stock market by driving up prices for GameStop and other stocks.

This is BS.

Follow along if interested.

2. Market instability was created by hedge funds and other "sophisticated" investors that SHORTED MORE GAMESTOP STOCK THAN WAS EVEN AVAILABLE FOR SALE

Retail investors are exploiting instability created by the hedge funds

They didn't start the

3. The primary "victim" of the retail investors, hedge fund mogul Gabe Plotkin, worked SAC until 2013.

What happened in 2013? SAC pleaded guilty to insider trading and paid a $1.3 billion fine.

Plotkin then left to start his own firm.

4. Plotkin made massive returns by doing a lot more shorting than most hedge funds & no one complained

But this week he was bailed out by his old boss, SAC founder Steve Cohen, and another hedge fund mogul, Citadel's Ken Griffin to the tune of

5. Cohen & Griffin now own a significant piece of Plotkin's firm. So they have an interest in Plotkin navigating out of his current predicament. They also may have exposure themselves.

This is where things get

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Noah Smith
@Noahpinion

1/OK, data mystery time.

This New York Times feature shows China with a Gini Index of less than 30, which would make it more equal than Canada, France, or the Netherlands. https://t.co/g3Sv6DZTDE

That's weird. Income inequality in China is legendary.

Let's check this number.

2/The New York Times cites the World Bank's recent report, "Fair Progress? Economic Mobility across Generations Around the World".

The report is available here:

3/The World Bank report has a graph in which it appears to show the same value for China's Gini - under 0.3.

The graph cites the World Development Indicators as its source for the income inequality data.

4/The World Development Indicators are available at the World Bank's website.

Here's the Gini index: https://t.co/MvylQzpX6A

It looks as if the latest estimate for China's Gini is 42.2.

That estimate is from 2012.

5/A Gini of 42.2 would put China in the same neighborhood as the U.S., whose Gini was estimated at 41 in 2013.

I can't find the <30 number anywhere. The only other estimate in the tables for China is from 2008, when it was estimated at 42.8.

Devdutta
@Devdutta96

Please please please take your cyber security seriously even if you don’t consider yourself a high risk person. Here are a few easy things to start with. 1/n

Switch from WhatsApp to Signal and enable disappearing messages. Most of us cannot stop using WhatsApp entirely but at least turn off back ups to Google Drive or iCloud. 2/n

Do not have private conversations using the messaging service on any social media platform like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. 3/n

Switch from Gmail to ProtonMail or any other secure email service provider. 4/n

Switch from Google Docs to CryptPad or RiseUp Pad.

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Ryan Caldbeck
@ryan_caldbeck

1/ I am seeing more and more founder secondary in venture rounds (Secondary = founders selling some of their shares before some other shareholders are able). Series B-D. I see both as an investor and through entrepreneur circles.

2/ I like secondary for entrepreneurs. Moderation is key but in a lot of situations I think it helps accelerate the co. Lots of very smart investors disagree. Here are my thoughts.

3/ Magnitude: My basic rule of thumb from what I see is market is 4+ yrs and up to 10% of founder’s equity stake with some $ cap that makes sense given stage etc. (typically <$10m)

4/ The entrepreneurial journey is brutally hard. Giving some financial relief helps remove one piece of pressure. I don’t think that secondary in the magnitude mentioned impacts the drive/persistence of great entrepreneurs.

5/ That secondary means they will be able to just sleep knowing they can pay their kids’ tuition. Secondary will make most founders better at their jobs, thus accelerating the co.

Will Buxton
@wbuxtonofficial

The Haas / Force India argument is fascinating, and the decision of the stewards may still have consequences. The first key finding is that the stewards ruled Racing Point Force India to be a valid constructor. That means that it builds its own cars.

Haas had argued that the cars had been designed by Force India, but as Haas knows only too well, "outsourcing" is legal. The stewards decided that "there is no regulatory support for the argument that Outsourcing of Listed Parts cannot come from a former or excluded team."

In determining this, the stewards also came to the following conclusion: "In relation to the submission by the Racing Point Force India F1 Team that it is not a new team, the Stewards decide that the Racing Point Force India F1 Team is indeed a new team."

This will have a big knock on effect for Haas in its continued arguments over the rights of RPFI as relates to its eligibility and rights under the complex payments structure. Haas has argued all along that RPFI should be treated as a new team and tread the same path that it did.

TLDR? Haas lost the fight but may have won the war. In having its argument that Racing Point hadn't designed their own car thrown out, they gained clarification that RPFI was a new team.

Vibhu Vashisth
@VIBHU_Tweet

IT WAS RISHI KANADA WHO GAVE THE ATOMIC THEORY & TALKED ABOUT THE GRAVITY OF EARTH, 2600 YEARS BEFORE AN APPLE FELL IN FRONT OF NEWTON'S EYES:

Scientists of the modern world credit an English scientist John Dalton (1766 CE -1844 CE) for the Atomic Theory.

And this is because, most of us are not even aware of an ancient Indian Sage named Kanada, who was the first to formulate the theory of atoms, almost 2600 yrs before Dalton and talk about earth's gravity.

Rishi Kanada was born around 600 BCE in Dwarka, Gujarat and he was the son of a philosopher named Ulka. He was fascinated with the minute detailing of the things right from his childhood. Once, when he was very young, he accompanied his father on a journey to Prayaga.

He saw plentiful grains scattered along the path leading to the shore of river Ganga. It's a tradition in Hindu families to scatter the grains for the ants and birds to feed on them. Suddenly, an ant caught his attention, who was feeding on a rice grain.

He was mesmerised by this very fact that how a small grain of rice becomes food for the ant but to satisfy the hunger of a person so many grains are needed together. This incidence made him realize the importance of a single grain of rice.