Category Archives: Legal

CalPERS Out of Control: Stunningly High Number of Personal Trading Violations, Yet Board Ignored the Misconduct

CalPERS yet again manages to exceed expectations in a bad way.

Senate to Focus on Judicial Confirmations Once Chamber Returns in May

Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell pledges in Tuesday radio interview to focus on securing judicial confirmations once the chamber returns to session in May.

Hissy Fit by CalPERS Board: Falsely Blames Margaret Brown for Staff Leaks of CIO Meng’s $1 Billion Giveup, Public Opposition to Staff Coup

Sports fans, it seems hard to believe, but the CalPERS board has sunk to a new low with an extended display of incompetence and pique.

CalPERS Staff Seeks to Strip Board of Remaining Authority Even as Press Exposes Multi-Billion Cost of Lack of Supervision; Elected Board Members Thumb Nose at Public by Seeking to Be Paid for Doing Almost Nothing

CalPERS staff is up to more dirty tricks. Push back by e-mail in public comments. Bad press already has them on the back foot.

DemocracyWatch: Global Pandemic Power Grabs

Yet another pandemic downside….

Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Some Pipeline Projects Push Forward While Others Falter Nationwide

Pipeline projects proceed, sometimes on a stealth basis, under cover of the COVID-19 crisis and despite the collapse of world oil prices.

Right to Repair and Ventilators: Saving COVID-19 Patients

The coronavirus crisis highlights the importance of ensuring wide access to repair information for lifesaving machines, such as ventilators.

What Wall Street Doesn’t Want You to Know About Hospital Emergency Rooms

A coronavirus whistleblower winds up also exposing that private equity has too much say in running emergency rooms.

Firing of Whistleblowing Emergency Room Doctor Ming Lin By Blackstone-Owned TeamHealth Demonstrates Outsized Role of Private Equity in Hospital Staffing

Blackstone’s TeamHealth, a big perp in the scam called “surprise billing,” retaliated against a doctor who criticized unsafe Covid-19 practices.

Global Level 4 Travel Advisory: Stealth Subsidy for Insurers?

The State Department’s global level 4 health advisory,recommending US citizens not travel internationally, has travel insurance implications.

A Modest Proposal: Make Sure the Public Knows, in Real Time, When Congresscritters are Dumping Shares

The COVID-19 specter led Congresscritters to coo reassurance, and dump shares. A modest proposal: require immediate disclosure of trades.

Closing Polling Places Is the 21st Century’s Version of a Poll Tax

Voter disenfranchisement via shuttering polling sites.

Who’s Responsible? How the “Independent Contractor” Dodge Guts Employment Protections

On establishing legal responsibility for employment in the fissured workplace.