Tag: Wilbur Ross

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News Round-Up: July 17, 2019

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunks: Steve Raider and Ocan Jan (above) barely fit in the same photo. #TheresTheBeef

• CBS News: The House voted 230-198 to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for obstructing a probe into the administration’s failed bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

• Twitter: A gay teen, Brandon Austin, slayed the inter webs with his graduation ‘death drop’ on Twitter, which has now been ‘Liked’ over 230,000 times.

• NBC News: A Florida man is in custody for allegedly using a pair of scissors to cut off the penis of a man he suspected of sleeping with his wife, according to a police report.

• Axios: The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) projects the federal deficit will surpass $1 trillion this year, the first time the U.S. deficit has surpassed the $1 trillion level since the 4-year period following the Great Recession. In 2016, Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to wipe out the deficit and also the entire federal debt, which has surpassed $22 trillion.

• Netflix: The streaming giant gave a giant slap to the folks at the upcoming ‘Straight Pride’ event for using their logo and claiming Netflix was a ‘possible’ sponsor. In their cease and desist letter, the legal team for Netflix wrote, “Our legal department is here, its queer, and its telling you to steer clear.”

• Out Music: Carly Rae Jepsen teamed up with Jordan Alexander and Bud Light for a performance of the ‘Pride Remix’ of her single “Feels Right” at Toronto Pride. The single is from her fourth album, Dedicated, out now.

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House Committee Approves Resolution To Hold Commerce Secretary & Attorney General In Contempt

By a vote of 24-15, the House Oversight Committee approved a resolution recommending Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr be held in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas in regard to the committee's investigation into a question about citizenship on the 2020 census.

By a vote of 24-15, the House Oversight Committee approved a resolution recommending Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr be held in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas in regard to the committee’s investigation into a question about citizenship on the 2020 census.

Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) joined Democrats in voting in favor of the resolution.
The committee is seeking internal documents between the Justice Department and the Trump administration regarding how the citizenship question came to be and why.
Democrats assert the question was added in order to intimidate immigrants into not filing the census form. 
The census is used to determine how many federal lawmakers are allocated to each state. Should immigrants pass on filling out the form it would most probably benefit Republicans.

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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Holds Significant Business Ties To Russia

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross

Ruh-roh…

According to the New York Times, yet another high ranking person in the Donald Trump orbit, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, has large financial ties to Russia, including members of Vladimir Putin’s own family.

After becoming commerce secretary, Wilbur L. Ross Jr. retained investments in a shipping firm he once controlled that has significant business ties to a Russian oligarch subject to American sanctions and President Vladimir V. Putin’s son-in-law, according to newly disclosed documents.

The shipper, Navigator Holdings, earns millions of dollars a year transporting gas for one of its top clients, a giant Russian energy company called Sibur, whose owners include the oligarch and Mr. Putin’s family member. Despite selling off numerous other holdings to join the Trump administration and spearhead its “America first” trade policy, Mr. Ross kept an investment in Navigator, which increased its business dealings with Sibur even as the West sought to punish Russia’s energy sector over Mr. Putin’s incursions into Ukraine.

Partnerships used by Mr. Ross, whose private equity firm has long been the biggest shareholder in Navigator, have a 31 percent stake in the company. Though his personal share of that stake was reduced as he took office in February, he retained an investment in the partnerships valued between $2 million and $10 million, and stood to earn a higher share of profits as general partner, according to his government ethics disclosure and securities filings.

Mr. Ross’s stake in Navigator has been held by a chain of companies in the Cayman Islands, one of several tax havens where much of his wealth, estimated at more than $2 billion, has been tied to similar investment vehicles.

The information came from a cache of leaked files from Appleby, one of the world’s largest offshore law firms.

Considering Trump said no one in his campaign or administration had any connections to Russia, there sure are a LOT of people with connections to Russia…