What Happened Today: January 5, 2023
The Zuck keeps payin’; Peterson won’t bend; Kremlin wants a quiet Christmas
The Big Story
Mark Zuckerberg is starting the new year in the red after the Irish Data Protection Commission imposed some $414 million in fines against his company Meta. The fines were levied against Meta’s two flagship companies, with Facebook owing $223 million and Instagram owing an additional $191 million, after the European Data Protection Board found the social media giant violated E.U. data privacy regulations by making it impossible for users to opt out of data collection.
Before the ruling, Meta collected data on its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp users to then serve them targeted advertisements based on what those users did on the platforms. Previously, users couldn’t opt out of the tracking, but now regulators want individuals to have the choice, and opting out could cost the company up to 7% of its overall revenue. That’s after the company already took an estimated $10 billion hit due to Apple implementing similar privacy practices for iPhone users, where many users sign into Facebook.
The fines against Meta for privacy violations are seemingly endless, though so far the company has been able to afford them by dipping into its massive cash reserves—in fact, Meta set aside $3 billion for E.U. privacy fines in 2022-23. In the last year alone, Meta paid the European Union $785 million in privacy-related fines, including more than $400 million for Instagram violations of children’s privacy. “This is a huge blow to Meta’s profits in the EU. People now need to be asked if they want their data to be used for ads or not,” said Max Schrems, the founder of the European privacy rights group that filed the original claim against Meta. “The decision also ensures a level playing field with other advertisers that also need to get opt-in consent.” Meta is appealing the decision, saying that personalized ads are part of the experience. “There has been a lack of regulatory clarity on this issue, and the debate among regulators and policymakers around which legal basis is most appropriate in a given situation has been ongoing for some time,” Meta said in a statement. But it seems the regulators who shape the law aren’t entirely bad partners after all. The final decision that triggered the fines will first be reviewed by Meta, which will have a chance to make redactions, before being released to the public.
In the Back Pages: Enemies of the State
The Rest
→ An ongoing wave of massive layoffs across Big Tech and banking companies suggest these two sectors at least are preparing for a recession. Amazon said on Wednesday that it would make its largest workforce cut in its existence, letting go 18,000 employees—a significant increase from the 10,000 workers it said in November it would lay off. Salesforce announced this week that it would reduce its headcount of 79,800 employees by 10%, and video platform Vimeo will similarly slash its workforce, announcing on Wednesday that 11% of its workers would be let go. In the banking sector, Goldman Sachs is trimming 4,000 jobs; Morgan Stanley let go 2% of staff in December; and embattled Credit Suisse looks to lose 9,000 over the next three years.
→ Clinical psychologist, author, firebrand, and men’s wear enthusiast Jordan Peterson is the latest victim of Borg-like demands of obedience from bureaucratic authoritarians. The Ontario College of Psychologists has issued an ultimatum to Peterson, instructing him to receive “coaching” due to his “lacked professionalism in public statements made on social media.” Peterson is supposed to “review, reflect on, and ameliorate [his] professionalism in public statements” with the aid of one of two proposed coaches. He is supposed to fund his own coaching, up to $225 per hour, at a length to be determined by the coach, and if he doesn’t agree to the arrangement, he may face “disciplinary action.” Peterson claims that the complaints against him stem from his critical comments of Justin Trudeau and his government, his tacit support for opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, and his joke about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, among others. In a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, Peterson, true to form, says he will not comply:
I simply cannot resign myself to the fact that in my lifetime I am required to resort to a public letter to the leader of my country to point out that political criticism has now become such a crime in Canada that if professionals dare engage in such activity, government-appointed commissars will threaten their livelihood and present them with the spectacle of denouncement and political disgrace.
→ Hollywood is hurting, okay? Netflix is looking at one of its worst years ever, and in 2022, the stock market wiped half a trillion in value from the largest entertainment companies. People don’t have money to spend, and they certainly don’t want to spend it on what they see as lackluster content. So what’s a Tinseltown macher to do? Buy more stories! And that’s exactly what No. 3 Hollywood agency United Talent Agency has done with its acquisition of literary agency Fletcher and Co. which represents novelists and nonfiction and investigative writers. CEO Christy Fletcher will stay on as leader of the UTA Publishing unit, and she says the acquisition won’t just help Hollywood get a clearer pipeline on material, but will help her clients “rise above the noise” in an increasingly competitive market.
→ Britain’s National Health Service is getting slammed—again. After the glory days of 2020, when “Protect the NHS!” was a popular banner, overcrowded hospitals are filling up again during a “twin-demic” of flu and COVID-19. Currently, there are reports of four-day waits for a bed, and 1 in 5 ambulance patients waited more than an hour last week to be seen by emergency departments. Apparently, the inability to handle the “unprecedented” inflow of patients is due to “workforce shortages,” as the service is down 130,000 workers. The dramatic scenes emerging yet again in Britain’s hospital hallways and entry points have some lawmakers calling for a renewal of lockdown-era measures like compulsory isolation of COVID-19 patients. Labour MP Rachael Maskell told the MailOnline that “we need” infected people to stay home. The government is also considering renewing calls for people who can work from home to do so, and for people to wear masks on public transportation. Medical experts are divided on whether to renew the measures, with some saying they’ll do more harm than good, and others calling them sensible. But is the bigger problem structural rot within the NHS? “Rather than demanding behavioral change of the whole population, we should ask why it is only the UK, of the all major economies, that has a healthcare system that collapses every winter and barely functions the rest of the year,” Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said to MailOnline. Rishi, your move.
→ Number of the Day: 36
That’s how many hours the Kremlin has instructed its forces to celebrate an Orthodox Christmas cease-fire, from noon on Friday until midnight on Sunday. Vladimir Putin has called on Ukrainian forces to observe the cease-fire as well, but Zelenskyy advisor Mykhailo Podolyak is having none of it, saying, “RF (Russian forces) must leave the occupied territories—only then will it have a ‘temporary truce.’ Keep hypocrisy to yourself.” Meanwhile, more and more Russian materiel is arriving in Belarus, along Ukraine’s northern border, making a real peace seem further and further away. Putin told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today that he’s open to serious dialogue with the Ukrainians, but due to his preconditions for recognition of the land Russia has gained during its campaign, it’s unlikely to go anywhere.
→ It really hurt when Felicity Huffman turned out to be a college briber. She’s a phenomenal actress, and her husband is a national treasure—that would be William H. Macy. But she got her justice, and now the man behind the whole college-admissions scheme is getting his. William “Rick” Singer was sentenced Wednesday to 42 months in prison and nearly $20 million in fines and restitution for his scheme to get rich kids into prestigious schools. Singer found ways to help nepo babies cheat on their ACT and SAT, and he bribed college athletic coaches for adding them to team rosters. One coach, former Yale soccer coach Rudy Meredith, who took bribes himself, flipped on Singer in 2018 when he began to cooperate with law enforcement. Singer colluded with coaches at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities, including Georgetown, University of Southern California, Yale, Stanford, UCLA, University of Texas at Austin, and Wake Forest.
→ Thread of the Day:
Chedraui, a major Mexican grocery chain, has for two years in a row done more business in the United States than in Mexico. The company, founded in 1920 by a Lebanese immigrant, has grown its U.S. presence 47 times since 2007, hugely aided by its 2021 acquisition of the Smart & Final chain, making it the 11th largest in the United States. Who needs NAFTA? Not this successful chain!
→ S&P Global reported Tuesday that the manufacturing sector is in decline, contracting in November and December, with new sales looking ominously like those of 2007. If there’s a silver lining, perhaps it’s the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company committing to invest $40 billion to build production facilities in the United States. But! Not so fast! The Taiwanese company has reassured its home-base hosts that it will remain the No. 1 priority, with the most advanced chips continuing to be built on the island. Chair Mark Liu told employees last week that the company is investing $60 billion in its factory in Tainan, where three- and five-nanometer chips will be produced—those chips will also be produced in the United states someday soon. The most advanced two-nanometer chips will stay in Taiwan. Let’s hope we don’t need them if Chairman Xi gets hungry for something to go with his French Onion dip.
→ Picture of the Day:
Is the city of Oxford, England, trying to confine people to within 15 minutes of their homes, as encouraged by the World Economic Forum on its website, or is that a conspiracy theory? The city says its 2024 plan to reduce traffic and pollution is being misrepresented. The six traffic “filters” seen above will go into effect in 2024, and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., private vehicles will need a permit to go through without receiving a fine. But the city council says it’s not dystopian, as there won’t be “electronic gates or any other physical barriers,” just cameras that snap your license plate and issue a $29.33 fine each time you pass through. However, residents of the Oxford permit area will be eligible for 100 freebies days a year, and residents of the broader Oxfordshire area will receive 25. Use them wisely, scholars!
→ The ”pretendian” epidemic continues to consume young women across the land. This time, a 28-year-old young woman from Wisconsin who called herself Kay LeClaire and adopted a Native name, nibiiwakamigkwe, turns out to be Katie Le Claire and is not a Native American at all. Le Claire has spent the past five years parading as a queer, nonbinary, Native warrior for justice but has also used her adopted identity—and seemingly change of appearance and costume—to grift. Le Claire has been selling “Native” craftwork on Etsy, describing the “visions” that inspired the work. The problem was, they were often other artists’ work she passed off as her own. She also profited from the co-creation of a Native tattoo artists collective in Madison, making $750 a week for administrative work, despite often not showing up for her shifts.
Read More: https://madison365.com/indigenous-arts-leader-activist-revealed-as-white/
TODAY IN TABLET:
How the FBI Hacked Twitter by Lee Smith
The answer begins with Russiagate
The Detective-Philosopher of Sderot by Jake Marmer
A newly completed trilogy of detective novels merges murder mysteries with Talmudic introspection
SCROLL TIP LINE: Have a lead on a story or something going on in your workplace, school, congregation, or social scene that you want to tell us about? Send your tips, comments, questions, and suggestions to scroll@tabletmag.com.
Enemies of the State
Two years after rioters stormed the Capitol, hundreds of defendants remain tied up in legal limbo and the government’s investigation is still growing
By Clayton Fox
Two years on, the legacy of January 6, 2021, is reflected in the ongoing saga around the protesters, agitators, and rioters who gathered at the U.S. Capitol: Some are in prison, and some still await trial, while others have just recently been arrested. Whatever one thinks of the events at the Capitol, the judicial process has been wildly inconsistent in its application of the law to those involved. The pretrial detention of certain defendants has been inhumane. The long periods of solitary confinement for even non-violent offenders led Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren to believe that isolation was being used to punish people before they had been convicted of anything, or to “break them so that they will cooperate.” Hundreds of other defendants remain tied up in legal limbo.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that the criminal justice system seems to be playing by a special set of rules for the January 6 defendants given the way that day has been described. President Biden has referred to those involved as “insurrectionists who placed a dagger to the throat of our democracy” and last year called it the “worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” Not to be outdone, Vice President Kamala Harris compared January 6 to both Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
Biden and Harris can't possibly believe that a riot in which only one person died by violence—that was Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt who was shot by a Capitol police officer—is comparable to some of the bloodiest calamities in American history. The over-the-top language, which has been repeated by countless other politicians and pundits, places the event and the people who participated in it in a special category outside the normal standards of the law.
According to the latest Department of Justice update, published on Jan. 4, 2023, 950 people have been arrested for their roles in the events at the Capitol. The agency reports that more than 284 defendants “have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including approximately 99 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.” Of the 950 people arrested, “approximately 860 defendants have been charged with entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds. Of those, 91 defendants have been charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon.” 484 defendants have pleaded guilty, although only 119 to felonies and 351 defendants have been sentenced to date, including 192 to jail time.
Many of those arrested for their activity on January 6 were charged with and convicted of violent, inexcusable crimes, like assaulting Capitol police officers. Others, however, appear to have been swept up in overly aggressive charges and sentences, and are now lingering in legal limbo. Among the hundreds of people arrested and imprisoned since that day, these are the stories of just a few of those currently incarcerated.
Jacob Anthony Chansley
Otherwise known as the QAnon Shaman, Chansley was one of the first into the Capitol on January 6, wearing red, white, and blue face paint, and an absurd fur Viking headdress with horns. According to the government’s case against Chansley, prior to January 6, he “spread the type of false information and hateful rhetoric that led thousands of rioters to descend on the U.S. Capitol.” On the day in question, Chansley entered the Capitol through a broken door and subsequently challenged a Capitol police officer “to let them pass, ultimately using his bullhorn to rile up the crowd and demand that lawmakers be brought out,” according to the description of Chansley’s actions provided by the state. “At approximately 2:52 p.m. the defendant entered the Gallery of the Senate alone. The defendant then proceeded to scream obscenities in the Gallery, including ‘time’s up motherfuckers.’” In his most damning act, Chansley then stood at the Senate dais and wrote a note for Vice President Mike Pence, saying, “It’s only a matter of time. Justice is coming!”
Eight minutes later, Chansley was escorted from the building. He’d been inside for one hour. The very next day, he called the FBI to “voluntarily speak with law enforcement,” admitting to his behavior, and turned himself in on Jan. 9 at the request of said authorities. Initially charged with “Civil Disorder,” “Obstruction of an Official Proceeding,” “Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building,” “Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building,” “Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building,” and “Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building,” Chansley pled guilty only to the second count—"Obstruction of an Official Proceeding." Despite cooperating with law enforcement, having no criminal record, not being charged with any violent crimes, and being diagnosed by prison psychologists with multiple mental disorders including schizophrenia, Chansley spent 317 days in solitary confinement.
The government’s sentencing memorandum leans heavily on Chansley’s symbolic value in pushing for a strong sentence. “Defendant Chansley’s now-famous criminal acts have made him the public face of the Capitol riot,” the document states. “The peaceful transition of power in our nation, was disrupted by a mob of thousands on January 6, 2021. And this defendant was, quite literally, their flagbearer.” Chansley was also labeled a domestic terrorist by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall who cited “the need to deter others especially in cases of domestic terrorism” in the government’s sentencing memo.
Chansley was sentenced on Nov. 17, 2021, to 41 months at a prison near his family in Arizona, followed by three years’ probation, a mandatory DNA sample to be given to his probation officer, and $2,000 restitution.
Matthew Bledsoe
On January 6, Matthew Bledsoe entered the Capitol with the crowd, according to details provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, shouting, “we in this bitch! In the Capitol! This is our house! We pay for this shit! Where’s those pieces of shit at?” Bledsoe “paraded around with a Trump flag.” Bledsoe ended up climbing a statue of Gerald Ford to put the Trump flag in his arms. He “wandered … at a leisurely pace” and “circled the House Chamber” before Congress members had been able to evacuate. After 22 minutes, Bledsoe left. Afterward he texted a friend it was “wild but fun” and that he had “stormed the capital.”
Bledsoe and counsel opted for a jury trial, in which he was charged with five counts, identical to Chansley’s. He was found guilty of all five charges.
In the sentencing memorandum, the state asserts that it is “heavily in favor of a significant term of incarceration.” Bledsoe’s intent, the state argues, along with the other participants, was to “have their voices heard.” But an even stronger consideration for the sentencing recommendation comes from Bledsoe’s behavior after walking around inside the Capitol. At some point after leaving the Capitol on the 6th or on the 7th, Bledsoe posted a photo of cowering lawmakers inside the House Gallery with the caption, “How corrupt politicians should feel.” According to the government, this demonstrates, “Bledsoe has not exhibited true remorse and contrition for his participation in the darkest day our democracy has known.”
Bledsoe was sentenced to 48 months in jail, followed by a 36-month probation.
Katherine Staveley Schwab
In the complaint brought against Texas realtor Katie Schwab, the government outlines that prior to leaving for D.C. she and her group discussed bringing guns. “As much as I want to avoid it,” she messaged her boyfriend and co-defendant Jason Lee Hyland, “I also want to stand my ground and defend myself and my rights against those fascist groups.” On the day of, Schwab and her companions went to the “Stop the Steal” rally and then to the Capitol. The prosecutors note that Schwab “strode eagerly ahead of the others.” But soon the group grew tired of walking so they decided to head back to the hotel and watch from there. After seeing on television that the Capitol had been breached, the group decided to go back, ultimately “pushing past Capitol police officers in the doorway who were attempting to block entry.” After walking around the building for seven minutes, Schwab was escorted out by Capitol police. Then, she remained outside for about an hour, “urging rioters to resist police officers' attempts to disperse the crowd.” She yelled, “Stand your ground!” Later, she and a friend berated officers, referring to one repeatedly as a “fuckin’ pussy.” She also “threw and kicked press equipment” and egged on other protesters saying, “Fuck You, Associated Press.”
Due to her behavior, Schwab was charged with “Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds.” Schwab pled guilty to one count of “intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government.” She was sentenced on Dec. 9, 2022, to 45 days in jail.
In its sentencing memorandum, the prosecution relies on comments Schwab made prior to leaving for D.C. about expecting violence, but those remarks were clearly made in the context of expecting left-wing counterprotesters, rather than federal agents. Nonetheless, prosecutors argued that “she even contemplated breaking the law to prepare for the violence she predicted by bringing a concealed firearm to the District of Columbia.” She contemplated bringing a weapon, but did not do so.
Jenny Cudd
Here's a story of a similar offender who is not currently incarcerated. It’s instructive. Jenny Cudd, described by her lawyer Marina Medvin as “a 37 year old flower shop owner with a clean record,” wore a bulletproof hoodie sweatshirt to the Capitol on January 6. She had posted a video the night before saying she was ready for a revolution “if that’s what it takes,” and at 1:30 p.m. on January 6 posted, “we are charging the capital [sic].” She entered the Capitol at 2:35 p.m. and left at 2:54. Later, she posted a Facebook video that seems to be the basis for the State’s case against her. In the video, Cudd says, “When Pence betrayed us is when we decided to storm the Capitol”; “We just pushed and pushed and pushed, ok?”; “We did break down Nancy Pelosi’s office door and somebody stole her gavel and took a picture sitting in the chair flipping off the camera”; “I’m proud of everything I was a part of today.”
On the basis of her behavior and words, the state charged her with the seemingly most common charges, two counts of “Entering a Restricted Building or Grounds” and two counts of“Violent Entry or Disorderly Conduct.” She was ultimately offered a plea deal on the same charge as Schwab. The state recommended 75 days of incarceration to deter her from participating in future, similar actions. Unlike the similar case of Schwab, who spent 45 days in prison, Cudd received only 2 months probation for her participation. Why?
Perhaps it has something to do with the brief filed by her attorney, Medvin, requesting a lenient sentence. In it Medvin lays out in detail what she illustrates as the hypocrisy of the government’s approach to punishing (or not punishing) protestors opposing the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Protesters entering the Capitol were charged under local D.C. statutes as opposed to federal ones.
Medvin cites a Tweet from the Women’s March Twitter account during that protest. “Hundreds of people are being trained for today’s #CancelKavanaugh action every 30 minutes this morning. We’re going to flood the Capitol.” Crisis Magazine tweeted later that day: “@womensmarch just took the Capitol. Women, survivors, and allies walked straight past the police, climbed over barricades, and sat down on the Capitol steps.” Others did make it inside the building, into the gallery, disrupting Senate proceedings. They were charged with “Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding,” under the local D.C. code.
Medvin points out that only one of the Kavanaugh protestors was charged under Federal statutes and that person was ultimately not prosecuted. But even more importantly, in court papers from that case, it states, “Notably, no other person charged with protest and/or disruptive-type behavior at the U.S. Capitol Grounds has been previously charged in federal court for the District of Columbia.”
Despite the obvious differences between the two events, the disparity of how non-violent offenders were treated in 2018 versus 2021—to say nothing of comparisons with the thousands of people arrested over the summer of George Floyd protests—is worth noting. It is also worth noting the fact that the protracted legal proceedings, potentially harsh sentences, and absolute public shame brought on by the DOJ’s unprecedented campaign against the Americans who were non-violent trespassers at the Capitol on January 6th has had potentially irreversible consequences both for the American legal system and for the individuals involved.
Matthew Perna
Bernie Sanders-then-Trump supporter Matthew Perna was inside the Capitol for about twenty minutes on January 6th. He chanted “U.S.A.!” with the crowd and later posted a video in which he stated, “it’s not over, trust me. The purpose of today was to expose Pence as a traitor.” Charged with the same relatively benign charges that the DOJ applied to Katherine Schwab and Jenny Cudd, Perna ultimately pled guilty to all of them. But while waiting for his sentence to come down—it was delayed by the U.S. attorney—Perna committed suicide. Before that, his father wrote to the judge in a plea for compassion, stating that after Matthew’s participation in the riots at the Capitol was publicized in local newspapers, “We were no longer comfortable going out in public, something I never in my life thought I would experience in the town where our family was respected and well known. This past year cost Matthew his income, the love of his life, his friendships, and his standing in the community.”
The investigations are far from over. The FBI says it has ID’d hundreds of suspects who have not yet been arrested. In December alone, the DOJ arrested ten non-violent offenders. They have the money to find many, many more. The U.S. Attorney’s office is getting an additional $212.1 million dollars in the new budget in part to “further support prosecutions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and domestic terrorism cases.” And the FBI is getting a boost of $569.6 million over last year, “including for efforts to investigate extremist violence and domestic terrorism.”
Pretty amazing you can be given a recognition bond in Philly for assault with a weapon - no problem. Enter the US capital on Jan 6th under the most trivial circumstances is solitary confinement. This is not justice. It is a witch hunt.