DL Open Thread: Saturday, May 4, 2024
“I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders — some who wanted our help, and some who didn’t,” Ms. Noem writes. “I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all). Dealing with foreign leaders takes resolve, preparation, and determination.”
It, uh, didn’t happen. The ‘small error’ will be corrected in future editions. If there are any.
Trump Auditor Earns ‘100% Deficiency Rate’. Somewhere, BHL reaches for her phone:
The Securities and Exchange Commission accused the auditor of Donald Trump’s social-media company of massive fraud affecting hundreds of companies and more than 1,500 regulatory filings.
BF Borgers CPA PC and its founder, Benjamin Borgers, will be permanently suspended from practicing and appearing as accountants before the SEC, and will pay a total of $14 million in fines to settle the probe, the SEC said in a Friday release.
“Ben Borgers and his audit firm, BF Borgers, were responsible for one of the largest wholesale failures by gatekeepers in our financial markets,” Gurbir Grewal, the SEC’s enforcement chief, said in a statement. “Borgers and his firm completely abandoned that role, but thanks to the painstaking work of the SEC staff, Borgers and his sham audit mill have been permanently shut down.”
BF Borgers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday morning. The firm has been one of the most prolific auditors in the US. The most recent review of its audits by US regulators found a 100% deficiency rate.
Sports Blatherer Future Presidential Candidate? Just. No. Please:
Former GOP presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie claimed it’s “more likely than not” that sports commentator Stephen A. Smith runs for president in the future.
Smith, 56, the host of ESPN’s debate show “First Take” has sparked talk of a potential political future for years. He’s become even more entangled in politics after interviewing Christie last year and calling out the primary parties for their chosen candidates.
Members of both parties have spoken to Smith about running for office, including a Pennsylvania Senate seat at one point. Still, Smith thinks the only office that would interest him is the Oval Office, the Post reported.
“The only office that would do it for me is the presidency of the United States,” he said. “And I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell the American people would ever vote for me.”
One can only hope.
Dirty Cop Tactics: Cali-Style:
Bruce Praet is a well-known name in law enforcement, especially across California. He co-founded a company called Lexipol that contracts with more than 95 percent of police departments in the state and offers its clients trainings and ready-made policies.
In one of Praet’s training webinars, posted online, he offers a piece of advice that policing experts have called inhumane. It’s aimed at protecting officers and their departments from lawsuits.
After police kill someone, they are supposed to notify the family. Praet advises officers to use that interaction as an opportunity. Instead of delivering the news of the death immediately, he suggests first asking about the person who was killed to get as much information as possible.
Reporter Brian Howey started looking into this advice when he was with the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. He found that officers have been using this tactic across California, and the information families disclosed before they knew their relative was killed affected their lawsuits later.
I recommend the accompanying podcast.
What do you want to talk about?
We should all be thankful the children that Noem was the Pastor for were apparently trainable.