CARTOON CAROUSEL from Politico: Capturing foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics

 Cartoon Carousel

The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

By POLITICO STAFF

10/15/2021 04:30 AM EDT

The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics

POLITICO

 

KUSI APPIAH GOT SOME HEAT: Planning & Zoning Board Meeting Wed 10.13.2021

One of the best PZ Board meetings ever! TAKE THE TIME TO WATCH THIS PLEASE

Questions remain over permits and land grabs to re-align plans for the Union Pacific

MONOTONOUS MEDIOCRITY: MESA CITY COUNCIL "Study Session" Thu 10.14.2021 at 07:30

Just in time for City Manager Chris to swallow a mouth full. . .

The Verge: Ransomware Has Been On The Rise...U.S. Department of Justice Now Setting Up A Team To Go After Hacker Exchangers

The ransomware business is booming this year and could be bringing in billions for some of its top players, according to a report released by the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN (via The Record).

US Treasury says ransomware payouts in 2021 could top entire past decade

The top 10 hacker groups are tied to $5.2 billion in transactions

By Mitchell Clark Oct 15, 2021, 6:46pm EDT

( Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge )

"The report analyzed the massive growth in ransomware payments in the first half of 2021 by looking at suspicious activity reports from financial institutions and was even able to estimate how much some hacking groups were making by analyzing blockchain transactions linked to their wallets.

> The report found that reports of suspicious ransomware-related transactions totaled around $590 million from January 2021 to June 2021.

One of the most shocking numbers in the report is that the top 10 hacking groups have trafficked around $5.2 billion worth of Bitcoin over the past three years.

The oldest variant on this chart started in 2018, but the data FinCEN analyzed goes back to 2011.

Chart: US Treasury

It’s a mind-boggling figure, but it’s likely an incomplete one.

FinCEN came to it by finding wallets linked to payments to the top 10 ransomware programs, then analyzing their outgoing transactions (with the money likely headed off to be laundered, though it’s worth noting that it’s almost impossible to know whether it came from ransomware activities).

> The hacking groups could have more crypto squirreled away in wallets they haven’t touched yet. Or they could have it in other currencies — the analysis only covered Bitcoin, and the report indicates there’s been an increase in hackers asking for alternative coins like Monero.

In June, Chainalysis’ research director told The Verge that the blockchain data company had labeled 2020 “the year of ransomware” and wondered if 2021 wouldn’t get the same title. It seems that the answer is yes, though maybe it needs an upgrade — FinCEN estimates that there was $200 million more paid out in the first half of 2021 than in the entirety of 2020. It says that if the trends keep up, hackers could make more from ransomware this year than they did in the past decade.

Ransomware has been on the rise.

Graph: US Treasury

It’s not a surprise that the ransomware business is booming in 2021 — we’ve seen hackers hit and extort major tech companies, pipelines, hospitals, insurance companies, and more.

But this report shows how paying ransoms can help fund hackers’ attempts to get at new targets, with the massive success of just a few groups.

The government has been working to clamp down on this vicious cycle, though. The Department of Justice is setting up a team to go after the exchanges that facilitate crime-related transactions, like ransomware demands. But with billions on the line, it’s going to have to overcome huge incentives if it wants to stay ahead.

Related

Ransom notes: how ransomware funds more ransomware

Next Up In Policy

• Netflix just fired the organizer of the trans employee walkout
• Apple just fired a leader of the #AppleToo movement
• Boeing chief technical pilot couldn’t ‘Jedi mind trick’ his way out of a federal indictment
• Missouri governor threatens reporter who discovered state site spilling private info
• Pressure mounts on Amazon and App Store discrimination in new bill
• Lawmakers want to strip legal protections from the Facebook News Feed

Sign up for the newsletter Verge Deals

Subscribe to get the best Verge-approved tech deals of the week.

Just one more thing!

Please confirm your subscription to Verge Deals via the verification email we just sent you.

Email (required)

By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy.

2-In-A-Row: WEEKLY CLOSINGS UPDATES MultiFamily Weekly Sales Report

Weekly Apartment Closing Update | October 6th, 2021

___________________________________________________________________

Weekly Apartment Closing Update | October 14th, 2021

GoodJobs First Gains Recognition as a Global “2021 Top Corporate Watchdog”…

Good Jobs First Named #6 Global “Top Corporate Watchdog”

 

Ethos, a progressive investing firm, just released its global list of “2021 Top Corporate Watchdogs.” Based on factors such as: Relevance to pressing global issues; Independence from corporate influence; Rigor and quality of analysis; Breadth of coverage; and Reach, Good Jobs First ranked No. 6. We’re in some stellar company.

=====================================================

Forward to a friend or read online: https://www.goodjobsfirst.org/news/releases/electric-vehicles-gravy-train-gjf-internationally-recognized 

Plus: Is a new golf course what feds had in mind when they gave states pandemic relief money?

 

Electric vehicles on the gravy train; GJF globally recognized

Good Jobs First just named a global “2021 Top Corporate Watchdog”… Ford subsidies in Tennessee could easily top $1 billion… and just how exactly are states spending $350 billion in pandemic relief meant for working families and small businesses?

 

Arlene here, with an update on what our tireless crew has been meticulously tracking.

 

But first, using our Amazon Tracker, the Financial Times reported Amazon had secured over $650 million in public subsidies across the United States – in just the first nine months of 2021.

 

Electric Vehicle (EV) Plants: New Subsidy Darlings

 

Late last month, Tennessee announced it had successfully lured Ford Motor Company and SK Innovation to build an electric vehicle and battery plant in Stanton (northeast of Memphis).

Source: Ford.com That got us wondering, as these breathless announcements do, how much public money was used to close the deal. We know the state pledged a $500 million grant, but our senior fellow Kenneth Thomas went digging for the rest.   Between the state grants, local subsidies, government-funded infrastructure improvements, and – the big one – discounted energy from the Tennessee Valley Authority, Thomas estimates the deal will easily cross the $1 billion mark. He wrote about it here.   Speaking of mega-deals and EVs, residents of the Village of Mount Pleasant and Racine County, Wisconsin, are still wondering when Foxconn plans to pay them back all their money spent on preparing the community for the massive LCD screen plant that has never materialized. Foxconn hasn’t come near its capital investment and hiring promises, yet residents are out $300 million. The community got another blow recently when Foxconn announced it chose Ohio for an EV investment, instead of picking the Badger State. Good Jobs First Executive Director Greg LeRoy talked to Wisconsin Public Radio about what comes next.  And in Oklahoma, EV start-up Canoo Inc. is in line to receive $300 million in public subsidies. LeRoy told The Frontier the up-front incentives could be trouble if the business plans of the company, whose vehicles are still in development, don't pan out. Tesla had considered the site, but Elon Musk said he couldn't get his employees to move there. "Austin is one of the few places to which they will move," he said. Good Jobs First Named #6 Global “Top Corporate Watchdog”   Ethos, a progressive investing firm, just released its global list of “2021 Top Corporate Watchdogs.” Based on factors such as: Relevance to pressing global issues; Independence from corporate influence; Rigor and quality of analysis; Breadth of coverage; and Reach, Good Jobs First ranked No. 6. We’re in some stellar company.   Alabama’s Transparency Problem   Even as states across the country have gotten better about disclosing which companies got how much in economic development subsidies, Alabama keeps its information firmly behind lock and key. It’s so bad that even after a deal is finalized, the state still won’t tell the public which company got how much. You can imagine that makes judging their effectiveness impossible.

Former Alabama State Rep. Patricia Todd wrote about these transparency and accountability failures, and what must be done to improve them, in a new report by Jobs to Move America. Todd gives us the back story in our newest “5 questions with” feature. A $350 Billion Opportunity   You may remember the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocated $350 billion in emergency funding to state, local, and tribal governments to help with public health challenges, replace lost tax revenue, and otherwise help ensure a strong recovery.   But some places seem to be showing a commitment to … other things, writes Good Jobs First Research Analyst Katie Furtado. Tennessee and Kentucky fought (and won) for the right to use their money for tax cuts, while Alabama is spending $400 million to build privately run prisons. Other states are taking advantage of the influx of money to re-up or expand economic development subsidy programs. Ugh.   Then there’s Palm Beach Gardens, an upscale Florida community using most of its money to help build a new golf course. Alan Berube, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the Colorado Sun the choice was an “aggressive reading” of the allowable uses. A city spokesperson said it would have a bike path, though, and create seven new jobs. In related news, a recent report from three government watchdog groups reveals a stunning figure: companies controlled by private equity firms received approximately $5.3 billion in federal CARES Act funding. The same private equity firms collectively hold $908 billion in cash reserves. Sadly, PE portfolios are not the only dubious or well-off CARES Act beneficiaries, as Furtado explains here.   Other Amazon news you may have missed: Amazon may taketh but it doesn’t want to giveth, walking away from a San Diego site because it would be required to pay its workers an actual living wage. “[Amazon’s] rhetoric is we’re creating good jobs for the people of San Diego, and they have come into many communities with promises around creating economic opportunity,” Terra Lawson-Remer, the San Diego County supervisor who brought forward the ordinance, told Motherboard. “But once there were real expectations to pay enough so people don't live in poverty, Amazon walked away.”  Reuters got ahold of internal company documents that show Amazon “ran a systematic campaign of creating knockoffs and manipulating search results to boost its own product lines in India, one of the company’s largest growth markets.” This is consistent with a Wall Street Journal exposé showing how Amazon has done the same to sellers based in the United States. That’s it for now. Until next time.

Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Meeting Oct. 12, 2021