US Probes Panasonic Unit For Alleged Bribery Violations (bloomberg.com) 28
A Panasonic inflight entertainment and communications systems subsidiary is under investigation by U.S. authorities for allegedly breaking bribery and securities laws. From a report: Panasonic Avionics Corp. is being probed by the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Securities Exchange Commission for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Osaka-based company said in a statement Thursday. Panasonic said it's cooperating with the agencies, and evaluating the potential financial impact of the probe. The announcement of the probe mars an otherwise positive earnings release for Panasonic, which raised its full-year profit and revenue forecasts. The subsidiary is part of a corporate division that also makes mobile phones, projectors and surveillance cameras with a total of 33,000 employees. The segment had $6.7 billion in sales in the nine months ended Dec. 31, or 14 percent of total revenue.
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Can't take a bit of levity, eh, Maritz?
Or does it hit too close to home? Do you secretly suspect it has the ring of truth, rather than absurdity?
Nope, just lampooning how Trump puts "sad" at the end of his tweets.
Are you embarrassed? If you are there's hope for you yet. ;)
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From TFS: (Score:1)
Oh.
Wait.
Trump? (Score:2, Insightful)
FFS, how can you enforce bribery laws, when you won't even enforce them for the squatter in the Whitehouse?
Or have we forgotten, that all the pipelines of money still flow into his company and he's neither sold it nor divested any of the foreign income businesses? He has however started renaming rooms in each hotel, as "The President Suite", presumably planning to sleep there to justify the name?
And then there's the barter. He got to power by a Russian cyber attack, and now he refuses to sign the cyber secu
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Given that the investigation probably started under Obama, and that Obama's been tight with Google, Apple and other US-based phone makers, and Obama's Justice Department took time off police brutality to go after the phone division of Panasonic...I'd probably start looking for any corrupt links on the Democratic aisle for this one.
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, SCOTUS vs Clinton (Score:3, Insightful)
> his company and he's neither sold it nor divested any of the foreign income businesses?
Three of our first four presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison) also had businesses which had foreign customers. None of the founding fathers had a problem with that. If someone wants to buy tobacco from Washington's field (or a hotel room from Trump's hotel) that's not a problem, the founders said.
What they DID have a problem with, and prohibited in the Constitution, was accepting payme
Re: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, SCOTUS vs Clin (Score:1)
Three of our first four presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison) also had businesses which had foreign customers. None of the founding fathers had a problem with that. If someone wants to buy tobacco from Washington's field (or a hotel room from Trump's hotel) that's not a problem, the founders said.
They also had no problem owning people and keeping them in bondage, even while ostensibly purporting to oppose it, little interest in universal suffrage, and no idea of the corrupt machinations of today's corporate establishment. So in moral terms, relying on the cloak of the dead Founders is of little help. If anything, it discredits you.
The products they sold? Resulted from abominable conduct. If they were alive today, we would have to face their cruelty and selfishness. They would be repugnant, not
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Both Bush and Obama ethics lawyers have said it's not OK.
Thankfully, they're not actual lawyers, as ethics aren't laws.
The constitution is very clear. Trump isn't being given a title of nobility and he's not receiving emoluments from a foreign state. Receiving an emolument from a foreign state would include Russia or Putin giving him a bag of cash, a plot of land, or some other such gift for no reason or for policy reasons. Having a business in a foreign state does not violate this clause, nor does that business making money.
Further, any purported violation co
Two presidents impeached: Clinton and Johnson (Score:2)
In a word, politics.
> So why was WJC not impeached and removed from office for this? Instead we had a trial over presidential blowjobs.
As you may know, two presidents have been impeached - Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. The impeachment charges were perjury and obstruction of justice. The Clintons are of course pretty good at obstructing justice, they aren't stupid criminals - Hillary has virtually bragged about that. It's tough to prove the underlying crimes beyond a reasonable doubt, but the obstruct
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The US "Domestic Corrupt Practices Act" does not exist.
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FFS, how can you enforce bribery laws, when you won't even enforce them for the squatter in the Whitehouse?
You cannot. But you need to make the occasional public sacrifice of some minor player in order to give the appearance to be doing something. Otherwise the shee^H^H^H^H voters may wake up to the fact that they made a really dumb decision and may even do something about it.
Rough English Translation (Score:1)
Panasonic has not been bribing US officials enough, and is being publicly warned to up their "contributions" to the same level as the other corporations who've ordered this here probe.
Well that settles it. (Score:3)
Dammit, Panasonic. Now I need to get a new TV.
Yes I've been looking for a reason to get a new TV even though there's nothing really wrong with the Panasonic one I have now. And yes I've been looking at a Samsung TV and yes I know the only thing Samsung does better than electronics is corporate corruption, but you know what? Shut up, that's what.
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Panasonic 'smart-tv' displaying an advertising banner when you change the volume wasn't enough?
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/tu... [cnet.com]
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My TV's too old to have that. And I abhor "smart" functionality. I realise it might be unavoidable but I'm not going to use any of those features.
That said, that /is/ ridiculous.
Next time you're in DC, Panasonic, why (Score:1)
don't you stay at tRump Hotel? Dial 6 for the "room service" hotline, and I'm sure with enough "room service" fees, your problems will melt away. Act now, because the Trump presidency may not last the full four years.