{"id":175589,"date":"2021-01-15T18:55:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T23:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2021\/01\/15\/thoughts-and-prayers\/"},"modified":"2021-01-15T18:55:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T23:55:00","slug":"thoughts-and-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2021\/01\/15\/thoughts-and-prayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts and Prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a transparent attempt to leave the jurisdiction of the great state of New York, the National Rifle Association has declared bankruptcy, and announced its intention to move to Texas<\/a>. <\/p>\n

That is a horrible thing to do to Texas: (And I want to give Texas back to Mexico) <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/span> Seeking an end-run around an investigation by the New York attorney general, the National Rifle Association said Friday that it was declaring bankruptcy and would reincorporate in Texas. The gun group was set up in New York after the Civil War.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s effort to circumvent New York\u2019s legal jurisdiction raised immediate questions from Letitia James, the New York attorney general and a Democrat, who is seeking to use her regulatory authority to dissolve the N.R.A. She has been conducting an investigation into corruption at the gun group since 2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe N.R.A.\u2019s claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt,\u201d Ms. James said in a statement Friday. \u201cWhile we review this filing, we will not allow the N.R.A. to use this or any other tactic to evade accountability and my office\u2019s oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026 <\/p>\n

Typically, nonprofit groups that are chartered in New York and under investigation are prohibited from relocating their assets during an inquiry; in recent years, the attorney general\u2019s office prevented the Trump Foundation from closing before it had reached the conclusion of an investigation into that organization.<\/p>\n

The bankruptcy filing is likely to halt legal proceedings in the attorney general\u2019s case while the matter is litigated in bankruptcy court.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

The N.R.A. and a subsidiary filed Chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Dallas. It reported between $100 million and $500 million in assets and the same amount in liabilities, with aggregate non-contingent liquidated debts, excluding those owed to insiders or affiliates, of less than $2,725,625.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

The N.R.A. has weathered years of revelations<\/a> about its spending and oversight practices, including hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on Mr. LaPierre\u2019s Zegna suits and far-flung travel to places like the Bahamas, Palm Beach, Reno and Italy\u2019s Lake Como. The group even once explored buying a $6 million mansion<\/a> in a Dallas-area gated community for his use. Last August, Ms. James, whose office has jurisdiction over New York charities, sued the N.R.A.<\/a>, seeking its closure along with tens of millions of dollars in restitution from Mr. LaPierre and three other executives. <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

The N.R.A. almost immediately filed suit in federal lawsuit against Ms. James\u2019s office, claiming her action was politically motivated and violated the organization\u2019s First Amendment rights. But the group conceded in recent tax filings<\/a> that Mr. LaPierre and other executives had received hundreds of thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of improper benefits from the group, which were reimbursed. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe N.R.A. cannot be allowed to declare bankruptcy to try to escape potential criminal and civil accountability in New York,\u201d said Kris Brown, president of the Brady Campaign, a gun control group. \u201cThe N.R.A. can run, but they can\u2019t hide, and their days are numbered. No organization is above the law.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So one would hope.<\/p>\n

Remember when we made bankruptcy tougher for ordinary people in the early 2000s because getting cancer is no excuse?<\/p>\n

Maybe we should make bankruptcies tougher for corporations, hedge funds, derivatives and charities as well. <\/p>\n

They seem to be the ones abusing the code.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a transparent attempt to leave the jurisdiction of the great state of New York, the National Rifle Association has declared bankruptcy, and announced its intention to move to Texas.  That is a horrible thing to do to Texas: (And I want to give Texas back to Mexico) Seeking an end-run around an investigation by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[607,599,368,364,531,407,486],"class_list":["post-175589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-bankruptcy","tag-charity","tag-corruption","tag-evil","tag-gun-laws","tag-justice","tag-schadenfreude"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}