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WASHINGTON Josh Holmes spent much of Wednesday in Washington watching the populist uprising over GameStop in the stock market with fascination and a growing sense of familiarity.

He has seen this movie before.

Holmes, president of the issue management firm Cavalry, is best known as the former chief of staff to former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Holmes has spent his career among the Republican establishment, which has spent the past five years getting steamrolled by the populist force of Trumpism a grassroots movement that stormed the ramparts of the GOP, ousted the establishment and remade the party in its image.

Almost no one in the party saw it coming. When it did, few of the establishment players understood just how vast the force was that suddenly lined up against them.

On Wednesday morning, as GameStop shares continued to surge, Holmes took to Twitter and typed out a simple message: "Wall Street, welcome to our world."

I called him to ask what he meant by that. "This is an event," he explained. "This is a social and economic moment in our society. There are a few times when you can definitely point to a moment and say society has changed, and this is one of them."

There are a few times when you can definitely point to a moment and say society has changed, and this is one of them.

Josh Holmes

former chief of staff to Sen. Mitch McConnell

There are scores of similarities between former President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement and the GameStop surge. There is a sense of fighting back against disrespect of the elites, belief that systemic rules have been written to benefit insiders at the expense of regular people, and new internet technologies that widely distribute power that was once held exclusively by a small group.

There's a healthy dose of skepticism of the media, and a belief in fake news. And both movements are inspired by viral memes funny, angry and engaging images depicting the movement as engaged in a heroic struggle.

Before the bell Thursday, GameStop shares briefly eclipsed a previously unthinkable $500, more than the share prices of Apple, Goldman Sachs and General Motors. After trading opened, the stock jumped more than 6% to about $370 a share. GameStop shares were worth about $40 a week ago.

The Reddit forum WallStreetBets on a smartphone arranged in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021.

Brent Lewin | Bloomberg | Getty Images

But the most important similarity is the bravado of the members of the movement. On a Reddit forum Wednesday, users cheered each other on, urging "Hold the line, boys!" and "buy and hold!"

One user, named "ishabwa," wrote "THE OLD GUARD IS HORRIFIED. BACKS AGAINST THE WALL. PAINTED INTO A CORNER. ITS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU." Another described this moment as the GameStop "revolution" and wrote: "This is our chance to stick it to those who never took us seriously. Either we forge economic history or loose it all, I'm willing to take this risk."

Scouring those same Reddit message boards, entrepreneur William LeGate felt like he had seen this happen before, too.

But he uses a different touchstone: Occupy Wall Street, the left-leaning anti-establishment movement that blossomed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

"This is Occupy Wall Street Part 2, but this time it is on their turf, and there are real financial consequences," he said. LeGate, who received a $100,000 Thiel fellowship to drop out of college and start a company when he was 18 years old in 2013, has been watching the WallStreetBets Reddit discussion for several years.

He said he is seeing increasing frustration and anger, which is exploding in the Covid pandemic era and it is bringing together the traditional political left and right.

"People were willing to take a risk on Trump and now they're willing to take a risk in the markets," he said. "A lot of people just want to see the world burn right now, and they're enjoying watching it happen."

He said he's already seeing people on the WallStreetBets Reddit page looking for new targets and there are two themes. First, they're looking for highly shorted stocks where big hedge funds might have a lot of leverage. And second, they're looking for nostalgia plays to bring back the companies from their youth. That's why Nokia, Blackberry and Blockbuster are all getting attention.

Wall Street investors are going to have to factor in a new set of risks. "The risk assessment that they're going to have to make is this: is this a meme-able stock that a bunch of kids on Reddit could hit and blow up the price?" LeGate said.

But what explains that nostalgic impulse in the midst of a revolution? It is the same emotion that animated the MAGA movement which, after all, stood for make America great, again. It is a desire to return to an earlier time that the members of the movement remember as better than today.

"There's a feeling I sense across society that people want to go back to a simpler time," LeGate said. "No one likes Covid. People don't feel the economy is fair. Everything looks better in hindsight."

And he argues that efforts to regulate trading will feel to Reddit traders more like suppression, and could fuel more anger.

"If someone on Main Street loses half their portfolio in a day, nothing's going to happen. But if a hedge fund does, they literally stop the trading," he said. "I myself question whether this is really about protecting the individual investor or protecting the hedge fund."

Holmes believes the key to understanding the power of this new movement is the gamification of investing melded with an anti-elite fervor. Sticking it to hedge funds and potentially making a lot of money is, simply, fun. And if you believe its also the right thing to do, and thrive on the engagement of a community of like-minded traders, so much the better.

Josh Holmes, chief of staff for presumptive Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., attends a rally at the airport in Bowling Green, Ky., November 3, 2014.

Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

"When things really get going is when the fun meets the purpose," Holmes said. "This is the perfect storm of those two."

His warning to Wall Street is: understand this. Be willing to scrutinize yourself. This not going away, and it is probably bigger than you think.

"People need to take the time to understand the social dynamics of this. What are the problems that have created this class of retail investor who seek to completely destroy your industry, and how do you remedy that?" Holmes said.

Holmes said he has spent the past decade watching American politics turned inside out. An earlier generation of politicians spent their time raising money at country club ballrooms from hundreds of donors writing $500 or $1,000 checks.

But now they spend their time on the internet raising money from millions of donors making $5 and $20 contributions. In politics, the retail money turned out to be bigger much bigger -- than the institutional money. And that's driven massive political spending inflation: the big Senate campaigns that once cost $15 million now cost $100 million.

"The pool is unlimited," Holmes said. "And that's the problem. The volume of potential participants is a hell of a lot bigger than people think it is, and it is certainly a lot bigger than the number of people who participated in this."

Other establishment Republican veterans agree.

"Don't underestimate the very real anger and sense of grievance and the very justified sense of grievance among the American people," said Michael Steel, a partner at Hamilton Place Strategies who was a senior advisor to the Jeb Bush presidential campaign in 2016. Understanding that, he said, can help investors understand who the next targets of Reddit rage might be, and how extensive the new movement is.

Kevin Madden, a former advisor to Mitt Romney, said, "anger can oftentimes be a more potent force than ideas. Those who felt they belonged to a political party of ideas found that grassroots anger, which can be very intoxicating, took over the political marketplace. It can also take over a financial marketplace."

Madden recalled the way populism overtook the Republican presidential primary in 2016.

Kevin Madden, then senior advisor and spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, talks with reporters aboard the campaign plane on October 23, 2012 en route to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

"One of the mistakes an establishment can make at the beginning is thinking this is someone else's fight. Marco Rubio says this is a Jeb Bush problem, and Jeb Bush says this is a Rick Perry problem," he said. "They all believed this was someone else's fight, and they all paid a huge price. That force redefined the party in its image for potentially the next decade."

Together these Republican strategists see Melvin Capital's decision to close out its GameStop position and take an enormous loss this week as something akin to the victory of populist Republicans in driving the establishment Republican House leader Eric Cantor from office in Virginia in 2014. It was an early demonstration of power. And it was a precursor to the much more dramatic events to come in 2016 and in 2021.

LeGate, the WallStreetBets watcher, agrees.

"It's a really powerful message," he said. "I think this is the first wave of what's going to happen."

But LeGate said he didn't buy any GameStop stock himself, for fear of an SEC investigation into his viral tweets about the movement.

Instead, he said, he is 100% invested in cryptocurrencies.

Continue reading here:
Republicans in Washington warn Wall Street: The GameStop populists are more powerful than you think - CNBC

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy warned his members to stop the public bickering within the conference if they want to effectively push back on the Biden administration and win back the majority in 2022, a congressional aide tells CBS News.

His blunt message to his colleagues on Wednesday's phone call: "Cut this crap out."

The warning comes as several members within the conference are organizing aneffort to oust the number three House Republican, Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, from her position as conference chairwoman. Cheney voted to impeach then-President Trump and angered many Republicans by releasing a statement the day before her vote outlining her position which was later quoted by several House Democrats during the floor debate.

McCarthy had previously warned his members about calling each other out in public after the January 6 riots in the Capitol because it could potentially put their colleagues in danger.

The aide said McCarthy's frustration was audible on the call and his message was even stronger. McCarthy also said that the intra-party warfare was getting in the way of the GOP focusing on policy initiatives and countering the new president.

Read the rest here:
McCarthy to House Republicans: "Cut this crap out" and stop infighting - CBS News

Using evidence and Florida's Stand Your Ground law, it was determined the four deputies were justified in their use of deadly force, according to prosecutors.

RIVERVIEW, Fla. On Monday, the State Attorney's Office released the findings of its review of a deadly shooting case involving four Hillsborough County deputies.

According to a press release, it was determined that Sgt. Michael Hannaford, Cpl. Steven Schneider, Deputy Devin Wooden, and Deputy Timothy Miskell were justified in their use of deadly force.

Body-camera footage released in December shows a wanted man repeatedly ignoring commands to show his hands before being shot and killed by deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

According to the report, on Dec. 8 deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office were serving multiple arrest warrants on 27-year-old Dylan Scott when they approached his truck at a McDonalds parking lot in Riverview. Investigators say Scott then took off in his truck and crashed into another vehicle on Bloomingdale Avenue.

When deputies attempted to take Scott into custody, they say Scott told them he had a gun. At about two minutes and 46 seconds into the video, Scott can be heard saying the firearm was in his waistband when asked by law enforcement.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has since confirmed Scott did not actually have a gun with him, but his statements on camera gave deputies reason to believe he did.

According to the release, the State Attorney's Office's review determined that deputies spent several minutes attempting to de-escalate the situation and ordering Scott to show his hands.

Investigators say that although Scott was unarmed, he raised his arm toward one of the deputies "as if he was going to shoot him," and deputies shot Scott in response.

Deputies say there was a passenger in Scott's vehicle named Shelby Guy who was pulled from the truck after the crash but before the shooting.

Guy, who identified herself as Scotts ex-girlfriend, provided a statement consistent with the deputies' accounts, according to the press release. Investigators also say that Guy told them Scott "had made statements that he would not go back to jail and would force law enforcement officers to kill him."

In late July, "Scott's mother called HCSO when he left a note at her home claiming he wanted to die via suicide by cop," the sheriff's office said. Investigators say they also found Facebook messages that Scott sent to his mother confirming this.

According to the release, the State Attorney's Office determined that "the deputies reasonably perceived an imminent threat, which justified their use of deadly force" under Florida's Stand Your Ground law. It added that "restraint and professionalism" were exhibited by the deputies in "trying to convince Scott to peacefully turn himself in before resorting to the use of deadly force."

The State Attorney's office says the "exhaustive" review made use of all the available evidence including video evidence, autopsy results, civilian witness accounts, and interviews of the involved law enforcement officers.

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Use of force by 4 Hillsborough deputies involved in deadly shooting found to be justified - WTSP.com

Ethics

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 26, 2021, 10:57 am CST

Image from Shutterstock.com.

A Nashville, Tennessee, lawyer has been suspended for advising a Facebook friend on how she could use the castle doctrine to protect herself if she shot a former boyfriend she had accused of abuse.

In a Jan. 22 opinion, the Tennessee Supreme Court suspended lawyer Winston Bradshaw Sitton for four years, with one year to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation.

Sitton had maintained that his Facebook post was dark humor and sarcastic, and his intent was to dissuade the woman from carrying a gun in her car. A hearing panel said a reasonable person would not perceive the comments that way. The panel recommended a 60-day suspension, but the Tennessee Supreme Court determined that the penalty was too light.

Posting the remarks on social media was an aggravating factor justifying an increase in discipline, the state supreme court said.

The Legal Profession Blog, Law & Crime, ABC News and the Tennessean have coverage.

Sitton wrote the Facebook post after the woman posted in December 2017: I need to always carry my gun with me now, dont I? Is it legal to carry in TN in your car without paying the damn state?

According to the ruling, Sitton responded: I have a carry permit, Lauren. The problem is that if you pull your gun, you must use it. I am afraid that, with your volatile relationship with your babys daddy, you will kill your exyour sons father. Better to get a taser or a canister of tear gas. Effective but not deadly. If you get a shot gun, fill the first couple rounds with rock salt, the second couple with bird shot, then load for bear.

If you want to kill him, then lure him into your house and claim he broke in with intent to do you bodily harm and that you feared for your life. Even with the new stand your ground law, the castle doctrine is a far safer basis for use of deadly force.

The woman responded: I wish he would try.

Sitton then wrote: As a lawyer, I advise you to keep mum about this if you are remotely serious. Delete this thread and keep quiet. Your defense is that you are afraid for your liferevenge or premeditation of any sort will be used against you at trial.

The woman deleted the post, but the former boyfriend brought screenshots to the district attorney, who reported Sitton to Tennessees Board of Professional Responsibility.

The Tennessee Supreme Court said the lawyers advice was clearly prejudicial to the administration of justice and a violation of ethics rules.

The social media posts fostered a public perception that a lawyers role is to manufacture false defenses, the court said. They projected a public image of corruption of the judicial process.

Sitton had contended that his remarks werent serious, as evidenced by the fact that he made them on a public forum.

There is no conceivable reason that petitioner, a lawyer with nearly 30-years of experience in New York and Tennessee, would have been stupid enough to publish such words openly in public view had there been any sinister intent or were this instruction to be taken literally, he wrote.

The Tennessee Supreme Court responded to the argument.

We agree with Mr. Sitton that it is hard to conceive of any reason why a lawyer, any lawyer, would offer instructions on how to commit murder and stage a concocted defense, the court said. But we disagree with Mr. Sitton that his publication of the advice on a public platform such as Facebook cuts in favor of his position.

To the contrary, the court said, Sittons decision to publish the comments on a public forum made his situation exponentially worse.

Sitton was administratively suspended from law practice in August 2018 for failing to pay the professional privilege tax and had not sought reinstatement. On his law firms Facebook page, Sitton said he didnt pay as a protest against an unconstitutional tax.

Sitton also commented on the new suspension.

I adamantly contest the finding that my gratuitous commentary offered in 2017 to a battered woman, who was being threatened and abused and harassed by her sons father, was legal advice as to how to commit a crime or in any way violated my duties as either a citizen or as a lawyer, he wrote on his firms Facebook page.

My intent in the offensive exchange, manifest in the context of the complete correspondence never considered as evidence, was to use sarcasm in order to emphasize the peril inherent in carrying a firearm without adequate training; as well as to underscore the additional danger that her extensive discussion of self-defense might be misconstrued to have a malign intent and used against her in ongoing litigation with her abuser.

I do admit that the language I used, albeit taken out of context, was intemperate and regret the way this utterance was phrased; however, I note that the comment was intentionally caustic and cynical as it was both offered as, and understood by the recipient to be, a sardonic, sarcastic remark made in order to convince the lady not to resort to lethal force and not to discuss any such matters in an open forum.

Read more from the original source:
Lawyer suspended for Facebook advice on how to shoot an abuser and avoid conviction - ABA Journal

David Carleton, owner of SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com and a Hot Tub Dealer Marketing Consultant Publishes Timely Book on Internet Marketing for Hot Tub Dealers, Pool Builders and Sauna Retailers.

This book contains proven and easy to understand and implement strategies to help dealers drive more traffic, generate more leads, and increase sales," said Carleton.

"In times like these, many business owners will slow down or even eliminate some or all their marketing efforts. This creates an opportunity for smart dealers to capture their customers if they already have strategies and systems in place to do so, commented Carleton. Now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity to close those prospects that are ready, willing, and able to buy and make sure that they buy from you, not your competition.

Dealers don't necessarily need more marketing money to increase sales. Instead, it's their ability to use the marketing money and resources they already have more effectively. What it really comes down to is having sales generating strategies and systems in place that they can use to get a predictable and constant stream of sales regardless of what is going on around the block or around the world.

Its unfortunate, but there is so much misinformation and misconceptions about what dealers should be doing to grow their business and build their market share. The book details the 9 steps to Internet marketing success a detailed roadmap to help dealers out market, out-sell and out-perform their competitors, said Carleton.

Hot tub dealers, swimming pool builders and sauna retailers wanting to learn more about this new book are encouraged to visit the company website SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com or review the contents of the book on Amazon.

About David Carleton and Spa Pool Marketing SuccessDavid Carleton is a Pool and Spa Dealer Internet Marketing Consultant who specializes in showing spa dealers, pool builders and sauna retailers how to spend less and get more from their marketing and advertising using low cost strategies in local business marketing, lead generation and conversion, Internet marketing and social media.

Dave was Vice President of Dimension One Spas for 6 years where he developed sales; marketing and training programs that helped hundreds of dealers in 30 countries around the world generate leads, increase sales, and enhance their overall marketing effectiveness.

In addition, Dave has been a keynote speaker for many industry, Chamber and trade groups across the United States and has written several books including The Ultimate Lead Generation System and The Essential Referral Marketing System.

The book is currently being sold on Amazon. To pick up a copy go to: SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com

David Carleton1150 Garden View Road, #235707Encinitas, CA 92023SpaPoolMarketingSuccess.com858-442-3131

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David Carleton, Hot Tub Industry Marketing Consultant Publishes "The Book on Internet Marketing for Pool and Spa Dealers" - PR.com