Sunday, November 29, 2015

COP 21, or the hysteria about climate “deregulation”. Back to 2010.


My Orchids. Ascocenda. Photo ET






















I need to reproduce hereafter myblog from February 8, 2010, in the aftermath of the “Wolrd Conference on Climate Change” in Copenhagen.

Actually not much has changed except some language: we went from global warming to climate change, and now to climate deregulation. Actually I do see some sort of uncertainty creeping into the terminology, from the absolute certainty of warming, to change, and deregulation. The IPCC, the UN body on Climate Change might get as afraid of the collective hysteria they unleashed as of the catastrophe they announced, thanks to their “settled science”.

Maybe some data over the last 6 years showing that IPCC’s detailed catastrophic forecasts for 2015 did not occur, reminded everyone to be more prudent. By now the settled science appears to be more and more junk science that is feeding the news with what appears to be more propaganda than science. By the end of the day, it is about much money. The most telling detail is the concept of “Climate Justice”. This says it all: compensation needs to get paid. To which countries? Well those receiving development aid in the UN’s Millennium Program, who are also often benefiting from UN peace-keeping, or who send out millions of refugees, excuse my language, migrants. Climate Justice will be some kind of promotion in pay for the eternal victims?

If COP 21 should be a success, it should agree on diminishing pollution, and stop the nonsense of Climate Justice and carbon trade. Being effective on pollution is all there should be. The rest is governing, not blaming imaginary scenarios.

Please see here an account and comments about the Copenhagen Conference from 6 years ago:





Tuesday, November 24, 2015

The New York Times and Luxembourg’s nation branding


My Orchids. Phalaneopsis "Pure Innocence". Photo ET











































The New York Times and Luxembourg’s nation branding

Yesterday’s New York Times carried an article with the title: Luxembourg Goes in for an Image Makeover”.

As usual the story is well researched, though it may not please everyone in Luxembourg. In the meantime we are working on a slogan to get rid of the bad reputation we garnered over the last decade. The effort will cost $1 million in 2016.

Mario Hirsch is mentioned: “Mario Hirsch, a political scientist, said such marketing campaigns are “made to divert, to keep people from questioning things.”


Alright, may I suggest a slogan: “Luxembourg, we think we are better than you think?” Of course I'd offer a discount.




Thursday, November 12, 2015

In plain view and sunlight, scammers are out in Florida


Preying Bird. Photo ET



















In plain view and sunlight, scammers are out in Florida

This is what Florida businesses find in their mail, and it is going on for years. Does anyone care and investigate?

























Even if this business is providing a service, the service is being offered under false pretense by making their forms confusing enough that they look like they must have come from the government.  They are designed to elicit a quick response from the business person, who doesn’t take the time to read, but senses an urgency to “Respond by” a certain date.  Therefore the target sends money that he or she wouldn’t if time was taken to read and understand what is being offered


BBB looked further into it. Here are their findings:


October 13, 2015

BBB Serving Northeast Florida & the Southeast Atlantic has been inundated with inquiries about a new misleading compliance solicitation scam targeting Florida small business owners. Businesses report receiving a letter that looks to be from a government agency stating that it is a final notice for failure to comply with 2015 labor law requirements.

After a quick investigation BBB has determined that this scam hoping to lure business owners into paying $114.00 to avoid a supposed $17,000 fine from the federal government. The letter is from an entity calling themselves FL Human Resources Compliance, a fictitious name registered to Gesher Enterprises LLC. Both entities are registered to addresses that are UPS Store PO boxes, there is no other contact information provided for FL Human Resources Compliance. The fine print on this final notice letter advises businesses to return the order form to order the required full set of state and federal notices.  

BBB received the following correspondence from a business owner regarding the solicitation she received: “My business is a new business and we have been receiving multiple requests for money from this business to purchase Labor Posters. However, the notice was developed in a way to imply that it is mandatory for us to purchase these posters from them or we could get fined or audited. I feel as if this is a scam to get us to pay them money, when in reality we can attain labor posters through the Department of Labor. I read about similar scams in other states. If they are a legitimate company and print these posters for a cost, they should not be able to try and force companies into buying their products by sending them official looking threatening letters. It is extremely unprofessional.”

Businesses are required by law to display labor law posters and BBB offers this advice for choosing a labor law poster service provider:
  • Check with the Better Business Bureau to verify the seller's quality and service standards. Thoroughly investigate any business without a BBB rating, as this may indicate an unproven track record.
  • Choose a partner that understands both state and federal laws. Florida businesses have to keep track of up to 11 federal and state postings issued by up to seven agencies.
  • Confirm that the seller employs labor law attorneys to interpret regulatory changes.
  • Ask for written assurance that the posters meet exact agency specifications for font size, poster size, color and layout.
  • Choose a poster provider that guarantees unlimited protection from fines.



But wait, there is more

Florida Compliance Scams - Numerous misleading solicitations have been circulating in the state, including a Florida Annual Minutes Solicitation and anAnnual Meeting of Shareholders and Directors solicitation, both sent from an entity called Compliance Services. In addition, a Florida Annual Minutes Requirement Form, is being sent by a company called Corporate Filing Services and one titled“2013 – annual Minutes Form” is being sent by a company called Corporate Records Service. A similar Annual Minutes Form solicitation is being sent by an entity called Business Filing Services and a company called Annual Business Services is also sending this type of solicitation. Several other scams are asking recipients to send in a "Certificate of Status Request form," including one being sent by an entity called United Certificate Services. View samples of these misleading solicitations from Center of Corporations and Florida State Compliance Center and an entity called F.C.F.S. Also, a Corporate Certificate of Status Reminder Notice is being sent by an entity called Florida Corporate Council. The Florida Division of Corporations has placed a notice on its Sunbiz website warning business about these scams. 




Monday, November 9, 2015

Luxembourg’s Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat, BCEE’s tax evasion imbroglio in Germany


My Orchids. Trichopilia "Cornucopia". Photo ET











































Luxembourg’s Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat, BCEE’s tax evasion imbroglio in Germany

Though information was sparse since earlier news about a wide leak of banking data at the 100% State owned bank, and therefore AAA rated, came out last week, the German ARD Tagesschau served up amazing details today about the ongoing investigation.

German authorities have acquired data of 54,300 German clients at BCEE. This is the biggest amount of client data leaked from any bank. UBS in the US turned over a small percentage of that number. It agreed to be fined USD 780 million by US authorities in order to forego further problems.

In this case, it is supposed that most account holders evaded German taxes. German investigators showed up with search warrants at a first batch of big account holders, those with accounts of Euros 300,000 and more.

BCEE claims to have acted in total legality. An argument that was also used by Luxembourg authorities defending the tax rulings uncovered by Luxleaks. In this case we might see at a minimum a conflict of law, certainly a huge political fallout, and possibly some sort of a fine in the millions, similar to the ones other German banks in similar situations in Luxembourg had to swallow.

One has to consider the peculiar situation of a fine imposed by the German government on actually the Luxembourg government, owner of BCEE. But that wouldn’t be a first: when BNP-Paribas was fined USD 8.9 billion, the Luxembourg government’s share of the onslaught was 1.04% (its holdings in BNP-Paribas), or USD 92 million. Though this is Luxembourg’s theoretical and invisible share of what the company made as a payment.


The conflict with Germany isn’t the only oddity in this case. The most stunning detail is that the person who tried to sell the data to governments for several million Euros each, showed one half to the Germans, the other half to the French as solid proof of the quality of the data. Both German and French investigators realized that both halves represented the total list. Thus the leaker got leaked and didn’t make a buck. 




After the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Commission destroys the internet


My Orchids. Phalaneopsis "Save the Link",
Photo ET












































After the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Commission destroys the internet

So the CJEU has destroyed “Safe Harbor”. Now it seems the amateurs at the European Commission work at widening the chaos. They are bound to succeed, they are good at that.


For what is cooking, please sit down and read this article in Forbes. Enjoy the link as long as you can.






Sunday, November 1, 2015

The Luxembourg State Savings Bank BCEE targeted by German Tax authorities


My Orchids. Oncidium "Golden Gate". Photo ET










































The Luxembourg State Savings Bank BCEE targeted by German Tax authorities

This story was reported by “Der Spiegel” Friday, and has been widely circulated in the Luxembourg German and French speaking Press, despite the traditional quiet time imposed by the All Saints Day.

In a move that has become a routine, the German Land of North Rhine – Westphalia is reported to have acquired a CD with bank data showing about 50,000 transactions over a total of Euros 70 billion. It is not clear yet that the data all are BCEE data. But the CD has been called of “high quality”. The fact that it was paid Euros 5 million lets suppose that the return on investment will be a high multiple.

The operation is similar to former ones where the Land got access to secret bank data. It is not yet clear if it is also similar to the now classic attack on HSBC Geneva, where Hervé Falciana copied bank data and brought them to the attention of the French authorities.

BCEE reacted to the news calling the operation, if confirmed, a violation of Luxembourg law. It also declares that the bank’s business practices are in compliance with Luxembourg and European regulations.


BCEE Luxembourg is owned 100% by the Luxembourg government. An exceptionally unwelcome situation for the government, not to speak about the inevitable revival of Luxleaks and policies over the last decades.

We'll hear more about this in Luxembourg and Brussels.



Sunday, October 18, 2015

Are European Refugee Policies a Farce?


My Orchids.
Phalaenopsis "Solidarity".
Photo ET



























Are European Refugee Policies a Farce?

The other day I came across the surprising headline that Syrian refugees did not want to go to Luxembourg, and that the Greek and Italian governments stopped trying to send them there. The reason is unknown. “Very many refugees are not keen to come to Luxembourg,” confessed Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission and architect of the quota scheme, whose home country is Luxembourg. Actually similar news were reported, where refugees did not want to seek asylum in Denmark, because benefits had been reduced, such as cash payments and conditions for family reunification.

I wondered if such a headline was the result of a pervasive campaign, or good journalism. The headline I found was in “The Times” that has its editorial freedom. Their readership is part conservative, part liberal. Which should vouch for good journalism. So it doesn’t seem to be a pervasive campaign. If it is good journalism, the European leadership has something to hide. Indeed the official representation from this last week promotes the great success of the newly decided policies about quotas, and the mitigating announcements of future repatriations of economic refugees. But in the meantime the European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos accompanied by Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister could witness and can no longer hide that at the moment Europe fails to manage the situation both politically and practically on the ground in Italy and Greece.

How did we get to this farcical result? First, when the good season opened the floods of refugees via Libya and Turkey, Europe, the Commission, and the national capitals were on vacation. Refugees arrived by the thousands on the Greek islands and in Italy. As finally July and August went by, the European leadership (Included are the Commission, the rotating presidency of the EU held for 6 months by Luxembourg, and the European President) on September 2nd called for an “emergency meeting” to deal with the unchecked refugee crisis, to be held ……. on September 15th! It takes two weeks to call an emergency meeting in the age of conference calls? In the meantime, public opinion went both ways, hostile or generous. It was fed by officials who were gyrating between both extremes, with policy statements that were very supportive for refugees, just to back-pedal a couple of days later. The fact is that after maneuvering among the different national attitudes of member states towards the crisis, the EU finally decided on a quota list distributing 160,000 refugees among willing countries. The problem is that in the meantime more than 600,000 refugees arrived this year. It appears that generally the refugees are better informed, better decided, as to where to go, as the overwhelmed EU authorities. Hence the incident with refugees refusing to go to Luxembourg. Quoting Breitbart a conservative LAbased News network with a taste for governmental dysfunctions: “The quotas are not so people can go asylum shopping,” one EU diplomat told The Times. “If you say you are escaping war, you can’t refuse to go to Luxembourg. It is making a joke out of the whole quota system.”

It now appears that the pick and choose strategy has led many refugees to consistently long for certain countries, such as Germany, advertised for a moment as the Promised Land. News travel fast among migrants. And that grassroots strategy almost totally ruined the Commission’s official First when according to Breitbart, an exemplary showcase was planned in Italy, where 33 Eritreans were set to be brought from Italy to Sweden. 14 escaped the forced relocation, and so the officials present on the ground, trotted the remaining 19 to an Italian Air Force plane. That detail of cause was kept hidden from the public, as if the public doesn’t have the right to know. It was an embarrassing crowning of several months of indecision, conflicting attitudes, if not incompetence.

As any country, the European Union and certainly the member states included, because there is no political union, have the responsibility to secure their borders. Non-nationals need to carry valid travel documents and in many cases need to apply for a visa. Most of the European Union members have adhered to the Schengen agreement which guarantees free travel for its residents. Foreigners have to apply for a Schengen visa. I happened to be in charge in 1991 of the European Consular group in New York, as New York was one of three test cities for the Schengen system and its proposed rules. The main change coming from that group was to replace the rule that the visa applicant needed to apply at the Consulate of the country where the applicant would stay most of the time, by the rule that it should be the Consulate of the country of the point of entry. The reason was to avoid the inevitable shopping from one country’s Consulate to the other countries’ Consulates to find out which one would be the laxest.

Refugees often have no travel documents, but this existing Schengen agreement should have been the nucleus of a solution for the refugee crisis at its external borders. But the EU has failed to prop up its common customs agency Frontex, and has by default delegated too many of those responsibilities to its member states, who of course have opted for either open shores and borders or a fence. Frontex should have been able to set up triage installations for handling the new arrivals, often without ID papers, and some of them potentially criminals or terrorists. It is certainly bureaucratic, but it doesn’t have to be without compassion, and it also serves to explain the rules. There the EU has failed, and wasn’t even ready. It might get its policies straight when it finally decides on repatriation policies as a complement to the asylum policies in a couple of weeks.








Thursday, October 15, 2015

Refugees refuse to go to Luxembourg


My Orchids. Phalaenopsis "Help". Photo ET





















Refugees refuse to go to Luxembourg

According to the Times, "Quota plan crisis as refugees refuse to go to Luxembourg".

Something went awfully wrong with Luxembourg's "Nation Branding", or the contrary. 

I want ILRES, the Luxembourg public opinion scrutinizer to find out what the Luxembourg refugee repellent is. We didn't yet do anything, but trying to be nice. That's hurting!




Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Jean-Claude Juncker and Hillary Clinton, united in strategy


My Orchids. Phalaneopsis "No Tax".
Photo ET



















Jean-Claude Juncker and Hillary Clinton, united in strategy

On both sides of the Atlantic, Jean-Claude Juncker and Hillary Clinton are subject to similar political pressures, although without any relationship between them. One is the non- elected by popular vote President of the European Commission, the other is the inevitable Crown Princess of the American Presidency, which also virtually suspended universal suffrage, at least in her design of her electoral campaign. Both, however, are haunted by a past that catches up with them. For one, it is LuxLeaks, the case of Luxembourg tax rulings, for the other it is Emailgate, a situation that would put the former Secretary of State in violation of security laws and regulations of the United States.

For Mrs. Clinton, the outlook would be bad if the case of four-star general and former CIA Director David Petraeus were to be applied to her. Petraeus, in a moment of weakness, kept classified information on his home computer for his biographer. The law is clear and the judges were relentless. Petraeus was convicted. A similar result would be fatal to the almost exclusive and un-competitive Clinton candidacy.

FOIA makes the difference

If anything separates the cases Juncker - Clinton, it is the crucial issue of access to information guaranteed by law, information that the two seem to persist in hiding. Clinton indeed faces FOIA, the "Freedom of Information Act", the terrible instrument against the abuse of power. Juncker however does not: there is no such thing to apply to him. He only faces investigators without teeth from the European Parliament. Clearly he does not run Clinton’s risks. Though she can still survive, given the Clintons’ reputation to surprise everyone in extremis by pulling a Houdini. Juncker will survive more easily because he is not yet trapped and encircled.

First of all, there is no great enthusiasm to pursue the case of Juncker’s responsibility in Luxembourg’s tax rulings scheme. The Conservatives of which he is part, hold the reins in the European Parliament, the supervisory body in this case. In that sense, one could actually be surprised that the issue be raised at all. As for Luxembourg, among its innovations in economic development, the tax ruling project is only one of a number of well known policies adopted over the years: RTL the biggest broadcaster in the 30's, bank secrecy in the 60s, reinsurance in 70s, mutual funds industry, international shipping register and the satellite company SES in the 80s, and tax rulings in the 90s. It would have been difficult to ignore these important innovations as Prime Minister.

Most of the time, the cover-up is worse than the crime

As so often in a crisis situation involving a politician, Jean-Claude Juncker may have committed the classical mistake of lying to cover up a well-established fact. Lying is often more devastating than the alleged offense. He has already lower credibility ratings from former career events. So what was his problem to confirm that as a sovereign state, Luxembourg has always sought to exploit niches of sovereignty, as the ones indicated above? If international problem there is, Luxembourg has been under pressure before. The exploitation of the sovereign niches has often created problems with our neighbors. Why pretend in this case to not know or being amnesiac? The question now no longer revolves around the issue of potentially illegitimate tax rulings, but around the question when Juncker became aware of the existence of a one pager missing from a parliamentary report that was intended for him in 1997!

By denying any knowledge of the facts, Juncker actually encourages many investigative reporters who feel a calling to prove otherwise. And from his past career echoes his famous credo as a stigma: "When things get serious, you have to lie." Finally there is also the “he said, and he said”. Jeannot Krecké, former MP and former minister insists that he withheld the sensitive document that he had prepared from publication, but that the document in question was effectively delivered to Juncker, though unofficially. It doesn’t matter, as there is hardly any record keeping. Juncker denies ever having seen this document. Again the circumstances are against him, as in public opinion, Krecké has more credibility for speaking the truth.

Luxembourg awaits its FOIA for fifteen years already!

What does the one-page document written by Krecké, actually contain? This is known only by a small circle of initiates, among them would logically figure Prime Minister Juncker himself, who had commissioned the report. Its content deals with the issue of advance tax rulings and was probably considered too sensitive to be shown publicly. An implicit sign of guilt? But here is why Juncker is luckier than Hillary Clinton: there is no Luxembourg Freedom of Information Act. And I don’t see any European legal body that could be coercive enough to force anyone, Krecké or Juncker, to disclose the contents of the document.

Juncker himself has always expressed his opposition to the draft law 4676/00, that Alex Bodry, MP filed on June 20, 2000. This is the Luxembourg version of the "Freedom of Information Act" for the freedom of access to information. Except for a few outbreaks of short-lived activity after embarrassing reminders in 2011-12, the project has gone to die in the dungeons of Juncker’s last administration. Probably a wise precaution one might say today with regards to Luxleaks.


Luxembourg is well behind the rest of the world or a hundred countries that have FOIA-type legislation in place. Our neighbors do and so do the US, China, the Dominican Republic, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.




Monday, September 21, 2015

Volkswagen does the Falsewagen Fartvergnügen


My Flowers. Magnolia "Der Beatle". Photo ET






















Volkswagen does the Falsewagen Fartvergnügen  

When it comes to corporate compliance with any US imposed regulatory standard, how can a company with VW’s outstanding reputation be so willfully engaged in breaking the law? Volkswagen got caught with a software installed in diesel cars that altered emissions data. The real pollution levels were 40 times the EPA’s limits. 

Someone has devised this scheme, and it will be costly: an expected $18 billion in fines. Who was it? This comes without the inevitable stock drop, by now down by 20%. Volkswagen’s US competitor just got fined $900 million for a negligence, by not addressing ignition problems, a sign that regulators mean it.

At $18 billion VW’s fine would be among the highest civil penalty ever paid in the US. Compare to BNP Paribas’ $9 billion and HSBC’s $2 billion for (willfully) violating sanctions lists.

Waiting for “Das Auto-psy” for the explaining to begin.



Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Luxembourg's Video for Nation Branding in China cannot be viewed in China

My Orchids. Phalaneopsis "Bluhing". Photo ET























Luxembourg's video for Nation Branding in China cannot be viewed in China . 


It is a nice video, with nice pictures. Though the language has room for improvement. But nice. The only problem I hear from my friends in China is that it is almost completely unreadable in China, It takes 10 minutes to view a small segment of the actual video.



"Luxembourg: China´s bridge to Europe" (Chinese subtitles) | Luxembourg for Finance - Video blog






Monday, August 31, 2015

Say it in gender neutrality: Xe had hir stop xem car and ze gave xem xir keys saying xe were xirs.


Xem xer Orchids: Phalaneopsis "Xe xirs". Photo Xe and Ze





















Say it in gender neutrality: Xe had hir stop xem car and ze gave xem xir keys saying xe were xirs.

This is exciting news for crosswords fanatics. The two and three letter pool for personal pronouns got richer, and gender neutral, thanks to an academic achievement of the University of Tennessee Knoxville. It recommends banning the Paleolithic “he, she, his, hers, him, her” and replace them by the Committee for Inclusion approved neutral designations in the table below. This is my first training exercise: try it, include yourself:

Xe had hir stop xem car and ze gave xem xir keys saying xe were xirs.

In Paleolithic primitive idiomatic expression, where gender was an unwarranted but pervasive determinant in the nascent language, saying what isn’t is saying what is, and would have translated in the following primitive form:

He had her stop their car and she gave him her keys saying they were hers.

Now comes the hard part. I’ll try to figure out a system for the German language, with a Sprachanleitung for nominative, accusative, dative, genitive. What the heck is that “gen” in “genitive”?


This is an exciting and practical table 
to help you over the initial inclusion moments 



Friday, August 21, 2015

Traveling US Marines stop a French train massacre


My Orchids. Phalaenopsis "Good Luck". Photo ET






















Traveling US Marines stop a French train massacre

This terrorist (officials are still struggling with the word in this case) had everything against him, including a failed martyrdom. According to the BBC:

“French media said the passengers who overpowered the suspect were US Marines who had heard the man loading a weapon in a toilet cubicle and confronted him when he came out.”

Yes, it takes a Marine and a professional ear to interpret noises coming from the toilet as loading a Kalashnikov. And an acute sense of danger to be ready to jump. Bravo.


The 26 year old Moroccan terrorist had enough ammunition to commit a horrible bloodbath.




















Friday, August 14, 2015

US Corruption investigation looks for part of $1 billion bribes in Luxembourg


My Orchids: Oncidium. Photo ET












































US Corruption investigation looks for part of $1 billion bribes in Luxembourg

The Wall Street Journal reported today about the US Department of Justice’s effort to seize $1 billion in bribes allegedly stemming from global telecom companies seeking licenses in Uzbekistan. The investigation has been underway at least since last year. A string of front companies close to the glamorous Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the immovable President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov were used in the operation. 

Members of the excellent “Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project” (OCCRP) reported in March 2015 about the money trail “Following Gulnara’s Money”. Properties were seized in Switzerland and France.

As the US probe develops, we are witnessing the effects of US legislation and long arm policies. An estimated $300 million are supposed to sit in banks in Ireland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. It is always amazing that politically exposed persons can use banks’ services without raising suspicions. It is true that those individuals use associates as front people and companies in obscure places. But at these levels of transactions, it is amazing that not more effort is spent on vetting the beneficiary owners and the origins of funds.


There will be more and more focus on international corruption in the years to come, with possible amendments strengthening the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and its cousin the UK Bribery Act. The US and UK standard will become international standard, the EU timidly following rules at the European level, and the rest of the world committed by a recent UN Convention against Corruption.



Saturday, July 25, 2015

Luxembourg money influencing past and future US elections.


My Orchids. Phalaenopsis "Blushing".
Photo: ET / WinGeek
















Luxembourg money influencing past and future US elections.

In 2012 Luxembourg-based Manwin, now MindGeek, contributed as much as half of all monies raised to defeat “Measure B” in elections in Los Angeles County, California. Now California’s Fair Political Practices Commission’s Enforcement Division is investigating.

Measure B was also called “condoms in porn 2012 ballot measure”. Manwin, the Luxembourg-based online porn company aimed at defeating it by financing the adult film industry’s effort to defeat Measure B, the mandatory use of condoms by the performers in adult movies. There is a problem though. It is indeed illegal to accept foreign funds to finance any US election campaign.

Quoting Michael Weinstein, a backer of Measure B in BusinessWire, a Berkshire Hathaway Company:  “Keeping foreign money out of US elections should be an extremely high principle. We were fortunate that L.A. County voters had the good sense to vote ‘Yes’ on Measure B, but under different circumstances, foreign money could tip the balance in a close US election. Do we really want Saudis weighing in on oil policy via a US election? From a cursory look at the required political financial disclosure forms from 2012, we believe that Luxembourg-based Manwin (now MindGeek) and its other overseas entities donated at least half of all monies raised for the porn industry’s failed campaign to block Measure B. We thank the FPPC for opening this investigation.”

Isn’t it amazing how the subject of Luxembourg as a porn center gets continuously erected in US news to the point of nation branding? The moral of the story however is: Luxembourg’s minor contribution to a minor local election puts its fingers on the huge inconsistency in US national elections, where Presidential and other candidates twist the rules in many fashions, so they can accept foreign (governmental) donations. It is broadly documented how national election campaigns accepted foreign millions without even the equivalent of a protection from undue foreign influence, that a condom provides from STDs.


As a condom is now mandatory in porn, thanks to Measure B, foreign political donations have to be disbanded. By the end of this investigation the presidential candidates can no longer accept foreign bribes, thanks to Luxembourg’s demonstration ad absurdum that if foreign money cannot defend the naked truth in porn, it shouldn’t elect Presidents either. The equivalency is astounding. Just saying.