McArtor’s_Market

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I have two stacks on my desk. The left stack is financial disclosure forms from members of Congress. The right stack is waivers for members who filed their financial disclosures late.

The right stack is always taller.

On Wednesday morning, I watched a soldier get arrested on CNN.

I am a Disclosure Analyst for the House Ethics Committee. I have held this position for eleven years. My job is to receive the forms, verify their completeness, and file them. I do not investigate. I do not flag. I do not refer. I file. I have a lanyard. The lanyard says ETHICS.

The soldier's name is Gannon Ken Van Dyke. He is thirty-eight years old. He was stationed at Fort Bragg. He was Special Forces. In December, he created an account on a prediction market called Polymarket. On January 2nd, he bet $32,500 that the president of Venezuela would be removed from power. On January 3rd, he helped remove the president of Venezuela from power. He collected $409,881.

He has been charged with five federal crimes. Commodities fraud. Wire fraud. Unlawful use of confidential government information. Theft of nonpublic government information. Unlawful monetary transaction. The Department of Justice called it "the first-ever insider trading prosecution on event contracts."

I watched this on the television in our break room. Then I walked back to my desk and processed a late financial disclosure from a member of the House Financial Services Committee who purchased $250,000 in bank stocks eleven days before his subcommittee held a closed-door hearing on proposed capital reserve changes.

The filing was forty-seven days late. The STOCK Act requires disclosure within forty-five days. The penalty for late filing is $200.

I waived it.

I waive most of them. In 2021, fifty-four members of Congress and senior staff violated the reporting rules. The fines were minimal. Most were waived. I have a form for the waiver. The form has a box that says "Reason." I write "administrative delay." In ethics, "administrative delay" means the member's office forgot and then remembered when a reporter called. My approval rate is one hundred percent. In any other field, that number would trigger an audit. In mine, it is called thoroughness.

Let me show you what I processed this year.

January. A senator on the Armed Services Committee sold defense contractor shares worth $1.2 million. Three days later, his committee received a classified briefing that the Iran campaign had exceeded its projected cost by 340%. The stock dropped 8%. He filed the disclosure sixty-one days late. I calculated the fine. $200. His chief of staff asked if it could be waived. He did not ask what the senator traded on. Nobody asks that. The form does not have a field for it. I waived the fine. The senator's portfolio returned 23.4% in 2025. The S&P 500 returned 16.8%.

February. A representative on the Energy and Commerce Committee bought pharmaceutical stocks worth $400,000. Two weeks later, her committee advanced a bill that would extend patent exclusivity for the exact drug class she purchased. The stocks rose 14%. She filed on time. There was no fine. There was no investigation. There was nothing to investigate because buying stocks in companies regulated by your own committee is not illegal. It is legal. The STOCK Act made it legal by making it disclosed. In Congress, disclosed means legal. In my office, legal means filed.

March. A member whose spouse manages a portfolio worth $9.2 million reported forty-three separate transactions in a single quarter. Twelve of them were in sectors directly affected by legislation the member co-sponsored. The timing on eight of those twelve was within a two-week window of committee action. I logged all forty-three. None were flagged. We do not flag. We file.

I asked my supervisor once what would happen if I flagged a filing. She said we do not have a form for that. I never asked again.

In 2020, I processed 847 disclosures. In 2023, 1,211. In 2025, 1,614. The number of enforcement actions in each of those years was zero. The numerator changes. The denominator does not.

I want to tell you about the soldier again.

He made $409,881. He tried to delete his Polymarket account by calling customer service and saying he lost access to his email. He moved his profits into a foreign cryptocurrency vault and then into a new brokerage account. He used his real identity. He placed thirteen bets. Every single one was connected to an operation he personally participated in.

In my eleven years, I have processed disclosures from members of Congress who traded on:

Pending FDA approvals they learned about in committee.
Defense appropriations they voted on.
Trade policy they negotiated.
Pandemic response measures they drafted.
Interest rate decisions they were briefed on before the public.

None of them have been charged. None of them have been investigated by the Department of Justice. None of them have been referred to the SEC. The STOCK Act has produced zero prosecutions since it was signed on April 4th, 2012.

Fourteen years. Five hundred and thirty-five members. $635 million in trades last year alone. Zero cases.

My daughter asked me once what happens when someone breaks the rules. I told her we write it down. She asked what happens after that. I said it depends. She was nine. She is twenty now. It does not depend. Nothing happens after that.

The soldier made $409,881 and faces decades in prison. Nancy Pelosi entered Congress in 1987 with a portfolio worth approximately $785,000. It is now worth $133.7 million. That is a return of 16,930%. The Dow Jones returned 2,300% over the same period. Professional fund managers who beat the market for three consecutive years are considered exceptional. She has beaten it for thirty-seven. If a hedge fund produced those returns, the SEC would subpoena the records on a Thursday. She produced them from a building with a chapel and a gift shop.

She announced her retirement last year. No investigation was opened. No disclosure was flagged. Her filings were on time. In my office, on time means compliant. Compliant means closed.

I want to tell you about the fine.

$200. That is the maximum penalty for violating the STOCK Act's disclosure requirements. $200 for a member of Congress whose portfolio gained $4.7 million in a single quarter. I calculated what $200 represents as a percentage of $4.7 million. It is 0.004%. I could not find a comparison that made it meaningful. It is less than the price of the parking pass in the Rayburn garage. It is less than lunch at the members' dining room if you order the crab cakes, which I am told are excellent though I eat at my desk.

Since 2012, thirty-one bills have been introduced to restrict congressional trading. I keep a list. The list is longer than the STOCK Act itself.

On March 5th, 2026, a representative from Michigan introduced the thirty-second. He called it the "No Getting Rich in Congress Act." The bill would prohibit the President, Vice President, members of Congress, and their spouses from trading individual stocks, cryptocurrency, futures, and commodities while in office.

The bill was referred to committee. The committee has not scheduled a hearing. The committee is chaired by a member whose spouse executed $2.1 million in trades last year.

The bill will be reviewed. In my office, reviewed means read. Read means acknowledged. Acknowledged means a status has been assigned. A status is the absence of an action that has been given a name so it looks like one.

The soldier used classified information to make $409,881 on a prediction market. He has been charged with five federal crimes. The Department of Justice announced the case on the same day I processed three disclosures from members who traded on committee knowledge worth a combined $3.8 million.

The difference between the soldier and the members is not what they did. It is the building they did it in. He did it from Fort Bragg. They did it from the Capitol. He used a prediction market. They used the New York Stock Exchange. He bet on a military operation. They bet on the legislation they write.

He did not write the law. They did. They wrote the STOCK Act. Then they funded its enforcement at zero dollars. Then they set its maximum penalty at $200. Then they gave my office the authority to waive it. Then they traded $635 million.

The soldier flew to Caracas. He breached a compound. He put his body between a mission and a bullet. The people who ordered the operation were in a building with a credenza and sparkling water. They did not go to Caracas. They went to their brokerage accounts. The soldier made $409,881 and is now in federal custody. The people who knew what he was going to do before he did it made more and filed less. His prosecution is not a failure of the system. It is the system. One conviction per decade, at the lowest level, so the briefing slides can say enforcement exists. The $409,881 is not the crime. It is the cost of making $635 million look supervised.

In my field, we call this self-regulation.

The soldier's Polymarket account has been frozen. His military career is over. He will spend years in federal prison. My office will process every congressional disclosure filed this year. Every trade logged. Every $200 fine calculated and waived. The system is immaculate.

Fourteen years. Zero prosecutions. $635 million a year. A 16,930% return.

I have not leaked a document. I have not filed a complaint. I have not deviated from the process one single time. The process was written by the people whose forms I process.

As long as the disclosures go up and the cases don't, my performance review says I am meeting expectations.

My lanyard still says ETHICS. In eleven years, nobody has asked me to define the word.

[z @ZakMarcinNBA]

I had to put this all in one video to make it even clearer — The NBA has an OKC Thunder problem.

The fans know it, broadcasters know it. THEY know they’re favored. When EVERYONE complains about ONE team, it’s serious. It’s not just SGA, he’s just the head of the snake.

I’m not a “blame the refs” type, never have been. I actually hate when players focus too much on that. But this just makes for an unbearable product.

The Thunder are EXTREMELY good. They don’t need extra help. They don’t need to be rewarded for their antics. A lot of it is an affront to the game. The physicality they play with needs to be allowed both ways or not at all.

This is all from one game, but it’s every night against them. It looks and feels blatant. This isn’t basketball. The NBA needs to fix this.

[A Gene Robinson @AlBuffalo2nite]

California Dems just passed the ‘Stop Nick Shirley Act’ - literally named after the journalist exposing billions in immigrant-services fraud.

Mia Bonta’s bill lets them sue anyone posting videos that ‘harass’ their grift.

Same party in Minnesota has blocked an independent fraud investigator for over a year - even after the Senate passed it 60-7.

Democrats don’t want accountability.

They want the fraud machine protected while your tax dollars disappear.

This is calculated, quiet corruption. They rewrote the rules to stay in the dark.

Wake up.

#AStoneGroove

[McArtor’s_Market @MacShark69]

@RetroCardSnaps I got to the Bo and was skeptical. Then I scrolled to the Ryan and thought “no way”…then remembered the date…lol

[TheFoxesSay @TheFoxesSay]

@EnochBurke This is so upsetting.

[Reverend Jordan Wells @WellsJorda89710]

🚨Double standard in the NBA exposed:🚨

Steve Kerr can accuse the Trump administration of "murder" and call out the government for lying — no problem.
Doc Rivers can rip the president and ICE as a "travesty" and a bad example for kids — totally fine.

But let a player like Jaden Ivey speak his Christian faith, call out Pride Month as celebrating unrighteousness, or question certain "religions" that don't lead to salvation in Christ... and the Chicago Bulls waive him for "conduct detrimental to the team."

One side gets a megaphone to attack the President daily.
The other gets fired for offending the wrong group.

The NBA (and Chicago Bulls) make it crystal clear: attacking conservatives and Christians is protected speech. Biblical truth is a career-ender.

I stand with Jaden Ivey.
Faith over fear. Truth over tolerance theater.

Who else sees the hypocrisy? 🔥 #StandWithIvey #NBAHypocrisy #ChristianAthlete

[Taya Bass @travelingflying]

Black man: ”White liberals treat Black people as if we're less than. They treat Black people like we're incapable of succeeding without them. Like, we need a hand up.

Meanwhile, when I go around White MAGA, they treat me as if I'm equal. They're treating me like a regular human being.

White liberals are the ones where I received the most hate and racism from, because they tell me that White conservatives are all racist. They told me that White MAGA hate me.

Meanwhile, it's the White liberals that are actually insulting. They say you're incapable of succeeding. They keep reminding me of Jim Crow and slavery. The White conservatives don't talk about this stuff. We just chill out and have a beer.”

[McArtor’s_Market @MacShark69]

@StefanCaray @Cardinals Cards continue to find ways to occasionally win despite Marmol’s continued mismanagement of the bullpen. Certainly there’s someone he can lean on until he can do it himself, right?

[HeroOfTheDay @Hero_OfThe_Day]

LeBron James last night fell to the ground writhing in pain, replay showed that he hit nothing of significance despite him grabbing both arms, and screaming as if he’d been hit by a car. He then exits the game.

Lakers go on a run, as they show a trainer working on his left arm. They cut the lead to 1, and LeBron suddenly gets worried that the Lakers look better without him, so he stops faking to reenter the game with a couple minutes left.

Lakers momentum is instantly zapped, and the team doesn’t score another basket until there’s 7 seconds left in the game. After the game he said that he “hit his funny bone”.

LeBron James isn’t a Top 10 NBA player— NEVER put his name in a sentence with Michael Jordan.

(Video via @famouslos32)

[Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh]

🚨 HOLY CRAP! This man just dropped straight TRUTH!

"Is it me, or is the whole voter ID conversation f**king stupid?!"

"Schumer said that voter ID is Jim Crow 2.0. So he's suggesting that it's racist. Why do black people keep ALLOWING them to suggest that you're too DUMB and too poor and too incapable and too g*dd*mn stupid to go down to your local DMV and get an ID or a driver's license?!"

"So if voter ID is racist, then asking for ID at the bank has to be racist also, because you need an ID to open a bank account."

"If we're just being real, the reason that Democrats don't want ID is because they want illegal aliens to vote in our elections!"

"That's why they opened the border. That's why they don't want them to leave the country. And that's why they don't want anybody having to present ID when they go into the voting booth."

"You need an ID to enroll your children in school and daycare. You need an ID when you get a new job. Employers ask for ID from new hires. You need an ID to sign up for welfare."

"You need an ID to get on a plane. You need an ID to walk inside of a federal building. And it's a million other things that there are ID requirements for."

"Why is it that voting is the only thing? This is the only argument that they can make is that voter ID is racist."

"That's how you know it's bullsh*t. If ID is racist, then get rid of ID across the board then!"

"So if the goal is to secure our elections, right? One of the most basic, most common sense steps that you can take is to require ID when you go to vote. It's really that simple."

"And if you are an adult just walking around living life with no ID and have no ability to obtain one, you probably don't need to be voting anyway!"

🫳🎤

TT panamanian_ricky

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Wow

[McArtor’s_Market @MacShark69]

@Roger774501171 Waino!

[McArtor’s_Market @MacShark69]

@Arden_2210 36

[McArtor’s_Market @MacShark69]

@MLBRIVALSUS #HappyNewYear

[McArtor’s_Market @MacShark69]

@MLBRIVALSUS #Goodbye2025

[McArtor’s_Market @MacShark69]

@MLBRIVALSUS Happy Thanksgiving!

[McArtor’s_Market @MacShark69]

@DarrellBozak04 Al Oliver? He, Hrabosky, and Campaneris were at the 1975 all-star game…

[McArtor’s_Market @MacShark69]

@DarrellBozak04 Bert Campaneris

[Card Purchaser @CardPurchaser]

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