Akin – by Emma Donoghue

Akin – by Emma Donoghue

November 22, 2019

Akin is the story of an 80 year old widower’s travels through the past and into the future. Noah Selvaggio has decided to celebrate his upcoming 80th birthday by taking a trip to his place of birth, Nice France. Noah’s wife, Joan, who had died nine years earlier, continues to talk to Noah. Noah and Joan were both scientists, although Joan had been significantly more renowned than Noah. Joan was Jewish and had kept her…

FINRA Isn’t Ready To Conduct Readiness Tests For Reg BI

November 13, 2019

This post is about Reg BI, but if you really want to learn about it, as opposed simply to listening to me gripe, I urge you to register for the webcast that my partners Heidi VonderHeide and Rob Betman will present on Wednesday, December 11, 2019, at 2:00 PM EST. It is just one of four financial services webcasts that Ulmer & Berne is hosting in December. As previously noted, they are free, and not only that,…

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – by Ocean Vuong

November 11, 2019

“I am thinking of beauty again, how some things are hunted because we have deemed them beautiful…To be gorgeous, you must first be seen, but to be seen allows you to be hunted.” On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a haunting letter from a son to his illiterate mother written in a dark, poetic stream of consciousness focused on death and cruelty. The writer, Little Dog, is 28 years old at the time he is…

Dog Bites Man: FINRA’s Proposed Amendments To Code Of Arbitration Procedure Put Customers’ Interests Ahead Of Members’

November 8, 2019

In December, Ulmer & Berne is hosting four financial services webcasts, the first of which I will be presenting along with my partner, Michael Gross: FINRA 2019: A Look Back, and Thoughts About What Lies Ahead (Wednesday, December 04, 2019, 2:00 PM EST). The others are The Anatomy of a Whistleblower Action: Procedure, Practice Pointers, and Avoiding Pitfalls (Thursday, December 05, 2019, 2:00 PM EST); Hot Topics in SEC Regulation and Enforcement (Wednesday, December 11,…

Where The Crawdads Sing – by Delia Owens

October 28, 2019

“Go as far as you can—way out yonder where the Crawdads sing…in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters.” Catherine Danielle Clark—“Kya”—the Marsh Girl—was 6 years old, when her mother walked out of the shack in the marsh, leaving her five children and abusive husband to fend for themselves. Slowly, each of the siblings walked away, leaving 6 year old Kya alone with her father. The shack had no plumbing and was…

PIABA’s Anti-Expungement Tirade Is Predictably Short On Facts

October 22, 2019

Here is how PIABA’s one-track mind operates: in a Report it just issued, PIABA laments the frequency with which registered reps are able to get customer complaints expunged from their records. The sole reason for this, PIABA concludes, is that the expungement process is broken, and/or is being gamed by brokers. It does not even enter the realm of possibility for PIABA that the real reason arbitrators are receptive to requests for expungement – arbitrators…

Celestial Bodies – by Jokha Alharthi

October 21, 2019

“Celestial Bodies” takes place in Oman and is a story of family life, love and change. The story revolves around three sisters, Mayya, Asma and Khawla, and their families past and future. Mayya is a seamstress, quiet and secretly in love with Ali bin Khallaf, when Abdallah, the son of Merchant Sulayman asks for her hand. The family accepts on her behalf and she is married. Mayya and Abdallah have three children together, London, Muhammed…

Inland – by Tea Obreht

October 10, 2019

Inland is the alternating stories of Lurie Mattie and Nora Lark and the ultimate intersection of those stories. Nora’s story takes place in 1893 in Amargo, Arizona Territory and Lurie’s story takes place throughout his life in a variety of places in the 1800s. Lurie has been on the run since he was six years old, initially with his father until his father’s death, at which point he is sold to a Mr. Saurelle as…

FINRA’s Secret Power To Control Information

October 9, 2019

In the past week, I ran across two discrete instances in which FINRA acts as a secret gatekeeper of sorts, exercising its own subjective judgment, without anyone knowing what, exactly, it is doing or why, employing unarticulated standards, and without providing any avenue for redress. And I find that really frightening. The first involves CRD, which, although it is nothing more than a database of information, is a weird place. Over the years, it seems…

FINRA’s Latest Statistical Snapshot Shows Continued Decimation Of Small BDs