Gil Durán

Quid pro quo Cryptocurrency companies are reaping the benefits of their contributions to Trump and other pro-crypto politicians. Company Benefit Contribution Justin Sun and Tron SEC enforcement case stayed pending resolution Criminal investigation possibly paused $100 million to purchase $TRUMP memecoins $75 million to purchase WLFI tokens from Trump-owned World Liberty Financial $37.7 million to purchase $TRUMP memecoins (via HTX) Listed USD1 for trading on HTX Cumberland DRW SEC enforcement case dismissed with prejudice $100 million investment into Trump-owned Trump Media & Technology Group $100,000 to crypto-focused super PACs Ripple SEC enforcement case stayed pending resolution Joint request to return $75 million of previous SEC fine to Ripple $73 million to crypto-focused super PACs $5 million to Trump inauguration fund Coinbase SEC enforcement case dismissed with prejudice Relaunched bitcoin borrowing program previously shut down after SEC warnings $75 million to crypto-focused super PACs $1 million to Senate super PACs $1 million to Trump inauguration fund Sponsored Trump birthday military parade Andreessen Horowitz Four Andreessen Horowitz employees installed in formal or informal positions of influence at the White House $70 million to crypto-focused super PACs $5.35 million to Trump super PACs

Crypto.com SEC investigation ended with no action $10 million to Trump PACs Business partnership with Trump-owned Trump Media & Technology Group Gemini SEC enforcement case stayed pending reslution SEC investigation ended with no action $4.9 million to crypto-focused super PACs $2.6 million to Trump super PACs Kraken SEC enforcement case dismissed with prejudice Relaunched staking services which were shut down as part of a February 2023 SEC settlement $1 million to Trump super PACs $1 million to Trump inauguration fund $1 million to crypto-focused super PACs Circle SEC approved IPO Favorable stablecoin regulation $1 million to Trump inauguration fund $1 million to crypto-focused super PACs Robinhood SEC investigation ended with no action $2 million to Trump inauguration fund ConsenSys SEC enforcement case dismissed with prejudice $800,000 to crypto-focused super PACs Binance SEC enforcement case dismissed with prejudice Reported talks with US Treasury Department to remove compliance monitor Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao seeking pardon Listed USD1 for trading $2 billion investment from MGX denominated in USD1 Reported Trump family talks to acquire stake in Binance US

I've been tracking the quid pro quo between Trump and the cryptocurrency industry at www.followthecrypto.org/quidproquo

The article only mentions Crypto​.com's $10 million contribution to Trump's super PAC, but doesn't mention that after Trump took office, the SEC dropped their lawsuit against the company. His Truth Social company is now partnering with them to sell crypto ETFs.

When the cryptocurrency entrepreneur Eric Schiermeyer heard that President Trump was holding small group dinners with major donors, he saw opportunity. Mr. Schiermeyer reached out to a lobbyist with connections in Mr. Trump’s orbit, who arranged for him to attend a dinner with the president at his private Mar-a-Lago club on March 1 in exchange for donations to a pro-Trump PAC called MAGA Inc. totaling $1 million. The personal and corporate donations were among dozens of seven- and eight-figure contributions to MAGA Inc. from crypto and other interests revealed in a campaign finance filing on Thursday night that hinted at the access Mr. Trump accords those willing to pay. At the dinner, Mr. Schiermeyer, who had never given a federal political donation before, presented an idea for a cryptocurrency called “U.S.A. Token” that would be distributed to every citizen, according to interviews and a flier he distributed to attendees that sets out details of the proposal. He hoped it could be su

Cryptocurrency interests, which have benefited from the Trump administration’s dismantling of a yearslong government crackdown and from the Trump family’s financial interest in the industry, appear to have been the most generous industry, accounting for nearly $45 million in donations to MAGA Inc.An affiliate of the exchange Crypto.com gave $10 million, while the crypto services company Blockchain.com donated $5 million. The venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who are heavily invested in crypto, gave $3 million each. Ondo Finance, which has a partnership with the Trump family’s crypto company, donated $2.1 million to MAGA Inc., on top of $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

The scale of Trump's pay-for-access scheme outlined by the @nytimes.com is mindblowing. Crypto contributions resulting in business deals with the Trump family crypto businesses, oil companies buying influence and later reaping benefits from friendly policies, and a $1 million pardon.

Tech Billionaires Accused of Quietly Working to Implement "Corporate Dictatorship" A consortium of the world's most powerful moguls are plotting to rule the world by oligopoly, according to tech industry analyst Gil Duran.

Welcome to the "Nerd Reich."

JewBelong.org billboard: “Protesting Israel but silent on Myanmar? Makes you wonder why.”

Whataboutism: Genocide Edition.

Amazingly, this billboard admits that Israel is engaged in genocide. It does this by equating Israel’s actions with Myanmar’s genocide of the Muslim Royhinga people.

Tech investor Marc Andreessen’s VC firm, a16z, backs the “Solano Foundry” project in CA. Andreessen also backs the “Network State” movement, which seeks to build new cities w/ the goal of helping them amass enough power that they can become countries. How do we know they won’t try that here? 1/

Perhaps she should cut straight to the chase:

"If you're reading this billboard we think you're an anti-semite. Probably."

I guess she is unfamiliar with the concept of "Don't get high on your own supply."

Radicals! Like those guys who threw a tea party in Boston harbor.

Also, Myanmar is a pariah country with no free press.
There are journalists in Palestine—despite the fact that Israel has killed hundreds of them.

Yeah, it used to be cute little jibes about how God doesn't care if you eat bacon, etc.

There is no excuse for genocide. Ever.

It's truly an amazing self-own.

All genocides are bad.

If Americans seem more concerned about Israel's genocide, that's because Israel is a US ally that receives billions in US military aid. So, their genocide is also our genocide.

JewBelong.org billboard: “Protesting Israel but silent on Myanmar? Makes you wonder why.”

Whataboutism: Genocide Edition.

Amazingly, this billboard admits that Israel is engaged in genocide. It does this by equating Israel’s actions with Myanmar’s genocide of the Muslim Royhinga people.

Those mechanics can go into a sentence in the body of an email. The topline message has to be simple -- or might as well stick with "endangerment finding." Toplines must communicate direct causation since, as we know, systemic causation is a dead end.

The family of Virginia Giuffre responds to the Maxwell prison move: "President Trump has sent a clear message today: Pedophiles deserve preferential treatment and their victims do not matter."

#climate folks. Let’s say they are repealing the DANGER finding. They claim pollution is no DANGER to you. This activates the mental frame we want — “there IS DANGER.” The word “endangerment” doesn’t do that and is complex. What do you think?

I think "repealing" a "danger finding" is also a bit too abstract and bureaucratic.

"Covering up the danger" or "lying about the danger" are more direct.

yes?

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”
― Hannah Arendt

Yes, it is quite a polite way to treat a man who openly uses the N-word as often as possible.

Palantir Is Extending Its Reach Even Further Into Government Palantir has become one of the few winners in the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts, offering other contractors a lifeline while consolidating its own reach and power.

President Donald Trump’s administration has dramatically expanded its work with Palantir, elevating the company cofounded by Trump ally Peter Thiel as the government’s go-to software developer.

(via @makenakelly.bsky.social at @wired.com)

www.wired.com/story/palant...

Threats to the Fed go beyond firing Powell Curtis Yarvin’s ideas are going ever more mainstream in Trump’s Washington — and investors should be worried

on.ft.com/4mgkvWA Threats to the Fed go beyond firing Powell

From Financial Times Gillian Tett: “A couple of weeks ago I swapped ideas about the Federal Reserve with Curtis Yarvin — the self-styled “populist authoritarian” blogger who recently gave political advice to Elon Musk. His thoughts might make Fed-watchers blanch. The issue is not just with President Donald Trump’s ever-escalating threats to fire Fed chair Jay Powell; Yarvin also wants Trump to smash the Fed’s independence by putting it under the sway of the Treasury, so it can restructure America’s $37tn debt and “unplug” its finance from the rest of the world. “My audacious plan is to merge the Fed and Treasury and revalue assets,” he explained. “It is very incorrect to regard Treasury obligations as debt — they are restricted stock.” Is this mad? Most economists will howl “yes”. So might the markets: when Trump indicated this week that he may fire Powell, the price of the dollar and Treasuries gyrated. Not even Yarvin expects his ideas to fly soon. However, he also insists that if debt keeps surging “this will [eventually] look less ridiculous”. And while many will vehemently disagree, it would be a profound mistake to ignore him. After all, Musk is not Yarvin’s only fan; figures such as Vice-President JD Vance have cited his ideas approvingly, and many mid-level Trump officials follow his blogs.”

I missed this July 17 column in which Gillian Tett of the Financial Times casually banters with Curtis Yarvin about destroying the Federal Reserve.

What a long way we’ve come since last summer, when establishment press wouldn’t touch this stuff. And now…

A CNN investigation found Elon Musk's Tesla owes dozens of small businesses millions of dollars in unpaid bills. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.

Read the full story: cnn.it/478ZOYm

“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” — Hannah Arendt

Records show the Tesla chief executive was the single largest donor to committees supporting Republicans in congressional races. https://on.ft.com/4lZhNoW

Curtis Yarvin Just Can’t Stop Using This Racist Word His slurs are public. His ideas are toxic. But to men like JD Vance, Yarvin is still worth following.

“Yarvin's compulsive racism isn't a bug in the system—it’s a feature. He wraps white supremacist ideas in faux-intellectual packaging, playing a jester who says what powerful white men won’t say out loud. But their support for him is an unmistakable endorsement of the hate he spreads” @gilduran.com

Curtis Yarvin Just Can’t Stop Using This Racist Word His slurs are public. His ideas are toxic. But to men like JD Vance, Yarvin is still worth following.

Curtis Yarvin keeps being extremely racist in public—and Vice President JD Vance keeps following him.

Hmm, why is that?

www.thenerdreich.com/curtis-yarvi...