#RyanSelkis, a #cryptocurrency exec, was eating dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month when he got an unexpected invitation: #Trump wanted him to come to the stage & say a few words.
#Selkis, who runs the crypto data firm #Messari, was at an event for Trump’s #NFTs.
“There’s 50 million crypto holders in the US. That’s a lot of voters,” Selkis declared.
…voters’ supposed passion for #crypto may be less important than the industry’s #campaign#WarChest. #Ripple, #Coinbase & the VC firm #AndreessenHorowitz have each donated ~$50M to the crypto #PACs, which plan to spend those funds in several competitive #Senate races. In March, the largest #PAC, #Fairshake, spent ~$10M on attack ads against Rep #KatiePorter, a Dem candidate in the Cali Senate primary who was allied w/ Senator #ElizabethWarren, a longtime crypto critic. Porter lost her race.
The vote on the #RightToContraceptionAct was 51-39, falling short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a #filibuster & move forward. Republicans said the bill is unnecessary as the use of #BirthControl is protected under #SCOTUS precedent as if [#SupremeCourt precedent means anything anymore].
#Republicans Lisa #Murkowski of Alaska & #SusanCollins of Maine voted w/ #Democrats in support of the bill. #Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, switched his vote to “no” for procedural reasons so he could bring up the bill again at a later date.
One of the weirdest aspect of #EndStageCapitalism is the collapse of #auditing, the lynchpin of investing. Auditors - independent professionals who sign off on a company's finances - are the only way that investors can be sure they're not handing their money over to failing businesses run by crooks.
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He slashed the agency's budget, "weakened inspection requirements and auditor independence policies, and disregarded obligations to hold Board meetings and publicize its agenda."
All that ended in 2021, when #SEC chair #GaryGensler fired Duhnke and replaced him with #EricaWilliams, at the insistence of #BernieSanders and #ElizabethWarren. Within a year, Williams had issued 42 enforcement actions, the largest number since 2017, with over $11m in fines: