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“Now, 20 years later, an anonymous FBI agent has come forward to say that there’s evidence about 9/11 implicating Saudi Arabia and the CIA that remains invisible to the public.”
UPDATED
LIKE MANY GREAT SPY STORIES, this one begins with a brief, mundane scene whose significance only becomes apparent later on. Around lunchtime on February 1, 2000, a man dropped a piece of paper near a table in a Middle Eastern restaurant outside Los Angeles and paused long enough to strike up a conversation with two Arabic-speaking men dining nearby. It would take FBI agents nearly 20 years to understand the full meaning of that small event.
HEALTH CARE
Change Healthcare confirms ransomware hackers stole medical records on a ‘substantial proportion’ of Americans
In a statement Thursday, Change Healthcare said it has begun the process of notifying affected individuals whose information was stolen during the cyberattack.
The health tech giant, owned by U.S. insurance conglomerate UnitedHealth Group, processes patient insurance and billing for thousands of hospitals, pharmacies and medical practices across the U.S. healthcare sector. As such, the company has access to massive amounts of health information on about a third of all Americans.
The cyberattack prompted the company to shut down its systems, resulting in outages and delays to thousands of healthcare providers who rely on Change, and affecting countless patients who could not obtain prescriptions or had medical care or procedures delayed.
From Mark Cuban @mcuban: Five Ways that Big #PBMs Hurt U.S. Healthcare–And How We Can Fix It (rerun)
A Drug Channels exclusive op-ed from the founder of @costplusdrugs
Feds can block Western water deal, Supreme Court says
The high court ruled to block a water agreement Texas and New Mexico made without the federal government’s blessing.
Walmart is replacing the price stickers with electronic shelf labels across 2,300 stores — which could be a precursor to surge pricing. One industry analyst says: “If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream.” “If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there’s something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst. As higher wages make labor more expensive, retailers big and small can benefit from the increased productivity that digitized shelf labels enable, said Santiago Gallino, a professor specializing in retail management at the
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Primary Email:sg******@wh*****.edu
Office Phone:215-573-0501
“The bottom line, at least when I talk to retailers, is the calculation of the
amount of labor that they’re going to save by incorporating this. And in that sense, I don’t think that this is something that only large corporations like Walmart or Target can benefit from,” Gallino said. “I think that smaller chains can also see the potential benefit of it.”
CONVICTED FELONS
Convicted felon fraudster rapist Trump’s dangerous attacks on rule of law have US historical precedents: Past politicians tried to undermine democracy. They failed because Americans refused to tolerate their wrongdoing.
American Oversight @weareoversight
In 2020, Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at turning the federal workforce into a bureaucracy of loyalists. Records we obtained, reported on by @HuffPost, show which OBM jobs Trump’s OPM had approved for reclassification.
Jesse Benton, Ru Ron Paul’s aide: “…was sentenced Friday to 1.5 years in prison for facilitating an illegal contribution from a Russian businessman to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.” GOP operative gets 1.5 years in prison for facilitating illegal Russian donation to Trump 2016 campaign | CNN Politics
SHITLER YOUTH: Convicted felon fraudster rapist Trump’s political movement introduces the youngest voters to its kind of cruel, cretinous camaraderie.
Human Mucinex blob Steve Bannon loses appeal to stay out of prison while fighting conviction for contempt of Congress.
The timidity and cowardice of Senator Dick Durbin could lead to the coronation of the first American king.
Michigan Republican state Rep. Neil Friske was arrested early Thursday morning after he reportedly,… chased a stripper down a street near his home with a gun at 2AM,… after a “disagreement”. He was also one of the rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6th. The only way this could get better is if the stripper is 1 – Trans, 2 – an undocumented person 3 – a Trans undocumented person. Right on brand for the Republicans.
Convicted felon fraudster rapist Trump’s dangerous attacks on rule of law have US historical precedents: Past politicians tried to undermine democracy. They failed because Americans refused to tolerate their wrongdoing https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/20/trump-threat-democracy-precedents
Supreme Court upholds a gun control law intended to protect domestic violence victims
TECHNOCRATS
The AI “leaders” are all soulless Technocrats who feel 0 remorse crushing our humanity in the name of “innovation”. Chilling
OpenAI’s Mira Murati: “some creative jobs maybe will go away, but maybe they shouldn’t have been there in the first place” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUoj9B8OpR8
Toddler trapped in car when Tesla battery dies in Scottsdale
https://www.azfamily.com/2024/06/20/toddler-trapped-car-when-tesla-battery-dies-scottsdale/
WEALTH TAX
Robert Reich@RBReich
One of the richest men in the 1920s was Andrew Mellon — an early prophet of trickle-down economics. Yesterday we learned that his grandson, Timothy Mellon, gave a Trump super PAC one of the largest political donations ever. This is how dynastic wealth works. Wealth tax now.
AT&T is attempting to bypass CPUC and abandon their landline obligations, via Assembly Bill AB 2797 in California
50% of Americans say they view fast food as a luxury because they’re struggling financially, per LendingTree. This is especially true among Americans who make less than $30,000 a year (71%), parents with young children (58%), Gen Zers (58%) and women (53%).
Founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, Michael Dell, is the majority shareholder owning 58.9% of the stock. $DELL is sitting on $6 billion in cash. Michael Dell is worth $113 BILLION and is tweeting about #Bitcoin. Probably nothing… Dell buying #Bitcoin. Is Mr Dell the new whale we have been watching accumulate Bitcoin since November 2023? Michael Dell is a billionaire with a net worth of approximately $112 billion as of May 16, 2024, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Michael Dell, 14th richest person in the world.
Your regular reminder that when Democrats saved the pensions of a million workers every single republican in Congress voted no and voted to tell truckers, autoworkers, and steelworkers to drop dead.
In the D.C. metro area, 90% of apartments in large buildings are priced using RealPage software.
That means an algorithm is setting prices as high as possible, even if vacancy rates soar. Washington’s AG is suing RealPage and 14 landlords over colluding to raise rents.
Investigation: Justin Sun’s empire may be on the verge of collapse
The Sun-owned cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex had previously stated that it would demonstrate a ‘proof-of-reserves’ before ostensibly breaking that promise.
HTX, formerly Huobi, the Sun-affiliated exchange, relies on both stUSDT and WBTC on Tron to maintain its reserves, both assets with problematic issues tied directly to Sun.
These problems together present a picture Of a man desperately flinging money around while hoping the ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit that alleges he engaged in market manipulation and wash-trading disappears.
Supply chain cyberattack on software provider CDK Global put the brakes on thousands of car dealerships that had to shut down Wednesday, a traditionally busy day for sales with the Juneteenth holiday.
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND
WATCH THIS ONE VIDEO ABOUT BITCOIN CAUSE YOU’LL NEVER HEAR IT EXPLAINED LIKE THIS IN ANY OTHER VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE.
<https://youtu.be/juqNIjbDidg>
▓▓▓—▓▓▓—▓▓▓—▓▓▓—▓▓▓—▓▓▓
Money is debt. The whole financial system is a ponzi
The World Economy Is A Pyramid Scheme, Steven Chu Says
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2019/04/05/the-world-economy-is-a-pyramid-scheme-steven-chu-says/
“It’s a great business to be in, Central Banking, where you print money and people believe it” – Adrian Orr, Governor Reserve Bank of NZ
https://x.com/stephanlivera/status/1757323627907666098
He says this while the state imposes legal tender laws, and myriad banking and AML laws. “Belief”? or coercion?
Melinda French Gates has endorsed President Biden’s re-election bid — marking the first time she’s ever endorsed a presidential candidate.
Your reminder that Neil Gorsuch tried to sell his $10.8M property for 2 years with no luck – but only 9 days after getting confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, he sold it to a lawyer with numerous cases before SCOTUS. Plus, he didn’t report it. Talk about stench on the bench.
Billionaire Tim Mellon donated another $50 million to Trump
Billionaire David Sacks hosted a Trump fundraiser
Billionaire Steve Schwarzman endorsed Trump
Billionaire Rupert Murdoch is smearing Biden
Billionaire parasites are FREAKING OUT over losing their Trump-era tax cuts
2023 Profits Above Pre-Pandemic Average:
⬆️444%: Amazon
⬆️325%: Marathon Petroleum
⬆️289%: Chevron
⬆️202%: Berkshire Hathaway
⬆️195%: Google
⬆️193%: Centene
⬆️190%: Microsoft
⬆️165%: Exxon Mobil
⬆️165%: Facebook
⬆️111%: Lowe’s
⬆️108%: UnitedHealth
We need a windfall profits tax.
NEWS: Sanders, Bowman, Markey
Introduce Legislation to Combat
Corporate Greed and Windfall Profits
WASHINGTON, June 21 — Amid record-breaking corporate profits and
unprecedented corporate greed, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced he will
introduce legislation that would impose a 95 percent windfall tax on the excessive
profits of large corporations that are using inflation as an excuse to charge the
American people outrageous prices on the products they sell. Had this legislation,
the Ending Corporate Greed Act, been in effect in 2023, it would have raised an
estimated S300 billion in one year from ten Of the largest corporations alone.
Your weekly reminder that since the insurrection, corporate interests have given $146.6 million benefitting the 147 members who voted not to certify the election results.
This week we’re spotlighting @Verizon, which has given $477,000 to benefit the Sedition Caucus.
By adding AI-generated answers to searches, Google may easily be consuming as much electricity as the ENTIRE COUNTRY of Ireland, per one industry researcher.
https://www.levernews.com/the-unknown-toll-of-the-ai-takeover/
The Unknown Toll Of The AI Takeover
As artificial intelligence guzzles water supplies and jacks up consumers’ electricity rates, why isn’t anyone tracking the resources being consumed?
https://www.levernews.com/the-unknown-toll-of-the-ai-takeover/
FUCK Tyler Winklevoss
@tyler
I just donated $1 million in bitcoin (15.47 BTC) to @realDonaldTrump and will be voting for him in November. Here’s why:
Over the past few years, the Biden Administration has openly declared war against crypto. It has weaponized multiple government agencies to bully, harass, and sue the good actors in our industry in an effort to destroy it. This Administration’s actions have been nothing short of an unprecedented abuse of power wielded entirely for twisted political gain at the complete expense of innovation, the American taxpayer, and the American economy. There is nothing the Biden Administration can do or say at this point to pretend otherwise.
Some of the lowlights include the following:
The weaponization of the banking system against crypto companies and their principals. Known colloquially as Operation Choke Point 2.0, this starts with the OCC (a federal agency that licenses and regulates national banks) and the FDIC (a federal agency that provides deposit insurance to banks) giving “guidance” and instructing banks behind closed doors not to bank crypto companies. Any bank that doesn’t follow orders is threatened.
The conversation goes something like this: “That’s a nice bank you got there. It sure would be a shame if something were to happen to it because you bank some crypto folks.” If this tactic is not enough to scare a bank into line, the examiners will be sent in to turn everything upside down. This will almost certainly lead to some “finding” — show me the bank and I’ll show you the crime — that results in a massive fine or new supervisory rules and conditions that cripple a bank’s ability to operate. The risk is simply too great. Banks can either choose not to bank crypto companies or have that choice made for them.
These agencies have God-mode over banks because they can yank their license or FDIC deposit insurance at any time citing “safety and soundness” concerns. That is why they can behave like characters out of the Godfather and intimidate banks into dropping any customer or customer segment they want. This behavior of de-banking entire industries that are completely legal, but ideologically out of favor, began during the Obama Administration, when President Joe Biden was Vice President. It was nicknamed Operation Choke Point 1.0 back then and is a well-documented stain on the Obama Presidency. The Biden Administration has dusted off the playbook and has been running it at full speed against the crypto industry.
The blast radius has extended beyond crypto companies to individuals who work at them. I personally have lost multiple bank accounts because I own crypto and my investment firm
@winklevosscap
has as well.
The weaponization of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against crypto. The Biden Administration’s SEC has not written a single rule for the crypto industry to help any of its participants understand how to navigate the regulatory landscape for this new asset paradigm. This is by design.
By not writing any new rules for crypto, the SEC can disingenuously say that the existing rules — based on a 1946 Supreme Court decision about a citrus grove in Florida, issued before most homes had a telephone and 50 years before the advent of the commercial Internet — are fit for purpose. They are not.
Here’s one example. If ether is a security, an open question up until 48 hours ago, then you would be breaking securities laws if you sent ether to a friend from your smartphone to their smartphone. Why? Because only a broker dealer is allowed to transfer a security. And it can only do so to another broker dealer. From this example alone, anyone can understand how classifying a crypto like ether as a security would gut its utility and destroy its ability to usher in a decentralized future. It’s like asking an automobile to behave like a horse. Yet that is the position the Biden SEC has taken towards almost every crypto. It does this not because it doesn’t understand the consequences, but because it does. These are exactly the consequences it wants. To kill crypto.
By taking the ridiculous position that almost every crypto is a security, the Biden SEC has given itself the plausibility and carte blanche to bring litigation against any crypto project and company in the United States. The game is simple. Make it impossible to comply, then sue everyone for not complying. And that’s exactly what the Biden SEC has done over and over again to good actors in the space. Instead of the SEC hashing out rules for crypto — something that could be done in a matter of days — rules will be written years from now by judges and juries who determine that the SEC acted in bad faith and was wrong all along. The time and economic waste will be tremendous. The damage will be done. But that’s the point.
The Biden Administration has polluted the mission and corrupted the integrity of these agencies. All of them are led by unelected bureaucrats appointed by President Biden to carry out his marching orders. The moral compass of these foot soldiers is political gain and their higher calling is political power. Congress never granted them the statutory authority to determine the fate of the crypto industry or any other legal industry in America and they are totally unqualified to act as the gatekeepers of economic life in our country. That is the role of the market.
And yet the crypto industry is not alone. The Biden Administration has consistently attacked American business across the board and villainized its greatest heroes. The crime is always success and the reward is always ridicule, fines, and even more red tape. But to be clear, the Biden Administration doesn’t hate success outright. Only the kind that lives outside of its control. Once it figures out how to confiscate or coerce it, the Biden Administration becomes quite enthusiastic about success, gleefully manipulating it or redistributing it in a transparent attempt to buy votes. Over a long enough time scale, it’s easy to see how these policies will lead to the destruction of our economy and our country.
Capitalism lifts people up. When allowed to flourish properly, it is the greatest generator of wealth and prosperity the world has ever known and it’s the only economic system that can achieve all of this peacefully, while upholding the freedom and dignity of every individual who participates. With certain conditions in place — like the ability for anyone to incorporate a company, open a bank account to accept customer payments, and operate in the open market without government interference — innovation and wealth creation will thrive unbounded. Remove any one of these building blocks and you will have an entirely different system with entirely different results. This is exactly what the Biden Administration has done to the crypto industry and many other industries in America. It has been dismantling our economic way of life and the system that made America the greatest country in the world. And it has done this solely for its own power, control, and political ambition.
Of all the capitalist experiments, America has been the greatest. I have seen and experienced this first hand many times.
@Gemini, a crypto platform I founded in 2014 with @cameron, went from an idea on a napkin to becoming a company that has employed thousands of people over the last decade and helped millions of customers gain access to crypto. I’ve had employees thank me in tears because their time at Gemini allowed them to buy a house for their family. I’ve had customers approach me on the street and thank me for building Gemini because it helped them achieve financial freedom and start their own business. It is these experiences that give me the greatest joy and provide meaning for everything we do at Gemini. The Biden Administration has tried to tear all of this down. I am not going to stand by idly and let them. I’m going to continue fighting for what I know to be so right.
LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIARS
President Donald J. Trump is the pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto, and pro-business choice. This is not even remotely open for debate. Anyone who tells you otherwise is severely misinformed, delusional, or not telling the truth. It’s time to take our country back. It’s time for the crypto army to send a message to Washington. That attacking us is political suicide. This is why I will be casting my vote for President Trump in November and I hope you will too. Onward!