Trump is seeking to direct Americans' retirement funds to a sector in which he and his family are heavily invested.
The House has passed the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill, sending it to Trump's desk where he will sign it. They've also passed the CLARITY Act crypto market structure bill and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, both of which still need to go to the Senate.
During the last act of Cabaret, I wanted to scream at the characters to leave Berlin because I know what disasters await them just years away. I don’t know if I’m being naïve or wise for thinking that what’s happening in our state now isn’t an early warning sign telling me and everyone I love to leave while we still can. I don’t know if staying is the ultimate act of defiance and joy in the face of people who wish to erase me and my friends and the beautiful life we are building.
It's no coincidence that the Fairshake crypto super PAC has timed its press release announcing they have $140 million ready for the midterms as Congress is considering three crypto bills during "Crypto Week". Pass our bills, or we will spend millions against you in the midterms.
This model of media capture has since become a case study in soft authoritarian control. Its blueprint rests on four pillars: the takeover of public media, the political capture of the media regulator, the deployment of state funds as leverage over editorial content, and the strategic acquisition of private outlets. This formula has been successfully exported—with variations—to other countries. ... Efforts to manipulate the media are nothing new; history is littered with regimes that sought to bend the press to their will. What distinguishes this modern form of capture, however, is the role of the private sector. Corporations reliant on government contracts or regulatory leniency buckled under pressure, buying up media outlets and turning them into mouthpieces of state propaganda. In the digital age, media capture is often coupled with digital authoritarianism, where governments and non-state actors collaborate to use technologies to conduct surveillance, restrict access to information, and distort the journalistic ecosystem with authoritarian-friendly outlets and campaigns of disinformation.
“I would just say that a lot of these guys are really feeling their feelings right now,” said one operative who advises big-money donors. “They are showing up late to this and are unaware of the expertise they don’t have, and they are not behaving rationally.”