If you need any explanation as to why the Democratic Party is held in such low regard, it’s because we have a lunatic president doing utterly bonkers things every day and, other than Newsom and Pritzker, virtually nobody is setting off alarm bells. I know I’m speaking to the converted, but still.
Corruption Continues Unabated. Trump’s latest pardon:
Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has been pardoned by US President Donald Trump.
The pardon reignited debate over the White House embrace of cryptocurrency as the Trump family’s own investments in the industry have deepened.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Zhao’s prosecution under the Biden administration part of a “war on cryptocurrency”, pushing back on critics who said the pardon appeared motivated by Trump’s personal financial interests.
“This was an overly prosecuted case by the Biden administration,” she said, adding that the case had been “thoroughly reviewed”. “So the president wants to correct this overreach of the Biden administration’s misjustice and he exercised his constitutional authority to do so.”
Before the pardon, Zhao’s companies had partnered with firms linked to Trump on new digital-currency projects including Dominari Holdings, where his sons sit on the board of advisers and which is based in Trump Tower.
The Wall Street Journal also previously reported representatives of the Trump family – which has its own crypto firm World Liberty Financial – had recently held talks with Binance.
The Trump administration previously halted a fraud case against crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, after his investments in the Trump family’s crypto firm, World Liberty Financial.
He has also pardoned founders of the crypto exchange BitMex, who also faced charges related to money laundering, and Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road, the dark web marketplace known as a place for drug trade.
The Corporations’ House. Here are the donors to Trump’s Ballroom.
Trump Cancels SF Invasion Because Friends Told Him Not To:
The Bay Area region had been on edge after reports emerged on Wednesday that the Trump administration was poised to send more than 100 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal agents to the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, a city in the East Bay, as part of a large-scale immigration-enforcement plan. By early Thursday morning, hundreds of protesters had gathered outside the Coast Guard base, holding signs with slogans such as “No ICE or Troops in the Bay!”.
But just hours later, the president said he would not move forward with a “surge” of federal forces in the area after speaking with the mayor, Daniel Lurie, and Silicon Valley leaders including Marc Benioff, the Salesforce CEO who recently apologized for saying Trump should send national guard troops, and Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia.
Quite the decision-making process there.
Donald Trump has announced an immediate end to “all trade negotiations” with Canada over a television advertisement opposing US tariffs that quoted the former US president Ronald Reagan.
The ad, which was paid for by the government of the Canadian province of Ontario, uses excerpts of a 1987 speech where Reagan says “trade barriers hurt every American worker”.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Canada had “fraudulently used an advertisment[sic]”, which he called “FAKE”, and accused the country of trying to interfere with US court decisions on the levies. “Based on their egregious behavior, all trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated,” he wrote.
Until next week, when he’ll change what’s left of his mind.
Delaware Leaders Face Budget Shortfall:
Delaware is facing a $400 million budget shortfall over the next three years due to federal funding cuts from the massive tax bill Republicans in Congress passed earlier this year.
State House and Senate Democrats say they plan to pass legislation to change Delaware tax code so it no longer mirrors federal law allowing tax breaks for corporations, which includes large retroactive deductions.
Gov. Matt Meyer said in a statement that he plans to work with legislators in a bipartisan manner on “a simple, responsible fix that protects the state’s budget and keeps Delaware competitive.”
Well, that’s a start…
Students Call On UD To Protect International Students.
Several dozen students marched to the University of Delaware’s Office of the President on Thursday, demanding protection for international students and actions to shield the school from federal immigration enforcement on campus.
UD’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter garnered more than 400 signatures in support of protecting the school’s international students for a petition they left on interim UD President Laura Carlson’s doorstep in Newark. During the demonstration, students underscored what they said was inaction by university leadership since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revoked and later restored the visas of eight international UD students in April.
Students called upon the university to take steps to become a “sanctuary campus” by not sharing student information with federal immigration agents and to ensure that deportations do not happen on school grounds.
Scarlett asked that UD’s police department publicly acknowledge its compliance with the recent state law that bars law enforcement agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It’s not the first time these demands have been made. Advocates previously urged then-UD President Dennis Assanis to declare the school a “sanctuary campus,” after President Donald Trump was first elected in 2016.
While there is no definitive definition of a “sanctuary campus,” it generally refers to a university that will not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and, or, refuses to share student information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
What do you want to talk about?