Disgraced Crypto Mogul Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

“Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unraveled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency. Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted in November of fraud and conspiracy — a dramatic fall from a crest of success that included a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady, basketball star Stephen Curry and comedian Larry David. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan imposed the sentence in the same Manhattan courtroom where, four months ago, Bankman-Fried testified that his intention had been to revolutionize the emerging cryptocurrency market with his innovative and altruistic ideas, not to steal.” (03/28/24)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sam-bankman-sentenced-25-years-prison-crypto-fraud-1235862085/

Saving Julian Assange, Free Speech, and Democracy

Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard

“How much is a non-binding ‘assurance’ worth from people who probably want to see you dead? This is the linchpin question as a British court deliberates on the Biden administration’s latest conniving to bring Julian Assange to America for his legal destruction. Since Julian Assange was indicted in 2019 for 17 charges of violating the Espionage Act, the U.S. Justice Department has sought his extradition from Belmarsh, the supermax prison in Britain where he has spent almost five years. The fight against extradition is probably the last best chance for even a facade of due process for Assange. … None of the British or American officials recognized the supreme irony of the court decision. Assange and Wikileaks exposed deceptions and depredations by many governments around the world. Yet his legal fate depends on whether the British government chooses to trust the U.S. government—– regardless of the endless lies that Assange exposed.” (03/28/24)

https://jimbovard.com/blog/2024/03/28/saving-julian-assange-free-speech-and-democracy/

Russia protects North Korea in the UN with veto of resolution to investigate sanction violations

Source: CNN

“Russia on Thursday vetoed a United Nations resolution that would renew an independent panel of experts investigating North Korea’s violations of Security Council sanctions, at a time when Pyongyang has become a key supplier of munitions for Moscow’s war against Ukraine. In recent years, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a massive buildup in Pyongyang’s ballistic missile program, with dozens of tests in a year, including long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles that could in theory reach the United States mainland. International sanctions and UN investigations into North Korea’s illegal weapons program have previously been backed by Russia. But relations between Moscow and the West are at a historic low over the war unleashed on Ukraine. Facing increased international ostracism – and acute ammunition shortages – Russian President Vladimir Putin has grown more reliant on North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un.” (03/29/24)

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/29/asia/russia-veto-un-sanctions-north-korea-intl-hnk/index.html

If people lose their jobs to AI they’ll do … something else

Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall

“A certain error of logic here. We’re being told that we’ll not get richer from AI because AI will destroy jobs. But that’s the wrong way around. We’ll get richer from AI according to how many jobs AI destroys — the more destroyed the richer we shall collectively be. The aim and purpose of all technological advance is to destroy jobs, after all. … Sure, we agree, transitions can be difficult. But the end state of AI destroying 7.9 million jobs will be that we’re all richer by 7.9 million jobs. A very basic observation about humans is that desires are unlimited. So, if we have more human labour available to tackle more human desires then that’s good — more human desires can be sated by that more human labour.” (03/28/24)

https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/if-people-lose-their-jobs-to-ai-theyll-dosomething-else

Protesters interrupt Biden, Obama, Clinton at $25 million New York fundraiser

Source: Reuters

“President Joe Biden and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, headlined a star-studded fundraiser with former President Bill Clinton on Thursday, offering a robust defense of the White House’s handling of the Gaza crisis as protesters interrupted the event. Biden, who traveled with Obama on Air Force One to New York, took part in a discussion with Clinton moderated by ‘The Late Show’ host Stephen Colbert at the iconic Radio City Music Hall in front of thousands of guests. Organizers say the event raised more than $25 million for Biden’s U.S. reelection campaign. But the fundraiser was punctuated by several protests inside the massive auditorium, with attendees rising at several different moments to shout over the discussion, referencing Biden’s backing of Israel in the Hamas war that has killed more than 30,000 people in Gaza.” (03/29/24)

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/obama-bill-clinton-join-biden-raise-25-million-event-with-queen-latifah-lizzo-2024-03-28/

The True Faith

Source: The Dispatch
by Nick Catoggio

“I always assumed that if the American right were to embrace an authoritarian spouting Christian platitudes, that figure would labor to feign authenticity. He would teach himself to quote scripture by chapter and verse and provide all the right answers to questions about his relationship with God when asked. Evangelicals would be able to sniff out a phony, and would righteously despise him for his cynicism in trying to exploit their faith. So he’d need to present a convincing portrait of a follower of Jesus to earn their trust. That assumption was naive. Let’s talk about the ‘Trump Bible.’ The ‘Trump Bible’ isn’t actually a Trump Bible. It’s a Bible published by singer Lee Greenwood …. It is, however, officially now ‘the only Bible endorsed by President Trump!’ And yes, per the New York Times, Trump will be getting royalties from each purchase.” (03/27/24)

https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/boilingfrogs/the-true-faith/

Syria: More than 40 killed in Israeli air strike

Source: France 24 [French state media]

“An Israeli air strike on Syria’s Aleppo province on Friday killed at least 42 people, including 36 Syrian soldiers and six fighters in Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, according to a war monitor, which added that Hezbollah weapons depots were located in the area. … Contacted by news agencies, the Israeli military said it would ‘not comment on reports in the foreign media’ on the deadly air strikes near Aleppo.” (03/29/24)

https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240329-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-israeli-strike-kills-36-syrian-soldiers-near-aleppo

The Big Question About the UN Security Council’s Gaza Ceasefire Resolution

Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp

“Now that the UN Security Council has issued its demands, how are UN  member states, especially the US, going to enforce those demands? UN Security Council resolutions are binding on all UN member states. If this resolution means anything at all, the initial response SHOULD be for all UN member states to immediately declare and enforce a ban on the sale or delivery of arms to the belligerent parties. Yet White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby insisted at a press briefing that ‘we are still providing tools and capabilities, weapons systems so that Israel can defend itself …. no change by this nonbinding resolution on what Israel can or cannot do in terms of defending itself.'” (03/28/24)

https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/18457

MSNBC: One Man’s “Election Denier” Is Another’s TV Host

Source: Town Hall
by Larry Elder

“MSNBC, the ‘news’ outfit on which the Rev. Al Sharpton has a show, briefly hired former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, at $300,000 per year, to serve as an on-air pundit. Why did the rabidly anti-Trump, anti-Republican Sharpton make her the offer? MSNBC likely did so because 2024 is an election year; McDaniel was available, having been pressured into leaving her post by former President Donald Trump, the inside story of which MSNBC viewers would salivate over; her ouster from the RNC suggests bad blood between her and Trump and therefore, from MSNBC’s point of view, a welcome willingness for a high-profile Republican to dish some anti-Trump dirt; or because McDaniel could bring a different perspective to MSNBC’s lineup of hosts and guests who unanimously parrot the narrative that Trump is a ‘racist’ and ‘election denier’ who, on Jan. 6, 2021, committed ‘insurrection’.” [editor’s note: They hired Psaki, who had been lying for Biden for two years, so why not a token from the “other” war party wing? – SAT] (03/28/24)

https://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2024/03/28/msnbc-one-mans-election-denier-is-another-mans-tv-host-n2637061