Crypto conman Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty on all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. The evidence was overwhelming and the three former executives who worked side by side with him testified against him.

Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, said SBF directed them to commit crimes, including the looting of FTX and lying to lenders and investors about the companies’ finances.

NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters) – FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on Thursday of defrauding customers of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange in one of the biggest financial frauds on record, a verdict that cemented the 31-year-old former billionaire’s fall from grace.

A 12-member jury in Manhattan federal court convicted him on all seven counts he faced after a monthlong trial in which prosecutors made the case that he stole $8 billion from the exchange’s customers out of sheer greed. The verdict came just shy of one year after FTX filed for bankruptcy in a swift corporate meltdown that shocked financial markets and erased his estimated $26 billion personal fortune.

The jury reached the verdict after just over four hours of deliberations. Bankman-Fried stood and clasped his hands together as the verdict was read.

Bankman-Fried had pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy.

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If it was a Democrat sponsored bill, the media would be highlighting the bipartisan nature of the vote.  However, because it is a Republican sponsored bill, the media immediately say the stand alone measure to support Israel is dead upon arrival in the Senate.

Joe Biden has said he will veto the House version of the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will not entertain the bill due to the pay-go funding mechanism (removal of $14.3 billion in IRS funding) and the fact it is not a package bill that includes support for Ukraine.   Biden wants his $106 billion bill with funds for Israel, Ukraine, Hamas (via USAID), Taiwan and support for arriving migrants.  Chuck Schumer is working with Mitch McConnell to put the combined package together.

Twelve Democrats supported the $14.3 billion House bill, and two Republicans voted against it (MTGreene and Massie). The vote was 226-196 for passage.

WASHINGTON – […] While aid to Israel is something both parties strongly agree with, Democratic support for the legislation broke down after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) added a provision in the bill that would cut $14.3 billion in funding from the Internal Revenue Service to offset the cost of the aid to Israel — prompting Democratic leaders to encourage party members to vote against it.

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The guy gets more pathetic with every poll that shows him shrinking.  The latest strategy to garner Republican support is for the Florida governor to appear on MSNBC “Morning Joe” to participate in the orange man bad conversation.

The devolution of DeSantis is actually quite funny; it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of visible desperation.  We all knew this was going to happen, but it’s still pathetic to watch it play out in real time.  In the big picture, the arc of this collapsing narrative was very predictable, because Ron DeSantis winning the 2024 GOP nomination is not the goal of the people who funded and talked him into this mission.  The real goal is to stop Trump, and that brings forth all of the silly desperation as Trump keeps dominating.

As Ron DeSantis brags on his electability, MSNBC runs graphics showing how badly his campaign is doing.  Too funny.  Additionally, Ron DeSantis now pushes the narrative that Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election and took nuclear secrets to his home in Mar-a-Lago.  WATCH:

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Longer excerpt below.

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Several people have pointed out this conversation between Joe Rogan and Twitter owner Elon Musk.   There are a couple of interesting aspects to the conversation; one of the more interesting is not generally being noticed.

The primary point, raised by many, is how Elon Musk discusses the scale and scope of U.S. government involvement in the operation of Twitter as an information and discussion platform.  Almost all of those making this note are unfamiliar with our multi-year research and outlines long before Elon Musk entered the picture.

As affirmed during the conversation, the FBI and various government agencies, under the auspices of the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS), were in a direct relationship with Twitter offices to control information on the platform.  This is not a surprise to CTH readers.  The instructions on content removal, content moderation, and demands to remove accounts, were part of the DHS broader initiative to control information.  This part of the discussion begins at 05:46, prompted. WATCH:

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While the govt involvement in the operation of Twitter is interesting, readers here will not be surprised.  However, there is a statement by Joe Rogan, at 11:40, that seems to fly under the radar, even to Elon Musk, that deserves an equal amount of attention.

In response to Musk saying the ratio of censorship on the Twitter platform was a multiple of 10 times greater for “right-wing” or centrist views, Rogan ponders how and why accounts like the Taliban were not removed.   Thus, yet again, the issue that brought me to the political sphere many decades ago surfaces.

The Taliban, as a totalitarian ideology, is not on the right side of the political continuum.  Totalitarianism, or the presence of big oppressive government, falls on the left side of the political continuum.  The far-left is totalitarianism.  The furthest right is the absence of government.  This is an ideological mistake that happens frequently and needs to be addressed when the mistake is made.

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Drop the pretense.  If you watch this testimony through the prism of the FBI knowing that domestic violent extremists, Hamas sympathizers and extremist elements of Islam, have been protected by political correctness, and if you accept the Obama administration and the professional political left are aligned specifically with Islamic interests, as expressed by the Muslim Brotherhood (ex CAIR), then this statement today by terrorism manager, FBI Director Chris Wray, looks exactly like what it is – ass covering.

Wray knows the likelihood for a domestic terrorist uprising is higher now than ever before, in part due to the open border risk created by the Obama/Biden administration.  This strong likelihood is exactly what our “Slowly at First” (SAF) discussions are all about.  The number of extremist elements aligned in support of Hamas is visible in the protests that have erupted nationwide.  Director Wray knows this, and he is covering his butt.  WATCH:

…”We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration the likes of which we haven’t seen since ISIS launched its so-called caliphate years ago“…

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The culturally Marxist FBI organization does not and will not do anything to block, impede or stop any terrorist attack that comes from an ideologically protected category of personage.  This is why past terror attacks were successful, and how FBI supported domestic terror networks like Antifa are able to operate without concern.

I find it interesting that Director Wray indirectly cites 2011 Operation Red Coalition, as part of his historic context for the involvement of Iran in carrying out assassination efforts inside the U.S.  Those assassins came into the USA through the southern border as illegal aliens.

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The only people who deny financial corruption in Ukraine are those who benefit from it.  That group includes U.S. politicians who gleefully send billions of taxpayer funds into the country of Ukraine while capturing returns in the process.

U.S. advisors and consultants, along with private sector contractors and multinational corporations like Blackrock, are all beneficiaries of the vast sums of money being dumped into Ukraine. We all know this.  So, on one hand it is simple to see why the Ukraine government officials would use the same opportunity to enrich themselves

After all, U.S. taxpayers are not only buying bombs, missiles and bullets with the money sent to Ukraine, we are also paying the salaries and pensions of the same government officials who are skimming the proceeds.  The corruption is everywhere, and every entity is participating in the graft, in one form or another.

Zelenskyy’s wife goes shopping in Paris during the war.  Where exactly do politicians think she is getting the money to spend on glitzy holiday vacations?  Everybody knows exactly what is going on.  The glaringly obvious theft is a large part of the contention the American people have with this insufferable effort to fund Ukraine.

During a lengthy Time Magazine article, one of the close and key advisors to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that the corrupt stealing of US funds is widespread.   In addition to the theft, the overall tone of the Time Magazine article paints the war effort in Ukraine, what we have always called ‘World War Reddit’ for its mostly theatrical value, as a lost cause.  This is not surprising; however, for Time Mag to make such an admission, that does indicate a narrative shift in the overall effort.

TIME – […] Since the start of the invasion, Ukraine has refused to release official counts of dead and wounded. But according to U.S. and European estimates, the toll has long surpassed 100,000 on each side of the war. It has eroded the ranks of Ukraine’s armed forces so badly that draft offices have been forced to call up ever older personnel, raising the average age of a soldier in Ukraine to around 43 years. “They’re grown men now, and they aren’t that healthy to begin with,” says the close aide to Zelensky. “This is Ukraine. Not Scandinavia.”

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No candidate has spent more time in Iowa and visited more locations than Ron DeSantis. Simultaneously, as the people of Iowa get to know him, his support drops. You might remember me pointing out this predictable dynamic last year.

The more people spend time with DeSantis, the less they like him.   That leaves an opening for Nikki Haley, and she has capitalized.

Now, Nikki is just as unlikeable as Ron, perhaps even more so; however, the people around Nikki know she is horrible, and they manage her to hide it. If they keep Nikki Haley out of the public eye, she will quickly pass Ron DeSantis everywhere.  Watch, this is what they will do.

[ SOURCE ]

Nikki Haley has now passed up Ron DeSantis in the first-loser race within Iowa.   Donald Trump is crushing the field, but for the non-Trump lane, Haley has just surpassed DeSantis.   Haley is also beating DeSantis in New Hampshire and South Carolina in the race to be the first-loser.

IOWA – […] In addition to leading overall, Trump performs better than his opponents across nearly every demographic the poll tested, including among first-time caucusgoers.   Trump has maintained his lead there, with 49% of first-time caucusgoers saying he is their first choice. DeSantis is at 15%, and Haley is at 14%.  (read more)

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Within the budget process there are two different facets. Congress is charged by the Constitution with making decisions about how to spend public money. Those spending decisions are split into two parts: authorization and appropriations.  In the recent political era the “authorization” process has essentially been nulled; no one ever asks if the program (Ukraine, Israel, FBI, etc.) should be funded. 

“Authorization” is done by Congress via legislation that “can establish, continue, or modify an agency, program, or activity for a fixed or indefinite period of time,” per the Congressional Research Service. In other words, authorization is Congress saying that money can be spent on a given item — not that it necessarily will be spent on that item.

“Appropriations” are done by Congress via legislation that authorizes agencies to make payments from the federal Treasury (i.e. it allows them to spend the money that had previously been authorized). Appropriations bills are ordinarily passed each year, but in recent years it has been common for Congress to fund the government “on autopilot” via continuing resolutions that simply allow agencies to continue spending the same amount of money they were spending under the previous funding bill.

Matt Gaetz has been trying to change this dynamic because the external recipients of the appropriation spending, the lobbyists, are the ones driving the continuation of the CR approach. The lobbyists pay congress via campaign donations. Those donations come from congressional appropriation. The CR process maintains the largesse.

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Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose stated mission has been to keep Trump from ascending to the White House again, is confident the field narrowing will bode well for his objectives.

In my estimation, Senator Tim Scott will be the next first-loser candidate to exit the race.

To qualify for the Miami debate, first-loser candidates need to reach at least four per cent in two national polls, or four per cent in one national poll and four per cent in two early primary states. Tim Scott has not reached the 4% national threshold.

The sketchy controlled operatives also need 70,000 individual donors, including 200 donors in 20 states, according to the requirements set by the Republican National Committee (RNC), because we all know money drives the RNC.

The donor standard pushed Pence to exit.

WASHINGTON DC – Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he expects more people to drop out of the GOP presidential primary following the third debate, after former Vice President Mike Pence announced Saturday that he’s abandoning his White House bid.

“In the end, it just means this race is narrowing, which everyone said that it would,” Christie said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, after praising the former vice president for running “a tough race.”

“It will narrow more, I suspect, when we get to the debate stage in Miami,” Christie added.

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Sometimes I just sit and shake my head.  Why these guys keep appearing with Sean Hannity is beyond my understanding.  That said, the platform and host is the first warning sign, the content of the interview is another.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who is a significant upgrade from Speaker Kevin McCarthy, sits down for an extensive discussion on current political events where Sean Hannity can tell Johnson his role and responsibility as Speaker. WATCH:

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