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☆ Sam Bankman-Fried says he's the Republicans' third-biggest donor, but used 'dark money' to avoid media criticism
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

But the FTX founder said he gave just as much to Republicans using "dark money." He said he did so to avoid media criticism from "liberal" reporters who would "freak the f*** out." "I've been their third-biggest Republican donor this year as well," he said. "They're all secretly liberal and I didn't want to have that fight, so I made all the Republican ones dark." Once the richest person under 30 with a net worth of $26 billion, Bankman-Fried told Axios on Monday that he's now down to his last $100,000.

☆ How almost $427 million in taxpayer money is locked away in a forgotten government fund — and lawmakers won't spend it or return it
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The intended beneficiaries of the taxpayer-fueled Presidential Election Campaign Fund — presidential candidates — don't want it, as they're soured by its restrictions on their election fundraising and spending. An accounting of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, as of October 31, 2022. Several nonprofit leaders told Insider that Congress could use the Presidential Election Campaign Fund money to immediately ease suffering, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2019-20 congressional session, two Republican lawmakers sponsored similar bills that attempted to kill the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Until that or any other repurposing decision comes down, the FEC continues to spend taxpayer resources keeping the Presidential Election Campaign Fund alive.

☆ Tesla safety at centre of South Korean trial over fiery, fatal crash
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Ju-Min Park | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

SEOUL, Nov 21 (Reuters) - In an upscale Seoul neighbourhood two years ago, a white Tesla Model X smashed into a parking lot wall. The criminal trial about to begin in South Korea hangs on questions about the safety of Tesla cars, at a time when the EV maker faces a range of lawsuits and increased scrutiny by regulators. A lawyer for the family of Yoon Hong-geun, who owned the car and died in the crash, declined to comment. Tesla sold 17,828 vehicles in South Korea in 2021, registration data shows. Judge Park Won-gyu said that he plans to call Tesla engineers to testify and that the safety of Tesla vehicles would be examined at trial.

☆ Biden at 80: A ‘respecter of fate’ considers a second White House bid
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

US President Joe Biden disembarks from Air Force One upon his arrival at the airport of Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, to attend the COP27 climate conference, on November 11, 2022. It's soon time for Joe Biden, 80 on Sunday, to decide whether he has one more mountain to climb — the one to a second term as president. Getty: President Joe Biden gives remarks on student debt relief at Delaware State University on October 21, 2022 in Dover, Delaware. "While President Biden may chronologically be 80 years old, biologically he probably isn't," he said. U.S. President Joe Biden smiles during a rally with Democratic nominee for Maryland Governor Wes Moore, U.S.

More than 60 prominent conservatives, including former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and activist Ginni Thomas, are calling on House and Senate GOP leadership elections to be delayed until after the Dec. 6 Georgia Senate runoff. The open letter to GOP lawmakers released Monday comes just a day before House Republicans are set to hold their closed-door election to pick their leaders for the new Congress. Senate Republicans plan to hold their own internal elections on Wednesday. There should be no rushed leadership elections,” the conservative group wrote in their letter. “Conservative Members of the House and Senate have called for the leadership elections to be delayed.

☆ Midterm elections live updates: Pennsylvania races, New Hampshire Senate race too early to call
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Brandy Zadrozny | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Sahil-Kapur-Headshot.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +109 min

Share this -Link copiedWisconsin Senate and governor's races too early to call It is too early to call the Senate and gubernatorial races in Wisconsin, according to NBC News. Share this -Link copiedNew Hampshire Senate race too early to call The Senate race in New Hampshire is too early to call, according to NBC News. Share this -Link copiedPennsylvania Senate and governor races are too early to call After polls closed at 8 p.m. While Maricopa County election officials initially categorized the problem as a “hiccup,” it took hours before a solution was identified early Tuesday afternoon. In Columbus County, election officials allegedly were harassed by an “observer following one-stop workers” and photographing or filming the workers, it said.

While Maricopa County election officials initially categorized the problem as a “hiccup,” it took hours before a solution was identified early Tuesday afternoon. According to the poll, 46% of voters said their family’s financial situation is worse than it was two years ago. Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP, filed a similar complaint Friday against state election officials. The app and portal had been down for part of the morning and the state's election hotline also briefly experienced issues. In Columbus County, election officials allegedly were harassed by an “observer following one-stop workers” and photographing or filming the workers, it said.

☆ Factbox: How Wall St and billionaires have donated to U.S. elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( John Mccrank | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, which struck down limits on political contributions by corporations or unions, political contributions of billionaires made up around 3% of overall political contributions, she said. Griffin said in a statement: "I hope that my political engagement will help to protect the American Dream. * Crypto-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX was the sixth-largest donor, at $39.8 million with the vast majority going to help Democrats. * Elliott Management founder Paul Singer spent $19.7 million to support Republicans, making him the 15th-largest donor. * Renaissance Technologies founder Jim Simons, together with Marilyn Simons, were the 20th-largest donors, spending nearly $16 million to help Democrats.

By the end of Election Day, approximately 21,000 total interviews will be conducted. Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP, filed a similar complaint Friday against state election officials. The app and portal had been down for part of the morning and the state's election hotline also briefly experienced issues. In Columbus County, election officials allegedly were harassed by an “observer following one-stop workers” and photographing or filming the workers, it said. Share this -Link copiedSunny weather in most battleground states on Election Day It’s a bright and sunny Election Day in many battleground states!

☆ The midterms are moments away, and these 9 behind-the-scenes agencies are helping politicians get elected, with control of Congress at stake
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Political midterm ad spending is expected to hit a record high of $9.7 billionA new crop of digital-first firms is competing with traditional ad agencies for that money. Here are 9 of the most notable firms working for top GOP and Democratic candidates and organizations. Political advertising is reaching unprecedented levels for a midterm election. An August report from analytics firm AdImpact projected that political ad spending would reach $9.7 billion this year, beating the previous $9 billion record set in 2020. Kantar CMAG has forecast that $8.4 billion political ad dollars will be spent this year.

☆ A spiral of violence and fear is creating angst for many voters ahead of the midterm elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Seitz-Wald-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alex Seitz-Wald | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

For many voters, a vicious spiral of violence and fear is creating angst, paranoia and an overwhelming sense of dread that the nation is on the eve of destruction, according to a growing body of public opinion research. Polls show a large portion of Republicans fear democracy is in peril because they believe that elections are rigged against them. Frustrated by the fear that democracy no longer serves them, some Americans are becoming convinced that violence is the answer. Steele, the former head of the national GOP, said the public and political leaders both bear responsibility for protecting the republic. “But it also gives space for people who want a safer country to plan ahead, too.

☆ Democrats hit Sen. Ron Johnson on Jan. 6 remarks in new Wisconsin Senate ad
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Natasha Korecki | Natasha Korecki Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Democrats are ramping up their attacks on Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin over his remarks downplaying the Jan. 6 riot with a new TV ad in the homestretch of the pivotal Senate race. The ad is paid for by the Senate Majority PAC — the Democrats’ main Senate super PAC — and End Citizens United, another political action committee. It’s also the first time Democrats have run a TV ad in the race highlighting Johnson’s remarks about the attack on the Capitol. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., at a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in Washington on Sept. 21. And yet you refused to investigate the deadly attack on our Capitol.”A digital ad earlier in the campaign also drew attention to Jan. 6.

☆ Republican senators vote to block a bill requiring dark-money groups to disclose their donors: 'I don't want to see them doxxed'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Bryan Metzger | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Democrats teed up a procedural vote Thursday on a bill to disclose dark-money groups' donors. Super PACs, on the other hand, are subject to federal campaign finance disclosure laws, but their funding often comes from dark money groups. "Unfortunately, the Republican party has become as dependent on dark money as a deep-sea diver is on his air hose," said Whitehouse. Win McNamee/Getty ImagesA bipartisan problemSince the Citizens United ruling 12 years ago, dark money spending has exploded in elections. Nonprofits have poured around $2 billion into elections, most of which can be linked to dark money groups, OpenSecrets found.

☆ Millennials and Gen Z want to stop a climate catastrophe. But first they have to get elected.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, told young climate activists in 2019, "You didn't vote for me." AP Photo/Gemunu AmarasingheBut most policy debates aren't genuinely existential in the way climate change is. "Younger Democrats tend to have a much more friendly relationship and response to the party's activist class than older Democrats do." Fossil-fuel interests have played a central role in stymieing progress on climate change for decades. Nearly a decade later, Trump ran for and won the presidency — with Gingrich's early and staunch support — while calling climate change a "hoax."

☆ How more than $424 million in taxpayer money is locked away in a forgotten government fund — and lawmakers won't spend it or return it
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The intended beneficiaries of the taxpayer-fueled Presidential Election Campaign Fund — presidential candidates — don't want it, as they're soured by its restrictions on their election fundraising and spending. A US Treasury document detailing the finances of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Several nonprofit leaders told Insider that Congress could use the Presidential Election Campaign Fund money to immediately ease suffering, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2019-20 congressional session, two Republican lawmakers sponsored similar bills that attempted to kill the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. Until that or any other repurposing decision comes down, the FEC continues to spend taxpayer resources keeping the Presidential Election Campaign Fund alive.

☆ Biden to press for donor transparency bill, Schumer pledges action this week
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Summer Concepcion | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks Tuesday afternoon on legislation to require the disclosure of donors to dark money groups that raise huge sums of money to influence elections. The remarks come after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday that he plans to hold a vote on the Democratic bill this week. “This bill would fight the cancer of dark money in our elections and require dark money groups to report campaign contributions,” Schumer said in a statement. The legislation requires disclosures of donors giving $10,000 or more to a super PAC or 501(c)(4) group in an election cycle. Schumer’s announcement comes months after he said the bill would receive a vote in the full chamber.

☆ Republicans' next big play is to 'scare the hell out of Washington' by rewriting the Constitution. And they're willing to play the long game to win.
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-31 | by ( Grace Panetta | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +27 min

Whether it happens, he said, is highly dependent on Republicans' success winning state legislatures during the 2022 midterm elections. But not everyone in the conservative constitutional convention movement believes such a gathering is so imminent. Constitutional convention boosters include many of Trump's current and former allies, including conservative legal scholar John Eastman, Florida Gov. In 2012, the Republican National Committee went so far as to pass a resolution formally opposing the convention movement. A convention of states would be the first of its kind since the original Constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787.

☆ Sorry, Biden backers. President Donald Trump actually has more campaign cash now than 4 years ago
▼ + stars: | 2020-09-10 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

President Trump's campaign ended July with $120 million, about three times more than the roughly $39 million it reported at this point in 2016. This doesn't cost Trump's campaign anything but helps get his message to voters. In addition to the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and several pro-Trump super PACs have planned heavy spending before Election Day. The Trump campaign ended July with more than $120 million, compared with about $99 million for Biden. Some areas of Trump campaign spending have even dropped from 2016 to 2020.

☆ Trump's most important 2016 donor is sitting out 2020
▼ + stars: | 2020-07-24 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +20 min

Robert and Rebekah Mercer ranked among President Donald Trump's most influential backers in 2016. A representative for Priorities USA Action, a leading pro-Biden super PAC, said the organization wasn't underestimating Trump's reelection forces, Mercers or no Mercers. (Bossie, like former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and many others, has recently found himself back in Trump's favor.) The Cambridge Analytica data that the Trump campaign paid for was "so stupidly wrong" and a "complete joke," Spicer added. But sources familiar with the Mercers' political spending said they have no evidence that the Mercers are doing so.

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