LeBron James-Backed Campaign Paid Off Fines Of 40,000 Felons So They Can Vote, Report Says

An effort driven by celebrities such as former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NBA star LeBron James paid off court fines for tens of thousands of felons in Florida ahead of election day.

An analysis by the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald and ProPublica found that the effort may have paid off the fines of about 40,000 felons, assuming that those felons so not also have other unpaid fees that would bar them from voting. It is unclear how large an impact it may have on the election in Florida, a key swing state, but the effort is believed to advantage Democrats.

The Tampa Bay Times reports:

The newly eligible voters in the four counties likely skew toward the Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden. In those counties, at least 80 percent of felons whose fines and fees were paid are nonwhite — including 74 percent who are Black. About 68 percent are registered Democrats, the review found.

Celebrities and donors have spent about $27 million paying off felons debts to the court and society to relieve them of all their financial obligations so they can register to vote. Whether the felons actually do vote is up to them.

A ballot initiative gave felons in Florida the right to vote as long as they have paid off all their outstanding fines and fees. The financial hurdle and a subsequent campaign to pay off the debts of felons who would otherwise have been allowed to cast ballots attracted the attention of celebrity activists and wealthy Democratic donors such as James and Bloomberg.

In July, James, a player on the Los Angeles Lakers, dumped $100,000 into the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, the group that has been paying off the fines of Florida felons, through his own voting rights campaign More Than A Vote. James’ group is comprised of fellow black athletes and focuses on turning out black Americans to vote.

“This is a fight about their constitutional right to vote being denied,” James tweeted at the time about the push to register Florida felons to vote.

James has stepped up his activism in 2020 and has launched a new media company with a $100 million investment designed to influence the culture. James has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and outspoken on social justice issues in the United States. Critics point out that he has studiously avoided calling out China for its rampant human rights abuses, noting that the NBA has a vested business interest in maintaining good relations with Beijing.

News broke in September that Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has recommended that FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigate Bloomberg, who was a Democratic presidential primary candidate in 2020, for potentially violating Florida’s law against paying for votes. The Florida Department of State, Division of Elections said in a statement:

http://www.tathasta.com/2020/11/lebron-james-backed-campaign-paid-off.html

Twitter and Google’s head of A.I. just backed a new VC fund — here’s why

Nathan Benaich, founder and general partner of boutique VC firm Air Street Capital, has raised $17 million from investors including Twitter and Google’s head of AI.

The money will be used to back around 25 start-ups in Europe and the U.S. that have AI at their core.

Benaich has straddled the worlds of venture capital and artificial intelligence for almost a decade. Unlike many VCs, he is known for having a firm grasp on the latest developments in AI.

LONDON – A 32-year-old venture capitalist’s new fund has caught the eye of Twitter, Google execs and the billionaire founder of Clash of Clans maker Supercell.

Nathan Benaich, founder and general partner of boutique VC firm Air Street Capital, announced last week that he has raised a new $17 million fund from a host of big names to invest in start-ups in the U.S. and Europe that have artificial intelligence at their core.

But who is this investor and why are people in Silicon Valley and beyond so keen to back him?

Benaich has straddled the worlds of venture capital and artificial intelligence for almost a decade. Unlike many VCs, he is known for having a firm grasp on the latest developments in AI and which companies are behind them.

“Of all the VCs I know — Nathan is one of the most well informed on all things AI,” said Andrew Trask, a senior research scientist at AI lab DeepMind, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet, on Twitter when the fund was officially unveiled. “I’ve always been impressed with his level of insight into the field.”

That said, Benaich is yet to personally back a start-up that has gone on to be a multibillion dollar success story — a metric often used to judge VCs. Time will tell if Air Street Capital can do this.

One VC, who wanted to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the discussions, questioned whether Benaich has an adequate track record, adding that they suspect people are investing in his fund because of his personality, work ethic and expertise.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/03/twitter-supercell-googles-ai-boss-back-nathan-benaichs-air-street.html

The New Monetary Reserve System Digital Currency Basket Backed By Gold

Tom Welcomes Dr. Stephen Leeb, financial author, wealth manager, and newsletter publisher, to the show. His interest began to shift in 2000 towards gold when it was apparent that globally we were reaching a significant turning point.

Dr. Leeb discusses the gap between developed and emerging countries and how China’s growth has mainly driven that change. This gap has since closed significantly and continues to do so. This trend has resulted in a vast and growing demand for commodities. The developing world is now more massive than the developed world and is growing much faster.

He discusses the reasons why gold has value and why holding it is so important. Like many other commodities, gold has outperformed. We will need massive amounts of copper, iron ore, and silver for the emerging economies and electrification. Silver has some of the best properties of any metal, and it’s not at all clear where we are going to get more.

He expresses concerns about our dependency on rare earth metals and the risks of not having stockpiles. Today, the U.S. has little input in some major supply chains like semiconductors; thus, we are now entirely dependent on others’ kindness.

Stephen argues American ingenuity through companies like Bell Labs during the last century led to much of today’s prosperity. We have now lost our competitive edge, mainly due to Nixon ending the gold standard. Subsequently, we moved to an undisciplined economy that could spend without restriction.

He discusses what a new monetary system would likely look like and why it will be a digital currency basket backed by gold. China is currently testing digital currencies, and internally they are already on a de facto gold standard. In China, citizens are encouraged to buy gold, which they can do at most banks. Western central banks are just beginning to take notice and look into digital currencies.

Lastly, Stephen discusses where gold could head over the next twenty years. Bottom line commodities will continue to play a massive role globally, and investors should own some gold.

Time Stamp References:

0:00 – Intro

0:55 – Converting to a gold bug.

4:30 – Energing economies.

8:00 – Gold as a store of value.

12:00 – East vs. West recovery.

15:30 – Commodity reserves changing.

18:00 – Properties of silver.

20:30 – Semiconductors. gallium, and silicon.

24:00 – Commodity scarcity and energy return on investment.

25:00 – Rare earth concerns.

32:00 – American ingenuity last century.

35:00 – What went wrong, we left the gold standard.

43:00 – Commodities should be in your portfolio.

44:20 – Structure of a new monetary reserve system.

48:00 – Digital basket of currencies backed by gold.

50:30 – Fixing gold to a new digital currency structure.

53:00 – China’s real gold reserves and their mining.

57:00 – China has a defensive military structure.

58:30 – Ghost cities and China’s longer-term plans.

1:01:00 – Co-operation or isolation.

1:03:40 – Gold targets long-term.

1:09:30 – The other 85%.

1:12:00 – Buffett buying gold.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/the-new-monetary-reserve-system-digital-currency-basket-backed-by-gold/

North Carolina Extends Voting Hours at Four Sites, Delaying Release of Election Results

North Carolina extended voting hours at four different precincts after technical problems with voting machines delayed the opening of the polling sites.

State policy prohibits election results from being released until all polls are closed so North Carolina’s vote totals won’t be released until after 8:15 PM EST.

WRAL reported:

The State Board of Elections has voted to extend voting hours for two precincts in Sampson County and one each in Guilford and Cabararrus counties, primarily because technical issues delayed the opening of those polling sites.

Voting will go until 8:15 p.m. at Plainfield Fire Station near Dunn and until 7:54 p.m. at Sampson County Adult Daycare in Clinton. Voting was extended until 8:04 p.m. at Bluford Elementary School in Greensboro and until 7:47 p.m. at First Missionary Baptist Church in Concord.

The Democrats are trying to steal the battleground state of North Carolina.

A recent Supreme Court ruling allows for North Carolina officials to count ballots for up to 9 days after Election Day.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/north-carolina-extends-voting-hours-four-sites-delaying-release-election-results/

Big Tech Monopolies Want To Rig The Election And Run The Country. If Biden Wins, They Will Be In Charge

TYLER O’NEIL: Here’s How Google Can Shift 15 Million Votes Without Anyone Realizing It.

In a chilling interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Ph.D. psychologist Robert Epstein reported that Google’s search engine has a “very substantial pro-liberal bias” and could swing 15 million votes in the 2020 election. Epstein studies the psychological effect of search results and he has a team of hundreds of people monitoring Google and other tech companies. He claimed that Google is effectively making a “huge in-kind donation” to campaigns like that of Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

“Based on the data that we’re collecting, I would say that if what we’re seeing is present nationwide, they are probably shifting this year in this election about 15 million votes without anyone’s awareness and except for what I’m doing, without leaving a paper trail for authorities to trace,” Epstein told Carlson on Saturday.

The psychologist noted that his team has “600 field agents in the swing states,” who have performed 150,000 searches, analyzing 1.5 million search results.

“We’re finding very substantial pro-liberal bias in all ten or at least nine out of ten search results on the first page of Google search results… not on Bing or Yahoo though,” Epstein reported. “And we’re seeing that bias in every single demographic group. In fact, in one report we generated recently, we saw more liberal bias in Google content going to conservatives than going to liberals.”

“That is the definition of propaganda,” Tucker Carlson responded. “They’re tailoring information to change the views of people in a very targeted way.”

He asked Epstein if it was legal for Google to attempt to influence millions of votes.

“There are no specific laws or regulations in place stopping a company like Google from doing something like this,” the psychologist admitted. “In fact, the courts have basically over and over again said they can exercise their free speech rights and show people anything they want to show people.”

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/big-tech-monopolies-want-to-rig-the-election-and-run-the-country-if-biden-wins-they-will-be-in-charge/

This is what Facebook is doing to small publishers

For most of you October 11th is just another day…

For me it’s the 2 year anniversary of a day that turned my life upside down.

After 5 years of working tirelessly, 7 days a week, producing meaningful content to build an audience and to finally reach a place of stability with our business, this day 2 years ago, Facebook and Twitter unexpectedly removed our accounts and unpublished our pages resulting in a loss of nearly 6 million fans. No warnings, no notifications, just gone. That decision impacted my life and the lives of the 7 employees we had to let go because we could no longer afford to pay them.

The days after the purge we received a lot of support from our fans, we did a bunch of interviews and took a few days to think about the future of TFTP. Unlike many other organizations who were unpublished that day, we decided to persevere and continue. We knew we had a long road in front of us but we felt our organization, our work and our followers were important enough to keep investing the time and energy. After all, The Free Thought Project.com

was in the top 450 websites in the US at one point and at our peak we were reaching an upwards of an average of 20-30 million people a week.

We knew when we started over we would never be able to accumulate 6 million fans again. What we didn’t expect was the next two years of incessant censorship, baseless ‘fact checks’, page “violations,” senseless blocks, account/page deletions and outright targeting by Facebook. In 2019 we lost 5 more pages, all of which were the new renditions of the pages originally deleted by Facebook.

You are probably thinking to yourself…

“So what? Just get off of Facebook.”

Sadly, that isn’t the way it works in the digital age. Facebook is by far the largest and most active social media platform on the internet. You can set up email lists, use other social media platforms and try to sell merchandise but realistically nothing on the internet pushes traffic to websites the way Facebook does. That traffic equates to ad revenue that funds most small publishers who don’t have the financial backing big news/media companies have… or at least it used to be. Facebook and google now control 70% of the digital ad market.

Publishers like ourselves were suckered onto the platform in one of the greatest bait and switches by a corporation of all time.

Once Facebook became the dominant platform, thanks to millions of page owners who created content for their Facebook pages, they no longer kept their end of the deal. That deal is and was… when you get more fans, you get more post reach. But by 2015 Facebook started to reduce reach for certain publishers and by 2016 we were seeing our reach consistently declining. It was apparent a shift was happening.

Then came the 2016 election and the ‘fake news’ mantra which was a great excuse to start removing or ‘fact checking’ certain information and accounts.

Later that year Facebook started to hire ex government employees for positions such as “news integrity team” and “social impact policy”. That was the end of any semblance of the free exchange of information on Facebook.

By 2018 Facebook created what they called the ‘war room’ (It’s real, Google it) and went to war with smaller publishers like ourselves to fight “misinformation” which is a useful catchall euphemism for eradicating information they don’t want on the platform.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/this-is-what-facebook-is-doing-to-small-publishers/

Video of Amish Horse and Buggy Trump Train Goes Viral on Election Day

Videos and photos of a purported Amish horse and buggy caravan flying Trump flags went viral on Election Day.

At least five buggies with both American and Trump flags were spotted trotting along a street, videotaped by a bystander inside a car.

The video of the buggy caravan was first posted on Monday evening, but continued to be shared on Tuesday morning of Election Day.

https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/11/03/amish-horse-buggy-trump-train-goes-viral-election-day/

Supreme Court Gives GOP Reason for Optimism in Post-Election Lawsuits

Republican-controlled legislatures in battleground states are likely to play a deciding role in any post-Election Day legal disputes.

It's hard to anticipate just what a post-election legal fight will involve. However, many pre-election lawsuits to reach the Supreme Court have involved a particular fault-line: On the one side is a state legislature, which sets the rules and procedures for the election; and on the other is a state court, which relaxes or alters those procedures, citing other state law sources and the coronavirus pandemic as justification. If that pattern holds, President Donald Trump has reason for optimism.

So far, a short-handed Supreme Court has sided with state judges in such cases, allowing their late-breaking adjustments over the objections of GOP lawmakers and the Trump campaign. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, however, may hold a fifth vote in favor of the GOP-controlled legislatures. Republicans control both legislative chambers in such critical states as Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

One emergency election appeal that reached the Supreme Court from Pennsylvania illustrates the pattern, possibly presaging post-election events. In that dispute, the state legislature set an 8:00 p.m. Election Day deadline for all mail-in ballots. A Pennsylvania state court extended that deadline by three days, invoking a provision of the state constitution that says elections should be conducted in a manner that protects voting rights "to the greatest degree possible."

In a short separate statement, Justice Samuel Alito lamented that the original Election Day deadline had been displaced. He pointed to a section of the Constitution that provides federal election rules "shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof."

"The provisions of the federal Constitution conferring on state legislatures, not state courts, the authority to make rules governing federal elections would be meaningless if a state court could override the rules adopted by the legislature," Alito wrote.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh took the same position in an emergency appeal from Wisconsin decided two days earlier, making four justices who think the state legislatures ought to have the upper hand.

Had Barrett been on the Court in late September, she might have provided a fifth vote to maintain the original Election Day deadline. Her participation in a future case could mean that election rules written by GOP lawmakers will determine scuffles over recounts or tardy absentee ballots.

State officials in Pennsylvania indicated they will segregate late-arriving mail-in votes from all other ballots in case they are the subject of future lawsuits.

https://freebeacon.com/courts/supreme-court-gives-gop-reason-for-optimism-in-post-election-lawsuits/

On Election Eve Joe Biden Posts Angry, Unhinged Rant on Twitter Trashing President Trump – But He’s Ahead by 12 Points!

It was his only play.

Trashing Trump.

It was all he had.

He bet the farm on it.

Democrats believed the fake news media.

It was a bubble campaign.

And he was wrong.

Last night Sleepy Joe Biden posted an unhinged, angry tweet.

It’s not something you would expect from a candidate up by 12 points.

Joe Biden: Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in modern history.

Donald Trump is the most racist president in modern history.

Donald Trump is the worst jobs president in modern history.

Why would we give him another four years?

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/election-eve-joe-biden-posts-angry-unhinged-rant-twitter-trashing-president-trump-ahead-12-points/

JPMorgan Sees S&P Tumbling To 2,500 In Case Of Blue Wave, Surging To 3,900 If Red Wave

We have successfully tracked down the table that sent Marko Kolanovic over the edge.

As we reported earlier, the JPM strategist went apeshit when one of the bank’s derivatives sales traders had posted a summary of the commodities strategists' views on how a win by former Vice President Joe Biden would affect the market, saying there would be "very little impact" which sparked Marko to flip out. The summary table is presented below, and it comes courtesy of a JPM report titled "Market Intelligence: US Election Update."

As further reminder, this is how Kolanovic responded when seeing the above table: "Wait so our commodity guys base their forecast based on our FX guys’ forecast, which based forecast based on our economist forecast, who bases his forecast of party preference." You can read more about the incident here.

What is more interesting is that the JPM report also laid out the bank's latest quarter of market scenarios, and what we find notable is that here too, there appears to be some political bias… only in the opposite direction, because unlike most of Wall Street, JPM sees a Blue Wave as the worst possible case, a split presidency/Congress as status quo, and a Red Wave as the best possible outcome, one which would push the S&P to 3,900. Here is the full breakdown:

Biden / Blue Wave – The market likely views this as short-term neutral but long-term negative, as the expected Biden tax policy outweighs the benefits from a larger than expected stimulus package. SPX may have upside to ~3400, but it would have larger downside depending on the details of the package, potentially to ~2,500.

Biden / GOP Senate – The market likely views the GOP Senate as being a net-positive as we may not see any changes to tax policy while having stimulus-related upside. SPX may hit 3,600.  Trump / Dem Senate – This scenario is positive, too. Here, we may see a larger fiscal package, potentially up to Pelosi’s $2.2T request, but without the negative tax consequences since Dems would not have the votes to override a Presidential Veto. SPX may hit 3,600 or higher.

Trump / GOP Senate – The “status quo” scenario is positive for risk-assets. We may see a larger fiscal package than under a Biden/GOP Senate administration and potential improvements to the existing tax policies. SPX to 3,900.

Trump / Red Wave – Similar to the above scenario, this is positive for risk-assets. SPX to 3,900.

Trump / Red Wave – Similar to the above scenario, this is positive for risk-assets. SPX to 3,900

Incidentally, if JPM is right, today's furious meltup may explain all you need to know about the next president/Senate combo.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/jpmorgan-sees-sp-tumbling-2500-case-blue-wave-surging-3900-if-red-wave

LeBron James Officially Endorses Biden for President After NBA Star Shouted Down by Trump Rally

With concerns of voter suppression in key swing states with large African American populations in the US, basketball star LeBron James has been campaigning for greater participation and access to voting opportunities.

NBA champion LeBron James gave a last-minute official endorsement to Democratic candidate Joe Biden for president on Monday night, following criticism by President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

The Angeles Lakers star announced his support on Instagram, urging his 74.1 million followers to support Biden and his running mate, Kamela Harris, the night before the November 2020 presidential election.

James' endorsement followed a Trump rally in Pennsylvania where the president addressed his supporters in the swing state.

“How about basketball? How about LeBron? I felt badly for LeBron. I felt very badly. Down 71% and that's for their championship – I didn't want to watch one shot,” Trump said, in reference to the National Basketball Associations’ collapsing championship ratings. “When they don't respect our country, when they don't respect our flag, nobody wants to watch. Nobody!”, Trump stated.

The crowd then returned the message from GOP candidate, repeatedly shouting “LeBron James sucks”.

LeBron James opened his own school which gave struggling children access to an education. Trump university had to pay a $25 million settlement for defrauding students. https://t.co/ZHDmLW1594

— Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) November 2, 2020

​James, who campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016, has been an adamant opponent of Trump and, despite starting the 'More Than a Vote' campaign this year, has so far fallen short of overtly endorsing the Democratic ticket, until now.

Two weeks ago, the NBA star told the New York Times that he doesn't "go back and forth with anybody. And I damn sure won’t go back and forth with that guy".

This isn't the first time that Lebron James found himself facing criticism over his 'More than A Vote' campaign, which seeks to oppose voter suppression in target states such as Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

He was accused of hypocrisy after describing NBA President Daryl Morey’s support for Hong Kong protesters - leading to the association's games being taken off the air in China - as “misinformed" on the subject.

Anti-Beijing activist Joshua Wong accused the 4-time MVP of only caring about money, for pushing for greater democracy in the US and not in China - of which Hong Kong is an administrative region.

pic.twitter.com/YJ3fbBnteM

— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) June 11, 2020

Last year, US Vice President Mike Pence accused the NBA of “acting like a wholly owned subsidiary” of the Communist Party of China. The NBA stated that Morey's comments were "regrettable".

https://sputniknews.com/us/202011031080974350-lebron-james-officially-endorses-biden-for-president-after-nba-star-shouted-down-by-trump-rally/

French airstrikes kill over 50 Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Mali – defense minister

More than 50 jihadists have been killed in airstrikes carried out by French forces in Mali, Defense Minister Florence Parly said on Tuesday, calling the deaths a significant blow to Al-Qaeda in the region.

The airstrikes were carried out on Friday in central Mali near the borders of Burkina Faso and Niger, Parly said after meeting members of Mali’s transitional government in Bamako.

“I would like to reveal an operation of great importance which was carried out on October 30 in Mali by the Barkhane force, which was able to neutralize more than 50 jihadists,” Parly said on Mali state television. The minister was referring to the French-led anti-jihadist Operation Barkhane.

Around 30 motorcycles were destroyed, the French minister said. The operation was launched after a drone detected a “very large” motorcycle caravan in the “three borders” area, he added.

When the jihadists tried to escape, two Mirage jets were sent in, along with a drone to launch missiles on the insurgents, according to Parly.

Four terrorists have also been captured, military spokesman Colonel Frederic Barbry told reporters, adding that explosives and a suicide vest were found. The group had been “about to attack [an army] position in the region,” he said.

Another operation targeting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in the Greater Sahara was also underway, with a total of 3,000 soldiers involved, Barbry added.

France has more than 5,000 troops in Mali and neighboring countries in West Africa’s Sahel region to fight the jihadists since it first intervened in 2013. The United Nations has deployed around 13,000 troops in Mali as part of its peacekeeping mission.

https://www.rt.com/news/505401-french-airstrikes-mali-qaeda/