Establishment Dems (or someone aligned with them) using sneaky tactics (that undoubtedly are/ will be used in other elections) to try to beat a Progressive candidate

The race to fill Michigan’s open Senate seat narrowed this month to a two-way Democratic primary between Rep. Haley Stevens and physician and former county health director Abdul El-Sayed. Backed by the Democrats’ progressive wing, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., El-Sayed’s campaign has outraised Stevens, an establishment candidate who has been endorsed by retiring Sen. Gary Peters, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and, on Friday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. But outside groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and its affiliates, have poured $50 million into the race to boost Stevens. The primary election is on Aug. 4.

These seemingly coordinated social media posts from purported Michiganders with names that include periods and phrases like “rants with” or “yaps” are meant to boost Stevens too. And they echo the language of a paid influencer campaign for an unspecified candidate that one influencer who was approached for the job shared with MS NOW. But unlike the TV ads currently blanketing the state, which carry the names of the groups that paid for them, the posts of the influencer campaign do not disclose any potential funders — or even whether they are ads. #

Billions in revenue from Venezuelan oil has gone missing—and the Trump administration keeps changing its story.

The Trump administration has raked in about $13 billion after taking over Venezuela’s oil exports in the wake of its kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, according to a Financial Times analysis. But six months later, and one month after two devastating earthquakes, that money is nowhere to be found.

When Trump first seized the “millions of barrels” of oil back in January, he assumed complete control. His administration eventually proclaimed that it would use any profit from the sales for “the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people.” The State Department has since claimed that “billions of dollars have been disbursed to the Venezuelan economy” and that “financial monitoring is under way to ensure funds benefit the Venezuelan people.”

But none of that has been proven to be true. The Financial Times reported Wednesday that there has been no evidence of oil money going back into the hands of the Venezuelans Trump claimed to care for, and that Venezuela’s first-quarter gross domestic product was the lowest it’s been in five years.

Or insider trading as a service…

https://infosec.exchange/@briankrebs/116959137948884825

Banks can now get [early] access to insider trading information, straight from the POTUS’s mouth. For a fee, of course. Axios reports Trump Media has already signed several customers ahead of the Aug. 1 launch, including financial news organizations and high-frequency trading firms.

A letter from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) to the financial services industry urges banks to reject Truth Social’s new service that would offer advance access to the president’s posts on the platform.

"In a letter to the presidents of Bank Policy Institute, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Managed Funds Association, Financial Services Forum, Principal Traders Group, and American Bankers Association, Sen. Warner wrote, “I write regarding Trump Media & Technology Group’s (TMTG) announcement that it will begin offering financial institutions and other users the option of paying TMTG for prioritized delivery of posts from President Trump (and other Truth Social accounts as determined by TMTG). This arrangement presents a serious risk to market integrity, creates a clear and unacceptable pathway for corruption, and undermines public confidence in the fair dissemination of market-moving government information – a crucial factor in maintaining stable and trustworthy financial markets.”

“Sen. Warner explained that, according to TMTG, the Truth API will provide select paying customers with advance access to posts from top Truth Social accounts, a list that includes the president’s, faster than regular users receive push notifications or can manually monitor Truth Social. Trump Media has said the service is specifically designed for organizations “most impacted by the cost of a delay in information,” including algorithmic trading firms, and customers have already signed up for the service, which it has reportedly offered for $100,000 per month.”

https://www.warner.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/260721.Warner_Finance_Truth_API_letter.pdf**___**

The Montclair Township Council voted unanimously Tuesday to pull all of the town’s money — about $91.1 million — out of Citizens Bank, protesting the bank’s financing of the private companies that run federal immigration detention centers.

The July 14 resolution authorizes Montclair’s chief financial officer to divest “all Township funds from Citizens Bank as soon as is practicable” and strikes the bank from the town’s list of approved depositories. Town records show the deposits equal more than four-fifths of Montclair’s $106.8 million annual budget, making Citizens one of the town’s largest banking relationships.

Montclair is the latest New Jersey municipality to move its money. Jersey City voted last month to divest from Citizens. The De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition, which organized the pressure campaign, says the two New Jersey towns have pulled more than $330 million combined. Neighboring Bloomfield’s governing body discussed a similar step the night before Montclair’s vote.

“I believe that this is the right thing to do,” Deputy Mayor Susan Shin Andersen said during the meeting. “We can make the conscious choice not to be complicit in putting our residents taxpayer dollars into a financial institution that financially supports these concentration camp private prisons.”

I came to Lemmy 3 years ago, during the reddit API cutoff exodus.

I love the Fediverse! It is full of kind, interesting, thoughtful, and open-minded people. It doesn’t have every possible community, but there are other corners of the Internet for that.

I’m on Mastodon and fedinsfw (formerly lemmynsfw) but this is my primary Fediverse instance and account. I love it here for the brilliant, accountable, and transparent admin; the quality posters; the thoughtful commenters; those who step up to invigorate a sleepy community; those who try to broker peace between squabbling commenters; those who upvote quality posts and report ones that break the rules - we all contribute to make this community so great! (I know many regulars by screen name, but don’t want to risk omitting anyone by naming names. :)

In celebration of 3 good years here, I made a donation with the hope we will keep this fabulous instance and community going!

https://mstdn.social/@grickle/116924830102921661