Gail McCarthy☘🇺🇦🌻

not related to Kevin McCarthy thankfully

[Jason Kint @jason_kint]

If this story doesn’t enough attention then I believe Zuckerberg is likely to get away with dodging this. I’m sure the UFC appearance didn’t hurt either.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

APPLEBAUM: Putin presented a fake image of Russia to the world. He talks about himself as leader of traditional society.

In fact, divorce rates are very high in Russia, abortion is very common, very few Russians go to church, and less than 5% of Russians have ever read a Bible.

So it's not an especially religious or traditional culture, but Putin has made himself the face of that idea because it's politically advantageous.

He uses it both to build support, to court, and to win over sympathizers in the West, and maybe he uses it at home as well.

It looks a little bit like how in the 1930s Soviet communists also sold a vision of the Soviet Union to Americans and Europeans about how marvelous it was and how they had discovered a new kind of political system.

If you've never been to Russia, Russia is a large country, it's far away, so you can imagine a lot of things about it. You can create a kind of imaginary Russia, an imaginary Soviet Union.

Especially if you only visit Moscow and St. Petersburg, like most tourists do. But most of the people who admire Russia haven't even been to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

It's very similar today. You have a part of European right and American right who have this imaginary Russia that they use as a symbol, without understanding that it has no relationship to reality.

[Patrick Skinner @SkinnerPm]

Yes, exactly, because the first thing a cop does when they arrest a person on super-serious totally-legitimate definitely-not-made-up charges is to investigate that person’s contributions to political campaigns, and then to tell the press.

[Michael Weiss @michaeldweiss]

Viktor Bout is a former GRU officer turned international arms dealer who ran guns to virtually every murderous militia and warlord on the planet, and also the Taliban and al-Qaeda. A natural guest for Tucker Carlson to have on to discuss the state of the world.

[Epstein File Search @epsteinsearchin]

Howard Lutnick is Trump's Commerce Secretary. He has said his contact with Epstein ended in 2005.

A senator read him the files in February: eight interactions after 2005, including a drinks appointment and a family trip to Epstein's island.

[Sheldon Whitehouse @SenWhitehouse]

I’ve been saying that Trump’s mental condition means he’d rather tear his party down with him than fail alone. 

Now Senate Republicans are saying the same thing to the press after their housing bill debacle.
https://t.co/G6jnEUdiIT

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

According to the US State Department, Ukraine has now reached a point where it will win the war – EP.

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Snyder: We've lost this war. I'll make that very clear. We lost it a long time ago.

Americans are very slow to realize we've lost wars, but that doesn't mean we're slow to lose them. We lost this one very quickly. The terms of this peace are basically capitulation. 1/

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Is Ukraine's land invasion of Crimea beginning?

Ukrainian troops have raised the national flag over the Kinburn Spit in Mykolaiv Oblast, a territory that had been under Russian occupation since 2022.

According to the military, Russian forces retreated under heavy fire and are continuing to evacuate surviving personnel while abandoning their defensive positions.

[Jim Stewartson, Decelerationist 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇺🇸 @jimstewartson]

The absolute cowardice of these people will go down in history. The most miserable babies on planet Earth—afraid of a demented lame duck with a 30% approval rating.

[Norm Clark @Normsmusic]

James Robison
What Joyce Carol Oates wrote to Elon Musk on Twitter. I am told it rattled him. I love it.
“So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates – scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the ‘most wealthy person in the world.’”

[Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski]

Nobody believed Trump and Vance that Iran was going to spend this money on US farm products. That was a line to assuage the cultists who were told by their hero for a decade that providing billions to Iran was weak and evil.

[Jason Mikula @mikulaja]

Appreciate the chance to share my expertise on the Synapse collapse & BaaS with @MorePerfectUS.

While I don't agree banning bank-fintech partnerships is the right policy solution, real risks remain -- and, arguably, are greater now than when Synapse failed in 2024, leaving end users unable to access around $265 million at the time.

While much of that money was thankfully returned to depositors, as much as $95 million remains unaccounted for, with impacted end users still looking for answers.

On the technology side, the use of FBO structures is still commonplace -- including as part of stablecoin infrastructure -- with no publicly known regulatory changes that would encourage banks, infrastructure providers, and user-facing programs to avoid the mistakes that led to Synapse.

The situation on the consumer-facing marketing side is, unquestionably, worse than it was when Synapse failed. With the explosion of stablecoins, we have seen an increase in banking-like products that appear to offer "dollar" accounts, but may or may not enjoy FDIC insurance protection.

At the same time, the regulators who oversee consumer compliance have been gutted. The cuts at the CFPB have been the most extreme and the most publicized.

But consumer compliance, including how third-party programs market their offerings, is functionally handled through programs' bank partners, most of which have $10 billion or less in assets. These banks' regulators for consumer compliance, the Fed, the OCC, and the FDIC, have been explicitly directed to de-emphasize non-financial risks, which include marketing/consumer compliance.

(Find the full episode about Synapse at More Perfect Union.)

[Melanie D'Arrigo @DarrigoMelanie]

The maximum a person could donate to a candidate in 2024 was $3300.

Larry Ellison donated $45M to Trump and got political favors in return.

Citizens United let billionaires buy elections and bribe politicians.

If you care about election integrity, overturn Citizens United.

[Collins Watch @CollinsWatch]

None of the articles on Susan Collins and Roe mention that she fundraised at Leonard Leo's house during the 2020 race; that she accepted the endorsement of Maine's leading anti-abortion organization; and that she recently spoke at the chairman's retirement.

Why not? #MEpolitics

[Annie @AnnieForTruth]

This disgusting piece of pedophile shit needs to be hung by his balls & ripped a new one! Benjamin Alan Molodecki, a 43 year old Texas neo-confederate, was sentenced to three life terms for raping children between 6-13 years. 🤬 https://t.co/KQDTML3ro2

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

NEWS: Three-star Admiral Nancy Lacore just won a Democratic House primary in South Carolina.

She was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Her story is a reminder that public service doesn’t begin or end with a job title.

Some people spend their lives looking for ways to contribute.

Others actually do it.

Show Admiral Lacore some love and leave a 💙.

[Barb McQuade @BarbMcQuade]

Judge blocks Trump’s executive order requiring proof of citizenship to vote. Elections are controlled by states and Congress, not the president. https://t.co/igrOZnmEAm

[Colin McCarthy @US_Stormwatch]

Today was the hottest day ever recorded in France, breaking the record set just yesterday.

[Epstein File Search @epsteinsearchin]

Harvey Levin runs TMZ. He’s named in the Epstein files.

An associate’s email calls him “a good friend” and adds: “They haven’t reported on this at all, but I might be able to get him to do something on the Duchess.”

TMZ runs everyone else’s scandals. Not its founder’s.