u/20_mile

> New York — Regulators appointed by President Donald Trump are allowing the Trump family’s flagship cryptocurrency venture to become a bank, a move that is alarming ethics watchdogs and some lawmakers. World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm Trump and his sons launched in 2024, announced late Friday that it received a preliminary conditional approval from banking officials to become a trust bank. Final approval hinges on a series of conditions being met. > > The green light from regulators is a big win for World Liberty. > > The firm won’t be able to take deposits or make loans. But the bank charter will allow World Liberty to cut out the middlemen it relies on to safeguard and issue USD1, a dollar-backed stable coin that has more than $4 billion in circulation. > > World Liberty is celebrating the major milestone, while critics worry this is a new wrinkle on the classic case of the fox guarding the henhouse that will give corporations and foreign actors a new way to stealthily curry favor with the White House. > > Trump, his sons and other investors started World Liberty weeks before winning the 2024 election. After taking office, Trump appointed crypto-friendly regulators — some of whom have now blessed the firm’s plan to become a bank. > > “Bank failures can be catastrophic, as we found out in 1929 and again in 2008,” Richard Painter, the top ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told CNN. “It is quite precarious to have the president and his family invested heavily in one of our most important regulated industries at the same time as he has the power to hire and fire the regulators.” > > Major crypto profits for Trump > > Those investments have already paid off handsomely. > > Trump earned more than $526 million from the sale of cryptocurrency tokens tied to World Liberty Financial last year alone, according to disclosure forms. And he earned approximately $263 million from the sale of equity in World Liberty to a group of investors led by a royal from the United Arab Emirates, The Wall Street Journal reported. > > World Liberty is run by Zach Witkoff, the son of Trump friend and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. > > “President Trump is now the first President in history to approve, operate and supervise his own bank,” Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement. “This is the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen.” > > Warren and fellow Senate Democrats announced plans on Friday to introduce a bill that would ban federal regulators from approving bank applications for banks owned or controlled by the president, vice president, family members, members of Congress or other US officials. > > ‘There are no conflicts of interest’ > > The White House rejected the criticism. > > “All of President Trump’s investment holdings are held in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. “This is the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family and his administration for a decade … There are no conflicts of interest.” > > David Wachsman, a spokesman for World Liberty Financial, defended the bank charter preliminary approval, noting it will ensure “robust and permanent” regulatory supervision “that will outlast the Trump administration.” > > “Critics are missing the point: World Liberty Financial is running towards regulation and continuous oversight, not away from it,” Wachsman said. > > World Liberty also noted that the banking charter approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency includes a promise from DT Marks SC LLC, a Trump family entity, to be a passive investor in the new bank. > > That agreement, signed by Eric Trump, states that DT Marks will not directly or indirectly try to influence the bank’s operations, have an officer at the bank or take a series of other steps. > > In other words, the Trump entity is promising to be a silent partner in the bank. > > Still, the Trump family stands to gain from the business and its new role as a trust bank. > > Critics worry this regulatory decision will backfire. > > “Granting a bank charter to the First Family’s crypto firm poses unprecedented risks because it creates insurmountable conflicts of interest,” Patrick Woodall, managing director at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, said in a statement. “The Trump OCC cannot credibly or impartially supervise or examine the Trump family crypto bank, make sure it operates safely and soundly, maintain adequate reserves for the Trump stablecoin or protect customers from unfair or deceptive practices.” > > Stalled crypto legislation

> Ironically, the bank charter decision on World Liberty could further delay White House efforts to pass the Clarity Act. > > That legislation, stalled in Congress, would establish a clear regulatory framework for crypto and help validate the relatively new industry’s place in the broader financial landscape. > > The bill had been stalled in part by concerns from Democrats who were pushing to force President Trump to ditch his crypto investments. > > “The continued fight over the ethics language may derail crypto industry efforts to get Congress to enact the Clarity Act this year,” Jaret Seiberg, managing director at TD Washington Research Group, wrote in a note to clients on Monday.

Hard to find an action TV or movie these days where the fate of the world isn't hanging in the balance.

I like the plots in Knight Rider because the bad guys are usually just smalltime hustlers or scammers. The problems are small enough that one man and his car can figure it out in about 42 minutes. No need for the Hulk to show up, or Superman, or for a QRF team, etc to save the day.

Hello,

I am an American visiting Bangalore from 28 October - 1 March.

I am looking for a room to stay in. I don't need kitchen access, just a bed, key entry, table for my laptop, and wifi.

Something near Madiwala Lake and with a terrace / sundeck / porch. I love being near trees / forests.

I wake up around 5 - 6 AM, and usually go to sleep by 10 PM.

Please send me a DM.

Looking for a cool coffee shop West of the CT River. I tried out Circuit Coffee in Westfield, but that place is yuppie top-to-bottom.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

>!There's nothing remarkable about my genitalia, except it looks a little funny. A girlfriend once said it reminded her of insect mandibles.!<

I am looking to hire someone to write funny NSFW cartoon dialogue / captions. Four panels per week.

It is, above all, supposed to be funny.

Possible ideas:

• One insect army fighting another + funny caption / dialogue

• Me, copied over and over, all of us standing in a 1930s breadline, wearing trenchcoats and hats + funny caption / dialogue

• An ongoing private eye / private dick series + funny caption / dialogue

• An burned-out office drone (employee) + funny caption / dialogue

You would come up with the setting, write the dialogue & captions. The photoshop edits--not your responsibility--are meant to be wildly simple. The writing is going to be doing the heavy lifting.

There's nothing sexual about this, and nothing sexual is intended. This is, in all ways, meant to be funny, witty, clever, humorous, and wry.

Some of you might already be familiar with "Things My Dick Does". This would be like that, but more.

>!You must be comfortable with suggesting poses / the setting. Preference given to someone willing to look at the overall finished work, and make suggestions for edits. I've never sent a dick pic in my life, and I have always regarded people who do as very sus / bizarre, but a friend said I should be making content because "nobody else has a dick that looks like that." I am trying to turn a curse into a blessing.!<

Compensation: 20 cents a word. A four-panel comic, with 15 words (a number for example's sake) per panel would be $12. If a joke can be done in a single panel, you could write four singles, two doubles, or a single and a triple panel, so that the minimum compensation is ~$12 per week.

Maybe I have forgotten to include something here, so please be willing to roll with how this shakes out.

e: I am open to paying $25 for four panels, if the humor is there.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

>!There's nothing remarkable about my genitalia, except it looks a little funny. A girlfriend once said it reminded her of insect mandibles.!<

I am looking to hire someone, or two someones (writer / illustrator), to write funny cartoon dialogue / captions, and animate me with hats, jackets, or extreme looks of concern, etc.

It is, above all, supposed to be funny.

Possible ideas:!<

• One insect army fighting another

• Me, as the giant cockroach from the end of Men In Black

• Me, as the giant insect from the end of TNG: Conspiracy (S01.E25)

• Me, copied over and over, all of us standing in a 1930s breadline, wearing trenchcoats and hats

• An ongoing private eye / private dick series.

• An burned-out office drone (employee)

I'll provide the photos of me in various, ahem, natural states, and together we (or maybe mostly you, if you're funny enough) come up with plots and animations. The animation stills are not meant to be overly complex. They are going to be real simple, with easy photoshop edits.

There's nothing sexual about this, and nothing sexual is intended. This is, in all ways, meant to be funny, witty, clever, humorous, and wry.

Some of you might already be familiar with "Things My Dick Does". This would be like that, but more.

You must be comfortable with suggesting poses.

I am thinking one finished piece a week to start.

Compensation to be negotiated.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

>!There's nothing remarkable about my genitalia, except it looks a little funny. A girlfriend once said it reminded her of insect mandibles.!<

I am looking to hire someone, or two someones (writer / illustrator), to write funny cartoon dialogue / captions, and animate me with hats, jackets, or extreme looks of concern, etc.

It is, above all, supposed to be funny.

Possible ideas:!<

• One insect army fighting another

• Me, as the giant cockroach from the end of Men In Black

• Me, as the giant insect from the end of TNG: Conspiracy (S01.E25)

• Me, copied over and over, all of us standing in a 1930s breadline, wearing trenchcoats and hats

• An ongoing private eye / private dick series.

• An burned-out office drone (employee)

I'll provide the photos of me in various, ahem, natural states, and together we (or maybe mostly you, if you're funny enough) come up with plots and animations. The animation stills are not meant to be overly complex. They are going to be real simple, with easy photoshop edits.

There's nothing sexual about this, and nothing sexual is intended. This is, in all ways, meant to be funny, witty, clever, humorous, and wry.

Some of you might already be familiar with "Things My Dick Does". This would be like that, but more.

You must be comfortable with suggesting poses.

I am thinking one finished piece a week to start.

Compensation to be negotiated.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

>!There's nothing remarkable about my genitalia, except it looks a little funny. A girlfriend once said it reminded her of insect mandibles.!<

I am looking to hire someone, or two someones (writer / illustrator), to write funny cartoon dialogue / captions, and animate me with hats, jackets, or extreme looks of concern, etc.

It is, above all, supposed to be funny.

Possible ideas:!<

• One insect army fighting another

• Me, as the giant cockroach from the end of Men In Black

• Me, as the giant insect from the end of TNG: Conspiracy (S01.E25)

• Me, copied over and over, all of us standing in a 1930s breadline, wearing trenchcoats and hats

• An ongoing private eye / private dick series.

• An burned-out office drone (employee)

I'll provide the photos of me in various, ahem, natural states, and together we (or maybe mostly you, if you're funny enough) come up with plots and animations. The animation stills are not meant to be overly complex. They are going to be real simple, with easy photoshop edits.

There's nothing sexual about this, and nothing sexual is intended. This is, in all ways, meant to be funny, witty, clever, humorous, and wry.

Some of you might already be familiar with "Things My Dick Does". This would be like that, but more.

You must be comfortable with suggesting poses.

I am thinking one finished piece a week to start.

Compensation to be negotiated.

Caine walks around getting into adventures, helping out regular people fight off bullies and corrupt power brokers, never taking money, only asking for a place to sleep and a little food. He tries to avoid violence, but defends himself and others when he has to.

I am not saying Kung Fu is the first iteration of this story, of course it isn't. The story of the loner who wanders the countryside helping people is thousands of years old. Kung Fu is just a good version of it, and more than fifty years old at this point.

Knight Rider and the A-Team are also the same story.

The Foundation's computers have been tracking Lawrence Blake's movements and transactions. Blake, a known bad type, takes a second mortgage out on a small family-run business; some misfortune befalls the business, which then collapses, allowing Blake to buy up the business for pennies on the dollar.

I mean, this is small crime stuff indeed. Mortgage fraud? This is the kind of thing that can occur for years and years, and without any direct evidence that Blake is involved, it's easy to see why local prosecutors would ignore situations like this. Blake is the kinda guy who would even be chummy with prosecutors, mayors, and city councilors, making it easy for him to encourage his political allies to look elsewhere, like at a big fat donation, fancy dinner, or girls, etc (not that any of this happens in the episode, it doesn't, but the audience can easily imagine it).

It really would take a non-profit foundation running long, slow algorithms searching for incongruities amongst small family businesses to stop and take a deeper look at situations like this.

One has to ask if this plot would even work in today's culture. Modern audiences have become habituated to plots revolving around guns, drugs, money, human trafficking, terrorism, etc. An ostensible white collar financial crime would still work as a plot device, but you wouldn't expect that in an action show (a slow investigative show, sure), unless it was laundering drug money for the mob / cartel--certainly not mortgage fraud.

Obviously plots that showcase gun-running, drugs, and human trafficking have direct consequences on real people, but these "high concept" ("simple") crimes don't take much exposition (not that there was much back-and-forth between Michael and Devon in the scene where Devon explains what's going on), but they are also really ultra-Hollywood tropes at this point, where there's not much left to unearth to the audience--"I've seen this before".

Things like mortgage fraud still happen and cause devastating consequences for the regular people caught up in them, but it's hard to see the new crew working on the Knight Rider reboot as looking to plots like this as the kernel for whatever audiences are going to end up seeing when it finally makes it way to the screen.

Knight Rider and The A-Team were shows which really were focused on helping out the little guy. The protagonists stood up to local bullies who weren't badass enough to get the feds called in on them, but operated above local sheriffs and town police forces. These villains ran local scams, with crews of just a few guys, not the worldwide drug-smuggling operations we have become used to seeing.

Knight Rider and The A-Team end every episode with the guys telling the father-daughter mechanic shop duo, two brothers running a smalltown grocer, or mother-son restaurant that their plight couldn't go ignored and unanswered once they found out what was going on. You just don't see modern TV heroes helping regular people like that any more.

"Then it'll cost you something extra: 10,000. All in advance."

"Ten-thousand? We could almost buy our own ship for that..."

A used starship for a little more than ten-thousand credits seems pretty cheap.

Since war generally causes inflation, how are things seemingly so inexpensive in the Star Wars?

Yes, of course things are less expensive in the Outer Rim than in the Core Worlds.

Also of course this is fiction and Lucas could have written anything he wanted to. For context, a new car cost approximately $5,500 in 1977, so maybe the figure of 10,000 would have seemed astronomical to the audience at the time.

Also also, maybe 10,000 credits IS the inflated price, but then prices pre-rebellion you'd be looking at paying a nickel to take an anti-grav trolley (public transportation, which they probably didn't have on Tatooine). A trolley ride cost about a nickel from 1880 - 1920.

What is the in-universe explanation?

e: Except for a few disgruntled people who object to other folks using their imagination, I am really happy with the responses! Some great answers and fun discussion between everyone! Thank you : )