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“What’s More Tragic Is Capitalism”: BLM Faces Bankruptcy As Founder Cullors Is Cut By Warner Bros

"What’s More Tragic Is Capitalism": BLM Faces Bankruptcy As Founder Cullors Is Cut By Warner Bros

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Two years…

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"What's More Tragic Is Capitalism": BLM Faces Bankruptcy As Founder Cullors Is Cut By Warner Bros

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Two years ago, I wrote columns about companies pouring money into Black Lives Matter to establish their bona fides as “antiracist” corporations. The money continued to flow despite serious questions raised about BLM’s management and accounting. Democratic prosecutors like New York Attorney General Letitia James showed little interest in these allegations even as James sought to disband the National Rifle Association (NRA) over similar allegations. At the same time, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors cashed in with companies like Warner Bros. eager to give her massive contracts to signal their own reformed status. It now appears that BLM is facing bankruptcy after burning through tens of millions and Warner Bros. cut ties with Cullors after the contract produced no — zero — new programming.

Some states belatedly investigated BLM as founders like Cullors seemed to scatter to the winds.

Gone are tens of millions of dollars, including millions spent on luxury mansions and windfalls for close associates of BLM leaders.

The usual suspects gathered around the activists like former Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias, who later removed himself from his “key role” as the scandals grew.

When questions were raised about the lack of accounting and questionable spending, BLM attacked critics as “white supremacists.”

Warner Bros. was one of the companies eager to grab its own piece of Cullors to signal its own anti-racist virtues.  It gave Cullors a lucrative contract to guide the company in the creation of both scripted and non-scripted content, focusing on reparations and other forms of social justice. It launched a publicity campaign for everyone to know that it established a “wide-ranging content partnership” with Cullors who would now help guide the massive corporation’s new programming. Calling Cullors “one of the most influential thought leaders in American public life,” Warner Bros. announced that she was going to create a wide array of new programming, including “but not limited to live-action scripted drama and comedy series; longform/event series; unscripted docuseries; animated programming for co-viewing among kids, young adults and families; and original digital content.”

Some are now wondering if Warner Bros. ever intended for this contract to produce anything other than a public relations pitch or whether Cullors took the money and ran without producing even a trailer for an actual product. Indeed, both explanations may be true.

Paying money to Cullors was likely viewed as a type of insurance to protect the company from accusations of racial insensitive. After all, the company was giving creative powers to a person who had no prior experience or demonstrated talent in the area. Yet, Cullors would be developing programming for one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world.

One can hardly blame Cullors despite criticizism by some on the left for going on a buying spree of luxury properties.

After all, Cullors was previously open about her lack of interest in working with “capitalist” elements. Nevertheless, BLM was run like a Trotskyite study group as the media and corporations poured in support and revenue.

It was glaringly ironic to see companies like Warner Bros. falling over each other to grab their own front person as the group continued boycotts of white-owned businesses. Indeed, if you did not want to be on the wrong end of one of those boycotts, you needed to get Cullors on your payroll.

Much has now changed as companies like Bud Light have been rocked by boycotts over what some view as heavy handed virtue signaling campaigns.

It was quite a change for Cullors and her BLM co-founder, who previously proclaimed “[we] are trained Marxists. We are super versed on, sort of, ideological theories.” She denounced capitalism as worse than COVID-19. Yet, companies like Lululemon rushed to find their own “social justice warrior” while selling leggings for $120 apiece.

When some began to raise questions about Cullors buying luxury homes, Facebook and Twitter censored them.

With increasing concerns over the loss of millions, Cullors eventually stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, as others resigned.  At the same time, the New York Post was revealing that BLM Global Network transferred $6.3 million to Cullors’ spouse, Janaya Khan, and other Canadian activists to purchase a mansion in Toronto in 2021.

According to The Washington Examiner, BLM PAC and a Los Angeles-based jail reform group paid Cullors $20,000 a month. It also spent nearly $26,000 on meetings at a luxury Malibu beach resort in 2019. Reform LA Jails, chaired by Cullors, received $1.4 million, of which $205,000 went to the consulting firm owned by Cullors and her spouse, according to New York magazine.

Once again, while figures like James have spent huge amounts of money and effort to disband the NRA over such accounting and spending controversies, there has been only limited efforts directed against BLM in New York and most states.

Cullors once declared that “while the COVID-19 illness is tragic, what’s more tragic is capitalism.” These companies seem to be trying to prove her point. Yet, at least for Cullors, Warner Bros. fulfilled its slogan that this is all “The stuff that dreams are made of.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/28/2023 - 16:00

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Volatility Shares cancels ETH-ETF futures launch, ‘didn’t see the opportunity at this point in time’

The company’s co-founder and president, Justin Young, told Cointelegraph in an email that plans to launch at a later date were “TBD.”
…

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October 2, 2023

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The company’s co-founder and president, Justin Young, told Cointelegraph in an email that plans to launch at a later date were “TBD.”

Volatility Shares, a financial firm offering a range of exchange-traded fund (ETF) products, has cancelled its plans to launch an Ethereum futures ETF on Oct. 2, citing changes in the market. 

In an email with Cointelegraph, the company’s co-founder and president, Justin Young, confirmed the cancellation:

“You are correct, we did not launch today. We didn't see the opportunity at this point in time.”

However, in a follow-up email, when asked if the company still planned to launch an ETH futures ETF at a later date Young responded “of course” adding that “plans are TBD.”

An Etheruem futures ETF is an exchange-traded fund that tracks the prices of Ethereum futures contracts — agreements to trade ETH at a specific time and price in the future. Essentially, it allows investors to be involved in ETH trading without having to actually hold any Ethereum.

Related: SEC continues to delay decisions on crypto ETFs: Law Decoded

Volatility Shares was previously positioned to be the first firm to offer an ETH futures ETF. As Cointelegraph reported, Oct. 12 was initially slated as the date which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was expected to approve the first ETH futures ETF, however concerns over the previously impending Oct. 1 U.S. government shutdown reportedly prompted the SEC to move the timeline for approval up.

As of Oct. 2, several firms have now begun trading ETH futures ETFs, including Valkyrie, VanEck, ProShares, and Bitwise.

As Cointelegraph’s Turner Wright recently wrote, “bills for the good or ill of digital assets would be halted amid a shutdown, and financial regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, would be running on a skeleton crew.”

In a twist, the U.S. government managed to avoid the shutdown by passing a stopgap measure to keep services funded through Nov. 17. According to multiple reports, the senate voted 88-9 to pass the measure. U.S. President Joe Biden signed it into law immediately.

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Investors drop class-action lawsuit against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon

The dropping of the suit came amid Terra facing a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Do Kwon possibly nearing the end of…

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The dropping of the suit came amid Terra facing a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Do Kwon possibly nearing the end of his sentence in Montenegro.

A group of investors behind a class-action lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon over fraud allegations have dropped the case. 

In a Sept. 28 filing in United States District Court for the Northern District of California, lawyers representing plaintiff Nick Patterson, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of investors, filed a notice of voluntary dismissal only against Terraform and Kwon. The notice did not explicitly state the reasons for dropping the case without prejudice.

“The [Terraform Labs] Defendants have neither answered the complaint [...] nor filed motions for summary judgment,” said the filing. “Because the Court has not certified the proposed class for any purpose in this case and this dismissal is without prejudice, it will not bind members of the proposed class.”

Related: Do Kwon says SEC’s extradition request is impossible

Patterson’s legal team filed the lawsuit in June 2022 following the collapse of Terraform Labs, which many attributed to kicking off a major crypto market crash. Kwon and the company have since been the target of many authorities globally for their role in an alleged scheme aimed at defrauding investors.

In February, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Kwon and Terra for allegedly “orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud”. Authorities in Montenegro arrested Kwon in March and subsequently sentenced him to 4 months in prison for using false travel documents. At the time of publication, it was unclear if he will be released in Montenegro or face extradition to the U.S. or South Korea.

Magazine: Terra collapsed because it used hubris for collateral — Knifefight

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Brent Crude – Volatile start for oil ahead of OPEC+ meeting

PMIs continue to point to a weakness in demand OPEC+ holds the key to crude oil prices Lost momentum ahead of recent decline It’s been a volatile start…

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  • PMIs continue to point to a weakness in demand
  • OPEC+ holds the key to crude oil prices
  • Lost momentum ahead of recent decline

It’s been a volatile start to the week for oil, with prices initially rising before falling negative to trade almost 2% lower on the day.

We’ve had a vast selection of PMIs to bear in mind today, as well as speculation around the OPEC+ decision on Wednesday and, of course, the US averted a government shutdown.

I’m not sure all of this is a net negative for oil, per se, but it was trading at very high levels prior to this and had already started to lose momentum so perhaps what we’re seeing is a case of profit-taking. Especially given the proximity to the OPEC+ meeting on Wednesday.

BCOUSD Daily

Source – OANDA on Trading View

The recent decline in BCOUSD came following a rally and new high that failed to be backed up by stronger momentum and now it appears to have potentially moved into a corrective phase.

A divergence often isn’t followed by such a sudden corrective move and this may also quickly reverse higher again but the moves over the last few days are not small.

The price is now testing last week’s lows and a break below may point to further declines, with support in the $88-$90 region potentially key.

Ultimately, though, the OPEC+ decision on Wednesday may dictate the direction of travel.

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