Hi everyone! So my wife and I are in a bit of a tricky situation and just wanted to ask for advice.
We moved to the US in 2018 from the UK, we bought a house and had two children here, this is our home and we plan to stay. We are both here on separate H1b visas, and my spouse’s is due to expire at the end of this month. We’ve seen this coming for a while of course, and so I’ve been in the green card process for a number of years with my employer, but unfortunately the timings haven't worked In our favor. I have an approved PERM and I-140. We have since filed for adjustment of status I-485 and associated I-765 EAD. Because we could see the timings would be tight, we paid for premium processing on the I-140, to allow me to put my spouse on a H4 and get an EAD via that parallel (potentially faster) oute. I just received the paper i797 notice for the I-140, and concurrently filed I-539 and I-765 to adjust to H4 with EAD.
In any case, based on the current timings, neither of these EADs will come before my wife’s current H1b ends (we have already recaptured all time spent out of the US). My wife had taken a bunch of time off as parental leave for our recent baby, and so financially we are not in a great position right now, as we have eaten our savings to cover this leave. Without my wife’s salary we are short about $3k a month, just on our financial obligations (HCOL area). Because of this, I think we have a good case for an expedite request, which I will submit as soon as I get the USCIS receipt numbers from my applications.
Best case scenario is that this request gets approved, and she is out of work for a month, no big deal. But in the worst case and it gets rejected then she could be out of work for 6-12 months – at which point we would teeter on bankruptcy and probably have to return to the UK.
My question is, what is the actual risk of her continuing to work? Firstly, I know this is illegal and we should definitely not do it. But at the same time we have already applied for the I-485 and have never worked without authorization and so we have completed those forms truthfully.
For example let’s say hypothetically the expedited EAD gets approved and she worked for 1 month in the gap between her H1b and the EAD – would this even be detectable? How about for 6 months? She has a SSN and receives a W2 each year, so there is obviously a paper trail. We of course don’t want to jeopardize the green card process, but at the same time we don’t want to bankrupt ourselves. Is it worth the risk, or just suck it up and hope that we get lucky with the timings?
Thankfully my wife’s employer is very understanding, but the schedule folks are not too pleased with the wide 1-12 month estimate before she can return! (just writing that makes it seems so silly ‘you can work now in your skilled position in the public interest, but then you have to stop for a bit because the process takes a long time, but don’t worry, you can work again once we get round to it. But we don’t know how long that will be. Feel free to stay though!’ )

I'm a current vendor of Big Lots who supplies them with product regularly. Sometimes I have a large exposure with this customer. I've been reading a lot about how they aren't doing so well financially and it makes me a bit nervous to continue doing business with them and it doesn't help that they just put up their last owned asset to create some short-term cash flow.
Couple of notes:

• They are still buying a lot of merchandise. I take this as a good short-term sign
  
• They pay on time/quickly, I also take this as a good short-term sign
  

My question is, how much of a risk are we at as vendors in terms of bankruptcy? Would they first close underperforming stores to shrink cash pits first before taking such a route? I don't expect them to file tomorrow, but realistically, how safe am I as a supplier currently and what would be a realistic timeframe before I should start to actually worry about my exposure, if not already?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated from those within corporate or more educated on the matter of large companies and their financial health. Thanks!

Hello all, so firstly I want to State that I was not taught anything about finances or savings or anything in this field other than what I have heard about the snowball effect and all of that, as my parents raised me in poverty. Also, unfortunately about 90% of my debts are due to my decline in health over the past twelve years or so. I started off around age 18 trying to save money, only used grants for college, and then slowly but surely, my preexisting health issues since birth worsened, alone with other complications.
Fast forward to now, I am thirty, married, and just got my Master's degree (finished it online), but at a huge cost. The medical debts alone are most likely well over 30k at this point. The credit cards racked up to a little over 10k when I lost my job due to more health decline. I now have student loans debt that is simple unreasonable like probably close to 300k (they have not yet gone into repayment). Last year I went through chemotherapy, had a tumor removed, and the previous years I've had to have multiple different surgeries. I live in a constant state of pain, can only manage to work from home on my laptop (currently just started working as a mental health therapist part time for an online private practice), and before when I was not working at all was denied disability three times in a row.
Anyone also correct me if I am wrong, but I'm pretty sure that even if I were to continue to work part time and be approved for disability by some miracle (I've also consulted disability attorneys btw), that I would not be able to even touch most of the debts in my lifetime. I'd also like to note something that I don't like to disclose often, but during the time I was going for my Master's, I had to use the rest of the loan money to pay for my surgeries and treatments, otherwise I would have been 💩 out of luck, and at times those loans were literally life-saving.
Lastly, my husband is a veteran and works as a security guard currently. He is physically able to work outside of the home but is still limited in what he can do. I'm wondering if God-forbid this is all I can do for me financially, if I were to file bankruptcy how much would that affect him since we are married, and also if that should be the option I should consider taking given all of the information I have shared above.
Anyways, thank you to all in advance for anyone reading all of this. It was hard as well as pretty mortifying and embarrassing sharing all of this, but I have been at a loss as to what to do next. I don't want to constantly have this gigantic burden on my back for the rest of my life in addition to all of my medical issues and treatments.

For the first time since his incarceration, Bankman-Fried described his daily life in a detailed interview with journalist William D. Cohan of Puck:

On a recent Tuesday, I went to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for an intimate chat with America’s most famous prisoner, Sam Bankman-Fried. During our 75-minute conversation, we discussed everything from Caroline Ellison and the travails of his new life, to his regrets about the demise of FTX and his forthcoming appeal.
I got the distinct impression that Sam still doesn’t believe he committed any crimes, only that he was the one responsible for putting FTX in a position where it was vulnerable to a bank run and the devious actions of its competitors

WILLIAM D. COHAN -- May 9, 2024
On Tuesday afternoon, I found myself in the most unusual circumstances—sitting on a small plastic chair at a cramped table in the Metropolitan Detention Center, the federal prison on 29th Street in Sunset Park, in Deep Brooklyn. Outside, it was a gorgeous day, the sort of picturesque and slightly humid one that inevitably reminds longtime New Yorkers of the weather on the morning of September 11th. Inside the prison’s visiting room, however, there was no natural light, no sunshine, only the Hitchcockian buzz of fluorescent bulbs and three vending machines standing in a corner. Posters on the wall attempted to compensate for the bleak atmosphere by buoyantly welcoming visiting families.
I first met Sam Bankman-Fried in December 2021, during the height of his power and influence, when he was the richest person in the world under 30. My friend Anthony Scaramucci, a.k.a. The Mooch, had connected us. On a cold winter night at the One Hotel, on Sixth Avenue, I interviewed him for a documentary I am part of making about Bitcoin and its developer, Satoshi Nakamato. Sam showed up an hour late, in a black t-shirt and cargo shorts, apparently having just flown in via private jet from the Bahamas. A month later, Sam’s cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, would raise its final $400 million round of financing from a group of highfalutin investors—led by Softbank, Temasek, and Paradigm—at a valuation of $32 billion, making the company one of the most valuable in the sector. At that moment, Sam was said to be worth $26 billion.
This week, we reconnected amid very different circumstances. Sam and I arranged for this visit through his Corrlinks email account, at the suggestion of his mother, Barbara Fried, and the family’s prison advisor. We met on Tuesday around 1 p.m. because that was the only day that visiting hours are permitted at MDC, a hangover from the Covid era. Prisoners can have visitors for one of two sessions, either starting at noon or at five in the afternoon.
We were meeting later than noon because of the staffing shortage at the facility. I was allowed to bring in $1 or $5 bills, up to a total of $30, in case I wanted to buy Sam some water, soda, or snacks from the humming vending machines. I was told to put my $20 bill as well as my wallet and iPhone into a locker. Sam was not permitted to buy anything himself.
Following about an hour of bureaucratic snafus (I went to the wrong building at first, and I wasn’t wearing dark pants—although an exception was made for me) and other forms of prison processing (shoes and belt off, metal detection, sticking my hand in a scanner) I was finally allowed inside the prison, without a phone, a watch, a recording device, or even a pad of paper and a pencil. (I knew this in advance, of course, and set about preserving my recollections of our conversation immediately after leaving the facility.)
After a few minutes of waiting, I looked up to see Sam Bankman-Fried, over in the corner, dressed head to toe in a chocolate-brown prison jumpsuit, along with the still-wild frizzy hair that has been his trademark. These days, Sam looks considerably thinner than the last time we met—it appeared he’d lost 25 pounds, at least. But he looked better and fitter than I thought he would, to be honest—less pudgy, less manic, less fidgety, no bags under his eyes.
He was sustaining himself on rice and beans, he said, because the prison food was unsurprisingly inedible, especially the vegan entrées he was served, which his fellow inmates thought literally smelled like shit. He wasn’t complaining, mind you; he noted that he was just trying to make the best of a bad situation. The rice he buys at the prison commissary has become one of the currencies of the realm inside MDC. We joked briefly about how the arbitrage opportunities in jail were better than anything he experienced trading crypto at Jane Street Capital or buying and selling assets at Alameda. He looked me in the eye pretty much the whole time, something he rarely did with people in the old days.
After we shook hands, he sat down in his own plastic chair as a camera watched us from the ceiling. We were surrounded by a couple of other inmates, dressed similarly, facing their visitors. Sam declined my initial offer to buy him some snacks but ultimately agreed to a $4 bottle of water and a small $2 package of Wheat Thins, which he eagerly consumed.
We talked for the next 75 minutes or so, the first in-person interview he has given to a journalist since he was locked up in the MDC last August and then subsequently convicted of two counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money-laundering at his federal trial in November. In March, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Our chat, under these rather drastic circumstances, was a profoundly jarring and fascinating experience.

Prison Diaries

Sam began by answering my question about his life in prison. According to him, he lives in an area of the jail that was dedicated mostly to incarcerated women, save for the 35 men with whom he shares a dormitory-style existence in a big open room—bunk beds, no privacy, extreme boredom, and four television sets tuned to ESPN, Telemundo, BET, and a news channel. Sam said he could try to persuade his fellow inmates to change up the channel selection, but television bores him, so he has no interest in that challenge. He prefers watching a small selection of movies or playing some inferior video games on a tablet, without an internet connection, that the prison provides him and other inmates.
When I told him he seemed better than I had anticipated, he replied that he’d become good at faking it. So, yes, life inside the MDC is not the Bahamas. But, truly, I had expected to see him coping less well. At the MDC, Sam has mostly been permitted his prescription medications, and the cocktail he’s been allowed has him thinking clearly, he said, and energized for the legal battle he plans to wage soon against the verdict.
In the meantime, he told me, he doesn’t fear for his safety. He can use the bathroom and shower a couple of times a week in peace. He’s always been a light sleeper, and he’s still not sleeping soundly at the MDC, but mostly because people sometimes bug him during the night about those bags of rice, which they intend to use to barter. He has not been touched or abused, and he seemed notably thankful for that.
He acknowledged that he has a unique rap sheet at MDC, and his fellow prisoners indeed recognize him. He estimated that about half of the other 35 men in his unit were murderers who had been turned into cooperating witnesses for the prosecution in exchange for not serving a life sentence. In prison, many inmates consider cooperating witnesses the lowest form of vermin, lower even than child molesters. Sam also told me that some of the other prisoners tried to get close to him, thinking they would benefit financially from the proximity to a former billionaire. He doesn’t play along, he said.
We didn’t talk about his trial strategy or whether he intentionally siphoned off the $8 billion of FTX customer funds into Alameda. Both topics seemed moot at this point. We did discuss his onetime girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, whom he selected to run Alameda after lawyers kept hounding him about the inherent conflicts in him running both FTX and the hedge fund. (He chose to run FTX.) He acknowledged that he had asked a few other people if they would be interested in the role, but they turned him down. Ellison, he said, was a good manager of people and a good administrator but didn’t like making big investments and didn’t like taking risks. (Obviously, this seems like a bizarre aversion for a hedge fund manager, but I didn’t belabor the point.) In any event, Alameda ended up doing both.
He regretted that he had not tried harder to find another executive. He also said he should have ignored the lawyers and just kept running both FTX and Alameda, conflicts be damned, sort of like how Elon Musk oversees his various companies. Wishing he had ignored his lawyers’ advice emerged as a theme of Sam’s during our visit.

Legal Therapy

We did talk a fair amount about his appeal and about how he believed he was set up to be the fall guy—the victim of the old build-’em-up-only-to-tear-’em-down narrative arc. His theory of the case was that by the fall of 2022, it was every man for himself on a boat that looked to be sinking. By early November 2022, FTX was facing a liquidity crunch. Sam first sought a deal with Binance, which quickly fell apart or was never truly real, and was in the process of trying to raise billions in capital when his lawyers advised him to turn the keys of FTX over to John J. Ray III, which he did. Ray quickly filed FTX for bankruptcy and installed Sullivan & Cromwell, the company’s outside counsel, as counsel to the debtor.
Sam became the target of federal prosecutors, he told me, soon after FTX’s outside counsel at Sullivan & Cromwell made a presentation to them, on November 9, 2022, a day or so before the bankruptcy filing, about what they believed Sam may have engineered between FTX and Alameda, which has been described as the theft of $8 billion of customer money. In a sworn declaration about that meeting, S&C attorney Andrew Dietderich said he reported to the D.O.J. only what Ryne Miller, FTX’s U.S. general counsel, told him about a problem of “reconciling digital assets with entitlements” on FTX’s U.S. exchange, and nothing about Sam and his alleged transgressions.
Sam told me that had he not been persuaded by Sullivan & Cromwell and then by his personal attorneys to relinquish his job as C.E.O. to Ray, the company would not have filed for bankruptcy, and it would still be a thriving enterprise, worth $80 billion now. In this alternate reality, he would be worth $40 billion and he certainly wouldn’t be at the MDC. (S&C declined to comment on Sam’s theory of the case. It’s also fair to reiterate here that Sam was sentenced to 25 years in prison after a jury convicted him of the crimes described above.)
I got the distinct impression that Sam still doesn’t believe he committed any crimes, only that he was the one responsible for putting FTX in a position where it was vulnerable to a bank run and the devious actions of its competitors, not unlike how both Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers failed in 2008. Why, Sam wondered, was he prosecuted when no one at either Bear or Lehman faced criminal prosecution? During our chat, Sam was contrite and certainly chastened, but not exactly apologetic: He was adamant about his innocence, aside from a few degrees of negligence—punishable, in his view, perhaps by civil consequences, not criminal penalties and a quarter-century sentence.
According to Sam’s theory, he isn’t in prison for commingling assets of FTX and Alameda. Instead, he’s an innocent guy who didn’t get a chance to negotiate a deal with the federal prosecutors, and wonders why he was even prosecuted at all for what he believes was a form of a bank run. Instead, they just presented him with his indictment and told him he could eat it— accept it and plead guilty and then get sentenced, or go to trial and try to fight it. Since there was no plea bargain on the table, he said, he fought the charges at trial, and lost. Unlike his fellow inmates, he told me, Sam speaks to his new attorney nearly every weekday for an hour or so, as the focus of his appeal comes into view. He expects to file it this fall. Yes, he will appeal, but most people think he faces long odds of success.
On the day of my visit, Sullivan & Cromwell, still counsel to the debtor-in-possession in FTX’s bankruptcy case, filed a first draft of a plan of reorganization that appears to give its customers and creditors all of their money back, plus a little more—a return of $15 billion on $12 billion of claims—in large part because of the investments Sam made through Alameda. The plan, which still has a long way to go before being confirmed, also gives Sullivan & Cromwell, along with other FTX advisors, “exculpation” from future lawsuits related to its conduct in the matter. This is not unusual in a plan of reorganization. But Sam has exhaustive thoughts on this subject, which I may explore with him in a follow-up conversation.

Go West, Young Man

I’m not sure how much longer Sam will be at the MDC, and neither is he. He has asked to remain in Brooklyn at least until the fall, when his appellate brief will be filed. But that’s not up to him, of course. If he gets moved, which could come at any moment without warning or explanation, I’m told, it would probably be to California, closer to Palo Alto, where he grew up, the son of two Stanford Law professors. At that point, the question will be whether he gets to spend his incarcerated years in a federal penitentiary, which are mostly nasty places filled with hardened criminals, or in more of a minimum security prison, as Mike Milken once did.
If he does get moved out of Brooklyn, his family and legal team worry, he could spend as long as four months on a bus, handcuffed to the seat, making his way, slowly, across the country. Such prison buses make frequent stops—picking up new prisoners, dropping off others—which explains why they take so long to reach their final destinations. There’s also a remote possibility that he could be placed on one of the many planes operated by the U.S. Marshals Service, a.k.a. “Con Air.” But he’s more likely to get the infamous “diesel therapy,” they fear. Either way, during this hypothetical cross-country journey, Sam would be completely incommunicado with both his family and his lawyers until he reaches his new home in California, deprived of the minimal access to the internet and email he now enjoys in Brooklyn.
Just as we were getting ready to discuss some knotty issues, such as his choices during his trial or the fact that many of the people who once worked for him had turned against him to save themselves, our visiting time was up. It was non-negotiable. We quickly shook hands again. Then Sam went back to his dormitory and I went back outside into a glorious spring afternoon.
Credits/Via: https://puck.news/exclusive-prison-chat-with-sam-bankman-fried/

Originally 5 subsidized and 6 unsubsidized, currently 1 consolidation loan: FFELP Consolidation, currently stuck with Navient (for many years)
Entered Repayment: 8/23/2005
Principal: $51,884
Interest: $93
Interest Rate: 2.88% (fixed)
Current monthly payments: $360.58
Income: currently $0, but will be changing hopefully soon to an amount I cannot remotely predict, but very likely under $65K for up to 3 years of internship, and hopefully more after that.
TL;DR: is there any benefit to try and change my current student loans via reconsolidation to, I believe it would give me, FFELP direct loans? My goals are twofold: pay as little per month as possible without getting stuck with a shitty interest % or giant payments in the future, and qualify for any loan forgiveness options that apply to me (I have never worked public service so PSLF is not an option I'm considering).
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More Info:
All of my loans are graduate school, I graduated summer 2005. At that time, the interest rates were about to go variable and estimates were as high as 10% or more so I immediately took the consolidation option that claimed a fixed 5% life of loan rate and started paying during what should have been the 1 year grace period while I was already broke AF. I've seen that "fixed" rate change over the years, and while my memory isn't perfect, I believe it's always gone down (but I have a vague memory that it was closer to 2% than the 2.88% it is currently, but no documented record that I know of on that).
I've been trying to follow all of the various student loan forgiveness options over the years (including attempting military service, details at the end of this post) and during covid finally gave up trying to track after finding out that my loan type didn't qualify for any of the covid-related relief and then applying for the debt relief program November 2022 that was promptly defeated in courts. After this I've had so very few spoons to deal with trying to keep up.
Last night I discovered this subreddit, read a ton until way too late, learned there is presently some "one-time" payment count adjustments toward IDR and that I can apparently consolidate (again?) into direct loans through the ED where forgiveness and other programs that I've been totally missing out on are available? However, to get in on the payment count adjustments, am I correct that I would have had to apply a little over 2 weeks ago which I couldn't have done because I didn't even know? Do I have any option to get in on this? Is it better to suck it up and stay with the loan and terms I have now with Navient, the servicer that I hate SO much but have learned to just deal with all these years?
I'm so confused about what does or doesn't apply to me because my loans have never qualified for anything previously because they are the wrong type (as if I had a choice at the time I applied - it was the only choice they gave me via FAFSA application at the time, as if I even remotely understood or could predict the ramifications for my future back when I was 23 and took out these stupid loans - the worst financial decision I've made in my freaking life), and I wasn't aware I could potentially consolidate them to be the "right" type to get any relief I've missed all this time, and I've been so scared of going IDR through Navient for ALL THESE YEARS despite numerous stints of unemployment and underemployment because, as far as I could tell, my guaranteed fixed interest rate that wouldn't ever go above 5% would be removed - potentially meaning later in life I could owe exorbitant monthly amounts if/when I ever made more. I spent years of choosing to go without food before I went without paying back these stupid loans that I cannot ever file bankruptcy to remove and Navient has been THE WORST about trying to apply for any changes other than changes to terms that give them more interest %.
I'm presently not working but hopefully will be within the next month or less (ZERO concept of how much I will be making as I'm working toward a psychology internship that will only pay me for actual client hours and not any of the in-between hours, training, workshops, planning, case notes, etc., and depends how many clients come into whatever internship agency hires me as well as what their reimbursement rate is), and my tax return from last year was laughably low, so IDR right NOW would almost certainly give me a very low, if not a $0 repayment. Navient wont give me an unemployment deferment because I'm not on unemployment insurance as I voluntarily quit last November to try and change career paths (back to work related to the graduate degree I've been paying toward for all these years).
When I was 34, I even applied for a "critical shortage" position with the Army because, at the time as I had just learned which is why I applied, there was a student loan forgiveness program if you stayed something like 4 or 6 years in a "critical shortage" job. After several months of application processes, numerous tests (both intelligence as well as medical), getting 10 years' worth of my residency, school and medical records, and more, I qualified for the position but 2 weeks before I turned 35, I was declined for medical reasons. There was a medical waiver option, but that took 4 weeks to get and you age out for entrance at age 35.
I have no other debt and my credit rating is in the "excellent" category (because of this stupid student loan that I always prioritized over even food).
EDIT: THANK YOU to all of you awesome people who have given me all of the answers to the questions I've had. I cannot believe how speedy and thorough all of you are! :D I have officially submitted my direct consolidation application along with the SAVE repayment plan application which is currently processing. WOO HOO!! NO more Navient! AND I am likely able to get all of my years of payments thus far applied toward the loan forgiveness program with the 25 years of payments time stamp. So excited! :D Thank you again.

So I got my first car last year and I was unaware the dealer had me pay twice the value of the car when I bought it (should have shopped around and checked the KBB of the car before committing I know) I was working a different job and could make it work each month. I am a full time student and trying to work less to prevent burn out and have some sort of work/school/life balance while I get my degree.
I quit that job and now work at a coffee shop super part time, I in no way can afford this expensive car totaling to over a grand a month on car payment and insurance. I also don’t want to have to pay for this car anymore either. I took my car in to get valued and even if I were to sell it, I’d only get a little over 1/3 of the loan balance covered.
Is filing for bankruptcy my only option? Or perhaps you may have a good suggestion for me on what to do? Located in Portland Oregon

This post is the first of (at least) 3. I’ve been writing it for a few days now, so it’s pretty long. Some parts are a little repetitive, but this stuff is complicated (for a reason) and I really want people to understand how it works. Clarity is important to me because 1) I want to know when I’m wrong, and 2) obscurity and complexity are pretty much the only things supporting the House of Cards.
Oh and I hate to ask but - even if you just read the TLDR (or can’t read all) but think the post is at least worth looking at, please upvote. I’ve seen the power of the bots and all the words are scary to begin with. Save the award money for more GME 🚀🚀
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TLDR:

APs, like Citadel, use ETFs to provide liquidity. When there are lots of buyers (GME in January), it’s their job to make sure those buyers have sellers to reduce volatility. Yes, stopping squeezes is a large part of their job. They do this by buying ETF shares and selling the GME inside. BUT the SEC has made a series of exemptions for APs that allows them to sell ETF shares up to 6 days before depositing the securities needed for creation. It’s selling before buying, and not locating shares to borrow. That’s naked shorting, up to 50,000 shares at a time. And the securities needed for deposit within 6 days, the ones naked shorted? They go unreported as part of bona fide market making. That’s where (some of) the shares are. In this post, I go looking for them.
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ELIA:

ETFs trade on the market like stocks, but they actually represent some proportion of underlying securities. Authorized Participants (APs are big banks and Citadel) trade ETFs in groups of 50,000 shares called “creation baskets” - and these creation baskets can be exchanged with the underlying securities in the ETFs proportions. (lol it’s actually anyproportion, but more on that later)
For an AP: 50,000 shares of ETF = “creation basket” = 50,000 shares of underlying securities.
They’re interchangeable, for a small fee.
This process allows APs to profit from arbitrage: the process of creating or redeeming creation baskets to profit from differences in an ETF’s market price and the Net-Asset-Value (NAV) of the securities underlying it. A presentation given at Wharton (linked below) showed that APs can make higher and more “predictable” returns by exploiting an exemption that allows them to sell ETF shares that they do not own up to 6 days before purchasing the securities needed to create them.
This is effectively short selling via ETF, and they are legally exempt from locating a valid share to borrow. So it’s naked short selling via ETF.
Also, the shares deposited (short, naked, or otherwise) for ETF creation are not recorded on the APs books, so any short interest involved in arbitrage will not show up in FINRA numbers. Per the Securities Act of 1933.
However, as the presentation explains, evidence of this activity would include creation of ETF shares without redemption, particularly in ETFs that are more liquid than their underlying securities. cough, GME, cough
This would result in consistently increased ownership in the ETF, so evidence of this process can be found in ETF ownership anomalies.
I discuss this data and more, which ultimately suggest, in my opinion, overwhelming evidence of heinous levels of naked short selling across multiple securities, systemically linked through these ETFs and hidden by bona fide market making arbitrage provisions. Due to liquidity, or lack thereof, and GME’s 60+ ETFs, it was the perfect target for this activity. This is why GME is the black hole.
Whoopsie
I argue that Citadel and friends tried bankrupting GME with this system by hiding naked shorts and FTDs across these ETFs, hoping to dilute share price all the way to bankruptcy. I discuss mechanism behind this, HFT’s role, how BoA, GS, and JP got involved, how RC pretty much handed Citadel’s balls over to BlackRock, and what all the footprints left behind might reveal about the scope of this whole thing.
Spoiler, they’re fucked^fucked
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Preface

(( I’m skeptical by nature. Like any tool, skepticism isn’t inherently good or bad - it’s just useful. In some cases more than others. ))
As a disclaimer, not only am I not a financial advisor. 6 months ago I had virtually no financial background whatsoever. The entirety of my relevant knowledge has come from months of independent research and personal interviews. I believe it’s fair to say I have a proficiency for puzzles and a nose for bullshit - and the dynamic between the two has served me well in the past.
I attempt to discuss an incredibly complex system here, the depth of which I’m certainly ignorant to. I decided the “Great Wall of Text” approach just was too much. Plus, I’ve been so close to putting things together for such a long time, I’m eager to have it reviewed. So I’d like present the story as soon as possible it to encourage more apes to dig deeper into this stuff.
I’m sure many of you have years of experience beyond me, but I’ve gone to great lengths in trying to understand the mechanics and regulations at a granular level - as well as their context in the events we’ve hodled through - so I hope you’ll at least give me a chance. I really hope you can correct me where I’m mistaken. I’ll try to answer all questions I can in the comments. I just like to figure stuff out.
It took months of notes and connecting dots to put this together, and I’ll eventually discuss mechanics and examples of arbitrage, creation/redemption, liquidity provisions, ex-clearing, synthetic options positions, gamma-delta hedging, disclosure laws, exemptions, Repos, RRPs, APs/MMs/BDs, FTDs, ETFs, ETNs, and all the regulations supposedly governing this whole fiasco. I try to stick to the official facts and documents, and I hope you glance at the sources I linked.
I’ll try keeping it to 3 chapters, though. This post will be the first - on ETF Arbitrage and it’s importance to GME.

Introduction

The true beginning of this story has been diligently and beautifully covered in the last few weeks by , , Dr. T, Wes Christian, and more. It starts with greedy and malicious short sellers making fortunes at the expense of companies, their employees, and their shareholders. This problem has existed for decades but was able to scale around 1990 - with the emergence of High Frequency Trading (HFT), Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Options trading. Together, they allowed shares sold short and FTDs to essentially be scattered in various places, as this 2019 video and this 2013 SEC risk alert explain.
I urge you, at some point, to look closely at both of those. Based on everything we’ve seen, I believe they are very pertinent and I’ll be leaning heavily on them to explain my reasoning.
ETFs and options trading allow short positions in many individual securities to aggregate, roll forward, and be dispersed (and hidden) in index funds and derivatives. This is, effectively, refurbishing FTDs to manipulate the supply and drive price down. The potential consequences of this scheme was forewarned in 2006 by Patrick Byrne when his company, Overstock, was victimized by this process. Byrne worked with Wes Christian in 2006 to bring attention to the issue, but traction was soon lost in 2008 when a… more immediate disaster… popped up.
In the 2000’s, High-Frequency-Trading (HFT) began dominating the markets. Citadel, possibly the world’s largest HFT trading firm, AND FRIENDS got involved when realized that “predictable” returns can be made through ETF arbitrage.
Index funds like ETFs hold securities in certain proportions to track some index. To an Authorized Participant (AP) like Citadel, ETF shares are traded in baskets of 50,000, and they’re exchangeable with securities in the proportions of the ETFs holdings. This is called creation (buying shares and creating ETF) and redemption (redeeming ETF for shares inside).
If there are differences in an ETFs trading price and it’s Net-Asset-Value (NAV), even for a fraction of a second, this is a profitable opportunity for an AP. If NAV > ETF price, then the 50,000 underlying securities are worth more individually than as an ETF. APs can buy ETF, redeem ETF shares for its underlying shares, then sell for a profit. If NAV < ETF price, APs can create ETF shares by depositing the underlying securities into the ETF fund, which provides the AP with ETF shares to sell for profit.
APs are also allowed to sell ETF shares up to 6 days before creating them, as explained in the linked video. This is effectively a short position, and *because there is no supply limit for ETFs (and ETF creation/redemption has less regulation than in short selling equities) this can theoretically be repeated and hidden in perpetuity.
And they don’t even need a locate. This is essentially legal naked shorting renamed providing liquidity.
So, for example, if the AP has reason the believe the NAV will decrease within 6 days, they can redeem ETF shares and delay creation, hoping to profit from the decreased NAV. The video calls this “directional short selling” - basically a euphemism for legal naked short selling.
In most cases, this process is effective in reducing volatility by moving the “noise trading” into various ETFs. GME, clearly, is not most cases. I don’t think the system considered what happens when there are more shares owed than should be owned.
But does this really even happen? Or to a significant degree? From the Wharton presentation:
“ Directional short selling is the strongest indicator of both short interest percentage and FTDs in ETFs. “
This was likely practiced in a number of stocks. Or entire ETFs, such as XRT, which the presentation shows as having 77 million 13F (institutional) owners in 2017, despite only 11 million shares outstanding…
I argue that GameStop was the crux of Wall Street’s arrogance. I argue that existing data indicates naked short selling attempts to send GME into a death spiral by rolling at least double the number of outstanding shares in derivative short positions and FTDs, effectively diluting share price by inflating supply.
This would’ve been high-risk/high-reward with GME, because it’s 70 million shares outstanding is so small compared to other targeted companies. Blockbuster had 220 million. AMC has 450 million.
With such limited supply, these “refurbished” (rehypothecated, rolling) FTDs can be more effective in driving price down. However, if the “bankruptcy death spiral” fails, covering years worth of these positions gets very violent.
Why? Well the supply is comparatively low to begin with, and the creation/redemption process during the death spiralactually syphons real shares from GMEs float (I’ll explain how that works below). So the arbitrage process has moved a portion of the (already small) float into ETFs, and each share covered simultaneously increases demand and reduces supply. At some point, GME’s liquidity becomes bone dry because so many of it’s actual shares were converted into ETF shares.
Demand for GME keeps rising, but supply is already zero. Demand drives the price up, lack of liquidity drives the price up, APs scramble to find ETF shares, further increasing demand and decreasing ETF supply. However, this time, providing the GME to cover shorts adds no extra supply, so the price for anything containing GME goes vertical. The whole process starts feeding on itself in reverse, and I argue that this has already begun.

Chapter 1: ETF ARBITRAGE

The Game

Blackrock’s explanation
I’m the context of ETFs, arbitrage is simply profiting from the price difference of a security and an ETF containing that security. ETF shares trade on the market at market price, like an equity stock, but an ETF share actually represents an aggregate total of many stocks in a set proportion. The aggregate value of these equities in that proportion is called the Net-Asset-Value (NAV).
ETF shares don’t always trade at their NAV. When this happens, there is a potential for profit because 50,000 shares of the ETF == 50,000 shares of the underlying securities in price, but Authorized Participants (APs) can exchange them nonetheless for a small fee. APs are usually big Banks and Market Makers (MMs): JP, Goldman, BoA, oh and Citadel.
This “exchange” is done through a process called creation and redemption. APs, exclusively, are allowed to do this, and APs are usually big Banks and Market Makers (MMs): JP, Goldman, BoA, oh and Citadel. For example:
Blackrock’s ETFs (iShares) are generally rebalanced 4 times per year: at the end of February, May, August, and November. So if GameStop goes to $350 in January after being balanced around $16 in November, the list I mentioned above (and more) can buy IWM, IJR, IWN, IJT, and all the other ETFs that GME is a portion of, break them open into their individual shares (this is done in 50,000 share baskets called Creation Units) and sell the GME inside. Because the ETFs proportioned GME at a $16 dollar price, the ETFs trading price didn’t go up as much it would if GME were proportioned in real time. NAV =/= ETF trading price, so while GME is rising, 50,000 ETF shares are cheaper than the 50,000 shares they’re redeemed for, because of the GME inside.
Why are they allowed to do this?? According to the SEC, the answer is… Liquidity Oh, and somehow also efficiency and transparency.
//
Let’s take a step back for a second. So some portion of GME’s 70 million shares are purchased by ETF funds, like BlackRock’s iShares, in order to issue the first ETF shares. Then, APs come in and either 1) put some of those GME shares back or 2) take more out, based on the NAV of the ETF. Now, and this this important, because APs PROFIT from volatility through arbitrage, they have an incentive to favor creation over redemption.
If, as an AP, you buy the shares from the market (or just naked short them), and have them trade as ETF instead, you decrease supply of the security. This increases volatility, which creates more opportunity for arbitrage - i.e. more opportunity for profit. AND if you have more shares for creation/redemption, you have better control over the prices of both the ETF and it’s securities.
Did I mention that Citadel is the world’s largest HFT firm?
Anyway, there is a very strong incentive to take shares from securities and have them trade as ETF instead. And I’d argue that at some point, the “providing liquidity” excuse becomes void, because the AP was the one who diminished the liquidity in the first place.
//
Well what happens when an 7% of an ETF contains shares of a company you intend to bankrupt?
This 2019 Presentation at Wharton, as linked above, briefly talks about XRT. I’ve linked it a few times now, pleasewatch or save that video.
The presenter notes that the example is extreme, and I’d say it’s borderline heinous. The SPDR fund had issued ~11 million shares of XRT in 2017, but the 13F filings added up to 77 million shares. There had been 66 million shares created, but not redeemed. AP’s have the exclusive ability to create shares, and in 2017 the settlement period was 2 days instead of 6…
The presentation also discusses an AP’s exemption allowing them to sell ETF shares up to 6 days before depositing the required securities into the ETF fund to create the basket. The presenter discusses certain cases where ETFs are more liquid than their underlying securities, like GME, and the ETF shares seem to be continually created without ever being redeemed. This led to XRT.
So of those 77 million XRT shares, say 6 % were GME (not sure exactly what it was at the time but it’s 6.75% now). That represents 4.62 million shares of GME trading in XRT baskets. That represents almost 10% of GME’s reported float, from this one ETF alone.
And where are these shares reported, exactly? I’ll let BlackRock tell you:
** “any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”).” **
As I’m sure you guessed, they’re off the books.
//
To recap:
When institutional investors and retail investors place bids for ETF shares, APs (banks and citadel) can sell ETF shares that they don’t have to “provide liquidity”. Then, within 6 days, the AP must deposit the sold securities into the ETF Fund.
BUT!
APs can (and have been known to) profit from expected decreases in the NAV of the ETF by waiting up to 6 days to deliver the shares. Until settled, this is a naked short position, and it’s not reported in the short interest. Oh and one more thing,
GME is in over 60 ETFs. Go to “Top ETF” under “Ownership”. 68 listed ETFs right now. An AP can short XRT today, and settle by shorting IWM next week, then GAMR, then XRT again, then IJR…. you get the picture.
//
And it keeps getting worse.
How exactly do you think this creation/redemption process is carried out in, say, Citadel? Is there a creation/redemption department with a few dozen people monitoring all these ETFs, the underlying securities, the NAV, and the incoming orders - looking for price discrepancies? A few hundred people? Just Ken-bo? Is Kenny G the Michael Jordan of arbitrage?
Nope. Citadel is all about HFT. It’s algos.
From Investopedia in 2020 -
“Another way these [HFT] firms make money is by looking for price discrepancies between securities on different exchanges or asset classes. This strategy is called statistical arbitrage, wherein a proprietary trader is on the lookout for temporary inconsistencies in prices across different exchanges. With the help of ultra fast transactions, they capitalize on these minor fluctuations which many don’t even get to notice.”
So, to be clear, Citadel, the world’s largest HFT firm by ~20x the AUM of second place - the very same firm that clears over 50% of RH’s trades and gets almost as much total trading volume as the entire NYSE, does the vast majority of that volume with lines of code, stuffed into thousands of black boxes in some fortress in the middle of nowhere… They buy yachts with this creation/redemption system. Do you think these lines of code secure a locate when they short shares to “provide liquidity”?
(( Side note on another gem from that link:
“HFT firms also make money by indulging in momentum ignition. The firm might aim to cause a spike in the price of a stock by using a series of trades with the motive of attracting other algorithm traders to also trade that stock. The instigator of the whole process knows that after the somewhat “artificially created” rapid price movement, the price reverts to normal and thus the trader profits by taking a position early on and eventually trading out before it fizzles out.”
So yeah, no wonder we’ve had dozens of days with insane swings that ended up within 2 percent of open. Those RH orders pile up on Ken’s computers and he can basically execute them however and whenever he’d like. I digress. ))
//

GameStop

Back to GME in January. Ryan Cohen stepped in and at one point, GME did almost 200 million volume in a day. As buy orders come in, market makers like Citadel had to add liquidity from somewhere. After all, GME’s 70m shares outstanding pales in comparison to most other stocks in XRT, and just in general. AMC has 450m. NOK has 4.7 billion.
So in a perfect world, these HFT algos buy ETF shares from the market, redeem them (often from BlackRock, who owns iShares, or StateStreet who distributes SPDR ETFs), and sell the GME. Remember - the number of ETF shares outstanding can fluctuate, but not GME (without shorts or moves from GameStop), so this would reduce the total number of shares of the ETF and restore the shares of GME that the process had originally depleted.
So unless I’m mistaken here, keeping in mind Citadel itself clears almost the same volume as the entire NYSE - to provide liquidity and decrease volatility as buying pressure go up (aka delay the MOASS), should be buying ETF shares to put the GME back. So ETF ownership should decrease as they’re bought up and broken apart. If the ETF ownership stays the same, the extra liquidity is more likely to be short positions, naked or otherwise (to be covered the next day or who knows when).
Well, somehow, from January 15-March 31, ETF institutional ownership went up.
//

Here they are

I did some math.
I used FINRA numbers and the official ETF issuer’s websites (SEC requires them to provide this) to find 1) total shares outstanding today in May (from issuer), 2) institutional ownership from Jan and March (FINRA), 3) the percent GME (issued), and 4) who bought shares (and who did NOT buy shares).
I looked at about 30 of GME biggest ETFs are picked out the ETFs with the most shares floating around. These account for the majority of total volume. Here are some of the standouts, as of, May 31:
IWM - (0.44% GME) - 300m shares outstanding and 345m institutional ownership.
345m IWM shares represents 1.5m GME shares.
IJR - (1.15% GME) - 629.7m shares outstanding and 444m institutional ownership.
1.15% of 629.7m shares is 7.24 million shares of GME.
FNDX - (1.01% GME) - 128.55m shares outstanding and 100.4m institutional ownership.
Another 1.3 million GME.
last but not least
Wedbush back at it again with GAMR - (1.42% GME) - 70.77m shares outstanding and 190,000 institutional ownership.
Another million.
Honorable mention goes to XRT, with 15 million institutional owners holding a total 1 million GameStop shares, though XRT has only 9m shares outstanding.
Adding up just the ETFs I looked at, there are over 20 million claimed owners GME via ETF
That 20m number doesn’t even include retail ownership in ETF, short interest, “family offices” (like Archegos) that don’t have to report their positions to the SEC, any shares from ivestco ETFs (they have many shares outstanding but no reported GME weight despite owning GME, per fintel), or any trades settled in ex-clearing.
It also excludes short positions extended by options and other derivative instruments, which I’ll talk about in the next post.
This is just the tip of the Glacier.
Even the at 20 million at face value means that, as of May, there is a float sized chunk of GME trading as ETF shares.
I’d estimate, just through the ways around regulation that an ape can find on the internet, the number is at least twice that. Byrne mentioned that it could be closer to 5x the reported numbers.
When Ryan Cohen simultaneously mapped GameStop’s future and gobbled up 9 million shares, I think shorts piled into ETFs, particularly BlackRock’s iShares. They got a glimpse. In light of this, I think it’s very telling that they hodled. Hodled Citadel, by the balls, that is.
Oh, and somehow, almost every ETF I looked at miraculously increased in shares outstanding and institutional ownership 2020-2021, even from Jan to March. Despite the fact that the NAV was consistently higher during those periods…
Among the buyers were Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs…
So who were the sellers?

For the sake of transparency, I am not the architect of the following discoveries, and am just helping to forward their message and clean it up. Copywrite of the following work belongs to no one and everyone is not only welcome to share these findings as if they were their own, but openly encouraged to do so.
Introduction
If you think you know anything about MAGA. Trust me, you know nothing. Not even his most devout followers or haters will have considered the following. And for the sake of our democracy and way of life, I hope people read this.
This work may very well help to shift the narrative on Trump in a meaningful and foundational way, but I don't want this work exacerbate any feelings of ill will to MAGA members, for they have been prey to possibly one of the largest con jobs our world has ever seen, especially without the help of this counternarrative.
Snippet From My Thesis On MAGA
As I work on tidying up the master file with the helpful dms I got, allow me to post just the most contentious part of it below, now that it’s able to stand on its own.
MAGA didn’t begin in 2015. I argue it began in 2001 on 9/11, while also harnessing and funneling decades of anti-government resentment till many Americans would openly call for a “wrecking ball” figure to help “drain the swamp.”

A Key Fueling Factor To American Outrage- Inflation
Many elements contributed to growing American anger that would later contribute to MAGA, this is a snippet from the larger work.
Rising Cost of Living
o In 1950, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 24.1. By 2000, it had risen to 168 (a 597% increase), and by 2023, it had reached 304.7, a 1163% increase from 1950.
o Housing prices saw a drastic rise overtime, with the median home price increasing from $7,354 in 1950 to $388,700 in 2023, a staggering 5185% increase.
o While rising rent costs can contribute to overall inflation and cost of living, even the left has largely failed to address how exponentially increasing real estate prices impact the cost of living. This omission has made many other conspiracy theories seem more plausible in its wake.
o If we don’t find real solutions for real estate that also aren’t extreme, then society will feel more and more pressure to accept “unreasonable solutions” like Trump, even though he’s the last person on earth who could solve it, considering his business acumen and history.
MAGA Dynamics and Blind Devotion
In 2016, it wasn't just the left calling the MAGA movement a cult. Trump famously said, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters." Even the left failed to grasp the gravity of this statement. As someone who nearly died in a deadly cult and based on my research, I don't know of a single cult where the founder could openly commit murder without losing members. Trump didn't just believe he'd created one of the largest cults ever; he believed he'd created the most fanatical. Let's hope his followers prove him wrong by showing a willingness to criticize him, regardless of their vote.

The MAGA Question
Instead of challenging MAGA supporters on fallacious beliefs, ask them this question to see if they’re at least able to see a world where Trump isn’t a biblical King: "If Trump admitted he was behind 9/11 and used resulting insurance money and donations from hostile governments to create false “grass root” campaigns. And did it all in a way to make it seem like others committed his own atrocities. And that he intended to destroy America in every way if he got elected, would you still vote for him?"

Yet even then, getting through to a MAGA supporter inevitably refers to 9/11 “research” out there when they realize individual positions are usually fallacious. This quagmire me decide to investigate this tragedy, to see if there was a more plausible counter theory. Honestly, the more I looked the more surprised I became. Here are my findings that are but a snippet of my full thesis on MAGA.

9/11 Conspiracy Theories and MAGA
Conspiracy Theories and Credibility:
o First off, conspiracy theories should involve some effort to verify narratives, rather than just repeating claims across multiple sources that mistake themselves as evidence; like a bunch of people who repeat “bob farted” across multiple websites may see that as evidence, when in fact, it was Sean. Sorry Sean.

Early Origins of MAGA:
o Although some believe MAGA began in 2015, its roots lie as early as the 1980s with Rush Limbaugh and later became "serious" on 9/11.
o 9/11 conspiracy theories claim controlled demolitions were used, but the lack of any cellphone recordings of explosions weakens this theory.

Suspicious Factors:
o The official narrative involving chaotic jet fuel leading to a straight fall seemed questionable.
o The collapse of a third building (WTC 7), which wasn’t directly hit, fueled suspicions.
o Airline stocks were heavily shorted before the attacks, raising concerns about insider trading. Harvey Pitt, Republican SEC Chairman at the time, investigated this and claimed there was nothing amiss, but was criticized for later crimes and forced to resign.
o It’s also suspicious that in Trumps 2000 book “The America We Deserve” that he stated, “I really am convinced we’re in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the [1993] bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers. No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me, are not wondering if but when it will happen*.”*
§ Yet democrats would largely miss this point entirely and obsess over his false claim that he called for Bin Laden to be killed, when he had not. Somehow conspiracy theorists would find this ‘cool’ rather than suspicious.
CNN Fact Check Donald Trump Osama Bin Laden Book Claim

Reports and Simplified Narratives:
o FEMA's 2002 report and NIST's 2005 report provided technical explanations of the tower collapses.
o However, the Port Authority Chairman stuck to the oversimplified narrative that "jet fuel melted steel beams," even though he knew this was a half-truth, as detailed in the next section, fueling anti-government conspiracies. The question is why.

Potential Impact:
o 9/11 conspiracy theories sowed distrust in the government, which may have been one of the attackers' objectives. Anyone that heavily profited from this tragedy, and helped further those objects, should be questioned.
o The ‘Loose Change’ “documentary” pointed out suspicious parts of the story, but failed to give any clear claims as to who was purportedly behind it. It also failed to note the Twin Towers titanic design flaw that could result in a straight fall. Even the 2015 version of this film fails to mention nearly all of the known facts in this report.
o The Director of that film later states:
“I DON’T THINK WE’D HAVE PRESIDENT TRUMP IF IT WEREN’T FOR 9/11”
“9/11 created a culture of fear, of xenophobia, this sense of entitlement and everything we’ve seen. Warrantless wire-tapping, Guantanamo Bay, everything that’s happened led us to this point, we wouldn’t be here without 9/11. They want to kick out all the Mexicans and Muslims because of this culture of fear and bigotry and xenophobia that directly led to the election of fucking Donald Trump. [laughing] That’s our world now! We had Reagan before, and Governor Schwarzenegger. But President Donald Trump? It’s just weird. Everything is just weird.”
Theoutline Reflecting On Loose Change
o While the director was in the right to ask questions, he failed to ask the most obvious ones.
o However, his lead “researcher,” Jason Bermas, would turn out to be a full blown MAGA wingnut.
Patriot Jason Bermas
o Anyone that would benefit politically and financially from 9/11 should be fully investigated.
Further Reading:
Harvey Pitt - Wikipedia
Politifact How 911 Attacks Helped Shape Modern Misinformation
It will never be possible to defeat MAGA followers “logically” with people who believed his parties rhetoric “that 9/11 was an inside job.”

I say… what if those Republican leaders were self reporting?
What if Trump followers have been rallying behind the very man responsible for its orchestration?

The Twin Towers and Larry Silverstein
Architectural Pitfalls of the Twin Towers:
· The Twin Towers had unique architectural flaws due to the excessive heavy load on their exoskeletons to allow for more floor and leasing space, which greatly contributed to their straight collapse after the 9/11 attacks. This was the first and last skyscraper made in this way.
· For anyone who said that “any other building would have fallen sideways,” you were right, though perhaps not entirely how you may have imagined. A "Coke Can" analogy shows how a similar weakened structure can result in a straight fall, contrary to conspiracy theories claiming controlled demolitions. This isn't something I'm asking you to take for granted, or to read from media sources you don’t trust. This is something you can verify on your own, in person, in real time, in reality.
· However Trump, despite being close friends with Silverstein as we’ll cover later, claimed "It wasn’t architectural defects, you know, the World Trade Center was always known as a very, very strong building” per the attached PolitiFact article.
· Supporting Article:
Engineering Experts Explain the Collapse of the Twin Towers
Politifact Donald Trumps 911 Speculation

Larry Silverstein, The Leasor Of The Twin Towers:
· Nearly went bankrupt after losing his main tenant Drexel Burnham in 1980 after he built tower 7 with him in mind.
· I don't know how many of us understand the level of desperation a situation like this can cause in someone and how many potential crimes it can easily push them towards.
· He is known for then saying, “…looking up at the twin towers and thinking, my building is huge, but it is made diminutive by the twin towers. So I said to myself, wouldn't it be incredible someday to own those?" That's not the statement of a sane person who nearly went bankrupt, and if anything, hints towards jealousy.
· He managed to secure Salomon Brothers two years later, which later paid $300 million in securities fraud penalties casting suspicion over the entities who saved Silverstein, in addition to their overall plans for the future.
· How he would become able to outbid everyone else in 2001, for the right to lease the twin towers, would become a mystery we will untangle later.
Further Reading
Manhattan Institute – Silverstein On Ground Zero
Justice Department: Salomon Brothers Securities Fraud

Trump and Real Estate Connections
Historical Context and Redevelopment Plans:
· A redevelopment plan commenced in the 1990s by Gov. Pataki and Mayor Giuliani, spurred a commercial revival in downtown Manhattan, making the World Trade Center prime property. Pataki would go on to criticize trump, while the other would prove to be one of this wildest, if not craziest, supporters to truly fanatical degrees.
Further Reading:
Manhattan Institute: Rebuilding Ground Zero
· Tom Leppert was the CEO of Turner construction which right wing conspiracy theorists claimed helped ensure the towers would fall straight down. He also became part of Trumps transition team. While there’s no evidence of explosives being used, tampering with the exoskeleton and weaking the relatively thin central column ahead of time are theoretically plausible.
Huffpost Donald Trump Transition Team
Wikipedia Tom Leppert

The bidding for the World Trade Center lease involved only a few major real estate firms as allowed by the Port Authority Chairman. Below are the allowed bidders and their estimated worth at the time included:

· Donald J. Trump’s Organization:
o Worth around $1.5 billion in 1996 after multiple bankruptcies. Confirmed only by Forbes magazine in 2005.
· Tishman Speyer:
o Valued at approximately $1.8 billion in 2000, would soon face ‘tenant issues’ with many scrupulous legal claims against them.
· Gale & Wentworth:
o Worth a few million.
· Mortimer Zuckerman’s Boston Properties:
o Mortimer Zuckerman alone was worth around $2 billion.
· The Rouse Company:
o Mainly a shopping mall operator.
· Brookfield Properties:
o A Canadian firm valued at over $20 billion in 2000.
· Vornado Realty Trust:
o Worth an estimated $2-3 billion. Had the highest bid, but was unexpectedly outed by the Port Authority Chairman, paving the way for Silverstein’s win. CEO of Vornado Trust, Steven Roth would later do many deals with Trump in 2005 and beyond.
· Larry Silverstein:
o As mentioned, was nearly bankrupt in the 1980s, and was mysteriously awarded the right to lease the World Trade Center contract at $3.2 billion, twice the original asking price of 1.2 Billion. It would still be owned by the Port authority of NY and NJ, he would just own the rights to lease it.
o Port Authority Chairman, Lewis Eisenberg, made this unexplained decision, who also later became Trumps lead fundraiser in 2015.
o After putting down only $125 million, as per the contract, Silverstein would be getting back $100 million just 6 weeks after his bid and with an uncommon terrorist insurance addition. His exaggerated bid and insurance contract would also greatly inflate the amount of money he could get from an insurance claim. If the winning bid was 1.5 billion, the insurance payout would also have been much less.
o In real estate, its quite rare for a prudent investor to bid twice the asking price, as demonstrated by the other companies that backed out, of which I find no connections to Trump.
o If anyone had known about 9/11 ahead of time, like Trump claims he did, it would become drastically easier to outbid all competitors, knowing that for pennies on the dollar, you would be getting much more back.

Further Reading:
NY Times Article on World Trade Center Deal
Wikipedia on Lewis Eisenberg
Patch On Lew Eisenberg Leading Trump Fundraising
NY Times Article Silverstein Gets Most Of His Money Back

Giuliani’s Gangster Acts
Arguably, if the above points are what they objectively appear to be, that would be a bad thing. You’d think that would be enough. However, Guliani would say “hold my beer’ to those sentiments.

1. Outdated Equipment for First Responders:
· Due to Giuliani’s inadequate leadership, first responders used old equipment that failed to warn them to evacuate the towers. Which contributed to their deaths while they searched for survivors.
NY Times Article: Giuliani’s Preparedness on 9/11
2. Obstructed Recovery Efforts:
· Giuliani delayed proper search and rescue operations for days, possibly costing lives of citizens and first responders who didn’t know they needed to leave.
· 20 Years later he would claim that some of Bidens actions were so reckless that… “It would be as if I got down to ground zero and said take out the firefighters, all you civilians see if you can get yourselves out.” Self report?
NBC News Report: Giuliani’s Role in Recovery
NY1: Giuliani Reflects on 9/11 Anniversary
3. Twin Towers Fund and Privatization:
· Giuliani privatized the Twin Towers relief funds, making them unauditable.
NY Times Article on Privatization
NY Post Article: Giuliani and Twin Towers Fund
4. Survivors Threaten To SUE Guliani For Relief Funds
· Even after privatizing the twin towers fund, Giuliani would make it incredibly difficult for the victims to receive their fair share. Requiring many of them to spend unnecessary money on advisors and consultants.
· Even with their legal pressure, he only agreed to “give the remaining 100 million to victims,” out of 170 million, if he could first put the money into the bank account of a charity in which he controlled.
· From the attached article: “But Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said that he remained adamantly opposed to any transfer of funds to Mr. Giuliani's charity.
He also objected to Mr. Giuliani's continued control over even the $15 million in his private charity. Mr. Giuliani, he charged, gives every indication of using the Twin Towers Fund to maintain a staff of loyal supporters and to advance his political aspirations.
'The concern that politics will infiltrate the fund becomes even more apparent when one reviews the list of the mayor's former political appointees who are assuming senior staff positions or serving on the fund's board of directors,'' he wrote in a letter on Monday to Eliot L. Spitzer, the state attorney general.”
NY Times Article On Guliani Pressed To Disperse Twin Tower Funds
· However, there is no evidence of Giuliani making good on this promise.
· There are honestly no words for this. All associates of Guliani should be investigated.
5. Attempted Election Cancellation in 2001:
· Giuliani tried to cancel the 2001 election to stay mayor longer. He even considered removing term limits with Governor Pataki’s support. Similar to how Trump has “joked” about increasing his own term limits.
Business Insider: Giuliani and Pataki’s Attempt to Cancel Elections
Esquire Trump Joke Third Term
6. Motive
· In 2000, Guliani unfortunately got prostate cancer. We have to be willing to ask if this was a motive for his corrupt acts.
SurvivorNet: Giuliani’s Cancer


Silverstein’s Unscrupulous Greed
1. Initial Settlement Demands and Profit Claims:
· Despite only having been out for $25 million, Silverstein initially sought nearly $8 BILLION in insurance settlements and argued for "loss of revenue from those buildings," which is quite an uncompassionate claim considering how many lost their lives. Talk about a prime example of the working and lower classes making sacrifices while rich elites complain they didn’t profit enough from the same tragedy.
2. Rebuilding Contributions and Insurance Payout:
· Despite the fact that he only owned the leasing rights to the twin towers, ‘Silverstein Properties’ received up to $4 billion from insurance payouts, instead of the Port Authority, which would be customary as the owner.
· While it's assumed that most of that money went to rebuilding, this isn't actually known or proven. It would be different if he had a separate insurance policy that was not connected to the rebuilding of the towers, with different monies going to the Port Authority to rebuild. This was not the case.
History.com: Rebuilding of Ground Zero
· He additionally refused to return the rights of Building 1 to the Port Authority until he secured additional funds from an $8 billion state fund. Talk about heartless.
Wikipedia: Larry Silverstein
· Various entities would contribute a total of $20 billion to rebuild all six damaged or destroyed towers, including four towers leased by Silverstein and two others he hadn't. This makes it unlikely that he had to go out of pocket with his 4 Billion.
3. Estimated Net Worth:
· While earlier records of Silverstein's net worth are unavailable, aside from his near bankruptcy in 1980, he is currently estimated to be worth around $1 billion.
Forbes Profile: Larry Silverstein

Silverstein’s Controversial Alignment with Trump
Larry Silverstein's connections and public persona have often been scrutinized. This scrutiny became particularly relevant in 2015 when he publicly displayed his support for Donald Trump:

• Long-standing Relationship: Silverstein revealed a 30-year-long acquaintance with Trump, emphasizing the depth of their connection. This means his relationship started in 1985, roughly two years after gaining a powerful criminal organization as a tenant in his tower 7, that saved him from bankruptcy, and 6 years before Trumps first, of many, bankruptcies. This also means they knew each other before 9/11.
• Supportive Yet Vague: He commended Trump for diligently pursuing what he believed to be right, echoing Trump's own ambiguous rhetoric. When pressed about the righteousness of Trump’s goals, Silverstein ambiguously responded, "well, it’s... you know... we’ll find out." This mirrors Trump’s evasive " Well, we're going to have to see what happens" stance, when questioned about committing to a peaceful transfer of power prior to January 6th—an event that ultimately unfolded with violence and chaos.
• Early Endorsement: By voicing his support when Trump announced his presidential campaign, Silverstein positioned himself as one of the early prominent figures in the MAGA movement.

Watch Silverstein Discuss Trump
CNN Trump On 2020 Election

The Man Who Boasted
When most people witness a tragedy, especially of this size, it takes time for their brains to comprehend what happened, it takes even more time to process it. Thus, anyone who was able to brag about their own assets hours after this tragedy on a radio show, is at least worthy of Investigation, especially if this very event helped reshape a misinformation landscape in which he would thrive as its King.
Politifact – How 911 Attacks Helped Shape Modern Misinformation

· Insensitive Boasts About Building Height:
o Trump also boasted that with the fall of the Twin Towers, his building became the tallest in Manhattan—an inaccurate and insensitive claim given the context.
Independent 9 11 Trump Tallest Building
· Early Claims and Revisions:
o Shortly after 9/11, Donald Trump claimed he saw the second plane hit the towers from his Manhattan apartment. He also made an unfounded claim that he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering, a statement that has been widely debunked. Despite varying explanations and suggesting that he saw it on an untraceable video that was “widely covered,” these claims helped fueled significant conspiracy theories. If anything, this was a self-report.
o Snopes: Trump Claims Muslims Cheered
o FactCheck.org: Trump’s Revised 9/11 Claim
· Visit to Ground Zero:
o A week after the attacks, Trump visited Ground Zero and stated that although he was present, he wouldn’t consider himself a first responder. This attempt at humility struck many as morbidly insensitive, considering the true heroism displayed by actual first responders.
ABC News: Trump Shares New Details About Morning of 9/11

Legacy of Suspicion:
These actions paint Trump as one of the more suspicious figures post-9/11, who may have used the tragedy for personal and political gain. His connections with figures like Larry Silverstein and Lewis Eisenberg, the Port Authority chairman, hint at deep financial interests potentially influenced by the 9/11 aftermath. Meanwhile, survivors and first responders faced challenges in securing support, highlighting the disparities between their experiences and the political maneuvers at play. Again morbidly juxtaposing the struggles of the poor and working class versus elite swamp members such as Trump and his ilk.

While being, arguably, one of the more suspicious Americans of potentially “being an insider," Trump would go on to cast doubt everywhere else with his new holier than thou rhetoric and hints and claims that “it was an inside job” for the next 15 years.

What if he was speaking from personal experience.

The Deepfake Dilemma
Now in a world where Trump's followers already discount reality, the emergence of AI-generated deepfakes threatens to further distort the truth. This technology could transform legal standards of evidence, making it easy to dismiss genuine evidence against the right as fabricated, while baseless accusations against the left might be accepted as the long-awaited proof.

The Potential Escalation of MAGA Actions
Given the willingness of MAGA supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6th, bolstered by Trump's incendiary rhetoric, the potential for escalation is alarming. The advent of fabricated images and videos could present unprecedented national security threats.

Trump's Incendiary Rhetoric on January 6th
Trump's speech on January 6th was a clear incitement, as he urged his followers to "fight like hell" to "stop the steal," despite admitting DURING THE SPEECH that there was no evidence of the massive electoral fraud he claimed. As well as his lawyers laughable court “arguments.”
“...while there is no evidence to prove any wrongdoing…”
Npr.Org Read Trumps Jan 6 Speech
LawAndCrime Come On Now

This speech, coupled with his undermining of constitutional processes, underscores the risks and intentional deceit of his rhetoric. Too bad Republicans senators and our Supreme Court have either claimed he was above the law, or continue to postpone his court dates till after elections. A wild position when treason is on the table. Did that dude commit treason that claims he wants to become a dictator? I dunno, lets let him potentially get elected and then find out!

Elon Musk's Political Shift
Elon was once very much a leftist, unfortunately in more and more far left “activists” continue to attack him endlessly for not agreeing with them on their own singular issues and perspectives. To them I say congratulations, you successfully pushed the most powerful man on earth into the far right. Great job. Great job.
Elon Musk's journey from a liberal supporter to a figure embraced by the far right highlights the volatile nature of political affiliations in today's polarized environment. His actions since acquiring Twitter—such as promoting unfounded conspiracy theories and making high-profile firings—suggest a departure from his initial free speech advocacy.
Especially when considering he fired Don Lemon from his platform for an interview he found offensive. Canceling opinions you find offensive isn’t free speech, it’s literally the opposite. I’m sure many people were offended by the examples below. What about them?
Far Right Support Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The Need for a Critical Approach
Supporters of Trump should critically evaluate why he did not pardon the January 6th insurrectionists during his term, despite using them as political leverage now. This pattern of using allies until they are no longer useful is evident throughout his political and personal dealings.
What better example could there possibly be as to what trump truly thinks of his supporters, how sacrificial he sees them as part of his endless narratives, then his refusal and failure to pardon January 6th insurrectionists while still in office?
Of course, anyone “just on the grass” or outside the building should only get a day in jail at most, however people that barged inside the capital should naturally get much more.
And while trump refused to pardon those people before, he now calls them “hostages” and is using them as political bait to a truly wild degree. It's very likely he will make good on this promise to further embolden the narrative that “Democrats are trying to take you down and only I can save you.”
His supporters need to seriously ask, “Why didn’t he pardon us before?”
Also, remember when he claimed he would pay legal fees for supporters that were violent at his rallies, but then seemed to falter and change his mind. Much like how Amber Heard donated her money, “by pledging it.”
List of allies he was quick to discard or dump. And let's face it, all of these people have done more for him than the average MAGA supporter. The only person he cares about is himself.
Trump claims that Mike Pence, the man he vetted more than anyone else, “has gone to the dark side.”
Trump seems to have supported the chants to “Hang Mike Pense,” at least in jest? We hope? There are also no links of him condemning them. Yet admittedly this one point doesn’t have hard evidence like a recording or video as far as I know, it certainly fits his brand.
Mike Flynn, a Trump appointee, later testifies against him.
Trump admits Flynn lied on his behalf, accidentally testifying against him, but does pardon him. As long as you’re colluding with Russia you’re ok it seems?

The Future Under Trump's Influence
Trump's rhetoric about overriding constitutional norms to address what he calls "massive fraud" hints at authoritarian aspirations. His praise for dictators and divisive language further aligns with dangerous historical precedents.
Important Articles:
“How a second trump term could end us democracy.” -commondreams
“Ask the expert: What a 2nd Trump term could mean for democracy and advancing policy.” - Msu Today
“Judgement Day” for political opponents.

To predict the future lets base it on known facts:
Apparently, he will help attack our constitution like he may have with the Twin Towers.
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Stated he intended to be a Dictator on day one, but then promises it will be just for a day. Is that how that works? Or is it “Once you go Dictator you don’t go back?”
Praising dictators, referring to immigrants as vermin etc, akin to Hitlers rhetoric against “blood mixing.”
More fraudulent use of lawyers and courts that gets everyone else in trouble but him, with them arguing he's above the law. This further shows how much he will consistently use people for his own ends and then dump them when they're no longer of use.
Warning from republicans and notes on ass kissing. As well as being generally unfit for office.
If you want help from Trump you better kiss his ***
Trumps says he kept Omarosa just because she said nice things about him, while defaming her
DeSantis: "You can be the most worthless Republican in America, but if you kiss the ring, he’ll say you’re wonderful."
Thehill Trump Views People Who Kiss His A As Weak.
And if you dare to speak out against trump, you better kiss his ****
Politico Graham Breaks With Trump On Abortion
WashingtonPost Trump Graham Abortion
News Yahoo 30 More Republicans Denounce Donald Trump Unqualified President
Hot take, if he’s elected president America, and the world, is frankly fucked.

Predicting MAGA 2024 And Beyond
Naturally there are endless possibilities of what MAGA and dictators around the world decide to do this year and into the future. I believe that the one thing that insinuates when it's time for their next evil actions is dictated by their standings in the polls or when a fellow dictator needs a little more political pressure from war torn inflated oil prices etc.
Dictators Unite
While writing my thesis, I speculated that dictators globally were uniting, finding mutual benefits in their governance and deceitful tactics. This theory is increasingly recognized as these autocrats appear to be forming a coalition, undermining peaceful unity efforts through conspiracy theories to preserve their power.
Unherd How Autocrats Unite
The True Nature of MAGA
MAGA was never genuinely about speaking truth to power or restoring America's glory. It has been an elaborate scheme funded by immense wealth, perpetuating anti-American sentiments through fabricated grassroots movements by domestic and foreign actors. This movement has primarily enriched a select few power-hungry dictators and may have been responsible for some of our most horrific moments in history in the past and acts yet to come.
Trump and MAGA
While 'MAGA' predates Trump, he conveniently stepped into a role long in the making. Despite occasional deviations from the MAGA ideology, such as promoting vaccines to emphatic boos, Trump has largely embodied its principles. The real architects of MAGA, however, are likely disillusioned with his unpredictable attacks, which contradict their broader agenda of absolute power.
Nbc News Donald Trump Booed
Trump as a Martyr
Regardless of election outcomes, Trump is poised to claim interference. His rhetoric and the devout belief of his followers in his divine anointment could lead to his martyrdom, especially given his age and the vulnerabilities it brings. This martyrdom could solidify his legacy while serving the interests of MAGA strategists who find him increasingly burdensome even if he “wins.”
Factcheck Trumps Bogus Voter Fraud Claims
La Times Trump Democrats Effort Presidential Ballot

u/neodestiny and friends.
Introduction
If you think you know anything about MAGA. Trust me, you know nothing. Not even his most devout followers or haters will have considered the following. And for the sake of our democracy and way of life, I hope people read this.
This work may very well help to shift the narrative on Trump in a meaningful and foundational way, but I don't want this work exacerbate any feelings of ill will to MAGA members, for they have been prey to possibly one of the largest con jobs our world has ever seen, especially without the help of this counternarrative.
Snippet From My Thesis On MAGA
As I work on tidying up the master file with the helpful dms I got, allow me to post just the most contentious part of it below, now that it’s able to stand on its own.
MAGA didn’t begin in 2015. I argue it began in 2001 on 9/11, while also harnessing and funneling decades of anti-government resentment till many Americans would openly call for a “wrecking ball” figure to help “drain the swamp.”
This work may very well help to shift the narrative on Trump in a meaningful and foundational way, but I don't want this work exacerbate any feelings of ill will to MAGA members, for they have been prey to possibly one of the largest con jobs our world has ever seen, especially without the help of this counternarrative.
A Key Fueling Factor To American Outrage- Inflation
Many elements contributed to growing American anger that would later contribute to MAGA, this is a snippet from the larger work.
Rising Cost of Living
o In 1950, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 24.1. By 2000, it had risen to 168 (a 597% increase), and by 2023, it had reached 304.7, a 1163% increase from 1950.
o Housing prices saw a drastic rise overtime, with the median home price increasing from $7,354 in 1950 to $388,700 in 2023, a staggering 5185% increase.
o While rising rent costs can contribute to overall inflation and cost of living, even the left has largely failed to address how exponentially increasing real estate prices impact the cost of living. This omission has made many other conspiracy theories seem more plausible in its wake.
o If we don’t find real solutions for real estate that also aren’t extreme, then society will feel more and more pressure to accept “unreasonable solutions” like Trump, even though he’s the last person on earth who could solve it, considering his business acumen and history.
MAGA Dynamics and Blind Devotion
In 2016, it wasn't just the left calling the MAGA movement a cult. Trump famously said, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters." Even the left failed to grasp the gravity of this statement. As someone who nearly died in a deadly cult and based on my research, I don't know of a single cult where the founder could openly commit murder without losing members. Trump didn't just believe he'd created one of the largest cults ever; he believed he'd created the most fanatical. Let's hope his followers prove him wrong by showing a willingness to criticize him, regardless of their vote.

The MAGA Question
Instead of challenging MAGA supporters on fallacious beliefs, ask them this question to see if they’re at least able to see a world where Trump isn’t a biblical King: "If Trump admitted he was behind 9/11 and used resulting insurance money and donations from hostile governments to create false “grass root” campaigns. And did it all in a way to make it seem like others committed his own atrocities. And that he intended to destroy America in every way if he got elected, would you still vote for him?"

Yet even then, getting through to a MAGA supporter inevitably refers to 9/11 “research” out there when they realize individual positions are usually fallacious. This quagmire me decide to investigate this tragedy, to see if there was a more plausible counter theory. Honestly, the more I looked the more surprised I became. Here are my findings that are but a snippet of my full thesis on MAGA.

9/11 Conspiracy Theories and MAGA
Conspiracy Theories and Credibility:
o First off, conspiracy theories should involve some effort to verify narratives, rather than just repeating claims across multiple sources that mistake themselves as evidence; like a bunch of people who repeat “bob farted” across multiple websites may see that as evidence, when in fact, it was Sean. Sorry Sean.

Early Origins of MAGA:
o Although some believe MAGA began in 2015, its roots lie as early as the 1980s with Rush Limbaugh and later became "serious" on 9/11.
o 9/11 conspiracy theories claim controlled demolitions were used, but the lack of any cellphone recordings of explosions weakens this theory.

Suspicious Factors:
o The official narrative involving chaotic jet fuel leading to a straight fall seemed questionable.
o The collapse of a third building (WTC 7), which wasn’t directly hit, fueled suspicions.
o Airline stocks were heavily shorted before the attacks, raising concerns about insider trading. Harvey Pitt, Republican SEC Chairman at the time, investigated this and claimed there was nothing amiss, but was criticized for later crimes and forced to resign.
o It’s also suspicious that in Trumps 2000 book “The America We Deserve” that he stated, “I really am convinced we’re in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the [1993] bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers. No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me, are not wondering if but when it will happen*.”*
§ Yet democrats would largely miss this point entirely and obsess over his false claim that he called for Bin Laden to be killed, when he had not. Somehow conspiracy theorists would find this ‘cool’ rather than suspicious.
CNN Fact Check Donald Trump Osama Bin Laden Book Claim

Reports and Simplified Narratives:
o FEMA's 2002 report and NIST's 2005 report provided technical explanations of the tower collapses.
o However, the Port Authority Chairman stuck to the oversimplified narrative that "jet fuel melted steel beams," even though he knew this was a half-truth, as detailed in the next section, fueling anti-government conspiracies. The question is why.

Potential Impact:
o 9/11 conspiracy theories sowed distrust in the government, which may have been one of the attackers' objectives. Anyone that heavily profited from this tragedy, and helped further those objects, should be questioned.
o The ‘Loose Change’ “documentary” pointed out suspicious parts of the story, but failed to give any clear claims as to who was purportedly behind it. It also failed to note the Twin Towers titanic design flaw that could result in a straight fall. Even the 2015 version of this film fails to mention nearly all of the known facts in this report.
o The Director of that film later states:
“I DON’T THINK WE’D HAVE PRESIDENT TRUMP IF IT WEREN’T FOR 9/11”
“9/11 created a culture of fear, of xenophobia, this sense of entitlement and everything we’ve seen. Warrantless wire-tapping, Guantanamo Bay, everything that’s happened led us to this point, we wouldn’t be here without 9/11. They want to kick out all the Mexicans and Muslims because of this culture of fear and bigotry and xenophobia that directly led to the election of fucking Donald Trump. [laughing] That’s our world now! We had Reagan before, and Governor Schwarzenegger. But President Donald Trump? It’s just weird. Everything is just weird.”
Theoutline Reflecting On Loose Change
o While the director was in the right to ask questions, he failed to ask the most obvious ones.
o However, his lead “researcher,” Jason Bermas, would turn out to be a full blown MAGA wingnut.
Patriot Jason Bermas
o Anyone that would benefit politically and financially from 9/11 should be fully investigated.
Further Reading:
Harvey Pitt - Wikipedia
Politifact How 911 Attacks Helped Shape Modern Misinformation
It will never be possible to defeat MAGA followers “logically” with people who believed his parties rhetoric “that 9/11 was an inside job.”

I say… what if those Republican leaders were self reporting?
What if Trump followers have been rallying behind the very man responsible for its orchestration?

The Twin Towers and Larry Silverstein
Architectural Pitfalls of the Twin Towers:
· The Twin Towers had unique architectural flaws due to the excessive heavy load on their exoskeletons to allow for more floor and leasing space, which greatly contributed to their straight collapse after the 9/11 attacks. This was the first and last skyscraper made in this way.
· For anyone who said that “any other building would have fallen sideways,” you were right, though perhaps not entirely how you may have imagined. A "Coke Can" analogy shows how a similar weakened structure can result in a straight fall, contrary to conspiracy theories claiming controlled demolitions. This isn't something I'm asking you to take for granted, or to read from media sources you don’t trust. This is something you can verify on your own, in person, in real time, in reality.
· However Trump, despite being close friends with Silverstein as we’ll cover later, claimed "It wasn’t architectural defects, you know, the World Trade Center was always known as a very, very strong building” per the attached PolitiFact article.
· Supporting Article:
Engineering Experts Explain the Collapse of the Twin Towers
Politifact Donald Trumps 911 Speculation

Larry Silverstein, The Leasor Of The Twin Towers:
· Nearly went bankrupt after losing his main tenant Drexel Burnham in 1980 after he built tower 7 with him in mind.
· I don't know how many of us understand the level of desperation a situation like this can cause in someone and how many potential crimes it can easily push them towards.
· He is known for then saying, “…looking up at the twin towers and thinking, my building is huge, but it is made diminutive by the twin towers. So I said to myself, wouldn't it be incredible someday to own those?" That's not the statement of a sane person who nearly went bankrupt, and if anything, hints towards jealousy.
· He managed to secure Salomon Brothers two years later, which later paid $300 million in securities fraud penalties casting suspicion over the entities who saved Silverstein, in addition to their overall plans for the future.
· How he would become able to outbid everyone else in 2001, for the right to lease the twin towers, would become a mystery we will untangle later.
Further Reading
Manhattan Institute – Silverstein On Ground Zero
Justice Department: Salomon Brothers Securities Fraud

Trump and Real Estate Connections
Historical Context and Redevelopment Plans:
· A redevelopment plan commenced in the 1990s by Gov. Pataki and Mayor Giuliani, spurred a commercial revival in downtown Manhattan, making the World Trade Center prime property. Pataki would go on to criticize trump, while the other would prove to be one of this wildest, if not craziest, supporters to truly fanatical degrees.
Further Reading:
Manhattan Institute: Rebuilding Ground Zero
· Tom Leppert was the CEO of Turner construction which right wing conspiracy theorists claimed helped ensure the towers would fall straight down. He also became part of Trumps transition team. While there’s no evidence of explosives being used, tampering with the exoskeleton and weaking the relatively thin central column ahead of time are theoretically plausible.
Huffpost Donald Trump Transition Team
Wikipedia Tom Leppert

The bidding for the World Trade Center lease involved only a few major real estate firms as allowed by the Port Authority Chairman. Below are the allowed bidders and their estimated worth at the time included:

· Donald J. Trump’s Organization:
o Worth around $1.5 billion in 1996 after multiple bankruptcies. Confirmed only by Forbes magazine in 2005.
· Tishman Speyer:
o Valued at approximately $1.8 billion in 2000, would soon face ‘tenant issues’ with many scrupulous legal claims against them.
· Gale & Wentworth:
o Worth a few million.
· Mortimer Zuckerman’s Boston Properties:
o Mortimer Zuckerman alone was worth around $2 billion.
· The Rouse Company:
o Mainly a shopping mall operator.
· Brookfield Properties:
o A Canadian firm valued at over $20 billion in 2000.
· Vornado Realty Trust:
o Worth an estimated $2-3 billion. Had the highest bid, but was unexpectedly outed by the Port Authority Chairman, paving the way for Silverstein’s win. CEO of Vornado Trust, Steven Roth would later do many deals with Trump in 2005 and beyond.
· Larry Silverstein:
o As mentioned, was nearly bankrupt in the 1980s, and was mysteriously awarded the right to lease the World Trade Center contract at $3.2 billion, twice the original asking price of 1.2 Billion. It would still be owned by the Port authority of NY and NJ, he would just own the rights to lease it.
o Port Authority Chairman, Lewis Eisenberg, made this unexplained decision, who also later became Trumps lead fundraiser in 2015.
o After putting down only $125 million, as per the contract, Silverstein would be getting back $100 million just 6 weeks after his bid and with an uncommon terrorist insurance addition. His exaggerated bid and insurance contract would also greatly inflate the amount of money he could get from an insurance claim. If the winning bid was 1.5 billion, the insurance payout would also have been much less.
o In real estate, its quite rare for a prudent investor to bid twice the asking price, as demonstrated by the other companies that backed out, of which I find no connections to Trump.
o If anyone had known about 9/11 ahead of time, like Trump claims he did, it would become drastically easier to outbid all competitors, knowing that for pennies on the dollar, you would be getting much more back.

Further Reading:
NY Times Article on World Trade Center Deal
Wikipedia on Lewis Eisenberg
Patch On Lew Eisenberg Leading Trump Fundraising
NY Times Article Silverstein Gets Most Of His Money Back

Giuliani’s Gangster Acts
Arguably, if the above points are what they objectively appear to be, that would be a bad thing. You’d think that would be enough. However, Guliani would say “hold my beer’ to those sentiments.

1. Outdated Equipment for First Responders:
· Due to Giuliani’s inadequate leadership, first responders used old equipment that failed to warn them to evacuate the towers. Which contributed to their deaths while they searched for survivors.
NY Times Article: Giuliani’s Preparedness on 9/11
2. Obstructed Recovery Efforts:
· Giuliani delayed proper search and rescue operations for days, possibly costing lives of citizens and first responders who didn’t know they needed to leave.
· 20 Years later he would claim that some of Bidens actions were so reckless that… “It would be as if I got down to ground zero and said take out the firefighters, all you civilians see if you can get yourselves out.” Self report?
NBC News Report: Giuliani’s Role in Recovery
NY1: Giuliani Reflects on 9/11 Anniversary
3. Twin Towers Fund and Privatization:
· Giuliani privatized the Twin Towers relief funds, making them unauditable.
NY Times Article on Privatization
NY Post Article: Giuliani and Twin Towers Fund
4. Survivors Threaten To SUE Guliani For Relief Funds
· Even after privatizing the twin towers fund, Giuliani would make it incredibly difficult for the victims to receive their fair share. Requiring many of them to spend unnecessary money on advisors and consultants.
· Even with their legal pressure, he only agreed to “give the remaining 100 million to victims,” out of 170 million, if he could first put the money into the bank account of a charity in which he controlled.
· From the attached article: “But Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said that he remained adamantly opposed to any transfer of funds to Mr. Giuliani's charity.
He also objected to Mr. Giuliani's continued control over even the $15 million in his private charity. Mr. Giuliani, he charged, gives every indication of using the Twin Towers Fund to maintain a staff of loyal supporters and to advance his political aspirations.
'The concern that politics will infiltrate the fund becomes even more apparent when one reviews the list of the mayor's former political appointees who are assuming senior staff positions or serving on the fund's board of directors,'' he wrote in a letter on Monday to Eliot L. Spitzer, the state attorney general.”
NY Times Article On Guliani Pressed To Disperse Twin Tower Funds
· However, there is no evidence of Giuliani making good on this promise.
· There are honestly no words for this. All associates of Guliani should be investigated.
5. Attempted Election Cancellation in 2001:
· Giuliani tried to cancel the 2001 election to stay mayor longer. He even considered removing term limits with Governor Pataki’s support. Similar to how Trump has “joked” about increasing his own term limits.
Business Insider: Giuliani and Pataki’s Attempt to Cancel Elections
Esquire Trump Joke Third Term
6. Motive
· In 2000, Guliani unfortunately got prostate cancer. We have to be willing to ask if this was a motive for his corrupt acts.
SurvivorNet: Giuliani’s Cancer


Silverstein’s Unscrupulous Greed
1. Initial Settlement Demands and Profit Claims:
· Despite only having been out for $25 million, Silverstein initially sought nearly $8 BILLION in insurance settlements and argued for "loss of revenue from those buildings," which is quite an uncompassionate claim considering how many lost their lives. Talk about a prime example of the working and lower classes making sacrifices while rich elites complain they didn’t profit enough from the same tragedy.
2. Rebuilding Contributions and Insurance Payout:
· Despite the fact that he only owned the leasing rights to the twin towers, ‘Silverstein Properties’ received up to $4 billion from insurance payouts, instead of the Port Authority, which would be customary as the owner.
· While it's assumed that most of that money went to rebuilding, this isn't actually known or proven. It would be different if he had a separate insurance policy that was not connected to the rebuilding of the towers, with different monies going to the Port Authority to rebuild. This was not the case.
History.com: Rebuilding of Ground Zero
· He additionally refused to return the rights of Building 1 to the Port Authority until he secured additional funds from an $8 billion state fund. Talk about heartless.
Wikipedia: Larry Silverstein
· Various entities would contribute a total of $20 billion to rebuild all six damaged or destroyed towers, including four towers leased by Silverstein and two others he hadn't. This makes it unlikely that he had to go out of pocket with his 4 Billion.
3. Estimated Net Worth:
· While earlier records of Silverstein's net worth are unavailable, aside from his near bankruptcy in 1980, he is currently estimated to be worth around $1 billion.
Forbes Profile: Larry Silverstein

Silverstein’s Controversial Alignment with Trump
Larry Silverstein's connections and public persona have often been scrutinized. This scrutiny became particularly relevant in 2015 when he publicly displayed his support for Donald Trump:

• Long-standing Relationship: Silverstein revealed a 30-year-long acquaintance with Trump, emphasizing the depth of their connection. This means his relationship started in 1985, roughly two years after gaining a powerful criminal organization as a tenant in his tower 7, that saved him from bankruptcy, and 6 years before Trumps first, of many, bankruptcies. This also means they knew each other before 9/11.
• Supportive Yet Vague: He commended Trump for diligently pursuing what he believed to be right, echoing Trump's own ambiguous rhetoric. When pressed about the righteousness of Trump’s goals, Silverstein ambiguously responded, "well, it’s... you know... we’ll find out." This mirrors Trump’s evasive " Well, we're going to have to see what happens" stance, when questioned about committing to a peaceful transfer of power prior to January 6th—an event that ultimately unfolded with violence and chaos.
• Early Endorsement: By voicing his support when Trump announced his presidential campaign, Silverstein positioned himself as one of the early prominent figures in the MAGA movement.

Watch Silverstein Discuss Trump
CNN Trump On 2020 Election

The Man Who Boasted
When most people witness a tragedy, especially of this size, it takes time for their brains to comprehend what happened, it takes even more time to process it. Thus, anyone who was able to brag about their own assets hours after this tragedy on a radio show, is at least worthy of Investigation, especially if this very event helped reshape a misinformation landscape in which he would thrive as its King.
Politifact – How 911 Attacks Helped Shape Modern Misinformation

· Insensitive Boasts About Building Height:
o Trump also boasted that with the fall of the Twin Towers, his building became the tallest in Manhattan—an inaccurate and insensitive claim given the context.
Independent 9 11 Trump Tallest Building
· Early Claims and Revisions:
o Shortly after 9/11, Donald Trump claimed he saw the second plane hit the towers from his Manhattan apartment. He also made an unfounded claim that he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering, a statement that has been widely debunked. Despite varying explanations and suggesting that he saw it on an untraceable video that was “widely covered,” these claims helped fueled significant conspiracy theories. If anything, this was a self-report.
o Snopes: Trump Claims Muslims Cheered
o FactCheck.org: Trump’s Revised 9/11 Claim
· Visit to Ground Zero:
o A week after the attacks, Trump visited Ground Zero and stated that although he was present, he wouldn’t consider himself a first responder. This attempt at humility struck many as morbidly insensitive, considering the true heroism displayed by actual first responders.
ABC News: Trump Shares New Details About Morning of 9/11

Legacy of Suspicion:
These actions paint Trump as one of the more suspicious figures post-9/11, who may have used the tragedy for personal and political gain. His connections with figures like Larry Silverstein and Lewis Eisenberg, the Port Authority chairman, hint at deep financial interests potentially influenced by the 9/11 aftermath. Meanwhile, survivors and first responders faced challenges in securing support, highlighting the disparities between their experiences and the political maneuvers at play. Again morbidly juxtaposing the struggles of the poor and working class versus elite swamp members such as Trump and his ilk.

While being, arguably, one of the more suspicious Americans of potentially “being an insider," Trump would go on to cast doubt everywhere else with his new holier than thou rhetoric and hints and claims that “it was an inside job” for the next 15 years.

What if he was speaking from personal experience.

The Deepfake Dilemma
Now in a world where Trump's followers already discount reality, the emergence of AI-generated deepfakes threatens to further distort the truth. This technology could transform legal standards of evidence, making it easy to dismiss genuine evidence against the right as fabricated, while baseless accusations against the left might be accepted as the long-awaited proof.

The Potential Escalation of MAGA Actions
Given the willingness of MAGA supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6th, bolstered by Trump's incendiary rhetoric, the potential for escalation is alarming. The advent of fabricated images and videos could present unprecedented national security threats.

Trump's Incendiary Rhetoric on January 6th
Trump's speech on January 6th was a clear incitement, as he urged his followers to "fight like hell" to "stop the steal," despite admitting DURING THE SPEECH that there was no evidence of the massive electoral fraud he claimed. As well as his lawyers laughable court “arguments.”
“...while there is no evidence to prove any wrongdoing…”
Npr.Org Read Trumps Jan 6 Speech
LawAndCrime Come On Now

This speech, coupled with his undermining of constitutional processes, underscores the risks and intentional deceit of his rhetoric. Too bad Republicans senators and our Supreme Court have either claimed he was above the law, or continue to postpone his court dates till after elections. A wild position when treason is on the table. Did that dude commit treason that claims he wants to become a dictator? I dunno, lets let him potentially get elected and then find out!

Elon Musk's Political Shift
Elon was once very much a leftist, unfortunately in more and more far left “activists” continue to attack him endlessly for not agreeing with them on their own singular issues and perspectives. To them I say congratulations, you successfully pushed the most powerful man on earth into the far right. Great job. Great job.
Elon Musk's journey from a liberal supporter to a figure embraced by the far right highlights the volatile nature of political affiliations in today's polarized environment. His actions since acquiring Twitter—such as promoting unfounded conspiracy theories and making high-profile firings—suggest a departure from his initial free speech advocacy.
Especially when considering he fired Don Lemon from his platform for an interview he found offensive. Canceling opinions you find offensive isn’t free speech, it’s literally the opposite. I’m sure many people were offended by the examples below. What about them?
Far Right Support Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The Need for a Critical Approach
Supporters of Trump should critically evaluate why he did not pardon the January 6th insurrectionists during his term, despite using them as political leverage now. This pattern of using allies until they are no longer useful is evident throughout his political and personal dealings.
What better example could there possibly be as to what trump truly thinks of his supporters, how sacrificial he sees them as part of his endless narratives, then his refusal and failure to pardon January 6th insurrectionists while still in office?
Of course, anyone “just on the grass” or outside the building should only get a day in jail at most, however people that barged inside the capital should naturally get much more.
And while trump refused to pardon those people before, he now calls them “hostages” and is using them as political bait to a truly wild degree. It's very likely he will make good on this promise to further embolden the narrative that “Democrats are trying to take you down and only I can save you.”
His supporters need to seriously ask, “Why didn’t he pardon us before?”
Also, remember when he claimed he would pay legal fees for supporters that were violent at his rallies, but then seemed to falter and change his mind. Much like how Amber Heard donated her money, “by pledging it.”
List of allies he was quick to discard or dump. And let's face it, all of these people have done more for him than the average MAGA supporter. The only person he cares about is himself.
Trump claims that Mike Pence, the man he vetted more than anyone else, “has gone to the dark side.”
Trump seems to have supported the chants to “Hang Mike Pense,” at least in jest? We hope? There are also no links of him condemning them. Yet admittedly this one point doesn’t have hard evidence like a recording or video as far as I know, it certainly fits his brand.
Mike Flynn, a Trump appointee, later testifies against him.
Trump admits Flynn lied on his behalf, accidentally testifying against him, but does pardon him. As long as you’re colluding with Russia you’re ok it seems?

The Future Under Trump's Influence
Trump's rhetoric about overriding constitutional norms to address what he calls "massive fraud" hints at authoritarian aspirations. His praise for dictators and divisive language further aligns with dangerous historical precedents.
Important Articles:
“How a second trump term could end us democracy.” -commondreams
“Ask the expert: What a 2nd Trump term could mean for democracy and advancing policy.” - Msu Today
“Judgement Day” for political opponents.

To predict the future lets base it on known facts:
Apparently, he will help attack our constitution like he may have with the Twin Towers.
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Stated he intended to be a Dictator on day one, but then promises it will be just for a day. Is that how that works? Or is it “Once you go Dictator you don’t go back?”
Praising dictators, referring to immigrants as vermin etc, akin to Hitlers rhetoric against “blood mixing.”
More fraudulent use of lawyers and courts that gets everyone else in trouble but him, with them arguing he's above the law. This further shows how much he will consistently use people for his own ends and then dump them when they're no longer of use.
Warning from republicans and notes on ass kissing. As well as being generally unfit for office.
If you want help from Trump you better kiss his ***
Trumps says he kept Omarosa just because she said nice things about him, while defaming her
DeSantis: "You can be the most worthless Republican in America, but if you kiss the ring, he’ll say you’re wonderful."
Thehill Trump Views People Who Kiss His A As Weak.
And if you dare to speak out against trump, you better kiss his ****
Politico Graham Breaks With Trump On Abortion
WashingtonPost Trump Graham Abortion
News Yahoo 30 More Republicans Denounce Donald Trump Unqualified President
Hot take, if he’s elected president America, and the world, is frankly fucked.

Predicting MAGA 2024 And Beyond
Naturally there are endless possibilities of what MAGA and dictators around the world decide to do this year and into the future. I believe that the one thing that insinuates when it's time for their next evil actions is dictated by their standings in the polls or when a fellow dictator needs a little more political pressure from war torn inflated oil prices etc.
Dictators Unite
While writing my thesis, I speculated that dictators globally were uniting, finding mutual benefits in their governance and deceitful tactics. This theory is increasingly recognized as these autocrats appear to be forming a coalition, undermining peaceful unity efforts through conspiracy theories to preserve their power.
Unherd How Autocrats Unite
The True Nature of MAGA
MAGA was never genuinely about speaking truth to power or restoring America's glory. It has been an elaborate scheme funded by immense wealth, perpetuating anti-American sentiments through fabricated grassroots movements by domestic and foreign actors. This movement has primarily enriched a select few power-hungry dictators and may have been responsible for some of our most horrific moments in history in the past and acts yet to come.
Trump and MAGA
While 'MAGA' predates Trump, he conveniently stepped into a role long in the making. Despite occasional deviations from the MAGA ideology, such as promoting vaccines to emphatic boos, Trump has largely embodied its principles. The real architects of MAGA, however, are likely disillusioned with his unpredictable attacks, which contradict their broader agenda of absolute power.
Nbc News Donald Trump Booed
Trump as a Martyr
Regardless of election outcomes, Trump is poised to claim interference. His rhetoric and the devout belief of his followers in his divine anointment could lead to his martyrdom, especially given his age and the vulnerabilities it brings. This martyrdom could solidify his legacy while serving the interests of MAGA strategists who find him increasingly burdensome even if he “wins.”
Factcheck Trumps Bogus Voter Fraud Claims
La Times Trump Democrats Effort Presidential Ballot

u/neodestiny and friends.
For the sake of transparency, I am not the architect of the following discoveries, and am just helping to forward their message and clean it up. Copywrite of the following work belongs to no one and everyone is not only welcome to share these findings as if they were their own, but openly encouraged to do so.
Introduction
If you think you know anything about MAGA. Trust me, you know nothing. Not even his most devout followers or haters will have considered the following. And for the sake of our democracy and way of life, I hope people read this.
This work may very well help to shift the narrative on Trump in a meaningful and foundational way, but I don't want this work exacerbate any feelings of ill will to MAGA members, for they have been prey to possibly one of the largest con jobs our world has ever seen, especially without the help of this counternarrative.
Snippet From My Thesis On MAGA
As I work on tidying up the master file with the helpful dms I got, allow me to post just the most contentious part of it below, now that it’s able to stand on its own.
MAGA didn’t begin in 2015. I argue it began in 2001 on 9/11, while also harnessing and funneling decades of anti-government resentment till many Americans would openly call for a “wrecking ball” figure to help “drain the swamp.”

A Key Fueling Factor To American Outrage- Inflation
Many elements contributed to growing American anger that would later contribute to MAGA, this is a snippet from the larger work.
Rising Cost of Living
o In 1950, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 24.1. By 2000, it had risen to 168 (a 597% increase), and by 2023, it had reached 304.7, a 1163% increase from 1950.
o Housing prices saw a drastic rise overtime, with the median home price increasing from $7,354 in 1950 to $388,700 in 2023, a staggering 5185% increase.
o While rising rent costs can contribute to overall inflation and cost of living, even the left has largely failed to address how exponentially increasing real estate prices impact the cost of living. This omission has made many other conspiracy theories seem more plausible in its wake.
o If we don’t find real solutions for real estate that also aren’t extreme, then society will feel more and more pressure to accept “unreasonable solutions” like Trump, even though he’s the last person on earth who could solve it, considering his business acumen and history.
MAGA Dynamics and Blind Devotion
In 2016, it wasn't just the left calling the MAGA movement a cult. Trump famously said, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters." Even the left failed to grasp the gravity of this statement. As someone who nearly died in a deadly cult and based on my research, I don't know of a single cult where the founder could openly commit murder without losing members. Trump didn't just believe he'd created one of the largest cults ever; he believed he'd created the most fanatical. Let's hope his followers prove him wrong by showing a willingness to criticize him, regardless of their vote.

The MAGA Question
Instead of challenging MAGA supporters on fallacious beliefs, ask them this question to see if they’re at least able to see a world where Trump isn’t a biblical King: "If Trump admitted he was behind 9/11 and used resulting insurance money and donations from hostile governments to create false “grass root” campaigns. And did it all in a way to make it seem like others committed his own atrocities. And that he intended to destroy America in every way if he got elected, would you still vote for him?"

Yet even then, getting through to a MAGA supporter inevitably refers to 9/11 “research” out there when they realize individual positions are usually fallacious. This quagmire me decide to investigate this tragedy, to see if there was a more plausible counter theory. Honestly, the more I looked the more surprised I became. Here are my findings that are but a snippet of my full thesis on MAGA.

9/11 Conspiracy Theories and MAGA
Conspiracy Theories and Credibility:
o First off, conspiracy theories should involve some effort to verify narratives, rather than just repeating claims across multiple sources that mistake themselves as evidence; like a bunch of people who repeat “bob farted” across multiple websites may see that as evidence, when in fact, it was Sean. Sorry Sean.

Early Origins of MAGA:
o Although some believe MAGA began in 2015, its roots lie as early as the 1980s with Rush Limbaugh and later became "serious" on 9/11.
o 9/11 conspiracy theories claim controlled demolitions were used, but the lack of any cellphone recordings of explosions weakens this theory.

Suspicious Factors:
o The official narrative involving chaotic jet fuel leading to a straight fall seemed questionable.
o The collapse of a third building (WTC 7), which wasn’t directly hit, fueled suspicions.
o Airline stocks were heavily shorted before the attacks, raising concerns about insider trading. Harvey Pitt, Republican SEC Chairman at the time, investigated this and claimed there was nothing amiss, but was criticized for later crimes and forced to resign.
o It’s also suspicious that in Trumps 2000 book “The America We Deserve” that he stated, “I really am convinced we’re in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the [1993] bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers. No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me, are not wondering if but when it will happen*.”*
§ Yet democrats would largely miss this point entirely and obsess over his false claim that he called for Bin Laden to be killed, when he had not. Somehow conspiracy theorists would find this ‘cool’ rather than suspicious.
CNN Fact Check Donald Trump Osama Bin Laden Book Claim

Reports and Simplified Narratives:
o FEMA's 2002 report and NIST's 2005 report provided technical explanations of the tower collapses.
o However, the Port Authority Chairman stuck to the oversimplified narrative that "jet fuel melted steel beams," even though he knew this was a half-truth, as detailed in the next section, fueling anti-government conspiracies. The question is why.

Potential Impact:
o 9/11 conspiracy theories sowed distrust in the government, which may have been one of the attackers' objectives. Anyone that heavily profited from this tragedy, and helped further those objects, should be questioned.
o The ‘Loose Change’ “documentary” pointed out suspicious parts of the story, but failed to give any clear claims as to who was purportedly behind it. It also failed to note the Twin Towers titanic design flaw that could result in a straight fall. Even the 2015 version of this film fails to mention nearly all of the known facts in this report.
o The Director of that film later states:
“I DON’T THINK WE’D HAVE PRESIDENT TRUMP IF IT WEREN’T FOR 9/11”
“9/11 created a culture of fear, of xenophobia, this sense of entitlement and everything we’ve seen. Warrantless wire-tapping, Guantanamo Bay, everything that’s happened led us to this point, we wouldn’t be here without 9/11. They want to kick out all the Mexicans and Muslims because of this culture of fear and bigotry and xenophobia that directly led to the election of fucking Donald Trump. [laughing] That’s our world now! We had Reagan before, and Governor Schwarzenegger. But President Donald Trump? It’s just weird. Everything is just weird.”
Theoutline Reflecting On Loose Change
o While the director was in the right to ask questions, he failed to ask the most obvious ones.
o However, his lead “researcher,” Jason Bermas, would turn out to be a full blown MAGA wingnut.
Patriot Jason Bermas
o Anyone that would benefit politically and financially from 9/11 should be fully investigated.
Further Reading:
Harvey Pitt - Wikipedia
Politifact How 911 Attacks Helped Shape Modern Misinformation
It will never be possible to defeat MAGA followers “logically” with people who believed his parties rhetoric “that 9/11 was an inside job.”

I say… what if those Republican leaders were self reporting?
What if Trump followers have been rallying behind the very man responsible for its orchestration?

The Twin Towers and Larry Silverstein
Architectural Pitfalls of the Twin Towers:
· The Twin Towers had unique architectural flaws due to the excessive heavy load on their exoskeletons to allow for more floor and leasing space, which greatly contributed to their straight collapse after the 9/11 attacks. This was the first and last skyscraper made in this way.
· For anyone who said that “any other building would have fallen sideways,” you were right, though perhaps not entirely how you may have imagined. A "Coke Can" analogy shows how a similar weakened structure can result in a straight fall, contrary to conspiracy theories claiming controlled demolitions. This isn't something I'm asking you to take for granted, or to read from media sources you don’t trust. This is something you can verify on your own, in person, in real time, in reality.
· However Trump, despite being close friends with Silverstein as we’ll cover later, claimed "It wasn’t architectural defects, you know, the World Trade Center was always known as a very, very strong building” per the attached PolitiFact article.
· Supporting Article:
Engineering Experts Explain the Collapse of the Twin Towers
Politifact Donald Trumps 911 Speculation

Larry Silverstein, The Leasor Of The Twin Towers:
· Nearly went bankrupt after losing his main tenant Drexel Burnham in 1980 after he built tower 7 with him in mind.
· I don't know how many of us understand the level of desperation a situation like this can cause in someone and how many potential crimes it can easily push them towards.
· He is known for then saying, “…looking up at the twin towers and thinking, my building is huge, but it is made diminutive by the twin towers. So I said to myself, wouldn't it be incredible someday to own those?" That's not the statement of a sane person who nearly went bankrupt, and if anything, hints towards jealousy.
· He managed to secure Salomon Brothers two years later, which later paid $300 million in securities fraud penalties casting suspicion over the entities who saved Silverstein, in addition to their overall plans for the future.
· How he would become able to outbid everyone else in 2001, for the right to lease the twin towers, would become a mystery we will untangle later.
Further Reading
Manhattan Institute – Silverstein On Ground Zero
Justice Department: Salomon Brothers Securities Fraud

Trump and Real Estate Connections
Historical Context and Redevelopment Plans:
· A redevelopment plan commenced in the 1990s by Gov. Pataki and Mayor Giuliani, spurred a commercial revival in downtown Manhattan, making the World Trade Center prime property. Pataki would go on to criticize trump, while the other would prove to be one of this wildest, if not craziest, supporters to truly fanatical degrees.
Further Reading:
Manhattan Institute: Rebuilding Ground Zero
· Tom Leppert was the CEO of Turner construction which right wing conspiracy theorists claimed helped ensure the towers would fall straight down. He also became part of Trumps transition team. While there’s no evidence of explosives being used, tampering with the exoskeleton and weaking the relatively thin central column ahead of time are theoretically plausible.
Huffpost Donald Trump Transition Team
Wikipedia Tom Leppert

The bidding for the World Trade Center lease involved only a few major real estate firms as allowed by the Port Authority Chairman. Below are the allowed bidders and their estimated worth at the time included:

· Donald J. Trump’s Organization:
o Worth around $1.5 billion in 1996 after multiple bankruptcies. Confirmed only by Forbes magazine in 2005.
· Tishman Speyer:
o Valued at approximately $1.8 billion in 2000, would soon face ‘tenant issues’ with many scrupulous legal claims against them.
· Gale & Wentworth:
o Worth a few million.
· Mortimer Zuckerman’s Boston Properties:
o Mortimer Zuckerman alone was worth around $2 billion.
· The Rouse Company:
o Mainly a shopping mall operator.
· Brookfield Properties:
o A Canadian firm valued at over $20 billion in 2000.
· Vornado Realty Trust:
o Worth an estimated $2-3 billion. Had the highest bid, but was unexpectedly outed by the Port Authority Chairman, paving the way for Silverstein’s win. CEO of Vornado Trust, Steven Roth would later do many deals with Trump in 2005 and beyond.
· Larry Silverstein:
o As mentioned, was nearly bankrupt in the 1980s, and was mysteriously awarded the right to lease the World Trade Center contract at $3.2 billion, twice the original asking price of 1.2 Billion. It would still be owned by the Port authority of NY and NJ, he would just own the rights to lease it.
o Port Authority Chairman, Lewis Eisenberg, made this unexplained decision, who also later became Trumps lead fundraiser in 2015.
o After putting down only $125 million, as per the contract, Silverstein would be getting back $100 million just 6 weeks after his bid and with an uncommon terrorist insurance addition. His exaggerated bid and insurance contract would also greatly inflate the amount of money he could get from an insurance claim. If the winning bid was 1.5 billion, the insurance payout would also have been much less.
o In real estate, its quite rare for a prudent investor to bid twice the asking price, as demonstrated by the other companies that backed out, of which I find no connections to Trump.
o If anyone had known about 9/11 ahead of time, like Trump claims he did, it would become drastically easier to outbid all competitors, knowing that for pennies on the dollar, you would be getting much more back.

Further Reading:
NY Times Article on World Trade Center Deal
Wikipedia on Lewis Eisenberg
Patch On Lew Eisenberg Leading Trump Fundraising
NY Times Article Silverstein Gets Most Of His Money Back

Giuliani’s Gangster Acts
Arguably, if the above points are what they objectively appear to be, that would be a bad thing. You’d think that would be enough. However, Guliani would say “hold my beer’ to those sentiments.

1. Outdated Equipment for First Responders:
· Due to Giuliani’s inadequate leadership, first responders used old equipment that failed to warn them to evacuate the towers. Which contributed to their deaths while they searched for survivors.
NY Times Article: Giuliani’s Preparedness on 9/11
2. Obstructed Recovery Efforts:
· Giuliani delayed proper search and rescue operations for days, possibly costing lives of citizens and first responders who didn’t know they needed to leave.
· 20 Years later he would claim that some of Bidens actions were so reckless that… “It would be as if I got down to ground zero and said take out the firefighters, all you civilians see if you can get yourselves out.” Self report?
NBC News Report: Giuliani’s Role in Recovery
NY1: Giuliani Reflects on 9/11 Anniversary
3. Twin Towers Fund and Privatization:
· Giuliani privatized the Twin Towers relief funds, making them unauditable.
NY Times Article on Privatization
NY Post Article: Giuliani and Twin Towers Fund
4. Survivors Threaten To SUE Guliani For Relief Funds
· Even after privatizing the twin towers fund, Giuliani would make it incredibly difficult for the victims to receive their fair share. Requiring many of them to spend unnecessary money on advisors and consultants.
· Even with their legal pressure, he only agreed to “give the remaining 100 million to victims,” out of 170 million, if he could first put the money into the bank account of a charity in which he controlled.
· From the attached article: “But Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said that he remained adamantly opposed to any transfer of funds to Mr. Giuliani's charity.
He also objected to Mr. Giuliani's continued control over even the $15 million in his private charity. Mr. Giuliani, he charged, gives every indication of using the Twin Towers Fund to maintain a staff of loyal supporters and to advance his political aspirations.
'The concern that politics will infiltrate the fund becomes even more apparent when one reviews the list of the mayor's former political appointees who are assuming senior staff positions or serving on the fund's board of directors,'' he wrote in a letter on Monday to Eliot L. Spitzer, the state attorney general.”
NY Times Article On Guliani Pressed To Disperse Twin Tower Funds
· However, there is no evidence of Giuliani making good on this promise.
· There are honestly no words for this. All associates of Guliani should be investigated.
5. Attempted Election Cancellation in 2001:
· Giuliani tried to cancel the 2001 election to stay mayor longer. He even considered removing term limits with Governor Pataki’s support. Similar to how Trump has “joked” about increasing his own term limits.
Business Insider: Giuliani and Pataki’s Attempt to Cancel Elections
Esquire Trump Joke Third Term
6. Motive
· In 2000, Guliani unfortunately got prostate cancer. We have to be willing to ask if this was a motive for his corrupt acts.
SurvivorNet: Giuliani’s Cancer


Silverstein’s Unscrupulous Greed
1. Initial Settlement Demands and Profit Claims:
· Despite only having been out for $25 million, Silverstein initially sought nearly $8 BILLION in insurance settlements and argued for "loss of revenue from those buildings," which is quite an uncompassionate claim considering how many lost their lives. Talk about a prime example of the working and lower classes making sacrifices while rich elites complain they didn’t profit enough from the same tragedy.
2. Rebuilding Contributions and Insurance Payout:
· Despite the fact that he only owned the leasing rights to the twin towers, ‘Silverstein Properties’ received up to $4 billion from insurance payouts, instead of the Port Authority, which would be customary as the owner.
· While it's assumed that most of that money went to rebuilding, this isn't actually known or proven. It would be different if he had a separate insurance policy that was not connected to the rebuilding of the towers, with different monies going to the Port Authority to rebuild. This was not the case.
History.com: Rebuilding of Ground Zero
· He additionally refused to return the rights of Building 1 to the Port Authority until he secured additional funds from an $8 billion state fund. Talk about heartless.
Wikipedia: Larry Silverstein
· Various entities would contribute a total of $20 billion to rebuild all six damaged or destroyed towers, including four towers leased by Silverstein and two others he hadn't. This makes it unlikely that he had to go out of pocket with his 4 Billion.
3. Estimated Net Worth:
· While earlier records of Silverstein's net worth are unavailable, aside from his near bankruptcy in 1980, he is currently estimated to be worth around $1 billion.
Forbes Profile: Larry Silverstein

Silverstein’s Controversial Alignment with Trump
Larry Silverstein's connections and public persona have often been scrutinized. This scrutiny became particularly relevant in 2015 when he publicly displayed his support for Donald Trump:

• Long-standing Relationship: Silverstein revealed a 30-year-long acquaintance with Trump, emphasizing the depth of their connection. This means his relationship started in 1985, roughly two years after gaining a powerful criminal organization as a tenant in his tower 7, that saved him from bankruptcy, and 6 years before Trumps first, of many, bankruptcies. This also means they knew each other before 9/11.
• Supportive Yet Vague: He commended Trump for diligently pursuing what he believed to be right, echoing Trump's own ambiguous rhetoric. When pressed about the righteousness of Trump’s goals, Silverstein ambiguously responded, "well, it’s... you know... we’ll find out." This mirrors Trump’s evasive " Well, we're going to have to see what happens" stance, when questioned about committing to a peaceful transfer of power prior to January 6th—an event that ultimately unfolded with violence and chaos.
• Early Endorsement: By voicing his support when Trump announced his presidential campaign, Silverstein positioned himself as one of the early prominent figures in the MAGA movement.

Watch Silverstein Discuss Trump
CNN Trump On 2020 Election

The Man Who Boasted
When most people witness a tragedy, especially of this size, it takes time for their brains to comprehend what happened, it takes even more time to process it. Thus, anyone who was able to brag about their own assets hours after this tragedy on a radio show, is at least worthy of Investigation, especially if this very event helped reshape a misinformation landscape in which he would thrive as its King.
Politifact – How 911 Attacks Helped Shape Modern Misinformation

· Insensitive Boasts About Building Height:
o Trump also boasted that with the fall of the Twin Towers, his building became the tallest in Manhattan—an inaccurate and insensitive claim given the context.
Independent 9 11 Trump Tallest Building
· Early Claims and Revisions:
o Shortly after 9/11, Donald Trump claimed he saw the second plane hit the towers from his Manhattan apartment. He also made an unfounded claim that he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering, a statement that has been widely debunked. Despite varying explanations and suggesting that he saw it on an untraceable video that was “widely covered,” these claims helped fueled significant conspiracy theories. If anything, this was a self-report.
o Snopes: Trump Claims Muslims Cheered
o FactCheck.org: Trump’s Revised 9/11 Claim
· Visit to Ground Zero:
o A week after the attacks, Trump visited Ground Zero and stated that although he was present, he wouldn’t consider himself a first responder. This attempt at humility struck many as morbidly insensitive, considering the true heroism displayed by actual first responders.
ABC News: Trump Shares New Details About Morning of 9/11

Legacy of Suspicion:
These actions paint Trump as one of the more suspicious figures post-9/11, who may have used the tragedy for personal and political gain. His connections with figures like Larry Silverstein and Lewis Eisenberg, the Port Authority chairman, hint at deep financial interests potentially influenced by the 9/11 aftermath. Meanwhile, survivors and first responders faced challenges in securing support, highlighting the disparities between their experiences and the political maneuvers at play. Again morbidly juxtaposing the struggles of the poor and working class versus elite swamp members such as Trump and his ilk.

While being, arguably, one of the more suspicious Americans of potentially “being an insider," Trump would go on to cast doubt everywhere else with his new holier than thou rhetoric and hints and claims that “it was an inside job” for the next 15 years.

What if he was speaking from personal experience.

The Deepfake Dilemma
Now in a world where Trump's followers already discount reality, the emergence of AI-generated deepfakes threatens to further distort the truth. This technology could transform legal standards of evidence, making it easy to dismiss genuine evidence against the right as fabricated, while baseless accusations against the left might be accepted as the long-awaited proof.

The Potential Escalation of MAGA Actions
Given the willingness of MAGA supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6th, bolstered by Trump's incendiary rhetoric, the potential for escalation is alarming. The advent of fabricated images and videos could present unprecedented national security threats.

Trump's Incendiary Rhetoric on January 6th
Trump's speech on January 6th was a clear incitement, as he urged his followers to "fight like hell" to "stop the steal," despite admitting DURING THE SPEECH that there was no evidence of the massive electoral fraud he claimed. As well as his lawyers laughable court “arguments.”
“...while there is no evidence to prove any wrongdoing…”
Npr.Org Read Trumps Jan 6 Speech
LawAndCrime Come On Now

This speech, coupled with his undermining of constitutional processes, underscores the risks and intentional deceit of his rhetoric. Too bad Republicans senators and our Supreme Court have either claimed he was above the law, or continue to postpone his court dates till after elections. A wild position when treason is on the table. Did that dude commit treason that claims he wants to become a dictator? I dunno, lets let him potentially get elected and then find out!

Elon Musk's Political Shift
Elon was once very much a leftist, unfortunately in more and more far left “activists” continue to attack him endlessly for not agreeing with them on their own singular issues and perspectives. To them I say congratulations, you successfully pushed the most powerful man on earth into the far right. Great job. Great job.
Elon Musk's journey from a liberal supporter to a figure embraced by the far right highlights the volatile nature of political affiliations in today's polarized environment. His actions since acquiring Twitter—such as promoting unfounded conspiracy theories and making high-profile firings—suggest a departure from his initial free speech advocacy.
Especially when considering he fired Don Lemon from his platform for an interview he found offensive. Canceling opinions you find offensive isn’t free speech, it’s literally the opposite. I’m sure many people were offended by the examples below. What about them?
Far Right Support Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The Need for a Critical Approach
Supporters of Trump should critically evaluate why he did not pardon the January 6th insurrectionists during his term, despite using them as political leverage now. This pattern of using allies until they are no longer useful is evident throughout his political and personal dealings.
What better example could there possibly be as to what trump truly thinks of his supporters, how sacrificial he sees them as part of his endless narratives, then his refusal and failure to pardon January 6th insurrectionists while still in office?
Of course, anyone “just on the grass” or outside the building should only get a day in jail at most, however people that barged inside the capital should naturally get much more.
And while trump refused to pardon those people before, he now calls them “hostages” and is using them as political bait to a truly wild degree. It's very likely he will make good on this promise to further embolden the narrative that “Democrats are trying to take you down and only I can save you.”
His supporters need to seriously ask, “Why didn’t he pardon us before?”
Also, remember when he claimed he would pay legal fees for supporters that were violent at his rallies, but then seemed to falter and change his mind. Much like how Amber Heard donated her money, “by pledging it.”
List of allies he was quick to discard or dump. And let's face it, all of these people have done more for him than the average MAGA supporter. The only person he cares about is himself.
Trump claims that Mike Pence, the man he vetted more than anyone else, “has gone to the dark side.”
Trump seems to have supported the chants to “Hang Mike Pense,” at least in jest? We hope? There are also no links of him condemning them. Yet admittedly this one point doesn’t have hard evidence like a recording or video as far as I know, it certainly fits his brand.
Mike Flynn, a Trump appointee, later testifies against him.
Trump admits Flynn lied on his behalf, accidentally testifying against him, but does pardon him. As long as you’re colluding with Russia you’re ok it seems?

The Future Under Trump's Influence
Trump's rhetoric about overriding constitutional norms to address what he calls "massive fraud" hints at authoritarian aspirations. His praise for dictators and divisive language further aligns with dangerous historical precedents.
Important Articles:
“How a second trump term could end us democracy.” -commondreams
“Ask the expert: What a 2nd Trump term could mean for democracy and advancing policy.” - Msu Today
“Judgement Day” for political opponents.

To predict the future lets base it on known facts:
Apparently, he will help attack our constitution like he may have with the Twin Towers.
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Stated he intended to be a Dictator on day one, but then promises it will be just for a day. Is that how that works? Or is it “Once you go Dictator you don’t go back?”
Praising dictators, referring to immigrants as vermin etc, akin to Hitlers rhetoric against “blood mixing.”
More fraudulent use of lawyers and courts that gets everyone else in trouble but him, with them arguing he's above the law. This further shows how much he will consistently use people for his own ends and then dump them when they're no longer of use.
Warning from republicans and notes on ass kissing. As well as being generally unfit for office.
If you want help from Trump you better kiss his ***
Trumps says he kept Omarosa just because she said nice things about him, while defaming her
DeSantis: "You can be the most worthless Republican in America, but if you kiss the ring, he’ll say you’re wonderful."
Thehill Trump Views People Who Kiss His A As Weak.
And if you dare to speak out against trump, you better kiss his ****
Politico Graham Breaks With Trump On Abortion
WashingtonPost Trump Graham Abortion
News Yahoo 30 More Republicans Denounce Donald Trump Unqualified President
Hot take, if he’s elected president America, and the world, is frankly fucked.

Predicting MAGA 2024 And Beyond
Naturally there are endless possibilities of what MAGA and dictators around the world decide to do this year and into the future. I believe that the one thing that insinuates when it's time for their next evil actions is dictated by their standings in the polls or when a fellow dictator needs a little more political pressure from war torn inflated oil prices etc.
Dictators Unite
While writing my thesis, I speculated that dictators globally were uniting, finding mutual benefits in their governance and deceitful tactics. This theory is increasingly recognized as these autocrats appear to be forming a coalition, undermining peaceful unity efforts through conspiracy theories to preserve their power.
Unherd How Autocrats Unite
The True Nature of MAGA
MAGA was never genuinely about speaking truth to power or restoring America's glory. It has been an elaborate scheme funded by immense wealth, perpetuating anti-American sentiments through fabricated grassroots movements by domestic and foreign actors. This movement has primarily enriched a select few power-hungry dictators and may have been responsible for some of our most horrific moments in history in the past and acts yet to come.
Trump and MAGA
While 'MAGA' predates Trump, he conveniently stepped into a role long in the making. Despite occasional deviations from the MAGA ideology, such as promoting vaccines to emphatic boos, Trump has largely embodied its principles. The real architects of MAGA, however, are likely disillusioned with his unpredictable attacks, which contradict their broader agenda of absolute power.
Nbc News Donald Trump Booed
Trump as a Martyr
Regardless of election outcomes, Trump is poised to claim interference. His rhetoric and the devout belief of his followers in his divine anointment could lead to his martyrdom, especially given his age and the vulnerabilities it brings. This martyrdom could solidify his legacy while serving the interests of MAGA strategists who find him increasingly burdensome even if he “wins.”
Factcheck Trumps Bogus Voter Fraud Claims
La Times Trump Democrats Effort Presidential Ballot

"People say I'm a flip flopper, but then nobody can say what I flip flopped on. Literally no one." - Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who once said Trump’s legacy was “wiped out” by the Jan. 6 insurrection, before flip-flopping and endorsing him.

Arrested Developer

Trump’s legal trouble dominates the headlines. But his supporting cast of criminal liars, fraudsters and crooks face reckonings of their own.

• Like a headline act on tour, disgraced former president Donald Trump boasts a more impressive list of alleged felonies than any of his disreputable backup dancers. But all together, they make a remarkable spectacle: There’s so much alleged crime going around in MAGA world these days, it’s easy to lose track of who’s locked up, who’s out on appeal, who’s back from jail to rejoin Trump’s campaign, and whose old lies for Trump have come back to haunt them now.
  
• Take Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House advisor and authoritarian-podcaster, whose bid to stay out of prison was finally rejected today by a federal appeals court. The decision means Bannon could soon start serving his four-month sentence for flouting subpoenas from the congressional Jan. 6 committee, if he can’t slow that down with one more urgent appeal. It could even mean Bannon will still be in jail in September, when he’s scheduled to go on trial for far more serious charges in New York City over his alleged scam charity, “We Build the Wall.” Imagine being so wrapped up with your last set of crimes, you barely have time for the next!
  
• Michael Cohen is set to testify against Trump in the hush money trial on Monday. Cohen’s expected to recount how he and “Mr. Trump” engineered a scheme to falsify payments and business records in order to hide Trump’s dalliance with Stormy Daniels from voters and tax authorities. Cohen went to federal prison over parts of this very scheme, and the defense will attack him as a guy who told criminal lies… which, of course, is very true! Prosecutors will likely point out that Cohen’s lies were all about helping Donald Trump. The worst reason of all!
  
• More liars for Trump in the news! Like a bad penny we can’t get rid of, convicted (then pardoned) money launderer Paul Manafort is reportedly rejoining Trumpworld, with a role managing the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Then there’s Trump’s old trade advisor, Peter Navarro, who is clamoring ineffectively to be released from his own prison sentence for ignoring Jan. 6 committee subpoenas. Trump’s longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, might just be allowed to leave Riker’s Island (where he is serving time for lying in another legal case on Trump’s behalf) so he can testify in Trump’s current criminal trial. Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and longtime lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, were recently indicted with others in a fresh 2020 election case in Arizona. Dumb-guy corruption loves company!
  

Trump’s favorite people seem to be constantly cycling back and forth between courtrooms and the Trump campaign. It’s like a big game of musical chairs… except the music is crime!

Look No Further Than Crooked Media

Pod Save America is going on tour! The Democracy or Else tour all begins in Brooklyn on June 26th, followed by Boston June 28th. Then Jon, Jon, and Tommy will head to Madison, Phoenix, Ann Arbor, and Philly. See all the tour dates and get your tickets now at https://crooked.com/events

Under The Radar

A long-awaited U.S. government report concludes it’s “reasonable to assess” that Israel has used American weapons in ways that harm civilians “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law. But the report stops short of accusing Israel of violating the law. The assessment says Israel hasn’t shared complete information about its use of weapons in the Gaza war. It also accuses Hamas of “deliberately” using civilians as human shields. But the report, required by law for all recipients of U.S. military aid, also says it can’t reach definitive conclusions on the legality of several Israeli strikes, including the one that killed workers for the World Central Kitchen. The report was widely expected to sharply criticize Israel’s tactics in Gaza, without triggering legal tripwires that would tie the White House’s hands. And that’s exactly what it appears to do.
Meanwhile, three whistleblowers who spoke to CNN alleged inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees at an Israeli desert detention center called Sde Teiman. The center, on a military base, has been the focus of recent protests by Israeli activists. Now the whistleblowers describe prisoners from the Gaza war as being handcuffed, sitting in putrid conditions, and punished in “revenge” for the October 7 Hamas attack.

What Else?

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) is facing an Ethics Committee probe over whether he used campaign funds to pay for a private club. Jackson, a former White House physician-turned-MAGA ranter, last gained attention for winding up in handcuffs after launching a profanity-laced rant at police officers at an Amarillo rodeo. The GOP really is sending their best.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is going to war with her former staffers, who left her office in droves last winter. Mace is making the odd claim that her ex-aides tried to sabotage her by hacking into her calendar and signing documents on her behalf otherwise known as “congressional staffer duties.”
A convicted Jan. 6 rioter is up for election in next Tuesday’s GOP congressional primary in West Virginia. Derrick Evans, who’s a former state lawmaker, was sentenced to three months in prison for his role in the Capitol riot. He’s running against an incumbent Republican for a House seat. Damn, if only there were something in the Constitution that protected us from insurrectionists holding office!
Meanwhile, a former Capitol Police officer who fought rioters on Jan. 6 is also up for election Tuesday. Harry Dunn is running in the open-seat Democratic primary Maryland’s 3rd congressional district stretching south of Baltimore.
Disgraced former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was suspended from his own daily radio show for refusing to stop talking about 2020 stolen election conspiracy theories, which WABC owner John Catsimitidis could no longer tolerate. The show was the only discernible source of income for Rudy, who filed for bankruptcy after two court judgments totalling nearly $150 million. Being extremely dumb and corrupt really is a tough combination!
Barron Trump won’t be a delegate to the Republican National Convention after all. Following news that Donald Trump’s youngest son had been selected as an at-large delegate from Florida, Melania’s Trump says Barron has “prior commitments.” Hopefully the commitment is to not getting involved in his dad’s undemocratic bullshit.

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Light At The End Of The Email

Aurora activity lighting up the night sky could stretch as far south as Northern California and even Alabama, thanks to a massive geomagnetic storm hurtling from the sun toward Earth this weekend. The storm of charged particles could disrupt navigation systems and even hobble satellites. But it should be pretty!
Experience the wonder…or the horror…of falling into a black hole, courtesy of NASA.

Enjoy

That 1 Foo 🎨 🇲🇽 on Twitter: "Being a baby must be scary, imagine sleeping at home & you wake up at TJMAXX"

Hoping someone has a suggestion to get us out of this seemingly endless loop....2 years prior to our meeting, my husband filed chpt 13 bankruptcy. It was discharged early last year. We decided to sell our house since the market is hot where we live and move to a lower COL area. As we prepped to sell, the title company (6 days before closing) found a judgment against him that they say is a lien on the property. This was for a credit card debt that was with Barclays and then sold to a collection agency. This debt was part of his bankruptcy and the collection agency received the full amount of the debt (which was less than $2000). However, apparently the lien did not get released when the bankruptcy was discharged. And here starts the mess.
Settlement company said it is up to the lawyer who handled the bankruptcy to set this right, to contact the collection agency and get a lien release signed. We contacted the lawyer who has his paralegal working with us on this---she contacted them, they sent over a copy of the release for yet a different lien for a different debt. She has been trying to get them to sign a release for the correct one. We had our backs against the wall because our sale was a contingency on buying our new house and closings were back to back. Went to closing and the settlement company kept a large amount of the profits from the sale in escrow. We have 120 days to get the lien release or we stand to lose a lot, a lot of money.
Paralegal said she contacted them and that we should keep pushing. We have called a few times Once, they said we see you have a lawyer involved, we won't talk to you. Another call, they said we see the law firm filed for the release, it should be done in a week, call back if you don't hear from us. So we did----that person punted us to another and another. We finally got a call back and the person said, well, we have no record of this lien or judgment, I need to do some research and will call you back. That was 3 days ago, no call back. The paralegal isn't responding either.
One friend who is a lawyer (not this field) looked at the judgment and said, well this is a judgment against him, it doesn't mention property. I told the settlement company this and they insist that there is a lien, the deed isn't free and clear. Now I have the collection agency saying THEY have no record of it either. I saw the paperwork that was filed when he filed for bankruptcy and this particular debt was listed as "non secured"----now, I dont' know if that paperwork was filled out by his lawyer or the debtor. And, again, I was not even in the picture when this all happened, so a lot of times they don't even want to deal with me. My husband has anxiety and PTSD issues and just shuts down when I push him to make these calls.
Curious what options we have that we can do on our own to get this cleared if our lawyer won't help and the collection agency won't respond to requests and calls. We are located in Virginia.
thank you.....

I just need to vent.
My spouse and I had a really low point about 2 years ago. It was like the perfect storm: him fired during the pandemic, feeling crappy about himself, forced to spend 24/7 together as I worked from home.
But we made it through it. I sometimes I wonder if I should’ve bothered but financially, and our cats, made me try. Maybe try more than I should have.
He got another job he really liked and that seemed to really settle him. It’s been decent the last two years.
Today, he was set off by me. He called like he sometimes does on his way home from work. I was in the middle of things - cleaning up and helping a friend figure out how to schedule an appointment. He asked if I could drop what I was doing and check if we had ingredients to make a dessert he could take to work. He seems to have a love hate relationship with it. He loves how everyone dotes all over him and his cooking skills but he seems to hate to come home after work and make it. I dislike it because he makes a mess of the kitchen and he often complains how much time it takes. Plus, it’s money.
So I couldn’t find an ingredient he thought we had. Things kept falling one me from our pantry. I got frustrated. I was like “do you really need to make these for your stupid work?” Venting my irritation.
He was just like fine I won’t. He shut down. Ended the call. I felt bad and kept looking and found the ingredient. I tried to call him, he sent me to voicemail. I texted him and he told me I pissed him off and to F off. Even though I don’t like him talking to me like that, I said i was sorry, how I was annoyed and that I can help if he wants. And left him alone.
When he got home I greeted him like I normally do and he interrupted and said “don’t talk me.” I said “come on, over th..”
And he said “I’m sick of you. Don’t talk to me. I want a divorce.”
He’s said it before. And I told him never to say it unless he means it. He probably didn’t say it seriously again but I immediately felt hurt and went to my office and closed the door. I started filling out divorce forms. Part of me just wants to do it. If he doesn’t want to be with me he can just go. And the sudden tipping point was because I was frustrated with him wanting to bake desserts and not finding ingredients? Ridiculous.
I guess if we divorce he can file a chapter 7 bankruptcy and take his elderly cat that I love so much. And I’ll be alone. But at least I won’t have people snapping at me over the smallest and stupidest things. I have a right to be annoyed when I’m interrupted and things fall on my feet.

Hi ShopifyeCommerce - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of the week's top stories, which I cover in depth in the newsletter. Let's dive in...
Amazon is delaying its controversial new low inventory fee for the second time as it looks to satiate the hundreds of thousands of sellers it outraged with the original announcement. The company announced via its seller forum that it would be extending the grace period through May 14th. In addition to the delay, Amazon made some general changes to the upcoming fee structure such as the fee will not apply to products that have sold fewer than 20 units in the last week, any fees incurred due to excessive inbounding and processing times caused by Amazon will be refunded, and Amazon will provide an exception to the fee on products that are part of Prime-exclusive sales for the four weeks following Prime Day.
Shein has been courting brands like Colgate-Palmolive, Hasbro, Suntory Beverage & Food, and Bella Aurora in an attempt to sell more household names on its platform. The company, which is known for selling its own cheap clothing and accessories, is moving into other categories like beauty and household items to better compete with Amazon on its turf. So far Shein has given brands and retailers access to its platform in nine European countries, United States, Brazil and Mexico. Shein says that the inspiration for adding new categories is that customers were already searching for those types of products and brands across its platform.
Kohl's is re-entering the same-day delivery business — this time leveraging the Instacart app and its network of drivers. The company says that Instacart enables 109M US households to obtain delivery in as fast as an hour from 1,172 Kohl's stores across the U.S. Customers ordering Kohl's deliveries on Instacart can still earn their Kohl's Rewards loyalty points, as well as place orders for either same-day or scheduled delivery, with the same prices as in-store. Product categories eligible for same-day delivery include accessories, home goods, beauty & skincare items, and pet supplies.
As part of its mission to enhance its e-commerce business, Nordstrom introduced a new digital marketplace on its website, initially showcasing a selection of products from Mulberry, Adore Me, Cynthia Rowley, and DXL. This move catches Nordstrom up to retailers like Macy's, Walmart, and Michaels, which have all created third-party marketplaces in recent years. As opposed to casting a wide net, Nordstrom is being very particular about which sellers to allow on its marketplace, carefully selecting brand partners “to ensure that our marketplace experience drives the relevance and inspiration that Nordstrom customers expect from us.”
Walmart is now able to sell physical goods directly to users inside Roblox for the first time. The introduction of real-life e-commerce of tangible items is a milestone for Roblox, which aims to become an all-encompassing destination for virtual life. Virtual users are greeted with a new storefront that showcases virtual copies of physical items sold at real-life Walmart stores. The customer can try out the virtual item on their avatar. Customers can then load a virtual browser window inside Roblox that imitates the experience of shopping on Walmart's website. From there they follow the traditional form of entering their payment and shipping details within the virtual checkout. (Missed opportunity! They should have had the virtual avatar fumble with a self-checkout kiosk while an angry Walmart employee avatar stares them down. LOL)
Roblox also expanded access to its video ad inventory to all advertisers last week, following a six-month beta test. Advertisers can now purchase video ads through Roblox's self-serve tool, with plans to allow advertisers to purchase ads through PubMatic in the near future. Video ads in Roblox take the form of screens and billboards embedded within Roblox’s virtual worlds. The launch of video ads is part of Roblox’s aim to get brands to view it as a full advertising platform rather than a testing ground for their innovation budgets.
Amazon reported its first-quarter earnings last week and it turns out the company is doing really well. CEO Andy Jassy and CFO Brian Olsavsky informed investors of several company milestones on its recent earnings call such as tripling its profit from $3.2B to $10.4B in the same period YoY. Net sales at its online store rose 7% to $54.7B and at physical stores rose 6.3% to $5.2B. Ad sales overall rose 24% to $11.8B.
Walmart is planning to close all 51 of its health centers across five states, changing course from its originally stated plan of expanding to 75 locations this year. The company also plans to end its telehealth services, citing operational costs and reimbursement complexities that made its healthcare business unsustainable. All centers stopped accepting new patients last week, however, Walmart said it would continue to care for existing patients during the transition, as well as help its healthcare associates transition to other roles as it winds down the business. The company plans on keeping open its 3,000 vision centers and 4,600 pharmacies, which will continue to offer health screenings and testing.
Amazon, Starbucks, and McDonald's executives say US consumers are becoming more prudent with their spending — now looking for deals, seeking lower priced items, and being more particular about where they spend their money. Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said, “We continue to feel the impact of a more cautious consumer, particularly with our more occasional customer,” noting that it had affected traffic and sales across the industry. “Many customers are being more exacting about where and how they choose to spend their money, particularly with stimulus savings mostly spent.” (Mostly spent? LOL. How long does he think that $1200 lasted?) Or maybe the true story is that consumers have ALWAYS been prudent with their spending, and these corporations simply took their price increases too far so people went elsewhere? Maybe the country is NOT headed into a recession and we're all just sick of your price gouging?
Travis Hess is joining BigCommerce as the company's new president, charged with leading its global strategic and operational expansion. Hess has spent more than 15 years in senior leadership positions at e-commerce companies, most recently as managing director of Accenture, and he's also served on partner advisory boards for Shopify, Klaviyo, SAP/Hybrid, and Rackspace.
Social media overtook paid search as the world's largest advertising channel, with Western platforms growing the fastest driven by Chinese brands targeting US and European audiences. Social media ads are forecasted to reach $247.3B this year, up 14.3% from a year ago, with TikTok estimated to earn $23.1B of that.
16% of U.S. parents surveyed said their Gen Alpha children have an online-shopping addiction, with 22% saying their kids prefer online shopping to other forms of entertainment including watching TV. Almost half said their kids buy themselves clothes online, and 32% said their kids are interested in beauty products. Sounds to me like 16% of U.S. parents could use a lesson on parenting.
TikTok said in its latest safety report that it blocked 37M attempted product listings and 2M seller registrations from July to December 2023. The company said it also remove 133k individual products after they were listed on the site and deactivated the accounts of more than one million sellers because of policy violations.
Wix launched a new feature called Wix Proposals that helps users create attractive proposals to convert leads into new clients, collect digital signatures, and manage setting up payments. The feature is powered by the Prospero business proposal platform, which is now integrated directly with Wix’s business management tools.
The Canada Revenue Agency wants to obtain large troves of Shopify merchant information including bank account info, total transaction value, birth dates, and social insurance numbers in order to check if they've paid all their taxes. Shopify has been fighting the “outrageous” request for over a year now, also arguing that it doesn't keep much of the requested information on hand, which the CRA doesn't believe.
Sam's Club is turning to AI to speed up the process of exiting its stores, allowing customers who pay either at a register or through the Scan & Go mobile app to walk out of the store through large scanners instead of having their purchases double-checked manually by employees. Since unveiling the technology this past January, Sam's Club deployed the scanners at over 120 stores in the US, with plans to expand to all its stores by the end of the year.
Kajabi, the platform for content creators to sell online courses, launched a no-code mobile app offering that lets users host their own customized native app through the App Store and Google Play. The platform previously offered a mobile app for hosting online courses, but this new product allows creators to control the user experience, send push notifications, add custom links to the menus, offer in-app purchases, and more.
Federal prosecutors are investigating the internal practices at Block, with suspicions that its subsidiary Square processed thousands of transactions involving countries subject to economic sanctions as well as multiple crypto transactions for terrorist groups. Most of the transactions discussed with prosecutors were not reported to the government as required, and Block did not correct the company processes when it was alerted to the issues.
Speaking of Block, the company announced its strategy of regularly purchasing Bitcoin for its corporate balance sheet using a dollar cost averaging strategy. The company plans to allocate 10% of its monthly gross profit from Bitcoin products towards investments in the cryptocurrency itself.
The Save Mart Companies which operates Save Mart, Lucky, and FoodMaxx grocery stores, is deploying Instacart Caper Carts, which use computer vision and AI to automatically identify items as they are placed in the cart, at select Save Mart and Lucky stores in the coming months, followed by a broader rollout later this year. The company is also implementing the Instacart FoodStorm order management system, which enables Caper Cart customers to place orders for made-to-order items like fried chicken or custom cakes and pies directly on the cart screen while they shop and receive a notification once it's ready.
ToysRUs.co.uk is seeking a partner for its e-commerce site, which launched in 2022. The company confirmed to suppliers that it is “transitioning to a non-transactional website” as it seeks a new e-commerce partner, but that the website will “continue to promote the Toys R Us brand including our much-loved mascot Geoffrey, while also fully supporting the opening of TOys R Us stores at WHSmith throughout the UK.” Really Toys R Us — an e-commerce partner? Haven't you been down that road before and been majorly burned?
Carvana, the online used car retailer, told investors on an earnings call that it became the most profitable public automotive retailer in the US for the first time after setting new all-time company record this past quarter. The record performance impacted its inventory, with the average time from posting a vehicle on its website to a customer purchasing it decreasing to 13 days in March.
Sam Ash Music, the 100-year-old family operated music instruments retailer, is closing all 42 of its remaining stores nationwide. The company noted on its website that the “unfortunate news also presents a fantastic opportunity for great deals” and marked down all of its products with sale prices that are still higher than what you can buy the same products for on Amazon right now.
Rue21 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its third time in the past twenty years and began the process of closing all 540 of its stores. The company has assets worth up to $500M and liabilities of almost an equal amount, according to its submitted documents. Sounds like a great acquisition target for Overstock! LOL.
A professor from Columbia University asked US courts to affirm the legality of Unfollow Everything 2.0, a browser extension that makes it easier to stop following friends, groups, and pages on Facebook. The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the browser extension does not violate Meta's TOS, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or California's Computer Data access and Fraud Act, also arguing that through Section 230, US lawmakers sought “to promote the development of filtering tools that enable users to curate their online experiences and avoid content they would rather not see.” The developer of the original Unfollow Everything was banned from Facebook in 2021 and never released version 2.0 because Meta threatened to sue him if he did.
Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Babylist have pulled weighted infant sleepwear like swaddles, blankets, and sleep-sacks from their shelves amid ongoing concerns over the safety of the products and after receiving a letter from the Consumer Product Safety Commission asking major retailers to remove them from stores. Studies haven’t been able to irrefutably demonstrate the risks of weighted infant sleepwear, however, experts are adamant that weighted products are not safe for infants and claim that the proposed benefit does not outweigh the danger — which is pretty much the same argument lawmakers are using to force the sale of TikTok.
Remember that couple from Utah who accidentally shipped their cat to Amazon in a return package? Well, the cat and her family have since been reunited. After she was discovered, an Amazon employee took the cat to a vet where her microchip was scanned. The couple was contacted and promptly flew to California the next day, rented a car, and drove back home with the cat.
Plus 10 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including T-Mobile completing its $1.35B acquisition of Ka’ena Corporation, the parent company of Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile. The deal was first announced last March, and the FTC finally approved the deal over a year later. Ryan Reynolds will continue to serve as Mint’s ambassador, and the company will continue to offer its $15/month 5GB data plan.
I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week!
For more details on each story and sources, see the full edition: https://www.shopifreaks.com/amazons-fee-delays-sheins-everything-store-nordstroms-marketplace/
What else is new in e-commerce? Share stories of interesting in the comments below (including in your own business) or on shopifreaks.
-PAUL Editor of Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter
PS: Want the full editions delivered to your Inbox each week? Join free at www.shopifreaks.com

Hi ecommerce - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of the week's top stories, which I cover in depth with sources in the full edition. Let's dive in...
Amazon is delaying its controversial new low inventory fee for the second time as it looks to satiate the hundreds of thousands of sellers it outraged with the original announcement. The company announced via its seller forum that it would be extending the grace period through May 14th. In addition to the delay, Amazon made some general changes to the upcoming fee structure such as the fee will not apply to products that have sold fewer than 20 units in the last week, any fees incurred due to excessive inbounding and processing times caused by Amazon will be refunded, and Amazon will provide an exception to the fee on products that are part of Prime-exclusive sales for the four weeks following Prime Day.
Shein has been courting brands like Colgate-Palmolive, Hasbro, Suntory Beverage & Food, and Bella Aurora in an attempt to sell more household names on its platform. The company, which is known for selling its own cheap clothing and accessories, is moving into other categories like beauty and household items to better compete with Amazon on its turf. So far Shein has given brands and retailers access to its platform in nine European countries, United States, Brazil and Mexico. Shein says that the inspiration for adding new categories is that customers were already searching for those types of products and brands across its platform.
Kohl's is re-entering the same-day delivery business — this time leveraging the Instacart app and its network of drivers. The company says that Instacart enables 109M US households to obtain delivery in as fast as an hour from 1,172 Kohl's stores across the U.S. Customers ordering Kohl's deliveries on Instacart can still earn their Kohl's Rewards loyalty points, as well as place orders for either same-day or scheduled delivery, with the same prices as in-store. Product categories eligible for same-day delivery include accessories, home goods, beauty & skincare items, and pet supplies.
As part of its mission to enhance its e-commerce business, Nordstrom introduced a new digital marketplace on its website, initially showcasing a selection of products from Mulberry, Adore Me, Cynthia Rowley, and DXL. This move catches Nordstrom up to retailers like Macy's, Walmart, and Michaels, which have all created third-party marketplaces in recent years. As opposed to casting a wide net, Nordstrom is being very particular about which sellers to allow on its marketplace, carefully selecting brand partners “to ensure that our marketplace experience drives the relevance and inspiration that Nordstrom customers expect from us.”
Walmart is now able to sell physical goods directly to users inside Roblox for the first time. The introduction of real-life e-commerce of tangible items is a milestone for Roblox, which aims to become an all-encompassing destination for virtual life. Virtual users are greeted with a new storefront that showcases virtual copies of physical items sold at real-life Walmart stores. The customer can try out the virtual item on their avatar. Customers can then load a virtual browser window inside Roblox that imitates the experience of shopping on Walmart's website. From there they follow the traditional form of entering their payment and shipping details within the virtual checkout. (Missed opportunity! They should have had the virtual avatar fumble with a self-checkout kiosk while an angry Walmart employee avatar stares them down. LOL)
Roblox also expanded access to its video ad inventory to all advertisers last week, following a six-month beta test. Advertisers can now purchase video ads through Roblox's self-serve tool, with plans to allow advertisers to purchase ads through PubMatic in the near future. Video ads in Roblox take the form of screens and billboards embedded within Roblox’s virtual worlds. The launch of video ads is part of Roblox’s aim to get brands to view it as a full advertising platform rather than a testing ground for their innovation budgets.
Amazon reported its first-quarter earnings last week and it turns out the company is doing really well. CEO Andy Jassy and CFO Brian Olsavsky informed investors of several company milestones on its recent earnings call such as tripling its profit from $3.2B to $10.4B in the same period YoY. Net sales at its online store rose 7% to $54.7B and at physical stores rose 6.3% to $5.2B. Ad sales overall rose 24% to $11.8B.
Walmart is planning to close all 51 of its health centers across five states, changing course from its originally stated plan of expanding to 75 locations this year. The company also plans to end its telehealth services, citing operational costs and reimbursement complexities that made its healthcare business unsustainable. All centers stopped accepting new patients last week, however, Walmart said it would continue to care for existing patients during the transition, as well as help its healthcare associates transition to other roles as it winds down the business. The company plans on keeping open its 3,000 vision centers and 4,600 pharmacies, which will continue to offer health screenings and testing.
Amazon, Starbucks, and McDonald's executives say US consumers are becoming more prudent with their spending — now looking for deals, seeking lower priced items, and being more particular about where they spend their money. Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said, “We continue to feel the impact of a more cautious consumer, particularly with our more occasional customer,” noting that it had affected traffic and sales across the industry. “Many customers are being more exacting about where and how they choose to spend their money, particularly with stimulus savings mostly spent.” (Mostly spent? LOL. How long does he think that $1200 lasted?) Or maybe the true story is that consumers have ALWAYS been prudent with their spending, and these corporations simply took their price increases too far so people went elsewhere? Maybe the country is NOT headed into a recession and we're all just sick of your price gouging?
Travis Hess is joining BigCommerce as the company's new president, charged with leading its global strategic and operational expansion. Hess has spent more than 15 years in senior leadership positions at e-commerce companies, most recently as managing director of Accenture, and he's also served on partner advisory boards for Shopify, Klaviyo, SAP/Hybrid, and Rackspace.
Social media overtook paid search as the world's largest advertising channel, with Western platforms growing the fastest driven by Chinese brands targeting US and European audiences. Social media ads are forecasted to reach $247.3B this year, up 14.3% from a year ago, with TikTok estimated to earn $23.1B of that.
16% of U.S. parents surveyed said their Gen Alpha children have an online-shopping addiction, with 22% saying their kids prefer online shopping to other forms of entertainment including watching TV. Almost half said their kids buy themselves clothes online, and 32% said their kids are interested in beauty products. Sounds to me like 16% of U.S. parents could use a lesson on parenting.
TikTok said in its latest safety report that it blocked 37M attempted product listings and 2M seller registrations from July to December 2023. The company said it also remove 133k individual products after they were listed on the site and deactivated the accounts of more than one million sellers because of policy violations.
Wix launched a new feature called Wix Proposals that helps users create attractive proposals to convert leads into new clients, collect digital signatures, and manage setting up payments. The feature is powered by the Prospero business proposal platform, which is now integrated directly with Wix’s business management tools.
The Canada Revenue Agency wants to obtain large troves of Shopify merchant information including bank account info, total transaction value, birth dates, and social insurance numbers in order to check if they've paid all their taxes. Shopify has been fighting the “outrageous” request for over a year now, also arguing that it doesn't keep much of the requested information on hand, which the CRA doesn't believe.
Sam's Club is turning to AI to speed up the process of exiting its stores, allowing customers who pay either at a register or through the Scan & Go mobile app to walk out of the store through large scanners instead of having their purchases double-checked manually by employees. Since unveiling the technology this past January, Sam's Club deployed the scanners at over 120 stores in the US, with plans to expand to all its stores by the end of the year.
Kajabi, the platform for content creators to sell online courses, launched a no-code mobile app offering that lets users host their own customized native app through the App Store and Google Play. The platform previously offered a mobile app for hosting online courses, but this new product allows creators to control the user experience, send push notifications, add custom links to the menus, offer in-app purchases, and more.
Federal prosecutors are investigating the internal practices at Block, with suspicions that its subsidiary Square processed thousands of transactions involving countries subject to economic sanctions as well as multiple crypto transactions for terrorist groups. Most of the transactions discussed with prosecutors were not reported to the government as required, and Block did not correct the company processes when it was alerted to the issues.
Speaking of Block, the company announced its strategy of regularly purchasing Bitcoin for its corporate balance sheet using a dollar cost averaging strategy. The company plans to allocate 10% of its monthly gross profit from Bitcoin products towards investments in the cryptocurrency itself.
The Save Mart Companies which operates Save Mart, Lucky, and FoodMaxx grocery stores, is deploying Instacart Caper Carts, which use computer vision and AI to automatically identify items as they are placed in the cart, at select Save Mart and Lucky stores in the coming months, followed by a broader rollout later this year. The company is also implementing the Instacart FoodStorm order management system, which enables Caper Cart customers to place orders for made-to-order items like fried chicken or custom cakes and pies directly on the cart screen while they shop and receive a notification once it's ready.
ToysRUs.co.uk is seeking a partner for its e-commerce site, which launched in 2022. The company confirmed to suppliers that it is “transitioning to a non-transactional website” as it seeks a new e-commerce partner, but that the website will “continue to promote the Toys R Us brand including our much-loved mascot Geoffrey, while also fully supporting the opening of TOys R Us stores at WHSmith throughout the UK.” Really Toys R Us — an e-commerce partner? Haven't you been down that road before and been majorly burned?
Carvana, the online used car retailer, told investors on an earnings call that it became the most profitable public automotive retailer in the US for the first time after setting new all-time company record this past quarter. The record performance impacted its inventory, with the average time from posting a vehicle on its website to a customer purchasing it decreasing to 13 days in March.
Sam Ash Music, the 100-year-old family operated music instruments retailer, is closing all 42 of its remaining stores nationwide. The company noted on its website that the “unfortunate news also presents a fantastic opportunity for great deals” and marked down all of its products with sale prices that are still higher than what you can buy the same products for on Amazon right now.
Rue21 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its third time in the past twenty years and began the process of closing all 540 of its stores. The company has assets worth up to $500M and liabilities of almost an equal amount, according to its submitted documents. Sounds like a great acquisition target for Overstock! LOL.
A professor from Columbia University asked US courts to affirm the legality of Unfollow Everything 2.0, a browser extension that makes it easier to stop following friends, groups, and pages on Facebook. The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the browser extension does not violate Meta's TOS, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or California's Computer Data access and Fraud Act, also arguing that through Section 230, US lawmakers sought “to promote the development of filtering tools that enable users to curate their online experiences and avoid content they would rather not see.” The developer of the original Unfollow Everything was banned from Facebook in 2021 and never released version 2.0 because Meta threatened to sue him if he did.
Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Babylist have pulled weighted infant sleepwear like swaddles, blankets, and sleep-sacks from their shelves amid ongoing concerns over the safety of the products and after receiving a letter from the Consumer Product Safety Commission asking major retailers to remove them from stores. Studies haven’t been able to irrefutably demonstrate the risks of weighted infant sleepwear, however, experts are adamant that weighted products are not safe for infants and claim that the proposed benefit does not outweigh the danger — which is pretty much the same argument lawmakers are using to force the sale of TikTok.
Remember that couple from Utah who accidentally shipped their cat to Amazon in a return package? Well, the cat and her family have since been reunited. After she was discovered, an Amazon employee took the cat to a vet where her microchip was scanned. The couple was contacted and promptly flew to California the next day, rented a car, and drove back home with the cat.
Plus 10 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including T-Mobile completing its $1.35B acquisition of Ka’ena Corporation, the parent company of Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile. The deal was first announced last March, and the FTC finally approved the deal over a year later. Ryan Reynolds will continue to serve as Mint’s ambassador, and the company will continue to offer its $15/month 5GB data plan.
I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week!
PAUL Editor of Shopifreaks E-Commerce Newsletter
PS: If I missed any big news this week, please share in the comments.

im shaking as i write this, my father received an email today from bittrex at 2:21PM, he was going through his email before sleeping and saw an email which had a link where he could claim his assets back.
My father used bittrex on and off from 2018 through to 2023 before they announced bankruptcy, he had already filed a proof of claim with omni agent solutions, at the end of 2023.
he unfortunately clicked this email and saw an option to claim his assets back.
now my father isnt very tech savvy and went to find the ledger device i bought for him and shortly after entered in his ledger seed,
according to what he told me, nothing happened, the balance of the ledger didnt update at all, that was up until now when he went to check his balance again on the ledger live app and its almost all gone.
he called me over and i am in disbelief
they left some investments into a few coins my father had made on binance and we moved to his ledger.
my father who is now in shock because of this did not understand the gravity of what he was doing.
Please can anyone let me know where I should go or what i should do and if there is any chance we have in retrieving the funds, its a significant amount

Trigger warning!!,⚠️ mentions suicide attempt
My (39f) older brother (42m) has always felt the world owes him something. I’ll keep this as short as I can but it’s a doozie. We’ll call my brother ‘Twat’ for our story.
Twat started selling drugs in middle school. By age 18, he got caught with 50+ g meth, 1pd weed, 100+ pain killers and a gun. This was before the recession in 2008 and my parents were doing well, although my mom (an RN) had recently undergone major surgeries on her neck and back forcing to retire one year before she could collect pension. Twat fully expected and got my parents to pay for the best attorney around. The retainer fee alone was $20K. Twat by this time was 19 yrs old & was sentenced to 3 mths in bootcamp that was usually only for people under 17 despite facing 50 years in prison. It turned out that ATF worked w the judge to give him a light sentence so they could use him as bait to get to the rest of his gang. When he was released, I told my parents he has a major meth/herione addiction and needs help. They refused to see that their only son could do this.
Twat started using & selling hard drugs (meth, coke, heroine, the works) literally the day after his release. I saw it with my own eyes. The feds built a case on him for 2 years before surrounding my parents house and arresting Twat again, this time for trafficking meth, heroine, weed, conspiracy on all of these counts and felony gun possession. We lived on the border of 2 states, which is why it was a federal crime & was considered trafficking. They arrested 4 other members of his gang at the same time, all-in collecting over $2million, 150+ firearms, nearly 1000g’s of meth, about the same in heroine & a lot of weed (I don’t know how much).
Twat was facing 90+ years. This was after the recession. Dad lost his business in 2009 and mom was not working - they ended up filing for bankruptcy that year. So, to bond Twat out, they put their home up as collateral. Do you think Twat intended to show up for court? No. Twat determined he was going to flee to Mexico and let my parents lose their home and be out on the street. While he was out, he still sold drugs and would borrow money from my parents using any excuse under the sun. One of the times, he borrowed $500 my mom pulled out of her retirement. Twat showed up at their house showing off his shiny new drone (he had 3!). My mom mentioned the $500 & Twat lost his shit, yelling that she was a selfish bitch and that he doesn’t have a fucking mother. That if she loved him she would find the money to pay for an attorney for him. (My parents couldn’t afford one this time around and he had a public defender). My mother has broken her back for us kids over the years and would have gladly served Twat’s sentence for him if they’d let her. His words cut through he so deeply she still bears the scars.
I had moved to a different city than my parents by this time. About a week before his court date, Twat had the audacity to show up at my house and demand I let him stay there. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life bc at the time I loved my brother, but I called the feds and told them where he was. At the end of the day, I couldn’t stand the thought of my blameless parents being homeless due to Twat’s actions. I started hating him for the position he put me in & the decision he forced on me to betray either him or my parents.
EDITED TO INCLUDE THIS PARAGRAPH: Twat made sure to tell everyone in town and all of his friends that I snitched on him. I got threatening calls constantly for months and even a few death threats. I think my saving grace was that I lived 2.5 hours away from our home town.
Twat ends up being sentenced to 20 years. The only time he would call my parents was when he needed money. A couple of years in, he called my mom on Mother’s Day last May. I happened to be at their house and heard her crying & saying she wished she could help but they just don’t have the money. I can hear Twat through the phone yelling at her to shut the fuck up, he needs the goddamned money, she’s a piece of shit & he hopes she dies. He hung up on her before I could snatch the phone away.
That night my mother took 60 vikodin - her whole bottle. I woke up at about 4am to find her unresponsive on the kitchen floor. Paramedics said if it were only even 5 minutes longer, we would have lost her. She ended up with temporary brain damage and had to stay in a psych ward for 5 days for evaluation. She refuses to blame Twat for what she did even though it never would have happened if it weren’t for his words.
At this point, Dad and I completely cut Twat off. I fucking hate the thought of him. He refuses to acknowledge what happened and hasn’t even apologized for the things he said to her. In fact, he’s cussed her out at least one other time that I know of since this happened.
My mom is the only one who will still speak with him. Twat always goes on ‘pity me’ trips bc dad and I won’t have anything to do with him, so mom tries to get us to talk to him. I told her that I will never forgive him for what he did and that I have nothing to say to him.
Am I wrong for this? I hate my mom has to listen to his guilt trips but I can’t stand the thought of having a conversation with him, much less a civil one.
If you’re still with me, thank you for listening. This shit weighs so heavy on me & it feels a bit better to share my thoughts. I appreciate any feedback on if I should speak to Twat for my mom’s sake.

The guide below is intended to help folks who are victims of a specific form of identity theft. What I have detailed below is based on our experience in preparing and litigating these cases, as well as that of other colleagues.
As the focus is on the information, rather than myself, and as per Reddit rules. I prefer to remain anonymous here. For some quick background, I handle consumer credit reporting and debt collection issues, including litigating these cases. You can click my handle for more threads which I've commented on or written.
Please note this is educational, not legal advise. I am not your attorney, so your situation may vary. You are welcome to comment below, and I'll do my best to answer.
Please note that you should not skip any of the steps below. Some of these steps might be uncomfortable for you to take, but they are very much necessary for a succesful resolution.
First, it is important to understand the type of identity theft we are dealing with here. There are two broad types of identity theft:
a. Account takeover
b. Account opened in your name
(b) is where you opened an account, but someone ran up a lot of fraudulent charges in your name. #2 is where you never opened the account. Rather, your identity was compromised, and someone opened the account in your name.
For this discussion, we are only focusing on #2. I will come back to #1 in another thread.
So, you've got accounts which were opened in your name. Your credit score(s) may have tanked. You're stressed, and you realize that you are losing access to credit / financial opportunities. What do you do?

1. If possible, you should obtain the most official credit reports possible. there are two places to do this:

a. (Preferred): Obtain your free reports from the Annual Credit Report website, and save as a PDF. If that does not work, then order them by physical mail, Google Annual Credit Report PDF. You will fill out the form. As your reports arrive, scan and save for your records.
b. (If a does not work): You can purchase your reports from Myfico, or buy your 3-bureau reports from Experian.

1. Review your reports, and note all the accounts that are not yours. If you are not sure whether an account is yours (for example, a collections account where you don't know the name of the original credtior), the best thing to do is write to the collections agency, and request the name of the original creditor, and proof that you owe the debt. There are plenty of such letters online, or I can reply in the comments and share one.
   
2. Very important: This process is for accounts that are not yours. If the account was yours, and was transferred to a collection agency, OR if you just disagree with the debt, do not use these steps. More on that below.
   
3. Now, you need to obtain a police report. That is, you need to explain to your local police department, that you believe you've been a victim of identity theft. Tell them the accounts which are not yours.
   
4. What if you know who stole your identity? Worst yet, what if it was a relative or friend? I suggest telling the police that you believe you know who was responsible for this.
   

Why is this important? Well, there are lots of fraudulent identity theft claims. If the errors are not corrected, and you end up in court, every aspect of your case will be looked at in detail. The credit agencies and creditors hire private investigators in many cases. You also might have to appear in a deposition, where you are asked questions by an opposing attorney. Witholding the truth can destroy your case.
What if you don't want them to get in trouble? I get that. In most cases, the police are not going to do much if any investigating. However, if they do investigate, your friend or relative could get in trouble.
That is a risk. If you want to avoid it, and protect that person, then wait for the account to fall off your credit reports (which can take up to 7 years). Your credit will suffer for what they did, and you will lose out on opportunities. but I can also understand why you don't want to get someone in trouble.

1. People often ask if an FTC identity theft report is an alternative to a police report. It is, BUT please note that you get less results with it, when trying to get accounts removed. If the errors are not corrected, and you have to sue, most experienced attorneys (including me) will not bring a case with just an FTC report. It carries less weight, and because it's so easy, people more often lie. Going to the police station and physicallly obtaining a report is often a better approach.
   
2. It is now time to prepare your credit dispute letters. These will be sent to each credit reporting agency, via certified mail, at the addresses I've provided below. Attacthced to the letter will be:
   

a. Your photo ID
b. Proof of your address (a bill of any kind, or a bank statement).
c. A full copy of the police report.

1. Here is the letter. The fields in italics are for you to fill in.

Date
Dear (Experian/Equifax/ Transunion),
I am writing to you about accounts which do not belong to me. I believe that I've been a victim of identity theft. I have attached a police report which provides more details. Please review it.
Also attached to this letter are my photo ID, and proof of my mailing address. With all of this information, you should be able to investigate my disputes.
My full name is (full legal name). I was born on (date of birth). My address is (full mailing address). The last four digits of my Social Security Number are (last four of Social).
The first account which does not belong to me is with (name of creditor or collection agency). The account number is (account number as it appears on credit reports).
The second account which does not belong to me is with (name of creditor or collection agency). The account number is (account number as it appears on credit reports).
Please investigate these errors, and remove these fraudulent accounts. I look forward to hearing from you.

1. Here is the mailing address for each credit reporting agency:

a. Experian
PO Box 4500
Allen, TX 75013
b. Equifax
PO Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
c. Transunion
PO Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016
Be sure these letters are sent via certified mail. Regular mail will not work here. Why? If the credit agencies don't respond, then you need proof they recieved the letters.

1. Wait up to 45 days for a response. You should track your mail to see whether it was recieved, and add 45 days to the date when it was recieved.
   
2. See if all of the fraudulent accounts were removed. If so, you're all set. Congratulations!
   
3. If some or all accounts remain, don't worry. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
   
4. You now want to scan the responses recieved to each dispute. You will need this information going forward.
   
5. You also want to make note of any credit denials that occured prior to the dispute letters. Scan them, or for your own notes, write a document as to what happened.
   
6. If you have a credit goal you want to achieve (like obtaining credit cards, or a mortgage), it could make sense to apply for those accounts, and either be denied for credit, or obtain a higher rate. This will help your case, because you can document your damages.
   
7. Now, you need to speak with an attorney, to explore whether you have a case.
   
8. Where can you find an attorney? You can ask around, or search online. Avvo can be a good resource, as can Yelp and Google. I do have colleagues who operate in various states, so you are welcome to comment on this thread, and I'll see whether I know someone who assist in your state.
   
9. You want to provide your attorney with your credit reports, the responses to disputes, proof of mailing, and your full dispute letters, as well as any denials of credit which you suffered. Also provide the police report, as that is really important. Most attorneys cannot assess your case until they have all of these documents.
   
10. Once in a while, the attorney will want to prepare and send off their own dispute letter. If so, let them. it can help your case, because you disputed the account twice, and it was not corrected twice.
    
11. The attorney will file your case, suing the applicable credit agencies and creditors or collection agencies. You never have to pay out of pocket, because by law, your attorney's fees are court costs are paid by the credit agencies and creditors, when your case settles or you win at trial. In other words, your lawyer represents you without you paying out of pocket.
    
12. You are entitled to damages. Your damages can be as little as a few thousand dollars, or in the hundreds of thousands. It widely varies.
    

In most cases, the accounts are deleted within 60 days of the lawsuit being served on the credit reports. However, this is not always the case.

1. However, the case can go on for another 6 to 18 months after that. The longer the case goes on, the more money you are likely to obtain when the case settles (97% of these cases settle before trial).
   
2. You may have to appear in a deposition, where the attorney for one of the defenedants asks you questions. Your lawyer will be present to protect you. Just answer questions truthfully.
   
3. Don't lie, by claiming you were a victim of ID theft when in fact you were not. You can be sued for fraud by the defendants (yes, this has happened), and be forced to pay their legal costs. Please note that debts incurred by fraud cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, so these follow you around for potentially decades. You also can be prosecuted for lying to the police (yes, this has also happened).
   

If there are bad accounts on your credit report, there are many ways to address them. Taking the risk of going to jail or being sued is simply not worth it.

I don’t like shaking hands with people. Everyone says you should have a firm handshake, and when people shake my hand firmly, it aches, because years ago I broke it. It’s not the pain that I mind so much, but the memory of how I broke my hand, and the money I lost the day I broke it.
“I thought contingency fees weren’t allowed,” my wife said to me when I told her about the case that had landed in my lap.
“Yes and no,” I said. We weren’t allowed to work on contingency back then, but lawyers still did it. I’d never done one before, but this one was a sure winner.
“Don’t get too excited,” my wife said.
“I’m not excited,” I said, but I was excited, insanely excited. The Dot Com boom was raging, and that day I’d been handed a little piece of the boom, in the form of a fabulous contingency fee file.
“Where’d you get it from?” my wife asked.
It was from a repeat client. I beat a drunk driving charge for the guy a few years before. Back then, he’d been a computer guy straight out of school, and he’d been stopped a few blocks after leaving a wine and cheese, where he’d had a lot more wine than cheese. I beat the breathalyzer, because the law was different back then, and you could beat the breathalyzer, if you had a decent client, a good expert and some luck, especially the luck, and I got lucky when the breathalyzer tech fucked up on the stand. My client had been ecstatic, and we’d kept in touch.
“Remember that wine and cheese guy?” I said. My wife remembered. “Well, he’s struck it rich, now. His software got bought out, and the company that bought it went public. He’s like a gazillionaire or something.” The guy wasn’t even thirty, and he was worth close to nine figures.
“So why’s he suing, then, if he’s so rich?” my wife asked.
“He’s not suing anyone. He’s getting sued.”
What happened was that when software guy got bought out and got rich, he pulled a few of his key guys along in his wake, and they got rich, too. Not as rich as him, but still, filthy rich. Except for one guy, a guy I’ll call the Wanker, because that’s what my client called him. The Wanker had been part of the team, and for a while they’d done well and attracted some private capital, but then the Wanker stopped contributing. He’d been almost a sponge or a parasite, and eventually my client had had enough, and arranged for some investors to help buy the Wanker out. The Wanker owned like three percent or something, but the client wanted him gone. So the Wanker got bought out. They gave the Wanker a few million, and off he went, seemingly content.
“But then the company went public,” my wife said.
“Exactly.” When the client sold his software to Bubble Corp, and when Bubble Corp went public, everyone got super rich, like Mr. Burns rich. But the Wanker got cut out, and was left on the sidelines with his paltry millions. So he sued the people who cut him out.
“You’re a defendant,” I said to my client earlier that day, “and you’re like super rich. I don’t see why or how I could take your case on a contingency basis.”
But my client laid it out for me. The Wanker was claiming he’d been tricked into selling out too soon, so he wanted to be put back where he was,which meant that if he won, he’d own a tiny but still very valuable piece of an enormous public company with a huge market cap.
“If you beat the Wanker, that frees up a lot of shares,” my client told me, “and I’ll split that with you, 50-50.” My client was offering me a contingency fee that was worth multiple millions of dollars.
“Deal,” I said. By this point I’d switched over from criminal to civil, and when I reviewed the claim, I knew what I was going to do. It was a motion to strike all the way. I sent an email to the other lawyers, the lawyers representing the other shareholders and also the huge company that had bought them out, Bubble Corp. By now the Dot Com Boom was starting to level out, but the company’s shares were still worth a lot of money.
“What’s the rush?” the lawyer for Bubble Corp said when the lawyers all met to discuss what to do.. He had a corner office in a Big Downtown Firm. He worked on Big Files for Big Clients. He was also incompetent.
“Why wait?” I said.
“Let’s at least do discoveries, first,” he said, “it’s the prudent thing to do. And besides, the money’s all locked up in escrow, at the bank downstairs. To secure our fees.” The lawyers for the other defendants all nodded. When the Wanker sued and brought a Mareva, they’d all agreed that the money the Wanker was suing for should be locked up, escrowed. It was the prudent thing to do, they all said, and the optics looked good, so they claimed. And besides, in exchange they had the Wanker’s undertaking to pay damages, not that they’d ever need it, with the money locked up tight. So what was the rush?
But they weren’t working on contingency, and I was, so I ignored them, and I brought my motion to strike, while they sat on the sidelines, sending me cautionary emails and tut tutting and saying that I was taking too much of a risk. The same shit I usually get accused of.
But I was pretty confident, because the Wanker’s claim had serious problems. It ran smack dab into the contract that he’d signed with his eyes wide open, so to get around it, he’d pleaded a conspiracy, that all the other shareholders had tricked him into signing the contract as part of a plan to rip him off. But most times when lawyers plead the tort of conspiracy, they fuck it up, and the Wanker’s lawyer had fucked it up really badly.
So I brought my motion to strike and served my materials and filed my factum. While I waited for the motion date a few months down the road, the Dot Com Boom turned to a bust, but I didn't care, because the money was in escrow in a bank, and the market couldn’t touch it. And a few months later when the day came, I won the motion to strike easily, with no leave to amend. The case was over. I’d won, and now it was time to claim my prize, several million dollars that was being held in escrow. After court we went for another meeting at the office of Big Downtown Firm, to speak to the Big Lawyer in the Corner Office who had the money in escrow. I was there, along for the lawyers for the other defendants. I was the only one with a big smile on my face. The others looked grim, which I found kind of weird. I put it down to sour grapes that I’d been proved right, and all their emails about being cautious had just been bullshit.
“Gimme my money,” I said in effect to Bubble Corp’s lawyer. I worded it a bit more politely, but that’s what I said. Gimme my money. I wanted my money. I could taste the millions that I’d earned, that was mine by right. I wanted my money.
“You can cash the shares in yourself,” he said, “just tell me who your broker is.”
“What?” I said, appalled.
“We put the shares in escrow,” he said, “but we can transfer them out now.”
“You told me that the money was in escrow, not the shares,” I said.
“Same thing, or at least, it was at the time.” But it wasn’t the same thing, not at all, because by now the shares were worthless. The Dot Com thing was over. Bubble Corp. had burst, and it was a penny stock, and would soon cease to exist.
“You put the shares in escrow?” I said, my voice rising, “you put the shares, the fucking shares, instead of cashing them out? Did you think that if they were in a box, they’d keep their value?”
“No one could predict that the market would drop,” he said.
“You are a fucking fool,” I screamed at him, “a pompous, fucking asshole.”
The worst mistakes are made by idiots trying to be prudent, and Big Downtown Firm man was a classic example. The man tried to calm me down with his bullshit, but I only got louder, and it was then that I slammed my fist on his desk while I screamed at him. I felt something give, and there was a sharp pain in my hand.
“Keep your fucking shares,” I said, and I walked out of his office. I was late getting back to my office for a partner’s meeting. It was well underway when I walked in.
“What happened to your hand?” one of them said, noticing the splint.
“I broke my hand while slamming it on the table and screaming for my money,” I said. I told my partners the story, and for a change, they were sympathetic. The oldest guy knew about bankruptcy, and he took matters in hand, while schooling me on how bankruptcy worked. He got my client and the other defendants together, and they bankrupted the Wanker on the strength of the undertaking he’d given at the start of the case, in exchange for getting “his” shares secured in escrow. Now it was time to pay up on that undertaking. The Wanker’s lawyer miscalculated, thinking that our claims were merely contingent, but the trustee disagreed, and about a year later when the appeal was done I got my payout, about 8 cents on the dollar. My payment was in the six figures, but after taxes, it wasn’t that great, nothing like the millions I would have earned, Big Downtown Firm had cashed the shares before putting them in escrow.
The money I got went to this thing and that thing, but it’s gone now, and all I have to show for it is my hand that aches when the air pressure changes, or when someone shakes my hand. It always reminds me of how I missed my chance to get rich, and it never fails to piss me off.

Hey everybody, just wanted to consult you all on some advice pertaining to my debt. Here are the totals before I ask about my options and what I should do.
-Medical debt (hospital/ER) $8100 -Utility bill $1916 -Credit cards $1950 -Car loan (was repossessed and charged off) $4245 remaining Grand total if I'm not forgetting any accounts is $16,211. My credit score is absolutely horrendous, 472 according to Experian. I am only 24 and I feel like I have ruined my future.
I was doing great for a long time keeping up with payments, but in 2022 I lost my job,and couldn't find one for a while, about 6 months to be exact. I contacted all the creditors and they tried to give me extra time to pay, and cheaper payments, but since I didn't have an income I couldn't even pay a single dime. Once I got a new job I tried my hardest to pay back what I could, but it would always put me in the negative, so eventually I stopped paying all together because I couldn't afford to pay debt plus my current bills. Fast forward to about 8 months ago, I lost the new job I had found due to getting sick. I lost the roof over my head, my car, my phone, could barely keep enough food on hand to eat. I tried reaching out to the creditors via email but they never responded to me. I know how much of an idiot I am, I now regret ever getting my first credit card or my first car via an auto loan from a buy here pay here. I owe more money than I make, and I'm in the same situation I was in years ago. I have thought about filing for bankruptcy, but I don't know if it's a good idea or not, nor do I have the money to pay for court fees at the moment. Please, somebody, help me out with some good strategies or ideas to get out of this hole I dug myself into. I want to try to pay some money back, but I am having enough trouble as is keeping up with my bills, and I don't want to start more payment plans that my income can't keep up with.
Any advice that would be helpful, please let me know.

Hey everyone,
I'll try to break this down for y'all as organized as I possibly can make it. I was helping my in-laws go through their finances the other day and didn't realize how bad their financial situation truly is. I'm detailing it here and begging for any advice that you guys have, as I myself, don't have any clue what their next steps should be.
Background: We live in Missouri, FIL is 67, his wife is 58, they have 6 kids with 3 of them still at home and the youngest still in high school. I myself am going to be starting medical school this fall and my wife is an RN. I say this because I want to help them financially, and I probably could at some point in the future, but I also don't want to financially ruin myself either trying to pay down their debt.
Income: He is retired military and gets a pension from that as well as a pension from civil service. Combined, these pensions equal about 3,250 monthly. He is a Commercial truck driver as well, but he is trying to find new work, because it is so rough on his health at this age. He makes roughly 60-80k from this per year before taxes, however it's terribly inconsistent as the pay rates change for the loads he delivers, and various family situations regarding his wife's health have forced him to take more time off than he would have wanted. He was thinking of filing for social security to help out with some of his bills but doesn't know all the ins and outs of that. His wife doesn't have a college degree and hasn't been in super great health enough to work consistently the last few years (diabetes, cholesterol problems, etc.), but she's open to working if she could find a job that paid well and wasn't too physically involved.
Debt: He runs his own business through trucking but has become a bit undisciplined with saving money for taxes, so he has accrued lots of debt owed to the IRS and the State of Missouri. He hasn't even filed his taxes for the last two years, but without that included, he has roughly 32k in debt to the IRS and 2k to the state of Missouri. I assume that this could grow another 20-50k for the last 2 years of taxes that he owes, but I'm not sure. He also has a significant amount of credit card debt that has been consolidated to one loan and two cards, and that totals about 55k. He also has about 10k in other debt between medical bills and various other little debts. Their situation is terrible, and he knows it. All these debts piled up over the years, between trying to send his kids to good schools, being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and various illnesses in the family. It's just become too much to handle, and they don't know what to do anymore.
Investments and Assets: I don't know all the details surrounding their house loan, just because I haven't been able to do all the digging needed. They likely have very little equity, however. They have refinanced multiple times, with the most recent being 2021 I believe. I believe they might have done a HELOC at some point as well. Basically, I think they have almost no equity in the house. The house is valued on zillow at 180k (whatever zillows worth) and I believe their loan still has 115k on it, paying 1,000 monthly. As a family they own three cars, totaling probably 20k in value, and still owing about 10k on these. FIL also owns his truck for commercial driving and might be able to sell it for somewhere between 20-50k. The only other thing I can think of is 25k that my MIL has in a 401k account that she can access in a year and half.
Conclusion: I have no idea what to do to help them. FIL is far more stressed than he should be at this age. His mental clarity is not as strong as it once was, and his health is suffering from his current job. His wife is not in the greatest health either. I want them to be able to seek medical care in the future and not have finances be a deterrent from that. Should he declare bankruptcy? Are there feasible payment plans given that income? A lot of this debt has gone to collections, and he has lawyers sending letters trying to get a hold of him. Also, his credit score is in the tank if that makes any difference. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Their situation is as messy as I could imagine. I don't know what to do to help, but I want them to not have to worry and stress over this as much as they are. Thank you guys!