In the Biggest Bank Robbery in History, $6.3 Billion in Crypto Scam Was Stolen From Crypto Scammers
We begin with the biggest bank robbery in history involving $6.3 billion stolen from the crypto exchange Binance, allegedly by North Korean hackers, and assess the risks of dependence on crypto and AI, both of which require unpopular data centers consuming vast amounts of electricity and water to operate. The manufacture of digital tokens, in effect fake money bought with real money, could end up at the end of the day a massive Ponzi scheme as the suckers who bought Trump’s World Liberty Finance meme coins who lost $4 billion learned while Trump and his family made $2.2 billion. Joining us is Bruce Schneier, a security technologist who teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School and the University of Toronto’s Munk School. The New York Times bestselling author of 14 books, including A Hacker’s Mind and Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship, he is a regular opinion writer at The Guardian where his recent articles include “Once, cyber-attacks required great skill. AI is changing that” and “How American political campaigns are using AI – and what they’re spending on the tools.”
After a Blue Wave “Change Election,” Will Democrats Go Bold Or Play It Safe?
Then we look into the opportunities a Blue Wave election could provide the Democrats with and whether they will act boldly after running on a “change election” or play it safe in the center as has been the case in the past. Joining us is Richard Parker, who teaches economics and public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and is a Senior Fellow at the Shorenstein Center. He is a former managing editor of Ramparts, was a cofounder of Mother Jones magazine, and serves on the editorial board of The Nation. His books include, The Myth of the Middle Class and John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics.
Trump is About to Deport 1.3 Million On Temporary Protected Status Back to a Cruel Fate in Countries Like Afghanistan
Then finally Background Briefing’s Anna Leah zeros in on the international bonds between kleptocratic fascist families as Trump, after promising America that he would kick out criminal immigrants, welcomed Flávio Bolsonaro – who is under criminal investigations in Brazil to the tune of over $1 billion in fraud. Along with welcoming racist white South Africans and laying out the red carpet for this escaping criminal, the son of Brazil’s former president who is under house arrest for an attempted coup, Trump continues to hunt down undocumented immigrants, most of whom have no criminal records. In a few days, the administration will deport one of the largest groups of Afghan returnees, including people who helped the U.S. who face a grim fate at the hands of the Taliban upon arrival in Afghanistan. The Trump administration has let Temporary Protected Status expire for around 1.3 million immigrants who fled conflict and economic collapse – from Sudan, Venezuela, El Salvador, and other countries. Just this month, over 100,000 TPS visas for Ukrainians expired. Joining Anna is José Palma, the coordinator for The National TPS Alliance, a group of TPS recipients fighting for their rights. Palma’s team has two ongoing lawsuits against the administration to safeguard the status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Venezuela, Central America, and Nepal.
