Latest news with #Sledge
The Intercept
25-04-2025
- Business
- The Intercept
Trump's Very Stable Genius Coin
On the eve of his second inauguration, Donald Trump did something no U.S. president had ever done: He launched a meme coin. The cryptocurrency — whose value hinges more on hype than utility — surged to an all-time high of $75.35 a token. The next day, First Lady Melania Trump dropped her own meme coin, debuting at about $13 a share. Both coins have since tumbled, but on Wednesday Trump's token briefly bumped up again to $15.47 before dipping. The latest surge came after the coin's official website announced that 220 top meme coin holders will be invited to a gala dinner with the president in May — black tie optional. These tokens, that are not tied to any real world assets, have proven lucrative for Trump and his family. Last month, the Financial Times estimated Trump made upwards of $350 million from the project. While small traders have lost big, the Trump Organization and its affiliates — controlling 80 percent of the token supply — have made hundreds of millions in just trading fees. From meme coins, which usually refer to a fun internet or pop culture meme, and stablecoins, whose values are pegged to a real-world asset, to a new government-backed bitcoin reserve, Trump, once a crypto skeptic, is now the industry's most powerful advocate. ' He went to a big bitcoin conference in Nashville last July. That's where he declared he would make the U.S. the crypto capital of the planet,' says Intercept reporter Matt Sledge. 'And the crypto industry started showering money on him. They saw somebody who would be friendly to their industry.' This week on The Intercept Briefing, Sledge, who covers crypto's political reach, discusses how investing in the president has paid off for the industry and for the Trump family. 'So far in Trump's presidency, things have gone great for the crypto industry. Even as the rest of the economy is on pretty perilous footing, a bunch of crypto companies have seen the SEC and other regulatory agencies drop investigations or lawsuits. Trump has created a 'bitcoin reserve,' and in general, regulators and Congress are behaving much more friendly toward the industry.' On Sunday, a filing with the Federal Election Commission revealed that Trump received a record $239 million in donations that went toward his inauguration. According to reporting from Fortune, the crypto industry gave about $18 million alone. The meme coins are just one aspect of the president and his family's growing crypto empire — an empire that includes Trump's sons, Eric and Don Jr., taking a stake in a new bitcoin mining firm called American Bitcoin. Trump Media is also partnering with and a newly formed investment firm to offer financial products, including crypto to retail investors. 'Just a few weeks ago, the SEC dropped an investigation into Sledge points out. 'This is something that would've been really astonishing under any other president, regardless of their party. You go from a company being under investigation just a few weeks ago to it having this partnership with the president's publicly traded company.' For more on how Trump is reshaping the crypto landscape and what it means for the rest of us, listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
2Ingage and Clay County community host foster care forum
CLAY COUNTY (KFDX/KJTL) — Community members gathered in Henrietta today for the Clay County Foster Forum, an event to raise awareness about community-based foster care and residents' role in supporting needy children. Hosted by 2Ingage, the forum provided an open discussion on how community-based care ensures children in foster care receive the best support possible. Attendees included foster parents, child welfare professionals, and those interested in learning more about fostering. 'Story of the Crucifixion of Christ' through musical performance, community invited The forum covered children's challenges, the benefits of placing children within their communities, and how potential foster parents can navigate the licensing process. Jack Sledge, VP of 2Ingage, said we all need community support. 'You need that community support. We all do. Whether we have a child in the system or not. We need community support and backing. We need to be able to go to the community and say, 'Hey, this family is struggling. Can you help us? How can you help us,'' Sledge said. Beyond fostering, there are other ways you can help, such as providing clothing or therapeutic services for children in care. If you'd like to become involved, head over to 2INgage – Serving Texas Foster Care Children & Families Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Yahoo
Widow of slain NYC police officer fights to keep murderer in jail — as cop killer could become 44th freed since 2017
The widow of a NYC police officer who was murdered in Brooklyn nearly 50 years ago is fighting to prevent her husband's murderer from being the 44th cop killer sprung since 2017. Police Officer Cecil Sledge was killed when parolee Salvatore 'Crazy Sal' Desarno ran him over with his Chevy Nova and dragged him five blocks during a stop in Brooklyn in 1980. 'Time doesn't change anything,' said widow Linda Sledge, 75. whose labor of love this Valentine's Day was to make her 12th trip to the parole board and implore the member she spoke to not to release Desarno, declaring that losing him was 'every police officer's wife's worst nightmare.' 'A kiss goodbye, 'See you later' and he walked out the door and I never saw him again,' the widow recalled to The Post this week. 'We're never going to get parole from the horror of what this man did to us.' Sledge was riding solo in a radio car on Flatlands Avenue in Canarsie patrolling for synagogue and church vandalism when he spotted Desarno, who was known as trouble to precinct cops and wanted in a donut-shop hold-up. When the 35-year-old cop confronted the suspect, Desarno drew a .38 Smith & Wesson and fired five shots. Sledge drew his own weapon and fired two shots. The cop's vest stopped the bullets but he slumped to the ground and was run over when Desarno, hit by both bullets, peeled out and dragged the officer to his death. Desarno's Nova slammed into a Don't Walk pole at East 58th Street. He hopped out and crashed through the window of a nearby home, where he took a 50-year-old woman hostage for eight minutes until a small army of police officers arrived. The woman, a travel agent, was unharmed. Desarno had a long rap sheet that started when he was a juvenile, including robbery and assault, and he was on parole for robbery. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in Sledge's murder and is at Five Points Correctional Facility in Seneca County. Sledge, a U.S. Army veteran with 12 years on the force, was the first cop killed in a one-man radio car patrol. The one-cop patrols stopped after his death. The officer left behind a 9-month old daughter and 5-year-old son. 'They never got an opportunity to hear his voice and hear his stories and spend time with him,' said the widow, who has grown weary from imploring the state parole board over and over to keep him locked up. 'But you do it, you do it for you, you do it for them, because I'm my husband's voice and I'm seeking justice for him,' she said. Desarno, 66, should 'remain behind bars for the rest of his life,' the widow continued. His fate now lies in the hands of the 16-member parole board, which will make its decision after his hearing, which is expected sometime in March, online records show. The rules that govern how the board weighs a prisoner's release were revised in 2017 because of lobbying by liberal activists, a police union source said. The board now gives more weight to an inmate's age and record while in prison — and less to the severity of their crimes. PBA President Patrick Hendry called the probation process 'torture for the families.' 'It is shameful that they are forced to deliver their victim impact statement to a random parole board member who may not be on the panel deciding the case,' Hendry said. 'Every parole board member who sits on the panel should be required to look these grieving families in the eye and hear their story before they vote to put another ruthless cop-killer back on the streets.'
