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Utah Governor approves of blockchain and digital innovation task force – Cointelegraph

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

After nearly a three-year-long discussion about establishing a task force to oversee blockchain and crypto initiatives, the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, signed a bill to create the Blockchain and Digital Innovation Task Force.

The Utah State Legislature first saw the introduction of the house bill (H.B. 335) in early February 2022, which took nearly two months to pass through several senates, house and fiscal actions before finally being signed by Governor Cox on March 24.

Some of the primary duties assigned to the task force involve making policy recommendations related to blockchain and related technologies. A part of the bill reads:

According to the bill, the task force in Utah will consist of up to 20 members with diverse expertise in blockchain technology, cryptocurrency and financial technologies. Out of the lot, up to five members will be appointed by the president of the Senate, up to five members by the speaker of the House of Representatives and up to five members by the governor, among others.

In addition, the bill also requires the Utah Division of Finance to provide staff support to the task force. The policy recommendations also entail the development of non-financial incentives for industries in the state related to blockchain, financial technology and digital innovation.

Upon establishment, the task force is required to report annually on or before November 30 to two committees of the Utah State Senate the Business and Labor Interim Committee and the Legislative Management Committee.

Related: SEC doubles down on crypto regulation by expanding unit

As state and federal regulators explore the least disruptive scope of crypto adoption, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced plans to double the number of personnel responsible for safeguarding investors in cryptocurrency markets.

As Cointelegraph reported, the SECs Cyber Unit, which includes the Crypto Assets and Cyber team, will hire 20 new people for 50 dedicated positions including investigative staff attorneys, trial lawyers and fraud analysts.

SEC Chairperson Gary Gensler welcomed the move while highlighting the success of the Cyber Unit in bringing down fraudulent activities in the crypto space, stating:

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Utah Governor approves of blockchain and digital innovation task force - Cointelegraph

Lootex makes headway in the blockchain space, co-curates the first Metaverse Fashion show in Asia – PR Newswire

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

The collaboration with Lootex and OneOffs is a step in the right direction for the first metaverse NFT fashion show in Taiwan. The co-curation of "Fashion in The Metaverse,'' has collected artists from The Sandbox Foundation: An An, TongYangChicken, Nest, Beryll Chen, Carina Chen, and game art designer Nora C. These talented artists were invited to design: a futuristic sci-fi fashion catwalk with the avatars created in The Sandbox'sVoxEdit. Each avatar is casted into a limited-edition NFT and put on the Lootex website forsale. The exclusivity of each avatar will only enhance the collector's experience in the ever-growing metaverse. It is still to be given a date but buyers of these avatars can expect some cool perks that will allow them to show off not just the art in the real world but also flex their stylistic choices in the metaverse.

Recap of Lootex Metaverse Fashion Event:View Here

The latest collaboration extends the existing partnership betweenLootex and The Sandbox, which started in2018.This is part of a broader partnership between Lootex and The Sandbox that also adds The Sandbox Co-Founder Sebastien Borget as an advisor and investor of Lootex. The CEO and Co-Founder of Lootex, Justine Lu, is the organizer of the Global Blockchain Game Alliance, also co-hosted the VoxEdit NFT creation event and Game Jam game design competitions for The Sandbox. Lootex is proud to be a long-term partner with The Sandbox, and expects to see more game developers and creators utilizing The Sandbox to make the next generation of metaverse assets and games," Lu said. The support from such a huge contributor to the future of the metaverse and its assets makes it clear that Lootex is on the path to not just being pioneers in their fieldbut a major player in NFT marketplaces.

Beyond The Sandbox, Lootex's player-centric, cross-chain NFT trading platform is constantly updated to reflect the latest developments in blockchain games. The creativity interwoven with both physical and virtual worlds is the reason Lootex is on its way to being the one-stop-shop that can't be denied. Providing their 80,000 active users with a decentralized multi-chain NFT marketplace, Lootex will surely open the path to more impressive projects. Coupled with the appreciation for the artists that are showcasing their amazing works, we would not be surprised to see more collaborations of this caliber.

About Lootex

Lootex is a player-centric, cross-chain NFT trading platform that shares the latest blockchain game info. It is devoted to building a gamer-centric game asset marketplace where anyone can easily browse and trade game assets across multiple blockchains.

For the latest updates and announcements, follow Lootex on these channels:

Website: http://www.lootex.io

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LootexIO

Telegram (EN):www.t.me/lootexIO

Telegram (CN): http://www.t.me/lootex

Medium: http://www.medium.com/lootex

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/lootexio

Facebook:www.facebook.com/lootex.io

Media contact:[emailprotected]

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Lootex makes headway in the blockchain space, co-curates the first Metaverse Fashion show in Asia - PR Newswire

EY Integrates Wharton Executive Education’s Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets Certification Program Into Its Leadership Development Strategy…

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

NEW YORK, May 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced a new collaboration with Wharton Executive Education to combine already-leading EY industry experience with a world-class learning institution. The Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets certification program provides a group of EY professionals with the tools they need to maintain EY's position at the forefront of these emerging topics and technologies.

As a Principals-level member of The Wharton Partnership, a network of corporations and foundations that help field Wharton's contributions to the world, this newest initiative furthers EY's relationship with the School.

"At EY, we take pride in anticipating major industry moves, bringing leading skill sets to our clients, and providing deep industry experience and insight. This kind of investment and collaboration supports that strategy," says Steve Beattie, EY's co-leader for cryptocurrency consulting services.

Throughout this extensive, individually paced program, an initial EY leadership team will participate in a comprehensive curriculum, ideate with their peers, and complete a capstone project to build on existing knowledge of use cases and the economic fundamentals driving blockchain, smart contracts, and digital assets.

This initial EY cohort is part of a broader strategy to expand participation both locally and globally. The program has also been customized to best align with EY's strategic objective to help build, connect, and protect the financial services ecosystem.

"We are excited about this collaboration with EY, which enables Wharton to support a group of industry leaders through a course that will advance their skills in complex topics that are gaining momentum and are vital to the future of a frictionless financial services industry," said Dr. Cathy Barrera, founding economist at Prysm Group and industry lead of the program.

"These topics promise to offer a potential new way of conducting business, whether it's progressive use of cryptocurrency, tokenization of products, or even communicating and sharing in new ways within the metaverse," said Beattie. "It's an exciting time to invest in our leadership on these topics."

This initial cohort will be underway in May, with future waves of leaders participating going forward.

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people, and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform, and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax, and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data, and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation, are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

ABOUT THE WHARTON SCHOOL

Founded in 1881 as the world's first collegiate business school, the Wharton Schoolof the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year 13,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education'sindividual, company-customized, and online programs. More than 100,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. For more information, visit http://www.wharton.upenn.edu.

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EY Integrates Wharton Executive Education's Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets Certification Program Into Its Leadership Development Strategy...

GOSH launches as the first ever Git blockchain – PR Newswire

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

Developers will be able to transparently track and verify all the code they build while ensuring malicious code will be noticeable immediately.

KYIV, Ukraine, May 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Announced at DockerCon, GOSH launched as the first blockchain in history custom-built for git on-chain. GOSH has partnered with Docker to secure the software supply chain with the GOSH Docker extension. GOSH's mission is to offer a comprehensive solution to securing the global software supply chain, which has long been a big problem for businesses, and capturing the value locked in open source projects.

"Storing git on-chain is a no-brainer," said Mitja Goroshevsky, CTO of EverX and GOSH co-founder, "Attacks happen daily, and blockchain is the only technology which is widely used and is incredibly secure. The only problem: it was impossible to store git on-chain, until now. But GOSH isn't just about security, it's about offering developers a better git overall.

"Git management systems available today, apart from not being secure, are also not tailored to open source. The management of the software always involves handing over code to a centralized party, and there has so far been no community management of code. GOSH changes this by allowing developers to turn their git repositories into a DAO and build consensus around your code."

The current software supply chain is vulnerable to security and transparency risks, and containers are particularly susceptible. Because of this, the team behind GOSH is delighted to announce their first partnership. The GOSH Docker extension is a tool to verify that Docker containers built on GOSH remain secure and unchanged. Developers can be sure that the container itself was built only using the components they indicated in their smart contracts.

Using GOSH requires no workflow adjustments from developers, and is still very much a git. Only now, developers will be able to transparently track and verify all the code they build, instead of just relying on social metrics, such as stars and ratings. Code can be tracked to distribution, and all the elements of software are traceable back to the source code, also ensuring malicious code will be noticeable immediately.

GOSH is already actively working with Amaze and BitRezus on making sure their supply chains are air tight. "Here at Amaze we have become passionate about NFTs. A cornerstone of a new and exciting technology that promises to create great value to our customers, from creators to entrepreneurs, we now offer them the opportunity to mint and create minted templates for NFTs," said Aaron Day, CEO of Amaze, "The nature of the services we provide means safety is top priority. We need to make sure that when users deal with financial tools their funds aren't in any danger. GOSH technology can guarantee that our code is developed and delivered in a secure way so software is never compromised."

BitRezus CEO Konstantinos Antonakopoulosadded: "Astropledge works to prevent cybercrime and securely provide software to satellites using the best technology for the task: the blockchain. Our aim is to protect assets sent to space from the dangers posed from hackers or human error. Adopting GOSH is a natural evolutionary step for us, seeing as it is the only blockchain that secures the services we provide in delivering software to a satellite, securely."

About GOSH

GOSH stands for Git Open Source Hodler. It is a decentralized community Git blockchain, purpose-built for securing the software supply chain. GOSH is the first and only formally verified Git implementation. Built as an advanced scalable multithreaded and multi-sharded blockchain, it allows developers to build a layer of structural security smart contracts therefore making it the first platform where the more code you write the more secure it becomes. It was founded on May 10th, 2022.

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2 Key Employers Takeaways from Professional Sports Continued Adoption of Crypto and Blockchain Technology – JD Supra

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

As cryptocurrency and blockchain technology continue their way into the mainstream, one key industry that stands out for its adoption of blockchain technology is professional sports. Professional leagues and teams have been among the first employers to realize the potential use cases for Blockchain technology and its ability to create an unmatched fan experience. Within the last month alone, two of the largest sports leagues in the world, the UFC and the NBA, have launched various cryptocurrency initiatives designed to enhance the fan experience. And the path they have begun to walk could provide helpful guideposts for employers in all industries as they consider how to properly integrate crypto and blockchain in their businesses.

UFC and NBA Lead the Way

Mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) began paying its fighters bonuses in Bitcoin payments through a partnership with the UFCs cryptocurrency partner Crypto.com. The bonuses are paid through a voting process where the fans chose the top three fights from a PPV called the Fan Bonus of the Night and began earlier this month at UFC 273.

Meanwhile, the NBA Playoffs are in full gear and many of the series have been very exciting. The playoffs are the NBAs prime season and this year the NBA minted Association NFTs unique digital assets recorded on the blockchain that indicate ones ownership over the asset that look like digital basketball cards for every player in the playoffs. Whats really interesting is that these NFTs are marketed as Dynamic because the players image, as well as the background and frame of the NFT, will evolve based on the players real-time performance and their teams performance.

2 Key Considerations for Employers

There are two key considerations that these developments can teach employers in all industries: the consideration of employee v. independent contractor status, and the importance of collective bargaining where necessary.

Paying Independent Contractors v. Employees

While both new crypto initiatives should help create a more immersive and engaged fan experience, these projects also highlight issues for employers to consider. First, there is no doubt that paying employees in cryptocurrency has been a hot topic in 2022 as employers and businesses are working hard to understand what they need to know about this relatively new practice.

UFC fighters, however, are not considered employees of the UFC. Rather, the UFC, like the WWE and many other competitive professional sports conferences, leagues, and teams, have been known to utilize independent contractor arrangements for their competitors.

Paying independent contractors in cryptocurrency can provide several unique advantages to both the business and the independent contractors over their typical payment system. As one example, if a business pays an independent contractor in cryptocurrency, the independent contractor will be paid quicker. Not only is paying in cryptocurrency inexpensive, but it is nearly instantaneous which can serve as a significant recruiting benefit allowing a business to recruit top talent. Considering the ever-growing global remote workforce, and especially the diverse pool of talent from different countries, introducing crypto payment can be a seamless and cost-effective payday solution.

Moreover, in the typical business setting, retaining independent contractors can provide massive savings on labor costs, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, taxes, and benefits. It can also reduce potential liability relating to most wage-and-hour and discrimination laws and issues under Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and immigration laws.

Despite these benefits, the risk of misclassification is significant. It has consistently been a hotly contested issues for litigation in both individual and class action lawsuits. Employers evaluating whether to pay independent contractors in cryptocurrency or fiat dollars should consider the following: It is the law in the state in which you operate that defines whether someone is truly an independent contractor, not the contract that they signed.

Depending on where you operate, the elements of the legal test determining contractor status may look slightly different. However, a misclassification finding, no matter where you are, will expose you to a same set of problems: claims of unpaid wages, meal and rest breaks violations, unpaid overtime, and related penalties. In certain cases, these problems can also turn into complicated class actions that will undoubtedly pose a straining financial burden for your team.

If you have independent contractor relationships, whether you pay them in crypto or traditional methods, you should consider consulting with your workplace counsel to ensure the arrangement is legally proper in your area.

Collective Bargaining Considerations

Another key issue for many employers that can be taken from these developments relates to collective bargaining obligations. Similar to just about every professional sports league in the country, many employers have employees that are represented by a union. The National Labor Relations Act requires leagues to bargain with their players union over any change to the players wages, hours, or other terms or conditions of employment. These categories are interpreted broadly in favor of a collective bargaining obligation.

Understanding the scope of this obligation is critical, as a failure to bargain can result in an unfair labor practice charge and prolonged proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board. Outside of professional sports, the same requirements exist for employers when attempting to make changes in these categories.

In some cases, collective bargaining is relatively straightforward, with each side making proposals and eventually compromising in one direction or another. In the context of professional sports, as well as general labor negotiations, the negotiations can be drawn out and contentious. In the professional sports context, it is not unusual for there to be either a strike or a lockout of the players by the league. Within the last 20 years, each of the major U.S. professional sports leagues have endured a work stoppage during collective bargaining negotiations.

Items like NFTs, which may impact revenue generation, receive extra attention at the bargaining table. The key question is typically how revenue will be allocated among players (or workers) and owners. For sports that use a salary cap tied to league revenue, the parties also need to decide whether revenue generated from NFTs should be included. In a typical employer-union relationship, this could include questions such as increases in wages, additional paid time off, and improved retirement, health insurance, or other benefits.

The NBA, for its part, was one of the first professional sports leagues to develop NFTs. It has worked with blockchain company Dapper Labs since 2019 on the popular NBA Top Shot. While NFTs are not defined specifically in the current NBA Players Association collective bargaining agreement, the league has the right to market media (broadly defined to include, among other things, digital media). But any use of any players player attributes in promotional activities must be jointly licensed by the NBA Players Association. Consistent with these provisions, The Association NFTs for this years playoffs are jointly licensed by both the league and the players union.

As it relates to collective bargaining, ensuring that there is meaningful bargaining over any change to an employees wages, hours, or other terms or conditions of employment is critical. You should pay careful attention to the terms used in your CBAs, especially in areas of emerging or changing technologies or practices such as crypto and blockchain. Again, the best way to determine your legal obligations in this regard is to consult with your workplace counsel before starting down this path.

Conclusion

While the law surrounding NFTs may still be unclear, NFTs are unmistakably transforming the future of sports memorabilia.

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2 Key Employers Takeaways from Professional Sports Continued Adoption of Crypto and Blockchain Technology - JD Supra

Blockchain-Based Climate Impact Projects Respond to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Request for Information on Climate…

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

SAN FRANCISCO, May 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, in response tothe White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP)Request for Information on the Energy and Climate Implications of Digital Assets, the Blockchain Infrastructure Carbon Offset Working Group along with over 30 projects leveraging blockchain technology for climate impact have independently and jointly submitted public comments for consideration by the OSTP. The submissions signal the entrance of the rapidly scaling ReFi industry into federal policy discussions around future regulatory frameworks for digital assets and blockchain technology.

Led by the Blockchain Infrastructure Carbon Offset Working Group (BICOWG), whose membership includes cutting-edge ReFi projects likeKlimaDAO,Offsetra, andRegen Network, as well as representatives from the largest blockchain infrastructure service providers likeF2Pool for Bitcoin mining pools andstakefish of proof-of-stake validators, the industry today presented its formal response to the OSTP's request for information along with President Biden'sExecutive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets. Key recommendations made by the industry include:

BICOWG's 5 Recommendations

Recommendation 1:Accept expert advisory and due diligence blockchain solutions being adopted for carbon markets to ensure appropriate verification, governance, and transparency.

Recommendation 2. Regulate in favor of mechanistically resilient methodologies provided by on-chain solutions that can satisfy the needs of improving today's traditional carbon markets.

Recommendation 3:Allow Web3 tools to help carbon registries lower the cost of auditing claims to as close to zero as possible and de-incentivize opaque auditing processes.

Recommendation 4:Support integration between existing standards-setting bodies and Web3 technologies through the articulation of their standards to be adopted in the Web3 ecosystem. These can include the management of cryptographic keys and oversight of the composable protocols that interact with each other in a setting of composable blockchain applications in the climate ecosystem.

Recommendation 5:Support the Web3 carbon bridge sector in its task to increase the transparency and integrity of carbon accounting systems, challenging carbon registries.

Daniel Hwang, from BICOWG, said, "The climate crypto ecosystem of operators within thetokenized carbon market have understood the responsibilities for addressing the climate impacts of blockchain and have made significant innovative strides in climate impact financing and novel climate-neutral products"

The BICOWG is extending an invitation to officials and organizations for a comprehensive dialogue around data points and use-cases at the intersection of digital assets, climate change, and blockchain technology.

"Blockchain technology brings unparalleled transparency, accessibility, and functionality to the carbon markets. In the last 6 months, more than $2B USD worth of carbon assets has been traded on the blockchain. In the process, the market has established clear pricing and deep liquidity for carbon assets enabling new investment into environmental projects that generate real action toward the fight against climate change," said Sy Zygy, product lead at KlimaDAO.Said Sy Zygy, Co-founder of KlimaDAO.

The BICOWG believes that organizations using Web3 tools to finance climate change reversal are uniquely positioned to assist regulators in determining how to achieve the goals set forth by the Biden Administration.

For additional information, please contact Natacha Rousseau at BICOWG's Press Office.

Natacha Rousseaunatacha@loalabs.io

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Image 1: BICOWG

Blockchain Infrastructure Carbon Offset Working Group

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Open the new experience with Bitkub Blockchain Technology – Nation Thailand

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

NFT Creator Studio zone With the first time grand opening to the users, NFT Creator Studio will allow any users to mint NFT on their own. In addition, NFT Creator Studio is a new feature on Bitkub NFT, the NFT leading platform in Thailand, which will be rolled out soon in the near future. Also, on the NFT Creator Studio zone, the users will be able to receive free NFT to set as profile pictures on social media by using the Bitkub NEXT wallet. After finishing the trial from this zone, the users will receive the NFT key as a reward to redeem a special gift at the event.

Metaverse zone With the first time grand opening to the users, Bitkub Metaverse will allow the users to open new experiences in the virtual world via VR technology. After finishing the trial from this zone, the users will receive the NFT key as a reward to redeem a special gift at the event.

Merchandise Store by Bitkub Academy zone In this zone, the users can enjoy shopping for merchandise from the Bitkub Academy zone. Indeed, after collecting all NFT keys, the users can redeem them for a special gift which is the DEV KUB Hybrid shirt limited edition, exclusively for developers. In the future, the owner of this limited shirt will be allowed to participate in the Bitkub Chain developer project. After finishing the trial from this zone, the users will receive the NFT key as a reward to redeem a special gift at the event. Do not miss it! Lets join Bitkub Chain at the event and collect all NFTs for special gift redemption including DEV KUB limited edition shirt, Bitkub M Social privilege, NFT from PunkKUB and another special gift from Bitkub Chain.

Follow for more news and updates

Website : https://www.bitkubchain.com/

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/bitkubchainofficial

Twitter : https://twitter.com/bitkubchain

Discord : https://discord.gg/WkJ6j279

Telegram : https://t.me/+jiM6dAP5cxUzZTM1

#BitkubChain #BitkubBlockchainTechnology #CryptoExpo2022 #KUBCoin

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Open the new experience with Bitkub Blockchain Technology - Nation Thailand

The latest NFT? The Salvation Army is releasing an album by Houstons Billy Dorsey on the blockchain – Houston Chronicle

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

The Salvation Armys most famous fundraiser for families in need is a decidedly analogue affair: volunteers, sometimes dressed as Santa Claus, ringing bells next to red kettles into which kind passersby can place their change. But its newest fundraiser resides on the blockchain.

The Salvation Army is releasing an NFT - music recorded by Houstons Grammy Award winner Billy Dorsey, who was once homeless in the Fifth Ward. Dorsey won a Grammy for co-producing Houston rapper Lecraes album Gravity, and has his own solo album, Marathon.

TOMLINSON: Take Megan Thee Stallions advice, get on the blockchain

An NFT is a digital token indicating ownership of a unique asset; they have drawn headlines for allowing the sale of things that before would have been difficult to claim ownership of, including memes, digital sports cards and Jack Dorseys first Tweet.

In the Salvation Armys case, the NFT will provide ownership of a unique piece of art and unlock access to The Safest Place, an album by Dorsey written specifically for the fundraiser. It will also serve as a ticket to the premier of The Safest Place documentary, which will be shown in Houston.

After I overcame being homeless, I knew that I wanted to help others get off the street and back on their feet, Dorsey said in a release. Now, by bringing my passion for music together with the popularity of NFTs, we will be able to create more of an impact to continue to support the amazing work done by the Salvation Army.

On HoustonChronicle.com: The gospel according to Marathon man Billy Dorsey

The NFTs original release date, spring of 2020, was pushed back because of the COVID pandemic, according to the projects website. Already, it has brought in more than $2.5 million, which has been used to help house more than 407 families.

rebecca.schuetz@chron.com;

twitter.com/raschuetz

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The latest NFT? The Salvation Army is releasing an album by Houstons Billy Dorsey on the blockchain - Houston Chronicle

Vigor Loop Is Introducing A New Way Of Commerce Implementing Blockchain Technology – Benzinga – Benzinga

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

With $OVO Coin, Vigor Loop is bringing reality beyond fiction and redefining the future of businesses.

Over the past few years, Blockchain technology has evolved significantly, and now it is time to see businesses implement it. Six ambitious entrepreneurs launched Vigor Loop with the mission to bring to the world the most innovative company introducing and implementing the Blockchain system. With them, the business of tomorrow has arrived and we may be entering a new era of commerce.

They believe that Blockchain has the potential to give humanity the means to make the world a better place. Aiming to move this future forward by finding new and engaging ways to accelerate mass adoption and bring non-crypto people on board. It has never been done before and was time to give a newest utility to crypto outside its speculative bubble, and start bringing real benefits to huge masses of people.

Introducing Vigor Loop and the $OVO Coin as the ideal business model of nowadays which breaks all the established standards. Vigor Loop is the first company with unlimited ownership giving investors the possibility to own and manage a part of it by purchasing $OVO Coins. Those investors would constantly receive passive income from the profits made by the company after sell

Vigor Loop began its commercialisation in May, with over 20 products available including their unique Energy Drink among other clothing and GYM Accessories.

The Vigor Loop Original Energy Drink was carefully designed to improve and maintain a healthy lifestyle as it contains botanical extracts, vitamins and nootropics, while excluding the harmful ingredients found in many other beverages.

Along with this key product, the team works hard to expand and diversify their commercial branches to reach huge quantities of customers by creating new products without losing sight of their values.

As part of their ambitious roadmap, they claim and prove that they are developing other concepts for deployment in the last quarters of this year. A mobile App is under development and will bring to its users features including: free workout programs, eLearning platform and a personalized space for their investors where users will be able to control their investments, monitor finances, trade and stake the $OVO Coins. This App will be released in the summer while their first NFT collection will start minting. By that time they will be settled for their biggest deployment of 2022, the VL Smart Recycling Box. This concept will play an important role in sustainability, as it will allow everyone to easily recycle containers of beverages while being rewarded. Through the use of the VL Smart Boxes, users will receive rewards via the mobile App and indistinguishably the material of the container recycled, they will receive $0.07/container allowing them to directly donate it or exchange it for $OVO Coins.

Being the exclusive token within the Vigor Loop ecosystem along with BNB, the $OVO Coin is built for maximum efficiency and utility. Its main purpose is to symbolize the shares of the corporation. It can also be traded like any other crypto coin, however the Vigor Loop team highly recommends every investor to stake their $OVO Coins in order to receive attractive monthly income.

One of the Vigor Loop CO-Founders, Dylan Sanz Garcia, announced that the company has been successfully settled after achieving all rights and approvals required. This led his team to publish the day of the $OVO Coin Launch on 18th of May. Furthermore, the presale and fundraising for the project will start on the 15th of May from 12:00 PM (GMT), taking place on the Pinksale platform. All kinds of traders and investors regardless their location or financial status are welcomed to partake.

For more information visit:

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/vigorloop

Website: https://vigorloop.com

Telegram: https://t.me/VigorLoop

For updates follow @VigorLoop on Twitter and Instagram.

Media ContactCompany Name: Vigor Loop CoContact Person: Dylan Sanz Garcia Email: Send EmailCity: LondonCountry: United KingdomWebsite: vigorloop.com

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IKA BLOCK signed a cooperation agreement with CYBAVO, the leading blockchain information security in Asia. – GlobeNewswire

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

Hongkong, China , May 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IKA BLOCK, a hong kong blockchain developer, announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with CYBAVO, a leading Asian blockchain information security company in Taiwan, to expand the Asian and APAC markets and provide professional security services for all Hong Kong companies planning to develop blockchain business. Ensure the security of corporate virtual currency assets.

Taiwan's blockchain security team "CYBAVO VAULT" - CYBAVO was established in 2018 by a group of senior information security experts with backgrounds in blockchain security, cryptography, computer security, malware analysis and network security. It is safe and powerful, it is a digital asset management platform that mainly assists different companies to provide the best solution for protecting assets in their cryptocurrency industry. The CYBAVO team has a lot of international experience and foresight to provide a sound password management mechanism for the information security of digital assets. In the middle of last year, CYBAVO stood out in the Pitch event held by the 2021 SelectUSA Investment Summit, the highest standard business event organized by the US Department of Commerce, and won the first place in the information security briefing competition.

IKA BLOCK, a local blockchain developer, was jointly established by several senior software engineers in 2017. It is the first hong kong blockchain technology company focusing on blockchain technology, project development, wallet security and assisting customers to promote blockchain projects. Harry Chan, director of blockchain technology of IKA BLOCK, believes that the virtual currency market has developed rapidly in the past few years, and the security protection of assets is the foundation of all development. How to balance security and convenience in Private Key management is also the most challenging problem at present. There is a lack of secure institutional-level end-to-end solutions. Due to financial security issues, such as many exchanges, wallets, and celebrity NFT projects have been hacked and stolen, many traditional companies are afraid to enter the blockchain market. Therefore, blockchain security is definitely the most important battlefield in the blockchain industry. Through cooperation with CYBAVO, IKA BLOCK is confident that it can protect the assets of more companies and witness the new era of "fiat to crypto assets" with CYBAVO .

More info:

https://ikablock.com/2022/05/03/cybavo-announces-partnership-with-ika-block-to-expand-footprint-in-apac/

https://www.cybavo.com/blog/cybavo-ikablock-partnership/

CYBAVO official website: https://cybavo.com

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IKA BLOCK signed a cooperation agreement with CYBAVO, the leading blockchain information security in Asia. - GlobeNewswire

Bitcoin.com bags $33M in private sale to expand token ecosystem – FinanceFeeds

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

Bitcoin.com has collected $33.6 million in a private sale of its community-facing token as it bids to scale its ecosystem dedicated to the cryptocurrency industry.

The private token sale was led by top investors in the space including Digital Strategies, KuCoin Ventures, Blockchain.com, ViaBTC Capital, Redwood City Ventures, 4SV, and BoostX Ventures.

The financing round for Verse, a rewards and utility token for the Bitcoin.com ecosystem, was also bankrolled by many industry leaders that came together to further solidify the project. This includes individual thought leaders and influencers like Roger Ver, Jihan Wu, and David Wachsman.

The relatively big funding highlights how the blockchain and crypto publishers are growing in prominence. In Bitcoin.coms case, the company claims that it has created nearly 30 million wallets alongside over five million monthly active users.

As such, Bitcoin.com decided to tap into its customers loyalty with the launch a mechanism to reward them for buying, selling, spending, swapping, investing, and staying informed about crypto. That mechanism is Verse, a cross-chain token built on the ERC-20 standard with a focus on expanding into low-fee, EVM-compatible chains.

Two thirds of Verse tokens are reserved for the community in the form of a development fund and ecosystem incentives and rewards. The latter includes staking rewards, airdrops, yield for liquidity providers on the soon to be launched Verse DEX, and more.

Bitcoin.com is a crypto news and information site that provides a variety related services, with an emphasis on Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, including a media outlet, crypto casino and a mobile wallet for both of these cryptocurrencies.

As of April 2014, it has been owned by a man named Roger Ver. Ver is a famous and controversial figure in the cryptocurrency world. Nicknamed Bitcoin Jesus, and later Bitcoin Judas, he is most notable for spearheading the creation of Bitcoin Cash, which came into being via a hard fork of Bitcoin in August 2017.

Since 2015, Bitcoin.com has been a leader in introducing newcomers to crypto and guiding them along their crypto journey. So far weve built an incredible portfolio of products and services that count more than 4 million monthly active users and 30 million self-custody wallets created. Today, were proud to announce VERSE, a utility and rewards token for everyone who participates in the ready-built Bitcoin.com Verse ecosystem said Dennis Jarvis, Bitcoin.com CEO. VERSE is user-centric and adds tremendous value across our range of crypto products and services including the Bitcoin.com self-custody wallet app, the Bitcoin.com Exchange, the Verse DEX, Bitcoin.com News, and our upcoming crypto-enabled debit card. Were also extremely excited to announce the Verse public token sale, which is scheduled to begin in June.

Eric Weiss, Managing Partner, Digital Strategies: In our view, the utility of the Verse token in conjunction with the Bitcoin.com brand and broad suite of tools will create a powerful moat for its ecosystem. Were thrilled to be part of this journey with Bitcoin.com and Verse.

Justin Chou, Chief Investment Officer, KuCoin Ventures: The next wave of growth in crypto will be led by strong global brands that create real-world products for millions of people. Bitcoin.com will accelerate the development of products and partnerships that expand their reach globally.

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Bitcoin.com bags $33M in private sale to expand token ecosystem - FinanceFeeds

Kari Lake Reveals Why She Is So Popular – The Future of the Populist …

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake went on OANs Weekly Briefing with Chanel Rion this week. The popular Populist-Republican revealed why she is the future of the party.

Kari is absolutely fearless. She will not bow to the desires of the Democrat-media complex.

Kari Lake: Whats gonna happen next time is, I believe were gonna have a red wave

But when Im Governor, I know were gonna have a big red majority in the state legislature

TRENDING: Pro-Abortion House Democrats March on Senate Chanting "My Body, My Decision!"

Were going to drag the 2020 election out, unlike some people who want to brush it under the rug. Were gonna drag it out, under the spotlight. We are going to examine what went wrong. Well take that forensic audit and were gonna find each and every loophole that was used to cheat and steal our vote, and were going to fix it.

Kari Lake truly is the future of the Populist-Republican Party.

Via The Storm Has Arrived.

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Kari Lake Reveals Why She Is So Popular - The Future of the Populist ...

Populist Party – Ohio History Central

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

The People's Party, also known as the Populist Party, was an important political party in the United States of America during the late nineteenth century.

The People's Party originated in the early 1890s.It was organized in Kansas, but the party quickly spread across the United States.It drew its members from Farmers' Alliances, the Grange, and the Knights of Labor. Originally, the Populists did not form a national organization, preferring to gain political influence within individual states.

The Populist Party consisted primarily of farmers unhappy with the Democratic and Republican Parties.The Populists believed that the federal government needed to play a more active role in the American economy by regulating various businesses, especially the railroads.In particular, the Populists supported women's suffrage the direct election of United States Senators. They hoped that the enactment women's suffrage and the direct election of senators would enable them to elect some of their members to political office.Populists also supported a graduated income tax, government ownership of the railroads, improved working conditions in factories, immigration restrictions, an eight-hour workday, the recognition of unions, and easier access to credit.

During the early 1890s, the Populist Party garnered numerous victories.The party won governors' seats in Colorado, Washington, North Carolina, Montana, and several additional states.The Populists gained control of state legislatures in Kansas, Nebraska, and North Carolina, and they succeeded in electing members to the United States House of Representatives in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and California.

In 1892, the People's Party formed a national organization. The party selected James Weaver as its candidate for the presidency of the United States.The Populist platform called for government ownership of the railroads and the telephone and telegraph networks.It also demanded the free coinage of silver, an end to private script, a graduated income tax, direct election of senators, additional government and railroad-owned land being made available to homesteaders, and the implementation of secret ballots.The Populists won numerous political offices at the state and local levels, but Weaver finished a distant third to Grover Cleveland in the presidential election.By the election of 1896, the Democratic Party had absorbed many of the Populist ideals, causing the People's Party to cease to exist as a national organization.

In Ohio, the Populist Party remained a relatively insignificant force in politics.Thousands of Ohioans, especially farmers and industrial workers, agreed with the Populists platform, but they made up a minority of the states populace.John J. Seitz, a Populist, ran for Ohio's gubernatorial seat, but he received less than three-tenths of one percent of the votes cast in the election. The party performed significantly better in the gubernatorial race of 1895.Jacob S. Coxey ran as the Populist candidate and received fifty-two thousand votes. It was a respectable showing, but Coxey still lost the election.He ran again in 1897.This time he received just over six thousand votes, illustrating the declining popularity of the Populist Party.

The People's Party in Ohio helped Republicans tremendously, because the Populists tended to draw their supporters from the Democratic Party.To win back their former members, the Democrats in Ohio, as the party did nationally, quickly adopted many of the Populists ideals.

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Populist Party - Ohio History Central

Evidence from the gilets jaunes: Which candidates win the support of populist voters? – London School of Economics

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

Populist voters are often assumed to be driven by anger or disillusionment with the political system. But does this overlook the possibility that many citizens simply believe populist policies would benefit society? Drawing on a study of the French gilets jaunes, Frdric Gonthier and Tristan Guerra explain that concerns about wider society have a major impact on the choices populist voters make at the ballot box.

Populist voters have long been viewed as driven by anger toward elites and the political system. With the mainstreaming of populist parties and the resurgence of populist social movements across Europe, a new generation of studies is now devoting more attention to the notion that populist voters can also be motivated by concerns about wider society.

Populist voters are, in particular, highly supportive of institutional reforms on which populist leaders have raised awareness when competing on democratic issues with mainstream parties. This is notably the case with democratic innovations favouring direct democracy, like referendums. Such a concern is due to the fact that populist voters are not only worried about their own personal situation but also by the state of society at large.

The gilets jaunes

In a new study, we expand on this emerging literature by showing that populist support for referendums also translates into voting choice. We focus on the populist French gilets jaunes movement, whose core demands included the establishment of so called citizens initiative referendums, through which citizens would be able to dismiss elected representatives, amend the constitution, make legislative proposals, and oppose government policies.

Although the gilets jaunes initially emerged in opposition to a rise in fuel taxes, citizens initiative referendums ultimately became their main demand. These referendums can be seen as a reflection of populism because they are built on both people-centric and anti-elitist principles. Pushing for these referendums also cemented the movements unity by replacing the various and sometimes conflicting demands of the gilets jaunes with a simple and inclusive policy that could bring people together. By the same token, it no doubt helped subsume previous subgroup identities and enhance a sense of belonging within the community.

The voting choices of the gilets jaunes make for an interesting case study for our purposes because their supporters should be torn between backing candidates that either share their background, have similar political ideologies, or support the establishment of citizens initiative referendums. To resolve this, we conducted a conjoint experiment on a sample of 2,743 protesters between December 2018 and March 2019.

We found that candidates standing up for policy issues brought to the forefront by the gilets jaunes such as an increase in the minimum wage or reinstatement of the solidarity tax on wealth garnered more support than candidates who were similar to protesters in terms of their social background, or who signalled their ideological proximity by means of anti-elite statements. We also found that candidates supporting citizens initiative referendums were far more likely to be endorsed than alternative candidates, as illustrated by the magnitude of the estimates in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Preferred candidate features among the gilets jaunes

Democratic theorists usually posit that the general public prioritises substantive political representation (that is, representation based on shared political preferences) over descriptive representation (that is, representation based on shared social characteristics). Our results are in accordance with this theory as statements in favour of citizens initiative referendums not only had the biggest impact on support for candidates, but also conditioned the impact of all other candidate features.

On top of that, we also found that the effect of statements in favour of citizens initiative referendums tapped into people-centrism, a core component of populism. Members of the gilets jaunes that held people-centric attitudes were more likely to support candidates in favour of citizens initiative referendums. However, this effect was less apparent with members of the gilets jaunes that had anti-elitist attitudes.

In sharp contrast to the often-negative image of populist motivations, our research therefore suggests that policy measures enhancing direct democracy may appeal to a populist electorate and channel their discontent. In particular, congruency between people-centric attitudes and referendums appears to be a key route for populist citizens to arrive at their vote choice, even when competing with other core populist appeals such as anti-elitism.

From roundabouts to ballots

Our study echoes the results of the 2022 French presidential election. Even though the gilets jaunes were unsuccessful in getting their own candidates elected, and citizens initiative referendums failed to make it to the top of the agenda, candidates that expressed the strongest support for citizens initiative referendums, such as Jean-Luc Mlenchon and Marine Le Pen, improved their electoral performance between 2017 and 2022.

Most interestingly, Jean Lassalle, the presidential candidate whose referendum proposals were ranked first by the associations advocating for citizens initiative referendums, received a significant boost of around 666,000 votes, finishing above the candidates from the French Communist Party and the Socialist Party.

Institutional issues, such as citizens initiative referendums, also gained in salience during the run-off election between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron. Le Pen even pledged to start a referendum revolution to bridge the democratic divide and mobilise disillusioned populist voters against Macron. Taking up the issue of citizens initiative referendums was obviously not enough to get her elected, but it nevertheless energised her political campaign and brought populist protesters back to the polls.

For more information, see the authors accompanying paper in Political Psychology

Note: This article gives the views of theauthors, not the position of EUROPP European Politics and Policy or the London School of Economics. Featured image credit: ev on Unsplash

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Evidence from the gilets jaunes: Which candidates win the support of populist voters? - London School of Economics

Opinion | What J.D. Vances Primary Win Says About Populism and Resentment in the G.O.P. – The New York Times

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

[MUSIC]

Its The Argument. Im Jane Coaston.

It seems like right now any conversation about the 2022 midterms is actually kind of about 2024. And any conversation about 2024 is inevitably about Donald Trump even if its not about Donald Trump the person, but Donald Trump the idea. Because even if Donald Trump doesnt run again, his ideas, his ethos, his whole vibe will be. Itll just be coming from a different Republican. In this primary season, were seeing a lot of that. So this week Im joined by two conservative writers who are thinking a lot about what the winning G.O.P. candidates can tell us about the waxing or waning influence of Donald Trump, or the idea of Donald Trump on the party.

Hello. Nice to meet you both.

Hey, good to meet you.

Yeah.

I cant believe weve never talked, I dont think.

Yeah, I actually am kind of surprised that this has never happened until now.

Yeah.

Good, well, thats what youre for, right?

Uh-huh. Yep. Im bringing people together.

Thats right.

We try. Heres David French.

Im a Senior Editor at The Dispatch, a Contributing Writer at The Atlantic, and Memphis Grizzlies fan.

And Chris Caldwell.

Im a Contributing Editor at The Claremont Review of Books, and a Contributing Opinion Writer for The New York Times Opinion Section.

This all started Chris, you wrote an article for New York Times Opinion about J.D. Vance, the best-selling author who just won the Ohio Republican primary election for Senate, analyzing what you think contributed to his popularity in Ohios primary, including and beyond Trumps endorsement, and I think we can use that as an interesting case study and jumping off point for discussion. I was particularly interested, because Im from Ohio. I grew up in Ohio. Its always been a very conservative place in a lot of ways.

But I wanted to walk through your piece with David, because I know he disagrees with some of the major points. First, you say the people who voted for J.D. Vance havent changed. Whats changed is that Trump gave them an outlet for their grievances.

But I disagree with that, because in 2016, Vance was not a Trump supporter. He described him as reprehensible, as cultural heroin. Flash forward to his campaign, he said that he underwent a political evolution of sorts, that Trump was right, elites are corrupt, and then he got Trumps endorsement in the race. So I think if you read Hillbilly Elegy, and you read some of what Vance wrote, it wasnt that there were no problems, it was that Trump was the wrong solution. Why, and what do you think changed, Chris?

Well, as I say, I am not sure that Vance changed as much as you are. I think through traveling with him, I formed the impression that we might have taken some of the wrong things out of Hillbilly Elegy. That is, we might have misidentified the center of the book. That book was written in 2013, 14, 15. It came out into the Trump campaign, and I think people grasped that as a way to explain Trump.

But I think the emotional center of that book is his relationship with his family. And I think that the sociological explanation of the politics of that region I think its secondary. Now, if you look at the political attitudes the book does describe, a lot of them are really youd call them arch conservative.

When I say I think that Trump changed Ohio more than other states, its because of the nature of the Ohio economy and the Ohio culture that grew out of that economy. It is, again, a varied economy. But if you have a manufacturing style economy, it has really suffered more than other economies in the last, lets say, generation. And the fact is, you have never had, with a few peeps here and there, but youve never had a presidential nominee of one of the parties who made a full-throated assault on the arrangements that destroyed that economy. And Trump did that, and its something unique among presidential candidates.

Ive been alive since 1987, and I remember George W. Bushs election in Ohio, and Ohio helped propel him to two presidential elections. And much of the state-level language that George W. Bush and Karl Rove were relying upon was talking about poor white voters, and talking to poor white voters, about a compassionate conservatism.

Right.

So, David, is Vance offering something truly new to low income white voters than say George W. Bush did, or is it a different packaging, and how is that difference actually showing up?

Yeah, I think Bush and Vance were moving towards working class white voters, but appealing to different aspects of the culture of working class white voters. But theres two things going on at once one is, Bush, through the language of compassionate conservatism, is appealing to, not just in Ohio, but broader in the United States of America, appealing to the better angels of our nature. So there are people who are being left behind that we need to help.

So you had Medicare expansion under Bush, for example, you had tariffs under Bush, for example. A lot of sort of the economic conservative purists really got upset about so many of the things that Bush did, and for a while it worked. Now, of course, we know what happened as America soured on the Iraq War. We know what happened in the aftermath of Katrina and the financial crash.

But I think whats different about the appeal now, in the Vances appeal, the Trump appeal, is it is much less reminiscent of a George W. Bush, and much more reminiscent of a George Wallace. And when I see Vance, and when I see this newest incarnation of Vance, Im not seeing so much compassionate conservatism as I am seeing a reemergence though of the kind of populism that dominated much of the South for a very long time in the South. And its a populism of resentment. Its a populism of tribal loyalty. It neglects appeals to better angels of our nature in favor of appeals to rage and anger hatred even.

And I think whats ultimately playing here isnt so much the globalization argument as it is much more the cultural argument. Much less rooted to, oh, here is this specific policy that Donald Trump or J.D. Vance is going to propose that is going to bring back manufacturing to this region, or their specific policy that they advance that the Democrats dont advance that is going to make my life better. I think it goes much, much deeper than that. It makes me question how unique Ohio is.

Yeah, Im curious about that, Chris, because from a what to do perspective, what is the difference between what J.D. Vance would offer and what a compassionate conservative who knows that cutting Medicare is politically a very bad idea do? This isnt J.D. Vance versus Paul Ryan. This is J.D. Vance versus the Republicans who have been Republicans in Ohio since I was a kid.

Right. Yeah, I think David lays it out as a choosing fellow feeling versus choosing group hostility, and I dont think that thats the way it happened. I think that whats happened is a shift in the economy thats brought a shift in the class system.

And I think that, lets say at the dawn of the New Deal, you had a Democratic Party that was, although idiosyncratic, pretty identifiable as the working mans party, and the Republican Party that was more or less a proprietors party. The New Deal changed that, and it created a kind of alternative way of rising through the society. There was sort of a Democratic Party constituency of both working people and, lets say, educational institutions that gave an alternative way to rise.

And so when you get to the 1980s, neither of the parties had a strong class identity. They had a class mythology in them. I think that the Democrats still thought of themselves as the party of the downtrodden working man, but the downtrodden working man might have a second house on one of the Great Lakes with a boat, you know.

Right.

Whats happened lately is a few things. Weve had deindustrialization, but weve also had the rise of a new economy, a lot of it around universities, and the Democrats are the party of universities. And so very gradually to the point where you havent really even noticed, we have emerged back in a world where the parties have class identities.

And so I think that what youre seeing is loud class arguments from certain Republican candidates. Vance is one of them, and thats one of the reasons I began the article by quoting Vance really shouting very passionately about wanting to break up the tech companies. And its not that the people who vote for him dont use the internet or anything like that, but they dont feel they have any say in the way the new, lets say, high tech economy and social order is set up.

David, youre looking askance.

Im thinking were over-analyzing this a lot. I think J.D. Vance is a very online, New Right politician. He has a Twitter constituency

Right.

so he has Ive got your grievances new right Twitter that sort of builds some zealous support that he has in that world, which is really, truthfully, electorally irrelevant. Its mainly useful because he has some of the same hobby horses that Tucker Carlson has, for example, so that helps get him on Tucker Carlson.

But the reality was, there was this race for the Trump endorsement and he captured the Trump endorsement, and then hes running in a multi-candidate primary where that Trump endorsements going to make a big difference. And you know, he goes for the Trump endorsement in a couple of ways. One of the ways he goes is by fighting like Trump, by appealing to that lowest common denominator kind of rhetoric fight, fight, fight, never back down, fight, fight, fight.

This isnt, I dont think, an exercise in difficult sociological analysis. He was in a multi-candidate primary, he appealed to lowest common denominator populism. One of the things he said is, Our people hate the Right people. Our people hate the Right people. And he captured 30 plus percent of the electorates still bigger than folks thought. Now hes going to run in a general election in a two-candidate race, where its really rough for Democrats, and that negative polarization is the single dominant factor of American politics.

I also think its worth recognizing here that because it was a multi-person primary, its not like J.D. Vance won an overwhelming number of votes. There were a lot of people running for that nomination, and he beat Josh Mandel, the most try hard person, perhaps, in the history of American politics. And I do want to pivot to the general election, because Chris, you wrote that Vance told you that he thinks he got Trumps endorsement because he embraced Trump as a political program to be carried out, not just as kind of like a vibe to follow. What is the program? What is he going to do?

Yeah, I should make very clear, though, that was a beautiful quote that Vance gave, but I didnt get it. Actually, its from a Dayton television reporter named Chelsea Sick. So I think that the context in which she asked him that question was the one you say that a lot of candidates were going for the Trump endorsement.

Right.

The one who didnt seek it, Matt Dolan of Cleveland, a State Senator, got about 25 percent of the vote. But this indicates that whoever got that

Endorsement.

endorsement was in a very strong position.

To do what?

Well, it leaves him in a strong position in the election. Now, whats he going to do? I dont know. When he talked about Trumpism being an agenda, he named trade, the border, and not getting us into wars of choice.

And so, I tend to think that Vance will be protectionist, you know. He would not revive the Pacific Trade Pact that Trump pulled out of. He would build the wall, if he could get the votes for it in a non-metaphorical sense, and in a metaphorical sense, he would be much more restrictionist on the Mexican border. And hell oppose the Ukraine war or the United States role in it. I think those are three things trade, the border, foreign policy.

I mean, it still seems to me, and Im curious to get your thoughts, David, that because of what Id call the nationalization of politics I grew up with it makes me sound like Im 80 years old to talk this way but I think it is interesting to me that after growing up with Ohio politics being Ohio centered, as if Ohio was, and I quote, the heart of it all.

But now you see like you were just talking about, the trade policy, and the war in Ukraine, and securing the Mexican border. And Im just like, what does this have to do with my mom? What does this have to do with if I am elected, this thing will happen. Well finally do something about the I-71, 75 interchange. I mean, this is perhaps just a general pet peeve of mine.

But I think that the nationalization of politics coincides with the sense that Congress cant actually do anything because individual congresspeople are talking about the Mexican border, or war with Ukraine which are both really important issues. But at a certain point, if J.D. Vance wants the wall to get built as a United States Senator, hes got some power to do so, but not much. If you are supposed to call your Senator when theres a thing going on in your state and theyre, like, hang on a second, I got to stop unnecessary wars in Ukraine

Yeah.

I would get a sense of who are you here for? Are you here for Ohioans, or are you here for this larger political project?

Well you know, I think that the rise of negative polarization kind of enables a J.D. Vance style candidate, who I see as sort of what is he going to be like in the Senate? I think weve seen the model, and the model is Josh Hawley. I think thats what youll see with J.D. Vance, is youre going to see a guy who will become a Senator and hell file some really performative legislation. He has this whole album side about, you know, seizing the endowments of universities and things like that.

But if were going to take for half a second this idea that if and when he wins the Senate in Ohio that thats going to show that Republicans really dont want to see American military support for Ukraine, we need to rethink that kind of analysis because hes going to win because he won the primary because he got Trumps endorsement. He didnt get Trumps endorsement because of some really difficult, highly ideological test.

One of the reasons he got it is Trump liked his golf swing. I mean, this is the world were living in right now. And what weve constantly tried to do, I feel like, in this post-Trump world is were constantly trying to apply a complex intellectual frame

Yeah, were trying to intellectualize someone who also endorsed Dr. Oz.

Right, endorsed Dr. Oz, endorsed David Perdue in Georgia for the very simple reason that David Perdue will do his bidding on arguing about the 2020 election. And so this is where I feel like theres this disconnect often when we try to intellectualize Trump, and theres this disconnect when we try to intellectualize J.D. Vance.

Trump, A, tapped into this well of animosity. He tapped into it, and I agree that he changed the country in some ways. He changed the country by amplifying pre-existing trends towards partisan antipathy in much of the way that sometimes a symptom can make an underlying disease worse, like a hacking cough can break a rib. He did not really, actually, at the grassroots, introduce some sort of really fascinating new ideological enterprise, because the reality is kind of, whatever Trump did, they liked.

And look, Ive piled a lot on the Republican populist movement now, but let me flip this around a little bit here. The Democrats really made a pivot towards an identity-based coalition. I remember all the talk after 2012 of the coalition of the ascendant, right? People of color, single women, all of the rising demographics of America are going to rise and swamp you. Its all over for you, Republican Party.

Why is it all over for you, Republican Party? Well, youre just too white and too male to win anymore. And I think when your political opponents move very much towards an identity-based coalition and away from a working class-based coalition, you leave a lane and you leave a lot of voters just right there. And if you look at the demographics of Ohio, Ohio is 81 percent white thats more white than in America.

I know. Im aware.

Jane, news to you, Jane?

Ohio is more white than the rest of America. If you look at Iowa that is now completely in the G.O.P. camp, its super white. And so its not that the Democrats were necessarily wrong that there was an emerging Democratic majority, its just that the majority was emerging in a lot of the wrong places where they didnt need it to emerge. You know, how many more progressives do you need in Brooklyn or Berkeley?

And so youre doubling down on identity-based politics, leaving behind class-based politics. And my issue isnt that Republicans have moved into this open field that Democrats have left them, its more how theyve moved into it than the fact that theyve moved into it.

I just theres a premise thats come up that I think I disagree with both of you on, which is that theres something unusual about a Senate candidate dealing with these national issues.

I dont think its not unusual to me, but my point is that I dont think its good. I think that it is problematic to have candidates who inherently focus on issues that they themselves could not fix, or they themselves could bear no responsibility for.

Oh, but I think you could. I think, you know, the Senate has a constitutional responsibility regarding treaties. Congress gets to declare war, and not

Well, they do.

The border is a national matter. There is a division of labor between, you know, state and national governments, and I think theres a feeling that the government of Ohio is pretty well in hand.

Thinking more about you wrote about Trump in your piece, saying that you know, globalization and being against NAFTA was one of Trumps most effective rallying cries. And you wrote yourself though, Whether Mr. Trump has effectively stopped anything related to globalization can be debated. And it seems that maximalism is the privilege of being able to say anything you want without anyone really calling you on it.

Yeah.

So with Trump, you have someone who doesnt really do anything related to globalization, because its an effective boogeyman. Its effective to just have the thing that is there is a problem, and we all know what the problem is, but youre not going to do anything to fix the problem because either the solution is too politically complicated, or too politically unpopular. We are asking, or would be asking, J.D. Vance to do something, to be a United States Senator to represent my mom.

But if you are leaning hard on, here are all of our problems. We are in late-stage capitalism. We have to fire everyone and liquidate the Kulaks. And then you get into actual office, then what do you do?

I know, but I dont think people are saying that. And I dont think that the difference is between rhetoric and reality, I think it has to do with the passage of time. Governing is really complicated, and I think that failed governments, whatever they propose enacting, learn a lot from the way they were thwarted, and they get better at it as time goes on. So the rhetoric always seems to be at odds with reality until it becomes reality. So I dont, you know, some of these ideas might be good, some of them might be bad, but Im not suspicious of them just because theyre being proposed.

You know, I think you raise a really interesting question about the distinction between fixing and fighting, OK? So you say Ohio has problems A, B, C and D. What are we going to do to fix them? is one kind of thrust in campaigning. Then theres another that says the Democrats have problems A, B, C and D. What are we going to do to fight them?

And I think thats where Trump really discerned the building wave of Republican resentment. It wasnt so much on the fixing prong, it was much more on the fighting prong. And you know, the interesting thing, if youre diving into the ideology of Trumpism, is there isnt really an ideology, its more the ambitions and power hunger of a single man. If you look at his single term in office, his two largest concrete policy achievements were a corporate tax cut designed by Paul Ryan, and the nomination of a whole slew of Federalist Society judges that were put into a pipeline over the last generation of establishment, Republican, judicial and legal activism.

And I would note here on that point that there is no reason to believe that any other Republican president would have not nominated those judges.

Oh, yeah.

The judges were going to be in there, no matter what.

Oh, they were coming out of the establishment pipeline. You do not get more establishment than Brett Kavanaugh. But what did make Trump different, it was the fighting, it was the fighting.

And I think if you talked to J.D. Vance in 2016, he would say, wait a minute, this fighting stuff is a distraction from what needs fixing. And I think what changed in 2016 to 2020 was not these folks, it was J.D. and the way he transitioned from the fixing to the fighting. And I think what he saw in Trump was somebody who would inhibit the fixing. He was somebody who was certainly an avatar for grievances, but not a instrument for remedies.

And I think that thats what Im talking about when Im talking about if you have a population of white working class voters where there are real problems and how do you appeal to them and mobilize them, I think that there are constructive ways to appeal and destructive ways. J.D. was concerned in 2016 that the very method he chose in 2020 was deeply destructive, and yet thats where he went.

I think theres no doubt that Trump is a fighting politician. But I think that fighting I was really struck by the entrance of the word fight into a lot of political rhetoric well before Trump 10 years or so ago. And it seems to have come with a lot of psychological research on how people respond to rhetoric.

And I think its of a piece with the negative advertising which we see because negative advertising, whether we like it or not, has a strange effectiveness on voters. If you listen to Elizabeth Warren, she talks about fighting probably even more than Trump does. I think its really more a best campaign practice than an ideological side-effect.

I dont think anyone disputes it. Theres a wide open lane for populist incitement. I think the issue with J.D. Vance, and the issue with the Republican Party in general, is this move that says, were going to indulge it, were going to stoke it, were going to ride it. There isnt actually a program of governance thats attached to that beyond a few basic impulses about border security, and some vague ideas about trade.

I think its wrong to assume that theres going to be a symmetrical Republican policy program to the Democratic policy program. The Democrats are the party of policy programs. They have a lot more initiative in devising new things for government to do. And youre just not going to find a sort of reflected mirror policy image on Republicans. Its not a symmetry.

The Republicans will tend to be obstructing new policy initiatives. And I havent really thought about what this would mean in terms of rhetoric, but the rhetoric is bound to be different. You know, just simply sitting around and doing nothing, for Republicans, can in certain circumstances be a constructive way to spend four years. And people participate in politics for different reasons, and not all of them are constructive.

Well.

I think we will find unanimous agreement on that one.

[MUSIC]

More with David and Chris on the new standard bearers of Trumps legacy after the break.

[MUSIC]

So we have debated whether Vances win and Trumps endorsement of Vance is about policy or about vibes, and whether some of the fighting rhetoric is just usual stuff politicians do to get elected. I want to talk a little bit now about how much we should infer from his victory about where the G.O.P. is going, and if Trump clearly is king here. And I want to know where you think the Republican platform is, going forward, because I dont think its party stalwarts like Mitch McConnell. I think its, quote unquote, fighters like Ron DeSantis.

Yeah, I think the most politically effective way in which a Republican politician is trying to inherit Trumpism is Ron DeSantis. And thats not a novel insight here, but there are two aspects to the way in which Ron DeSantis is inheriting Trumpism effectively.

And that is, one, he has the right enemy, and that is the media. So he got very fortunate that the mainstream media, left media, really focused on him early in the pandemic, more so than Texas, more so than Tennessee, more so than anywhere else. Really drilled down on him and launched a frontal attack sort of on the Florida approach. And so he built up this immediate constituency just because people are going to rally on the side of whatever Republican is seen to be in the cross-hairs of the media, so he emerged with the, quote unquote, right enemy.

And then the other thing is, what he has done that is different from Trump is that Trumps fighting was a lot of rhetoric, was a lot of tweeting with a lot of outbursts. DeSantis version of fighting is a lot of legislation aimed at targets that are popular targets for the right. So, in essence, DeSantis is the next evolution of Trumpism in that its taking the online beef into the real world through legislation.

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Opinion | What J.D. Vances Primary Win Says About Populism and Resentment in the G.O.P. - The New York Times

What Doug Ford’s shift to the centre says about the longevity of populism – National Post

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Danzig

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Author: Sam Routley, PhD Student, Political Science, Western University

The Ontario Progressive Conservative (PC) governments attempt at re-election brings to the forefront questions of Canadian conservatism and its viability, not just in the countrys most populous province.