DragonI

Ivanka Trump rejects notion family profits from presidency

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Ivanka Trump brushed off criticism that her family has profited off the presidency and said Friday a big difference between her family and Democrat Joe Biden's is that...

apnews.com

1. A Judge found Donald Trump, Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric guilty of stealing $2.8 million from a VETERANS CHARITY. Why did the judge order them to pay back $2 million instead of the full amount?
2. A Federal Appeals court revives emoluments lawsuit against Trump
3. Trump and his kids are profiting from his weekly golf trips, Republican and Lobbyists holding events and staying at Trump Hotels or golf courses.
4. Trump was surprised by the Republican backlash when he said the G7 meeting would be held at one his properties — Trump National Doral in Miami
5. Trump’s wealth was given to him by his father. And Fred Trump used propaganda to create the myth that his #TRE45ON son was a self-made man — a self-made billionaire.

Biden spent more than 30 years representing Delaware in the U.S. Senate before serving eight years as vice president and Ivanka Trump said he “created wealth as a derivative of that.”

Her father entered politics after making a fortune in real estate.

“His wealth, and our wealth, collectively and independently, was created prior to government service and prior to anyone in our lives having run for elected office,” Ivanka Trump said.

“Most people do create their wealth post service. We created ours prior,” she added.

Biden was consistently among the poorest members of Congress, relying largely on his lawmaker’s salary, according to his annual financial disclosure forms.

But he has seen his income grow since leaving the White House in 2017. A financial disclosure form Biden released this year shows he and his wife, Jill, took in more than $15 million since leaving the Obama White House, including a lucrative book deal.

New York Is Suing The Trump Foundation Including The President And His Three Eldest Children

The New York attorney general alleges Ivanka, Donald Jr., Eric, and their father have been using the foundation as "little more than a checkbook for payments from Mr. Trump or his businesses to nonprofits, regardless of their purpose or legality."

www.buzzfeed.com|Talal Ansari

“For more than a decade, the Donald J. Trump foundation has operated in persistent violation of state and federal law governing New York State charities.”

The attorney general also sent referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission for possible further action, adding to Mr. Trump’s extensive legal challenges.

- New York Times

Here are just a few of the allegations it makes, based on investigations by the attorney general’s office:

• Trump Foundation funds were illegally used to: pay off Trump’s legal obligations; promote Trump hotels and other businesses; and purchase personal items.
• The Trump Foundation “illegally provided extensive support to his 2016 presidential campaign.”
• The foundation raised “in excess of $2.8 million in a manner designed to influence the 2016 presidential election at the direction and under the control of senior leadership of the Trump presidential campaign.”
• One example: A Trump fundraiser in Iowa saw large donations to the Trump Foundation—but it was organized and directed by Trump’s presidential campaign. Brad Parscale, the campaign’s digital media director, created the Iowa fundraiser event website. Hope Hicks organized the speakers. Trump used the charitable donations for campaign trail stunts, performing giveaways of $100,000—complete with those huge lottery checks—at subsequent rallies.
• The foundation also “entered into at least five self-dealing transactions that were unlawful because they benefited Mr. Trump or businesses he controls.”
• In one case, it paid $158,000 to settle claims against the Trump National Golf Club

Dive into Donald Trump's thousands of lawsuits

A deep dive by USA TODAY shows how Trump amassed thousands of lawsuits over three decades, unprecedented for a presidential nominee.

www.usatoday.com

• 85 Branding And Trademark Cases
• 17 Campaign Cases
• 1,863 Casino Cases
• 208 Contract Dispute Cases

2017 DuckDuckGo Donations: $300,000 to Raise the Standard of Trust Online

For our seventh year we are making donations to organizations that raise the standard of trust online.

spreadprivacy.com|DuckDuckGo

• $100,000 to the Freedom of the Press Foundation 
• $75,000 to the World Privacy Forum 
• $29,000 to Open Whisper Systems 
• $25,000 to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse 
• $25,000 to Tor
• $25,000 to Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
• $5,000 to American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• $5,000 to Access Now 
• $2,500 to The Calyx Institute 
• $2,500 to Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT)
• $1,000 to Restore the Fourth 
• $1,000 to Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) 
• $1,000 to Patient Privacy Rights 
• $1,000 to Online Trust Alliance (OTA)
• $1,000 to Tech Freedom 
• $1,000 to Demand Progress 

Trump promised millions to charity. We found less than $10,000 over 7 years.

A review also shows he donated less than a third of $8.5 million pledged since 2001.

www.washingtonpost.com|https://www.facebook.com/fahrenthold

In the 1980s, Trump pledged to give away royalties from his first book to fight AIDS and multiple sclerosis. But he gave less to those causes than he did to his older daughter’s ballet school. 

In recent years, Trump’s ­follow-through on his promises has been seemingly nonexistent.

The Post contacted 188 charities searching for evidence of personal gifts from Trump in the period between 2008 and this May. The Post sought out charities that had some link to Trump, either because he had given them his foundation’s money, appeared at their charity galas or praised them publicly.

The search turned up just one donation in that period — a 2009 gift of between $5,000 and $9,999 to the Police Athletic League of New York City.

If Trump stands by his promises, such donations should be occurring all the time. In the 15 years prior to the veterans donation, Trump promised to donate earnings from a wide variety of his moneymaking enterprises: “The Apprentice.” Trump Vodka. Trump University. A book. Another book. If he had honored all those pledges, Trump’s gifts to charity would have topped $8.5 million.

Drake sings for Katrina victims, Apple threatens $20M suit

Lawyers were called because a charity concert he's performing at was being streamed live via Tidal — and Drake has an exclusive deal with Apple Music.

pagesix.com

Apple Music declared war on rival streaming service,Jay Z’s Tidal, over Drake’s appearance at a charity concert to benefit kids affected by Hurricane Katrina. Tidal faces being sued for $20 million if it streamed Apple artist Drake’s brief two-song appearance at the Friday night show.

Apple Music execs were not happy when Drake was confirmed to perform at Lil Wayne’s Lil WeezyAna Fest in New Orleans Friday night, even though the festival benefits Tha Carter Fund, which supports after-school programs in Louisiana.

Lawyers were called in because the event was being streamed live via Tidal — and Drake has an exclusive deal with Apple Music said to be worth up to $19 million. Sources say the tech giant threatened to sue for $20 million if Drake appeared, or if his music was streamed live, on Tidal.

A source told us, “Legal letters have been sent to Tidal warning that Drake cannot appear on the Tidal stream of the festival, either solo or part of a group, and if the warning was ignored, the liabilities could be up to $20 million.

“This event is for charity, Drake is doing two songs. Why does Apple think it can dictate to artists where and when they can perform?”

Stephen Colbert raffled off his TV set desk and gave the money to hundreds of teachers

These are the projects that Colbert & co will fund.

qz.com|Sonali Kohli

A new set of dictionaries for second graders; the biographies of 14 composers for a classroom of budding elementary musicians; a rocket launcher and parachutes to learn about air resistance; a set of standing desks and desk cycles for restless students. These are all projects on the wish lists of US teachers who were trying to raise hundreds—or thousands—of dollars on the teacher crowd funding website DonorsChoose.org.

Yesterday (May 7), all those projects—plus every other request on the site from the state of South Carolina—were fully funded, thanks in part to the comedian and talk show host Stephen Colbert.

Colbert helped pay for 965 teacher-requests in his home state, having raised $313,440 by auctioning off the desk and fireplace, as well as other iconic elements, of the set from his popular political satire show The Colbert Report, which ended its nine-year run in December 2014. He donated half the proceeds to DonorsChoose.org, and the other half went to the Yellow Ribbon Fund, a group that works with injured military service members.

New social network Tsu signs one million users in just five weeks | ZDNet

www.zdnet.com

Tsu has been celebrating passing its one millionth user. But what is so different about the social media platform that has so many users flocking to sign up?

...

You need to have an invite code from another user. The website http://Tsu.co will ask users for a code.  http://tsu.co/eileenb will enable you to create your own Tsu account as you are accessing the site through an existing Tsu user.

This creates a network of users. Influential users recruit more users to the site which enables Tsu to see who are the most influential in its network. It can mine the relationships between its users to build up a comprehensive network of relationships.

It is the relationship and engagement between users in each user’s own network on Tsu that enable royalties from ad revenue to be created. Users share posts with their network and more ad impressions are made resulting in revenue for the platform.

Tsu has positioned itself as a socially responsive social network. It distributes 90 percent of its royalties gained through ad revenue to its content creators and their networks.

It also encourages users to donate their royalties to charities by using the “Transfer Funds” button on each user's wall.

Founder and CEO Sebastian Sobczak says that Tsu is the “first socially responsible social network ... paying content royalties for the commercial use of content creators’ likeness, image and work”.

These are the most caring countries on the planet

qz.com

Congratulations, Myanmar—you have the kindest citizens in the world. That’s according to the Charities Aid Foundation, which released its annual World Giving Index report this month.

The 2013 report ranks 135 countries, with about 1,000 respondents in each country, according to the report. Yemen as the least giving of all, with an overall score of 14%.

This is a film I made for and with the young members of the Leicester Woodcraft Folk, who have been working on a project to raise money for the "Send My Sister To School" campaign. For more information, go to... sendmyfriend.org