A federal judge has given a green light to event contract exchange Kalshi Inc. to let Americans bet as much as $100 million on the outcome of the 2024 congressional elections.
The ruling deals a heavy blow to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and its quest to quash the growing popularity of trading elections-linked derivatives. The CFTC signaled it plans to appeal Judge Jia Cobb’s decision to let Kalshi move ahead with its plans.
Spokespeople for the CFTC and Kalshi didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Kalshi had been preparing to launch the elections-themed derivatives earlier this week, extending its current offering of “event contracts” on monetary policy, lunar landings and music awards. But the company was held up after the judge granted a temporary pause Monday sought by the CFTC, which said that it would be nearly impossible to unwind the contracts once they went live.
“On balance, the factors weigh strongly against staying my order,” Cobb said during a hearing Thursday, in denying a longer stay so that the CFTC could appeal her ruling.
Cobb concluded in her opinion, which was only released Thursday, that the CFTC had exceeded its authority when it tried to block Kalshi from letting individuals bet on elections. The agency argued that election gambling is unlawful in certain states, trading would harm election integrity and the agency doesn’t police elections.
Kalshi had earlier called the move “an unlawful agency power grab that corrupts and dramatically expands” the CFTC’s statutory mandate.
The judge sided with Kalshi. “Kalshi’s contracts do not involve unlawful activity or gaming. They involve elections, which are neither,” Cobb wrote.
The CFTC has the authority to prohibit exchanges from listing derivatives contracts involving “terrorism, assassination, war” and “gaming” if it believes they aren’t in the public interest. However, the ambiguity in the CFTC’s rules around what constitutes gaming was at the center of the case.
In May, the CFTC sought to remove some of the ambiguity by specifying in a rule proposal that “gaming” includes contracts on outcomes tied to elections, sports and awards contests.
Kalshi sees the ability to list elections-themed contracts, already popular on other unregistered exchanges such as Polymarket and PredictIt, as a game-changing move to increase volume and the number of users and compete with other companies.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI said on Thursday it was launching a series of AI models designed to spend more time processing to solve hard problems.
The models, dubbed o1 and o1-mini, can reason through complex tasks and solve harder problems than previous models in science, coding and math, the AI firm said.
The o1 will be available in ChatGPT and its API starting Thursday.
"We trained these models to spend more time thinking through problems before they respond, much like a person would. Through training, they learn to refine their thinking process, try different strategies, and recognize their mistakes," OpenAI said.
US senators investigating the collapse of Steward Health Care, one of the nation’s largest private health systems, are confronting a problem they rarely face: a corporate leader who refused to testify before Congress.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is holding a hearing on Thursday focused on the crisis spawned by Steward’s financial woes, including allegations of poor care, hospital closures and state bailouts aimed at preventing even more shuttering.
The main person the senators want to talk to is Steward’s majority owner and Chief Executive Officer Ralph de la Torre. They even went so far as to issue the committee’s first subpoena since 1981. But de la Torre didn’t show up, citing a risk of jeopardizing Steward’s precarious bankruptcy and a not-yet-finalized legal settlement meant to keep most of its hospitals open and preserve about 30,000 jobs.
The hearing went ahead anyway, with nurses and local elected officials testifying instead. The Steward bankruptcy has attracted criticism from both Republican and Democrat lawmakers amid harrowing reports of deficient care. Even without de la Torre’s physical presence, his role in Steward’s financial unraveling and his personal enrichment while leading the faltering hospital chain was under scrutiny.
Steward executives “looted hospitals across the country and took millions in profit for themselves,” Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat, said in a statement. “We need answers and accountability.”
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said in the hearing that he and Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent who chairs the committee, would seek a resolution to authorize civil enforcement and criminal contempt proceedings against de la Torre to require him to comply with the subpoena.
“A witness cannot disregard and evade a duly authorized subpoena,” Cassidy said.
Corporate chiefs are frequently called to appear before Congress when their business is under scrutiny. It’s unusual for executives to refuse a request to testify, even if their company is embroiled in litigation.
The heads of Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. were questioned by the same committee in February about high drug prices. Former Boeing Co. CEO Dave Calhoun testified in June after a midair blowout of a 737 Max jet sparked scrutiny of its manufacturing practices. Former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld was grilled about bonuses and the firm’s substantial leverage in 2008 just weeks after it collapsed.
Springfield, OH has entered the media spotlight in recent weeks in large part due to the massive influx of Haitian aliens pouring into the town through Biden Administration relocation programs. Springfield's native born population of 60,000 has been overwhelmed by over 20,000 such migrants shipped to the area in the span of a couple years. The cultural shock for the locals has been extensive.
One tragedy that has resulted from this great replacement was the death of 11-year-old Aidan Clark. The man who killed Aiden Clark is a 36-year-old Haitian named Hermanio Joseph, and he entered the US illegally.
It happened on the first day of school in 2023 on state Route 41. Joseph’s vehicle reportedly went left-of-center, forcing the school bus driver to swerve onto the shoulder. The vehicles collided and the bus went off the road and down into an embankment, overturning. Aiden was killed when he was ejected from the bus, authorities said. Another 26 students were hospitalized.
Joseph was ultimately convicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide.and sentenced to between 9 and13 years in prison. However, the parents of Aidan Clark now say they wish their son had been 'killed by a 60-year-old white man' instead.
Aiden’s father Nathan Clark appeared before the Springfield City Commission on Tuesday at an event organized by local politicians designed to "debunk" (lie about) the rising complaints of migrants killing and eating local pets and wildlife.
Nathan addressed what he perceives as “hate” directed toward the growing immigrant community:
"I wish that my son Aiden Clark was killed by a 60-year-old white man. I bet you never thought anyone would say something so blunt. But if that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would never leave us alone. The last thing we need is the worst day of our lives violently and constantly shoved in our faces. But even that’s not good enough for them. They take it one step further.
They make it seem like our wonderful Aiden appreciates all your hate; that we should follow your hate. And look what it’s done to us. We have to get up here and beg them to stop. Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose.
Speaking of morally bankrupt, politicians [Republican U.S. Senate candidate] Bernie Moreno, [Republican U.S. Rep.] Chip Roy, [Republican vice-presidential candidate] JD Vance and [former Republican president] Donald Trump — they have spoken my son’s name and used his death for political gain. This needs to stop now..."
Clark went on to deny the claims of migrant animal abuse and attacked Republicans on multiple occasions for making his son's death "political", even though his speech was clearly politically motivated. He also defended the image of Hermanio Joseph, saying that the event was an 'accident.'
The commission press event was designed to mislead the American public about reports of migrant animal killings. Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said claims of geese or ducks from parks being killed and eaten are unsubstantiated.
The incidents are in fact real.
Multiple police reports have been made in the area with locals complaining about a rise in missing pets and identifying migrants killing and taking animals.
The Ohio Attorney General has backed Trump's claims, stating that the reports of at least some migrant animal killings are indeed credible.
The attempted cover-up of these incidences seems familiar. It is very similar to the attempted cover-up of Venezuelan gangs creating havoc and taking over apartment complexes in Aurora, CO. A situation which was quickly proven to be a reality.
The establishment media and Democrats are trying to hide the negative effects of open border policies. They would have Americans believe that these incidences and the death of Aiden Clark are unrelated.
They dig up the parents of Aiden Clark to attack Donald Trump and Republicans on the animal issue while they wish out loud that their son had been killed by a white man.
Except, he wasn't killed by a white man, he was killed by an illegal immigrant from Haiti who was convicted of vehicular homicide. And if the Biden Administration wasn't importing homicidal aliens from third world countries, the boy would still be alive today. This is a fact. The Clark press speech is not just an expression of the sad nature of progressive white guilt, it also reveals a stark desperation among Democrats.
The truth matters. The truth on the destructive nature of multiculturalism and open borders certainly matters. The third world and the western world do not mix. The progressive left realizes that this issue is an incredible weakness for their aspirations to political power and it only makes sense that they would try to hide the symptoms as much as possible until November. The fact that they feel the need to lie shows that they know what they are doing is malicious.
The CEO of the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the U.S. is sounding the alarm over crippling inflation, using a can of beans as an example of how prices have surged since President Biden took office.
"The price of our can of beans, before this administration was, say, $0.99. The price of cans went up 64% two years ago, so now we're at $1.50 for the same can, so it's a 50% increase. It's not a 21% increase," Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue said during an appearance on "Fox & Friends" in response to the price of groceries being more than 20% higher compared to four years ago.
His remarks came just after the newly-released PPI Index in August showed a 0.2% rise in wholesale inflation from last month and a 1.7% rise in year-over-year inflation.
Sitting down with co-host Brian Kilmeade, Unnanue reacted to these data points.
"It's like temperature – you have the temperature, but then you have the real feel temperature. You have the wind chill effect and, since this administration has come in, we're in a much higher base than what we used to be. The last big inflation push was in 2008. Grain prices tripled. They came back to double, but now we're on a much bigger base, and it continues to climb at a lower rate, but it continues to climb."
Criticizing Biden's presidency, he outlined some potential culprits behind price increases – the war against fossil fuels, the Green New Deal, and weakness that invoked the Russia-Ukraine War – a driving force behind higher fertilizer prices – among them.
The uptick in prices for steel – a material commonly used in can production – posed another problem for companies like Goya.
"In our case, we had steel prices go up, packaging prices go up 64%… that [the price increase] was two years ago," Unanue explained.
"This is created by this administration. This is man-made inflation – man and woman-made," he stressed.
Unanue also made an appearance on "The Brian Kilmeade Show" Thursday, where he continued his discussion about the economy and elaborated on his support for former President Trump.
"This is communism," he said of Vice President Harris' proposal to implement price controls. "We're moving away from God. You know, we're not the land of opportunity anymore. We're the land of handouts. And we're spreading money all over the world. We have to, I say, we have to align with our allies in this hemisphere and like Europe has done with the European Union and, you know, strengthen our economy.
He also criticized the Biden administration over the weekend for allegedly "driving" Americans into poverty.
Texas authorities say they are shutting down a crime-ridden hotel housing Tren de Aragua gang members and investigating the gang’s criminal involvement in other cities.
El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez filed a lawsuit on Aug. 27 to close the Gateway Hotel on Stanton St. in downtown El Paso, Texas, for multiple code violations, noting 693 police and service calls to the location over the past two years.
The lawsuit names as defendants the Gateway Hotel; Gigante Enterprises LLC, which owns the business; and hotel owner Howard Yun.
Tren de Aragua gang members have occupied the Gateway Hotel since at least June, according to court documents obtained by The Epoch Times.
Elhiu Dominguez, special projects coordinator with El Paso County, told The Epoch Times that a judge granted an order to close the hotel by Sept. 12.
The temporary injunction signed by District Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza will shut down the hotel pending a Dec. 9 hearing on a permanent injunction. Residents will have until 10 a.m. on Sept. 12 to vacate the hotel.
Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang with an estimated 5,000 members, is feared in Latin America and has been connected to murder, drugs, and human trafficking.
Their members are believed to be taking advantage of the border crisis chaos, illegally slipping across the U.S. southern border.
“Watch out for this gang. It is the most powerful in Venezuela, known for murder, drug trafficking, sex crimes, extortion, & other violent acts,” Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in April as a warning about the gang.
President Joe Biden designated Tren de Aragua as a transnational criminal organization in July at the urging of Rep. MarÃa Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
“Over the last year, the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has managed to move their operations north by taking advantage of our porous southern border,” Salazar said.
“My constituents in Miami, many of them Venezuelans themselves, should not have to endure living amongst the same kinds of criminals that forced them to leave their home country.”
In El Paso, “deplorable” conditions exist inside the once-condemned hotel, which has been the location of at least 10 aggravated assaults, 13 instances of assaultive conduct/fights, 11 drug delivery or possession charges, 20 disorderly conduct incidents, and at least one indecency with a child call, according to court documents.
Security videos at the Gateway Hotel show an aggravated assault and “men holding knives and another man with a hatchet assaulting people and causing damage to the hotel in front of a security guard,” court documents state.
In an affidavit included in the court documents, El Paso Police Officer Samuel Medina said he suspects prostitution is taking place at the hotel and said the “continuous incidents of criminal activity” have increased “with the introduction of the Tren de Aragua organization into the hotel.”
During a “hotel check” in July, a police officer noted that there were “people behind the front desk without hotel insignia or uniform looking at paperwork,” and an officer identified Tren de Aragua members at the hotel, according to court documents.
A still photo taken from a security camera at the Gateway Hotel in El Paso on June 15, 2024. The footage was included in court documents. Courtesy of the El Paso County Attorney
In August, police were called to the hotel with reports of loud noise and drinking. They reported that one person living on the third floor had a tattoo associated with the Venezuelan gang.
The hotel received a conditional certificate of occupancy for the first floor in 2018, but the court documents state that a new certificate was never issued.
The Epoch Times was unable to reach Yun for comment.
El Paso isn’t the only Texas city dealing with the Venezuelan gang.
Dallas Police spokeswoman Jennifer Pryor told The Epoch Times in a Sept. 10 email that gang activity in north Dallas has been linked to Tren de Aragua.
“Our department is collaborating with other agencies to address possible crimes linked to this and other gangs in our city. We are dedicated to preventing criminal activity in our community and ensuring the safety of our residents,” she wrote.
Gang’s Presence in Colorado Drew National Attention
The Venezuelan gang captured the attention of the nation in a viral video showing gun-toting gangsters seemingly operating with impunity at an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado.
Law firm Perkins Coie, which represents the lender for Whispering Pines, a 54-unit apartment complex at 1357 Helena Street in Aurora, investigated the situation.
Perkins Coie’s 10-page letter to city officials documented how Tren de Aragua took over the Whispering Pines apartments with threats of murder, beatings, and intimidation.
Evidence indicates that the Venezuelan gang members in Aurora also engaged in human trafficking, according to Perkins Coie attorney T. Markus Funk.
Extortion, unlawful firearms possession, and sexual abuse of minors allegedly occurred at the apartment complex, “targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations,” the letter states.
In one case, according to Funk, a consultant for the apartment complex’s management company was so severely beaten that he had to go to the hospital. The incident was captured on videotape.
The city of Aurora has cited “isolated situations” in a statement. The Aurora Police Department didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for a tour of the affected buildings.
In a statement on Facebook on Sept. 11, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and Public Safety Chair Danielle Jurinsky detailed the city’s efforts to combat the presence of the Venezuelan gang in their city.
Well before the issue came to national attention, they said, the Aurora police “had been arresting people for various criminal activities who had suspected, but not necessarily confirmed” connections to the gang.
Tren de Aragua’s presence in Aurora “is limited to specific properties, all of which the city has been addressing in various ways for months,” according to the statement.
Epoch Times Reporter Allan Stein contributed to this report.
CNN anchorJim Acosta got into a back-and-forth Wednesday with GOP strategist and former Trump aide Bryan Lanza over the topic of former President Trump and a national abortion ban.
“Trump called his answer on abortion, quote, ‘perfect,’ but when the moderators pressed him on whether he would veto a national abortion ban, he refused to answer,” Acosta said on “CNN Newsroom.”
“I think he said it in the past that he wouldn’t sign a national [abortion] ban, and I think JD Vance has also stated that,” Lanza responded, referring to Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio). “I think what he said last night is like, why are we —”
Acosta cut in, remarking that the former president “didn’t say he would veto it.”
“I was answering the question, Jim, [thank you for giving] me the opportunity,” Lanza responded.
The two went back and forth, with Acosta going silent for a period of time as Lanza talked, but later cut back in.
“This ain’t C-SPAN, Bryan … when I ask you a question, whether … why he didn’t say whether he would veto it, you can’t just go on and on forever,” Acosta remarked.
Trump refused to pledge to veto a national abortion ban Tuesday during his presidential debate versus Vice President Harris. The former president suggested Congress did not need to pass a ban when asked if he would veto one.
“I’m not in favor of an abortion ban, but it doesn’t matter, because this issue has now been taken over by the states,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t have to.”
Harris went after Trump over the different abortion laws across the U.S.
“The government, and Donald Trump certainly, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said.
