text: The board book is chock full of strategy talk by the FreedomWorks’ brass. In a memo to the board included in the report, CEO Kibbe panned GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney as just another “old white guy.” He acknowledged that his group’s plan to help flip control of the US Senate to the GOP failed miserably (“We take our lumps with humility”), and he insisted that it’s time to replace the aging image of the conservative movement with “younger, more diverse, more substantive voices for freedom in America.” Kibbe asked: “Can liberty, personal responsibility, and doing things for yourself be the new ‘cool’?”
  Such a makeover, Kibbe wrote, can begin if FreedomWorks courts so-called “Ron Paul Millennials,” the loud, loyal twentysomethings who in 2008 and 2012 followed the GOP libertarian presidential candidate from one stump speech to the next. Kibbe noted that FreedomWorks plans to reach out to blacks and Hispanics with a new “Black and Brown” tour, starring a Brazilian immigrant and tea party activist named Ana Puig. And he touted FreedomWorks’ growing online presence, with 2.1 million members on its email list and 4 million Facebook fans.
  Despite his organization’s reliance on big-money donors, Kibbe stressed that the future of conservative politics is at the grassroots level. “Freedom is trending,” he wrote to the board, “thanks to your willingness to keep up the fight.”
  UPDATE: In an interview with Media Matters for America’s Joe Strupp, Dick Armey shed more light on FreedomWorks’ financial arrangements with Glenn Beck’s media network and Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. Those deals were first reported by Mother Jones. Armey said FreedomWorks paid Beck upwards of $1 million to promote Freedomwork last year, calling the deal with Beck “basically paid advertising for FreedomWorks.” But Armey questioned that deal, saying it provided “too little value” to FreedomWorks. Read the entire Media Matters story here.
  
  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) scored another victory in its battle with Telegram over the launch of its TON blockchain on Tuesday when a federal judge blocked its ‘Gram’ tokens from distribution. Telegram was accused of breaking investor protection laws when it ran its $1.7 billion ICO in 2018, arguing that it was exempt from securities laws because its investors were “sophisticated venture capitalists”. This didn’t sway the judge, who allowed the SEC to halt the distribution of the tokens while the legal situation plays out.
  The SEC has been at war with Telegram over the legality of its Gram tokens since October 2019 when it issued emergency action to halt the distribution of the tokens pending full legal action against the messaging service. This left Telegram with little choice but to delay the launch of TON, an action that preceded five months of back and forth between themselves and the SEC.