Monday Open Thread

11 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. Hunter Biden and the price of eggs aside, this piece touches on one of like a million things I'm a little more worried about:

   Look at Elon Musk's growing empire. Tesla, Starlink, X, and Neuralink all stand to benefit substantially from this new alignment. They won't be alone. Peter Thiel's Palantir and Palmer Luckey's Anduril are perfectly positioned to collect expanded defense contracts, while major venture capital cryptocurrency investments are likely to see favorable regulatory treatment. The concentration of power in these companies' hands isn't just about market dominance, it's about shaping the very rules of our digital future.

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2. Somebody that understands cryptocurrency, please explain:

   How can they make people use? Crypto that don't want to use it if my employer wants to keep paying me in USD how can that be changed?

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   1. It subsumes fiat currency as the reserve default leading to a stagnant economy similar to the gold standard 

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      1. Umm. Crypto is EXACTLY fiat currency. There's nothing else.

         Currency, let's say the dollar, is guaranteed by the institutions surrounding it… Well to the extent that the US is a democracy, with laws and a functioning economy. 

         A check is nothing more than an agreement (contract) between me, you and a bank willing to make the transfer from my account to yours. In the US, contracts have institutional protections. Again to the extent that the rule of law continues.

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   2. Cash, Checks and Bank tranfers are obviously useful. I hate credit card fees (but I digress)

      Crypto has a number of reasons to exist.

      (1) Hidden transfer of large financial assets from one place to another. (Maybe not always as hidden as they'd like!)
      (2) Speculative gambling on crypto appreciation. It's just another Meme-stock.
      (3) Purchase of illegal physical things like drugs or blackmail payoffs.
      (4) Moving stolen public assets or to a safer location in the US, let's say from Moscow to a condo in a Manhattan skinny skyscraper. (How many units of asset stashing would you like today?)

      If you get sucked into a conversation with a crypto-bro (it's almost always a bro), the conversation immediately turns from "What is it good for", to a deep discussion about why Dogecoin or Ethereum is better than Bitcoin, and then you're on the slippery slope into technical mathematical details about how Doge works.

      Money is very interesting. Read how Venice invented banks, banking, bank transfers, trusted "bancerros". Yes, they actually sat on benches. 

       

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3. Hunter Biden pardon not really a surprise. Even Stevie Wonder could see it coming.

   It was a foregone conclusion the fix was in when Hunter plead guilty on September 5 to all nine felony counts of failing to file returns and failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes. As an added bonus he also gets a pardon on his felony gun conviction. Gee thanks Dad, I’ll get you an extra special gift on Father’s Day.

   The consensus was he would have almost  certainly been convicted on the tax charges after a public trial in which more would have been revealed about the machinations of the Biden Crime family two months before the presidential election.

   A guilty plea or a conviction makes no difference – Pops would take care of it after the election. And he did with the announcement made on a Sunday while Biden was in Africa.

    

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   1. We’re certainly living in through-the-looking-glass America, Alice Allyn.  And it is indeed curiouser how now in an unintended twist Hunter owes this odious pardon as much to the result of a Tchump plurality as anything?

      America: Home of the free (felon).  Crime families? The fix was in? Get used to it, huh?  You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet (except for all before).

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   2. Here's the list of Tr*mp pardons for comparison. You'll see the typical ones: Stone, Manafort, Papadopoulos, Bannon, D'Souza, Flynn. The father of his daughter's husband Charles Kushner got a pardon and is now his choice for Ambassador to France. Somehow Susan B. Anthony got a very late pardon. Oddly, lots of people with fraud offenses on this list. But I'll quote BenFolds5 who was quoting the mighty BTO in conclusion – "You ain't seen nothing yet."

      https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-donald-j-trump-2017-2021

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      1. So what does everyone think? Will violent 1/6 terrorists in jail on federal charges get their pardons right on Inauguration Day, 01/20/25, or will they have to wait until 01/26?

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         1. Either way, it gives legacy media a few extra days to write their "Sure, but whatabout Hunter Biden" Sunday editorials!

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         2. Trump promised pardons for patriots on "Day One" — but I think paperwork and Sharpie signing may be delayed by a few days. NPR's on-going tracking list as of last Friday had

            • Number of people charged, federal: 1,556
            • Number of people who have pleaded guilty: 1,010
            • Number of individuals who have completed jury, bench, or stipulated bench trials: 253
            • Number with mixed verdicts: 74
            • Number convicted on all charges: 176
            • Number acquitted of all charges: 3
            • Number of people sentenced: 1,060
            • Percentage of people sentenced who have received prison time: 64
            • Median sentence for those who received prison time, in days: 210
            • Number of cases dismissed, federal: 12

            I expect pardons — but if I remember a right, there is clause that amounted to "no backsies" on the money for "damages to the Capitol."

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