Quick Jots: November 2022

Denmark libertarians win
#libertarianparty
Despite American Libertarians' ho-hum performance in the election, Denmark libertarians, named the Liberal Alliance, won big, gaining seats from 4 to 14 in the parliament. Good for Denmark. A round of Smørrebrød and Mikkeller, on me!

Let's declare a pandemic amnesty
#covid-19
...says Emily Oster in The Atlantic. Her excuse was "we didn't know!" Well, maybe you fucking should have if you're going to support extreme restrictions on peaceful people and traumatize your four-year-old son to be deathly afraid of proximity to others closer than six feet. Oster would specifically call out the bleach injection misinformation, which nobody was stupid enough to fall for (that 4% study by the CDC was wildly inaccurate), and yet leave out the numerous times when people really did know something, for example, spread rates for children in the summer of 2020. Still, Fauci went right ahead and shut down public schools, wreaking havoc on children's education. Here's a clue. If your move is to make people stay home, lose their jobs, and their children commit suicide, you better damned well be sure. And if you turn out to be wrong, maybe you don't get to declare an amnesty for yourself. Especially when others were correct.

FTX and the Ponzi scheme
#crypto #democrats
FTX, the crypto exchange, and Alameda Research, a trading fund that attempted to generate alpha in the crypto market, have both filed for bankruptcy. It turns out that Alameda Research was essentially a Ponzi scheme, and FTX was funneling customer assets over to Alameda Research. The tie between the two firms was the owner for both, Sam Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried was once touted by Fortune as the next Warren Buffet and the next JP Morgan. Now, the names of Elizabeth Holmes and Bernie Madoff seem to be better suited. This is also bad news for Democrats, as Bankman-Fried was their largest donor not named George Soros, funneling $36 million to the donkeys. He was also one of the most prominent supporters of crypto regulation. Not surprising at all that the largest scammer in crypto also pushed for its regulation. Also not surprising are the people shocked at this, calling for regulation, when what he did was essentially fractional reserve banking, a common practice in banks, backed by the federal government. And the issue with their own coin, FTT, is essentially what the Federal Reserve Bank does to the US currency by inflating its value away. Regulation from those that perpetrate these practices, still running large, to prevent these same practices in a crypto world that the market snuffed out? No thanks. More troubling, however, is the amount of people that can be scammed by people with names like Madoff and Bankman-Fried. It's almost like they're telling you they're a fraud before even pitching to you. Come on, people.

Nancy Pelosi steps down
#nancypelosi #democrats
I never thought I'd see the day. The Speaker of the House for the past 92 years, Nancy Pelosi, has stepped down from her position. The woman had one of the worst poll numbers in politics, with 31% positive and 53% negative. We can thank the third-world country of District 12 in San Francisco for imposing this lizard person on the entire country. Even progressives in San Francisco hate her, as they recognize that her husband had made well over $100 million on trading insider information siphoned from Washington. And yet, like a group of Stockholm Syndrome inmates, they vote for back in, cycle after cycle. I was unfortunate enough to catch a talking head on MSNBC(?) ball-gargling how Nancy Pelosi was the Michael Jordan of politics. Yeah, if Michael Jordan was playing against the people of the United States, that would be a fairly apt comparison. 

Protests in China
#china #covid-19
You read that right. Protests. In China. This is even more shocking than the protests in Cuba, as China is known for making people disappear, whether you're Jack Ma or an Uyghur in Xinjiang. And yet, what would you expect? China literally locked tens of millions of people in their own homes, causing unimaginable hardships as well as an economy that has tanked. There were some smaller protests a few months back over frozen bank accounts quelled by COVID health codes and later by police violence. But these are on a scale larger than Tiananmen Square. Protesters specifically called out both Xi Jinping and the Communist Party. Tensions were already at all-time highs, as people faced being locked in their own homes for months on end or being shipped off to quarantine camps, where people faced deplorable conditions as well as children dying due to lack of care. The catalyst for the most recent protest was a building in Xinjiang that caught on fire and ten people died. The protesters allege the people were trapped in the building due to COVID restrictions and video shows emergency vehicles being blocked by COVID fences designed to keep people trapped in buildings. In various protest videos, people can be heard screaming for democracy, a free press, and freedom of speech. These are new words heard from the public in China and are very encouraging to hear. The CCP is in an impossible situation, where refusing to bend will cause irreversible resentment toward the government while bending will strengthen their resolve. Tiananmen Square has reached every major city in China.

Protests in Iran
#iran
Following the arrest, beating, and murder of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman back in September for incorrectly wearing a hijab and wearing skinny jeans, by the morality/fashion police, protests erupted throughout Iran. Women, in large-scale protests across Iran, set fire to their hijabs. Strikes occurred en masse across several industries, including education. Violence broke out in the best possible way, with people torching security buildings (Hear that, BLM? Focus your anger on those you are angry at; not at random shop owners). Like with those in China and Cuba, this was rather shocking, given how well-known Iran's government is to crack down on dissent. And this was what happened. Protesters were shot by the hundreds, including children and people just running away. By the end of November, the death toll was 448 people which includes 60 children. The Iranian government finally admitted to 300 deaths, which is definitely an undercount. There have been reports that the morality police has been disbanded, though these reports are disputed. Maybe the Iranian government can make a pro-con list. Keeping the morality police means women are oppressed, with brutal arrests and beatings. They also get to continue to keep a boot on the populace without ceding any ground. Plus, everybody will continue to look fabulously Sharia! Disbanding the morality police...well, what the hell is the point of being a brutal dictator if you can't engage in any of the fun that comes with it? Fire up the 50-cal!

Donald Trump pushes the death penalty for drug dealers
#donaldtrump #drugwar #deathpenalty
Trump has announced a run for the 2024 election and what is seemingly a central point in his campaign is the death penalty for drug dealers. Maybe he's never heard of the failed drug war. Using questionable data and statistics that we've come to expect from the firebrand, he attempts to justify the death penalty while also removing due process, expediting prosecution and sentencing. Though his claim that drug dealers kill 500 people on average throughout their career, a number that mathematically does not check out, a drug deal is, boiled down, a victimless crime. If the argument is that a drug dealt might be used irresponsibly and may cause death, and therefore tantamount to murder, then you must prosecute anyone that has sold a cigarette or bartender whose customer went on to kill someone in a drunk driving incident. Or perhaps, even Donald Trump who claimed to have been the reason the mRNA vaccines have been available to the public. Then again, even in the slim chance he's reelected as president, what are the chances he would actually do this? I mean, look at that new, shiny, nonexistent wall we have along the border.

Hunter Biden laptop story was true!
#media
Credit goes to CBS for breaking this bombshell story. That Hunter Biden laptop handed over by a computer shop containing material that was at best embarrassing and at worst incriminating was true! What a fantastic, diligent team over at CBS for being able to crack this code of a mystery. This incident happened in October, so for such an in-depth and investigative story to come out in just one and a half months is amazing! What's that? October of 2020? And it was already reported by the New York Post? And in the New York Times in early 2022, after they denied its validity in October 2020? And this pissant journal-turned-blog discussed it in October of 2020? Wow. That is... embarrassing, CBS. Wait...let me check...maybe there was an apology for getting this so wrong in 2020, or some new revelation that changes things.........nope. Nothing. Interesting timing on this, though. One week following the midterm elections. Hrm.