Cryptocurrency’s fatal flaws

 It seems to me that Crypto has three fatal flaws - environmental destruction, criminal escape from detection, and threats to the financial stability of the world. 

Bitcoin already uses more power than Ireland or the state of Oregon.  We are in the midst of increasingly catastrophic Climate Change.  Forrests and oceans are dying.  The expansion of green energy is slow.  Crypto energy gobling can grow exponentially.  This alone kills crypto to me.

Crypto is loved by drug cartels, money launders, and criminals around the world because there are no banks, no banking regulations, no reporting of suspicious large deposits or transactions to law enforcement.  This, too,  is enough for me to oppose it.

Recently, a Wall Streeter warned that Crypto is to much like the Credit Default Swaps that were overly complicated and unstable financial instruments that caused the collapse of the housing bubble in 2008, which nearly destroyed the world wide financial system.  This is reason enough for me to fear it.

The Greedsters keep finding cons to make fortunes for themselves and risk us all in the process.  It never stops.

Six Republican House Members planned and abbetted the January 6 attempted overthrow of the government

It is no mystery why Republicans in the House are doing all they can to obstruct the Select House Committee investigation into the attempted violent overthrow of the United State Government on January 6 of this year. They are trying to protect the guilty amongst them.  

 

Participants on January 6 being investigated are are naming names:

 

• Marjorie Taylor Greene R-Ga.)
• Paul Gosar (Ariz.)
• Lauren Boebert (Colo.)
• Mo Brooks (Ala.)
• Madison Cawthorn (N.C.)
• Andy Biggs (Ariz.)
• Louie Gohmert (Texas)

 

These are not surprising names, of course, since they have gone on a media blitz ever since the violence promoting the ridiculous Big Lie that the election was stolen and praising the violence.  They do so proudly and in hopes of raising their political fortunes.  Amazing.

 

The purpose of Big Lies is to establish authoritarian/fascist/JimCrow/dictatorial rule that destroys democracy and installs dictatorships.  We saw this in the Jim Crow South after the election of 1876 where the Federal troops were withdrawn from the former Confederate states resulting in the disenfranchisement, abuse, and total subjugation of blacks until the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.  The Big Lie was that the South fought a noble battle for freedom, rather than to keep and extend slavery.

We saw the purpose of Big Lies in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s when the "Stabbed in the Back" by Jews and Socialists Big Lie excused the loss of Germany in WWI, and created Nazis, Hitler, WWII, the Holocaust and about 70,000,000 deaths world wide.

 

The violence on January 6 wasn't just about a childish sore loser who was a poor sport.  It was a real attempt to deny democracy.  The subsequent flock of laws in Republican and swing states to set up election systems that will suppress the votes of people of color, and to set up systems to overturn election results if Republicans lose is a terrifying assault on democracy itself.

 

Let the investigation continue, deeply, and truthfully.  Those responsible, including these five mini-authoritiarians and the Former Guy himself need to be stripped of all government powers, now and in the future, and spend a good deal of time in prison.

 

This isn't a dispute of competing political philosophies.  This is about a very serious attempt to end democracy and establish fascist rule in our dear country.

 

Democracy is going to prevail.

Go Easy on Me

 Apparently, Adelle has released a video of her new song - Easy on Me - and it is smashing records of how many people have watched the video.  I don't follow pop music any more, but I did notice this one.  Adelle's singing imparts an intense emotion into her songs, and the standout line is "GO EASY ON ME".  The story of the song is about a personal relationship, but I think it is becoming an anthem of these pandemic, polarized, hostile times because of it's A cry from each of us to say to others - go easy on me!  We are in crisis.  We are just hanging on.  We are doing the best we can.  We aren't doing all that well.  But we are trying.

 

Go easy on me.  Please.

One of the ways vulture capitalism is destroying democracy

If we don't know what is going on, the corrupt oligarchy can get away with anything.  And that is happening in America today.

 

When "shareholder" capitalism takes over newspapers, they destroy them in the name of shareholder returns.  Profits become the only thing that is of any interest to the hedge fund masters of local newspapers.  The news is of no interest to them at all.  

 

And, of course, there is more to it than that.  It is not just buy the Chicago Tribune, fire half the staff, gut the company and relocate the deliberately understaffed newsfolks to a warehouse in some remote burnt out part of the city.  It's not just make a buck until the paper fails totally and then abandon it.  That would just be vulture capitalism out to rape and pillage as vulture capitalism rapes and pillages as normal.

 

No, I think the actual goal is to make sure that local news is unable to report the local news.  Make sure investigative reporting doesn't happen.  Make sure that pollution and graft and influence peddling and all the crimes of the oligarchy go unreported and thus unstopped.

 

The Atlantic has an important long read about all of this about a vulture hedge fund destroying local newspapers, including the once great Chicago Tribune - "A Secretive Hedgefund is Gutting Newsrooms".  

 

Destroy the news and pillage at your pleasure.

 

And, of course, this hedgefund - Alden Global Capital - contributes to Trump and Republicans.  Of course. 

 

One of the ways to inject money back into newspapers is for CONGRESS to intervene and require the social media giants like Facebook and Google to pay the newspapers and magazines for the content that they show on their platforms.  If I read an article or opinion from the Washington Post or Washington Times, the Post or Times should get some money - a penny?  We need the institutions of democracy, CONGRESS, to protect democracy.

Proof that vaccines work - same chart updated

Here is the latest proof that vaccines work.  The deaths skyrocketed until January 2021 when Biden created a nation wide vaccine program.  Then the vaccines plummeted off a cliff.  See chart.

 

Then they skyrocketed again with the coming of the Delta variant, and are plummeting again with the imposition of vaccine requirements by Biden now.  See chart.

This pandemic has always been a pandemic of the unvaccinated.  The first exponential death rate came because there were no vaccines.  The second exponential death rate came mostly because one of the political parties decided to tell its followers not to take the vaccine.

 

I understand that some have legitimate immune system, or allergy systems, where they can't get vaccinated.  But they are not the issue.  Politics is the issue and politics has been killing people.  The proof that vaccines work is in this chart.

 

The Republicans strange hatred

The intensity of hatred that Republicans have for liberals is confounding to me.  Especially the Trump Cultists.  They have created some kind of hatred cult, where “owning the libs” is more important than their own interests, safety, or lives - hatred for liberals, scientists, experts, and government.  The most obvious craziness is the refusal of so many in the Republican Party to mask, socially distance, or vaccinate against the pandemic.  I understand that some thoughtful people with medical conditions can’t take vaccines, and others have what they feel are legitimate concerns about the effects of vaccines (although I don’t share those concerns).

But, we have a huge percentage of people on the political right who are willing to get sick or even die if it upsets liberals.  Their defiance of science is a way of identifying with their tribe, their cult, their way of finding some kind of belonging and doesn’t seem to me to be part of any thoughtful exploration, but more just a way of being together in strange defiance of The Libs.  And they are pumped full of hate by a right wing media bubble making fortunes off of stoking the hatred.

In England, the Brexit people committed economic suicide so they could show those damned London people who ran their country.  Now there is nobody to drive their trucks and deliver gasoline to their gas stations. (Hat tip to James Carville)

This is beyond strange.  It is pretty crazy. 

Putin celebrates.  Years of disinformation and anti-science propaganda is paying off big time for him.  His spooks have been exploiting divisions in America and turning the divisions into hatred for decades.

Facebook's demonstration of the fatal flaw in shareholder capitalism

 Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, has revealed that the only value to Facebook is shareholder value.

 

“The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but won’t make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people,” she told lawmakers."

 

I think there was a big push in the business world about a half century ago to focus almost exclusively on Shareholder returns.  I think this was actually a shift from the business ethos at the time of Stakeholder Value. That is, CEOs and all top management became focused on stock prices, and the way they were forced to do so was their own compensation was directly tied to stock prices - shareholder value.  Oh boy!  What a smart idea, have the big corporations focus primarily on the stock prices of their investors.  Seems like the basic idea of capitalism, right?

 

Well, maybe not.  There is a different paradigm for capitalism - Stakeholder Capitalism.  That is, the company or corporation needs to keep four things in balance - shareholders, customers, employees, and the community (environment).  If you don't balance all four things, things go way out of balance and disaster looms.

 

Well, disaster is not looming, disaster is happening.  Facebook and Social Media have computer algorithms designed to make us hate each other and the result is an attempted coup by a losing president and his Party to overthrow the government. That story is not over, it is progressing toxically.

Focus on profit over the impact corporations have on the environment is creating a Climate Change and environmental filth that is destroying species, forests, coral, human lives and livelihoods. The fossil fuel and corporate agribusiness models are fatal. 

Shareholder Capitalism is creating income inequalities and imbalances the likes of which led to the French and Russian revolution slaughters. 

Some in the business world are turning to Stakeholder Capitalism with prioritizing environment, employees, and customers as well as top executive and shareholder investor income. Thank goodness for balance and flexibility in their approach. 

Shareholder Capitalism screams charges of Socialism whenever governments impose regulations and taxes needed to protect the needs of environment and community, workers, and customers, but if the Shareholder Model ignores the balance the balance needs to be imposed. If not, the earth, water, and air become so toxic that we all slowly wither. And the guillotines get sharpened. 

We are out of balance in so many ways. Time to restore. 

Trump bullies Texas

 Recently, Trump demanded that Texas do a recount of four districts in Texas.  What?  Trump won Texas.  Why recount?  I know he is mentally ill, but what on earth?  So I sent that question to my favorite Podcast - "Politics War Room" with Al Hunt and James Carville.  

 

They gave two good answers on their podcast of 9/30 - Money, and Cruelty.

 

Al Hunt said it is another way for this corrupt man to raise money.  All he does is raise money.  Greed.

 

Carville went deeper.  Cruelty.  He said:

 

"He enjoys watching Greg Abbot do whatever the fuck he tells him to do.  Enjoys the power of having that man make a fool of himself.  He is an inherently cruel man that likes to make fun of people, likes people to be subservient to him.  Greg Abbot is so scared of him he will do anything he wants.  He loves being cruel to people."

 

I think that is the best summary of the Former Guy I have heard.  Like all authoritarians he has an insatiable need to dominate and humiliate people - a psychotic need to make others publicly "kiss his ring" in acknowledgment of his dominance, forcefully prove the power of his will.  Or, the short version - be a cruel shit.  

 

It is no accident that the iconic film of the Nazi regime was entitled "Triumph of Will" by Leni Riefenstahl.

 

At the heart of Trump, and at the heart of the Trump Cult, is cruelty - overt, in your face, what are you going to do about it cruelty.

 

I used to think America was better than that, but only some of America is better than that, as has been proven by 74 million votes for this cruel psychopath in 2020.

 

I am so ready for this vile chapter in American life to be over.