Today’s News 14th December 2022

• If They Get The Opportunity, They Will Transform Our Society Into A Dystopian Hellscape
  If They Get The Opportunity, They Will Transform Our Society Into A Dystopian Hellscape

  Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

  If the elite get their way, our world will eventually look far more bizarre than any science fiction author ever imagined.  If you haven’t figured it out by now, the elite are control freaks, and they are envisioning a future in which they are in control of all of our lives from birth to death.  Instead of being born and raised the traditional way, humans will be mass produced in “birthing pods”.  Those that are genetically superior will be permitted to live, while those that are genetically inferior will be “harvested” and any spare parts that are not of value for scientific research will be discarded.  As children grow, education will be a top priority, but only material specifically approved by the elite will be permitted.  In fact, “free thought” and “free speech” will be a thing of the past if the elite get total control.  Everyone will think the same way, because no other alternative will be allowed.  And anyone that shows signs of rebellion will quickly have their digital currency privileges revoked.  I know that all of this may sound quite strange to many of you, but this is what our society will look like if the wildest hopes and dreams of the elite actually come to fruition.

  

  This week, an incredibly creepy concept video that was created by a German molecular biologist named Hashem Al-Ghaili is making headlines all over the globe.

  In this video, children are grown in a huge facility that contains hundreds of transparent “birthing pods”…

  A new concept video takes viewers on tour through The EctoLife Artificial Womb Facility, where hundreds of fetuses sit in transparent pods that are temperature controlled and feature an umbilical cord to receive oxygen and nutrients.

  If you have not seen the video yet, you can view it right here.

  I have to admit, that is one of the creepiest things that I have seen in a long time.

  We are being told that one of the big selling points of such a system would be the ability to create “designer babies” that are genetically superior to humans that are born the normal way…

  “And if you want your baby to stand out and have a brighter future, our Elite Package offers you the opportunity to genetically engineer the embryo before implanting it into the artificial womb. Thanks to CRISPR-Cas 9 gene editing tool, you can edit any trait of your baby through a wide range of over 300 genes. By genetically engineering a set of genes, the Elite Package allows you to customize your baby’s eye color, hair color, skin tone, physical strength, height, and level of intelligence. It also allows you to fix any inherited genetic diseases that are part of your family history so that your baby and their offspring will live a healthy comfortable life free of genetic diseases.”

  So what about the embryos that are genetically inferior or that are simply not wanted for one reason or another?

  Well, they would either be used for other purposes or they would be discarded in the trash.

  In addition to getting “perfect babies” every time, there would also no longer be any need for the pain of childbirth in such a system…

  While the video is focused on improving birth rates, it also notes that the birthing farm is for women who fear pregnancy because of the pain and recovery needed after going into labor.

  ‘Say goodbye to the pain of childbirth and muscle contractions,’ the video narrator says.

  Of course the elite would not want such “perfect children” to be ruined by “misinformation” as they grow older, and so everything that they would be exposed to would be strictly monitored and controlled.

  Sadly, such a system of thought control has already been rapidly developing all around us.

  We already knew that big tech companies were colluding with the government on a very deep level to suppress free speech, but the “Twitter Files” have demonstrated that things were actually far worse than any of us imagined.

  Government officials systematically targeted specific individuals and specific viewpoints for censorship, and in many cases big tech companies were more than eager to do what they were being asked to do.

  It is NOT okay for the government to suppress free speech as long as they can get private companies to do the dirty work for them.

  Our most basic constitutional rights have been trampled on over and over again, and those that were involved need to be held accountable.

  And if we don’t stand up now, they will just keep on doing it.

  Because this is what the elite desperately want.

  They want a future in which the flow of information is tightly controlled by them.

  If you are a rebel that insists on putting out “misinformation”, the elite envision a system in which such miscreants are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

  Today, the elite do not have direct control over our finances.

  But in a future where cash is banned and we are all forced to use their digital currencies, that would all change.

  Everything that we buy and sell would be tracked, and our “currency privileges” could be revoked at any time if our social credit scores drop too low.

  Of course government-controlled digital currencies are not ready for widespread use yet, but they are coming.

  In fact, just this week we learned that the Bank of England “has begun consultations on implementing a Central Bank Digital Currency”…

  The de facto head of His Majesty’s Treasury announced this week that the Bank of England has begun consultations on implementing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that could usher in the globalist vision of a cashless society in which all transactions are traceable by the government.

  Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt revealed that, as a part of his ‘Edinburgh Reforms’ of Britain’s financial services, the Bank of England will begin consultations on the design of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) which would act as a digital version of the pound sterling.

  Meanwhile, the EU has also been working on a new “digital euro”.

  And the Federal Reserve is now testing a new “digital dollar” for the United States.

  Do you think that it is just a coincidence that all of these digital currencies are being developed simultaneously?

  The truth is that the elite are actively trying to create the dystopian version of the future that they envision for all of us.

  Unfortunately, most people still do not understand what they are trying to do, and so it is imperative for all of us to try to wake up as many as we can while there is still time.

  *  *  *

  It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 12/14/2022 – 00:05

• China Air Travel Demand Soars As Zero Covid Eases
  China Air Travel Demand Soars As Zero Covid Eases

  Beijing’s abrupt end to zero Covid policies that shuttered factories and cities and crushed economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy has produced at least one of the first signs of green shoots: Air travel rebound.

  Chinese aviation data company VariFlight reported domestic flight activity soared to 65% of pre-pandemic levels Monday, from only 22% on Nov. 29, according to Bloomberg. Thousands of flights are returning to the skies as air travel demand rebounds ahead of Lunar New Year next month. 

  

  Surging air travel demand is expected to increase airfare prices for top travel spots such as major cities from Beijing to Shanghai and the resort island of Hainan. Dialing back strict pandemic control measures that will boost air travel comes ahead Lunar New Year, which before Covid, was the world’s biggest mass migration event.

  “If you look at around the world, air ticket prices are materially higher than in 2019.

  “But when you look at China’s domestic air tickets, even into the third quarter of 2022, it’s about 15% lower than that of 2019,” Parash Jain, head of transport research for Asia Pacific at HSBC Holdings Plc., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday. 

  Guo Lechun, an analyst with the online travel website Qunar, expects Lunar New Year bookings to reach the highest levels in three years or about 80% of pre-pandemic levels. 

  “Ctrip.com said air travel searches jumped 900% on Dec. 7, the day the government announced the dismantling of most Covid restrictions, including mass testing and snap lockdowns,” Bloomberg said, adding searches on travel websites exploded hours after Beijing eased zero Covid policies. 

  

  But with the easing of zero Covid, there has been a sharp increase in China’s Covid infections. There are risks that at least one million Chinese people are at risk of dying from Covid this winter, according to Financial Times.  

  

  S&P Global Commodity Insights expects jet fuel demand to rise as domestic travel flourishes. Reopening China will certainly involve increased crude and refined imports in the coming months (remember what Goldman said …), perhaps putting a floor in energy prices unless the global economy slides into recession in 2023.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 23:45

• Rep. Lauren Boebert Wins Reelection, Recount Confirms
  Rep. Lauren Boebert Wins Reelection, Recount Confirms

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) will serve another term in Congress after a recount showed she triumphed in her reelection bid, Colorado officials confirmed late Dec. 12.

  

  The mandatory recount, triggered because the margin between Boebert and her challenger was within 0.5 percent, “reconfirmed that Representative Lauren Boebert is the winner of the race,” the office of Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said.

  Boebert represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.

  A recount of a Colorado House race also showed that Marine veteran Robert Marshall, a Democrat, won.

  “The mandatory recount for U.S. Congressional District 3 and permissive recount of House District 43 are complete and have confirmed the results of the races,” Griswold said in a statement.

  “Colorado’s elections are safe, secure, and accurate,” she added. “I commend the election workers from across the state and my office for conducting these recounts and for their continued work to make Colorado the best place to cast a ballot.”

  Boebert, 35, has not commented on the development, but shared posts on social media noting Griswold’s announcement.

  Boebert said over the weekend that the recount confirmed her win.

  “I am happy to report all the counties in Colorado’s 3rd District have completed their recounts. We’ve won this election, as expected, and I’m headed back to represent you in Washington, D.C.,” she said in a video.

  Recount Change

  Before the recount, Boebert led by 550 votes over Adam Frisch, the Democrat who was seeking to unseat her, out of about 327,000 cast.

  The recount ended with Boebert losing three votes and Frisch gaining one.

  The final count was 163,839 votes for Boebert and 163,293 votes for Frisch.

  State Rep. Kurt Huffman, a Republican, and Marshall, who left the Republican Party in 2017 over disenchantment with former President Donald Trump, each lost a single vote.

  “1 vote deducted from both opponent & me. W/smaller base total & same vote margin, % win margin increased VERY slightly 4 us. LoL,” Marshall wrote on Twitter.

  Frisch had already conceded and had asked supporters not to donate to him, noting that the recount was unlikely to change many votes.

  “The CO Secretary of State just certified our election. Just as we expected, the vote total didn’t shift by more than a few votes,” Frisch said. [delete]

  He claimed a “moral victory” because of how close the race was and said that he was confident “the coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters we built throughout this campaign to reject hate and extremism in Southern and Western Colorado will grow into the future.”

  Huffman had already conceded in November.

  “The final election results are in and although the outcome isn’t what we had hoped for, I am proud of our team and our campaign. Representative Marshall, I wish you well,” he said at the time.

  Republican Majority

  Boebert’s race is the final call for the midterm elections. The win means Republicans will have 222 seats when the new Congress is seated in January 2023. Democrats will have 212.

  That’s a mirror image of the start of the 117th Congress, when Democrats had 222 seats and Republicans had 212.

  Republicans flipped control of the lower chamber with key wins in multiple states, including California, Florida, and New York.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 23:25

• Cybersecurity Incident Report At California Finance Department
  Cybersecurity Incident Report At California Finance Department

  Ransomware is one of the most significant cybersecurity issues at all levels of government. The latest hack was reported Monday by the California Cybersecurity Integration Center (Cal-CSIC) that a cybersecurity incident involved the California Department of Finance.

  A statement published by Cal-CSIC described the threat as an “intrusion” that was “identified through coordination with state and federal security partners.”

  “While we cannot comment on specifics of the ongoing investigation, we can share that no state funds have been compromised, and the Department of Finance is continuing its work to prepare the Governor’s Budget that will be released next month,” Cal-CSIC said. 

  According to Bloomberg, the Russia-affiliated hacking group “LockBit” claimed on their blog that they swiped as much as 76GB of data, including IT, financial documents, confidential data, and “sexual proceedings in court.” 

  

  Cybernews reported LockBit threatened to leak data if unspecified demands were not met by Christmas Eve. Cybersecurity experts say such demands usually involve cryptocurrency. 

  Governor Gavin Newsom must unveil his budget for the next fiscal year by Jan. 10. Bloomberg added as of Monday afternoon, “the state’s website for past and current budgets remained inaccessible.” 

   

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 23:05

• Former CNN Producer Pleads Guilty In Pedo Scandal
  Former CNN Producer Pleads Guilty In Pedo Scandal

  Former CNN producer John Griffin, who worked ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with Chris Cuomo, pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to using interstate commerce to entice and coerce a 9-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity as his Vermont ski house.

  

  This is a different CNN pedophile than Jake Tapper’s former producer, Rick Saleeby, who resigned after it emerged that he solicited sexually explicit photos of an underage girl.

  Griffin admitted to meeting the girl’s mother on a website during the summer of 2020, after which he persuaded her to bring the 9-year-old child to his Ludlow, Vermont ski home for illegal sexual activity, AP reports.

  According to the Daily Mail, Griffin ‘used Google Hangouts and Kik to convince the mothers that a “woman is a woman regardless of her age,” and that “women should be sexually subservient and inferior to men,” according to the indictment.

  In June of 2020, Griffin advised a mother of 9- and 13-year-old daughters that the mother’s responsibility was to see that her older daughter was “trained properly.”  Griffin later transferred over $3,000 to the mother for plane tickets so the mother and her 9-year-old daughter could fly from Nevada to Boston’s Logan airport.  The mother and child flew to Boston in July of 2020, where Griffin picked them up in his Tesla and drove them to his Ludlow house.  At the house, the daughter was directed to engage in, and did engage in, unlawful sexual activity.  

  Reading this indictment will make you sick to your stomach pic.twitter.com/61FugCnJNg

  — BUY PILLOW (@JackPosobiec) December 11, 2021

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  Griffin, who originally pleaded not guilty to three counts, was arrested on Dec. 10, 2021, a day after he was indicted by a grand jury. He worked for CNN for around eight years, and was fired following his arrest.

  

  Griffin also allegedly attempted to entice two other children over the internet to engage in sexual activity – proposing a “virtual training session” in a video chat in April 2020 which would involve instructing a mother and her 14-year-old daughter to get naked and touch each other at his direction. 

  In June 2020, Griffin proposed to the purported mother of a 16-year-old that she take a “little mother-daughter trip” to his ski house for sexual training involving the minor.

  Griffin faces 10 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced on March 20, 2023, and must pay full restitution to the victims – an amount which is yet-to-be determined by the court. He also faces a $250,000 fine and other fees, and has agreed to forfeit his Tesla, electronics, and donate half the proceeds from his home in Vermont – and a Mercedes Benz, into the court registry.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 22:25

• Which Countries Are Most Influenced By China?
  Which Countries Are Most Influenced By China?

  Authored by RFE/RL Staff via OilPrice.com,

  • A new index measures China’s influence around the world.

  • The China Index ranks Pakistan atop a list of 82 countries.

  • Germany is the highest-ranked European country at 19th and the United States leads North America in 21st position.

  Pakistan is the country in the world that is the most influenced by China, according to a new study that measures Beijing’s expanding global sway.

  

  The China Index — a database relaunched on December 8 by DoubleThink Labs, a Taiwan-based research organization — ranks the South Asian country atop a list of 82 other countries around the world, saying that its links to and dependency on Beijing in terms of foreign and domestic policy, technology, and the economy make it particularly susceptible to Chinese influence.

  Behind Pakistan, Southeast Asia features prominently in the rankings, with Cambodia and Singapore listed in second and third, followed by Thailand. The Philippines is seventh and Malaysia is 10th. South Africa is the first African country at No. 5, where it is tied with Peru, the highest-ranked South American country.

  Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which border China’s western Xinjiang Province, are the Central Asian countries most influenced by Beijing, coming in at eighth and ninth place on the index.

  Meanwhile, Germany is the highest-ranked European country at 19th and the United States leads North America in 21st position.

  “A major goal of [of this database] is to raise awareness around the world about the different aspects of Chinese influence and what that can actually look like,” Min Hsuan-Wu, the co-founder and CEO of Doublethink Labs, told RFE/RL.

  “We’ve taken a much broader and nuanced look at what influence can be, which can tell us more about what Beijing is actually doing and the different ways it can apply pressure.”

  In compiling the China Index, the research team focused on nine categories to track influence around the world that include higher education, domestic politics, economic ties, foreign policy, law enforcement, media, military cooperation, cultural links, and technology.

  Wu says that this type of system leads to a more subtle understanding that challenges some assumptions about the levers of Chinese influence, most crucially around economics and trade.

  “There’s no one clear pattern for how China influences a country, but from the data we compiled, the economy isn’t the determinative one,” he said.

  “You can be economically independent but be tied in other ways, like with the military or a large Chinese diaspora that can be more influential.”

  Spotlight On Pakistan, Central Asia

  Given the diverse factors shaping the ranking system, Pakistan’s leading position is no surprise to longtime observers of the country’s relationship with Beijing, which was forged in the early days of the Cold War.

  The South Asian country is home to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a centerpiece of Beijing’s globe-spanning Belt and Road Initiative in which Chinese entities have funded and built hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure projects in the last decade.

  Pakistan’s ties with China, however, have ballooned across nearly every category used to compile its ranking in the index, especially when it comes to areas like military ties, technology, and foreign policy.

  Shahzeb Jillani, a veteran journalist who helped compile research on Pakistan used for the database, says that many Pakistanis may be surprised to see their country ranking so high, but he hopes the findings will lead to greater debate and reflection about Islamabad’s deepening ties with Beijing.

  “One can only hope that this will encourage Pakistanis to debate the pros and cons of the relationship and what it could mean for the future,” he said.

  Central Asia has also seen its relationship with Beijing expand in recent years.

  While trade and investment were an early impetus, Chinese influence now plays a growing role in foreign policy, local media, and increasingly in defense and security. Following Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, many analysts also see Central Asian countries deepening their China ties as they seek to diversify from Moscow.

  While Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan rank in the top 10, Kazakhstan holds 15th place in the rankings, with Uzbekistan in the 24th spot, and Turkmenistan — which sells a large portion of its natural gas to China but remains geopolitically isolated — in 45th position.

  Measuring Influence

  Though the database includes just 82 countries, DoubleThink Labs plans to expand it in the future, especially across Africa, another area of rising Chinese influence recently, and to Russia, which declared a “no limits” partnership with Beijing in February.

  Wu says he hopes the China Index will be a valuable tool for comparison that can be used by researchers, activists, journalists, and watchdog groups around the world to get a better snapshot of the complex factors affecting their regions and the nuanced ways influence can be exercised.

  For instance, Britain is ranked the second-highest European country, 27th on the index. It is something that Martin Thorley, an independent academic who did research on the United Kingdom for the database, says is the result of local engagement through academia and ties forged between British cities and regions with their Chinese counterparts over the years, rather than at the state level.

  Wu adds that it’s hard to discern exactly how one country gets influenced more than another and that there’s no definitive “playbook” for Chinese influence. Rather, he says the recent research shows that Chinese policymakers tend to target certain countries within a region that have a lower barrier to entry and then branch outwards to neighbors based on the opportunities available.

  “There are some countries in every region that rank high on our index and can be seen as an entry point,” Wu said. “There’s lots of collaboration through one country and then it expands out.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 22:05

• Are Peru's Exports In Jeopardy As Social Unrest Worsens?
  Are Peru’s Exports In Jeopardy As Social Unrest Worsens?

  Peru’s president was pushed out of power and jailed hours after attempting to close congress and seize extraordinary powers last week. Political chaos spilled over into the streets and sparked social unrest. By Saturday, Peru’s new president, Dina Boluarte, established a moderate cabinet to calm fears, but political and social turmoil spilled over into the new week.

  There are increasing concerns in the South American country that instability could spark trade disruptions at major ports. On Monday, Bloomberg titled a note called “Peru’s Political Unrest Puts Global Fruit Supplies in Jeopardy.” 

  The Peruvian fruit trade with the US has dramatically increased in the last seven years. Fruits such as blueberries and grapes from the South American country end up on supermarket shelves in the US. Any disruption could impact prices or cause shortages. 

  

  However, Rabobank International’s David Magana spoke with Bloomberg about the Peruvian fruit trade amid all the chaos. He said:

  “The Peruvian fruit industry has become an exporting powerhouse despite political instability.”

  Crowds blocked highways and disrupted transportation networks across several metro areas last week. An escalation of political and social turmoil has gained momentum as anti-government protesters blocked roads and stormed the international airport Monday.

  Here’s the current heat map of protests/roadblocks in #Peru. Most are demanding new general elections following the power grab and fall of the Castillo government. pic.twitter.com/89QJoKqIzP

  — TechLibre (@NTechlibre) December 12, 2022

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  There has been no mention of major marine ports blocked, but one could assume some transportation networks are experiencing bottlenecks due to the chaos. 

  Oh yes, and we almost forgot… 

  Peru is the 2nd or 3rd largest producer of silver.

  BREAKING: Protests have been taking place for several days in Peru to demand the resignation of the new president and the release of President Castillo who has been deposed.

  The President announced early elections ⚠️⚠️⚠️

  🔊 pic.twitter.com/Hk90QdoWak

  — Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) December 13, 2022

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 21:45

• Restricting Gun Rights Won't Prevent Tragedy
  Restricting Gun Rights Won’t Prevent Tragedy

  Submitted by Erich Pratt of Gun Owners of America.,

  As 2022 comes to a close, the Biden Administration has renewed its calls for gun control, including a ban on commonly-owned firearms, millions of which are currently in circulation.

  This isn’t the first time that we at Gun Owners of America have heard calls for shredding the Second Amendment. In fact, we’ve survived worse and come out on top.

  

  On the eve of the ten-year anniversary of the tragedy at Sandy Hook, it’s good for us to examine why these calls for so-called “assault weapon” bans continue even ten years later, and why they’re just as misguided and ineffective today as they were all those years ago.

  The tragic shooting at Sandy Hook is a testimony to the failure of gun control. 94% of mass shootings occur in Gun Free Zones, as these killers are looking for easy targets and know that it’s unlikely anyone will be armed and able to stop them. This is proven repeatedly, most recently with the Buffalo, NY shooter. He wrote in his manifesto about his decision to carry out his attack in a state like New York which has very strict gun laws, thus making it harder for someone to stop him.

  In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook, there was a massive push for banning firearms that are commonly used for self-defense. But Gun Owners of America took action, and with the help of our members, we were able to stop the proposed gun control. This victory, of course, made the anti-gun lobby furious.

  “Gun Owners of America showed with one email alert that it could help flood the phone lines on Capitol Hill days before the Senate vote,” said National Public Radio after the gun control bill was defeated.

  While anti-gun politicians were frustrated by our members flooding the phone lines, GOA members simply knew the truth — gun control won’t stop these sorts of tragedies.

  But if gun control can’t stop mass shootings, what can?

  Almost 90% of police say that armed citizens are the best way to stop mass shootings and over 80% of police say that teachers should be armed.

  The data backs this up. Armed citizens stopped almost 50% of mass shootings last year.

  Often these cases of armed citizens stopping mass shootings are largely ignored by the mainstream media with their gun control agenda. The corporate media fails to report on the stories of Elisjsha Dicken, Jeanne Assam, Stephen Willeford, and countless others who’ve stopped mass shooters. 

  The corporate media specifically ignores the stories about armed citizens who stop mass shooters because they fail to promote their narrative that more laws will stop criminals who, by definition, do not follow laws.

  Even the Supreme Court, with their recent decision in NYSRPA v. Bruen, agrees that Americans have a right to self-defense against those who would do them harm outside their homes.

  The Biden administration and anti-gun governors nationwide will spend the rest of 2022, 2023, and beyond plotting how to get around the Bruen decision and pushing for so-called assault weapons bans through Congress or by unconstitutional executive fiat (or as Biden calls it, regulatory authority). But Gun Owners of America stands ready to fight these unconstitutional actions in Congress or, if necessary, in the courts.

  * * *

  We’ll hold the line for you in Washington. We are No Compromise. Join the Fight Now.

  Erich Pratt is the Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, a national grassroots lobby representing more than two million gun owners.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 21:25

• Bitcoin Stops The Bleeding: A Sound Money System Is The Only Cure For What Ails Our Economy
  Bitcoin Stops The Bleeding: A Sound Money System Is The Only Cure For What Ails Our Economy

  Authored by Conor Chepenik via BitcoinMagazine.com,

  As fiat currencies slowly bleed out in value, they are disincentivizing saving. Bitcoin is a cure for the economic calamities…

  

  When a doctor operates on a wounded patient, the first thing they do is make sure they can stop the bleeding. No point operating if you can’t get the bleeding under control because the patient will die. Money facilitates mutual exchange and helps market actors coordinate price discovery — it is the literal blood of the economy. As fiat currencies slowly bleed out in value, they incentivize fewer people to save. If you want to stop the bleeding in your financial life, you are going to need to find a way to store your wealth in something else. There are plenty of options, but only one that is programmed to stop all bleeding in 2140.

  As peoples’ money bleeds out, so too does their education, time and, I’d even argue, their mental sanity. Blood isn’t oozing out egregiously, but rather being siphoned off from tiny cuts, so most people do not even realize it’s happening. This is a hard pill to swallow. Most Western societies teach people not to question authority: raise your hand if you want to ask questions, and trust the experts. Breaking out of this mentality is difficult. Watch this clip of the White House press secretary to get an idea of how those at the top will treat people who dare question the narrative.

  Watch: Bidens White House Press Secretary refuses to allow a reporter to question Dr. Anthony Fauci during his last press conference as the governments top doctor on the origins of Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/06SRLUQwd9

  — The Canadian Independent (@canindependent) November 23, 2022

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  PAIN IS THE BEST TEACHER

  Narrative is everything when trying to coerce the masses to accept a “Great Reset” (if you have no idea what the Great Reset is, you can read about it here). The scope of this article won’t cover what the Davos elite is attempting to impose on the rest of the world, but rather why Bitcoin stops money from bleeding out. Trying to calculate all of the variables that bring about the emergent, complex behavior of society is futile. Governments stole trillions of dollars via quantitative easing and blamed their theft on COVID-19.

  It should not be a surprise that what followed has been chaos in the form of protests and supply chain issues. The Federal Reserve is following up its quantitative easing with tightening monetary policy at record paces trying to get inflation under control. This demand destruction is wreaking havoc all over the economy but is necessary to weed out unprofitable businesses.

  For better or worse, pain is the best teacher. Hard Money recently reported that Trezor has seen a 300% increase in sales revenue after the FTX debacle. The whole point of Bitcoin is to not trust ,but verify for yourself. Many ignored this because FTX had the stamp of approval from many mainstream news outlets, politicians and celebrities.

  In the wake of its blow, FTX created tons of new Bitcoin maximalists who now understand why not verifying Bitcoin with your own node means that you are trusting potentially-corrupt third parties. The mainstream media is not doing itself any favors with puff pieces like the one below. Articles like this only serve to increase the pain of those who were robbed and convince more people that the mainstream narrative is corrupt:

  

  Source

  BUT SELF EDUCATION HELPS TOO

  The remedy to most of these problems is a better education. Tools like Saylor.org, Udemy and plenty of others have lowered the barrier tremendously. It just requires a desire to learn.

  For me, I found that desire by going down the Bitcoin rabbit hole. Ironically, answering one question would lead me to more questions and that number of questions grew exponentially. It made me wonder how much people are not taught intentionally during their traditional schooling. There is only so much time in the day and teachers must prioritize their curriculums accordingly. I just don’t understand why taxes, how to vote and basic financial literacy aren’t at the top of most public school curriculums. The reader can come to their own conclusions. What’s important is finding a teacher who speaks your language and a subject that brings out your natural curiosity. Learning becomes one of the most euphoric feelings in the world when those two needs are met.

  The standard way of learning has horrible mental models for teaching people, like memorizing things for a test. Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying, “Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.” People are so focused on learning from the experts that they forget that those who changed the world didn’t ask for permission to do so. They just did it. People want a hero to fix all of their problems but the truth is that no one is coming to save you. I’m not saying one should not find great mentors; it’s super valuable being able to listen to those who have become experts in their fields in order to learn. I’m saying one should not worship people like gods who can’t make mistakes. Just look at Sam Bankman-Friend, who many thought was a hero.

  

  Source

  Despite all of the educational content out there, the reality is most people will come to understand the difference between paper bitcoin and bitcoin you actually hold the keys for via an expensive lesson. When the majority of Bitcoiners self custody their coins, and stop blindly trusting their heroes, that is when we will see fireworks in regards to bitcoin’s price action. Every person is different and has various forms of risk tolerance. For those who are discouraged by recent events, remember: Rome was not built in a day. Sometimes the only way to get a lesson through someone’s head is for them to suffer the pain of said mistake.

  FTX AND CENTRAL PLANNERS ARE NOT SO DIFFERENT

  What’s interesting about watching FTX fail so rapidly is that the same thing would happen with our traditional financial system if we didn’t have central banks acting as lenders of last resort. FTX violated its own terms of service by using customer funds to make bets, but 99.9% of the world just turns a blind eye when banks do this because their terms of service legally allow fractional reserve banking.

  In his book “Human Action,” Ludwig von Mises writes:

  “The rich, the owners of the already operating plants, have no particular class interest in the maintenance of free competition. They are opposed to confiscation and expropriation of their fortunes, but their vested interests are rather in favor of measures preventing newcomers from challenging their position. Those fighting for free enterprise and free competition do not defend the interests of those rich today. They want a free hand left to unknown men who will be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow and whose ingenuity will make the life of coming generations more agreeable. They want the way left open to further economic improvements. They are the spokesmen of progress.”

  Technology getting better should lead to massive deflation from productivity gains. Regulatory moats and monopolies prevent this. Fractional reserve banking creates an inflationary environment where tons of capital is misallocated. In a free market, most commercial banks would be insolvent.

  FTX tried to create its own fractional reserve monopoly by lobbying Congress and creating a regulatory moat around its business which would’ve made it impossible for competitors to compete in the crypto ecosystem. The world is fortunate FTX’s system blew up before it was able to get its way with D.C.

  Mises was right: It is not the incumbents who will create a more agreeable future, it is entrepreneurs and ideas competing in a free market. Bitcoin has over 10,000 competitors, and that number is growing every day. Many, if not all of these tokens, are Ponzi schemes in my opinion, but the idea that D.C could do a better job deciding this than the free market could is ridiculous.

  I understand regulation is difficult when technology is changing things at such rapid rates. The little piece of glass in our pocket allows us to hail a ride, order food or listen to some of the greatest minds on the planet whenever we want. All of these things would seem magical to someone who lived before the creation of smartphones. There are going to be hiccups along the way as humanity tries to come to grips with these new tools. This is why I keep this Hal Finney quote as my Twitter header:

  

  Source

  For all of the wonders that technology can do for humanity, it can also drive a whole new level of control. Free markets lead to optimal price discovery. Too much central planning and markets start to break. Price discovery in a free market is like a hash function. It takes inputs of data and spits out an output that only goes one way.

  With a normal hash, the algorithm works so that it is unfeasible to reverse-calculate the data. You can verify a hash by making sure the same output is achieved based on the input, but you can’t take the output and figure out the input. In this same vein, a free market will set the price of a good, but you can’t figure out how all of the labor, work, travel and other variables created the price of the good. The function only goes one way.

  Market actors get upset when the coercion variable is notched up and price increases happen. The blame is typically pushed on to the producers rather than the central planners who are causing such issues. Sound familiar? Like say the U.S. government, which is calling out greedy fossil fuel companies for raising the price of gas while at the same time advocating for the end of fossil fuel use. If price controls are imposed, price discovery completely breaks down, resulting in shortages. Until the creation of money is no longer heavily intermingled with politics these issues will continue to play out.

  BITCOIN IS MORE IMPORTANT NOW THAN EVER

  As central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and digital identities are rolled out, it has never been more important to point out why Bitcoin is the remedy. Bitcoin allows the individual to go down a hero’s journey where they can keep the value of their labor in their head. CBDCs and digital IDs offer governments tools to enact monetary policy at the individual level, be at the center of every transaction and turn off people’s money as they see fit.

  Bitcoin offers a better system, one that no one can cheat if they want to be in consensus with the rest of the network. Preston Pysh said it best: “Bitcoin is like the infinity stone.” It takes a great deal of faith to hold on to an asset that has had multiple 70% to 90% drawdowns before recovering to new all-time highs. Not many can hang on to their bitcoin but those who do over long periods of time are greatly rewarded.

  The network effects of Bitcoin are insane. There is a Bitcoin website paying people 21,000 satoshis to post a sticker that it ships to you around their cities. Think about that. You can earn sats and increase the value of those sats by helping raise awareness. Bitcoin is full of these win-win scenarios. The tech is exciting, but the passion I see from Bitcoiners in real life is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

  Bitcoin as a technology, a new form of money and an idea are bringing hope to humans around the world who have been disadvantaged because governments have a monopoly on violence. Bitcoin empowers the individual to fight back like never before. There will be growing pains along the way and more turmoil in the short term for those obsessed with measuring things in fiat. The way to fix that is to orient yourself around the new system.

  The possibilities that will come out of this Bitcoin renaissance are endless. Grappling with what this new form of money means is difficult because the world is full of so many paradoxes. When you learn, you become smarter by ending up with more questions. Monopolies have brought about some of the most prosperous and technologically advanced times in human civilizations while also making George Orwell’s “1984” look like a very plausible path for the future. The internet is connecting people like never before and at the same time, loneliness is increasing. Number go up technology is associated with greed and is what initially attracts people to Bitcoin, yet many stay because they realize Bitcoin is the true effective altruism movement. These paradoxes are a bit mind bending but I do think there is value to be had from chewing on these ideas.

  It can be easy to get bogged down with all of the bleeding going on in the fiat world. Bitcoin is the Band-Aid to fix it. It gives me a lot of confidence knowing my money is secured by open-source software and math rather than 12 individuals who decide when it is okay to steal and when it’s time to practice fiscal austerity.

  I’m glad the Fed has finally decided to do the right thing for the economy but it has manipulated the cost of capital for so long that it now risks destroying the entire system if it keeps tightening. The problem is that the Fed’s only other option is to lower rates again, which causes more bleeding via inflation. Bitcoin offers humanity a way out of this paradox where central planners try to fix the bleeding by siphoning more blood out of the patient. Every time central planners manipulate the cost of capital it becomes more clear that market participants are playing a rigged game. Bitcoin is the fairest game humanity has ever created and the best chance we have of separating money and state.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 20:45

• Investment-Grade Wine Outshines Stock Market In Tumultuous Year
  Investment-Grade Wine Outshines Stock Market In Tumultuous Year

  This has been an awful year for stocks and bonds as the Federal Reserve wreaks havoc on financial markets to tame the highest inflation in decades. Risks are now increasing that overtightening by the Fed could spark a hard landing in 2023. Most asset classes have been clubbed like a baby seal, while one has escaped the beatdown: investment-grade wine. 

  Investable wine is considered an ‘alternative asset’ by wealthy investors. Fine wine, with age, improves over time because there is only a limited supply of investment wines produced each year, or vintage, which must satisfy a growing global demand. 

  Despite risk parity investors deeply in the red, meme stock traders on Reddit wiped out, and crypto kids decimated, wealthy folks holding fine wine investments are sitting back without stress as they are set to lock in positive returns for the year. 

  The Liv-ex 1000 benchmark recorded a 13.6% increase year-to-date and a 44.6% rise over five years. What is most intriguing about investable wine is how it “acted like a defensive asset this year,” explained Topdown Charts founder Callum Thomas. 

  

  Thomas continued: “We also saw a similar thing during the dot-com burst bear market, and during the 2008 financial crisis. It goes to show that sometimes you have to be a little bit more creative to find defensive assets (in a year where traditional safe haven assets have disappointed e.g. gold basically flat for the year, and bonds down double-digits).”

  And many people might not be aware, but in economic downturns when lending standards are tightening, wealthy folks use wine collections, expensive artwork, and classic cars as collateral for loans while banks refuse to lend money to everyday folks. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 20:25

• 'Russian Disinformation' Narrative On Hunter Biden Laptop Story Proved False By Twitter Files, Trump DNI Says
  ‘Russian Disinformation’ Narrative On Hunter Biden Laptop Story Proved False By Twitter Files, Trump DNI Says

  Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The recently publicized internal Twitter communications have proven false the claim that the story around Hunter Biden’s laptop was a part of Russia’s disinformation campaign, former director of national intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe said Friday.

  “What I said as the DNI in October 2020 was proven true,” Ratcliffe wrote on Twitter. “The IC had zero intelligence supporting a false narrative that the Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. Nobody in the IC had authority to say otherwise.”

  

  Ratcliffe, who served as the nation’s top intelligence official and the principal intelligence adviser to President Donald Trump from 2020 to 2021, shared part of independent journalist Matt Taibbi’s post series, known as “Twitter Files.”

  In the multi-post thread, Taibbi used screenshots of email exchanges between company executives to illustrate Twitter’s biased content moderation decisions, including the suppression of the New York Post’s report of the link then-presidential candidate Joe Biden allegedly had with dubious foreign business dealings based on emails retrieved from a laptop once belonged to his son, Hunter.

  Twitter’s initial response to the story is to limit its reach, claiming at that time that this was based on the platform’s “Hacked Material Policy” that prohibited users from posting “content obtained through hacking.”

  One of those screenshots, according to Taibbi, shows that Yoel Roth, Twitter’s moderation and safety leader until his recent resignation, had been having a “weekly sync with FBI/DHS/DNI” regarding issues with “election security” in the wake of the laptop story.

  “Hacked Materials exploded. We blocked the NYP story, then we unblocked it (but said the opposite), then said we unblocked it… and now we’re in a messy situation where our policy is in shambles, comms is angry, reporters think we’re idiots, and we’re refactoring an exceedingly complex policy 18 days out from the election,” wrote one executive who is purportedly Roth.

  “Weekly sync with FBI/DHS/DNI re: election security,” the message continued. “The meeting happened about 15 minutes after the aforementioned Hacked Materials implosion; the government declined to share anything useful when asked.”

  Roth’s weekly meetings with law enforcement and intelligence officials may have involved separate meetings, where not all of them showed up, Taibbi reported.

  “I have to miss the FBI and DHS meetings today, unfortunately,” Roth wrote to a Twitter staffer, indicating that officials of the two agencies weren’t scheduled to meet with him together at once.

  None of these messages mentioned anything about Russia, although at that time many commentators, media outlets, and Democrat leaders—notably House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), claimed that the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop was a Russian disinformation plot.

  “We know this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin,” Schiff told CNN in October 2020, claiming that it was in Moscow’s interest to keep Trump in the White House. “Clearly, the origins of this whole smear are from the Kremlin, and the president is only happy to have Kremlin help in trying to amplify it.”

  Such assertion had prompted Ratcliffe to speak out, accusing the Democrats of trying to “politicize the intelligence.”

  “The intelligence community doesn’t believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that. And we have shared no intelligence with Adam Schiff, or any member of Congress,” Ratcliffe said in an interview with Fox Business following Schiff’s comments.

  “It’s funny that some of the people who complain the most about intelligence being politicized are the ones politicizing the intelligence,” he added. “Unfortunately, it is Adam Schiff who said the intelligence community believes the Hunter Biden laptop and emails on it are part of a Russian disinformation campaign.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 20:05

• "Digital Fentanyl": Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Legislation To Ban TikTok
  “Digital Fentanyl”: Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Legislation To Ban TikTok

  A group of bipartisan lawmakers led by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has introduced legislation that would completely ban the social media app TikTok from operating in the United States.

  

  “TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is required by Chinese law to make the app’s data available to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” reads a Tuesday statement from Rubio’s office. “From the FBI Director to FCC Commissioners to cybersecurity experts, everyone has made clear the risk of TikTok being used to spy on Americans. “

  Rubio – who introduced the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act) – is joined by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), who introduced companion legislation in the US House of Representatives.

  “TikTok is digital fentanyl that’s addicting Americans, collecting troves of their data, and censoring their news,” said Gallagher. “It’s also an increasingly powerful media company that’s owned by ByteDance, which ultimately reports to the Chinese Communist Party – America’s foremost adversary.”

  Allowing the app to continue to operate in the U.S. would be like allowing the U.S.S.R. to buy up the New York Times, Washington Post, and major broadcast networks during the Cold War. No country with even a passing interest in its own security would allow this to happen, which is why it’s time to ban TikTok and any other CCP-controlled app before it’s too late. -Rep. Mike Gallagher.

  The app has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, including a lawsuit from the state of Indiana, a ban in South Dakota, calls to ban TikTok ‘everywhere,’ and hitting a major snag in negotiations with the Biden administration over national security concerns.

  One of the primary issues with TikTok – owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is where user data is housed.

  Both ByteDance and US officials struck a preliminary agreement that TikTok data on US users would be hosted by Oracle Corp. TikTok, meanwhile, says it will delete the private data of US users from its own data centers in Virginia and Singapore as it transitions to fully store data with Oracle. The company has also said that access to US data by anyone outside of a newly established division to govern US data security would be limited by, and subject to, its protocols – which would be overseen by Oracle.

  Certain administration officials, however, still aren’t comfortable with the arrangement, and have sought to make any TikTok security agreement stronger in some respects over concerns with the company’s access to consumer data, and its potential use for influence operations.

  “The federal government has yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok. This isn’t about creative videos — this is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day,” said Rubio on Tuesday. “We know it’s used to manipulate feeds and influence elections. We know it answers to the People’s Republic of China. There is no more time to waste on meaningless negotiations with a CCP-puppet company. It is time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok for good.”

  Republicans have been pushing to ban the app altogether.

  TikTok claims it doesn’t collect data on search and browsing history outside the app, though it does collect information within the app so that it ‘functions correctly,’ said the spokeswoman. For example, returning relevant search results and ensuring users don’t see the same videos multiple times.

  Former US President Donald Trump sought to ban TikTok unless it was a US-owned entity – which President Biden rescinded shortly after taking office in light of legal challenges.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 19:45

• Censors Set Their Sights On Musk's Twitter Takeover
  Censors Set Their Sights On Musk’s Twitter Takeover

  Authored by Charlotte Allen via The Epoch Times,

  Not long after Elon Musk acquired Twitter with his promise of ending its censorship regime, a reporter from Reuters covering a White House press conference asked Karine Jean-Pierre, President Joe Biden’s press secretary, whether Twitter might become a “vector of misinformation.” Jean-Pierre’s response at the Nov. 28 press conference was:

  “This is something that we’re certainly keeping an eye on. Look, we have always been very clear that when it comes to social media platforms, it is their responsibility to make sure that when it comes to misinformation, when it comes to the hate that we’re seeing, that they take action, that they continue to take action. … We’re all monitoring what’s currently occurring.”

  That sounded pretty chilling. The idea that the government could be “monitoring” any part of any media for “misinformation” and “hate” speech—both of which are protected by the First Amendment unless they stray into defamation or incitement to imminent crime—ought to raise the hackles of anyone who cares about the Bill of Rights. And why, in particular, should social-media platforms have any legal obligation to “take action” against speech that might offend some people but is neither criminal nor libelous?

  

  But in fact, that is exactly what the nation’s two wokest states, New York and California, have already decided that social media platforms, a category that can include everything from Facebook to chatrooms and traditional journalism blogs with comments, must henceforth do.

  The New York law came first, in June, and it went into effect on Dec. 3. Realizing that free speech enjoys constitutional protection, New York’s legislators decided to outlaw only what they cagily called “hateful conduct.” But “hateful conduct,” as defined in the New York law, means “the use of a social media network to vilify, humiliate, or incite violence against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnicity, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.” Vilify? Humiliate? That sounds pretty much like … constitutionally protected speech.

  Disturbing as it may be to listen to a rant against Jews, for example, the Al Sharpton of the 1990s and the Kanye West of 2022 weren’t saying anything that could be prosecuted. But the New York law requires social media networks to post “clear and concise policy readily available and accessible on their website and application that includes how such social media network will respond and address the reports of incidents of hateful conduct on their platform.” That forces everyone with a blog to pay lawyers to draft a policy statement acceptable to New York regulators and then spend hours trying to “respond,” for example, to a woman who says she feels “humiliated” that the blogger has described her as overweight.

  ​The California law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September and set to go into effect on Jan. 1, at least has the virtue of exempting service providers with gross revenues of less than $100 million per year. It’s targeted at Bay Area tech giants such as Facebook’s parent company, Meta, and Twitter. But its reporting requirements are even more onerous. Every company that falls under the statute’s purview must submit a twice-a-year report to the California attorney general detailing its moderation policies, not simply for “hate speech” but for such categories as “racism,” “extremism,” “radicalization,” “disinformation or misinformation,” “harassment,” and “foreign political influence.” The company must list every instance that it flagged such content and how it handled it. State Rep. Jesse Gabriel, who introduced the bill that Newsom signed, said the new reporting requirements are designed to deal with “conspiracy theories and other dangerous content” allegedly widespread on social media.

  ​Neither the New York nor the California law explicitly censors disapproved forms of speech or requires social media platforms to do so. But their vague and subjective language (“vilify,” “extremism”) coupled with their threats of sanctions for noncompliance (a $15,000-a-day fine in California, a $1,000-a-day fine plus a possible attorney general’s investigation in New York) are powerful inducements for social media companies to play Big Brother. And in New York, for example, Attorney General Letitia James, responding to the mass shooting in March at a Buffalo supermarket that was briefly livestreamed, has called for even tougher restrictions on internet content, such as criminal and civil penalties for transmitting images that might inspire others to commit violent acts.   ​

  ​On Dec. 1, Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor and founder of the legal-news blog Volokh Conspiracy, together with two social media platforms, Rumble and Locals, filed a lawsuit challenging the New York content-moderation law on First Amendment grounds.

  “New York politicians are slapping a speech-police badge on my chest because I run a blog,” Volokh said.

  As for California, University of Santa Clara law professor Eric Goldman writes: “By prioritizing certain content categories, the bill tells social media platforms that they must make special publication decisions in those categories to please the regulators and enforcers who are watching them. The resulting distortions to the platforms’ editorial decision-making constitutes censorship.”

  ​And as we’ve learned from the Biden-administration press secretary, California and New York aren’t the only government entities whose “regulators and enforcers” are “watching” social media with an eye to cracking down. Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his relaxation of the site’s content-moderation policies that routinely muffled conservatives have outraged political progressives.

  A Nov. 23 report from the liberal Brookings Institution asserted that “hate speech” on Twitter, including derogatory references to Jews and blacks, had increased as much as 500 percent since Musk assumed control of the platform on Oct. 27. The report noted that the bulk of this invective came from about 300 troll accounts, but that didn’t stop Brookings from declaring, “When acquisitions of social media platforms occur, there should be an obligation of the new owner(s) to ensure that hate speech is moderated.”

  That was a broad hint to Congress and the Biden administration. Expect federal regulators to try to force some heavy-handed censorship of Twitter, Bill of Rights or no Bill of Rights.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 19:25

• Jack Dorsey Admits 'Biggest Mistake' Was Creating Authoritarian Censorship Toolbox
  Jack Dorsey Admits ‘Biggest Mistake’ Was Creating Authoritarian Censorship Toolbox

  Having had his little tête-à-tête with the current boss of Twitter – over Child abuse protection – the former boss of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, took to Twitter tonight to address a number of issues, including his take on The Twitter Files (which he appears to address as if he was an outsider) and his ‘biggest mistake’ as well.

  

  As a reminder, the current boss of Twitter had this to say recently about Dorsey’s role in the past:

  Absolutely! The real CEO was the head of “Trust & Safety”.

  — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Jack Dorsey titled the blog post ‘A native internet protocol for social media’ (emphasis ours):

  There’s a lot of conversation around the #TwitterFiles. Here’s my take, and thoughts on how to fix the issues identified. 

  I’ll start with the principles I’ve come to believe…based on everything I’ve learned and experienced through my past actions as a Twitter co-founder and lead:

  1. Social media must be resilient to corporate and government control.

  2. Only the original author may remove content they produce.

  3. Moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice.

  The Twitter when I led it and the Twitter of today do not meet any of these principles. This is my fault alone, as I completely gave up pushing for them when an activist entered our stock in 2020. I no longer had hope of achieving any of it as a public company with no defense mechanisms (lack of dual-class shares being a key one). I planned my exit at that moment knowing I was no longer right for the company.

  The biggest mistake I made was continuing to invest in building tools for us to manage the public conversation, versus building tools for the people using Twitter to easily manage it for themselves.

  This burdened the company with too much power, and opened us to significant outside pressure (such as advertising budgets).

  I generally think companies have become far too powerful, and that became completely clear to me with our suspension of Trump’s account. As I’ve said before, we did the right thing for the public company business at the time, but the wrong thing for the internet and society. Much more about this here:

  I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter, or how we got here. After a clear warning we’d take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter. Was this correct?

  — jack (@jack) January 14, 2021

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  I continue to believe there was no ill intent or hidden agendas, and everyone acted according to the best information we had at the time. Of course mistakes were made. But if we had focused more on tools for the people using the service rather than tools for us, and moved much faster towards absolute transparency, we probably wouldn’t be in this situation of needing a fresh reset (which I am supportive of). Again, I own all of this and our actions, and all I can do is work to make it right.

  Back to the principles. Of course governments want to shape and control the public conversation, and will use every method at their disposal to do so, including the media. And the power a corporation wields to do the same is only growing. It’s critical that the people have tools to resist this, and that those tools are ultimately owned by the people. Allowing a government or a few corporations to own the public conversation is a path towards centralized control.

  I’m a strong believer that any content produced by someone for the internet should be permanent until the original author chooses to delete it. It should be always available and addressable. Content takedowns and suspensions should not be possible. Doing so complicates important context, learning, and enforcement of illegal activity. There are significant issues with this stance of course, but starting with this principle will allow for far better solutions than we have today. The internet is trending towards a world were storage is “free” and infinite, which places all the actual value on how to discover and see content.

  Which brings me to the last principle: moderation. I don’t believe a centralized system can do content moderation globally. It can only be done through ranking and relevance algorithms, the more localized the better. But instead of a company or government building and controlling these solely, people should be able to build and choose from algorithms that best match their criteria, or not have to use any at all. A “follow” action should always deliver every bit of content from the corresponding account, and the algorithms should be able to comb through everything else through a relevance lens that an individual determines. There’s a default “G-rated” algorithm, and then there’s everything else one can imagine.

  The only way I know of to truly live up to these 3 principles is a free and open protocol for social media, that is not owned by a single company or group of companies, and is resilient to corporate and government influence. The problem today is that we have companies who own both the protocol and discovery of content. Which ultimately puts one person in charge of what’s available and seen, or not. This is by definition a single point of failure, no matter how great the person, and over time will fracture the public conversation, and may lead to more control by governments and corporations around the world. 

  I believe many companies can build a phenomenal business off an open protocol. For proof, look at both the web and email. The biggest problem with these models however is that the discovery mechanisms are far too proprietary and fixed instead of open or extendable. Companies can build many profitable services that complement rather than lock down how we access this massive collection of conversation. There is no need to own or host it themselves.

  Many of you won’t trust this solution just because it’s me stating it. I get it, but that’s exactly the point. Trusting any one individual with this comes with compromises, not to mention being way too heavy a burden for the individual. It has to be something akin to what bitcoin has shown to be possible. If you want proof of this, get out of the US and European bubble of the bitcoin price fluctuations and learn how real people are using it for censorship resistance in Africa and Central/South America.

  I do still wish for Twitter, and every company, to become uncomfortably transparent in all their actions, and I wish I forced more of that years ago. I do believe absolute transparency builds trust. As for the files, I wish they were released Wikileaks-style, with many more eyes and interpretations to consider. And along with that, commitments of transparency for present and future actions. I’m hopeful all of this will happen. There’s nothing to hide…only a lot to learn from. The current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous and doesn’t solve anything. If you want to blame, direct it at me and my actions, or lack thereof.

  As far as the free and open social media protocol goes, there are many competing projects: @bluesky is one with the AT Protocol, Mastodon another, Matrix yet another…and there will be many more. One will have a chance at becoming a standard like HTTP or SMTP. This isn’t about a “decentralized Twitter.” This is a focused and urgent push for a foundational core technology standard to make social media a native part of the internet. I believe this is critical both to Twitter’s future, and the public conversation’s ability to truly serve the people, which helps hold governments and corporations accountable. And hopefully makes it all a lot more fun and informative again.

  💸🛠️🌐

  To accelerate open internet and protocol work, I’m going to open a new category of #startsmall grants: “open internet development.” It will start with a focus of giving cash and equity grants to engineering teams working on social media and private communication protocols, bitcoin, and a web-only mobile OS. I’ll make some grants next week, starting with $1mm/yr to Signal. Please let me know other great candidates for this money.

  *  *  *

  As you might imagine, Dorsey’s holier-than-thou views prompted some pushback on social media…

  I agree users should be in charge of their own algorithms and a few other things. It’s a bit late for these epiphanies, sadly.

  — (((clevecarole))) (@Clevecarole) December 13, 2022

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  If you knew how to fix it, why didnt you when you had the chance ?

  — Iain (@iain3000) December 13, 2022

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  Too little to late.

  — Omnimatty (@omnimattyc) December 13, 2022

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  @jack You caved and history will remember you as a coward. That is all.

  — CryptoJbot (@CryptoJbot) December 13, 2022

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  You hired people that thought alike and then gave them free reign to do as they wished. They banned and suspended on a whim for wrong speak.

  — Tyrone Jackson (@TyroneBJackson) December 13, 2022

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  This is pretty weak. I’d just accept the responsibility that Twitter was being run by a cult of middle managers who had personal opinions and vendettas against certain accounts. In addition, you allowed child exploitation, for that you should apologize.

  — Chef Andrew Gruel (@ChefGruel) December 13, 2022

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  I read it, it doesn’t really make any sense.
  Summary: We did the right thing but it was the wrong thing. It was simultaneously not wrong at the time but clearly wrong at the time. I was the CEO but I was a nobody. There was nothing I could do but I had total power.

  — Lastdance 🇺🇦 (@Lastdance_LL) December 13, 2022

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 18:45

• "You Believe Your Fu**ing Intel Briefers?" Tucker Carlson Went Ballistic Over 'Russian Agent' Accusations
  “You Believe Your Fu**ing Intel Briefers?” Tucker Carlson Went Ballistic Over ‘Russian Agent’ Accusations

  Fox News host Tucker Carlson went off on the US intelligence community during an appearance on former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard’s podcast. He also called Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer an “asshole” while discussing members of congress who are controlled by the intelligence community.

  

  Carlson recounted an incident where he wanted to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin before the Ukraine war, and reached out through a well-connected friend to do so. Carlson kept Fox and his producers in the dark, yet was given a ‘tap on the shoulder’ by one of his ‘closest friends” who knew a high-up official at the National Security Agency.

  After flying to Washington DC to meet in person, it was conveyed that the high-level NSA employee, who is a ‘secret fan’ of his show, knew that Carlson was “trying to get a Putin interview and go to Russia,” adding “they have your emails and your texts, and they’re going to leak them to the media to discredit you as a Putin lover.”

  Carlson then called a friend who is a US Senator, who told him that the US intelligence community accused him of being a Russian agent.

  “Michael McFaul, who I would say is the leader of the neocons in the House… I got into an argument with him once last year on the phone. He told somebody that I was a Russian agent or something, and I was outraged,” Tucker said, referring to the former US Ambassador to Russia under President Obama.

  

  “So I called him on the phone, and I used bad language. I was really mad. And he [McFoul] said ‘whoa, whoa, whoa’ – that’s what the intel briefers told me, that you were working for Russia.”

  “That’s what the intel briefers told you? You believe your fucking intel briefers? Like, how old are you son? I’m from DC. My dad was in this world. Like, you’re being manipulated by your intel briefers, DUH! And he’s like ‘well they had, you know, all kinds of corroborating evidence.'”

  Watch:

  (h/t @AMFirebrand)

  Carlson went on to discuss Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) statement that “You take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you, so even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he’s being really dumb to do this,” regarding former President Donald Trump.

  “How could he say something like that?” Carlson said, adding “How could you, as the head Democrat in the Senate, accept a system where the people are not in charge? It is not a democracy. Unelected spy agencies are controlling the outcome of domestic politics, like, you’re ok with that?”

  “That’s a dictatorship, asshole,” Carlson added. “Like what do you think that is?“

  “And I couldn’t have less regard for Chuck Schumer and I know him and he’s not stupid, he’s not stupid at all,” Tucker continued. “He’s quite smart. So he’s never thought this through? He’s never thought it through? He has thought it through, and he accepts it as OK, and we should never accept something like that, ever.”

  Watch the entire interview below:

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 18:25

• China Shipyards Rake In Record LNG Tanker Orders Amid Russia Sanctions
  China Shipyards Rake In Record LNG Tanker Orders Amid Russia Sanctions

  Chalk up another way that China is benefitting from Western sanctions against Russia.

  First we saw China seize the opportunity to buy Russian oil at a steep discount. Now, China’s shipyards are racking up record orders for liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers as world markets adjust to supply disruptions caused by the sanctions regime. 

  In 2022, China has scored 45 LNG tanker orders — quintupling the country’s tally from last year. Having assembled only 9% of the world’s existing LNG tankers, China captured 30% of this year’s orders and now accounts for 21% of global orders on the books, Reuters reports. That’s about $60 billion in business. 

  China’s growing presence in this speciality shipbuilding market represents demand spilling over from South Korea, which has long dominated the LNG tanker category. Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding accounts for 75% of China’s 2022 orders. 

  

  South Korean shipbuilders have been deluged with orders for ships that will be used to transport gas from Qatar’s North Field expansion. That will bring huge growth in Qatar’s production capacity — to the extent that QatarEnergy’s CEO in October said his company will, within the next five to ten years, surpass Shell as the world’s largest natural gas trader. In that endeavor, Qatar is itself capitalizing on Europe’s drive to replace Russia’s pipeline gas with shipborne imports.  

  Building modern, membrane LNG tankers is a highly technical process that requires certification by Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT), a the French company that holds the patents and licenses its designs to shipyards. The need for precision — as hundreds of workers painstakingly laser-weld seams inside 40-meter-tall LNG tanks — translates into build times of up to 30 months.   

  

  Some of the tanker demand is coming from China itself. SIA Energy’s Li Yao tells Reuters that China will need some 80 LNG tankers to haul 20 million tons of gas a year just from the United States. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 17:45

• Montana Law That Bars COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates In Health Care Settings Is Unconstitutional: Judge
  Montana Law That Bars COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates In Health Care Settings Is Unconstitutional: Judge

  Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A federal judge in Montana has ruled that parts of the state’s law preventing discrimination against individuals in health care settings based on their COVID-19 vaccination status are unconstitutional.

  

  Republican-backed House Bill 702 was passed in 2021 by the Montana Legislature as an anti-discrimination measure and signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte in May of that same year.

  The bill banned employers from mandating that employees get vaccinated or share their vaccine status through an immunity passport.

  In a 41-page ruling on Dec. 9, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy stated that the law was unconstitutional as it applies to employers and employees of health care settings.

  “No party questions the authority of the Montana Legislature and Governor to exercise their respective legislative or executive authority to enact or modify public health and anti-discrimination laws,” the lawsuit states. “Rather, the challenge, in this case, stems from an ostensibly purposed anti-discrimination statute and its incongruent impact on healthcare providers and patients, hospitals, nursing homes, doctor’s offices.”

  Law Fails to Deal Specifically With COVID-19

  State Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Department of Labor Commissioner Laurie Esau were named as defendants in the lawsuit.

  The lawsuit goes on to state that the law passed in 2021 failed to distinguish between vaccines and did not deal specifically with COVID-19, instead encompassing “all vaccines whether for measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, hepatitis, or flu.”

  This, in turn, plaintiffs argue, “caused critical concerns for health care providers whether hospitals, doctor’s offices or other medical facilities by limiting the ability of such providers to know the vaccination status of patients and employees.”

  Plaintiffs also argue that the law “preemptively precludes health care providers and other employers from knowing the vaccination status of employees or patients if the employee or patient refuses to answer any inquiry about vaccination status or immunity passports.”

  “That situation, for any number of reasons, creates untoward problems for healthcare providers of any description in trying to protect the environment where services to patients are rendered and to prevent the spread of diseases,” the lawsuit states.

  The lawsuit argues that the law as it pertains to health care settings violated a string of laws.

  In his ruling on Friday, Molloy said that plaintiffs had successfully argued that the law violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulations.

  Specifically, he said, plaintiffs had successfully argued that the law was preempted by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act which requires employers to consider accommodation to create a safe work environment for workers, including employees who are immunocompromised.

  ‘A Win for All Montanans’

  “Deprived by law of the ability to require vaccination or immunity status of an employee, a health care employer is not able to properly consider possible reasonable accommodations if an employee asks to limit his or her exposure to unvaccinated individuals,” wrote Molloy, a Clinton appointee.

  The judge further noted that HB 702 “removes an essential tool from the health care provider’s toolbox to stop or minimize the risk of spreading vaccine-preventable disease.”

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 17:25

• US Set To Send Ukraine Patriot Missiles In Major Escalation 
  US Set To Send Ukraine Patriot Missiles In Major Escalation 

  CNN’s chief Pentagon correspondent is reporting the breaking news based on multiple anonymous US defense officials – including a senor Biden administration official – that the White House is currently finalizing plans to send Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine.

  “The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine that could be announced as soon as this week, according to two US officials and a senior administration official,” CNN writes. “The three officials told CNN that approval is expected.”

  

  If approved, this could be a tipping point in the conflict leading to direct confrontation between nuclear-armed powers given transfer of Patriots would mark the longest-range missiles sent to Ukraine thus far.

  Washington has so far been reluctant, despite Kiev officials since nearly the start of the invasion making repeat pleas for the US to help “close the sky” – as President Zelensky many months ago urged Congress.

  As The Guardian reviewed of the dangers involved in sending the Patriot: 

  “Long sought by the Ukrainians, the missiles have a range of up to 300km, but so far the US and its allies, including the UK, have declined to supply them because they could be used to hit targets inside Russia. Supplying them would help “bring the war to an end as soon as possible”, Johnson said.

  Patriots have long been deployed in neighboring Poland, but Ukrainian leaders have been persistent in requesting them on their own soil amid a major uptick in recent Russian aerial attacks. Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson this week urged in a Wall Street Journal op-ed for the West to get serious about supplying Patriots and other anti-air systems, even including military aircraft.

  It’s likely to take some time to deploy the Patriots, given Ukrainians are expected to be trained on operating the sophisticated systems at the US Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany, per officials cited by CNN. In the meantime Moscow is likely to react fiercely to the news, which could result in more intense and escalatory airstrikes on Ukrainian cities, and command and control bases. Washington, for its part will likely emphasize the purely “defensive” nature of the Patriot systems.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 17:16

• Blackstone Might Delay New Private Equity Fund After Redemption Panic
  Blackstone Might Delay New Private Equity Fund After Redemption Panic

  Blackstone shares are down 39% year-to-date, as two of its funds, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) and Blackstone Private Credit Fund (BCRED), enforced redemption limits given challenging macro conditions. 

  With both BREIT and BCRED redemptions capped, we can only envision investment advisors and portfolio managers have become increasingly concerned about whether they can pull money out of the non-tradeable funds. Increased panic by investors to withdraw could weigh on the performance of both funds and or spark liquidity issues. 

  “Redemption limits, rising rates and softening performance are likely to give investors and advisors pause going forward,” Barclays told clients in a recent note. Monthly data shows BREIT’s unfulfilled redemptions erupted in November. 

  

  Problems for Blackstone are only spreading. According to Financial Times, citing sources, the New York-based investment manager could delay the launch of the Blackstone Private Equity Strategies Fund, or BXPE, due to the unresolved issues surrounding BREIT and BCRED, dismal fundraising conditions, volatile financial markets, and aggressive Federal Reserve tightening monetary conditions to tame inflation. 

  BXPE was designed to invest in corporate buyouts and search for equity-oriented opportunities, including late-stage venture investments, musical royalties, and the purchase of stakes in other private equity firms. 

  Blackstone funds target wealthy investors. The question remains what do these high-net wealth people and their financial advisors know that has caused such a panic with BREIT and BCRED — could it be the understanding of increased risks of a hard economic landing in 2023?

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 12/13/2022 – 17:05

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