Steve

The complete lack of backlash from Trump supporters about Trump wanting to give a sizeable stimulus check the same as the left of the Dem party shows you that its NOT and NEVER was about ideology. It's about power. Unbridled power. Trump was to the left of Hillary on a few things. Issues like social security, etc, that the Republican party are against maintaining but Trump supported and even wanted to improve on it. Same with a Trump version of national healthcare which he had no idea about but talked about it. The Republican party doesn't want to give a stimulus check. It runs counter to what they believe in. It runs counter to what Trump supporters say they believe in but will back it. The AOC wing of the Dem party wants it and Trump is aligned with them. Not a peep from his supporters. Because they only care about their guy having power. Do you know how gun control, national healthcare and any other liberal policy could pass? If Trump supported it. His supporters will go along. They are sheep. As long as he and others like him are in control is all they want.

He spent 8 years saying Obama was born in Kenya. Something that the state of Hawaii would have been in on at birth for that to work. He was seen as an oddball then for pushing it with only a few people supporting that. No Republican politician was taking the claim seriously. With roughly half the country supporting him now. And they are fully aware of their numbers. Doesn't matter what the lie is, they believe say it often enough and loud enough it becomes fact. It's a page taken straight out of the Nazi playbook. China has done the same with regards to Covid 19 internally. Its now apparent those supporting this bullshit have zero love for the country, truth, morals, etc. and the big mistake Biden is making is thinking you can make amends with people like that. You can't. People like that negotiate only from a position of weakness. Other than that its oppressing you at every turn.

Bitcoin/crypto adoption is a largely generational thing. I first heard about it from a 20 something year old about a half dozen years ago and the only reason I looked at it seriously was because he was one of the most mature, level headed and smart young people I've met. I did research into it and liked the ideology behind it, saw a potential future in it. It turned out to be a fantastic thing and wish I had gotten way more obviously. Hedge funds, Wall Street, etc are heavily into it so the argument of it being another 'tulip' lessens. It's an over 500 billion dollar market and approaching a trillion.

the FBI and Homeland Security don't fear Antifa and BLM. If you look at all the internal and external memos its far right groups. https://www.yahoo.com/news/protesters-police-deploy-chemical-agents-235541502.html

I can think of worst places to be stranded but I take your point.

India's issues can be put largely on a lack of infrastructure to deal with it. Although, I can't discount Modi's response even if he had first world infrastructure.

No one talks about how past pandemics ended. And what we can learn from them. With regards to the plague it was herd immunity. Not by design but out of ignorance. We ended the spanish flu (in the states at least) by isolation. Cities and towns isolated themselves down to households.

I'm a fan of gold as well. Some people make it seems you can't have gold and bitcoin. Gold has been a store of value for 1000s of years. Silver for centuries as well. I think both (gold and bitcoin) can be a store of value.

I recently flew from Dubai to Miami via London. I followed all the instructions. I got a PCR covid test within 48 hours of my flight. While on the plane to Miami, I was handed a form to complete upon entry into America. It was a covid 19 information form. While in Miami, I went to only one of 11 UAE approved approved covid 19 testing sites in America. 3 hours by bus and train from south of Miami to West Palm Beach. I took a PCR nasal swab and paid extra to have the result back the same day because the UAE requires it no more than 96 hours from when you take the test. While at Miami Int'l, I was told I needed to complete a 3 page covid related form online before I could enter Heathrow. I never received this in the British Airways emails and did it at check in. While on the plane from London back to Dubai I was given a form that I was told needed to be completed. I was in Miami for only 5 days. I hadn't seen my mother in 2 years and my father in 3 years and with the rise in Covid19 cases in Florida, I wanted to see them while I possibly could. While I was there we all wore masks and had rudimentary covid19 tests done. Anyway, with all the tests and paperwork i mentioned NO ONE LOOKED AT ANY OF IT.

A deep dive has shown that investment banks both large and small as well as hedge funds and other 1 percent groups or individuals are pouring billions into it. So, it doesn't matter who believes in it or not. The people with the money do and that makes it relevant and real. I've noticed that the lack of faith in cryptos is largely generational and that makes sense. I've never heard anyone under 30 say its fake. Not saying its a 100 percent certainty but I've heard them say, they either invest or have not but not because it isn't real. They just have put what little money they have into other things. As an aside, half the things you can trade on exchanges aren't real. When you trade oil, gold or currencies in forex, etc, there is no underlying 'real' asset. You aren't trading gold for example and can't take receipt of gold if you buy it in a commodity trade. Finally, our governments believe in it because they are taxing profits on it. And they aren't taking 'this isn't real' as an excuse not to pay taxes on gains. 🤣

Literally fake news..lol

Bitcoin! Hovering at 23k USD / roughly 686k THB / 17k GBP. Two questions remain. 1. How far will it go and 2. Will it maintain its high price and not fall like before? Thoughts?

McConnell is going to be more inclined to be kinder to Biden far more than he was to Obama. Both of them were in the Senate when it was far more congenial. And old boys club in some respects where even completely opposite ideologically minded colleagues were very close friends. It will be Biden's best hope for getting anything done.

1. He's already succeeded/ 2. Biden won't do it at the federal level. It will be state of NY if it happens. Possibly another state but mainly NY where it may not even result in a conviction if a jury trial. Any negative result will be appealed away for years and tied up and if it gets to the supreme court (years later) it will die a quiet death. Presidents don't get convicted in America. Senators rarely and Congressperson only if its serious enough that their own party washes their hands of them (bribery for example) 3. You are right but the fact nothing has come of it says its so far up the chain, it will be the subject of youtube videos and Fox News exposes that will have no bearing on anything.

Karl Rove got it wrong. I don't see any polls saying his popularity among Republicans have waned considerably. He's extremely popular and has tens of millions of people saying the election is rigged despite the obvious He has convinced most of his support not to believe logic, their own "lying eyes". He has convinced them Republican run states like Georgia threw the election. Complete lunacy and this election especially has shown just how firm he has over tens and tens of millions of people.

Only 20% of Americans have a passport at best. And a healthy percentage of that were forced to. For example, years ago my parents would take a Caribbean cruise for their anniversary and only needed a driver' license. I used to drive to Mexico on a driver's license. and I've heard you need a passport now, but not sure if its true. Anyway, the point is, most Americans have no idea how good people have it around the world. They think we have the most modern country in the world. I've been in countries like south Korea, Dubai, etc, like most of you have traveled. Americans who are Republican I've been around in those places remark how much better the medical care, medical insurance, transportation systems are better. 150 years ago, the Swedes, Italians, Germans, etc, flocked to America anyway they could. The immigration act of 1965 opened up immigration globally. I always ask conservatives. Why haven't the Europeans flooded back to America? Obvious answer. No need to, they are better off in their own countries. As a matter of fact, 1000s of 20 something Americans have flocked to Europe to get a EU work visa and never returned in terms of living. Only to visit. Why? Oppressing student loans. They simply stopped paying. The powers that be can't garnish their wages in Spain, Germany, etc. So many have left, that the US government threatened (not sure if they followed through) years ago that you won't get your passport renewed if you owe a certain amount. Same in back taxes. Culturally, all of America simply won't go for a social democratic style of society. Too ingrained in Americanism.

My guess on his overall game plan? By de-legitimizing the election, he has made roughly half the country deem Biden illegitimate. He will likely still have de facto control over the Republican party. You control the vote, the GOP masses, you control the party. You also control those in Congress who need his support for re-election. He will influence issues before the Congress via tweets and speeches. He will be the 'shadow' government for the right. My guess is his family doesn't want anything to do with a run again for the office. He may or may not or play 'kingmaker' in the primaries. No matter what he will use the immediate few years to make as much money as possible. The last 4 years have exposed one thing. The right has no ideology. Trump ran left of Hillary on several things and was fully endorsed. So, we can throw out ideology. His blatant disregard for law, the constitution as well as major names openly calling for martial law, tells us that roughly half the country are more than willing to endorse a full dictatorial leader, with all rights suspended as long as it hurts the other side. As long as they are in power. Left wing wants America to "look" like northern / central Europe. America as a collective can not. It can in parts (Seattle, SF, and a few other cities) but not even statewide most places. Impossible in red areas. Forcing the country to do so is going to end badly. Biden is a damn fool to think he can 'heal' the country. Its over. And the right knows it. The far left knows it. The establishment on both sides think they can control it. History has shown us nations with this type of fissure only come out of it with massive amount of bloodshed. I can't think of any examples where it hasn't. Rome, Britain (a few times, war of the roses, etc,) 1930s Germany, 1918 Russia. Korea, Vietnam, any number of African and South American countries. The Civil War in America was the same. 25 percent of the country believing it was there god given right to own another person. Obviously no one wants it to come to that but I can't think of any historical examples otherwise with possibly, possibly South Africa. But I'd suggest it didn't line up similar to the aforementioned examples. The white minority knew it 1. wouldn't win and 2. Had no external support. In the case of America, the right thinks it can win a war of attrition of the threat of open war would split America physically and form their own nation.

You have to go back about 200 years to find a president (Jackson) so outspoken and openly bigoted. And he earned a photo on the $20 bill.

I disagree. Trump got lucky with what he said resonating with a huge segment of the population. He is symbolic of something much, much deeper. Him being unashamed about it and not talking in codespeak has earned him religious fervor following.

Just spent a couple cold and wet days (all is normal) on layover in London. Been a while. If it were possible, I'd have loved to catch a game. Love the Harry Potter store at Heathrow by the way...lol. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what trade deals are finalised. I trade a little and follow the pound against gold and a couple other currencies.

I'm curious how both parties would react.

from a friend's post on social media... Understanding Conservatives - From an Article back in January 2020 - (How SPOT ON is this..???) Kip Brown Answered January 16 "Anything that goes against what a Conservative believes to be true will be labeled “liberal”, regardless of the non-partisan origins of it or the impartiality of the source because Conservatives are largely incapable of admitting when they are wrong. Most Liberals have engaged in discussions with Conservatives and have seen the mental contortionism that they will go through to defend something they believe even in the face of concrete evidence that it is false. Most of the time even attempting to have the conversation results in the Conservative clinging to their beliefs with even greater ferocity. Politics is not Snopes’ forte and there are far better sources to use when questioning a claim related to politics and current political events. They are good for urban legends like the Statue Of Liberty Pepsi can hoax and things of that nature, but for political issues that usually have a significant amount of depth and complexity, they are not the best choice when looking to fact check. Yet, a significant number of the urban legends and hoax memes that circulate on the internet are clearly intended to appeal to a Conservative belief system. The aforementioned Pepsi can hoax is clearly intended to appeal to an audience that is focused on hyper-patrioitsm which is a pronounced feature of the Conservative mindset. Fact checking is a difficult issue in general largely because Conservatives are loathe to admit when something they believe is wrong and will go to great lengths to discredit any source that shows what they believe is factually incorrect. They will claim Liberal bias or involvement by boogeymen and super villains like George Soros in order to provide them with that off-ramp from having to accept that they were wrong about something. This is one of the primary reasons propaganda is so successful with Conservatives. It goes back to the old axiom that it’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled. What also complicates this issue further is that Conservatives almost never fact check what they share on social media! Liberal internet trolls have purposely made up fictitious political memes and dropped them into Conservative social media where they take off like wildfire where they are shared far and wide without anyone ever fact checking them. Internet trollers don’t normally mess with Liberals because they fact check, but Conservatives, in the words of the trollers themselves, “believe anything, fact check nothing and share everything”. I am not sure how we as a society come back from this or if we even can. The refusal to reconsider your beliefs and opinions in the face of factual evidence that contradicts them is a cognitive, psychological disorder that would require some sort of professional intervention, almost akin to a “deprogramming” done when someone is removed from a cult. Trumpism can accurately be classified as cult like mentality. How we would scale that into something that would be effective with literally millions of people will be a question for the ages."

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