Quarantine Diaries: Day 337
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Travelers to England can face 10 years in prison under new COVID-19 policy
Short On Syringes, Japan May Waste Millions Of Pfizer Vaccine Doses
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
How can someone so smart be so dumb? Super genius Nouriel Roubini: “…the fundamental value of bitcoin is zero and would be negative if a proper carbon tax was applied to its massive polluting energy-hogging production…”
Amazon Preparing to Launch a ‘Digital Currency’ Project in Mexico
MasterCard announces support for crypto on its network
Bankruptcy Claimed Their Jobs, and Now They’re Out for Payback
Politics:
Trump’s Mob Would Have Killed Them If It Had the Chance
I understand Republicans in the Senate are not going to vote in sufficient numbers to convict Trump—let’s say because their constituents do not want it, he poses a political danger to them, and, who knows, they might actually fear for their lives from the same kinds of people who were in the building on January 6. But how can they have watched the footage of Mitt Romney narrowly avoiding his own murder and not understanding that could have been any one of them? And how can they avoid the understanding that the mob was there because Trump summoned a crowd to Washington on that day?
Are they just going to let… it… slide?
Prosecutors Open Criminal Probe Into Trump Call
It Sure Looks Like Trump Will Face Criminal Charges for Election Fraud
Proud Boy charged in insurrection blasts Trump's 'deception' in new court filing
”He was responding to the entreaties of the-then commander in chief, President Trump,” Pezzola’s lawyer argued in the filing. “The President maintained that the election had been stolen and it was the duty of loyal citizens to ‘stop the steal.’ Admittedly there was no rational basis for the claim, but it is apparent defendant was one of millions of Americans who were misled by the President’s deception.”
#StopTheSteal: Timeline of Social Media and Extremist Activities Leading to 1/6 Insurrection
The prosecution is compelling. Donald Trump incited and directed the insurrection. He knew what he was doing. I cannot imagine how any Senator could vote against removal.
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) February 10, 2021
Dozens of former Republican officials in talks to form anti-Trump third party
Most Arrested at Riot Had History of Financial Trouble. Um, maybe most Americans have a history of financial trouble?
The Killing of George Floyd Tore Minneapolis Apart. Now Comes the Trial.
Serendipity:
My Korean Mom Has Always Foraged. A Year Into the Pandemic, I Understand Why.
I'd think so. The link speaks of 60% having bankruptcy, eviction, bad debt or unpaid tax. Those are easy boxes to tick off when there's been a severe recession in living memory. I'm almost surprised it isn't way higher than that.
In 2019 Forbes reported from the U.S. Financial Health Pulse Report:
So I think your observation is spot on. 60% doesn't make the rioters distinctly more financially stressed than Americans in general. They were distinct in other ways.
Broadly speaking though, the financial stress highlighted by both studies is probably a driving force behind civil unrest from all bands of the political spectrum.
Someone once said that when young men are unemployed they have two options: look for work or look for trouble. If suitable work is impossible to find, that only leaves looking for trouble.