REPUBLICANS ARE A LEPER COLONY Archives

► ► Educational CyberPlayGround®, Inc. 1999
► ► Blog CyberPlayGround.org offers
NetHappenings Newsletter ©1989
subscribe / unsubscribe
► ► K12 School Directory ©
► ► Twitter @Cyberplayground @NetHappenings @K12Playground

“The main business of humanity is to do a good job of being human beings, not to serve as appendages to machines, institutions and systems.” – Kurt Vonnegut

Hi Everyone hope you enjoy the NetHappenings headlines

Leave your comments below.

To share this newsletter just copy and paste this link

https://cyberplaygroung.org/educational-cyberplayground-newsletter-3-23-21

TAXES

Mr. Biden campaigned on increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, raising the top individual tax rate from 37% to 39.6% and increasing capital gains taxes on people who earn more than $1 million per year.

BITCOIN

Milton Friedman predicts the rise of Bitcoin in 1999!

Milton Friedman – Rights of Workers (Q&A)

The mainstream press has declared Bitcoin “dead” at least 500 times over its existence. They’ve been wrong every single time.

December close: $28,992
January close: $33,141
February close: $45,240
March 17 price: $55,000
We are only 3.5 months into the #bitcoin bull market.

Bitcoin is worth more than Visa and Mastercard put together, not to mention the world’s 3 biggest banks

Why central banks around the world want to get into digital currencies — And so it begins… At first, a mere crack.
A French parliament member has signed a petition to amend the legal guidelines to allow the central financial institution of France to purchase and maintain bitcoin in addition to different cryptocurrencies. The petition urges lawmakers to urgently take into account the matter, warning that not proudly owning bitcoin will put France “in a financially weak place inside 5-10 years.”

The Banks will be begging for bitcoin.

ENERGY

Federal Reserve’s Digital Dollar Push Worries Wall Street

3 bitcoin-mining experts explain why concerns around the cryptocurrency’s massive energy consumption are overblown

#MoscowMitch Kentucky poised to approve tax, energy incentives for cryptocurrency mining -THEY ARE BURNING COAL

Bitcoin uses more energy than American Airlines and each $1 billion in inflows is equal to owning 1.2 million cars, Bank of America says.
In 2019, American Airlines spent $9.395 billion on fuel to generate $3.065 billion in operating income. Energy intensity is 306% vs. 1% for #Bitcoin The primary use of BTC energy is to protect $1 trillion+ network assets.

Colorado’s legal cannabis farms emit more carbon than its coal mines

“Quantifying #Bitcoin’s Carbon Emissions” by @BryceWeiner addresses the network’s power consumption in terms of renewable and nonrenewable sources.
One cannot solve a problem before one quantifies it.
Note: I *explained* my work but I did not *show* my work. This will force any detractors to perform the calculations on their own, which provides a basis by which any discussion might be had as to its accuracy from a position of direct knowledge.
Also note: this method can be applied to any network using any consensus method provided a proper engineering review is performed to identify the exact computer instructions required to complete a calculation.
Imagine thinking there’s a more noble purpose for that electricity than providing the means to exit the capitalist death machine.

REPUBLICANS ARE A LEPER COLONY

Nearly Half Of All Americans, Including Most Republicans, Say They Would Not Get Covid-19 Vaccine

US prison guards refusing vaccine despite COVID-19 outbreaks

Opposing the Vaccines: GOP has a Serious Health Issue

Novel Coronavirus Circulated Undetected Months before First COVID-19 Cases in Wuhan, China

Congressman calls for service members, veterans who stormed the Capitol to be stripped of benefits

FBI Director Wray Interview: Capitol Attack, Atlanta Shootings

New Proud Boys Charles Donohoe and Zach Rehl Busted for Capitol Riot Have Wild Police Ties

“A Tradition of Violence: The History of Deputy Gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Fox News Network Producer Eric Spinato COVID DEAD !
Media CEO Suzanne Scott, Fox News president Jay Wallace, and Fox Business president Lauren Petterson spreading covid lies.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/media/fox-business-network-producer-eric-spinato-death/index.html

DOJ official says there is evidence to charge sedition in U.S. Capitol assault

70% of voters support the Equality Act even as Senate Republicans try to stop it

DARK MONEY

The Money Trail to the Siege at the Capitol Leads to Charles Koch and Koch Industries

The IRS Now Audits Poor Americans at About the Same Rate as the Top 1%

The IRS collects just 39% of taxes owed by millionaire tax evaders. Tax evasion is usually a rich-people thing because regular people get taxes taken from their paycheck. If we collected what rich people legally owe, we could cut taxes for everyone else.

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who has written extensively on the corrupting influence of dark money on American democracy, chairs that Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights.
https://harvardjol.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2020/05/Sen.-Whitehouse_Dark-Money.pdf

Lisa Graves, President of the Center for Media and Democracy, that was presented at this hearing, there would be no doubt in their minds that the Federal court system in the United States has been obscenely corrupted by dark money, coming predominantly from fossil fuels billionaire Charles Koch and his dark money network.
https://wallstreetonparade.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Testimony-of-Lisa-Graves-on-Dark-Money-Corrupting-the-Courts-March-10-2021.pdf

France to return Klimt painting sold under duress during Nazi era

Koch’s political arm, Americans for Prosperity (AFP)
“AFP is only one part of the influence machine Koch Industries’ CEO has built up to capture the Supreme Court—and, with it, the meaning of our Constitution. The network he funds includes the Federalist Society a pro-corporate anti-regulatory agenda. Leonard Leo, the Co-Chairman of the Koch-funded Federalist Society. Graves says that “more than $400 million” was received by this dark money network between 2014 and 2018.

Graves list the following as part of the dark money judicial nominations influence network, in addition to the Federal Society:

“CRC Advisors. In 2020, Leo announced he was moving from executive vice president to co-chair of the Federalist Society to lead a for-profit company called CRC Advisors. It advises wealthy donors on judicial appointments, state officials, and policies. Its CEO is Leo’s friend Greg Mueller, who led Creative Response Concepts (CRC), a public relations firm that Koch groups have hired. CRC has been a major contractor of the Federalist Society since at least 2007 and has been paid by numerous Leo organizations in recent years. Jonathan Bunch serves as its executive director and is a former Federalist Society staffer, according to a CRC press release.

“Judicial Crisis Network/Concord Fund. After the 2004 election, the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN) was conceived at a small dinner party Leo attended with Neil Corkery and others. Justice Antonin Scalia was a guest. Launched as the Judicial Confirmation Network, it was created in anticipation of the Supreme Court vacancies that George W. Bush ultimately filled with Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Corkery was one of three original board members, with Gary Marx (a Ralph Reed operative) and James Hirsen (an advisor to Mel Gibson’s splinter Traditionalist sect). Corkery has acted as a treasurer of several Leo-linked groups, in addition to helping to lead the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage.

“JCN is led by Carrie Severino, a protégé of Leo’s who used to clerk for Justice Thomas, out of the Federalist Society office. But, according to a former media relations director for Leo, ‘The JCN is Leonard Leo’s PR organization—nothing more and nothing less.’ The groups serves as a major conduit of money to the Republican Attorneys General Association, its sister group the Rule of Law Defense Fund, and the Republican State Leadership Committee (which has spent millions to try to capture state Supreme Courts, including on hundreds of thousands of ads in 2020).

“During the Trump administration, JCN received massive infusions of cash from one donor, whose identity was not made public. Subsequently filings by a group called the Wellspring Committee, discussed below, showed it provided similarly large grants to JCN, and Wellspring in turn received most of its funding from a single secret source. For example, in 2018, Wellspring made a $17.1M anonymous donation to Judicial Crisis Network (78% of total revenue of $22M in dark money that year). The year before that, it made a $21.5M anonymous donation to JCN (84% of revenue of $25.6M in dark money that year).

“Wellspring Committee. The group was created and run by Ann and Neil Corkery. Its origins are in the Koch donor network. Then, after Justice Scalia died, it got more than $28 million from one donor. In 2016-17, it gave JCN $38 million, as JCN blocked [Obama nominee Merrick] Garland and backed Gorsuch. After much scrutiny and Kavanaugh was confirmed, it closed its doors. In all, it gave JCN more than $58 million.

“Rule of Law Trust. As Wellspring was being closed down, Neil Corkery created this group in 2018. Leo is listed as its only trustee, and almost all its known expenses are related to BH Group reimbursements, another Leo group. Rule of Law Trust brought in three contributions (possibly from one, two, or three individuals) totaling $80 million in 2018. It distributed two grants in 2019: $500,000 to People United for Privacy and $895,000 to America Engaged.

“America Engaged. Leo is this group’s president, and Bunch is a director. Other board members are C. Boyden Gray and Todd Graves, a former state attorney general. It has given nearly $4 million to Charles Koch’s Freedom Partners. In 2017, it gave nearly $1 million to the NRA as it backed Gorsuch.

“Judicial Education Project/85 Fund. This is a Neil Corkery entity tied to Leo. JEP’s other fictitious names are the ‘Law and Policy Forum’ and the ‘Honest Elections Project’ (HEP), which has been criticized for peddling voter fraud claims. JEP has filed amicus briefs in Severino’s name siding with Trump on emoluments, and in cases on abortion, the Affordable Care Act, Deferred Action for Parents of Dreamers, the Voting Rights Act, and attacks on workers.

“BH Group, LLC. This was created by Corkery after Scalia died. As of the last known publicly filing, Leo controls 35% of it, and he has been listed as an employee. Since 2016, it received $2.37 million from JCN and $2 million from JEP. It also contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. Wellspring gave it over $1.5 million for PR, yet it does not have a website.

“BH Fund. Leo is the president; Bunch is a director. It was launched with a secret $24 million donor and gave $20 million to George Mason University’s law school, securing Scalia’s name and Leo’s special influence.

“Freedom and Opportunity Fund. Leo is president, with Graves and Bunch on the board. It gave $4 million to the Independent Women’s Voice as it sought to keep Scalia’s vacancy open and supported the Gorsuch nomination. It received $400,000 from BH Group in 2017

The Federalist Society, Dark Money, and Trump’s Court – Pittsburgh Current

The Koch Coup: Charles Koch’s Political Machine Bankrolled Senators Who Will Attempt to Steal Election for Trump Tomorrow