Truth

Via

Linky Links

 Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Secret back channel between FTX and White House closed day after FTX declared bankruptcy. When they warned crypto would be used for illegals activities - this is what they meant. The corruption is just blatant at this point. 

- No science at all involved in recommended alcohol intake limits. Don't trust any government recommendations when it comes to diet anymore.

- Twitter Files: Twitter and Other Government Agencies. All the three letter agencies were using Twitter for their own purposes.

- Time to take down the tree. (One book at a time.)

- This brought a tear to my eye.

Reminder - It Wasn't Just Democrats on the FTX Political Brinks Job

Eight members of Congress (4 Democrats and 4 Republicans) wrote the SEC to derail a potential investigation of FTX in March.

It's not enough for members of Congress to return the nearly $70 million in donations from FTX connected funds but they must also explain their actions. The system is corrupt.

Niall Ferguson on SBF and FTX

Niall Ferguson on SBF and FTX and their historical parallels.  

One of the best summations, explanations, and historical analysis you'll read anywhere on SBF and FTX.

They Really Know Their Audience

"Absolutely incredible ad targeting." - Marc Andreessen. Agreed - and pretty humorous as well.

Don't Mess With Texas

The Texas State Securities Board has announced they are investigating Tom Brady and other celebrity endorsers regarding their involvement in the FTX financial collapse.  This inquiry may expand to include other states and may spark federal involvement.

While this is obviously not good news for Tom Brady, Steph Curry, and the other celebrities who took money to hype FTX, the angle I'm most interested in is if these celebrities can be held accountable for the products or companies they shill for. That precedent could have wide ranging effects even down to college sports where NIL (name, image and likeness) money is just another form of celebrity endorsements. 

The $32 Billion Crypto Scammer

Michael Green with an excellent recap and analysis of what happened with SBF and FTX.

This line seems to hit to the heart of the matter:

We have to wonder if SBF saw the writing on the wall and hoped to achieve a similar outcome [to former Democratic Governor of New Jersey John Corzine who got a slap on the wrist for his fraudulent dealings] with his donations to the Democratic Party by becoming Too Big to Jail. 

One of the Democratic Party politicians SBF donated to was Maxine Waters who is now heading a Congressional oversight committee looking into SBF. How convenient.

Linky Links

Haven't done one of these posts in quite a while but I've go too many tabs open and all of them (that aren't work related) are worthy of sharing.

- Steven Pressfield and the Goddess at Our Shoulder.  Writing and philosophical life advice taken from The Odyssey

- Visualizing FTX's balance sheet before bankruptcy. Oh what a tangled web. So tangled its like trying to find the queen in three card monte.

- Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA discovered in ancient South America. We have no clue on how old mankind really is.

- Paul Graham's essay How to Think for Yourself. From the archives but definitely worth the time.

I Forgot About This Commercial

 

But the people who invested in FTX obviously haven't as Tom Brady and a number of other sports and Hollywood celebrities are being sued for promoting FTX.

Interesting

Look who funded the trial that said that Ivermectin was not an effective course of treatment for Covid. And people wonder why so many believe in conspiracy theories. We're almost at the point where an "expert" is not reliable unless they've been on Joe Rogan's podcast. (Via)

The FTX Collapse

This short video does a good job of explaining the FTX collapse and touches on how connections to the Democratic Party played a role. 

This article goes into more detail, including how Democrat appointed SEC Chair Gary Gensler was involved.

The tangled web of deceit also happened to even snare Tom Brady in its web.

Financially the collapse of FTX due to fraud was potentially $17 billion larger in scope than Enron but because so few follow crypto it hasn't gotten the media exposure.