Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

Too popular: Bitcoin futures ETF in danger of hitting upper limit for contracts

Venezuelans Break Off Flakes of Gold to Pay for Meals, Haircuts

Hmmm… That may well be true for parts of the country where gold is produced, but is silver being used as money in other parts of #venezuela such as urban regions in the north?

NFT Tied to Rare Whiskey Cask Auctions for $2.3M

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

U.S. officials keep close watch on the ‘delta plus’ Covid mutation as it spreads in the U.K.

Vaccine Mandates Are Surviving Court Challenges

A range of people—from nurses to firefighters to students—have filed lawsuits objecting to the mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations imposed by states and cities, claiming the policies infringe on their constitutional rights.
Nearly every legal challenge has failed so far.
With limited exceptions involving religious objectors, judges have overwhelmingly upheld orders in numerous states that require health workers, public employees, state university students and government contractors to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition of employment. These rulings have allowed states to fire workers who refuse immunization.

End Times conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles claims that COVID-19 vaccines contain "an egg that hatches into a synthetic parasite and grows inside your body." pic.twitter.com/mOUHaztXT0

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 20, 2021

Politics:

Trumper Privilege: If the rules shouldn't apply to you suddenly everything starts to seem unfair.

Is this privilege or lack of accountability or is it really simply a politics of power? It is really no different from the authoritarian impulse and hyper-masculinity politics that pervades Trumpism. We should have the power. Because we should. And anything that stands in the way of that is by definition unfair. Because we should have power.

Democrats Move to Finalize ‘Billionaire’ Tax Plan

Senior Democrats are preparing a sweeping new tax plan that would aim to raise hundreds of billions of dollars from the fortunes of America’s roughly 700 billionaires, an abrupt shift in the party’s approach to funding a large expansion of the safety net.

In other news, America has 700 billionaires.

Steve Bannon's contempt case: Could the coverup lead to the truth of the crime?

This is how fascism takes power: Death Threats Cause Exodus of Election Officials

Officials across the United States experienced physical stalking, explicitly violent phone calls, racial slurs, home surveillance, bomb scares, and threats of mass shootings. For some officials in Georgia and Pennsylvania, the threats have continued for nearly a year. And now, many of these officials want to quit.

Youngkin Accused of Antisemitism

The architect of Trump’s plot to steal the 2020 election explains himself — absurdly.

Biden Open to Eliminating Filibuster

But so what? Manchin and Sinema would have to agree. What are the chances of that happening?

China Vows No Concessions on Taiwan

China on Friday said there is ‘no room’ for compromise or concessions over the issue of Taiwan, following a comment by U.S. President Joe Biden that the U.S. is committed to defending the island if it is attacked.

China has always based its claim to Taiwan on the fact that the island had been under Qing dynasty control prior to the Japanese takeover. But before the Qing, parts of the island had been under Dutch and Spanish control. So using Beijing’s reasoning, wouldn’t the Netherlands and Spain have a better claim to the island than China?

Putin Slams Transgender Rights

Trump Lashes Out at ‘Lowlife’ Meghan McCain

Serendipity:

25 Things You Think Are Curbside Recyclable But Aren’t

What Happened When a Remote Irish Island Finally Got Broadband Internet

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