I’ve only been playing Splinterlands for six or seven weeks, and sporadically at that. But I’m slowly coming to realize that maybe, just maybe, I suck at playing the game. So far, at the beginning of each season, I struggle to get through Bronze III. I can get through Novice okay, but then it’s a slog through Bronze.

I’ve gotten up to Bronze II and won a few DEC here and there, mostly by osmosis. But Bronze III has been tough for me. Until today.

I bought a Djinn Oshannus (I probably should have rented first) and found that I could rip through opponents. Nine victories in a row, no problem (I did finally lose to a Bortus/Sea Monster/Axemaster lineup). More than once, not losing even a single monster. And that’s with a Level 1 Djinn Oshannus, what a beast it must be when it gets Phase at Level 2 and Forcefield at Level 3.

But that doesn’t change the fact that I seem, so far at least, to be a mediocre player. Anyone can kill a mosquito with a hand grenade.

So I’m starting to think that although I’ll probably continue to play at the lower levels (maybe work my way up to Silver?), higher levels might be beyond my abilities. But I’ve started buying “decent” cards and renting them out. So I’m strongly considering buying cards with largish Collection Power numbers and renting them out for a semi-passive income stream.

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

Your daily dose of FUD: Bank of International Settlement calls the rise of decentralized finance 'an illusion' in latest quarterly review

DAOs and the Next Crowdfunding Gold Rush

Vitalik Buterin outlines ‘endgame’ roadmap for ETH 2.0

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Meadows also confirms my reporting from that weekend about Trump - who I wrote was on oxygen - having precariously low oxygen levels. pic.twitter.com/zvFiiSwMg1

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 6, 2021

NYC Mayor de Blasio announces COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private sector workers

Good luck with that. Biden’s order that would apply to firms with over 100 employees has already (at least temporarily) been blocked in court. How would de Blasio’s order for 1+ employees fare any better?

Politics:

How Democracy May End

Here’s one way I imagine it could happen: In 2024, disputed election results in several states lead to tangled proceedings in courtrooms and legislatures. The Republican Party’s long campaign of undermining faith in elections leaves voters on both sides deeply skeptical of any outcome they don’t like. When the next president is finally chosen by the Supreme Court or Congress, half the country explodes in rage. Protests soon turn violent, and the crowds are met with lethal force by the state, while instigators firebomb government buildings… The new president takes power in a state of siege.
Another, likelier scenario is widespread cynicism. Following the election crisis, protests burn out. Americans lapse into acquiescence, believing that all leaders lie, all voting is rigged, all media are bought, corruption is normal, and any appeal to higher values such as freedom and equality is either fraudulent or naive. The loss of democracy turns out not to matter all that much. The hollowed core of civic life brings a kind of relief. Citizens indulge themselves in self-care and the metaverse, where politics turns into a private game and algorithms drive Americans into ever more extreme views that have little relation to reality or relevance to those in power. There’s enough wealth to keep the population content. America’s transformation into Russia is complete.

Sidney Powell Raised $14 Million Spreading Election Lies

…Defending the Republic raised more than $14 million, a sum that reveals the reach and resonance of one of the most visible efforts to fundraise using baseless claims about the 2020 election. Previously unreported records also detail acrimony between Powell and her top lieutenants over how the money — now a focus of inquiries by federal prosecutors and Congress — was being handled.

Devin Nunes to Leave Congress

January 6 Was Practice

Technically, the next attempt to overthrow a national election may not qualify as a coup. It will rely on subversion more than violence, although each will have its place. If the plot succeeds, the ballots cast by American voters will not decide the presidency in 2024. Thousands of votes will be thrown away, or millions, to produce the required effect. The winner will be declared the loser. The loser will be certified president-elect.
The prospect of this democratic collapse is not remote. People with the motive to make it happen are manufacturing the means. Given the opportunity, they will act. They are acting already.
Who or what will safeguard our constitutional order is not apparent today. It is not even apparent who will try. Democrats, big and small D, are not behaving as if they believe the threat is real. Some of them, including President Joe Biden, have taken passing rhetorical notice, but their attention wanders. They are making a grievous mistake.

The Right Wing Builds Its Own Echo Chamber

How the Far Right Is Changing the GOP

The path to power for Republicans in Congress is now rooted in the capacity to generate outrage. The alarming language, and the fundraising haul it increasingly produces, is another example of how Donald Trump, the former president, has left his mark on politics, changing the way Republicans rise to influence and authority.
Success in Congress, once measured by bills passed and constituents reached, is now gauged in many ways by the ability to attract attention, even if it is negative as the GOP looks to reclaim a House majority next year by firing up Trump’s most ardent supporters.
That has helped elevate a group of far-right lawmakers — including Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona — whose inflammatory comments once would have made them pariahs.

Far-Right French Candidate Promises ‘Reconquest’

Ex-Guard Official Says Generals Lied to Congress

A former D.C. National Guard official is accusing two senior Army leaders of lying to Congress and participating in a secret attempt to rewrite the history of the military’s response to the Capitol riot.

This Holiday Season, It’s Time For The Government To Stop Dictating The Food Choices Of The Poor

The Curious Omission of a Notorious Social Media Site

In the several hundred criminal cases brought against individuals involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Department of Justice and FBI have included scores of incriminating communications posted by defendants on social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Parler.
That makes even more conspicuous the near complete absence of any reference in the government documents to another public social media site – The Donald, where much of the Capitol attack was planned.

Serendipity:

America’s Forgotten Internment

Most Americans today are well aware that, during World War II, the U.S. government imprisoned Japanese Americans, including U.S. citizens, in internment camps on no other evidence than the fact of their heritage. They know of the wartime hysteria that cloaked the government’s logic, and the racism and xenophobia Japanese Americans faced. But one chapter of this history has remained much more hidden, much less acknowledged by public officials: The United States simultaneously ran a parallel internment system that confined some 2,200 Latin Americans of Japanese descent, kidnapping individuals from countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Colombia — whose political leaders were in on the plot — and confining them on U.S. soil.

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