While the New York Times et al offer puffery on Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX collapse, expert outsiders sift through the wreckage and get to the truth; this is Twitter and Substack at their best
YES - the entity needs to be investigated. To this day - I'd love to see a cost analysis of their Strat Plans. These were the guys the pushed the Enron model, and their CEO did time for insider trading.
Based on my experiences, they push a lot of sleazy stuff. All of us that have worked in tax with large multinationals can manipulate numbers and excel spreadsheets to tell the story we want, make whatever positions we are taking appear supported by the numbers, and create steps in a transaction so complicated auditors, regulators, and most revenue agents eventually just throw their hands up. Trump was actually spot on about offshoring profits via transfer pricing.
What most humans that still have their humanity don’t do is approach business with the inability to differentiate between actual impacts on human beings and playing with numbers on a spreadsheet. Except maybe McKinsey.
My impression of the culture is pure distain for the people doing the actual work in society - that applies at both the company/ client level and society in general. How many “cost cutting” measures that really just reallocated funds from the doers to the c-suite and fluffy VP positions have been dreamed up and pitched by McKinsey??? Does anyone really think their opioid scheme was out of the ordinary in their approach to “consulting”?
The only thing surprising about the opioid settlement was that someone actually gave them a slap on the wrist. That they did what they did is about as shocking as the sun rising this morning.
This situation with the mainstream mis-leadia seems to be yet one more case of American institutions which have utterly failed in their intended mission. And yet these folks wonder why all us "conspiracy theorists" don't believe them and their BS.
Meanwhile, I see the G20 now want to be able to force us to take unnecessary and possibly harmful vaccinations in order to travel. All I can think of is "F-them!" Besides, why would you want to go somewhere that insists on medically invasive, useless, and potentially harmful vaccines? I'm all for the tried-and-true ones, but the response to covid is yet another blow to the crumbing credibility of "institutions."
Every article about this fiasco should have as a headline some form of “Top Biden Donor Escapes Authorities After Stealing Hundreds of Millions of Dollars,” but of course that hasn’t been the case at all. And in all likelihood, nothing will come of this because of who he was giving money to—the same reason his dealings weren’t under more scrutiny in the first place.
now if this had been under Trump that would have been the headline indeed. All big papers are owned by dem sponsors. I used to dislike fox news but it is about the only channel left, that now and then hints at the truth. I like to watch Mark Steyn. He has a britain based news show.
I like this coverage of the MSM, CNN, and MSNBC not covering. Fox Business has been covering this 24/7. Watched last night's Gutfeld! and the aired SBF's little self-promotional video talking about how he cares about the climate and animals--so he's a vegan. All the woke tropes. Take a look at his physique. (Judge Jeanine Pirro pointed this out.) Vegan, my a**! All the vegans and vegetarians I know have a much leaner look. The guy is a sociopath.
yes that is the onlyy one I watch LOL But you can't sign up for him alone, unfortunately. I watch him and Mark Steyn and then read C&C and about a dozen other substack blogs and then you know what is going on. No need for other rags !
You're right, Tucker alone makes Fox stand above the rest, but it's pretty easy to stand above those who have just rolled over to show their bellies, and what's worrisome is Fox News' rep makes it easier to hide their bevy of alignments with deep state uni-party agendas, such as Trump's ouster. I watched them be effectively complicit on election night 2020, so I've only watched Tucker since then, but even Tucker took a while to start making veiled comments regarding Covid vaccines, and even longer to call out the abject lies spewed by our health officials re: vaccine effectiveness. Or more accurately, re: every fucking thing.
If election fraud existed, it could be described like this.
“Frauds depend on opaque accounting, accounting that no one from the outside can challenge or in some cases even understand. Complexity is the grifter’s friend.”
When the most powerful nation in the world reforms its voting apparatus in ways that increase opportunities for large scale fraud, there's only one logical conclusion as to why, and we would be fools to think otherwise.
Exactly. You simply can't believe that 2016 was 'stolen', but 2020/2022 was beyond question after we introduced HUGE integrity holes into the process AND have highly suspect election nights.
And if they were actually worried about 'protecting democracy', they would be addressing these issues instead of telling us to shut up (just like they did about covid, Ukraine, the vax, Hunter Biden, January 6th, etc etc)
I don't understand why people go there, seems they should know now that any relation to what they report and the TRUTH is coincidence, certainly not planned.
No, that's not what Weinstein said. I just looked up the tweet: "When the most powerful nation in the world reforms its voting apparatus in ways that increase opportunities for large scale fraud, we would be fools not to wonder why." Obviously it influenced my comment, but I did not simply regurgitate it verbatim as you're implying.
This is why the GOP needs to embrace open, transparent rules for their primary elections, and then pull those elections off without a hitch. The entire time, both Trump and DeSantis (I assume) should be praising the rules, which provide legitimacy. Once the winner is determined, the other should stand by the results. This would take the fire out of the 'election denier' claim and ALSO prove that the 'new' election rules are suspect as hell.
And since the primaries are private events run by private parties, the GOP can do whatever they want with their rules.
But because they are the GOP, I expect them to continue to be the Washington Generals of the Uniparty.
The head of the NRCC for the election is a R representative who supports ESG and LGBTQWTF. That is all one needs to know when wondering why the Rs underperformed.
True... the multi dimensional tantric Rabbit Hole that has been so very carefully constructed, it makes the necessary forensics on election fraud pretty much impossible.
That's the entire point of opening up these integrity holes. You don't need to be a genius to steal from a multi-billion-dollar corporation, you just need to be a grunt who works at Wal-Mart who knows where the security holes are.
The same is true of elections -- and it's super easy to know where the security holes are when you're the one who just opened them.
I know of a squeaky-clean college student who wrote some research paper or other on Dominion and was so incensed he went to the Capitol on J/6 to legally protest. Afterward the Feds showed up at his home (in a SW state) ransacked it and threatened to ruin his future if he ever did something like that again. Good frickin grief.
This is exactly what we were warned would happen if we used these for elections. Eventually it was going to happen. Originally we were told that they would not be connected in any way during the election so that there would be no way to hack them with out physically connecting to the machine/s. Well, that didn’t last long.
National orgs convince the states to “modernize” their elections. Millions are spent with kickbacks all around. In return state govs, Sec States, etc get “election insurance” which is a guaranteed victory in a “close race.”
When you have a sketchy chain of custody of ballots, no voter ID and a prolonged voting period, you will have fraud. By drawing out the vote, you can then estimate how many votes you need to overcome an opponents lead and then supply those votes as the voting period ends. Voter ID and same day paper ballot voting makes such schemes extremely difficult, which is why the Dems oppose them.
I am a fan of Nawaz, probably my favorite ‘out-there’ dissident, and an even bigger fan of progressive-turned-centrist Shellenberger — might even become a paid subscriber of his just to finish this excellent link. Thanks!
Alex - Please don't forget Ukraine/Zelenksy's role in this money laundering operation. They were the middleman who funneled our tax dollars to FTX, so Bankman-Fried could send it to Uncle Joe and the Dems so they could keep the senate.
As a friend and colleague who worked at both the NYT and 60 Minutes told me a few months back, journalists are now "activists first, journalists second." Heaven help us!
Hypothesis: they are being sold on “making a difference” through the job in lieu of pay. Pay is abysmal for those who do the grunt work, and there’s a lot of grunt work in journalism if you do it right. The management is not willing to pay for expertise in subject areas either. They want starry eyed 20 year olds who will work for nothing.
It also doesn't help that they are often cut from the same cloth as the people they report on. Bankman-Frieds parents where both professors Stanford, he graduated from MIT I believe. Most journalists these days also have impressive credentials and rich parents. Journalism used to be far more working class with a bit more distrust in "elites" and authority.
Alex, let's talk about your tweet yesterday regarding never voting for Trump. I too hope we have a different option, but when you say you will vote for the Democrat you are saying you would vote for Biden over Trump. Bless your heart, but if it wasn't for you and a couple other people we would all be locked in our homes and only let out to get our 5th booster shot if Biden and Democrats had their way. So now you want that future? I find your stance incompatible with reality.
Exactly and he said Trump is "unfit." Don't get me wrong, I hope Trump does not win the nomination, but he is better than our current leader who doesn't know where he is the majority of the time. That seems like the definition of "unfit" to me. And the worst part is we don't really know who is calling the shots right now though I would bet it is Obama.
Alex is a liberal and he will not vote for a republican even if our country go to hell. That’s how they do it. Do you believe what they are reporting right now about the people voting for the democrats. They polls were wrong, why do you think they are right as to who vote for the republicans. Isn’t that strange that Florida election results are just great? See how the media is pushing for the De Santis. What about abortion in Florida? The Floridians didn’t want it. They are playing us!!!
YES! Great article! It's no surprise that there's no real look into FTX because of who's behind the curtain -- just like there was never a great reckoning for four years of RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA nonsense from the presstitutes. Just like there was never a great reckoning for the deliberate sabotage of the Hunter laptop -- the easiest story in the world to verify if they wanted to do it.
But as I say, journalism is an ACTION, not (just) a profession. The people here on the 'Stack are doing more journalism than the entire MSM combined.
The Bahamas location and the relatively small auditing firm should have set off red flags for anyone with any financial savvy. Prager Metis, the auditor of FTX, is slightly larger than my employer. We audit small and mid-sized clients--nobody with billions in assets. And the Bahamas: a sunny place for shady people.
Love your last sentence, Lori. Critical thinking skills haven’t been taught in K to 12 since?? Name your decade.. 60s? 70s 80s. I went to high school in the 80s. Not sure it was taught. I just don’t tend to believe people and assume there is a hidden motive.
Some other crypto guy died in unusual circumstances down there recently. Now the new story about the government making SBF do the hack on their behalf. Who knows what is really going on because for sure there is no one going to report for real what’s up.
Not much was reported beyond the initial incident except that it was fueling conspiracy theories, lol. ““Brilliant” cryptocurrency developer Nikolai Mushegian was found dead in the water off a Puerto Beach on Oct. 28 — hours after he tweeted that the CIA and Mossad would “torture me to death.””
Expecting journalists to report facts about people they run around with or who line their pockets, is like expecting a 3 year old to snitch on the Cookie Monster for stealing them cookies.
The demise of the NYT is a national tragedy. There are many reasons, starting with the family-ownership model, which works as long as the heir turns out to be competent. And AG ain't.
But a couple other things might be mentioned:
1. The NYT was a voracious shopper in the "afirmative action" marketplace for the right-colored/correct-genitalia bodies. These hires are, basically, forever. No one has the guts to get rid of under-performers.
2. The "bench" in journalism is now empty. The NYT could use smaller newspapers as post-graduate finishing schools. These regional papers are, effectively, extinct.
3. Clicks. For the first time, newsrooms became vulnerable to accurate measures of their audience. A classic two-edged sword.
4. Schools of Journalism are now woke. I graduated, long ago, from NU's Medill School...it's now just another neo-Marxist cluster-grope. These kids don't care a fig about "truth;" they are missionaries for the new power-religion.
"Schools of Journalism are now woke. I graduated, long ago, from NU's Medill School...it's now just another neo-Marxist cluster-grope. These kids don't care a fig about "truth;" they are missionaries for the new power-religion."
Well said. And unlike you they put quotes around "truth" unironically, having been steeped in the ideology of a French pederast. They dream not of becoming Hunter S. Thompson, but O'Brien from 1984, asking us how many fingers they're holding up and daring us to say the actual number.
As polarizing agents within a new business model dependent on engagement and subscriptions, the mainstream media sells validation—of beliefs, not news. This is because nowadays the subscription-as-membership quality of paying for the news, which is the business model of a desperate, dying industry, means that people aren’t interested in the news so much as they are the news as presented from a certain angle. The New York Times, for example, is basically just a notary at this point. Its imprimatur and the fact that people know the Times is going to convey the news from the right perspective, that of the Good Person™, is why the paper has survived the cataclysmic inception of the internet.
Old school news could never keep up with Twitter's speed. But the abject lying and ignoring inconvenient news because they are paid off by business interests is what will ultimately doom it.
I wouldn't trust left or right news media to tell me what color the sky is.
Alex, I think you're the only person left that calls them "professional reporters". They are anything but that. They are no more "professional reporters" than the 6 pm anchorman with coiffed hair that reads from a script and couldn't form a rational opinion if his life depended on it. It sure seems like the citizenry has outgrown the CIA fueled propaganda machine that so mesmerized the last 5 generations.
They are professionals, but in managing appearances, not in subject matter. They have staff did up the facts but pick which ones suit the impression to be made
Legacy media is toast all sponsors will end up on Twitter. Legacy media did this to themselves they took orders from Yoel Roth our Government leadership as well. Legacy media Pushed mNRA shot face mask school closure lock downs Picking winners and losers destroying tens of thousands of people lives even still today and not even apologizing once or returned one cent to the People they destroyed. How Fox news Keeps that bird 🐦 doctor is beyond me he never had feathers and they must feel sorry.
The covid hysteria was not possible without media complicity. They failed to ask basic questions, like how risky is it really? They hyped cases over clinical illness. They probably loved having the power to stampede the folks in flyover land.
Exactly true what is that I honestly don't understand why the Legacy media is not covering what is going on in every Hospital ICU setting. Beds are full of Patients who have have serious problems and most have had 1 or more mNRA shot and we have been having a serious Medical supplies shortages and Medicine for just over a year now and nobody wants to talk about reality. Or the high mortality along with it.
It’s incredible to me that all this is going on in silence. I keep thinking someday it’ll get bad enough it’ll have to be faced - but I think admitting that covid was over the top bullsht is still a bridge too far. Too many people bought into the fear imo
People are slowly waking up by spring time I believe many people will realize they have been Played for the longest April fools joke in USA history. Some may even resort to violence you just don't know. Legacy media has assumed things as Fauci and Collins. Viral pneumonia has been going on for several years and it will continue to take lives.
Legacy media has been taking orders direction from Yoel Roth our government leaders have been influencing him to control the narrative. I am sure that there's more than Yoel Roth.
It goes back a very long time. While even further back, each little town had two or more newspapers reporting local news from different perspectives, it is only recently that we have seen a slight revival of this, at least in national news media. However, even these are often found lacking.
Shoe Leather Reporter that's what we called them back in the day. I believe Berenson is the only one left who does that this is why he is never wrong on all topics.
and it was “brought to you by Pfizer” advertising dollars. If Covid taught us anything it should be to avoid as many pHARMaceuticals as possible. Pharma was never truly the “benefactor of mankind” but many pre-mRNA examples were conveniently “forgotten” at the same time as old school skeptical journos suddenly lost their jobs.
Once advertising on Twitter causes sponsors’ ESG scores to go down, the will bail and run back to wherever they must to improve them. The world is not the same it was just 3 years ago. Nothing operates as it once did.
Did I hear correctly that Alex would vote for Biden over Trump? Not only was FTX used to STEAL tax payer $$ which went to Ukraine; then went to FTX then back to the Democrats….that is bad enough.
But!! To keep someone in power who has forced these mandates and lockdowns? Isn’t that how this page was started? He got kicked off of Twitter by the social media Nazis, but then he doesn’t want to fire the people who are promoting the censorship? Forcing masks. Forcing businesses to close. Forcing the jab!!! What the actual fuck Alex?!!!
Two doctors…ones a great one but a complete asshole. The other one, is a complete trainwreck, but a decent guy. Don’t tell me you’d pick the latter. 🤦♀️
IMAGINE if it had been President Trump who was pushing to send tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars to corrupt Ukraine where the money was funneled directly to a fraudulent crypto scheme which paid tens of millions directly back in the pockets of the Republican party to be used for election spending. Imagine. Trump would have been impeached 50 times over and almost certainly removed from office.
How does the American taxpayer feel about funding a 30 year old deadbeat's billion dollar fraud scheme - so he can live in a $40 million dollar estate in the Bahamas - and bring the world to the brink of nuclear WWIII just as a bonus?
Even with the correct thinking and money-laundering to the Democratic Party of the FTX "management team", I find it hard to believe that there are still no warrants issued for the arrest of SBF, Caroline and every other thief in power at FTX.
Let's have more stories like this one, Alex. You do a great job of explaining modern journalism.
Thanks!
The web of connections between SBF/FTX, prominent academics and the regulatory regime is also a topic of massive interest. Dealbook 2022!!!
Next do McKinsey...........
Now THERE'S an idea...!!!
YES - the entity needs to be investigated. To this day - I'd love to see a cost analysis of their Strat Plans. These were the guys the pushed the Enron model, and their CEO did time for insider trading.
Based on my experiences, they push a lot of sleazy stuff. All of us that have worked in tax with large multinationals can manipulate numbers and excel spreadsheets to tell the story we want, make whatever positions we are taking appear supported by the numbers, and create steps in a transaction so complicated auditors, regulators, and most revenue agents eventually just throw their hands up. Trump was actually spot on about offshoring profits via transfer pricing.
What most humans that still have their humanity don’t do is approach business with the inability to differentiate between actual impacts on human beings and playing with numbers on a spreadsheet. Except maybe McKinsey.
My impression of the culture is pure distain for the people doing the actual work in society - that applies at both the company/ client level and society in general. How many “cost cutting” measures that really just reallocated funds from the doers to the c-suite and fluffy VP positions have been dreamed up and pitched by McKinsey??? Does anyone really think their opioid scheme was out of the ordinary in their approach to “consulting”?
The only thing surprising about the opioid settlement was that someone actually gave them a slap on the wrist. That they did what they did is about as shocking as the sun rising this morning.
This situation with the mainstream mis-leadia seems to be yet one more case of American institutions which have utterly failed in their intended mission. And yet these folks wonder why all us "conspiracy theorists" don't believe them and their BS.
Meanwhile, I see the G20 now want to be able to force us to take unnecessary and possibly harmful vaccinations in order to travel. All I can think of is "F-them!" Besides, why would you want to go somewhere that insists on medically invasive, useless, and potentially harmful vaccines? I'm all for the tried-and-true ones, but the response to covid is yet another blow to the crumbing credibility of "institutions."
Agree and wonder if another John Wells novel will ever appear…
Every article about this fiasco should have as a headline some form of “Top Biden Donor Escapes Authorities After Stealing Hundreds of Millions of Dollars,” but of course that hasn’t been the case at all. And in all likelihood, nothing will come of this because of who he was giving money to—the same reason his dealings weren’t under more scrutiny in the first place.
https://euphoricrecall.substack.com/p/dem-hypocrisy-and-the-megadonor-scandal
now if this had been under Trump that would have been the headline indeed. All big papers are owned by dem sponsors. I used to dislike fox news but it is about the only channel left, that now and then hints at the truth. I like to watch Mark Steyn. He has a britain based news show.
Most of Fox News is trash. Tucker is good and he is almost the only person worth watching.
Try FOX Business. Has helped me understand economics much better.
I like this coverage of the MSM, CNN, and MSNBC not covering. Fox Business has been covering this 24/7. Watched last night's Gutfeld! and the aired SBF's little self-promotional video talking about how he cares about the climate and animals--so he's a vegan. All the woke tropes. Take a look at his physique. (Judge Jeanine Pirro pointed this out.) Vegan, my a**! All the vegans and vegetarians I know have a much leaner look. The guy is a sociopath.
yes that is the onlyy one I watch LOL But you can't sign up for him alone, unfortunately. I watch him and Mark Steyn and then read C&C and about a dozen other substack blogs and then you know what is going on. No need for other rags !
I also read/watch Epoch Times. Bannon’s War Room too. What is C&C?
yes I got Epoch times too. C and C is Jeff Childers stubstack here is link for today
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/c-and-c-news-friday-november-18-2022?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=463409&post_id=85344449&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
Oh- I’ve heard of Coffee and Covid! Will have a look. Thanks
NY Post does a good job on many stories. Take the Hunter Biden laptop, for one.
Mark Steyn is awesome. He’s been focusing a lot of attention on people dying suddenly. Something both parties want to ignore.
Yep. Mark is facing “investigations”’but he soldiers on. What a guy.
You're right, Tucker alone makes Fox stand above the rest, but it's pretty easy to stand above those who have just rolled over to show their bellies, and what's worrisome is Fox News' rep makes it easier to hide their bevy of alignments with deep state uni-party agendas, such as Trump's ouster. I watched them be effectively complicit on election night 2020, so I've only watched Tucker since then, but even Tucker took a while to start making veiled comments regarding Covid vaccines, and even longer to call out the abject lies spewed by our health officials re: vaccine effectiveness. Or more accurately, re: every fucking thing.
TC walks a tightrope. Our overlords would love to see him canned (the big corporations won't advertise on his show despite the huge audience).
Best comment. To which I would add: Top Biden Donor, Now Resting Comfortably at a CIA Safehouse in an Undisclosed Location…
If election fraud existed, it could be described like this.
“Frauds depend on opaque accounting, accounting that no one from the outside can challenge or in some cases even understand. Complexity is the grifter’s friend.”
When the most powerful nation in the world reforms its voting apparatus in ways that increase opportunities for large scale fraud, there's only one logical conclusion as to why, and we would be fools to think otherwise.
Exactly. You simply can't believe that 2016 was 'stolen', but 2020/2022 was beyond question after we introduced HUGE integrity holes into the process AND have highly suspect election nights.
And if they were actually worried about 'protecting democracy', they would be addressing these issues instead of telling us to shut up (just like they did about covid, Ukraine, the vax, Hunter Biden, January 6th, etc etc)
I don't understand why people go there, seems they should know now that any relation to what they report and the TRUTH is coincidence, certainly not planned.
I trust Biden's erections way more than I trust Biden's elections.
No, that's not what Weinstein said. I just looked up the tweet: "When the most powerful nation in the world reforms its voting apparatus in ways that increase opportunities for large scale fraud, we would be fools not to wonder why." Obviously it influenced my comment, but I did not simply regurgitate it verbatim as you're implying.
This is why the GOP needs to embrace open, transparent rules for their primary elections, and then pull those elections off without a hitch. The entire time, both Trump and DeSantis (I assume) should be praising the rules, which provide legitimacy. Once the winner is determined, the other should stand by the results. This would take the fire out of the 'election denier' claim and ALSO prove that the 'new' election rules are suspect as hell.
And since the primaries are private events run by private parties, the GOP can do whatever they want with their rules.
But because they are the GOP, I expect them to continue to be the Washington Generals of the Uniparty.
The head of the NRCC for the election is a R representative who supports ESG and LGBTQWTF. That is all one needs to know when wondering why the Rs underperformed.
Exactly.
Especially when they create the rules and/or the vernacular of that very same esoteric system. It also allows them to move goalposts.
Covid being a prime example.
Like Latin to the peasants.
If they don't want us to suspect election fraud, they should quit running the elections in such a manner that they appear to be completely fraudulent.
Since election night 2020, Democrats have acted exactly like a group that stole the election. Remember the walls in DC?
True... the multi dimensional tantric Rabbit Hole that has been so very carefully constructed, it makes the necessary forensics on election fraud pretty much impossible.
That's the entire point of opening up these integrity holes. You don't need to be a genius to steal from a multi-billion-dollar corporation, you just need to be a grunt who works at Wal-Mart who knows where the security holes are.
The same is true of elections -- and it's super easy to know where the security holes are when you're the one who just opened them.
Pollyanna: I am continually discouraged to learn how many people are totally void of a moral compass.
I'm reminded of a quote I saw: Don't say, 'They would never do that.' No, *you* would never do that. They do it constantly.
True. I raised my children to be honest, caring and fair. It’s turning out to be a disadvantage.
Being honest, true, and caring will never be a disadvantage....on the contrary.....Well done!
They get 'morality' when the OTHER guy wins, THEN it's time to get 'moral' they say. When they're winning everything is good, no fraud here!
Yeah, I'm amazed that Dominion software is not open source, and that Dominion refuses to open their 'black box' for inspection.
Who approved these people to take over elections? Why are these people still walking free?
I know of a squeaky-clean college student who wrote some research paper or other on Dominion and was so incensed he went to the Capitol on J/6 to legally protest. Afterward the Feds showed up at his home (in a SW state) ransacked it and threatened to ruin his future if he ever did something like that again. Good frickin grief.
This is exactly what we were warned would happen if we used these for elections. Eventually it was going to happen. Originally we were told that they would not be connected in any way during the election so that there would be no way to hack them with out physically connecting to the machine/s. Well, that didn’t last long.
National orgs convince the states to “modernize” their elections. Millions are spent with kickbacks all around. In return state govs, Sec States, etc get “election insurance” which is a guaranteed victory in a “close race.”
Independent audit. If such a thing is possible. Independence that is.
I double dare Alex to pin this. I hope some truth comes to light about the highly improbable outcome of my local elections: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Gov-Abbott-calls-for-investigation-into-Harris-17583824.php
When you have a sketchy chain of custody of ballots, no voter ID and a prolonged voting period, you will have fraud. By drawing out the vote, you can then estimate how many votes you need to overcome an opponents lead and then supply those votes as the voting period ends. Voter ID and same day paper ballot voting makes such schemes extremely difficult, which is why the Dems oppose them.
Oh shit. You said it out loud.
Literally opaque, like covering windows with newspapers during recounts.
In case you didn't see these, they are quite good.
https://open.substack.com/pub/maajidnawaz/p/how-the-collapse-of-sam-bankman-frieds
https://open.substack.com/pub/michaelshellenberger/p/crypto-fraud-exposes-woke-capitalism
I am a fan of Nawaz, probably my favorite ‘out-there’ dissident, and an even bigger fan of progressive-turned-centrist Shellenberger — might even become a paid subscriber of his just to finish this excellent link. Thanks!
Alex - Please don't forget Ukraine/Zelenksy's role in this money laundering operation. They were the middleman who funneled our tax dollars to FTX, so Bankman-Fried could send it to Uncle Joe and the Dems so they could keep the senate.
As a friend and colleague who worked at both the NYT and 60 Minutes told me a few months back, journalists are now "activists first, journalists second." Heaven help us!
And they are being taught that in Journalism School.
Journalism schools have basically become progressive seminaries.
Hypothesis: they are being sold on “making a difference” through the job in lieu of pay. Pay is abysmal for those who do the grunt work, and there’s a lot of grunt work in journalism if you do it right. The management is not willing to pay for expertise in subject areas either. They want starry eyed 20 year olds who will work for nothing.
Activists first. period.
It also doesn't help that they are often cut from the same cloth as the people they report on. Bankman-Frieds parents where both professors Stanford, he graduated from MIT I believe. Most journalists these days also have impressive credentials and rich parents. Journalism used to be far more working class with a bit more distrust in "elites" and authority.
That’s been the case for a long time, at least 20 years.
Alex, let's talk about your tweet yesterday regarding never voting for Trump. I too hope we have a different option, but when you say you will vote for the Democrat you are saying you would vote for Biden over Trump. Bless your heart, but if it wasn't for you and a couple other people we would all be locked in our homes and only let out to get our 5th booster shot if Biden and Democrats had their way. So now you want that future? I find your stance incompatible with reality.
I don’t get it. He says trump “is dangerous”. Is he really aware of what Biden and company are doing and want to do?
Exactly and he said Trump is "unfit." Don't get me wrong, I hope Trump does not win the nomination, but he is better than our current leader who doesn't know where he is the majority of the time. That seems like the definition of "unfit" to me. And the worst part is we don't really know who is calling the shots right now though I would bet it is Obama.
I wonder if he'd vote for DeSantis?
I don't understand how anyone could vote for a party that has embraced Totalitarianism?
Totaliarism And war
AND HATE.
They embrace hate.
Reading between the lines I think he would which is even crazier. Trump is much closer to Alex's traditional liberal world view than DeSantis.
My bet is yes. And that his ill-conceived tweet was meant to be a warning to the GOP to nominate DeSantis.
Instead it can be argued that AB is no longer an independent but has revealed himself to be a just a never-Trumper.
Ironically it puts him in the same camp as David French who he also can’t stand.
Alex is a liberal and he will not vote for a republican even if our country go to hell. That’s how they do it. Do you believe what they are reporting right now about the people voting for the democrats. They polls were wrong, why do you think they are right as to who vote for the republicans. Isn’t that strange that Florida election results are just great? See how the media is pushing for the De Santis. What about abortion in Florida? The Floridians didn’t want it. They are playing us!!!
YES! Great article! It's no surprise that there's no real look into FTX because of who's behind the curtain -- just like there was never a great reckoning for four years of RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA nonsense from the presstitutes. Just like there was never a great reckoning for the deliberate sabotage of the Hunter laptop -- the easiest story in the world to verify if they wanted to do it.
But as I say, journalism is an ACTION, not (just) a profession. The people here on the 'Stack are doing more journalism than the entire MSM combined.
The Bahamas location and the relatively small auditing firm should have set off red flags for anyone with any financial savvy. Prager Metis, the auditor of FTX, is slightly larger than my employer. We audit small and mid-sized clients--nobody with billions in assets. And the Bahamas: a sunny place for shady people.
Love your last sentence, Lori. Critical thinking skills haven’t been taught in K to 12 since?? Name your decade.. 60s? 70s 80s. I went to high school in the 80s. Not sure it was taught. I just don’t tend to believe people and assume there is a hidden motive.
Good comment 👍
It's not even critical thinking--these are basic checklist items you can find in a layman-level book on avoiding accounting fraud.
I can't take credit for the last sentence. It's how Somerset Maugham described Monaco.
Well to be fair, basic thinking is pretty challenging to accomplish as well 😏
Some other crypto guy died in unusual circumstances down there recently. Now the new story about the government making SBF do the hack on their behalf. Who knows what is really going on because for sure there is no one going to report for real what’s up.
Does anyone reading this thread know more about this death?
Not much was reported beyond the initial incident except that it was fueling conspiracy theories, lol. ““Brilliant” cryptocurrency developer Nikolai Mushegian was found dead in the water off a Puerto Beach on Oct. 28 — hours after he tweeted that the CIA and Mossad would “torture me to death.””
Expecting journalists to report facts about people they run around with or who line their pockets, is like expecting a 3 year old to snitch on the Cookie Monster for stealing them cookies.
The demise of the NYT is a national tragedy. There are many reasons, starting with the family-ownership model, which works as long as the heir turns out to be competent. And AG ain't.
But a couple other things might be mentioned:
1. The NYT was a voracious shopper in the "afirmative action" marketplace for the right-colored/correct-genitalia bodies. These hires are, basically, forever. No one has the guts to get rid of under-performers.
2. The "bench" in journalism is now empty. The NYT could use smaller newspapers as post-graduate finishing schools. These regional papers are, effectively, extinct.
3. Clicks. For the first time, newsrooms became vulnerable to accurate measures of their audience. A classic two-edged sword.
4. Schools of Journalism are now woke. I graduated, long ago, from NU's Medill School...it's now just another neo-Marxist cluster-grope. These kids don't care a fig about "truth;" they are missionaries for the new power-religion.
"Schools of Journalism are now woke. I graduated, long ago, from NU's Medill School...it's now just another neo-Marxist cluster-grope. These kids don't care a fig about "truth;" they are missionaries for the new power-religion."
Well said. And unlike you they put quotes around "truth" unironically, having been steeped in the ideology of a French pederast. They dream not of becoming Hunter S. Thompson, but O'Brien from 1984, asking us how many fingers they're holding up and daring us to say the actual number.
As polarizing agents within a new business model dependent on engagement and subscriptions, the mainstream media sells validation—of beliefs, not news. This is because nowadays the subscription-as-membership quality of paying for the news, which is the business model of a desperate, dying industry, means that people aren’t interested in the news so much as they are the news as presented from a certain angle. The New York Times, for example, is basically just a notary at this point. Its imprimatur and the fact that people know the Times is going to convey the news from the right perspective, that of the Good Person™, is why the paper has survived the cataclysmic inception of the internet.
https://euphoricrecall.substack.com/p/the-trump-bump
I wish it was that simple.
Old school news could never keep up with Twitter's speed. But the abject lying and ignoring inconvenient news because they are paid off by business interests is what will ultimately doom it.
I wouldn't trust left or right news media to tell me what color the sky is.
Exactly.
"WHY DOES NOBODY TRUST US?"
Because you fucking lie all the time!
🎯🎯🎯
Alex, I think you're the only person left that calls them "professional reporters". They are anything but that. They are no more "professional reporters" than the 6 pm anchorman with coiffed hair that reads from a script and couldn't form a rational opinion if his life depended on it. It sure seems like the citizenry has outgrown the CIA fueled propaganda machine that so mesmerized the last 5 generations.
Presstitutes! (With apologies to prostitutes)
And trust prostitutes and drug cartels more than I trust govts.
Never did a drug cartel try to force their cocaine into my body.
They're activists who moonlight as regime stenographers.
They are professionals, but in managing appearances, not in subject matter. They have staff did up the facts but pick which ones suit the impression to be made
Legacy media is toast all sponsors will end up on Twitter. Legacy media did this to themselves they took orders from Yoel Roth our Government leadership as well. Legacy media Pushed mNRA shot face mask school closure lock downs Picking winners and losers destroying tens of thousands of people lives even still today and not even apologizing once or returned one cent to the People they destroyed. How Fox news Keeps that bird 🐦 doctor is beyond me he never had feathers and they must feel sorry.
The covid hysteria was not possible without media complicity. They failed to ask basic questions, like how risky is it really? They hyped cases over clinical illness. They probably loved having the power to stampede the folks in flyover land.
Exactly true what is that I honestly don't understand why the Legacy media is not covering what is going on in every Hospital ICU setting. Beds are full of Patients who have have serious problems and most have had 1 or more mNRA shot and we have been having a serious Medical supplies shortages and Medicine for just over a year now and nobody wants to talk about reality. Or the high mortality along with it.
It’s incredible to me that all this is going on in silence. I keep thinking someday it’ll get bad enough it’ll have to be faced - but I think admitting that covid was over the top bullsht is still a bridge too far. Too many people bought into the fear imo
People are slowly waking up by spring time I believe many people will realize they have been Played for the longest April fools joke in USA history. Some may even resort to violence you just don't know. Legacy media has assumed things as Fauci and Collins. Viral pneumonia has been going on for several years and it will continue to take lives.
The entire corporate world is in lockstep with all this and will not allow any opposing views to even be aired or spoken of in private.
Legacy media has been taking orders direction from Yoel Roth our government leaders have been influencing him to control the narrative. I am sure that there's more than Yoel Roth.
It goes back a very long time. While even further back, each little town had two or more newspapers reporting local news from different perspectives, it is only recently that we have seen a slight revival of this, at least in national news media. However, even these are often found lacking.
Shoe Leather Reporter that's what we called them back in the day. I believe Berenson is the only one left who does that this is why he is never wrong on all topics.
and it was “brought to you by Pfizer” advertising dollars. If Covid taught us anything it should be to avoid as many pHARMaceuticals as possible. Pharma was never truly the “benefactor of mankind” but many pre-mRNA examples were conveniently “forgotten” at the same time as old school skeptical journos suddenly lost their jobs.
Once advertising on Twitter causes sponsors’ ESG scores to go down, the will bail and run back to wherever they must to improve them. The world is not the same it was just 3 years ago. Nothing operates as it once did.
Did I hear correctly that Alex would vote for Biden over Trump? Not only was FTX used to STEAL tax payer $$ which went to Ukraine; then went to FTX then back to the Democrats….that is bad enough.
But!! To keep someone in power who has forced these mandates and lockdowns? Isn’t that how this page was started? He got kicked off of Twitter by the social media Nazis, but then he doesn’t want to fire the people who are promoting the censorship? Forcing masks. Forcing businesses to close. Forcing the jab!!! What the actual fuck Alex?!!!
Two doctors…ones a great one but a complete asshole. The other one, is a complete trainwreck, but a decent guy. Don’t tell me you’d pick the latter. 🤦♀️
He hates trump so much…
IMAGINE if it had been President Trump who was pushing to send tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars to corrupt Ukraine where the money was funneled directly to a fraudulent crypto scheme which paid tens of millions directly back in the pockets of the Republican party to be used for election spending. Imagine. Trump would have been impeached 50 times over and almost certainly removed from office.
How does the American taxpayer feel about funding a 30 year old deadbeat's billion dollar fraud scheme - so he can live in a $40 million dollar estate in the Bahamas - and bring the world to the brink of nuclear WWIII just as a bonus?
Even with the correct thinking and money-laundering to the Democratic Party of the FTX "management team", I find it hard to believe that there are still no warrants issued for the arrest of SBF, Caroline and every other thief in power at FTX.