Phat Unplugged

That's the one big criticism I have of Dillahunty. I can understand the frustration of hearing the same BS over and over, but that doesn't justify acting like a douchebag.

Having records of monetary transactions isn't an infringement on the freedom of religion, freedom of the press, nor the freedom to protest the government. Debit and credit card transactions have been tracked for who knows how long now, and nothing has happened to these freedoms because of it. Actually, that wouldn't be the worst thing to ever happen. It would make US imports more profitable and drive onshoring of manufacturing. Time will tell, and I have a strong suspicion that Taggart is going to come out wrong on this one. The US is set up with what looks to be the strongest demographics and economy in the developed world for the next few decades. Oddly enough, if the US manipulated its currency like China does then the dollar would be falling in order to reduce labor costs and boost export profits.

Financial transactions are the low hanging fruit. Intelligence agencies have been capturing nearly all digital communication for quite a while now.

What thought processes led you to believe that Taggart's take on digital currencies have merit? I work with many PhD's, and I can confirm that they are as human as anyone else in the wisdom department.What I am more interested in is why you think CBDC's are any more a threat to First Amendment rights than any other sort of digital recordkeeping that has been going on for the last 5 decades?

Intelligence agencies already have all this info. They have records of your internet use, movements of your cell phone, and gads of other info. I wouldn't be surprised if they DON'T have all the financial records already. This is what FISA warrants are all about. If your financial records are held by the Fed then a warrant would still need to be issued in order to recover those records. There's plenty of de-identified data sources already out there. The amount of data at Google is mind numbing. Financial transactions are a drop in the ocean.

I did get a chuckle out of the conspiracy theorists who refused to get the COVID vaccine because they thought Bill Gates had put a tracker in the vaccine. The epidemiologists I work with actually used de-identified cell phone tracking to measure mobility during the pandemic to help model viral spread. They were worried about the non-existent tracker in the vaccine, all the while us tricky scientists were tracking them with their phones. Not an article from our group, but a similar approach:It’s complicated: characterizing the time-varying relationship between cell phone mobility and COVID-19 spread in the US | npj Digital Medicine

What do you think Jesus would do with the people massed out our southern border, the people who are hungry, lack shelter, and are fleeing violence in their own country? I don't think you know what the word "authoritarian" means. If sanctions are authoritarian then every president in the modern era has been an authoritarian.

0.453592 kilograms.

Where in the Bible does it say that? Illegal immigrants commit crimes at a much lower rate than US citizens.

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In 2018, the illegal immigrant criminal conviction rate was 782 per 100,000 illegal immigrants, 535 per 100,000 legal immigrants, and 1,422 per 100,000 native‐​born Americans.
https://www.cato.org/...research-illegal-immigration-crime-0

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Matthew 25:31-40

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The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

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I suspect we can find quite a bit of agreement on that topic. I also know that a lot of things I gripe about don't have simple solutions, and I suspect you have found the same thing.We are also towards the top of the list for number of incarcerated per capita in the developed world. That is an issue we need to look at as a society.

I would hope they don't. They should be using density. In fact, Archimedes rose to fame in the ancient world because he came up with a way to find fake coins by measuring density.

Buying a commodity with the hope that it will make you wealthier in the future is called an investment. Buying precious metals is just as much an investment as buying stocks, bonds, or real estate. Millions of retirees are living the good life right now because of their investments in market index funds and bonds.

Playing armchair lawyer . . .This was a defamation case where Carroll was suing Trump for lying about their encounter and defaming her. What Carroll proved in court is that Trump's actions would be considered rape by a common person on the street which supports the claim of sexual abuse. Even if the act did not rise to the level of a crime, it did justify the characterization given by Carroll.

How many years have you been in these forums predicting the imminent demise of the US economy?I have no doubt that we will see a few recessions and rebounds in the coming decades, but that is entirely normal. In fact, it is usually a good idea to let recessions happen while limiting the damage. We are still the largest economy in the world by a ways, and our nearest competitor (i.e. China) is currently going through a sharp economic downturn while facing down one of the worst demographic collapses. Are there challenges for the US? Absolutely, but almost every country in the world would want to be where the US is right now.

Japan could be an interesting example. The Japanese economy has been stagnant for decades now, and they have one of the highest debt to GDP ratios among developed nations, somewhere around 250%. For the doom-and-gloomers, That's about 2.5 times larger than the US debt, and Japan does not have the de facto global currency. Japan isn't on fire right now. Their future certainly looks challenging given their demographics, but Japan doesn't look anything like a post-apocalyptic landscape.