Console #11: “How I Evaded Sanctions and How You Can Too”

12/01/2019

I don’t necessarily agree with Sasha’s politics, but he does make one good point in his op-ed related to costs. The social media companies could do a much better job of content compliance, but this would increase their expenses. Heretofore, they’ve been able to avoid this increased cost due to the regulation Cohen mentions in the op-ed, which is part of the reason these social media businesses have been so profitable.

I’m staying out of the politics of this. Mostly because I’m not in a position to do anything about it, so my opinion largely doesn’t matter.

Anyway, Virgil Griffith was arrested for teaching North Koreans how to avoid sanctions using cryptocurrency.

For reference, here is the Department of Justice post about it.

It also looks like there might be a petition started to “Free Virgil” soon.

The only thing I’m seeing the public use Bitcoin for right now is as an alternative to traditional financial institutions when they begin to fail. While this provides an obvious benefit to society, does this niche use case justify the current Bitcoin price? Probably not.

In case you needed another reason to hate the DMV.

Last week Congress passed the bill, this week Trump signed it.

This manga went viral with 2.5 million views. I’m not interested in discussing the manga itself, but rather something else.

When discussing how the Uighurs are being treated I’ve sometimes heard the argument that we in the U.S. are getting an American centric view of the situation. However, the fact that this manga went viral in Japan might discredit this argument.

Things are not looking good for Uber right now.

Bernard Arnault continues to kill it. Pretty soon he’s going to have a monopoly on luxury.