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Date set for pro-cyclist murder trial
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Ziya Sadr’s Arrest Shows Bitcoin Educators Could Be A Target
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This is an opinion editorial by Robert Hall, a content creator and small business owner.
According to news reports, a well-known Iranian Bitcoin advocate Ziya Sadr was arrested in Tehran on September 19. There isn’t much information about his arrest, but with the ongoing unrest in Iran, the government may have seen him as a threat to their system.
The young people of Iran are fed up with the current regime’s inability to create economic opportunities and tackle rampant inflation that saps their savings and makes it impossible to save for the future or afford the present. Iranians are no strangers to inflation and are currently experiencing an inflation rate of 25%.
Iran has a relatively young population that has a hunger for change, as shown by these recent protests that are destabilizing the entire country; it is not hard to see why someone promoting a revolutionary technology would be targeted by the Iranian government. If too many protestors learn about bitcoin before the regime can stop it, it could contribute to the end of the clerical regime.
The Iranian authorities targeted him because he was effective at sharing the message of Bitcoin and the hope that it inspires. Mr. Sadr, before his arrest, was well known for translating Bitcoin content into Farsi and educating people about how to use Bitcoin in a privacy-enhanced way.
Educating others about Bitcoin and how to use it is exactly what governments worldwide don’t want to see happen on a mass scale. At this stage of the game, governments tolerate Bitcoin because they don’t see it as a threat … yet.
They believe they have everything under control with their FUD narrative in the media. It’s not working. Adoption has continued unabated, even in a bear market. Miners are plugging in. Node counts are going up. The Lightning Network is maturing, and new exciting products are being developed. The revolution is here. They just don’t know it yet.
The gerontocracy that currently holds political power in America doesn’t understand that Bitcoin was created to take away their ability to make money out of thin air and enslave the entire planet.
Once it is taken away — and one day it will be — all bets are off on what will happen. The powers that be don’t want you to leave the fiat plantation. I know this isn’t politically correct, but I will say it anyway. What Bitcoin content creators are doing to educate people about Bitcoin and how to use it is akin to teaching enslaved people how to read and write during slavery.
Education undermines governments’ control mechanisms they have in place to control your mind and keep you on the fiat plantation. It starts with the fiat education system. The goal isn’t to create highly educated citizens capable of thinking of themselves and sustaining our form of self-government.
The unstated goal of education, as the late great George Carlin said, “They want people who are just smart enough to do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to accept these increasingly shittier jobs with lower pay, longer hours, reduced benefits, the end of overtime and a vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it.”
If you manage to break free from that control mechanism, you still have to contend with the media machine and how they control the minds of many people worldwide. The media is owned by only a few corporate interests vested in keeping the current system limping.
The power of the media to collude and influence was on full display back in 2020 during the height of the pandemic when the world was bombarded with messages about wearing a mask, despite that being reversed, “15 days to slow the spread,” despite that not being true, and all the other propaganda that was being aired on behalf of governments. It worked. How many people ended up doing exactly what the government said? Billions of people. They could quickly turn this power against Bitcoiners.
“This Is Extremely Dangerous To Our Democracy”
Who was portrayed as the evil people that wanted to kill grandma? The people who were questioning the narrative about the virus. They were ridiculed by their families and lost their jobs because they didn’t want to be forced to take a vaccine.
When push comes to shove, the government must crush dissent and opposition to the fiat system in order for it to survive. They have to block exits and burn the bridges; it’s that simple. As recently as last year, the President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, made a passing reference to blocking access to “cryptos” in general, but we all know bitcoin is the real target.
Will Public Bitcoiners Be Targeted In The Future?
Honestly, anything is possible. If you are a significant Bitcoin influencer with thousands of followers on social media, you should probably assume you are on your government’s radar. Governments make plans for this type of stuff all the time. If you are Bitcoiner, you are automatically a dissident in their book and will be treated as such if the stability of government operations is threatened.
It would not be that hard for the media to label Bitcoin advocates as domestic terrorists, urge the public and their family turn against them, and throw them in jail. They could use a “crisis” in the sovereign debt market as a pretext to come after Bitcoiners in general.
Bitcoiners should take note of what is happening worldwide and plan accordingly. We are in the midst of a financial revolution; it’s up to Bitcoiners to ensure the revolution is a success. Education is the key.
This is a guest post by Robert Hall. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
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Robert Hall
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Voters in 5 states decide whether to legalize marijuana
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Voters in five states are deciding on Election Day whether to approve recreational marijuana, a move that could signal a major shift toward legalization in even the most conservative parts of the country.
The proposals are on the ballot in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota and follow moves by President Joe Biden toward decriminalizing marijuana. Biden last month announced he was pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of simple possession of marijuana under federal law.
Advocates of the marijuana initiatives have said Biden’s announcement may give a boost to their efforts.
Recreational marijuana is legal in 19 states, and polls have shown opposition to legalization softening. All of the states with recreational marijuana on the ballot, except for Maryland, voted for Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
The five states also currently have legal medical marijuana programs. That includes Arkansas, which in 2016 became the first Bible Belt state to approve medical marijuana. The state’s dispensaries opened in 2019, and more than 91,000 patients have cards to legally buy marijuana for medical conditions.
The legalization campaigns have raised about $23 million in the five states, with the vast majority in Arkansas and Missouri. More than 85% of contributions in those two states have come from donors associated with companies holding medical marijuana licenses, according to an Associated Press analysis of the most recent campaign finance reports.
In Arkansas, supporters have been running upbeat ads touting the thousands of jobs they say will be created by the measure. Opponents have run more ominous spots, warning voters to “protect Arkansas from big marijuana.”
The initiative has drawn the criticism of traditional legalization opponents as well as some medical marijuana advocates, who say the Arkansas proposal places too many limits and would only benefit a handful of dispensaries. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a former head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, has also opposed the measure.
Missouri’s proposal would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older and expunge records of past arrests and convictions for nonviolent marijuana offenses, except for selling to minors or driving under the influence. Maryland’s proposal would also make changes in criminal law and create automatic expungements of past marijuana possession convictions.
North Dakota’s measure would allow people 21 and older to legally use marijuana at home as well as possess and cultivate restricted amounts of cannabis. It also would establish policies to regulate retail stores, cultivators, and other types of marijuana businesses.
South Dakotans, including a sizable number of Republicans, voted to legalize marijuana possession in 2020, but that law was struck down by the state Supreme Court in part because the proposal was coupled with medical marijuana and hemp. This year, recreational pot is standing by itself as it goes before voters.
In Colorado, where recreational marijuana has been legal for nearly a decade, voters on Tuesday are taking up a proposal that would allow the use of certain psychedelic substances. If approved, it would make Colorado the second state to take such a step.
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US military donation misuse in Guatemala going unchecked: Report
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Guatemala City – The United States lacks concrete policies to properly document and address alleged misuse of its military equipment donations in Central America, a new government report has found, fuelling concerns that potential abuses will continue to go unchecked.
Between the US Departments of Defense and State, the US provided more than $66m in security assistance to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras from 2017 through 2021.
There were multiple allegations of equipment misuse in Guatemala but gaps in policies to record, track and investigate them, according to a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on Wednesday.
“It’s incredibly important that agencies maintain a record of the allegations they’ve reviewed,” said Chelsa Kenney, director of international affairs at GAO, a non-partisan watchdog agency that works for Congress.
The Departments of State and Defense both initially told GAO they had only reviewed one allegation of misuse in Guatemala in 2018, recorded in their tracking spreadsheets.
However, in GAO’s review of documents, it found the departments had looked into at least five allegations and that the Department of Defense did take action based on a pattern of repeated misuse, said Kenney.
“Without recording those allegations, [the Departments of Defense] and State had an inaccurate picture of what happened in the past and that might affect how the agencies would respond if concerns were to arise again in the future,” she told Al Jazeera.
The findings came just three weeks after the US Department of Defense donated 95 vehicles to the Guatemalan army for use in border security efforts despite past misuse of US armoured jeeps donated to the Guatemalan Ministry of the Interior for inter-agency use in border regions.
“This donation, which comes up in the context of this new report, is highly worrisome,” said Iduvina Hernandez, director of the Association for the Study of Security in Democracy, a Guatemalan non-governmental group.
“It seems that fundamental issues related to human rights in Guatemala are not of interest to the US Department of Defense.”
Allegations of misuse
The GAO report examined the US response to five reported incidents of misuse between 2018 and 2021 involving some of the 220 jeeps that the US Department of Defense provided to Guatemala between 2013 and 2018.
The most prominent case was on August 31, 2018, when then-President Jimmy Morales announced that Guatemala would not renew the mandate of CICIG, a UN-backed anti-impunity commission.
That same day, US-provided jeeps were used in the capital outside the CICIG offices and the US Embassy. “The US government viewed this as an act of intimidation, according to [Department of Defense] officials,” the GAO noted in its report.
In 2019, the US Department of Defense decided not to provide any additional equipment or training to the Guatemalan inter-agency task forces involved in that incident. That policy is still in effect.
Due to concerns related to human rights and the rule of law in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, the US Congress has prohibited aid to the three countries under the Foreign Military Financing programme, the primary military aid programme, for the past two years. The Department of State still provides security assistance.
The vehicles donated to the Guatemalan army last month and the jeeps provided in the past, however, were provided through a section of the National Defense Authorization Act rather than the Foreign Military Financing programme.
Adam Isacson, director for defence oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, a US-based non-profit focused on human rights in the Americas, said that “parallel programme” allows the Department of Defense to circumvent human rights and monitoring conditions.
“That is my main concern,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Assisting a military like Guatemala’s, which has such a huge history of human rights violations and such a huge history of really endemic corruption, and not having come up with a way to get around this bureaucratic doughnut hole that keeps them from actually keeping track of how it’s misused – it’s pretty shocking.”
Recommendations
The US Department of State agreed with GAO’s recommendation that it ensure end-use violation tracking guidelines, which are currently under development, outline how to record and track alleged incidents of US-provided equipment misuse.
“The Department of State takes its responsibility very seriously when it comes to monitoring the use of US-provided equipment, to ensure it is being used for legal and appropriate purposes,” a Department of State spokesperson told Al Jazeera, noting the department will standardise and bolster its procedures for tracking reports of such violations.
The GAO report also included four concrete recommendations for the Department of Defense, which agreed with two of the four in its official response, included in the report.
“Our report highlights some important concerns about [the Department of Defense’s] overall programme for monitoring and responding to misuse,” said Kenney.
“By law, the programme is supposed to provide a reasonable assurance that equipment is only used for intended purposes, but we didn’t see that they have structures in place to really do this thoroughly,” she said.
The Department of Defense “agrees with the GAO recommendation to evaluate our end-use monitoring program to ensure it provides reasonable assurance, to the extent practicable, that US equipment is only used for its intended purposes by recipient countries”, Department of Defense spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Devin T Robinson, told Al Jazeera.
In the meantime, human rights activists and analysts have concerns that the new vehicles donated last month will not just be used to combat contraband and trafficking.
The Guatemalan military has been periodically involved alongside police and immigration agencies along Guatemala’s southern border with Honduras in operations to halt the transit of migrants and asylum seekers who do not meet entry requirements.
“We are seeing that there is an irresponsible approach from the United States in making these donations without greater supervision,” said Hernandez. “The report that was just released highlights that approach and the limited possibilities of supervision and evaluation.”
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How Should We Fix America’s Broken Electoral System?
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A majority of Americans believe that U.S. democracy is in crisis, and many point to issues with the nation’s electoral system, from dark money donations to voter suppression. The Onion polled all 330 million Americans for their solution to fix America’s broken electoral system.
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The U.S. Will Weaponize The Dollar By Backing It With Bitcoin
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This is an opinion editorial by Luke Mikic, a writer, podcast host and macro analyst.
This is the second part in a two-part series about the Dollar Milkshake Theory and the natural progression of this to the “Bitcoin Milkshake.” In this piece, we’ll explore where bitcoin fits into a global sovereign debt crisis.
The Bitcoin Milkshake Theory
Most people believe the monetization of bitcoin will most hurt the United States as it’s the country with the current global reserve currency. I disagree.
The monetization of bitcoin benefits one nation disproportionally more than any other country. Like it, welcome it or ban it, the U.S. is the country that will benefit most from the monetization of bitcoin. Bitcoin will help to extend the life of the USD longer than many can conceptualize and this article explains why.
If we move forward on the assumption that the Dollar Milkshake Thesis continues to decimate weaker currencies around the world, these countries will have a decision to make when their currency goes through hyperinflation. Some of these countries will be forced to dollarize, like the more than 65 countries that are either dollarized or have their local currency pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Some may choose to adopt a quasi-gold standard like Russia recently has. Some may even choose to adopt the Chinese yuan or the euro as their local medium of exchange and unit of account. Some regions could copy what the shadow government of Myanmar have done and adopt the Tether stablecoin as legal tender. But most importantly, some of these countries will adopt bitcoin.
For the countries that may adopt bitcoin, it will be too volatile to make economic calculations and use as a unit of account when it’s still so early in its adoption curve.
(Source)
Despite what the consensus narrative is surrounding those who say, “Bitcoin’s volatility is decreasing because the institutions have arrived,” I strongly believe this is not a take rooted in reality. In a previous article written in late 2021 analyzing bitcoin’s adoption curve, I outlined why I believe the volatility of bitcoin will continue to increase from here as it travels through $500,000, $1 million and even $5 million per coin. I think bitcoin will still be too volatile to use as a true unit of account until it breaches eight figures in today’s dollars — or once it absorbs 30% of the world’s wealth.
(Source)
For this reason, I believe the countries who will adopt bitcoin, will also be forced to adopt the U.S. dollar specifically as a unit of account. Countries adopting a bitcoin standard will be a Trojan horse for continued global dollar dominance.
Put aside your opinions on whether stablecoins are shitcoins for just a second. With recent developments, such as Taro bringing stablecoins to the Lightning Network, imagine the possibility of moving stablecoins around the world, instantly and for nearly zero fees.
The Federal Reserve of Cleveland seems to be paying close attention to these developments, as they recently published a paper titled, “The Lightning Network: Turning Bitcoin Into Money.”
Zooming out, we can see that since March 2020, the stablecoin supply has grown from under $5 billion to over $150 billion.
(Source)
What I find most interesting is not the rate of growth of stablecoins, but which stablecoins are growing the fastest. After the recent Terra/LUNA debacle, capital fled from what’s perceived to be more “risky” stablecoins like tether, to more “safe” ones like USDC.
(Source)
This is because USDC is 100% backed by cash and short-term debt.
BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager and recently headlined a $440 million fundraising round by investing in Circle. But it wasn’t just a funding round; BlackRock is going to be acting as the primary asset manager for USDC and their treasury reserves, which is now nearly $50 billion.
(Source)
The aforementioned Tether appears to be following in the footsteps of USDC. Tether has long been criticized for its opaqueness and the fact it’s backed by risky commercial paper. Tether has been viewed as the unregulated offshore U.S. dollar stablecoin. That being said, Tether sold their riskier commercial paper for more pristine U.S. government debt. They also agreed to undergo a full audit to improve transparency.
If Tether is true to their word and continues to back USDT with U.S. government debt, we could see a scenario in the near future where 80% of the total stablecoin market is backed by U.S. government debt. Another stablecoin issuer, MakerDao, also capitulated this week, buying $500 million government bonds for its treasury.
It was crucial that the U.S. dollar was the main denomination for bitcoin during the first 13 years of its life during which 85% of the bitcoin supply had been released. Network effects are hard to change, and the U.S. dollar stands to benefit most from the proliferation of the overall “crypto” market.
This Bretton Woods III framework correctly describes the issue facing the United States: The country needs to find someone to buy their debt. Many dollar doomsayers assume the Fed will have to monetize a lot of the debt. Others say that increased regulations are on the way for the U.S. commercial banking system, which was regulated to hold more Treasurys in the 2013-2014 era, as countries like Russia and China began divesting and slowing their purchases. However, what if a proliferating stablecoin market, backed by government debt, can help soak up that lost demand for U.S. Treasurys? Is this how the U.S. finds a solution to the unwinding petrodollar system?
Interestingly, the U.S. needs to find a solution to its debt problems, and fast. Nations around the world are racing to escape the dollar-centric petrodollar system that the U.S. for decades has been able to weaponize to entrench its hegemony. The BRICS nations have announced their intentions to create a new reserve currency and there are a host of other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Argentina that are applying to become a part of this BRICS partnership. To make matters worse, the United States has $9 trillion of debt that matures in the next 24 months.
Who is now going to buy all that debt?
The U.S. is once again backed into a corner like it was in the 1970s. How does the country protect its nearly 100-year hegemony as the global reserve currency issuer, and 250-year hegemony as the globe’s dominant empire?
Currency Wars And Economic Wild Cards
This is where the thesis becomes a lot more speculative. Why is the Fed continuing to aggressively raise interest rates, bankrupting its supposed allies like Europe and Japan, while seemingly sending the world into a global depression? “To fight inflation,” is what we’re told.
Let’s explore an alternative, possible reason why the Fed could be raising rates so aggressively. What options does the U.S. have to defend its hegemony?
In a world currently under a hot war, would it seem so far-fetched to speculate that we could be entering an economic cold war? A war of central banks, if you will? Have we forgotten about the “weapons of mass destruction?” Have we forgotten what we did to Libya and Iraq for attempting to route around the petrodollar system and stop using the U.S. dollar in the early 2000s?
(Source)
Until six months ago, my base case was that the Fed and central banks around the globe would act in unison, pinning interest rates low and use the “financial repression sandwich” to inflate away the globe’s enormous and unsustainable 400% debt-to-GDP ratio. I expected them to follow the economic blueprints laid out by two economic white papers. The first one published by the IMF in 2011 titled, “The Liquidation Of Government Debt” and then the second paper published by BlackRock in 2019 titled, “Dealing With The Next Downturn.”
I also expected all the central banks to work in tandem to move toward implementing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and working together to implement the “Great Reset.” However, when the data changes, I change my opinions. Since the creepingly coordinated policies from governments and central banks around the world in early 2020, I think some countries are not so aligned as they once were.
Until late 2021, I held a strong view that it was mathematically impossible for the U.S. to raise rates — like Paul Volcker did in the 1970s — at this stage of the long-term debt cycle without crashing the global debt market.
Debt held by the public is nearly as high as times during WWII
But, what if the Fed wants to crash the global debt markets? What if the U.S. recognizes that a strengthening dollar causes more pain for its global competitors than for themselves? What if the U.S. recognizes that they would be the last domino left standing in a cascade of sovereign defaults? Would collapsing the global debt markets lead to hyperdollarization? Is this the only economic wild card the U.S. has up its sleeve to prolong its reign as the dominant global hegemon?
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While everyone is waiting for the Fed pivot, I think the most important pivot has already happened: the Dalio pivot.
(Source)
As a Ray Dalio disciple, I’ve built my entire macroeconomic framework on the idea that “cash is trash.” I believe that mantra still holds true for anyone using any other fiat currency, but has Dalio stumbled upon some new information about the USD that has changed his mind?
Dalio wrote a phenomenal book “The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail” that details how wars occur when global empires clash.
(Source)
Has he concluded that the United States could be about to weaponize the dollar, making it not so trashy? Has he concluded that the U.S. isn’t going to willingly allow China to be the world’s next rising empire like he once proclaimed? Would the U.S. aggressively raising rates lead to a capital flight to the U.S., a country that has a comparatively healthier banking system than its competitors in China, Japan and Europe? Do we have any evidence for this outlandish left-field, hypothetical scenario?
Let’s also not forget, this is not just a race with the United States versus China. The second-most used foreign currency in the world — the euro — probably wouldn’t mind gaining power from a declining U.S. empire. We have to ask the question, why is Jerome Powell refusing to align monetary policies with one of our closest allies in Europe?
(Source)
In this illuminating 2021 webinar, at the Green Swan central banking conference, Powell blatantly refused to go along with the “green central banking” policies that were discussed. This visibly infuriated Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank, who was also part of the event.
(Source)
Some of the quotes from Powell in that interview are illuminating.
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Is this a sign the U.S. is no longer a fan of the Great Reset ideologies coming out of Europe? Why is the Fed also ignoring the United Nations begging them to lower rates?
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We can speculate about what Powell’s intentions may be all day, but I prefer to look at data. Since Powell’s initial heated debate with Lagarde and the Fed’s subsequent rate increase on the reverse repo days after, the dollar has decimated the euro.
Reverse repo rates initially increased on May 31, 2022
In April 2022, Powell was dragged into another “debate” with Lagarde, led by the head of the IMF. Powell reaffirmed his stance on climate change and central banking.
The plot thickens when we consider the implications of the LIBOR and SOFR interest rate transition that occurred at the beginning of 2022. Will this interest rate change enable the Fed to hike interest rates and insulate the banking system from the contagion that’ll ensue from a wave of global debt defaults in the wider eurodollar market?
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I do think it’s interesting that by some metrics the U.S. banking system is showing comparatively fewer signs of stress than in Europe or the rest of the world, validating the thesis that SOFR is insulating the U.S. to a degree.
A New Reserve Asset
Whether the U.S. is at war with other central banks or not doesn’t change the fact that the country needs a new neutral reserve asset to back the dollar. Creating a global deflationary bust, and weaponizing the dollar is only a short-term play. Scooping up assets on the cheap and weaponizing the dollar will only force dollarization in the short term. The BRICS nations and others that are disillusioned with the SWIFT-centered financial system will continue to de-dollarize and try to create an alternative to the dollar.
The global reserve currency has been informally backed by the U.S. Treasury note for the past 50 years, since Nixon closed the gold window in 1971. In times of risk, people run to the reserve asset as a way to get a hold of dollars. For the past 50 years, when equities sell off, investors fled to the “safety” of bonds which would appreciate in “risk off” environments. This dynamic built the foundation of the infamous 60/40 portfolio — until this trade ultimately broke in March 2020 when the Treasury market became illiquid.
(Source)
As we transition into the Bretton Woods III era, the Triffin dilemma is finally becoming untenable. The U.S. needs to find something to back the dollar with. I find it unlikely that they will back the dollar with gold. This would be playing into the hands of Russia and China who have far larger gold reserves.
This leaves the U.S. with their backs against a wall. Faith is being lost in the dollar and they would surely want to retain their global reserve currency status. The last time the U.S. was in a similarly vulnerable position was in the 1970s with high inflation. It looked like the dollar would fail until the U.S. effectively pegged the dollar to oil through the petrodollar agreement with the Saudis in 1973.
The country is faced with a similar conundrum today but with a different set of variables. They no longer have the option of backing the dollar with oil or gold.
Enter Bitcoin!
Bitcoin can stabilize the dollar and even prolong its global reserve currency status for much longer than many people expect! Most importantly, bitcoin gives the U.S. the one thing it needs for the 21st-century monetary wars: trust.
Countries may trust a gold-backed (petro-)ruble/yuan more than a dollar backed by worthless paper. However, a bitcoin-backed dollar is far more trustworthy than a gold-backed (petro-)ruble/yuan.
As mentioned earlier, the monetization of bitcoin not only helps the U.S. economically, but it also directly hurts our monetary competitors, China and to a lesser degree, Europe — our supposed ally.
Will the U.S. realize that backing the dollar with energy directly hurts China and Europe? China and Europe are both facing significant energy-related headwinds and have both infamously banned Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mining. I made the case that the energy crisis in China was the real reason China banned bitcoin mining in 2021.
Today, as we transition into the digital age, I believe a fundamental shift is coming:
For thousands of years, money has been backed by trust and gold, and protected by ships. However, in this millennium, money will now be backed by encryption and math, and protected by chips.
If you will allow me to once again engage in some speculation, I believe the U.S. understands this reality, and is preparing for a deglobalized world in many different ways. The U.S. appears to be the Western nation taking the friendliest approach to Bitcoin. We have senators all across the U.S. tripping over themselves to make their states Bitcoin hubs by enacting friendly regulation for mining. The great hash migration of 2021 has seen the lion’s share of the Chinese hash being transferred to the U.S., which now houses over 35% of the world’s hash rate.
(Source)
Recent sanctions on Russian miners could only further accelerate this hash migration. Apart from some noise in New York, and the delayed spot ETF decision, the U.S. looks as though it’s embracing bitcoin.
(Source)
In this video, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen talks about Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovation. The SEC Chair Gary Gensler continually differentiates Bitcoin from “crypto” and has also praised Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention.
(Source)
ExxonMobil is the largest oil company in the U.S. and announced it was using bitcoin mining to offset its carbon emissions.
Then there’s the question, why has Michael Saylor been allowed to wage a speculative attack on the dollar to buy bitcoin? Why is the Fed releasing tools highlighting how to price eggs (and other goods) in bitcoin terms? If the U.S. was so opposed to banning bitcoin, why has all of this been allowed in the country?
(Source)
We’re transitioning from an oil-backed dollar to a bitcoin-backed dollar reserve asset. Crypto-eurodollars, aka stablecoins backed by U.S. debt, will provide the bridge between the existing energy-backed dollar system and this new energy-backed bitcoin/dollar system. I find it awfully poetic that the country founded on the ideology of freedom and self-sovereignty appears to be positioning itself to be the one that most takes advantage of this technological innovation. The bitcoin-backed dollar is the only alternative to a rising Chinese threat positioning for the global reserve currency.
Yes, the United States has committed many atrocities, I’d argue that at times they’ve been guilty of abusing their power as the global hegemon. However, in a world that’s being rapidly consumed by ramped totalitarianism, what happens if the mighty U.S. experiment fails? What happens to our civilization if we allow a social-credit-scoring Chinese empire to rise and export its CBDC-backed digital panopticon to the world? I was once one of these people cheering for the demise of the U.S. empire, but I now fear the survival of our very civilization is dependent upon the survival of the country that was originally founded on the principles of life, liberty and property.
Conclusions
Zooming out, I stand by my original thesis that we are in a new monetary order by the end of the decade. However, the events of the previous months have certainly accelerated that already-rapid 2030 timeline. I also stand by my original thesis from the 2021 article surrounding how bitcoin’s adoption curve unfolds because of how broken the current monetary regime is.
(Source)
I believe 2020 was the monetary inflection point that will be the catalyst that takes bitcoin from 3.9% global adoption to 90% adoption this decade. This is what crossing the chasm entails for all transformative technologies that reach mainstream penetration.
(Source)
There will however be many “hopeful moments” along the way, like there was in the German Weimar hyperinflationary event of the 1920s.
(Source)
There will be dips and spikes in inflation, like there was in the 1940s during U.S. government deleveraging.
(Source)
Deglobalization will be the perfect scapegoat for what was always going to be a decade of government debt deleveraging. The monetary contractions and spasms are becoming more frequent and more violent with each drawdown we encounter. I believe the majority of fiat currencies are in the 1917 stages of the Weimar hyperinflation.
(Source)
This article was very centered on nation-state adoption of bitcoin, but don’t lose sight of what’s truly unfolding here. Bitcoin is a Trojan horse for freedom and self-sovereignty in the digital age. Interestingly, I also feel that hyperdollarization will accelerate this peaceful revolution.
Hyperinflation is the event that causes people to do the work and learn about money. Once many of these power-hungry dictators are forced to dollarize and no longer have the control of their local money printer, they may be more incentivized to take a bet on something like bitcoin. Some may even do it out of spite, not wanting to have their monetary policy dictated to them by the U.S.
(Source)
Money is the primary tool used by states to exercise their autocratic, authoritarian powers. Bitcoin is the technological innovation that’ll dissolve the nation-state, and fracture the power the state has, by removing its monopoly on the money supply. In the same way the printing press fractured the power of the dynamic duo that was the church and state, bitcoin will separate money from state for the first time in 5,000+ years of monetary history.
(Source)
So, to answer the dollar doomsdayers, “Is the dollar going to die?” Yes! But what will we see in the interim? De-dollarization? Maybe on the margins, but I believe we will see hyperdollarization followed by hyperbitcoinization.
This is a guest post by Luke Mikic. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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India to contribute $500,000 to UN to counter terrorism
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NEW DELHI — India will contribute half a million dollars to the United Nations’ efforts to counter global terrorism as new and emerging technologies used by terror groups pose fresh threats to governments around the world, the foreign minister said Saturday.
The money will go toward the U.N. Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism and will further strengthen the organization’s fight against terrorism, S. Jaishankar said as he addressed a special meeting of the U.N. Counter Terrorism Committee in New Delhi.
It was the first such conference — focused on challenging threats posed by terror groups in the face of new technologies — to be held outside the U.N.’s headquarters in New York.
Jaishankar said new technologies, like encrypted messaging services and blockchain, are increasingly misused by terror groups and malicious actors, sparking an urgent need for the international community to adopt measures to combat the threats.
“ Internet and social media platforms have turned into potent instruments in the toolkit of terrorist and militant groups for spreading propaganda, radicalization and conspiracy theories aimed at destabilizing societies,” he said in his keynote address.
Jaishankar also highlighted the growing threat from the use of unmanned aerial systems such as drones by terror groups and criminal organizations, calling them a challenge for security agencies worldwide.
“In Africa, drones have been used by the terrorist groups to monitor movements of security forces and even of U.N. peacekeepers, making them vulnerable to terrorist attacks,” he added.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly reiterated the dangers of unmanned aerial platforms, saying that such systems were being used to inflict terror, death and destruction.
“Drones are being used currently to target critical national infrastructure and civilian targets in Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine,” he said. “This is why we have sanctioned three Iranian military commanders and one Iranian company involved in the supply of drones.”
The special conference kicked off on Friday in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital, which witnessed a massive terror attack in 2008 that left 140 Indian nationals and 26 citizens of 23 other countries dead by terrorists who had entered India from Pakistan.
Jaishankar on Friday said India regretted the U.N. Security Council’s inability to act in some cases when it came to proscribing terrorists because of political considerations, undermining its collective credibility and interests. He did not name China but referred to its decision to block U.N. sanctions against leaders of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based extremist group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.N.
India and the United States sought the sanctions earlier this year. China put the proposed listing of the two terrorists for sanctions on hold on technical grounds, saying it needed more time to study their cases.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the Asia-Pacific region at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific
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The Competition For Bitcoiners Between Nation-States Is Heating Up
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This is an opinion editorial by Nazar Taras, head of content and partnerships PowerInside.
You want to pay your taxes in Colorado with bitcoin? No problem. You want to buy a beach property in El Salvador with bitcoin? Come on over. You want to send money abroad without paying banks’ high fees? There is an app for that, and your grandma will instantly have the money in her bitcoin wallet.
At the Bitcoin Amsterdam conference this month, government representatives took center stage, telling people to come and see for themselves how bitcoin adoption is impacting their countries.
Deputy Ambassador of El Salvador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Hector Enrique Celarie Landaverde, credited bitcoin with helping the nation chart a new course for “peace, education and prosperity.” After bitcoin became the nation’s legal tender in September of 2021, the GDP grew at a record 10.3%, while income from tourism surged 52%. Previously unbanked, 70% of the population is now stepping into the digital age, making online financial transactions for the first time.
Steve Tangoa, speaking on behalf of the Central African Republic, bets on bitcoin adoption bringing needed infrastructure investments to the country. Additionally, bitcoin could cut out the middleman and eliminate the need to pay legacy transaction fees to the Bank of France.
Bitcoin Mindset To Citizenship
Speaking on another panel, Katie Ananina, from Plan B Passport, noted much higher demand for her services helping people obtain a second passport. She sees her clients increasingly seeking “jurisdictional arbitrage.” Along with Russian businessmen fleeing their homeland for safer shores, less wealthy folks are now also getting a second passport.
Image source: Bitcoin Amsterdam
Katie urged the audience to “Take the bitcoin money mindset to citizenship,” meaning hedge your options, protect your freedom and stay sovereign.
The Race To Attract Nomads
Consider this. A year ago, just 25 countries were offering extended stay residence visa schemes for remote workers. As of this writing, 49 countries are vying for digital nomads’ dollars. Remote work has given us many options for residency and potentially a quality of life only dreamed of by previous generations.
Whole industries have sprung up to serve this untethered generation — borderless digital banking, tailored nomad travel insurance, coworking and co-living communities and even eco-hotels for the environmentally conscious seeking work-life balance.
Those jurisdictions that fail to attract freedom-loving global citizens will lose out. How then, does a small country or region compete in this environment? How can it stand out?
Estonia Digital Experiment
Let us look at the small Baltic nation of Estonia in the year 2000 when it too was trying to stand out and leap-frog from its post-Soviet economic stagnation. The vision was bold: to become the world’s most advanced digital nation. The transformation was rapid — and now, with services like e-Health, e-Police, i-Voting, e-Residency and e-Tax, you can apply online for nearly any service, plus vote for your favorite politician. Getting married or divorced is life’s only decision deemed so consequential as to require face-to-face mediation (lest the ritual is unduly trivialized, perhaps).
Now a model for many nations, Estonia succeeded because a young breed of leadership arose, took risky, bold steps and moved quickly. Nowadays, we can look to El Salvador and even the island archipelago of Madeira for the next generation of digital innovations.
Madeira Bitcoin Project
Around 1,000 kilometers away from Lisbon, Portugal, Madeira has become a digital nomad hotspot, thanks to the work of some entrepreneurial locals. In May of 2022, its president Miguel Albuquerque convinced the bitcoin community that he was serious about developing the bitcoin ecosystem on the islands.
Speaking about the Madeira project at the conference, entrepreneur Jeff Booth pointed to governments’ exploding sovereign debt and possible fiat currency defaults as a good enough reason to start courting bitcoin.
“As the system breaks down, governments are going to be faced with choices, and they are going to ride the fiat horse or the Bitcoin horse, and for a while, they are going to have to ride two horses and then they are going to have to choose.” — Jeff Booth
Image source: Bitcoin Amsterdam
The Madeira Bitcoin Experiment w/André Loja, Knut Svanholm, Jeff Booth, Troy Cross, & Daniel Prince
Bitcoin Adoption Lessons
So, what lessons can we draw from the current bitcoin initiatives? Here are some ideas a careful listener could have overheard among the swarming enthusiasts in Amsterdam.
- Governments must have a bold vision. El Salvador, for instance, is planning to launch a $1 billion bitcoin bonds project. It is building a Bitcoin City — no income tax, no property tax, no payroll tax and it has volcano-powered bitcoin mining infrastructure.
- As the story of El Salvador shows, technical cliches are common, particularly during the initial rollouts. They will get fixed.
- Patiently carry out education across a broad spectrum of the populace. Arm the vulnerable with knowledge, for example, against malevolent phishing attacks.
- Bitcoin usage adoption will not be overnight in a nation where cash has always been king. It is a long road.
- Incentivize, incentivize. El Salvador famously gifted $30 worth of bitcoin — a three-day minimum wage — into every new wallet.
- Be honest about risks, such as bitcoin’s volatility against fiat currencies.
- Find a magic recipe to marry bitcoin’s decentralized philosophy with a need for centralized government’s strong push for the necessary legislative and structural changes.
- Be ready for some strong objections from the likes of the IMF and the World Bank. They will be less-than-thrilled when governments diversify away from fiat currencies.
- Articulate tangible benefits from bitcoin adoption and sing its praises to the world.
- Business case one: Bypass bank fees on remittances. Each year, El Salvador receives foreign bank wires totaling $6 billion. Take Mexico, where annual remittances are at $51.6 billion. By switching to bitcoin and sending it over the Lightning Network, the nation can keep around $2 billion instead of gifting it to Wall Street. Any country can save on remittance fees, both senders and receivers.
- Business case two: A hedge against inflation. With an inflation rate of 81.22% in 2022, Turkey is an ideal case for diversifying into bitcoin. And Turks know it — the country ranks fifth in the world in cryptocurrency ownership rates.
Bitcoin remains the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Governments everywhere would be remiss to overlook the benefits of bitcoin adoption.
At times, historic movements start small, be it on a beach in El Salvador or with initiatives like Bitcoin Beach Brazil and Bitcoin Jungle Costa Rica. They signify what is coming. Would you also like to ride this merry orange-colored wave?
Asked what it would take for other governments to carry out a technological and economic transformation on a scale of the one in El Salvador, Ambassador Landaverde, without hesitation, somewhat humbly remarked, “Once you dream it, there is a will.”
This is a guest post by Nazar Taras. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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How The Government Could Come For Your Bitcoin
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This is an opinion editorial by Robert Hall, a content creator and small business owner.
The popular thought among Bitcoiners is that bitcoin adoption will be a seamless transition to a bitcoin standard. While I wish this were the case, governments will not give up their power to print money and control the economic affairs of what they consider to be their slaves without a fight.
Bitcoin as a monetary network grows by leaps and bounds every year. An estimated 106 million people worldwide own Bitcoin, and users make around 300,000-500,000 transactions today. Adoption numbers will continue to grow as bitcoin matures and solidifies itself in the marketplace of ideas.
I can assure you that governments are also closely monitoring these developments. As bitcoin adoption grows, you should expect governments to use several tactics to scare you away from owning it or create tax laws designed to punish bitcoin holders. You should also expect outright confiscation and the threat of being thrown in jail.
If bitcoin has been remotely on your radar, there is a high likelihood that you have heard negative stories about bitcoin in the mainstream press. The media spreads fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about Bitcoin to stop you from being interested in learning more about it. The powers that be use sophisticated marketing techniques and narrative control to implant an idea about bitcoin in your mind before you have a chance to do your research.
Here are a few examples of FUD from well-known media publications:
“Why Bitcoin Is Bad For The Environment” (Fear)
“Cryptocurrency Fuels Growth Of Crime” (Uncertainty)
“The Brutal Truth About Bitcoin (Doubt)”
All this took was a quick search on the internet to find these stories. This is governments’ primary weapon to discourage bitcoin adoption, which has probably worked for a time — but this is no longer the case. With inflation raging worldwide and governments buckling under the pressure of currency debasement and a strong dollar, people will start looking for a better way to store their wealth.
This kind of economic environment is ripe for bitcoin adoption on a massive scale. This will lead governments to further put pressure on their citizens who own bitcoin. Once governments understand they can’t stop their citizens from adopting bitcoin, they most likely will try to profit from it by creating confiscatory tax laws to benefit from bitcoin’s price gains. Don’t think it could happen? It is already a policy in India.
Steal From The Middle Class
As recently as May, Democrats and the Biden administration were considering a tax on unrealized gains.
“Biden’s Tax On Unrealized Gains Will Hit Far More Taxpayers Than He Claims
India taxes digital assets at 30 percent.
“India’s Cryptocurrency Industry Reels As New Tax Hammers Trading”
“Philippine President Marcos Jr. Pushes Tax On Digital Services”
As you can see, this global trend looks like it will escalate in future years.
If You Can’t Beat It, Ban It.
Banning is the last, and most heavy-handed tool governments will use to discourage bitcoin adoption. This is when you can tell they are petrified of bitcoin. They will pass laws outlawing bitcoin ownership and criminalizing its possession. Numerous countries around the globe have gone this route, most notably China.
Nigeria is another example of how governments will attack Bitcoin. They can tell financial institutions to block any transactions related to bitcoin. This might disrupt bitcoin adoption for a while, but is unlikely to stall bitcoin adoption for long.
The situation that many Bitcoiners in America worry about is a 6102-type executive order that would ban the ownership of bitcoin.
Unfortunately, there is a precedent for something like this to occur. On April 6, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102, “forbidding the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates within the continental United States.”
This essentially banned the private ownership of gold in the United States. Executive Order 6102 demanded that every citizen surrender their gold to the Federal Reserve by May 1, 1933. Violators of this executive order were subject to a $10,000 fine, which amounts to $209,000 in today’s dollars, and a 5-10 year prison term.
This is the one thing that should keep every Bitcoiner up at night. What is stopping them from doing something like this in the future? The precedent has been set. I’m not sure they would need a pretext to seize your bitcoin other than we are going bankrupt and want to stay in power.
The government knows who owns bitcoin or could find out relatively quickly with the help of the cryptocurrency exchanges. The Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations make it easy to see where you live and how much bitcoin you have.
If you are not familiar with buying non-KYC bitcoin, now is the time to learn how to do so. There are a few platforms that make it easy to buy and sell bitcoin without the government seeing your every move.
HodlHodl and Bisq utilize the power of multisig custody to make this happen. You can also buy KYC-free bitcoin from ATMs as well. For an in-depth walkthrough on how to buy bitcoin from an ATM or to use Bisq check out this article by Bitcoin Magazine contributor Econoalchemist.
Bitcoin businesses have to abide by KYC regulations created by the federal government. These rules adversely impact the lives of innocent people they claim to be protecting. I’ve been personally impacted by KYC rules and regulations. I won’t name the companies in question but I have had accounts closed, or been unable to open accounts with certain businesses for reasons that were never explained to me. If this can happen to me, it can certainly happen to anyone.
The power of The State is real and should not be taken lightly. The Bitcoin revolution is real and happening in real time but there are questions that you need to ask yourself. My question to you is: What will you do if the government makes it illegal to own Bitcoin? Are you going to turn over your bitcoin to the state? Are you willing to risk going to jail for your bitcoin? Are you going to leave?
What will you do if they outlaw bitcoin and you need food and shelter for your family? Are you willing to work in a black market? I don’t think these are questions that the average Bitcoiner is asking themselves — but they should.
The world is unstable, and who knows what the future holds for any of us? It is better to have a plan now versus being caught flat-footed.
In the meantime, continue to stay humble and stack sats.
This is a guest post by Robert Hall. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
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Let The Free Market Regulate The Value And Efficiency Of Bitcoin
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This is an opinion editorial by Kelly Slaughter, an associate professor of professional practice at the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University.
With elections coming up next month, it’s almost impossible to find common ground between liberals and conservatives. But there’s one subject that should unite red and blue voters: keeping bitcoin free from government regulation.
To make this case, compare bitcoin to a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC), currently being explored per a recommendation from a recent White House report. A CBDC fails to provide all the benefits of bitcoin while introducing new risks.
The attraction of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is that they are not subject to central decision-making. With a CBDC, the government could freeze digital accounts. As a replicated system, transactions between bitcoin holders cannot be restricted. Inspired by the same fear of having the accessibility of your assets at the whim of whichever party is in power, red and blue should agree to the benefits of a platform without a selective “off” button.
The White House report states a CBDC could promote financial inclusion and equity by enabling access for a broad set of consumers. Bitcoin is better positioned to do this. Roughly 5% of U.S. households are “unbanked,” which is to say they have no savings or checking accounts. The top two reasons for being unbanked are the inability to meet minimum requirements and a lack of trust in banks. Bitcoin requires no minimum balance and does not require trust in a governing institution.
Indeed, bitcoin’s most significant adoption is in poorer countries with high rates of unbanked households and high institutional distrust. The social good possibilities such as direct transfers are immense. Liberals and conservatives may come at this subject from different perspectives but both see the value in providing a financial infrastructure for those without.
Bitcoin is the most transparent financial system ever introduced and no central authority decides what is transparent and what is not made public. Anyone can access historical and current Bitcoin data. Even the code running Bitcoin is open for public review, including what changes were made and when.
The opportunities for leveraging this transparency are immense. What if you paid your taxes to a government bitcoin address? What if vendors were paid in bitcoin? What if the government and vendors had to share their addresses publicly? We would have the most financially transparent government ever conducted, answerable to both blue and red sides of the aisle.
There are a number of legitimate criticisms directed towards bitcoin. Regarding energy use, proponents and critics agree that a reduction in energy use is a worthwhile pursuit. We can then recognize the progress being made in transitioning to green mining.
What of the grift and illegal activities? Bitcoin proponents are keen to wrest this type of activity out of the system (though to be fair, what is the standard for an honest system? Are we asking more of Bitcoin than other systems?). While transparency alone can work against dishonest activity as seen in the legal seizure of cryptocurrency, many Bitcoin proponents want to work with the government to introduce reasonable regulations.
Bitcoin experiences significant volatility and speculation. This is not behavior we want in a currency and an issue recognized by all bitcoin advocates. But we analyze bitcoin from a 2022-based perspective as if the nature of money is static. In our country’s history, we have accepted foreign currency for official spending and allowed banks to print their own currency. The idea of what money does and how it behaves evolves. Bitcoin is a bit over a decade old and, if allowed, will also evolve based on our technical, economic and social preferences.
Bitcoin is not a replacement for the U.S. dollar, it is an alternative. We accept that USD is an alternative currency, officially and by custom, across the globe. Barter without a currency at all is still legal. We recognize a number of ways for people to transact. Both red and blue parties recognize the value of having financial options — bitcoin is another option with unique benefits.
Bitcoin opponents argue that bitcoin has no intrinsic value, unlike a fiat currency that is backed by the government. But what is our government but an agreement among citizens? Accordingly, citizens have the power of agreement in recognizing bitcoin as a means of transacting. With supporters on the right and the left, let’s agree to let bitcoin continue to evolve as a voluntary way for parties to choose to conduct business.
This is a guest post by Kelly Slaughter. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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Putin scrambles to boost weapons production for Ukraine war
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KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing military production delays and mounting losses, urged his government Tuesday to cut through bureaucracy to crank out enough weapons and supplies to feed the war in Ukraine, where a Western-armed Ukrainian counteroffensive has set back Russia’s forces.
In other developments, Ukrainian authorities asked citizens not to return home and further tax the country’s battered energy infrastructure, and Western countries mulled how to rebuild Ukraine when the war ends.
The Russian military’s shortfalls in the eight-month war have been so pronounced that Putin had to create a structure to try to address them. On Tuesday, he chaired a new committee designed to accelerate the production and delivery of weapons and supplies for Russian troops, stressing the need to “gain higher tempo in all areas.”
Russian news reports have acknowledged that many of those called up under a mobilization of 300,000 reservists Putin ordered haven’t been provided with basic equipment such as medical kits and flak jackets, and had to find their own. Other reports have suggested that Russian troops are increasingly forced to use old and sometimes unreliable equipment and that some of the newly mobilized troops are rushed to the war front with little training. Last week, Putin tried to show all is well by visiting a training site in Russia where he was shown well equipped soldiers.
To substitute for increasingly scarce Russian-made long-range precision weapons, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Russia was likely to use a large number of drones to try to penetrate Ukrainian air defenses. Russia’s “artillery ammunition is running low,” the British report said Tuesday.
The Institute for the Study of War, in Washington, added that “the slower tempo of Russian air, missile, and drone strikes possibly reflects decreasing missile and drone stockpiles and the strikes’ limited effectiveness of accomplishing Russian strategic military goals.”
The Russian military has still managed to inflict heavy damage and casualties, ruining homes, public buildings and Ukraine’s power grid. The World Bank estimates the damage to Ukraine so far at 350 billion euros ($345 billion).
Recent Russian attacks have focused largely on Ukraine’s energy facilities, especially electricity generation and transmission. Electricity shortfalls are so severe that Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk on Tuesday asked citizens living abroad not to return this winter to avoid placing further strain on the power supply.
“We need to survive the winter but, unfortunately, the (electricity) networks will not survive,” Vereshchuk said on Ukrainian television. “We understand that the situation will only get worse, and this winter we need to survive.”
In Berlin, European Union leaders brought together experts to work on a “new Marshall Plan” for rebuilding Ukraine — a reference to the U.S.-sponsored plan that helped revive Western European economies after World War II.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the meeting is addressing “how to ensure and how to sustain the financing of the recovery, reconstruction and modernization of Ukraine for years and decades to come.”
Scholz, who co-hosted the meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said he’s looking for “nothing less than creating a new Marshall Plan for the 21st century — a generational task that must begin now.”
On the diplomatic front, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Kyiv after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday that his country will continue to stand by Ukraine’s side in this war and support its people as long as it takes — by helping to rebuild the destroyed country and sending more weapons.
“Reconstruction is not waiting for the war to end. It must begin now,” the German president said, adding that “not only is Germany helping with the reconstruction, but we’re also helping Ukraine to prevent the brutal destruction, to make sure that the population is protected in the best possible way.”
He promised that Germany would help rebuild destroyed towns immediately and send two more MARS Medium Artillery Missile Systems and four type 2000 self-propelled howitzers.
On the battlefront, Russian missiles set a gas station on fire late Tuesday in the south-central city of Dnipro, killing at least two people and wounding at least three, Ukrainian news agencies reported.
In the southern city of Mykolaiv, residents lined up for water and essential supplies Tuesday as Ukrainian forces advanced on the nearby Russian-occupied city of Kherson.
One of Moscow’s allies on Tuesday urged Russia to step up the pace and scale of Ukraine’s destruction.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the regional leader of Chechnya who has sent troops to fight in Ukraine, urged Moscow to wipe off the map entire cities in retaliation for Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s territory. Authorities in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine have repeatedly reported Ukrainian shelling that has damaged infrastructure and residential buildings.
“Our response has been too weak,” Kadyrov said on his messaging app channel. “If a shell flies into our region, entire cities must be wiped off the face of the Earth so that they don’t ever think that they can fire in our direction.”
Kyiv wants to step up the fight, but says it needs more war materiel.
“We need more weaponry, we need more ammunition to win this war,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told reporters in Berlin. He added: “We need tanks from our partners, from all of our partners; we need heavy armored vehicles, we need additional artillery units, howitzers.”
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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Rishi Sunak Named U.K. Prime Minister
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Former U.K. treasury chief Rishi Sunak has become Britain’s first prime minister of color after being chosen to lead a governing Conservative Party, the third person to take the job amid a politically and economically turbulent year for the country. What do you think?
“Not sure how he’ll appeal to a generation of Truss loyalists.”
Matt Tucker, Mask Historian
“So they’re still doing the whole prime minister thing, huh?”
Jennifer Betancourt, Garage Painter
“Makes you wonder when America is going to elect its first non-white prime minister.”
Nick Freed, Casting Agent
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Modus and Venio Partner to Deliver Technology Solutions in Fedramp Authorized Environment
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Modus and Venio partner to bring a powerful combination of software and services to government agencies
Press Release
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Oct 24, 2022
CARY, N.C., October 24, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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Modus is pleased to announce that, effective immediately, VenioOne eDiscovery services are now available in the Modus FedRAMP Moderate authorized environment.Modus CEO, Steven Horan, said “Modus and Venio successfully partner to deliver technology and services to the private sector and have done so for many years. We are excited to announce inclusion of Venio technology into our FedRAMP Authorized environment to help agencies meet critical operational, IT, financial, and legal needs. The inclusion of Venio in our FedRAMP environment will open the door to provide this technology to more government agencies that require critical software functionality with the highest information security and operations controls. Modus is continually working with the talented FedRAMP, DOD, Homeland Security, and GSA teams to bring the most relevant, secure, and cost-effective solutions for government at all levels.”
Venio CEO John Burchfield remarked, “Venio is proud to expand our partnership with Modus as we offer our technology in their FedRAMP Authorized environment. Venio technology is already relied upon in several governmental environments, including some of the largest federal agencies. The added ability to offer our solutions through the Modus FedRAMP environment, and partnering with the incredible Modus support team, allows us to expand the scope and security of our offerings.”
Modus established FedRAMP Authorized eDiscovery services in 2021, leveraging market-leading capabilities that include Amazon Web Services. The addition of Venio technology to this environment is a significant enhancement to these services available to government agencies.
From the technology perspective, John Crites, Modus CIO, added, “The collaboration between Modus and Venio Systems engineers to meet, and exceed, the FedRAMP Moderate requirements demonstrated the agility of both companies’ technologies. It also reflects the dedication of Modus and Venio management to expanding services in state and federal markets. Venio One is a solid platform, and we look forward to providing these services to the government.”
The Federal Risk and Authorization Management program, or FedRAMP for short, is a government-wide program that promotes the adoption of secure cloud services by providing a standardized approach to security and risk assessment for cloud technologies. FedRAMP was established just over a decade ago for the purpose of providing a cost-effective, risk-based approach which would allow for the adoption and use of cloud services by any federal government agency. To date, only 280 companies worldwide are FedRAMP Authorized.
About Modus:
Modus is a leading provider of eDiscovery and data governance solutions for highly regulated clients in both the public and private sectors. Modus provides clients access to relevant technology and services, in a secure environment, delivered on time and on budget by a team of industry veterans. To learn more about Modus, visit their website discovermodus.com or connect with them via LinkedIn.
About Venio:
Venio offers a fully managed and secure cloud software that can assist clients in performing eDiscovery tasks. They offer increased processing speeds, custom automated workflows and AI tools to simplify your work. Their turnkey solution can handle cases of all sizes and complexities. Daily they work to achieve their mission of empowering organizations to discover the unknown and achieve the best possible outcome. To learn more about Venio Systems, visit their website veniosystems.com or connect with them via LinkedIn or Facebook.
Source: Modus
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New Zealand farmers hit streets to protest cow-burp tax plan
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Farmers across New Zealand took to the streets on their tractors Thursday to protest government plans to tax cow burps and other greenhouse gas emissions, although the rallies were smaller than many had expected.
Lobby group Groundswell New Zealand helped organize more than 50 protests in towns and cities across the country, the biggest involving a few dozen vehicles.
Last week, the government proposed a new farm levy as part of a plan to tackle climate change. The government said it would be a world first, and that farmers should be able to recoup the cost by charging more for climate-friendly products.
Because farming is so big in New Zealand — there are 10 million beef and dairy cattle and 26 million sheep, compared to just 5 million people — about half of all greenhouse gas emissions come from farms. Methane from burping cattle makes a particularly big contribution.
But some farmers argue the proposed tax would actually increase global greenhouse gas emissions by shifting farming to countries less efficient at making food.
At the protest in Wellington, farmer Dave McCurdy said he was disappointed in the small turnout, but said most farmers were working hard on their farms during a spell of good spring weather at a particularly busy time of year.
He said farmers were good environmental stewards.
“It’s our life, our family’s lives,” he said. “We’re not out there to wreck it, we wouldn’t make any money. We love our farms. That’s what annoys us. We’re painted at these bad guys, but a lot of farmers have spent generations looking after that land.”
He said the proposed tax didn’t take proper account of all the trees and brush he and other farmers had planted, which helped trap carbon and offset emissions. He said if the proposed tax and herd reductions went ahead, it would be ruinous to many farmers.
“I’m out,” he said. “Waste of time.”
Farming remains vital to New Zealand’s economy. Dairy products, including those used to make infant formula in China, are the nation’s largest export earner.
McCurdy said farmers had almost singlehandedly kept the economy afloat during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and now that the threat had passed and a recession was looming, the government was coming after them.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has pledged the nation will become carbon neutral by 2050. Part of that plan includes reducing methane emissions from farm animals by 10% by 2030 and by up to 47% by 2050.
The government had worked with farmers and other groups to try to come up with an emissions plan they could all live with. But many farmers have been incensed by the government’s final proposal, while environmentalists have said it doesn’t go nearly far enough.
Farmer Matt Swansson said he’d “had a gutsful” of the government and would consider refusing to pay the new tax.
He said on beautiful evenings on his farm, he thinks he has the best job in the world.
“But when it’s rain, drizzle, and you get home and listen to the news,” Swansson said. “Why do you bother?”
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70th United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Keynote Ark of Israel’s Major Fundraising Event in Nashville in November
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The inaugural Hearts Of Courage Gala will benefit the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Widows & Orphans Organization and Ark Of Israel’s initiatives to unite America and Israel
Press Release
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Oct 18, 2022 14:00 EDT
NASHVILLE, Tenn., October 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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Ark Of Israel is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to strengthen the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel. The organization is pleased to announce that the 70th United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be the keynote speaker at the inaugural Hearts Of Courage Gala on Nov. 14, 2022, at 6 p.m. (CT) at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University.Mike Pompeo served as the 70th United States Secretary of State from April 2018 through January 2021. He previously served from January 2017 to April 2018 as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
As our nation’s most senior diplomat, Secretary Pompeo helped craft U.S. foreign policy based on our nation’s founding ideals, putting America first. America became a massive energy exporter and a force for good in the Middle East, cementing real peace through the work of the Abraham Accords.
In addition to serving as the keynote, Secretary Pompeo will also receive the Hearts Of Courage Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedicated service to the United States and commitment to ensuring the safety of its greatest ally, Israel.
Secretary Pompeo will be joined by a growing lists of world-renowned guests who include: Anat Sultan Dadon (Consul General of Israel to the Southeastern United States), Shlomi Nahumson (CEO of IDF Widows and Orphans Organization), Netanel Hershtik (Cantor of The West Hampton Synagogue – NY), Shahar Azani (SR VP of the Jewish Broadcast Service), Justice Enlow (Miss Tennessee USA, 2020), Jonathan Feldstein (CEO of Genesis 123) and Kim Walker-Smith (Grammy-nominated artist and acclaimed worship leader) who will be providing live entertainment for guests.
The Hearts Of Courage Gala will bring leaders from across the globe together to honor the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel. With proceeds benefiting the IDF Widows & Orphans Organization and Ark Of Israel’s initiatives to unite America and Israel, this historic event will be a celebration as we come together to assist the most vulnerable among us.
To learn more about the The Hearts Of Courage Gala, other speakers, and how to register, please visit arkofisrael.com.
Ark Of Israel is a nonprofit organization that celebrates American values, actively works to strengthen the United States and Israel alliance, and was founded on the shared values of these two great nations.
For more information about the The Hearts Of Courage Gala, please call Josh Standifer at 865.307.4193 or email Josh@LocalArk.com.
Source: Ark Of Israel
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OPEC+ makes big oil cut to boost prices; pump costs may rise
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FRANKFURT, Germany — The OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries on Wednesday decided to sharply cut production to support sagging oil prices, a move that could deal the struggling global economy another blow and raise politically sensitive pump prices for U.S. drivers just ahead of key national elections.
Energy ministers meeting at the Vienna headquarters of the OPEC oil cartel cut production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November at their first face-to-face meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Besides a token trim in oil production last month, the major cut is an abrupt turnaround from months of restoring deep cuts made during the depths of the pandemic and could help alliance member Russia weather a looming European ban on oil imports.
In a statement, OPEC+ said the decision was based on the “uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks.”
The impact of the production cut on oil prices — and thus the price of gasoline made from crude — will be limited somewhat because OPEC+ members are already unable to meet the quotas set by the group.
The alliance also said it was renewing its cooperation between members of the OPEC cartel and non-members, the most significant of which is Russia. The deal was to expire at year’s end.
The decision comes as oil trades well below its summer peaks because of fears that major global economies such as the U.S. or Europe will sink into recession due to high inflation, rising interest rates meant to curb rising consumer prices, and uncertainty over Russia’s war against in Ukraine.
The fall in oil prices has been a boon to U.S. drivers, who saw lower gasoline prices at the pump before costs recently started ticking up, and for U.S. President Joe Biden as his Democratic Party gears up for congressional elections next month.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday that the U.S. would not extend releases from its strategic reserve to increase global supplies.
Biden has tried to receive credit for gasoline prices falling from their average June peak of $5.02 — with administration officials highlighting a late March announcement that a million barrels a day would be released from the strategic reserve for six months. High inflation is a fundamental drag on Biden’s approval and has dampened Democrats’ chances in the midterm elections.
Oil supply could face further cutbacks in coming months when a European ban on most Russian imports takes effect in December. A separate move by the U.S. and other members of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies to impose a price cap on Russian oil could reduce supply if Russia retaliates by refusing to ship to countries and companies that observe the cap.
The EU agreed Wednesday on new sanctions that are expected to include a price cap on Russian oil.
Russia “will need to find new buyers for its oil when the EU embargo comes into force in early December and will presumably have to make further price concessions to do so,” analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a note. “Higher prices beforehand — boosted by production cuts elsewhere — would therefore doubtless be very welcome.”
Dwindling prospects for a diplomatic deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program have also lowered prospects for a return of as much as 1.5 million barrels a day in Iranian oil to the market if sanctions are removed.
Oil prices surged this summer as markets worried about the loss of Russian supplies from sanctions over the war in Ukraine, but they slipped as fears about recessions in major economies and China’s COVID-19 restrictions weighed on demand for crude.
International benchmark Brent has sagged as low as $84 in recent days after spending most of the summer months over $100 per barrel.
At its last meeting in September, OPEC+ reduced the amount of oil it produces by 100,000 barrels a day in October. That token cut didn’t do much to boost lower oil prices, but it put markets on notice that the group was willing to act if prices kept falling.
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Pay bumps coming for more farmworkers, long denied overtime
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STUYVESANT, N.Y. — Harvest season means long days for U.S. farmworkers — but usually no overtime pay. Federal law exempts farms from rules entitling most workers to 1.5 times their regular wage when they work more than 40 hours in a week.
New York is now joining several states that have begun to change the rule.
The state’s labor commissioner on Friday approved a recommendation to phase in a 40-hour threshold for farmworker overtime over the next decade. Right now, farmworkers in New York qualify for overtime pay only after they have worked 60 hours in a week.
Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon called the plan “the best path forward” for farmworker equity and success for agricultural businesses.
Washington, Minnesota, Hawaii and Maryland have also granted forms of overtime entitlements to agricultural workers. California, an agricultural giant, this year began requiring farms to pay overtime to employees who work more than 40 hours in a week.
The changes have excited workers, who say they sorely need the extra money, but alarmed some farm owners, who say extra labor costs could wipe out thin profits.
Some labor movement advocates fear workers’ hours will be capped.
That’s what Elisabeth Morales says happened at the grape vineyard where she works in California’s Central Valley. After the state’s overtime rules changed, the vineyard cut her hours to no more than 40 per week, and hired more laborers so it could get needed work done without having to pay overtime.
Morales, a mother of four, said she had to take on a second job at McDonald’s to supplement her wages at the vineyard, which are $15 per hour for tasks like weeding plus 40 cents for every box of grapes she picks.
“I would prefer to work the extra hours even though they don’t pay us overtime,” Morales, 43, said in Spanish.
There isn’t much national data yet to say for sure whether lowering the overtime threshold will be as bad for farms’ bottom line as agribusiness predicts, or as good for workers as the labor movement hopes.
Farm workers were excluded from overtime pay in the federal 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, and some labor advocates say its a legacy of Jim Crow.
The overtime rule change is aimed at people like Doroteo, a farmhand at a Long Island vineyard who works almost 60 hours a week during harvest season, supplementing his pay with landscaping jobs on the side.
Doroteo prunes and weeds crops for $15 an hour. His pay peaks at $800 a week in the summer, when the most work needs to be done. He makes less in the fall, making it tougher to send money to his three children in Guatemala. He asked that his last name not be published because of worries he might be fired for talking about his job.
But farm owners say agriculture has been exempt from overtime rules for a reason.
“There has to be some common sense about what people expect when they go to work on a farm, and that it’s quite unique from other areas of work. It’s not something that can be done 40 hours a week and have weekends off,” said Nate Chittenden, the owner of a midsize dairy farm in Stuyvesant, New York.
Besides members of his family, his farm has 10 full-time employees.
“No farm wants to see people taken advantage of. We value people working on our farms. We want to provide for them a living while they work on our farm,” said Chittenden.
New York state government created a tax credit intended to defray the cost of overtime for farm employers, which Chittenden said would help somewhat.
In Washington state, this year saw the first harvest where farm workers could qualify for overtime pay after 55 hours worked. That threshold will drop in a phase-in that will make workers eligible for overtime after 40 hours worked by 2024.
In California, as more workers became eligible for overtime, some farms have switched to less labor-intensive crops like walnuts and almonds, which can be harvested efficiently using man-operated equipment, said Brian Little, the director of employment policy at the California Farm Bureau, which represents farmers.
He also said some growers are moving towards machines, rather than people, to do things like prune trees.
“It can run for hours. It doesn’t care if it’s 95 degrees outside. It doesn’t take a lunch break, and it doesn’t care if it’s working nine and a half hours in a workday,” Little said.
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Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on Twitter.
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Innovating Healthcare: Livanta Joins AWS Partner Network and AWS Public Sector Program
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Press Release
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Aug 4, 2022
ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION, Md., August 4, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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Livanta LLC (“Livanta”), a leading government contracting firm focused on healthcare quality improvement and information technology, announced today that the firm has recently joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN) and Public Sector Program (PSP). AWS Partners are poised to deliver secure, scalable and reliable business solutions based on AWS.The PSP recognizes AWS Partners with cloud-based solutions who have experience supporting government, space, education and nonprofits around the world.
“Livanta’s continued focus on innovation inspired the decision to participate in the APN to better utilize existing technology and create more value for our customers and stakeholders,” said Livanta Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Randall Severy. Severy added, “As a new APN Partner in the public sector, Livanta can now leverage AWS to improve our technology capabilities and better serve our existing and future customers’ needs.”
Collaborating with AWS helps technology-focused companies like Livanta accelerate their digital transformation so that they, in turn, are better able to serve their customers in the public and commercial sectors. Through both APN and PSP, AWS accelerates innovation on a global scale, ultimately enabling businesses to improve their ability to provide customers with better solutions through technology.
Livanta’s commitment to education and training is vital to helping customers and stakeholders drive their businesses forward. Severy noted, “Having a proven understanding of AWS products and services translates to Livanta creating, transforming, and enhancing its own technologies to stay ahead of the curve, so its customers can, too.”
As a validated AWS Public Sector Partner, Livanta currently uses more than 25 different AWS services, including Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), Amazon Connect, AWS Transfer Family, AWS Security Hub, and many others. By leveraging these products and services, Livanta will be able to better meet its customers’ needs.
About Livanta LLC
Livanta LLC, established in 2004, is a privately held firm headquartered in Annapolis Junction, MD. Livanta’s success lies in its team of knowledgeable professionals committed to providing excellent service and quality products powered by exceptional Information Technology (IT) solutions and data analytics.
CONTACT:
Source: Livanta
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Blagden Alley Naylor Court Association in Ongoing Discussions With Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto in Efforts to Preserve Blagden Alley
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The association continues its proactive approach to advancing responsible stewardship of the Blagden Alley Naylor Court Historic District, asks for help with noise, trash, traffic, and infrastructure support for alley businesses
Press Release
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Jun 24, 2022
WASHINGTON, June 24, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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Blagden Alley Naylor Court Association (BANCA) along with Shaw Main Streets, ANC2F, and select alley business owners participated in a productive meeting with Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto last night. The meeting was part of an ongoing series of engagements with the Councilmember, ABRA Director Fred Moosally, and federal officials—all with the goal of safeguarding residential use of Blagden Alley Naylor Court, and procuring resources for alley businesses while simultaneously preserving the historic character of the alleys.[1] Each building in the alley has been on the National Register of Historic places since 1990.Over recent years, the alleys have struggled, facing unprecedented challenges; most recently an incident resulting in an assault charge of a club owner seeking an alcohol license in Blagden Alley as reported by the Washingtonian and Fox5 News. “We have a longstanding history of community activism — addressing problematic businesses as well as strongly supporting responsible ones — and we see both our residents and businesses struggling with the overwhelming trash, traffic, and noise in the alley,” said Robert Goldberg, Chairman of BANCA. “We were happy to facilitate attendance at yesterday’s meeting and are encouraged by Councilmember Pinto’s commitment to restoring the alleys.”
Resident Rights: Under District law, Blagden Alley residents are granted explicit rights as related to residential use of the alleys. Specifically, Blagden Alley — “Encourage adaptive reuse and mixed use infill development along Blagden Alley, a residentially zoned block with historic structures such as carriage houses, garages, and warehouses. Appropriate measures should be taken to safeguard existing residential uses as such development takes place.” D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 10 § A2111.
An Alley in Distress: Several community members shared their struggles with Councilmember Pinto, largely centered around highly disruptive noise, trash and traffic and noting the now 10 alcohol establishments internal to Blagden Alley’s small square block. Amplified Noise: The acoustics of the alley were discussed as noise amplifies and echoes causing conversations between patrons to be heard throughout the alley. Trash Overflow and Traffic Jams: Concerns were expressed over the overflow of trash and the constant onslaught of delivery trucks and rideshare vehicles which have caused severe congestion, contributing to the overall noise and exhaust pollution, as well as pedestrian injuries. “There have been times our trash hasn’t been picked up because there were too many vehicles in the alley and the garbage truck couldn’t get through,” said one business owner.
Meeting attendees emphasized that these challenges have also directly impacted neighborhood use of the alley for activities such as walking pets or for children to ride their bikes safely. Anecdotes were shared about disappointed visitors unable to enjoy the iconic art in DC Alley Museum located in Blagden Alley, or reflect on the alley’s historical significance and century-old buildings. “You can’t take any of the art in when a trash truck or delivery truck is reversing into you,” noted one resident.
Proposed Solutions: Solutions discussed included noise mitigation measures, securing a commercial trash compactor, creating a loading zone on the 9th Street side of Blagden Alley, securing designated parking for residents, and permitting alley traffic to residents and tenants only. Additionally, greater agency education, coordination, and enforcement to ensure the safeguarding of Blagden Alley resident rights were discussed.
“For me, it’s not only about preserving architecture, it’s about residents and businesses working together to preserve alley life and alley living,” said one resident. “We need the District’s support and clear guidelines to reduce confusion, complaints, and hostility.”
Assistant Chief of Police for Patrol Service North Morgan Kane was lauded for her leadership and community care along with Commander James Boteler, and Lieutenant Curtis Miller. BANCA expressed a need for greater agency coordination and action to support MPD.
Councilmember Pinto closed the meeting by condemning any form of aggression towards residents voicing concerns or protesting ABRA licenses. She reiterated her commitment to working with the relevant District agencies to ensure meaningful improvements in Blagden Alley Naylor Court, and reinforced the need for all stakeholders to work together to preserve the alleys as a place where residents and businesses both can thrive.
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The Blagden Alley Naylor Court Association (BANCA) is a citizen’s association established in 1985. Visit us at: www.myblagdennaylor.org. Follow BANCA on Twitter and Instagram: @myblagdennaylor
[1] Blagden Naylor was home to emancipated slaves — here you will find the home of our first Black U.S. Senator Blanche Kelso Bruce, a man born into slavery and who went on to serve in the Senate from 1875-1881. In the 1930s, the struggling community banded together to protect these alleys from the Alley Dwelling Elimination Act of 1943 and an onslaught of Federal government propaganda — if it were not for them, these alleys would not exist today.
Source: Blagden Alley Naylor Court Association
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Mayor Diaz-Padron Secures $5m in Appropriations for City of West Miami
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Press Release
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Jun 14, 2022
MIAMI, June 14, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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City of West Miami Mayor Eric Diaz-Padron announces securing $5,000,000 in State and Federal appropriations for the City of West Miami in 2022. This funding will add to the $1.33 Million the city obtained over the previous three years since Diaz-Padron joined the Commission. This funding is geared towards improving the city’s aging potable water system.“This crucial funding will be put to work immediately to ensure that West Miami residents benefit from high-quality drinking water. In replacing the over 70-year-old system, the city will address concerns related to deteriorated and leaking pipes which cause environmental damage and budget issues,” said Diaz-Padron.
$3 Million of the funding is coming by way of the federal government as part of an earmark sponsored and secured by Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar. The remaining $2 Million was appropriated by the State of Florida in the budget recently signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. The appropriation bill was sponsored and spearheaded by State Senator Ileana Garcia and State Representative Demi Busatta Cabrera.
“Our city is blessed with dedicated and influential elected officials that understand the challenges we face. We are grateful for Congresswoman Salazar’s work in Congress and Senator Ileana Garcia and Representative Busatta Cabrera’s efforts in the Florida legislature. It’s a powerful thing when all levels of government are working together for the betterment of the community,” added Diaz-Padron.
About West Miami, Florida
Incorporated in 1947, the City of West Miami is a small city of about 8,000 residents nestled between the City of Miami and the City of Coral Gables. It is also the City where United States Senator Marco Rubio began his political career. Mayor Eric Diaz-Padron, 27, is an attorney and currently serves as the youngest mayor in the State of Florida.
Press Contact:
Info.Mayor@CityofWestMiami.org
Source: City of West Miami, FL
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