friedrich hayek the III

Unpopular opinion: college edition Just because you've gone to college, that doesn't make you smart.

@RepJackKimble @grok who is the woman in this photo?

Look who I ran into! open.substack.com/pub/representa…

Folks, we told you this was coming, and today the mask is fully off. A couple weeks back we reported, based on solid sources, that Coinbase was quietly lobbying to kill a real de minimis tax exemption for Bitcoin while pushing one that applied only to stablecoins like USDC. We laid out the clear incentives in our deep dive. Coinbase made 1.35 billion dollars in stablecoin revenue last year, up 48 percent year over year, almost entirely from yield on the Treasuries backing USDC. A proper Bitcoin de minimis would let people spend sats on everyday purchases without triggering taxable events on every transaction. That directly competes with their centralized yield machine. We called it what it was. Policy that protects Coinbase’s float rather than advancing neutral Bitcoin adoption. Brian Armstrong pushed back hard. He called our reporting totally false and misinformation while insisting he was personally lobbying for Bitcoin de minimis. Some accused us of lying or spreading rumors. We stood firm. We offered to have Brian on the TFTC podcast to clear the air. We waited. Now the latest draft from Reps. Horsford and Max Miller on the updated PARITY Act framework has dropped. It confirms exactly what we warned about. It gives a de minimis exemption to stablecoins but leaves Bitcoin out entirely. It keeps the punishing double taxation on Bitcoin mining fully intact while carving out relief for passive validation, basically staking. This is not an oversight or sloppy drafting. It abandons any pretense of technology neutrality and deliberately picks winners. Dollar-pegged stables and staking get the breaks, while actual Bitcoin usage as money and Proof-of-Work mining get kneecapped. Without de minimis for Bitcoin, every small Lightning payment or sat transaction still forces cost-basis tracking and IRS headaches. Paying your plumber in sats or grabbing lunch with Bitcoin remains a taxable event. Stablecoins, being pegged and low-volatility, get an exemption they barely need. The real beneficiary is protecting that massive USDC reserve float and the yield it generates. Meanwhile, American Bitcoin miners, already operating in one of the toughest, most capital- and energy-intensive industries, face continued double taxation while staking gets a pass. That is not neutral policy. It is industrial policy against domestic Bitcoin mining at a time when we should be leaning into energy abundance and securing the hardest monetary network. The Bitcoin Policy Institute is releasing a full statement soon, and we fully back the call for strong community pushback. Every Bitcoiner needs to contact their reps and make it politically radioactive to sideline Bitcoin while handing carve-outs to stables and staking. This language slows real adoption, entrenches custodians, and weakens American Bitcoin infrastructure. We weren’t lying. Our sources weren’t lying. The draft proves the reporting was on target. Those who rushed to call it misinformation owe the community some honest reflection. Brian, if you’re still open to that conversation, the invitation stands. Come on the podcast. No spin, just walk us through how this draft lines up with your stated support for Bitcoin de minimis. The mic is warm. This fight isn’t over. Bitcoin doesn’t need permission, but bad policy can delay sovereign adoption and punish the miners securing the network. We’re here to protect the protocol and the right of individuals to use sound money without turning every transaction into a compliance nightmare. Stay sovereign. Stack sats. Use Bitcoin as money anyway. Call your reps today.

Even more concerning news today on the Bitcoin tax front. We’re going to need the Cyber Hornets for this one. 👇 Today’s new draft **leaves the double taxation on bitcoin mining in place** and only provides relief to staking. So now the proposal is: - De minimis for stablecoins but not Bitcoin - Fixing tax treatment for “passive validation” (I.e. staking) but not Bitcoin mining This contradicts all prior proposals on this issue. This is not tech neutral and picks winners and losers for no reason. Full statement from BPI coming soon about @RepHorsford and @RepMaxMiller’s draft. We need strong community push back to show that this language sets America and Bitcoin back.

@BowesChay @grok is this a real commercial for assisted suicide??

It’s a Friday night in Canada. You order a pizza, sit down to watch the game with your kid, and then an ad for assisted suicide comes on with slick visuals and low techno. What do you say to your child?

@LoneChildMJB @grok give me the history on the Arab Muslim slave trade

Arab Muslims and slave traders determining the price of an African slave. This went on till 1970s btw

@chamath @grok why and how will all states be paying for the bailout?

Take a minute and listen…California is functionally bankrupt. You can’t tax your way out of it. A California bankruptcy will wash over to all the states as they will be paying for the bailout.

@CoinDesk @grok explain to me why this logo design is.

INSIGHT: Australia's Central Bank backs tokenization, projecting $16.7B in annual efficiency gains from its wholesale markets pilot.

Some may laugh but the world needs more people like him.

🇺🇸 UPDATE: The White House clears review of a proposed 401(k) rule by US Dept. of Labor that could allow crypto investments.

@DamienRieu @grok is this accurate?

If the world knew what is happening in France… Here is how former mayors were treated by the voters of the new mayors of immigrant origin this Sunday during the municipal elections.

@DailyLoud Can’t wait to ask the person next to me to move so I can convert the row to a bed.

BREAKING: United Airlines releases new "Relax Row" where passengers can make a bed out of three chairs.

@KevOnStage 🤓 there is an economic policy lesson here.

Vegas was always gonna get the people back. This is basically a cruise offering.

Americans could have a bank account that’s fully backed, zero-fee, and pays 4% interest. 

Instead of the Wall Street Ponzi. But Congress is trying to ban it. Because money talks in Washington, and Wall Street writes very big checks.

@CoinDesk @ChairmanSelig Wake me when it arrives.

JUST IN: CFTC @ChairmanSelig says "Crypto CLARITY is coming."

@JoeyAkan @grok what song is this?

End-stage 'Afrobeats to the world': One of the greatest delusions of Nigerians refusing to fix the local music industry was "they don't have our sauce. Everyone will come to us." Even after seeing the stripping and reintegration of Caribbean genres into the global music splicing machine. Afrobeats is there already. Every pop culture space has stripped, redefined and melded Afrobeats into their local offering, making it far removed from the West African originators. This dude doesn't need to come to Lagos for no 'sauce.' He already unlocked his own new and familiar thing. This is end-stage Afrobeats to the world.

@KimKimuntu @grok is this real?

J’aimerais parler du gavage des filles en #Mauritanie. On appelle cette pratique “leblouh”. Et contrairement à ce que beaucoup veulent faire croire, ce n’est pas une vieille pratique du passé. Ça existe encore. Aujourd’hui. Dans notre pays. Il s’agit d’un gavage forcé de filles, de très jeunes filles, dans le but de les faire grossir rapidement afin qu’elles deviennent “mariables”. Concrètement, des fillettes peuvent être contraintes de boire des litres de lait chaque jour, d’ingérer des quantités énormes de couscous, de millet, de beurre ou d’huile, parfois jusqu’à atteindre 14 000 à 16 000 calories quotidiennes, soit plusieurs fois les besoins normaux pour une enfant. Quand les filles refusent de manger ou n’arrivent plus à avaler, elles subissent des violences physiques terrifiantes. La technique (plutôt torture) appelée “Azayar” consiste à coincer leurs orteils entre des bâtons, infligeant une douleur INTENSE pour les forcer à continuer à avaler. Et parfois quand certaines vomissent, on les oblige à réavaler leur propre vomi. Imaginez une enfant en larmes, le corps tordu de souffrance, forcée chaque jour à subir cela… Pourquoi cette pratique existe-t-elle ? À l’origine, dans les sociétés nomades sahariennes, un corps féminin volumineux n’était pas seulement valorisé, il était utilisé comme preuve de richesse et de prestige, réduisant les corps féminins à des marqueurs de statut. Au fil du temps, l’obésité est devenue le critère de beauté officiel ! seule une femme corpulente est considérée belle et “mariable” selon les attentes de la société… Mais ce n’est pas qu’une question d’apparence… le “leblouh” entretient le statut inférieur des filles en Mauritanie. Il est directement lié aux mariages précoces ! selon l’UNICEF, plus d’un tiers des filles sont mariées avant 18 ans et près d’un quart avant 15 ans….. Il faut aussi dire clairement une chose : le “leblouh” n’a pas disparu. Il a reculé dans certains milieux urbains, oui. Mais il existe encore, notamment dans des zones rurales. et il s’est même modernisé…. Des filles et femmes sont désormais contraintes de prendre des médicaments à base de corticoïdes, des stimulateurs de l’appétit ou des hormones de croissance, pour atteindre plus rapidement le corps “désiré”, car la pression familiale et sociale continue d’exiger qu’elles grossissent. Et surtout, il n’existe toujours pas de loi spécifique en Mauritanie qui interdise explicitement cette pratique. Elle n’est pas clairement nommée ni criminalisée… Mes pensées vont à ma grand-mère, dont les jambes portent encore les marques du “Azayar”. Et je pense à toutes ces filles qui ont perdu la vie à cause de cette horrifique pratique, ainsi qu’à celles qui ont survécu, portants leurs blessures chaque jour…. @frauleinmei

@libsoftiktok @grok what is this bill?

MUST WATCH: A brave Philadelphia resident BLASTS Democrats during a city council meeting for pushing communist polices that strip away property owners' rights and embolden squatters.

@tedcruz @grok do you have a link to the music playing in this video?

INTRODUCING JAMES TALARICO. 🤣🤣

@CWBChicago @grok is this true?

CPD uses facial recognition to help identify killers, robbers, and sexual deviants who plague the CTA. They’ve used it to catch a murderer in Lincoln Park and a kidnapper in Wrigleyville. This state rep wants to make sure they can never use it again. cwbchicago.com/2026/03/facial…