Three Things You Need to Know - November 27, 2017

November 27, 2017

WRITER

The Digital Currency Revolution

We live in an age of technological disruption. It’s everywhere. Transportation, space flight, manufacturing, retail… everything’s about to change. Some of the changes are happening where you’d least expect it. Even the way we spend, save and invest. Money and currency is going through its own technological revolution, and digital currency is the way of the future.

Bitcoin surged past 9,000 over the weekend. As of right now it’s at 9,750 and moving towards 10,000 per coin faster than analysts and algorithms can keep track of it. It took just seven days for this digital currency to go from 8,000 to 9,000. Coinbase, the largest bitcoin exchange in the US, added over 100,000 accounts JUST IN THE LAST WEEK. All these stats are unprecedented, and they’re only from the past seven days.

In January Bitcoin was at about a 1,000 dollars per coin. It went on to hit EIGHT different 1,000-point milestones this year alone. We’re looking at a 900% increase.

These stats are just for Bitcoin, but all digital currencies are now at all-time highs. Ethereum, Litecoin… they’re all climbing. Now I’m not telling you how to invest your money, and all this could come crashing down any minute. BUT, this appears to be more than just a fad. The technology behind digital currencies is changing the way people are banking all over the world. Blockchain technology is opening up possibilities that were simply unavailable LITERALLY just a few months ago. People with no access to banks can now invest, trade, and spend anonymously, AND they can do it from the comfort of their own personal handheld device. Don’t like banks and bankers? Blockchain and digital currency enables you to be your own. Whether you live in Manhattan or a village in Liberia.

This is all new technology, and - like everything new and startup - it comes with risk. Invest in only what you don’t mind losing immediately. Treat it like going to Vegas, because all of this could take a serious nosedive at any given moment. But change is occurring. Disruption is happening whether we like it or not. Transportation, space flight, manufacturing, retail, and now currency. The time to prepare is now.

The Pelosi Disconnect

Which matters more – principles or power?

It’s easy to say “principles,” when you’re not in power. But for those who are in power, how many can actually say, backed up by their actions, that principles come first?

Is it better to have power, in order to accomplish some really important things for the good of the country, even if it means you violate some principles along the way? A lot of Republicans and Democrats would answer yes.

A year after the presidential election, this continues to be the disturbing trend in America, this win-at-all-cost attitude. We’re leaking principles Left and Right trying to play king of the mountain.

We have an 88-year-old Democrat from Michigan, John Conyers Jr., the longest-serving member of Congress, who gets to secretly settle a sexual harassment complaint, with taxpayer money, and the worst consequence he may face is stepping down from the House Judiciary Committee (which he did yesterday). A second woman has also accused him of sexual harassment.

A couple Democrats have called for him to resign from Congress, but so far Conyers says he won’t. In fact, he plans to fight the sexual harassment allegations against him and regain his spot on the Judiciary Committee. Why? Because winning – power – is more important than principles.

Then we have House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Meet the Press yesterday, awkwardly defending Conyers because he’s an “icon.” I’m not sure being an icon is the best defense to use here.

She also said Conyers deserves “due process.” That’s true – due process is vital. I’m just trying to figure out why “due process” is appropriate in Conyers’ case, while accusers in other cases seem to be taken at their word.

Pelosi went on to say that you can’t equate the Al Franken and Roy Moore sexual harassment allegations. Why is she defending Conyers and Franken? Because power matters more than principles.

What matters most? I’ve been focusing on that question a lot lately. Our principles certainly matter, because they form the bedrock that our free society is built on. When that bedrock of principles fractures, the whole thing crumbles. And we’re feeling the effects of those fractures now.

The Girl Scouts Just Jumped the Shark

You’re a bad parent.

How do I know?

You insisted that your daughter hug her grandma and grandpop when they came over for Thanksgiving dinner.

Bad parent!

Did you know that you are teaching your daughter that she “owes” people physical affection? She will grow up thinking she owes anyone and everyone a hug…or more!

First she’s hugging grandma and then she’s on the streets selling herself!

That’s the ridiculous advice from the leaders of the Girl Scouts, anyway.

They wrote a post over the weekend titled “Reminder: She Doesn’t Owe Anyone a Hug. Not Even at the Holidays.”

They continue: “Have you ever insisted, “Uncle just got here—go give him a big hug!” or “Auntie gave you that nice toy, go give her a kiss,” when you were worried your child might not offer affection on her own? If yes, you might want to reconsider the urge to do that in the future. Think of it this way, telling your child that she owes someone a hug either just because she hasn’t seen this person in a while or because they gave her a gift can set the stage for her questioning whether she “owes” another person any type of physical affection when they’ve bought her dinner or done something else seemingly nice for her later in life.”

In light of the Hollywood sexual harassment claims, the Girl Scouts are trying to get you to start a conversation about consent with your children. It’s up to you to take their advice or not. Every family dynamic is different, but as a parent, it is up to you to decide whether little Tina is just being rude to Uncle Tom by not saying hello and hugging him or your child is uncomfortable for some reason.

If you choose to take the Girl Scouts advice, consider the other side, also. You are making hugging family members and close friends a taboo act and creating fake hysteria about your child’s affection with loved ones.

I have my own advice for the Girl Scouts. Let the parents decide and stick to what you do best. And by that I mean make cookies.

MORE 3 THINGS

Glenn Beck challenges 'democratic-socialist' Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'Show me the numbers'

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Self-proclaimed "democratic-socialist" Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a progressive checklist on Twitter which purported to distinguish the acceptable form of progressivism. How much would all of this cost us?

If you're annoyed by the clapping emoji 👏 right now, it's for good reason

Rich Polk/Getty Images for Disney

I'm going to introduce you to what is by far the most annoying trend on social media involving a particular emoji. The annoying online trend features the clapping emoji 👏 in 👏 between 👏 each 👏 word.

The technique is most often used — unironically — by the social justice types to express indignation or condescension.

It's meant to imply that the person who is writing the message is so much more "woke" than you that they are righteously allowed to clap in your face. Just looking at it is enough to test your blood pressure. Among the most recent standouts is the controversy surrounding Scarlett Johansson's decision to play a transgender character, which LGBTQ advocates would view as a good thing, right? You know, her being an ally to their cause and all. Here's one of the myriad tweets that sums up the feeling:

Why 👏 are 👏 you 👏 playing 👏 a 👏 trans 👏 man 👏 if 👏 you're 👏 not 👏 a 👏 trans 👏 man 👏 please 👏 stop 👏 #ScarlettJohansson
— Laura. (@_laurajane123) July 3, 2018

For weeks, the social justice types had been raging about Johansson, who was slated to portray a crime kingpin who was born a woman but identified as male in the film Rub & Tug.

In an interview with NPR — naturally — a trans activist had this to say about it:

Casting male actors to play trans women and female actors to play trans men really reinforces the idea that trans men are really women who are pretending to be men and tricking people into thinking they're men as opposed to the truth, which is that transgender men are living authentically as themselves. And we look like men and we feel like men, and we are perceived as men, and there's no reason, like, women should be playing us.

Listen to the full interview here:

Boy, if it weren't already confusing enough…

In response to this so-called backlash, Scarlett Johansson released a statement to her critics, noting to "tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto and Felicity Huffman's reps for comment."

But, finally — as most people do these days — she buckled. She released the following statement:

In light of recent ethical questions raised surrounding my casting as Dante Tex Gill, I have decided to respectfully withdraw my participation in the project. Our cultural understanding of transgender people continues to advance, and I've learned a lot from the community since making my first statement about my casting and realize it was insensitive.

What's the source of all this outrage? Because, we all know that the small but vocal mob — who the mainstream media has for some reason given a platform, and whose voice is louder than the rest of ours — is able to bully until they get what they want.

There's no winning.

Let's say that Scarlett Johansson had refused the role to begin with, on the grounds that she will not play a transgender character. You can guarantee the same crowd that's outraged now would be in fits. There's no winning. The best we can do is treat those around us with respect, live humbly and, for heaven's sake, don't clap between every damn word.

We should all be praying for success at the Trump/Putin sit-down

ALEKSEY NIKOLSKYI/AFP/Getty Images

92 percent of the world's nuclear weapons are in TWO countries: the U.S. and Russia. And as I'm speaking right now, the leaders of both countries are sitting down at a table to try and figure out how to coexist with one another. Sounds kind of important right? And even though the media will slap-fight each other to death today in an attempt to turn the Trump/Putin summit partisan, what's happening right now in Helsinki is probably the least most partisan thing happening right now… like anywhere. As in, the entire planet.

If there was ever a time to be partisan… this isn't it. To any Democrat, Republican or mainstream media pundit looking to turn this into some gotcha political narrative… what the hell is wrong with you? The last time the U.S. and Russian presidents sat down for a summit was in 2010… eight years ago! Here's a small rundown of how "cold" our relationship has been since then.

Russia still has troops in Georgia after their invasion during Obama's first term. Keep in mind, Georgia was a country considering joining NATO. That invasion was Russia's coming out party. It was a warning to the world that things were about to change, and they were just getting started. They would then invade, steal and annex Crimea from Ukraine. They'd also invade, destabilize and wage war in Eastern Ukraine. That war is still going on to this day, but rarely does the media talk about it anymore. And the backdrop to that invasion and silent war was an accusation from the Russians that the United States deliberately encouraged the fall of the Ukrainian president and government.

Meanwhile, Russia continues supplying troops and equipment to their side, and we are now providing military training and anti-tank missiles to ours.

And Ukraine is just one of the proxy wars currently being fought between the two nuclear powers. Syria is the other. In April, we admitted to killing nearly 200 Russians in that conflict.

Over the past four years, over 700 Russian citizens and companies have been sanctioned, 35 diplomats have been declared persona non grata, 2 Russian diplomatic compounds have been closed, one consulate and two diplomatic annexes. Oh… and Russia has ejected over 700 U.S. diplomatic staff.

Between cyber attacks and indictments on Russian intelligence personnel, tensions have never been higher.

Between cyber attacks and indictments on Russian intelligence personnel, tensions have never been higher. Russia currently maintains an arsenal of 6,600 nuclear weapons. We have 6,450. The next closest nuke holders are France with 300 and China with 280. It's not even close. Between Washington and Moscow, there are over 13,000 nuclear weapons pointed at one another.

Forget partisan politics. The two toughest kids on the block just met for a sit-down, and we should all be praying for their success.

SERIOUSLY? Can we deport the chainsaw attacker, pretty please?

Alex Wong/Getty Images

It's not just the Twitter mobs, the Leftist extremists and the flagrant fourth-wave feminists who want ICE abolished. As we've seen, there's a growing number of politicians who want to see it as well.

Cue Alejandro Alvarez, who in his 32 years has managed to cultivate his brand as a "serial immigration violator." Alejandro has been deported 11 times. Well, he's facing deportation once again, after allegedly "slashing his wife with a chainsaw." His wife is in recovery and is expected to survive.

Around 3:00 pm last Wednesday, police arrived at Alejandro's. When they arrived, they found Alvarez's wife suffering from "traumatic physical injuries, believed to have been inflicted by a chainsaw." The couple's three children were huddled in fear inside the home. Alejandro's wife was rushed to a nearby trauma center for an emergency surgery.

Alejandro fled the scene of the crime, but was eventually hauled in by police and booked under "suspicion of attempted murder, child endangerment, hit and run, and grand theft auto."

Sounds like the kind of guy who should be in our country illegally, right?

ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley noted that "Immigration officers have lodged a detainer against Alvarez, requesting that local authorities notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement before his release to allow them to take the man into custody."

This is the new reality.

This is the new reality. The immigration agency has to ask for permission, to file requests, to have illegal immigrants who are guilty of crimes dealt with. Luckily for Alejandro, Los Angeles is a sanctuary city, so maybe he'll get another pass and be back on the streets in no time.

UPDATE: Here's how the discussion went on radio. Watch the video below.

Why is nobody talking about this?

Alabama law enforcement officials say that an illegal immigrant and an immigrant in the United States on a green card are responsible for the brutal murders of a grandmother and her 13-year-old special needs granddaughter in what investigators say is violence related to Mexican drug cartels.

Glenn's Show Prep