The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is the federal banking regulator and an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury.
Issued an interpretative note on January 4:
Federally regulated banks can use stablecoins to conduct payments, other activities
could participate in blockchain networks – can participate as nodes on a blockchain and store or validate payments
It was seven years ago that former electric-car engineer Ozzie Zehner wrote “Unclean at Any Speed,” warning that, environmentally speaking, plug-in vehicles were more scam than savior. Now a third-generation automobile dealer who has driven electric cars illustrates how they’re also expensive and unrealistic.
That is, “fast charge” electric power is not only up to 62-percent more costly per mile than gasoline, but powering up is not even all that fast: It takes an hour or more.
This can equate to waiting hundreds of hours annually for your vehicle to charge while on the road. Read More
“Green passport” app provides broad incentives for Israelis to get COVID vaccine
It is somewhat miraculous how Israel was able to procure so many vaccine doses while larger, richer countries are struggling to do the same. There is a feeling that perhaps Pfizer, Moderna and other vaccine manufacturers are using the Jewish state as a kind of testing ground. On the other hand, this is the land of miracles.
Be that as it may, the vast majority of Israelis are clamoring to get jabbed, and there was an air of disappointment over news that the vaccine drive might need to slow down a bit to ensure there are enough second doses for all those who already got their first shot.
What really had Monday’s demonstrators hot and bothered was a Knesset Law Committee meeting taking place at the same time to discuss the “green passport” initiative that will allow inoculated Israelis to return to some semblance of a normal life. Read More
A project conducted by Harvard University scientists and funded largely by Microsoft founder Bill Gates to test sun-dimming technology to cool global warming is quietly moving forward in Sweden.
We know what you’re thinking – this can’t be real… but it is.
Reuters reports that the Harvard project “plans to test out a controversial theory that global warming can be stopped by spraying particles into the atmosphere that would reflect the sun’s rays.” Read More
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters, Iranian media said on Monday, at a time of tension between Tehran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen at South Korean banks due to US sanctions.
Several Iranian media outlets, including Iranian state TV, said the Guards navy captured the vessel for polluting the Gulf with chemicals. The semi-official Tasnim news agency published pictures showing what it identified as Guards speed boats escorting the tanker HANKUK CHEMI, which it said was carrying 7,200 tons of ethanol.
It said the vessel’s crew members had been detained and included nationals of South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar, but did not say how many there were. It said the tanker was being held at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port city.
South Korea’s foreign ministry did not have an immediate comment. Read More
UK scientists “not confident” NHS can handle surge in COVID cases
UK to expand ‘Tier 4’ lockdowns nationwide; reports of Tier 5
UK starts Astra-Zeneca vaccine rollout
US begins 2nd doses
US cases top 200K
Global cases top 85MM
Officials play catch-up with vaccine rollout
UK to delay second vaccine doses
Japan weighs state of emergency
Scotland reimposes lockdown
Germany to extend lockdown
Fauci says possible vaccines become mandatory
Greece announced 1-week lockdown
Norway’s PM announces fresh restrictions
South Korea widens ban on private gatherings
Norway imposes new restrictions
Thailand sees 745 new cases Monday
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Update (1500ET): Boris Johnson has just announced a new national lockdown for England that effectively mirrors the lockdown from last spring. In addition to closing schools and non-essential businesses, citizens will be asked to remain at home except when shopping for food, or traveling to/from work (if physical attendance is absolutely essential). Read More
A lawsuit has been filed in federal court against the city of Hart, Michigan, after officials there ordered a T-shirt message about Jesus censored.
The case developed when Margaret Wittman, an elections worker, was relieved of her duties for refusing to hide her shirt that said, “My heart will TRUST in you JESUS,” while working at the polls during the presidential election.
Robert Muise, of the American Freedom Law Center, which is working on the case, said, “The Constitution does not permit government officials to order a private citizen to check her religion at the door to city hall. Ms. Wittman does not cease being a Christian when she is performing her duties as an election worker…”
A senior Iranian commander has warned that the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has given the green light for Tehran-backed proxies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip “to level” two of Israel’s three largest cities.
Gen. Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, commander of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told Al-Manar TV that the terrorist groups would destroy Haifa and Tel Aviv if “any foolishness is committed against Iran,” warning that the Islamic republic has been working for years on developing the capabilities of its proxies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
“All the missile capabilities of Gaza and Lebanon have been supported by Iran, and they are the front line for confrontation,” he added.
Noting that “the capabilities of the resistance axis” are much advanced from what they were 10 years ago Hajizadeh said, “today, the Palestinians fire rockets instead of throwing stones.” Read More
Later this year, the ECB will meet for a grand strategy review. Expected to be one of the most consequential policy reviews for years to come, the central bank could opt for changes to its inflation target (some doves have proposed following in the footsteps of the Fed by loosening the ECB’s inflation target) as some have insisted. But one change that appears virtually certain, is that the central bank will adopt language addressing matters like climate change, economic equality, etc.
From the minute the ECB selected Christine Lagarde to succeed Mario Draghi, it seemed almost like a forgone conclusion. But more than a year later, Joe Biden’s decision to nominate Janet Yellen to lead the Treasury Department showed that across the Atlantic, central bankers are focusing on a similar agenda.
During a recent interview with International Man, Doug Casey rebutted demands for the Fed to take on inequality by doling out ‘reparations’. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has repeatedly called on the central bank to address inequality…but the irony is, the Fed is one of the progenitors of economic inequality. Read More
He described Biden’s declared support of transgender surgery for children as “lunacy.” And he warned that the “promises made” by the Biden camp “should disturb every conservative Christian.”
For example, Biden “has told us emphatically that he will bring an open season on the unborn child.”
He will force Americans to fund abortions, implement abortion on demand nationwide without any limits, force Americans to fund Planned Parenthood, the biggest abortion provider, and force Christians such as the Little Sisters of the Poor to fund abortions in their health insurance plans, he said.
Our government appears to be about to abandon this system in the next month. If that occurs, government of the people, by the people, and for the people may well perish from the earth. This moment is that significant! If the awesome power of government can function, dictate, demand, tax, and penalize its citizens without accountability, democracy will have ceased to exist. How is that possible? I believe this is what the far left has in store for us if Democrats win two additional senatorial seats in the upcoming Georgia runoff. Very quickly, that will mean the demolishing of checks and balances—and America’s greatness could be lost.”
He said if one party holds power in the White House, the U.S. House and the Senate, “All that remains to make that power absolute is to gain control of the judiciary. They can do that first by appointing liberal judges who have been nominated by the president. The next step would be to create two new states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, which would give them four more senatorial seats. With that majority they could ‘pack’ the Supreme Court by creating three to five new justices. An independent judiciary, representing the third branch of government, would be within their grasp. The Democrats’ hold on power would then be consolidated.” Read More
