Ban Congress from Trading Stocks? Russia Keeps Invading Stuff, Mass "Intra-State" Migration Reshaping US?, Teacher Suspended for Forcing COVID-Positive Child into the Trunk (The Five for 01/11/22)
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Let’s dive in.
[one]
If you’re not familiar with the current conflict in Kazakhstan (yes, that’s a real place and not just a fictional setting for Borat), here’s a quick rundown:
The country is pretty giant (about the size of all of Western Europe) and oil rich.
Before the USSR conquered in 1936, the area wasn’t a country, but a region of nomadic Kazaks, the descendent of the Scythians, and before that the Persians, in antiquity.
The northern part of the country is inhabited by (mostly) ethnic Russians, the south by ethnic Khazaks and the center of the country is mostly empty (similar to Australia, which has vast amounts of open land between the inhabited coasts).
The protests were kicked off by rapid inflation and the costs of fuel, food and necessary consumer goods. The current Kazakh President “asked” (was coerced) into utilizing Russian troops to put down the protests.
The U.S. and Kazakhstan have traditionally had a strong relationship, but relations could be cooling with additional Russian influence at play.
As of this morning, Russian troops pulled out.
The mostly Russian troops were deployed to Kazakhstan last week by the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of six former Soviet states, at the president's request amid the worst public unrest the former Soviet nation has faced since gaining independence 30 years ago.
Protests over soaring fuel prices erupted in the oil and gas-rich Central Asian nation of 19 million on Jan. 2 and quickly spread across the country, with political slogans reflecting wider discontent over the country's authoritarian government. Over the next few days, the demonstrations turned violent, with dozens of civilians and law enforcement officers killed.
In Almaty, Kazakhstan's former capital and largest city, protesters set government buildings on fire and briefly seized the airport. The unrest was largely quelled by the weekend.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has blamed the unrest on foreign-backed “terrorists” and insisted that his request for help to the CSTO was justified.
“When this decision was being made, we could have completely lost control over Almaty, which was being torn apart by terrorists. Had we lost Almaty, we would have lost the capital and the entire country,” Tokayev told Kazakhstan's parliament Tuesday.
Perhaps this is just a case of a developing nation needing help for national security, and taking that help where they can get it.
The other possibility is Russia is continuing to ramp up their imperialist tendencies, and plan to continue to assert military presence and control on their surrounding neighbors.
[two]
A recent report from CNBC shows that New York, California and Illinois are losing residents at an unprecedented rate.
“More than 600,000 people leaving New York and California for lower-taxed states during the pandemic,” CNBC wealth editor Robert Frank reported.
“That’s according to Census data. California lost 300,000 residents between April of 2020 and July of 2021. New York lost a net 365,000 people, about two percent of its total population,” he added.
It’s unclear exactly how these mass waves of intra-state migrations will shape the U.S. in the years to come…but the numbers are striking.
According to Statista, California (#1), New York (#2) and Illinois (#4) are among the states carrying the most debt.
The burden to repay the back bills of those respective states now fall on the shoulders of fewer and fewer taxpayers.
[three]
As Omnicron, the less serious COVID variant, continues to surge, hospital admissions are up…but not necessarily for COVID.
Under pressure from Governor Kathy Hochul, hospitals in New York have disclosed that nearly half of their so-called COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized were admitted for other reasons.
Of the roughly 11,500 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in the state, COVID was not included as one of the reasons for admission for 43 percent, according to data Hochul released on Friday.
In New York City, the rate was even higher, with 51 percent of current COVID patients classified as 'with' COVID, as opposed to 'for' the virus.
In patients 'with' COVID, they were hospitalized for unrelated reasons, such as injuries in a car crash, but tested positive for the virus on the routine screening administered to all new patients and were subsequently reclassified as COVID admissions.
[four]
A teacher in Houston may lose her job after forcing her teenage son to ride in the trunk after he tested for COVID.
Fox Houston’s Matthew Seedorff:
For the most part, I’ve stayed away from editorializing debates around COVID, and completely skipped over the “Mass Formation Psychosis” debate kicked off by the inventor of mRNA vaccine technology appearing on the Joe Rogan podcast. COVID is continuously in the headlines, so why offer any additional coverage on it?
But it does feel like the winds are shifting here, with even CNN becoming critical of the Biden Administration and CDC’s handling of COVID as of late.
This past Sunday, CNN hall monitors Brian Stelter and Oliver Darcy actually went after the CDC, saying it appears the agency has become “a punchline.” That segment also featured Dr. Lucy McBride, who warned that some medical professionals are fanning the flames of panic, with accompanying chyrons like “Is the media out of touch with the country about Covid?” and “Covid and the doomsday-doctor problem.”
No doubt it’s a good thing that CNN’s worst actors have suddenly come around to what CDC skeptics have been saying for over a year, and are facing consequences for waiting so long. The last guy to figure things out has finally figured the thing out.
Yet to save Stelter, Darcy and their network any more embarrassment, let me put it bluntly: the CDC lost the faith of the American people last year when business owners were forced to stay home and parents were forced to pull their kids out of school, yet social justice protesters and leftist activists were permitted to flood the streets in protest. You weren’t allowed to open your business, but they were allowed to burn it down.
There’s certainly a right leaning bias in the coverage…but the basic facts are indisputable.
Media on both sides of the aisle are now convinced the messaging around COVID…isn’t good. Various voices no doubt disagree on WHY the messaging is off, but we all (ok, the majority) seem to be in agreement on the problem.
Now the question becomes…what about those who have been “radicalized.”
Forcing your child to ride in the trunk (which could result in death in the event of a car accident) is radicalization. If you were in the car with your kid at the time of the test, you’re exposed.
Full stop.
COVID may never go away, but it doesn’t appear that the disease will continue to dictate the flow of daily life for too much longer.
But the mass panic brought on by COVID (and the coverage of COVID)…I’m not sure we’ve found a cure yet…especially for advanced cases.
[five]
Members of Congress trading stocks has been a hot point of debate recently, shaping the Georgia senate runoff in 2021 (Republican Kelly Loughler essentially lost her seat over insider trading accusations during COVID).
On the other side of the aisle, California Democratic Senator Nancy Pelosi, who has somehow accumulated a $114 million net worth on a $174,000 salary, has defended Congressional stock trading as she and her husband have made millions on the market.
Now, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is attempting to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks after a report from Business Insider unearthed a rash of sketchy dealings on Capital Hill:
52 members of Congress and 182 senior-level congressional staffers who have violated a federal conflicts-of-interest law.
That lawmakers and top congressional staffers face minimal and inconsistently applied penalties for violating the STOCK Act, and that it’s nearly impossible (but we did it anyway) to comprehensively obtain “public records” about senior-level staffers’ personal finances.
Nearly 75 federal lawmakers who held stocks in COVID-19 vaccine makers Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, or Pfizer in 2020, with many of them buying or selling these stocks in the early weeks of the pandemic.
15 lawmakers tasked with shaping US defense policy that actively invest in military contractors.
More than a dozen environmentally-minded Democrats who invest in fossil fuel companies or other corporations with concerning environmental track records.
16 lawmakers who buy and hold tobacco company stock, including some who have publicly fought smoking.
Senators, House members, and top Capitol Hill staffers who will help decide whether the government regulates cryptocurrency — and are themselves invested in bitcoin and altcoins.
Of course, for that to change…Congress will have to vote against rigging the financial game in favor of themselves.
Which I hope can happen. But I’m not holding my breath.
Until the next one,
-sth