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How the Republicans Broke Congress

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looked to the world of digital currency to circumvent U.S.-led financial sanctions, announcing on Sunday the launch of the “petro” backed by oil reserves to shore up a collapsed economy.

The leftist leader offered few specifics about the currency launch or how the struggling OPEC member would pull off such a feat, but he declared to cheers that “the 21st century has arrived!”

“Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency,” backed by oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves, Maduro said in his regular Sunday televised broadcast, a five-hour showcase of Christmas songs and dancing.

Didn't Venezuela used to have a fiat currency backed by oil? Why would anyone believe that this new fiat currency, despite having cryptocurrency cooties, will fare any better? I bet that the public nature of the block chain is a significant part of the reason they went with this scheme. You know to prevent the people of Venezuela from buying the things they need on the black market. Like anyone would use the "petro" for that anyway.

And we may also have a sign that the bubble of cryptocurrencies is reaching an unsustainable high, if we have deadbeat dictators grasping at this particular bit of straw.

Living the dream

The BBC has a story about the discovery of a diary left by an Auschwitz victim.

Marcel Nadjari was a Greek Jew interned at Auschwitz and forced by the Nazis to escort fellow Jews to the gas chambers, burn the bodies, collect gold fillings, women's hair and to dispose of their ashes in a nearby river.

Realising that their own murder was only a matter of time, the Jewish slaves of the Sonderkommando documented their experiences secretly. Nadjari put his manuscripts in a thermos flask in a leather pouch and buried it near Crematorium III.

The flask was discovered by a Polish forestry student 36 years after it was buried.

Nadjari survived Auschwitz, but his parents and sister were murdered in another camp.

Republicans say they have the votes! They're going to pass a massive tax reform bill Friday night that would permanently lower corporate tax rates and undo the Obamacare individual coverage mandate. And a bunch of other stuff. We're not exactly sure about everything it would do yet. Why? Because we haven't read the tax reform bill.

The Senate is about to vote on a tax bill it's still writing

Amazon's Alexa is officially coming to Australia and NZ (early 2018)

"G'day, cunt!"

Garrison Keillor fired by MPR: 'I put my hand on a woman's bare back,' he says (comments)

Garrison Keillor off the air after misconduct allegations (archive)

The Latest: Keillor says his firing is 'bewildering'

Garrison Keillor Jokes About Improper Behavior Allegations: 'All My Heroes Got Fired'

STATEMENT FROM MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO REGARDING GARRISON KEILLOR AND A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION

State of sexual McCarthyism? Or was there a little more than a pat on the back?

Here's what he's known for: A Prairie Home Companion

The Meaning Of Meghan: 'Black' And 'Royal' No Longer An Oxymoron

Britain’s black queen: Will Meghan Markle really be the first mixed-race royal?

Oh yeah she was on a couple of episodes of Fringe.

Meghan Markle.

Part 3, final part of the series?

Friend’s reaction to high school boy’s penchant for crossdressing is both unexpected and cute

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Anna Soubry is a Conservative MP and opponent of Brexit. The Guardian has an interview with her when she talks about the abuse she's had from the mainstream British press, death threats and a lack of support from her own party.

What concerns her now is the deafening silence emanating from her own side on this matter. “The party has got to call this out. But yet again, I feel it will be weak. They will not take the sort of robust action they need to. My whip said, ‘Sorry to hear about this’, but there’ll be no further interest because at least one of them [those attacking her] is a Conservative himself: Tom Borwick [leading light of Vote Leave, the son of the former Conservative MP for Kensington Victoria Borwick, and one of those encouraging people on social media to tell their MPs face to face what they make of their so-called attempts to thwart Brexit]. He hasn’t issued death threats, but by calling us anti-democratic, he is stoking and fuelling the fire. There’s something about these hard Brexiters: it’s fascinating, actually. Look at the language some of them use. It’s not enough that you accept the result [of the referendum]; it’s not enough that you voted to trigger article 50. Now it’s, ‘Yeah, yeah, but do you believe?’ It’s like the counter-revolutionary forces of Chairman Mao or Joe Stalin. It’s not enough that you went against everything you ever believed in; you have to sign up in blood. It’s like Orwell’s thought police and the reign of terror combined.”

This is not democracy. This is not my UK.

Anna Soubry on Brexit: ‘History will condemn those who haven’t tried to stop all this nonsense’

Very eloquently put.

Meanwhile, some people experss their regret for voting to leave the EU.