Liberty Rising Brief: Crypto, CPAC & COVID-19

“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.” – Henry David Thoreau 

WEEKEND RECAP:

While Vladamir Putin is advancing his nuclear alert status to, “special regime of combat duty,” President Biden is stowed away in his Delaware home. Within a week, the White House is already facing scrutiny for its response to the Ukraine crisis.

Fox News reported,

“He is right now threatening a nuclear escalation,” said former DIA intelligence officer Rebekah Koffler. “This a veiled threat – or maybe such a veiled threat – he just met with his chief of general staff and minister of defense. He is escalating the conflict into the nuclear domain in order to de-escalate – that is topple Kyiv's regime quickly.”

Amid the conflict this weekend, a reporter asked Press Secretary Jen Psaki to detail how the US has helped Ukraine in a single way. As she walked her way around a clear answer, Psaki claimed the US is leading the global effort against Putin.

Meanwhile, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, turned down America's offer of evacuation. He replied, “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.”

As Russia continues to invade Ukraine, the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, and US are planning to remove certain Russian banks from the international banking system, SWIFT.

Upon the announcement, Putin set friendlier regulations for cryptocurrency. According to Fortune, the Russian new policy document if significantly more accepting of crypto than previous policies.

The document says cryptocurrency purchases are permitted through locally registered and licensed companies, which would require buyers to verify their identities and help government agencies track transactions.

Some experts suggest Russia may evade sanctions through cryptocurrency, which may lead to future international crypto regulation. The current policy is still in its early stages and has yet to establish a standard.

In other news, the Conservative Political Action Conference concluded this weekend with a special appearance from former President Donald Trump.

The former president also won the CPAC presidential straw poll for the second year in a row. Trump surpassed all with 59% support in the poll of 2,574 attendees, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received 28%.

One last thing…

While Covid-19 policies continue to shift, lawmakers are continuing to discard their mask mandates. The latest to go include New York City and Capitol Hill, just ahead of President Biden's State of the Union address on Wednesday.

However, some Americans continue to wear masks regardless of the threat of the virus or mandates. National Public Radio has coined them as “one-way markers.”

“One-way masking isn't doing that,” says Kristen Coleman, an assistant research professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. “We're not maximizing the benefits of masks [if] only a proportion of the population” wears them.

That's it for today. Thank you for reading the weekend recap!