Bills introduced in the Texas House and Senate would create a state-issued, gold-backed digital currency. Enactment of this legislation would create an option for people to transact business in sound money, set the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money and create a viable alternative to a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Sen. Bryan Hughes (R) introduced Senate Bill 2334 (SB2334) on March 10. Rep. Mark Dorazio (R) introduced a companion, House Bill 4903 (HB4903) on the same day. The legislation would require the state comptroller to establish a digital currency that is fully backed by gold and fully redeemable in cash or gold as well. The comptroller would also be required to create a mechanism to use this gold-backed digital currency in everyday transactions. “In establishing the digital currency the comptroller shall establish a means to ensure that a person who holds the digital currency may readily transfer or assign the digital currency to any other person by electronic means.” The state of Texas would hold gold backing the currency in trust on behalf of the digital currency holders. “The trustee shall maintain enough gold to provide for the redemption in gold of all units of the digital currency that have been issued and are not yet redeemed for money or gold.” In practice, individuals would be able to purchase digital currency from the state. The state would then use the money to purchase gold that would be held in the Texas Bullion Depository or another secure vault. Individuals would be able to redeem their digital currency for dollars or gold.
CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES (CBDC)
A gold-backed digital currency would create an alternative and allow individuals and businesses to avoid a CBDC.
Digital currencies exist as virtual banknotes or coins held in a digital wallet on your computer or smartphone. The difference between a central bank (government) digital currency and peer-to-peer electronic cash such as bitcoin is that the value of the CBDC is backed and controlled by the government, just like traditional fiat currency.
At the root of the move toward a CBDC is “the war on cash.” The elimination of cash creates the potential for the government to track and even control consumer spending.
A grand jury in the state of Florida officially accused the Biden administration of assisting in trafficking child refugees into the state. Following a five-month investigation ordered by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the panel’s report condemned the entire Biden administration, but particularly the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services.
According to the Daily Wire, the report alleged that HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement was neglecting and abusing migrant children while operating under the pretense of trying to resettle them illegally in the country.
“In reality, ORR is facilitating the forced migration, sale, and abuse of foreign children, and some of our fellow Florida residents are (in some cases unwittingly) funding and incentivizing it for primarily economic reasons,” the report stated. “If any resident of Florida exposed U.S.-born children to this process, they would be justifiably arrested for child neglect or worse.”
Coyotes and human smugglers often abandon their young clientèle after crossing into the U.S.
“This process exposes children to horrifying health conditions, constant criminal threat, labor and sex trafficking, robbery, rape, and other experiences not done justice by mere words,” the panel stated.
The report contained both video evidence and testimonials by witnesses, though their relationship to the problem is unknown.
Investigators attempted to subpoena several non-governmental organizations in a search for evidence, but they hit several dead ends due to the NGOs’ fear of losing government funding if they cooperated.
One organization told the panel that it would rather operate an illegal migrant child placement facility without a license than risk losing its federal funding.
ORR has a history of discouraging employees who question the process.
“One was fired for reporting a case of suspected human trafficking … to a government hotline because her ORR superiors refused to investigate the matter,” the report said.
DeSantis initially called for the investigation after reports that the ORR secretly flew large numbers of illegal immigrants at night to hubs throughout the U.S., many of them in red states where Democrats hope to dramatically alter the demographics.
“During a six-month period in 2021, more than 7 [large commercial passenger jets] landed at the international airport in Jacksonville,” the report said.
“These flights arrived in the night time often after midnight, and landed not at the passenger terminal, but instead at an out-of-the-way commercial terminal used normally for shipping freight, away from police facilities and miles from the passenger terminal,” the grand-jury report said.
Passengers got onto buses and then transported to other, unknown locations.
“If an operation were ferrying terrorists or large quantities of narcotics, this is what it would look like,” the report said.
Change my mind.
Mar 10 Something INCREDIBLE happened today that will make history
I hate to be that guy, but stay tuned for a massive announcement on Monday afternoon that will benefit every American regardless of your politics Last tweet:
Heads up
ZURICH (Sputnik) - The Swiss military began to dispose of 60 operational UK Rapier anti-aircraft missile systems, a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday. Kai-Gunnar Sievert, a spokesman for the Swiss Federal Office for Defense Procurement, told the newspaper that the first out of four Rapier batches had already been dismantled. "It is assumed that all systems will be dismantled and disposed of in these further tranches," Sievert was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Switzerland purchased Rapiers in the 1980s and has begun to decommission them since late 2022, the report said. According to the Swiss government's decree of 2006, foreign weapons not in service should primarily be sold to the manufacturing country, which is the UK in the case of Rapier. Some Swiss lawmakers believe that Rapiers could have been handed over to Ukraine following their sale, the report said. In particular, a lawmaker of the Green Liberal Party called the decision to write off the current defensive weapons "absurd," saying that the transfer of Rapiers to Ukraine would be legally possible. On Friday, the Swiss government reaffirmed its intention to continue to adhere to the practice of prohibiting the re-export of weapons to countries involved in armed conflicts. Earlier in the week, the majority of lawmakers in the lower house of the Swiss parliament voted against the initiative. The parliament's upper house also rejected a similar proposal.
Reuters reported earlier in the day citing its sources in Vatican City that Nicaragua has decided to close Vatican’s embassy in Managua and its embassy in the Holy See after Pope Francis’ remarks where he compared Nicaragua’s government with a dictatorship
HAVANA, March 12. /TASS/. The Nicaraguan foreign ministry said on Sunday that Nicaragua is suspending diplomatic relations with Vatican City."Based on the data disclosed by sources obviously linked with the Catholic Church, Nicaragua’s Government of Reconciliation and National Unity <…> specifies that diplomatic relations between Nicaragua and the Vatican City State have been suspended," it said. Reuters reported earlier in the day citing its sources in Vatican City that Nicaragua has decided to close Vatican’s embassy in Managua and its embassy in the Holy See after Pope Francis’ remarks where he compared Nicaragua’s government with a dictatorship. In February, Bishop Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos of Matagalpa was sentenced to 26 years in prison in Nicaragua for alleged conspiracy to undermine the national integrity and for spreading fake news "to the prejudice of the Nicaraguan state and society".
Russian engineers have developed a new drone capable of delivering up to 250 kilograms of useful cargo distances up to 600 km, a military industry source has told Sputnik. The drone, known as the ‘Transport Aviation Multifunctional Platform’, or its Russian-language acronym ‘TrUMP’, has a cruising speed of 195 km per hour, and a flight ceiling of 3,000 meters. It features a 2,650 liter cargo compartment, and can drop loads via parachute if necessary to the mission.
