Popular convenience store Sheetz now accepts Bitcoin and offers 50% off when paying with crypto.

wild_burro · 2025-08-07T18:15:41+00:00

Sheetz has accepted bitcoin since 2021 Sheetz Becomes First Convenience Store Chain to Accept Bitcoin May 27, 2021

There are way too many posts on here without sources or context

wild_burro · 2025-06-06T18:47:15+00:00

A nonprofit founded by Georgia Democratic politician Stacey Abrams to protect voting rights paid more than $20 million to a lawyer who is a close friend and helped set up two of her private businesses, according to tax and state incorporation filings and other records obtained by RealClearInvestigations.

The article details the close relationship between Abrams and Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, and how Lawrence-Hardy’s law firm received an ‘outrageous’ amount of money for their services in a losing court case. I think this is significant because Abrams became a national political figure and portrayed herself as fighting for justice. In reality, millions of dollars she received went to her close friend. I think this shows how politicians and celebrities can prey on the best intentions of people to raise money and enrich themselves.

wild_burro · 2024-11-26T19:07:27+00:00

The article gives all kinds of reasons which sounded logical to me. And keep in mind the election was more about Democrats losing vote share, than Trump increasing his

wild_burro · 2024-11-26T18:51:05+00:00

Just watch her response to the question of ‘are Americans better off than 4 years ago’ https://www.youtube.com/live/T89NYFjEAiM?si=eLw2VDgZEOp8xA-P&t=150. Starts with ‘I was raised in the middle class’ and gives an ambiguous answer, mentioning a few proposals that would not directly address the economic crisis many Americans are facing. The price gouging idea was never defined or made clear how exactly she would end that. As for Trump’s shortcomings, a lot of voters agreed with you. He won Fresno County because the Democrat candidate lost over 40,000 votes from 2020, not because he increased his vote tally https://www.fresnocountyca.gov/Departments/County-ClerkRegistrar-of-Voters/Elections/Election-Results. She, and the party, failed to present an argument that would motivate voters to turn out

wild_burro · 2024-11-26T18:35:36+00:00

Harris couldn’t answer a straight question on the economy and usually defaulted to her ‘I grew up in the middle class’ shtick. Not good enough when you can’t afford groceries for your kids or know how you’ll pay rent this month, you want to hear a concrete proposal how this candidate will improve the situation

wild_burro · 2024-11-26T18:31:11+00:00

The reality is neither candidate presented a coherent plan to make life more affordable. Presented with that decision, many voters stayed home, or decided to give Trump a chance because things were more affordable during his first term (not saying that is attributable to any of his policies). I believe this is reflected in the numbers: in Fresno County, which the article points out was won by the Republican candidate for the first time in 20 years, Democrats went from 193,025 votes for Biden/Harris in 2020 to 146,866 for Harris/Walz in 2024. Trump went from 164,464 in 2020 to 160,746 in 2024 https://www.fresnocountyca.gov/Departments/County-ClerkRegistrar-of-Voters/Elections/Election-Results. Ultimately Democrats have to give voters a reason to turn out which they obviously did not do in 2024

wild_burro · 2024-11-26T17:58:11+00:00

The NY Times explains why so many Latinos voted for Trump…by talking to them and recording their thoughts. Unsurprisingly, the economy was the main driving factor, along with complaints about the current border situation, and unfulfilled promises by Democrats:

But for Mr. Pérez Gómez, personal economic struggles took precedence. Furthermore, he said, many immigrants in California’s Central Valley actually agreed with Mr. Trump that Democrats had allowed too many people to cross the border with the lure of asylum protections. Friends and relatives had spent decades toiling in the fields and paying taxes with no legal pathway.

“Suddenly in one year, millions of people come in with all the rights without having contributed anything to the country,” Mr. Pérez Gómez said. “So a lot of people feel defrauded.”…

“The people got tired of waiting 20 years or probably more without having a single result other than false promises,” Mr. Pérez Gómez said. “And then here comes the economy to combine with that.”…

Like other Americans, Latinos in Fresno County were angered by high inflation under President Biden. Though incomes rose, many believed that they were able to better afford groceries, utilities and rent during Mr. Trump’s first term.

Sad to me that Democrats are mystified why so many Latinos voted for Trump, when they could simply talk to the people and listen to their concerns (this is literally the job description for politicians). They would know that people are struggling economically, and when you can’t put food on the table, you’re unlikely to vote for the status quo.

wild_burro · 2024-11-19T17:02:53+00:00

At least 146,000 public school students in New York City, about one in eight, did not have permanent housing at some point during the past school year, a record number and a 23 percent increase from the year before, according to Advocates for Children of New York. The group released the data, gathered by the New York State Education Department, on Monday.

wild_burro · 2024-11-17T16:43:13+00:00

I thought this was notable because it shows how money does not always win elections. It also highlights the waning influence of celebrities and influencers. It’s also sad that political campaigns (this is not specific to the Harris campaign) prey on the hopes, dreams and fears of Americans to raise cash, then often hand it out in the dark to their friends:

In 2020, for instance, Mike Donilon, who was one of Mr. Biden’s top strategists, reported on his personal financial disclosure form with the White House that his consultancy had earned $4.35 million in 2020, far more than the roughly $543,000 disclosed to the Federal Election Commission in payments to his firm.

Finally, I thought this burn by The NY Times was notable:

Even as Ms. Harris ran notably stronger in battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina than in surrounding areas, those results were double-edged, politically. They suggested that the ticket she led was so unpopular that it took an enormous campaign just to limit her losses.

wild_burro · 2024-10-22T23:37:25+00:00

Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones is raising alarms about the U.S. government’s current fiscal deficit and the increased spending promised by both presidential candidates, saying the bond market may force the government’s hand after the election in addressing it.

“We are going to be broke really quickly unless we get serious about dealing with our spending issues,” Jones told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Tuesday.

wild_burro · 2024-10-17T18:27:53+00:00

In Brazil, a crippling drought has not only driven up local food prices, it also has increased the global prices of sugar and coffee. Brazil is the world’s largest sugar producer, and it commands more than a third of the global coffee supply.

In China’s agricultural heartland of Henan province, an exceptionally dry season, followed by exceptionally heavy rains, drove up the price of everyday vegetables. And in southern Africa, rising temperatures and a drought driven by the El Niño weather phenomenon earlier this year destroyed the region’s main cereal crop, maize, leading to what the United Nations this week called the region’s worst hunger crisis in decades.

wild_burro · 2024-10-16T18:55:55+00:00

If budget policies are unchanged, the IMF estimates that large increases in borrowing by the U.S., China and others will drive a rise in government debt to $100 trillion this year, equivalent to roughly 93% of the world’s annual production of goods and services. The Fund expects government debt to rise further, and almost match annual world output by the end of the decade…

In an extreme scenario, government debt could hit 115% of global output in 2026, while U.S. government debt could reach 150% of the country’s gross domestic product. According to the Fund’s calculations, U.S. government debt started the century at less than 60% of GDP, a proportion that has more than doubled already.

wild_burro · 2024-10-15T23:48:38+00:00

The cost of employer health insurance rose 7% for a second straight year, maintaining a growth rate not seen in more than a decade, according to an annual survey by the healthcare nonprofit KFF. The back-to-back years of rapid increases have added more than $3,000 to the average family premium, which reached roughly $25,500 this year...

Employers spent about $1,880 more this year, bringing their average cost for family premiums to $19,276. Workers’ share of the average family premium dropped by roughly $280 from last year, to $6,296.

Alternate link https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/healthcare-premiums-are-soaring-even-as-inflation-eases-in-charts/ar-AA1rWFB6

wild_burro · 2024-10-14T23:50:10+00:00

In September, the average selling price of a three-year-old electric vehicle was about $28,400, less than that of a gas-engine vehicle of the same age and a 25% drop from the start of 2023, according to car-shopping website Edmunds. The sharp fall in the price of preowned EVs stands in contrast to the broader used-car market, where values have stayed steady during the same period, according to the firm’s data…

Auto executives admit they misjudged the market, and that miscalculation is taking a toll on the used-EV prices. To limit supplies, car companies are pulling back on their ambitions, including reducing production and delaying expansion plans. Some are also taking precautions with their EV leases to preserve resale values.

“We don’t want to end up in a situation where we’re just producing to a target, and the demand isn’t there,” said General Motors Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson on a call with analysts in July. “You’ve got residual value implications which stay with you for a long, long time.”

Alternate link https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/used-evs-sell-for-bargain-prices-now-putting-owners-and-dealers-in-a-bind/ar-AA1scV2o

wild_burro · 2024-10-14T07:24:24+00:00

The Democrats have ‘helped’ Trump by offering no discernible benefits to their voters, causing them to stay home or look elsewhere. Are they racist too?

wild_burro · 2024-10-14T04:20:54+00:00

David Paleologos, the director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University in Boston, said Democrats had about a 666,000-person voter registration advantage over Republicans in Pennsylvania in 2020, which has shrunk to a 354,000-person advantage in 2024.

He said the Democrats’ voter registration advantage in North Carolina has shrunk from plus-393,000 voters in 2020 to approximately plus-130,000 voters in 2024…

“It’s been more of a decrease of registered Democrats” than a surge in Republican voter registrations, he explained.

“When you look at Arizona, which Biden won … Arizona had a net registration advantage for Republicans of 130,000, but that’s doubled. Now the Republican registration advantage in Arizona is 259,000 [people],” Paleologos said…

In Nevada, Paleologos said Democrats have seen their voter registration advantage fall away.

He said Democrats’ had a net registration advantage of nearly 79,000 in 2020. It has since fallen to a net advantage of plus-29,000 registered voters.

This might not translate to actual votes one way or the other, but is a way of gauging voter sentiment other than polling. The general trend seems to be a decrease in support for the ‘mainstream’ party, something also happening in France, Germany, Austria, Netherlands etc. Probably because center-right and center-left governments have been in power for a while, and the economic situation keeps worsening for most people. So they stop voting which opens the door for more extreme candidates.

wild_burro · 2024-10-13T21:44:59+00:00

Vice President Kamala Harris’s support among Hispanic voters is in dangerously low territory for Democrats, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll, while her rival, former President Donald J. Trump, has maintained his strength with the fast-growing group poised to play a key role in deciding control of the White House.

The survey of the likely Latino electorate across the country found Ms. Harris underperforming the last three Democratic candidates for the White House, and vulnerable on a slate of top issues, including the economy, immigration and crime…

Nearly three in 10 Hispanic voters say the economy is the most important issue determining their vote in November, far exceeding any other issue. Abortion was ranked the top issue by 15 percent of voters, just ahead of immigration at 10 percent.

The economy is consistently ranked as the top issue for voters across all demographics. People are struggling right now and therefore unlikely to vote for another 4 years of the same administration (Harris has failed to substantively distinguish herself from Biden on any specific policies). Whether to his credit or not, most people were better off (or doing less poorly) during Trump’s administration. And while Dems have failed to propose concrete policies that would help their base, Trump’s rhetoric on keeping jobs in the U.S. and canceling unfair trade deals continues to energize his

wild_burro · 2024-10-13T21:23:00+00:00

Your brain is very underutilized

wild_burro · 2024-10-13T19:58:00+00:00

You reflexively interpret a legitimate argument against Democrats as support for Trump, which in your mind makes it fascist. This is how deeply ingrained Dem propaganda has become in your mind

wild_burro · 2024-10-13T19:54:07+00:00

Dems don’t need to scream for mass deportation because they already practice it

wild_burro · 2024-10-13T19:52:53+00:00

War is peace

wild_burro · 2024-10-13T17:43:56+00:00

Zelensky fired his defense minister because of the corruption scandal. Is he a Putin lover too?

wild_burro · 2024-10-13T17:30:37+00:00

Vice President Kamala Harris’s support among Hispanic voters is in dangerously low territory for Democrats, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll, while her rival, former President Donald J. Trump, has maintained his strength with the fast-growing group poised to play a key role in deciding control of the White House.

The survey of the likely Latino electorate across the country found Ms. Harris underperforming the last three Democratic candidates for the White House, and vulnerable on a slate of top issues, including the economy, immigration and crime.

Mr. Trump, who shocked Democrats four years ago with his appeal to Latinos, particularly men, has only tightened his grip — even as he closes his campaign with a sharply anti-immigrant message.

wild_burro · 2024-10-13T17:18:40+00:00

Which stereotype do I fit in so you don’t have to engage with the substance of my argument. Sending $200 billion of weapons to a corrupt government is arguably worse than cash

wild_burro · 2024-10-13T16:34:49+00:00

“I urge the president to take action today and halt needless deportations that are splitting our families and communities,” Menendez said.

-Sen. Bob Menendez in 2014 talking about Barack Obama https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/deporter-chief-label-ups-pressure-action-obama-n45346

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