90 Miles From Tyranny

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Germany Preparing For Emergency Cash Deliveries, Bank Runs And "Aggressive Discontent" Ahead Of Winter Power Cuts

While Europe has been keeping a generally optimistic facade ahead of the coming cold winter, signaling that it has more than enough gas in storage to make up for loss of Russian supply even in a "coldest-case" scenario, behind the scenes Europe's largest economy is quietly preparing for a worst case scenario which include angry mobs and bankruns should blackouts prevent the population from accessing cash.

As Reuters reports citing four sources, German authorities have stepped up preparations for emergency cash deliveries in case of a blackout (or rather blackouts) to keep the economy running, as the nation braces for possible power cuts arising from the war in Ukraine. The plans include the Bundesbank hoarding extra billions to cope with a surge in demand, as well as "possible limits on withdrawals", one of the people said. And if you think crypto investors are angry when they can't access their digital tokens in a bankrupt exchange, just wait until you see a German whose cash has just been locked out.

Officials and banks are looking not only at origination (i.e., money-printing) but also at distribution, discussing for example priority fuel access for cash transporters, according to other sources commenting on preparations that accelerated in recent weeks after Russia throttled gas supplies.

The planning discussions involve the central bank, its financial market regulator BaFin, and multiple financial industry associations, said the Reuters sources most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity about plans that are private and in flux.

Although German authorities have publicly played down the likelihood of a blackout and bank runs - for obvious reasons - the discussions show both how seriously they take the threat and how they struggle to prepare for potential crippling power outages caused by soaring energy costs or even sabotage. They also underscore the widening ramifications of the Ukraine war for Germany, which has for decades relied on affordable Russian energy and now faces double-digit inflation and a threat of disruption from fuel and energy shortages.

As everyone familiar with the recent history of the Wimar Republic Germany knows, access to cash is of special concern for Germans, who value the security and anonymity it offers, and who tend to use it more than other Europeans, with some still hoarding Deutschmarks replaced by euros more than two decades ago.

According to a recent Bundesbank study, roughly 60% of everyday German purchases are paid in cash, and Germans, on average, withdrew more than...

The 90 Miles Mystery Video: Nyctophilia Edition #1205

Before You Click On The "Read More" Link,

Please Only Do So If You Are Over 21 Years Old.

If You are Easily Upset, Triggered Or Offended, This Is Not The Place For You.

Please Leave Silently Into The Night......

The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #1905

You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?

It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,

from the beautiful to the repugnant,

from the mysterious to the familiar.

If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,

you could be inspired, you could be appalled.

This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.

You have been warned.

Hot Pick Of The Late Night

Girls With Guns

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Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #776

Attractive Female Students Saw Grades Drop After Switch To Online Learning During Pandemic, New Study Shows

In what we're sure is simply totally a coincidence and nothing more, the grades of attractive female students examined by a new study fell after classes were moved online during the Covid lockdowns.

A brand new research paper called "Student beauty and grades under in-person and remote teaching" found that "when education is in-person, attractive students receive higher grades".

The same study found that "grades of attractive females declined when teaching was conducted remotely" and that "the effect is only present in courses with significant teacher–student interaction."

The paper had a jury of 74 people rate the looks of 307 engineering students on a scale of 1 to 10. From there, it looked at the data behind the students' grades prior to, and during, pandemic lockdowns, at the Industrial Engineering Program at Lund University.

"This paper has shown that students’ facial attractiveness impact academic outcomes when classes are held in-person," the study concluded.

"As education moved online following the onset of the pandemic, the grades of attractive female students deteriorated. This finding implies that the female beauty premium observed when education is in-person is likely to be chiefly a consequence of discrimination," it continued.

"On the contrary, for male students, there was still a significant beauty premium even after the introduction of online teaching. The latter finding suggests that for males in particular, beauty can be...

‘Edgy’ monologue about Ye’s “anti-Semitism” was kept secret for live show.

Comedian Dave Chappelle reportedly tricked SNL producers into allowing his controversial stand-up routine in relation to Kanye “Ye” West to be broadcast by providing them with a fake monologue during dress rehearsal.

Chappelle was blasted for “desensitizing” Americans to anti-semitism after he told a number of jokes relating to Jewish power interests in Hollywood and the media.

Although the comedian opened his monologue by saying, “I denounce anti-semitism in all its forms, and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community,” he proceeded to riff on the double standards of how scrutiny of Jews is treated differently to other ethnic groups.

“I learned that there are two words in the English language that you should never say together in sequence. And those words are ‘the’ and ‘Jews,” joked Chappelle, before noting that everything was a game of “perception.”

“If they’re black, it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob. If they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence and you should neeeever speak about it,” said Chappelle.

He also noted how Kyrie Irving had been given an absurdly long list of things to apologize for by the NBA before asserting that the persecution of Jews couldn’t be blamed on “black Americans.”

“I’ve been to Hollywood…this is just what I saw, it’s a lot of Jews, like a lot,” Chappelle added. “But that doesn’t mean anything, there’s a lot of black people in Ferguson, Missouri, doesn’t mean they run the place.”

Suggesting that “it’s not a crazy thing to think” that Jews run showbusiness, Chappelle joked, “But it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.”

The Daily Beast immediately accused Chappelle of echoing Ye’s anti-Semitism, while the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt asked, “Why are Jewish sensitivities denied or diminished at almost every turn? Why does our trauma trigger applause?”

“Dave Chappelle’s SNL skit was a meticulous & calculated move to desensitize the population from anti-semitism, getting society to laugh at Jewish traumas/struggles, and normalizing historic tropes by manipulating the average person’s pain and redirecting their reactions onto Jews,” asserted Rudy Rochman, a Jewish-Israeli rights activist.

It has now been revealed that Chappelle had to slip the monologue by SNL producers, suggesting he feared they’d censor it, by giving them a fake alternative during the show’s dress rehearsal, and then performing the real ‘edgy’ monologue during...