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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 2, 2024

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Unconscionable that some autistic kid who made very dumb decisions

He didn't make a dumb decision, he embezzled the customer funds into his own accounts and then gambled with them. It was straight up theft of billions of dollars.

should be sentenced to 25 years in jail, more than almost all violent criminals, rapists, homeless psychopaths and others who are an actual threat to civilized society.

If you believe various studies of how people value their own life, thefts of over $10 million should basically be considered the equivalent of murder.

whose victims didn’t even lose any money (even if some missed out on hypothetical gains) should be sentenced to 25 years in jail,

Hmmm:

Investigators discovered a “backdoor” encoded in FTX’s platform that allowed Alameda to withdraw customer funds from FTX without triggering any alarms in the company’s standard systems...Alameda’s risky trading practices were supported by access to client deposits, which were treated as a personal line of credit without the clients’ knowledge.....The plan provides a bonus over the original amount, so investors are expected to receive a refund of just over 25% of the value of their lost assets.

https://www.boccadutri.com/ftx-customer-refunds-arrive/

If I put 10 ounces of gold in a safe deposit box, and then the bank owner steals 5 ounces and loses it at a casino, but the price of gold triples, the bank still stole from me, even if the bank owner claims that I didn't lose any money since value of my assets are greater now than when I put them in the safe deposit box.