I have a fantastic news to share with you all… While the betting markets do not guarantee the results of the election, as the saying goes “the house never loses” and “Vegas is rarely wrong”. So I do like to follow them, and the best place I like to watch is Polymarket. First up, we start with the big one, the betting odds for the Presidential Election, which now have President Trump in a commanding 65% to %35 lead: But that’s not all…. The last time I checked, President Trump was trailing in two battleground states, Nevada and Michigan, but now he’s leading in all six swing states — many by extremely large margins — look at Georgia: The only metric where he’s not leading is in the expected Popular Vote Winner, but (1) that is irrelevant because only the Electoral College matters, and (2) I suspect when all the dust settles after the election, President Trump may just win this one too! But that’s still not all…. Perhaps the best news of all is in the Balance of Power estimates. This is where we see if President Trump and the Republicans will face a divided Congress or whether we could have a clear mandate across the Presidency and both the Senate and House. And while the House is very thin margin right now, all three are currently tilting RED: Now let’s go a little deeper into the story, because there is more at play here than just the stats. It appears a “whale” has been making very large bets recently for President Trump. In fact, CNBC reports a French trader has recently placed over $28 million worth of bets this week for President Trump: A stark shift toward former President Donald Trump on the political gambling platform Polymarket this month stoked scrutiny about four accounts that have collectively spent over $28 million betting on the Republican nominee to win the 2024 presidential election. Polymarket on Thursday confirmed what a number of experts have suspected: All four accounts are controlled by a single trader. A company spokesperson in a statement to CNBC described the whale as a French national with “extensive trading experience and a financial services background.” The statement said the trader’s accounts were funded from a “well-known centralized crypto exchange,” which other outlets have identified as the U.S.-based exchange Kraken. The company insisted that it has found no evidence that the trader is trying to juice Trump’s odds on the political betting market. An investigation involving third-party experts “to date has not identified any information to suggest that this user manipulated, or attempted to manipulate, the market,” Polymarket said. The New York Times, which reported Polymarket’s statement earlier Thursday morning, said the company worked with the investigations firm Nardello & Company. The scrutiny on the Polymarket trades comes as political betting markets have taken on a much more prominent role in the 2024 election cycle. Trump’s supporters have touted Polymarket’s widening odds gap with Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris as evidence that Trump’s support is growing — even though the shift diverges from most national polls, which show a neck-and-neck race, well within the margin of error. Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO and one of the biggest financial backers of Trump’s White House bid, asserted on X, the social media platform he owns, that the betting markets are “more accurate than polls, as actual money is on the line.” Polymarket in Thursday’s statement emphasized that “prediction markets are not opinion polls—they measure the likelihood of an event occurring rather than the percentage of people who intend to take an action such as, in this case, voting on Election Day.” “Unfortunately, this fundamental misunderstanding is responsible for much of the misinformation about Polymarket and other prediction market platforms,” the company said. As of Thursday morning, the accounts’ total position on the presidential election bet was valued at about $28.6 million, according to Polymarket data. The four accounts — Fredi9999, Theo4, PrincessCaro and Michie — are among the top five holders on the pro-Trump side of Polymarket’s bet on who will win the race for the White House. The trader’s accounts have also bet over $7 million that Trump will win the popular vote over Harris. This brings up all sorts of questions…. Do these big bets mean the data is skewed unnaturally to President Trump?  Should the numbers not be trusted? Or perhaps if someone has $28 million to bet on something so speculative, should we assume this is a very smart person who has accumulated all this wealth and they’re probably not frivolous enough to risk parting with that money unless they have an extremely high degree of confidence? Which do you think is more likely? And who is this French whale anyway? Forbes has some more information: The growing election betting platform Polymarket confirmed to several news outlets one person based in France is behind many of the recent wagers placed on former President Donald Trump returning to the oval office, putting to rest speculation about whether the “whale” placing multimillion-dollar bets on the election was illegally doing so stateside. A French national is behind four of the five biggest Polymarket bettors on a Trump victory next month, a company spokesperson told several outlets Thursday. Those four accounts – Fredi9999, Theo4, PrincessCaro and Michie – have a combined $28.6 million on Trump election bets, according to CNBC, making up four of the five largest holders of Trump victory shares. That makes up more than 1% of the $2.4 billion wagered on Polymarket’s $2.4 billion presidential election winner market. The big Trump backer is someone with “extensive trading experience and a financial services background,” a Polymarket spokesperson told Bloomberg, adding the trader “is taking a directional position based on personal views of the election.” The blockchain-based platform “has not identified any information to suggest that this user manipulated, or attempted to manipulate, the market,” the spokesperson added. Assisting Polymarket in the probe was corporate investigations firm Nardello & Company, according to the New York Times, which first reported the identity of the Trump whale.

I saddens me to write this article, but I have to do it. Comedy is supposed to be the last bastion for truth, the last stronghold against a toxic, “PC”, woke mind-virus culture. A place where stupid ideas and toxic thinking is challenged, roasted, skewered and ridiculed to bring balance back to the world. Punk Rock and Comedians used to be the true pioneers — the people who would not be told what to do, what to say, or how to think. As a result we got bands like “Rage Against the Machine” and we got Comedians like George Carlin. But now? Now that exact same band is Raging FOR the Machine: Rage against the machine are now demanding their fans to obey the machine and get vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/sfVu8r2Ass — W O R L D W I D A (@worldwida_) October 21, 2021 One of the funniest things about 2021 is hearing that Rage Against the Machine is playing Vaccine-only concerts. — D. Alec Zeck (@Alec_Zeck) November 4, 2021 And instead of George Carlin we have Jerry Seinfeld telling us why Comedy must bow to societal norms. Say what now? Matt Walsh breaks it all down in this video. Watch here: FULL TRANSCRIPT: For today’s daily cancellation, we must cancel Jerry Seinfeld. It’s a bit of a sad moment for me. I’ve always liked Jerry Seinfeld. His show was a touch overrated, but still one of the greatest television comedies of all time—no doubt about that. He hasn’t created a solid piece of entertainment, whether a film or a TV show, since Seinfeld went off the air 25 years ago, despite multiple attempts. But even so, he’s undeniably one of the great comics. And over the years, he has shown a willingness to speak out against hyper-PC culture and the deleterious effect it has had on comedy. He spoke out most explicitly in an interview with The New Yorker recently, where he said that the “extreme left,” in his words, is killing comedy. As far as I can remember, it was the first time that he had directly called out the left. Now, not exactly an act of bravery—he’s a 70-year-old comedian who’s worth over a billion dollars, so he’s not putting much on the line by talking about these issues—but many of us appreciated it all the same. That is, until the interview he just did with fellow comedian Tom Papa this week, where he backtracked on all of it. Here’s what he said: “I did an interview, so there were two things that I have to say I regret saying and that I have to take back. And I said that the extreme left has suppressed the art of comedy. I did say that. Yeah. It’s not true. It’s not true. No, no. Again, you want to go back? Let’s go back to our solid-liquid analogy, okay? And the other thing that I have said about this: if you’re Lindsey Vonn, if you’re a champion skier, you can put the gates anywhere you want on the mountain. She’s going to make the gate, right? That’s comedy. Whatever the culture is, we make the gate. If you don’t make the gate, you’re out of the game. The game is: where is the gate? How do I make the gate and get down the hill in the way I want to? So, does culture change, and are there things I used to say that I can’t say? Everybody’s always moving, yeah. But that’s the biggest, easiest target. You know, you can’t say certain words, right? You know what they are, words about groups. So what? So, these larger cultural themes of, ‘this is not considered acceptable,’ ‘this is not acceptable,’ yeah, so I don’t think the… as I said, the extreme left has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy. I’m taking that back now, officially. They have not. Right? Do you like it? Maybe, maybe not. It’s not my business to like or not like where the culture is at. It’s my business to make the gate.” Wow, what a profile in courage. An inspiration for the ages, is Jerry Seinfeld. Now, needless to say, this is a cowardly retreat. All the more cowardly because of how unnecessary it was. People talked about his original comments condemning the extreme left for about half a day and then moved on. At this point, he may as well have said it 600 years ago. He didn’t need to issue any clarification, much less a full retraction and apology, but he was obviously quite disturbed by the pushback, however mild and fleeting it may have been. Jerry Seinfeld never had much edge to begin with, but whatever edge he may have had at one point, he has now lost, obviously. And we’ve seen this devolution, and it’s been quite sad and tragic. We’ve seen it with nearly all of the greatest and most influential comedians, entertainers, and cultural figures of his generation. The ones who are still alive—they’ve pretty much all retreated and gotten duller and blander with age. Howard Stern is another prime example, and we’ve talked about that many times. People often lament that George Carlin—who, obviously, would be older; he’s a generation above Seinfeld—but people often lament that George Carlin isn’t around anymore to lampoon the woke insanity. What they don’t understand is that if he was around, he would almost certainly be in the Howard Stern and Jerry Seinfeld camp. I mean, you should be thanking God—if you like George Carlin’s stuff—you should be thanking God he’s not around, okay? Because if he was, he’d be doing standup sets about how Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. He’d be doing a hilarious rant about why it’s lame to disrespect a person’s preferred pronouns. That would totally be what he’d be doing. That’s been the trajectory for nearly all of these people. Even Bill Burr has gotten distinctly more PC with age—a lot more. Now, you would think it would go the opposite way. As you get older and richer, you’d give less of a damn what anyone says or thinks. But in most cases, the combination of age and wealth has a neutering effect. These guys are comfortable with their place in life. They’re fat and happy. The last thing they want to do is rock the boat, which is probably why it’d be best if most comedians just retired at 50, so we don’t have to see them like this. It’s just sad and pathetic and painful to witness. And case in point: Seinfeld now says that the job of a comedian is to make the gate. I mean, I can’t think of a worse, more wrongheaded way of explaining what a comedian is supposed to do. And this is coming from a legendary comedian. But what he says is that the culture sets out the boundaries, draws the course, and a comedian is supposed to operate within those boundaries—supposed to navigate the course, follow the guideposts, stay on the path that the culture has created for you. Use the words they tell you to use, avoid the language they tell you to avoid, talk about this subject, not that one. These things are forbidden; avoid those. This is comedy, according to the brave and bold Jerry Seinfeld. Comedy is following the rules, making the gates, staying in the lane, driving the speed limit—to mix metaphors. After doing stand-up comedy for like 50 years, this is Seinfeld’s great insight: half a century in the business, and he now sounds like a court jester performing a set for Kim Jong-un in North Korea. Isn’t it hilarious? Isn’t it so funny to follow the rules exactly and never offend your audience under any circumstances? Isn’t that cool, kids? This is what the cool people do. That’s true comedy. Now, the reality, of course, is the opposite. The primary job of a comedian—the most essential role of comedy in any society—is not to make the gate and follow the course but to question why the gate is there and not over there. Why does the course go this way but not that way? You can’t find the humor and absurdity in the boundaries if you’re not willing to push them. That doesn’t mean that comedy always has to be intentionally outrageous or intentionally offensive just for the sake of it, but it does have to be aware of the ridiculous aspects of the culture—the rules that don’t make any sense—and it has to be willing to lampoon those rules, which will always risk upsetting the people who put the rules in place. This is why the left can’t do comedy anymore. It’s why comedians like Bill Burr have gotten much less funny as they’ve become more liberal. Walking on the path without questioning it or without venturing off it—that may be the safest thing, and it may be the easiest. It’s not funny, though. There’s never been a good adventure story about a guy walking on a marked trail from point A to point B and never leaving it. There’s also never been a funny comedy with that premise. A comedian doesn’t just make the gate. He critiques it. He questions it. He makes observations about it. He points to its idiosyncrasies. He might even crash directly into it on purpose. He does anything but unquestioningly follow it. Otherwise, he is, at best, a boring and lame and redundant comedian. At worst, he’s not a comedian at all, but a propagandist, a whore for the cultural powers that put the gates up in the first place. And such a pathetic specimen as that might still make us laugh, but we’re laughing at him, not with him—and there’s certainly a significant difference between the two. And that is why Jerry Seinfeld is, today, sadly, canceled. This is especially sad to see because until just recently, Jerry Seinfeld seemed to be fighting back fairly successfully against the woke mind virus. I guess he has now succumbed, but this was just a few months ago: Jerry Seinfeld Shuts Down a “White Guilt” Reporter Jerry Seinfeld Shuts Down a "White Guilt" Reporter "Woke" is kryptonite to comedy. And Jerry Seinfeld knows it. Seinfeld famously places comedy above almost everything... If it's funny, it's in. If it's not funny, it's out. The only thing that matters is if the audience laughs.  If they don't laugh, it's not funny and Jerry's not interested in it. It's an almost religious devotion to finding and producing comedy that has driven him his whole life, and it's one reason (in addition to Larry David) that his sitcom is widely considered to be the best of all time. Because they obsessed about making every moment funny...and nothing else. No lessons learned at the end of the episode... No boring scenes to set up another scene... Every bit was either funny or it got cut! And that means there's zero tolerance for things like Diversity, Inclusion and Equity. Comedy doesn't respect DEI. You're either funny or you're not, and it doesn't matter what your skin color is on either side of that equation. Babu (you're a very bad man, Jerry, a very bad man!) was funny.  He was Indian and he was funny. The Soup Nazi was funny and he was Iranian or something, who even knows. Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer were all white....and guess what?  They were funny! So Jerry was not amused when a Woke Buzzfeed reporter tried to ask him about the lack of diversity on Seinfeld: And that my friends is exactly how you do it! Bravo Jerry! Backup here if needed: Jerry Seinfeld shuts down reporter who tries to guilt him for having too many White people in his projects. Woke activist reporters need to feel as insane & racist as they sound. pic.twitter.com/b7hOyPXD8J — Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 18, 2024 Jerry is getting almost universal praise for dismantling that reporter and I agree 100%: This whole interview reminds me of something I posted recently, and I think Jerry would appreciate it: A Call For Comedy! [From NOAH] This is going to be a little different of an article from what I normally post, but I think it's needed right now... ...and I think you're going to like it. Simply put, it's a call for comedy. I don't know if you've noticed but there's almost NO new comedy anymore. Stand-up comedians are about the last we have, and that would be stand-ups in clubs or doing specials. But put them on TV or in movies and it all turns to crap. Why? Because they go woke. Everything woke turns to shit, and that's what's happened with comedy. It's been virtually destroyed. This is an opinion I've been working on for a while now, but then I came across this video I'm going to show you below and this man perfectly articulated everything I've been feeling and haven't quite been able to put my finger exactly on it. But he does. You might think: Noah, who cares? But comedy is a powerful sword.... Laughter is the best medicine when sick, but comedy and satire are also some of the best swords against tyranny and tyrannical governments. And when that sword has been dulled or even completely lost, it's a very bad thing. I was just saying the other day to someone: "tell me the last truly funny movie that was released in theaters." She couldn't name one. You literally have to go back at least a decade, maybe longer. Then I said: "tell me the last truly funny TV show you have watched..." Again, there's virtually nothing! As the man says below in the video I'm about to show you, you do have South Park but they can't do it alone. You also have Seth McFarlane who has pretty successfully also pushed back against woke. But who else? Hollywood is bankrupt of new ideas. And that's not just some cranky old guy saying "things were better in my day". Sorry folks, it's a demonstrable, observable fact. Hollywood can't seem to make anything new. Everything is a reboot. And the reboots all suck. Take Frasier. The original series is easily in the Top 3 sitcoms of all time. Absolutely brilliant actors surpassed only by more brilliant writing. The episodes were masterpieces. Now? Even the Frasier reboot is just "ok". It's almost like it's written by fans who know the building blocks of what made Frasier funny, but they don't have the skill in writing or casting to actually DO it. Hollywood has forgotten how to actually DO funny! Why? Because they are more concerned with social justice and ESG and all this other crap that is quite literally DESTROYING creativity and humor! I could go on all day with examples.... Leno and Letterman? Genuinely funny! Late Night now? It's not watchable. It's not even comedy, it's mostly still hateful and mercilessly unfunny attacks on Donald Trump even though he's been out of office for 3 years now! Even moving off comedy to drama, tell me the last truly great action or dramatic movie you saw in the movie theaters? I can't think of one without going back to the early 2000s or 1990s. Instead we just get gross out, unfunny "Seth Rogan" movies. I know someone in the comments will say "you just don't get it" .... and you'd be right! I don't get it. Those movies are not funny. They don't know how to structure a funny joke, let alone a funny scene. They've replaced COMEDY with the crutches of gross out jokes and bad language. Credit to Jerry Seinfeld who has a true love for the art of comedy. He has famously said many times that he realized early on he could get a cheap laugh by throwing in the F-word into a joke, but the joke wasn't as good. He said he hated that as a comedian, and while he hasn't made some pledge to be a 100% clean comedian, he eliminated most of it from his act because it cheapened his work. Seth Rogan and his ilk today never learned that lesson. They're lazy and they'll take the cheap "gross out" laugh thinking that somehow substitutes for comedy.... It doesn't. So that's my opinion, but honestly the guy in this video I'm about to show you articulated it better than I can. Which is why I want to share his video with you now. It's time for a return of comedy! It's time for a return of creativity! It's time to cleanse Hollywood of the woke ESG libtards and allow FUNNY to come back! Be liberal, that's fine. Just don't go woke. It has ruined you, Hollywood. Very said. Watch this: And since I'm talking about comedy, you know I will take any excuse I can to show you Norm Macdonald videos. Losing Norm was another blow to comedy. Norm was definitely in the "Trey and Matt" category....a Maverick who bowed the knee only to COMEDY, not to Wokeism. A true legend. Here are some favorites.... The Moth Joke: Professor of Logic: Turtle: The infamous Courtney Thorne-Smith interview: The infamous David Spade / Dennis Miller Live chat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL4LnBvv764 And perhaps the gold standard: We would later learn that this was both Norm saying goodbye to Dave but I believe also to all of us a bit early....

Phil Lesh, the bassist with The Grateful Dead, The Other Ones, Dead And Co and Phil Lesh And Friends has dies

Russian President Vladimir Putin must have realized that this week’s BRICS Summit would be something special when UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres promised to attend. This was no ordinary visit; this was Guterres giving tacit approval to BRICS’ efforts to form a new international organization that would rattle the windows in places like New York, Brussels, […] The post BRICS – The Emergence Of A Global Super Alliance appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.