Political philosopher Hannah Arendt’s 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil became a classic in part by introducing the concept in noted its subtitle. She argued that the full context of Eichmann’s actions in helping organize and carry out the Holocaust weren’t fully elucidated by his trial, which thus obscured, “the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us—the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil”. Not to say that what FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is currently on trial for rises to the level of evil, but I’ve been struck over and over by the banality and seemingly utter disregard for…
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60 Minutes Interview of Michael Lewis Contains Two Doozies
Superstar author promotes new SBF book
In the US, books are always published on Tuesdays, and around my house, the Tuesday of a new Michael Lewis book brings heated anticipation. And not just cuz we own a bookstore. Liar’s Poker, Money Ball, The Big Short, Flash Boys and Next are all key books in our household. And even the misses — The Blind Side and Trail Fever come to mind — offer a few insights and some great turns of Crawfish phrase. So a book by a gifted storyteller about crypto’s most impossible to ignore character is naturally of great interest to Modern Consensus. But Lewis’ appearance last night on 60 Minutes to promote his book…
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On Eve of SBF Trial, Stolen FTX Funds On the Move
FTX hacker transfers funds for first time since weeks after the November 2022 exploit
As Sam Bankman-Fried, disgraced founder of crypto exchange FTX, sits in a jail cell in Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting the start of his trial on Tuesday for seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, funds that were stolen from FTX in a hack hours after the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last November have moved for the first time in more than 9 months. Not only was the FTX collapse already one of the most stunning debacles in the long history of financial disasters, the siphoning of $600 million in funds from the company’s crypto wallets added insult to injury and led to speculation that company insiders were absconding…
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Re FTX, SBF Should STFU
New Yorker story reveals Bankman-Fried people with legitimate arguments to raise, but they’re doing it wrong
Sheelah Kolhatkar’s comprehensive and thoughtful examination of Sam Bankman-Fried and his parents in this week’s New Yorker deserves consideration even by those who, like myself, have read every single word about this case. Kolhatkar was one of the journalists who had enjoyed consistent, welcoming access to Bankman-Fried while he was on bail at his parents’ house in Palo Alto. That access ended with Bankman-Fried’s decision to share private writings by his former girlfriend and now cooperating witness Caroline Ellison with the New York Times. I have already shared that I cannot stand the way even a punk-ass bitch like Bankman-Fried has been pre-judged by an angry society. But his decision…
