China’s Surveillance State and the FTX Fraud Exposed

On December 21, 2022, Kim Monson examines threats to freedom from two directions: Helen Raleigh reveals how China’s Zero COVID policies accidentally sparked pro-democracy protests, John Priecko pushes for In God We Trust license plates in Colorado, and Kurt Gerwitz exposes the financial fraud behind the FTX cryptocurrency collapse.

Faith, Freedom, and Colorado License Plates

Start listening at 16:38 – Hour 1

John Priecko, retired United States Air Force Colonel, explains his campaign to bring In God We Trust specialty license plates to Colorado. Despite 24 states already offering similar plates, Priecko reports a troubling lack of support from churches and Christian organizations. He categorizes religious institutions as falling into three groups: complacent, complicit, or courageous, noting he has yet to find a courageous church willing to champion this voluntary initiative.

The petition effort, requiring 3,500 signatures by January 9, 2023, when State Senator Mark Baisley will introduce the bill, faces an uphill battle. Priecko recounts how his team visited the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in Canyon City to understand the license plate manufacturing process, expressing admiration for the quality work produced by inmates in the incentive program.

“We have found quite a few complacent and complicit churches, but we have yet to find one who is courageous.”

John Priecko, Retired USAF Colonel

China’s Surveillance State Creates Pro-Democracy Activists

Start listening at 31:17 – Hour 1

Helen Raleigh, author and senior contributor at The Federalist, describes how Communist China’s brutal Zero COVID policies inadvertently awakened a new generation of pro-democracy activists. Raleigh explains that young Chinese students, born after 2004, grew up without knowledge of the Communist Party’s historical atrocities due to sanitized textbooks. The pandemic’s restrictions, including welded apartment doors, mandatory health apps tracking all movement, and color-coded wristbands determining where citizens can travel, shattered their illusions of stability.

The fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang that killed at least 10 people trapped behind sealed exits became a catalyst for protests. Students held blank white papers to symbolize their inability to speak freely under censorship. Raleigh warns that similar convergence between big government and big business threatens American freedoms, pointing to Apple’s decision to limit AirDrop functionality in China at the government’s request, preventing protesters from organizing.

“I already lived through totalitarian once. I don’t want to live through again. I need to sign up to live through it again. So we must start, you know, we’re going towards that totalitarianism here in the United States.”

Helen Raleigh, Author and Speaker

The FTX Fraud Unraveled

Start listening at 58:45 – Hour 2

Kurt Gerwitz, finance professor at Regis University’s Anderson College of Business, breaks down the Sam Bankman-Fried FTX scandal. Gerwitz, who teaches students to analyze Colorado-based publicly traded companies like Wall Street analysts, explains that the FTX collapse represents a textbook case of financial fraud. The company, headquartered in the Bahamas to avoid U.S. regulations, violated fundamental financial principles by commingling client funds rather than keeping them siloed.

Gerwitz observes that Bankman-Fried’s post-collapse media tour employed a curious defense strategy: claiming complete incompetence. The man who cultivated an image as the smartest person in the room suddenly portrayed himself as a clueless clown who had no idea what was happening in his own business. This pivot from genius to idiot represents his legal strategy, suggesting the massive losses resulted from negligence rather than intentional fraud.

“The big fraud here was that they were using their user funds. So their client funds should be siloed and not able to– you can’t be lending out your client’s funds.”

Kurt Gerwitz, Finance Professor