Here's Why Doge Is Literally Going To The Moon
Here's Why Doge Is Literally Going To The Moon
Hey everyone,
Way back in May 2021, SpaceX announced the launch of the Doge-1 lunar satellite.
Since then, Doge-1 has been one of the most anticipated, if elusive, events in space history.
Last week, after a year and a half of hype, Doge-1 finally got a tentative launch date.
Let’s take a look at why the Doge is set to become the most intrepid meme ever, plus the latest on new drops from the Twitter Files and Elon’s political shenanigans.
Doge-1
On May 9, 2021, the day after his SNL appearance, Elon announced SpaceX was launching a Doge-themed satellite to the literal moon, called Doge-1.
The satellite-maker, Geometric Energy Corps (GEC), agreed to pay SpaceX for the launch in Dogecoin.
While the idea was inspired, the timeline proved a little too optimistic: Doge-1 did not launch in 2022.
However, new developments have Doge-1 looking ready for a 2023 moon mission.
Last Tuesday, GEC CEO Samuel Reid tweeted a photo from the launch of another satellite, called Geometric-1, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
In the tweet, he announced that Doge-1 is up next!
Reid also updated his Twitter profile to include a new date for Doge-1: March of this year!
In 2021, news outlets reported that Doge-1 will include "Space Art" displayed on the satellite itself.
Last December, Reid shared that the artwork—which includes the original Doge meme and a Rare Pepe Satoshi Nakamoto NFT—will be displayed terrestrially at billboard art exhibitions. A live feed of the billboard will also be available to view on YouTube.
Doge-1 will test a system where advertisers can buy advertising using the $XI Protocol, a decentralized ledger made to sell ads in space.
Since mid-2021, the DogeArmy has been waiting patiently for Doge-1.
Now, we have our best confirmation yet that launch is on the horizon.
If the hints are any indication, it will be an amazing event.
Doge-1 represents a new frontier for crypto, the space economy, and global awareness of the world's leading form of lunar payment.
Dogecoin, literally, to the moon!
Twitter Files
On Tuesday, Matt Taibbi dropped two more installments in the Twitter Files.
The first episode, titled "How Twitter Let the Intelligence Community In", is a standalone piece describing a sequence of events that allowed federal law enforcement to become part of Twitter's content moderation process.
It began in August of 2017, when the media and politicians pushed the narrative that Twitter was overrun with "Russian disinformation."
Under threat of congressional investigation, Twitter formed a "Russia Task Force" to stem the PR crisis and investigate the supposed problem.
Despite the fact that Twitter found scarcely any Russian presence on its platform and "no evidence of a coordinated approach," media kept hammering it with the accusation that foreign agents represented a national security risk, citing leaks from the Senate Intelligence Committee.
As the bad press piled up and congress threatened legislation, Twitter caved to pressure, suspending the Russian news outlet Russia Today.
According to Taibbi, the alliance of DC politicians and the press now had a formula for getting Twitter to submit to its wishes.
Over time, the relationship became formalized, with the Intelligence Community playing an increasingly large role in content moderation. As one employee wrote after the 2017 episode, "We will not be reverting to the status quo.”
Taibbi's second thread, called "Twitter and the FBI 'Belly Button' " picks up the story in 2020, during the Covid censorship bonanza.
The thread tells how, during the pandemic, the FBI opened up access to content moderation to a large number of state agencies.
In February 2020, an analytics wing of the State Department known as the Global Engagement Center claimed that Russia was using Twitter to spread disinformation about the virus.
GEC flagged accounts as "Russian" for describing Covid as an "engineered bioweapon," blaming “research conducted at the Wuhan institute,” and “attributing the appearance of the virus to the CIA,” and then sent a report about Russian disinformation directly to the media, creating a hullabaloo.
The GEC/State Department used the threat of going to the media as leverage to join the "content moderation club that included Twitter, Facebook, the FBI, DHS, and others." At one point, it floated a list of 250k "suspicious" Twitter accounts to CNN.
Both Twitter and the FBI were against the idea of the GEC taking a more active role in content moderation because they saw the State Department as more political and "Trumpy" than the Intelligence Community.
In the end, they arrived on a solution where everyone could participate in the censorship club as long as the FBI would become the "belly button" for US government agencies to make moderation requests.
As the election neared, moderation requests came to the FBI and Twitter "from all over: from Treasury, the NSA, virtually every state, the HHS, from the FBI and DHS, and more."
In one alarming incident, the office for congressman Adam Schiff asked Twitter to ban journalist Paul Sperry for promoting "QAnon conspiracies." Elon tweeted at Schiff for comment, but Schiff did not respond.
Once the government had its tentacles in Twitter, it didn't let go, leading to dramatic escalation in censorship that continued right up until Elon bought the platform.
After Taibbi's thread's dropped, Elon summed up the situation with a pithy meme.
New disclosures of big tech censorship continued through the weekend.
Friday night, Missouri AG Andrew Bailey released emails showing how "President Biden’s Administration colluded with social media companies to censor differing viewpoints and silence 'misinformation' that was later deemed true."
One email shows the White House asking to censor a tweet by RFK Jr about Hank Aaron's death.
Another shows the Biden Administration's Director of Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty asking Facebook to reduce the reach of posts by Tucker Carlson and Tomi Lahren critical of mRNA vaccines.
In an email to Google, Flaherty assured big tech companies that the goal of moderating content to reduce vaccine hesitancy "is shared at the highest (and I mean highest) levels of the WH."
Despite continued revelations, the mainstream media is still pretending the Twitter Files don't exist.
The Fauci Files were expected last week, but aren't out yet. When they're released, they could make the story go viral.
In a CBS interview released on Friday, Fauci went on the record about Elon: "I have no idea what he's talking about. I mean, there's a lot of misinformation, conspiracy theories and disinformation going on." He added, "I have nothing to say to him. I don't understand what he's doing. It's just unfortunate."
At this point, it's Fauci's word versus Elon's. Only one is telling the truth.
The receipts, in the form of the Twitter Files, will be the final arbiter. With any luck, they're not far off.
Shooting his feet
The Twitter Files wasn't the only big story last week.
On Thursday, against his better judgment, Elon once more waded into party politics by tweeting about the GOP House Speakership.
In recent months Elon's political tweets have drawn dismay from some of his followers. This is especially true of Tesla investors, many of whom view his outspokenness as a liability to Tesla's stock price.
Later on Thursday, he polled Twitter about keeping his political opinions to himself.
It was hard to ignore the drama surrounding the Speakership. As the week progressed it turned into a giant political spectacle.
Before voting began, California Congressman Kevin McCarthy was thought to be a shoo-in.
However, he needed 15 rounds of voting over three days to secure the role.
As voting dragged on, some notable memes emerged.
Opposition to McCarthy was led by Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who said, "If you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge."
Thursday afternoon, Gaetz nominated Donald Trump for speaker, a long-shot possibility he has been hyping for months.
The Trump speakership has circulated as an online rumor in the weeks leading up to the vote, with MAGA adherents vowing to "meme it into existence."
Trump, who has been a vocal supporter of McCarthy throughout the selection process, posted a meme about the possibility of becoming Speaker to Truth Social. An article on Friday morning claimed Trump was prepared to serve in the role.
Throughout the third day of deliberations, McCarthy continued to fall short of the required votes. The session dragged late into Friday evening.
On the 14th ballot, with McCarthy needing just one more supporter to win, Gaetz refused to cede his vote, sending the House into disarray.
McCarthy confronted Gaetz in front of the entire chamber, while another GOP congressman lunged at Gaetz.
As the clock struck midnight, with the 14th round in the books and no Speaker, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green tweeted about a "perfect phone call" from Trump.
Shortly afterward, the House, which was preparing to adjourn until Monday, decided to conduct a 15th ballot.
This time, Gaetz and his cohort stood down, allowing McCarthy to amass enough votes to win.
In his opening remarks, McCarthy said he would "hold the swamp accountable" and repeal funding for 87,000 new IRS agents.
To win Gaetz's cooperation, McCarthy also made some interesting concessions, including letting a term-limits bill to come to vote, creating a Church-style committee to investigate weaponization of the Intelligence Community, and allowing something called a "Jeffersonian Motion" in which a single congressperson can call to remove the Speaker.
On Saturday morning, McCarthy went out of his way to credit Trump for his victory: “I do want to especially thank President Trump. I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning … And he was all in. He would call me and he would call others.”
The drama in the US capitol had barely settled when political strife erupted in Brazil.
On Sunday, supporters of outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro invaded government buildings, including Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Presidential Palace.
Demonstrations have been taking place for two months in objection to what protestors claim was a stolen Presidential election for Socialist candidate Lula da Silva.
Sunday's events led to mass arrests of protestors and drew comparisons to 2020's January 6th protests.
Sunday afternoon, Elon weighed in by calling for peace.
Happenings in Brazil have been on his radar for a while. In December, he tweeted that Brazilian Twitter personnel may have given preference to "left wing candidates" like Lula in their moderation decisions.
On Thursday, he responded to allegations that Twitter was working with the Brazilian Supreme Court to censor right-leaning journalists, asking, "If it is ordered by the court, do we have any choice?"
It'll be interesting to see how Brazil resolves the standoff.
Hopefully, it finds a more permanent resolution than the US, where claims of electoral fraud have lingered two years after the fact and remain a sore spot for both parties.
Collision Course
The first full week of 2023 was filled with drama.
That's good for Twitter, which topped the App Store on Sunday as the most-downloaded news app.
Whether it's Elon and Fauci, Twitter and the MSM, or Dogecoin and its doubters, there's a sense that separate, incompatible realities are on a collision course with each other.
If you're not on Twitter yet, you're doing yourself a disservice by only getting one side of the story.
We can hope that the coming months bring resolution to these contested meme wars for reality. And, of course, a succesful launch of Doge-1!
Dogey Treats: News Bites
Dogecoin
Kabosu's owner posted that her blood test results have improved since a week ago and she no longer has jaundice.
Dogecoin is the fourth-most popular crypto for transactions on BitPay, making a big move up at the end of 2022. According to CoinSwitch, India's largest crypto app, Dogecoin has become one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the country alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum. MyDoge Social Wallet started a Reddit community.
After Cameron Winklevoss posted an open letter to Barry Silbert accusing him of acting in bad faith, the federal government was reported to be investigating Silbert's Digital Currency Group about internal transfers. Zhu Su, formerly of 3 Arrows Capital, claimed Grayscale refused to share its Bitcoin proof of reserves because doing so would show it violated SEC regulations. Silbert's Genesis cut 30% of its staff.
After promising to delete his account if Dogecoin didn't reach $1 in 2022, Dogecoin YouTuber Matt Wallace went back on his word. Jordan Peterson retweeted a Wallace post claiming that Elon was calling for the release of the Epstein client list, though it was not clear what the original post was based on.
Elon announced new formatting features to tweets like bold, underline, font-size, and long-form. He replied to former faux Doge-CEO greg about the new functionality.
The number of Mastadon users is on the decline.
Global Financial System
An image of China and Russia facing off against G20 countries went viral on Chinese social media. China continues to accumulate gold.
St Louis Fed quietly found the US is in a recession.
Covid
Newsweek asked if Damar Hamlin's collapse was related to Covid vaccination, but found that "this claim has leaned on well-worn, speculative and previously debunked tropes about COVID-19 vaccines." Alex Berenson asked why the NFL had maintained silence about Hamlin's condition while noting that vaccine advocates were overly hasty to diagnose the cause as Comotio cordis. Robert Malone noted heavy editing of the Commotio cordis wikipedia page. Tucker Carlson acknowledged the dramatic increase in athlete collapses in 2021. Elon tweeted that the link between athlete heart attacks and mRNA vaccines is "Certainly worth further investigation." Fauci expressed "horror" at online misinformation and called it a "conspiracy theory" that vaccines could've caused the collapse.
Malone posted a link to an article about a network fake doctors on Twitter pushing masking and lockdown. Have the unvaccinated been emancipated?
Crypto
A bill devoted to the Digital Ruble was submitted to the lower house of Russian parliament.
Elon predicted bank branches and ATMs would become obsolete
SBF pled not guilty to all eight charges in his federal trial. His court date is set for October 2, 2023. Jerome Powell reportedly met with SBF in February 2022. When asked about meetings between SBF and senior White House staff, a Biden spokesperson said the meetings were about pandemic prevention.
Jim Cramer predicted "another weak year for crypto."
The Fed, FDIC, and OCC issued a warning to banks offering crypto services that it is not "safe and sound."
Meme Stonks
Unusual Whales published a list of political groups donated to by Ken Griffin and a list of US politicians whose trading beat the market.
GameStop chair Ryan Cohen tweeted a quote from Titanic, speculated to be a reference to naked short-selling and/or diamond hands. GameStopNFT product manager Taylor Jackson tweeted, "how high will the test pump go?" An NFT artist received 20,000 votes on a poll asking, "Should @ElonMusk release the GameStop files?"
Media widely reported that Bed, Bath, & Beyond was planning to file for bankruptcy in the coming weeks.
Russia-Ukraine
Russia proposed a temporary ceasefire for Orthodox Christmas. Ukraine rejected the proposal.
Health
A new NIH-funded food pyramid claimed Lucky Charms are healthier than either steak or eggs.
Jordan Peterson posted a study showing "stunning results" of a ketogenic diet on schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.
Tesla
Tesla appointed Tom Zhu to the second-most important position in the company.
A family of four in a Tesla survived a 250 foot plunge off a cliff at Devil's Slide, California. Elon posted a thread about Tesla's safety features.
ARK published an open-source model for Tesla stock predicting $500 per share by 2026.
Misc
Per Newsweek, a local news outlet in Russia claimed defense systems in Rostov shot down a UFO.
Vince McMahon returned to the WWE as Executive Chairman.
Joe Rogan discussed Andrew Tate with Dave Portnoy.
Bret Weinstein discussed ChatGPT on The Joe Rogan Experience.
RFK Jr posted an article expanding on his claim that the CIA killed his uncle.
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Memes of the Week
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Disclaimer: This is not financial advice and I am not a financial advisor. The article above references an opinion for entertainment purposes only and it is not investment advice. Always assume that the author of the article is actively trading and that the opinions expressed may be biased towards the author’s holdings. Do your own research and consult with a licensed financial adviser before making any investment decision. Do not treat any opinion expressed in this newsletter as a specific inducement to make a particular investment. Content, news, research, tools, and securities symbols are for educational and illustrative purposes only and do not imply a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell a particular security or cryptocurrency or to engage in any particular investment strategy. The information provided is not warranted as to completeness or accuracy and is subject to change without notice. The projections or other information regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, are not guaranteed for accuracy or completeness, do not reflect actual investment results and are not guarantees of future results. All investments involve risk, losses may exceed the principal invested, and the past performance of a security, industry, sector, market, cryptocurrency, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. Dogecoin is a speculative and highly volatile asset susceptible to pump-and-dump schemes.
At the time of publication, Dogecoin is around $0.07 per coin.