I’ve written several times about supply chain issues I’ve seen in my area and the Dollar Tree nearest me has figured prominently more than once. The coronapocalypse has not been good to it. Since this summer its shelves have been particularly bare, less than 50% stocked. And labor shortages have forced them to curtail hours. They used to have four or five employees at work at the same time, lately no more than three, sometimes two. As late as last spring they were open seven days a week. Then they closed Sundays. A month ago they closed on Wednesdays. Typos notwithstanding, the new sign in their window says it all:
<center>
![525A956C-EA68-4461-A13F-F283B5C17001.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/preparedwombat/EpXJwo5LRBzQYfNQCvAP6UQMV7rqsqNn8nutscgHLxQ6BZFFB4woSaNkcxdCMvMj1c8.jpeg)
</center>

<h1>Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:</h1>

<a href="https://momentofdeep.substack.com/p/why-web3-will-change-everything-in">Why Web3 will Change Everything - in Plain English.</a>

<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/12/05/crypto-exchange-bitmart-hacked-with-losses-estimated-at-196-million/"> Crypto Exchange Bitmart Hacked With Losses Estimated at $196 Million </a>

<a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-creates-new-state-owned-mining-giant-tighten-control-rare-earth-supplies">China Creates New State-Owned Mining Giant To Tighten Control Of Rare Earth Supplies</a>

<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/researcher-questions-chinas-population-data-says-it-may-be-lower-2021-12-03/">Researcher questions China's population data, says it may be lower</a>
>China may be downplaying how fast its population is shrinking, and a recent policy to promote three-child families has poor chances to improve birth rates, a fertility expert told the Reuters Next conference on Friday.
>Fuxian Yi, senior scientist in the obstetrics and gynecology department at the University of Wisconsin, said he estimated that China’s 2020 population was 1.28 billion rather than the 1.41 billion census number reported and that fertility rates were lower than reported.
>Yi estimates that China's population has been shrinking since 2018.


<h1>Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:</h1>

<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/omicron-variant-may-have-picked-up-piece-common-cold-virus-2021-12-03/">Omicron variant may have picked up a piece of common-cold virus</a>

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-science-business-health-b02158b1530871161f3c78d0ca915b67">US drugstores squeezed by vaccine demand, staff shortages</a>

<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/defiant-california-parents-send-child-020757319.html">Defiant California Parents Send Child With COVID To Elementary School, Trigger Outbreak</a>


<h1>Politics:</h1>

<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e73da8fb-699d-4997-acdc-cb595918659b">Trump Raises $1 Billion for Social Media Firm</a>
> Donald Trump’s social media start-up has raised $1bn from unidentified investors as the company presses ahead with plans to go public via a Spac merger.

Grifters gonna grift.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-new-york-lawsuits-georgia-capitol-siege-db516ff2c9558fc67b2fe21f17c7708f">Trump Faces Flurry of Investigations</a>
>As Donald Trump’s lawyers try to block the White House from releasing records to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, the former president faces a flurry of other investigations that could come to a head in the coming weeks and the new year.
>That includes two major state criminal investigations — one in New York and one in Georgia — and lawsuits concerning sexual assault allegations, a fight over an inheritance and questions of whether he should be held personally liable for inciting the insurrection.

<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-arrives-greece-highlight-migrants-plight-2021-12-04/">Citing ancient Greeks, Pope Francis laments threats to democracy today</a>

<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/04/us/jan-6-electoral-count-act.html">Congress Eyes Changes to Electoral Count Law</a>
>Members of the select congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol are pressing to overhaul the complex and little-known law that former President Donald Trump and his allies tried to use to overturn the 2020 election, arguing that the ambiguity of the statute puts democracy itself at risk.
>The push to rewrite the Electoral Count Act of 1887 — enacted more than a century ago in the wake of another bitterly disputed presidential election — has taken on new urgency in recent weeks as more details have emerged about the extent of Mr. Trump’s plot to exploit its provisions to cling to power.

<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/04/world/asia/afghanistan-starvation-crisis.html">Afghanistan Is Gripped by Starvation</a>
>Nearly four months since the Taliban seized power, Afghanistan is on the brink of a mass starvation that aid groups say threatens to kill a million children this winter — a toll that would dwarf the total number of Afghan civilians estimated to have been killed as a direct result of the war over the past 20 years.
>While Afghanistan has suffered from malnutrition for decades, the country’s hunger crisis has drastically worsened in recent months. This winter, an estimated 22.8 million people — more than half the population — are expected to face potentially life-threatening levels of food insecurity… Of those, 8.7 million people are nearing famine — the worst stage of a food crisis.


<h1>Serendipity:</h1>

<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/archaeological-dig-reignites-debate-old-testament-historical-accuracy-180979011/">An Archaeological Dig Reignites the Debate Over the Old Testament’s Historical Accuracy</a>
>Beneath a desert in Israel, a scholar and his team are unearthing astonishing new evidence of an advanced society in the time of the biblical Solomon.

<a href="https://slate.com/technology/2021/12/mouse-movers-market-corporate-productivity-tracking.html">The Exploding Market for Devices That Help You Evade Corporate Productivity Trackers</a>

<center>![BF94AEF6EE1F4649A8CCC739E7C43C7A.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/preparedwombat/NUPF97Wa-BF94AEF6-EE1F-4649-A8CC-C739E7C43C7A.jpeg)</center>

<center>![BA732FFB39EA460E871A5F7EE2773E11.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/preparedwombat/kIbR7aSh-BA732FFB-39EA-460E-871A-5F7EE2773E11.png)</center><center><sup>Badge thanks to @arcange</sup></center>

<sup><a href="https://peakd.com/register?ref=preparedwombat">Join Hive using my referral link</a></sup>