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Quote For valentine’s Day “Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both.
I want people to be afraid of how much they love me —Michael Scott, from The Office
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Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
February 11,2021
From the Staff
On Marjorie Taylor Greene and
Freedom of Speech
By Dan Pool
Editor
Marjorie Taylor Greene, who repre
sents the western part of Pickens County
as part of her 14th District, was stripped
of her committee assignments last week
for statements she made (most prior to
being elected) and also, of course, due to
the usual political fighting in Washing
ton.
I won’t comment on the politics, but
would like to offer a few thoughts on the
freedom of speech issues at play here.
People often call for protection under
the First Amendment to voice whatever
statement they want. And generally they
have it. Go say whatever you want from
the courthouse lawn; post whatever you
want on your own website or in a printed
pamphlet like the Founding Fathers; no
one will likely stop you.
But as Rep. Greene found out, free
dom of speech does not mean freedom
from any responsibility for what you say.
According to numerous online news
reports, she faced backlash for her more
outlandish claims on social media and in
online videos including the plane crash
that killed John F. Kennedy, Jr. was “an
other of those Clinton murders.” She
liked a comment calling for another
member of Congress to be shot in the
head. [Note: she didn’t make the state
ment but she gave a positive nod to
someone else’s call for a bullet in the
head.] In another instance she indicated
that the Parkland school shooting was a
planned scheme to endanger the Second
Amendment.
Most bizarrely, in a Facebook post
now deleted, in 2018 she stated based on
“some research I’ve done” the California
wildfires may have been started by a
space device controlled by a wealthy
Jewish European family.
Last week, before the vote to remove
her from committees, Greene back
tracked, saying she regrets, “I was al
lowed to believe things that weren’t
true.” She then threw in the blanket apol
ogy, “I believe in God with all my heart,
and I’m so grateful to be humbled to be
reminded that I’m a sinner and that Jesus
died on the cross to forgive me for my
sins. And this is something that I ab
solutely rejoice in today to tell you all,
and I think it’s important for all of us to
remember none of us are perfect,” ac
cording to Rollcall.com.
Ms. Greene was certainly within her
rights to voice opinions and can certainly
continue to be a vocal backer of whatever
she believes. The difference here is when
you allege something to be a fact, the
Clintons had JFK, Jr. killed, that lasers
started the wildfires, you may be called
to cite sources and offer proof.
Greene was defended to some extent
by congressional leader Kevin Mc
Carthy, who said, “If this is the new stan
dard, I look forward to continuing out the
standards.”
Right on, we say. Please do. Yes, let’s
continue making people responsible for
what they say.
The idea that you can put out whatever
you want with total immunity from any
consequence was never part of freedom
of speech.
The First Amendment lets you say
things that are correct, or that you have
solid reasons for believing to be accurate.
Outright lies, or wild conjecture have
never been covered, especially when it
harms something or someone.
And as they used to teach, “falsely
yelling fire in a crowded theater is not
protected speech.”
Today that might be need to be up
dated, “liking calls for a bullet in the
head can lead to consequences.”
That Greene now regrets some of her
previous statements is commendable.
She still has two years on her term and
she may yet turn out to be a great repre
sentative for this area.
This certainly wasn’t how she wanted
to get started, but we think it sets a good
lesson that many of us may need to be re
minded.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Ponderings of a Simple Man
Py Caleb Smith
The Legend
of the
Bigfoot
There exists a legend in
these north Georgia hills, a
tale of a terrifying creature. It
stands tall, covered in long,
stringy, dark hair and pos
sessing an odor that is said to
send most animals fleeing
before it.
It roams the hills and
hollers, long arms swinging,
as it wanders aimlessly
about. It is said that it is ter
rified of people, and will do
anything to avoid them if
anyone is unlucky enough to
stumble across it in the wild.
Fortunately for the people of
north Georgia, it is said to
subsist primarily on nuts and
berries.
Shew, that was close. Up
until that last sentence, when
I first heard the legend, I
thought they were talking
about me. Replace his diet
with Cheetos and Coca-Cola
and it would be hard to tell us
apart. Come to think of it, it’s
possible several ‘Bigfoot
sightings’ around here were
instead ‘Simple Man sight
ings.’
I will admit, since quaran
tine hit I have let my groom
ing standards slip a bit. I
don’t remember the last time
I had a haircut, but it can be
said that I have passed the
‘flowing mane’ portion and
entered the ‘mythical hairy
beast’ phase. Similarly, my
beard has reached, and over
taken, mountain man status.
It is easy to imagine, then, for
passing cars to get a glimpse
of me and reach a wrong con
clusion.
Come to think of it, that
may explain the Jeep that
slowed down while I was
going to get the mail one day.
I wondered why people were
leaning out the window to
take pictures. I just assumed
they were awestruck at fi
nally seeing the author of
Ponderings of a Simple Man
in person, now I’m not so
sure.
There may be a picture of
me floating around on a Big
foot forum right now, with
people engaged in hot debate
over it:
“Look at that twisted de
formed face, the dull, stupid
glint to his eyes. I’m telling
you, that’s Bigfoot!”
“Maybe so, but why is he
wearing a ratty bathrobe and
slippers?”
At the end of the day, I
have traipsed all over these
hills and I have yet to see ev
idence of a 7-foot tall hairy
hominid. No trail cam pho
tos, foot prints, or mysterious
calls in the night. Well, aside
from the call I make when I
bend my little toe on the cof
fee table as I go for a 2 a.m.
Nutter Butter, but I doubt that
counts.
Still, theres a lot of unex
plored places in these forests.
I can easily see a community
of creatures hiding out, safe
from the modern world.
What about you, dear reader?
What have you seen that
you can’t explain?
[Caleb Smith is a long
time, award-winning, colum
nist for the Progress. Look
for his books at the Progress
office or on Amazon.]
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457 FAX (706) 253-9738
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia. Entered
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Class. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE PICKENS
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Reboot
OUK c bTmCU WITH OUR SUPERIHUNDENT's SAURY
|S WHAT VJE. REFER TO AS "NEW BIG GREEN DEAL?
[T DOtSH'T MATTER WHERE THE MONEY COMES Rwi
YOO TUST FIND Gome AND PAY I T
OTHER VOICES
A simple explanation of hedges, shorts
and the GameStop uproar
By Gary Pichon
Hedges and Shorts -The
news over the past few weeks
is full of these subjects and
the stories are not about
plants or pants for summer.
Some politicians are all
huffed up about it and want
people put in jail for doing
this even if there is no law
applicable.
A simple explanation of
"hedges". Somedays I
hedge when I take a raincoat
when the forecast is for pos
sible showers. Right now a
lot of people are buying
ammo as the price goes up
and are hedging that it will
continue to rise so they better
get it now. If the price goes
down they will have a lot of
ammo they will shoot at a
dollar a round when the mar
ket price has become fifty
cents.
In the stock market world
the same thing exists but the
players typically have 9 plus
zeros in their accounts. They
can lose a lot of money be
cause they have a lot of
money. Modern Hedge
Funds, which is what they
call themselves, are not about
reducing risks. They are
about making big piles of
money with big risky bets.
A hedge fund is a group of
rich gamblers who look for
future money movements in
stock price and bet on the di
rection of change. They are
like commodity traders who
buy and sell pork belly fu
tures.
They make a contract
with someone else for a fu
ture transaction at some fixed
price when the actual price in
the future is yet unknown.
If they are shorting, they
find a company whose stock
is say $50 a share and they
think the price will drop so
they find someone who will
take the bet that it won't. The
shorters agree to deliver
stock at say $10 a share a
year from now. If the stock
drops to $1 they buy the
stock at $1 and make $9 a
share on the deal. This is big
time gambling with billions
moving everyday in the
world of high finance.
These "short sellers" sell
things they do not have and if
they are right they make a lot
of money. But if the stock
price goes up, they have to
buy at the higher price and
deliver the stock to the other
bettor and they lose their
shirt or other parts of their
anatomy.
Keep in mind that for
every short seller someone is
a buyer taking the risk in the
other direction. You cannot
hedge or sell sort by yourself.
You have to have someone
who will take your bet. That
bet is the form of a contract
that is legally binding.
In the Game Stop deal a
bunch of small investors bet
against the big short sellers
and bid up the stock by buy
ing it. The short sellers got
squeezed and have tried to
shut down the guys bidding
up the stock price. That shut
down is the cause of all the
fuss right now.
Keep in mind that the
stock price could drop
overnight and the last little
guy out runs a big risk that
the stock could plunge to
zero. If they time everything
correctly and sell right at the
top they will have squeezed
the big gamblers and the big
gamblers do not like it. The
short sellers will lose a ton
and some that caused the
squeeze will make a ton. Big
guys lose and some lucky lit
tle guys win.
If you like the notion of a
free market then we do not
need laws to manage this. If
you think this introduces too
much variation into the mar-
kets the fix is seems easy. A
law that says you cannot buy
or sell something today at a
future price that you do not
actually own today might
stop short selling.
I have no idea of the long
term implications of such a
law but I can guarantee you
there will be ways around
that kind of law with clever
contracts.
I do not put my money in
hedge funds or commodity
futures. That is too much
risk for this old guy. My lit
tle stash of money is invested
in slow and steady things.
[Gary Pichon is retired
and lives on the
Pickens/Dawson line. He had
a 30 year career in interna
tional business, which in
cluded currency hedging.]
Printing
The Pickens Progress can
handle all set up and
printing for everything
from business cards
to flyers.
706-253-2457
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI
LOW
RAIN
Feb.
02
40
25
.00
Feb.
03
43
24
.00
Feb.
04
44
27
.04
Feb.
05
48
26
.00
Feb.
06
44
27
.08*
Feb.
07
44
27
.00
Feb.
08
54
32
.00
*1/4
inch snow
GameStop
POWER TO THE PLAYERS"
I think