This post is for me to get #policharged. I don’t think anyone’s gonna like it.

Oh no! I’m comparing apples and oranges!!! Somebody stop me!!!

Apples vs Oranges

When someone wants to say two things are incomparable, they say “it’s apples and oranges.” I’ve always hated that expression.

They’re both fruits. Same shape. Come in varieties. Same aisle in the supermarket. You can juice them, bake them, slice them. The differences are real, but so are the comparisons. They’re not “incomparable,” they’re just… different.

And that’s exactly how politics works. You make objective and subjective comparison: Did an economy win out? Or did you just feel good cause your team won?

We constantly compare things that aren’t perfectly aligned, then pretend the comparison itself is invalid. Uncomfortable comparisons are valid.

I won’t rehash every PAC comparison I’ve ever made. I assume I’ve done that before on GuySpace (not checking). So things I won’t get into today:

How CUNI has more members than AIPAC, but the go-to dog whistle is always AIPAC. There are even popular AIPAC trackers remeniscent of McCarthy's lists.
Real estate lobbies spend far more than AIPAC, and are protecting entrenched wealth. And if the regresssive left and Green actually cared about helping the working class, they’d rant about real estate lobbies, not American Jewery.
Pharma also spends far more, but tbh I’m whatever about it.
The NRA also spends far more, and has shifted from firearm safety to an Oprah style, “You get a gun! You get a gun! You get a gun!” mentality.
CAIR, Qatar and other explicitly “anti-Western” groups also spend a ton more on politicians, without tracking or care. (Get it? CAIR <> care)

I will repeat one thing though, because I always do, and it is a major basis of this blog: Social media is not reality.

Treating social media takes as reality keeps making people wrong about just about everything, especially election predictions. It also ruined the TV and movie industry, focusing on what execs think people want, not creativiity, and it has ruined once-reputable newspapers, pushing social media narratives instead of… idk, facts.

So let’s compare two things people will insist are apples and oranges:

Pro-Israel lobbying vs Crypto PACs

My biases here are obvious: I think Israel is amazing and crypto is a gimmick.

Crypto has spent more than 15 years promising revolution. It’s always: “Tomorrow is our day.” And, according to The Economist, the only thing that slowed down this $billion trend is that crypto became “too mainstream,” especially after Trump made shitcoins and major investors got involved.

Crypto, apparently, is not cool enough anymore. And that was its value: being cool.

Really it’s another testament to the fact it’s a scheme, even if not Pyramid shaped. If a product was great, going mainstream would be a great sign. Instead, crypto going mainstream led to slower interfaces, clunkier systems, and an ecosystem that rewards speculation over utility (and you probably don’t know this, because you probably don’t use Web3 or blockchain tech).

Crypto also burns absurd amounts of energy and resources, far more than AI. Seems strange that crypto’s real-world use cases orbit around finance, not life improvement, but AI, used for improving just about every industry, takes the heat.

Meanwhile, Israeli R&D is embedded in the backbone of the global economy. Chips, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, autonomous driving, enterprise software. It’s not “coming soon.” Spain tried to boycott Israel, deciding their Crusades were not enough, and found it actually couldn’t. BDS never tells its fellow cult members to delete social media, despite Meta having offices in Israel. Israel powers Fortune 500 revenue because of innovation and IP, not speculation.

I’ll say it plainly:

Israel creates foundational technology used by the real economy
Crypto, thus far, repackages financial behavior and calls it innovation

It’s apples and plastic oranges, made for decoration, not food. Still, we don’t see the ‘antizionists not antisemites’ tracking Crypto PACs, and, hell, I PROMISE that most of the losers I’ve covered recently in Jude don’t know Crypto PACs even exist, because their one scapegoat is ‘[[they/them]] controlling the banks and politicians.’

Chicago Elections

Illinois primaries just gave us a clean test of this disconnect.

High turnout. Massive spending. Open seats. Real competition.

And despite what your feed might have told you, the results were not a progressive sweep. Quite the opposite: Candidates running on anti-Israel platforms lost.

High-profile, ideological candidates lost to moderate and establishment Dems. The most talked-about race, Kat Abughazaleh vs Daniel Biss, ended with Biss winning in a crowded field. Similar patterns showed up in other districts. Not every race, but enough to establish a trend.

Was it a total wipeout? No.
Was it a clear rejection of social media narratives? Yes.
Will the “Zio-obsessed” learn a damn thing? No, they never do.

Money played a role. AIPAC-backed candidates did well in multiple House races. But Crypto PACs spent heavily too, especially in the Senate race. That’s as important.

Understanding Crypto PACs

Crypto PACs, mainly Fairshake and its affiliates, are now one of the largest political funding blocs in the U.S., with close to $200M ready for this cycle.

That is a lot of money on what, to me, is akin to a Beanie Babies SuperPAC.

And I know someone will read this and seethe, because they don’t understand that I’m not saying blockchain has absolutely no value. My point was always that we just haven’t seen it… yet. Maybe it is coming? Should $200m be spent on a prediction?

No. It make more sense to spend money on revenue drivers like AI and talent.

An industry still figuring out what it actually is, how to market itself—is it deregulated or is it law abiding and regulated like futures???—pouring massive money into shaping regulation before its real-world value is fully proven.

For those of us who prefer cryptoids, not crypto, here’s the face of this PAC:

Sam Bankman-Fried, once the face of “responsible crypto,” now synonymous with fraud. His pasty girlfriend, also synonymous with fraud, but kinda got away with it.
Multiple exchange collapses wiping out billions in user funds. Endless people who thought they made it big, actually scammed.
Ongoing enforcement actions across the industry
Persistent use cases tied to sanctions evasion, scams, and gray markets
Origins that I insist are some government’s secret intelligence. But who? US, China, Russia, Israel? I don’t know and I don’t think the world wants to know.

Again, for the mansplainer-types reading, I admit crypto has legitimate purposes and ideas behind it. Are you happy? Of course not, because deep down you need to admit the ratio of hype to proven societal value is wildly skewed.

Dangerous cultures should not shape US politics.

Reality Check: Things Are A-Changing

I’m not celebrating the Illinois results. But I am relieved by them. Especially after a literal nepo baby with zero experience became NYC’s mayor, and did exactly what he promised: make everything, and we mean E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. about his kampf.

You wanted free busses? You got an antizio lead for the” Committee on Youth and Education,” educating NYC youth about the problems with Jews having a state.
You wanted state sponsored grocery stores? You got an antizio head of the “Committee on Community Safety,” ready to ignore complaints from whiny Jews.
You wanted some other socialist policies nobody ever thought NYC could afford? You got an antizionist as the head of the “Office to Combat Antisemitism.”
You also will get higher taxes. Duh.

Mamdani won because of the internet, not because of his non-existent track record. The internet is still broken. Worse, it is guaranteed to influence future elections more.

We are living in a time where:

Online discourse consistently misreads reality
Bad takes scale faster than correct ones
Entire generations are learning politics through algos optimized for outrage
A failed rapper, who pretended to be African, has a cult following, excited to hate on actual progressives like Daniel Lurie and Josh Shapiro.

Social media teaches nonsense. Not just pages like WorldStarHipHop or the various bro bibles I ranted about a few days ago. Social media is Shutter Island.

Anecdote: I recently saw a wave of posts claiming Japan didn’t surrender in WWII because of the atomic bombs, rather, because of the Soviet threat. Every comment agreed. No pushback. No correction. Just confident revisionism, which children read. [Japan most certainly surrendered over their imminent threats, not far away ones.]

When elections contradict the online consensus, people don’t reassess. In fact, we keep seeing AOC double her base by insisting, “It’s not my Comrades who are wrong, it’s the Jewish tentacles and mind control.” Regressives double down. They invent conspiracies. They blame everything except the possibility that their worldview is not widely shared, and, like, maybe it’s not racist to ask voters to have ID?

The Illinois primaries showed something simple: Chicago voters are still more grounded than the internet. For now.

A TikTok-educated electorate is coming. Students are taught in schools that they should cut class to protest ICE executing someone, but also, that IRGC killing tens of thousands is not our business because, actually, gas prices are more important. These students will grow up and vote. I don’t expect informed decisions.

If the information environment doesn’t improve, the gap between reality and perception will only get worse.

So I can not celebrate. I’m busy figuring out how we can get MSM to stop pushing AOC / Vance, and start pushing more experienced Marco Rubio.

Apples vs Oranges: Chicago Elections and Crypto PACs