Odds and Ends — 13 December 2022
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
Sam Bankman-Fried Arrested in the Bahamas
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities this evening after the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York shared a sealed indictment with the Bahamian government, setting the stage for extradition and U.S. trial for the onetime crypto billionaire at the heart of the crypto exchange’s collapse.
Person A: buy blue, enjoy green (halving), sell red?
— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) December 10, 2022
Person B: nah .. autocorrelated, flawed, no cointegration, failed, no demand, tautological, broken!
Person A: whatever pic.twitter.com/iZZ8538Ncq
Elon Musk relaunches Twitter Blue with higher price for iPhone users
Homelessness Worsens in Older Populations
A rising number of older people around the United States are on the verge of homelessness or now living on the streets after falling on hard times. Homeless shelters and aging-service groups in numerous cities say they are seeing more elderly people in desperate need of housing than in years past.
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
China’s Covid Reversal Sparks Whiplash as Cases Surge
Covid is rapidly spreading through Chinese households and offices after the country’s pandemic rules were unexpectedly unwound last week, sparking confusion on the ground as ill-prepared hospitals struggle to deal with a surge in cases.
Despite pleas from state media and health experts for people to self medicate and recover at home, many citizens — fearful of the virus after three years of propaganda that painted it as dangerous — are flocking to hospitals. Some facilities are struggling to find enough staff and others are suspending non-Covid treatments as health-care workers say they’re scrambling to meet demand for care following China’s Covid Zero reversal.
Covid Vaccines Saved More Than 3 Million Lives in U.S.
The Covid-19 vaccines have kept more than 18.5 million people in the US out of the hospital and saved more than 3.2 million lives, a new study says – and that estimate is most likely a conservative one.
Politics:
The Meadows Texts: A Plot To Overturn An American Election
TPM has obtained the 2,319 text messages that Mark Meadows, who was President Trump’s last White House chief of staff, turned over to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Today, we are publishing The Meadows Texts, a series based on an in-depth analysis of these extraordinary — and disturbing — communications.
The first batch of texts (more to follow).
How Kari Lake’s Campaign Unraveled
Interviews, internal documents and voting data point to the reasons behind her defeat: The candidate, so focused on parroting Trump and settling personal scores, failed to execute on a plan to court the independents and centrist Republicans who decide elections in Arizona, once a red state that now gleams purple.
As advisers urged her to consolidate GOP support after the primary, Lake remained fixated on a grudge match against people loyal to the legacy of the late Sen. John McCain.
It’s as if folks on the other side have no access to ladders: Arizona’s governor is creating a border wall with shipping containers
What the Jan. 6 select committee’s final report will look like
“He wasn’t particularly interested”: Fiona Hill refutes Trump Truth Social boasts about Paul Whelan
Biden planning multi-country trip to Africa next year
Which countries is a big deal. All sub-Saharan, or some North African countries too? South Africa seems obvious, probably Nigeria too. A Francophone country like Senegal? Maybe Tanzania or Kenya to try to cajole them into not getting even more involved with China? I’d love to see Botswana (a real success story) on the list, but their population is probably too small to make the cut.
Judge Tosses Trump’s Lawsuit Over Mar-a-Lago Documents
Former president Donald Trump’s legal effort to thwart a Justice Department investigation into classified documents seized from his palatial Palm Beach estate was officially tossed out Monday.
Neo-Nazi Russian militia appeals for intelligence on NATO member states
Elon Musk escalated his battle of words with previous managers of Twitter into risky new territory over the weekend, allying himself with far-right crusaders against a purported epidemic of child sex abuse and implying that the company’s former head of trust and safety had a permissive view of sexual activity by minors.
Buying Twitter to turn it into Truth Social is like buying a high-definition television to watch Duck Dynasty.
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) December 12, 2022
Nobody with a 3-digit I.Q. believes her blatant lie: Greene says Jan. 6 remarks were ‘sarcasm’
Serendipity:
The silent struggles of workers with ADHD
About one-third of the food Americans buy is wasted, hurting the climate and consumers’ wallets
North Carolina attacks highlight the vulnerability of power grids
I am glad to hear that FTX will finally be extradited.