Odds and Ends — 18 August 2023

almost 3 years ago

If you’re going to grow a bunch of peppers in your garden, you might as well sauté some of them with olive oil, a generous amount of garlic, pepper, and a bit of salt. As is warm or, after cooling, a yummy addition to a salad.

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:

Crypto Traders Suffer $1B in Liquidations in Sharp Sell-Off for Bitcoin, Ether

Mongolia’s “wolf” economy dwarfed by its neighbors

Mortgage rates soar to their highest level in 21 years

SEC seeks to question Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin in Korea

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Biden’s fall Covid vaccine rollout for the uninsured won’t include pharmacies at first

Florida Man:

DeSantis Allies Offer Blunt Advice

A firm associated with the super PAC that has effectively taken over Mr. DeSantis’s presidential campaign posted online hundreds of pages of blunt advice, research memos and internal polling in early nominating states to guide the Florida governor ahead of the high-stakes Republican presidential debate next Wednesday in Milwaukee.
The trove of documents provides an extraordinary glimpse into the thinking of the DeSantis operation about a debate the candidate’s advisers see as crucial.
Among the most interesting advice: “Hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response” and “Defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack.”

Oddly, fundraisers and donors aren’t thrilled by that messaging.

The crucial mistake that lost DeSantis his fight against Disney

Politics:

Folks, the wait was worth it: Donald Trump is going to prison

Trump’s Lawyers Seek April 2026 Trial

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked a judge on Thursday to reject the government’s proposal to take Mr. Trump to trial in early January on charges of seeking to overturn the 2020 election and to instead push back the proceeding until April 2026 — nearly a year and a half after the 2024 election.

Oh, good luck with that. I can’t imagine that Judge Chutkan would grant such a request. She’s made it pretty clear that she wants a speedy process.

Trump’s Lawyers Tell Him to Cancel Press Conference

Donald Trump’s promised press conference to refute the allegations in the indictment handed up by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office is now very much in doubt.
Sources tell ABC News that Trump’s legal advisers have told him that holding such a press conference with dubious claims of voter fraud will only complicate his legal problems and some of his attorneys have advised him to cancel it.

Trump has a long history of ignoring advice from his lawyers. Might he do so here too? Oh well, maybe not. A boy can dream.

Woman Who Sent Ricin to Trump Sentenced to 22 Years

A dual citizen of France and Canada who sent letters containing homemade ricin to then-President Donald Trump and eight Texas law enforcement officials was sentenced Thursday to nearly 22 years in prison.

If Barack Obama called Democratic state officials to find him 11,780 votes, you think Republicans would be okay with that?
— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) August 15, 2023

Mobsters ‘Fucking Thrilled’ With Giuliani’s RICO Charge

Jeffrey Lichtman, who represented Gambino crime family member John Gotti, added: “All of my clients who had the misfortune of being prosecuted by him are laughing now. As am I. It’s not just an ironic result but it’s a just result. He was a horribly dishonest prosecutor and the wheel of karma is about to crush him.”

What Elon Musk Did as He Stalled Prosecutors

Judge Overseeing Trump D.C. Criminal Case Threatened

A Texas woman has been charged with threatening the federal judge overseeing the criminal case in Washington that accuses former President Donald Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results.
Said the woman, in a vociemail: “Hey you stupid slave… You are in our sights, we want to kill you… If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly.”

Belarus declares 19th Century nationalist poems ‘extremist’

‘Rudy Is Going to Get Destroyed on This’

John Dean, the White House counsel to former President Nixon, predicted a grim fate for former New York City mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, who faces mounting legal fees in addition to what Dean said looks like an ‘overwhelming’ case in Georgia and unresolved issues at the federal level.
Said Dean: “I think Rudy is going to get destroyed by this. It’s sad but true.”

Gotta disagree with sad.

Ukraine Will Fail to Meet Offensive’s Key Goal

The U.S. intelligence community assesses that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will fail to reach the key southeastern city of Melitopol, a finding that, should it prove correct, would mean Kyiv won’t fulfill its principal objective of severing Russia’s land bridge to Crimea in this year’s push.