Odds and Ends — 2 May 2024

17 days ago

Memoir Monday - Week 8 (4/29 to 5/5):

I’m a little late responding to @ericvancewalton’s question of If you had the chance to do it all over, what would you do differently?

There are so many potential answers to this question.

Some are based on something as mundane as how to fast forward to being crazy wealthy now. Buy a buttload of ₿itcoin at $0.47 and self-custody it? Back in the day, I did almost buy $100 of BTC when it was under a buck. But, meh, if I had, I probably would have sold it for a “huge profit” at $5 and/or put it somewhere “safe” like MtGox.

Non-financially, I suppose I should have taken Spanish in high school instead of German.

Yeah, and maybe I shouldn’t have screwed around so much in college. Instead of majoring in Partying, nose to the grindstone might have yielded better results.

But that damned butterfly effect comes into play.

Who knows? I might not have had a disastrous first marriage. But if that hadn’t happened, I certainly wouldn’t have the great son that I have, or the second wonderful marriage that I now have.

So, love the life you live.

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

BlackRock Sees Sovereign Wealth Funds, Pensions Coming to Bitcoin ETFs

Proposed US bill wouldn’t allow taxing block rewards at acquisition

If incorporated into U.S. tax law, the bill would require block rewards from proof-of-work and proof-of-stake networks to be taxed when sold rather than when they were acquired.

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Republicans Step Up Attacks on Scientist at Heart of Lab Leak Theory

Politics:

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1785713831169192207

Ex-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens must remain jailed, appeals court rules

A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a bid to release from jail a former FBI informant who is charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden’s family…
Smirnov was arrested in February on charges accusing him of falsely telling his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid President Biden and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015. The claim became central to the Republican impeachment inquiry of President Biden in Congress.

https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16/status/1785861225798107587

Greene’s motion to vacate vote leaves conservatives with no easy options

https://twitter.com/GregTSargent/status/1785636732269916546

Trump Admits He Wanted to Go to Capitol on January 6

Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he asked his Secret Service detail to take him to the Capitol after his speech at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, acknowledging a key detail of his actions that were central to the findings of the House committee established to investigate the attack.

https://twitter.com/MikeOkuda/status/1785701315529843167

DOJ civil rights leader says she was a victim of abuse in extraordinary statement

https://twitter.com/MaryLTrump/status/1785086379929538669

South Dakota Group Files to Put Abortion on Ballot

The group leading the effort to put abortion rights on South Dakota’s November ballot said Wednesday it was turning in far more petition signatures than required, while an opposition group said it will challenge the legitimacy of the petitions.

https://twitter.com/EdwardGLuce/status/1785623666127933548
https://twitter.com/KellyScaletta/status/1785539215188525195

Democrats grudgingly save another Mike Johnson bill

House Democrats found themselves in an increasingly familiar position on Wednesday — bailing out Speaker Mike Johnson despite their frustration with his tactics.
The House passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a bill to empower the Department of Education to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses, by a vote of 320 to 91.
Nearly two dozen right-wing Republicans voted against the measure, which would have killed it had 133 Democrats not voted for it.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1785810616520790283

Judge mulls 4 more potential Trump gag order violations

https://twitter.com/EricG1247/status/1785542237239271689

https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1785657505055375380