Odds and Ends — 20 December 2023
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
Warren’s surveillance legislation is tailor-made to help big banks
Bitcoin Spot ETF Biggest Development on Wall Street in Last 30 Years, Says Michael Saylor
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
A new normal? 6 stories about the evolving U.S. COVID response in 2023
Florida Man:
How Ron DeSantis’ $100 Million ‘Death Star’ Collapsed
The super PAC Never Back Down was supposed to win DeSantis the GOP nomination. Instead, it became a political cautionary tale.
Politics:
Trump Is Disqualified from Colorado Ballot
In a bombshell decision, Colorado’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that former President Donald Trump’s candidacy in the state is prohibited on constitutional grounds.
The first-of-its kind ruling stems from a lawsuit that focused a little-known provision in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Similar challenges in other states have proven unsuccessful.
Unless some battleground states do the same, a likely reversal by SCOTUS might not change much. It’s not as if Drumpf has much of a chance winning Colorado anyway.
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1737253710835663200?s=20
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1737320836636537271?s=20
Prosecutors eyed obstruction charges months before Jack Smith took over Trump case
https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1737163557069074697?s=20
Trump Scrambles to Block Witness in Defamation Case
The last person Trump’s lawyers want to see is the court expert who put a hefty nine-figure price tag on Rudy Giuliani’s misbehavior.
The target of their ire? A Northwestern University marketing professor who analyzes social media trends. Court records show that the very same day Ashlee Humphreys testified in D.C. at Giuliani’s defamation trial last week, a Trump lawyer in New Jersey asked a federal judge in New York to block Humphreys from testifying against the former president.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1736735855274836134?s=20
https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1737115284161650958?s=20
11th Circuit Adopts DC Logic That Mark Meadows and Trump’s Campaigning is Not an Official Act
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1737483422627406018?s=20
The White House and Senate continue to work frantically toward a deal to supply Ukraine before Congress recesses for Christmas. Supposedly, all leaders of Congress are united in their commitment to Ukraine—so the new speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, insists. Yet somehow this allegedly united commitment is not translating into action. Why not?
The notional answer is that Republicans must have a border-security deal as the price for Ukraine aid. But who on earth sets a price that could stymie something they affirmatively want to do? Republicans have not conditioned their support for Social Security on getting a border deal. They would never say that tax cuts must wait until after the border is secure. Only Ukraine is treated as something to be bartered, as if at a county fair. How did that happen?
Ukraine’s expendability to congressional Republicans originates in the sinister special relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1736842779614126329?s=20
Russia Tried to Weaken Democrats Ahead of Midterms
The Russian government and its proxies attempted to denigrate the Democratic Party and undermine voter confidence ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, an operation that most likely sought to weaken U.S. support for Ukraine.
The findings come amid rising concerns from U.S. officials and security experts about the potential that foreign adversaries may pour ample resources into interfering in the 2024 presidential election contest eight years after Russia engineered a multipronged interference campaign to help Republican Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, his Democratic foe in the 2016 election.
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1736799502970106166?s=20
Comparing your political opponent’s words to Adolf Hitler’s used to be controversial. But Donald Trump continues to use rhetoric that historians say reeks of fascism — and now Joe Biden’s campaign has entered a surreal routine of calling him out on it.
https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1737107017993720279?s=20
The New York Times Is Part of the Effing Problem
The New York Times illustrates precisely how unprepared our liberal institutions are for dealing with the expressly illiberal threat of Trump 2024…”
The Times has no idea how to handle this threat except to present two sides: One which warns about the danger and one which prevaricates and misdirects in an attempt to hide it.
https://twitter.com/jimstewartson/status/1737142597951603007?s=20
Why a potential Israel-Hamas cease-fire has so many names
It’s not always clear what measures lawmakers are advocating for. That may be the point.
https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16/status/1737143038936260754?s=20
Judge Grants Partial Access to Scott Perry’s Phone
A federal judge on Tuesday granted the Justice Department access to nearly 1,700 records recovered from the cellphone of Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) in a long-running legal battle in the criminal investigation of former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The FBI seized Perry’s phone in August 2022 under a court order seeking to understand Perry’s involvement in the machinations that were the subject of Trump’s criminal indictment this August for allegedly plotting to prevent President Biden from taking office.
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1736871714456559835?s=20
Serendipity:
https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1734757762100269196?s=20
Want a free Hive account? Join Hive using my referral link.