Odds and Ends — 21 March 2024
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
OKX terminates services in India, asks users to withdraw funds by April 30
Dogecoin Climbs 18% on DOGE Futures Hopes
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Virus that causes COVID-19 can damage heart even if heart tissue not directly affected
Politics:
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1770466417609166902
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1770464974013349932
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1770480139089973590
https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16/status/1770490866534080847
Trump Fundraising Off His Inability to Pay Fraud Bond
Once upon a time, long before he set his sights on the White House, Donald Trump leveraged his massive real estate empire into a braggadocious reality TV show called The Apprentice. The show’s bombastic theme song sang ‘money, money, money, money,’ at viewers over shots of Trump’s New York properties, private planes, and helicopters.
Now, two decades after the show first premiered, the former president is begging his followers to fork over cash in order to preserve the assets on which he built his throne.
Screamed one text mesage: “KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF TRUMP TOWER!”
AG Letitia James must be sorely tempted to seize Trump Tower, have his name removed from the façade, and then sell it for pennies on the dollar.
‘Very, very troubling’: Judges, lawyers flummoxed by Judge Cannon
Lawyers and former judges said they are baffled by an order issued this week by the federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s pending trial on charges that he mishandled classified documents — and believe her instructions suggest the case will not go to trial anytime soon.
On Monday evening, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the defense lawyers and the prosecutors in the case to file submissions outlining proposed jury instructions based on two scenarios, each of which badly misstates the law and facts of the case, according to legal experts.
https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1770496517545296047
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1770490507992424696
https://twitter.com/clearing_fog/status/1770508190494646598
Officials Grow Wary of Renewed Measles Threat
Measles, a highly contagious but preventable disease, is resurging in pockets of the United States, a warning of the dangers of the strengthening anti-vaccine movement.
How FDR Made Republican Isolationists Look Silly with a Simple Rhyme
https://twitter.com/theglassfish13/status/1770090584159424705
Trump Is a National Security Risk
As every spy agency knows, the most at-risk employees are those who are heavily in debt. Presidential candidates are offered intelligence briefings during the election. Trump is facing a much-postponed trial for allegedly secreting troves of highly classified material at Mar-a-Lago.
It does not take great deductive skill to see that Trump’s financial quandary poses a national security risk. If insurance companies and friendly billionaires think he is too big a credit risk, who might help him out instead? What sort of collateral could Trump offer in return? Even by America’s recent standards, this creates a new kind of headache.
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1770203659197936096
Even the Supreme Court’s Conservatives Are Fed Up With the Garbage Coming Out of the 5th Circuit
https://twitter.com/AntiToxicPeople/status/1770267923019690446
DOJ escalates price-fixing probe on housing market
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/1770149249155756354
Is Trump Cracking Under the Pressure of the Election?
Since the General Election kicked off almost two weeks ago, Trump has returned to his old, chaotic, self-destructive ways. After securing the delegates as the presumptive nominee, Trump has made critical errors daily. He can’t seem to stop saying insane, deeply politically damaging stuff…
Relatedly, if I had a billion dollars, I would offer every undecided voter in the six battleground states $500 to watch this entire Trump rally in Ohio.
https://twitter.com/PiperK/status/1770194257095098870
Ireland’s prime minister to step down
https://twitter.com/ninaburleigh/status/1770434140673921061
Donald Trump Isn’t Running a Presidential Campaign
Every now and again it’s fun to hold the unfiltered public comments of normal politicians up against the Donald Trump’s ravings on social media.
If you try that this week, you’ll find Trump completely unmoored from the calendar or any national circumstance. No good tidings for St. Patrick’s Day, no particular interest in federal policy. Trump’s mind has been neatly divided between his hallmark agitprop and unrelenting obsession with evading the nearly half-billion fine he owes the state of New York for serial business fraud.
When you pan out even further it becomes clear: Trump is scarcely running a presidential campaign. He might become president in spite of this, but his efforts are overwhelmingly fixed on evading justice or mooting judgments he’s already lost by any means necessary. He’d ideally like to prevail in these efforts before the election, but the task will become much easier if he’s able to win or steal the presidency despite the legal peril.
https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1770451598134686159
Julian Assange May Be Offered Plea Deal
The U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to allow Julian Assange to plead guilty to a reduced charge of mishandling classified information, opening up the possibility of a deal that could eventually result in his release from a British jail.
The talks come as Assange has spent some five years behind bars. U.S. prosecutors face diminishing odds that he would serve much more time even if he were convicted stateside.
Tough call. Much as it would be tempting to tell them to piss off and take his chances with a jury, it might sound appealing to him by this point.
https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16/status/1770446107463536724
Republicans Touch The Third Rail of American Politics
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1770563934396813576
https://twitter.com/IanSams46/status/1770564778320097342
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Comer seems to be ingesting increasingly powerful mind-altering drugs:
https://twitter.com/RepJamesComer/status/1770568015194489160
Well, perhaps Comer might be a bit distracted and isn’t paying close attention to how his canard is falling apart.
https://twitter.com/stuartpstevens/status/1770164484213973381
FBI resumes outreach to social media companies over foreign propaganda
https://twitter.com/Victorshi2020/status/1770510722197492210
Serendipity:
https://twitter.com/PartyWaffle/status/1770276234687381646
Why are Americans fighting over no-fault divorce? Maybe they can’t agree what marriage is for