Odds and Ends — 26 February 2023
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:
Global Crypto Rules to be Based on Coming FSB & IMF Synthesis Paper, India Says After G20 Meetings
The companies backtracking on flexible work
GBTC approval could return a ‘couple billion dollars’ to investors: Grayscale CEO
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
FDA authorizes first at-home combo flu/Covid test
US agency to reverse Covid-19 policy for frequently abused prescription drugs
Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, Energy Department Now Says
The U.S. Energy Department has concluded that the Covid pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak, according to a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress.
The shift by the Energy Department, which previously was undecided on how the virus emerged, is noted in an update to a 2021 document by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’s office.
The new report highlights how different parts of the intelligence community have arrived at disparate judgments about the pandemic’s origin. The Energy Department now joins the Federal Bureau of Investigation in saying the virus likely spread via a mishap at a Chinese laboratory. Four other agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still judge that it was likely the result of a natural transmission, and two are undecided.
Politics:
Why Volodymyr Zelenskyy Is a More Complex Leader Than Most People Know
Special Counsel’s Trump Probe Heats Up
The special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump appears to have reached the advanced stages of his sweeping inquiry after a flurry of aggressive steps in recent weeks, some of which have set the stage for court fights that could take months to resolve.
The frenzy of subpoenas comes as Judge Beryl Howell’s seven-year term as chief judge of the D.C. district court enters its last month. In that post, she has presided over all grand-jury matters in Washington and repeatedly ruled for the Justice Department in closed-door disputes with Mr. Trump over executive privilege.
The Devil’s Bargain Kevin McCarthy Struck With Tucker Carlson For Jan. 6 Footage
Ukraine ‘strikes Russian ammunition depot in Mariupol’
Ukrainian forces blew up a Russian ammunition depot near Mariupol, a local official claimed on Saturday, a city previously considered too far behind the frontline to strike.
Social media channels reportedly showed large explosions lighting up the night sky above the occupied city.
Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the ousted Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, said that the explosions were the result of a Ukrainian attack on an ammunition store.
Judge rejected Perry’s bid to shield thousands of emails from Jan. 6 investigators
Putin will eventually be killed by inner circle, says Zelensky
”There will certainly be a moment when the fragility of Putin’s regime is felt in Russia. Then carnivores will eat a carnivore. It is very important, and they will need a reason to justify this. They will remember. They will find a reason to kill a killer. Will it work? Yes. When? I don’t know.”
Believe it or not, Putin actually thought taking over Ukraine would be as easy as taking over the Republican Party.
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) February 25, 2023
US joins EU in rejecting Beijing's peace proposal, sanctions more Chinese firms
’Dilbert’ dropped by The Post, other papers, after cartoonist’s racist rant
Newspapers across the United States have pulled Scott Adams’s long-running “Dilbert” comic strip after the cartoonist called Black Americans a “hate group” and said White people should “get the hell away from” them.
The Washington Post, the USA Today network of hundreds of newspapers, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Los Angeles Times and other publications announced they would stop publishing “Dilbert” after Adams’s racist rant on YouTube on Wednesday. Asked on Saturday how many newspapers still carried the strip — a workplace satire he created in 1989 — Adams told The Post: “By Monday, around zero.”
AI Can Tell Us How Russians Feel About the War. Putin Won’t Like the Results.
Thousands of tattooed inmates pictured in El Salvador mega-prison
Serendipity:
Magenta: The colour that doesn’t exist
File this under Ironic: Pentagon Committee Recommends Private Firearm Restrictions for Service Members
Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay
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Kind of report today. Very good for me, more than ever, because I'm well busy with a my doctoral studies by these days. Have a very nice Sunday and best regards from Cuba.
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