Odds and Ends — 3 February 2023
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, and Debt:
Mastercard’s NFT Leader Quits, Mints His Resignation Letter on the Way Out
Netflix to feature electric cars from GM and others in programming
SEC settles on security claim in LBRY case; community calls it a big win for crypto
Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:
Merck Covid Drug Linked to New Virus Mutations, Study Says
Trump & DeSantis try to out anti-vaxx each other
Politics:
Debt Ceiling Standoffs Are Insanity
These debt-ceiling fights are American governance at its most stupid. As achievements in hypocrisy and self-defeat, they cannot be beat. When Republicans had unified control of government under Donald Trump, they freely raised the ceiling and, with it, the debt, while Democrats, for all their piety now, have also used the debt ceiling for leverage.
As for self-defeat: the last time a Republican House pursued such brinkmanship the president was, of course, a Democrat (Barack Obama), and the result was a jump in rates that may have added half a billion dollars to the debt.
Do They Not Know He’ll Betray Them?
Expect Donald Trump to blame his own party if the Republicans’ debt-ceiling gambit goes wrong.
George Santos: We’ve been secretly recorded
Ex-Trump Executive Could Face More Fraud Charges
Manhattan prosecutors this week warned that they might file new fraud charges against Allen Weisselberg, a longtime top executive at Donald Trump’s real estate business — increasing pressure on Mr. Weisselberg to cooperate in a broader investigation into the former president.
Mr. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, is already serving a five-month sentence in the Rikers Island jail complex after pleading guilty to unrelated tax fraud charges. While he testified against the company at its trial on the same charges last year, he has for years refused to turn on Mr. Trump directly.
But as the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, jump-starts his office’s effort to indict Mr. Trump, his prosecutors are using the prospect of additional charges to exert leverage over Mr. Weisselberg.
Suspected Chinese spy balloon found over northern U.S.
Fox News Poll: Bipartisan support for sending funding, weapons to Ukraine
Brazil senator says he attended election conspiracy meeting with Bolsonaro
New Book Details Possible Trump Indictment
The Manhattan District Attorney’s super-secret criminal case against former President Donald Trump is largely a mirror image of the bank fraud lawsuit against him already filed publicly by the New York Attorney General, according to a tell-all book written by a frustrated prosecutor who quit the DA’s team.
That explanation casts doubt on the DA’s recent claims that the book, which is due to hit bookshelves on Tuesday, can severely damage the revived investigation. But it also explains what has boggled some Americans for months: why AG Letitia James’ lawsuit reads like a criminal indictment.
