“So many books. So little time.” — Frank Zappa

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

Solana illustrates the dark side of monolithic blockchains

https://twitter.com/edzitron/status/1785003162061168850

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Turning point: COVID-era hospital reporting set to end

Politics:

An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi’s India

https://twitter.com/Strandjunker/status/1785032672261083309

The Impeachment Inquiry Against Joe Biden Was Doomed From The Start

Though some Republicans may blame House oversight committee Chair James Comer for their failure to impeach President Biden, the real reason is simple: The whole party bought into long-debunked conspiracy theories peddled by their leader, Donald Trump.

https://twitter.com/ZaleskiLuke/status/1784930093590094137

Netanyahu Tells Biden He’s Worried About Arrest Warrants

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked President Biden Sunday to help prevent the International Criminal Court from issuing arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials in connection with the war in Gaza.

Attorneys Urge Biden to Cut Off Aid to Israel

A coalition of lawyers domestic and abroad — including at least 20 that work in the Biden administration — are calling on President Joe Biden to halt military aid to Israel, arguing that its actions in Gaza do not comply with U.S. and international humanitarian law.
They plan to send a letter arguing their case to Attorney General Merrick Garland and general counsels across the administration in the coming days.

I could of course be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that Biden would heed such advice. Restricting aid to egregious specific units, sure. But halting all military aid to Israel? For any President, that would likely be politically untenable.

https://twitter.com/7Veritas4/status/1784165018528829814

German Far-Right Party Growing with Young Voters

Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has gone from the political fringes to the mainstream in recent years, consistently polling in the top three parties in the country.
And data shows that younger voters now play a major role in the party’s growth.

https://twitter.com/OurShallowState/status/1784731151850144127

Xi Tries to Drive a Wedge Between Europe and the U.S.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is heading to the European Union for the first time in five years with a clear message: Beijing offers much more of an economic opportunity for the bloc than the U.S. wants to admit.
The Chinese leader will begin his five-day trip to France, Serbia and Hungary on May 5, according to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. Those nations are seeking investment from China, despite a litany of EU probes into Beijing’s industrial policy and the warnings from officials in Washington about the risks.

https://twitter.com/LittleMissFlint/status/1783296442922107038

Did Kristi Noem Just Doom Her Career?

In the book, the governor recalls the day she realized that her puppy, Cricket, had crossed the line from poorly behaved menace to, well, a problem that needed solving. Noem led Cricket to a gravel pit. Then she pulled the trigger.
Wrote Noem: “It was not a pleasant job. But it had to be done.”
It’s the phrase gravel pit that stands out most—imagery fit for a Cormac McCarthy novel. Typically, campaign books don’t scream ‘literature.’ They’re more or less marketing tools meant to showcase a politician’s character and leadership skills. Noem likely believed that recounting this saga (in addition to a story about killing a goat) would serve as a testament to her courage and her rural bona fides, endearing her to millions of potential voters. Instead, Noem publishing these sentences may one day be remembered as the gravest mistake of her career.

How Far Trump Would Go

What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world.
To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding.
He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.

https://twitter.com/jordan_harper/status/1785036711481004341

Serendipity:

https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1785061244589728053

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